Did You Know

Hi Readers: This is October 28, 2007-Did you know day.
The Earth - The earth is the third planet from the sun, and the largest of all the terrestrial planets in our solar system.

Sputnik - At the time of sputnick, in 1937, there was just one undersea telephone cable connecting the U.S. with Europe, carrying only 36 simultaneous calls. Today, fiber-optic cables and communications satellites make long distance calls routine.

Meteorology - The atmosphere transports insects, pollutants, sand, bacteria, and viruses between continents. Sand, for instance, from the Chinese desert rountinely rains down on the West Coast of the U.S., bringing microbes with it.

Inflation - The idea of using "a basket of goods" to measure inflation goes back to the Revolutionary War. Massachusetts paid it's soldiers the amount of money that would buy the following basket of goods: 5 bushels of corn, 68 and 4/7 pounds of beef, 10 pounds of wood, and 16 pounds of leather.

The Color of Stars - The surface temperature of a star determines it's color. The hottest stars are bluish in color, the coldest are reddish. Stars at intermediate temperatures appear white. Would you believe that the sun is a white star?

The October aircraft accident accounting is coming up. Thanks for listening. R.S.