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Only one NFL team has a plant for a logo. About 700 grapes go into one bottle of wine. Fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia. A $1 bill costs 5 cents to make. The Crown Jewels contain the two biggest cut diamonds on Earth. If Facebook was a country, it would have 1 billion more people than China.

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The 100 folds in a chef's hat represent 100 ways to cook an egg. The longest wedding veil was longer than 63 football fields. Some cats are allergic to people. The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland. M&M stands for Mars and Murrie. You can hear a blue whale's heartbeat from more than 2 miles away.The odds of getting a royal flush are exactly 1 in 649,740.If you drive south from Detroit, you'll hit Canada.The lyrebird can mimic almost any sounds it hears — including chainsaws.Coca-Cola was the first soft drink in space.

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It is physically impossible for you to lick your elbow.

Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day.

It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.

A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.

Bees Can Detect Bombs.

The World's Biggest Tire Producer is LEGO.

The Longest Word You can Type With Just Your Left Hand is "Sweater dresses"

Naps Could Save Your Life.

You Sleep Deeper on a Hammock Than a Bed.

Newborns Don't Shed Tears.

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A spoonful of Neutron star matter weighs the same a 300 million elephants
(Astrophysics for people in a hurry, Neil Degrasse Tyson)

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https://www.rd.com/culture/interesting-facts/

1. McDonald’s once made bubblegum-flavored broccoli

2. The first oranges weren’t orange

3. Scotland has 421 words for “snow”

4. The longest English word is 189,819 letters long

5. Octopuses lay 56,000 eggs at a time

6. The American flag was designed by a high school student

7. Your nose and ears are the only body parts that never stop growing

8. Theodore Roosevelt had a pet hyena

9.  Bees can fly higher than Mount Everest

10. An employee at Pixar accidentally deleted a sequence of Toy Story 2 during production

Reel

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Cows give over 200,000 glasses of milk in their lifetime!!!!!

thedodo.com

Maya

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Showers really do spark creativity!!
(but don't have more than a 2 minute shower - save water, save the planet!!!).
Julie Green

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"I'm not really a creative person", always struck me as an odd sentence. Could it really be that some of us are born to be more creatively gifted than others?

If so, I thought at first, that's definitely a downer. In school, what was considered "being creative", like writing or drawing nice pictures was never my strength.

It bugged me for a while I have to say. For today, I finally decided to research and read up on the latest studies of creativity and the science behind it. The truth, which I was very happy to discover, is that any and everybody is creative. In fact, we are all extremely creative.

And the following science will hopefully prove it, in case you ever had any doubts about your own creativity. After all, creativity, at its very core, boils down to this:

"A creative idea will be defined simply as one that is both novel and useful (or influential) in a particular social setting." - Alice Flaherty

This applies to every field Flaherty explains, including programming, business, mathematics together with the more traditional "creative" fields, such as music or drawing. And yet, there is still a very distinct process behind it:

Our brain on creativity: The example of free-style rap

So, what is actually active in our brain when we are doing something creatively? That's always been extremely hard to track as creativity has always been considered a very vague activity. Until recently researchers Allen Braun and Siyuan Liu had a genius idea: Track the brain activity of rappers doing freestyle and turn it into a research study.

Free-style rap is a great example of a creative process that is both relatively easy to track and can be translated into lots of other areas. What they found was fascinating. When we are being creative, some of the everyday brain areas are completely deactivated, whilst others we don't use in every day lives light up:

"Artists showed lower activity in part of their frontal lobes called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during improvisation, and increased activity in another area, called the medial prefrontal cortex. The areas that were found to be 'deactivated' are associated with regulating other brain functions."

To make it a bit more understandable:

"We think what we see is a relaxation of 'executive functions' to allow more natural de-focused attention and uncensored processes to occur that might be the hallmark of creativity," says Braun.

So, the areas in our brain, that we use to make decisions is largely inactive. The "medial prefrontal cortex" area, which is responsible to learn association, context, events and emotional responses however was extremely active on the other hand. This graphic of brain activity probably describes it best:

The reason the above is so fascinating, is that for the first time, there was an activity, that was deeply creative and also fairly straightforward to measure. When I read through some other studies measuring brain activity, it never felt that the people were performing something actually creative.

So it makes a lot of sense to substitute free-style rapping for writing, drawing, solving programming problems and more mentions Braun. That's why this example is so great. It is also similar to our brain activity whilst we sleep.

Why do we have great ideas in the shower then?

The fact that free-style rapping shows us a high level of creativity, still doesn't explain why great ideas happen in the shower.

