35 Amazing and Interesting Facts about Barak Obama | Amazing Facts 4U

1. Barack Hussein Obama is named after his father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936-1982). “Barack” means “blessing/blessed/to bless” in Swahili and “Hussein” is a word meaning “good” or “beautiful.” Swahili was Obama Sr.’s native language.
2. Obama is distantly related to Vice President Dick Cheney. He is also eligible for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution; one of his maternal great great great grandfathers was a decorated Union soldier.
3. Barak Obama won the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination by defeating Hilary Clinton, the former first lady, and New York senator, and then took the presidency by beating Republican Senator John McCain. His energetic campaign was built on a theme of “hope and change” fueled by powerful oratory.
4. He became the 44th president of the United States in 2009 and the first African American to do so. A mood of national optimism prevailed at Obama’s inauguration on January 20, 2009, which drew an estimated 1.8 million people to the National Mall in Washington despite the bitter cold. He began his presidency with a 68 percent approval rating.
5. He was named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” in 2008. He was then awarded the Nobel Peace Prize although some critics said it was too soon since he had only been recently elected as president.
6. He was reelected in November 2012 after defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney and sworn in for his second final term on January 20, 2013.
7. Obama is left-handed. He can speak Spanish. He doesn’t drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol.
8. Barak Obama simultaneously oversaw wars in Iraq, which he ended in 2011, and Afghanistan, as well as the US military involvement in Libya that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi. In May 2011, he authorized the raid in which US Navy seals killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
9. The centerpiece of his domestic agenda was the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare reform law better known as Obamacare which gave all Americans affordable insurance and more protections, but critics say it is expensive federal interference. Obama struggled to revive the economy and create jobs.
10. Barak Obama’s grandfather, Hussin Onyango Obama (c. 1895-1979) was recruited to work for Kenya’s colonial power, Great Britain, during WWI. The British imprisoned and tortured him for taking part in the Kenyan revolution after WWII. He converted from Christianity to Islam.
11. Barak Obama has many, many relatives, as Obama’s father, paternal grandfather, and paternal great grandfather each had several wives and many children. His grandfather was known in the family as “The Terror” and his father was called “Old Man.”
12. Barak Obama’s father was born into Kenya’s Luo tribe near Lake Victoria. He initially identified himself as a Muslim but spent much of his adult life as an atheist. He was accepted to the University of Hawaii with full tuition at the age of 23, he left his pregnant first wife (Kezia) and son in the care of his father’s third wife Sarah Hussein Onyango in Kenya. He was the first person in the Obama family to leave Africa to live in another country.
13. Barak Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham (1942-1995) came from an old American family. The entire family moved to Hawaii in 1959 the same year Barack Obama Sr. arrived. Obama’s father and mother met in a Russian class at the University of Hawaii when she was 18 years old.
14. In 1961, Ann and Barack Obama Sr. wed in a small civil ceremony. Ann was already three months pregnant with Barack at the time of the wedding and was under the impression Obama Sr. was divorced from his first wife. In 1961, interracial marriage was still illegal in some states, but not in Hawaii.
15. Barack Obama Sr.’s father was outright opposed to his son’s marriage to Ann Durham because he thought his son was neglecting his wife and two children in Kenya.
16. Obama (who was often called “Barry” or “Bar”) was born on August 4, 1961, at the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii.
17. When Obama was only two years old, his father left his family to pursue his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1963. Barack would see him only one more time before his death in 1985.
18. In 1964, Obama’s mother filed for divorce from Barack Obama Sr. while he was pursuing his graduate degree at Harvard. In 1965, Obama Sr. completed his master’s degree and returned to Kenya with another woman, Ruth Nidesand, a Caucasian American-born teacher.
19. In 1967, Barack Obama’s mother married her second husband, Lolo (“Crazy”) Soetoro from Indonesia. Lolo practiced a form of Islam that incorporated ideas from other belief systems.
20. While living in Indonesia with his mother and Lolo for four years, Obama played in rice paddies, rode water buffalo, and ate chili peppers, dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper. Baby alligators, chickens, and ducks lived in the yard. For the first time, he also encountered people who had leprosy and lived in extreme poverty.
21. In 1970, Barak Obama’s mother and Lolo had a daughter, Barack’s half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng. In 1971, Ann sent Barack back to Hawaii after realizing she did not want him to grow up in Indonesia. She later divorced Lolo.
22. Obama lived with maternal grandparents and received a scholarship to Punahou, a prestigious prep school in Hawaii. He graduated in 1979 with honors.
23. Barak Obama’s mother Ann died in 1995 of ovarian and uterine cancer.
24. Barack Obama Sr. was involved in a car accident in 1982 at age 46 which led to both his legs being amputated.
25. When Barak Obama was 21, he received a call from Nairobi that his father was involved in yet another car accident and had died. He left behind three ex-wives, a mistress, six sons, and a daughter. He is buried where he grew up in Kenya’s Siaya District.
26. Barak Obama worked at Baskin-Robbins as a teenager and now dislikes ice cream. He also has worked in construction.
27. As a teenager, he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine.
28. While at Punahou Academy, Barack befriended Frank Marshall Davis (1905-1987), a journalist, poet, and supposed communist whom he looked to as a role model.
29. In 1995, Barak Obama published his autobiography, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. He won a Grammy award for the audio version of the book. His second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts of Reclaiming the American Dream, was endorsed by Oprah Winfrey and became a best seller.
30. Following 9/11, Obama was an early opponent of President George W. Bush’s plan to go to war with Iraq.
31. Barak Obama is a Christian and a former member of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He has never been a Muslim.
32. Barak Obama met his wife Michelle Robinson, a South Side Chicago native, while he was interning at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. She was his mentor and was not initially attracted to him but after a two-year courtship, they were married in the fall of 1992 at the Trinity United Church of Christ.
33. Obama’s race against Alan Keyes in 2004 marked the first time in U.S. history that two African-Americans ran as major-party nominees for a Senate seat. Obama beat Keyes by the widest margin for a Senate race in Illinois history.
34. Barak Obama reads Harry Potter to his oldest daughter Malia every night when he is home. He has read every Harry Potter book.
35. Barak Obama once said the three men he admired the most were Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

