COOL AMAZING FACTS

Cool Amazing Facts about Facebook (Must Read)

2011-01-30T06:56:00.000-08:00

Cool Amazing Facts about Facebook
(Must Read)

Mark Zuckerberg : Founder of facebook

1. Facebook has over 350 million active users. More than 35 million users update their status each day, with more than 55 million status updates each day.

2. More than 2.5 billion pictures are uploaded to Facebook each month.

3. The average Facebook user has 130 friends and sends eight friend requests per month.

4. Among children under 18, Facebook was ranked third in the top 100 searches of 2009, behind YouTube and Google. Sex and porn rounded out the top five searches.

5. A recent survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admissions officers acknowledged looking at social networking sites such as Facebook to evaluate applicants. Thirty-eight percent of admissions officers said that what they saw negatively affected the applicant.

6. Facebook is not only beating MySpace traffic, but it is also the second-ranked site overall in the U.S. behind Google.

7. Americans spend 13.9 billion minutes a year on Facebook and five billion minutes on MySpace.

8. In 2003, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg created Facemash, where he placed photos of undergraduates side by side so viewers could rank which one was “hotter.” Zuckerberg would later turn Facemash into the now ubiquitous Facebook.

A woman slept with 50 men she met on her Facebook page titled “I Need Sex”

9. In 2008, a 23-year-old woman named Lauren Michaels created a group titled “I Need Sex” on Facebook. Within 10 minutes, she had 35 members and soon attracted 100—50 of whom she eventually slept with. Facebook has since removed her page.

10. An 18-year-old Wisconsin man posed as several different girls on Facebook to blackmail underage male teens into performing sexual favors by coaxing them to send nude photos of themselves. He could be facing up to 300 years in prison.

11. Beacon, part of Facebook’s controversial advertisement system that broadcasted information about a user’s shopping activity on other sites, was the target of a class action lawsuit in 2009. The resulting settlement required Facebook to pay $9.5 million into a settlement fund.

12. If Facebook were a country, it would be the fifth-largest country in the world, after China, India, the U.S., and Indonesia.

13. In 2009, an EMT at the crime scene took a cell phone picture of the body of a New York woman who had been strangled and beaten and then posted it on his Facebook profile. He was later arrested on charges of official misconduct and was fired from his job.

14. The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales warned that Facebook and MySpace can lead children to commit suicide because such sites encourage teens to build transient relationships and dehumanize community life.

15. Facebook includes eating disorder groups such as “Get Thin or Die Trying,” and “Quod me nutrit me destruit” (“What nourishes me destroys me”). While such eating disorder sites were typically anonymous on the Web, their growing presence on Facebook makes them more public and accessible to more people.

16. The New Oxford Dictionary announced that the 2009 Word of the Year was “unfriend,” as in “to remove someone as a friend on a social networking site” such as Facebook. However, there is some debate whether the word should be “defriend” rather than “unfriend.”

17. A 39-year-old Pennsylvania father was arrested for openly asking his 13-year-old daughter for sex over Facebook.

18. While stressing that correlation does not equal causation, a recent poll suggested that Facebook users have lower overall grades than non-users.

19. While initially created for college students, Facebook users over the age 26 now represent 60% of the total U.S. Facebook population.

The average user spends more than 55 minutes a day on Facebook

20. The average Facebook users spend more than 55 minutes a day on the site. They use the Like button nine times a month and write 25 comments each month.

21. Approximately 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States.

22. Forbes dubbed 25-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, the creator/owner of Facebook, as the world’s youngest billionaire, worth 1.5 billion.

23. Syria, China, Vietnam, and Iran have banned Facebook.

24. In December 2009, there were over 250 million active users on Facebook, up from 1 million active users in December 2004.

25. Tim Sparapani, director of public policy at Facebook, stated that hundreds of millions of people had never stopped and thought about the consequences of sharing information online.

26. Information deemed public—such as profile pictures, names, cities, and networks—are available to developers of any applications that Facebook users or their Facebook friends use on the site.

27. The first person to invest in Facebook was the cofounder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, who invested $500,000 in June 2004.

28. In 2005, East Asia’s richest man, Li Hu Shing, invested $120 million dollars in Facebook.

29. In September 2009, Zuckerberg announced for the first time that Facebook was cash flow positive, meaning Facebook made more money that it spent.

30. Lamebook.com is a regularly updated site that reposts “lame” and funny Facebook user posts.

31. In Florida, the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee ruled that Florida judges and lawyers should no longer “friend” each other on Facebook.

Women age 55 and older are Facebook’s fastest growing demographic

32. Facebook’s fastest growing segment in the United States is women 55 years and older.

33. In May 2009, a Russian investment firm, Digital Sky Technologies, invested $200 million in Facebook in return for a 1.96% stake in the Web site.

34. Twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss claim Zuckerberg stole their idea after they hired him to do programming for their own site, Harvard Connect (ConnectU). The case was settled for an undisclosed sum. Others, such as fellow student, Aaron Greenspan, also claim they invented Facebook.

35. Named after a Harvard student directory that included student photos and profiles, Facebook was originally called “thefacebook” and was limited to only Harvard students. In 2005, the site was renamed “Facebook.”

36. When Facebook changed its privacy setting in December 2009, Zuckerberg’s previously private photos—in which he was seen shirtless, holding a teddy bear, and looking “plastered”—became public.

37. Both citizens and police departments are increasingly using Facebook to catch suspected criminals.

38. A “gaydar” software program developed at MIT can reportedly identify gay men on Facebook, private profile or not.

39. In January 2009, an advertising campaign from Burger King titled “WHOPPER Sacrifice” rewarded Facebook users a free “Angry Whopper” for publicly deleting 10 friends, who would then receive a blunt message informing they were deleted for a free hamburger.

U.S. Facebook users mirror the country’s ethnic population

40. Eleven percent of Facebook’s 100 million U.S. users are African-American, 9% are Latino, and 6% are Asian, which is a fairly accurate reflection of the U.S. general population.

41. A 20-year-old IBM employee in Canada lost sick leave benefits from her insurer because her Facebook page showed “cheerful” photos while she was on paid sick leave for depression.

42. Girls can be prone to anxiety and depression by talking too much to their friends on Facebook. Called “co-rumination,” frequently discussing the same problem can lead to an unhealthy obsession.

43. On July 1, 2009, shortly after Michael Jackson passed away, his page became the most popular page on Facebook. Previously, the most popular person on Facebook was U.S. President Obama with just over 6 million fans.

44. In Australia it is valid protocol to serve court notices to defendants on Facebook. A summons posted on Facebook is legally binding.

45. A site called Usocial offered to sell Facebook friends and fans to customers. Even after receiving a Cease and Desist from Facebook, Usocial said it will not shut down the service completely.

46. A Facebook post in December 2009 led to a kidney donation.

47. The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation contend that Facebook’s new “recommended” privacy settings serve Facebook more than they serve the user.

48. Farmville boasts more than 60 million players on Facebook. Zynga—the maker of Farmville, Mafia Wars, and other Facebook games—boasts an annual revenue of more than $200 million.

49. In the United States, 54.7% of people ages 13 to 17 have a Facebook account.

50. There are more than 800,000 developers building applications for Facebook.

51. More than 60 % of men and women have used Facebook to stalk their ex… & why not???

Stalking in Facebook

It’s like godsend for jilted ex-lovers who want to know each & everything their ex is doing after dumping them! Your ex will not know you’re following their every move & there’s no way you’ll get caught… perfect! No more public humiliation & so much information… ahem ;)

More than 30 million users update their status at least once each day

52. This is not so much about Facebook but about how people lose their mind sometimes on Facebook. We all know that Facebook allows you to update your Status… but some people really take it to another level! I just couldn’t leave these gems out; you have to see for yourself…

o … can speak French in Russian..

o …’s charm is so contagious that a vaccine was created for it.

o … thinks that a day without sunshine is like night.

o … is a lover not a fighter, but he’s also a fighter so don’t get any ideas.

o … is so broke that she’s going to KFC to lick other peoples fingers.

o … feels ashamed of his smoking but it’s better that I smoke this and let the dreams of the cigarette workers come true then to be selfish & worry about my lungs.

85%+ of all college students use FACEBOOK and 70% of them log in EVERYDAY

53. Facebook is a favorite for all age groups but it seems that young people, especially the college going crowd have played a major role in making Facebook what it is. 85% of college students have Facebook profiles & 60-70% of them login daily or at least one a week.

Facebook Hates Breastfeeding Mothers!

54. This is weird but had to be mentioned… Facebook apparently removes photos uploaded by mothers breastfeeding their babies; some accounts have even been deleted for this. Really Facebook?? I really don’t even want to know why!

55. Psychologists have introduced a diagnosis FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder) as a new kind of addiction !!

FACEBOOK Pic Facts

Amazing Facts About Wikipedia

2009-12-27T22:16:00.000-08:00

It is estimated that 7% of Web surfers read Wikipedia articles in every browsing session. But do you know the following facts about Wikipedia?

1. About 8.2 million articles have been contributed to Wikipedia since 2001, a total of more than 1.4 billion words.

2. The English-language version of Wikipedia has about two million entries — about 15 times as many as the largest edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the standard to which it aspires.

3. Specialist sites based on the “wiki” model include Wikible (the Bible) and Wookiepeedia (on Star Wars).

4. Last month it emerged that many embarrassing Wikipedia entries had been edited by organisations mentioned in them. The Chinese Government erased information about China blocking Wikipedia inside its borders. The CIA tweaked entries on Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.

5. I am sure you know this already. The term “wiki” is derived from the wiki wiki or “quick” buses found in Hawaii.

6. Wikipedia’s share of US Internet visits placed it at #13 in the Hitwise Education/Reference category at the beginning of 2004. In mid-April 2005 Wikipedia’s total Internet share of visits skyrocketed by 618%, making it the second most visited reference website overall. While Wikipedia is now the most visited online encyclopedia, its traffic levels are just shy of Dictionary.com. However, looking at the HitWise data, it outshines About.com, Answers.com, Encarta, Merriam-Webster OnLine and Free Translation.

7. With 536,246 ongoing articles and 1,540,695 pages, Wikipedia’s massive pool of consumer-generated content is increasingly becoming a magnet for consumer searches. Wikipedia’s audience was evenly split between males and females. However, the audience was highly skewed toward younger Internet users, with 18-24 year-olds being 50% more likely to visit. The propensity of Internet users in different states to visit Wikipedia was mostly average, however users with household incomes over $150K were 34% more likely to visit.

In a presentation at the Symbian Exchange & Exposition 2009 in London, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales revealed some of the more esoteric aspects of the contributor base for Wikipedia and its commercial sibling Wikia, which lets people develop Wikis on virtually any topic they like.

Here's five that stuck out.

1. The French and Spanish don't want to read about sex. Wikipedia operates in a variety of languages and has widely differing reading patterns for each, but there's some common trends. "Sex is among the most popular articles in every language except French and Spanish. Someone said to me 'That's because the French and Spanish are actually having sex'."

2. Bad weather leads to more contributions. "If you ever wonder why the Dutch Wikipedia is so large compared to Spain despite the smaller population, it's because the weather is quite bad." A similar logic underpins the Finnish language Wikipedia, Wales suggested. (By this measure, Wikipedia's most dominant Australian contributors should come from Canberra.)

3. Being on Wikimedia staff isn't a cushy job. The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organisation which runs only has 25 staff. The organisation recently moved offices, but only after a visit by the auditors eliminated conference room space and meant that staff members had to hold crucial meetings in their cars. At that point, Wales decided a move was justified.

4. The Germans are coming. The English-language Wikipedia has more than 3 million articles, far outstripping any other language. The next largest is the German version, which will crack the one million article mark in the next few weeks, Wales predicted. (Though, as the French/Spanish example shows, they're not coming, apparently. Sorry.)

5. Wikipedia is not about crowdsourcing. Wikipedia is often lumped in as part of the general trend of "crowdsourcing", designing products and making decisions based on mass participation via the Internet. Wales isn't buying it though. "I think that crowdsourcing is a very misleading and a very demeaning term. That's a really daft way of looking at what's going on. You have to realise that nobody works for free. If it feels like work, I have to get paid for it. In the consumer space, people aren't going to do it for strategic business reasons, they're going to do it because it's fun."

Christmas Facts

2009-12-25T04:37:00.000-08:00

There's no other holiday like Christmas. Many of us celebrate the holidays without knowing how our traditions got started or what they signify. Christmas is much more fun when you know some facts behind the holiday.

Most of these facts are very interesting and reminds us that there is quite a bit of history behind our family customs. Try using the trivia to make your own Christmas quiz for holiday parties and add a unique touch with personal favorites.

The word Christmas is Old English, a contraction of Christ's Mass.

The first president to decorate the white house Christmas tree in the United States was Franklin Pierce.

Germany made the first artificial Christmas trees. They were made of goose feathers and dyed green.

Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.

The first Christmas cards were vintage and invented in 1843, the Victorian Era.

"It's a Wonderful Life" appears on TV more often than any other holiday movie.

"Rudolph" was actually created by Montgomery Ward in the late 1930's for a holiday promotion. The rest is history.

"The Nutcracker" is the most famous Christmas ballet.

"Jingle Bells" was first written for Thanksgiving and then became one of the most popular Christmas songs.

If you received all of the gifts in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," you would receive 364 gifts.

The poinsettia plant was brought into the United States from Mexico by Joel Poinsett in the early 1800's.

Holly berries are poisonous.

Contrary to common belief, poinsettia plants are non-toxic.

Mistletoe was chosen as Oklahoma's state flower in 1893 and later changed to the state floral emblem.

In 1843, "A Christmas Carol" was written by Charles Dickens in just six weeks.

The first state to recognize the Christmas holiday officially was Alabama.

Christmas became a national holiday in America on June, 26, 1870.

An angel told Mary she was going to have a baby.

Clearing up a common misconception, in Greek, X means Christ. That is where the word "X-Mas" comes from. Not because someone took the "Christ" out of Christmas.

Traditionally, Christmas trees are taken down after Epiphany.

More diamonds are sold around Christmas than any other time of the year.

In Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.

In Ukraine, finding a spider web on Christmas morning, is supposed to be very lucky and auspicious. According to a Ukraine folk tale there once lived a woman so poor, that she could not afford Christmas decorations for her family. One Christmas morning, she awoke to find that spiders had trimmed her children tree with their webs. When the morning sun shone on them, the webs turned to silver and gold. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees.

On the day of Christmas it is considered sacred to exchange kisses beneath mistletoe tree. Mistletoe was once considered the symbol of peace and friendship. That is why kissing one’s loved one on the day of Christmas is considered merry for the relationship.

“Klaxon”, the name of one of Santa’s reindeer is actually the name of an electric horn. It has been derived from German origin.

In many households there is a tradition of hiding some ornament or article in the pudding. What one finds in the pudding signifies upcoming fortune. For Example, finding a ring signifies marriage, finding a coin means wealth is on the way and many such articles are associated with different meanings.

