Did you know? The Library of Congress, located in Washington D.C., is the world’ biggest library with nearly 110 million items in almost every language and format stored on 532 miles of bookshelves. Its collections constitute the world’s most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge. Founded in 1800 to serve the reference needs of Congress, the library has grown from an original collection of 6,487 books to a current accumulation of more than 16 million books and more than 120 million other items and collections, from ancient Chinese wood-block prints to compact discs.
Did you know?
The Library of Congress, located in Washington D.C., is the world’ biggest library with nearly 110 million items in almost every language and format stored on 532 miles of bookshelves. Its collections constitute the world’s most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge. Founded in 1800 to serve the reference needs of Congress, the library has grown from an original collection of 6,487 books to a current accumulation of more than 16 million books and more than 120 million other items and collections, from ancient Chinese wood-block prints to compact discs.
The library’s extensive collections include books, serials, and pamphlets on every subject, in a multitude of languages, and in various formats, including map, photograph, manuscript, motion picture, and sound recording. Among them are the most comprehensive collections of Chinese, Japanese, and Russian language books outside Asia and the former Soviet Union; volumes related to science and to U.S. and foreign law; the world’s largest collection of published aeronautical literature, and many more.
Facebook declares:
LOL is over
The use of LOL, the acronym of Laugh Out Loud, is waning and being replaced by “haha” and emoji, according to a study into “e-laughing” conducted by Facebook.
An analysis of posts in May found that even “hehe” is more common than LOL.
Just 1.9 per cent of posts featured LOL, compared with 51.4 per cent for “haha”. Emojis featured in 33.7 per cent of posts and
“hehe” came in third place with 13.1 per cent.
The study focused on Facebook posts and did not include direct messages, where users would be more likely to “e-laugh”.
The analysis found that men and women used different modes to convey amusement.
Men tended to use more “haha” and “hehe”, while women tended to prefer emoji. Location also played a part.
Traffic solution provider
The first ever traffic lights were unveiled in London in the late 19th century, and was placed outside the Houses of Parliament.
Non-electric and gas-operated, police officers had to work the lights by hand in a bid to control vehicles crossing on nearby Bridge Street, Great George Street and Parliament Street.
The project was short-lived after an explosion in 1869 when a leak in gas lines passing under the device exploded, and seriously injured the police officer operating the lights.
More than thirty years later, an American enjoyed greater success with some electronic lights that focused on a similar - and now internationally recognizable - system of red and green lights.
It has been speculated that local authorities were reluctant to invest in a man-powered set of traffic signals because it would require cities to hire someone to staff it all day - whereas, the emergent electric lights seemed far cheaper in comparison.
In 1920, bells were added to traffic light systems to alert motorists when the lights were about to change - they were later replaced with the amber light, now seen on all traffic light systems today.
Compiled by Maria Shirazi
