10 Facts About Today

Here are 10 germinated facts about orchids that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1. Orchids have the tiniest seeds in the world.
   1. Challenge to grow and cultivate. 
   2. Long time to turn into a plant! 
   3. Growing orchids from seeds is only for the patient and very green-thumbed.
   4. only visible under a microscope. 
2. There can be up to 3 million seeds in a single orchid seedpod.
   1.  lack an endosperm and have no nutrients within. 
   2. Underdeveloped embryo
   3. require contact with a particular fungus to germinate It takes patience to grow an orchid.
3. Some Orchid's first flowers won’t appear until 5 to 7 years after germination. 
   1. The houseplants you find in stores are often a decade old.  
4.  Orchids are Bilateral Symmetric
   1. They can be divided into 2 perfectly equal sides
   2. 99% of animals have this
   3. Most plants have radial symmetry
      1. Think sunflowers
5.  Some orchids can live to be 100 years old
   1. That’s when they are in nature, not cut
   2. But cut orchids still outlive most other cut plants
      1. Up to 3 weeks
6.  The flavor Vanilla is extracted from a species of Orchid.
   1. Vanilla planifolia
   2. Extracted from its pod. 
   3. Only commercially grown orchid. 
7.  Orchids are the largest and oldest known family of flowering plant. 
   1. They are found on every continent. 
   2. Suggests they were in existence before the continents split apart. 
8.  There are 25000 different species of orchids. 
   1. 4 times the different species of birds 
   2. 4 times the different species of mammals 
9.  The smallest orchid is the size of a dime. 
10.  Mature orchid plants always grow upside down. 
    1. The weight of the blooming flower causes it to hang down.

Here are 10 smudge-free facts about rubber erasers that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1. Erasers are made with Volcanic ash
   1. The pink ones in particular
   2. The pumice, or volcanic ash, is used to make the eraser a little rougher
      1. This extra abrasiveness gives them more traction and helps the erase easier
2. Pencil Manufacturers don’t refer to them as erasers
   1. They call them plugs
   2. And the metal bands that hold them to the pencil are called ferrules
   3. They Pencil/Eraser combo came to market in 1858
3. There are electric erasers
   1. They don’t erase with electricity
   2. They are long sticks of different gages of erasers
   3. They are electronically pushed up
   4. They are supposed to be better for artists
      1. Less tears in paper
      2. Easier to use
4. Erasers aren’t always made of rubber
   1. some are made from synthetic rubber or natural rubber
   2. A lot are made from vinyl
      1. More durable
      2. More flexible
      3. Less flakes and crumbling
   3. Used to be made from Latex
   4. Synthetic Petroleum based
5. The first rubber erasers would rot
   1. Eventually a curing process was created which allowed them to last longer
   2. Now its usually done with high heat and high pressure
6. Original Erasers were made out of bread.
   1. Until the 1770s
   2. de-crusted, moistened and balled up.
   3. cheap and plentiful,
   4. Rotted and Molded
7. The guy who discovered oxygen helped invent erasers. What a guy!
   1. Joseph Priestley
   2. He didn’t invent them, but he did note that rubber was excellent at wiping up lead from paper.
8. Rubber actually got its name from erasers.
   1. Initially referred to as "India gum"
   2. The first know use for the substance was erasing which required rubbing.
   3. Thus the name, Rubber.
9. Erasers are partly a chemical process.
   1. Pencils put graphite on paper and it mingles with the fiber particles.
   2. The polymers in rubber erasers are sticker than paper so the fiber moves to the eraser.
10. Pencils with erasers on top are mostly an American phenomenon.
    1. Most European pencils are sold without eraser.

Today is National Dolphin Day. 

