The genetic code of the duck-billed platypus contains avian, reptilian and mammalian features.
(That's why I think God has a great sense of humour.)
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Interesting Animal # 76 - Duck-billed platypus
Posted: May 31st, 2008, 6:36pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: duckbilled platypus
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Interesting People # 64 - David Blaine
Posted: May 30th, 2008, 6:29pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: david blaine
Magician David Blaine set a world record by holding his breath for 17 minutes and four seconds on Oprah Winfrey's US TV show in Chicago.
(Go on see how long you can hold your breath for.) -
Interesting Food # 38 - Pregnancy Diet
Posted: May 29th, 2008, 6:23pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: conception
According to a study, by the Universities of Exeter and Oxford, a woman's diet around the time of conception may influence the gender of her baby.
(They think that a high-calorie diet at this time - and regular breakfasts - might increase the odds of a boy. A rather chubby boy probably.) -
Interesting Fact # 806 - Trees
Posted: May 28th, 2008, 6:20pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
According to figures from accident and emergency departments in England, injuries to children from tree falls are down. In 2006-7, only 1,067 children went to casualty due to tree falls.
(That sounds like good news, but the bad news is that children are more likely to injure themselves in a tumble out of bed - 2,531.) -
Interesting Fact # 805 - Trees
Posted: May 27th, 2008, 6:15pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
The most valuable tree in the UK is a plane tree in central London.
(It has been valued at £750,000, but as it is six-foot-wide and stands in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, that's not so surprising.) -
Interesting Fact # 804 - Language
Posted: May 26th, 2008, 6:09pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: space travel
English is the main language in space travel.
(Knowing a bit of Russian can't hurt either.) -
Interesting Food # 37 - Cravings
Posted: May 25th, 2008, 5:54pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting food
According to the social network website gurgle.com, the most common craving during pregnancy for an odd combination of food is for pickles and peanut butter.
(Pickles - No! Peanut Butter - No! Pickles and Peanut Butter - No! No! No!. But as this craving was closely followed by marmite and ice cream... Pickles and peanut butter ? Yummy!) -
Interesting Word # 60 - Kosher
Posted: May 24th, 2008, 5:48pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: kosher
According to the Cambridge Dictionary online, the word kosher is applied to food or places where food is sold, prepared or kept in conditions that follow the rules of Jewish law. Informally though it's often used to describe something you can trust.
(But if you want to describe the method of slaughtering animals which conforms to Jewish law - it's not kosher, it's shechita. That just doesn't seem kosher to me.) -
Interesting Fact # 803 - Pubs
Posted: May 23rd, 2008, 5:44pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
25 places in the UK claim to have the most pubs.
(The claimants include Glasgow, Glastonbury, Bewdley, Bollington, Weymouth, Witney, Saffron Walden and St Albans. If any of these places wish to hire me to resolve this dispute, I'd be more than willing.) -
On This Day
Posted: May 23rd, 2008, 9:56am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: on this day
1701 - Capt. William Kidd was hanged in London for piracy and murder.
1977 - More than 100 children and six teachers were taken hostage in a primary school in northern Holland.
1984 - At least four people were killed and dozens more injured in an explosion at a Lancashire water treatment plant.
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Interesting Fact # 802 - Pubs
Posted: May 22nd, 2008, 4:46pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
According to Mark Hastings, of the British Beer and Pub Association, more than 15 million people visit a pub each week.
(What a great job Mark Hastings has. Counting the number of people in pubs, I'd do that for nothing.) -
Interesting Fact # 801 - Pubs
Posted: May 21st, 2008, 4:42pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
According to Mark Hastings, of the British Beer and Pub Association, there are 57,500 pubs in the UK.
(Somehow that doesn't seem enough for a population of nearly 61 million.) -
Interesting Fact # 800 - Pubs
Posted: May 20th, 2008, 4:40pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
In the UK the most popular name for a pub is the Red Lion.
(There are 756 "Red Lions" in the UK. So if you arrange to meet anyone at the pub, make sure you know which pub you're talking about.) -
Special interesting animal facts video about owls
Posted: May 19th, 2008, 7:35am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: owls
Warning to elves! A cute little bunny gets eaten in this film!
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Interesting Animal # 75 - Squid
Posted: May 18th, 2008, 4:38pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: squid
Colossal squid have the largest eyes of any creature on the planet.
(Their eyes measure around 11 inches. I bet they make great hypnotists.) -
Interesting Fact # 799 - The Law
Posted: May 17th, 2008, 4:35pm EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: law
Unlawfully laying hands on a cow with intent, was a crime in 19th Century Britain.
(I'm not sure what the intent was though.) -
Interesting Fact # 798 - Computing
Posted: May 16th, 2008, 7:30am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: zombie computers
According to a study by IronPort, 80% of e-mail spam is sent by Zombie PCs.
(A zombie computer, or zombie, is a computer attached to the Internet that has been compromised by a hacker, computer virus, or trojan horse. Not a computer that wonders around the streets going "Ooh! Aaah!") -
On This Day
Posted: May 16th, 2008, 6:08am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: laser
1770 – 14-year old Marie Antoinette married 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later became king of France.
1960 - The first working laser was demonstrated by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories. (But we still don't have proper light sabers.)
