Elephants Understand Human Gesture, No Training Needed

Elephants understand the human gesture of pointing, new research suggests.

The ability is even more impressive given that the animals received no training to understand the gesture and have never been domesticated.

"By showing that African elephants spontaneously understand human pointing, without any training to do so, we have shown that the ability to understand pointing is not uniquely human but has also evolved in a lineage of animal very remote from the primates," study co-author Richard Byrne of the University of St Andrews said in a statement.

The new finding gives elephants membership in a select club that includes dogs, cats and bottlenose dolphins. Chimpanzees that have lived with humans can be trained to follow a point, but wild chimps typically fare worse than dogs at understanding human gestures.

Byrne and his colleague Anna Smet, also of St. Andrews, studied a group of 11 African elephants that took tourists on rides near Victoria Falls, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The animals had been trained to follow vocal commands, but had never learned pointing.

The team hid tasty morsels of food in several containers, then pointed to the correct bin to direct elephants to the food. The elephants went to the correct food container two-thirds of the time, significantly above chance. All told, five out of 11 of the elephants consistently went to the right container. In contrast, 1-year-old children typically get it right about 70 percent of the time. Even more impressive, many of the pachyderms chose the correct bin from the first try.

"What really surprised us is that they did not apparently need to learn anything. Their understanding was as good on the first trial as the last, and we could find no sign of learning over the experiment," Byrne said.

Those elephants born in captivity or bred for more human contact performed no better at the task.
Though elephants make other gestures with their trunks, no one knows whether those gestures are parallel to pointing.

The findings suggest that elephants' ability to follow a point may arise from their social natures. Elephants live in large groups and display many emotional behaviors, including marking the gravesites of lost pack members and weeping for their dead. Elephants also recognize themselves in a mirror, a hallmark of animals with sociality and empathy.

"What elephants share with humans is that they live in an elaborate and complex network in which support, empathy, and help for others are critical for survival. It may be only in such a society that the ability to follow pointing has adaptive value, or, more generally, elephant society may have selected for an ability to understand when others are trying to communicate with them, and they are thus able to work out what pointing is about when they see it," Byrne said.

The research was published yesterday (Oct. 10) in the journal Current Biology.


Source: livescience.com

Did you Knows?

                                             

• the average person falls asleep in 7 minutes
• the average speed of a skydiver is 200kph (124mph)
• the average human brain contains around 78% water
• an average person will spend 25 years asleep
• the average golf ball has 336 dimples
• the average bed contains over 6 billion dust mites
• the average hen lays 228 eggs a year
• the average person laughs 10 times a day
• the average soccer ball is made up of 32 leather panels and held together by 642 stitches
• the average porcupine has 30,000 spikes
• there is enough petrol in a full tank of a Jumbo Jet to drive the average car 4 times around the world
• the average person will consume 100 tons of food and 45,424 liters (12,000 gallons) of water in their lifetime
• the average person goes to the toilet 6 times a day
• the average American eats 263 eggs a year
• the average bank teller loses $250 every year
• the average person has 10,000 taste buds
• the average elephant produces 22kg (50 pounds) of dunn each day
• the average lifespan of a squirrel is 9 years
• the average person swallows 295 times during a meal
• the average 22% of all restaurant meals include potato chips

Oldest living things on earth

Happy birthday if you’re 100 million years old today. Compared with the oldest living things on earth you’re still a youngster. Enjoy your youth!

 

Oldest living things on earth:

1. Cyanobacteria – survived every major extinction – 2.8 billion years.

 

2. Nautilus – the only shelled cephalopod – 500+ million years.

 

3. Jellyfish – 505+ million years.

 

4. Sponge – 580 million years.

 

5. Horseshoe crab – 445 million years.

 

6. Coelacanth – this fish species have been around for 380 million years.

 

7. Ginko Biloba tree – the only living representative of the order Ginkgoales – 270 million years.

 

8. Horseshoe shrimp – unchanged for 200 million years.

 

9. Sturgeon – 200 million years old.

 

10. Martialis Heureka species of ant – 120 million years old.

Most expensive cities in the world

On average, people move home every seven years. The reasons are varied but many move because of living costs.

If you feel you can live it up with the Jones’s, here’s the cost of living ranking list of the most expensive cities in the world (with their rank a year ago in brackets). Some cities are hugely expensive to live in simply because they are far away from easy access to cheap goods.

