This is the February 2024 edition of my fascinating facts newsletter, which includes a range of interesting topics. This includes writeups about Leap Years, royal etiquette, ancient water systems, the Great Wall of China and more.
Fascinating Facts February 2024 Contents
You can download the full newsletter to read HERE, however some snippets are listed below.
FUN FACTS ABOUT LEAP YEAR
Three thousand years ago Julius Caesar became the modern day Father of Leap Year when he felt it was time to recognise that winter existed and created a 12 month 365-day calendar based on that of the Egyptians. His new calendar initially solved problems but after a few years it was slowly realised that the earth actually has 365.24 days per year as opposed to 365. To add to the problem, some cultures didn’t have leap year on Feb 29th — instead February 24th occurred twice. To correct this, he instituted a Leap Year once every four years to ensure the man-made and solar calendars stayed aligned. Read More…
ROYAL ETIQUETTE
Being a royal is no cakewalk. From fashion and dining to social graces and disciplining children and pets, there are so many rules and protocol they are expected to abide by. They are known for their elegance, and manners rule by a list of strict behaviour guidelines. From how they are expected to dress to how to respond to people. So here are some rules they are expected to follow. Read More…
DEMISE OF ARM WAVING TIC TAC MEN
Technology has taken over in many areas and one of the most unnoticed is on the racecourse with the Tic Tac men. Mobile phones and Wi-Fi enable information to be communicated quicker, simpler and with more accuracy. But this has meant the loss of the familiarity of Tic Tac men standing by the bookie, waving his arms in the air. Reportedly, there are just three users of Tic Tac still in operation on British racecourses, which, it is suggested, has lost this form of sign language communication first used in 1888. Read More…
ANCIENT WATER MOVEMENT SYSTEMS
Water is the staff of life and a most important contribution to the flourishing of all life on this spinning ball! Where there is water, there is life. Society has engineered technologies to harness this essential life giving resource: water transporting it from source to storage. Civilisations have faced two main water problems: abundance and distribution. The life of civilisation flows as the world explores ways to store and purify drinking water and smartly eliminate or recycle wastewater. Read More…
ANCIENT WATER STORAGE
In arid countries water supply, storage and flood protection go together. Dams and diversion structures built nearly 6,000 years ago relied on natural drainage patterns to create artificial lakes, watering crops in their domain. Two of the most impressive surviving methods of water storage, especially for dry times, are Istanbul’s Cisterna Basilica, the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns and the Abaneri-Chand Baori Cistern. Read More…
THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA
The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe. The Great Wall of China’s history began in 771 BC. Afterward, new ‘Great Wall’ sections were built or rebuilt on their old sites to resist the invasion from neighbouring states. Read More…
DIFFERENCES AND SIMULARITIES BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH HEMISPHERES
There is no physical line between the north and south hemisphere. The division is a humanly imposed line around our spinning globe. The Equator running east-west and the Prime Meridian running north-south While each of these quarters of the earth have distinct differences in the north-south division caused by the Equator denotes a particular change in terms of environment, geography, and the effects of human culture. The differences of this divide are caused by the complex factors of human settlement, weather, and ecology, which all feed into each other, creating two vastly different worlds. The differences and seasons are caused by the earth having a 23.5° angle from the vertical, which points toward the North Star and creates our seasons. Read More…
WORLD’S LARGEST BRICK BUILDINGS
The earliest fired bricks date from 4400 BC in China. Of red clay, fired to above 600 °C, they were used as flooring. Today, the UK produces 1.9 billion bricks per year. The average house requires 10,000 bricks. A bricklayer can lay approximately 500 bricks per day. Dating from 1274, the Teutonic Malbork castles located in the town of Malbork, in Poland, is the world’s biggest brick building constructed over a period of 230 years with over 30 million bricks. Once the biggest Gothic castle in Europe. Read More…
