history of coffee making!!

xpresso MachinesIn 1822, the first espresso machine was made in France. In 1933, Dr.Ernest Illy invented the first automatic espresso machine. However,the modern-day espresso machine was created by Italian Achilles Gaggiain 1946. Gaggia invented a high pressure espresso machine by using aspring powered lever system. The first pump driven espresso machinewas produced in 1960 by the Faema company.Melitta BentzMelitta Bentz was a housewife from Dresden, Germany, who invented thefirst coffee filter. She was looking for a way to brew the perfect cupof coffee with none of the bitterness caused by overbrewing. MelittaBentz decided to invent a way to make a filtered coffee, pouringboiling water over ground coffee and having the liquid be filtered,removing any grinds.Melitta Bentz experimented with differentmaterials, until she found that her son's blotter paper used forschool worked best. She cut a round piece of blotting paper and put itin a metal cup.On June 20th, 1908, the coffee filter and filter paper were patented.On December 15th, 1908, Melitta Bentz and her husband Hugo started theMelitta Bentz Company. The next year they sold 1200 coffee filters atthe Leipziger fair in Germany. The Mellitta Bentz Company alsopatented the filter bag in 1937 and vacuumpacking in 1962.James MasonJames Mason invented the coffee percolator on December 26, 1865.Instant CoffeeIn 1901, just-add-hot water "instant" coffee was invented by JapaneseAmerican chemist Satori Kato of Chicago. In 1906, English chemistGeorge Constant Washington, invented the first mass-produced instantcoffee. Washington was living in Guatemala and at the time when heobserved dried coffee on his coffee carafe, after experimenting hecreated "Red E Coffee" - the brand name for his instant coffee firstmarketed in 1909. In 1938, Nescafe or freeze-dried coffee was invented.

History of tea

The most popular beverage in the world, tea was first drunk under theChinese Emperor Shen-Nung around 2737 B.C. An unknown Chinese inventorinvented the tea shredder, a small device that shredded tea leaves inpreparation for drinking. The tea shredder used a sharp wheel in thecenter of a ceramic or wooden pot that would slice the leaves intothin strips.The first tea bags were made from hand-sewn silk muslin bags and Ihave found tea bag patents of this sort dating as early as 1903. Firstappearing commercially around 1904, tea bags were successfullymarketed by tea and coffee shop merchant Thomas Sullivan of New York,who shipped his tea bags around the world. A machine was soon inventedto replace the hand sewing of tea bags.Also in 1904, iced tea was first reported to be served by EnglishmenRichard Blechynden at the St. Louis Fair, however, there is evidencethat the beverage was invented prior to that date.Thomas Lipton incorporated the Lipton Tea Company in 1915. Lipton Teapatented a novel four-sided tea bag in 1952 called the flo-thru tea bag.

chewing gum

By the early 20th century, Americans could not get enough of theconfection called chewing gum invented by Thomas Adams.

Timeline

* The ancient Greeks chewed mastiche - a chewing gum made from theresin of the mastic tree.
* The ancient Mayans chewed chicle which is the sap from thesapodilla tree.
* North American Indians chewed the sap from spruce trees andpassed the habit along to the settlers.
* Early American settlers made a chewing gum from spruce sap andbeeswax.
* In 1848, John B. Curtis made and sold the first commercialchewing gum called the State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.
* In 1850, Curtis started selling flavored paraffin gums becomingmore popular than spruce gums.
* On December 28 1869, William Finley Semple became the firstperson to patent a chewing gum - U.S patent #98,304.
* In 1869, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna introduced Thomas Adams tochicle.
* In 1871, Thomas Adams patented a machine for the manufacture of gum.
* In 1880, John Colgan invented a way to make chewing gum tastebetter for a longer period of time while being chewed.
* By 1888, an Adams' chewing gum called Tutti-Frutti became thefirst chew to be sold in a vending machine.

Ball Pen

"No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or morewise when he had" - Samuel Johnson.A Hungarian journalist named Laszlo Biro invented the first ballpointpen in 1938. Biro had noticed that the type of ink used in newspaperprinting dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge-free. Hedecided to create a pen using the same type of ink. The thicker inkwould not flow from a regular pen nib and Biro had to devise a newtype of point. He did so by fitting his pen with a tiny ball bearingin its tip. As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated pickingup ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it on the paper. Thisprinciple of the ballpoint pen actually dates back to an 1888 patentowned by John J. Loud for a product to mark leather. However, thispatent was commercially unexploited. Laszlo Biro first patented hispen in 1938, and applied for a fresh patent in Argentina on June 10,1943. (Laszlo Biro and his brother Georg Biro emigrated to Argentinain 1940.) The British Government bought the licensing rights to thispatent for the war effort. The British Royal Air Force needed a newtype of pen, one that would not leak at higher altitudes in fighterplanes as the fountain pen did. Their successful performance for theAir Force brought the Biro pens into the limelight. Laszlo Biro hadneglected to get a U.S. patent for his pen and so even with the endingof World War II, another battle was just beginning..

Festival of love celebrated February 15th, not 14th

Valentine's Day originates from the ancient Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on 15 February in honour of the gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. During the festival, young men would draw the names of women from a box, and each couple would be paired until next year's celebration. Often they would fall in love and marry.
At around 270AD Rome was facing battles and civil uprising. The men were not keen to join the army. Emperor Claudius II believed that the men did not want to leave their loved ones and summarily cancelled all marriages and engagements. Two priests, Valentine and Marius, disobeyed the decree and secretly performed marriage ceremonies. Valentine was caught on 14 February and dragged to jail. Later in the day he was clubbed to death and beheaded. It is said that, before his execution, Valentine himself had fallen in love with the jailer's daughter. He signed his final note to her, "From your Valentine."
Valentine's DayIn 391AD, Emperor Theodosius I declared Christianity as the official religion of the Rome. The fertility festival was celebrated until 496AD when Pope Gelasius replaced it with a similar celebration. For patron saint of the celebration, he chose the "lovers" saint, St Valentine. He also moved the date of the celebration from the 15 February to the date of St Valentine's death, 14 February. Through the centuries, Valentines Day became to be remembered more as the festival of love instead of a religious day. In 1969 it was dropped from the Roman Catholic calendar as a designated feast day.
CupidCupid has always played a role in the celebrations of love. Those whose hearts are pierced by his arrows fall deeply in love. In Greek mythology he was known as Eros, the young son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. To the Romans, he was Cupid, son of Venus. But where there's love, there often is jealousy. Venus was jealous of the beauty of Psyche, a mere mortal, and ordered Cupid to punish her (for being so beautiful). Instead, Cupid fell deeply in love and took her as his wife.
As a mortal Psyche was forbidden to look at him. Eventually, her sisters convinced her to look at the handsome Cupid. As punishment, Venus demanded that she perform three difficult tasks, the last of which caused Psyche's death. Cupid found her lifeless on the ground and removed the eternal sleep from her body. The gods, moved by their love, then granted Psyche immortality.
The symbol of Cupid became part of Valentines Day only recently. Cupid is still around shooting his arrows. Psyche represents the struggles of the human soul.
Happy Valentine's!Esther Howland, the woman who produced the first commercial American valentines in the 1840s, sold a then mind-boggling $5,000 in cards her first year of business. Today, over 1 billion valentine cards are sent in the US - second in number only to Christmas cards.

