funfactofthedaytv.com

frozen waste falling from the sky

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

frozen waste falling from the sky

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I don't want to scare you, but there could be frozen pee falling from the sky. Well, maybe not at this moment, but it has happened.

Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, we're talking about something called "blue ice." Blue ice forms when there's a leak in an airplane's sewage system and the human waste - along with the blue disinfectant - freezes… and then falls, in a chunk, from the sky.

Now, no one intentionally does that - the pilot isn't like, "Hey, who wants to drop some human waste on Oklahoma???" or "I think my ex-wife lives in Kansas now…" Kwoosh!

It happens when there's a leak and then it freezes… and falls.

Doesn't happen a lot - there've been about 25 reported cases in the last 25 years or so - but it's not a lot of fun for people affected by it. There was a guy in Santa Cruz, California, whose boat was hit by blue ice a few years ago… he says it would've hit him if he hadn't stepped away to answer the phone.

Wild, huh?

biggest country, smallest country

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

biggest country, smallest country

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Pop quiz time here at funfactofthedaytv.com and, y'know, one of these days we're gonna start sending out prizes. Like, you're sitting there at work… you pull us up on the Internet… I ask a question, you answer correctly and - bam! - the next day there's like a brand new car waiting for you or something.

We might not be giving out brand new cars anytime soon, though…

Okay - here's the question: What's the biggest country in the world?

I'll give you a second… It's Russia. Canada is second biggest, United States is the third.

Question number two: What's the smallest country?

Vatican City - it's only about a fifth of a square mile. Then Monaco, and the third is this island called Nauru in the South Pacific..

water in the shower

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

water in the shower

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Our crack staff here at funfactofthedaytv.com are always digging up weird facts - that is, when they're not napping - and today: how much water you use in the shower.

According to the E-P-A, a typical five-minute shower can use 15 to 25 gallons of water.

I'm not positive, but that discrepancy could have to do with whether you sing in the shower or not.

Like, if you're just showering - maybe 15 gallons.

But if you're singing and it takes longer - maybe 25 gallons.

But I'm no scientist.

biggest snowflake

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

biggest snowflake

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According to the World Almanac for Kids, the biggest snowflake ever found was fifteen inches across and eight inches thick… it happened in Fort Keough, Montana, in 1887.

finding the most men and women

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

finding the most men and women

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Here at funfactofthedaytv.com, we like to do more than tell you interesting facts… we like to help you live a better life.

With that in mind, we're helping out our single viewers today, by telling you the states where you can find a higher ratio of men or a higher ratio of women, depending on what you're looking for.

And then all you have to do is up and move there… maybe get your moves down ahead of time… and you're set.

According to the US Census, the states with the highest male-to-female ratio - so this is good if you want to live somewhere where there are a lot of guys - is Alaska.

I'm imagining that a first date in Alaska might go something like this:
"So where'd you grow up again?"
"I'm sorry… where?"
"Here, let me slide off my earmuffs…"

Alaska too cold for ya? Try Nevada, that's second, in terms of most males to females… or Colorado, which is third.

The states with the lowest male-to-female ratio - so where there are more women - are first, Rhode Island… then Massachusetts… then Washington, DC.

white glob in egg

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

white glob in egg

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Y'know that white thing in an egg? That white glob that kind of hangs on to the yolk… the thing you look down at and wonder what it is exactly…

Well, today on funfactofthedaytv.com, we're gonna tell you.

A lot of people think that white glob is the beginning of an embryo. (Yeah, not our most appetizing funfact ever…) But it's not.

It's called a chalaza and it holds the egg yolk in place in the center of the egg white.

history of the bra

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

history of the bra

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You know that every once in a while here on funfactofthedaytv.com, we like to throw in a history lesson… makes us feel all educated or something…

Today: the history of the brassiere.

Yeah, this is my life, folks. I come in in the morning, they tell me I'm gonna talk about the history of the brassiere and I say… all right.

