Tag Archives: Facts

The Wiggles

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The Wiggles

Let’s ‘Hot Potato’ along with the Wiggles!

  • ‘The Wiggles’, named from the song ‘Get ready to wriggle’ by John Field, is a band that performs music and tours internationally, and has a target audience of preschool children, from ages 2 to 6.
  • The Wiggles originally wore colourful but ‘messy’ costumes, but soon turned to the simple coloured skivvies of yellow, red, purple and blue, the latter originally green.
  • In 2013, the members of the Wiggles were Anthony Field (Blue), Lachlan Gillespie (Purple), Simon Pryce (Red) and Emma Watkins (Yellow).
  • The original and main members of the Wiggles were Murray Cook (Red), Jeff Fatt (Purple), Greg Page (Yellow) and Anthony Field (Blue), as well as Phillip Wilcher, who featured only on the first album, and later, Sam Moran (Yellow), who eventually replaced Greg.
  • The Wiggles are well known for entertaining children around the world, having performed at more than 6,000 shows, and were the highest earning entertainers in Australia over four consecutive years, from 2004 to 2008, as well as earning AUD $45 million in 2009, and they continue to be among the top earning entertainers.

The Wiggles, Sam, Jeff, Anthony, Murry, Ten Random Facts, Big Red Car, Show, Peformance, Entertainment

(From left to right) Anthony, Jeff, Murry, Sam
Image courtesy of Meandertail/Flickr
  • The Wiggles were formed for the production of the first album in 1991, due to Anthony Field wanting a recorded album of children’s music, to present to his future employers to help him obtain a job as a preschool teacher.
  • The group produced a film called ‘The Wiggles Movie’ (in Australia) in 1997, and started a television series broadcasting in Australia and the United States, in 1998.
  • The Wiggles were featured in their first mini theme park in Dreamworld, Australia, in 2005, which increased the fun at theme parks for young children.
  • The Wiggles generally produce new music every year and by 2014, had released approximately 50 albums and videos, and sold over 30 million copies.
  • The Wiggles have won many awards, including eleven Best Children’s Album awards at the ARIAs, have been included in the ARIA Hall of Fame, and the original members were appointed Members in the Order of Australia in 2010.
Bibliography:
About us, 2013, The Wiggles, http://web.archive.org/web/20130924110739/http://www.thewiggles.com.au/au/about/
The Wiggles, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wiggles

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Pencil Sharpener

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Pencil Sharpener

Sharpen your brain with these pencil sharpener facts.

  • Pencil sharpeners are stationery items that are used to sharpen pencils, and are also known as ‘parers’, ‘toppers’, ‘pointers’ and ‘sharpeners’.
  • Pencil sharpeners are available in electric, mechanical, or manual designs, and small manual sharpeners are the most common type used.
  • Pencil sharpeners replaced knives, which were historically used to shave or whittle pencils into a point.
  • Pencil sharpeners were first patented in 1828 by Bernand Lassimonne, a mathematician from France, and in 1847, they were made more practical by Therry des Estwaux, who is sometimes credited with the invention.
  • Pencil sharpeners are commonly fixed in a container that tidies and stores the pencil shavings, until the shavings are emptied in the garbage.

Sharpener, Green, Blue, Red, Silver, Grey, Metal, Plastic, Smiggle, Ten Random Facts,

  • The most common type of pencil sharpener is typically manufactured in the form of a rectangular prism made from plastic, metal, or wood, with a sharp metal blade that shaves the pencil as the pencil is revolved in the hole.
  • Electric powered pencil sharpeners were used as early as 1910, and were more commonly available from the 1940s.
  • Pencil sharpeners have been adapted to sharpen different sizes and shapes of pencil.
  • Pencil sharpener housings are manufactured into many different designs such as automobiles or animals, and are sometimes available as souvenirs or collectibles.
  • Some pencil sharpeners have disk cutters or cylindrical cutters, which are often bulkier, and usually have a crank handle.
Bibliography:
History, n.d, Sacapuntas Maquinetes Sharpeners, http://www.agirones.com/web/docs/4/2/carpeta,historia/hotel,/History.html
Inventor of the Pencil Sharpener, 2014, Lifetips, http://penpencils.lifetips.com/tip/93989/pencil-sharpeners/pencil-sharpener/inventor-of-the-pencil-sharpener.html
Pencil sharpener, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil_sharpener

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Liquorice

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Liquorice

Liquorice… love it or hate it?

