Now you know!

Thought you might be interested in knowing a few more things today…  I was!

Enjoy!

1. Michael Jackson’s music video for “Thriller” has been seen by more than 4 billion people since its release.

2. 49% of Americans start their day with cereal.

3. The average millionaire goes bankrupt at least 3.5 times.

4. Your subconscious mind is 30,000 times more powerful than your conscious mind.

5. Sleeping allows your brain’s synapses to be optimized and prevents your brain from becoming too large.

6. A man’s cognitive function is impaired when interacting with women – Even the thought of interacting with females affects the male brain.

7. People are more likely to remember the first and last things they read on a list than anything else.

8. Repeatedly hitting something until you get it to work is actually called “percussive maintenance.”

9. People in relationships have a tendency to be meaner to single people.

10. Women end up digesting most of the lipstick they apply.

11. A butterfly sees you through their 12,000 eyes.

12. Sometimes people use insults as a way of flirting. Pretending to hate someone they actually desire to be with.

13. Standing while doing work on the computer increases your productivity and will make you more focused.

14. Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 60 percent.

15. In Los Angeles, there are fewer people than there are cars.

16. A company called Browning sells knives specially designed to combat a zombie apocalypse.

17. 20% of the population has cheek-dimples.

18. You are less likely to experience a nightmare when sharing your bed with someone you trust.

19. In the UK you are legally required to stop if you run over a dog, but not a cat.

20. 36 human hearts could fit inside a giraffe’s heart.

21. 10-15 minutes of jump roping can burn over 200 calories. This makes jump roping one of the best and efficient forms of cardio.

22. The simple past tense version of the word “dare” is “durst.”

23. The people with the highest IQ’s are the most likely to use drugs.

24. The world’s longest recorded engagement lasted for 67 years.

25. There weren’t any red colored ‘M&Ms’ from 1976-1986.

26. A honey badger’s skin is so thick, they can withstand multiple machete strikes, arrows and spears.

27. Disney World is actually larger than 17 other countries.

28. America is losing half a million jobs to China every year.

29. 42% of the raw chicken you purchase at the supermarket is contaminated with bacteria that causes food poisoning.

30. 3% of the population was killed by WWII.

31. Men have nipples because everyone is a female until the Y chromosome kicks in. You were all girl embryos!

32. One cigarette contains enough toxic ingredients to possibly kill a person if those ingredients were directly injected into bloodstream!

33. Sarcasm decreases cortisol, a chemical linked to stress and depression.

34. Sumo wrestlers consume an average of 20,000 calories everyday.

35. After the Disney movie “Princess and the Frog” came out, more than 50 children were hospitalized with salmonella from kissing frogs.

36. Scientists say, spending too much time indoors can ruin your eyesight and weaken your immune system.

37. Because the surface of the moon has no wind or water, an astronaut’s footprint could last for millions of years.

38. The human eye has around 576 megapixels.

39. 25% of all Twitter accounts have no followers.

40. 350 slices of pizza are sold every second in America.

41. Macaulay Culkin was paid only $100,000 for his role in Home Alone, but was paid $4.5 million for his role in Home Alone 2!

42. When baby monkeys are born they grab their mother’s legs and pull themselves out.

43. Dr. Suess actually cheated on his wife while she was sick with cancer for 13 years – When she killed herself, he married the mistress.

44. The Nazi leader, Hitler, from 1942 until his death in 1945, was addicted to crystal meth.

45. A “Panther” isn’t a real animal. It is actually a term used to describe black cougars, jaguars and leopards.

46. Drinking cold water can help speed up your metabolism and assist in weight loss.

47. It would take 1,200,000 mosquitoes all sucking at the same time to completely drain the average human of blood.

48. Memories can be strong enough to invoke the exact emotions a person felt when the experience originally happened.

49. Your immune system destroys at least one cell every day that would have become cancer if it lived.

50. Organic and nutritious food actually costs about 10 times as much as candy and junk food.

51. The pattern of your heart beat changes to mimic the type of music of music you’re listening to.

52. A Chinese student sold his kidney for $3,400 to buy an iPhone and an iPad.

53. Applying lemon juice onto freckles fades them, and can even make them disappear.

54. There’s a village in Nebraska with a population of 1. She acts as mayor and also pays taxes to herself.

55. Playing video games can reduce your nightmares, because gamers “resolve threats” during game play instead of in their dreams.

