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Interesting facts & stories for use at coffee time!

A very accurate fact from Steve Foley.
Steve noted that one of our facts (ezine October 2000) stated that a human blinks on average over 10,000,000 times a year.
Steve recalculated by watching student's blinks per minute then multiplied by 60 for per hour, then 18 (allowing 6 hours sleep) for per day. Then by 365 to get the total per year.
After 10 samples he found that the average was about 5,000,000 not 10,000,000.
Of course we may have counted for 2 eyes, but to be honest we can't remember where we found the fact in the first place!
Well done Steve.

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails)is
4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used?
Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built by English expatriates.

Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?
The first long distance roads in Europe (and England) were built by Imperial Rome for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads?
The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels, were first formed by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for (or by) Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot.

Specifications and bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's arse came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses. Thus, we have the answer to the original question.

Now the twist to the story..............
There's an interesting extension to the story about railroad gauges and horses' behinds. When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank.
These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs might have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory had to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, the major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a Horse's Arse!

The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later, in full view, they were both eaten by a killer whale.

Police in Los Angeles had good luck with a robbery suspect who just couldn't control himself during a lineup. When detectives asked each man in the lineup to repeat the words "Give me all your money or I'll shoot" the man shouted "That's not what I said!"

The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its Ph is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days.
To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material placard reserved for Highly corrosive materials.
The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!

More Evidence That This World Is Full Of Complete Idiots:

Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel after he tried to pass two (counterfeit) $16 bills.

A man in Johannesburg, South Africa, shot his 49-year-old friend in the
face, seriously wounding him, while the two practised shooting beer cans off each
other's head.

A company trying to continue its five-year perfect safety record showed its workers a film aimed at encouraging the use of safety goggles on the job.According to Industrial Machinery News, the film's depiction of gory industrial accidents was so graphic that twenty-five workers suffered minor injuries in their rush to leave the screening room. Thirteen others fainted, and one man required seven stitches after he cut his head falling off a chair while watching the film.

A convict broke out of jail in Washington DC, then a few days later accompanied his girlfriend to her trial for robbery. At lunch, he for a
sandwich. She needed to see him, and thus had him paged. Police officers recognised his name and arrested him as he returned to the courthouse in a car he had stolen over the lunch hour.

Police in Radnor Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine.The
message 'He's lying' was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy
button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the 'lie detector' was working, the suspect confessed.

When two service station attendants in Ionia, Michigan, refused to hand over the cash to an intoxicated robber, the man threatened to call the police. They still refused, so the robber called the police and was arrested.

The Chico, California, City Council enacted a ban on nuclear weapons,
setting a $500 fine for anyone detonating one within city limits.

A bus carrying five passengers was hit by a car in St. Louis, but by the time police arrived on the scene, fourteen pedestrians had boarded the bus and had begun to complain of whiplash injuries and back pain.

Swedish business consultant Ulf af Trolle laboured 13 years on a book about Swedish economic solutions. He took the 250-page manuscript to be copied,only
to have it reduced to 50,000 strips of paper in seconds when a worker confused the copier with the shredder.

A Los Angeles man who later said he was 'tired of walking,' stole a steam roller and led police on a 5 mph chase until an officer stepped aboard and brought the vehicle to a stop.

In the UK last year more people were killed in the home, 76 per week, than died in road accidents(66). These included fires, carbon monoxide poisoning, burns, drowning & DIY accidents

Last year in the UK:
65 people were injured by blue tack
3000 people were injured by trousers
1500 people were injured by tissue paper
3700 people were injured by slippers

Boulder Dam Project
On the 20th December 1935 whilst working on this construction Patrick Tierny fell to his death. He was the last man to die on this huge project, thirteen years to the day that the first man was killed..... his father JG Tierny!

The E. Coli bacterium propels itself with a 'motor' only one-millionth of an inch in diameter, a thousand times smaller than the tiniest motors built to date by man. The rotation of the bacterial motor comes from a current of protons. The efficiency of the motor approaches 100 per cent.
What wasn't said!
Humphery Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam" in Casablanca
Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty"
Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson."

