Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 20, 1967 while her Australian parents were temporarily in the United States on educational visas. As a result Kidman can claim citizenship in Australia and the United States.

  Nicole Kidman 2015 photo by Siebbi Wikipedia Commons

                 
Nicole's father, Antony David Kidman (1938-2014) was a biochemist, clinical psychologist, and author. Her mother, Janelle Ann (née Glenny), is a nursing instructor who edits her husband's books and was a member of the Women's Electoral Lobby.

At school her nickname was 'Stalk' - at 13 she was already 5.9 inches. At 5'11" Kidman is taller than most actresses.

Kidman's first movie was in 1983. It was called BMX Bandits.

When in 1984, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, Kidman halted her acting work temporarily while she studied massage so she could help her mother with physical therapy. Kidman found she enjoyed doing massage work, and soon made money to support the family that way.

Her first major movie was Days of Thunder, (1990) which also starred Tom Cruise. They fell in love during the filming of that movie. The pair were married on December 24, 1990 in Telluride, Colorado.

Nicole Kidman's necklace in the 2001 movie Moulin Rouge contained 1,308 diamonds. It was the most expensive piece of jewelry ever made for a film.

It was rumored that their marriage was just a cover for Cruise being a homosexual. A porn star named Chad Slater kick-started the rumors, but was later sued by the actor and ordered to pay $10 million.

On February 5, 2001, Kidman and Cruise's spokesperson announced their separation. The marriage was dissolved in August of that year, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences.

While playing Virginia Woolf in 2002's The Hours, Kidman was fitted with a prosthetic nose – and quickly found that if she wore it off-set she could dodge the paparazzi trailing her over her divorce from Tom Cruise.

Kidman won the Best Actress Academy Award for The Hours. She was the first Australian to win the Best Actress Oscar.

In late 2004, Buz Luhrmann directed the world's most expensive advertisement for Chanel No 5 co-starring Kidman. The commercial, about a fairy-tale romance in which Chanel is part of the story but is not what the story is about, cost £18 million and made Kidman a Guinness World Record holder for highest paid actress in a commercial (she netted $3.71 million)

Kidman is terrified of butterflies and allergic to strawberries.

Kidman at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. By Georges Biard, wikipedia Commons

On the set of 2008's Australia, Kidman noticed a scorpion crawling up her co-star Hugh Jackman leg. Kidtman calmly scooped the offending beast into a hat and threw it into the woods.

Kidman has professed love for the works of the poet Philip Larkin, whose famous poems include This Be The Verse, a deeply cynical view of modern marriages and parenting.

Nicole Kidman's party trick is a pitch-perfect impression of Tweetie Pie from the Loony Tunes cartoons.

Khaki

Khaki is a Hindustani word meaning "dust" that is used for a color, a light shade of yellow-brown.

Khaki has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms, including camouflage. They
were first used during the 1857-8 Indian Mutiny when an irregular corps of Guides raised at Meerut adopted the color to protect themselves against native snipers. The soldiers dyed their white drill with curry powder or the mud and dust (khak) and became appropriately known as "the Khaki (dust) Squadron."

The British Army subsequently adopted khaki for colonial campaign dress as it was good for camouflage and it was used in the Mahdist War (1884-1889) and Second Boer War (1899–1902).

After victory in Second Boer War the British government called an election, which became known as the khaki election. The term has subsequently been used for elections called to exploit public approval of governments immediately after victories.

The United States Army adopted khaki during the 1898 Spanish American War.

                                           
In Western fashion, khaki is a standard color for smart casual dress trousers for civilians, which are also often called khakis.

Source Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999

Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook was born on January 25, 1981, in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City, New York. She is known professionally as Alicia Keys.

Keys at the 2013 ARIA Music Awards.

She is the only child of Teresa Augello, a paralegal and part-time actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant. Her mother is of half Italian and half English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry, and her father is of African American ancestry.

Keys made her television debut at the age of four, guesting on the Cosby Show in a cameo role as a sleepover friend of daughter Rudy Huxtable.

She started songwriting at the age of 7 after friends of her mom gave away to them their 1930s upright piano.

She has been good friends with R&B singer Usher since the age of 14.

Keys graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School in New York City when she was 16. She graduated at the top of her class, earning the valedictorian title.

She signed with Columbia Records right out of high school and was accepted into Columbia University at the same time. A month after signing with the label, Keys left college to focus on her musical career.

Keys was with Columbia Records for four years before she released an album. Her first single "Fallin'" went to #1 in the US.

Keys learnt to shoot a gun in the 2006 movie Smokin' Aces and is now a dab hand with a firearm. She played a lesbian assassin.

She played June Boatwright in the 2008 movie The Secret Life of Bees. Keys had to learn to play the cello in just four weeks for her role, which earned her a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards.

Her performance of the "Star-Spangled Banner" at the 2013 Super Bowl was the longest on record. Keys' version of the song clocked in at 2:40, because not only did she perform a liltingly slow version of the song, but she also added her own riff at the end, making last longer than any other.

