I am going to visit these five countries over the Christmas holiday, and I just wanted to do a series which had details about my trip, and how we went about planning it. I am screwing the sequence a little with the hope that one day I can come and correct it. So, the first post is the currency of these five countries so I know where I can use the Euro, and where I’d need to convert and prepare for that in advance.

• Poland: Polish złoty
• Czech Republic: Czech koruna
• Vienna: Euro
• Slovakia: Euro
• Hungary: Hungarian forint

Kind of disappointed at getting this amazing question wrong, but at least I didn’t make the common mistake that most people make. Also interesting to note that 100% of Google software engineers got it right.

 

Try it out for yourself here.

I read somewhere a little while ago that Sri Lankan male elephants have no tusks, and I was quite surprised by that since I vaguely knew that they are part of the Asian Elephants, and those males have tusks.

A look at Wikipedia reveals that only 7% of Sri Lankan males have tuskers, and they are even in fact smaller than what they used to be about a hundred years ago, even though within the Asian subspecies they are the biggest elephants.

The reason for no tusks, and the short size is possibly because the best specimens have been poached or domesticated over centuries.

From Wikipedia:

Sri Lankan elephants are the largest subspecies reaching a shoulder height of between 2 and 3.5 m (6.6 and 11.5 ft), weigh between 2,000 and 5,500 kg (4,400 and 12,100 lb), and have 19 pairs of ribs. Their skin color is darker than ofindicus and of sumatranus with larger and more distinct patches of depigmentation on ears, face, trunk and belly.^[5]

Only 7% of males bear tusks.^[6] According to the elephant census conducted in 2011 by the Wildlife Conservation Department of Sri Lanka, only 2% of the total population are tuskers.^{[citation needed]}

Sri Lankan elephants are somewhat diminutive when compared with historical accounts dating back to 200 BC and with photographs taken in the 19th century during the time of colonial British rule of the island. The smaller size could possibly be the end result of a long-continued process of removing the physically best specimens from the potential breeding-stock through hunting or domestication (see insular dwarfism).^{[citation needed]}

 

Today is Diwali, Veterans Day, and Armistice Day, and it is just a coincidence that Diwali fell today, the others are always on this day.

From Wikipedia:

Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans, that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, includingArmistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

 

I went to a champagne tasting yesterday, and one of the most important lessons I learned was how to open a champagne bottle properly.

The most important thing to remember is to keep your thumb on the cork at all times. There is a lot of pressure inside the bottle, and just by holding it in your hand, and warming the neck, you can have it burst open.

To open the bottle you have to twist the wire guard six times and exactly six times counter clock wise before you take it out.

Then, twist the bottle, not the cork, but the bottle very slowly in order to set the cork loose, and you will find that cork comes off with a pop on its own when you do this.

I don’t think I could have figured this out on my own ever and while the rest of the evening was very enjoyable as well, I think this lesson was the most useful part of the evening.

I’d also like to share a story that the expert there told us. I asked him how often experts get it right in blind tests, and he told us this story.

He said that during his third year of Oenology, their class had a blind test in which they had to simply distinguish between a red, white and a rosé wine. The entire class tasted the wines, and gave their results, and was surprised to see that they couldn’t agree on such a simple test, but then came the big surprise. Their teachers told them that each student had tasted the same red wine all three times, and not one person noticed that! That’s quite amazing if you ask me, and very useful to quote back if you ever encounter a wine snob!