City cost of living ranking

1. Japan, Tokyo (1)
2. China, Hong Kong (33)
3. Switzerland, Geneva (4)
4. Central African Republic, Bangui (46)
5. Switzerland, Zurich (8)
6. Denmark, Copenhagen (3)
7. Venezuela, Caracas (32)
8. United Arab Emirates, Dubai (34)
9. Chad, N’Djamena (15)
10. Norway, Oslo (2)
11. Liechtenstein, Vaduz (18)
12. Brazil, Brasilia (5)
13. Bermuda, Hamilton (26)
14. Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby (40)
15. Angola, Luanda (36)
16. Greenland, Nuuk (7)
17. New Caledonia, Noumea (13)
18.Cameroon, Douala (17)
19. France, Paris (14)
20. Ireland, Dublin (12)
21. Solomon Islands, Honiara (173)
22. Italy, Milan (16)
23. San Marino, San Marino (19)
24. Qatar, Doha (45)
25. Monaco, Monaco (20)
26. United Kingdom, London (6)
27. Taiwan, Taipei (86)
28. Finland, Helsinki (28)
29. Korea Republic of, Seoul (41)
30. Austria, Vienna (22)
31. Italy, Rome (27)
32. Russia, Moscow (10)
33. Gabon, Libreville (58)
34. Croatia, Zagreb (35)
35. Australia, Sydney (29)
36. Bahamas, Nassau (84)
37. Nigeria, Lagos (11)
38. Isle of Man, Douglas (24)
39. USA, New York NY (50)
40. Netherlands, Amsterdam (38)
41. Belgium, Brussels (37)
42. Vanuatu, Port Vila (133)
43. Bahrain, Manama (82)
44. Slovakia, Bratislava (23)
45. Micronesia, Palikir (57)
46. Mali, Bamako (54)
47. Cameroon, Yaounde (53)
48. Comores, Moroni (77)
49. Canada, Toronto (59)
50. USA, Boston Mass (52)
51. Kiribati, South Tarawa (160)
52. Turkey, Ankara (65)
53. Togo, Lome (85)
54. USA, San Francisco Calif (30)
55. Spain, Madrid (47)
56. USA, San Jose Calif (48)
57. Nauru, Yaren (80)
58. United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi (100)
59. Germany, Berlin (56)
60. Jersey, Saint Helier (39)
61. Palau, Melekeok (69)
62. Guernsey, St Peter Port (44)
63. Vatican City, Vatican City (61)
64. Singapore, Singapore (66)
65. Guinea-Bissau, Bissau (67)
66. Canada, Vancouver (71)
67. Congo Democratic Rep, Kinshasa (128)
68. Estonia, Tallinn (64)
69. Haiti, Port-au-Prince (87)
70. Falkland Islands, Stanley (49)
71. Australia, Melbourne (62)
72. Australia, Canberra (63)
73. Germany, Bonn (60)
74. Iceland, Reykjavik (42)
75. Germany, Frankfurt (74)
76. Luxembourg, Luxembourg (70)
77. Malta, Velletta (113)
78. Azerbaijan, Baku (75)
79. Timor-Leste, Dili (185)
80. Djibouti, Djibouti (92)
81. Senegal, Dakar (88)
82. Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain (135)
83. Czech Republic, Prague (21)
84. Portugal, Lisbon (72)
85. Canada, Calgary (219)
86. Australia, Perth (73)
87. USA, Los Angeles Calif (68)
88. Cote D’Ivoire, Abidjan (31)
89. USA, Philadelphia Pa (79)
90. Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou (121)
91. Ghana, Accra (115)
92. Lebanon, Beirut (122)
93. Sao Tome and Principe, Sao Tome (145)
94. Hungary, Budapest (9)
95. USA, Washington DC (78)
96. Sweden, Stockholm (51)
97. Tuvalu, Funafuti (151)
98. USA, Baltimore Md (90)
99. Cayman Islands, George Town (101)
100. Saudi Arabia, Riyadh (183)

Date: 1 October 2009

Source: xpatulator

Meaning of the months

January : Januarius (latin), after Janus, the Roman god who faces two ways and was often represented on doorways.

February : Februarius (latin), taken from Februa, a purification rite that took place on Feb 15th.

