Random Facts: 10/26/12t
While gold is currently around $1,700 an ounce, it reached an all-time high in 2011 of nearly $1,800 an ounce. Of course, gold has always been valuable not only as a material resource but also as a commodity. Gold is the sixteenth most rare of the chemical elements. Though it is one of the rarest metals, gold was the first to be discovered by man. It took half a year for word to reach the Atlantic coast that gold has been discovered in California. The discovery was made in 1848, but John Augustus Sutter and James Marshall tried to keep it a secret. It wasn't until President Polk, in December 1848, announced the discovery that the gold rush of 1949 began.
We have lots of laws, not all of them good. But whether they intend to or not, many laws have very beneficial side effects. Town laws in the U.S. Midwest in the 1880s were passed prohibiting the sale of ice cream sodas on Sunday. In Illinois, ingenious soda fountain owners got around the law by omitting the carbonated water and serving just the scoop of ice cream and the syrup. They called this a "Sunday Soda." Later the name was shortened to "sunday" and eventually just "sundae." The Massachusetts Law School of 1647 required that towns with 50 or more families establish schools or pay a fine of 5 British pounds. Several schools were opened as a result of this law. Although the schools were not the first supported by the public, the law forcing their creation was an important milestone in public education.
With the presidential election coming up soon, both candidates have been talking a lot about taxes. But whether taxes go up or go down, we can all be certain that just like death, they are a sure thing. The first income tax was created in 1861 during the Civil War to finance the war effort. In 1913 the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified to the Constitution, granting Congress the power to collect taxes on personal income. Up to 1.2 million tax preparers make a living navigating the labyrinth US tax code for taxpayers. We have more professional tax preparers in the United States than law enforcement officers (765,000) and firefighters (310,400) combined.
I read somewhere that Americans waste, on average, a pound of food a day. Somebody must be wasting most of my share, because I can't remember the last time I threw out a leftover. But even still, that is a lot of waste. Wouldn't it be easier if food just lasted forever, like Twinkies? Well, some foods actually do... White rice, wild, jasmine, arborio and basmati rice all keep forever so there's no need to throw them out. Brown rice is the one exception because it has a higher oil content so store it in the refrigerator or freeze it to maximize its shelf life. Once you've opened a bag or box of rice, move it to an airtight container or resealable freezer bag to keep it fresh. Honey. Whether you use it in your tea, on your toast or as an alternative sweetener, that jar of pure honey is good forever. It may get grainy or change color, but it's still safe to eat - and delicious - because its antibiotic properties keep it from spoiling.
Metals are an important part of our world. So important we mark epochs in our history after them; such as the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The Bronze Age goes back as far as 3600 BC, however, interestingly enough, it wasn't until 1735 that a metal, cobalt, was discovered that was completely unknown to the ancients. Since that time some truly bizarre metals have been discovered, such as... Mercury, which becomes solid at -40 degrees F, is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature. The rare metal gallium melts at 86 degrees F. It is safe to touch. If you hold a piece of it in your hand and wait, your body heat will melt it.
Cold and flu season is back again. Let's take a look at the sub-microscopic villain responsible for so much misery every year. A team of Korean scientists set up some traps to catch viruses and bacteria floating in the air. They set up their traps in Seoul, in an industrial complex in western Korea, and in a forest. Based on their collection, they came up with the following estimates... In each cubic meter of air, there are between 1.6 million and 40 million viruses. Given that we breathe roughly .01 cubic meters of air each minute, a simple calculation based on these results suggests we breathe in a few hundred thousand viruses every minute. Viruses are by far the most abundant biological entities on Earth and they outnumber all the others put together. They infect all types of cellular life including animals, plants, bacteria and fungi.
