May 2009
16 posts
Ettore Boiardi was a Italian chef who started bottling his own secret spaghetti sauce in the 1920’s. We know him today as Chef Boyardee.
May 22nd
Nike is named after the Greek goddess of victory.
May 20th
2 notes
Manpower
Ever since 1997, the Swedish city of Helsingborg has been using the heat from local crematoriums as 10% of the city’s energy source.
May 18th
Subway
There are two million combinations of sandwiches that can be made at Subway. Each year, they make enough sandwiches to line up around the world six times.
May 17th
Meat
Chickens are 50% efficient, meaning that for all the energy of grains we input into their feed, they give us half of that energy back as meat. However, cows only give us 2% of all the enery we put into them.
May 16th
Candles
90% of all candles are bought by women.
May 16th
“We investigated the so-called ‘disco funeral’ phenomenon in Kisumu, Kenya,...”
– Akimbo: In Kisumu, HIV prevalence for males is 19.8%, and 30.1% for females. Among young people ages 15-19, HIV prevalence is much higher among young women (23%) compared to young men (3.5%). February 20, 2009 - Volume 23 - Issue 4 : AIDS (via sexartandpolitics)
May 15th
4 notes
Bagels
Their texture comes from a dip in hot boiling water before baking.
May 14th
Photos
In the 19th century, the norm was to have a solemn face for photographs. One London studio even told its subjects to say “prunes” instead of cheese to form a small mouth.
May 13th
1 note
Refs
Referees for the NBA make between 100,000 to 300,000 for a 82 game season. On the other hand, Refs for the WNBA only make around 20,000 for a 32 game season.
May 12th
Play-Doh
Play-Doh was first marketed as a wallpaper cleaner to remove dust.
May 11th
Mr. Rogers
Every one of Mr. Rogers’s sweaters was handknit by his mother.
May 11th
1 note
Meals
54% and 79% of children under the age of 6 eat breakfast and dinner everyday with their mothers. With the fathers, the corresponding percents are 41 and 66%.
May 10th
Tissues
North America is responsible for half the usage of tissue paper products, such as toilet paper. In fact, each person in the US uses around 50 pounds per year on average.
May 9th
Yawning
Babies begin yawning 11 weeks after their conception.
May 8th
1 note
Camels
Camels can sweat over 30% of their body weight while humans would die just by sweating just over 10% of our body weight.
May 7th