Interesting Facts

28th March 1854 - Britain and France joined the Ottoman empire in the Crimean War against Russia, to halt Russian expansion. 1930 - Constantinople was renamed Istanbul as part of Kemal Atatürk's campaign to create a secular Turkey.

A whole community in Istanbul, Turkey learned how to sign as part of a Samsung promotion. (In order to promote their video call center for people with hearing problems, Samsung got the neighbourhood of Bağcıla to take sign language lessons. Cameras were rigged up around the area to film unsuspecting Muharrem, who is hearing impaired, and watch him as spend his day without barriers. His reaction at the end is priceless.) It's so lovely that I don't care it was done for advertising purposes:-

Stacey Withers downloaded a 5-minute cartoon onto her Orange network mobile phone whilst on holiday in Turkey. What's interesting about that? Well... (That short clip cost her a whopping £1,118. It actually cost her £101 more than the family holiday and the equivalent of £223 for every minute of the film. She isn't alone, another British holidaymaker racked up a staggering £20,000 mobile phone bill in Turkey, when she used her internet connection to upload holiday snaps to Facebook. This was 28 times the amount she paid for her holiday.  (Lucky for her Orange reduced the amount.) It shows me 2 things, Britain must stay in the EU and we need to let Turkey join.)

The island of Ikaria is almost as far east as Greece gets,  just 100 square miles in size, the mountainous island is 30 miles off the coast of Turkey, but that's not what makes it interesting. What is interesting is the people there live longer and better than almost anywhere else on the planet. (According to longevity expert, Dan Buettner, Ikaria has that certain je ne sais quoi, and he has added Ikaria to the list of places in the world that have come closest to cracking the secret of eternal life.  A study showed that people on Ikaria were reaching the age of 90 with two and a half times the frequency of Americans. Ikarian men, in particular, are four times as likely to reach 90, often in better health. Other places on the list are: the island of Okinawa in Japan, the town of Loma Linda in California, certain parts of Costa Rica and the hills around the province of Nuoro in Sardinia. So, now you know. Oh and there's a web site (of course) of all these blue zone...

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 handshake is thought to have been introduced to the UK by Sir Walter Raleigh in British Court during the late 16th century. (The handshake is thought by some to have originated as a gesture of peace by demonstrating that the hand holds no weapon. There are various customs surrounding handshakes, both generically and specific to certain cultures:- The handshake is commonly used when meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, expressing gratitude, or completing an agreement. In sports or other competitive activities, it is also done as a sign of good sportsmanship. Its purpose is to convey trust, balance, and equality. In Anglophone countries, in business situations. In casual non-business situations, men are more likely to shake hands than women. In Belgium, handshakes are done more often, especially on meetings. In Switzerland, it may be expected to shake the women's hands first. Austrians shake hands when meeting, often including with children. In so...

During Christmas 2008 the UK consumed around 10 million turkeys. (From free-range fresh, to frozen, it's still the bird of choice.)

Every year at Thanksgiving in the USA two turkeys are "pardoned". For many years the turkeys were given to Kidwell Farm, a petting zoo at Frying Pan Park in Herndon, Virginia. In 2005 they were flown to Disneyland in California for the famous Thanksgiving Day parade. They will spend the rest of their lives at a Disneyland ranch. (Disneyland somehow seems better than Frying Pan Park if for a turkey who has escaped being part of someone's Thanksgiving feast. In 2005, President Bush gave two turkeys named Marshmallow and Yam a last-minute reprieve. The two turkeys hail from Henning, Minnesota, For the third time, the American public was allowed to vote for the turkeys' names on the White House web site. 2004's turkeys were named Biscuit and Gravy, and in 2003, Stars and Stripes.)

A turkey has several flaps of loose skin around the head and neck that turn color depending on its mood. The flaps are called the "wattle" (on the chin), the "snood" (on the head and over the beak) and the "caruncle" (on the throat). Under calm conditions, these areas are pinkish-gray or blue; if the turkey is annoyed or mating, all these areas turn bright red. (Why don't humans have this capability. It would make life much easier.)