The pencil was a favourite of John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway wrote letters on a typewriter but did his serious work with a pencil.

Brit Garry Turner has quite the talent – he can pull the skin of his stomach a length of 15.8 cm (6.22 in) giving him the record for the Stretchiest skin! 

He is able to do this because he has a rare medical condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. With this, the collagen that strengthens the skin and determines its elasticity allows for him to have such loose skin and super flexible joints.

If the Bible contains the earliest reference to the passport, the origin of the two French words 'passer' + 'port' meaning "to pass through a port" dates from the 15th century. It was also written as a compound word at the time, "passport." From the middle of the 15th century, the compound name "passport" was used to refer to the movement of people after it was first used to authorize the movement of goods. However, it is not certain that the term "port" referred solely to seaports, but rather to the gates of fortified cities.

The world's first Kinokuniya bookshop is located in Shinjuku, Tokyo. You may study as much as you want about Japan and Japanese culture with the abundance of publications available here - as long as you understand Japanese! This bookshop also caters to specialised interests such as anime and provides a limited selection of English-language books.

Cashews are high in protein and important minerals such as copper, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. Sodium is also found in trace amounts. Vitamin C, vitamin B1 (thiamin), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B6, folate, vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol), and vitamin K are also found in cashews (phylloquinone). Cashews also have a high oleic acid concentration (an omega-9 fatty acid that is also found in olive oil).

Another impact of spirituality is to help you find inner peace. You’ll find it easier to stay at peace with yourself and the world around you no matter what is happening externally. You’ll feel a sense of calm as you turn inwards instead of outwards and your mind chatter slows down.

Our sense of smell has a significant impact on our perception of taste. Consequently, use caution when lighting scented candles at the dining table. That is one of the reasons why we at Fraendi have solely produced unscented candles.

Glass is made by heating sand, lime, and soda ash at extremely high temperatures. Glass is formed when the liquid mixture cools down.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the head of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, won the general election in July 1960 and became the world's first female prime minister. She served the country for three terms before resigning in August 2000 due to health issues. Sirimavo Bandaranaike died of a heart attack in the same year she voted in the parliamentary elections, at the age of 84.

The Bandra-Worli Sea Link is made up of cement and steel wire equal to the earth's equator. Well, that is a lot. The distance around the Earth at the Equator, its circumference, is 40,075 kilometers, which is not even the total distance of the bridge. 

Seeing new individuals nude isn't as fascinating as it sounds after time. The sight of another body does not excite most OB-GYNs. "Over time, that perspective shifts from sexual to therapeutic. I know many patients don't notice a change, but I get a little weirded out when individuals just strip naked in front of me "according to one doctor

The pear-shaped cashew apple produces cashew nuts. The color of this long fleshy stalk can range from brown to yellow to crimson. The cashew apple is a pseudo-fruit or fake fruit, which implies that the flesh of the fruit is formed from portions of the flower other than the ovaries, such as the base or receptacle. Cashew apple juice is sometimes added to tropical fruit beverages or distilled into liquor.

If you've ever been to a synagogue, you'll know that they're generally quite simple and austere places of worship. But not Budapest's Great Synagogue. This Jewish temple on Dohány Street is tall and majestic, with one of the largest and most impressive cathedral naves I've ever seen. It is one of Europe's most beautiful synagogues. The Great Jewish Synagogue, built between 1854 and 1859, seats 3000 people. It is Europe's largest synagogue and the world's second-largest (after Belz Great Synagogue, in Jerusalem).

not even contemporary graffiti. The graffiti that covers Pompeii is not a result of disrespectful tourists; rather, it dates from before the eruption. Private messages, public announcements, and election notices are just a few examples of how it provides tourists and historians with a remarkable window into Roman society. On one of our Pompeii tours from Rome, you can see all of this graffiti while imagining yourself going about your daily business in an ancient city.

The front of the Rolls Royce starring the Spirit of Ecstasy — an early hood peculiar to a Rolls Royce was prone to being tossed off its front. This booty hack is no longer a possible with the current models, thanks to a safety device that allows the mascot to retract quickly into the body of the car when force is applied. If you're wondering what the word means, it refers to the illicit love affair between John Walter, editor of The Car Illustrated magazine, and his secretary, Eleanor Velasco Thorton. Sultry and hot!

Your digestive tract contains many beneficial bacteria, but taking a probiotic supplement (live or dried bacteria) is unlikely to give them a boost.

The reason is that these beneficial bacteria are mostly in your large intestine or bowel. Probiotic supplements will rarely survive the acid and churning of the stomach or the detergents and enzymes of the small intestine. 

One of our favourite amusing facts about Poland is that it is home to the world's first upside down house. The topsy-turvy wooden home was erected upside down in a forest and appears to be something out of a storybook. Visitors must enter the home through the attic windows and may walk around the furnished interior, which is evocative of Communist Poland in the 1970s, to symbolise how Communist control turned life in Poland upside down. Hundreds of interested visitors have visited the home since its unveiling in 2007, and it is located in the little Polish town of Szymbark, which has a population of roughly 500 people.

According to the Koran and Sharia, a Muslim man has the right to marry four women at the same time and must treat them all fairly. A Muslim lady can only have one spouse at a time. Tunisia was the first Arab country to outlaw polygamy in 1956. Having more than one marriage at the same time is illegal in Tunisia, and those who engage in polygamy will face punishment. Polygamy is typically permitted under civil law in nations where Islam is a dominant religion.

When pirates wore earrings, they weren't just trying to look fashionable. According to National Geographic, sailors believed that applying pressure to the earlobe would keep them from getting seasick. In many cases, the pirates would do so by putting on an earring. Unfortunately, while your inner ears affect your sense of balance, wearing earrings in your earlobes does not affect seasickness.

Keep your sunglasses close by! Crow's feet' wrinkles are more likely to appear when you squint in the sunlight. Therefore, on a sunny day, always wear UV-protective sunglasses. Although those with brown eyes should also put on their sunglasses, those with light-colored eyes are more vulnerable to risk.

The human body is mainly composed of four elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, which make for 96.2 percent of your total weight. (Calcium and phosphorus are the other major contributors.) It's incredible how those ingredients work together to help produce a body that accomplishes absolutely extraordinary things every day, from battling cancer to creating 20,000 thoughts.

After 160 years of British occupation, Malta attained independence in 1964. Many vestiges of the British Empire can still be found in Malta today.

Part of our propensity for believing in conspiracy theories may be due to a social psychological bias that coincides with our distaste for random events. The propensity to think that the actions of others are intentional rather than the result of external events is known as Fundamental Attribution Error. As a result, when things happen randomly or unintentionally, we may feel compelled to seek a purposeful explanation. This might conceivably contribute to the development of conspiracy ideas.