Discover Stuff
Scotland is the Northern-most of the four nations that make up Great Britain, the others being England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
According to the National Records of Scotland, the nation has over 900 islands, of which 118 are inhabited. With so many islands, the Scottish coastline reaches a staggering 18,743 kms in length which is more than the total coastline of mainland Great Britain at 17,820 kms (source Ordnance Survey).
Scotland, whose official animal is the unicorn, is also home to over 3000 castles, Europe's oldest tree (believed to be over 5000 years' old), the world's tallest hedge, Britain's tallest mountain and tallest waterfall and the game of golf.
The Scots have invented or discovered a lot of Stuff, including the Telephone, the Television, Radar, Penicillin, the MRI Scanner, the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), the Steam Engine, the Toaster, the Flush Toilet, the Vacuum Flask, the Pedal Bike, the Pneumatic Tyre, the Adhesive Stamp, Anaesthetic, Colour Photography and even the game of Golf!
[source: https://www.history.co.uk]
Less than 2% of the World’s population have red (or ginger) hair, and many of those are to be found in Scotland and Ireland. In fact, Scotland has the highest concentration of redheads in the world, at 13% of the Scottish population, Highland Cattle not included!
Remarkably, Redheads are able to produce their own Vitamin D and are more likely to be left-handed. Red hair strands are thicker than blonde or brunette hair and will not turn grey but, instead, will fade to white.
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In fact Scotland has the highest concentration of redheads in the world, at 13% of
Hoarding Disorder is acknowledged by the NHS as a complex mental health problem that can have a significant impact upon quality of life. It is thought that 2%-6% of the US population and 2%-5% of the UK population suffer from Hoarding Disorder. This suggests that up to 3.3 Million people in the UK suffer from Hoarding Disorder (HD).
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that hoarding increases with age (6.2% in people aged 55 and over). It would also appear that Hoarding is on the rise and is often triggered by trauma or accompied by other conditions such as depression, anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Originally referred to as Collyers Syndrome, after two hoarding brothers who died in the US in 1947, it was officially diagnosed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in 2013 and by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a Mental Health Disorder in 2019. The WHO defines the condition as follows:
"Hoarding disorder is characterised by accumulation of possessions due to excessive acquisition of or difficulty discarding possessions, regardless of their actual value. Excessive acquisition is characterised by repetitive urges or behaviours related to amassing or buying items. Difficulty discarding possessions is characterised by a perceived need to save items and distress associated with discarding them. Accumulation of possessions results in living spaces becoming cluttered to the point that their use or safety is compromised. The symptoms result in significant distress or significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning."
Hoarding goes beyond clutter and untidiness and often represents an increased fire hazard. In the UK, 90% of residential fires are contained in the room where the fire commenced, whereas in the case of properties suject to hoarding, the figure drops to around 40%. Hoarding not only enables the spread of fire, but also hinders people's ability to safely escape a residential fire.
While hoarding is the principal theme of the story, Stuff serves as a gentle introduction to what has become for many a very serious condition, as depicted in the Netflix series, Hoarders, and evoked in the UK's BBC series "Sort your Life Out". In the UK, the prevalence of HD has led to National Hoarding Awareness Week which usually takes place in May each year.
If you have a friend, colleague or family member who suffers from chronic hoarding disorder, you are advised to first research how you can help, as a delicate approach is often required.
For further information, you could reach out to a number of organisations, such as:
https://hoardingawarenessweek.org.uk
https://hoardingdisordersuk.org
In fact Scotland has the highest concentration of redheads in the world, at 13% of
There are many merits to Upcycling and Recycling Stuff. For instance, recycling a glass bottle saves enough energy to power a television for 20 minutes and a glass container can go from the recycling bin to being replaced on the store shelf in 30 days. However, only 9% of the 350 Trillion Tons of plastic manufactured in the world each year is recycled.
In Space, there are some 2000 active satellites and 3000 that are no longer active. In addition, there are 128 million pieces of space debris larger than 1mm in diameter and 34,000 of at least 10cms in diameter. Space junk nevertheless travels at extremely high speeds (around 18,000 mph). The total mass of the manmade objects in space is about 14,000 tons.
[source: spacedebrisuserportal and https://www.nasa.gov]
This page is dedicated to learning stuff. The story touches on many themes pertinent to both our world today and our world tomorrow, and interesting facts, relating to these themes and understood to be accurate at the time of their publication, will be added to this site gradually. Enjoy!