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

MAR 2013


Previous Archives

DATEFACT OF THE DAY
3/1/13     The official name of Iran is the Islamic Republic of Iran. It became an Islamic republic in 1979 when the monarchy was overthrown and religious clerics assumed political power under supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/2/13     Google accounts for roughly 0.013% of the world's energy use. It uses enough energy to continuously power 200,000 homes. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/3/13     In the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. The average desktop computer idles at 80 watts, while the average laptop idles at 20 watts. A Sony PlayStation 3 uses about 200 watts and nearly as much when idle. Idle power consumes more electricity than all the solar panels in America combined. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/4/13     On Match.com, 132 million 'winks' are sent out each year and members go out on a six million dates per year. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/5/13     During the Middle Ages, a lemon slice was served with fish because it was thought the juice would dissolve any bones that were accidentally swallowed. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/6/13     Abraham Lincoln was the first president to ever be photographed at his inauguration. In the photo, he is standing near John Wilkes Booth, his future assassin. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/7/13     French fries are the single most popular fast food in America. In 1970, french fries surpassed regular potato sales in the United States. In 2004, Americans ate 7.5 billion pounds of frozen french fries. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/8/13     The fastest fish is the sailfish. It can swim as fast as a car travels on the highway. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/9/13     Scientists suggest that the advent of cooking led to healthier food which, in turn, led to bigger brains and an increased capacity to woo potential lovers with new forms of linguistic and artistic seductive flairs. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/10/13     An annular eclipse occurs when the moon is too small to block the whole sun and leaves a ring of light visible. This eclipse happens because the moon's orbit is not a perfect circle, so when the moon is farthest away from Earth, it appears smaller in the sky. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/11/13     Despite several rumors to the contrary, microwave ovens do not pose a threat to an unborn fetus. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/12/13     The amount of energy Americans use doubles every 20 years. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/13/13     Togas were unique to Rome and were worn by free-born Roman men as a mark of distinction. Ironically, the only women who wore togas were prostitutes because they were not allowed to wear stolas, the traditional garment of Roman women. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/14/13     Since a fish's jaw is not attached to its skull, many fishes can shoot their mouths forward like a spring to catch startled prey. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/15/13     More than 200,000 African Americans served in WWI, but only about 11 percent of them were in combat forces. The rest were put in labor units, loading cargo, building roads, and digging ditches. They served in segregated divisions (the 92nd and 93rd) and trained separately. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/16/13     Some people who became homeless during the Depression would ride on railroad cars because they didn't have money to travel. Some famous men who rode the rails were William O. Douglas (1898-1980), U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1939-1975; novelist Louis L'Amour (1908-1988); and folk singer Woody Guthrie (1912-1967). Some scholars claim that more than 50,000 people were injured or killed while jumping trains. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/17/13     A four-leaf clover is often considered good luck, but it is also part of an Irish love ritual. In some parts of Ireland, if a woman eats a four-leaf clover while thinking about a man, supposedly he will fall in love with her. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/18/13     In the 1928 elections, less than 3% of Germans voted for the Nazi party. In 1938, Hitler was Time magazine's man of the year. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/19/13     The U.S. schools with the highest rates of students who graduate in four years are St. Francis Medical Center College of Nursing in Peoria, IL (100%); Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA (94%); Davidson College in Davidson, NC (92%); College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA (92%); and Haverford College in Haverford, PA (91%). - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/20/13     In 1659, Massachusetts outlawed Christmas. According to state law, anybody observing Christmas would be fined five shillings. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/21/13     Protein is in each of the trillions of cells in the human body. There could be no life without protein. The only other substance more plentiful in the body is water. Approximately 18-20% of the body is protein by weight. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/22/13     As of 2008, Harry Potter books have sold over 400 million copies and have been translated into 67 languages. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/23/13     While teachers say they intervened 71% of the time in bullying incidents, students report that teachers intervened only 25% of the time. Thirty percent of students who say they have been bullied said they sometimes had brought weapons to school. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/24/13     Direct medical costs associated with STIs/STDs (sexually transmitted infections/sexually transmitted diseases) in the United States are estimated at $13 billion per year. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/25/13     About 20% of all volcanoes are under water. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/26/13     The most popular performed plastic surgery procedure is Botox, which is a protein derived from the botulism toxin. It is injected into the skin to paralyze facial muscles, giving the recipient a smooth facial appearance. The effects of the procedure typically wear off after three to six months. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/27/13     The 'S' in President Harry S Truman's name doesn't stand for anything; therefore, there is no period after his middle initial. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/28/13     While general vocabulary and knowledge about the world often stays sharp through one's 70s, memory for names begins to decline as early as age 35. The ability to recognize faces and find one's car has already begun to wane by the 20s. However, research shows that brain stimulation not only stops cells from shrinking, but it can also increase brain cell and dendrite branching. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/29/13     A cat called Dusty has the known record for the most kittens. She had more than 420 kittens in her lifetime. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/30/13     After horses became domesticated around 4000 B.C., many Indo-European cultures regarded horses as a supreme sacrifice to their gods and often ritually entombed horses. People in the Caucasus practiced horse sacrifice as late as the 1800s. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
3/31/13     If one student has high grades but low test scores and another has low grades but high test cores, the first student is far more likely to get accepted into a better college. Colleges prefer the 'bad test-taker' to students who don't apply themselves. - Provided by RandomHistory.com


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