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

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Did you know.....

Pigeon Poop Was the Property of the British Crown

King George of England decreed all pigeon droppings to be property of the Crown. He even put guards at sites where the birds perched to enforce his edict. 

He was no birdbrain. There was a practical reason for his order: Pigeon manure was used in making gunpowder.

Pigeon guano (droppings) can be very dangerous. Ornithosis, Listeria, E-coli and other nasty pathogens can be passed through droppings and by the birds themselves.

When dry, the droppings can become airborne leading to respiratory complaints such as psittacosis, and the cryptococcus fungus.

Pigeon poop, or guano, is nitrogen rich, making it an excellent source of fertilizer. 

The use of pigeon guano as fertilizer continued throughout history up until the development of agribusiness that resulted in cheaper more efficient means of fertilizer.

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Did you know.....

Bubbles keep your bath warmer!

The little pockets of air insulate the bath water and keep it hotter for longer.

When you create bubbles in the water, they form a layer on the surface that can reduce heat loss.

This layer of bubbles acts as an insulating barrier, slowing down the evaporation of water and retaining heat more effectively than still water. 

While the effect may not be substantial, it can help maintain the temperature of the bath for a longer period compared to a bath without bubbles.

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Did you know.....

Tennis balls should be kept cool

Change the temperature of the ball and you change the pressure of the gas that’s inside it, thereby changing the ball’s physical dynamics. 

A hot ball behaves very differently on the court from a cool one. Warmer temperatures make the ball’s interior gas molecules expand, creating a higher bounce. 

Choosing the right ball can affect the speed of rallies, ball control and even muscle fatigue, especially if you play on hard surfaces. 

An unsuitable ball could not only make the game less enjoyable but also increase the risk of injuries such as tendonitis or tennis elbow.

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Did you know.....

Allodoxaphobia is the fear of other people's opinions. 

It's a rare social phobia that's characterised by an irrational and overwhelming fear of what other people think.

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Did you know.....

Penicillin was called mould juice

Penicillin - one of the most important antibiotic medicines - comes from Mold. In fact, before its inventor came up with the name "Penicillin", he just called it "Mold juice".

The introduction of penicillin in the 1940s, which began the era of antibiotics, has been recognized as one of the greatest advances in therapeutic medicine. 

The discovery of penicillin and the initial recognition of its therapeutic potential occurred in the United Kingdom, but, due to World War II, the United States played the major role in developing large-scale production of the drug, thus making a life-saving substance in limited supply into a widely available medicine.
 

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Did you know.....

There Are 100 Folds in a Master Chef's Hat

There are two things you might not know about a chef’s hat, those towering and pleated white caps that are part and parcel of a gastronomical genius’s uniform. First, the correct name is a chef’s toque, the French word for "hat." Second, they usually have exactly 100 folds. And that number is for a good reason.

in the 1800s, the toque blanche (white hat) was a common sight in kitchens and linked to the belief that white symbolized cleanliness. The idea was allegedly propagated by the chef for Charles Talleyrand, the first French prime minister.

In the early days of French cuisine, the number of pleats were intended to represent the number of recipes a chef had mastered for a given food, like egg or chicken. Having a hat with 100 pleats meant you were a master chef.

This idea also applied to the height of the hat. The taller the toque, the more a chef knew. If you saw a chef with a towering cap, you could be sure they were likely the head of the kitchen. Marie Antoine Carême, considered a pioneering French chef in the 1800s, was said to have worn one 18 inches in height—so tall it needed cardboard support.

Toques (white hat) aren’t necessarily standard attire anymore, but they still represent a devotion to the craft of cooking, and both their frills and height speak to a long tradition of mastering the art.

[uk666]

Did you know.....

Space has a distinct smell

Astronauts have described some unusual scents in space, which is not surprising considering the chemistry there is far different from that on Earth.

Space is an airless vacuum, so technically, you can't smell anything in space — if you tried, you'd be dead. However, space is not a complete vacuum. It's full of all manner of molecules, some of which have their own strong Odors when we smell them on Earth. 

During the Apollo moon landings, the astronauts would often comment on a gunpowder-like smell once they had clambered back into the airlock, entered the confines of their lunar lander and removed their helmets.

Similarly, after spacewalking, astronauts returning to the confines of the International Space Station report the smell of gunpowder, as well as ozone and burnt steak.

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Did you know.....

Inventor's Ashes Buried in His Creation: Pringles Can

Frederick Baur died at the age of 89. At his request, some of Baur's ashes were buried in the very container that helped launch a billion-dollar snack food.

If it weren't for Frederic Baur, Pringle might still be just a street name in suburban Cincinnati. Back in the 1960s, Cincinnati-based Procter and Gamble, where Baur worked, developed a potato chip made from dehydrated flour and shaped like a saddle. 

They didn't look like any other potato chip in the store. And Baur's can was just as novel.

People did try Pringles by the millions, and the packaging was a key selling point. Baur won a patent on the tubular container in 1970 and the Pringles can still stand out.

They took a product which people had been consuming for years, and they gave it a whole new set of properties. They created a tube that was resealable. It would ensure that the product wouldn't be damaged, the chips wouldn't be broken. 

Baur’s Pringles can helped inspire a burst of innovation in supermarket product packaging. In the tradition of the culinary pioneers who transformed Toblerone into a pyramid, cheese into string and doughnut holes into round Munchkins, here are a few post-Baur supermarket design triumphs.

Procter and Gamble has tinkered with the taste of Pringles over the years, adding salt and grease and later a fat free version, but the chips are still lovingly packed in Baur's can.

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Did you know.....

The longest conclave lasted almost three years

There is no limit as to how long a conclave can last when electing a new Pope. One vote will be held on the first day of voting. If this vote is not decisive, over the next two days, two votes will be held in the morning, and two more in the afternoon.

If a decision still has not been made after three days, a break of up to one day is permitted, allowing for prayer and discussion amongst cardinals. But this process can continue indefinitely, until a majority is reached.

The longest election took place in 1268, when the death of Pope Clement IV led to a conclave of 1,006 days. Political, religious, and family motivations divided the cardinals, preventing a majority, during a time when cardinals were not cut off from the outside world.

This drawn-out conclave led to complete isolation for the cardinals, finally leading to a decision in 1271. Pope Gregory X was elected, and a new format of the conclave was born.

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Did you know.....

Cardinals will be on a strict diet to prevent secret messaging

In an attempt to influence cardinals and establish communication between the conclave and the outside world, messages have previously been hidden in food coming into the Sistine Chapel during the voting process.

Foods that could conceal messages such as pies and chickens, as well as cutlery and glasses, have been prohibited. Following tradition for the upcoming conclave, nuns will prepare local food such as lamb skewers, spaghetti, and boiled vegetables for cardinals.

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Did you know.....

Vatican firefighters install the Sistine Chapel's chimney in preparation for papal conclave 

After every round of votes, all ballots submitted by cardinals are burned. If a majority has been achieved and a new Pope elected, white smoke will rise from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. 

If a majority is not met, then the ballot papers will be added to a mixture of potassium perchlorate, anthracene and sulphur to create the black smoke.

A different recipe of potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin will be added to the papers and burned to create white smoke if a Pope has been elected.

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Did you know.....

The conclave has not always been held at the Sistine Chapel

Although every conclave has been held at the Sistine Chapel since 1878, it was not always the fixed location for cardinals to decide on the next Pope.

The first conclave to be held at the Sistine Chapel was in 1492. But elections were held at various locations before a fixed setting was decided upon. Most were still held within Rome, but 15 have previously taken place outside of the Italian capital.

Some conclaves have even been conducted outside of Italy. The conclave of 1314-16 was held in France, and a century later, the conclave of 1415-17 was held in Germany.

Only Cardinals under the age of 80 participate in the conclave.

There are currently 252 cardinals serving in the Catholic Church, but only 135 are eligible to vote in the conclave. This is because a cardinal over 80 is not permitted to participate in the process at the Sistine Chapel. 

This restriction came into place in 1970, under Pope Paul VI, who also recommended a maximum of 120 cardinals when electing a new Pope. 

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Did you know.....

The Grand Theft Auto franchise has lawsuits that total over $1 billion

There are a lot of controversies that surround the game due to the nature of its gameplay. Rockstar North has faced many legal claims of copyright and influencing young players to commit sexual and illegal acts.

The trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 is everywhere this week, the first game in the smash hit crime series in more than a decade. From its crude beginnings to its multiplayer mayhem, we look back at past releases – and the outrage that greeted them

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Did you know.....

A secretary will use its left hand for 56% of what they type on a keyboard

This is because most of the most common letters in the English language are on the left side of the keyboard. The right side of the keyboard only contains L and n as the most common letters.

The rationale behind the QWERTY keyboard layout was to take the letters that are most frequently used consecutively and place them on opposite ends of the keyboard (or at least, place the two letters not next to each other)

Qwerty wasn't designed for digital computers. Qwerty layout was designed for analog typewriting. Typewriters physically print as you press the keys like a stamp. If you were fast, sometimes the keys would jam because you tried to press two keys that were close together. 

