For Halloween 2022, consumers are expected to spend an average of $102.74. They spent $92.12 in 2021. The predicted total spending in the US will increase from the $10.1 billion spent last year to $10.6 billion.

Sea lampreys suck their victim dry, their keen tongue piercing through the host's skin and scales. Because of the suction-cup capacity of their jaws, they remain connected to their prey. The prey is further rendered immobile by an enzyme secreted by the sea lamprey that serves as an anticoagulant to prevent blood clots and maintain a constant flow.

The Jewish tradition of covering up mirrors during shiva (the seven-day period of mourning by the deceased's immediate family) is still practiced today. According to several Jewish sources, when the soul departs from this world, a void is created. This void may end up attracting evil spirits to fill it. These demonic ghosts have a penchant for attaching themselves to mirror reflections. To prevent this from happening, Jews cover their mirrors until the end of shiva.

Victoria and Albert’s first child, Princess Victoria, was born nine months after their wedding. But little Vicky wasn’t an only child for long. A year later, she had a baby brother for company, and within 17 years, the royal household boasted nine children: four boys and five girls.

In the United Kingdom, nearly £368 million is spent on whole cakes each year, which includes birthday cakes! That's nearly £1 million worth of cake per day, which is a lot of cake (and even more candles). When you extrapolate this to the entire world, you'll discover that people eat between 50 and 100 million birthday cakes every single day, not just once a year.

The title can only be bestowed upon the eldest son of a British sovereign (king or queen), i.e. the United Kingdom's direct successor to the throne. When Prince Charles was 10 years old, he was bestowed with this title. Since King Edward I bestowed the title on his own son, he is the 21st Prince of Wales.

We know people who thrived in high school but fell apart in college when the workload was higher and they had to wash their own laundry, and people who were huge successes when they were single, but struggled mightily when they had to get their kids out of the house in the morning as well as themselves. It helps to recognize and plan for these extra stresses – and not beat yourself up when life gets harder.

A 5.9-liter V12 engine powers Aston Martins such as the DB9 and V12 Vantage S. Don't be deceived by the company's claim that it's a 6.0-liter. Another component of this engine that AM does not emphasise is what it begins as. This is due to the fact that it is effectively a pair of Ford Duratec V6s joined together. Sure, many components have been replaced in the quest of horsepower and torque – 565bhp and 457lb-ft in the V12 Vantage S – but several simple Ford sedan engine parts remain.

Minnesota may be the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but Alaska is the Land of 3 Million Lakes. Lake Iliamna, the largest of these, is the eighth-largest lake by area in the United States and is home to a diversity of marine animals.

It was tough navigating life as an ancient Egyptian, they had many Gods to please. They worshipped hundreds of Gods and Goddesses and had to constantly work to make them all happy to keep their life in balance and to ensure their place in the afterlife. Over the years Gods fell in and out of fashion just as our celebrities do today. Some of the most enduring Gods were Isis, Osiris, and Ra – The Sun God.

During the first season, The Office was a close adaptation of the UK version. As the first season came to a finish, Steve Carell's The 40-Year-Old Virgin hit cinemas and catapulted him to stardom. It was at this point that The Office's creators decided to soften Michael Scott. From Season 2 on, we see a huge shift in the program, which may be attributed to Carell's popularity.

We used to think that stress caused sores in your stomach that doesn’t heal. We now know that prolonged use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin®, Advil®), or naproxen (Aleve®), can interfere with stomach mucus.

Ulcers result when stomach acid reaches the lining, and when they bleed they can cause pain and even be life-threatening.

A bacterium called Helicobacter pylori, or H. pylori, also can cause ulcers. An Australian doctor proved this by drinking the bacteria himself, and he and his colleague won a Nobel prize for the discovery. 

Harvard is prestigious, it's Ivy League, and it has rich and influential alumni. We are well aware that Harvard has a lot of money. But do you know just how much? Harvard has the largest academic endowment in the world, $40.9 billion (2021). The interest from this endowment alone can buy you a private island.

Chinese porcelain was first exported during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). Chinese porcelain was quickly introduced to Western countries as a result of the large-scale trade developed along the Silk Road routes. Because of the prosperous maritime trade, Chinese ceramics were exported in large quantities beginning with the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

Accessing the appropriate drugs is just the first step. When doctors are difficult to find, asthma symptoms frequently get worse. The good news is that, when properly instructed by their healthcare physician in advance via an Asthma Action Plan, individuals frequently alter their prescriptions on their own. In order to stop the advancement of your asthma, which might put you in the hospital, these programs lead to a regulated increase in the usage of inhalers. Numerous professional medical groups advise using these programs because they can save lives. Consult your doctor about developing this action plan.

You probably imagine horses bounding across a landscape, not something scaly and low to the ground. However, according to a 2019 study published in Nature, crocodiles have the "full range of quadrupedal footfall patterns used by mammals," which means they can gallop like a horse—and occasionally do! Of course, they aren't as graceful, but they can reach speeds of up to 11 miles per hour.

Though it would quickly cruise its way into film history, the script for Taxi Driver came together in just a few days. As screenwriter Paul Schrader told The Hollywood Reporter, "I crashed at an ex-girlfriend's place, and I just wrote continuously. The first draft was maybe 60 pages, and I started the next draft immediately, and it took less than two weeks."

Consuming grapefruit may enhance the quality of your diet and increase your consumption of vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and dietary fiber, according to research.

In a single lifetime, a person will shed approximately 40 pounds of skin.
Humans, like snakes, shed their skin, but at a much slower rate. Your shed skin, on the other hand, will amount to nearly half of your body weight when accumulated.

What? That much is true. A 2013 research that used data from the 2011 census found that just 40% of Afrikaans speakers are white. The remainder are members of different races, primarily black, coloured, and Indian.

Augustine nuns founded a hospital in Old Quebec in the 1600s. The Hotel-Dieu de Quebec National Historic Site of Canada is a religious and medical complex that was the first of its sort north of Mexico on the North American continent. A wellness hotel is currently part of this complex. During the Women in Travel Summit, my friend Olivia Christine of O.Christine Blog stayed at this hotel and blogged about her experience.

Venetia Burney suggested the name Pluto after the Roman god of the Underworld after her grandpa informed her about the newly found planet. Pluto the planet, like the God, sat in the furthest ends of the solar system, thus it felt appropriate. Her grandpa was taken with the name and proposed it to a friend, who happened to be an Oxford University astronomy professor. Pluto piqued the interest of astronomers since the first two letters of the name are Percival Lowell's initials.