Unemployment

The Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601, one of the world's first government-sponsored welfare programs, gave help to the poor by taxing the more wealthy. However the unemployed were given work to do mainly sewing and waving type work and vagrants and beggars were to be whipped and sent back to their home village.

Unemployment was so high in England in 1634 that Charles I compelled the demolition of a newly erected mechanical sawmill because it threw so many sawyers out of work.

American Puritans placed common welfare ahead of self-interest and set modest caps on profit-making. Unemployment was virtually nonexistent in New England. A visitor from abroad testified, "In seven years I never saw a beggar."

In Britain, for at least 150 years before 1939, the supply of labour always succeeded demand except in wartime, and economic crisis accompanied by mass and employment were recurrent from 1785.

The percentage of unemployed (in trade unions) averaged six during 1883 -1913 in the UK. In 1908 William Beveridge entered the Board of Trade and became director of labour exchanges. The following year he published his notable report, Unemployment, in which he argued that the regulation of society by an interventionist state would strengthen rather than weaken the free market economy.

David Lloyd George’s revolutionary 1911 budget introduced unemployment insurance to the UK. It ignited the social revolution and provided the framework for today’s welfare state.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Winston Churchill oversaw Britain's disastrous return to the Gold Standard, which resulted in deflation and unemployment. Churchill later regarded this as the greatest mistake of his life.

The percentage of unemployed (of those covered by the old unemployment insurance acts) averaged 14.2 between 1921 to 38 in the UK.

Franklin D Roosevelt set out in 1932 to counter the Great Depression when there were 13 million unemployed in the USA and almost every bank was closed. He campaigned for the presidency with these words "I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people."

Unemployed men outside a soup kitchen in Depression-era Chicago,1931

Once Roosevelt was elected as president he introduced the New Deal program. The New Deal included employment on public works, farm loans at low rates, raising of agricultural prices by restriction of output. Combined with the program was the introduction of unemployment insurance.

Many of The New Deal's provisions were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1935-36, and full employment did not come until World War II.

World War II and the rebuilding and expansion which followed meant a shortage of labour rather than employment in the Western world, and in Britain in the 1950s the unemployment rate fell to 1.5%. Fluctuation in levels returned in the 1960s and has continued since.

The ideas of John Maynard Keynes were influential in the case of many western government unemployment policies during the 1950s and 1960s. The existence of a clear link between unemployment and inflation (that high unemployment can be dealt with by governments only at the cost of higher inflation) is now disputed.

The Big Issue magazine launched in 1991, with financial support from the Body Shop, to 'help the homeless help themselves'. They make money by selling the Big Issue on the streets (originally in London, but now also in several provincial cities), and the magazine's profits are used in grants to the homeless. At first a monthly (but weekly from 1993), it deals with the arts and current affairs as well as issues relating more specifically to housing and unemployment.

The Labour Department reported that the UK's unemployment rate fell to a 29-year low of 4.2 percent in March 1999.

In October 2011, the Indian organisation Swabhiman Sanghatana, headed by Nitesh Narayan Rane, set a Guinness World Record by conducting a job fair in Mumbai which gave over 25,000 jobs to unemployed youth.

In 2013, 20% of families in the US were unemployed – ie not one employed person in the family.

6% of the world's workforce were without a job in 2012.

Unemployment rate in the EU Heycci - Eurostat: 2016 (September): 

In 2013, 20% of families in the US were unemployed – ie not one employed person in the family.

8 of the top 10 cities with highest unemployment rates in America are in California.

Underwear (or undergarment)

Underwear are clothes worn under others, often next to the skin. They keep outer clothes from being made dirty by sweat.

Pixiebay

HISTORY

In ancient Rome, both men and women were known to wear simply wrapped loin-cloths, made from wool, linen or a blend of both, under their outer garments. Only the upper classes would have been able to afford imported silk.

In addition, some women wore a breast band called a strophium or mamillare, made from linen or leather.

In the Middle Ages, the loincloth was replaced in the case of men by loose, trouser-like clothing called braies. Varying in length from upper-thigh to below the knee, the wearer stepped into and then laced or tied around the waist and legs. Braies were usually made of linen, most likely in its natural off-white color, but they could also be sewn from finely woven wool, especially in colder climes.

Braies were not only used as underwear, they were frequently worn by laborers with little else when doing hot work.

Medieval braies

Women wore a  a loose-fitting, sleeveless undergarment called a chemise underneath their gowns or robes, sometimes with petticoats over the chemise. Elaborately quilted petticoats were sometimes displayed by a cut-away dress, in which case they served a skirt rather than an undergarment.

Early Spanish missionaries in Texas hoped to encourage the spread of European values by offering flannel underwear to Native Americans.

