Piano - interesting facts

• Bartolomeo Cristofori, an Italian maker of musical instruments, invented the Piano in 1698.
• There are over 12,000 parts in a grand piano, 10,000 which are moving.
• The word piano is a shortened form of the Italian word pianoforte.
• Nicknames: "the ivories", "the eighty-eight", "the joanna", "the black(s) and white(s)", and "the little joe(s)".
• There are 230 strings inside a typical piano.
• The Steinway D-274 is generally described as the first choice of most concert pianists.
• More than 90 percent of concert grand pianos worldwide are D-274s.
• The piano is known as "The King of Instruments"
• The total string tension in a concert grand piano is close to 30 Tons.
• There are over 10,000,000 pianos in the United States.
• Well-known piano makers are: Baldwin, Bechstein, Blüthner, Bösendorfer, Broadwood, Fazioli, Feurich, Förster, Heintzman, Kawai, Mason and Hamlin, Petrof, Pleyel, Samick, Schimmel, Steingraeber and Söhne, Steinway and Sons, Stuart and Sons, Wm. Knabe and Co., Yamaha.
• In the Hornbostel-Sachs system of instrument classification, pianos are considered chordophones.
• The term Grand was first used in 1777.
• The piano is a vital instrument in Western classical music, jazz, film, television, and most other complex western musical genres.
• Yamaha Corporation, established in 1887 was the first piano manufacturer in Japan.

QUOTES ABOUT PIANOS

"I've had grand pianos that are more expensive than, like, a year's worth of rent." Lady Gaga

"For the most part, pianos are female to me. Sometimes they're dykes, and they're always good fun." Tori Amos

"I wish the government would put a tax on pianos for the incompetent." Edith Sitwell

"Girls are like pianos. When they're not upright, they're grand." Benny Hill

"Pianos tend to get better as they age, the more you play them. They grow into their sound." Alicia Witt

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Interesting facts about violins

• The Stradivarius violin is arguably the best in the world.
• Andrea Amati, an Italian lute maker of the 16th century, was the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today.
• The word violin comes from the Middle Latin word vitula.
• The violin is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments.
• Antonio Stradivarius was an Italian luthier born on 1644.
• Stradivarius violins are worth millions of dollars.
• Collectors particularly prize the instruments made by the Amati families, Gasparo da Salò, Stradivarius, Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Guarneri and Jacob Stainer.
• The violin family also includes the cello, the bass viol and the viola.
• A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier.
• The modern violin was designed in the 1500s by Andrea Amati.
• The violin is a hollow instrument with a long neck and four perfectly tuned strings.
• It is the most popular instrument among children.
• The violin is played in a wide variety of musical genres, including Baroque music, classical, jazz, folk music, and rock and roll.
• Violins are constructed from over seventy pieces of wood.
• Violins can be electric or no electric. Electrically amplified violins have been used in one form or another since the 1920s.

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Facts about electric guitars

• The electric guitar was conceived for the first time in 1931.
• This type of guitar is the most played instrument in the United States.
• The first Fender guitar was made in 1943, made from oak.
• The electric guitar served as a major component in the development of rock and roll.
• Les Paul had a car accident in 1948 and asked the doctor to set his arm permanently in a guitar-playing position.
• Electric guitars are also used by classical composers.
• The first electric guitars used in jazz were hollow archtop acoustic guitar bodies with electromagnetic transducers.
• A Fender Stratocaster guitar is carved on Jimi Hendrix's tombstone.
• Gibson's first production electric guitar, marketed in 1936, was the ES-150 model.
• Since this type of guitars use electric signals to transmit sound, their sounds can be modified using distortion pedals.
• The highest price paid for an electric guitar at auction, was $959,500 at Christie's in July 2004 for Eric Clapton's 'Blackie' Stratocaster.

