A spoonful of sugar added to a vase of water will prolong the life of freshly cut flowers.
During World War II, people were only allowed 4 oz sugar a week as part of their rations.
Adding three or four sugar cubes to a suitcase before storage will help prevent musty odors.
Sun
The Sun is comprised of various elements. 74% of its mass comes from hydrogen, 24% helium, and the remaining 2% includes trace amounts of iron, nickel, oxygen, and all the other elements in the Solar System.
Each day, 4.5 lbs of sunlight strike the earth.
The sun is held together by gravity.
Sunspots, the dark spots on the surface of the Sun, are magnetic regions with a magnetic field strength that is thousands of times stronger than the Earth’s.
Because the Sun is a giant sphere of hydrogen gas, different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds. The speed at which the surface rotates can be tracked by the movements of the sunspots across the surface. Regions at the equator take 25 days to complete one rotation, while features at the poles can take 36 days.
Surfing
Big wave surfing is a style of surfing where surfers paddle into—or are towed onto—waves which are at least 20 ft high. With bigger waves, there is a need for bigger boards called “guns” or “rhino chasers.”
Do you know your surf ABCs? Surfing is so popular that it has its own dedicated lexicon. An “Acid Drop” is when you take off on a wave, then have the bottom suddenly fall out, so you free fall down the face. “Brosef” is a higher rank than “brah” (brother), or someone who has earned one’s profound respect. “Cactus Juiced” is a type of injury, which leaves the surfer unable to surf.
Mavericks is an area of beach in San Mateo County, CA, considered to be one of the three best surfing locations in the world. Winter storms can create waves of up to 30 ft.
In the 1987 pseudo-surf B-movie entitled North Shore, real-life surf champion (and brosef?) Laird Hamilton played the violent, antagonistic thug-surfer role of “Lance Burkhart.”
The University of Plymouth in England offers a BSc (Hons) in Surf Science & Technology. The program is centered around coastal/ocean sciences, surfing equipment/clothing design, and surfing-related business.
T
Taj Mahal
When emperor Shan Hahan lost his third wife and the love of his life, Mumtaz Mahal, he vowed to construct the most beautiful monument in her honour. He commissioned the leading designer at the time, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, to build it and thus the Taj Mahal was born.
More than 1,000 elephants were used for the transportation of the construction materials.
28 different varieties of semi-precious and precious stones were used to embellish the Taj with ornate inlay work.
The entire design of the Taj Mahal is completely symmetrical with four minarets, at each corner of the plinth surrounding the tomb.
The sides of Mumtaz Mahal’s tomb have calligraphic inscriptions featuring ninety-nine names of God.
During the Indian uprising of 1857, the Taj Mahal was defaced by the British who plucked precious stones from its walls.
The mausoleum took 22 years to complete with a workforce of 20,000 people. Craftsmen from as far as Turkey were commissioned to work.
Taxes
Both ancient Greece and Rome levied taxes on consumption, but to maximize revenues, the state collected taxes on imported goods rather than taxing its citizens directly. Julius Caesar introduced a sales tax of 1%, and prior to that, there was a 5% inheritance tax in Rome.
In 1695, American colonies levied a tax on bachelors to encourage young men to marry.
In 1799, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger imposed Income Tax at a rate of 2.5% to fund the Napoleonic War—it was also planned to be temporary.
In Tennessee, one has 48 hours to report acquisitions of illegal drugs (even moonshine) to the Department of Revenue to pay tax. In exchange, a stamp will be affixed to the illegal substance to prove that a tax has been paid.
Since 2004, Maryland levies a tax on homeowners and businesses for producing wastewater. The money goes toward protecting the Chesapeake Bay waters. Virginia also had plans to instate a flush tax of $1 a week per household.
In 1916, Congress deleted the word “lawful” before the word “income” in order to tax illegal income.
Tea
Outside of China, Arabs were the first to mention tea in 850 AD.
Struggling to cut costs, a New York coffee merchant named Thomas Sullivan turned to tea and began sending out samples of it in silk muslin bags. His idea was misinterpreted so recipients used them as tea bags. The idea eventually caught on.
Tea reached England in the 1600s but because it was shipped from China and took between 12-16 months to arrive, only members of the royalty or aristocracy could afford it.
In some regions around the world, such as Tibet, Mongolia and parts of China, people take their tea with salt rather than sugar.