In many households, part of the fun of eating Christmas pudding is finding a trinket that predicts your fortune for the coming year. For instance, finding a coin means you will become wealthy. A ring means you will get married; while a button predicts bachelorhood. The idea of hiding something in the pudding comes from the tradition in the Middle Ages, of hiding a bean in a cake that was served on Twelfth Night. Whoever found the bean became "king" for the rest of the night.

Frumenty was a spiced porridge, enjoyed by both rich and poor. It was a forerunner of modern Christmas puddings. It is linked in legend to the Celtic god Dagda, who stirred a porridge made up of all the good things of the earth.

In Greek legend, malicious creatures called Kallikantzaroi sometimes play troublesome pranks at Christmas time. In order to get rid of them, salt or an old shoe is burnt. The pungent burning stench drives off, or at least helps discourage, the Kallikantzaroi. Other techniques include hanging a pig’s jawbone by the door and keeping a large fire so they can’t sneak down the chimney.

The poinsettia is a traditional Christmas flower. In Mexico (its original birthplace), the poinsettia is known as the "Flower of the Holy Night".

Louis Prang, a Bavarian-born lithographer who came to the USA from Germany in the 19th century, popularized the sending of printed Christmas cards. He invented a way of reproducing color oil paintings, the "chromolithograph technique", and created a card with the message "Merry Christmas" as a way of showing it off.

The "Urn of Fate" is part of the Christmas celebrations in many Italian households. The Urn of Fate is brought out on Christmas Eve. It holds a wrapped present for everyone. The mother tries her luck first, then the others in turn. If you get a present with your name on it, you keep it; otherwise, you put it back and try again.

In Sweden, a common Christmas decoration is the Julbukk, a small figurine of a goat. It is usually made of straw. Scandinavian Christmas festivities feature a variety of straw decorations in the form of stars, angels, hearts and other shapes, as well as the Julbukk.

"Hot cockles" was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times. It was a game in which the other players took turns striking the blindfolded player, who had to guess the name of the person delivering each blow. "Hot cockles" was still a Christmas pastime until the Victorian era.

"White Christmas" (1954), starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, was the first movie to be made in Vista Vision, a deep-focus process.

"The Nutcracker" is the name for the ballet performed around Christmas time each year. "The Nutcracker Suite" is the title of the music Tchaikovsky wrote.

"Wassail" comes from the Old Norse "ves heill"--to be of good health. This evolved into the tradition of visiting neighbors on Christmas Eve and drinking to their health.

A Christmas club, a savings account in which a person deposits a fixed amount of money regularly to be used at Christmas for shopping, came about around 1905.

A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

According to a 1995 survey, 7 out of 10 British dogs get Christmas gifts from their doting owners.

According to historical accounts, the first Christmas in the Philippines was celebrated 200 years before Ferdinand Magellan discovered the country for the western world, likely between the years 1280 and 1320 AD.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, Americans buy 37.1 million real Christmas trees each year; 25 percent of them are from the nation's 5,000 choose-and-cut farms.

After "A Christmas Carol," Charles Dickens wrote several other Christmas stories, one each year, but none was as successful as the original.

Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday. This tradition began in 1836.

Although many believe the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is not. It is the fifth to tenth busiest day. The Friday and Saturday before Christmas are the two busiest shopping days of the year.

American billionaire Ross Perot tried to airlift 28 tons of medicine and Christmas gifts to American POW's in North Vietnam in 1969.

America's official national Christmas tree is located in King's Canyon National Park in California. The tree, a giant sequoia called the "General Grant Tree," is over 300 feet (90 meters) high. It was made the official Christmas tree in 1925.

An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck.

An average household in America will mail out 28 Christmas cards each year and see 28 eight cards return in their place.

Animal Crackers are not really crackers, but cookies that were imported to the United States from England in the late 1800s. Barnum's circus-like boxes were designed with a string handle so that they could be hung on a Christmas tree.

As early as 1822, the postmaster in Washington, D.C. was worried by the amount of extra mail at Christmas time. His preferred solution to the problem was to limit by law the number of cards a person could send. Even though commercial cards were not available at that time, people were already sending so many home-made cards that sixteen extra postmen had to be hired in the city.

At Christmas, Ukrainians prepare a traditional twelve-course meal. A family's youngest child watches through the window for the evening star to appear, a signal that the feast can begin.

At lavish Christmas feasts in the Middle Ages, swans and peacocks were sometimes served "endored." This meant the flesh was painted with saffron dissolved in melted butter. In addition to their painted flesh, endored birds were served wrapped in their own skin and feathers, which had been removed and set aside prior to roasting.

Before settling on the name of Tiny Tim for his character in "A Christmas Carol," three other alliterative names were considered by Charles Dickens. They were Little Larry, Puny Pete, and Small Sam.

California, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina are the top Christmas tree producing states. Oregon is the leading producer of Christmas trees - 8.6 million in 1998.

Candy canes began as straight white sticks of sugar candy used to decorated the Christmas trees. A choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral decided have the ends bent to depict a shepherd's crook and he would pass them out to the children to keep them quiet during the services. It wasn't until about the 20th century that candy canes acquired their red stripes.

Charles Dickens' initial choice for Scrooge's statement "Bah Humbug" was "Bah Christmas."

Child singer Jimmy Boyd was 12 years and 11 months old when he sang the Christmas favorite, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." The song hit the top of the pop charts.

Christmas caroling began as an old English custom called Wassailing - toasting neighbors to a long and healthy life.

Christmas Day in the Ukraine can be celebrated on either December 25, in faithful alliance with the Roman Catholic Gregorian calendar, or on January 7, which is the Orthodox or Eastern Rite (Julian calendar), the church holy day.

Christmas is a summer holiday in South Africa. Children are fond of the age-old custom of producing pantomimes - for instance, "Babes in the Wood," founded on one of the oldest ballads in the English language. Boxing Day on December 26th, when boxes of food and clothing are given to the poor, is observed as a holiday.

Christmas is not widely celebrated in Scotland. Some historians believe that Christmas is downplayed in Scotland because of the influence of the Presbyterian Church (or Kirk), which considered Christmas a "Papist," or Catholic event. As a result, Christmas in Scotland tends to be somber.

Christmas presents were known in antiquity among kings and chieftains, especially on the European continent. However, they have been common among ordinary people in Iceland only during the past 100 or so years.

Christmas trees are edible. Many parts of pines, spruces, and firs can be eaten. The needles are a good source of vitamin C. Pine nuts, or pine cones, are also a good source of nutrition.

Christmas trees are known to have been popular in Germany as far back as the sixteenth century. In England, they became popular after Queen Victoria's husband Albert, who came from Germany, made a tree part of the celebrations at Windsor Castle. In the United States, the earliest known mention of a Christmas tree is in the diary of a German who settled in Pennsylvania.

Christmas was once a movable feast celebrated at many different times during the year. The choice of December 25, was made by Pope Julius I, in the 4th century A.D., because this coincided with the pagan rituals of Winter Solstice, or Return of the Sun. The intent was to replace the pagan celebration with the Christian one.

Cultured Christmas trees must be shaped as they grow to produce fuller foliage. To slow the upward growth and to encourage branching, they are hand-clipped in each spring. Trees grown in the wild have sparser branches, and are known in the industry as "Charlie Brown" trees.

During the ancient 12-day Christmas celebration, the log burned was called the "Yule log." Sometimes a piece of the Yule log would be kept to kindle the fire the following winter, to ensure that the good luck carried on from year to year. The Yule log custom was handed down from the Druids.

During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the United States.

During the Christmas/Hanukkah season, more than 1.76 billion candy canes will be made.

During World War II it was necessary for Americans to mail Christmas gifts early for the troops in Europe to receive them in time. Merchants joined in the effort to remind the public to shop and mail early and the protracted shopping season was born.

Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895. The idea for using electric Christmas lights came from an American, Ralph E. Morris. The new lights proved safer than the traditional candles.

Following Princess Diana's tragic death in 1997, the Ty toy company, famous in the late 1990s for its popular Beanie Baby line of beanbag animals, issued a "Princess" bear in tribute. The royal purple Beanie, bearing an embroidered white rose on its chest, became so desired that at Christmas time, American collectors were willing to spend up to $300 for one on the secondary market.

For every real Christmas tree harvested, 2 to 3 seedlings are planted in its place.

There are two Christmas Islands.

The Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean was formerly called Kiritimati. Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean is 52 square miles.

Frankincense is a sweet smelling gum resin derived from certain Boswellia trees which, at the time of Christ, grew in Arabia, India, and Ethiopia. Tradition says that it was presented to the Christ Child by Balthasar, the black king from Ethiopia or Saba. The frankincense trade was at its height during the days of the Roman Empire. At that time this resin was considered as valuable as gems or precious metals. The Romans burned frankincense on their altars and at cremations.

Franklin Pierce was the first United States' president to decorate an official White House Christmas tree .

Frumenty was a spiced porridge, enjoyed by both rich and poor. It is thought to be the forerunner of modern Christmas puddings. It has its origins in a Celtic legend of the harvest god Dagda, who stirred a porridge made up of all the good things of the Earth.

Frustrated at the lack of interest in his new toy invention, Charles Pajeau hired several midgets, dressed them in elf costumes, and had them play with "Tinker Toys" in a display window at a Chicago department store during the Christmas season in 1914. This publicity stunt made the construction toy an instant hit. A year later, over a million sets of Tinker Toys had been sold.

George Washington spent Christmas night 1776 crossing the Delaware River in dreadful conditions. Christmas 1777 fared little better - at Valley Forge, Washington and his men had a miserable Christmas dinner of Fowl cooked in a broth of Turnips, cabbage and potatoes.

Greeks do not use Christmas trees or give presents at Christmas. A priest may throw a little cross into the village water to drive the kallikantzari (gremlin-like spirits) away. To keep them from hiding in dark, dusty corners, he goes from house to house sprinkling holy water.

Hallmark introduced its first Christmas cards in 1915, five years after the founding of the company.

Historians have traced some of the current traditions surrounding Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, back to ancient Celtic roots. Father Christmas's elves are the modernization of the "Nature folk" of the Pagan religions; his reindeer are associated with the "Horned God," which was one of the Pagan deities.

If traveling in France during the Christmas season, it is interesting to note that different dishes and dining traditions reign in popularity in different parts of the country. In south France, for instance, a Christmas loaf (pain calendeau) is cut crosswise and is eaten only after the first part has been given to a poor person. In Brittany, buckwheat cakes and sour cream is the most popular main dish. In Alsace, a roasted goose is the preferred entrée. In Burgundy, turkey and chestnuts are favored. In the Paris region, oysters are the favorite holiday dish, followed by a cake shaped like a Yule log.

In 1647, the English parliament passed a law that made Christmas illegal. Festivities were banned by Puritan leader, Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry, on what was supposed to be a holy day, to be immoral. The ban was lifted only when the Puritans lost power in 1660.

In 1752, 11 days were dropped from the year when the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar was made. The December 25, date was effectively moved 11 days backwards. Some Christian church sects, called old calendarists, still celebrate Christmas on January 7 (previously December 25 of the Julian calendar).

In 1907, Oklahoma became the last US state to declare Christmas a legal holiday.

In 1937, the first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in Austria.

In 1947, Toys for Tots started making the holidays a little happier for children by organizing its first Christmas toy drive for needy youngsters.

In 1996, Christmas caroling was banned at two major malls in Pensacola, Florida. Apparently, shoppers and merchants complained the carolers were too loud and took up too much space.

In an effort to solicit cash to pay for a charity Christmas dinner in 1891, a large crab pot was set down on a San Francisco street, becoming the first Salvation Army collection kettle.

In America, the weeks leading up to Christmas are the biggest shopping weeks of the year. Many retailers make up to 70% of their annual revenue in the month preceding Christmas.

In Armenia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce, and spinach. The meal is traditionally eaten after the Christmas Eve service, in commemoration of the supper eaten by Mary on the evening before Christ's birth.

In Britain, eating mince pies at Christmas dates back to the 16th century. It is still believed that to eat a mince pie on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas will bring 12 happy months in the year to follow.

In Britain, the Holy Days and Fasting Days Act of 1551, which has not yet been repealed, states that every citizen must attend a Christian church service on Christmas Day, and must not use any kind of vehicle to get to the service.

In Finland and Sweden an old tradition prevails, where the twelve days of Christmas are declared to be time of civil peace by law. It used to be that a person committing crimes during this time would be liable to a stiffer sentence than normal.

In France, Christmas is called Noel. This is derived from the French phrase "les bonnes nouvelles," which means literally "the good news" and refers to the gospel.

In Guatemala, Christmas Day is celebrated on December 25; however, Guatemalan adults do not exchange gifts until New Year's Day. Children get theirs (from the Christ Child) on Christmas morning.

In Medieval England, Nicholas was just another saint - he had not yet been referred to as Santa Claus and he had nothing to do with Christmas.

In North America, children put stockings out at Christmas time. Their Dutch counterparts, however, use shoes. Dutch children set out shoes to receive gifts any time between mid-November and December 5, St. Nicholas' birthday.

In Norway on Christmas Eve, visitors should know that after the family's big dinner and the opening of presents, all the brooms in the house are hidden. The Norwegians long ago believed that witches and mischievous spirits came out on Christmas Eve and would steal their brooms for riding.

In Portugal, the traditional Christmas meal (consoada) is eaten in the early hours of Christmas Day. Burning in the hearth is the Yule log (fogueira da consoada). The ashes and charred remains of the Yule log are saved; later in the year, they are burned with pine cones during Portugal's thunderstorm season. It is believed that no thunderbolt will strike where the Yule log smoke has traveled.

In southern France, some people burn a log in their homes from Christmas Eve until New Year's Day. This stems from an ancient tradition in which farmers would use part of the log to ensure a plentiful harvest the following year.

In Sweden, a common Christmas decoration is the Julbock. Made from straw, it is a small figurine of a goat. A variety of straw decorations are a usual feature of Scandinavian Christmas festivities.

In Syria, Christmas gifts are distributed by one of the Wise Men's camels. The gift-giving camel is said to have been the smallest one in the Wise Men's caravan.

In the British armed forces it is traditional that officers wait on the men and serve them their Christmas dinner. This dates back to a custom from the Middle Ages.

In the Netherlands, Christmas centers on the arrival of Saint Nicholas, who is believed to come on horseback bearing gifts. Before going to bed, children leave out their shoes, hoping to find them filled with sweets when they awaken.

In the Thomas Nast cartoon that first depicted Santa Claus with a sleigh and reindeer, he was delivering Christmas gifts to soldiers fighting in the U.S. Civil War. The cartoon, entitled "Santa Claus in Camp," appeared in Harper's Weekly on January 3, 1863.

In the Ukraine, a traditional Christmas bread called "kolach" is placed in the center of the dining table. This bread is braided into a ring, and three such rings are placed one on top of the other, with a candle in the center of the top one. The three rings symbolize the Trinity.

