Some more fun facts

Hi,

I was thinking about what to write to you about today, and I realised I have some small things that I'd just like to mention, but nothing big. So I figured I could do another fun facts -post, since we haven't done that for a while, and they're surprisingly interesting. Because random facts are interesting. The weirder the better. And I realise that you might already know some of these. But maybe you won't know all.
So here we go.

1. There is an ancient Buddhist statue with a preserved body inside it. The body has paper in the place of its guts. A group of Dutchmen decided to do a CT on the statue. Because, you know, why wouldn't you CT an ancient statue.

2. According to a Food Demand Survey, 80% of American adults think there should labelling for foods containing DNA.
I have a message to that 80% of American adults: All living things contain DNA. You only eat things that have once been alive. Thus all food contains DNA.

3. On the same article I linked on the last one, you can find out that 41% of both American and British adults think antibiotics treat viral infections. Which they don't. In Australia the same number is 65%.

4. Some ants build toilets in their nests.

5. The definition of spring is when the average temperature of a day stays permanently above 0°C. At least for meteorologists. So it's been spring in southern Finland for a couple of weeks now. Unless the temperatures drop again. Then this was just a warm period in the middle of a winter. Which I hope will not happen, because I really want it to be summer again. The definition of summer, by the way, is when the average temperature stays above 10°C.

6. Orlando Bloom was 23 in The Fellowship of the Ring.
I'm telling you this, because I just re-watched all the LotR movies, and my first thought was "wow, these movies are old", and my second thought was "wow, Orlando Bloom is young." Well, not actually my second thought, since Legolas isn't shown until Rivendell, but it was my first thought once they got that far.
The Fellowship of the Ring, by the way, came out in 2001. People born in 2000 are turning 15 this year. I have no idea where all the time went.

7. This is what a fox sounds like.
This one you've probably seen before, but I still think those sound are super-weird.
(In case someone doesn't know why someone is talking about what a fox sounds like, this is the reason.

8. The slaves were freed in Brazil in 1888 when the king left for Europe and her daughter who was left in charge was like "Ok, my dad's gone. I'll let you go free now before he comes back."
With that stunt she also managed to anger the slave owners so badly that when the king returned they overthrew him and founded a republic instead. So I'm pretty sure he wasn't too happy with his daughter.

9. There are a lot of animals that can see ultraviolet light, like bees and birds and I guess goldfish. May of they can't however see red at all.

10. Frogs use their eyes to swallow. Which is why they can't swallow with their eyes open.

That's all for today. I'll hear from you on Friday.

~matu