Here are 10 flipping facts about dolphin that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1.   They use advanced communication
   1. Scientists are still trying to decode their language
   2. They make clicking sounds to find prey
   3. They whistle to talk
   4. They use a burst-pulse sound
      1. Use this when they are excited
      2. Use this when they are afraid
      3. They use this when they are reprimanding their young
   5. They use intentional communication
      1. A group of dolphins in florida have a system
         1. One swims in circles making a mud net to surround fish
         2. One uses whistles and clicks to call other dolphins
         3. They all surround the circle
         4. Then the fish can’t escape without getting eaten
         5. This is the only known pod that does this
2.  42 types of dolphins and none of them are porpoises
   1. Porpoises are from a different family
      1. They are actually whales
      2. They also have different physical attributes
         1. Flat noses/no beak
         2. Different teeth
         3. Smaller than the average dolphin
         4. Pointier dorsal fin 
   2. There are a few types of river dolphins
      1. Swim in freshwater
      2. Most are pink
      3. Amazon
      4. Bolivian
      5. Araguaian
      6. Indus
      7. Some saltwater dolphins have migrated to freshwater and live there exclusively now.
3.  They don’t chew with their teeth (*usually)
   1. They use their teeth to catch prey
      1. Fish 
      2. Squid
      3. Seals and sea lions
   2. They have multiple chambers in their stomachs to help with the digestion
   3. They have 1 set of teeth that last them their whole lives
   4. They are born under the gums like humans
      1. Takes 5 weeks for them to come out
   5. The average dolphin has about 80-100 teeth
      1. The long-beaked common dolphin has the most
         1. Up to 240 teeth
   6. There are a few species that have molars and they crush crab and crustacean shells with them
4. They can’t breath out of their mouth
   1. They can only breathe out of their blow-holes
      1. These are actually nostrils
      2. When they sleep only half their brains rest
         1. This allows them to swim up for air
         2. Check out the sleep episode of 10 Facts About Today
   2. They evolved this way so they wouldn’t drown when hunting and eating
   3. These type of underwater mammals can hold more oxygen in their blood
      1. This makes them able to hold their breath longer than land mammals 
5.   They are extremely intelligent
   1. They seem to be about as smart as apes
   2. Their brains have developed very similar to humans
   3. They are self aware
      1. If you put a mirror in front of them they stop swimming and stare
         1. This is different from how they react to seeing other dolphins
      2. They do self directed behaviors
         1. They will make fin movements not usually seen in the wild
         2. Look inside their mouths
         3. Twisting to see their bellies
   4. They use echolocation
   5. Their brain to body size ratio is the largest in the worth after humans
6. Killer Whales (Orcas) are actually a type of Dolphin
   1. Largest Dolphin 
   2. 30 Ft long
   3. Smallest Dolphin is Maui Dolphin (5ft)
7.  Dolphins are highly social and they have squads
   1. Close friend groups
   2. Don’t spend equal time with all dolphins
8. Every dolphin has a unique “name”.
   1. They have a unique whistle
   2. Use them for life           
   3. Female dolphin teach their calves their whistles before they are born                                                                                           
9.  There was a lady that was in a relationship with a dolphin.
   1. 1960’s
   2. NASA Funded Research
   3. Working to understand Dolphin communication and see if they could be taught human languages or if we could understand theirs.
10.  The U.S. Navy has trained dolphins to protect nuclear weapons.  
    1. Trained to find enemy swimmers, 
    2. locate underwater mines
    3. guard nuclear arsenals.

Here are 10 wordy facts about scrabble that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1. Scrabble wasn’t invented by a writer, reach or librarian, it was invented by an architect.
   1. Alfred Butts
2. Scrabble wasn’t always named Scrabble.
   1. Originally named Lexico
   2. Then called Criss-Cross Words
   3. Friend and eventual business partner James Brunot came up with Scrabble in 1930’s
3. Scrabble can be found in 3 out of every 5 American households.
4. The points are based on letter frequency in the English language.
   1. Q is the letter that occured least often It’s worth 10 points
   2. Used dictionary and other available literary sources to manually calculate frequency.
5. There is a robot equipped with arms, a camera and AI. It never loses.
   1. Made by Taiwanese Company called ITRI
   2. Maximizes obscure words with high letter values
6. No one wanted to buy scrabble
   1. When Butts was trying to sell the game he couldn’t find a manufacturer that wanted to pick it up
   2. It got bought and sold a few times until finally it got acquired by hasbro games
   3. The first company to mass produce it only printed a few hundred sets for the first run
7. The game hasn’t changed since it was invented
   1. There are different ways to play now like
   2. Ecological (you can replace and reuse the black tile)
   3. Speed scrabble which is just like how it sounds
   4. Or Tag Team where you have a partner and you take turns
8. During Scrabble tournaments they use non-standard pieces
   1. They are the same letters, but they are not engraved
   2. People used to feel the pieces in the bag to pick good letters
9. The best word to play is OXYPHENBUTAZONE
   1. If you play this in the right spot you can get 1782 points
   2. You would hit 3 triple words and get 7 downward crosswords
10. Even the iphone app is extremely popular
    1. According to the iphone app store
    2. Its in the top 25 most popular games in the country

