A Brief History of Puzzles and Riddles

Image : http://www.flickr.com

A world like ours needs a smile from time to time, and there is nothing better that spending our leisure hours with fun and entertaining activities, such as puzzles, riddles and trivia solving.

Puzzles come from ancient times, and archaeologists have found evidence of puzzles with a history that can be traced back thousand of years. In Persia, puzzles were part of mystical practices and religions.

Temples in Tibet, China and Japan have been found with engraved puzzles that reveal mathematical formulas engraved on the walls by monks. However, puzzles were also used as trivia to pass time and the origin of board games such as chess.

On the other hand, riddles are considered a modern entertainment form, but because they are more likely associated with the bards of the Middle Ages. The format of riddles, forming a question to be solved by guessing, facilitated their job as traveling entertainers.

Riddles were also a sort of trivia, passing messages on between people needing to share information that others could not understand, often compared with "undercover information."

Puzzles, riddles and trivia were, in fact, the way to go when justice was behind dreamers wanting a better world, fighting against governments and rulers that otherwise would quiet their voice.

However, researchers consider that both puzzles and trivia have a common origin in religion, running parallel one to another. Many biblical verses and prophecies were written as a sort of guessing game, and you can easily find these riddles in the Torah, the Koran, the Rig-Veda, and even the Bible itself.

Ancient Greeks liked all the challenging games, celebrating banquets where trivia, puzzles, and riddles were both entertainment and competence, crowning the winners with laurel. Throughout time, riddles and puzzles have been spread widely all over the world by one means or another.

Nevertheless, trivia also contributed to fun in communal gatherings and family reunions often associated with tongue-in-cheek riddles to make the events more fun and entertaining. There is reference of riddle tournaments held in remote places such as the Fiji islands were the losers were placed laying on a feast for the champions.

Trivia and puzzles in Africa were used as ritual for young people that could not be considered an adult if they failed to solve them. In the Middle East, trivia and riddles were used as oracles consultation so women could find if they were meant to marry with the man of their dreams.

The history of puzzles, riddles and trivia also fascinate authors, painters and artist of all times that has contributed to the preservation this form of entertainment until today.

How Celebrity is Celebrity

Image : http://www.flickr.com

What really makes a celebrity a true celebrity? Is it the news coverage? The pursuit of tabloids? Perhaps sheer popularity is what drives us to call movie stars, musicians, and politicians celebrities. If that is the case, are the non-traditional stars celebrities as well?

In order to find a satisfactory answer to this dilemma, one must look for a celebrity index. CelebrityContest.net has developed an algorithm to assign a value to a celebrity, much as stocks are assigned a monetary value in order for site visitors or members to build celebrity portfolio. The algorithm takes into consideration the amount and timing of news items pertaining to celebrities as well as the popularity of the celebrity as a portion of online portfolios. But does this adequately measure the amount of celebrity status an individual has achieved?

Celebrity

To determine this, we need to consider what celebrity actually means. The American Heritage Dictionary defines celebrity as "a famous person," or "renown, fame." That definition is very broad indeed. To be renown is to simply be well-known. Osama Bin Laden is well-known, but does not necessarily have the same following as Jessica Alba. By this definition, however, they are both celebrities.

Thus, to be a celebrity, one must be either famous or infamous, and the distinction is not relevant. By this same token, individuals who have developed a following in unconventional ways such as the internet or reality programming are certainly celebrities as well - albeit some have more global coverage than others. So to measure the amount of celebrity an individual has obtained, one would simply need to measure his or her popularity.

Measuring Popularity

Before the information age, to measure popularity would involve countless newspaper and magazine searches. Print resources as well as television and radio contained any and all celebrity news and gossip. With the advent of the internet, this changed, of course. In present times, the internet has not only opened countless doors to those aspiring to stardom, but has developed a multitude of news and gossip outlets as well.

Most of the conventional media outlets - magazines, newspapers, radio, and television have developed an online presence. Often these websites contain more information pertaining to celebrities than the original medium. Those interested in entertainment news now have almost countless methods to find the information they seek.

The fastest way to find information online, however, is through the search engines. Major search engines index all web pages and online news items as they are developed, and offer users a chance to hone in on the desired material. Searching for celebrities will pull up thousands, if not millions, of relevant results. It follows that by simply counting the number of searches and articles for each celebrity, one could understand the popularity of that individual.

