Another Installment of Fun Facts

It is Monday, and time for another installment of fun facts. Tonight we are not going to focus on 1910 and just wander off onto some other fun factoids that you can amaze your friends with.

How many times in your past (and even in your present for some of you) have you held a seashell up to your ear to hear the "waves" of the ocean? I know my parents tried to convince me that the ocean can always be heard in the seashell, and I knew they were pulling my leg (they did that a lot). I figured that the sound I heard was an echo of some sorts, but now I know, the "roar" we hear when we place the seashell next to our ear is actually the sound of our blood surging through our veins and not the ocean. I guess those of you with high blood pressure hear some serious waves and figured the shells were from Hawaii.... Those of us with low blood pressure probably just heard the lapping of the water from a lake shore....

How many of you like honey? Have you noticed that it can be settling to your stomach. I use honey a lot in cooking and as a natural sweetener for my drinks. What I did not know is that honey is easy to digest because it has already been digested by a bee. Does that mean I am eating bee urrp??? Ewwww....

For those of you who were exposed to farm life and roosters, did you know that roosters cannot crow unless they extended their neck? So, I guess when you hear a rooster crow, instead of wishing to wring it's neck, all you have to do is to keep it from extending it's neck. Wringing a rooster's neck would in effect extend it, and therefore make it crow more...hmmmm... not...

Staying on the bird theme for another moment, did you ever notice how a bird closes it's eye? For those of us who have birds, the birds eyelids close from the bottom to the top, not like the human eye, where ours close from top to bottom.. Well, now to throw a wrinkle into this whole thing, the owl is the only bird to drop it's upper eyelid in order to wink.

Have you ever watched bats exit a cave? We don't all get to see that awesome sight, but if you do get the opportunity, you will notice that the bats always turn left when exiting a cave. Not sure why, but that is what the scientists tell me.... I didn't ask if it was based on what part of the hemisphere they lived in (like water...never mind, that is another topic for discussion at another time)

This piece of information can be disturbing for those of us with seasonal allergies. Every time you sneeze, some of your brain cells die. Great, when I have a sneezing fit, how may brain cells do I lose? Perhaps I should take up drinking, at least I know I am intentionally killing brain cells...

Thinking about our bodies, I am sure you noticed that when people blush sometimes more than their face turns red? I have seen people blush where not only their face turns red, but their ears and neck turn red too. What I didn't know is that when you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red. Now why would scientists have ever figured that out? Did they stuff a camera down someones throat, and then embarrass that person? Why would they even want to know if your stomach blushes? That fact is weird on so many different levels...

Lastly (for tonight) finishing off on bizarre facts of the human body, did you know that the attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples? So, be careful next time you compliment someone on their dimples.... you may be criticizing how their skin is attached...

Now you have another set of useless pieces of information to clutter your brain and take up space so you can't remember where you last placed your car keys...

Until tomorrow...