Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Fact or Fiction?

Here are five little-known facts. Or stuff the Bag Lady just made up.

Fact Number One: Most people hang pictures too high on their walls. Short people are especially prone to this. Hang your pictures so the centre is at a comfortable eye level. Unless you are under 4 feet tall. Then hang it a little higher. (no offense to the vertically-challenged)

Fact Number Two: The very first moving picture was of a man sneezing. Thomas Edison patented the peephole Kinetoscope in 1893. By 1895, the first cinema opened in Paris.

Fact Number Three: Preserving food by canning was invented in 1809. Canned fruits and meats were first available for sale in 1880.

Fact Number Four: The first vacuum cleaner was invented in England in 1901 by Hubert Cecil Booth. It was operated from the street via a long hose. William Hoover developed a lightweight, upright version for ease of use inside the home in 1907.

Fact Number Five: It took almost 130 years after the invention of the can for the first can opener to be invented. (That’s a long time to wait for supper…) At first, people had to open cans with a hammer and chisel.

The Bag Lady might have made one of these facts up (she can't remember). Care to guess which one?

18 comments:

Hilary said...

Ah well I'd have to say that the first one is an opinion, rather than a fact, but it's one with which I agree.. that most people hang them too high, but ...

If pictures are at eye level when standing, then to me, they're way too high. And nope, I'm not short.

Opinion: A picture should be at a comfortable viewing height for when you're seated if it's a room in which you sit, and when standing if it's a work area (like a kitchen).

Essentially, standing eye-level for the kitchen, and between one and six inches above the back of a sofa, a bed's headboard or other pieces of furniture. Otherwise it looks as if they're floating up above the room and don't belong to the grouping.

Most people seem to place pictures right between the back of the sofa and ceiling height.. shudder!

the Bag Lady said...

Hilary - you are in total agreement with the Bag Lady. And very clever, too.
The Bag Lady is having trouble concentrating...too much noise in the background...

Leah J. Utas said...

I believe everything you say and doubly believe everything that you write.

Crabby McSlacker said...

Wow, lots of interesting facts.

And we're moving in a few months, so the picture hanging discussion will come in very handy. I think we've probably been hanging them too high, so will keep this in mind.

And so, if the can-opener thing is true, how the hell did they open the cans?

the Bag Lady said...

dfLeah, hehehehe, if the Bag Lady could concentrate, she'd have a witty come-back...sigh.
Crabby - it's true, actually, that most people do hang pictures too high. (what Hilary said....)
Aaaarrrgh

the Bag Lady said...

Crabby - see what the Bag Lady means? She totally meant to answer your can-opening question -- the used a hammer and chisel. Honest.

Terrie Farley Moran said...

df Bag Lady,

I think you are trying to fool us with the vacuum cleaner coming in from the street thing!

There--I've committed to an answer.

Terrie

the Bag Lady said...

dfTerrie - no, it's true. Honest. The Bag Lady read it in a book.
And books never lie, right?

Reb said...

The can opener - if it took 130 years, then that means that one of mom & dads is very valuable, I hope you still have it! ;)

the Bag Lady said...

Did the Bag Lady have something valuable? Hell and damnation, why didn't someone tell her?

P.O.M. said...

I am PMSing today and I just can't handle this kind of stress.

Pass the martini please.

the Bag Lady said...

Ah, POM, the Bag Lady remembers PMS. Vaguely. Now she just has hot flashes, weight gain, memory loss, mood swings, night sweats, headaches and can't f*cking drink anymore!!! But no blood. Yippee.

Emily said...

Wow Bag Lady, with your response to P.O.M. I think I'd rather die prematurely than live to menopause. Just kidding...I enjoy teasing my MIL when she has hot flashes- she spent Christmas standing in the door way because she said it was too hot in my house : )

the Bag Lady said...

Oh, yes Emily - enjoy the PMSing...'cause menopause sneaks up on you so fast, and it's miserable! The Bag Lady has spent many a time standing on her deck in icy weather, enjoying the cold!

Hilary said...

Oh Baggie, don't scare her off! It's not that bad for everyone. At least not so far...

the Bag Lady said...

Hil, were you born that lucky, or do you have to work at it?!! Are you saying you don't have hot flashes?
Sheesh.

Geosomin said...

um...can opener?

Anonymous said...

Good words.