Interesting Facts

Farmers are warning that there will be a shortage of pumpkins in the run up to Halloween. (Following the ideal growing conditions in August and September, the heavy rain of October has put a damper on everything by making the pumpkin skins soft, which means they get soggy and collapse before they can be harvested. In Germany there are lots of pumpkins, but they are smaller than usual, due to a shortage of rain.  Who'd want to be a farmer?)

According to the Office of National Statistics, today's solar eclipse, could cost the UK economy £625m. CC-Source OU (With millions of Brits expected to watch the eclipse, FirstCare, the UK’s largest absence monitoring firm, has warned of a 10 per cent increase in absenteeism, and an additional 6 per cent fall in morning staff numbers as workers slack off and pull sickies. I say go for it.  There won't be another eclipse in the UK until August 2026, so this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.)

13th August is International Left Handers day. (There are left-handed shops in the UK.)

Art Garfunkel is a long distance walker. (Seemingly the famous singer of Simon and Garfunkel fame has undertaken several long walks in his lifetime: In the early 1980s, he walked across Japan in a matter of weeks. From 1984 to 1996, Garfunkel walked across America, taking 40 excursions to complete the route from New York City to the Pacific coast of Washington. In May 1998, Garfunkel began an incremented walk across Europe. In late August 2012, during the 26th leg of his Eurowalk, Art reached Thessaloniki, Greece. He will be continuing his walk towards Istanbul.)

On the 8th of August, 2008, an estimated 9,000 couples will be married in China, where the number 8 is considered to be very lucky. (The number “8″ is considered very lucky in China, something about it sounding like part of the phrase “to get rich” in Mandarin. Although with the cost of weddings being such as they are, I doubt that any of the couples will be getting rich any time soon.) #IFUpdate - I wonder how they are all doing?