Surfing

Surfing is the sport of riding on the crest of large waves while standing on a narrow, keeled surfboard, usually of light synthetic material.

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HISTORY

The art of surfing was a central part of ancient Polynesian culture and predates European contact.

Surfboards were invented in ancient Hawaii, where they were known as papa he'e nalu in the native language. They were usually made of wood from local trees, such as koa, and were often over 15 feet (5 m) in length and extremely heavy. 

When Captain James Cook and his crew reached Hawaii in February 1778, on their way from Tahiti to the northwest coast of North America, they were amazed to watch men skimming across the water. It was an almost unbelievable sight, and the explorer duly recorded in his journal the Hawaiians' mastery of surfing. 

Lieutenant James King, the commander of The Discovery, was the first person to write about the art of surfing on Hawaii when he was completing the journals of James Cook upon the Captain's death in 1779. Cook wrote: "I could not help concluding this man had the most supreme pleasure while he was driven so fast and so smoothly by the sea."

Mark Twain was one of the first American writers to document native islanders surfing in Polynesia. In his 1872 travelogue, Roughing It, Twain describes watching them surf, and even attempts it himself. But only once.

Before the 1920s, surfboards were at least 100 pounds and up to 16 feet long.

Duke Kahanamoku and longboard, 1920

The first official surfing contest took place at Corona del Mar, California in 1928.

There has been a degree course in Surf Science and Technology at Plymouth University in SW England since 1999.

RECORDS

The record for the longest surf ride is 3hr 55min, set by Panamanian surfer Gary Saavedra on March 19, 2011, riding an artificial wave created by power boat on the Panama Canal in Panama. In doing this, Saavedra also broke the record for the longest distance spent surfing a wave on open water. He followed the wave-creating boat covering the distance of 41.3 miles (66.47 km).

German surfer Sebastian Steudtner set a record for the largest wave surfed, which measured  26.21 m (86 feet). He rode the wave off the coast of Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal, on October 29, 2020. Nazaré is known for its giant waves, which are created by a deep underwater canyon that funnels swells from the Atlantic Ocean. On the day that Steudtner surfed the record-breaking wave, the swell was particularly large and powerful.

The Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira rode the biggest recorded wave of 2020, becoming the first female surfer with that distinction. The wave, off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, measured 22.4 m (73.5 ft). 

FUN SURFING FACTS

If a plunging wave is not parallel to the beach, the breaking section (or curl) will move laterally across the face of the wave. This is the "tube" that is so highly sought after by surfers (also called a "barrel", a "pit")

A person who hangs around a beach pretending to be a surfer but isn't is called a 'hodad'.

A surfer who leads with his right foot is called 'goofy-foot'; leading with the left is 'regular foot'.

In Iceland, surfing season is from May through June—when water temperatures hover around 45°F and icebergs float on the waves.

While the Beach Boys sang a lot of songs about surfing, only one member of the group, Drummer Dennis Wilson, could actually surf.

Although born blind, Brazilian surfer Derek Rabelo successfully surfed Oahu's Banzai Pipeline—one of the most difficult surfing spots in the world. 

Source Daily Express

Superstition

COMMON SUPERSTITIONS

The origins of avoiding walking under ladders has a sinister air, with the two strongest theories both pointing to places of execution. The ladder used to remove Christ's body from the cross was said to have the devil himself lurking beneath it. And the scaffold on which criminals were hung was always pictured with a ladder leaned against it, associated with bad luck. 

Knocking on wood (in Britain and Australia the phrase is touch wood) is so common that many of its numerous practitioners do not consider it a superstitious practice at all. The most likely explanation is a popular 19th century children's game, Tig-Touch-Wood, in which touching wood makes you safe from being tagged: shouting out the phrase "touch wood" was even a part of the game itself.

Knocking on wood in the Oval Office

In the US in the late 19th Century it was briefly fashionable for people to form "13 Clubs" where they would dine in groups of 13, walk under ladders, spill salt at the table, etc. to demonstrate their lack of superstition. Several future US Presidents participated.

FRIDAY THE 13th 

The superstitions surrounding Friday the 13th stem from Jesus' crucifixion, which occurred on a Friday. 

Anglo-Saxons thought Friday so unlucky that any child born on that day was killed rather than be allowed to grow up to a life of misfortune.

The most likely reason for 13 being considered unlucky is it being the number after 12. From ancient cultures onwards, 12 has been seen as a number of completion. There are 12 hours on the clock face, 12 months in a year and 12 signs of the zodiac. So number 13 ventures into the unknown.

Another theory for 13's bad name is it was said that a hangman would ensure his noose had at least 13 turns of the rope to be certain of breaking a neck. 

