interesting facts
Hey there! Today we give you interesting facts about toys. Turns out there's a lot we don't know about these childhood friends. What toy did you like the most? Tell us in the comments!
Mankind invented toys a very long time ago. Archaeologists find them during excavations of settlements of the third millennium BC. The first toys were made of stone, clay and wood and usually depicted various animals.
In ancient Greece, it was customary to sacrifice one's childhood toys to the gods after reaching maturity. Young adults brought their toys to the temple.
The oldest teddy bear was produced in 1894. This is indicated by a label made of a rag, which is sewn to the bear's left foot. This old toy is still passed down from generation to generation in the same family.
The Rubik's Cube was originally created as an engineering project by the Hungarian sculptor Erno Rubik. The Rubik's Cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 combinations and only one solution. Over 300 million original Rubik's Cubes have been sold worldwide. If you put them in a row, they will stretch from the North to the South Pole of the Earth.
The potato head, first introduced in 1959, was the first toy to be advertised on television. In the first year of sale, manufacturers generated revenue of about $30 billion (at 2005 rates).
Barbie doll's official birthday is March 9, 1959.
The famous nesting dolls appeared in Russia only at the end of the 19th century. It is believed that their prototypes are the idols of the Japanese god Fukuruma. Russian sculptors gave Fukuruma a rounded shape and colors characteristic of that period of time.
Young children do not like toys that adults consider beautiful. The brain of a small child needs constant stimulation and seeks new sensations, so children are attracted to bright, loud, sometimes even grotesque toys. When marketers started making toys based on the preferences of children rather than parents, the market was filled with toys like Huggy Wuggy, the monster from the horror game "Poppy's playtime". And the kids love them a lot.
A special substance is added to the plastic from which Lego parts are made, which is well highlighted on x-rays. This is done specifically in case a child swallows the part.
Monopoly is played everywhere, underwater too. The most incredible record for the longest game of Monopoly was set in 1983 by members of the Buffalo Diving Club who played the board game continuously for 1080 hours or 45 days at the bottom of the sea.
With the intention of creating a wallpaper cleaner, Joseph and Noah McVicker invented Play-Doh in 1955. It was originally only available in one color (off-white) and was sold in a 1.5 pound tin.
In early 1992, a ship with a cargo of 29,000 Chinese plastic toys left Hong Kong for the United States. It had yellow ducks, as well as turtles, frogs and beavers. In the middle of the journey, the ship was caught in a storm and the toy containers were washed overboard. After a while, the rubber ducks began to appear on the shores of Alaska, Hawaii and other places. These toys have been of great help to oceanographers who study currents. For example, it was found that the period of circulation between Japan, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands is approximately three years.
One of the favorite children's games, yo-yo, was invented back in 500 BC. This toy is considered ancient. But mankind used it not only for harmless games. For example, the Filipinos made a good weapon out of two disks and a rope.
The average age of a game console owner in Japan is 40 years old, which indicates the considerable popularity of video games among adults.
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Hello! Recently we made a post about cats. Now it’s time for amazing facts about dogs. Are you a cat person or a dog person? Tell us in the comments!
Dogs are not descended from modern wolves.
Dogs are descended from a species of wolf that disappeared thousands of years ago. Modern American and European wolves are its distant relatives, although they share 99% of their DNA with dogs.
The Saluki is the oldest known dog breed.
The Saluki is considered the oldest dog breed known to man. In ancient Egypt, they belonged to the royal families. They were treated with reverence while alive, and even mummified after death as pharaohs.
Dogs have a larger range of sizes than any other mammal.
Due to human intervention in natural selection, there is a huge difference in size between dog breeds – more than any other mammal, wild or tame.
However, there is a limit to the physical differences of dogs.
The entire physiology of the dog, from the Chihuahua to the Great Dane, is based on the body structure of the ancient wolf.
They have a second "nose".
It is known to science as the vomeronasal organ and is located between the dog's nostrils and the palate of the mouth.
Scientists are still not sure what dogs use it for.
Based on research on other carnivores such as cats, they may use it when they sniff scent marks left by other dogs.
Dogs can fall in love.
When a dog comes in contact with people or other dogs, oxytocin, the hormone of love, is released in its brain. This process is identical to what happens in the human brain when they hug or kiss.
Dogs don't feel guilty.
