NokiaName Origination

The name of the town of Nokia originated from the river which flowed through the town. The river, Nokianvirta, was named after the old Finnish word originally meaning Pine Marten.

Project Habbakuk

A secret Second World War program, called Project Habbakuk, was proposed by the British to manufacture icebergs for use as unsinkable aircraft carriers. The idea was to construct an aircraft carrier out of pykrete, a mixture of wood pulp and ice, for use against German U-boats in the mid-Atlantic, which were beyond the flight range of land-based planes at that time. The idea came from Geoffrey Pyke who worked for Combined Operations.

In the 15 April 2009 episode of Mythbusters, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage built a small boat out of a modified formulation of Pykrete. using newspaper instead of wood pulp. They successfully piloted the boat in Alaskan waters at a speed of 25 miles per hour. Based on this success, they determined that it is possible to build a boat out of Pykrete. They also determined that Pykrete lived up to its purported properties of being bulletproof, stronger than ice, and taking longer to melt than ice. However, they expressed doubt that an aircraft carrier made of Pykrete could have survived long.

In September 2010, the BBC programme Bang Goes The Theory also attempted to recreate a Pykrete boat. A hull using 5,000 kg of hemp fibre Pykrete was frozen in a cold-store, then launched in Portsmouth harbour for a planned trip across the Solent to Cowes. The hull began to melt almost immediately; after an hour it had taken on enough water to cause it to capsize before they could even leave the harbour.

Superstitious Nokia

In Asia, the digit 4 never appears in any Nokia handset model number, because 4 is considered unlucky in many parts of Southeast/East Asia.

Iceberg

The term "Iceberg" most likely originates from the Dutch term "Ijsberg", which means Ice Mountain.

Nokia - SMS Tone

The "Special" tone available to users of Nokia phones when receiving SMS, is actually Morse code for "SMS". Similarly, the "Ascending" SMS tone is Morse code for "Connecting People" Nokia's slogan. The "Standard" SMS tone is Morse code for "M" (Message).

Uranus

When Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, he was given the honor of naming it. He chose to name it Georgium Sidus ‘George’s Star’ after his new patron, King George III. Uranus was also the first planet to be discovered with the use of a telescope.

Nokia Tune

The ringtone "Nokia tune" is actually based on a 19th century guitar work named "Gran Vals" by Spanish musician Francisco Tárrega. The Nokia Tune was originally named "Grande Valse" on Nokia phones but was changed to "Nokia Tune" around 1998 when it became so well known that people referred to it as the "Nokia Tune."

London Bridge is Falling Down

One of the earliest versions of the London Bridge was destroyed in the year 1014 when the Saxons rowed up the Thames, tied ropes to it, and pulled it down! This helped regain London for the Anglo-Saxon King against the Danes. It is possible that this event may have been the inspiration for the nursery rhyme “London Bridge is falling down”.

Piggy Bank

The Middle English term “Pygg” referred to a type of clay. In the middle ages, people would often keep coins in jars or pots made of pygg. These were called “Pygg Jars”. By the 18th century, with the evolution of language, these came to be known as a “Pig Bank” or “Piggy Bank”.

Lamborghini Head Quarters

The headquarters of Lamborghini is located at a small town in Italy called Sant'Agata Bolognese near Bologna. The reason for which Ferruccio Lamborghini started his company in this small town was that he had a constructive financial agreement with the communist city leadership. The conditions of the agreement clearly mentioned that he would not pay tax on the plant's profits for its first ten years of trading and the communist leadership will also get a share in the profit which would be deposited at the bank, at an interest rate of 19 per cent.

Berengaria of Navarre

Berengaria of Navarre was the Queen of England by her marriage to King Richard, The Lionheart. Little is known of her life, but what is known is that she is the only Queen of England never to step foot in England! The entire time that she was married to Richard, she lived in Europe. In fact, Richard himself only spent about 6 months in England as he was so busy traveling on crusader business.

Lamborghini Range

Lamborghini not only produces cars but also has a whole range of off-beat products such as perfumes, high-heels female shoes and ASUS Lamborghini notebook computers to name a few which serves as a merchandiser for the company.

Tractors and farm implements and equipments are still manufactured in Europe, under the Lamborghini name.

Transcontinental Railroad

Work on the Transcontinental Railroad, that connected the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, was progressing until silver was discovered in Nevada in 1865. A lot of the white workers left the railroad to search for silver.

In 1865 Charles Crocker set out to find a new work force. Charles Crocker started to hire Chinese immigrants to work for the railroad. Towards the completion of the railroad, over 11,000 railroad workers were Chinese.

Promontory Point, Utah would be considered the most important landmark in the building of the railroad. On May 10, 1869, Promontory Point, Utah was where the two railroads came together to complete the railroad. At this time, the last tie was laid and hammered together with a bronze and gold spike.

Lamborghini - Racing

Ferruccio Lamborghini had made a strict rule that banned the cars that was built by him from being used in auto racing. In spite of this huge marketing drawback, Lamborghini was able to establish its name in the high performance sports car market.

Jimmy Carter

The British Royal family disliked US President Jimmy Carter because he kissed Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on the lips at their first meeting.

Lamborghini - Charging Golden Bull

The charging golden bull on a black background is the logo of the car company and it represents Taurus, the sun sign of its founder Ferruccio Lamborghini.

Weight Loss

The weight a person loses directly after intense physical activity is weight from water, not fat.

Fiat

In 1969, Fiat had purchased controlling interests in Ferrari and Lancia. Between 1997 and 2005, Maserati was managed by Ferrari, but Fiat has since transferred it to the same division as Alfa Romeo.

Enzo Ferrari

In 1920, Alfa Romeo employed Enzo Ferrari as a team driver, and he came second in that year’s Targa Florio. In 1929, he switched from driving to administration, undertaking management of Alfa’s racing team.

Oktoberfest

The first Oktoberfest was a wedding celebration for Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Bavaria.

Chocolate

Chocolate has been used as a drink for nearly all of its history. The earliest record of using chocolate dates back before the Olmec.

In November 2007, archaeologists reported finding evidence of the oldest known cultivation and use of cacao at a site in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, dating from about 1100 to 1400 BC.

The first time chocolate was made into a solid, edible food is believed to be in Mexico sometime in the 1700's. Later, two British companies, Cadbury, and Fry and Sons began to make edible chocolate in the 1840's.

In 1847, the Fry's chocolate factory, located in Union Street, Bristol, England, molded the first ever chocolate bar suitable for widespread consumption

Ferrari Logo

Ferrari’s “Prancing Horse” logo was given to Enzo by Countess Baracca, whose late World War I flying ace son, Francesco had used it as his emblem. Ferrari changed its background color from white to yellow, and created an icon.

Hugo Boss

Hugo Boss joined the Nazi Party in 1931, two years before Hitler came to power. By the third quarter of 1932, the all-black SS uniform was designed by SS-Oberführer Prof. Karl Diebitsch and graphic designer Walter Heck.

Hugo Boss company produced these black uniforms along with the brown SA shirts and the black-and-brown uniforms of the Hitler Youth.

Lamborghini

Tractor tycoon Ferruccio Lamborghini decided to make a supercar of his own after complaints about the quality of his Ferrari 250GTS were met with frosty indifference by Enzo Ferrari.

Ferrucio had a constant nagging clutch problem with his Ferrari which frustrated him to the extent of making him think of manufacturing a perfect car for himself with no problems at all. The rest is History!!!

James Hoban

The original White House was designed by an Irish born architect, James Hoban.

Daylight Saving Time

Modern Daylight Saving Time was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson in 1895. William Willett, a London building contractor, independently invented Daylight Saving Time and pitched it to the British Parliament in 1907.

In that same year Willett spoke with John Anderson, who was on a business trip in Britain, and explained to him the benefits of adopting Daylight Saving Time and its economic benefits.

Germany and its allies were the first European countries to adopt Daylight Saving Time in 1916, followed quickly by Great Britain and many other western European countries, all in an effort to save fuel during World War I.