According to the National Geographic  the fear of the number of 13 was fueled by Judas, the 13th apostle at the Last Supper, who betrayed Jesus.

Medieval Christians thought Friday unlucky as the day of the crucifixion, and 13 has been thought unlucky since pre-Christian times, but the two were not linked until the 19th century.

The first reference to an unlucky Friday the 13th came in an 1869 biography of the composer Gioachino Rossini who died on Friday November 13, 1868.

On Friday January 13, 2017 Finn Air's flight 666 left for HEL (Helsinki) at 13:00 on a 13-year-old aircraft. They arrived safely.

Fear of the number 13 is triskaidekaphobia; fear of Friday the 13th is friggatriskaidekaphobia (after Frigga, the goddess who gave her name to Friday).

Fear of the number of 13 is something suffered by both Napoleon Bonaparte and President Franklin D. Roosevelt — even though the latter is famous for his statement that: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Sholom Aleichem, the Yiddish author and playwright had a fear of the number 13. His manuscripts never had a page 13; he numbered them 12a.

In 1962, the Anti-Superstition Society of Chicago awarded John Glenn (occupant of the 13th capsule in space) with a gold watch with each number replaced with the number 13. There were 13 senators attending, each paid $13.13 to be there, and it was held on Friday the 13th.

SUPERSTITIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

In Russia if a bird poops on you or your property, it's a sign of good luck.

In Mexico if your palm itches, it's because money is coming your way. However, if you scratch your palm, the money won't come. 

In Chinese culture, 3 is a lucky number because it sounds similar to the word ‘alive'. However, in Vietnam it is considered bad luck to take a photo with three people in it, because there is a superstition that the person in the middle will die first.

The number 8 is such a lucky number in China that the Chinese government scheduled the 2008 Beijing Olympics to begin 8 seconds after 8:08 on 8/8/2008.

The number four is pronounced the same as the word death in Japan, thus the number is considered unlucky.

In Japan if you lie down after eating, you will become a cow.

In Indonesia staying in the bathroom too long makes you look old.

When babies are born in Thailand, it is common for people to say the tot is ugly. There is a superstition that attractive babies will be taken by evil spirits. It is impolite to say positive things about the baby.

Most homes in Bolivia have a dried llama fetus buried under their foundations for good luck and protection.

SUPERSTITIONS IN SPORT

Many Australian cricketers are superstitious about a score of 87 and call it the Devil's number — because it is an unlucky 13 short of a century.

One of Test cricket's best-known umpires, David Shepherd, used to stand on one leg and hop whenever the score hit 222. He said he was "tremendously superstitious" and did the same for any multiple of 111. On Friday 13th, he would tie a matchstick to a finger so he would be touching wood to bring good luck all day.

Baseball players often have specific routines or rituals they perform before a game, such as a batter tapping the plate with their bat a certain number of times before hitting or a pitcher having a specific pattern of warm-up throws.

In soccer, some players have superstitions about what they wear or do before a game, such as putting on their left sock before their right or always eating the same meal before a match.

Many athletes believe in the power of lucky charms, such as wearing a specific piece of jewelry or carrying an object with them.

In basketball, some players have superstitions about their pre-game routine, such as always shooting a certain number of free throws or layups before the game starts

Some football players have superstitions about the order they dress or gear they wear, and they may not change it even if it is uncomfortable or ill-fitting.

Source Daily Express

Supernova

A supernova is when a huge star explodes. It usually happens when its nuclear fusion cannot hold the core against its own gravity. The core collapses, then there's one final, titanic explosion. This causes the sudden appearance of a "new" bright star, before slowly fading from sight over several weeks or months. 

The picture below shows SN 1994D (bright spot on the lower left), a supernova outshining its home galaxy, NGC 4526.

By NASA/ESA, 

The word 'supernova' was coined by Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky during 1931 lectures held at The California Institute of Technology, then used publicly in 1933 at a meeting of the American Physical Society.

The supernova SN 1006 first appeared in the constellation Lupus and was widely seen on Earth beginning in the year 1006. It occurred 7,200 light years away. It was, in terms of apparent magnitude, the brightest stellar event in recorded history, reaching an estimated −7.5 visual magnitude, and exceeding roughly sixteen times the brightness of Venus. The supernova's remnant was not identified until 1965.

SN 1006 supernova remnant

A supernova was seen by Chinese, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri in 1054. Chinese astronomers recorded it as a "guest star" on July 4th. For several months it remained bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.

