Interesting Facts: Facts

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Interesting Facts About France

Fertile plains cover two-thirds of France, which is the largest country in Western Europe. With more than half the land under cultivation, France leads the European Union in food exports. The mountain ranges are mostly in the south, including the Alps, Pyrenees, and Massif Central. Forests cover one-third of the land area in France and are a source of environmental and scenic wealth.
The north is humid and cool, while the south is dry and warm. Favorable conditions for grape growing in the south make French wines world-renowned—and France the world's largest producer. The nation sets a fast pace in telecommunications, biotechnology, and aerospace industries. Sophia Antipolis, a booming high-tech complex on the Riviera, attracts scientists from throughout Europe. Coal and steel industries are concentrated in the northeast near major coalfields.

The government continues to play a large role in directing economic activity. The national road network is the world's densest, and the high-speed train (TGV) runs at speeds of 270 kilometers (167 miles) per hour or more. Both road and rail transport tourists, helping to make France the most visited country on Earth. Nuclear power, which supplies 80 percent of France's electricity, enjoys widespread support, in part because there is virtually no domestic oil. Government policies provide for a 35-hour workweek and five weeks of paid vacation annually.

Paris has long been France's cultural, political, and business epicenter. In the early 19th century Napoleon Bonaparte divided large, traditional provinces into small departments, which have since been regrouped into larger, regional units. Low turnout in the 2002 elections was interpreted as voter apathy due to the dominant influence of Paris. Amendments to the constitution, approved in 2003, give more political power to the country's 22 regions and 96 departments.

Heavy losses in both world wars bled France of labor, wealth, and prestige. After World War II, France's colonial subjects, from Algeria to Vietnam, struggled for independence. Immigration from France's former colonies, especially Algeria, contributes to some four million persons of Arab descent living in France today. An independent defense doctrine, launched by President Charles de Gaulle in 1966, has turned the nation into one of the world's largest arms suppliers. France maintains ties with its former colonies through aid, trade, and military pacts. The French have developed modern political ties with former colonies still under French administration. Overseas departments (officially part of France) with their own elected governments are French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Reunion. Territories with varying degrees of autonomy are French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Territories, Mayotte, New Caledonia, St.-Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna.

Couple Walk Through Ruins of St. Lo France:
A civilian couple walks through ruins of the heavily bombed ruins in the city of St. Lo, France, August 1944.
(Photo Credit: Getty)

Damage in Trafalgar Square, London: London, England 1942.
Soldiers examine buildings in Trafalgar Square damaged by German bombs.
(Photo Credit: Corbis)

France Facts: Map and Geography

France is situated in Western Europe, 1 hr flight from London/England, 5.5 hrs from New York/USA. On the France outline you will see the little island of Corsica, which belongs to France, also in the French flag colors:-)

France Geography: France shares borders with Belgium to the North East, Germany and Luxemburg in the East as well as with Switzerland, Italy to the South East. The Pyrenees, a mountain range to the South of France, form a natural border between Spain and France. The highest mountain in France is the Mont Blanc, which is 4,810m high and stands at the border between France and Italy .

Mainland France is divided into 27 regions and these into 101 departments . The Mediterranean island of Corsica belongs to France too. Of the 101 departments there are also 5 ROM (regions d’outre mer or overseas regions) also belonging to France: French Guyana in South America, Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean, La Reunion and Mayotte in Africa in the Indian Ocean.

France Attractions

Paris: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, Montmartre, Arc de Triomphe, river Seine and many other great attractions
Versailles : castle of French kings
Lasceaux Caves for 17,000 year old rock paintings
Cote d’Azur for turquoise blue sea and great beaches
Corsica: in the Mediterranean sea
French Alps: great skiing and snowboarding
Mont St. Michel: Island with high tide
Provence for lavender fields and old historic towns like Avignon

Mont St. Michel: Island with high tide

Interesting Facts: French Language facts

French is the official language in France and it is also the second major language in Europe.

The Romanic language comes from Latin and is today the second most studied language after English and spoken by more than 300million people around the world as first or second language.
Famous French People

Caricature of Eiffel, published in 1887
at the time of "The Artist's Protest"

Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), the famous French engineer who build the Eiffel Tower in Paris, also designed the Statue of Liberty which stands in New York's harbour.

France is famous for the beaux-arts, the many great painters, sculptors. Famous French painters are Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne and Auguste Rodin is certainly one of the most famous French sculptors.

French composers which are very famous are: Maurice Ravel (Bolero) and Georges Bizet (Carmen). Children all around the world love French literature, like the famous “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas and “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

French political leader Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was born on Corsica. He reformed the French laws. He declared himself Emperor of the French in 1904. Napoleon’s army was defeated by the British in the Battle of Waterloo (now in Belgium) in 1815. He was exiled to the island St. Helena in the Mediterranean Sea where he died in 1821.

French Food

The French main dishes contain: fresh vegetables, meat and cheeses. French cuisine is well known for its freshness and high quality dishes. The French people enjoy their main meal in the evening and this meal often consists of three courses starting with a "hors d’oeuvre", a starter dish which often is soup or a salad and bread, then the main course and afterwards some cheese or fruit.

The bread you will get in France in a typical French "boulangerie" (bakery) is mostly white wheat bread or bread sticks, called "baguette".

Here is some typical French food:

Baguette: long bread stick
Croque Monsieur/Croque Madame: ham and cheese grilled sandwich while Croque Madame is the more heavy version with ham, cheese and a fried egg on top
Escargots: snails
Foie Gras: Goose liver pate
Pain au chocolat: similar to a croissant filled with chocolate
Crepes: French very thin pancakes with filling
Ratatouille: vegetable stew

source:

kids-world-travel-guide.com

travel.nationalgeographic.com

Interesting Video About France

Paris France - Paris Francia

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Debut octobre 2012, une equipe de la premiere chaine publique russe Rossiya 1 est venue en reportage en France. Comme ...

What is it like living in France?

The video describes house buying and living in France.

France bans all Muslims' political protests

After a French newspaper sparked global outrage by publishing obscene images of the Prophet Muhammad, the state decided

Tour de France 2012 Stage 17 Highlights ITV

With help from Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins survived the tough peaks of the Pyrenees on a stage won by

Interesting Facts About Pablo Picasso

1. Picasso's Full Name Has 23 Words
Picasso was baptized Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz y Picasso. He was named after various saints and relatives. The "Picasso" is actually from his mother, Maria Picasso y Lopez. His father is named Jose Ruiz Blasco.

2. When He Was Born, The Midwife Thought He Was Stillborn
Picasso had such a difficult birth and was such a weak baby that when he was born, the midwife thought that he was stillborn so she left him on a table to attend his mother. It was his uncle, a doctor named Don Salvador, that saved him:

'Doctors at that time,' he told Antonina Vallentin, 'used to smoke big cigars, and my uncle was no exception. When he saw me lying there he blew smoke into my face. To this I immediately reacted with a grimace and a bellow of fury'"

3. Picasso's First Word: Pencil
It's like Picasso was born an artist: his first word was "piz," short of lapiz the Spanish word for 'pencil.' His father Ruiz, an artist and art professor, gave him a formal education in art starting from the age of 7. By 13, Ruiz vowed to give up painting as he felt that Pablo had surpassed him.

4. Pablo's First Drawing
At the tender young age of 9, Picasso completed his first painting: Le picador, a man riding a horse in a bullfight.

His first major painting, an "academic" work is First Communion, featuring a portrait of his father, mother, and younger sister kneeling before an altar. Picasso was 15 when he finished it.

5. Picasso was a Terrible Student

No doubt about it, Picasso was brilliant: artistically, he was years ahead of his classmates who were all five to six years older than him. But Picasso chafed at being told what to do and he was often thrown into "detention":

"For being a bad student I was banished to the 'calaboose' - a bare cell with whitewashed walls and a bench to sit on. I liked it there, because I took along a sketch pad and drew incessantly ... I could have stayed there forever drawing without stopping"

6. Picasso's First Job
Picasso signed his first contract in Paris with art dealer Pere Menach, who agreed to pay him 150 francs per month (about US$750 today).

7. Did Picasso Steal the Mona Lisa?
Actually no, but in 1911, when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, the police took in Picasso's friend, the poet Guillaume Apollinaire. Apollinaire fingered Picasso as a suspect, so the police hauled him in for questioning. Both were later released.

8. Cubism: Full of Little Cubes
In 1909, Picasso and French artist Georges Braque co-founded an art movement known as cubism. Actually, it was a French art critic Louis Vauxcelles who first called it "bizarre cubiques" or cubism, after noting that Picasso and Braque's paintings are "full of little cubes."

9. Picasso was a Playboy
Being a famous artist certainly helped Picasso get the girl. Girls, in fact - many, many girls. Here's a short list of known wives and lovers of Picasso

Fernande Olivier (Picasso's first love, she was 18?; he was 23)
Marcelle Humbert AKA Eva Gouel (she was 27, Picasso was 31)
Gaby Lespinasse (he was 34, I don't know how old Gaby was, but she was young, that's for sure!)
Olga Khokhlova (Picasso's first wife; she was 26 and he was 36 when they met)
Marie-Therese Walter (she was 17, he was 46)
Dora Maar (she was 29, Picasso was 55)
Francoise Gilot (she was 21 when she met Picasso, who was 61)
Genevieve Laporte (one of Picasso's last lovers. She was in her mid-twenties and a French model of Picasso, who was in his seventies when the affair started)
Jacqueline Roque (who became Picasso's second wife. She was 27 and he was 79)

Marie-Therese Walter was Picasso's model for Le Reve. In 2006, casino magnate Steve Wynn agreed to sell the painting for $139 million, but accidentally put his elbow through the canvas the day before the sale was to be completed!

10. Picasso's Car
Okay, it's not exactly his car, but I couldn't resist. Last year, 44-year-old mechanic Andy Saunders of Dorset, England, spent six months converting his old Citroen 2CV into a cubist work inspired by Pablo Picasso!

Saunders named his car Picasso's Citroen, which is much better looking than the ho-hum

Source: www.neatorama.com (Alex Santoso)

Video about Pablo Picasso

Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso . Un alma primitiva

PABLO PICASSO - GRANDES GENIOS DE LA PINTURA

Documental: El Guernica de Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso Paintings

Interesting Facts about PI (3.14)

By Maya Pillai
In 1706, an English mathematician introduced the Greek alphabet pi (π) to represent the said value. However, in 1737, Euler officially adopted this symbol to represent the number.

In 1897, legislature of Indiana tried to legally establish the most accurate value of pi. However, the bill was never passed.

Most of the people are ignorant of the fact circle has infinite number of corners. The value of the pi is the number of times the diameter of a circle would fit around its circumference.

The value of pi is 22/7 and it is written as π=22/7 or as π=3.14.

The value of pi with first 100 decimal places is: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679

Another interesting fact is you would not find a zero in the first 31 digits of pi.

Besides everyday geometry calculations, the value of pi is also used in numerous scientific equations including genetic engineering, measuring the ripples, super strings, normal distribution and so on.

Do you know pi not only an irrational number but also a transcendental number?
Another interesting fact about pi is it was taken from the Greek letter "Piwas". It is also the 16th Greek alphabet.

A businessman in Cleveland, US published a book in 1931 to announce the value of pi is 256/81.

If you were to print billion decimals of pi in ordinary font it would stretch from New York City to Kansas.

More Interesting Facts about Pi

Did you know that it took Yasumasa Kanada, a professor at the University of Tokyo, approximately 116 hours to compute 6,442,450,000 decimal places of Pi on a computer?

In 1706, John Machin introduced a rapidly converging formula for the calculation of pi. It was π/4= 4 * arc tan (1/5) – arc tan (1/239).

In 1949, it took 70 hours to calculate 2,037 decimal places of pi using ENIAC (Electronic Numeric Integrator and Computer).

A German mathematician, Ludolph van Ceulen, devoted his entire life to calculate the first 35 decimal places of pi.

In 1768, Johann Lambert proved value of Pi is an irrational number and in 1882, Ferdinand Lindemann, a renowned mathematician proved Pi is a transcendental number.

There are people who memorize all the decimal digits of pi. The people make up songs and music based on the digits of pi. There are numerous interesting and fun facts about pi.

source: buzzle.com

Mathematical Pi Song

Interesting Facts about Canada

Life Expectancy
The life expectancy here in Canada according to recent studies show men live to be to the average of 77 years where as the women have a longer life expectancy and live to be around 84 years.

Biggest Province
Our biggest province here is Quebec which covers an area over 1,365,128 square kilometres.

Highest Populated Area
Our province with the biggest population is Ontario with an outstanding 12.5 million people. Quebec is the second highest populated area with 7.6 million people.

Canadian Sports Inventor
Did you know that basketball was invented by a Canadian named Dr. James Naismith. Dr. Naismith was originally from a small town in Ontario called “Almonte” in which I grew up. He invented the game while working in Boston with college students.

Canada’s Size
Canada is the second largest country in the world next to Russia. The area size of Canada is a whopping 9,984,670 square kilometres.

Immigrants In Canada
A little over 16% of Canada’s population are immigrants which equals to roughly 5.5 million people. The total population of people in Canada is nearly 32 million people if not more.

Boundary Line/Boarder
The boundary line or boarder that separates Canada and the United States is 8890 kilometres long.

Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway is over 7604 kilometres in length and is the longest national highway in the entire world.

Deepest Lake In Canada
The deepest lake we have here in our country is Great Slave Lake. This lake is located in the Northwest Territories and is a little over 614 metres deep.

Largest City
The largest city here in Canada is Toronto. This city is home to over 5 million people and Toronto residents hold more university educations than any other country in the world.

Best City To Live In
According to studies and research, Vancouver in British Columbia is tied with Zurich Switzerland for having the highest quality of life of any other city in the world.

Quality Of Life
According to the United Nations Human Development Index, Canada has got the highest quality of life in the world making it an ideal place to live and raise a family.

source: trifter.com/usa-canada

Fun facts about Canada

Interesting Facts of Lewis and Clark

Lewis's family had been neighbors and friends with Jefferson for a long time, and Lewis was Jefferson's personal aide. He had also studied navigation. He was 31.

Lewis brought along his Newfoundland dog, Seaman, but nobody is sure what happened to him.

Jefferson tried to send explorations 4 times before Lewis and Clark.

Sakakawea (other spelling) was kidnapped by another tribe of Indians when she was a young girl. She was then sold to a French-Canadian fur trader named Charbonneau. He married Sacajawea, and they had a son who was nicknamed Pomp. She was 16 and he was 3 months old.

The whole journey took 2 years 4 months and 10 days

It went for 8,000 miles.

The grizzly bear and the bighorn sheep were discovered on the mission. The grizzly bear made a really big impression on everyone on the exploration.

They sent a prairie dog back to Thomas Jefferson.

In total, they found 178 new plants and 122 new species of animals.

When they got back Clark was given the job of Indian agent for the west.

Lewis was made governor of the new Louisiana Territory, but he died soon after.

Clarks slave, York, went with them on the mission. York's father was a slave of Clark's father, so York was willed to Clark. He was the first black person the Indians had ever seen. York was married and wanted to live with his wife, but Clark would not let him. When they got back from the mission York was the only one not compensated for the journey.

The greatest distance traveled in one day was 50 miles when they were on a river going downstream.

The most popular trading items were colorful beads, but they also traded things like scissors, thimbles, and knives.

Frostbite was a common medical problem.

After the people on the expedition tried on the moccasins, they all began wearing them. Sometimes, they had to replace them every couple of days.

Compiled by: Krista Delle Femine

Lewis and Clark: Animated Expedition

Lewis & Clark- Great Journey West National Geographic HD

Interesting Facts about Mount Everest

1. Everest was formed 60 million years ago

2. It is the highest mountain in the world at 29,035 feet, although its exact height is often disputed

3. George Everest, Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843, discovered Everest in 1841.

4. In 1865 the mountain was renamed in his honour from its original name of Peak XV

5. Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to conquer Everest, on May 19 1953

6. It is almost 28 times the size of the Burj Al Arab, and will be 12.5 times the height of the Burj Dubai tower

7. Everest lies between Nepal and Tibet and climbers can scale the mountain from either side

8. It rises a few millimetres each year due to geological forces

9. Over 2000 people have reached the top of Everest

10. There are around 120 dead bodies of climbers on the mountain

11. Avalanches are the greatest cause of death for climbers scaling Everest

12. The summit is just below the cruising height of a jet

13. The youngest person to reach summit was 13 and the oldest 70

14. In Nepal the mountain is called Sagarmatha, meaning 'forehead of the sky'.

15. In Tibetan the mountain is known as Chomolangma for 'mother of the universe'

Death zone:

Above 25,000 feet, the air at Everest holds only a third of oxygen of sea level. This results in an increased chance of hypothermia, frostbite, high-altitude pulmonary, when lungs fill with fluid, and high altitude cerebral edema, when the brain swells up.

Even with bottled oxygen climbers experience symptoms such as fatigue, impaired judgment and coordination, headaches, nausea, double vision and sometimes hallucinations. Some experienced climbers have braved conquering Everest without the need of oxygen.

source: theindiatree.com

Skiing down Mount Everest

Flight To Mount Everest

Interesting Facts about Penguins

Penguins are birds.
The name is derived from Welsh terms ‘pen’, meaning head and ‘gwyn’, meaning white.
Penguin is an unofficial symbol of the United States Libertarian Party.
They mate for life.
Linux mascot tux is also a penguin.
They are ancient species that appeared 40 million years ago in the Eocene.
Penguins don't fly, they swim.
Penguins lay eggs.
Penguin chicks have fluffy feathers.
A group of penguins is called colonies or rookery.
They usually move in huge groups.
Penguins use their wings for swimming.
Penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere.
Some penguins live in Antarctica, Coast of South America, South Africa, Galapagos, Southern Australia and New Zealand.
Penguins hunt for fish, squid or shrimp like krill in the oceans to fill their stomach.
Most penguins can swim about 15 miles per hour.
Penguins have insulating layers of air, skin, and blubber.
Penguins have tightly packed feathers that help them to keep warm.
Penguins open their feather to feel the cold.
There are at least 18 different species of penguins.
There may be as many as 100 million penguins in the world.
Penguins can be endangered by oil spills, water pollution, and the over harvesting

Penguins Fun Facts

Penguins are social creatures.
They adapt to various climates.
They live in large colonies called rookeries.
They waddle when they walk.
Penguins are dresses in classic black and white.
Penguins communicate with each other through body language.
They spend most of their lives in water.
They don’t fear humans but are endangered by oil spills, water pollution, and the over harvesting of ocean fish.
Their body is insulated with a thick layer of blubber that keeps them warm.
They leap out of water while swimming.
They can walk faster than humans.
They can hold their breath for about 20 minutes under water.
They have more feathers per square inch that keeps them warm in frigid waters.
They are counter-shaded for camouflage.
Baby penguins have soft feathers known as down.
They count on their parents for food until they grow up with waterproof juvenile feathers.
They pick up stones and store them in their crop. This helps them to float when they are in water.
They can control blood flow through fat.
Rockhopper penguins have very loud calls.

source: Penguins Facts

Penguins - BBC

King penguins and their young - David Attenborough - BBC wildlife

Do penguins fly?

Interesting Facts about Mexico

The official name of Mexico is Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States).
A Mexican tamale called the zacahuil is three feet long and weighs about 150 pounds.
Mexico introduced chocolate, corn, and chilies to the world.
Mexico is home to a very rare rabbit called the volcano rabbit which lives near Mexican volcanoes.
The largest wildcat in North America is the jaguar, which can be found in Mexico's southern jungles.
The first printing press in North America was used in Mexico City in 1539.
The National University of Mexico was founded in 1551 by Charles V of Spain and is the oldest university in North America.
Millions of monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico every year from the U.S. and Canada, though logging operations are rapidly destroying their habitat.
The border between Mexico and the United States is the second largest border in the world (only the U.S.-Canadian border is longer).
Mexico is second only to Brazil in the number of Catholic citizens.
The red poinsettia (which the Aztecs called cuetlaxochitl) originated in Mexico and is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States ambassador to Mexico (in the 1820s).
Mexican children do not receive presents on Christmas Day. They receive gifts on January 6, the day on which Mexicans celebrate the arrival of the Three Wise Men.
Mexico is located in the “Ring of Fire,” one of the earth’s most violent earthquake and volcano zones.
Mexico City is built over the ruins of a great Aztec city, Tenochtitlan. Because it is built on a lake, Mexico is sinking at a rate of 6 to 8 inches a year as pumps draw water out for the city’s growing population.
Mexico’s flag is made up three vertical stripes. The left green stripe stand for hope, the middle white stripe represents purity, and the right red stripe represents the blood of the Mexican people. The picture of an eagle eating a snake is based on an Aztec legend (see fact #25).
The Chihuahua is the world’s smallest dog and is named for a Mexican state.
Mexico’s size is 756,066 square miles, which is almost three times larger than Texas.
Only ten countries in the world have a larger population than Mexico’s 109,955,400 million people.
Mexico City has the highest elevation and is oldest city in North America. It is also one of the largest cities in the world.
Mexico is the 14th largest country in the world by total area.
Modern Mexicans are a unique blend of many ancient civilizations, including the Olmec, Zapotec, Toltec, Maya, Aztec, Inca, African, French, and Spanish.
The first great civilization in Mexico were the Olmecs (1400-300 B.C.) who established many cities along the eastern coast of Mexico, sculpted the famous Colossal Heads, and worshipped a mysterious, unnamed god that was part human and part jaguar.
The Zapotec civilization (600 B.C.-A.D. 800) established great cities along southern Mexico and developed the first writing system in the Americas.
One unusual Mayan weapon was a “hornet bomb,” which was an actual hornet’s nest thrown at enemies during battle.
n the fourteenth century, a group of Chichmecas (warrior nomads) called the Aztecs (or Mexicas) settled in Mexico when they saw an eagle (representing the sun) standing on a cactus (a symbol of the heart) clutching a snake (a symbol of the earth or Quetzalcoatl)—an image which is now depicted on the Mexican flag.
Snakes appear repeatedly in Mexican mythology, from the serpent god Kukulcan which can be found the side of the Chichen Itza pyramid to the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl.
The Aztecs adopted human sacrifice from earlier cultures (such as the Olmecs) because they believed the universe would come to an end and the sun would cease to move without human blood. There are many ancient statues of gods sticking out their tongues, such as Huitzilopochtli, which may be a sacred gesture that suggests their thirst for blood.
During an Aztec human sacrifice, five priests, sometimes with their faces painted with different colors, held the sacrificial victims’ arms and legs. The heart, referred to as “precious eagle cactus fruit,” was cut from the live victim and burned on a fire in the temple.
Shells and stones on the Aztecs' ritual blades symbolized the faces of the gods for which the sacrificial hearts were intended. They would sacrifice between 10,000 to 50,000 victims per year. Under the rule of Montezuma II, 12,000 victims were sacrificed in one day.
The Aztecs played ritual ball game known as tlachtli in which the losers were often sacrificed to the gods.
When Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes arrived in 1519, the Aztecs believed he was their returning god, Quetzalcoatl and offered him the drink of the gods: hot chocolate.
The descendants of the Aztecs speak a form of the Aztec language called Nahuatl. Many of its words, particularly for types of food, passed into English...such as tomatoes (tomatl), chocolate (chocolatl), and avocados (ahuacatl).
Hernan Cortes and his men brought with them European diseases such as small pox, measles, and tuberculosis for which the Aztecs had no natural resistance. The native population fell from 25 million to less than two million within a century.
Hernan Cortes had a native mistress and able translator Marina (La Malinche). She gave birth to his first son, who is considered the first mestizo (Indian-Spanish).
About 60% of the modern Mexican population is mestizo (Indian-Spanish), 30% is Indian or predominately Indian, 9% is Caucasian, and 1% is other.
Creoles are descendants of the Spanish people who first arrived in Mexico. Now they are the name of Mexico's small population: Caucasian Europeans, Americans, and Canadians.
Mexico remained under Spanish control for nearly 300 years until the Mexican people, led by a priest named Father Hidalgo, rose up against the Spanish on September 16, 1810. Hidalgo is widely considered the father of modern Mexico, and Mexican Independence is celebrated on September 15-16.
Spanish conquerors brought bullfighting to Mexico, which is now the national sport of Mexico. Bullfighting takes place from November to April, and the Plaza Mexico is the largest bullring in the world.
While bullfighting is Mexico's national sport, Futbol (soccer in the U.S.) is currently more popular.
Even though over 50 native tongues are still spoken in rural locations, Spanish is the national language of Mexico. In fact, Mexico is the most populated Spanish-speaking country in the world.
Texas was a Mexican province which declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, resulting in war with the United States (1836-1838).
In 1910, under the guidance of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, Mexican peasants revolted against the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz to gain equality and land. The civil war lasted 10 years and took the lives over 1 million people.
Before 1958, women could not vote in presidential elections. Women, however, did play an important role in the 1910 revolution, serving as spies, arms smugglers, and soldaderas or soldiers.
In 1994, a group of Mexican peasants and farmers called the Zapatistas (named after Emiliano Zapata) started another revolt to highlight the differences between the rich and poor.
The North Atlantic Free Trade Association (NAFTA) was created in 1994 to encourage trade among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. But NAFTA has largely failed to lift Mexico out of poverty due to Mexico's repeated economic crises, a weak public education system, government corruption, and Mexico's inability to enforce the rule of law.
Actor Anthony Quinn was the first Mexican to win an Academy Award for his role in the 1952 movies Viva Zapata.
The Chichen Itza Pyramid in Mexico was named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

FACTS ABOUT MEXICO CITY

ufo mexico city fact or fake?

source: randomhistory.com

Interesting Facts about Johann Sebastian Bach

Born: March 21, 1685, in Eisenach, Saxony (Germany)

Died: July 28, 1750, in Leipzig, Saxony (Germany)
Nationality: German
Genre: Baroque
Performed as: Organist, violinist
During the composer's lifetime: Enlightenment thinking flourished. Contemporaries included Isaac Newton, John Locke,

Biographical Outline.

Genealogy: Bach was a member of a seven-generation family of talented composers and instrumentalists.
Choirboy: Grew up surrounded by music and Lutheran church doctrine.
First gigs: Church organist, 1703-08. Appointed concertmaster of the Duke of Weimar’s court orchestra at age 23; hired by the young Prince of Cothen to direct the court orchestra and compose as required in 1717.
Cantor and choirmaster, 1723: Placed in charge of training choirboys and composing/directing weekly cantatas for Leipzig’s four main churches, including the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas’ Church). Was also civic music director and music director for Leipzig University, which had its own church.
Superman: In 1729, Bach took on the direction of Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum, a group of professional musicians that gave weekly concerts. He revised some of his Cothen works and wrote others for this group.
Last decade: In the 1740s, Bach worked on several personal projects, like The Art of Fugue, the completion of the Mass in B Minor, the Goldberg Variations, and The Musical Offering (commemorating his visit with Frederick the Great of Prussia).

Fun Facts

Bach fathered 20 children: only nine of them survived him.
Sons of Bach: Several Bach sons became professional musicians and composers. The most famous were Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach and Johann Christian Bach.
Orphan: Bach was orphaned at age 10 and was raised by an uncle.
Germany only: Although he traveled frequently, Bach never ventured beyond a 150-mile radius of his birthplace, and never left Germany.
Technical expert: Bach was often invited to inspect the mechanics of church organs.
Duel: In his early 20s, Bach pulled a sword on a bassoonist who had accused him of slander.
Jail: Bach spent about a month in jail after showing disrespect to the Duke of Weimar by illegally seeking employment elsewhere.
Third choice: Bach was hired at Leipzig only after Georg Friedrich Telemann and another (now practically forgotten) composer refused the post.
Old-fashioned: By the time of his death, Bach’s fugues and contrapuntal style were out-of-date with the newer, lighter style; his sons referred to him as “old powdered wig.”
In his own words: “The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. If heed is not paid to this, it is not true music but a diabolical bawling and twanging.”

Recommended Biography

Christian Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach: the Learned Musician (New York, 2000).
Martin Geck, Johann Sebastian Bach: Life and Work, trans. by John Hargraves (Harcourt, 2006). Musical discussions abound, but they are not overly technical.
Peter Williams, J.S. Bach: A Life in Music (Cambridge, 2007). Scholarly work.
The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents. Arthur Mendel, Christian Wolff, and Hans T. David, editors (W.W. Norton, 1999). Documentary biography. Totally fascinating.
Malcolm Boyd, Bach, 3rd ed. Master Musicians Series (Cambridge, 2001). Universally praised, excellent introduction.
The Cambridge Companion to Bach, John Butt, editor (Cambridge, 1997). The biographical and contextual essays in the first section will interest anybody who wants to know about Bach’s world.

Bach: Ich habe genug / Nancy Argenta

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Jean-Pierre Rampal Sonata Flute & Harpsichord BWV 1020

Johann Sebastian Bach - Cello suite No.1 Prelude in G - Major

source: sfcv.org

Interesting Facts about Germany

Land & People

# Germany is the most populous European country (apart from Russia), with a population of 81 million.

# Germany's land area was over 50% larger during the Second Reich (1871-1918) and included most of present-day Poland and parts of Lithuania.
# German people are the second biggest consumers of beer in the world (after the Irish), with an average of 119 litres per person per year (or 0.32 l per day).
# The German language was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe, and remains the language with the most native speakers in Europe.
# 15 million people in Germany are of non-German descent (first and second generation), i.e. 18.5% of the population. About half of them are foreign residents, not German citizens.
# About a quarter of all American citizens claim at least partial German ancestry.
# Germany has nearly 700 zoological gardens, wildlife parks, aquariums, bird parks, animal reserves, or safari parks, including 414 registered zoos (more than the USA) ! Berlin's Zoologischer Garten is the largest zoo in the world, both in terms of number of species (1,500) and animal population (14,000).
# The world's youngest billionnaire is the German Prince Albert II von Thurn und Taxis, with net worth is estimated at around $1.9 billion (USD) as of 2006.
# German athletes have won a total of 1548 Olympic medals (summer and winter combined), i.e. more than any other country in the world except the USA.
# The Fairy Grottoes (Feengrotten) in Saalfeld, Thuringia, are the world's most colourful caves, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
# There are some 2.5 million half-timbered houses in Germany, by far the highest number of any country worldwide.

Culture & Sciences

# Classical music has been widely dominated by German-speaking composers. A few famous ones born on the present territory of Germany include Bach, Ha"ndel, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wagner and R. Strauss.

# Some of the world's greatest philosophers were German : Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Heidegger...
# The Germans can be credited for the discovery of insulin, the invention of the clarinet, the pocket watch, the automated calculator, the light bulb, television (partly), paraffin, petrol/gasoline & Diesel engines, the automobile (as well as the engine, differential gear and other important devices), the motorcycle, the jet engine, the LCD screen and the Walkman.
# There are 1,300 beer breweries in Germany, making some 5,000 kinds of beer. German people are the world's third biggest beer drinkers after the Czechs and the Irish.
# Germany was the first country in the world to adopt Daylight saving time (DST, a.k.a. summer time) in 1916, in the midst of WWI.
# The Walhalla temple (Hall of Fame and Honor of the German nation) in Regensburg was built by Ludwig I of Bavaria in the early 19th century to commemorate great figures and events in ethnic German history, beginning with the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 CE).
# The Bayreuth Festspielhaus (Bayreuth Festival Theatre) was specifically conceived and built to host performances of operas by Richard Wagner. It opened in 1876 for the premiere of the four-opera cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen.
# As of 1998, there were 5,752 museums in Germany (about as many as Italy and the United Kingdom combined).
# Germany is one of the last Western European countries not to have banned smoking in workplaces, and restaurants (see map). One of the political reason for this is that the Nazi offcially frowned on smoking, and post-war German legislators have been afraid of imitating Nazi regulations.
# No less than forty-two Nobel Prize laureates studied or taught at the Georg-August University of Go"ttingen. Nobel Prize winners notwithstanding, famous people who taught there included Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), the Brothers Grimm. Alumni count among themselves Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) and the American J. P. Morgan (1837-1913).

Environment & Ecology

# Germans have been the pioneers of the ecological movement and green politics. The world's first Green Party, Die Gru"nen, was founded in 1979-1980. Germany is one of the rare countries (along with Belgium) where the Greens have been part of a government coalition (from 1998 to 2005, so far).
# The term "ecology" was first coined by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866.
# In 2005 Germany produced approximately 35% of the world's wind energy. There are over 20,000 wind turbines off the coast of northern Germany, the largest of which reach 200 metres in height.
# Germans are among the most avid recyclers. According to a BBC survey, Germany had the third highest recycling rate (48% of waste recycled), only just surpassed by its Swiss and Austrian neighbours.

History

# The oldest sun observatory currently known in Europe is the so-called Goseck circle in Saxony-Anhalt. It was built some 7,000 years ago.
# The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was founded by Charlemagne in Aachen in 800 C.E. It lasted over a thousand years, until 1806, when Napoleon dissolved it (mostly because he saw himself as the heir of Charlemagne, the new Emperor of the Occident).
# The Weihenstephaner Brewery in Freising, Bavaria, has been operating since its foundation in 1040, which makes it the world's oldest brewery.
# Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) is the first composer whose biography is known. Her works are considered the foundation to what later became known as opera (over 400 years later).

# Germany played a central role in the Reformation of Christianity. Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468) printed the world's very first Bible in Mainz in 1456. The development the printing press allowed ordinary people to possess a copy of the holy book, previously reserved to the clergy and nobility. It didn't take long before another German, Martin Luther (1483-1546), compared the actual content of the Bible to the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church, and found major discrepancies. In 1517, Luther famously posted his 95 Thesis on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg (Saxony-Anhalt), in which he emphasized the Bible as the sole source of religious authority and the church as a priesthood of all believers. The Protestant Reformation would cause the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) throughout the Holy Roman Empire, and resulted among others in the independence of Switzerland and of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.
# The University of Marburg (Philipps-Universita"t Marburg), in Hesse, was founded in 1527 as the world's first Protestant university.
# The world's oldest savings bank was established in Oldenburg (Lower Saxony) in 1786.
# Germany has had quite a few capitals in its turbulent history, notably (in chronological order) : Aachen (from 794), Regensburg (seat of the Reichstag from 1663 to 1806), Frankfurt-am-Main (site of the election and coronation of German emperors between 1152 and 1792, seat of the Bundestag of the German Confederation from 1815 to 1871), Berlin (from 1871 to 1949, and 1990 to present), and Bonn (from 1949 to 1990 - West Germany only).

Construction & Architecture

# Ulm Cathedral is the tallest church in the world, with 161.53 metres (530 feet) in height. It was the world's tallest building from 1890 to 1908.
# The Wurzburg Residence possess the world's largest fresco ceiling (677 m^(2) or 7287 square feet). It is the work of Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770).
# The German Autobahn is the oldest motorway network in the world (first section completed in 1932), as well as one of the densest (12,000 km for a country of 357,021 km^(2)). It is also the only one in Europe to have no general speed limit.
# The world's two biggest cuckoo clocks are both located in Schonach im Schwarzwald, Baden-Wu"rttemberg. One of the cuckoos measures nearly five meters and weighs 150 kg.
# Over 300 bunkers and hundreds of kilometres of underground tunnels built during the Nazi-era still remain under the modern city of Berlin - although mostly unaccessible due to crumbling and floods from water tables.

Economy

# Since 2003, Germany is the world's largest exporter of goods with $1.016 trillion exported in 2005. 10.1% of world exports come from Germany.
# Germany the world's second producer of cars (after Japan) and motor vehicle in general (after the USA).
# The German company BASF (Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik) is the second largest chemical company in the world, employing some 87,000 people in 160 subsidiaries and joint ventures in 41 countries.
# Germany was ranked by the World Competitiveness Yearbook as No. 1 in patent and copyright protection.
# Germany now suffers from one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe (12% in 2006).
# As of 2006, Germany had the highest corporate tax rate in Europe, close to 40%.
# The biggest train station in Europe opened in Berlin in 2006.
# The European Central Bank is located in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany.
# Frankfurt International Airport claims the world record in the most international destinations served. The Lufthansa, based in Frankfirt, is the world's largest airline in terms of international passengers carried, and Europe's largest in terms of passenger-kilometers flown, freight tonne-kilometers flown and fleet size.
# DELAG, (Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft, translating as "German Airship Transport Corporation") was the world's first airline. It was founded on 16 November 1909 in Frankfurt.
# The largest department store in continental Europe is the KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) in Berlin, with over 60,000 square metres.

source: www.eupedia.com

Interesting Facts about Jesse James

Mysteries & Secrets - Jesse James

[- A hero or desperado? -]
On February 1, 1874, Missouri newspapers carried the banner headline, "The Most Daring Train Robbery on Record!" The report went on to tell of a gang of heavily armed, uncommonly tall men, riding handsome horses, who had the previous day seized the Iron Mountain Railroad flag station in tiny Gads Hill, Missouri. The writer said that the brazen bandits had thrown the signal switches, stopping the southbound express to Little Rock and taking $22,000 in cash and gold from the train's safe.

Though the gang was not identified, everyone recognized the stylish work of Jesse Woodson James and his brother Frank. In fact, the news bulletin itself was penned by Jesse, who left his handwritten press release with the train engineer just before riding off into the woods with the loot. Jesse believed in publicity, for he knew that much of his success in Missouri was dependent upon the tacit approval of its rustic citizens. Poor and struggling farmers for the most part, they idolized him and his cohorts as symbols of bold defiance against the authorities.

Learning the Trade

Jesse James learned his wild and wily ways as a teenaged guerrilla in the Civil War "army" of William Quantrill. This gang of adventurers, working nominally for the Confederate cause in Union held Missouri, robbed Union mail, ambushed federal patrols, and attacked shipping along the Missouri River with a speed and brutality that the Union regulars could seldom match. As Quantrill's men were never on any payroll - indeed, the Confederate army officially disavowed any connection with them - the guerrillas supported themselves by any means available, including robbery and extortion.

In 1864 the 17 year old Jesse joined one of Quantrill's squads, a gang of cutthroats under the command of "Bloody Bill" Anderson, following his older brother Frank and his cousin, Cole Younger, both veteran bushwhackers. Anderson had much to teach them about planning raids, carrying out intelligence gathering missions, deploying attackers for maximum advantage, and using horses and small arms to deadly effect.

Anderson soon came to regard Jesse James as the "keenest and cleanest fighter in the command," a judgment confirmed in a bloody encounter with Union troops at Centralia, Missouri, on September 27, 1864. The guerrillas halted a passing train, stole $3,000 in Union currency, and slaughtered more than 225 armed Union troops. James, riding hard with the reins of his horse in his teeth and firing a six shooter in each hand, reportedly killed three of the enemy.

When the war ended, Confederate guerrillas like Jesse and Frank James were not offered amnesty, as were the regulars, but were declared outlaws and ordered to give themselves up for prosecution. Frank did so and was soon paroled, but Jesse was shot by federal soldiers outside of Lexington, Missouri. Seriously wounded, he was allowed to be carried home to his mother's farm in Kearney, Missouri, presumably to die. But Jesse was soon on the road to recovery, and as his strength returned, he and Frank, cousin Cole, and three others of the Younger clan decided to take up where they had left off, plundering at will, only this time going after a different enemy: banks, railroads, and large landowners.

Pursuing a Bloody Trade

On February 13, 1866, the James brothers launched their new careers in nearby Liberty, Missouri, with the holdup of the Clay County Savings Bank. While eight gang members took up defensive positions on the main street, Frank and Jesse went into the bank, their guns drawn, and ordered the cashier to open the vault and fill the wheat sacks they carried with cash and securities. Then, with an estimated $60,000 in their possession, the gang mounted up and rode out of town. None of the outlaws was recognized; and, when a citizen posse attempted to follow their trail, it was stopped by a blizzard. After dividing the spoils, each of the bandits slipped back to his family homestead where he did his best to avoid attracting attention. For more than three years, the gang pursued its bloody trade deliberately but infrequently, and without serious interference. Along the way they killed the mayor of one town, several bank clerks, and a score or more bystanders, collecting enough money to live comfortably. Though many privately suspected the James and Younger brothers, there was so much local sympathy for the gang's activities that no one dared testify against its members.