1836 – Edgar Allan Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia.
1920 – Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan of Arc as a saint.
1966 – The Communist Party of China issued the 'May 16 Notice', marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
1975 – Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
1990 – Jim Henson died.
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Interesting Food # 36 - Foie Gras
Posted: May 15th, 2008, 7:23am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting food
The city of Chicago has lifted a two-year ban on the sale of the French delicacy foie gras.
(But according to Farm Sanctuary, force-feeding birds has been banned in 15 countries, including Germany, Italy, and the UK.) -
Interesting Fact # 797 - Hydrogen Powered Cars
Posted: May 14th, 2008, 7:09am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
For years BMW has been refining its dual-fuel (hydrogen/gasoline) technology. They have now developed the mono-fuel Hydrogen 7, which runs solely on hydrogen.
(According to Argonne National Laboratory it is "one of the lowest emitting combustion engine vehicles that have been manufactured." This is great news! Until you read the Spiegel that is, which says that the hydrogen dispensed at filling stations is generated primarily from petroleum and natural gas. So, the shiny new car puts about as much strain on the environment as a heavy truck with a diesel engine.) -
Interesting Fact # 796 - Water
Posted: May 12th, 2008, 6:57am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
According to figures presented at the 61st International Water Conference, between 1940 and 1990, world water usage increased four-fold.
(This isn't sustainable. Even within the United States, water is being withdrawn faster from underground aquifers than it can be replenished. One aquifer near El Paso, Texas, which serves both the U.S. and Mexico, is expected to run dry by 2020.) -
Interesting Fact # 795 - Water
Posted: May 11th, 2008, 6:48am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
According to the Peace Corp's website, of all the water on earth, 97.5 percent is salt water. Of the remaining 2.5 percent of fresh water, some 70 percent is frozen in the polar ice caps. The other 30 percent is mostly present as soil moisture or lies in underground aquifers.
(This means that less than 1 percent of the world's fresh water (or only about 0.007 percent of all the water on Earth) is readily accessible for direct human use.) -
Interesting Fact # 794 - Books
Posted: May 10th, 2008, 6:43am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
In 2007 a rare first edition, from 1847, of Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights sold at auction for £114,000.
(It had been expected to fetch between £30,000 and £50,000. So a nice surprise for the owner.) -
Interesting Fact # 793 - Holidays
Posted: May 10th, 2008, 6:39am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: usa
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington DC, the number of paid holidays guaranteed by law in the United States is zero.
(This compares with 30 guaranteed holiday days in Finland.) -
Interesting Fact # 792 - Money
Posted: May 9th, 2008, 6:37am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
According to Visa Europe, 41% of personal expenditure in Britain is carried out using a credit card.
(This compares with just 8% in Germany. You can imagine how many times I had to put my credit card away and scrabble around for cash when I first came here.) -
Interesting Fact # 791 - Money
Posted: May 8th, 2008, 6:35am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
According to the European Central Bank six out of seven payments in Europe are made with cash.
(So much for a plastic society. Show me the money!) -
Interesting Places # 65 - Derbyshire
Posted: May 7th, 2008, 9:15am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: derbyshire
The world’s longest-running factory in is Derbyshire.
(Knitwear manufacturer John Smedley was founded at Lea Bridge in 1784.)
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Interesting Food # 35 - Rice
Posted: May 6th, 2008, 9:28am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting food
Rice was once considered so important in Japan that it was worshipped as a god.
(Inari, the god (or goddess) of rice is related with general prosperity. A bit like football in the UK then.) -
Interesting Fact # 790 - Crime
Posted: May 5th, 2008, 10:45am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: cctv
According to the Guardian newspaper, only 3% of London street robberies are solved with the help of CCTV evidence.
(This is in spite of the fact that Britain had more cameras than any other European country. A spokesperson said that officers often avoided trawling through CCTV images "because it's hard work". Put them up on YouTube then and let the public do it.) -
Interesting Fact # 789 - Fat
Posted: May 4th, 2008, 10:31am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
Abdominal fat is the most dangerous.
(It is known to increase the risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and some cancers. So start doing those sit ups now.) -
Interesting Fact # 788 - The Olympic Torch
Posted: May 3rd, 2008, 9:23am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting olympic fact
The Olympic torch is designed to stay alight in rain up to 50mm an hour.
(They probably tested this theory in Wales.) -
Interesting Fact # 787 - The Brain
Posted: May 2nd, 2008, 10:13am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
According to a study by the Max Planck Institute, the brain makes some decisions 10 seconds before they become conscious thought.
(Hence the saying, "Look before you leap.") -
Interesting Fact # 786 - The origins of May Day
Posted: May 1st, 2008, 10:20am EDT by Your Teacher
Tags: Interesting fact
May 1st was declared a workers holiday by the International Working Men's Association (First International) in Paris in 1889.
(It was to commemorate the Haymarket Martyrs of 1886: 8 anarchists who were wrongly accused of throwing a bomb at police. 4 of them; Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolf Fischer and George Engel were hanged, Louis Lingg committed suicide in prison and in 1893, John Peter Altgeld, pardoned the three surviving men; Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe and Michael Schwab. A bit too late though.)
