What caused the Irish potato famine? The direct cause of the Irish potato famine was a potato fungus called Phytophtora infestans, which wiped out several years of potato crops. Other factors were the style of farming, the dependence on potatoes, continuing exports from Ireland, and the UK government’s unwillingness to help. The Irish potato famine […]
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What is Angkor Wat? Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia. It is where the old capital of Cambodia used to be and it was a tomb. Angkor Wat is constructed of beautifully carved sandstone. There are thousands of images all over the walls, depicting figures from the Hindu and Buddhist religions. The Angkor
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Are pasta and noodles the same thing? No, they aren’t, although it is a very ambiguous topic. Pasta doesn’t contain enough egg to be classified as a noodle. You might often hear pasta being called “noodles”, although you almost never hear of noodles being called pasta. What is the difference? It is very unclear for
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Why is the Forbidden City forbidden? It isn’t today, but for most of its history, access was forbidden to most Chinese people. The Forbidden City is found pretty much at the heart of the city of Beijing. At least it was. These days, Beijing has sprawled so far that it is difficult to know where
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Why is a sandwich called a sandwich? It is named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, but he isn’t the person who invented it. There is no way to work out when sandwiches were invented because people presumably ate them once there was bread. A sandwich merely consists of a filling between two
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When did we start using taxis? The first taxi service was started in London, UK in 1605. Just as with buses, it took several changes in society before a taxi service became necessary or possible. Before we look at that, though, let’s look at the origin of the word “taxi”. Taxi is a shortened form
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How do you get a star in Hollywood? You have to be nominated, have been in the business for over five years, and someone has to pay $75,000 on your behalf, along with a few other requirements as well. There are currently 2,790 stars in Hollywood. This increases by 30 every year. They can’t all
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Why do we use A4 as a paper size? We use A4 because it is a ratio of A0, which is 1 square meter of paper. The A system of paper was invented in Germany and adopted by almost all of the countries in the world in 1975. The only countries that don’t use it
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Does the Vatican have a secret library? No. The Vatican doesn’t have a secret library. There are some sections that are restricted, and there are some recent records that are off limits, but no more than many other government libraries and there are certainly some governments that are much more secretive. The Vatican library is
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When were buses invented? The first bus was released in Paris in 1662, but it was obviously horse-drawn. These days, most cities in the world have a regular bus line with bus stops dotted all over the place. You can jump on any bus, pay the fare, and away you go. This wasn’t always the
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