Important facts and information to know

   As I walked the aisle of the local grocery store, the mom  walking ahead of me was talking to her son. She  asked him what he had learned in school that day. “We learned the same things today we learned yesterday. I don't know why I have to learn how to spell. I'll never use  many of the words we learn  anyhow.” OMG!"  He may be right.
   This could be a long year in school for this young lad. But it did cause me to pause to think about some of the things we learn. Being old and wise now, I understand the importance of some of the things I considered really dumb when I was in school, like math. But there are  things we learn that seem to have no value at all, useless bits of information.
   For example, did you know donkeys kill more people on an annual basis than the number of people who die in airplane crashes. I didn't even know donkeys could fly!
   And who invented the electric chair? It was a dentist.  Shocking! Makes you want to run right out to that next dental appointment!
     The first person to survive the fall over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel was a teacher names Annie Edison Taylor. Science teacher maybe?
   Did you know the largest turtle in the world weighed just slightly over 2000 pounds.
   Words provide us with useless information. For example, the word 'desserts' spelled backwards spells stressed. Isn't that what happens when you eat too many desserts?
    Dreamt is the only word in the English language that ends in 'mt'.
   In China, the words for 'crisis' and 'opportunity' are the same. Let me think about that for a minute. Maybe the folks in Washington need to......I'll move on.
   The words' race car' and 'kayak' are the same whether you read them from the left or the right. For someone who is dyslexic, no problem here. Did you know the names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with. Not sure? Check it out.
   The word “typewriter” is the longest word  using only the top row on a keyboard and for those who took typing in high school, “stewardesses' is the longest word that can be typed with only the left hand.
   Speaking of size, “Go” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
   One can only wonder who has the time or the energy to research  these nuggets of important  facts. As I watch baseball games, or any sport for that matter, I am amused at the number of statistics that make their way into the broadcast. Who hit what pitch in what inning to win the third game in some playoff game can only be out done by a record  number of yards gained by a running back while only wearing one shoe. If not mistaken, I think he kept on running, right into the locker room. I watched that game!
   But now on to more serious facts. I will spend at least two weeks of my entire life waiting for  traffic lights to change from red to green. The average chocolate candy bar has eight insects' legs in it. In 1933, Mickey Mouse received 800,000 fan letters. That's almost as many as I received last year!
   Did you know the number of cars on the planet is increasing three times faster than the world population? You can bet the major car manufactures know that little tidbit. Not so useless, is it?
   Sometimes, as I think about what I may write, its like banging my head against the wall. If I were to do that for an hour, I would burn 150 calories. OK. OK I hear you laughing.Explains a great deal doesn't it?
   Well...with a storehouse of information like this,who knows. I may be ready for the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" TV show.