Tahukah Anda/Did You Know?

waterboy

TAHUKAH ANDA

Sebanyak 64 otot digunakan untuk memasamkan muka tetapi hanya 18
otot digunakan untuk senyum. Jangan membazirkan tugas otot muka                                    
anda. /font

Air liur manusia dikatakan sangat mujarab untuk mengubati luka di kulit atau terbakar.

Wanita pertama yang mendapat hak mengundi adalah dari New
Zealand.

Kulit yang menyaluti seluruh badan manusia dianggarkan berukuran
18.5 meter persegi.

Ulat sutera boleh memintal benang sutera sehingga 86,000 kali
berat badannya dalam masa 56 hari.

Badan akan kehilangan haba sehingga 23 kali lebih lama dalam air
berbanding udara dalam suhu yang sama.

Kucing tidak boleh merasa rasa manis.

Pepatung hanya boleh hidup selama 24 jam sahaja.

Merpati dua sejoli adalah burung bayan yang kecil yang hidup berpasangan. Rupa jantan dan betina adalah lebih kurang sama tetapi kebanyakan jantan mempunyai warna yang lebih terang dari betina.

Anai-anai Australia dikenali kerana boleh membina anak bukit setinggi dua puluh kaki dan lebarnya pula  lebih kurang 100 kaki.

Burung helang boleh membunuh anak rusa dan kemudian membawanya terbang .

Istilah 態lack Panther

waterboy

TheHistory of the Automobile



The automobile as we know it wasnot invented in a single day by a single inventor. The history of the automobilereflects an evolution that took place worldwide. It is estimated that over100,000 patents created the modern automobile. However, we can point tothe many firsts that occurred along the way. Starting with the first theoreticalplans for a motor vehicle that had been drawn up by both Leonardoda Vinci and Isaac Newton.
In 1769, the very first self-propelledroad vehicle was a military tractor invented by French engineer and mechanic,Nicolas Joseph Cugnot (1725 - 1804). Cugnot used a steamengine to power his vehicle, built under his instructions at the ParisArsenal by mechanic Brezin. It was used by the French Army to haul artilleryat a whopping speed of 2 1/2 mph on only three wheels. The vehicle hadto stop every ten to fifteen minutes to build up steam power. The steamengine and boiler were separate from the rest of the vehicle and placedin the front (see engraving above). The following year (1770), Cugnot builta steam-powered tricycle that carried four passengers.
In 1771, Cugnot drove one of hisroad vehicles into a stone wall, making Cugnot the first person to getinto a motor vehicle accident. This was the beginning of bad luck for theinventor. After one of Cugnot's patrons died and the other was exiled,the money for Cugnot's road vehicle experiments ended.
Steam engines powered cars by burningfuel that heated water in a boiler, creating steam that expanded and pushedpistons that turned the crankshaft, which then turned the wheels. Duringthe early history of self-propelled vehicles - both road and railroadvehicles were being developed with steam engines. (Cugnot also designedtwo steam locomotives with engines that never worked well.) Steam enginesadded so much weight to a vehicle that they proved a poor design for roadvehicles; however, steam engines were very successfully used in locomotives.Historians, who accept that early steam-powered road vehicles were automobiles,feel that Nicolas Cugnot was the inventor of the first automobile.
After CugnotSeveral Other Inventors Designed Steam-Powered Road Vehicles

• Cugnot抯 vehicle was improved by Frenchman,Onesiphore Pecqueur, who also invented the first differential gear.
• In 1789, the first U.S. patent for asteam-powered land vehicle was granted to OliverEvans.
• In 1801, RichardTrevithick built a road carriage powered by steam - the first in GreatBritain.
• In Britain, from 1820 to 1840, steam-poweredstagecoaches were in regular service. These were later banned from publicroads and Britain's railroad system developed as a result.
• Steam-driven road tractors (built byCharles Deitz) pulled passenger carriages around Paris and Bordeaux upto 1850.
• In the United States, numerous steamcoaches were built from 1860 to 1880. Inventors included: Harrison Dyer,Joseph Dixon, Rufus Porter, and William T. James.
• Amedee Bollee Sr. built advanced steamcars from 1873 to 1883. The "La Mancelle" built in 1878, had a front-mountedengine, shaft drive to the differential, chain drive to the rear wheels,steering wheel on a vertical shaft and driver's seat behind the engine.The boiler was carried behind the passenger compartment.
• In 1871, Dr. J. W. Carhart, professorof physics at Wisconsin State University, and the J. I. Case Company builta working steam car that won a 200-mile race.

waterboy

WHY IS THE OCEAN SALTY...



    The ocean is salty because of the gradual concentration of dissolved chemicals eroded from    the Earth's crust and washed into the sea. Solid and gaseous ejections from volcanoes,    suspended particles swept to the ocean from the land by onshore winds, and materials    dissolved from sediments deposited on the ocean floor have also contributed. Salinity is    increased by evaporation or by freezing of sea ice and it is decreased as a result of    rainfall, runoff, or the melting of ice. The average salinity of sea water is 35 o/oo, but    concentrations as high as 40 o/oo are observed in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.    Salinities are much less than average in coastal waters, in the polar seas, and near the    mouths of large rivers.    Sea water not only is much saltier than river water but it also differs in the    proportion of the various salts. Sodium and chloride constitute 85 percent of the    dissolved solids in sea water and account for the characteristic salty taste. Certain    constituents in sea water, such as calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, and silica, are partly    taken out of solution by biological organisms, chemical precipitation, or    physical-chemical reactions. In open water the chemical composition of sea water is nearly    constant. Because of the stable ratios of the principal constituents to total salt    content, the determination of one major constituent can be used to calculate sea water    salinity. For minor constituents and dissolved gases the composition is variable and    therefore ratios cannot be used to calculate salt Circulation and mixing, density and    ocean currents, wind action, water temperature, solubility, and biochemical reactions are    some of the factors that explain why the composition of water in the open sea is almost    constant from place to place.

waterboy

WHY IS STAINLESS STEEL STAINLESS?



In 1913, English metallurgist Harry Brearly, working on a project toimprove rifle barrels, accidentally discovered that adding chromium tolow carbon steel gives it stain resistance. In addition to iron,carbon, and chromium, modern stainless steel may also contain otherelements, such as nickel, niobium, molybdenum, and titanium. Nickel,molybdenum, niobium, and chromium enhance the corrosion resistance ofstainless steel. It is the addition of a minimum of 12% chromium to thesteel that makes it resist rust, or stain 'less' than other types ofsteel. The chromium in the steel combines with oxygen in the atmosphereto form a thin, invisible layer of chrome-containing oxide, called thepassive film. The sizes of chromium atoms and their oxides are similar,so they pack neatly together on the surface of the metal, forming astable layer only a few atoms thick.

if the metal is cut or scratched and the passive film is disrupted, moreoxide will quickly form and recover the exposed surface, protecting itfrom oxidative corrosion. (Iron, on the other hand, rusts quicklybecause atomic iron is much smaller than its oxide, so the oxide formsa loose rather than tightly-packed layer and flakes away.) The passivefilm requires oxygen to self-repair, so stainless steels have poorcorrosion resistance in low-oxygen and poor circulation environments.In seawater, chlorides from the salt will attack and destroy thepassive film more quickly than it can be repaired in a low oxygenenvironment.

waterboy

WHY IS URINE YELLOW?



The yellow color in urine is due to chemicals called urobilins. Theseare the breakdown products of the bile pigment bilirubin. Bilirubin isitself a breakdown product of the heme part of hemoglobin from worn-outred blood cells. Most bilirubin is partly broken down in the liver,stored in the gall bladder, broken down some more in the intestines,and excreted in the feces (its metabolites are what make feces brown),but some remains in the bloodstream to be extracted by the kidneyswhere, converted to urobilins, it gives urine that familiar yellow tint.
These same yellow chemicals also cause the yellow color of jaundice and of bruises,both of which result when more hemoglobin than usual is being brokendown and/or the processing of its breakdown products by the liver isnot able to keep up.

