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_Elsa_

I really enjoy doing Google searches for fun facts and I hope that you do too. I am starting a new message in each game community with the same discussion title. Please feel free to add fun facts and maybe, if I have time, I will post a message weekly.

_Elsa_

March Forth and Do Something Day is a made-up holiday celebrated each year on March 4.

The holiday encourages people to do something new that enriches their own lives or the lives of people in their community.

March Fourth

The name of this unofficial holiday plays on the words, march fourth, which when spoken out loud sounds like march forth - an expression used to convey action and moving forward.

How to Celebrate?

March forth and do something.

Volunteer in your community.

Start something that you have always wanted to do but have never had the chance to.

You can read more here.   

 March 4, 2020 is ...

64th day of the year. There are then 302 days left in 2020.

10th Wednesday of 2020.

on the 10th week of 2020 (using US standard week number calculation).

74th day of Winter. There are 16 days left till Spring.

Birthstone for this day: Aquamarine, Bloodstone & Jade

This information came from here. 

This Day in Music

1967 - The Rolling Stones' Ruby Tuesday hits #1

1972 -Badfinger's Day After Day is certified gold

1976 - Hall & Oates, Rich Girl is recorded

1978 - In the Top 5 songs on this day, Dan Hill's, Sometimes When We Touch at #3 is the only song not written by the Bee Gees

This Day in Sports

1913 - New York Yankees are the 1st team to train outside the US in Bermuda

1967 - Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champion in Vienna won by Peggy Fleming of the US

1968 - Joe Frazier TKOs Buster Mathis in 11 for heavyweight boxing title

1976 - San Francisco Giants are bought for $8 million by Bob Lurie & Bud Herseth

All the above came from here. 

_Elsa_

Superman didn't always fly.  The original comic book Superman could leap tall buildings in a single bound. But then he had to come right back down to Earth—because he didn't fly. It wasn't until the 1940s, when animators for a new animated series decided it would be too difficult to routinely draw him bending his knees, that it was decided that Superman could take off into the air. Readers got to see smooth animation, and a superhero gained a new power.

Bees sometimes sting other bees. Bees are notorious for their stings, but humans aren't the only ones who experience this pain in the neck (or the arm, or the leg…). In protecting their hives from outsiders, some "guard bees" will stay by the entrance and sniff the bees that come in, says Marianne Peso from the biology department of Macquarie University. If there's a rogue bee from another hive trying to steal some nectar, the guard bee will bite and even sting the intruder.

Water makes different pouring sounds depending on its temperature. If you listen very closely, hot water and cold water sound slightly different when being poured. The heat changes the thickness, or viscosity, of the water, which changes the pitch of the sound it makes when it's poured. What we feel as heat comes from the molecules of the water moving faster. Cold water is thicker and therefore makes a slightly higher-pitched sound.

 All of the above came from here. 

_Elsa_

Daylight Saving Time will begin at 2:00 AM on Sunday, March 8

Don't forget to change your clock before going to sleep tonight! But what does it mean and why do we do it?

The terms “spring forward” and “fall back” are used to describe a practice of changing standard time with the intention of “saving” (as in, making better use of) natural light. During daylight savings time (DST), clocks are turned ahead one hour, so that the sun rises later in the morning and sets later in the evening. The change is reversed in autumn.

Originally enacted in the United States as a wartime conservation effort, observance of DST became federal law in 1918. (To dispel a common myth: It was not enacted for farmers—in fact, most farmers fought for its repeal.) While it was quickly repealed after the war ended, DST was observed nationally again during World War II. By 1966, some 100 million Americans were practicing some type of DST through their own local laws. In 1966, Congress acted to end the confusion and establish one consistent nationwide pattern. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 stated that DST would begin on the last Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October. (Any area that wanted to be exempt from DST could do so by passing a local ordinance. Hawaii and most of Arizona, for example, are exempt from DST.) By 2005, the Energy Policy Act established that DST begins each year on the second Sunday in March at 2:00am and that the changeover back to standard time (ST) occurs on the first Sunday in November at 2:00am.