Sources News of the World, Artistfacts

Keyboard (computer)

The 'Backspace' button is the third most used on your average keyboard. Just behind 'e' and the spacebar.

In 2013, Bill Gates admitted that the Ctrl+Alt+Delete command was a mistake, and should have been a single button.

At any given second, the space bar on a computer or phone keyboard is being pressed six million times.

Though most people are right-handed, but when using a computer keyboard, on average, our left hands are responsible for 56 per cent of the keystrokes.

                                              Featured image: Keyboard. CC0 via Pixabay.

The longest "left handed" words on a keyboard are "aftercataracts" and "tesseradecades."

The "@" sign was very close to being eliminated from the standard keyboard until 1971, when Ray Tomlinson wrote it into the code used to send the first email.

The "#" symbol on the keyboard is called an octothorpe.

The average keyboard contains 3,295 microbes per square inch.

Every 10,000 words typed by a user on a QWERTY keyboard is equivalent to their fingers having traveled 1 mile.

Standard QWERTY keyboards are used in China. Chinese users are familiar with the sounds that Latin letters make, and they type in the way their characters sound when spoken out loud. Software then translates the sound they typed into a Chinese character.

Every second, spacebars on keyboards around the world are hit about six million times.

Kettle

Non-electric kettles date back thousands of years but would leave you waiting ages for your brew. In Ancient China, kettles were typically made of iron and were placed directly over an open flame.

The 1784 'Kettle War' between the Netherlands and Holy Roman Empire involved a single shot. It hit a kettle.

The Carpenter Electric Company developed the first electric kettle in Chicago in 1891. Two years later the English Crompton and Co. firm started featuring electric kettles in their catalog. These early kettles took twelve minutes to heat the water because the element was in a separate chamber under the water, maintaining the 'fire under the water' layout of traditional boiling vessels.

The first electric kettles were a strictly functional object and were seldom seen outside the kitchen, being regarded as a supplementary appliance to the electric cooker. The separation of water from the element made the kettle inefficient and expensive to run.

                                                  Featured image: Kettle . CC0 via Pixabay.

The automatic kettle – one that switches itself off when the water reaches boiling point – was the brainchild of Peter Hobbs, one of the two founders of appliance company Russell Hobbs. Launched in 1955, it used a controlled jet of steam from the boiling water to cut the power supply via a fast-acting bimetallic strip.

England experiences large spikes in power demand during half-time at football matches on TV due to widespread use of electric kettles.

Ketchup

Ketchup, or catsup, originated in China in 1690 as a pickled fish sauce called "ke-tsiap". British sailors took Asian catsup or ketchup from Singapore to England but the British were unable to duplicate the recipe so they started substituting other ingredients, including ground mushrooms, walnuts and cucumbers. Later the first recipe for "tomato catsup" appeared.

By the mid 1830s, Tomato Ketchup was being sold in the United States as a patent medicine. It was called Dr. Miles's Compound Extract of Tomato.

Tomato ketchup was popular before fresh tomatoes were. People were less hesitant to eat tomatoes as part of a highly processed product that had been cooked and infused with vinegar and spices.

Charles Dickens was partial to "lamb chops breaded with plenty of ketchup".

In the 1870's New England colonists mixed tomatoes into the sauce creating the present day ketchup. It was F. & J. Heinz who launched in 1876 the first mass-produced and bottled tomato ketchup.

Heinz's ketchup was advertised as: "Blessed relief for Mother and the other women in the household!", a slogan which alluded to the lengthy and onerous process required to produce tomato ketchup in the home.

Heinz ketchup became so popular because Heinz invented a way to keep commercially produced ketchup red, which allowed him to package it in clear glass bottle and look more appealing. Before it, commercially produced ketchup was brown.

Henry Heinz putting his ketchup in clear glass bottles was uncommon at the time. Because of a lack of food safety standards. unethical companies used colored bottles to hide shoddy product.

Ronald Reagan attempted to consider Ketchup a vegetable to make up for budget cuts to school lunches.

Ketchup and catsup are the same thing—Heinz called his product ketchup to help it stand out from his competitors who were peddling catsup.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, coal tar was used in ketchup to make the sauce red.

The 57 on a Heinz ketchup bottle represents the varieties of pickle the company once had.

Over 650 million bottles of Heinz Tomato Ketchup are sold around the world each year, with annual sales of more than £1 billion.

Heinz sells two sachets of ketchup each year for every person on Earth.

97% of all U.S. homes have ketchup.

Banana ketchup is popular in the Philippines.

Heinz ketchup can't legally be called 'ketchup' in Israel because it doesn't contain enough tomato paste.

French schools are banned from serving ketchup with French foods.

Ed Sheeran has a ketchup bottle tattooed on his arm.

“Fancy Ketchup” is an actual legal designation of the highest grade of ketchup.

Ketchup barely goes bad. It is good two years past its expiration date. And then it can go a year in the fridge or a few months room temperature.

You only need to consume eight packets of ketchup per day to stave off scurvy.

Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce

Johannes Kepler

German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571, at the Free Imperial City of Weil der Stadt (50 miles west of Stuttgart). Johannes' father, Heinrich Kepler, earned a precarious living as a mercenary, and he left the family when Johannes was five years old. His mother Katharina Guldenmann, an inn-keeper's daughter, was a healer and herbalist.

Johannes was introduced to astronomy at an early age, and observed at the age of six the Great Comet of 1577.

Kepler attended Tübinger Stift at the University of Tübingen. There, he studied philosophy and theology. He proved himself to be a superb mathematician and earned a reputation as a skillful astrologer, casting horoscopes for fellow students.

Brought up in the Protestant faith, Kepler had desired to become a minister. However, near the end of his studies he was recommended for a position as teacher of mathematics and astronomy at the Protestant school in Graz. Kepler accepted the position in April 1594, at the age of 23.

Kepler first met the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe on February 4, 1600, at Benátky nad Jizerou (55 miles from Prague), the site where Brahe's new observatory was being constructed. Over the next two months he stayed as a guest, analyzing some of Tycho's observations of Mars.

Through most of 1601, Kepler was supported directly by Tycho, who assigned him to analyzing planetary observations.

Monument of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler in Prague

After Tycho's unexpected death on October 24, 1601, Kepler was appointed his successor as imperial mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II, with the responsibility to complete his unfinished work. His analysis of Tycho's observations of the planets led him to discover Kepler's laws.

Kepler's three laws of planetary motion provided evidence that the planets, including the Earth, orbit the Sun in an oval shape. The German astronomer showed that the orbits of the planets are elliptical rather than circular, and that a planet's speed varies at different stages of its orbit. Moreover, planetary motion follows music's template. For example, the ratio between Jupiter's maximum and Mars' minimum speed corresponds to a minor third; that between Earth and Venus to a minor sixth.

Kepler's first two laws were published in Astronomia nova (New Astronomy) in 1609. His third law, which he discovered on March 8, 1618, was outlined in Harmonice Mundi (Harmony of the Worlds) ten years later.

Geometrical harmonies in the perfect solids from Harmonices Mundi 

"Solar Sails" were first proposed by Kepler in 1608: “Provide ships or sails adapted to the heavenly breezes, and there will be some who will brave even that void.” The crowdfunded LightSail 2 is now sailing within low Earth orbit.

On October 17, 1604, Johannes Kepler observed an exceptionally bright star, now known as Kepler's Supernova, which had suddenly appeared in the constellation Ophiuchus. while working at the imperial court in Prague for Emperor Rudolf II. Kepler tracked the object for an entire year and in 1606 wrote a book on the subject, entitled De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii ("On the new star in Ophiuchus's foot".  Kepler's Supernova is the most recent supernova to have been unquestionably observed by the naked eye in the Milky Way.

In the first months of 1610, Kepler's contemporary, Galileo Galilei, using his powerful new telescope, discovered four satellites orbiting Jupiter. After hearing of Galileo's telescopic discoveries, Kepler started his own theoretical and experimental investigation of telescopic optics using a telescope borrowed from Duke Ernest of Cologne. The resulting manuscript, which helped to legitimize the telescopic discoveries of Galileo, was published as Dioptrice in 1611.

Kepler's Protestant faith was not affected  by his astronomical findings as he believed that the source of all power and light, the Sun is the very image of God. Kepler asserted that his discoveries "may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited 6,000 years for an observer."

Kepler famously said, "Science is thinking God's thoughts after him." This statement reflects Kepler's deep-seated belief that the universe is a reflection of God's nature and that human reason, as a gift from God, allows us to comprehend the workings of the cosmos. Kepler's scientific work was motivated by a desire to uncover the divine order underlying the universe, and he saw his astronomical discoveries as evidence of God's creativity and wisdom.

In 1615, when Kepler was at the very height of his scientific career, his mother, Katharina, was accused of witchcraft. Her initial defense relied on local lawyers, not Johannes and the trial dragged on for years, filled with delays and procedural complexities. In 1620, frustrated by the slow progress and concerned about his mother's well-being, Johannes took a more active role. He used his connections with scholars and scientists, gathering evidence that refuted the accusations against Katharina. Kepler wrote letters and petitions, arguing against the validity of the witchcraft charges and highlighting his mother's good character.  Ultimately, Katharina was acquitted in 1621 saved from sure execution at the stake. However, he died just six months later, possibly due to the stress and hardships of the ordeal.

In 1628, following the military successes of the Emperor Ferdinand's armies under General Wallenstein during the Thirty Years War, Kepler was appointed as an official adviser to Wallenstein. He provided astronomical calculations for Wallenstein's astrologers and occasionally wrote horoscopes himself.

Kepler died in the South East German city of Regensburg on November 15, 1630. His burial site there was lost after the Swedish army destroyed the churchyard. Only Kepler's self-authored poetic epitaph survived the times:

I measured the skies, now the shadows I measure
Skybound was the mind, earthbound the body rests.