Until the mid-19th century many men didn't wear drawers. They simply wrapped their long shirt-tails under them like a nappy and tucked them in.

The 19th century Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt's performances were renowned for being theatrical. They were so showy, they induced hysterical women into throwing their underwear at him.

Long johns was a two-piece garment consisting of a long-sleeved top and long pants. They were named after American boxer John L. Sullivan who wore a similar garment in the ring during his prime in the 1880s.

John L. Sullivan

In the 1880s German Dr Gustav Jaeger popularized a combined long johns and vest all in one with buttons up the front and a back opening flap.

In Victorian England, "Pants" was considered a dirty word.

Working class women only begun to wear panties in the 1880s. Before then they had relied on layers of petticoats to keep warm.

The T-shirt was invented in 1904 Wisconsin-based Cooper Underwear Company in 1904 as a 'bachelor undershirt'.

Long johns with button crotches were the usual undergarment for men until the American Cooper Underwear Company, a family business based in Kenosha, near Chicago, caused a revolution in 1911. Their undergarment design called the Kenosha Klosed-Krotch featured overlapping fabric flaps designed to keep the crotch closed.

The first underwear print advertisement in the US appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in 1911.
The Cooper Underwear Co hired Joseph C. Leyendecker, illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post, to create the "Man on the Bag" image to market their "Kenosha Klosed Krotch".

A 19-year-old New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob created the first modern bra by tying two silk handkerchiefs together with some pink ribbon. She was granted a patent for the "Backless Brassiere" in November 1914.

Jacob's brassiere, from the original patent application.

When Clark Gable removed his shirt in the 1934 movie It Happened One Night revealing bare skin beneath rather than an undergarment - sales of vests reportedly showed a significant drop.

On January 19, 1935, during a blizzard, Coopers Inc. sold the world's first jockey briefs at the Marshall Field's State Street store in downtown Chicago. Designed by an apparel engineer named Arthur Kneibler, the briefs dispensed with leg sections. The day of its debut, Chicago's popular Marshall Field & Company sold out its stock of 600 packages by noon and sold 12,000 more in the following weeks.

Briefs with a Y-shaped overlapping fly were introduced later in 1935. The Jockey Y-Front  brief became Cooper's most sought after item.

Boxer shorts are a type of undergarment typically worn by men. The term has been used in English since the mid-1940s for all-around-elastic shorts, so named after the shorts worn by boxers, for whom unhindered leg movement ("footwork") is very important.

Since the 1940s, the battle of boxer shorts vs briefs has swayed back and forth in western countries.

Calvin Klein was the first designer to make women’s underwear resembling men’s jockey shorts.

Underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009. The bomber's al-Qaeda-backed plot failed because he wore the same underwear for two weeks straight and as a result the bomb's fuse became "damp".

FUN UNDERWEAR FACTS

Mormons wear special underwear called temple garments under their clothes as a source of protection from the evils of the world.

Sikh men believe that they should wear the panj kakaar (five articles of faith) at all times. One of the articles is a type of underpants called the kaccha, which are similar to boxer shorts.

Architect Gary Craig of Whitburn in South Tyneside, in North East England put on a record-breaking 211 pairs of underpants, one over the other, in 2010. Beginning with a 40 in pair (Large) and finishing with a 60 in pair (4XL), it took him 25 minutes to get them on. Two years later, his record was beaten when American Janine Keblish overtook him after pulling on 252 pairs of underwear. Later in 2012, the self- styled Geordie Pantsman managed a new record when he wore 302 pairs of underpants.

The average American woman owns approximately 21 pairs of underwear.

Sources Thoughtco, The Book of Firsts by Ian Harrison

Uncle Tom's Cabin

On March 9, 1850, Harriet Beecher Stowe, a writer for The National Era, penned a letter to Gamaliel Bailey, who was the editor of the weekly anti-slavery journal. She told him that she planned to write a story about the problem of slavery. The result was Uncle Tom's Cabin, a story about a devout black slave, who generously saves the life of a white man only to be sold to a sadistic slave owner. The tale  graphically depicts the horrors of slavery.

The original inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin came from reading a pamphlet written by the runaway slave, Josiah Henson, describing the ignominy of a runaway slave's life. When kneeling at communion Stowe conceived the idea of Uncle Tom and soon afterwards, the Fugitive Slave bill persuaded her to put pen to paper. (This controversial bill granted Southerners the right to pursue fugitive slaves into free states and bring them back.)

Harriet gripped a pencil between her teeth whilst kneading dough so that in between times she could write Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

She earned $300 dollars when Uncle Tom was serialized in The National Era beginning June 5, 1851. When it was published in book form on March 20, 1852, Harriet started earning five figure sums.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, CLEVELAND, OHIO: JEWETT, PROCTOR & WORTHINGTON edition

Harriet's brother Henry Ward Beecher wrote to his sister about her masterpiece "If you write such another book, I will kill you. It has taken more out of me than a years preaching."

