Interesting Facts About Ice Cream
The first written mention of ice cream in this country can be found in a letter from the 1700s, which admiringly describes the ice cream and strawberry dessert a Maryland governor served at a dinner party. Initially, just a treat for the elite (including George Washington, who is said to have consumed enormous quantities), the first ice cream parlor in this country opened in New York City in 1776. In 1845, the hand-cranked freezer was invented, allowing Americans to make ice cream more easily at home.
Americans consume the most ice cream in the world per capita, with Australians coming in second. In 1924, the average America ate eight pints a year. By 1997, the International Dairy Foods Association reported that the figure had jumped to 48 pints a year.
The most avid ice cream eaters in the U.S. don't live in Hawaii, the South, California, or any other hot clime. Instead, in 1999, it was reported that the good citizens of Omaha, Nebraska, ate more ice cream per person than any other Americans.
Vanilla is the most popular flavor in this country, snagging anywhere from 20 to 29 percent of sales. Chocolate comes in a distant second, with about 9 to 10 percent of the market.
Immigrants at Ellis Island were served vanilla ice cream as part of their Welcome to America meal.
One of the major ingredients in ice cream is air. Without it, the stuff would be as hard as a rock.
Among the most unusual flavors of ice cream ever manufactured are avocado, garlic, azuki bean, jalapeno, and pumpkin. Perhaps the weirdest of all: dill pickle ice cream , which was marketed to expectant mothers. Sales were disappointing.
One out of every five ice cream eaters share their treat with their dog or cat. (Can the day of liver- or tuna-flavored ice cream be far behind?)
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan declared July as National Ice Cream Month, citing the food's "nutritious and wholesome" qualities. He decreed that patriotic Americans should mark the month with "appropriate ceremonies and activities."
Ice cream novelties such as ice cream on sticks and ice cream bars were introduced in the 1920s. Seems like kid stuff, but today, adults consume nearly one-half of all such treats.
While popular lore claims that the ice cream cone was invented at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, a New York City ice cream vendor actually seems to have created the cone in 1896 to stop customers from stealing his serving glasses. He patented the idea in 1903 and it took off in popularity at the World's Fair the next year.
Interesting Facts About Music
Melba toast is named after Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931).
Music was sent down a telephone line for the first time in 1876, the year the phone was invented.
The CD was developed by Philips and Sony in 1980.
About 2,4 billion CDs are sold annually. The number of recorded CDs and blank CDs sold has been about equal.
About one-third of recorded CDs are pirated.
The Star-Spangled Banner became the US national anthem in 1931. Prior to that, it was My Country ‘Tis of Thee," which had the same melody as Britian's national anthem God Save the Queen, which is based on music written by John Bull in 1619. Bull's melody has been used more than any song in national anthems.
The British anthem was performed the most times in a single performance. In 1909, while waiting for King Edward VII who was getting dressed a German band played the anthem 17 times.
Tap dancing originates from Irish clog dancing and what is called the Irish reel and jig.
It was at a concert in Minneapolis in 1954 that Al Dvorin first closed Elvis's concerts with: "Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night."
Elvis favourite collectibles were official badges. He collected police badges in almost every city he performed in.
Elvis was an avid gun collector. His collection of 40 weapons included M-16s and a Thompson submachine gun.
Duran Duran took their name from a mad scientists in the movie Barbarella.
Bob Dylan's first professional performance was as opening act for John Lee Hooker at Gerde's Folk City in New York, 1961.
Before they were known as Journey, Steve Perry called his band Golden Gate Rhythm Section.
Kenneth Edmonds was nicknamed Babyface by funk guitarist Bootsy Collins.
The world's largest disco was held at the Buffalo Convention Centre, New York, 1979. 13,000 danced a place into the Guinness Book of World Records.
In August 1983, Peter Stewart of Birmingham, UK set a world record by disco dancing for 408 hours.
Lebanon is the top movie-going country - 35,3 movies per person p.a. China is second with 12,3, followed by Georgia (5,6), India (5), Iceland (4,5), Australia is 6th at 3,9 then New Zealand and the US at just under 3,9.
