Fact of the Day

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Fact of the Day - LABOR DAY

Illustration of the first American Labor

parade held in New York City on September 5,

1882 as it appeared in Frank Leslie's Weekly

Illustrated Newspaper's September 16, 1882 issue.

 

Did you know... that Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. It is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend. (Wikipedia)

 

Interesting Labor Day Facts

By Amina Lake Abdelrahman, Good Housekeeping Institute  |  Aug 27, 2019

 

 

When we think of Labor Day, it's usually associated with the end of white pants season, a three-day weekend, and last-hurrah summer cookouts. But there's a lot you don't know about the federal holiday. Learn about the history behind Labor Day with these fun facts. Oh, and FYI: It falls on September 2 this year!

 

The first Labor Day celebration was in 1882.

It was a parade planned by the Central Labor Union in New York, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Oregon, however, was the first state to pass a law making Labor Day a holiday in 1887.

 

But it wasn't a legal holiday everywhere...

The Encyclopedia Britannica says the massive Pullman Strike happened in the summer of 1894, when workers boycotted the railroads to fight for safe conditions, normal schedules, and living wages. To honor the labor movement after this, President Grover Cleveland officially declared Labor Day a national holiday, according to History.com.

 

Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of every September.

It falls on a different date every year, just like Easter and Thanksgiving. The very first Labor Day celebration was on September 5. This year, it is on September 2.

 

The holiday is meant to honor the nearly 160 million working Americans.

The United States Census found that 159.8 million people made up the American labor force, as of May 2017. The most popular jobs among them? Retail salespeople and cashiers.

 

Other countries celebrate Labor Day on May 1 instead.

The rest of the world calls it International Workers' Day, and it's pretty similar to our Labor Day sentiment, according to CNN. Some people have celebrations and parades, while others use the day to advocate for workers' rights.

 

Most schools and jobs are closed on Labor Day — but stores stay open.

That means retail workers don't get the same well-deserved break. It's a huge holiday when it comes to sales (like Black Friday), especially for clothes and school supplies.

 

It's the third most popular day of the year to have a cookout.

It falls behind Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, according to a consumer survey by the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association. So all the people who aren’t spending the day shopping or working are probably firing up the grill.

 

Labor Day marks the end of peak hot dog season.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council says Americans consume about 7 billion hot dogs from Memorial Day through Labor Day. That huge number makes sense — just think about all the grilling at your summer parties!

 

And it's the beginning of back-to-school season!

It depends on the area, but many public schools have their first day of the academic year a day or two after Labor Day. Some states are even requiring schools to start after Labor Day. That leaves parents with last-minute back-to-school shopping to do on the holiday weekend!

 

There used to be a fashion rule saying you couldn't wear white after Labor Day.

This rule may have arisen from turn-of-the-century dress-code norms, but nowadays most people don't follow the rule and wear white clothes year-round.

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Labor Day  |  Labor Day Facts

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Fact of the Day - CHILD ACTORS

Shirley Temple rose to prominence as a child star in the 1930s

 

Did you know... that the term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began their acting career as a child. To avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor. (Wikipedia)

 

Child Stars

by Encyclopedia.com

 

Ever since the popularization of the motion picture around 1900, child actors have achieved extraordinary success on the screen. From "America's Sweetheart," Mary Pickford, the nation's most popular actress in the 1910s to the Our Gang series of the 1920s to Shirley Temple and Judy Garland in the 1930s and 1940s, young actors have risen to levels of wealth and popularity rivaling those of their adult counterparts. As many a child star has discovered, however, success is often short-lived. Many young actors have fallen out of public favor upon reaching adolescence. Their fleeting fame is a testament to not only the fragility of stardom but America's ongoing obsession with youth.

 

Mary Pickford, 1910

 

Although the motion picture was the medium most responsible for the child star phenomenon, the first child stars appeared on the stage. In the mid-nineteenth-century United States, a girl named Lotta Crabtree, who had been pushed by her mother to become an actress as a means of supporting the family, became a national sensation and sparked a craze for young theatrical performers. The vogue launched the careers of two sisters, Elsie and Jenny Janis, who became the highest paid vaudeville headliners in the world, and also a child named Mary Pickford, who earned public acclaim when she appeared in the play The Warrens of Virginia in New York in 1906. In 1908, due to a slack season on Broadway, Pickford sought work in the fledgling film industry and became the first of many child stage performers to appear on the screen. After starring in several short films produced by director D.W. Griffith, by 1915 she had become not only the world's most popular actress but the highest-paid female in America. By 1927, Pickford, known for her trademark ringlet curls, had starred in over two hundred films in which she portrayed children or teens.

 

Mary Pickford, Charlotte Walker, and Richard Storey in the play

 

Pickford's phenomenal success sent a message to the film industry: young characters on the screen, whether portrayed by juveniles or adult actors, had genuine box office appeal. During the 1920s American filmmakers began producing a series of films with all-child casts; the most popular was the Our Gang comedy series, created by director Hal Roach. Between 1922 and 1929, Roach produced eighty-eight Our Gang films, which featured a troupe of rambunctious boys who became known throughout the country by their screen nicknames: "Wheezer," "Stymie," "Farina," and "Alfalfa," a character who sported a famous middle-part haircut with a long strand of hair sticking up at the back. Child performers also began starring alongside well-established actors, and in 1921 a six year old named Jackie Coogan earned worldwide fame when he appeared with Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin's silent melodrama The Kid. Coogan dolls, statuettes, and memorabilia were immediately produced by enterprising manufacturers, and they flew from store shelves. As Hollywood learned, children on the screen not only lured audiences but helped the film industry gain legitimacy. The aura of innocence conveyed by young stars helped the industry combat criticism from religious and social reform groups, which accused Hollywood of glorifying sex and violence and pressured the government to enact federal film censorship.

 

Coogan as a child actor with Charlie Chaplin in The Kid (1921)

 

During the 1930s, the Great Depression years, America's obsession with young actors reached unprecedented heights. The craze began in 1934 with the appearance of a six-year old singer, dancer, and actress named Shirley Temple in the musical Stand Up and Cheer. Charmed by Temple's angelic demeanor, perky on-screen antics, and remarkable talents, audiences catapulted her to stardom. Throughout the decade, Temple was celebrated by a legion of fans that included President Franklin Roosevelt, who credited "Little Miss Miracle" with raising the nation's spirits during the economic crisis. Between 1935 and 1938, Temple, who appeared in over a dozen films for the Fox studio, including Poor Little Rich Girl (1936) Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), and The Little Princess (1939), was voted America's most popular star.

 

Shirley Temple Daddy When I'm With You From Poor Little Rich Girl 1936

 

Not surprisingly, Temple's success spawned a host of imitators, who descended on Hollywood "like a flock of hungry locusts," in the words of movie gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. Across America, "Beautiful Baby" contests, with a screen test as the prize, were run in major cities by photographers and theater owners, and during the 1930s approximately one hundred child actors arrived in Hollywood each day. Hal Roach recalled that he tested over 140,000 children when casting for the Our Gang series. Though most dreams ended in failure–according to one estimate, less than one in fifteen thousand earned enough from one year of movie work to pay for a week's expenses–from the army of hopefuls a few genuine stars were born. Elizabeth Taylor, Freddie Bartholomew, Deanna Durbin, Mickey Rooney, and Judy Garland, who starred in The Wizard of Oz (1939), became bona fide celebrities during the 1930s and 1940s; in 1939, Rooney and Durbin were given special Academy Awards for their "significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth."

 

The popularization of television in the immediate postwar period created a further demand for child actors, who became a staple of the domestic drama/sitcom genre. During the 1950s several young television actors, including Jerry Mathers, star of Leave it To Beaver, and Ricky Nelson, on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, rose to prominence. In the late 1950s, when Nelson began recording rock music, he initiated the phenomenon of the "crossover" youth celebrity, who starred simultaneously in two entertainment media. Like Elvis Presley, another young pop icon, Nelson sold thousands of records to his teenaged fans, capitalizing on the increased purchasing power of American youth in the affluent 1950s.

 

Jerry Mathers in 1959.

 

Like adult entertainment celebrities, child actors spurred an entire fan culture. Admirers of all ages organized fan clubs in honor of their favorite child actors, sent gifts and fan letters by the thousands, and purchased products bearing their idols' names and images. During the 1920s, actors in the Our Gang series initiated the phenomenon of child celebrity endorsement when they appeared in ads for Kellogg's Cereal; Temple, Garland, Rooney and Durbin similarly sold clothing, toys, and cosmetics for major corporations. Fans also read the many magazines and tabloids that reported the details of child stars' private lives and by the early 1930s could choose from over a dozen different fan magazine titles. Indeed, by World War II, the story of young stars' off-screen exploits had become as captivating to many Americans as their on-screen accomplishments. In a society obsessed with "rags to riches" stories, the phenomenal rise of stars like Rooney and Garland from impoverished backgrounds to celebrity status became an object of national fascination.

 

Almost as intriguing as the rise of child stars were the stories of their seemingly inevitable declines. During the 1940s the public was riveted by the story of Shirley Temple's fall from public favor–her career ended when she reached adolescence–and read about the troubles of Jackie Coogan, who as an adult became embroiled in a bitter lawsuit against his parents over control of his childhood earnings. Coogan's trials eventually led to the passage of the Coogan Act, a bill which required the parents of child actors to put aside at least half of their earnings. Jackie Cooper, star of The Champ (1931), battled alcoholism in his adulthood; Garland died from a drug overdose, and Rooney declared bankruptcy after seven failed marriages. It seemed that stardom, for many young actors, was more a curse than a blessing.

 

 

 

By the 1970s, child stars had become almost as famous for their misdeeds as their accomplishments. A series of well-publicized scandals and tragedies involving juvenile actors proved to an increasingly cynical public that young stardom was not as glamorous as it seemed. The three young stars of the popular 1980s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes made national news when, following the termination of the show, they fell into crime and drug addiction. The alcoholism of Drew Barrymore, star of the 1982 film E.T., and the custody battles of Macaulay Culkin, star of the film Home Alone (1990) whose popularity sparked comparisons with Shirley Temple, also made headlines. Young celebrities had become an object lesson in the dangers of growing up on the screen–too famous, too rich, too soon.

 

 

 

The 1996 murder of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey brought the potential perils of child stardom most poignantly to light. When images of Ramsey were shown in the national media–the winner of several child beauty contests, she was frequently photographed wearing lipstick and rouge–Americans were stunned. The issue of the sexualization of child performers was also raised around the adolescent singer Britney Spears, who rose to fame in the late 1990s with her sexy costumes and dance routines. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Spears and young actresses Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played sexually charged roles in films, were frequently imitated by teenage girls, sparking concern from parents. As the media and advertising industries became more aggressive in their marketing of child performers, as more and more children found role models in young entertainers, and as American youth continued to pursue their own dreams of stardom, the child star phenomenon seemed destined to become an enduring part of American popular culture.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Child Actor  |  Child Stars Facts

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - HUMAN BRAIN

Role of Billirubin in Brain Cell Protection

 

Did you know... that your brain is 3 pounds of remarkable matter? Made up of billions of neurons (or nerve cells) that communicate in trillions of connections called synapses, your brain is one of the most complex and fascinating organs in your body. Keeping your brain healthy and active is vital. Discover just how powerful it is with these interesting facts.

 

Sixty percent of the human brain is made of fat.

Not only does that make it the fattiest organ in the human body, but these fatty acids are crucial for your brain’s performance. Make sure you’re fueling it appropriately with healthy, brain-boosting nutrients.

 

Your brain isn't fully formed until age 25. 

Brain development begins from the back of the brain and works its way to the front. Therefore, your frontal lobes, which control planning and reasoning, are the last to strengthen and structure connections.

 

Your brain’s storage capacity is considered virtually unlimited.

Research suggests the human brain consists of about 86 billion neurons. Each neuron forms connections to other neurons, which could add up to 1 quadrillion (1,000 trillion) connections. Over time, these neurons can combine, increasing storage capacity. However, in Alzheimer’s disease, for example, many neurons can become damaged and stop working, particularly affecting memory.

 

Brain information travels up to an impressive 268 miles per hour.

When a neuron is stimulated, it generates an electrical impulse that travels from cell to cell. A disruption in this regular processing can cause an epileptic seizure.
 

On average, your spinal cord stops growing at 4 years old.

Your spinal cord, which consists of a bundle of nervous tissue and support cells, is responsible for sending messages from your brain throughout your body.
 

The spinal cord is the main source of communication between the body and the brain. ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, causes the neurons in the brain and spinal cord to die, impacting controlled muscle movement. Another disease that affects both the brain and the spinal cord is multiple sclerosis (MS). In MS, the immune system attacks the protective layer that covers nerve fibers, causing communication problems between the brain and the body.
 

It’s a myth that you only use 10 percent of your brain.

You actually use all of it. (Yes, even when you are sleeping.) Neurologists confirm that your brain is always active.
 

The human brain weighs 3 pounds.

(That’s about as much as a half-gallon of milk.) However, size does not always imply intelligence. Men tend to have larger brains than women.
 

A brain freeze is really a sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.

This pain occurs when cold hits the receptors in the outer covering of the brain, called the meninges. The cold creates a dilation and contraction of arteries, causing a rapid-onset headache.
 

A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses.

However, damage to neurons can have great impact. During a stroke, for example, blood is not able to get oxygen to the brain. As a result, brain cells can die, and abilities in that particular area of the brain can be lost. Similarly, Parkinson’s disease occurs when the cells of a part of your brain called the substantia nigra start to die.
 

