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 Did You Know? Amazing Facts...
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Before his life as a famous rebel leader in the
1860's, Louis Riel had some interesting career paths. He trained for the
priesthood, and in Montreal he had a job as a law clerk.
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The
hippopotamus gives birth under water and nurses its young in the river as well,
though the young hippos do come up periodically for air.
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The grizzly bear can run as fast as the average horse!!
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A lightning bolt generates
temperatures five times hotter than those found at the sun's surface!
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The first bicycle that was made in 1817 by Baron von Drais
didn't have any pedals? People walked it along.
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A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but
monkeys can't.
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The tip of the Washington Monument is made of a 10-inch
high aluminum pyramid rather than gold, because gold was less valuable than
aluminum in 1884.
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A cheetah can run 76 kilometres per hour (46 miles per
hour) - that's really fast! The fastest human beings runs only about 30
kilometres per hour (18 miles per hour).
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Honey is the only food that
does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by
archaeologists and found edible.
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The total combined weight of
the worlds ant population is heavier than the weight of the human population.
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The vocabulary
of the average person consists of 5,000 to 6,000 words.
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Every drop of seawater
contains approximately 1 billion gold atoms.
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While we often look at wildfires as being destructive, many
wildfires are actually beneficial. Some wildfires burn the underbrush of a
forest, which can prevent a larger fire that might result if the brush were
allowed to accumulate for a long time. Wildfires can also benefit plant growth
by reducing the spread of disease, releasing nutrients from burned plants into
the ground, and encouraging new growth.
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Apples, not caffeine, are more
efficient at waking you up in the morning.
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The world's largest mammal,
the blue whale, weighs 50 tons at birth. Fully grown, it weighs as much as 150
tons or 300,000 pounds.
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The first owner of the
Marlboro company died of lung cancer.
More
Amazing Facts ==>>
Back to Index of Jokes & Quotes
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TRUE
STORIES:
SLINKY
Like so many other great inventions, the Slinky, a
favorite of both kids and physics teachers, was just a grand accident.
Richard James, a naval engineer, "discovered" this enduring toy in 1943.
Working to help the war effort, James was developing
an anti-vibration device for ship instruments when he knocked over some
springs and was fascinated by the way the springs appeared to "walk" down
the shelves. James showed his invetion to his wife, Betty, who provided the
name.
The Jameses took their first batch of 400 Slinkys to
Gimel's department store in Philadelphia, PA (USA) during the winter of
1945, right in time for Christmas shopping. They were so desperate to sell
the toy, they paid a friend $1 to buy one and start the feeding frenzy.
Ninety minutes later, not one Slinky remained. And the rest is Slinky
history.
NOW YOU KNOW... |
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