Interesting Facts About Phoenix Bird

• The phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection and life after death. In ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology, it is associated with the sun god.

• According to the Greeks, the bird lives in Arabia, near a cool well. Every morning at dawn, the sun god would stop his chariot to listen to the bird sing a beautiful song while it bathed in the well.

• Only one phoenix exists at a time. When the bird felt its death was near, every 500 to 1,461 years, it would build a nest of aromatic wood and set it on fire. The bird then was consumed by the flames.

• The phoenix never existed. It was a large bird, much like an eagle, written about in Greek mythology and based on ancient Egyptian legends.

• Only one phoenix was said to have lived at a time. This gold and red bird, always a male, lived in Arabia. Each phoenix lived for exactly 500 years, and when it was about to die, it gathered twigs and spices and built a nest. Then the phoenix sat on the nest and waited patiently for a ray of sun to set the nest on fire.

• The bird never tried to escape its fiery death, for from its ashes a worm would come crawling out. This worm became a new, beautiful little phoenix, who immediately set to work gathering its father's ashes into a ball of incense.

• The phoenix then flew with these ashes to the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, and buried the ashes in the temple of the sun god. Then it flew back to Arabia to live for 500 years, when the cycle would be repeated.

• Because of the phoenix's rebirth from its own ashes, it became a symbol of immortality. Even today, a person who makes a comeback after suffering a great defeat is called a "phoenix."

• Some myths claim that each phoenix lived, not for 500 years, but for 97,200 years!

• Due to the legend attached to the Phoenix bird, it makes for a good example for anything to with survival, strength, patience, and to a large extent, even victory in popular culture. It has been an important character in many modern and ancient legends. In the US, it is prominently seen on the flag of County and City of San Francisco. It is also seen in the flag and seal of the City of Atlanta.

Ancient Phoenix of Egypt (Benu, Bennu):

• The ancient Egyptians linked the myth of the phoenix with the longings for immortality that were so strong in their civilization, and from there its symbolism spread around the Mediterranean world of late antiquity. The Bennu bird was usually depicted as a heron. Archaeologists have found the remains of a much larger heron that lived in the Persian Gulf area 5,000 years ago. The Egyptians may have seen this large bird only as an extremely rare visitor or possibly heard tales of it from travelers who had trading expeditions to the Arabian Seas.

• It had a two long feathers on the crest of it's head and was often crowned with the Atef crown of Osiris (the White Crown with two ostrich plumes on either side) or with the disk of the sun.

• The Bennu was the sacred bird of Heliopolis. Bennu probably derives from the word weben, meaning "rise" or "shine." The Bennu was associated with the sun and represented the ba or soul of the sun god, Re. In the Late Period, the hieroglyph of the bird was used to represent this deity directly. As a symbol of the rising and setting sun, the Benu was also the lord of the royal jubilee.

• This Egyptian phoenix was also associated with the inundation of the Nile and of the creation. Standing alone on isolated rocks of islands of high ground during the floods the heron represented the first life to appear on the primeval mound which rose from the watery chaos at the first creation. This mound was called the ben-ben. It was the Bennu bird's cry at the creation of the world that marked the beginning of time. The bennu thus was the got of time and its divisions -- hours, day, night, weeks and years.

• The Bennu was considered a manifestation of the resurrected Osiris and the bird was often shown perched in his sacred willow tree.

• At the close of the first century Clement of Rome became the first Christian to interpret the myth of the phoenix as an allegory of the resurrection and of life after death. The phoenix was also compared to undying Rome, and it appears on the coinage of the late Roman Empire as a symbol of the Eternal City.

Arabian Pheonix:

• The Arabian phoenix was a fabulous mythical bird, said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Making it's home near a cool well, the Phoenix would appear at dawn every morning to sing a song so enchanting that even the great sun god Apollo would stop to listen.

• It was said that only one phoenix existed at any one time, and it is very long-lived with a life span of 500 years, 540 years, 1000 years, 1461 years or even 12,994 years (according to various accounts). As the end of its life approached, the phoenix would build a pyre nest of aromatic branches and spices such as myrrh, sets it on fire, and is consumed in the flames. After three days the birth -- or as some legends say a rebirth -- the phoenix arises from the ashes. According to some sources, the phoenix arose from the midst of the flames.

• The young phoenix gathers the ashes of its predecessor into an egg of myrrh and takes it to Heliopolis, the city of the sun, to deposit it on the alter of the sun god.

