Fact of the Day

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Fact of the Day - INCA EMPIRE

Sacsayhuamán, the Inca stronghold of Cusco

Did you know.... that the Inca Empire, also known as Incan Empire and the Inka Empire, and at the time known as the Realm of the Four Parts, was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilization arose from the Peruvian highlands sometime in the early 13th century. The Spanish began the conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 and its last stronghold was conquered in 1572. (Wikipedia)

 

Fascinating Facts About the Inca Empire

by Interesting facts

The Inca empire was a powerful pre-Columbian civilization that stretched for thousands of miles, once covering almost the entire west coast of South America. Machu Picchu is probably their most famous achievement, but there is much more to the Inca empire than some ruins on a mountain. Here are five incredible facts about the Inca empire.

 

1. The Inca Empire Was Massive

The Incas didn’t have a writing system, so it’s hard to determine when the empire officially started. However, it’s often said to have reached its prime between 1400 and 1533 CE. The Incas built a strong central government and a massive military that was sustained on taxes (more on those below). By 1471, the empire stretched for more than 3,400 miles, from the border between modern Ecuador and Colombia to about 50 miles south of what’s now Santiago, Chile. It was the largest empire in the world at the time, including European nations, and consisted of 10 million people ruled by 40,000 Incas.

 

2. The Incas Built an Incredible Network of Roads

Although they never had access to the wheel, the Incas built a vast network of roads that stretched for more than 25,000 miles. These roads were primarily used for trade, military operations, and quickly sending messages across the huge empire. Llamas were one of the Incas' most important assets; these fuzzy beasts of burden were used as pack animals to carry goods and supplies. The roads also included small or large rest stops every couple of miles, so that travelers could take a break or spend the night during longer voyages. Many of the roads (and rest stations) still exist, and are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

3. The Incas Developed Their Own Postal System

Because their empire was so large and intricate, the Incas had to come up with a way to quickly and efficiently spread messages throughout the land. Chaskis were the postal carriers of the Inca empire. They were trained runners who could collectively cover up to 150 miles per day to deliver a message or goods. The runners worked using a relay system — the first chaski ran 6–9 miles until he reached a small house, called a chaskiwasi, where another runner waited to complete the next leg of the journey. They used the extensive road network and specialized rope bridges to quickly move through the empire. Because there was no written language, each messenger carried a quipu, a unique type of Andean textile that uses a system of knots to record data and information.

 

4. The Incan Central Government Collected Taxes

The Incas had a strong centralized government and regularly collected taxes from citizens. Because currency didn’t exist, taxes were collected in the form of food, goods such as precious metals or textiles, and even services. The Inca rulers performed annual censuses to keep track of the population and calculate taxes for a given area. Foodstuffs were stored in government-owned warehouses to feed the army and to help in times of famine. Those who were not farmers or manufacturers could offer labor in lieu of physical taxes. These workers helped with state-run projects, such as building roads.

 

5. Machu Picchu Was Never Finished

Machu Picchu was built starting in the late 1400s and was an engineering marvel even by today’s standards. Constructed high up in the Andes — 7,800 feet above sea level — the monument consists of over 200 buildings carefully built into the landscape. The precise purpose is unclear; it may have been a royal retreat or served a religious purpose. Unfortunately, the Incas never got the chance to finish it. After Spanish conquistadors landed in South America in the late 1400s, disease wiped out most of the Indigenous population. Machu Picchu was abandoned around 1533. The site is so hard to get to, it wasn’t officially discovered by modern researchers until 1911. Today, the ruins are a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site and open to visitors.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Inca Empire  |  Facts About the Inca Empire

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Fact of the Day - CONSTELLATIONS

Did you know.... that a constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived outline or pattern, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellations likely go back to prehistory. The origins of the earliest constellations likely go back to prehistory. People used them to relate stories of their beliefs, experiences, creation, or mythology. Different cultures and countries adopted their own constellations, some of which lasted into the early 20th century before today's constellations were internationally recognized. The recognition of constellations has changed significantly over time. Many changed in size or shape. Some became popular, only to drop into obscurity. Some were limited to a single culture or nation. (Wikipedia)

 

The Stories Behind the Names of 10 Constellations

by Interesting Facts

Each constellation of stars in the night sky has a fascinating origin story. From the 48 constellations named by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in his 2nd-century book The Almagest to the dozens established by astronomers in the 16th and 17th centuries, their names reflect heroic tales from Greek myths, gods and goddesses, and various animals. Today, the International Astronomical Union recognizes 88 principal constellations in the northern and southern skies. Here’s how a few of them got their names.

 

1. Ursa Major

Seven stars make up the hindquarters and tail of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, but you may know them better as the Big Dipper, named for their resemblance to a ladle or drinking gourd. The explanation for the larger constellation's ursine name is more complicated. In his book Metamorphosis, Ovid tells of how the huntress Callisto took a vow of chastity to the goddess Artemis, but Zeus, turning himself into Artemis’ likeness, tricked and seduced Callisto. She gave birth to their son, Arcas. When Zeus’ jealous wife Hera got wind of the affair, she turned Callisto into a bear. Years later, Arcas hunted the bear, not knowing it was his mother. To avoid further tragedy, Zeus turned Callisto into Ursa Major and Arcas into the constellation Boötes, the Herdsman.

 

2. Cassiopeia

Listed by Ptolemy in the Almagest, Cassiopeia is a constellation named for the infamously vain queen of Greek myth. Cassiopeia claimed that she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs known as Nereids, a bit of hubris that angered the sea god Poseidon. He sent a monster (recorded in the sky as the constellation Cetus) to punish Cassiopeia and her husband, King Cepheus. They tried to appease the monster by offering him their daughter Andromeda (a legend with its own constellation). Cassiopeia is one of the most recognizable and visible constellations in the northern sky: Its five bright stars form a W shape, representing the queen seated on her throne.

 

3. Andromeda

Poor, virginal Andromeda had the misfortune of being the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus. They chained her to a rock in the sea as a sacrifice to the monster Cetus. Things looked bleak for the beautiful Andromeda until Perseus, a demigod hero who had just slain the gorgon Medusa, swooped down from the heavens and rescued her in one of the most romantic scenes in Greek mythology.

 

4. Pegasus

Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek legend, has quite the origin story. After Perseus slayed Medusa by cutting off her head, Pegasus sprang from her bloody neck and flew off. Some say Perseus was actually riding Pegasus when he rescued Andromeda, but in myth the horse is more closely associated with the hero Bellerophon. Zeus also employed Pegasus in carrying his thunderbolts. Though the constellation usually depicts only the front half of the horse, Pegasus is the seventh-largest group of stars in the northern sky.

 

5. Orion

The famous celestial Hunter is easy to spot in the night sky thanks to the three closely spaced stars of his belt, as well as the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel at his right shoulder and left foot. The constellation Orion faces Taurus, the Bull — suggesting that Orion may be based on the Sumerian hero Gilgamesh or the Greek hero Heracles, both of whom fight bulls. Orion’s many legends and stories feature his prowess as a brave hunter, but his death came about because of his pride. In one version of the tale, Orion boasted that he could kill any beast on Earth, which offended the Earth. (In another version, Orion’s boast offended Artemis, the goddess of hunting.) The Earth opened to send forth a scorpion, which fatally stung Orion. As a result, the constellations Orion and Scorpio are at opposite ends of the sky so it appears that Orion is fleeing the sky as the scorpion rises in the east.

 

6. Hydra

Ptolemy identified Hydra, the Water Snake, as one of the longest constellations in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as the largest. In Greek myth, Hydra is a fearsome water serpent with multiple heads, one of which is immortal. (Five stars at one end of the linear constellation represent the heads of the snake.) The hero Heracles was tasked with killing Hydra as the second of his 12 labors, but every time Heracles cut off one of the monster’s heads, two more grew in its place. Heracles’ nephew Iolaus suggested they burn the necks after cutting them off to prevent them from regenerating. They eventually slayed the beast by burying its remaining immortal noggin under a rock. Heracles then dipped the points of his arrows in Hydra’s blood to render them lethal.

 

7. Centaurus

According to Greek mythology, centaurs were half-horse, half-human creatures with a bad reputation as rowdy drunkards, but the centaur Chiron was an exception. The wise Chiron taught medicine and music, and his pupils included Greek heroes like Achilles and Jason. Chiron was mortally wounded when Heracles accidentally shot him with an arrow — one that he had dipped in Hydra’s blood to make its strike fatal. But because Chiron was immortal, he couldn’t die from his injury. Zeus took pity on Chiron and released him to the sky, where he became the constellation Centaurus.

 

8. Monoceros

Monoceros means “one-horned” in Latin, so it’s an appropriate name for the Unicorn constellation. This group was first shown on a globe by the Dutch astronomer and theologian Petrus Plancius in 1612. The Unicorn fills a part of the sky between the constellations Hydra, Orion, Canis Major, and Canis Minor, all of which Ptolemy listed in the Almagest. According to science writer Ian Ridpath, Plancius may have fashioned the Unicorn after the famous Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries woven in the Netherlands around 1500. One tapestry shows the unicorn pursued by hunting dogs; Monoceros is positioned in the sky between Canis Major and Canis Minor, the two celestial dogs.

 

9. Phoenix

Navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman accompanied the first Dutch voyage to what is now Indonesia in 1595. Petrus Plancius had trained and instructed Keyser to chart stars in the Southern Hemisphere, and de Houtman served as Keyser’s assistant. They eventually identified 12 new southern constellations and named some after the natural history of the region. The Phoenix, located near the constellation Eridanus, refers to the mythical, multicolored bird that is able to rise from the ashes of its predecessor. The Dutch duo may have been inspired to record the Phoenix after seeing birds of paradise, a group of spectacularly plumed birds native to Indonesia and first described by Europeans in the 16th century.

 

10. Leo

When Heracles was made temporarily insane by the goddess Hera, he killed his wife and children. To atone for the murders, he was assigned 12 seemingly impossible labors. The first: to kill the Nemean lion, a fearsome beast with an impervious hide that relished attacking the local villagers. Heracles succeeded in overcoming the lion by gripping him in a bear hug and squeezing him to death. The constellation Leo echoes the lion’s ferocious attitude: A group of six stars are arranged in an arc representing the animal’s front torso and head, preparing to pounce. The brightest star in the arc is named Regulus, meaning “little king.”

 

Source: Wikipedia - Constellation  |  Constellation Names Facts

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Fact of the Day - THE WIZARD O OZ

Did you know.... that arguably one of the most beloved and iconic movies of all time, The Wizard of Oz is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year (2014). In the decades since it first captured the hearts of viewers everywhere, much has been revealed about the film based on L. Frank Baum’s classic children’s book, and many more urban legends have somehow weaved their way into its story (“hanging Munchkin” trope, anyone?). In fact, Oz trivia abounds. You may know that Buddy Ebsen (best known for his role as Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies) had to drop out of his role as the Tin Man because of an allergy to face paint, or that Dorothy and the Tin Man were briefly in-laws when Judy Garland’s daughter Liza Minnelli married Jack Haley Jr. But here are some lesser-known Oz facts to keep in mind the next time you take a trip down the yellow brick road with Dorothy and company. (Allison Johnelle Boron)

 

Fascinating Facts About “The Wizard of Oz”

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The Wizard of Oz — L. Frank Baum’s book and the beloved 1939 film it inspired — is a quintessentially American fairy tale. It features the hallmarks of a Brothers Grimm story, with a young adventurous child bumping into wizards, witches, and talking animals. Yet it transports these classic conventions to scenes of middle America, a place of scarecrows, prairies, and hot air balloons. All of this imagery is neatly wrapped into a reflection on the American dream, or the idea that brains, heart, and courage — combined with hard work — can help you reach what you desire. Even when that desire is simply to go back home.

 

1. The Wizard of Oz Canon Is Huge

Author L. Frank Baum wrote 14 books about the magical land of Oz, beginning with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, and continuing with later titles such as Ozma of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, and Rinkitink in Oz. Many of the novels were published in yearly installments around Christmas. After Baum died in 1919, a new children’s author — Ruth Plumly Thompson — took up the mantle and wrote another 21 Oz sequels.

 

2. Baum May Have Named Oz After a Piece of Office Furniture

“I have a little cabinet letter file on my desk in front of me,” Baum told the St. Louis Republic in 1903. “I was thinking and wondering about a title for my story, and I had settled on ‘Wizard’ as part of it. My gaze was caught by the gilt letters on the three drawers of the cabinet. The first was A-G; the next drawer was labeled H-N; and on the last were the letters O-Z. And Oz it at once became.” (Some researchers suspect Baum was joking here.)

 

3. Many Places Claim to Be Home of the Original Yellow Brick Road

In the late 19th century, yellow brick roads were relatively common. (The color is caused by a low iron content, plus high levels of lime.) So it’s no surprise that many places claim to have inspired Oz’s most famous roadway. Purported locations include Peekskill, New York (where Baum attended a military academy) and Ithaca, New York (where Baum’s wife, Maud, attended college). Baum’s son argued the fictional path took after the cobblestone roads of Holland, Michigan, where his father summered. Other claimants include Dallas, Chicago, and Aberdeen, South Dakota.

 

4. The Character of Dorothy Was Particularly Special to the Baum Family

It’s likely that Baum named the book’s protagonist after his niece, Dorothy Louise Gage, who died in infancy in late 1898. Baum’s wife, Maud, adored the little girl and was so upset by the loss that she needed medical help upon returning from the funeral. It’s believed Baum wrote Dorothy into the story as a way of keeping his niece’s memory alive.

 

5. The Oz Universe Predicted Cellular Phones

Baum wrote dozens of other novels and short stories, and he had a knack for predicting an impressive number of inventions in his books: the taser, digital calendars, and defibrillators to name a few. In his novel The Master Key, a character even discovers an augmented reality gadget that predates Pokémon GO by a century. But Baum’s most notable prediction comes in Ozma of Oz: 

 

Shaggy … drew from his pocket a tiny instrument which he placed against his ear. 

 

Ozma, observing this action in her Magic Picture, at once caught up a similar instrument from a table beside her and held it to her own ear. The two instruments recorded the same delicate vibrations of sound and formed a wireless telephone, an invention of the Wizard.

 

6. The Book Contains a Slick Sales Pitch

Before he was writing books and short stories, Baum was working as a traveling salesman for his family’s oil company. The corporation’s No. 1 product was an axle oil called “Baum’s Castorine,” which was advertised as being “so smooth it makes the horses laugh.” It’s in this context that the Tin Woodman (or Tin Man, as he’s called in the film) was likely invented. When Dorothy meets the Tin Man, he badly needs a can of lubricating oil. It’s almost as if Baum couldn’t help himself from making one last sales pitch!

 

7. The Wizard Was Partly Inspired by an American Robber Baron

The Baum family did not get along with John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil, whose unscrupulous attempts to squeeze his competitors out of business were, to say the least, not appreciated. As a result, Baum loved poking fun at the oil tycoon. The character of the Wizard, in some ways, is actually a reflection of Rockefeller: A terrifyingly powerful figure who possesses an outsize control of the world around him (but who is, when all is said and done, merely human). In fact, the wizard’s appearance — “a little old man, with a bald head and a wrinkled face” — may be a cruel joke pointed at Rockefeller, who suffered extremely embarrassing hair loss from alopecia. Other references to Rockefeller are even more explicit. In an early stage adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a rusty Tim Woodman imagines a world without oil. The Scarecrow replies: “You wouldn’t be as badly off as John D. Rockefeller.”

 

8. The Tin Man Contains Political Overtones

The book and movie contain other topical references often lost on modern audiences. The book’s Tin Woodman, for example, was a trope in political cartoons of the late 19th century. These “tin people” were a political allegory criticizing the abuses of unfettered capitalism: A symbol of the human worker treated as a machine. While it’s no surprise that Baum evoked imagery commonly seen in mass media at the time, it is surprising how pointed his commentary is. After all, what does the Tin Man — a figure that represents the dehumanization of industry — desperately search for? A heart.

 

9. Oz Went to Broadway Immediately

Baum was determined to turn The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into a stage musical. Starting in 1902 — just two years after the original story’s publication — a wildly successful production would open in Chicago, play on Broadway, and tour across the United States. The stage version, however, departed heavily from Baum’s book. It was aimed at an adult audience and was stuffed with explicit political references. It added new characters, including a waitress and a streetcar operator. Toto was replaced by a cow named Imogene. And the Wicked Witch of the West? She’s nowhere to be seen.

 

10. Baum Was a Proto-Disney

Decades before Walt Disney ever dreamt of Disneyland, Baum was already talking about building a magical “Land of Oz” amusement park near San Diego, California. The theme park’s advisory board was reportedly going to be run entirely by children. Baum’s idea never materialized, but an Oz-themed park did exist in North Carolina in the 1970s (and reopens occasionally now).

 

Source: What You Might Not Know About The Wizard of Oz  |  Facts About The Wizard of Oz

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Fact of the Day - DEEP SEA CREATURES

Did you know... that the term deep sea creature refers to organisms that live below the photic zone of the ocean. These creatures must survive in extremely harsh conditions, such as hundreds of bars of pressure, small amounts of oxygen, very little food, no sunlight, and constant, extreme cold. Most creatures have to depend on food floating down from above. These creatures live in very demanding environments, such as the abyssal or hadal zones, which, being thousands of meters below the surface, are almost completely devoid of light. The water is between 3 and 10 degrees Celsius and has low oxygen levels. Due to the depth, the pressure is between 20 and 1,000 bar. Creatures that live hundreds or even thousands of meters deep in the ocean have adapted to the high pressure, lack of light, and other factors. (Wikipedia)

 

Mind-Boggling Creatures From the Deep Sea

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Scientists used to believe that few species could survive in the pitch-dark, freezing-cold depths of the ocean, where the weight of the water creates immense pressure. But we know now that even the deepest ocean floors teem with life. Many of the creatures in the deep have evolved fascinating adaptations to deal with their challenging environment, such as translucent skin that blends into the dark water, huge jaws for grasping the scarce prey, long legs to navigate the rocky seafloor, and organs that glow in the dark. And while we sometimes don’t know much about these species given their hard-to-reach habitat, marine scientists are learning more all the time.

 

1. Bloodybelly Comb Jelly

 

Despite the “jelly” in their name, comb jellies are not actually jellyfish — they're a different type of creature altogether. They have eight rows of combs, or cilia — little translucent hairs that beat to propel them through the water. These stunning sea creatures are known for the disco-worthy show they produce when hit with a beam of light from an underwater vessel; the light scatters along the cilia to produce a rainbow effect. The light looks especially gorgeous on the deep-red bloodybelly comb jelly (Lampocteis cruentiventer), which lives between about 1,200 and 3,200 feet down in the northeast Pacific. Although the bloodybelly comes in different shades of scarlet, its stomach is always blood-red, which scientists think may help disguise the bioluminescent prey it eats so that the bloodybelly itself doesn’t become a snack. And while the crimson hue looks startling to us, in the lightless deep ocean it fades to black, allowing the bloodybelly to stay well-hidden.

 

 2. Warty Seadevil

 

Warty seadevils are the largest of the anglerfish, a group named for their dorsal spines, which dangle a fleshy and often bioluminescent “bait” to attract prey. (As The New York Times put it, they are “fish that fish.”) Only the females have this lure, however, and the much-smaller males have evolved a strange trick to keep from swimming the depths forever in search of a mate. Once they reach adulthood, a male seadevil will bite a female and then fuse with her circulatory system, drawing nourishment from her blood while releasing sperm as necessary. He stays in this parasitic embrace for the rest of his life, while his eyes and fins atrophy. More formally known as the Ceratiidae family, these bizarre creatures live in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

 

3. Dumbo Octopus

Unlike the blobfish, the dumbo octopus (Grimpoteuthis) is downright adorable. The name refers to a whole genus of deep-sea octopuses named for the Disney protagonist, due to their fins that resemble elephant ears. They’re part of a group called umbrella octopuses, because they have webs of skin that look like umbrellas when their tentacles spread apart. These cute critters, which come in a range of colors, live deep in the open ocean worldwide, at depths of at least 13,000 feet. They’re naturally rare, so they’ve evolved some mating strategies to allow them to reproduce whenever they find a mate, one of which includes the females constantly carrying eggs in all stages of development.

 

4. Vampire Squid

 

Despite its fearsome-looking tentacles and startling name, this creature is not terribly threatening — it’s only about as big as a football. (The first scientist to describe it, Carl Chun, gave the species the Latin name Vampyroteuthis infernalis — "vampire squid from hell” — because its dark coloring, glowing red eyes, and cloak-like webbing apparently suggested a vampire.) Vampire squids are also the only known cephalopod that don’t catch live prey for food, and instead feed on “marine snow,” a charming name for an un-charming substance mix of dead animals, mucus, and feces. The animals themselves can be pale to deep red or black, and live between about 2,000 and 10,000 feet down across the world’s tropical and temperate oceans. Technically, they’re not squids, or octopuses, but have characteristics of both and belong to their own order, Vampyromorphida.

 

5. Japanese Spider Crab

The Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) can grow 13 feet from end to end, making it the largest of the spider crabs and possibly the largest known arthropod. Its unusually long legs help it stroll around the sloping sea floor. These spider crabs live in deep waters of the Pacific near Japan (up to about 2,000 feet down), although they move to shallower areas during spawning season.

 

6. Barreleye

 

The barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma) has one of nature’s most unusual heads: It’s completely transparent and filled with fluid. For decades, marine biologists thought its large, bright-green eyes were only able to stare straight ahead, but recent studies by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have shown that the eyes can rotate upward to look through the transparent head for food, or point forward when the fish is feeding. The eyes are also extremely sensitive, which helps barreleyes search for faint outlines of prey in the dark waters of the North Pacific.

 

7. Sloane’s Viperfish

The slender, iridescent Sloane’s viperfish (also called Sloane’s fangfish), or Chauliodus sloani, is one of nine species of viperfish that live deep in the world’s tropical and temperate oceans. The first part of its name comes from the British naturalist and collector Sir Hans Sloane, while the second part comes from the long fangs that stick up from both its upper and lower jaws, which help it grasp wriggling prey. These fish live deep down, between 3,200 and 6,500 feet, although they rise to shallower locations during the night.
 

8. Blob Sculpin

 

Yes, this blobfish (Psychrolutes phrictus) is pretty ugly by human standards — a related species was even named the world’s ugliest animal. This particular blobfish, part of the Psychrolutidae (“Fatheads”) family, lives between 1,600 and 9,000 feet down in the North Pacific. Like many other deep-sea creatures, they have a minimal skeleton and little muscle, an adaptation that helps them survive the immense pressure. They don’t look so bad in the deep sea, but bringing them up to the surface turns them into distasteful-looking piles of jelly.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Deep Sea Creature  |  Facts About Creatures from the Deep Sea
 

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Fact of the Day - ANCIENT EGYPTIAN INVENTIONS

Did you know... that there may be no greater tribute to a society's ingenuity and vision than Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza. Originally standing 481 feet (147 meters) tall, the Great Pyramid towers over monuments like the Statue of Liberty and Big Ben [source: PBS]. Of course, the pyramids are only part of ancient Egypt's legacy. Over the thousands of years ancient Egyptians thrived, they ushered in perhaps the most advanced civilization the world had ever known, and many of the fixtures of their society are still commonplace. For instance, Egyptian women donned ornate jewelry and wigs, the men boxed, fenced and wrestled for sport and the children played with board games, dolls and other toys. They also thrived as inventors, and, as you'll see in this list of 10 amazing Egyptian inventions, their creations changed everything from fashion to agriculture so drastically that we still see their influence today. (Jonathan Atteberry & Patrick J. Kiger  |  Updated: Dec 16, 2021)

 

Surprising Things the Ancient Egyptians Invented

by: Interesting Facts

The ancient Egyptians were one of the most intriguing civilizations in history. They erected enormous stone pyramids without the use of any of the heavy machinery we have today, they had a culture rich in complex mythology, and they were one of the first groups of people to translate their spoken language into a written one. You don't have to be an Egyptologist to know that we owe the Egyptians for many of the ideas we still use today, but it may surprise you to learn that these five things were invented by the ancient Egyptians too.

 

1. Toothpaste

The oldest known formula for toothpaste was found on a piece of papyrus that is said to be more than 1,600 years old. The writer of the recipe called it "a powder for white and perfect teeth," which, once mixed with saliva, forms a "tooth paste" that cleans teeth. Ingredients included rock salt, mint, dried iris flower, and crushed pepper. One dentist who tried it said that it made his gums bleed, but that it was much more effective than some other toothpastes that were created in the last century.

 

2. Scissors

For some reason, many scholars credit Leonardo da Vinci with inventing scissors (maybe because he invented so many other things). There is proof, though, that the Egyptians were using scissors long before the great artist and polymath was even born — way back in 1500 BCE, to be precise. These scissors were composed of a single piece of bronze formed into two blades and held together by a strip of metal. The strip kept the blades apart until they were squeezed together to cut things.

 

3. Prosthetic Appendage

Scientists knew that the ancient Egyptian civilization was advanced, but they didn't know just how advanced until they tested a prosthetic toe that came from the foot of a female mummy from about 950–710 BCE. While false body parts were often attached to mummies for burial purposes, experts agree that this toe was in fact used while the person was still alive. The wear and tear on the three-part leather and wood appendage (which was thought to be tied onto the foot or a sandal with string) proved that it was used to help the person walk, and tests using a replica of the toe fitted to a volunteer missing the same part of their foot showed that it significantly improved their gait in Egyptian-style sandals.

 

4. The Solar Calendar

While the Egyptians weren't the first to invent a calendar, they did create the calendar that laid the basis for the one we use today — the solar calendar. Since farming was key to the Egyptians, they made a schedule of the different seasons tied to the flooding of the Nile and the movements of Sirius, also known as the Dog Star. After doing extensive research on the movements of the stars and the solar cycle, they broke each season into four months, each with 30 days (with a couple of extra days at the end of the season), which gave us the 365-day calendar we have been using ever since.

 

5. Marshmallows

Today marshmallows are largely reserved for campfires and hot chocolate, but in ancient Egypt they were a treat for the gods. The ancients took sap from the mallow plant (which grows in marshes) and mixed it with nuts and honey. Scholars aren’t sure what the treat looked like, but they know it was thought suitable only for pharaohs and the divine. It wasn’t until 19th-century France that confectioners began whipping the sap into the fluffy little pillows we know and love today.

 

 

Source: Amazing Ancient Egyptian Inventions  |  Facts About Ancient Egyptian Inventions

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Fact of the Day - THE HUMAN BODY

Did you know... that the human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body. It comprises a head, neck, trunk, arms and hands, legs and feet. (Wikipedia)

 

The human body is one of the most complicated and fascinating living forms on Earth.  For example: Your left and right lungs aren't exactly the same. The lung on the left side of your body is divided into two lobes while the lung on your right side is divided into three. The left lung is also slightly smaller, allowing room for your heart. (Meenambika Menon)

 

Weird Things Your Body Does, Explained

by Interesting Facts

The human body is a beautiful, complicated collection of nerves, blood vessels, muscles, organs, and bones, all working together in intricate processes. Though science has been able to explain many things about how our bodies work, certain anatomical quirks continue to astound us today — common bodily functions included.

 

1. What Are Goosebumps?

Goosebumps, known in medical parlance as piloerection, are caused by contractions in small muscles that are connected to hair follicles. This creates a depression on the skin’s surface, resulting in the hairs standing upright. Its name comes from the resemblance of skin to that of a plucked bird. It is believed that this is an inherited trait from our prehistoric ancestors. They had thicker coats of body hair, which created insulation and kept the body warm when stimulated. While our layer of body hair is too thin to make this insulation process effective, the muscle contraction and increased electrical activity does help to stimulate the body, which is why goosebumps that are caused by the cold go away when you warm up. Goosebumps are also associated with a wide range of emotional situations. People talk about getting goosebumps when scared, or while listening to rousing songs or watching a high-stakes sporting event. Goosebumps can be triggered by the subconscious release of the testosterone hormone. When high levels of stress occur, whether positive or negative, testosterone is released to help in the fight-or-flight decision-making process. This cues goosebumps, and we start to feel our hair prick up. Goosebumps may be a little mysterious, but generally speaking, when you feel them cropping up, all you need to do is take a deep breath, relax a little, and maybe put on a sweater.

 

2. What Is Déjà Vu?

Have you ever had a sneaking suspicion that you’re experiencing a scenario that’s already happened? Then you’ve dealt with déjà vu. The term is (as you may have guessed) French, and the literal translation means “already seen.” But in everyday life, déjà vu refers to the weird feeling you get when you’re in a situation that feels like you’ve already lived it, and are somehow living it again. Research shows that there’s a direct relation between déjà vu and seizures. Specifically, the phenomenon is linked to temporal lobe epilepsy and has been described in people with a known medical history of the condition. But plenty of people have experienced déjà vu who don’t have a history of epilepsy or seizures. In healthy people, déjà vu is believed to be caused by a memory mismatch, where a new experience is stored in long-term memory and completely bypasses the short-term memory. In this scenario, you have that weird sensation that you’ve been through an experience before when in reality, it’s just your brain’s memory system having a glitch. There are also other causes of déjà vu that might have more to do with your daily habits than your medical history. One of the most common causes of déjà vu is being overly distracted. Sleep deprivation is another. If you’re walking through life in a perpetual sleep-deprived haze, you might feel like you’re reliving experiences when in truth, you’re just too exhausted to parse reality from dreams.

 

3. Why Do We Have Wisdom Teeth?

Wisdom teeth are just like any other molar in your mouth. For the first few years of a human’s life, they eat only soft foods and have no need for molars to crush and grind. Around the age of six, the first set of molars come in. When a person reaches 12, another set appears. The wisdom teeth are the final set of molars that appear between ages 18 and 21. Early humans were hunter gatherers who survived on leaves, roots, meat, and nuts — things that required a lot of crushing ability. The more grinding teeth you have, the easier it is to eat tough foods. As humans evolved, they began to cook their food, making it softer and easier to chew. Having three full sets of molars became unnecessary. Additionally, early humans had larger jaws than we do today — which could support more teeth. Over time, as the need for super-powerful jaws decreased, human jaws got smaller. But the number of teeth stayed the same. That’s why today, many people need to get their wisdom teeth removed in order to create more space. Because wisdom teeth aren’t necessary for modern humans, they may someday cease to exist at all.

 

4. Why Do We Sneeze?

The primary purpose of a sneeze is straightforward — sneezes help to remove irritants from the nasal passage. These irritants include dust, dirt, pollen, smoke, or anything else that could possibly get stuck in there. Blowing it all out is the best way your body can clear it. Sometimes sneezes seem to come in pairs or more. Some people — maybe even you — have a specific number of sneezes that they produce each time. If someone sneezes three times, every time, their sneezes might not be as powerful as a single-sneezer’s is, and it requires three attempts to get rid of the irritant. Sneezing also plays an important role in fighting the spread of bacteria when we’re sick. The body’s natural reaction to infection is to produce mucus in an effort to trap the bacteria. Once trapped, it’s time to get rid of it. Sneezing is the most efficient way to expel mucus from the body. It’s also the most efficient way to spread bacteria, so remember to cover your mouth and nose. Even when there aren’t irritants or bacteria present, your nose produces mucus to catch potential irritants before they can get to your lungs. Sometimes, through normal production, the nasal passage gets too full and needs to be reset. Whenever you get a random sneeze that seems to be out of nowhere, it’s most likely just to reset your nasal passage. Sneezing is still something of a mystery, however, as there are some causes that don’t seem to make much sense. About one in four people sneeze when they look into a bright light. This is called a photic sneeze reflex, and it’s an inherited genetic trait. The leading theory is that a certain stimulation of the optical nerve causes the same sensation in your brain as irritation in the nose, but the true cause still eludes researchers.

 

5. Why Do We Blink?

The average person blinks about 12 times per minute, 10,000 times per day, and 4.2 million times per year. That’s a lot of blinking. The most obvious reason that we blink is to lubricate our eyes. Lubricating tears are constantly being produced in your body and are made up of three layers: the mucous layer so that it adheres to your eye; the aqueous layer, which is a thick layer that hydrates and keeps bacteria away; and the oily layer, which prevents the other two layers, which are predominantly water, from evaporating. Every time you blink, these tears are pulled across the surface of your eye to keep it lubricated and prevent the spread of bacteria. Additionally, blinking helps clear dust and particles that are continuously getting into your eyes. When your eyes water, the extra fluid helps cleanse and soak up the debris, while the blinking is like a windshield wiper pushing it away. Blinking also works as a reflex in response to external stimuli. Your eyes can close in 0.1 seconds after stimulus is detected. Sometimes the stimulus is the bright bathroom light at 3 a.m. Sometimes it’s a fistful of sand. This is called the corneal reflex, and it is designed to prevent as much debris as possible from entering and damaging your eye.

 

6. Why Do We Yawn?

It was long believed that yawning was a respiratory function. When your body is running low on oxygen, a yawn is triggered to force a deep inhale and exhale. This increases oxygen levels in the bloodstream, and the yawn itself raises your heartbeat to pump the oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. While this theory is still possible, or is, perhaps, one aspect of yawning, it’s not the whole story. Instead of oxygen deprivation, researchers now believe that the primary function of yawning is regulating temperature. Your brain is the most energy-hungry organ in your body. It uses about 40% of your total metabolic energy. All that energy means that your brain tends to run hot and needs some way to cool down. Your brain uses yawning like your computer uses fans. During a yawn, cold air is brought in through the mouth. The muscles in your jaw and around your skull contract and stretch, which increases blood circulation in the area. The air cools the blood, and the increase in heart rate pumps the cooler blood to your brain. A cooler brain is a more alert brain. Your body knows how to be efficient. If the surrounding air is cooler, yawning will be more effective. It might sound strange, but studies have shown that people yawn more frequently in cooler temperatures. People yawned 21% more often when the outside air was 70 degrees Fahrenheit versus 98 degrees (body temperature). Similar results were also found with other species of animals. There are dozens of other triggers associated with yawning, however. Obvious culprits like boredom and drowsiness mean your brain needs to be stimulated, but yawning can also be triggered by other events like anxiety, hunger, or even a change of activity. Any time your brain needs some extra focus, it might trigger a yawn for a refreshing cool down.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Human Body  |  Facts About What Your Body Can Do

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ICONIC ALBUM COVERS

Did you know... that truly iconic album covers don’t just define an album, they define an era, a generation, and, in some cases, an entire musical genre. Sometimes they do all three: what is The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club album cover, if not the ultimate manifestation of 60s psychedelia for the “peace and love” crowd? (uDiscover Team  |  September 8, 2021)

 

Iconic Album Covers and the Stories Behind Them

by Interesting Facts

The experience of listening to and collecting music has changed over the years, with streaming having long since surpassed physical media, commercially speaking — a development that has in turn led to a resurgence of vinyl (and, to a lesser extent, even cassettes) among purists. One major reason the 12-inch LP will never die? The primacy of eye-catching cover art. Here are eight iconic album covers and the stories behind them.

 

1. Elvis Presley: "Elvis Presley" (1956)

They didn’t call him Elvis the Pelvis for nothing. Featuring a black-and-white image of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll in the heat of performance, Elvis Presley’s self-titled debut also showcases his first and last name in bold pink and green lettering. The photo itself was snapped during a performance at Tampa, Florida’s Fort Homer Hesterly Armory on July 31, 1955, by William V. “Red” Robertson (not, as was thought for years, famed music photographer William "Popsie" Randolph, who took the photos that appear on the album’s back). Incidentally, Elvis wasn’t even the headliner at the performance in Tampa that night; that honor belonged to Andy Griffith, who sang and did comedy routines. The actual album was short and sweet — its 12 tracks run just 28 minutes — while its legacy was anything but, as another entry on this list will make clear.

 

2. The Velvet Underground & Nico: "The Velvet Underground & Nico" (1967)

Peel slowly and see. Not many album covers feature text unrelated to the music contained therein, but not a lot of album covers were designed by Andy Warhol either. Not unlike his “Campbell’s Soup Cans,” the cover for The Velvet Underground & Nico is as simple as it is recognizable: an unpeeled banana with a few brown spots here and there. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Warhol also managed the band and was credited as producer on the album, though their professional relationship didn’t end well — the band fired Warhol after the album failed to gain traction. (At least initially; to say esteem for The Velvet Underground & Nico has grown in the years since its release would be putting it mildly). The album’s commercial failure also spawned a famous quip by Brian Eno, who said that while the album only sold some 30,000 copies in its first five years, “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.” As for the banana itself, you really could peel it (it was a sticker); doing so revealed a pink version of the fruit whose symbolism spoke for itself. Peeling the sticker also drastically reduced the album’s resale value, however, as unaltered copies are now highly valuable collector’s items.

 

3. The Beatles: "Abbey Road" (1969)

Arguably the most famous album cover of all time, one that has been endlessly imitated and inspired countless tributes, Abbey Road is also quite simple. It consists of nothing more than all four Beatles walking across the eponymous street in front of the since-renamed EMI Recording Studios, where they recorded their last album together. Seven or eight different versions of the iconic photo were taken by Iain Macmillan on August 8, 1969, and he only had about 15 minutes to do so — that's how long a police officer was willing to hold up traffic while Macmillan stood on a stepladder. For all that, Abbey Road wasn’t the album’s original title. Everest was floated as a possibility, after the brand of cigarette that engineer Geoff Emerick smoked while it was being recorded, but the band balked when it was suggested that they travel to the Himalayas for the photo shoot. It’s also the first and only Beatles album not to feature their name (or that of the album) on the cover. John Kosh, who designed it, “insisted we didn't need to write the band's name on the cover” for the simple reason that “they were the most famous band in the world.” Well, he wasn't wrong.

 

4. Pink Floyd: "The Dark Side of the Moon" (1973)

Elsewhere in artwork that doesn’t feature the name of either the band or the album, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon may be the only album cover whose legacy gives Abbey Road a run for its money. Designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis, a design group that was also commissioned by everyone from Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to T. Rex and AC/DC, it depicts light being reflected into color by a glass prism. Six of the seven colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet) are featured, with only indigo missing, but the more important number may be three. The prism, light beam, and color spectrum were apropos of the band’s iconic light shows as well as keyboardist Richard Wright’s suggestion to “do something clean, elegant and graphic.” Mission accomplished.

 

5. The Clash: "London Calling" (1979)

If this one reminds you of Elvis Presley, there’s a reason for that — it’s a direct callback. With lettering and colors too similar to have been a coincidence, London Calling’s artwork might never have been so iconic had it not been for an uncharacteristically quiet audience. The Clash performed at the Palladium in New York City in September of 1979, an event that was being photographed by Pennie Smith, when bassist Paul Simonon began smashing his bass to give the crowd something to react to. “The Palladium had fixed seating, so the audience was frozen in place,” Simonon has said of that fateful gig. “We weren't getting any response from them, no matter what we did. I'm generally good-natured, but I do bottle things up and then I'm like a light switch, off and on, and it can be quite scary, even for me, when I switch, because it's very sudden. Onstage that night I just got so frustrated with that crowd and when it got to the breaking point I started to chop the stage up with the guitar.”

 

6. Joy Division: "Unknown Pleasures" (1979)

Here’s one that everyone has seen, even if they can’t instantly identify the band responsible for it. Many theories have been put forth as to the precise meaning behind Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures — especially since it too features no text of any kind — from a heartbeat to a sound wave of some kind. The true answer: it’s a data visualization of the radio emissions from the first pulsar (also known as a rotating neutron star) ever discovered. Discovered by Cambridge student Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967, the pulsar was originally known as CP 1919 and its image was first published by Scientific American in January 1971. Joy Division member Bernard Sumner happened upon the image after it was reprinted in The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy, and it “clicked with [him] straight away” in part because it reminded him of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Peter Saville, the in-house designer at Factory Records, was the one who decided for a white-on-black approach, which he felt “had more presence” than their black-on-white idea; 2019’s 40th-anniversary rerelease went with Joy Division’s original idea.

 

 

7. Nirvana: "Nevermind" (1991

Few albums have altered the musical landscape quite like Nirvana’s 1991 breakthrough. In addition to grunge hits such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Come as You Are,” Nevermind is famous for its cover photograph of a nude baby swimming in a pool with a dollar on a fish hook just out of reach. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain conceived the idea after watching a television show about water births, leading Robert Fisher, the art director at Geffen Records, to seek out stock footage of water births that was eventually deemed too graphic. After the label balked at the prospect of paying $7,500 for a stock image of a swimming baby, photographer Kirk Weddle was tasked with taking photos at a nearby pool. Spencer Elden, whose picture ended up being used, was four months old at the time. Geffen hesitated to use the photo out of fears that it would be considered too explicit, but Cobain managed to change their minds. The cover, and Elden’s part in it, hasn't been without controversy. Elden filed a lawsuit against the remaining members of Nirvana in 2021 and sought $150,000 in damages, though the case was dismissed in January 2022.

 

8. The Smashing Pumpkins: "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" (1995)

Operatic in scope yet intimate in tone, the Smashing Pumpkins’ two-disc, 28-track magnum opus remains one of the most acclaimed albums of the 1990s. Its dreamlike beauty was captured perfectly by illustrator and collage artist John Craig, who Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan asked to design the booklet illustrations. After being faxed concepts and ideas by Corgan, many of which ended up in a deluxe version of the album, Craig got to work — and, when the original idea for the cover art fell through, he asked, “Why don't you give me a shot at the cover?” Long tight-lipped about the inspiration behind the star-riding woman adorning the eventual cover, Craig has since admitted that she was a composite based on Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s The Souvenir (Fidelity) from 1787–1789 and Raphael's Saint Catherine of Alexandria (circa 1507). He has also called it both “the CSI of album covers.”

 

 

Source: Most Iconic Album Covers of All Time  |  Facts About Album Covers

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS

Did you know... that Introspection is one of the most fundamental necessities of trying to understand who you are and what your place in the world is. It should be necessary to everyone to explain to themselves in a satisfactory manner a) why they believe in what they believe b) is there a possibility of them being completely and utterly wrong in their conclusions. In addition, being able to examine your own internal process from a non-involved vantage point while it's happening is extremely helpful in creating a complete idea of your self-identity. (Alex Bützow, Nordic Law Student  |  Dec. 6, 2017)

 

Major Philosophical Ideas, Explained

by Interesting Facts

Philosophy can be daunting. Over the past two millennia, there have been dozens of movements, doctrines, and various “isms.” The texts can be excruciatingly dense, cryptic, and dry. Yet some philosophical theories are so powerful, they shape the way you think and act without you even noticing. Here are six major philosophical ideas that still resonate today.

 

1. Plato’s Theory of Forms

Close your eyes and imagine a perfect circle. Now open your eyes and try to draw one. That’s Plato’s metaphysics in a nutshell: While most of us can conceive of a perfect circle, none of us can recreate one. According to Plato, every object on Earth is imperfect (like the circle you drew) but possesses an ideal “form” (like the perfect circle in your mind). Forms are unchangeable, pure, and ideal. The objects on Earth are mere “shadows” — blemished imitations — of those forms. While it may sound uselessly abstract, Plato’s Theory of Forms is actually the bedrock of much Western thought. Early Christian writers, for example, adopted Plato’s theory to build their understanding of God and heaven. It was also a major influence on early scientific thought. And it continues to affect our thinking today. For example, replace the idea of the perfect circle with the perfect justice system. Many people believe that a truly fair, truly ideal system of justice is “out there.” They also believe that the current system falls short of that vision. Our belief that a standard, fixed, and ideal justice system is “out there” as a goal to aim toward is fundamentally Platonic. This belief that all things possess inherent, discoverable qualities has a name: “Essentialism.” As we’ll later discover, it can be controversial.

 

2. Descartes’ Dualism

“I think, therefore I am.” More than a catchy quote, the famous declaration by René Descartes continues to shape the way people live. And it all started in the 17th century when Descartes was engaged in a tit-for-tat on the topic of “radical doubt.” At the time, many philosophers believed that we learn about certain truths through senses such as touch and sight. Descartes thought that this was wrong: The senses were deceiving. (A person, after all, could be hallucinating or dreaming.) Descartes’ critics responded by asking: “If the senses can be so deceiving, then what’s stopping us from doubting everything, including our own existence?” Descartes’ response: Cogito, ergo sum — “I think, therefore I am.” The fact that you can doubt your own existence, the philosopher said, is proof that you exist. Mental phenomena, Descartes declared, are not part of the senses. They are not of the physical world at all. Rather, the mind and body are distinct, separate. Consciousness and the mind are not made of physical matter. This latter argument, called Cartesian dualism, was widely adopted by thinkers across the West and led to a flourishing of scientific thought, particularly in medicine. Writing for the journal Mens Sana Monograph, psychology professor Mathew Gendle notes, “The formal separation of the ‘mind’ from the ‘body’ allowed for religion to concern itself with the noncorpoeal ‘mind,’ while dominion over the ‘body’ was ceded to medical science.” This advance contributed to great strides in medicine, but it also created problems. For one thing, it encouraged a view that physical and mental problems are entirely separate, without the ability to influence one another. It also promoted a sense that mental experiences are less legitimate than physical ones, contributing to a culture that often stigmatizes mental health concerns. As it turns out, when an entire society separates mind from body, we risk treating mental health problems as less “real,” even though they can affect us just as much as any broken bone.

