Infinitely CRAZY: October 2007

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

WW - Expensive Quran!

A Quran written in 1203, believed to be the oldest known complete copy, has sold for more than $2.3 million at an auction.
The holy book, which had been estimated to sell for up to $715,000, fetched $2,327,300 at Tuesday's auction in London, Christie's said.

That was a record auction price for a Quran or any type of Islamic manuscript, the auctioneer Christie's said.

A nearly complete, 10th-century Kufic Quran, thought to be from North Africa or the near East, sold $1,870,000.

Both were offered for sale by the Hispanic Society of America, and were purchased by trade buyers in London, Christie's said.

The record-setting Quran was signed by Yahya bin Muhammad ibn 'Umar, dated 17 Ramadan 599 (June 1203).

It was acquired in Cairo in 1905 by Archer Milton Huntington, who founded the Hispanic Society in New York City in 1904. Huntington, the adopted son of railroad and ship-building magnate Collis P. Huntington, died in 1955.

The calligraphy in the manuscript was done in gold outlined in thin black lines, and the marginal notes are in silver outlined in red.

The kufic Quran bridges a gap between the earlier style, copied on parchment of horizontal format, and the later style of vertical composition, often on paper, Christie's catalog said.

The kufic script takes its name from Kufah in Iraq, an early center of Islamic scholarship, according to the British Library.

Because the script's vertical strokes were very short but the horizontal strokes elongated, it was written on papers in a landscape format.

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 6:21 PM 9 comments

Saturday, October 27, 2007

The Hanging Coffins of Sagada - 0

Sagada couldn’t get more mystifying without the elements of the mummies. When you go to Sagada caves in Philippines there are hanging coffins to be found on the cliffs made of limestone.About six hours by bus (twice this amount of time in the wet season) from the Luzon island town of Banaue, north of Manila, the people of Sagada have devised a unique burial ritual involving the placement of dead relatives into caves after carefully preparing a hollowed out log. These coffins are carved by the elderly before they die; if they are too ill or weak their son or other close relative will do it for them. This ritual involves pushing the bodies into the tight spaces of the coffins, and often bones are cracked and broken as the process is completed. After the deceased are put inside these coffins they are then brought to caves high in the cliffs where they join the coffins of other ancestors. The Segada people prefer to be buried in the cliffs than to be buried in the ground and have been doing this for more than 2,000 years. In some caves hundreds of coffins are lined up, and unfortunately tourists are unregulated in this area, some have even taken some of the bones as souvenirs. If you do visit these caves, make sure you get a guide as some of the caves are hard to find and the roads can be tricky to navigate.

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 1:52 PM 0 comments

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Thursday Thirteen - Interesting Facts about China

China is the world's largest economy.

The exact population of China is unknown. Many of its people are "undocumented" by their own government. Its official population ranges from 1.3 billion to 2 billion people.

24% of the world speaks Chinese (there are over 200 different Chinese languages and regional dialects). The official state language is Pu-tong-hwa (Mandarin).

According to economists, China will become the world's wealthiest nation by the year 2012.

The Great Wall of China is NOT visible from outer space. Its too thin. Its just a myth that it can be seen. The only man-made structures visible from space are: The Pyramids of Giza and the Hoover Dam.

Tea, popularized by the Chinese was first bagged and shipped around the world in 1903.

China manufactures 60% of the world's bicycles (the United States buys 86% of the world's bicycles).

Gunpowder was first discovered in China where it was used to create fireworks, signal flares and small missiles used for military purposes.

In September 2005 China surpassed Canada as the #1 exporter of goods to the United States.

As of January 2006 30% of China's exports are now electronics.

China is one of the few countries where fossils of homo gigantus have been found. Homo gigantus is more commonly called "Big Foot".

During the period of 1990 to 2005 Chinese export to the United States increased 1600 per cent. Thats 16 times more exports in only 16 years.

Tsingtao Beer, brewed since 1903, makes up more than 50% of China's beer exports.

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 4:16 AM 20 comments

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

WW - Artful Circuit Boxes

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 4:37 AM 14 comments

Thursday, October 18, 2007

TT - More Alcohol Trivia

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the U.S. in 1932 on a pledge to end National Prohibition.

2. During World War II, reduction of consumption activists argued that soldiers should not be permitted to drink alcohol beverages. However, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, insisted that such prohibition would be 'harmful to the men in the service."

3. The consumption of alcohol was so widespread throughout history that it has been called "a universal language."

4. Opposition to the enforcement of Prohibition increased as people became disillusioned with the Noble Experiment. Montana became the first state to repeal its enforcement of Prohibition, doing so in 1926 (Prohibition lasted from 1920 through 1933).

5. Shochu, a beverage distilled from barley, was the favorite beverage of the world’s longest-living man, Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan, who lived for 120 years and 237 days. He was born on June 29, 1865 and died on February 21, 1986. 52
The U.S. Marines’ first recruiting station was in a bar.

6. Only 30% of adults in the U.S. believe that drinking can form part of a healthy, balanced life. This is in spite of the fact that moderate drinking is associated with better health and greater longevity than is abstention.

7. Bourbon is the official spirit of the United States, by act of Congress.

8. One glass of milk can give a person a .02 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) on a Breathalyzer test. That’s enough in some states for persons under age 21 to lose their drivers license and be fined.