The last supernova observed in our Milky Way galaxy was in the year 1604.  The astronomer Johannes Kepler began observing SN 1604 at its peak on October 17, 1604, and continued to make estimates of its brightness until it faded from naked eye view a year later. 

Kepler's supernova was so bright, it could even be seen during the day for three weeks.

Picture below shows Johannes Kepler's original drawing from De Stella Nova (1606) depicting the location of the supernova, marked with an N (8 grid squares down, 4 over from the left)

SN 1987A was a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, around 168,000 light-years from Earth and was the closest observed supernova since Kepler's Supernova in 1604. Light and neutrinos from the explosion reached Earth on February 23, 1987, and it was the first supernova that modern astronomers were able to study in great detail, and its observations have provided much insight into core-collapse supernovae. 

ASASSN-15lh is a superluminous supernova that was detected by the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) in 2015 in the southern constellation Indus. The discovery, confirmed by ASAS-SN group with several other telescopes, was formally described and published on January 15, 2016. 

ASASSN-15lh is the most luminous supernova ever detected; at its brightest it was at least 20 times brighter than the whole Milky Way, with an energy hundreds of billions times greater than the Sun.

When a supernova unleashes a gamma ray burst, it releases as much energy in a few seconds as our sun will release in its entire lifetime.

The brightest extrasolar event witnessed on Earth was a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected on October 9, 2022. This burst, nicknamed the "Boater" event, was so intense that it saturated most of the world's gamma-ray detectors. It occurred approximately 2.4 billion light-years away and lasted for several hundred seconds. The Boater event was at least 10 times brighter than any previously observed GRB, making it the most powerful cosmic explosion ever recorded.

The Boater event was likely triggered by the formation of a black hole, which released a massive amount of energy in the form of gamma rays. This energy traveled through space for billions of years before reaching Earth, where it was detected by satellites and telescopes. The event was so bright that it could be seen with the naked eye, even though it occurred billions of light-years away

Supernovas are the source of many of the chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium in the universe.

Traces of radioactive iron-60, a strong indicator of supernova debris, is buried in the sea floor right across the Earth.

Supermarket

The concept of a self-service grocery store was developed by entrepreneur Clarence Saunders (August 9, 1881 – September 23, 1953) and his Piggly Wiggly stores. His first store opened at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee on September 6, 1916.

The original Piggly Wiggly Store, Memphis, Tennessee

The checkouts and turnstile entrance at Saunders' stores proved such a success that by 1923 a further 2,800 Piggly Wigglies had sprung up across the U.S thus creating the first supermarket chain. 

The Food Marketing Institute in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution determined that the first true supermarket in the United States was opened by entrepreneur Michael J. Cullen, on August 4, 1930. His King Kullen Grocery Company was located inside a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) former garage in Jamaica, Long Island, New York. 

Instead of installing elaborate fittings, or even shelves, Cullen piled his goods high and sold them cheap. About 300 loss-leader goods were sold at cost price to draw in customers, who then served themselves.

Within two years, Cullen had opened seven more King Kullen Market stores in buildings that had been owned by bankrupted businesses, in and around New York. Parts of each store were franchised to specialist traders at relatively low rents. 

When people visited the first supermarkets, they were afraid to pick things up in case they were told off.

A supermarket in Sweden in 1941

The London Co-Op opened at Manor Park in East London in 1948. It was Britain's first supermarket, featuring a whole variety of goods under one roof. 

Safeway was established in 1962 in the United Kingdom by the American supermarket chain Safeway Inc. Its first British purpose-built supermarket, which opened in Bedford, offered grand-scale self-service grocery shopping in Britain for the first time. By 1987, Safeway had 133 shops around the United Kingdom.

Wal-Mart was founded in 1962 by Sam and Bud Walton in Rogers, Arkansas. They set up the company with a $20,000 loan from Sam Walton's father-in-law and it was worth $25 billion when he died in 1992.

Former newspaper reporter turned Kresge store manager Harry Cunningham opened the first Kmart in a suburb of Detroit on March 1, 1962, just four months before the first Walmart.

The first computerized supermarket checkout was put in place in the U.S in 1976. Bar codes had began appearing on food packaging since two years previously. 

A&P supermarkets, the "Wal-Mart before Wal-Mart"; dominated American retail from 1910-1950, before falling into a long decline following federal anti-trust lawsuits and later corporate mismanagement. It survived until 2015 as a minor regional supermarket chain.

In 2019, the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo introduced "slow checkout lanes" for customers who prefer a more leisurely pace and enjoy chatting with the checkout employees. These lanes are designed to offer a more relaxed and personal shopping experience, with no pressure to rush through the checkout process.

