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Hello & welcome to another edition of the GK Nugget. This time I’m writing about a man who greatly impacted one of the things I am passionate about – Cars. 30 th July marks the 154 th Birth anniversary of Henry Ford , the man credited for starting mass production of automobiles. Before you start reading, here's a small video teaser with the main points from the post. While he wasn’t the inventor of the 1 st gasoline propelled automobile ( That was Karl Benz in 1886 ), Henry Ford was instrumental in building the modern assembly line for use in car manufacture . But the Ford Motor Company (which is still in existence today) was not his 1 st car company . He founded the Detroit Motor Company in the late 1890s, but dissolved it in 1899 because he was not happy with the product. The Henry Ford Company came next, but here again Ford butted heads with investors. He quickly dissolved the company in 1902 and formed the Ford Motor Company in 1903. He started

Hello & welcome to another edition of the GK Nugget. We’re turning back the pages of history today, and the date I’m talking about is 18 th July 1918 . In a small village called Mvezo in South Africa, to the Madiba clan, was born a boy called Rolihlahla , who went on to be known to the world as Nelson Mandela . The South Africa that Mandela grew up & lived in was very different from what it is today. White people were in charge of running the country & had access to all the privileges and facilities while the black people were denied many basic rights – like voting in elections or using the same schools, hospitals and even beaches as the white people. This system of differentiation between people based on the colour of their skin was called “ Apartheid ”. Mandela attended primary school in Qunu, where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the name Nelson , in accordance with the custom of giving all schoolchildren “Christian” names. A two-year diploma in law a

Hello & welcome to another edition of the GK Nugget. Growing up, we all dreamt of exploring the universe, thanks to Star Wars, Star Trek, ET and other iconic movies & shows. One of the front runners in the race for human interplanetary travel is the subject of this GK Nugget - Elon Musk , the Founder of SpaceX & CEO of Tesla Inc, who was born on 28 th June 1971 in South Africa. Musk believes that it is important to not just travel to Mars, but also to have humans living there . This is so that the human race can be a multi-planetary species as well as to prevent the complete extinction of life in case a catastrophic event destroys earth. His company SpaceX is working towards drastically reducing the cost of space travel, by developing reusable rockets . The company has returned reusable rocket boosters to Earth 12 times since the first successful Falcon rocket landing in 2015. The Federation Aronautique Internationale, which is the world governing bod

Hello & welcome to another edition of the GK Nugget . This time instead of looking into the past, I’m focusing on something in the present – a little toy that has caught the fancy of millions around the world. Do you remember when I wrote about the Pokémon Go fad on 24 th July 2016 ? Well, this is a fad that just might beat its craze. I’m talking about the Fidget Spinner .  We’ve all heard about it; read about it, some of us have seen it and many of us have wondered what that odd shaped piece of plastic/metal is and why kids today find it so engrossing.  So here’s all you wanted to know about the Fidget Spinner but didn’t know who to ask: What is the Fidget Spinner? It’s a small toy like device, shaped like a 4 leaf clover, but with 3 leaves. Or just imagine the club card ( chiddi ) in a set of playing card but without the stalk. It is usually made of a mix of metal and plastic parts and has a hole in each of its 3 blades. It also contains ball bearings and is u

Hello & welcome to another edition of the GK Nugget. This weekend we’re talking about one of my favourite politicians (yes, there are some likeable ones too), who passed away too young. He was the leader of one of the superpowers of the world and 29 th May 2017 was his 100 th birth anniversary. I’m talking about John Fitzgerald Kennedy , famously known as JFK . JFK was the 35 th President of the USA from January 1961 up until 22 nd November 1963 , when he was assassinated. He was the youngest president of the country and also the youngest to die . JFK’s inaugural address had him reach out to all Americans – “ Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country ” – a line that is till date quoted in essays written by school and college going children. JFK led the US at the height of the Arms Race with Russia and also during the critical Cuban missile crisis . (In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered that Soviet missile bases had

