Everybody’s Talking

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House of gold: Someone who wants to see a real house of gold will have to go to Vietnam. There, in the city of Can Tho, is a three-story home that is gilded in gold, inside and out. It was built by a real estate entrepreneur named Nguyen Van Trung, who opened his home to tourists after seeing the public’s interest in the place. To be sure, not everything in the house is real gold: many items are merely painted in that lustrous color. However, the effect is mesmerizing because everything, including chairs, kitchen cabinets, ceiling fixtures, decorative items, and rugs are all touched with gold.

No fun: French employees who just want to get their work done, forgoing the usual “fun” stuff like going out for lunch or dinner with colleagues, can rest assured that they are allowed to do just that. As a matter of fact, they can be as boring as they’d like at work. That was made clear when a man, who was fired for not being “fun,” took his employer to court and won. Known as “Mr. T” for privacy reasons, the man simply did not want to go out with his fellow staff members, and the courts agreed that he should not be obliged to do so. No more legislating “fun” in a company’s policy manual!

Hidden homes: When visiting the islands of Greece, tourists usually find sun-drenched villages by the sea. That quality can be found today on Ikaria, but it wasn’t always so on this far-flung isle in the Aegean Sea, about 213 kilometers (133 mi.) east of Athens. Over the centuries, Ikaria was vulnerable to pirate raids, but the island’s people came up with an ingenious defense. They built squat rock homes up in the mountains. The homes were barely visible to someone walking by them, let alone by pirates in the sea. The trick worked because Ikaria looked uninhabited and not worth the trouble for pirate ships to visit.

Herd mentality: A sheep farmer in Inner Mongolia in northern China witnessed some strange behavior from some of his animals. Identified as Miao, the farmer found the group of sheep continually walking in circles in their pen, with a few standing in the middle. But only the sheep in pen number 13 were walking in circles, which was odd because there were 33 other pens on the farm. Experts ruled out disease as the cause, and figured that the sheep were bored. When a few of them started walking in circles, others followed because of their pack animal mentality. All the sheep seemed to be in good health, but the behavior is not very common.

Quoteable Quotes

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“To the world you may just be one person, but to one person
you may be the world.”

—Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

“Great necessities call out great virtues.”

—Abigail Adams

What’s Happening

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Trivia

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1. Who wrote the 1954 novel Lucky Jim?

2. How many species of ants have been identified in the world?

3. A volcanic mudflow is a lahar, avalanche, or magma river?

4. A dish labeled “Florentine” usually is prepared with spinach, potatoes, or apples?

5. What is a baby rhinoceros called?

Your Weekly Horoscope

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Lucky numbers this week:   This week’s odds favor Aquarius winners with the luckiest number being 20.

Did You Know...

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Pretty tree: The fast-growing Tibetan cherry tree (Prunus serrula) is native to western China and Tibet. Its bark is coppery red in color, and it blooms with white flowers. Its cherries are not edible.

Purple flag: When headed to the beach for a day of fun in the ocean, be aware that if a purple flag is flying, marine pests could be present, such as jellyfish and stingrays. Sharks are signaled by red flags.

Secret passageway: A cozy dining place in Amsterdam is Café Papeneiland. Run by the same family since it opened in 1642, the café is known for its appeltaart (apple pie). It also has a secret tunnel to a nearby church.

Wizard man: Inventor Thomas Edison was known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park.” He had a research site in Menlo Park, New Jersey (U.S.), in the late 1800s where he and his staff worked on different inventions.

Keeping cool: Summer heat waves can be harmful to your health! When temperatures climb, stay cool in an air-conditioned space like a home, store, or library. Limit exercise, drink lots of water, and wear loose, lightweight clothing.

On the Lighter Side

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Never play hide and seek with a mountain. They always peak.

I’ve just read a book about camping. It was in tents.

Patient: “Were my test results negative?”

Doctor: “Yes, but it was an IQ test.”

Knock! Knock! Who’s there? Duet. Duet who? Duet right, or don’t duet at all.

Why was the dot-to-dot struggling? It was having a hard time connecting.

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Trivia answers:

1. Kingsley Amis 2. Over 12,000 3. Lahar 4. Spinach 5. Calf