Interesting Facts About Kurt Cobain that You Might not know

Here are the Interesting Facts About Kurt Cobain that You Might not know:

Close to 17 years ago, Kurt Cobain died. Conspiracy theories about his death abound — as they tend to do with people of note — but most agree it was Cobain’s own decision to end his life. Since today would have been his 44th birthday, we bring you 44 facts about the man who struggled with drug addiction, being misunderstood, and those record industry types willing to defang the music from Cobain’s Pacific Northwest for the sake of money, power, and instant, yet fleeting success.

1. Before Nirvana, Cobain had auditioned to be in the Melvins, but was rejected.

2. While still a teenager, for eight months Cobain lived at a friend’s house and slept on the sofa.

3. When Nirvana was on the rise, Metallica sent them a fax that read: “We really dig Nirvana.Nevermind is the best album of the year. Let’s get together soon, Metallica. PS, Lars hates the band.”

4. For many years, Cobain enjoyed making Super-8 films. One of these movies contains a scene in which Cobain commits suicide.

5. In his free time, Cobain liked to buy big hunks of meat from the grocery store, and then go out into the woods and shoot at them with a variety of guns.

6. For a time, Cobain would often throw up before each show.

7. In June 1976, shortly after his parents divorced, a young Cobain scribbled onto his bedroom wall, “I hate Mom, I hate Dad, Dad hates Mom, Mom hates Dad, it simply makes you want to be sad.”

8. One of Cobain’s friends, Carrie Montgomery, once said that he “made women want to nurture and protect him. He was a paradox in that way, because he also could be brutally and intensely strong, yet at the same time, he could appear fragile and delicate.”

9. Cobain came close to joining the Navy, even meeting with a recruitment officer at one point to discuss enrolling.

10. A line from one of Cobain’s journals reads: “I have met many minds able to store and translate a pregnantly large amount of information, yet they havent an ounce of talent for wisdom or the appreciation of passion.”

11. Cobain recorded his first songs in December 1982 at his Aunt Mari’s house. They involved a guitar, bass, and spoons banged against a suitcase. Cobain titled the recordings “Organized Confusion.”

12. Cobain started using heroin on a daily basis to relieve his chronic stomach pains. In his diary, he wrote, “So I decided, if I felt like a junkie, I may as well be one.”

13. At one point, Cobain claimed to spend $100 per day on heroin.

14. In one journal entry, Cobain stated that the Sex Pistols were “one million times more important than the Clash.”

15. After Nirvana was famous, Cobain offered to play at the inaugural International Pop Underground festival in Olympia, but the event coordinators turned him down. Cobain was hurt by the rejection, and felt alienated from the scene he cared about most.

16. Cobain started wearing boxer briefs after Courtney Love expressed concern over his tiger-print Y-fronts.

17. Cobain would sometimes get moody and sit in a corner for 45 minutes without saying a word.

18. Cobain once wrote, “Art that has long lasting value cannot be appreciated by majorities, only the same, small percent will value arts patience as they always have. This is good.”

19. As a child, Cobain could recite the dialog from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind word-for-word.

20. Just hours after performing on Saturday Night Live, and one week before Nevermind hit number one on the charts, Cobain overdosed on drugs. Courtney Love found him at 7:00 am the next morning lying on the floor. She revived him by splashing water on his face and punching him in the stomach.

21. On Christmas Eve, 1991, three months after the release of Nevermind, Cobain and Courtney Love were living in a tiny room in a friend’s apartment.

22. As a boy, Cobain was temporarily put on Ritalin to curb his hyperactivity.

23. When asked what it’s like being number one on Billboard, Cobain responded, “It’s like being number 16, only even more people kiss your ass.”

24. One of Cobain’s most prized possessions was a signed first edition of William S. Burroughs’Naked Lunch.

25. In 1992, Cobain claimed that he and Courtney Love spent a million dollars: $80,000 on personal expenses, $380,000 on taxes, $300,000 on a house in Carnation, Washington, and the rest on doctors and lawyers. “That’s not very much,” said Cobain. “That’s definitely not what Axl [Rose] spends a year.”