 

3. Rousseau’s “General Will”

Jean Jacques Rousseau never viewed himself as a mere philosopher — he was also a musician, playwright, and composer. But his political philosophy had a more lasting influence than any aria, shaping governments across the world. In the 1760s, Rousseau was in his 50s and monarchs were still ruling Europe. The Geneva-born thinker believed that kings and queens had no divine right to legislate the masses, however. He outlined these beliefs in a book called The Social Contract, envisioning a world where free and equal people ruled. When the book was promptly banned in France, it proved Rousseau’s central thesis: Individual freedom was easily hampered by the authority of the state. In The Social Contract, Rousseau spent a lot of time exploring the contradictions of freedom. Society was expanding at the time, and people were growing more dependent on others for survival. A strong state was necessary to help ensure equality and justice. But how could you build strong political institutions — endowed with power and authority — and still protect individual freedoms? Rousseau’s solution was his theory of “the general will.” Under a monarchy or a dictatorship, laws routinely impinge on freedoms. Rousseau argued that, to protect those freedoms, laws had to be determined by the collective will (or “general will”) of the citizenry. And the best tool to interpret the general will was via democracy. Only then could the state truly serve the will of the people. Rousseau’s theory is credited with sparking the French Revolution and possibly inspiring many of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Today, many of our political differences continue to revolve around the fundamental tension Rousseau identified: how best to balance personal freedoms with state power.

 

4. Schopenhauer’s Theory of Aesthetics

Arthur Schopenhauer was a famous curmudgeon, a wild-haired pessimist who notably helped introduce Western intellectuals to Indian philosophy. His writings, however, would forever change the way we think about art.  Before Schopenhauer, most artwork — whether music or painting or dance — was considered a frivolous diversion or akin to a decorative craft, not an expression of genius or a person’s innermost feelings. But Schopenhauer helped change those attitudes with his theory about the human will. It’s complicated, but briefly: The philosopher believed we are held captive by our wills — our strivings, our desires, our urges — and are doomed to suffer. One way to escape this suffering, Schopenhauer argued, was through aesthetic experiences. Art functions as a quasi-religious experience, freeing us from the suffering of our own will. Furthermore, he argued, great art was the product not of mere craftsmen, but of genius. Naturally, a lot of artists liked Schopenhauer’s thoughts on aesthetics. Richard Wagner, Leo Tolstoy, and reams of other creatives trumpeted his work, which elevated art to a higher plane. Thanks to Schopenhauer’s theories, artists and artwork started being lauded as vital and necessary to the health of society. A canon of famous masterpieces was assembled, with people treating their creators with a growing God-like reverence. Many of these attitudes, which helped define 19th-century Romanticism, still persist today.

 

5. Nietzsche’s Übermensch

One of the most misunderstood and misappropriated philosophers, Friedrich Nietszche often cast as a gloomy nihilist. But that gets it wrong. Nietzsche was staring into the headlights of a crisis and wanted to help humanity before it was too late. In his 1882 book The Gay Science, Nietzsche famously wrote that “God is dead.” But the philosopher wasn’t advocating for atheism, he was making an observation: Christianity had lost much of its power in Europe. For centuries, Christian thought was — for better and for worse — the foundation of the continent’s value system. But by the late 19th century, science and scholarship had chipped away at people’s faith. Nietzsche saw two possible outcomes: Either people would despair into nihilism and drift away from any moral principles, convinced life had no meaning, or they would try to find new “religions” elsewhere, namely in mass political movements like fascism or communism. Nietszche shuddered at the thought of the second option, which would later become frighteningly real in his home country of Germany. He argued that people had no choice but to forge ahead through nihilism instead. But rather than embrace a meaningless life — and fall into corrosive despair — he offered a way to overcome this nihilism: the “Übermensch.” To Nietszche, the Übermensch is a person who rises above the conventional notions of morality and creates new values that embrace the beauty and suffering of existence. Hardly just the stuff of gloomy teenagers, Nietszche’s philosophy aimed to be life-affirming. (In fact, alternate translations of The Gay Science call it “The Joyful Wisdom.”)  

 

6. Sartre’s Existentialism

Remember Plato’s forms, the idea that everything on Earth is an imitation of an ideal form possessing a distinct essence? Essentialism has helped serve as the foundation of some of humanity’s great ideas. But it’s also been deployed in service of discrimination, suggesting that certain people — based on their race or gender — intrinsically possess specific (often negative) traits. French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre thought essentialist thinking was faulty. For Sartre, essences do not pre-exist people. Our world is not an imitation of “forms.” Rather, it’s the reverse: “Existence precedes essence,” Sartre said. Our values, our identity, and our purpose on Earth are not inherent or predetermined. We are not some imperfect manifestation of some perfect cosmic blueprint. Rather, we create our own essence by going out into the word, living, and making choices. This basic declaration is the very starting point for Sartre’s existentialism, the idea that humans are “condemned to be free” and that “life is nothing until it is lived … the value of it is nothing else but the sense that you choose.”  

 

 

Source: Philosophical Ideas That Everyone Should Understand?  |  Facts About Philosophical Ideas

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Did you know... that Abraham Lincoln was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War and succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy. Wikipedia

 

Things You Might Not Know About Abraham Lincoln

by Interesting Facts

Abraham Lincoln was the ultimate self-made man. Largely self-educated, he rose from the humblest of origins to become a lawyer and politician before being elected President of the United States in 1860. His unshakeable faith in and devotion to the United States was severely tested during the Civil War, and his savvy leadership ensured the Union’s survival. But his life and legacy were more complicated than history books often present. Explore six intriguing facts about America’s 16th President.

 

1. Abraham Lincoln Was the Only President to Receive a Patent

Lincoln had a lifelong fascination with machinery and often tinkered with mechanical devices and tools. He also spent much time traveling and working on the river boats that sailed along the Mississippi River and other waterways, which were prone to breaching onto shores in shallow waters. In 1848, while Lincoln was serving his sole term as a U.S. congressman, a boat he was traveling home to Illinois on got stuck on a sandbar — forcing  the captain to empty the barrels of cargo on board so he could use them to buoy and lift the ship back on the water. The incident sparked a new idea in Lincoln, who spent the Congressional break working on a design for inflatable bellows that could be attached to a ship’s hull to lift it over sandbars or other impediments. He had a scale model created and submitted the idea to the U.S. Patent Office. In May 1849, he received U.S. Patent No. 6469, although his flotation system was never put to practical use.

 

2. Lincoln Was the First President to Have a Beard

When you think of Lincoln, the first image that comes to mind is likely of a tall, thin man with a signature beard. But Lincoln actually spent much of his life clean-shaven, despite attacks by his political opponents who mocked his gaunt face and nearly emaciated frame. The introduction of photography was a game-changer in politics, and Lincoln, a little-known politician who had served just one term in Congress, seized on the new technology to introduce himself to the American people. It was one of these photos that caught the attention of Grace Bedell, an 11-year-old girl from New York. After seeing his picture on an election brochure, she wrote to Lincoln and urged him to grow a beard to obscure his thin face, cheekily noting, “All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President." Lincoln endearingly responded to Bedell and said that he worried some might see the change as a political ploy. He won without facial hair, but began growing a beard shortly before taking office — he even visited Bedell to show it off in person during a visit to New York. Lincoln’s beard became iconic, but it proved to be a short-lived trend. Only four other Presidents had full beards while in office, and the last was Benjamin Harrison, who left office in 1893.

 

3. Lincoln Was the First U.S. President to Appear on a Coin

Since the nation’s founding, U.S. currency has featured images and symbols linked to the concept of liberty, such as eagles or winged figures of victory. That changed in 1909 when the U.S. Mint redesigned the 1-cent coin to commemorate the centennial of Lincoln’s 1809 birth. The new coin, the first circulating one to honor a real person, featured a portrait of Lincoln by sculptor Victor David Brenner. The artist’s 1907 plaque of Lincoln reportedly caught the attention of then-President Theodore Roosevelt, who lobbied for its use on the new Lincoln penny, which was released in August 1909. Lincoln remained the only President honored on a coin for more than two decades until a redesigned quarter was released in 1932 to mark the bicentennial of the birth of America’s first President, George Washington.

 

4. Lincoln Helped Establish Thanksgiving as a National Holiday

Proclamations in support of national days of Thanksgiving dated back to the earliest days of the republic, including one issued by President George Washington in 1789 to celebrate the new U.S. Constitution. But the practice soon fell out of favor. In the subsequent decades, several states had their own celebrations, but no national commemoration. A national holiday had long been the dream of writer and magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale. The author of the poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Hale lobbied for a national day of thanks at the end of November and continued her push even after the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1863, she wrote a letter to Lincoln, who had already called for several other days of thanks to commemorate Union victories earlier in the war. Within weeks of receiving Hale’s letter, Secretary of State William Seward drafted a proclamation in the hopes of healing “the nation’s wounds.” The proclamation also called for a national day of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November to be celebrated annually. That remained the date until 1939, when it was briefly moved to the third Thursday by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, before returning to its current day in 1941.

 

5. The Gettysburg Address Was Less Than 275 Words Long

The 1863 Union victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was a key turning point in the war, but a bloody one, with over 51,000 combined casualties. The enormity of the losses spurred a local lawyer to push for the creation of a national cemetery to properly bury the dead. The day’s events were scheduled around an address by Edward Everett, a former Massachusetts Senator and Secretary of State who was considered one of the nation’s best orators. Lincoln’s invitation was almost an afterthought, and he wasn’t invited until just three weeks before the November 19 ceremony. Lincoln wrote part of the speech at the White House and likely finished the rest in Gettysburg the night before the ceremony. The following day, Everett delivered a two-hour speech, while Lincoln spoke for just two minutes. In his address, the President honored the sacrifices of the dead and called on a “new birth of freedom” as critical to the survival of America. Immediate reactions to Lincoln’s speech were mixed. But in the years following Lincoln’ death, the Gettysburg Address became one of the most important speeches in American history.

 

6. Lincoln’s Views on Slavery Were Complicated and Evolving

As a young politician, Lincoln opposed slavery on moral grounds and opposed its expansion. But he — and many other conservative Americans — disagreed with the more radical abolitionist cause, which called for the immediate end to slavery. Lincoln believed that the U.S. Constitution provided no measure for the federal government to unilaterally abolish slavery nationwide. Instead, he supported a slow, gradual end to the system in which slave states would voluntarily free their enslaved people in exchange for financial compensation by the government. Lincoln also supported the “colonization” movement, which encouraged the formerly enslaved to leave the United States for settlements in Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere. And while he believed Black people had the same “inalienable” rights to freedom as white people, he did not initially support the idea of equal political and civil rights for Black Americans. Lincoln’s positions began to shift during his presidency thanks to intense pressure from abolitionist leaders and the shifting nature of the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation was largely framed as a war effort to weaken the Confederacy by stripping it of its enslaved population. But the proclamation redefined the purpose of the war to one being undeniably fought over the moral question of freedom. Lincoln’s views on racial equality also began to shift in large part because of the brave sacrifices of Black soldiers. He strongly supported the passage of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. In his final public speech just days before his assassination in April 1865, he called for limited voting rights for Black Americans, a far cry from full equality but a position many Americans still considered radical.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Abraham Lincoln  |  Facts About Abraham Lincoln
 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - LUNAR EVENTS

An alignment of three planets over the summit of La Silla Observatory

Did you know.... that a celestial event is an astronomical phenomenon of interest that involves one or more celestial objects. Some examples of celestial events are the cyclical phases of the Moon, solar and lunar eclipses, transits and occultations, planetary oppositions and conjunctions, meteor showers, and comet flybys, solstices and equinoxes. (Wikipedia)

 

Rare Lunar Events to Watch in the Night Sky

by Interesting Facts

Once in a blue moon? Not if you know when (and where) to look. From the rare event that inspired this famous phrase to the so-called "supermoon," the moon can put on quite a show for those of us down on Earth. Here are five rare lunar events to keep an eye out for in the evening sky.

 

1. Blood Moon

A blood moon is a lot less scary than it sounds. The name comes from the color of the moon, which can range from a muddy brown to a bright red when the moon is in a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the sun and the full moon — blocking the light from the sun that usually illuminates the moon's surface. The only light hitting the moon comes from the sunrises and sunsets on Earth, giving it that distinct reddish hue. Seeing the moon turn red can be a little unsettling, so it's no wonder that many ancient cultures once thought the blood moon was a bad omen. The Inca people believed a blood moon occurred when a jaguar attacked and ate the moon. Ancient Mesopotamians, on the other hand, believed the blood moon was an omen that meant their king was in danger. To counter the threat of the moon, they'd hide the true king and put a false king in his place until the moon returned to normal. Some Native American tribes viewed the red color as a sign that the moon was wounded, so they would sing healing songs to it.

 

2. Blue Moon

The phrase "once in a blue moon" alludes to the fact that blue moons are a pretty rare phenomenon, but there are actually two ways a blue moon can show up in the night sky. The first is when the moon actually appears to turn blue thanks to dust or pollution in the atmosphere. The dust affects how the light reaches our eyes, which makes the moon appear blue. After the catastrophic eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in 1883, the moon appeared blue for about two years. On the other hand, the term "blue moon" also refers to a month that has two full moons in it. Most months only have one full moon since the lunar cycle (from a new moon to a full moon) takes roughly 29.5 days. Occasionally, the calendar will align and allow two full moons in a single month. That second full moon is referred to as a blue moon. It only happens once every two or three years, so you can count your lucky stars (or moons) when it happens.

 

3. Black Moon

While blue moons occur when there are two full moons in a single month, black moons are the exact opposite. Black moons most commonly refer to the second new moon in a single month, occurring on average every 32 months. Most of the time we get a single new moon each month due to the time it takes for the moon to travel around Earth. New moons happen when no sunlight shines on the moon's surface to illuminate it. There isn't much to see when you look up, although the moon is still there. When the new moon is over, you'll see a tiny sliver of the moon as it starts to receive the reflected light of the sun again. But there is another lunar phenomenon that might be referred to as a black moon — when there is no new moon in the month. This is an even rarer occurrence, which only happens about once a decade. It’s only likely to happen in the month of February, since it has fewer days.

 

4. Harvest Moon

A harvest moon is more than the title of a great Neil Young song — it's also the name given to the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. This is also the traditional time of the harvest when farmers would work in the fields and harvest their crops. The full moon allowed the farmers to work through the night, thanks to the extra hours of light overhead. Since the autumnal equinox happens every year, there is a harvest moon every year too, although the date changes. Harvest moons marked an important time of the year for European agricultural societies, and often included festivals and celebrations. The event was (and is) also celebrated in China and other parts of Asia during the Mid-Autumn Festival, with lots of games and delicious mooncakes.

