The Origin of the Weekend for Workers

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The weekend was invented in the 19th century in Marseille, France (pronounced “mar-say”) as part of a broader societal shift during the Industrial Revolution. During the period, workers within factories and shipyards were often laboring 6 – 7 days per week, with little rest in between shifts. Because Marseille had a bustling port with a strong labor movement and  growing working class, reformers and unions began to push for a scheduled rest day for leisure and recovery. By the mid 19th century, experiments of giving workers Saturday afternoons off began to spread rapidly, which permitted workers more time for their families, religious observance(s), and day to day community life. This practice gradually evolved into the 2 day weekend, beginning in France and then being disseminated across Europe and North America. World governments and industries permitted this shift to occur because it became understood that rest improved productivity and overall job satisfaction

The Origin of the Piggy Bank

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During the 15th century, the English would often store coins within pygg pots or containers. During the 18th century these vessels became referred to as “piggy banks” which is where the modern day term is derived from. Piggy banks were called as such because of the pygg they were comprised of which is a type of clay, an inexpensive, orange colored earthenware clay used to produce everyday vessels within England from the 15th century onward (e.g. pitchers, cups, pots etc.). The primary reason for this is that metal has been costly all throughout history, due to the difficulty of sourcing and producing it from ore, and because of this expense, alongside the fact that pygg is more commonly available and found in larger quantities throughout England, the English public relied upon pygg containers to hold not only food and liquids but also spare coins and other small treasures

The Fallacy of Airplane Mode Disabling the Global Positioning System Tracking of Smartphones

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Even when Airplane Mode is activated, the Apple iPhone still receives signals from the global positioning system because this apparatus is a passive, receive only system which does not rely upon a cellular connection, WiFi connection, and/or Bluetooth connection to function. The iPhone scans and listens for satellites orbiting the Earth and calculates its relative position based upon this timing data, which means the iPhone can still determine a users location even without an internet connection, however if this is not desirable by the end user, Location Services can be disabled which theoretically turns this function off. This information is true for most modern smartphones including Android, however not all (e.g. smartphones manufactured prior to 2010, minimalistic/budget conscious smartphone designs, smartphones with custom firmware and/or enterprise restrictions like those managed by corporate information technology teams or running custom read only memory etc.)

The First Person to Publish an Encyclopedia

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Naturalis Historia was the first compiled collection of writing, which during the modern day would be referred to as an “encyclopedia.” Written by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century A.D., Naturalis Historia was divided into 37 unique books and contained more than 20,000 individual facts. Naturalis Historia was comprised of a vast array of subjects including astronomy, geography, zoology, botany, medicine, and even artwork, making it one of the most ambitious attempts in history to catalog and consolidate the entirety of human knowledge. Unlike earlier publications which often focused upon a singular discipline (e.g. medicine but not science or law but not ethics etc.), Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia compilation sought to collect and streamline the entirety of the natural world and the human understanding of it into a single reference point. Pliny the Elder’s encyclopedic vision influenced scholars for centuries after his death, and his work served as one of the main pillars of Medieval and Renaissance education in the centuries which followed. Shortly after completing this compendium in 77 A.D., Pliny the Elder died during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. at age 55 whilst attempting to rescue those who could not escape from the volcano’s clutch. Fortunately, the entirety of his Naturalis Historia work survived this natural disaster

The Reason the Earth Becomes Colder When Closest to the Sun

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The Earth orbits the Sun in an elliptical path, meaning the distance between each body constantly fluctuates. Perihelion is the specific point in this orbit at which the Earth is closest to the Sun with this phenomena occurring near January 3rd annually. In contrast to this, aphelion, is when the Sun is at its farthest distance from the Earth, which occurs in July each year. Interestingly and counterintuitively, the Earth is coldest during its perihelion phase (when the sun is closest to the Earth) and warmest during aphelion (when the sun is furthest from the Earth). This paradox occurs because of the struggle between orbital distance and the 23.5 degree axial tilt of the Earth. Whilst the Earth is slightly closer to the Sun during the perihelion phase in early January, receiving 6% – 7% more solar energy than in July, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun which forces sunlight to strike the Earth’s ground at a more shallow angle, therefore spreading the light over a larger surface area and filtering it through more of the atmosphere. This reduction in heat overrides the slight shift of the Earth and Sun being closer or further away, as it is the tilt of the Earth, not the orbital proximity of the Sun which dictates both the 4 seasons as well as the perihelion/aphelion paradox. It should be noted, global temperatures peak in July because the Northern Hemisphere Continental Crust heats more rapidly than the Southern Hemispheres oceans

