fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
TIL 20: Gangster Prodigy
By: Sanchit Agarwal
Tags: Now I Know, Today I Learned, Tilsanchit, Facts, Til

I absolutely love ‘The Godfather’ movie series.

Rewatched both the movies (yes we’re completely going to ignore the 3rd one) over the weekend and it still holds up.

The film is a masterclass in screenwriting, directing, acting. Performances from Al Pacino and Marlon Brando still give you goosebumps. The dynamic between the Italian mob families and their origin story is so cleverly written. No wonder the films won multiple Oscars- including the one for ‘Best adapted screenplay’.

I went down the IMDB rabbit hole of the film and found this- ‘Mario Puzo, the writer of the original novels as well as the film’s screenwriter, had no prior experience or had studied writing screenplays prior to ‘The Godfather’. In fact, after winning two Oscars, he decided to pick up a screenwriting book. In the first chapter of the book, it said — ‘Study Godfather I’.

Also, this is how a journalist interview went with Mario Puzo:

GROSS: “One of the most famous lines that you come — that you came up with was about making an offer you can’t refuse.”

PUZO: “Yeah.”

GROSS: “Does that line have its roots in mob lore that you knew, or did it…”

PUZO: “No, I made it up.”



Genius :)
TIL 19: No stopping this Game
By: Sanchit Agarwal
Tags: Now I Know, Today I Learned, Tilsanchit, Facts, Til

Today I learned that back in 2020 during peak COVID shutdowns, GameStop top executives volunteered to take a pay cut of 50%, while their co-founder and Ex-CEO Ryan Cohen “declined to receive any compensations for his services as a non-employee director.”

BTW Gamestop, with its newfound Capital last year, has some ambitious plans in the coming months. Ryan Cohen wishes to turn Gamestop into the Amazon of Gaming industry.

This means heavy investment in its online infrastructure, shifting to e-commerce from its brick-and-retail stores.

The company is also on a hiring spree of ex-Amazon execs and plans to hire a new CEO soon.

Imagine last year this was the same company on the verge of bankruptcy at the risk of being short by Wall Street. And now a bunch of Redditors has breathed a whole new life into this dying enterprise.

But getting into Online retail would be tough simply because there are too many players out there, and literally, no newbie wishes to compete against the likes of Walmart and Amazon. A lot of people think Gamestop sticking to its physical stores would have been better since it could’ve built its own niche.

Oh well, only time will tell. But so far with where they’ve come, good for you Gamstop. You go, girl!
Waxing — Myths vs Facts. Waxing is one of the most superior ways…
By: Niconi Social
Tags: Myths, What Is Brazilian Wax, Waxing, Facts Only, Facts

Waxing is one of the most superior ways of hair removal from the root. To wax or not? That’s the question many of us ask ourselves once it’s summer, well if you’re second-guessing about your wax — appointment then let us tell you that everything you hear from your friends and family is not exactly true, there are so many conspiracy theories about waxing. In this blog, we will debunk some common myths about waxing.



Myth — waxing can make your hair grow back thicker



Fact — This is not true, waxing simply alters the growth cycle of your hair but will not alter its thickness. The exfoliating nature of this hair removal method helps your skin feel and look smoother.



Myth — waxing is painful



Fact — every skin reacts differently. So it depends on skin type and varies from person to person. Since you’re pulling hair out from the root waxing won’t feel like massage but we assure you that we have a less painful solution for you to try (product link)



Myth — Your hair has to belong to wax it



Fact — well, that’s actually not true, your hair only has to be at least ¼ inch long i.e size of a grain of rice to get a smooth finish.



Myth — Waxing is for younger women only



Fact — Definitely not true. Agreeing to this would be as similar as saying there’s an end time to feel beautiful. There’s no age limit for waxing, you can feel beautiful regardless of age!



Myth — you can’t wax on your period



Fact — of course, you can. Just note that because of hormonal influxes you will be a bit hypersensitive.



Now, here are our recommendations for wax according to all skin types —



(https://amzn.to/3iD7j0y) — for normal and oily skin



(https://amzn.to/3cDxAYN) — for dry skin



(https://amzn.to/35aA50J) — for combination skin



(https://amzn.to/3ggRpr1) — for sensitive skin



(https://amzn.to/2SsS2oo) — out top-selling Brazilian wax for face, upper lips, bikini line; suits all skin types.
TIL 18: A-Realistic Plans
By: Sanchit Agarwal
Tags: Now I Know, Today I Learned, Tilsanchit, Facts, Til

Today I learned Facebook has more than 10000 of its employees working on AR (Augmented Reality) and VR(Virtual Reality). That’s 1/5th of its entire workforce.

This hiring spree comes in parallel to their launch of the Oculus Quest 2, Facebook’s potential gamechanger in VR headset, making millions of dollars in the dozens of games that it offers.

Zuckerberg and Facebook, which recently became a trillion-dollar company, believe in the immense potential of AR/VR and have heavily invested in upcoming projects in the sector.

Zuckerberg’s vision is of an ecosystem built on top of an AR/VR network. Think something out of a black mirror episode- social media network, virtual shops, business conferences, and of course, gaming. All in an Augmented Reality universe.

Facebook wishes to be the front-runner in this development. Although it may seem they have no incentive to do this, think of it in the long run. Facebook would control an entire ecosystem, which would reduce its dependency on Apple and Google. VR gaming is already a booming industry, fetching a billion dollars in sales last year.

Zuckerberg also plans to reduce the prices of entry-level VR headsets so- ‘everybody could get in the system’. And as futuristic, sci-fi fantasy his entire plan may sound, keep in mind this is also the guy who took a social media network to a trillion-dollar company. So it’d be fun to watch out how this unfolds.

(Also thanks to Morning Brew and their half-yearly wrap-up newsletter for this fact.)
ANSIBLE CASE STUDY BY NASA. What is ansible?
By: Mogili Akhila
Tags: Facts, Inventory, Ansible

What is ansible?

— >Ansible is a open source IT configuration management, deployment and orchestration tool. It aims to provide a large productivity gain to a wide variety of automation challenges.

A REAL LIFE USAGE BY NASA

BUSINESS CHALLENGE FACED BY NASA

NASA needed to move 65 applications from a traditional hardware based data center to a cloud-based environment for better agility and cost saving. The rapid timeline resulted in many applications being migrated accurate to cloud environment. This created an environment which spanned multiple virtual private clouds and AWS accounts that could not be managed easily. Even simple things like ensuring every system administrator had access to every server or simple security patching were extremely cumbersome.

SOLUTION : The solution was to leverage ansible tower to manage and schedule the cloud environment.

HOW NASA USING ANSIBLE

→Ansible tower provided with a dashboard which provided the status summary of all hosts and jobs which allowed NASA to group all contents and manage access permissions across different departments. It also helped to split up the organization by associating content and control permission for groups as well.

→Ansible tower is a web-based interface for managing ansible. One of the top items in ansible users wishlists was an easy-to-use UI for managing quick deployments and monitoring one’s configurations. Ansible management came up with ansible tower in response.

→Further, ansible divided the tasks among tams by assigning various roles. It managed the cleanup of old history, activity streams, data marked for deletion and system tracking information.

ACHIEVED EFFICIENCIES OF NASA

→NASA web app servers are being patched routinely and automatically through ansible tower with a very simple 10-line ansible playbook.

→Ansible is also being used to re-mediate security issues and was leveraged to re-mediate OpenSSL issues. This not only saved time but allowed to quickly re-mediate a very daunting security issue.

→Every single week, both the full and mobile versions of www.nasa.gov are updated ansible.

→OS level user accounts for mission critical staff are continually checked and created if missing. Now everyone who needs access has access, even if that means adding or removing a user almost instantly from all servers.

→NASA has also integrated ansible facts into their CMDB, cloudaware, for better management visibility of entire AWS inventory. As a result, it became possible to organize the inventory of AWS resource in a very granular way that was not possible before.

→Ansible is also used to ensure that the environment is complaint with necessary federal security standards as outlined by fedRAMP and other regulatory requirements.

OUTCOMES

As a result of implementing ansible, NASA is better equipped to manage its AWS environment. Ansible allowed NASA to provide better operations and security to its clients. It has also increased efficiency as a team.
Saving the Environment: In Context
By: Mathilde Redshaw
Tags: Facts, Startupsinsider, Sustanability, Environment, Foodtech

Often, entering into a journey towards sustainable living can be somewhat daunting, and it’s hard to understand the impact you’re having when everything’s given to you in such arbitrary measurements. What does a 15,000 tonne carbon footprint mean? How bad is eating meat really? In this article, we’ll provide you with 5 practical facts to help you kickstart your understanding in the journey towards sustainability.

Assuming that you drink 1 litre of water per day, it would take you more than 4 years to drink the amount of water that is used for producing 100g of beef.

Producing 1 steak requires the same amount of water as taking a 5 minute shower, every day, for 2 months.

The UK food supply alone is directly linked to the extinction of an estimated 33 species at home and abroad.

1 kilogram of beef can have roughly the same impact on global warming as an economy flight from London to New York.

Producing a 200g steak causes the same amount of emissions as driving your car from Oxford to Milton Keynes (46km).

Whilst we’ve provided just a handful of examples, it’s hard to consistently have environmentally conscious actions placed into an understandable context which helps you appreciate your impact.

One of our core values at Forward Fooding is to help bridge the gap between understanding and practical action when it comes to sustainable living. Our Global FoodTech Map provides a platform on which thousands of start-ups and corporations can collaborate and network in order to work together to power the revolution in the FoodTech sphere. Want to join our community? Find us here.

Forward Fooding also interviewed one of the frontrunner start-ups in this bid for sustainable living, Oliver Bolton, CEO of Almond.org. His app is going to disrupt life for the consumer as we known it, and will revolutionise how we are able to understand how we can help to reduce their carbon footprint. You can read the interview here.