src:http://didyouknow.cd/valentines.htm

Were Wright Brothers the first to fly?

Wilbur and Orville Wright weren't just lucky to make the first flight. They played with flying paper models in their youth, and by 1901 they had made hundreds of wind tunnel tests. In 1902, their glider was the biggest flying machine ever built. Orville Wright wrote, "We now hold all the records! The largest machine...the longest time in the air, the smallest angle of descent, and the highest wind!"
They called on the machine making skills of Charles E. Taylor, and by February 1903 they had an engine. By June, they had built a propeller. They headed for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in September to build their Flyer.
On Monday 13 December 1903, a toss of a coin gave Wilbur the honour of making the first flight. The engine and propeller powered the plane, the Flyer lifted off but immediately sank down, slightly damaged.
First flight?By Friday 17 December 1903, the Flyer was fixed, and at 10h35, Orville made the first powered flight. It lasted 12 seconds. Wilbur made the second flight, which lasted less than a second longer than the first. Orville took the 3rd flight, covering 60 metres (200 ft) in 15 seconds. At noon, Wilbur made the fourth flight on that blustery day. The Flyer covered 255,6 metres (852 ft) in 59 seconds. He landed safely, but a sudden gust of wind sent the plane tumbling, breaking the wings and damaging the motor. There would be no more flights in 1903.
There were 5 men to witness the Wright Brothers' flights. Orville even set up a camera so that a Mr Daniels could take photographs. But there were no newspaper men. In the Spring of 1904, they built a new plane and invited the press. The weather was not quite right, but since the reporters were there, they tried anyway. The plane failed to lift off. The Wright Brothers didn't make the papers. They did fly again but spent the rest of their lives fighting about their patent and died without knowing the world finally recognised their work. In 1914, the Franklin Institute became the first scientific institution to recognise the Wright Brothers' achievement.
But were the Wright Brothers really the first to fly?By the time the Wright brothers got their flyer up in the air, flying was a hobby for New Zealand farmer Richard Pearse. Working single-handedly in his barn, he designed and built his own engine and flying machine. Datings suggest that Pearse made his first flight in March 1902. His remarkable success remained unknown until fairly recently.
But there is an account of an even earlier flight...
"Two years, four months and three days before the successful flights of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, a birdlike monoplane took to the air at early dawn on August 14, 1901, near Bridgeport, Connecticut, carrying its inventor and builder, Gustave Whitehead, a distance of approximately a half mile." - Megan Adam, descendant of Gustave A. Whitehead.
Although there are no blueprints of Whitehead's craft, evidence is mounting that Whitehead might indeed have been the first to have taken to the sky in a machine-powered aircraft.
By 1901, the Wright Brothers had the best collection of lift data in the world, some based on the pioneering work on gliding made by George Cayley.
On 23 March 1903, they applied for a patent for their new invention. This allowed them to request a fee for using their design. Other aviators were furious and refused to pay.
It is thought that Charles W. Furras, mechanic for the Wright Brothers, became the first airplane passenger when Wilbur gave him a 29 second ride in 1908. The brothers also took passengers on demonstration flights when they spent a year in Europe in an attempt to sell their patent.
Although the Wright Brothers are credited with being the first to fly a powered aircraft in 1903, evidence is mounting that Gustave A. Whitehead took to the skies in his (above) monoplane in 1901.
A Boeing 747 is 70 metres (232 ft) long, 19 metres (63 ft) high and needs a runway of 3,2 km (10,500 ft). It weighs a massive 394 625 kg (870,000 pounds) at takeoff.

src: http://www.didyouknow.cd/wright.htm

Famous products invented by two different parties at same time

Great minds thinks alike. When Johann Vaaler patented his paperclip in 1901, there already were similar designs by William Middlebrook and Cornelius Brosnan. Vaaler is credited with being the first to design a paperclip because of drawings he made as early as 1899.
In 1669, the principles of differential calculus were determined by Sir Isaac Newton in England and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in Germany at about the same time. (The name is derived from the Latin word for "pebble," referring to the use of pebbles for counting.)
One hour before Alexander Graham Bell registered his patent for the telephone in 1876, Elisha Gray patented his design. After years of litigation, the patent went to Bell.
Gray invented the first electronic musical instrument. He had accidentally discovered that he could control sound from a self-vibrating electromagnetic circuit and in doing so invented a basic single note oscillator. The "Musical Telegraph" used steel reeds whose oscillations were created and transmitted over a telephone line by electromagnets. At the same time, around 1874, Bell had also designed an experimental "Electric Harp" for speech transmission over a telephone line using similar technology to Gray's.
At 10h35 on Friday 17 December 1903, Orville Wright took the Flyer that he and his brother Wilbur built into the air for what has come to be known as the first powered flight. Earlier, unbeknownst to them, Gustave Whitehead and Richard Pearse were also experimenting with flying machines. Who actually took first to the sky remains a controversy.
In 1926 in Scotland, John Logie Baird demonstrated a machine that transmits movie pictures using radio technology, calling it a "televisor." It was based on a 1884 idea by German Paul Nipkow. At the same time, Philo Fansworth was toiling away in San Francisco on his concept for television. The two men met a few months later, and Baird had to agree that Farnsworth's electronic design was the better. They weren't the only ones working on a TV model, though. Vladmir Zworykin, a Russian immigrant to New York, was working on athode-ray tubes, with the backing of David Sarnoff, the tech-savvy marketer who started NBC. In 1928, Farnsworth's television sets made it to the market first, at $75 apiece.
Without the one knowing about the other, Jack Kilby from Texas and Robert Noyce from California invented the integrated circuit in 1958. However, their idea is not new - Briton GW Dummer had suggested such a design in 1952.
Great designs did not only bring great fun, they brought great growth. In the 1400s, global income rose only 0,1% per year. Today it often tops 5%. For the past 200 years, inventors often ranked as some of the richest in the world: Colt, Deere, Nobel, Goodyear, Edison, Bell, Eastman, Daimler, Gates, to name a few. In the 1990's companies spent more on communication than on industrial, farming, mining and construction machinery.

