Random Facts 23

Saliva & the Killer Alert
When a bug or caterpillar chews on a plant, it leaves some spit behind. Corn and cotton respond to a predator's spit by sending chemical messages. They produce chemicals that signal certain kinds of wasps that if they hurry a meal is waiting...and wasps could rescue the plants.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe, 2002, pg. 74.

Stonewashed Blue Jeans
New blue jeans that are stonewashed, often times may have 'dirt' in the pockets. Any other sand rinse away in a wash, however stonewashing uses pumice, which may break down and wind up in pockets.
Imponderables-How Does Asprin Find a Headache, David Feldman, 1993, pg. 152.

Clear Liquid in Yogurt
Is whey, which rises when proteins squeeze together to form curds and push the liquid up.
Imponderables-How Does Asprin Find a Headache, David Feldman, 1993, pg. 82.

Copper Bowls & Eggs
Copper bowls react to the protein (conalbumin) in egg whites (being beaten in them) and helps stabillize the eggs and may actually increase their volume when whipped. Cream of tartar combines with egg whites in a similar fashion. However, if left in the bowl (like about 5 minutes) egg whites could turn pink.
Imponderables-How Does Asprin Find a Headache, David Feldman, 1993, pg. 99.

Godzilla's Real Name
When film producer Tomoyuki Tanaka created a story about a sea demon mutated due to mankinds deadly weaponary, he combined the Japanese words for gorilla and whale (Gorira and Kujira) to Gojira. Bad American translating created Godzilla as the name we know...instead of something like Gorale.
Mental Floss In the Beginning, 2007, pg. 32.

Allergic to Poison Ivy
People who are sensative to poison ivy will likely have an allergic reaction to cashews. The two plants are related.
Mental_Floss, May/June 2008, vol. 7, iss. 3, pg. 66.

Blindness & Dark Glasses
75 percent of people legally blind have some residual vision. Blindness is the absence of sight, not necessarily the absence of light. Singlasses reduce light on the retina for those sensitive to bright lights.Imponderables-How Does Asprin Find a Headache, David Feldman, 1993, pg. 94.

The Muskets of Musketeers
France 1622 - the main function for Musketeers were to serve as bodyguards for King (Louis XIII) during peacetime. They were dispatched during war as the corps d'elite. When they were formed they were armed with the new flintlock muzzle-loading muskets, a precurser to modern rifles and powerful enough to pierce armor of its day. At eight feet long and about the weight of two bowling balls, they were awkward to carry and neededsupport for steady accuracy. Eventually musketeers were relied on pistols and swords.
Imponderables-How Does Asprin Find a Headache, David Feldman, 1993, pg. 29-30.

Deepest Depth Drilled
In 1970 Russian geologists drilled a cantaloupe sized hole 7.6 miles down (0.2 percent of the way to the core) and had to stop because the crust turned gooey under the drill at 356 degrees Fahrenheit.
Discover Magazine June 2007, pg. 54.

Animal Packs
Common: Army of Ants, Bed of Clams, Murder of Crows, Plague of Locusts, Pod of Dolphins, School of Fish, Swarm of Flies.
Others: Charm of Finches, Knot of Frogs, Bale of Turtles, String of Ponies, Watch of Nightingales, Rafter of Turkeys, Shredness of Apes, Pitying of Turtledoves, Crash of Rhinoceros, Sounder of Boars, Smack of Jellyfish, Parliment of Owls, Tower of Giraffes, Rumba of Rattlesnakes, Bloat of Hippos.
Mental_Floss, May/June 2008, vol. 7, iss. 3, pg. 72.

Space
The decreased pressure on the spine in zero-g causes most space travelers to grow about two inches. In weightlessness, fluids shift upward, causing nasal congestion and a puffy face; bones lose calcium, forming kidney stones; and muscles atrophy, slowing the bowels and shrinking the heart.
Muscles we use to fight gravity (like in legs and spine) can lose up to 20 percent of their mass at a rate as high as 5 percent per week in space. It is predicted that for long stays in space, the total bone loss could reach 40-60 percent and lead to permanent tooth loss. Within 2-3 days of weightlessness, astronauts can lose up to 22 percent of their blood volume.
To recondition the body once back on Earth, blood volume is restored in a few days and the heart recovers with it, and muscle mass can recoup within a month or so. However a 3-6 month space flight might require as much as 2-3 years to regain lost bone...if it comes back at all.
If you are exposed to the vacuum of space without a suit on, dont hold your breath - sudden decompression could cause your lungs to rupture. Water on the tongue, in the nose, and in the eyes would boil away (as happend in 1965 when a NASA suit failed testing and they were exposed for 15 seconds). In two minutes exposure, lack of oxygen in the blood would kill you (you would not explode). Eighteen people have died on space missions either going up or down...but never in space.
It's impossible to snore in the weightlessness of space.
Since the moon spins on its axis every 27 1/3 days, the same amount of time it takes to go around the Earth once, we end up seeing only one side (the near side) of the moon - about 59% of its surface.
Discover Magazine, Nov 2007, pg. 88, & Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe, 2002, pg. 348-9. Uncle John's Giant 10th Anniversary Bathroom Reader, 1997, pg. 30, 183.

Earth's Rotation
is gradually slowing.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe, 2002, pg. 57.

First Talk Show Topic
The first radio talk show broadcast in 1909 was women's suffrage.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe, 2002, pg. 107.

Butterfly's Life Span
Ranges from a week to ten days.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe, 2002, pg. 122.

Lettuce
Lettuce is a part of the sunflower family.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe, 2002, pg. 129.