Discover Something New #2

Sunday: Usually we think of Mexico as Spanish-speaking, and it's true that out of 107.5 million people, at least 100 million speak Spanish. But Mexico has over 60 major different languages, and over 280 different languages are still spoken in the country. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MX

Monday: For the western world, Hollywood is where entertainment begins. But Bollywood (in Mumbai, India), now creates at least twice as many films per year more than Hollywood! Known as "Hindi cinema," Bollywood is already much more popular in the world than Hollywood, even if Hollywood makes much more money. In 2002 Bollywood sold 3.6 billion conema tickets, and Hollywood 2.6. However, their overall profit for 2002 for tickets, DVDs, television, etc., was Bollywood: $1.3 billion; Hollywood: $51 billion.
http://www.businessweek.com//magazine/content/02_48/art02_48/a48tab37.gif

Tuesday: The Aztec empire in pre-European South America may have been so brutal that it caused its own destruction. They were ruthless against their neighbors, even forcing them to engage in "Flower wars." This sounds pleasant, and they were less violent than total war because the goal was not to kill anyone. The goal for the Aztecs was to capture prisoners alive. The prisoners would be fattened up and then used as living sacrifices for the Aztec gods. When the Spanish explorer Cortes arrived to conquer the Aztecs, 10,000s of native Indians joined his small army to destroy the cruel Aztecs. Without this help, it probably would have been impossible for 550 Spanish soldiers to end the Aztec empire.

Wednesday: In North-West China there is desert called Taklamakan. It is about 100,000 square miles (270,000 square kilometers). In Turkik the name means basically "if you go in, you won't come out." It's probably the most dangerous place in the world to get lost. Fast wind moves the sand so quickly that cities can be buried in a few days. It's so dry that rivers run out of the Himalayas and simply disappear into the sand. Here is a quote from a traveler in 1950: "Never once until we reached the plains were we out of sight of skeletons. The continuous line of bones and bodies acted as a gruesome guide whenever we were uncertain of the route" (Hopkirk, 1980). So why did people continue to go there? Basically, money. The famous Silk Road that connected trade routes of China to Europe ran on the north and south edges of the desert.

Thursday: Around the turn of the 19th century, the USA was urgently looking for new foreign markets, and this pushed the development of its navy at amazing speeds. In 1889, the US navy was 12th best in the world. Albania and Chile had better navies at this time! And of course England was the 1st. In 1900, US had the 6th strongest navy in the world. And by 1914, it was 3rd. In 25 years, the US went from an international weakling on the waters to being an important world power, just in time for World War I!

Friday: Most people agree that World War I was started by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (who lived in modern-day Czech Republic, in Konopiště castle). But few know how Improbable that event was. Ferdinand was in Sarajevo, Bosnia June 28, 1914, trying to diplomatically claim that country for his empire. Of course some nationalists didn't like that, so seven men planned to kill him. When Ferdinand's car went by, one man threw a grenade at the car, which missed, and Ferdinand raced to the castle. After the excitement wore off, they had to return to the other side of the river to leave the city. Unfortunately for the world, the driver made a wrong turn, and had to stop in front of a cafe to back up. Meanwhile, the leader of the plot, Gavrilo Princip, had apparently given up on the assassination and walked into a cafe to get a sandwich. When he walked out (sandwich in hand?), he amazingly saw the Archdukes car slowly backing up past him! He pulled out his pistol and fired twice into the car. It seems that his training and marksmanship was not good, because one shot when into the door of the car. But amazingly again, this bullet went through the door and hit the Archduke's pregnant wife in the stomach. The other bullet hit Ferdinand in the neck. Both were dead in minutes. Princip then swallowed a cyanide pill to kill himself, but it seems that the poison was old and just made him throw-up. Because he was under 19, the maximum penalty was 20 years in prison. The only justice is that he died in prison before the world war he caused was finished. (If you want to see the bullet that killed Ferdinand, take a trip to Konopiště castle south of Prague. The bullet is there in the castle museum).

Saturday: Ladybugs are carnivorous (they eat only meat), and they hibernate through the cold seasons like bears!