2. Romanian Culture
1. Food Habits - Romanians eat three times a day and dinner is typically their
biggest meal. They are used to eating very late at night, so ordering food after
10:00 p.m. in a restaurant is not uncommon. Romanians love dinner parties
and they will use every opportunity to gather some friends around their table.
If they invite you for dinner.
2. Punctuality - In Romania, punctuality is considered a strength when doing
business, but when invited to a party time seems to have a totally different
meaning. If you are told the party is at 7 you are not expected to show up
exactly at 7 sharp. So if you are told 7 o’clock, you should plan on arriving
more towards 7:30.
3. Meeting and Greeting - When greeting a stranger, Romanians may seem
formal and reserved, but when they meet with friends will kiss and hug each
other. It is not unusual to see a man kissing a woman’s hand when they meet.
Compared to the Western Europeans, Romanians are very talkative and
3. 1960 Valdivia earthquake
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake which happened on
22 May is the most powerful earthquake ever
recorded. Many studies have placed it at 9.4 - 9.6
on the moment magnitude scale. It occurred in the
afternoon at 15:11 local time and lasted
approximately 10 minutes. The epicenter of the
earthquake was near Lumaco (570 km from
Santiago). It has been estimated that about 40
percent of the houses in Valdivia were destroyed,
leaving 20,000 people homeless. The most
affected structures were those built of concrete,
which in some cases collapsed completely due to
lack of earthquake engineering.
4. Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, 2 miles (3
km) west of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury.
Stonehenge's ring of standing stones are set within earthworks in the
middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age
monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.
Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The
surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest
phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon
dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and
2200 BC.
One of the major mysteries of Stonehenge was how it was built.
The first stones, the bluestones were sourced from the only place in the
UK where such stone exists. In Wales, nearly 200 hundred miles away.
The common theory is that these stones were transported largely by
water to within a couple of miles of Stonehenge.
5. Torture Museum, Amsterdam
The Torture Museum, Amsterdam is a small
museum located in the heart of Amsterdam, near
the flower market (Bloemenmarkt) overlooking the
Singel canal. Included in the list of the world's
most unusual museums. It is a popular museum
for tourists. The torture museum is one of the 50
museums in Amsterdam. A second museum
related to the subject of torture in Amsterdam is
the Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments. This
second museum has a different layout and is
located in Damrak 33, close to the centraal station.
The 2 museums are not connected.
6. Romanichthys valsanicola
Romanichthys valsanicola is the scientific name of the fish
known as the sculpin-perch, asprete, or Romanian darter, the
only member of the genus Romanichthys of the fish family
Percidae.
This fish was scientifically discovered and described in
1957 by the Romanian scientists M. Dumitrescu, P.
Bănărescu and N. Stoica. Local names include: asprete,
poprete, sforete. Endemic to a very restricted area in
southern Romania, it was found in the upper reach of the
Argeş river and in two of its tributaries: Râul Doamnei and
Vâlsan. Due to hydrotechnical constructions and
deterioration of its habitat, it survived only in the tributary
Vâlsan.
7. Natural Cold & Flu Remedies
1. Drink Up!
Get plenty of fluids. It helps break up your congestion,
makes your throat moist, and keeps you from getting
dehydrated.
Try water, sports drinks, herbal teas, fruit drinks, or ginger
ale. Your mother's chicken soup might help, too!
2. Make It Steamy!
You can loosen up your stuffy nose if you breathe in some
steam. Hold your head over a pot of boiling water and
breathe slowly through your nose. But be careful. Don't let
the heat burn your nose.
3. Blow Your Nose!
Press a finger over one nostril while you blow gently to clear
8. Gregorio Cortez
Gregorio Cortez Lira was a Mexican American tenant farmer in the
American Old West who became a folk hero to Mexicans living in
South Texas. Like many folk heroes who have acquired legendary
status, many of the facts about his life have been obscured by
time, embellishments, and the variation inherent in oral histories.
According to legend, he was an excellent marksman and had a
way with animals that allowed him to track and find them with
uncommon aplomb, qualities which alleged to have helped him
evade law enforcement. Legends also say that his many narrow
escapes, his humiliation of the Texas Rangers, and his
impassioned courtroom pleas to simply be tried by the law of the
land rather than prejudicially because of racist attitudes to evade
authorities as well as his impassioned words in court.
9. Shanghai Maglev
The Shanghai Maglev Train or Shanghai Transrapid is a magnetic
levitation train, or maglev line that operates in Shanghai, China. The line is
the first commercially operated high-speed magnetic levitation line in the
world.
The top operational commercial speed of this train is 431 km/h , making
it the world's fastest train in regular commercial service since its opening
in April 2004. The Shanghai Maglev has a length of 153 metres , a width of
3.7 metres , a height of 4.2 metres and a three-class, 574-passenger
configuration.
The train line was designed to connect Shanghai Pudong International
Airport and the outskirts of central Pudong. It cost $1.2 billion to build.
