Bill Gates Is The Only Private Person To Own One Of Leonardo da Vinci's Notebooks

The Codex Leicester was purchased in 1995 for 30 million dollars.  Its contents detail Leonardo's ideas about water and its movement, including an illustration of what looks like a toilet.

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/codex/


*From Leonardo da Vinci by Kathleen Krull

Leonardo da Vinci Was Arrested & Tried For Homosexuality

In1476 Florence (when Leonardo was 24) an anonymous accusation was all it took to be investigated for this "crime".  After over 2 months of trials, the charges against Leonardo were dropped.

Over 70 years the department which exclusively investigated these types of charges investigated 17,000 men.  Only 3,000 were convicted.

http://www.bnl.gov/bera/activities/globe/leonardo_da_vinci.htm

*Learned while reading Leonardo da Vinci by Kathleen Krull

Andrew Jackson Was The First American President On Whom An Assassination Attempt Was Made

Though his attacker had two pistols, both misfired and Jackson was unharmed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots

*Learned while watching Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & the Presidency on PBS.

How to Pronounce Ague

http://mw4.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?ague0001=ague

I have always pronounced it "awg". :(

*Learned from Little House on the Prairie on CD

How Everyday Behaviors Can Produce Clean Energy

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/146/supertiny-power-plants.html

Fascinating!

We Can Heal What We Have Destroyed

From TED

Talk & Photography by Brian Skerry

This 16 minute talk by underwater photographer Brian Skerry doesn't really present new information.  It does present a visually graphic reminder of the problems man has caused in the oceans of the world.  I like that he ends on a hopeful note.  We can change the way we use our natural resources.

Ralph Macchio Still Looks Great

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Macchio

He's also pretty funny!
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c8ad4aa802/wax-on-f-ck-off-with-ralph-macchio

Stay cool, Pony Boy!

Sempstress Is A Synonym of Seamstress

The Sempstress by Richard Redgrave

Definitions of sempstress on the Web:

• dressmaker: someone who makes or mends dresses
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• A seamstress, a woman employed to sew
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sempstress

*I don't remember where I read this!

Teddy Roosevelt's Mother & Wife Died On the Same Day

His mother died of typhoid while his first wife, Alice, died of Bright's Disease and childbirth complications.  It was Valentine's Day 1884.

*More from the enjoyable & very well written book I am reading.

Anderson Cooper is Gloria Vanderbilt's Son

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Vanderbilt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Cooper

*My mom told me he was the son of  "someone famous"  a long time ago.  I finally got around to looking it up!

An Ounce of Gold Can Be Stretched Into a Strand 35 Miles Long

Learn more about gold!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold

*From a program on the History Channel.

Eleanor and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Were Related Before Marriage

http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/who-is-er/q-and-a/q6.htm

*Learned while studying the family tree of Alice Roosevelt in Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker