Friday, August 12, 2011
World Fastest Cars
1. Bugatti Veyron: 267 mph
0-60 in 2.5 secs
Price: $1,700,000
0-60 in 2.5 secs
Price: $1,700,000
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Cars,
Pictures,
World Amazing Cars,
World Fastest Cars
World’s 10 Most Colorful Chinatowns
1. Singapore
Singapore’s Chinatown, once home to the first Chinese settlers in what’s now a heavily Westernized city-state, is one of its few distinctly Asian neighborhoods. The enclave was home to the area’s earliest Chinese settlers. Several of its institutions, such as the Heritage Centre, Food Street, and Night Market, preserve the culture of its original inhabitants, while some areas of the district are designated national heritage sites. Many historic buildings remain as relics of the past, as well as to complement the otherwise modern landscape.
Photographs of The Empire State Building Under Construction
All these photographs show the construction of the Empire State Building. It is a 102-story skyscraper in New York City that is located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Being 1472 feet (448 metres) tall, this was the tallest building in the world for over 40 years since its completion in 1931. Only in 1972 when the North Tower of the World Trade Center was built, the Empire State Building was deposed as the world’s highest skyscraper.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
5 Things You Didn't Know About Google
Google was originally called BackRub
Like many other booming internet companies, Google has an interesting upbringing, one that is marked by a lowly beginning. Google began as a research project in January 1996 by cofounder Larry Page, a 24-year-old Ph.D. student at Standford University. Page was soon joined by 23-year-old Sergey Brin, another Ph.D. student, forming a duo that seemed destined for failure. According to Google's own corporate information, Brin and Page argued about every single topic they discussed. This incessant arguing, however, may have been what spurred the duo to rethink web-searching and develop a novel strategy that ranked websites according to the number of backlinks (i.e., according to the number of web pages that linked back to a web page being searched), and not based on the number of times a specific search term appeared on a given web page, as was the norm.
Because of this unique strategy, another thing you didn't know about Google is that Page and Brin nicknamed the search engine BackRub. Thankfully, in 1998, Brin and Page dropped the sexually suggestive nickname, and came up with Google, a term originating from a common misspelling of the word "googol," which refers to 10100.
The word google has become so common, it was entered into numerous dictionaries in 2006, referring to the act of using the Google search engine to retrieve information via the internet.
Google scans your e-mails
Nothing in life is perfect -- or without controversy -- and Google is no exception. Google scans your e-mails (at Gmail) through a process called content extraction. All incoming and outgoing e-mail is scanned for specific keywords to target advertising to the user. The process has brewed quite a storm of controversy, but Google has yet to back down on its stance.
Google has remained similarly headstrong about other criticisms; in an attempt to remain partisan to local governments, Google removes or does not include information from its services in compliance with local laws. Perhaps the most striking example of this is Google's adherence to the internet censorship policies of China (at Google.cn) so as not to bring up search results supporting the independence movement of Tibet and Taiwan, or any other information perceived to be harmful to the People's Republic of China.
Google Street has further been cited for breaching personal privacy. The service provides high-resolution street-view photos from around the world and has, on numerous occasions, caught people committing questionable acts. Moving from street to satellite, Google Earth has also come under fire from several Indian state governments about the security risks posed by the details from Google Earth's satellite imaging. When all is said and done, there are a lot of criticisms about Google and these few examples merely scratch the surface.
Google spends $72 million a year on employee meals
Seventy-two million dollars a year -- that works out to about $7,530 per Googler (a term Google uses to identify employees). While the exact details vary depending on location (the Google empire spans the globe), employees at Google's California headquarters, aptly entitled the Googleplex, are welcome to at least two free meals a day from 11 different gourmet cafeterias. As if that weren't enough, another thing you didn't know about Google is that in addition to the cafeterias, Google offers numerous snack bars that are chock-full of healthy morsels to munch on.
And that's certainly not all. Is your car in a bit of a rut? Not to worry; Google offers on-site car washes and oil changes. The list of perks for working at Google is never-ending, making it no surprise that it's considered the No. 1 place to work, offering: on-site haircuts, full athletic facilities, massage therapists, language classes, drop-off dry cleaning, day cares, and on-site doctors, just to name a few. Oh, and if your dog is stuck at home and feeling a little lonely, just bring him to work -- Google doesn't mind.
Google loses $110 million a year through "I'm Feeling Lucky"
There's not much to see on Google's main search page, and perhaps simplicity is one of the keys to Google's success. When searching Google, you are given two options: Google Search or “I'm Feeling Lucky. By clicking the former, you are given that familiar list of search results; by clicking the latter, however, you are automatically redirected to the first search result, bypassing the search engines results page.
besides the fun factor, the idea behind the I'm Feeling Lucky feature is to provide the user with instant connection to the precise page they are searching for, thus saving them time that would normally be spent perusing endless search results. Sounds harmless enough, right? Not so fast. Because I'm Feeling Lucky bypasses all advertising, it is estimated that Google loses about $110 million per year in advertising-generated revenue. So why in the world would any Fortune 500 company not patch such a gaping leak? "It's possible to become too dry, too corporate, too much about making money. I think what's delightful about 'I'm Feeling Lucky' is that it reminds you there are real people here," Google Executive Marissa Mayer told Valleywag, an online tech-blog.
Google has a sense of humor
Google also offers full language support for Pig Latin, Klingon and even Elmer Fudd. Anyone else still feeling lucky? Try typing, French military victories and clicking I'm Feeling Lucky.Behold the result.
Some might remember the miserable failure fiasco when one typed those words and clicked I'm Feeling Lucky, and they were instantly connected to a biography of President George W. Bush on the White House website. Now, before you jump to conclusions, this trick -- which no longer works -- was carried out by members of the online community through the art of Google bombing.Google bombing works because of Google's backlink search strategy.
Like many other booming internet companies, Google has an interesting upbringing, one that is marked by a lowly beginning. Google began as a research project in January 1996 by cofounder Larry Page, a 24-year-old Ph.D. student at Standford University. Page was soon joined by 23-year-old Sergey Brin, another Ph.D. student, forming a duo that seemed destined for failure. According to Google's own corporate information, Brin and Page argued about every single topic they discussed. This incessant arguing, however, may have been what spurred the duo to rethink web-searching and develop a novel strategy that ranked websites according to the number of backlinks (i.e., according to the number of web pages that linked back to a web page being searched), and not based on the number of times a specific search term appeared on a given web page, as was the norm.
Because of this unique strategy, another thing you didn't know about Google is that Page and Brin nicknamed the search engine BackRub. Thankfully, in 1998, Brin and Page dropped the sexually suggestive nickname, and came up with Google, a term originating from a common misspelling of the word "googol," which refers to 10100.