Celebrity Contest

It seems the algorithm developed by CelebrityContest.net holds true. The algorithm assigns value to a celebrity based on the number and age of news items and searches, which is the best indicator of popularity. Of course, the algorithm also includes results from CelebrityContest.net, which are a valid indicator as well.

If a celebrity is popular, he or she will be included in many portfolios. If he is becoming blasé, he will be dropped from portfolios in favor of more popular individuals. If a celebrity is looking for a gauge of her own value, she can perform a complicated web analysis, or simply track her price changes on CelebrityContest.net to understand how her fan base is feeling. Of course, fans can search for the value of their favorite celebrity, and even cash in on the details only devoted fans are privy to - insider trading if you will.

celebrity. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved October 29, 2006, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/celebrity

Calligraphy Fonts

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Calligraphy fonts have undergone a colorful evolution throughout the centuries. Their development has been shaped by history itself.

Early writing was done on wood or stone, thus the fonts were angular. As man became more sophisticated and developed cities, the fonts also changed to have softer edges to adjust to the papyrus being used. When Rome fell, academic centers were concentrated in Western Europe. Afterwards, the Dark Ages settled in; art and creativity seemed to have died, so did developments of calligraphy fonts. After the Dark Ages, with the rise of the Roman Catholic Church to power, the formal and elaborate font styles emerged. This font features the architectural designs of the Middle Ages. These fonts are known as "Gothic." Until printing mechanism disrupted handcrafting of prints, Gothic was the popular choice for fonts. When literacy was brought down to the level of common townsfolk, the demand for less complex fonts increased. This plea for practicality gave birth to informal Gothic variants used in manually printed publications and documents.

As printing became more readily available, hand-lettering was designated to artists. The rest of the population wrote in cursives for their regular correspondences. Elaborate calligraphy, however, was still used for its decorative purpose in several formal documents--maps and invitations, for example. The complex calligraphy carried with it a sense of elegance and formality suited for high-level affairs and audiences.

Samples of the different calligraphy fonts are now housed in museums. But software programmers have found a way to copy those font styles. So if you are feeling a little fancy, or when you are looking for an element that would bring a touch of elegance into your formal invitation or correspondence, you may want to check out the suppliers of these software programs. You are bound to find just the right one for your needs.

Did You Know Some Facts on Ivory?

Image : http://www.flickr.com

The definition of "Real Ivory" has always been the tusks of elephants and the extinct Woolly Mammoth tusks. It is the dentin that is found within these types of very large animals that has long defined ivory, and places as Africa, Asia, Alaska, Siberia, and Canada are the original ivory resources for procuring real ivory.

The tusks of African elephants commonly weigh 55 lb. or 25 kg., but there have been elephant tusks that have weighed more than 200 lb. or 91 kg. The mammoth tusks tend to weight more around 300 to 360 lbs. or more depending upon the mammoth's size, age and gender.

Ivory can be of a hardened or softer variety, and the softer type of ivory will be less liable to crack due to the moisture held within it. It will be less brittle, and much easier to actually create and design due to the moisture inside the tusk. With the killing of elephants long being banned internationally for the last several decades now, it is the mammoth ivory that beautifully intricate items of ivory are designed and although it is a more brittle and dry ivory, mammoth ivory items are more historically significant due to the age of the ivory itself.

Some of the other accepted types of ivory substitutes have long been Tagua or also known as vegetable ivory, along with the tusk and or teeth of hippopotamus, the walrus, the narwhal, the sperm whale, and even the tusk and teeth of the wild boar. No matter the animal of origins with real ivory, items made out of ivory are truly admired for the closely grained texture, the adhesive hardness, the mellowing yellowish colors and the smoothness that is pleasing to the touch. Real ivory will be cold to the touch, unlike plastic pretending to be ivory that is warm to the touch.

Ivory may be bleached or painted and is so perfect for large or small detailed carvings that always pleases the eye. The larger ivory surfaces are perfect for veneer and may be obtained with the process of cutting sheets that are spiraled around the tusks. Some of today's most common ivory uses are the makings of organ or piano keys, knife and gun handles, along with many other types of handles such as cabinets or inside expensive cars, and billiard balls.