March : Martius (latin), named after Mars, the Roman god of war.

April : Aprilis (Latin) “to open” : blossoming flowers.

May : Maius (larin), after the goddess Maia or “majores” (‘elders’) and referring to a period when
older people were honored.

June : Junius (latin), named after the goddess Jno or “iuniores (young people) indicating a period when youth was celebrated.

July : Named after Gaius Julius Caesar.

August : Named after Agustus Caesar, the first Roman Emperor.

September : Septem (latin), meaning ‘seven’ originally the 7th month in the Roman calendar.

October : Octo (latin), meaning ‘eight’ originally the 8th month in the Roman calendar.

November : Novem (latin), meaning ‘nine’ originally the 9th month in the Roman calendar.

December : Decem (latin) meaning ‘ten – originally the 10th month in the Roman calendar.


Source: didyouknow.org

Why? - 4 part

Why do you get hiccups?
Hiccups happen when the diaphragm, the muscle that controls our breathing, becomes irritated and start to spasm and contract uncontrollably. With each contraction, air is pulled into the lungs very quickly, passes through the voice box, and then the epiglottis closes behind the rush of air, shaking the vocal chords, causing the “hic” sound. The irritation can be caused by rapid eating, emotional stress and even some diseases. The best cure? Breathing into a paper bag. This calms the diaphragm by increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in your bloodstream.

Why are camels called “ships of the desert?”
Camels are called “ships of the desert” because of the way they move, not because of their transport capabilities. Camels sway from side to side because they move both legs on one side at the same time, elevating that side. This is called pacing, a ship-like motion which can make the rider feel sick.

Why you shouldn’t smoke
If you smoke, you’re also inhaling arsenic, benzene, cadmium, hydrogen cyanide, lead, mercury and phonol. In all, 4 000 harmful chemicals, including 44 types of poison, of which 43 are proven cancer-causing substances.



Source:didyouknow.org

Why? - 3 part

Why is it called a “loo?”
The British word for toilet, “loo”, derives from the French “garde a l’eau!” In medieval Europe people had little conception of hygiene and threw the contents of their chamber pots out the window into the street below. In France the practice was preceded by “garde a l’eau!” (“watch out for the water!”). In England, this phrase was Anglicized, first to “gardy-loo!”, then just “loo”, and eventually came to mean the toilet/lavatory itself. The American word for toilet, “john”, is called after the John Harington who in 1596 invented an indoor water closet for Queen Elizabeth I.

Why is the sky blue?
When sunlight travels through the atmosphere, it collides with gas molecules. These molecules scatter the light. The shorter the wavelength of light, the more it is scattered by the atmosphere. Because it has a shorter wavelength than the other colors, blue light is scattered more, ten times more than red light, for instance. That is why the sky is blue.
Why does the setting sun look reddish orange? When the sun is on the horizon, its light takes a longer path through the atmosphere to reach your eyes than when the sun is directly overhead. By the time the light of the setting sun reaches your eyes, most of the blue light has been scattered out. The light you finally see is reddish orange, the color of white light minus blue.

Why do onions make you cry?
Onions, like other plants, are made of cells. The cells are divided into two sections separated by a membrane. One side of the membrane contains an enzyme which helps chemical processes occur in your body. The other side of the membrane contains molecules that contain sulfur. When you cut an onion, the contents on each side of the membrane mix and cause a chemical reaction. This reaction produces molecules such as ethylsufine which make your eyes water.
To prevent crying when you cut an onion, cut it under a running tap of cold water. The sulfur compounds dissolve in water and are rinsed down the sink before they reach your eyes. You can also put the onion in the freezer for ten minutes before you cut it. Cold temperatures slow down the reaction between the enzyme and the sulfur compounds so fewer of the burning molecules will reach your eyes.


Source:didyouknow.org

Why? - 2 part

                                              

Why are there bunnies and eggs at Easter?
The ancient Anglo-Saxons celebrated the return of spring with a carnival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eostre. The word carnival possibly originated from the Latin ‘carne vale’ meaning “flesh, farewell” or “meat, farewell.” The offerings were rabbits and colored eggs, bidding an end to winter.
As it happened, the pagan festival of Eostre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ and it didn’t take the Christian missionaries long to convert the Anglo-Saxons when they encountered them in the second century. The offering of rabbits and eggs eventually became the Easter bunny and Easter eggs.

