Mar 6, 2015

Interesting Time Facts

In 1903 the Wright brothers successfully flew a plane for 59 seconds. 66 years later Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969.

Teaching started in Oxford in 1096 and by 1249, the University was officially founded. The Aztec civilization, as we know it began with the founding of Tenochtitlán in 1325.

Ten percent of photos ever taken were taken during the past 12 months.

The Chicago Cubs baseball team last won a world series in 1908, before women were allowed to vote, which came during 1920.

If you were born in 1968, the world population was 3,557,000,000. Today, the world population has more than doubled from then and is 7,217,000,000.

Daylight Savings and Heart Attacks

A team of Swedish researchers conducted a study in 2008 that showed the rate of heart attacks during the first three weekdays following springtime daylight saving time increased by about 5 percent from the average rate during other times of the year. The effect did not arise at the end of daylight saving time in the fall.

The researchers attributed the small surge in heart attacks in the springtime to changes in people's sleep patterns. Lack of sleep can release stress hormones that increase inflammation, which can cause more severe complications in people already at risk of having a heart attack.

The 2009 Journal of Applied Psychology study found that mine workers arrived at work with 40 minutes less sleep and experienced 5.7 percent more workplace injuries in the week directly following the springtime daylight saving transition than during any other days of the year. The researchers attribute the injuries to lack of sleep.

A 2012 Journal of Applied Psychology study found that the incidence of cyberloafing significantly increased in more than 200 metropolitan US regions during the first Monday after daylight saving time in the spring, compared with the Mondays directly before and one week after the transition. The team attributed the shift to a lack of sleep and thus lack of workday motivation and focus.

Russia and DST

Russia will turn back its clocks for the last time March 8 to permanently adopt winter hours. It will also increase its time zones from nine to eleven, from the Pacific to the borders of the European Union. The Soviet Union introduced Daylight Saving Time in 1981. In 2011, then President Dmitry Medvedev introduced measures to reduce Russia's time zones to nine, and to keep summer time all year round. Russians put their clocks forward one hour, but did not put them back in winter time. For the last three years, Russia kept permanent summer time, but it proved to be highly unpopular with many Russians. When Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in March, Crimea's time was adjusted to match Moscow time.

Wordology, Donut and Doughnut

This issue has plagued food writers for decades, especially because there is one dictionary-approved spelling and one that is used by a popular chain. A doughnut gets its name because it is a combination of the words dough and nut. It is literally a nut (ball) of dough

The shortened donut spelling came into popular usage about 1900 and is used mostly in the US, but gaining popularity around the English speaking world. Writers outside the US still favor doughnut. Donut appears about a third of the time in published US writing.

Think of donut as a cousin of the words lite and tonite. They are supposed to be spelled light and tonight, but marketers and advertisers choose otherwise.

Spring Weed Killer

Get a head start as spring is beginning to blossom (except for those in the Northeast). Mix one ounce of vodka or vinegar , a few drops of dish soap, and two cups of water in a spray bottle. This works best on weeds that grow in direct sunlight. The vodka breaks down the waxy coating that protects the leaves, and helps the weeds dehydrate. Ants also do not like to cross a path of the mixture.

Random Interesting Facts

There are over two hundred corpses on Mt. Everest and some are used as way markers for climbers.

The tallness of a mountain refers to its length from base to summit. The height refers to the length from sea level to summit. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, but it is not the tallest. At 33,465 ft (10,200 m) Mauna Kea in Hawaii is taller than Everest, which is only 29,029 ft (8,848 m). However, almost two thirds of Mauna Kea is underwater.

The US Supreme Court's basketball court is on the fifth floor of the United States Supreme Court Building, higher than the second floor courtroom, so it has been dubbed the highest court in the land.

Almost twenty five percent of Los Angeles is covered by automobiles and there are also more cars than people in Los Angeles.

John D. Rockefeller's wealth, when adjusted for inflation was ten times greater than Bill Gates.

There are over seventy various spacecrafts on the Moon, as well as a few flags, some golf balls, some TV cameras, empty packages and, human waste containers. All total over 400,000 pounds.

IBM Watson Update

During the three years since the Jeopardy match on TV, Watson has become 24 times smarter and faster, improved performance by 2,400%, and is 90% smaller. IBM says it has shrunk Watson from the size of a master bedroom to the size of three stacked pizza boxes.

IBM says, "What we believe is happening right now, is that the amount of information being produced in the world is overrunning the ability of humans to consume it. When these kinds of things have happened in history, new tools emerged that helped humans deal with scale, such as in the industrial revolution." "I think as we look at knowledge-based professions today — health care, law, teaching — they're all being overrun with information. It's very difficult for people to keep up — and that leads inventors to come up with ways to help humans deal with that overload."

Size Matters

The last quarter of 2014 has seen the phablet smartphones with a screen 5.5 inches and larger have the most impressive sales performance to date, constituting 12.8% of total global mobile device sales.

These phones have been outperforming the mobile device market since the launch of the Galaxy Note in 2012, and their popularity continues to rise in all regions. Even the original smartphone producer capitulated and introduced a large iPhone factor. The prediction of insiders is that this form factor will continue to increase as older contracts come up for renewal.

Cowboy Hats

The cowboy is one of the most iconic images in American history, but that doesn't mean our understanding of it isn't flawed. The iconic Stetson might be what every cowboy wears in Westerns, but it wasn't what they actually wore in real life until the very end of the Wild West. The Stetson wasn't even around until 1865 and in fact, it became really popular at the end of the 19th century. Up until then, the derby, also known as the bowler hat was most popular. The sombrero was also quite popular, but a gentleman might have preferred a top hat.