29th February: Leap Day

It's Leap Day. A once in four years opportunity to learn 10 facts about leap days:

1. February 29 only occurs in years which are evenly divisible by four, although it's not quite that simple. Century years, eg 1800, 1900 are not leap years, unless unless it is also evenly divisible by 400. So just to confuse everyone, the year 2000 was a leap year.
2. Traditionally, women may propose marriage to men on February 29. This is said to have started with St Brigid, who complained to St Patrick that it wasn't fair that women always had to wait to be asked. He agreed to make it permissible for women to do the proposing. St Bridgid promptly proposed marriage to St Patrick. He turned her down. Others believe the tradition originates from Scotland when Queen Margaret, then aged just five, declared in 1288 that a woman could propose to any man she liked on February 29. Women intending to propose were supposed to wear breeches or red petticoats, presumably to give their men a chance to run for it. A man who turned down a proposal had to pay a fine which could be a kiss, a pound, a pair of gloves or a silk dress.
3. Other superstitions about leap years include: it's unlucky to marry in a leap year in Greece; farmers in Scotland believe leap years are not good for crops or livestock; In Russia, it's believed bad luck and freak weather abound in leap years and that peas and beans planted in a leap year will “grow the wrong way”. According to other legends, any enterprise that is started on this day will be sure of success; in Italy, it's believed women are erratic during a leap year and it's a bad idea to plan important life events.
4. A person who is born on February 29 may be called a "leapling" or a "leap-year baby". The chance of being born on a leap day is one in 1,461. There are five million leaplings around the world. They are born under the astrological sign of Pisces, and their Chinese sign will be either monkey, dragon or Rat. Whether they celebrate their birthdays on March 1 or February 28 or only every four years is personal preference - but countries have laws to ascertain on what date a leapling comes of age. In Hong Kong it will be March 1, and in New Zealand, February 28. Some astrologers believe they have special powers and abilities.
5. Famous leaplings include: Ann Lee, English-American religious leader, who founded the Shakers; Jimmy Dorsey, US jazz musician and bandleader; singer and actress Dinah Shore; actor Joss Ackland; motivational speaker Antony Robbins, serial killer Richard Ramirez and rapper Ja Rule.
6. Leap day births are sometimes used as plot points - for example in Pirates of Penzance where Frederick The Pirate has to remain an apprentice until he is 84. Little Orphan Annie is another fictional leapling. Some also say Kermit the Frog is one, perhaps due to Frogs being a symbol of Leap Day - but my research suggests his official birthday is actually in May.
7. In France, a satirical Newspaper entitled La Bougie du Sapeur is published once every four years on February 29.
8. Saints whose feast days are celebrated on February 29 are St. Hilarius Pope (461-68), calendar reformer; St John Cassian, who was being punished for being the last to arrive when the saints came to Christ asking for work. Hence it is celebrated as the shirker’s feast and John Cassian holds the keys of idleness. A fictional saint called St. Tib is commemorated in the Discordian calendar - I could find no other information about him.
9. Other observances on this date are International Underlings Day, started by Peter Morris in 1984 and Rare Diseases Awareness Day.
10. Anthony, Texas is the self proclaimed Leap Year Capital of the World and holds a festival and parade every Leap Day. Members of the Worldwide Leap Year Birthday Club travel to the festival from all over the world.

28 February: Egypt Independence Day

Egypt became independent from the UK on this date in 1922. Here are some facts about Egypt.

