Things there are 4,000 of

Given how many important things you have to remember, and how hard it is to keep track of them, it’s a luxury to have some facts of no significance that you can forget with impunity. I offer you four:

I’ve long known that there are about 4,000 different religions actively practiced on earth. This stuck in my mind because I run into people who don’t seem to value the separation of church and state, and I like to remind them that mixing the two could get burdensomely complicated.

Today, in two separate articles, I learned that there are 4,000 different minerals on earth – minerals being rocklike substances that have developed various kinds of lattice or crystal structures – and also 4,000 kinds of heritable genetic diseases.

And at least 4,000 people have told me (when I lit up) that there are 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke.

Does any of this count as vital information? Let’s hope not. Who could ever keep track of the 4,000 other things there are 4,000 of?

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