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30 Little known Facts About Politicians  Amazing Facts 4U

1. When Castro took power in Cuba, he amazingly destroyed every copy of Monopoly!
2. Amazingly Cuban leader Fidel Castro has appeared in two-holiday movies made in 1946 as a background extra.
3. Fidel Castro (Politicians) was voted “Cuba’s best schoolboy athlete” in 1944.
4. Fidel Castro tried out for the Washington Senators baseball team but didn’t make it onto the team.
5. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.
6. The amazing fact is that Winston Churchill, feared January 24 because he was certain it was destined to be the day of his death. Churchill’s father had died on that date. Churchill did indeed die on January 24, 1965.
7. Winston Churchill’s severe stutter made him a great speaker! Amazingly almost every single witty retort or ingenious speech was written days in advance to be said. Churchill would spend hours and hours studying and practicing.
8. In his first year of Harrow, Amazingly Winston Churchill was at the bottom of the whole school!
9. Benjamin Franklin (Politicians) was the youngest son of the youngest son of the youngest son of the youngest son.
10. Amazingly Al Gore invented the words “internet” and “Global warming”.
11. There were amazing 42 known assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler.
12. Ultimately, Hitler took his own life on April 30, 1945. He shot himself in the head with his own pistol.
13. The fact is Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian and had only one testicle.
14. Hitler was a tax evader. When he became chancellor of Germany in 1934 he had evaded paying 405,500 million Reichsmarks in tax (6.3 million USD in today’s currency). Fortunately for Hitler, he was forgiven his tax debts when he was elected.
15. In 1938, Time Magazine chose Adolf Hitler for a man of the year.
16. Amazingly Hitler and Mussolini both feared cats.
17. Hitler had a portrait of Henry Ford behind his desk regarding him as an “inspiration”.
18. Hitler was saved from drowning by a priest when he was 4 years old.
19. Hitler’s first love was a Jewish girl. Lacking courage, he never spoke to her.
20. Hitler led the first anti-smoking campaign in modern history.
21. During the first world war, a British soldier spared the life of a wounded German soldier, Adolf Hitler.
22. The amazing fact is that Saddam Hussein had a Koran that was written in his own blood over a period of 2 years!
23. Ignace Paderewski, one of the greatest concert pianists of all time, was also the premiere of Poland.
24. Kim II Sung, the founder of North Korea was born on the day the Titanic sunk.
25. The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has a second job! Amazingly he teaches History at a high school in The Hague two hours each week!
26. Donald Rumsfeld was both the youngest and the oldest defense secretary in USA history.
27. Time magazine named Joseph Stalin Man of the Year in 1942.
28. Amazingly Stalin didn’t start learning Russian until he was 8. His mother tongue was Georgian.
29. Stalin’s guards were so much afraid of him that no one called a doctor until 12 hours after he suffered a stroke.
30. The amazing fact was that they feared that in case he recovered, they may be executed for acting outside his orders.