If you enjoyed this article, follow, clap or share and join us in our Food Revolution at ForwardFooding.com
Why women wear white wedding gowns?
By: Yasmine Mekni
Tags: History, Facts, Wedding Dress, Queen, White

Photo by Cate Bligh on Unsplash

Did you ever wonder why and how women all around the world agreed for decades on the fact that white is THE color for the wedding dress? I know I have! And even though I am pretty sure that this may not come off as a sensational discovery, to me, it was one worth sharing!

Even though more and more women today are no longer opting for the white wedding gown on their special day, this tradition stood the test of time and has been around since the mid-1800.

The trend is believed to have originated with nonother than Queen Victoria herself. In fact, the Queen wore a white lace and silk-satin gown when she married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. The dress outraged the English aristocrats at the time as white was traditionally the color of mourning.

Queen Victoria was born Alexandrina Victoria on 24 May 1819 in London to a German princess and an English prince. She was crowned at 18 Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, following the passing of her uncle William IV, from 1837 until she died in 1901.

Queen Victoria described her choice of dress in her journal:

“I wore a white satin dress, with a deep flounce of Honiton lace, an imitation of an old design. My jewels were my Turkish diamond necklace and earrings and dear Albert’s beautiful sapphire brooch.” (Source: Wikipedia)

Though in history, Mary Queen of Scots wore a white wedding gown in 1559 when she married her first husband, Francis Dauphin of France, the tradition of the white wedding dress is commonly credited to Queen Victoria.
20 facts you can memorize to seem smart annoy your friends
By: Evelyn Taylor
Tags: Tips, Facts, Stuff

20 facts you can memorize to seem smart annoy your friends

Banging your head against a wall for one hour burns 150 calories. While I suggest you shouldn’t do this it is scientifically proven. Although, you can just walk your dog for about 45 minutes, which also burns 150 calories, and is much less painful!

Pteronophobia is the fear of being tickled by feathers. This needs no words…

3. Snakes can sense a coming earthquake from 75 miles away or 121 kilometers up to five days before it happens. Does this make you want a snake now?

4. The oldest. joke was discovered on a 3,500 year old Babylonian tablet made of clay. It was written in a language called cuneiform and was found in 1976 by archeologists.

5. The 29th of May is officially “Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day”. The question is Why? The other question is Who cares? Do it and be a part of a group.

6. Cherophobia is an irrational fear of fun or happiness.

7. 7% of American adults believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. Seriously! Wow just wow.

8. If you lift a kangaroo’s tail off the ground it can’t hop. This is a good tip if a serial killer kangaroo is jumping around you.

9. Bananas are curved because they grow towards the sun. No wonder they are yellow. Mind Blown!!

10. During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools. And if all the people in to world all put there spit in one pool, one moment doing math, ok that would be a very gross big pool.

11. Movie trailers were originally shown after the movie, which is why they were called “trailers”. Wow! Not sure if that is good or bad…

12. An eagle can hunt down a young deer and fly away with it. This makes me scared for my life.

13. Tennis players are not allowed to swear when they are playing in Wimbledon. Oh no! I am a tennis player. But I agree with this, it’s sanitary

14. Saint Lucia is the only country in the world named after a woman. What!!!!!!! Noooooooooooooooooooo! Everyone make a new country right now and name it after I woman.

15. A baby octopus is about the size of a flea when it is born. Awww! Wittle 8 legs.

16. Scotland has 421 words for snow. Let’s go sledding in the flindrikin or the unbrak or the sneesl or the pouther or maybe we can just go with snow.

17. A sheep, a duck and a rooster were the first passengers in a hot air balloon. Just like they monkeys go to the moon!

18. Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to watch television for 3 hours. Want more TV time anyone? And save the earth too!

19. Approximately 10–20% of U.S. power outages are caused by squirrels. And I was a baby squirrel in a play last week. My sad life…

20. A swarm of 20,000 bees once followed a car for two days because their queen was stuck inside.

Well I hope you like this and it helped!
Top 10 Programming Languages to Learn in 2020 [infographic]
By: Agile Actors
Tags: Programming, Programming Languages, Facts

Some say that a programmer should learn a new programming language every year. Besides, every company loves a polyglot programmer. But, with over 500 programming languages available it can be quite challenging to focus on the languages that will prove to be an asset for your career development.

The new year is a great opportunity to assess your programming goals and set new ones. Learning one new language should definitely be on the list as it will help you develop professionally, as it will help you delve into the field of computer science further, and will prove to be a great addition to your tool kit.

With the rapid change of technology being a multilingual developer means that you can get your hands on many different and exciting projects and become more hirable.

Why learning more than one programming languages is good for your career?

According to successful developers, a professional should know at least three programming languages.