If blood is red, why are veins blue?
Blood is bright red in its oxygenated form and a dark red in deoxygenated form. In simpler terms, it is bright red when it leaves the lungs full of oxygen and dark red when it returns to the lungs for a refill. Veins appear blue because light penetrating the skin is absorbed and reflected in high energy wavelengths back to the eye. Higher energy wavelengths are blue.

Why did Columbus and others try to sail around the world?
You probably know that people native to the Americas are called “Indians” because early explorers like Christopher Columbus thought they had come across the Indian spice islands. Traders were forced to sail westward after the spice route to the East by land was blocked for Europeans by Muslim uprisings.


Source:didyouknow.org

Why?

Why does water not calm the tongue after eating hot spicy food?
 The spices in most of the hot foods that we eat are oily, and, like your elementary school science teacher taught you, oil and water don’t mix. In this case, the water just rolls over the oily spices.
What can you do to calm your aching tongue? Eat bread. The bread will absorb the oily spices. A second solution is to drink milk. Milk contains a substance called “casein” which will bind to the spices and carry them away. Alcohol also dissolves oily spices.

Why does wet fabric appear darker?
When fabric gets wet, light coming towards it refracts within the water, dispersing the light. In addition, the surface of the water causes incoherent light scattering. The combination of these two effects causes less light to reflect to your eyes and makes the wet fabric appear darker.

Why is blue for boys and pink for girls?
In ancient times, it was believed that certain colors could combat the evil spirits that lingered over nurseries. Because blue was associated with the heavenly spirits, boys were clothed in that color, boys then being considered the most valuable resource to parents. Although baby girls did not have a color associated with them, they were mostly clothed in black. It was only in the Middle Ages when pink became associated with baby girls.

Why do people kiss under the mistletoe at Christmas?
In ancient myth, when the son of the Norse goddess Frigga, Baldr, was killed by an arrow made of mistletoe and then brought back to life, she blessed the mistletoe and bestowed a kiss on all who passed beneath it. In the 18th century, the legend was adopted as a promise to marry. At Christmas a lady standing under a mistletoe may not refuse a kiss. If she does, she cannot expect to marry the following year. So it is told.


Source: Didyouknow.org

The king of chefs and Dame Melba

The tall chef’s hat is called a “toque.” During the 16th and 17th centuries, toques came in all shapes: berets, stocking caps, and even pointed hats with tassels. During the 18th century the tall hat came into use to show order of importance among the kitchen staff.

One of the greatest chefs is Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935). He started working in his uncle’s restaurant at age 14 and went on to work in the world most famous hotels. Recognized as the “king of chefs and the chef of kings.” During a visit to Paris, William II of Germany is said to have remarked to him: “I am the emperor of Germany, but you are the emperor of chefs.”

Escoffier’s most famous recipe was Peach Melba, created for Australian opera star Nellie Melba (1861-1931) when she was staying at the Savoy in 1893. Dame Melba also liked her toast made in the way that today bears her name: Melba toast.


Source:didyouknow.com

Curiosities about Cats - 2

                                          

Cats can see 6 times better than humans at night because their eyes amplifies even the dimmest light.

Cats have more bones than humans. Cats have 290 compared to humans, that have 206.

Whiskers and eyelashes, and also the tail, help the cat to keep their balance. Their amazing agility is due to their 500 muscles.

It is easier for a cat to survive a big fall than a small one. Some estimations have said that a cat needs a height of 8 floors to reach a position that allows to fell on their paws.

A cat 's sense of smell is 15 times more powerful than humans'.

Each cat has a different and unique shape for the tip of the nose, that is like our fingerprints.

The diet of a cat must be rich in fats because their bodies don't produce it.

Cats can't detect sweet tastes.

They have 32 muscles in their ears so they can direct them to the source of the sound.

A cat from Texas named Dusty had more than 420 kittens and had her last litter when she was 18.

Chocolate, coffee, and aspirin are some of the substances that are poisonous for cats.

In Asia, black cats are symbol of good luck.

Source: EmmaAlvarezBlog

Curiosities about Cats

The oldest cat in the world lived for 36 years.

And the heaviest one weighted 23 Kg.

A cub of cat that is born with blue eyes may change of eye color some months later.