Source The Observer Book of Space

Kenya

HISTORY OF KENYA

Cushitic-speaking people from northern Africa first moved into the area that is now Kenya around 2000 BC.

During the first millennium AD, Nilotic and Bantu peoples moved into the region, and the latter now comprises three-quarters of Kenya's population.

Arab traders began frequenting the Kenya coast around the first century AD. By the Eighth Century, Arab and Persian settlements had sprouted along the coast.

Vasco Da Gama and his crew were the first known Europeans to visit the Kenya port of Mombasa.They landed there on April 7, 1498, but were met with hostility and soon departed.

Vasco Da Gama

Vasco da Gama later stopped off in Malindi, a town at the mouth of the Galana River 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. He met Malindi authoritiesto sign a trade agreement and hired a guide for the voyage to India, when he erected a coral pillar. Da Gama was given a warm reception from Shiek of Malindi, which contrasted with hostile reception he encountered in Mombasa. The pillar stands to this day.

European settlers began establishing themselves as large-scale farmers in the Kenyan highlands in the early 1900s, taking lands from local tribes like the Kikuyu and Masai. In 1920, the British designated the interior of the region Kenya Colony and a coastal strip the Protectorate of Kenya.

The Kikuyu staged an armed revolt in the 1950s. Britain eventually put down the rebellion, but Kenya gained its independence on December 12, 1963.

Jomo Kenyatta was elected the first President of Kenya on December 12, 1964. Kenyatta was the leader of Kenya from independence in 1963 to his death in 1978, serving first as Prime Minister (1963–64) and then as President (1964–78). He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation.

FUN KENYA FACTS

The Republic of Kenya is named after Mount Kenya, the country's highest mountain and the second-highest in Africa, after Mount Kilimanjaro.

The town of Kericho in Kenya has more frequent hail than anywhere else on Earth, falling on an average of 132 days a year.

67 different languages are spoken in Kenya. English and Kiswahili are the official languages with the latter being the national language.

In Kenya, there is a Camel Mobile Library. Camels transport books from the Kenyan capital Nairobi to surrounding villages that are up to 248 miles away.

Kate Middleton and Prince William got engaged in a remote hut in Kenya, during a ten day trip to the country's Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.

Kenya is famous for its dominance in middle-distance and long-distance track and field, having consistently produced Olympic and Commonwealth Games champions. The country's best-known athletes include 800m world record holder David Rudisha, former Marathon world record-holder Paul Tergat.

In Kenya, one in three people lives below the poverty line on less than $2.4 (£2).

The average American consumes the same amount of resources as 32 Kenyans in a year.

Kenya is a coastal country, with a national shipping company, but not a single ship.

Source About.com

Kentucky Fried Chicken

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN HISTORY

Harland Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980), also known as Colonel Sanders, learned how to cook when his father died and he became responsible for his younger siblings.

Sanders at the age of seven, pictured with his mother

The 40-year-old Harland Sanders took over a Shell filling station on US Route 25 just outside North Corbin, Kentucky, a small town on the edge of the Appalachian Mountain in 1930. He started to serve to travelers the recipes that he had learned as a youngster including fried chicken, Seven years later, he expanded his restaurant to 142 seats, and added a motel he purchased across the street, naming it Sanders Court & Café.

Colonel Sanders finalized in July 1940 his Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe with a secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. Although he never publicly revealed the recipe, Sanders admitted to the use of salt and pepper.

Colonel Sanders' title of Colonel wasn't earned in recognition of a distinguished military career, rather he was a Kentucky Colonel, which is the highest title of honor commissioned by the Governor of Kentucky.

After being recommissioned as a Kentucky colonel in 1950 by Governor Lawrence Wetherby, Sanders began to dress the part, wearing a white suit, growing a goatee and referring to himself as "Colonel."

Colonel Sanders struck a deal his friend Pete Harman of South Salt Lake, Utah, the operator of one of the city's largest restaurants. to open the first KFC franchise. It opened for business in Salt Lake City in August 1952.

It was Don Anderson, a sign painter hired by Harman, who coined the name "Kentucky Fried Chicken."

Harman trademarked the phrase "It's finger lickin' good", which eventually became the company-wide slogan. He also introduced the "bucket meal" in 1957 ( larger portions of fried chicken served in a cardboard "bucket".)

Dave Thomas, the founder of the successful fast food chain, Wendy’s, worked at KFC prior to Wendy’s and ended up as a Regional Director in the 1960s. He was responsible for the red and white striped chicken bucket design.

When Kentucky Fried Chicken opened in China in the late 80s, the restaurant mistranslated its famous slogan "Finger-lickin' good" into Chinese as "Eat your fingers off."

FUN KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN FACTS

Kentucky Fried Chicken is known as KFC the world over apart from in the French speaking Canadian province of Quebec. The strict language laws there mean it operates as PFK – Poulet Frit Kentucky.

Colonel Sanders is often considered one of Kentucky's most notable people. However, it should be noted that he was born and raised in Indiana, not Kentucky.

Colonel Harland David Sanders Wikipedia Commons

Colonel Sanders once tried to claim the cost of his white suits as a tax deduction. The IRS disallowed this claim.