It wasn’t until Stowe made a journey to Europe in 1853 after the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin that she realized the length of her new-found fame.

After writing Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe was bombarded with hate male from the pro slavery south. One package she received contained the bloody ear of a slave pinned to a scrap of cardboard.
In the northern part of USA, Uncle Tom's Cabin did much to stir up anti slavery feelings and hatred for the way of life in the South. The differing reactions to Uncle Tom's Cabin between the North and South helping to polarize the two halves and it was one of the sparks which ignited the Civil War. When Stowe met Abraham Lincoln in 1862, he reportedly greeted her, "So this is the little lady who started this big war."

Three million copies of Uncle Tom's Cabin were sold before the start of the American Civil War and twenty years after its publication the book was still selling prodigious amounts. One and a half million pirated copies were sold in Britain alone and it has been translated into over 20 languages.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling American novel of the nineteenth century, until it was surpassed by Lew Wallace's Ben Hur.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was steeped in Biblical values, which reflected the writer's Christian faith. A woman came up to Stowe and asked if she could clasp the hand of the woman who had written the great work. "I did not write it" said the author, "God wrote it, I merely did the dictation."

The American novelist Saul Bellow decided to be a writer after reading Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Umbrella

An umbrella is a portable hand canopy that is used by people as protection against rain. When used to make shade and protect a person from sunlight it usually is called a parasol or sunshade.

Pixabay

HISTORY

The umbrella was invented more than 4,000 years ago. Named after the Latin umbra, meaning shade, the umbrella started life in Mesopotamia as a sunshade.

Rain-proof umbrellas made of treated paper popped up in China about 1,700 years ago.

In ancient times, umbrellas were used to denote wealth and rank, with the King of Siam carrying one with multiple tiers each decorated with tassels.

The audience chamber of the king of Siam was furnished with three umbrellas - and nothing else.

Few people could afford an umbrella in ancient times. The kings prided themselves to own one or, luckier still, several, such as the ruler of the Upper Burma-based kingdom Ava. who signed himself as "The King of the White Elephants and Lord of 24 Umbrellas."

Umbrellas were held by bearers in ancient times to protect important persons. They were not only costly, but heavy, and special servants, mostly slaves, carried them. For some of these umbrella-carriers, their only duty was to shelter their master from the sun.

There is evidence of umbrellas in the ancient art and artifacts of Assyria, China and Egypt. Ancient pictorial representation shows dignitaries, kings and priests, being accompanied by their umbrella-carriers.

The oldest reference to a collapsible umbrella in written records dates to the year 21 AD, when Wang Mang had one designed for a ceremonial four-wheeled carriage.

A Terracotta Army carriage with an umbrella from Qin Shihuang's tomb, c. 210 BC

In ancient Greece and Rome, the umbrella was regarded as effeminate. Men rarely used one.

Europe eventually adopted the umbrella in late medieval times, though for a considerable period it remained a guard against the sun only, and was reserved for the rich and noble. That is how Papal Rome came to use it, and even horsemen in the Italy of the Renaissance. By the late 16th century, the use of umbrellas were a mark of distinction for pope and clergy in Italy.

It appears that people in medieval and renaissance depended on cloaks, not umbrellas, for protection against storms.

A French merchant debuted Europe's first lightweight folding umbrella in 1710. Jean Marius, whose shop was located near the barrier of Saint-Honoré in Paris, received from King Louis XIV the exclusive right to produce folding umbrellas for five years on January 1, 1710. A model was purchased by the Princess Palatine in 1712, and she enthused about it to her aristocratic friends, making it an essential fashion item for Parisiennes.

Parisians in the rain with umbrellas, by Louis-Léopold Boilly (1803)

By the mid-18th century, Technical advance and the invention of cheaper material in the 17th century made the umbrella available to everybody. The traditional leather was replaced by lighter cloths, of which silk became most popular. Whalebone was used for the ribs and the umbrella became so light that the owner could carry it himself.

The use of the umbrella or parasol (though not unknown) was uncommon in England during the first part of the eighteenth century, It was reasoned that only those who could not afford a carriage needed umbrellas. Thus, to carry one immediately stamped its owner as a man of little means.

It was philanthropist Jonas Hanway ( August 12, 1712 – September 5, 1786)), the founder of the Magdalen Hospital, who became the first Englishman to display an umbrella as part of a city "uniform" in around 1750. He had to suffer ridicule by carrying one habitually in London, suitably fortified against the inclement English climate. Worse still, he angered sedan-chair men and hackney coachmen, who deemed it their monopoly to protect people from rain. They saw a threat to their livelihood in the new contraption. But in spite of all their abuse, Hanway continued to carry his "guard from chilly showers." A memorial to the merchant can be found in Westminster Abbey.