The word google has become so common, it was entered into numerous dictionaries in 2006, referring to the act of using the Google search engine to retrieve information via the internet.
Google scans your e-mails
Nothing in life is perfect -- or without controversy -- and Google is no exception. Google scans your e-mails (at Gmail) through a process called content extraction. All incoming and outgoing e-mail is scanned for specific keywords to target advertising to the user. The process has brewed quite a storm of controversy, but Google has yet to back down on its stance.
Google has remained similarly headstrong about other criticisms; in an attempt to remain partisan to local governments, Google removes or does not include information from its services in compliance with local laws. Perhaps the most striking example of this is Google's adherence to the internet censorship policies of China (at Google.cn) so as not to bring up search results supporting the independence movement of Tibet and Taiwan, or any other information perceived to be harmful to the People's Republic of China.
Google Street has further been cited for breaching personal privacy. The service provides high-resolution street-view photos from around the world and has, on numerous occasions, caught people committing questionable acts. Moving from street to satellite, Google Earth has also come under fire from several Indian state governments about the security risks posed by the details from Google Earth's satellite imaging. When all is said and done, there are a lot of criticisms about Google and these few examples merely scratch the surface.
Google spends $72 million a year on employee meals
Seventy-two million dollars a year -- that works out to about $7,530 per Googler (a term Google uses to identify employees). While the exact details vary depending on location (the Google empire spans the globe), employees at Google's California headquarters, aptly entitled the Googleplex, are welcome to at least two free meals a day from 11 different gourmet cafeterias. As if that weren't enough, another thing you didn't know about Google is that in addition to the cafeterias, Google offers numerous snack bars that are chock-full of healthy morsels to munch on.
And that's certainly not all. Is your car in a bit of a rut? Not to worry; Google offers on-site car washes and oil changes. The list of perks for working at Google is never-ending, making it no surprise that it's considered the No. 1 place to work, offering: on-site haircuts, full athletic facilities, massage therapists, language classes, drop-off dry cleaning, day cares, and on-site doctors, just to name a few. Oh, and if your dog is stuck at home and feeling a little lonely, just bring him to work -- Google doesn't mind.
Google loses $110 million a year through "I'm Feeling Lucky"
There's not much to see on Google's main search page, and perhaps simplicity is one of the keys to Google's success. When searching Google, you are given two options: Google Search or “I'm Feeling Lucky. By clicking the former, you are given that familiar list of search results; by clicking the latter, however, you are automatically redirected to the first search result, bypassing the search engines results page.
besides the fun factor, the idea behind the I'm Feeling Lucky feature is to provide the user with instant connection to the precise page they are searching for, thus saving them time that would normally be spent perusing endless search results. Sounds harmless enough, right? Not so fast. Because I'm Feeling Lucky bypasses all advertising, it is estimated that Google loses about $110 million per year in advertising-generated revenue. So why in the world would any Fortune 500 company not patch such a gaping leak? "It's possible to become too dry, too corporate, too much about making money. I think what's delightful about 'I'm Feeling Lucky' is that it reminds you there are real people here," Google Executive Marissa Mayer told Valleywag, an online tech-blog.
Google has a sense of humor
Google also offers full language support for Pig Latin, Klingon and even Elmer Fudd. Anyone else still feeling lucky? Try typing, French military victories and clicking I'm Feeling Lucky.Behold the result.
Some might remember the miserable failure fiasco when one typed those words and clicked I'm Feeling Lucky, and they were instantly connected to a biography of President George W. Bush on the White House website. Now, before you jump to conclusions, this trick -- which no longer works -- was carried out by members of the online community through the art of Google bombing.Google bombing works because of Google's backlink search strategy.
Interesting Facts About the Sun
1. The Sun is the Solar System.
We live on the planet, so we think it's an equal member of the Solar System. But that couldn't be further from the truth. The reality is that the mass of the Sun accounts for 99.8% of the mass of the Solar System. And most of that final 0.2% comes from Jupiter. So the mass of the Earth is a fraction of a fraction of the mass of the Solar System. Really, we barely exist.
2. And the Sun is mostly hydrogen and helium.
If you could take apart the Sun and pile up its different elements, you'd find that 74% of its mass comes from hydrogen. with 24% helium. The remaining 2% is includes trace amounts of iron, nickel, oxygen, and all the other elements we have in the Solar System. In other words, the Solar System is mostly made of hydrogen.
3. The Sun is pretty bright.
We know of some amazingly large and bright stars, like Eta Carina and Betelgeuse. But they're incredibly far away. Our own Sun is a relatively bright star. If you could take the 50 closest stars within 17 light-years of the Earth, the Sun would be the 4th brightest star in absolute terms.
4. The Sun is huge, but tiny.
With a diameter of 109 times the size the Earth, the Sun makes a really big sphere. You could fit 1.3 million Earths inside the Sun. Or you could flatten out 11,990 Earths to cover the surface of the Sun. That's big, but there are some much bigger stars out there. For example, the biggest star that we know of would almost reach Saturn if it were placed inside the Solar System.
5. The Sun is middle aged.
Astronomers think that the Sun (and the planets) formed from the solar nebula about 4.59 billion years ago. The Sun is in the main sequence stage right now, slowly using up its hydrogen fuel. But at some point, in about 5 billion years from now, the Sun will enter the red giant phase, where it swells up to consume the inner planets – including Earth (probably). It will slough off its outer layers, and then shrink back down to a relatively tiny white dwarf.
6. The Sun has layers.
The Sun looks like a burning ball of fire, but it actually has an internal structure. The visible surface we can see is called the photosphere, and heats up to a temperature of about 6,000 degrees Kelvin. Beneath that is the convective zone, where heat moves slowly from the inner Sun to the surface, and cooled material falls back down in columns. This region starts at 70% of the radius of the Sun. Beneath the convection zone is the radiative zone. In this zone, heat can only travel through radiation. The core of the Sun extends from the center of the Sun to a distance of 0.2 solar radii. This is where temperatures reach 13.6 million degrees Kelvin, and molecules of hydrogen are fused into helium.
7. The Sun is heating up, and will kill all life on Earth.
It feels like the Sun has been around forever, unchanging, but that's not true. The Sun is actually slowly heating up. It's becoming 10% more luminous every billion years. In fact, within just a billion years, the heat from the Sun will be so intense that liquid water won't exist on the surface of the Earth. Life on Earth as we know it will be gone forever. Bacteria might still live on underground, but the surface of the planet will be scorched and uninhabited. It'll take another 7 billion years for the Sun to reach its red giant phase before it actually expands to the point that it engulfs the Earth and destroys the entire planet.
