Interesting Facts about George Washington

# George Washington had to borrow money to go to his own inauguration.

# George Washington who commanded the Continental Army as a four-star general was promoted posthumously to the position of six-star "General of the Armies of Congress" by an order of Jimmy Carter, who felt America's first President should also be America's highest military official.

# When George Washington was elected President, there was a king in France, a czarina in Russia, an emperor in China, and a shogun in Japan. Only the office of President remains.

# Washington was the first President to appear on a postage stamp.

# Washington was one of two Presidents that signed the U.S. Constitution.

# George Washington was a half first cousin twice removed of James Madison, a second cousin seven times removed of Queen Elizabeth II, a third cousin twice removed of Robert E. Lee, and an eighth cousin six times removed of Winston Churchill.

# Washington was the only president elected unanimously, receiving all 69 of the electoral votes cast.

# At his inauguration, Washington had only one tooth. At various times he wore dentures made of human or animal teeth, ivory or lead -- never wood.

# Washington refused to wear a powdered wig, which was high fashion in the late 1700s. Instead, he powdered his red-brown hair and ties it in a short braid down his back.

# Washington carried a portable sundial.

# Washington's inauguration speech was 183 words long and took 90 seconds to read. This was because of his false teeth.

# The six white horses in Washington's stables had their teeth brushed every morning on Washington's orders.

# The nation's capital was located in Philadelphia during Washington's administration making him the only president who didn't live in Washington, D.C. during his presidency.

# Washington loved to help fight fires.

# Washington's favorite sports were fishing and fox hunting.

# George Washington was born on February 11, 1731. Over twenty years later, in 1752, Great Britain and its American colonies switched calendars from Julian to Gregorian. This switch eliminated eleven days from September of that year: September 2 was followed by September 14. At the same time, New Year's Day was changed from March 25 to January 1. Since then, historians have said that Washington was born in 1732, and the anniversary of his birth has been celebrated on February 22.

# Washington's face was scarred from smallpox.

# Washington was the first man in American history to be a Lieutenant General.

# Washington was the only president to die in the 1700s.

# George Washington had two ice cream freezers installed at his home in Mount Vernon.

# George Washington left no direct descendant. Though his wife Martha had four children by a previous marriage., Washington never sired a child to continue his line.

# He was probably named after George Eskridge, a lawyer in whose charge Washington's mother had been left when she was orphaned.

# Washington once issued an order that forbade swearing throughout the U.S. Army.

George Washington on his Death Bed

# Washington wore size thirteen boots.

# Washington used to take a boat from Mount Vernon to Washington D.C. to get to work.

# He would often get his "e's" and "i's" mixed up, he would spell words like blue as blew, and oil as oyl.

# Washington's IQ was estimated to be about 125.

# He was a very loud snorer.

source: geocities.com/presfacts

Interesting Facts About Mark Twain

by sri harsha
Mark Twain was a very famous American writer. He was also a lecturer and humorist. He is famous for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. These books are still considered classics and are very popular among readers.

Some interesting facts about Mark Twain

Mark Twain's original name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Mark Twain is his pen name. But this is not his only pseudonym. When he was young, he wrote with pseudonyms Sergeant Fathom, Rambler, Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, and W. Epaminondas Adrastus Blab. He used to write a lot of comic articles with the pen name Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass before he started writing with Mark Twain as his pen name.

While he was a teenager, Mark Twain worked as an amateur printer.

He has a lot of fondness for cats. He loved to have them around wherever he went. Once when he was in New Hampshire for summer, he some kittens on rent from the local farm.

When he was young, he served American civil war. There he formed a group and the group was dissolved after two weeks. He returned to Nevada and worked as a miner.

At one time, he worked as a steam boat pilot. He also worked as a gold checking person and as a journalist. He was well appreciated as a lecturer and his method of story telling was praised by many. His stage presence was also appreciated widely.

He writes the books with characters which seem very natural to readers. The characters seem very real that we think we might have met such a character somewhere.

He is still considered as an icon in literature.

His wife's name is Olivia Langdon and they were married for thirty four years. She died before six years of his death. They had four children- Susy, Langdon, Clara and Jean Clemens.

Two weeks before his birth in 1835, the Halley Comet appeared. After seventy five years, on the day he died the Halley Comet again appeared but he couldn't see it. It was in the year 1910 that he died.

He was buried in his wife's family cemetery in Elmira.

In his last years, from 1901 to 1910, he worked as the vice president of the American Anti-imperialist League.

source: purpleslinky.com

Interesting Facts about Chile

Chile (officially the Republic of Chile) is a country in South America that is located between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Here are some interesting facts about Chile.

- Chile borders three different countries; Argentina to the east, Bolivia to the northeast and Peru to the north
- Chile has an unusual ribbon shape. It is 4300 km long and just 175 km wide (on average)
- Forests, grazing land, volcanoes and lakes are all features of southern Chile.
- Chile had to endure a 17 year military dictatorship between 1973-1990 that left more than 3000 people either dead or missing
- It is believed that Native Americans settled in Chile about 10,000 years ago. They settled along the coast as the most fertile land was found there
- Michelle Bachelet Jeria is the current president of Chile. She is the first woman president ever in Chile and was elected in January 2006
- Chile is the world’s 38th largest country. It is about twice the size of Japan
- The population of Chile is expected to be about 20.2 million by 2050
- About 10% of the Chilean population consider themselves indigenous to the region. However, according to the 2002 census, only about half of these people still speak a native language or practice a native culture
- There are an estimated 840,000 Chileans living abroad. More than half of these live in Argentina. 2% of these live in my home country, Australia.
- The most popular sport in Chile is football (soccer to Australians and Americans). The Chilean football team won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Tennis is the second most popular sport in Chile, with Fernando Gonza'lez the last Chilean to reach a Grand Slam singles final.
- The two gold medals won by Chile in the Olympic Games come from tennis. They have also won six silver medals (in athletics, equestrian, boxing and shooting) and four bronze medals (in tennis, boxing and football).
- Tourism is growing very quickly in Chile. In 2005, tourism generated more than $US4.5 billion.
- The main language spoken in Chile is Spanish, but there are also many indigenous languages that are spoken by a minority of Chileans.
- Catholicism is the main religion is Chile.

Hope you enjoyed these interesting facts about Chile!
source: wanttoknowit.com

Some Chile interesting facts
 that you may not know. Also includes some facts that you may not want to know
.




Welcome to CHILE [HD] Bienvenido a CHILE


MYSTERYLAND CHILE 2012



Interesting Facts about U.S. Presidents

The only person to become president without having been elected vice-president or president is Gerald Ford, who took over the office when Richard Nixon resigned. Ford was appointed vice-president when Nixon's first vice-president, Spiro Agnew, resigned.

John Adams, the second president, was the father of the sixth president, John Quincy Adams. Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president, was the grandson of William H. Harrison, the ninth president.

