Trivia Matters

7-Eleven

2010-05-14T10:54:00.001+08:00

In 1927, Southland Ice Company in Dallas, Texas, began selling milk, eggs, and bread, and thereafter slowly expanded the packaged and canned items that its stores stocked. The company also began to increase its geographic reach, first in Texas, then in the United States, and finally throughout the world. Southland Ice called these Tote’m stores, since customers toted away their purchases. In 1946, the company changed the name of the stores to 7-Eleven, which reflected its hours of operation - 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Deism

2010-05-14T10:46:00.000+08:00

The word "deist" was first coined by the Genevois Pierre Viret (1511 - 1571), to describe someone who believed in God but not in Jesus Christ.

Guillotine

2010-05-14T10:43:00.003+08:00

Josepg-Ignace Guillotin did not design nor built the execution machine that bear his name. It was designed by Dr. Antoine Louis and was actually built by a carpenter named Monsieur Guedon or Guidon.

The guillotine was first tested on April 17, 1792 and was first used on April 25, 1792 in the execution of Jacques Nicholas Pelletier, a known assassin and a thief.

The ridges on the F and J buttons, what are they for?

2010-02-07T09:26:00.002+08:00

People who touch-type (type without looking) use these two ridges to determine the position of their fingers on the keyboard. Touch typists put the index finger of their left hand on F and the index finger of their right hand on J before they type so they know where their fingers are at.

QWERTY

It is an old format that dates back to the 1870's. It was created by Christopher Latham Scholes, a newspaper editor who sought to arrange the Sholes and Glidden typewriter keyboard in a way that keys on the typewriter keyboard would not jam. Typewriter letters were arranged on big metal bars that would jam up on early models because they would strike against each other if they were in close proximity to each other.

To that end, Scholes actually arranged the keys based on LESS probable word combinations, not most probable. So, for example, in typing the word "the", although the T, H, and E are fairly close to one another, they are arranged so that on an old typewriter, the metal bars that held the inked letter, that would strike the page, would not smack into one another and cause jams.

The popular theory behind QWERTY is that the English language makes the most use of the letters in the middle of the "home row" and less use of the letters at the ends of the keyboard. That is not exactly true. The wisdom behind the QWERTY keyboard was to actually SEPARATE letters that frequently appear together in words, so that their keys would not hit against each other and cause keys to jam. After many years, people got so used to the QWERTY keyboard that we have yet to change over from it, although superior typing models have been introduced.

Cookies! "AWWWWM-num-num-num-num..."

2009-12-24T17:46:00.004+08:00

The word ‘cookie’ is derived from the Dutch word ‘koekje’, which meant “small or little cake.

In 1966, Henson drew three monsters who appeared in a General Foods commercial that featured three crunchy snack foods: Wheels, Crowns and Flutes. Each snack was represented by a different monster. The Wheel-Stealer was a short, fuzzy monster with wonky eyes and sharply pointed teeth. The Flute-Snatcher was a speed demon with a long, sharp nose and windblown hair. The Crown-Grabber was a hulk of a monster with a Boris Karloff accent and teeth that resembled giant knitting needles.

"These monsters had insatiable appetites for the snack foods they were named after. Each time the Muppet narrator, a human-looking fellow, fixes himself a tray of Wheels, Flutes and Crowns, they disappear before he can eat them. One by one, the monsters sneak in and zoom away with the snacks. Frustrated and peckish, the narrator warns viewers that these pesky monsters could be disguised as someone in your own home, at which point the monsters briefly turn into people and then dissolve back to monsters again."

As it turns out, these commercials were never aired—but all three monsters had a future in the Muppet cast. The Crown-Grabber was used in an Ed Sullivan Show sketch, in which he ruins a girl's beautiful day. Known from then on as the Beautiful Day Monster, he made a number of appearances on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. The Flute-Snatcher turned into Snake Frackle, a background monster from The Great Santa Claus Switch and The Muppet Show.

And then there's the Wheel-Stealer, who was destined for greater things.

In 1967, Henson used the Wheel-Stealer puppet for an IBM training film called "The Coffee Break Machine." In the sketch, the monster (with pointed fangs) devoured a complex machine as the machine described its purpose and construction. His greed gets the better of him, however, as the machine's recording continues (within his stomach), announcing that it is wired to self-destruct. The monster promptly explodes. This sketch was also performed in October 1967 on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Two years later, Henson pulled the puppet out of the box again for three commercials selling Munchos, a Frito-Lay potato chip. This time, the puppet was called Arnold. After the three ads were produced, Henson had the opportunity to renew the contract. He chose not to, because at that point he was working on Sesame Street.

Additional trivias:

Cookie Monster's birthday is November 2nd.

Unlike most other Muppets of Sesame Street, Cookie Monster has four fingers and a thumb.

The Metro Manila Film Festival

2009-12-24T17:37:00.001+08:00

The Metro Manila Film Festival (it was first named as Metropolitan Film Festival) premiered on September 21, 1975 and the first film that was awarded Best Picture was Augusto Buenaventura’s Diligan mo ng Hamog ang Uhaw na Lupa.

Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada won the Best Actor while Charito Solis won the Best Actress Award for Araw Araw, Gabi-Gabi.

In 1977, Metropolitan Film Festival was changed to Metro Manila Film Festival and Celso Ad Castillio’s Burlesk Queen copped 95% of all awards including a Best Actress win for Vilma Santos (now the governor of Batangas).

For most awards, they are: Nora Aunor (7 awards), Christopher De Leon (6 awards) and Vilma Santos (4 awards).

Fernando Poe Jr. never won an acting/director awards on his Panday series.

Sharron Cuneta grabbed the Best Acting Award in Crying Ladies while Maricel Soriano bagged 2 Best Actress Awards.

Rosebud

2009-11-29T17:03:00.002+08:00

"ROSEBUD" was CITIZEN KANE'S last word on his deathbead in the movie Citizen Kane made in 1941. ROSEBUD was a SLED he had as a child and the frame of the story of the movie was searching for the meaning his last word.

Go Joe!!!

2009-11-29T16:59:00.004+08:00

In 1964, HASBRO introduced an 11 1/2-inch doll called G.I. JOE, with 21 movable parts to "move G.I.JOE into action positions"..."America's Movable Fighting Man"....'fighting man from head to toe...on the land...on the sea...in the air...' First-year sales for the doll and his equipment reached $10 million.

Beatles Trivia

2009-11-29T16:52:00.002+08:00

The Beatles got their name from a line in the movie "The Wild Ones". Lee Marvin's character had a line in the movie where he referred to the women in the gang as "beetles." The Beatles changed the 'ee' to 'ea' so it was like the musical term 'beat'.

The BEATLES won a GRAMMY in 1964 for "BEST NEW ARTIST".

The BEATLES's movie HELP was originally titled "Eight arms to hold you".

The BEATLES played Shea Stadium in New York City on August 15, 1965 playing for 35 minutes and sang 12 songs in front of 56,000 fans. They were paid $160,000.

The BEATLES movie "A Hard Day's Night" won TWO Academy Awards.

The BEATLES gave The ROLLING STONES their first hit single "I WANNA BE YOUR MAN".

Before he was a BEATLE, JOHN LENNON was the leader of the group called THE QUARRYMEN, named after The QUARRY BANK GRAMMAR SCHOOL located in Woolton, England.

More Beatles fact @ Beatles Fact!

First test Tube baby

2009-11-29T16:05:00.002+08:00

The first TEST TUBE BABY born in the United States on December 28, 1981 is Elizabeth Jordan Carr.

Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill Becomes a Law

2009-07-18T08:56:00.002+08:00

ABU SAYYAF GROUP

2008-09-01T19:04:00.005+08:00

The Abu Sayyaf Group is a Muslim terrorist organization based on Basilan Island, one of the southern islands in the Philippine archipelago. Since the mid- 1990s, the group, whose origins are somewhat obscure, has carried out terrorist attacks in the Philippines, including a series of high-profile kidnappings in 2000 and 2001.

For centuries, the southern Philippines have had a substantial Muslim population. Sixteenth-century Spanish colonizers spread Christianity to the northern islands, treating the Muslims as a despised minority; the area has seen periodic violence ever since. Its people are among the poorest in the country. In the early 1970s, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) began a war of secession against the Philippine government.

Although the fortunes of the MNLF and its splinter group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), have risen and fallen over the past 30 years, violence and lawlessness have been a constant in the southern islands. Defections, desertions, and ideological disputes have resulted in many armed bands roaming the islands.

Abu Sayyaf began as one such band of former guerrillas, led by Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalania, a charismatic former Islamic scholar who had fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Abu Sayyaf means “Bearer of the Sword.” The group first came to light about 1994; at that time, it was thought to be a small splinter faction of the MILF. Most observers now consider it to be an entirely independent group. Early in its existence Abu Sayyaf established connections with international Muslim terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, and members may have received training and support from these groups.

Abu Sayyaf professes a desire for an independent Muslim state for the Philippines’ Muslim population, to be governed under shari’a law. In practice, however, the group’s attacks and particularly its kidnappings seem to have been motivated more by potential profit than by ideological or military significance; the Philippine government has long considered them to be mere bandits. In the mid-1990s, Abu Sayyaf’s strength was estimated at 500 members. Ransom money received from kidnappings has since increased that number, with some commentators believing the group to have as many as 4,000 members. Its stronghold is Basilan Island, though it operates on other Muslim-populated islands as well.

Starting in the late 1990s, Abu Sayyaf increased its numbers of kidnappings in Basilan and elsewhere. At first it targeted wealthy Filipino businessmen, usually releasing the captives after ransom had been paid, but sometimes killing them regardless. In March 2000, the group gained international attention after raiding
a local school, taking 27 hostages, most of them children. On April 23, the Army launched a dangerous raid against the Abu Sayyaf compound housing the hostages. Four terrorists were killed; 15 hostages were freed—10 of them seriously wounded. Most of the terrorists escaped into the jungle, taking 5 hostages with them.

Later that day, a different faction of Abu Sayyaf struck again, this time abducting victims from a resort on the nearby island of Sipidan, which is part of Malaysia. The second group took 23 hostages, 19 of them Malaysian and Filipino hotel staff but also several foreign tourists. Some of the journalists covering the kidnappings were also abducted; the hostages eventually included French, German, Finnish, Lebanese, U.S., and South African nationals. The international spotlight was now focused on the Philippine government, which felt compelled to act. Concerned for the safety of their citizens, the French, German, and South African governments prevailed upon the Filipinos to negotiate with the second group of hostage takers rather than launch another risky raid. A Libyan diplomat offered to act as a go-between and negotiations began. After months of negotiations, a ransom of undisclosed amount was paid to Abu Sayyaf and a dozen of the hostages were released. The kidnappers refused to part with the remainder, and President Estrada launched a massive military strike against the group in September 2000. The risky move secured their release. In May 2001, another kidnapping was similarly resolved through military action.

Following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and taking into consideration Abu Sayyaf’s connections to the Al Qaeda terrorist network, in January 2002 the U.S. government acceded to the request of Philippine president Gloria Arroyo and pledged $100 million in military aid for the elimination of Abu Sayyaf. The United States sent 660 U.S. Army Special Forces troops to act as military advisors, training the Philippine Army in counterterrorism tactics. The aid package caused considerable controversy in the Philippines but seems to have the support of the public, especially as President Arroyo pledged that the Special Forces troops will remain only for a short time. The success of the operation was thrown into question, however, when some surviving members kidnapped six Jehovah’s witnesses on the island of Jolo and killed at least two of the victims.

Source: Encyclopedia of Terrorism by Harvey Kushner.

Fun Food Trivia

2008-08-08T10:05:00.003+08:00

Here are some food and fast food trivia that I gathered from different sources.

Roy Allen, who refurbished old hotels, met a pharmacist who had perfected a recipe for making root beer. Allen bought the recipe and on June 20, 1919, opened a root beer stand in Lodi, California, offering frosty mugs of root beer for a nickel. Shortly thereafter , he opened more stands in Stockton and Sacramento. In 1920, Frank Wright, an employee at the Stockton stand, became Allen’s partner; they combined their initials and called the company A&W Root Beer.

In 1949, Forrest Raff el and his younger brother Leroy of Youngstown, Ohio, bought their uncle’s restaurant equipment business, which they renamed Raff el Brothers, Inc. They decided that roast beef sandwiches would be an ideal centerpiece for a new fast food chain. Their first choice for a name for their new restaurant was Big Tex, but that name was already taken. Instead, they spelled out the initials of Raff el Brothers (RB) to produce Arby’s.

In 1927, Edwin Perkins, head of the Perkins Products Company of Hastings, Nebraska, invented Kool-Aid.

In 1952, Matthew Burns of Long Beach, California and his stepson, Keith G. Cramer acquired the rights to George Read’s Miracle Insta-Machines, one of which made multiple milk shakes ; the other was the Insta-Broiler, which cooked twelve burgers simultaneously in wire baskets so that the patties could be cooked on both sides simultaneously. Four hundred burgers could be turned out in an hour with one machine. In 1953, Cramer opened the Insta-Burger King in Jacksonville, Florida. His burgers sold for 18 cents apiece and they were a great success. Two franchisers, James McLamore and David R. Edgerton, Jr., launched several Insta- Burger-King outlets in Miami beginning in 1954. Unlike most of the other fast-food entrepreneurs who had limited education, Edgerton and McLamore both held degrees from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. Nevertheless, they were unable to make a profit, so they began to experiment. They disposed of the Insta-Broiler and created a flame broiler, for which Burger King became famous.

In 1926, Otto Schnering, owner of the Curtiss Candy Company of Chicago, invented the Butterfinger candy bar, consisting of an orange-colored, peanut- butter-flavored filling covered with chocolate.

In 1985, Rick Rosenfi eld and Larry Flax opened the first California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) in Beverly Hills, California. Rosenfield and Flax created unusual-flavored pizza, such as BBQ chicken, that differed greatly from traditional American pizza.

Henry D. Seymour and William Heston developed and trademarked a new product, rolled oats. All consumers had to do was add hot water to the rolled oats in order to eat them. Because most Americans did not eat oats at that time, the company decided to launch a major advertising campaign. To promote sales, the company packed its rolled oats in cardboard boxes bearing the reassuring image of an elderly Quaker and promoted their new product via a national advertising campaign in 1882, making it the first cereal to be advertised nationally. The campaign was so successful that the company changed its name to the Quaker Oats Company in 1901.

During the late 1940s, the Frito Company invented Cheetos- an extruded corn snack covered with an artificially colored powdered cheddar cheese, which were marketed by H. W. Lay & Company in 1948.

The invention of the chocolate chip cookie has been attributed to Ruth Wakefield, who bought a tourist lodge named the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts in the early 1930s. Wakefield, a nutritionist by training, gained local fame for her desserts that were served at the Toll House. According to tradition, she invented the chocolate chip cookie by accident. While preparing Butter Drop Do cookies, she found herself without baker’s chocolate, a required ingredient. She substituted a Nestlé semisweet chocolate bar cut up into bits. Baker’s chocolate would have completely melted, but the small pieces of semisweet chocolate only softened.

Jean Tobler launched a company that later marketed the Toblerone chocolate bar in 1879. In 1893, Milton S. Hershey, a caramel maker from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, created the Hershey Chocolate Company. Otto Schnering of Chicago created the Baby Ruth candy bar in 1916.

Claude A. Hatcher, a pharmacist in Columbus, Georgia, launched “Chero-Cola” (later revised and renamed Royal Crown Cola or RC Cola) in 1905.

The word cookie derives from the Dutch word koeptje ( koekje ), meaning small cake.

The National Biscuit Company, introduced another wheat product in honor of Sylvester Graham, called the Graham Cracker in 1898. Sylvester Graham (1795– 1851) launched America’s first culinary revolution by stressing the importance of coarsely milled, unbolted whole-wheat flour.

Isadore J. Filler, a traveling salesman, ate tostados (hard tortillas with various toppings) in San Antonio, Texas, and thought they might have wide appeal as a snack food. In 1932, he conceived the idea of manufacturing a rectangular-shaped corn chip and applied for a trademark for Corn Chips, which he was granted.

John F. McCullough began selling ice cream in 1927. A few years later, he and his son, H. A. “Alex” McCullough, founded the Homemade Ice Cream Company in Green River, Illinois. The McCulloughs began experimenting with what would later be called soft -serve ice cream.

Harry M. Oltz, a hamburger stand proprietor in Hammond, Indiana, claimed to have invented a continuous freezer that made it possible to serve ice cream at 20 degrees F. The McCulloughs met with Oltz and gained manufacturing rights to his machine, which Alex McCullough perfected. F. J. McCullough improved the mix and acquired a manufacturer. They named their new product Dairy Queen. In June 1940 Sherb Noble, an ice cream store owner in Kankakee, Illinois, acquired a franchise for the soft -serve product and opened his first outlet in Joliet, Illinois; he named the store after his new ice cream, Dairy Queen. Noble opened additional outlets, and by the time World War II broke out in 1941 there were 10 Dairy Queen outlets.

Doughnuts were probably of German origin. Early Dutch settlers in New
Amsterdam (later renamed New York) called them olykoeks.

William Rosenberg dropped out of school at the age of 14 and engaged in various employments. In 1946, Rosenberg founded Industrial Luncheon Services in suburban Boston. The company sold coffee, sandwiches, and baked goods from trucks to workers Within three years, his company was operating 140 trucks. In 1948, he saw that doughnuts were in high demand, and he opened a small doughnut shop called the Open Kettle in Quincy, Massachusetts. Two years later, he renamed it Dunkin’ Donuts.

In 1937, Vernon Rudolph launched a doughnut shop, which became known as Krispy Kreme, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Some claim that Roy Allen, founder of A&W Root Beer, constructed the first drive-thru so in 1921. Others claim that the first drive-thru window was created in 1931 by the Pig Stand Number 21 restaurant in Los Angeles, California, which created a small window where customers ordered and received their food. In these early versions, customers would drive up to the window, get out of their cars and place their order at the window.

J. T. “Stubby” Parker of Ft. Worth, Texas, was the manager of the Pangburn Candy and Ice Cream Company. In 1930 he figured out how to package a sugar cone filled with ice cream, topped with chocolate and nuts. He named it a Drumstick because it looked like a fried chicken leg.

.A Los Angeles preacher, Baker David Jung is credited in created the fortune cookie in 1916. His fortune cookies enclosed strips of paper bearing Biblical passages. He later launched the Hong Kong Noodle Company, which produced cookies with sayings purported to be ancient Chinese aphorisms. Fortune cookies were later adopted in Chinese restaurants all over the country.

In 1899, a dentist named Franklin V. Canning introduced Dentyne Gum and Chiclets.

Bubble gum was invented in 1928 by Walter E. Diemer, an accountant for the Fleur Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia.

In the 1930s, Reuben Mattus, an immigrant from Poland who sold fruit ices and ice cream pops from a horse-drawn cart in the Bronx, New York, began manufacturing ice cream and distributing it to grocery stores. In 1960, he formed a company of his own that targeted those interested in premium ice cream. His wife came up with the name Häagen-Dazs to conveyed visions of Denmark, which he believed had a positive image in the United States.

Charles B. Knox patented a formula for making flavored gelatin in 1890. Frank Woodward, owner of the Genesee Pure Food Company in LeRoy, New York, bought the formula. Purportedly, Woodward’s wife came up with the name Jell-O, which was first used in 1900.

Harland Sanders devised his formula for making fried chicken at his restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. He attended a foodservice seminar in Chicago in the 1950’s, where he met Pete Harmon, who operated a hamburger restaurant in Salt Lake City. Harmon became the first franchisee for what would become Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

The word ketchup derives from the Amoy dialect of Mandarin in China, and originally meant a pickled fish or fermented sauce.

Tradition has it that the idea for M&M’s was based on Forrest Mars’s visit to Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1937). He saw soldiers eating chocolate candies covered with a layer of hard sugar.

McDonald's first mascot was Speedee, a little chef with a hamburger head. This had to be changed because Alka Seltzer had already adopted a mascot named Speedy. McDonald’s settled on Ronald McDonald and today about 96 percent of American children recognize him. Willard Scott, an actor who played Bozo in a local children’s television program called Bozo’s Circus in Washington D.C. came up with the name Ronald McDonald. Scott played Ronald McDonald in the first television commercials broadcast in October, 1963.

Advocates claim that onion rings were invented by the Pig Stand restaurant chain in the 1920s.

Royal Crown Cola was the first soft drink distributed in a can.

The first pizza franchises started in 1954 with the creation of Shakey’s Pizza chain. Sherwood Johnson and Ed Plummer opened the first Shakey’s restaurant in Sacramento, California. “Shakey” derived from Johnson’s nickname, which he received after suffering from malaria during World War II.

Frank Carney, an 18-year-old student at the University of Wichita, read an article about pizza in the Saturday Evening Post and decided to open a pizza parlor in 1958. With his brother, Dan Carney, he opened a pizza parlor in Wichita, Kansas. They named it Pizza Hut because they believed that the small brick building they rented resembled a hut. Their main product was a small, thin, pan pizza with cheese, sausage, or pepperoni. Initially, it came in two sizes: small, which sold for 95 cents, and large, which sold for $1.50.

Frank Epperson, a lemonade salesman from Oakland, California, began the commercial manufacture of Popsicles which he called Epsicles- ice pops on wooden sticks in 1923.

According to popular tradition, in the 1850s, George Crum, chef of the Moon’s Lake Lodge in Saratoga, New York, was the fi rst person to fry thin slices of potatoes and serve them to customers. They were named Saratoga Potatoes and they are now known as potato chips.

Vote for your favorite Natural Wonders

2008-06-25T18:39:00.003+08:00

Hey please vote for the Tubbataha Reef and the Underground Caves in Palawan! Thank you.

John the Atheist

Sunni and Shi’ite

2008-01-16T10:12:00.001+08:00

After the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 CE some of his followers believed in electing caliphs (successors), while others thought the line of succession should be through Muhammad’s relative.

The pro-election faction became known as the Sunnis and the bloodline adherents formed the Shi’ites. Today, it’s estimated that about 85 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims are Sunni. Most of the rest are Shi’ites.

Band-Aid

2008-01-16T10:10:00.001+08:00

Robert Wood Johnson introduced the first ready to use antiseptic bandage in 1886.

Procter and Gamble

2008-01-16T10:06:00.001+08:00

Do you know that William Procter and James Gamble went to business making soaps and candles? They created Ivory soap in 1879, Crisco, the first all-vegetable shortening in 1911 ad Dreft, the first synthetic detergents or home use in 1933.

Maneki Neko

2008-01-16T10:05:00.002+08:00

According to Japanese legend, during the Edo Period (1603-1867), a Japanese nobleman was riding by a rundown temple outside Tokyo. While passing, he happened to notice the temple master’s cat, which seems to call out to him. Intrigued, he approached the cat, and at that exact moment, a lightning bolt struck the spot of the road he’d just left. Believing that the humble cat had save him, the nobleman endowed the cat’s temple home with land and money. Years later, when the cat died, the nobleman had created a figurine for its honor.

Today the Maneki Neko, the cat with one paw raised in a welcoming gesture, is welcoming guests in most Japanese shops, restaurants and bars. This “beckoning cat” also attracts wealth and good fortune to anyone who displays it.

Mr. Clean

2008-01-16T10:03:00.001+08:00

Mister Clean is not a genie; he is a sailor and was introduced in 1958. He is known in most European country as Mr. Proper and in the UK he goes by the name Flash.

A Gallery of Bad Guys!

2007-12-21T09:52:00.002+08:00

Batman’s Villains (from the 1960’s TV show.)

The Archer – Art Carney
The Black Widow – Tallulah Bankhead
The Bookworm – Roddy McDowall
Dr. Cassandra – Ida Lupino
Catwoman – Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt
Chandell – Liberace
Nora Clavicle – Barbara Rush
Clock King – Walter Slezak
Egghead - Vincent Price
False Face – Malachi Throne
Mr. Freeze – George Sanders, Otto Preminger, Eli Wallach
Colonel Gumm – Roger C. Carmel
The Joker – Cesar Romero
King Tut (Professor William McEnroll) – Victor Buono
Louie The Lilac – Milton Berle
The Mad Hatter – David Wayne
Masha, Queen of Diamonds – Carolyn Jones
The Minstrel – Van Johnson
Minerva – Zsa Zsa Gabor
Olga, Queen of the Cossacks – Anne Baxter
The Siren – Joan Collins
Ma Parker – Sherlley Winters
The Penguin – Burgess Meredith
Lord Phogg – Rudy Vallee
The Puzzler – Maurice Evans
The Riddler – Frank Gorshin, John Astin
The Sandman – Michael Rennie
Shame – Cliff Robertson
Zelda the Great – Anne Baxter

MassKara

2007-10-27T08:47:00.001+08:00

Every October, the streets of Bacolod City, Negros Occidental become a sight of merriment. There are many dancers dancing their hearts away and all wearing mask and people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see colorfully-masked dancers dances their heart away to the infectious rhythm of the Latin musical beat in a stunning display of mastery, gaiety, coordination and stamina. This is what they called the “MassKara Festival”.