The human brain can generate about 23 watts of power (enough to power a lightbulb).

All that power calls for some much-needed rest. Adequate sleep helps maintain the pathways in your brain. Additionally, sleep deprivation can increase the build-up of a protein in your brain that is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
 

Your brain has a big job. Be sure to take care of it.

 

Source: Fun Facts About Your Brain

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - HISTORICAL FACTS

Did you know.... that During the Victorian period, many tea cups had special guards on the top to keep men's mustaches from becoming dipped in the tea. Fittingly, they were called mustache cups.

 

Odd Historical Facts That I Had A Hard Time Believing Were Real

by Valeza Bakolli  |  Apr 23, 2020

 

In the thirteenth century, Pope Gregory IX basically declared war on the cats of the world.

Gregory insisted that black cats in particular were associated with devil worship, which led to them being widely exterminated throughout Europe. It’s believed that over time the scarcity of cats allowed the rat population to grow, which in turn helped to spread the bubonic plague a few decades later!

 

In 1820 an entire town held a trial against tomatoes.

The tangy red fruit was once considered ~evil~ (and poisonous) by much of the world! To dispel the rumors' that tomatoes were lethal, Robert Gibbon Johnson ate a basket full of them in front of a crowd in Salem, New Jersey, who were astonished to see that he hadn’t keeled over from one bite.

 

And while we're on the subject of tomatoes, ketchup was once actually sold as medicine.

In the 1830s, a physician called Dr. John Cooke Bennett claimed that tomatoes could be used to treat diarrhea and indigestion – his tomato ketchup recipe was even concentrated into pill form and sold as medicine!

 

Roman emperor Caligula planned to make his favourite horse a senator.

He loved his horse Incitatus so much that he gave him an ivory manger to sleep in, and even a palace with his own servants! When you’ve heard some of the other downright bizarre things this short-lived emperor did during his reign, you’ll realize that Caligula's strange relationship with his horse was one of the more normal things about him, TBH.

 

In Victorian England, people used to take pictures of their dead relatives in lifelike positions to keep as mementos.

Since photography was so new and expensive at the time, this was often the only time a person would have had their picture taken – especially in the case of children and infants. Sometimes eyes would even be painted onto the photo after it was developed, to give the subject a more ‘lifelike’ appearance.

 

Speaking of Victorian England – an unexpected fashion trend of the straight-laced era? Nipple piercings.

The trend was influenced by queen Isabella of Bavaria, who actually fashioned dresses with necklines that went down to the waist to properly show off her diamond-encrusted piercings. Victorians were slightly more subtle about it though – gold rings were the most popular style among aristocratic women of the time, and the piercings were often attached to each other by a gold chain. It was said that the chain helped to make the breasts grow evenly, and ever-resourceful Victorian doctors actually recommended piercing the nipples to make breast-feeding easier.

 

Before alarm clocks became the norm, there were people called knocker-uppers who would literally knock on people’s window to wake them up in time for work.

It was popular in some areas right up until the ‘70s – while the standard tool of choice was a long stick, some knocker-uppers would use soft hammers, rattles, or even pea shooters to reach their clients’ windows!

 

Lord Byron kept a pet bear in his dormitory while studying at Cambridge.

Byron loved animals and throughout his life he owned a few unusual ones – including two monkeys, a fox, and two new mastiffs! But, since he wasn't allowed to bring his favourite pet dog to uni, he decided to bring a tame bear to live with him on campus instead.

 

In 1923, a jockey died in the middle of a race – but still won!

Frank Hayes suffered a heart attack in the middle of the race but managed to stay on the horse till he reached the finishing line! It was the first race Hayes had won – but sadly also his last.

 

The ancient Romans often used stale urine as mouthwash.

Although this sounds pretty nasty, urine contains ammonia, which is actually one of the best natural cleaning agents around! The liquid gold became so in-demand that Romans who traded in it actually had to pay a tax!

 

Click the link below  to read more of these Odd But Real Facts

 

 

Source: Odd But Real Historical Facts

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Fact of the Day - MOVIE REMAKES

Did you know... that a film remake uses an earlier movie as its main source material, rather than returning to the earlier movie's source material. For example, 2001's Ocean's Eleven is a remake of Ocean's 11, while 1989's Batman is a re-interpretation of the comic book source material which also inspired 1966's Batman. In 1998, Gus Van Sant produced an almost shot-for-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho.  (Wikipedia)

 

Remakes That Are Better Than the Original Movie
BY SCOTT BEGGS  |  AUGUST 28, 2020

 

Jeff Goldblum stars in David Cronenberg's super gross (and excellent) remake of The Fly (1986).

 

You can hear the collective groan from all the way across the internet whenever Hollywood announces a new remake. No, their success rate isn’t great. Critics and groaners get one thing wrong, though: Remakes are nothing new. Studios have been remaking their own stories since shortly after creating their first stories. The effect gets multiplied with adaptations of novels and plays, with some films getting cloned so much that we eventually forget all about their origins on the page or stage in the first place. While no single genre has a monopoly on remakes or quality, there are some that manage to improve upon the film(s) that came before them. From horror films to musicals, everything is fair game for copying. Here are 20 of the best cinematic versions of déjà vu (in chronological order).

 

THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)

Believe it or not, it's entirely possible that the most iconic film noir Hollywood ever produced exists only because Warner Bros. couldn't re-release their original version of The Maltese Falcon. The 1931 adaptation of Dashiell Hammet's story, featuring famed detective Sam Spade, was made just before the Hays Code severely disrupted the industry's ability to show racier elements. When the studio couldn't re-release it because it failed to pass the censors, the studio attempted to make an incredibly forgettable comedic version of the story, then smartened up and hired John Huston to make his directorial debut with the now-legendary film featuring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and not nearly as much sexual innuendo as the first.

 

A STAR IS BORN (1954)

Unique among remakes, the original 1937 version of A Star is Born wasn’t based on a book or any other source material, but it’s been remade four times (once in India as 2013's Aashiqui 2). Something about this story has captured our imagination so thoroughly that every generation seems to get a new incarnation. Yet, with apologies to Bradley Cooper, George Cukor's 1954 remake starring Judy Garland is still the gold standard thanks to the actress's searing one-woman performance epic. The film was nominated for six Oscars and won none of them, with Garland’s loss to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl immediately considered one of the Academy’s most famously bad decisions. Janet Gaynor was magnificent in the original; Barbra Streisand soared in the limp 1976 version; and Lady Gaga scored a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Cooper's 2018 version, but Garland still reigns supreme.

 

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956)

A few famous directors have remade their own work, and it's not always the remake that wins out. In the case of The Man Who Knew Too Much, it’s abundantly clear that 20 years of experience helped Alfred Hitchcock create something more tonally complete and engaging than his original 1934 effort. The 1956 version, starring Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day, has significant differences from the earlier version, but the high concept is still there: Unremarkable people learn of an international conspiracy that they have to solve. It's one of Hitchcock's favorite plots (see Rear Window, North by Northwest, The Lady Vanishes, etc.), but it's at its slickest here.

 

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957)

In 1939, Leo McCarey crafted a stirring romance about two engaged artists falling deeply in love while traveling on an ocean liner. The only problem? They’re not engaged to each other. McCarey remade his own film, Love Affair, with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr taking the leads from Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne, which ups the charm factor by at least 25 percent. It’s a silly, sweet set-up that has gifted every generation since with the trope of lovers agreeing to meet at the Empire State Building if they still want to be together after a few months apart.

 

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)

A 1950s B-movie turned 1970s feast of prestige paranoia, Philip Kaufman’s unforgettable version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which stars Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams, manages to break out of the singular science fiction mold to borrow elements from film noir, horror, thriller, and other classic movie genre tropes. Complete with a late-in-the-game twist, this remake also luxuriates in nihilistic tragedy, whereas Don Siegel’s original 1956 film at least attempted to offer up some semblance of a hopeful ending.

 

THE THING (1982)

Itself a remake of An Affair to Remember (just kidding), John Carpenter’s paranoid horror film captured a Cold War sensibility of neighborly distrust. Its predecessor, The Thing From Another World (1951), stood out even among the mountain of now-cheesy 1950s sci-fi creature features, but Carpenter injected the zeitgeist even deeper into the film’s tissue to create a movie with complexity and a radical flamethrower.

 

SCARFACE (1983)

The movie that spawned a million dorm room posters and impressions of Al Pacino is a remake of Howard Hawks’ 1932 film that was neutered by the Hays Code. That version still shows the violent rise of a gangster based on Al Capone, but it had to explicitly condemn everything shown on screen and tack on the subtitle The Shame of a Nation (just in case audiences thought killing people was something to aspire to). It’s absolutely one of the most important genre pictures in the vault, but Brian De Palma’s Miami-set festival of bullets successfully updated it with a slathering of drug-fueled, 1980s greed. Like its forebear, De Palma’s movie had its own struggles with the ratings board, leading to it earning a debilitating X rating because of its intense violence.

 

THE FLY (1986)

Like The Thing, the David Cronenberg switcheroo is a strong signal of how 1950s shockers could be converted into slick, profoundly terrifying films that get under your skin—in this case, almost literally. A big part of The Fly's power lies in the special makeup effects that allow Jeff Goldblum to deteriorate before our eyes, but it's also a much deeper exploration of what it means to be human—and did both of those things while staying true to its predecessor's message that the search for truth is both the most important thing in the world and the most dangerous.

 

SCENT OF A WOMAN (1992)

Profumo Di Donna, Dino Risi’s 1974 Italian film, is an excellent movie in its own right. It earned several major Italian awards and was nominated for two Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay (it lost to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)) and Best Foreign Language Oscar (where it lost to Dersu Uzala (1975), an epic Russian film … directed by Akira Kurosawa). However, a slight edge goes to Scent of a Woman, the 1992 remake from Martin Brest which features an all-time performance from Al Pacino, a bittersweet coming of age for Chris O'Donnell's poor prep school kid, an early glimpse at the raw talent of Philip Seymour Hoffman, and a famous tango scene.

 

BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (1992)

Throughout dozens of takes on Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola's version manages to stand out prominently because it essentially turned the monster into a hyper-passionate human being. Bela Lugosi may have launched the iconic horror figure into moving picture pop culture as a courtly bloodsucker, but Gary Oldman's portrayal in a film littered with gorgeous set design and expensive clothes deepened everything about the famous figure: the lust, the seduction, the greed, the charisma, and—perhaps most importantly—the fear.

 

Click the link below  to read more Remakes That are Better than the Original Movies.

 

 

 

 

Source: Movie Remakes  |  Wikipedia - Remake

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ACTION FILMS

Did you know... that action film is a film genre in which the protagonist or protagonists are thrust into a series of events that typically include violence, extended fighting, physical feats, rescues and frantic chases. Action films tend to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life-threatening situations, a dangerous villain, or a pursuit which usually concludes in victory for the hero (though a small number of films in this genre have ended in the victory for the villain instead). (Wikipedia)

 

Best, Most Exciting Action Movies on Netflix Right Now 

by Samuel R. Murrian  |  January 2021

 

New year, new selection of movies on Netflix! Seeking explosive and thrilling entertainment from the comfort of home? Well, here’s some good news: Right now, Netflix is host to a virtual library of heart-pounding action films from around the world! We want to help you make your next selection to stream at home, so we’ve selected the best. Whether you’re looking to take a new home theater setup for a test drive, or if you’re just searching for an armrest-gripping good time, we recommend these action-packed favorites!

 

These are the best, most exciting action movies you can watch on Netflix right now. We’ve even included some honorable mentions.

 

Enter the Dragon (1973) 

One of the most famous and influential martial arts movies of all time, Enter the Dragon (not unlike The Dark Knight) had an aura of intrigue around it before release, because the star was dead. Bruce Lee passed away, shockingly, one month before Enter the Dragon‘s release. A blend of hand-to-hand combat, espionage and blaxploitation, Robert Clouse‘s thriller stars Lee as a fighter who enters a tournament to get to a powerful narcotics dealer responsible for his sister’s death.  Grossing the equivalent of over $1 billion adjusted for inflation against an exploitation budget, Enter the Dragon is one of the most profitable movies ever made, selected for preservation in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in 2004.

 

Extraction (2020)

One of the most popular Netflix movies ever stars Chris Hemsworth as a notorious mercenary tasked with rescuing the kidnapped son of an international crime lord. Extraction has received mostly positive reviews, and debuted on Netflix to massive viewership.

 

The Sleepover (2020)

Malin Akerman and Joe Manganiello star in this family-friendly Netflix original, about tween siblings who discover their seemingly normal mom is actually a badass in the witness protection program. The action comedy was directed by Trish She, screenplay by Sarah Rothschild. The Sleepover was a bona fide hit for Netflix, one of the top programs on the service since its release.

 

 

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

An inspired blend of Looney Tunes, Chinese wuxia films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), and an R-rating, Stephen Chow‘s martial-arts opus is a triumph that transcends language barriers. Kung Fu Hustle received critical acclaim upon release, and was a financial success. It was re-released in 3D in Asia and America on its tenth anniversary.

 

Project Power (2020)

Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star in a Netflix original supernatural action thriller about a drug that gives its users temporary superpowers. Project Power garnered marginally positive reviews from critics, and it was Netflix’s top-streamed film in its debut weekend this summer.

