Wander Lord

Interesting on art, nature, people, history

Category Archive: It’s interesting

Months of the year

January

January


January was named after the Roman god Janus, the god of beginnings and of doors and gateways. Janus was represented as having two faces so that he might guard both entrances and exits. This has reinforced the mistaken belief that January was so named because it was the first month of the year. In fact, however, when the ten-month Roman calendar was reestablished about 700 B.C., January was added as the eleventh month and so named because it contained a feast day in honor of Janus. In 153 B.C. it began to be counted, as the first month and January quickly became a popular festival.
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How do freckles form

How do freckles form

How do freckles form

In spring and summer when the sun shine most of the day a-large number of people have freckles. They are caused by the sunshine. It stirs a brownish pigment which normally lies in the deep layers of the skin and the pigment comes to the surface where it can be seen.
The skin is not just a thin jacket to cover the body. It is a complex organ with many functions. It has oil glands and sweat glands and very small roots from which hairs grow. It has blood vessels and nerves. Its thickness may be from one-sixth to one-fiftieth of an inch. The outer layer of the skin, called the epidermis, is thin tissue of cells constantly coming off. The cells grow in the lower layer called the dermis. In the dermis there is a brown pigment.
The sunshine brings a spot of the pigment from the dermis to the epidermis where it can be seen as a freckle.
Freckles disappear when old cells of the epidermis come off, and new cells which have grown in the dermis take their place.
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Different calendars

Different calendars

Different calendars


Throughout history, people have used various systems to organize the year into units such as days, weeks, and months. A calendar’s primary function is regulating and organizing human activities; the word derives from the Latin calendarium or calendra, “account book,” and kalendae or “calends,” the new moon and first day of the Roman month.
Unlike the day, the month, and the year, the week is not based on any astronomical event.
The modern calendar has 12 months of 30 or 31 days each (February has 28, sometimes 29). The calendar year has 365 days, which is about how long it takes the Earth to circle the Sun once. That makes it a solar calendar.
The oldest calendars were used to figure out when to plant, harvest, and store crops. These were often “lunar calendars,” based on the number of days it took the Moon to appear full and then dwindle away again.
Many calendars have religious origins.
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About bread

About bread

About bread

About 10,000 BC, man first started eating flat bread — a baked combination of flour and water. Ancient Egyptians were the first to have baked leavened bread. About 3,000 BC, they started fermenting a flour and water mixture by using wild yeast. Since wheat is the only grain with sufficient gluten content to make a raised or leavened loaf, wheat quickly became favored over other grains grown at the time, such as oats, millet, rice, and barley.
In 150 BC, the first bakers’ guilds were formed in Rome. Wealthy Romans insisted on the more exclusive and expensive white bread. Roman bakeries produced a variety of breads and distributed free bread to the poor in times of need.
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The World of Teddy Bears

The World of Teddy Bears

The World of Teddy Bears

Everyone knows Teddy Bear. But why he was called Teddy? Why not Harry or John or Jane?
The story goes back to 1902, when Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States. The press and the people called him Teddy. He didn’t like the name, but accepted it. It made him seem more informal to the people he served. In November 1902 President Roosevelt decided to go out hunting for the day. After several hours, he still hadn’t bagged anything. Then one of his aides discovered a lost bear cub wandering through the woods. But Roosevelt couldn’t bring himself to shoot the defenceless cub. The newspapers were filled with cartoons depicting him with a bear. The story became fable.
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Sifting through the sands of time

Sifting through the sands of time

Sifting through the sands of time


When you are on the beach, you are stepping on ancient mountains, skeletons of marine animals, even tiny diamonds.
As children we play on it and as adults we relax on it. We complain when it gets in our food and we praise when it’s moulded into castles.
If we looked at it, we would discover an account of a geological past and a history of marine life that goes back thousands and in some cases millions of years.
The sand covers not just seashores, but also ocean beds, deserts and mountains. It is one of the most common substances on earth. And it is a major element that people use.
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Power of color

Power of color

Power of color

Colors have had important meanings since ancient times. In many ancient civilizations, people painted colored circles and lines around their eyes and mouths. Originally they did this to please the gods and scare away evil spirits. They soon realised that color could be used to make their faces and bodies beautiful. Body painting is one of the most ancient arts of humankind and today it is coming back into fashion.
The colors of our clothes became just as important as those used for painting the body. Clothes are a symbol of power. The power in the clothes affects both the person who wears them and the people around him or her. So it’s important to choose the colors you wear carefully.
The mysterious Aztec and Maya civilizations dyed their textiles with great artistry. Every color had a meaning: yellow was the symbol of the sun, blue meant the wearer had royal ancestors, red stood for blood.
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