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

MAY 2015


Previous Archives

DATEFACT OF THE DAY
5/1/15     The probability of a first marriage ending in a divorce within 5 years is 20%, but the probability of a premarital cohabitation breaking up within 5 years is 49%. After 10 years, the probability of a first marriage ending is 33%, compared with 62% for cohabitations. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/2/15     The average child in America watches over 40,000 television commercials in a year, or over 100 a day. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/3/15     Small pieces of mirror were sometimes used on the more expensive and elaborate Valentine cards produced during the golden ages of Valentines (1830s-1850s). "Mirror" comes from the same Latin verb as "admire": mirari, "to wonder." - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/4/15     People who lost their homes during the Great Depression often lived in what were called "Hoovervilles," or shanty towns, that were named after President Herbert Hoover. There was also "Hoover Stew" (food dished out in soup kitchens), "Hoover Blankets" (newspapers that served as blankets), "Hoover Hogs" (jack rabbits used as food), and "Hoover Wagons" (broken cars that were pulled by mules). - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/5/15     Many who were killed in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami were women and children. Many women were reportedly waiting along the beaches for their husbands to return from fishing, and children were simply too weak to fight the strong currents. About one third of the dead were children and, in many locations, four times as many women as men were killed. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/6/15     Only 12 people have been on the moon: the astronauts on the Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/7/15     Greek ships make up 70% of the European Union's total merchant fleet. According to Greek law, 75% of a ship's crew must be Greek. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/8/15     Although Earth's plates are made of solid rock, they buckle and twist like slabs of warm clay when they collide. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/9/15     In 1938, Orson Wells broadcasted an adaption of H.G. Wells' War of the World on the radio. The broadcast caused mass panic in nearly 3 million of the 6 million listeners. Psychologists note that even highly educated people believed it because it was on the radio and thus "authoritative." They also note that media manipulation of our minds is a regular art form. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/10/15     The first Mother's Day was held on May 10, 1908, and was organized by Anna Jarvis in West Virginia and Philadelphia. As the event gained popularity throughout the country, Congress designated the second Sunday in May as a national day of recognition for mothers in 1914. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/11/15     The Monte Testaccio is a vast, nonbiodegradable garbage dump in Rome where an estimated 53 million amphorae (ceramic vases) were thrown. It is one of the largest and most organized dumps found anywhere in the ancient world. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/12/15     During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Innocent VIII condemned cats as evil and thousands of cats were burned. Unfortunately, the widespread killing of cats led to an explosion of the rat population, which exacerbated the effects of the Black Death. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/13/15     Plastic bags are easier to recycle and require less energy to produce than paper bags. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/14/15     Lincoln Logs are named after President Abraham Lincoln and the log cabin where he was born. John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Francis Lloyd Wright, invented them. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/15/15     Haiti is the second oldest independent nation in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/16/15     Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression than men. Women may be at a higher risk for depression due in part to estrogen, which may alter the activity of neurotransmitters that contribute to depression. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/17/15     Over 80% of items buried in landfills could be recycled instead. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/18/15     While the brains of most mammals have a relatively smooth surface, the brains of humans are extremely convoluted. The dolphin brain is even more "folded" than humans and was this way millions of years before the first appearance of humans. Scientists often measure intelligence by the number of brain "folds." - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/19/15     Many of the ingredients in chocolate are proven to cause arousal similar in effect to sexual foreplay. In fact, some experts believe chocolate may be even more effective than foreplay for sexual arousal. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/20/15     The highest mountain in the world (29,028 feet) is named in honor of the Englishman Sir George Everest who was the first surveyor of India. The Chinese call Mount Everest Qomolangma, which means "Mother Goddess of the Earth." - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/21/15     The ability of a cat to find its way home is called "psi-traveling." Experts think cats either use the angle of the sunlight to find their way or that cats have magnetized cells in their brains that act as compasses. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/22/15     The hurricane season in 2008 stripped approximately 70% of Haiti's crops. This damage was the most expensive in Haiti's history at an estimated $1 billion. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/23/15     Polar bears have the largest home ranges of any bear. One polar bear can hunt and live in an area as big as Maine. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/24/15     Austin, Texas is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. Over 1.5 million bats roost beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge over Lady Bird Lake and eat between 10,000 - 30,000 lbs. of insects a night. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/25/15     Memorial Day was a response to the unprecedented carnage of the Civil War, in which some 620,000 soldiers on both sides died. The loss of life and its effect on communities throughout the country led to spontaneous commemorations of the dead. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/26/15     Artillery barrage and mines created immense noise. In 1917, explosives blowing up beneath the German lines on Messines Ridge at Ypres in Belgium could be heard in London 140 miles (220 km) away. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/27/15     When Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes arrived in 1519, the Aztecs believed he was their returning god, Quetzalcoatl, and offered him the drink of the gods: hot chocolate. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/28/15     In 2008, nearly 50,000 kilos of cocaine were seized in the U.S. during drug arrests. The wholesale street value of this amount of cocaine was approximately $1.5 billion. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/29/15     President Thomas Jefferson had a family of plants named after him, Jeffersonia diphylla, which is also known as twin root or rheumatism root. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/30/15     Heart disease accounts for 40% of all U.S. deaths, more than all forms of cancer combined. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
5/31/15     Current supporters of medical marijuana believe the drug has significant medical value for patients who suffer from AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and chronic pain. Several studies have been published to support and document this belief. - Provided by RandomHistory.com


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2015
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2014
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2013
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2012
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2011
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2010
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