More Interesting Facts

1.       One litter of baby hedgehogs can have several fathers.

2.       A multipart study found that beautiful people are more likely to be involved in unstable relationships.

3.       The U.S. government initially reacted favourably to the Cuban revolution, seeing it as part of a movement to bring democracy to Latin America.

4.       During the American Civil War, a free black woman Mary Bowser took a job as a servant in the Confederate White House and served as a Union spy.

5.       A Belgian minister arrived by bike to a news conference to promote cycling in 2017, only to find it had been stolen when he left half an hour later.

6.       Even after "That '70s Show" made her famous, Mila Kunis worked at a Rite Aid ice cream counter.

7.       In 2013, it was reported that there were only around 30 women who are citizens of Vatican City.

8.       Vatican City is one of six countries worldwide that ban abortion completely, even if the mother's life is in danger.

9.       Saint Drogo is the Catholic Church's patron saint of those whom others find repulsive, unattractive people, cattle, coffee house owners and deaf people.

10.   St. Julian the Hospitaller is the Catholic Church's patron saint of circus workers and fiddle players.

11.   Overbooking is not illegal and every airline does it to maximise their revenue.

12.   The average inmate at Alcatraz read 75-100 books per year.

13.   Wealthy ancient Egyptians slept with neck supports rather than pillows to preserve their hairstyles.

14.   The most disproportionately common physical injury diagnosis in New York is "knee injury."

15.   The British Standards Institution has a 5,000 word report on the correct way to make a cup of tea.

16.   In Slovakia, using the names Britain or Great Britain instead of the United Kingdom can land you with a €6,600 fine.

Why Some Women Say, They Cheat On Their Spouses – Part Three

7.       After telling my husband I was lonely and unhappy for years, he continued to travel for months at a time until I finally found someone else. Having that fling forced me to admit I wanted a divorce and to tell him in no uncertain terms that I was done.

8.       After eight years, it was a relationship that had lost all romantic love. I wanted to travel he wanted to stay at home. I wanted children, he did not. I wanted someone who would sleep with me, he seemed disinterested. I wanted to take on opportunities and be challenged, he wanted to be comfortable. I went to work in the West Bank for three months, he stayed at home. While I knew I was not happy in my relationship, I thought that maybe that was just how it was going to be. One night, while in the West Bank, I went out to a bar with friends and across the room I saw the most beautiful man I have ever laid eyes on. We met, we danced, we talked we swapped phone numbers. It was the beginning of the most intense and wild romantic relationship I have ever been in. When I returned home, I told my ex-husband I wanted to separate but I never told him about the other man, who I continued to see for a year before we ended things. Today I’m engaged to a man who wants to travel, be challenged have children and sleep with me. While I will always feel terrible that I was unfaithful, it showed me what I wanted and needed and forced me to get out of a relationship that was not right for me.

9.       My marriage lasted over 10 years. I couldn’t make him happy and he couldn’t make me happy. Sex had become like showing up for an army physical. I just did it and told him it was great. Did I make a mistake in not telling him my desires? Of course, but you have to trust your partner to do that. That was one of the core issues with us. He seemed to have a distrust of women in general that seemed almost pathological. If I took too long running errands I got quizzed on my whereabouts. It felt like I was being accused of an affair. I would joke with my girlfriends, that I should be allowed a free pass to cheat since I had been accused so many times. Eventually I just wanted more, more positive communication, more kindness, more desire, just more. So I cheated. I actively looked for a man to fit the bill of what I wanted. I found one and the sex was spectacular. It had been years since I had that kind of desire for someone. It was a foreign feeling. I realized I wasn’t dead inside like I was afraid I had become. That’s when I knew I needed to get a divorce. I finally gathered the courage to get one. There are never good reasons for why people cheat but I learned a while back not to throw stones at people for their decisions because ultimately, you’re only responsible for your life, not theirs.

Why Some Women Say, They Cheat On Their Spouses – Part Two

1.       I think it’s important for people to realize that an affair can be the last thing on your mind but that it’s easy for harmless friendships to progress into something more when you’re unhappy at home. I was with my husband nearly 11 years. I had been primarily supporting us financially and emotionally for seven years and as the sole breadwinner of four. I met a man in one of my continuing education classes and what followed was eight months of conflicted feelings, marriage counseling, ultimatums and anything else I could think of to save our marriage before I gave into an affair. Three months later, I was so exhausted and torn I left my husband even though he had forgiven me for cheating. About a month later, I started exclusively dating the other man I was involved with and asked my husband for a divorce. I still feel terrible about it. The affair wasn’t the reason I left but I wonder if I would have had the strength to realize how unhappy I was without it happening. I still love my husband but I knew he’d never change so I had to walk away.