Alice Flaherty, one of the most renowned neuroscientists researching creativity has an answer for us. Another ingredient, that's very important for us to be creative is dopamine: The more dopamine that is released, the more creative we are, she says:

"People vary in terms of their level of creative drive according to the activity of the dopamine pathways of the limbic system."

This graphic shows beautifully how dopamine gets taken up by certain brain areas which then get increasingly active and trigger more creative wanderings:

Typical triggers for events, that make us feel great and relaxed and therefore give us an increased dopamine flow are taking a warm shower, exercising, driving home, etc. The chances of having great ideas then are a lot higher.

Still, that's not all there is to it. Dopamine alone, which gets triggered in hundreds of events, where we aren't very creative, can't be the only reason. Another crucial factor is a distraction, says Harvard researcher Carson:

"In other words, a distraction may provide the break you need to disengage from a fixation on the ineffective solution.''

Especially if you have thought long and hard all day about a problem, jumping into the shower can turn into what scientist call the "incubation period" for your ideas. The subconscious mind has been working extremely hard to solve the problems you face and now that you let your mind wander, it can surface and plant those ideas into your conscious mind.

Lastly, after you have received an influx in dopamine, can be easily distracted by an extremely habitual task like showering or cooking, a relaxed state of mind is absolutely important to be creative, says Jonah Lehrer:

"Why is a relaxed state of mind so important for creative insights? When our minds are at ease-when those alpha waves are rippling through the brain-we're more likely to direct the spotlight of attention inward, toward that stream of remote associations emanating from the right hemisphere. In contrast, when we are diligently focused, our attention tends to be directed outward, toward the details of the problems we're trying to solve. While this pattern of attention is necessary when solving problems analytically, it actually prevents us from detecting the connections that lead to insights. 'That's why so many insights happen during warm showers,' Bhattacharya says. 'For many people, it's the most relaxing part of the day.' It's not until we're being massaged by warm water, unable to check our e-mail, that we're finally able to hear the quiet voices in the backs of our heads telling us about the insight. The answers have been their all along-we just weren't listening."

So this seems to be the magic combination: If you are in a relaxed state of mind, easy to distract and full of dopamine, your brain is most likely to give you your best, most creative ideas.

3 most successful ways to capture your creative spirit

From all the research I have read, this is the most important thing to take away I found: Every day, everyone of us is extremely creative. The trick is not to optimize for how to spark your creative spirit. The trick is to make sure you capture it, whenever it happens.

Instead of looking for better ways to brainstorm or otherwise come up with ideas, the key is to not let go of the tiny, fragile ones, once they enter our heads.

Here are some of the best ways that some of the most successful people manage to capture their ideas:

1. Keep a notebook with you at all times, even in the shower

This is by far, the most successful technique to capture more of your creativity every day: a simple notepad. What is extremely difficult, is to keep a notepad with you at all times. If even Richard Branson forgets ideas as quickly as they enter his head, how can we expect to be any different. For that exact reason writing everything down, even if doesn't seem that important at the time is absolutely crucial says Drew Hansen:

"Don't judge [your ideas] at this stage, either. There's a reason they occurred to you this way."

With that, the emphasis really lies on "all times". It is easy to bring a notepad to the office or have it lying on our desk. Yet, that's not when our most creative moments happen. Here are some of the areas where we typically forget to keep a notepad:

In your car

In the gym

Whilst Running

While grocery shopping

In the shower

These are some of the most typical activities where our creative moments happen, capturing them then and there is absolutely crucial. As for the shower, don't worry, I recently discovered Acqua notes as a great way to capture your ideas:

2. Plan disengagement and distraction: The outer - inner technique

Similar to what Shelly Carson from Harvard called "the incubation" period, I'm using a technique that has greatly helped me to capture this. I call it the "outer-inner" technique.

I generally start my day with the most important task for Buffer in the morning. Say this is a blogpost:

I will do all the research, jot down notes into my word editor and not worry at all about the actual blogpost. That is the first outer task. Then I have a few inner task follow. I will respond to emails, might have a brief chat with the team and do other tasks. Then, towards the end of my day, I get back to the second half of the outer task. I would sit down and then actually write the article, edit pieces and put into publishable form.

The amazing thing that happens is that even I don't work on the blogpost during my inner tasks, my subconscious brain doe s. It will do all the work, and then gradually present the solutions to me when I get back to working on it later on.

3. Overwhelm your brain: Make the task really hard

Another very well researched technique is to overwhelm your brain. Have you ever started to work on a task, where you quickly realised was insanely hard and you will most likely fail solving it? Keep working on it says Robert Epstein.