src:http://didyouknow.cd/products.htm

The can opener was invented 48 years after cans were introduced

Cans were opened with a hammer and chisel before the advent of can openers. The tin cannister, or can, was invented in 1810 by a Londoner, Peter Durand. The year before, French confectioner, Nicolas Appert, had introduced the method of canning food (as it became known) by sealing the food tightly inside a glass bottle or jar and then heating it. He could not explain why the food stayed fresh but his bright idea won him the 12,000-francs prize that Napoleon offered in 1795 for preserving food. Durand supplied the Royal Navy with canned heat-preserved food while Appert would help Napoleon's army march on its stomach.
Tin canning was not widely adopted until 1846, when a method was invented to increase can production from 6 in an hour to 60. Still, there were no can openers yet and the products labels would read: "cut around on the top near to outer edge with a chisel and hammer."
The can opener was invented in 1858 by American Ezra Warnet. There also is a claim that Englishman Robert Yeates invented the can opener in 1855. But the can opener did not become popular until, ten years later, it was given away for free with canned beef.
The well-known wheel-style opener was invented in 1925. Beer in a can was launched in 1935. The easy-open can lid was invented by Ermal Cleon Fraze in 1959.
Since 1972, some 64 million tons of aluminum cans (about 3 trillion cans) have been produced. Placed end-to-end, they could stretch to the moon about a thousand times. Still, cans represent less than 1% of solid waste material - about one quarter of all cans are recycled. Worldwide, some 9 million cans are recycled every hour. Which is good news, considering that it takes a can about 200 years to degrade if you bury it. It takes paper about a month to bio-degrade, a woolen sock about a year, and plastic hundreds of years.
Recycling cans saves 95% of the energy required to make aluminum from ore, or the equivalent of 18 million barrels of oil, or 10.8 billion kilowatt hours.
Used aluminum cans that are recycled return to store shelves within 60 days.
Canned petfood was introduced by James Spratt in 1865.

src: http://didyouknow.cd/cans.htm

Budweiser beer named after Czech town

In the mid-1800s, Eberhard Anheuser was a successful manufacturer of soap and candles in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. In 1859, he financed a loan to a struggling neighbourhood brewery called The Bavarian Brewery, which was started by George Schneider in 1852. When the brewery faltered again in 1860, Anheuser and a partner, William O'Dench, bought the interests of minority creditors rather than see the brewery go under. They reorganised the company and resumed production under the name E. Anheuser & Company.
The partnershipIn 1857, the 18-year old Adolphus Busch, the second youngest of 22 children, immigrated to the United States from Germany to join his 3 brothers in St. Louis. Although his brother had started the John B. Busch Brewing Company in Washington, Missouri, Adolphus opted to enter into a partnership with Ernst Wattenberg to sell brewing supplies. It was through this business that Adolphus met his wife, whose father would be his future partner. Adolphus Busch and Lily Anheuser married in 1861. In 1865, the two beer companies merged, with Adolphus as equal partner with Eberhard Anheuser.
Budweiser beer In 1876, Busch and his friend Carl Conrad, a liquor importer, developed a "Bohemian-style" lager, inspired after a trip to the region. Brewers in Bohemia generally named a beer after their town with the suffix "er." Beers produced in the town of Plzen, for example, were called Plzners, or Pilsners. Busch and Conrad had visited another town, only 104 km (65 miles) south of Plzenalso, known for its breweries: Bömische Budweis, which became Ceske Budejovice in 1918. Beer has been brewed in Ceske Budejovice since it was founded as Budiwoyz by king Premys II Otakar in 1245. The German name for the town is Budweis. The name "Budweiser" is a locative, meaning "of Budweis."
The beer recipes from Budweis were carried around the world - including by Busch and Conrad - and in the late 1800s there were several breweries producing beers called Budweiser. Miller and Schlitz both produced Budweisers but, as the name became so strongly associated with Anheuser-Busch, they stopped it. In the US the last other Budweiser producer was DuBois Brewing, which stopped making the brand only in the late 1970s.
The American BudBusch and Conrad introduced "Budweiser Lager Beer" in St. Louis, brewed by E. Anheuser Co.'s Brewing Association, and bottled and distributed by Carl Conrad. The Anheuser company was renamed Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association in 1879, and Adolphus became president the following year, a position he was to hold for 33 years. On 24 January 1883, Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association acquired the rights in the US to bottle and sell Budweiser. In 1919, the company was renamed Anheuser-Busch, the name by which it is known today. In 1997, the Anheuser-Busch annual worldwide beer volume exceeded 100 million barrels, confirming its position as the world's largest brewer.
The Bud battleIn 1895, almost 20 years after Busch's Budweiser was first brewed, a Bohemian company called Budejovicky Pivovar started making a beer known as Budvar, a shortened version of the brewery name. It was exported under the name Budweiser Budvar, being from Budweis.
The golden rule in business is that the one with the gold rules. Well, usually. In the battle for the Budweiser brand name there has not been a victor. A legal battle between the Buds has raged for years. According to EU regulations, a locative can be registered as a trademark only by a manufacturer residing at that place. Thus, according to EU regulations, the Czech beer is the legal bearer of the trademark "Budweiser", or "Budejovicky." But that's not the only claim.
According to the German "Reinheitsgebot" (Beer Purity Regulations), the Annheuser-Busch Budweiser cannot be considered as beer because rice is used in the production process. According to the Beer Purity Regulations, beer can only be brewed from [barley] malt, hops and beer. (Wheat beers are called "weizens" in German.) Germany forbade the use of word "Bud" as trademark on everyone; the court ruled it was too close to "Bit" which the domestic Bitburger brewery uses as its trademark.
The oldest brewery in the town of Ceske Budejovice (Budweis) is Budweiser Burgerbrau, founded in 1795, and by far the most "original" of the claimants over the name Budweiser. The main brand of Budweiser Burgerbrau (Budejovice Burghers' Brewery) is Samson, still brewed as both light and dark lager beer, bearing the labels Budweiser Bier and Budejovicky Pivo. It is said Samson was the model for Augustus Busch for his brew.
Budweiser Burgerbrau has claimed they have the right to the trademark "Budweiser" on the basis they were the oldest brewery of the German-speaking burghers of Budweis. They insist that Budejovicky Budvar was the brewery of the Czech-speakers, who thus only have the right to the trademark "Budejovicky".

