The pressure in a bottle of Champagne is 50 bar – the same as that at 40 meters under the sea or in the cylinder in a London bus.
Jack Kerouac invented his own fantasy baseball league when he was a child.
Dr. William Moulton Marston (1893-1947) was the creator of Wonder Woman, whose Lasso of Truth compelled her prisoners to speak without deceit. He also invented the systolic blood-pressure test used to detect deception – a component of the modern polygraph test.
In 1970, the average CEO earned 28 times more than the average worker. Despite all the recent noise about reining in runaway CEO salaries, as of 2005, CEOs were paid 465 times more than the average worker.
Mount Everest is still growing by a half-inch each year. At its peak, the air is so thin it thickens blood to the density of motor oil.
This article appears in August 17 • 2007.