5 benefits of multilingual developers

A more explicit tool kit to get the job done

Can pursue multiple career paths

Increase Salary Potential

Work on more interesting projects

Learning becomes an easy task

The top programming languages for 2020

With over 500 programming languages in use globally, it can sometimes be hard to choose the best languages to pursue a successful career. See below the list with the top 10 programming languages for 2020:
10 Interesting Facts About Software Development [infographic]
By: Agile Actors
Tags: Facts, Fun, Software Development

Did you know that the first computer programmer was a woman born in 1815? Since then, software development is continuously evolving, adapting to technological and scientific breakthroughs and industry changes.

If you are already a programmer or aspire to become one, one thing you should definitely know about this profession is that you will constantly have to change and learn how to operate new tools, languages, technologies etc. That way you will be able to add on to your work and create spectacular products that users enjoy and you feel proud of.

Read the infographic below to find out 10 interesting and fun facts about software development to use in your interviews :

Source: Mercury Solutions

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Interested in a career as a software engineer? Agile Actors is the ecosystem for ambitious and talented tech professionals. From setting meaningful personal goals to getting personal coaching, it helps you find your next career step and deliver value to the real world. Check our current openings.
How to spot a liar?
By: Jovita Andrews
Tags: Pshychology, Liar Paradox, Facts, Liars Who Lie

How to spot a liar?

Everyone stop reading this and look at the person towards your left, now look at the person towards your right. What do these people have in common? Well that’s simple! We all are liars. According to the science of people study, its been estimated that 54% of lies are easily spotted. Extroverts tend to lie more than introverts do, of which 84% of them are left undetected. Most people tell 3 lies every 10-minute time frame. It is also said that men lie mostly when it comes to themselves and women lie to protect someone else. But how can one spot a liar?

In order to detect a lie accurately, first and foremost, we must create a baseline in which the subject at test must be cross-questioned in way that the person does not feel threated. One must carefully examine the involuntary mannerisms that the subject possesses. These behavioral patterns will be used as a line to detect a lie when the subject is under threatening situation.

Well, now that is established, let us break down the simple guidelines to detect a lie:

A change in their voice: According to Gregg Mc’Crary, a retired FBI criminal profiler, says “a person’s intonation is most likely to change during the course of questioning. This is due to the fact that the subject becomes subconscious of their response under high pressure situations.” He starts of by asking questions to the subject to establish a baseline. He, then, strategizes by identifying the subject’s regular speech pattern as oppose to when asked interrogatory questions.

Direction of eyes: Psychologists suggest that people who are not telling the truth may look towards left because they may be constructing imaginative situations in their head, this is opposed to looking to the right or up, where people’s eyes often head when they are trying to recall an auditory or visual memory. However, these eye directions may be reversed for the typical left- handed person.

Covering their mouth or eye: Particularly, when in response to a question that does not require a lot of reflection people tend to close or cover their eyes or mouth when telling a lie according to an article published by community table.

Unusual gesticulating: Anxiety attacks are pretty evident when a person is not truthful as there is a withdrawal of blood in their extremities like the limbs and feet causing them to fidget and itch the area. They may be unconsciously trying to calm their anxiety response or at least get the blood flowing back to their extremities, all of which could point to nervousness about telling a lie.

Pointing the finger: Pointing the finger subjectively or quite literally could be also a sign that someone is lying. This could be accurately determined if the baseline is properly established.

There are numerous techniques used by the authorities to detect if someone is lying, for instance, using narco-analysis or polygraph tests. Both of which are used in situations where the liar must be accurately identified. The above listed methods cannot solely be used to determine a liar that would be a rather pragmatic approach.
If One Passenger Consumes 10 Liters: Water Consumption in Aviation
By: Skycop
Tags: Airlines, Flight, Facts, Water, Aviation

There is no doubt that the aviation industry has a huge impact not only on the economy, but on nature as well. To celebrate World Water Day, celebrated on the 22nd of March, Skycop looked into how the aviation industry reduces their impact on our planet by reducing water consumption.

In 2017, airplane manufacturer Airbus reported that the company’s total water consumption was 4,011,897 m3 yearly. They also introduced steps to reduce that number. Instead of using drinking water for industrial and sanitary needs, Airbus in Hamburg now treats river water, resulting in significant savings. In Spain, waterless urinals will be installed at all sites and air-cooled pumps are replacing water-cooled versions. Improved irrigation and revamped landscaping are helping conserve water usage in Texas, USA.

Airlines also try to pollute less water. For example, KLM was among the first airlines when it switched to the EcoShine method of cleaning an aircraft’s exterior in 2012. This semi-dry washing technique requires 80 times less water than the previous system (150 liters instead of 12,000 liters to clean a Boeing 777) and saves up to 8 000 000 liters of water each year. Emirates saved 11 000 000 liters of water a year after adopting this method in April 2016.

Turning the focus on minimizing water consumption might also be financially beneficial to the airlines, as fuel consumption is directly tied to the weight of the aircraft and its load. In 2018, Finnair adjusted the standard water cargo volume, gaining annual fuel savings of 100 tones.