src:http://didyouknow.cd/anheuser.htm

Nostradamus predictions

NOSTRADAMUS, the French Christian Jew who lived in France in the 16th century, made many accurate forecasts, including the two World Wars. 18 of his 950 quatrains refer to a third world war. Some Nostradamus experts had given the date for the start of such a war as mid-1999, referring to the Balkan conflict surrounding Kosovo. They obviously misinterpreted the quatrains. Their attention then turned to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
NOSTRADAMUSBorn Michel de Notredame on 14 December 1503 in St Remy, France, he was the oldest of five sons. His grandfather, Jean, taught him Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics and astrology at an early age. Nostradamus received a medical degree in 1529 and became physician-in-ordinary to Charles IX during the bubonic plague. He is said to have had extraordinary healing abilities.
Nostradamus was in his late 40s when, it is told, he frequently went into a meditative state and had visions of the future. He began to document the visions in a mixture of Lain, French, and Greek quatrains, publishing his famous "Centuries" in 1558.
Nostradamus was married twice, losing his first wife and two children to the plague. He died on 2 July 1566. "Centuries" was translated into English in 1672. In 1781 it was banned by the Roman Catholic Church. Ironically, in 1553, when Nostradamus encountered a group of Franciscan monks he threw himself on his knees, clutching at the garment of one of the monks, Felice Peretti. When asked why he had done this he replied that he must yield "before his Holiness." Nineteen years after the death of Nostradamus, Peretti became Pope Sixtus V.
What the experts say Nostradamus predicted about the Balkan warThe war prophecy is reserved for someone whom Nostradamus refers to as "the tyrant." He predicted that the Slavs will "change their prince" and "raise an army in the mountains," suggesting a guerilla war. He speaks of "when the north pole is united" (perhaps NATO?), and there are many geographical references to the Balkans, such as Greece, Italy and the Mediterranean.
The war is linked to when the "eagle" (United States) and the "cock" (France) stand together. There also is specific reference to the time when England, Poland and Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) "form a new alliance." The former Eastblock countries recently joined NATO.
He predicted that the Allies will win, that the war will be protracted, lasting seven months, and that it may go beyond the Balkans, toward the north, but that after the war there will be "peace on earth for a long time."
The forecasts by Nostradamus seemed to be confirmed by other seers, including Nicolaas van Rensburg, the famous South African seer who lived 1862 to 1926. At the turn of the 20th Century Van Rensburg had also predicted the use of electricity, the massacre of six million Jews, the Chernobyl disaster, the rise and fall of Russia, and the European Union - in the last two instances accurately describing the flags before they were designed. Of the third world war, he predicted that England would left weakened, while Germany would rise to become the world's most powerful nation.
What the experts say Nostradamus predicted about the WTC attack"In the year of the new century and nine months, from the sky will come a great king of terror. The sky will burn at 45 degrees... fire approaches the great new city... there will be thunder... The third big war will begin when the city is burning."So it is quoted among rumour mongers. The facts are:
Nostradamus appears not to have made predictions about the World Trade Centre attack or, at least, none that could easily be understood from the quatrains. He did not mention "the new century," or "nine months" and New York is not at 45 degrees; the Manhattan latitude is 40° 47' N. For more, see Skeptic's Dictionary
What then?Of course, not only have the "experts" on the prophets not always been correct - the seers themselves have not always been quite so accurate in their forecasts.
Time will tell if the Kosovo conflict or, indeed, the World Trade Center attack had put the spark to a bigger barrel. As for the end of the world... Nostradamus predicted it to be the year 3786 or 3797, depending on which Nostradamus expert you believe.

src: http://didyouknow.cd/nostradamus.htm

Napoleon : tragic figure or flawed genius?

Napoleon's christening name was Italian: Napoleone Buonaparte. He was born on the island of Corsica one year after it became French property. As a boy, Napoleon hated the French. Still, he attended the Paris Military Academy, and became a French lieutenant at age 16.
The emperorNapoleon was in Paris during the French revolution, and when France became a Republic on 10 August 1792, he was promoted to the rank of Captain. After defeating the Italian armies in 1796 and the Austrians in 1797, he was made General. In November 1799, he overthrew the French Directory to become First Consul of the government. He called himself Napoleon I. In 1804, a mere 12 years after the monarchy was disposed of in the French Revolution, Napoleon secured a vote to change France from a consulate to an empire. Napoleon became Emperor of France.
By 1812, Napoleon had wiped out the last traces of the Holy Roman Empire and conquered most of Europe. But after a disastrous battle against Russia, his enemies struck back. On 18 March 1814, the allies marched into Paris. Napoleon abdicated on 6 April 1814.
Battle of WaterlooNapoleon was sent into exile on Elba, a tiny island off the coast of Italy. In March 1815, he escaped and marched toward Paris with thousands of his old guard. For a brief time, known as the Hundred Days, Napoleon returned to his former glory. He was finally defeated by a combined English and Prussian force on 18 June 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium.
St.HelenaOn 15 July 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the remote tiny volcanic island of St. Helena, south of the Equator. The nearest land is Ascension Island, 1,120 km (700 miles) to the north.
Accompanied by some of his generals who chose to go into exile with him, Napoleon lived in Longwood House on St. Helena. He passed time by dictating his memoirs and playing billiards.
The green wallpaperThe wallpaper in his room was dyed with Scheele's Green, a colouring pigment that had been used in fabrics and wallpapers from around 1770. Named after the Swedish chemist who invented it the dye contained copper arsenite. In 1893 an Italian biochemist called Gosio discovered that if wallpaper containing Scheele's Green became damp, the mould converted the copper arsenite to a poisonous vapour form of arsenic. Breathing the arsenic on its own might not have been enough to kill Napoleon, but he already was ill with a stomach ulcer. On the 5 May 1821, the arsenic possibly tipped the scale against "the little corporal."
Napoleon was buried on St Helena, but his body was later reburied in Paris on the banks of the Seine. He wish to be cremated was not respected.
Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais, a widow with two children, on 9 March 1796. The marriage was childless and he divorced her in 1809. The next year he married Marie Louise, the 18-year old daughter of the Hapsburg Emperor of Austria. Within a year she had given Napoleon a son whom he named the King of Rome.

