Leap Years

The leap year was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46BC, to make the calendar tidier. The extra day every fourth year made the average year 365.25 days long.

This was still about 12 minutes longer than the solar year, which you can get away with on the short term, but in 1267 a monk called Roger Bacon noticed that the calendar had slipped nine days in the 13 intervening centuries.

It then took the church until 1582 to accept that it was celebrating Easter on the wrong week. That year Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar, introducing the system we go by today: every fourth year is a leap year, unless it is divisible by 100 and not by 400. This makes the year 365.2425 days, which is still a little under 26 seconds too long, but nothing to fret about.


More from Wikipedia

Dog Facts

Happy Hound
Originally uploaded by Elfleda.

All 400 breeds of domestic dog belong to the same species: Canis familiaris. The vast diversity is down to humans carefully selecting valuable inherited traits but often encouraging unusual ones - such as dwarfism or lack of a tail - that, in the wild, might prevent a dog surviving long enough to reproduce.

A dog's nose has 220 million olfactory cells, a human's just five million. A dog's sense of smell is not only hundreds of times better than ours: it's four times better than the best odour-detecting machines. They can even smell cancer.

Doctors in California have found that both Labradors and Portuguese water dogs can detect lung and breast cancer with greater accuracy than mammograms or CT scans. The dogs correctly identified 99 per cent of lung cancer sufferers and 88 per cent of breast cancer patients simply by smelling their breath.

Smell

When the Roman Emperor Vespasian (AD 9-79) was challenged over his policy of taxing public lavatories, he declared: "Money has no smell." In 2006, scientists at the University of Leipzig found out that he was right. The metallic smell we experience after handling coins is actually a type of body odour. When we touch the metal, sweat from the skin gains electrons, then reacts with body oils and causes them to decompose, creating the familiar smell.

RIP Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary, who has died today at the age of 88, made it to the summit of Everest in 1953, and became the first man on the planet to reach its highest point.

There had been seven legal failed attempts to reach the top before he was sucessful.


Photo by apurdam

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

The origin and true meaning of this phrase is actually totally unrelated to any form of animal or its testicles. Back in time to the period of the Napoleonic War, the great gunships of this time carried many cannons on various gun decks. As an efficient method of storage and delivery of cannon balls to the cannon for firing, a "Monkey" (this term is used to define a table and/ or a rail) made of brass was used to hold the balls. In very cold temperatures the brass would contract or even break thus allowing the cannon balls to roll off the Monkey onto the gun deck. Hence the sailors would say "it is cold enough to freeze the balls off a Brass Monkey".

Picture by Anne Bourne

Well I never knew that!!

Apparently on your car dash board, the icon of the petrol pump shows you which side you need to fill up the car on. The handle of the pump will be on the same side as the tank of your car - handle on drivers side, tank on drivers side. 20 years I have been driving and I never knew that!

Christmas Facts

As Christmas is on the way here are some Christmas facts



Pope Julius I declared Christ’s birthday as December 25th sometime during the 4th century.

Santa has a calculated 31 hours to thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west.

The abbreviation of Christmas to Xmas partially comes from the Greek letter ‘chi’, the first letter of the word ‘Christos’, meaning ‘Christ’.

The colours in Santa Claus’ suit, red and white, were the creation of artist Haddon Sundblom. Sundblom was commissioned by the Coca-Cola Company to redesign Santa Claus, although, Thomas Nast was the first artist to illustrate Santa Claus.

Christmas carols were banned between 1647 and 1660 in England by Oliver Cromwell who thought that Christmas should be a solemn day.

England has only known 7 white Christmases in the entire 20st century.

It is estimated that approximately 400,000 people become sick each year from eating tainted Christmas leftovers.

Random Facts

Pupils can expand by up to 45% when a person looks at something pleasing.

A Bombay Duck is a dried fish

If colouring was not added to coke it would be green.

and finally for today.............

When we in the UK use the word antipodean, we are usually referring to Australia or New Zealand. The world actually means from the other side of the world - so to Australian the UK is antipodean.


7am ferry to Auckland
Originally uploaded by Teresa Green.

On this day..........

In 1886 the city of Johannesburg was founded following the discovery of gold.


Picture by kool_skatkat

Coventry

Old Cathedral at Coventry
Originally uploaded by DanieVDM.

The italian word COVENTRIZZARE (to coventrate) comes from the historical Coventry bombing of the 14 November 1940. The level of distruction of this area was so massive that they thought to use the name of the city to create a new verb with the meaning of OBLITERATED/FLATTENED

Venus is the only planet that rotates clock-wise.

Biblical Fact of the Day

According to a Jewish book called The Alphabet of Ben Sura which entered Europe from the East in the 6th century A.D. Eve was in fact Adams second wife.

Lilith, not Eve, was Adam's first wife, created at the same time and from the same dust. Claiming to be thus created equal, she refused to sleep or serve "under him." When Adam tried to force her into the "inferior" position, she flew away from Eden into the air, where she copulated with demons, conceiving hundreds more each day. God sent three angels after her, who threatened to kill her brood if she refused to return to Adam. But she did refuse. So God made Eve from Adam's rib to be his "second wife."

So girl power was around at the beginning of time.

(Picture Lilith by John Collier)

Wouldn't say boo to a goose

Why when someone is timid, do we (in the UK at least) say "they wouldn't say boo to a goose"?

Well according to this site it is:

Because of the supposed stupidity of the bird of that name, the word 'goose' has meant a simpleton since the 1500s. The word 'boo' in this context is the sudden, loud version of it...the one adults sometimes use to surprise or 'frighten' children...rather than the disapproving anti-cheering version. So, 'saying boo to a goose' - whether human or avian - is about the least brave thing one could imagine doing and, as a result, very shy people are accused of being unable to do even that.

Another Friday - another fact

The mummy of Hatshepsut was identified this year by means of a tooth.

Welcome to another Friday 13th

A cockroach can live without its head for nine days before it eventually dies of starvation.

Five random facts

There are more TV sets in the US than there are people in the UK

The tomato is actually a fruit as it contains seeds, it is a berry like the strawberry or raspberry!

The aeroplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)

There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

Soldiers from every country salute with their right hand.

One third of the population cannot click their fingers.

It's double fact Friday

Did you know that the speed of your heartbeat determines how long you live?

It has been found that all creatures' hearts have a lifespan of approximately 1 billion beats except for one:

Humans - should only live 30 years on this basis, but due to improved health, diet, exercise, medicine etc we have more than doubled, effectively proving that you can cheat natures laws (eternal life here we come)

Sneezing season is upon us.

Topical Hayfever facts

* Hay fever is the commonest allergy in Western countries, affecting an estimated 20 per cent of the population in Britain.

* It is an acute allergic reaction to airborne particles of pollen which penetrate the nose, throat and upper respiratory passages.

* Typical symptoms include red, itchy and watery eyes, blocked or runny nose, frequent sneezing, coughing, and wheezing.

* The symptoms are caused by the over-sensitivity of the mucous membrane that lines the inside of the nose, throat and eyes.

* The commonest cause of hay fever is grass pollen. Pollen from birch trees especially causes hay fever in spring and from mugwort and chrysanthemum in autumn.

* Hay fever affects many people in towns because of pollution. Pollen grains become attached to particles from car exhausts, increasing their allergy-inducing effect.

* Treatment is mostly symptomatic, with anti-histamines and steroids to reduce the inflammation in the mucous membrane.

Origin of the phrase....

Rule of Thumb - This has been said to derive from the belief that English law allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick so long as it is was no thicker than his thumb. In 1782 Judge Sir Francis Buller is reported as having made this legal ruling.

It's certainly the case that, although British common law once held that it was legal for a man to chastise his wife in moderation (whatever that meant), the 'rule of thumb' has never been the law in England.

This is a good site to find the meanings and origins of other well known phrases.