Every day I see things that make me say "hmmm" or "huh?" or "whaaa??" When that happens, I snap a picture, file the thought in Evernote, or write down the insight into one of my dozen partially-used notebooks. Eventually these useless ahem - useful bits leak out into the blog (see previous examples of randomness here, here, or here).

Hopefully you'll might make the same "I just learned something" noise and stuff your brain with similar trivia.

WD-40

Did you know that WD-40 was invented in San Diego in 1953 by three engineers who were trying to create a product which would help degrease nuclear missiles and prevent rust from forming? The name is short for "Water Displacement, 40th formula" because it took them 40 attempts to come up with the correct mixture!

I appreciate all of the effort so I can easily unstick zippers and get doors to stop squeaking and, and, and...

Drawing 6

During your next family dinner, try this one out. While people are sitting down, have them try to lift their right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it. While they do this, ask them to draw a 6 in the air with their right hand.

Now laugh while they can't do it. (My son and his buddy both failed!)

Seriously. Try it!

Pac-Man

Speaking of the crazy things your body can do, stick your finger in your ear and move it up and down. Do you recognize the sound? It's Pac-Man in eating mode! This fact may be my kids' favorite trivia

Relativity

Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barbara Walters were all born the same year: 1929. I don't know why that's fascinating to me, but it is. So there you go!

Power On!

I thought the little power-on button was a hi-tech, new-fangled gizmo - likely invented by Apple sometime in the 1970-80's. However, the broken "zero" with a "1" inserted in the top was used as far back as World War II by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to indicate whether power was on or not.

My liberal arts background is showing as yet again I underestimate the ubiquity of binary code!

Fly off the Handle!

This famous idiom started as description for the danger of swinging an ax where the ax head could come loose and literally fly off the handle. Who knew?! Now this expression is used for when someone's temper is out of control. Danger indeed!!

Bigger than your stomach

Did you know the Trenta-size drinks at Starbucks are bigger than your stomach?

This isn't a metaphor. The average stomach holds 900 milliliters of fluid and the Trenta has 916 milliliters! (Don't even think about those huge Big Gulps which are almost double the size of a Trenta!)

Keep your eyes open today. I bet you'll find more than a few things that make you say "hmmm!"

Happy Friday!

Random Learnings, Part 11