Facts About All: October 2010

Facts about Bonsai trees

Bonsai is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers.
The word bonsai is derived from 2 Chinese characters, meaning "pot plant". The word is pronounced "bone-sigh".
The Japanese tradition of bonsai dates back over 1000 years, and has evolved its own unique aesthetics and terminology.
The smallest of bonsai, called mame can be just a couple of inches tall. The most popular bonsai are about 6 to 12 inches.
The purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation (for the viewer) and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity (for the grower)
A bonsai tree can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
By contrast with other plant cultivation practices, bonsai is not intended for production of food, for medicine or landscapes.
The practice of bonsai is sometimes confused with dwarfing, but dwarfing more accurately refers to research and creation of plant cultivars that are permanent, genetic miniatures of existing species.

Bollywood facts

Bollywood term used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai.
Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the world.
Bollywood is formally referred to as Hindi cinema.
The name "Bollywood" is derived from Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood.
The term "Bollywood" has origins in the 1970s, when India overtook America as the world's largest film producer.
Following India's independence, the period from the late 1940s to the 1960s are regarded by film historians as the "Golden Age" of Hindi cinema.
The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience, and has resisted making films that target narrow audiences.
Bollywood films are mostly musicals, and are expected to contain catchy music in the form of song-and-dance numbers woven into the script.
Baz Luhrmann stated that his musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001) was directly inspired by Bollywood musicals.
Bollywood movies are a mixture of many things such as action, comedy, romance etc.
Bollywood employs people from all parts of India. It attracts thousands of aspiring actors and actresses, all hoping for a break in the industry.
The only time in the history of any Indian award, when the best female playback singer award was shared was between Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik for 'Choli Ke Peeche' in 'Khalnayak'.
Akshay Kumar is superstitious. He will never write anything on a page unless he first heads it with an "Om".
Salman Khan likes to collect soaps.
Bollywood movies are watched by almost 14 million Indians everyday.
'Noorjahan' (1931) was the first Indian English film.

Some facts about fats

Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure and composition.
Although the words "oils", "fats", and "lipids" are all used to refer to fats, "oils" is usually used to refer to fats that are liquids at normal room temperature, while "fats" is usually used to refer to fats that are solids at normal room temperature.
Examples of edible animal fats are lard (pig fat), fish oil, and butter or ghee.
Examples of edible plant fats are peanut, soya bean, sunflower, sesame, coconut, olive, and vegetable oils.
Fats are a vital part of the membrane that surrounds each cell of the body.
Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning they can only be digested, absorbed, and transported in conjunction with fats.
Gram for gram fats are the most efficient source of food energy.
Fats play a vital role in maintaining healthy skin and hair, insulating body organs against shock, maintaining body temperature, and promoting healthy cell function.
Besides being a nutritious energy source, fat adds to the appealing taste, texture and appearance of food.

Body odor facts

Perspiration is generally odorless, though it has often been blamed for body odor.
Body odor is the smell of bacteria growing on the body.
The condition can be known medically as bromhidrosis, apocrine bromhidrosis, bromidrosis, osmidrosis, ozochrotia, fetid sweat, body smell or malodorous sweating.
Body odor can smell pleasant and specific to the individual and can be used to identify people, though this is more often done by dogs and other animals than by humans.
Some of the common reasons for having body odor are improper hygiene.
Most deodorants only mask the smell, and antiperspirants block the sweat glands, thereby interfering with the body's cooling mechanism.
Although body odor is commonly associated with hygiene practices, its presentation can be affected by changes in diet.
To help prevent body odor, a person should eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.
Females detect body odors better than males.
One of the biggest causes of body odor is genetics.
A rare genetic disorder called trimethylaminuria, causes individuals to produce a fish-like odor, not only on their breath, but also in their sweat and urine.

body image facts

Body image can be described as how individuals see themselves when looking in a mirror, or when picturing themselves in their mind, and their ideas about their body, such as height, shape, and weight and age.
1 out of every 4 college aged women has an eating disorder.
Current research indicates many men wish to become more muscular than they currently perceive themselves to be, often desiring up to 26 pounds of additional muscle mass.
It is estimated that 40-50 percent of American women are trying to lose weight at any point in time.
Body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders are more prevalent among women than men.
Negative perceptions by a person regarding their body, such as a perception that they are fat, can in some cases lead to mental disorders such as depression or eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa.
59% of females reported dissatisfaction with their body shape, and 66% expressed the desire to lose weight.
Almost half of all women smokers smoke because they see it as the best way to control their weight. Of these women, 25 percent will die of a disease caused by smoking.
A study found that 53 percent of 13 year-old American girls are unhappy with their bodies. This number grows to 78 percent by the time girls reach 17.
Of 140 adolescent smokers surveyed, 15 percent adhered to the belief that cigarettes help control weight (9 percent males, 22 percent females).
Body image dissatisfaction and dieting behavior isn't restricted to adolescents or adults. In a study of almost 500 schoolgirls, 81 percent of the 10-year-olds reported that they had dieted at least once.
Some studies conclude that women are more worried about their body image than men and that their concern can impact on their health.
The desire to lose weight is highly correlated with poor body image.

Some facts about Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records.
Jackson has sold over 170 million albums worldwide.
Jackson debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in the mid-1960s, and began his solo career in 1971.
Michael Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of his previous group called The Jackson 5 on May 6th, 1997.
Jackson was then inducted as a solo artist on March 19th, 2001.
Michael popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk.
Michael Jackson is a former Jehovah's Witness.
Michael's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time.

Bourbon is an American whiskey, named for Bourbon County, Kentucky.
Bourbon has been produced since the 18th century.
On May 4, 1964, the US Congress recognized Bourbon Whiskey as a "distinctive product of the United States."
High-end bourbon sales accounted for 8% of total spirits growth in 2006.
The typical grain mixture for bourbon, known as the mash bill, is 70 percent corn with the remainder being wheat and/or rye, and malted barley.
Most bourbon whiskey is sold at 80 US proof.
Bardstown, Kentucky, is called the Bourbon Capital of the World.
Estimates are that 95 percent of the world's bourbon is distilled and aged in Kentucky.
Bourbon is now sold in more than 100 countries. The leading markets are the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, and Japan.
Bourbon has also been made in Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Facts about borderline personality disorder (BPD)

2 percent of adults have borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Diagnosed more often in women (75 percent).
Borderline personality disorder splitting includes a switch between idealizing and demonizing others.
20 percent of psychiatric hospital admissions have borderline personality disorder.
10 percent of adults with borderline personality disorder commit suicide .
50 percent experience Clinical Depression.
Without treatment, symptoms may worsen, leading (in extreme cases) to suicide attempts.
Individuals with borderline personality disorder may show changeability between anger and anxiety or between depression and anxiety and temperamental sensitivity to emotive stimuli.
12 percent of men and 28 percent of women in prison have borderline personality disorder.
55-85 percent of adults with borderline personality disorder self-injure their bodies.

Boeing 747 fast facts

The Boeing 747 is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first widebody ever produced.
The 747-400, the latest version in service, is among the fastest airliners in service with a cruise speed of 567 mph or 913 km/h.
A 747-400 has six million parts.
Nicknames: Jumbo Jet or Queen of the Skies
The 747-400 wing measures 5,600 square feet (524.9 m 2 ), an area large enough to hold 45 medium-sized automobiles.
First flown commercially in 1970, the Boeing 747 held the passenger capacity record for 37 years.
The 747 fleet has logged more than 77.8 billion kilometers, equivalent to 101,500 trips from the Earth to the moon and back.
As of June 2010, 1,418 aircraft have been built, with more remaining on order.
The 747 fleet has flown more than 3.5 billion people.
The 747 is to be replaced by the Boeing Y3 (part of the Boeing Yellowstone Project) in the future.

Bowling quick facts

Primitive forms of bowling may have existed in ancient times as early as A.D. 300 in Germany, and also in ancient Finland and Yemen.
The Dutch are the ones who introduced bowling to North America in the 1600s.
The first standardized rules in bowling were established in New York City, on September 9, 1895.
Today, bowling is enjoyed by 95 million people in more than 90 countries worldwide.
The governing body of competitive bowling in the United States is called Professional Bowlers Association
Bowling helps in burning calories and works muscle groups not usually exercised.
The facility where people play bowling is commonly called bowling alley
Bowlers should warm up their fingers before inserting them into a bowling ball, to ensure that their fingers do not get stuck in the ball.

