Monday, May 14, 2007

10 things I didn't know until last week

1. Alaska accounts for about one fifth of all land in continental USA. It’s also more than twice the size of Texas - the next largest state.
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2. The very first patent issued in Thomas Edison’s name was for an electric voting machine.
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3. Atlas - the first cervical vertebra in the spine - is named after the mythical figure because it supports the globe of the head.
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4. Alexander Graham Bell disliked the use of “hello” as a greeting on the newly invented telephone. He preferred and tried to popularise “Ahoy” instead.
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5. The hypocenter is the point inside the Earth’s crust where an earthquake originates. The epicenter is the point on the Earth’s surface that is directly above the hypocenter.
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6. Cows can sleep while standing but they only dream if they lie down.
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7. The smallest muscle in the body is the stapedius, a tiny muscle in the ear which controls movement of the stapes or stirrup bone.
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8. The seven rays in the Statue of Liberty’s crown represent the Earth’s seven seas and continents.
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9. In the US, radio and television station call letters in the western half all begin with the letter K; east of the Mississippi River, they begin with W.
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10. The sea spider’s body has so very little room inside of it that its intestines can be found in its legs.
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About:
Iqbal Mohammed is Head of Innovation & Strategy at a digital innovation agency serving the DACH and wider European markets. He is the winner of the WPP Atticus Award for Best Original Published Writing in Marketing & Communication.

He blogs about #innovation, #technology and #marketing at misentropy.com. You can reach him via email or Twitter.