Possibly the best part of all this is where we got the information from. There's a lot of information out there about the history of the bra, but we're proud to say that we got our little story here from a web site called misterbra.com.

So here's the story - women had been wearing corsets and other undergarments, but it wasn't until 1913 when a woman named Mary Phelps Jacobs of New York City used two handkerchiefs and a piece of ribbon to create a sort of a bra.

She sold the patent for $1500… and, today, it's estimated that patent is worth $15-million dollars.

Shakespeare's birthday and proposal

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

Shakespeare's birthday and proposal

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To be or not to be…

Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, we're talking about Shakespeare just so I can speaketh like this.

Here's our fact: No one knoweth exactlyeth wheneth Shakespeakere was borneth..

It's true. No one knows his real birthday - sometime in late April, 1564.

Betcha didn't know this: Shakespeare was 18 when he got married… to a woman who was 26. And they had eight kids!

Bill Gates’ house

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

Bill Gates' house

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When you hear about homes of the rich and the famous, you expect them to be big. And nice. Maybe really big and really nice.

But have you heard about Bill Gates' house? Y'know… Bill Gates of Microsoft. That's what we're talking about today on funfactofthedaytv.com.

Of course it's big - about 50-thousand square feet on more than five acres - but here's the amazing thing. According US News & World Report, visitors get these electronic pins to wear - with microchips in them - and when people move around the house, settings change based on what that person's preferences are. So, temperature, lighting, stuff like that.

And here you thought you were doing pretty well because you finally got the jiggly handle on your toilet to finally work. I know the feeling.

how much hair

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 9 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

how much hair

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, we're talking about your hair - not my hair, obviously, but your hair.

Did you know the amount of hair on your head has to do with what color your hair is? Or, more accurately, what color your hair naturally is?

Blondes have the most hairs on their head… about 140-thousand hairs.

Brunettes have about 105-thousand hairs on their head.

And redheads have the least… about 90-thousand hairs on their head.

That's according to the American Academy of Dermatology, which also says it's not unusual for people to lose up to 100 strands of hair a day.

Which is wild.. you'd think there'd be like a carpet of hairs laying around everywhere.

clothespins on face

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Fri, 6 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

clothespins on face

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So here's a question for ya:
How many clothespins can you attach to your face?

We don't want to turn funfactofthedaytv.com into a freak show, but today we're gonna tell you about a guy who attached 153 clothespins to his face.

The guy's name is Garry Turner, of England… he attached 153 clothespins to his face so he could be in the Guinness Book of World Records… which he is.

Apparently his skin is extra stretchy, which is how he got 153 clothespins on his face. I know, I can't stop saying 153. It's crazy!

insect eating in the U.S.

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 5 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

insect eating in the U.S.

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It's a bug extravaganza here at funfactofthedaytv.com.

Yesterday, we talked about what percentage of people around the world intentionally eat bugs.

Today, we're talking about how many bugs the average U-S resident eats… unintentionally.

According to the World Almanac for Kids, each person in the U.S. unintentionally eats up to one pound of insects a year. They say foods you eat every day - like chocolate, hot dogs, and tomato sauce - are allowed to have low levels of insect eggs and insect parts.

Yuck.

insect eating, world-wide

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 4 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

insect eating, world-wide

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I don't know if this happens to you, but it happens to me a lot. I think "What do I want for lunch?"

Sometimes nothing sounds really good… and I realized what my problem is: I don't consider bugs. Like, insects. Today on funfactofthedaytv.com we're talking about eating insects.

Did you know that somewhere between 50 to 80 percent of the world's population eats insects? It's true. According to National Geographic, scientists estimate that as much as 80 percent of the world's population eats insects as a regular part of their diet.

I know what you're thinking: But how do I prepare bugs correctly? Should I sauté them… should I simmer them?

Well, you might want to look into the Eat-A-Bug Cookbook by David George Gordon. It has ways to cook grasshoppers, ants, water bugs, spiders, centipedes, and more. The guy experimented cooking with bugs for a year to come up with the recipes… including a chocolate cricket torte!