The US has the most cinemas (23,662) while India [the country that produces the most movies - about 800 a year, twice as many as Hollywood] has about 9,000 cinemas and China has approximately 4,600 cinemas. - 326,000 people per cinema.
Indian comic actress Manorama has played the most leading roles of any performer in movie history. She began her career in 1958 and in 1985 had appeared in her 1,000th movie.
Ireland has won the most Eurovision song contests (7 times).
Annie Lennox holds the record for the most Brit awards (8).
The Beatles holds the top spot of album sales in the US (106 million), followed by Garth Brooks second (92 million), Led Zeppelin (83 million), Elvis Presley (77 million), and the Eagles (65 million). Worldwide The Beatles sold more than 1 billion records.
Klezmer music is derived from two Hebrew words, clay and zimmer, meaning "vessel of music."
The Ocarina, a musical wind instrument, is also known as the Sweet Potato.
The LP (long-playing) record was invented by Paul Goldmark in 1948. The LP is not dead yet: more than 10 million LPs are sold every year.
The longest song to reach number one on the Billboard charts on LP was "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meatloaf, the shortest: "Stay" by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs.
At the first Grammy Awards, held on 4 May 1959, Domenico Modugno beat out Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee for the Record of the Year, with "Volare." More
The British, the highest per capita spenders on music, buy 7,2% of the world music market.
The first pop video was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, released in 1975.
The Beatles song "Martha My Dear" was written by Paul McCartney about his sheepdog Martha. More
Jeanne Louise Calment's CD was released on her 121st birthday in 1996. Titled "Time's Mistress" it features Ms Calment reminiscing to a score of rap music and other tunes.
A grand piano can be played faster than an upright (spinet) piano.
A piano covers the full spectrum of all orchestra instruments, from below the lowest note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the piccolo.
The harmonica is the world's best-selling music instrument.
The term "disc jockey" was first used in 1937.
The last note of a keyboard is C.
Themes from movies Unforgiven, A Perfect World, The Bridges of Madison County, and Absolute Power were all written by Clint Eastwood. More
The US share of the world music market is 31.3%.
The only guy without a beard in ZZTOP surname (last name) is Beard.
Since its launch in 1981 the song Memory of the musical Cats has been played on radio more than a million times.
There are 6 versions of Franz Schubert's "Die Forelle" ("The Trout"), simply because when friends asked him for copies of the song, he wrote out new copies to the best he could remember at the time.
In 1952, John Cage composed and presented ' 4'33" ', a composition consisting of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence.
The Carpenters signature song, We've Only Just Begun, was originally part of a television commercial for a California bank.
In 1972 Leslie Harvey of Stone the Crows died after being electrocuted onstage in England. In 1976 Keith Relf, who used to play for The Yardbirds, was electrocuted by his guitar while playing in his basement. During a mid-performance in 1994 Ramon Barrero, a Mexican musician famous for playing the world's smallest harmonica, inhaled the harmonica and choked to death.
U2 was originally known as Feedback. To date, U2 have sold more than 70 million records, grossing $1,5 billion.
In May 1997, Paul McCartney broke his own world record by obtaining his 81st gold disc.
Global sales of pre-recorded music total more than $40 billion.
The top selling singles of all time are Elton John's "Candle in the Wind ‘97", at 33 million, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas", 30 million, and Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock", 25 million.
Beethoven was the first composer who never had an official court position, thus the first known freelance musician. Born in 1770, he grew up poor, but published his first work at age 12. By age 20 he was famous. He often sold the same score to six or seven different publishers simultaneously, and demanded unreasonably large fees for the simplest work. He was short, stocky, dressed badly, didn't like to bath, lived in squalor, used crude language, openly conducted affairs with married women, and had syphilis. Beethoven was deaf when he composed his Ninth Symphony.
Interesting Facts about Valentine's Day
Roman festival of Lupercalia used to be celebrated on February 15th where young men held a lottery to conclude which girl would be theirs.
In Medieval times, girls ate bizarre foods on St Valentine's Day to make them dream of their future spouse.
In the Middle Ages, there was a belief that the first unmarried person of the opposite sex you met on the morning of St. Valentine's Day would become your spouse.
The first Valentine gift was sent by Duke of Orleans to his wife, after he was captured in 1415.