26. After performing “Territorial Pissings” on Saturday Night Live, Cobain and Nirvana bassist, Krist Novoselic began French-kissing. SNL refused to air the footage on reruns.

27. Before he was famous, for a time Cobain worked as a swimming instructor for kids at the YMCA in Aberdeen.

28. Cobain claims he started throwing 7-Up cans full of pebbles at police cars at the age of six.

29. In a letter he sent to Nirvana’s former drummer, Dave Foster, Cobain wrote: “Getting a name on a record isn’t shit. Anybody can do it, but theres a big difference between credentials & notoriety, and self respect through music.”

30. After hearing “In Bloom” for the first time and feeling overwhelmed by how good it was, in 1992 Courtney Love said: “I instantly felt sorry for Kurt. I knew immediately the nightmare that awaited the poor thing.”

31. As a child, Cobain had a Mickey Mouse drum kit.

32. Cobain once wrote: “I have been forced to become a reclusive Rock Star. IE: No interviews, no radio appearances, etc. due to the legions of self appointed authorities on music who are not musicians, who have not contributed anything artistic to Rock and Roll besides maybe a few second rate long winded, books on Rock and Roll and most importantly who are the highest group of mysogynists in all forms of expression.”

33. The first time Cobain saw himself on television was on September 28, 1991, for a taping of MTV’s 120 Minutes.

34. One year, Cobain cut up an inflatable sex doll and wore it for Halloween.

35. Cobain once said, “I went through most of my adolescent life being a male and not being aware of feminism, but I was always more of a feminine person. I always felt more inclined to hang out with girls, and I appreciated softer pop music during most of my childhood, until I became a teenager when I started smoking pot.”

36. Before launching into “Smells Like Teen Spirit” live on the British television show The Word, Cobain announced, “Courtney Love, the lead singer of the sensational pop group Hole, is the best fuck in the world.”

37. Cobain’s favorite Pixies song is “Gigantic.”

38. Courtney Love once said, “Kurt was pure and he was also insanely ambitious. He wanted what he got, but because of his training, because of Olympia, he decided he didn’t want it.”

39. When just starting out, Cobain insisted that Nirvana practice five nights a week.

40. While in junior high, Cobain’s father, Donald, enrolled Cobain in his school’s wrestling team. In tournaments, Cobain refused to fight back. Instead, he sat on the mat with his arms folded.

41. As a boy, Cobain had an imaginary friend named “Boddah.”

42. Cobain often watched television late into the night.

43. In a letter to his father, Donald, Cobain wrote: “Ive never taken sides with you or my mother because while I was growing up I had equal contempt for you both.”

44. While homeless for a time, Cobain would sleep in the waiting room at Grays Harbour Community Hospital, the place of his birth.

Source: flavorPill & Ohnotheydidnt livejournal

Interesting Facts about George W. Bush Speech Payout

How much would you pay to get President George W. Bush to speak at your event? Check this out:

Almost immediately after leaving office, Bush withdrew from the broader bully pulpit that other former presidents, such as Jimmy Carter, have used to weigh in on matters of public import. But he also joined the storied ranks of former politicians who are now making money on the speaking circuit-- and it's paying off.

Bush spokesman David Sherzer tells iWatch News that Bush has earned at least $15 million for nearly 140 paid speeches since he left office in Jan. 2009. That's an average of about $110,000 per speech. (iWatch News reports that his average fee is pegged between $100,000 and $150,000.)

That's undeniably a lot of dough--but consider how it stacks up against the fees collected by Bush's predecessor, former President Bill Clinton.

By the end of 2009--nine years after Clinton's final term--the former president had already earned $65 million in speaking fees, which included $7.5 million for 36 paid speeches in 2009 alone, according to CNN's analysis of wife Hillary Clinton's 2010 financial disclosure report. That's $208,000 per speech on average for 2009.

IWatch News reports that after declining to visit Ground Zero May 5 with Barack Obama following the death of Osama bin Laden, Bush gave three paid speeches that week--one to "hedge fund executives, a Swiss bank sanctioned for keeping secret bank accounts, and a pro golf event underwritten by the accounting firm involved in the Tyco International financial scandal."