Tahiti facts

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Tue, 3 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

Tahiti facts

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, we're talking about Tahiti. The producers won't let me go there, so I'm talking about it. Ready?

Fact number one:
Tahiti is made up of 118 islands and atolls. By the way, an atoll - for those of you who didn't pay attention in geography class - is a ring-shaped coral reef that has a lagoon inside it.

Fact number two:
All those islands and atolls cover an area the size of Western Europe. It has beautiful beaches. . . you can walk on the beach… you can lay out in the sun on the beach. . . you can sit and have a drink on the beach… you can. . .

And fact number three:
The word "tattoo" actually originated in Tahiti.

most popular movies

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 2 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

most popular movies

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, we're going to talk about the most popular movies of all time in the United States.

Oh, and I've gotta say to those of you watching outside the U.S., we don't mean to ignore you, we really don't… it's just that sometimes it's easier for us to find statistics for stuff in the U.S.

So we're sorry we're not doing the most popular movies in, for example, Tahiti…

Here are the top three most popular movies in the US of all time, according to the Internet Movie Database…

Number three: Shrek 2…

Number two: Star Wars…

And number one - and here's a clue: "I'm the king of the world!"… Titanic!

germs in the kitchen, bathroom

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

germs in the kitchen, bathroom

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If you had to guess, which room in your house has more germs: your bathroom or your kitchen? Most people would probably guess bathroom… which is, well, wrong. Your kitchen has more germs than your bathroom.

Today on funfactofthedaytv.com: The germiest places in your house, according to a germ survey - yes, a germ survey - posted on the University of Arizona news web site.

This study listed the six germiest places in the house. They are:
Number six - the bathroom doorknob
Number five - the refrigerator
Number four - the garbage can
Number three - the toilet bowl
Number two - the kitchen sink
And number one - the dishrag (or, as other studies have shown, the kitchen sponge)

So your dish rag or sponge has more germs and bacteria than your toilet bowl!

Monopoly

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

Monopoly

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Maybe you think you're pretty smart - you made it through high school, maybe college - but I'll bet you don't know what the best-selling board game in the world is.

It's Monopoly. And today, on funfactofthedaytv.com, we have fun facts about Monopoly.

The folks at Monopoly tell us that more than 200-million games have been sold and - get this - the longest game in history lasted 70 days… and the longest game in a bathtub was 99 hours. We don't make this stuff up, folks - the longest Monopoly game in a bathtub was 99 hours.

communication

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

communication

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, you're gonna actually learn something you can use - which isn't to say you can't use all this stuff! - but this fun fact could help you in your job, in your relationships…

We're talking about communicating and this may surprise some of you…

According to a study done by UCLA, 55 percent of communication is non-verbal (like, your body language)… 38 percent is vocal (so, your tone of voice)… and only 7 percent is verbal (the words that are spoken).

So you think you're saying something to someone because of the words you're using, but they're actually getting 93 percent of your message from what your face and your body is doing, and what your voice sounds like.

Now, since we want to help you out with this whole communication thing, we have some tips for you. According to Positive Thinking magazine, if you're talking to your boss about a raise, don't use big gestures - movements that are smaller and more controlled have more power.

But here's our favorite… Positive Thinking magazine says a gesture that appeals to both men and women is this: Cock your head slightly to the side, while lifting one shoulder slightly.

This is supposed to show people that you're interested in them… or that you were in a really painful car accident.

most popular baby names

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

most popular baby names

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com: The most popular baby names from different countries around the world. This information comes from various governments and most of them are for 2005.

The most popular baby names for the U.S. in 2005 were…for girls: Emily… for boys: Jacob.

In Australia… for girls: Olivia… for boys: Jack.

In Spain… for girls: Lucia… for boys: Alejandro.

In Turkey… for girls: Zeynep… for boys: Mehmet.

In Finland… for girls: Emma… for boys: Veeti.

