HOW LONG DOES A DOG LIVE?

A Danish study of 3,000 dogs found that the average dog can expect to live about 10 years. The most common cause of death, affecting 1 in 5 of the canines studied, was old age. The second most common cause of death was cancer, affecting 14.5 percent. Bernese Mountain dogs were the most cancer-prone with 34.4 percent succumbing to terminal cancer during the study.

Massachusetts was the first state to enact compulsory education laws. Children in that state must begin school by age 6 and may not leave school until age 16. Washington D.C. (1864) was second. Vermont (1867) was third. The last three states to require free, public education were Georgia (1916), Mississippi (1918) and Alaska (1929).

Many high school athletes have dreams of entering the pros, but competition is fierce. Only about 1 out of every 25 high school football players will play on an NCAA team in college. Of those, only 1 in 30 will get drafted. Once drafted, there still remains a 50 percent chance that the player won’t make the final cut for a professional football team.

Elected President in 1796, John Adams — a relatively short, fat man — was often referred to by political opponents as “His Rotundity.”