New Years Traditions Throughout History

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During the Han Dynasty in China, which occurred between 206  B.C. – 220 A.D., residents lit firecrackers and hung red banners to scare away the mythical beast Nian (pronounced “nee-awn”) whilst feasting and honoring the ancestors in an effort to mark renewal of life and good fortune. In the Egyptian New Kingdom, which occurred between 1550 B.C. – 1070 B.C., temples placed statues of gods in direct sunlight during Wepet Renpet (pronounced “weh-pet ren-pet”), which was considered the Opening of the Year, tied to the star system of Sirius and the annual flooding of the Nile River which symbolized rebirth and prosperity, with moonlight, starlight, and sunlight all treated as divine energy. In the Neo‑Babylonian Period which occurred between 626 B.C. – 539 B.C., the Akitu (pronounced “ah-key-too”) festival renewed cosmic order and the kingship of monarchs with grand spectacles of parades with deities, solemn ritualistic purification rites, and vows resembling the modern day tradition of New Year’s resolutions. In Ancient Rome after the Julian Reform in 46 B.C., January 1st was a time to exchange gifts and feast, recognized as New Year’s Day, in honor of Janus (pronounced “yah-noose”), the Roman god of beginnings, whose dual faces gazed both backward and forward simultaneously which embodied transition. Finally, amongst the Celtic Druids of the Iron Age which occurred from 800 B.C. – 100 A.D., solstice fires and feasts were held to celebrate the rebirth of the sun, with Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”) marking the threshold between harvest and winter and when it was believed that the spirit world and natural world were capable of overlapping and bleeding into eachother

The Number of Gifts Santa Claus and the Elves Must Build and Deliver Each Christmas Eve

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Assuming Santa Claus delivers at least 1 gift to each child worldwide, this would equate to 2,100,000,000 (2.1 billion) gifts. With an average of 2.5 children per household worldwide, Claus would have to visit 840,000,000 (840 million) homes to accomplish this task. To finish this job in 24 hours (12 for each side of the world), Claus would need to visit 35,000,000 (35 million) homes per hour which would be 580,000 per minute, or nearly 10,000 every second! Because there are so many homes and so very many children, the elves of the North Pole face an equally grueling pace. Assuming each child receives 1 toy, and the build time is spread across 364 days, these elves would need to craft approximately 5,750,000 (5.75 million) toys per day. This would mean 240,000 toys per hour, 4,000 per minute, or nearly 70 every second without a work break for any of them. If the North Pole were to employ 100 elves, each would need to make 0.7 toys per second; and with a large company of 1000 elves, this value drops to 1 toy every 14 seconds which is more manageable; however with a massive company of 10,000 elves, each would only need to craft 1 toy every 2.5 minutes which would be much more probable for a workforce to achieve; if however the North Pole were capable of managing a city sized work force of 100,000 elves, each elf would need only to craft a single toy every 24 minutes which is a pace that a human powered North Pole, theoretically could handle. With that being said, mythologically speaking elves are immortal, or at the very least ageless, and they do possess arcane magic and clandestine knowledge which must be kept in mind when calculating what is theoretically possible

The Fallacy of Snowflakes Being Perfectly Symmetrical

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The 6 sided geometric symmetry observed within snowflakes is governed by the rigid molecular structure of hexagonal ice, which is the only crystalline form water can adopt within the Earth’s atmosphere, and the reason snowflakes always have 6 dendrites (points) like a hexagon. It is a common misconception that all snow crystals (snowflakes) exhibit perfect symmetry, as most often they do not possess this characteristic. It is true in the sense that at the microscopic molecular scale, snow crystals form perfectly, but it is untrue because at the macro, real world scale, anomalies virtually always form. This occurs because as the snow crystal becomes larger, water molecules no longer attach to develop and maintain a uniform orientation. Additionally, as the snow crystal grows and expands, factors of the ambient environment begin to influence it (e.g. effects of humidity and temperature etc.) causing the snow crystal to grow one way whilst in one position of a cloud and then grow in a completely different orientation once having been forcibly moved to a different spot within that same cloud. Because of this, it is rare but still possible to find a perfectly symmetrical snowflake. This explains why despite the complex and random nature of snow crystal growth, all 6 arms must align in every case and grow along the same 6 fixed 60 degree axes. If this does not occur, the snow crystal would violate the fundamental laws of energy minimization (to become most stable) dictated by the hydrogen bond lattice (framework connecting atoms within water), which would cause the structure of the snow crystal to become thermodynamically unstable and therefore highly prone to fracture

