Chapter 54 - Random Facts 7

In the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), France fought alongside the United States, against Britain, in 1778. French money, munitions, soldiers and naval forces proved essential to America's victory over the Crown, but France gained little except large debts.

Chosen to be first President of Colombia, was General Simón Bolívar y Palacios, leader of the revolutionary forces, who up to that point was titled "Supreme Chief" for his role in the revolution. The following day, Congress elected Francisco Antonio Zea Díaz, first Vice President of Colombia.

Sensory neuron. Sensory neurons are nerve cells within the nervous system responsible for converting external stimuli from the organism's environment into internal electrical impulses. For example, some sensory neurons respond to tactile stimuli and can activate motor neurons in order to achieve muscle contraction.

Proton—positive; electron—negative; neutron—no charge. The charge on the proton and electron are exactly the same size but opposite. The same number of protons and electrons exactly cancel one another in a neutral atom.

Supposedly, this pizza was first created by the baker Raffaele Esposito in Naples. His creation was immediately a favorite, and Esposito was called to make a pizza for the visit of King Umberto and Queen Margherita of Italy in 1889.

Animal Cell Structure. Animal cells are typical of the eukaryotic cell, enclosed by a plasma membrane and containing a membrane-bound nucleus and organelles. Unlike the eukaryotic cells of plants and fungi, animal cells do not have a cell wall.

The speed of light in a vacuum is 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second), and in theory nothing can travel faster than light. In miles per hour, light speed is, well, a lot: about 670,616,629 mph. If you could travel at the speed of light, you could go around the Earth 7.5 times in one second.

You have to go back to ancient times when horses were used as war mounts. Soldiers carry their swords on the left side (to reach with their right hand) and so they could only mount from the left or they would sit on their sword.

Minute steak is cut from the sirloin or round steak and pounded very thin. Usually 1/4″ thick and is tender from the pounding. Since it's been pounded it can be cooked quickly, perfect for this busy time of year.

In 1899 the bobbing pin came into wide use as the hairstyle known as the "bob cut" or "bobbed hair" took hold. It was invented in Paris by Robert (Bobby) Pinot. As foreigners caught wind of his invention, the hairstyle gained momentum and the pin became known as "Bobby's pin."

Potato skin contains B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, calcium, potassium and other nutrients. Potato skin also provides lots of fiber, about 2 grams per ounce. If you eat a medium baked potato, including the skin, you'll get nearly 4 grams of fiber, 2 milligrams of iron and 926 grams of potassium.

If the average night's sleep is eight hours (ie one third of a day), one sleeps for one third of one's life. If you live, say, 75 years, that's 25 years asleep, or 9,125 days.

It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit often referred to as a cherry. Even though coffee are seeds, they are referred to as 'beans' because of their resemblance to true beans. The fruits - coffee cherries or coffee berries - most commonly contain two stones with their flat sides together.

Sarah Breedlove (December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919), known as Madam C. J. Walker, was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, regarded as the first female self-made millionaire in America.

In the late 80's, the 5.25-inch floppy disk was on its way out and in 1987 the 3.5-inch floppy disk had moved into the high density category with a capacity of 1.44 MB. You would need 711 1.44 MB floppy disks to equal 1 Gigabyte.

Redheads Have Fewer Hairs. Blondes are lucky; on average they have the largest number of hairs on their head. While blonde women have an average of 150,000 hairs, the average redhead counts only 90,000 hairs on her head. On average, women with brown or black hair count about 110,000 or 100,000 hairs, respectively.