73% of Valentine Day flowers are bought by men, whereas women buy only 27% of Valentine flowers.
Around 3% of pet owners prefer to give Valentine gifts to their pets, as they are more grateful than humans!
No one really knows who St Valentine actually was. There are two men who could be responsible for the traditional association with love and marriage, but the most likely theory is that Valentine was a priest during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius II.
The story goes that Emperor Claudius had issued a decree that Roman soldiers were not allowed to marry, because marriage would inhibit their ability to fight.
But romantic Valentine continued to marry soldiers in secret, until eventually his clandestine activities were discovered and he was jailed. Before being beheaded he fell in love with his jailer's daughter, for whom he left a note signed 'Your Valentine' before he was led away to his death.
50 interesting facts
2 - Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
3 - There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
4 - The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
5 - A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
6 - There are more chickens than people in the world.
7 - The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
8 - On a Canadian two-dollar bill, the flag flying over then Parliament building is an American flag.
9 - All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
10 - No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
11 - "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
12 - Almonds are a member of the peach family.
13 - There are only 4 words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
14 - A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
15 - An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
16 - Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
17 - In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
18 - Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
19 - The characters Bert & Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."
20 - A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
21 - A goldfish has a memory span of 3 seconds.
22 - It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
23 - The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
24 - In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
25 - The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
26 - The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
27 - There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
28 - The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.
29 - A cockroach can live nine days without its head before it starves to death.
30 - A polar bear's skin is black. Its fur is not white, but actually clear.
31 - Elvis had a twin brother named Aaron, who died at birth, which is why Elvis' middle name was spelled Aron: in honor of his brother. It is also misspelled on his tomb stone.
32 - Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
33 - More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.
34 - Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
35 - Shakespeare invented the words "assassination" and "bump."
36 - Marilyn Monroe had 6 toes on one foot.
37 - If you keep a goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white.
38 - Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
39 - Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.
40 - The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language.
41 - The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start.
42 - TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.
43 - The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.
44 - A snail can sleep for 3 years.
45 - American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
46 - The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
47 - Vatican City is the smallest country in the world with a population of 1,000 and a size of 108.7 acres.
48 - "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
49 - No president of the United states was an only child.
And last and definitely most important:
50 - The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it.
Interesting Facts About World War 2
The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940).
80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive World War 2..
The highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.
Between 1939 and 1945 the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs, An average of about 27,700 tons of bombs each month.
12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2.
2/3 of Allied bomber crews were lost for each plane destroyed.
When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in it.
Either 3 or 4 ground men were wounded for each killed.
6 bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded.
Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe.
There were 433 Medals of Honor awarded during World War 2, 219 of them were given after the receipiant's death.
From 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945 in Europe the Allies had 200,000 dead and 550,000 wounded.
The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded in combat and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lieing about his age. (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress).
At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced “sink us”), the shoulder patch of the US Army’s 45th Infantry division was the swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named “Amerika”. All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
Most members of the Waffen SS were not German.
Germany lost 110 Division Commanders in combat.
40,000 men served on the U-Boats during World War 2; 30,000 of them didn't survive..
More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps. While completing the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71%. Not that bombers were helpless. A B-17 carried 4 tons of bombs and 1.5 tons of machine gun ammo. The US 8th Air Force shot down 6,098 fighter planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired.
There was no such thing as an average fighter pilot in the World War 2. You were either an ace or a target. For instance, Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes.
It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th found with a tracer round to aid in aiming. That was a mistake. The tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target, 80% of your rounds were missing. Worse yet, the tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction. Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. That was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.
When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself photographed in the act).
German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it wasn’t worth the effort.
A number of air crewmen died of farts. (ascending to 20,000 ft. in an un-pressurized aircraft causes intestinal gas to expand 300%!)
Germany lost 40-45% of their aircraft during World War 2 to accidents
The Russians destroyed over 500 German aircraft by ramming them in midair (they also sometimes cleared minefields by marching over them). “It takes a brave man not to be a hero in the Red Army”. - Joseph Stalin
The average German officer slot had to be refilled 9.2 times.
German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.
The US Army had more ships than the US Navy.
The German Air Force had 22 infantry divisions, 2 armor divisions, and 11 paratroop divisions.
