Pirates preferred grog, a concoction of rum, water, lemon juice, and sugar. (Hmmm, I wonder where the inspiration for our rum punch came from?)
Saint Nicolas, a Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, was born in Patara, Lycia, or what is now known as Demre in Turkey. Also, it is believed that the Virgin Mary's ultimate resting place is someplace near Ephesus.
Halloween evolved from the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the Celtic calendar year in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. They believed it was a time when spirits or fairies could enter our world, and the Celts would set out treats and food to appease the spirits - sometimes, a place at the table was even set for the souls of the dead. Wiccans continue to celebrate Samhain as a New Year's Eve celebration today.
St. David's in Pembrokeshire is the world's smallest cathedral city, with a population of only 2,000 people. It is also the only city in the United Kingdom that is totally surrounded by a national park.
It's no secret that Greece is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. But did you realise that Greece receives approximately 17 million tourists each year? That is nearly double Greece's overall population. It is one of the few countries in the world where tourist numbers exceed the population (along with Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg). Tourism accounts for over 20% of Greece's GDP, one of the highest percentages of any industrialised country.
A sound wave is a mechanical wave that travels through a medium or object such as water or air. In actuality, a sound is a type of energy produced by the vibrations of matter molecules, and you hear it when the sound waves pass through a medium to your ears.
The Christ the Redeemer statue defies the adage that lightning never strikes twice. The statue is struck by lightning several times a year, necessitating ongoing repairs. A violent storm in 2014 broke off a piece of the Christ's thumb and wounded his skull.
The contemporary game began in Manipur, India's northeastern province, and was spread by British military officials in the mid-nineteenth century. It is now well-known all across the world. The current game of polo originated in Manipur, India, where it was called as 'Sagol Kangjei,' 'Kanjai- bazee,' or 'Pulu.' It was the anglicized version of the last, alluding to the wooden ball that was used in the sport's sluggish introduction to the west.
India is home to one of the world's hottest chillies, the bhut jolokia or ghost pepper, which is 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. The chilli, which is grown in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur, was certified as the world's hottest in 2007 by Guinness World Records, but it fell out of that position in subsequent years.
The young queen was a wedding trendsetter. In 1840, it wasn’t normal to see a bride wearing white. The color was considered boring and conservative, but Victoria didn’t care. She chose simplicity over opulence, and her lacy silk-satin grown—crafted from the finest British textiles—gave a much-needed boost to the struggling lace trade. Several years later, a women’s publication stated that white was the “most fitting hue” for brides, and a tradition was born.
You might think that all of the sample sentences in the dictionary are random, but you'd be wrong. The phrases are purposefully chosen to place the word in a clear context with other words with which it is frequently associated and are ideally so boring that you don't even think about them. Jez Burrows, an illustrator, has turned these random sentences from the New Oxford American Dictionary into short stories. "Often, I'll find at least one [word] that makes a good jumping-off point, and I'll start fleshing out some sort of vague narrative, then work backward to imagine what kind of words might give rise to the sentences I'm looking for," Burrows said of his method.
It’s a tactile alphabet that can be used to write almost any language. There are braille versions of Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew and many others.
An English writer named Frank Beringer established the popular meal of millennials in 1895, when he wrote an essay titled "Brunch: a Plea" in Hunter's Weekly newspaper. In his piece, he presented a "brunch" alternative to the usual Sunday supper. He said that getting up early was no fun for individuals who had had wild Saturday nights, and that brunch was the ideal location for people to meet about noon, tell stories about their crazy nights, and enjoy one other's company.
Kopi Luwak is the name of a special coffee that may be found all around Bali. It's made in an unusual and unethical way - from civet droppings. Civets consume coffee beans, and their poop is collected and processed to create the unique coffee, which can sell for up to $50 per cup.
A line of trombone players performs the routine by bending and standing in time to a drumbeat until one player's trombone is where the head of a neighboring player was just moments earlier. Players who mistime the routine in practice frequently suffer from broken noses or black eyes, earning the routine the moniker "trombone suicide." Another name for it is a "head chop" for obvious reasons.
J.R.R. Tolkien worked as an editor's assistant on the OED after serving in World War I. His job was to look into the etymologies of words beginning with the letter w. Tolkien also wrote multiple definitions for words like waggle, walnut, walrus, and waistcoat. Tolkien went on to work as an English professor and write The Lord of the Rings after leaving the OED. Following that, the OED has added terms coined by Tolkien himself, such as hobbit, mithril, and mathom.
Though you might think there is a standard procedure to follow if a passenger dies in flight, what happens to your dearly departed cabin-mate varies greatly depending on the airline and type of plane. While some planes, such as Singapore Airlines' Airbus A340-500 planes, were designed with a special place to store bodies, according to one flight attendant, on many flights, the body is simply moved to a back row and covered—except for the head—until medical professionals on the ground can attend to the deceased.
In 1940, "Gone With The Wind" became the first color movie to be awarded Best Picture.
Not a fan of the greasy feel of creams? For your skin, try anything from almond oil to olive oil. Oil is a natural option that also gives your skin that healthy glow that we all desire.
The fun fact about Spain is that the first "modern" novel, the book translated into more languages after the Bible, and the one that holds the title of the best book in history, was written by a Spaniard, Miguel de Cervantes. It is "Don Quixote" and was written in 1605.
Kumbh ke mele mai bhai bichaad gye. People take part in getting rid of the sins of life. The Maha Kumbh Mela is celebrated in Prayag after 144 years.
Hong Kong is the phonetic equivalent of (heung gong) in Cantonese, which literally translates as "fragrant harbour," derived from the delicious perfume of Aquilaria sinensis, Dongguan incense.
Ferrari is no longer a family-owned company. Enzo Ferrari sold half of the firm he controlled outright to rival Italian carmaker Fiat Group in 1969. The transaction provided Ferrari with much-needed capital. Just before his death in 1988, Enzo Ferrari and his son Piero Ferrari sold even more of the firm, leaving the Ferrari family with only 10% control. The parent company of Ferrari is now known as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, according to a recent filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Today, the Ferrari family earns just a small portion of the earnings from Ferrari sales and branded items, which are worth billions of dollars each year.
Catnip is not addictive to cats, and aside from the rare hostile cat when exposed to it, no detrimental consequences have been seen. One thing to keep in mind is that the catnip you use should be organic, since it may include pesticides that are detrimental to your cat.
Hong Kong's skyline is always a sight to behold, with over 8,000 sparkling buildings. A skyscraper is defined as any structure with more than 14 stories, and Hong Kong has twice as many as New York City. With 118 stories, the International Commerce Centre (ICC) building is now Hong Kong's tallest skyscraper.
Ching Shih, a former sex worker and the widow of terrible pirate Cheng I, became a very successful pirate in her own right, eventually replacing her husband and commanding over 1,800 pirate ships and 80,000 soldiers.
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