– Having resided in Texas for seven decades, I ashamedly admit to having never heard of Devil’s Toenail. This particular sandstone escarpment lies a mere 350 feet from Sandy Creek. The renowned “toenail” is located one mile from Click, Texas. Click was named after Malachi Click. I did not make this up.
– The most frequently sung song in the English language is Happy Birthday (to You). The tune was composed by sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893. However, the tune was originally entitled Good Morning to All and was sung daily in Patty’s kindergarten class. For more than 100 years, the song was legally the property of the Hill sister’s estate. Few were able to collect any royalties. In 2015 a U.S. District Court ruled that the song was part of public domain. So, you may robustly sing the ditty whenever mood and situation seems appropriate.
– The ratio of brain to body mass is significantly larger for domestic dogs than for wolves. The wolf brain is typically focused on hunting and killing, but with a relatively small canine cerebral region.
– Some mathematicians have calculated that the odds against randomly completing a perfect bracket for this year’s 63-game NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship were 9.2 quintillion to one. That is 9,200,000,000,000,000,000 to 1. To place the number in some perspective: the quantity in dollars would be more than the U.S. Congress requests from the American taxpayers in an entire month.
– The day one Fawn never forgot: On May 9, 1962, a Guernsey cow named Fawn was placidly foraging on an Iowa farm when a storm came up. A tornado suddenly dipped down, picked up Fawn and rather gently dropped the startled bovine one half mile distant. After briefly complaining about that ordeal, the seemingly unperturbed quadruped resumed grazing.
– The sixth tallest waterfall in the world was not “officially” discovered until the 21st century. The 2,531 foot cataract, Gocta Catarata (in Peru), has replaced Yosemite Falls in the cascade ranks.
– In Russia, vodka is known as “zhiznennaia voda” which means “water of life.”
– Dale Boone is a person of reputation in certain circles. Those circles would include organizers of and participants in reindeer-sausage-eating contests. Good Ol’ Dale ate 28 certified rs’s in 10 minutes. Perhaps Booney has broken the old record by now and word has yet to reach civilization. Well, feel free to visit Devil’s Toenail, but I shouldn’t allot an entire day for inspecting the spectacle. Additionally, rumor has it there are no 5 star restaurants in Click. No Dairy Queens, either.
James White is a retired mathematics teacher who enjoys sharing fascinating trivia. He can be reached at [email protected].