Qwerty was designed so that most words would alternate hands, and commonly used letters would be far apart.

Nowadays we obviously use keyboards that don't have this issue, but everyone got so used to the QWERTY layout that it stuck around.

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Did you know.....

The dot over the small letter 'i' is called a tittle

While this isn’t a commonly used word any longer, the expression “jot or tittle” still endures in some places, meaning something to the effect of “a very small amount”.  

A classic example of this expression can be seen in the Gospel of Matthew (5:18): “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” 

The word “tittle” itself comes to us from the same Latin word that “title” derived from, but has since come to mean something very different, namely a small stroke or mark in writing, generally referring to the dot over the lower-case letter “i”, when used at all.

Another expression that is associated with “tittle” is the expression “to a T”, being a shortened version of “to a tittle”, meaning “precise / exact down to every last detail”.  

As much as a hundred years before “to a T” first showed up, “to a tittle” was a common expression meaning the exact same thing as “to a T” came to mean, so it is thought the former led to the latter.

The first recorded use of the expression “to a tittle” was in the play Woman Hater in 1607, which had the following line: “I’ll quote him to a tittle.”

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Did you know.....

Japan has 23 vending machines per person

The vending machine craze in Japan began to take root in the 1960s as a way to provide 24/7 convenience to the population. 

Since then, the number of vending machines has steadily increased, turning it into a quintessentially Japanese phenomenon. 

Today, there are an estimated 5.52 million vending machines in Japan, meaning there is approximately one vending machine for every 23 people.

Japan’s vending machines are not limited to just snacks and beverages. Instead, they offer a plethora of goods and services, ranging from hot and cold drinks, cigarettes, and alcohol to fresh eggs, flowers, and even hot meals. 

Moreover, Japanese vending machines have embraced technology as well. Many are equipped with touch screens, accept various payment methods including cash, credit cards, and mobile payments, and even feature voice-activated interfaces. 

These innovations further enhance the vending machine experience and make them stand out as symbols of modern Japan.

[uk666]

Did you know.....

Putting sugar on a cut will make it heal faster

Too much sugar may be bad for the waistline, but it could help doctors heal the sick.

New research shows folk medicine from Africa may hold the key to treating wounds that defy modern medicine.

A study found granulated sugar poured directly into bed sores, leg ulcers and even amputations promote healing when antibiotics and other treatments have failed.

The treatment works because bacteria need water to grow, so applying sugar to a wound draws the water away and starves the bacteria of water. This prevents the bacteria from multiplying, and they die.

[uk666]

Did you know.....

There are 7 different types of twins

Apart from the well known identical and fraternal types of twins, there are 5 more.

These include half-identical, mirror image, mixed, chromosome, and superfecundation, and superfetation.

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Did you know.....

X-rays can’t detect real diamonds

Diamonds are nearly three times denser than human bones. Therefore, X-rays can’t see them. 

They can significantly stand out in X-ray photographs of smugglers because they’re so thick relative to the human body.

So, how to find out if your diamond is for real:

1. Diamond tester: It will inform you if it is a genuine diamond.
2. Water Test: Fill a normal-sized drinking glass with water to 34% capacity. Drop a loose diamond into the glass. If it’s a genuine diamond, it will sink. It’s not real if it floats. The density of a genuine diamond will be higher.
3. Fog Test: Hold the diamond between two fingers and blow on it with a puff of air to perform the fog test. Due to the moisture and heat in your breath, a light fog will form on the diamond. If the fog clears off quickly, the diamond is real. It’s most likely a fake diamond if the fog takes several seconds to clear. Diamonds are excellent heat conductors and dissipate heat quickly.
4. Heating The Diamond: Heat does not affect diamonds. After heating the stone, wait 40 seconds, then drop it into the water. It’s not a diamond if it breaks up; diamonds are the hardest stones on the planet.
5. Sparkle Test: Since the diamond sparkles a lot, place it under direct light and observe how light interacts with the diamond.
6. Use A Jeweller's Loupe To Inspect A Diamond: To see internal diamond inclusions, use the loupe. There’ll be flaws in diamonds; perfect gems will fall victim to scepticism.
7. Use High-Profile Weighing To Test A Real Diamond: Compare the weight and size of diamonds. Fake diamonds will weigh less than genuine diamonds of the same size.

[uk666]

Did you know.....

Sign language has tongue twisters

They are called finger fumblers. Many who have practiced sign language over the years still fumble over certain sequences in ASL (American Sign Language).