Bush is represented by the Washington Speakers Bureau, and a quick glance at the company shows that they also arrange speaking gigs for wife Laura Bush, daughter Barbara Bush, brother and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and sister Doro Bush Koch. Doro Bush Koch charges $10,001-15,000 per appearance, according to the company website, and a speech from Jeb Bush costs $15,001-$25,000. Fees for Laura Bush, Barbara Bush and the former president are available by request only.

Source: Yahoo News

Facts about United States of America

Well its Really hard to get all the facts and figures about USA but Here you can see some of the interesting facts and a small overview of USA which will help you understand about USA:

Population: 296,483,000

Capital: Washington, D.C.; 4,190,000

Area: 9,826,630 square kilometers (3,794,083 square miles)

Language: English, Spanish

Religion: Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish

Currency: U.S. dollar

Life Expectancy: 77

GDP per Capita: U.S. $36,300

Literacy Percent: 97

The United States of America, the third largest country by size in the world, is a nation of staggering natural, geological, and cultural diversity. Occupying the middle portion of the North American continent, the country's varied landscapes run the gamut from tropical beaches in Florida to alpine peaks in the Rocky Mountains, from rolling prairie lands and barren deserts in the West to dense wilderness areas in the Northeast and Northwest. Interspersed throughout are some of the world's largest lakes, deepest canyons, mightiest rivers, and most populous cities.

Though a relatively young nation, the United States has enjoyed a meteoritic rise in global importance since declaring independence from Britain in 1776. Advances in the past hundred years in particular have established America as a world leader economically, militarily, and technologically.

The U.S. is generally divided into six large regions: New England; the mid-Atlantic; the South; the Midwest; the Southwest, and the West. Though loosely defined, these zones tend to share important similarities, including climate, culture, history, and geography.

New England hosted some of the first settlers in the New World. These intrepid travelers left Europe, mainly England, in search of religious freedom. Their thrift and ingenuity created an intellectual, cultural, and economic epicenter in the region that lasted nearly 200 years. Visitors flock to the states of New England—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont—for, among other things, a dose of American history and for the world-famous explosion of colors from the region's fall foliage.

The mid-Atlantic region includes Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. These 19th-century industrial powerhouses attracted millions of European immigrants and gave rise to some of the East Coast's largest cities: New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. They're also home to some of the most picturesque scenery in the nation, including the ancient peaks of the Appalachians and the tranquil Chesapeake Bay.

The South comprises Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. This most distinctive of U.S. regions took decades to recover from the devastation of the Civil War. But over the past half-century, a so-called New South has emerged, supplementing its agricultural base with modern manufacturing and industry and attracting a flock of transplants and retirees to its mild climate, laid-back lifestyle, and varied landscapes.

The American Midwest is perhaps most difficult to define culturally and geographically. Home to the Great Lakes and much of the mighty Mississippi River, the highly fertile soils in the Midwest make it the country's agricultural epicenter. Dubbed the "nation's breadbasket," the region comprises the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Starkly beautiful landscapes define the America Southwest. A land of prairie and desert, the Southwest is made up of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, although parts of neighboring states are often considered part of this region. The Southwest is home to some of the world's great natural marvels, including the Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns, and many manmade wonders as well, like the ruins of the Chaco culture.

The American West, home of rolling plains and the iconic cowboy, epitomizes the pioneering image of the United States. But this region is a profoundly diverse one, ranging from endless wilderness to barren desert, coral reefs to Arctic tundra, Hollywood to Yellowstone. The states of the West include Alaska, Colorado, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

ECONOMY

• Industry: Petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics
• Agriculture: Wheat, corn, other grains, fruits; beef; forest products; fish
• Exports: Capital goods, automobiles, industrial supplies and raw materials, consumer goods, agricultural products

Nankoweap Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park

The Colorado River winds through Nankoweap Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. North America's geologic history is writ large in the sandstone heights across the U.S. West.