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75 Amazing and Unknown Facts about US Presidents | Amazing Facts 4U

1. Amazingly in 1841, the 8th 9th and 10th presidents served in an office all in one year. They were Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, and John Tyler.
2. The first lady of the United States doesn’t have to be the president’s wife. Position can be filled by his daughter, niece, or sister instead.
3. If the president and vice president both resign or die, the Speaker of the House becomes the president.
4. The White House has 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms and 6 levels.
5. The USA President carries his own blood bank in the trunk of his car!
6. Amazing fact is no president of the United states was an only child.
7. Amazingly every US president with a beard has been a republican.
8. Fact is half of the 42 U.S. Presidents are of Irish descent.
9. The only three US presidents to receive the Nobel Peace Prize were Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Barack Obama.
10. Air Force One is not called Air Force One unless the President is on it.
11. Amazing fact is 42 of the 44 US Presidents are related  except for Martin Van Buren and Barac Obama . The distant grandfather to which all these presidents can be traced is King John “Lackland” Plantagenet, the King of England in the 13th century.
12. Amazing coincidence is that the 2nd president of the United States (John Adams) and 3rd president of the United States (Thomas Jefferson) both died within just a few hours apart of each other on the same exact day of July 4th 1826.
13. James Buchanan has been the only bachelor to serve as the President of the United States .
14. Amazing that George H.W. Bush survived 4 plane crashes during WWII.
15. Fact is President George H.W. Bush once vomited on the lap of the Japanese prime minister in January 1992.
16. President George W. Bush and playboy founder Hugh Hefner are cousins !
17. Amazing fact is that nine American crewmen survived when their war plane crashed during World War II. Eight of them were captured by the Japanese and eaten. Only one survived because he was picked up by a passing submarine. That survivor was George H.W. Bush.
18. Jimmy Carter was the first president born in a hospital.
19. Grover Cleveland, the 24th president of the US, amazingly worked briefly as an executioner before becoming president. He hung at least two convicted criminals.
20. Amazing fact is former president Bill Clinton only sent 2 emails in his entire 8 year presidency.
21. Calvin Coolidge is the only president born on July 4th, in 1872.
22. Amazing fact is the last president that wasn’t a Republican or Democrat was Millard Fillmore in 1853.
23. Amazingly Gerald Ford remains the only unelected vice president and president.
24. The 20th president of the United States James Garfield could write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other at the same time.
25. Amazingly Rutherford Hayes became U.S. President by just one vote.
26. Rutherford Hayes was the first president to have a phone. His phone number was 1.
27. Amazing fact is Herbert Hoover, who was the 31st president of the United Stated, turned over all the Federal salary checks he received to charity during the 47 years he was in government.
28. The United States had $ 0 debt only once in 1835 when president Andrew Jackson paid it all off.
29. Amazingly Thomas Jefferson was the first American to find a dinosaur fossil on American soil.
30. Thomas Jefferson spent eight years as president. At the time he left office, his bill for wine over those years equaled $11,000, nearly $200,000 today.
31. President Jefferson died a broke man. He sold his collection of books to congress for $25,000 which  was the beginning for the library of congress.
32. President Lyndon Johnson owned an amphibious car , the Amphicar  and used to scar guests by driving them into his lake screaming about brake failure.
33. In 1963, the year of John F Kennedy’s assassination , it was amazing that it was not a federal offense to assassinate the president .
34. John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States, but he was the first Roman Catholic president.
35. Amazingly John F. Kennedy was buried without his brain after it was lost during the autopsy!
36. JFK’s assistant David Powers was in the car behind him filming everything when he was assassinated, but ran out of film just before the shooting!
37. John F. Kennedy’s father gave him one million dollars when he turned 21.
38. During his presidency John F. Kennedy never collected his salary of $ 150000. He donated the full amount to charity.
39. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis kept a collection of beer cans from all over the world.
40. It’s amazing that there are no direct descendants of Abraham Lincoln alive today.
41. Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president (6’4).
42. Amazing fact is Abraham Lincoln’s secretary was Mrs. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy’s secretary was Mrs. Lincoln. Both men were assassinated in office.
43. Abraham Lincoln was the first president to ever be photographed at his own inauguration. Ironically, the amazing photo also portrays the future assassin of the president, John Wilkes Booth.
44. Lincoln’s assassin , John Wilkes Booth was a famous actor and Lincoln himself was a fan of him.
45. Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert, was saved from a train accident by Edwin Booth, brother of his father’s killer, John Wilkes Booth.
46. Abe Lincoln is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame, having lost just once in 300 matches.
47. Amazing fact is Abraham Lincoln created the secret service the day he was shot.
48. Abraham Lincoln had no middle name.
49. Lincoln suffered depression and avoided carrying knives, fearing he would use it on himself.
50. Amazing coincidence was that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born on the same day , 2 nd February 1809..
51. Amazingly Richard M. Nixon was the first president to visit all 50 states.
52. Barack Obama’s presidential limousine is known as “The Beast” and can withstand many different forms of attack.
53. The only president to be head of a labor union was Ronald Reagan.
54. Ronald Reagan was the oldest president inaugurated at 69 years.
55. Ronald Reagan is the only president to ever have gotten divorced.
56. Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president inaugurated at 42 years.
57. Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an automobile, fly on a plane, and go underwater in a submarine.
58. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote 37 books.
59. Theodore Roosevelt amazingly read an average of one book per day even on days he was busy being the president.
60. Theodore Roosevelt had a pet bear while in office.
61. During the speech in Milwaukee on Oct 14 , 1912, an assassin tried to kill Roosevelt with a gun, but the bullet was slowed down by his dense overcoat, steel-reinforced eyeglass case and 50 page speech papers squeezed into his inner right jacket pocket. Attacker was promptly arrested.
62. Amazing fact was Roosevelt promptly told the crowd he’d just been shot in the chest showing blood stained shirt and speech papers with bullet hole and continued giving his 90 minute speech. X-rays showed the bullet lodged against Roosevelt’s fourth right rib near heart.
63. Amazingly Theodore Roosevelt watched his mother die of Typhoid fever on Feb. 14, 1884 and immediately went upstairs to see his wife die of complications from child birth within a time of one hour.
64. On New Year’s Day, 1907, amazingly President Theodore Roosevelt shook hands with 8,513 people.
65. After his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt went on a safari in Africa in 1909. He and his team killed or captured 11,397 different animals, including elephants, hippos, and even insects. He brought back so many animals on his trip that it took years for the Smithsonian Institution to mount them all.
66. Amazing fact is President William H. Taft had a second career 9 years after his presidency as he was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by President Harding.
67. U.S. President Harry S. Truman became the President of America on 12 April 1945. The initial S in the middle of his name doesn’t stand for anything.
68. Amazingly President John Tyler had fifteen children.
69. Fact is George Washington had to borrow money to go to his own inauguration.
70. President George Washington oversaw construction of the White House, but he never lived there. It was our second President, John Adams, elected in 1796, who first lived in the White House.
71. George Washington wore a size 13 shoe.
72. George Washington grew Marijuana in his farm.
73. The only person who’s birthday is a legal holiday all across the U.S. is George Washington.
74. George Washington died on December 14, 1799 at age 67. He had rode his horse around his farm just the day before on a cold winter wet day. He awoke the next morning very ill. His last words were “It is well”. He died the last hour of the last day of the last week of the last month of the last year of the 18th century.
75. Fact is the only president to hold a Ph.D. was Woodrow Wilson.

