Do Fish Drink Water? by

Do Fish Drink Water?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:28:43 UTC

Fish do in fact drink water, though their primary form of getting freshwater is through osmosis, a process in which they absorb water through tiny holes in their skin.

pg. 17

Why are Eggs Associated with the Easter Bunny

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:31:36 UTC

In the spring , most cultures have festivals to celebrate fertility and new life. Rabbits are known for producing a great deal of young, particularly in the spring. Bird eggs are also laid in great numbers in the spring. In many cultures, rabbits, eggs, and spring, the time that new life is born, are symbols of fertility.

pg. 90

How Many Licks Does it take to Get to the Center of a Tootsie Pop?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:32:25 UTC

In the commercial, wise Mr. Owl decides to find out and counts, "Ah-one (lick), ah-two (lick), ah-three (CRUNCH)." He just didn't have the willpower to keep licking. If he had, he would have found out that it takes approximately 142 licks to reach the center. A group of curious college studentswere not satisfied with Mr. Owl's answer and decided to conduct a study to find how many licks it takes. To do this, they set up some simple ground rules:

1. No one could put the entire Tootsie Pop in their mouth. That would be "sucking" and only "licking" was allowed.

2. Everyone had the same flavor as a "control"

3. Each person could choose whether to lick only one side or all around the pop.

4. The goal was reached when the licker "tasted Tootsie."

The lickers ended up in one of three groups:

a. 75 to 100 licks group. These people tend to be too excited about the experiment or not excited enough. The excited ones were candy fanatics who couldn't resist biting. The apathetic ones just wanted to get the experiment over with and didn't want to taste the center anyway.

b. 125 to 150 lick group. These were the most serious experimenters, keeping metiulous notes and striving to use true scientific principles for the experiment. To them, even a Tootsie Pop was fair game for scientific investigation.

c. 175 to 200 licks group. These people tend to savor candy, let a Life Saver completely melt in their mouth without ever biting it, etc. You know the type. The ones who always have candy long after yours is gone.

Although it took the experimenters from 75 to 200 licks to reach the center, standard statistical methods were used to determine the 142-lick average.

pg.178

Why is the Tower of Pisa Leaning and Will Anyone Ever Fix It?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:36:44 UTC

A bell tower was built in the town of Pisa, Italy, in 1174 near a church in Cathedral Square. It was the final structure in the city's cathedral complex and was made of white marble, It was supposed to be eight stories high. However, after the thirsd floor was completed, the building started to sink because of the marshy, anstable soil, As they continued construction, workers tried to compensate for the lean by making the new stories slightly taller on the short side. However, the extra construction material made it sink even more. Since that time, the tower has leaned a little bit more each year. Today, the 185-foot tower leans at a 10-degree angle and is now about 17 feet out of perpendicular.

Today, an international commission of experts has agreed to save the famous tower of Pisa. Eight years of effort to correct the tilt have only changed it one inch. A plan to dismantle the tower stone by stone and then rebuild it on more solid ground has also been rejected. Current plans are to correct the tilt to about 5 degrees. pg. 291

Cool Factoid

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:37:28 UTC

If you count the chirps of a tree cricket for 15 seconds and then add 37, it will be almost exactly the true temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

pg. 275

How long Would it Take to Vacuum the State of Ohio?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:38:32 UTC

It would take you 33,683 years. If you can vacuum one square foot in one second, then it will take you:

1,062,250,675,200 seconds or

17,704,177,920 minutes or

295,069,632 hours or

12,294,568 days or

33,683 years.

pg. 181

How Tall was Napoleon?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:40:22 UTC

Although most people think that Napoleon was short, he was actually five feet six inches tall, an average height for a Frenchman in those days. He was often seen in the company of taller men, which may have led to the myth that he was short.

pg. 73

Why do People yell "Geronimo" When Jumping?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:44:51 UTC

According to legend, the famous war chief Geronimo oncejumped off a cliff into the river below to escape the cavalry.

pg. 114

Is it True that Elephants are Afraid of

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:50:02 UTC

Is it True that Elephants are Afraid of Mice

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:50:03 UTC

Is it True that Elephants are Afraid of Mice?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 18:50:06 UTC

There is no evidence that elephants are afraid of mice. Elephants ignore mice and other small creatures because they can't see them due to their poor eyesight. The only animals that elephants fear are humans and large cats, like tigers.

pg. 7

Is it True that in Ancient Greece 300 Soldiers held off 200,000 Persian Elite Troops for 3 Days?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-25 19:27:42 UTC

Yes, the movie 300 apparently, really happened.

pg. 75

Do People Who Are Blind Ever Dream?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 16:25:04 UTC

People who ae blind from birth do dream, but they do not have visual images as we do. In fact, it's difficult for blind persons to describe their dreams because they have a different frame of reference. You can't ask them, "What did you see in your dream?" One man who has been blind since birth said, "My dreams are never with shapes or colors. I dream about touching things. Once I dreamed I was being chased by someone with a gun. I heard the horrible blasts from the gun and felt as if the bullets were actually piercing my back."

So blind people do dream, but rather than "see" shapes, textures, and colors, they "hear" and "feel" the dream. Because of this, their dreams probably are much more real than those of sighted people. It is also interesting that people who can see and become blind later in lie will see images in their dreams. However, the images tend to fade the longer they remain blind.

pg. 142

Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? Please Don't Ask Why the Chicken Crossed the Road.

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 16:25:24 UTC

There are two answers, depending on whether you are a creationist or an evolutionist.

If you are a creationist, you believe that God created man and all of the animals on earth. It wouldn't make sense for God to create an egg, so the chicken must have come first, After all, if God created the egg first, there would be no chicken to hatch it or to take care of the baby chick once it was hatched.

If you are an evolutionist, you believe that animals evolve into different species over time. Therefore, the chicken must have evolved from a former chicken-like creature. At some poinyt in time this creature laid an egg that hatched into a modern chicken. It couldn't have been a chicken egg, because there was no such thing as a chicken yet. The first chicken egg could only have been laid by the first chicken. Therefore, it doesn't matter if you are a creationist or an evolutionist, the answer is the same. The chicken came before the egg.

pg. 183

What is the Plastic Thing at the End of my Shoelace Called?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 17:34:30 UTC

It's called an Aglet.

pg. 235

On a Turkey, What is the Name of That Red Thing that Hangs Down Over the Beak?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 17:37:15 UTC

It is officially called a "wattle," however those in the turkey industry usually use the nickname "snood"

pg. 9

What is the World's Fastest Roller Coaster?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 17:47:47 UTC

"Superman, the Escape" at Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, was the first roller coaster to break 100 mph and is still the fastest. pg. 162

Is it True That a Former King of England Had Blue Urine?

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 18:04:47 UTC

It's almost true, but the color's a shade off. The king's urine was actually a deep purple. Royal purple, if you'll excuse the pun. It was George lll, who suffered from porphyria.

pg. 8

Cat fact

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 18:15:48 UTC

Most blue-eyed white cats are deaf.

pg. 6

Cat Fact 2

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 18:18:45 UTC

A typical cat spends one third of its life grooming itself.

Cat Fact 3

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 18:19:42 UTC

Cats are the number one pet in the United States.

Strange Factoid

amartinez_guzma — 2013-05-26 18:27:04 UTC

It takes about 1500 gallons of water to produce a typical fast-food luch of a hamburger, french fries, and a soft drink. This includes the water required to raise the potatoes and the grain used to make the bun and fees the cattle.