According to Newton's Law of Motion, when a car going 60 miles per hour in one direction gets hit by a mosquito going one mile per hour in the opposite direction, the car will slow down one-millionth of a mile per hour.

A cubic mile of fog is made up of less than a gallon of water.

The world consumes 1 billion gallons of petroleum a day

The monkey wrench is named after its inventor, a London blacksmith named Charles Moncke

Florida Laws!
Women may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon owner.
A special law prohibits unmarried women from parachuting on Sunday or she shall risk arrest, fine, and/or jailing.
If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.
It is illegal to sing in a public place while attired in a swimsuit.
Men may not be seen publicly in any kind of strapless gown.

If all the stars in our galaxy were the size of a grain of salt, there would be enough salt to fill an olympic size swimming pool!

Adolf Hitler was fascinated by hands. In his library there was a well-thumbed book containing pictures and drawings of hands belonging to famous people throughout history. He liked particularly to show his guests how closely his own hands resembled those of Frederick the Great, one of his heroes.

According to Runner's World magazine, two out of three runners say that they fantasize about sex while running. On the other hand, one out of eleven fantasize about running while having sex!

Tomatoes.
Research has found that tomatoes not only contain lyopene, an antioxident that helps protect against prostrate cancer, but also contain P3, a substance that reduces heart threatening bloodclots.

Avoid the flu!
Wilkes University in Pennsylvania has discovered that sex improves your immune system by up to 30% by boosting your levels of immunoglobulin, your natural defence to colds & flu!!
(Is this just a good excuse?)

NASA Science News for January 17, 2001
Tiny zircon crystals found in ancient stream deposits suggest that Earth harbored continents and liquid water remarkably soon after our planet formed. Life could have established a foothold on Earth 400 million years earlier than expected, 4.3 billion to 4.4 billion years ago!
For more

The mass of all the ants on Earth is more than the mass of all the people on Earth.
Each eyelash hosts a minimum of three hundred dust mites
The "save" icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the shutter on backwards.
More people are killed annually by donkeys than are killed in airplane crashes.

Two hundred and twenty six soldiers lost their lives way back in 1850 when they crossed a suspension bridge that spanned the Maine at Angers, France. It turns out that they were all marching in step and had caused an increased resonance (vibration) to the bridge. Ever since, troops are ordered to rout step (march out of step) when crossing a bridge!
Sound familiar?

During the heat of the space race in the 1960s, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of about US $1 million. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on earth. The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil!

Mike the headless chicken.
On September 10th 1945, Mike a Wyandotte rooster was invtied to dinner, as the dinner. However, when the received death sentance was carried out things became a little strange.
Although his head and body parted company, Mike decided he didn't want to die.
He went on to live for a further 18 months making up to $4,500 per month!!
It's true honestly, check out the story at http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/headless_chicken/mike.html

Interesting Town Laws
Chester
You can only shoot a Welsh person with a bow and arrow inside the city walls and after midnight.
Hereford
You may not shoot a Welsh person on Sunday with a longbow in the Cathedral Close.
Liverpool
It is illegal for a woman to be topless in public except as a clerk in a tropical fish store.
York
Excluding Sundays, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, a Siamese twin had a an argument. One of the twins pulled out a revolver and shot his brother in the head. They shared portions of the same circulatory system and when the victim died, the murderer soon followed.

Three classic quotes
1. "If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
2. "I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change."
3. "It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
...Governor George W. Bush, Jr.

It's widely known that Alexander Graham Bell beat Elisha Gray to the patent office by a mere two hours with his application to patent the telephone. However, ten years after Bell's patent was issued, patent examiner Zenas Wilber admitted in a sworn affadavit that he had taken a $100 bribe from Bell, had taken a loan from Bell's patent attorney, and had given Bell the complete details of Gray's caveat. Hmmmm....

The dog name "Fido" comes from the Latin meaning
"I trust thee"

The droplets in a sneeze can reach 100mph and can take up to 20 minutes to hit the floor!

