Author Archives: Cris

Crooked Forest

By | |
Leave a comment
Crooked Forest

Don’t go crook watching the Crooked Forest!

  • Crooked Forest is a group of pine trees that are abnormally distorted and bent near the base of the tree trunks, and as a result the trunks have grown in a significant ‘c’ shaped curve.
  • The location of Crooked Forest is in Poland’s province of West Pomerania, in Europe, near the town of Gryfino.
  • The bends in the Crooked Forest tree trunks are at roughly right angles and generally in the direction of due north.
  • Farmers are said to have planted the Crooked Forest in approximately 1930, making the trees roughly 85 years old in 2015.
  • Crooked Forest features roughly 400 trees, that are arranged in 22 rows.
Crooked Forest, Bent, Trees, Poland, Polish, Wonder, Mysterious, Ten Random Facts
Crooked Forest
Image courtesy of Lisa/Flickr
  • It is widely believed that the trees of Crooked Forest were purposely bent via the use of a tool or machine, up to 10 years after planting.
  • Theories of the cause of the bending of the trees in the Crooked Forest are many, and some have said that it is a result of heavy snow covering, weird gravity forces and army tank flattening.
  • It is likely that the trees in the Crooked Forest were grown in a peculiar way to create boat hull framing or furniture.
  • The owners of the Crooked Forest probably abandoned their grove of trees during World War II’s impending Polish invasion.
  • Tourists visiting the area commonly visit Crooked Forest, along with the region’s other interesting sites.
Bibliography:
Alford J, What Could Have Caused Poland’s Crooked Forest?, 2014, IFL Science, http://www.iflscience.com/environment/what-could-have-caused-polands-crooked-forest
Crooked Forest, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooked_Forest
Mysterious Photos of Unexplainable ‘Crooked Forest’ In Poland, Earth Porm, http://www.earthporm.com/mysterious-photos-unexplainably-crooked-forest-poland/
Poland’s Mysterious Crooked Forest, 2011, World of Mysteries, http://www.themysteryworld.com/2011/09/polands-mysterious-crooked-forest.html

Amazon:       

Desiccated Coconut

By | |
Leave a comment
Desiccated Coconut

Delicious desiccated coconut.

  • Desiccated coconut is generally grated coconut meat, that lacks much liquid content, if any, due to it being dried.
  • A variant of desiccated coconut, ‘dried coconut’, can be purchased, although it contains more moisture than desiccated.
  • Desiccated coconut often comes in the form of a coarse powder, flakes or shreds, that vary in size and generally contain no more than three percent moisture.
  • Desiccated coconut that has had sugar added to it during the production process, is known as a ‘sweetened’ version, and it is often used in sweet dishes.
  • On contact, moisture is absorbed into desiccated coconut, causing it to swell and grow in size.

Desiccated Coconut, Shredded, Assorted, Culinary, Food, White, Yellow, Fine, Large, Small, Ten Random Facts

  • The typical colour of desiccated coconut is white or a creamy white, similar to fresh coconut meat.
  • Desiccated coconut is best stored in a dry location, away from light and in cool conditions.
  • In cooking, desiccated coconut is used to add texture, taste or visual appeal to a dish, most commonly in sweets, ranging from desserts to baked goods, and it is often used as an outer coating on sweet, rolled balls of food, and the product can also be blended to make coconut butter.
  • Lower quality desiccated coconut features discoloured spots or dark brown flecks; the latter caused by the accidental inclusion of coconut skin.
  • Desiccated coconut is very high in manganese and fat, and it is high in fibre, copper, magnesium and phosphorus.
Bibliography:
What is Desiccated Coconut?, 2013, P.T. Harvard Cocopro, http://www.harvardcocopro.com/Desiccated_Coconut.html
What is Desiccated Coconut?, 2015, WiseGEEK, http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-desiccated-coconut.htm

Amazon:      —

Telephone

By | |
Leave a comment
Telephone

Hear the telephone ring in the morning.

