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Fact of the Day - CHILD PRODIGIES

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Did you know... that at the age most of us were playing with food and discovering our toes, child prodigies around the globe are learning complex languages and studying fields we've never heard of. Many of these children went on to do great things. Others were crippled by emotional instability. Some have great potential and are just getting started. (Vivian Giang | Jun 15, 2011)

 

Child Prodigies Who Changed the World

by Interesting Facts

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We’ve all seen our share of talented children — the ambidextrous baseball pitchers, the ones who knock out “Für Elise” on the piano with surprising ease, or impress with a recitation of obscure facts from their favorite subjects. Chances are, we’re witnessing something promising but hardly unusual; adept kids emerge in every generation. However, once in a blue moon, a youngster unleashes such a mind-blowing show of talent that global recognition becomes a distinct possibility. Here are eight such prodigies who quickly dispensed with the training wheels before zooming to the top of their respective fields.

 

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Intrigued by the harpsichord at age 3, Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart accelerated through lessons and delivered his first musical composition in 1761 at age 5. That was enough for his father, who sent young Mozart and his older sister — also a gifted musician — on a tour of European cities over the next decade. Mozart thrived despite the grueling traveling conditions, dashing off his first symphony at age eight and his first operas not long after. At age 14, he transcribed Gregorio Allegri's “Miserere” from memory after hearing it performed at the Sistine Chapel, and returned a few weeks later to make only minor corrections to his notes. Mozart, of course, went on to become one of the greatest composers of the classical period, and the early realization of his abilities allowed him the time to create more than 600 works despite an early death at age 35.

 

2. Shirley Temple

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Few child stars in history have as much notoriety as Shirley Temple. When she was 4 years old, Temple was already lighting up the screen in a series of film shorts called Baby Burlesks (1932). By age seven, she had already appeared in more than 10 feature films and earned a special juvenile Academy Award, and that was before she became Hollywood's No. 1 box office draw for four years running. Temple eventually aged out of her bread-and-butter roles as America's dimple-cheeked sweetheart, and her film career was over by the time she legally became an adult. Fortunately, she avoided the tragedies that plagued many of the child stars who followed in her footsteps by launching a successful second act as a prominent diplomat. Temple, who eventually went by her married name, Shirley Temple Black, was a delegate to the U.N. General Assembly from 1969 to 1970, served as U.S. ambassador to Ghana from 1974 to 1976, was the chief of protocol for President Gerald Ford, and served as ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992, among other diplomatic roles.

 

3. Bobby Fisher

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Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1943, Bobby Fisher began playing chess at age 6 after his big sister purchased a $1 set. His talent had blossomed by age 13 when Fisher defeated former U.S. champion Donald Byrne in the "game of the century." He went on to become the youngest national champion at age 14, the game's youngest grandmaster at age 15, and the first American to claim the world championship. Unfortunately after these early successes, an increasingly erratic Fisher became better known for his bigoted rants and troubles with the law, though his place in history is secure thanks to the early show of brilliance that popularized the insular game of kings.

 

4. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

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There weren't many pathways to success for girls born to unwed parents in 17th-century Mexico, but Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz managed to transcend her origins with a dazzling mind and a deft pen. Largely self-taught, she wrote her first dramatic poem at age eight, studied the Greek classics, and was instructing children in Latin by age 13. A few years later, she joined the court of the Viceroy Marquis de Mancera, where she famously wowed a panel of professors with her expertise in numerous subjects. Sor Juana then entered a convent, where she enjoyed the freedom to pen numerous plays, poems, and carols, as well as the proto-feminist manifesto Respuesta a sor Filotea de la Cruz. A clash with authority figures forced her to abandon her creative pursuits shortly before her death in 1695, but she endures as one of the most important literary figures of the New Spanish Baroque.

 

5. John Stuart Mill

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English philosopher John Stuart Mill's legacy as one of the great writers and thinkers of the 19th century was forged by a childhood devoted to academia. Undertaking a rigorous curriculum, Mill was studying ancient Greek by age three, wrote a history of ancient Rome by age six, and mastered Latin by age 8. The training left him positioned to aid his philosopher father's intellectual pursuits, but it also produced an inner turmoil that manifested in a nervous breakdown and a period of depression in his early 20s. It wasn't until he started reading poetry that Mill began understanding the feelings that had been repressed since childhood, paving the way for his groundbreaking works on utilitarianism, intellectual freedom, capitalism, and gender equality.

 

6. Jascha Heifetz

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In 1903, at just 2 years old, Jascha Heifetz began learning the violin and rapidly developed fluency with the instrument that would carry him from his native Russia to all corners of the world. He made his formal public debut at age age, performed before a reported 8,000 people at age 10, and played with the Berlin Philharmonic as an 11-year-old. A seasoned pro by his teenage years, Heifetz made his long-awaited Carnegie Hall debut at 16 and launched a prolific recording career shortly afterward. Heifetz was also a gifted pianist, and he enjoyed success as a Tin Pan Alley composer under the pseudonym of Jim Hoyl, though he remained most beloved for the violin wizardry that was apparent from the very beginning.

 

7. John von Neumann

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While not nearly as well-remembered as fellow European emigree and scholar Albert Einstein, John von Neumann was also a certifiable genius who made an enormous imprint on the world around him. Born in 1903 in Budapest, Hungry, his turbo-charged intellect was apparent by the early stages of grade school. Von Neumann could converse in ancient Greek and multiply two eight-digit numbers in his head by age 6 and within two years he was already learning calculus. His dad tried to dissuade his son from a career in mathematics over fears that it was an unsustainable career, but von Neumann not only proved he could make a comfortable living in the field, he also showed his training could be applied to the development of game theory, personal computers, weather forecasting, and other real-world applications.

 

8. Willie Mosconi

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Billiards legend Willie Mosconi got his start playing the game in his father's Philadelphia pool hall, even as his father tried to steer him toward a stage career. After the boy kept sneaking in to practice with a potato and broom handle, a resigned papa figured he could make the most of his son's determination. In 1919, at age 6, Mosconi more than held his own in a match against world champion Ralph Greenleaf, and at age 11, he became the juvenile champ. From there, there was no slowing the man The New York Times called the Babe Ruth of his sport, who once sunk a record 526 shots in a row and won the world billiards title 13 times over 15 years.

 

 

Source: The Smartest Children In History  |  Facts About Child Prodigies

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Fact of the Day - BEES

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Did you know... that bees are arguably the most important living creature for our environment. They are also the most studied, only second to humans. During the long history that humans have shared with bees over thousands of years, it’s’ no wonder we have learnt so much from them and depend on bees for life to exist as we know it. (Emmanuel | Last Updated: July 2019)

 

Fascinating Facts About Bees

by Lucas Reilly | Nov 18, 2013 | Updated: May 20, 2021

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Sure, you know that bees pollinate our crops and give us honey. But there's so much more to these buzzing insects than that.

 

1. Bee stings have some health benefits.
A toxin in bee venom called melittin may prevent HIV. Melittin can kill HIV by poking holes into the virus's protective envelope. (Meanwhile, when melittin hitches a ride on certain nanoparticles, it will just bounce off normal cells and leave them unharmed.) Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis hope the toxin can be used in preventative gels. Bee stings may also ease pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo found that molecules in bee venom increase your body's level of glucocorticoid, an anti-inflammatory hormone.

 

2. Bees work harder than you do.
During chillier seasons, worker bees can live for nine months. But in the summer, they rarely last longer than six weeks—they literally work themselves to death.

 

3. When bees change jobs, they change their brain chemistry.

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Bees are hardwired to do certain jobs. Scout bees, which search for new sources of food, are wired for adventure. Soldier bees, discovered in 2012, work as security guards their whole life. One percent of all middle-aged bees become undertakers—a genetic brain pattern compels them to remove dead bees from the hive. But most amazingly, regular honeybees—which perform multiple jobs in their lifetime—will change their brain chemistry before taking up a new gig.

 

4. Bee brains defy time.
When aging bees do jobs usually reserved for younger members, their brain stops aging. In fact, their brain ages in reverse. (Imagine if riding a tricycle didn't just make you feel young—it actually made your brain tick like a younger person's.) Scientists at Arizona State University believe the discovery can help us slow the onset of dementia.

 

5. Bees are changing medicine.
To reinforce their hives, bees use a resin from poplar and evergreen trees called propolis. It's basically beehive glue. Although bees use it as caulk, humans use it to fight off bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Research shows that propolis taken from a beehive may relieve cold sores, canker sores, herpes, a sore throat, cavities, and even eczema.

 

6. Bees can recognize human faces.

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Honeybees make out faces the same way we do. They take parts—like eyebrows, lips, and ears—and cobble them together to make out the whole face. It’s known as configural processing, and it might help computer scientists improve face recognition technology, The New York Times reports.

 

7. Bees have personalities
Even in beehives, there are workers and shirkers. Researchers at the University of Illinois found that not all bees are interchangeable drones. Some bees are thrill-seekers, while others are a bit more timid. A 2011 study even found that agitated honeybees can be pessimistic, showing that, to some extent, bees might have feelings. Bees: They're just like us!

 

8. Bees get buzzed from caffeine and cocaine.

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Nature didn't intend for caffeine to be relegated to your morning pot of coffee. It's actually a plant defense chemical that shoos harmful insects away and lures pollinators in. Scientists at Newcastle University found that nectar laced with caffeine helps bees remember where the flower is, increasing the chances of a return visit. While caffeine makes bees work better, cocaine turns them into big fat liars. Bees "dance" to communicate—a way of giving fellow bees directions to good food. But high honeybees exaggerate their moves and overemphasize the food's quality. They even exhibit withdrawal symptoms, helping scientists understand the nuances of addiction.

 

9. Bees have Viking-like navigation techniques.
Bees use the Sun as a compass. But when it's cloudy, there's a backup—they navigate by polarized light, using special photoreceptors to find the Sun's place in the sky. The Vikings may have used a similar system: On sunny days, they navigated with sundials, but on cloudy days, sunstones—chunks of calcite that act like a Polaroid filter—helped them stay on course.

 

10. Bees can solve hairy mathematical problems.
Pretend it's the weekend, and it's time to do errands. You have to visit six stores and they're all at six separate locations. What's the shortest distance you can travel while visiting all six? Mathematicians call this the "traveling salesman problem," and it can even stump some computers. But for bumblebees, it's a snap. Researchers at Royal Holloway University in London found that bumblebees fly the shortest route possible between flowers. So far, they're the only animals known to solve the problem.

 

11. Bees are nature's most economical builders.
In 36 BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro argued that honeycombs were the most practical structures around. Centuries later, Greek mathematician Pappus solidified the "honeycomb conjecture" by making the same claim. Almost 2000 years later, American mathematician Thomas Hales wrote a mathematical proof showing that, of all the possible structures, honeycombs use the least amount of wax. And not only are honeycombs the most efficient structures in nature—the walls meet at a precise 120-degree angle, a perfect hexagon.

 

12. Bees can help us catch serial killers.
Serial killers behave like bees. They commit their crimes close to home, but far enough away that the neighbors don't get suspicious. Similarly, bees collect pollen near their hive, but far enough that predators can't find the hive. To understand how this "buffer zone" works, scientists studied bee behavior and wrote up a few algorithms. Their findings improved computer models police use to find felons.

 

13. Bees are job creators.

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The average American consumes roughly 1.51 pounds of honey each year. On top of that, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that honeybees pollinate up to 80 percent of the country's insect crops—meaning bees pollinate over $15 billion worth of crops each year.

 

Bonus Facts: Bees can recognize human faces.

by Interesting Facts

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Humans have known about bees for a long time: 8,000-year-old cave paintings in Bicorp, Spain, show early humans scaling trees to collect honey. But modern scientists wanted to know if bees recognize us, which is why researchers have put the insects’ microscopic brains to the test. In a 2005 study, honey bees were trained to memorize pictures of human faces by scientists who rewarded them for correct matches with droplets of sugar water. While a bee’s-eye view isn’t as clear as our own gaze, the buzzing insects were able to correctly differentiate between faces up to 90% of the time — even two days after first seeing them, and when the sweet incentives were removed.

 

The emerging research into bee brains shows that not all living creatures need the complex brain systems humans have in order to recognize and recall environmental differences, but some researchers say that’s not entirely shocking. The Apis mellifera (aka the European honey bee) can visit up to 5,000 flowers in one day, distinguishing between buds that give off beaucoup nectar and those that don’t. So, it makes sense that bees have some form of working memory. And unlocking how bee brains work has practical applications for both us and them: Tech developers may be able to fine-tune artificial intelligence systems (in part by understanding how such tiny brains work so efficiently), and entomologists can better focus on supporting these crucial insects — which are responsible for an estimated 80% of food crop pollination.

 

Arctic bees hibernate for nine months.
Most researchers agree that bees are weather-sensitive; species living in four-season environments generally appear with warming spring temperatures and disappear into their hives to wait out winter. But that doesn’t mean all bees are delicate — some pollinator species are able to withstand the colder temps of the Arctic Circle. In the short summers between rugged winters, arctic bumblebees do the heavy lifting of pollinating wildflowers and berries that other animals rely on. Bombus polaris have adapted to the unforgiving climates of northern Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, Russia, and elsewhere with thicker fur and the ability to shiver their muscles to raise internal temperatures, but they also have shorter life spans than bees in warmer regions. Queen arctic bumblebees emerge from a nine-month solitary hibernation in May with one task in mind: quickly laying eggs to jump-start a colony that will only live a few months, save for one new queen — who will replace her in August to start the process all over again.

 

 

Source: Unbelievable Facts about Bees  |  Fascinating Facts About Bees  |  Bee Facts

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Fact of the Day - CROWS

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Did you know... that Crows often get a bad rap. In many Western cultures, they've historically been associated with death, disease, and bad omens; reviled as crop-stealers by farmers, and condemned as nuisances by city dwellers. But the birds are fascinating creatures, adaptable and brainy to an extent that's almost scary. Here are a few facts about these crafty corvids that might surprise you. (Mark Mancini | Oct 2, 2017 | Updated: Sep 30, 2020

 

Captivating Facts About Crows

by Interesting Facts

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Depending on where you live, there’s a good chance that you see a crow nearly every day. Fortunately, they’re one of the most fascinating birds on the planet. Corvids, the bird family that includes ravens, crows, and magpies, are incredibly intelligent — and it seems like every time we learn something new about them, it raises even more interesting questions. Do crows really recognize human friends? Why do thousands of birds swarm certain neighborhoods? And what’s up with crow funerals? Read on for the answers to these and other questions about one of the most intriguing birds around.

