Fact O' The Day

[Krandall]

'Table saws injure over 30,000 people every year.'

According to the results of a first-of-its-kind study published on table saw accidents and injuries in the United States, over 31,500 people are injured by the device each year -- the huge majority by coming into contact with the blade of the saw, and the overwhelming majority of them (97%) were men.

[dragonz]

the other 3% were dykes

[Krandall]

'Americans sent 110 billion text messages in 2008. '


According to the wireless industry association CTIA and in part published in Discover magazine, 110 billion text messages were sent in the United States in 2008, a figure substantially higher than the 2 billion text messages sent in 2003. More astonishingly, since 2006, an estimated 8 trillion tweets have been posted on Twitter.

[Diggs59]

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

[Diggs59]

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:

Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar

[Hefe]

More astonishingly, since 2006, an estimated 8 trillion tweets have been posted on Twitter.

wow..
I have never even seen twitter
I swear, I have never even been to the site!
man, I must be missing out on something!
I am headed there now!

[dragonz]

Well, there goes a right twit!

[Krandall]

2 facts today as well

'Contrary to legend, Galileo never performed the famous experiment from the ledge of the leaning tower of Pisa.'

Legend has it that Galileo disproved Aristotle one day by dropping two balls of different weight from the famous leaning tower and watching them reach the ground at the same time. Not only was this experiment carried out some 1,000 years before Galileo's time by a scholar named John Philloponus (John the Grammarian), but there's also no evidence that Galileo ever even carried out the experiment himself.



'The average shoe carries over 420,000 bacteria. '

If you ever needed a reason to remove your shoes when entering your house, this might be it, as the outer area of the average shoe -- especially the sole but elsewhere on the shoe as well -- carries with it an enormous population of bacteria.

[disco]

The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters burn 11,000 lbs of propellant per second.  (watching a launch vid now)

[Krandall]

NASA needs to go green.

[Hefe]

(John the Grammarian)

is that like Peels the Grammar Nazi?

[Krandall]

'The world's first human genetics department was founded at Johns Hopkins University.'

It was founded by pioneering medical geneticist and the father of medical genetics Victor McKusick in 1957. McKusick was one of the only people to attend Johns Hopkins Medical School without an undergraduate degree (the school waived that requirement briefly during World War II). McKusick maintained a catalog of genes, which he called "Mendelian Inheritance in Man," that he began modestly with the genes his own research had uncovered. Today that catalog has grown to include over 20,000 entries.

[Krandall]

'The Indian state of Tamil Nadu formally recognizes three genders.'


Home to 62 million, Tamil Nadu is the seventh most populous state in India (out of 28 states) and is the only known place in the world in where a government recognizes M, F and T genders (T for transsexual). Stanford professor (and former male) Joan Roughgarden argues in her book Evolution's Rainbow that at least half of all species on Earth exist outside standard male/female parameters.



Peelz, you really do have a home!

[Hefe]

^^^ Great news for Peels!

[Peelz]

when are we moving?