Portrait of Jonas Hanway by James Northcote, circa 1785.

Only when Hanway's example was followed by one of Britain's famous dandies, Beau Macdonald, did the umbrella at last catch on in England. Though he, too, at first was subjected to ignominy. He relates that in 1770, he used to be addressed as, "Frenchman, Frenchman! why don't you call a coach?" whenever he went out with his umbrella. Macdonald's own sister refused to be seen with him in public.

Improvements reduced the umbrella's weight and added to the efficiency of its mechanism. Metal replaced the whalebone and in 1851 British industrialist Samuel Fox and his company Fox Umbrella Frames Ltd developed the "Paragon" umbrella frame, a U section of string steel, The new design gave the umbrella even less weight and more strength and Samuel Fox large profits. By the mid-19th people in the 19th century were commonly carrying umbrellas for personal use.

People used the umbrella as a sunshade as well. To protect the skin from sunburn was then presumed to be essential for health, and a pale face was looked upon as dignified and attractive.

A parasol depicted in Morning Walk, by John Singer Sargent (1888)

The word umbrella was first seen in English in 1611. The abbreviation “brolly” arrived in 1873.

By the 1920s as a protection against rain, the umbrella had resumed its initial role of a status symbol in England. To carry it over one's arm, neatly rolled, came to symbolize the English gentleman.

The story is told that when Adolf Hitler saw Britain's Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain alight from his airplane fortified in Munich with an umbrella in September 1938, he sneered loudly. A nation whose leader was so much concerned with protecting himself from rain, at a time when the existence of whole countries was in the balance, must lack power of resistance, he reasoned.

During the 1944 Battle Of Arnhem Bridge, Major Digby Tatham-Warter, a British major who brought an umbrella into battle, used it to stop an armored vehicle by poking the driver's eye and saving a chaplain. When a fellow soldier complained about it, he answered "oh my goodness, but what if it rains?"

Up until November 2019,  male Marines in the U.S. were prohibited from using umbrellas while in uniform. It was a long-standing tradition  that often left them getting soaked in the rain. This policy sparked some amusement as female Marines were always allowed to carry umbrellas with them. In November 2019, that finally changed. Commandant General David Berger announced a series of uniform regulation updates, including allowing male Marines to carry small black umbrellas with their service or dress uniforms during bad weather.

FUN UMBRELLA FACTS

National Umbrella Day is held on February 10th each year around the world. While the origins of the utilitarian holiday remain a mystery, it’s been celebrated since at least 2004.

The average life span of an umbrella is one-and-a-half years.

80,000 umbrellas are lost each year on the London Underground.

The Umbrella Cover Museum at Peaks Island, Maine, USA has over 2,000 umbrella covers from 66 countries. And there is an Umbrella and Parasol Museum with more than 1,000 exhibits in Gignese, Italy.

The ‘beerbrella’, comprising a small umbrella designed to shield a glass of beer from the sun, was patented in the US in 2003.

The slang term “gamp” for umbrella came from Mrs Sarah Gamp in Charles Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit.

Sources Daily Express, The Independent, Europress Encyclopedia

Ukulele

The ukulele is said to have been invented in 1879 in Hawaii. People got the idea from small 4-stringed guitar-like instruments known as cavaquinhos brought to the island by Portuguese immigrants, mainly from Madeira and the Azores.

Three hula dancers with ukulele. Wikipedia

Hawaiians gave the instrument its name, which means 'jumping flea'- a reference to the speed of the player's fingers on the strings. Legend attributes it to the nickname of the Englishman Edward William Purvis, one of King Kalākaua's officers, because of his small size, excitable manner, and quick fingered expertise on the cavaquinho.

Built from Hawaiian koa wood, ukuleles were popular among the Hawaiian royalty in the late 19th century. King Kalākaua was a patron of the arts and he incorporated the ukulele into performances at royal gatherings.

1893's World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago saw the first major performance of Hawaiian music with ukulele on the USA mainland.

Ernest Ka'ai, cited by some as being "Hawaii's Greatest Ukulele Player", wrote the earliest known ukulele method in The Ukulele, A Hawaiian Guitar and How to Play It in 1906.

By the mid 1910s, Hawaiian music had become a national craze, and the ukulele was incorporated into popular American culture soon afterwards. Millions of ukuleles were sold during the 1920s, and Tin Pan Alley publishers added ukulele chords to standard sheet music

Vaudeville performer Cliff Edwards (June 14, 1895 – July 17, 1971) was also known as Ukulele Ike, and was one of the best known ukulele players during the height of the instrument's popularity in the United States. Edwards taught himself to play ukulele to serve as his own accompanist (choosing it because it was the cheapest instrument in the music shop).

