AWESOME FACTS ABOUT EVERYTHING XXXVI

1. The Global Positioning System (GPS) was developed by the military and used mainly for military purposes until September 1, 1983. On that day, Korean Airlines Flight 007 was shot down by a Russian fighter plane for (unintentionally) straying into Soviet air space. All 269 passengers and crew were killed. Immediately following the tragedy, President Ronald Reagan began the process of adapting GPS technology for civilian use. Today the system is used world-wide and is free - that is, when you buy a device that uses GPS (like a cell phone), the price of the device does not include a fee for GPS service. In fact, the cost of operating the GPS is funded by the American tax payer - mostly through the Department of Defense. The GPS consists of a constellation of 24 satellites, each circling the earth twice a day. Four satellites are used in co-ordination to pinpoint a location. The satellites also carry atomic clocks for precise time measurements.

2. Andrew Jackson's parrot had to be removed from his funeral because it wouldn't stop swearing.

3. A sloth can hold its breath up to forty minutes.

4. More than two percent of the American population was killed during the Civil War.

5. Sixty percent of the world's three million lakes are located in Canada

6. There's a city named Rome on every continent but Antarctica.

7. The formal name for a Panama hat is JIPIJAPA

8. Ninety percent of the world's population lives above the equator.

9. More than 100 baseballs are used in an average professional baseball game.

10. To discourage large crowds of young people from gathering in its parking lot, one Seven-Eleven store played Bach's Brandenburg Concertos over a loudspeaker. It worked. One of the kids was quoted as saying, "We're leaving, but they still have to listen to that [stuff]."