The word "MassKara" was coined by the late artist Ely Santiago from the word "mass" meaning "many or a multitude of the people", and the Spanish word "cara" meaning "face". MassKara thus means a multitude of smiling faces. Masskara was conceived by the Art Association of Bacolod (AAB), the intention was to creatively organize a street dance parade thus getting away from a “meaningless” civic-military parade. It was also meant to hide the tears and sorrows of how Negros suffered from the sugar crisis and the “Don Juan” sea mishap killing hundreds of Negrenses.

The festival first began in 1980 during a period of crisis. On that time, Negros Occidental relied on sugar cane as its primary agricultural crop, and the price of sugar was at an all-time low.

MAD

2007-09-07T16:48:00.001+08:00

With its first issue (October-November, 1952), Mad was a comic book, and part of the line of EC Comics published from the Lower East Side in New York City. Mad's subtitle, "Tales Calculated To Drive You" above the title Mad, referenced radio's Suspense which each week used the opening, "Tales well calculated to keep you in... Suspense!" The vertical subtitle, "Humor in a Jugular Vein," indicated the possibility of a sinister edge to the satire (as well as being a play on words for "jocular").

Written almost entirely by Harvey Kurtzman, the first issue displayed the cartoon talents of Kurtzman, Wally Wood, Will Elder, Jack Davis and John Severin. Wood, Elder and Davis were the main three illustrators throughout the 23-issue run of the comic book; Severin, a mainstay of Kurtzman's EC war comics, was phased out of Mad by the tenth issue. Kurtzman included his own cartooning only sporadically, primarily on the covers. However, he was known as an exceedingly "hands-on" editor and a visual master, and thus many Mad articles were illustrated in strict accordance with Kurtzman's detailed layouts. A handful of other artists contributed to the original run, including Bernard Krigstein, Russ Heath, and most conspicuously among the non-regulars, Basil Wolverton. Wolverton's grotesque faces made a striking impression despite only appearing in two issues of the comic book.

The first two issues of Mad spoofed only comic book genres of romance, horror, sports and science fiction without overly specific references. However, with the third issue, Kurtzman turned to direct parodies, targeting the well-known radio programs ("Dragged Net!"), and the Lone Stranger!." This approach proved fruitful, and in short order Kurtzman was gleefully hammering away at such targets as newspaper comic strips ("Little Orphan Melvin!"), comic books ("Superduperman!"), movies ("Ping Pong!") and television ("Howdy Dooit!").

By the summer of 1953, the success of Mad was apparent, and Gaines made plans for expansion. After nine bi-monthly issues, Mad became a monthly with the April, 1954 issue. At that same time, EC Comics launched another satirical bi-monthly, Panic, edited by Al Feldstein. Since this new title also used Kurtzman's core trio of artists (Davis, Elder, Wood), the peeved editor felt that Panic sapped and diminished the creative energy necessary to meet Mad's production schedule.

With issue 24 (July, 1955), Mad switched to a magazine format. The "extremely important message" was "Please buy this magazine!"

In 1955, with issue 24, the comic book was converted into a magazine. The popular myth is that this was done to escape the strictures of the Comics Code Authority, which was imposed in 1955 following United States Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency. Actually, Kurtzman received a lucrative offer from the publisher of Pageant and only stayed when Gaines agreed to convert Mad to a similarly "slick" magazine. The immediate practical result was that Mad acquired a broader range in both subject matter and presentation. Magazines had wider distribution than comic books, and a more adult readership.

In a creative showdown, Kurtzman insisted upon a 51% share in the company; when Gaines rejected the demand, EC was without its creative dynamo and Kurtzman was without the magazine that crystallized his talents. Al Feldstein returned to EC, and oversaw Mad during its greatest heights of circulation. Taking over with issue #29, Feldstein set to work assembling a phalanx of talented humor writers and cartoonists. Feldstein's first issue as editor coincided with the debut of Don Martin; crucial longterm contributors like prolific writer Frank Jacobs and star caricaturist Mort Drucker quickly followed. Before the classic Mad staff was assembled, Feldstein also relied on celebrity guest contributions to attract attention and fill pages. Some of these pieces, attributed to Bob and Ray, were actually the work of their main writer Tom Koch, who would flourish in Mad for decades. By the early 1960s, with notables such as Antonio Prohias and Dave Berg well in hand, editor Feldstein had fully established the format that was a commercial success for decades.

Al Feldstein joined Mad in the same year that Time described it as a "short-lived satirical pulp." By the time he left, 28 years later, the magazine was commonly cited as one of the three greatest publishing successes of the 1950s, along with Playboy and TV Guide. The magazine's circulation more than quadrupled during Feldstein's tenure, peaking at 2,132,655 in 1974, although it declined to a third of this figure by the end of his time as editor.
When Feldstein retired in 1984, he was replaced by the team of Nick Meglin and John Ficarra, who co-edited Mad for the next two decades. Meglin retired in 2004. Ficarra continues to edit the magazine today.

“What Me Worry?”
The image most closely associated with the magazine is that of Alfred E. Neuman, the boy with misaligned eyes, a gap-toothed smile and the perennial question "What, me worry?" Mad first used the boy's face in November, 1954, on the cover of the comic book's first reprint collection, the Ballantine paperback titled The Mad Reader. He appeared for the first time, unnoticed, on a Mad cover with issue #21 (January, 1955). From #24 through #30, Neuman was a part of the ornate border design on each cover. However, his first iconic appearance -- full-sized, identified, and sporting his "What, me worry?" motto -- was as a supposed write-in candidate for the 1956 Presidential election on the cover of issue #30.

The original image of an unnamed boy with a goofy gap-toothed grin was a popular humorous graphic for many decades before Mad adopted it. It had been used for all manner of purposes, from U.S. political campaigns to Nazi racial propaganda to advertisements for painless dentistry. Decades ago, the magazine was sued over the copyright to the image, but prevailed by producing similar ones predating the claimant's, dating back to the late 19th century.

Harvey Kurtzman first spotted the image on a postcard pinned to the bulletin board of Ballantine Books' editor. "It was a face that didn't have a care in the world, except mischief," recalled Kurtzman. The name "Alfred E. Neuman" was derived from the 1940s radio show of comedian Henry Morgan which included a running gag trumpeting the imminent arrival of Hollywood composer Alfred Newman, which was supposed to create intense excitement, after which Newman would appear for mere seconds, then vanish. According to Kurtzman, Morgan used "the name Alfred Newman for an innocuous character that you'd forget in five minutes." Later, Morgan was a contributor to Mad.

The boy's face is now permanently associated with Mad. With the "What, me worry?" motto, Neuman has often appeared in political cartoons as a shorthand for unquestioning stupidity.

What will happened...

2007-07-29T11:11:00.002+08:00

What will happened if you put an egg, jelly beans, tomato, pineapple, catsup sachets (?) and a deodorant (?) in a microwave oven. OK KIDS DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Just watch it in the convenience of the Internet.

You want to know? Watch it here.

BTW, the microwave oven was invented as a by-product of WWII accidentaly by Percy Spencer, while working for the Raytheon Company.

Raytheon set out to make the first microwave oven. Since the magnetrons were used to make radars, they gave it the name Radar Range.

Robert Hall invented the magnetron that operates most microwave ovens, today.

In 1952, Tappan introduced the first home model at the very low price of just $1295!

How to Commit the Perfect Murder

2007-07-24T19:33:00.001+08:00

Modern forensic science should make it impossible to commit murder and get away with it.

But how easy would it be to outfox the detectives?

The first "blogger"

2007-07-17T17:21:00.001+08:00

The first blogger — regarded by many to be Jorn Barger — began his business of hunting and gathering links to items that tickled his fancy, to which he appended some of his own commentary.

On Dec. 23, 1997, Mr. Barger wrote: “I decided to start my own webpage logging the best stuff I find as I surf, on a daily basis,” and the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as the primordial root of the word “weblog.”

Paperbacks

2006-09-18T09:41:00.002+08:00

Paperbacks have been around - as early as the 17th Century in France and Germany. In the English-speaking world, James Fenimore Cooper was writing frontier stories published in paperback-like format as far back as 1823, soon to be followed by a host of imitators. These were precursors of the tabloid "story papers", like Brother Jonathan Weekly, in the 1840s. The introduction of the steam rotary press enabled these to be produced cheaply in large numbers, and the emerging railroad network provided a convenient means of distribution. Probably the first true mass-market paperback, though, was the so-called "Dime Novel", which sprang into being in the 1860s.

The first bona fide mass-market paperback in the English speaking world is said to be Malaeska, by Mrs Ann S Stephens, which was published in June 1860 by the pioneers of the Dime Novel, Erastus and Irwin Beadle.

Penguin is the first really "respectable" paperback imprint in 1935. Allen Lane, Chairman of The Bodley Head, a London publisher introduced the Penguin imprint on July 30, 1935.

The first 10 title's Penguin produce were:
1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
2. Madame Claire by Susan Ertz
3. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
4. Poets Pub by Eric Linklater
5. Carnival by Compton Mackenzie
6. Ariel by Andre Maurois
7. Twenty-Five by Beverly Nichols
8. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
9. Gone to Earth by Mary Webb
10. William by E.H. Young

The first respectable mass market paperback in the US was The Good Earth, a novel by Pearl S. Buck, first published in 1931, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1932. It is the first book in a trilogy that includes the books Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935)and was published by Pocket Books in November, 1938.

50 Years of Hard Drives

2006-09-14T09:41:00.001+08:00

Rex Farrance, PC World

1956: IBM ships the first hard drive, the RAMAC 305, which holds 5MB of data at $10,000 a megabyte. It is as big as two refrigerators and uses 50 24-inch platters. (For the full story and interviews with key players, read "The Hard Drive Turns 50.")

1961: IBM invents heads for disk drives that "fly" on a cushion of air or on "air bearings."

1963: IBM comes up with the first removable hard drive, the 1311, which has six 14-inch platters and holds 2.6MB.

1966: IBM introduces the first drive using a wound-coil ferrite recording head.

1970: General Digital Corporation (renamed Western Digital in 1971) is founded in California.

1973: IBM announces the 3340, the first modern "Winchester" hard drive, which has a sealed assembly, lubricated spindles, and low-mass heads.

1978: First RAID (Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks) technology patent is filed. (Read "How to Buy a Hard Drive: Key Features" for a description of this technology.)

1979: A group headed by Al Shugart founds disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology.

1979: IBM's 3370 uses seven 14-inch platters to store 571MB, the first drive to use thin-film heads.

1979: IBM's 62 PC, "Piccolo," uses six 8-inch platters to store 64MB.

1979: Seagate introduces the ST-506 drive and interface, which is then used in all early microcomputer implementations.

1980: IBM introduces the first gigabyte hard drive. It is the size of a refrigerator, weighs about 550 pounds, and costs $40,000.

1980: Seagate releases the first 5.25-inch hard disk.

1981: Shugart Associates joins NCR to develop an intelligent disk drive interface called the Shugart Associates Systems Interface (SASI), a predecessor to SCSI (Small Computer System Interface).

1982: Western Digital announces the first single-chip Winchester hard drive controller (WD1010).

1983: Rodime releases the first 3.5-inch hard drive; the RO352 includes two platters and stores 10MB.

1984: Western Digital makes the first Winchester hard drive controller card for the IBM PC/AT--and sets an industry standard.

1985: Control Data, Compaq Computer, and Western Digital collaborate to develop the 40-pin IDE interface. IDE stands for Intelligent Drive Electronics, more commonly known as Integrated Drive Electronics.

1985: Imprimis integrates the first hard drive controller into a drive.

1985: Quantum introduces the Plus Hardcard, which allows the addition of a hard drive without an available bay or a separate controller card.

