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.
While Westerners may find Tibetan butter tea too rich and tangy, for the Tibetans it is the indispensable daily drink. Tibet has a dry, cold climate with an average annual temperature of 1° C (34° F), and it is crucial to have some antidote to the cold.
The butter tea made of brick tea, yak butter and salt helps keep body warm, stills one's hunger, aids digestion, and increases stamina. The Tibetans are accustomed to down several bowlfuls of butter tea before work.
Brick tea is first boiled, strained and poured into wooden churn with a lump of butter, pinch of salt and some boiling water, and then vigorously churned up until it looks like thick soup. The resulting liquid is poured into a kettle, heated and then served in small wooden bowls.
They say, the warming effect and caloric boost are fantastic.
The flower of November is chrysanthemum. The name comes from the Greek chrysos (gold) and anthos (flower).
Chrysanthemums had been cultivated in Chinese gardens for more than 2,500 years before being exhibited in England in the late 18th century. Chrysanthemums were considered the flower of the Chinese noble class, and lower classes were not allowed to have them in their gardens.
The Chrysanthemum is the national flower of Japan.
Feng Shui enthusiasts believe the chrysanthemum brings laughter and happiness to your home, while in some parts of Asia chrysanthemum flowers are boiled to make chrysanthemum tea which is believed to help recover from influenza.
Numerous inventors contributed to the evolution of ATM (automated teller machine), and the first ones were John Shepherd-Barron (Scottish inventor), Luther George Simjian (USA) and Don Wetzel (USA).
The first magnetic stripe card ATM was installed at New York's Chemical Bank in 1969. To protect this first cash dispenser from harsh weather conditions they covered it with canopy.
At that time bankers were not very exited about ATMs, since the cost of one machine was by about $8,000 higher annually than a human teller.
Since first ATMs were offline devices not connected by a computer network with client's account, the banks were giving privileges of using money machines to card holders with good banking records only.
According to Fortune today there's one ATM for every 284 American households.
The voice and boisterous laugh of Woody Woodpecker, the famous cartoon character born in 1941, belonged to the wife of Walter Lantz, Woody’s creator.
Gracie Lantz had at first offered to do Woody’s voice, but was turned down by her husband because Woody was a boy.
So, she taped her own audition and submitted it anonymously with the others to be listened to by the studio. And Walter Lantz picked her voice not knowing whom it belonged to.
Gracie Lantz initially declined screen credit, thinking children would be disappointed to know that Woody’s voice was supplied by a woman.
There are 243 territories in the world considered to be countries, and 191 of them are recognized by UN.
Most of the countries, both recognized and unrecognized by other countries, are republics.
The most common first letter in country names is "S", 30 names start with this letter. The less common first letters are "O" (only Oman), "Q" (only Qatar) and "Y" (only Yemen).
Make a map of the countries you've visited.
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