24_The_60-Second_Encyclopedia_files/Holiday Minutes 05

A Few Famous Minutes
for this Holiday Season
brought to you by
The 60-Second Encyclopedia
Michael J. Rosen
(Workman Publishing, 2005)
From the hundreds of manic minute facts
packed into The 60-Second Encyclopedia, here
are some of this season’s quintessential
minutes. As frost crazes the panes, wood
crackles in fireplaces, and thoughts turn to
vacation somewhere sunny, in 60 seconds…
11,038
snow-packed feet per minute
Record-holding snowboarder Darren Powell careens down the slopes at just over 11,038
feet in a minute, or 125.45 miles per hour.
The speediest skiers are even faster! They fly down the slopes at a rate of 2.5 miles per
minute—more than 150 miles per hour.
1 2/3
miles of sneezing velocity
Winter means colds and colds mean sneezes and sneezes mean use a hanky, please! A
sneeze bursts forth from your nose with a force greater than some hurricanes. It explodes out
at a speed of 1 2/3 miles in a minute—over 100 miles in an hour!
A cough blasts forth from your mouth with the velocity of a “whole gale,” a rate of 1 mile per
minute, or 60 miles per hour.
264
gracefully falling feet
In a minute, a snowflake travels down 264 feet, slowly and gracefully, like a tiny frozen
parachute. Snowflakes are crystals that form when water vapor freezers.
One inch of rainfall will make 10 inches of snow. But if you’re fresh out of snow, some ski
resorts can manufacture snow with special machines that turn thousands of gallons of water
into snow every minute.
270
skating spins
Top figure skater Lucinda Ruh is the “Queen of Spin,” able to turn 270 times on the ice in a
single minute. Female skaters typically rotate faster—they can reach 246 RPMs on a triple
spin. Male skaters spin a little slower not because they wear fewer sequins, but because of
their greater body weight.
60
planes take off
Speaking of liftoffs, every minute, an average of 60 propeller and jet planes are taking off or
landing in the United States. During these peak holiday times, between 4,000 and 6,000
airplanes are flying every hour.
Chicago’s O’Hare Airport is the busiest in the world. Every minute, 1 or 2 flights are taking
off. And during the snowy holiday season, you can just sense that it’s your flight that’s going
to be delayed.
$2 million
Visa charges per minute
With 429 million people giving their Visa cards to cashiers between Thanksgiving and
Christmas, over $2 million is charged every minute. Sure, there are other credit cards such as
American Express, MasterCard and Discover, but all those cards’ purchases combined don’t
equal the $1 trillion charged on Visa cards every year.
12,220
snails
While you may be thinking turkey for your holiday dinner, folks in France are planning a
feast of escargot. The French love snails, and they’re extra-popular at Christmastime. Every
minute, 12,200 snails are being sucked down, for a total of 22 tons of snails consumed just
in one day. (In case you’re hankering to celebrate here in America, there’s no better time
than May 24th—National Escargot Day.)
171,915
pieces of junk mail
Holiday time also means catalogues in the mail and the chance for you to buy more things
you never realized you needed. Over 170,000 pieces of junk mail are delivered every
minute: advertisements, catalogues, coupons that “you can’t refuse” (but you do!). And,
what’s worse, over 75,000 pieces of that junk mail are thrown away unopened, every
minute. So be extra nice to your mail carrier. He or she delivers 2,300 pieces of mail every
day to about 500 addresses.
2,147
packages
Meanwhile, the U.S. Postal Service delivers over 2,147 packages each minute worldwide.
Even more during the holiday season. And what about its competitors? UPS delivers 9,188
packages each minute. FedEx delivers 3,819 packages each minute. And home TV-shoppers
receive 312 packages every minute from the two largest networks, QVC and Home
Shopping Network.
5
heartbeats
An Artic ground squirrel, deep in winter hibernation, has the slowest heartbeat in the animal
kingdom: just 5 beats per minute. Just for comparison, you might like to know that cows and
goldfish and human beings all share a resting heart rate of about 70 beats per minute. Once
that Artic ground squirrel wakes up, its heart rate jumps to 200 beats per minute—not quite as
fast as Mr. Spock’s 242 beats per minute heart rate (apparently normal for a Vulcan).
the old year’s final
77 feet
The official New Year’s Eve ball in New York City’s Times Square drops 77 feet in its annual
moment of fame and glory—the last minute of the year—to proclaim “Happy New Year.” The
ball, made of crystal, weights 1,070 pounds.
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For more of this manic minute mania, please contact Kim Small at Workman Publishing:
[email protected] or 212.614.7505