1985: Western Digital produces the first ESDI (Enhanced Small Device Interface) controller board, which allows larger capacity and faster hard drives to be used in PCs.

1986: The official SCSI spec is released; Apple Computer's Mac Plus is one of the first computers to use it.

1988: Prairie Tek releases the 220, the first 2.5-inch hard drive designed for the burgeoning notebook computer market; it uses two platters to store 20MB.

1988: Connor introduces the first 1-inch-high 3.5-inch hard drive, which is still the common form factor. Before this, hard drives were either full height or half-height.

1988: Western Digital buys the disk-drive assets of Tandon Corporation with an eye to manufacturing IDE drives.

1990: Western Digital introduces its first 3.5-inch Caviar IDE hard drive.

1991: IBM introduces the 0663 Corsair, the first disk drive with thin film magnetoresistive (MR) heads. It has eight 3.5-inch platters and stores 1GB. (The MR head was first introduced on an IBM tape drive in 1984.)

1991: Integral Peripherals' 1820 Mustang uses one 1.8-inch platter to store 21MB.

1992: Seagate comes out with the first shock-sensing 2.5-inch hard drive.

1992: Seagate is first to market with a 7200-revolutions-per-minute hard drive, the 2.1GB Barracuda.

1992: Hewlett-Packard's C3013A Kitty Hawk drive uses two 1.3-inch platters to store 2.1GB.

1994: Western Digital develops Enhanced IDE, an improved hard drive interface that breaks the 528MB-throughput barrier. EIDE also allows for attachment of optical and tape drives.

1996: IBM stores 1 billion bits per square inch on a platter.

1996: Seagate introduces its Cheetah family, the first 10,000-rpm hard drives.

1997: IBM introduces the first drive using giant magneto resistive (GMR) heads, the 16.8GB Deskstar 16GP Titan, which stores 16.8GB on five 3.5-inch platters.

1998: IBM announces its Microdrive, the smallest hard drive to date. It fits 340MB on a single 1-inch platter.

2000: Maxtor buys competitor Quantum's hard drive business. At the time, Quantum is the number-two drive maker, behind Seagate; this acquisition makes Maxtor the world's largest hard drive manufacturer.

2000: Seagate produces the first 15,000-rpm hard drive, the Cheetah X15.

2002: Seagate scores another first with the Barracuda ATA V Serial ATA hard drive.

2002: A demonstration by Seagate yields a perpendicular magnetic recording areal density of 100 gigabits per square inch.

2002: Among its many 2002 technology accomplishments, Seagate successfully demos Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording. HAMR records magnetically using laser-thermal assistance and ultimately aims to increase areal density by more than 100 times over 2002 levels.

2003: IBM sells its Data Storage Division to Hitachi, thus ending its involvement in developing and marketing disk drive technology.

2003: Western Digital introduces the first 10,000-rpm SATA hard drive, the 37GB Raptor, which is designed for the enterprise, but which gamers quickly learn is a hot desktop performer in dual-drive RAID setups.

2004: The first 0.85-inch hard drive, Toshiba's MK2001MTN, debuts. It stores 2GB on a single platter.

2005: Toshiba introduces its MK4007 GAL, which stores 40GB on one 1.8-inch platter, fielding the first hard drive using perpendicular magnetic recording.

2006: Seagate completes the acquisition of Maxtor, further narrowing the field of hard drive manufacturers.

2006: Seagate's Momentus 5400.3 notebook hard drive is the first 2.5-inch model to use perpendicular magnetic recording, which boosts its capacity up to 160GB.

2006: Seagate releases the Barracuda 7200.10, at 750GB the largest hard drive to date.

2006: Western Digital launches its 10,000-rpm Raptor X SATA hard drive, boosting its capacity to 150GB and placing a flashy transparent window that allows specially designed computer cases to showcase its inner workings.

2006: Cornice and Seagate each announce a 1-inch hard drive that holds 12GB. The drives are slated to ship in the third quarter of 2006.

Calibrated preemptive response (CPR)

2006-04-05T09:32:00.001+08:00

Question: Is that a law enacted by congress or an executive order
by PGMA?

Answer: Calibrated preemptive response (CPR) is not a law enacted by
the congress nor an executive order. It is a systematic strategy to
gradually increase the use of force even ahead of a demostration or
rally. According to Malacanang, CPR is consistent with the "no
permit, no rally" rule under Batas Pambansa Blg. 880 [also known as
the "Public Assembly Act of 1985"] issued by former Pres. Ferdinand
Marcos to govern rallies and other mass actions during martial law.
There's no presidential or executive issuance covering the CPR, which
is one of the arguments in a petition assailing the CPR filed with
the Supreme Court.

According to those that defend CRP, Malacanang adopted it as a policy
that occupies the same conceptual bench as George W. Bush's doctrine
of "preemptive defense" against international terrorism. CPR is the
means employed to carry out the "no permit, no rally" policy adopted
by the government in the face of the continuing street
demonstrations. The standards set for public officials is the "clear
and present danger" rule which means that if there is a "grave and
imminent danger of a serious evil to public safety, public morals,
public health or any other legitimate public interest, the exercise
of this freedom will be curtailed.

We lost him...

2006-01-28T09:31:00.001+08:00

Condolence to the Baron Family. We will missed Mang Ernie.

Broadcaster Ernie Baron dies

First posted 12:42pm (Mla time) Jan 23, 2006
INQ7.net, GMA7

POPULAR radio and television broadcaster Ernie Baron died Monday morning from a heart attack, GMA Network radio station dzBB reported. He was 65.

The report said Baron was declared dead on arrival at the Muntinlupa Medical Center where he was brought by family members.

Doctors at the hospital were quoted as saying that Baron's heart attack was caused by complications from his diabetes.

The Day the Rebel Died.

2005-11-19T09:41:00.001+08:00

James Dean was little more than a boy when he died, killed at twenty-four on the highway near Paso Robles, California, on September 30, 1955, while on his way to a sports car meet. At the time of his death, Dean had completed three movies, East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant, only the first of which had been released.

Pinoy Ako

2005-11-17T10:12:00.001+08:00

Pinoy Ako
Orange & Lemons

Lahat tayo mayroon pagkakaiba madalang makikita na
Ibat ibang kagustuhan ngunit iisang patutunguhan
Gabay at pagmamahal ang hanap ko
Pagbibigay ng halaga sa iyo
Nais mong ipakilala kung sino ka man talaga?

Chorus:
Pinoy ikaw pinoy
Ipakita sa mundo
Kung ano ang kaya mundo
Ibang-iba pinoy
Wag kang matatakot
Ipagmalaki mo pinoy ako
Pinoy tayo

Ipakita mo ang tunay at sino ka?
Mayroon masasama at maganda
Wala naman perpekto
Basta magpakatotoo oohh...oohh..
Gabay at pagmamahal ang hanap mo
Pagbibigay ng halaga sa iyo
Nais mong ipakilala kung sino ka man talaga?

(repeat chorus)

Talagang ganyan ang buhay
Dapat ka nang masanay
Wala rin mangyayari
Kung laging nakikibagay
Ipakilala ang iyong sarili
Ano man sa iyo mangyayari
Ang lagi mong iisipin
Kayang kayang gawin

(repeat chorus)

SEE:

Pinoy Big Brother Theme a rip-off from The Cares?

Pazuzu

2005-11-16T09:29:00.001+08:00

Cuzco

2005-11-16T09:27:00.001+08:00

Note: Character is from the Disney Animated film "The Emperor's New Grove"

Templar Knights

2005-11-16T09:25:00.001+08:00

Taj Mahal

2005-11-16T09:20:00.001+08:00

The Taj Majal stands on a raised, square platform (186 x 186 feet) with its four corners truncated, forming an unequal octagon. The architectural design uses the interlocking arabesque concept, in which each element stands on its own and perfectly integrates with the main structure. It uses the principles of self-replicating geometry and symmetry of architectural elements.

Its central dome is fifty-eight feet in diameter and rises to a height of 213 feet. It is flanked by four subsidiary domed chambers. The four graceful, slender minarets are 162.5 feet each. The entire mausoleum (inside as well as outside) is decorated with inlaid design of flowers and calligraphy using precious gems such as agate and jasper. The main archways, chiseled with passages from the Holy Qur’an and the bold scroll work of flowery pattern, give a captivating charm to its beauty. The central domed chamber and four adjoining chambers include many walls and panels of Islamic decoration.

The mausoleum is a part of a vast complex comprising of a main gateway, an elaborate garden, a mosque (to the left), a guest house (to the right), and several other palatial buildings. The Taj is at the farthest end of this complex, with the river Jamuna behind it. The large garden contains four reflecting pools dividing it at the center. Each of these four sections is further subdivided into four sections and then each into yet another four sections. Like the Taj, the garden elements serve like Arabesque, standing on their own and also constituting the whole.
In 1612, Arjumand Banu Begam, better known by her other name , Mumtaz Mahal was married to Shah Jehan (then Prince Khurram), the fifth mughal emperor.

She bore him fourteen children, and died in childbed in 1630 (only three years after his accession to the throne) in Burhanpur in the Deccan where she had come with him on a military campaign. Overwhelmed by grief, Shah Jehan was determined to perpetuate her memory for immortality and decided to erect his beloved wife the finest sepulcher ever - a monument of eternal love.

It was Shah Jehan's everlasting love for Mumtaz that led to the beginning of the Taj Mahal. After twenty-two laborious years, and the combined endeavor of over twenty thousand workmen and master craftsmen, the complex was finally finished in 1648 on the banks on the river Yamuna in Agra, the capital of mughal monarchs.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

2005-10-12T09:35:00.001+08:00

Your Hair Should Be Purple

Intense, thoughtful, and unconventional.
You're always philosophizing and inspiring others with your insights.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Purple hair??? Will I look good with purple locks?

What does "pezzonovante" mean?

2005-09-29T08:51:00.002+08:00

pezzonavante means "the man who pulls the strings" or a "Big Shot."

Taken from the movie "The Godfather"

I never wanted this for you. ... I thought that when it was your time that you would be the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone. Governor Corleone. Somethin'. - Vito Corleone

Guinataan con America

2005-09-28T08:30:00.001+08:00

Taal Volcano

2005-09-19T08:52:00.001+08:00

Taal Volcano is located on the island Luzon, about 60 km SSE of the Philippines' captial Manila. It has been selected as one of 15 Decade Volcanoes.

It has made thirty three eruptions since 1572 at Taal, mostly on Volcano Island. The impacts of these eruptions were largely confined to the intracaldera area. Occasional violent activity, however, such as the 1754 plinian eruption, affected the entire region, including what is now the Metro Manila area with fallout. Some activity, such as the 1749 eruption, were accompanied by crustal disturbance and strong earthquakes, which generated ground fissures and pronounced subsidence that extended across Taal lake.

PHYSICAL FEATURES
Elevation: 0.311 km
Type of Volcano: Tuff cone
Crater Lakes/Caldera/Maars:
MAIN CRATER LAKE - 1.9 km in diameter; blue-green in color, 4 m above sea level, deepest point: 76 m
Taal Volcano Island has 47 craters and 4 maars
TAAL CALDERA - 25 km across and formed between 140,000 to 5,380 BP
TAAL LAKE - inside the caldera; 267 sq. km and 2 m above sea level
Adjacent Volcanic Edifice: Makiling (NE) Malepunyo (E), Batulao (W) and Macolod (SE)

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES
Rock Type: Olivine basalt, Andesite
Tectonic Setting: Macolod Corridor
Age of Deposits: 5380+_ 170 ybp (Radiocarbon age, Listanco, 1994)

VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
Number of Historical Eruptions: 33
Latest Eruption/Activity: 1977 Oct. 3
Eruption Type:
1. Phreatic (e.g. 1878, 1911, 1970)
2. Phreatomagmatic (e.g. 1749, 1965, 1966)
3. Strombolian (e.g. 1968, 1969)
4. Plinian (e.g. 1754)

Sea Water

2005-09-19T08:41:00.005+08:00

How many oceans are on Earth?

Earth is covered by one hydrosphere or one layer of connecting water. Even though the ocean is broken up into seven ocean parts, all the oceans are connected, one flowing into the other.

How many gallons of water are in the oceans?

There are 328 million cubic miles, or 3.612 x 10 20 gallons (361,200,000,000,000,000,000 gallons) of sea water in the ocean. If all that water were piled on top of the United States the land would be submerged under 88.2 miles of water. If the same amount of sea water was to be piled up onto all of the available land above sea level on this planet, the land would be 5.7 miles below the water's surface.