1. Let's start with what Egypt is most famous for - Pyramids. The Great Pyramid of Giza is estimated to consist of 2,300,000 stone blocks that weigh anywhere between 2 to 30 tons (as much as two and a half elephants) and took 20 years to build. It is about 460 feet (149 m) high and was the tallest man made structure for 3871 years until Lincoln Cathedral was built in England in 1311. The Pyramids are the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing. A possible reason they've lasted so long is that they were built with mortar that is stronger than the actual stone - and no-one knows what it is made from (the truth is out there). There are no hieroglyphics in the Great Pyramid. When first built, the Pyramids were covered in dazzling white limestone casing stones meaning you could see them from as far away as Israel and possibly even from space.
2. The capital and largest city in Egypt is Cairo. However, in 2015 it was announced that it may not be for much longer, as a new city is to be built 45km/25 miles south of it and this as yet unnamed city will be the new administrative and financial capital of Egypt, housing the main government departments and ministries, as well as foreign embassies and a population of 5-7 million people. The reason - to ease congestion in Cairo, one of the world's most crowded cities.
3. Egypt is home to the world's longest river, the Nile, which is 4,135 miles (6,670 km) long. The name derives from the Semitic word for "river". Ancient Egyptians called the river iteru, meaning “great river.”
4. Mummies are also widely associated with ancient Egypt. Just 150 years ago, Americans and Europeans believed mummies had healing powers. They'd ground mummies into powder and use it as a cure for all kinds of diseases. British monarch, Charles II (1630-1685) would rub mummy dust on his skin, believing “Greatness” would rub off.
5. On average, only an inch of rain falls in Egypt per year. Apart from the Nile Valley, the majority of Egypt's landscape is desert, with a few oases. There are sand dunes that are over 100 feet (30 m) high.
6. The Egyptian Flag is similar to the flags of Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. It consists of three bands of colours from the Arab Liberation flag—red, white, and Black. The white band includes the golden eagle of Saladin. Black represents oppression, red represents the bloody struggle against oppression, and white is symbolic of a bright future. Abusing the Egyptian flag in any way is a criminal offence in Egypt.
7. The second largest city is Alexandria, which was once home to the world's largest library. It was founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt after his father had built part of the library complex, the temple of the Muses—the Museion, from which the English word museum is derived.
8. Egypt has been known by many different names. During the Old Kingdom (2650-2134 B.C.), Egypt was called Kemet or Black Land, because of the dark, rich soil of the Nile Valley. It was also called Deshret, or Red Land, because of the deserts. Later, it was known as Hwt-ka-Ptah or “House of the Ka of Ptah,” Ptah being one of Egypt’s earliest gods. The Greeks changed the name to Aegyptus, meaning "below the Aegean".
9. The first pharaoh of Egypt was King Menes, who united the Upper and Lower Kingdoms in 3150 B.C. He named the capital of the united lands Memphis, meaning “Balance of Two Lands.” Legend says he ruled for 60 years until he was killed by a Hippopotamus. That may sound a little silly, but hippos were bad omens associated with the evil god Seth. They were actually more dangerous than crocodiles and they often capsized boats travelling along the Nile.
10. The ancient Egyptians gave the world many inventions. They were the first people to have a year consisting of 365 days divided into 12 months. They also invented clocks. The Egyptian polymath Imhotep (“the one who comes in peace”) was the first physician, the first engineer, and the first architect. The oldest death sentence recorded was in ancient Egypt. A teenage boy in 1500 B.C. was sentenced to kill himself by either poison or stabbing, for practising magic. The oldest surviving work about mathematics was written by the ancient Egyptian scribe Ahmes around 1650 B.C.

27th February: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born this date in 1807. Here are some quotes.

1. The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.
2. Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.
3. Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.
4. Each morning sees some task begun, each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose.
5. They who go feel not the pain of parting; it is they who stay behind that suffer.
6. There is no grief like the grief that does not speak.
7. A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.
8. If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
9. It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
10. Look not mournfully into the past, it comes not back again. Wisely improve the present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart.

26th February: Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe, dramatist and government agent, was born on this date in 1564.