The only bachelor president to occupy the white house was James Buchanan.

Only one president has been elected to two non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland served as the 22nd president, and again as the 24th president.

Among the professions of the men who have risen to our nation's highest public office, 27 were lawyers, 6 were soldiers, 6 were farmers, 3 were teachers, 3 were businessmen, 1 was a tailor, 1 was an editor, 1 was an author, and 1 was an actor.

The average age of all the presidents on the day of their inauguration is 55 years.

John Tyler, the 10th president, was the father of 15 children

Franklin D. Roosevelt was related by either blood or marriage to eleven other presidents: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses Grant, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Zachary Taylor, Martin Van Buren, and George Washington.

Four major cities are named for presidents:
1-Lincoln, Nebraska
2-Jefferson City, Missouri
3-Jackson, Mississippi
4-Madison, Wisconsin

Attractions:
The Lincoln Memorial (Washington, D.C.)
The Washington Monument (Washington, D.C.)
Mt. Rushmore (South Dakota)

source: nas.com

Interesting Facts About Culinary Arts

By Serena Makofsky
People who work in food preparation know that culinary skills must be practiced and refined, making it more of an art form than a mere hobby or a task. A master chef endeavors to not only stimulate the palate, but also the senses of smell and sight. There are many compelling facts and bits of trivia regarding the study and practice of the culinary arts.

History
Learning the culinary arts was once the work of apprenticeship, with daughters learning recipes from mothers, and traditional recipes passed on via oral history. It was not until the year 1800 that the first academic program in the culinary arts opened for business. The Boston Cooking School was popular, drawing an international student body. One of its most famous students was Fannie Merrit Farmer, who published the world's first cookbook in 1896. "The Boston Cooking School Cookbook" is still a reference work for students of culinary arts today. The first televised cooking show was presided over by James Beard, airing in 1946. His illustrious work earned him the moniker "dean of American cookery," bestowed upon him by "The New York Times."

Types
People who work in the culinary arts often aspire to positions such as executive chef or sous chef. But there are plenty of other positions in the field, such as the saucier, who oversees sauces and gravies with a chemist-like precision; the garde manager, who may be responsible for all cold foods and often can integrate leftover ingredients into new dishes; pastry chefs, a major responsibility that often entails overseeing a whole pastry staff; and a sommelier, who is paid to professionally wine taste and share expertise with patrons. Less chef-oriented positions include dining room service, food and beverage inventory specialists, restaurant consultants, salespeople, food writers, food critics, food stylists, food photographers and research and development. Others may opt to train other chefs and enter into teaching. Finally, there are those who are entrepreneurs and decide to open their own restaurant or catering service.

Significance
The culinary arts are an object of public fascination. Celebrity chefs and foodies such as Rachel Ray and Rick Bayless tour the world's cuisines, while the iron chefs demonstrate their artistry in a live, timed competition. Movies and novels such as "Like Water for Chocolate," "Heartburn," "The Wedding Feast," "Cocolat" and "Babette's Feast" reflect the seductive power of beautifully prepared food. The culinary arts even has its own cable television channel, The Food Network.

Considerations
A student of culinary arts does not just enter the kitchen chopping. Typical core coursework includes practicing the fundamentals of cooking (yes, chopping), researching theory, learning sanitary practices, preparing simple cold dishes and composing soups and sauces before ever learning how to make an entree. Advanced skills are required for classes such as baking, pastry creation, nutrition, menu planning, international cuisine, catering and the technology of preserving products. This last course inspires some amount of controversy, because both consumers and creators of food have divergent opinions on the incorporation of pre-prepared foods. Two of the more entertaining courses are the art of working with chocolate and sugar and wine appreciation.

Expert Insight
An examination of culinary arts would not be complete without mentioning its patron saint, Julia Child, who first made cooking history with her 1961 book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Her radio show and, later, her television program, "The French Chef" were enormously popular and introduced the public to revolutionary approaches in cookery. She had strong opinions about her craft, commenting "Non-cooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet."

Interesting Facts About South Dakota

The largest underground gold mine is the Homestake Mine in Lead. Tours are available today telling of the area and the mine's rich history.

The Mammoth Site is of great scientific importance due to the primary (actual death area) accumulation of mammoth bones at the site. Most fossils are found where they have been deposited by stream beds or carnivores.

Visitors to South Dakota’s Badlands National Park will find fossil evidence of 35 million years of evolution – a dog-sized camel, three-toed horse, and saber-toothed cat.

Homestake Mine in 1889, courtesy Library of Congress.

It is illegal to lie down and fall asleep in a cheese factory.

Movies that show police officers being struck, beaten, or treated in an offensive manner are forbidden in South Dakota.

Rumor has it that the tradition of spreading saw dust on the floors of bars and saloons started in Deadwood, South Dakota due to the amount of gold dust that would fall on the floor. The saw dust was used to hide the fallen gold dust and was swept up at the end of the night.

Fossilized remains of life 50 million years ago have been arranged in unusual forms, which is Lemmon's mark of distinction at the world's largest petrified wood park.

Pierre, South Dakota is the only example of a state and capital in the U.S. that don't share any letters.

Built in 1832 by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, Fort Pierre Chouteau was the largest and best equipped trading post in the northern Great Plains.

South Dakota has one of the largest Native American populations, with nine official tribes and some 60,000 people.

Internationally famous, the Sturgis Rally and Races, held during the first full week of August, welcomes motorcyclists from all parts of the world to tour and show their skills competing in the hill climb and racing events. Throughout the years, the Rally has grown into a 15-day premier event with attendance of more than 650,000 racers, visitors, and celebrities!

Clark is the Potato Capital of South Dakota. It is also the home of a Mashed Potato Wrestling contest.

One of Keystone’s claims to fame is that Carrie Ingalls, of Little House on the Prairie lived here most of her adult life.

Mt. Rushmore was called Mountain of Rock before the presidential faces were carved.

The Badlands are known as “the playground” of the dinosaur.

South Dakota's State motto is “Under God the People Rule.”

Badlands National Park consists of nearly 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States.

Sage Creek Wilderness is the site of the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal in North America.

The Black Hills of South Dakota hold two national caves: Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument. Jewel Cave is presently the fourth largest cave in the world, with 57.4 miles of surveyed and mapped passages.

The name “Black Hills” comes from the Lakota words Paha Sapa, which mean “hills that are black.” Seen from a distance, these pine-covered hills, rising several thousand feet above the surrounding prairie, appear black.

The site of a rich gold strike in 1875, Deadwood retains its mining town atmosphere. While Deadwood is one of the most highly publicized mining towns of the trans-Mississippi West, much of its fame rests on the famous or infamous characters that passed through.

The youngest person to ever be elected to the South Dakota Legislature was Justin Davis, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2002 at 24 years old.

Famous South Dakotans include newscaster, Tom Brokaw, Calamity Jane, Theodore Roosevelt, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse

Belle Fourche is the geographical center of the United States of America, designated in 1959 and noted by an official marker and sheepherder's monument called a "Stone Johnnie".

