AMERICANS LOVE MONEY

A traveler once wrote of the United States, “I know of no country, where the love of money has taken a stronger hold on the affections of men.” The man was Alexis Charles Henri Clerel de Tocqueville. He made the observation in 1831.

The Converse Chuck Taylor All Star, created in 1917, is the bestselling sneaker model of all time. Taylor, who played for the Akron Firestones, started working for Converse, selling its basketball shoes in 1918. His signature was added to the sneaker’s All Star ankle patch in 1923. The company sells about 4.5 million pairs of All Stars each year.

Hailstones may fall at night or in the morning, but they are most common during the afternoon.

Attendance at America’s major league baseball games first surpassed the 5-million mark in 1904. The American League had 3,024,028 guests at 154 games that year, and the National League sold 2,664,271 tickets.

In the 1930s, the United States Public Health Service found that people, living in towns with naturally fluoridated water, had half as many cavities as the rest of the population. Acting on the study, many cities added fluoride to their drinking water, and by 1986, 60 percent of all U.S. citizens had fluoridated tap water.