Then, in December 1869, the James brothers' luck changed when they raided a bank in Gallatin, Missouri. The ordinarily cool Jesse shot the cashier, who reminded him of a despised Union officer, and the noise of gunfire drew a crowd to see what was happening. The brothers barely escaped the hail of bullets fired by the townspeople, and in the melee Jesse's mount became skittish and galloped off, throwing Jesse from his saddle and dragging him some 30 feet. When Jesse finally freed himself, he was able to climb up behind Frank on another horse and get away. But Jesse's horse was caught and its owner's identity established for certain. Jesse and Frank decided it was time to lie low, and this they did for nearly two years.

When they did resume their raiding parties, it was in the next state, at Corydon, Iowa, in June 1871. The Corydon escapade turned out to be one of the easiest holdups of their career, and the outlaws enjoyed themselves immensely. Stopping briefly at the church on their way out of town, Jesse interrupted the minister to announce that "some riders" had just robbed the town's bank. "You folks best get down there in a hurry," said the bandit to the astonished worshipers. In the next three years the James brothers grew ever bolder, as one success followed on another. On September 26, 1872, they rode into the giant fairgrounds at Kansas City and, before huge crowds, stole the cash receipts rumored to be about $10,000. Then, to be sure that their exploits were duly appreciated, they rode through the throngs, shooting over their heads like some kind of Wild West circus act.
Going for Higher Stakes

Not long after the raid on the fairgrounds, the brothers decided to try their hands at robbing trains. As the gang's first target, they chose the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific express, which was scheduled to run eastbound with $100,000 in gold on July 21, 1873. On a curving stretch of railbed near Council Bluffs, Iowa, the gang pulled a section of track out of line. Before the approaching train's engineer had a chance to slow down, the engine overshot the curve and ran off the tracks, the following coaches crunching one into the next. One trainman died and a dozen passengers were injured. The James brothers boarded the baggage car and ordered the clerks to open their safes, only to discover that the gold had gone through ahead of schedule and that just a few thousand in federal notes remained. In subsequent attempts they did far better. In addition to the $22,000 carried off from the Gads Hill train robbery in January 1874, they netted $135,000 in three other train robberies.

As the roaster of crimes grew and local law enforcement officers did little or nothing to apprehend the outlaws, the bankers and railroad interests took matters into their own hands and hired the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. But because Allan Pinkerton himself had been closely allied with the Union cause, having set up a secret service for the Union army, his men were regarded as enemies among the large segment of Missouri society still sympathetic to the defeated Confederacy. The detectives were placed at further disadvantage by having no photographs of any of the alleged culprits to help them track their quarry without local help. The James gang, by contrast, had no trouble spotting Pinkerton men nor any compunctions about shooting them dead when the opportunity presented itself.

Three Pinkerton operatives were murdered in a single week early in 1874. Stepping up its efforts, the agency laid plans to surround the Kearney homestead where the James brothers' remarried mother, Mrs. Zerelda Samuel, lived on the presumption that they would trap Jesse and Frank during a filial visit. Hearing rumors that the James boys were already on the premises, one of the agents lobbed a bomb into the house. But all they managed to accomplish was to blow off Mrs. Samuel's right arm and kill Jesse's eight year old half brother, Archie. The outlaws were safely ensconced in Tennessee at the time. The vicious bombing only improved Jesse's reputation as a social martyr.

Forced into Hiding

The gang's luck ran out during a bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, on September 7, 1876. Two of the James gang were killed on the spot; a third died in a fight with a posse sent after them. The three Younger brothers were wounded and captured several days later. Frank and Jesse were the only ones to escape, and because they were now more earnestly sought by the law than ever, they decided that their only recourse was to take new names and hide out once more.

Had the James brothers remained incognito, Jesse might have died in bed of old age. But three years after disappearing, he and Frank formed a new gang and began stirring up more excitement. Missouri's new governor, Thomas T. Crittenden, put a price of $5,000 on the arrest of Jesse or Frank James, with added amounts if either were convicted for robbery or murder.

Robert and Charles Ford, two recent recruits to the James gang who felt none of the loyalty that their predecessors had known, found the offer too good to refuse. Bob Ford secretly went to Crittenden and won a promise of amnesty in return for delivering Jesse James. The two Fords then paid a social call on Jesse and his family, who were living in St. Joseph, Missouri, under the assumed name of Howard. James was delighted to see his comrades in arms and invited them to stay a while. The Fords waited several days until they found Jesse unarmed, of all improbable circurnstances, the moment came one morning when the outlaw took off his gun belt, climbed up on a chair, his back to Bob Ford, and began dusting a picture on the wall. Slowly, Ford drew his weapon, aimed at Jesse's head, and pulled the trigger. The bullet killed him instantly.

Five months later, 39 year old Frank James surrendered on his own, laying his gun belt before the governor with a ceremonial flourish. Crittenden promised him a fair trial; and, perhaps because the public had been so outraged by the treacherous nature of Jesse's assassination, Frank was acquitted of all charges. He lived out the rest of his life in peace.

The Jesse James legend lives on. To generations of Americans, the outlaw was remembered as a brazen hero who stole from the rich to give to the poor but fell victim to the unjust power of the state. It was an image perpetuated in dime novels, folk ballads, and theatrical entertainments. That he and his cohorts in fact made no distinction between rich and poor, murdered a dozen or more innocent people, and created a climate of fear and disorder in many parts of the West simply did not fit the populist image, and, consequently, was left out of the telling.

source: www.skygaze.com