TRIVIA

A palindrome is a word or sentence that reads the same backward or forward. For example: Madam, I'm Adam. Another one: Step on no pets.

The Guinness Book of World Records says that this is the hardest tongue twister: "The sixth sick sheik's sheep's sick."

About 10 million people in the world have the same birthday as you.

The shortest war in history was between England and Zanzibar in 1896. It lasted only 38 minutes. England won.

There are only two words in the English language that contain all the vowels -- a, e, i, o, u -- in the proper order. They are facetious and abstemious.

A flea can jump 200 times the length of its own body.

On the day Mark Twain was born, Halley's Comet was in the sky. He died 75 years later, the next time Halley's Comet appeared over the earth.

Coca-Cola was invented in 1896. How to make it is still a secret that only two men know today. Even when these two men travel to the same place, they fly on different airplanes so that in case one of them should die in an accident, the other would still be alive with the secret.

A "phobia" is a fear, and some people have very strange ones. Here are just a few. Chromophobia is a fear of colors. Sitophobia is a fear of food. Verbophobia is a fear of words. Pedophobia is a fear of children and dolls. Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanit butter sticking to the root of the mouth.

To fill a teaspoon full of water would take 120 drops.

Every healthy person who lives for 70 years walks about 70,000 miles in a lifetime. That is about 18,000 steps in one day.

A housefly lives for only two weeks.

Condensed from Macmillan Illustrated Almanac for Kids

When Words Appear Backwards

A dook si harb ot reab wheu you avea learmimg bisadlity.

This is what those with dyslexia might see when they attempt to read a normal sentence.

Known as the "invisible handicap" or "word blindness," dyslexia is a learning disorder that affects a person's ability to read letters or words.

Reading can become almost impossible because letters and words may appear backward, sideways or seem to float off the edge of a page. The letters most often confused are b, d, p and q. For example, dog may be seen as bog.

Dyslexics also have difficulty recognizing and remembering printed shapes. This often causes writing that is cramped and difficult to read.

Dyslexia occurs in boys three times as often as in girls and research reveals that it runs in families. Unnoticed at birth because there are no visible physical imperfections, dyslexia can affect as many as 10 percent of school-age children. What causes it is unknown and there seems to be no cure.

Dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence--most who suffer from it are above average in intelligence. The frustration occurs with the dyslexic's inability to transfer thoughts correctly to paper.

Parents and teachers not understanding the problem may accuse dyslexics of not trying hard enough or being lazy. Many dyslexics in the past have been classified as slow or retarded.

What effect can this disability have on you as a teen? There is a good chance that someone you know is dyslexic.

If so, you can help by reading assignments aloud and helping correct his or her spelling mistakes. Most important of all, accept the person.

Dyslexia is not a disease, but a difference.

- By Lu Anne Girard Warren

Taken from Youth 90 magazine