Travel with Tidbits to China this week as we explore the longest man-made structure in the world. • In the Chinese language, the term for the Wall, “Wanli Changcheng,” literally translates “The Long Wall of 10,000 Miles.” • Construction began in 770 B.C. for border defense and continued for hundreds of years, with the last construction taking place in 1878 during the Qing Dynasty. Although more than 20 Chinese dynasties worked on the construction between the 7th century B.C. and the 19th century, the best-known sections were built during the Ming Dynasty, between 1368 and 1644, a […]
March 2024
TIDBITS® Investigates Creepy Crawlies
by Kathy Wolfe This week, Tidbits offers the facts on some weird and sometimes disturbing creatures that creep and slither. • Tapeworms are nothing to joke about. These horrid little parasites, which can reach lengths of 12 feet, can infiltrate your intestines, and drain the body’s nutrients for years without a person’s knowledge. They typically enter the body through raw or undercooked meat, most commonly beef, pork, and freshwater fish. A tapeworm’s head has suction cups and tiny hooks that attach to the lining of the intestines. While the most common symptoms are diarrhea, nausea, weakness, or a mild stomach […]
Benefits of Exercise – BEAUTIFUL BODY –
– BEAUTIFUL BODY – It’s alarming to learn that roughly 3.2 million people die every year due to physical inactivity. Here are some facts and suggestions to avoid becoming part of that statistic! • Are you a couch potato? Do you have a sedentary lifestyle? If your life includes a lot of sitting and lying down with very little to no exercise, this might describe you. Our lives have become more inactive – long days sitting at a desk at work, sitting in cars, buses, or trains, binge-watching TV, or playing hours of video games. • What’s bound to […]
World’s first central air
• Charles Gilbert Gates had two main claims to fame. First, he was the son of oil tycoon and shipping magnate John Warne Gates; second, he built the world’s first residence that boasted central air conditioning. He died before he ever got to flip the air conditioning “ON.” • To tell the story of Charles Gates and his air-conditioned mansion, let’s start with the source of his money: his father, John Gates. • John Gates started his rise to riches as a salesman for a company that sold newly-invented barbed wire. He thought the cattle ranches of Texas would offer […]
TIDBITS® Installs Air Conditioning
by Janet Spencer As we head into the summer heat, let’s appreciate the comfort of air conditioning! In The Beginning • Willis Carrier was an engineer who worked for a publishing firm in New York City in 1902. In the summer, problems arose because the paper would absorb the humidity in the air and become wrinkled, jamming up the presses when it rolled through. The ink took a long time to dry. Paper had to be rolled through the press several times for full-color images, but the lines wouldn’t match up because the paper was warped. Carrier was tasked with […]
Blonds – BEAUTIFUL BODY –
– BEAUTIFUL BODY – • Blond hair is relatively rare globally, while being extremely common in certain areas. It’s estimated that about 84% of the world’s population has black or dark brown hair. Brunettes come in second with 11%. Only about 3% of the population is blond, and an additional 2% are redheads. • The percentage varies regionally. Black is the most common throughout Africa and Asia. But in the U.S., only 7.5% of the population has black hair. Scotland has the highest percentage of redheads, with 13%. Red hair with blue eyes is the rarest combination of hair and […]
LEGOS
This week, Tidbits stacks up the facts on the favorite creative toy of millions, Lego bricks. • In 1932, Ole Kirk Christiansen was the 41-year-old owner of a woodworking shop in Denmark, a carpenter specializing in furniture making. That year, because his furniture business was in a slump, Christiansen made the decision to expand into the production of wooden toys, including pull-along animals, yo-yos, and trucks. It wasn’t enough to keep him from bankruptcy, but a bail-out loan from his siblings allowed him to keep the company afloat. • Christiansen chose to focus strictly on toys, and in […]
TIDBITS® Looks at the Long and Short of it
by Kathy Wolfe Tidbits isn’t short on the facts this week! Stay with us as we bring you the details on the longest and shortest of all kinds of things. • You might think that Russian author Leo Tolstoy’s epic historical novel “War and Peace” would be the world’s longest book with 587,287 words. But it’s not even close to “Remembrance of Things Past,” published in 1913 by Marcel Proust. It’s a book of this French author’s recollections of childhood and young adulthood, and reflections on the pursuit of truth and the meaning of life. It not only consists of […]
Hair – BEAUTIFUL BODY –
– BEAUTIFUL BODY – This week, Tidbits combs up some facts on our crowning glory – hair! • The average person has between 100,000 and 150,000 strands of hair on his/her head. That number varies depending on hair color. Natural blonds have the most hair, about 150,000 strands, while brunettes have 100,000, with just 90,000 for redheads. The head has about 800 to 1,300 hairs per square inch, each with a thickness between .016 and .05 mm. • Hair color is determined by genetics and differs by ethnicity. Black or brown hair comprises about 90% of people in the […]
TIDBITS® Sweats through Heat Waves
by Janet Spencer Heat waves are the single deadliest weather phenomena in the U.S., killing more people than hurricanes, wildfire, blizzards, or floods. Come along with Tidbits as we deal with heat waves! HOT HOT HOT • In 2003, Europe’s worst heat wave in 500 years afflicted the continent with temperatures reaching a high of 115°F (46°C) in places. Throughout August, temperatures averaged 20 to 30% higher than normal. Over 30,000 people died across the continent. The populace was unaccustomed to dealing with such heat and there was little they could do to adapt on such short notice. Most vulnerable […]