In 2021 Jumbo introduced a policy that if all queues have four people in them and not all checkout lanes are open yet, then you get your groceries for free.

Shrinkflation is the practice of stealthily reducing a product's size while maintaining its price so that consumers may unknowingly pay the same for less. According to the UK’s Office of National Statistics, 2,529 supermarket products decreased in size or weight between 2012 and 2017. 

According to a recent survey, two per cent of people have fallen in love at a supermarket.

Superman

The comic book character Superman was co-created by Canadian artist Joseph Shuster and Cleveland, Ohio writer Jerry Siegel.  

Superman with his cape billowing. Wikipedia

Superman's origin was inspired by the biblical story of Moses, whose parents abandoned him as a baby to save his life.

Born in Toronto, Shuster is a cousin of Frank Shuster, one-half of the beloved Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster. 

Joseph Shuster passed away in 1992 at the age of 78.

Though it has always been a fictional American city, Siegel modeled the Metropolis skyline after Toronto.

The first publisher to which Siegel and Shuster showed their comic strip super hero to was Chicago's Humor Publishing in 1933. Although Humor showed interest in The Superman, it pulled out of the comics business before any book deal could be made.

Inked cover of The Superman, a rejected 1933 comic story proposal.  Wikipedia

Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel sold all rights to Superman to their publishers National Allied Publications for $130 on March 1, 1938.

Superman, made his debut on April 18, 1938 (cover date June) in Action Comics #1, the first true superhero comic book.

Action Comics #1 (June 1938), the debut of Superman.

In the late 1930s Superman was a vigilante fighter. In one instance was fired upon by the National Guard after he destroyed a slum to force the government to build better housing for the poor. He was also often depicted using lethal force and attacking wife beaters, profiteers, and lynch mobs. By 1942, however, Superman was working side-by-side with the police. 

Superman was originally incapable of flying in the 1940s; hence the phrase "Able to LEAP tall buildings in a single bound."

The character Lois Lane also first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). She was based on pioneering investigative journalist Nellie Bly, known for her undercover exposé as an inmate of a mental institution in 1887. 

Clark Kent first used a phone booth to transform into Superman in a comic strip published in 1942.

According to the Superman comics, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the Man of Steel's favorite novel.

The first adaptation of Superman beyond comic books was a radio show, The Adventures of Superman, with Bud Collyer in the title role. It ran from 1940 to 1951 for 2,088 episodes. 

Kryptonite was introduced in the Superman story five years after the comic was first published. It was created as a way to give Bud Collyer some time off the radio show so he could take a vacation.

There are actually seven different types of Kryptonite in the Superman comics universe causing different reactions, including Pink Kryptonite which switches the gender of Kryptonians like Superman.

In 1947, the Superman radio show did a series called "Clan of the Fiery Cross" in which they exposed many of the Ku Klax Klan's most guarded secrets. Within two weeks of the broadcast, KKK recruitment was down to zero. And by 1948, people were showing up to Klan rallies just to mock them. 

The comic actor Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You, Man) wore a Superman cape underneath his clothing until he was 13, "just in case there was trouble."

In 1948, the 15-part black-and-white Columbia movie serial Superman made Kirk Alyn the first actor to portray the hero onscreen.

Marlon Brando received more money ($4 million) for his short appearance as Jor-El in Superman (1978) than Christopher Reeve did in the title role. Brando later sued for a percentage of the film's profits.

In 2011 a near-pristine copy of Action Comics #1 - better known as the first appearance of Superman - was sold at an online auction for a staggering $2.16 million. The seller was the cash-strapped actor Nicholas Cage and the sale rescued him from bankruptcy.

Super Mario

Nintendo's Super Mario, of Super Mario Bros. fame, first appeared in the 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. His original name was Jumpman.

Super Mario is named after real-life businessman Mario Segale, who was renting out a warehouse to Nintendo. After Nintendo fell far behind on rent, Segale did not evict them but gave them a second chance to come up with the money. Nintendo succeeded and named their main character after him.

Promotional artwork of Mario, as seen in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Wikipedia

When Mario first appeared in Donkey Kong, he was bald. Hair was added for the release of Super Mario Bros four years later.

Super Mario was given a red cap as in those early days, as it was too difficult to animate him with hair and eyebrows. as well as to circumvent the hair movement that would occur when the character jumped.

Mario Bros. was a platform game created by Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the lead developers for the video game Donkey Kong for arcades. 

In the game, Mario is portrayed as an Italian-American plumber who, along with his brother Luigi has to defeat enemies that have been coming from the sewers by jumping on them from below and then kicking them, when they are knocked down. It was first released on July 14, 1983.