Miss Mexico

Image : http://www.flickr.com

1952: Long Beach, California. Miss Mexico, Olga Llorens Pérez Castillo, qualified for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1953: Long Beach, California.Miss Mexico, Ana Bertha Lepe Jimenez, was the 3rd runner-up at the Miss Universe. After she became an actress in the Mexican cinematography.

1954:Long Beach, California.Miss Mexico, Elvira Castillo Olvera, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1955:Long Beach, California.Miss Mexico, Yolanda Mayen, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1956:Long Beach, California. Miss Mexico, Erna Marta Bauman, qualified for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1957:Long Beach,California.Miss Mexico, Irna Arevalo, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.However, she was the 2nd runner-up at the Miss Friendship 1957.

1958: Long Beach,California.Miss Mexico,Elvira Leticia Risser Corredor, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1959: Long Beach,California.Miss Mexico,Mirna Garcia Davila, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1960:Miami Beach, Florida. Miss Mexico, Lorena Velasquez, did not compete at the Miss Universe pageant.

1961:Miami Beach, Florida. Surprisingly, Mexico did not participate at the Miss Universe contest.

1962:Miami Beach, Florida. For the second time, Mexico did not participate at the Miss Universe pageant.

1963:Miami Beach, Florida. For the third time, Mexico did not send a delegate to Miami Beach.

1964:Miami Beach, Florida. For the fourth time, Mexico did not send a delegate to Miami Beach.

1965:Miami Beach, Florida.Miss Mexico, Juana Acosta Cohen, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1966:Miami Beach, Florida. Mexico did not send a delegate to Miami Beach.

1967:Miami,Florida. Miss Mexico, Valentina Vales Duarte, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1968:Miami Beach. Miss Mexico,Perla Olivia Aguirre Muñoz, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1969:Miami Beach, Florida. Miss Mexico, Gloria Leticia Hernandez Martin del Campo, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1970:Miami Beach, Florida.Miss Mexico, Libia Zulma Lopez Montemayor, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

1970-2007 Mexico has had several judges in the Miss Universe history:1970 and 1971 (actor Julio Aleman), 1978 (actor Mario Moreno),1991(actor Jorge Rivero), 1984 (actress Lucia Mendez), 1988 (actor Fernando Allende), 1989 (singer Emmanuel), 1993 (painter Jose Luis Cuevas and former Miss Universe Lupita Jones), 1995 (actress and singer Lucero), 2004 (supermodel Elsa Benitez), 2005 (actor Mario Cimarro), and 2007 (actor Mauricio Islas).

1971:Miami Beach, Florida. Miss Mexico, Maria Luisa Lopez Corzo, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest. However,she was crowned Miss Best National Costume.

1972: Dorado, Puerto Rico. Miss Mexico, Maria del Carmen Orozco Quibriera, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

1973: Athens, Greece. Miss Mexico, Roxana Villares Moreno, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1974: Manila, Philippines. Miss Mexico, Guadalupe del Carmen Elorriaga Valdez, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

1975: San Salvador, El Salvador. Miss Mexico, Delia Servin Nieto, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest. However, she was the 2nd runner-up at the Miss Best National Costume 1975.

1976: Victory City,Hong Kong. Miss Mexico, Carla Jean Evert Reguera, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1977: Elizabeth Gonzalez, first favorite by journalists, finished second place at the Señorita Mexico. In Santo Domingo, hosted the Miss Universe 1977, Bob Barker, American host, announced the next Miss Universe in Acapulco (Mexico). Like Ambassador of Miss Universe 1978, Mario Arturo Moreno Ivanova, best known as "Cantinflas", went to Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic.

1978: Acapulco (Mexico) hosted the Miss Universe pageant. Martha Eugenia Ortiz, first favorite by journalists, finished second place at the Señorita Mexico. Miss Merida and Miss Mexico, Alba Margarita Cervera Lavat, qualified for the semifinals at the Miss Universe.

1979: Perth, Australia. Miss Mexico, Blanca Maria Luisa Diaz Tejada, did not qualify for the semi-finals.However, she looked like the best music disco dancer.She loved songs by Donna Summer, John Travolta, Jesse Green and Diana Ross.