Cats can smell with their nose but also (like snakes) with the so called Jacobson's Organ, that is inside the mouth, just behind the front teeth, and connects to the nasal cavity.

Cats sleep between 16 and 19 hours of every 24.

They can vocalize up to 100 different sounds.

A cat can jump up to 7 times their height.

When a cat rubs their head against an object or person, it is showing that it is theirs.

When a cat is upside-down, this is a sign of security and affection.

Cats relax from stress scratching a vertical object. This movement activates their circulation and invigorates their body.

Cats hiss to protect themselves and show that they are dangerous, the same as some snakes.

Cats obey women more easily because they perceive better high-pitched sounds.

Cats love kneading with their paws everything that they like. This is something that they learn when they are cubs because with this movement they get more milk from their mother.

Cats appeared on Earth before dogs.

In the ancient Egypt, when a woman was very beautiful, she was called "cat". Women, to look more pretty, painted lines in their eyes imitating the look of cats. This custom has arrived till our days.

Killing a cat in the ancient Egypt was punished with the death. Cats were mummified in company of small rodents.

Some cats like throwing their pellet from their dish. This is to simulate hunting, and is done because of boredom or for playing.

There are also some cats that like to move the water in their dish with the paw. These cats like running water and try to simulate it, because they feel it's healthier. This is an old instinct of cats. Some shops sell fountains for cats for this.

Source: EmmaAlvarezBlog

Brain

Prosopagnosia (Greek: "prosopon" = "face", "agnosia" = "not knowing"), also called face blindness, is a disorder of face perception where the ability to recognize faces is impaired, while other aspects of visual processing (e.g., object discrimination) and intellectual functioning (e.g., decision making) remain intact. The term originally referred to a condition following acute brain damage (acquired prosopagnosia), but a congenital or developmental form of the disorder also exists, which may affect up to 2.5% of the population.

The specific brain area usually associated with prosopagnosia is the fusiform gyrus, which activates specifically in response to faces. Thanks to this specialization, most people recognize faces much more effectively than they do similarly complex inanimate objects. For those with prosopagnosia, the ability to recognize faces depends on the less-sensitive object recognition system.

Though there have been several attempts at remediation, no therapies have demonstrated lasting real-world improvements across a group of prosopagnosics. Prosopagnosics often learn to use 'piecemeal' or 'feature by feature' recognition strategies. This may involve secondary clues such as clothing, gait, hair color, body shape, and voice. Because the face seems to function as an important identifying feature in memory, it can also be difficult for people with this condition to keep track of information about people, and socialize normally with others.

Prosopagnosia has also been associated with other disorders that are associated with nearby brain areas: left hemianopsia (loss of vision from left side of space, associated with damage to the right occipital lobe), achromatopsia (a deficit in color perception often associated with unilateral or bilateral lesions in the temporo-occipital junction) and topographical disorientation (a loss of environmental familiarity and difficulties in using landmarks, associated with lesions in the posterior part of the parahippocampal gyrus and anterior part of the lingual gyrus of the right hemisphere).

There are two types of prosopagnosia: acquired and congenital (developmental). Acquired prosopagnosia results from occipito-temporal lobe damage (See Etiologies and Affected Brain Areas) and is most often found in adults. This is further subdivided into apperceptive and associative prosopagnosia (See Types). In congenital prosopagnosia, the individual never adequately develops the ability to recognize faces.