Facts about bottled water

The global bottled water market valuation grew by 7 percent in 2006 to reach a value of $60,938.1 million.
In 2011, the market is forecast to have a value of $86,421.2 million, an increase of 41 percent since 2006.
The price of bottled water is up to 10,000 times the cost of tap water.
PET bottled water containers make up one-third of 1% of the waste stream in America.
It takes three times the amount of water to produce the bottle as it does to fill it.
An estimated 50 billion bottles of water are consumed per annum in the United States and around 200 billion bottles worldwide.
Only one in five water bottles are recycled.
40 percent of all bottled water is taken from tap water.
In the United States, the FDA regulates bottled water whilst the EPA regulates the quality of tap water.
The rate of total dissolved solids is sometimes 4 times higher in bottled mineral waters than in bottled tap ones.
In the United States, bottled water costs between $0.25 and $2 per bottle while tap water costs less than US$0.01.
The United States is the largest consumer market for bottled water in the world, followed by Mexico, China, and Brazil.
Americans drink 21 gallons of bottled water per capita per year.

Boston quick facts

Boston city had a 2009 estimated population of 645,169, making it the twentieth largest in the U.S.
Average Annual Rainfall: 17 inches
Boston is home to the nation's first public park (The Boston Commons 1640), the first public library (1653), and the first subway (1897).
St. Patrick's Day was first celebrated in Boston and North America in 1737.
Boston is the capital and largest city of Massachusetts.
In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula.
From 1659 to 1681, it was against the law to celebrate Christmas in Boston.
Boston has been experiencing gentrification, and has one of the highest costs of living in the U.S.
Nearly 70% of housing units in Boston are occupied by renters rather than owners.
Many of Boston's roads were based upon horse and cart paths from the 17th century.
Only 34 of Boston's 840 restaurants serve fast food.
Nearly a third of Bostonians use public transit for their commute to work.
About 250,000 college students live in Boston.
More than 18 million people visit Boston every year.

Interesting facts about birth control pills

"The Pill", is a birth control method that includes a combination of an estrogen and a progestin.
Some birth control pills can help control acne.
18 percent of women said they’d skipped pills or stopped using them temporarily to save money.
They were first approved for contraceptive use in the United States in 1960, and are a very popular form of birth control.
The most serious complication associated with birth control pills are blood clots.
They are currently used by more than 100 million women worldwide and by almost 12 million women in the United States.
There are over 40 different brands of birth control pills in America.
Many clinicians consider the public perception of weight gain on the birth control pill to be inaccurate.
In one survey, 60 percent of men said that if there were a male birth control pill, they’d take it.
The use of oral contraceptives for 5 years or more decreases the risk of ovarian cancer in later life by 50 percent.

Facts about hamburgers

The Big Mac was introduced in 1968.
The term hamburger originally derives from the German city of Hamburg, Germany's second largest city.
The Hamburger Hall of Fame is located in Seymour, Wisconsin.
Burgers and Cheeseburgers comprise 71 percent of the beef servings in commercial restaurants.
65 percent of all hamburgers and cheeseburgers are consumed away from home.
Oprah Winfrey was sued for saying on her show broadcast on April 16, 1996 that she would stop eating burgers when there was a mad cow disease scare, on the grounds that it was unsafe.
On average, Americans eat 3 hamburgers a week.
Hamburgers account for 60 percent of all sandwiches sold.
A $777 Kobe beef and Maine lobster burger, topped with caramelized onion, Brie cheese and prosciutto, was reported available at Le Burger Brasserie, inside the Paris Las Vegas casino.
In India, hamburgers are usually made from chicken or a vegetable patties due to cultural taboos against eating beef.
Many burger chains from the United States can be found all over Mexico, including Carl's Jr., Sonic, as well as global chains such as McDonald's and Burger King.
McDonald's has sold 12 hamburgers for every person in the world.
Ranking #1 among all restaurants with 31,000 stores, McDonald's serves billions of hamburgers worldwide.

Bedouin facts

The Bedouin are a part of the predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group.
The Negev Bedouin have one of the highest natural growth rates in the world, 5.5 percent in 2005. This means that the population doubles once every 15 years.
Bedouins traditionally had strong honor codes, and traditional systems of justice dispensation in Bedouin society typically revolved around such codes. The bisha'a, or ordeal by fire, is a well-known Bedouin practice of lie detection.
Their foods are predominantely bread, and meat and dairy products from their goat, sheep and camels herds.
In 2008, 180,000 Bedouin lived in the Negev.
The Bedouin of the Arabian Desert uses a black tent known as the beit al-sha'r, or 'house of hair'.
Starting in the late 19th century, many Bedouins under British rule began to transition to a semi-nomadic lifestyle.
In recent years, the Bedouin have adopted the pastime of raising and breeding white doves.
A widely quoted Bedouin saying is "Me against my brother, My brothers and I against my cousins, then my cousins and I against strangers".

Facts about Bedbugs

Bedbugs are small parasitic insects of the family Cimicidae.
Bed bugs are hematophagous (bloodsucking) insects.
Bed bugs were mentioned in ancient Greece as early as 400 BC.
Female bedbugs lay one to five eggs after each blood meal.
Bedbugs can survive over six months between blood meals if a host is not available.
A number of health effects may occur due to bedbugs including skin rashes, psychological effects and allergic symptoms.
Generally, bedbugs are nocturnal, feeding when their host is asleep but will adjust their feeding habits to match the sleeping habits of the host.
Bed bugs have been known by a variety of names including wall louse, mahogany flat, crimson rambler, heavy dragoon, chinche, and redcoat.
It takes a bedbug about five to ten minutes to finish a blood meal. The bites are painless, so the host is unaware they are being bitten.
DNA from human blood meals from bed bugs can be recovered for up to 90 days, which may allow bed bugs to be used for forensic purposes for identifying who the bed bugs have been feeding on.
The current wave of bedbug infestations across the United States has spawned an industry for bedbug prevention, eradication and the reporting of infestations.
Bedbug detection dogs are trained to pinpoint infestations, with an accuracy of 97.5 percent, and often in minutes where a pest control practitioner might need an hour.
In the United States, about 100 dogs are used to find bed bugs as of mid-2009.

Facts about Belly button piercing (navel piercing)

Navel piercing (also referred to as belly button piercing) is a type of body piercing.
Navel piercings take time to heal – approx four months to one year
Unlike most body piercings, this is one of the few that do not normally reject, although the rejection rate is higher than other piercings, such as ear piercings.
Only jewellery made of a non-corrosive metal, such as: surgical stainless steel is safe when you first have your piercing done.
This kind of piercing is very popular with young females.
For people who are extremely sensitive to metal, Teflon or nylon piercings may be used.
Most kinds of ring or bar jewelry can be worn in a belly button piercing. Navels are most often pierced with a barbell, which is recommended to be worn until the piercing has fully healed.
The most common piercing problem is infection. Infection is quite common and is easily cured with the proper care and attention.
One of the most important tips for cleaning belly button piercing is to keep the area clean, use cotton swabs to apply anti bacterial solutions.

Interesting facts about Beauty products

The global cosmetic, toiletries and fragrance industry is worth $9.7 billion.
$71 The amount the average Italian woman spends on beauty treatments
$39 The amount per month the average American woman spends on beauty treatments
World Duty Free sells $4.7 million worth of fragrance a week.
80 is the percent of women in South Africa that wear fragrance every day.
In trained hands, Botox® does not paralyze muscles. Rather, it is used to restore a more youthful appearance to the face.
92 is the percent of British women that rarely or never visit a dermatologist
According to one survey, one in three women over 30 in the UK uses an anti-ageing product.
Vitamin A can help diminish the depth of wrinkles.
Alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs or 'fruit acids') improve the skin's appearance by speeding up the shedding of old, dead cells from the skin surface.
Retinoids are chemicals that make the skin produce new cells more quickly, making it thicker and more compact.
There is clinical evidence that shows Botox® is an effective treatment for migraines.