Environment and Ecology Research by Merve Özlem Vurmaz and Hülya Boyacioglu defined airports as places of high water consumption, mostly for processes that don’t need potable water like cooling systems, fire control, cleaning and washing of vehicles, runways and aircraft. Research focusing on water consumption of an airport located in Turkey showed that annual water consumption was about 436000 m3 /year. Irrigation, fire control system, cooling towers and terminal WC use accounted for the lion’s share, with a 23%, 7%, 26% and 20 % take respectively. Water used for WC and food consumption fluctuated between 6.5–10 L per passenger in the airport. Consider this: around 4.3 billion passengers flew on scheduled flights in 2018.

Airports recognize their impact and are conserving water in a variety of ways: by using reclaimed water for irrigation, street sweeping, construction dust control, and car washing; by using advanced water purification systems; by installing water-saving low-flow fixtures in restrooms; by finding options for storm water management, etc.

There is no way to entirely eliminate aviation’s impact on nature, but reducing it as much as possible is the way to go.

Read more at Skycop
THE DENIAL
By: Jasaleeq Bangash
Tags: Hitler, Holocaust, History, Politics, Facts

THE DENIAL

This movie is based on the famous naming "My Day in the court with a Holocaust Denier "

where an American professor while delivering the sermon in the memory of Jews massacre by Adolf Hitler, disrupted by a famous historian.

She declared him as the Denier of Holocaust in many of her books.

He filed a legal suit in the court of law in United kingdom administration of Justice for her act.

In order defend her words and declaring him as Denier, she haired a prestigious Legal team as defendant.

Her Legal team advised her to plead this case before Honorable judge rather then Jury.

The professor legal team remained silent while the Historian was on Lodging his statements.

The Historian, tries to discredit evidence for the existence of gas chambers at place where jews were of the opinion Adolf Hitler used to kill the jews with special chemical gas, claiming there were no holes on the roof for the poisonous gas crystals to be introduced. His stance "no holes, no holocaust" dominates the media coverage.

Furious, the professor demands that she and the Holocaust survivors be allowed to take the stand.

Later on after the cross examination by professor's team exposed the distortions in Historian writtings, that he added all those willfully.

FinallY on the Judgmental segment judge, worries the defence by suggesting that, if Historian honestly believes his own claims, then he cannot be lying as Lipstadt asserted.

However, the Honourable Judge rules for the defence, convinced of the truth of the professor's stance, that Historian was distracting the facts.

while her legal team reminds her that, despite her silence during the trial, it was her writing that countered the historian lies and provided the basis for the victory.
4 Health Myths You Should Stop Believing
Tags: Fitness, Myths, Health, Facts

One of the challenges to living a healthy lifestyle is the number of myths popularised as health truths. These myths ranging from diet to exercise misinforms and gives the impression that one is on the right path. Such misinformation can cause damage to your general wellbeing.

Here are 4 health myths you likely assume are true:

Starving yourself for weight loss: refusing to eat is you depriving your body of the calories it needs to function optimally. While depriving yourself of food for long periods may help you lose some weight, it is a wrong strategy because it cannibalises your body and destroys your muscle mass. This leads to the loss of essential nutrients and vitamins you need.

What if I fast?

Fasting is very much different from starvation. Fasting is practised, starvation is forced. The body gets essential vitamins before and after the fasting window but starvation just doesn’t mean a lack of food. It is the lack of essential vitamins the body needs to survive. You can eat everyday and still remain starved because you are not giving your body the vital nutrients it needs.

2. Consumption of energy drinks: before you open the next can of energy drink, it is best you are realistic with your expectations. While energy drinks like the name imply give you some form of energy, it is in no way better than your usual soda because they also contain among other things sugars, water, and caffeine. That is, it only gives you a short burst of energy that is not sustainable and will likely cause you some health concerns. Energy drinks must not be substituted for good nutrition and regular exercise which can keep you energised.

3. Sugar is bad: sugar has been the enemy in much nutrition and weight-loss discussions. In fact, the message had always been clear — avoid sugar and stay healthy. How true is this? There are two types of sugar - Natural and Added sugar. Natural sugar are found in fruits, food and vegetables while added sugar are added to food during food processing.

Your body needs more of natural sugar because they contain essential vitamins and minerals. However, the World Health Organization recommends that you can have a daily intake of “added sugars”- not surpassing 5 to 10% of your total daily consumption.

4. ‘I exercise regularly, so I can eat what I want’: a perk of living an active lifestyle is, that extra bar of chocolate might do your body no harm because your body needs and consumes more calories than the average person. But is regular exercising a licence for you to eat anything and whatever you like? No. Food is the body’s fuel, but the body needs the right fuel. So eat right just like everybody else because eating food packed with the right vitamins and minerals helps you build your muscles, heals you when you are injured and sustains your energy. Whereas, the wrong food impairs your muscle growth and recovery.

Love what you read? Click the subscribe link to get more health information directly to your mailbox.