In Victorian England, turkeys were popular for Christmas dinners. Some of the birds were raised in Norfolk, and taken to market in London. To get them to London, the turkeys were supplied with boots made of sacking or leather. The turkeys were walked to market. The boots protected their feet from the frozen mud of the road. Boots were not used for geese: instead, their feet were protected with a covering of tar.

It is a British Christmas tradition that a wish made while mixing the Christmas pudding will come true only if the ingredients are stirred in a clockwise direction.

It is estimated that 400,000 people become sick each year from eating tainted Christmas leftovers.

Jesus Christ, son of Mary, was born in a cave, not in a wooden stable. Caves were used to keep animals in because of the intense heat. A large church is now built over the cave, and people can go down inside the cave. The carpenters of Jesus' day were really stone cutters. Wood was not used as widely as it is today. So whenever you see a Christmas nativity scene with a wooden stable -- that's the "American" version, not the Biblical one.

La Befana, a kindly witch, rides a broomstick down the chimney to deliver toys into the stockings of Italian children. The legends say that Befana was sweeping her floors when the three Wise Men stopped and asked her to come to see the Baby Jesus. "No," she said, "I am too busy." Later, she changed her mind but it was too late. So, to this day, she goes out on Christmas Eve searching for the Holy Child, leaving gifts for the "holy child" in each household.

Long before it was used as a "kiss encourager" during the Christmas season, mistletoe had long been considered to have magic powers by Celtic and Teutonic peoples. It was said to have the ability to heal wounds and increase fertility. Celts hung mistletoe in their homes in order to bring themselves good luck and ward off evil spirits.

Mistletoe, a traditional Christmas symbol, was once revered by the early Britons. It was so sacred that it had to be cut with a golden sickle.

More diamonds are purchased at Christmas-time (31 percent) than during any other holiday or occasion during the year.

More than three billion Christmas cards are sent annually in the United States.

Myrrh is an aromatic gum resin which oozes from gashes cut in the bark of a small desert tree known as Commifera Myrrha or the dindin tree. The myrrh hardens into tear-dropped shaped chunks and is then powdered or made into ointments or perfumes. This tree is about 5-15 feet tall and 1 foot in diameter. Legend says Caspar brought the gift of myrrh from Europe or Tarsus and placed it before the Christ Child. Myrrh was an extremely valuable commodity during biblical times and was imported from India and Arabia.

New York City's Empire State Building's world famous tower lights are turned off every night at midnight with the exception of New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and St. Patrick's Day, when they are illuminated until 3 a.m.

On Christmas Day, 1989, Eastern Europe was permitted to celebrate Christmas freely and openly for the first time in decades. Church masses were broadcast live for the first time in history.

One Norwegian Christmas custom begins in late autumn at harvest time. The finest wheat is gathered and saved until Christmas. This wheat is then attached to poles made from tree branches, making perches for the birds. A large circle of snow is cleared away beneath each perch. According to the Norwegians, this provides a place for the birds to dance, which allows them to work up their appetites between meals. Just before sunset on Christmas Eve, the head of the household checks on the wheat in the yard. If a lot of sparrows are seen dining, it is suppose to indicate a good year for growing crops.

One notable medieval English Christmas celebration featured a giant 165-pound pie. The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients included 2 bushels of flour, 20 pounds of butter, 4 geese, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 6 pigeons, and 7 blackbirds.

Originally, Christmas decorations were home-made paper flowers, or apples, biscuits, and sweets. The earliest decorations to be bought came from Nuremburg in Germany, a city famous for the manufacture of toys. Lauscha in Germany is famous for its glass ornaments. In 1880, America discovered Lauscha and F.W. Woolworth went there and bought a few glass Christmas tree ornaments. Within a day he had sold out so next year he bought more and within a week they, too, had sold. The year after that be bought 200,000 Lauscha ornaments. During the First World War supplies of ornaments from Lauscha ceased, so American manufacturers began to make their own ornaments, developing new techniques that allowed them to turn out as many ornaments in a minute as could be made in a whole day at Lauscha.

Per a November 2000 Gallup poll, 60 percent of Americans thought they would spend at least $500 that year on Christmas gifts. This was a slight drop from 1999 gift-spending.

Postmen in Victorian England were popularly called "robins." This was because their uniforms were red. The British Post Office grew out of the carrying of royal dispatches. Red was considered a royal color, so uniforms and letter-boxes were red. Christmas cards often showed a robin delivering Christmas mail.

Queen Elizabeth's Christmas message to the nation was televised for the first time on December 25, 1957. For the next 40 years, the BBC aired the event.

Right behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the third-largest occasion for Americans to consume food, according to the National Football League.

Santa's Reindeers are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.

Silent Night was written in 1818, by an Austrian priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be prepared in time for Christmas Eve. He was saddened by this and could not think of Christmas without music, so he wanted to write a carol that could be sung by choir to guitar music. He sat down and wrote three stanzas. Later that night the people in the little Austrian Church sang "Stille Nacht" for the first time.

Since the 1840s, the residents of Pietarsaari, a town on Finland's coast, have decorated a Christmas street, Storgatan, since the 1840s. Suspended over the street are three large illuminated decorations: a cross symbolizing faith, an anchor representing h

St. Nicholas was bishop of the Turkish town of Myra in the early fourth century. It was the Dutch who first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus.

Telesphorus, the second Bishop of Rome (125-136 AD) declared that public Church services should be held to celebrate "The Nativity of our Lord and Saviour." In 320 AD, Pope Julius I and other religious leaders specified 25 December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The "Twelve Days of Christmas" was originally written to help Catholic children, in England, remember different articles of faith during the persecution by Protestant Monarchs. The "true love" represented God, and the gifts all different ideas:

The "Partridge in a pear tree" was Christ.

2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments

3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity-- the Theological Virtues

4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists

5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which relays the history of man's fall from grace.

6 Geese A-laying = the six days of Creation

7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments

8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes

9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit

10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments

11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles

12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

Note: Urban Legends Reference Pages says the above fact is False.

The abbreviation of Xmas for Christmas is not irreligious. The first letter of the word Christ in Greek is chi, which is identical to our X. Xmas was originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation that was used in tables and charts.

The actual gift givers are different in various countries:

England: Father Christmas
France: Pere Noel (Father Christmas)
Germany: Christkind (angelic messenger from Jesus) She is a beautiful fair haired girl with a shining crown of candles.
Holland: St Nicholas.
Italy: La Befana (a kindly old witch)
Spain and South America: The Three Kings
Russia: In some parts - Babouschka (a grandmotherly figure) in other parts it is Grandfather Frost.
Scandinavia: a variety of Christmas gnomes. One is called Julenisse.

The best selling Christmas trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine.

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia leads the world in exporting lobster, wild blueberries, and Christmas trees.

The Christmas season begins at sundown on 24th December and lasts through sundown on 5th January. For that reason, this season is also known as the Twelve Days of Christmas.

The Christmas turkey first appeared on English tables in the 16th century, but didn't immediately replace the traditional fare of goose, beef or boar's head in the rich households.

The custom of singing Christmas carols is very old - the earliest English collection was published in 1521.

The day after Christmas, December 26, is known as Boxing Day. It is also the holy day called The Feast of St. Stephen. Some believe the feast was named for St. Stephen, a 9th century Swedish missionary, the patron saint of horses. Neither Boxing Day or St. Stephen have anything to do with Sweden or with horses. The Stephen for whom the day is named is the one in the Bible (Acts 6-8) who was the first Christian to be martyred for his faith.

The first British monarch to broadcast a Christmas message to his people was King George V.

The first charity Christmas card was produced by UNICEF in 1949. The picture chosen for the card was painted not by a professional artist but by a seven-year-old girl. The girl was Jitka Samkova of Rudolfo, a small town in the former nation of Czechoslovakia. The town received UNICEF assistance after World War II, inspiring Jitka to paint some children dancing around a maypole. She said her picture represented "joy going round and round."

The first Christmas card was created in England on December 9, 1842.

The first commercial Christmas card sold was designed by London artist John Calcott Horsley. He was hired by a wealthy British man to design a card that showed people feeding and clothing the poor with another picture of a Christmas party. The first Christmas card said, "Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you." Of the original one thousand cards he printed for Henry Cole, only twelve exist today.

The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531.

The four ghosts in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" were the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, Christmas Yet to Come, and the ghost of Jacob Marley.

The movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000) features more than 52,000 Christmas lights, about 8,200 Christmas ornaments, and nearly 2,000 candy canes.

The modern Christmas custom of displaying a wreath on the front door of one's house, is borrowed from ancient Rome's New Year's celebrations. Romans wished each other "good health" by exchanging branches of evergreens. They called these gifts strenae after Strenia, the goddess of health. It became the custom to bend these branches into a ring and display them on doorways.

The northern European custom of the candlelit Christmas tree is derived from the belief that it sheltered woodland spirits when other trees lost their leaves during winter.

The poem commonly referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" was originally titled "A Visit From Saint Nicholas." This poem was written by Clement Moore for his children and some guests, one of whom anonymously sent the poem to a New York newspaper for publication.

The poinsettia, traditionally an American Christmas flower, originally grew in Mexico; where it was known as the "Flower of the Holy Night". It was first brought to America by Joel Poinsett in 1829.

The popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells" was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was originally called "One-Horse Open Sleigh."

The Puritans forbade the singing of Christmas carols.

The real St. Nicholas lived in Turkey, where he was bishop of the town of Myra, in the early 4th century. It was the Dutch who first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus.

The Super Ball was born in 1965, and it became America's most popular plaything that year. By Christmas time, only six months after it was introduced by Wham-O, 7 million balls had been sold at 98 cents apiece. Norman Stingley, a California chemist, invented the bouncing gray ball. In his spare time, he had compressed a synthetic rubber material under 3,500 pounds of pressure per square inch, and eventually created the remarkable ball. It had a resiliency of 92 percent, about three times that of a tennis ball, and could bounce for long periods. It was reported that presidential aide McGeorge Bundy had five dozen Super Balls® shipped to the White House for the amusement of staffers.

The table for Christmas Eve dinner in the Ukraine is set with two tablecloths: one for the ancestors of the family, the other for the living members. In pagan times, ancestors were believed to be benevolent spirits who, when shown respect, brought good fortune.

The tradition of Christmas lights dates back to when Christians were persecuted for saying Mass. A simple candle in the window meant that Mass would be celebrated there that night.

The traditional flaming Christmas pudding dates back to 1670 in England, and was derived from an earlier form of stiffened plum porridge.

The world's first singing commercial aired on the radio on Christmas Eve, 1926 for Wheaties cereal. The four male singers, eventually known as the Wheaties Quartet, sang the jingle. The Wheaties Quartet, comprised of an undertaker, a bailiff, a printer, and a businessman, performed the song for the next six years, at $6 per singer per week. The commercials were a resounding success.

Theodore Roosevelt, a staunch conservationist, banned Christmas trees in his home, even when he lived in the White House. His children, however, smuggled them into their bedrooms.

There are twelve courses in the Ukrainian Christmas Eve supper. According to the Christian tradition, each course is dedicated to one of Christ's apostles.

When Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, died on December 4, 1894, he willed his November 13 birthday to a friend who disliked her own Christmas birthday.

Yuletide-named towns in the United States include Santa Claus, located in Arizona and Indiana, Noel in Missouri, and Christmas in both Arizona and Florida.

Amazing Facts About Volcanoes

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1. The term “volcano” is from the Latin Volcanus or Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. The Romans first used the term to describe Mt. Etna, a volcanic mountain they believed was the forge of Vulcan.

2. The ancient Greeks thought that the god of Fire, Hephaestus, lived beneath Mt. Etna. The Titan god Prometheus is said to have stolen fire from Hephaestus’s volcano to give to humans.

3. Hundreds of years ago, the Aztecs of Mexico and the people of Nicaragua believed gods lived in lava lakes. They would sacrifice beautiful young girls to these powerful gods.

4. Well into the Middle Ages, many believed volcanoes were entrances into the fiery underworld.

5. During the past 400 years, nearly a quarter of a million people have been killed as a direct result of volcanic eruptions. Indirect aftereffects such as famine, climate change, and disease most likely have tripled that number.

6. Many scientists believe that all the water on the earth was originally vented into the atmosphere by volcanoes.

7. A species of bird called a maleo uses heat given out by warm volcanic sand to incubate its large eggs. When the chicks hatch, they burrow their way to the surface of the sand.

8. The most dangerous volcano today is Popocatépetl, nicknamed El Popo, which is just 33 miles from Mexico City. El Popo is still active, sending thousands of tons of gas and ash into the air each year.

9. The myth of the lost city of Atlantis sinking beneath the waves may be based on the Greek island of Santorini, of which portions collapsed into the sea after a large volcanic eruption during the Bronze Age.

10. Volcanologists use a special electric thermometer called a “thermocouple” to take a volcano’s temperature. Lava is so hot that a glass thermometer would melt.

11. There are no active volcanoes in Australia because it sits in the middle of a tectonic plate.

12. Highly volcanic areas have some of the most fertile farmland in the world. Volcanic eruptions bring nutrients such as potassium and phosphorus to the Earth’s soil. The weathering of volcanic rocks also releases nutrients.

13. “Lava” derives from the Latin lavara, meaning “to wash,” and is magma that has erupted at the surface.e Lava can flow up to speeds of 62 miles per hour.

14. The material ejected from a volcano is called “pyroclastic flow” from the Greek pyro (fire) and I (broken). It includes small fragments of rock, frothy pumice, and large boulders. Pyroclastic flow can reach temperatures of 212° F and can rocket down the side of a mountain at 155 m.p.h.

15. Volcanoes form through subduction (when two tectonic plates smash against each other), mid-oceanic rift (when two plates drift apart), or in a hot spot (a weak spot in one of Earth’s plates).

16. In 1963, an undersea volcano created the newest land mass on Earth, Surtsey Island, which lies off the southwest coast of Iceland. Today Surtsey is about 1 sq. mile and is named after Surt, a fire giant from Norse mythology.

17. The worst volcanic disaster of the twentieth century is considered to be the eruption of Mt. Pelée in 1902 on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean which killed 30,121 people. Only two people survived: a shoemaker living on the edge of the island and a prisoner who had been locked in a dungeon cell with thick stone walls.

18. There are approximately 1,500 active volcanoes, not counting undersea volcanoes. Of these, only about 20-30 erupt in any one year.

19. Volcanologists measure the size of an eruption with the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI), with 0 being the weakest and 8 the strongest. Eight is usually reserved for super eruptions, popularly called “supervolcanoes.”

20. The Lake Toba supervolcanic eruption nearly 75,000 years ago in Indonesia plunged earth into a volcanic winter (known as the Millennium Ice Age) and was responsible for the formation of sulfuric acid in the atmosphere.