New Filipino words

2005-08-21T08:09:00.002+08:00

1. BAKTOL - ang ikatlong lebel ng mabahong amoy sa kili-kili. Ang baktol ay kapareho ng amoy ng nabubulok na bayabas. Ito'y dumidikit sa damit at humahalo sa pawis. Madalas itong naaamoy tuwing registration sa mga pamantasan at kolehiyo, sa elevator o sa FX taxi.
Ex. Put*&%$^#! Sinong nangangamoy BAKTOL sa inyo?!"

2. KUKURIKAPU - libag sa ilalim ng boobs. Madalas na namumuo dahil sa labis na baby powder na inilalagay sa katawan. Maaari ring mamuo kung hindi talaga naliligo o naghihilod ang isang babae. Ang KUKURIKAPU ay mas madalas mamuo sa mga babaeng malalaki ang s**o.
Ex. "Honey, maligo ka na para maalis 'yang KUKURIKAPU mo.

3. MULMUL - buhok sa gitna ng isang nunal. Mahirap ipaliwanag kung bakit nagkakaroon ng MULMUL ang isang nunal. Subalit hindi talaga ito naaalis, kahit na bunutin pa ito. Maliban na lamang kung ipapa-laser ito.
Ex. "How nice naman your MULMUL! Nakakakiliti.

4. BURNIK - taeng sumabit sa buhok sa puwet. Madalas itong nararanasan ng mga taong nagti-tissue lamang pagkatapos tumae. Ang BURNIK ay mahirap alisin, lalo na kapag natuyo na ito. Ipinapayo sa mga may BURNIK na maligo na lamang upang ito'y maalis.
Ex. "Labs, alam ko kung anong kinain mo kanina!

5. ALPOMBRA - kasuotan sa paa na kadalasang makikitang suot ng mga tindero ng yosi sa Quiapo at Divisoria. Ito'y may makipot na suotan ng paa at manipis na suwelas. Mistulang sandalyas ito ng babae pero kadalasang suot ng mga lalaki. Available in blue, red, green, etc.

6. BAKOKANG - higanteng peklat. Ito'y madalas na dulot ng mga sugat na malaki na hindi ginamitan ng sebo de macho habang natutuyo. Imbes na normal na balat ang nakatakip sa bakokang, ito'y mayroong makintab na takip.

7. AGIHAP - libag na dumikit sa panty o brief. Nabubuo ang AGIHAP kung ang panty o brief ay suot-suot na nang hindi bumababa sa tatlong araw.

8. DUKIT - ito ang amoy na nakukuha kung isinabit mo ang iyong daliri sa iyong puwit o sa puwit ng iba...try it to prove it. That's DUKIT.

9. SPONGKLONG - ito'y isang bagong wika na nangangahulugan sa isang estupidong tao.
Ex. "Buti naman at bumaba na sa puwesto ang spongklong nating Presidente."

10. LAPONGGA - ito'y kahintulad sa laplapan o kaya sa lamasan.
Ex. "Hoy Utoy, bakit ba ang hilig mo sa mga sineng puro lapongga lang ang palabas?"

11. WENEKLEK - ito ang buhok sa utong na kadalasang nakikita sa mga tambay sa kanto na laging nakahubad. Meron din ang babae nito.
Ex. "Inay! Si Itay, sinaksak yung kapitbahay natin kasi hinila 'yong weneklek niya!"

12. BAKTUNG - pinaikling salita ng BAKAT-UTONG.
Ex. "Uy Arnold, tingnan mo si Ma'am, baktung na naman!"

13. BAKTI - bakat panty.

14. ASOGUE - buhok sa kilikili.

15. BARNAKOL - maitim na libag sa batok na naipon sa matagal na panahon.

16. BULTOKACHI - tubig na tumatalsik sa puwet kapag nalalaglag ang isang malaking ebak.

17. BUTUYTUY - e**** ng bata.

18. JABARR - pawis ng katawan.

19. KALAMANTUTAY - mabahong pangalan.

20. McARTHUR - taeng bumabalik after mong i-flush.

Sana po ay nakatulong ng malaki sa inyo ang aking research. Tulad ng sinabi ko, mahabang panahon ang aking ginugol (mga 10 minutes nga!) sa pagsasaliksik ng mga nasabing impormasyon. Hanggang sa muli. Magandang araw po sa inyong lahat.

Interested of knowing what "baktol", "mulmul" and other new Filipino terms means? Visit triviero and learn more.

Enroll na!!!

2005-08-21T08:01:00.001+08:00

Magdalena Institute of Science and Technology
Bachelor of Science Major in Prostitution (BSMP)

Syllabus and Object List
Daily lectures will consist of Part 1, 9:40-10:40; Part 2, 10:50 to 11:45; each week, the second hour on Thursday will usually be the required demonstration section.

First year
Subjects
I. Introduction to the art of Prostitution
II. Anatomy and Physiology of the Human reproductive system
II. Basic Negotiation (Client-Prostitute Centered)
I.V. Etiquette 101
V. history of Asian Prostitution

Second Year
Subjects
I. Sexual Psychology
II. Elective subjects (French, Spanish, Niponggo, Portuguese)
III. Political Science
IV. Physical Education ( Fencing, Squash, Yachting, Horse Backriding, Bingo Social)
v. Penal Law and police negotiation
VI. Scientific Perspectives on Sex and Gender*
* Course Description:This interdisciplinary course is intended to teach students how to evaluate critically the theoretical and methodological assumptions as well as the research claims advanced by various psychologists, anthropologists and biologists with respect to sex and gender. It satisfies part of the introductory requirements for the Specialist, Major and Minor programs in Women's Studies. Enrolment is open. The class will be divided for tutorials which are required.

Third Year
Subjects:
I. Kama Sutra w/ 4 Wks. RLE( Relatated Learning Experince)*
II. Advanced Negotiation ( Client-Prositute Centered)
III. Prostitution 105 (Theoeretical Constructs and Therapy Method)
IV. Psychology of Personality
V. Social Dance and Aesthetics

Fourth Year
Subjects
I. Sex Problems and Therapy w/ 4 wks. related learning experience (RLE)*
II. Holistic Sex Therapy
III. Yoga
IV. Advance Kama Sutra and Modern Sex Methods
V. Prostitution and organization
VI. Advertising
RLE: Students are exposed to different Red light Districts all over the Philippines
International red Light district immersions are also required.

For inquiries, visit my friend Alexi's blog for more information: @ where ends meet

Blog For Hope

2005-08-17T17:24:00.001+08:00

Yahoo! and the American Cancer Society are breaking new ground in an effort to connect individuals in the fight against cancer. In a 30-day Blog for Hope event on Yahoo! Health, celebrities from every walk of public life will share the triumphs, insights, and personal stories of how cancer has affected their lives. Join these bloggers and millions of blog readers around the world as we unite to raise awareness and bring an end to cancer.

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Wag nyo ring kakalimutan ang

ciao!

Hollywood sign

2005-08-17T15:02:00.001+08:00

The famous Hollywood sign in Mount Lee originally read "Hollywoodland." It was erected in 1923 to advertise a new housing development in the hills above Hollywood.

When it was new the Hollywoodland sign was lit up at night by thousands of light bulbs, taken care of by a man who lived in cabin behind one of the L's.

For several years the sign was left to deteriorate. In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce stepped in and offered to remove the last four letters and repair the rest.

The sign is now a registered trademark and cannot be used without the permission of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which also manages the venerable Walk of Fame.

Nagasaki

2005-08-09T11:00:00.001+08:00

The combat configuration for the implosion bomb (the Model 1561) basically consisted of the Gadget device encapsulated in a steel armor egg. The two steel half-ellipsoids were bolted to the dural equatorial band of the explosive assembly, with the necessary X-Unit, batteries, and fuzing and firing electronics located in the front and aft shell.

For use in combat, each Fat Man bomb required assembly almost from scratch - a demanding and time consuming job. Assembly of a Fat Man bomb was (and may still be) the most complex field preparation operation for any weapon ever made.

Like Little Boy, Fat Man was fuzed by four radar units called "Archies", the antennas for which were mounted on the tail of the bomb. Developed originally as fighter tail warning systems, these units measured the bomb's height above the ground and were set to detonate at a pre-calculated altitude (set to 1850 ft, +/- 100 ft). A barometric switch acted as a "fail-safe", preventing detonation until the bomb had fallen below 7000'.Fat Man

Fat Man was 60 inches in diameter, was 12 feet long, and weighed 10,300 lb.

The Fat Man plutonium core, and its initiator, left Kirtland Air Force Base, for Tinian Island on July 26, 1945 in a C-54 transport plane. It arrived on Tinian on July 28. Also on July 28, three specially-modified B-29s flew from Kirtland Field carrying three Fat Man bomb assemblies, including units F-31 and F-32, each encased in an outer ballistic shell. These arrived at Tinian on August 2, the first Fat Man units to do so. The bombing date was set for August 11 at this time, with Kokura as the target.

Assembly of practice (non-nuclear) weapons began shortly afterward, with the first completed bomb (Fat Man unit F33) ready on Aug. 5.

On August 7 a forecast of 5 days of bad weather around the 11th moved the bombing date up to August 10, then to August 9. This compressed the bomb assembly schedule so much that many check-out procedures had to be skipped during assembly. On August 8 the assembly of Fat Man unit F31, with the plutonium core, was completed in the early morning.

At 2200, Fat Man was loaded on the B-29 "Bock's Car".August 9, 1945 -* 0347, Bock's Car takes off from Tinian, the target of choice is Kokura Arsenal. Charles Sweeney is pilot. [back row (L-R)] Captain Beahan, Captain Van Pelt, Jr., First Lt. Albury, Second Lt. Olivi, Major Sweeney

Staff Sgt. Buckley, Master Sgt. Kuharek, Sgt. Gallagher, Staff Sgt. DeHart, Sgt. Spitzer

Soon after takeoff he discovers that the fuel system will not pump from the 600 gallon reserve tank.* 1044, Bock's Car arrives at Kokura but finds it covered by haze, the aimpoint cannot be seen. Flak and fighters appear, forcing the plane to stop searching. Sweeney turns toward Nagasaki, the only secondary target in range.*

Upon arriving at Nagasaki, Bock's Car has enough fuel for only one pass over the city even with an emergency landing at Okinawa. Nagasaki is covered with clouds, but one gap allows a drop several miles from the intended aimpoint.* 11:02 (Nagasaki time) Fat Man explodes at 1650 +/- 33 feet (503 m) near the perimeter of the city with a yield of 22+/-2 kt. Due to the hilly terrain around ground zero, five shock waves were felt in the aircraft (the initial shock, and four reflections).

Although Fat Man fell on the border of an uninhabited area, the eventual casualties still exceeded 70,000. Also ground zero turned out to be the Mitsubishi Arms Manufacturing Plant, the major military target in Nagasaki. It was utterly destroyed.

On 9 August 1945, the primary target for the second atomic bomb attack was the nearby city of Kokura, but the bomber pilot found it to be covered in cloud. The industrial areas outside Nagasaki were the secondary target and so, despite a far more powerful bomb, the devastation visited upon Nagasaki was less severe than that experienced by Hiroshima. At 11:02 a.m., the bomb exploded directly above the suburb of Urakami, the site of Urakami Cathedral, then the largest cathedral in East Asia. The fierce blast wind, heat rays reaching several thousand degrees, and deadly radiation generated by the explosion crushed, burned and killed everything in sight and reduced this entire area to a barren field of rubble.

About one-third of Nagasaki City was destroyed and 150,000 people killed or injured, and it was said at the time that this area would be devoid of vegetation for 75 years.

For more informations:

The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

Hiroshima

2005-08-06T08:13:00.001+08:00

T oday at exactly 8:15 AM, the first used of the atomic bomb happened in Hiroshima 60 years ago.