 

Patriots Day (2016)

The third (and best) collaboration of Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg following Lone Survivor (2013) and Deepwater Horizon (2016), Patriots Day is an account of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and the terrorist manhunt that followed. Named one of the best films of 2016 by the National Board of Review, Patriots Day was a critical hit—but a financial disappointment (likely because the attacks were too fresh in the memory of the public). It’s a gripping, blunt and effective watch.

 

Snowpiercer (2013) 

Based on a French graphic novel, history-making Parasite director (and now three-time Oscar winner) Bong Joon-ho‘s relentlessly paced action thriller is set aboard a speeding, globe-spanning train, carrying the last remnants of humanity after global warming has turned Earth into an iceberg. Snowpiercer received substantial critical acclaim, and stars Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton and Ed Harris. With a budget of $40 million, it remains the most expensive Korean production ever.

 

The Old Guard (2020)

Greg Rucka adapted his own comic book for the screen, and Gina Prince-Bythewood directed this well-reviewed shoot-em-up. The ever-impressive and screen-commanding Charlize Theron stars alongside KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts and Chiwetel Ejiofor as an immortal mercenary out for vengeance in The Old Guard.

 

American Assassin (2017)

Based on the 2010 novel by Vince Flynn, Michel Cuesta‘s violent thriller American Assassin stars Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner (2014))  as Mitch Rapp, a CIA black ops recruit grief-stricken after his girlfriend is murdered. CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan, Alien vs. Predator (2004) assigns Cold War veteran Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton, Birdman (2014)) to train the highly motivated Rapp, and together they investigate a pattern of deadly attacks in the Middle East that lead them to a mysterious operative (Taylor Kitsch, Battleship (2012)) intent on starting a world war.

 

Mile 22 (2018)

Mile 22 marks the fourth pairing of star Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg after Lone Survivor (2013), Deepwater Horizon (2016) and Patriots Day (1016). Starring Wahlberg as an elite American intelligence officer who leads a mission to move a police officer with sensitive information out of a foreign country.

 

 

Click the link below  to read more about Action Movies playing on Netflix.

 

Source: Best, Most Exciting Action Movies  |  Wikipedia - Action Films

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - MINDFULNESS

Did you know... that mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention in the present moment without judgment, a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Buddhist traditions, and based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques. Though definitions and techniques of mindfulness are wide-ranging,[16] Buddhist traditions explain what constitutes mindfulness such as how past, present and future moments arise and cease as momentary sense impressions and mental phenomena. Individuals who have contributed to the popularity of mindfulness in the modern Western context include Thích Nhất Hạnh, Herbert Benson, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Richard J. Davidson, and Sam Harris. (Wikipedia)

 

Proven Facts about Mindfulness (That You Should Know!)
By Activif Team  |  Mindfulness

 

Overthinking, dwelling on the past, obsessing over things you can’t change, and worrying about the future – these are all things that rob us of our most authentic life experience. Mindfulness is a proven way to overcome these negative patterns of behavior and adopt a more peaceful, serene, and satisfying approach to life. Because I believe in the power of Mindfulness, I thought I’d share a few of the reasons why I have so much faith in it. 

 

Interesting, Must-Know Facts about Mindfulness
I would like to start off by saying that mindfulness is not a fad or a trend. While it is a trending practice, it is actually something that can add real value to your life. If you learn to do it correctly, it can provide you with lifelong benefits.  Let’s take a closer look at the 19 must-known facts about mindfulness below – you are bound to find them somewhat amazing.

 

1. It sets the mind free.

Think about how much more you would get done and how much better you would feel if you could truly focus on just one thing at a time. The human brain tends to be thinking, worrying, planning, and doing a multitude of other things while you are working on a task. Mindfulness helps the mind cut out the noise and be absolutely present in the moment. This is quite freeing for the mind.

 

2. Mindfulness grounds you.
Have you ever felt yourself get emotionally out of control? Your mind is racing, your heart is pounding, and no matter what you do, you just cannot take a breath and focus on what is happening right now? Mindfulness can help to overcome these feelings and bring you back down to earth. 

 

3. It enhances focus.

If you take the time to test it out, you will notice that your mind can only stay 100% present in the current moment for a second or two. When practicing mindfulness, you are taught to take note that your mind has wandered when it does, bring it back to the current situation, and apply no judgment. Practicing mindfulness regularly will help to enhance your ability to focus on a task or project without getting lost in your head.

 

4. It’s not religious.
Many people want to practice yoga for the meditative benefits but grapple with the idea of the art being based on religious concepts. If you would like to still benefit from meditation, but don’t want to practice a religious art, mindfulness is a good option. 

 

5. Mindfulness develops empathy and self-awareness.

Learning to be mindful is about observing how you feel in the present moment and responding without a negative reaction. Because mindfulness slows down how a person responds and ensures that there is some present thought that goes into it, people become more aware and are able to be more compassionate and empathetic. 

 

6. It promotes a creative mindset.
Creativity is a mindset that is best achieved when you are relaxed and feeling inspired. It is hard to feel inspired, have new thoughts, and develop on them when your mind is busy and cluttered. By practicing mindfulness and focusing on just one particular moment or thought, your creativity can be boosted.

 

7. It boosts your sense of well-being.

When you take some time out of the chaos for yourself to calm your mind and take care of your mindset, it promotes a general sense of well-being. This feeling can be motivating and inspire feelings of happiness.

 

8. Mindfulness promotes overall better physical health.
Mindfulness is an excellent way to boost physical health as it relieves stress, lowers blood pressure, reduces pain, settles gastrointestinal difficulties, and even promotes better sleep patterns.

 

9. It’s good for mental health maintenance.

Depression and other common mental health issues, such as anxiety and nervousness, are often exacerbated by a busy or obsessive mind. By practicing mindfulness, feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, and nervousness are kept at bay. 

 

10. Mindfulness equips you to have self-control in tough situations.
Practicing mindfulness allows you to note how you feel in a moment of anger or frustration and then take a moment to think about how to respond instead of reacting. Often, this leads to more self-control, which can keep confrontational situations under control. 

 

11. In recent years, mindfulness has gone mainstream.  

The fact that increasingly more people are practicing the art of mindfulness only proves just how the mindfulness movement is growing. Mindfulness is a calmer, kinder, and more rewarding lifestyle. 

 

12. It instills child-like curiosity and acceptance.
Mindfulness is about being in the current moment, but also about taking a moment to approach the current situation with the curiosity of a child. Children don’t anticipate situations, and before they decide how to react, they investigate what the situation can bring them and are generally more open and accepting to things. This can help to bring about a happier, calmer, and more satisfying way of life.

 

13. Google offers its employees daily mindfulness sessions.

Google has offices located around the world and offers mindfulness sessions for staff in each of them. We trust Google to answer most of our pertinent questions – maybe the fact that Google offers mindfulness sessions to staff is something we should learn from too. 

 

14. It provides stress and anxiety relief.
When stressed and anxious, a busy, cluttered mind will only make things worse. If you are looking to break the cycle of stress and anxiety, taking a moment out from all that is happening around you to close your eyes, practice breathing, find your center, and just observe is a great way to calm down, relax, and replenish your resolve. 

 

15. Mindfulness teaches the brain to think before reacting.

Have you ever had a sudden angry reaction to someone’s behavior without even thinking about it…and then regretted it later? Many people have. Mindfulness can help to minimize the risk of these scenarios in your life as it teaches the brain to pay attention to feelings in the moment and give thought to a response, instead of a sudden reaction.

 

16. It can improve sleep.
It can be tough to have a restful night’s sleep if your mind is busy, and your brain is occupied with obsessive or worrisome thought patterns. Mindfulness practice will take you away from your screens, quiet the mind, and allow for some in-the-moment relaxation. Taking time to notice how you are feeling without any judgment attached before bed might be an excellent way to secure a good night’s sleep.

 

17. It reduces the perception of pain.

The Journal of Neuroscience published the findings of a study on mindfulness back in 2011 that compared pain perception of a group of people that practiced mindfulness meditation and a group of people that did not. It found that it takes around 4 days of mindfulness practice for the meditation practicing group’s perception of pain to be reduced by 50%. As a result, the study concluded that mindfulness practice can dramatically improve an individuals’ quality of life, especially those struggling with pain symptoms.

 

18. Mindfulness practice lowers high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is a side effect of unhealthy living. When practicing mindfulness, you are able to make better choices for your health, which is a good way of reducing high blood pressure or hypertension.

 

19. It enables people to connect on a better level.

When people aren’t mindful, they aren’t fully present in conversations and interactions. When you are stressed, thinking about something else, or distracted, the other person/s is aware of it and may not feel like sharing or connecting with you as the situation doesn’t feel authentic.  Being mindful ensures that you can fully apply yourself to the situation and conversation, which enables you to have a better, more real connection with another person or group of people – and this promotes better relationships.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Mindfulness  |  Facts About Mindfulness

 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst campaigning for women's suffrage.

 

Did you know... that International Women's Day is celebrated on 8 March around the world. It is a focal point in the movement for women's rights. (Wikipedia)

 

Facts About International Women's Day
BY JAVIER REYES  |  FEBRUARY 20, 2019 (UPDATED: MARCH 8, 2021)

 

 

For more than 100 years, March 8th has marked what has come to be known as International Women's Day in countries around the world. While its purpose differs from place to place—in some countries it's a day of protest, in others it's a way to celebrate the accomplishments of women and promote gender equality—the holiday is more than just a simple hashtag. Let's take a moment to explore the day’s origins and traditions.

 

1. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY ORIGINATED MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO.

German Communist leader Clara Zetkin with a companion.

 

On February 28, 1909, the now-dissolved Socialist Party of America organized the first National Woman's Day, which took place on the last Sunday in February. In 1910, Clara Zetkin—the leader of Germany’s 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party—proposed the idea of a global International Women's Day, so that people around the world could celebrate at the same time. On March 19, 1911, the first International Women's Day was held; more than 1 million people in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Denmark took part.

 

2. THE CELEBRATION GOT WOMEN THE VOTE IN RUSSIA.

Women marching during the Russian Revolution in 1917, demanding the right to vote.

 

In 1917, women in Russia honored the day by beginning a strike for "bread and peace" as a way to protest World War I and advocate for gender parity. Czar Nicholas II, the country's leader at the time, was not impressed and instructed General Khabalov of the Petrograd Military District to put an end to the protests—and to shoot any woman who refused to stand down. But the women wouldn't be intimidated and continued their protests, which led the Czar to abdicate just days later. The provisional government then granted women in Russia the right to vote.

 

3. THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICIALLY ADOPTED INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY IN 1975.

 

In 1975, the United Nations—which had dubbed the year International Women's Year—celebrated International Women's Day on March 8th for the first time. Since then, the UN has become the primary sponsor of the annual event and has encouraged even more countries around the world to embrace the holiday and its goal of celebrating "acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities."

 

4. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY IS AN OFFICIAL HOLIDAY IN DOZENS OF COUNTRIES.

 

International Women's Day is a day of celebration around the world, and an official holiday in dozens of countries. Afghanistan, Cuba, Vietnam, Uganda, Mongolia, Georgia, Laos, Cambodia, Armenia, Belarus, Montenegro, Russia, and Ukraine are just some of the places where March 8th is recognized as an official holiday.

 

5. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY IS A COMBINED CELEBRATION WITH MOTHER'S DAY IN SEVERAL PLACES.

 

In the same way that Mother's Day doubles as a sort of women's appreciation day, the two holidays are combined in some countries, including Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, and Uzbekistan. On this day, children present their mothers and grandmothers with small gifts and tokens of love and appreciation.

 

6. EACH YEAR'S INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY FESTIVITIES HAVE AN OFFICIAL THEME.

 

In 1996, the UN created a theme for that year's International Women's Day: Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future. In 1997, it was "Women at the Peace Table," then "Women and Human Rights" in 1998. They've continued this themed tradition in the years since; for 2021, it's "Let's all choose to challenge" or #ChooseToChallenge.

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - International Women's Day  |  Facts About International Women's Day

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - JINGLES

Did you know... that a jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses? Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television commercials; they can also be used in non-advertising contexts to establish or maintain a brand image. Many jingles are also created using snippets of popular songs, in which lyrics are modified to appropriately advertise the product or service. (Wikipedia)

 

 

Most Memorable Advertising Jingles of All Time

BY MICHELE DEBCZAK  |  MARCH 9, 2021

 

 

Since Wheaties first enticed radio listeners to try its cereal through song in 1927, jingles have been an important advertising tool. They may not be as prevalent today as they were 60 years ago, but the catchy melodies are still around. The ear-worms likely take up more space in your brain than you realize—just try reading through the top 20 most memorable jingles of all time without singing along.

 

 

 

Quality Logo Products put together the list below after asking 735 U.S. residents about their impressions of 67 famous jingles. The "Nationwide is on your side" tune used by the insurance company tops the roundup, with 92.6 percent of survey respondents saying they recognized it.

 

Sometimes, the simplest songs make the biggest impact. McDonald's “Ba-da-ba-ba-baaa… I’m lovin’ it” ditty and the iconic "Riiiicolaa!" call from the cough drop brand place second and third on the list, respectively.

 

Not every lasting impression a jingle leaves is a positive one. Liberty Mutual' repetitive tune comes in 20th place for most remembered, and first in both most hated and most annoying.

 

You can check out the full list below. After reading through the round-up, take a trip down memory lane with these retro commercials.