8. Different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds.
Unlike the planets, the Sun is great big sphere of hydrogen gas. Because of this, different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds. You can see how fast the surface is rotating by tracking the movement of sunspots across the surface. Regions at the equator take 25 days to complete one rotation, while features at the poles can take 36 days. And the inside of the Sun seems to take about 27 days.
9. The outer atmosphere is hotter than the surface.
The surface of the Sun reaches temperatures of 6,000 Kelvin. But this is actually much less than the Sun's atmosphere. Above the surface of the Sun is a region of the atmosphere called the chromosphere, where temperatures can reach 100,000 K. But that's nothing. There's an even more distant region called the corona, which extends to a volume even larger than the Sun itself. Temperatures in the corona can reach 1 million K.
10. There are spacecraft observing the Sun right now.
The most famous spacecraft sent to observe the Sun is the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, built by NASA and ESA, and launched in December, 1995. SOHO has been continuously observing the Sun since then, and sent back countless images. A more recent mission is NASA's STEREO spacecraft. This was actually two spacecraft, launched in October 2006. These twin spacecraft were designed to watch the same activity on the Sun from two different vantage points, to give a 3-D perspective of the Sun's activity, and allow astronomers to better predict space weather.
We live on the planet, so we think it's an equal member of the Solar System. But that couldn't be further from the truth. The reality is that the mass of the Sun accounts for 99.8% of the mass of the Solar System. And most of that final 0.2% comes from Jupiter. So the mass of the Earth is a fraction of a fraction of the mass of the Solar System. Really, we barely exist.
2. And the Sun is mostly hydrogen and helium.
If you could take apart the Sun and pile up its different elements, you'd find that 74% of its mass comes from hydrogen. with 24% helium. The remaining 2% is includes trace amounts of iron, nickel, oxygen, and all the other elements we have in the Solar System. In other words, the Solar System is mostly made of hydrogen.
3. The Sun is pretty bright.
We know of some amazingly large and bright stars, like Eta Carina and Betelgeuse. But they're incredibly far away. Our own Sun is a relatively bright star. If you could take the 50 closest stars within 17 light-years of the Earth, the Sun would be the 4th brightest star in absolute terms.
4. The Sun is huge, but tiny.
With a diameter of 109 times the size the Earth, the Sun makes a really big sphere. You could fit 1.3 million Earths inside the Sun. Or you could flatten out 11,990 Earths to cover the surface of the Sun. That's big, but there are some much bigger stars out there. For example, the biggest star that we know of would almost reach Saturn if it were placed inside the Solar System.
5. The Sun is middle aged.
Astronomers think that the Sun (and the planets) formed from the solar nebula about 4.59 billion years ago. The Sun is in the main sequence stage right now, slowly using up its hydrogen fuel. But at some point, in about 5 billion years from now, the Sun will enter the red giant phase, where it swells up to consume the inner planets – including Earth (probably). It will slough off its outer layers, and then shrink back down to a relatively tiny white dwarf.
6. The Sun has layers.
The Sun looks like a burning ball of fire, but it actually has an internal structure. The visible surface we can see is called the photosphere, and heats up to a temperature of about 6,000 degrees Kelvin. Beneath that is the convective zone, where heat moves slowly from the inner Sun to the surface, and cooled material falls back down in columns. This region starts at 70% of the radius of the Sun. Beneath the convection zone is the radiative zone. In this zone, heat can only travel through radiation. The core of the Sun extends from the center of the Sun to a distance of 0.2 solar radii. This is where temperatures reach 13.6 million degrees Kelvin, and molecules of hydrogen are fused into helium.
7. The Sun is heating up, and will kill all life on Earth.
It feels like the Sun has been around forever, unchanging, but that's not true. The Sun is actually slowly heating up. It's becoming 10% more luminous every billion years. In fact, within just a billion years, the heat from the Sun will be so intense that liquid water won't exist on the surface of the Earth. Life on Earth as we know it will be gone forever. Bacteria might still live on underground, but the surface of the planet will be scorched and uninhabited. It'll take another 7 billion years for the Sun to reach its red giant phase before it actually expands to the point that it engulfs the Earth and destroys the entire planet.
8. Different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds.
Unlike the planets, the Sun is great big sphere of hydrogen gas. Because of this, different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds. You can see how fast the surface is rotating by tracking the movement of sunspots across the surface. Regions at the equator take 25 days to complete one rotation, while features at the poles can take 36 days. And the inside of the Sun seems to take about 27 days.
9. The outer atmosphere is hotter than the surface.
The surface of the Sun reaches temperatures of 6,000 Kelvin. But this is actually much less than the Sun's atmosphere. Above the surface of the Sun is a region of the atmosphere called the chromosphere, where temperatures can reach 100,000 K. But that's nothing. There's an even more distant region called the corona, which extends to a volume even larger than the Sun itself. Temperatures in the corona can reach 1 million K.
10. There are spacecraft observing the Sun right now.
The most famous spacecraft sent to observe the Sun is the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, built by NASA and ESA, and launched in December, 1995. SOHO has been continuously observing the Sun since then, and sent back countless images. A more recent mission is NASA's STEREO spacecraft. This was actually two spacecraft, launched in October 2006. These twin spacecraft were designed to watch the same activity on the Sun from two different vantage points, to give a 3-D perspective of the Sun's activity, and allow astronomers to better predict space weather.
Top 10 Facts to Know About Kissing
About 30 muscles work very actively during the renowned French kiss: twelve of them control the movements of lips and eleven muscles are responsible for the tongue. The "French experience" accelerates the pulse from 70 to 150 beats per minute.
Young people start kissing two or three years before they launch their sex lives. Fifty percent of males experience the excitement of the first kiss at 13 or 14 years of age.
The longest kiss ever lasted for 17 days, 10 hours and 30 minutes. The record can be found in the Guinness Book of World Records, although the kissing couple had to be hospitalized with severe exhaustion. When they recovered, they never met each other again.
Kissing on the lips is the most popular way of kissing among men – over 67 percent of men expressed their approval. Fifty-six percent of men said they had nothing against kissing on the cheeks and 26 percent highly appreciated intimate kisses of the genitals (don't tell anyone). Toe kissing enjoys the smallest popularity – only one percent of male respondents approved it.
Fifteen percent of women said they would be ready to break apart with their boyfriend just because of his bad kissing capabilities. Women hate it, when the man's tongue is weak at kissing.
There are 278 types of germs living in the mouth of a human being. Those germs are harmless: when two people kiss, thousands of germs flow from one mouth to another. In such cases they produce enzymes and natural antibiotics for self-defense. As a result, the bodies of the two kissing individuals develop resistibility against all other pathogenic bacteria.