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50 Amazing and Interesting Facts about Thailand | Amazing Facts 4U

Land &  Geography

• The population of Thailand is about 67 million. Thailand is made up of approximately 1,430 islands.
• Thailand’s name in the Thai language is Prathet Thai, which means “Land of the Free.” It is the only country in Southeast Asia that was never colonized by a European nation.
• Thailand shares a border with four countries: Myanmar (formerly Burma) to the north and west, Laos to the north and east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Malaysia to the south.
• Bangkok is the capital of Thailand and is also called the ‘Venice of the East’ due to its large number on canals. However, as Bangkok grew larger, most canals were filled and paved. It is the world’s most visited city ahead of London having 16 million international visitors per year.
• The longest name of the city in the world is the full name of Bangkok (169 Characters). 1 in 10 Thais live in Bangkok city. Khao San Road is the liveliest and busiest tourist area in Bangkok.
• The highest elevation in Thailand is Doi Inthanon at 8,514 feet (2,595 m) .

Flora & Fauna

• One-tenth of all animal species on Earth live in Thailand.
• The world’s smallest mammal, the Craseonycteris thonglongyai (the bumble bat), is found in Thailand. Amazingly it just weighs two grams.
• More than 1,500 species of orchids grow wild in Thai forests. Thailand is the world’s number one orchid exporter. Orchid is also the national flower of Thailand.
• Thailand is home to what may be the world’s longest snake, the reticulated python. The largest one ever found stretched over 33 feet (10 m) from end to end.
• Thailand is home to the world’s longest poisonous snake, the king cobra. The cobra can reach more than 18 feet long, and one bite from it can kill an elephant.
• The largest living lizard is native to Thailand. The monitor lizard can grow as long as 7 feet.
• Swiftlet nests are made from strands of saliva from the male swiftlet bird. Swiftlet nests collected from Thai caves can fetch more than $900 per pound. It is one of the world’s most coveted and expensive food items.
• The Mekong River, which forms part of Thailand’s eastern border, supports more than 1,300 species of fish. It holds some of the world’s largest freshwater fish, including a giant catfish which can reach nearly 10 feet long and weigh as much as 660 lbs.
• Thailand houses the world’s largest fish, the 12-meter Rhincodon typus, otherwise known as the whale shark.
• One of Thailand’s most curious creatures is the mudskipper, which is a fish that is capable of walking on land and climbing trees. It uses its fins to “walk” and can absorb oxygen through its skin and lining in its mouth. It spends most of its time out of the water, eating the algae in tidal pools.
• A century ago, more than 100,000 elephants lived in Thailand, with about 20,000 of them untamed. Now, there are about 5,000, with less than half of them wild.

History

• Thailand has a long history of monarchy for centuries from 13th century. The current Chakri Dynasty was created in 1782.
• Thailand’s and the world’s longest-reigning monarch is Bhumibol Adulyadej, who became King Rama IX in June 1946. He was born in the U.S. in 1927 when his father was studying medicine at Harvard. He owns a patent on a form of cloud seeding and holds a degree in engineering from Switzerland. He also plays the sax and composed Thailand’s national anthem.

Places / Architecture

• Thailand is home to the largest crocodile farm, the largest restaurant, the longest single-span suspension bridge, and the world’s tallest hotel.
• Don Mueang International Airport sports the tallest control tower in the world, measuring 132.2m (434ft)
• Thailand is home to the world’s 9th tallest statue, the Great Buddha of Thailand, at the Wat Muang Monastery in Ang Thong province which is also the world’s highest stupa, Phra Pathom Chedi at 127 meters.
• The town of Kanchanburi is home to the famous “Bridge Over the River Kwai”, part of the Burma-Siam railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people died in the course of the railway project.
• Thailand is truly a land of temples. There are about 35,000 temples in Thailand.