 

"Nationwide is on your side" // Nationwide Insurance

 

 

"Ba-da-ba-ba-baaa ... I'm lovin' it" // McDonald's

 

 

"Riiiicolaaa!" // Ricola cough drops

 

 

"Snap! Crackle! Pop! Rice Krispies" // (Kellogg's Rice Krispies)

 

 

"They're magically delicious!" // Lucky Charms

 

 

"Uh-oh! Spaghetti-O's!" // Campbell's Spaghetti-O's

 

 

"Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" // State Farm Insurance

 

 

"Mm-mm, good. Mm-mm, good" // Campbell's Soup

 

 

"Gimme a break ... break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar" // Kit Kat

 

 

 

 

Click the link below  to read more about Advertising Jingles.

 

Source: Facts about Advertising Jingles  |  Wikipedia - Jingle

 

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - CORKS

Did you know... that cork is an impermeable buoyant material, the phellem layer of bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber, which is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa. Cork is composed of suberin, a hydrophobic substance. (Wikipedia)

 

Cork (material) facts

Cork is a material that is harvested for commercial use primarily from the bark of the Cork Oak tree. Portugal produces 50% of cork worldwide. The cork industry is generally regarded as environmentally friendly. The sustainability of its production and the easy recycling of cork products and by-products are two of its most distinctive aspects. Cork demand has increased due to a larger proportion of wine being sealed with cork rather than being sold in bulk. Top quality corks are quite expensive, so many cheaper brands have switched to lower quality cork, synthetic plastic stoppers, screwcaps, or other closures.

 

There are about 2,200,000 hectares of cork forest worldwide; 34% in Portugal and 27% in Spain. Annual production is about 200,000 tons; 49.6% from Portugal, 30.5% from Spain, 5.8% from Morocco, 4.9% from Algeria, 3.5% from Tunisia, 3.1% Italy, and 2.6% from France. Once the trees are about 25 years old the cork is traditionally stripped from the trunks every nine years, with the first two harvests generally producing lower quality cork. The trees live for about 300 years.

 

The cork industry is generally regarded as environmentally friendly. Cork production is generally considered sustainable because the cork tree is not cut down to obtain cork; only the bark is stripped to harvest the cork. The tree continues to live and grow. The sustainability of production and the easy recycling of cork products and by-products are two of its most distinctive aspects. Cork Oak forests also prevent desertification and are a particular habitat in the Iberian Peninsula and the refuge of various endangered species.

 

Cork industry in Sardinia

 

Cork is extracted only from early May to late August, when the cork can be separated from the tree without causing permanent damage. When the tree reaches 25–30 years of age and about 24in (60 cm) in circumference, the cork can be removed for the first time. However, this first harvest almost always produces poor quality cork. Bark from initial harvests can be used to make flooring, shoes, insulation and other industrial products.

 

The workers who specialize in removing the cork are known as extractors. Extractors use a very sharp axe to make two types of cuts on the tree: one horizontal cut around the plant, called a crown or necklace, at a height of about 2-3 times the circumference of the tree, and several vertical cuts called rulers or openings. This is the most delicate phase of the work because, even though cutting the cork requires quite a bit of strength, the extractor must not damage the underlying phellogen or the tree will be harmed. To free the cork from the tree, the extractor pushes the handle of the axe into the rulers. A good extractor needs to use a firm but precise touch in order to free a large amount of cork without damaging the product or tree.

 

These freed portions of the cork are called planks. The planks are usually carried off by hand since cork forests are rarely accessible to vehicles. The cork is stacked in piles in the forest or in yards at a factory, and traditionally, left to dry, after which it can be loaded onto a truck and shipped to a processor.

 

Properties and uses

Cork's elasticity combined with its near-impermeability makes it suitable as a material for bottle stoppers, especially for wine bottles. Cork stoppers represent about 60% of all cork based production.

Cork is also an essential element in the production of badminton shuttlecocks.

Cork's bubble-form structure and natural fire retardant make it suitable for acoustic and thermal insulation in house walls, floors, ceilings and facades. The by-product of more lucrative stopper production, corkboard is gaining popularity as a non-allergenic, easy-to-handle and safe alternative to petrochemical-based insulation products.

Sheets of cork, also often the by-product of stopper production, are used to make bulletin boards as well as floor and wall tiles.

Cork's low density makes it a suitable material for fishing floats and buoys, as well as handles for fishing rods (as an alternative to neoprene).

 

Varnished cork tiles can be used for flooring,

as an alternative for linoleum, stone or ceramic tiles

 

Use in wine bottling

As late as the mid-17th century, French vintners did not use cork stoppers, using instead oil-soaked rags stuffed into the necks of bottles. Wine corks can be made of either a single piece of cork, or composed of particles, as in champagne corks; corks made of granular particles are called "agglomerated corks". Natural cork closures are used for about 80% of the 20 billion bottles of wine produced each year. After a decline in use as wine-stoppers due to the increase in the use of synthetic alternatives, cork wine-stoppers are making a comeback and currently represent approximately 60% of wine-stoppers today.

 

Because of the cellular structure of cork, it is easily compressed upon insertion into a bottle and will expand to form a tight seal. The study "Analysis of the life cycle of Cork, Aluminum and Plastic Wine Closures," and commissioned by a major cork manufacturer, concluded that cork is the most environmentally responsible stopper, in a one-year life cycle analysis comparison with plastic stoppers and aluminum screw caps.

 

Other uses

Cork Coasters

• Cork is used in musical instruments, particularly woodwind instruments, where it is used to fasten together segments of the instrument, making the seams airtight. Low quality conducting baton handles are also often made out of cork.
• It is also used in shoes, especially those using Goodyear Welt Construction.
• Cork can be used to make bricks for the outer walls of houses, as in Portugal's pavilion at Expo 2000.
• On November 28, 2007, the Portuguese national postal service CTT issued the world's first postage stamp made of cork.
• Cork is used as the core of both baseballs and cricket balls. A corked bat is made by replacing the interior of a baseball bat with cork—a practice known as "corking". It was historically a method of cheating at baseball; the efficacy of the practice is now discredited.
• Cork is often used, in various forms, in spacecraft heat shields and fairings.
• Cork can be used in the paper pick-up mechanisms in inkjet and laser printers.
• Cork is also used inside footwear to improve climate control and comfort.
• Cork is used to make later-model pith helmets.
• Corks are also hung from hats to keep insects away. 
• Cork has been used as a core material in sandwich composite construction.
• Cork can be used as the friction lining material of an automatic transmission clutch, as designed in certain mopeds.
• Cork can be used instead of wood or aluminum in automotive interiors.
• Cork can also be used to make watch bands and faces as seen with Sprout Watches.
• Cork slabs are sometimes used by orchid growers as a natural mounting material.

Source: Wikipedia - Cork (material)  |  Cork (Material) Facts

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - THE WRITING LIVES OF AUTHORS.

Virginia Woolf, 1902

 

Did you know... that authors often use real-life experiences as inspiration in their novels. Ever wondered what it takes to be a great writer? Turns out it’s more than just the ability to revisit the same sentence 15 times whilst surviving on 3 hours of sleep. If our literary greats are anything to go by, a sprinkling of unorthodoxy may, in fact, be the key to success.

 

Surprising Facts About The Writing Lives of Great Authors
BY SARAH STODOLA  |  FEBRUARY 4, 2015

 

Mark Twain, 1907

 

In my new book, Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors, I cover the techniques, habits and inspirations of 18 of the greatest writers of the 20th century and today. Part of the joy in writing this book came with the periodic discovery of unexpected facts about writers I thought I already knew so well. Here are 10 of the most surprising, counterintuitive, sometimes jaw-dropping facts that made their way into Process.

 

1. James Joyce never set foot in Ireland after the year he turned 30.

James Joyce

 

A writer who needed distance from his subject of choice in order to write about it, Joyce left Ireland as soon as he could, then spent the rest of his life considering it. In 1904, at age 22, he settled in Trieste, Italy with the woman who would eventually become his wife, Nora. 1904 was also incidentally the year in which his masterpiece, Ulysses, is based. “For Joyce, Dublin was always the Dublin of 1904,” says David Norris, who runs the James Joyce Centre in Dublin. Not even his father’s funeral in 1931 could get him back to his home country.

 

2. Toni Morrison didn’t start writing until her mid-thirties.

Toni Morrison, 1998

 

Happily employed as a professor at Howard University in her thirties, Morrison joined a writing group just for fun, and in it started working on a story about a little black girl who wished she had blue eyes. After her divorce a short while later, she took the story back out and over the next few years it evolved into her first novel, The Bluest Eye, published when Morrison was 39 years old.

 

3. Nabokov had to work until he was 60.

Nabokov in Montreux, Switzerland, 1973

 

He was born rich in Russia, but after his family fled the Bolshevik Revolution, Vladimir Nabokov found he was on his own to earn a living, first in Europe and later the United States. Early on he tutored students and taught tennis lessons. In America, he spent a decade teaching full time at Cornell University. While he had long garnered critical respect, Vladimir Nabokov didn’t get a commercial success under his belt until Lolita, published in the United States in 1958. He ended all employment outside of writing the next year.

 

4. Jack Kerouac never learned to drive.

Jack Kerouac by Tom Palumbo circa 1956

 

Kerouac moved to New York City as a teenager on a scholarship to boarding school and then entered Columbia University, so no car was necessary to get around during the years when most people learn to drive. Through every subsequent adventure, across the country and back, down to Mexico, up from New Orleans, Jack Kerouac was never the one behind the wheel, relying on buses and his friend Neal Cassady to do the “on the road” navigating.

 

5. Kafka never finished a novel.

Black-and-white photograph of Kafka as a young

man with dark hair in a formal suit

 

Even though he made enough progress for his friend Max Brod to organize three of his efforts into works presented as novels after his death, Kafka on his own was never able to make Amerika, The Trial, or The Castle come together, and in fact wished for Brod to destroy them, along with all of his other work, upon his death. Only because Brod refused, and subsequently sunk his efforts into configuring what Kafka left behind, do we have Kafka’s three published novels today.

 

6. 'Infinite Jest' started out as three separate stories.

Wallace at a reading in 2006

 

In his twenties, David Foster Wallace started working on a story about a video so entertaining that people watch it to the exclusion of all else until they die. Soon after, he began another one about a tennis prodigy and his idiosyncratic family. Those stories floundered until several years later when, living in a halfway house outside Boston, Wallace began a story about a man he’d met in rehab, naming the character Don Gately. He then realized the three stories belonged together, and Infinite Jest began to take shape.

 

7. George Orwell borrowed the plot for '1984' from a novel called 'We.'

Orwell's press card portrait, 1943

 

Orwell reviewed Yevgeny Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We for the Tribune in 1946, and despite what he called a “rather weak and episodic plot,” he found it “relevant to our own situation.” We is set in a city of the future built of glass to enable the government, led by a Big Brother-like figure, to monitor its people in every corner and nook. Its plot centers on a man and woman who fall in love and together rebel against the state. Sound familiar? 1984 was published three years after Orwell wrote the review.

 

8. It took Zadie Smith almost two years to write the first 20 pages of 'On Beauty.'

Smith announcing the 2010 National Book Critics

Circle award finalists in fiction

 

The first 20 pages are always the most difficult for Smith. She says that this first section is when the identity of the book emerges—and “the whole nature of the thing changes by the choice of a few words.” But for her 2008 novel On Beauty, those first pages provided a particularly tall challenge. After she finally got them in place after almost two years, she finished the rest of the novel in just five months.

 

9. Fitzgerald received $55,000 in today’s dollars for a single short story.

Fitzgerald in 1921

At the height of his career at the end of the 1920s, F. Scott Fitzgerald commanded $4,000 per story from publications like The Saturday Evening Post and Scribner’s, or $55,000 a pop in 2014 dollars. Thanks to Fitzgerald’s meticulous recording of money earned from writing in a ledger that still exists today, we know that stories for which he received this top fee include “The Bridal Party” and “Babylon Revisited.”

 

10. Virginia Woolf’s room of her own was a pigsty.

 

Woolf famously argued that every writer needed a space in which to think freely, and we subsequently tend to assign a particular romance to her particular writing space. But those who knew Woolf intimately got to see the reality. Her husband Leonard described “old nibs, bits of string, used matches, rusty paper-clips, crumpled envelopes, broken cigarette holders, etc,” while Vita Sackville-West recalled the “incredible muddle of objects” in Woolf’s writing room.

 

Source: Writing Lives of Great Authors

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - WOMEN IN HISTORY

Did you know... that though they have had uphill battles throughout history, many women have left an everlasting mark in the human narrative. Often having their legacies undermined, these confident women didn’t listen when they were told “it’s a man’s world.” From groundbreaking scientists to pirate queens to WWII resistance fighters, these women take the word heroine to the next level. Here are some tough facts about remarkable women who made history.

 

Little-Known Facts About Remarkable Women Who Made History

by Mathew Burke  |  Factinate

 

 

To The Death

From her childhood spent learning how to become an expert swordswoman to her scandalous affairs, there was often little difference between Julie d’Aubigny’s life and an episode of Game of Thrones. D’Aubigny was a bisexual 17th century opera singer and fencing master who performed nightly shows on one of the biggest opera stages in the world at the time. She was known to take many lovers, one of which was a young woman who was sent to a convent to become a nun when her parents found out about her affair with Julie. Julie followed her to the convent, later escaping with her lover but only after burning the convent to the ground. She killed or wounded at least ten men in fencing duels to the death. Talk about killing it!