1. Marlowe was born in Canterbury to shoemaker John Marlowe and his wife Catherine. 26 February is the recorded date of his baptism, so his actual birthday was probably a few days before. He was, therefore, two months older than Shakespeare who was baptised on 26 April.
2. He nearly didn't get his Master of Arts degree from Cambridge, because of a rumour that he was planning to go to France and train as a Catholic priest. However, the Privy Council intervened, commending him for "faithful dealing" and "good service" to the Queen, and the degree was awarded.
3. This, and the fact that Marlowe was often absent from the university for longer periods than were usually allowed, and records showing that when he was there he spent more money on food and drink than his scholarship income should have provided, led to speculation he was actually a government spy and the aforementioned rumour was to do with one of his espionage missions.
4. As well as a spy, during his lifetime, Marlowe was also accused of being a brawler, a heretic, a magician, a duellist, a tobacco-user, a counterfeiter, and a rakehell (a hellraiser or womanising gambler).
5. He was arrested in Flushing in the Netherlands in 1592, accused of the counterfeiting of coins, but was never charged or imprisoned for this. Again this is seen as evidence that he was on some sort of spying mission at the time.
6. Marlowe was reputed to be an atheist during his life, which was tantamount to a crime at the time - being an enemy of church and state. Again no-one is sure whether these rumours came about as a result of roles Marlowe adopted in order to be an effective spy. Seems we'll never know for sure.
7. The first play he wrote was Dido, Queen of Carthage, co-written with Thomas Nashe.
8. His other plays are: Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus, Edward II and The Massacre at Paris.
9. Marlowe is said to have died in a brawl in a pub, but again no-one is completely sure what happened and speculation has been rife. Theories include: It was a fight over a woman; it was a disagreement over the bill (the reckoning); or a debt; someone had him killed - a jealous wife, Sir Walter Raleigh fearing he might be incriminated if Marlowe was tortured, he was killed on the orders of father and son Lord Burghley and Sir Robert Cecil, who thought that his plays contained Catholic propaganda, the Queen had him killed because he was an atheist; he faked his death to avoid a trial and execution for atheism. We'll never know.
10. Shakespeare paid tribute to Marlowe in some of his plays. In As You Like It, he quotes a line from Marlowe's poem, Hero and Leander ("Dead Shepherd, now I find thy saw of might, 'Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?'") and also "When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a man's good wit seconded with the forward child, understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room," apparently a reference to Marlowe's alleged fight over the bill, also a line in Marlowe's Jew of Malta – "Infinite riches in a little room".

25th February: Kuwait National Day

25 February is the national day of Kuwait. Here are 10 things you may not have known about Kuwait:

1. Until 1962, Kuwait celebrated its National Day on June 19, the anniversary of its independence, but in 1963 it changed it to February 25 because the weather was too hot in June.
2. Kuwait has a population of 4.2 million people; 1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 2.9 million are expatriates. There are also 150 men for every 100 women.
3. Kuwait is the only country in the world with no natural Water supply from rivers, lakes or reservoirs - it relies on wells and desalination of seawater for its supply.
4. The capital and largest city is Kuwait City.
5. The national bird of Kuwait is the falcon.
6. Kuwait is home to the tallest sculpted tower in the world – The Al Hamra Tower. It is 414 meters high and there are 80 floors.
7. The country also holds the Guinness World Record for the biggest ever Firework display. This took place on November 12 2012, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kuwait's Constitution. It cost nearly 4 million Kuwaiti Dinar and featured about 77,000 fireworks.
8. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world. According to the World Bank, Kuwait is the fourth richest country in the world per capita.
9. Kuwait's oil reserves are the sixth largest in the world, while oil production costs are the lowest as the oil lies close to the surface, making it easy and economical to extract.
10. In 2006, Kuwait became the first country to introduce the sport of Camel racing, with remote controlled robot jockeys.

24th February: Cherries

February is Cherry Month. Here are some facts you might not know about cherries:

1. Cherries are part of the Rosaceae family which also includes Almonds, Peaches, Apricots and Plums. The cherries we eat are either Prunus avium, the sweet cherry or Prunus cerasus, the sour cherry.
2. The indigenous range of the sweet cherry extends through most of Europe, western Asia and parts of northern Africa. Cherry trees will not grow in a tropical climate because they have evolved a requirement for cold before the seeds can germinate. This ensured the shoots didn't appear till spring and wouldn't be killed off by winter frosts.
3. A cultivated cherry was brought to Rome by Lucius Licinius Lucullus from northeastern Anatolia, also known as the Pontus region, in 72 BC. A form of cherry was introduced into England by order of Henry VIII, who had tasted them in Flanders.
4. The English word for cherry derives from the ancient Greek place name Cerasus, now the city of Giresun in northern Turkey. The French, Spanish and Turkish words for cherry derive from the same root.
5. Turkey is the number one cherry producing nation.
6. Cherries aren't as nutritious as many other types of fruit. In a 100g serving there are moderate amounts of fibre and Vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals are present in quantities which supply less than 10% of the daily requirement.
7. You can make 28 cherry pies from the produce of one tree (a tree will produce 7,000 cherries on average and a pie needs 250).
8. The biggest cherry pie in the world was baked in Canada. A pie weighing 39,683 pounds was baked in Oliver, British Columbia.
9. The cherry was designated as the Official Fruit of Utah in 1997.
10. The world record for the longest spit of a cherry stone in competition is 93ft 6.5in by Brian Krause (USA) at the Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship at Eau Claire, Michigan, in 2003.