People Customs & Culture

• In the past, all Thai young men including the kings became Buddhist monks for at least a short period of time before their 20th birthday.
• 75 % percent of the people in Thailand are Thai and 14% are Chinese.
• The Thai alphabet has 32 vowels and 44 consonants.
• Buddhism is Thailand’s largest religion with approximately 94.6% of the population practicing the religion. Muslims make up 4.6%, Christians 0.7%.
• A nuclear family in Thailand is rare because most people live in large extended families.
• In Thailand, the head is the most important part of the body. No one must ever touch another person, even a child, on the head. This always try to keep their heads lower than the head of any person who is older or more important, to show respect.
• Traditionally in Thailand, feet are considered lowly. A person must never sit with their feet pointing to a statue in a temple or at some other person. Feet must always be tucked underneath the body.
• Over 300,000 Thai have settled in North America with the largest communities along the West Coast while over 10,000 Americans live in Thailand.
• One of the country’s most unusual festivals is the annual Monkey Buffet, held in front of the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple in Lopburi province. More than 600 monkeys are invited to feast on over two tons of grilled sausage, fresh fruit, ice cream, and other treats. The locals see it as a thank you to the monkeys which inhabit the village and bring thousands of tourists there each year.
• The Ramakien is the national epic narrative of Thailand which has influenced everyday Thai life for hundreds of years. The story is actually the Thai version of Ramayana, a poem first told in India 3,000 years ago.
• Prostitution is technically illegal in Thailand, but the law is very rarely enforced and trade flourishes. Sex workers are estimated to be up to 1 million.
• Thailand currently has the highest prevalence of HIV in Asia.
• Traffic police in Bangkok wear facemasks because of dangerous levels of air pollution. More than 20% of Bangkok’s police have some form of lung disease.
• In 1996, two rare “diamond-eyed cats,” Phet and Ploy, were married in a lavish $16,241 Thai wedding, the most expensive pet wedding in the world.
• The world’s largest Christmas log cake was made in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 25, 1997. The cake weighed 5,071 lbs. and reached 27′ 6″. It was later cut into 19, 212 portions
• Thailand set the record for the longest catwalk on April 9, 2010. The catwalk was 1,584 meters long and was part of the Pattaya International Fashion Week.
• Sometimes the Sky Train will stop for no apparent reason. When any member of the Royal family travels downtown, the trains will stop in a position so that it is not above the Royal. Essentially your head can not be directly above theirs. That goes for walking on the overhead passes too.

Politics/ Legal

• Thailand is a constitutional monarchy like England. It is strictly against the law to criticize the monarchy.
• The Garuda (a creature from the Hindu religion) is a national and royal symbol of Thailand.
• It is illegal to drive shirtless in Thailand. It is also illegal to leave the house without underwear on.

Economy 

• Each year, more than 10 million foreign tourists visit Thailand. Thailand has also attracted many expatriates from developed countries.
• Thailand is the world’s largest producer of tin. It is also the world’s largest exporter of rice.

Sports

• In 1999, a group of 282 skydivers set the record for the largest number of skydivers in a free-fall formation above Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. They held the link for 7.11 seconds.

Famous People

• Medicine man Hoo Sateow from Thailand has the world’s documented longest hair at 16’ 11″ long.
• The brothers who gave the world the term “Siamese twins” were born in 1811 in a village near Bangkok. The twin’s Eng and Chang were joined at the chest and left Thailand for the U.S when they were 17 years old. Each brother married, and between them, they had 22 children. In 1873, Eng caught pneumonia and died. Chang died a few hours later.
• Tiger Woods is the son of an American father and a Thai mother.

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35 Amazing and Interesting Facts about Adolf Hitler | Amazing Facts 4U

1. Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship in Germany reflects unforeseen levels of barbarity and genocide, unparalleled manipulation of the media to control and mobilize the masses, the destructive power of ideologies of racial superiority, and perverted use of modern technology and social engineering.
2. Hitler has left the legacy of the Cold War, a split Germany, the Iron Curtain, and nuclear weapons.
3. The name “Adolph” means “noble wolf.” Hitler used the pseudonym Herr Wolf early in his career when he wanted to avoid recognition. He named his headquarters “Wolf’s Lair” and “Wolf’s Headquarters”.
4. Hitler’s family had for generations been a peasant family, small holders in the Waldviertel, a poor area in the northwestern part of Lower Austria, bordering Bohemia.
5. Hitler’s father’s name was originally Alois Schicklgruber but changed it to Alois Hitler in 1876, 13 years before Adolf was born. It is unclear why he changed his name.
6. Hitler’s father Alois was married three times. First to a woman much older than himself, then to women who were young enough to be his daughters.
7. Klara Polzl (1860-1907) was Hitler’s mother and he was the eldest of only three surviving children out of eleven. Officially, Hitler’s father, Alois, and his mother were second cousins and needed government permission to marry.
8. Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, on an Easter Saturday in Braunau Am Inn, Austria. He wasn’t born in Germany in spite of being Chancellor.
9. Hitler was the 4th of 6 children. His older siblings Gustav, Ida, and Otto died in infancy. His younger brother Edmund died of measles in 1900, when he was 11. Only a sister, Paula, survived to adulthood.
10. Both of Hitler’s parents died before he was 19. His mother died of breast cancer in 1907, when he was 18 years old. His father died of pleural hemorrhage in 1903, when Hitler was 14 years old.
11. Hitler was a decorated WWI veteran receiving the Iron Cross, Second Class in 1914, the Iron Cross, First Class and the Black Wound Badge in 1918.
12. Hitler was seriously injured twice during WWI. In October 1916 he was wounded by a grenade splinter and in October 1918 he became temporarily blind from a gas attack.
13. Some historians believe Hitler had a son with a French teenager while serving as a soldier during WWI having an affair with a woman named Charlotte Lobjoie, age 16, in June 1917. Their son Jean-Marie Loret died in 1985 at the age of 67.
14. Hitler’s son never met his father, but he did fight the Nazis during WWII.
15. The Treaty of Versailles helped fuel Hitler’s political motivations. The treaty humiliated Germany making it relinquish several of its territories, imposing severe economic sanctions, and it declaring Germany responsible for the war.
16. After WWI, Hitler stayed in the army in intelligence, where he met his mentor Anton Drexler (1884-1942), a leader in the German Worker’s Party which later became the Nazi party. In February 1920, Hitler and Drexler published their “25 Points” which refused the terms of the Versailles Treaty.
17. Hitler was imprisoned in 1923 when he participated in the attempt to overthrow the government. During his time in prison, he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf (My Struggle).
18. Hitler never gained majority support in free elections. The most his party, the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) garnered was 37.3% in July 1932. Next year when Hitler became Chancellor, the Nazis had only one third of the seats in the Reichstag.
19. After becoming Chancellor of Germany, Hitler ordered a series of assassinations and executions called the “Blood Purge,” over a period of 12 years aimed at rivals within the party. He justified these murders by saying that there would be no further upheavals in Germany for a thousand years once these rebels were killed.
20. Amazingly Hitler, for “better or worse,” was the most influential man in 1938 being the Time Magazine’s Man of the Year.
21. When he turned 50 on April 20, 1939, Hitler told his generals that he wanted to fight a war soon, while he was still strong. Less than five months later, on September 1, he invaded Poland and WWII began.
22. Hitler’s racism policies led to the murder of 11 million people, which included 6 million Jews. In fact, overall, between 50-70 million died during World War II.
23. Hitler’s longest relationship was with Eva Braun (1912-1945). She tried to commit suicide twice in an attempt to garner more of Hitler’s attention.
24. Hitler and Eva Braun were married in 1945 and killed themselves 36 hours later. Braun was 33 years old. Hitler was 56.
25. Hitler was in fact a good orator but had a raspy voice which was a result of a gas attack he suffered during WWI.
26. Hitler’s mustache has been nicknamed the “toothbrush mustache”.
27. Amazingly using the Hitler salute by extending your arm in front is a criminal offense in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.
28. Hitler’s unusual medical remedies included enemas and leeches.
29. Hitler became vegetarian after after the autopsy of his half-niece and ex-girlfriend Geli Raubal, who shot herself in the heart.
30. Hitler was very fond of chocolates eating up to two pounds of chocolate per day.
31. The swastika that Hitler adopted is an ancient symbol that most likely represents the sun wheeling across the sky. The term “swastika” comes from the Indian Sanskrit language , su “good” + asti “to be,” which means “good luck.”
32. Hitler plotted to kill Sir Winston Churchill with exploding chocolate. The explosive devices were covered with a thin layer of dark chocolate and wrapped it in black and gold paper. The plot was foiled by British agents.
33. Hitler never learned to drive, though he was instrumental in the development of the Volkswagen car.
34. Both Hitler’s father and mother were Catholic. Hitler was “deeply religions but entirely anti-Christian believing that the religions of the Japanese and the Muslims were superior to Christianity
35. Amazingly a recently opened clothing store in the Indian metropolis of Ahmedabad is named “Hitler.” A swastika dots the letter “i” in Hitler.