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Some facts about rock and roll

• Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the U.S. during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
• The night of Jimi's first gig, Jeff Beck was coming out of the club and outside he ran into Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend. With a frightened expression he told them "I think we're in trouble here!".
• An early form of rock and roll was rockabilly.
• The Yardbirds were the ones who gave Clapton the nickname "Slowhand".
• Steve Morse's (Deep Purple) guitar has 11 different pickup positions.
• The solo in The Beatle's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is played by Clapton.
• Cobain's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was the name (or slogan...) of a deodorant brand.
• Sting's real name is Gordon Summer.
• Elvis Presley's former home, Graceland is the second most-visited house in America after the White House.
• Pink Floyd's original name was Sigma 6.
• From 1968 to 1970, Jim Morrison lived at the humble Alta Cienega Motel in Los Angeles, in a room with no telephone.

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Random facts about guitars

• Ancient names of the guitar: cithara, qitare, gitarre, guitare, guitarra.
• Guitars are recognized as a primary instrument in genres such as flamenco, blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, rock, jota, mariachi, soul, reggae and many forms of pop.
• There are left handed guitars and right handed ones, there is a change to the string order.
• The English word guitar, the German gitarre, and the French guitare were adopted from the Spanish guitarra.
• Many of the worlds most popular modern guitarists were left handed, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Kurt Cobain.
• Electric guitars were introduced in the 1930s.
• A luthier is someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments (like guitars). The word luthier comes from the French word luth, which means "lute".
• There are 2 primary families of guitars: acoustic and electric.
• Traditionally, in classic guitars the strings were made of animal gut.
• There are 3 main types of modern acoustic guitar: the classical guitar (nylon-string guitar), the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar.
• Archtop guitars are carved in a curve rather than the traditional flat shape.
• Electric guitars rely on an amplifier that can electronically manipulate tone.
• The oldest known iconographic representation of an instrument displaying the essential features of a guitar is a 3,300 year old stone carving of a Hittite bard.

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Some facts about guns

• Types of firearms: (1) handguns, (2) rifles, and (3) shotguns.
• The number of gun owners in the United States is 80 million.
• An automatic firearm, continuously fires bullets as long as the trigger is pulled.
• Shotguns and rifles are both considered "long guns."
• The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
• There are roughly 300 million firearms owned by civilians in the United States as of 2010.
• In the United States, firearms remain the most common method of suicide, accounting for 50.7% of all suicides.
• Percentage Owning a Firearm: Males 47%, Females 13%.
• Roughly 16,272 murders were committed in the United States during 2008. Of these, about 10,886 or 67% were committed with firearms.
• American civilians use guns to defend themselves and others from crime at least 989,883 times per year.
• The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. 
• Every day, more than 80 Americans die from gun violence. 

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Gold fast facts

• Gold has been a highly sought-after precious metal for jewelry, coinage, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history.
• Symbol of Element : Au
• Gold never rusts.
• Gold metal is the most malleable and ductile pure metal known.
• Gold melts at 1064.43° Celsius.
• A total of 165,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history.
• An ounce of gold can be stretched over 80 km (50 mi).
• About 50 percent of gold is used in jewelry, 40 percent in investments, and 10 percent in industry.
• 75% of all gold in circulation has been extracted since 1910.

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Hollywood Walk of Fame facts and trivia

Performer Gene Autry is the only celebrity to have 5 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Roy Rogers, Bob Hope, Tony Martin, and Mickey Rooney each have stars in four categories.

Each year, an average of two-hundred nominations are submitted to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Walk of Fame Selection Committee. Only about 10% of nominees are selected.

To date, 47 percent of the stars have been awarded in the motion pictures category, 24 percent in television, 17 percent in audio recording, 10 percent in radio, and less than 2 percent in the live performance category.

Michael Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980 as member of The Jacksons and in 1984 as solo artist.

Not only is there a star for the Beatles, but John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr all have individual stars in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Carol Burnett was presented a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., in front of the Hollywood Pacific Theatre where she worked as an usher in 1957.

