When I woke up this morning many things popped into my mind about privacy and the freedoms we have in the U.S., as well as in other parts of the world. I thought about writing about some of them, but then decided that I just wanted to jot off a few fun facts about today's U.S. holiday instead...

* Some interesting facts about Independence Day from the U.S. Census Bureau:

^ "On this day in 1826 -- the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence -- two men who helped form the young nation, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both died."
^ "And in 1884, France presented the Statue of Liberty to the United States."
^ "It was on this day in 1776 that the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, starting some 2.5 million people on the road to becoming a sovereign nation -- a nation that is now home to more than 301 million Americans."

* The History Channel site has several 4th of July historical facts.

* Today's issue of the San Jose Mercury News had an Independence Day quiz and many fun 4th facts; some of them include:

^ "$900 million: Current estimated total annual revenues of U.S. fireworks industry, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association."
^ "$300 million: Total revenues of professional pyrotechnics used in municipal and commercial shows in 2005. About 75 percent were used on July 4."
^ "150 million: Number of hot dogs expected to be consumed by Americans today - about one for every two people - according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council."

* Today's Chicago Sun Times gave many different people's opinions about what the 4th means to them; many of these are politicians and/or celebrities.

* Today's issue of the Lawrence, Kansas Journal World gave some interesting stories of Independence Day celebrations in past years.

* And not directly Indepedence Day related, other than the fact crickets are chirping tody, I heard this little fact a couple of days ago, and thought it was really cool. You can accurately tell the current temperature by counting the number of cricket chirps. Just count the number of consistent chirps from one cricket within a 15 second period of time, add 37 to that number, and you get the current temperature, in Farenheit, for where the cricket is. I love being outside late at night listening to the sounds of nature, and I gave this a try last night...it really works!

Those of you celebrating U.S. Independence Day, have a great, happy, safe day!