Fact of the day

Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Fact N° 939
Coca-Cola used to contain cocaine.
The name of this great American soft drink makes perfect sense: Its inventor, John Pemberton, had originally created a cocktail called Pemberton's French Wine Coca in 1885. This was a version of "cocawine," which was little more than wine and cocaine. When authorities in Georgia introduced prohibition laws in 1886, Pemberton removed the wine from the cocktail, kept the cocaine (using South American coca leaves, from which cocaine is derived) and added African kola nuts (which have a high caffeine content) for flavor. However, he removed the blow in 1903.
Fact N° 940
We are about one centimeter taller in the morning than we are in the evening.
The moral: Never allow your height to be measured at night. The vertebrae in your spine are separated by spongy intervertebral discs made of layers upon layers of fibrocartilage on the outside and a jelly-like substance on the inside. While you're lying down or asleep, these discs will expand slightly, amounting in total to about a centimeter or more by the time you get up. During the day, you lose that centimeter when activity and gravity combine to compress the spine.
Fact N° 941
It is a misconception that the Benedictine monk Dom Perignon invented champagne.
Ultimately, the "invention" of champagne was a collaborative effort. Yeast converts sugar to alcohol in the process of fermentation. In the 17th century, the biggest problem with wine-making was refermentation; a change to warmer weather prevented some sugar from fermenting, and the excess yeast would create massive carbon dioxide (and carbonation), leading to an explosive build-up if the cork or bottle wasn't strong enough. Dom Perignon was a French cellar master near the town of Epernay, and he may have attempted to solve this problem by reinforcing the cork with the wire collar, allowing the refermentation to create the carbonation safely. However, three decades before him, English scientist Christopher Merrett presented a paper to the Royal Society about how refermentation can create sparkling wine.
Fact N° 942
Blind chameleons are still able to change colors.
Contrary to popular opinion, chameleons don't change color to blend in with their environment. Rather, the action is thought to be either a form of social display or basic chameleon communication. The color-changing mechanism within chameleons is not dependent on its ability to see; however, without that ability their color changes are more likely related to various stresses.
Fact N° 943
50 Cent has become the first recording artist since The Beatles to hold 4 positions in the U.S. Top 10 at the same time.
Quite a remarkable feat for a kid born with the cards seemingly stacked against him. By the age of 11, Curtis James Jackson III, aka 50 Cent (or "Fiddy" ) had lost his mother to murder and was dealing coke and crack on the streets of Queens, NY. Arrested for dealing in the mid-'90s, he was sent to a type of prison boot camp, where he decided to make a change in his life: He started rapping. Today, 50 Cent is a multi-platinum selling rapper and critically acclaimed actor whose business and media empire is growing by the minute.
Fact N° 944
The woman Jack Nicholson thought was his sister turned out to be his mother.
Born in 1937 with an older sister named June, the future film star was raised in New Jersey by two people whom he believed to be his parents. In 1974, Time magazine ran a feature on him, and during the interview, the journalist informed Nicholson that his parents were actually his grandparents, and his sister June was actually his mother. By the time he learned this news, both June and his grandmother Ethel had been dead for a number of years. While two men have been named as his real father, the actor himself has largely ignored the issue, at least publicly.
Fact N° 945
The year 46 B.C. lasted 445 days.
In an effort to bring the calendar back into alignment with the vernal equinox, part of the major calendar reforms undertaken by Julius Caesar included moving the first of the year from March to January and adding 33 and 34 days between November and December. In all, the effort required adding 80 days to the calendar year, and it became known as the ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œYear of Confusion.ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â CaesarÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s critics accused him of ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œruling the earth and wanting to rule the stars too.ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â

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