If you consider that a standard candle will burn for five hours per ounce of wax, then consider that Thomas Jefferson’s annual order of 200 lbs. of candles would provide him with 15,000 hours of single-candle illumination. Those 200 pounds of candles would have cost Jefferson about a dollar a pound, so figure total lighting expenditures of $250 a year.

In an interview on Overheard With Evan Smith on KLRU-TV, musician and songwriter Alejandro Escovedo admitted he didn’t start writing songs until he was 30.

The Byzantine Empire had a mania for wine from the Holy Land.

The Guardian reports that in western Africa, 57% of child cancers go undiagnosed. That compares to 3% in North America and western Europe.

Moon photos from the 1960s were developed in space, then made their way back to Earth in capsules equipped with heat shields, thrusters, and parachutes.

This article appears in March 8 • 2019.

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