Trivia

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According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest coin ever made is the 2012 Australian one tonne Red Kangaroo gold bullion coin. 

Some facts:

• It is also the most valuable coin in the world because of its gold content. 

• It was made by the Perth Mint in Western Australia.

• The weight is 1,012 kilograms.

• The gold is 99.99% pure.

• It measures 80cm wide by 13cm deep

• It’s official Australian legal tender

• The melt value of the gold would be $52,057,280. 

• The face value of the coin is $1 million Australian.

• It is on permanent display at the Perth Mint as part of its gold collection.

Perth Mint Chief Executive Officer, Ed Harbuz, with the 2012 Australian Kangaroo One Tonne Gold Coin.

Her Maj is on the reverse side.

World’s second largest gold coin, 2007 - $1 Million Maple Leaf Coin, Royal Canadian Mint

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The term “pipe dream”, meaning “a fantastic hope or plan that is generally regarded as being nearly impossible to achieve", comes from the dreams experienced by smokers of opium pipes.

Opium was a medicine in the past.

"Dr. Bell's Anti-Pain A Pain Killer Contains 86% Alcohol, 8.7 grs. Chloroform per oz., 4.28 drops tinct. Opium per oz. For Cuts, Burns, Wounds, Sprains, Reheumatism, Neuralgia, Toothache, Cramps, Colica Diarrhoea, Sore Throat & Swellings. Price, 25 cents."

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Canada was the first country in the world to ban the sale, advertising and import of baby walkers.

A voluntary ban on the walkers - essentially baby chairs with wheels - had existed since 1989, but continuing injuries prompted the outright ban. The most common accident occurs when babies fall down stairs. There have also been reports of infants being able to reach dangerous objects that would otherwise have been out of their reach, said the minister.

(I remember that my daughter took a spill in one when she was a bub, never used it again.)

19th-century wicker baby walker

Walker 1905

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Sweden’s 9.5 million population is so good at recycling that that only 4 percent of all waste generated in the country is landfilled. However, the country relies on waste to heat and to provide electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes through a longstanding waste-to-energy incineration program. There is not enough waste produced to power the incinerators, so that Sweden now imports 80,000 tons of garbage from neighbouring countries, mainly Norway.

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Picasso’s full name was Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisma Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, a series of names honouring various saints and relatives. 

Pablo Picasso with his sister Lola, 1889