Saturday, November 5, 2022

INTERESTING FACTS


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The paternal grandmother of Donald Trump was Elizabeth Christ Trump (born Elisabeth Christ, 1880 – 1966) –

Elizabeth Christ

Frederick Christ Trump Snr (1905 – 1999) was the father of Donald Trump –

Frederick Christ Trump

In the midst of answering a question about the ongoing trade war with China on 21 August 2019, President Donald Trump turned from reporters, looked to the heavens and proclaimed, “I am the chosen one.”

(Days later, the President said in a string of Saturday tweets that reporters knew he “was kidding, being sarcastic, and just having fun.”)


But can he rise from being politically dead?

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A baby has around 30,000 taste buds. They are not just on the tongue but also on the sides, back, and roof of the mouth.

Adults have about 10,000.

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Pablo Picasso would often carry around a pistol loaded with blanks. He would fire it at people he found boring or anyone who insulted the Post-Impressionist painter, Paul Cézanne.


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Ancient pagan cultures, such as the Celts, believed that benevolent and helpful spirits lived in trees. Knocking on tree trunks roused a spirit for protection, which led to the saying "knock on wood.

Also, if someone wanted help or a favour they would tell their wish to a tree and then touch the bark. This was the first “knock” and they would knock again to say thank you.

There are also some Christian references that indicate that knocking on wood has to do with the wood representing the cross or the rosary.

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Hugging your cat has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, especially for people who are dealing with illness, depression, PTSD, and other ailments.

I’m not a cat person myself and tend more to the outlook in the book 101 Uses for a Dead Cat, such as . . .


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The "O" before an Irish name, such as "O'Reilly," means "descendant of”, kjust as “Bin” ion names such as Osama bin Laden means “son of”. (Someone once suggested to me that “Laden” translated to “a bitch” but I have no verification of that).

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There is a Statue of Liberty in Paris that faces the Statue of Liberty in America, showing friendship between the two countries.


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Cobb & Co was the name used by many successful sometimes quite independent Australian coaching businesses. The first was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners.

The name Cobb & Co grew to great prominence in the late 19th century, when it was carried by many stagecoaches carrying passengers and mail to various Australian goldfields, and later to many regional and remote areas of the Australian outback. The same name was used in New Zealand and Freeman Cobb used it in South Africa.

Chinese passengers leaving for the diggings by Cobb & Co. coach, Castlemaine, Victoria.

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A pangram is a sentence that contains every letter in the language. For example, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

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The Wizard of Oz's Full Name is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs. In the book, he explains that he called "myself O.Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D."

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In Poland’s Krzywy Las (“Crooked Forest”), about 400 pine trees grow crookedly with full 90-degree curves at their bases that bend towards the north. They are generally healthy despite the unnatural curves at their bases. While plenty of other anomalous trees around the world have been known to develop curves or other strange shapes, the trees in the Crooked Forest are different. They are smooth, not gnarled like other trees that are curved because they have suffered from a genetic mutation. Furthermore, of course, the Crooked Forest is unique because so many trees grow so strangely and in such a uniform way.


Although the cause is unknown, one explanation that makes sense is that the trees were manipulated when planted about 1930, bent as they were growing, so that the wood could be harvested and used for boat building. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the nearby town of Gryfino was destroyed and the farmers were not able to tend to the trees, abandoning them and leaving them to grow for the next several decades in their altered, crooked state.

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Capitonyms are words which change their meaning if the first letter is capitalised. For example: Turkey (the country) and turkey (the bird).

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Researchers from India recently discovered a new species of green pit vipers. The scientists named the newly-discovered snake Trimeresurus salazar after a Parselmouth (able to talk with serpents) wizard, co-founder of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the founder of the House of Slytherin — Salazar Slytherin, the fictional character of J.K. Rowling’s saga “Harry Potter”.

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Canadians say “sorry” so much that a law was passed in 2009, The Apology Act, declaring that an apology can’t be used as evidence of admission to guilt.



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In 2006, a Coca-Cola employee offered to sell Coca-Cola secrets to Pepsi. Pepsi responded by notifying Coca-Cola.

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There were two Artificial Intelligence chatbots created by Facebook to talk to each other, but they were shut down after they started communicating in a language they made for themselves.

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Astronaut is a compound word derived from the two Ancient Greek words “Astro,” meaning “star,” and “naut” meaning “sailor.” So astronaut literally means “star sailor.”

There is a sculpture of an astronaut pictured incorporated in the façade of the Cathedral of Salamanca, which was built from 1513 to 1733:


It has inspired some to posit support for the book “Chariots of the God? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past” by Erich von Daniken which says that ancient civilisations were given their technology and religions by ancient astronauts who were welcomed as Gods.

The truth is more mundane. The astronaut was incorporated into the “Puerta de Ramos” (Ramos Gate) during restoration works on the cathedral in 1992, ahead of an exhibition for the religious foundation “Edades de Hombre” in 1993. The astronaut was added by stonemason Miguel Romero to continue the tradition of incorporating a contemporary element with every restoration.



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