FAST FACTS – Brush up on your general knowledge.

from My Weekly Preview Issue 713. July 07, 2022

COVER STORY – Sunshine Sounds Festival returns!

Every culture in the world laughs, but surprisingly, most of our laughter isn’t necessarily a response to humour. Less than 20 per cent of laughter comes after jokes, according to neuroscientist Robert Provine. The rest is a reaction to regular statements and questions like, “How have you been?” The ensuing laughter, however brief, helps form social bonds because people who laugh together grow closer.

Quote of the week

“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” – H Jackson Brown Jr

If you were a baby in the middle of the 1800s and you cried while teething, your parents might have given you Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup. This “medicine” claimed that “it soothes the child, it softens the gums, allays all pain”. It may have done plenty of soothing, but it was also extremely dangerous – this concoction contained morphine. By the numbers

9500km²

The total surface area (when full) of Lake Eyre, Australia’s largest lake.

129 Billion

780 Million

Nike sells 780 million pairs of shoes per year. The number of face masks used per month globally in 2021.

In 2007, Bill Gates predicted, “Yellow Page usage among people, say, below 50, will drop to zero – near zero – over the next five years.” More than a decade later, the 20th century relic refuses to die, with bound white and yellow paper directories of business and residential phone numbers still showing up on doorsteps across the country. But while they are still being produced, how often are they actually used in the era of smart phones and Google? Their biggest users appear to be YouTubers attempting to tear them apart in video stunts.

Today in history – July 7

1937 – Japanese and Chinese troops clash at the Marco Polo Bridge in Beijing, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War. 1994 – Amazon.com is founded in Seattle, Washington under the name ‘Cadabra’. 2005 – Co-ordinated terrorist bomb blasts strike London’s public transport system during the morning rush hour, killing 52 and injuring 700. 2005 – Influenced by global Live 8 concerts, G8 leaders pledge to double 2004 levels of aid to Africa from $US25 billion to $US50 billion by 2010.