WHY DO WE PEE AT ALL?
Urine is mostly water, which just has tobe replaced. We excrete water not just to get rid of it if we havedrunk too much, but primarily to carry away toxins that would otherwisebuild up in our systems. The important part of urine is urea (also known as carbamide), (NH2)2CO.  The real waste product our bodies have to get rid of is ammonia (NH4+,when in solution), which is formed by the breakdown of amino acids --the building blocks of proteins. But ammonia is so toxic that only tinyconcentrations can be tolerated. So any ammonia in the bloodstream israpidly converted to urea in the liver. That urea is then removed fromthe bloodstream in the kidneys, and left in concentrated form in theurine (about 2% of urine is urea.) (More on the "urea cycle")

waterboy

WHY IS IT HOT IN SUMMER AND COLD IN WINTER?

         

Because the earth's axis is tilted  
    It is all about the tilt of the Earth's axis. Many people believe that the temperature changes because the Earth is closer to the sun in summer and farther from the sun in winter. In fact, the Earth is farthest from the sun in July and is closest to the sun in January! The Earth's movement around the sun causes the seasons, but it does not affect the temperatures during the seasons.
    During the summer, the sun's rays hit the Earth at a steep angle. The light does not spread out as much, thus increasing the amount of energy hitting any given spot. Also, the long daylight hours allow the Earth plenty of time to reach warm temperatures.
    During the winter, the sun's rays hit the Earth at a shallow angle. These rays are more spread out, which minimizes the amount of energy that hits any given spot. Also, the long nights and short days prevent the  Earth from  warming up. Thus, we have winter!

waterboy

Penciptaan Mouse Pertama..


In 1964, the first prototype computermouse was made to use with a graphical user interface. Douglas Engelbart'scomputer mouse received patent # 3,541,541 on November 17, 1970 for a "X-YPosition Indicator For A Display System"

    Douglas Engelbart changed the waycomputers worked, from specialized machinery that only a trained scientistcould use, to a user-friendly tool that almost anyone can use. He inventedor contributed to several interactive, user-friendly devices: the computermouse, windows,computer video teleconferencing,hypermedia,groupware,email,theInternet and more.
    In 1964, the first prototype computermouse was made to use with a graphical user interface (GUI), 'windows'.Engelbart received a patent for the wooden shell with two metal wheels(computer mouse U.S.Patent # 3,541,541) in 1970, describing it in the patent applicationas an "X-Y position indicator for a display system." "It was nicknamedthe mouse because the tail came out the end," Engelbart revealed abouthis invention. His version of windows was not considered patentable (nosoftware patents were issued at that time), but Douglas Engelbart has over45 other patents to his name.
    Throughout the '60s and '70s, whileworking at his own lab (Augmentation Research Center, Stanford ResearchInstitute), Engelbart dedicated himself to creating a hypermedia groupwaresystem called NLS(for oNLine System). Most of his accomplishments,including the computer mouse and windows, were part of NLS.
In 1968, a 90-minute, staged publicdemonstration of a networked computer system was held at the AugmentationResearch Center -- the first public appearance of the mouse, windows, hypermediawith object linking and addressing, and video teleconferencing.
    Douglas Engelbart was awarded the1997 Lemelson-MIT Prize of $500,000, the world's largest single prize forinvention and innovation. In 1998, he was inducted into the NationalInventors Hall of Fame.
Currently, Douglas Engelbart is thedirector of his company, BootstrapInstitute in Fremont, California, which promotes the concept of CollectiveIQ. Ironically, Bootstrap is housed rent free courtesy of the LogitechCorp., a famous manufacturer of computer mice.

cutemulan8

How do ants smell odours and what are pheromones?

Have you ever noticed how quickly ants react if you step on their anthill? Within seconds, they will come pouring out of the ground in order to protect their home and queen. They can have such a quick response because of pheromones.

Pheromones are special chemicals that are used as a type of language among some animals. Ants use pheromones because they are social insects, and need to communicate within their nest.

There is a food-signaling pheromone that helps them make those long trails to food, and there are panic pheromones that tell them to begin protecting the nest from attack.

Ants can detect these pheromones using special receptors on their antenna. Ants need these pheromones because they have to live and work in such a big group, and they need a way to communicate in order to make things work right.

cutemulan8

How is sound formed?

Sound surrounds us all the time. You may awaken in the morning to the sound of an alarm clock or dad snoring. But all sounds have one thing in common.

They are formed by the movement or vibration of an object. The sounds we hear every day are formed by the vibration or movement of air.

Basically what happens is this. Sound makes tiny particles in the air, called molecules which bump into each other.

The molecules bump into each other compressing and then expanding to cause the wave to move like a falling column of dominos.

This vibration of molecules is passed from molecule to molecule until it reaches our ears where we then 慼ear

cutemulan8

Going Bananas

Bananas... This is very interesting.
After Reading THIS, you'll NEVER look at a banana in the same way again -

Bananas. Containing three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose
combined with fiber, a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial
boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a
strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit
with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also
help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions,
making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression:
According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering
from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana.
This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body
converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and
generally make you feel happier.


PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates
blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia:
High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of haemoglobin in the
blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure:
This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt,
making it the perfect to beat blood pressure.


So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana
industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk
of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power:
200 students at aTwickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their
exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid
to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed
fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation:
High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel
action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers:
One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana
milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the
help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk
soothes and


re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn:
Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from
heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness:
Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood
sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites:
Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area
with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful
at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves:
Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work?
Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work
leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at
5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely
to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid
panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by
snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers:
The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders
because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that
can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also
neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of
the stomach.

Temperature control:
Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both
the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand,
for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a
cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder
(SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood
enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking:
Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking.
The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in
them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress:
Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat,
sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we
are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium
levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana
snack.

Strokes:
According to research in "The New England Journal of Medicine,
"eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by
strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts:
Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off
a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the
yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or
surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it
to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three
times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the
other vitamins and minerals.
It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around.

So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say,
"A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

guynextdoor

gud info but if you could include the source it woud be better. credit boleh tambah sikit...

chiKenliTeL

Siapa lelaki terkuat di dunia?

Strongest man in the world

Jouko Ahola of Finland was named the strongest man in the world in 1997 and 1999. He holds the record for lifting the heaviest stone in the World Strongman competition. The stone weighed 215 kg (414 lb). The 1,85 m (6 ft) tall Jouko also is the world's car-carrying champion.

The Strongest Man in the World Competition claims that 1,67 m (5'8";), 159 kg (350 lb) Anthony Clark of the Philippines is the strongest. He bench pressed a massive 363 kg (800 lb).

The legends
On Tuesday 13 February 1923, in a strong man contest held before a packed house in City Hall in Augusta, Maine, John B Gagnon beat Warren L Travis of Brooklyn, NY - holder of the official title of World's Strongest Man. In 10 lifts, taking only 25 minutes, Gagnon lifted a total of 7,552 kg (16,650 pounds). Because it was not an "officially sanctioned" match, Travis was able to retain the title; he also would not schedule a return match against Gagnon.

John B Gagnon's recorded lifts that evening, all accomplished in 25 minutes:

Finger lift.................................................794 pounds
One-hand lift............................................1,111 pounds
Two-hand lift............................................1,575 pounds
Two-hand & knees lift...............................2,195 pounds
Neck lift..................................................1,317 pounds
Harness lift..............................................2,689 pounds
Teeth lift..................................................627 pounds
One-arm lift.............................................924 pounds
Two-arm lift.............................................1,248 pounds
Back lift (persons on platform)..................4,170 pounds

TOTAL WEIGHT LIFTED..............16,650 lbs. . .in 25 minutes.

The Strongest Man organisers believe the strongman title should go to John Wooten of Massachusetts. At 51 years old, he had towed a Mississippi river boat against the current, piggybacked an elephant, stopped two jet planes from taking off by holding them down, and pulled a 280-ton train along a track. John Wooten is 1,86 m (6'1";) tall and weighs 132 kg (290 lb). He got his start in the strongman business in 1969 when he happened to meet a 79 kg (175 lb) man in his 70s who could bend 60-penny railroad spikes in his bare hands and taught him how to back-lift elephants.



Jouko Aholaf Finland - strongest man in the world 1997 and 1999.

Jan Suffolk Todd of the US is considered the world's strongest woman. She was the first woman to lift 1,000 pounds in 3 power lifts.

John B Gagnon (1883-1939) was born in Caribou, Maine. He was 5' 10'' tall, and weighed 230 pounds. He could tear a horseshoe apart with his bare hands; bend a railroad spike into a U; pick up 794 pounds with one finger.

