Fortune Cookie Friday: The Facts of Life
Today’s fortune reminded me of lasts week’s Gaining Wisdom post. Most of us will fall into the changing category.
Since I’m neither the wisest nor the stupidest, I will inevitably change my mind, my views, and my weight. The world is constantly changing. Rivers carve out the rock, mountains slowly push to the sky, and my hair continues to get more gray. Everything around us is constant motion.
If you look at technology, you will witness the changes moving almost as fast as a tornado. Not long ago, we were using a horse and buggy to get around. This is considering humans began using stone tools around 2.6 million years ago on a timeline of historic inventions. With the great minds inventing new technology, we have cars, plains, and satellites. Computers would take up huge rooms in buildings and now that same power, if not more, fits in your pocket.
As a society, we need to accept that change is inevitable. Luckily, some things never change.There are various facts you learn in your life. Let’s call them the “facts of life”, not to be confused with the TV show from the 1980’s.
It’s a fact that everyone will, eventually, die. Anything created can be destroyed. It’s also a fact that a circle is round, one plus one equals two, and love hurts. I started questioning what other facts there were. Heck, I have the Internet at my disposal, so why not look up some interesting facts.
Here are some I found:
- Earth is the only place in the Solar System where water can be present in its three states: solid, liquid and vapor. (There was a recent discovery of a fourth state1)
- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words.
- The Sun accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System.
- Polar bears have black skin.
- If you have a pizza with radius Z and thickness A, its volume is = Pi x Z x Z x A
- Scientists can turn peanut butter into diamonds.2
- 29,000 rubber ducks were lost at sea in 1992, and are still being found, revolutionizing our knowledge of ocean science.3
- Among all shapes with the same perimeter, a circle has the largest area.
- Neptune has the strongest winds in the Solar System: 2,100 km/hour (1,304 mph). (Never a good hair day there.)
- If you write out Pi to two decimal places, backward it spells “pie”.
- Butterflies can taste with their feet. (Watch where you step!)
- Farts have been clocked at a speed of 10 feet per second (7 mph). (Apparently, with the right proposal, you can get someone to fund your experiment, no matter how strange it may be.)
Now, scientists are working hard at new discoveries every day, so maybe some of these will change. Some people might not like the change, but you can’t please everyone. You’ll learn a lot of knowledge in your life. You’ll learn in school, from your family, and from experience, but knowledge is wasted if it’s not shared. Go out there and share your new found facts of life.
Reference:
1: “New State of Water Molecules Discovered: It Is Not Always Solid, Liquid, Gas”
2: “Peanut Butter Diamonds on Display”
3: “Lost at sea: On the trail of Moby-Duck”
