Did you know…. A fun, and very simple game.

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Did you know.....

The author of Mary Had a Little Lamb, Sarah Josepha Hale, is most responsible for the creation of Thanksgiving being a national holiday.

In 1837, she became the editor of the Godey’s Lady’s Book. Her work with the magazine made her one of the most influential voices in the 19th century. 

Her columns covered everything from women’s education to child rearing. Hale also used her platform to support other causes, including abolishing slavery and, later, colonization (freeing African Americans and sending them to Africa). 

While working as editor, she raised money for various historic sites. Hale helped to preserve George Washington’s home and financially supported the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument. Her work in historic preservation has stood the test of time, as both sites are still open to public.

Hale used her persuasive writings to support the creation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. 

In 1863, While the nation was in the middle of the Civil War, President Lincoln signed into action “A National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” Hale’s letter to Lincoln is often cited as the main factor in his decision. 

Hale died in 1879, at the age of 92.

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Did you know.....

World’s Oldest Unopened Bottle of Wine Remains Sealed Since the 4th Century

A bottle found in a Roman tomb near the Speyer region of Germany certainly breaks all known records of the oldest wine available on the planet; the bottle is appropriately named as The Speyer Wine Bottle.

The Speyer Wine Bottle was first discovered in a Roman tomb in Germany and is likely to contain a fair amount of wine and was found in 1867 from the Rhineland-Palatine region of Germany, which is the oldest settlement in the region.

The wine bottles were adequately preserved using a thick mixture of olive oil, which was used along with a thick wax seal to close the bottle, effectively protecting it from outside influence.

Scientists have long tried to get permission to fully analyse the contents of the bottle by opening it, but as of 2011 the bottle remains unopened. Thus, any detailed analysis isn’t possible at the moment.

This is partly due to the concerns that the interaction of the liquid with the outside environment could potentially damage the content, rendering it useless for anyone.

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Did you know.....

Nobody knows how the Academy Awards came to be referred to as the Oscars.

The golden statuette has been called “Oscar” since the 1930s, but the origins of the nickname are a matter of dispute.

The statuette given to winners is technically called the Academy Award of Merit. It's based on a design by Cedric Gibbons, who was MGM art director at the time of the award's creation. 

He sketched a knight holding a sword and standing in front of a film reel, according to the Academy. In 1928, they began the process to turn that idea into a statue. The statuette is made of solid bronze with an electroplated coating of 24-karat gold.

While 25 Oscars are presented every year, a total batch of 50 are produced before the event in case more or needed if there is a tie or if there are multiple winners in any of the categories. The cost to produce one statuette is about $400 and the whole process from start to finish takes around three months.

Oscars on the open market can command up to millions of dollars. However, since 1950, the Academy has not allowed winners to keep Oscars unless a first right of refusal agreement is signed.

The Academy states: “Award winners shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00. This provision shall apply also to the heirs and assigns of Academy Award winners who may acquire a statuette by gift or bequest”. So, while each statuette costs approximately $400 to produce, their face value is just a dollar.

Since the first edition of the Oscars in 1929, over 3,000 statuettes have been handed out to the best actors, actresses, directors, cinematographers, costume designers, composers… the stars of the silver screen during the past year.

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Did you know.....

Chicken Run is the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film, even beating The Nightmare Before Christmas.

But the record-breaking accomplishment of “Chicken Run” isn’t solely due to its ability to entertain.

The film’s stunning animation and meticulous attention to detail undoubtedly played a significant role in attracting large audiences. Every frame of this stop-motion masterpiece demonstrates the immense effort and artistry behind it.

From the intricate movements of the chickens to the beautifully crafted sets and props, “Chicken Run” is a testament to the talents of its animators and the time-consuming nature of their craft.

In surpassing the popularity of “The Nightmare before Christmas,” a fan-favourite directed by the legendary Tim Burton, “Chicken Run” etched its name firmly into cinematic history. 

It’s noteworthy that “The Nightmare Before Christmas” set the bar incredibly high, earning critical acclaim and a dedicated following since its release in 1993. 

For “Chicken Run” to surpass such a beloved and established film is a testament to its wide appeal and undeniable quality.

[uk666]

Did you know.....

More tornadoes occur in the United Kingdom per square mile than in any other country in the world.