src:http://didyouknow.cd/napoleon.htm

The world's highest bridge is in the Himalayans

The highest bridge in the world can be found in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. The valley lies at an altitude of about 5 602 m (18,379 ft) above sea level on the India side of Kashmir. Called the Baily Bridge, it is only 30 metres (98 ft) long, and was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
If you were thinking of the bridge that stands highest over water, then the Royal Gorge Bridge over the Arkansas River in Colorado, US is your answer. Built in 1929 for $350,000, it spans 321 m (1,053 ft) above the water.The largest bridge in the world is the 13,27 km (8,25 miles) long Trans Bay Bridge which links San Francisco to Oakland. It was built in 1936 at a cost of $77 million. The longest bridge in the world is the Pontchartrain bridge in New Orleans, USA with a total length of 38,6 km (24 miles). It was completed in 1956. The most expensive bridge is the Seto-Ohashi-Kojima bridge in Japan. At 13,22 km (8,21 miles) long, it was built in 1988 at a cost of $8.3 billion.
The world's largest natural bridge is the Rainbow Bridge, tucked away among the rugged, isolated canyons at the base of Navajo Mountain, Utah, USA. It is a natural wonder. From its base to the top of the arch, it reaches 88,4 m (290 ft) - nearly the height of the Statue of Liberty - and spans 83,8 m (275 ft) across the river. The top of the arch is 12,8 m (42 ft) thick and 10 m (33 ft) wide.
The World's busiest bridge is the Howrah bridge across the river Hooghly in Calcutta. In addition to 57000 vehicles a day it carries a huge number of pedestrians across its 457 m (1,500 ft) long 22 m (72 ft) wide span.

src:http://didyouknow.cd/bridges.htm

IMPORTANT BASIC PLASTIC INFO AND TIPS – EMPOWER YOURSELF, BECOME PLASTIC AWARE!

IMPORTANT BASIC PLASTIC INFO AND TIPS – EMPOWER YOURSELF, BECOME PLASTIC AWARE!

