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

OCT 2016


Previous Archives

DATEFACT OF THE DAY
10/1/16     Eating 6 large carrots is equivalent to drinking 8 ounces of carrot juice. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/2/16     Weight loss in anorexics is most obvious in the arms and legs. The loss of subcutaneous fat (fat directly under the skin layers) makes the shape of the bones very easy to see. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
10/3/16     During an average lifetime, the heart will pump nearly 1.5 million barrels of blood - enough to fill 200 train tank cars. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/4/16     Since ancient Greece, the apple has been a symbol of love. The Celts believed that the apple represented love because it lasted so long after being picked. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/5/16     There are more than 400 references to gold in the Bible, including specific instructions from God to cover furniture in the tabernacle with "pure gold." Gold is also mentioned as one of the gifts of the Magi. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/6/16     In America, television soap opera weddings attract more viewers than a presidential address. - Provided by FactRetriever.com>
10/7/16     White Castle, started by J. Walter Anderson and Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram, is considered to be the first fast food restaurant. Its major product was a hamburger, which had been sold as sandwiches by street vendors since the 1890s. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/8/16     During a 75-year period beginning in 1645, astronomers detected almost no sunspot activity on the sun. Called the "Maunder Minimum," this event coincided with the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, a 350-year cold spell that gripped much of Europe and North America. However, new estimates determine that the change in brightness was perhaps not enough to create this global cooling. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/9/16     Scientists suggest that stress is part of the evolutionary drive because it has enabled humans to survive. Specifically, stress temporarily increases awareness and improves physical performance. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/10/16     Every year, nearly four million cats are eaten in Asia. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/11/16     The first person to decorate a Christmas tree was reportedly the Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546). According to legend, he was so moved by the beauty of the stars shining between the branches of a fir tree, he brought home an evergreen tree and decorated it with candles to share the image with his children. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/12/16     Greece has more international airports than most countries because so many foreign tourists want to visit. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/13/16     The U.S. Census Bureau defines race as a social category recognized by the United States and does not attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. The Census Bureau recognizes five categories of race: White (people with origins in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa,) Black or African American (Africa), American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. The census also includes an Hispanic ethnic category. - Provided by FactRetriever.com>
10/14/16     Falling dreams typically occur at the beginning of the night, in Stage I sleep. These dreams are often accompanied by muscle spasms, called myoclonic jerks, and are common in many mammals. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/15/16     The population of Thailand is 67,091,089, which is ranked 20th in the world. The ranking takes into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/16/16     The Spanish word peso means "weight." In English it was known as "a piece of eight." - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/17/16     Images of dolphins have been found carved far within the desert city of Petra, Jordan. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/18/16     One of the first missing children in America was Virginia Dare, who was the first baby born in the New World on Roanoke Island in 1587. When her grandfather left for England for more resources and then returned three years later, he couldn't find the toddler - or any of the other settlers. The only clue was the word Croatan, which was carved on one of the settlement posts. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/19/16     Laser surgery is the most effective way to remove a tattoo. The laser penetrates the skin and breaks up the tattoo pigments so that they can be carried away naturally by the body's immune system. Black is the easiest color to remove because it absorbs more laser waves. Green and yellow are more difficult to remove. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/20/16     French physician Francois Bernier was the first to use the word "race" as a category for scientifically classifying humans in a 1684 essay titled "A New Division of the Earth, According to the Different Species or Races of Men Who Inhabit It." - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/21/16     Approximately two-thirds of people tip their head to the right when they kiss. Some scholars speculate this preference starts in the womb. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/22/16     Lace is often used on Valentine decorations. The word "lace" comes from the Latin laques, meaning "to snare or net," as in to catch a person's heart. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/23/16     Swiftlet nests are made from strands of saliva from the male swiftlet bird. Swiftlet nests collected from Thai caves can fetch more than $900 per pound. It is one of the world's most coveted and expensive food items. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/24/16     On average, flying fish can glide 160 feet (50m), but have been known to glide as far as 660 feet (200 m). And they can reach heights up to 19 feet (6m). - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/25/16     Cats have about 130,000 hairs per square inch (20,155 hairs per square centimeter). - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/26/16     Retailers rely on several psychological triggers to attract consumers into their store, such as placing limits on items, offering "gifts" with purchase, employing visual tricks, and declaring that sales are ending soon (when in fact discounts are common throughout the season). - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/27/16     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 FactRetriever.com
10/28/16     In 2011, archeologists discovered an enormous statue of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III (grandfather of Tutankhamen). One of the largest statues ever found, it was actually first discovered in 1923 and then re-hidden. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/29/16     As related in the epic Gilgamesh, dreams were highly regarded in ancient Mesopotamia as omens of the future or ways in which a dreamer could access other realities, such as the afterlife. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/30/16     Dogs in a pack are more likely to chase and hunt than a single dog on its own. Two dogs are enough to form a pack. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
10/31/16     During the temperance movement of the 1890s, marijuana was commonly recommended as a substitute for alcohol. The reason for this was that use of marijuana did not lead to domestic violence while alcohol abuse did. - Provided by FactRetriever.com


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