There are more than 200 viruses that are responsible for the common cold.

There is an odd number of steps in every staircase in Thailand.

A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.
The average human sheds around 18kg of dead skin in a lifetime.

In the UK, it is illegal to be drunk on Licensed Premises (in a pub or bar).

The Marie Celeste sailed from New York bound for Genoa on November 7th 1872.
She was discovered abandoned & showing signs of heavy weather on December 5th by the sailing ship Dei Gratia, which left New York on 15th November.
While both ships were in New York they were berthed together and the two captains shared a meal the night before the Marie Celeste set sail!

A law in Helena, Montana states that a woman cannot dance on a saloon table unless the weight of her clothing is more than three pounds, two ounces.

The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation. The same goes for the Italian lira, which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius).

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history.
Spades - King David,
Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's."

In Ventura County, California, cats and dogs are not allowed to have sex without a permit.

A law in Oblong, Illinois makes it a crime to make love while fishing or hunting on your wedding day.

In Ames, Iowa a husband may not take more than three gulps of beer while lying in bed with his wife.

A law in Alexandria, Minnesota makes it illegal for a husband to make love to his wife if his breath smells like garlic, onions, or sardines.

The average person will spend two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change.

The resolving power of the human eye is 0.0003 of a radian or an arc of one minute (1/60th of a degree), which corresponds to 100 microns at 10 in. A micron is a thousandth of a millimeter, hence 100 microns is 0.00397, or less than four thousandths of an inch, the human eye can detect a bright light shining through an aperture of only three or four microns

It is estimated that at any one time, 0.7% of the world's population are drunk.

A study conducted in Germany appears to show listening to loud rock music causes homosexuality in rats.

A study of injuries sustained by passengers of Britain's rail network found that 10 percent of the reported injuries involved the same person. The unnamed traveler reported a shoulder injury 49 times in a one-year period. "The injuries were reported at stations throughout the rail network, from Penzance to Edinburgh, sometimes twice in one day," a Railtrack spokesman said. However, the passenger apparently was not trying to perpetrate fraud: he never asked for compensation. (Reuters)

Colds & Flu

1918 -1919   20 Million died in flu pandemic.
1989   26,000 died as a result of flu in Great Britain.
1999   15,000 died as a result of flu in Great Britain.

There are more than 200 viruses that are responsible for the common cold.
Colds account for 4 million lost working days in the UK.
The droplets in a sneeze can reach 100mph and can take up to 20 minutes to hit the floor!

Jeremy Bentham, a British philosopher who died in 1832,left his entire estate to the London Hospital provided that his body be allowed to preside over its board meetings. His skeleton was clothed and fitted with a wax mask of his face. It was present at the meeting for 92 years.

Before the invention of anesthesia, speed was a highly regarded trait in a surgeon. Dr. Robert Liston of London was among the fastest. But, speed comes with some cost. In one particular operation, Liston killed three people. The patient actually survived, but later died of gangrene. During the operation, Liston accidentally cut of the fingers of his surgical assistant, who soon died from an infection. Liston even managed to slash through the coattails of a colleague who was observing the operation - he was so sure that his vital organs had been punctured that he died of fright!

The five most stolen items in a pharmacy are batteries, cosmetics, film, sunglasses, and, get this, Preparation H. Apparently people are just too embarrassed to purchase the last item. And, just in case you are curious, one of Preparation H's main ingredient is shark liver oil. The oil not only helps shrink haemorrhoids, but will shrink any tissue. As a result, many older women in Florida use the stuff to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles!

If you multiply 111,111,111 by 111,111,111 you get 12,345,678,987,654,321

The 'hash' key sign (#) is called a "octothorp"
(Brian Meacham)

The oldest business in the United States of America is the cymbal company Zildjian which was founded in Constantinople in 1623.

