TC’s Amazin’ Stuff – Part 2

TC’s Amazin’ Stuff – Part 2

So, every week, Darcy and/or I search for a freeware pick or site pick to feature in our weekly newsletter. Yeah, it’s basically a non-technical technical newsletter for non-technical people who use Windows. We feature computer tips, how-tos, freeware picks, computer advice, and a lot of other stuff, as most of our subscribers know.

What? Are you not a subscriber? Let’s fix that!

This week, while Darcy is exploring the Nile River with her socialite buddies, I decided to take the bull by the horns – so to speak – and create my own “Site of the Week” again. So here it is…

Part #2 of “TC’s Amazin’ Stuff.”

1. Humans can distinguish at least 1 trillion different odors, making our sense of smell far more sophisticated than previously thought.
2. If you laid all the blood vessels in an adult human body end-to-end, they would stretch for about 60,000 miles—enough to circle the Earth more than twice.
3. Crows can recognize human faces and can hold “grudges” against specific people for years, even teaching their offspring which humans to avoid.
4. It takes a sloth up to 30 days to digest a single leaf. They can actually starve to death on a full stomach if the weather is too cold for their gut bacteria to work.
5. Astronauts consistently describe the smell of outer space as a mix of seared steak, hot metal, and welding fumes.
6. Parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile have gone over 400 years without a single drop of rain.
7. Humans are literally made of “stardust.” Almost every element in our bodies was forged in the heart of a dying star.
8. Greenland sharks can live for over 400 years. There are sharks swimming today that were born before the Mayflower landed.
9. A fungus among us: The largest living organism on Earth is a honey fungus in Oregon; it covers over 2,385 acres of forest.
10. A single average cumulus cloud weighs about 1.1 million pounds (roughly 100 elephants).
11. That “fresh rain” smell is actually called petrichor, caused by soil bacteria called actinomycetes.
12. Forks were once seen as “sacrilegious” in Italy because they were “artificial hands” and therefore an insult to God.
13. Humans actually have stripes called Blaschko’s Lines, but they are invisible to the naked eye and only show under UV light.
14. Statistically, you are more likely to be killed by a falling vending machine than by a shark attack.
15. A human can be their own fraternal twin. This happens when two embryos fuse in the womb, resulting in a person with two different sets of DNA. Some people have discovered this only after failing a maternity test for their own biological children.
16. Deadly Laughter: In 1962, an “outbreak” of contagious laughter in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) lasted for nearly a year, forcing the closure of several schools. It was a case of Mass Psychogenic Illness.
17. Eye Teeth: There is a rare medical procedure called Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis, where a person’s tooth is implanted into their eye to restore sight. The tooth acts as a support for a prosthetic lens.
18. About 2 billion years ago, in what is now Gabon, Africa, a uranium deposit reached “criticality” and functioned as a self-sustaining nuclear fission reactor for hundreds of thousands of years—entirely by accident of nature.
19. In 897 AD, the Catholic Church put a dead Pope on trial. The corpse of Pope Formosus was exhumed, dressed in papal robes, and cross-examined by a successor. He was found guilty.
20. During Prohibition, the U.S. government ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols to discourage people from drinking. It is estimated that over 10,000 people died from drinking the “chemist’s concoction.”
21. In 1518, hundreds of people in Strasbourg started dancing uncontrollably for weeks. Some died from strokes and heart attacks. To “cure” them, the city built a stage and hired musicians, thinking they just needed to “dance it out.”
22. A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 68 years straight (1922–1990). He hiccuped an estimated 430 million times before they randomly stopped one year before he died.
23. Nintendo was founded in 1889. For context, Jack the Ripper was still making headlines, and the Ottoman Empire was still a functioning world power.
24. The 1904 Olympic Marathon: This race was pure chaos. The “winner” drove 11 miles in a car; another runner was chased a mile off-course by aggressive dogs; and the actual winner was kept going by his trainers injecting him with strychnine (rat poison) and brandy.
25. Auto-Brewery Syndrome: There is a medical condition where the fungi in your gut ferment carbohydrates into ethanol. People with this syndrome can become legally drunk just by eating a bowl of pasta or a slice of cake.

And a sweet little bonus for all of you older lovers out there…

Couples’ Heartbeat Synchrony:  Amazing but true! When two people who have been together for a long time sit near each other, their heart rates and breathing patterns actually begin to synchronize. They literally become “in tune” with one another.

Ain’t that sweet??

If you missed Part #1 of TC’s Amazin’ Stuff, y’all can read it here.

We hope you’ve enjoyed TC’s Amazing Stuff – Part 2!  Thanks for reading and sharing!