You can read more here. 

_Elsa_

To help you navigate through the community a bit easier I have created a blog with some wonderful community links. To see the entire message view it HERE.

_Elsa_

AlphaBetty Saga is very similar to Scrabble so here are some fun facts about the latter.

While you might assume Scrabble was invented by a writer, teacher, or librarian, that honor actually goes to Alfred Mosher Butts, an out of work architect from Poughkeepsie, New York. He combined elements from anagrams and crossword puzzles to create a scoring word game. He derived the letter distribution by studying the front page of the New York Times.

Scrabble history notes that the president of Macy’s played the game while on vacation and ordered a few games for his store. Sales soared and within a year, the game was a huge hit and games were rationed to stores around the country.

A study in Psychological Research showed that men and women play the game to meet different needs. Men focus their energy on practicing anagrams and evaluating the game while women are more apt to play Scrabble as a hobby.

The above came from here. 

Scrabble fun facts

• Scrabble was invented in 1931 by New York architect Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts invented the game in an attempt to create a word game that combined anagrams and crosswords, which involved luck, chance and a great deal of skill. Butts died at the age of 93 in 1993.

• Back in 1931, the original name for Scrabble was ‘Lexico‘, before becoming ‘Criss-Cross Words‘ and eventually ‘Scrabble‘. ‘Lexico‘ is a shortened version of the word ‘Lexicon‘, which is another term for ‘Language‘ or ‘Vocabulary‘.

• Alfred Butts decided on the frequency and distribution of the letter tiles through analyzing the front page of the New York Times.

• Down the sides of sofas, underneath carpets, eaten by children and pets alike; somewhere in the world there are over a million missing Scrabble tiles.

• If all the Scrabble tiles ever produced were lined up, they would stretch for more than 50,000 miles!

• It’s possible to score 1782 points on a single word. That word is Oxyphenbutazone. To get those points, competition player Benjamin Woo played it across the top of the board, hitting three Triple Word Score squares whilst also making seven crosswords downwards.

• In 1985, Lieutenant Commander Waghorn and Lance Corporal Gill played Scrabble for five continuous days. Not by choice, mind, as they were both trapped in a crevasse in Antarctica!

• In 1992, Franklin Mint commissioned and produced a version of Scrabble featuring 24k gold-plated tiles. Although it has long since sold out, copies of this golden-Scrabble can be found on eBay for roughly £350.

• There are 124 playable two-letter words in the English (language) game, containing every letter in the alphabet except for V.

• Scrabble is ranked as the second best board game in U.S. History, second only to Monopoly.

• In Leicester, England, a five-year old boy phoned the police to tell them that his sister was cheating at Scrabble.

• Scrabble became an American daytime game-show, hosted by Chuck Woolery on NBC, which ran from July 1984 to March 1990. The show got a revival from January to June in 1993.

You can read more here.

 

_Elsa_

Are you superstitious? Do you avoid going under ladders? Do you throw salt over your shoulder? Do you believe that if you break a mirror you will have 7 years of bad luck? What about Friday 13? 

Very little is known about the origins of the day's notoriety. Some historians believe that the superstitions surrounding it arose in the late 19th century. The first documented mention of the day can be found in a biography of Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, who died on a Friday 13th. A 1907 book, Friday the Thirteenth, by American businessman Thomas Lawson, may have further perpetuated the superstition. Others believe that the myth has Biblical origins. Jesus was crucified on a Friday, and there were 13 guests at the Last Supper the night before his crucifixion. Another account suggests that the day has been associated with misfortune since 1307 when on a Friday the 13th, the French king gave the orders to arrest hundreds of Knights Templar.

• Yet, the Fear is Very Real... The fear of Friday the 13th is also called friggatriskaidekaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia. Experts say that friggatriskaidekaphobia affects millions of people and estimate that businesses, especially airlines, suffer from severe losses on Friday the 13th.