The only man to do more weight than John B Gagnon in a back lift is the late great Paul Anderson, who still holds the Guinness record of 6,270 pounds.

[ Last edited by  chiKenliTeL at 24-1-2007 12:47 AM ]

chiKenliTeL

OLAHRAGAWAN DENGAN BAYARAN PALING TINGGI

Para olahragawan top dunia sangat kaya, baik dengan cara mengikuti pertandingan maupun tidak. Disamping mendapatkan dana sponsor yang sangat besar, perusahaan asuransi pun menjamin mereka dengan sangat mahal untuk segala macam jenis cedera. Ketika Michael Schumacher mengalami cedera kaki pada saat kecelakaan di arena Formula-1 tahun lalu, dia mendapatkan tanggungan asuransi sebesar $3 juta per bulan. Ketika Michael Jordan mengundurkan diri dari arena olahraga, Schumacher masih tetap peringkat atas dalam mendapat bayaran paling tinggi di dunia olahraga. Jumlah nilai cek yang didapat per tahunnya diikuti oleh Tiger Woods dan Arnold Palmer. Berdasarkan majalah Forbes, Martina Hingis adalah olahragawan wanita yang paling tinggi bayarannya di dunia saat ini.

chiKenliTeL

BesBal?

Sebuah bola baseball memiliki tepat 108 jahitan, sebuah bola untuk soccer memiliki 642 jahitan

Tim Liga Utama Baseball Amerika Serikat memerlukan sekitar 850.000 bola untuk tiap musim pertandingannya. Dan tiap bolanya mempunyai tepat 108 jahitan. Sebuah bola memiliki antara 65 dan 70 jahitan. Sebuah bola soccer dibuat dari 32 lembar kulit yang saling direkatkan dengan 642 jahitan tangan. Sebuah bola basket dan bola rugby dibuat dari bahan sintetis. diawal abad ini, kulit babi digunakan dalam pembuatan bola rugby.

chiKenliTeL

OLYMPIC?
Suatu perlombaan di dalam stadion telah diadakan sejak jaman Olimpiade kuno yang diadakan tiap 4 tahun sekali, dari tahun 776 sebelum masehi hingga 393 masehi. Para pelari berlari mengelilingi 1 area sepanjang 192 m (640 ft), atau sama dengan panjang stadion. Ada juga pertandingan khusus dimana para pelarinya berlari dengan menggunakan baju lapis baja, berhelm, dan menggunakan pelindung lainnya yang beratnya mencapai 20-25 kg ( 50-60 lbs). Merupakan suatu kehormatan bagi para anggota militer untuk dapat memenangkan pertandingan ini.

Negara yang paling kuat dalam cabang olahraga hocki di Olimpiade adalah India, Inggris Raya dan Belanda. Inggris Raya dan Belanda memenangkan 3 dan 2 medali emas secara berturt-turut. Bahkan India memenangkan 8 medali emas!

Rekor perolehan Medali Olimpiade dipegang oleh seorang atlit pesenam dari Soviet, yang bernama Larissa S. Latynina. Mengikuti pertandingan di 3 Olimpiade, antara tahun 1956 dan 1964, dia memenangkan 18 medail: 9 emas, 5 perak dan 4 perunggu. Dia juga berada pada peringkat atas peraih medali emas, mengalahkan bintang Olimpiade seperti atlit perenang Amerika Serikat Mark Spitz dan Finnish, juga pelari jarak jauh Paavo Nurmi.

Untuk pertamakalinya seorang pelari maraton wanita akan mewakili Amerika Serikat di Olimpiade: dia adalah seorang patologis berusia 37 tahun berasal dari Alaska yang berlatih hanya dengan menggunakan treadmil! Christine Clark memenangkan uji coba Olimpiade wanita dengan waktu 2 jam, 33 menit, 31 detik, lebih baik 7 menit dari rekor pribadinya. Sang runer-up Kristy Johnston dan Libbie Hickman merupakan wanita Amerika pertama yang berlari dibawah standar Olimpiade 2:33:00, tetapi berdasarkan undang-undang Amerika Track and Field, tak seorang pun dari mereka diperkenankan mengikuti Olimpiade di Sydney. Hal ini disebabkan sang ibu dari Christine Clark memenangkan semua uji coba pertandingan yang berat itu!

chiKenliTeL

Were the Wright Brothers really the first to fly?

