Useless Facts Of The Year - Part Two

Here we are with another round-up from this year featuring some of the facts we learned. Enjoy!

-- Do you know anything about bicycles? Check out these cool facts from National Geographic : bikes

-- The red panda typically grows to the size of a house cat. Their bushy tails add an extra 18 inches. Did you know that they use their tails as a blanket to keep themselves warm in chilly mountain weather? 

-- National Hockey League regulation pucks are black, 3 in (7.6 cm) in diameter, 1 in (2.54 cm) thick, and weighing 5.5-6 oz (154-168 g). They are made of vulcanized rubber and are kept frozen before the game to reduce bouncing. 

-- Did you know that there are more than 3,000 types of pears grown in the world? 95% of the pears grown in the United States are grown in Washington, Oregon, and northern California. 

-- Did you know that the name of South America's largest big cat, the jaguar, derives from the Native American word yaguar, which means "he who kills with one leap"?

-- In flight, the wings of a ruby-throated hummingbird beats at 53 times per second. Only the males have the ruby red throat. They have extremely short legs. The ruby-throated hummingbirds are unable to hop or walk efficiently due to this. 

-- Did you know???
The human nose produces an estimated one to two pints of mucus per day.

-- Ketchup (catsup) was invented in Asian and Indonesian cultures. Its history dates back thousand of years. It was originally called ke-tsiap or kecap. The original recipe was made from pickled fish (anchovies), walnuts, mushrooms, and kidney beans. This was very popular as ke-tsiap in China in the 17th century. British seamen brought it home and the name was changed to catchup then ketchup. Tomatoes were added by New Englanders in the late 1700's.

-- The largest dragonfly to ever live had a wingspan of 28 inches (70 centimeters). As found in the fossil record of the Permian period, it was also the largest insect known in history. 

-- In America, pizza is consumed at about 350 slices per second. This is about 100 acres a day. 36% of pizzas ordered have pepperoni as the topping of choice. 

-- Did you know that even though they may not look like it; porcupines are really good at climbing trees? In fact, they use the hairless soles of their feet to help them. They like to hang out in trees mainly and feed off of the bark. 

Useless Facts Of The Year will continue with Part Three next Monday. Have great week!