If you are a programmer, try to solve something you've never attempted before and always thought you can only do a lot later in your career, as a writer, write a piece longer then you think you can write. Your brain will be put in a shock situation and naturally engage more of your creative area then it normally would. And although you might not succeed at the task at first, you will find that other tasks will come a lot easier through your increased brain activity then.

Quick last fact: "The left side of our brain manages creativity" myth

Ever since I went to elementary school, I was taught that "For creativity, use your left side of the brain!" Fortunately, that is not at all true:

"In the 1970s, based on studies of split-brain patients, the idea that the right hemisphere "controlled" creativity became very popular, especially in the public's imagination. This model is now considered overly simplistic and outdated."

Instead, creativity happens in multiple areas all across our brain, best aligned with the 3D model you can see above.
I tried to bust as many of the common myths around creativity above as possible and I'm sure there is lots more that you've discovered in the past! What are your best tips for working creatively? I'd love your thoughts in the comments. Editor's note: This article first appeared on the Buffer Social blog on Feb 28, 2013, and has since been moved here to the Open blog.
Originally written Sep 7, 2018. Last updated Sep 7, 2018

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Why We Have Our Best Ideas in the Shower: The Science of Creativity

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"I'm not really a creative person", always struck me as an odd sentence. Could it really be that some of us are born to be more creatively gifted than others? If so, I thought at first, that's definitely a downer. In school, what was considered "being creative", like writing or drawing nice pictures was never my strength.

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Australia has over 10,000 beaches. You could visit a new beach everyday for over 27 years!

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Australia has over 10,000 beaches. You could visit a new beach everyday for over 27 years!

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https://www.thefactsite.com/100-mind-blowing-facts/

Isabel

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Here is a fun fact
My grandmother sent me this on WhatsApp

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Post Your Fun and Interesting Facts Here!

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Post Your Fun and Interesting Facts Here!

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Give me a horse and saddle,
And the old-time open range,
Let me drift on some prairie trail
Through valleys wild and strange.
Give me a chance to live my life
In the land that was made by God;
Ere yet the vandal hand of man
Hath touched to mar or rob.

Give me an old log cabin
In a valley among the pines,
And let me live as I want to live,
Where the western sunlight shines.
Give me the glorious sunsets
When the peaks are tipped with gold,
Or the mountain range at dawning,
Rose tinted, stark and bold.

Give me the soul of the "Dreamer,"
And the power to wield my pen,
That I may write with the fiery zeal
That sways the souls of men.
Give me the understanding,
Not that I crave for gold,
But let me write, as I'd like to write,
The tales of the days of old.

- A.L. Freebairn (my great-great grandfather)

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Over Land, Over Sea: Poems for those seeking refuge (2015) posted by Julie Green

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Over Land, Over Sea: Poems for those seeking refuge (2015) posted by Julie Green

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YASMINA BEVAN The raven- EDGAR ALLAN POE

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YASMINA BEVAN The raven- EDGAR ALLAN POE

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Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.

“Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;

Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—

Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—

’Tis the wind and nothing more!”

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;

Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;

But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—

Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—

Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,

“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,

Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—

Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—

Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

With such name as “Nevermore.”

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—

Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—

On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”

Then the bird said “Nevermore.”
......

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Let no one steal your dreams is a good poem written by Paul Cooks and it's about being who you want to be.

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"The Beginning" by Jacqueline Woodson, posted by Ms. Hoover

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Mr Parkinson

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

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Quote: Only in darkness, you see stars

Meaning: Only in the darkest times good things happen

- Martin Luther King

Leonard Von Schroeder

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As they enter the room with spirits entwined,
They are a family, uniquely combined.
The warmth they share seems to fill them with pride,
They are a family, they stand side by side.
It doesn’t just happen spontaneously,
This family so close, emotionally.
They live and they love, always showing their care,
Through good times and bad, together they share.
And now at this time, so happily rejoicing,
Expressing so clearly the love they’re endorsing.
They stand as a family and always shall be,
Like links on a chain, like leaves on a tree.
Connected by feelings of love they all know,
Filled with trust and respect,
Through the years as they grow.

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She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron (George Gordon)

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She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron (George Gordon)

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She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

By: Alice Momoh

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You might like it
You might not
The time is calling for your support
Don't waste time in stressing a lot

The truth isn't hiding
Give a bit to explore yourself
To know your strength
To take care of self

Don't be bewildered
Don't be tired
Stay safe and secure
Remember that prevention is better than cure

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Casey At The Bat (by Ernest Lawrence Thayer) 

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Casey At The Bat (by Ernest Lawrence Thayer) 

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The poem is too long, so I just put the link here. It's a poem about expectations and disappointment, and the emotions in sports. This poem was important to me because its one of the first I'd heard and it's a reminder that even the best sometimes fail.
-Aidan

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When I walk in my house I see pictures,
bought long ago, framed and hanging
-de Kooning, Arp, Laurencin, Henry Moore-
that I've cherished and stared at for years,
yet my eyes keep returning to the masters
of the trivial-a white stone perfectly round,
tiny lead models of baseball players, a cowbell,
a broken great-grandmother's rocker,
a dead dog's toy-valueless, unforgettable
detritus that my children will throw away
as I did my mother's souvenirs of trips
with my dead father, Kodaks of kittens,
and bundles of cards from her mother Kate.