Sanders made surprise visits to KFC restaurants, and if the food disappointed him, he denounced it to the franchisee as "God-damned slop" or pushed it onto the floor. If the gravy was't tasty enough he would bang his cane on whatever furniture was available.

There was a romance novella set in medieval England  featuring Harland Sanders as the love interest. Tender Wings of Desire was published by KFC as a promotional stunt for Mother’s Day 2017. 

KFC was one of the first fast food franchises to move into Asian markets. However, the chain was forced to change its ‘finger-licking good,’ slogan in 2011 after it moved into China. The slogan was erroneously translated into Chinese as "eat your fingers off."

There are two Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in Japan that offer all-you-can-eat buffets—the Expo City location is home to a suit worn by the Colonel himself.

KFC, whose secret chicken recipe includes 11 herbs and spices, follows exactly 11 users on Twitter - six men named Herb and the five Spice Girls.

If we cooked every living chicken in the world, the chicken would fill enough Kentucky Fried Chicken 16-piece buckets to stack to the moon and back three times.

Kentucky Fried Chicken is the world's second largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 18,875 outlets in 118 countries and territories as of December 2013.

In Japan, it is a Christmas tradition to order KFC. This particular unusual festive practice dates back to the early 1970s when a customer at the chain’s Aoyama store observed that, in a land where it was difficult to get hold of the customary turkey for a celebratory dinner, fried chicken was the next best thing. The restaurant manager Takeshi Okawara had the idea to sell a Christmas "party barrel," inspired by the elaborate American turkey dinner, but with fried chicken instead of turkey. The KFC corporate offices got wind of the idea and the company started a huge advertising campaign in Japan called “Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!” (Kentucky for Christmas!) in 1974, which was ludicrously popular.

Takeshi Okawara was made the CEO of KFC Japan a decade later and held the role for almost two decades.

Source Todayifoundout.com

Kentucky

The name Kentucky is thought to be of Iroquois or Shawnee origin, perhaps a Wyandot (Iroquoian) word meaning "meadow."

Kentucky is known as the "Bluegrass State" because of a kind of grass that grows in many of its pastures whose flower heads are blue.

Kentucky's Inner Bluegrass region features hundreds of horse farms. By Peter Fitzgerald

Originally Virginia's westernmost county, Kentucky became the fifteenth state to join the Union on June 1, 1792. It was the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains. 

The state was admitted to the Union after a long and contentious process, as Virginia, from which Kentucky had seceded, was reluctant to lose its western territory. Kentucky's admission was also opposed by some in the U.S. Congress, who feared that it would upset the balance of power between slave and free states. However, Kentucky's supporters argued that the state's admission was necessary to promote western development and to strengthen the nation's defense. In the end, Congress voted to admit Kentucky, and the state became a member of the Union.

Kentucky's early history was shaped by its location on the frontier. The state was home to a variety of Native American tribes, including the Shawnee, Cherokee, and Chickasaw. The state was also a popular destination for settlers, who were drawn by its fertile land and its abundance of natural resources. 

While on a trip to New Orleans in 1852, Stephen Foster stopped in Kentucky to visit a cousin's house, called Federal Hill, near Bardstown. There, it is said, he wrote "My Old Kentucky Home." It became Kentucky's state song on March 19, 1928. The state maintains Federal Hill as a memorial to Foster.

The state played a significant role in the American Civil War. Kentucky remained officially neutral during the war, but its population was deeply divided. Soldiers from Kentucky served in both the Union and Confederate armies.

The small Kentucky town of Hodgenville, famous for being the birthplace of President Abraham Lincoln. hosts an annual Lincoln Days Celebration.

There is an enclave of Kentucky cut off entirely from the rest of the state by neighboring Tennessee and Missouri.

Bowling Green, Kentucky's third-largest city, is home to the only assembly plant in the world that manufactures the Chevrolet Corvette. The one-million-square-foot compound was built in 1981, after General Motors decided to move the facility from St. Louis.

In Kentucky, there exists more barrels of Bourbon whiskey (4.8 million) than people (4.2 million).

The Kentucky Derby is held at Churchill Downs near the city of Louisville.

Kentucky is home to the highest per capita number of deer and turkey in the United States.

With 405 miles of surveyed passageways Mammoth Cave in Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park is the world's longest known cave system.

Kentucky has more navigable miles of water than any other state in the continental U.S. Its 1,100 miles of rivers and lakes are second only to Alaska.

Lake Cumberland is the largest artificial American lake east of the Mississippi River by volume.

Lake Cumberland

Fort Knox is a United States Army post in Kentucky south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. Named after Henry Knox, the Continental Army's chief of artillery during the Revolutionary War, it is the site of the U.S. Bullion Reservatory (where the country's federal gold is kept).

In 2014, Kentucky was found to be the most affordable US state in which to live.

By law, each citizen of Kentucky is required to bathe once each year.

