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Showing posts from June, 2014

Random Facts About... Summer

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Probably the most beloved of the four seasons... school and work's out (for the most of us) and the holidays we craved for in the past months are finally coming. So I decided to make a "Random Fact About" article about summer, including all facts that might be interesting to be read in front of a cool drink or a delicious ice-cream...maybe while getting a tan at the beach. Let's start... 1.  The first day of summer is known as the summer solstice and  it falls on June 20 or June 21 each year, depending on when the sun is furthest north of the equator. 2.  People in the Southern Hemisphere have their longest day of summer in December. 3.  School summer vacations were invented by educator Horace Mann in 1840. Thanks to him, children are nowadays having fun in summer! 4.  The word honeymoon has associations with summer. The Pagans used that name for the first full moon in June because they drank fermented honey (mead) as part of summer wedding celebrations. 5.

Did You Know...What Makes a Boomerang Come Back ?

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The boomerang is generally considered to be the first manmade flying machine. But it all started with non-returning boomerangs.Weapons that have been used for at least 20,000-30,000 years, with the oldest known example carved from a mammoth’s tusk . These boomerangs were strictly adapted for a straight flight and to stay in the air as long as possible (if thrown correctly, that's for sure). The hunter was then able to throw the primitive boomerang great distances and hit an animal to be eaten. These animals were often small-game, but even the likes of big animals (kangaroo or emus) can be  injured by a decently weighted boomerang such that the animal can no longer outrun the hunters. Possibly while shaping a non-returning boomerang, someone accidentally carved a boomerang into a shape that, when thrown correctly, came careening back toward the owner. It wasn’t exactly useful for hunting or warfare; it was difficult to aim; and if it actually hit its target, it wouldn’t come back

Bad Luck Files - Tetraphobia

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This may seem a little bit odd to some of you who have never heard of it, but it's actually true. Tetraphobia is the aversion or fear of number 4 and is a superstition most common in East Asian countries such as China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. But probably most of you are now thinking "what's wrong with our dearest friend 4 ? ".  The answer is pretty simple... it can be consider a "bad luck sign" because of its sound . In Chinese, the word indicating the "four" ( 四 ,pinyin: sì, jyutping, sei), sounds very similar to the word "death" ( 死 , pinyin: sǐ,jyutping, sei), in many forms of spoken Chinese. In the same way, in Japanese and in Korean, words that indicate the four, shi (Japanese) and sa ( 사 , Korean), sound identical to death in both languages. Particular care is taken to avoid occurrences or allusions to the number 4 during festive holidays, parties, or when a family member is sick, especially in Chinese culture. The nu

Random Facts About... Psycological Truths

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These facts have a lot to do with the article I've already done   about the Brain . Those of today are part of a  much less   material circle. Today   we're going to talk about   mind... and our twisted psychology!!! 1. Getting paid for doing something you like can make you less creative. 2. There is a gene that can cause you to be negative most of the time. 3. 30 % of pregnant women crave non-food items, an eating disorder called PICA. 4. Romantic love is biochemically indistinguishable from having severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. 5. People who spend more time in the sun are likely to be happier and happy people are more likely to fall in love because their happiness is infectious. 6. Your favourite song is probably your favourite because you associate it with an emotional event in your life. 7. Your mind "rewrites" monotonous speech of boring people to make it sound more interesting. 8. If you announce your goals to others,

Bad Luck Files - The Black Cat

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Have you ever asked yourself the origin of the superstition behind black cats, including why you should consider unlucky if one of these cute animals crosses your path? Well, the first of the Bad Luck Files will answer this tough question. Let's start from the early Egyptian times (3000 BC). In those times cats (including black coloured ones) were the most venerated of the animal world, considered like gods. Kill one was a capital crime ! But then the middle-ages in Europe came, and black cats began to be associated with witches and evil spirits. In fact, black magic had just hit Europe and alley cats were often cared for and fed by poor lonely old ladies, later accused of witchcraft. Their cat companions, some of which were black ones, were condemned as well. This belief became an actual fact when a folklore involving a father and son in Lincolnshire in the 1560′s started making the rounds. The pair were said to have been traveling one moonless night when a black cat cros