  • Telephones are a communication invention, used to transmit sounds from one location to another, and they were a result of improvements on the Morse code-based telegraphic system.
  • ‘Telephones’ are also known as ‘phones’, and the term comes from the French word, that has its origins in the Greek words ‘tēle’ and ‘phōnē’, meaning ‘far voice’.
  • A telephone typically consists of a ringer that alerts the owner that someone is making an incoming call; a dial or buttons to enter a person’s phone number; and a microphone and earphone, that transmit and receive sounds respectively.
  • To transmit sounds, most commonly voices, telephones are required to convert sounds into signals, which are reconverted by the device located at the destination.
  • Telephones can be categorised into two main types: landlines; and mobiles; and the former transmit signals via wires and are usually left in one position, while the latter is a portable device and transmits signals via radio waves.

Telephone, Digital, Ten Random Facts, Charger, Panasonic, Mobile, Invention, Communication

  • Many newer portable telephones, or ‘smart phones’ as they are often called, consist of numerous features, including texting, internet and photography capabilities, as well as other applications, and commonly consist of touch screens, however, these phones are continuously being developed so further improvements are likely to occur.
  • Numerous people contributed to the telephone invention, although ultimately it was Alexander Graham Bell, from Scotland, who was awarded the first patent for the creation in 1876.
  • Six billion people across the globe were registered as telephone users, of landlines and/or mobiles in 2009.
  • Landline phones are typically bulkier than their portable counterpart, and generally feature a handle with a microphone and earphone on opposite but symmetrical ends, that is held up to one’s face.
  • The American inventor, Elisha Gray, filed a patent for the telephone within hours of Alexander Bell’s patent, and after some dispute, Bell was credited as the inventor of the device.
Bibliography:
Henderson C, The History of Communication Technology, n.d, Penn State Personal http://www.personal.psu.edu/jtk187/art2/telephone.htm
Telephone, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone

Common Garden Skink

By | |
1 Comment
Common Garden Skink

Although small, common garden skinks are great garden helpers!

  • Common garden skinks are lizards native to forests, and grassy or woody habitats in southern and eastern Australia.
  • ‘Common garden skinks’ are also known as ‘pale-flecked garden sunskinks’ and ‘garden skinks’.
  • The scientific name of a common garden skink is Lampropholis guichenoti, and it is from the family Scincidae, the family of skinks.
  • The colour of the skin of a common garden skink is mostly a brown-grey colour, and it usually has a black or dark coloured stripe down either side of its body and a copper coloured head.
  • The diet of common garden skinks generally consists of insects and vegetation, and can include caterpillars, spiders, slugs, cockroaches, crickets, worms and ants, and fruit and vegetables.

Common Garden Skink, Animal, Reptile, Australia, Small,

  • Small and enclosed spaces, such as rocks or trees, are the sought after home for common garden skinks, and they are commonly found in urban gardens, hiding in among plants or leaves.
  • Common garden skinks generally grow to a length of 9 centimetres (3.5 inches), and they have five toes on each of their four legs, as well as a long tail.
  • Common garden skinks can release their tails when caught by predators, such as birds, cats and larger reptiles like snakes.
  • Female common garden skinks generally lay their small white eggs in a communal location, each contributing two to six eggs to the nest of up to 250 in total.
  • Common garden skinks have tiny teeth, and the lifespan of the reptile generally ranges from two to three years.
Bibliography:
Common Garden Skink, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_garden_skink
Garden Skink, n.d, Museum Victoria, http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/lizards-found-in-victoria/garden-skink/
Lampropholis guichenoti, n.d, Lucid Key Server, http://keys.lucidcentral.org/key-server/data/09040100-0c09-4b0f-8501-000900020c0d/media/Html/Lampropholis_guichenoti.htm

Amazon:       

Richie Benaud

By | |
Leave a comment
Richie Benaud

“My mantra is: put your brain into gear and if you can add to what’s on the screen then do it, otherwise shut up.” – Richie Bernaud.