 

1. Crows Recognize Faces — and Keep Both Friendships and Generations-Long Grudges

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Have crows ever acted weird around you? It’s possible they remember your face, and that could be a good thing — or a very bad thing. In 2008, a University of Washington research team led by John M. Marzluff published a study on crow behavior, risking their very eyeballs to do so. Wearing what they called “dangerous” masks (made of rubber and meant to resemble cavemen), the researchers captured and banded a group of crows — something the birds didn’t like too much. While the crows acted normally to maskless or differently-masked researchers, the crows would scold (with loud, harsh calls) anyone wearing the dangerous mask, even when it was worn upside-down. As time went on and word spread among the flock, more and more crows would join in with the behavior. Over the course of several years, researchers walked around the UW campus wearing the bad mask, and, to this day, still get scolded and dive-bombed by birds more than a decade later, even though the crows from the study have likely died. Research has shown that the crows reacted to these threats and stored them in their memories in bird versions of the amygdala, a process much like that of humans. This research confirmed what crow pros had always suspected: That crows don’t just recognize humans, but have deeply held opinions about individual people. Kevin McGowan, a researcher at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, says that crows he has captured and banded are often still mad at him, while birds that have gotten many snacks from him follow him around. Plenty of non-scientists have shared the stories of their own corvid friendships, too, both in modern times and throughout history.

 

2. Crows Have Excellent Collaborative Communication Skills

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As evidenced by the growing number of vengeful birds in the mask experiment, crows have excellent communication skills — and can go into far greater detail than just “this is bad.” In the 1980s, researcher Lawrence Kilham studied a group of crows living on a ranch in Florida. (The technical term for a group of crows is amurder,” by the way.) In one of his observations, five crows were helping a mother crow build a nest by bringing her sticks. After an excessive, messy pile of sticks accumulated, the mama crow was able to communicate that the deliveries were no longer helpful. She spent the next two weeks finishing up the nest with materials from the pile. After decades of crow study, Cornell’s Kevin McGowan has even learned to understand some of what they’re saying through the timing, spacing, timbre, and energy of their calls — at least, some of the simpler stuff, such as “a hawk is approaching,” “the hawk is getting closer,” or “help me harass this owl.” He says that music is a better comparison than spoken word. In addition to caws, crows have noises such as rattling, clicks, and bell-like sounds in their vocabulary, plus non-vocal communication. Sometimes they even imitate other birds.

 

3. Crows Have Funerals (Kind Of)

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There are many ways you can make enemies with a crow, but one of the quickest is to be seen with a dead one. When faced with a dead member of their own species, many wild animals will avoid the area. Crows, on the other hand, will mob the body in large, loud gatherings — then silently depart. While crows do have tight social bonds, the funerals may be more about information-sharing. What happened here? How can we avoid danger? Who are we ganging up on over this? In 2015, University of Washington researchers found that when crows see a human in the proximity of a dead crow just once, they can continue associating that person with the death for up to six weeks. Humans, however, are not public enemy number No. 1. When researchers presented a hawk near a taxidermied crow, the mobbing intensified. They also found that, while threat assessment is a key part of these gatherings, crows don’t do the same thing for just any species of dead bird — this ritual is reserved for their own.

 

4. Crows Might Be as Smart as Great Apes

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Clearly, crows are very intelligent, but just how smart are they? In addition to their dynamite communication, threat assessment, and memory skills, crows demonstrate self-awareness, capacity for learning, and problem-solving abilities that may approach those of great apes. New Caledonian crows — who live on the islands of New Caledonia in the South Pacific — are especially well-known for being adept with tools. In one experiment, a crow figured out how to use water displacement to get access to food. In another, the same species of crow fashioned a hook out of a piece of wire to dig out a treat — and in yet another, they used a small stick to push a long stick into the right position for reaching food. In 2018, University of Auckland researchers decided to see if crows could remember templates and replicate them. First, the researchers fashioned a small, snack-dispensing mock vending machine that accepted a specific size of paper. The crows, presented with pre-cut paper, would learn which one operated the machine. Later, presented with one larger sheet of cardstock, the crows would tear the paper to roughly the same size from scratch. Caledonian or not, crows have a sophisticated understanding of cause and effect. BBC Earth observed one crow in Japan who learned to open nuts by dropping them into traffic. When he discovered it was difficult to retrieve them, he started dropping them at pedestrian crossings so he could harvest the insides without getting run over.

 

5. Crows Have Close-Knit Family Relationships

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American and Northwestern crows are known for close family bonds. Pairs of birds mate for life, and older crow offspring will pitch in raising the younger ones. During the egg incubation period, the mama crow has food delivered a few times an hour by her mate and other family helpers. Cornell researcher Kevin McGowan has witnessed crow families of up to 15 birds at one time. It gets sweeter: At hatching time, other crows start visiting just out of curiosity about the new baby. Researcher Lawrence Kilham observed mother crows greeting these visitors by moving slightly to the side to give them a peek. In crow families, adults can stick around their parents’ territory for a while, sometimes for several years. Even once they do move out, they may come back every so often, sometimes to help with nest-building. While mating and hatching season are both big deals in crow family life, learning-to-fly season is up there, too. Many young birds of other species don’t see their parents again after getting pushed out of the nest for the first time, but crows keep a close eye on their juveniles while they’re running around on the ground — and occasionally, an unsuspecting human will get a little too close and get dive-bombed.

 

6. Tens of Thousands of Crows Roost Together

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Crows have large families, but, in the fall and winter, they have even bigger roosting communities. This is why on chilly afternoons, you may see thousands of crows swarming around one place. Smaller groups of crows come to these giant roosts from miles around. Roosts even host international guests; some crows from Canadian forests will winter in Seattle for the warmer city environment. More than 15,000 crows sometimes roost in downtown Portland alone, and 16,000 crows roost on the University of Washington, Bothell, campus near Seattle. In the Fort Cobb area of Oklahoma, the roost population exceeded 2 million in 1970.

 

7. Crows Love to Play

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Crows and other corvids are incredibly playful. They’ve been caught on camera sledding down snowy roofs using plastic lids and playing fetch with dogs. Sometimes they provoke a fight between two cats, becoming enthusiastic spectators when the violence starts. A crow once locked a science writer in a cage. A pair of magpies, also in the crow family, repeatedly pranked a zookeeper’s flock of chickens. Corvids also hide objects that are unrelated to food. Researchers have documented several kinds of play, or activity without a clear goal, in crows, from doing cool flight tricks to spending extra time in the water. Researchers are still exploring why — some of it could be for learning or just good old-fashioned stress relief.

 

8. Crows Might Live for Up to 60 Years

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A crow named Tata was allegedly 59 years old when he died at his home in Bearsville, New York, in 2006. While his age is nearly impossible to verify, ornithologists haven’t exactly cast doubt on it; the Cornell Ornithology Lab cites him as the longest-lived crow. Tata’s longevity comes from being a pet, since crows in captivity aren’t exposed to the same dangers as a crow in the wild would.Edgar, a crow in captivity at the Saginaw Children's Zoo in Saginaw, Michigan, died in 2020 at about age 26. The oldest observed crow in the wild was 17 years and 5 months old.

 

 

Source: Fascinating Facts About Crows  |  The Facts About Crows

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Fact of the Day - THE GOLDEN GIRLS

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Did you know... that though The Golden Girls made its debut on September 14, 1985—exactly 32 years ago today—the series still remains fresh for generations of new viewers thanks to great writing and syndicated reruns. Here are 20 things you might not have known about Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia. (Kara Kovalchik | September 14, 2017)

 

Facts You Might Not Know About “The Golden Girls”

by Interesting Facts

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At a time when youth seemed to carry the banner for pop culture, a show about seniors couldn’t have gone more against the trends. But with its witty characters living their best lives despite hitting retirement age, the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls was an instant hit, becoming the No. 1 show in the Nielsen ratings in its first week in September 1985. Called a “geriatric comedy” by the Associated Press, the secret formula was in the relatability of the storylines and the sharply written script about the friendships between four women living together in Miami Beach. The all-star cast was made of faces already familiar on the small screen, including Maude costars Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan as tough-as-nails Dorothy Zbornak and flirty Southern belle Blanche Devereaux, respectively, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s Betty White as innocent, ditzy Midwesterner Rose Nylund. Stage star Estelle Getty rounded out the group as Dorothy’s mother, the ever-blunt Sophia Petrillo. The seven-season show has continued to transcend the generations, particularly finding a fan base among the LBGT community. Here, we travel down the road and back again to unveil 10 facts about the groundbreaking television show.

 

1. The Show Was Given a 13-Episode Order Before There Was a Script

During NBC’s promotional program for the 1984 season, Night Court’s Selma Diamond was introducing Miami Vice in a comedy sketch and joked, “‘Miami Nice?” It must be about a bunch of old people sitting around playing pinochle.” The idea stuck with NBC president Brandon Tartikoff, and when producers Paul Witt and Tony Thomas came into his office to pitch a new show a few weeks later, he passed on their idea but instead gave them an assignment: “Take some women around 60. Society has written them off, has said they're over the hill. We want them to be feisty as hell and having a great time.” Witt responded that NBC would never put it on the air. Fully confident the show would be a success, it was given a 13-episode commitment before there was even a script.

 

2. White Was Supposed to Play Blanche and McClanahan Was Originally Rose

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Best known at the time as the “neighborhood nymphomaniacSue Ann Nevins from the classic 1970s sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, White was “thrilled at [the idea of playing] Blanche,” who was reminiscent of her previous character. Meanwhile, McClanahan was sent the script under the assumption she would audition for Rose. While she loved the script, McClanahan told her agent, “I can’t play Rose, I’ve got to play Blanche.” However, she was told Blanche was going to White, so she should focus on Rose. During the casting process, director Jay Sandrich decided to switch things up and had the women read the opposite roles. “She did a beautiful, funny job,” McClanahan said of White’s on-the-spot role reversal. And White says of McClanahan being the perfect fit for Blanche: “[She took it] out into orbit where I never would have had the guts to go.”

 

3. A Gay Cook Named Coco Was Part of the Ensemble

The essence of The Golden Girls’ premise is female empowerment. Yet there was still a bit of hesitation over a cast of just women. So in the pilot episode, there was another character: a gay housekeeper named Coco, played by Charles Levin. He was a “friend-slash-manservant,” as The Atlantic put it. In the premiere, Coco offers them tea, makes enchiladas rancheros, and at one point, Sophia sums him up as “the fancy man in the kitchen.” Nevertheless, it was quickly decided that his presence wasn’t needed, and Coco vanished by the second episode.

 

4. Blanche Had 165 Relationships

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The women were never shy to share tales of their sexual endeavors. Refinery 29 completed a study of all seven seasons and tallied up their escapades. Blanche — to no one’s surprise — topped the list, having been with 165 men. She declared in season six that she has been in 143 relationships, and the website factored in her late husband plus 22 other unspecified men. In a distant second was Dorothy — whose on- and off-again relationship with Stan drove much of the storyline — with a count of 43. Rose came in third with 30 men, even though she was the first to be seen in bed with a man on the show. Sophia’s total count is 25, including her supposed secret first husband, Julio Iglesias.

 

5. None of the Women Were Like Their Characters

While the line between their characters and their real-personalities was blurred to the public, McClanahan says none of them were anything like their characters. “Betty, probably least of all … Betty has nothing but brains,” she said. McClanahan believed Getty was perhaps closest to Sicily-born Brooklynite Sophia, “although she was not at all pushy and vitriolic — Estelle was just funny. She was ‘Jewish New York’ funny.” As for Arthur, McClanahan said Dorothy’s failures in life were the polar opposite of Arthur’s successes, saying she has a “very funny take on people and quick-witted.” For her part, the Oklahoma native is quick to point out her character is from Atlanta and she’s not, implying they have nothing in common.

 

6. The Cast Once Performed for the Queen Mother

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Queen Elizabeth II’s mom, the Queen Mother, was such a fan of the show that she had the four leads perform at the London Palladium in 1988 during the Royal Variety Performance. The cast performed two of their kitchen table scenes and made sure to censor a few things to not offend the royals in attendance. That said, the Queen Mum did have a sense of humor. One joke that was left intact was Dorothy asking Blanche how long she waited to have sex after her husband died, with Sophia wittingly interjecting, “Until the paramedics came.” The response made the often-reserved royal laugh out loud.

 

7. More Than 100 Cheesecakes Were Eaten During the Show

On the show, there were very few problems that a slice of cheesecake couldn’t solve, from small scuffles to big life crises. Throughout seven seasons, more than 100 cheesecakes were eaten during the ladies’ late-night kitchen table commiserations. However,  if you look closely, you’ll notice that Dorothy rarely takes a bite. In real life, Arthur reportedly hated cheesecake.

 

8. There’s Another Theme Song Verse About Aging

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As one of the most recognizable — and beloved — theme songs in television history, “Thank You For Being a Friend,” performed by Cynthia Fee, captures the enduring value of friendship through its lyrics, especially with its memorable lines like, “If you threw a party, invited everyone you knew / You would see the biggest gift would be from me / And the card attached would say, ‘Thank you for being a friend.’” But the songwriter who also originally performed the song, Andrew Gold, thought the 1978 song was a “little throwaway thing” he wrote in about an hour. Years before the show came along, he also had another verse in there that oddly hit the show right on the nose. “And when we both get older, with walking canes and hair of gray / Have no fear, even though it’s hard to hear. I will stand real close and say, ‘Thank you for being a friend.’” As appropriate as it was for the premise, that verse never made it onto the show.

 

9.  White Was the Oldest of the Ensemble — And Lived the Longest

Despite Getty’s character being the oldest of the bunch, White was actually the eldest of the four actresses. She was 63 when The Golden Girls began, about four months older than Arthur. Getty’s character would have been 79 when the show started, but she was actually 62 at the time of the first show. McClanahan was the youngest of the bunch. In 2008, Getty was the first Golden Girl to pass. She was followed by Arthur in 2009, McClanahan in 2010, and White in 2021, just weeks shy of her 100th birthday.

 

10. Each of the Four Stars Won an Emmy Award

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The show was an Emmys darling from the start, eventually accumulating 68 nominations and 11 awards, with each of the four leads taking home a trophy at one point. Arthur, McClanahan, and White all received Best Actress nods in 1986, with White winning the honors. The following year, it was McClanahan who clinched the title, and then in 1988, it was Arthur’s turn —  as well as Getty’s, who earned the Supporting Actress honor. During her speech, Arthur noted that her thank-yous were from “the four of us” since “we’ve all won.”

 

 

Source: Fun Facts About The Golden Girls  |  Facts About The Golden Girls

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Fact of the Day - Hedy Lamarr

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Did you know..... that Hedy Lamarr was often called “the most beautiful woman in the world.” Really, she was so much more than just a pretty face. There was her illustrious Hollywood career and her second act as the mastermind behind the groundbreaking technology that led to the invention of Wi-Fi. With all that, you’d hardly think that she would have the time for such a scandalous personal life—but this brilliant bombshell had a dark side, too. (Penelope Singh | October 2021)

 

Fascinating Facts About Actress and Inventor Hedy Lamarr

by Interesting Facts

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During Hollywood's Golden Age in the 1930s and '40s, MGM star Hedy Lamarr was considered one of the world's most beautiful women. Her appearance was reportedly the model behind Walt Disney's Snow White, as well as Batman's nemesis, Catwoman. Yet there's much more to Lamarr's life than her beauty. She was also an inventor, who had an idea amid World War II that would have later implications for both the U.S. military and technology such as GPS and Bluetooth. Learn more about Lamar with these eight fascinating facts.