Cliff Edwards playing ukulele with phonograph, 1947

The highest paid entertainer and top box office attraction in Britain during the 1930s and 40s, George Formby, popularized the ukulele in the United Kingdom. He used one on songs such as "Leaning On A Lamp post." Formby also played the round-bodied banjolele.

Marilyn Monroe played the ukulele for her role in Some Like It Hot.

When Jimi Hendrix’s father saw his young son playing a simple kitchen broom, he bought him his very first musical instrument, which was a one-stringed ukulele.

George Harrison of The Beatles took up the ukulele and was said to have had one in every room of his home. A member of the Ukulele Society of Great Britain, Harrison played a ukulele solo in the style of George Formby at the end of "Free as a Bird".

Harrison gave a ukulele to Paul McCartney early on in their career and after leaving The Beatles, he composed several of his solo songs on the instrument including "Ram On."

Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor and baritone.

Ukuleles are generally made of wood, though variants have been composed partially or entirely of plastic or other materials.

They normally have nylon strings or gut strings, which are usually tuned G, C, E, A' or A, D, F#, B.

Here is a list of songs with a ukulele

Sources Daily Mail, Blog-oup

Ukraine

 HISTORY 

Kievan Rus' was a loose federation of East Slavic peoples in medieval times. Ukraine, Belarus and Russia all claim Kievan Rus' as their cultural ancestors.

A state by the 9th century, Kievan Rus' was established by the Eastern Slavs with the help of the Varangian squads whose force was used to integrate separate tribes and their lands into one powerful state.

In the reign of Vladimir the Great (980-1015) the Kievan Rus' State almost finished its expansion. During his reign it spread over around 800,000 km2 (309,000 sq miles).

In 988 two envoys of Vladimir the Great visited a Christian service at the Great Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople. They were hugely impressed and reported back to their master positively. The Grand Prince Vladimir decided to convert the entire population of the state to the new religion. Partially with the help of Byzantine missionaries preachers, partly by the brutal violence, he finally decreed that the entire population of the Kievan Rus capital Kyiv (also spelled Kiev) be baptized. This mass baptism became the iconic inaugural event in the Christianization of the state of Kievan Rus'. For this action, the Ukrainian, and later the Russian Orthodox Churches canonized him under the name of Vladimir the Baptist.

The baptism of the Grand Prince Vladimir led to the adoption of Christianity in Kievan Rus'.

Kievan Rus' reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power during the reign of Vladimir the Great's son, Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054).

Historians still argue about whether Kyiv was founded by Slavs themselves, or they just captured the Khazar fortress which was located on the bank of the Dnieper river, but in the 10th century, it became the capital of the largest and most powerful state in Europe.

Furthest extent of Kievan Rus', 1054–1132. By SeikoEn

Kievan Rus' eventually broke up and the lands were divided into many small feudal states. By the end of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were split between Lithuania, Poland, the Crimean Khanate and Muscovy.

A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries. During this period
Ukrainians claim to have written the world's first constitution. Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host, penned by a Pylyp Orlyk in 1710. As per some researchers this is the first constitution and then followed by the U.S and Poland in 1787 and 1791 respectively.

The flag of Ukraine is made up of two equally sized horizontal stripes, a blue one and a yellow one. The combination of blue and yellow as a symbol of Ukrainian lands comes from the flag of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia used in 12th century. It was officially adopted as a state flag for the first time in 1918 by the short-lived West Ukrainian People's Republic, and subsequently used by the Ukrainian People's Republic the following year. Ukraine has celebrated Flag Day each year on August 23 since 2005.

Ukraine proclaimed itself a People's Republic in 1919 with Kyiv as its capital.

From 1923 Ukraine formed one of the Republics of the USSR. Soviet Russia in the 1920s encouraged the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture. However, in the 1930s this policy changed to making the Ukrainians into Russians and there were mass repressions of Ukrainian historians, linguists and poets.

Millions of Ukrainian people starved to death in 1932 and 1933 as a result of Joseph Stalin's second five-year plan to collectivize industry and agriculture.

The Nazi Germans overran Ukraine in World War II.  In the encirclement battle of Kyiv, more than 600,000 Soviet soldiers (or one-quarter of the Soviet Western Front) were killed or taken captive there.

On September 29, 1941 the Babi Yar massacre of Jewish men, women, and children begun in Nazi-occupied Kyiv. They killed over 30,000 Jewish civilians in two days and thousands more in the months that followed.

Ukraine lost 20% of its population in World War II; this is proportionately more than any other nation that took part in the war.