On average, around 30 tornadoes are reported in the UK every year. But on 23 November 1981, a total of 104 tornado reports were made between Anglesey and Norwich. In comparison, the entire USA experienced 1.3 tornadoes per year per same land area.

The largest tornado outbreak to ever happen in the UK. Was between 1980 and 2012. Unlike American tornadoes most tornadoes in the UK are fairly weak. Around 95 per cent are classified as F0 or F1 on the International Tornado Intensity Scale, with estimated wind speeds of up to 72 miles per hour. 

At the other end of the scale, an F10-11 tornado (or ‘super’ tornado) may have wind speeds of up to 299 miles per hour. The strongest wind speeds ever measured during a tornado, which hit Oklahoma on 3 May 1999, reached 302 miles per hour.

It’s still unclear why tornadoes are so common across the UK. ‘It seems that most tornadoes in the UK are created along long, narrow storms that form along cold fronts.

[uk666]

Did you know.....

Times Square was originally called Longacre Square until it was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the newly built Times Building.

In 1904, Adolph S. Ochs, who was the owner of the New York Times at the time, moved their main office to the brand-new Times Tower in modern day Times Square.

Today you’ll still find this building at the heart of Times Square, but it is now known as One Times Square.

The One Times Square building is hugely famous for being the venue of the annual New Year’s Eve ball drop which was actually started by Ochs in 1907. 

Over a million people attend this event every year and it’s often watched by over a billion people online.

The building itself has been hugely renovated over the years and all of the original detailing has been removed. 

Advertising billboards were added in the 1990s and today this building is one of the most valuable advertising locations in the whole world.

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Did you know.....

Queen was worth £68billion when she died in 2022, with the crown being estimated at around £68.5billion, and Elizabeth II's personal wealth as £430million, all of the Queen's wealth went to the new king.

The Queen's true net worth will never been disclosed, because the Queen pressured the government to change the law back in the 1970s, to hide her exact level of wealth from the public.

She cited the reasons as: 

"Being embarrassing for the public to know."

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Did you know.....

Only primates, humans, and opossums have opposable thumbs. Out of these, the opossum is the only one with no thumbnail.

Only primates, humans, and opossums have opposable thumbs. Out of these, the opossum is the only one with no thumbnail.

Opposable thumbs allow us to grip objects such as tools and hold them securely, as well as perform tasks such as tying knots or manipulating small objects.

This trait has allowed us to construct and engineer, to manipulate complicated objects and devices, and even open and use containers like jars. 

It also allows us to create intricate art forms with our hands. Without opposable thumbs, humans would never have discovered how to set fires, or to cook food.

With other primates, marsupials and mammals lucky enough to have evolved with opposable thumbs, they provide dexterity, exceptional grip and manoeuvrability.

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Did you know.....

The word “kimono” literally means a “thing to wear.” Ki is “wear,” and mono is “thing.”

A traditional kimono is nearly floor length, loose-fitting and with very wide sleeves.

The cloth belt that ties around the waist of a kimono is called an obi. Both men and women wear kimonos, though they're more frequently worn by women. 

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Did you know.....

A statue provides free Wi-Fi.

Statues of famous and noteworthy people are a usual sight in a city or town, but one particular statue of Nikola Tesla in Palo Alto, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, doesn’t just stand there and do nothing. It emits free Wi-Fi.

The statue was unveiled on December 7, 2013, and was the idea of a local resident named Dorrian Porter. Porter raised $127,000 through a Kickstarter.com campaign in 30 days to fund the making of the statue. 

He then commissioned a local artist named Terry Guyer to design a bronze statue of the famous inventor.

The statue is 6' 2" tall, Tesla’s actual height, and he is holding a large light bulb. The bulb is what holds the router for the Wi-Fi signal. The statue is based on an iconic picture of Tesla holding a disconnected bulb that is being lit by wireless electricity.

Having a statue of Tesla as a hub for Wi-Fi is rather fitting since he had proposed a wireless “World System” back in the early 1900s. It would have provided electrical energy around the world through wireless transmission. 

The statue also has a time capsule inside that is to be opened on January 7, 2043, the 100th anniversary of his death.

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Did you know.....

It snows metal on planet Venus! 

The metallic snow on Venus is not your typical snow made of water ice. Instead, it consists of various metals and their compounds, including lead sulfide and bismuth sulfide.

These compounds condense at Venus’ extreme temperatures and pressures, creating the bizarre yet captivating sight of metal particles raining down on the planet’s surface.

