Did You Know!

• According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the best time to spray household insects is 4:00 p.m. Insects are most vulnerable at this time. (It’s just like its better to water your plants in the early mornings or the evenings) • An insect exerts so much energy in one hour of flying that it may lose as much as a third of its total body weight. • When the temperature drops, the eyesight reaction time of insects (like the dragonfly and some animals like tortoises) decrease and that is why they can be caught early in the morning or at night by predators like birds whose eyesight reaction times are unaffected by temperature. (from Animal Planet) • The voice of Shrek (by Mike Myers) came from the accent that his mother would use when telling him bedtime stories. • Why does the moon follow us when we drive or walk?The great distance of the moon from the earth explains why the moon seems to follow us when we drive in a vehicle and look up at it. When we speed along a road, we notice that everything moves past us. Trees, houses, the road, fences - all fly past us in the opposite direction. We naturally expect the moon also to be flying past us. When this does not happen, we have the sensation that it is «following» us. It happens because the distance of the moon from the earth is quite great. Compared to the distance our vehicle travels in a few minutes, that distance is enormous. Therefore, as we move along, the angle at which we see the moon hardly changes. In fact, we could go along a straight path for miles and the angle at which we could see the moon would still be the same. Moreover, as we notice everything else flying past, we get that feeling of the moon following us. • The world’s first computer virus came from Pakistan. It was called Brain. • A German anthropologist once divided the human race into five groups based on their skull shape: Caucasians, Malayans, Mongolians, Ethiopian and American. • Over seven countries want to claim Antarctica territorially. The first person born in Antarctica was an Argentinean and by the way, The South pole is colder than the North Pole. • Chess was invented in Iran. The word “checkmate” comes from the Persian phrase “shah mat,” which means, “the king is defeated.” • Why is grass green?The green color in grass and in most other plants comes from chloroplast in the cells, which contain four different colours. Of these, chlorophyll-a, which is blue-green in color, is the strongest. The colors are yellow-green (chlorophyll-b), yellow (xanthophylls) and orange (carotene). The colour of the grass changes from light green in early spring to dark green and brown in summer because the amount of pigment changes, like paint on a palette. • Because of an egg’s structure, you will not be able to break it by squeezing the ends of an egg with your thumb and finger. An egg will float if placed in water in which sugar has been added. Happy holidays!! jamiefrings@yahoo.com