23rd February: Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist, was born on this date in 1633.

1. Samuel Pepys is best known for his diary - but he had a day job. He was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament. Although he had no maritime experience, he was a talented administrator and studied hard to become the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II.
2. He was born in Fleet Street in London, the fifth of eleven children, and the oldest to survive. At 22, he married Elisabeth de St Michel, who was just 14.
3. He was plagued with ill health and pain for much of his early life, due to bladder stones in his urinary tract, probably inherited since his mother and brother also suffered from it. By his mid 20s, it had got so bad that he decided to have surgery - not an easy option in those times as the procedure was risky and painful. The surgery was a success initially and for many years, Pepys celebrated the anniversary of his operation. However, the incision on his bladder broke open again late in his life, and there is speculation that the operation, or the condition, was the reason he never had any children.
4. He started his diary on 1 January 1660 and the opening paragraphs are certainly evidence that he wasn't childfree by choice. He wrote: "Blessed be God, at the end of the last year I was in very good health, without any sense of my old pain but upon taking of cold. I lived in Axe yard, having my wife and servant Jane, and no more in family than us three. My wife, after the absence of her terms for seven weeks, gave me hopes of her being with child, but on the last day of the year she hath them again."
5. He carried on writing his diary until 1669, when he stopped because his eyesight was failing. He considered dictating it to someone else, but never did, because the diary would no longer be private. The only journals he did dictate after this were work related ones - a record of his dealings with the Commissioners of Accounts and a trip to Tangier, Morocco during its evacuation by the English.
6. That the diary remain private was important to Pepys. He wrote a lot of it in code and shorthand, writing in detail about his extra-marital affairs, including one with Deborah Willet, a young woman engaged as a companion for his wife. Pepys described one encounter when his wife caught him groping her companion. Even so, he took great pains to preserve and bind his diary and keep it in his extensive library as if he knew it would be of interest in the future.
7. Some things we know about Pepys from his diary: he was interested in books, music, the theatre, and science; he also loved music - he composed, and played the lute, viol, Violin, flageolet, recorder, and spinet - he even arranged music lessons for his servants; he was a keen singer, performing at home, in coffee houses, and even in Westminster Abbey; he taught his wife to sing and paid for dancing lessons (which stopped when he became jealous of her teacher); he was curious and acted on impulse; like people today, he made New Year resolutions to give up Wine (on New Year's Eve 1661, for example he wrote that he had "taken a solemn oath about abstaining from plays and wine", but on 17 February 1662, he wrote that he'd lapsed: "I drank wine upon necessity, being ill for the want of it.") he he was very proud of a new watch with an alarm; he had a Cat which would wake him at one in the morning; he thought London too crowded. He consistently recorded things like what time he got up, the weather and what he had to eat (he would have loved Facebook!) and his diary is over a million words long.
8. He also wrote about the historical and political events of the day such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War, and the Great fire of London. It was Pepys who recommended to the king that homes in the path of the fire be pulled down in order to stem its progress, and that the Navy Office should evacuate to Greenwich to escape the plague.
9. Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica contains a probability problem, called the "Newton–Pepys problem", that arose out of correspondence between Newton and Pepys about whether one is more likely to roll at least one six with six Dice or at least two sixes with twelve dice.
10. The diaries have been adapted for film TV and radio. Pepys has been portrayed in modern times by Steve Coogan, Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) and Bill Nighy.

22nd February: Saint Lucia

Today is the anniversary of St Lucia's independence from the UK in 1979. Here are 10 things you might not know about St Lucia:

1. Saint Lucia was named after St Lucy of Syracuse.
2. The first European settlers on the island were Dutch. Later, in 1605, an English ship called the Olive Branch was blown off-course on route to Guyana. The 67 colonists started a settlement on Saint Lucia, but it only lasted five weeks, thanks to disease and conflicts with the indigenous population. In 1660, the French arrived - they signed a treaty with the locals. However, both Britain and France wanted the island thanks to the sugar industry and were often at war over it. It changed hands 14 times between Britain and France, with each country possessing it seven times each, so that it became known as the "Helen of the West Indies". On 22 February 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state of the Commonwealth of Nations associated with the United Kingdom.
3. St Lucia's national dish is green figs and saltfish.
4. The capital city is Castries. Castries was founded by the French in 1650 as "Carénage" (meaning "safe anchorage") - although this proved, in 1942, not to be an entirely appropriate name when a German U-boat sailed into Castries harbour and sank two allied ships, including the Canadian ocean liner RMS Lady Nelson, which was re-floated and taken to Canada to be converted to a hospital ship.
5. The highest point is Mount Gimie, at 950 metres (3,120 feet) above sea level; but the country's most famous mountains are the Pitons - twin volcanic cones in the south west of the island - Gros Piton and Petit Piton.
6. The Pitons are a national symbol of Saint Lucia and are represented on the national Flag, which consists of a Yellow triangle on a blue background topped by a white edged Black arrowhead. The triangle represents the Pitons. The blue background represents sea and sky, the black and white harmony between races and the yellow represents sunshine and prosperity.
7. Saint Lucia is home to the world's only drive in volcano. This tourist attraction is known as Sulphur Springs and is located near the town of Soufrière, whose name, appropriately enough, is French for sulphur. Visitors can drive right up to the edge of the volcanic springs, and view the crust from a viewing platform. Before the 1990s it was possible to walk right up to it, but an unfortunate tour guide fell through, creating "Gabriel's Hole" and getting second degree burns from his waist down.
8. Saint Lucia boasts the highest ratio of Nobel laureates produced with respect to the total population of any sovereign country in the world. As the population is only around 174,000, two Nobel Prize winners were enough to achieve this distinction. They are Sir Arthur Lewis, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979, and the poet Derek Walcott, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992.
9. Another famous person to hail from the island is Emile Ford (Michael Emile Telford Miller) of Emile Ford and the Checkmates fame. He was born in Castries.
10. There are two historic fraternal societies in Saint Lucia - The Rose and the Marguerite. The Rose was based on Rosicrucianism, and its traditional rival, The Marguerite is similar to Freemasonry. Both of these hold festivals - The Rose in August and The Marguerite in October.

February 21: Jeanne Louise Calment

Jeanne Louise Calment, the longest lived person ever, for whom reliable records exist, at least, was born on this date in 1875.

1. She is the longest lived person ever, living to the grand old age of 122 years and 164 days.
2. At the age of 114, she appeared briefly in the 1990 film Vincent and Me as herself, making her the oldest actress ever.
3. In 1996, Time's Mistress, a four-track CD of Calment speaking over a background of rap, was released.
4. She remembered seeing the Eiffel Tower being built, attending the funeral of Victor Hugo in 1885, and meeting Van Gogh in her father's shop at the age of 14. She described him as "dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable."
5. She lived in Arles, France, for her entire life.
6. At 21, she married her double second cousin, Fernand Nicolas Calment, a wealthy store owner. Their paternal grandfathers were brothers, hence the same surname, and their paternal grandmothers were sisters.
7. Her descendants didn't live anything like as long. Her daughter, Yvonne Marie Nicolle Calment, died one day before her 36th birthday from pneumonia, and her grandson, Frédéric Billiot, a doctor, died in an automobile accident at 36.
8. In 1965, at 90 and with no heirs, Calment signed a deal to sell her apartment to lawyer André-François Raffray, on a contingency contract. Raffray, then aged 47 years, agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2,500 francs until she died. Raffray ended up paying Calment the equivalent of more than $180,000, which was more than double the apartment's value, and his wife continued the payments to Calment after he died.
9. At age 85 she took up fencing, and continued to ride her Bicycle up until her 100th birthday. She lived alone until she was 110.
10. So, you're thinking, she must have led a supremely abstinent life? Nope. She was a smoker from the age of 21, although she cut down to two a day in her later years; she drank port wine and ate nearly one kilogram (2.2 lb) of Chocolate a week. She said her secret was olive oil, as part of her diet and also rubbed into her skin, and keeping calm. She said, "I took pleasure when I could. I acted clearly and morally and without regret."

20 February: Space Station Mir

On this date in 1986 Mir space station was launched without crew from Baikonur Space Centre, Kazakhstan.