On August 13, 1903, police entered the Liverpool home of William and Emily Shortis. Worried friends had contacted the authorities because the couple had not been seen for several days prior. There they found William near death. Oddly, he was pinned under the dead body of his 224 pound wife. Did she die during a moment of passion? Not at all. The coroner concluded that William was following Emily up the stairs of their home when she lost her balance and tumbled down the steps, pulling him down with her. Emily immediately died from a blow to the head, trapping William under her body for over three days. Sadly, William did not survive his injuries, either.

In WD40, the WD stands for
"Water Displacer"

The infinity character on the keyboard is called a "lemniscate"

At - 40 degrees Centigrade a person loses about 14.4 calories per hour by breathing.

Scientists at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada have discovered that the part of Einsteins's brain thought to be related to mathematical reasoning - the inferior parietal region - was 15 percent wider on both sides than a normal brain.

A man's beard contains between 7000 and 15,000 hairs. A beard grows an average of 140mm a year.
Women's hair is about half the diameter of men's hair.
During an average lifetime, a man will spend 3,350 hours
removing 8.4 metersof stubble.

Pogonophobia is the fear of beards!

It has been recommended by dentists that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet (two meters) away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush!

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.

Your chances of living to 116 or older are one in two billion.

Over your life your body will produce roughly 8,000 gallons of saliva and 350 miles of hair.

Pain travels through the body at 350 feet per second

The most expensive case of Munchausen's Syndrome - people who pretend to be ill or make themselves ill to attract attention - was William McIlroy who cost the NHS an estimated £2.5 million during his 50 year career of malingering. He had 400 operations at 100 different hospitals under 22 false names and never spent more than 6 months away from the wards!

According to the Archives of General Medicine, not only do coffee drinkers have sex more often than non-coffee drinkers, they enjoy it more as well.

Fresh bread should be avoided by teetotallers: it can have an alcohol content of up to 0.5%, created by fermentation as the yeast in it rises.

Body Facts	Interesting US State Laws	Life
You're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206! Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day! You blink over 10,000,000 times a year! One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet! Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!	In Indiana, it's illegal for monkeys to smoke. In Illinois, it's against the law for dogs to drink whiskey. In Kansas, you can't hunt for ducks while riding a donkey. In Alaska, it's illegal to serve alcohol to a moose. In California, it's illegal to allow animals to mate within 1500ft of a school or church.	Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people! During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants! A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day. Most of the sweat evaporates before a person realizes it's there, though!

When You Stop Smoking..	Sore Elbows ?	Strange Quotes
After 20 minutes... your blood pressure returns to normal. After 8 hours... the levels of carbon monoxide in your blood are halved After 24 hours... your lungs start to clear out debris. After 1-3 months... lung function will improve by up to one third. After 5 years... your risk of lung cancer will be halved. After 10 years... your risk of all smoking related cancers will have reduced to almost normal levels.	Could it be cubital tunnel syndrome? It's a pinched nerve in the elbow says the University Medical Centre in Minneapolis and can be caused by a blow to the elbow, but it is also seen in office workers who lean on their elbows too much! You can relieve the symtoms by keeping your elbows off the desk (and getting on with some work) !	"X-Rays are a hoax" Lord Kelvin c1900 "I think there is a world market for about 5 computers" T.J.Watson Chairman IBM 1943 "The French people are incapable of regicide" Louis XVI c1792 "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home" President of Digital Equipment Corp. 1977 "I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them" George Bush "Atomic energy might be as good as our present day explosives, but it is unlikely to produce anything very much more dangerous" Winston Churchill 1939

Early to bed, early to rise		Don't Rant
.....makes you no healthier or wealthier! Those of us who like an early night (before 11:00pm) and can rise singing with the larks, may feel rather smug compared to the night owls who sleep in. We are, however, not any healthier. A study of 1200 people by researchers at the University of Southampton found no evidence that people who go to bed late and get up late suffer any ill-effects. What's more, the study found that night owls were, on average, slightly richer than larks!	Accidents. Last year, 12,000 people ended up in Hospital due to accidents involving vegetables, estimates a recent Government report on accidents in the home. Trousers are thought to have played some part in injuring 2,779 people, while 572 people were hospitalised because of injuries involving toothbrushes!	You've probably been told not to bottle up anger, but a recent experiment suggests that venting it can make it worse. After being subjected to a barrage of criticism, one group of test subjects took out its anger on a punch bag. Another sat quietly. Then all the subjects played a shoot-em-up video game. Those who've expressed their rage acted twice as aggressively as the "sitters". The conclusion: pummelling a cushion simply focuses your mind on how angry you are. Sitting quietly or finding a distraction dissipates rage more quickly.