Bowdle is known for the tallest water tower in South Dakota.

Wild Bill Hickok was killed in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876. He is buried there in the cemtery.

South Dakota adopted the honey bee as the state insect in 1978

Mitchell, South Dakota is the home of the world's only Corn Palace, built with 3,500 bushels of ear corn.

The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary is the home of 300 wild mustangs, where they run free on several thousand scenic acres.

Drilling began on the four faces of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in 1927. Towering 6,200 feet, the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are scaled to men who would stand 465 feet tall. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum originally planned to include a Hall of Records behind the faces but never completed the project. Creation of the Shrine to Democracy took 14 years and cost a mere $1 million, though it's now deemed priceless.

The Crazy Horse mountain carving now in progress will be the world’s largest sculpture (563' high, 641' long, carved in the round). It is the focal point of an educational and cultural memorial to and for the North American Indian. The gigantic Crazy Horse is the world’s only mountain carving in progress.

Towering over the Black Hills at an elevation of 7,242 feet, Harney Peak is the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains.

Clark is the Potato Capital of South Dakota and is also home to the world famous Mashed Potato Wrestling contest.

In 1803, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, a real-estate deal that at the time doubled the size of the United States.

South Dakota is the home of the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota tribes, which make up the Sioux Nation.

Jewel Cave is the third-longest cave in the world. More than 120 miles of passages have been surveyed. Calcite crystals that glitter when illuminated give the cave its name.

In 1898, the first commercial timber sale on Federal forested land in the United States was authorized in the area of Jim and Estes Creeks (near the town of Nemo).

The sun casts a red glow over Badlands National Park in South Dakota , photo courtesy South Dakota Department of Tourism.

Woonsocket is known as The Town with the Beautiful Lake. Lake Prior sits in the middle of town.

With more than 82 miles of mapped passages, Wind Cave contains the world’s largest display of a rare formation called boxwork.

Harney Peak, at 7242 above sea level, is the highest point in the United States east of the Rockies.

A prospector in the Black Hills named a promising claim after his neighbor’s daughter, calling it “The Little Allie”. The prospector’s wife got angry because he had never named a claim after her and she demanded that the mine be renamed in her honor. The prospector agreed and renamed the mine “The Holy Terror” which is what it is still called today.

The 9824-acre Black Elk Wilderness in the center of the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve was named for Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota holy man.

The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs contains the largest concentration of Columbian and woolly mammoth bones discovered in their primary context in the world! This National Natural Landmark is the only in-situ (bones left as found) display of fossil mammoths in America.

The Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo details more than 250 rare automobiles including the infamous Tucker and Edsel.

Near the shore of Lake Herman, Prairie Village includes the original townsite of Herman, Dakota Territory. It is also home of the Art B. Thomas Hershell-Spillman Carousel that is complete with its operating coal fired boiler and steam engine.

The abundant water flow of Spearfish Creek favored the establishment of a Federal Fish Hatchery in 1898. It is known today as the D.C. Booth Historic Fish Hatchery.

Sioux Falls exists as a city today because the land speculators who staked town site claims there in 1857 came in search of the cascades of the Big Sioux River.

The Flaming Fountain on South Dakota State Capitol Lake is fed by an artesian well with natural gas content so high that it can be lit. The fountain glows perpetually as a memorial to all veterans.

The George S. Mickelson Trail is South Dakota's premier rails-to-trails project. This award winning tail stretches 114 miles from Deadwood to Edgemont.

The Crystal Springs Ranch rodeo arena in Clear Lake was built on a drained duck pond. The former duck pond is now known as "America's Most Natural Rodeo Bowl".

Faith is famous to paleontologists. Several Hadrosaur, Edmontosaurus annectens were excavated on a ranch north of Faith and one of the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex was excavated nearby.

The Silent Guide Monument in Philip was built in the late 1800s by a sheepherder to mark a waterhole that never went dry. Made of flat stones, the guide originally stood fourteen feet high, and could be seen as far as thirty five miles away.

For millions of years, Split Rock Creek near Garretson cut deep gorges through Palisades State Park. Geologists say the Sioux quartzite spires are 1.2 billion years old! Glaciers deposited a thin layer of debris atop the quartzite. Beds of dark red pipestone can be found between the layers. This is one of the few areas in the nation where pipestone is found. The mineral is considered sacred by American Indians.

Mato Paha "Sacred Mountain" is the origin of many Native American legends. Rising 1400 feet above the surrounding prairie near Sturgis, and standing all by itself, Bear Butte isn't hard to find. It was used as a landmark by the plains Indians and even today it is considered sacred by the plains peoples.

Black Hills National Cemetery "The Arlington of the West" is a final resting place of our nation's veterans.

The Anne Hathaway Cottage at Wessington Springs is the only structure in the Midwest US that features a thatched roof. The cottage is styled after the original Anne Hathaway home in England.

Brookings is the home of South Dakota State University, the state’s largest university, with 8100 students, and a staff of nearly 2000.

Rivers were the highways in settling the western territory. Lewis and Clark named American Creek when they passed through the Chamberlain - Oacoma area while exploring the territory for President Jefferson in 1804.

Yankton was the original Dakota Territorial capital city.

Henry Holland built an English-style mill in Milbank in 1886, three years before South Dakota became a state. Until 1907 it was used by settlers to grind wheat and corn and to saw wood.

The first and oldest Dakota daily newspaper, published in 1861 is the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan.

The Meridian Bridge built in 1924 was the first structure built across the Missouri River in South Dakota.

The Prairie Rattlesnake is the only venomous snake native to South Dakota.

The U.S.S. South Dakota was the most decorated battleship during World War II.

Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876, photo courtesy Library of Congress.

There are 39 State Parks and Recreation/Nature areas in South Dakota.

It has been estimated that 90% of women living in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876 were prostitutes.

Newton Hills State Park, south of Canton, is part of a geological feature called the Coteau des Prairie. This narrow strip of rolling hills and forests was created by glaciers and extends along the eastern edge of South Dakota. At its highest point, the Coteau rises to more than 2,000 feet above sea level.