• Triskaidekaphobia, or the fear of the number 13, is even more widespread. So much so that many high-rise buildings, hotels, and hospitals skip the 13th floor and many airports do not have gates numbered 13. In many parts of the world, having 13 people at the dinner table is considered bad luck.

• Alfred Hitchcock was born on the 13th. The master of suspense was born on August 13, 1899 – so Friday, August 13, 1999 would have been his 100th birthday. He made his directorial debut in 1922 with a movie called Number 13. Unfortunately, the film was doomed from the start and never got off the ground due to financial troubles. Other celebrities and well-known personalities born on a Friday the 13th include actors Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen; novelist and playwright, Samuel Beckett; and former President of Cuba, Fidel Castro. The Day Inspired One of the Highest Grossing Film Series

• The commercially successful Friday the 13th enterprise includes 12 horror movies, a television series, and several books that focus on curses and superstitions. Even though the films and the television series consistently received negative reviews from critics, they have a huge following. The mask worn by the key character in the films, Jason Voorhees, is one of the most known images in popular culture.

You can read more info here. 

• Taylor Swift thinks of 13 as her lucky number and has some connections with Friday the 13th: "I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first #1 song had a 13-second intro," she told MTV in 2009.

• Stephen King’s triskaidekaphobia – The number 13 and Friday the 13th in particular, scares even the horror master himself. He wrote an article about it for the New York Times in 1984 and you can read it here.

• Mark Twain was allegedly once invited to be the 13th guest at a dinner party. As the story goes, he went to the dinner despite a superstitious friend's warning. Twain reportedly said, "It was bad luck. They only had food for 12."

• In his No. 1 hit song "Superstition," Stevie Wonder sings: "Thirteen-month-old baby, broke the lookin' glass. Seven years of bad luck, good things in your past. When you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer. Superstition ain't the way."

• In some Spanish-speaking countries, Tuesday (Martes) the 13th is considered bad luck. Tuesday is feared because it is the day of the week associated with the Roman god of war, Mars. There is a cautionary saying: "On Tuesdays, don't get married, don't take a trip and don't leave your home."

• Founded in 1882 by Capt. William Fowler, The Thirteen Club of New York was a group of skeptics who defied superstitions by hosting dinner parties on Friday the 13th. At the first dinner, the 13 members performed such unlucky feats as passing under a ladder. They dined on 13 courses, the first by the light of 13 candles. The devil-may-care group tipped over salt containers on the table but were forbidden from tossing any of the spilled granules over their shoulders. The small club evolved into a national organization that boasted such members Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt, according to the New York Historical Society.

You can read more here.

• In some countries, Tuesday the 13th is the unlucky day, not Friday the 13th.   In Spain and Spanish speaking countries, it's Tuesday the 13th that gets people wound up. Martes, Tuesday in Spanish, comes from the Roman god of war, Mars, forever tying the day to violence, death and bloodshed. In conjunction, Constantinople supposedly fell on a Tuesday during the Fourth Crusade. And then Ottoman Turks supposedly claimed the city on a Tuesday more than 200 years later.

 Please follow this link to read more about superstitions: 13 Superstitions From Around the World

 

_Elsa_

Gardening Facts and Tips

• The ladybug is a beneficial insect. They consume large numbers of aphids and scale bugs thus keeping them from chewing on your precious plants.

• The best time to water your plants is in the morning or at dusk. This not only protects your plants from burning but watering in the heat of the day also causes an increase in evaporation and thus your plants don’t get as much water as you think. It also saves water!

• When watering your plants try not to water the leaves. Water remaining on the leaves is a great way get and spread disease. To avoid this try placing the hose at the base of the plant.

• Variegated (different colored pieces of leaves, etc) plants are due to a mutation in the plant.

• Picking off flowers and vegetables actually increases the productivity of the plant.

• Thinner leaved plants tend to need more water than plants with thicker leaves.

• Mixing cinnamon in with your soil is a simple and easy fungicide.