Source Mentalfloss.com

John F. Kennedy

EARLY LIFE

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born May 29, 1917, at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts to businessman/politician Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. (1888–1969) and philanthropist/socialite Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald-Kennedy (1890–1995).

According to the Miller Center, John F. Kennedy enjoyed a "privileged childhood of elite private schools, sailboats, servants and summer homes" during the Great Depression. He later claimed that he only learned about the Great Depression in the books he read at college.

He started his college career at Princeton but left after one semester and returned to his home state and attended Harvard.

Kennedy’s first book, written when he was 22, was called Why England Slept.  It had been his thesis written while in his senior year at Harvard College. Published in 1940, the book examines the failures of the British government to take steps to prevent World War II.

MILITARY SERVICE

On August 2, 1943 Lt. John F. Kennedy was serving as commander of a torpedo boat in the Solomon Islands when his ship was rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri. The PT 109 was split in half in the crash and sunk. Kennedy and his crew swam three miles through shark-infested waters to an island where they survived on coconuts for a week before they were eventually rescued by Solomon Islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana.

Kennedy on his navy patrol boat, the PT-109, 1943.

Kennedy took ten days to recover from "symptoms of fatigue and many deep abrasions and lacerations of the entire body, especially the feet."

Kennedy was credited with saving the crew and was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism, and the Purple Heart for his injuries.

Kennedy's heroics as a commander in the South Pacific during World War II was immortalized in the film, PT109. He suggested Cliff Robertson to the director to portray him in the movie.

The use of a coconut shell with the message carved in it alerting the U.S. Navy that Kennedy and his crew were alive as depicted in PT 109 was accurately portrayed. The coconut was allegedly later recovered and became a paper weight in the Oval Office.

PRE-PRESIDENCY CAREER 

In 1946, U.S. Representative James Michael Curley vacated his seat to become mayor of Boston. Kennedy ran for the seat, beating his Republican opponent by a large margin in November 1946. He served as a congressman for six years.

In the 1952 U.S. Senate election, Kennedy defeated incumbent Republican Henry Cabot Lodge II for the U.S. Senate seat.

Before becoming President, Kennedy won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1957 book Profiles in Courage. He did not keep his $100,000 salary; instead he donated it to charity.

On September 26, 1960, the first televised U.S. presidential debate took place, between Republican Vice-President Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. It was watched by over 60 million people.

John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon participate in the second 1960 presidential debate

PRESIDENCY  

On November 8, 1960, John F Kennedy was elected President, beating Richard Nixon by the narrowest of margins - 113,000 votes out of the 69 million cast.

In 1960 Kennedy was just 43, the youngest President ever to be elected and the first to be born in the 20th century.

Kennedy was the first, and still the only, Roman Catholic to become US President.

Kennedy in the Oval Office, July 1963

Kennedy was inaugurated as president of the United States on a particularly cold day in Washington DC on January 20, 1961. Despite the frozen weather, he was the first American president to dispense with a hat reflecting the current trend for more casual dress and going about one's business hatless.

The two Solomon Islanders who helped rescue JFK during World War II were invited to his inauguration, but were prevented from going by British officials who felt they weren't dressed well enough to travel.

During his presidency, Kennedy changed his shirt three times a day and refused to wear a hat "to hide his thick chestnut hair" - a decision that helped kill off the hat-making industry as other American males followed suit.

One of Kennedy's first Presidential acts was the formation of the Peace Corps. Kennedy appointed his brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver to head the volunteer program. Since 1961 over 200,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps in 139 countries.

President Kennedy made a historic speech in the city of West Berlin. He proudly proclaimed in German "Ich bin ein Berliner!" which means literally "I am a jelly doughnut!" He should have said, "Ich bin Berliner!" or "I am of Berlin!"

Kennedy donated his residential salary to charities including the United Negro College Fund, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.

JFK had a younger sister, Rosemary, who received a lobotomy which made her unable to walk or speak. This was his main motivation for all he did for individuals with special needs.

RELATIONSHIPS  

John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on September 12, 1953, at St Mary's Church, in Newport, Rhode Island. 800 attended the social event of the year and Pope Pius XII sent his blessing.

They  had four children; a stillborn daughter (b. 1956), Caroline (b. 1957), John (1960–1999) and Patrick, who was born prematurely in August 1963 and lived only for two days.

Kennedy reportedly had affairs with a number of women, including Marilyn Monroe and his wife's press secretary, Pamela Turnure. The extent of a relationship with Monroe will never be known, although it has been reported they spent a weekend together in March 1962 while Kennedy was staying at Bing Crosby's house.

INTERESTS AND HOBBIES

Kennedy loved animals and variously owned owned a number of pets including cats, dogs, hamsters, a horse, a rabbit, a parakeet and a canary.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gifted John F. Kennedy a dog named Pushinka, who was the daughter of Strekla, one of the first dogs in space. One of Kennedy's dogs, Charlie, took a liking to Pushinka, resulting in the birth of four pups referred jokingly by Kennedy as "pupniks".

Kennedy usually swam twice a day in the White House pool heated to 90 degrees and with a specially commissioned mural of the Massachusetts waterfront to remind him of home.