56. A scorpion can hold its breath for 1 week.

57. Chocolate can kill dogs; it directly affects their heart and nervous system.

58. Red roses symbolize love; yellow, friendship; dark pink, gratitude; orange, desire; peach, appreciation; white, purity.

59. Apple has enough cash on hand to buy a space station.

60. Americans buy nearly $2 billion Easter candy, including 90 million chocolate bunnies, 16 billion jellybeans, and 700 million Peeps.

61. Mixing coffee, black tea, and milk to create a drink is popular in Hong Kong.

62. The world’s strongest beer contain 32% alcohol and is called the “Tactical Nuclear Penguin”.

63. Pushing your tongue against the roof of your mouth will cure you of brain freeze.

64. Crocodiles have an average life span of 70 to 100 years.

65. A “feral child” is a human who has been raised by animals – There have been more than 100 documented cases of this so far.

66. A hacker group named UGNazi once completely disabled the Papa Johns website because their pizza was 2 hours late.

67. Salty and spicy snacks can be used as antidepressants. The pleasure centers in your brain make you crave them more.

68. The only vegetable that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh is lettuce.

69. NASA inventions: memory foam, freeze-dried food, smoke detectors, water filters, joysticks, cordless tools, satellite TV.

70. A ripped dollar bill still has its face value, as long as the remaining piece is larger than half.

71. The left side of the human face appears better looking and more attractive than the right.

72. The Power Puff Girls were originally based off of the three good fairies from Sleeping Beauty.

73. Depression can cause you to dream up to 3-4 times more than normal.

74. If you rub an onion on your foot, you’ll be able to taste it within 30-60 minutes.

75. Being lazy is genetic.

76. Cats spend nearly 1/3 of their waking hours cleaning themselves.

77. The average American unknowingly breaks at least three federal criminal laws every day.

78. Vampire bats are the only mammals in the world that live entirely on blood.

79. Every month, approximately nine out of 10 American children visit a McDonald’s restaurant.

80. Cursing after hurting yourself can help reduce the amount of pain you feel by up to 50%.

81. If you make more than about $75,000 a year, money can buy happiness, according to a study carried out at Princeton University!

82. Wolves have about 200 million scent cells. Humans have only about 5 million.

83. If you read at 300 words per minute 24/7, it would take you around 17 years to read the entire English Wikipedia.

84. An estimated 27 million adults and 13 million children around the world are victims of human trafficking.

85. On average, homeless people who beg for money in high traffic areas tend to make $15,000 to $30,000 a year.

86. Statistically, men are better than women at detecting a cheater.

87. Consumption of soda and other sugary beverages is linked to 180,000 deaths a year worldwide.

88. Hollywood stars actually sniff powdered vitamin B when you see them sniffing cocaine in the movies.

89. Studies show that people who overthink tend to create problems for themselves that weren’t there to begin with.

90. The human brain can only stay focused on one task or person for 7-10 minutes before they lose.

91. Steve Irwin caught a venomous snake when he was only 8 years old.

92. During the Middle Ages, being a bad musician was a public offense and lousy musicians were tortured.

93. There is a hotel in Japan that has been run by the same family for 46 generations and nearly 1,300 years.

94. There are about 1 trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

95. 600,000 Facebook accounts are hacked every day.

96. 80% of people check their smartphones within 15 minutes of waking up.

97. Records show that every year, Oprah Winfrey earns about $385 million, which is over $1 million a day!

98. A prison in Brazil allows inmates to pedal on exercise bikes to power lights in a nearby town in exchange for reduced sentences.

99. There were 42 known assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler.

100. In 1830, the average person over 15 years of age drank 88 bottles of whiskey a year. That’s one bottle every 4 days.

101. 45 of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world (ranked by murder rate) are in America.

Aurevoir au CRILLON

France, ton patrimoine fout le camp.

Je tombe sur un article racontant l’histoire de cet hôtel mythique, aujourd’hui vendu à la famille royale de Saoudienne.  Encore un bien Français qui passe aux mains d’un pays Arabe.  Ils rachètent tout ce que Paris et la France a de plus beau.  La France seulement?  Non, bien évidemment.  Je voulais dire le monde…

« The richly historic Crillon Hotel was built in 1775 facing the Place de a Concorde. During the Revolution it became a private home, Hotel de Courlande. The Crillon family owned it for many generations, and the last private owner was the Duke of Polignac who sold it to the Societe de Louvre, who acquired the adjoining buildings on rue Boissy-d’Anglas and in 1909 it was transformed into a hotel.

