Stingrays

Disclaimer: The following fact was actually learned yesterday at the always cool National Aquarium in Baltimore. 

 

Stingray skin is so impenetrable that samurai warriors used to wear it as armor.

In the also-learned category, I think the little stingrays are cool.  The big ones freak me out.

I am the 5%

Only 5% of all people with Diabetes have Type 1 Diabetes.

Trashy Romance Novels

There are NASCAR-themed Harlequin romance novels.

Scrooge McDuck

Based on recent calculations (not done by me), applying the variables that the average duck is approximately 14 inches tall and that Scrooge McDuck's pool of money is approximately 5 feet deep, it appears that Mr. McDuck has between 31 and 210 billion dollars in his vault.

The Halftime Show

Back in the day, different schools and clubs had different rules for soccer.  This made to any sort of friendly competition turn into a giant mess.  As a compromise, opposing teams would play the first half of the game following the rules of one team, take a short break, then play the second half of the game following the rules of the other team.  And this, my friends, is how halftime was created.

It's Getting Hot In Here

This past March was the hottest March ever (well, at least on record).  Across the globe, more than 20,000 local high temperature records were broken.

Happy Birthday Thornton Wilder

Somewhere, everyday the play "Our Town" is being performed by somebody.

Sun Worshiping

Pigs can get sunburned.

Death and Taxes

There are more fatal traffic accidents on tax day than other days.  A study that looked at data from 1980 to 2009 shows that traffic fatalities are 6 percent higher on the tax day than other days.

Plants Suffer from Jet Lag Too

Scientists have discovered more about how the natural circadian rhythms of plants react when they are disrupted.  Plants follow a finely tuned daily activity cycle that helps their genes respond to things like dawn and dusk which, in turn, helps regulate things like growth and flowering.  The study discovered that plants, like people, have a physical response when those natural rhythms are disrupted by, oh, say, traveling across the world.

We're Not the Only Ones Who Give Up Stuff For Lent

Due to the fact that their human counterparts give up meat and dairy during Lent, Ethiopian hyenas (yes, hyenas) also have to change their eating habits.  Deprived of the butcher scraps they scavenge and eat throughout the rest of the year, in the Lenten season the hungry hyenas are forced to hunt and turn to another source of protein, mainly donkey.

Chocolate Covered Jellybeans

The title says it all.

Thank you, Jelly Belly.

Flying Cars are Real!

A company called Terrafugia Inc. just completed the first test flight of it's prototype of a flying car.  The vehicle, called the Transition, should be available for purchase in the next year or so.

You can check out the video at http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/04/flying-cars-a-plane-you-can-drive/?hpt=hp_c2

I learned this because it's Patrick's birthday...

Spell check recognizes the correct (and therefore, incorrect) spelling of Chewbacca.