 

1. Lamarr Was Often Associated With a Racy Early Film

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Born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria, Lamarr starred in the Czech movie Ecstasy (1933) when she was a teenager. The silent film featured Lamarr swimming in the nude, as well as simulating what's thought to be cinema's first female orgasm. Given its content, Ecstasy was criticized by Pope Pius XI and Adolf Hitler banned the movie due to Lamarr's Jewish background. Even after Lamarr became a star in Hollywood, people often called her "Ecstasy Girl." The title for her problematic autobiography, Ecstasy and Me: My Life as a Woman, was also inspired by this risqué film.

 

2. Lamarr Was Married Six Times

Lamarr never had much success in marriage, with six failed unions under her belt. Lamarr was not yet 20 when she wed her first husband, Friedrich Mandl, in 1933. Mandl was a munitions dealer who worked with Nazis, dined with people like Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, and was also extremely controlling of Lamarr. In fact, Mandl tried (unsuccessfully) to purchase all copies of Lamarr's film Ecstasy. It took multiple escape attempts before Lamarr was able to get out of the marriage in 1937. In one telling, she says she had to drug her maid and disguise herself in the servant's uniform to flee.

 

3. Lamarr Negotiated Her Own Hollywood Contract

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After the end of her first marriage, Lamarr wanted to go to Hollywood. While in London, she met Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM Studios. Mayer, aware of the controversy surrounding Ecstasy, offered Lamarr a contract with a salary of only $125 per week, which she turned down. Still determined to go to Hollywood, Lamarr managed to board the ship Mayer was taking back to the United States. During the voyage, Lamarr charmed her fellow passengers, demonstrating the pull she could exert on audiences. By the time the ship had arrived stateside, Lamarr had a contract with MGM for $500 a week.

 

4. Lamarr’s Stage Name Was Inspired By a Dead Movie Star

Signing with MGM required Lamarr to change her last name from Keisler, since German names were not in vogue by the late 1930s. Mayer was inspired by deceased silent film star Barbara La Marr when creating the actress’ new last name. Although it was fake, Lamarr became attached to her new name. When the Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles (1974) had a character named “Hedley Lamarr,” Lamarr sued for the unauthorized use of her name and received a small settlement.

 

5. Lamarr’s Inventor Side Was Encouraged by Howard Hughes

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When Lamarr was 5, she'd taken apart and then rebuilt a music box to discover how it worked. Her interest in understanding how things functioned, along with a desire to create her own inventions, continued even as she began to make her name in Hollywood. In this, Lamarr was supported by movie mogul and aerospace innovator Howard Hughes. Lamarr aided Hughes in return; by studying the anatomy of fish and birds, she came up with an idea for an airplane wing that he embraced as "genius."

 

6. Lamarr’s World War II Invention Was Initially Dismissed

During World War II, Lamar and modernist composer George Antheil came up with a "secret communication system" that used "frequency hopping" between radio signals to direct torpedoes without enemy interference. She and Antheil received a patent in August 1942 and offered their invention to the U.S. military. But the government wasn't interested in the invention or Lamarr's intelligence. Instead, the actress was informed that her beauty was the best way to help the war effort. Instead of rejecting this sexist suggestion, Lamarr went on to sell millions in war bonds. She also took shifts at the Hollywood Canteen, where soldiers could relax and spend time with movie stars.

 

7. Lamarr Invented Many Everyday Items

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In addition to the frequency-hopping system, Lamarr had a slew of other inventions, including a light-up dog collar, improvements for a traffic signal, tablets to transform water into soft drinks, and a new Kleenex box.

 

8. Lamarr's Frequency-Hopping System Was Used Globally, But She Didn’t Receive Credit

The frequency-hopping system that Lamarr and Antheil invented during World War II was adapted by the U.S. Navy and used during 1962's Cuban Missile Crisis. Later it contributed to technological innovations such as Bluetooth and GPS. Yet Lamarr's contribution was ignored. She expressed her feelings about this in a 1990 interview: "I can't understand why there's no acknowledgment when it's used all over the world." Lamarr was slightly mollified when she was recognized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation with a Pioneer Award in 1997.

 

 

Source: Wild Facts About Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood’s Brilliant Bombshell  |  Hedy Lamarr Facts

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Fact of the Day - STRANGE COMPETITIONS

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Did you know... that humans’ primal desire to compete can be traced to basic principles of evolution: To survive, all organisms on the planet must constantly outdo each other for resources. But where fellow terrestrials use play to simulate competitive skills like hunting or fighting, human beings have taken their zest for competition many steps further. The world is riddled with odd competitions, from the Air Guitar World Championships held in Finland since 1996 and cow pie bingo to any number of eating competitions, polar dips, and, of course, the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, held each year at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif. Events like lumberjack or woodsmen competitions have been mainstays in American culture, while other events come briefly into the public eye only to fade quickly (and, sometimes, thankfully) back into obscurity. Decades ago, women were subjected to figure contests (in which contestants wore papier-mache masks to hide their faces), “perfect back” contests, cleaning championships, and other archaic competitions that trudged forward through humans’ primordial soup into splendid, utter irrelevancy. Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest (he came in 20th place), and we’ve since seen the same from Adele. Then there are the now-defunct Summer Redneck Games, women’s armpit hair competition, and even the Extreme Ironing World Championships (which is just what it sounds like). Still (surprisingly) in operation, however, are contests for lawnmower racing, baby crying, rock-paper-scissors, black pudding throwing, Punkin Chunkin, tree climbing, shovel racing, and even the Cold Water Swimming Olympics. Mining various news reports, organization and town websites, and championships data yielded 25 of the most unusual competitions from around the world. It seems there’s a contest for every imaginable skill, from belly-flopping to swimming in grits. (Nicole Caldwell | September 27, 2019)

 

Strange Competitions Around the World

by Interesting Facts

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A very special sort of sports fan prides themselves on seeking out strange competitions — they’re thrilled by the odd spectacle, enchanted by the offbeat victor. Lucky for them, many cities around the world have taken advantage of some aspect of their geography, history, local cuisine or culture to start an oddball festival. For instance, in Whitehorse, Yukon, where daytime high temperatures in January typically top out at 8 degrees Fahrenheit, an annual winter-long contest is held at the local hot springs for the best and most outlandish frozen hairdos. Just as you’d never find frozen hair competitions in Florida, that state’s alligator wrestling competitions would never happen in the frozen Yukon. The U.K., perhaps, wins the prize among all other nations for embracing odd sports like bog snorkelingshin-kicking and chasing a wheel of cheese down a steep and lumpy hill. If you find you’re a fan of the weird and wonderful, the world is full of destinations where you can witness some pretty outlandish sports. Choose your favorite from these four fascinating festivals and competitions to add to your travel bucket list.

 

1. Frozen Dead Guy Days (Nederland, Colorado)

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About 17 miles west and 2,900 feet above Boulder, Colorado, you’ll come across a plastic utility shed with the body of a Norwegian man kept packed in dry ice. It turns out the deceased and his offspring were big believers in cryonics, wherein dead bodies are kept in a deep freeze, awaiting future medical advances that could allow them to be brought back to life. There was a problem for this particular dead body, though: The daughter and grandson who had been caretakers for the frozen man since 1993 came upon hard times and both returned to Norway. The town of Nederland, seeing an opportunity for offbeat fame, took up the cause of keeping the late Mr. Morstoel from thawing. In 2003, they began to celebrate their local stiff with Frozen Dead Guy Days, an annual March event. Locals have devised numerous thematic competitions during the festival that share a macabre humor. These include hearse races, coffin races (six “pallbearers” carry a coffin with a live person in it, racing other groups through an obstacle course), a polar plunge, a game of rigid-human foosball played on a snowy field, a brain freeze contest (contestants race to finish frozen drinks), frozen fish toss, and frozen turkey bowling. The funereal fun is kept alive all weekend through Day of the Dead costumes, a live musical, and a Blue Ball dance.

 

2. World’s Ugliest Dog Contest (Petaluma, California)

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What began in the mid-1970s as a minor sideshow-esque contest at the annual Sonoma-Marin Fair in Northern California has become an annual tour de force, drawing more spectators than any other element of the fair. The often lopsided, fuzzy, popeyed winners of the World’s Ugliest Dog title often receive front-page coverage in the national press. Despite the contest’s name, the mood of the annual June competition is more celebratory and loving than you may expect. Most of the dogs entered in the contest were adopted by their proud owners from animal shelters or rescue groups, and the lucky pooches are often greeted with noisy and indulgent “oohs” and “ahhs.” Wiry head tufts, lolling tongues, hairless tails, cloudy eyes — should you have the luck to attend one of the late June contests (and lovefests), be forewarned: You may come down with an unavoidable need to adopt a funny-looking pet.

 

3. World’s Beard and Mustache Championships (Various Locations)

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Perhaps you didn’t know that there’s a sport that calls itself “bearding,” or that websites and grooming companies exist that cater to “beard-os” or “beardaholics.” Some people obviously take great pride in growing, teasing, and training their facial hair. Or maybe you did know all these things and have been following the growth in popularity for the hirsute, with professional baseball players, purveyors of craft cocktails, country music stars, and hipsters everywhere contributing to the trend. Either way, where there’s pride and attention paid, it follows that a competition can’t be far behind. In fact, there are loads of beard and mustache contests — ones held in local bars or ones sponsored by beard oil makers — but the fathership of the facial hair competitions is the World’s Beard and Mustache Championships. The WBMC pops up every two years in a different location around Europe, the U.S., or Australia. This officially sanctioned event offers titles in 16 different categories for configurations that include mustaches, partial beards, and full beards. In all divisions, there’s a natural competition for those who eschew hot combs, styling wax, and curling irons. But if you prefer a little creative use of product and equipment with your facial hair, you’re in luck. Men sporting quirky Dali mustaches are judged separately from those who wear magnificent Hungarian mustaches. Wearers of musketeers and Fu Manchus and Kaiser beards compete amongst themselves. And for those whose growth defies labels, freestyle competitions bring out the weirdest and most original stylings. The next competition has been pushed back to April 2023 — thus, if you’re so inclined, there’s plenty of time to stop shaving and be hairy enough to join the competition in Auckland.

 

4. Bog Snorkeling (Wales)

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Imagine the sight of the starting blocks at an Olympic swimming competition: the athletes in their streamlined suits, the pool shimmering and clear, everyone quiet and focused, awaiting the blare of the starting buzzer. Now set that image aside. This, instead, is bog-snorkeling, an absurd contest invented in 1986 in Wales (though now practiced by silly people throughout the world). Instead of pristine starting blocks, there’s a wooden walkway that crosses a 197-foot-long trench dug in a peat bog in Wales. Participants, wearing ungainly flippers and snorkels, lower themselves from that walkway into cold and muddy water and then, one at a time, make their way down the length of the waterway and back, without using any recognizable swimming strokes. Their supporters and competitors string out along the trench, wearing galoshes against the mud and often carrying umbrellas against the Welsh summer weather — cheering, heckling the splashy progress, and drinking local ale. In addition to a contest for speed, some compete for best costume or bog accessory, while others make matters more difficult by adding triathlon components to the bog swim. Besides being a giddy celebration of summer, the bog snorkeling serves as a charity fundraiser, so the contestants can feel better when they are still finding traces of mud in their ears a week later.

 

 

Source: Weird Competitions From Around the World  |  Facts About Strange Competitions

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Fact of the Day - THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

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Did you know... that there’s a lot more to the northernmost part of our globe than just frigid landscapes. Read on for some fascinating facts about the Arctic region, and the people and wildlife who call it home. (Alvin Ward | Nov 29, 2016)

 

Things You Didn’t Know About the Arctic Circle

by Interesting Facts

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The Arctic Circle is an imaginary line of latitude that circles the northernmost pole. This parallel separates the Northern Temperate Zone from the Arctic zone above it — the latter of which is an extreme geographic region that covers approximately 5.5 million square miles and has a landscape of glaciers, icebergs, sea ice, and permafrost. Interested in finding out more about the northernmost of the world’s five major lines of latitude? Here are eight fascinating facts that you might not know about the Arctic Circle.

 

1. The Position of the Arctic Circle Changes Every Year

The Arctic Circle is located at approximately 66.3 degrees north of the equator; however, its actual location changes slightly every year. This is due to the fluctuation of Earth’s axial tilt, which is influenced by the orbit of the moon and the consequent tidal changes. The same axial tilt causes the different seasons that we experience on Earth. Currently, the circle is moving north at a rate of around 49 feet per year. In 2017, an art exhibit called Orbis et Globus was inaugurated on Iceland’s Grimsey Island to monitor the circle’s movements.

 

2. Earth’s Largest Land Predators Are Unique to the Region

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Polar bears are the largest land carnivores in the world, and they are only found in the Arctic region. They reside around ice-covered waters and are dependent on sea ice for food, to rest, and to breed. Fully grown male polar bears measure around eight to nine feet from nose to foot, while females measure approximately six to seven feet. Despite their enormous size, polar bears are only about the size of a guinea pig when born. These cuddly-looking bears feed mainly on seals, are talented swimmers, and possess a coat of white fur (although it’s actually transparent) to camouflage themselves in their snowy habitats.

 

3. The Arctic Name Is a Reference to the Greek Word for Bear

Appropriately, the word “arctic” itself is derived from the Greek word arktos, which means “bear.” However, the bear in reference isn’t the polar variety, but instead the celestial kind, specifically the Ursa Major (Great Bear) and Ursa Minor (Little Bear) constellations. Both of the constellations are visible from the Northern Hemisphere, and the latter contains the North Star. At the opposite end of the world, Antarctica gets its name because those constellations aren’t visible from that region. Interestingly enough, there are also no animal bears in Antarctica.  

 

4. Over 4 Million People Live Within the Arctic Circle

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The Arctic Circle incorporates portions of eight countries: Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. And despite a harsh climate and often inhospitable living conditions (for most), an estimated 4 million people live and work there year-round. Murmansk, in northwestern Russia, is the largest and one of the oldest settlements in the Arctic Circle. This city on the Barents Sea is home to around 300,000 residents and is known for its seaports and naval bases. In fact, eight of the 10 largest Arctic settlements are located in Russia.

 

5. Dozens of Indigenous Groups Thrive in the Region

Residing among the large population of the Arctic Circle are over 40 different ethnic groups, such as the Inuit, Saami, and Yupik peoples. They account for 10% of the regional population. While they vary greatly in culture, language, and history, these Indigenous groups have a strong connection to the arctic lands they’ve inhabited for thousands of years. Many maintain traditional fishing, reindeer herding, and hunting activities, but their livelihoods and productivity are under threat from dramatic weather changes and disappearing sea ice.

 

6. It’s Home to the Largest Seed Storage Facility in the World

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Set amid the frigid waters between Greenland and Norway is the Norwegian island of Svalbard. Here, the Norwegian government opened the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is the world’s largest secure seed storage, in 2008. This 10,764-square-foot vault is buried almost entirely into the island’s permafrost — only the concrete entrance is visible to the outside world, and only scientists and staff are allowed inside. The structure has the capacity to store 4.5 million different seed types and maintains them at constant temperatures of 37.4 to 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit. The collection is stashed here for safekeeping in case of crop failures or natural disasters — because of its naturally stable Arctic climate, and also since it’s one of the least likely places on Earth to experience either a flood or a heat wave, both of which could damage the seeds.

