| 1101/
In 1984, twenty-five years after the beginning of the Arpanet
(the precursor to the modern Internet), there were more Internet
hosts per capita in the United States than there were telephones
twenty-five years after Alexander Graham Bell announced his
invention.
1102/ The modern history
of the study of intelligence begins in Victorian Britain,
with Francis
Galton. In 1869 Galton published his book Hereditary
Genius, in which he set out his idea that intelligence
is inborn and that some people are born with more of it than
others.
1103/ In more than half
of the American states during the 1920s, eugenics
laws were passed that made it unlawful for certain people
to marry unless they agreed to sterilization.
1104/ It takes the body
a certain amount of "energy" (measured in calories)
to convert food to either energy or a usable storage form.
With protein and carbohydrates, nearly 25% of what you take
in goes towards "converting" the food to energy
or storage. But with fat, only 3% goes towards conversion
with the result that more of those fat calories are available
to be converted to storage. So for 2000 calories of protein
and carbohydrates, you only have to "burn up" about
1500 to break even, but with 2000 calories of fat you have
to "burn up" a lot more: 1940 just to come out even!
1105/ It has been estimated
that the amount of energy saved by recycling
aluminium cans in the U.S. in 1987 was the equivalent of the
energy used by residences in New York City over a period of
more than six months.
1106/ In the UK, only
about 26% of the glass waste is recycled; that is 600,000
tonnes out of the 2.2 million tonnes potentially available.
The average in the rest of Europe is around 55%, and in some
countries it is as high as 90%. In North America, about 20%
of paper, plastic, glass and metal goods are currently made
from recycled material.
1107/ The number of seconds
since the Big
Bang is one followed by 17 zeros. Whilst the number of
atoms in the Universe is one followed by 100 zeros.
1108/ The Wreck of the
Titanic lies in 12,460 feet (3965 metres) of water. To get
this into some kind of perspective consider that The CN Tower
- the worlds tallest free standing building - is 1,815 feet
(553.33 metres) tall or the equivalent of 5 1/2 football fields
stacked end-to-end. 437 feet (133m) is the deepest a scuba
diver has ever gone; 1500 feet (465 metres) is the deepest
that normal Navy submarines dive to (below this there is no
natural light), and that at the Titanics depth the water pressure
is 6,000 lbs per square inch.
1109/ Water is much heavier
than air. A cubic foot of air weighs 1/12 pound (lb). A cubic
foot of fresh water weighs 62.4 lbs and a cubic foot of sea
water weighs 64 lbs.
1110/ Water freezes,
whereas air does not freeze at any temperature occurring in
nature. Sea water freezes at a much lower temperature than
fresh water because of the dissolved salt, which slows down
the formation of water crystals.
1111/ The Soil
Survey and Land Research Centre estimates that 2.2 million
tons of soil are eroded each year in England and Wales.
1112/ Jupiter is so massive
that it also controls its own mini solar system. It holds
twenty-eight moons in its gravitational thrall - four of which
are a match for the planet Mercury.
1113/ The planet Uranus
was found by the amateur astronomer and professional musician
William Herschel in 1781. He wanted to call his new planet
'George's Star', in honour of the British King, but ultimately
this was thwarted as the name Uranus - the Greek God of the
Sky, caught on internationally.
1114/ The War
of the Worlds radio broadcast by the Mercury Theatre under
the direction of Orson Wells caused mass hysteria across the
country when first broadcast in 1938. The dramatisation went
out on CBS radio, and scared half of America into believing
that the 'martian invasion' was real - even to the extent
of fleeing their homes.
1115/ When the Sun shines
into your eyes, you are seeing light that left it eight minutes
ago. On a clear night, look at the bright star Rigel in the
constellation of Orion, the hunter, and your eyeballs are
receiving light that left this giant star 800 years ago.
1116/ Half of the tropical
forests, where two-thirds of all species find their habitat,
have now been logged or burned to clear land for human development,
with another 1 million square kilometres disappearing every
five to ten years.
1117/ The average person
in 1800 travelled no more than about 50 metres each day from
their homes. Today we travel an average of 50 kilometres each
day.
1118/ On June 16th 2001
a search on Google.com for the phrase 'Internet Architecture'
brought up 1,660,000 results. The same search on June 16th
2002 brought up 2,280,000 results.
1119/ NASA has allocated
two billion dollars to develop a 300 passenger aircraft capable
of operating over 5,000 miles at Mach 2.4 - fast enough for
a two and a half hour Seattle to Tokyo flight time.
1120/ If you travelled
at 99.995 per cent of the speed
of light to a point 500 light years away and returned,
you could visit the Earth in 1000 years time while having
aged just 10 years yourself.
Click on the links below for more great
facts...
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next week...
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