 

Curied Away

Marie Curie, a Polish scientist, made an indelible mark on the world we live in today. Her research on radioactive substances lead to great discoveries—but tragically, they came at a dire cost. She was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel prize, discovered Radium, helped create the first-ever ambulances, and saved the lives of countless soldiers during WWII. Curie never once patented her discoveries, deciding that her findings were for the betterment of humanity, and not personal profit. It’s believed that the aplastic anemia that killed her was caused by her long-term exposure to radiation during her research.

 

Running Joke

Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to ever run the Boston Marathon in 1967. Though other women had completed the marathon, Kathrine was the first to be a registered runner. When the organizer found out she was running the marathon, he went to terrifying lengths to stop her, attacking her and trying to rip off her bib. Her boyfriend, who was also running, managed to shove the organizer off of Switzer. She finished the race without any further complications. Pictures of Semple, the organizer, trying to stop her from running were widespread throughout the media. It took another five years for women to be officially allowed to run in the marathon.

 

Space Case

Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space, aboard Vostok 6 in 1963. But she came from humble origins—she was a textile factory worker for many years. One of her hobbies, amateur skydiving, hinted at the, ahem, great heights she would end up aspiring to. To join the Vostok 6 crew, she was selected from over 400 candidates and beat out four other finalists for the opportunity to. Remember to aim for the stars, kids!

 

Skywalker

Amelia Earhart was the first female aviator to fly across the Atlantic ocean in 1928. She was given US Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. Earhart was quoted as saying “Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail their failure must be but a challenge to others.” Tragically, she mysteriously disappeared during a flight in 1937.

 

In The Right(s)

Komako Kimura was a Japanese suffragist who marched on Fifth Avenue in New York to demand the right to vote for women. When Komako did this in 1917, xenophobia was still a big problem in America. In Japan, she was banned from having meetings in public places, and her writing on women’s rights was suppressed. Her heartbreaking and dramatic past may have had something to do with her fierce advocacy for women’s rights—she’d nearly been married off to a stranger who wanted to make her his concubine when she was younger. 

 

Engineered Badass

Elisa Zamfirescu was the world’s first-ever female engineer. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Technology Berlin in 1912, after being rejected in her home country of Romania due to prevailing misogyny at the time. She worked at the Geological Institute of Romania for many years, stopping to manage a hospital for soldiers in WWI. When she retired, she became an activist for disarmament. Just goes to show, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

 

Edge Of Your Seat

Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist famous for refusing to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order to give up her seat in the “colored section” to a white passenger, which was mandatory after the whites-only section was filled. Her defiance became a symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement. She also collaborated with civil rights leaders, including Edgar Nixon, the president of the local NAACP chapter, and Martin Luther King.

 

Brainiac

Sofia Ionescu was a Romanian neurosurgeon who worked in the field of neurosurgery for over 47 years, performing every single procedure known to medical science in that time. She is considered one of the first-ever female neurosurgeons in the world. She was compelled to get into the profession as the result of a heartbreaking tragedy. When she was young, one of her close friends passed away after contracting an infection during brain surgery.

 

 

Bulletproof

Stephanie Kwolek was an American chemist who invented Kevlar, the material used in most bulletproof vests and body armor. In 1995, she became the fourth ever woman to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall Of Fame. Kevlar isn’t just used for bulletproof armor though, and is often used to make tennis rackets, boats, planes, skis, ropes, cables, and tires. If you’ve ever taken a science class where you were shown the “Nylon Rope Trick,” that’s one of Kwolek’s innovations as well.

 

Speed Racer

Eliska Junkova was a Czechoslovakian automobile racer. Not only was she participating in the male dominated sport, but she was also able to be competitive while doing so. She is often considered to be one of, if not the greatest, female driver in Grand Prix motor racing history.

 

Click the link below  to read about more little known facts of remarkable women who made history.

 

Source: Remarkable Women in History

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - OSCAR PETERSON

In "Jazz at the Philharmonic

with Norman Granz (1950s)

 

Did you know.... that Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, CC CQ OOnt was a Canadian jazz pianist, virtuoso and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, simply "O.P." by his friends, and informally in the jazz community as "the King of inside swing". He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, as well as a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, and received numerous other awards and honours. He is considered one of history's great jazz pianists,[3] and played thousands of concerts worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years. (Wikipedia)

 

Oscar Peterson facts

 

Biography
Early years

Peterson was born in Montreal, Quebec, to immigrants from the West Indies; his father worked as a porter for Canadian Pacific Railway. Peterson grew up in the neighborhood of Little Burgundy in Montreal. It was in this predominantly black neighborhood that he encountered the jazz culture. At the age of five, Peterson began honing his skills on trumpet and piano, but a bout of tuberculosis when he was seven prevented him from playing the trumpet again, so he directed all his attention to the piano. His father, Daniel Peterson, an amateur trumpeter and pianist, was one of his first music teachers, and his sister Daisy taught him classical piano. Peterson was persistent at practicing scales and classical études.

 

As a child, Peterson studied with Hungarian-born pianist Paul de Marky, a student of István Thomán, who was himself a pupil of Franz Liszt, so his early training was predominantly based on classical piano. But he was captivated by traditional jazz and boogie-woogie and learned several ragtime pieces. He was called "the Brown Bomber of the Boogie-Woogie".

 

At the age of nine Peterson played piano with a degree of control that impressed professional musicians. For many years his piano studies included four to six hours of daily practice. Only in his later years did he decrease his practice to one or two hours daily. In 1940, at fourteen years of age, he won the national music competition organized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After that victory, he dropped out of the High School of Montreal, where he played in a band with Maynard Ferguson. He became a professional pianist, starring in a weekly radio show and playing at hotels and music halls. In his teens he was a member of the Johnny Holmes Orchestra. From 1945 to 1949 he worked in a trio and recorded for Victor Records. He gravitated toward boogie-woogie and swing with a particular fondness for Nat King Cole and Teddy Wilson. By the time he was in his 20s, he had developed a reputation as a technically brilliant and melodically inventive pianist.

 

Duos, trios, and quartets

Oscar Peterson as a 20 year old, at the

Hamilton Infirmary in 1945

 

In a cab on the way to the Montreal airport, Norman Granz heard a radio program broadcasting from a local club. He was so impressed that he told the driver to take him to the club so he could meet the pianist. In 1949 he introduced Peterson in New York City at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall. He remained Peterson's manager for most of his career. This was more than a managerial relationship; Peterson praised Granz for standing up for him and other black jazz musicians in the segregationist south of the 1950s and 1960s. In the documentary video Music in the Key of Oscar, Peterson tells how Granz stood up to a gun-toting southern policeman who wanted to stop the trio from using "whites-only" taxis.

 

In 1950 Peterson worked in a duo with double bassist Ray Brown. Two years later they added guitarist Barney Kessel. Then Herb Ellis stepped in after Kessel grew weary of touring. The trio remained together from 1953 to 1958, often touring with Jazz at the Philharmonic.

 

Peterson also worked in a duo with Sam Jones, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Joe Pass, Irving Ashby, Count Basie, and Herbie Hancock.

 

He considered the trio with Brown and Ellis "the most stimulating" and productive setting for public performances and studio recordings. In the early 1950s, he began performing with Brown and drummer Charlie Smith as the Oscar Peterson Trio. Shortly afterward Smith was replaced by guitarist Irving Ashby, who had been a member of the Nat King Cole Trio. Ashby, who was a swing guitarist, was soon replaced by Kessel. Their last recording, On the Town with the Oscar Peterson Trio, recorded live at the Town Tavern in Toronto, captured a remarkable degree of emotional as well as musical understanding between three players.

 

When Ellis departed in 1958, they hired drummer Ed Thigpen because they felt no guitarist could compare to Ellis. Brown and Thigpen worked with Peterson on his albums Night Train and Canadiana Suite. Both left in 1965 and were replaced by bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes (and later, drummer Bobby Durham). The trio performed together until 1970. In 1969 Peterson recorded Motions and Emotions with orchestral arrangements of "Yesterday" and "Eleanor Rigby" by The Beatles. In the fall of 1970, Peterson's trio released the album Tristeza on Piano. Jones and Durham left in 1970.

 

Joe Pass and Oscar Peterson at Eastman

Theatre Rochester, New York, in 1977

 

In the 1970s Peterson formed a trio with guitarist Joe Pass and bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. This trio emulated the success of the 1950s trio with Brown and Ellis and gave acclaimed performances at festivals. Their album The Trio won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group. On April 22, 1978, Peterson performed in the interval act for the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 that was broadcast live from the Palais des congrès de Paris. In 1974 he added British drummer Martin Drew. This quartet toured and recorded extensively worldwide. Pass said in a 1976 interview, "The only guys I've heard who come close to total mastery of their instruments are Art Tatum and Peterson".

 

Peterson was open to experimental collaborations with jazz musicians such as saxophonist Ben Webster, trumpeter Clark Terry, and vibraphonist Milt Jackson. In 1961, the Peterson trio with Jackson recorded the album Very Tall. His solo recordings were rare until Exclusively for My Friends (MPS), a series of albums that were his response to pianists such as Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner. He recorded for Pablo, led by Norman Granz, after the label was founded in 1973, including the soundtrack for the 1978 thriller The Silent Partner. In the 1980s he played in a duo with pianist Herbie Hancock. In the late 1980s and 1990s, after a stroke, he made performances and recordings with his protégé Benny Green. In the 1990s and 2000s he recorded several albums accompanied by a combo for Telarc.

 

Ill health and later years

Tombstone of Oscar Peterson at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Mississauga

 

Peterson had arthritis since his youth, and in later years he had trouble buttoning his shirt. Never slender, his weight increased to 125 kg (276 lb), hindering his mobility. He had hip replacement surgery in the early 1990s. Although the surgery was successful, his mobility was still inhibited. In 1993 a stroke weakened his left side and removed him from work for two years. During the same year incoming prime minister Jean Chrétien, his friend and fan, offered him the position of Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. According to Chrétien, Peterson declined the job due to ill health related to the stroke.

 

Although he recovered some dexterity in his left hand, his piano playing was diminished, and his style had relied principally on his right hand. In 1995 he returned to occasional public performances and recorded for Telarc. In 1997 he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award. His friend, Canadian politician and amateur pianist Bob Rae, said, "a one-handed Oscar was better than just about anyone with two hands."

 

In 2003, Peterson recorded the DVD A Night in Vienna for Verve with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Ulf Wakenius, and Martin Drew. He continued to tour the U.S. and Europe, though at most one month a year, with rest between concerts.

 

In 2007 his health declined. He canceled his plans to perform at the Toronto Jazz Festival and a Carnegie Hall all-star concert that was to be given in his honour. Peterson died on December 23, 2007 of kidney failure at his home in Mississauga, Ontario.

 

Personal life
Peterson was married four times. He loved to cook and remained large throughout his life.

 

Composer and teacher

Peterson in 1977

 

Peterson taught piano and improvisation in Canada, mainly in Toronto. With associates, he started and headed the Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto for five years during the 1960s, but it closed because touring called him and his associates away, and it did not have government funding. Later, he mentored the York University jazz program and was the Chancellor of the university for several years in the early 1990s. He published jazz piano etudes for practice. He asked his students to study the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, and The Art of Fugue, considering these piano pieces essential for every serious pianist. Among his students were pianists Benny Green and Oliver Jones.

 

Peterson and Tatum

Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum

He was influenced by Teddy Wilson, Nat King Cole, James P. Johnson, and Art Tatum, to whom many compared Peterson in later years. After his father played a record of Tatum's "Tiger Rag", he was intimidated and disillusioned, quitting the piano for several weeks. "Tatum scared me to death," he said, and was "never cocky again" about his ability at the piano. Tatum was a model for Peterson's musicianship during the 1940s and 1950s. Tatum and Peterson became good friends, although Peterson was always shy about being compared with Tatum and rarely played the piano in Tatum's presence.

 

Peterson also credited his sister—a piano teacher in Montreal who also taught several other Canadian jazz musicians—with being an important teacher and influence on his career. Under his sister's tutelage, Peterson expanded into classical piano training and broadened his range while mastering the core classical pianism from scales to preludes and fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach.

 

Building on Tatum's pianism and aesthetics, Peterson also absorbed Tatum's musical influences, notably from piano concertos by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff's harmonizations, as well as direct quotations from his 2nd Piano Concerto, are scattered throughout many recordings by Peterson, including his work with the most familiar formulation of the Oscar Peterson Trio, with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis. During the 1960s and 1970s Peterson made numerous trio recordings highlighting his piano performances; they reveal more of his eclectic style, absorbing influences from various genres of jazz, popular, and classical music.

 

According to pianist and educator Mark Eisenman, some of Peterson's best playing was as an understated accompanist to singer Ella Fitzgerald and trumpeter Roy Eldridge.

 

The Way You Look Tonight (1965) (sample)

 

Source: Wikipedia - Oscar Peterson

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - COSPLAY

Cosplayers at Yukicon 2014, a fan convention in Finland

 

Did you know.... that cosplay, a portmanteau of the words "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. (Wikipedia)

 

Facts About Cosplay

BY KIMBERLY LOVE  |  PUBLISHED APR 26, 2017

Cosplay is a strange world where people get dressed up as fantasy characters and go to events in support of them.

 

Sailor Moon

 

Cosplay can be confusing to some people, sometimes even baffling. It’s a strange world where people get dressed up as fantasy characters and go to events in support of them. If you find the whole cosplay world baffling, then we really can’t blame you. It’s one of those hobbies that are really specialized, and you either get it, or you don’t. When people speak of cosplay, you probably think that it’s a bunch of school girls with bright blue hair, but there’s a lot more to it than that. It’s a rather large hobby that has fans from all over the world. There are so many fans that events go on all over the world where people go to honor their favorite characters.