In South Dakota prison inmates are required to pay for their incarceration costs if they do not have other financial obligations. Parents are responsible for juveniles.

source: legendsofamerica.com

Interesting Facts About Costa Rica

Costa Rica is one of the most popular adventure destinations in North America. From its natural beauty to its ancient artifacts, the lands and people of Costa Rica are as unique as its history. Read on to learn some fun facts about one of North America's most valued nations:

  • Though Costa Rica has its own currency (the Colon), most stores list prices in terms of U.S. dollars since there are so many U.S. tourists and access to U.S. dollars is easy. However, in order to exchange money, travelers must visit an official exchange, as illegal exchange of currency is forbidden. Head's up: most banks close at 3p.m.
  • Costa Rican travelers: be wary; Costa Rica is a stopping point along the well-known drug route through Central America. Though drugs and drug trafficking are illegal and punished quite severely, many tourists do get caught up in drug-money schemes, so tourists are warned upon arrival to guard their personal safety.
  • There are about 52 species of hummingbirds in Costa Rica, making Costa Rica a true North American hummingbird capitol. The Costa Rican hummingbirds are most often found in the rain forest, as they pollinate flowers in the area where bees cannot travel.
  • Monkeys are one of the most common mammals in Costa Rica - next to bats. There are about four common species of monkeys in Costa Rica, including the Howler money, Spider money, white-faced capuchin, and the squirrel monkey. Most monkeys live in groups of 10 to 40 with other animals.
  • There are four kinds of toucans in Costa Rica, including the keel-billed toucan, chestnut-mandibled toucan, collared aracari, and the fiery-billed aracari. Toucans are found almost entirely in or around the rain forest. There are also over 332 species of parrots, but only about five live in Costa Rica, including the scarlet macaw, great green macaw, red-lored parrot, white-crowned parrot and the barred parakeet.
  • Bug-phobists look out! There are about 750,000 species of insects that live in Costa Rica, including about 20,000 different types of spiders!
  • Guaro is the local alcoholic liquor of choice. The beverage is inexpensive and is made from sugar cane. Costa Rica also produces a fine coffee liquor - straight from the coffee bean.
  • Though Costa Rica is the second smallest Latin American country (it's only about 30,100 square miles), it's one of the most culturally and geographically exciting. The country borders the Caribbean and Pacific waters and has a broad mix of low lands and hilly volcanoes. As such hikers and water-lovers will be equally as impressed.
  • Vaccinations are not mandatory. However, there are Red Cross stations in just about every town throughout the country, making vaccinations readily available. Many hikers get vaccinated before traveling to the country, as Typhoid and Hydrophobia are common.
Costa Rica is one of the most valued environmental destinations in North America. Whether you're taking off for a backpacking trip, historic inquiry, or kayaking journey, Costa Rica is sure to provide an environment that cannot be replicated. Be sure to take your hiking boots and swimsuit - you never know when you'll hike to the top of a cliff only to jump into a crystal clear pool below!

source: trifter.com

Interesting facts about Central America

If you know any interesting facts about Central America that we did not include please let us know.

* An area of a rainforest the size of a football field is being destroyed each second.

* Giant bamboo plants can grow up to 9 inches a day.

* The trees of a tropical rainforest are so densely packed that rain falling on the canopy can take as long as 10 minutes to reach the ground.

* In the moist rainforests of South America, sloths move so slowly that algae are able to grow in their fur.

* Some rainforest monkeys are omnivores, eating both animals and plants.

* More than 2,000 different species of butterflies are found in the rainforests of South America.

* The forests of Central Africa are home to more than 8,000 different species of plants.

* Flying animals of Asian rainforests include frogs, squirrels and snakes.

* 80% of the flowers in the Australian rainforests are not found anywhere else in the world.

* Bats are essential for the pollination of many tropical foodstuffs such as bananas and mangoes.

* 1 out of 4 ingredients in our medicine is from rainforest plants.

* The Anaconda, the worlds heaviest snake lives in the rainforest of South East Asia.

* The largest tree in Central America is a silk cotton tree that is over 252 feet tall. It is located in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica.

* The most highly forested country in Central America is Honduras, which is 40% forested.

source: panama-travel-bureau.com

Intresting Facts About Crossbows Vs Myths

Hunting- Until recently Crossbows just weren’t an option in my state for hunting. I’ve heard a lot about Crossbows, but what I know to be the truth about them is very little. Now that more states are accepting them as a valid hunting method I find myself in the market to purchase one for this year’s hunting season.

It didn’t take me long to realize there isn’t a tremendous amount of information on the web about Crossbow Hunting. Keep in mind I’ve never even shot a crossbow and at the moment don’t know a lot about what Crossbow Hunting gear is the best, or for that matter worst. Regardless I’ve set out to learn as much as I can about Crossbows and thankfully Mr. David Robb of TenPoint Crossbow Technologies sent me this article called Crossbows Myth vs. Fact. Below is the informative article David provided.

Myth: A crossbow is not really a bow.

Fact: When comparing a crossbow to a compound bow shot with a release, the only differences between them are:

• The crossbow trigger mechanism holds the draw for the shooter.

• The crossbow’s bow assembly is positioned horizontally.

• The crossbow is aimed like a rifle. Both weapons fire an arrow equipped with a broadhead designed to penetrate an animal, causing it to hemorrhage to death. The arrow coming from both weapons travels approximately the same distance, at approximately the same speed and energy, with approximately the same trajectory.


Myth: Crossbows make deer hunting too easy.

Fact: The only advantage a crossbow has over a conventional bow is that it holds the bow in the drawn, or ready to fire, position for the shooter. While shooting a crossbow is generally easier to master than shooting a vertical bow, it cannot be argued that it is just plain easy. The crossbow hunter must have the same woodsmanship ability and nearly all of the same shooting skills as the vertical bowhunter.

Myth: Anyone can pick up a crossbow, practice for an hour, and be ready to head to the woods.

Fact: Any experienced crossbow hunter will tell you that there are many ways to make a bad shot with a crossbow. First, if a crossbow is not cocked perfectly straight, it will not shoot straight. If the bowstring is pulled even 1/16th of an inch to the right or left of center, that difference can translate into a six-inch error at 20-yards. Additionally, like any conventional bow shooter, a crossbow shooter must maintain a proper stance, control breathing, squeeze rather than “jerk” the trigger, steady the entire body, and follow through (watch the entire arrow flight through the sighting mechanism) after the release. And finally, the crossbow hunter must also be a good judge of distance and be practiced at shooting the crossbow at distances between five and approximately 35 yards.

Myth: A crossbow shoots much faster and farther than compound bows.

Fact: Under controlled conditions, a series of velocity and kinetic energy tests were performed on two compound bows with 70# peak draw weights (248 and 205 feet per second) and 2 crossbows with 150# peak draw weights (228 and 242 feet per second). The bottom line was that both the compound bows and crossbows produced similar ballistic results. That is, the crossbows did not shoot farther or faster than the compound bows.

If anything, the crossbow begins to lose velocity and energy slightly faster than the compound bow after 30 yards because it shoots a lighter/shorter arrow. However, that difference, while measurable, is slight and insignificant considering the typical whitetail deer shot is less than 30 yards.

Myth: Crossbows have the knockdown power of a firearm.

Fact: Comparison tests have proven that there is a negligible ballistic difference between compound bows and crossbows. These tests disprove the groundless claims that crossbows perform like firearms. In other words a crossbow has no ballistic similarities to a firearm.

Myth: Crossbows shoot as flat as black powder rifles.