Plastic is all around us. It forms much of the packaging for our food and drink. For many of us, it is throughout our home, our workplace, our car and the bus we take to and from work. It can be in our clothing, eyeglasses, teeth, computers, phones, dishes, utensils, toys. The list goes on.
Plastic is versatile, lightweight, flexible, moisture resistant, durable, strong and relatively inexpensive. It can be chemical resistant, clear or opaque, and practically unbreakable. These are wonderful useful qualities, and plastic plays many important roles in life on Earth, but the widespread use of plastic is also causing unprecedented environmental problems, and harbours serious health risks – especially for children. Plastic should be used wisely, with caution and only when suitable alternatives do not exist or are not available.
Environmental Problems
Environmentally, plastic is a growing disaster. Most plastics are made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource extracted and processed using energy-intensive techniques that destroy fragile ecosystems. Plastic packaging – especially the ubiquitous plastic bag – is an enormous source of landfill waste and is regularly eaten by numerous marine and land animals, to fatal consequences.
Health Risks
In terms of health risks, the evidence is growing that chemicals leached from plastics used in cooking and food/drink storage are harmful to human health. The most disturbing of these are hormone (endocrine) disrupters, such as Bisphenol A (BPA), which can stimulate the growth of cancer cells. Exposure to BPA at a young age can cause genetic damage, and BPA has been linked to recurrent miscarriage in women. The health risks of plastic are significantly amplified in children, whose immune and organ systems are developing and are more vulnerable. The manufacture of plastic, as well as its destruction by incineration, pollutes air, land and water and exposes workers to toxic chemicals, including carcinogens. The evidence of health risks from certain plastics is increasingly appearing in established, peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Plastic Types, Characteristics… Dangers
Fortunately, consumers have a way to identify the type of plastic in many products, especially food storage containers and packaging. Many, but not all, such plastic products have a number – the resin identification code – molded, formed or imprinted in or on the container, often on the bottom. This system of coding was developed in 1988 by the U.S.-based Society of the Plastics Industry to facilitate the recycling of post-consumer plastics. It is voluntary for plastic manufacturers, but has become relatively standard on certain plastic products sold globally. Knowing the code for a particular product, consumers can then inform themselves of the characteristics of the plastic and the risks of using that product.
The seven plastic resin codes are each briefly described below to provide a quick snapshot detailing the name of the resin (i.e., the base material of the plastic), typical products it is found in, dangerous chemicals it leaches, and why they are dangerous.
Polyethylene terephalate (PET or PETE) – Used in soft drink, juice, water, beer, mouthwash, peanut butter, salad dressing, detergent and cleaner containers. Leaches Antimony trioxide: workers exposed to antimony trioxide for long periods of time have exhibited respiratory and skin irritation; among female workers, increased incidence of menstrual problems and miscarriage; their children exhibited slower development in the first twelve months of life. The longer a liquid is left in such a container the greater the concentration of antimony released into the liquid.
High density polyethylene (HDPE) – Used in opaque milk, water, and juice containers, bleach, detergent and shampoo bottles, garbage bags, yogurt and margarine tubs, cereal box liners. Our research on risks associated with this type of plastic is ongoing.
Polyvinyl chloride (V or Vinyl or PVC) – Used in toys, clear food and non-food packaging (e.g., cling wrap), some squeeze bottles, shampoo bottles, cooking oil and peanut butter jars, detergent and window cleaner bottles, shower curtains, medical tubing, and numerous construction products (e.g., pipes, siding). PVC has been described as one of the most hazardous consumer products ever created. Leaches di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) or butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP), depending on which is used as the plasticizer or softener (usually DEHP). DEHP and BBzP are endocrine disruptors mimicking the female hormone estrogen; have been strongly linked to asthma and allergic symptoms in children; may cause certain types of cancer; linked to negative effects on the liver, kidney, spleen, bone formation and body weight. In Europe, DEHP and BBzP and other dangerous pthalates have been banned from use in plastic toys for children under three since 1999. Not so elsewhere, including Canada. There is currently a similar NDP Private Members Bill (C-307) before the House of Commons, but the chances of it passing appear slim.
Low density polyethylene (LDPE) – Used in grocery store, dry cleaning, bread and frozen food bags, most plastic wraps, squeezable bottles (honey, mustard). Our research on risks associated with this type of plastic is ongoing.
Polypropylene (PP) – Used in ketchup bottles, yogurt and margarine tubs, medecine and syrup bottles, straws, Rubbermaid and other opaque plastic containers, including baby bottles. Our research on risks associated with this type of plastic is ongoing.
Polystyrene (PS) – Used in Styrofoam containers, egg cartons, disposable cups and bowls, take-out food containers, plastic cutlery, compact disc cases. Leaches styrene, which is an endocrine disruptor mimicking the female hormone estrogen, and thus has the potential to cause reproductive and developmental problems; long-term exposure by workers has shown brain and nervous system effects; adverse effects on red blood cells, liver, kidneys and stomach in animal studies. Also present in secondhand cigarette smoke, off-gassing of building materials, car exhaust and possibly drinking water. Styrene migrates significantly from polystyrene containers into the container's contents when oily foods are heated in such containers.
Other – The catch-all category; often indicates the presence of polycarbonate, which is used in most plastic baby bottles (!), clear plastic “sippy” cups, Nalgene brand and other “sports” water bottles, three and five gallon large water storage containers, metal food can liners, some juice and ketchup containers, compact discs, cell phones, computers. Leaches Bisphenol A (some effects described above), and numerous studies have indicated a wide array of possible adverse effects from low-level exposure: chromosome damage in female ovaries, decreased sperm production in males, early onset of puberty, various behavioural changes, altered immune function, and sex reversal in frogs. Important Note: Two other types of plastic that fall under code 7 are acrylonitrile styrene (AS) or styrene acrylonitrile (SAN), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Both AS/SAN and ABS are higher quality plastics with increased strength, rigidity, toughness and temperature and chemical resistance. AS/SAN is used in mixing bowls, thermos casing, dishes, cutlery, coffee filters, toothbrushes, outer covers (printers, calculators, lamps), battery housing. The incorporation of butadiene during the manufacture of AS/SAN, produces ABS, which is an even tougher plastic. ABS is used in LEGO toys, pipes, golf club heads, automotive parts, protective head gear. Our research on risks associated with AS/SAN and ABS is ongoing.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR EVERYDAY PLASTIC USE: You may wish to seriously consider your – and especially your children's – use of plastics numbered 1, 3, 6 and 7 (polycarbonate), all of which have been shown to leach dangerous chemicals. This does not necessarily mean the others are completely safe, just that they have been studied less to date.
So if you have to use plastic, it is safest to stick to numbers 2, 4, 5 and 7 (other than polycarbonate) whenever possible.
If an item does not have a plastic code on it, or if the type of plastic is unclear from the code (e.g., with #7, it likely will not say it is polycarbonate), your best bet is to contact the manufacturer and ask them directly what type of plastic was used to make the product.
If you are interested in digging deeper and obtaining more evidence on the risks of plastic use, take a look at the more detailed Plastic Types Table, which is constantly being updated with new information and research studies: plastic_types_jan07.pdf.
Plastic Tips
Here are some simple tips to help you in working toward a life without plastic, or a life of safer, more informed plastic use.
Avoid polycarbonate (#7) baby bottles and sippy cups. For baby bottles, try and use glass (e.g., Evenflo), polyethylene (e.g., Evenflo, Medela, Playtex) or polypropylene (e.g., Gerber, Medela) instead. Sippy cups made of stainless steel (e.g., Kleen Kanteen), or of polypropylene or polyethylene (e.g., Avent, Evenflo, First Years, Gerber, Playtex) are safer. Be sure to check the bottle or cup to be sure of the type of plastic it contains. As for baby bottle nipples, try and use silicone which does not leach the carcinogenic nitrosamines that can be found in latex.
If you must use polycarbonate (#7) bottles, avoid heating food and drink in the bottle. Heat it in a separate container and transfer it to the bottle once it is warm enough for the child to eat or drink. If the plastic is showing signs of wear – scratched, cloudy – discard the container.
For drinking water, try and avoid plastic bottles. If you do use plastic bottles made from #1 or #2 plastic try not to reuse them as they are intended only for single use. One alternative is a stainless steel water bottle. For storing large quantities of water, glass and stainless steel containers are also available. If you use a #1 water bottle, try to consume the contents as soon as possible because leaching of antimony increases with time.
Try to avoid heating foods in plastic containers, especially in the microwave oven, which can cause the plastic to degrade and leach chemicals faster. As well, leaching increases when plastic comes into contact with oily or fatty foods, or when the plastic is scratched, worn, cracked, or sticky.
Use plastic wraps with caution, especially in the microwave, and try to keep the plastic from touching the food. Alternatives include wax paper or paper towels.
Try and use alternatives to plastic packaging and storage containers. Cloth, paper or cardboard are possibilities for transporting groceries. Stainless steel and glass food storage containers are available.
Avoid plastic dishes and utensils for meals. Alternatives include glass, ceramic, wood, stainless steel, and lacquer ware. Offer your child or grandchild a non-plastic dish set made of either stainless steel or wood (safely coated using the Japanese lacquer technique).

One billion bicycles

There are about a billion bicycles in the world, twice as many as motorcars. Almost 400 million bicycles are in China.

Although Leonardo da Vinci drew some rough sketches of a contraption that looked like a bicycle, the Frenchman De Sivrac built the first bicycle-type vehicle in 1690. It was referred to as a hobbyhorse. However, it did not have pedals. Those were added in 1840 by a Scottish blacksmith, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, who is credited with inventing the real bicycle.

