What do WarHeads & Battery Acid Have in Common? Acid pH levels.

Well, this is absolutely terrifying. The acid levels in some of our favorite sour candies rivals that in battery acid. Really.

The Minnesota Dental Association compiled this list, and I can safely say I will never touch another sour candy.

Source: Minnesota Denta Association

Leaning Trees of Poland

Nowe Czamowo, a small town in western Poland, is home to approximately 400 pine trees that have grown with a 90 degree bend at the base of their trunks. Surrounded by normal, straight pine trees, this group of trees is now known as the "Crooked Forest". 

The trees were apparently planted around 1930, and grew normally for 10ish years before something caused them to "mysteriously" bend north. It certainly seems like human intervention had a role in this, but why all the effort?

Millionaires

 Chris Piascik 

That's Really Interesting

This neat fact comes from my uncle:

"Suppose that you could mark the molecules in a glass of water; then pour the contents of the glass into the ocean and stir the latter thoroughly so as to distribute the marked molecules uniformly throughout the seven seas; if then you took a glass of water anywhere out of the ocean, you would find in it about a hundred of your marked molecules."

How California Got its Name

This awesome fact comes from Dictionary.com's "The Hot Word" blog -- it's certainly worth checking out. 

When the Spanish first began exploring the Pacific Coast of North America, they mistakenly believed that California was an island. (Some of the earliest and most fascinating maps of the state depict it as separated from the mainland.) This is considered one of the greatest, albeit short-lived, cartographic errors. 

Early mapmakers began labeling the “island” as California, the name of a mythical island in a book called Las Sergas de Esplandián, “The Adventures of Esplandián,” written by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The book was part of a popular series of Spanish romance stories.

In the book, the mythical California is ruled by Queen Califa and populated only with female warriors who brandish gold weapons. They even harness their animals in gold because it is the only mineral on the island.

The legend of Califa and her island was well known among New World explorers. In 1536 when Hernán Cortéz arrived in Baja California, he believed he had landed on the legendary island.

Over three hundred years later gold was discovered in California, making the legend partially true and earning the state its nickname: The Golden State.

That's Interesting..

The Battle of Magenta by Adolphe Yvon

The color magenta was named after a 1859 battle in Magenta -- a town near Milan in northern Italy. The color was "discovered" that year, and was compared to the hue of the blood-soaked ground in the battle's aftermath.


In more recent times, T-mobile has been attempting to copyright the color magenta in the Netherlands as it's used in the company's logo. Free Magenta websites have popped up protest the copyrighting of a color.