^{Source: Wikipedia}

Human Body - 2

• You’ll drink about 75,000 litres (20,000 gallons) of water in your lifetime.
• After a certain period of growth, hair becomes dormant. That means that it is attached to the hair follicle until replaced by new hair.
• Hair on the head grows for between two and six years before being replaced. In the case of baldness, the dormant hair was not replaced with new hair.
• Men loose about 40 hairs a day. Women loose about 70 hairs a day.
• In the Middle Ages the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow was called an ell.
• A person remains conscious for eight seconds after being decapitated.
• The first successful human sex change took place in 1950 when Danish doctor Christian Hamburger operated on New Yorker George Jorgensen, who became Christine Jorgensen.
• The muscle that lets your eye blink is the fastest muscle in your body. It allows you to blink 5 times a second.
• On average, you blink 15 000 times a day. Women blink twice as much as men.
• A typical athlete’s heart churns out 25 to 30 litres (up to 8 gallons) of blood per minute.
• 24 of the known 118 elements are found in your body – see What the average human body contains
• We have four basic tastes plus umami. The salt and sweet taste buds are at the tip of the tongue, bitter at the base, and sour along the sides; umami is a mixture of tastes sensed along the center of the tongue.
• Not all our taste buds are on our tongue; about 10% are on the palette and the cheeks.
• Unless food is mixed with saliva you cannot taste it.
• The liver is the largest of the body’s internal organs. The skin is the body’s largest organ.
• On average a hiccup lasts 5 minutes.
• Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.
• Your middle fingernail grows the fastest.
• Your finger nails grow at 1 nanometre per second (0.000 000 001 m/s). Your hair grows at 4 nanometres per second (0.000 000 004 m/s).
• It takes about 3 months for the transplanted hair to start growing again.
• About 13% of people are left-handed. Up from 11% in the past.
• In 1900, a person could expect to live to be 47. Today, the average life expectancy for men and women in developed countries is longer than 70 years.
• A newborn baby’s head accounts for one-quarter of its weight.
• King Henry I, who ruled in the England in the 12th century, standardized the yard as the distance from the thumb of his outstretched arm to his nose.
• The bones in your body are not white – they range in color from beige to light brown. The bones you see in museums are white because they have been boiled and cleaned.
• Our eyes are always the same size from birth.
• Every person has a unique tongue print.
• If all your DNA is stretched out, it would reach to the moon 6,000 times.
• Approximately two-thirds of a person’s body weight is water. Blood is 92% water. The brain is 75% water and muscles are 75% water.
• The colored part of the eye is called the iris. Behind the iris is the soft, rubbery lens which focuses the light on to a layer, called the retina, in the back of the eye. The retina contains about 125 million rods and 7 million cones. The rods pick up shades of gray and help us see in dim light. The cones work best in bright light to pick up colors.
• We actually do not see with our eyes – we see with our brains. The eyes basically are the cameras of the brain.
• Our eyes can detect sound.

  

Human Body

• The length from your wrist to your elbow is the same as the length of your foot.
• Your heart beats 101,000 times a day. During your lifetime it will beat about 3 billion times and pump about 400 million litres (800 million pints) of blood.
• It is impossible to lick your elbow. Well, for almost everyone… but a few can.
• Your mouth produces 1 litre (1.8 pints) of saliva a day.
• The human head contains 22 bones. More on the head and brains
• On average, you breathe 23,000 times a day.
• Breathing generates about 0.6g of CO2 every minute.
• On average, people can hold their breath for about one minute. The world record is 21 minutes 29 seconds, by David Merlini.
• On average, you speak almost 5,000 words a day – although almost 80% of speaking is self-talk (talking to yourself).
• Over the last 150 years the average height of people in industrialized nations increased by 10 cm (4 in).
• In the 19th century, American men were the tallest in the world, averaging 1,71 metres (5’6″). Today, the average height for American men is 1,763 m (5 feet 9-and-half inches), compared to 1,815 m (5’10″) for Swedes, and 1,843 m (5’11″) for the Dutch, the tallest Caucasians.
• The tallest nation in the world is the Watusis of Burundi: 1.98 m (6 feet 6 inches) tall.
• If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, you’ll feel thirsty.
• It is impossible to sneeze and keep one’s eyes open at the same time.
• 55% of people yawn within 5 minutes of seeing someone else yawn.
• Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, suggested that a woman could enlarge her bust line by singing loudly and often.
• A person can live without food for about a month, but only about a week without water.

  

English language

• Did you know the most commonly used letter in the alphabet is E?
• The least used letter in the alphabet is Q
• Dreamt is the only word that ends in mt
• The first letters of the months July through to November spell JASON
• There are only 4 words in the English language which end in 'dous' (they are: hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous)
• The oldest word in the English language is 'town'
• 'Bookkeeper' and 'bookkeeping' are the only 2 words in the English language with three consecutive double letters
• The word 'Strengths' is the longest word in the English language with just one vowel
• The dot on top of the letter 'i' is called a tittle
• The past tense for the English word 'dare' is 'durst'
• The word 'testify' derived from a time when men were required to swear on their testicles
• The first English dictionary was written in 1755
• The word old English word 'juke' meaning dancing lends its name to the juke box
• 1 out of every 8 letters written is an e
• The longest one syllable word in the English language is 'screeched'
• All pilots on international flights identify themselves in English regardless of their country of origin
• The expression to 'knuckle down' originated from playing marbles (players used to put their knuckles to the ground for their best shots)
• The word 'almost' is the longest in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order
• The most commonly used word in English conversation is 'I'