Lipstick commercials deliberately falsify the truth. Sixty-three percent of male respondents said that they prefer to kiss women's lips without lipstick on. They said that it was more natural and did not leave any traces all over the face. Forty-nine percent of men said that they liked to kiss slightly moisturized and soft lips. Only 35 percent said that they adored full, erotic lips aka Pamela Anderson. Monica Belucci, Julia Roberts and Sharon Stone are most popular celebrities, whose lips are considered very attractive for kisses.
Fifty-five percent of respondents said that the kiss of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable was the most outstanding in "Gone with the Wind." Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas rank second with their "Basic Instinct" kiss. Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell finish the top three of best cinema kisses with their romantic kiss in heavy rainfall in "Four Weddings and a Funeral".
Scientists say that humans started kissing each other in the Age of Reptiles. However, the fact was acknowledged only in the XVI century. Earlier documentation and literature do not contain any description of kisses between man and woman. On the other hand, the characters of antiquity and ancient East greeted each other with kisses, even if they were kisses between two men - it was considered absolutely normal.
Forty-four percent of male and 48 percent of female respondents said they could not stand bites in the exquisite process of kissing. Women (39 percent) do not like to kiss slobbery men, although only 23 percent of men said that they were against the wet kissing. The most important kind of kiss, as 54 percent of men said, is to kiss a woman that you do not like.
Young people start kissing two or three years before they launch their sex lives. Fifty percent of males experience the excitement of the first kiss at 13 or 14 years of age.
The longest kiss ever lasted for 17 days, 10 hours and 30 minutes. The record can be found in the Guinness Book of World Records, although the kissing couple had to be hospitalized with severe exhaustion. When they recovered, they never met each other again.
Kissing on the lips is the most popular way of kissing among men – over 67 percent of men expressed their approval. Fifty-six percent of men said they had nothing against kissing on the cheeks and 26 percent highly appreciated intimate kisses of the genitals (don't tell anyone). Toe kissing enjoys the smallest popularity – only one percent of male respondents approved it.
Fifteen percent of women said they would be ready to break apart with their boyfriend just because of his bad kissing capabilities. Women hate it, when the man's tongue is weak at kissing.
There are 278 types of germs living in the mouth of a human being. Those germs are harmless: when two people kiss, thousands of germs flow from one mouth to another. In such cases they produce enzymes and natural antibiotics for self-defense. As a result, the bodies of the two kissing individuals develop resistibility against all other pathogenic bacteria.
Lipstick commercials deliberately falsify the truth. Sixty-three percent of male respondents said that they prefer to kiss women's lips without lipstick on. They said that it was more natural and did not leave any traces all over the face. Forty-nine percent of men said that they liked to kiss slightly moisturized and soft lips. Only 35 percent said that they adored full, erotic lips aka Pamela Anderson. Monica Belucci, Julia Roberts and Sharon Stone are most popular celebrities, whose lips are considered very attractive for kisses.
Fifty-five percent of respondents said that the kiss of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable was the most outstanding in "Gone with the Wind." Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas rank second with their "Basic Instinct" kiss. Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell finish the top three of best cinema kisses with their romantic kiss in heavy rainfall in "Four Weddings and a Funeral".
Scientists say that humans started kissing each other in the Age of Reptiles. However, the fact was acknowledged only in the XVI century. Earlier documentation and literature do not contain any description of kisses between man and woman. On the other hand, the characters of antiquity and ancient East greeted each other with kisses, even if they were kisses between two men - it was considered absolutely normal.
Forty-four percent of male and 48 percent of female respondents said they could not stand bites in the exquisite process of kissing. Women (39 percent) do not like to kiss slobbery men, although only 23 percent of men said that they were against the wet kissing. The most important kind of kiss, as 54 percent of men said, is to kiss a woman that you do not like.
Amazing Facts About India
The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name `Hindustan’ combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who invented the digit zero.
Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is because it is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software.
Chess was invented in India.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in India.
The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India.
The first six Mogul Emperor's of India ruled in an unbroken succession from father to son for two hundred years, from 1526 to 1707.
The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
India is the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).
The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
India has the most post offices in the world.
The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people.
The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
Although modern images & descriptions of India often show poverty, India was one of the richest countries till the time of British in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
The art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh 6000 over years ago. The very word 'Navigation' is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His calculations was - Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 365.258756484 days.
The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians.
Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from India. Quadratic equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12 ).
Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. (Source . Gemological Institute of America)
The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who invented the digit zero.
Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is because it is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software.
Chess was invented in India.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in India.
The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India.
The first six Mogul Emperor's of India ruled in an unbroken succession from father to son for two hundred years, from 1526 to 1707.
The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
India is the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).
The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
India has the most post offices in the world.
The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people.
The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
Although modern images & descriptions of India often show poverty, India was one of the richest countries till the time of British in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
The art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh 6000 over years ago. The very word 'Navigation' is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His calculations was - Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 365.258756484 days.
The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians.
Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from India. Quadratic equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12 ).
Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. (Source . Gemological Institute of America)
The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
Interesting Facts About Our Planet
In 1783 an Icelandic eruption threw up enough dust to temporarily block out the sun over Europe.
About 20 to 30 volcanoes erupt each year, mostly under the sea.
A huge underground river runs underneath the Nile, with six times more water than the river above.
Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana formed in a hollow made by a meteorite.
Beaver Lake, in Yellowstone Park, USA, was artificially created by beaver damming.
Off the coast of Florida there is an underwater hotel. Guests have to dive to the entrance.
Venice in Italy is built on 118 sea islets joined by 400 bridges. It is gradually sinking into the water.
The Ancient Egyptians worshipped a sky goddess called Nut.
The world's windiest place is Commonwealth Bay, Antartica.
In 1934, a gust of wind reached 371 km/h on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA.
American Roy Sullivan has been struck by lighting a record seven times.
The desert baobab tree can store up to 1000 litres of water in its trunk.
The oldest living tree is a California bristlecone pine name 'Methuselah'. It is about 4600 years old. The largest tree in the world is a giant sequoia growing in California. It is 84 meters tall and measures 29 meters round the trunk. The fastest growing tree is the eucalyptus. It can grow 10 meters a year.
The Antartic notothenia fish has a protein in its blood that acts like antifreeze and stops the fish freezing in icy sea.
The USA uses 29% of the world's petrol and 33% of the world's electricity.
The industrial complex of Cubatao in Brazil is known as the Valley of Death because its pollution has destroyed the trees and rivers nearby.
Tibet is the highest country in the world. Its average height above sea level is 4500 meters.
Some of the oldest mountains in the world are the Highlands in Scotland. They are estimated to be about 400 million years old.
