Did you know who were the three individuals directed themselves to an Oscar for acting?

Did you know that these three individual directed themselves to Oscars?

Charles Chaplin (Special Award, 1927/28),

Laurence Olivier (Special Award, 1946, and Best Actor, 1948),

Roberto Benigni (Best Actor, 1998)

Did you know how to Find the Most Popular Searches on the Web?

Did you know where to look to find

the most popular searches on any given search engine? Many search engines and sites keep track of the popular searches on the Web, either in real time or in archived lists that you can use to track trends.

Researching what people are searching for on the Web is a great way to keep up with popular buzz, figure out what people are looking for and give it to them on your blog or website, or heck - it's a fun way to pass the time. Here are just a few of the sites that track what people are searching for:

• Google Zeitgeist: Google reveals what the top searches are by week, month, and year. Also includes a look at what the most popular searches are in other countries than the United States.
• Ask Top Searches: Ask.com breaks the searches down by week ending and advancing, top news searches, and if there's a holiday anywhere near, the top searches for that particular week.
• Yahoo! Buzz Index: Yahoo goes way further than the other two sites already mentioned in its in-depth coverage of the most popular searches, including a "Today's Top Movers" category with clickable links. In addition, top searches are broken down into actors, movies, sports, etc., with constantly updated short articles to the right of the top search chart. This is where I go to get in-depth information fast on the most popular searches in relatively real-time.
• AOL Hot Searches: Find out what people are searching for in real-time at AOL Search. These are updated every 12 seconds! Also includes links to AOL Buzzline, Top Searches of the year, TV's Top Five, and more.
• MSN Search Insider: MSN Search throws its' hat into the most popular searches ring; including a list of the Top 200, Duels (you can vote for your favorite to "win" the search race. Cheesy, but kind of fun), and various top media searches.
• Lycos Top 50: Lycos has been around forever (at least in Internet years) and has a pretty good Most Popular Searches site. Includes Lycos Top 50, Top 50 blog, Top 50 Archives (at this writing all the way back to 1999), and a focus on whatever holiday day or week might be around the corner.
• MetaCrawler: The most popular searches on this search engine are visible in real time, refreshed every 15 seconds. In addition, you can cruise along with MetaCrawler's trenchcoat wearing mascot and "get a no-holds-barred (unfiltered) look at the search queries of MetaCrawler users." It's interesting to see what real people are searching for, and might give you some interesting ideas to spice up your search engine optimization efforts.
• Nielsen/Net-Rati ngs: Not so much a "top searches" as a popular searches statistics site. Click on "country", and then click on "web usage data." You'll see interesting little tidbits such as "sessions/visits per person", "duration of a Web page viewed", and "PC time per person." No, it's not as thrilling as seeing which reality TV show is winning the top search race, but it's educational and therefore good for you.
• ZDNet UK Most Popular Searches: Find out what other techno-geeks are searching for. Clickable links go to both related articles on ZDNet (and they're very extensive, a nice feature) or to Web results.
• Bloglines.com: Read the most popular blogs of the day at Bloglines; you'll be able to see what top searches and Web buzzwords are travelling through the blogosphere here.
• Dogpile Search Spy: Family-friendly and unedited versions available.
• Technorati: View the front page of Technorati to get a quick glimpse at what people are talking about in real-time; updated very frequently.

Did you know that TLC HAS THE WORLD RECORD for the best selling rap /R&B album ever?

The best selling rap /R&B album ever in the US is CrazySexyCool by TLC which has reached sales of 11 million, surpassing MC Hammer's Please Don't Hurt 'Em which has sold 10 million units. TLC first hit the music world in 1992 with two consecutive Top 3 platinum singles, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg", "Baby, Baby, Baby", and the gold single "What About Your Friends". All three tracks featured on their album debut Oooooooohhh! On The TLC Tip, which sold three million copies.

Did you know that Labor Day orginated Canada out of a labor dispute?

Did you know that:

Labor Day is a United States federal Holiday observed on the first Monday in September.

The holiday originated Canada out of labor disputes in the 1870s, which resulted in legalization and protection of union activity in 1872. The parades held in support and the printers' strike led to an annual celebration in Canada. In 1882 American labor leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed one of these labor festivals in Toronto. Inspired, he returned to New York and organized the first American "labor day" in that same year: September 5, 1882, 127 years ago.