Adirondack Mountains, New York

Outdoorsmen enjoy the gloaming at the North Woods Club in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, where American artist Winslow Homer often fished for trout and absorbed landscapes he would re-create in imagination and paint.

Times Square, New York 

Formerly called Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after the New York Times building, which became the district's new cornerstone. Famous for its endless entertainment and covered with billboards, lights, and sky-high buildings, Times Square is home to world-renowned Broadway, MTV, and other tourist attractions.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco 

Like the outline of a mountain peak, a tower of the Golden Gate Bridge is visible above the summer fog in San Francisco Bay. Following the rush for gold in the late 19th century, the bay’s harbor attracted sailing ships from around the globe, and a great American city was born.

Ferris Wheel, San Antonio 

High above San Antonio, Texas, a couple steals a kiss at sunset. Situated in the southern part of the state’s Hill Country, the city is home to the Alamo and the historic River Walk.

Venice Beach, California 

A stretch of concrete extending to the sand attracts skateboarders to a park in Venice Beach. The southern California town is an eclectic host to beachgoers from nearby Los Angeles and around the world, boasting street artists, raucous beach bars, and bohemian enclaves.

Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah 

The sandstone cathedrals of Monument Valley served as the backdrop for the wild American frontier. Planted in the middle of desert lands, the valley’s rocks are the only formations that dare to break the infinite flatness of the Arizona-Utah horizon.

Yankees Fans

Diehard New York Yankees hope for an autograph at a game against the rival Boston Red Sox. "America's pastime" is big business: In recent years, more than 78 million people have attended major league games across the U.S. annually.

Fashion Show, New York 

Nicole Anderson models a pair of Manolo Blahnik stiletto heels and a white shift dress for the fashion press in New York City. A center of sartorial taste making in the U.S., the city attracts the fashion industry’s elite to its week of shows each spring and fall.

Shoshone Indians, Nevada

Members of a Shoshone Indian tribe take part in a ritual on the side of Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada. The site was the center of a heated debate between locals and government officials who wanted to spend $50 billion burying 77,000 tons of nuclear waste inside the mountain. In 2009, the Obama Administration announced the site was no longer an option.

Pistol River, Oregon 

A windsurfer carries his board and sail over sand dunes in Pistol River. Explorers discovered gold and other precious metals in the rivers and along the beaches of the area in 1852, and settlement depended primarily on water transportation. Today water transportation of a different sort is popular here—the area has several times played host to U.S. windsurfing championships.

High School Football

Members of a San Francisco high school football team run through a banner as they enter the playing field. High school football season usually runs September to November, and games can draw in large crowds.

Vermont Farm

A mechanic and his dog take a breather in Vermont's fresh air. The U.S. Northeast is packed with many such pastoral scenes, as well as pockets of heavy industry.

Basketball

A young man gets in some late-afternoon hoops in a Chicago neighborhood. The Illinois city has produced many avid basketball players and fans—including U.S. President Barack Obama.

Hotel, Miami Beach

 

Colored lights illuminate the art deco façade of what today is called the Fairwind Hotel, in Miami Beach, Florida. The city’s popular South Beach is well known for its art deco architecture, as well as its beaches, nightclubs, and beautiful people.

New Orleans Jazz 

In the backstreets where it was born, the exuberant sounds of New Orleans jazz are kept fresh by neighborhood brass bands. Sustained by their music, residents of the Big Easy beat back the blues, even through hard times.

Flamingos, Florida

Though populations of pink flamingos still reside within the swampy midst of Florida’s Everglades National Park, the colorful scenery does not betray the park’s precarious state. Fertilizer pollution, urban encroachment, and falling water levels make this the only U.S. park to have been on the World Heritage Danger List. It was removed from the list in 2007 after extensive cleanup efforts.

Nā Pali Coast, Hawaii 

The Nā Pali Coast on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i is the scarred shoulder of an ancient shield volcano that once rose more than five miles (eight kilometers) from seafloor to summit. Many visitors to the island take the one-hour helicopter tour to get the Jurassic Park view—Nā Pali starred in that movie, as well as inKing Kong, South Pacific, and many other Hollywood fantasies.