 

5. Supermoon

Pink Supermoon, 2021

Love looking at the moon? Then the supermoon is the lunar event for you. Richard Nolle coined the term "supermoon" in 1979 to describe a moon that appears to be bigger and brighter in the sky than normal. It appears bigger because it's actually closer to Earth. Since the orbit of the moon around the Earth isn't perfectly symmetrical, there are times when the moon is slightly closer, which makes it appear about 12% bigger and an impressive 25% brighter than usual. Want to impress your friends? Let them know that the astronomical term for a supermoon is a perigee-syzygy. "Perigee" is the term for the point when the moon is closest to the earth. "Syzygy" is the astronomical term for the alignment of the sun, the moon, and the Earth, which happens at every full and new moon. Supermoons are great for stargazers who want to get a better look at the surface of the moon with their telescope. They aren't as uncommon as other lunar events either. There are two supermoons in 2021 and two in 2022, so mark your calendars!

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Celestial Event  |  Facts About Lunar Events

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - EXTINCT ANIMALS SAVED

Did you know... that extinction rates for birds and mammals since 1993 would have been ‘three to four times higher’ without action? Up to 48 bird and mammal extinctions have been prevented by conservation efforts since a global agreement to protect biodiversity, according to a new study. The Iberian lynx, California condor and pygmy hog are among animals that would have disappeared without reintroduction programmes, zoo-based conservation and formal legal protections since 1993, research led by scientists at Newcastle University and BirdLife International found. (Patrick Greenfield  |  September 10, 2020)

 

Animal Species Rescued From the Brink of Extinction

by Interesting Facts

It’s easy enough to find reports of animals facing extinction — more than 37,400 species are currently headed toward this fate, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. But there are some real conservation success stories, too. Whether it’s thousands of bald eagles now soaring the skies or fin whales returning to the ocean, these are cases in which governments and conservationists have worked diligently to protect some of the world’s most vulnerable critters. And while there’s still work to be done, it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate these victories for species both big and small.

 

1. Giant Panda

The story of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a major conservation triumph. Once critically threatened by poaching and habitat loss, the bamboo-munching black-and-white bears benefited from a series of laws and treaties starting in the 1980s that banned illegal hunting and the trade in panda skins. In 1992, the Chinese government also established a network of panda reserves, which today number 67. Conservation programs aimed at enriching forests and halting erosion have also benefited pandas by banning logging in the forests where they live. According to the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), the most recent panda census, conducted in 2014, found more than 1,860 pandas alive in the wild — a rise of 17% compared to 2004. In 2016, the Red List changed the panda’s status from “Endangered” to “Vulnerable.” While conservation work is still necessary to protect these majestic creatures, their numbers are at last moving in the right direction.

 

2. American Alligator

Alligators have existed on Earth for 200 million years, but their population was at a record low when the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) was listed as an endangered species in 1967. The Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the wildlife agencies of Southern U.S. states, banned hunting of the species, and alligator populations bounced back quickly. In 1987, the Fish and Wildlife Service pronounced the American alligator fully recovered and removed it from the endangered species list — an early conservation success story. American alligators are now found across the Atlantic coast and the Gulf coast, as well as the Florida Everglades.

 

 

3. Bald Eagle

In the middle of the 20th century, things weren’t looking good for America’s national bird. Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) faced habitat loss, illegal hunting, and contamination of their food with the pesticide DDT, which weakened their eggshells, endangering chicks. By 1963, the birds’ numbers had fallen to only about 400 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states. The U.S. government responded with a series of measures that prohibited harming or killing the birds, and in 1973, the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT. That same year, bald eagles became one of the original species protected by the Endangered Species Act. By 2007, the U.S. population of bald eagles had grown to 10,000 nesting pairs, and the animals were finally removed from the endangered species list. More recently, their numbers have really soared — during the 2019 breeding season, there were an estimated 316,700 bald eagles flying the skies of the lower 48.

 

4. Gray Wolf

By the early 20th century, gray wolves (Canis lupis) had almost disappeared from the lower 48 states. Since wolves have a tendency to kill cattle, ranchers targeted the creatures, bringing them close to extinction. When the wolves were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1975, their numbers had dwindled to about 1,000, mostly located in northern Minnesota. But in the mid-1990s, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and Idaho — and their numbers began to rebound. Today, the gray wolf population stands at more than 6,000. There’s currently talk of removing them from Endangered Species Act protection, but the move is controversial among conservationists and biologists, who argue there’s still more work needed to protect the species and its habitat.

 

5. Fin Whale

Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), the second-largest species of whales, were historically hunted for their blubber, meat, oil, and bone. As was the case with other large whales, their populations severely declined by the mid-20th century, thanks to overexploitation from commercial whaling. But since the 1970s, the worldwide population of fin whales has roughly doubled, thanks to international whaling bans in the North Pacific and Southern Hemisphere, as well as reductions in North Atlantic catches. Today, the IUCN Red List lists them as “Vulnerable” worldwide (an improvement over their previous “Endangered” status), although they are still listed as endangered in the U.S. under the Endangered Species Act. According to NOAA, their greatest threat in the U.S. now comes from vessel strikes.

 

6. Echo Parakeet

The beautiful bright-green echo parakeet (Psittacula eques echo) lives only on the island nation of Mauritius, off the coast of Africa. While the birds once thrived, less than a dozen remained by the 1980s, a result of habitat destruction and a rise in invasive predators. Starting in the 1970s, conservationists launched a serious rescue effort that included treating echo parakeet nests with insecticide to ward off flies that were killing young chicks; improving nest boxes to keep out rats and monkeys; providing supplemental food; and, starting in 1993, a captive breeding and release program. After decades of effort, there are now more than 750 echo parakeets in the wild. The IUCN Red List, which had once listed the birds as Critically Endangered, now considers them “Vulnerable.” Conservation efforts to protect them continue, but their numbers are increasing, and they don’t seem likely to disappear any time soon.

 

Source: The Age of Extinction  |  Facts About Animal Brought Back From the Brink of Extinction

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - FOREIGN WORDS

Did you know.... that one of the beauties of spoken language is that it allows us to express our complex thoughts and emotions in ways that were not possible or feasible with just sounds or gestures. But have you ever experienced the frustration of having some idea or feeling inside you for which you just couldn’t think of the right word and that you were struggling to efficiently describe? It’s entirely possible that the word for which you were looking doesn’t actually exist in your native language but that some foreign words might be able to help you out. (Pavita Singh  |  July 2020)

 

Fascinating Foreign Words With No English Equivalent

by Interesting Facts

With the right combination of words and expressions, we can communicate anything our hearts desire. That’s the power of language. But what about those times when you’re looking for a single word rather than an entire sentence to sum up a thought or feeling? For that, we can look to other languages. These eight foreign words have no direct English translation — but if you ever want to drink a beer outside, carry your wife around, or just play a prank on someone, now you’ll have the perfect single word to describe it.

 

1. Age-Otori (Japanese)

Many of us know the very real disappointment and embarrassment that comes with getting a bad haircut, but the Japanese actually have a word for it: age-otori, which refers to the idea of looking worse after a haircut. The term isn’t very common in modern usage, but it is listed in the Kōjien, the authoritative Japanese dictionary. Age-otori was supposedly first used to describe a boy who styled his hair for a coming-of-age ceremony but ended up looking worse.

 

2. Utepils (Norwegian)

In Norway, getting outside after a long, dark winter is important for the soul. And having a beer when you finally get to do so? Even better. There’s actually a Norwegian word for the joy you get from drinking a beer outside: utepils. It’s a compound word; ute means “outside” and pils refers to pilsner beer. Some translate utepils to mean the very first drink of the year enjoyed outside, but many consider it to be a broader term, referring to every beer consumed outside, no matter the time of year.

 

3. Engili (Telugu)

In Telugu, a language spoken in southern India, there’s a word for food that has already been partially eaten: engili. It translates literally to “spittle” or “defiled food,” but the historical usage was often more severe than that. Engili was taboo in ancient India and is still considered unholy and forbidden by many traditional families. Sharing food, drinking from the same glass as someone else, and double dipping are all considered contamination. You’re expected to wash your hands immediately.

 

4. Capicúa (Catalan)

In English, we have palindromes, words that read the same forward as backwards. Catalan speakers in parts of Spain, France, and Italy take it a step further and assign a word to palindromic numbers: capicúa. The word breaks down into three parts, cap-i-cúa, which means “head and tail.” An example of a capicúa is 12321, or 445544. The word has another, more specific definition in Catalan as well; it also means a lottery ticket with a palindromic number.

 

5. Pesamenteiro (Portuguese)

There’s an entire movie dedicated to the lives of wedding crashers, but what about people who crash funerals? The Portuguese have a word for it: pesamenteiro. It translates literally to “condolence person” but refers to someone who goes to funerals just for the food — not to mourn. Because Portuguese words are gendered, pesamenteiro refers to a man; pesamenteira is a woman who crashes funerals.

 

6. Eukonkanto (Finnish)

Rosov Ronkainen, a notorious Finnish man from the 1800s, is known for stealing both women and food from nearby villages. He required his accomplices to go through an obstacle course while carrying something heavy on their backs to be sure they could handle the stolen bounties. Now, Finland has both a word and a competition for it: eukonkanto, or the wife-carrying tournament. People must carry their partners on their backs and complete an obstacle course — two dry obstacles and one wet — without dropping them. The winner receives enough beer to match the weight of the wife.

 

7. Mencolek (Indonesian)

There’s a simple childish prank common in many cultures — tapping someone’s shoulder on the opposite side of where you’re standing, making them turn in the wrong direction. And in Indonesian, that prank actually has its own word: mencolek. It can also be used to describe another, more annoying trick — poking someone constantly until they get irritated by it.

 

8. Fremdscham (German)

We all know schadenfreude, the German word for getting enjoyment from someone else’s troubles. But Germans have a word for the opposite phenomenon, too, of being embarrassed on someone else’s behalf: fremdscham. It roughly translates to “vicarious embarrassment.” Think of a rejected public marriage proposal, for example — you’ll feel fremdscham for the person who proposed.

 

 

Source: Obscure Foreign Words with No Direct English Translation  |  Facts About Foreign Words That Don't Translate to English

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ARCHAEOLOGICAL DICOVERIES

The Diquís Spheres, or Las Bolas, of Costa Rica are mysterious sculptures carved by the Diquís culture around 600-1500 A.D.

Did you know.... that we all love a good ancient archeological discovery. There’s just something about the idea of uncovering a buried treasure that has fascinated people for centuries. New discoveries can fill us with wonder and amazement at past human civilizations, and it’s always astonishing to see what they were able to accomplish. Let’s take a look at some of our most remarkable discoveries! (Factinate)

 

History of Most Significant Archaeological Discoveries

Some of the world’s biggest archaeological discoveries not only changed the way we interpret our past but also solved historical mysteries. In addition to making front-page headlines around the world, many discoveries sparked cultural fads. Not every archaeological dig will yield a cache of priceless jewels or one-of-a-kind artifacts, but the finds mentioned below stand out as exceptional.

 

1. Tutankhamun’s Tomb

In November 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his patron Lord Carnarvon located the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Unlike other royal tombs, Tut’s had remained virtually undisturbed for more than 3,000 years. Over the next few years, Carter unearthed an eye-popping collection of gold and ivory chests, statues of sacred beings, model boats, and other goods, plus Tut’s mummy and his iconic gold mask inlaid with semi-precious stones. The discovery of the best-preserved Egyptian tomb and its treasures set off a worldwide obsession with Egyptian-themed fashion, jewelry, and art.

 

2. The Rosetta Stone

While digging the foundation for a new fort in July 1799, soldiers in Napoleon’s army found a fragment of stone in the Nile that bore the same message in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic script, and ancient Greek. By comparing the Greek text to the other two passages, scholars could finally decode the meaning of the hieroglyphics. Before the Rosetta Stone’s discovery, ancient Egyptian writing had been an undecipherable mystery. Later, scholars such as Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion showed that the hieroglyphics on the stone revealed names of important figures and other details of ancient Egyptian history. Reportedly, Champollion was so excited to have deciphered the mystery that he fainted.

 

3. The Skeleton of “Lucy”

In 1974, American anthropologist Donald Johanson and grad student Tom Gray stumbled upon “Lucy,” the skeleton of a single individual hominid (Australopithecus afarensis) who lived in present-day Ethiopia a little over 3 million years ago. Lucy proved to be a previously unknown human ancestor who walked upright — demonstrating that bipedalism evolved before larger brains — and was the most complete ancient hominid skeleton that had then ever been found. Since then, anthropologists have unearthed other hominid species with the help of modern technology, including Homo naledi in South Africa, Homo floriensis in Indonesia, and the Denisovans in Siberia.

 

4. Lascaux Cave Paintings

The fabulously detailed drawings on the walls of the Lascaux cave, which depict cattle, horses, bison, deer, and other animals, stunned the world when they were discovered by four young men in southwest France in 1940. Dating back about 20,000 years to the middle of the Late Stone Age, the drawings represent some of the earliest known figurative art and are a window into humankind’s cultural development. The Paleolithic painters may have used Lascaux as a ceremonial site or a place to demonstrate their artistic skills, but no one knows for sure.

 

5. The Terracotta Army

In 1974, a farmer near the city of Xi’an, China, dug up some fragments of terracotta, which led to the discovery of thousands of life-size carved terracotta soldiers buried in the mausoleum of the first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who had died in 210 BCE. Each warrior had a unique expression, and they stood four abreast in trenches as if ready to defend their leader. Carved horses, chariots, swords, and other weapons were also found. Much remains to be discovered at the mausoleum, which includes 600 burial and architectural sites spanning almost 22 square miles.

 

 

6. The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of religious writings and books of the Hebrew Bible created between 2,000 and 2,300 years ago. Soon after the first seven scrolls were discovered in 1947 by a shepherd exploring a cave on the shore of the Dead Sea, the fragile manuscripts transformed historians’ views of Jewish religious life and culture two millennia ago. The texts revealed a Judean society influenced by different philosophies and practices, a world that gave rise to rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.

 

7. L’Anse Aux Meadows Viking Settlement

Thirteenth-century Icelandic sagas told of a group of Vikings, led by Leif Erikson, who sailed across the ocean to a lush new world. In the 1960s, archaeologists Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad discovered exactly where the Norse people landed around 1000 CE — modern-day Canada. The Ingstads located the ruins of European-style buildings at L’Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland, and further excavations revealed artifacts of Norse origin. The evidence confirmed the first European settlement in North America.

