Four Variable Stars

 

Honeybees are the only insect that produces food humans eat.

Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life.

The queen honeybee lays between 1,000 and 3,000 eggs per day.

The queen only mates once. She stores the sperm for use over her egg-bearing lifetime.

A healthy hive has 40,000 – 60,000 bees.

A worker bee lives roughly 40 days. During its lifetime, it will produce 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey.

A bee’s brain is about the size of a sesame seed.

We say bees “buzz,” but they’re really beating their wings 11,400 times per minute.

Honeybees fly about fifteen miles per hour.

Bees don’t hibernate. They huddle together in winter, sharing body heat.

Honeybees comprise about 80% of all pollinators.

Bees see the same colors we can, except for red. They CAN see ultraviolet.

Different flowers produce subtle differences in the color, taste and texture of honey.

Happy National Honey Bee Awareness Day!

Rolling Nine-Patch

 

The Dating Game was a television game show that ran from the 60’s through the 80’s. In each episode, a woman would select a date from three men merely by the answers they gave to her questions. Over the years, several celebrities appeared on the show, often years before they’d made names for themselves: including Adam West, Sally Field, Robert Vaughn, John Ritter, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Mumy, Paul Lynde, Richard Dawson, Steve Martin, Bill Bixby (who appeared four times but was never selected), McLean Stevenson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ron Howard, Vincent Price, Andy Kaufman, Kenny Rogers and Michael Jackson. Farrah Fawcett was on The Dating Game in 1969. She selected Joey Hooker, a movie stuntman who staged a “fistfight” with the other two bachelors after he’d won. Their “date” was a ski trip to Austria. But Farrah’s career took off right after her Dating Game appearance, and she never got to take that trip.

Nine Leap Frogs

 

April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 launched with Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise aboard. Their original mission was to make the third manned landing on the moon. Jim and Fred were set to become the fifth and sixth men to walk on the moon. But just two days into the flight, an oxygen tank exploded. Instead of the planned lunar landing, both the crew and the ground control team spent the several days scrambling through a hair-raising rescue mission. The crew had to cut their water rations to one/fifth. They endured high carbon monoxide levels and temperatures just above freezing. But they did make it home alive. Once, after a speaking engagement about his ordeal, Jim Lovell was asked if he would chose to go on another space flight. He was about to answer yes when he saw a hand shoot up from the audience and give a “thumbs down” motion. It was his wife, Marilyn.

Five Bear Paws

 

In 1973, communications specialist Bob Crippen was working on NASA’s ground support crew when a call came in from the Skylab space station. It was a woman’s voice saying, “Hello, Huston, this is Skylab. Are you reading me down there?” Bob knew the three astronauts on the station were men. It would be another decade before Sally Ride – America’s first female astronaut – made it to space. Bob asked for identification, and the voice replied she was Helen Garriott, visiting Skylab to bring her husband Owen a home-cooked meal. She made a comment about how California looked from space. By this point, a bewildered crowd was gathering around Bob’s speakers. Helen signed off, saying, “Gotta get off the line. I’m not supposed to be talking to you. See you later, Bob.” It took NASA a while to realize Owen Garriott hadn’t smuggled his wife on board, just a tape recorder for an epic prank

Broken Dishes

 

Piracicaba, Brazil was founded August 1, 1767, on the banks of the river for which it was named. In two years, the city will celebrate its 260th anniversary. Regardless of what events are planned, it’s unlikely they’ll surpass what happened during their festivities two years ago. In 2023, the Piracicaba Symphony Orchestra was performing “Farandole”, from Georges Bizet's, “L’Arlésienne”, conducted by Maestro Knut Andreas. The performance took place in the Erotídes de Campos Theater, a warehouse repurposed to accommodate cultural events. Only a moment into the number, a hailstorm swept through the area. The stage lights winked out, along with the lights on each of the music stands. Orchestra and audience were plunged into darkness. No one could see the conductor or the sheet music, but no one stopped playing. Farandole is just over three minutes long – an eternity in the dark. The theater’s generators kicked in as the number ended, and the audience erupted in thunderous applause.

Five Cactus Flowers

 

“Just days ago, I learned about a grandmother who rehearsed the Easter story with her four-year-old grandson by using simple replicas of the tomb, the stone that covered the sepulchre, Jesus, Mary, the disciples, and the angel. The little boy watched and listened intently as his grandma shared the burial, closing and opening of the tomb, and the garden scene of the Resurrection. He later carefully repeated the story in surprising detail to his parents as he moved the figures about himself. Following this sweet moment, he was asked if he knew why we have Easter. The boy looked up and with childlike reasoning answered, ‘Cuz Him’s alive.’ I add my testimony to his—and to yours and to that of angels and prophets—that He is risen and that He lives, of which I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.” – Elder Gary E. Stevenson

Variable Star

 

More random facts, for no reason at all:

Over 60% of the world’s lakes are located in Canada.

The Eiffel Tower was originally meant to be built in Barcelona.

The first commercial passenger flight lasted only twenty-three minutes.

No number before 1,000 contains the letter A.

Sudan has more pyramids than any country in the world.

There were active volcanoes on the moon when dinosaurs were alive.

In Switzerland, it’s illegal to own only one guinea pig (because they get lonely).

All clownfish are born male, but can become female later in life.

Roughly ten percent of all people on the planet are left-handed.

Buzz Lightyear’s original name was Lunar Larry.

Cap’n Crunch’s full name is Horatio Magellan Crunch.

Your nose and ears never stop growing until you die.

Abraham Lincoln was once a licensed bartender.

During his entire lifetime, Vincent Van Gogh is known to have sold only a single painting.