Olympics' Symbols and Facts

Photo couresty 123rf.com

The five Olympics rings stand for the five continents that participate in the Olympics:  Africa, America, Asia, Australia, and Europe.  The colors of the rings in the Olympic flag--blue, yellow, black, green, red--were chosen because at least one of those colors is found on the flag of every nation.  205 countries will participate in this year's Olympics.  The motto of the Olympics is "Swifter, Higher, Stronger".  For more information click here.  What did you learn today?

Fable Facts

Photo of Greek stamp depicting the Aesop's fable of the The Ass in The Lion's Skin and The Fox courtesy 123rf.com

Today's topic was requested by Isobel Keogh of Perth Scotland, @scots_perth on Twitter.

Fables are short stories that teach a lesson using animals or mythical creatures as the characters in the stories.  Aesop's Fables are arguably the best known fables in the western world, and have been translated into nearly every language.  Fables are found in nearly every culture inside and outside the western world, including Africa, Asia, Sumaria, India, and other countries.

What I didn't know about Aesop, the Ancient Greek writer of the eponymous fables, is that he was born into slavery and later granted freedom, most likely was of African decent, was said to have a speech impediment that was miraculously healed by a deity, was written about by Plato and Aristotle, and many people deny that he was an actual person.

There are many wonderful websites about fables.  Click here for an Aesop's Fables website that includes over 650 fables that are indexed and cross-referenced.  Click here for a website geared toward children that also includes fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

Thanks to Isobel Keogh of Perth Scotland, @scots_perth on Twitter, for today's topic!  What did you learn today?

How The Heart Got Its Shape

The shape of the heart symbol, which symbolizes love, bears little resemblance to the human heart, so I wondered about the origin.  There are several different ideas about the origin of this symbol going back to anywhere from the 7th century BC up to the 17th century. 

One idea is the heart shape of the now-extenct silphium plant from North Africa was used for birth control in the 7th century BC, and so became associated with sex and then eventually love.

Another idea proposes that the heart-shaped ivy leaf used to decorate early Christian burial sites eventually evolved to represent human life, which was believed to be driven entirely by the heart.  The human heart was rarely seen due primarily to religious bans on autopsies and the fact that surgery as is known today did not exist.  The heart was believed to be not only the seat of life but also the seat of emotion, so the heart-shaped ivy leaf eventually became associated with the emotions of love.  Blood is red, so the monks who painted illuminations in manuscripts eventually painted the heart symbol red.

Yet another idea proposed is that 17th century Saint Mary Margaret saw the sacred heart in this shape in a dream or vision.

For more information click here and click here.  What did you learn today?

Domestic Cats Are About 9,000 Years Old

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

The modern domestic cat descended from Sardinian, Central Asian, European, and Sub-Saharan African wild cats, and the Chinese desert cat.  Archaeologists and historians estimate that cats became domesticated about 8,000 or 9,000 years ago.  For more information click here and click here.  What did you learn today?

Largest Colorless Diamond in the World

Photo of the Tower of London at night courtesy 123rf.com

The largest colorless diamond in the world is the Cullinan I.  The 530.20-carat pear-shaped diamond is in a scepter that is part of the British Crown Jewels, which are located in the Tower of London and are on public display except when in use by Queen Elizabeth II.  For more information click here and click here.

What did you learn today?

Flooding of the Kalahari Desert

Map showing Botswana in blue, courtesy 123rf.com

Every year from June through August the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, South Africa is flooded with water.  Prior to June, the rain in the Angola highlands causes the Okavango River to flood.  Since this river has no outlet to the sea, the overflow rushes down to the desert land and stalls, saturating more than 4,000 square miles (10,359 square kilometers) of the desert floor.  Then the rains stop, and the desert sun dries up the flooded desert again.  During those three months, that area of the desert becomes a lush green, and animals come from miles around to drink and eat and breed.  For more information click here and click here.

Deserts

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

Deserts are found on every continent.  Not all deserts are hot.  Deserts cover 1/3 of the land on Earth.  Africa's Sahara Desert is the largest of all.  For more information click here.

Elephant Tusks and Tushes

African female elephant (cow and calf)

Asian female elephant (cow)

Photos courtesy 123rf.com

African male and female elephants have tusks, but only the male Asian elephant has tusks.  The Asian female elephant has tushes, which is an incisor-tooth that sticks out from the lips.  For more information click here.

I've ridden an Asian elephant, but I've only seen African elephants in zoos.  Have you seen or ridden an elephant?

Language, Language...

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

There are 2,700 languages spoken on Earth.  There are 7,000 dialects.  1,000 of the world's languages are spoken in Africa.  For more information click here.

I am studying Mandarin Chinese in the anticipation of possibly visiting China in August 2013.  I thought that the sounds of Chinese words would have no relationship to the sounds of the same words in other languages, but I am discovering that this is not true.  I also like discovering palindromes in different languages.  What interesting discovery have you made while studying a language different from your native language?

Bark Cloth

Photo courtesy National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka

For centuries cloth has been made out of tree bark by people in parts of Africa, India, Polynesia, Hawaii, Fiji, Malay Peninsula, Samoa, and Central America.  The outer tree bark is stripped away, then the inner bark is cut or stripped from trees such as fig, paper mulberry, and breadfruit.  The soft inner-bark of these trees is flexible to begin with, then it is soaked and beaten until it's very flexible, then decorated and used as clothing, house decoration, and in religious ceremonies.

For more information see the article on Questia.com.