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Beatrix Potter of Peter Rabbit fame once received a letter from a 6 year old child who wrote of his disappointment with her latest tale, the Tale of Pigling Bland.

The author then wrote a letter of apology to the child explaining that even though she had been quite ill at the time, her publishers had twisted her arm into producing her annual Christmas book.

Potter admitted that because of this her story was not very good, but she promised to do a much better job next time.

In 2006, the letter went up for auction, fetching a purchase price of £8,200.
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computer mouse
This year the humble and much overlooked computer mouse turned 45 years old.

Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute invented the first mouse in 1963. Looking more like a wooden box with a cord hanging out more than anything else, (pictured) the mouse was so named because it did look like it had the tail of a mouse running out of it.
1st first computer mouse
The 1st computer mouse.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Charles Darwin A DISGRACE!

July 16th 2008 10:30
young Charles Darwin
When Charles Darwin was growing up he was considered by his teachers to be quite a disgrace.

His school reports made mention of the fact that he cared little for study and only for shooting, riding and beetle collecting.

[ Click here to read more ]
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TODAY Is LEAP DAY!!!

February 29th 2008 09:00
leaping frog
No it's not the day for leaping over lilyponds or frogs for that matter, instead it is the 29th of February, that strange 'extra' day that we receive once every four years when a 'Leap Year occurs'. So the date of February the 29th becomes known as Leap Day or Bissextile day.

So why do we have this phenomenon?

[ Click here to read more ]
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Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
In 1939, the management of the Chicago based Montgomery Ward department store decided to ask one of their employees, Robert L. May, to compose a story book for the children visiting their store that Christmas.

Drawing on his own experiences as a child and drawing on the line of thought from Hans Christian Anderson's "The Ugly Duckling", Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer was composed, published and handed out to a total of 2.4 million children.

[ Click here to read more ]
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BLACK And/Or WHITE Dogs BEWARE!

September 10th 2007 12:32
Here's an ancient facts guaranteed to make your black, white or both coloured dog shiver right down to his paws.....

dalmation free
During ancient times in Japan when the townspeople wanted rain, they would shoot an arrow at a black dog, and if they wanted fine weather they would shoot an arrow at a white dog.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Rubber Duckie, You're The One!

April 20th 2007 00:25
rubber duck free clipart

We're all familiar with the popular concept of the floating bathtub toy known as the Rubber Duck, although these days some ducks are too hoity-toity for simple bath time fun as discussed in a previous post about quirky Valentine's Day gifts.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Origins of The Easter BUNNY!

April 4th 2007 00:25
easter bunny rabbit
So where did the Easter Bunny come from and what does he really have to do with Easter?

As Christian religion was blended with pagan religion in a lot of areas to convert people more easily, the timing of the pagan festival of Eastre/Eostre coincided with the timing of the resurrection of Christ.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Even More Australian Facts

February 20th 2007 00:25
Parliament House, Canberra
* In 1977, Alan Jones scored a surprise victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. Initially officials were going to play the Austrian anthem but then realised that Australia and Austria were not the same country. Unfortunately, they didn't have the Australian anthem so instead a local drunk played "Happy Birthday to You" on a trumpet.

* In 1983, the yacht "Australia II" ended the Americans 132 year dominance of the America's cup.

[ Click here to read more ]
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