Interesting Facts – Amazing Facts, Random Facts and Funny Facts

What is the longest river in Wales?

The longest river which starts and finishes within the country of Wales is the River Tywi, sometimes referred to as the River Towy.

The River Tywi is 75 miles (120km) long and is Wales’ longest river.

*A view of the River Tywi estuary at Llansteffan in Carmarthenshire from the walls of Llansteffan Castle. Credit: Majestic Media*

River Tywi / River Towy

Afon Tywi, as the river is known in the Welsh language, begins on the slopes of Crug Gynan, which is a peak in Llanwrtyd Wells, a town in Powys.

From here the river flows for around six miles (10km) before reaching the large man-made reservoir and dark sky discovery site of Llyn Brianne.

The river passes to the nearby towns of Llandovery and Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire, before meeting several tributaries in the large market town of Carmarthen. From here the river flows all the way to Llansteffan, where it finally meets the sea at Carmarthen Bay.

The river is well known for its salmon and sewin fishing, whilst several castles overlook the river on its path through Carmarthenshire, such as Dinefwr Castle in Llandeilo and finally Llansteffan Castle, which provides some amazing views of the Twyi estuary.

How Does Wireless Charging Work?

A phone battery does not last for a long time, and charging the smartphone using a cable can be inconvenient. This is why wireless charging was introduced. Did you know that this technology has been there for over 100 years?

Here is a brief overview of wireless charging and how this tech works.

The Origin of Wireless Charging

Nikola Tesla, the inventor of cableless charging, could transmit electricity through the air. This happened by generating a magnetic field between a receiver and a transmitter. This technology has been in practice for over 100 years but only with a few devices.

Today, there are numerous wireless charging technologies worldwide, from cars, smartphones, laptops, appliances, and more. It is cutting edges across industries because of its improved mobility feature that allows IoT devices to get charged away from their chargers.

Nikola Tesla used resonant-inductive coupling that works by creating a magnetic field between a receiver and transmitter. Later, Tesla formed the Tesla tower with a coil that shot electricity bolts. The same tech works with cableless charging.

Portrait by Napoleon Sarony during the 1890s

How Does Wireless Charging Work?

As you play on sites such as NetBet, you can now enjoy remote charging, thanks to this technology. The electromagnetic coil builds the magnetic field to transfer the energy. Another coil in the smartphone harnesses the energy, and converts it into usable energy in the battery.

In short, there is a coil on the charger (transmitter) and the phone (receiver). You only require placing your well-suited device on the charging pad, and the device will start to charge. This technology is convenient and removes the need to use cables to charge your gadget.

When you put a smartphone on the pad, the charger sends a signal from the coil that picks the signal to the receiver. Once it happens, you will see some light indicating that the phone is charging. The coil in the transmitter is made from copper to allow the electric current to pass. The receiver also has a copper coil that picks the magnetic field and induces the current to the battery.

Manufacturers are designing chargers with more than one transmitter for better coverage. This also lets you charge multiple devices at a time. The wireless chargers come in different sizes and shapes and have better materials. The charging pad can comfortably lay on the table and allows a better phone display when charging.

The Downsides of Wireless Charging

Even though wireless charging provides convenience, it also comes with downsides. For once, even if this technology is efficient and fast, it only works within a specific range. The further the receiver goes from the transmitter, the less energy received. Therefore, a phone will charge faster if it is a few millimetres from the charging pad. Bigger coils transmit more energy, but this is only efficient at the centre of the pad.

Conclusion

You now know about wireless chargers and how they work. Technology continues to advance, and hopefully, major upgrades will come along to eliminate the drawbacks. Since its origin in the 19th century, wireless charging has brought about efficiency and convenience, and there is more to come from the manufacturers.

Who were the first team to do the south Wales derby double?

Swansea City became the first team to do the south Wales derby double during the 2021-2022 season.

The south Wales derby is a football fixture between fierce rivals Cardiff City and Swansea City, with just 41 miles separating the two cities in south Wales.

The club’s first met in a league fixture during the 1929-1930 season, when Swansea were then known as Swansea Town.

Swansea’s 4-0 win at Cardiff on 2 April 2022, having already won 3-0 in the return fixture at the Swansea dot com stadium on 17 October 2021, ensured that Swansea became the first club to achieve a league double in the 110 years of the fixture.

It is a little know fact, that Swansea City were also the first Welsh team ever to play in the Premier League.

