While investigating facts about 60 Minutes, I found out little known, but curios details like:
After a composer released a song that was just 60 seconds of silence, he was sued by the estate of a man who had released a similar track, called 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence. His defense was, "I have been able to say in one minute what he could only say in four minutes and 33 seconds"
In 1986, '60 Minutes' ran a scathing exposé on the Audi 5000, alleging it could wildly accelerate on its own. However, their on-air demonstration used a rigged car to show falsified results. Gov't tests later vindicated Audi but their sales had already plummeted. '60 Minutes' never apologized.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about 60 Minutes I managed to collect.
A second is called a second because it is the second division of the hour by 60, the first being a minute.
Ancient Romans didn't measure time in 60-minute hours. An hour was about 45 minutes in winter and 75 minutes in summer.
MLK told 60 Minutes that "A riot is the language of the unheard"
Newborn babies can support their own weight for up to two minutes when hanging from a bar. This was discovered by a man named Dr Robinson in the late 1800's, when he made 60 babies dangle from a walking-stick.
After 9/11, Iran held a minute of silence, and 60,000 Iranians attended a candlelight vigil for the citizens of their enemy. Many other countries hostile to the US set aside their difference to pay respect to the scale of the tragedy.
To be certified as "bear-resistant", a container needs to survive a 60-minute mauling by a grizzly bear
Eminem was interviewed on 60 Minutes and showed Anderson Cooper how to rhyme the word "orange" by making it two syllables: "I put my orange four-inch door-hinge in storage and ate porridge with George."
The "60 Minutes" whitewash of Audi wasn't the first time a major news network was caught rigging an automotive test. NBC did it to Chevrolet in 1992, but a firefighter at the test blew the whistle, forcing NBC to cough up an on-air apology.
60 Minutes ran a story on the Audi 5000 in 1986, claiming that it accelerated suddenly on its own. However, the demonstration used a rigged car whose transmission had been altered. Government agencies vindicated the car, but Audi's sales were affected. 60 minutes never apologised to Audi.
The format of the Lincoln–Douglas debates. One candidate spoke for 60 minutes. Then the other candidate spoke for 90 minutes. Then the first candidate was allowed a 30-minute reply.
60 Minutes data charts
For your convenience take a look at 60 Minutes figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.
What is true about 60 minutes?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
There is a boardgame called "The Campaign for North Africa," which takes an estimated 60,000 minutes to complete. An example of the extreme details? Italian troops require extra water in order to boil pasta.
The original 'Gone in 60 Seconds' has the longest car chase in movie history at 40 minutes and wrecked and destroyed 93 cars in the process - source
The term 'second' is in reference to the second division of 60 of an hour. The first 1/60th are called minutes and the second 1/60th are called seconds, hence the name 'seconds'. - source
In Feb, 2000, 60 Minutes did an exposé on "Echelon," a top secret data collection program that vacuums up vast amounts of communications worldwide. Democracies usually have laws against spying on citizens, but Frost says Echelon members could ask other members to spy on their citizens for them
The Breaking Bad episode "Fly", where nothing happens & they chase a fly for 60 minutes, was directed by Rian Johnson who later went on to write & direct Star Wars Episode VIII - source
60% of people will lie at least once during a 10 minute conversation
You shouldn't brush your teeth within 60 minutes of eating a meal as your acidic oral pH makes your tooth enamel too easy to brush away
There is a 5 minute survey that predicts suicide risk in the person polled with a ~66% accuracy for 6 future weeks. It is called the "Hopelessness Scale"... and is exclusively available for around $60 from Pearson, a text book company that hyper-aggressively defends the survey's copyright.
A second is called a second because it is the 2nd division of the hour by 60, the 1st division being a minute.
Due to irregularities in Earth's rotation speed, clocks sometimes strike 23:59:60 to stay in sync with a day's real duration, essentially creating minutes with 61 seconds.
Interesting facts about 60 minutes
Lizzie Velásquez, age 27, is one of only three people in the world who suffer from the same unnamed genetic condition. Medically unable to gain weight (her highest weight was 64 lb/29 kg) and having 0% body fat, she must eat on average every 15-20 minutes (about 60 small meals per day).
Mike Oldfield's album "Amarok" was specifically made to piss off his record label. It was 60 minutes of uninterrupted music from which a "single" could not be cut, and contains the phrase "Fuck Off RB" in morse code (directed at Virgin Records president Richard Branson.)
The $60 million(over $679 million in 2019 dollars) Mariner I rocket launched by NASA in 1962 exploded 5 minutes into flight. The root cause? A missing hyphen in the flight control software.
Jet airliners with 3 engines were only used because of the FAA's rule limiting 2 engined aircraft to be within 60 minutes of an airport at any given time. This rule was lifted when jet aircraft became more reliable, and the time was extended.
Halley and five companions took the bell to 60 feet in the Thames and remained there for more than 90 minutes.
The format for the Lincoln–Douglas debates was: one candidate spoke for 60 minutes, then the other candidate spoke for 90 minutes, and then the first candidate was allowed a 30-minute "rejoinder."
Labrador Retriever has plenty of energy and it requires at least 30 to 60 minutes of exercise per day.
At his prime, champion cyclist Miguel Indurain had a resting heart rate of just 28 beats per minute, the average rate is 60-90
Labradoodle should be kept in the houses with fenced yards. It requires 30 to 60 minutes of exercise per day. Labradoodle is excellent swimmer and it likes to swim whenever possible.
In 1981 RCA developed the capcitance electronic disc (CED) video player that played movies on conductive vinyl platters with high-density grooves using a special needle. Vinyl discs could fit 60 minutes of video per side but could only be played around 500 times before they wore out.
The heart is made up of muscle, called cardiac muscle. This muscle works all by itself with no thought. The heart beats anywhere from 60 to 100 times a minute, every minute, of every day in a human life!
By the time of the Bhopal disaster the plant was not functioning properly. Safety systems did not work and lines and valves were in extremely poor shape. It is believed that water entered a pipe leading into a tank with 42 tons of MIC. An exothermic reaction occurred and gas began to leak. Within 45 to 60 minutes 30 of the 42 tons of MIC had been released into the atmosphere.
There are several periodic meteor showers that astronomers and amateur observers look for every year, for example the Perseid meteor showers with more than 60 meteors per minute and is widely watched each year in August. The earliest record known of the Perseids meteor shower is found in Chinese annals from 36 AD. It is associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle which takes 133 years to orbit the Sun.
The heartbeat rate of mammals are inversely proportional to their size. For eg: the tiny Shrew has an avg. resting heartbeat of 1200 beats per minute! Humans clock b/w 60-100 bpm, while a blue whale is down around the 10 bpm mark.
The world's shortest commercial flight that brings passengers from Westray to Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, lasting less than 2 minutes (with an actual flying time of less than 60 seconds) and costing $22.
The CBS TV show 60 minutes broadcasted a report of "the largest ghost town in China" that was actually well-occupied.
During the Winter of Terror in 1950/51 the Swiss town of Andermatt was hit by six avalanches within a 60-minute period, resulting in 13 human deaths.
Bull Terrier requires 30 to 60 minutes of vigorous exercise per day and plenty of mental stimulations to prevent boredom and development of destructive behavior.
The man who helped build the bomb used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was detained by the FBI, then released and escaped to Iraq the next day. He was interviewed on 60 minutes in 2002 while being held in Iraqi prison, but his whereabouts are currently unknown.
Study shows sprint training for 60 minutes a week burns the same amount of body fat in men as jogging for seven hours a week.
This is our collection of basic interesting facts about 60 Minutes. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is 60 Minutes so important!