Sylvia Shults's Blog, page 2
August 11, 2025
Today I Learned …
Human babies are about the same percentage of water as a banana. A newborn baby is 75 percent water, compared to a banana’s 74 percent. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Mind Blown!)
August 4, 2025
Today I Learned …
The thin, gray TelefonPlan tower in Stockholm, Sweden, looks pretty drab during the daytime. At twenty stories, it rises above the surrounding buildings — but it’s a far cry from being the world’s tallest tower. So what makes it so special? The building transforms at night, when colorful lights shine through the windows of the top ten floors. Now take another look, and you’ll see that the colors in the windows have changed. That’s because the lights can be controlled by a phone app — and anyone can change them. The installation is called “Color By Numbers”, and was only meant to run for one year. It proved so popular, though, that it has been lighting up the Telefonplan Tower since 2011. Color changes can be made by calling a phone number and using the keypad to select a floor and color. You can even watch a live feed of the building as the colors change. (From National Geographic Kids Weird But True: World 2023)
July 28, 2025
Today I Learned …
Max Siedentopf, a German-Namibian artist, set up a sound installation that uses solar power to play Toto’s “Africa” on an endless loop in the Namib desert. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Mind Blown!)
July 21, 2025
Today I Learned …
The dog that played Toto in The Wizard of Oz movie was paid $125 a week — more than some of the actors on the set. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Mind Blown!)
July 14, 2025
Today I Learned …
In the 1880s, tax collector Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann of Apolda, Germany, developed a breed of dog to help him collect taxes. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Mind Blown!)
July 7, 2025
Today I Learned …
There are over 35,000 museums in the United States. That’s more than there are outlets of Starbucks and McDonald’s combined.
And speaking of museums, I hope you’ve got your copy of Gone On Vacation: Haunted Zoos, Museums, and Amusement Parks with you, for loads of spooky summer vacation fun!
June 30, 2025
Today I Learned …
The shortest word in the English langauge that contains all five vowels is “eunoia“, a rarely used medical term used to describe a state of normal mental health. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Mind Blown!)
June 23, 2025
Today I Learned …
The video game Call of Duty was released in 2003. With more than 25 billion hours (2.85 million years) of total game play time, people have already played it for longer than human existence. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Mind Blown!)
June 16, 2025
Today I Learned …
When Helen Self ate at the Montana Club restaurant in Missoula, Montana, on her 109th birthday, she didn’t have to pay for the celebratory meal. In fact, the restaurant paid her $1.25, because the owner offers a percentage discount equal to the celebrant’s age. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Mind Blown!)
June 9, 2025
Today I Learned …
The Lost Rhino Brewing Company of Virginia created Bone Dusters Paleo Ale, a beer brewed from the yeast collected from 35-million-year-old whale fossils. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Mind Blown!)