Here are 10 green jacket facts about golf that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1.  Golf balls were originally made of feathers
   1. They were made with chicken or goose feathers
   2. Wrapped in leather
   3. They would cost between $10-20
2. Golfers used to tee-off on piles of sand
   1. Before tees were invented it was common practice to make a little mound of sand to tee off on
   2. They would make them by hand
   3. This started to switch over when the tee began getting popular in the 1920’s 
3. Woodrow Wilson loved golf
   1. He would play rain or shine
   2. He would even play in the snow
   3. He had black golf balls for when it was snowing
4.  In the golfing movie Happy Gilmore Bob Barker really gets in a fight on the golf course
   1. There is an amazing scene where Happy and bob barker are golfing together and they start to argue
   2. They eventually start to fight and bob barker did all the fighting in that scene
   3. He was his own stunt man
   4. He studied martial arts under chuck norris 
5.  Bill Murray improvised his cinderella story speech in caddyshack
   1. He did it all in 1 uninterrupted take
   2. It lasts about 1:20
6. St Andrews Golf Course was established in 1552.
   1. Old course considered oldest in the world.
7. Tiger Woods got his first while in one at 8 years old. 
8. Longest whole is one in history made on a 517 yard par 5 hole. 
   1. 2002
   2. Mike Crean in Denver, CO
   3. So rare only a few are known in the history of golf. 
9. The most famous left-handed golfer is actually right-handed!
   1. , Phil Mickelson 
   2. mirrored his father
   3. never used right-handed clubs in his entire career.
10. An astronaut  played golf on the moon! 
    1. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr
    2. Apollo 14
    3. Feb 1971
    4. He used a 6 iron 

Here are 10 identifying facts about name changes that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1. A woman name Karin Robertson changed her name to goveg.com. 
   1. 23 year old
   2. Norfolk Virginia 
   3. Raises awareness for vegetarianism 
2. A man named Andrew Wilson changed his name to “They” 
   1. They did this
   2. They did that 
   3. Whole new meaning 
3. A Vietnamese man named his 5th kid after the fine he received for having him: “Fined Six Thousand and Five Hundred."
   1. Son kept getting teased In School and wanted to change it. 
   2. New name translates to Golden Dragon
4. An English l Mechanic named Steve Bolton changed his name to Buzz Lightyear
   1. Apparently he joked his girlfriend would love saying she’s going out with buzz light year. 
5. 23 year old named Tyler Gold changed his name to Tyrannosaurus Rex. 
   1. T- Rex for Short 
   2. As an entrepreneur, name recognition is important and the new name is more recognizable."
6. Elton John was originally Reginald Kenneth Dwight
   1. When he started to make a name for himself… literally and figuratively
   2. He didn’t like the name Reg
   3. He had  "unhappy memories" with that name
   4. Not just a stage name
   5. He legally changed it in 1972.
7. Peter Gene Hernandez is better known as Bruno Mars
   1. Record labels were trying to make him the next Enrique Iglesias
   2. He wanted to stop that kind of stereotyping on himself
   3. So he tried to come up with a name that sounded like it was from another planet
   4. Thats why he is bruno mars
8. Nick Cage is related to the Godfather’s director Francis Ford Coppola
   1. He was born Nicolas Kim Coppola
   2. He didn’t want people to associate him with his uncle francis ford coppola
   3. He changed it to Cage because he loved the comic book, Luke Cage
9. Iggy Azalea changed her name from Amethyst Amelia Kelly
   1. Her name is the classic stripper name concept
   2. The name of her dog + the street she grew up on
   3. She originally used Iggy because when she was younger she was bit by a snake, and her dog ended killing the snake and getting paralyized in the process
   4. He ended up getting anti-venom and went back to normal
   5. She bought a necklace in his honor that said iggy and everyone just kind of thought that was her name
   6. Then she needed a last name and picked Azalea
10. Jamie Foxx changed his name to sound more feminine
    1. His real name is Eric Marlon Bishop
    2. When he was doing stand-up it was so hard to get on stage
    3. Every night about 100 guys would sign-up to go on stage
    4. Only a couple girls would sign up and they would usually all get to go
    5. He came up with Tracey Brown and Jamie Foxx
    6. Jamie Foxx got a standing ovation so it stuck