And in Iceland… for girls: Anna… for boys: Sigurour.

train horns

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

train horns

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Today's fun fact is about train horns. Check this out the next time you're around a train and it blows its horn…

First of all, you know we're big on research at funfactofthedaytv.com - and we're big on naming our sources - but here's how this information came to us: Our executive producer was on an airplane a couple of months ago, and ended up sitting next to the head of safety for one of the major railroads.

Now, she can't remember his name and can't remember the railroad - she happened to be in first-class and you know how they give out free drinks and champagne in first class - but we did check this out with the Federal Railroad Administration…

The train horn pattern is this: As trains approach a crossing - where there's a road - they blow the whistle long, long, short, long… until they're through the crossing. (This safety guy says there's no absolute set time for a long or short, so train engineers can sound the horns how they want to.)

hottest and coldest US cities

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

hottest and coldest US cities

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, some weather trivia for you…

The hottest city in the U.S. is Yuma, Arizona… the normal daily maximum temperature is just under 88 degrees Farenheit.

And the coldest city is Barrow, Alaska. Their normal daily minimum is 4 degrees Farenheit.

stealing from work

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

stealing from work

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So, you ever kind of just happen to take a couple of pens home with you from work… maybe a notepad or two? Well, you - my little thief friend - are not alone.

Today on funfactofthedaytv.com: the number of people who take office supplies home from work… and what it is they take.

According to a survey by Vault Incorporated, 67% of employees surveyed say they've taken office supplies from their workplace. The most popular items people take are pens… second is Post-Its… then envelopes… notepads… and paper.

97% of the employees surveyed say they've never been caught.

Which isn't the case for that guy who worked at the Australian Mint - you hear about that? This guy - 48 years old, he'd been working at the mint for a year and a half - admitted to putting coins and bills in his lunch box and his boots and taking them home… for a total of more than 100-thousand dollars.

And he took four pens… a stack of Post-Its… and… nahhh, we're just making that up.

beer consumption

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

beer consumption

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, we've got facts about beer!

Want to guess what the average consumption of beer is in the U.S., per person? (They figure this based on people 21 and over.)

The average consumption of beer in the U.S., per person, is… 30 gallons.

That's according to the Beer Institute, located in Washington D.C. - an organization that represents the beer industry to Congress and state legislatures.

The state with the highest consumption of beer is… think about it for a second and you might guess it… Nevada. Consumption there is 43 gallons a year (compared to the national average of 30 gallons).

The state with the lowest consumption is… you can totally guess this one… Utah, at 18 gallons per person, per year.

Oh, and here's something else we learned from the Beer Institute: Historians have called beer the national drink of ancient Egypt… and the pharaohs even had a "royal chief beer inspector."

Neuticles

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

Neuticles

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Some days at funfactofthedaytv.com we have fun facts… some days, not as much fun, maybe, but weird… and some days, the facts are downright bizarre.

Today's one of those days.

There are products available for your pet called Neuticles that - are you ready? - are testicular implants that you can have surgically put into your pet's body so that, after you have him neutered, he won't look any different.

The inventor of these, uh, things is Gregg Miller of Independence, Missouri, who - after having his dog, Buck, neutered - was "deeply concerned" because Buck looked different. So he spent the next two years developing testicular implants, which are now available for dogs, cats, horses, and bulls.

They come in different sizes and different levels of firmness. Yes… different sizes and levels of firmness.

A pair can cost anywhere from about a hundred dollars to 650 dollars. The Neuticles people say that 100-thousand have been sold in the eleven years that these, uh, things have been on the market.

food tastes different

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

food tastes different

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Today we've got a little science experiment for you to try the next time you eat (which is not to say that this gives you the excuse to go down the hall to the vending machine for the fourth time today)…

You know how we love that Marilyn Vos Savant lady here at funfactofthedaytv.com, don't you? She's the woman who had the highest recorded IQ, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, and she has a column in Parade Magazine…

Well, today's fun fact is this: If you switch the hand you normally eat with, your food could taste different!