Wilbur and Orville Wright weren't just lucky to make the first flight. They played with flying paper models in their youth, and by 1901 they had made hundreds of wind tunnel tests. In 1902, their glider was the biggest flying machine ever built. Orville Wright wrote, "We now hold all the records! The largest machine...the longest time in the air, the smallest angle of descent, and the highest wind!"

They called on the machine making skills of Charles E. Taylor, and by February 1903 they had an engine. By June, they had built a propeller. They headed for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in September to build their Flyer.

On Monday 13 December 1903, a toss of a coin gave Wilbur the honour of making the first flight. The engine and propeller powered the plane, the Flyer lifted off but immediately sank down, slightly damaged.

First flight?
By Friday 17 December 1903, the Flyer was fixed, and at 10h35, Orville made the first powered flight. It lasted 12 seconds. Wilbur made the second flight, which lasted less than a second longer than the first. Orville took the 3rd flight, covering 60 metres (200 ft) in 15 seconds. At noon, Wilbur made the fourth flight on that blustery day. The Flyer covered 255,6 metres (852 ft) in 59 seconds. He landed safely, but a sudden gust of wind sent the plane tumbling, breaking the wings and damaging the motor. There would be no more flights in 1903.

There were 5 men to witness the Wright Brothers' flights. Orville even set up a camera so that a Mr Daniels could take photographs. But there were no newspaper men. In the Spring of 1904, they built a new plane and invited the press. The weather was not quite right, but since the reporters were there, they tried anyway. The plane failed to lift off. The Wright Brothers didn't make the papers. They did fly again but spent the rest of their lives fighting about their patent and died without knowing the world finally recognised their work. In 1914, the Franklin Institute became the first scientific institution to recognise the Wright Brothers' achievement.

But were the Wright Brothers really the first to fly?
By the time the Wright brothers got their flyer up in the air, flying was a hobby for New Zealand farmer Richard Pearse. Working single-handedly in his barn, he designed and built his own engine and flying machine. Datings suggest that Pearse made his first flight in March 1902. His remarkable success remained unknown until fairly recently.

But there is an account of an even earlier flight...

"Two years, four months and three days before the successful flights of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, a birdlike monoplane took to the air at early dawn on August 14, 1901, near Bridgeport, Connecticut, carrying its inventor and builder, Gustave Whitehead, a distance of approximately a half mile." - Megan Adam, descendant of Gustave A. Whitehead.

Although there are no blueprints of Whitehead's craft, evidence is mounting that Whitehead might indeed have been the first to have taken to the sky in a machine-powered aircraft.

chiKenliTeL

Why is a hamburger called a hamburger although it contains no ham?

During a trip to Asia in the early 1800s, a German merchant - it is said - noticed that the nomadic Tartars softened their meat by keeping it under their saddles. The motion of the horse pounded the meat to bits. The Tartars would then scrape it together and season it for eating. The idea of pounded beef found its way back to the merchant's home town of Hamburg where cooks broiled the meat and referred to it as it as Hamburg meat.

German immigrants introduced the recipe to the US. The term "hamburger" is believed to have appeared in 1834 on the menu from Delmonico's restaurant in New York but there is no surviving recipe for the meal. The first mention in print of "Hamburg steak" was made in 1884 in the Boston Evening Journal.


The honour of producing the first proper hamburger goes to Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, WI. In 1885 Nagreen introduced the American hamburger at the Outgamie County Fair in Seymour. (Seymour is recognised as the hamburger capital of the world.)

However, there is another claim to that throne. There is an account of Frank and Charles Menches who, also in 1885, went to the Hamburg, New York county fair to prepare their famous pork sausage sandwiches. But since the local meat market was out of pork sausage, they used ground beef instead. Alas, another hamburger.

The first account of serving ground meat patties on buns - taking on the look of the hamburger as we know it today - took place in 1904 at the St. Louis World Fair. But it was many years later, in 1921, that an enterprising cook from Wichita, Kansas, Walt Anderson, introduced the concept of the hamburger restaurant. He convinced financier Billy Ingram to invest $700 to create The White Castle hamburger chain. It was an instant success. The rest of the history, we might say, belongs to McDonald's.