1. Mir means “peace” in Russian.
2. The station took ten years to build - it was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996. Each module was launched separately and assembled in space.
3. Until 21 March 2001 it was the largest artificial satellite in orbit, succeeded by the International Space Station.
4. Mir weighed 130,000-140,000 kg/ 250 tons.
5. It holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, by Valeri Polyakov who spent 437 days and 18 hours on the station between 1994 and 1995. Women's spaceflight records were set by Elena Kondakova (1995 - 169 days) and Shannon Lucid (1996 - 188 days).
6. 105 astronauts and cosmonauts stayed there during its 15 year life span. The first crew was Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov and the last was Mir commander Viktor Afansyev, flight engineer Sergei Avdeyev, and French researcher Jean-Pierre Haignere. The station could accommodate three resident crew and others on short visits.
7. The station had a supply of Cognac and vodka for special occasions.
8. The gravitational force aboard was 88% that of sea level on Earth, although the station was constantly in freefall, so it would feel like a weightless environment. The environment was often described as microgravity. Because of a slight drag from the gravity of Earth, the station had to be boosted to a higher altitude several times a year.
9. The time zone used on board was Moscow Time. The windows were covered during night hours to give the impression of darkness because the station experienced 16 sunrises and sunsets a day.
10. The station was designed to remain in orbit for around five years, but ended up remaining in orbit for fifteen. It crashed into the Pacific Ocean in March 2001.

February 19: Solar System Day

It's Solar System Day, so here are ten things you didn't know about our solar system:

1. The address of the Solar System is Local Interstellar Cloud, Local Bubble, Orion–Cygnus Arm, Milky Way. It is located 26,000 light-years from the middle of the Milky Way. The nearest star is Proxima Centauri, 4.22 light years away.
2. It consists of: one star (the Sun), 8 planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune), probably several hundred dwarf planets, of which we have recognised five - Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, Makemake and Eris, 468 natural satellites (moons), 702,663 minor planets (eg Asteroids) and 3,388 comets.
3. The four smaller inner planets, known as the “terrestrial planets” (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), are primarily composed of rock and metal. The outer four are “gas giants”. Jupiter and Saturn, the larger of the four, are composed mainly of hydrogen and Helium. Uranus and Neptune are composed largely of ices (Water, ammonia and methane).
4. There are theories which have suggested the Solar System once had more planets than it does now. There was allegedly a planet called Vulcan, which orbited closer to the sun than Mercury. Modern science has proved it never existed (it would have been too hot for Mr Spock to live on anyway). Recent studies have suggested that there was once a fifth giant planet — similar to Jupiter — but it was ejected from the Solar System through gravitational interactions with the other planets.
5. 99.86% of the Solar System's mass is accounted for by the sun. Most of the remainder is Jupiter.
6. The Solar System doesn't stop at Pluto. It's a common misconception that Pluto is the outer limit. In fact, the Solar System may extend as much as a thousand times further than that. The point at which the Solar System ends and interstellar space begins is not precisely defined, but would be where solar winds can reach, or the heliopause.
7. There are two moons within the system which are larger than Mercury, the smallest planet. They are Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter and Titan, a moon of Saturn.
8. Saturn isn't the only planet to have rings. It is merely the only one whose rings can be seen from a small telescope. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also all have rings, but they are dark and difficult to observe.
9. The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter contains thousands of object, but they are much more widely spaced out than the iconic asteroid belts which cause havoc to space craft in science fiction films. They are so far apart that rather than risking being hit by one, a spacecraft would have to work very hard to get close enough to an asteroid to even take a photo of it. Scientists believe that Hollywood style asteroid belts probably don't exist (but who knows what's out there - nobody's ever actually been!)
10. Although Mercury is closest to the Sun, Venus is hotter. That is because Venus has a very thick atmosphere made up of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide which stops the heat escaping into space as it does on Mercury.

February 18: Toni Morrison

The writer Toni Morrison was born on this date in 1931. Here are ten of her words of wisdom:

1. If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.
2. As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.
3. If you're going to hold someone down you're going to have to hold on by the other end of the chain. You are confined by your own repression.
4. Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all.
5. If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
6. Make a difference about something other than yourselves.
7. I'm not entangled in shaping my work according to other people's views of how I should have done it.
8. Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.
9. You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.
10. I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.

17th February: My Way Day

Today is My Way Day - not sure why, but here are ten little known facts about the famous song.