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~ By Amazing Facts 4U Team

25 Amazing and Interesting Facts about Hillary Clinton | Amazing Facts 4U

1. Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and has become the first woman in the history of the United States to lead the presidential campaign for a major political party.
2. Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton was born on October 26, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois. She has two brothers, Hugh (1950) and Anthony (1957).
3. Hugh Ellsworth Rodham (1911-1993), Hillary’s father, worked as a textile wholesaler.
4. Hillary Clinton wrote to NASA as a 14-year child in 1961 inquiring how to become an astronaut. NASA replied that girls could not be astronauts.
5. Her parents were Republicans. As a young adult, Hillary was an active Republican and even campaigned for Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater in 1964.
6. The Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement in America, and other influences resulted in her leaving the Republican party in 1968.
7. Hillary Clinton was accepted to both Yale and Harvard Law schools. A friend introduced her to one of the legendary Harvard law professors saying, “This is Hillary Rodham. She’s trying to decide between us and our nearest competitor.” The professor replied, “First of all, we have no nearest competitor, and secondly, we don’t need any more women.” Hillary decided to go to Yale.
8. It’s amazing how she met Bill Clinton at Yale: She got up from her desk, walked over to him, extended her hand, and said, “If you keep looking at me, and I’m going to keep looking back, we might as well be introduced. I’m Hillary Rodham.”
9. Hillary Clinton was part of the presidential impeachment inquiry of President Richard Nixon.
10. As a young attorney in 1974, Hillary worked for John Doar, who was the Special Counsel in charge of inquiry considering to impeach Richard Nixon during the Watergate Scandal.
11. Hillary and Bill were married in a Methodist ceremony in their living room on October 11, 1975. When asked what attracted Hillary to Bill, she replied, “He wasn’t afraid of me”.
12. In 1977, Hillary landed a place at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas. Founded in 1820, it was one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms west of the Mississippi River.
13. In 1988 and 1991, The National Law Journal named Hillary one of the 100 most powerful lawyers in America.
14. She gave birth to her daughter, Chelsea, in 1980 and she welcomed her first granddaughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky, in 2014.
15. In the early 1990s, when Bill Clinton was making $35,000 as governor of Arkansas, Hillary was making $100,000 a year from her law firm salary and corporate board fees.
16. Hillary Clinton was the first First Lady to hold a postgraduate degree (Yale Law, 1973) and to run for and be elected Senator (NY, 2000) and also the first woman to run for the presidency.
17. Hillary Clinton was the first woman elected to the New York senate.
18. When Bill Clinton became president in 1992, she became the first presidential spouse to earn a postgraduate degree.
19. Bill and Hillary were the only First Couple to be fingerprinted by the FBI due to file gate controversy.
20. In 1997, Hillary won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for the audio of her book It Takes a Village.
21. Her autobiography Living History (2003) received a near-record advance of $8 million.
22. Clinton came close to defeating Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential nomination for the Democratic Party. In fact, she received more than 17 million votes during the nomination process and trailed Obama by 103 delegates as the end of it.
23. She served as the 67th U.S. secretary of state during Obama’s first term in office. She was the third female secretary of state in U.S. history.
24. She’s the most traveled Secretary of State ever. She visited 112 countries in four years traveling almost 1 million miles.
25. Hillary Clinton has served on the board of Wal-Mart from 1986 to 1992.

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~ By Amazing Facts 4U Team