Is This Trivia Or Stuff I Should Know?

Bison are raised in all 50 states. According to the Department of Agriculture, there were 4,500 bison farms or ranches in the U.S. in 2007 with nearly 200,000 bison. Nevertheless, there’s a shortage of bison meat. Bison grow more slowly than cattle. Heifers can’t calve until they’re 3. Beef cows can calve at 2. In 2009 about 92,000 bison were processed – less than one day’s beef production. At that time this low-fat, low-cholesterol meat averaged $ 5/lb. In 2010 it averaged $ 7/lb. Producers expect it will take 5 years to catch up to bison demand – giving consumers something to “beef” about.

Our brains are shrinking. Cro-Magnon man, who lived in Europe 20,000-30,000 years ago, had the biggest brain of any human species. Since then brains have been getting smaller. Today’s brain is 10% smaller. Some experts attribute the decrease in brain size to a dumbing-down process. Because society has become more complex, humans don’t have to be as intelligent to survive and reproduce. Other experts say humans have become less aggressive and more domesticated. Domesticated animals such as apes, dogs and turkeys have lighter skeletons, flattened foreheads and decreased brain size. Obviously, the brain is still big enough for scientists to “brainstorm”.

Adding carbohydrates to salt improves its deicing ability. The U.S. uses 20 million tons of salt yearly for road maintenance. The good news is salt costs about $ 60 a ton. The bad news is snow washes the salt from roads and it ends up in streams and rivers, causing potentially toxic chloride levels. However, adding carbohydrates – such as sugar beet derivatives from farms or whey from cheese-making facilities – reduces the corrosion from salt, enables salt to work at lower temperatures and makes salt coatings last longer – from 24 hours to 5-10 days. This is information to be “salted away” for winter.

Flea markets can be dangerous to your safety, the economy and homeland security. Many flea markets sell counterfeit products – cosmetics, electronics, fashion accessories – that are smuggled into the U.S. and are thus unregulated. Safety risks include batteries containing mercury; perfumes containing urine, as well as a high alcohol content; and clothing made with toxic dyes and flammable materials. Because of the sale of counterfeit products, the economy loses at least $ 200 billion dollars and 750,000 jobs yearly. Finally, counterfeit products are a funding mechanism for gang activity, organized crime and terrorist organizations. Basically, counterfeit products are “unfeit” products.