What is the Seren Foundation?

The Seren Foundation is an aspirational programme for learner’s between years 8 and 11 at state schools across Wales that supports the development of valuable skills and academic ability at GCSE level.

The word ‘Seren’ is a Welsh word, which means ‘Star’ in English.

The aim is to provide support and guidance to enable you to make informed decisions about GCSE and a level subject choices with a long-term view of helping you maintain your higher education and career ambitions.

The Seren program provides inspiration and advice about university options and degree courses, the links to careers across a wide range of sectors, and the potential pathways open to you.

While the possibility of going to university might seem a long way off, particularly for learner’s in years 8 or 9, it’s never too early to think about a dream career or the educational path needed to get there.

Seren will help you develop valuable skills required at GCSE and a level such as analytical and critical thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and revision techniques.

Resources and workshops have also been created to enhance your communication skills such as essay writing, and how to craft, present, and debate your ideas. All of which relate to the skills required at university and in your future career.

At the heart of the programme is the commitment to expand your knowledge, encourage you to explore and pursue your academic interests, help build your confidence and self-belief, and motivate you to aim high in your GCSE exams and strive to reach your long-term goals.

Eurovision Song Contest Interesting Facts

Even if you’ve never watched it, you’ve most probably heard of it – the Eurovision Song Contest. It all started back in 1956 and the event took place in Switzerland.

Only 7 countries participated in this first Eurovision and they were The Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and Italy. As Austria, Denmark, and the UK missed the entry deadline. However they join in the following year.

The host nation Switzerland won that first Eurovision contest.

There were not many rules in the early days of the contest and this was prevalent in 1957, when the Italian entry lasted 5 minutes and 9 seconds. Since that song the rules changed and songs are now limited to last longer than 3 minutes.

Also, due to the lack of procedures in place if a tie-break occurred, there were actually four winners in 1969 as they all received the same amount of points. So Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, and France were all joint first.

In the following year to protest against that decision, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Portugal refused to take part.

So a new rule was introduced that is if a country’s points are tied, it goes down to the song with the highest votes from the highest number of countries will wins the competition.

Before 1971, there were only solo or duets allowed to compete, but this changed when it was decided that a country could choose to have a group of up to six performers on stage.

In 1974, the United Kingdom gave nul point to ABBA who sang Waterloo. ABBA went on to with the contest at Brighton in 1974 and have become the most successful Swedish pop, despite officially splitting up in 1983.

In 1979 the Eurovision contest was held outside Europe, in Jerusalem.

In 1986, the youngest contestant who won the Eurovision was Belgium’s Sandra Kim, she was just 13 years old, but claimed to be 15. After other countries such as France and Israeli also entered children into the Eurovision, this rule was also changed. After the 1989 Eurovision, contestants had to be older than 16 on the date of the final.

In 1997, televoting was being phased in and although the outcome still exists, it is now determined by a 50:50 combination of both the national jury and televoting to decide on the winner.

Oddly enough, when there is a tie in the national jury votes it is the youngest member who gets the final decision.

Whereby if there’s a tie between the jury’s score and the televoting score, it is the country with the most televotes who wins.

Up to 40 countries can enter and compete in the semi-finals for a place in the final. However, only 26 countries are allowed to move forward into the final competition.

There are actually six countries that do not have to compete in the semi-finals as they have guaranteed places.

These include Norway, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the UK. The previous year’s winner also gets a free pass to the final.

Australia were invited to participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 in Vienna. Australia is the first country from the Oceania region apart from Morocco in 1980) to take part in this contest.

The country that has won the most Eurovision contests is Ireland, having won the competition on seven occasions.

Johnny Logan won the Eurovision Song Contest three times. He represented and won for Ireland in 1980 and 1987 as a performer with “Hold Me Now” and “What’s Another Year”.

In 1992, he wrote the winning entry “Why Me” for Linda Martin.

On the other end of the scale, Norway have scored “nul points” the most times and has happened four times for Norway!

Norway have come last ten times, and this is the most any country has ever lost.

The Eurovision show is always presented in both English and French. The rules are also written in both these languages too, but if there is a linguistic dispute between the two versions of the rules, the English version wins.

There have been 18 female solo artists winners compared to just 7 men.

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest 2020 will begin at 20:00 on Tuesday, 12 May and end on Saturday, 16 May, with the Grand Final being held in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.