Fast Facts Answers to Outside the Box puzzles from page 48 1. Honeymoon 2. The United States of America 3. Shot put 4. Doughnut 5. Background noise 6. A frog in your throat Lady Luck A surprising number of well-known inventions happened purely by accident, with some of them becoming lifesaving discoveries. Others represent a mix of convenience and usefulness, while some are just plain cool. The following is an abbreviated list. ▶ Penicillin ▶ Dynamite ▶ The blood thinner Warfarin ▶ Microwave oven ▶ Pacemaker ▶ Velcro ▶ Silly Putty ▶ Anesthesia ▶ Slinky ▶ Superglue ▶ Post-it notes ▶ Cornflakes Everything Under the Sun At the heart of our solar system, the sun makes it possible for us to exist on earth. Here are some of its key features. ▶ Distance from Earth is 149.6 million kilometres. ▶ It’s estimated to be around 4.6 billion years old. ▶ About 1.3 million Earths could fit inside the sun. ▶ Surface temperature is about 5,500 degrees Celsius (9,932 Fahrenheit). ▶ It’s a near-perfect sphere. ▶ It’s largely a ball of hydrogen and helium, plus other elements. ▶ On average, it takes 27 Earth days for it to rotate once on its axis. ▶ Its mass is 500 times greater than all eight planets and asteroids. ▶ It makes up 99.866 per cent of the solar system’s mass. ▶ The Earth moves around the sun in an elliptical orbit. ▶ Its luminosity is about 386 billion billion megawatts. A Little Golf Gab ▶ The game can be traced back to 15th-century Scotland, but historians believe that it could be associated with the earlier ancient Roman game of paganica, or rooted in the Chinese game called chuiwan, in which a stick is used to hit a small ball into a hole in the ground. ▶ The term “golf’” originated in the Netherlands from the words “kolve” or “kolf.” By the 16th century, the Scottish dialect modified the pronunciation to “golf.” ▶ The first golf courses in Scotland were village greens and cattle pastures. ▶ The game’s first golf balls were made from leather stuffed with feathers. ▶ Chances of an average golfer sinking a hole-in-one is 12,500 to one. ▶ Almost 80% of golfers will never have a handicap under 18. ▶ Golf balls have anywhere from 300 to 500 dimples on their surface. ▶ Before the invention of golf tees, mounds of sand were used on which to place the ball. ▶ It’s estimated that golfers lose three to four balls per round. ▶ Golf balls travel further on hot days. ▶ The average driver swing is 84 mph. CSA MEMBERSHIP Early Renewal Winners $250 Gift Card B Zaks & A Waldman – Montreal, QC A & E Burns – Lindsay, ON S & M Knox – Sherwood Park, AB M Schmitt – Prince Albert, SK F Abbott & R Elliot – Lakefield, ON 5-Year Membership S Lacourciere – Mississauga, ON E & R Haukaas – Moose Jaw, SK C & M Wilkinson – Georgetown, ON S Ambrose – Wellington, NS R & E Dykstra – Sundre, AB Betcha Didn’tKnow Test your knowledge on this list of interesting truisms. ▶ The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. ▶ Minus 40 degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. ▶ The only food that doesn’t spoil is honey. ▶ Armadillos are bulletproof. ▶ The median age of the world’s population is about 30. ▶ Penicillin was first called “mold juice.” ▶ Your brain burns about 400 to 500 calories a day. ▶ The blob of toothpaste on a toothbrush is called a “nurdle.” ▶ Only 10% of the population is left-handed. ▶ Your tongue has roughly 8,000 taste buds. ▶ Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours. ▶ About 700 grapes go into a bottle of wine. ▶ Hawaii gets three feet closer to Alaska every year. 54 | www.snowbirds.org
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