Fun facts … some disturbing!
This may be your day to learn something. If you are a fact or trivia person, this is for you. We can call them fun, semi-useful facts. Here are some to add to your list.
“Chocolate milk is more efficient at giving you energy than most energy drinks.”
Two University of Connecticut researchers advise to put down the energy drink and pick up chocolate milk. They have learned chocolate milk is more efficient at restoring muscle. It turns out that it’s better than white milk because it has more sugar for energy to let the muscle do its work. Milk also rebuilds the muscle.
In the two-week research project which involved male runners, some drank chocolate milk and others drank a carb-only drink like Powerade or Gatorade. Breath and blood samples taken at the end of the two weeks showed milk drinkers had better muscle rebuilding.
“Dogs and cats are right- and left-pawed, just as humans are right- and left-handed.”
It turns out the majority of domestic cats are right-pawed. Some dogs are ambidextrous. What? Cats were tested laying on their side, going down stairs and stepping over objects. Well, it’s not like we could ask them to write their name. Using these same sorts of tests, dogs were just like humans, mostly right-pawed. Now, go test your pet.
“In the year 1475 it was stated in Turkey that it was legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he did not provide her with the daily quota of coffee.”
Isn’t that the same today? Oh, maybe not, but coffee is still quite important in society. At one time, a Turkish man would judge whether a woman would make a good wife by her coffee brewing skills. I don’t drink it – seems way too bitter for me – and the fact that most people enjoy it almost makes the non-coffee drinker seem unsociable.
“We have three types of tears – basil, reflex and psychic.”
Psychic tears, the ones we produce when we’re sad, have a different chemical make-up and contain a natural painkiller, leucine-enkephalin. It may explain why we feel better after we cry those tears. Basal tears are the ones that keep eyes lubricated. Reflex or irritant tears are ones produced when we get something in our eye.
Psychic or emotional tears are our most talked about and a reaction to circumstances. The next time you cry those psychic tears, you will know why you feel better shortly afterward.
“Turning down the radio in your car to concentrate more may actually increase visual acuity.”
It’s your brain’s way of prioritizing tasks. OK, you may be able to see better with less radio by concentrating on one task. But isn’t that what the “no texting while driving” is also about? Let your brain work for you, uninhibited. Eating in the car may be a whole other thing!
“A Japanese company has awarded its nonsmoking employees six extra vacation days to compensate for the smoker’s smoke breaks.”
Just think, if each smoker takes two 15-minute breaks a day to go outside and smoke, that’s 30 minutes a day. It doesn’t take long for that to add up to six days. Seems like good compensation, plus those nonsmokers are undoubtedly healthier employees.
“In 2017, 90 percent of the cocaine seized by the DEA was cut (meaning adding a substance to increase quantity) with a veterinary de-wormer drug, levamisole.”
One of the many awful side effects of the de-wormer is horrific skin rot. There are probably dozens of reasons not to use cocaine, but this would probably be the best one because of the awful result. The rot can occur on the ears and face. Of course, it’s probably not a factor in your life, but sadly this stuff is part of our world today.
And finally after that ugly fact … “There are red bananas that taste sweet and creamy and a little bit like bananas and raspberries at the same time.”
They are grown in Costa Rica, Mexico and Australia. Red bananas are smaller than conventional ones and sometimes have an aroma of strawberries. Oh my gosh, how have I missed these? The fruit is best consumed when the red skin turns a little chestnut brown, but not past that point because if the fruit gets too soft, it loses enzymes and can develop dangerous bacteria. So, I guess there’s good and bad in everything.
(Melanie Behrens – melb@marysvillejt.com)