Trivia for Squiggle #8

Sorry to post this so late in the Thursday afternoon...I bet you all thought I forgot about today's installment of trivia...hehe... It's just been another crazy day in this already insane week. This 8th issue of Trivia for Squiggle contains useless facts about art, books, and the Bible!

176. Ancient Chinese artists would never paint pictures of women's feet.

177. At the age of 26, Michelangelo began sculpting his monumental statue of David. He finished it seventeen months later, in January, 1504.

178. If any of the heads on Mt. Rushmore had a body, it would be nearly 500 feet tall.

179. The estimated weight of the Great Pyramid of Egypt is 6,648,000 tons.

180. The great Gothic cathedral of Milan was started in 1386, and wasn't completed until 1805.

181. X-ray technology has shown there are 3 different versions of the Mona Lisa under the visible one.

182. Dr. Seuss wrote "Green Eggs and Ham" after his editor dared him to write a book using fewer than 50 different words.

183. Edgar Allan Poe introduced mystery fiction's first fictional detective, Auguste C. Dupin, in his 1841 story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."

184. Frank Baum named "Oz" after a file cabinet in his office. One cabinet was labeled "A to N," and the second was labeled "O to Z."

185. Cinderella's slippers were originally made out of fur. The story was changed in the 1600s by a translator. It was the left shoe that Aschenputtel (Cinderella) lost at the stairway, when the prince tried to follow her.

186. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published March 20, 1852. It was the first American novel to sell one million copies.

187. John Milton used 8,000 different words in his poem, "Paradise Lost."

188. Sherlock Holmes never said 'Elementary, my dear Watson.'

189. The original story from Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights begins, 'Aladdin was a little Chinese boy.'

190. Almonds and pistachios are the only nuts mentioned in the Bible.

191. Strict Puritan laws had their origins from practical reasons. Smoking was banned - farmers would raise badly needed food crops instead of tobacco. Cooking was banned on Sundays - to prevent house fires during the long hours the family was at church. Young men were banned from hunting - to prevent weapons from falling into Indian hands.

192. One of the holiest Christian holidays is named after a pagan goddess. The name "Easter" derives from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, who governed the vernal equinox.

193. The shortest verse in the Bible consists of two words: "Jesus wept" (John 11:35).

194. Seven suicides are recorded in the Bible.

195. The seven archangels are Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Chamuel, Jophiel, and Zadkiel.

196. The Seven Deadly Sins are lust, pride, anger, envy, sloth, avarice and gluttony.

197. The seven virtues are prudence, courage, temperance, justice, faith, hope and charity.

198. In Christian theology there are nine choirs of angels. From highest to lowest, they are: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, and angels.

199. Some biblical scholars believe that Aramaic (the language of the ancient Bible) did not contain an easy way to say 'many things' and used a term which has come down to us as 40. This means that when the bible -- in many places -- refers to '40 days,' they meant many days.

200. The Bible devotes some 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but over 2000 verses on money and posessions.

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