NB: This article is for educational purposes only and not to be substituted for professional medical advice.
Let’s Talk About Dragons! Some facts you might not know.
Tags: Dragons, Beasts, Mythology, Medieval, Facts

We all love dragons even though they’re not real. We love the aesthetic and fierceness of these beasts. But there’s so much we don’t know about them.

Dragons are fictional creatures that have existed in many cultures in mythology and folklore since the beginning of ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Asian societies. Prior to man’s realization that the large bones being unearthed around the world were from dinosaurs, they believed that these skeletons were proof of the existence of dragons.

Here are a few interesting facts about Dragons you might not know:

· The name dragon is derived from the Latin word ‘draconem’ which means ‘huge serpent’.

· Western, or European, dragons tend to be very large fire-breathing, serpent-like, scaly creatures with wings.

· Eastern, or Chinese, dragons tend to be smaller creatures, with no wings, horns for ears, and are friends of humans.

· Dragons in literature often have red eyes, and depending on the culture, they possess different powers.

· In Chinese culture, there are three dragon species including the lung (sky), kiau (marsh), and li (sea). In Chinese culture, dragons are often used as symbols of imperial power.

· In Ancient Greece there were four dragon species including the serpent Dracones, Cetea the sea creature, Dracaenae a female dragon, and Chimera the fire-breathing dragon.

· Icelanders turned Viking ships away whenever they approached with dragons on their ships. Iceland’s coat of arms has a dragon depicted on it.

· The Ancient Celtics believed that dragons were capable of prophesizing and they worshipped them. They also believed that dragons waited to greet those who had just died at the gates of the Underworld.

· The Ancient Japanese believed that dragons were looked like serpents and were water gods.

· There are some real dragons in existence including the Komodo dragon, and the thorny devil lizard.

· Originally dragons were more serpent-like, but in the Middle Ages their appearance changed and they started being drawn and described as having legs, more like a lizard.

· In many legends and mythology dragons breathe fire, but they have also been known to breathe ice.

· Some of the most famous dragons in modern literature include the ones written about in The Hobbit, and Silmarillion (written by J.R.R. Tolkien), the Harry Potter novels(written by J.K Rowling), and A Song of Fire and Ice (written by George R. R. Martin).

· Famous movies depicting dragons as main characters include Eragon (Saphira), The Hobbit (Smaug), Dragonheart (Draco), Puff the Magic Dragon (Puff), and Beowulf (unnamed dragon).

Want more dragons in your life? Shop the dragon collection here at swordsswords!
Toxic
By: Hb Student
Tags: Truth, Endurance, Rebound, Facts, Mental Health

Image by Dyversions from Pixabay

I once read somewhere that “you can’t heal in the same environment that made you sick” and the first thing that came to mind was school. Then it came to my attention how many people I knew (as well as myself) that struggled with mental illnesses solely due to the fact that school is grueling. It’s not that I’m trying to complain about how hard school is but if you asked any well-rounded teenager in high school, they would verify: SCHOOL IS ROUGH.

All of us are expected to balance home life, school life, social life, maybe a sport, and a decent sleeping schedule all at the same time. As teenagers, we don’t have the freedom of independence or the level of trust that we desire or need in order to do things such as drive, stay out past curfew, make decisions for ourselves, etc. We’re expected to act like adults and sometimes we are still treated like kids. The transition into adulthood is challenging enough and we’re overloaded not only by societal standards but also by college expectations, family problems, drama, and the list goes on. Now you can probably see where I’m going with this.

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Factors like these are contributions to the downfall of our mental health and unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. If I had a penny for every time someone told me, “Wait until you get into college,” or “You have it easy right now, trust me,” let’s just say I’d have a lot of pennies.

In a poor mental state, it’s difficult to take care of yourself as well as manage everything else at the same time. You’re vulnerable and sensitive which makes it easier for you to be manipulated and hurt. The worst part is that you probably won’t even realize that you’re hitting rock bottom until it is too late. But lucky for you, it’s not all bad.

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Yes, your wellness is drained and maybe you’ve had “a couple” of mental breakdowns but you’re only going uphill from here…

By experiencing this, you’re elevating yourself and you’re already on your way to making a full recovery. In the end, you’ll no longer have to suffer by carrying a burden as heavy as this on your shoulder because you’re strong enough to endure whatever life throws at you. Keep in mind that you have to get through the bad in order to get to the good. Just remember to take a breather once in a while, do things you enjoy, spend time with people that make you feel good, and possibly find a temporary distraction. Keep in mind that there are things you can control and that in the end, you’ll be just fine.
Surprising Money Facts
By: Armine Melkonyan
Tags: Money Mindset, Money Management, Financial Services, Facts, Money

Money has its place in our lives and it will continue to exist in our future. People used different types of money during history. We cannot even imagine our life without money. Here are some facts about money and its management which will surprise you.

Do you know that…?

According to CreditLoan the typical American takes on debt(s). Still, in high school, they have car loans and credit cards. Nowadays the average American adult has 13 outstanding credit obligations at any one time.