 

7. Four U.S. National Park Sites Lie Within the Arctic Circle

Alaska is home to 54 million acres of land protected under the U.S. National Park Service, representing about two thirds of the land in the entire system. Four of the state’s national park units are situated inside the Arctic Circle: Cape Krusentern National Monument, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Reserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, and Noatak National Preserve. Visitors to these parks and reserves have the chance to discover untamed wildernesses made up of glaciated valleys, rivers, and lagoons framed by soaring mountain ranges. There are also opportunities to spot caribou and grizzly bears and to experience days of extreme daylight and darkness.

 

8. There Are Actually Four North Poles Located in the Arctic Circle

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For many, the North Pole is often associated with Santa Claus, flying reindeer, and toy-making elves. What most don’t know is that there are actually four recognized North Poles. The Geographical North Pole (aka True North) is the northernmost point on the planet and where all of Earth’s lines of longitude meet. The Magnetic North Pole is the spot at which the planet’s lines of magnetic force all point vertically downward (and the point that attracts the needle of a compass). The Geomagnetic North Pole is the northern end of where the axis of the magnetosphere — the magnetic field that surrounds the Earth and extends into space — intersects the planet. Finally, the North Pole of Inaccessibility is the point in the Arctic Ocean that’s furthest from any coastline.

 

9. A Cartoonist Invented Santa’s North Pole Home

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In the mid-1800s, German-born American artist Thomas Nast made a name for himself for his caricatures and political cartoons. He’s also credited with creating the popular image of Santa Claus (or Father Christmas). In 1863, Harper’s Weekly magazine published two of his illustrations that depicted Santa as a larger-than-life character with a long beard and stocking cap. One of the images was inscribed with the words “Santa Clausville, N.P.” The N.P. was an abbreviation of North Pole, and so began the myth of Santa residing in a far-off and remote northern land.
 

 

Source: Fascinating Facts About the Arctic Circle  |  What You Might Not Know About the Arctic Circle

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Fact of the Day - FAIRYTALE CREATORS

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Did you know.... Most of us know a few fairy and folk tales, and have grown up seeing multiple renditions and retellings of these stories. But less of us are familiar with the collections that popularised them, or the writers that penned the versions we know today. So I thought I’d have a look at 6 fairy tale collectors and writers that have given us some of our most beloved fairy tales. (NICOLA | OCTOBER 10, 2016)

 

From Mother Goose to Brothers Grimm: 8 of History’s Most Important Fairy-Tale Creators

by Interesting Facts

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Everybody knows the stories of Cinderella, Aladdin, and Sleeping Beauty. These centuries-old fairy tales have been immortalized in every art form imaginable, from books and ballets to musicals and movies. What’s often forgotten, however, is where these stories came from — and who was responsible for writing them down. Here’s a look at eight of history’s most important fairy-tale tellers.

 

1. Aesop: A (Literal) Legend

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If you’ve ever taken “the lion’s share” or claimed that “necessity is the mother of invention,” then thank Aesop. The Greek fabulist — purportedly born around 620 BC — is responsible for some of our most famous phrases and fables, including The Hare and the Tortoise. Greek authors like Herodotus and Plutarch claim that Aesop was a slave who became an adviser to Croesus, the King of Lydia. The accuracy of their accounts, however, is disputed, and it’s possible that Aesop was never a real person.

 

2. Marie-Catherine le Jumel de Barneville: Pioneer of the Fairy Tale

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Countess d’Aulnoy’s life is like a folktale — difficult to parse fact from fiction. A French author who lived during the 17th century, de Barneville may have been a spy who accused her husband of high treason. True or not, she established a literary salon later in life and published at least two collections of tall tales. Her works, like “The White Cat,” were famously conversational in style and were lauded for being popular with adults and children alike. In fact, she even coined the termfairy tale.”

 

3. Hanna Diyab: The Man who Conjured Aladdin

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The brain behind Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Diyab was a Syrian storyteller who lived during the early 18th century. When Diyab was young, he bumped into a French collector of antiquities who hired him to become his traveling assistant. Diyab visited Paris and met the folklorist Antoine Galland, who he entertained with folktales from home. Years later, Galland published some of Diyab’s tales in his famous translation of The Thousand and One Nights. Diyab wouldn’t receive credit until centuries later.

 

4. Jean de la Fontaine: The Editor Who Turned Fairy Tales into an Art Form

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In 1668, Frenchman Fontaine released the first volume of Fables, a literary landmark that would lay out a formula for centuries of European folk and fairy tales. Born to a well-to-do family, de la Fontaine became interested in writing upon being inspired by the work of the French poet Malherbe. Between 1668 to 1694, he released six volumes of fables — a total of 239 stories — that drew from diverse sources, from the Roman fabulist Phaedrus to the Panchatantra, an Indian book of fables. De la Fontaine’s fresh and artful retellings of stories such asThe Grasshopper and the Ant” and “The Raven and the Fox” turned Fables into an instant classic.

 

5. Charles Perrault: The Original Mother Goose

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A major influence on the Brothers Grimm, Perrault — hailing from France as well — helped transform tales like “Puss in Boots,” “Cinderella,” “Blue Beard,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Little Red Riding-Hood” into cultural touchstones. His 1697 book Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passe — better known as The Tales of Mother Goose — was an unexpected departure from his life’s work. Perrault had spent decades working as a government official, but when political bickering forced him to change careers, he turned to writing literary fairy tales for aristocratic literary salons. The career change at age 67 is what made him famous.

 

6. The Brothers Grimm: Disney before Disney

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Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm didn’t write “Rapunzel” or “Snow White,” but they did popularize the tales among the masses. The German-born brothers attended college with the intention of becoming civil servants, but a pair of influential teachers changed their minds — and inspired a love of folk poetry (or naturpoesie) and the arts. The duo gave up any hopes of a law career and began collecting literature that, they believed, emphasized the character of German culture and people. The brothers didn’t view themselves as writers, but as preservationists and historians who were saving common tales from extinction. Published in 1812, their first edition contained 156 fairy tales, including “Hansel and Gretel,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” and “The Fisherman and His Wife.”.

 

7. Hans Christian Andersen: The Original Ugly Duckling

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The Danish writer of over 150 fairy tales — including “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Princess and the Pea,” and “Thumbelina” — Andersen, born in 1805, came from humble beginnings. His mother was illiterate and his father only had an elementary school education. And when his dad died, Andersen started working at a factory at the age of 11. But he always had an artistic side, and he tried to express his struggles through his work. As a teenager, for example, Andersen was routinely harassed by other boys because he had a high voice, and that abuse inspired him to write “The Ugly Duckling.” “The story is, of course, a reflection of my own life,” he once wrote.

 

8. Alexander Afanasyev: From Bureaucrat to Bard

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Russia’s answer to the Brothers Grimm, Afanasyev was a 19th century Slavic folklorist who published nearly 600 folk and fairy tales. (His works include “The Firebird,” which was famously transformed into a ballet by composer Igor Stravinsky in 1910, andVasilisa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga.”) Much like Charles Perrault, Afanasyev spent decades clocking in at a normal day-job for the government. But while working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, he developed an obsession with collecting and preserving local fairy tales. Unlike many of the other folklorists on this list, Afanasyev regularly cited his sources and often tried to pinpoint where the tale originated.

 

 

Source: Famous Fairy Tale Writers and Collectors  | Facts About Fairy-Tale Creators

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Fact of the Day - NATIONAL PARLS

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Did you know.... At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the third largest country in the world. With all that room to roam, it's no surprise that America has some absolutely beautiful national parks. But how much do you know about them, really? We bet you had no idea that there are sand dunes that actually sing in Colorado. Or that every summer a firefly light show twinkles in the woodlands of South Carolina. So, if you're interested in hearing more about the stunning landscapes in your own backyard, don't miss these jaw-dropping facts about each of the 62 national parks in the U.S. (KRYSTIN ARNESON | MARCH 18, 2020)

 

Amazing Facts About 12 of the Most Stunning U.S. National Parks

by Interesting Facts

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On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant designated Yellowstone National Park the country's first national park. In the 150 years following, 62 more national parks have joined the fold, in addition to the hundreds of other sites under the purview of the U.S. National Park Service today, including national historic sites, battlefields, lakeshores, monuments, preserves, and trails. Once called “America’s Best Idea,” national parks have preserved wide swaths of the country's most magnificent scenery and geological history for millions to enjoy every year — from open prairie to mountain ranges, unique rock formations, deserted island beaches, and Arctic forests. But as popular as these parks are, many visitors are unaware of the surprising features they contain within their borders. In honor of the 150th anniversary of the first national park, read on to discover 12 fascinating facts about 12 famous U.S. national parks.

 

1. Great Smoky Mountains Is the Most Visited National Park in the U.S.

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Straddling the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, Great Smoky Mountains National Park attracted 14.1 million visitors in 2021. For comparison, that is nearly three times the number of people who visited the second-most popular park, Utah's Zion National Park, which drew a still-respectable 5 million visitors. Park officials estimate that since Great Smoky Mountains National Park opened in 1934, more than 560 million people have enjoyed all that it has to offer. Part of the reason may be that there is no entry fee to the park, and it never closes (although some roads may be closed during severe weather). In addition to countless opportunities for hiking and nature viewing, the park now allows fishing in all of its approximately 2,900 miles of waterways.

 

2. Death Valley National Park Is the Hottest Place on Earth
It might not come as much of a surprise given its name, but Death Valley gets hot — extremely hot. The national park is the home to the hottest ever recorded temperature on Earth, a 134.1-degree-Fahrenheit reading taken in Furnace Creek Ranch, California. But it doesn't always get that hot. The average temperature during summer is a still-sweltering 115 degrees, but temperatures regularly exceed 120 degrees. According to the National Park Service, the hot weather can be attributed to the valley's low depths, high walls, and lack of shade cover. Since there is little plant life to absorb the heat, the sun rays radiate throughout the valley floor and are absorbed by rocks. When night falls, the warm air rises but is trapped by the high mountain walls. If you want to visit Death Valley in the cooler months, December and January are a safe bet, with daily averages maxing out in the mid-60s.

 

3. Yellowstone National Park Is Home to a Supervolcano

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Crowds flock to Yellowstone National Park (located mostly in Wyoming, but with parts in Idaho and Montana) to see the famous eruptions of Old Faithful. However, the park is home to a whopping 10,000-plus hydrothermal features, including 500 geysers — which scientists estimate is about half of the world's geysers. But perhaps the park's most impressive geological feature is a supervolcano, a type of volcano that’s thousands of times more powerful than a regular volcano. Approximately 2 million years ago, a massive volcanic eruption triggered a push of magma to Earth’s surface through a thin spot in the crust at the present-day location of Yellowstone. Much of the continent was left covered in ash. Hot lava still ripples below the ground throughout the park today, its heat causing the constant bubbling of springs and mud. But worry not: The last time the supervolcano erupted was 664,000 years ago, and some scientists think it may never happen again.

 

4. The World’s Longest Known Cave System Is in Mammoth Cave National Park
The world’s longest cave system winds its way beneath much of western Kentucky, and, fortunately, a portion of it is open to visitors. To date, more than 412 miles of Mammoth Cave have been mapped, but experts say it may well extend more than 1,000 miles in total. Several new miles of the cave system are discovered each year. The cave structure is particularly stable thanks to a layer of sandstone that caps the limestone beneath. There are numerous impressive cave structures on display, including stalactites, stalagmites, and a type of gypsum formation called "gypsum flowers." The dry, cool environment of Mammoth Cave also makes it an ideal habitat for several endangered forms of bat and cave shrimp.

 

5. Denali National Park Contains the Highest Elevation Point in North America

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Previously known as Mount McKinley, the namesake of Alaska’s Denali National Park soars 20,320 feet above sea level, making it the highest point in North America. Upwards of 600,000 people visit Denali annually to see the majestic mountain views. In fact, the three highest points in U.S. national parks are all located in Alaska: In addition to Denali, Mount Saint Elias reaches 18,008 feet, and Mount Fairweather stands at 15,325 feet. Outside of Alaska, the highest point in a national park is California’s Mount Whitney, which towers 14,498 feet above sea level in Sequoia National Park.

 

6. Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Is Home to the World's Most Active Volcano
The Hawaiian archipelago, made up of 137 islands, is a hotbed of volcanic activity. The islands formed as the result of eruptions due to the constant motion of the Pacific plate beneath the ocean. Located on the Big Island in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Mount Kilauea is the world's most active volcano mass — it has been erupting continuously since 1983. Molten lava from the eruption pours down the sides, eventually cooling to add to the landmass of the island. But some lava streams flow directly into the sea, creating impressive vapor clouds when the two meet. Kilauea is also known as the home of Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes.

 

7. Arches National Park Has More Natural Arches Than Any Other Place on Earth

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Vibrant red-tinged rocks frame a brilliant blue sky in many an Instagram photo taken by visitors to Utah’s Arches National Park, home to more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches — more than in any other spot on Earth. Arches, bridges, and windows dot the desert, providing geologists with a fascinating view of millennia gone by. Over a period of about 65 million years, the area’s geologic plates shifted, and wind and rain also played a hand in shaping the rock into nature’s own sculpture garden. Arches grow and widen until they eventually collapse, leaving columns in their stead. As with many of these park features, in another million years, the landscape may be completely different than what we see today.

 

8. Gateway Arch National Park Is the Country's Smallest National Park
Named after a human-made arch rather than a natural one, Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis is the smallest of the country's 63 national parks, covering just over 90 acres. It’s also one of the country’s few urban national parks and includes green forestland, riverfront access, and five miles of recreational trails that are home to diverse native plant species. Of course, the centerpiece of the park is the 630-foot-high (and 630-foot-wide) Gateway Arch — the tallest human-made monument in the U.S. — which stands against the St. Louis skyline.

 

9. Theodore Roosevelt National Park Is the Only National Park Named After a Person

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The 26th President’s namesake park is located in the North Dakota badlands, and got its name because Roosevelt had a residence there. When Roosevelt served as President from 1901 to 1909, he established more than 200 national parks, forests, wildlife reserves, and monuments across 230 million acres of public land, earning him the nickname the “conservationist President.” Visited by 600,000 people each year, Theodore Roosevelt National Park covers more than 70,000 acres with the Little Missouri River flowing through it. It is filled with wildlife and scenic vistas, including the famous Painted Canyon, where the former President’s cabin is located.

 

10. North Cascades National Park Has More Glaciers Than Anywhere in the Continental U.S.
Located about 100 miles north of Seattle, Washington’s North Cascades National Park is home to a mountain range that’s often referred to as “the American Alps” for its rugged, glacier-capped peaks. In fact, the area is home to more than 300 glaciers — more than any other U.S. national park outside of Alaska. It’s one of the snowiest places on the planet, and all that snow accumulates and compacts into glacial ice. Overall, however, the U.S. national park that has the most glaciers is Alaska’s Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Covering 13.2 million acres, it’s also the largest national park in the country and home to some of the biggest glaciers in the world.

