Fast Facts Answers to Outside the Box Puzzles from page 62 1. Time and a half 2. Two-tone 3. One night stand 4. Onward and upward 5. For crying out loud 6. Half brother The Great Babe Ruth The baseball legend’s on-field accomplishments are wellknown, but here are a few things that you may not know about one of the greatest players in the game’s history. 1. For most of his life, he believed that he was a year older than he really was. 2. As a youngster, he was sent to a Catholic school for delinquent and incorrigible boys. 3. His real name was George Herman Ruth. 4. Before he turned eight years old, he had already chewed tobacco and drank whiskey for the first time. 5. During his years in the reform school, he was training to be a shirt-maker. 6. Shortly after his rookie season ended, he married Helen Woodford… a 16-yearold coffee shop waitress. 7. His top single-season salary was $80,000. 8. Ruth appeared in four feature films as either himself or a thinly fictionalized version of himself. 9. He died of throat cancer in August 1948 at the age of 53. 10. During his career, he had many nicknames: Sultan of Swat, The Great Bambino, The Behemoth of Bust, The Colossus of Clout. Looking Back to 1921 Random events from a century ago: ▶▶British crime writer Agatha Christie published her first of many novels. ▶▶Canadian doctors Banting and Best announced the discovery of insulin. ▶▶Perfume Chanel No. 5 was released by fashion designer Coco Chanel. ▶▶Sweden abolished capital punishment. ▶▶Amelia Earhart took her first flying lesson on Jan. 3. ▶▶Adolph Hitler became leader of the Nazi party. ▶▶Nova Scotia’s famous Bluenose schooner was launched. ▶▶The Autobahn racing track/highway opened in Berlin. ▶▶Famous Canadian writer and environmentalist Farley Mowat was born. ▶▶The Communist Party of China was founded. HowSweet it is! Nothing smacks of summer more than a few slices of juicy watermelon. Here are some facts about this tasty summertime treat. ▶▶They come in 1,200 different varieties. ▶▶Originally domesticated in Africa. ▶▶Commonly considered a fruit, they are part of the botanical family of vegetables − like squash and pumpkin. ▶▶They are 92% water. ▶▶The entire fruit can be eaten, including the rinds and seeds. ▶▶People have been eating them for at least 5,000 years. ▶▶Watermelon seeds were found in ancient tombs. ▶▶Early explorers used them as canteens. ▶▶There are watermelon hieroglyphics in Egyptian tombs. ▶▶Seedless ones have only been around for 50 years. ▶▶It takes 90 days to grow a watermelon. HistoryRevisited ▶▶The Titanic’s owners never said that the ship was “unsinkable.” ▶▶Cleopatra was Greek, not Egyptian. ▶▶Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine for indigestion. ▶▶Winston Churchill smoked eight to 10 cigars a day...sometimes more. ▶▶Adolph Hitler helped design the Volkswagen Beetle with Ferdinand Porsche. ▶▶The ancient Egyptians used slabs of stone as pillows. ▶▶The Leaning Tower of Pisa was never straight. ▶▶Thomas Edison didn’t invent most of the stuff he patented. ▶▶In the ancient Olympics, athletes performed naked. ▶▶The rum brand’s Captain Morgan was a real man. ▶▶Tug of War was once an Olympic sport. WhoKnew The culinary icon, Betty Crocker, is not − and never has been − a real person. The brand character was developed in the 1920s as a way to give a personalized response to consumer product questions.The name Betty was selected because it was viewed as a cheery, all-American name. It was paired with the last name Crocker in honour of William Crocker, director of the American company that launched the brand. Shortly after the rollout, the original company merged with General Mills, themultinational corporation whichmarkets Betty Crocker products to this day. 66 | www.snowbirds.org
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzMzNzMx