Author Archives: Cris

Cucumber

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Cucumber

These facts are as cool as a cucumber.

  • Cucumbers are generally torpedo shaped edible fruit or vegetables, and a fruit bearing creeper vine from the family Cucurbitaceae, the family of gourds.
  • The scientific name for a cucumber is cucumis sativus, and some of the varieties are apple cucumber, continental or telegraph cucumber, lebanese cucumber and pickling cucumber.
  • Cucumbers are native to India although they have been grown in Egypt, Greece and Rome for thousands of years.
  • Bees (normally honey bees) are often transported to cucumber farms where there aren’t bees, because cucumbers need them to for pollination.
  • China was the top producer of cucumbers in 2010 with 40,709,556 tonnes (40,066,610 tons), producing over 70% of the world’s cucumbers.

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  • Cucumbers have edible skin and seeds, and are most often eaten raw, but are also eaten cooked, sliced and pickled.
  • Cucumbers are made up of 90 – 96% water, and as a result they were often brought as provisions on desert trips.
  • Cucumbers can be green, white or yellow in colour, depending on the variety and the age of the fruit.
  • Cucumbers should not be stored near fruit, especially apples, tomatoes and melons, as they will age quicker.
  • Cucumbers have very little nutritional value, and the flavour is mostly contained in the seeds, which become bitter the older the cucumber gets.
Bibliography:
Cucumber, 2011, Fresh for Kids, <http://www.freshforkids.com.au/veg_pages/cucumber/cucumber.html>
Cucumber, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber>

Pool Billards

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Pool Billards

Ready, Aim, Fire!

  • Pool is also known as pool billiards, pocket billiards and billiards, and is a sport that is played with 2 or more players, although it can be played by a single person to improve their skills.
  • Pool is played on a pool table; a cloth-covered rectangular table surrounded by rails, that has six pockets on the edge of the table.
  • There are many versions of the pool game, such as 9-ball pool, bank pool and 8-ball pool, 8 ball pool being the most popular.
  • Most pool games use special balls, made from phenolic resin plastic, that are shot into the pockets with a white cue ball and a stick, called a cue, which is at least 1.016 m (40 inches) long.
  • Pool tables are normally 1.07 to 1.37 metres (3.5 to 4.5 feet) wide by 2.13 to 2.74 metres (7-9 feet) long and pool balls are generally 57.1 to 60.3 cm (2.25 to 2.375 inches) in diameter, and weigh 156–170 g (5.5 to 6 oz).

Pool, Billard, 8 ball Start up, Stick, Ball, All, Sport, pocket Ten Random Facts

  • The World Pool Billiard Association (WPA), established in 1987, governs official pool, and is a member of the World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS).
  • Pool uses coloured balls that are either striped or full colour, depending on the number, and there are 15 in a set, plus the white cue ball.
  • Cue sports, including pool, have not yet been included in the Olympics, even though they were seriously considered for the 2004 Olympic Games, and there have been many attempts to have them included in the Olympic programme since the 1950s.
  • It is believed the best pool player of all time was Willie Hoppe, nicknamed ‘The King’, who lived from 1887 to 1959.
  • The game of pool has its origins in a lawn game, and was first played on a table in the 1400s, probably in France, although most of the modern style table and equipment was not produced until the 1800s.
Bibliography:
Pool (Cue sports), 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool_(cue_sports)>

Mother’s Day

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Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to you, happy Mother’s Day to you!!

  • Mother’s Day is a special day for honouring mothers, and for families to celebrate their mothers.
  • Mother’s Day is normally celebrated in March or May, but is celebrated at different times in the year by different countries.
  • Mother’s Day was started in 1908 by Anna Jarvis, an American, who later regretted starting the celebration due to the commercialisation of the day.
  • Traditionally Mother’s Day is spelt with an apostrophe ‘s’, since Anna Jarvis thought the tradition should celebrate families’ mothers not mothers in general, although sometimes it is spelt ‘Mothers’ Day’ and ‘Mothers Day’.
  • Mother’s Day is most commonly celebrated on the second Sunday of May.

Mother's Day, Grandma, Mum, Mother, daughter, ladies, girl, formal, Ten Random Facts, Happy

  • The Roman Catholic Church has created a significant link between Mother’s Day and Virgin Mary, by honoring and remembering Mary on the day.
  • Mother’s Day is often celebrated by giving a gift, and cooking dinner or breakfast for one’s mother, or taking one’s mother out for a meal.
  • After the ninth year of the official United States Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis thought Mother’s day was being disrespected and was not what she had in mind, so she protested against the day, and was arrested.
  • Mothering Sunday, a European Christian holiday, is not the same as Mother’s Day, although it is often celebrated on the same day.
  • Anna Jarvis lobbied for Mother’s Day to become a United States holiday, and succeeded in 1914.
Bibliography:
Mother’s Day, 2012, Sunnie Bunniezz, <http://sunniebunniezz.com/holiday/motherdy.htm>
Mother’s Day, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother’s_Day>

Rummikub

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Rummikub

Rummikub -‘Brings People Together’.

  • Rummikub is also known as the Original Rummikub; Rummy-O; Rummy Cube; Rummy King; Rummy-Q; Tile Rummy; and Rummy Tile.
  • To win Rummikub one must use up all of his/her tiles by putting out runs or groups, or adding on to other player’s sets.
  • Rummikub contains 106 tiles numbered from 1 to 13, that are in four different colours that are generally red, black, yellow or orange and blue, and two jokers.
  • Rummikub was invented by Jewish Ephraim Hertzano, a Romanian, who moved to Israel, and made handmade sets and sold door to door.
  • Israel, Middle East, is the biggest manufacturer of Rummikub and exports the most sets.

 Rummikub, Blue, Play, Game, runs, set, in, Old, ten Random Facts, Tile

  • It is estimated that 50 million Rummikub games have been sold since its creation in the 1930s and has been sold in 54 countries and translated into 26 languages.
  • Rummikub is actually a mix of the games Mah-Jong, Dominoes, Chess and Rummy.
  • Holland has won the most W0rld Rummikub Championships, winning the championships three times.
  • There are 13 editions of Rummikub put out by Lemada Light Industries, the manufacturers of Rummikub, and Rummikub is distributed by many well known game companies including Hasbro, Crown and Andrews, Ravensburger and Tomy.
  • Rummikub has been for popular game for over 50 years and has won six ‘game of the year’ awards during that time.
Bibliography:
History of Rummikub, 2011, Rummikub, <http://www.rummikub.com/>

Great Wall of China

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Great Wall of China

A long, long, long wall.

  • Great Wall of China is a very long, military style wall made out of stone, dirt, bricks and many other materials, and the Chinese name for the wall is Cháng Chéng, which means ‘great wall’.
  • The Great Wall of China is located in northern China, and runs from east to west, along what was originally the northern border of China and was mainly built to protect the country from people invading or intruding from the north, and was also used to control who enters and exits China.
  • Northern walls were built around various Chinese states, some of which were built as early as 656 BC, and eventually these were joined to make the Great Wall of China.
  • Building, and joining the existing northern state walls to make the Great Wall of China, commenced around 220 BC and was built and rebuilt over centuries, during different periods of Chinese history.
  • The total length of all the sections of the Great Wall of China measures 21,196 km (13,171 miles) in length and gets up to 12 meters (39 feet) high, with the main Ming section just over 8,800 km in length.

Great wall of China, Long, Foretress, ancient, Building, Surronding, Overview, Sunset, Asia, Free Digital Photos, Ten Random Facts

Great wall of China
Image courtesy of Cescassawin/ Free Digital Photos
  • Many parts of the Great Wall of China have disintegrated, been damaged, or been removed, and are not repairable, whilst other parts have been restored.
  • It is estimated that between 2 to 3 million workers died whilst building the Great Wall of China, and it is said that when a worker died, they were buried inside the wall.
  • The Great Wall of China was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
  • The Great Wall of China originally had between 10,000 and 24,000 watchtowers, with 1 million guards along the Ming section of the wall.
  • The Great Wall of China has been said to be the only man-made structure on earth visible from space with the naked eye, however this is a myth that started back in the 1750s, and the wall is only barely visible, with the right conditions, during low orbits of the earth.
Bibliography:
Great Wall of China, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China>

Carnation

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Carnation

So many pretty colours.

  • Carnations are flowering plants from the family Dianthus and their scientific name is Dianthus caryophyllus.
  • It is believed that carnations are native to the Mediterranean area.
  • Carnation plants grow up to 80cm (31.5 inches) in height and the flowers grow to  3 to 9 cm (1.1 to 3.5 inches) in diameter.
  • The world’s biggest producer of carnations is Colombia, South America and the country provides the United States with 4/5 of its carnations.
  • Carnation flowers are generally sweet smelling and usually have serrated single or double petals.

Carnation, white, red, pink, yellow, bunch, valentines, bouquet, pretty, Ten Random Facts

  • Carnations are often worn on special occasions, most notably for weddings and on Mothers Day.
  • Carnations are the national flower of Spain, Monaco and Slovenia.
  • Carnation flowers were originally pink and peach, but now come in a wider variety of colours, including red, white, yellow and green.
  • The Greek botanist and philosopher, Theophrastus, made mention of carnations in his writings in approximately 300 BC, naming them ‘dianthus’, meaning ‘divine flower’.
  • Carnations have always been a popular cut flower, as they last well in water once cut.
Bibliography:
Dianthus caryophyllus, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianthus_caryophyllus>
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