FACT-OF-THE-DAY ARCHIVE
"Our life is what our thoughts make it."
- Marcus Aurelius
NOV 2016

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DATE	FACT OF THE DAY
11/1/16	A typical worker in Haiti makes only $2.75 a day. Because jobs are so scarce (approximately 70% do not have regular jobs), those who do have jobs are afraid to speak out against unfair labor practices. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/2/16	In the 1930s and 40s, Italian fascist Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) tried to eliminate foreign words from Italian. In soccer, "goal" became "meta" and Donald Duck became "Paperino." Mickey Mouse became "Topolino" and Goofy became "Pippo." While the ban was not permanent, the Italian names remain common. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/3/16	The full cost of a spacesuit is about $11 million. Almost 70% of this is for the control module and the backpack. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/4/16	The Stoics thought the soul came when the fetus was exposed to cool air, although the potential was present at conception. Plutarch and Tertullian both ridiculed that idea because babies born in hot climates or in warm rooms were certainly alive. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/5/16	Research has confirmed that women are more attracted to men who wear pheromone-based colognes or aftershaves such as 10X. Studies have also shown that women, who have a stronger sense of smell than men, are particularly attracted to musk and black licorice smells - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/6/16	Alabama is the only state in the United States to impose a 10 cent playing card tax for decks of cards purchased in the state. In contrast, Nevada issues free decks of card with every tax return filed - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/7/16	Approximately one third of the deaths associated with cocaine use are caused by the direct pharmacological effects of the drug itself. The vast majority of deaths related to cocaine are caused by homicide, suicide, and motor vehicle collisions as a result of the drug's mind-altering properties. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/8/16	The earliest description of cancer was found in the Edwin Smith Papyrus dating back to 1600 B.C. It describes what appears to be breast cancer. Though breast cancer was treated by cauterization with a tool called a "fire drill," the author ultimately wrote, "There is no treatment." - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/9/16	The blue whale is the largest of all whales and is also considered the largest animal to have ever existed in the world. An adult blue whale can measure up to 108 feet in length and can weigh nearly 200 tons. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/10/16	Patanjali (150 B.C.) was an Indian sage who recorded a series aphorism on how to practice yoga in the text Yoga Sutras. While Patanjali is typically considered the father of yoga, yoga was around long before Patanjali, who only made it more accessible. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/11/16	There were 18.8 million military veterans in the United States in 2015. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/12/16	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 FactRetriever.com
11/13/16	A group of crows is called a murder or congress. A group of owls is called a parliament, wisdom, or study. A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/14/16	During World War II, German U-boats sunk 2,000 Allied ships at a cost of 781 U-boats destroyed. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/15/16	Researchers have expressed concern that many Internet users assume the Google search engine represents reality, and that if some information is not on Google, it is either not important or it does not exist. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/16/16	Most bats are brown and black, but a few are colorful shades of orange or red. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/17/16	There are about 9,000 taste buds on the surface of the tongue, in the throat, and on the roof of the mouth. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/18/16	Hawaii has lost more species and has more endangered species than any other state in the United States. Nearly all of the state's native birds are in danger of becoming extinct. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/19/16	In the Pacific region, nearly 500,000 people have died from tsunamis over the last 2,000 years. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami alone exerted a death toll now estimated at more than 280,000. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/20/16	Beer is the most common type of alcoholic beverage involved in both DUI arrests and fatal crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It is also the drink of choice in most cases of binge drinking and underage drinking. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/21/16	It wasn't until 1856 that Congress removed property ownership as a requirement to vote in elections.. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/22/16	World War II ushered in plastic surgery techniques that included rebuilding entire limbs, extensive skin grafts, microsurgery, antibodies, and increased knowledge about tissue health. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/23/16	Early Hoover vacuum cleaners were hard to sell because potential customers refused to believe (and were even insulted by the suggestion) that they could have that much dirt in their carpets. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/24/16	There are 118.3 million occupied housing units across the nation - potential stops for Thanksgiving dinner. - Provided by U.S. Census Bureau.
11/25/16	Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November). Since 1932, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S., and most major retailers open very early (and more recently during overnight hours) and offer promotional sales. - Provided by Uselessdaily.com
11/26/16	Like most of Europe, Italy was ravaged in the middle of the fourteenth century by the Black Death, a combination of plagues (chiefly the bubonic) that were carried to Genoa by Italian merchants returning from the Middle East. The recovery stimulated growth and helped spawn humanism and the Renaissance. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/27/16	Ulysses S. Grant's critics called him a "butcher" because of his high casualty rates in battle during the Civil War. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/28/16	There are fewer people with Internet access in the entire continent of Africa than in New York City alone. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/29/16	The father of calculus (meaning "pebble used in counting" from calx or "limestone"), Isaac Newton calculated pi to at least 16 decimal places. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
11/30/16	Sigmund Freud, who revolutionized the practice of psychiatry with his theories of the unconscious, postulated that depression comes from anger turned against oneself. - Provided by FactRetriever.com

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