 

11. Mesa Verde National Park Was One of the World's First UNESCO Sites

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With 5,000 known archaeological sites, 600 of which are cliff dwellings made of sandstone and mud mortar, Mesa Verde National Park offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people, who lived in the southwestern Colorado area from around 550 to 1300. Among the most impressive structures are the Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Square Tower House, plus various relics like farming terraces, field houses, shrines, and rock art. The area was designated a national park in 1906, and in 1978, it earned a spot among an elite group of only 12 places around the world named the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Mesa Verde was one of two sites in the U.S. — the other was another national park, Yellowstone.

 

12. There's Only One U.S. National Park in the Southern Hemisphere
Spanning rainforests, volcanoes, beaches, and coral reefs on three islands in the South Pacific, the National Park of American Samoa is the southernmost park of any U.S. territory — and the only national park south of the equator. The park was established in 1988 after environmentalists proposed a bill to preserve the hundreds of plant species in the rainforest and to save the habitat of the endangered Flying fox (a fruit bat). Covering 13,500 acres on the islands of Ofu, Tutuila, and Ta’ū, the park is a spectacular preserve for hikers and snorkelers. And its very existence is a reflection of Polynesia’s oldest culture and its deep-rooted respect for the island environment — the name Samoa translates to “sacred earth.”

 

 

Source: Fascinating Fact About America's National Parks  |  Facts About US National Parks

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Fact of the Day - ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE

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Did you know.... Mary Owen wasn’t welcomed into the world until more than a decade after Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life made its premiere in 1946. But she grew up cherishing the film and getting the inside scoop on its making from its star, Donna Reed—who just so happens to be her mom. Though Reed passed away in 1986, Owen has stood as one of the film’s most dedicated historians, regularly introducing screenings of the ultimate holiday classic, including during its annual run at New York City’s IFC Center. She shared some of her mom’s memories with us to help reveal 25 things you might not have known about It’s a Wonderful Life. (Jennifer M Wood | Dec 17, 2018 | Updated: Dec 18, 2020)

 

Facts About “It’s a Wonderful Life”

by Interesting Facts

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Frank Capra’s 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life is a certified American classic. The story follows George Bailey (James Stewart), a small-town banker and family man on the brink of a breakdown. When George is visited by a bumbling second-class guardian angel named Clarence (Henry Travers), he learns the error of his ways and discovers that life is, in fact, wonderful. Before you settle in for a viewing, get to know the film better with these 10 facts.

 

1. The story idea came to its writer “complete from start to finish.”

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In 1938, a writer named Philip Van Doren Stern had an idea for a story while shaving: A Christmas tale about a man on the brink of suicide, saved by his guardian angel. The author quickly sketched out the idea and, over the next five years, slowly transformed it into a short story. In 1943, he mailed about 200 copies of his yarn, called “The Greatest Gift,” as his annual Christmas card.

 

2. The script employed a dream-team of writers.

Eventually, a draft of “The Greatest Gift” fell into the hands of an agent at RKO Pictures, who paid the author $10,000 for the motion-picture rights. Attempts to transform the story into a screenplay fizzled until director Frank Capra stepped in. Capra’s team of writers — which included Dorothy Parker and the future Pulitzer Prize-winner Frances Goodrich — turned it into a viable script. Filming began in April 1946.

 

3. The film was never intended for Christmas.

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Amazingly, It’s a Wonderful Life — whose entire plot happens on Christmas Eve — was originally scheduled for a late January 1947 release. The studio intended their Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. vehicle Sinbad the Sailor to be its holiday release, but when production problems with Sinbad’s Technicolor caused a delay, the black-and-white movie got bumped to the earlier Christmas slot.

 

4. Jimmy Stewart was the real war hero.

In the movie, George Bailey's brother, Harry (Todd Karns), is a well-decorated war hero. But, in reality, that honor belonged to Jimmy Stewart. The leading man was one of the first Hollywood stars to enlist in the military after the United States entered World War II. He spent the war with the Army Air Corps and flew nearly two dozen combat bombing missions over Europe. Stewart remained active in the military for decades and eventually retired in 1968 as a brigadier general — making him America’s highest-ranking actor.

 

5. The set of Bedford Falls was enormous.

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Filmed mostly at RKO’s movie ranch in Encino, California, the fictional town of Bedford Falls covered about four acres. The Main Street stretched three city blocks and the town itself contained dozens of buildings — and even 20 fully grown oak trees. (The buildings weren’t all newly constructed, though. Many of them had been used in the 1931 Oscar-winning film Cimarron.)

 

6. Many towns claim to be “the real” Bedford Falls.

A lot of places claim to be the inspiration for Bedford Falls: Seneca Falls (New York), Westchester County (New York), Califon (New Jersey), and Pottersville (New Jersey) to name a few. Seneca Falls has the strongest claim — Frank Capra purportedly visited the town while working on the script — yet there’s no solid proof it was his inspiration. "I have been through every piece of paper in Frank Capra's diaries, his archives, everything,” film historian Jeanine Basinger told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “There's no evidence of any sort whatsoever to support this.”

 

7. The set was unbearably hot.

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If you look closely, it’s clear that Jimmy Stewart and other actors are glistening with sweat. That’s because the wintry scenes were shot in the middle of a scorching summer heat wave. Even Capra, who was known for ignoring the elements, believed the heat was too intense: He canceled one day of filming because of the rising mercury.

 

8. The special effects team invented a new type of fake snow.

In the 1940s, most film sets used painted corn flakes for snow scenes. Problem was, corn flakes were loud and crunchy whenever anybody stepped on them. Capra was forced to re-shoot and dub multiple scenes, costing the production time and money. To solve the problem, the film’s special effects team invented a new type of fake snow reportedly made from soap flakes and fire extinguisher foam.

 

9. The movie failed at the box office.

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Shot on a budget of $3.7 million, It’s a Wonderful Life did not recoup its costs. In fact, it left Capra $525,000 in the hole. Some blame the film’s failure on a bitter cold spell on the East Coast, which kept many would-be movie-goers indoors. Others blame the film’s dark themes. Others point fingers at the movie’s advertising team, which failed to play up the film’s relation to the Christmas season. “Instead, it portrayed the film more as a purely warm romance,” film historian Jeremy Arnold has said.

 

10. It owes its subsequent popularity to a copyright error.

Some of the film’s actors never even saw it when it was released. Leading lady Donna Reed (who played George’s wife Mary) didn’t catch it until the late 1970s, and Karolyn Grimes, who played daughter Zuzu, waited nearly four decades. After its lackluster opening, the film was practically forgotten until 1974 when the copyright lapsed (reportedly because of a filing error). With no royalties to pay, television stations began playing It’s a Wonderful Life almost non-stop around the holidays. The movie’s popularity blossomed.

 

 

Source: Wonderful Facts About It's a Wonderful Life  |  Movie Facts of It's a wonderful Life

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Fact of the Day - GOLD

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Did you know.... There are many interesting facts about the element gold, which is listed on the periodic table as Au. This is the only truly yellow metal on Earth, but there's a lot more to learn about gold. (Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. | Updated on January 29, 2020)

 

Precious Facts About Gold

by Interesting Facts

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When Earth was about 200 million years old, it passed through a field of rocks suspended in space. The rocks smashed into our planet and embedded millions of tons of new elements in Earth’s crust — including gold. Over time, the particles coalesced into veins, forming the bulk of the gold later mined for use in jewelry, currency, artworks, electronics, and more. Here are seven facts about this marvelous metal.

 

1. Gold Has Unique Chemical Properties

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Pure gold is sun-yellow, shiny, and soft, and has about the same hardness as a penny. It’s the most malleable metal: One gram of gold, equivalent in size to a grain of rice, can be hammered into a sheet of gold leaf measuring one square meter. Gold doesn’t rust or break down from friction or high temperatures. It conducts heat well and can be melted or reshaped infinitely without losing its elemental qualities. Gold can also be alloyed with other metals to increase hardness or create different colors. White gold, for example, is a mix of gold, nickel, copper, and zinc, while rose gold comprises gold, silver, and copper.

 

2. People Fashioned Gold Into Jewelry as Far Back as 4000 BCE

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Cultures in the Middle East and the Mediterranean began using gold in decorative objects and personal ornaments thousands of years ago. The Sumer civilization of southern Iraq made sophisticated gold jewelry around 3000 BCE, and Egyptian dynasties valued gold for funerary art and royal regalia. By the time of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, gold was the standard for international commerce, and even played a role in mythology and literature. The story of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece may have emerged from an old method of filtering gold particles from streams with sheepskins.

 

3. Governments Have Used Gold as Currency for Millennia

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Traders in the Mediterranean region used gold rings, bars, or ingots as currency for centuries, and Chinese merchants bought and sold goods with gold tokens as far back as 1091 BCE. In the sixth century BCE, the civilization of Lydia (in present-day Turkey) minted the first gold coins. Cities across the Greek world followed suit, establishing gold coins as the standard currency for trade with Persia, India, and farther afield.

 

4. The Search for Gold Fueled the European Invasion of the Americas

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European nations’ lust for gold prompted numerous expeditions of discovery to the Americas, beginning in 1492 with Columbus’ voyage to Hispaniola. Spanish conquistadors found the Aztec and Inca cultures awash in gold, which the Native peoples viewed as sacred. The Indigenous leaders gave the conquistadors gifts of gold earrings, necklaces, armbands, figurines, ornaments, and other objects. Seeing the potential riches for the taking, the Spanish government quickly authorized the conquest of the Indigenous cities and requisition of their gold, spelling disaster for the Aztec and Inca peoples.

 

5. America’s First Gold Rush Took Place in 1803

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Gold is spread across Earth’s crust in varying concentrations. Over the past two centuries, the discoveries of particularly large deposits have often sparked gold rushes. In 1799, 12-year-old Conrad Reed found a 17-pound nugget in a stream on his grandfather’s North Carolina farm, the first time gold was found in the United States. Four years later, the Reed Gold Mine opened and attracted other prospectors hoping to strike it rich. Gold rushes also occurred in California in 1848, Nevada in the 1860s, and the Klondike region in the 1890s. Major gold rushes took place in Australia in the 1840s and 1850s and in South Africa in the 1880s as well.

 

6. Today, Gold Is Everywhere From Your Smartphone to the ISS
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Thanks to gold’s physical properties, it can be used for a huge range of applications in addition to currency, jewelry, and decorative objects. Dentists repair teeth with gold crowns and bridges, and some cancer therapies use gold nanoparticles to kill malignant cells. Gold also protects sensitive circuitry and parts from corrosion in consumer electronics, communication satellites, and jet engines. And gold sheets reflect solar radiation from spacecraft and astronauts’ helmets.

 

7. The U.S. Still Maintains a Stockpile of Gold

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During the Great Depression, when the U.S. monetary system was based on the Gold Standard — in which the value of all paper and coin currency was convertible to actual gold — the federal government established the Fort Knox Bullion Depository in Kentucky to store the gold needed to back the currency. The U.S. eliminated the Gold Standard in 1971, but still maintains a gold stockpile at Fort Knox. Today, it holds about 147 million ounces of gold in bars roughly the size of a standard brick. That’s about half of all of the gold owned by the United States.

 

 

Source: Interesting Facts About Gold  |  Gold Facts

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Fact of the Day - TOP PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS

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Did you know.... 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] | Updated Dec 6, 2017)

 

Major Philosophical Ideas, Explained

by Interesting Facts

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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

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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

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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 noncorporeal ‘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”

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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

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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

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One of the most misunderstood and misappropriated philosophers, Friedrich Nietszche is 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

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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?  |  Major Philosophical Ideas, Explained

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Fact of the Day - MCDONALD'S

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Did you know..... We all know those famous golden arches and what lies inside the doors of McDonald's. I mean, who doesn't love it? (Even though most of you are going to say you don't, I know that deep down you really do). Every time I enter into a Mickey-D's, a smile beams across my face. Here are some incredible facts that I'm willing to bet a large amount on that you don't already know. (Connor Howe)

 

Mouthwatering Facts About McDonald’s

by Interesting Facts

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With over 99 billion customers served at the chain, chances are that most people have set foot in a McDonald’s at one point or another. What began as a small California hot dog stand during the Great Depression has since blossomed into an international operation, with more than 36,000 locations in over 100 countries. Throughout the decades, McDonald’s has amassed a rich history filled with facts that tantalize the brain, much as its burgers tantalize the taste buds.

 

1. McDonald’s Is the World’s Largest Toy Distributor

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Since the creation of the Happy Meal in 1979, McDonald’s has leapfrogged industry giants such as Hasbro and Mattel to become the world’s largest toy distributor. Early Happy Meal toys included stencils and spinning tops, though the trinkets were later designed as part of advertising campaigns to promote family movies, like 1989’s The Little Mermaid. All told, McDonald’s distributes 1.5 billion toys worldwide each year. As part of a recent effort to be more environmentally conscious, the company has pledged to largely phase out plastic toys in Happy Meals, and vowed to work to provide kids with plant-based or recycled toys instead.

 

2. One McDonald’s in Arizona Features Turquoise Arches

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Golden arches may be synonymous with McDonald’s, but they’re nowhere to be found at one location in Sedona, Arizona. Due to a local law that prevents buildings from infringing on the region’s natural beauty, this McDonald’s instead features turquoise arches. City officials determined the gold would clash with the surrounding red rocks, whereas the turquoise was a more appropriate hue. Other unique color schemes at McDonald’s around the world include white arches at Paris and Belgian locations, as well as a big red “M” in place of the traditional yellow at one Rocklin, California, joint.

 

3. McDonald’s Used to Sell Hot Dogs and Barbecue

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The men who founded the chain that would become McDonald’s — Dick and Mac McDonald — opened the fast food giant as a modest California hot dog stand in 1937. They would later pivot to a different food: On May 15, 1940, they opened McDonald’s Bar-B-Que in San Bernardino. The foray into BBQ was somewhat short-lived, however, because by October 1948 the brothers had realized that most of their profits came from selling burgers. The pair decided to establish a simple menu featuring hamburgers, potato chips, and orange juice, and added French fries and Coke a year later. The franchise was licensed to Ray Kroc in 1954, who transformed McDonald’s into the chain we know today.

 

4. Coca-Cola Tastes “Better” at McDonald’s

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No, it’s not your imagination, Coke actually does taste different — and many would say better — at McDonald’s restaurants. This is largely due to the way it’s packaged. While the actual flavoring is identical to other restaurants, McDonald’s gets its Coke syrup delivered in stainless steel tanks instead of the more common plastic bags, which in turn keeps the syrup fresher. McDonald’s also filters its water prior to adding it to the soda machines, and calibrates its syrup-to-water ratio to account for melting ice. In addition, McDonald’s utilizes wider straws than normal, allowing more Coke to “hit your taste buds,” according to the company.