The destruction of Kiev during World War II

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred in April, 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine. It released large amounts of radioactive particles into the atmosphere in what was then the worst nuclear disaster in history. Large areas of the country were badly contaminated.

Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991. Over 92% of Ukrainian voters approved their country's independence as declared by the Ukrainian parliament. On the same day, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

In 1954, Crimea had become part of Ukraine. On March 24, 2014, Russia was suspended from the G8 after its annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Eastern Ukraine. A protracted conflict with Russian-backed separatists continued until Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

The Russo-Ukrainian War  has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties on both sides and triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War.

A series of violent events involving protesters, riot police, and unknown shooters occurred in Kyiv from February 18-22, 2014. These events, known as the Euromaidan Revolution or the Revolution of Dignity, marked the culmination of months of anti-government protests that began in November 2013.

The violence ultimately led to President Yanukovych fleeing the capital on February 22, 2014. A new interim government was formed, and Yanukovych was eventually impeached and removed from office.

A decree by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in 2014 decreed Defender of Ukraine Day to be a new holiday due to the Russian military intervention and decommunization in Ukraine. October 14 was chosen due to the Ukrainian historical tradition since the 12th century of honoring the Ukrainian army on that day. October 14 is also the Day of the Ukrainian Cossacks.

FUN UKRAINE FACTS

It's Ukraine not The Ukraine.

Ukraine is the biggest country that is entirely in Europe. It spreads over 603,628 km square (233,062 sq mi).

Despite its size, Ukraine has a lesser population of just 42,418,235 compared to other bigger countries in Europe like Germany and France.

As of 2018 Ukraine has the lowest personal income and the second lowest GDP per capita in Europe. At US$40, it has the lowest median wealth per adult in the world.

There are 33 letters in the Ukrainian alphabet.

Wedding rings are traditionally worn on the fourth finger of the right hand in by brides and grooms in Ukraine, unlike most of the rest of the world where the wedding ring is worn on the left hand's fourth finger.

George Gershwin's song "Summertime" was inspired by an old Ukrainian lullaby.

A singer named Ruslana won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ukraine in 2004 with the song "Wild Dances" and was later rewarded with a seat in parliament.

The deepest underground railway station in the world is in Kyiv. The depth of Arsenalnaya Metro Station, built in 1960, is 105.5 metres (346.1 ft).

Ukraine's national dish, a delicacy known as salo, is made of cured pork fat. Chocolate-covered pork fat was introduced in 2006.

Salo with pepper, closeup

Ukraine has extensive fertile farmlands, and is one of the world's largest grain exporters.

The largest poultry farm in Europe, in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, raises 156 million birds in its sheds each year.

In Ukraine spiders or spider webs are common Christmas tree decorations. Spiders are seen as signs of goodness and prosperity during the festive season.

Beekeeping in Ukraine is a major economic activity. 700,000 people, 1.5% of the Ukrainian population, are engaged in producing honey.

Ukraine manufactured the heaviest airplane. The Antonov An-225 Mriya is the world's longest and heaviest aircraft ever built, with a size of 88.4 metres and weight of 640,000 kg, which is equal to 91 adult male elephants.

Sources Daily Express, Ppcorn

Uganda

Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which today. encompasses a large portion of the south of the country, including the capital Kampala.

Regional map of Uganda. By User:(WT-shared) Burmesedays, UN Map of Uganda, 

HISTORY

Unified in the 14th century under the first king Kato Kintu, the founder of Buganda's Kintu Dynasty, Buganda grew to become one of the largest and most powerful states in East Africa during the eighteenth and 19th centuries.

After locating David Livingstone in 1871 the American journalist, Henry Morton Stanley arrived in Buganda four years later on another expedition to find that Islam had preceded him. He wrote a letter to the English newspaper, the Daily Telegraph appealing for Christian missionaries. The letter also included a message from a local king Kabaka Mutesa I welcoming Europeans into his country.

1872 Carte de visite – Stanley and Kalulu.

The Church Missionary Society responded and sent many out to Uganda and other countries on the "Dark Continent". Today close to 85% of Ugandans identify themselves as Christians.

The British government chartered the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) to negotiate trade agreements in the Buganda region beginning in 1888. However, because of civil unrest and financial burdens, IBEAC struggled to maintain their occupation in the region. Because British commercial interests were eager to protect the trade route of the Nile, the British government annexed Buganda and adjoining territories in 1894.

Buganda became the center of the Uganda Protectorate; the name Uganda, the Swahili term for Buganda, having been adopted by British officials.

Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom on October 9, 1962. The flag of Uganda was adopted on the same day. It consists of six equal horizontal bands with a white disc superimposed at the centre containing the national symbol, a grey crowned crane.