The hotel served as the historic meeting place for the signing of The League of Nations in 1919. It welcomed the British and American allies in WW I and during WW II it was occupied by the Germans. After the Liberation of Paris in 1944, General Eisenhower used it for armed forces till 1945. From 1982 to 1985 architect Jean-Loup Robert, who was in charge of the Opera Garnier renovation, and fashion designer Sonia Rykiel, executed a new renovation. Before the Crillon was sold to the Starwood Hotel Group in 2005 and again sold to a member of the Saudi Royal family in 2010, it was the last remaining five star hotel to be owned by a private French family, the Tattinger’s of the Champagne label.  » (Eye Prefer Paris)

ARCURIAL fait une vente aux enchères du 18 au 22 avril prochain.

De belles pièces à enlever, c’est certain.  Qui les achètera?  Devinez…

Provocation? Cherchez l’horreur…

Je ne sais pas vous, mais en ce qui me concerne, des « fantaisies » comme celles-là dans les défilés de mode, je n’en peut plus…  Ces « designers-couturiers » nous prennent vraiment pour des tartes.  Et ces pauvres filles qu’on fait défiler avec des plumes au derrière et des sacs en plastique sur la tête!  Franchement!

Aucun respect pour les femmes, voilà comment je décode la chose.  De la provocation.  Comme en font les enfants…

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand seeing « designers » making fun of women.

Mind you, when I look at what they do to men these days… well, it’s even worst!  Who is this new bunch of have-you-seen-what-I-did? What are they trying to prove? To me – and heaven knows how open I am to various forms of Art  and to Fashion – they are Zombies.  Aliens. So far from Couture!

Here are a few examples taken from the latest Fashion Week! Provocation?  Sure.  Like kids do to their parents!  Come on! Grow up guys!

Too much is like not enough…

Du cellophane, une boîte d’oeufs découpée et des rouleaux scratch dans les cheveux!

Anybody home? A hairdresser paid to think of THAT?  Cherchez l’erreur!

Hello?  OK, it’s Betsey Johnson…

Alexander Wang’s version of an ape!

This one is fun.  Yohji Yamamoto

CÉLINE did that!  Copied from what they call in Paris « des sacs d’Arabes » or Tati inspired!  And it costs a for-tu-ne … really?

Gareth Pugh had a surplus of platic recycling bags.  Turned it into big money. Wi$e…

Louise Gray (who’s she?) had the same idea.  Shortage of material?  All the budget on the earings? Smile à la Joker?  Rough days ahead girl!

Pour mes jeunes amies

Ceci est une très belle lettre adressée par une mère à sa fille.
Mais ça pourrait tout autant s’appliquer aux petites filles ou aux jeunes amies qui traversent nos vies.  Ça parle d’âge, de différences, de changements et de respect.

Et parce que nos jeunes amies d’aujourd’hui seront les grand-mères de demain.  Il faut les préparer et surtout leur apprendre à ne pas avoir peur. Leur donner l’exemple et renvoyer une image forte et lucide.  « Growing old is not for sissis » dit-on.

Au fait, à quel âge commence t’on à vieillir?  À être vieille?  Sans doute lorsqu’on n’a plus de projets, plus de désirs, plus de curiosités.

La roue tourne!  Irrévocablement.  Ce n’est pas triste, un peu dommage seulement…

=============================
Ma fille,

Le jour où tu trouveras que j’ai vieilli,
aie de la patience envers moi
et essaie surtout de comprendre ce que je traverse, de me comprendre.

Si lorsque nous parlons, je répète la même chose des dizaines de fois, ne m’interromps pas pour me dire: « Tu as dit la même chose il y a une minute ». Écoute-moi s’il te plaît.
Souviens-toi quand tu étais petite, tu voulais que je te lise la même histoire, soir après soir, jusqu’à ce que tu t’endormes.

Si je ne souhaite pas prendre un bain, ne te mets pas en colère et ne me mets pas mal à l’aise en disant que c’est une honte.
Souviens-toi combien de raisons je devais inventer pour te faire prendre un bain quand tu étais petite.

En voyant mon ignorance vis-à-vis des nouvelles technologies, ne te moque pas de moi, mais laisse-moi plutôt le temps d’assimiler tout ça et de comprendre.

Je t’ai appris tant de choses: comment te tenir à table, t’habiller, te coiffer, comment appréhender les défis de la vie…

Le jour où tu trouveras que j’ai vieilli,
aie de la patience envers moi
et essaie surtout de comprendre ce que je traverse, de me comprendre.