Did you know a War Veteran pulled 13 of his teeth with pliers?

A BRITISH Gulf War veteran pulled out 13 of his teeth with pliers when he could not find an NHS dentist.
TA soldier Ian Boynton could not afford to go private for treatment after suffering with excruciating toothache since 2006.
So instead he took drastic action and removed them himself.
The 42-year-old, from Beverley, East Yorks, had not had his teeth looked at since seeing the army dentist in 2003.
And he has not registered with a dentist of his own since 2001.
He said: “I’ve tried to get in at 30 dentists over the last eight years but have never been able to find one to take on NHS patients.

Root of the problem ... Ian's pulled teeth
Ross Parry Agency
“I started having pain in a front tooth, which protruded slightly more than the others. I was constantly fiddling with it and wiggling it because it hurt so much.
“In the end I knew it had to come out and had to use the pliers to pull it.
“Amazingly, it did not hurt as much as you might think. I think I’d been prising it that much in the meantime that I’d been killing the nerve.”
As he could not find a dentist his teeth were deteriorating and in the last two years Ian has pulled out 13 top teeth – including molars, incisors and canines.
He now only has two teeth left in the roof of his mouth. more

Did you know what a ARM is?

Did you know what an ARM IS?
An ARM is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage.

The recent rise in interest rates has caused home buyers to take a closer look at adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs. A key advantage to an ARM loan is that it usually has a lower initial interest rate than a fixed-rate loan, allowing a buyer to qualify either with a lower income or for a larger loan. In exchange for the lower rate, the home buyer must bear a greater amount of interest rate risk.

An ARM is a loan whose interest rate is adjusted according to movements in rates in the financial markets. The rate and the adjustments are determined by an index rate plus a margin. Suppose the current index rate is six percent and the margin is two percent. The interest rate used for calculating an ARM rate would be eight percent, which is the sum of the two. The index rate is usually some common measure of interest rates available regularly in the newspaper and on the Internet.

There are many different types of ARMs. Some maintain a fixed rate for up to 10 years before making any adjustments. Others may adjust the rate only one year or even one month after closing. Most ARMs have caps on how much the interest rate can increase in any adjustment period and/or over the life of the loan. The caps may be different at different points in the loan. For instance, an ARM that maintains the initial rate for five years may then adjust every year thereafter. The allowable increase after the first five years may be larger than the allowable increase in any of the later years.

ARMs with a long initial adjustment period are especially attractive to buyers who do not to expect to stay in a home long. If a buyer has an ARM with an initial adjustment period of five years and stays in the house for only four years, there will not be any adjustments on the loan. The buyer enjoys the advantage of the lower initial rate without ever having to experience possible rate increases.

As a rule, the greater the amount of interest rate risk borne by the home buyer seeking a loan, the lower the initial interest rate will be. For instance, an ARM that adjusts after one year and then every year thereafter is likely to carry a lower initial rate than an ARM which does not adjust until the end of the fifth year. The home buyer with the loan that does not adjust for five years is receiving greater interest rate security and pays for such security in the form of a higher initial rate.

ARMs can save a home buyer money should interest rates decline. With a fixed-rate mortgage, the only way to benefit from a drop in interest rates is to refinance the loan, which is expensive. With an ARM, a drop in mortgage rates might lower monthly payments without the need to refinance. So the thing to understand with an ARM the interest rate and drop or increase! Also remember that the period that the ARM adjust is generally 6 months to 1 year. Generally interest only loans are the only that adjust once a month.

Did you know that Whitcomb L. Judson was the first to patent the zipper?

Whitcomb L. Judson was an American engineer from Chicago, Illinois, who invented the zipper. Judson patented his "clasp-locker'' on Aug. 29, 1893; later in 1893, he exhibited this new invention at the Chicago World's Fair. He and Lewis Walker founded the Universal Fastener Company to manufacture these fasteners. They never succeeded in selling Judson's new device. Judson died in 1909, before his device became commonly used and well known.


SundbachThe zipper was improved in 1913 by the Swedish-American engineer, Gideon Sundbach (a former employee of Judson). Sundbach was successful at selling his invention, which he called the "Hookless 2." He sold these fasteners to the US Army, who put zippers on soldiers' clothing and gear during World War I.