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Tourette’s Syndrome is a mystery to many. Many are not aware of the tics that are associated with Tourette’s Syndrome. Before teacher’s college, I believed that Tourette’s Syndrome was associated with excessive swearing. Here are the top 10 most interesting facts about the subjects.

1.

Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics. Tics are usually sudden and repetitive movements or sounds that some people make unintentionally.

2.

Many tics disappear in less than one year. These are known as mild tics that do not interfere with a person’s life. The tics that last longer are known as chronic tics.

3.

Despite misconceptions, Tourette ’s syndrome is not contagious. It is however inherited by genetics from parent to child during development in the wound.

4.

There is no cure but as someone gets older, the tics become less apparent.

5.

1 in 100 people are affected by this neurological disorder. Boys are 3 times as likely to be diagnosed with the condition.

Women were not citizens in Ancient Greece and had limited roles outside the home. In Rome, the same thing took place in the early stages. In the later stages of the republic, women had a much more active role. They were able to own property amongst other things. Here are 10 important women in Ancient Greece & Rome who had influential and memorable roles.

1. Helen of Troy:

A whole war was fought over her for 10 years. She was abducted by the Trojan Prince, which led to the war between the Greeks and the inhabitants of Troy. The war is one of the most written about in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

2. Cleopatra VII:

She was the last pharaoh in Egypt. She was a Greek and part of the Ptolemaic Dynasty who ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great. She is quite popular today in art and literature, especially in Shakespearean literature.

3. Olympias:

The mother of Alexander the Great. She was a feared leader who had a skill for defeating snakes in religious ceremonies. After the death of her son, she became a regent to her grandson. While regent, she tried to seize control of Macedonia.

4. Saint Helena:

She was the Empress Consort of Emperor Constantinus. She is credited for finding the relics of the True Cross. This was the cross that Jesus Christ was “crucified” on according to the Christians.

5. Livia Drusilla:

She was a member of the Claudian family, who was married to Tiberius Claudius Nero until the emperor Augustus forced her to become his wife. She was intelligent and provided administrative help to her husband. She was also active in helping her son, Tiberius in his rule, until her death at age 85.

If you search world history, some incidents have obviously had a drastic and dramatic impact on the world in many ways. The modern lifestyle of our society has always been completely based on some events in the past, as everything we do is always influenced by the actions and events that have come before. The following is a list of the ten major events in the world’s history that people are still talking about today.

1. Signing of the U.S. Constitution

The U.S. Constitution came in to being on September 17, 1787. It was signed by 39 out of 55 delegates of the Philadelphia Convention. It replaced the Articles of Confederation and became the Supreme Law of the United States.

2. World Wars

The world witnessed two major wars that are called the World Wars. The First World War was from 1914 to 1918 and the second from 1939 to 1945.  The two World Wars left the world in such instable positions that recovering from them was not easy.

3. Assassination of Julius Caesar

The assassination of Julius Caesar by the so-called liberators had long lasting effect on the whole of the Roman Empire. The assassination led to a series of civil wars in Rome and ultimately the ascent of Caser Augustus, the grand nephew of Caesar.

4. Invention of the Printing Press

The invention of the printing press has revolutionized communication. The invention of the first printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the year 1440 has remained one of the biggest inventions of all times.

5. Invention of the Airplane

The invention of the first airplane by the Wright Brothers triggered the invention of the planes what we see today. Their 12 seconds in air is considered as the basis of all inventions related to flying.

The foundation for human flight was laid as early as 400 BC. From Archytas and Archimedes to modern-day aviators, the dream of manned flight has flourished. As technology developed, these visionaries began making innovations that would eventually take mankind into the skies. Here are ten of the most important moments in aviation history.

1. The First Flight of an Engine – Powered Plane by the Wright Brothers – 1903

After several failed attempts at flight, the Wright brothers finally built a movable track that in order to help launch their ‘Flyer’. After two unsuccessful attempts, Orville Wright finally managed to take the Flyer up for about 12 seconds on December 17th, 1903, making the first successful powered flight in history. The same flight was later repeated, though after making a few modifications, flying for more than five minutes in 1904

2. The First Flight across the Atlantic – 1919

The NC-4 was the first flying boat to cross the Atlantic during the First World War. It was designed by Glenn Curtiss and manufactured by ‘Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company’. In fact, there were three NC-4s which began reaching Europe in 1919 however the first was piloted by A.C Read, successfully completing the Atlantic crossing. The flight took off on May 16th, 1919, from Newfoundland, Canada, and reached Horta Azores after 17 hours in the air.

