Three Bits o Trivia

Meccas, Los Angeles and California

The holy city of Mecca has a namesake in the California desert. It is a short drive from Palm Springs.

In addition to its slow march north to Alaska, Los Angeles, California is moving east. At a rate estimated to be about one-fifth of an inch per year, the city is moving closer to the San Gabriel Mountains.

One-tenth of all California workers in 2006 live in a household where all adults speak only Spanish.

Bald Eagles, Salmon and Whales

Bald eagles build 5-8 foot nests.

Salmon only spawn once.

The maximum recorded lifespan of a Blue Whale is 110 years.

Lions, Tigers and Polar Bears

Lions are today found naturally only in Africa.

Tigers are the largest cat species, but unlike most cats, they love the water, which must come as a relief to zookeepers who need to keep the animals clean and healthy.

Polar bears have hair on the soles of their feet.

Landings, Seattle and Washington

The last three Apollo moon landing missions were cancelled.

Seattle's Space Needle housed America's first revolving restaurant.

Washington has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined.

Magic, Draft Picks and Hall of Famers

The draft pick used by the Lakers to get Magic Johnson in the 1979 NBA draft, was compensation for the New Orleans Jazz signing Gail Goodrich as a free agent.

The Celtics were the first NBA franchise to draft an African-American player, and the first team to start five black players.

Dave Cowens is the only member of the basketball Hall of Fame to have been taken with the fourth pick of the draft.

Eggs, Water and Hydrogen

The yolk is not the baby bird. It is actually the chick's food, which nourishes it as it grows inside the egg.

More than 1 billion people worldwide lack consistent access to clean water.

Outside its rocky core, Jupiter is about 90% hydrogen.

St. Jean Baptiste, Polar Bears and Glaciers

June 23 is St. Jean Baptiste Day, and also is Quebec's "national" holiday.

The latin name for polar bear, ursus maritimus, literally means "sea bear."

According to the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, as of 2006, Himalayan glaciers were actually growing larger.

Telegraphs, Russian Alaska and the Klondike

The first telegraph lines to the Yukon goldrush town of Skagway, Alaska weren't in place until 1901, four years after famous con man Soapy Smith opened the town's telegraph office.

Kodiak was the capitol city of czarist Alaska.

The Nordstroms and the Trumps both made their first family fortunes in the Klondike gold rush of 1898.

Happiness, Father's Day and Lawrence

Older men, and particularly Republican older men, report feeling greater feelings of happiness than younger folks, women, and members of other American political parties.

Father's Day has a widely acknowledged "mother." Sonora Dodd, of Spokane, Washington, is credited with the idea of a day to celebrate dads, like we already did with Mother's Day.

It was a motorcycle that killed English soldier T.E. Lawrence, better known to most folks as Lawrence of Arabia.

Dolphins, Killer Whales and Late Sunsets

A false killer whale can produce offspring with a bottlenose dolphin.

Killer whales can be found in all the world's oceans, from the arctics to the tropics.

Barrow, Alaska, is the northernmost settlement in the United States. From May to August, its residents go 82 straight days without a sunset.