None of them were capable of airborne operations. The German Army had paratroops who WERE capable of airborne operations.
84 German Generals were executed by Hitler
Among the first “Germans” captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were capture by the US Army.
The Graf Spee never sank, The scuttling attempt failed and the ship was bought by the British. On board was Germany’s newest radar system.
One of Japan’s methods of destroying tanks was to bury a very large artillery shell with on ly the nose exposed. When a tank came near the enough a soldier would whack the shell with a hammer. “Lack of weapons is no excuse for defeat.” – Lt. Gen. Mataguchi
Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 US and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska. 21 troops were killed in the fire-fight. It would have been worse if there had been Japanese on the island.
The MISS ME was an unarmed Piper Cub. While spotting for US artillery her pilot saw a similar German plane doing the same thing. He dove on the German plane and he and his co-pilot fired their pistols damaging the German plane enough that it had to make a forced landing. Whereupon they landed and took the Germans prisoner. It is unknown where they put them since the MISS ME only had two seats.
Most members of the Waffen SS were not German.
Air attacks caused 1/3 of German Generals' deaths
The only nation that Germany declared war on was the USA.
During the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, British officers objected to Canadian infantrymen taking up positions in the officer’s mess. No enlisted men allowed!
By D-Day, 35% of all German soldiers had been wounded at least once, 11% twice, 6% three times, 2% four times and 2% more than 4 times
Nuclear physicist Niels Bohr was rescued in the nick of time from German occupied Denmark. While Danish resistance fighters provided covering fire he ran out the back door of his home stopping momentarily to grab a beer bottle full of precious “heavy water”. He finally reached England still clutching the bottle, which contained beer. Perhaps some German drank the heavy water…
Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every 2 weeks.
Interesting Facts About World War 1
In World War 1 "Coffin Nails" was a term used by British soldiers to describe cigarettes.
US entered the war on April 6, 1917.
The world's worst train accident occured in France, in December 1917 with the deaths of over 600 soldiers.
There were 70,000,000 men and women in uniform of that number one-half were either killed, wounded or became prisoners of war.
Austria-Hungary faced 90% casualties of their total troops mobilised.
Russia faced more casualties than any other nation in WW1, their total casualties were 9,150,000.
Russia mobilised 12 million men during the war; France 8.4 million; Britain 8.9 million; Germany 11 million; Austria-Hungary 7.8 million; Italy 5.6 million; and the USA 4.3 million.
A total of 65,038,810 troops were mobilized during the WW1, out of which 8,538,315 were either killed or they died. 21,219,452 were wounded. 7,750,919 were made prisoners.
116,000 soldiers of US army died in a short period of seven months.
296 US soldiers committed suicide during the 7 months US was part of the World War 1.
1,808,000 German soldiers killed in four years of World War 1. More German soldiers were killed than any other nation in WW1.
During World War 1 "Harry Tate" was the nickname given by British pilots to the R.E.8 aircraft.
Interesting Facts About The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (“Liberty Enlightening the World”) is a 225-ton, steel-reinforced copper female figure, 151 ft 1 in. (46.05 m) in height, facing the ocean from Liberty Island1 in New York Harbor. The right hand of the statue holds aloft a torch, and the left hand carries a tablet on which is inscribed: “July IV MDCCLXXVI.”
The statue was designed by Fredéric Auguste Bartholdi of Alsace as a gift to the United States from the people of France to memorialize the alliance of the two countries in the American Revolution and their abiding friendship. The people of France contributed the $250,000 cost.
At the wind speed of 50mph the Statue of Liberty sways 3 inches (7.62 cm). While the torch sways as much as 5 inches (12.7 cm) at the same wind speed.
There are 354 steps to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.
The fingernail of the statue weighs about 3.5 pounds (1.5 kg).
The Statue of Liberty, the most famous symbolic statue of a woman, was modeled after Marie Bartholdi, the sculptor's mother. The Statue of Liberty is tremendous! Her nose is four and a half feet long, and her mouth is three feet wide. Her waist measures 35 feet around.
The 150-foot pedestal was designed by Richard M. Hunt and built by Gen. Charles P. Stone, both Americans. It contains steel underpinnings designed by Alexander Eiffel of France to support the statue. The $270,000 cost was borne by popular subscription in this country. President Grover Cleveland accepted the statue for the United States on October the 28th, 1886.