1. The tune was based on a French song that composer Paul Anka heard on holiday in 1967. The French song was called Comme d'habitude (As Usual) and was performed by Claude François.
2. Anka flew to Paris to negotiate obtaining the rights to the song. He acquired adaptation, recording, and publishing rights for one dollar, subject to the provision that the melody's composers retained their original share of royalty rights with respect to whatever versions Anka or his designates created or produced.
3. They lyrics to My Way are not related in any way to the French song. Anka wrote the lyrics specifically for Frank Sinatra, who was threatening to quit show business at the time. Anka subtly changed the melody and came up with the kind of words Sinatra might naturally use. He finished it at 5am and immediately called Sinatra in Vegas and said, 'I've got something really special for you.'
4. Frank Sinatra recorded his version of the song on December 30, 1968. It was released in early 1969 on the album of the same name and as a single.
5. It wasn't a number one hit. It reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart in the USA. In the UK, it peaked at number 5 but it did achieve a still unmatched record, becoming the recording with the most weeks inside the Top 40, spending 75 weeks from April 1969 to September 1971.
6. My Way is the song most frequently played at British funeral services.
7. It has been covered many times, including several times by Anka himself, usually in a duet with another artist. He performed the song with Gabriel Byrne in the film Mad Dog Time), Julio Iglesias (in Spanish), Jon Bon Jovi and Garou.
8. Other cover versions include Elvis Presley singing it live (despite Paul Anka saying the song wouldn't suit him), Sid Vicious (a sped up punk version with swear words, since Vicious didn't know all the words) and Just Throw It My Way, Oscar the Grouch's anti-litter anthem on Sesame Street.
9. Paul Anka wasn't the only one attempting to write English lyrics to Comme d'habitude in 1968. A then unknown singer/songwriter in the UK had been asked by his music publisher to write English lyrics for it as well. He came up with a song called Even a Fool Learns to Love. The publishers didn't like it, so it was never recorded. However, the songwriter in question liked the French song enough to play with it, rework the chords, write new lyrics and release it on an album in 1971. The songwriter was David Bowie and the resulting song was Life on Mars. On the album cover, the song is noted as "inspired by Frankie".
10. Singing My Way in Karaoke bars in the Philippines can be dangerous. There was a phenomenon there known as the My Way killings, where anything up to 12 fatal disputes broke out in Karaoke bars over the singing of the song. In one incident, a man was shot dead by the bouncer in the bar who objected to the song being sung out of tune. Some Filipinos, even those who love the song, will not sing it in public in order to avoid trouble. No-one is sure whether it's simply coincidence (violence in Karaoke bars in the Philippines is common, and it's a popular song) or if something about the song itself winds people up.

February 16th: Almond Day

Today is Almond Day. Here are some things I bet you didn't know about almonds.

1. Almonds belong to the genus Prunus and are related to Peaches and Cherries.
2. The almond isn't a nut - it's a seed, or drope, like a peach kernel.
3. Almonds first grew in the Middle East. It was spread by humans in ancient times along the shores of the Mediterranean into northern Africa and southern Europe. More recently it was introduced into the United States, currently the world's biggest almond producing nation.
4. Wild almonds are poisonous. They contain a chemical called glycoside amygdalin, which gives it a bitter taste and also turns into hydrogen cyanide if the seed is injured, as it is if eaten. Eating a few dozen wild almonds would kill you. At some point, a mutation occurred and a variety without glycoside amygdalin appeared, which had a sweeter taste and wasn't toxic.
5. The adjective "amygdaloid" ("like an almond") is used to describe objects which are roughly almond-shaped, and the amygdala region of the human Brain is so called because it consists of almond shaped groups of cells.
6. In German, almonds are called Mandel or Knackmandel, in Italian, mandorla. The English word has incorporated the Arabic article, al-.
7. 100 grams of almonds contain B vitamins riboflavin, niacin, vitamins thiamine, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin E, the essential minerals calcium, Iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, Zinc and Potassium.
8. Almonds are used to make Marzipan, a sweet confection whose name means "bread of March". They are also used to make almond butter (like peanut butter only sweeter and better for people with a Peanut allergy), almond milk (good for people with lactose intolerance and vegans) and almond flower (gluten-free).
9. Almond oil is used in massage and can also be used as a wood conditioner of certain woodwind instruments, such as the oboe and Clarinet.
10. In the Bible, the almond was a symbol of watchfulness and promise due to its early flowering. Almonds are mentioned ten times in the Bible. According to tradition, the rod of Aaron bore sweet almonds on one side and bitter on the other; if the Israelites followed the Lord, it produced more sweet almonds, but if they didn't, the bitter almonds would predominate.