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Casey at the Bat - The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;

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Back and forth, back and forth

Bride only

like the Groom will not be photographed

Hustle hustle hustle

Payment, give us a discount,

For what it's worth, weddings are not exactly repeat business

Unless...

Reminders, schedules, plans

Bride plans, groom follows.

Not hard to see how the relationship starts to go wrong

Wedding day

How is this a happy moment?
So much yelling

So much screaming,
lots of anxiety, delicate nerves

Where is the joy?

They don't smile, I have to ask them

Then I ask myself, why do they do it

If it's all for me

I will not be there, I only get paid...

Smile...

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There’s a fire burning across London

It’s a ruthless merciless raging fire

It burns its way across the county

From Oxford Street to Abbey Road

Smoke billows and swirls in loops and whirls

From Downing Street to Havering

Cinders fly and ashes float

The stinging scorching choking cloud

As panic sets the people stir

God save the queen, let’s save the queen

As Big Ben asks in sympathy

What light through yonder window breaks?

With ventilators, masks and gloves

In thunder, lightning, or in rain

The people fight the virulent fire

Until it’s thirsty flames they quench

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I wish that I were ignorant to all that life might be.
Perhaps then I would be rid of it this pain that vexes me.
Maybe it would amplify and drive me slap insane.
The motivations might mystify,
why I chose to stifle my,
tired weary brain.

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A

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by Amalie Reite

A mind full of poetry, that will never be shared

A life full of wonder, that has barely been spared

We keep it inside

And when it gets out, we run and we hide

We are special, but we will not let it show

We have things to say, but we will not let them know

For we keep it inside

And when it gets out, we run and we hide

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Ognen Angelevski

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He who binds to himself a joy
Does the wingèd life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise.

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the book is called THIDWICK THE BIG HEARTED MOOSE by Dr. Seuss

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https://www.instagram.com/razmutabingwa/
Ms. Trina

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her grandmother called her from the playground

“yes, ma’am”

“i want chu to learn how to make rolls” said the old

woman proudly

but the little girl didn’t want

to learn how because she knew

even if she couldn’t say it that

that would mean when the old one died she would be less

dependent on her spirit so

she said

“i don’t want to know how to make no rolls”

with her lips poked out

and the old woman wiped her hands on

her apron saying “lord

these children”

and neither of them ever

said what they meant

and i guess nobody ever does

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Note from Ms. Trina

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by Sally Wittrick

Curiosity is mid-morning tea. You are awake enough to ask questions and not yet tired..

Curiosity is a vintage bicycle - asking questions of the rider and observers.

Curiosity is a spicy chili paste, tingling, and burning dancing with flavour.

Curiosity is experimental jazz with no idea where it is going.

Curiosity is hardworking, hopeful, ambitious….curious.

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by Ken Norris

You are reading this too fast

Slow down, for this is poetry

And poetry works slowly

Unless you live with it a while

the spirit will never descend.

It's so easy to quickly cut across the surface

And then claim there was nothing to find.

Touch the poem gently with your eyes

Just as you touch a lovers flesh.

Poetry is an exercise in patience.

You must wait for it to come to you.

The spirit manifests in many guises;

Some quiver with beauty,

Some vibrate with song.

What is happening?

Slow down, Slow down,

Take a few breaths,

Read the poem slowly,

Read the lines one at a time,

Read the words one by one,

Read the spaces between the words,

Get  sleepy, this is poetry,

Relax until your heart

Is vulnerable, wide open.

Submitted by Ms. Arndt

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If I fly
then I am off the ground.

If I am off the ground
I might fly too high and spin off into space
where I will perish.

If I don't fly
and stay on the ground
then I lose out on the experience of flying.

If I fly tip-toe but not actually fly
then I don't fly or soar.
and lose the experience of really flying.

If I stay on the ground then my life
will not be what it could be.

I guess flying is worth the risk.
But then this
is a personal choice
and I could fail.
So fear of failure
is my real enemy.

That I have to overcome.
Be prepared to fail as many
times as it takes
but don't give up on flying.

Flying

Lonnie Hicks