Sir Ian Botham

Rodney Marsh to Ian Botham in an Ashes match: “So how’s your wife and my kids?”
Ian Botham’s reply:“The wife’s fine. The kids are retarded!”

Doodles

Google’s famous homepage “Doodles”, the changing Google logo graphics, are well known and enjoyed by millions around the world as a way to mark an event or anniversary.

But the interesting fact is that the very first Google Doodle was designed as a kind of “out of office” message. In 1998, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin took the weekend off to go the Burning Man festival in Nevada.

The Burning Man doodle, was designed by the Google guys and added to the homepage to let their users know they were out of office and couldn’t fix technical issues like a server crash.

Eighty-20

Eighty-20 is a small consulting company which does sophisticated financial modeling as well as some solid database work. All their work is highly quantitative and relies on some serious computational power, and the logo is meant to convey it.

People first guess that 20% of the squares are darkened, but that turns out to be false after counting them. The trick is to view the dark squares as 1′s and the light squares as 0′s.

Then the top line reads 1010000 and the bottom line reads 0010100, which represent 80 and 20 in binary.

Michael Laudrup

While playing with Barcelona in the 1993–94 season, Michael Laudrup participated in the 5–0 victory over rivals Real Madrid. The following season, while playing for Real Madrid, he aided in the revenge beating that Madrid gave Barça. The final score being 5–0.

India - World Cup Soccer

In 1950 India withdrew form the World Cup because FIFA refused to let their team play barefoot.

Abebe Bikila

Black athletes didn't win the marathon until 1960. It's impossible to picture now, but a black athlete didn't win the marathon until Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia did it in 1960. And he did it barefoot!!!

Abebe Bikila is the first black African to win an Olympic gold medal and the first man to win the Olympic marathon twice.

Bikila was added to the Ethiopian Olympic team only at the last moment, as the plane to Rome was about to leave. Adidas, the shoe sponsor at the 1960 Summer Olympics, had few shoes left when Bikila went to try out shoes and he ended up with a pair that didn’t fit comfortably, so he couldn't use them. A couple of hours before the race, Bikila decided to run barefoot, the way he'd trained for the race.

Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall

At the 1968 Mexico City games, Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish pentathlete, was suspended because he tested positive for a banned substance. That substance was - Alcohol. He drank several beers before the pentathlon, which was against the rules. So he was suspended.

Light Bulb

Although there were at least 22 known individuals who designed and built light bulbs throughout the 1800s, most historians cite Joseph Wilson Swan and Thomas Edison with the overall invention. The reason for this is because they discovered a longer-lasting filament and implemented a more sustainable electrical source.

Driving Tests

Liz: I get so nervous and frightened during driving tests!
Doctor: Don't worry about it. You'll pass eventually.
Liz: I'm the examiner!

Anagram

An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once.

The word "anagrams" is an anagram of "ars magna", Latin for "great art".

Demazin Infant Drop Label

'This formula may cause drowsiness, if affected do not operate heavy machinery or drive a vehicle'.

Myctophobia

Myctophobia is the fear of darkness.

Why Clocks run in a Clockwise Direction

Have you ever wondered why clocks run in a clockwise direction? The definition of clockwise is the same direction as the hands of a clock. Clocks traditionally follow the same rotation as their predecessor: the sundial.

Early inventors were trying to make models of the suns' movement in the sky. These early clocks were invented in the northern hemisphere, today we know this region as Iraq.

To watch the sun from this hemisphere you have to face south. Therefore, the sun would rise on your left and pass over your head to set on the left. As a result, the hands of the clock were designed to move left to right over the clock clockwise.

Sphinx

The Sphinx at Giza in Egypt is 240 feet long and carved out of limestone. Built by Pharaoh Khafre to guard the way to his pyramid, it has a lion's body and the ruler's head.

Chocolate

The word “chocolate” comes from the Aztec word, “Xocolatl”, which ironically means “bitter water”.

Coffee

Coffee was first discovered by a goat! More specifically a young goat herder by the name of Kaldi in the 9th-century. He noticed his goats acting strange when they ate the cherries from the coffee tree so he tried it for himself.