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| Photo taken by Cee (No mule deer was harmed in the taking of this photo) |
▪ Mule deer have no upper teeth, just a hard palate on the roof of their mouth. (Source: the San Diego Zoo)
▪ There is no biblical reference or other evidence to support that Jesus was born on December 25. This date may have been chosen because it was already a widely-celebrated pagan holiday (Source: The History channel)
▪ An estimated 32.5% of the US population age 25 and older graduated from college; about 12% hold an advanced degree. (Souce: U.S. Census Bureau)
▪ The only two extant members of the Monodontidae family are beluga whales and narwhals. (Source: Integrated Taxonomic Information System)
▪ Of the 250 top-grossing U.S. films of 2015, 9% were directed by women. (Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film)
▪ Octopuses have three hearts. (Source: Smithsonian Magazine; this is a fact I picked up watching Finding Dory, but the Smithsonian page has other equally interesting facts about octopuses—I especially like number nine: “After mating, it’s game over for octopuses.”)
▪ In 2015, 13.5% of the U.S. population live in poverty (metrics used here). Of those 43 million people, 14.5 million are children under the age of 18, and 4.2 million are seniors over 65. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
▪ Camel milk does not curdle naturally and has a water content of over 90% when drinking water is unavailable or scarce for the camel in question. (Source: Scientific American and the Department of Animal Sciences at the College of ACES, University of Illinois)
▪ According to a July 2015 population estimate (methodology here), 50.8% of the U.S. population are female; 14.9% are 65 years and older; 22.9 percent are under 18. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
▪ Piggybacking on another person’s unsecured wireless network is illegal in Singapore. Also illegal in Singapore? Walking naked in “a private place … exposed to public view.” (Source: Singapore Statutes Online)
▪ Marsupials (well, female marsupials) have two uteri and three vaginas. (Source: National Geographic)
▪ The U.S.’s GDP in 2015 was 17.947 trillion. (Source: The World Bank). A breakdown of the GDP by industry can be found here (gross output data).
▪ All scorpions glow under UV light. (Source: Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit)
▪ Until 2011, beer (and any drinks with an ABV under 10%) was considered “foodstuff” in Russia. (Source: BBC and the Telegraph)
▪ Historians are fairly certain that the color orange is named after the fruit orange. (Source: The Huffington Post)
▪ Bunnies have near panoramic vision, save for one tiny blind spot directly in front of their face. (Source: Department of Biology at the University of Miami)
▪ Human ears grow continuously until death. (Source: NIH)
▪ The current American flag (with 50 stars) was designed by Robert Heft in 1958 (before Hawaii became a state), as a school project (for which he received a grade of B-). (Source: USFlag.org and StoryCorps)
▪ Denmark has one of the world’s strictest naming laws: first names must be picked from a list of some 33,000 names (though parents can petition to have “unusual” names approved). (Source: The New York Times and Ankestyrelsen)
▪ Six states have passed automatic voter registration laws since March 2015: Oregon (March 2015); California (October 2015); Vermont (April 2016); West Virginia (April 2016); Connecticut (May 2016); and Alaska (November 2016). (Source: The Brennan Center for Justice)
The weekly shopping update will be updated later today, so check back for some sale news.
