Fast Facts Mental Floss Random trivia that’s fun to know. ▶ Glaciers and ice sheets hold about 69 per cent of the world’s freshwater. ▶ The best place in the world to see rainbows is Hawaii. ▶ Mount Everest is bigger now than the last time it was measured. ▶ Dentistry is the oldest profession in the world. ▶ The Canary Islands are named after dogs, not birds. ▶ Four babies are born every second. ▶ Japan is the world’s most earthquake-prone country. ▶ Only two countries use purple in their flags: Nicaragua and Dominica. ▶ Africa and Asia are home to nearly 90 per cent of the world’s rural population. ▶ People 60 years and older make up 12.3 per cent of the global population. ▶ There are 43 countries that still have a royal family. ▶ Canada has nine per cent of the world’s forests. Out of This World Our knowledge of space and the solar system is obviously far from complete, but here are some things that are currently known. ▶ The hottest planet in our solar system is Venus, with an average surface temperature of 450 degrees Celsius. ▶ Space is completely silent. There is no atmosphere in space, which means that sound has no way to travel to be heard. ▶ The Sun takes up 99.86 per cent of the solar system, with a mass approximately 330,000 times greater than that of Earth. ▶ There are more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way. ▶ The sunset on Mars appears blue. ▶ There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on Earth. ▶ Venus has a slow axis rotation; it takes 243 Earth days to complete its day. ▶ One million Earths can fit inside the Sun. ▶ An asteroid about the size of a car enters Earth’s atmosphere roughly once a year and burns up before reaching us. ▶ More energy from the Sun hits Earth every hour than the planet uses in a year. Body Language ▶ A lifetime of saliva can fill two swimming pools. ▶ Your jaw can exert 200 pounds of force on your teeth. ▶ Your skin is your largest organ. ▶ You replace all of your skin every month. ▶ Stomach acid can dissolve metal. ▶ Your stomach lining regenerates itself every three to four days. ▶ Hands and feet contain more than half of your total bones. ▶ Eyes remain almost the same size for your entire life. ▶ When we breathe, we favour one nostril over the other. ▶ You’re taller in the morning. ▶ Only two per cent of humans have green eyes. ▶ Your eyes blink about 20 times a minute. ▶ The body has 2.5 million sweat pores. ▶ The tongue is covered by about 8,000 taste buds. Answers to Outside the Box puzzles from page 48 1.Rightside up 2. Divide and conquer 3. A thin line between love and hate 4. Son of a gun 6. Outward bound 5. Annual General Meeting “If a year was tucked inside of a clock, then autumn would be the magic hour.” Victoria Erickson Sweater Weather A few fall facts about bundle-up season. ▶ Superstition says that catching a falling leaf spells good luck. ▶ A Medieval tradition inspired trick-or-treating. ▶ In autumn, snakes look for dens in which to spend the winter. ▶ Nuts that squirrels can’t remember hiding help forests regrow. ▶ Fall leaves share the same pigments as different-coloured vegetables. ▶ One gallon of apple cider requires as many as 40 apples. ▶ Halloween began as an ancient celebration of the harvest season. ▶ Birth rates are said to be highest during the fall. ▶ Johnny Appleseed was a real person. ▶ According to earthsky.org, Mercury is visible at dusk in September. ▶ Fall pumpkins grow on nearly every continent. ▶ Monarch butterflies begin their epic 3,000-mile migration to Mexico. ▶ Tempura-fried maple leaves are a delicacy in Japan. ▶ The second-largest Oktoberfest in the world is held in Kitchener, Ontario. “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” L. M. Montgomery 54 | www.snowbirds.org
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