 

If you want to get down to the nitty-gritty, cosplay is simply a combination of two terms. Costume and Play. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? It’s truly a performance where people dress up in costumes and wigs; they carry props and then create a fantasy world around them in which they act like the character of their choice. The characters are generally from movies, video games, or cartoons. There are two types of cosplay: Basic and Masquerade. Basic is the ability to look like a certain character while Masquerade is to behave in the way in which that character would. If you aren’t into cosplay, then there are probably many things you don’t know about it. Open your mind and walk into the world of fantasy; you never know -- you might actually like it.

 

Cosplay Is A Bigger World

There are much bigger connotations to cosplay then you could ever imagine. It’s not just confined to one type of characters like manga or anime. Cosplay isn’t structured in any way, that would, of course, defeat the whole point of it. It’s about broadening your mind and choosing any character that you would like and then bringing that character to life. It’s about being the character of your dreams, whatever that may be. There are no limitations to your character, and because there are different types of cosplay, you don’t have to just dress up; you can actually try and BE the character. If you think about it, dressing your kids up for Halloween and then sending them out is another form of cosplay. It’s about believing for one single moment that you're that character and then bringing that character to life.

 

It’s Serious Business

You may be under the impression that cosplay is all fun and games, but it’s not. People take the act of cosplay very seriously. God help you if you show up to an event wearing the same costume as someone else -- those are fighting words! You may end up in a duel of wits to find out who the “true” character really is, as cosplayers will try to outdo each other. It’s not seen as a lighthearted and fun experience for all; people can take it way too seriously, and instead of having fun at the events, some will take it way too competitively. The culture of cosplay in Singapore is highly competitive, and they are very competitive when they go to events; it’s serious business to them. If you don’t take it seriously, you might be in trouble when you run into one of them. Can you outwit a character that looks just like you?

 

You Can Make Your Own Character

If you’re not one of those people that like to be stuck inside a box, or a certain character, then you can make up your own character and run with it. It’s true! It’s called LARP, and it means “Live Action Role Play,” which sounds kinky, but it’s not. What it means is that it allows you to create your own character and then dress up as that character and act it out as well. This is your own character, and it can be anything that you imagine it to be. So instead of going to an event as a pre-made character, you can go as something of your creation and blow away all the minds around you. Just be prepared to have to explain your character’s background and even act it out. The reason why people tend to go this way is that “you are not a part of the game, but you created the game.” -- which sounds pretty exciting on its own.

 

The Costumes Are Usually Handmade

The great thing about cosplay costumes is that the players really put a lot of effort into them. They spend a lot of time making sure their costume is amazing for their event. You would think they would just buy something off the internet and just go with it, but that’s not good enough. If you've tried to buy a costume off the internet, you probably know they come pretty basic and can look cheap at times. No one really cares if it’s just for Halloween, but people who go to Cosplay events do care, and they want the best. Cosplay players are faithful right down to the smallest details and have no problem spending hundreds of dollars on the costumes. They also have no problem spending hours on a costume, and they love talking about their creation. "If you think something looks great, you can go ahead and ask them how they made it and turn that into a conversation," says Kaai.

 

Forrest J Ackerman Was The First

Forrest J Ackerman was a magazine editor in the U.S as well as a literary agent and a science fiction writer, so you can see why he might be interested in cosplay. He was the original founder of science fiction fandom, and many considered him to be an expert in horror, science fiction, and fantasy films. Throughout his career, he represented many science fiction authors and was an avid collector of movie memorabilia and genre books. Amongst the people that he represented over the years, there were: Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, A.E. Van Vogt, Curt Siodmak, and L. Ron Hubbard. You may think that cosplay is a fairly new practice, but it isn’t at all. In fact, it was going on in the 30s. Forrest J Ackerman was the first person to try cosplay in 1939, but back in that time, they didn’t call it cosplay but “costuming.”

 

Denver Is The Place To Be

Denver is one of the best places for cosplayers to... well... play. Every single year, they have about a dozen conventions for the geeky event-goers that love to dress up and have fun. If you're into cosplay and like to hit up as many events as you can, then you might want to check Denver if you haven’t already. They have a huge love there for cosplay. There's one called "Running of the Leaves" as well as one called "Nan Desu Kan," and they're great events if you want to dress up and get into character. They also have the Denver County Fair that likes to get involved by having cosplay contests every year. Talk about a lot of fun if you ever go to Denver. The funny thing is there aren’t a lot of Denver locals that get involved in the events. They just seem to like watching the action but not getting into it themselves.

 

It’s Expensive

As we said before, when people get into cosplay, they typically make their costumes from scratch, and that can be expensive, especially considering some of the costumes we've seen out there. It’s not just about money either; cosplay can be expensive when it comes to time as well. It’s a true hobby and one that takes a lot of hours out of your day, especially if you're creating a costume. The art of cosplay is expensive, and that’s before you ever even get to an event or a convention. It’s never going to be a career, so don’t go out there thinking that you can make money off of it. It’s a hobby, and it’s one that you have to accept may take a lot of money. If you love this hobby, then you might want to get used to spending money, getting pricked by needles, and getting burnt by a hot glue gun.

 

Bathrooms Can Be Tricky

Many people make these elaborate costumes, and then they can’t figure out how to go to the bathroom properly. It’s very similar to trying to go to the bathroom wearing a wedding dress. If you're going to go all out with your costume, you have to plan ahead to determine an effective way of going to the bathroom. If it takes a lot for you to get out of your costume to use the potty, then you need to allow yourself some time because one thing is for sure: there are never short bathroom lines at an event or convention. It’s just like going to the bathroom at a baseball stadium. This would mean that you need time to remove the many layers or appendages that could be keeping you from getting to the bathroom on time before there's a mess. Trust me: this has happened many times, but not to me!

 

Source: Wikipedia - Cosplay  |  Cosplay Facts

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - GENRAL KNOWLEDGE

An encyclopedia is a repository of general knowledge

 

Did you know.... that general knowledge is information that has been accumulated over time through various mediums. It excludes specialized learning that can only be obtained with extensive training and information confined to a single medium. General knowledge is an essential component of crystallized intelligence. It is strongly associated with general intelligence and with openness to experience. (Wikipedia)

 

 

General Knowledge Facts To Make You A Little Smarter This Week
Ducks are named after the verb "to duck."

by Andy Golder  |  BuzzFeed Staff

 

Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog that comes out every Groundhog Day, has arrest warrants in three states.

Phil being held by a member of

the Inner Circle on February 2, 2018

 

Police and prosecutors in New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio have all issued tongue-in-cheek calls for the groundhog's arrest (usually for fraud) when his winter predictions have turned out to be incorrect. The Ohio prosecutor even went so far as to suggest the death penalty for poor Phil.

 

Fettuccine Alfredo was invented by a guy named Alfredo di Lelio in 1908 because it was all his wife would eat after giving birth.

As the story goes, Alfredo was worried about his wife's health and wanted to make a rich food that she would eat to regain her strength. He mixed the noodles with butter and Parmesan and created a hit. Other accounts claim Alfredo's wife was pregnant and nauseated, and the dish was the only thing she could keep down. In any case, fettuccine Alfredo became a hit in the US after actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks tried it at Alfredo's during their honeymoon in Italy.

 

There's a plant in Australia called the gympie-gympie (Dendrocnide moroides) that has tiny stingers and a neurotoxin that's so painful, people express wanting to die rather than deal with the pain.

Ecologist Marina Hurley described being stung by it as "the worst kind of pain you can imagine, like being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time." An Australian serviceperson was reportedly tied to a bed for three weeks while being treated for his stings!

 

A single tiger in India is thought to have killed 436 people.

The Man-Eater of Champawat was a female tiger that killed an estimated 436 people over seven years in the early 1900s. Ironically, it's believed that the tiger hunted humans because of human-caused factors: Her natural habitat had been destroyed by the English colonial government's deforestation, which caused her natural food sources to disappear, and she had been shot by a human, destroying some of her teeth and leaving her unable to defend her hunting territory from rival tigers. She met her end in 1907 when Jim Corbett, an Irish hunter and tracker, killed her at the government's behest.

 

Ducks are actually named after the verb "to duck" because they duck their heads underwater.

Pacific black duck displaying the

characteristic upending "duck".

 

It's not just a coincidence! Ducks are most likely named that because of the Old English verb "ducan" (which means "to dive"), which morphed into "duck." If you've ever seen a duck stick their head underwater, you'll get why.

 

You know the idiom "It's all Greek to me"? People say it when they can't understand something. Of course this idiom has to be different for Greeks, who usually say that something looks Chinese to them.

Of course idioms vary a LOT, but several languages will say something like "this strikes me as Chinese" if they can't understand something. As for Cantonese and Mandarin speakers, they will sometimes say that unintelligible text is "ghost writing."

 

Argentina used to have a tax on unmarried men, but there was an exemption for men who had proposed but were turned down. So Argentine women started businesses where they would turn down fake proposals to qualify men for the exemption.

They were known as "professional lady rejecters," and they would accompany the bachelor to the magistrate to affirm that, yes, the man did indeed propose and she said no.

 

Speaking of taxes, ABBA's costumes looked the way they did because the band only got tax rebates for the costumes if they could prove they wouldn't wear them as everyday clothes.

In order to make it very clear that these weren't everyday clothes, the costumes were excessively garish. ABBA member Björn Ulvaeus said of the costumes, "Nobody can have been as badly dressed onstage as we were."

 

The guy who voiced Tigger and the guy who invented the Heimlich maneuver teamed up to invent the first artificial heart.

Paul Winchell started out in show business and voiced Tigger in Winnie the Pooh cartoons until 1999. He always had an interest in medicine and happened to meet Dr. Henry Heimlich at a cast party. Heimlich invited him to observe open-heart surgeries, where Winchell came up with the idea for an artificial heart. With Heimlich's guidance, he received a patent for his prototype artificial heart in 1963.

 

Brussels sprouts grow on stalks, like this:

Forerunners to modern Brussels sprouts were probably cultivated in Ancient Rome. Brussels sprouts as they are now known were grown possibly as early as the 13th century in what is now Belgium. The first written reference dates to 1587. During the 16th century, they enjoyed a popularity in the southern Netherlands that eventually spread throughout the cooler parts of Northern Europe.

 

High fives weren't really a "thing" until 1977.

People may have been high-fiving for a long time (and certainly the "low five" has been a part of African American culture since World War II, at least). Magic Johnson has claimed that he invented the high five when he was at Michigan State. However, it wasn't popularized on a major scale until Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke of the Los Angeles Dodgers high-fived after Baker hit his 30th home run of the season in 1977. Baker claims that he saw Burke holding his hand above his head — probably just as a greeting — as Baker was rounding third base and heading home. "So I reached up and hit his hand," Baker said. "It seemed like the thing to do."

 

One kiss exchanges roughly 80 million bacteria.

Spoiler alert: Your mouth has tons of bacteria in it. Not all of them are bad, though!

 

Also, when you kiss someone, you're basically making one very long tube from their butthole to yours. Sorry.

When you think about it, everything from your mouth to your anus is one continuous tube.

 

Source: Wikipedia - General Knowledge  |  General Knowledge Facts

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - UUNCOMMON PHOBIAS

Did you know.... that a phobia is a type of anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are present for more than six months. Those affected will go to great lengths to avoid the situation or object, to a degree greater than the actual danger posed. If the object or situation cannot be avoided, they experience significant distress. Other symptoms can include fainting, which may occur in blood or injury phobia, and panic attacks, which are often found in agoraphobia. Around 75% of those with phobias have multiple phobias. (Wikipedia)

 

 

 Uncommon Phobias You Probably Never Knew Existed
You may not have heard of them, but these fears are very real.
BY ALYSSA JUNG AND TEHRENE FIRMAN  |  Jan 20, 2021

 

We're all scaredy-cats in one way or another: Whether it's spiders, heights, clowns, etc., we've all got something that raises the hairs on the backs of our necks. But how what's the difference between an ordinary fear and a phobia? "The terms are often used interchangeably, but in truth, phobias are a more extreme version that affects less than 10% of the population," says Simira Freeman, Psy.D, a clinical psychologist and owner of Chaise Solutions LLC. in New York City. What sets phobias apart? Encountering an object or circumstance someone has a phobia to triggers an intense, emotional, and anxiety-filled fear response that often interferes with daily life; it can escalate to a panic attack and obsessive avoidance. "It's all consuming," Freeman says. "This is a hallmark of phobias."

 

Cyberphobia: Fear of Computers or Technology

This phobia is often experienced by older adults who are having trouble adapting to using new technologies like computers, tablets, or smartphones. "It is often worsened by feelings of low self-esteem or fears about being judged harshly," says Lucia Wallis Smith, LPC, an anxiety specialist at Clear Mind Counseling LLC. in New Jersey.

 

Lachanophobia: Fear of Vegetables

"I had a client with an irrational fear of baby carrots. The sight, smell, or taste of the baby carrots was not tolerable, and when paired with ranch dressing, the combination frequently led to high anxiety and nausea," says Eric Patterson, LPC, a professional counselor in Pennsylvania.

 

Trypophobia: Fear of Images with Patterns of Holes or Bumps

"This is one of the lesser known phobias but can have a huge impact on people scrolling through social media feeds," says Sharon Stiles, a hypnotist in the U.K. "They may be disgusted by images like honeycomb, seed pods, or bubble wrap."

