Antarctica

Well this cool fact is courtesy of my astronomy class, I just found this so interesting.

If you lived in Antarctica you would have the opportunity to experience some unique happenings.

One thing is that no matter where you are or where the wind comes from, it will always be blowing from the north.

There is the 200 degree club.  These are people who will hang out in a sauna for a bit, then they will step outside into the cold.  This causes their body to go through a 200˚ difference. To do this they do have to have one very important piece of clothing, and it's not the kind that you're thinking of.  They need a cloth to cover their face so that they do not "frost" their lungs.  I have no idea how these people do not kill themselves doing this but apparently it's a great adrenaline rush.

You would have to eat at least 7,000 calories a day to NOT lose weight.  Need a weight loss program, move to Antarctica for 6 months.

If you go to the geographic south pole on New Years Eve and walk in a circle you can experience the New Year in all time zones.

Those were some interesting facts I learned and now to end today with a badly told joke:

It's a good thing Microsoft doesn't make a car - it would go 100 miles an hour and then all of a sudden shut down for no reason and need to be rebooted.  It's a good thing Apple doesn't either - their car would only drive on 5% of the road.

"Be careful how you choose your words for they may be your last."  Until tomorrow, have a wonderful day/evening/whatever. 

Invention with no Inventor

Well I don't know if this falls under the category of "cool fact", but it certainly is a random fact. Over the past week I was a part of a conversation that had to do with the brilliance of human's and their inventions. Things like the "light bulb", "postal service", "automobile", and "Internet". It was then brought to my attention that with all of these great inventions, we know who invented them. We even know a little bit of back story on some of these remembered individuals. Even with all of this there is one great invention in which we do not know where the idea came from or who came up with it. That is the invention of the "toilet". Or more specific, indoor plumbing, and running water. What we do know is that the Romans had plumbing in ancient Babalonia, using lead pipes. The word plumbing came from the latin word Plumbum, which means lead. As far as I can tell, that is the farthest back the invention of plumbing can be traced.

The answer

Today is my first try at "cool fact monday". Once a week, on monday, I will pull out a random fact I learned that week. This could be something I learned in class, heard on the radio, read in a book or wherever.

Today's cool fact comes from my astronomy teacher, Prof Smith. He was talking about rainbows and how the light hitting at 42 degree angle is what is needed to cause the effect of the rainbow. Then he went to say that "the answer to life, the universe, and everything" is really 42. He stated that in nature that number is everywhere. This number is fundamental in the makings of the universe.

So then I did some research on the internet and found this statement."Our galaxy weighs three times 10 to the power of 42kg - a number written as 3 followed by 42 zeroes" I'm not very good at math so I can't verify the accuracy of this statement but it sure sounds good to me.

So if you ever sit and wonder about your existence on this planet and what the answer to life and well, pretty much everything. Just relax and know that the answer is really 42 and that should clear everything up.