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Did you know.....

Only official members of a federally accepted Native American tribes may legally possess or collect eagle feathers. If a normal citizen has one, it is illegal.

Because of the religious and cultural significance of eagle feathers, the law makes an exception that allows members of federally recognized tribes to own eagle feathers. Eligible Native Americans must first get a permit to own and receive eagle feathers.

Golden eagles are the only eagle permitted for use in falconry in the United States. Permits issued by the State Government, tribe, or territory in these states will be recognized by the Federal Government. 

It is illegal to take them home. The possession of feathers and other parts of native North American birds without a permit is prohibited by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA).

There is no exemption for melted feathers or those taken from road or window killed birds.

A violation of the Act can result in a fine of $100,000 ($200,000 for organizations), imprisonment for one year, or both, for a first offense. Penalties increase substantially for additional offenses, and a second violation of this Act is a felony.

When a feather falls to the earth, it is believed to carry all of the energy of the bird it came from, and it is perceived as a gift from the sky, the sea, and the trees. In Native culture, the eagle is considered the strongest and bravest of all birds.

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Did you know.....

Tic Tacs got their name from the sound they make when they are tossed around in their container.

Their Original Name was “Refreshing Mints” The rather blah original moniker was jettisoned in 1970 and replaced with the name Tic Tac, an onomatopoetic reference to the sound the mints make in their container

According to Ferrero, the third-largest confectioner in the world, they produce One Hundred Billion, Tic Tacs every four years.

Ferrero was founded by Pietro Ferrero in Italy in 1946. Pietro initially built the Ferrero lab to support his wife’s pastry shop. At the time, he cleverly added hazelnuts to his chocolate bars to minimize costs.

Though it wouldn’t become a spread until much later, his son would eventually turn his creation into the world-famous Nutella. But Ferrero is responsible for much more. The company is also the genius behind Ferrero Rocher, Kinder.

They’re Not “The 1 ½ Calorie Breath Mint” Anymore. The company started using that tag line in 1980, but in recent years it was abandoned because the size of Tic Tacs have increased slightly. Today, they’re 1.9 calories per candy.

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Did you know.....

500 seeds of 5 different types of seeds were taken into orbit around the moon and later planted around the U.S. They were called Moon Trees.

Since 1977, a stately sycamore has greeted visitors to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre. It looks like any other sycamore, one tree among many on the quiet, leafy campus in suburban Maryland.

But what many passers by may not realize as they stand under its dappled shade or admire its changing foliage is that this tree came from the moon.

The Goddard sycamore is one of the dozens of so-called “moon trees” scattered around the country, grown from seeds that travelled with astronaut Stuart Roosa on the Apollo 14 mission in 1971. 

Part scientific experiment, part public relations venture, the seeds represented a joint project between the U.S. Forest Service and NASA.

Roosa had been a smoke jumper with the Forest Service before becoming an astronaut, and bringing the seeds to space helped raise awareness of the federal agency, while also giving NASA scientists an opportunity to probe an important question: How does being in microgravity affect plants?

After splashdown, the seeds went into quarantine along with the crew. Standard protocol at the time, quarantine was meant to prevent any potentially harmful moon microbes from spreading to Earth.

There was a brief moment of panic when the canister holding the seeds burst open inside a vacuum chamber, but the seeds survived the disturbance, and most of them went on to germinate normally.

Over the next few years, the saplings were planted across the United States, many of them during 1976 as part of the U.S. bicentennial celebrations.

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Did you know.....

In order to protest the high tariffs enforced by a U.K. censorship board, a filmmaker sent in a 10-hour “movie” of white paint drying. They had to watch the entire film.

The BBFC, film censorship board for the UK, have officially awarded a 'U' certificate to a ten-hour film of paint drying, created as part of a protest of its practices by British filmmaker Charlie Lyne.

Lyne first established a Kickstarter to fund the submission of a film entitled Paint Drying to the Board of Classification; one which would consist of a single, unedited shot of white paint drying on a brick wall. 

The money raised would pay for the BBFC's imposed tariffs on having work certified, which Lyne believes unfairly burdens independent filmmakers who must fork out an average of $1,000 per submission.

Having declared every donation would further contribute to the film's run-time (as tariffs are calculated by a per-minute fee), the campaign ended up raising £5,936 and allowed Lyne to submit a 607-minute film to the censors; though it's still beaten by Jacques Rivette's 1971 Out 1, running at 775 minutes, as the longest film to be reviewed for classification by the board.