On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay left the island of Tinian for Hiroshima, Japan. The Target Committee at Los Alamos on May 10-11, 1945, selected in order the following targets: Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokohama, Kokura arsenal, Niigata, and possibly the Emperor's Palace. Hiroshima was chosen as the primary target since it had remained largely untouched by bombing raids, and the bomb's effects could be clearly measured. While President Truman had hoped for a purely military target, some advisers believed that bombing an urban area might break the fighting will of the Japanese people. Hiroshima was a major port and a military headquarters, and therefore a strategic target. Also, visual bombing, rather than radar, would be used so that photographs of the damage could be taken. Since Hiroshima had not been seriously harmed by bombing raids, these photographs could present a fairly clear picture of the bomb's damage. When the Japanese military ignored the Potsdam Declaration’s threat of "prompt and utter destruction," Groves drafted the orders to use the bomb and sent them to General Carl Spaatz, commander of air forces in the Pacific. Upon approval by Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, Secretary of War Stimson and President Truman, the order to drop Little Boy on Hiroshima had officially been given.

Navy Captain William Parsons armed the bomb during the flight. (It had been left unarmed to minimize the risks during takeoff.) In every detail, the attack was carried out exactly as planned, and the bomb, with a 60 kg core of uranium-235, performed precisely as expected.

About an hour before the bombing, the Japanese early warning radar net detected the approach of some American aircraft headed for the southern part of Japan. The alert had been given and radio broadcasting stopped in many cities, among them Hiroshima. The planes approached the coast at a very high altitude. At nearly 08:00, the radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of planes coming in was very small—probably not more than three—and the air raid alert was lifted. The normal radio broadcast warning was given to the people that it might be advisable to go to shelter if B-29s were actually sighted, but no raid was expected beyond some sort of reconnaissance. At 08:15, the B-29 Enola Gay, piloted and commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped the nuclear bomb called "Little Boy" over the central part of the city and it exploded about two thousand feet above the city with a blast equivalent to 13 thousand tons of TNT.

The population of the city of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 380,000 people earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased due to a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the atomic bombing attack the population of Hiroshima was approximately 255,000.

The atomic bomb called "Little Boy" was dropped over the central part of the city and the bomb exploded with a blast equivalent to 12,000 tons of TNT, killing 80,000 people outright.
By the end of 1945, an estimated 60,000 more people died due to nuclear fallout sickness. However, this total does not include longer term casualties from radiation exposure.

"Little Boy" is the nick name given to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. It was Monday morning. Little Boy was dropped from the Enola Gay, one of the B-29 bombers that flew over Hiroshima on that day. After being released, it took about a minute for Little Boy to reach the point of explosion. Little Boy exploded at approximately 8:15 a.m. (Japan Standard Time) when it reached an altitude of 2,000 ft above the building that is today called the "A-Bomb Dome."

CREW:Col. Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr., 509th Group CO and pilot
Capt. Robert A. Lewis, co-pilot
Lt. Jacob Beser, radar countermeasure officer

Left to Right,
Standing: Lt. Col. John Porter, ground maintenance officer; Capt. Theodore J. Van Kirk, navigator; Maj. Thomas W. Ferebee, bombardier; Col. Paul Tibbets, pilot and commander of 509th Group; Capt. Robert A. Lewis, copilot; and Lt. Jacob Beser, radar countermeasure officer.
Kneeling:

Sgt. Joseph Stiborik, radar operator; SSgt. George R Caron, tail gunner; Pfc. Richard H Nelson, radio operator; Sgt. Robert H. Shumard, assistant engineer; and SSgt Wyatt Duzenbury, flight engineer. Col. Porter was not on the aircraft during the flight.

The ruins around the Industrial Promotion Hall, now known as the Atomic Bomb Dome.

A frame of a streetcar, 885 feet (270 meters) east of the hypocenter. The buildings in the distance from left to right, are the Kirin beer hall, a construction company, and a bank.

The watch that tells the time the world ended at Hiroshima.

Akio Tsukuda (13 at the time) was engaged in fire prevention work about 800 meters from the hypocenter. His father found his school uniform hanging on a granch of a tree on August 8, 1945. His body was not found.

For more info, see the following sites:

A-Bomb WWW Museum

Atomic Bomb Decision

The Official Homepage of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

EAT YOUR HEART OUT TERMINATOR!!!!

2005-08-05T15:58:00.001+08:00

How many island does the Philippines have?

2005-08-04T17:41:00.001+08:00

Teacher: How many island does the Philippines have?
Carlo: High Tide or low tide?

The Philippines is composed of 7,107 islands and islets (7,108 at low tide).

What is... the capital of.... Zimbabwe? Yes Carlo?

2005-08-04T17:33:00.001+08:00

Teacher: What is... the capital of.... Zimbabwe? Yes Carlo?
Carlo: Harare is the capital and largest city of Zimbabwe.

The city is Zimbabwe's largest and its administrative, commercial, and communications center. It is a trade centre for tobacco, maize, cotton, and citrus fruits. Manufactures include textiles, steel, and chemicals. Gold is mined in the area. Harare is located at 17°51'50" South, 31°1'47" East (-17.863889, 31.029722).

The city was founded in 1890 as a fort by the Pioneer Column, a mercenary force organized by Cecil Rhodes. The city was originally named Salisbury after the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, then British prime minister. It became a city in 1935. Salisbury was the capital of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1953 to 1963.

The name of the city was changed to Harare on April 18th, 1982, the second anniversary of Zimbabwean independence, taking its name from the Shona chieftain Neharawa. Some suburbs of the city have, however, retained their European names, such as Warren Park 'D', Borrowdale, Mount Pleasant, Tynwald, Rotten Row and Rietfontein.

Harare is famous for its beautiful jacaranda-lined streets, especially in the low density "Avenues" suburbs to the immediate north of the city centre.

The First British Paparazzo

2005-08-04T17:21:00.001+08:00

In 1964, Ray Bellisario became the first British paparazzo, and was dubbed The Peeping Tom by the press. He sold photographs of Princess Margaret in a swimsuit to the Sunday Express, which published them. The British monarchy instructed editors not to buy Bellisario's photos, and they agreed.

Plutonium

2005-08-03T23:25:00.001+08:00

Plutonium - first weighed on August 20th, 1942, by University of Chicago scientists Glenn Seaborg and his colleagues - was the first man-made element.

Broughton's Rule in Boxing

2005-08-01T11:48:00.001+08:00

The death of George Stevenson during a boxing fight against Jack Broughton in 1741 lead to the introduction of Broughton's Rule in 1743.

Broughton's Boxing Rules of 1743

That a square of a yard be chalked in the middle of the stage, and on every fresh set-to after a fall, or being parted from the rails, each Second is to bring his Man to the side of the square, and place him opposite to the other, and till they are fairly set-to at the Lines, it shall not be lawful for one to strike at the other.
That, in order to prevent any Disputes, the time a Man lies after a fall, if the Second does not bring his Man to the side of the square, within the space of half a minute, he shall be deemed a beaten Man.

That in every main Battle, no person whatever shall be upon the Stage, except the Principals and their Seconds, the same rule to be observed in bye-battles, except that in the latter, Mr. Broughton is allowed to be upon the Stage to keep decorum, and to assist Gentlemen in getting to their places, provided always he does not interfere in the Battle; and whoever pretends to infringe these Rules to be turned immediately out of the house. Every body is to quit the Stage as soon as the Champions are stripped, before the set-to.
That no Champion be deemed beaten, unless he fails coming up to the line in the limited time, or that his own Second declares him beaten. No Second is to be allowed to ask his man's Adversary any questions, or advise him to give out.
That in bye-battles, the winning man to have two-thirds of the Money given, which shall be publicly divided upon the Stage, notwithstanding any private agreements to the contrary.
That to prevent Disputes, in every main Battle the Principals shall, on coming on the Stage, choose from among the gentlemen present two Umpires, who shall absolutely decide all Disputes that may arise about the Battle; and if the two Umpires cannot agree, the said Umpires to choose a third, who is to determine it.
That no person is to hit his Adversary when he is down, or seize him by the ham, the breeches, or any part below the waist: a man on his knees to be reckoned down.

As agreed by several Gentlemen at Broughton's Ampitheatre, Tottenham Court Road, August 16, 1743.

Who invented the smiley face?

2005-08-01T11:45:00.002+08:00

Q: Who invented the smiley face?

A: It was the handiwork of an American graphic artist, Harvey Ball. He created it as a morale-boosting button for the employee of State Mutual Insurance Company in 1963.

Do you Yahoo???

2005-07-30T09:32:00.001+08:00

The two founders of Yahoo! are David Filo and Jerry Yang.

Yahoo! first resided on Jerry Yang's student workstation, "Akebono," and the search engine was lodged on David Filo's computer "Konishiki." Just in case you do not know, these are the names of legendary Hawaiian sumo wrestlers.

In early 1995 Marc Andressen, co-founder of Netscape Communications, invited Filo and Yang to move their files over to the larger computers housed at Netscape and "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" was christened Yahoo!

Yahoo! launched a highly-successful IPO in April 1996 with a total of 49 employees.

Yahoo!!!!!!

2005-07-30T09:31:00.001+08:00

The word "Yahoo" was invented by Jonathan Swift for the Travels.

He and his friends used the word among themselves while Swift was writing he book, appearing in their correspondence.

In part IV of the Travels - Houyhnhnm Land, Gulliver initially mistakes the Yahoos for beasts, or cattle, since they are so repulsive in appearance and action. Eventually he concludes they are human, possibly descended from a pair shipwrecked long ago. Once Gulliver determines humans and Yahoos are the same, he begins to call all people "Yahoos."

The First Smiley

2005-07-30T09:09:00.001+08:00

On September 10, 2002 Scott Fahlman introduce to the first time, the use of smiley on CMU CS general bboard and was retrieved by Jeff Baird from an October 1982 backup tape of the spice vax (cmu-750x).

Here is Scott's original post:

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-)
From: Scott E Fahlman
I propose that the following character sequence for joke
markers:
:-)
Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to
mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use
:-(

Reference: The First Smiley :-)

Google

2005-07-30T09:07:00.001+08:00

Larry Page and Sergey Brin begin work on a search engine called BackRub, named for its unique ability to analyze the 'back links' pointing to a given website. The search engine was soon renamed 'Google', and Google Inc. opened its doors on September 7, 1998.

Lapu-Lapu - The First Pilipino to challenge the Spaniards

2005-07-10T20:16:00.001+08:00

Lapu-Lapu (Caliph Pulaka) is the earliest known chieftain of Mactan Island in the Philippines. Being known as the first resident of the archipelago to have resisted colonization by the Spanish, he is now regarded as the first National hero of the Philippines.
On the morning of April 27, 1521, Lapu-Lapu and the men of Mactan, armed with spears and cutlasses, faced 49 Spanish soldiers led by a Portuguese captain named Ferdinand Magellan. In what would later be known as the Battle of Mactan, Magellan and several of his men were killed.

What type of gun did John Wilkes Booth use to assassinate U.S. President Abraham Lincoln?

2005-07-10T20:10:00.001+08:00

On April 14, 1865, during an evening performance of Our American Cousin, John Wilkes Booth entered the State Box where Abraham Lincoln and his wife were watching the play with Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone. Lincoln's bodyguard, a Metropolitan Police Officer named John Parker, had left his post. Booth placed a Derringer pistol in the back of Lincoln's head and fired at point-blank range.

What is the earliest surviving system of laws?

2005-07-10T20:07:00.001+08:00

The Code of Hammurabi is the earliest known example of a ruler publicly proclaiming to his people an entire set of laws, in an orderly arrangement, so that all of men might read and known what was required of them. Hammurabi was a ruler of ancient Babylon, probably from around 1795 B.C. to about 1750 B.C. His code was carved on a black stone monument, in 3,600 lines of cuneiform, standing eight feet high, and obviously intended for public view. This monument was discovered in 1901, not in Babylon, but in the Persian mountains, where it had probably been carried by some triumphant conqueror. It begins and ends with addresses to the gods and curses for anyone who neglects or destroys the law. It then goes on to list an organized code of laws and regulations for society.

What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?

2005-07-10T19:17:00.003+08:00

A "Black Box" color is orange . Originally the name for the flight data recorder in aeroplanes, but now used to refer to onboard data logging systems in other vehicles, such as taxis and private vehicles.

Dr. David Warren of Australia invented the famous "Black Box" flight data recorder in 1953 and was inproduction by 1957.

Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

2005-07-10T19:17:00.002+08:00

It can be found in New Zealand. Chinese gooseberries (Actinidia deliciosa, Actinidia arguta
Actinidiaceae) are fuzzy brown egg-shaped fruit with slightly tart green flesh.

The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?

2005-07-10T19:16:00.003+08:00

The Latin name was Insularia Canaria——Island of the Dogs.

