LightGramsAugust 7, 2025Volume 29, Number 24 Seoul National University in South Korea recently offered scholarships of up to $540, and more than 1,400 students have applied for just 70 spots. These are not academic scholarships, nor ones based on sports. Instead, students must climb at least six mountains. There are about 100 mountains students can…
Posts by Tim Hall (Page 4)
LightGramsJuly 31, 2025Volume 29, Number 23 Anyone who is a roller coaster enthusiast probably knows about Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. According to Wikipedia, it’s the second oldest continuously operating amusement park in the U.S., having first opened in 1870. Another of its claims to fame is that it now boasts 17 roller coasters. The…
LightGramsJuly 24, 2025Volume 29, Number 22 You might think that I dozed while typing the title of this installment, but it’s the title of a Facebook post entered July 21 by the Carlisle East Fire Station in Britain. Use a little deduction and it won’t be hard to guess the story they related. Four cows…
LightGramsJuly 10, 2025Volume 29, Number 21 Harvard University has collections of historical documents. One notable group is nearly 30 copies of the Magna Carta. One copy was purchased in 1946 for $27.50 from Sotheby’s in London. It was considered to be a “sheriff’s copy” of the document, interesting, but not nearly as valuable as an…
LightGramsJuly 3, 2025Volume 29, Number 20 Zara Lachlan was 21 years old when she announced her plan to row across the Atlantic Ocean. That announcement came on July 2, 2024, and on October 27 she put into sea at Lagos, Portugal. She completed her quest in 97 days, spending an average of 17 hours a…
LightGramsJune 19, 2025Volume 29, Number 19 Here’s a tip to file away: If you’re going to lose a diamond from your ring, be sure to make it happen at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Workers there have a track record in finding what’s valuable. April Schmitt was returning from a business trip this past Friday (Friday…
LightGramsJune 12, 2025Volume 29, Number 18 May 7, 2025 was the official start date for having to provide REAL ID when boarding a flight. The law requiring this strengthening of security was passed in 2005, but the official beginning was pushed back several times for various reasons. The most recent delay was due to COVID.…
LightGramsMay 8, 2025Volume 29, Number 16 Holly LaFavers of Lexington, Kentucky was not prepared for what was on her doorstep in late April of this year. There on her porch were 30 cases of Dum-Dum lollipops, each containing 2,340 suckers. The order was from Amazon, and the invoice with the order showed that $4,200 was…
LightGramsMay 1, 2025Volume 29, Number 15 A story from last week helps confirm our belief that there are still good people in this world. The good person in this story was a trooper with the Michigan State Police. He found a bundle of cash in the middle of the road. Instead of slipping it in…
LightGramsApril 24, 2025Volume 29, Number 14 Did you think “cheetah” when you read the title of this article? Cheetahs deserve honorable mention as “one of the fastest animals” on earth. They have been clocked going 75 miles per hour as they pursue their prey. But there’s an animal that more than doubles that speed. The…