The crew of Apollo XI have 4 stars that are shaped as the moon instead of the traditional star.
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Fifth Avenue facts

1. Fifth Avenue is a famous street in Manhattan, NYC.

2. Fifth Avenue begins at Washington Square and ends at the Harlem River.

3. It is one of the few major streets in Manhattan along which streetcars did not run.

4. Most of the world's luxury boutiques are located on Fifth Avenue.
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Facts about tourism

• The word tourism was used for the first time by 1811 and tourist by 1840.
• The terms travel and tourism are sometimes used interchangeably.
• In 2008 the United Kingdom ranked 7th in the international tourism earnings league behind the United States, Spain, France, Italy, China and Germany.
• In 2008, there were over 922 million international tourist arrivals.
• The most visited tourist attraction in the United States is Times Square in Manhattan, New York City which attracts approximately 35 million visitors yearly.
• Ecotourism is responsible travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas. Ecotourism, also is a form of tourism that involves visiting natural areas -- in the remote wilderness or urban environments
• Health tourism or medical tourism is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practice of travelling across international borders to obtain health care.
• Space tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. Currently, only the Russian Space Agency provides transport.
• Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, accounting for U.S.$29.4 billion with over 19 million passengers carried worldwide. 
• The World Tourism Organization predicts that international tourism will continue growing at the average annual rate of four percent.

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Interesting facts about airports

• Five percent of plane passengers obtain their boarding pass through the Internet.
• The average wait time at large airports is sixteen minutes, fifteen minutes at medium airports and thirteen minutes at small airports.
• Over eighty-nine million passengers travel anually through the airport in Atlanta, the world's busiest.
• The longest airport track in the world is located in Tibet (5.5 km). 
• Sydney's airport is the oldest in the world. He began operations in January 1920.
• The United States has 1/3 of the airports in the world.
• Vancouver, Canada has 7 airports located around the city.

These are the fifteen busiest airports in the world according to passenger traffic:

1. ATLANTA, GA (ATL)
2. CHICAGO, IL (ORD)
3. LONDON, GB (LHR)
4. TOKYO, JP (HND)
5. PARIS, FR (CDG)
6. LOS ANGELES, CA (LAX)
7. DALLAS/FT WORTH AIRPORT, TX (DFW)
8. BEIJING, CN (PEK)
9. FRANKFURT, DE (FRA)
10. DENVER, CO (DEN)
11. MADRID, ES (MAD)
12. AMSTERDAM, NL (AMS)
13. NEW YORK, NY (JFK)
14. HONG KONG, CN (HKG)
15. LAS VEGAS, NV (LAS)

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Some facts about men

• The biological symbol for the male sex ♂, is also the symbol for the planet Mars.
• Man is sometimes used to refer to humanity as a whole.
• Globally, there are approximately 107 baby boys born for every 100 baby girls.
• Male life expectancy is slightly lower than female life expectancy, although the difference has narrowed in recent years.
• The most common cause of death for men in the United States is heart diseases.
• The brains of men are about 10 percent larger in total size than the brains of women.
• Men are nearly three times more likely than women to abuse alcohol.
• The average adult male has about 50 percent more muscle mass and 50 percent less body fat than the average adult female.
• The first Father’s Day celebration in the U.S. was held on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington.

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January facts

garnet, the birthstone of January

• January is the first month of the year in the Gregorian calendar.
• January is one of 7 Gregorian months with the length of 31 days.
• January is, on average, the coldest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
• The month is named after Janus (Ianuarius), the god of the doorway.
• January's birthstone is the garnet.
• The Anglo-Saxons called January Wulf-monath (meaning wolf month).
• In Czech, January is called leden, meaning ice month.
• According to Theodor Mommsen, the first of January became the first day of the year in 153 BC.
• The first of January is Independence Day in Haiti.
• The third Monday of January is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States.
• The birth flower of January is the Dianthus caryophyllus or Galanthus.
• Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706.
• Edgar Allan Poe, was born on January 19, 1809.

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February facts

amethyst, birthstone of February

• February is the 2nd month of the year in the Gregorian calendar.
• February is the shortest month and the only month with less than 30 days.
• February is the only month of the year that can pass without a single full moon.
• February has 29 days in leap years. In common years the month has 28 days.
• January and February were the last 2 months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period.
• The birthstone of the month is the amethyst.
• Anglo-Saxon named February Solmonath (mud month).
• In Finnish, February is called helmikuu, meaning "month of the pearl"
• The birthday of Abraham Lincoln is February 12.
• Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14.
• Presidents Day (United States, third Monday).
• The birth flower of February is the Primrose.
• The Southern hemisphere usually enjoy midsummer weather during this month.