The Canary Islands are an archipelago of seven islands of volcanic origin in the Atlantic Ocean, off the northwestern coast of Africa (Morocco and Western Sahara). The islands belong to Spain, and form an autonomous community of that country. The islands are also claimed by Morocco along with Ceuta and Melilla.

What color is a purple finch?

2005-07-10T19:16:00.002+08:00

Crimson.

A plump, sparrow-sized (5 1/4" to 6 1/4") bird with a deeply notched tail and short conical beak, Purple Finches (Carpodacus purpureus) are named for the raspberry-red color of the males. The raspberry color is deepest on the head, nape, face, throat, breast, flanks, and rump. The hindneck, back, and scapular feathers are deep red streaked with brown. Wings and tail are brown and the belly and undertail coverts are white.

In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

2005-07-10T19:15:00.003+08:00

November - The Russian calendar was 13 days behind ours. In 1709 the calendar (the Julian calendar) was first printed in Russia, more than 127 years after the Gregorian calendar had been introduced in Europe.
In the nineteenth century, because of the almost world-wide acceptance of the Gregorian calendar, the Department of Foreign Affairs used the Gregorian style in its relations with foreign countries; the commerical and naval fleets too were obliged to reckon time according to the Western calendar; and finally sciences, such as astronomy, meterology, etc., which had a world character, were compelled to follow the new system. All this caused considerable complication.

In 1829 the Department of Public Instruction recommended a revision of the calendar to the Academy of Science. The Academy proceeded to petition the government to accept the Gregorian calendar. Prince Lieven, in submitting the plan to Tsar Nicholas I, denounced it as "premature, unnecessary, and likely to produce upheavals, and bewilderment of mind and conscience among the people." He further declared that "the advantage from a reform of this kind will be very small and immaterial, while the inconveniences and difficulties will be unavoidable and great." The Tsar, being apprehensive, wrote on the report: "The comments of Prince Lieven are accurate and just."

From thence onward frequent attempts were made to remove the ban, but to no avail. In 1918, after the Revolution, Lenin raised the question of calendar reform and, after an investigation of the subject, published a decree directing the adoption of the Gregorian style "for the purpose of being in harmony with all the civilized countries of the world."

The adoption of the Gregorian calendar necessitated a cancellation of 13 days, instead of ten days, because in the interval three centurial years had been counted as leap years. Although the government officially accepted the Gregorian calendar, the Russian Eastern Orthodox Church still clung to the earlier and more familiar Julian. This is the reason, for example, that the observance of Christmas, on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar, comes in the Julian calendar on January 7.

---------------------------------------------

The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was the second phase of the Russian Revolution, the first having been instigated by the events around the February Revolution. The October Revolution was led by Bolsheviks under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin and marked the first officially Communist revolution of the twentieth century, based upon the ideas of Karl Marx. The crucial revolutionary activities in Petrograd were under the command of the Petrograd Soviet's Military Revolutionary Committee.
The revolution would culminate in a communist coup against the Russian provisional government, leading to the creation of the Soviet Union.
The prominence to the event was ascribed later. Initially, the event was referred to as October uprising or Uprising of 25th, as seen, for example, in the first editions of Lenin's complete works. With time, the October Revolution was seen as a hugely important global event, the first in a series of events that lay the groundwork for an epic Cold War struggle between the Soviet Union and Western democracies, including the United States.
The Great October Socialist Revolution was the official name for the October Revolution in the Soviet Union since the 10th anniversary celebration of the Revolution in 1927. Today this name is used mainly by Russian Communists.

What is a camel's hair brush made of?

2005-07-10T19:15:00.002+08:00

Squirrel fur - Camel's hair brush is the trade name for brushes made of squirrel, goat, pony, bear, sheep or a blend of the above. They range greatly in softness, quality and cost. Actual camel hair is too woolly for brushes.

Which country makes Panama hats?

2005-07-10T19:14:00.003+08:00

Ecuador - Panama hats are made exclusively in Ecuador and are woven by hand from a plant called the Toquilla. The Panama hat has been worn for centuries with its origins being traced back as far as the 16th Century when the Incas were the first to use the Toquilla plant to produce hats. The hat in fact only became known as the Panama when over a century ago the workers involved in the construction of the Panama Canal used the elegant fibre hats as protection against the burning sun.

From which animal do we get catgut?

2005-07-10T19:14:00.002+08:00

Sheep and Horses - Catgut is the name applied to cord of great toughness and tenacity prepared from the intestines of sheep, or occasionally from those of the horse, mule and ass. Those of the cat are not employed, and therefore it is supposed that the word is properly kitgut ("violin string"), kit meaning "fiddle," and that the present form has arisen through confusion with kit = cat.

The membrane is chemically treated, and slender strands are woven together into cords of great strength, which are used for stringing musical instruments such as the violin and the harp. Roman strings, imported from Italy, are considered the best for musical instruments. Catgut is also used for stringing tennis rackets and for some surgical sutures.

How long did the Hundred Years War last?

2005-07-10T19:13:00.001+08:00

116 years - The Hundred Years' War, a conflict between England and France, actually lasted 116 years. It began in 1337 and ended in 1453, although there were long periods of truce or low-level fighting during that time.

Brave Heart

2005-07-07T17:19:00.001+08:00

William Wallace (c1270 - 1305)

Sir William Wallace of Elerslie is one of Scotland's greatest national heroes, undisputed leader of the Scottish resistance forces during the first years of the long and ultimately successful struggle to free Scotland from English rule at the end of the 13th Century.

The first historical record of Wallace's activities concerns the burning of Lanark by Wallace and 30 men in May, 1297, and the slaying of the English sheriff, one of those whom Edward 'Longshanks' Plantagenet I of England. had installed in his attempt to make good his claim to overlordship of Scotland.

After the burning of Lanark many joined Wallace's forces, and under his leadership a disciplined army was evolved. Wallace marched on Scone and met an English force of more than 50,000 before Stirling Castle in Sept., 1297. The English, trying to cross a narrow bridge over the Forth River, were killed as they crossed, and their army was routed. Wallace crossed the border and laid waste several counties in the North of England.

In December he returned to Scotland and for a short time acted as guardian of the realm for the imprisoned king, John de Baliol. In July, 1298, Edward defeated Wallace and his army at Falkirk, and forced him to retreat northward. His prestige lost, Wallace went to France in 1299 to seek the aid of King Philip IV, and he possibly went on to Rome. He is heard of again fighting in Scotland in 1304, but there was a price on his head, and in 1305 he was captured by Sir John de Menteith. He was taken to London in Aug., 1305, declared guilty of treason, and executed.

Mel Gibson as Wallace in the movie Brave Heart

4th of July

2005-07-04T05:11:00.001+08:00

Independence Day is most commonly known as the 4th of July and is the birthday of the Declaration of Independence which marked the start of the United States of America. Although it is celebrated on July 4th each year in the United States, it is not the date when all 13 of the original colonies signed the document which took a few years to get to the final document we all know.
The original resolution was introduced by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia on June 7, 1776, and called for the Continental Congress to declare the United States free from British rule.

June 28, 1776 -- Jefferson presents the first draft of the declaration to congress.
July 4, 1776 -- After various changes to Jefferson's original draft, a vote was taken late in the afternoon of July 4th.
Of the 13 colonies, 9 voted in favor of the Declaration; 2, Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted No; Delaware was undecided and New York abstained. John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. It is said that he signed his name "with a great flourish" so "King George can read that without spectacles!"

July 4, 1777 -- The first Independence Day celebration takes place. It's interesting to speculate what those first 4th festivities were like. By the early 1800s the traditions of parades, picnics, and fireworks were firmly established as part of American Independence Day culture.

June 29, 1969

2005-06-29T11:59:00.001+08:00

The owner of this blog was born in this date!

Giacomo Leopardi born on June 29, 1798
Nelson Eddy born on June 29, 1901
Ian Bannen born on June 29, 1928
Robert Evans born on June 29, 1930
Harmon Killebrew born on June 29, 1936
Gary Busey born on June 29, 1944
Richard Lewis born on June 29, 1947
Jeff Burton born on June 29, 1967
Seamus McGarvey born on June 29, 1967
Theo Fleury born on June 29, 1968
Daniel Boissevain born on June 29, 1969
Ilan Mitchell-Smith born on June 29, 1969 George Hincapie born on June 29, 1973
Will Kemp born on June 29, 1977
Richard Breen born on June 29, 1979

1st Jewish worship service at White House
24th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Donna Caponi Young
On Billy Williams Day in Chicago, the Cubs outfielder passes Stan Musial's NL record for consecutive games played (896)

Famous birthdays for June 29, 1969 ..
06/29/1969 - Erik Tammer, soccer player (SC Heerenveen, Go Ahead Eagles)
06/29/1969 - Simon Brown, cricketer (Durham pace bowler, England 1996)

Famous deaths for June 29, 1969 ..
06/29/1969 - Moise K Tsjombe, premier Congo/Zaire, dies
06/29/1969 - Shorty Long, soul singer/pianist (Here Comes the Judge), dies at 29
06/29/1969 - Vesselin Stoyanov, composer, dies at 67
June 29 - Apostolic Beheading; the Death of Paul. According to The People's Chronology, Paul was beheaded with a sword near Rome, possibly on this day, June 29, 67.

Instant Coffee

2005-06-25T09:42:00.001+08:00

In 1938, Nestle launches Nescafe - the first instant coffee.

When did the King James Version of the Bible entered Philippines?

2005-06-25T09:40:00.002+08:00

The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible was distributed for the first time in the Philippines by Protestant missionaries on September 5, 1898.

Bikini

2005-06-25T09:32:00.001+08:00

The modern bikini was invented by engineer Louis Reard in Paris in 1946 (introduced on July 5), and named after Bikini Atoll, the site of nuclear weapon tests in the Marshall Islands, on the reasoning that the burst of excitement it would cause would be like the atomic bomb.

Reard's suit was a refinement of the work of Jacques Heim who, two months earlier, had introduced the "Atome" (named for its size) and advertised it as the world's "smallest bathing suit". Reard split the "atome" even smaller, but could not find a model who would dare to wear his design.

Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, was the first woman to wear the bikini in public, as a catwalk model for Reard's swimware collection.

It took fifteen years for the bikini to be accepted in the United States.
In 1951 bikinis were banned from the Miss World Contest. In 1957, however, Brigitte Bardot's bikini in the movie, "And God Created Woman" created a market for the swimwear in the US, and in 1960, Brian Hyland's pop song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" inspired a bikini-buying spree.

Finally the bikini caught on, and by 1963, the movie Beach Party, starring Annette Funicello (emphatically not in a bikini) and Frankie Avalon, led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol.

CPP was founded.

2005-06-25T09:29:00.001+08:00

The Communist Party of the Philippines was founded by Crisanto Evangelista on November 7, 1930.

Ice Cream again!!!!

2005-06-25T09:24:00.003+08:00

Clarke's, the first ice cream parlor in the Philippines, was established by Metcalf Clarke on August 13, 1898 at Quiapo, Manila. It transfered to Escolta six months later.

The Philippine National Anthem

2005-06-25T09:14:00.001+08:00

The Philippine National Anthem (Lupang Hinirang) began as an instrumental marched composed by Julian Felipe called Marcha National Filipina on June 5, 1898.

Jose Palma wrote the lyrics. On September 3, 1899 La Independencia published the score. The english translation was written by Camilo Osias. Osias's version was officially adopted on September 22, 1943 by virtue of Executive Order No. 211 as ordered by Jorge Vargas, chairman of the Philippine Evecutive Committee during the Japanese occupation.

The Filipino translation was written by Ildefonso Santos , Francisco Caballo and Julian Cruz Balmaceda. "O Sintang Lupa" was approved as the national anthem in and was proclaimed official on May 26, 1956 and was changed to "Lupang Hinirang".

Bayang magiliw

Perlas ng Silanganan,

Alab ng puso,

Sa dibdib mo'y buhay.

Lupang Hinirang,

Duyan ka ng magiting,

Sa manlulupig,

Di ka pasisiil.

Sa dagat at bundok,

Sa simoy at sa langit mong bughaw,

May dilag ang tula

At awit sa paglayang minamahal.

Ang kislap ng watawat

mo'yTagumpay na nagniningning,

Ang bituin at araw niya

Kailan pa ma'y di magdidilim.

