According to Giving USA Foundation 76% of charitable giving in 2005 was by Individuals. Foundations gave 11.5%, Bequests 6.7% and Corporations a measly 5.3%.
More interesting Charitable Giving stats here:
The sounds of English consist of some 48 different phonemes which are required to pronounce English with an RP accent.
What is that, you may ask?
RP, or Received Pronunciation, is a standard accepted accent. Although only spoken by a very small proportion of the population, perhaps as small as 3%, it has great prestige and therefore a significant number of people either aspire towards it or their speech approximates towards it.
http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language/08sounds/08sounds.html
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Hitler Speaks
Interesting documentary on Hitler’s home movies. “Now, leading edge lip reading software has enabled German experts to re-voice these films and provide us with a chilling insight into Hitlers private world.”
One thing revealed in the documentary that I did not know was the fact that there were no recordings of Hitler’s normal speaking voice until the discovery of a secret recording of Hitler speaking with the king of Finland. This is the only recording of his normal speaking voice, all others are his public speaking rants.
Here’s an interesting idea, miniature sculptures out of crayons. I’d like to see how this is accomplished.
http://diemchau.com/storytelling/index.html?0
Most believe it’s the MSG(Monosodium glutamate), a food additive to enhance flavor. Seems to stimulate the taste buds and send the saliva glands into overdrive. Also this MSG is a sodium, what salty treat doesn’t make your thirsty? Another idea is that there’s a lot of rice, which absorbs moisture. Anyone else have any conclusive facts about this?
Here’s a really interesting online game. I guess he couldn’t call it “Spiderman,” but that’s what it really reminds me of.
Okay already, not sure if anybody is really reading this, but I’m going to try to do better. Just got really busy! Hey, somebody make a comment or two!
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Thanksgiving nuggets
In Lincoln’s original declaration of the last Thursday in November as a National holiday, he designated it as a “Day of Thanksgiving and Praise.”
In 1939, FDR changed Thanksgiving to the next to last Thursday. Roosevelt hoped that the lengthened Christmas shopping season would lift the nation out of it’s economic slump. The declaration was not compulsory and only about half the states went along with his recommendation.
In 1941, Congress voted that Thanksgiving would occur annually on the fourth Thursday in November.
According to author David Hackett Fischer, in his book Washingtons Crossing
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South Carolina Barbecue’s birthplace?
Author John Waldrop contends that South Carolina is the birthplace of American barbecue. In 1539, the Spanish introduced pigs to North America. Indians, in turn, introduced the Europeans to a method of true slow cooking with lots of smoke.
