The First Book of Factoids | Page 9

New Zealand were singled out as
British allies and enemy powers.
The document was declassified in 1974. It was only the last of many
such color-coded contingency plans.
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcanadawar.html

Candidate

White in Latin is "candicans". Pure white, bright, shining - is
"candidus". Hence the English words "candid" and "candidate". The
word "candidus" is derived from "candere" - glow, shine, be white, or

guileless. Hence the
words candle, incandescent.
Political candidates in Rome wore a chalk-powdered white toga.
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/candidate
http://faculty.whatcom.ctc.edu/lthomp/personal/wordfor.htm

Capone, Alphonse ("Al")
The "fact" that Alphonse ("Al") Capone (1899-1947) evaded justice
numerous times and was finally indicted for income tax evasion in
1931 - is untrue. It is a partial myth.
As his FBI file (see link below) makes clear, Capone was apprehended
and did time in prison prior to his conviction for tax fraud.
In the 1920s, the FBI was not authorized to investigate gangsters and
organized crime.
Capone's first arrest - by the FBI - was for contempt of court. He posted
bond and was released.
Then, in May 1929, as the FBI recounts: "Al Capone and his bodyguard
were arrested in Philadelphia for carrying concealed deadly weapons.
Within 16 hours they had been sentenced to terms of one year each.
Capone served his time and was released in nine months for good
behavior on March 17, 1930.
On February 28, 1936, Capone was found guilty in Federal Court on
the Contempt of Court charge and was sentenced to six months in Cook
County Jail. His appeal on that charge was subsequently dismissed."
At first, Capone pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges - but he later
changed his plea when the judge informed him that he is not bound by
any deals he may have made with the prosecution. In 1931, he was
ultimately sentenced to 11 years in prison of which he served more than
7.
He contracted syphilis which affected his brain and in his last years in
seclusion he has mentally regressed to the age of 12.
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/capone/capone.htm
http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/american_originals/capone.html

Car Race
The first car race in the Unites States, sponsored by the Chicago

Times-Herald was held in 1895. The contestants drove from Chicago to
Waukegan. It was won by James Frank Duryea (1869-1967).
His average speed was a whopping 10 kilometers per hours (7 1/2
MPH). His brother, Charles, lost the race, driving a German Benz.
The Duryea brothers - Charles Edgar and James Frank - were
technological pioneers. They invented the first commercial American
automobile to run on gasoline in 1893-4 in their bicycle workshop and
a loft they rented. In 1895 they established the Duryea Motor Wagon
Company. It produced a total of 13 cars and went belly up in 1898.
Frank proceeded to design the prestigious and high standard
Stevens-Duryea limousine car. It was very successful. It continued to
be manufactured well into the 1920's. Charles competed with his own
self-designed three cylinder car manufactured by the Duryea Power
Company. In 1914 he gave up business and became an engineering
consultant.
http://duryea.ssi.net/links.htm
Census
The first complete world census was carried out in 1801. The results -
China (295 million people), India (131 million), Russia (33 million),
France (27 million), Ottoman Empire (21 million), Germany (14
million), Spain (11 million), Britain (10 million), Ireland and the USA
(c. 5 million each).
Data for these countries today:
China (1,302,505,000), India (1,047,074,000), Russia (142,881,000),
France (59,107,500), Turkey (71,374,700), Germany (81,947,100),
Spain (41,197,900), Britain (59,751,900), Ireland (3,917,300), USA
(288,212,300).
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jun02/mattison.htm
http://www.gazetteer.de/home.htm
http://www.ipums.umn.edu/international/
Chauvinism
Chauvinism - excessive and self-aggrandizing promotion of one's group
- is named after the hapless Nicolas Chauvin. He served as a soldier
under Napoleon. though he witnessed, first hand, the bloody crumbling
of the Grande Armee in Waterloo, he continued to praise the
invincibility and foresight of his leader. Napoleon himself, touched by
such devotion, decorated him and awarded him a pension of 200 francs.

Chauvin was born in Rochefort, France around 1780 or 1790. His 17
battle wounds resulted in disfigurement and mental instability. After
the war, he became a laughing stock and was ridiculed in several
Vaudeville plays, especially 'La Cocarde Tricolore' (1831). The terms
"Chauvinism" first appeared in Arrago's Dictionnaire de la
Conversation in 1834.
http://humanityquest.com/topic/Index.asp?theme1=chauvinism
Chicago (musical)
The musical "Chicago" won 6 Academy awards (Oscars) in March
2003. It is based on the true story of Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan,
two ravishing and witty women murderers who became celebrities in
the 1920s.
When asked what kind of jury she needed, Gaertner responded: "I want
worldly men, broad-minded men, men who know what it is to get a
bit." She had a gig in a cabaret when she married William Gaertner, her
second husband, in 1917. William was convinced from the start that
Belva was being unfaithful to him. They both hired gumshoes, who
spent their time mostly