He was a life member of the National Rifle Association.

Though extremely wealthy Kennedy never carried cash, borrowing from friends and often failing to pay them back.

Although the Kennedys were known for elevating the White House dinner parties with elegant French fare, JFK enjoyed simple lunches, usually involving soup. True to his roots, the president's favorite was New England-style fish chow-dah.

Kennedy was obsessed about his weight and always traveled with a bathroom scale.

John F Kennedy was the fastest recorded public speaker in history at 327 words per minute.

HEALTH 

John F Kennedy was hospitalized more than three dozen times in his life and given the last rites three times. He had signs of adrenal failure as early as 1940.

In September 1947, while Kennedy was 30 and in his first term in Congress, he was diagnosed with a hormonal deficiency called Addison's disease.

At times of great stress, Kennedy's  body was unable to fight back and he was liable to suffer a sudden physical collapse. The only way he was able to cope with his weakness was by taking daily doses of the steroid hydrocortisone, which boosted his energy and masked his symptoms. Unfortunately, among the side effects of this drug were depression, mania, confusion and an increased libido.

John F. Kennedy's thick head of hair and perpetual tan weren't due to being fit and healthy. Just the opposite, they were side effects of one of the many drugs he took.

Kennedy also suffered from back problems, necessitating the wearing of a brace or corset.. He did much of his daily work either in bed or in a hot bath.

Kennedy's left leg was considerably shorter than his right, obliging him to wear corrective shoes.

BELIEFS

John F. Kennedy was a Roman Catholic who attended Trinity Church in Washington, while he was President.

Kennedy was concerned about the dangers of mixing religious and political institutions, and advocated strongly the separation of church and state.

Billy Graham had been spending some time with John F. Kennedy. The evangelist had a heavy cold so held back on speaking to the president about his salvation and personal walk with God. A few weeks after Billy Graham unusually missed his opportunity to speak to the president about spiritual matters, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

DEATH 

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. He was being driven through the city in an open-top convertible with his wife sat beside him. As the car drove into Dealey Plaza, shots were fired. Kennedy was hit twice. The first bullet struck him in the upper back and exited through his throat. The second bullet struck him in his head. He was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital and at 1:00 p.m, was pronounced dead.

Kennedy had a state funeral on November 25, 2020, three days after his murder, near to the White House, where his body was laid to rest in Arlington, Virginia. Over 800,000 mourners lined the streets standing in silence. The funeral was attended by statesmen representing counties around the globe.

JFK's brain was removed and stored in the National Archive after his autopsy. Three years later the brain went missing, and has never been seen since,

Kennedy is the only US President to have been outlived by his grandmother. JFK's maternal grandmother, Mary Josephine Hannon (1865-1964), outlived him by ten months and never knew he was assassinated.

Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine, was the prime suspect in the murder and was arrested, but denied shooting anyone. Two days later, while being moved from police headquarters to the county jail on November 24, 1963, Oswald was fatally shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.

Oswald's shooting was in full view of television cameras broadcasting live to millions of viewers. It was the first live televised murder.

In 1964 a jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby (see below) guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald. but the conviction was overturned.. The retrial did not happen because Ruby died on January 3, 1967 from a blood clot that lodged in his lungs. He was suffering from lung cancer.

John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby all have the same place of death: Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.

Mount Kennedy in Canada was named after John F Kennedy in 1964. The following year, his brother Robert Kennedy became the first person to climb it.

LINCOLN AND KENNEDY COINCIDENCES

There are a number of similarities between President Abraham Lincoln and President John F. Kennedy:

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were shot in the back of the head in the presence of their wives.

Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.

Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theatre. Kennedy was shot in a Lincoln, made by Ford.

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse. Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were both assassinated before their trials.

Sources Daily Mail, Shorenewstoday.com, Trivia Times, Daily Express 

Jacqueline Kennedy

EARLY LIFE

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born on July 28, 1929 in Southampton, New York to Wall Street stockbroker John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier III (1891–1957) and Janet Norton Lee (1907–1989).

Her early years were spent in New York City and East Hampton, Long Island, at the Bouvier family estate called "Lasata".

Starting at a young age, Jackie was a talented equestrienne. At just 3-years-old, she was already able to control her pony.

Six-year-old Bouvier in 1935

Jackie's parents divorced in 1940, and her mother married Standard Oil heir Hugh D. Auchincloss in 1942. Jackie and her younger sister, Lee, moved in with their mother's new family, and divided their time between their stepfather's two vast estates: Merrywood in McLean, Virginia, and Hammersmith Farm in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1941, a 12-year-old Jackie toured the White House with her mother and sister, but she found it extremely frustrating that there was so little information offered to visitors. So when Jackie eventually moved into the White House herself, she made it her mission to fix this.

Jackie once wrote in her school yearbook that her ambition in life was "not to be a housewife."

In 1951, the 22-year-old Jackie submitted an essay to a Vogue writing contest, where the winner would earn a junior editor position for six months in New York and six months in Paris. And out of 1,279 entries, Jackie's essay won the contest. However, she quit on her first morning as a junior editor.