Fact: Again, through comparison tests it has been shown that crossbows do not perform the same as firearms. Crossbows typically start loosing velocity and energy at 30 yards compared to a black powder rifle which begins to lose velocity and energy at 100 yards or more.

Myth: Crossbow hunters are less experienced than conventional bowhunters, and will injure more deer.

Fact: There is no evidence to remotely support this claim. Crossbow hunters must apply the same basic skills and techniques as conventional bowhunters. All hunters have to start somewhere. Nobody enters the woods for the first time as an expert. As a hunter gains more experience in shot placement, judging distance and overall hunting skill, they become far less likely to injure a deer. In addition, one of the largest group of new crossbow hunters are experienced conventional bow hunters who can no longer hunt with a compound bow. They bring a vast amount of prior bowhunting knowledge with them. Finally, plenty of conventional bowhunters injure deer. The best approach to the issue of ethical shooting would be for individual states to consider requiring proficiency testing all hunters.

Myth: Crossbow hunters are less ethical, dedicated and proficient than conventional bowhunters.

Fact: This statement requires one to assume that conventional bowhunters in general are skilled experts who share a common passion and fervor, and are inherently ethical hunters. At face value alone, that assumption is unsupportable. It is safer to assume and easier to support the argument that many conventional bowhunters would have greater success and more “ethical hunts” if they used crossbows.

Myth: The crossbow is the preferred poaching weapon.

Fact: At the request of the American Crossbow Federation, Michael J. Budzik, the then Director of the Ohio Division of Wildlife, wrote a letter on December 13, 1999, addressing various crossbow related issues. In his letter he addressed the poaching issue with the following:
“From a law enforcement standpoint, violation statistics are just about equal between crossbows and vertical bows, and the total of both is an extremely small portion of the overall enforcement effort.”

As you can see, Ohio’s experience and data suggest that the anti-crossbow claims about crossbows being the preferred weapon of poachers is simply not true. Conventional wisdom also suggests that the crossbow would not be an efficient poaching weapon.

Myth: Crossbows are unsafe. Fact: Quoting the previously mentioned letter from Michael J. Budzik, he also states:

“Likewise, our statistics regarding hunter incidents (accidents) show very little difference between the two bow types. Since 1976 we have had only 21 archery-related hunting incidents; 10 caused by longbow and 11 by crossbow. Harvest data suggest that more people hunt with crossbows than with longbows in Ohio.”

Additionally, some crossbow manufacturers have been pro-active in adding additional safety features to their crossbows to reduce hunter/shooter injuries and also reduce the opportunity for a dry-fire situation.

Myth: Permitting crossbows in bow season will decimate the deer population.

Fact: In 1994, Ohio published year-by-year deer harvest data going all the way back to 1900. Ohio first allowed crossbows in archery season in 1976 and the conclusions are clear: Over the 18-year span since crossbow use has been permitted, crossbows have not decimated the deer population, the archery season has not been eliminated or shortened; and crossbows did nothing to diminish archers’ opportunities to hunt or their chances for success.

On the contrary, the opposite occurred. The deer population increased; the season got longer; more counties opened for hunting; more hunters participated; and the harvest-to-permits-sold ratio improved dramatically. Data available from Arkansas and Georgia support the same conclusions as that of Ohio.

Myth: Allowing crossbows will overcrowd the woods, decreasing the chances of success for the conventional bowhunter and will threaten the existence of, or at least, the length of archery-only seasons.

Fact: Referring again to the Ohio data, since the advent of crossbow hunting during archery season, the deer population has increased; the season has gotten longer; more counties have opened for hunting; more hunters have participated; and the harvest-to-permits-sold ratio has improved dramatically.

The facts are: these crossbow myths have no merit. To the contrary, the crossbow expands participation in hunting at a time when such expansion is both desirable and needed. Finally, crossbow use has caused none of the harm that the anti-crossbow proponents have predicted.

Thanks to David Robb of TenPoint Crossbows Technologies for providing this informative article on Crossbows.
You can visit TenPoints website at www.tenpointcrossbows.com.

100 Intresting Facts About Human Body

The human body is an incredibly complex and intricate system, one that still baffles doctors and researchers on a regular basis despite thousands of years of medical knowledge. As a result, it shouldn’t be any surprise that even body parts and functions we deal with every day have bizarre or unexpected facts and explanations behind them. From sneezes to fingernail growth, here are 100 weird, wacky, and interesting facts about the human body.

The Brain

The human brain is the most complex and least understood part of the human anatomy. There may be a lot we don’t know, but here are a few interesting facts that we’ve got covered.

1. Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour. Ever wonder how you can react so fast to things around you or why that stubbed toe hurts right away? It’s due to the super-speedy movement of nerve impulses from your brain to the rest of your body and vice versa, bringing reactions at the speed of a high powered luxury sports car.
2. The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb. The cartoon image of a light bulb over your head when a great thought occurs isn’t too far off the mark. Your brain generates as much energy as a small light bulb even when you’re sleeping.
3. The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Or any other encyclopedia for that matter. Scientists have yet to settle on a definitive amount, but the storage capacity of the brain in electronic terms is thought to be between 3 or even 1,000 terabytes. The National Archives of Britain, containing over 900 years of history, only takes up 70 terabytes, making your brain’s memory power pretty darn impressive.
4. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream. The brain only makes up about 2% of our body mass, yet consumes more oxygen than any other organ in the body, making it extremely susceptible to damage related to oxygen deprivation. So breathe deep to keep your brain happy and swimming in oxygenated cells.
5. The brain is much more active at night than during the day. Logically, you would think that all the moving around, complicated calculations and tasks and general interaction we do on a daily basis during our working hours would take a lot more brain power than, say, lying in bed. Turns out, the opposite is true. When you turn off your brain turns on. Scientists don’t yet know why this is but you can thank the hard work of your brain while you sleep for all those pleasant dreams.
6. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream. While this may be true, don’t take it as a sign you’re mentally lacking if you can’t recall your dreams. Most of us don’t remember many of our dreams and the average length of most dreams is only 2-3 seconds–barely long enough to register.
7. Neurons continue to grow throughout human life. For years scientists and doctors thought that brain and neural tissue couldn’t grow or regenerate. While it doesn’t act in the same manner as tissues in many other parts of the body, neurons can and do grow throughout your life, adding a whole new dimension to the study of the brain and the illnesses that affect it.
8. Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Not all neurons are the same. There are a few different types within the body and transmission along these different kinds can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.
9. The brain itself cannot feel pain. While the brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain. That doesn’t mean your head can’t hurt. The brain is surrounded by loads of tissues, nerves and blood vessels that are plenty receptive to pain and can give you a pounding headache.
10. 80% of the brain is water. Your brain isn’t the firm, gray mass you’ve seen on TV. Living brain tissue is a squishy, pink and jelly-like organ thanks to the loads of blood and high water content of the tissue. So the next time you’re feeling dehydrated get a drink to keep your brain hydrated.