 

5. Queen Elizabeth II Technically Owns a McDonald’s

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While she’s not actually there whipping up McFlurries, Britain’s reigning monarch technically owns a branch located in Oxfordshire, England, atop the Crown Estate, which is land belonging to the royal family. The queen used to own a second location in Slough, but sold the land in 2016. The location is truly fit for royalty, with leather couches and table service, plus a menu that includes English breakfast tea and porridge. This is not the only royal association with McDonald’s: Princess Diana used to frequently take her sons William and Harry to McDonald’s, despite the fact that they had access to a personal chef.

 

6. A McDonald’s Superfan Has Eaten Over 30,000 Big Macs

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In a tradition that first began over 50 years ago on May 17, 1972, Wisconsin’s Don Gorske has consumed upwards of 32,340 Big Macs — and counting. While Gorske originally ate, on average, a whopping (no Burger King pun intended) nine Big Macs per day, he has since scaled back to about two a day. Gorske claims that in those 50 years he has only missed eating a Big Mac on eight days. The previous record for Big Macs eaten in one lifetime was 15,490, a number that Gorske smashed back in 1999 and has been dwarfing ever since.

 

7. McDonald’s Sells 75 Burgers Per Second

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According to its own training manual, McDonald’s locations combined sell more than 75 hamburgers per second. The average hamburger is cooked and assembled in 112 seconds, whereas a Quarter Pounder takes a lengthier but still lightning-quick 180 seconds to prepare (assuming there are no other orders being worked on at the same time). McDonald’s produces and sells so many burgers that it had already sold its 100 millionth by 1958. In 1963, it sold its billionth burger live on TV during an episode of Art Linkletter’s variety show. The chain officially stopped keeping track in 1993, when it updated its signs to say “Over 99 Billion Served.”

 

 

Source: Hard-To-Believe Facts About McDonald's  |  Facts About McDonald's

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Fact of the Day - GOATS

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Did you know.... Goats have rectangular pupils. The animal kingdom is full of incredible variety, thanks to evolution, but one thing most animals have in common is that they use a set of eyes to navigate the world around them. But even the pupil of the eyeball, the biological aperture responsible for how much light enters the eyes, is nearly as diverse as the types of birds that soar the skies or fish that swim the seas. For mammals, one big factor determining the shape of a pupil is whether the creature is predator or prey. For example, a goat is a grazing prey animal that would be a pretty easy target for coyotes, bears, and other predators with sharp teeth. Yet evolution gave the goat a few tools to defend itself. The horns certainly help, but the biggest advantage is a goat’s horizontal rectangular pupils. These long, horizontal pupils create a panoramic view that lets the animal see more of the landscape, which makes it harder to sneak up on them. The pupils also enhance the image quality of objects (read: threats) all around the goats, and they cut down on glare from the sky by capturing less light from above and more from below. Cats and snakes, on the other hand, are ambush predators, whose vertical pupils help them hunt in the night and judge the distance between themselves and their next meal. But according to scientists, vertical pupils are reserved only for animals whose eyes are close to the ground. That’s why other cats that are higher up, like lions and tigers, have round pupils rather than vertical ones.

 

Goats have accents.
A 2012 study from Queen Mary University of London revealed that kids (the goat kind, not the human kind) altered their bleating when socializing with other goats. The ability to change one’s voice in response to a social environment is known as “vocal plasticity,” and humans display an extreme form of this concept — it’s how we can develop accents. Goats develop similarly distinct accents based on their social group, admittedly with a more limited vocabulary. In the study, scientists analyzed one-week-old goats compared to five-week-old goats; the latter is about the time goats form social groups known as “crèches.” They found that young goats raised in the same crèches developed similar bleats, altering their noises to fit in their social group as they aged. It’s also possible these accents help goats identify members of their group, an idea familiar to anybody who’s traveled outside their home country — or even their hometown. (Interesting Facts)

 

Things You Didn't Know About Goats

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Baby goats are as cute as puppies. You just want to pick them up and cuddle them. Some research finds they even have canine-like personalities. Goats of all ages have expressive faces, even with their odd eyes and interesting facial hair. Domesticated about 10,000 years ago, there are more than 200 domestic goat breeds found all over the world today. They come in all sorts of colors and sizes and can be found eating grass or tree trunks. What else do we know about these doe-eyed creatures? Here are lots of interesting goat facts.

 

1. They're More Like Dogs That We Thought
In research published in Biology Letters, scientists found that goats will look people in the eye when they're frustrated with a task and could use a little help. For the study, a team trained goats to remove a lid from a box in order to receive a reward. As the final task, they made it so the lid couldn't be removed from the box. They recorded the goats' reactions when they gazed toward the experimenters who were in the room, as if asking for a little help. They looked longer if the person was facing the goat than if the person was facing away.

 

2. They Have Beards and Wattles

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Both male and female goats can have tufts of hair under their chin called beards. Both can also have wattles — hair-covered appendages of flesh, usually around the throat area, but sometimes found on the face or hanging form the ears. Wattles serve no purpose and aren't harmful to the goat. Wattles sometimes can become caught on fences or in feeders or may be chewed on by other goats. To avoid those kinds of injuries, sometimes owners will have them removed.

 

3. They Love a Smile
Goats prefer happy faces. In a simple experiment published in the Royal Society Open Science, researchers put photos on the wall at a goat sanctuary of the same face: one happy and one angry. Goats tended to avoid the angry faces, while they approached the happy ones and explored them with their snouts. Researchers already knew that goats were very aware of human body language, but this takes things a step farther. Said lead author Christian Nawroth: "Here, we show for the first time that goats do not only distinguish between these expressions, but they also prefer to interact with happy ones."


4. Goats Are Great at Diets

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You might have seen a goat in a cartoon on comic, gnawing on a tin can and heard that goats will eat pretty much anything. That's not true. They're actually very picky eaters but very resourceful and are able to find the most nutritious offerings wherever they are. That can include tree bark, which is rich in tannins. Goats can survive on the thinnest patches of grass, so the only place goats can't live are tundras, deserts and aquatic habitats. There are even some feral groups of goats on Hawaii and other islands.


5. Goats Were Domesticated Early
Goats were among the first livestock species to be domesticated, about 10,000 years ago. Goat remains have been found at archaeological sites in western Asia dating back about 9,000 years, according to the National Zoo. In a 2000 study published in the journal Science, researchers found archaeological evidence that goats (Capra hircus) were first domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East about 10,000 years ago. Some researchers believe that goats were domesticated from bezoars (C. aegagrus), a mountain ibex found in West Asia.


6. They Don't Love Rain

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Goats are generally pretty hardy animals, but the one thing they don't seem to like is rain. According to the USDA National Agricultural Library, "Goats will run to the nearest available shelter on the approach of a storm, often arriving before the first drops of rain have fallen. They also have an intense dislike for water puddles and mud. Probably through evolution they have been more free of parasites if they have avoided wet spots." Some people will offer goats a covered shelter with an elevated, slatted floor so they can stay dry from their head to their hooves.


7. There are Different Types of Goats
There are three types of goats: domestic goats (Capra hircus), which are the kind you find on a farm, and mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), which typically live in steep, rocky areas in the northwestern United States, and wild goats (Capra genus), which include ibex, markhors and turs. There are more than 200 recognized domestic breeds of goats. They are raised all over the world for dairy, meat, and their fiber.

 

8. Their Odd Eyes Have a Purpose

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Some people are creeped out by the odd horizontal, rectangular pupils in a goat's eyes. In a 2015 study published in Science Advances, researchers looked at the eyes of 214 land animals and found a "striking correlation" between the shape of their pupils and their ecological niche, which they defined as foraging mode and time of day they are active. Side-slanted eyes typically belong to grazing prey. It gives them a wider field of vision, but they don't absorb as much light from above. This stops the sun from blinding their view and lets them keep an eye out for predators.

 

9. They Are Emotional
Goats also have richer emotional lives than many people realize. Not only are they surprisingly intelligent in general and can learn a task within about 12 attempts, but they can also identify their friends by sound alone and even distinguish other goats' emotions by listening to their calls. In a study published in Frontiers in Zoology, researchers found that goats have different physiological reactions based on the emotions they hear from other goats, a sign of a social phenomenon known as emotional contagion. The goats' heart-rate variability — the time between heartbeats — was greater when positive calls were played compared to when negative calls were played.

 

10. They Come in All Kinds of Colors

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Goat coats come in a rainbow of colors and even a few patterns. They can be white, black, brown, gold, and red with many variations of those colors. For example, a "brown" goat can be anywhere from light fawn to dark chocolate. Their coat patterns can be solid, striped, spotted, a blend of shades and they can have stripes on their faces. Some are belted, with a white band across their middles. They can be roan — where their body is sprinkled with white hairs — or pinto, where they have patches of white or black or another dark color.

 

11. They Have Interesting Names
A female goat is a doe or nanny. A male goat is a buck or billy, or a wether if he's castrated. A young male goat that isn't yet sexually mature is a buckling and a young female goat that isn't sexually mature is a doeling. A yearling is a goat that is between 1 and 2 years old. A baby goat that is less than a year old is a kid, and giving birth is called kidding. A group of goats is called a tribe or a trip.

 

12. They Are Born With Teeth

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Goats are often born with teeth. Those are deciduous incisor teeth, also called baby teeth or milk teeth. Later pairs of baby teeth grow in from the center of the jaw moving out. A baby goat usually gets one pair of teeth per week, so a kid usually has a full set of eight incisors by the time it is only a month old. These baby teeth stick around until a goat is about a year old. Once these teeth fall out, adult goats end up with 32 teeth: 24 molars and 8 lower incisors. Goats don't have teeth in their upper front jaw. Instead, a hard dental pad acts like teeth.

 

13. They Come in All Shapes and Sizes
Goat size varies greatly, depending on the breed. Domesticated goats range from mini, dwarf, and pygmy to full size. On the tiny end, Nigerian dwarf goats weigh only about 20 pounds (91.1 kilograms) and are 18 inches (45.7 centimeters) tall. On the larger size, Anglo-Nubian goats can weigh as much as 250 pounds (113.5 kilograms) and are 42 inches (106.7 centimeters) tall, reports the National Zoo.

 

14. Goats Have Unique Digestion

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Like cows, sheep, and deer, goats are what's known as ruminants. meaning they have a complex system of stomachs for digestion. They have four compartments in their stomachs: reticulum, rumen, omasum, and abomasum (also called the true stomach). When simple-stomach animals like humans, dogs, and cats, eat, food is broken down in the stomach with acid and then undergoes enzymatic digestion in the small intestine where nutrients are absorbed. In ruminants like goats, microbial digestion occurs in the first two compartments, followed by acidic digestion in the second two. Then nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine. Goats graze using their lips, teeth and tongue. It then takes 11 to 15 hours for food to pass through the animal's four stomachs.

 

15. They Play a Part in Mythology
When you think about creatures that played a role in mythological history, you might think centaurs or sirens, banshees or dragons. But goats also spring up in a surprising place. Thor, the god of thunder, typically walked or used his mythical hammer to fly. But according to Norse mythology, during a thunderstorm Thor rode in a chariot pulled by two goats, Tanngrisnir (Norse for "teeth-barer") and Tanngnjóstr ("teeth grinder"). When he was hungry, Thor ate his goats, only to resurrect them with his hammer.

 

 

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

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Fact of the Day - EARLY SPORTS

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Wrestling

Did you know.... The history of sports may extend as far back as the beginnings of military training, with competition used as a mean to determine whether individuals were fit and useful for service. We look at how the sports have grown to what nowadays are full-time careers for people that pursue these sports as careers. Sport and business is forever growing, take a look at some of the oldest sports that are still in moderation today. (PledgeSports | 2018)

 

Amazing Early Sports That Are No Longer Played Today

by Interesting Facts

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Wheelchair Sports Day, 1923

Though the first professional baseball team dates to 1869, America’s favorite pastime only scratches the surface of sports history — ancient cultures from Greece to Mesoamerica held athletic competitions as far back as 3,500 years ago. While these games may no longer be played on a widespread scale, sports such as chariot racing and jousting could be considered as popular during their heyday as the NFL and NBA are today. Here are eight early sports that you may not know existed.

 

1. Chariot Racing

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Dating back to at least 700 BCE, chariot racing was an athletic spectacle popular in both ancient Greek and Roman cultures. In Greece, the races were often held at arenas known as hippodromes, and in Rome, they were staged at the massive Circus Maximus, which featured a 2,000-foot-long track on which racers could reach speeds of up to 40 mph. Each chariot typically consisted of a two-wheeled cart pulled by a team of two or four horses, and the carts would make dangerous hairpin turns as they raced to the finish, which often resulted in catastrophic collisions. Chariot races were also a staple in the ancient Olympic Games and religious festivals of the time.

 

2. Naumachia (Naval Battle)

Another ancient Roman spectacle, naumachia were massive staged mock naval conflicts held in flooded amphitheaters. The competitions pitted two teams against one another and consisted of thousands of participants, both above deck and down below rowing the boats. The earliest recorded naumachia in 46 BCE was overseen by Julius Caesar, and featured the Egyptian and Tyrian fleets battling atop an artificial basin in Rome’s Campus Martius. More than 6,000 men took part in that event, though Emperor Augustus would later hold an even larger naumachia in 2 BCE that featured an additional thousand combatants. Naumachiae remained popular until around 250 CE, and even took place at the Colosseum.

 

3. Pankration

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A combination of boxing and wrestling, the ancient Greek sport of pankration was introduced at the XXXIII Olympiad in 648 BCE. Simple fisticuffs (fist fights) had been a common competition (especially among Spartans) as far back as 688 BCE, but pankration also incorporated hitting, kicking, strangling, and grappling. Despite the intense physical nature of the sport, certain actions, like biting and gouging of the eyes, nose, or mouth, were explicitly forbidden. However, blows to the stomach and genital region were both permissible and encouraged to help competitors get the upper hand on their opponents. Greek mythology depicted figures such as Theseus and Hercules as some of the first participants in pankration competitions.

 

4. Mesoamerican Ballgame

The Mesoamerican ballgame is considered the world’s first ball sport, a concept which spread to Europe after the Spanish arrival in the New World. The earliest evidence of the sport dates back to around 1400 BCE, which is the estimated age of a ballcourt that has been excavated in Guatemala. The game was widespread in the Americas, and scientists have since uncovered more than 1,500 similar ballcourts. The playing surface of these courts generally formed the shape of an uppercase “I,” with a narrow aisle in the middle and end zones at both extremes. Though the exact rules of this game are unknown and different Mesoamerican cultures played many variations of the game in different periods, historians believe that many shared a common goal of directing a rubber ball through a stone ring by any means necessary, using every body part available, from elbows to knees. These games also often held symbolic significance in Mesoamerican religions.

 

5. He’e Holua (Hawaiian Lava Sledding)

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Though its exact origins have been lost to time, he’e holua, or lava sledding, was practiced in Hawaii long before the arrival of Europeans in 1778. Once popular amongst the Ali’i (Hawaiian ruling class), the sport involved competitors launching themselves down groomed slides along the side of a volcano while riding atop sledges (known as papa holua). These typically measured 12 feet long and a mere six inches wide. Racers would either stand atop the board, lie face first, or kneel down, reaching speeds up to 50 mph as they attempted to travel as far as possible. The last documented version of this event in its original form is from 1825. Historians believe that the sport was a way to honor Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes.