Uganda became an independent member of the Commonwealth in 1962 with Dr Milton Obote, leader of the Uganda People's Congress ( UPC), as Prime Minister.

In 1963 Uganda was proclaimed a federal Republic. King Mutesa II became president, ruling through a cabinet.

King Mutesa was deposed in a 1966 coup and Obote became executive president. One of his first acts was to end the federal status. After an attempt to assassinate him in 1969 Obote banned all opposition and established what was effectively a one party state.

In 1971 Obote was overthrown in a military coup led by Major General Idi Amin who suspended the constitution and all political activity and took legislative  and executive powers into his own hands.

During the 1970s the Amin regime carried out a widespread campaign against any likely opposition. Nearly 49,000 Ugandan Asians were expelled and up to 300,000 opponents of the regime are said to have been killed.

After heavy fighting, in 1978 Amin was forced to leave the country. A provisional government was set up. Two years later elections were held and in 1980 Milton Obote returned to power.

Yoweri Museveni has been president since his forces toppled the previous regime in January 1986.

FUN UGANDA FACTS 

Kampala, the capital of Uganda, was named the 13th fastest growing city on Earth. Its population  grew from 1,189,142 in 2002 to 1,507,080 in 2014.

Street views in Kampala. By Simisa  Wikipedia

Uganda is one of the youth capitals of the world. 49% of the population there are under 15 years of age and 77% of its population is under 30 years of age.

According to the 2014 census, Christians made up about 85 percent of Uganda's population, with Muslims making up nearly 14 per cent.

The Nile is popular with white water rafters and adventure travelers in Uganda where the river becomes a roaring rush of water.

Women from one of the poorest slums in Uganda, who earned less than a dollar a day, raised over $1,000 for the victims of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in the USA.

The currency is the Ugandan Shilling.

The official languages of Uganda are English and Swahili.

The most thundery place on Earth is said to be Tororo, Uganda, where it thunders 251 days a year.

The long-horned grasshopper is a delicacy in Uganda, where it was traditionally harvested by women in exchange for a new dress from their husbands.

UFO

An unidentified flying object (UFO) is any light or objects seen in the sky whose immediate identity is not apparent. Even though UFOs can be anything, people often use the word UFO when they are talking about alien spacecraft.

Photograph of an alleged UFO in Passaic, New Jersey, taken on July 31, 1952

HISTORY

The first reported unidentified flying object (UFO) sighting took place in the 15th century BC, in Ancient Egypt.

In 214BC, the Roman historian Livy reported seeing "ships in the sky."

There was a mass sighting of a large black triangular flying saucer-type object over Nuremberg, Germany on April 14, 1561. A broadsheet news article printed later in the month describes how around dawn on that day, residents of Nuremberg saw what they described as an aerial battle, followed by the appearance of a large black triangular object and then a large crash outside of the city. According to witnesses, the broadsheet claims  there were also hundreds of spheres, cylinders and other odd-shaped objects that moved erratically overhead.

Many skeptics claim the phenomenon was likely to have been a sun dog, an atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a bright spot to one or both sides of the Sun.

The broadsheet

The world’s earliest sighting of a UFO from an airplane occurred on January 30, 1916, when a British pilot near Rochford, Essex, reported seeing a row of lights, resembling the lighted windows on a train carriage, that rose up into the sky and disappeared.

Finnish observers reported in 1946 the first sightings of unidentified flying objects known as "ghost rockets", which have not yet been positively identified.

The term 'flying saucer' has been used since 1947. This followed a sighting of nine flying objects by pilot Kenneth Arnold in June 1947, whose motion he likened to a saucer skimmed across water.

The first significant UFO sighting was reported on July 8, 1947, when various news agencies recounted the capture of a "flying disc" by U.S. Army Air Force personnel in Roswell, New Mexico. The military later stated that what was actually recovered was debris from an experimental U.S. Air Force high-altitude surveillance weather balloon. 

Over the years, the Roswell incident has become one of the most famous and controversial UFO cases, with numerous conspiracy theories and debates surrounding what exactly happened. The incident was later a feature of the hit sci-fi TV series The X-Files, starring David Duchovny.

In 1994, the U.S. Air Force released a report titled "The Roswell Report: Fact Versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert," which concluded that the debris recovered in 1947 was indeed part of a top-secret research project to monitor Soviet nuclear testing. The report aimed to debunk the UFO claims and provide a plausible explanation for the incident. However, the Roswell UFO incident remains a subject of interest and speculation for many UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists.