S’il m’arrive à l’occasion d’oublier ou de ne pouvoir suivre une conversation, laisse-moi le temps nécessaire pour me souvenir et si je n’y parviens pas, ne te montre pas irritée, impatiente ou condescendante: le plus important pour moi, c’est d’être avec toi, de partager des moments avec toi.

Quand mes jambes ne me permettront plus de me déplacer comme auparavant, tends-moi la main comme je te l’ai tendue pour t’apprendre à faire tes premiers pas.

Quand ces jours approcheront, ne sois pas triste. Sois tout simplement avec moi et comprends-moi alors que je m’approche de la fin de ma vie, avec amour et gratitude.

Je te chéris et te remercie pour les moments passés ensemble et la joie éprouvée.

Avec un sourire et tout l’amour que je ressens pour toi, je souhaite juste te dire ma fille: je t’aime.

Auteur inconnu
Source : http://epanews.fr/profiles/blogs/lettre-a-ma-fille

P.S. Cette photo-choc me semble plus de l’ordre de la grand-mère et sa petite -fille que celle de mère-fille!

25 little things to give us (me) big smiles

Taken from THOUGHT CATALOG: 25 little things that give us big smiles:

1. Your coffee comes exactly as you like it, with the precisely right ratio of cream to sugar.

2. You make all the stop lights when you’re in a hurry.

3. You come back from the bathroom at a restaurant and your delicious meal is already at the table.

4. Waking up thinking you have to get up and go to work, but it’s a Saturday.

5. Having a truly problem-free flying experience.

6. Flicking through the channels on an otherwise boring night and a movie you love, but would never think to watch, is just starting.

7. Arriving at the subway station right on time to catch both your trains, original and transfer.

8. Driving through a crowded parking lot and finding yourself right behind someone in the first spot who is just leaving.

9. Waking up in the middle of the night and seeing it’s 3:00am and you still have a few hours to sleep.

10. Finding out they are bringing back one of your favorite cancelled TV shows.

11. Checking your bank account the morning after a long, crazy night out and discovering you only spent $30.

12. Finding money in your coat pocket from last year.

13. Snapping a good photograph of everyone in the picture on the first try.

14. Getting out of a traffic ticket.

15. Saying the exact retort you want, at the exact moment you want to say it, instead of thinking of it after. I call these “Drop the mic” moments.

16. A nice cashier says “I can take you over here” as you approach a long line at a register.

17. A song perfectly fitting your mood comes on the radio or your playlist.

18. Realizing you’ve thought of a truly perfect gift for someone.

19. Cooking a steak to a restaurant-perfect medium rare.

20. Realizing you’ve put together the absolute perfect outfit for an occasion.

21. That moment when, while hanging out with a new acquaintance, you both realize you’re actually going to be great friends.

22. Hitting a stride in a workout where you feel so good/strong that it feels like you could knock out John Cena.

23. Seeing that the weather is going to be absolute perfection for an outdoor event.

24. The moment of excitement after you’ve just booked a vacation to somewhere you’ve wanted to go for as long as you can remember.

25. Laughing so hard that you can’t catch your breath at something that is probably only funny to you and maybe one other person.

Cyrano n’aurait pas mieux dit…

On peut aimer ou ne pas aimer l’homme et /ou l’acteur il faut reconnaître que sa réponse au premier ministre, qui a traité son exil fiscal de minable, est cinglante et mériterait d’être encadrée.

Lettre de G.DEPARDIEU à J.M. AYRAULT/Premier ministre de la France.

Monsieur,

Vous êtes prof et bourge et je suis un titi,

Vous êtes un Nantais et je suis un nanti !

N’êtes-vous pas heureux en tant qu’homme de gauche

Qu’un titi puisse avoir quelque argent dans sa poche ?

De plus je l’ai gagné en toute honnêteté

Sans voler, sans frauder ni même spéculer.

J’ai reçu de par Dieu le talent de séduire

Et suis dès lors vendeur d’émotion et de rire,

Ce dont vous ne pouvez qu’assez peu vous vanter :

Car lorsque je vous vois paraître à la télé

Jean ai Marc d’un Ayrault fatigué et sinistre

Dont on m’a assuré qu’il est 1er Ministre !

J’aime l’amour, la vie et le jus de la treille,

Mon casier n’est en plus chargé que de bouteilles….

J’ai donc sans coup férir du jour au lendemain

Fait ma niche fiscale en mon nid de Néchain.

