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761/ Because of their dryness,
ability to withstand earthquakes, and 80 degree celsius melting
point (higher than radioactive wastes), scientists say salt
bed deposits are the safest nuclear deposits.
762/ Boiling water absorbs
over six times more energy in changing to steam than is needed
to heat the water from freezing to boiling.
763/ By US definition, a "hurricane"
is any wind force exceeding 74 miles per hour. In the Western
Pacific, such a phenomenon is called a "typhoon"
and, near Australia, it's a "willy-willy".
764/ In one year, American
generate enough hazardous waste to fill the New Orleans Superdome
1,500 times over.
765/ In the King James translation
of the Bible, there are more than 1,700 references to gems
and precious stones.
766/ In the US Southwest,
lichens form stable crusts that protect desert soils from
erosion. Unfortunately, these crusts are quite fragile. They
take decades to recover after being crushed by livestock or
off-road vehicles.
767/ It is estimated that
millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by
squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.
768/ It is the impurities
in gemstones which give them their colour.
769/ It snows more at the
Grand Canyon than it does in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
770/ It takes 4,000 crocuses
to produce a single ounce of saffron. Saffron is used to colour
and flavour foods, and formerly as a dyestuff and in medicine.
771/ It takes nearly two million
flowers to create one pound of jasmine.
772/ Chalk is made from tiny
plankton fossils.
773/ Continental snow cover
would advance to the equator, and the oceans would eventually
freeze, if there was a permanent drop in just 0.6 to 2.0 percent
in energy reaching the Earth.
774/ Cork comes from the bark
of trees. Specifically, it is harvested from the cork tree,
which takes more than ten years to produce one layer of cork.
775/ Desert plants, like cactus,
developed pointy spines as protection from animals.
776/ Distinct bands of rainy
weather and clouds can form up to 240 miles ahead of a warm
front. These bands are parallel to the front, and are often
about 125 miles long and 30 miles wide.
777/ The average mature oak
sheds approximately 700,000 leaves in the fall.
778/ The average rainfall
around the world is 40 inches per year.
779/ Ivy has long been identified
with immortality. Because it's always green and clings tenaciously
to life, it is often used as a symbol of eternal life in Christian
Art.
780/ Katharine Lee Bates wrote
the words to the classic American anthem "America the
Beautiful" after her trip to the summit of Pikes Peake
in 1893.
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