Facts Machine

Philippine Trivia

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:52:00 +0000

Arroyo and Sukarnoputri Share Similarities
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines and Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia have remarkable similarities. Both are 54-year-old women who had been vice-presidents before becoming presidents in place of their predecessors who were ousted in the year 2001. Both of them were daughters of former presidents of the world's two largest archipelagos who lost the presidency in 1965 to dictators. Both women have three children and their husbands were being pursued by controversy. Both visited Washington in their first year as presidents and met US President George W. Bush, another offspring of a former president who also assumed power in 2001. Arroyo and Sukarnoputri are not entirely similar though. The former is a Catholic Christian from the world's fifth largest Christian country while the latter is a Muslim from the country with the world's largest Muslim population.

Bulacan Produced Queens
Marcelo del Pilar, the father of Philippine journalism; Francisco Balagtas, the father of Philippine literature; Jose Corazon de Jesus, father of balagtasan; Nicanor Abelardo, father of kundiman; Francisca Reyes-Aquino, mother of Philippine dances; Gerry de Leon, a father of Philippine movies; Guillermo Tolentino, one of the fathers of Philippine arts; Jose Reyes, a father of Philippine medicine; and Dely Magpayo, a mother of Philippine broadcasting, were all born in Bulacan province. Atang dela Rama, the mother of Philippine theater, lived in Bulacan. Aside from national fathers and mothers, Bulacan also produced queens, namely: Lydia de Vega, Asia's former sprint queen; Regine Velasquez, Asia's song bird; and Michelle Aldana, Miss Asia-Pacific beauty queen.

Babe Ruth Scored Homeruns in RP
Babe Ruth, the American baseball legend who had over 200 homeruns in his professional career, once played in the baseball field of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. In 1934, Ruth and another baseball great, Lou Gehrig, selected an All-Star team that toured Asia where they played 18 games. The All-Star selection stopped in the Philippines and played at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex from December 2 to December 9. Gehrig beat Ruth when he scored the first recorded homerun at the Rizal complex on December 2. Ruth scored the 2nd homerun on the same day and 4th homerun on December 9. The other players of the same selection who also scored homeruns at the Rizal complex were Earl Averill and C. Gehringer.

7 Cabinet Officials Were from Harvard
In a speech before an American delegation early in 2002, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has claimed that her Cabinet officials include seven Harvard graduates and three Wharton alumni. The 54-year-old president added that four of her economic managers had been top executives on Wall Street prior to joining government service in the Philippines. President Arroyo, herself, has a Ph. D. in Economics, which she earned from the University of the Philippines (UP). Before this, she had studied for two years at the Georgetown University where she had former US President Bill Clinton as a classmate.

Coconut Workers Own San Miguel Corp.
There are 3 million hectares planted to coconut trees, the second largest agricultural area after rice fields (4 million hectares). The coconut industry employs about 3.4 million Filipinos. Some 18 to 20 million more Filipinos depend on the industry for their livelihood, according to the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines (UCAP). About 90 percent of those employed in the coconut industry are small farmers, who earn P10,000 a year or P25 a day.

Coconut farmers are among the most exploited segments of Philippine society. Driven to squalor by Marcos cronies who thrived on the so-called coconut levies, the coconut farmers represent the oldest sector of the domestic economy. In 1642, the Spanish colonial government forced each Filipino to plant 200 coconut trees, because Spanish shipbuilders had a large need for charcoaled coconut shells and coconut husks. Coconut products have gradually become the country's top export, accounting for 35 percent of all exports in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s, coconut products were the country's leading exports of raw materials. New economic policies initiated under the Aquino administration led to a slow-phased shift to industries, which eventually put the coconut industry at the tailend of government priorities. In 2001, coconut exports represented only 1.6 percent of the country's total exports.

In 1971, the dictatorial government of the late President Ferdinand Marcos established the Coconut Investment Fund (Cocofund) by imposing a levy of P15 per 100 kilograms of copra for nine years between 1973 and 1982. Supposedly, the fund should serve as subsidy to coconut products for domestic consumption. However, the cocofund, which amounted to a total of P9.695 billion by August 1982, was turned into a private fund used to finance three financial institutions, including the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB). The cocofund was also used to acquire the majority shares of San Miguel Corporation, the country's largest food and beverage conglomerate. A known Marcos crony, Danding Cojuangco, still retains the chairmanship of both UCPB and San Miguel until today. The fund, which is estimated at over P100 billion today, has yet to be transferred to the accounts of the coconut farmers.

A Filipino Spread Love Bug Virus
In May 2000, the so-called "love bug" computer virus spread worldwide and infected millions of computer files. The virus, quickly infiltrated government and corporate computer systems around the world. Described as the worst computer virus ever created, the "love bug" wrought damages amounting to US$10 billion. It could not have been big news in the Philippines, if not for the fact that the suspected creator of the virus is a Filipino. He was identified as Onel de Guzman, a student of AMA Computer College in Quezon City.

Orchids Breeds Were from RP
Waling-waling or Vanda sanderiana, is described as the "Queen of Philippine Orchids". One of the largest species in the world, waling-waling was discovered by German Taxonomist Heinrich Gustav Reicheinback in Mindanao in 1882. Since then, it has become the most sought-after flower in Mindanao and helped in the flourishing of the world's multibillion-dollar orchid and cutflower industry. The massive deforestation in Mindanao threatens the region's wildlife, including waling-waling which used to abound in the tropical forest of Mount Apo and its surrounding areas. Today, it is believed that Waling-Waling has more species abroad, particularly in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Hawaii. Of the 9,000 flowering plants in the world, about 3,500 are endemic to the Philippines. Human activities, however, pose a great threat to their existence.

Michael Jackson

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:56:00 +0000

Michael Jackson wanted to become a singer because his mom used to sing to him as a child. He believed he got his talent from his mother Katherine and God.

When Michael and his brothers were signed to Motown as the Jackson 5, he and his brother Marlon lived with Diana Ross until their father Joseph bought their house in Los Angeles. I always thought it was just Michael that lived with Diana. I didn’t realize that Marlon lived with her too.

Michael and his siblings used to dance around the house in their socks when they were kids. I think that is cute that they were able to do that together.

Despite how great a dancer Michael was, he never had a formal training. He was naturally able to dance. It took Michael a short period of time to learn the dance steps he performed in his video “Thriller”.

Speaking of Michael’s dancing, he learned the moonwalk from breakdancer Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers from the 80s movies Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. Michael learned the dances he performed on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special in less than a year.

Did you know that Michael used to love to read? I have that in common with Michael because I love to read too. He and his mother used to go to bookstores all of the time and pick up books to read.

Michael wasn’t the first artist to write “We Are The World”. Quincy Jones wanted Stevie Wonder to write the song, but Stevie ended up not doing the song. Michael was Quincy’s second choice to write it. That was a good decision because the song is one of the biggest singles of all time.

Have you heard that Michael was the closest to his sister Janet Jackson? When he was growing up, he was closest to his brother Marlon. When they got older, Michael was closest to Janet. I think that might be because she didn’t need anything from him the way his other siblings did. They had things in common since they were both successful.

Michael thought that Janet was a fierce performer. He knew that they had similar styles, but he really enjoyed her work.

Speaking of Janet, Michael wanted to do another track with her before they did “Scream”. She turned him down because she didn’t want people to think that she was riding on his coattails. She did do backing vocals for him on his “Thriller” cd. She sings in “P.Y.T.”

If you can believe it, Michael considered his cd “Bad” a flop. It didn’t sell as many copies as “Thriller” which is why he considered the cd a flop. It wasn’t a flop by any means. The cd sold over 25 million copies in the United States alone. Singers can’t sell that many cds now. He was only competing against himself for record sales.

Michael’s cd “Dangerous” was his second highest selling cd.

Michael considered “Childhood” his most honest song. I’m not surprised since he was robbed of a childhood thanks to Joe Jackson.

In case you didn’t hear, “Billie Jean” was allegedly written about Paula Abdul’s relationship with his older brother Jackie. There were reports that Paula and Jackie were having an affair and she was pregnant. Jackie was married to his first wife at the time that he was allegedly having an affair with Paula. In related trivia: Michael wrote “Billie Jean” in five minutes. He also wrote the song in his car while he was traveling with his brother Marlon.

Paul McCartney wrote “Girlfriend” from the “Off The Wall” cd specifically for Michael. They went on to do two other songs together. I knew that they did “The Girl is Mine” and “Say, Say, Say”, but I didn’t know he wrote “Girlfriend”.

In the movie The Wiz, Michael was originally only supposed to sing in one song, but another song was added in for him to sing.

unusual facts about human body

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:13:00 +0000

1. Don’t stick out your tongue if you want to hide your identity. Similar to fingerprints, everyone also has a unique tongue print!

2. Your pet isn’t the only one in the house with a shedding problem. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. That works out to about 1.5 pounds each year, so the average person will lose around 105 pounds of skin by age 70.

3. An adult has fewer bones than a baby. We start off life with 350 bones, but because bones fuse together during growth, we end up with only 206 as adults.

4. Did you know that you get a new stomach lining every three to four days? If you didn’t, the strong acids your stomach uses to digest food would also digest your stomach.

5. Your nose is not as sensitive as a dog’s, but it can remember 50,000 different scents.

6. The small intestine is about four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren’t looped back and forth upon itself, its length of 18 to 23 feet wouldn’t fit into the abdominal cavity, making things rather messy.

7. This will really make your skin crawl: Every square inch of skin on the human body has about 32 million bacteria on it, but fortunately, the vast majority of them are harmless.

8. The source of smelly feet, like smelly armpits, is sweat. And people sweat buckets from their feet. A pair of feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day.

9. The air from a human sneeze can travel at speeds of 100 miles per hour or more — another good reason to cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze — or duck when you hear one coming your way.

10. Blood has a long road to travel: Laid end to end, there are about 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body. And the hard-working heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through those vessels every day.

11. You may not want to swim in your spit, but if you saved it all up, you could. In a lifetime, the average person produces about 25,000 quarts of saliva — enough to fill two swimming pools!

12. By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore. But the sound of a snore can seem deafening. While snores average around 60 decibels, the noise level of normal speech, they can reach more than 80 decibels. Eighty decibels is as loud as the sound of a pneumatic drill breaking up concrete. Noise levels over 85 decibels are considered hazardous to the human ear.

13. Blondes may or may not have more fun, but they definitely have more hair. Hair color helps determine how dense the hair on your head is, and blondes (only natural ones, of course), top the list. The average human head has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles. People with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles, while those with brown hair are right on target with 100,000 follicles. Redheads have the least dense hair, averaging about 86,000 follicles.

14. If you’re clipping your fingernails more often than your toenails, that’s only natural. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. Fingernails grow fastest on the hand that you write with and on the longest fingers. On average, nails grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.

15. No wonder babies have such a hard time holding up their heads: The human head is one-quarter of our total length at birth but only one-eighth of our total length by the time we reach adulthood.

16. If you say that you’re dying to get a good night’s sleep, you could mean that literally. You can go without eating for weeks without succumbing, but eleven days is tops for going without sleep. After eleven days, you’ll be asleep — forever!

CatStuff

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:41:00 +0000

• Both humans and cats have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion.
• A cat's brain is more similar to a man's brain than that of a dog.
• A cat has more bones than a human; humans have 206, but the cat has 230 (some cites list 245 bones, and state that bones may fuse together as the cat ages).
• Cats have 30 vertebrae (humans have 33 vertebrae during early development; 26 after the sacral and coccygeal regions fuse)
• The cat's clavicle, or collarbone, does not connect with other bones but is buried in the muscles of the shoulder region. This lack of a functioning collarbone allows them to fit through any opening the size of their head.
• The cat has 500 skeletal muscles (humans have 650).
• Cats have 32 muscles that control the outer ear (compared to human's 6 muscles each). A cat can rotate its ears independently 180 degrees, and can turn in the direction of sound 10 times faster than those of the best watchdog.
• Cats' hearing is much more sensitive than humans and dogs.
• Cats' hearing stops at 65 khz (kilohertz); humans' hearing stops at 20 khz.
• A cat sees about 6 times better than a human at night, and needs 1/6 the amount of of light that a human does - it has a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light.
• Recent studies have shown that cats can see blue and green. There is disagreement as to whether they can see red.
• A cat's field of vision is about 185 degrees.
• Blue-eyed, pure white cats are frequently deaf.
• It may take as long as 2 weeks for a kitten to be able to hear well. Their eyes usually open between 7 and 10 days, but sometimes it happens in as little as 2 days.
• A cat has approximately 60 to 80 million olfactory cells (a human has between 5 and 20 million).
• Cats have a special scent organ located in the roof of their mouth, called the Jacobson's organ. It analyzes smells - and is the reason why you will sometimes see your cat "sneer" (called the flehmen response or flehming) when they encounter a strong odor.
• A cat has a total of 24 whiskers, 4 rows of whiskers on each side. The upper two rows can move independently of the bottom two rows. A cat uses its whiskers for measuring distances.
• Cats have 30 teeth (12 incisors, 10 premolars, 4 canines, and 4 molars), while dogs have 42. Kittens have baby teeth, which are replaced by permanent teeth around the age of 7 months.
• A cat's jaw has only up and down motion; it does not have any lateral, side to side motion, like dogs and humans. For this reason, don't rely on feeding dry food as a dental care program - cats need to have their teeth cleaned by a vet.
• When a cat drinks, its tongue - which has tiny barbs on it - scoops the liquid up backwards.
• Cats purr at the same frequency as an idling diesel engine, about 26 cycles per second.
• Domestic cats purr both when inhaling and when exhaling.
• The cat's front paw has 5 toes, but the back paws have 4. Some cats are born with as many as 7 front toes and extra back toes (polydactl).
• Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run.
• Cats walk on their toes.
• A domestic cat can sprint at about 31 miles per hour.
• The heaviest cat on record weighed 46 lbs.
• A kitten will typically weigh about 3 ounces at birth. The typical male housecat will weigh between 7 and 9 pounds, slightly less for female housecats.
• Cats take between 20-40 breaths per minute.
• Normal body temperature for a cat is 102 degrees F.
• A cat's normal pulse is 140-240 beats per minute, with an average of 195.
• Cat's urine glows under a black light.
• Cats lose almost as much fluid in the saliva while grooming themselves as they do through urination.
• Almost 10% of a cat's bones are in its tail, and the tail is used to maintain balance.
• The domestic cat is the only species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. You can also learn about your cat's present state of mind by observing the posture of his tail.
• If a cat is frightened, the hair stands up fairly evenly all over the body; when the cat threatens or is ready to attack, the hair stands up only in a narrow band along the spine and tail

Dog trivia facts!

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:11:00 +0000

-Female dog bites are twice as numerous as male bites.
-The name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box is Bingo.
-The Beatles song Martha My Dear was written by Paul McCartney about his sheepdog Martha."
-The canine nose works one million times more efficiently than the human nose.
-The average dog has 42 permanent teeth.

Most domestic dogs are capable of reaching speeds of 32 km's per hour when running flat out but the members of the greyhound family may reach speeds up to 70 km's per hour.

A male dog urinates with one leg up to better mark his territory. The scent can tell him many things, including size and health. The size is judged by the height of the stain. Male dogs although, do not actually need to lift their leg.

A dogs ear is very sensitive, full of sensory nerves that help to preserve hearing. Never, blow into a dogs ear, even gently can hurt a dog. It's not the actual act of wind, but the frequency at which you blow. It's like running your fingers on a blackboard, amplified hundreds of times.

It is said that dogs come from a creature similar to a wolf called Tomarctus ("father of dogs") which roamed about 15,000,000 years ago. Dogs first became pets for cavemen, while the Greeks used them for hunting and as guards. Romans traveled through Europe and brought their dogs with them. These dogs bred with the local dogs and gradually many different breeds were created.

Where is Hollywood??

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:25:00 +0000

Many people think that Hollywood is situated in California because of all of the glorious sunshine associated with the area, but the real reason behind the placement of Hollywood is a little more sly than most would think.

While it is true that it takes a lot of light to produce good films, especially in the early days of the industry, it actually had much more to do with patent infringement.

Thomas Edison, the noted inventor, still held a patent on film cameras, and the movie makers who were infringing on those rights weren't too keen on handing over their cash either, so to get as far away from Edison's lawyers as possible, they moved as far away as possible, while still remaining in the United States.

The back-up plan, should the lawyers also follow them westwards, was to then move on down south into nearby and accommodating Mexico.

vVeird vVacky Inventions!

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:21:00 +0000

For travel, many of us opt for a motorbike, whist very few of us have the time to learn to ride the more comical unicycle. Well, an 18 year-old scientist by the name of Ben J. Poss Gulak, has decided to merge both modes of transport, and develop what he has termed, 'Uno'. The bike caught the attention of many attendees to the 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto, either because they thought it was cool or to determine what it actually was. The common wheel set-up, of one at the back...

DEFENDIUS DOOR CHAIN IS A MAZING!

Here is a security gadget with a few twists, literally. The Defendius Door Chain at first glance looks like some kind of puzzle game, which attaches to your door and the door will only open once the maze has been completed. OK, this sounds good for those wanting to gain unauthorized access but what about trying to get out, and having to complete the puzzle each time? I'd rather not have to waste time figuring out a puzzle if my home was on fire and I was attempting to escape as quickly as...

weird facts

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:17:00 +0000

Tablecloths were originally meant to be served as towels with which dinner guests could wipe their hands and faces after eating.

Until the nineteenth century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia.

Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult.

When glass breaks, the cracks move faster than 3,000 miles per hour. To photograph the event, a camera must shoot at a millionth of a second.

A violin contains about 70 separate pieces of wood.

During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants.

Dolphins sleep with one eye open.

A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.

There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses.

Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.

Did You know?

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:09:00 +0000

Did You Know, Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

Did You Know, The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

Did You Know, 40 percent of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

Did You Know, TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Did You Know, Butterflies taste with their feet.

Did You Know, Coca-Cola was originally green.

Did You know, If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

Did You Know, Every day more money is printed for
Monopoly than the US Treasury.

Did You Know, It is impossible to lick your elbow.

Did You Know, Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

unusual facts on the net

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:48:00 +0000

"Almost" is the longest commonly used word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

"Flushable" toilets were in use in ancient Rome.

"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson was the first video to air on MTV by a black artist.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

"Duff" is the decaying organic matter found on a forest floor.

"Fickleheaded" and "fiddledeedee" are the longest words consisting only of letters in the first half of the alphabet.

"Asthma" and "isthmi" are the only six-letter words that begin and end with a vowel and have no other vowels between.

"Fortnight" is a contraction of "fourteen nights." In the US "two weeks" is more commonly used.

"Forty" is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical order.

"One" is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.

"Four" is the only number whose number of letters in the name equals the number.

"Hang on Sloopy" is the official rock song of Ohio.

"Happy Birthday" was the first song to be performed in outer space, sung by the Apollo IX astronauts on March 8, 1969.

"Kemo Sabe", meaning an all knowing one, is actually a mispronunciation by Native American of the Spanish phrase, Quien lo Sabe, meaning one who knows."

The lunula is the half-moon shaped pale area at the bottom of finger nails.

"Ma is as selfless as I am" can be read the same way backwards. If you take away all the spaces you can see that all the letters can be spelled out both ways.

"Mad About You" star Paul Reiser plays the piano on the show's theme song.

"One thousand" contains the letter A, but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine has an A.

"THEREIN" is a seven-letter word that contains thirteen words spelled using consecutive letters: the, he, her, er, here, I, there, ere, rein, re, in, therein, and herein.

"Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und." $203,000,000 is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S.

1 and 2 are the only numbers where they are values of the numbers of the factors they have.
1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.

1 kg (2.2 pounds) of lemons contain more sugar than 1 kg of strawberries.

1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire are strung across the Unites States.

1.7 litres of saliva is produced each day. In Discovery Channel, its a quart.

10 percent of all human beings ever born are alive at this very moment.

10% of human dry weight comes from bacteria

11% of the world is left-handed.

111, 111, 111 X 111, 111, 111 = 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321

1200 equals 1 pound (72 rupees).

The Incorruptible Saints!

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:29:00 +0000

Saint Bernadette, who was born into a poor family in 1844. She suffered greatly from sicknesses and diseases throughout her life. (In photo, best example of Incorruptibles)
The incorruptibles are a handful of Catholic Saints who have died throughout
the years, yet their bodies, or parts of their dead bodies, will not decay or surrender to decomposition as a normal body would. One human relic even dates back to the year 1381, the head of Saint Catherine of Siena. These bodies had not gone through any embalming or mummification methods to prevent them from decomposition, yet their bodies, or some parts of their bodies, remain intact.
It is said that many of the incorruptibles bodies died from violent matters or harsh diseases. A lot of the bodies had been buried regularly within damp conditions, to be exhumed on a far later date. When these bodies were finally exhumed, a lot of them had their clothes disintegrated from bad burial conditions, yet their bodies remained the same, and sometimes looked as if they were still alive, or had just passed on.
A lot of these saints or blessed people had harsh lives as well. For example, the "Blessed Margaret of Castello" was born a blind, crippled dwarf. After being born she was disowned by her parents who happened to be the Lords in a small village in Italy. Due to her limbs not being the same length, she developed a limp, which later advanced her into a hunchback. Margaret was allowed to roam the castle where her parents lived under the care of the servants, but she could not make contact with her parents. Later in life she was thrown in a custom made cell by her parents for years

The Predictions of Nostradamus

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:55:00 +0000

In his own day Nostradamus was acknowledged as the greatest seer alive, and even today he is often labeled as the most important prophet of European civilization. Many of his predictions, which were made public in the 1550s, appear to have come true. Nostradamus accurately foretold and gave the date of the Great Fire of London (1666). In another prediction, he noted that "Pasteur will be celebrated as a godlike figure." He prophesied that a man named Franco would cause a civil war in Spain. Another prophecy stated that an Austrian-born man named "Hister" (Hitler) would lead Germany in a great war but that "most of the battlefield will be against him." Nostradamus's uncanny ability to describe events and give names and dates for happenings that occurred nearly 400 years after his death makes it impossible to dismiss him as a charlatan.

In 1547 Nostradamus began to record his visions. Writing in verse, he composed four-line stanzas which were grouped into sets of 100 called "centuries." In these prophetic poems, he utilized puns, anagrams, scientific jargon, and Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and Celtic words. Supposedly, Nostradamus deliberately made his prophecies cryptic, because he thought it was dangerous to give people too clear a picture of the future and because he did not want to attract the attention of the agents of the Inquisition.

In 1555 he published his poetic predictions in a book entitled Centuries, which was an immediate best-seller, read throughout Europe. In 1558 he published an enlarged, second edition of Centuries, which was dedicated to King Henry II of France but which prophesied that king's death. In 1559 Henry II was accidentally killed in a jousting match when a lance pierced the visor of his golden helmet and wounded him in the eyes and throat. Nostradamus had predicted that Henry II "in a field of combat" would have "his eyes pierced in their golden cage" and would die "a cruel death" from "two wounds in one."

After the fulfillment of this prediction, Nostradamus's reputation as a seer soared. Deeply interested in the occult, Queen Catherine de Medicis, Henry II's widow, asked Nostradamus to come to Paris and live at the royal court. In Paris, he became the friend and adviser and, possibly, the lover of Queen Catherine. Most of Parisian society claimed that he was a divinely inspired genius, while the remainder considered him a fake or, even worse, a sorcerer. His predictions influenced politics, for rulers and diplomats searched through them for hints of coming events. After several years in Paris, Nostradamus was forced to return home to Salon because of gout in the joints of his legs.

On the night of July 1, 1566, his pupil Chavigny bid Nostradamus good night, to which the old man replied, "Tomorrow at sunrise I shall not be here." The next morning he was found dead at his workbench. He was entombed in the Chapel of St. Martha in Salon, in an upright position, because he did not want anyone to walk on his bones. Secretly, Nostradamus had arranged to have a metal plaque buried with him. In 1700, when his coffin was opened in order to move his remains to a newly built tomb, the metal plaque was discovered resting on his skeleton. On it was inscribed the date 1700.

a Cyber affair

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:28:00 +0000

There is considerable debate and confusion about what constitutes an affair in cyberspace. Because of the lack of physical presence and /or contact, many have dismissed the concept of extra-marital internet relationships as affairs. However, I strongly believe this is not the case. Cyber-affairs are a rapidly growing threat to marital relationships and need to be recognized and addressed by those who are headed down that slippery slope.

Internet relationships can be pursued anytime you have access to a computer, so you never have to leave your home or office to connect with the other person. It’s so easy. That’s what makes it so dangerous. There are such subtle ways the cyber-relationship can impact the marriage. Your wife says come snuggle with me on the couch. You say I have to take care of some work on the computer and you go online and talk to your “friend.” Now you have not only lied to your wife but you have taken important time from the marriage. You are on that slippery slope. No, it’s worse. I would say you are into freefall if it reaches that level of deceit.

Cyber-affairs can easily become more personal. Videocam can allow the two people to see each other even if they live far apart. That opens the door to enhanced sexuality as they can introduce visual seduction and shared masturbation online. In addition, if the relationship becomes especially strong, what’s to stop the two people from finding a way to meet? What starts as an anonymous, online friendship can potentially evolve into a relationship that has all the characteristics of a traditional affair.

The Truth about Cyber Relationship

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:11:00 +0000

Dealing with someone we cannot see is a breeding ground for lies. The usual lies that people make when it comes to cyber affairs are about their age, about their looks, and about their personal histories. There are graver kinds of lies, even. Some lie about their civil status. They pretend to be single when in fact, they’re living with their wives and kids. Some even lie about their gender. They may be looking for a romance of an alternative variety, but they want to catch your attention by claiming that they are of the opposite sex

To Sleep and Dream...

