Trivia WOW

Did you know that there are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos?  The reason is that the casinos want the gamblers to lose track of time.  The casino windows are heavily tinted and the bright lights, noise, plus alcohol all add to the excitement and confusion. All the numbers in roulette add up to 666, which is associated with sin and the devil; hence the popular Las Vegas nickname, Sin City! Las Vegas' first casino on the famous strip was El Rancho Vegas in 1941; one of Las Vegas' most iconic casinos, The Flamingo, was opened by mobster Bugsy Siegel and his associates, on December 26, 1946, at a cost of 6 million dollars.  It was rumored that the casino was named after Siegel's girlfriend, Virginia Hill, because of her long legs! At one of Las Vegas, largest casinos, Caesar's Palace, 2.8 million eggs are eaten at the breakfast buffet each year; 427 pounds of coffee are consumed daily!  By the way, Las Vegas is Spanish for The Meadows. Las Vegas Casinos decked o...

Did you know that Mickey Mouse is known as Topolino in Italy? He also goes by Mikki Hirri in Finland, Mikki Mausu in Japan, and Michel Souris in France! Mickey Mouse was originally going to be called Mortimer Mouse, but Walt Disney's wife, Lillian, had insisted on the name, Mickey.  The official switch from Mortimer to Mickey took place on November 18, 1928. Mickey Rooney, famous American actor who starred in more than 300 films, felt that Walt Disney had named Mickey Mouse after him, since he had met Disney in the 1920's as a boy. The first Mickey Mouse cartoon was Plane Crazy and the first with synchronized sound was Steamboat Willie, both produced in 1928.  Steamboat Willie was a short black and white film produced by Walt Disney Studios and directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Mickey Mouse's ears are perfect circles and he was the first cartoon character to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Mickey's first recorded words were Hot Dogs in the car...

Did you know the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz were once silver? However, the boss from MGM studios, Louis B. Meyer, had made the suggestion to change the color to ruby red! The vivid red color had produced a glittery effect for Dorothy to model on screen; silver would have been lackluster to the eyes. According to Wizard of Oz producer, Mervyn LeRoy, there were 5-10 pairs of Ruby red slippers produced, but only 4 pairs were accounted for.  One of these pairs were the ones that Judy Garland wore in the 1939 film, and have been proudly displayed in Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian Museum over the years.  However, the shoes have deteriorated over time and would have to undergo a major restoration, with a cost of over $300,000!  As of October 2016, a Kickstarter campaign was started, with close to 6,500 people contributing towards the shoes' restoration project.  At the end of February in 2017, more than $373,000 was collected! In 1989, in remembrance of the ...

Did you know that a hummingbird's heart can beat up to 1,260 times a minute?  This is to sustain its rapid and prolonged activity level. Hummingbirds can hear and see better than humans and have little to no sense of smell. They only weigh as little as a penny or as much as 10 pennies, considering that a penny weighs only 2.5 grams. Hummingbirds on average are 8.5 centimeters in length, making them the tiniest birds in the world. Their hearts weigh 2.5% of their total body weight; the brain represents 4.2%.  They are very smart birds- they can recognize all the flowers they have travelled to and how long each flower refills with nectar! Hummingbirds have to constantly lap up flower nectar; if not, they can die from starvation, due to its high metabolic requirements (Their core body temperature is properly maintained from 105-109 degrees Fahrenheit!). They can live on average for 5 years but can exceed 10 years on few occasions. The oldest recorded history of the hummin...