Sign languages like ASL (American Sign Language) do have their own version of tongue twisters, often called "finger fumblers". 

These are sequences of signs that are difficult to produce quickly and fluently due to the shape or movement of the hands and fingers. DeafTawk on Facebook states that finger fumblers are fun and challenging. 

Wikipedia explains that the phrase "Good blood, bad blood" is both a tongue twister in English and a finger fumbler in ASL (American Sign Language).

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Did you know.....

Minnie the Mouse’s first name is not Minnie

While most people know her as Minnie, Minnie Mouse's full name is actually Minerva Mouse. 

The name Minerva was revealed in early Disney comics and has been recognized as her true name by some. The name Minnie is a nickname that was given to her by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.

One cannot evoke the name of Mickey Mouse without almost an unconscious thought of adding “Minnie Mouse”; much like “Muck and Mire” or “Ben and Jerry” they just go together. 

One of the interesting notes about the character of Minnie, she did not evolve from an extra in a cartoon short like Goofy or Pluto but was originally created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in conjunction with Mickey. 

In 1928 Walt’s studio had lost his star Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to distributor Charles Mintz and Universal studios; although Walt and Ub created Oswald, he was the property of Universal. 

When they created Mickey, they realized that he needed a co-star, preferably a sweetheart.

Oswald was a flirting kind of a playboy, and they wanted Mickey to imitate him, so they needed a substitute for his love interests, i.e. Miss Cottontail, Fanny and Miss Rabbit. This developed into Minnie Mouse.

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Did you know.....

A jiffy is a proper unit of time

a jiffy is an informal term often used to mean a very short amount of time, but it can also refer to specific units of measurement, it is exactly 1/100th of a second.

But even technically defined jiffies fail to match the term’s broad everyday connotation implying blistering speed.

 We often say tasks will finish in a jiffy when we really mean several minutes at least. And anyone waiting for mechanics at Jiffy Lube to change their car’s oil likely realizes promises of that level of haste rarely match up to reality!

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Did you know.....

April 11, 1954, was recorded as the most boring day in the world.

Statistics show that no significant occurrences took place in the world. 

This was calculated by a computer search program. After feeding 300million facts into a new computer search engine they have announced there were no key news events or births and deaths of famous people.

The best the machine could muster for the day was the fact that Belgium had its fourth post-war general election and a Turkish academic who taught electronics was born.

William Tunstall-Pedoe, founder of the new search engine True Knowledge, which is based in Cambridge, said: ‘When the results came back, the winner was April 11, 1954 – a Sunday.

‘Nobody significant died that day, no major events apparently occurred and, although a typical day in the 20th century has many notable people being born, for some reason that day had only one who might make that claim – Abdullah Atalar, a Turkish academic.

‘The irony is, though, that – having done the calculation – the day is interesting for being exceptionally boring.

Now, we're not Cambridge-trained computer geniuses. But we do have to admit that searches of other databases, such as Historyorb.com and the Library of Congress' website don't turn up much of interest for the day in question.

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Did you know.....

Tiramisu translates to ‘take me to heaven’ in Italian

Tiramisu is one of the most famous and beloved Italian desserts. The name says it all.

In fact, “tiramisu” literally means “pull me up” (cheer me up), and this fabulous recipe made in heaven does indeed pull you up… while it also picks and pushes you up, whenever you feel down. 

It is a combination of chocolate and coffee notes mixed with a soft cream made of eggs and mascarpone, all based on layers of Italian ladyfingers, which we call savoiardi. 

It is a boost of energy and happiness, a game changer that turns a dinner into triumph and transforms an afternoon snack into an unforgettable journey through a rare kind of sophisticated, chocolaty and creamy pleasure. 

And the best thing of all is that it is really quite easy to make.

[uk666]

Did you know.....

Buttermilk does not contain any butter.

When you hear the word “buttermilk,” you might assume that it contains butter. However, that is not the case. Contrary to its name, buttermilk is actually a by product of the butter-making process and does not contain any butter.

Buttermilk is a tangy, acidic milk-like liquid that is left behind after the butter has been churned. It is thinner in consistency compared to regular milk and has a slightly sour taste. It is commonly used in baking, cooking, and even as a refreshing drink on its own.

To understand why there is no butter in buttermilk, let’s take a closer look at how it is made. Traditionally, buttermilk was formed by allowing cream to naturally sour.

Cream was left at room temperature for a period of time, and the natural bacteria present in the cream would ferment it, turning it into a sour liquid. 

The cream would then be churned to separate the fat globules, which would eventually become butter. The remaining liquid was what we now refer to as buttermilk.