Things I Learned This Summer (2006)
by David Pleacher
There are 24,000 different species of butterflies in the world and about 225,000 different
species of moths.
Twelve million tourists visit Niagara Falls each year.
The deepest section of the Niagara River is 170 feet, just below the Falls.
At Niagara Falls, the volume of water going over the American Falls is 150,000 gallons per second, and the
volume of water going over the Horseshoe Falls is 600,000 gallons/sec. That fills a lot of bathtubs!
The highest point on the Florida Keys is only 18 feet above sea level.
There are 1700 islands that make up the Florida Keys but only 30 of them are inhabited.
The distance in inches from an alligator's eyes to the tip of his snout is approximately equal to
the length of the alligator in feet from the tip of his snout to his tail.
Alligators can hold their breath under water for 45 minutes.
One Kansas farmer feeds 129 people for the year. (according to billboards by the side of I-70 in Kansas)
Left-handed men who finish four years of college earn 21% more than right-handed men with four years
of college. It does not hold true for women.
In Austin, Texas, every night around 8:00 PM, 1.5 million bats come out from under the Congress Street
Bridge and eat 3,000 pounds of insects! (EVERY NIGHT from Spring to Fall)
Approximately 88% of school-age youth in the United States receive their education in public schools.
Six in 10 American public school students live in the South and West.
Just over one million school-age children are being home-schooled in the United States. This
represents about 2.2% of the school-age population.
Alcohol plays a part in 34% of all traffic accidents.
Alcohol plays a part in 31% of murders in the United States.
One out of every five fatal crashes involves a driver who lacks a valid license.
The healthiest position for the back is a 135 degree angle (not 90 degrees!)
according to a report from the University of Alberta.
Three of every 10 incoming ninth-graders are not expected to graduate high school in four years.
How much you earn depends on how far you go in school, according to 2004 average annual income figures.
The average salary of those with no diploma is $19,169; those with a high school diploma make
$28,645; those with a bachelor's degree earn $51,554; and those with an advanced degree earn $78,093.