Alaska Glacier 

A young woman takes a bracing summer swim near a glacier in waters off Valdez, Alaska. Due east of Anchorage, the town sits nestled in the Chugach Mountains, which draw winter sports enthusiasts from far and near.

Redwood National Park, California 

Nature’s own defenses give giant redwood trees the ability to survive for centuries or even millennia in California’s Redwood National Park. Because their bark and heartwood are rich in compounds called polyphenols, bugs and decay-causing fungi don't like them. And since there's not a lot of resin in their stringy bark, larger redwoods are highly resistant to fire.

Sculpture, Chicago

Though artist Anish Kapoor entitled his oblique, metallic sculpture “Cloud Gate,” ask any Chicagoan about the legume-shaped steel and they’ll tell you what it really is: the Bean. The 110-ton sculpture provides an abstract reflection of Chicago’s skyline and all those who visit it.

Skiing, Montana

Membership in Montana’s exclusive Yellowstone Club guarantees access to some of the Gallatin Mountains’ best skiing runs just miles from Yellowstone National Park.

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., keeps a watchful eye over the nation’s capital. It has also provided the stage for civil rights activists: Marian Anderson gave a famous 1939 concert there after being denied the use of Constitution Hall because she was black, and in 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the memorial steps.

Source: National Geographic

Apple - the World’s Most Valuable Brand, Has overtaken Google

Apple has overtaken Google as the world's most valuable brand, ending a four-year reign by the Internet search leader, according to a new study by global brands agency Millward Brown.

The iPhone and iPad maker's brand is now worth $153 billion, almost half Apple's market capitalization, says the annual BrandZ study of the world's top 100 brands.

Apple's portfolio of coveted consumer goods propelled it past Microsoft to become the world's most valuable technology company last year.

Peter Walshe, global brands director of Millward Brown, says Apple's meticulous attention to detail, along with an increasing presence of its gadgets in corporate environments, have allowed it to behave differently from other consumer-electronics makers.

"Apple is breaking the rules in terms of its pricing model," he told Reuters by telephone. "It's doing what luxury brands do, where the higher price the brand is, the more it seems to underpin and reinforce the desire."

"Obviously, it has to be allied to great products and a great experience, and Apple has nurtured that."

By contrast, one of the brands most threatened by Apple's rising popularity in offices took a big hit in the survey.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry brand lost a fifth of its brand value. Among technology companies, only Nokia's 28 percent decline was steeper.

Of the top 10 brands in Monday's report, six were technology and telecoms companies: Google at number two, IBM at number three, Microsoft at number five, AT&T at number seven and China Mobile at number nine.

McDonald's rose two places to number four, as fast food became the fastest-growing category, Coca-Cola slipped one place to number six, Marlboro was also down one to number eight, and General Electric was number 10.

Walshe said demand from China was a major factor in the rise of fast-food brands. "The Chinese have been discovering fast food and it's such a vast market -- Starbucks, McDonald's... and pizza has hit China," he said.

"The way McDonald's has reinvented itself, adapted its menus, added healthy options, expanding the times of day it can be visited, for example oatmeal for breakfast... that allied with growth in developing markets has really helped that brand."

Nineteen of the top 100 brands came from emerging markets, up from 13 last year.

Facebook entered the top 100 at number 35 with a brand valued at $19.1 billion, while Chinese search engine Baidu rose to number 29 from 46.

Toyota reclaimed its position as the world's most valuable car brand, as it recovered from a bungled 2010 product recall. The survey was carried out before the March earthquake that caused massive disruption to Japanese supply chains.

The total value of the top 100 brands rose by 17 percent to $2.4 trillion, as the global economy shifted to growth.

Millward Brown takes as a starting point the value that companies put on their own main brands as intangibles in their earnings reports.

It combines that with the perceptions of more than 2 million consumers in relevant markets around the world whom it surveys over the course of the year, and then applies a multiple derived from the company's short-term future growth prospects.

Source & Read More: Yahoo Finance