• Control mildew buildup by diluting milk with water and spraying it on your plants.

• Less than 2 percent of insects are harmful.

You can read this here. 

 • A sunflower is not just one flower. Both the fuzzy brown center and the classic yellow petals are actually 1,000 – 2,000 individual flowers, held together on a single stalk.

• There are more microorganisms in one teaspoon of soil than there are people on earth. It's aliiiiive! OK, in all seriousness, that fact might make you itchy, but microbes are important for keeping your soil full of nutrients.

• Plants really do respond to sound. Talking to plants to help them grow is a well-known old wives' tale, but studies have shown vibration (like music, or perhaps even the sweet sound of your voice) can affect plant growth. Plus, the Myth Busters (in an admittedly not-so-scientific study), compared a silent greenhouse to one where they piped in a voice soundtrack, and found that plants in the latter grew more.

• Butterflies might be more attracted to your weeds than your flowers. Colorful blooms aren't the chief reason these insects love your garden – it's more about the fragrance and nectar. According to the Smithsonian Institute, new cultivars of popular flowers have been bred for enhanced color and size but have often lost their fragrance in the process. So everyday weeds, like dandelions and clovers, might actually be the most appealing things in your yard to butterflies (they hate pesticides, too). Taking care to choose heirloom flower seeds can get them to also fly your way.

• A little baking soda can help you grow sweeter tomatoes. A regular sprinkling of this kitchen staple into your plant's soil can help reduce acidity, which sweetens up your crop.

• Some of your favorite fruits are actually in the rose family. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, and more are rosaceae, making them cousins to the long-stemmed Valentine's Day variety.

• The right orchid combination can smell like your favorite dessert. Did you know that the vanilla bean comes from a orchid varietal? And it's not the only sweet-smelling kind: "An oncidum hyrbrid called Sharry Baby smells like chocolate," says George Hatfield, president of the Santa Barbara Orchid Show. "It's 'baking cookie' aroma has made it a winner." And that's not all: The cymbidium Golden Elf smells lemony, and the phalaenopsis violacea has a cinnamon scent. "Just like you'd combine Jelly Belly beans to create new flavors, you can combine orchids to create a garden that smells like a dessert buffet," says Hatfield.

• You can change a hydrangea's color by altering the pH level of the soil. A more alkaline soil will result in pinker blooms, while more acidity will produce blue blooms. To coax your plant to the blue side, add more organic matter to your soil, like eggshells and coffee grounds (though the acidity in used coffee grounds can vary greatly, so you might try a high-acid fertilizer, too). The change won't happen overnight, but eventually you should succeed in manipulating your soil's pH level.

• Deer can jump eight feet high. They might require a running start to reach such heights, but a tiny fence often isn't enough to keep these garden nibblers away. Try a taller one, plant thorny or pungent plants as a natural barrier, or scare them off with lights or wind chimes.

• You don't need to be a dedicated composter to reap similar benefits. Call it cheating but applying used coffee grounds, eggshells, chopped-up banana peels, and other organic matter directly to your soil (no composting required) can offer plants nutrients as they decompose. For already-growing beds, scatter and bury the items within the first few inches of soil.

The above info came from here. 

 If you would like to read ‘What Your Favorite Flower Says About You’ you can read it here.  

_Elsa_

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and to eat Pie.

Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.

You can read more here. 

Pi facts

• It is thought the concept of pi was first discovered around 4,000 years ago.

• We can never find the true meaning of pi because it is what is known as an "irrational number".

• Welsh mathematician William Jones was the first person to use the symbol we now use for pi more than 250 years ago.

• The Guinness World Record for most decimal places memorised is held by Rajveer Meena, who took 10 hours to recall 70,000 places blindfolded in March 2015.

• British mathematician William Shanks became famous for manually calculating pi to 607 places in the 19th century. However, it later emerged the 527th number was wrong, making the rest of his calculations wrong by default.