Fresh water from the River Amazon can be found up to 180 km out to sea.
The White Sea, in Russia, has the lowest temperature, only -2 degrees centigrade. The Persian Gulf is the warmest sea. In the summer its temperature reaches 35.6 degrees centigrade.
There is no land at all at the North Pole, only ice on top of sea. The Arctic Ocean has about 12 million sq km of floating ice and has the coldest winter temperature of -34 degrees centigrade.
The Antarctic ice sheet is 3-4 km thick, covers 13 million sq km and has temperatures as low as -70 degrees centigrade.
Over 4 million cars in Brazil are now running on gasohol instead of petrol. Gasohol is a fuel made from sugar cane.
About 20 to 30 volcanoes erupt each year, mostly under the sea.
A huge underground river runs underneath the Nile, with six times more water than the river above.
Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana formed in a hollow made by a meteorite.
Beaver Lake, in Yellowstone Park, USA, was artificially created by beaver damming.
Off the coast of Florida there is an underwater hotel. Guests have to dive to the entrance.
Venice in Italy is built on 118 sea islets joined by 400 bridges. It is gradually sinking into the water.
The Ancient Egyptians worshipped a sky goddess called Nut.
The world's windiest place is Commonwealth Bay, Antartica.
In 1934, a gust of wind reached 371 km/h on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA.
American Roy Sullivan has been struck by lighting a record seven times.
The desert baobab tree can store up to 1000 litres of water in its trunk.
The oldest living tree is a California bristlecone pine name 'Methuselah'. It is about 4600 years old. The largest tree in the world is a giant sequoia growing in California. It is 84 meters tall and measures 29 meters round the trunk. The fastest growing tree is the eucalyptus. It can grow 10 meters a year.
The Antartic notothenia fish has a protein in its blood that acts like antifreeze and stops the fish freezing in icy sea.
The USA uses 29% of the world's petrol and 33% of the world's electricity.
The industrial complex of Cubatao in Brazil is known as the Valley of Death because its pollution has destroyed the trees and rivers nearby.
Tibet is the highest country in the world. Its average height above sea level is 4500 meters.
Some of the oldest mountains in the world are the Highlands in Scotland. They are estimated to be about 400 million years old.
Fresh water from the River Amazon can be found up to 180 km out to sea.
The White Sea, in Russia, has the lowest temperature, only -2 degrees centigrade. The Persian Gulf is the warmest sea. In the summer its temperature reaches 35.6 degrees centigrade.
There is no land at all at the North Pole, only ice on top of sea. The Arctic Ocean has about 12 million sq km of floating ice and has the coldest winter temperature of -34 degrees centigrade.
The Antarctic ice sheet is 3-4 km thick, covers 13 million sq km and has temperatures as low as -70 degrees centigrade.
Over 4 million cars in Brazil are now running on gasohol instead of petrol. Gasohol is a fuel made from sugar cane.
Amazing Facts About Money
The word millionaire was first used by Benjamin Disraeli in his 1826 novel Vivian Grey.
If you stack one million US$1 bills, it would be 110m (361 ft) high and weight exactly 1 ton.
A million dollars' worth of $100 bills weighs only 10 kg (22 lb).
One million dollars' worth of once-cent coins (100 million coins) weigh 246 tons.
TIP is the acronym for "To Insure Promptness."
The term "Blue Chip" comes from the colour of the poker chip with the highest value, blue.
Nessie, the Loch Ness monster is protected by the 1912 Protection of Animals Acts of Scotland. With good reason - Nessie is worth $40 million annually to Scottish tourism.
Of the more than $50 billion worth of diet products sold every year, almost $20 billion are spent on imitation fats and sugar substitutes.
Annual global spending on education is $80 billion.
US and European expenditure on pet food is $17 billion per year.
The global expenditure on healthcare and nutrition is $13 billion.
Money notes are not made from paper, it is made mostly from a special blend of cotton and linen.
In 1932, when a shortage of cash occurred in Tenino, Washington, USA, notes were made out of wood for a brief period. The wood notes came in $1, $5 and $10 values.
The world's largest coins, in size and standard value, were copper plates used in Alaska around 1850. They were about a metre (3 ft) long, half-a-metre (about 2 ft) wide, weighed 40 kg (90 lb), and were worth $2,500.
The first credit card was issued by American Express in 1951.
About 30% of consumers use their credit card as their main means of buying Christmas goodies, 70% do not save to buy Christmas gifts and 86% of consumers do their Christmas shopping during December.
Excessive use of credit is cited as a major cause of non-business bankruptcy, second only to unemployment.
Statistics show that people with high, medium and low income groups spend about the same amount on Christmas gifts.
In the 1400s, global income rose only 0,1% per year; today it often tops 5%.
The average age of Forbes's 400 wealthiest individuals is 63.
In 1955 the richest woman in the world was Mrs Hetty Green Wilks, who left an estate of $95 million in a will that was found in a tin box with four pieces of soap.
In 2001 the richest woman was Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of L'Oreal's founder. She has a net worth of $14 billion (depending on how the stock market did today).
In 2000, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is the second wealthiest woman, with $5,2 billion.
Queen Elizabeth II is one of the 10th wealthiest women in the world.
The $ sign was designed in 1788 by Oliver Pollock.
The term "smart money" refers to gamblers who have inside information or have arranged a fix, the gambling term for insuring the outcome of an event by illegal methods.
Small-time gamblers who place small bet in order to prolong the excitement of a game are called "dead fish" by game operators because the longer the playing time, the greater the chances of losing.
In gambling language, for a gambling house a "sure-thing" is a wager that a player has little chance of winning; "easy money" is their profit from an inexperienced bettor, an unlucky player is called a "stiff."
Australians are the heaviest gamblers in the world; an estimated 82% of Australians bet. That is twice as much per capita as Europeans or Americans. Yet, Australia, with less than 1% of the world population, has 20% of the world's poker machines.
There are more than 7 million millionaires in the world.
80% of millionaires drive second-hand cars.
In 1900, the price of gold was less than $40 per ounce. It reached $600 in 1930, now struggling to reach $400 per ounce.
If Los Angeles County was a country, it would be the 19th largest economy in the world.
If California was a country, it would be the 5th largest economy in the world.
Tobacc0 is a $200 billion industry, producing six trillion cigarettes a year - about 1,000 cigarettes for each person on earth.
In 1965, CEOs earned on average 44 times more than factory workers. In 1998, CEOs earned on average 326 times more than factory workers and in 1999, they earned 419 times more than factory workers.
The income gap between the richest fifth of the world's people and the poorest measured by average national income per head increased from 30 to one in 1960, to 74 to one in 1998.
