TALKING OUT OF YOUR STOMACH

Ventriloquism literally means “belly-talking.”

It has been estimated that when the “Titanic” went down, 29 third-class female passengers died for every dog carried by a first-class passenger into a lifeboat.

Plato, the well-known Greek philosopher, was born as Aristocles. And scholars have argued over the reason he took a new name, which when translated, means broad or flat. Some suggest it is because Plato had a broad forehead, indicating intelligence. Others claim Plato took the name because of his broad shoulders.

Before the debut of the Model T in 1908, the Ford Motor Company introduced a number of other models, including A, B, AC, C, F, K, N, R and S.

In 2003, American doctors performed 1.7 million cosmetic surgical procedures, a 5 percent increase from the previous year.

Among Madagascar’s black lemurs, only the males are black. The females are reddish-brown. And male lemurs are picky about the looks of a potential mate. They like the girls with the brightest fur. Biologists claim that males have this preference because dull fur color is a sign of parasites, so females with bright fur have the best chance of producing healthy offspring.

One bale of cotton can make 215 pairs of jeans.