 

Globophobia: Fear of Balloons

Sometimes this fear is strictly about the balloons themselves, but other times it's the fear of the balloons being popped. Believe it or not, Oprah Winfrey has this phobia.

 

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: Fear of Long Words

Unfortunately for people who are afraid of long words, the name of this phobia really doesn't help. The fear is often brought upon by being laughed at while reading or pronouncing long words — usually in school-

 

Ephebiphobia: Fear of Youth

People with ephebiphobia don't want to be anywhere near teens, and the media really hasn't helped. A 2002 article published in the Los Angeles Times covered the "full-blown media panic" around teens.

 

Nomophobia: Fear of Being Without a Phone

Terrified of being without your cell phone? There's a phobia for that. Those with nomophobia — also called cell phone addiction by the National Institute of Drug Abuse for Teens — have anxiety or panic attacks over losing their phones and obsess about checking them throughout the day.

 

Pentheraphobia: Fear of Mothers-in-Law

Okay, okay — everyone is a little afraid of their mother-in-law. But this phobia takes things to the next level. Usually it comes on after experiencing some sort of traumatic event.

 

Pediophobia: Fear of Dolls

Channing Tatum confessed his fear of dolls on The Ellen Show in a cringeworthy segment where he was tormented with one of the scariest dolls we've seen: "I'm terrified of porcelain dolls," he said. "I just think they're really super freaky."

Click the link below  to read more on Unusual Phobias.

 

Source: Unusual Phobias   |  Wikipedia - Phobia

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Saint Patrick depicted

in a stained-glass window

at Saint Benin's Church, Ireland

 

Did you know.... that Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland. (Wikipedia)

 

Surprising Facts About St. Patrick's Day
Who was the real St. Patrick? Was that legend about the snakes true? And why did so many St. Patrick's Day traditions start in America?
HISTORY.COM EDITORS

 

 

While St. Patrick’s Day is now associated with wearing green, parades (when they're not canceled) and beer, the holiday is grounded in history that dates back more than 1,500 years. The earliest known celebrations were held in the 17th century on March 17, marking the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick in the 5th century. Learn more about the holiday’s history and how it evolved into the event it is today.

 

The Real St. Patrick Was Born in Britain

Much of what is known about St. Patrick's life has been interwoven with folklore and legend. Historians generally believe that St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Britain (not Ireland) near the end of the 4th century. At age 16 he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and sold as a slave to a Celtic priest in Northern Ireland. After toiling for six years as a shepherd, he escaped back to Britain. He eventually returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary.

 

There Were No Snakes Around for St. Patrick to Banish from Ireland

St. Patrick depicted with his foot on a snake.

 

Among the legends associated with St. Patrick is that he stood atop an Irish hillside and banished snakes from Ireland—prompting all serpents to slither away into the sea. In fact, research suggests snakes never occupied the Emerald Isle in the first place. There are no signs of snakes in the country’s fossil record. And water has surrounded Ireland since the last glacial period. Before that, the region was covered in ice and would have been too cold for the reptiles.

 

Leprechauns Are Likely Based on Celtic Fairies

Leprechauns are known as

mischievous Irish fairies.

 

The red-haired, green-clothed Leprechaun is commonly associated with St. Patrick’s Day. The original Irish name for these figures of folklore is “lobaircin,” meaning “small-bodied fellow.” Belief in leprechauns likely stems from Celtic belief in fairies— tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. In Celtic folktales, leprechauns were cranky souls, responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies.

 

The Shamrock Was Considered a Sacred Plant

Three-leaf clovers symbolize spring.

 

The shamrock, a three-leaf clover, has been associated with Ireland for centuries. It was called the “seamroy” by the Celts and was considered a sacred plant that symbolized the arrival of spring. According to legend, St. Patrick used the plant as a visual guide when explaining the Holy Trinity. By the 17th century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism.

 

The First St. Patrick’s Day Parade Was Held in America

Men march in the 1895 Saint Patrick's Day Parade in New York City.

 

While people in Ireland had celebrated St. Patrick since the 1600s, the tradition of a St. Patrick’s Day parade began in America and actually predates the founding of the United States.  Records show that a St. Patrick’s Day parade was held on March 17, 1601 in a Spanish colony in what is now St. Augustine, Florida. The parade, and a St. Patrick’s Day celebration a year earlier were organized by the Spanish Colony's Irish vicar Ricardo Artur. More than a century later, homesick Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched in Boston in 1737 and in New York City on March 17. Enthusiasm for the St. Patrick’s Day parades in New York City, Boston and other early American cities only grew from there. In 2020 and 2021, parades throughout the country, including in New York City and Boston were canceled or postponed for the first time in decades due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

 

The Irish Were Once Scorned in America

While Irish Americans are now proud to showcase their heritage, the Irish were not always celebrated by fellow Americans. Beginning in 1845, a devastating potato blight caused widespread hunger throughout Ireland. While approximately 1 million perished, another 2 million abandoned their land in the largest-single population movement of the 19th century. Most of the exiles—nearly a quarter of the Irish nation—came to the shores of the United States. Once they arrived, the Irish refugees were looked down upon as disease-ridden, unskilled and a drain on welfare budgets.

 

Corned Beef and Cabbage Was an American Innovation

The meal that became a St. Patrick’s Day staple across the country—corned beef and cabbage—was an American innovation. While ham and cabbage were eaten in Ireland, corned beef offered a cheaper substitute for impoverished immigrants. Irish-Americans living in the slums of lower Manhattan in the late 19th century and early 20th, purchased leftover corned beef from ships returning from the tea trade in China. The Irish would boil the beef three times—the last time with cabbage—to remove some of the brine.

 

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Saint Patrick's Day  |  St. Patrick's Day Facts

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - CROP CIRCLE

Aerial view of crop circles in Switzerland

 

Did you know... that a crop circle, crop formation, or corn circle is a pattern created by flattening a crop, usually a cereal. The term was first coined in the early 1980s by Colin Andrews. Crop circles have been described as all falling "within the range of the sort of thing done in hoaxes" by Taner Edis, professor of physics at Truman State University. Although obscure natural causes or alien origins of crop circles are suggested by fringe theorists, there is no scientific evidence for such explanations, and all crop circles are consistent with human causation. (Wikipedia)

 

 

What's the Story With Those Amazing Crop Circles?

By Angela Nelson  |  Updated November 06, 2017

Crop circle artists confess that with careful planning, the work can

be done in just a few hours very early in the morning or late at night

when no one is watching. (Photo: Le Petit Poulailler / Three French Hens /flickr)

 

If you're looking for theories about UFOs and extraterrestrial life, you've come to the wrong place. Because though it's fun to believe in the mystery, the truth is that crop circles are more art than alien. Still, it's fun to suspend your disbelief, if just for a second. Reports of patterns appearing in crops date back centuries, however most of these events fit into one of three categories: The person who claimed to see it was not credible, the circles were explained through a weather occurrence or agricultural practice, or the circles conveniently were not photographed.

 

 

The first known crop circles appeared in the 1970s in a wheat field in Wiltshire, England, according to Smithsonian magazine, the work of two clever hoaxers named Doug Bower and Dave Chorley. At the time, that area of England, which is also home to Stonehenge, was "a center of UFO-seeking 'sky watches' [that] gave birth to its own rumors of crop circles, or 'saucer nests,'" the Smithsonian reports. One night, Bower suggested to Chorley that they go make it look like a flying saucer had landed in a nearby field. So they did, and the crop circle phenomenon was born.

 

 

Still, not everyone believes that crop circles are man-made. Cereologists are people who study crop circles and investigate their true meaning or cause. The fact that crop circles seem to be created in a short period of time without anyone seeing the process may give their claim a little weight.

 

However, crop circle artists confess that with careful planning, the work can be done in just a few hours, likely very early in the morning or late at night when no one is watching.

 

Crop circle in Tägermoos between Steckborn and Hörhausen, Switzerland.

 

Their artistic endeavors are not always welcome. It's one thing for a farmer to carve out a design in his own fields; it's quite another for someone to trespass on someone else's land and mow down their crops for the sake of a cool photo opportunity. Matthew Williams, 42, was the first person to be prosecuted for destruction of a farmer's crops when creating a circle, according to The Telegraph. Since the article includes an extensive nine-step guide to creating a crop circle, we'll give you a brief overview:

 

Aerial view of a crop circle in Diessenhofen

 

First, pick a field and get permission to use it, The Telegraph says, and think about whether the crop is at the right season for harvesting. Second, plan a pattern; modern crop artists use tools like GPS to create large-scale designs. Third, gather a team and plot out the design using tape, string and any other tools you may need. After that is when the crop flattening is done, which is usually done using wooden planks and rope. The most important step, The Telegraph says, is being done by dawn so you remain under the cover of darkness.

 

A crop circle in a wheat field at Wayland's

Smithy in Oxfordshire, England.

 

As the Smithsonian sums up so well:

This art is intended to be a provocative, collective and ritual enterprise. And as such, it is often inherently ambiguous and open to interpretation. To the circle-maker, the greater the range of interpretations inspired in the audience the better. Both makers and interpreters have an interest in the circles being perceived as magical, and this entails their tacit agreement to avoid questions of authorship.

 

Crop circles in a remote agricultural

outpost in Sharq El Owainat, southwest

Egypt, as seen from the International

Space Station.

 

England continues to be the country with the most reported crop circles, but they can now be found scattered around the world in crops such as wheat, corn and barley. They're not always circles, of course; the term refers to pretty much any design. And they're not always done in the name of art.

 

In the photo above, an astronaut on the International Space Station photographed crop circles at a remote agricultural outpost in Egypt in the Sahara. "The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, buried beneath the sand, allows patches of agriculture to survive in the middle of the desert. The aquifer is the only source of water for Egyptians living away from the Nile River," according to NASA.

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Crop Circle  |  Crop Circle Facts

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - IRISH STEPDANCE

Irish dancers performing at a show

 

Did you know.... that Irish stepdance is a style of performance dance with its roots in traditional Irish dance. It is generally characterized by a stiff upper body and fast and precise movements of the feet. It can be performed solo or in groups. Aside from public dance performances, there are also stepdance competitions all over the world. These competitions are often called Feiseanna (singular Feis). In Irish dance culture, a Feis is a traditional Gaelic arts and culture festival. Costumes are considered important for stage presence in competition and performance Irish stepdance. In many cases, costumes are sold at high prices and can even be custom made. Males and females can both perform Irish stepdance but for the most part in today's society, the dance remains predominantly female. This means that the costumes are mainly dresses. Each dress is different, with varying colors and patterns, designed to attract the judge's eye in competitions and the audience's eye in performance. General appearance beside the costume is also equally important. Dancers would typically curl their hair before each competition. Many dancers invest in curled wigs that match their hair color. Poodle Socks are worn with the dresses and shoes. These are white socks that stretch to mid-calf with distinctive ribbing. (Wikipedia)

 

About Irish Dancing
by Claddagh Design  |  Nov 6, 2017  |  History, Ireland

 

Ireland is know throughout the world for its dancing. Here at Claddagh Design we are much better with hammers rather than hornpipes. And the only Irish dancing we do these days is the occasional ‘Siege of Ennis‘ at a wedding. So we thought it would be a good idea to share everything you need to know about Irish dancing!

 

Irish dancing is a very important part of the heritage and culture of Ireland; just like the Irish language, native sports like Gaelic Football or Hurling, and traditional Irish music. In the past few decades Irish dancing has seen a huge revival, partly because of the worldwide success of Riverdance. However, it was around long before Michael Flatley and Riverdance. Learning Irish dancing is a regular extra curricular activity of many Irish children, and it always features prominently at Irish themed events like St. Patrick’s Day. It’s not exactly comparable to modern dancing, but that’s what makes it so special. Here is a complete guide to everything you could ever want to know about this wonderful part of Irish life.

 

Michael Flatley Lord of the Dance

 

History

The roots of Irish dancing come from the Celts and the druids who roamed the island before the onset of Christianity and outside influences came along. Many of the druids’ religious rituals involved dancing, usually in a circular fashion around sacred trees. The Celts had their own folk dances with similar formations. This type of dancing was common around much of the European mainland at the time, and although it wasn’t really anything like what traditional Irish dancing became, remnants of the formations and patterns can be seen.

 

Naturally, the dancing was accompanied by music or singing and usually took place at religious celebrations or other special occasions. The ‘feis’ was a big local celebration held by Celtic communities. It was all about their art, culture and music as well as an opportunity for discussing politics, trading, playing sports and storytelling. Dancing was an integral part of the feis. At the Hill of Tara, then the seat of the High King of Ireland and the epicenter of Celtic life, a huge feis known as the ‘Aonach’ (great festival), was held once year, apparently beginning over a thousand years ago. Feiseanna are still held today in many communities, but these days they are usually just a showcase for Irish dancing and music, where dancers compete for medals and trophies.

 

When the Normans invaded Ireland in the twelfth century, they settled in the country and brought with them their native customs, dance being one of them. The ‘Carol’ was a popular Norman dance that was soon performed in conquered Irish towns and villages. The Carol dance involved one singer placed in the centre of a circle of dancers who then followed his singing and danced accordingly. It is the first historically recorded dance in Ireland. For the next few centuries dancing naturally evolved. Three types of dance emerged; the Irish Hey, the Rinnce Fada (long dance) and the Trenchmore. Instead of circular formations, line formations became common. These in turn became more complicated with female dancers weaving between males, or interchanging couples. Bagpipes and harps became the most common musical accompaniment. The tradition of dancing at religious ceremonies still continued however – it was not unusual to dance in a circle around a coffin at a wake!