Quick facts about beards

The study of beards is called "pogonology".
The ancient Syrians oiled and curled their beards.
Beard which is part of the hair on the face and neck contain 7000 and 15,000 hairs.
On average every strand of hair will grow to 140 millimeters each year.
If a woman has high levels of testosterone, it is likely to have properties such as male and could have grown a beard.
Ancient women who were unfortunate enough to have beards were condemned as witches!
As a sign of royalty, Egyptian kings and queens wore postiches, which were artificial beards made of metal.
In ancient India, the beard was allowed to grow long, a symbol of dignity and of wisdom.
The ancient Greeks regarded the beard as a badge or sign of virility.
The Spartans punished cowards by shaving off a portion of their beards.
Alexander ordered his soldiers to be clean shaven, fearing that their beards would serve as handles for their enemies to grab and to hold the soldier as he was killed.
A man with a beard after the Macedonian period implied a philosopher, and there are many allusions to this custom of the later philosophers in such proverbs as: "The beard does not make the sage."

Butter quick facts

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk.
The earliest butter would have been from sheep or goat's milk; cattle are not thought to have been domesticated for another thousand years.
Until the 19th century, the vast majority of butter was made by hand, on farms.
Butter has been appreciated for thousands of years for its great taste.
Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.
In antiquity, butter was used for fuel in lamps as a substitute for oil.
Most frequently made from cows' milk, butter can also be manufactured from the milk of other mammals, including sheep, goats, buffalo, and yaks.
Butter went on the list of rationed products only four months after the start of World War II. Every Brit was allowed just 4 ounces of butter.
The word butter derives (via Germanic languages) from the Latin "butyrum", which is the romanization of the Greek "βούτυρον" (bouturon).
Butter has featured in the Bible, in Ancient Egyptian texts, in the arsenal of warring Imperial Roman legions and the surgeries of doctors in classical Athens.
Smen is a spiced Moroccan clarified butter, buried in the ground and aged for months or years.
Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53 percent over eating the same amount of butter.
Butter contains only traces of lactose, so moderate consumption of butter is not a problem for the lactose intolerant.

Burger King facts

The company, originally called Insta-Burger King, it was owned and operated by Keith J. Kramer and his wife's uncle, Matthew Burns.
In 1955, David Edgerton and James McLamore, purchased the company and rechristened it Burger King.
There are actually 12,000 Burger King Restaurants worldwide.
The company has more than 41,000 employees serving approximately 11.4 million customers daily.
Burger King can be found in 73 countries.
There are more than 7,300 Burger King Restaurants in the U.S. alone.
At the end of its fiscal 2010 year, Burger King is the second largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants in the world behind McDonald's.
While Burger King lags behind McDonald's in international locations by over 12,000 stores, it has managed to become the largest chain in several countries including Mexico and Spain.
The Whopper was introduced in 1957 which was three years after the restaurant opened.
The original Whopper sold for $.37 cents.
Not all introductions have had the success of the Whopper; Burger King has introduced many products which failed to catch hold in the marketplace. Some products that have failed in the US have seen success in foreign markets, where Burger King has also tailored its menu for regional tastes.
On 2 September 2010, it was announced that the company had accepted a purchase offer from 3G Capital, a company backed by the Brazilian billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira, in a deal valued at $3.26bn.

Fast facts about butterflies

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera.
Butterflies can see green, red, and yellow.
Butterfly larvae, or caterpillars, consume plant leaves and spend practically all of their time in search of food.
Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic relationships with social insects such as ants.
The top butterfly flight speed is 12 mph. Some moths can fly 25 mph!
Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.
Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes to Mexico, a distance of about 2,000 miles, and return to the north again in the spring.
Butterflies in their adult stage can live from a week to nearly a year depending on the species.
Representations of butterflies are seen in Egyptian frescoes at Thebes, which are 3,500 years old.
Many butterflies can taste with their feet to find out whether the leaf they sit on is good to lay eggs on to be their caterpillars' food or not.
Butterflies have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies, called the exoskeleton.
The Ancient Greek word for "butterfly" is ψυχή (psȳchē), which primarily means "soul", "mind".
One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guestroom and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you.
In Chinese culture two butterflies flying together are a symbol of love.
The idiom "butterflies in the stomach" is used to describe a state of nervousness.

Bulimia quick facts

Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent binge eating, followed by compensatory behaviors.
An average binge is said to happen around eleven times a week
4 percent of college-aged women have bulimia.
The word bulimia derives from the Latin (būlīmia), which originally comes from the Greek βουλιμία (boulīmia; ravenous hunger), a compound of βους (bous), ox + λιμός (līmos), hunger.
95 percent to 98 percent of bulimics tend to be women.
Bulimia nervosa can be difficult to detect, compared to anorexia nervosa, because bulimics tend to be of average or slightly above or below average weight.
Bulimia affects approximately 1 to 3% of adolescents in the U.S., with the illness usually beginning in late adolescence or early adult life.
There are higher rates of eating disorders in groups involved in activities which idealize a slim physique, such as dance, gymnastics, modeling, cheerleading, running, acting, rowing and figure skating.
Only an estimated 5 to 15% of people with bulimia nervosa are male.
Bulimia nervosa is more prevalent among Caucasians.
Girls and women from all ethnic and racial groups may suffer from bulimia nervosa.

Brooklyn quick facts

Brooklyn was an independent city until its consolidation with New York City in 1898. Brooklyn's official colors are blue and gold.
The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in the area on the western end of Long Island
2.5 million people live in Brooklyn
50,000 young adults in Brooklyn are out of school and unemployed
25 percent of Brooklynites live under the poverty line
20 percent of Brooklynites are Hispanic
7.5 pecent of Brooklynites are Asian
Brooklyn Bridge was opened for use on May 24, 1883.
38 percent of current Brooklynites are foreign born
It is said that during the construction of Brooklyn Bridge, as many as 27 people died.
Brooklyn has 6 percent more women than men.

Broccoli fast facts

Broccoli is a plant of the Kale family Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae).
Broccoli is a part of the cabbage family.
Eating broccoli reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and death in postmenopausal women.
Broccoli is high in Vitamin C and also soluble fiber.
Since the ancient Rome, broccoli has been considered a uniquely valuable food among Italians.
Broccoli most closely resembles cauliflower, which is a different cultivar group of the same species.
Many studies have concluded that people who eat an abundance of broccoli have fewer cancers of the colon, cervix, breast, esophagus, lungs, prostate, larynx, and bladder.
Broccoli is usually boiled or steamed, but may be eaten raw and has become popular as a raw vegetable in hors d'œuvre trays
Broccoli has almost as much calcium as whole milk.
Broccoli was first introduced to the United States by italian immigrants but did not become widely known until the 1920s.
Broccoli consumption has increased over 940% over the last twenty five years.

Interesting facts about Breakfast

The word breakfast is a compound of "break" and "fast", referring to the conclusion of fasting since the previous day's last meal.
Coffee is the most common breakfast beverage. In the United States, 65% of coffee drunk during the day is with breakfast.
Nutritional experts have referred to breakfast as the most important meal of the day, citing studies that find that people who skip breakfast are disproportionately likely to have problems with concentration, metabolism, and weight.
The earliest appearance in print of the idea that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" occurs in the novella Metamorphosis, published in 1915 by Franz Kafka, which includes the line, "for Gregor's father, breakfast was the most important meal of the day".
Overweight people tend to skip breakfast.
The Spanish word for "breakfast", "desayuno", means "de-fast", breaking the fast.
Breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince and dinner like a Pauper.
Cultures around the world commonly shun or restrict alcoholic beverages at breakfast.
One third of adults will have bacon and egg for breakfast at the weekend.
The serving of a pancake breakfast is traditional on Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday), and some celebrate a festive breakfast on Christmas morning.
Studies have show that children who eat breakfast perform better at school than those who skip breakfast.

Brasília quick facts

Brasília is the federal capital of Brazil.
Brasília has a population of about 2,557,000 (3,599,000 in the metropolitan area) as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the fourth largest city in Brazil.
The population density of Brasilia is 354,3 people per square kilometer, making it the most densely populated place in the entire nation of Brazil.
The city was planned and developed in 1956 with Lúcio Costa as the principal urban planner and Oscar Niemeyer as the principal architect.
In 1960, it formally became Brazil's national capital.
People from the city of Brasília are known as brasilienses or candangos.
Brasilia was built in just four years and, although the modern Brasilia varies from the original plan, many regard it as a futuristic model of the planned city of the future.
President Juscelino Kubitschek ordered the construction of Brasília, fulfilling an article of the country's constitution dating back to 1891 stating that the capital should be moved from Rio de Janeiro to a place close to the center of the country.
Brasilia has two football (soccer) teams, Gama and Brasiliense.