2.       Cheating on my ex-husband isn’t something I’m proud of and I would never do it again. The question I get asked a lot is why? Why did I cheat? Back then I would have given you a whole list of reasons: there was a communication breakdown, he had vices, he didn’t take care of himself. But in retrospect, the one reason that stands out is how confused I was about how life and relationships work. I thought once my husband changed, everything would be OK. I couldn’t see that my feelings of frustration over our relationship weren’t about his behavior, it was about me: I created the the negative mood through my negative thoughts. Then I allowed myself to become infatuated with another man. Things would have been very different if I had adjusted my way of thinking.

3.       I didn’t have an affair like most people do. There was no sneaking around or lying to my husband. Actually, it was all in plain sight right until the very end. I was best friends with a guy for 17 years. He was the person I confided in when I was sad, when something amazing happened, honestly, anytime anything of note happened. The surprising thing is my husband encouraged it. If I came to my spouse with some big problem, he would tell me to go have lunch with my friend and tell him about it. So I did. At first I thought I was doing what was best for my husband because he worked so much and didn’t need my problems. But after a while, I pulled further away from him. On our five year anniversary I told him he had one year to get his act together and become the man our children and I needed him to be. Ten months later, I was in marriage counselling with my soon-to-be ex-husband, begging for a divorce, sleeping with my best friend and watching my whole world fall apart.

Why Some Women Say, They Cheat On Their Spouses – Part One

“It wasn’t a specific, conscious and considered act!” “I didn’t wake up one day and think, ‘Hey, I think I’d like to have an affair.’ It just happened, which is probably very hard to comprehend if you haven’t actually been in the situation!” “He stopped saying, I love you!” “I wanted my husband to feel the same pain he’d introduced to me!” “It just happened!” “It’s easy for harmless friendships to progress into something more when you’re unhappy at home!” “I allowed myself to become infatuated with another man!” “My husband encouraged it!” “I was lonely and unhappy for years!” “I wanted someone who would sleep with me. He seemed disinterested!” “Sex had become like showing up for an army physical!” Below, some women explain what led them to cheat on their spouses.

1.       I married the wrong man and made the ‘easier’ choice in life by being with him. It didn’t become clear to me how wrong he was for me until we had a child. I turned to the right man for comfort for many years and hid it because I wanted my family to remain under the same roof. The biggest reason I strayed was the complete lack of attention I was shown. No birthday or Christmas cards, no gifts. He stopped saying ‘I love you.’ We went from having sex once a week before the baby to every couple months after the baby, to eventually once a year. It’s really easy to fall out of love when you feel like your spouse is a roommate you co-parent with.

2.       I cheated on my husband because he cheated on me. That’s the sad and simple truth. After spending six years with a man who couldn’t stop cheating on me I was emotionally exhausted, depleted and lingering at rock bottom. I cheated out of an overwhelming desire to have someone give me back some of the love and attention I’d been giving my husband with nothing in return. I cheated because I was desperate for someone to love me with the same ferocious first-love intensity that I’d given my husband. I cheated with my high school boyfriend because I was angry, hurt and wanted my husband to feel the same pain he’d introduced to me six years ago and had never tried to work on, despite knowing that it was breaking me down. I cheated because I no longer loved myself and hoped that someone, anyone could hand me some self-worth, a little bit of love and help me begin again.

3.       I truly believe that most people who have affairs, or even zipless sex, are doing so because they are seeking something that is fundamentally lacking in their relationship. As for me, cheating on my spouse wasn’t a specific, conscious, considered act. I didn’t wake up one day and think, ‘Hey, I think I’d like to have an affair.’ It just happened — which is probably very hard to comprehend if you haven’t actually been in the situation. A professional relationship became a friendship, became a flirtation, became an infatuation, became an affair, became a demise. It’s much like drinking a great bottle of wine with dinner. You don’t set out to get drunk but the taste, combined with the other flavours on the plate, the sounds and smells of the room, the soothing, warm feeling of relaxing into the entire sensory environment, allows you to take a sip, then another, then another, then refill your glass, and then at some point you look around and realize that you have a buzz, but your senses are so ripe that you keep sipping, even though you know you should stop because you’re going to get drunk and be hung-over the next day.