Before she started a relationship with John F. Kennedy, Jackie was engaged at the age of 22 to a Wall Street banker named John Husted. She broke it off after three months in 1952, because she reportedly thought he was dull and also was hesitant about becoming a housewife.

MARRIAGE TO JFK

Jacqueline Bouvier and then congressman John F. Kennedy were introduced by a mutual friend at a dinner party in May 1952. Kennedy was then busy running for the US Senate, but after his election in November, the relationship grew more serious and led to a proposal.

The wedding of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy took place on September 12, 1953, at St Mary's Church, in Newport, Rhode Island. It was considered the social event of the season with an estimated 800 guests at the ceremony and 1000 at the lavish reception that followed at Hammersmith Farm.

Senator John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy on their wedding day, September 12, 1953

Jacqueline Kennedy suffered a miscarriage in 1955, and gave birth to a stillborn baby girl in 1956.
The couple eventually became parents to a daughter Caroline (b. 1957) and a son John (1960-1999). A second son, Patrick, was born prematurely in August 1963 and died two days later.

Jacqueline Kennedy was multilingual. She mastered French and speaking also some German and Italia as well as Spanish fluently. She taped radio ads in French, Italian and Spanish, urging the listeners to vote for her husband.

When John Kennedy became the president of the United States on January 20, 1961, Jacqueline Kennedy became, at age 31, one of the youngest First Ladies in American history.

First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy, André Malraux, Marie-Madeleine Lioux Malraux, Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson having just descended White House Grand Staircase on their way to a dinner with the French cultural minister, April 1962

After moving into the White House, Jacqueline Kennedy was dismayed at the state the official residence was in. She established a Fine Arts Committee to help her restore the house to its original splendor with American furniture and paintings of historical significance. She hosted a televised tour of the White House, on February 14, 1962, to show the progress of the work. Jackie's televised White House tour exposed millions to the ins and outs of her restoration project, eventually earning her an Emmy.

Charles Collingwood with Jacqueline Kennedy on TV tour of the White House, 14 Feb 1962.

On August 7, 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy prematurely gave birth to a boy, Patrick Bouvier  Kennedy, who died two days later of respiratory distress syndrome.

She was seated next to President Kennedy in an open limousine, when on November 22, 1963, he was shot in the head by a sniper in Dallas. The courage and dignity Jackie displayed in the aftermath of that tragedy won her international admiration.

FASHION

Already stylish and graceful even as a teenager, in 1948 Jackie was dubbed "Debutante of the Year" by Hearst columnist Igor Cassini.

In the early 1960s Jacqueline Kennedy was largely responsible for popularizing the bouffant coiffure.

Her clean suits with a skirt hem down to middle of the knee, three-quarter sleeves on notch-collar jackets, sleeveless A-line dresses, above-the-elbow gloves and famous pillbox hats became known as the "Jackie" look.

Jacqueline Kennedy at a State dinner on May 22, 1962

After her husband's assassination, Jackie refused to change out of her bloodstained bright pink suit
at Lyndon B. Johnson's swearing in, Jackie declined Lady Bird Johnson's offer of a change of clothes with a heartbreaking statement: "Oh no, I want them to see what they've done to Jack." The outfit would go on to be one of the most famous artifacts from the day her husband was assassinated.

Jackie's iconic pink suit was actually a copy of a Chanel outfit. Chez Ninon, a New York fashion salon, created a line-for-line reproduction of Chanel's design so Jackie could skirt around the ban on wearing foreign designers — a habit that she had been publicly criticized for in the past.

Not only did Jackie speak Spanish and French, she was also proficient in Italian and Polish.

Jackie Kennedy liked lunch to have less than 500 calories. It often consisted of a baked potato with a spoonful of fresh caviar.plus a glass or two of champagne.

LATER LIFE AND DEATH 

President John F Kennedy ordered one of his top Secret Service agents to make sure that Jackie did not meet her friend Aristotle Onassis on a trip she took to Greece in 1961.

After leaving the White House, Jacqueline Kennedy lived for a time in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., but moved to New York City with her children in late 1964.

Eight years after John F Kennedy’s assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy avoided the public unveiling of their White House portraits, but the Nixons graciously agreed to a secret, private tour for her and her children. It was her only return visit.

On October 20, 1968, Jackie married her long-time friend Aristotle Onassis, a wealthy Greek shipping magnate. The wedding took place on Skorpios, Onassis's private Greek island in the Ionian Sea.

After Onassis' death in 1975, Jackie once more settled in New York City. From 1978 to 1994, the former First Lady worked as a book editor for Doubleday, an American publishing company. While there, she worked on several JFK biographies.

in 1988 Jackie Onassis edited Michael Jackson's 1988 autobiography Moon Walk. 

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died of cancer (lymphoma) on May 19, 1994 at her home in New York City, at the age of 64. She was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, next to President Kennedy, their stillborn daughter and infant son.

Source Good Housekeeping