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:12:00 +0000

Sleep...
Everybody needs sleep, but as people get older they need less sleep. Newborn babies sleep 17 to 18 hours a day. Dogs sleep, cats sleep, and you sleep. All mammals and birds sleep. Scientists are not sure if fish, reptiles, and insects sleep. Big animals sleep less, and small animals sleep more. Elephants and giraffes sleep only 2 to 4 hours a day. Bats, opossums, and armadillos sleep 18 hours a day or more! Even kids need more sleep than grownups. A newborn baby sleeps 17 to 18 hours a day. A 10-year-old needs about 10 hours of sleep a night. Grownups need between six and nine hours of sleep a night. Some people need more sleep than others.

WHY DO WE HAVE TO SLEEP?

Scientists do not know for sure why you sleep. They do have some ideas. Safety could be one reason for sleep. People and other animals might sleep because it keeps them safe at night. It’s hard to see in the dark. Enemies could sneak up and attack animals that are wandering in the darkness. Most mammals and birds go to trees, underground dens, or nests at night. Prehistoric people went into caves or other shelters. They covered up with furs and fell asleep. You go into your home at night and snuggle up in bed. Sleep might also help your body work better. Things go wrong if you do not get enough sleep. It is hard to think and work and play unless you get plenty of sleep.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP?

Scientists have learned a lot about what happens when you lie down, close your eyes, and fall asleep. They study people in sleep labs. Sometimes your eyeballs move back and forth while you’re asleep. They move fast. Scientists call this kind of sleep REM sleep. REM stands for rapid eye movement. Your body may twitch during REM sleep. Your brain is also very busy during REM sleep. It is almost as busy as when you are awake. What do you think your brain is doing? Here’s a clue: You dream during REM sleep. There is another kind of sleep. Your eyeballs do not move. Scientists call this NREM sleep. NREM stands for nonrapid eye movement. Your brain is not very busy during NREM sleep. You go back and forth between REM and NREM sleep all night long.

WHY DO WE DREAM?

Scientists have done many studies on dreams. They think your senses may have a lot to do with dreams. In dreams, you see and hear things. Dreaming is not like thinking about things. You have feelings during dreams. You may feel happy or angry. You feel fear if you have a nightmare. Your memories may have something to do with your dreams. Dreams are often like stories that stop before they are finished.

DO DREAMS MEAN ANYTHING?

People in ancient times looked for meaning in dreams. The ancient Egyptians believed dreams could tell the future. Some psychologists think that dreams show what people feel deep inside. They ask people to talk about their dreams. Some scientists think that dreams have no meaning. They think that dreams just come from nerve signals in your brain. Other scientists think that dreams are important for memory. They may help your brain sort out what to remember and what to forget.

courtesy of : http://onlineroom.blogspot.com

HammeRule the Commercial

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:39:00 +0000

The HammeRuler will run a new commercial on TV and since dNeero users have made such great recommendations already we'd like your suggestions. Basically, our advertising firm has brainstormed a few ideas and we're at the point where we need to narrow things down. That's where you come in! Tell us what you think would be most effective for you and your friends.

Great Facts

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:19:00 +0000

Five thousandths of a millimeter is the tolerance of accuracy at the LEGO mould factories .

2.5 cans of Spam are consumed every second in the United States .

In 1836, Mexican General Santa Anna held an elaborate state funeral for his amputated leg. updated .

A meteor has only destroyed one satellite, which was the European Space Agency's Olympus in 1993.

The Koala bear is not really a bear, but is really related to the kangaroo and the wombat.

One gallon of pure maple syrup weighs 11 pounds .

Instead of a Birthday Cake, many Russian children are given a Birthday Pie .

The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system in India, employing over 1.6 million people .

The word "comet" comes from the Greek word "kometes" meaning long hair and referring to the tail .

The average price for a major league baseball game in 2004 is $19.82 .

The hydra, which is related to the jellyfish, can grow its body back in a couple of days if it is cut in half .

Please Pull the Trigger

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:02:00 +0000

Adults should take the responsibility of keeping guns well-hidden from children. They should also act maturely and teach children to respect guns, not think of them as mysterious, fun playthings.

i'm talking about cracking down on thorough background checks and waiting periods. It should be more difficult to get a gun than it is to get a driver's license. Gun shows should be monitored strictly so that unauthorized sales are not allowed. Safety courses should be mandatory for owners and owners-to-be.