The presidential election is really heating up. So let's take a closer look at the grand tradition of the U.S. presidency. The oldest president inaugurated was Reagan (age 69); the youngest was Kennedy (age 43). Theodore Roosevelt, however, was the youngest man to become president——he was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who had been assassinated. Vice presidents were originally the presidential candidates receiving the second-largest number of electoral votes. The Twelfth Amendment, passed in 1804, changed the system so that the electoral college voted separately for president and vice president. The presidential candidate, however, gradually gained power over the nominating convention to choose his own running mate. Can you imagine if John McCain had been elected Obama's vice president?
We have lots of laws, not all of them good. But whether they intend to or not, many laws have very beneficial side effects. Town laws in the U.S. Midwest in the 1880s were passed prohibiting the sale of ice cream sodas on Sunday. In Illinois, ingenious soda fountain owners got around the law by omitting the carbonated water and serving just the scoop of ice cream and the syrup. They called this a "Sunday Soda." Later the name was shortened to "sunday" and eventually just "sundae." The Massachusetts Law School of 1647 required that towns with 50 or more families establish schools or pay a fine of 5 British pounds. Several schools were opened as a result of this law. Although the schools were not the first supported by the public, the law forcing their creation was an important milestone in public education.
With the presidential election coming up soon, both candidates have been talking a lot about taxes. But whether taxes go up or go down, we can all be certain that just like death, they are a sure thing. The first income tax was created in 1861 during the Civil War to finance the war effort. In 1913 the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified to the Constitution, granting Congress the power to collect taxes on personal income. Up to 1.2 million tax preparers make a living navigating the labyrinth US tax code for taxpayers. We have more professional tax preparers in the United States than law enforcement officers (765,000) and firefighters (310,400) combined.
I read somewhere that Americans waste, on average, a pound of food a day. Somebody must be wasting most of my share, because I can't remember the last time I threw out a leftover. But even still, that is a lot of waste. Wouldn't it be easier if food just lasted forever, like Twinkies? Well, some foods actually do... White rice, wild, jasmine, arborio and basmati rice all keep forever so there's no need to throw them out. Brown rice is the one exception because it has a higher oil content so store it in the refrigerator or freeze it to maximize its shelf life. Once you've opened a bag or box of rice, move it to an airtight container or resealable freezer bag to keep it fresh. Honey. Whether you use it in your tea, on your toast or as an alternative sweetener, that jar of pure honey is good forever. It may get grainy or change color, but it's still safe to eat - and delicious - because its antibiotic properties keep it from spoiling.
Metals are an important part of our world. So important we mark epochs in our history after them; such as the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The Bronze Age goes back as far as 3600 BC, however, interestingly enough, it wasn't until 1735 that a metal, cobalt, was discovered that was completely unknown to the ancients. Since that time some truly bizarre metals have been discovered, such as... Mercury, which becomes solid at -40 degrees F, is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature. The rare metal gallium melts at 86 degrees F. It is safe to touch. If you hold a piece of it in your hand and wait, your body heat will melt it.
Cold and flu season is back again. Let's take a look at the sub-microscopic villain responsible for so much misery every year. A team of Korean scientists set up some traps to catch viruses and bacteria floating in the air. They set up their traps in Seoul, in an industrial complex in western Korea, and in a forest. Based on their collection, they came up with the following estimates... In each cubic meter of air, there are between 1.6 million and 40 million viruses. Given that we breathe roughly .01 cubic meters of air each minute, a simple calculation based on these results suggests we breathe in a few hundred thousand viruses every minute. Viruses are by far the most abundant biological entities on Earth and they outnumber all the others put together. They infect all types of cellular life including animals, plants, bacteria and fungi.
The presidential election is really heating up. So let's take a closer look at the grand tradition of the U.S. presidency. The oldest president inaugurated was Reagan (age 69); the youngest was Kennedy (age 43). Theodore Roosevelt, however, was the youngest man to become president——he was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who had been assassinated. Vice presidents were originally the presidential candidates receiving the second-largest number of electoral votes. The Twelfth Amendment, passed in 1804, changed the system so that the electoral college voted separately for president and vice president. The presidential candidate, however, gradually gained power over the nominating convention to choose his own running mate. Can you imagine if John McCain had been elected Obama's vice president?
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