J’aime mieux exporter les kilos que je pèse

Que de risquer en France une mauvaise Grèce !

Votre sécurité qu’on appelle sociale

Ne soigne pas encore les hernies fiscales,

Je vais donc me soigner, disons à moindre frais,

En buvant du pot belge au lieu d’impôts français.

Je reviendrai en France un beau jour, quand le fisc

Ne me dira plus simplement : je confisque

Mais qu’il respectera le travail que j’ai fait

Pour concourir un peu au bonheur des français.

Pour n’être point taxé… d’être un inter – « minable »

J’arrête ici les frais, car ils sont impayables !

Gérard Depardieu

P.S.  Quel est le véritable héros de cette histoire?  Bon… mauvais jeu de mot, mais irrésistible.

Sir Winston: a lesson for life

Never Give Up

Sir Winston Churchill took three years getting through eighth grade because he had trouble learning English. It seems ironic that years later Oxford University asked him to address its commencement exercises.

He arrived with his usual props. A cigar, a cane and a top hat accompanied Churchill wherever he went. As Churchill approached the podium, the crowd rose in appreciative applause. With unmatched dignity, he settled the crowd and stood confident before his admirers. Removing the cigar and carefully placing the top hat on the podium, Churchill gazed at his waiting audience. Authority rang in Churchill’s voice as he shouted, “Never give up!”

Several seconds passed before he rose to his toes and repeated: “Never give up!” His words thundered in their ears. There was a deafening silence as Churchill reached for his hat and cigar, steadied himself with his cane and left the platform. His commencement address was finished.

Les nouvelles bises…

Why I love Pinterest?

It’s my playground.

In real life, I don’t play… I work, read, study, cook, drive, sleep, walk, travel.  But I don’t play perse.  Golf, tennis, cards, name it:  I just don’t do play.  BUT…  I Pinterest.  That’s my way of playing.  So, for those of my friends who wonder why, here are a few reasons stated by Blogging Social Media.

When it comes to social networks, Pinterest is the baby of the bunch. But this baby has matured more quickly than any other social network before it, quickly climbing the ranks and earning it a spot as the third more popular social network.

Even though Pinterest is new, it still contains a great deal of fun and exciting information. The following are 33 fun facts about Pinterest.

1.     Pinterest was launched in 2010 by Ben Silberman, Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra.

2.     Over 68% of all Pinterest users are female.

3.     50% of Pinterest users have children.

4.     The average Pinterest user has a household income over $100,000.

5.     Pinterest has more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined.

6.     Pinterest sees 1.36 million visitors every day.

7.     The main demographic of Pinterest users range between the ages of 25 and 34, followed closely by those who are aged 35 to 44.

8.     Over 80% of all Pinterest pins come from repins.

9.     The average user will spend just over 15 minutes on Pinterest per visit.

10. 97% of those who “like” Pinterest on Facebook are women.

11. It is found that Pinterest pins that contain pricing are repinned more often than those that don’t.

12. The number of Pinterest users who access the site per day has increased by 145% since January 1, 2012.

13. When a person shops from Pinterest, they spend twice as much money as they do while shopping from Facebook.

14. The average order amount placed through Pinterest is $80.

15. The most popular pin categories are crafts, recipes and quotes.

16. Pinterest reached 10 million users in 1/3 of the time it took Twitter to do the same.

17. Pinterest is the 16th most visited website in the United States.

18. 85% of all Pinterest users have gone to college.

19. Pinterest influenced 10% of online sales.

20. Most Pinterest users live in the Midwest.

21. Over 1/5 of Facebook users are on Pinterest.

22. Etsy is the top corporate board on Pinterest.

23. Pinterest was not expecting to become so popular so quickly, and in January 2011, the iPhone app crashed because it couldn’t handle the traffic.

24. Pinterest is engaging users 2-3 times more than Twitter.

25. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is on Pinterest.

26. 20% of people who are connected to Pinterest through Facebook access the site every day.

27. Websites can block their content and their images from being pinned to Pinterest.

28. 57% of Pinterest users search for recipes.

29. The average US Pinterest user follows an average of 9 retailers on Pinterest.

30. 25% of Fortune Global 100 companies are on Pinterest.

31. The majority of Pinterest users in the US are female; the majority of Pinterest users in the UK are male.

32. If a company finds that their images have been placed on Pinterest and they don’t want them there, they can contact Pinterest and have them removed.

33. Pinterest won two awards at the 2012 Webby Awards: best social media app and people’s voice award.