Hello & welcome to another edition of the GK Nugget .  Did you know that from Jan to March 2017 , Indians spent 2.5 hours a day on apps, higher than the 2 hours they spent during the same period in 2016? And this is more than the 1.5-2 hours spent by citizens of the US, UK, Germany and France. And did you know that WhatsApp has 1.2 billion active users currently, making it the most popular mobile app globally. But today’s GK Nugget will bring you some lesser known facts about another app/website that we spend a lot of our time on – WhatsApp’s mother company – Facebook . (Facebook bought over WhatsApp for $19 billion in Feb 2014) On 18 th May 2012 , Facebook was listed on NASDAQ (US stock exchange, which is the 2 nd largest in the world). It was the largest tech IPO till then, making the company worth $104 billion . (Alibaba listed on the New York Stock Exchange -largest stock exchange in the world- in Sept 2014 at a company worth of $230 billion ). In t

Hello & welcome to another edition of the GK Nugget. In today’s selfie obsessed world, “ Say Cheese ” might have become our most favourite phrase. May 7 th marks a momentous day for this photo snapping world of today for it was on this day 129 years ago (in 1888) that George Eastman patented the ‘ Kodak Box Camera ’ and so today’s GK Nugget will uncover trivia about the inventor of the camera and his invention. The Kodak Box Camera contained a roll film with 100 exposures . It was an easy to use camera with a fixed focal length and once the photographer had used up the 100 exposures, s/he could send the camera to the Eastman Kodak company which would develop the film and also insert a new one in the camera and send it back to the owner. In 1900 , the Kodak Brownie camera was introduced which sold for $1 . This further helped photography turn into a hobby. The Kodak tagline was “ You press the button – we do the rest ” thus symbolizing that all the buyer had to d

Hello & welcome to this fortnight’s GK Nugget. Last Sunday was the 128 th birth anniversary of one of the world’s most famous and recognizable comedians, Charlie Chaplin . So this edition of the GK Nugget is about the actor who has made generations of people across the globe laugh out loud. Born on 16 th April 1889 , Charles Spencer Chaplin was born just 4 days before infamous German Dictator Adolf Hitler. One of Chaplin’s most famous movies was ‘ The Great Dictator ’ which saw him satirise Hitler. Released in 1940, it was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and went on to become one of Chaplin’s most commercially successful films. Interestingly, this was Chaplin’s first true sound film. An expert of the silent films, he was the only Hollywood film maker to continue making silent films well into the period of sound films . Chaplin wrote, produced, and acted in two movies in the 1930s, well after conversations were prevalent in the "talkies" (motion pictu

Hello & welcome to this weekend’s GK Nugget. This time I’m writing about a subject that has fueled the fantasy of mankind for generations. I’m talking about space travel . April 12 th marks 56 years since Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space ( 1961 ). He traveled aboard the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 1 to an altitude of 187 miles (301 kilometers) above the earth & completed a single orbit in a flight lasting 108 minutes. Many believe this was one of the defining moments in space history, not just based on the magnitude of the event but also because it intensified the already ongoing Space Race between the Russians & Americans. 23 days later , Alan Shepard became the first American in space. Eventually on 20 th July 1969 , the space flight Apollo 11 carried the first humans to set foot on the Moon. American astronaut Neil Armstrong made his place in history by uttering the famous words " That's one small step for a man, one g

Hello & welcome to another edition of the GK Nugget. It’s that time of the year when racing aficionados get very excited and agitated talking about car changes, pit stops, tire quality and drivers. That’s right; it’s the start of the Formula One World championship season. Formula 1 is the most technologically advanced, competitive, and dangerous auto racing in the world. Formula 1 cars are designed and built to the limits of technology. Here are some astonishing facts about this sport . The Formula 1 automobile racing has its roots in the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1920s and 1930s. The “ formula ” in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants and cars must comply. Formula 1 cars are made up of over 80,000 components , if they were assembled 99.9% correctly; they would still start the race with 80 things wrong. A Formula 1 car’s cockpit is so tight that it requires the driver to remove the steering wheel in order to get in or ou