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Curious Facts

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  • Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States of America. Because his two terms as president were non-consecutive, he is counted twice in the numbering of the presidents. Consequently, although Barack Obama is referred to as the 44th President of the United States, he is only the 43rd person to have held that office.
  • The Earth only has one moon. It has been claimed that 3753 Cruithne is Earth's "second moon" but this is wrong. It is in fact an asteroid which orbits the Sun, not the Earth. Interestingly, the average time it takes to orbit the Sun it the same as the Earth: one year.
  • Panama hats are made in Equador. The hats were originally shipped to Panama, from where they were distributed to the rest of the wold; hence the name.
  • Research suggests that the more money people spend on others, rather than themselves, the happier they become. 1
  • Contrary to poplular belief, research suggests that trying to suppress negative thoughts/memories leads to a decrease in happiness. 2
  • If you are in need of assistance in a public place, the chances of receiving help from a stranger are inversely proportional to the number of people in your vicinity. That is to say, the more people there are around, the less your chances are of receiving help. This has become known the the bystander effect. 3
  • "A hundred years ago, any problem in mathematics could be explained to an interested lay person. Today, some problems cannot be explained even to most professional mathematicians." 4

1. E. W. Dunn et al. (2008). "Spending money on others promotes happiness". Science, 319, pages 1687–88.

2. Taken the book 59 Seconds by Professor Richard Wiseman. Sources include J. L. S. Borton and E. C. Casey (2006). "Suppression of Negative Self-Referential Thoughts: A Field Study". Self and Identity, 5, pages 230–46.

3. Review of studies: B. Latane and S. Nida (1981). "Ten Years of Research of Group Size and Helping." Psychological Bulletin, 89 (2), pages 308–24.

4. Source:The Millenium Problems by Keith Devlin. Granata Books, 2004.

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