Useless Trivia

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:45:00 +0000

A snail can sleep for three months.
The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
All polar bears, despite being near the North Pole, are southpaws. (ooh, bad pun)
"Go" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
Americans eat on average 18 acres worth of pizza every day.
Elephants are the only land mammals that can't jump.
More about elephants: If you add up the circumference of two feet, you get exactly the elephant's height. (?!)
Your foot is nearly the same length as your forearm as measured from the inside of the elbow to the wrist. (On me, it's nearly exact. :) )
In 10 minutes, a hurricane expends more energy than all of the nuclear weapons in the world combined.
On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.
Paul McCartney's real first name is James - Paul is his middle name. Thus, all the Beatles (including Ringo, whose first name is Richard) were named after kings.
The hole inside a CD is exactly the same size as an old Dutch 10 cent coin, called the "dubbeltje". (?!) Of course, all the European countries (save a few) have gone Euro now.
It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
A pregnant goldfish is called a twerp.
More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
Rats and horses can't vomit.
Almost everyone who reads this site will end up trying to lick their elbow. :)

Huh???

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:51:00 +0000

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
116 years
from 1337 to 1453

2) Which country makes Panama hats?
Ecuador

3) From which animal do we get catgut?
From sheep and horses

4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
November
The Russian calendar was 13 days behind ours

5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
Squirrel fur

6) The Canary Islands are named after what animal?
Dog
The Latin name was Insularia Canaria - Island of the Dogs

7) What was King George VI's first name?
Albert
When he came to the throne in 1936 he respected the wish of Queen Victoria that no future king should ever be called Albert

8) What colour is a purple finch?
Crimson

9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
New Zealand

10) How long did the Thirty Years War last?
Thirty years, of course - from 1618 to 1648

Snake caught in Calumpit, Philippines

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:02:00 +0000

this photo was taken sometime in 2004

Witty Quotes!

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:57:00 +0000

To prophesy is extremely difficult - especially with regard to the future.
- Chinese proverb

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
- Shakespeare

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.
- Henry Kissinger

It is not the horse that draws the cart, but the oats.
- Russian proverb

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
- George Burns

All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it.
- Samuel Butler

Your true value depends entirely on what you are compared with.
- Bob Wells

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.
- Albert Einstein

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"
- Albert Einstein

A little learning is a dangerous thing, but a lot of ignorance is just as bad.
- Bob Edwards

If you think education is expensive, try Ignorance.
- Andy McIntyre

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
- Will Rogers

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.
- James Klass

Not all those who wonder are lost.
- Anonymous

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
- Lao-Tsu

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.
- Gilbert Highet

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
- Albert Einstein

http://mylot.com/chubibo

Offshore Drilling : you want it? we need your opinion

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:25:00 +0000

Trivia Corner

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:14:00 +0000

Venus is the only planet in our solar system that rotates clockwise.
Apples are more efficient than caffeine in waking you up in the morning.
Mosquito repellents only block the insect's sensors so they don't recognize you. They don't repel.
The hair of intelligent people have more Zinc and Copper.
The longest name for a place in the world is a hill in New Zealand called (Taumawhaka) Taumatawhakatangihangakoauotamateatuirpukakapikimaungahoronnukupokaiwhenuakitanataha
50,000 words an average wooden pencil can write before running out of lead.
When a person tells a lie, the tissue in the nose swells, making it itch. So scratching or rubbing the nose is a sign that the person is not telling the truth.
All months that begin in Sunday has a 13th Friday.
People who are right hande live an average on nine years longer than the left handed individuals.
the longest word in the English dictionary without a vowel is the word Rhythm.

The weirdest Little stories

noreply@blogger.com (Fritz Dane) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:55:00 +0000

Revenge of the Rats

Norberto Conde of Hagdang Bato, Mandaluyong, Manila came home one evening and found an eight inch rat gorging on their dinner. He beat the rodent with a stick but it managed to escape. Next day, he found his one year old son Karl, dead with several bite marks on his body. The rat had apparently exacted revenge on the young Conde. The night before, Imelda, Karl's mother, heard him crying but she ignored him completely.

They had a Bad day

Two security guards and a supervisor of Merison Enterprises of Malacca, Malaysia, were held up by robbers inside the company warehouse. After tying them up, the thieves took off with a truckload of cigarettes. Managing to escape, the three went to a nearby road for help. Unfortunately, the first car that passed contained four of the robbers, who immediately tied them up again. The unlucky trio were later rescued by co - workers who showed up for work.

Weird suicide

Vergel of Pasay City was found dead by his mother at 10 pm of February 10. Although his penis was found dismembered and his eyes plucked out with a knife, police immediately ruled it as an obvious case of suicide. Lacson's mother did said that prior to the incident, his son was on drugs.