Interesting Facts

19th February 1878 – Thomas Edison patented the phonograph. 1861 – Serfdom was abolished in Russia. 1674 – England and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transferred the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, whereupon it was renamed New York.

For everyone who was in today's Skype session.  Who does Greece owe money to? In Euros Germany - 68.2bn France - 43.8bn Italy - 38.4bn Spain - 25bn IMF - 21.4bn  (International Monetary Fund) ECB 18.1bn  (European Central Bank) The Netherlands 13.4bn The US - 11.3bn The UK 10.8bn Belgium 7.5bn Austria - 5.9bn Finland 3.7bn (I told you everyone needs to start learning big numbers nowadays.)

According to a survey conducted by Win/Gallup International, the UK is among the least religious countries in the world. (The UK was 6th from last out of 65 countries, 30% considered themselves religious, 53% said they were not religious, and 13% said they were atheists. The remainder did not know how to define themselves. China was the least religious, with only 6% of people saying they were religious and 61% saying they were convinced atheists. Followed by Japan, where just 13% of people were religious, Sweden with 19%, Czech Republic with 23%, and the Netherlands and Hong Kong with 26%. The most religious countries were Thailand with 94%, followed by Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia and Morocco where 93% of people said they were religious.)

Major cigarette firms in the UK have been accused of fueling black market in smuggled tobacco. (The accusation is that UK tobacco manufacturers turn a blind eye to the avoidance of UK tax by supplying more of their products to European countries than the legitimate market in those countries could possibly require. The “high-risk” oversupply countries included the Benelux nations – Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and of course Spain, where many Britons go on holiday. Just one “white van man” bringing back a single load of tobacco is estimated to cost the Exchequer £60,000 in lost revenue. He probably tells customs it's for "personal use".)

The traditional orange carrot was cultivated in the Netherlands in the 17th century. (The carrot originated in Iran but it was a purple/violet colour. The Dutch cultivated it to be more orange in colour as an emblem of the House of Orange and the struggle for Dutch independence. The orange colour results from abundant carotenes in these cultivars. While orange carrots are the norm in the UK, you can still buy purple carrots. )

According to curators at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a treasured piece on display - a supposed moon rock from the first manned lunar landing - is nothing more than a piece of petrified wood. (It was given to former Prime Minister Willem Drees during a goodwill tour by the three Apollo-11 astronauts shortly after their moon mission in 1969. Seemingly NASA gave 'moon rocks' to more than 100 countries following lunar missions in the 1970s. They might want to check them out. The Rijksmuseum, which is perhaps better known for paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, says it will keep the piece as a curiosity.) Source: BBC News

A club in Rotterdam in the Netherlands is giving new meaning to the phrase "an electric atmosphere". They convert the dance movements to electricity, which is used to light up the dance floor. (Seemingly special circuits capture the vibrations of the dancers and transform them into electricity to power the bulbs. The name of the club is The Club Watt. Coming to a gym near you, soon.)

Drop accounts for a fifth of all confectionery sales in the Netherlands. (It's a black and chewy, often salty licorice sweet. In 2007, 32,000 tonnes of drop were bought by 16 million citizens, to the tune of some 155 million euros (196 million dollars). But recently experts have warned that the ingredient which gives drop its acquired taste, glycyrrhizine, may be dangerous if taken in large doses. The substance, which is 50 times sweeter than cane sugar, can raise blood pressure. "An adult can consume about 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of drop a day ... without side-effects. For children, the recommended maximum is about 25 grams," the government-funded Netherlands Nutrition Centre said in a recently published warning. One sweet weighs about five grams.)

Dutchwoman Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, who died this week at 115 after becoming the oldest living person in the world, attributed her longevity to a diet of pickled herrings. (Was it worth it?)

Australia was once called New Holland. (Does that mean they started calling Holland 'Old Holland'? Oh no, of course they decided to call it the Netherlands.)