21. The most recent eruption in the United States was Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. The eruption had 500 times the power of an atomic bomb. Geologists considered this a moderate eruption.

22. The Pacific Ring of Fire is the boundary of the large Pacific plate which is slowly subducting under or grinding past other plates. Most of the world’s biggest volcanoes are concentrated here.

23. In A.D. 79, Vesuvius erupted violently, devastating the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Eyewitness accounts of the time, recent excavations, and the preserved remains tell the horrific story of the eruption.

24. In 1660, the people of Naples were shocked to find what looked like little black crosses raining down on them. While they thought it was proof that St. Januarius was looking out for them, the crosses were really twin pyroxene crystals which Mt. Vesuvius spewed out of its crater. Vesuvius last erupted in 1944.

25. New ocean floor is created when two oceanic plates move apart and magma bubbles up to fill the rift. This is called a rift volcano. Through this process, the Atlantic Ocean is widening by 2 cm. per year, and the East Pacific Rise is widening by 20 cm. a year. In 10 million years, the East Pacific Rise will be 1,240 miles wider.

26. Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes and was thought to live in the crater of the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii. She is said to have a terrible temper and will throw lava at anyone who angers her. Some people have been known to send back lava samples they have taken from the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park because of the bad luck they associate with Pele.

27. The three main types of volcano shapes are shield, cinder cone, and stratovolcano. Stratovolcanoes, also called composite volcanoes, are the most common type of volcanoes and often have symmetrical steep slopes. Classic examples include Mount Rainer in Washington State and Mount Fuji in Japan.

28. When the top of a volcano top collapses, it forms a caldera, which is Spanish for “kettle.” The largest caldera is the La Garita Caldera in Colorado which was formed 26-28 million years ago and was one of the largest eruptions—if not the largest—on Earth.

29. About 20% of all volcanoes are under water.

30. Some volcanic islands such as Iceland and Hawaii have black beaches. Their sand is made from basalt, an igneous rock formed when lava cools and has been broken down into sand particles.

31. More than 300 million people (nearly 1 in 20) live in the shadow of active volcanoes, including Mount Vesuvius in Italy, Mount Rainer in the U.S., and Popocatepetl in Mexico.

32. In some volcanic areas such as Iceland, heat energy from magma can be used to warm water and run power plants. This type of energy is called geothermal (earth heat) energy.

33. Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream is thought to show a volcanic sunset caused by the massive eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia in 1883. The blood-red sunset could be seen as far away as Norway, where Munch lived.

34. When Paricutin in Mexico erupted from 1943-1952, no one was killed by ash, rocks, lava, gases, or mud flows, though three people died from being struck by volcanic lightening. Though there were periods of violent explosions, Paricutin mainly dishcharged quiet flows of lava during its continous nine year eruption.

35. In 1943, a Mexican farmer named Dionisio Pulido witnessed the birth of a volcano in his cornfield about 329 kilometers west of Mexico City. It started as a slight depression in his field and soon became a fissure that emitted smoke and hissing noises. During the next nine years, the volcano Paricutin had grown to an elevation of 2,272 meters and its voluminous lava flows had destroyed several towns.

36. The 1815, volcano Tambora in Indonesia was the greatest volcanic eruption observed by humans and killed over 70,000 people. Effects were felt as far as Europe and North America, including prolonged inclement weather which resulted in food riots and the worst famine in the nineteenth century.

37. Tambora’s 1815 massive eruption and its devastating effects are said to have inspired Lord Byron’s gloomy poem “Darkness” (1816) and Mary Shelley’s immortal novel Frankenstein (1818).

38. Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming sits on the site of an ancient supervoclano. It erupted around 2 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago, and 640,000 years ago. If it follows the same pattern, another eruption is due any time now.

39. Japan has 10% of the world’s active volcanoes.

40. Iceland is made up almost entirely of volcanic rocks like those found on the ocean floor. It gradually built up above sea level through intense and prolonged eruptions.

41. In August 1986, a cloud mixture of carbon dioxide and water rose from Lake Nyos, a crater lake in Cameroon (western Africa). The heavy gas cloud flowed downhill and gathered in the valleys, asphyxiating 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock living in the villages below.

42. An acid lake in the crater of Kawah-Idjen in Indonesia absorbs gases rising from the volcano, creating a lake so toxic it can burn through human flesh in minutes.

43. Magma is Latin for “dregs of ointment,” which derives from the Proto Indo-European mag meaning “kneading.” The term “magma” in its geological sense as molten rock was first used in 1865.

44. The earliest known picture of a volcano is the nearly 8,000-year-old wall painting of an eruption of Hasan Dag volcano in Turkey. The houses of a town, Çatalhöyük, can be seen at the mountain’s base.

45. In Japan, “baths” in warm volcanic sand are believed to cure many illnesses.

46. The largest volcano found in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars, though it is now extinct.

47. Venus may have at one time produced more volcanoes than any other planet in our solar system, though they are all now extinct.

48. While no other planet besides Earth shows active volcanoes, Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, shows volcanoes that are erupting.

49. The 1883 eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia is thought to have released 200 megatons of energy, the equivalent of 15,000 nuclear bombs. Even though the island was uninhabited, the eruption killed 36,000 people as the result of burning ash showers and huge tsunamis. It generated the loudest sound historically reported.

50. The most lava ever recorded from a single eruption was the 1783 Laki eruption in Iceland. Though there was no single big explosion, this eruption killed one fourth of Iceland’s population by producing poisonous gases and clouds of ash that resulted in widespread crop failure and starvation.

51. In January 2009, scientists from the Alaska volcano observatory warned that Mt. Redoubt, a peak just 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, could erupt anytime. Mt Redoubt last erupted in 1989, shooting ash high into the jetstream, causing engine failure in a KLM jet carrying 231 passengers. The plane dropped more than 2 miles before the crew could restart the engines.

51. There are three major kinds of volcanoes

Although volcanoes are all made from hot magma reaching the surface of the Earth and erupting, there are different kinds. Shield volcanoes have lava flows with low viscosity that flow dozens of kilometers; this makes them very wide with smoothly sloping flanks. Stratovolcanoes are made up of different kinds of lava, and eruptions of ash and rock and grow to enormous heights. Cinder cone volcanoes are usually smaller, and come from short-lived eruptions that only make a cone about 400 meters high.

552. Volcanoes erupt because of magma escaping from beneath the Earth's crust

About 30 km beneath your feet is the Earth's mantle. It's a region of superhot rock that extends down to the Earth's core. This region is so hot that molten rock can squeeze out and form giant bubbles of liquid rock called magma chambers. This magma is lighter than the surrounding rock, so it rises up, finding cracks and weakness in the Earth's crust. When it finally reaches the surface, it erupts out of the ground as lava, ash, volcanic gasses and rock. It's called magma when it's under the ground, and lava when it erupts onto the surface.

53. Volcanoes can be active, dormant or extinct

An active volcano is one that has had an eruption in historical times (in the last few thousand years). A dormant volcano is one that has erupted in historical times and has the potential to erupt again, it just hasn't erupted recently. An extinct volcano is one that scientists think probably won't erupt again.

54. Volcanoes can grow quickly

Although some volcanoes can take thousands of years to form, others can grow overnight. For example, the cinder cone volcano Paricutin appeared in a Mexican cornfield on February 20, 1943. Within a week it was 5 stories tall, and by the end of a year it had grown to more than 336 meters tall. It ended its grown in 1952, at a height of 424 meters. By geology standards, that's pretty quick.

55. There are 20 volcanoes erupting right now

Somewhere, around the world, there are 20 active volcanoes erupting as you're reading this. Between 50-70 volcanoes erupted last year, and 160 went off in the last decade. Geologists estimate that 1,300 erupted in the last 10,000 years. Three quarters of all eruptions happen underneath the ocean, and most are actively erupting and no geologist knows about it at all. One of the reasons is that volcanoes occur at the mid ocean ridges, where the ocean's plates are spreading apart. If you add the underwater volcanoes, you get an estimate that there are a total of about 6,000 volcanoes that have erupted in the last 10,000 years.

56. Volcanoes are dangerous

But then you knew that. Some of the most deadly volcanoes include Krakatoa, which erupted in 1883, releasing a tsunami that killed 36,000 people. When Vesuvius exploded in AD 79, it buried the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing 16,000 people. Mount Pelee, on the island of Martinique destroyed a town with 30,000 people in 1902. The most dangerous aspect of volcanoes are the deadly pyroclastic flows that blast down the side of a volcano during an eruption. These contain ash, rock and water moving hundreds of kilometers an hour, and hotter than 1,000 degrees C.

57. Supervolcanoes are really dangerous

Geologists measure volcano eruptions using the Volcano Explosivity Index, which measures the amount of material released. A "small" eruption like Mount St. Helens was a 5 out of 8, releasing a cubic kilometer of material. The largest explosion was on record was Toba, thought to have erupted 73,000 years ago. It released more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of material, and created a caldera 100 km long and 30 kilometers wide. The explosion plunged the world into a world wide ice age. Toba was considered an 8 on the VEI.

58. The tallest volcano in the Solar System isn't on Earth

That's right, the tallest volcano in the Solar System isn't on Earth at all, but on Mars. Olympus Mons, on Mars, is a giant shield volcano that rises to an elevation of 27 km, and it measures 550 km across. Scientists think that Olympus Mons was able to get so large because there aren't any plate tectonics on Mars. A single hotspot was able to bubble away for billions of years, building the volcano up bigger and bigger.

59. The tallest and biggest volcanoes on Earth are side by side

The tallest volcano on Earth is Hawaii's Mauna Kea, with an elevation of 4,207 meters. It's only a little bigger than the largest volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa with an elevation of only 4,169 meters. Both are shield volcanoes that rise up from the bottom of the ocean. If you could measure Mauna Kea from the base of the ocean to its peak, you'd get a true height of 10,203 meters (and that's bigger than Mount Everest).

60. The most distant point from the center of the Earth is a volcano

You might think that the peak of Mount Everest is the most distant point from the center of the Earth, but that's not true. Instead, it's the volcano Chimborazo in Ecuador. That's because the Earth's is spinning in space and is flattened out. Points at the equator are further from the center of the Earth than the poles. And Chimborazo is very close to the Earth's equator.

Amazing Facts About Chocolate Facts

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Yes those candy bars sure taste good, but there’s a lot you probably didn’t know about chocolate! Do you want to find out? Well, here goes!

1. We’ve heard of rice and pasta, but chocolate as a staple? Yes, ask the South Mexico Olmec tribe back in 1000 B.C. They ate chocolate all the time! Strange, but true!

2. Talk about sweet ceremonies! The Maya drank liquid chocolate during weddings, engagements, baptisms and even funerals! Whoever thought there was something ceremonial about chocolate!

3. Some chocolates may cost you but did you know that Cacao or chocolates beans were used as currency by Aztec and Maya tribes? If we had that today we would be eating out of our wallets!

4. So who thought of solidifying chocolate? Thank Mexican nuns from the 1700’s as they created and exported the first chocolate product as a fund raiser for their convent.

5. Here’s another fact. Not just 10 or 50 but chocolate remarkably has over 500 flavors in it! No wonder it tastes so good. Vanilla and strawberry don’t even come close to this figure.

6. Heard of Mexican Emperor Montezuma? He drank liquid chocolate before getting busy in his harem. Since chocolate make you feel good, it is considered an aphrodisiac.

7. Those gory scenes in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’, was all chocolate syrup! Although the scene finishes in about 45 seconds, it took 7 days to get that shot done perfectly! Now that’s a sticky plot!

8. Chocolate was re-born in 1879 when Daniel Peter and Henre Nestle introduced milk chocolate to the world. In the same year Rudolphe Lindt introduced the conching process which makes chocolate smooth and soft.

9. Napoleon was great in many ways. Did you know he took chocolate along with him during his military campaigns. Now that was a clever move as chocolate gives you added energy and restores carbohydrates.

10. For all those of you out there dreaming about those chocolate bars, dream away! You can’t blame chocolate for raising your blood cholesterol. Now that’s a fact so eat !

Chocolate has changed the way we eat, romance and live. But don’t go overboard as too much of a good thing can be bad!

11. It is a known fact that chocolate has caffeine in it. But did you know that you would have to eat more then a dozen chocolate bars to get the same amount of caffeine from a cup of coffee? There are about 5 to 10 mg's of caffeine in one ounce of bitter chocolate, 5 mgs in milk chocolate, and 10mgs in a six-ounce cup of cocoa.

12. Chocolate is actually a valuable energy source. A single chocolate chip can provide enough energy for an adult human to walk 150 ft.

13. Chocolate has great health benefits. It helps with depression, high blood pressure, Tumors and Pre-menstrual syndromes.

14. Chocolate does not cause or aggravate acne, this is a myth.

15. One ounce of baking chocolate or cocoa contains 10% of the daily recommended intake of iron.

16. Chocolate can be deadly for dogs. Chocolate contains an ingredient called "Theobromine" which can be toxic to a dogs central nervous system and cardiac muscles.

17. People spend more than $7 billion dollars a year on chocolate.

18. The per capita consumption of chocolate indicates that each person consumes 12 pounds of chocolate each year.

19. Milk Chocolate is the most preferred type of chocolate, however dark chocolate is especially popular among men.

20. In Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Psycho" chocolate syrup was used to indicate blood in the famous shower scene.

Condom Facts

2009-12-16T20:32:00.000-08:00

* Condom sales in the US are more than 500 million annually.

* Women purchase over one-third of all condoms sold in the US.

* Worldwide condom production has reached 9 billion annually, but in a world of over 6 billion people, there is still plenty of room for growth in that number.

* Every condom sold in the US is electronically tested to ensure it has no holes that even an electron can pass through.

* The latex used to make condoms is a natural product, the sap from rubber trees.

* Condoms are an excellent method of birth control. Used properly and consistently, condoms are 98% effective at preventing conception.

* Studies have found that even with repeated sexual contact with an infected partner, latex condoms reduce the chance of HIV infection by 99%.

* "Lambskin" condoms have been found to be ineffective in preventing infection of HIV and other STDs, and should not be used for this purpose.

* Oil and products containing oil, such as most hand and skin lotions, can rapidly damage latex and cause a condom to fail. Always use water-based or silicone lubricants with latex condoms. Never use products such as Vaseline orbaby lotion with a latex condom.

* Large-size condoms are made for comfort, not because smaller ones might break. Latex can stretch more than 800% without breaking. You can even pull one over your head (as this video shows) but please, don't try this at home!

* Condoms make the best water balloons.

Best Records of the Decade : Guinness Book

2009-12-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

Guinness World Records are searching for the people's choice of the decade. Having shortlisted a top 100 from every record set in several categories during the past 10 years they now want the public to vote online for the best

1. The most rattlesnakes held in the mouth by their tails is 11 by Jackie Bibby. He held the snakes for 10 seconds on a German TV show in December last year.