Today is National Empanada day.

Here are 10 deep fried facts about empanadas that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1.  They used to be made with bread dough
   1. Now they are usually made with pastry dough
2.  Afghanistan has a variant of empanadas called bolanis
   1. They are usually stuffed with spinach or potatoes
   2. They are eaten during the evenings of ramadan 
3.  There are a wide variety of fillings for empanadas
   1. Obvious ones are meats and vegetables
   2. Sometimes fruits or other sweet foods
4.  In cuba they are usually just a snack
   1. Sometimes they will be a side dish
   2. Usually they are just something to eat between meals
5.  Empanadas were brought to the Philippines and latin america by early spanish colonists
6. They originated in northwest Spain, in a region called Galicia. 
7. They have been around for half a millennium. They date back to the 1520’s. 
8. Jamaica’s call them Jamaican patties instead and they are stuffed with seasoned ground beef. 
9. In Spanish “Pan”means bread. Empanar is a verb that means “to bread”. Empanada means “breaded”. 
10. The first empanada in the US was supposedly served at Taco Bell.

Today is National Beer Day.

Here are 10 hoppy facts about beer that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1. Many civilizations of medieval times relied heavily on beer as the safest available drink since water quality was normally poor. 
2. In 1983, 49 licensed breweries existed in the U.S. By 2017, it was 8,863.
3. Drinking a ÿard of ale” is a traditional coming-of-age ceremony in Britain. One must drink 3 pints without stopping from a yard long glass. 
4. Women did the majority of brewing in ancient Egypt. 
5. In 2001, some Belgian elementary schools served low-alcohol beer to school children at lunch. 
6. The guiness book of world records was made to help settle bar arguments
   1. Hugh Beaver the Managing Director of the Guinness Brewery in Dublin
   2. People would drink beer and argue about random facts “the tallest man was 13 ft” and Hugh wanted to have a definitive answer for these arguments
7. An Austrian brewery has a swimming pool full of beer
   1. You can go for a swim there
   2. Its called Schloss Starkenberger brewery and its in Tarrentz, Austria.
   3. It’s said to promote healthy skin
8. The melody of star spangled banner is based on an old english drinking song
   1. To Anacreon in Heaven
9. When a Danish physicist won the nobel prize he got a lifetime supply of beer
   1. Niels Bohr
   2. The carlsberg brewing company gave him a house and a direct pipeline of beer from the brewery
   3. It went in his house and he could drink as much as he wanted for life
10. A cloud near the constellation Aquila contains enough ethyl alcohol to fill 400 trillion trillion pints of beer
    1. Thats enough beer to supply the entire world for over a quadrillion years

Bonus:

1. Ancient Egyptians used beer for a wide variety of purposes, including as an enema and douche.
2. Beer is the third-most popular drink on Earth, after water and tea.
3. Beer is as old as human history. Beer brewing and drinking predate written language.

Today is National Siamese Cat day.