Many owners notice what they consider to be a "guilty look" in a dog, but science has shown that it's actually a reaction to the owner's body language. Guilt is a rather complex emotion. The dog is just worried that it will be punished, not knowing what it did wrong.
Dogs instinctively bond with humans.
Once a puppy learns that humans are friendly, its instincts tell it that the best chance of survival is to stick to a human.
That's why many dogs get so nervous when they're alone: they might think they've been abandoned.
Having a dog in the house can protect owners from asthma and colds.
Research shows that children who live in families with dogs are less likely to develop allergies and get sick than children who are raised in families without pets.
Greyhounds are a twice famous breed.
Greyhounds are known not only as the fastest dog breed, capable of reaching 72 km/h, but also as the only dog breed mentioned in the Bible (referring to Proverbs 30:31; King James version).
Dogs can memorize hundreds of words.
An average dog is as easy to train as a human child and can learn between 200 and 500 words. Moreover, the dog can learn the basics of mathematics, for example, learn to count and arrange numbers in ascending order.
Dogs can smile.
Dogs smile, but not necessarily for the same reasons we do.
According to veterinary scientist Dr. John Bradshaw, a dog will smile to convince its owner to show it their love.
Therefore, dogs are not always happy when they "smile" – they may even feel a little anxious and need reassurance. So go show your puppy how much you love it.
Dogs are abnormally attached to people.
Most mammals experience simple emotions such as love, fear, anxiety, and pleasure, but dogs are now known to have special emotional responses to human attention.
Most owners are convinced that their dogs love them, and scientists now have evidence that affection for people actually determines much of a dog's behavior.
Recently, Professor Gregory Burns of Emory University was able to train dogs to lie down in an MRI scanner and was able to watch their brains' joyful reactions to photographs of their owners.
Dogs are also better than chimpanzees at understanding human body language.
Follow the links to see more dog-themed psp tubes and scrap kits!
Hey! Do you love cats? Or have you gone over to the dark side of the force and secretly dislike these internet lords? Tell us in the comments! We are good at keeping secrets.
Today we decided to entertain you with unusual facts about cats. Which ones did you already know?
- There are 33 main cat breeds in total. And the number of domestic cats in the world reaches 500 million.
- The heart rate of a cat is much higher than that of a human and ranges from 110 to 140 heart beats per minute.
- On average, cats weigh about five kilograms, but cats of the Singapura breed weigh only two and a half kilograms.
- The smallest cats are rusty-spotted breed living in Sri Lanka. Their weight does not exceed one and a half kilograms, and the size is about 15 centimeters.
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Although the lion is considered the king of animals, it is not the largest feline. Tigers are much larger, growing up to three meters and weighing about three hundred kilograms. A tiger can eat about 40 kilograms of meat at a time.
- In the wild, felids keep their tails horizontal or down, and only domestic cats can walk with their tail up.
- Domestic cats do not communicate with each other by meowing. They use this "language" only to communicate with people.
- Crème Puff was the oldest cat ever recorded, according to the 2010 edition of Guinness World Records, when she died aged 38 years and 3 days.
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In the fifties, a cat named Dusty from Texas set a record for fertility – over 400 kittens were born from him during his long life. Moreover, the last kittens were born from him when he was already over 18 years old.
- The largest number kittens in one litter is 14 and was recorded in a cat named Bluebell in South Africa.
- The skin pattern on a cat's nose is comparable in its uniqueness to fingerprints.
- A cat has 517 muscles. At the same time, 12 of them are used to control each ear.
- There are almost 40 more bones in a cat's skeleton than in a human's skeleton.
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The age of a cat correlates with a human like this: when a cat is 3 years old, this corresponds to about 21 human years, when 8 years old, 40 human years, and 14 years old, 70 human years.
Need more scrap kits and psp tubes with cats? Just follow the link!
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Hello! We wish you a Happy Easter! Today we prepared a post about Easter traditions all over Europe. How do you celebrate Easter in your country? Tell us in the comments!
The water battle may not seem like the most typical Easter tradition to you, but this is exactly how this holiday is celebrated in many parts of Poland. On Easter Monday, the Poles arrange a merry mess called "smigus-dyngus". Traditionally, boys should splash water on girls, but nowadays anyone can become a victim of a bucket of water, water guns and water balloons. In the centers of large cities, such as Krakow and Warsaw, everyone swills everyone, so keep that in mind. In many households, Easter Sunday begins with a breakfast of eggs, sausages, and lamb-shaped muffins.