2.The ultimate in tattooing is represented by the chainsaw juggling, unicycling, sword-swallowing Lucky Diamond Rich (Australia, born New Zealand), who has spent over 1,000 hours having his body modified by hundreds of tattoo artists.

3. The highest shallow dive measures 10.87 m (35 ft 8 in) and was achieved by Darren Taylor at the LA County Fairgrounds (FAIRPLEX), California, United States on 20 March 2009.

4. The record for the heaviest vehicle pulled over a level 100 ft (30.48 m) course weighed 57,000 kg (125,680 lb) and was set by Rev. Kevin Fast (Canada) in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, on 12 May 2007.

5. The most push-ups using the backs of the hands in one hour is 1,940 and was set by Paddy Doyle at Stamina's Boxing Self Defence Gym in Erin Go Bragh Sports Centre, Birmingham, UK, on 8 November 2007.

6. The man with the most body piercings is John Lynch a.k.a. 'Prince Albert', who was counted as having 241 piercings, including 151 in his head and neck, in Hammersmith, London, on 17 October 2008.

7. Melvin Boothe has the longest fingernails on a pair of hands, with a combined length of 9.85 m (32 ft 3.8 in), when measured in Troy, Michigan, USA on 30 May 2009.

8. The largest commercially available hamburger is 84.14 kg (185.8 lbs) and is available for US$499 (£302.84) on the menu at Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate, Michigan, USA, as of 30 May 2009.

9. The longest distance travelled on a pogo stick. Ashrita Furman of Jamaica, New York, USA set a distance record of 37.18 km 23.11 miles in 12hr 27min on June 22, 1997 at Queensborough Community College Track, New York.

10. The largest playing card structure. Bryan Berg constructed a free-standing house of cards that measured 7.86 m (25 ft 9.44 in) tall. It was completed on 15 October 2007 as part of the State Fair of Texas, in Dallas.

20 Amazing Facts About Death

2009-12-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

1. The practice of burying the dead may date back 350,000 years, as evidenced by a 45-foot-deep pit in Atapuerca, Spain, filled with the fossils of 27 hominids of the species Homo heidelbergensis, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.

2. Never say die: There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including "to be in Abraham's bosom," "just add maggots," and "sleep with the Tribbles" (a Star Trek favorite).

3. No American has died of old age since 1951.

4. That was the year the government eliminated that classification on death certificates.

5. The trigger of death, in all cases, is lack of oxygen. Its decline may prompt muscle spasms, or the "agonal phase," from the Greek word agon, or contest.

6. Within three days of death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat you. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.

7. So much for recycling: Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid—formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol—into the soil each year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air.

8. Alternatively . . . A Swedish company, Promessa, will freeze-dry your body in liquid nitrogen, pulverize it with high-frequency vibrations, and seal the resulting powder in a cornstarch coffin. They claim this "ecological burial" will decompose in 6 to 12 months.

9. Zoroastrians in India leave out the bodies of the dead to be consumed by vultures.

10. The vultures are now dying off after eating cattle carcasses dosed with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory used to relieve fever in livestock.

11. Queen Victoria insisted on being buried with the bathrobe of her long-dead husband, Prince Albert, and a plaster cast of his hand.

12. If this doesn't work, we're trying in vitro! In Madagascar, families dig up the bones of dead relatives and parade them around the village in a ceremony called famadihana. The remains are then wrapped in a new shroud and reburied. The old shroud is given to a newly married, childless couple to cover the connubial bed.

13. During a railway expansion in Egypt in the 19th century, construction companies unearthed so many mummies that they used them as fuel for locomotives.

14. Well, yeah, there's a slight chance this could backfire: English philosopher Francis Bacon, a founder of the scientific method, died in 1626 of pneumonia after stuffing a chicken with snow to see if cold would preserve it.

15 For organs to form during embryonic development, some cells must commit suicide. Without such programmed cell death, we would all be born with webbed feet, like ducks.

16. Waiting to exhale: In 1907 a Massachusetts doctor conducted an experiment with a specially designed deathbed and reported that the human body lost 21 grams upon dying. This has been widely held as fact ever since. It's not.

17. Buried alive: In 19th-century Europe there was so much anecdotal evidence that living people were mistakenly declared dead that cadavers were laid out in "hospitals for the dead" while attendants awaited signs of putrefaction.

18. Eighty percent of people in the United States die in a hospital.

19. If you can't make it here . . . More people commit suicide in New York City than are murdered.

20. It is estimated that 100 billion people have died since humans began.

50 Cool Amazing Facts (Mixed)

2009-12-15T20:27:00.000-08:00

1. If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.

2. If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. For when a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.

3. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

4. Your tongue is germ free only if it is pink. If it is white there is a thin film of bacteria on it.

5. The Mercedes-Benz motto is “Das Beste oder Nichts” meaning “the best or nothing”.

6. The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.

7. The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.

8. The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.

9. Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

10. The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

11. Dalmatians are born without spots.

12. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

13. The ‘v’ in the name of a court case does not stand for ‘versus’, but for ‘and’ (in civil proceedings) or ‘against’ (in criminal proceedings).

14. Men’s shirts have the buttons on the right, but women’s shirts have the buttons on the left.

15. The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids.

16. The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it’s already been digested by a bee.

17. Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.

18. The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.

19. Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.

20. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.

21. The verb “cleave” is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.

22. When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.

23. When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.

24. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.

25. The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named Volney.

26. Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros.

27. Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan.

28. It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it.

29. The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples.

30. There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

31. The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.

32. Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

33. It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.

34. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

35. Most soccer players run 7 miles in a game.

36. The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.

37. Every day 200 million couples make love, 400,000 babies are born, and 140,000 people die.

38. In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it
is smiling).

39. Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command “go hang yourself.”

40. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.

41. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

42. The average person laughs 13 times a day.

43. Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are:Mizaru(See no evil), Mikazaru(Hear no evil), and Mazaru(Speak no evil)

44. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

45. German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.

46. Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.

47. Whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.

48. Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two hapless protesters to death.

49. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.

50. The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet!!

Cool Amazing Facts About Animal Mating

2009-12-09T09:04:00.000-08:00

You probably found out about the birds and the bees analogy, but this is far more interesting and unusual than those stories. You might be surprised to find out some of the following mating facts and oddities concerning members of the wild kingdom. These practices of animals are almost as varied as our own.

Here are the most amazing facts and records in the wilderness when it comes to mating:

10. Indian cobras have one of the toughest battles to wage. They fight, fling at each other, the male trying to place its body next to the female’s. Furthermore, for an hour they even strike at each other. The battle is won after the female puts its head on the ground, to sign submission, time for the male to bring one of his 2 penises into contact with her reproductive organ. This can take anywhere from 2 minutes to 24 hours.

9. The phrase “Don’t let the bedbugs bite!” get a whole different meaning when it comes to mating. The bug make bug pierces a hole in the female’s back to place his sperm. The eggs are rapidly fertilized and the embryos which are born alive.

8. Even though they are one of the largest animals on earth, elephants are one of the gentlest creatures when it comes to mating. At an interval or 3 to 6 months, elephants start looking for a mate. Once this has been found, the round of flirting begins, the male offering the female food or squirts of water. After a month or so, the female eventually gives in and the actual mating can begin.

7. Bisexuality is not that uncommon in the animal kingdom. However, this piece of information beats the first one. A male wrasse (or the Cleaner fish) dominates a group of females but after sometime leaves them. In a group of 6-8 cleaner wrasses there is but one male, the rest are females or juveniles. Out of the remaining females, the most dominant will change sex within a few hours.

6. Scientists have come across creatures that have both male and female reproductive organs. But a class of crustacean, Tanais, has three sexes. Furthermore, a single-celled organism called Paramecium amelia is the record holder for the most number, having eight different sexes. Bisexuality may double the changes of finding a partner but with octosexuality you are bound to find one.

5. Talking about painful rituals, many animals bite each other during mating. A breed of fly scientifically called Serromyia femorata takes a position that resembles kissing and, at the end, the female fly drains out the body content of the male through the mouth. Similarly, the praying mantis begins to devour the male’s head during mating. No worries, he can finish the copulation without it.

4. Another record holder on this subject is the tapeworm. This species has the most sexual organs of any living being, each segment of its body containing a complete set of sexual organs, both male and female. Each segment mates with itself and grows eggs, the worm copulating with itself. The largest tapeworm discovered was over 70 meters in length (230 ft.), had over 11,000 segments or over 22,000 individual sexual organs.

3. The male tick has a big disadvantage but found its way to get around. Lacking a penis, the tick uses his nose to sniff out the females vagina. Once he has enough room, he turns around and deposits his semen. And, to top it off, he then turns around and uses his nose again to push it inside.

2. If you though “going at it like rabbits” was a lot to handle, think again. The rabbits don’t come close to the capabilities of the desert rat. The desert rat can have sex up to 120 times an hour.

1. Perhaps the most amazing fact about animal mating is the size of the sex parts. The record for the largest testes in the animal kingdom is the northern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), with a pair that can reach up to 2,200 lbs. Whales also hold the record for having the largest penis in the animal kingdom, up to 10 feet long, with a diameter of up to one foot.

Funny Facts About Sex

2009-12-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

Male and female rats may have sex twenty times a day.

22% of American women aged 20 gave birth while in their teens. In Switzerland and Japan, only 2% did so.

Sex is the safest tranquilizer in the world. It is 10 times more effective than valium!

For every 'normal' webpage, there are five porn pages.

Sex is biochemically no different from eating large quantities of chocolate.

A man's beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex.

Male bats have the highest rate of homosexuality of any mammal.

The average shelf-life of a latex condom is about two years.

"Formicophilia" is the fetish for having small insects crawl on your genitals. Gross!!

"Ithyphallophobia" is a morbid fear of seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis.

When swans go on a date, they'll put their heads together. Then they stick together for life.

The word "gymnasium" comes from the Greek word gymnazein which means "to exercise naked.

"Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool, England - but only in tropical fish stores. (But of course!)

In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her adulterous husband, but may only do so with her bare hands.

An adulterous Greek male was sometimes punished by the removal of his pubic hair and the insertion of a large radish into his rectum.

In india, it is cheaper to have sex with a prostitue than buy a condom !

Sex burns 360 calories per hour.

Women who read romance novels have sex twice as often as those who don't.

The average person spends 2 weeks of his life kissing.

The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children.

Males, on average, think about sex every 7 seconds.

The greatest recorded number of children one mother had was 69 children. Do the math !

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were: Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

25% of women think money makes a man sexier.

Some lions mate over 50 times a day.

Humans, bonobo monkeys, and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation.

Turkeys can reproduce without having sex. It's called parthenogenesis.

Each day, there are over 120 million sexual intercourse taking place all over the world.

Snakes have two sex organs.

A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.

Donald Duck comics were once banned from Finland because Donald doesn't wear pants.

85% of men who die of heartattacks during intercourse, are found to have been cheating on their wives.

Animals Interesting Facts

2009-12-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

Just one cow gives off enough harmful methane gas in a single day to fill around 400 liter bottles.

Cows can have regional accents

A domestic cat can frighten a black bear to climb a tree.

Bonobos are the only non human primates that engage in oral sex, tongue kissing, and face-to-face genital sex.

In a fight between a polar bear and a lion, the polar bear would win.

US Secret Service sniffer dogs are put up in five-star hotels during overseas presidential visits.

Dolphins sleep with one eye open.

Bulls are color blind.

A cow's only sweat glands are in its nose.

Mosquitoes have 47 teeth.

The Poison Arrow frog has enough poison to kill 2,200 people.

Emus can't walk backwards.

A group of unicorns is called a blessing.

A group of kangaroos is called a mob.

A group of owls is called a parliament.

A group of ravens is called a murder.

A group of bears is called a sleuth.

Twelve or more cows is called a flink.

A baby oyster is called a spat.

Some fleas have split penises like a Y shape

An elephant can be pregnant for up to 2 years

Chickens can't swallow while they are upside down.

The average garden-variety caterpillar has 248 muscles in its head.

A goldfish has a memory span of 3 seconds.

A mule won't sink in quicksand but a donkey will.

More people are killed annually by donkeys than in airplane crashes.

Animal breeders in Russia once claimed to have bred sheep with blue wool.

Penguins are the only bird that can leap into the air like porpoises.

India has 50 million monkeys.

By some unknown means, an iguana can end its own life.

Americans spend around $3 billion for cat and dog food a year.

Pigs can cover a mile in 7.5 minutes when running at top speed.

The shell constitutes 12 percent of an egg's weight.

A squid has 10 tentacles.

A snail's reproductive organs are in its head.

When a horned toad is angry, it squirts blood from its eyes.

The typical hen lays 19 dozen eggs a year.

The ostrich has a 46-foot long small intestine.

A scallop has 35 blue eyes.

A swan is the only bird with a penis

The left leg of a chicken in more tender than the right one.

The only dog that doesn't have a pink tongue is the chow.

Dogs and humans are the only animals with prostates.

The giraffe has the highest blood pressure of any animal.

Zebras can't see the color orange.

There are more insects in ten square feet of a rain forest than there are people in Manhattan.

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.

The smartest dogs are the Jack Russell Terrier and Scottish Border collie. Dumbest: Afgan hound.

A rat can go without water longer than a camel can.

The fat molecules in goat milk are 5 times smaller than those found in cow milk. It takes 20 minutes for the stomach to breakdown as opposed to the hour that it takes to break down cow milk.

Amazing Facts about Whales

2009-12-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

1.Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) appeared 50 million years ago (the oldest known whale being Pakicetus), having (as revealed by DNA) a common origin with the hippopotamus (!). 40 million years ago whales were divided into baleen whales and toothed whales. The oldest known baleen whale is Mamalodon (that lived 25 million years ago in Australia). The first gigantic baleen whales appeared 5 million years ago.

2.There are 15 species of baleen whales and 74 toothed whales (42 are dolphins).

The largest whale (and ever existing animal) is the blue whale: up to 33 m (100 ft) in length and 181 tons, but the average size is 27-28 m (81-84 ft) in length and 150 tons (of which 50 tons are blubber (!), as the fatty layer can be 40 cm (16 inch) wide). The smallest baleen whale is the Pygmy Right Whale, 6 m (20 ft) long and 3 tons heavy. The largest toothed whale is the sperm whale, which can reach 18 m (60 ft) in length and 50 tons in weight.

Blue whale is solitary or lives in small groups of 2-3 individuals.

3.The large size of the whale is due to the food abundance in the sea and it is also a method of fighting the cold water of the sea (otherwise, they would lose a lot of heat in polar waters of 2-4 degrees C). The blubber layer can be 50 cm (1.5 ft) wide. The blubber is a food reserve but also a thermo-insulating layer in the cold waters where whales live (that's why stranded whales die of hyperthermy and dehydration). The fat is not fixed to the muscles, but very flexible, slipping over the muscles.

A whale weighing 60-70 tons delivers 20-25 tons of meat, 15-20 tons of blubber, while the fat rich skeleton weighs up to 15 tons.