80% of tea sold in the U.S. is iced tea.
Tennis
In the 11th century, French monks began playing a game around the monastery using a crude handball and a rope strung across the courtyard. As the game evolved, it became popular with royalty before catching on in England by the 13th century. When returning a ball over the net, the French players shouted tenez meaning “here it comes” or “take it.”
The tennis ball is only in play for about twenty minutes during a two and a half hour match.
Tiffany & Co makes the U.S. Open Trophy. In case you were wondering, it is not made available through the wedding registry.
“Love” is the word used when the score is zero, or goose egg, because it originally sounded like the French word for egg, l’oeuf.
Women on top! Martina Navratilova has won nine Wimbledon singles titles. She also tied Billie Jean King’s record number of 20 Wimbledon titles.
Tesla, Nikola
Nikola Tesla, a prominent inventor and mechanical and electrical engineer, received over 800 different patents, and scientists continue to scour through his notes today. He’s been referred to as “the man who invented the 20th century.”
Tesla claimed to sleep only 2 to 3 hours a day whereas Sir Isaac Newton needed 3 to 4 hours daily.
Current affairs…at the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago, Tesla demonstrated how safe AC electricity was by passing the high frequency power through his body to power light bulbs. He was then able to shoot large lightning bolts from his Tesla coils to the crowd without harm.
When Tesla arrived in the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison’s company, one of his first assignments was to redesign the company’s direct current generators. Edison reportedly agreed to pay Tesla $50,000 but reneged on the offer when Tesla proved the modifications were successful. Tesla resigned shortly thereafter.
In 1910, Tesla began to demonstrate obvious symptoms of obsessive-compulsive order. He was obsessed with the number three and often walked around a building three times before entering and demanded a stack of three folded napkins next to him at each meal.
David Bowie initially turned down the part of Tesla in the film, The Prestige, but Christopher Nolan, a lifelong fan of Bowie’s, flew to New York to pitch the role in person.
Testosterone
Testosterone, which is produced by the testicles, is linked to sexual function, memory, concentration, and mood. When the hormone is low, a man may demonstrate lethargy, irritability, and a smaller libido.
For athletes, the hormone affects everything from muscle size, strength, and the size of the heart to the amount of oxygen-carrying blood cells in the body and the percentage of fat on the body.
Testosterone is known as the “male hormone,” but women produce small amounts throughout their lives—approximately one-seventh the amount per day that men make.
The amount of testosterone produced in the body will decrease naturally with age. It begins around the age of 25, sometimes decreasing as much as 10% per decade.
Thanksgiving
The initial hunting party for the first Thanksgiving feast was also a fishing party where lobsters, bass, and clams were on the menu.
Very few people know that the first U.S. Thanksgiving celebrated by colonists did not take place in Plymouth, MA. On December 3, 1619, the first Thanksgiving feast was held at Berkeley Hundred, a tobacco plantation near Jamestown, VA. Thirty-eight men landed here and held a Thanksgiving Day celebration nearly a year before the pilgrims settled on Plymouth Rock.
In the 19th century, Sarah Josepha Hale, an influential magazine editor and author, launched a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. She was also the author of the classic nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
According to the National Turkey Federation, an estimated 46 million turkeys in 2007 were eaten at Thanksgiving. This made up one-fifth of the total turkeys consumed that year.
Tiger
A tiger’s roar can be heard from two miles away.
At one time, there were eight tiger subspecies roaming the Earth. Today, there are only five left.
She’s a man-eater…the Champawat Tigress is thought to have killed over 430 people in India decades ago until famous hunter Jim Corbett finally killed her.
The heaviest recorded tiger was a Siberian that tipped the scales at 1,025 lbs.
All tigers share similar markings on their forehead, which resembles the Chinese symbol Wang, meaning “King.”
Time
At the end of 1982, the personal computer was selected as Time magazine’s “Man of the Year.”
In 2007, the year’s first issue was delayed by a week due to “editorial changes” that happened to include the job losses of 49 employees.
Time introduced its signature red border in 1927 and has only changed it twice since the first issue. The issue released shortly after 9/11 featured a black border to symbolize mourning. Its April 28, 2008 Earth Day issue featured a green border.
On September 10, 2007, Time was ordered to pay $106 million in defamation damages to former Indonesian President Suharto. They had published a May 1999 cover story alleging Suharto and his family had amassed a fortune of around $15 billion, including $9 billion in an Austrian bank account. Despite the order to pay, they have always stood by their story.