On a penny-farthing bicycle, one pedal gave the wheel one turn. A lot of pedalling was needed to get around! With the advent of gears, bicycles could move as fast as cars.

Air-filled tyres were used on bicycles before they were used on motorcars.

The bicycle as we know it today - with two wheels of the same size - looks almost exactly the same as one from 1900.

The first five-seat bicycle, the quindem, was built in 1940.

The world speed record on a bicycle is held by John Howard, Olympic Cyclist and Ironman triathlon winner from the US. In 1985 he reached 245,08 km/h (152.2 mph), cycling in the slipstream of a specially designed car.

src: http://didyouknow.cd/bicycles.htm
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Mercedes cars are named after an Austrian girl

In 1897, Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek, traveled from his home in Nice, France to purchase a car from the Daimler factory in Cannstatt, Germany. On his return to the French Riviera, his sporting Daimler Phoenix caused such a sensation that he decided to enter it into a local touring competition, under the name of "Mercedes" after his favourite 9 year old daughter. Realising the business potential for the new car, he not only placed an order for 36 more, but also secured the franchise for selling them in several countries. Gottlieb Daimler also agreed to having them sold under the name of "Mercedes."

The Mercedes trade name was registered after Daimler's death in 1900 and the 3-pointed star became the trade mark. Daimler had once drawn the emblem on a postcard to his wife, the star symbolising the growth of the business into transport on land, sea and air.

For Karl Benz, a name for his automobile was simple: he enclosed his name in a cogwheel to exemplify the solidness of his engineering works at Mannheim. The cogwheel later became a laurel wreath.

After the First World War the Daimler and Benz companies worked closer together, generally advertising on the same posters. They amalgamated in 1926, combining the laurel wreath and 3-pointed star as their trade mark.

Interestingly, although Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz were two of the major pioneers in the automotive industry, they probably never met, even though they lived only 100km (60 miles) from each other in Germany. Daimler passed away in 1900. Daimler-Benz amalgamated in 1926.
src: http://didyouknow.cd/daimlerbenz.htm

British royal family change surname in 1917

The British royal family changed their surname (last name) from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917.

George V was king of England from 1910 to 1936. Son of Edward VII, King of England, and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, he married Queen Mary of Teck (called May) in 1893. Known as the Sailor Prince, he had an active naval career and rose to the rank of vice admiral in 1903.

World War One broke out in 1914 and was in full fury in 1917. In protest, King George V renounced all the German titles belonging to him and his family and adopted the name of his castle, Windsor.

Ravens are kept in the Tower of London because, according to myth, the British throne will come to a fall if the ravens leave the tower. The wings of the ravens are clipped to prevent them from flying away.
src:http://didyouknow.cd/royals.htm

Traffic lights in use before there were motorcars

Traffic lights were used before the advent of the motorcar. In 1868, British railroad signal engineer J P Knight invented the first traffic light, a lantern with red and green signals. It was installed at the intersection of George and Bridge Streets in front of the the British House of Commons to control the flow of horse buggies and pedestrians.

Motorcars were introduced to the US in the late 1890s and the need for traffic control soon became obvious. A number of people came up with ideas for traffic control. In 1910, Earnest Sirrine of Chicago, Illinois filed for a patent (no 976,939) for what is considered the first automatic street traffic system, using non illuminated words STOP and PROCEED.

In 1912, Lester Wire of Salt Lake City, Utah invented an electric traffic light that used red and green lights. However, he did not apply for a patent. The next year, James Hoge received patent no 1,251,666 for a manually controlled traffic light system using electric lights. It was installed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914, displaying the words STOP and MOVE.

The first traffic light system to use red and green lights were patented by William Ghiglieri of San Francisco, California in 1917 (patented no 1,224,632). His design could be operated manually or in automatic.

The amber light was added in 1920 by William Potts, a Detroit policeman. He actually invented several traffic light systems, indlucing the overhang four-way system, but did not apply for patents. The first person to apply for a patent to produce inexpensive traffic lights was Garrett Morgan, who received his patent in 1923.
Parking Meter

The credit for taking all your parking credits goes to Carlton Cole Magee who invented the first parking meter in 1932, receiving a patent (no 2,118,318) for it in 1935. His Magee-Hale Park-O-Meter Company installed the first meter in Oklahoma City in 1935 and still produces most of the parking meters in the United States.
Don't Walk

The first "Don't Walk"' signs were installed in New York City on 5 February 1952.

src:http://didyouknow.cd/trafficlights.htm

The can opener was invented 48 years after cans were introduced

Cans were opened with a hammer and chisel before the advent of can openers. The tin cannister, or can, was invented in 1810 by a Londoner, Peter Durand. The year before, French confectioner, Nicolas Appert, had introduced the method of canning food (as it became known) by sealing the food tightly inside a glass bottle or jar and then heating it. He could not explain why the food stayed fresh but his bright idea won him the 12,000-francs prize that Napoleon offered in 1795 for preserving food. Durand supplied the Royal Navy with canned heat-preserved food while Appert would help Napoleon's army march on its stomach.

Tin canning was not widely adopted until 1846, when a method was invented to increase can production from 6 in an hour to 60. Still, there were no can openers yet and the products labels would read: "cut around on the top near to outer edge with a chisel and hammer."

The can opener was invented in 1858 by American Ezra Warnet. There also is a claim that Englishman Robert Yeates invented the can opener in 1855. But the can opener did not become popular until, ten years later, it was given away for free with canned beef.

The well-known wheel-style opener was invented in 1925. Beer in a can was launched in 1935. The easy-open can lid was invented by Ermal Cleon Fraze in 1959.

Since 1972, some 64 million tons of aluminum cans (about 3 trillion cans) have been produced. Placed end-to-end, they could stretch to the moon about a thousand times. Still, cans represent less than 1% of solid waste material - about one quarter of all cans are recycled. Worldwide, some 9 million cans are recycled every hour. Which is good news, considering that it takes a can about 200 years to degrade if you bury it. It takes paper about a month to bio-degrade, a woolen sock about a year, and plastic hundreds of years.

Recycling cans saves 95% of the energy required to make aluminum from ore, or the equivalent of 18 million barrels of oil, or 10.8 billion kilowatt hours.

Used aluminum cans that are recycled return to store shelves within 60 days.

