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

MAY 2018


Previous Archives

DATE FACT OF THE DAY
5/1/18      A picture of Gandalf the Grey (from The Lord of the Rings) can be seen in the collection of great wizards in Professor Dumbledore's study in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/2/18      Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891-1958) created the LEGO Group in 1932 as a way to use old wood from his failed carpentry business. He patented the now famous interlocking LEGO blocks in 1949. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/3/18      In 1923, Mark Sennett, Harry Chandler, and the Los Angeles Times put up the "Hollywoodland" (later shortened to "Hollywood") sign to publicize a real estate development. The sign cost $21,000. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/4/18      The record for the longest conga line was set when nearly 12,000 people conga-ed in Miami, Florida, on March 13, 1988. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/5/18      A University of Pennsylvania study found that 33% of teachers leave within the first three years of beginning their careers and 46% leave within the first five. The numbers have been increasing since the late 1980s. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/6/18      Worldwide, 12% - or 775 million adults - are considered functionally illiterate. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/7/18      Famous college dropouts include Reggie Jackson, Steve Jobs, Ben Affleck, Woody Allen, Hans Christian Anderson, Dan Aykroyd, Kate Beckinsale, James Cameron, and Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook). - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/8/18      In the United States alone there are nearly 700,000 physicians. In appreciation of doctors and physicians, National Doctor's Day is celebrated on March 30 every year, commemorating the day that general anesthesia was used in surgery for the first time. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/9/18      A charter school's "charter" serves as a performance contract between the school and the state government. Charter schools must be able to satisfy the state that they are fulfilling their mission and realizing student success in order to renew their contracts, typically every three to five years. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/10/18      Twenty-one percent of the Japanese population is elderly (over the age of 65), the highest proportion in the world. There are more elderly than there are children in Japan today. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/11/18      Mongolia is the most sparsely populated nation in the world, with only 4.3 people per square mile. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/12/18      The Forbidden City was so named because commoners were forbidden to enter the city. Any commoner who saw the emperor was killed. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/13/18      Americans spend $14.6 billion on gifts on Mother's Day, including $671 million on cards and $1.9 billion on flowers. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/14/18      The body can detect taste in .0015 seconds, which is faster than the blink of an eye. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/15/18      Left-handedness is twice as common in twins than in the general population. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/16/18      Sleep is a universal characteristic of complex living organisms and has been observed in insects, mollusks, fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/17/18      A kitchen faucet would need to be turned on all the way for at least 45 years to equal the amount of blood pumped by the heart in an average lifetime. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/18/18      One hundred years ago, meat, fat, and sugar between them contributed only 15% of the total number of calories in an average diet. Today, the figure in nearer to 60%. The quantity of fiber has dropped a whopping 90%. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/19/18      Studies show that yoga reduces the risk of heart disease by improving arterial flow. Similarly, studies show that yoga also helps treat diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/20/18      The longest walk around the world was completed by a former neon-sign salesman, Jean Beliveau. He walked 46,600 miles around 64 countries. The trip took him 11 years. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/21/18      Several groups have called on organic food producers not to use nanotechnology, which is the process of manipulating matter at the atomic and molecular matter. Some nanotechnology already exists in organic products. For example, Nano Green Sciences sells a nano-pesticide they claim is "organic." Additionally, some personal care products that are promoted as being "organic" also already contain nanoparticles. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/22/18      Studies of twins reveal that fat cells in a heavier twin underwent metabolic changes that made it harder for them to burn fat. Even gaining as little as 11 pounds slows a person's metabolism-which, it turn, leads to even more weight gain. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/23/18      Only two U.S Presidents have known to have been divorced: Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/24/18      Lungfish can live out of water for several years. It secretes a mucus cocoon and burrows itself under the unbaked earth. It takes in air with its lung through a built-in breathing tube that leads to the surface. A lungfish has both gills and a lung. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/25/18      Britain is the second-largest nation of tea drinkers per capita. Ireland is the first. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/26/18      Traveling can improve problem solving skills and boost creativity. New sounds, smells, tastes, languages, and sights create new synapses in the brain and promote neuroplasticity. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/27/18      Because fragrance is dependent on several environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity, and a flower's age, flowers smell differently in space than they do on Earth. The fragrance of a variety of roses grown on the space shuttle Discovery was later replicated and incorporated into "Zen," a perfume sold by the Japanese company Shiseido. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/28/18      There is enough gold in the Earth's core to cover the entire surface of the Earth in 1.5 feet of the sparkling mineral. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
5/29/18      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 FactRetriever.com
5/30/18      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 FactRetriever.com
5/31/18      Crossing one's finger is a way of making the Sign of the Cross. It began as a way to ask God for protection without attracting the attention of pagans. - Provided by FactRetriever.com


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