Learn Something Every Day

Ken — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:48:25 +0000

I'm a few days behind with factoids, so I'll post several today.

There's little scientific evidence that drinking 64 ounces of water every day is necessary or beneficial. No one is quite sure where the "8 8-ounce glasses" standard came from, but the new thinking is more like the old thinking: drink when you're thirsty.

The word "disquisition" means "an elaborate analytical or explanatory essay or discussion". I'm not sure if there's a Spanish translation for that word, but then again, NOBODY expects a Spanish disquisition.

There are three elements that begin with the letter "D": dysprosium (Dy), Dubnium (Db) and Darmstadtium (Ds). Of the three, only dysprosium occurs in nature. Also, there are no elements that begin with the letter "W", unless you count "wolfram", which is more commonly known as tungsten (W). These facts may help you if you're trying to name all the elements from memory.