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FACT-OF-THE-DAY ARCHIVE
"Our life is what our thoughts make it."
- Marcus Aurelius

MAR 2012


Previous Archives

DATEFACT OF THE DAY
3/1/12     Ambergris (whale vomit) has been added to cigarettes for flavor. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/2/12     In Europe during the Middle Ages, the lord of the manor had a legal right to spend the first night with any non-noble bride on his land ('le droit du seigneur' or 'right of the lord'). - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/3/12     In present-day Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan, a girl who loses her virginity before her wedding day may be punished or murdered along with her lover by the males of her own family. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/4/12     A female dolphin will assist in the birth of another's baby dolphin, and if it is a difficult birth, the 'midwife' might help pull out the baby. Other dolphins, including bulls, will swim around the mother during birth to protect her. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/5/12     Some experts believe that 25% of drivers who die in auto accidents cause them subconsciously. 'Autocides' are suicides disguised as automobile accidents. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/6/12     The largest baby ever born weighed in at over 23 pounds but died just 11 hours after his birth in 1879. The largest surviving baby was born in October 2009 in Sumatra, Indonesia and weighed an astounding 19.2 pounds at birth. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/7/12     Approximately 1.2 million cases of breast cancer are diagnosed around the world each year. About 75% are found in women over age 50. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/8/12     When Martin Van Buren wrote his autobiography after serving as president from 1837-1841, he didn't mention his wife of 12 years. Not even once. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/9/12     Plastic bags are easier to recycle and require less energy to produce than paper bags. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/10/12     Cocaine hydrochloride, the purified chemical from the leaves of the coca plant, was the main active ingredient in several tonics and elixirs produced for a variety of illnesses in the early 1900s. One product, Tucker's Asthma Specific, contained 420 milligrams of cocaine per ounce of the medicine. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/11/12     The full inventory of Shakespeare's possessions, which would have listed his books and other historically important information, was probably sent to London, where such records were kept at the time. It was most likely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/12/12     Thirty percent of all Dalmatians are deaf in one or both ears. Because bulldogs have extremely short muzzles, many spend their lives fighting suffocation. Because Chihuahuas have such small skulls, the flow of spinal fluid can be restricted, causing hydrocephalus, a swelling of the brain. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/13/12     Opera music has been incorporated into many movies and commercials. For example, Delibes' 'The Flower Duet' from Lakme can be heard in The American President, Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life, Superman Returns, Meet the Parents, and many TV shows and commercials. Rossini's The Barber of Seville is featured in Babe: Pig in the City, Deep Impact, Space Jam, Under the Tuscan Sun, and an award-winning Nike commercial. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/14/12     Lina Medina, a 5-year-old Peruvian girl, was the youngest person to ever give birth. She gave birth to a boy on May 14, 1939. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/15/12     Monkeys use vocalizations, facial expressions, and body movements to communicate. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/16/12     Basking sharks are pregnant for more than two years, while other sharks, such as the bonnet head shark, are pregnant for only a few months. The longest gestation period of any mammal is the elephant, at 22 months. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/17/12     Over 180 million cases of trichomoniasis - an infection caused by parasitic trichomonads, chiefly affecting the urinary tract, vagina, or digestive system - occur worldwide per year. In the United States, it is estimated that 7.4 million new cases of trichomoniasis occur each year. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/18/12     The first printed reference to a Christmas tree was in 1531 in Germany. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/19/12     While ancient fishermen used the meat of whales for food, in the modern era whales were primarily hunted for oil and whalebone, a term used for the baleen. Whalebone was used to make corsets, umbrella ribs, handles, and brushes, while the oil was used for cooking, candle wax and, much later, making margarine. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/20/12     Spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20, 2012, at 1:14 A.M. (EDT). - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/21/12     Women in the United States increasingly began smoking publicly in the 1920s when the cigarette was adopted by advertisers as a symbol of equality, rebellion, and women's independence. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/22/12     Just a tablespoon of water in a dolphin's lung could drown it. A human could drown if two tablespoons of water were inhaled into the lungs. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/23/12     The official name of Mexico is Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States). - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/24/12     Approximately 10% of pregnancies will end in miscarriage. Many miscarriages often occur before a woman even knows she is pregnant. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/25/12     No one knows exactly why dolphins beach themselves. But because dolphins may use the magnetic field of the earth to navigate their way, some scientists believe that some places where dolphins strand have an abnormal magnetic field. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/26/12     Ancient Romans believed that seeing an owl was a bad omen, sniffing cyclamen flowers would prevent baldness, and ringing bells eased the pain of childbirth. The presence of bees, which were considered sacred messengers of the gods, were seen as a sign of good luck. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/27/12     Four out of 10 workplace dating relationships result in marriage. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/28/12     The cranium is the skull, the part of the body that encloses the brain. This large dome of bone is actually made from eight separate bones. They grow and fuse together during early childhood to form the rigid case, the cranium, which protects the brain and sense organs. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/29/12     Apes originated on Earth about 35 million years ago, and the first apelike men appeared about 10 million years ago. The modern human species of Homo sapien has existed on the earth for only 100,000 years. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/30/12     The average life expectancy ranges throughout the world from a high of 84.36 years in Macau to just 31.88 years in the African nation of Swaziland. Experts attribute the low life expectancy in many African countries to high rates of HIV/AIDS infection. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/31/12     Brains in love and brains in lust are not identical. Erotic photos activate the hypothalamus (which controls hunger and thirst) and the amygada (arousal) areas of the brain. Love activates areas of the brain with a high concentration of receptors for dopamine (associated with euphoria, craving, and addiction) and its relative, norepinephrine. - Provided by RandomHistory.com


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