Facts abut Beowulf

Beowulf is the conventional title of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.
Beowulf survives in a single manuscript known as the Nowell Codex. Its composition by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet is dated between the 8th and the early 11th century.
Beowulf's narrative consists of two parts: The first relates the hero's successful fights with the water monster Grendel and with Grendel's mother; the second narrates Beowulf's victory in his old age over a dragon and his subsequent death and funeral.
The events described in the poem take place in the late 5th century, after the Anglo-Saxons had begun migration and settlement in England.
There have been some 65 translations of the work into modern English.
The Beowulf movie (2007) was ranked #1 in the United States and Canada box office during its opening weekend date of November 18 grossing $27.5 million in 3,153 theaters.
Giving Beowulf three out of four stars, the critic Roger Ebert argues that the film is a satire of the original poem.
Beowulf: The Game, a video game based on the film for PC and consoles was released on November 13, 2007 in the United States. The characters are voiced by the original actors who starred in the film.

Fast facts about Beijing

Beijing is the second largest city in China after Shanghai.Beijing is the capital city of China (People’s Republic of China).
The term 'Beijing' literally means ‘Northern Capital’.
Beijing was known as Peking in Imperial China.
In 2006, the population of Beijing's urban core was 13.33 million, 84.3 percent of the municipality's total population, which officially stood at 15.81 million at that time.
People native to urban Beijing speak the Beijing dialect, which belongs to the Mandarin subdivision of spoken Chinese.
Beijing was renamed Beiping in 1928, but given back its original name in 1937.
Average temperatures in January are at around 19 to 24 °F (-7 to -4 °C), while average temperatures in July are at 77 to 79 °F (25 to 26 °C).
Air pollution levels on an average day in Beijing are nearly five times above World Health Organization standards for safety.
In Beijing, like most of other places in China, the two major ball games are Football (soccer) and Basketball.

The Devil's (Bermuda) Triangle facts

The Bermuda Triangle is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared mysteriously.
Popular culture has attributed these disappearances to the paranormal or activity by extraterrestrial beings.
It is also known as the Devil's Triangle.
Over two hundred separate disappearances have been attributed to the BermudaTriangle, including massive vessels such as the USS Cyclops and the SS Marine Sulphur Queen.
The disappearance of Flight 19 ranks at the very top of Bermuda Triangle lore. On December 5, 1945, five Navy Avengers vanished while on a routine training mission over the Atlantic.
One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any aircraft or vessel is human error. Whether deliberate or accidental, humans have been known to make mistakes resulting in catastrophe, and losses within the Devil's Triangle are no exception.
The area of the Devil's Triangle is said to be around 440,000 miles of sea. This is an area much larger than Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma combined.
Some of the more fantastic theories include alien abductions, time warps, strange magnetic fields, and black holes
In various oceans around the world, rogue waves have caused ships to sink and oil platforms to topple. These waves, until 1995, were considered to be a mystery and/or a myth.
There have been approximately One Thousand lives taken in the past century, apparently caused by the Devil's Triangle

Breast cancer facts

The first noticeable symptom of breast cancer is typically a lump that feels different from the rest of the breast tissue.
Every thirteen minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk.
1 in 8 women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.
71% of black women diagnosed with breast cancer experience a 5-year survival rate, while 86% of white women experience 5-year survival.
Worldwide, breast cancer comprises 10.4 percent of all cancer incidence among women, making it the most common type of non-skin cancer in women and the fifth most common cause of cancer death.
Only five percent to ten percent of breast cancers occur in women with a clearly defined genetic predisposition for the disease.
77% of women with breast cancer are over fifty.96% of women who find and treat breast cancer early will be cancer-free after 5 years.
Radiation is usually added to the surgical bed to control cancer cells that were missed by the surgery.
Women can reduce their risk by maintaining a healthy weight, drinking less alcohol, being physically active and breastfeeding their children.
A woman who had breast cancer in one breast has an increased risk of getting cancer in her other breast.

Interesting facts about the Berlin Wall

The physical construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 15, 1961.
The Berlin Wall stood for 28 years.
The Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc officially claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a Socialist State in East Germany.
The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the "Wall of Shame".
The total length was 155 kilometres (96 miles).
There were eight border crossings in the Wall. The most famous was "Checkpoint Charlie".
For more than 106 kilometres of its length, the Wall was composed of panels of reinforced concrete to a height of 3.60 metres.
Over 5,000 people successfully escaped from East to West Berlin during the lifetime of the Wall. Approximately 200 people were killed trying to escape, and another 200 were shot but not killed.
After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on November 9, 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin.
The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.

Quick facts about being left handed

Left handed people are three times more likely than right handed people to become alcoholics.
Albert Einstein was a left hander.
The ancient Romans originally considered the left to be the lucky side and used for augury. However, they later changed back to the Greek methods and favoured the right-hand side.
Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers
In Many cultures children who were left handed were forced to use there right hands instead
Left-handers excel particularly in baseball, tennis, swimming and fencing.
In some cultures you use your right hand to touch yourself above the waist and the left hand is used to touch yourself below the waist.
Among Incas left-handers were called lloq'e which has positive value. Peoples of the Andes consider that left-handers possess special spiritual abilities, including magic and healing.
A recent study revealed that lefties with college education earned 10 to 15% more than their right handed counterparts.
The right hand often symbolises 'male' while the left hand is 'female'.
In tantras Buddhist, the left hand represents wisdom.

Amish people fast facts

The various Amish or Amish Mennonite church fellowships are Christian religious denominations that form a very traditional subgrouping of Mennonite churches.
In the early 18th century, many Amish and Mennonites emigrated to Pennsylvania for a variety of reasons.
Today, the most traditional descendants of the Amish continue to speak Pennsylvania German, also known as Pennsylvania Dutch.
The Amish frequently refer to themselves as plain. The Plain People, as they're often called, believe that dressing in anything other than plain modest clothing is prideful, and pride is a sin.
Amish church membership begins with baptism, usually between the ages of 16 and 25.
The Amish people are known for simple living, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt modern convenience.
As Anabaptists, Amish church members practice nonresistance and will not perform any type of military service.
Amish church groups seek to maintain a degree of separation from the non-Amish world.
More than 90 percent will remain in the Amish community for life.
Due to intermarriage, or inbreeding, among this relatively small original population, some groups have increased incidences of certain inheritable conditions.
The Amish people are among the fastest-growing populations in the world, with an average of 6.8 children per family.
Televisions and computers are completely disallowed by the Old Order Amish, but in some New Order Amish communities are allowed for business purposes.

Anne Boleyn facts

Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England.
Anne was educated in the Netherlands and France, largely as a maid of honour to Claude of France.
Anne Boleyn returned to England in early 1522, in order to marry her Irish cousin James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond; however, the marriage plans ended in failure.
In 1525, Henry VIII became enamoured of Anne and began pursuing her.
Henry and Anne married on 25 January 1533. On 23 May 1533, Cranmer declared Henry and Catherine's marriage null and void; five days later, he declared Henry and Anne's marriage to be good and valid.
Anne was crowned Queen of England on 1 June 1533. On 7 September, she gave birth to the future Elizabeth I of England.
In April–May 1536, Henry had Anne investigated for high treason. On 2 May, she was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, where she was tried before a jury of peers and found guilty on 15 May. She was beheaded four days later on Tower Green.
Anne Boleyn was sometimes called 'The Great Whore', 'The Concubine', or 'the goggle-eyed whore' by her critics.
Anne's last name was sometimes spelled Bullen, Bolina, and Bollein because uniform spelling had not yet been adopted.
Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, who was also charged with adultery and executed (although in her case the charges were not false), was Anne Boleyn's cousin.
Anne Boleyn's portrait is in the halls of Hogwarts in the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Whether or not this was an intentional reference to the rumors that she was a witch is unknown.
Anne Boleyn's ghost is said to haunt the Tower of London.
Henry VIII never mentioned Anne Boleyn by name after she died. He always remembered his third wife, Jane Seymour, who died in childbirth, as his 'true' wife.