Screenshot of the original 1983 arcade version of Mario Bros.

Mario Bros. was not only the first game to feature Luigi as a playable character, it also is the first game in which Mario is named Mario rather than Jumpman.

The first title in the series, Super Mario Bros., released for the Nintendo Entertainment System on September 13, 1985, established gameplay concepts and elements prevalent in nearly every Super Mario game since.

Super Mario Bros was so popular that at the end of 1985, Japan's highest-selling book was a strategy guide on how to beat the game.

The Thwomps and Whomps of the Mario universe were inspired by Japanese nurikabe spirits that are said to appear to block a traveler's way.

Super Mario 64, released on  September 29, 1996, featured Mario's first 3D rendering. 

Wikipedia 

The world record for completing Super Mario Bros. in the "Any%" category is 4 minutes, 54.565 seconds, achieved by the American speedrunner Niftski in January 2025. This remarkable time is just 533 milliseconds longer than the theoretical tool-assisted speedrun (TAS) limit of 4 minutes, 54.032 seconds. 

Super Mario Bros is the best selling computer game series of all time, clocking over 310 million worldwide sales.

Shigeru Miyamoto—maker of Super Mario Bros—is not allowed to bike to work because his safety is too important to Nintendo.

National Mario Day celebrates the entire Mario franchise on March 10th. It takes place on March 10th each year, the reason being that this date, written as "Mar10", looks like Mario's name.

Super Bowl

In American Football, the leading teams of the two conferences meet in a series of play-off games for the Super Bowl. 

The first Super Bowl was played on January 15, 1967. The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League, 35-to-10.

Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt came up with the term "Super Bowl," inspired by his child's Super Ball toy.

Over 63,000 fans attended the first Superbowl at Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum.

Admission to the first Super Bowl was priced at $12 per ticket. It is the only Superbowl that did not sell out. 

Super Bowl I – Los Angeles Coliseum. By Jimberg13 

During the first Super Bowl in 1967, NBC was still showing commercials when the second half kicked off. The officials asked the Packers to kick off again.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Max McGee didn't expect to play in the first Super Bowl in 1967. He showed up hungover and without his helmet. He ended up making a one-handed catch to score the game's first touchdown.

Four NFL teams have not played in a Super Bowl: Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Houston Texas and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Super Bowl LIX during which the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs (denying them a historic "3-peat"), on February 9, 2025 was the most-watched American television program since the Moon landing. An average 127.7 million viewers across all platforms watched it, breaking the Super Bowl average record of 123.7 million viewers set in 2024.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots have the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history with six victories each.. The Patriots have 11 appearances in the Super Bowl (6 wins, 5 losses), while the Steelers have appeared in 8 (6 wins, 2 losses).

Coin toss at Super Bowl XLIII :Pittsburgh Steelers v Arizona Cardinals 

The record for the most Super Bowl losses is a tie between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos, who have each lost 5 Super Bowls.

No single team has won seven, but one player has. Tom Brady still holds more Super Bowl rings (7) than any single NFL franchise.

The Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders and Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts are the only franchises to win Super Bowls representing different cities.

Nineteen of the first 50 Super Bowls were decided by seven points or fewer.

The Vince Lombardi Trophy, the trophy awarded each year to the Super Bowl winner, is named in honor of NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games. 

The Vince Lombardi Trophy stands 20 3/4 inches tall, weighs 6.7 pounds and is valued more than $25,000. It is made of sterling silver by Tiffany & Company. 

Vince Lombardi Trophy Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl LII Victory Parade

The reason why businesses refer to the Super Bowl in their advertisements as "The Big Game" is because the NFL owns the trademark to the phrase "Super Bowl" and will severely crack down on any business that uses those words without officially licensing it from the NFL.

According to the American Institute of Food Distribution, Super Bowl Sunday ranks behind only Thanksgiving Day for the day with the highest food consumption in the United States.

Americans will hold more parties in their homes on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year.

During Super Bowl halftime, there are an estimated 90 million toilet flushes. That’s equivalent to 180 million gallons of water flowing at once, or 3.5 minutes of flowing water on the Niagara Falls.

In 1992 Fox's sketch comedy show In Living Color drew away 22% of Super Bowl XXVI’s viewers during its halftime show by doing a special live episode of their own. This is why subsequent Super Bowls got A-List performers (starting with Michael Jackson in 1993) and dropped the previous themed marching band format.

Michael Jackson's 1993 Super Bowl performance marked the first time network ratings went up during halftime.

A cow has only a 1 in 17,420,000 chance of becoming an NFL football that is used in the Super Bowl.

Source Kansascity