Hair and Nails

While they’re not a living part of your body, most people spend a good amount of time caring for their hair and nails. The next time you’re heading in for a haircut or manicure, think of these facts.

11. Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. If you’ve ever had a covering of stubble on your face as you’re clocking out at 5 o’clock you’re probably pretty familiar with this. In fact, if the average man never shaved his beard it would grow to over 30 feet during his lifetime, longer than a killer whale.
12. Every day the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. Unless you’re already bald, chances are good that you’re shedding pretty heavily on a daily basis. Your hair loss will vary in accordance with the season, pregnancy, illness, diet and age.
13. Women’s hair is about half the diameter of men’s hair. While it might sound strange, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that men’s hair should be coarser than that of women. Hair diameter also varies on average between races, making hair plugs on some men look especially obvious.
14. One human hair can support 3.5 ounces. That’s about the weight of two full size candy bars, and with hundreds of thousands of hairs on the human head, makes the tale of Rapunzel much more plausible.
15. The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger. And the nail on the middle finger of your dominant hand will grow the fastest of all. Why is not entirely known, but nail growth is related to the length of the finger, with the longest fingers growing nails the fastest and shortest the slowest.
16. There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. Humans are not quite the naked apes that we’re made out to be. We have lots of hair, but on most of us it’s not obvious as a majority of the hairs are too fine or light to be seen.
17. Blondes have more hair. They’re said to have more fun, and they definitely have more hair. Hair color determines how dense the hair on your head is. The average human has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair fit the average with 100,000 follicles and redheads have the least dense hair, with about 86,000 follicles.
18. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails. If you notice that you’re trimming your fingernails much more frequently than your toenails you’re not just imagining it. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. On average, nails on both the toes and fingers grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.
19. The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. While you quite a few hairs each day, your hairs actually have a pretty long life providing they aren’t subject to any trauma. Your hairs will likely get to see several different haircuts, styles, and even possibly decades before they fall out on their own.
20. You must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone. You lose hundreds of hairs a day but you’ll have to lose a lot more before you or anyone else will notice. Half of the hairs on your pretty little head will have to disappear before your impending baldness will become obvious to all those around you.
21. Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from it’s flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. If you’ve ever wondered how your how clogs up your pipes so quick consider this: hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.

Internal Organs

Though we may not give them much thought unless they’re bothering us, our internal organs are what allow us to go on eating, breathing and walking around. Here are some things to consider the next time you hear your stomach growl.

22. The largest internal organ is the small intestine. Despite being called the smaller of the two intestines, your small intestine is actually four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren’t looped back and forth upon itself it wouldn’t fit inside the abdominal cavity.
23. The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet. No wonder you can feel your heartbeat so easily. Pumping blood through your body quickly and efficiently takes quite a bit of pressure resulting in the strong contractions of the heart and the thick walls of the ventricles which push blood to the body.
24. The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades. While you certainly shouldn’t test the fortitude of your stomach by eating a razorblade or any other metal object for that matter, the acids that digest the food you eat aren’t to be taken lightly. Hydrochloric acid, the type found in your stomach, is not only good at dissolving the pizza you had for dinner but can also eat through many types of metal.
25. The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels. To put that in perspective, the distance around the earth is about 25,000 miles, making the distance your blood vessels could travel if laid end to end more than two times around the earth.
26. You get a new stomach lining every three to four days. The mucus-like cells lining the walls of the stomach would soon dissolve due to the strong digestive acids in your stomach if they weren’t constantly replaced. Those with ulcers know how painful it can be when stomach acid takes its toll on the lining of your stomach.
27. The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court. In order to more efficiently oxygenate the blood, the lungs are filled with thousands of branching bronchi and tiny, grape-like alveoli. These are filled with microscopic capillaries which oxygen and carbon dioxide. The large amount of surface area makes it easier for this exchange to take place, and makes sure you stay properly oxygenated at all times.
28. Women’s hearts beat faster than men’s. The main reason for this is simply that on average women tend to be smaller than men and have less mass to pump blood to. But women’s and men’s hearts can actually act quite differently, especially when experiencing trauma like a heart attack, and many treatments that work for men must be adjusted or changed entirely to work for women.
29. Scientists have counted over 500 different liver functions. You may not think much about your liver except after a long night of drinking, but the liver is one of the body’s hardest working, largest and busiest organs. Some of the functions your liver performs are: production of bile, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, and detoxification.
30. The aorta is nearly the diameter of a garden hose. The average adult heart is about the size of two fists, making the size of the aorta quite impressive. The artery needs to be so large as it is the main supplier of rich, oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.
31. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart. For most people, if they were asked to draw a picture of what the lungs look like they would draw both looking roughly the same size. While the lungs are fairly similar in size, the human heart, though located fairly centrally, is tilted slightly to the left making it take up more room on that side of the body and crowding out that poor left lung.
32. You could remove a large part of your internal organs and survive. The human body may appear fragile but it’s possible to survive even with the removal of the stomach, the spleen, 75 percent of the liver, 80 percent of the intestines, one kidney, one lung, and virtually every organ from the pelvic and groin area. You might not feel too great, but the missing organs wouldn’t kill you.
33. The adrenal glands change size throughout life. The adrenal glands, lying right above the kidneys, are responsible for releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. In the seventh month of a fetus’ development, the glands are roughly the same size as the kidneys. At birth, the glands have shrunk slightly and will continue to do so throughout life. In fact, by the time a person reaches old age, the glands are so small they can hardly be seen.

Bodily Functions

We may not always like to talk about them, but everyone has to deal with bodily functions on a daily basis. These are a few facts about the involuntary and sometimes unpleasant actions of our bodies.

34. Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph. There’s a good reason why you can’t keep your eyes open when you sneeze–that sneeze is rocketing out of your body at close to 100 mph. This is, of course, a good reason to cover your mouth when you sneeze.
35. Coughs clock in at about 60 mph. Viruses and colds get spread around the office and the classroom quickly during cold and flu season. With 60 mph coughs spraying germs far and wide, it’s no wonder.
36. Women blink twice as many times as men do. That’s a lot of blinking every day. The average person, man or woman, blinks about 13 times a minute.
37. A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball. No wonder you have to run to bathroom when you feel the call of the wild. The average bladder holds about 400-800 cc of fluid but most people will feel the urge to go long before that at 250 to 300 cc.
38. Approximately 75% of human waste is made of water. While we might typically think that urine is the liquid part of human waste products, the truth is that what we consider solid waste is actually mostly water as well. You should be thankful that most waste is fairly water-filled, as drier harder stools are what cause constipation and are much harder and sometimes painful to pass.
39. Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day. With that kind of sweat-producing power it’s no wonder that your gym shoes have a stench that can peel paint. Additionally, men usually have much more active sweat glands than women.
40. During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools. Saliva plays an important part in beginning the digestive process and keeping the mouth lubricated, and your mouth produces quite a bit of it on a daily basis.
41. The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day. Even if you’d like to think you’re too dignified to pass gas, the reality is that almost everyone will at least a few times a day. Digestion causes the body to release gases which can be painful if trapped in the abdomen and not released.
42. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. While many people find earwax to be disgusting, it’s actually a very important part of your ear’s defense system. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.