 

It wasn’t until the 18th century when Irish dancing became more disciplined and the styles and formations we know today came about. This was all down to the emergence of the Dancing Master, a teacher who travelled between villages and towns holding lessons for peasants. This is how group dances came to the fore; it was a simple way to have all pupils in a class involved in one dance. The best dancers from each community where given the status of ‘soloists’, i.e they were given special sections of the song to show off their talents and dance alone in the spotlight. When this happened, doors would be placed on the floor to give the dancer a makeshift stage and a solid platform to perform on. There was stiff rivalry between dancing masters from different territories, which is what gave rise to the modern dance competitions that take place today.

 

In 1893 the Gaelic League was founded as an organization to promote and encourage all aspects of Irish culture in Ireland. It organized formal competitions, lessons and rules for Irish dancing, and this further developed into the launch of the Irish Dancing Commission in 1930 to regulate the now immensely popular past-time. Irish dancing really took off once it had its own governing body, and over the following decades it spread to the vast Irish diaspora around the world.

 

 

Routines

There are three main types of Irish dancing routines; set dancing routines, social or céilí routines and sean nós or step routines. In all cases, the style is relatively formal and regimented, with little upper body movement, precise and quick foot movement and a strict number of steps to be completed. This was mostly because of the limited space performers would have had in the 18th and 19th centuries; small rural pubs or barn dances crowded with locals didn’t afford much room for arm movement or for dancing around the floor.

 

Céilí routines were the most popular form of Irish dancing, and a standard component of any social occasion. They’re performed with a minimum of two and a maximum of sixteen people (or sometimes an unlimited number of people!). Set dance routines are based on the French quadrille dances, i.e ‘squares’ of four couples who complete several different figures of the routine which are repeated throughout the song. Among other steps,  dancers swap sides and swap partners – it can get extremely chaotic if you don’t know what you’re doing!

 

Step routines descend from the old-style sean nós dancing, and are what the Irish Dancing Commission has adopted as the flagship Irish dancing style. Each step is danced twice, once with each foot, with arms slightly less rigid than other styles. Percussive sounds are made with the feet to add to the rhythm of the music. In the 18th and 19th centuries these dances were often performed on top of barrels or tables.

 

 

 

Each type of dance falls into one of two categories; soft shoe or hard shoe. Soft shoe dances include reels, slips, light jigs and single jigs; these are all classified by the time signature of the music and the steps taken in each dance. Hard shoe dances include the hornpipe, treble jig, and treble reel. Some of the more popular sets have been given names, like the St. Patrick’s Day set, the King of the Fairies set, or the Tree Sea Captains set.

 

Music

Historically the traditional accompaniment for Irish dancing was a harp, bagpipe, or just singing. As the dances got more complex however, so did the music. Nowadays, Irish dancing and traditional Irish music go hand in hand, and in the same way that there are a variety of different dances and routines, there is a variety of music and instruments to go with it. Some typical Irish instruments include the fiddle (pretty much a violin, just played differently), the bodhran (a hand held drum made of goatskin and played with a special wooden beater called a tipper), the tin whistle, the concertina (similar to an accordion), and the Uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes). When solo dancers take to stage, a solo instrument will also generally play with them.

 

 

Clothes

Ornate and sometimes ostentatious costumes can be common in overseas Irish dancing competitions and showcases, but in both historic and modern Irish dancing, more modest and flexible costumes are used. Soft or hard shoes are used depending on the style of dance; hard shoes have tips and heels of fiberglass to add percussion noises and rhythm, while soft shoes are leather lace ups, also known as ghillies. Boys have their own version of the soft shoe, known as ‘reel shoes’, which still have a hard heel and produce noises, but not to the same extent as the hard shoes do.

 

 

Male dancers generally just wear a shirt, vest and tie with dark trousers, while female dancers wear specially made dresses. Each Irish dancing school has their own specific dress uniform. The dresses are just above the knee and pleated, with long sleeves and more often than not some sort of Celtic-inspired design or embellishment on the chest and back. In the past girls were required to curl their hair into ringlets or wear wigs, but this is slowly becoming less common. Dresses have become more and more flexible and breathable compared to decades past, when tough material and elaborate decoration was the name of the game. Outside of competitions you’re more likely to see dancers in simple, plain dresses with straight hair, so that the footwork and movement of the dance is given complete focus.

 

Competitions

Outside of performances, the best way to see some Irish dancing is by attending a competition or feis. In Ireland there are several levels of competition divided by age and location, ranging from county to regional and national competitions. The annual regional championship is known as the Oireachtas, which also happens to be the name given to the Irish government! Dancers are scored on technique, timing, and sounds made from their shoes. All contests have very rigid regulations and criteria for qualifications, and the whole process is very competitive between both dancers and teachers.

 

The Irish Dancing Commission began holding an annual World Championship in 1970, and they still take place each year in a different corner of the globe. They feature over 6,000 dancers from 30 countries all over the world.

 

 

 

Riverdance

No article about Irish dancing would be complete without mentioning Riverdance, the theatrical show which brought the art to a worldwide audience and boosted its popularity around the world. Riverdance is twenty years old this year, having made its debut at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. It started out as just a seven-minute long interval act featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler and Michael Flatley, who choreographed much of the show. The accompanying music was played by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

 

The interval act was so well received that the BBC commissioned a repeat performance at the Royal Variety Show that year and the audio recording stayed at number one on the Irish singles chart for 18 consecutive weeks. The next natural step was to create a full length stage show expanding on the original interval act. The production team did just that and debuted the show in Dublin in November 1994, just six months after the Eurovision performance. It sold over 120,000 tickets and immediately went further afield to the UK, Europe, an New York.

 

The original show went on to play all over the world for fifteen years, before a final farewell tour in 2011. There are still several smaller productions touring all over the world and a number of spin off shows, ensuring that Irish dancing has a place on the world stage for years to come.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Irish Stepdance  |  Irish Dancing: A Brief History

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - WHISKEY REBELLION

The Whiskey Rebellion

 

Did you know.... that the Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington, ultimately under the command of American Revolutionary war veteran Major James McFarlane. (Wikipedia)

 

Whiskey Rebellion
HISTORY.COM EDITORS  |  UPDATED:SEP 13, 2019  |  ORIGINAL:OCT 30, 2017

 

The Whiskey Rebellion was a 1794 uprising of farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania in protest of a whiskey tax enacted by the federal government. Following years of aggression with tax collectors, the region finally exploded in a confrontation that resulted in President Washington sending in troops to quell what some feared could become a full-blown revolution. Opposition to the whiskey tax and the rebellion itself built support for the Republicans, who overtook Washington’s Federalist Party for power in 1802. The Whiskey Rebellion is considered one of the first major tests of the authority of the newly formed U.S. government.

 

Whiskey Tax
During the American Revolution, individual states incurred significant debt. In 1790 Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton pushed for the federal government to take over that debt. He also suggested an excise tax on whiskey to prevent further financial difficulty.

President George Washington was opposed to Hamilton’s suggestion of a whiskey tax. In 1791 Washington journeyed through Virginia and Pennsylvania to speak with citizens about their views. Local government officials met the idea of a whiskey tax with enthusiasm, and Washington took this assurance back to Congress, which passed the bill.

 

 

But protests against the new tax began immediately, arguing that the tax was unfair to small producers. Under the new law, large producers paid the tax annually at a rate of six cents per gallon, and the more they produced, the further the tax breaks. Small producers, however, were stuck with paying nine cents per gallon in taxes. Farmers took further issue because only cash would be accepted for tax payment.

 

Whiskey Tax Violence
The law was immediately a failure, since refusals to pay the taxes were as common as intimidation against officials hired to collect them.

 

Excise officers sent to collect the tax were met with defiance and threats of violence. Some producers refused to pay the tax.

 

Perhaps inevitably, violence broke out. On September 11, 1791, excise officer Robert Johnson was riding through his collection route in western Pennsylvania when he was surrounded by 11 men dressed as women. The mob stripped him naked and then tarred and feathered him before stealing his horse and abandoning him in the forest.

 

 

Johnson recognized two men in the mob. He made a complaint and warrants were issued for their arrest. A cattle drover named John Connor was sent with the warrants, and he suffered the same fate as Johnson. He was tied to a tree in the woods for five hours before being found. In response, Johnson resigned his post, fearing further violence.

 

Incidents escalated over the next few years. In 1793, the home of Pennsylvania excise officer Benjamin Wells was broken into twice. The first time, a mob of people forced their way in and assaulted Wells’ wife and children.

 

The second incident involved six men in disguises who attacked Wells while he was at home. The intruders demanded Wells’ account books at gunpoint and insisted he resign his position.

 

Feeling unrepresented in Congress, the citizens of Western Pennsylvania gathered their own assembly with three to five representatives per county. While radical members pushed for open rebellion, moderates like Hugh Henry Brackenridge and future Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Albert Gallatin urged conciliatory measures. 

 

Attack on Bower Hill
In the summer of 1794, federal marshal David Lenox began the process of serving writs to 60 distillers in western Pennsylvania who had not paid the tax. On July 14, Lenox accepted the services of tax collector and wealthy landowner John Neville as guide through Allegheny County.

 

On July 15, they approached the home of William Miller, who refused to accept his summons. An argument ensued, and when Lenox and Neville rode off, they were face-to-face with an angry mob, armed with pitchforks and muskets—some were believed to be drunk. Someone had told the mob that federal agents were dragging people away, but Lenox and Neville were allowed to pass once that was understood to be untrue. Nonetheless, a shot was fired as the two men rode away.

 

On the morning of July 16, Neville was asleep in his home, Bower Hill, when he was awakened by a crowd of angry men—some of whom had been served summons the previous day.

 

 

The men claimed that Lenox needed to come with them because there was a threat to his life. Neville didn’t believe the men and ordered them off his property. When the mob refused to move, Neville grabbed a gun and shot at the crowd, striking and killing Oliver Miller. In retaliation, the mob shot back at the house.

 

Neville made it inside the house and sounded a signal horn, after which he heard the sound of his slaves attacking the crowd with firearms. Six members of the mob were wounded before they fled with Miller’s body. By evening, the mob had reconvened for a meeting with a group of other people who declared revenge on Neville.

 

The Destruction of Bower Hill
On July 17, 1794, as many as 700 men marched to drums and gathered at Neville’s home. They demanded his surrender, but Major James Kirkpatrick, one of 10 soldiers who had come to the property to help defend it, answered that Neville was not there. In fact, Kirkpatrick had helped Neville escape the house and hide in a ravine. 

 

 

The mob demanded that the soldiers surrender. When that request was refused, they set fire to a barn and slave dwellings. The Neville women were allowed to flee to safety, after which the mob opened fire on the house. Following an hour of gunfighting, the mob’s leader, James McFarlane, was killed. In a rage, the mob set fire to other buildings and the soldiers soon surrendered as the Bower Hill estate burned to the ground.

 

A Threat to Pittsburgh
Less than a week later, the mob met with local dignitaries who warned that Washington would send a militia to strike them down and they had to strike first. Wealthy landowner David Bradford, along with several other men, attacked a mail carrier and discovered three letters from Pittsburgh expressing disapproval of the attack on Neville’s property.

 

Bradford used these letters as an excuse to encourage an attack on Pittsburgh, inciting 7,000 men to show up at Braddock’s Field, east of the city.

 

The city of Pittsburgh, fearing violence, sent a delegation to announce that the three letter writers had been expelled from the city and to offer a gift of several barrels of whiskey.

 

As the day ended, the crowd had drunk deeply from the barrels and weren’t inspired to descend on Pittsburgh with any fury, instead gaining permission to march through Pittsburgh peacefully.

 

Washington Sends the Militia
With signs that the rebels were hoping to reignite the conflict and believing it was linked to unrest in other parts of the country, Hamilton wanted to send troops to Pennsylvania, but Washington opted for a peace envoy instead.

 

The peace envoy failed. Washington met with his cabinet officials and presented evidence of the violence to Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, who ruled a military response was justified under the auspices of the Militia Acts of 1792. Washington assumed emergency power to assemble more than 12,000 men from the surrounding states and eastern Pennsylvania as a federal militia. 

 

Washington met first with the rebels, who assured him the militia was not needed and that order had been restored. Washington opted to retain the military option until proof of submission was apparent.

 

 

The large and well-armed militia marched into western Pennsylvania and was met with angry citizens but little violence. When a rebel army didn’t appear, the militia rounded up suspected rebels instead.

 

However, the rebellion’s instigators had already fled, and the militia’s prisoners weren’t involved in the rebellion. They were marched to Philadelphia to stand trial regardless. Only two men were found guilty of treason, and both were pardoned by Washington.

 

Why The Whiskey Rebellion Was Important
The federal response to the Whiskey Rebellion was widely believed to be a critical test of federal authority, one that Washington’s fledgling government met with success.

 

The whiskey tax that inspired the rebellion remained in effect until 1802. Under the leadership of President Thomas Jefferson and the Republican Party (which, like many citizens, opposed Hamilton’s Federalist tax policies), the tax was repealed after continuing to be almost impossible to collect

 

Sources
The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution. Thomas P. Slaughter.
Failures of the Presidents. Thomas J. Craughwell.
Whiskey Rebellion. National Park Service

 

Source: Wikipedia - Whiskey Rebellion  |  History - Whiskey Rebellion