 

6. Purépecha Ball

Similar in many ways to field hockey, this Indigenous Mexican sport has one notable difference — the puck is on fire. The sport's origins date back to pre-Hispanic times as far as 1500 BCE and its name, pelota purépecha, comes from the Purépecha peoples of the northwestern region of Michoacán. Murals located at the Palacio de Tepantitla in Teotihuacan, an archaeological complex northeast of Mexico City, depict the sport. The rules involve two teams of five or more players passing a flaming ball to each other with sticks similar to hockey sticks, with the goal of reaching the end zone. One notable benefit of lighting the ball ablaze is that it allowed the sport to be played at night. Though several amateur leagues in certain regions of Mexico have attempted to revitalize the sport, it has largely been lost to history.

 

7. Jousting

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Though staged jousts remain a common sight at Renaissance fairs today, jousting was a legitimate sport in medieval times, when tournaments were staged for knights to display their combat skills from around the 13th to 16th centuries. Opposing knights were separated by a middle barrier (often called a tilt) and would ride on horseback towards one another decked out in heavy armor with their wooden lances extended. Whoever knocked his opponent off the horse would win, though the lance would often shatter upon impact. While competitive jousting began to wane in popularity by the 17th century, the sport continued in the form of a ring-tilt — an accuracy contest featuring knights using their lances to capture suspended rings.

 

8. Pedestrianism

Though far more recent than other sports on this list, pedestrianism — a form of competitive walking — gained widespread popularity in the United States as more people moved into cities after the Civil War. Filling an entertainment void for residents of these rapidly growing cities, the sport was simple yet captivating: Participants would compete in six-day-long walking competitions in arenas, walking several hundred miles over the course of competition. The events often featured intense wagering, live bands, and food vendors, and many professional pedestrians employed their own unique strides. A man named Edward Weston was renowned for his signature wobble, and another named Daniel O’Leary would pump his arms furiously while clutching corn cobs in each hand to absorb his sweat. It became such a spectacle that on September 21, 1879, 13 professional walkers gathered at Madison Square Garden in New York City to compete in front of 10,000 fans.

 

 

Source: Oldest Sports in the World  |  Facts About Sports No Longer Played

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Fact of the Day - PETS ILLEGAL TO OWN

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Did you know... In Switzerland, it is illegal to own just one guinea pig. The Swiss are known for their historic commitment to neutrality, but they’ve taken a firm stand on one of the most important issues of our time: guinea pigs. Because guinea pigs are social creatures who grow lonesome without a friend, it’s illegal to own just one of them in Switzerland. The law was introduced in 2008 as part of a legislative effort to grant social rights to pets. Should one guinea pig depart this mortal coil and leave its companion alone — and its owner in potential legal trouble — rent-a-guinea-pig services have emerged as a temporary solution. Guinea pigs aren’t the only pets afforded special status in Switzerland. Goldfish are also prohibited from being kept alone, cats must at least have access to a window where they can see their fellow felines prowling around, and, for a time, dog owners were required to take an obligatory training course with their pooch (although that law was repealed in 2016). For all this, Switzerland doesn’t have an official national animal — though both the country and the Alps in general are strongly associated with cows and St. Bernards.

 

Guinea pigs aren’t related to pigs.
Guinea pigs are rodents, which is to say that they’re closely related to hamsters, chinchillas, and some other small creatures, but have little in common with actual pigs. Their scientific name, Cavia porcellus, is Latin for “little pig” and would appear to be based on the passing resemblance they bear to their porcine friends. This includes not only their physical appearance, but the pig-like squeaks they’re known for — as well as their healthy appetites. (Interesting Facts)

 

Pets You Probably Never Realized Are Actually Illegal to Own
by Brittany Gibson | Updated: Jun. 06, 2022

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Not only does owning a pet make you smarter, stronger, and more resistant to stress, they can also help you live longer. What’s better than that? If you have the time, energy, and money to care for a new family member, there are so many different pets to choose from. However, some states have very strict laws restricting what types of animals can be legally owned. Is your beloved pet legal in your state but not in another? Find out the dumbest law in every state.

 

1. Hedgehogs

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Hedgehogs might be adorable and playful, but New York City, Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Douglas County, Nebraska, don’t allow them to be kept as pets. If released into the wild, they’re capable of creating their own population, according to Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and host of Wild Countdown. Hanna also mentions that their quills can become sharp when they’re feeling threatened, which can be painful to humans and other animals. Despite this, hedgehogs still remain popular pets in other parts of the country. (Here’s a shocking fact–puppy mills are still allowed in the U.S.)

 

2. Ferrets

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Chances are, you’ve probably seen ferrets in almost every pet store you’ve been in. That is… unless that pet store was in Hawaii, California, Washington, DC, or New York City. Unfortunately, ferrets sometimes carry rabies, which is why these parts of the country keep their distance. This is especially true for Hawaii, the only state free of the disease. Having a pet ferret in Hawaii could cost you up to three years in prison and a maximum fine of $200,000, according to (Business Insider.) Like hedgehogs, ferrets could easily create their own population; they thrive best in climates like California’s and Hawaii’s, says Hanna. Here are some things you should know before adopting an exotic pet.

 

3. Sugar gliders

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If you live in Alaska, California, Hawaii, or New York City, you might have to move if you want to own one of these adorable critters. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are a little more lenient and allow ownership if you have a permit. If you live somewhere where you can own a sugar glider though, keep in mind they’ll probably be around for a long time—some even live as long as 15 years, according to Hanna. But with a lack of acceptance of keeping these gliders as pets, finding food and nectar that fits into their strict diet can be difficult.

 

4. Chinese Hamsters

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Believe it or not, these popular critters are illegal to own in California and Hawaii. Similar to ferrets, Chinese hamsters’ natural habitat is very similar to the climate in these states. According to the Humane Society, “Agricultural and environmental officials have expressed concern that released or escaped hamsters could establish wild colonies and damage crops and native plants and animals.” Despite this, hamsters make for great first pets, says Hanna. Check out these 26 secrets your pet store won’t tell you.

 

5. Pigs

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Pigs are incredibly smart animals. Sometimes, they’re even impressively more intelligent than dogs, says Hanna. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop New York City from banning them as being pets. In part, this is due to their capability of becoming aggressive toward humans and other animals.

 

6. Venomous reptiles

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Even if you have your reptile’s venom removed, it’s still illegal to own venomous reptiles in tons of states. Tennessee, Vermont, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, New Hampshire, Washington, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Washington, California, and Connecticut have all banned having them as pets, according to Pet Helpful. Just make sure you know which pet combinations are most likely to hate each other.

 

7. Bearded dragons

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If you plan on visiting Hawaii anytime soon, you might want to rethink bringing your beloved bearded dragon.Snakes and large lizards have no natural predators in Hawaii and pose a serious threat to Hawaii’s environment because they compete with native animal populations for food and habitat,” according to Hawaii.gov.Many species also prey on birds and their eggs, increasing the threat to our endangered native birds.  Large snakes may also kill pets and even humans.”

 

8. Quaker parakeet
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While some states are accepting of these little birds, others banned them altogether. According to a list compiled by the Quaker Parakeet Society, Quaker parakeets are illegal to own in California, Connecticut, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Wyoming. Along with other illegal pets, these parakeets have potential to create their own flocks and throw off local ecosystems. Next, read up on these 50 more things you won’t believe are banned in America.

 

Source: Facts About Illegal Pets?  |  Facts About Pets that are Illegal

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Fact of the Day - SUGAR

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Did you know.... Beloved film character Mary Poppins is known for sweetly singing that “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.” While it works wonders on-screen, the trick didn’t start with the fictitious nanny; healers, doctors, and pharmacists have relied on sugar to help patients choke down unsavory medications for thousands of years. But at one time, the sweet stuff wasn’t just an add-in — it was often the featured ingredient in healing remedies believed to cure all kinds of ailments. Sugar was used to treat sickness and injury as far back as the first century, when Middle Eastern practitioners prescribed it for dehydration, kidney issues, failing eyesight, and more. During the 11th century, English monks noted sugar’s ability to soothe upset stomachs and digestive issues, and by the Middle Ages doctors tried treating bubonic plague with concoctions of hemp, sugar, and more unpleasant ingredients. As recently as the 1700s, pharmacists recommended a glass of lemon juice and sugar water for asthma attacks.

 

Part of sugar’s allure — and perhaps perceived medicinal benefits — may have been connected to its former rarity. Some historians believe sugarcane originated in Southeast Asia, where farmers may have grown it as early as 8000 BCE, but refining began around 2,500 years ago in India — a process that made sugar shelf-stable and allowed it to spread to other regions. With far to travel, the sweetener was expensive by the time it reached medieval Europe, and for centuries was mostly reserved for the wealthy. But in 1747, German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf discovered a way to produce sugar that didn’t require the sweltering climates in which sugarcane plants grow. Instead, sugar could be harvested in colder regions from the sugar beet, a root vegetable that grows in about three months. Over the next 100 years, sugar beet factories sprang up across Europe and then America, driving down the price of sugar and eventually giving people of all means a chance to savor a little sweetness — with their medicine or otherwise.

 

Sugar has been found in space.

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NASA has found sugar in meteorites that crashed to Earth
Granulated, brown, powdered, pearl, cubed — there’s a lot of sugar on Earth. And surprisingly, there’s sugar in space, too. Researchers first discovered evidence of glycolaldehyde, a type of simple sugar, in 2000 while looking for molecules in space that could support life. Glycolaldehyde is much less complex than cultivated Earth sugars, with only eight atoms compared to cane sugar’s 45. But when it's found in space, researchers believe the stuff could play an important role in jump-starting life beyond our planet. That’s because glycolaldehyde can combine with a chemical called propenal to make ribose, a component of ribonucleic acid, which is similar to DNA and found in all living things. So far, glycolaldehyde has only been found both in the interstellar gas cloud at the Milky Way’s center and in the gases surrounding a young star 400 light-years from Earth. (Interesting Facts)

 

Sweet Facts About Sugar

By Anna Green | Apr 7, 2016

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Sugar is one of the most ubiquitous seasonings in the world—it has been an important crop and commodity since ancient times, and is still used to flavor foods all around the globe. While a lot of us are trying to cut back on our sugar intake, it's still an undeniably important part of modern life. So whether or not you've got a sweet tooth, check out these facts about the history and science of sugar:

 

1. SUGAR WAS ONCE CONSIDERED A SPICE, NOT A SWEETENER. 

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When sugar was first introduced to England in the twelfth century, it was grouped with other tropical spices like ginger, cinnamon, and saffron, and used by the very wealthy to season savory dishes. 

 

2. IT WAS USED AS A MEDICINE FOR CENTURIES. 
The use of sugar as a medicine dates back at least as far as ninth century Iraq, where it was combined with fruits and spices to make medicinal syrups, powders, and infusions. Centuries later, British doctors prescribed sugar to cure a range of diseases—one 18th century physician even suggested blowing sugar powder into the eyes to cure eye ailments and irritations. 

 

3. EUROPEAN ROYALTY WOULD MAKE GIANT SUGAR SCULPTURES CALLED 'SUBTLETIES.' 
Similar in consistency to marzipan, ‘subtleties’ were sculpted into different shapes and wheeled out at royal feasts starting in the 13th century. Though they were visually impressive, they weren’t particularly tasty—the sugar was mixed with a range of nuts, pastes, and gums in order to make it more malleable, giving it a slightly clay-like consistency.

 

4. IN EUROPE, IT STARTED AS A LUXURY …
Initially, sugar was so rare and expensive only royalty could afford it—and in very small quantities at that. In the 13th century, for example, British monarch Henry III once tried to order three pounds of sugar, but expressed doubts that so much sugar could even be found in England.

 

5. … BUT BY THE 19TH CENTURY, HAD BECOME A STAPLE OF THE WORKING-CLASS DIET.

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By 1850, working class consumption of sugar had eclipsed that of the wealthier classes. As the price of sugar dropped, the working classes began using it in a range of baked goods, porridges, and “hasty puddings”—so-called because they could be prepared quickly and with ease. Perhaps most importantly, the working classes began adding sugar to tea—a tradition which, of course, persists to this day. 

 

6. SUGAR CANE WAS FIRST DOMESTICATED IN NEW GUINEA AROUND 8000 BCE.
It was later carried to the Philippines and India—in fact, the first written mention of sugar may be in The Mahabhashya of Patanjali, a study of Sanskrit written around 400-350 BCE. 

 

7. EATING SUGAR CAN GIVE YOU WRINKLES.
It’s common knowledge that eating too much sugar can cause weight gain, but few people know it can also affect the elasticity of your skin. It turns out, overconsumption of sugar causes glycation—a process in which the sugar in your bloodstream binds to proteins, forming molecules that make the collagen in your skin more brittle—which, in turn, causes wrinkles.

 

8. IT CAN BE USED AS A FOOD PRESERVATIVE.
Sugar has been used as a preservative for hundreds of years, and now scientists understand why: high sugar concentrations cause bacteria to lose water through a process called osmosis—and without water, bacteria can’t grow or divide. 

 

9. DOGS HAVE A SWEET TOOTH, BUT CATS DON'T. 
Scientists are still studying why some animals have a preference for sweet foods and others don’t. They’ve found, for example, that dogs enjoy sweet foods while cats and other felines don’t have sweetness receptors in their brains. They’ve hypothesized that sweetness receptors are unnecessary for carnivorous animals, as well as for animals that tend not to chew their food at all, such as dolphins and sea lions. 

 

10. THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CONSUMES 76.7 POUNDS OF SUGAR A YEAR. 

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According to a 2012 study by the U.S. Agriculture Department, we’re each eating about 22 teaspoons of sugar a day

 

11. OVERCONSUMPTION OF SUGAR HAS BEEN LINKED TO LOWER COGNITIVE ABILITIES.
That means too much sugar might actually make you stupider—at least if you’re a rat. So far, scientists have only studied the effects of sugar consumption on four-legged subjects, but they believe that the brain structure of rats is similar enough to our own that the findings can be extended to humans.

 

12. THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT KINDS.
The three main categories of sugar are monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polyols. Monosaccharides are single molecule sugars, while disaccharides are made up of two linked monosaccharides—both are found in a range of products, from fruits and table sugar to milk. Polyols, meanwhile, aren’t true sugars—they’re found in many sugar-free sweeteners.

 

13. SUGAR CAN BE USED AS FUEL.
Sugar is a main component in “rocket candy”—a popular form of model rocket fuel. Scientists are still working on making a practical sugar-based car fuel

 

14. SUGAR IS ADDICTIVE.
Quitting sugar abruptly can cause pain, nausea, and flu-like symptoms. 

 

15. SUGAR HAS BEEN FEATURED IN SONGS AND POETRY FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. 

 

In 1436, Adam de Moleyn singled out sugar in a poem about English sea power called "The Libelle of English Polycye." The phrase “sugar and spice and everything nice,” meanwhile, first appeared in a 19th century poem called “What Are Little Boys Made Of?” And, over the last century, the word “sugar” has been featured in song titles by The Archies ("Sugar Sugar"), Talking Heads (“Sugar On My Tongue”), Nina Simone (“I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl”), The Rolling Stones (“Brown Sugar”), Bob Dylan (“Sugar Baby”), and many more.