Canned petfood was introduced by James Spratt in 1865.

src: http://didyouknow.cd/cans.htm

Nostradamus predictions

NOSTRADAMUS, the French Christian Jew who lived in France in the 16th century, made many accurate forecasts, including the two World Wars. 18 of his 950 quatrains refer to a third world war. Some Nostradamus experts had given the date for the start of such a war as mid-1999, referring to the Balkan conflict surrounding Kosovo. They obviously misinterpreted the quatrains. Their attention then turned to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

NOSTRADAMUS
Born Michel de Notredame on 14 December 1503 in St Remy, France, he was the oldest of five sons. His grandfather, Jean, taught him Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics and astrology at an early age. Nostradamus received a medical degree in 1529 and became physician-in-ordinary to Charles IX during the bubonic plague. He is said to have had extraordinary healing abilities.

Nostradamus was in his late 40s when, it is told, he frequently went into a meditative state and had visions of the future. He began to document the visions in a mixture of Lain, French, and Greek quatrains, publishing his famous "Centuries" in 1558.

Nostradamus was married twice, losing his first wife and two children to the plague. He died on 2 July 1566. "Centuries" was translated into English in 1672. In 1781 it was banned by the Roman Catholic Church. Ironically, in 1553, when Nostradamus encountered a group of Franciscan monks he threw himself on his knees, clutching at the garment of one of the monks, Felice Peretti. When asked why he had done this he replied that he must yield "before his Holiness." Nineteen years after the death of Nostradamus, Peretti became Pope Sixtus V.

What the experts say Nostradamus predicted about the Balkan war
The war prophecy is reserved for someone whom Nostradamus refers to as "the tyrant." He predicted that the Slavs will "change their prince" and "raise an army in the mountains," suggesting a guerilla war. He speaks of "when the north pole is united" (perhaps NATO?), and there are many geographical references to the Balkans, such as Greece, Italy and the Mediterranean.

The war is linked to when the "eagle" (United States) and the "cock" (France) stand together. There also is specific reference to the time when England, Poland and Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) "form a new alliance." The former Eastblock countries recently joined NATO.

He predicted that the Allies will win, that the war will be protracted, lasting seven months, and that it may go beyond the Balkans, toward the north, but that after the war there will be "peace on earth for a long time."

The forecasts by Nostradamus seemed to be confirmed by other seers, including Nicolaas van Rensburg, the famous South African seer who lived 1862 to 1926. At the turn of the 20th Century Van Rensburg had also predicted the use of electricity, the massacre of six million Jews, the Chernobyl disaster, the rise and fall of Russia, and the European Union - in the last two instances accurately describing the flags before they were designed. Of the third world war, he predicted that England would left weakened, while Germany would rise to become the world's most powerful nation.

What the experts say Nostradamus predicted about the WTC attack
"In the year of the new century and nine months, from the sky will come a great king of terror. The sky will burn at 45 degrees... fire approaches the great new city... there will be thunder... The third big war will begin when the city is burning."
So it is quoted among rumour mongers. The facts are:

Nostradamus appears not to have made predictions about the World Trade Centre attack or, at least, none that could easily be understood from the quatrains. He did not mention "the new century," or "nine months" and New York is not at 45 degrees; the Manhattan latitude is 40° 47' N. For more, see Skeptic's Dictionary

What then?
Of course, not only have the "experts" on the prophets not always been correct - the seers themselves have not always been quite so accurate in their forecasts.

Time will tell if the Kosovo conflict or, indeed, the World Trade Center attack had put the spark to a bigger barrel. As for the end of the world... Nostradamus predicted it to be the year 3786 or 3797, depending on which Nostradamus expert you believe.

src: http://didyouknow.cd/nostradamus.htm

Napoleon : tragic figure or flawed genius?

Napoleon's christening name was Italian: Napoleone Buonaparte. He was born on the island of Corsica one year after it became French property. As a boy, Napoleon hated the French. Still, he attended the Paris Military Academy, and became a French lieutenant at age 16.

The emperor
Napoleon was in Paris during the French revolution, and when France became a Republic on 10 August 1792, he was promoted to the rank of Captain. After defeating the Italian armies in 1796 and the Austrians in 1797, he was made General. In November 1799, he overthrew the French Directory to become First Consul of the government. He called himself Napoleon I. In 1804, a mere 12 years after the monarchy was disposed of in the French Revolution, Napoleon secured a vote to change France from a consulate to an empire. Napoleon became Emperor of France.

By 1812, Napoleon had wiped out the last traces of the Holy Roman Empire and conquered most of Europe. But after a disastrous battle against Russia, his enemies struck back. On 18 March 1814, the allies marched into Paris. Napoleon abdicated on 6 April 1814.

Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon was sent into exile on Elba, a tiny island off the coast of Italy. In March 1815, he escaped and marched toward Paris with thousands of his old guard. For a brief time, known as the Hundred Days, Napoleon returned to his former glory. He was finally defeated by a combined English and Prussian force on 18 June 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium.

St.Helena
On 15 July 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the remote tiny volcanic island of St. Helena, south of the Equator. The nearest land is Ascension Island, 1,120 km (700 miles) to the north.

Accompanied by some of his generals who chose to go into exile with him, Napoleon lived in Longwood House on St. Helena. He passed time by dictating his memoirs and playing billiards.

The green wallpaper
The wallpaper in his room was dyed with Scheele's Green, a colouring pigment that had been used in fabrics and wallpapers from around 1770. Named after the Swedish chemist who invented it the dye contained copper arsenite. In 1893 an Italian biochemist called Gosio discovered that if wallpaper containing Scheele's Green became damp, the mould converted the copper arsenite to a poisonous vapour form of arsenic. Breathing the arsenic on its own might not have been enough to kill Napoleon, but he already was ill with a stomach ulcer. On the 5 May 1821, the arsenic possibly tipped the scale against "the little corporal."

Napoleon was buried on St Helena, but his body was later reburied in Paris on the banks of the Seine. He wish to be cremated was not respected.

Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais, a widow with two children, on 9 March 1796. The marriage was childless and he divorced her in 1809. The next year he married Marie Louise, the 18-year old daughter of the Hapsburg Emperor of Austria. Within a year she had given Napoleon a son whom he named the King of Rome.

src:http://didyouknow.cd/napoleon.htm