Roswell Daily Record, July 8, 1947, announcing the "capture" of a "flying saucer"

On January 7, 1948 Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell fatally crashed his P-51 Mustang after being sent in pursuit of an UFO near Fort Knox, Kentucky. Mantell's aircraft crashed under circumstances that remain unclear. Some accounts suggest that he may have blacked out due to lack of oxygen at high altitudes, while others speculate about the possibility of Mantell pursuing a large, metallic balloon. The incident remains one of the more famous early UFO-related events in the United States, and it is often discussed in UFO folklore and investigations. The official conclusion by the U.S. Air Force was that Mantell's encounter was likely with a skyhook balloon,.

The term 'UFO' for Unidentified Flying Object was coined by US Air Force officer Edward Ruppelt in 1952.

In 1954, the mayor of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in France banned flying saucers from his territory.

In 1969 The United States Air Force closed its study of UFOs, Project Blue Book, stating that sightings are generated as a result of "A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, psychopathological persons, and misidentification of various conventional objects."

A local farmer Renato Nicolaï reported a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France on January 8, 1981, which was claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".
He saw a saucer-shaped object about eight feet in diameter land about 50 yards (46 m) away at a lower elevation. Nicolaï claimed the object took off almost immediately, rising above the treeline and departing to the north east. It left burn marks on the ground where it had supposedly sat.

On May 7, 1988, the U.S. city of Boston held the world's first convention for people who said they had been abducted by aliens.

FUN UFO FACTS

The countries of France, Italy and Chile have all formally recognized the existence of UFOs.

The first country to depict flying saucers on its postage stamps was Equatorial Guinea in 1975.

More than 40,000 Americans have taken out insurance against being abducted by aliens.

Studies have established that the majority of UFO observations are misidentified conventional objects or natural phenomena—most commonly aircraft, balloons, clouds, or astronomical objects such as meteors or bright planets.

Pixiebay

Over the past 40 years there has been a daily average of about six reported UFO sightings. These occur most often on Fridays, in the West, during drinking hours.

Source Daily Express

U-boat

A U-boat is a military submarine used by Germany. The ‘U' stands for Unterseeboot, meaning ‘undersea boat'.

Pixabay

In English, the term "U-boat" refers exclusively to the German vessels used during the World Wars. In German, however, "U-Boot" refers to any submarine, including modern and foreign ones.

Germany's first U-boat, U-1, was 139 ft long and was launched on August 4, 1906. But by 1914 and the beginning of World War I, it was deemed obsolete and never saw active service. Retired in 1919, it remains on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

The German Submarine U 1 (Imperial Navy)

Germany built 360 U-boats during the First World War, which destroyed more than 11,000,000 tons of Allied shipping.

On May 7, 1915, SM U-20 sank the liner RMS Lusitania off the West of Ireland. The sinking claimed 1,198 lives, 128 of them American civilians and was an important factor in the USA's decision to join the Allied cause.

UB-122 entered service in March 1918. It had a crew of 34 and could travel at 16 MPH (26 kph) on the surface or 9 MPH (14kmh) submerged and dive 250 feet in 30 seconds. It made two patrols but failed to sink any targets.

The U-1206 submarine was lost on April  14, 1945 due to a toilet malfunction: the leak flooded the submarine's batteries causing them to release chlorine gas, leaving the commander with no alternative but to surface. Once surfaced, U-1206 was discovered and bombed by British patrols.

U-boats were used in both world wars by Germany in an attempt to cut Britain's North Atlantic lifeline to America. They hunted in groups known as 'wolf packs.'

The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from Canada and other parts of the British Empire, and the United States to the United Kingdom and (during the Second World War) to the Soviet Union and the Allied territories in the Mediterranean.

In the spring of 1942, German U-boats terrorized the east coast of the USA sinking fuel tankers and cargo ships with impunity and often within sight of shore. In less than seven months they destroyed 22 percent of the tanker fleet and sank 233 ships killing 5,000 ...more than twice the number who perished at Pearl Harbor.

U-1206 was one of the late-war boats fitted with new deep water high-pressure toilets which allowed them to be used while running at depth. Flushing these facilities was an extremely complicated procedure and special technicians were trained to operate them. Incorrectly opening valves in the wrong sequence could result in waste or seawater flowing back into the hull. On April 14, 1945, the toilet was flushed incorrectly, causing the U-boat to flood with seawater. The U-boat was forced to surface in view of the British who then attacked, resulting in the vessel's destruction, Four Nazi were killed, and 46 captured.

Patrols could take up to six months and crews were not able to change their clothes apart from a single change of underwear and socks.

With limited space, crews often resorted to what bunkering – as soon as one person crawled out, the next would crawl in.

In July 2006, Germany commissioned its newest U-boat, the U-34, a Type 212.

The producers of the 1981 movie Das Boot used a life size mock-up of a U-Boat for the exterior shots. One morning the crew woke up to find it missing, only to later learn that Steven Spielberg had rented it for his Raiders of the Lost Ark film, and no one had told them

Source Daily Mail