• Google employee Emma Haruka Iwao has calculated the number pi to a world record 31 trillion digits today!

 The above info came from here.

_Elsa_

Today is Red Nose Day! This special holiday got its start in England in 1988, and today it’s one of the largest fundraisers in the UK. The day is sponsored by Comic Relief, a British charity that raises money for people in need in the United Kingdom and Africa. Red Nose Day happens every two years on the second or third Friday in March. In the past 30 years, the event has raised over £1 billion. The day features a telethon, TV specials, and events around the country. You can read more here.

 Jack Black hosting 'Celebrity Escape Room' for NBC's Red Nose Day charity event

NBC will kick off its annual Red Nose Day, the national fundraising campaign to end child poverty, with the Ben Stiller-produced Celebrity Escape Room, the network has announced. NBC describes it as “sort of a show within a show,” where “all-knowing ‘Game Master'” host Jack Black, will put comedy stars Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow and Adam Scott to the test as they “work together under intense pressure to beat the clock, unlocking a series of surprising puzzle rooms to ultimately engineer their great escape.”  

 Celebrity Escape Room airs May 24 at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the two-hour Red Nose Day Special. The annual star-studded programming block supports the Campaign to End Child Poverty. This info came from here.

What is Celebrity Escape Room?

Celebrity Escape Room “combines the drama and tension of a real-life video game with the side-splitting allure of the ultimate party game,” says NBC. Stiller, Cox, Kudrow and Scott will work together and channel their inner Sherlocks to decipher clues and solve puzzles, brainstorm for solutions and combine their comedic talents to ultimately gain their freedom before time runs out.

In addition to Stiller, Celebrity Escape Room will be executive produced by Black, Christine Taylor, Nicky Weinstock, Amiira Ruotola and Lee Metzger (The Voice). The show is produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio and Red Hour Productions.

The annual Red Nose Day Special will follow Celebrity Escape Room with an entertainment showcase featuring music, comedy and poignant films. The films will share stories of children and young people who have been affected by poverty and how Red Nose Day funds have helped change their story for good.

“Kicking off with Ben Stiller’s hilarious Celebrity Escape Room, NBC’s Red Nose Day lineup is the perfect vehicle to help drive this year’s fundraising efforts,” said Paul Telegdy, Chairman, NBC Entertainment. “We are privileged to continue our support of this incredible cause in partnership with our amazing friends at Comic Relief US as we work together on behalf of children in need around the world.”

“Through the power of laughter and entertainment, Red Nose Day serves as a galvanizing force, rallying Americans to come together to end child poverty,” said Alison Moore, CEO of Comic Relief US. “Together with our incredible partners and celebrity supporters, we are working to change the story for good for millions of children in the U.S. and around the world.”

The multi-week Red Nose Day campaign launches Monday, April 13 when the official Red Noses go on sale exclusively at Walgreens locations nationwide in more than 9,000 stores across the country. All net proceeds of Red Nose sales go to the Red Nose Day Fund. Between April 13-May 30, Walgreens will donate $.50 from each Red Nose sold to Comic Relief.

Funds raised through Red Nose Day are split evenly between domestic and international programs that ensure children in need are safe, healthy and educated. The goal is to address the short-term needs of children living in poverty and also foster long-term change to break the poverty cycle and provide hope for a better future. Children and young people who benefit from Red Nose Day-supported programs span all 50 states, Puerto Rico and some of the poorest communities across Latin America, Africa and Asia. Since launching in the U.S. in 2015, Red Nose Day has raised $200 million and positively impacted the lives of nearly 25 million children.

You can read the entire article here.  You can watch a video on the Celebrity Escape room here.

_Elsa_

The Coronavirus has affected many countries. I'm sure that all of you have either read about it or saw the news on TV. Many of you might be at home for the next couple of weeks because your job has closed down to prevent this virus from spreading more.

if you follow this link: Let's do some puzzles you will see math puzzles, word puzzles and mazes! Please feel free to tag your friends here in the community.