 

Source: Ancient Archaeological Discoveries  |  Facts About Archaeological Discoveries 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - AIRPORTS

Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport

Did you know... that airports are fascinating places! For some, they are simply a pickup point from where you travel from one place to another, but for many they serve as a second home. The size and scope of airports can often be overwhelming, which is why it can peak the curiosity of many. To shed light on some of the mysteries revolving around airports, here are a few surprising facts that you probably didn’t know about them. (AIRWHIZZ  |  JUL 23, 2018)

 

Facts About Airports You Might Not Know

by Interesting Facts

Chicago O'Hare Interenational

 

What’s the world’s oldest airport? Why is there an “X” in PDX? Is there a way to get a nap between flights? And what happens to the change you leave in airport security bins? Airports are big, crowded, and full of questions. The following eight facts might change the way you catch your next flight — or at least end some mysteries.

 

1. In Airport Codes, “X” Is Just Filler

The “X” and the end of “PHX” makes sense for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport — but what about “LAX” for Los Angeles and “PDX” for Portland? Turns out, the “X” is left over from the days when airports used two-letter codes from the National Weather Service. With the rapid growth of air travel, it soon became apparent that two letters wouldn’t be enough. When International Air Transport Association (IATA) three-letter codes became the norm in the 1930s, some airports gained an “X” at the end. Then there’s Sioux City Gateway Airport, which is blessed with the IATA code “SUX.” In 1988 and 2002, officials petitioned to change the code, and were offered five options by the FAA: GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV, and GAY. They opted to embrace what they already had instead, and introduced a line of merchandise — beanies, mugs, and more — emblazoned with the “SUX” logo.

 

2. The Wright Brothers’ Airport Is the World’s Oldest Continuously Operating Airport

A pilot flying a Curtiss aircraft at College Park in 1912

Flight pioneer Wilbur Wright established College Park Airport in College Park, Maryland, in 1909 as a training ground for two military officers as they got ready to fly the government’s first airplane. More than a century later, it’s still a public airport, making it the oldest continuously operating airport in the world. There’s a little bit of an asterisk on that record, though, in that you can’t really catch a flight there — unless you have or know somebody with an aircraft and a pilot’s license. Which brings us to…

 

3. Hamburg Airport Is the Oldest Continuously Operating Commercial Airport

If you’re looking for the oldest airport with terminals and plane tickets, look no further than Hamburg Airport, established in 1911. But while America was building its aviation history on airplanes, Germany built the facility around the country’s own technology: Zeppelins. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the inventor of the Zeppelin airship in the 1890s, gave an enthusiastic speech about the future of air travel in Hamburg in 1910. Residents believed in his vision, and the first building at the Hamburg Airport was an airship hangar, built in 1912. However, it took less than a decade for airplanes to start taking over. The airport broke the one-million passenger mark in 1961.

 

4. Airlines Pay Up to Eight Figures for Slots on the Airport’s Schedule

To keep air traffic running smoothly and safely in more than 200 of the world’s busiest airports, airport operators grant airlines slots that give them authorization to take off or land at certain times — and in many places, demand is far outpacing supply. The most expensive slots are at Heathrow International Airport in London, England. In 2016, Kenya Airways sold its only slot to Oman Air for a whopping $75 million. That’s on the high side, but eight figures is relatively common. One year later, two slots fetched the same price when Scandinavian Airlines decided to sell. Because an airline can lose that valuable asset if it doesn’t use it at least 80% of the time in a six-month period, you might see some unusual scheduling. At one point, British Mediterranean Airways was operating round-trip flights between Heathrow and Cardiff Airport in Rhoose, Wales — a journey of just a few hours by car or train — with zero passengers, angering environmental activists (among others). And with demand for air travel having decreased during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some airlines aren’t canceling their underbooked flights, leading to more empty planes journeying through the skies.

 

5. Your Confiscated Items Might Be at Auction

Ever wonder where your favorite nail clippers and corkscrews went after airport security confiscated them? In some states, they end up in government auctions — and they sell in bulk. Collections of forbidden goods, from 12 pounds of flashlights to 7 pounds of cigar cutters to an assortment of foldable shovels, end up on government-asset marketplace GovDeals.com. There are so many pocket knives that they get sorted into different categories before going on the market, ending up in lots of 100 generic-brand knives; 14 pounds of knives with names, dates, or locations on them; or 14 pounds of small-size Swiss Army Knives. Lost luggage is also sold if it’s not picked up within three months, but the process is a little more streamlined. A reseller called Unclaimed Baggage sorts through and resells, repurposes, or recycles the bags and their contents. Speaking of airport security …

 

6. TSA Collects Your Loose Change

With hundreds of thousands of travelers throwing wallets into bins every day, some loose change is bound to fall out and get left behind. Over time, that really adds up; in 2020 alone, the Transit Security Administration (TSA) gathered more than $500,000 in loose change, and that’s during a pandemic — in 2019, they picked up more than $900,000. The biggest source of lost change was Harry Reid (formerly McCarran) International Airport near Las Vegas, where passengers left behind $37,611.61. The TSA has to submit reports to Congress every year on how much they’ve gathered and what they spent it on. They ended 2020 with $1.5 million, including money leftover from previous years, and spent much of it on pandemic mitigation measures like masks, gloves, and face shields.

 

7. Airport Nap Hotels Exist

Delhi Airport

During a longer layover or delay, travelers sometimes stay at nearby hotels, then head back through security to catch their next flight. But if you just need a quick nap or a moment of quiet — or you’re worried about oversleeping — transit hotels are located literally inside the airport. Aerotel has locations throughout Asia (and a few outside) for some sleep and a shower between, before, or after flights, whether you need an hour-long nap or an overnight stay. Yotel, with airport locations in Amsterdam, London, Istanbul, Paris, and Singapore, fills a similar niche: You can book as little as four hours in a relatively barebones room, with a bed or two, shower, and Wi-Fi. More traditional hotels built for regular sleeping also exist inside airports, but often offer shorter-term options designed for decompressing during a layover — you just might pay a little extra for the bells and whistles. The Hilton Munich Airport offers a two-hour spa card, and Grand Hyatt DFW and JFK’s midcentury-themed TWA Hotel both offer fixed day-use rates that include access to the pool (starting at $109 in Dallas and around $149 at TWA).

 

8. Therapy Dogs Are An Increasingly Common Amenity

Anxious before your flight? Need a little dog cuddle? As of August 2021, dozens of airports in North America had some kind of therapy dog program, whether it was daily dog visitors or a once-a-month treat. One of the biggest operations is the Pets Unstressing Passengers (PUP) program in Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which had around 121 dogs participating before the pandemic — most of them rescue dogs, and all of them with appropriate certifications and on-the-job experience. Each dog has a handsome red vest and weekly shift of 1-2 hours, and handlers double as customer service reps that can help you find your way to the correct gate. Each therapy dog program is as special as its four-legged volunteers. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in Broward County, Florida, has eight “FLL AmbassaDogs” that include a Yorkshire Terrier named Tiffany who rides around in a stroller. At the Edmonton International Airport in Alberta, Canada, pups and handlers wear matching outfits and distribute trading cards. In 2016, the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) added a Juliana pig named LiLou to its “Wag Brigade.”

 

 

Source: What You Didn't Know About Airports  |  Facts About Airports

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - JELLY BEAN

Did you know... that jelly beans are small bean-shaped sugar candies with soft candy shells and thick gel interiors. The confection is primarily made of sugar and sold in a wide variety of colors and flavors. (Wikipedia)

 

Jelly beans have been to space.

by Interesting Facts

What do Neil Armstrong, tortoises, and jelly beans have in common? Why, they’ve all been to space, of course. President Ronald Reagan was known for being a connoisseur of the chewy candy, so much so that he provided the astronauts aboard the Challenger shuttle with a bag full of them in 1983 — a gift that resulted in charming footage of them tossing the jelly beans in zero gravity before happily eating them. Reagan was also known to break the ice at high-level meetings by passing around jelly beans, even commenting that “you can tell a lot about a fella’s character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful.”

 

Jelly beans have been associated with Easter for well over a century, with food historian Beth Forrest attributing the link to three factors: shape, color, and pleasure. They’re a bit like miniature Easter eggs, with the added benefit of not needing to be painted. They’re also far from the only unexpected items to have been in space: Musical instruments (including bells and a harmonica), Lego, Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber, and a pizza delivery have also found themselves among the stars.

 

• “Jelly bean” used to be slang for a well-dressed man.

Back in the 1910s and ’20s, “jelly bean” didn’t just refer to candy. It was also used to describe a stylish young man, though it could be considered a case of damning someone with faint praise — in most cases, jelly beans weren’t thought to have much else going for them. The term could also be used for someone weak or unpleasant; in 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald published a short story called “The Jelly-Bean” about an idle loafer. The song “Jelly Bean (He's a Curbstone Cutie),” originally written in the 1920s, was made popular by Phil Harris’ 1940s rendition.

 

THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT JELLY BEANS
By Chutters  |  June 29, 2018

Candy in general is an American favorite, but there are some fan favorites. Fudge, M&M’s, and jelly beans are a few that have stood the test of time and become as iconic and American as apple pie. Chutters Candy Counter, known worldwide as the world’s longest candy counter, has an entire section dedicated to jelly beans! Here are 12 awesome fun facts about jelly beans. Learn more about their Turkish heritage, President Reagan’s fascination with the candy, and how many jelly beans the world consumes annually.

 

1. The origin of jelly beans may actually come from Turkey

While it is known that jelly beans were invented in the U.S, the inspiration may come from Turkish Delights, which come from Turkey. The similarities between these jelly treats are what spurred this rumor! Turkish delights are the cubed, jelly treats pictured above. Both Turkish delights and jelly beans are jelly candy, but jelly beans are turned into the bean shape with a shell and Turkish delights are just rolled in powdered sugar.

 

2. The first jelly beans were given to soldiers during the Civil War

The first known sign of jelly beans came from an advertisement for William Shrafft of Boston that promoted sending jelly beans to union soldiers during the war. The hard shell and shelf life made this the perfect confection to send soldiers. M&M's are another candy that were first developed via military purposes.

 

3. President Reagan’s favorite candy was the jelly bean

It is a well-known fact that President Reagan loved jelly beans. He started eating them to help him quit smoking his pipe and ever since always had jelly beans by his side. The presidential jet manufactured a specific cup holder to hold his jelly beans stash, and he even sent jelly beans onto the challenger space shuttle in the 80s! A portrait of the President was made from 10,000 Jelly Belly beans and hangs in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. Lastly, people say that Reagan’s love for the candy resulted in the invention of the blueberry flavored jelly bean. For his inauguration, the Goelitz company created a red, white and blue jelly bean collection for the party. They didn’t yet have a blue jelly bean, which is the reason for making the blueberry flavor! 40 million jelly beans were consumed at the party, which we say makes it a raving success. 

 

4. Jelly beans were originally a Christmas tradition
Before people started to realize their likeness to the Easter egg, jelly beans were a treat often indulged during the Christmas holidays. Jelly beans became popular as a Easter basket filler in the late 1930s and now jelly bean manufacturers make 16 billion jelly beans for Easter alone!

 

5. Jelly Belly donated 288,000 jelly beans in 47 different flavors for the world's first jelly bean stop-motion animation music video "In Your Arms" by Kina Grannis 

 

 

 

6. Jelly beans are made using a candy process from France called “panning”
 The process of panning makes it so the outer shell of the jelly bean is hard and the inside is gooey and jelly-like. The same process is used to make Jordan Almonds and used to be done by hand before machines were made for this purpose.

 

7. They were the first to be sold as penny candy

The concept of filling your bag with candy and purchasing by weight became popular in the early 1900s. The first candy to be sold this way was the jelly bean! Now you can’t go to a candy counter without seeing this famous candy as an option. Chutters has over 60 varieties of jelly bean!

 

8. It takes 7 to 21 days to make a jelly bean
Due to the panning process used to make jelly beans, it takes up to 21 days to make just one bean! Luckily, with the use of technology, manufacturers can make a ton more than that at one time. When the jelly bean center mix is done being processed jelly beans around the world, the mix goes into a panning machine that rotates and separates the mix into pieces. Then, after being cooled and mixed several times over, a candy maker will slowly add sugar will the mix rotates. Over time, the sugar builds up on each jelly center and builds a shell on the candy. To give the jelly beans that glossy look, the candy maker adds a syrup made of confectioner sugar to the shelled jelly beans. Once glossing is done, the jelly beans are ready to cool off and be packaged for sale!

 

9. Enough Jelly Belly beans were eaten in the last year to circle the earth more than five times

That’s a lot of jelly beans! Also, if the math is right, that means that ⅗ of the world’s annual jelly bean consumption happens on Easter alone. Wowza.

 

10.There were 8 original jelly bean flavors 
Introduced in 1976, the eight original jelly bean flavors include Very Cherry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Lemon, Licorice and Grape. Today, the Very Cherry flavor still reigns supreme as the favorite flavor for all ages in the United States! There was a short period of time (1998-2003) when Buttered Popcorn jelly beans won the popular vote.

 

11. There are regional preferences of jelly bean flavors

According to Jelly Belly, here are the global favorites.

 

• North and South America: Very Cherry
• Asia: Lemon Lime
• Australia: Bubble Gum
• Europe: Tutti-frutti
• Middle East: Berry Blue

 

In addition to regional preferences, there are also preferences based on age. For example, older generations tend to lean towards flavors like buttered popcorn, coconut, juicy pear, licorice, and strawberry daiquiri. The younger generation tends to prefer flavors like berry blue, green apple, raspberry, sour apple, and watermelon.

 

12. Jelly beans come in all crazy flavors, from delicious to disgusting
Jelly Belly alone produces over 100 flavors of jelly bean. There are the original flavors, and some more eccentric (but still delicious sounding) flavors like pancakes & maple syrup or ginger ale. Then there are the gross flavors like vomit or dirty socks. There certainly is a flavor for everyone! Watch the video below of celebs trying out the official “Beanboozled” game!

 

 

 

Surprisingly enough, there’s a lot of fun facts about jelly beans! Along with over 60 varieties of jelly beans, Chutters has hundreds of other varieties of hard candy, gummy candy, chocolate, fudge, and more. If you’d like to keep seeing content like this, subscribe to our blog and we’ll send you candy updates and info.

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Jelly Bean  |  Brief Facts About Jelly Beans  |  What To Know About Jelly Beans
 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - KITCHEN ITEMS

Did you know.... that the basic cooking tools every kitchen needs: Mixing bowls, large spoons for stirring, a few pots with matching lids, a decent knife set, and a cutting board. But beyond that, it's anybody's game. Different chefs swear by different kitchen gadgets, and it seems like there's a new culinary device that launches every week. So how do you know what's worth the splurge and what's not? (LAURA NEWCOMER  |  OCTOBER 24, 2018)

 

The Story Behind 5 Common Kitchen Items

by Interesting Facts

The kitchen is the heart of our homes. Yet no matter how often we use everyday tools like microwaves, whisks, and ice machines, most of us rarely stop to think about how they came to be. Yet the most common implements of food prep have been through many changes, and some of their stories may surprise you. Here are just a few to ponder the next time you need a subject for dinner table conversation.

