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DATE	FACT OF THE DAY
8/1/18	The IRS has a special Criminal Investigation (CI) branch made up of 3,500 employees worldwide whose main job is to investigate tax and money laundering. CI special agents have badges and are allowed to carry weapons but do not have uniforms. Qualified retired CI agents are exempt from concealed weapon laws. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/2/18	The 2008 U.S. financial bailout cost more than the Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, Race to the Moon, S&L bailout, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq War, Vietnam War, and NASA’s lifetime budget-combined. The bailout total was $4.62 trillion. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/3/18	Throughout history, people have used many forms of money, such as soap, cocoa beans, elephant tail hairs, entire elephants, grain, animal skins, fishhooks, feathers, tea tobacco, bird claws, and bear teeth. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/4/18	Initially, American Express was a freight shipper as a competitor to the U.S. Postal Service in New York during the 1850s. It specialized in delivering money orders and traveler's checks (which they invented in 1891). Two of their founders, Wells and Fargo, later moved to California. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/5/18	According to a recent study by Experian, Gen Yers have the lowest Vantage Scores of the four generations (the Vantgage Score was established in 2006 by the three main credit bureaus to compete with Fair Isaac's FICO score). Gen Y has a credit score of 672, Gen X (ages 30-46) has an average score of 718, Baby Boomers (47-65) have a 782, and the Greatest Generation (66+) have an average of 829. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/6/18	In 2008, U.S. households lost an estimated 18% of their net worth, equaling approximately an $11.2 trillion loss. This collapse was the largest since the Federal Reserve began tracking household wealth after WWII. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/7/18	The first country to hyperinflate in the 21st century is Zimbabwe. In 2008, a loaf of bread cost 1.6 trillion Zimbabwe dollars. Officials in Zimbabwe blamed it on rising global food prices and international sanctions. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/8/18	Medical examiners and coroner's offices in the U.S. hold more than 40,000 sets of unidentified remains. That number is large enough to represent a small city. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/9/18	The country with the highest rate of drunk driving deaths is South Africa. Nearly 6 out of every 10 fatalities (58 percent) on South Africa's roads are due to alcohol. By comparison, in the United States, 31 percent of all road deaths are linked to alcohol. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/10/18	Ice cream was first invented in seventh-century China, where King Tang of Shang had a group of "ice men" create a cold dessert made from buffalo milk, flour, and camphor. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/11/18	The World Health Organization estimates that 30,000 deaths can be attributed to the Chernobyl disaster. Over seven million people have been exposed to radiation from the accident. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/12/18	Red stars are relatively small and cool, while the hottest burn blue-white. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/13/18	For an adult human, taking just one step uses up to 200 muscles. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/14/18	An ambigram is a word that looks the same from various orientations. For example, the word "swims" will be the same even when turned upside down. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/15/18	The oldest known dog bones were found in Asia and date as far back as 10,000 B.C. The first identifiable dog breed appeared about 9000 B.C. and was probably a type of Greyhound dog used for hunting. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/16/18	The first theorist to suggest that birth order can affect human psychology was Alfred Adler (1870-1937). In short, he argued that firstborns are "dethroned" by a second child, which permanently affects the firstborn's personality. Additionally, younger and older children may be spoiled and pampered, which also permanently affects their later personalities. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/17/18	Traditionally, bridesmaids would be dressed in similar bride-like gowns to confuse rival suitors, evil spirits, and robbers. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/18/18	Early Roman brides carried a bunch of herbs, such as garlic and rosemary, under their veils to symbolize fidelity and fertility and to ward off evil. These herbs served as a precursor to the modern bridal bouquet. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/19/18	According to Plato, dance "gave the body its just proportions." - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/20/18	During the seventeenth century, women were not allowed to sing onstage, not even in a chorus. Castrated males, or castrati, would sing the soprano/mezzo/alto parts. The first of the great castrati was Baldassare Ferri (1610-1680). He was so famous that the town's people met him three miles outside the city and filled his carriage with flowers. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/21/18	The modern UFO era began in 1947 when pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine disc-shaped objects flying over Mt. Rainer, Washington. A reporter labeled them "flying saucers," and the term entered mainstream consciousness. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/22/18	A group of ferrets is called a "business." - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/23/18	Wedding rings are traditionally worn on the left hand because people believed that a vena amoris, or a "lover's vein," connected the 4th finger on this hand to the heart. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/24/18	Only 1 in 10 victims of cyberbullying tell a parent. Fewer than 1 in 5 cyberbullying incidents are reported to the police. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/25/18	Approximately 50 million people worldwide suffer from stuttering, an involuntary repetition of sounds that impedes speech. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/26/18	Though it is the most difficult of the visible planets to see, Mercury's existence has been known since ancient Sumerian times, roughly 5,000 years ago. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/27/18	A chef traditionally wears white because the chef of the first prime minister of France (1815) believed that white was the most hygienic of all the colors. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/28/18	In 2001, some Belgian elementary schools began serving low-alcohol beer to schoolchildren at lunch as a healthier alternative to soda. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/29/18	From 1886 to 1924, over 14 million immigrants entered through New York harbor into the United States. About 40% of Americans can trace at least one ancestor to Ellis Island. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/30/18	Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, died in 1596. His daughter Susanna died in 1649. His younger daughter Judith had three children, but all died before their mother and without children. His granddaughter Elizabeth, daughter of Susanna, died childless in 1670, ending the William Shakespeare line. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
8/31/18	When scientists studied the brains of Buddhist monks, they found that meditation actually changed the monks' brainwaves in a way that increased feelings of happiness and resiliency. - Provided by FactRetriever.com

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