Fast facts about Amino acids

Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side chain that varies between different amino acids.
Amino acids are part of the enzyme and hormonal system
The molecules in amino acids contain the key elements of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Just as the letters of the alphabet can be combined to form an almost endless variety of words, amino acids can be linked together in varying sequences to form a vast variety of proteins.
The first amino acids were discovered in the early 19th century. In 1806, the French chemists Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin and Pierre Jean Robiquet isolated a compound in asparagus that proved to be asparagine, the first amino acid to be discovered.
Amino acids carry oxygen throughout the body and participate in muscle activity.
Due to their central role in biochemistry, amino acids are very important in nutrition and are commonly used in food technology and industry.
They are found to be extremely useful in weight control, depression fighting, muscle building, proper hormonal activity
Amino acids are necessary for growth and cellular replication throughout the body.

American idol quick facts

American Idol premiered in June 2002 and became the surprise summer hit show of 2002. The first show drew 9.9 million viewers.
The show reached its peak in Season 5 with numbers averaging 30.6 million.
American Idol is the highest rated television program in the United States behind only the Academy Awards and the Super Bowl.
Since the show's inception in 2002, six of the nine Idol winners, including its first five have come from the American South.
American Idol is the US version of the British hit TV show, Pop Idol.
The show had been criticized in earlier seasons over the onerous contract contestants had to sign that gave excessive control to 19 Entertainment over their future career, and handed large part of their future earnings to the management.
Voting results have been a consistent source of controversy, for example when Jennifer Hudson was eliminated in Season 3.
Celebrity mentors have included Jennifer Lopez, Elton John, and Gwen Stefani.
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of American Idol on Fox. It is one of the highest-rated TV shows in the history of television.
Towards the end of 2009, American Idol alumni had sold a total of over 46 million albums and 56 million download tracks in the U.S., and 66 million albums worldwide.

Facts about Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island.
Amelia Earhart developed a friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt, who wanted to learn how to fly. Earhart had planned to teach her, for which the First Lady even got her student permit.
The United States government spent $4 million looking for Earhart, which made it the most costly and intensive air and sea search in history at that time.
Amelia Earhart was the 16th woman to receive a pilot's license from the FAI (License No. 6017).
Amelia Earhart was a widely known international celebrity during her lifetime. Her shyly charismatic appeal, independence, persistence, coolness under pressure, courage and goal-oriented career along with the circumstances of her disappearance at a young age have driven her lasting fame in popular culture.
Earhart's accomplishments in aviation inspired a generation of female aviators, including the more than 1,000 women pilots of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) who ferried military aircraft, towed gliders, flew target practice aircraft, and served as transport pilots during World War II.
Amelia Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939
In November 2006, the National Geographic Channel aired episode two of the Undiscovered History series about a claim that Earhart survived the world flight, moved to New Jersey, changed her name, remarried and became Irene Craigmile Bolam.
In 2009, an Earhart relative stated that the pair died in Japanese custody, citing unnamed witnesses including Japanese troops and Saipan natives.

Facts about Amphibians

Amphibians, such as frogs, salamanders, and caecilians, are ectothermic animals that metamorphose from a juvenile water-breathing form, either to an adult air-breathing form.
Hundreds of millions of years ago, amphibians became the first vertebrates to live on land.
The three modern orders of amphibians are Anura (frogs and toads), Caudata (salamanders and newts), and Gymnophiona (caecilians, limbless amphibians that resemble snakes).
One way to tell a frog and a toad apart: frogs have smooth, clammy skin, while toads have more dry, bumpy skin.
Amphibians are ecological indicators, and in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations around the globe. Many species are now threatened or extinct.
Amphibians evolved in the Devonian Period and were top predators in the Carboniferous and Permian Periods.
Amphibian is derived from the Ancient Greek term ἀμφίβιος amphíbios which means both kinds of life, amphi meaning “both” and bio meaning life.
The first amphibians in the Devonian Period were as much as one to five meters in length.
Frogs can breathe not only with their lungs, but also through their skin
The lungs in amphibians are primitive compared to that of the amniotes (reptils, birds, and mammals).
Many aquatic salamanders and all tadpoles have gills in their larval stage, with some (such as the axolotl) retaining gills as aquatic adults.
More than 75% of all toad and frog species in the world live in tropical rainforests.
For the purpose of reproduction most amphibians require fresh water.
The most obvious part of the amphibian metamorphosis is the formation of four legs in order to support the body on land.

Ancient Rome facts

According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 B.C.E by Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.
Slaves in Ancient Rome made up to 40 percent of the population.
The imperial city of Rome was the largest urban center of its time, with a population of about one million people (about the size of London in the early 19th century, when London was the largest city in the world).
In its centuries of existence, Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy to an oligarchic republic to an increasingly autocratic empire.
Asparagus was a highly prized delicacy in Ancient Rome and was kept frozen in the Alps for Feasts and Festivals.
Instead of soap, Romans used oil, which they rubbed into their skin and then scraped off with a metal tool called a strigil.
Women shared some basic rights with their male counterparts, but were not fully regarded as citizens and were thus not allowed to vote or take part in politics.
The Latin word musculus means both “little mouse” and “muscle”, since muscles rippling under the skin were thought to be like little mice.
Lead was used as both a preservative and a sweetening agent.
Spartacus was an escaped Roman slave who led an army of 90,000 escaped slaves against the might of the Romans. He was eventually defeated and killed in 72 BC.
Many ancient Roman houses had flushing toilets and indoor plumbing.
The emperor Commodus frequently fought as a gladiator, armed with iron weapons, whereas his opponents had lead ones.

Facts about Aneurysms

An aneurysm, is a localized, blood-filled dilation of a blood vessel caused by disease or weakening of the vessel wall.
There are nearly half a million deaths worldwide each year caused by brain aneurysms and half the victims are younger than 50. hay casi medio millón de muertes cada año
Aneurysms most commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and in the aorta.
A number of factors can damage and weaken the walls of the aorta and cause aortic aneurysms. Examples include aging, smoking, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, infections, certain genetic conditions, and trauma. Family history also may play a role in causing aortic aneurysms.
Women, more than men, suffer from brain aneurysms at a ratio of 3:2.
In a true aneurysm, the inner layers of a vessel have bulged outside the outer layer that normally confines them. The aneurysm is surrounded by these inner layers.
Four out of seven people who recover from a ruptured brain aneurysm will have disabilities.
Most frequent site of occurrence of cerebral aneurysms is in the anterior communicating artery, which is part of the circle of Willis.
The thoracic aorta can also be involved. One common form of thoracic aortic aneurysm involves widening of the proximal aorta and the aortic root, which leads to aortic insufficiency.
Aneurysms occur in the legs also, in particular in the deep vessels.
Many aneurysms are atherosclerotic in nature.

Anesthesia facts

Anesthesia, traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away.
Anesthesia allows patients to undergo surgery and other procedures without the distress and pain they would otherwise experience.
Types of anesthesia include local anesthesia, regional anesthesia, general anesthesia, and dissociative anesthesia.
The first effective local anesthetic was cocaine.
A number of newer local anesthetic agents, many of them derivatives of cocaine, were synthesized in the 20th century, including procaine (1905), Eucaine (1900), Stovaine (1904), and lidocaine (1943).
Incan shamans chewed coca leaves and performed operations on the skull while spitting into the wounds they had inflicted to anesthetize the site.
Ancient herbal anesthetics have variously been called soporifics, anodynes, and narcotics, depending on whether the emphasis is on producing unconsciousness or relieving pain.
U.S. statistics show that over the past few decades, the risk of death from all forms of anesthesia has dropped from 1 in 4,500 in 1970 to 1 in 400,000 today.
An estimated 40 million anesthetics are administered each year in the U.S. Anesthesiologists provide or participate in more than 90% of these anesthetics.
Anesthesia awareness occurs during general anesthesia, on the operating table, when the general anesthetic or analgesic provided to render the patient unconscious during general anesthesia is not effective but the agents used to paralyze the patient are. This means that the patient is unable to move or speak, but is awake or conscious to some degree, hearing and feeling the entire procedure.

Anemia quick facts

Anemia is a decrease in normal number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood.
Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood.
The three main classes of anemia include excessive blood loss (acutely such as a hemorrhage or chronically through low-volume loss), excessive blood cell destruction (hemolysis) or deficient red blood cell production (ineffective hematopoiesis).
Most commonly, people with anemia report non-specific symptoms of a feeling of weakness, or fatigue, general malaise and sometimes poor concentration.
In severe anemia, there may be signs of a hyperdynamic circulation: a fast heart rate (tachycardia), flow murmurs, and cardiac enlargement.
50 percent of nursing home residents have anemia2
Chronic anemia may result in behavioral disturbances in children as a direct result of impaired neurological development in infants, and reduced scholastic performance in children of school age.
People with rheumatoid arthritis may acquire iron deficiency anemia.
80 percent of chemotherapy patients have severe anemia4-6
20 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. have anemia1
In severe cases of anemia, or with ongoing blood loss, a blood transfusion may be necessary.