  • Liquorice is a sweet that is traditionally flavoured with the plant of the same name, and it is believed that this type of sweet was first made in Holland in the early 1600s.
  • ‘Liquorice’ sometimes has a different spelling – ‘licorice’, and is also known as ‘black licorice’.
  • Licorice is often moulded in the shape of large straps, rope, or cylindrical shapes, although many other shapes are also available.
  • Liquorice, and is sometimes combined with other ingredients like chocolate or sweet candy to make confectionery like liquorice allsorts and chocolate bullets,
  • The main ingredients of liquorice is sugar, flavouring and wheat flour, and often molasses is used, as well as a shiny glaze such as bee wax, while Dutch licorice has a significant quantity of salt added to give it a salty flavour.

Black, Licorice, Liquorice, Rope, Twisted, Black, Shiny, Cut, Ten Random Facts, Sweet,

  • Liquorice is generally made by melting and cooking the ingredients, then pouring the mixture into a mould, or hand shaping the mixture, and then cooled.
  • Liquorice traditionally contains a sweetener, glycyrrhizin, found in the flavouring extract, which has potentially significant negative side effects if too much is eaten at once, including rises in blood pressure, heart failure and swelling, although some positive effects can also be experienced, including the removal of mucous from the respiratory system.
  • Although liquorice is typically black, red and other coloured versions are also manufactured, and they mostly come in different flavours.
  • Some liquorice products contain anise or aniseed, instead of, or in addition to licorice root extract, due to the similar flavour it has.
  • Liquorice is generally low in fat, and it also has a lower sugar and carbohydrate content compared to other confectionery.
Bibliography:
Liquorice (Confectionary), 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquorice_(confectionery)
Ross A, Liquorice: All sorts of Health Benefits, The Sydney Morning Herald, http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/liquorice-all-sorts-of-health-benefits-20120605-1zts1.html

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Verdon Gorge

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Verdon Gorge

Do not tumble down the walls at Verdon Gorge.

  • Verdon Gorge is a canyon with a river running through it, that is located in Europe’s France, in the south-east of the country.
  • Verdon Gorge is approximately 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) in length and, at its deepest depth, 0.7 kilometres (0.4 miles).
  • Verdon Gorge has stunning, turquoise coloured water, and some say this is due to tiny particles of rock  (most likely limestone), known as ‘rock flour’ or ‘glacial flour’, in the water, and others say it is because the water contains microscopic algae.
  • Verdon Gorge is a popular tourist destination, with more than a million visitors a year, and it is especially popular for rock climbing, as there are approximately 1500 courses to choose from, while other sports enjoyed include rafting, hiking, canoeing, fishing and paragliding.
  • ‘Verdon Gorge’ is also known in French as ‘Gorges du Verdon’ and ‘Grand Canyon du Verdon’, and it is named so, due to the colour of the water of the Verdon River, that flows through the gorge.

Verdon Gorge, River, Walls, Limestone, Wonder, France, Ten Random Facts, Flickr

Part of Verdon Gorge
Image courtesy of Kirandulo/Flickr
  • Out of all the gorges and canyons in Europe, the Verdon Gorge is the largest, and it is part of the Regional Natural Park of Verdon (Parc Naturel Regional du Verdon).
  • Verdon Gorge was formed from erosion caused by the Verdon River, and the gorge ends with a man-made lake called ‘lac de Sainte-Croix’ (Lake of Sainte-Croix).
  • Verdon Gorge runs through five different hydro-electric dams, constructed during the years of 1929 and 1975.
  • Verdon Gorge was the subject of an expedition in 1905, by Frenchman Édouard-Alfred Martel, a speleologist, a scientist that study caves, who completed a geological survey of the area.
  • Much of Verdon Gorge is made of limestone, with the highest, vertical wall reaching 300 metres (1000 feet).
Bibliography:
Collins R, Verdon Gorge, 2013, Provence Beyond, http://www.beyond.fr/sites/verdon.html
Verdon Gorge, 2013, Gorges to Visit, http://www.gorges-to-visit.com/VerdonGorge.html
Verdon Gorge, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdon_Gorge

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Yellow Tower Cactus

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Yellow Tower Cactus

Yellow tower cacti do not taste like lemons or give you pins and needles.