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Did you know.....

50% of apartments in Los Angeles don’t come with a fridge. This is legal, as fridges are considered an “amenity,” and therefore, landlords are not required to provide one.

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Did you know.....

Both of the drummers from Queen and Duran Duran had the same name – Roger Taylor.

Roger is a surprisingly common name in bands:

• Roger Waters
• Roger Taylor
• Roger Taylor
• Roger Daltrey
• Roger Miller
• Roger Hodgson
• Roger Glover
• Roger Whittaker

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Did you know.....

Over 290 people have died climbing Mount Everest.

Since Mount Everest was first summited in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, over 290 climbers have died attempting to reach the top of the world, third of these succumbed to the deadly lack of oxygen.

While that number may seem small compared to the number of total attempts, it is important to remember that the death rate on Everest is nearly 4%. 

In other words, for every 25 people who climb Mount Everest, one person dies trying.

The vast majority of these deaths occur during the descent, when climbers are tired and more likely to make mistakes. avalanches, falls, and exposure to the elements are also major causes of death on Everest.

Despite the risks, many climbers continue to attempt to summit Mount Everest each year. For some, the challenge is simply too great to resist. 

For others, the rewards of reaching the top of the world are worth the risks. Whatever the reason, it is important to remember that Mount Everest is a dangerous place and should be treated with respect.

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Did you know.....

It’s not just humans who are right or left-handed. Most female cats prefer using their right paw, and males are more likely to be left-pawed.

While the reasons for left-handedness still largely remain a scientific mystery, neuroscientists work hard to understand this fascinating phenomenon.

Here are some recent scientific findings about left-handedness you might not have heard of, yet:

• There are approximately 708 million left-handers in the world.
• Men are more likely to be left-handers than women.
• Cats and dogs can be left-handers, too.
• Left-handers often win at sports, since their actions are more surprising to their opponents.
• Genes play a role for left-handedness.
• Different early life factors influence left-handedness.
• At 3 years of age, handedness is determined in most, but not all children.
• There is also left-footedness.

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Did you know.....

There are only two countries in the world that have the colour purple in their flags:

Nicaragua and Dominica.

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Did you know.....

There is a village in Russia called Tsovkra-1 where every resident can tightrope walk.

Tucked away in Russia's southern mountains, there is a village called Tsovkra-1. In many ways, the little hamlet is like so many others scattered across the remote region. 

The villagers face harsh winters, tough days of working the unforgiving land, and young people leaving the mountains for the promise of big-city adventures.

Those who remain in Tsovkra-1, though, do have one unique claim to fame. Nearly every single able-bodied villager can walk the tightrope.

While no one in Tsovkra-1 knows exactly how the tradition began, the most popular story is that more than 100 years ago, the village's young men tired of trekking across the valleys that separated them from their female love interests in a neighbouring community.

So, the men strung up a rope between the mountains and, after first pulling themselves across, eventually began to walk the rope, displaying their prowess for their waiting admirers.

Ramazan Gadzhiyev, who runs the village's tightrope-walking school, rolls his eyes at the story. He thinks a more likely explanation is that bad weather forced the villagers to come up with a quick fix for unrepaired footbridges.

However the practice began, it remains a constant in the village today. While Tsovkra-1's population has fallen from around 3,000 in the 1980s to below 400 today, all of those who remain are able to walk the wire.

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Did you know.....

In folklore, Saturday was often viewed as the best day to hunt vampires, as this was the day of the week when they were restricted to their coffins.

It was also believed in the Balkans that if somebody was born on a Saturday then they could see a vampire that was invisible to others, and that these people were the best recruits to become vampire hunters.

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Did you know.....

The quietest place on Earth is so silent you can hear yourself blinking.

The record is held by the anechoic test chamber at Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, where an ambient sound level of -24.9 dBA (decibels A-weighted) was recorded.

Visitors to the room, which is specially designed to suppress sound, have reported being able to hear blood moving through their veins, hearing their eyelids closing as they blink, and feeling sick and disorientated.

Orfield Labs took the record back again in 2021 and has held it ever since.

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Did you know.....

St. Patrick is arguably the most famous saint associated with Ireland. His feast day is celebrated around the world and is a common symbol of Irish patriotism.