1980:Seoul,South Korea. Miss Mexico, Ana Patricia Nuñez Romero, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

1981: New York City,USA. Miss Mexico, Judith Grace Gonzalez Hinks, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

1982: Lima, Peru. Miss Mexico, Maria del Carmen Lopez Flores, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

1983:St.Louis, Missouri,USA. Miss Mexico, Monica Maria Rosas Torres, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1984: Miami Beach, Florida. Miss Mexico, Elizabeth Broden Ibañez, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1985: Miami Beach, Florida. Miss Mexico,Yolanda de la Cruz Cardenas Aviles, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

1986:Panama City, Panama. Miss Mexico,Alejandrina Carranza Ancheta, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

1987:Singapoore City, Singapoore.Miss Mexico, Cynthia Fallon Garcia Cepeda, did not enter the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

1988: Taipei (Taiwan). Miss Mexico, Amanda Olivares, was the 2nd runner-up at the Miss Universe.

1989: Cancun (Mexico) hosted the Miss Universe Pageant. Miss Mexico, Adriana Abascal, was the 4th runner-up.

1990: Los Angeles, California. Miss Mexico, Marile del Rosario Santiago, qualified for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

1991:Las Vegas, Nevada,USA. Miss Mexico, Lupita Jones, was elected Miss Universe. After, Miss Universe 1991 was acclaimed in Mexico City as a national heroine.

1992: Bangkok,Thailand. Miss Mexico, Monica Zuñiga Arriaga, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1993: Mexico City, Mexico. Miss Mexico, Angelina Gonzalez,did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1994: Manila, Philippines. Miss Mexico, Fabiola Perez Rovirosa, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1995: Windhoek, Namibia. Miss Mexico, Luz Maria Zetina Lugo, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1996:Las Vegas, Nevada. Miss Mexico, Vanessa Guzman, qualified for the semifinals. Her idol was Indira Gandhi, who was Prime Minister of India.

1997:Miami Beach, Florida.Miss Mexico, Rebeca Lynn Tamez Jones, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

1998:Honolulu, Hawaii. Miss Mexico, Kathy Fuentes Garcia, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant. She won the Clairol Essence Best Style Award.

1999:Chaguaramas, Trinidad & Tobago. Miss Mexico, Silvia Salgado, qualified for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

2000: Nicosia, Cyprus. Miss Mexico, Leticia Judith Muray Acevedo, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant. However,she was crowned Miss Best National Costume.

2001:Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Miss Mexico, Jacqueline Bracamontes Van-Hoorde, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

2002: San Juan de Puerto Rico. Miss Mexico, Erika Yadira Cruz Escalante, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

2003: Panama City, Panama. Miss Mexico, Marisol Gonzalez Casas, did not qualify for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe pageant.

2004: Quito, Ecuador. Miss Mexico, Rosalva Luna, qualified for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.

2005: Bangkok, Thailand. Miss Mexico, Laura Elizondo Erhrad, was the 3rd runner-up at the Miss Universe. She was one of the favorites to win in the final.

2006:Los Angeles, California : Miss Mexico, Priscila Perales Elizondo, qualified for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe.Miss Mexico 2006 was one of the favorites to win in the final.

2007: Miss Universe in Mexico City. Miss Mexico, Rosa Maria Ojeda Cuen, qualified for the semi-finals at the Miss Universe contest.

Piano Lessons - How to Read Notes Quickly

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Recognizing the names of the bass and treble staff notes can be fun and rather simple. Before we begin, remember that the treble staff is where you will find all your right hand notes, and the bass staff is where you will find all your left hand notes. All you have to do is memorize a word for each note, like this:

Bass staff space notes: *A C E G (All Cows Eat Grass)

Bass staff line notes: *G B D F A (Good Boys Do Fine Always)

Treble staff space notes: *F A C E (This spells "face")

Treble staff line notes: *E G B D F (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge)

*The first word/letter is always the bottom of the staff.

Now the fun begins. Here are some simple and fun ways to memorize these notes.

1) Speed Run: See how fast you can say the names of the notes. Try doing it first with the words, and then with the letter names only.

2) Reverse Speed Run: Now see how fast you can practice saying the letter names in reverse. This is a great way to see just how well you know the letter names.

3) Say-n-Play: While sitting at your piano, say the letter name out loud and then play it on the keyboard. If you are using flashcards, mix them up so that you can select a card at random and do the same activity. This is a very good memorization activity.

4) Play Them All: Now comes a fun way to test your knowledge. Say out loud the note then play all of those notes on the entire keyboard. For example, you have selected the note "A." Play all the "A" keys on the entire keyboard.

