Didja Know?

1. A leap second was added to the world’s clocks on June 30. The Earth takes 0.002 seconds longer than 24 hours to make a full rotation, so an extra second is added every few years to keep real-world clocks in sync with atomic clocks.

2. A wannabe thief chose the wrong victim when he snatched Serena Williams’ phone from a San Francisco restaurant-only to be chased down by the tennis superstar in the street. “He began to run but I was too fast,” she reported. On her return to the restaurant, she got a standing ovation.

3. Scottish-born Rabbi Mendel Jacobs unveiled the first kosher Jewish tartan registered with Scottish authorities. The plaid, made without linen to avoid rabbinic prohibitions on mixed garments, is made up of colors from the Israeli and Scottish flags.

4. Beginning on Sun., Apr. 10, the price of a first class stamp drops 2 cents, to 47 cents. The reduction is the result of an expiring surcharge that had been put in place in Jan. 2014 to help the Postal Service recoup $4.6 billion in losses dating to the Great Recession.

5. The U.S. now has the 2nd highest number of Spanish speakers in the world. There are nearly 53 million Spanish speakers in this country, putting it ahead of Columbia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and 2nd only to Mexico (121 million).

6. Kobe Bryant of the L.A. Lakers, ended his Gear career on Wed. night, Apr.13, 2016. In his final appearance on the court, he scored 60 points.

7. A Japanese maglev bullet train has broken the all-time speed record for rail vehicles, hitting 366 mph on a test track. By comparison, the fastest train operating in the U.S. is Amtrak’s Acela, which tops out at 150 mph and averages 68 mph on its Washington-to-Boston run.

8. French homeowners, in France’s Toulouse region, thought they’d fix their leaky roof which led to an amazing discovery. A painting, believed to be the work of Italian master Caravaggio, was found in a sealed off part of the attic. If authenticated, the painting worth could be estimated at $136 million.

9. Franchising isn’t cheap. It costs as much as$263,000 to open a Subway franchise, plus a $15,000 franchise fee. Taco Bell, which plans to open 2,000 new franchises by 2023, requires anywhere from $1.2 million to $2.5 million in total investment to get started.

10. Americans spent $70 billion playing lottery games in 43 states. At an average of $300 per adult, that’s more than was spent in all 50 states on sports tickets, books, video games, movie tickets and recorded music combined.