[ Search Net ] [ Facts Subject Index ] [ Facts Encyclopedia ] [ Newspapers USA/World ] [ Report Broken Links ]
[ Fast Facts ] [ First Things First ] [ Quick Reference ] [ Site Map ] [ HOME ]
Search the Web

Google  Search Tips
Recommend Refdesk
Help Support Refdesk

FACT-OF-THE-DAY ARCHIVE
"Our life is what our thoughts make it."
- Marcus Aurelius

AUG 2010


Previous Archives

DATEFACT OF THE DAY
8/1/10     New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant suffrage to women, in 1893. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/2/10     During the worst years of the Depression (1933-1934) the overall jobless rate was 25% (1 out of 4 people) with another 25% taking wage cuts or working part time. The gross national product fell by almost 50%. It was not until 1941, when WWII was underway, that unemployment officially fell back below 10%. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/3/10     Americans consumed 23.8 pounds of candy per capita in 2008. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/4/10     100,000,000,000 tons of dynamite would have to be detonated every second to match the energy produced by the sun. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/5/10     The oldest living things on Earth are believed to be single-cell prokaryotes, more commonly known as bacteria. Scientists have discovered fossils of such prokaryotes from roughly 3.5 billion years ago. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/6/10     The number of Americans who are receiving food stamps rose to a record 40.8 million in May as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high, the government reported on August 4, 2010. - Provided by Bloomberg News
8/7/10     Ninety-three percent of U.S. households with residents considered their neighborhood to be safe, according to 2003 Census data. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/8/10     Onion is Latin for 'large pearl.' A basket of onions was considered a respectable funeral offering in ancient Egypt, second only to a basket of bread. Onions, with their circular layers, represented eternity and were found in the eyes of King Ramses IV who died in 1160 B.C. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/9/10     The tomato is technically a fruit, not a vegetable. It was also the first genetically engineered whole product and went on the market in 1994. Since then, more than 50 other genetically engineered foods have been deemed safe by the FDA. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/10/10     Most of us dream every 90 minutes, and the longest dreams (30-45 minutes) occur in the morning. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/11/10     Couples around the world who divorce tend to divorce around their fourth year of marriage. After four years, marriages generally stabilize until around eight years. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/12/10     Scientists estimate the earth is about 4.5 billions years old and first began to support life forms approximately 3.7 billion years ago. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/13/10     The highest world temperature ever recorded was 136 degrees fahrenheit at El Azizia, Libya, on September 13, 1922. The lowest was minus 129 degrees fahrenheit at Vostok Station, Antarctica, on July 21, 1983. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/14/10     The U.S. has the highest dog population in the world. France has the second highest. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/15/10     Women aged 20-24 in the U.S. had the lowest incidence rate of breast cancer from 2002-2006, at 1.4 cases per 100,000 women. The 75-79 age group had the highest incidence rate, 441.9 cases per 100,000 women. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/16/10     On Nov. 14, 1972, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 1,000 for the first time, ending the day at 1,003.16. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/17/10     In 2008, the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina began to create a natural disaster fatality map for the United States using statistics from about 20,000 such deaths between the years 1970 and 2004. They determined that location didn't play a very important role in natural disaster fatalities; rather, warm weather was the culprit, with heat and drought accounting for 19.6% of those deaths, followed by severe summer storms, which accounted for 18.8%. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/18/10     The skin contains approximately 640,000 sense receptors, scattered unevenly over the body's surface. These receptors are most abundant in the ridges of the fingertips, in the lips, at the tip of the tongue, in the palms, on the soles of the feet, and in the genitals. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/19/10     Africa is the second largest continent in the world, both in area as well as in population. With its 30,244,050 square kilometers or 11,677,240 square miles, including the islands, it covers 20.3% of the total land area on Earth and, because it has 800 million human inhabitants, it accounts for around one-seventh of the human population on Earth. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/20/10     Petting dogs is proven to lower blood pressure of dog owners. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/21/10     Canadians have made many important inventions, including Kerosene, the electron microscope, the electronic organ, insulin, the IMAX film system, the snowmobile, and the electric cooking range. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/22/10     The Basenji is the world's only bark less dog. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/23/10     Between 30% and 60% of cocaine users combine cocaine with alcohol. This concurrent use is the cause of nearly 75% of cocaine-related fatalities in the U.S., and a cocaine user is 25 times more likely to experience sudden death when combining it with alcohol. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/24/10     One in every five people in the world is Chinese. China's population is estimated to reach a whopping 1,338,612,968 by July 2009. China's population is four times that of the United States. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/25/10     California's American Indian and Alaska Native population, the highest of any state, was 738,978, as of July 1, 2008. Oklahoma's population, 406,492, was the second highest. - Provided by The World Almanac 2010
8/26/10     On average, someone in the U.S. is killed by a drunk driver every 40 minutes. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/27/10     Mexico is located in the 'Ring of Fire,' one of the earth's most violent earthquake and volcano zones. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/28/10     Italians suffer more earthquakes than any other Europeans. In 1693, an estimated 100,000 people died in an earthquake in Sicily. The most deadly recent quake in Italy occurred in Naples in 1980, killing 3,000 people. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/29/10     The average life expectancy at birth for a Canadian is 81.16 years, the eighth highest in the world. The United States ranks 46th, at 78.14 years. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/30/10     Burger King's Double Whopper with cheese contains 923 calories. A man would need to walk for about nine miles to burn it off. Adding french fries and a large cola brings the total calories to an amazing 1,500 calories (2/3 of an adult man' s recommended daily caloric intake). - Provided by RandomHistory.com
8/31/10     While Egypt is most well known for its pyramids, the Republic of Sudan actually has 223 of its own pyramids, double the number of pyramids in Egypt. Smaller and steeper than their Egyptian counterparts, the pyramids of Sudan are not nearly as famous. - Provided by RandomHistory.com


Fact-of-the-Day Archives

2010
DEC NOV OCT SEP AUG JUL
JUN MAY APR MAR FEB JAN

[ Return to Fact-of-the-Day ]
[ Return to Refdesk Home Page ]


[ Search Net ] [ Facts Subject Index ] [ Facts Encyclopedia ] [ Newspapers USA/World ] [ Report Broken Links ]
[ Fast Facts ] [ First Things First ] [ Quick Reference ] [ Site Map ] [ Top of Page ] [ HOME ]

Contact Refdesk
© Refdesk.com