Lots of people try to keep their healthy diet but there are many people whose spending on fast food continues to grow. Now Americans spend 110 billion dollars annually on fast food. On average, people who use a charge card to pay to spend about 50 percent more when they pay in cash according to a study by https://www.bankrate.com/.

The average amount of a new car loan is more than 30.000 dollars. It has increased by 40 percent over the past 10 years. The loans are six years longer than now.

According to an Employee Benefit Research Institute survey, only 14 percent of Americans are “confident” that they have enough money to live comfortably. 56 percent of workers had never calculated how much they would need to live comfortably.

Over a lifetime you can save 112.000 dollars by bringing your lunch to work. If you are not in a good financial situation you can reduce expenditures like this and improve your situation.

Paper Money

U.S. paper money is not paper at all. It’s 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen. According to www.britannica.com having 1 dollar in a pocket means that the person carries cocaine. In 2009, a team led by researcher Yuengang Zuo discovered that 90 percent of the money in the US has cocaine residue on it. So 95 percent of Washington, D. C. carry cocaine. The US carries the highest average amounts of cocaine in 5 countries.

The inks of the cash are composed of organic pigments, inorganic pigments, varnishes, alkyds, and dryer agents. Infrared inks cannot be detected by the naked eye.
Facts About Apple Inc
By: Kim Anh
Tags: Facts, Interesting Facts, Apple Inc

Photo by Pixabay

Apple is one of the most recognized companies in the world, with millions of people all over the globe using their products on a daily basis. Despite this popularity, there may be some facts about Apple that not everyone is aware of.

- In July 2011 it was reported that Apple had more money than the United States. This was based on the fact that the operating cash balance that the United States had to work with was $73.7 billion, while Apple had cash reserves of $76.4 billion.

- The Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York City cost an estimated $10 million to build and is now one of the most photographed landmarks in the city. The largest Apple store is in Regent Street in London.

- In 2009 an iPhone was sold every second for the entire year. Total sales were 40 million units.

- Apple will donate products to film sets and TV studios for use in movies and shows but it has never paid for product placement.

- Steve Jobs only did one semester at college before dropping out.

- It is easier to get into Harvard than to get a job at an Apple store. Harvard accepts about 7% of all applications, whereas Apple receives so many applications that only 2% of all applicants will be successful.

- Ronald Wayne, one of the co-founders of the company, sold his shares back in 1977 for $800. They would be worth $35 billion today.

Fake Apple stores that were set up in China were so convincing that even the staff who were employed there believed that they were really working for Apple.
10 Mind-blowing Facts about Shih Tzu!
Tags: Amazing, Pets, Shih Tzu, Facts, Dogs

Shih Tzus, also termed as the ‘Chrysanthemum Dog’, has been charming people over for 2000 years! Shih Tzu is a toy breed dog, lively by nature and unbelievably affectionate towards children. In the ancient times, this small adorable canine spent most of its day sitting on the lap of the royals. Today, they can make a great pet if you live in an apartment. Some dogs love to dig holes and chase cats, but a Shih Tzu’s idea of fun is sitting in your lap acting precious as you try to watch TV. The cute Shih Tzu proves to be an ideal canine companion for dog-lovers.

Before you adopt a Shih Tzu, here are some interesting facts about it:

Shih Tzu’s ancestors are significantly related to the wolves. Shih Tzu originated in Tibet as a lap dog and gradually made its way towards China. In the Chinese language, Shih Tzu means the ‘Lion Dog’. There are 19 different combinations of colors that are available in this breed. Due to its toy size, many misunderstand his ability to exercise. Ironically, Shih Tzus have won a lot of Agility courses. There were only 14 Shih Tzus by the 1930s. Today, all Shih Tzus can be traced back to these 14 pups. In the olden times, these pups would sleep on the feet of their owners. Hence called the ‘foot warmers’. Shih Tzus are a mix of two breeds- Pekingese and Lhasa Apso. Despite their furry and long coat, they do not shed as much as other dogs. From Queen Elizabeth II to Miley Cyrus, each one of them has surrendered to this little fur baby.

These are some of the things worth considering before including him in your family:

Regular grooming is highly required for this dog breed. For training, the Shih Tzu may take more time than other pet dogs. Be patient and consistent. Shih Tzus are strictly indoor dogs. Nevertheless, they like to go for a walk once in a day. Shih Tzus are not quite adaptable to hot and humid weather. It’s preferable to keep the hair coat short.

Now that you have got a good idea of the dog breed ‘Shih Tzu’, adopt one! Tame it with care and affection. In return, he will love you unconditionally. Dogs are called a ‘man’s best friend’ for a reason.

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How to manipulate other people: 12 simple psychological tricks
Tags: Communication, Facts, Learning, Psychology

How to manipulate other people: 12 simple psychological tricks

How well do you know the art of communication? As it turns out, we can turn almost any situation in our favor using some sneaky psychological and body language tricks. Read on to find out how to use them in everyday life.