 

1. Microwave Ovens

Microwaves are electromagnetic waves capable of being bounced off distant objects for radar detection, and microwave ovens actually descended from radar technology developed during WWII. (The first microwave oven was developed after an engineer working on a radar apparatus accidentally melted a chocolate bar in his pocket.) When shot at food, microwave radiation makes water molecules inside the food vibrate, which creates the heat that cooks your dinner. According to food historian Andrew F. Smith, the earliest microwave oven was bought by a Cleveland restaurant in 1947; the $3,000 price tag made the new tool more or less unattainable for home use. Smaller, more affordable units were developed by the 1960s, but these were found to leak harmful levels of radiation. By the 1970s, designs had improved and microwave ovens were deemed safe. But it took the partnership of the convenience food industry — who created microwave-safe packaging designs — and a slew of instructive newspaper articles, pamphlets, and cookbooks to teach the home cook how to use this new tool. As of 2001, over 90% of U.S. homes had a microwave.

 

2. Whisks

Up until the 19th century, most women made their own whisks out of bundles of birch sticks. This type of whisk is still used by some chefs for delicate sauces and whipping meringue, and can be a great alternative for whisking on easily damaged non-stick surfaces. Wire whisks, with the classic hot air balloon shape, came into use in the early 19th century, and the first rotary beaters were patented in the 1860s. Featuring one or two interlocking whisks powered by a hand crank, they cut down on the bicep-building work of whisking. These rotary beaters still have their place in the kitchen: They can whisk meringue in half the time of an upright, electrified mixer without leaving dregs of unbeaten egg at the bottom of the bowl.

 

3. Grills

Before the 20th century, outdoor meat cooking was done on massive grills, spits, or in barbecue pits lined with hot coals. Hot, heavy, and time-consuming, this was labor usually performed by groups of men, and in the South, enslaved men. But in 1897, the charcoal briquette was patented, cutting down on time and labor, and in the 1950s, the classic and compact Weber kettle grill was developed. Developed from a Lake Michigan buoy, its lightweight design and stylish shape opened grilling to all. When retailers began marketing home grills, they targeted men because there was a tradition of men cooking barbecue, but also because men were usually the breadwinners. The thought was that women wouldn’t be interested in buying another cooking appliance when they could just use their stoves. By targeting men, advertisers were finding a new market for cooking, and men were being motivated to feel that cooking outdoors over a fire was a very masculine thing to do. To this day, professional grill masters and pit masters are typically male.

 

4. Ice Makers

At the beginning of the 19th century, the ice industry was rapidly expanding. New England was the world’s leader in ice production; ice cutters used new horse-drawn blades to cut ice off of frozen lakes. The ice was insulated in ice houses, and could stay frozen until the following October. According to food historian Jeri Quinzio in her book Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making, by 1800 ice was being shipped to the West Indies, and in 1833, a Boston ice merchant began making regular shipments to Calcutta. Ice became cheap and readily available by the mid-19th century, which spurred an abundance of iced drinks. The ice would have been brought into bars, soda fountains, or ice cream parlors in large blocks and skillfully chopped into different shapes by the resident bartender. The first mechanical ice-maker was patented in 1851, and was designed “to convert water into ice artificially by absorbing its heat of liquefaction with expanding air.” Initially, the machine was meant to help treat yellow fever patients. Ice makers were first added to consumer refrigerators and freezers in 1953, and the fridge-door ice dispenser we're familiar with today was introduced in 1965 by Frigidaire.

 

5. Straws

The earliest depiction of a straw is on a seal found in a Sumerian tomb dated to 3,000 BCE. It shows two men using what appear to be straws taking beer from a jar. Beer brewed in Ancient Mesopotamia and Sumeria was unfiltered, so it was full of grain and chaff that floated on the surface. The straw allowed drinkers to access the beer underneath. While most of these ancient straws were made from reeds, museums have examples of extraordinary early straws, including a pure gold straw and a gold and lapis lazuli “drinking tube,” both from the ancient city of Ur in what is now Iraq. Straws didn’t become popular again until mid-19th-century America. Cocktail culture was thriving and rye straws (made from rye grain) were used to sip spirits from drinks that were packed with ice, fruit, and mint. The sherry cobbler, one of the most popular cocktails of the mid-19th century — made from sherry, sugar, and citrus — became famous in part because a straw was needed to drink it. Paper straws were first developed at the turn of the 20th century as a “cheap, durable, and unobjectionable alternative to natural straws,” in the words of inventor Martin Stone, for use in soda fountains. They were originally made with waxed manila paper to replicate the color of rye straws. Today, paper straws masquerade in the bright colors of mid-20th-century plastic straws, and some businesses are returning to using straw straws as an environmentally conscious option.

 

 

Source: Weird Kitchen Gadgets  |  Facts About Kitchen Items

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - DID IT REALLY HAPPEN?

Did you know... that The story about Sir Isaac Newton and the apple having discovering gravity and having an epiphany by the falling apple is true. What’s not true though, it’s that the apple didn’t fall on Newton’s head. As History relates, in 1665 a plague forced Cambridge University’s students and faculty members, including Isaac Newton, to leave the place. He went to his childhood home and while walking around he saw an apple fall from a tree and drop to the ground. This made him think about why all the objects fall down rather than to the side or up, and this lead to the discovery of gravity. The famous story of the falling apple on Newton was first mentioned in his biography in 1792 by a friend, William Stukeley: “The notion of gravitation came into his mind…. occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood.” (Hossein Raspberry  |  June 21, 2021)

 

Famous Events in History That Never Really Happened

by Interesting Facts

Most of us weren’t in the room for history’s most famous happenings. That means it just takes one slip-up or folktale — whether because of an overzealous biographer, a creative retelling, propaganda, or just a story that’s easy to latch on to — to create a whole new version of events. From half-truths and misunderstandings to straight-up fabrications, here are five historical events that didn’t happen like you probably thought they did.

 

1. George Washington Didn’t Chop Down a Cherry Tree

It’s a common American parable: Founding father George Washington got a hatchet as a gift when he was 6 years old and, eager to test out his new tool, he hacked up his father’s cherry tree. The story goes that when Washington’s father discovered the damage, Washington responded, “I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.” His father then delivered a tidy moral: “Glad am I, George, that you killed my tree; for you have paid me for it a thousand fold. Such an act of heroism in my son, is more worth than a thousand trees.” If that dialogue feels a little too scripted, it’s because it was completely made up after Washington died. Ironically, this fable about honesty was fabricated by biographer and pastor Mason Locke Weems. Responding to public demand for more stories about Washington’s life, Weems embellished his book, The Life of Washington, with many enduring myths, including the ever-popular cherry tree anecdote. Perhaps what cements this particular story in the Washington mythos more than others is its popularity as a standalone moral tale for children. Minister William Holmes McGuffey simplified the story and included it in his McGuffey’s Readers series, which were used in schools for around a century. The anecdote endures today through political cartoons, commentary, and, of course, countless additional children’s books.

 

2. Thomas Edison Didn’t Invent the Light Bulb

What’s a more iconic symbol for an inventor than the light bulb? With 1,093 patents to his name, it’s easy to picture Thomas Edison with a cartoon bulb above his head at all times — especially since he’s sometimes credited with inventing the incandescent bulb. He didn’t invent it, though; he just improved on it. It took a series of inventors to create a light bulb that was practical for everyday use, and although Edison was responsible for multiple links on that chain, he didn't do the work alone. Arc lamps, invented by Humphry Davy in the early 1800s, provided many of the earliest electric street lights, while Scottish inventor James Bowman Lindsay was likely the first to demonstrate a sealed glass bulb that provided constant light through incandescent wires in 1835. In the 1870s, incandescent bulbs became a hot topic in the science world, and many inventors helped move the technology along, including Joseph Swan, William Sawyer, Albon Man, and, yes, Edison. Edison did make some major contributions to the light bulb that we use in our homes today. He patented a long-lasting carbon filament and, along with other scientists, improved its manufacturing process. He also invented the Edison Screw, the twist-in light bulb socket that we still use today.

 

3. Marie Antoinette Didn’t Say “Let Them Eat Cake”

The most enduring legend about French Queen Marie Antoinette is that when she was told her people didn’t have bread, she coldheartedly replied, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (“Let them eat cake”). The problem with that legend is that the quote is not directly attributable to her — and some historians believe it would have been out of character for her to say it, anyway. Versions of the “let them eat cake” story had been circling French monarchs for years, starting at least 100 years before the reign of Marie Antoinette. The same anecdote with a slightly different quote was attributed to Marie-Theresa — coincidentally, also the name of Antoinette’s mother and daughter — who married King Louis XIV in 1660. In that case, it was “the crust of the pate” rather than “cake.” In the intervening years, the story was attributed to a variety of French royals before it stuck to Antoinette. In her book Marie Antoinette: The Journey, biographer Antonia Fraser argues that not only did Antoinette not deliver the famous line, but she also disagreed with the sentiment. While Marie Antoinette’s lavish royal lifestyle was perhaps unseemly in the face of her subjects' plight, she often expressed a sense of responsibility toward them. “It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness,” Antoinette wrote in a letter to her mother.

 

4. William Tell Didn’t Shoot an Apple Off His Son’s Head

You probably know the legend of William Tell, or at least the gist of it. During the period of the Old Swiss Confederacy, Tell, a local farmer and renowned marksman, refused to acknowledge Austrian authority and was forced to shoot an arrow at an apple on his son’s head. In case he failed, he saved an arrow for the governor who had ordered him to do so. This, the story goes, inspired resistance to Austrian rule among the Swiss people. There’s one problem: Many historians say Tell never existed in the first place. The basic tale we've come to associate with Tell is common in European folklore, sometimes predating Tell himself. In several nearly identical versions, spare arrow and all, only the archer (and his oppressor) change; in some, the central figure is a German folk hero, a Danish chieftain, or English outlaw Adam Bell. Even without that context, many consider the source dubious. The legend was first detailed around 1570, 250 years after it was supposed to have taken place. Later in the story, Tell is part of an oath of freedom and unity with leaders of three different areas. But other accounts of this event, which inspired Swiss Independence Day, say it took place several years earlier — without anybody named “William Tell” present. However, thanks to works such as Friedrich Schiller’s 1804 play William Tell and the iconic “William Tell Overture” (from a French opera by the same name), Tell is still a household name throughout the world. Just maybe a fictional one.

 

5. Paul Revere Didn’t Yell “The British Are Coming!”

Nearly 250 years after the fabled ride of Paul Revere leading up to the American Revolution battles of Lexington and Concord, many people believe he yelled the phrase, “The British are coming!” along the way — but this would have lacked a lot of subtlety for Revere, who also worked as a spy. By Revere’s own account in a letter and deposition, he was one of three riders sent to spread the word about the British troops being on the move from Boston. They were also tasked with stopping in Lexington to let Samuel Adams and John Hancock know that some troops were coming to arrest them, although that bit of intel later proved false. On the way to Lexington, Revere did warn many households of the upcoming battle, but the operation was far more discreet than boldly yelling, “The British are coming,” as some British soldiers were hiding out in the countryside and some residents still considered themselves British. It’s more likely that he quietly warned people of the attack. In warning Adams and Hancock, he used the term “the regulars.” There are plenty of other misconceptions about Revere’s story, and most of them are from the 1860 poem Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. For example, he didn’t make it to Concord, since he got detained on the way out. (Another rider, Samuel Prescott, made it the whole way.) Revere did get a friend to light those “one if by land, two if by sea” signal lanterns — meant to alert patriots about the route the British were taking toward Concord — in the church tower, but he already had the intel. The message, sent two days before the ride, was actually from Revere to let others know what was happening in case he couldn’t get over the river to Charlestown.

 

 

Source: Widely Believed Historical “Facts” That Never Happened  |  Events in History that Never Happened

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - STATE LAWS STILL IN EFFECT

Did you know... that You go about your day trying to be a good citizen, but you have no idea how many laws you're probably breaking. Maybe you're throwing snowballs, yelling at an umpire, or using high-tech equipment to make sure your shoes fit right. You know, everyday stuff. (Jason English  |  Apr 11, 2013  |  Updated: Feb 24, 2020)

 

Strange State Laws That Are Still on the Books

by Interesting Facts

You could be breaking the law in your own state right now and not even know it. Throughout U.S. history, all 50 states have passed a variety of highly specific, often bizarre laws — some that may have made sense at the time but definitely don’t any longer. In every state, you’ll find a few of these quirky laws that are rarely enforced but, for whatever reason, remain on the books. Here are eight obscure state laws you’ve probably never heard of.

 

1. In Massachusetts, It’s Illegal to Scare a Pigeon

Since 1848, it has been illegal in the state of Massachusetts to not only kill a pigeon but also to purposefully frighten one from “beds which have been made for the purpose of taking them in nets.” Offenders face up to a month in prison as well as a $20 fine, and they’re also liable “for the actual damages to the owner or occupant of such beds.” According to Massachusetts Historical Society librarian Peter Drummey, the law was a sign of the times — in the 19th century, pigeons were both a food source for residents and used in target shooting, so the law was meant to protect hunters’ rights (rather than those of pigeons). While now outdated, the law, like many others in Massachusetts, has remained on the books.

 

2. Eavesdropping Is Forbidden in Oklahoma

If you have trouble minding your own business, you might want to stay out of the Sooner State. Per a 1910 Oklahoma state law, "Every person guilty of secretly loitering about any building, with intent to overhear discourse therein, and to repeat or publish the same to vex, annoy, or injure others, is guilty of a misdemeanor." It’s seemingly allowable to accidentally overhear some juicy gossip; just make sure not to do so intentionally. Though rarely enforced, it’s one of many bizarre laws in Oklahoma — like a $1 fine for swearing in public.

 

3. Banning Clotheslines Is Banned in Vermont

If you find yourself in Vermont and in need of fresh laundry, you have a right to hang a clothesline to dry your clothes. It’s illegal for anyone to ban the use of clotheslines "or other energy devices based on renewable resources" in the Green Mountain State. Unlike most others on this list, the law is actually from this century; it was passed in 2009. It’s common for homeowner associations to ban homeowners from “solar drying,” with some calling it unsightly — but not any longer in Vermont. State Senator Richard McCormack inserted the law into an energy bill because he’d long sought to protect this very green way to dry your clothes. Interestingly, the law doesn’t apply to patio railings in apartments or condos, so Vermonters will want to stay on the safe side and use an actual clothesline.

 

4. In Alabama, You Can’t Pretend to Be a Member of the Clergy

It’s unclear why this 1965 law was adopted, but it reads in part: “Whoever, being in a public place, fraudulently pretends by garb or outward array to be a minister of any religion, or nun, priest, rabbi or other member of the clergy, is guilty of a misdemeanor.” The strange law goes on to explain the punishment — a fine of up to $500, or up to a year spent in jail, or both. This law extends to dressing as the Pope (or any other clergyperson) for Halloween, if you aren't actually one. It’s unclear if anyone has been prosecuted for breaking the law, but perhaps it’s worth picking another costume to be on the safe side.