A third of the world's people live on less than $2 a day, with 1,2 billion people living on less than $1 a day.
In the 17th century, wool fabrics accounted for about two-thirds of England's foreign trade. Today, the leading wool producers are Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and China.
The NASDAQ stock exchange was totally disabled in on day in December 1987 when a squirrel burrowed through a telephone line.
In 1990, the word "recession" appeared in 1,583 articles in The Wall Street Journal.
Global sales of pre-recorded music total more than $40 billion.
Tourism is the world's biggest industry, affecting 240 million jobs.
In 1865, Frederik Idestam founded a wood-pulp mill in southern Finland, naming it Nokia. It rapidly gained worldwide recognition, attracting a large number of workforce and the town Nokia was born. In 1898, the Finnish Rubber Works company opened in Nokia, taking on the town name in the 1920s. After WWII, the rubber company took a majority shareholding in the Finnish Cable Work. In 1967, the companies consolidated to become the Nokia Group. The recession of the 1990s led the group to focus on the mobile phone market.
If you stack one million US$1 bills, it would be 110m (361 ft) high and weight exactly 1 ton.
A million dollars' worth of $100 bills weighs only 10 kg (22 lb).
One million dollars' worth of once-cent coins (100 million coins) weigh 246 tons.
TIP is the acronym for "To Insure Promptness."
The term "Blue Chip" comes from the colour of the poker chip with the highest value, blue.
Nessie, the Loch Ness monster is protected by the 1912 Protection of Animals Acts of Scotland. With good reason - Nessie is worth $40 million annually to Scottish tourism.
Of the more than $50 billion worth of diet products sold every year, almost $20 billion are spent on imitation fats and sugar substitutes.
Annual global spending on education is $80 billion.
US and European expenditure on pet food is $17 billion per year.
The global expenditure on healthcare and nutrition is $13 billion.
Money notes are not made from paper, it is made mostly from a special blend of cotton and linen.
In 1932, when a shortage of cash occurred in Tenino, Washington, USA, notes were made out of wood for a brief period. The wood notes came in $1, $5 and $10 values.
The world's largest coins, in size and standard value, were copper plates used in Alaska around 1850. They were about a metre (3 ft) long, half-a-metre (about 2 ft) wide, weighed 40 kg (90 lb), and were worth $2,500.
The first credit card was issued by American Express in 1951.
About 30% of consumers use their credit card as their main means of buying Christmas goodies, 70% do not save to buy Christmas gifts and 86% of consumers do their Christmas shopping during December.
Excessive use of credit is cited as a major cause of non-business bankruptcy, second only to unemployment.
Statistics show that people with high, medium and low income groups spend about the same amount on Christmas gifts.
In the 1400s, global income rose only 0,1% per year; today it often tops 5%.
The average age of Forbes's 400 wealthiest individuals is 63.
In 1955 the richest woman in the world was Mrs Hetty Green Wilks, who left an estate of $95 million in a will that was found in a tin box with four pieces of soap.
In 2001 the richest woman was Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of L'Oreal's founder. She has a net worth of $14 billion (depending on how the stock market did today).
In 2000, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is the second wealthiest woman, with $5,2 billion.
Queen Elizabeth II is one of the 10th wealthiest women in the world.
The $ sign was designed in 1788 by Oliver Pollock.
The term "smart money" refers to gamblers who have inside information or have arranged a fix, the gambling term for insuring the outcome of an event by illegal methods.
Small-time gamblers who place small bet in order to prolong the excitement of a game are called "dead fish" by game operators because the longer the playing time, the greater the chances of losing.
In gambling language, for a gambling house a "sure-thing" is a wager that a player has little chance of winning; "easy money" is their profit from an inexperienced bettor, an unlucky player is called a "stiff."
Australians are the heaviest gamblers in the world; an estimated 82% of Australians bet. That is twice as much per capita as Europeans or Americans. Yet, Australia, with less than 1% of the world population, has 20% of the world's poker machines.
There are more than 7 million millionaires in the world.
80% of millionaires drive second-hand cars.
In 1900, the price of gold was less than $40 per ounce. It reached $600 in 1930, now struggling to reach $400 per ounce.
If Los Angeles County was a country, it would be the 19th largest economy in the world.
If California was a country, it would be the 5th largest economy in the world.
Tobacc0 is a $200 billion industry, producing six trillion cigarettes a year - about 1,000 cigarettes for each person on earth.
In 1965, CEOs earned on average 44 times more than factory workers. In 1998, CEOs earned on average 326 times more than factory workers and in 1999, they earned 419 times more than factory workers.
The income gap between the richest fifth of the world's people and the poorest measured by average national income per head increased from 30 to one in 1960, to 74 to one in 1998.
A third of the world's people live on less than $2 a day, with 1,2 billion people living on less than $1 a day.
In the 17th century, wool fabrics accounted for about two-thirds of England's foreign trade. Today, the leading wool producers are Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and China.
The NASDAQ stock exchange was totally disabled in on day in December 1987 when a squirrel burrowed through a telephone line.
In 1990, the word "recession" appeared in 1,583 articles in The Wall Street Journal.
Global sales of pre-recorded music total more than $40 billion.
Tourism is the world's biggest industry, affecting 240 million jobs.
In 1865, Frederik Idestam founded a wood-pulp mill in southern Finland, naming it Nokia. It rapidly gained worldwide recognition, attracting a large number of workforce and the town Nokia was born. In 1898, the Finnish Rubber Works company opened in Nokia, taking on the town name in the 1920s. After WWII, the rubber company took a majority shareholding in the Finnish Cable Work. In 1967, the companies consolidated to become the Nokia Group. The recession of the 1990s led the group to focus on the mobile phone market.
Amazing Paper Facts
100 million trees are cut down every year to make the paper for “junk mail”. One-half of junk mail is thrown away unopened and unread.
Recycling half the world’s paper would free 20 million acres of forestland.
Every Sunday 500,000 trees could be saved if everyone recycled their newspapers.
You would make only 700 paper bags out of a 15-year old tree.
Every day business generates enough paper to circle the earth 20 times.
Recycling a 1 metre stack of newspaper saves a 10 metre pine tree.
The production of a ton of paper requires 17 trees.
50 Important Celebrity Facts
George Clooney sometimes sleeps in the walk-in closet of his LA mansion because, he says, "all the bedrooms are too light".
In 1985, Teri Hatcher played a dancing mermaid on The Love Boat. "That was the first job I ever had" she says. "I left college before finishing my math degree to go do that".
While attending Princeton, Prison Break star Wentworth Miller traveled the world performing with the school's acapella group, The Princeton Tigertones
Matthew Perry is missing part of his middle finger on his right hand due to a door-shutting accident.
