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Ten Random Facts

The Los Angeles Police Department uses a special computer program called HITMAN. HITMAN stands for "Homicide Tracking Management Automation Network," and aides police in solving murders.
Technology

54.2% of us always wash our hands after using the toilet.
Surveys

The most venomous of all snakes, the Inland Taipan, has enough venom in one bite to kill more than 200,000 mice.
Animals

Mint is supposed to be named after an ancient nymph by the name of Minthe, who was the beloved of Pluto.
Food and Drink

In the year 1886, Herman Hollerith had the idea of using punched cards to keep and transport information, a technology used up to the late 1970s. This device was originally constructed to allow the 1890 census to be tabulated. In 1896, the Tabulating Machine Company was founded by Hollerith. Twenty-eight years later in 1924, after several take-overs, the company became known as International Business Machines (IBM).
Inventions

The most common non-contagious disease in the world is tooth decay.
Medicine and Health

A spider is not an insect. It is an arachnid – it has eight legs instead of six, and has no wings or antennae. The same is true of the daddy longlegs, scorpion's mite, and tick – none is technically part of the insect class.
Animals » Insects

The bombardier beetle produces two harmless chemicals in its body that when mixed react together to form a boiling hot spray of chemicals. The beetle shoots the burning mixture at attackers with an explosive sound, and rarely misses its mark.
Animals » Insects

The world's first iron bridge, built at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England in 1782, was the product of three generations of Darbys: Abraham Darby I developed the use of coke; his son manufactured cast iron; and his grandson built the bridge.
Structures

The earliest known glass makers worked in Mesopotamia as far back as 2500 B.C., crafting beads and other small objects to imitate precious stones. Artisans learned to make containers 1,000 years later, either by shaping hot glass around a clay-and-dung core or by casting it in a mold.
Technology

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