5) Flash Cards: Make a set of flash cards with one note on a staff on one side, and the answer on the other side. (Don't forget to specify which staff: bass or treble with the bass or treble clef sign.)

The sooner one can memorize the names of the notes and recognize where they are found on the keyboard, the more enjoyment that can be found playing the keyboard. Just like you learned the ABC's for reading you'll be a great success at learning your ABCDEFG's for the keyboard. This is a quick and fun way to learn how to read and recognize notes written on the staff and on the piano. However, there is no replacement for learning how to sound smooth and pretty on the piano than with step by step instruction and with songs that allows gradual progress.

Enjoy!

Steve Irwin: Crocodile Hunter - An Australian Icon

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Occasionally - just occasionally - there comes along a TV personality whose enthusiasm and charisma engenders almost universal affection with audiences. Environmentalist, naturalist and documentarist Steve Irwin - known the world over as the Crocodile Hunter - was one of those rare personalities.

Born Steven Robert Irwin on 22 September, 1962 in Melbourne, Australia, Steve Irwin was the owner and manager of the Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Queensland. The zoo, originally called the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, belonged to his parents, Bob and Lyn.

As a young man Irwin worked as a crocodile trapper in Queensland, catching and removing crocs from populated areas. While he didn't draw a salary, he worked on the condition that he could keep the crocodiles he captured for his parents' zoo.

After taking over management of the zoo in 1991 Irwin met his future wife, American-born veterinarian Terri Raines. Following a whirlwind romance the couple married, and the video footage of their crocodile-trapping honeymoon was aired as the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter, the series that made Irwin an international celebrity.

The success of The Crocodile Hunter led the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet to commission several wildlife series from Irwin, including The Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries and New Breed Vets. Known for his expansive personality and boundless enthusiasm, Irwin's documentaries made him an Australian icon - often ridiculed, but just as often praised for his idiosyncrasies.

What made Irwin such a popular figure with audiences the world over was his fearless attitude to wild animals. Often seen chasing snakes, crocs and all sorts of dangerous creatures, audiences tuned in not so much to see the animals as to see Irwin's unbelievable feats of courage and fearlessness. His documentaries gained such a huge audience that they were adapted to the
2002 movie The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course.

Irwin's enthusiasm for his subject matter, however, occasionally got the better of him, and his career was fraught with controversy. In an incident in 2004 he took his infant son Bob into the crocodile enclosure during a public show at the Australia Zoo, holding him in one arm while feeding a croc with the other. Irwin, however, refused to apologise for the stunt, insisting that the child was never in any real danger.

Again in 2004 Irwin caused controversy during a trip to Antarctica, facing allegations that he disturbed whales, seals and penguins while filming a documentary.

Irwin's life came to a tragic end on the morning of September 4th, 2006 while filming an documentary on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. While filming a stingray he approached too close and was hit in the chest by a barb, causing a fatal injury, and was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 44.

Steve Irwin is survived by his wife Terri and his two young children, Bindi Sue and Robert Clarence.

While Irwin always lived life on the edge, we never really expected him to be killed. There was just something about the confidence with which he handled dangerous creatures that made us think that he was invulnerable. His antics weren't quite real - if they had been, we may not have been so quick to laugh.

It came as a surprise, then, for us to wake up to the news that he had been killed. Even more so, considering the manner of his death. After all, Irwin was only the third person to be killed by a stingray in Australia. Rays are usually considered to be relatively docile, and it's even possible to feed them by hand under the right conditions.

Irwin's death, though tragic, can perhaps be viewed as one final act of showmanship. He won our hearts with his death-defying stunts and it seems fitting that he should go out with a bang. While it would be crass to make light of his death, it could perhaps be argued that this is the way he would have wanted to go, while living right on the edge. Maybe that could come as some small consolation for the family of a man who died before his time.

In life, as well as in death, Steve Irwin was an Australian icon: a modern day, real life Crocodile Dundee. He was everything we think of as typically Australian: rugged, adventurous and dangerous, though not without a sense of humor. While Australians were often embarrassed by his antics, thinking of him as a caricature of Australian stereotypes, that's exactly why the rest of the world adored him.

Steve Irwin was a passionate advocate for the environment, a tireless promoter of his country, a great entertainer and a loving husband and father. Often controversial, always entertaining, there will always be a place in our hearts for the Crocodile Hunter. The world is poorer for his absence.