Marilyn Vos Savant says it all has to do with where your taste buds are located. If you always eat with your right hand and your fork goes in like this, your food passes over your taste buds differently than if you held your fork in your left hand, making the food go in like this. With the food passing over taste buds in a different direction, that's how the taste changes.

By the way, here's a fun fact about Marilyn Vos Savant: She's married to Dr. Robert Jarvik, who invented the first permanent artificial heart. Two really big brains. Gotta wonder what their discussions are like over dinner… "So, darling, should we talk about the neuropathways of the human brain… pass the salt, please… or, perhaps, quantum physics?"

new postage stamps

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

new postage stamps

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So, I'm paying my bills - and I'm putting the stamps on the envelopes, thinking "Who suggests what goes on stamps… and who decides?"

Luckily, we have a crack staff here at funfactofthedaytv.com and they got right on it. So, today: how you could get your idea turned into a stamp.

Turns out that the Post Office has a stamp advisory committee… which receives up to 50-thousand suggestions for stamps a year.

The Post Office says every single suggestion the committee gets is considered, which got me thinking: We've got a shot at this! We could get some kind of stamp made up!

Now, I've gotta say, we have a creative group of people here at funfactofthedaytv.com. We've got Rick behind the camera, we've got Dirk doing some technical stuff over there… and given that they're always behind the scenes, we want to give them a chance to express their creativity...

So, guys, what do you think we should suggest to the stamp committee?

(Rick: Pizza!)

Rick suggests a stamp with pizza on it… okay… a popular meal here in the United States…

(Dirk: Double cheeseburger!)

Dirk suggests a double cheeseburger…

(Rick: Fried chicken and mashed potatoes!)

Fried chicken and… oh, it's lunchtime.

If you have an idea for a stamp, just go to usps.com and find out how to submit it…

(Dirk: Buffalo wings!)

(Rick: Steak!)

(Dirk: Spaghetti!)

fish scales in lipstick

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

fish scales in lipstick

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Okay, ladies, when you're getting yourself all prettied up for a night out on the town, fixing your hair… putting on some lipstick… give this a little thought: It's possible that one of the ingredients in your lipstick is fish parts.

Yep, today on funfactofthedaytv.com, why fish scales are found in some lipsticks… or a part of fish scales, anyway.

Here's the deal: There's this shimmery, shiny stuff in fish scales called "pearl essence"… it usually comes from herring… and it's in some lipsticks. It's pretty expensive, so some cosmetic companies now use synthetic substitutes in lipstick, but some still use pearl essence.

Fish scales in lipstick is kind of gross for women, who use the stuff, but, hey, what about us unsuspecting guys?

hand washing

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

hand washing

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, we're talking about washing your hands.

A survey done by the Soap and Detergent Association - yeah, there is such a thing - found that although 92% of all Americans say they wash their hands after going to the bathroom, an observational study shows that just 83% actually do.

Here's something else: according to this survey, 68% of people don't wash their hands long enough to get rid of dirt and germs. In fact, the amount of time you're supposed to wash your hands - according to the Centers for Disease Control and the Soap & Detergent Association - is 20 seconds.

You know how long that is? Long. (Try it yourself and see!)

history of toilet paper

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

history of toilet paper

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com: the history of toilet paper. Yep, once again doing our best to educate the American public - and the world - about really important subjects…

This information comes from Quilted Northern - a company that makes toilet paper - and we're gonna start back in Ancient Rome.

According to Quilted Northern, public toilets in Ancient Rome had a stick with a sponge attached to it that sat in a bucket of salt water. People could use the sponge to freshen up.

Around the time of the Vikings, people used leftover sheep's wool to clean themselves… not while it was still on the sheep.

Jumping ahead to Colonial America in the 1700s… people used corncobs. And then, after newspapers became popular, people used newspapers after they were done reading them. At least I hope it was after they were done reading them.

In 1880, toilet paper that's more like we know it today was produced in England, but it was in boxes.

And in the 1920s, Northern Mills introduced toilet paper on a roll… for which I, personally, am very grateful.

smart dog’s vocabulary

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 08:00:00 -0700

smart dog's vocabulary

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I don't want to scare you, but there could be frozen pee falling from the sky. Well, maybe not at this moment, but it has happened.