Quick facts about Anaheim, California

Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California.
Incorporated as a city for the first time in 1870, Anaheim is the tenth largest city in California.
Anaheim is the site of the Disneyland Resort, a world-famous grouping of theme parks and hotels which opened in 1955.
In 2001, Disney's California Adventure, since renamed Disney California Adventure in 2010, the most expansive project in the theme park's history, opened to the public.
Anaheim is home to approximately 353,643 inhabitants.
Founded by fifty German families in 1857 and incorporated on February 10, 1870, Anaheim developed into an industrial center, producing electronics, aircraft parts and canned fruit.
Anaheim is part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan area which is home to over 12 million people.
In the late 20th century, Anaheim grew rapidly in population. Today, Anaheim has a diverse ethnic and racial composition.
August average daily high and low temperatures are 85.6 and 63.4 degrees Fahrenheit. January average daily highs and lows are 68.6 and 45.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Annual precipitation is about 11 inches.
The first star to be placed on the Anaheim Walk of Fame was Walt Disney, the man most responsible for making Anaheim the hugely popular tourist destination it is today.

Quick facts about Anabolic steroids

Anabolic steroids were first isolated, identified and synthesized in the 1930s, and are now used therapeutically in medicine to stimulate bone growth and appetite, induce male puberty, and treat chronic wasting conditions, such as cancer and AIDS.
Anabolic steroids, are drugs which mimic the effects of the male sex hormones testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.
The word anabolic comes from the Greek ἀναβολή anabole, "that which is thrown up, mound", and the word androgenic from the Greek ἀνδρός andros, "of a man" + -γενής -genes, "born".
Anabolic steroids are taken orally or injected.
Anabolic steroids increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue (anabolism), especially in muscles.
Body builders and athletes often use steroids to boost their competitive advantage and improve their physical appearance.
They also have androgenic and virilizing properties, including the development and maintenance of masculine characteristics such as the growth of the vocal cords and body hair.
Some health risks can be produced by long-term use or excessive doses of anabolic steroids. These effects include harmful changes in cholesterol levels, acne, high blood pressure, liver damage, and dangerous changes in the structure of the left ventricle of the heart.

Anorexia nervosa facts

Approximately 90 percent of people with anorexia are female
An anorexic patient will weigh 15 percent or more under the norm for their height and weight.
Anorexia nervosa can affect men and women of all ages, races, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
Because typically seen in the female the male anorexic is often misdiagnosed.
The history of anorexia nervosa begins with early descriptions dating from the 16th century and 17th century and the first recognition and description of anorexia nervosa as a disease in the late 19th century.
People with anorexia will severely limit their dietary intake even though wanting to eat and being very hungry out of fear of becoming fat.
The term anorexia nervosa was established in 1873 by Sir William Gull, one of Queen Victoria's personal physicians. The term is of Greek origin: a (α, prefix of negation), n (ν, link between two vowels) and orexis (ορεξις, appetite), thus meaning a lack of desire to eat.
Anorexia has an incidence of between 8 and 13 cases per 100,000 persons per year.After a very small meal an anorexic will feel bloated due to extreme shrinkage of their stomach.
Studies have shown that 50 percent of all anorexics will suffer from bone thinning or otherwise known as osteoporosis.
In severe cases of anorexia nervosa hospitalization may be required.
Anorexia has an incidence of between 8 and 13 cases per 100,000 persons per year and an average prevalence of 0.3 percent using strict criteria for diagnosis
It is estimated that only 4 out of every 10 person afflicted with anorexia nervosa will make a full recovery.

Anne Frank quick facts

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany on June 12, 1929.
In 1933 Anne, Margot, her father (Otto Frank) and her mother (Edith Frank) moved to Amsterdam.
Anne Frank was a Jew.
On Anne Frank's thirteenth birthday she received a diary, she named it "Kitty".
Anne went to a Montessori school. Then because of the anti-Jewish laws, she moved to a Jewish Lyceum where she quickly started to adjust.
When World War II started, her father and some of his office friends created an annex in the office. The family then stayed there in hiding.
The entrance to the annex was behind a bookcase.
There were 7 other people living in the small annex with her, only 3 others were family members.
Anne did not get along with her mother.
One day in August 1944, a little after two years of hiding, the Frank family was found and put into a concentration camp.
Her father survived and later found Anne's diary and kept it, and two years after she died, in 1947, her father published it unchanged.
The names Anne used for the people in her Diary were not their real names.
Many children all over America read the "Diary of Anne Frank" in school.
Anne Frank died at fifteen years of age.
Over the years, several films about Anne Frank appeared and her life and writings have inspired a diverse group of artists and social commentators to make reference to her in literature, popular music, television, and other forms of media.
In 1999, Time named Anne Frank among the heroes and icons of the 20th century on their list The Most Important People of the Century, stating: "With a diary kept in a secret attic, she braved the Nazis and lent a searing voice to the fight for human dignity".

Avocado facts

Avocado is used in both savoury and sweet dishes, though in many countries not for both.
Mexico is the world's top producer of avocados.
The Aztec word for avocado was ahuacatl, which means "testicle tree".
Another name for the avocado is the "alligator pear".
The origin of guacamole is the Aztec avocado sauce called ahuaca-hulli.
In Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, and south India, avocados are frequently used for milkshakes and occasionally added to ice cream and other desserts.
San Diego County produces 60% of California avocados. Florida is the second main producer in the United States.
The avocado is very popular in vegetarian cuisine, making a substitute for meats in sandwiches and salads because of its high fat content.
Avocados have the highest protein content of any fruit.
In Iran it is used as a rejuvenating facial cream.

During World War I, approximately 50,000 soldiers died as a result of avalanches during the mountain campaign in the Alps at the Austrian-Italian front, many of which were caused by artillery fire.
In the past 10 years, France has recorded more avalanche fatalities than any other country.
Snow is most unstable after and during snowfalls or prolonged heating by the sun, especially on steep inclines.
Each year, avalanches claim more than 150 lives worldwide.
Snow on a steep enough hill can avalanche. Gravity is the force acting on the snow.
89% of avalanche victims are men and most are between the ages of 20 and 30.
Smooth grassy slopes are the most dangerous spots, but avalanches can start among trees under conditions of stress.
The highest number of fatalities occurs in the winter months (January through March).
A significant number of deaths occur in May and June, demonstrating the hidden danger behind spring snows and the melting season that catches many recreationists off-guard.
Gullies are many times more hazardous than open slopes because they act as natural avalanche chutes.
In 90% of avalanche accidents, the victim, or someone in the victim's party, triggered the avalanche.
Avalanches cannot be triggered by sound as the forces exerted by the pressures in sound waves are far too low. The very large shockwaves produced by explosions can trigger avalanches, however, if they are close enough to the surface.
Two avalanches occurred in March 1910 in the Rocky Mountains; On March 1 the Wellington avalanche killed 96 in Washington State. Three days later 62 railroad workers were killed in the Rogers Pass avalanche in British Columbia.

Axl Rose quick facts

W. Axl Rose is an American musician, and the lead vocalist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses.
Axl Rose has been the frontman in a number of bands before forming Guns N Roses including Rapidfire, L.A. Guns, and Hollywood Rose.
Born as William Bruce Rose, Jr. in Lafayette, Indiana, as the only child to Sharon E. Lintner, then 16 years old, and William Bruce Rose, then 20 years old.
Rose is friends with Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder.
He was ranked #11 in the Hit Parader's Top Metal Vocalists of All Time and #64 in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and also #4 in Roadrunner's 50 Best Frontmen in Metal History.
Axl Rose is a Los Angeles Dodgers fan.
Rose stated in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in April 1992, that during his childhood, he was made to believe that women and sexuality were evil.
Due to the violent treatment of his mother by his stepfather he witnessed as an impressionable child, he was led to think that domestic violence was normal in families.
Rose is a strict vegetarian.