The Statue of Liberty was designated a National Monument in 1924 and a World Heritage Site in 1984.
On Sept. 26, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon dedicated the American Museum of Immigration, housed in structural additions to the base of the statue. In 1984 scaffolding went up for a major restoration and the torch was extinguished on July 4. It was relit with much ceremony July 4, 1986, to mark its centennial.
On a tablet inside the pedestal is engraved the following sonnet, written by Emma Lazarus (1849–1887).
The statue's mouth is as wide as 0.91.
From the ground to the tip of the flame, the Statue is 305 feet 1 inch tall. This is approximately the same height as a 22-story building.
On July 30, 1916, the “Black Tom” explosion took place. Because of this act of sabotage, the torch was closed to the public.
The crown has been closed to the public since September 11, 2001. Because the Statue of Liberty is not a traditional building, evacuating people in the event of an emergency proved to be logistically impossible.
The Statue of Liberty’s official name is “Liberty Enlightening The World.”
The torch that Liberty holds today is not the original torch. The original has been on display in the lobby since it was removed in 1984. The replacement was added in 1986. The copper flame on the replacement torch was covered in 24K gold. This makes it highly reflective in the daytime sun. At night, 16 floodlights illuminate it.
The lady in the Statue of Liberty has a waist of 10.67m. Thats really fat!
Interesting Facts About Atlantis
Atlantis is the name of an island first mentioned and described by the classical Greek philosopher Plato in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias.
Over 11000 years back (in 9000BC) there existed an island nation located in the middle of the Atlantic ocean populated by a noble and powerful race. The people of this land possessed great wealth thanks to the natural resources found throughout their island. The island was a center for trade and commerce. The rulers of this land held sway over the people and land of their own island and well into Europe and Africa.
This was the island of Atlantis.
Plato, in his dialogues the Timaeus and the Critias, tells of the high civilization that flourished there before the island was destroyed by an earthquake. The legend persists, and societies for the discovery of Atlantis remain active. Plato described Atlantis as an ideal state, and the name is considered synonymous with Utopia.
According to Plato, the walls of Atlantis were constructed of red, white and black rock quarried from the moats, and were covered with brass, tin and orichalcum, respectively.
Every passage to the city was guarded by gates and towers, and a wall surrounded each of the city's rings.
The island of Atlantis was the domain of Poseidon, god of the sea. When Poseidon fell in love with a mortal woman, Cleito, he created a dwelling at the top of a hill near the middle of the island and surrounded the dwelling with rings of water and land to protect her.
Greek myths tell us that Cleito gave birth to five sets of twin boys who became the first rulers of Atlantis. The island was divided among the brothers with the eldest, Atlas, first King of Atlantis, being given control over the central hill and surrounding areas.
At the top of the central hill, a temple was built to honor Poseidon which housed a giant gold statue of Poseidon riding a chariot pulled by winged horses. It was here that the rulers of Atlantis would come to discuss laws, pass judgments, and pay tribute to Poseidon..
To facilitate travel and trade, a water canal was cut through of the rings of land and water running south for 5.5 miles (~9 km) to the sea.
Beyond the city lay a very fertile plain 330 miles (530 km) long and 110 miles (190 km) wide surrounded by another canal used to collect water from the rivers and streams of the mountains. The climate was such that two harvests were possible each year. One in the winter fed by the rains and one in the summer fed by irrigation from the canal water.
Surrounding the plain to the north were mountains which soared to the skies. Villages, lakes, rivers, and meadows dotted the mountains.
Besides the harvests, the island provided all kinds of herbs, fruits, and nuts. An abundance of animals, including elephants, roamed the island.
For many generations the Atlanteans lived simple, virtuous lives. But slowly they began to change. Greed and power began to corrupt the Atlanteans. When Zeus saw the immorality of the Atlanteans he gathered the other gods to determine a suitable punishment.
Soon, in one violent surge it was gone(most probably a deadly earthquaqe but the reason of its destruction could be a volcanic eruption or a tsunami). The island of Atlantis, its people, and its memory were swallowed by the sea.
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