The "animal babies," "portable bed" and "trash" meanings of the word "litter" are all derived from the same Latin word, meaning "bed." Not surprisingly, the "bed" meaning entered English first, then "straw used for bedding," then it came to mean "the offspring of an animal in one birth" (that is, in one bed). The "trash" meaning came last, from the notion of strewing bits of straw.

Thanks to a tip from Lanny of Concord, Calif., we discovered the fascinating website www.hiddenmickeys.org, which reveals the locations of hidden images of Mickey Mouse that have been deliberately concealed in the designs of Disney attractions. For example, the Disneyland Toontown cobblestone street has one, as does the mural adjacent to the loading area of Epcot's Viking in the Maelstrom.

The world's largest inhabited castle is also the world's oldest in continuous operation. It is located in:
A) Japan
B) England
C) Austria
D) Egypt

Previous answer: The first male to appear on the cover of the women's fashion magazine Vogue was Richard Gere, for the November 1992 issue.

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