Sex and Reproduction

As taboo as it may be in some places, sex is an important part of human life as a facet of relationships and the means to reproduce. Here are a few things you might not have known.

43. On any given day, sexual intercourse takes place 120 million times on earth. Humans are a quickly proliferating species, and with about 4% of the world’s population having sex on any given day, it’s no wonder that birth rates continue to increase in many places all over the world.
44. The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm. While you can’t see skin cells or muscle cells, the ovum is typically large enough to be seen with the naked eye with a diameter of about a millimeter. The sperm cell, on the other hand, is tiny, consisting of little more than nucleus.
45. The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are frogs, worms and potted plants. Pregnancy hormones can cause mood swings, cravings and many other unexpected changes. Oddly enough, hormones can often affect the types of dreams women have and their vividness. The most common are these three types, but many women also dream of water, giving birth or even have violent or sexually charged dreams.
46. Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. While few babies are born with teeth in place, the teeth that will eventually push through the gums of young children are formed long before the child even leaves the womb. At 9 to 12 weeks the fetus starts to form the teeth buds that will turn into baby teeth.
47. Babies are always born with blue eyes. The color of your eyes depends on the genes you get from your parents, but at birth most babies appear to have blue eyes. The reason behind this is the pigment melanin. The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, later revealing the baby’s true eye color.
48. Babies are, pound for pound, stronger than an ox. While a baby certainly couldn’t pull a covered wagon at its present size, if the child were the size of an oxen it just might very well be able to. Babies have especially strong and powerful legs for such tiny creatures, so watch out for those kicks.
49. One out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born. Nursing mothers may cringe at this fact. Sometimes the tooth is a regular baby tooth that has already erupted and sometimes it is an extra tooth that will fall out before the other set of choppers comes in.
50. A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. When only a small fraction of the way through its development, a fetus will have already developed one of the most unique human traits: fingerprints. At only 6-13 weeks of development, the whorls of what will be fingerprints have already developed. Oddly enough, those fingerprints will not change throughout the person’s life and will be one of the last things to disappear after death.
51. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell. All life has to begin somewhere, and even the largest humans spent a short part of their lives as a single celled organism when sperm and egg cells first combine. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly dividing and begin forming the components of a tiny embryo.
52. Most men have erections every hour to hour and a half during sleep. Most people’s bodies and minds are much more active when they’re sleeping than they think. The combination of blood circulation and testosterone production can cause erections during sleep and they’re often a normal and necessary part of REM sleep.

Senses

The primary means by which we interact with the world around us is through our senses. Here are some interesting facts about these five sensory abilities.

53. After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp. If you’re heading to a concert or a musical after a big meal you may be doing yourself a disservice. Try eating a smaller meal if you need to keep your hearing pitch perfect.
54. About one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. Glasses and contact wearers are hardly alone in a world where two thirds of the population have less than perfect vision. The amount of people with perfect vision decreases further as they age.
55. If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it. In order for foods, or anything else, to have a taste, chemicals from the substance must be dissolved by saliva. If you don’t believe it, try drying off your tongue before tasting something.
56. Women are born better smellers than men and remain better smellers over life. Studies have shown that women are more able to correctly pinpoint just what a smell is. Women were better able to identify citrus, vanilla, cinnamon and coffee smells. While women are overall better smellers, there is an unfortunate 2% of the population with no sense of smell at all.
57. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. While a bloodhound’s nose may be a million times more sensitive than a human’s, that doesn’t mean that the human sense of smell is useless. Humans can identify a wide variety of scents and many are strongly tied to memories.
58. Even small noises cause the pupils of the eyes to dilate. It is believed that this is why surgeons, watchmakers and others who perform delicate manual operations are so bothered by uninvited noise. The sound causes their pupils to change focus and blur their vision, making it harder to do their job well.
59. Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins. Newborns are able to recognize the smell of their mothers and many of us can pinpoint the smell of our significant others and those we are close to. Part of that smell is determined by genetics, but it’s also largely do to environment, diet and personal hygiene products that create a unique chemistry for each person.

Aging and Death

From the very young to the very old, aging is a necessary and unavoidable part of life. Learn about the process with these interesting, if somewhat strange facts.

60. The ashes of a cremated person average about 9 pounds. A big part of what gives the human body weight is the water trapped in our cells. Once cremated, that water and a majority of our tissues are destroyed, leaving little behind.
61. Nails and hair do not continue to grow after we die. They do appear longer when we die, however, as the skin dehydrates and pulls back from the nail beds and scalp.
62. By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds. Perhaps you shouldn’t trust your grandma’s cooking as much as you do. Older individuals tend to lose their ability to taste, and many find that they need much more intense flavoring in order to be able to fully appreciate a dish.
63. Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing. When babies look up at you with those big eyes, they’re the same size that they’ll be carrying around in their bodies for the rest of their lives. Their ears and nose, however, will grow throughout their lives and research has shown that growth peaks in seven year cycles.
64. By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore. If you’ve ever been kept awake by a snoring loved one you know the sound can be deafening. Normal snores average around 60 decibels, the noise level of normal speech, intense snores can reach more than 80 decibels, the approximate level caused by a jackhammer breaking up concrete.
65. A baby’s head is one-quarter of it’s total length, but by age 25 will only be one-eighth of its total length. As it turns out, our adorably oversized baby heads won’t change size as drastically as the rest of our body. The legs and torso will lengthen, but the head won’t get much longer.

Disease and Injury

Most of us will get injured or sick at some point in our lives. Here are some facts on how the human body reacts to the stresses and dangers from the outside world.

66. Monday is the day of the week when the risk of heart attack is greatest. Yet another reason to loathe Mondays! A ten year study in Scotland found that 20% more people die of heart attacks on Mondays than any other day of the week. Researchers theorize that it’s a combination of too much fun over the weekend with the stress of going back to work that causes the increase.
67. Humans can make do longer without food than sleep. While you might feel better prepared to stay up all night partying than to give up eating, that feeling will be relatively short lived. Provided there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food depending on their body fat and other factors. Sleep deprived people, however, start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes after only a few sleepless days. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 11 days, at the end of which the experimenter was awake, but stumbled over words, hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was doing.
68. A simple, moderately severe sunburn damages the blood vessels extensively. How extensively? Studies have shown that it can take four to fifteen months for them to return to their normal condition. Consider that the next time you’re feeling too lazy to apply sunscreen before heading outside.
69. Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress. That high stress job you have could be doing more than just wearing you down each day. It could also be increasing your chances of having a variety of serious medical conditions like depression, high blood pressure and heart disease.
70. A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated. While it might be gross to think about, the blood in the head may be enough to keep someone alive and conscious for a few seconds after the head has been separated from the body, though reports as to the accuracy of this are widely varying.