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Some facts about fishing

• The total number of commercial fishermen and fish farmers is estimated to be 38 million in the world.
• Fisheries and aquaculture provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people.
• In addition to providing food, modern fishing is also a recreational pastime.
• Fishing dates back to, at least, the beginning of the Paleolithic period.
• The term fishing can also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs and edible marine invertebrates.
• Recreational fishing has conventions, rules, licensing restrictions and laws that limit the way in which fish may be caught.
• Fish farming is the principal form of aquaculture.
• About ninety percent of the fish are caught by ten percent of the fisherman.

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March facts

Daffodil

• March is the 3rd month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar.
• March is one of the 7 months which are 31 days long.
• March in the Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of September in the Southern Hemisphere.
• In the Northern hemisphere, the beginning spring is March, 21.
• March was the first month of the year in the ancient Roman Calendar.
• The month was named Martius after Mars (Ares), the god of war.
• Birthstones of March: aquamarine and bloodstone.
• March's birth flower is the Daffodil.
• In many cultures and religions still celebrate the beginning of the New Year in March.
• Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated in March 17.
• Albert Einstein was born on 14 March, 1879.
• The Jewish festival of Purim usually occurs in March.

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April facts

• April is the 4th month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar.
• April is one of 4 months with a length of 30 days.
• The traditional etymology for April is from the Latin aperire, "to open," in allusion to its being the month when trees and flowers begin to "open".
• April's birthstone is the diamond, which symbolizes innocence.
• The Anglo-Saxons called April Oster-monath or Eostur-monath.
• The birth flower of April is listed as either the Daisy or the Sweet Pea.
• April is commonly associated with the season of autumn in the Southern hemisphere and spring in the Northern hemisphere.
• William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564. 
• 15th April 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank.
• April Fools' Day – April 1
• Arbor Day – last Friday of April in United States
• April is national Poetry month in the United States.

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Some facts about women

• The biological sign for the female sex ♀, is also the symbol for the planet Venus.
• The average height of a woman in the United States is approximately 1.62 m (5' 4").
• The term woman is usually reserved for an female adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent.
• The Latin fēmina, whence female, is likely from the root in fellāre (to suck), referring to breastfeeding.
• Many cultures have rites of passage to symbolize a girl's coming of age, like the Quinceañera of Latin America.
• The most common cause of death for American women is heart disease.
• Gynophobia is the fear of women.
• Human women have proportionately larger breasts than any other female mammal
• Approximately twenty-five percent of all women will experience severe depression at some point in their lives.
• In almost every country worldwide, the life expectancy for women is higher than for men.
• Over ninety percent of all cases of eating disorders occur in women.

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May facts

• May is the 5th month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar.
• May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
• The month May has been named for the Greek goddess Maia.
• The Roman poet Ovid provides a second etymology, in which he says that the month of May is named for the maiores, Latin for "elders," and that the following month (June) is named for the iuniores, or "young people".
• The Zodiac signs for the month of May are Taurus and Gemini.
• May 1 is celebrated as Labor Day in many countries.
• The birth flower of May is the Lily of the Valley and the Crataegus monogyna.
• Charles Lindberg made the first historic solo Trans Atlantic airplane flight in May of 1927, in his plane “The Spirit of Saint Louis”.
• May's birthstone is the emerald.
• The 2nd Sunday in May is Mother's Day in the United States and Canada.
• May 10 is Mother's Day in Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
• The last Monday of May is Memorial Day in the United States.
• May 1 is May Day in the U.K.
• Cinco de Mayo (May 5th), celebrates Mexico's victory over French Troops on this day in the 1862 Battle of Puebla.

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June facts

• June is the 6th month of the year in the Gregorian calendar.
• June is the month with the longest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Birthstones for June are the pearl, moonstone and alexandrite.
• June is also sometimes called the "Rose month."
• No other month begins on the same day of the week as June.
• The longest day of the year is 21 June or 22 June.
• The Philippines' Independence Day is on June 12.
• According to one etymology, June is named after Juno (Hera).
• Juno was the goddess of marriage and a married couple's household, so some consider it good luck to be married in this month.
• June is Black Music Month.
• Father's Day is celebrated in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland on the third Sunday in June.

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