Azurite is a soft, deep blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits.
Azurite is light to deep blue or black, with large equant ot tabular crystals.
Azurite owes its name, to its azure-blue color and from the Persian word "lazhward", meaning "blue.
Azurite is a gem stone or crystal that is quite commonly sold. It can come in colours that range from pale blue to a rather intense deep blue tone. This crystal believed to be associated to the throat and brow chakras.
Azurite is used occasionally as beads and as jewelry, and also as an ornamental stone. However, its softness and tendency to lose its deep blue color as it weathers limit such uses.
The mineral has been known since ancient times, and was mentioned in Pliny the Elder's Natural History under the Greek name kuanos (κυανός: "deep blue," root of English cyan) and the Latin name caeruleum.
Azurite is one of two basic copper carbonate minerals, the other being bright green malachite.
These two copper minerals (malachite and azurite) always occur together. Most common in the weathered zone of copper deposits at Bisbee, Morenci and Globe, Arizona.
Within Native American Indian culture, Azurite is considered as sacred.
Azurite is soft, with a Mohs hardness of only 3.5 to 4.
Other blue minerals are harder than azurite.
In the Mayan civilization, it is used for the enhancement of psychic ability.
The European name Chessylite is from a famous Azurite locality in Chessy, France.

15 facts about Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is one of the six independent Turkic states in the Caucasus region of Eurasia.
The official language of Azerbaijan is Azerbaijani.
Majority of the population in Azerbaijan comprises of Muslims.
Azerbaijan was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world.
The Treaty of Turkmanchai, in 1828, divided Azerbaijan's territory between Persia (now Iran) and Russia.
Around the middle of the nineteenth century the world's first oil well was drilled near Baku.
Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries so far and holds membership in 38 international organizations.
The currency of Azerbaijan is Manat.
The capital of Azerbaijan is Baku.
Azerbaijan became part of the USSR at the end of 1922. It declared independence from the Soviet Union on August 30, 1991.
The highest point in Azerbaijan is Bazarduzu Dagi (4,485 m).
Azerbaijan is believed to be the birthplace of the founder of Zoroastrianism.
Zoroaster taught the existence of a single god, Ahura Mazda. His Holy Spirit was represented by fire.
Azerbaijan was initially a Christian country, which was converted to Islam in the early eighth century.
The former world chess champion - Gary Kasparov was born in Baku.

Some facts about the Aztecs

In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, "Hummingbird on the Left", or "Left-Handed Hummingbird", was a god of war, a sun god, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He was also the national god of the Mexicas of Tenochtitlan.
Aztecs another name is Mexica.
Obsidian was used for weapons and gifts to be traded.
Aztec Jaguar warrior; Eagle warriors held high position in the military.
To the Mexicas, the Toltecs were the originators of all culture; "Toltecayōtl" was a synonym for culture.
Aztecs established by a prophecy with an eagle and a serpent on a cactus.
According to myth, Huitzilopochtli directed the wanderers to found a city on the site where they would see an eagle devouring a snake perched on a fruit-bearing nopal cactus.
Tenochtitlan was the largest city (5 square miles) and had markets that were comparable to Rome or Constantinople.
As all other Mesoamerican cultures, the Aztecs played a variant of the Mesoamerican ballgame, named tlachtli or ollamaliztli in Nahuatl.
Chinampas or “floating gardens” was build and put on the lake for agricultural purposes in Tenochtitlan.
Pochteca or special merchants that did all the long distance trade.
Rank in military achieved through capturing enemy soldiers for sacrifice.
For most people today, and for the European Catholics who first met the Aztecs, human sacrifice was the most striking feature of Aztec civilization.

Quick facts about Almonds

The almond, is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree.
Historians largely agree that almonds and dates, both mentioned in the Old Testament, were among the earliest cultivated foods.
Chocolate manufacturers use 40% of the worlds almonds.
The fruit of the almond is not a true nut, but a drupe, consisting of an outer hull and a hard shell with the seed ("nut") inside.
In the mid-1700s, the Franciscan Friars planted almond trees to grace their missions along El Camino Real (The Royal Road) that stretches along the California coast from San Diego to Sonoma.
It takes 1000 pounds of almonds to make 1 pint of almond oil.
According to superstition: If you eat almonds before taking a drink, you will reduce your chances of getting drunk and avoid having a hangover.

Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States.
Albuquerque, founded in 1706, is one of the oldest inland cities in the U.S.
The city population was 528,497 as of July 1, 2009, according to U.S. census estimates
Albuquerque's average elevation is 5,314 ft. (1,590 meters), the highest metropolitan city on the American mainland.
Albuquerque hosts the largest international hot air balloon competition in the world and draws crowds of more than 1.5 million people.
Roughly half the people in New Mexico live in the Albuquerque area.
The sun shines an average of 310 days a year.
Nine national monuments are located within a day’s drive of Albuquerque.
It is generally believed that the growing village was named by the provincial governor Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdes in honour of Don Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, viceroy of New Spain from 1653 to 1660. One of de la Cueva's aristocratic titles was Duke of Alburquerque, referring to the Spanish town of Alburquerque.
The name of the New Mexico city of Albuquerque follows the Portuguese spelling with only one 'r'.

Albany Quick Facts

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District.
The city had an estimated population of 93,539 in 2008 and the population of the greater metropolitan area was estimated at 857,592 in 2009.
Santa Claus, and the first celebration of the feast of St. Nicholas in America, probably originated in Albany (imported from the Netherlands).
Toilet paper was invented and patented in Albany.
Albany is the oldest continuous settlement in the original 13 English colonies.
Albany saw its first European settlement in 1614 and was officially chartered as a city in 1686.
July is the average warmest month in Albany.
Albany has won the All-America City Award on two occasions, 1991 and 2009.
The lowest recorded temperature was -28° F (-33.5° Celsius) in 1971.
The highest recorded temperature was 103° F (39.44° Celsius) in 1936.
Albany is known for its extensive history, culture, architecture, and institutions of higher education.

Alberta facts

Alberta is the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces.
Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria.
Alberta is the fourth largest province of Canada.
Alberta is home to over 3.5 million people.(April, 2007)
Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta, is located just south of the centre of the province.
Alberta ethnic backgrounds - British (44 percent), German, Ukrainian, French, Scandinavian, Dutch,
and many other countries
It is one of only two Canadian provinces that are landlocked (the other being Saskatchewan).
Alberta became a province on September 1, 1905.
Wheat and cattle are the traditional mainstays of this prairie province.
There are five national parks in Alberta.
The province is the world's second-largest natural gas exporter.
Alberta is the only province in the country to produce sugar from sugar beets.
The province has the largest oil sands resources in the world, with more than 300 billion barrels to be recovered.

Albania facts

Albania, is a country in South Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast.
The official language of the country is Albanian. However, Greek is also widely spoken there.
It is less than 72 km (45 mi) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
Albania gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.
The Albanian capital, Tirana, is home to approximately 607,467 of the country's 3.6 million people.
The highest point in Albania is Mount Korab (2,753 m).
Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country which is called Shqipëri by its inhabitants.
Albania is one of the only majority Muslim nations in Europe.
During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbër or Arbën and referred to themselves as Arbëresh or Arbnesh.
In Albania, nodding the head means no, and shaking the head means yes.

Albinism fast facts

Albinism is the congenital absence of any pigmentation or coloration in a person, animal, or plant, resulting in white hair and pink eyes in mammals.
One in 17,000 persons have albinism
In order to get albinism both parents must be carriers of the gene
Most people with albinism have grey or blue eyes and a few have red or pink.
People with albinism have low vision and some are legally blind and this can not be corrected with glasses or contacts.
People with albinism are allowed to spend time outside they just have to use lots of sunscreen, sunglasses, and hats to prevent sunburns.
In Zimbabwe, belief that sex with an albinistic woman will cure a man of HIV has led to rapes (and subsequent HIV infection).
A number of people with albinism have become famous, including historical figures such as Emperor Seinei of Japan, and Oxford don William Archibald Spooner; actor-comedian Victor Varnado; musicians such as Johnny and Edgar Winter, Salif Keita, Winston "King Yellowman" Foster, Brother Ali, Sivuca, Willie "Piano Red" Perryman; and fashion model Connie Chiu.
There have also been some famed albino animals, including Migaloo, a humpback whale off the coast of Australia; Snowflake, a gorilla from a zoo in Barcelona; Snowdrop, a Bristol Zoo penguin; a pink dolphin in Louisiana and the sperm whale Mocha Dick, the inspiration for Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick.
The eyes of an albino animal appear red because the colour of the red blood cells in the underlying retinal blood vessels shows through where there is no pigment to obscure it.

