Interesting Facts

The term flip-flop is an onomatopoeiac word based on the sound made by the sandals when walking in them. (Flip flops are no heel strap sandals, and although this style of sandal has been worn for centuries, the modern day flip flops have been worn in America and Britain since the 1970s. Sometimes the word is written flip-flops, and flipflops. They are called thongs in Australia, jandals (originally a trademarked name derived from "Japanese sandals") in New Zealand, slops in South Africa, and tsinelas in the Philippines.)

According to the Global Peace Index, Europe is the most peaceful area of the world, with 13 of the top 20 most peaceful countries. (Iceland, Denmark and New Zealand were the top 3 most peaceful countries of 162; the UK ranked 44th. The Global Peace Index is issued by the IEP (Institute for Economics and Peace) and is a measurement of nations’ and regions’ peacefulness based on external and internal measures. You can see how well your country ranks on their interactive map:- http://www.visionofhumanity.org/#/page/indexes/global-peace-index)

Never mind the vitamin C, new research carried out at the University of Alberta in Canada, and the University of Auckland, New Zealand, suggests that the best way to avoid the common cold is to wash your hands. (If you insist on paying for supplements, a daily dose of 10 or 15 milligrams of zinc sulphate has been shown to lower rates of colds. Probiotics, which boost the amount of friendly bacteria in the gut, may help prevent colds too, and our old friend honey had a slight effect in relieving cough symptoms, but vitamin C and antibiotics showed "no benefit". I notice they said nothing about the medicinal effects of a hot toddy.)

According to scientists from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the English language is descended from ancient Turkey. (They go even further to say that French, German and Hindi - originated up to 9,500 years ago in western Asia. The scientists traced the origin of languages classed as Indo-European to Anatolia, an ancient region of western Asia which covers most of modern Turkey.)

The Queen may have shaken half a million hands, but there are other people who have achieved handshake greatness:- (In Atlantic City, New Jersey Mayor Joseph Lazarow was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for a July 1977 publicity stunt, in which he shook more than 11,000 hands in a single day, breaking the record previously held by President Theodore Roosevelt, who had set the record with 8,513 handshakes at a White House reception on 1 January 1907. On 21 September 2009, Jack Tsonis and Lindsay Morrison broke the Guinness World Record for the world's longest handshake, shaking hands for 12 hours, 34 minutes and 56 seconds. This record was broken less than a month later in Claremont, California, when John-Clark Levin and George Posner shook hands for 15 hours, 15 minutes, and 15 seconds. The next month, on 21 November, Matthew Rosen and Joe Ackerman surpassed this feat, with a new world record time of 15 hours, 30 minutes and 45 seconds. At 8pm EST on Friday 14 J...

The word 'dollar' is usually associated with the name of the currency used in the USA. (There are other countries that use the word 'dollar' in their currency. The most well known are Canada and Australia, but there are 26 other countries that use the word dollar in their currency, these are:- Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Brunei Dominica El Salvador Fiji Grenada Guyana Jamaica Kiribati Liberia Namibia Nauru New Zealand St Kitts and Nevis St Lucia St Vincent and the Grenadines Singapore Solomon Islands Surinam Taiwan Trinidad and Tobago Tuvalu Zimbabwe)

The Kakapo is the heaviest parrot in the world. (Sadly they are also one of the most endangered species in the world. There are only 91 known to be alive, and each one has been given a name. http://www.kcc.org.nz/birds/kakapo/names.asp)

A recent earthquake has brought New Zealand closer to Australia. (A 7.8 quake in The Tasman Sea added 12" (30cm) of land to New Zealand's South Island. But neither country should fear having to have a "meet your neighbour" party any time soon as there's still more than 1,400 miles separating them.)

According to McKinsey Quarterly New Zealand's sheep outnumber the people by 13:1. (New Zealand - where the men are men and the sheep are nervous.)