EVERYTHING BUT THE OINK

No part of a domesticated pig goes to waste. The animal’s bones and skin are used for glue, pigskin garments, gloves, shoes and footballs. Its hair is used for artist's brushes, insulation and upholstery. Fatty acids and glycerine are used for insecticides, floor waxes, weed killers, water-proofing agents, cement, rubber, crayons, cosmetics, chalk, antifreeze, plastics, putty, cellophane. Not only that, but pigs are a source of nearly 40 drugs and pharmaceuticals such as insulin.

The Federal Communications Commission reports that the average American child sees about 20,000, 30-second television commercials each year.

Historians claim that King Louis XIV owned 413 beds.

In ancient Babylon, it was common practice for the bride’s father to supply his new son-in-law with all the mead or honey-beer that he could drink for a month, following the wedding. Many amateur etymologists have made the claim that this is where we get the word “honeymoon,” but the word doesn’t even show up in print until Richard Huloet’s 1552 publication of “Abecedarium Anglico Latinum” in which he refers to the gentle diminishing of married love over the first lunar month, following the wedding.

President Theodore Roosevelt declared Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, the nation’s first national monument. The United States now has more than 70 such monuments.