Diane Lane's mom, Colleen Farrington, was playboy's Miss October 1957 (the ex playmate was also pregnant in one of her photo shoots)
Early in her career, Whitney Houston sang the jingle used in commercials for Bounce fabric sheets.
A childhood virus left Rob Lowe completely deaf in his right ear. "No stereo for me" he says "It's a mono world".
Even though she appears in ads for Tommy Hilfiger's True Star fragrances, Beyonce is reportedly allergic to perfume.
After Drew Barrymore posed for Playboy in 1995, Steven Spielberg sent a note that said "cover yourself up" along with a quilt and a copy of the magazine with all her pictures altered so that she appeared fully clothed.
Jake Gyllenhaal got his first driving lesson from family friend Paul Newman
At age 10, Justin Timberlake won 1991 pre-teen Mr. America pageant. The following year, he became the first male winner of America's Universal Charm pageant.
Before becoming an actress, Aussie Naomi Watts worked as an assistant fashion editor at a fashion magazine called Follow Me.
Colin Farrell says that Marilyn Monroe was the first woman he fell in love with. "I used to leave Smarties, the Irish equivalent of M&Ms, under my pillow with a little note saying, "I know you're dead but these are very tasty and you should come and have a few. i wont tell anyone"
Gwen Stefani admits that she's had only two boyfriends in her life: No Doubt band mate Tony Kanal and husband Gavin Rossdale.
As a 2nd grader Jamie Foxx was so talented at telling jokes, his teacher used him as a reward. If the class behaved, Jamie would entertain them.
Butt-Kicking Kill Bill siren Uma Thurman is a crafty one. "I knit" she admits, adding "I love glue gun projects"
Keira Knightley was Queen Amidala's decoy in Star Wars: Episode 1 though the film was promoted as if Natalie Portman played both roles.
Though Christina Aguilera is of Ecuadorian descent and recorded an album in Spanish, she doesn't speak the language. I gathered that when she said mai gousta kantaar
In 1993, Jessica Simpson tried out for the Mickey Mouse Club but panicked after watching Christina Aguilera audition. "I froze and forgot everything" she says. She lost out to both Christina and Britney Spears.
Eva Longoria starred in the 2004 flick Carlita's Secret, a crime drama in which she shared a same-sex smooch with actress Maria Bravo. "It was the most fun i've ever had kissing somebody".
In the early 70s, Richard Gere played Danny Zuko in a London production of Grease.
Tom Cruise admits that he still does the Risky Business underwear dance when hes at home alone. He calls it his "dance of freedom".
As a child, Jim Carrey wore tap shoes to bed just in case his parents needed cheering up in the middle of the night.
Christina Applegate attended the 1989 MTV Movie Awards with Brad Pitt, but dumped him at the event and left with someone else. "We were really good friends when I was about 16. We went to the awards and I ditched him! I left him there and I feel really bad about it...I really really do. I left with somebody else"
In a high school talent show, Matt Damon performed the talking heads' "Burning Down the House"
Mariah Carey was nicknamed "Mirage" in high school because she never showed up for class.
Angelina Jolie's uncle who looks just like John Voight, Chip Taylor, wrote the song "Wild Thing"
Catherine Zeta Jones' father owned a candy factory, but the star says she rarely indulged: "I had so many sweets and candy hanging around my house that I never even bothered with them".
Comic actor Jack Black is the son of rocket scientists. His mother worked on the Hubble telescope, and his father worked on "some stuff that i can't tell you about," Jack says.
Jennifer Love Hewitt sent Matt Damon an inflatable bed because she read he didn't feel like he has a bed of his own. She never heard back and now, he "looks at me a little weird".
At the age of 7, Reese Witherspoon appeared in a television commercial fora local Nashville Florist.
Paris Hilton has size 11 feet! "All those super cute shoes like Guccis and Monolos look like clown shoes on me"
Russell Crowe was once a pompadoured singer named Russ Le Roq. His first single was "I want to be like marlon brando"...even though he'd never seen a Brando movie when he wrote the song.
Madonna is related to both Gwen Stefani and Celine Dion. Gwen's great aunt's mother-in-law shares the same last name as Madonna Ciccone and an ancestor of Madonna's mother was married to a distant relative of Celine's dad.
Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey began his career as a juggling unicycle-riding clown.
Tara Reid attended high school in New Jersey with American Idol contestant Constantine Maroulis.
Julia Roberts' left eye tears up when she gets nervous.
Struggling actress Charlize Theron landed her first agent in a bank. He signed her after witnessing her throwing a fit at a bank teller who refused to cash her check.
When he was little, Ben Affleck asked his mom for a dog and she tested him by making him walk an imaginary pup for a week. In the end, he only lasted five days and didn't get the dog.
Brittany Murphy claims she started speaking at 4 and a half months. She also says she was a very "energetic child, really bubbly...extremely precocious"
Demi Moore, who has earned up to 20 million per movie, first found work as a bill collector
Heidi Klum is an avid painter and several of her works have appeared in US art magazines.
Daryl Hannah is co creator of the board game Liebrary
Both Olsen twins had to wear fake teeth during the later years of Full House because their smiles began to look different.
In 1985, a four year old Alicia Keys appeared on The Cosby Show as one of the guests at Rudy's slumber party.
Usher holds the Star Search record for the longest note by a child: 12.1 seconds
Claire Danes has a swing in her apartment. "My parents had a swing, a trapeze and a trampoline in their apartment, I was inspired by that"
American Beauty star Thora Birch's mom acted in 21 adult films including Deep Throat under the name Carol Connors before retiring in 1993.
Halle Berry used to date New Kid on the Block Danny Wood. They broke up because the band thought she was a groupie.
Brad Pitt belonged to the Key Club and the Forensics Club in High School, and before he became an actor he supported himself as a chauffeur, a furniture mover and a costumed mascot for the restaurant, El Pollo Loco.
In 1985, Teri Hatcher played a dancing mermaid on The Love Boat. "That was the first job I ever had" she says. "I left college before finishing my math degree to go do that".
While attending Princeton, Prison Break star Wentworth Miller traveled the world performing with the school's acapella group, The Princeton Tigertones
Matthew Perry is missing part of his middle finger on his right hand due to a door-shutting accident.
Diane Lane's mom, Colleen Farrington, was playboy's Miss October 1957 (the ex playmate was also pregnant in one of her photo shoots)
Early in her career, Whitney Houston sang the jingle used in commercials for Bounce fabric sheets.
A childhood virus left Rob Lowe completely deaf in his right ear. "No stereo for me" he says "It's a mono world".
Even though she appears in ads for Tommy Hilfiger's True Star fragrances, Beyonce is reportedly allergic to perfume.