#1

People tend to return something back when they are giving something. That’s why it’s effective to start bargaining with more than you actually want. For example, if you want your children to clean their room, ask them to clean the whole house or apartment first. When they start complaining about how much it is, tell them only to clean their room. They will feel like you are giving them a lot of help with the cleaning, and will be more likely to accept your request without talking. If you need a day off from work, act the same way and ask your boss for 2 days first.

#2

If you use “could you”, even when the person answers “Yes”, it only means that they theoretically COULD do something for you, but they didn’t agree to it. Try to rephrase your request, for example, “Please, close the window”.

#3

Most people will find it irritating, though there is no exact explanation for it yet. In what kind of situation would you use this hack?

#4

When someone agrees to do something small for you, they automatically think that you are a good person. If you believe that someone doesn’t like you, but you want them to, you can try this one.

#5

This way, the person you talk to will feel heard and understood. Remember not to overdo with this one! Otherwise, you will sound weird.

You’ll find more useful psychological tricks on QuizzClub! Learning can be really fun.
Hi..
By: Rishabh Chauhan
Tags: YouTube, Facts, Health, Coronavirus, Covid 19

Hi..

Ready to bust some myths?

The world is facing humanity’s biggest crisis since World War II. Almost every country has been affected by the devastating Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).So we’ve gathered the most popular myths about coronavirus and dispelled those myths with verifiable facts.

1.There are currently no drugs licensed for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19

While several drug trials are ongoing, there is currently no proof that hydroxychloroquine or any other drug can cure or prevent COVID-19. The misuse of hydroxychloroquine can cause serious side effects and illness and even lead to death. WHO is coordinating efforts to develop and evaluate medicines to treat COVID-19.

2. 5G mobile networks DO NOT spread COVID-19

Viruses cannot travel on radio waves/mobile networks. COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do not have 5G mobile networks.

COVID-19 is spread through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. People can also be infected by touching a contaminated surface and then their eyes, mouth or nose.

3. Exposing yourself to the sun or to temperatures higher than 25C degrees DOES NOT prevent the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

You can catch COVID-19, no matter how sunny or hot the weather is. Countries with hot weather have reported cases of COVID-19. To protect yourself, make sure you clean your hands frequently and thoroughly and avoid touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.

4. Being able to hold your breath for 10 seconds or more without coughing or feeling discomfort DOES NOT mean you are free from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) or any other lung disease.

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are dry cough, tiredness and fever. Some people may develop more severe forms of the disease, such as pneumonia. The best way to confirm if you have the virus producing COVID-19 disease is with a laboratory test. You cannot confirm it with this breathing exercise, which can even be dangerous.

5.How effective are thermal scanners in detecting people infected with the new coronavirus?

Thermal scanners are effective in detecting people who have developed a fever (i.e. have a higher than normal body temperature) because of infection with the new coronavirus.

However, they cannot detect people who are infected but are not yet sick with fever. This is because it takes between 2 and 10 days before people who are infected become sick and develop a fever.

Video — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb8jEkFD8C8
Life is a game.
Tags: Facts, Interesting, Random Thoughts, Psychology

Life is a game. we all play game of life to gain fame. we come onto this world, play our roles, and leave this world. No one is immortal, the one who takes birth has to die one day. Let’s take it another step.

What does Life is a Game means(Game of life)

It is a bit complex to understand, every person in this world performing different tasks, some may be the same or different.

If one wants to correlate life with a game either computer, mobile, or games including physical activity like cricket, badminton, football, kite flying, etc will be able to find the way.

Every game has some defined set of rules and regulations similarly game of life too have rules. People engaged in their goal achieving path are too bounded by rules. But the difference is that many of these rules are self-made. we bind ourselves into our own thoughts or views related to any object, person, place, relationships, or anything else which forces us to conserve our living, and thus they lead to rules for the game of life.

Visit the website for full.
The Tech Facts: A Site where unlimited technology facts are present
By: Shubham Kumar
Tags: Tech Facts, Facts, Facts About Technology, Technology Facts, Website

If you are a fact lover like me, then you should visit this site. Because here are more facts which you don’t know. If you want to know more facts about a particular point, then you able to get by clicking on the source button.

The facts are presented on this website are totally right. Every “fact” has its source, and you can confirm that.

This is how the site can be explained in just some lines.

The Tech Facts is a website based on technology facts. Here you can find amazing, interesting & weird facts about technology that can blow your mind.

How to use “The Tech Facts” website?

First of all, I want to tell you that this is a simple site and you don’t need specialized knowledge to run this site. It is easy to use.

1st. Home: This is a page where every day some facts are posting. On this page, facts are presented image format or you can say cards format.

2nd. Submit Facts: On this page, you can submit your own facts but sources are necessary. If you are a blogger or a website manager and you want to take the credit for your website then you are able to take credit by submitting 300 words about a particular fact.

Visit here: The Tech Facts