• A symbolic representation of the Death and rebirth of the sun. It is also described as being either eagle like or heron like. It lives on dew, killing nothing and crushing nothing that it touches. Generally considered the king of birds. It has alternatively been called the bird of the sun, of Assyria, of Arabia, of the Ganges, the long-lived bird and the Egyptian bird. The earliest reference to the Phoenix was made by Hesiod in the 8th century B.C., but the most detailed account is by Herodotus of Halicarnassus, the famous Greek historian in 5th century B.C.

Chinese Phoenix (Feng Huang)

• In Chinese mythology, the phoenix is the symbol of high virtue and grace, of power and prosperity. It represents the union of yin and yang. It was thought to be a gentle creature, alighting so gently that it crushed nothing, and eating only dewdrops.

• It symbolized the Empress usually in a pairing with a dragon (the dragon representing the Emperor), and only Empress could wear the phoenix symbol. The phoenix represented power sent from the heavens to the Empress.

• If a phoenix was used to decorate a house it symbolized that loyalty and honesty was in the people that lived there. Jewelry with the phoenix design showed that the wearer was a person of high moral values, and so the phoenix could only be worn by people of great importance. The Chinese phoenix was thought to have the beak of a cock, the face of a swallow, the neck of a snake, the breast of a goose, the back of a tortoise, hindquarters of a stag and the tail of a fish.

• A common depiction of the Feng Huang was of it attacking snakes with its talons and its wings spread. In fact images of the phoenix have appeared throughout China for well over 7000 years. Often in jade and originally on good-luck totems. Although during the Han period (2200 years ago) the phoenix was used as a symbol depicting the direction south shown as a male and female phoenix facing each other. It carried two scrolls in its bill, and its song included the five whole notes of the Chinese scale (I don't exactly know how it could sing with its mouth full). Its feathers were of the five fundamental colors: black, white, red, green, and yellow and was said to represent the Confucian virtues of loyalty, honesty, decorum and justice. Depictions of the phoenix were placed on tomes and graves.

Japanese Phoenix (Hou-Ou/Ho-Oo)

• The Ho-Oo is the Japanese phoenix, the Ho being the male bird and the Oo being the female. Introduced to Japan in the Asuka period (mid 6th to mid 7th century AD) The Hou-Ou greatly resembles the Chinese Phoenix the Feng-Huang in looks.

• The Ho-Oo is often depicted as nesting in a paulownia tree and was thought to only appear at the birth of a virtuous ruler and was said to mark a new era by decending from the heavens to do good deeds for people only to return to its celestial abode to await a new era. In other traditions, the Hou-ou apears only in peaceful and prosperous times -- which are rare indeed.

• The Ho-Oo has been adopted as a symbol of the royal family, particularly the empress. It is supposed to represent the sun, justice, fidelity and obedience. It was used in a wide veriety of items including mirrors, lacquerware, textiles and chests.

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Interesting Facts About Sugar

• sugar was one of the first pharmaceutical ingredients used, as it still is today, to mask the bitter taste of medicines

• In 1899, the very first carton was used to pack sugar? This revolutionized the sugar business, greatly improving upon the crude wooden barrels from which sugar was originally scooped for customers.

• In the late 16th Century, a mere teaspoon of sugar cost the equivalent of five dollars in London

• Sugar is the only taste humans are born craving

• A can of Coke has 39 grams of sugar and a can of Pepsi has 41 grams of sugar. That is about seven teaspoons or 13 lumps of sugar per can!

• Lemons contain more sugar than Strawberries.

• When the sun explodes, it will compress itself and become so dense that a piece of it the size of a sugar cube will weigh the equivalent of 1 ton.

• The trick to curing hiccups is to get the nerves that regulate breathing synchronized by taking a teaspoon of granulated sugar.

• Sugar hardens asphalt. It slows the setting of ready-mixed concrete and glue.

• Sugar is used in leather tanning, printers' inks and dyes and even in textile sizing and finishing

• Chemical manufacturers use sugar to grow penicillin.

• 'Sure' and 'Sugar' are the only two words in the English language that are spelt 'su' and pronounced 'sh'

• Some people believe that dry swallowing 1 teaspoon of sugar can cure the hiccups.

• Sugar is 100% natural with no fat.

• Sugar is one of the oldest cooking ingredients, dating back to 326 BC.

• Sugar cane was introduced to the New World in 1493 by Christopher Columbus.

• In 2001, scientists discovered sugar in outer space.

• Before 1899, sugar was crudely sold from barrels. The sugar industry was revolutionized when it was first packed in cartons.