 

Source: Facts About Sugar  |  Sweet Facts About Sugar

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Fact of the Day - ORIGINS OF SUPERSTIONS

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Did you know.... A pinch of salt, rabbits, and knocking on wood: Learn the surprisingly ancient histories of these common superstitions. (Brittany Gibson | Updated: Jun. 10, 2022)

 

Why We Knock on Wood, and the Origins of 7 Other Superstitions

by Interesting Facts

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Do black cats fill you with dread? Do you avoid making plans when Friday falls on the 13th? Are you careful around ladders, mirrors, and salt? If so, you’re following some centuries-old ideas about objects and activities that supposedly bring bad luck. But have you ever stopped to wonder why? In many cases, the origins of these superstitions have multiple layers, meaning they might go back to pagan, Christian, medieval, or Victorian beliefs all at once. In other cases, the story is far more modern than you might think. Read on for some of the strange and surprising stories behind our most common folk beliefs.

 

 

1. Knocking on Wood

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In the United States, we say “knock on wood” (in the U.K., it’s “touch wood”) in a variety of situations, like after mentioning something we hope will happen, or while discussing something good that we want to remain in a positive place. It’s a means of averting misfortune, making sure we don’t “tempt fate.” Some explanations for the practice mention a Celtic or otherwise pagan association with tree spirits, the idea being that knocking on wood (particularly once-sacred trees like oak and ash) might awaken these deities and confer their protection. Others note a Christian association with the wood of the cross. But the origins of this practice are probably much more modern, and banal. In A Dictionary of English Folklore, scholars Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud note that the earliest known reference to the practice only dates to 1805. It seems linked to 19th-century children’s games like “Tiggy Touchwood” — types of tag in which children were safe from capture if they touched something wooden, like a door or tree. In his book The Lore of the Playground, Roud writes: “Given that the game was concerned with ‘protection,’ and was well known to adults as well as children, it is almost certainly the origin of our modern superstitious practice of saying, ‘Touch wood.’ The claim that the latter goes back to when we believed in tree spirits is complete nonsense.”

 

2. Black Cats

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In some parts of the world, black cats are considered lucky, but in the U.S. they’ve often been associated with evil. The link goes back to a medieval conception of cats, the devil, and witches as one big happy family. Some sources claimed that Satan’s favorite form to take was a black cat, while witches supposedly either kept cats as familiars or changed into cats themselves. In an age when witches were blamed for just about everything that went wrong, cats — particularly shadowy black cats — were routinely killed. Sadly, these awful associations were strengthened during the plague outbreaks of the 14th to 17th centuries. The bacteria that causes the plague wasn’t identified until 1894, and without understanding why people were getting sick, villagers doubled down on the idea of cats (and again, especially black cats) as a source of misfortune. Unfortunately for them, killing cats of any color just helped rats — which carried the type of fleas that spread the plague — proliferate. It would have been far better for their health if European peasants had taken a page from the ancient Egyptians and worshiped their cats instead.

 

3. Spilling Salt

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Salt is essential to human life and was once an extremely valuable commodity, so much so that the word “salary” derives from it. The crystalline mineral was used in ancient Jewish, Greek, and Roman sacrifices, and it was the primary means of preserving food before refrigeration came along. Over the years, salt became associated with purity, incorruptibility, and sanctity — good for both staving off rot and evil spirits. It stood to reason, then, that spilling salt was bad for both the budget and soul. During the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci strengthened the association between spilled salt and misfortune by depicting Judas with a saltcellar knocked over next to him in his painting “The Last Supper.” At some point, a belief arose that taking a pinch of salt with the right hand and throwing it over the left shoulder would counteract any bad luck caused by spilling the stuff. The idea comes from an imagined link between the left side and the devil — as well as the idea that Satan just can’t stand salt.

4. Breaking Mirrors

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If you grew up toward the end of the 20th century, you’re almost certainly familiar with the idea that breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. Part of this notion is very old: A variety of ancient cultures believed that one’s reflection could steal bits of one’s soul, and so damaging a reflection could damage a person’s spirit. But folklorists have only traced the idea of bad luck from breaking a mirror to 1777, perhaps because of an association between mirrors, magicians, and “diabolical” divination. So why seven years of bad luck, specifically? That part only dates from the mid-19th century. It’s not clear exactly where the link came from, but it may be a Roman idea that the body replenishes itself every seven years — meaning that was enough time to lift any curse.

 

5. Friday the 13th

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This superstition marries ideas about both Friday and the number 13 to create what is supposedly the unluckiest day of the calendar. The aura of doom around the number 13 may go back to early civilizations who based their numerical systems on the number 12. (That’s how we got 12-month calendars and days divided into 12-hour segments, for one thing.) Because it came right after 12, 13 was seen as a problematic or strange leftover. Odd as it may seem, the association is reinforced by two stories of ancient dinner parties. In Norse mythology, evil was introduced into the world when the trickster god Loki showed up as the 13th guest at a dinner in Valhalla. Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, was also the 13th guest to arrive at the Last Supper. That led to a belief, starting around the 17th century, that it was unlucky to have 13 guests at a table. Incidentally (or not), it was also imagined that witches’ covens usually numbered 13. Friday, meanwhile, was the day Jesus was crucified. By tradition, it was also thought to be the day Eve gave Adam the apple and they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. In Britain, Friday was also Hangman's Day, when those condemned to die met their fate. Somehow, over the centuries, these ideas combined to give Friday a bad rep — at least until TGIF came along. Yet it was only the Victorians who combined the ideas around Friday and the number 13 to create the idea of Friday the 13th as being uniquely unlucky. Of course, these days the American horror film franchise may have reinforced the idea.

 

6. Walking Under Ladders

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Like spilling salt, the superstition against walking under ladders may be partly practical. If you see a ladder, there’s a good chance someone is standing on it, and it would be dangerous for both parties if the ladder were bumped or fell. But most explanations add a religious dimension. These stem from the shape a ladder makes as it leans against a wall — a triangle, which suggests a trinity. In ancient Egypt, triangles were a sacred shape (think of the pyramids), and they believed that to walk through one was to “break” something sacred to the gods. In Christianity, of course, the trinity is also sacred, and the same idea supposedly applied. Furthermore, a ladder was also said to have rested against Jesus’ crucifix, becoming a symbol of misfortune. There’s also an association with the gallows, where a ladder was often placed so people could climb up to the rope. However, in A Dictionary of English Folklore, Simpson and Roud once again throw cold water on an ancient basis for this belief. They note that the earliest reference to ladders as unlucky is only about 200 years old, and that most of these older explanations are theories that lack any documented evidence.

 

7. Crossing Your Fingers

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Crossing the middle finger over the index finger “for luck” is one of the most widely understood gestures in the U.K. and the U.S., even if these days we usually say something like “fingers crossed” rather than perform the action. It’s said — unsurprisingly — that the gesture is a reference to the cross, and anything associated with the cross is supposed to be good luck (or a form of protection, such as saying a prayer while making the sign of the cross). But it may not be as old as it’s often reported: Folklorists have only found reference to it starting in the early 20th century.

 

 

Source: Bizarre Origins of Everyday Superstitions  |  Facts About Superstitions
 

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Fact of the Day - THE GREAT LAKES

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Did you know... The Great Lakes hold more than 20% of the world's surface freshwater. It takes some audacity to be named the Great Lakes. After all, there are millions of lakes on planet Earth. But when it comes to North America's fascinating freshwater system, the adjective “great” is well-earned. Consisting of five lakes — Huron, Erie, Superior, Ontario, and Michigan — the Great Lakes stretch some 94,600 square miles, making them one of the largest surface freshwater systems in the world. In fact, these lakes are so big that they include more than 20% of the world’s surface freshwater, or 6 quadrillion gallons of it. That’s so much water that if you spilled the entire contents of the Great Lakes throughout the Lower 48, the entire contiguous U.S. would be submerged in nearly 10 feet of water. With such an abundance of freshwater and natural resources, the Great Lakes have been a hotbed for human habitation. But over the years, increasing activity around the lakes has led to an onslaught of industrial, urban, and other pollutants, as well as more than 100 non-native and invasive species that have damaged their ecosystems. Because less than 1% of the water in the Great Lakes leaves the system each year, pollution can linger for a very long time. Today, environmental organizations and government agencies in both the U.S. and Canada are working together to make sure the Great Lakes stay “great.”

 

Titan, one of Saturn's 82 moons, is the only other world with surface-level lakes, but they’re filled with methane — not water.

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As far as we know, there are only two places in our solar system where you’ll find a lake: Earth and Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. At first glance, the two worlds couldn’t be more different. Titan’s mass is 1/45th of Earth’s, its surface temperature hovers around -292 degrees Fahrenheit, and one day on Titan lasts nearly 16 Earth days. But there are a few similarities. One is that, like Earth, Titan has a weather system that seems to involve rain pouring from clouds and pooling into oceans, rivers, and lakes — and some of these lakes can be absolutely huge. Titan’s lake Kraken Mare, for example, is nearly the size of all the Great Lakes combined and could be up to 1,000 feet deep. But instead of water in this massive lake, Kraken Mare (like all of Titan’s other lakes) is filled with liquid ethane and methane. While methane exists as a gas on Earth, it’s a liquid on Titan, thanks to the freezing temperatures, as is its fellow hydrocarbon ethane. But you probably don’t want to try swimming on Titan’s lakes, even if you could somehow withstand the temperatures — methane is less dense than water, which means if you cannonballed into Kraken Mare, you’d sink like a rock. (Interesting Facts)

 

Deep Facts About the Great Lakes
By Benjamin Lampkin  | Jan 31, 2016

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The Great Lakes of North America, which span 750 miles from east to west, form the largest fresh water system on Earth. Here are 10 facts about Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario.

 

1. LAKE SUPERIOR IS BY FAR THE BIGGEST AND DEEPEST.
The numbers for the world’s largest freshwater lake (in terms of surface area), which straddles the U.S.-Canada border and touches Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, are staggering: 31,700 square miles of surface water; 350 miles wide and 160 miles long; 2,726 miles of shoreline; an average depth of nearly 500 feet, with a maximum depth of 1,332 feet; and a volume of 2,900 cubic miles, more than enough to fill all the other Great Lakes combined.

 

2. ONTARIO AND ERIE ARE THE SMALLEST.

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Lake Erie, which borders Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, measures 241 miles across and 57 miles long, larger than Lake Ontario’s 193-mile-by-53-mile footprint. But Erie’s average depth is just 62 feet and has a volume of around 119 cubic miles, much smaller than Ontario’s average depth of 283 feet and volume of 395 cubic miles. The two lakes are connected by the 35-mile long Niagara River.

 

3. ONLY ONE OF THE LAKES IS LOCATED ENTIRELY IN THE U.S.
As its name suggests, Lake Michigan and its 1180 cubic miles of water, 22,300 square miles of surface water, and 1600 miles of shoreline is the only one of the Great Lakes that lies entirely within American borders. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and is connected to Lake Huron by the Straits of Mackinac between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas.

 

4. YOU CAN TAKE A 6500-MILE DRIVE AROUND THE LAKES.

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The Great Lakes Commission established the Circle Tour in 1988 as a scenic tourist drive around the five lakes and through the eight states (and Ontario) that make up the GLC. Just to navigate Lake Michigan’s 900-mile Circle Tour alone would take approximately 14½ hours without any stops.

 

5. A FIRE PAVED THE WAY FOR MASSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL REFORMS.
A fire on the Cuayahoga River in June 1969, and the iconic image that was published thereafter, helped spur a number of environmental regulations aimed at cleaning up the waterway that feeds Lake Erie, as well as America’s lakes and rivers in general. Amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, known as the Clean Water Act, were enacted in 1972 regulating water pollution and discharge, and gave the Environmental Protection Agency broader pollution control powers. In addition, the United States and Canada signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Act in 1972 to “restore and protect the waters of the Great Lakes.”

 

6. THE LAKES CONTAIN MORE THAN 35,000 ISLANDS.

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Of the thousands of islands scattered throughout the lakes, the largest is Manitoulin in Lake Huron. It is the largest freshwater lake island in the world at 1068 square miles and has a population of around 12,600. Georgian Bay, also on Lake Huron, includes about 17,500 islands, while the archipelago in the St. Lawrence River known as the Thousand Islands actually houses around 1,800 islands.

 

7. EACH LAKE NAME IS DERIVED FROM EITHER NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES OR FRENCH.
Lake Erie is named after the Erie Tribe, which occupied the southern shores of the lake. Michigan comes from a French version of the Ojibwa word michigami. Huron is named for the Huron tribe. The Iroquois lent their language to the naming of Ontario, which means “beautiful lake.” French explorers called the great body of water above Lake Huron “le lac superieur,” or upper lake.

 

8. SHIPPING STILL DOMINATES.

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The Canadian and U.S. lake fleets, made up of carriers, tankers, bulk freighters (“lakers”), tugs, and barges, haul upwards of 125 million tons of cargo a year. About 40 percent of the cargo is iron ore and other mined products like coal, salt, and stone, while another 40 percent is wheat, corn, oats, soybeans, and other agricultural products. Other cargo includes steel, scrap metal, iron products, fuel, and chemicals.

 

9. THE LARGEST FISH IN THE LAKES CAN WEIGH OVER 200 POUNDS.
Fishing is a revered pastime on the Great Lakes, one of the largest freshwater fisheries in the world. Some of the most common catches include trout, salmon, walleye, perch, herring, and bass. Lake sturgeon are the biggest species of fish found in the lakes, and they can weigh over 200 lbs. 

 

10. LAKE SUPERIOR HAS CLAIMED A NUMBER OF SHIPS AND LIVES.

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While the wreck of the famed SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior has generated a hit song, memorials, and conspiracies surrounding its sinking, a number of other commercial ships have sunk and perished through the years in the area around Whitefish Bay near Whitefish Point, Michigan. A wooden steamer called the Vienna of Cleveland sank in 1892 on Lake Superior and is a popular spot for divers; the Comet also sank on Lake Superior and took 11 lives with it in 1875; the John M. Osborn collided with the Alberta in 1884 and drowned four men; and on just its second voyage, the SS Cyprus sank near Deer Park, Michigan in 1907, killing 22 of its 23 crewmembers. The dangerous stretch of water on southern Lake Superior between Munising, Michigan and Whitefish Point has been called the “Graveyard of the Great Lakes,” and “Shipwreck Coast,” as hundreds of ships have been lost in the area. It is estimated that 6000 ships have sank in the Great Lakes, with a loss of nearly 30,000 lives.

 

 

Source: Facts About the Great Lakes  |  The Great Lakes, the Facts

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