Muscles and Bones

Muscles and Bones provide the framework for our bodies and allow us to jump, run or just lie on the couch. Here are a few facts to ponder the next time you’re lying around.

71. It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Unless you’re trying to give your face a bit of a workout, smiling is a much easier option for most of us. Anyone who’s ever scowled, squinted or frowned for a long period of time knows how it tires out the face which doesn’t do a thing to improve your mood.
72. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced to 206. The reason for this is that many of the bones of children are composed of smaller component bones that are not yet fused like those in the skull. This makes it easier for the baby to pass through the birth canal. The bones harden and fuse as the children grow.
73. We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening. The cartilage between our bones gets compressed by standing, sitting and other daily activities as the day goes on, making us just a little shorter at the end of the day than at the beginning.
74. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. While you may not be able to bench press much with your tongue, it is in fact the strongest muscle in your body in proportion to its size. If you think about it, every time you eat, swallow or talk you use your tongue, ensuring it gets quite a workout throughout the day.
75. The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone. The next time someone suggests you take it on the chin, you might be well advised to take their advice as the jawbone is one of the most durable and hard to break bones in the body.
76. You use 200 muscles to take one step. Depending on how you divide up muscle groups, just to take a single step you use somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 muscles. That’s a lot of work for the muscles considering most of us take about 10,000 steps a day.
77. The tooth is the only part of the human body that can’t repair itself. If you’ve ever chipped a tooth you know just how sadly true this one is. The outer layer of the tooth is enamel which is not a living tissue. Since it’s not alive, it can’t repair itself, leaving your dentist to do the work instead.
78. It takes twice as long to lose new muscle if you stop working out than it did to gain it. Lazy people out there shouldn’t use this as motivation to not work out, however. It’s relatively easy to build new muscle tissue and get your muscles in shape, so if anything, this fact should be motivation to get off the couch and get moving.
79. Bone is stronger than some steel. This doesn’t mean your bones can’t break of course, as they are much less dense than steel. Bone has been found to have a tensile strength of 20,000 psi while steel is much higher at 70,000 psi. Steel is much heavier than bone, however, and pound for pound bone is the stronger material.
80. The feet account for one quarter of all the human body’s bones. You may not give your feet much thought but they are home to more bones than any other part of your body. How many? Of the two hundred or so bones in the body, the feet contain a whopping 52 of them.

Microscopic Level

Much of what takes place in our bodies happens at a level that we simply can’t see with the naked eye. These facts will show you that sometimes that might be for the best.

81. About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. Germaphobes don’t need to worry however, as a majority of these are entirely harmless and some are even helpful in maintaining a healthy body.
82. Humans shed and regrow outer skin cells about every 27 days. Skin protects your delicate internal organs from the elements and as such, dries and flakes off completely about once a month so that it can maintain its strength. Chances are that last month’s skin is still hanging around your house in the form of the dust on your bookshelf or under the couch.
83. Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute. While that sounds like a lot, it’s really just a small fraction of the cells that are in the human body. Estimates have placed the total number of cells in the body at 10-50 trillion so you can afford to lose a few hundred million without a hitch.
84. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. You may not think much about losing skin if yours isn’t dry or flaky or peeling from a sunburn, but your skin is constantly renewing itself and shedding dead cells.
85. Every day an adult body produces 300 billion new cells. Your body not only needs energy to keep your organs up and running but also to constantly repair and build new cells to form the building blocks of your body itself.
86. Every tongue print is unique. If you’re planning on committing a crime, don’t think you’ll get away with leaving a tongue print behind. Each tongue is different and yours could be unique enough to finger you as the culprit.
87. Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches long. Anyone who has ever tasted blood knows that it has a slightly metallic taste. This is due to the high levels of iron in the blood. If you were to take all of this iron out of the body, you’d have enough to make a small nail and very severe anemia.
88. The most common blood type in the world is Type O. Blood banks find it valuable as it can be given to those with both type A and B blood. The rarest blood type, A-H or Bombay blood due to the location of its discovery, has been found in less than hundred people since it was discovered.
89. Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of tiny capillaries just below the skin. The blood in these capillaries is normally highly oxygenated and therefore quite red. This explains why the lips appear pale when a person is anemic or has lost a great deal of blood. It also explains why the lips turn blue in very cold weather. Cold causes the capillaries to constrict, and the blood loses oxygen and changes to a darker color.

Miscellaneous

Here are a few things you might not have known about all different parts of your anatomy.

90. The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream. It isn’t entirely clear to scientists why this is the case, but if you are opposed to having nightmares you might want to keep yourself a little toastier at night.
91. Tears and mucus contain an enzyme (lysozyme) that breaks down the cell wall of many bacteria. This is to your advantage, as the mucus that lines your nose and throat, as well as the tears that wet your eyes are helping to prevent bacteria from infecting those areas and making you sick.
92. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil. If you’ve seen the Matrix you are aware of the energy potentially generated by the human body. Our bodies expend a large amount of calories keeping us at a steady 98.6 degrees, enough to boil water or even cook pasta.
93. Your ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren’t. The chemicals and hormones released when you are afraid could be having unseen effects on your body in the form of earwax. Studies have suggested that fear causes the ears to produce more of the sticky substance, though the reasons are not yet clear.
94. It is not possible to tickle yourself. Even the most ticklish among us do not have the ability to tickle ourselves. The reason behind this is that your brain predicts the tickle from information it already has, like how your fingers are moving. Because it knows and can feel where the tickle is coming from, your brain doesn’t respond in the same way as it would if someone else was doing the tickling.
95. The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body. While not exact down to the last millimeter, your armspan is a pretty good estimator of your height.
96. Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears. In the animal world, humans are the biggest crybabies, being the only animals who cry because they’ve had a bad day, lost a loved one, or just don’t feel good.
97. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. This doesn’t have a genetic basis, but is largely due to the fact that a majority of the machines and tools we use on a daily basis are designed for those who are right handed, making them somewhat dangerous for lefties to use and resulting in thousands of accidents and deaths each year.
98. Women burn fat more slowly than men, by a rate of about 50 calories a day. Most men have a much easier time burning fat than women. Women, because of their reproductive role, generally require a higher basic body fat proportion than men, and as a result their bodies don’t get rid of excess fat at the same rate as men.
99. Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique fingerprints. Humans, apes and koalas are unique in the animal kingdom due to the tiny prints on the fingers of their hands. Studies on primates have suggested that even cloned individuals have unique fingerprints.
100. The indentation in the middle of the area between the nose and the upper lip has a name. It is called the philtrum. Scientists have yet to figure out what purpose this indentation serves, though the ancient Greeks thought it to be one of the most erogenous places on the body

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