After Drew Barrymore posed for Playboy in 1995, Steven Spielberg sent a note that said "cover yourself up" along with a quilt and a copy of the magazine with all her pictures altered so that she appeared fully clothed.
Jake Gyllenhaal got his first driving lesson from family friend Paul Newman
At age 10, Justin Timberlake won 1991 pre-teen Mr. America pageant. The following year, he became the first male winner of America's Universal Charm pageant.
Before becoming an actress, Aussie Naomi Watts worked as an assistant fashion editor at a fashion magazine called Follow Me.
Colin Farrell says that Marilyn Monroe was the first woman he fell in love with. "I used to leave Smarties, the Irish equivalent of M&Ms, under my pillow with a little note saying, "I know you're dead but these are very tasty and you should come and have a few. i wont tell anyone"
Gwen Stefani admits that she's had only two boyfriends in her life: No Doubt band mate Tony Kanal and husband Gavin Rossdale.
As a 2nd grader Jamie Foxx was so talented at telling jokes, his teacher used him as a reward. If the class behaved, Jamie would entertain them.
Butt-Kicking Kill Bill siren Uma Thurman is a crafty one. "I knit" she admits, adding "I love glue gun projects"
Keira Knightley was Queen Amidala's decoy in Star Wars: Episode 1 though the film was promoted as if Natalie Portman played both roles.
Though Christina Aguilera is of Ecuadorian descent and recorded an album in Spanish, she doesn't speak the language. I gathered that when she said mai gousta kantaar
In 1993, Jessica Simpson tried out for the Mickey Mouse Club but panicked after watching Christina Aguilera audition. "I froze and forgot everything" she says. She lost out to both Christina and Britney Spears.
Eva Longoria starred in the 2004 flick Carlita's Secret, a crime drama in which she shared a same-sex smooch with actress Maria Bravo. "It was the most fun i've ever had kissing somebody".
In the early 70s, Richard Gere played Danny Zuko in a London production of Grease.
Tom Cruise admits that he still does the Risky Business underwear dance when hes at home alone. He calls it his "dance of freedom".
As a child, Jim Carrey wore tap shoes to bed just in case his parents needed cheering up in the middle of the night.
Christina Applegate attended the 1989 MTV Movie Awards with Brad Pitt, but dumped him at the event and left with someone else. "We were really good friends when I was about 16. We went to the awards and I ditched him! I left him there and I feel really bad about it...I really really do. I left with somebody else"
In a high school talent show, Matt Damon performed the talking heads' "Burning Down the House"
Mariah Carey was nicknamed "Mirage" in high school because she never showed up for class.
Angelina Jolie's uncle who looks just like John Voight, Chip Taylor, wrote the song "Wild Thing"
Catherine Zeta Jones' father owned a candy factory, but the star says she rarely indulged: "I had so many sweets and candy hanging around my house that I never even bothered with them".
Comic actor Jack Black is the son of rocket scientists. His mother worked on the Hubble telescope, and his father worked on "some stuff that i can't tell you about," Jack says.
Jennifer Love Hewitt sent Matt Damon an inflatable bed because she read he didn't feel like he has a bed of his own. She never heard back and now, he "looks at me a little weird".
At the age of 7, Reese Witherspoon appeared in a television commercial fora local Nashville Florist.
Paris Hilton has size 11 feet! "All those super cute shoes like Guccis and Monolos look like clown shoes on me"
Russell Crowe was once a pompadoured singer named Russ Le Roq. His first single was "I want to be like marlon brando"...even though he'd never seen a Brando movie when he wrote the song.
Madonna is related to both Gwen Stefani and Celine Dion. Gwen's great aunt's mother-in-law shares the same last name as Madonna Ciccone and an ancestor of Madonna's mother was married to a distant relative of Celine's dad.
Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey began his career as a juggling unicycle-riding clown.
Tara Reid attended high school in New Jersey with American Idol contestant Constantine Maroulis.
Julia Roberts' left eye tears up when she gets nervous.
Struggling actress Charlize Theron landed her first agent in a bank. He signed her after witnessing her throwing a fit at a bank teller who refused to cash her check.
When he was little, Ben Affleck asked his mom for a dog and she tested him by making him walk an imaginary pup for a week. In the end, he only lasted five days and didn't get the dog.
Brittany Murphy claims she started speaking at 4 and a half months. She also says she was a very "energetic child, really bubbly...extremely precocious"
Demi Moore, who has earned up to 20 million per movie, first found work as a bill collector
Heidi Klum is an avid painter and several of her works have appeared in US art magazines.
Daryl Hannah is co creator of the board game Liebrary
Both Olsen twins had to wear fake teeth during the later years of Full House because their smiles began to look different.
In 1985, a four year old Alicia Keys appeared on The Cosby Show as one of the guests at Rudy's slumber party.
Usher holds the Star Search record for the longest note by a child: 12.1 seconds
Claire Danes has a swing in her apartment. "My parents had a swing, a trapeze and a trampoline in their apartment, I was inspired by that"
American Beauty star Thora Birch's mom acted in 21 adult films including Deep Throat under the name Carol Connors before retiring in 1993.
Halle Berry used to date New Kid on the Block Danny Wood. They broke up because the band thought she was a groupie.
Brad Pitt belonged to the Key Club and the Forensics Club in High School, and before he became an actor he supported himself as a chauffeur, a furniture mover and a costumed mascot for the restaurant, El Pollo Loco.
50 Things Everyone Should Know
The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.
Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.
Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions!
What is called a "French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France.
"Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
"Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.
In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child
A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off!
Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
You can't kill yourself by holding your breath
There is a city called Rome on every continent.
Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!
Horatio Nelson, one of England's most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness.
The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London
Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people
Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe!
The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!
One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!
Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different!
The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man
Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!
The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and had only ONE testicle.
Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.
Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.
On average a hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute.
More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.
More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.
Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times!
The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.
You're born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.
Some worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food!
Dolphins sleep with one eye open!
It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds
Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not.
Slugs have 4 noses.
Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.
A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
The average person laughs 10 times a day!
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain
Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.
Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions!
What is called a "French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France.
"Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
"Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.
In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child
A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off!
Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
You can't kill yourself by holding your breath
There is a city called Rome on every continent.
Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!
Horatio Nelson, one of England's most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness.
The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London
Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people
Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe!
The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!
One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!
Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different!
The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man
Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!
The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and had only ONE testicle.
Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.
Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.
On average a hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute.
More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.
More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.
Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times!
The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.
You're born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.
Some worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food!
Dolphins sleep with one eye open!
It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds
Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not.
Slugs have 4 noses.
Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.
A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
The average person laughs 10 times a day!
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
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