In Sweden, Easter is closely associated with folk traditions and beliefs. So, one of the main symbols of the holiday here is Easter old women with brooms, considered witches, but kinder. Today, children in Sweden dress up as old women, they go from house to house, congratulate their neighbors on the holiday, give homemade postcards and receive treats for it. The main decoration of the house for Easter are bouquets of alder and birch branches, which are usually decorated with bright feathers.
In England, Easter is even more important than Christmas. Before Easter, all schools in the country close for two weeks. The Easter service ends at midnight. After that, everyone congratulates each other on the end of Lent and the beginning of a new life. Churches are decorated with tree branches with swollen buds, daffodils and painted eggs. After the Easter service, it is customary to spend time with the family, eat Easter cake and treat each other with chocolate eggs.
In addition to painted Easter eggs, the Germans have other symbols of the holiday. For example, the Easter Bunny, which is believed to bring colored eggs to children. Germany is considered the birthplace of the Easter Bunny. There is another symbol – an Easter tree decorated with eggs. And in Germany, there is still an old custom – the traditional horse procession.
In Denmark, Easter is celebrated less grandiose than Christmas. As in Germany, the main holiday symbol is the Easter Bunny bringing treats to children, and popular characters also include the lamb and the chicken. Their figures are made of caramel, sugar or white chocolate. It is customary for the Danes to brew a special kind of beer and set the meat table. Some beer makers even put Easter symbols on the cans to create a festive atmosphere. The Danes have been preparing for the religious holiday since Thursday, and only by Tuesday are they ready to return to work.
Each Spanish region has its own traditions, but nothing compares to the world-famous processions in the southern region of Andalusia. In particular, one of the longest and most crowded processions in Spain takes place in Seville. Every year, thousands of tourists from all over the world come here to see the elaborate costumes, masks and decorated wagons, as well as the participants – the members of local religious brotherhoods in their "capirota", high cone-shaped caps with holes for the eyes, completely covering the face.
Thousands of people in Italy gather in the Vatican to listen to the speech of the Pope on Good Friday, but in Florence on Easter Sunday there is a celebration of a completely different kind. "Explosion of the wagon" – scoppio del carro – is a tradition that is about three centuries old. Wreathed white oxen drag a huge wagon through the streets of the city, followed by soldiers, musicians and procession participants in 15th-century costumes. When the procession reaches the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the wagon is set on fire and a grandiose fireworks display begins, which symbolizes a good harvest, good luck in life and success in business.
Take a closer look at our Easter psp tubes in the catalog!
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Hey there! We continue our Easter post series.
Were you looking forward to receiving presents from the Easter Bunny as a child? Do you know where this tradition came from? Tell us your answer in the comments!
The Easter Bunny (or Osterhase) is most likely a pagan tradition brought to the US by German immigrants. It is believed to have originated from German folk legends. German kids used to leave nests made from hats for the Bunny and expected to get he eggs as presents from it. The Bunny wasn't the only animal believed to bring gifts. In Hesse it was done by the fox, and in Bavaria by the cuckoo. Over time, the Bunny supplanted other animals and established itself in this symbolic meaning in all German-speaking countries.
It was also considered a sacred animal to the Germanic goddess Eostre (Eastre), from whose name the word "Easter" comes in both English and German. And among the ancient Celts and Scandinavians, the hare was considered a symbol of the mother goddess.
The Bunny, moreover, often appeared in the medieval Christian manuscripts. The monks associated this animal with the immaculate conception, since even from the works of Pliny and Plutarch the hares were believed to be hermaphrodites.
According to one of the more modern legends, a poor German woman who did not have money to treat her children hid colored eggs in her garden, and when her children found a gift, a rabbit ran nearby. The kids decided that the rabbit left a present for them.
From the beginning of the 18th century, this tradition came to the North America along with German colonists, mostly from the Palatinate, who settled compactly in Pennsylvania.
The tradition finally took shape by the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The Easter Bunny has become the character of modern folklore like Santa Claus. It is believed that the hare brings colorful eggs (now made from marzipan) as well as chocolate and other sweets to well-behaved children. On this day many people dress up as the Easter Bunny and give gifts to passers-by.
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