Stature

Tallest U.S. presidents:

  • Abraham Lincoln 6’3.75″
  • Lyndon B. Johnson 6’3.5″
  • Thomas Jefferson 6’2.5″
  • Chester A. Arthur 6’2″
  • George H.W. Bush 6’2″
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt 6’2″

And shortest:

  • John Adams 5’7″
  • John Quincy Adams 5’7″
  • William McKinley 5’7″
  • Benjamin Harrison 5’6″
  • Martin Van Buren 5’6″
  • James Madison 5’4″
| History · Trivia

And 5,000 Visitors Per Day

The White House has:

  • Six stories and 55,000 square feet of floor space
  • 134 rooms, including 35 bathrooms
  • 412 doors and 147 windows
  • 28 fireplaces
  • Eight staircases
  • Three elevators
  • A tennis court
  • A bowling lane
  • A movie theater
  • A jogging track
  • A swimming pool

Harry Truman called it “the finest prison in the world.”

| Trivia

Prescription Abbreviations

Abbreviations used in prescriptions:

  • a.c. (ante cibum) – before meals
  • ad lib. (ad libitum) – use as much as one desires; freely
  • alt. h. (alternis horis) – every other hour
  • c (cibos) – food
  • D.A.W. – dispense as written
  • dc, D/C, disc – discontinue
  • e.m.p. (ex modo prescripto) – as directed
  • ex aq – in water
  • h.s. (hora somni) – at bedtime
  • L.A.S. – label as such
  • N.K.A. – no known allergies
  • noct. (nocte) – at night
  • NPO, n.p.o. (non per os) – nothing by mouth
  • p.c. (post cibum) – after meals
  • p.o. (per os) – by mouth or orally
  • s.a. (secundum artum) – use your judgement
  • sig – write on label
  • s.o.s., si op. sit (si opus sit) – if there is a need

Napoleon Bonaparte described medicine as “a collection of uncertain prescriptions the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind.”

| Science & Math · Trivia

Car Company Name Etymologies

Origins of car company names:

  • Cadillac: Named after the founder of Detroit, French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. Cadillac is a small town in the South of France.
  • Daewoo: “Great Universe” in Korean.
  • Mercedes: The first name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who worked for the early Daimler company around 1900.
  • Mitsubishi: “Water chestnut,” reflected as a stylized rhombus in the company’s logo.
  • Pontiac: A Native American Ottawa war leader.
  • Subaru: From the Japanese name for the Pleiades (Subaru was formed from a merger of seven other companies).
  • Volkswagen: The “people’s car.”
  • Volvo: Latin for “I roll.”
| Trivia

J.L. Hunter

The world’s oldest active bank robber was 91-year-old J.L. Hunter, who robbed the First American Bank in Abilene, Texas, of $2,000 in 2003. It was his third robbery in five years.

When asked why he did it, he said he hadn’t liked banks since they forced him into bankruptcy.

| Crime · Trivia

Monthly Coincidences

Unless it’s a leap year:

  • January begins on the same day of the week as October.
  • February begins on the same day of the week as March and November.
  • April begins on the same day of the week as July.
  • December begins with the same day of the week as September.
  • No other month begins on the same day of the week as May or June.
| Trivia

Smarty-Pants

This year Mensa accepted a new youngest member. Three-year-old Mikhail Ali of Bramley, Leeds, England, has an IQ of 137; he’s one of only 30 members under 10.

But he’s not the all-time youngest member — that’s Ben Woods, who was 2 years and 10 months old when he joined in the mid-1990s.

| Trivia