15th February: Serbia Statehood Day

Today is Serbia's national day. Here are some facts you may not know about Serbia:

1. Serbia is landlocked. It borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro to the west; it also claims a border with Albania through the disputed territory of Kosovo.
2. The Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169m is the highest peak in Serbia.
3. 20% of Roman emperors were born in Serbia, including Constantine the Great, who was born in the Serbian city of Niš.
4. Serbia is the largest exporter of raspberries in the world.
5. The Serbian language is unique in that it can be written with the Latin alphabet or the Cyrillic alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet is the official one, but the Latin one is widely used. The Serbian language has contributed just one word to the rest of the world, and that word is "Vampire".
6. Belgrade is the capital and largest city.
7. A number of world renowned scientists hail from Serbia: Mihailo Petrović is known for having contributed significantly to differential equations and phenomenology, as well as inventing one of the first prototypes of an analog computer; Milutin Milanković is known for his theory of ice ages; Mihajlo Pupin discovered a means of extending the range of long-distance telephone communication by placing loading coils of wire (known as Pupin coils) at intervals along the transmitting wire (this is known as "pupinization"); but the most famous of all is Nikola Tesla, known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.
8. Serbia had a clock making industry 600 years before Switzerland did.
9. The first picture to be transmitted by video by satellite from Europe to America in 1963 was a picture of a fresco in a Serbian monastery - "White Angel".
10. Serbia claims to be the birthplace of rakia, a highly alcoholic drink made from fruit. Its national drink is a type of rakia, Slivovitz (šljivovica), a plum brandy.

14th February: Ferris Wheel Day - The London Eye

To celebrate Ferris Wheel Day, here are 10 facts about the biggest one in Europe, The London Eye.

1. It is 443 feet (135 m) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 feet (120 m). When first erected it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world although it has since been surpassed by similar structures in China, Singapore and Las Vegas. It is still the tallest in Europe, and the tallest in the world with a cantilever support on just one side. It doesn't come anywhere in the list of tallest buildings in London, but with a circumference of 1,392 feet, if it were stretched out straight, it would be taller than The Shard.
2. It isn't the first structure of its kind to be built in London. There was another which operated from 1895 to 1907, the Great Wheel, built for the Empire of India Exhibition at Earls Court. It was 94 metres (308 ft) tall and 82.3 metres (270 ft) in diameter,and had 40 cars.
3. The London Eye has 32 cars, one for each London borough. The numbering goes from 1 to 33, however, since there is no car 13. Each car weighs 10 tonnes, or the equivalent of 1,052,631 pound coins. Each one can hold 25 people. The London Eye can carry 800 people each rotation, the equivalent of 11 London double decker buses.
4. Visibility from the top is 25 miles/40km, meaning on a clear day, you can see Windsor Castle.
5. It is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with over 3.75 million visitors a year. That's more visitors than the Great Pyramids of Giza or the Taj Mahal in India.
6. The wheel rotates at 26 cm (10 in) per second (about 0.9 kph or 0.6 mph) so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes. This is slow enough to allow people to get on and off at ground level without the wheel stopping, although they can stop it to allow disabled or elderly people to get on and off.
7. The London Eye was formally opened by then Prime Minister Tony Blair on 31 December 1999. It opened to the public the following March.
8. The wheel can become a quite different attraction by night when it can be floodlit in different colours. It was lit up in red, white and blue to celebrate the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, in Pink to celebrate the first civil partnership ceremony to be performed on it, and in red to celebrate Coca Cola taking over sponsorship in 2014.
9. Since it opened, the Eye has seen 500 weddings and over 5,000 engagements. It's also seen Kate Moss 25 times and Jessica Alba 31 times.
10. It was a multi-national project. Steel and electrical components came from the UK, The steel was fabricated in the Netherlands, the cables and glass came from Italy, the bearings from Germany, the spindle and hub were cast in the Czech Republic, and the capsules were made in France by Poma (whose specialty is ski lifts).