9. Letters from “increase alcohol taxes” can be used to spell “Alert: Halt excess excise taxes on alcohol.”

10. Fermentation within the body is essential for human life to exist.

11. At the request of a distiller, Louis Pasteur began his pioneering research by investigating the process of fermentation, by which all alcohol beverages and many other foods are produced.

12. Fermentation is involved in the production of many foods, including bread (bread “rises” as it ferments), sauerkraut, coffee, black tea, cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, pickles, cottage cheese, chocolate, vanilla, ginger, catsup, mustard, soy sauce. and many more.

13. Heavy taxes, which more than double the price of a typical bottle of whiskey, rum or other distilled spirits beverage, encourages the production and sale of dangerous bootleg alcohol.

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 4:32 AM 25 comments

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

WW - Cool Magazine Illusions I

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 4:40 AM 4 comments

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Thursday Thirteen - Interesting facts about pianos

Christie's Auction House recently sold a Vicorian Steinway grand piano for $1.2 MILLION DOLLARS! The piano was sold to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute of Williamstown, Massachusetts.

What famous piano company was Engelhard Steinweg the founder of?
Maybe this will help. In 1853 he Americanized his name to Henry E. Steinway!
1997 was the 150th Anniversary of his famous Steinway Pianos!
Heinrich E came to the States in 1850 at which time he and three of his sons each acquired employment working for four different piano makers. In 1853 he founded Steinway & Sons which is when he Americanized his name (at the time Broadwood pianos was doing well, so he thought it an intelligent marketing decision to anglicize their last name.) He was born in 1797, making 1997 was the 200th Anniversary of his birth.

That the piano is known as "The King of Instruments"? The piano earned this title for a number of reasons including it's tonal range ( the piano covers the full spectrum of any instrument in the orchestra from below the lowest note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the piccolo), it's ability to produce melody and accompaniment at the same time (try that on a flute) and it's broad dynamic range. It is also the largest musical instrument (excluding the pipe organ), most versatile and one of the most interesting.

That the average medium size piano has about 230 strings,
each string having about 165 pounds of tension,
with the combined pull of all strings equaling approximately eighteen tons !

The total string tension in a concert grand is close to Thirty Tons!

That a boxed model D Steinway Grand Piano weighs 1400 Pounds !

That six Steinways are now in the Smithsonian collection.

The working section of the piano is called the action. There are about 7500 parts here, all playing a role in sending the hammers against the strings when keys are struck.

A new piano should be tuned four times the first year, with the change of seasons, and at least twice a year after that.

There are over 10 MILLION pianos in American homes, businesses, and institutions.

The first practical piano with an escapement mechanism for the hammers and capable of being played softly and loudly was built in 1700 by an Italian, Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731).(see Christofori)
The Smithsonian in Washington, DC is celebrating the 300th anniversary of the piano with a wonderful exhibit that runs through March 2001. For more information.

Cristofori made few pianos, his attention was to the building of harpsichords.

The name piano is an abbreviation of Cristofori's original name for the instrument: piano et forte or soft and loud.

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 4:25 AM 22 comments

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

WW - Don't Park Your Car Like This - I

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 4:45 AM 7 comments

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Expo Real 2007

The EXPO REAL 2007 (the 10th International Commercial Property Exposition) is taking place on 8th to 10th October 2007 at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre

Since its premiere in 1998, EXPO REAL has developed into a central platform for investments, business and real-estate projects in Europe. All the key real-estate markets and locations and all the international key players in the real-estate sector are present at EXPO REAL. The extensive conference programme focuses on the latest trends and innovations in the
real-estate market. You can visit their website - Expo Real

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 4:37 AM 1 comments

Thursday, October 4, 2007

TT - Alcohol Trivia

1. President Lyndon B. Johnson's favorite drink may have been scotch and soda. He would ride around his Texas ranch in an open convertible in hot weather. He drank his "scotch and soda out of a large white plastic foam cup. Periodically, Johnson would slow down and hold his left arm outside the car, shaking the cup and ice. A Secret Service agent would run up to the car, take the cup and go back to the station wagon (following the President's car). There another agent would refill it with ice, scotch, and soda as the first agent trotted behind the wagon. then the first agent would run the refilled cup up to LBJ's outstretched hand, as the President's car moved slowly forward."

2. Don’t swallow in Utah! Wine used in wine tastings in Utah must not be swallowed!

3. Adding a miniature onion to a martini turns it into a Gibson.

4. The longest bar in the world is 684 feet (or about 208.5 meters) long and is located at the New Bulldog in Rock Island, Illinois.

5. A drinking establishment is now located in the New York City building that once housed the National Temperance Society.

6. A tequini is a martini made with tequila instead of dry gin.

7. The body or lightness of whiskey is primarily determined by the size of the grain from which it is made; the larger the grain, the lighter the whiskey. For example, whiskey made from rye, with its small grain size, is bigger or fuller-bodied than is whiskey made from corn, with its large grain size.

8. Each molecule of alcohol is less than a billionth of a meter long and consists of a few atoms of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen.

9. Christopher Columbus brought Sherry on his voyage to the New World.

10. As Magellan prepared to sail around the world in 1519, he spent more on Sherry than on weapons.

11. Sixty-two percent of Americans report that they have used the service of a designated driver.

12. The founder of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) no longer belongs to the organization. She resigned after it became increasingly anti-alcohol rather than simply anti-drunk-driving.

13. Vassar College was established and funded by a brewer.

posted by The Crazy King of Clowns @ 4:31 AM 24 comments