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941/ A group of larks is called
an exaltation.
942/ The first dinosaur to
be the subject of a tavern song was the Diplodocus due to
the fact that tycoon Andrw Carnegie gave a replica of the
animal to King Edward VII. The tune, which was popular around
the turn of the century, went:
"Crowned heads of Europe
All make a royal fuss
Over Uncle Andy
And his old Diplodocus
943/ Stress fractures in some
dinosaur vertebrae may have been caused by the weight load
of copulation.
944/ Edward Drinker Cope,
in his rush to beat Othniel Marsh as the collector and publisher
of the most dinosaurs, reconstructed one dinosaur so that
its head was placed at the end of its tail instead of its
rightful place on its neck. Unsympathetic colleagues suggested
that it be named "Strepsisaurus" ("twisted
lizard").
945/ Reptiles were responsible
for such body part innovations as fur, feathers, claws, differentiated
teeth, water impervious skin, water impervious eggs, and the
penis.
946/ Pterosaurs, which were
winged cousins of dinosaurs, were the first vertebrates to
take to the air.
947/ In 1822, Mary Ann Mantell
of Sussex, England became the first person in history to discover
a dinosaur fossil while correctly identifying it as something
that was part of a large reptile. Earlier discoveries were
identified as giant men, dragons, and other mythical beasts.
However, in keeping with the times, her husband Dr. Gideon
Mantell took credit for the discovery and identified the teeth
that she found as part of an Iguanodon. Later, he wrongly
identified a body part as a horn, which turned out to be part
of the creature's thumb.
948/ Relative to size, the
strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
949/ The average cough comes
out of your mouth at 60 miles (24 km) per hour.
950/ Right handed people live,
on average, nine years longer than left handed people do.
951/ The citrus drink '7-UP'
was created in 1929. '7' was selected because the original
containers were 7 ounces. 'UP' indicated the direction of
the bubbles.
952/ The fat molecules in
goats milk are five times smaller than those found in cows
milk. It takes twenty minutes for the stomach to break down
as opposed to the hour it takes to break down cows milk.
953/ Because radio waves travel
at 186,000 miles per second and sound waves saunter at 700
miles per hour, a broadcast voice can be heard sooner 13,000
miles away than it can be heard at the back of the room in
which it originated.
954/ The bagpipe was originally
made from the wholeskin of a dead sheep.
955/ Inventor Samuel Colt
patented his revolver in 1836.
956/ It has been recommended
by dentists that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet (2 metres)
away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from
the flush!
957/ Mosquito repellants don't
repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors
so that they don't know you are there.
958/ In ancient Rome it was
considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked
nose.
959/ It is possible to drown
and not die. Technically the term 'drowning' refers to the
process of taking water into the lungs, not to death caused
by that process.
960/ The first known heart
medicine was discovered in an English garden. In 1799, physician
John Ferriar noted the effect of dried leaves of the common
foxglove plant, digitalis purpurea, on heart action. Still
used in heart medications, digitalis slows the pulse and increases
the force of heart contractions and the amount of blood pumped
per heartbeat.
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