3. First Flight across the English Channel – 1909

Then 37-year old Louis Bleriot, a French self-trained pilot, aircraft engineer and inventor, flew across the English Channel on July 25th, 1909, in an aircraft that he himself had designed called the Bleriot XI. He flew the aircraft from Les Barraques, France to England through bad weather, and earned 1000 pounds doing so from the London Daily Mail. This flight was shocking to the British political and military establishments.

4. The First Trans-Pacific Flight – 1928

The first aircraft to make a trans-Pacific flight was the “Fokker FVIIb-3m NC1985 Southern Cross”. The crew consisted of Australia’s Charles Ulm and Charles Kingsford Smith as well as the Americans, navigator Harry Lyon and James Warner, the radio operator. This flight took an approximate total of 83 hours to cross the 11,822 kilometers from California to Brisbane. The flight had made stops in Fiji and Hawaii en route.

5. First Flight around the World – 1924

In total, 5 Douglas World Cruisers were built for the US Army Air Service in order to attempt this flight in 1924. These five aircraft were named The Boston, The Seattle, The New Orleans, The Chicago and The Boston II. Four of these planes attempted the flight though only two, The New Orleans and The Chicago, completed their flight plans, covering 41,000 kilometers in about 175 days, thus making them first aircrafts to complete the flight around the world. On the trip, they visited more than 60 cities.

If we strictly consider all the books that had significant impact on our lives, we can end up with a long list. However, there are those few notable masterpieces that standout. Thus, we are coming up with our list of top 10 books with the greatest impact to the world.

1. The Bible

There is no doubt that The Bible has the strongest impact and influence to many of us among all books. The Bible is singled out as the main reason why the powerful Roman Empire was converted to Christianity. The Bible is also the top selling Book of all time.

2. The Qur’an

The Qur’an is the Islamic’s world holiest book. The Book was written based on the revelations of Angel Gabriel to Prophet Mohammed. The contents of the Qur’an were preserved through word of mouth and it was only 20 years after the death of Mohammed that the contents and revelations were collected and put into writing.

3. The Summa Theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas

The Summa Theologiae is a multi-volume book set which is described as the collection of the beliefs and doctrines of Christianity. The book is considered in high regard and importance, and the second most influential book next to The Bible.

4. The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine is a renowned English writer who had major influence on Democracy and American Democracy in particular. It was Paine who presented the treatise in his book, The Rights of Man, that the main purpose of the existence and claim to power of governments is their avowed duty to protect the rights of their constituents.

5. Either/Or by Soren Kierkegaard

Either/Or presents two views of life. The first one is anchored on responsibility and ethical duty and the second view refers to the hedonistic way of looking at life. This book was written by the renowned writer considered as the father of existentialism and unarguably exerted strong influence in the writing style of other existentialists.

These brand names and related products have made our lives so easy, it is difficult to imagine a life without them. In fact, some have become so common and regular in daily use that we forget the fact that they are specific brand names and not generic terms for that particular product.  Some of these will change as new generations come into prominence, since priorities and technologies change. But there are the top ten ones which have stood the test of time so far:

1. Coke

It is believed that after “Hello” Coke is the most commonly used word in English. It is the shortened form of the brand name Coca-Cola and is used to signify their aerated drink rather than the company itself. However, in common parlance Coke is name which is associated with all black aerated drinks (much to Pepsi’s mortification!)  It has spread its wings all over the world and most modern children and adults cannot visualize a world without it.

2. Cadbury

The term chocolate has become synonymous with Cadbury. One of the original chocolate makers in the world, Cadbury is based in the United Kingdom but is sold worldwide. Often you will hear children asking for a Cadbury rather than a chocolate – even though they may eventually choose to eat some other branded chocolate.

3. Microsoft

Was there a world before Microsoft?  Windows as an operating system for computers seems to have become an essential part of everyone’s lives. Worldwide, Microsoft has replaced Coke as the best known brand. It is now being given a run for its money by other operating systems, but it will be sometime before we remove it from its prime slot.

4. Google

Every internet surfer’s best friend – Google has transformed the world of research and knowledge gathering. There were search engines before it, but now searching for information on the internet has been termed as googling by some. Its amazing technological innovations have made life so much easier for all of us.

5. Xerox

This brand name is no longer in the forefront, but there was a time when all photocopying processes were known as Xeroxing. Even though they make many other products apart from photocopiers – somehow, since they were the innovators, they have become synonymous with photocopiers.