Food

• Milk chocolate was invented by Daniel Peter, who sold the concept to his neighbor Henri Nestlé.
• An ounce of chocolate contains about 20 mg of caffeine.
• Forks, mostly being two-tined, used to known as “split spoons.”
• TIP is the acronym for “To Insure Promptness.”
• The world’s oldest existing eateries are the Stiftskeller St. Peter in Salzburg, Austria – which was started as a monastery and had a tavern for travelers by 803 AD – and an eatery which opened in Kai-Feng, China in 1153.
• Coffee is the seed of a cherry from the tree genus Coffea.
• Melba toast is named after Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931).
• Three quarters of fish caught are eaten – the rest is used to make things such as glue, soap, margarine and fertilizer.
• The world’s most expensive jam (jelly) is Confiture de groseilles. It is a redcurrant jam (jelly) from a 14th century recipe made in the tiny French town of Bar-Le-Duc.
• In September 1999 Dustin Philips of the US set a Guinness World Record by drinking a 400 ml (14-oz) bottle of tomato sauce through a straw in 33 seconds.
• To make one kilo of honey bees have to visit 4 million flowers, traveling a distance equal to 4 times around the earth.
• Botanically speaking, the banana is a herb and the tomato is a fruit.
• Bananas are the world’s most popular fruit after tomatoes. In western countries, they could account for 3% of a grocer’s total sales.
• Bananas consistently are the number one compliant of grocery shoppers. Most people complain when bananas are overripe or even freckled. The fact is that spotted bananas are sweeter, with a sugar content of more than 20%, compared with 3% in a green banana.
• The scientific term for the common tomato is lycopersicon lycopersicum, which means “wolf peach.”
• There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes.
• The can opener was invented 48 years after cans were introduced.
• In the Middle Ages, sugar was a treasured luxury costing 9 times as much as milk.
• Of the more than $50 billion worth of diet products sold every year, almost $20 billion are spent on imitation fats and sugar substitutes.
• Over 90% of all fish caught are caught in the northern hemisphere.
• Wine is sold in tinted bottles because wine spoils when exposed to light.
• Approximately one billion snails are served in restaurants annually.
• Vitamin A is known to prevent “night blindness,” and carrots are loaded with Vitamin A. One carrot provides more than 200% of recommended daily intake of Vitamin A.
• Carrots have zero fat contente.
• Tea is said to have been discovered in 2737 BC by a Chinese emperor when some tea leaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water.
• The first European to encounter tea was the Portuguese Jesuit Jasper de Cruz in 1560.
• Ice tea was introduced in 1904 at the World’s Fair in St. Louis.
• The tea bag was introduced in 1908 by Thomas Sullivan of New York.
• An onion, apple and potato all have the same taste. The differences in flavor are caused by their smell.
• Americans eat twice as much meat as Europeans, gobbling up some 50kg (110 lb) per capita.
• Meat production causes 1/5 of global greenhouse gases.
• The tall chef’s hat is called a toque.
• Coca-Cola was invented in Atlanta, Georgia by Dr. John S. Pemberton in 1886.
• Pepsi-Cola was invented by Caleb Bradham in 1890 as “Brad’s Drink” as a digestive aid and energy booster. In was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898.
• The first diet soft drink, called the “No-Cal Beverage” was launched in 1952.
• Aluminum cans were introduced in 1957 and two years later the first diet cola was sold.
• The pull-ring tab was invented in 1962 and the re-sealable top in 1965.
• Annually, France exports some 140 million bottles of champagne but keep 180 million bottles for local consumption.
• Plastic bottles were first used for soft drinks in 1970.
• China uses 45 billion chopsticks per year. 25 million trees are chopped down to make ‘em sticks.
• Chocolate is the number one foodstuff flavor in the world, beating vanilla and banana by 3-to-1.
• Watermelons are 97% water, lettuce 97%, tomatoes 95%, carrots 90%, and bread 30%.