The heart of a medium sized baleen whale weighs 700 kg (1,750 pounds), the tongue about 3 tons, the fatty liver one ton and the 3 m (9 ft) long stomach around 500 kg (1,250 pounds), requiring 1,200 kg (3,000 pounds) to be filled! The gut can be 250 m (833 ft) long and a blue whale eats 5 tons of food daily!

Blue whale's brain weighs 5 kg (12.5 pounds) while that of the sperm whale 7 kg (17.5 kg), representing the largest brain in nature. The head represents 40 % of the length of a right whale.

Whales have minute eyes: those of a blue whale's are no larger than a small plate.

4.The whales' lungs can store at each inspiration 5,000 liters of air. They usually breathe at every 15 minutes but they can hold their breath up to over an hour in the case of the sperm whale. The humpback whale can dive to 250 m (833 ft) for 20 minutes. The blue whale's exhaling blow can be 12 m (36 ft) tall! The blow can be heard 2 km (1.2 mi) away. In other whales it is 3 m (10 ft) high. In freezing water, the breathing rate is slower to keep the warm air inside.

Sperm whales dive at over 1,200 m (3,600 ft) depths and Cuvier's beaked whale (a type of toothed whale) holds the record for diving amongst any sea mammal: 1,900 m (6,330 ft) (this means 190 atmospheres) for one hour and 25 minutes. The bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon) dive for 2 hours at depths of 495 m (1,650 ft) in search of cephalopods. In toothed whales, the nitrogen from the blood is absorbed by the fatty substance from the bump of the head (melon).

5.Baleens are 300-660 keratin fringed plates hanging from the roof of the mouth, which can be up to 4 m (13 ft) long and weigh 180 kg (450 pounds). They work like a sieve: the whale sucks at once up to six cubic meters of seawater: the water is filtered though the baleens' stitches while the food items (crustaceans, fish, mollusks) are retained by the baleens. Blue whale has 320 baleens. Despite their enormous size, the pharynx of the baleen whale is so narrow that they cannot swallow preys bigger than a herring (that's why they can be asphyxiated if they swallow birds hovering around mouth while catching krill and fish).

The baleens are larger in right whales than rorquals, which have skin folds on the ventral part of the body. The same species of whale can feed differently according to the population. In Antarctic, humpback whales feed mainly on krill (small crustaceans) and have longer baleens (70 cm or 2.3 ft), while in Arctic hunt fish (sardines and herrings) in packs and have smaller baleens (50 cm or 1.6 ft). Correlated with their huge size, whales consume relatively small amounts of food. The stomach of a 65-ton humpback whale can contain 0.7 tons of krill or 0.6 tons of herrings. The blue whale can consume 4 tonnes of krill daily.

Rorquals, the whales with ventral skin folds, feed in the water, right whales (lacking skin folders) eat at the surface, while the gray whale feeds on the bottom of the water.

While feeding, the skin folders stretch, increasing the capacity of the mouth. By contracting the folders, water is filtered and food retained. Whales lacking the skin folders use mainly the tongue for filtering water, that's why they have enormous tongues (like the right whales).

Usually, females have more skin folders: 20-24 in female humpback, 14-20 in males, because pregnant females need more food. Whales use echolocation, sight and whiskers when hunting.

6.Whales give birth every 2-3 years. They need waters with temperatures of 22-25 C to do this, that's why offspring are born in shallow tropical waters (Carribean, Hawaii, Australia and others). After a 10-12 months gestation, whales have just one calf, which suckles for 5-12 months. The lactating female delivers 200-570 liters of extremely fatty milk: 200-430 g of fats per liter (for comparison, cow milk contains 40 g of fats per liter). Sucking lasts for a few seconds, 30-40 times per day. Calves are vulnerable to killer whales and sharks and are fiercely defended by the mothers.

Usually, the offspring measures at birth about a quarter of the mother's length (for a blue whale this means 6-8 m (2-2.6 ft) and 2.5 tons). During the birth, the mother is accompanied by several midwives, which will help the newborn to stay at the surface for breathing. The newborn whale is sustained by the mother by the tail and back till it learns how to swim.

The sperm whale calf has 4 m (13 ft) at birth and weighs 1 tonne. Its blubber layer is 2.5 cm (1 in) thick, while in adults it has 30 cm (12 in).

The calf of the blue whale has the fastest growth rhythm in the animal world: more than 100 kg (250 pounds) per day, 4.5 kg (11 pounds) per hour, one ton at each 9 days! At 3 years old, the blue whale has 15 m (50 ft) in length. The calf of the humpback whale doubles its weight at 6 months, and at 11 months is 9 m (30 ft) long. The offspring learns hunting techniques when being two years old and by four years old it is autonomous. Adult size is achieved 10 years later. Whales reach sexual maturity when 4-5 years old.

The blue whale also possesses the largest penis in the world: 2.4 m (8 ft) long! Resting whale penis is located in a skin fold and the testicles are intra-abdominal. Testicles have 0.5 tons and whales produce enormous sperm amounts.

In right whales, during mating, the female's body is sustained by escort-males, while the dominant male effectuates the penetration. In humpback whales, the dominant male is aggressive towards other males and will hit them with tail and head blows. The male and female form a union for 3 days and the dominant male fertilizes females from several groups.

7.Bowhead whales which are 130 years old have been whaled and big whales are estimated to reach a longevity up to 200 years (but under the pressure of hunting, it is impossible to achieve).Still, whales are the most long-living warm-blooded animals and only some reptiles (giant turtles) live longer. Male sperm whales attain their full size at 50 years!

8.All baleen whales effectuate long migrations (up to 25,000 km or 16,000 mi annually): they breed and give birth in subtropical-tropical waters and feed in cold waters. They orientate in their journeys towards the Sun, Moon and Earth's electromagnetic field. In the tropical waters, the whales fast, but they have to wait till the offspring get their fat layer so they can resist in the cold polar waters.

Whales may migrate alone or in groups of 2-10, but are gregarious at the breeding place, in groups up to 12 individuals.
The pregnant females are the last to start the migration, as they remain to eat more.

Blue whales and other related species (like Sei whale) can speed up to 50 km/h (30 mph) over short bursts but the traveling speed is just 20 km/h (12 mph) but while feeding they can slow down to 5 km/h (3 mph). The elastic skin of the whale prevents the animal from producing whirls while swimming.

The humpback whales have 6 m (20 ft) long pectoral fins, which slow down the animal (to 12 km/h) but help it during its maneuvers while feeding. A whale's tail is just tendons and fibers (no bones) and can be up to 3 m (10 ft) wide.

There are some whale species (like Eden's whale) or populations (like humpback whales from the Red and Arabian seas), that do not migrate at all, living in warm waters and feeding all year round.

9.The so-called killer whales can be 9.5 m (32 ft) long, 6 tons heavy and have 50 dagger-like teeth.

These predators attack penguins, seals, dolphins and baleen whales (the huge blue whale included, when in pack) but, despite their name, they are not whales but oversized dolphins! This is a whale's only natural predator.

10.Whales are famous for their singing, especially the blue and humpback whales. Their song can have different reasons: getting a mate, social interaction, alarm, keeping inter-individual distance, feeding, prey location and so on.

Scientists have discovered that each whale population has its own "language" which is understood only by individuals of the same population.

The blue whale's song has 155 and 188 decibels, thus this is the loudest animal in the world (by comparison, a pneumatic drill is about 100 dB). But blue whales sing at frequencies, between 10 and 40 Hz and infrasounds under 20 Hz cannot be heard by humans. Infrasound travels further than audible sounds, so whales can communicate at distances of 185 km (115 mi). The song of the blue whales is 10 seconds to 2 minutes long, while humpback whales sing for 5 to 30 minutes. The songs of the humpback whales have frequencies of 20-450 Hz and can be clearly heard by humans.

11.Breaching (lunging) is an amazing whale behavior, when they leap out of water. Humpback, right and sperm whales do it more often than other species. Breaching is thought to have a role in communication. It is the most powerful animal action and has the role of intimidating adversaries or impress females. A 33 tonnes humpback whales, it raises the biomass of 485 humans, each one weighing 68 kg (190 pounds).

12.Some toothed whales, like the sperm whale, experience mass strandings. The most spectacular event took place on a New Zealand (Okita Beach) shore: 46 female and 13 male sperm whales. In time, this phenomenon have been signaled in Oregon, Tasmania, Elba estuary, Thames estuary, France, Australia.

Suicide would imply consciousness. Poisoning, contamination, parasites, stranded (hurt or dead) individuals followed by the whole group (each cetacean group has a leader), impairments in their echolocation (due to bad weather or sea bottom geology) and other theories have been formulated regarding this behavior. Others talk about former sea beds that remained in an instinctive memory of the cetaceans. In sandy areas, the sonar of the sperm whales can be impaired, especially during the storms.

But the most accepted is that these strandings are linked to Earth's electromagnetism. Cetaceans use the Earth's electromagnetism during their migrations and the strandings would occur where impairments in the Earth's geomagnetic field exist.

13.Many whale species (right whales or humpback whales) carry barnacles on the head and pectoral fins. A humpback whale can carry up to 0.5 tons of barnacles on their skin. The barnacles on the head give more effectiveness to the head blows during the males' fight.

14.Since 1986, an international ban on whaling has been ratified, but two of the so-called most civilized nations, Japan and Norway, refused to sign it and keep on hunting whales (in Japan under the mask of a shameful "scientific" program whale meat is delivered to Japanese restaurants).

Whales deliver oil (used for lamp illuminating or making candles, soap, margarine), meat (especially appreciated by the Japanese and Koreans), skin (for handbags, bicycle saddles), baleens (once used for making corsets and umbrellas), liver (rich in vitamin A and D), tendons (for racket strings or surgery threads), bones, blood (for fertilizers), teeth (in the case of the sperm whale, used for making carvings, dices, buttons).

Between 1835 and 1872, about 300,000 were hunted worldwide. The invention of the trans-harpoon cannon in 1868 started the massacre. The new fire power harpoon was carrying a grenade exploding when hitting the animal. Fast moving whales, like the blue whale and its relatives (rorquals) could be hunted, not just the slower right whales, gray whales and sperm whales.

Between 1930 and 1931, 28,325 blue whales were hunted, just 20 between 1964 and 1965 and from 1965 to 1966 just 4! Overall, in 1950, 55,795 whales were killed worldwide, in 1975 - 37,000; and in 1981 - only 15,000.

The whale populations are recovering now, but the slow process is hampered by activity of the Japan whaling fleet. In the 30s around 20,000 blue whales were killed annually, now the worldwide population is of about 5,000. The population of the Atlantic northern right whale is just of 2,000. Currently there are about 82,700 baleen whales.

Amazing Facts About Walruses

2009-12-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

1.Ten million years ago, walruses were the most diverse seals of the Pacific Ocean; some ate fish, other mollusks and bottom invertebrates. Five million years ago, walruses of California ate clams and sucked their content, missing lateral teeth for this purpose; this is an extinct branch.

Modern walruses evolved from another group. Five-eight million years ago, walruses passed into the Northern Atlantic through the sea passage that split North America from South America. The Pacific walruses disappeared, whereas these ones flourished and, 1 million years ago, invaded the Arctic Ocean. 300,000 years ago, they entered from the Arctic back into the Northern Pacific.

2.Adult male walruses form large concentrations on the beaches; this happens from May to October, when there is no wind and the temperature is over 15o C. Old or ill walruses live more retreated. If space is limited, individuals can stay ones over the others.

Inside the colony, the younger males stay at the periphery and the older adult males in the center. If the alarm call is given, all walruses will take refuge into the water. In the sea, the dominant males swim in the front.

The other walruses come to aid a walrus attacked by a polar bear.

During the summer, the other walruses migrate northward, following the ice pack, in groups of females with young, adolescent (around 4 years old) and young adult males (around 9 years old). The migrations may mean 3,000 km (1.870 mi) annually. During the winter, when Arctic ice pack extends and turns too thick, they return to the south.

Older males do not make long migrations and, this way, they do not compete for food with the young males and females.

Males (in rare cases females as well) have pharyngial sacks that act like resonating chambers for the sounds emitted frequently during the mating and at diving. Because of these sacks, walruses can float in the water in vertical position, with the head above the water.

Walruses avoid mainland shores, where they can e attacked by land predators like wolves and bears. Beaching is also necessary for wound healing, as wounds heal very slowly if staying continuously in sea saltwater.

3.Longer tusks mean higher hierarchical position and older age.

If a male loses a tusk, he will lose his rank in the hierarchical scale.

The tusks are 0.5 m (1.6 ft) long in females, and 1 m (3.3 ft) long and 3-6 kg (6-13 pounds) heavy in males. In females, they have a round section, whereas in males they are elliptical, and they can help to determine the age of the animal. In Anchorage (Alaska), carved tusks can cost $ 2,000.

They pierce the gum, by the age of 6 months, and are 2.5 cm (1 in) at 1 year old. They are visible by the age of 18 months, and grow continuously all the walrus' life. The skull is 42 cm (1.4 ft) long and 24 cm (0.8 ft) wide. Walruses have an overall of 18 teeth, lacking molars and having only upper incisor teeth.

During the competition for females, males show off their tusks. If the tusks are similar, they will fight and the weaker one will cede. Old males have the body covered by scars. The tusks are also used against predators and for making breathing holes in the ice. Walruses also use the tusks for dragging themselves out of the water on the shore. The walrus with the largest tusks is the alpha individual of the group. Walruses do not dig with the tusks, which have no feeding role.

Mating occurs in January-February. The 12-year-old males occupy a nuptial territory on ice pack, copulating all the females (which are sexually mature by the age of 4-5), following fights. Females form now groups of about 15 or larger. Males are sexually mature by the age of 7-9. Each group of females is followed by a few males, who remain in the water nearby. Males try to lure females, putting out repeated underwater calls, named clicks and bell rings, interpolated with roars and hisses at the surface. They are helped by the pharyngial sacks in producing these sounds.

Males cannot force females to copulate, as females have many alternative escape points out of the ice pack, and are lighter and more agile in the water. In the end females choose from amongst the fighting males, and mating takes place in the water.

Births take place in May, after a 15-16-month gestation. The egg is delayed 4 months till implanting on the uterine wall. That's due to the fact that the females must give birth on the ground during the next spring. During the spring, sea is warmer, and the infant has a higher chance of survival. The newborn is about 1.2 m (4 ft) long and 60-65 kg (133-144 pounds). For 6 months it is milk fed and triples its weight. The milk teeth are lost in the womb, and the offspring are born toothless. After 6 months, the young start imitating the adults digging for mollusks, but it will remain with the mother for protection till another walrus pup is born, for 2-4 years. After that, young males leave their mothers, to join the male groups. The offspring and the young are darker skinned. Walruses can live up to 40 years.

4.Walruses can dive to 200 m (660 ft) and keep their breath for 30 minutes. Generally, they do it for 10 minutes. The nostrils have 5 cm (2 in) in diameter.

