What is Prince Rupert’s drop? Prince Rupert’s drop is a small, tadpole-shaped glass bead that is incredibly strong but incredibly fragile. Prince Rupert’s drops have been around for a long time and there is some thought that they were first discovered by Roman glassmakers two thousand years ago. They were first brought to Great Britain […]
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Why is the presidential inauguration on January 20th? Inauguration day is on January 20th because the 20th Amendment to the Constitution changed it in 1933. The new president of the United States of America is sworn in on January 20th. There is a big spectacle, which is attended by thousands of people. The president swears
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Why does the year start on January 1st? The year starts on January 1st because of the Romans and then Pope Gregory XIII. Although, for most of the history of civilization, the year did not start on January 1st,, and for a lot of cultures, it still doesn’t. In fact, for the 1.4 Chinese people
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What is the difference between coal, coke, and charcoal? Charcoal is made from wood, but coal and charcoal are both sedimentary rocks that are processed differently to produce different results. Charcoal, coal, and coke all have different advantages, disadvantages, and uses. Let’s look at them one by one. Charcoal is made from wood. If you
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Why are there only the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal? There are only the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal because they are at the two points in the world where shipping distances can be greatly reduced. No other canal would make enough of a difference to be worth the price of building it.
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Why did the war in Syria start? The Syrian war started because the President, Bashar al-Assad put down a peaceful demonstration with violence. The Syrian war started on 15th March 2011 and is still going on. So far, roughly 600,000 people have been killed, 300,000 of them civilians. 6.7 million people have no place to
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What is the French Foreign Legion? It is a unit of highly trained foreign soldiers that form a part of the French army. Most countries generally only allow soldiers that have citizenship to join the armed forces. There are some exceptions. The US allows people with a US permanent resident card to sign up for
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What is a salt road? A salt road is a road that was used in ancient times to transport salt from where it was produced to where it was needed. We don’t think about salt so much these days. Maybe if our meal is a bit bland we might reach for the salt cellar and
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Why were coffeehouses important? Early coffee houses were important because they were a center for social interaction and the sharing of knowledge. It can be speculated that were it not for coffeehouses, several revolutions would not have happened, and the world would be much different to the way it is today. Coffee was discovered on
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Why are trousers / pants plural? Trousers and pants are plural because they used to be separated into left leg and right leg. Before we begin, people in the UK say trousers and people in the USA say pants and they both mean the same thing. However, all of the words have different origins. The
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