A True Art Of Charity

As I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighbouring town of Venice, Italy; the city of lights and water, and enjoying our coffee, a man entered, sat at an empty table beside us, called the waiter and placed his order saying, “Two cups of coffee, one here one on the wall.” As we heard this strange order with interest, we observed that the man was served with one cup of coffee but he paid for two. And as soon as he left, the waiter pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying, “A Cup of Coffee.” While we were still there, two other men entered and ordered three cups of coffee, two on the table and one on the wall. They had their two cups of coffee, but paid for three and left. This time also, the waiter did the same. He pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying, “A Cup of Coffee.” It was something unique and perplexing for us. We finished our coffee, paid the bill and left.

After a few days, we had a chance to go to this coffee shop again. And while we were enjoying our coffee, a poorly dressed man entered, seated himself, looked at the wall and said, “One cup of coffee from the wall.” The waiter served coffee to this man with the customary respect and dignity. The man had his coffee and left without paying. We were amazed to watch all this, as the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the dust bin. Now it was no surprise for us, the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown by the inhabitants of this town made our eyes well up in tears. Ponder upon the need of what this man wanted. He enters the coffee shop without having to lower his self-esteem; he has no need to ask for a free cup of coffee and without asking or knowing about the one who is giving this cup of coffee to him. He only looked at the wall, place an order for himself, enjoyed his coffee and left.

Probably the most beautiful wall you may ever see will be our wall of good deeds on the Day of Judgement. This is Charity, when you give from one hand and the other hand does not know about it. May the Almighty God help us all to spend for the poor and the needy!

The Assertive Women Conference

At an International Conference For Women, the first speaker was from England and she said, "At last year's Conference, we spoke about being more ASSERTIVE with our husbands. Well, after the conference, I went home and told my husband that I will no longer cook for him, and that he will have to do it by himself. After the first day, I saw nothing. After the second day, I saw nothing. But by the third day, I saw he had cooked a WONDERFUL ROAST LAMB." The participants cheered.

The second speaker was from the United States of America and she said, "After last year's conference, I went home and told my husband that I would no longer do his laundry, and that he would have to do it by himself. After the first day, I saw nothing. After the second day, I saw nothing. But by the third day, I saw that he has done NOT ONLY HIS OWN WASHING, BUT ALSO MY WASHING AS WELL." Again, the participants cheered.

The third speaker was from Nigeria and she said, “After last year's conference, I go house and tell my husband say I no go cook for am again, that I no go wash or even go market for am again, and say him go de do am himself. After the first day, I no fit see anything. After the second day, I no fit see anything. But by the third day, as the SWELLING FOR MY EYES DE GO DOWN, I start to see small small from my LEFT EYE. I come see HIM NEW WIFE!"

You Reap What You Sow

Charles was a good mechanic, who always has a good heart. Though he hasn’t worked for some time now, he always feared applying for a new job. But one day, he gathered up all his strength and finally decided he will attend an interview. He got all dressed up in a neat white shirt and slack pants, and went on his way. His appointment was 10 am and it’s already 8:30. While waiting for a bus ride going to the office where he is supposed to be interviewed, he saw an elderly man frantically kicking the tire of his car. That meant there was something obviously wrong with the car. So Charles offered to help the old man with the problem.

While Charles was working on the car, he told the old man that he was supposed to go to an interview as a mechanic in one company but would probably miss it because he would not be able to make it on time. When Charles finished working on the old man’s car, the old man asked him how much for the service. Charles said there’s no need to pay him because it was not work for him, just helped someone in need. And the old man said, “Well, I could offer to take you to the office for your interview. It’s the least I could do, please I insist.” And Charles agreed.

At the waiting room of the company Charles has applied for, there was a long line of applicants waiting to be interviewed, and he was not told that the interviewer was late. A sigh of relief for Charles, but other applicants looked over at him because he still had some grease left on him after the car repair. He did not have much time to wash it off or have a change of shirt. One by one, the applicants left the interviewer’s office with gloomy looks on their faces, a sign of disappointment. Then his name was called, and the secretary escorted him to the office. A cup of coffee was served for him. Rocking the executive chair back and forth, Charles asked himself, “Do you really need to be interviewed? With the way I look now, how could I possibly pass this interview?” His heart sank. And the room suddenly became a confined space for him.

Then the interviewer turned the chair and to Charles’ surprise, it was the old man he helped earlier in the morning. It turned out he was the General Manager of the company Charles was applying at. And the old man said, “Sorry I have to keep you waiting, but I was pretty sure I made the right decision of having you as part of our workforce before you even stepped into this office. I just know you will be a trustworthy worker, congratulations.” Charles sat down as they shared a cup of well-deserved coffee as he landed himself a new job. Indeed, you reap what you sow. Start sowing good things today! Now is the time!!