So let's say you have a really smart dog… how many words do you think it would know? 20? 50?

Try 200.

Today on funfactofthedaytv.com: the story of a nine-year-old Border Collie named Rico… who knows approximately 200 words.

According to an article by Science Daily, researchers in Germany spent some time studying Rico and found that he could recognize about 200 words. So, for example, if you told Rico to go get the squeaky blue toy, he'd go get the squeaky blue toy.

Of course, it was in German, so it'd be more like: go get the (word).

Anyway, the German scientists say Rico's vocabulary size puts him right up there with apes that have been trained in language, along with dolphins, sea lions, and parrots… and that annoying dumb guy who sits two cubicles down from you. Although maybe he only knows 150 words?

germs in the kitchen, bathroom

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

communication

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

Monopoly

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

most popular baby names

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

train horns

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

hottest and coldest US cities

watch this (and all fun fact videos) at www.funfactofthedaytv.com

Today's fun fact is about train horns. Check this out the next time you're around a train and it blows its horn…

First of all, you know we're big on research at funfactofthedaytv.com - and we're big on naming our sources - but here's how this information came to us: Our executive producer was on an airplane a couple of months ago, and ended up sitting next to the head of safety for one of the major railroads.

Now, she can't remember his name and can't remember the railroad - she happened to be in first-class and you know how they give out free drinks and champagne in first class - but we did check this out with the Federal Railroad Administration…

The train horn pattern is this: As trains approach a crossing - where there's a road - they blow the whistle long, long, short, long… until they're through the crossing. (This safety guy says there's no absolute set time for a long or short, so train engineers can sound the horns how they want to.)

hottest and coldest US cities

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Fri, 9 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

hottest and coldest US cities

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Today on funfactofthedaytv.com, some weather trivia for you…

The hottest city in the U.S. is Yuma, Arizona… the normal daily maximum temperature is just under 88 degrees Farenheit.

And the coldest city is Barrow, Alaska. Their normal daily minimum is 4 degrees Farenheit.

stealing from work

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 8 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

beer consumption

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

Neuticles

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Tue, 6 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

food tastes different

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 5 Feb 2007 08:00:00 -0700

George de Mestral’s invention

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 7 Dec 2006 08:00:00 -0700

George de Mestral's invention

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This is the story of George De Mestral, of Switzerland, who went for a hike with his dog in the summer of 1948. During the hike, burrs stuck to his clothing and his dog's fur and - since he was an inventor and an engineer - he was intrigued.

When he got home, he looked at one of the burrs through a microscope and saw that it had all these hooks that grabbed onto his dog's fur and his clothing. It was from looking at that burr that he invented Velcro.

Of course, it wasn't that simple. People weren't only resistant to his idea, but apparently laughed at it. He pushed on, patented it in 1955, and this stuff that some people thought was stupid has been used during heart surgery, it's used in space shuttles, and of course on jackets and shoes and luggage and a million other things.

George de Mestral died in 1990.

longest case of hiccups

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 6 Dec 2006 08:00:00 -0700

longest case of hiccups

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According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Charles Osborne of Iowa had hiccups for 68 years! He was born in 1894… started hiccupping in 1922… and didn't stop for the next 68 years.

Apparently, during the first few decades of hiccupping, he hiccupped as many as 40 times a minute. That slowed down over the years to 20 times a minute… and then, in 1990, his hiccupping just stopped. He died the next year, in 1991.

Reportedly, he lived a normal life, despite the hiccups - he had two wives and eight kids over the course of his life.

unusual fears

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 4 Dec 2006 08:00:00 -0700

unusual fears

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A fear of knees is called genuphobia.

A fear of the color purple is porphyrophobia.

There's a word for the fear of the number 8… that's octophobia.

The fear of beautiful women is caligynephobia.

There's a fear of dust… koniophobia.

A fear of hearing good news: euphobia.

