Trivia and Amazing Facts **: January 2009

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE EXPRESSION "UPPER CRUST"? Etiquette in days of yore required that the choice top crust of a loaf of bread be presented to the king or ranking noble at the table.

WHAT COUNTRY HAS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PHYSICIANS?�PSYCHIATRISTS� AND� PSYCHOLOGISTS? DENTISTS? There are more physicians in the USSR than anywhere else. The United States holds top honors for psychiatrists, psychologists and dentists.

WHAT WAS THE SONG? The first released song from the Jackson 5 was "I Want You Back."

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WHAT DO HERRING, CABBAGE, AND CARROTS REPRESENT AT NEW YEAR'S EVE FEASTS IN GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA? Herring represents good luck; cabbage, plenty of silver; and carrots, gold in the year ahead.

WHY DO SOLDIERS WEAR KHAKI? Because of Lieutenant Burnett of the Queen's Own Corps of Guides. In December 1846, the English officer was told to develop a "mud-colored" uniform that would camouflage soldiers in dusty surroundings. By early 1847, Burnett had clothed his troops in the light-colored uniform named khaki, which comes from the Persian khak, meaning "dust" or "ashes." On May 25, 1857, the British 52nd Regiment became the first regular division to sport khakis.

The curtain or veil used by some Hindus and Moslems to seclude or hide their women from strangers is called a "purdah."

WHAT WAS THE SYMBOLISM BEHIND FLYING A FLAG AT HALF-MAST AS A SIGN OF MOURNING WHEN THE CUSTOM WAS FIRST INTRODUCED AT SEA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY? The top of the mast was left empty for the invisible flag of death.

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Stanch blood with a single finger! Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed-if you don't mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums-just behind that small dent below your nose-and press against it, hard. "Most bleeds come from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose," says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. "Pressing here helps stop them."

If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes and 4 pennies, you'd have $1.19. You would also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

WHAT DID LONDON BLACKSMITH CHARLES MONCKE INVENT? The monkey wrench, which was originally called Moncke's wrench.

HOW DID BLOOMERS - LADIES PANTALOONS - GET THEIR NAME? From suffragette Amelia Bloomer.

About 70% of Americans who go to college do it just to make more money. [The rest of us are avoiding reality for four more years.]

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27% of U.S. male college students believe life is "a meaningless existential hell."

WHAT DOES OUIJA IN OUIJA BOARD MEAN? The board, thougt to reveal unconscious thoughts and emotions, is named for the French and German words for yes - oui and ja.