The Origin of Life Upon Earth

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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is most likely not the first building block of life because of its complicated double helix pattern. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is also statistically unlikely because although it is only half as complex as deoxyribonucleic acid being that it does not resemble a double helix structure, but rather a single helix structure, it would have required 5 specific sugar molecules to spontaneously bind together, one by one, in a very specific order. Threose nucleic acid (TNA) however, would only require 4 identical simple sugar molecules to spontaneously, come together. This is theoretically the most probable candidate for being the first spark of life. Threose nucleic acid can easily base pair and exchange genetic information with ribonucleic acid making it the best blueprint which would have shown up long before the complex cellular machinery, which is found within all living cells today

The 4 Primary Preservative Agents Used During Ancient Egyptian Mummification

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The 4 main chemicals used by the Ancient Egyptians for mummification were natron as a drying agent, palm wine to cleanse the body and its cavities after organ removal, cedar oil to anoint, and bitumen as a glue. Natron is a naturally occurring mineral mixture primarily composed of sodium carbonate decahydrate and sodium bicarbonate, with traces of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate, and is harvested from dry lake beds (e.g. Wadi Natrun etc.). Natron’s high alkalinity and hygroscopic properties allow it to desiccate human remains by drawing out moisture, whilst simultaneously inhibiting bacterial growth and chemically breaking down lipids. Beyond preservation, natron also symbolized ritual purification and was used ubiquitously within Ancient Egypt (e.g. religious ceremonies, glass manufacturing, personal hygiene etc.). Palm wine, a fermented beverage comprised of the sap of date palms, was highly valued for its antiseptic and moderate alcoholic properties throughout history within Egypt. During mummification, wt/wety (pronounced “weh-tee”) the Ancient Egyptian term for “embalmers”, used palm wine to rinse the thoracic and abdominal cavities, ensuring that residual organic tissue was sterilized and virtually all odors eliminated. This cleansing was often accompanied by aromatic herbs and spices, believed to be used for both hygiene as well as ritual purification, reflecting the Ancient Egyptian ideological concern for both physical preservation and symbolic purification of the vessel for the soul. Cedar oil, a bit of a misnomer as it was often derived from juniper or other closely related coniferous tree sources rather than the cedar tree itself, was prized for its resinous, aromatic, and antimicrobial characteristics. Cedar oil was applied as an anointing oil to both the skin and the ḥbsw/ḥebesw (pronounced “heh-bes-oo”), which means “bandages” in the Late Egyptian language, but more literally translates to “wrappings”, both to soften and preserve tissues but also to imbue human remains with the fragrance of soil/wood, smoke, and camphor; scents associated with the pantheon of Egyptian deities. For those who could not afford this preservation method, cedar oil could be injected into the body cavity directly, in which its solvent properties dissolved soft tissues, leaving only skin and bone once the natron had absorbed the liquefied remains, raised the overall pH level to halt decomposition, and dried the cavity completely. Lastly bitumen was used, a naturally occurring petroleum product also referred to as “natural asphalt”, which was a black, viscous substance sourced from various geological deposits within the region (eg. the Dead Sea etc.). Although not universally used throughout all dynasties of the Ancient Egyptian state, bitumen became increasingly common in the most recent phases of Ancient Egyptian history, particularly during the Greco Roman period from 332 B.C. – 642 A.D. Bitumen’s adhesive and waterproofing capabilities allowed it to bind wrappings and seal the body shut, and its dark coloration may have been deliberately chosen to evoke Osiris, the Ancient Egyptian god of the underworld, often depicted with black skin and symbolizing both fertility and rebirth. Additionally, in terms of chemical composition, bitumen provided durability to the embalming balms used, with modern day analyses revealing it was typically blended with resins, lipids, and waxes rather than used in its most pure form