Here are 10 purrtastic facts about Siamese cats that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1. They are extremely intelligent
   1. You can train them to play fetch, to walk on a leash, give high fives, and even use the toilet
   2. If they are left alone they will also explore and teach themselves how to open cabinets and turn on faucets 
2. They are very social cats
   1. They love people and bond with their humans
   2. They get along very well with other cats and also kids
   3. They get depressed if they are isolated which is why they are usually adopted in pairs
3. They were once thought to be royalty
   1. When a member of the siamese royal family died they believed their soul would go into one of these cats
   2. That cat would live its whole life in the temple 
   3. Literally being treated like roalty
4. Unlike other cats, they have a hard time seeing in the dark
   1. Its because of their blue eyes
   2. They are missing a layer of tissue in their eyes that reflect
5. In Thailand, Siamese cats are called Moon Diamond
   1. wichien-matt
6. Siamese Cats used to have crossed eyes and crooked tails.
   1. According to legend, a Siamese cat was tasked with guarding a golden goblet for a king. It stared at the goblet for so long its eyes crossed and it latched the cup so hard it’s tail kinked. 
7. Siamese Cats have temperature sensitive tips. 
   1. Temperature sensitive enzyme
   2. Causes development of color on the cooler parts of its body (paws, ears, facial features).
   3. Pale on the warmer parts (torso).
8. Siamese used to be the worlds fattest cat.
   1. Her name was “Katy”.
   2. 50 lbs (more than the average 6 year old human)
9. One Siamese cat gave birth to 19 kittens!
   1. That’s a lot. 
   2. Still recognized as world's largest litter of domestic cats. 
10. Siamese cats caught the Russians spying on a Dutch Embasy. 
    1. Dutch Ambassador Henri Held had 2 Saimese cats
    2. They were alseep but woke up suddenly and arched there backs and clawed at the wall. 
    3. Help figured they heard a noise that human ears don’t pick up. 
    4. Found 30 tiny microphones in the wall. 
    5. He didn’t protest espionage, he actually decided to use it to his advantage and began complaining about delays in repairs and packages. All were resolved within 24 hours.

Today is National Film Score day. 

Here are 10 intense facts about film scores that you didn’t know, that you didn’t need to know:

1. It’s said that film scores weren’t originally artistic, they were needed to drown the noise made by the projector.
   1. In those times,  there were no sound-absorbent walls between the projection machine and the auditorium.
2. Up until 1929, many film scores were performed live by real musicians
   1. either a pianist improvises to the film or a small ensemble of musicians performs a classical piece
   2. During silent film
3. Many scores are reused.
   1. Nino Rota was eliminated from Oscar competition, because he had used the "Theme from THE GODFATHER" in a previous score.
4. Hans Zimmer claimed to have heard an important musical segment from The Dark Knight Rises (2012) in a dream.
   1. “I dreamt that whole sort of insane Bane opus. And, so I wrote it out, and went to Warner Brothers and said 'You know, I had this idea, and I don’t know if it’s going to work,'”
5. Max Steiner, “The Father of Film Music” Steiner made first use of leitmotif (late motif) in 1933 score for King Kong.
   1. A Late Motif is a recurrent piece of music associated with a particular person, idea, or situation.
   2. Probably the best known leitmotif in film is John Williams' shark leitmotif in Jaws.
6. JAWS, Star Wars, and Harry Potter were all composed by the same composer:
   1. John Williams
   2. He also composed E.T., Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and Superman (81)
7. The Imperial March wasn’t originally in Star Wars
   1. Darth Vader's Theme
   2. wasn't actually written until the second film
   3. You won’t hear it in a New Hope
8. The soundtrack to the Exorcist contains the sounds of angry bees
   1. It was an attempt to make the sound track scarier
   2. The buzzing of bees triggers an innate fear response in most people
   3. They also included ominous industrial sounds
9. The famous murder scene for Psycho was originally planned to be without music
   1. Made by Bernard Herrmann
   2. Is now known as the definitive sound of horror music
10. The score for Braveheart did not have any bagpi pes
    1. They are actually Irish Uillean Pipes (ill in)
    2. The main player of these pipes was also featured in the titanic soundtrack