In water, walruses can reach 35 km (22 mi) per hour, but they swim with a medium speed of 7 km (4 mi) per hour. Walruses do not go further than 30 km (19 mi) off the coast. Propelling is ensured by rear limbs, while the front limbs work like rudders.

The snout has about 450 vibrisae (whiskers), conferring them a developed touch sense for detecting mollusks. The vibrisae can be 15 cm (6 in) long, 3 mm wide, and can reveal the mood of the animal. The vibrisae are also used for communication, and two walruses can be seen "kissing" each other. Some walruses are blue-eyed.

The skin is 4 cm (1.6 in) thick and, in very cold water, it is almost white (due to vasoconstriction, for restricting heat loss). When taking sunbaths, the skin of the walruses turns pink-brown, due to the blood flow. The shoulder skin in males presents 5 cm (2 in) nodules for protection. There is a fatty layer under their skin 15 cm (6 in), as protection against the cold.

Walruses eat clams (smaller than 15 cm (6 in)) and mussels, about 20 tons per individual annually. The stomach can store 5 liters of clams. Other consumed animals are: shrimps, crabs, snails, cefalopods (squids, cuttlefish, octopuses), annelid worms, sea cucumbers and sea squirts (Tunicata). Occasionally, they eat small fish (like herrings), sea birds, and young seals; also, stranded cadavers of sea mammals (like belugas, or narwhals).

In the murky waters where walruses feed, sight is of no use, and they rely on touch when looking for food, employing their vibrisae. They grub like pigs, using the hardened upper edge of the muzzle to dig up shelled mollusks. Any prey, no matter how deep it is buried in its den, is dug up using water jets.

Walruses feed in cycles of 9 days: 2 days of resting on the beach and 7 days of feeding in the sea.

5.There are about 250,000 walruses, split in two races.

The north Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens), about 20,000 individuals, inhabit the shores of Bering Sea, northern Siberia (from Chukchi Sea to Laptev Sea). There is even a population of 4,000 individuals in the Laptev Sea (north-central Siberia). One colony is found in Alaska (Ronde Island), seven in Russia. These walruses can be 4.2 m (14 ft) long and weigh 2 tons, and the tusks make 17 % of the body length.

The north Atlantic walrus (Odobernus rosmarus rosmarus) lives in Novaia Zemlia, Svalbard, Northern Atlantic, eastern Hudson Bay, eastern Arctic Archipelago of Canada, eastern/western Greenland, northern Labrador. They can be 3.5 m (11.6 ft) long, and tusks make 12 % of the body length.

The North Atlantic race is smaller than the Pacific race. For example, in the Bering Sea (Northern Pacific) females are 2.7 m (9 ft) long and 830 kg (1,844 pounds) heavy, while the males are 3.5 m (11.6 ft) long and 1,210 kg (2.690 pounds) heavy. In Hudson Bay, female walruses are 2.5 m (8.3 ft) long and 565 kg (1.255 pounds) heavy, while the males are 2.9 m (9.6 ft) long and 795 kg (1.767 pounds). The largest walruses can weigh 2 tons.

The only natural predators of the walruses are the polar bear, large sharks and the orca.

6.Most mammals have an unique bone, named baculum (penis bone, penile bone or os penis), inside their penis. The sole mammals lacking the baculum are humans, horses, donkeys, rhinoceros, marsupials, rabbits, cetaceans (whales and dolphins), elephants and hyenas.

The baculum's size and shape varies, depending on the species and the largest baculum can be as long as 30 inches (75 cm): the size of a human femur!

But, a species of walrus that extinguished 12,000 years ago had a 4 ft (1.2 m) long baculum, with a dramatic curve to its tip and was covered with weathered skin and dry muscle tissue. In modern walruses, the baculum is straight, not curbed.

Amazing Dinosaur Facts

2009-12-09T07:02:00.000-08:00

The First Dinosaur to be Named

The first dinosaur to be named was Megalosaurus. It was named in 1824 by Reverend William Buckland. Megalosaurus means ‘great lizard’ and it was about 9 metres long, and 3 metres tall. The First Dinosaur to be Discovered in America

The first discovery of dinosaur remains in North America was made in 1854 by Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden during his exploration of the upper Missouri River. He discovered a small collection of teeth which were later described by Joseph Leidy in 1856 as belonging to Trachodon, Troodon, and Deinodon.

The longest dinosaur was Seismosaurus, which measured over 40 metres, as long as five double-decker buses. It was related to diplodocus, which for a long time held the honour.
More Dinosaur Facts The Heaviest Dinosaur

The heaviest dinosaur was Brachiosaurus at 80 tonnes. It was the equivalent to 17 African Elephants. Brachiosaurus was 16m tall and 26m long and is the largest dinosaur skeleton to be mounted in a museum.

The Smallest Dinosaur Egg - How To Tell a Dinosaur Egg from a Rock?

Dinosaur eggs come in all shapes and sizes. They tend to be ovoid or spherical in shape and up to 30cm in length - about the size of a rugby ball. The smallest dinosaur egg so far found is only 3cm long. Once the egg has been fossilised it will become hard like rock, but it will retain a structure of its own.

The smallest fully-grown fossil dinosaur is the little bird-hipped plant-eater like lesothosaurus, which was only the size of a chicken. Smaller fossilised examples have been found, but these are of baby dinosaurs. The Most Brainy Dinosaur

One of the most intelligent dinosaurs was Troodon. It was a hunting dinosaur, about 2 metres long, and had a brain size similar to that of a mammal or bird of today, stereoscopic vision, and grasping hands.

The Dumbest Dinosaur

Stegosaurus had a brain the size of a walnut - only 3 centimetres long and weighing 75 grams. However, comparing brain size to body size sauropodomorphs, like Plateosaurus, were probably one of the dumbest dinosaurs.

The Tallest Dinosaur

The tallest dinosaurs were the Brachiosaurid group of sauropods. Their front legs were longer than the rear legs giving them a giraffe-like stance. This combined with their extremely long necks, which were held vertically, meant they could browse off the tallest trees. Brachiosaurus - the most well known of the group - was 13 metres tall. Sauroposeidon was massive and probably grew to 18.5 metres tall making it the tallest dinosaur.

The Fastest Running Dinosaur

The speediest dinosaurs were the ostrich mimic ornithomimids, such as Dromiceiomimus, which could probably run at speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour. The Oldest Dinosaur

The oldest dinosaurs known are 230 million years old, and have been found in Madagasgar. As yet they have not been formally named. Before this Eoraptor, meaning "dawn thief" had held the title at 228 million years.

The Longest Dinosaur Name

The dinosaur with the longest name was Micropachycephalosaurus meaning "tiny thick-headed lizard". Its fossils have been found in China, and it was named in 1978 by the Chinese palaeontologist Dong.

The Fiercest Dinosaur

Tyrannosaurus rex looked the most ferocious of all the dinosaurs, but in terms of overall cunning, determination and its array of vicious weapons it was Utahraptor that was probably the fiercest of all. Utahraptor measured about 7 metres, and was a very powerful, agile and intelligent predator.

The Largest Pterosaur

Quetzalocoatlus with its wingspan of up to 13 metres was probably the largest pterosaur, and hence the largest flying creature of all time. Despite its size it weighed no more than 100 kilograms. Its only contender may be Arambourgiania, which is only known from one bone but scaled up the whole pterosaur could have been even larger. Pterosaurs were not dinosaur.

The Largest Plesiosaur

Elasmosaurus was the longest plesiosaur at up to 14 metres (46 ft) long. Half of its length was its neck, which had as many as 75 vertebrae in it (in comparison to 7-8 neck vertebrae in humans). Elasmosaurus had four long, paddle-like flippers, a tiny head, sharp teeth in strong jaws, and a pointed tail. Plesiosaurs were not dinosaurs but were marine reptiles.

What killed the dinosaurs?

It is believed that dinosaur extinction was part of a mass extinction brought about by two massive destructive events. The first of these was the collision with the Earth of a meteorite landing in what is now the Yucatan Peninsula, of Mexico. This was followed by an enormous volcanic eruption which split what is now India in half.

How many types of dinosaur were there?

At present over 700 different species of dinosaurs have been identified and named. However palaeontologists believe that there are many more new and different dinosaur species still to be discovered.

How many species of dinosaurs have been found in Britain?

So far 108 species of dinosaurs have been discovered in Britain. Britain was an important area during much of the Mesozoic Era acting as a 'land bridge' between North America and Eurasia. It became a hotspot for dinosaur evolution and migration. British dinosaurs include Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, Neovenator, Eotyrannus, and Cetiosaurus. The dinosaur Museum has the skeleton of a Megalosaurus and the skull of an Iguanodon on display.

Brad Pitt Amazing Facts

2009-12-04T22:27:00.001-08:00

Name : Brad Pitt

Real Name : William Bradley Pitt

Birthday : 18, Dec 1963 - Wednesday

Born Place : Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA. Raised in Springfield, Missouri.

Height : 183cm

Weight : 72kg

Zodiac Sign : Sagittarius

Hair: Blond ; Eyes: Blue

Family : Jennifer (wife), Jane (mom), Bill (dad), Doug (brother) and Julie (sister).

Relationships : Angelina Jolie, girlfriend (2005 to present)
Jennifer Aniston, ex-wife (1998 to 2005)
Gwyneth Paltrow, ex-girlfriend (1995 to 1997, engaged)
Jitka Pohlodek, ex-girlfriend (1993 to 1995)
Juliette Lewis, ex-girlfriend (1990 to 1993)
Robin Givens, ex-girlfriend (1989)
Jill Schoelen, ex-girlfriend (1988)

Children : Maddox Chivan, adopted son (8/5/01)
Pax Thien, adopted son (11/29/03)
Zahara Marley, adopted daughter (1/8/05)
Shiloh Nouvel, daughter (5/27/06)
Knox Leon, son (7/13/08)
Vivienne Marcheline, daughter (7/13/08)

Awards: Won 1 Golden Globe; 1 Oscar, 1 Emmy nomination

Education: Graduated from Kickapoo High School in Springfield 1982. Attended University Of Missouri at Columbia 1986.

Hobbies: Interior design, architecture and nature.

Smokes: Yes. His favourite brands are Camel Wides and Marlboro. Started smoking in 6th grade.

Pets: 5 dogs (Blanco, C.C. Rider, Purdy, Saudi and Todd Potter).

Car: Black GMC SUV. Previous a black Jeep Cherokee.

Favourite author: Cormac McCarthy

Favourite candy: Twizzlers

Favourite cereal: Frosted Flakes

Favourite drink: Mountain Dew

Favourite movies: Planet of the Apes and Saturday Night Fever

Favourite music : Jimi Hendrix, Gipsy Kings, Stone Temple Pilots and Bob Marley. The first album he bought was Elton John's 'Captain Fantastic'. He also likes Shirley Manson (Q Magazine March 1999). His first concert was the 'Dobbie brothers'

Drinks: Coffee and beer.

Favourite snacks: Pizza

Favourite sports: Bicycling, rock climbing and tennis.

Favourite TV-show: All in the Family

Hates: Sharks and spiders.

Brad Pitt's Addresses:

9150 Wilshire Blvd #350
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
USA

c/o Creative Artists Agency
9830 Wilshire Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
USA

There is rumor that Brad Pitt is not as muscular as the pictures had him on the Troy posters. Val Kilmer is reported to claim that Brad Pitt's muscles on the Troy posters was air brushed.

It has been reported that Brad Pitt walked out on the movie, Troy, during the official screening. His actions caused outrage at the Cannes Film Festival .

It is reported that Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon have been taking home videos of their weekends in order to promote the movie Ocean's 12.

It is reported that during the filming of the movie, Troy, Brad Pitt and Eric Bana turned their trailers into bars. Everyone on the set was invited to sit around and get drunk between shootings and during down time.

It is reported that Brad Pitt quit smoking for months in 2004 to prepare for the physical scenes of the movie, Troy. After the movie was completed, Brad Pitt allegedly went back to smoking.

It is reported that during the filming of Mr. and Mrs. Smith both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had to repeatedly seek medical attention. There was a flu virus going around the set. Because of the hot scenes in the movie, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were re-infecting one another over and over.

It is reported that six security guards were arrested for stealing an all-terrain motorcycle and tools that belonged to the crew of the movie, Troy.

It is reported that Brad Pitt abandoned the set and shooting of the movie, Troy, in order to go abroad and have his hair dyed again. Brad Pitt was allegedly concerned about the Mediterranean climate affecting his hair and booked
an appointment with a hair stylist in Britain to dye his hair
during the shooting. Daniel Galvin supposedly had to open up his shop in Britain so that he could help Brad Pitt through his hair crisis.

It is reported that before becoming an actor, Brad Pitt worked as the mascot for a eating establishment. Brad Pitt was allegedly their giant chicken.

Known for his rugged good looks (PEOPLE named him Sexiest Man Alive twice), Brad Pitt got his break as the hard-bodied scam artist in Thelma and Louise. But it was his riskier roles as the volatile Tyler Durden in Fight Club and the insane Jeffrey Goines in 12 Monkeys that earned him acclaim and an Oscar nod.

Having famously romanced many high-profile actresses, Pitt married Friends star Jennifer Aniston in 2000, but their union ended in 2005 and he quickly moved on with Mr. & Mrs. Smith costar Angelina Jolie.

The couple, who earned his-and-her lead actor Oscar nominations in 2009, attracted worldwide attention when Pitt adopted Jolie's two adopted children (Maddox and Zahara) and expanded their family with biological daughter Shiloh, adopted son Pax, and twins, a boy, Knox, and a girl, Vivienne.

1969

Singing his Praises

Even as a 6-year-old choirboy, Pitt turns heads during services at South Haven Baptist Church in his hometown of Springfield, Mo. "You couldn't keep from watching Brad because his face was so expressive," piano accompanist Connie Bilyeu tells PEOPLE. "He would move his little mouth so big with all the words that he attracted everyone's attention."

1986

January

Cluck for a Buck

Pitt drops out of the University of Missouri's journalism school to pursue acting in Hollywood. He takes a number of odd jobs once he gets there, including dressing up as an El Pollo Loco chicken and chauffeuring a limo for a strip-o-gram service.

1987

December

First Kiss

Pitt nabs a five-episode guest-starring role on the primetime soap ''Dallas''. He plays Randy, the boyfriend of Priscilla Presley's daughter. "It was real sweaty-palms time for me," he tells PEOPLE of his first smooching scene with actress Shalane McCall. "It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before."

1989 Romance Behind the Scenes

After meeting 16-year-old Juliette Lewis on the set of the TV movie Too Young to Die, they begin dating. "We were trying to be Sid and Nancy or something," he says of the relationship, which quickly gets serious when they move into a funky L.A. home together. The two, who star as greasy serial killers in 1993's Kalifornia, break up in February of that year.