Lupa ng araw, ng luwalhati't pagsinta,

Buhay ay langit sa piling mo;

Aming ligaya, na pag may mang-aapi

Ang mamatay nang dahil sa iyo.

The Philippine National Red Cross

2005-06-25T09:01:00.001+08:00

The Philippine National Red Cross was established on April 15, 1947 by virtue of Republic Act No. 95. Mrs. Aurora A. Quezon, President Quezon's wife, was the first president of PNRC.

Baybayin

2005-06-24T11:16:00.001+08:00

Contrary to the common misconception, when the Spaniards arrived in the islands they found more than just a loose collection of backward and belligerent tribes. They found a civilization that was very different from their own. The ability to read and write is the mark of any civilization and, according to many early Spanish accounts, the Tagalogs had already been writing with the baybayin for at least a century.

The word baybayin is a very old Tagalog term that refers to all the letters used in writing a language, that is to say, an “alphabet.” It is from the root baybáy meaning, “spell.” Early Spanish accounts usually called the baybayin “Tagalog letters” or “Tagalog writing.” And, as mentioned earlier, the Visayans called it “Moro writing” because it was imported from Manila, which was one of the ports where many products from Muslim traders entered what are now known as the Philippine islands. The Bikolanos called the script basahan and the letters, guhit.

Another common name for the baybayin is alibata, which is a word that was invented just in the 20th century by a member of the old National Language Institute, Paul Versoza. As he explained in Pangbansang Titik nang Pilipinas in 1939.

http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm

Maynila

2005-06-24T11:01:00.001+08:00

In, 1571, the Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi ordered Martin de Goiti to conquer the kingdom of Rajah Soliman. Upon the rajah's defeat, legaspi founded the city of Manila.

Manila's first municipal board was organized on June 24, 1571. but only in 1595 was the city granted a coat of arms and formally declared the capital of the Philippines.

To secure Manila from invaders, Gomez Perez Dasmarinas ordered to fortify the whole city with a stone wall. The building was supervized by a Jesuit priest, Antonio Sadeno. The massive wall was completed in the 1600s, and city within the walls was called Intramuros, from the Latin Intra or "inside" and muros "wall".

How did Han Solo win the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian?

2005-06-24T08:45:00.001+08:00

In a heated game of sabacc.

Sabacc is a skill and chance card game, sometimes played for high stakes, in which it is called Jhabacc., played by the high-rollers of the universe. Found in casinos, cantinas, and anywhere else that slightly shady deals are made on a regular basis, this game has thrived for centuries as the true game of the gambling elite.

barcode

2005-06-24T08:35:00.001+08:00

A barcode is an automatic identification technology which encodes information into an array of varying width parallel bars and spaces. This is also called the Universal Product Code or UPC. It is a series of short black lines of varied thickness usually accompanied by alphanumeric digits. A laser reader or scanner can translate the barcodes into the corresponding alphanumeric digits which are used to uniquely identify a piece of property. This Property Identification Number (PIN) is used as the basis for the inventory. When an item is acquired, a label with a unique barcode must be affixed. Until the item is sold, donated, or excessed, the label must remain attached.

The Barcode (concentric rings) was pattened in 1949 by Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver.

The first item to be sold with a barcode was a packet of Wringley's chewing gum, On June 26, 1974 at the Marsh Supermarket, Troy, Ohio, USA.

The First Ice Cream Soda

2005-06-24T08:28:00.002+08:00

Robert M. Green serve the first ice cream soda at the semicentenial celebration of the Franklin Institute of Philidelphia in 1874.

Ice Cream Sundae

2005-06-24T08:24:00.002+08:00

Legend has it that in 1890, an ice cream seller in Wisconsin, USA, regularly ran low of supplies on a Sunday. To compensate, he added chocolate sauce or fruit syrup which become popular during Sunday.

The "Sunday Ice Cream" become sundae in responce to puritanical objection to the profane use of thename of the Lord's day.

Restaurant

2005-06-24T08:20:00.001+08:00

The first restaurant opened in Champ D' Orce Ave, Paris, France 1765
The word restaurant came from its sign that said, "Venite ad me, omnes qui stomacho laboratis, et ego restaurabo
vos." ( Come to me all whose stomach grumble, and we'll restore
you.)

That good 'ol potato chips

2005-06-24T08:18:00.001+08:00

The first potato chips were serve at the Moon Lake House Hotel, Saratoga Springs, New York.

Toblerone

2005-06-24T08:13:00.001+08:00

Toblerone
Toblerone is a chocolate bar best known for its quasi-pyramid shaped chunks, representing the Swiss Alps. The chocolate bar Toblerone derived its name from the name of the Tobler chocolate firm and torrone, Italian for nougat.
It was created by Emil Baumann and Theodor Tobler in 1908.

What was the game Chewbacca and R2D2 played while on the Millennium Falcon?

2005-06-19T18:00:00.001+08:00

The game is called Dejarik, also spelled Djari.

Dejarik was a popular game which withstood the test of time better than nearly any other game in the galaxy. A hologram generator sat within a table-sized cylindrical base, with a black-and-white checkerboard pattern on the top surface. When active, a full-color, three-dimensional hologram of the playing pieces (which measure between 5-30 cm tall) would be projected on the board. The pieces all resembled creatures, real and mythic, from throughout the galaxy, including the Mantellian Savrip, Molator, Ghhhk, Grimtaash, Houjix, and Monnok. These pieces, when moved by the player, actually acted out the moves as if really specimens of their species.

The first domain

2005-06-13T08:16:00.001+08:00

SYMBOLICS.COM, the first domain to be registered was created on March 15, 1985.

the first webpage

2005-06-13T08:12:00.001+08:00

The world's first webpage came in the late 1990's http://nxoc01.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

Longest url

2005-06-13T08:07:00.001+08:00

The longest url in the world is http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.com/

The Proclamation of Philippine Independence

2005-06-12T09:12:00.001+08:00

With a government in operation, Aguinaldo thought that it was necessary to declare the independence of the Philippines. He believed that such a move would inspire the people to fight more eagerly against the Spaniards and at the same time, lead the foreign countries to recognize the independence of the country. Mabini, who had by now been made Aguinaldo's unofficial adviser, objected. He based his objection on the fact that it was more important to reorganize the government in such a manner as to convince the foreign powers of the competence and stability of the new government than to proclaim Philippine independence at such an early period. Aguinaldo, however, stood his ground and won.
* * *
On June 12, between four and five in the afternoon, Aguinaldo, in the presence of a huge crowd, proclaimed the independence of the Philippines at Cavite el Viejo (Kawit). For the first time, the Philippine National Flag, made in Hongkong by Mrs. Marcela Agoncillo, assisted by Lorenza Agoncillo and Delfina Herboza, was officially hoisted and the Philippine National March played in public.

The Act of the Declaration of Independence was prepared by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, who also read it. A passage in the Declaration reminds one of another passage in the American Declaration of Independence. The Philippine Declaration was signed by ninety-eight persons, among them an American army officer who witnessed the proclamation. The proclamation of Philippine independence was, however, promulgated on August 1 when many towns has already been organized under the riles laid down by the Dictatorial Government. History of the Filipino People. Teodoro A. Agoncillo

The most significant achievement of Aguinaldo's Dictatorial Government was the proclamation of Philippine Independence in Kawit, Cavite, on June 12, 1898. The day was declared a national holiday. Thousands of people from the provinces gathered in Kawit to witness the historic event. The ceremony was solemnly held at the balcony of General Emilio Aguinaldo's residence. The military and civil officials of the government were in attendance.

A dramatic feature of the ceremony was the formal unfurling of the Filipino flag amidst the cheers of the people. At the same time, the Philippine National Anthem was played by the band. Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista solemnly read the "Act of the Declaration of Independence" which he himself wrote. The declaration was signed by 98 persons. One of the signers was an American, L.M. Johnson, Colonel of Artillery. The Philippines: A Unique Nation. Dr. Sonia M. Zaide

Protectorate Proclaimed
Aguinaldo continued his moves for consolidation. The next step was the proclamation of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898. Appropriate celebrations marked the event in Kawit at which the Philippine flag was officially raised and the Philippine National Anthem first publicly played. The declaration was prepared by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista who patterned it after the American Declaration of Independence. Aguinaldo invited Dewey to the festivities, but the latter declined the invitation and did not even report the event to Washington. The declaration was signed by ninety-eight persons, including an American office, L.M. Johnson, Colonel of Artillery. The Philippines: A Past Revisited. Renato Constantino

Carat

2005-06-11T11:07:00.001+08:00

A carat is a unit of measurement, it's the unit used to weigh a diamond. One carat is equal to 200 milligrams, or 0.2 grams. The word carat was based on the Carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) seed which was use as a standard of measurement by the Arabs.Carob seeds were used as weights on precision scales because of their uniform size.

In 1907 the metric carat of 200 milligrams was adopted, which is now universally used today.A carat can also be further divided into "points". There are 100 points to a carat.

1 carat = 200 milligrams
[NOTE: Don't confuse "carat weight" with "karat," the method of determining the purity of gold.]

The Longest Day

2005-06-06T18:43:00.001+08:00

The greatest amphibious assult in war history happened on June 6, 1944.

In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. By far the most well-known D-Day is June 6, 1944—the day on which the Battle of Normandy began—commencing the British, American, and Canadian liberation efforts of mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II. This article discusses the general use of the term D-Day. Refer to the Battle of Normandy article for a description of the events of June 1944.

The terms D-day and H-hour are used for the day and hour on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. They designate the day and hour of the operation when the day and hour have not yet been determined, or where secrecy is essential. There is but one D-day and one H-hour for all units participating in a given operation.

When used in combination with figures, and plus or minus signs, these terms indicate the point of time preceding or following a specific action. Thus, H-3 means 3 hours before H-hour, and D+3 means 3 days after D-day. H+75 minutes means H-hour plus 1 hour and 15 minutes. Planning papers for large-scale operations are made up in detail long before specific dates are set. Thus, orders are issued for the various steps to be carried out on the D-day or H-hour minus or plus a certain number of days, hours, or minutes. At the appropriate time, a subsequent order is issued that states the actual day and times.

The earliest use of these terms by the U.S. Army that the Center of Military History has been able to find was during World War I. In Field Order Number 9, First Army, American Expeditionary Forces, dated 7 September 1918: "The First Army will attack at H hour on D day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel Salient."

D-day for the invasion of Normandy was originally set for June 5, 1944, but bad weather caused Gen. Eisenhower to delay until June 6, and that date has been popularly referred to ever since by the short title "D-day". (In French, it is called jour-J.) Because of this, planners of later military operations sometimes avoided the term. For example, MacArthur's invasion of Leyte began on "A-day", and the invasion of Okinawa began on "L Day". November 1, 1945, the proposed date for an invasion of the Japanese home islands, was to be "X-Day". A second wave of landings near Tokyo were set down for "Y-Day", March 1, 1946.

See:

D-Day Museum

D-Day

D Day activity

Why did founder John McConnell choose March 21 as Earth Day?

2005-06-05T12:15:00.001+08:00

He though using the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere (March Vernal Equinox) to be a good date to celebrate the earth.

June 03, 2005 Trivia Tidbit
© Copyright 2005 Dawggone Communications
Visit: http://triviatidbit.net/

What percentage of the world's lakes can be found in Canada?

2005-06-05T12:12:00.001+08:00

A: More than 50 percent. Canada contains more than half of the world's lakes. See the complete list HERE.

What is a "pammy"?

2005-06-03T11:14:00.001+08:00

A "pammy" is what the bottle of Virgin Cola called. It was base on the shape of ...you guest it right! Ms. Pamela Anderson

What game was made only for men that is now being played by women?

2005-06-02T11:51:00.001+08:00

Answer: GOLF
The word "golf" means, "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden".

World's Largest Pearl

2005-06-02T09:05:00.000+08:00

The world’s largest pearl was found under the Palawan Sea. This gargantuan pearl of highly irregular (baroque) shape was discovered at the Palawan island in the Philippines in by a Filipino diver in 1934.

The giant treasure known as "Pearl of Allah" (It was also called"Pearl of Lao-Tzu")

Being almost 10 inches long and weighing in at an astounding 14 lbs, it is the largest pearl on record. Pearl's monetary value seems to be commensurate with its out-of-this-world dimensions. Experts estimate the value of the pearl to be around $40 million.