• Sugar has many uses outside of the kitchen: it's one of the most important components of medicine, it's used to slow down the setting of cement, it plays a role in leather tanning and paper dying, and prolongs the life of fresh cut flowers.

• sugar contains no additives or preservatives

• one teaspoon of sugar contains only 15 calories

• refined sugar is better for you than raw sugar

• In the 1500s, the cost of a teaspoon of sugar was equivalent to $5

• sugar makes a good preservative

• A grain of sugar under the microscope is a translucent crystal, reflecting light from its 14 facets like a jewel

• Candy Bar has the same amount of sugar as 10 apples.

• The average American consumes 175 pounds of sugar per year. That is 300,000 calories per year, 800 calories per day.

• Fruit drinks, fruit beverages, fruit punch contain anywhere from 1-40% of fruit juice but also contain loads of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.Whether fresh squeezed or store-bought an 8 ounce glass of juice has 8 teaspoons of sugar.

• Sugar creates the demand for more sugar, which raises insulin levels. This signals the body to store fat.

• Sugar can even feed cancer cells.

• Sugars also trigger a mineral imbalance in the body. For example, chromium and zinc are often depleted when largeamounts of sugar are consumed.Depleted zinc makes your tastebuds become dull.

• Sucrose, dextrose, fructose, lactose, dextrin, maltose, monosaccharides,disaccharides and syrup are the other names of sugar

• Look at labels, even if it say NO Sugar, it still may have these other types of sugars.

• Sugar is also in canned vegetables, ketchup, salad dressing (tomato sauce cannot be sold as “catsup” if not sugared). That is why fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables are the best for you to eat.

• fruits are high in sugar. However, the best way to consume fruits without affecting your insulin level is to consume them in whole form, with skin on.

• Honey is the Substitute for Sugar.

• Stevia is also a great substitute for sugar. It does not affect insulin levels. It can be found in most health food stores.

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Interesting Facts About Swimming

• Swimming started in the 1st century.

• Over 50% of world-class swimmers suffer from shoulder pain.

• Swimming has been a part of the Olympics since 1896.

• Some people think swimming started when a person fell into the water and panicking, he started to swim in a way we call today dog paddle.

• Egyptians made a picture or symbol for swimming as far back as 2500 A.

• Peanuts are a source of energy for swimmers.

• Drags slow you down in swimming because they are not skin tight.

• The shorter your hair is the more chance you have for swimming faster because there is less friction.

• Swimming can be done for competition and it is helpful in survival.
  

• An hour of vigorous swimming will burn up to 650 calories. It burns off more calories than walking or biking.

• Swimming strengthens the heart and lungs

• Swimming works out all of the body’s major muscles

• Swimming help reduce stress

• Water’s buoyancy make swimming the ideal exercise for physical therapy and rehabilitation or for anyone seeking a low-impact exercise.

• Swimming is a great cardiovascular exercise because you are moving against the water’s resistance, which is over ten times that of the air.

• You can swim for exercise no matter what your age. Some people teach their infants and toddlers how to swim so that they will learn to love and respect the water at a very early age. I also know people well into their eighties who swim regularly to stay in shape.

• An estimated 65 thousand people in the United States alone do not know how to swim. Many of them learned as young children but never go to a pool, lake, river, or ocean anymore and have forgotten how to swim over the years. Others were never taught and continue to avoid the activity altogether. It was once thought that knowing how to swim was important for safety reasons, but now it is pretty much left up to the individual.

• Swimming in extremely cold water can be very dangerous. People with heart conditions or other ailments, as well as elderly people, should avoid swimming in water that is too cold. Cold water cools down the human body 25 times faster that cold air does, so swimming in water that is below about 15 degrees Celsius should never be undertaken. This can lead to thermal shock, hypothermia, and eventual death.

• Swimming is also a very safe form of exercise because it is considered to be low impact and easy on the bones and joints. You can do exercises in the water using floats and weights and enjoy a good workout without worrying about serious injury. This is especially true if you have arthritis or other types of physical limitations.

• It really is true that you shouldn't swim for about an hour after eating. This is primarily because your body is digesting your food and you may get a cramp during the time right after you eat. Allow your body to rest after eating and then go into the water.

• Swimming is a good way to lose weight. This form of exercise will stimulate your entire body and could lead to an increase in metabolism over time. If you are trying to lose weight, swim for at least twenty minutes three or four times each week.

• Going swimming is very relaxing and has been compared to yoga and meditation in terms of its soothing effect on the mind and body.

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