Alchemy facts

Alchemy, derived from the Arabic word al-kimia, is both a philosophy and an old practice focused on the attempt to metamorphose base metals into gold, investigating the preparation of the "elixir of longevity", and achieving wisdom, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing exceptional properties.
The Arabic al-kimia itself is derived from the Ancient Greek chemeia (χημεία) with the addition of the Arabic definite article al-.
Alchemy has been practiced in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, Persia, China, Korea, Japan, the classical Greco-Roman world, the medieval Islamic world, and then medieval Europe.
The origins of Western alchemy are traceable back to ancient Egypt. The Leyden papyrus X and the Stockholm papyrus along with the Greek magical papyri comprise the first "book" on alchemy still existent.
The best-known goals of the alchemists were the transmutation of common metals into gold (called chrysopoeia) or silver (less well known is plant alchemy, or "spagyric"); the creation of a "panacea", or the elixir of life, a remedy that, it was supposed, would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely; and the discovery of a universal solvent.

The Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala christened it La Isla de los Alcatraces (1775) wich translates as "The Island of the Pelicans".
Alcatraz began holding Indian prisoners in1873, including 19 Hopi who refused to send their children to English only schools.
In the wake of the 1906 earthquake, civilian prisoners were transferred to the island until the city’s jails could be rebuilt.
The Cellhouse was never filled to capacity. The average number of prisoners was 260, and the maximum was 302. There were 336 full-standard cells available.
Al Capone helped inaugurate the new Federal Penitentiary in 1934 as one of its first prisoners.
There were no executions on Alcatraz, although there were five suicides and eight murders.
On clear nights, inmates claimed they could hear the clang of cable cars and light chatter of evening cocktail parties in San Francisco.
Despite 14 attempts by 36 prisoners over 29 years, no one ever successfully escaped Alcatraz.
The sharks that swim in San Francisco Bay and around the island are not “man-eaters”; sand sharks are among the most common.
By decision of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the penitentiary was closed on March 21, 1963. It was closed because it was far more expensive to operate than other prisons (nearly $10 per prisoner per day, as opposed to $3 per prisoner per day at Atlanta).

Notable inmates of Alcatraz Prison:

Robert Stroud - Al Capone - George "Machine Gun" Kelly - Alvin "Creepy Karpis" Karpowicz - James “Whitey” Bulger - Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Johnson - Mickey Cohen - and Arthur R. "Doc" Barker.

Alzheimer's disease facts

Over 26.6 million people worldwide are believed to suffer with Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
This incurable, degenerative, and terminal disease was first described by German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906 and was named after him.
As the disease advances, symptoms include confusion, irritability and aggression, mood swings, language breakdown, long-term memory loss, and the general withdrawal of the sufferer as their senses decline.
When Alzheimer's disease is suspected, the diagnosis is usually confirmed with behavioural assessments and cognitive tests, often followed by a brain scan if available.
A biopsy of the brain after death is the only definite diagnosis of AD.
Alzheimer's is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people globally by 2050.

Alopecia is the medical description of the loss of hair from the head or body, sometimes to the extent of baldness.
Hair loss is seen in more than 50% men above the age of 50.
Around 40% of middle age women suffer from female pattern hair loss.
Alopecia areata is a kind of hair loss that is caused by the person’s own immune system. The scalp gets bald in round patches, but grows back naturally within a year.
Alopecia areata is a common ailment. One person in 1,000 will have the disease at any given time. The main cause of hair loss is stress, which can result from excessive work, family problems, major illness or surgeries.
It’s hard to predict the course of alopecia areata (rate of hair loss, extent, and hair regrowth). To date, there has been no treatment found that works in all patients.
Hair loss can be seen 3 months after giving birth, which again is considered a hormone disorder problem.
In May 2009, researchers in Japan identified a gene, SOX21, that appears to be responsible for hair loss in humans.
Another major cause of hair loss is chemotherapy.
In some cases, alopecia is an indication of an underlying medical concern, such as iron deficiency.

Alphabet facts

The English word alphabet comes to us, by way of Latin, from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta.
The Greeks, who traded with the Phoenicians, adopted their alphabet in 800 B.C., but found that the Phoenician alphabet did not contain vowel sounds, which they needed for their language. So they kept 19 Phoenician letters and added 5 of their own (vowels) to make a 24 letter alphabet.
There are more than 40 distinct sounds in English.
The original set of 30 signs, known as the Semitic alphabet, was used in ancient Phoenicia beginning around 1600 B.C.
The capital Q was once the symbol for a monkey. The ancient drawing looked like a Q with a head, ears, and short lines for arms!
Letters ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’ and ‘d’ do not appear anywhere in the spellings of numbers 1 to 99
(Letter ‘d’ comes for the first time in Hundred)
Letters ‘a’, ‘b’ ‘c’ do not appear anywhere in the spellings of numbers 1 to 999
(Letter ‘a’ comes for the first time in Thousand)
Letters ‘b’ and ‘c’ do not appear anywhere in the spellings of numbers 1 to 999,999,999 (Letter ‘b’ comes for the first time in Billion)
Letter ‘c’ does not appear anywhere in the spellings of entire English number Counting.

Algae facts

Some algae can live in hot sprins.
Output is staggering: algae produce 6,000 gallons of oil and 98 tonnes of meal per hectare — or about 2.5 acres — every year. That’s about 30 to 100 times more than other alternative fuel sources, such as soybeans.
Some algae seem more like animals than plants.
As they grow, algae absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2): approximately — 154 tons of CO2 are absorbed from the atmosphere per hectare annually.
Some algae even hunt and kill fish for food!
Algae recycle 97% of all water in the growth and harvest process.
Fossilized Algae are used to make dynamite.
Algal meal is high in protein (39%) and suitable for use as an animal feed and in nutritional supplements: even as food replacements in some countries.
Just 15,000 square miles of algae could replace all the petroleum used in the U.S. in one year: according to the Department of Energy.

15 facts about aluminum cans

The energy you save by recycling a single aluminum can will run a TV for three hours.
In the nineteenth century, aluminum or aluminium was a much more valuable metal than gold or silver.
Most countries use the spelling aluminium (with an i before -um). In the United States, this spelling is largely unknown, and the spelling aluminum predominates.
Every minute of every day, an average of more than 123,000 aluminum cans are recycled.
Out of the most common recyclable materials that clutter up our landfills—glass, paper, metals, cardboard, plastics—aluminum is the only material that’s endlessly recyclable, 100% recyclable.
Aluminium is the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust, and the third most abundant element, after oxygen and silicon.
The average lifespan of an aluminum beverage can is six weeks, including the time it takes to be manufactured, filled, sold, recycled and remanufactured.
The industry that uses the most aluminum is the beverage industry.
The thickness of the side of an aluminum can is about the same as that of a human hair.
Four six packs of aluminum can support the weight of a 4,000-lb. aluminum car.
Approximately 350,000 aluminum cans are made in a minute.
In 1884, total United States aluminum production was only 125 pounds.
Aluminum has a high melting point—1,220ºF, to be exact.
Four tons of bauxite produces one ton of aluminum—enough to manufacture 60,000 beverage cans.
Aluminium is remarkable for the metal's low density and for its ability to resist corrosion due to the phenomenon of passivation.

11 facts about alternative medicine

One-half of all medical schools now offer courses in alternative medicine.
Between 65 to 80% of the world's population rely on traditional (alternative) medicine as their primary form of health care.
According to a survey done a few years ago of adults ages 18 and up in the U.S., over 74 percent had used some form of alternative medicine and more than 62 percent had done so within the past 12 months.
Sometimes alternative medicine incorporate spiritual practices, pre-modern medical traditions, or completely new approaches to the healing process.
Worldwide, only 10 to 30% of people use conventional medicine, 70 to 90% use alternative medicine.
Many have found that the best approach is to combine conventional and alternative medicine.
74% of the American population desire a more natural approach to health care.
The U.S. government sponsors the use of acupuncture in drug rehabilitation programs.
One out of three drugs prescribed in Germany is an herb.
Alternative medicine is growing in popularity among developed countries. In these areas, access to medicines is restricted by both lack of resources and poverty. As a result, traditional remedies (alternative remedies) often become a form of primary health care.
One out of every ten Americans is under the care of a chiropractor.

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