factoids

7 of them

My friend Caitlin had an essay on sex/internet yesterday, so:
I queried Google with 'what percentage of internet traffic is porn?"
    -depending on how you measure it, anywhere between 4 to 30%

Today,
I overheard someone say that "The body regenerates all its cells every 7 years, so technically we become a new person..."
   -This is false.  Brain cells/neurons from the cerebral cortex, don't get replaced, for example.  Different tissues have different growth and replacement rates.  Fat is replaced at a rate of 10% a year (so new fat every 10 years, on average).

I also overheard today,
'Habanero' is actually the word for a resident of Havana, Cuba.
The pepper is named that on the theory that it has a Cuban origin.

I saw a sign today,
it said 1/4 of the homeless are U.S. military veterans.
This is false, too.  It was estimated in 2013, 12% of the homeless were veterans.  Either way, it's a big problem.

also,
'Latin' america is a weird term.  I mean, they don't speak Latin.
But Spanish, Portuguese, and French (as well as Italian, Romanian, and Catalan) are Romance languages (itself named after Roman origins, not necessarily xo flowers and candy and makin' whoopie), which are all derived from "vulgar" Latin (Vulgar doesn't mean that all they spoke were swear-words!)  It means the common/colloquial/nonstandard sociolect, contrasted with "classical" Latin.

from Snapple facts:
(It's a big reason I buy snapple!  I wish other companies provided trivia, too. U-haul does),
I learned that "the average dog can understand over 150 words."

and finally,
I was wondering why Ireland is the land of ire.  I mean, really?
Turns out, as entertaining as that might be, Ireland is actually named after a pre-christian goddess of the land and sovereignty (the matron goddess of the island), Eire, derived from Old Irish 'Eriu'.   So much for being the land of anger and rage and irritation!  Even Hell, Norway, is a pretty nice place!