Golfer's Spine After tennis elbow, golfer's spine. The powerful twist golfers give their spine as they swing their clubs may eventually deform bones in the lower back and cause problems as severe as herniated discs or fused vertebrae. In medical scans, professional right-handed golfers showed above average damage on their right sides, where the twist from the swing has the greatest effect. It is suspected that the problem is worse among younger golfers using steel shafts. Swinging with hips and shoulders moving together, as older golfers who learned to play with flexible hickory shafts tend to do, causes less twisting of the back. You can prevent trouble by developing a swing that's comfortable for your body, even if it falls short on technique. So now, "I don't have a bad swing, I'm trying not to fuse my vertebrae!" is a valid excuse! Better still, "But darling, Medical research says that steel shafts are bad for you so really, I have no alternative but to buy a new set of graphite clubs.." might work if you can keep a straight face!	Vitamins A report from the Institute of Medicine, US National Academy of Sciences warns people to take care when taking vitamins. Whilst in small doses they do have an effect on highly reactive free radicals, in very large doses they can cause diarrhoea, internal bleeding and hair loss. People taking 500mg of vitamin C a day (approx = 10 oranges) had 2.5 times as much thickening of the arteries as people who took no supplements. Among smokers thickening rose 5 fold. The Institute says that 2 glasses of orange juice will supply enough vitamin C, while nuts, seeds, leafy green vegetables and vegetable oils will supply adequate vitamin E.	Being "economical with the truth" can be good for you! Talking through a bad event later with friends gives you a chance to edit the story to your advantage - and may benefit your health by relieving stress, according to a study at the University of Manchester. You may see that you weren't to blame or you can shift responsibility to someone else. People tend to smile and make more eye contact when putting a gloss on events that show them in a bad light.
If you have any interesting facts / research /findings you would like others to see, send them in. We'll post them up with your name, if you want.	Email The MedWeb	If your mum lives to a ripe old age, chances are you will too. Longevity seems to be linked to genes inherited from mothers

Too much salt may increase blood pressure. More than 85% of all the salt we eat comes from processed foods.	For every 1% drop in cholesterol level, the risk of coronary heart disease drops by up to 3%	Baked beans on toast is a healthy meal. Margarine unless labelled low fat, contains the same amount of fat as butter.
One can of Cola contains seven teaspoons of sugar. Biscuits are generally high in calories, but some are more than others. Digestive biscuits, for example, contain three times as much fat as Garibaldis.	Men can eat up to 95g of fat daily and women 70g. Only 35% of your energy intake should derive from fat - with 10% of this being polyunsaturated fat.	Coffee in moderation (up to 6 cups a day) does not increase your risk of heart disease. From research in South Korea; A strong cup of coffee may help to relieve hay fever, and might be a lifesaver for people who suffer potential reactions to nuts and bee stings. Caffeine has anti-allergic properties, as it cuts down histamine release.
Painful Underwear Gut problems affecting women may have less to do with the stress of modern living and more to do with their underwear. Gastroenterologist Dr William Dickey says "body control" underwear - the modern equivalent of the corset - can cause trapped wind, belching and heartburn. The underwear can push the contents of the stomach back up into the gullet and cause it to become inflamed and painful.		Beer may protect your heart! TNO Nutrician and Food Research Institute in the Netherlands measured B6 levels in the blood of 11 test males during a 3 week drinking period. Beer boosted levels by 30%. Moderate alcohol consumption may help prevent heart disease, and TNO suggest it may be through raising levels of B6.

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