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Who is Bao Xishun, you ask? You might know him as the tallest living man in the world. Bao Xishun, a mongolian herdsman was recognized in 2005 by the Guiness World Records as “The world’s tallest man alive”. He was born in Mongolia, China in 1951 and stands a reported 7′9″ tall. His family is said to be descended from the offspring of Genghis Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368).

Bao Xishun claims to have been the same height as many kids while growing up. It wasn’t until the age of 16 when he experienced a sudden spurt of growth that shot him to his current height. Because of his abnormal height he developed rheumatism (painful conditions of muscles, tendons, joints, and bones) at a young age and is still undergoing daily medical treatments.

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Are you familiar with the amazing life of Helen Keller? At only 19 months old, Helen Keller was struck with a sudden illness that left her deaf and blind. For years, she lived in a world of darkness and silence without any way to express herself. With hopes of one day being able to communicate with their daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Keller enrolled Helen in the Perkins Institute for the Blind where she met her teacher Annie Sullivan.

Helen was very eager to learn how to communicate with people and Annie Sullivan, who was also blind, helped her accomplish this. Helen’s big breakthrough in communication came one day when she made a connection between the word water and water itself. This was accomplished when Annie poured water into the palm of Helen’s hand while spelling out ‘w-a-t-e-r’ in her other hand. It wasn’t too long after this initial breakthrough that Helen began reading raised letters and eventually Braille (raised dots). Eventually Helen was able to read Braille in 5 different languages (English, French, German, Greek and Latin). She even learned to speak using the Tadoma method (a way to interpret speech by touching the lips and throat of others as they speak).

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Marie Antoinette is one of the most famous and most controversial Queens of all time. She is often credited with saying the famous phrase “If they have no bread, then let them eat cake!” Oddly enough, there is no evidence that Marie Antoinette ever uttered those words.

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New entertainers come into the forefront of popular culture every year, some only lasting in the limelight for a couple of years, while others remain popular for many, many years.

These days, there are many pop singers that are very popular and well-known throughout the world. If you ask any of your peers, or even you parents, chances are that they’ve heard of Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera and can possibly even hum a line or two from their latest album. But these young entertainers are relatively new and were not around when your parents and grandparents were growing up. So who were the famous entertainers in the years before Britney Spears?

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I was born in 69 BC in Alexandria which was the capital of Egypt at the time. My father was the Pharaoh of Egypt when I was born and his name is Ptolemy XII. In 51 BC my father died and since I was the eldest child, I inherited the throne of Egypt with my brother Ptolemy XIII.

At age 18, I was the queen of Egypt which was not an easy job. The Romans were conquering city after city and they were even beginning to gain control over Egypt when I took the throne. Keeping the Romans from completely taking over my land was a struggle in itself. Along with that, I had enemies to contend with. People were jealous that I was so intelligent (I knew 9 languages) and that I was an independent ruler. I ruled for 3 years until I was overthrown by one of my father’s advisors. I was forced to leave Egypt and move to Syria while my younger brother became the sole ruler of Egypt. But I don’t give up so easily.

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What do you know about Benjamin Franklin? When you hear his name, you probably think about his famous kite experiment to conduct electricity. Or, you may remember him as one of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. You may even know him to be a great scientist, inventor, philosopher and statesman.

But, did you know him to be a musician as well? Did you also know that he was the creator of a new instrument that enchanted some of the most musical men of his time like Mozart and Beethoven? What follows is not your regular history lesson and has all the makings of a great story. The best part is that the story is true!

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It is 1945 and at the age of 88 I can say I’ve had my share of failures and triumphs. All in all it’s been a good life and I hope I’ve left the world a little bit better than I found it.

I was born in a farmhouse in Derry Church, Pennsylvania, where my parents raised me to value hard work. We were poor and moved around a lot. I think I attended 6 different schools before I completed the 4th grade and started my first job as a printer’s apprentice. Truth be told, I wasn’t very good at it and you can imagine my delight when I found another job in Lancaster as an apprentice to a candy-maker! It was fun and by the time I was 18 I had learned enough, or so I thought, to open my own candy shop in Philadelphia.

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Garrett Augustus Morgan was an African American traffic engineer who invented the traffic signal. By the early 1920s there were enough cars to create chaos on the roads and put both drivers and pedestrians at risk. In 1923 Morgan received a patent for his new concept, a traffic signal to regulate the movement of cars in cities. He created GO and STOP signs that were attached to a pole (familiar idea?) and systematically raised and lowered at intersections.

His signals spread from America to England and Canada. Morgan’s invention brought order to traffic flow and safety to the traveling public. Eventually Morgan’s signal was replaced with the light signal we use today.

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Amelia Earhart Facts:

• She was born in Atchison, Kansas.
• She learned to fly at the age of 24.
• She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
• She set out to fly around the world in 1937.

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Christopher Columbus Facts:

• He was born in Genoa, Italy.
• He took his first sea voyage when he was 14 years old.
• He knew the Spanish king and queen.
• He set out by sea with three ships to find China in 1492.

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It is always inspiring to learn about fascinating people in history who rose up against adversity and had the courage to follow their dreams. It is even more inspiring to learn how these ordinary people changed the way we look at something./p>

One of these amazing and truly heroic individuals was a woman named Florence Nightingale. She was in her time a reformer, pioneer and most importantly a humanitarian. She made significant improvements to the field of nursing and reformed the sanitation conditions in hospitals.

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“Soon after that she had a little daughter, who was as white as snow, and as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony, and she was therefore called little Snow White.”

“Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the king, and in order to make himself appear important he said to him, ‘I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.’”

Do these sound familiar to you? Both of these stories have been retold by thousands of people in hundreds of different languages. The first is line is from the famous story that was made into a movie by Walt Disney called Snow White. The second is from a less familiar but still widely read story called Rumpelstilzchen (try to spell that word without looking at this page!)

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