His legends have become commonplace in our understanding of Ireland, and the image of the bishop with a clover is an immediately recognizable symbol for many.

But despite his popularity, we know very little about the actual man. It would seem the legend of St. Patrick has become far more famous than the historical individual.

facts about the real St. Patrick

Millions of people around the world will mark St Patrick’s Day on March 17th, but what do we really know about the man and what is merely myth? 

Here are 5 of the traditions and the trivia associated with the national apostle:

1. Ireland’s patron saint wasn’t Irish
Historians generally agree that St Patrick, who was probably born near the end of the fourth century, was of British descent. The Welsh village of Banwen, on the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons, claims to be Bannavem Taburniae, the Roman settlement where, Patrick wrote in his Confessions, he was born. 

Each year it holds a service in his honour. (He may also have been born in Scotland or England.)

When Patrick was 16, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and sold as a slave to a druid, or Celtic priest, in what is today Co Antrim. After six years as a shepherd Patrick escaped back to Britain, where he is said to have been ordained as a priest before returning to Ireland as a missionary.

2. Patrick’s forgotten wife
In the old Irish calendar, the day after St Patrick’s Day is Sheelah’s Day, in commemoration of the woman who many believe to have been Patrick’s wife.

An early reference to the continued festivities appears in the book The Stranger in Ireland: Or, a Tour in the Southern and Western Parts of That Country, in the Year 1805, by John Carr: “From a spirit of gallantry, these merry devotees continue drunk the greater part of the next day, viz, the 18th of March, all in honour of Sheelagh, St Patrick’s wife.”

3. Shamrock symbolism
Legend has it that St Patrick used the shamrock to teach the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the idea that God exists in three divine consubstantial “persons”: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Caleb Threlkeld, an early Irish botanist, described the three-leaf clover’s symbolism in Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum, his treatise on native Irish flora from 1726. Referring to the plant by its Irish name, seamar-oge, Threlkeld tells of people wearing it in their hats on March 17th.

Threlkeld, who was also a cleric, expressed his discontent with the holiday’s drinking culture: “When they wet their Seamar-oge, they often commit Excess in Liquor, which is not a right keeping of a Day to the Lord.” It generally leads to debauchery, he said.
The shamrock, which many people wear on St Patrick’s Day, became associated with Ireland more broadly during rebellions against Britain in the 18th century.

4. The first St Patrick’s Day parade was American
The tradition of St Patrick’s Day parades began in America, before the founding of the United States. A Spanish colony in what is now St Augustine, in Florida, held the first recorded parade on March 17th, 1601. 

The celebrations were organised by the colony’s Irish priest, Padre Ricardo Artur, or Fr Richard Arthur, a former soldier believed to have been born in Limerick.

More than a century later, homesick Irish soldiers serving in the British military paraded on March 17th in Boston in 1737 and in New York in 1762. NYC’s annual parade is now the world’s biggest celebration of the patron saint of Ireland.

5. Patrick’s death
According to the St Patrick Centre, when he returned to Ireland Patrick came ashore near Downpatrick, after currents swept his boat from the Irish Sea into Strangford Lough. A quickly converted local chieftain gave him a sabhall, or barn, from where Patrick travelled extensively, spreading the Christian message around Ireland.

He returned to Saul, the village named after the barn, to retire after an angel (according to some early writers) told him to “return to the place from which you came”. He died there on March 17th around the year 461. His supposed burial alongside two other Irish saints on Down Hill gave rise to the couplet “In Down, three saints one grave do fill, Patrick, Brigid and Columcille.”

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Did you know.....

The brain of Albert Einstein has been a subject of much research and speculation. 

Albert Einstein's brain was removed within seven and a half hours of his death. 

His apparent regularities or irregularities in the brain have been used to support various ideas about correlations in neuroanatomy with general or mathematical intelligence. 

Studies have suggested an increased number of glial cells in Einstein's brain.

Recent research on Einstein’s brain has revealed several unique anatomical features that may be linked to his extraordinary cognitive abilities. 

Studies have found that certain regions of his brain, such as the prefrontal cortex and parietal lobes, were unusually well-developed and densely packed with neurons. 

These areas are associated with abstract thinking, mathematical skills, and spatial reasoning. Additionally, the absence of a typical groove called the “Sylvian fissure” in his brain may have allowed for better communication between different brain regions. 

Such findings continue to shape modern neuroscience’s understanding of the relationship between brain structure and intelligence.