In 2009, Time created a list of the 25 people to blame for the financial crisis. Topping the list is Angelo Mozilo, formerly the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial until July 1, 2008. The CEO helped cause the US massive mortgage crisis by providing loans to people who could never afford to pay them back.
Titanic
The passengers on the ship had a wealth of luxuries at their disposable, many of which were a first on a ship. A heated swimming pool, Turkish bath, squash court, gymnasium, and libraries were just some of the amenities for the guests. Each of the 840 staterooms also had electric lighting and heating, which was a luxury in 1912.
The band was playing “Nearer My God To Thee” as the ship was sinking.
The seawater was around 28°F (-2°C) on the night it sank.
James Cameron first shot footage of the real wreck of the Titanic in 1995 and used that to convince 20th Century Fox to invest in the film, persuading them that the publicity surrounding a real-life dive to the wreck would benefit the production.
The film had a record $200,000,000 budget at the time, which cost more than the Titanic itself. The cost to construct the ship between 1910-1912 was around $7.5 million at the time and about $120 to $150 million in 1997 dollars.
Toast
The process that caramelizes the bread, cooking the sugar and turning it golden brown, begins at 310°F and is known as the Maillard reaction. This reaction gives the flavor and crunch to toast.
“El Tosto,” the first electric toaster, was most likely invented in 1905, when inventor Albert Marsh developed the Nichrome wire, making the electric toaster possible.
The first automated pop-up toaster was invented in 1926 and went for a staggering $150 by today’s standards.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History boasts a collection of nearly 100 non-electric and electric toasters, ranging from the 18th century to the 1980s.
French toast is also known as “Eggy Bread” in the UK, pain perdu in French, or pain doré in French-speaking parts of Canada.
Sanrio offers a Hello Kitty toaster in its collection of products. Each piece of toast is embedded with Kitty’s whiskered face on every slice of bread.
Tobacco
In 1557, European doctors recommended smoking to fight bad breath and cancer.
Sir Francis Bacon, creator of the scientific method, admitted that it was difficult to quit smoking in 1610.
In 1776, Americans used tobacco as collateral for French loans to subsidize payment for the American Revolution.
Phillip Morris’s cigarette mascot was once a tattooed sailor before changing to the Marlboro Man in 1963.
Invented in England in 1774, the tobacco resuscitation kit was used to revive victims of drowning, by introducing warmth and stimulation to the “apparently dead” victim. Bellows were used to inject tobacco smoke up the rectum, or into the lungs through the mouth and nose.
The use of tobacco products does not only lead to a number of health problems and diseases, but smokers can also develop bad breath, black hairy tongues, ground-down teeth, and receding gums.
Toilet Paper
The standard size of a sheet of toilet paper is 4.5 in × 4.5 in.
1-ply toilet paper is generally cheaper and more economical to use as people use the same amount of sheets regardless of plies.
In 1996, President Clinton levied a tax on toilet paper. Each roll was taxed 6 cents and increased the price of the product to 30 cents per roll.
The fiber (bast) and pulp (hurd) of the hemp plant can be used to manufacture toilet paper and is made free of chemicals.
Prior to the advent of toilet paper, a variety of different wipes were used. Newsprint and paper catalogues were used in the U.S.; discarded sheep’s wool during the Viking Age in England; frayed ends of old anchor cables were used by sailing crews from Spain and Portugal; lace was used by French Royalty; and snow or tundra moss by early Eskimos.
In the early 20th century, manufacturers looked for angles to market toilet paper. Scott advertisements stated that “over 65% of middle-aged men and women suffered from some sort of rectal disease” and that using inferior toilet paper was consequential to one’s well being because “harsh toilet tissue may cause serious injury.”
Tomatoes
There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes.
Tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio, while the vine-ripe pink tomato is Arkansas’ official state vegetable.
Tomatoes should never be refrigerated as the cold causes them to lose their nutritional value and flavor. Tomatoes are best stored above 55°F (around 12°C).
You say tomato…a fruit is any fleshy material covering a seed or seeds so botanically speaking, the tomato is a fruit. From a horticultural aspect, though, it is considered a vegetable because it is an annual and non-woody.
The Utterly, Completely, and Totally Useless Fact-O-Pedia Page 18