 

Source: didyouknow.org

History

• The 16th century Escorial palace of King Phillip II of Spain had 1,200 doors.
• The world’s first travel agencies were Cox & Kings, founded in 1758, and Thomas Cook, founded in 1850.
• A dog was the first in space and a sheep, a duck and a rooster the first to fly in a hot air balloon.
• Music was sent down a telephone line for the first time in 1876, the year the phone was invented.
• Beer was the first trademarked product – British beer Bass Pale Ale received its trademark in 1876.
• Playing-cards were known in Persia and India as far back as the 12th century. A pack then consisted of 48 instead of 52 cards.
• Excavations from Egyptian tombs dating to 5,000 BC show that the ancient Egyptian kids played with toy hedgehogs.
• Accounts from Holland and Spain suggest that during the 1500s and 1600s urine was commonly used as a tooth-cleaning agent.
• Julius Caesar was the first to encode communications, using what has become known as the Caesar Cipher.
• The first mention of soap was on Sumerian clay tablets dating about 2,500 BC. The soap was made of water, alkali and cassia oil.
• Great Britain was the first county to issue postage stamps, on 1 May 1840. Hence, UK stamps are the only stamps in the world not to bear the name of the country of origin.
• Napoleon‘s christening name was Italian: Napoleone Buonaparte. He was born on the island of Corsica one year after it became French property. As a boy, Napoleon hated the French.
• John Rolfe married Pocahontas the Red Indian Princess in 1613.
• Only one of the Seven Wonders of the World still survives: the Great Pyramid of Giza.
• The first parachute jump from an airplane was made by Captain Berry at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1912.
• On 21 June 1913, over Los Angeles, Georgia Broadwick became the first women to parachute from an airplane.
• The first written account of the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, was made in 565AD.
• The world’s first skyscraper was the 10-storey Home Insurance office, built in Chicago in 1885. (During Roman times buildings were up to 8 stories high.)

Source: didyouknow.org

10 surprising good uses for salt

1. Deter ants
Sprinkle salt in doorways, on window sills and anywhere else ants use to sneak into your house. It’s a sure way to keep them out!

2. Kill grass and weeds growing in cracks in your driveway
Tired of weeding your driveway? Sprinkle salt on the grass and pour very hot water over it. Not only is this a highly effective way to kill unwanted plants, it’s also eco-friendly and cheap.

3. Say goodbye to fleas
If your dogs have fleas, simply wash their doghouse and blankets in salt water. If you’re worried your dogs may have brought fleas into your house, simply sprinkle your carpets lightly with salt and then brush it in. Leave it for 12 hours and vacuum thoroughly.

4. Pick up a dropped egg
If you drop an egg on the kitchen floor, sprinkle salt on the mess and leave it there for 20 minutes. You’ll be able to wipe it right up.

5. Clean up oven spills quickly
If a pie or casserole bubbles over in the oven, pour a handful of salt on top of the spill. It won’t smoke, smell and, most importantly, will bake into a crust that makes the mess easier to clean once it’s cooled.

6. Clean brown spots off your iron
Simply sprinkle salt on a sheet of waxed paper, slide the iron across it and rub lightly with silver polish. Your iron will look like brand-new in no time.

7. Remove stains from your coffee pot
Fill it with 1/4 cup of table salt and a dozen ice cubes. Swish the mixture around, let it sit for half an hour, fill it with cold water and rinse. Your coffee pot will look brand new.

8. Keep your windshield frost-free
Dip a sponge into salt water and rub it on windows, and they won’t frost up even when the mercury drops below zero.

9. Shell nuts more easily
Soak pecans and walnuts in salt water for a few hours before shelling them. Doing so will make it easier to remove the meat.

10. Drip-proof candles
If you soak new candles in a strong salt solution for a few hours, then dry them well, they won’t drip when you burn them.

11. Tame a wild BBQ
Toss a bit of salt on the flames caused by fat dripping from the grill. It’ll reduce the flames and calm the smoke without cooling the coals (like water would).

12. Soothe a bee sting
Wet the sting right away, then cover it with salt.

13. Stop a grease fire
Pouring salt on top of a grease fire will smother it. Completely.

14. Cooking tip
If a soup or stew is too sweet, add a pinch of salt.



Source: didyouknow.org

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