And, no, a hamburger does not have any ham in it. Well, it's not supposed to. Hamburger meat usually is made of 70-80% beef, and fat and spices.

[ Last edited by  chiKenliTeL at 24-1-2007 12:58 AM ]

chiKenliTeL

Why is a hotdog called a hotdog?
In 1987, Frankfurt, Germany celebrated the 500th birthday of the frankfurter, the hot dog sausage. Although, the people of Vienna (Wien), Austria will point out that their wiener sausages are proof of origin for the hot dog. (By the way, ham, being pork meat, is found in hotdogs.) According to Douglas B. Smith in his book "Every wonder why?" the hotdog was given its name by a cartoonist.


A butcher from Frankfurt who owned a dachshund named the long frankfurter sausage a "dachshund sausage," the dachshund being a slim dog with a long body. ("Dachshund" is German for "badger dog." They were originally bred for hunting badgers.) German immigrants introduced the dachshund sausage (and Hamburg meat) to the United States. In 1871, German butcher Charles Feltman opened the first "hotdog" stand in Coney Island in 1871, selling 3,684 dachshund sausages, most wrapped in a milk bread roll, during his first year in business.

In the meantime, frankfurters - and wieners - were sold as hot food by sausage sellers. In 1901, New York Times cartoonist T.A. Dargan noticed that one sausage seller used bread buns to handle the hot sausages after he burnt his fingers and decided to illustrate the incident. He wasn't sure of the spelling of dachshund and simply called it "hot dog."

[ Last edited by  chiKenliTeL at 24-1-2007 12:58 AM ]

chiKenliTeL

Where is the only place that a flag is not saluted?

The only place where a flag flies all day, never goes up or comes down, never flies half-mast and does not get saluted, is the moon.

It is, of course, the American flag, the only country to have landed people on the moon. Between 1969 and 1972, 12 astronauts walked on the moon, spending 170 hours roaming over 100 km (over 60 miles). They brought home 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of soil and rock, and 30,000 photographs.

The Apollo 17 crew were the last men on the moon. With Ronald Evans in the command module, Commander Eugene Cernan and scientist Harrison H. Schmitt drove 34 km (21 miles) in the lunar buggy. On December 11, 1972 they left behind a plaque that reads: "Here Man completed his first exploration of the Moon, December 1972 A.D. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind." Cernan was the last man to have set foot on another celestial body.

Last words
The first words spoken on the moon, by Neil Armstrong, are well known, but what were the last words spoken from the moon?

"America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow." - Commander Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 Mission, 11 December 1972.

chiKenliTeL

Only one of the Seven Wonders of the World still survives

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World that still survives. Can you name the other six?

They are:

1) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which were built on the banks of the Euphrates river by King Nebuchadnezzar II.

2) The gigantic gold statue of Zeus was built by the sculptor Pheidias at Olympia.

3) The temple of Artemis was erected in the Asia Minor city of Ephesus in honour of the Greek goddess of hunting and wild nature.

4) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a huge tomb constructed for King Maussollos, Persian satrap of Caria.

5) The Colossus of Rhodes was a massive statue erected by the Greeks in honour of Helios the sun-god.

6) The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built by the Ptolemies on the island of Pharos.

The Great Pyramid of Giza was built near the ancient city of Memphis for Pharaoh Khufu in the period of the Fourth Dynasty, between 2613 and 2494BC. The Greeks refered to it as the Pyramid of Cheops. A true wonder, it is immense: according to Mysteries of the Unknown, it covers a ground area of 13.1 acres (32,4 hectares), composed of some 2.3 million limestone blocks average two-and-a-half tonnes each, enough stone to build a wall of foot-square cubes two-thirds around the globe at the equator, a distance of 16,600 miles (26 500km).

Modern Wonders
A list of the seven wonders of the modern world was compiled after World War One (after 1918). The motorcar was omitted from the list, instead naming: (1) the radio; (2) the telephone; (3) the aeroplane; (4) radium; (5) anaesthetics and antitoxins; (6) spectrum analysis; and (7) X rays. An updated list undoubtedly will include the car, television, computer, nuclear energy and nanotechnology.