 

5. You’re Not Allowed to Play Bingo for More Than Five Hours in North Carolina

Bingo sharks, beware: You’ll need to pace yourself when you’re visiting the Tarheel State. Not only is there a statewide five-hour cap on all bingo games, but you also can’t hold two separate bingo sessions within a 48-hour period — they must have a buffer in between of more than two days. North Carolina has a long history of conservative rules on gambling that goes back to its colonial days. In 1749, the General Assembly was already regulating “excessive and immoral” gambling practices and invalidated gambler’s debt greater than £100, and the regulations on games and lotteries only snowballed from there. Lotteries were banned outright in 1835. While bingo is legal in North Carolina today, there is a long list of restrictions. In addition to the time limits, bingo is allowed to be played only for fundraising purposes unless the prize is less than $10 (locals call this “beach bingo”). And if the game is played as a fundraiser, the prizes can’t exceed $500.

 

6. Happy Hour Is Not Allowed in Utah

It’s illegal to sell alcohol at a discounted price in the state of Utah, so that means happy hour at the hotel bar is out of the picture. In its place, many establishments offer “happy hour,” when appetizers are on sale instead. Other restrictions on Utahn drinkers include only one 1.5-ounce shot of alcohol allowed per drink (so no doubles, unless you’re drinking a cocktail, which allows 2.5 ounces of booze as long as the extra ounce is a less-potent spirit). There is also a maximum of 4% alcohol by weight or 5% alcohol by volume on draft beer (although higher-octane brews are available in stores) and a statewide last call of 1 a.m.

 

7. Billboards Are Prohibited in Hawaii

They take their ocean vistas very seriously in the Aloha State, and understandably so. If you're driving around the islands in the state of Hawaii, you won't find any obstructions to your view, at least not in the form of billboard ads — they’ve been outlawed since 1927. Several exceptions are allowed, however, including ads affixed to the Waipiʻo Peninsula Soccer Stadium. Hawaii was actually the first state in the U.S. to ban the roadside advertisements — long before it even became a state in 1959. Vermont followed suit in 1968, Maine did so in 1978, and Alaska joined the club in 1998. It’s no accident that these four states are known for their spectacular natural beauty, and it’s understood among Hawaiians that keeping those unspoiled views intact promotes tourism more effectively than any billboard could.

 

8. Pawn Shops Can't Handle Artificial Limbs in Delaware

“Pawnbrokers, second hand dealers, and scrap metal processors” have their work cut out for them in Delaware, as they must follow a lengthy legal rule book regarding what, how, and when they’re allowed to accept goods to be pawned. “No pawnbroker subject to this chapter shall take or receive as a pledge or pawn any artificial limb or wheelchair,” the law states. It’s not illegal for you to pawn your own wooden leg or wheelchair, therefore, just for a pawnbroker to accept it. They’re also not allowed to take manhole covers. When it was originally passed in 1907, the law banned pawnbrokers from accepting workman’s tools too, although that provision has since been dropped.

 

Source: Weird Laws Still on the Books  |  Strange State Laws

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - MYSTERIOUS MONUMENTS AROUND THE WORLD

The Fork – Vevey, Switzerland

Did you know... that the world is full of enigmatic, bizarre, giant, and futuristic monuments. With so many surprising places out there, it can be hard to find the ones that are truly right for you. (Hostelworld Blog  |  Posted on November 6, 2018)

 

Mysterious Monuments From Around the World

by Interesting Facts

Ilinden Uprising Monument – Krushevo, North Macedonia

From castles, cathedrals, and palaces to miles-long bridges, golden temples, and sky-scraping glass towers, the world is full of magnificent feats of architectural engineering. While the purpose of most of these structures is known, there are still plenty of human-made monuments that boggle the minds of even the most acclaimed scientists and archaeologists. Here are 11 such monuments that remain a mystery.

 

1. Carnac Stones (France)

The Carnac Stones are a group of more than 3,000 megalithic standing stones in the French village of Carnac, Brittany. These stones date back to the Neolithic period and were probably erected between 3300 and 4500 BCE. They are one of the world’s largest collections of menhirs — upright stones arranged by humans. There is no real evidence to confirm their purpose, but that hasn’t stopped researchers from hazarding guesses. Some theorize they were used as calendars and observatories by farmers and priests. According to Christian mythology, the stones are pagan soldiers who were petrified by Pope Cornelius. Local folklore, meanwhile, says that the stones stand in straight lines because they were once part of a Roman army. The story goes on to say that the Arthurian wizard Merlin turned the Romans to stone.

 

2. Easter Island Moai (Chile)

Over 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile, Easter Island (Isla de Pascua) is the one-time home of a Polynesian people called the Rapa Nui. Scattered across the island are around 1,000 moai, giant hand-carved stone statues of human-like figures that are half-buried in the earth. The Rapa Nui landed on the island sometime between 700 and 800 CE, and are believed to have started making the moai around 1100 CE. Each moai weighs 14 tons and stands 13 feet tall on average, so it’s hard to imagine how they were transported and hauled into place. One theory is that the islanders used a system of ropes and tree trunks. Their purpose has also been the subject of much debate. To the Rapa Nui, the statues may have stored sacred spirits.

 

3. Nazca Lines (Peru)

Southern Peru’s Nazca Desert is covered with hundreds of geometric designs. These ancient geoglyphs range from simple shapes to plants and animals such as a hummingbird, monkey, llama, and whale. The Nazca Lines date back to around 200 to 700 CE, when the Nazca people who lived in the region created them. Researchers have struggled to agree upon the purpose of these giant works of art, particularly since they are best seen from the surrounding hills and by plane. Among many theories are astronomical maps, indicators of sacred routes, and water troughs. An alternative take is that they were created to be observed by deities from the sky.

 

4. Stone Spheres (Costa Rica)

In Costa Rica’s Diquis Delta is a group of around 300 polished stone spheres, some just a few inches in diameter and others measuring up to seven feet and weighing 16 tons. Employees of the United Fruit Company stumbled across the spheres in the 1930s while clearing a jungle to build a banana plantation. Scientists have so far been unable to pinpoint an exact date of their origin, instead suggesting that they appeared sometime between 200 BCE and the 16th century CE. They are commonly attributed to the Diquis people, yet their purpose is a mystery. They might have been property markers of ancient chiefs, and some even think they may be remnants of the lost city of Atlantis. Some of the spheres were even detonated in the hope of finding gold inside.

 

5. Temple of Bacchus (Lebanon)

The Baalbek temple complex in northeast Lebanon is one of the most intriguing Roman ruins on the planet. Its centerpiece is the well-preserved and monumental Temple of Bacchus. The age of the temple is unknown, although it was most likely erected in the second century CE. Most historians agree that emperor Antoninus Pius commissioned it in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine and intoxication. What has been baffling archaeologists ever since the temple’s rediscovery in the late 19th century is how the Romans succeeded in building it. It is staggering to think that humans without heavy machinery could hoist the 42 Corinthian columns (19 of which remain standing) of the colonnade, since each stands 62 feet tall and 7.5 feet in diameter.

 

6. Hagar Qim (Malta)

Located on the Mediterranean island of Malta, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hagar Qim is one of seven prehistoric temples in Malta and is believed to date to between 3800 BCE and 2200 BCE. The site’s name translates to “standing stones,” and one of the largest weighs in at more than 20 tons, measuring nearly 23 feet in height. The site was first excavated in 1839 and consists of a series of rooms lined by these megaliths. Parts of the chamber align with the sunrise and sunset of the summer solstice. This and the other temples on the island all appear to have been built in the same period, which has left archaeologists puzzled — there is little evidence of any civilization capable of such building feats on the islands at that time.

 

7. Göbekli Tepe (Turkey)

Could a set of ruins in southeastern Turkey be remnants of the world’s first temple? That’s one of the key questions archaeologists ponder as they explore Göbleki Tepe, a series of huge stone pillars that are some 6,000 years older than Stonehenge. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the landmark was ignored for centuries, dismissed as little more than a cemetery. In the mid-1990s, excavations began and experts soon realized it was a treasure trove of history. The pillars weigh as much as 10 tons each and create massive stone circles. Radar surveys of the area indicate a number of additional circles are still buried underground. Göbleki Tepe is older than writing and older than agriculture. But who were the Neolithic people who built this, and how and why did they do it?

 

8. Yonaguni Monument (Japan)

Experts are divided as to whether the underwater rocks near Japan’s Yonaguni Island are a human-made structure or naturally occurring. In the 1980s, divers discovered what appears to be a rectangular monument, measuring 165 feet long and 65 feet wide. Some scholars believe that it is the remains of a pyramid, perhaps from a long-lost submerged city belonging to an ancient civilization. Meanwhile, others insist the rocks have been shaped by millennia of the ocean’s currents. Similarly, while some argue that markings on the rock’s surface are proof of ancient human involvement, others say they are simply scratches. For the time being, the Japanese government seems to agree with the latter and does not recognize the Yonaguni Monument as culturally significant.

 

9. Great Zimbabwe Ruins (Zimbabwe

The Great Zimbabwe Ruins are the largest ruins in sub-Saharan Africa. This medieval city was once a trading hub and possibly the capital of the Queen of Sheba’s realm. The remains consist of the Great Enclosure (perhaps a royal residence), the Hill Complex (possibly the religious heart of the city), and the Valley Ruins (houses which suggest the city once had a population of 20,000 people). In total, the Great Zimbabwe Ruins extend across an area of 200 acres. The city is thought to have been abandoned in the 15th century, for reasons scientists aren’t sure of.

 

10. Palenque (Mexico)

The Maya people of what is now Mexico were incredibly advanced when it came to writing, building, and knowledge of astronomy. Yet scientists still know little about other parts of their culture. By the time Spanish conquistadors arrived from Europe, the Maya civilization had already fallen, and historians still debate the cause. Some of the finest Maya ruins are at Palenque, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, an elaborate complex that includes a palace and several temples. Thought to have been constructed between 500 and 700 CE, it features plaster carvings and decorations that are still remarkably well-preserved. The city at Palenque is a marvel of design but remains shrouded in mystery since we may never know why it was abandoned around 900 CE.

 

11. Stonehenge (England)

No list of mysterious sites would be complete without the Neolithic monument at Stonehenge, which is known worldwide and continues to mystify visitors. The enormous stones are estimated to have been placed between 2500 BCE and 2200 BCE. Hundreds of even older burial mounds have also been uncovered in the surrounding area. Some of the stones come from several hundred miles away in Wales, leading archaeologists to speculate how they were transported. Others are from nearer parts of Wiltshire. What was Stonehenge’s purpose? Many believe it was a spiritual site, and people still flock to it as the sun rises on the summer solstice, when sunlight rises above the Heel stone at Stonehenge and falls directly onto the middle of the circle.

 

 

Source: Strange Monuments Around the World  |  Mysterious Monuments in the World

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - FIREFLIES

Did you know... that the Lampyridae are a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera, with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, glowworms, or lightning bugs for their conspicuous production of light, mainly during twilight, to attract mates. Light production in the Lampyridae originated as an honest warning signal that the larvae were distasteful; this was co-opted in evolution as a mating signal in the adults. In a further development, female fireflies of the genus Photuris mimic the flash pattern of Photinus species to trap their males as prey. (Wikipedia)

 

Illuminating Facts About Fireflies

by Interesting Facts

A summer evening wouldn’t be the same without the twinkling light of fireflies. The familiar insects can live almost anywhere there’s a patch of grass or stand of trees, blinking their bioluminescent bellies to attract mates and signal to other fireflies. Here are some key facts you should know about these charismatic creatures.

 

1. They’re Not Actually Flies – They’re Beetles

 

More than 2,000 species of fireflies haunt damp woodlands, forests, wetlands, suburbs, and city parks on every continent except Antarctica. About 160 species live in the U.S. and Canada, and their populations overlap so much that several species might be seen in one backyard at the same time. Though fireflies are quite diverse in their appearance and behavior, they all belong to the Lampyridae family within the order Coleoptera, which consists of beetles and weevils. Anatomically, fireflies and other beetles have hardened wing covers, called elytra, that differentiate them from flies and other types of insects.

 

2. Whether You Call Them “Fireflies” or “Lightning Bugs” Depends on Where You Live

If you live in the American West or New England, you likely know the members of Lampyridae as “fireflies.” Those in the Midwest and South, however, probably think of them as “lightning bugs.” Jason Keeler, an assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Central Michigan University, tweeted a possible explanation for the geographic choices. He noted that the “firefly” regions experience the United States’ highest wildfire activity (in the West, at least), while the “lightning bug” areas have the most lightning strikes.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, since the 16th century, fireflies have also been called fireworms, salamander flies, firebugs, glow flies, lightning beetles, and meadow flies.

 

3. Fireflies’ Light Comes From a Chemical Reaction

Not all fireflies produce light, but the ones that do give off their glow thanks to a biochemical reaction. Their light is produced when an enzyme, luciferase, interacts with a chemical called luciferin, oxygen, and ATP — a protein that facilitates energy production. Fireflies likely control their blinking patterns by regulating the amount of oxygen feeding the chemical reaction. Luciferin and luciferase interact so well together that scientists use them in medical applications, including immunological and gene expression assays, drug tests, and cancer research, according to a 2019 article in the journal BioScience. In one example, researchers have injected luciferase into cancer cells to see whether immunotherapies are killing them off.

 

4. Their Bioluminescence Is Incredibly Efficient

Entomologists call fireflies’ illumination “cold light” because 100% of the energy used to produce it is turned into actual light, and none is lost as other forms of energy. By comparison, a traditional incandescent light bulb converts 20% of its electricity into light and loses 80% as heat. Even modern LED light bulbs aren’t as efficient as fireflies.

 

5. Fireflies Communicate by Flashing in Unique Patterns

 

Each firefly species flashes with its own Morse code-like sequence, which members of the species use to signal potential mates. In North America, male fireflies will typically fly back and forth across a small area, blinking rhythmically, while the females perch in grass or shrubs and respond to the males with their own light. Eventually, the male will make his way over to the female by following her glow. Non-bioluminescent fireflies use pheromones instead of light to attract mates. A few species even synchronize their light show. Among Photinus carolinus, a species native to the southern Appalachians, the males blink in unison during their mating season, creating a major tourist event in Great Smoky Mountains National Park every June. A species seen in South Carolina’s Congaree National Park, Photuris frontalis, synchronizes intermittently in flight.

 

6. Fireflies Spend Most of Their Lives Underground

A firefly begins its existence as a faintly glowing egg in moist soil or leaf litter. About three weeks after the egg is laid, the firefly larva emerges and remains in its damp habitat, gobbling up worms, slugs, and other invertebrates. It eats and grows for two years, and then enters the pupal stage of its development. Over the next three weeks, the pupa metamorphoses into an adult firefly (similar to a caterpillar turning into a butterfly). Only then does the firefly finally emerge from its underground habitat and fly free.

 

7. Fireflies Are Sensitive to Light Pollution

Artificial light affects organisms that are active during twilight or at night. According to a 2018 study, 47% of the U.S. and 88% of Europe experience light pollution from artificial sources at night, which may account for the decline in many insect populations, including fireflies. LED signage, municipal street lights, vehicle headlights, and even cellphone screens have the potential to obscure fireflies’ flashing signals, temporarily blinding or disorienting them, or limiting their courtship. More research is needed to understand how fireflies are coping with our modern world.

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Firefly  |  Facts About Fireflies