The Netherlands has one of the highest home birth rates in the developed world. Around 30% of Dutch women deliver their babies at home, and this figure has changed little since 1990. 

So why are home births still cherished in the Netherlands? It’s partly because Dutch health insurance fully covers home births, but doesn’t always cover hospital births without medical necessity. 

The Dutch medical system also has a good screening system and provides midwives (verloskundige) who help mothers have a safe delivery at home.

Spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is cosmic or divine in nature.

Dr. Smirnov makes the startling claim that probiotics will replace antibiotics as medical treatments in the twenty-first century. This is because, like antibiotics before them, their successful medical use will fundamentally alter how we think about illness.

It is dependent on the species of flatfish in issue. Some flatfish are toxic, whereas others are not. The easiest approach to find out whether a specific species of flatfish is toxic is to consult a reputable source of information on the subject.

The part of the eye that limits the amount of light that reaches the retina is called the iris. The iris shrinks and lets in less light while it's bright outside, and the opposite is true at night.

With a total wealth of $280 billion, the city-state ranks seventh on the list of countries with the most billionaires. However, when it comes to cities with the most billionaires, Hong Kong comes in second. (From Asia Tatler)

Starbucks is often known for the music they always have playing in the background of each store. As it turns out, Starbucks is more serious about music than you may have thought. The company actually has its own record label called Hear Music. It was created with Concord Music Group in 2007, and actually includes some pretty huge performers, like Paul McCartney, James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell. 

If you download the app, you can find information on what's playing in the store, and sometimes get points for free song downloads.

 

Soufflés usually come apart after 5 or 10 minutes of being puffed up and fluffy.

When the cashew apples mature, they are taken from the tree limb with the seeds still attached. Then the one-of-a-kind harvesting procedure begins. The seed is manually twisted and picked out while still in its shell, then dried and steamed. It must be frozen and cooked after drying before it can be extracted from its shell. Cashews are dried and roasted after harvesting in a long process that removes harmful oils and makes the shell brittle and simple to remove.

The first McDonald's drive-thru was erected in a restaurant in Sierra Vista, Arizona, near the military post of Fort Huachuca. Military regulations prohibited soldiers from wearing their uniforms in public, and they weren't about to change into civilian clothes just to grab a burger and rush back to base, so restaurant manager David Rich devised a solution: cut a hole in the wall so that military personnel could pick up their orders without having to exit their vehicle. The idea soon gained popularity due to its ease and simplicity.

Elephants are extremely clever and simple to teach, making them ideal for use as executioners and torturers. They may be taught to use enormous blades connected to their tusks to slowly destroy bones, crush skulls, twist off limbs, or even execute people. This manner of death was still used in various regions of Asia until the late nineteenth century.

Sualkuchi is a village in Kamrup district, which is often dubbed the “Manchester of Assam”, because of its huge cottage and textile industry. It is famous for producing high-quality Mekhela Chadors and Gamosas which are indigenous to Assam.

We’ve all no doubt found it tricky getting out of bed before, but those suffering from Dysania find it particularly difficult. It’s most likely to be a form of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

 

The energy in the sound wave spreads from the source in a succession of pulses from air molecule to air molecule. When a series of sound wave pulses crush, this is referred to as compression, and when they spread out, this is referred to as rarefaction. Sound waves travel through the air by compressing and rarefying it.

As the adage goes, opposites attract. And research shows that this is partially correct. Couples who are too similar or too different do not last long. Apparently, there must always be a foundation of similarities, but there must also be things that the two of you learn from each other.

In Viking law, women had the same rights as males. Despite the traditional expectation that women married who their parents picked for them, they had the right to divorce and remarry. It was also socially acceptable for Viking women to have children outside of marriage. While boys were given precedence over daughters in inheritance, a woman may inherit all of her parents' possessions if she had no brothers. 

Donald Davies, a computer pioneer, helped pave the path for the birth of the internet by inventing packet-switched networking. (In addition, fellow Briton Sir Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web.)

There are several historical highlights at Niagara Falls. One of the oldest United States flags still in existence, seized by the British during the War of 1812, is on display at Old Fort Niagara. Lewiston was the site of the opening fight of the War of 1812 and the final terminus for the Underground Railroad, a network of hidden passageways for escaping slaves. The original Flight of Five Locks, a mechanism for elevating and lowering boats, was completed in 1815 and is still operational on the Erie Canal near Lockport, giving the largest lift in the shortest distance on all U.S.-made canals.

The majority of animal species in the Antarctic eat krill, and some, like the Adélie and chinstrap penguins, rely almost entirely on it for nutrition. Even the teeth of crabeater seals are specially designed for consuming krill. Furthermore, according to recent studies, humpback and fin whales, whose populations are now stabilised after centuries of whaling, consume a combined 2 million metric tonnes of krill annually from a small area close to the Antarctic Peninsula where the majority of the world's commercial krill fisheries are based.

Santa and Mrs. Claus are Canadian citizens! Mr. and Mrs. Claus were given their own Canadian e-passports by Canadian Immigration Minister Chris Alexander in 2013.

It's no surprise that Switzerland is recognized across the world for its high-quality chocolate, but do you know how much chocolate is produced and consumed there? Approximately 180,000 tonnes of chocolate are produced each year, with an average of 11 kilos consumed by each person. A chocolate train is even available!