  • The yellow tower cactus is from the Cactaceae family, which is the family of cacti, and it is also known as a ‘golden ball cactus’ and a ‘lemon ball cactus’.
  • The yellow tower cactus is native to South America’s Brazil, where it can become considerably cold at nights during the winter time.
  • The scientific name of the yellow tower cactus is Parodia leninghausii, and at an earlier stage it was known as a Notocactus leninghausii, and has also been listed in other genera.
  • German Karl Schumann, a botanist, chose the scientific name for the yellow tower cactus, in honour of the 19th century (and early 20th century) German cacti collector, Wilhelm Lenninghaus, or Guillermo Lenninghaus, as he was later known.
  • Yellow tower cactus flowers usually bloom in summer, once the cactus grows to an adult height of 15 to 20 centimetres (6 to 8 inches), and it can take 5 years for the plant to mature.

Lemon Ball Cactus, Double, Yellow Flower, Tower, Green, Bloom, Garden, Ten Random Facts, Val Laird

Tower Cactus
Image courtesy of Val Laird
  • The yellow tower cactus has yellow coloured flowers, approximately 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter, that sit at the top of the cactus, and they have many papery petals.
  • A yellow tower cactus starts off as a ball shape, but as the cactus ages, it grows as a column, with small ones that cluster at its base.
  • Yellow tower cacti are green with a blanket of spines, that are long and golden coloured, and not so harmful.
  • A yellow tower cactus can tolerate a mild frost, as long as the cactus is relatively free of moisture content.
  • The yellow tower cactus can reach a height of up to 1 metre (3 feet) and a diameter of 12 centimetres (5 inches), however, the plant will take many years to reach that height.
Bibliography:
Parodia leninghausii, 2012, Cactus-bg.com, http://cactus-bg.com/kaktusi/notocactus-leninghausii-241/
Parodia leninghausii, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parodia_leninghausii
http://www.yourgardeninginfo.com/golden-ball-cactusparodia-leninghausii

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Thorny Devil

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Thorny Devil

These facts are a lot easier to digest than thorny devils.

  • In 1841, John Gray, a zoologist from Britain, wrote about thorny devils, and he applied the scientific name of ‘Moloch horridus’ to them, naming them after an ancient god, ‘Moloch’, and the Latin word ‘horridus’, meaning prickly.
  • ‘Thorny devils’ are also known as ‘thorny lizards’, ‘mountain devils’, ‘thorny dragons’ and ‘molochs’, being the only species of ‘Moloch’ lizards, and they are from the family Agamidae, the family of dragon lizards.
  • The typical length of thorny devils is 15 to 20 centimetres (6 to 8 inches), with males being typically smaller than females, and they have a lifespan of 15 to 20 years.
  • Thorny devils are native to the shrubby deserts of Australia, particularly in Western Australia and usually live among areas that have sandy soil.
  • Thorny devils are typically brown, cream and tan in colour, that camouflages them in desert, but the colour shades can change with the temperature.

Thorny Devil, Lizard, Dragon, Sand, Australia, Brown, Ten Random Facts, National Geographic

Thorny Devil
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • The body of thorny devils is covered with sharp thorns, mainly acting as protection against predators, however sometimes a lizard becomes the meal of a goanna or bird of prey.
  • Thorny devils have a head-like bump on their back that is shown to predators when feeling threatened, instead of their real head.
  • Thorny devils feed on thousands of ants every day, that they gather with their sticky tongue.
  • In Australia’s spring and summer, thorny devils lay three to ten eggs, in a hole approximately 30 centimetres deep.
  • Thorny devils collect dew on their backs, that is channeled to their mouth via grooves that sit between their spikes.
Bibliography:
Pianka E, Australia’s Thorny Devil, n.d, Varanus, http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~varanus/moloch.html
Thorny Dragon, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorny_dragon

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