Some More Interesting Facts

Ray Kurzweil has been very good at predicting the future. Some people have come to hang their hats on these predictions and have not been disappointed. No, he is not another prophet or anything like that, he is just a person who considers what is happening in the world, and then takes that a step further to see what is coming. He is more of a technologist of predictions, and now he is saying there is a singularity coming. I know this doesn’t really tell us anything, until you hear the rest of the story. He believes we are going to fuse with other technologies such as genomics, nanotechnology and robotics, and indeed some of this is already happening in a crude way. He said as technology accelerates at an exponential rate, progress would become instantaneous. I would take this to mean if there are alien races out there who are thousands of years ahead of us in technology they can just about do anything they can think of, and so will we someday.

I can’t help but think one of the most interesting technologies to come along is the 3D printer. It seems like every day we hear of more uses for it. In the beginning it was capable of printing small plastic like bobbles, but scientists and engineers discovered it was capable of far more. Somewhere along the line, someone decided to make it bigger and print houses. Then there was talk of future space missions not taking any parts with them, but taking a 3D printer instead which would be used to print any part they needed. Now there is talk of printing human organs. What a boon this would be for the human race, since everyday there are people dying for lack of a replacement organ.

Did you know supermarkets are big on analyses of the buying habits of people? Let me give you an example. They found out a certain shade of banana was more attractive to people than the bright yellow shiny ones, so the farmers began to grow bananas which fit the bill better. It was only the skin which was slightly a different shade, but the banana itself tasted the same. Once this happened almost all the supermarkets switched to these bananas. Here is something I was surprised to find out. The FDA doesn’t require supermarkets to place expired by dates on food. This is done solely by the supermarket, or manufacturer so it is conceivable the date might be wrong in some cases.

When Hitler fought in World War I he was in many battles such as the battle of Arras, Ypres, Passchendaele and Somme. While fighting in Somme he was wounded and his lieutenant Hugo Gutman a Jew, put Hitler in for the Iron Cross First Class. He had already received the Iron Cross Second class. Hitler was responsible for millions of deaths in concentration camps, yet he never visited one. Ironically Hitler was responsible for creating laws against animal cruelty, too bad he didn’t make any for people cruelty.  In 1939 Hitler was actually nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The reason Hitler had a short mustache was his former full one almost cost him his life in World War I. There was a gas attack and his mustache prevented him from sealing his mask against his face.

One question which has never been answered to anyone’s satisfaction is how does an ancient race, which doesn’t possess any modern measuring tools build a giant structure more accurately than we can today? One answer is they never built it, some other race more ancient than they were, did. Another answer which a lot of people like to throw around is extraterrestrials built the structure. So, the question is how did the ancient Egyptians build the great pyramid to tolerances almost impossible to match today?

Since I mentioned extraterrestrials, I have to tell you it has been estimated one in five humans think aliens are living on earth, and they are disguised as us. This would mean some of the people we have been in contact with in our lives might have been aliens. I’m convinced one of my old bosses was an alien, just kidding.
              
Some of our ancestors believed some crazy things. About four hundred years ago rain would cause flooding in many of the streets, and at that time there were many more stray cats and dogs. Some of the cats and dogs would drown, and their bodies would float down the streets. Some of the people of the time thought it actually rained these animals, and that is where the saying comes from which says it is raining cats and dogs.

Here are some quick facts, an ostrich eye is bigger than an ostrich brain. A hummingbird weighs less than a penny. Butterflies use their feet to taste their food. More people are killed by cows than sharks. There is only one human for about one and one half million ants. Some worms will begin to eat themselves if they can’t find food. Dolphins sleep with one eye open. We have an average breath rate of about 8,500,000 times a year. I bet you didn’t know you burn more calories sleeping than watching television. Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza. When we breathe we inhale more air from one nostril than the other, but this changes about every fifteen minutes. The first pizza delivery was made in 1889 when the queen of Italy, Margherita Savoy ordered a pizza to be delivered. All apes laugh when tickled. A woman purchased a painting frame with nothing in it for $10,000. It was said to be a piece of art named fresh air. The left lung is smaller than our right one. Humans are the only known species to blush.