  • Richie Benaud was a famous Australian, well known for his cricketing career, both as a player and a high-profile commentator.
  • Richie Benaud was born on 6 October, 1930, in New South Wales’ Penrith, in Australia, with the name ‘Richard Benaud’, and he married twice, divorced once, and had two children.
  • In the game of cricket, Richie Benaud batted and bowled using his right hand, bowling with the leg-spin technique, and his father was a noteworthy cricket player, who passed on much of his cricket knowledge to his son.
  • Richie Benaud first ventured into more competitive cricket in 1948, when he was selected to join the New South Wales’ youth team, and his first Test match was in 1952.
  • Early in Richie Benaud’s career, in three separate incidents, he suffered a significant injury to his thumb, and sustained serious injuries to his skull and face.
Richie Benaud, 1956, Young, Old, Cricket, Ten Random Facts, Wikimedia Commons, Australia
Young Richie Benaud
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
  • Richie Bernaud’s best batting performance in test cricket was in 1957, with 122 runs; he ran almost 14,000 runs during his career, and he captained the Australian Test cricket team from 1958 to 1964.
  • Richie Benaud retired from professional cricket in 1964 and became a commentator for the United Kingdom’s BBC and Channel 4, and Australia’s Channel Nine.
  • Richie Benaud died at age 84, on the 10 April, 2015, after being diagnosed and treated for skin cancer in late 2014, and having suffered injuries from a car crash in 2013.
  • Richie Benaud was a notable cricket commentator and journalist for almost 50 years, and he usually wore a signature light coloured jacket, in shades of white, cream or beige when he was commentating.
  • In 1961 Richie Benaud became an Officer of the Order of British Empire (OBE); he was a recipient of a Logie Award in 1999, for Most Outstanding Sports Broadcaster; and Benaud was inducted into three halls of fame in his lifetime.
Bibliography:
Andrew McGarry, Richie Benaud, 2015, ABC News, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-10/richie-benaud-dead/6009202
Richie Benaud, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Benaud

Amazon:      

Suez Canal

By | |
Leave a comment
Suez Canal

Suez Canal has become a worldwide benefit.

  • The man-made Suez Canal is the lengthiest canal without locks in the world, and it is located in Africa’s Egypt, and links the Red and Mediterranean Seas together.
  • As of 2010, Suez Canal had a length of 193.3 kilometres (120 miles), a maximum width of 345 metres (377 yards) at the water level, and reached 24 metres (78.7 feet) in depth, and the canal crossings included two bridges and one tunnel.
  • The Suez Canal Authority owns the canal, and any ship is legally allowed to travel the canal for any purpose as long as they abide by the stated rules; and the number of ships that used the canal in 2008 numbered 21,415, equaling approximately eight percent of the world shipping trade.
  • A canal that connected the Mediterranean and Red Seas via the Nile River, is said to have been first built in 1874 BC by Senausert III, an Egyptian pharaoh, while other pharaohs reopened the waterway throughout history, until the Suez Canal was constructed in the 19th century.
  • The legal authorisation for the construction of Suez Canal was granted to Frenchmen Ferdinand de Lesseps, a diplomat, in 1854 although it wasn’t until 1859 that construction began.
Suez Canal, Water, Africa, Red Sea, Mediterranean, Aerial, Ten Random Facts
Suez Canal
Image courtesy of Wilhelm Joys Andersen/Flickr
  • The Suez Canal was opened on 17 November 1869 by the French, while the original estimated cost of the canal was less than half of the actual cost.
  • Although under-used in the first couple of years, the Suez Canal quickly became a staple part of world trade and movement, allowing for much shorter trips around the Earth, and a time saving of as much as 88% on some routes.
  • Suez Canal cannot support two watercraft abreast, and therefore the ships move in a scheduled convoy that takes 12 to 16 hours to travel the length of the canal, while a bypass area is used to pass oncoming boats.
  • Due to the Red Sea’s unique environment, the connection of the seas by the Suez Canal has caused much environmental damage to the Mediterranean Sea.
  • In 2014, at an estimated cost of $8.4 billion, construction began on a second canal of 72 km (44.7 miles) in length, to be connected and run parallel to the Suez Canal, to expand its capacity, and to be completed by the end of 2015.
Bibliography:
Canal History, 2008, Suez Canal Authority, http://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/sc.aspx?show=8
Canal Characteristics, 2008, Suez Canal Authority, http://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/sc.aspx?show=12
Suez Canal, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal

Amazon:      

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...