The world's most expensive food items

Macadamia is the world’s most expensive nut. Native to eastern Australia and Indonesian Sulawesi, this nut is extremely hard to crack (it requires pressure of about 300 psi or 2000 kPa). Due to rather complicated production, the nut sells for 30-40 dollars per kilo on the international markets.

Spice Saffron, which is the stamens of the saffron crocus, has built a reputation for being more expensive than gold. Its high price stems from the labor input: only about 6 pounds (2,7 kilo) of saffron can be produced from each acre (0,4 hectare) of land, so the price per kilo goes as high as $6000.

The Metric System

The metric system is a widely adopted decimalized system of measurement that derives from decimal numeral system being the consequence of us having 10 digits (fingers and thumbs).

Before the metric system became a standard in Europe, the local laws on measures were set by trade guilds on a city-by-city basis. In Switzerland, the survey of 1838 discovered that the foot had 37 different regional variations.

At the end of 18th century Louis XVI of France commissioned the group of scientists to develop a unified, practical and simple system of measurement to replace the disparate systems used back then. The scientists come up with the metric system that was derived from the properties of natural objects, i.e. the size of the Earth, the density of water, and relations between these. For instance, 1 meter was originally defined as 1/40,000,000th of the polar circumference of the Earth.

Honey Bees

There are about 20,000 known species of bee, in 9 recognized families.

Colonies of honey bees are long-lasting and may live for many years. The population of a healthy colony in mid-summer can average between 40,000 and 80,000 bees.

The male bees – drones – do not have stingers, and do not forage for nectar or pollen. Their only role is to fertilize a new queen. They die immediately after mating as this process requires from them a fatally convulsive effort. The drones are turned outside in autumn to die since their reproductive role is over.

Queen bee is an adult, fully sexually developed female, the mother of all the bees in the hive. The queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and fed only on royal jelly, a substance secreted by the workers that is high in protein, in order to become sexually mature. Adult queens are overweight and unable to fly. The average lifespan of the queen is three to four years.

Ten Facts about Head Hair

1. On average, scalp has 100,000 hairs. Redheads have the least hairs – 85,000; blondes are the richest with 130,000; brown and black haired people have about 100,000.
2. 90% of scalp hairs are growing and other 10% are resting.
3. Loosing 100 hairs per day from the scalp is normal.
4. Male hair grows faster than female hair.
5. Combing is less damaging than brushing.

History of the TV Remote Control

The TV remote control as we know it today was invented by Robert Adler, a US inventor with 180 patents for electronics devices. His widow said the remote was not his favourite invention, as he rarely watched television and was "more of a reader".

One of the earliest examples of remote control was developed in 1893 by Nikola Tesla. He called his patent Method of an Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vehicle or Vehicles.

Remote control mechanisms were used by the Germans for motorboats during WWI, and the Soviet Red Army for their teletanks during 1930s in the war against Finland and the early stages of the Great Patriotic War.

The first TV remote control attached to the TV with a cord was produced by Zenith Radio Corporation in 1950. It was called "Lazy Bones". The founder-president of corporation yarned for a device that could be used to mute the sound of commercials.

The next generation of TV remote controls operated by flashing at photo cells in the TV. However, it had its disadvantages too: if the TV sat in an area where the sun shone directly on it, the remote’s tuner might start rotating.