This blog is about everything and anything. Every day we find out something new and want to share our new knowledge with you so that you can say: "Oh really? I never knew that". Just like we did.
The word "kimono" consists of two parts, ki (wear) and mono (thing), thus meaning a "thing to wear".
Kimonos convey a lot of information about its wearer, such as age, personality, marital and financial status. Fabric, colour patterns, form and accessories convey this information and also show the level of formality. For instance, kimonos worn by young unmarried women have longer sleeves and usually are more elaborate.
There are many patterns of kimono for different seasons: for example, cherry blossoms for spring, bamboo or pine trees for winter.
The typical woman's kimono consists of twelve or more pieces to be worn and secured in certain ways, and usually an assistant (kimono dresser) is needed to put it on. Kimonos are always wrapped with the left side over the right, except when used as a burial garment.
February and January were introduced into the Roman calendar about 700 BCE when the calendar was extended from ten to twelve months. Before that Romans considered winter a monthless period.
February was named after the Latin word “februa” - which means cleansing or purification, and reflects the purification ritual undertaken before Spring.
The Saxons called February the “sprout-kale” - from the sprouting of cabbage or kale. In Finnish, the month is called “helmikuu”, meaning "month of the pearl" - snow melting on tree branches forms droplets which freeze again resembling pearls of ice. Ukrainians call this month “luty” (fierce), the month of ice and hard frost.
The concept of shopping mall was invented by Victor Gruen, Austrian-born architect, who designed in 1956 the Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota. Today, the majority of shopping centers around the world are fully enclosed, introverted, multitiered complexes with an anchor-tenant, a garden court, a fountain and a food court.
With the shopping malls came the new rules and practices to draw the customers in and to make them buy, buy more. Here are just a few of those.
Say, the escalators should be placed on the opposite sides on the each layer to make customers walk by all the shops and thus increase the chances of them popping in one-two of them. And this walking distance ideally should not exceed 1000 feet or 300 meters (which is the equivalent of about three city blocks) for a customer not to get tired and not to lose shopping interest.
The time a person needs to slow down and stop is also taken into account: so it is better not to have a store next door to a bank because shoppers speed up when they walk past a bank (there's nothing to look at), and thus are likely to walk past a shop without even noticing it.
Debuted on December 17, 1989 The Simpsons is the longest running prime-time comedy series in the history of US television. The Simpsons show also holds the record for most guest stars in a television series.
The characters of this family conceived by Matt Groening are named after members of his own family.
The main characters of The Simpsons have yellow coloring to attract the attention of channel hoppers.
Since its debut The Simpsons has won over hundred of awards, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the show Marge Simpson "posed" naked for Playboy issue released in October, 2009.
Homer's exclamatory catchphrase “D'oh!” was included in the online version of The Oxford Dictionary (but without the apostrophe).
The idea for The Sims, life-simulation computer game, is believed to be based on the experience of its creator Will Wright. His house was destroyed in 1991 in a firestorm and his family had to move and start afresh.
The first game of this franchise was released on February 4, 2000 and as of February 2005 it has shipped 16 million copies worldwide which made it the best-selling PC game in history.
The Sims franchise holds the record for best-selling computer game franchise of all time with over 100 million copies of Sims 1, 2, 3 and all expansion packs being sold worldwide to date.
In addition to extraordinary sales the game also has been a success in other ways - attracting casual gamers and female gamers. According to statistics, female gamers make up approximately 50% of all audience.
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