The term sinister comes from the Latin word sinestra which means left. In the middle ages it was believed that people who wrote with their left hand were evil and possessed by the devil. This is due to the fact that they were in the minority and people in the middle ages seemed to think anything that was just a little different was evil. This association between left handed people and evil led the word sinister to take on dark connotations. Fair enough, as right hander, watching a lefty write seems unnatural.

The Netherlands are often referred to as Holland, but this is not quite accurate. Holland is just a part of The Netherlands. In fact the is no such thing as “Holland”, there is North Holland and South Holland which make up 2 of the 12 provinces of The Netherlands. That said, if you say Holland, instead of The Netherlands everyone will know what you meant. Only the geography nerds and malcontent jerks will probably correct you. Just to be clear, this blog post was not meant to correct you, just share an interesting fact.

No one person can be credited with the creation of  a language or an alphabet. These are both living and evolving things. That said, it was during the rule of Charlemagne that the lower case letters we know today were created. Charlemagne was able to conquer a great portion of Europe that today includes parts of France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and other countries. During his rule there occurred what is now called the Carolingian Renaissance. Since Europe was more united politically, the languages and alphabets were becoming more similar, and during this time scholars in Charlemagne’s court developed much of the alphabet we use today with small and big letters.

Work began on the technology that would become Bluetooth in 1994. The name is the anglicised form of the Blåtand which is the name given to Harald I of Denmark. Harald I was able to unite many different clans to create what is now Denmark, the idea is that Bluetooth does the same thing by united different technoligical devices. Bluetooth also allows for people to look like idiots by leaving their wireless headset on even when they are not on the phone.

The term GT actually originated with Italian cars, so it would actually be more accurate to sat the GT stands for Gran Turismo which is Grand Tourer in Italian. The term was originally meant to denote a luxury sports car that was designed to be driven over long distances. The GT badge has become very popular and can now be seen on many different cars. The GT is often accompanied by another letter like GTD meaning Gran Turismo Diesel or GTR meaning Gran Turismo Racing.