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

SEP 2012


Previous Archives

DATEFACT OF THE DAY
9/1/12     Six billion steps of DNA are contained in a single cell. This DNA can be stretched six feet, but it is coiled up in the cell's nucleus, which measures only 1/2500 of an inch in diameter. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/2/12     Due to anti-German sentiment during WWI, an alternative name for a hamburger (which was derived from the Hamburg steak sandwiches eaten on immigrant ships between Hamburg, Germany, and America in the 1800s) was "salisbury steak." It was named after Dr. Salisbury who prescribed ground beef for patients suffering from anemia, asthma, and other illnesses. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/3/12     The first woman to run for U.S. president was Victoria Woodhull, who campaigned for the office in 1872 under the National Woman's Suffrage Association. While women would not be granted the right to vote by a constitutional amendment for nearly 50 years, there were no laws prohibiting a woman from running for the chief executive position. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/4/12     Greece was once a mass of rock that was completely underwater. When a tectonic plate crashed into Europe, the collision created Greece's mountainous ranges. The plate is still moving and causes earthquakes all around the Aegean. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/5/12     The most popular flower on Valentine's Day is a single red rose surrounded with baby's breath. The red rose was the flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/6/12     Bones were one of the most recycled items before the twentieth century. Bones were often used for making buttons and gelatin, which was used in food processing, photography, and glue and paper making. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/7/12     Water accounts for 55-70% of our body weight, and typically a minimum of six to eight glasses of water is needed to keep the body performing at optimal levels (the amount of water needed differs according to an individual's health, physical activity, environment, etc). A 20% loss of fluid from the body is usually fatal. Conversely, drinking too much water can also be fatal. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/8/12     Causes of the Great Depression are widely debated but typically include a weak banking system, overproduction, bursting credit bubble, the fact that farmers and industrial workers had not shared in the prosperity of the 1920s, and a government-held laissez faire policy. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/9/12     In the United States, there is little difference between the terms 'college' and 'university.' However, the term 'college' in other countries, such as Canada, refers to a junior college or trade college, where as a 'university' is larger, more research focused, and usually contains multiple colleges. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/10/12     A person's gender is biologically determined by the sex chromosomes, one set of a human's 23 pairs of chromosomes. Women have two X chromosomes, while men have one X and one Y chromosome. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/11/12     Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president at 6' 4'' and weighing 180 pounds. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/12/12     Roman days were divided into 12 hours, measured by a sundial. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/13/12     Many scientists believe that all the water on the earth was originally vented into the atmosphere by volcanoes. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/14/12     The 1960 presidential election holds the title of the closet presidential race. John F. Kennedy won just a tenth of a percent more popular votes than Richard Nixon, but he did carry a clear majority in the Electoral College with 303 votes, as opposed to Nixon's 219 votes. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/15/12     The average life expectancy ranges throughout the world from a high of 84.36 years in Macau to just 31.88 years in the African nation of Swaziland. Experts attribute the low life expectancy in many African countries to high rates of HIV/AIDS infection. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/16/12     The term 'opera' comes from the Latin opus, or 'work.' The term 'soap opera' was first recorded in 1939 as a derogatory term for daytime radio shows that were sponsored by soap manufacturers. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/17/12     The names of 77 ancient Egyptian dogs have been recorded. The names refer to color and character, such as Blackie, Ebony, Good Herdsman, Reliable, and Brave One. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/18/12     Earthquakes occur only in the Earth's crust. Deep earthquakes originate in crust that is sliding down beneath another tectonic plate. The most devastating earthquakes are those that are strong and shallow with the focus point less than 20 miles (32 km) underground and that occur in highly populated areas. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/19/12     Only about 5% of all U.S. caves have the right temperature and water conditions suitable for bats. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/20/12     The Great Wall of China is also known as the wanli changcheng or Long Wall of 10,000 Li (a li is a measure of distance, approximately 1/3 of a mile). The main wall is around 2,145 miles (3,460 km) long with an extra 1,770 miles (2,860 km) of branches and spurs. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/21/12     Archaeologists found grape pips (seeds), usually considered evidence of winemaking, dating from 8000 B.C. in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. The oldest pips of cultivated vines were found in (then Soviet) Georgia from 7000-5000 B.C. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/22/12     Most experts believe humans domesticated dogs before donkeys, horses, sheep, goats, cattle, cats, or chickens. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/23/12     The blue whale is the largest of all whales and is also considered the largest animal to have ever existed in the world. An adult blue whale can measure up to 108 feet in length and can weigh nearly 200 tons. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/24/12     Countless excellent phrases, now commonly used, occur first in Shakespeare, including one fell swoop, vanish into thin air, play fast and loose, be in a pickle, foul play, tower of strength, flesh and blood, be cruel to be kind, and with bated breath. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/25/12     Between 30% and 60% of cocaine users combine the drug 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
9/26/12     Originally, the U.S. mint made $2.50, $10, and $15 coins of solid gold. Minting of gold stopped in 1933, during the Great Depression. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/27/12     The single deadliest flu pandemic in history was the Spanish flu pandemic during 1918-1919. Occurring in three waves of increasing lethality, the Spanish flu killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS did in 24 years. It also killed more people in one year than smallpox or the Black Plague did in 50 years. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/28/12     William Shanks (1812-1882) worked for years by hand to find the first 707 digits of pi. Unfortunately, he made a mistake after the 527th place and, consequently, the following digits were all wrong. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/29/12     By the second century B.C., the Chinese discovered that blood circulated throughout the body and that the heart pumped the blood. In Europe, circulation wasn't discovered until the early seventeenth century by William Harvey (1578-1657). - Provided by RandomHistory.com
9/30/12     Plant life began on the Earth's landforms about 430 millions years ago. The first plants were likely single-celled organisms distantly related to algae. - Provided by RandomHistory.com


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