Chionophobia is the fear of snow.

And a fear of long words is sesquipedalophobia.

wasted time at work

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Fri, 1 Dec 2006 08:00:00 -0700

wasted time at work

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According to an article posted on salary.com, the average American worker admits to wasting over two hours out of an eight-hour workday… and that's on top of their normal lunch hour and breaks.

According to a survey done by AmericaOnline and salary.com, here are the top five things people do to waste time at work:

Number one: surfing the Internet, for personal reasons, not work.

Number two: socializing with co-workers.

Number three: conducting personal business.

Number four: spacing out. (About four percent of the people surveyed said that's how they waste time… by "spacing out.")

And number five is running errands off-premises.

history of peanut butter

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 08:00:00 -0700

history of peanut butter

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Apparently, people in a number of countries had been eating or cooking with peanuts for centuries, but The Peanut Advisory Board says that it wasn’t until 1890 when peanut butter was first produced commercially. A doctor in St. Louis came up with the idea of making what was essentially a peanut paste – he thought it’d be a good protein substitute for his patients whose teeth were so bad that they couldn’t chew meat.

So, this doctor talked a food processing company into manufacturing peanut butter. After several more years – in 1904 – peanut butter was introduced to the world at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis.

If you’re only going to remember one fact, just remember that peanut butter was created for people with bad teeth. Yum!

contractors using bathrooms

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 08:00:00 -0700

contractors using bathrooms

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A study that was done by Kimberly Clark - the company that makes Kleenex and toilet paper - found that when it comes to homeowners allowing contractors to use their bathrooms, most people said they have no problem with that.

Fifteen percent said they'd let contractors to use their bathrooms, but would hope the workers didn't actually take them up on the offer. Ten percent said they'd change the towels and clean the bathroom after a contractor used it. But one percent don't let contractors use their bathrooms at all!

The contractors and workers get some revenge, though - the survey found that eleven percent say that they just go behind the nearest tree.

cockroach heads

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 08:00:00 -0700

cockroach heads

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A cockroach can live without its head for as long as a month.

According to Joseph Kunkel - a biology professor at the University of Massachusetts who has a bunch of cockroach information on his web site - a cockroach can live without its head for maybe as much as a month for a few key reasons, including:

Cockroaches breathe through spiracles which are in each part of their body, so they don't need their heads to breathe.

Cockroaches don't need very much food to survive, so food from one day could last them a whole month if they weren't very active. To quote Professor Kunkel: "Without a head, the cockroach would just sit around without doing anything much."

America's favorite fruit

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 08:00:00 -0700

America's favorite fruit

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According to Dole, America's favorite fruit is bananas, with Americans eating an average of 33 pounds of bananas a year… that's about one banana every three days.

Other uses for bananas - according to Reader's Digest and the section of its web site called "Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things" - include:

Polishing your shoes. They say you can take the inside of a banana peel and rub it on your shoes. Then just buff your shoes with a cloth or paper towel and you're good to go!

Using ripe bananas to attract butterflies and birds to your backyard. They suggest poking holes in ripe bananas and putting them up on a platform.

double dipping

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:35:03 -0700

double dipping

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Thirty-eight percent of Americans admit to double-dipping at parties, according to the American Dietetic Association.

Almost half of all men double dip… about a third of all women do.

And, according to the American Diabetic Association - and this is a quote - there are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people on Earth.

Now, the number of people on earth is more than six-billion, 600-million. Six-billion, 600-million.

So if you've got 20 double dippers at a party happily depositing their more than six-billion mouth bacteria into the salsa when they double dip, that puts the number of bacteria in the salsa at… well… a lot!

weight of body parts

submit@funfactofthedaytv.com — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:09:03 -0700

weight of body parts

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The average adult eyeball weighs one ounce.

An adult woman's heart weighs, on average, eight ounces. a man's, ten ounces.

A liver can weigh two to five pounds, depending on the size of the person.

The average adult human brain weighs about three pounds.

Obtained from various sources in the public domain.)