If we humans are made of 97 percent water, why doesn't any of it spill?
A mature adult is actually made of about 60 percent water. So, you say, even three-quarters worth of water should be easy to feel, right? Why don't people hit high and low tide with the phases of the moon? The water in your body is combined with other elements like proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, making more of a gel than a liquid. The gel is usually encapsulated in cells or held together by firmer parts of your body, like collagen tissues. The tissues and cells are attached to the bony framework of your body, making it impossible to slide under your door when you're locked out of your house.
(Source: WHY THINGS ARE & WHY THINGS AREN'T By Joel Achenbach)
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ACTUAL FACTS
   HOW MUCH DO AMERICANS LOVE THEIR PETS?
   There are nearly 500 pet cemeteries in the United States...and we aren't counting backyards. Americans also spend more times as much on dog food as they do on baby food. But, then, babies can't fetch. The real reason for the disparity, of course, is that humans outgrow baby food.
   DID ELISHA OTIS INVENT THE ELEVATOR?
   Otis did NOT invent the elevator. But it's uplifting to know that he did at least invent the elevator's key safety feature - first shown to the public in 1853. If tension on the cable is relaxed and the car starts to plunge, spring-loaded hooks dig into the guide rails and stop the car.
WHAT ARE AMERICA'S THREE TOP EGGPLANT-PRODUCING STATES?
   Florida, Texas and New Jersey. People who know New Jersey only by its expressways need reminding sometimes that southern New Jersey is prime truckfarming country. Truckfarming means growing fruits and vegetables and trucking them to market.
   HOW MANY NATIONAL PARKS ARE BUILT AROUND CANYONS?
   The Grand Canyon isn't the only canyon to be made into a national park. A day's drive away, in Utah, are two - Bryce Canyon and Zion. At Zion you drive, then walk, up the middle of the canyon. At Bryce you drive to the rim, just like the Grand Canyon, but because it's smaller you can WALK to the bottom.
   WHO INVENTED THE CROSSWORD?
   Arthur Wynne did what HE called a "Word-Cross" in the New York World newspaper in 1913...adapting older word puzzles that were smaller and less interesting. Wynne's first puzzle was symmetrical and used numbers to mark certain boxes...just like now.
    WHEN AND HOW DID HUMANS TAKE DOGS AS PETS?
   Dogs accompany hunters in cave drawings said to be 500 centuries old. We think dogs followed hunters for scraps and were allowed to hang around because they scented danger before man did. By 30 centuries B-C, there were already distinct breeds...including terriers, greyhounds and sheepdogs.
    WHAT ARE THE THREE RIVERS NEAR THREE RIVERS STADIUM?
   The Ohio River begins in Pittsburgh, where two other rivers meet to form it. One is the Allegheny, which flows south from New York. The other is the Monongahela, which flows north from West Virginia.
    WHAT IS A VIRGULE?
   A virgule is a forward-slash mark (/) so often used in between the words and/or or to break up the lines of a poem where the poem is squeezed into a quotation, as in the following Ogden Nash poem, quoted in its entirety: "The cow is of the bovine ilk (VIRGULE) One end is moo, the other milk."
United Press International.
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