1991 May 24 Ab Fab

Pitt steals the show as the often-shirtless hitchhiker who charms fleeing fugitive Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise. He almost didn't get the role, having been cast only when Billy Baldwin bowed out to star in Backdraft.

1992

October 09

Instant Legend

Often compared to Robert Redford because of his good looks, Pitt is directed by the screen legend in what the Los Angeles Times calls "a career-making performance" as one of two fly-fishing brothers in A River Runs Through It. "It's like tennis: When you play with somebody better than you, your game gets better," he tells the Chicago Tribune of working with Redford. "But yeah, it made me anxious."

1994

November 11

He's Got Bite

In his highest-profile role to date, Pitt holds his own opposite Tom Cruise in the big-screen adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. Pitt's bloodsucking character's sour mood makes shooting the movie a downer. "I hated doing this movie," he tells USA Today. "Hated it. Loved watching it. Completely hated doing it. My character is depressed from the beginning to the end."

December

Lucky Number Se7en

While filming the thriller Se7en, Pitt becomes smitten with 22-year-old costar Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays his eventually decapitated wife in the film. In December 1996, Pitt proposes to Paltrow and she accepts. "I can't wait, man," he tells Rolling Stone. "...walk down the aisle, wear the ring, kiss the bride. Oh, it's going to be great." Seven months later, they call off their engagement.

1995

January 30

Life Ain't the Pitts

PEOPLE names Pitt the Sexiest Man Alive. "Brad is one of the most attractive and talented men in the world," Vampire producer David Geffen tells PEOPLE. "He's going to be one of the biggest actors out there."

December 27

Committed

Eager to deglamorize himself, Pitt appears as a twitchy mental patient in the sci-fi thriller Twelve Monkeys. As part of his preparation, the actor checks into a psychiatric ward at a Philadelphia hospital for one day. The role earns Pitt his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

1996

October

You're Money, Baby

Pitt scores a reported $17.5 million up front from Universal Pictures to star in the upcoming feature Meet Joe Black. It's his first mega-star-worthy paycheck after receiving $10 million for each of his previous two films.

1998

May

Not Just Friends

Pitt and Friends star Jennifer Aniston go on a first date brokered by their respective managers. While neither will reveal who asked for it, both seem pretty happy with the result. While they initially go out of their way not to be photographed together, the pair eventually admit that they are indeed a couple, with Pitt reluctantly telling Oprah Winfrey in October, "Uh, we met through friends."

1999

October 15

Box-Office Knockout

Pitt appears as Tyler Durden in the hyper-violent Fight Club. To fully get in shape for the role – a sleazy, leather-jacket-wearing waiter who runs an underground slugging joint – Pitt practiced boxing and tae kwon do for months. He also temporarily had caps pried off his front teeth and replaced with snaggles. "My girl likes them," he says to PEOPLE.

2000

July 29

I'll Be There for You

Among friends, fireworks and 50,000 flowers, Aniston and Pitt tie the knot on a Malibu bluff, reading marriage vows they composed themselves. Pitt promises to "split the difference on the thermostat" while Aniston pledges to always make his "favorite banana milkshake." Pitt's brother Doug, 33, serves as best man. Aniston chooses two bridesmaids: high school friend Andrea Bendewald, 30, and documentary filmmaker Kristin Hahn-Stringer, 31, one of the first friends Aniston made in L.A. Famous guests include Courteney Cox Arquette and husband David Arquette, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek and Melissa Etheridge.

November 13

We're Bringing Sexy Back

Pitt is the first man to be named PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive twice. "Brad was always gorgeous," says assistant managing editor Elizabeth Sporkin, who oversaw the issue, "but commitment has amped up his inner glow." Pal George Clooney joins him in the honor in 2006.

2001 March 02 Pretty Man...and Woman

Pitt appears in The Mexican with Julia Roberts, marking the first time the two A-list stars have ever shared the screen together. It won't be the last: they'll team up with George Clooney and Matt Damon later in the year for the remake of Ocean's Eleven.

November 22

The Famous Spouse

Playing a formerly dorky high school friend of David Schwimmer's character on Friends, guest star Pitt is invited to Thanksgiving dinner, where he squares off against Aniston's character, an old adversary. It is Pitt's only appearance on the show, although he is a frequent fixture on the set, often playing video games with Schwimmer or talking cars with Matt LeBlanc.

2003

January 19

Trouble Signs?

Aniston forgets to thank Pitt during her acceptance speech for best actress in a TV comedy at the Golden Globes, prompting speculation that there may be a few cracks in their marriage.

March

Pitt Wears Short Skirts

Playing the ancient Greek warrior Achilles, Pitt begins filming Troy in a variety of locations, including Mexico and Malta. With production costs coming in around $185 million, it will be the most expensive picture Pitt has participated in, although it isn't the elaborate set that takes the most adjustment. "Let's just say that the skirt took a few weeks to get used to," he tells London's Sunday Times. "It's not even like a kilt. With a kilt, you've got a bit of length, but those Greeks liked the mini." Despite Pitt's overexposure, Troy will be a commercial disappointment when it premieres in May 2004, grossing $133 million domestically.

2004 January Intrigue and Espionage

Shooting begins on the spy action movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It doesn't take long for the tabloids to print reports emerging from the set about real-life sparks between Pitt and the film's other title actor, Angelina Jolie. "We try as hard as we can just to stay away from [the gossip]," Aniston says in May. "We try to laugh, of course." Pitt's brother Doug tells PEOPLE, "It's crap. Total crap."

2004

November

We Are the World

Pitt travels to South Africa to meet with former president Nelson Mandela and call attention to the country's AIDS epidemic before flying to Ethiopia on behalf of a Third World lobby group. "I've spent a wonderful week traveling this beautiful continent," he says in a statement, "listening to the people and learning about the AIDS crisis, the extreme poverty and what people in America can do to help." Continuing their work as social advocates, Pitt and Aniston lend their support to One Voice, a group promoting Middle East peace. Earlier in the year he campaigns for John Kerry and stem cell research.

2005

January 07

Separating Pitt & Aniston

Pitt and Aniston formally separate. "We would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media," they say in a statement. "This decision is the result of much thoughtful consideration."

March 25

Mock Family

Pitt and Jolie dress up in '50s-style outfits for a steamy W magazine photo shoot featuring them as husband and wife. "The only time Brad and Angelina came in contact with each other was to take a picture," an onlooker tells PEOPLE. Yet "there was definitely that wink-wink feeling on the set."

April 19

The Cat's out of the Bag

Pictures of Pitt and Jolie frolicking with her 3-year-old son Maddox on Kenya's Diani Beach give credence to tabloid reports that they are a couple. Despite sharing a $2,000-a-night oceanside villa and journeying on a half-day safari at the Shimba Hills National Reserve, the newly crowned "Brangelina" refuse to confirm their coupledom. In June, Pitt denies that Jolie is a "home wrecker" in an interview with Diane Sawyer.

July 07

Brad Becomes Dad

Pitt joins Jolie and Maddox on a trip to Ethiopia, where she adopts Zahara Marley, a newborn orphaned by AIDS. In December, Pitt will petition to adopt Zahara as well as Maddox, becoming the children's legal father and changing their last names to Jolie-Pitt.
2006

May 27

Hello, Shiloh!

Pitt and Jolie welcome baby girl Shiloh Nouvel at the small Cottage Medi-Clinic in Swakopmund, a coastal town of some 20,000 in the African nation of Namibia. The new parents celebrate the birth of their first biological child with a $300,000 donation to purchase maternity ward medical equipment for two state hospitals in the nation. "We want to contribute to Namibia and the people who have been so gracious to us at this time," they say in a statement. The donation, says their philanthropic adviser Trevor Neilson, "is a thank-you and a recognition that not all parents are as lucky, that the world needs to do more to help parents who don't have access to a safe place to have their children."

2007

March 15

Pitt & Jolie Expand Family

Jolie adopts 3-year-old Pax Thien from an orphanage outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Pitt is unable to accompany Jolie due to his filming schedule, but she brings 5-year-old Maddox and 2-year-old Zahara to welcome their new brother. She filed for adoption solo because Vietnamese law makes it difficult for unmarried couples to adopt, but in April, she asks a California court to change her newly adopted son's last name to Jolie-Pitt.

May 07

Beauty Inside & Out

Pitt is named one of PEOPLE's Most Beautiful, headlining the issue's "Beauty Inside & Out" feature on humanitarianism with Jolie. "Being a father means being concerned about the plight of all children," he says, "especially the children who don't have the opportunities mine have." A week later, Pitt is named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World for "showing off his serious side" with producing projects like A Mighty Heart (starring Jolie) and the documentary God Grew Tired of Us.

August 21

Brad's New Orleans Green House

Three months after breaking ground in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, Pitt returns to see the two-story, 1,400-sq.-ft., environmentally-friendly home he built with Global Green USA and the Home Depot foundation. "Katrina was a man-made disaster. This is a man-made solution," Pitt tells PEOPLE of the home he built for low-income victims of Hurricane Katrina. "I think we'll really improve quality of life. That's what I call a victory."

2008

July 12

The Jolie-Pitt Twins

Adding to their brood (Maddox, Pax, Zahara, and Shiloh), Pitt and Jolie welcome twins, a boy, Knox Léon, and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline in Nice, France. Just hours after cutting the umbilical cords of his newborn twins, Pitt tells the mayor of Nice, "I'm the happiest father ever." In August, the proud parents debut their twins on the cover of PEOPLE, where Pitt says, "[It's] still a cuckoo's nest."

2008

December 25

One for the Ages

With Cate Blanchett, Pitt stars in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, about a man who ages in reverse. The film rakes in $11.8 million opening day, making it the second-highest Christmas-opening of all-time. "It's a movie in the vein of the classics," says Pitt. "[It's a] classic epic, dealing with life and love, and all that fantastic stuff." His performance earns him Golden Globe, Oscar and SAG nominations for best lead actor.

2009

February

Brad On Jen vs. Angie

Pitt sets the record straight about the alleged rivalry between Aniston and Jolie in the February issue of W. "Listen, man, Jen is a sweetheart. I think she got dragged into that one," says Pitt about Aniston's "uncool" Vogue headline. On his hook-up with Jolie, Pitt explains, "We were still filming [Mrs. & Mrs. Smith] after Jen and I split up. Even then it doesn't mean that there was some kind of dastardly affair. There wasn't," adding, "I'm very proud of the way that it was handled. It was respectful."

August 21

Inglourious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds tops the box office with a $37.6 million – the best opening of director Quentin Tarantino's career. Pitt, who plays Aldo "The Apache" Raine, the leader of a troop hunting Nazis, brought the spirit of his character home to his kids. "I'd tell those little 'basterds' to get out there and start scalpin'!" he told PEOPLE.

50 Fun Facts on Robert Pattinson : Twilight's Teen Vampire

2009-12-04T19:53:00.000-08:00

1. Robert Pattinson was born on the 13th May 1986 in London.

2. His fan Website recently asked its fans to stop treating Robert like a "piece of meat" when they see him in public.

3. His middle name is Thomas.

4. Up until he was 12, Pattinson's sisters dressed him up as a girl and introduce him as Claudia.

5. His sisters are Lizzie, a singer/songwriter, and Victoria, who is into politics.

6 . His Dad wanted him to be an actor.

7. Twelve was a turning point for Robert - He moved to a mixed school and became "cool" with the discovery of hair gel.

8. He started acting at age 15 in plays.

9. He cut his acting teeth with the Barnes Theatre Company in heavy numbers like Shakespeare's Macbeth and Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

10. His first film role was Giselher in Ring of the Nibelungs, quickly followed by the role of Older Rawdy Crawley in Vanity Fair.

11. He aspires to be like Jack Nicholson.

12. He height is 6' 1.

13. He enjoys music and is an excellent musician, playing the guitar and keyboard.

14. Robert is a keen sportsman, taking part in everything from football and athletics to skiing and snowboarding.

15. He attended Harrodian private school in London with fellow actor and good friend Tom Sturridge.

16. Got expelled from school when he was twelve.

17. His fashion sense is inspired by James Dean.

18. For the role of Edward Cullen, Robert flew from England to director Catherine Hardwicke's house to audition. There, he and Kristen Stewart, who was already cast as Bella Swan, rehearsed the "Love Scene"/"Meadow Scene" on Hardwicke's own bed.

19. Since May 27th, he is also known as Spunk Ransom.

20. Another nickname is Rpatzz.

21. His eyes are bluish grey

22. His hair is brownish blonde

23. He did a paper round for 10 ($20) a week from the age of 10

24. He was obsessed with earning money until he turned 15.

25. Was in a band named Bad Girl that played "rocky stuff".

26. He says he doesn't want to be paid every again, wants to do everything for free - can we have that in writing?

27. Says he is determined to take on really weird roles following his parts in Harry Potter and Twilight.

28.One of his first roles was a small part as a Cuban dancer

29. He played a WW2 pilot in a BBC2 play - The Haunting of Toby Jugg

30. He has an agent in LA

31. He used to throw up on the set of Harry Potter through nerves.

32. He has turned his hand to directing and has directed a play

33. He employed a personal trainer after a costume designer said his body looked like he should be playing a sissy or something.

34. He was not a Harry Potter fan nor had he read any of the books before getting his part as Cedric.

35. He had nightmares about his Harry Potter premiere for months before it happened.

36. He was named' British star of Tomorrow ' by Times online in 2005

37. He would have liked the role of Harry Potter

38. He learned to scuba dive for his Potter role.

39. He asked Michael Gambon for his autograph

40. Rob thinks that he is immature

41. Someone once stole his shoelaces from his shoes. He now wears the shoes without laces as a sort of signature!

42. He says is no good at accents

43. He has been described as having a rippling brow and matinee idol chin!

44. He's rumoured to be going out with a Brazilian model.

45. He has appeared in an advertising campaign for Hacketts (an up market London men's outfitters)

46. Robert has a thriving Spanish website.

47. His shirtless scenes in Twilight have been scrapped because he 'looked weird'.

48. Robert's own music will feature in Twilight.

49. He got bags of angry letter saying he should not play Edward in Twilight.

50. You can get Roberts biography' Eternally Yours' on $4.99 on Amazon (if there's anything I've left out!)

Twilight Amazing Facts You Must Know

2009-12-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

Twilight Amazing Facts You Must Know

Kristen Stewart has naturally green eyes. She wears brown contacts for filming to match Bella's eye color.

Kellan Lutz intended on keeping his natural curly hair for the role of Emmett Cullen. However, his previous role in "Generation Kill" (2008) required a buzz cut and his hair didn't grow fast enough for the filming of Twilight (2008/I).

Henry Cavill was Stephenie Meyer's first choice to play Edward. However, but by the time production was to begin, he was 25 years old, and no longer looked the part of a 17-year old. He was then offered the part of Carlisle Cullen but turned it down due to his commitment with "The Tudors" (2007).

For the role of Edward Cullen, Robert Pattinson flew from England to director Catherine Hardwicke's house to audition. There, he and Kristen Stewart, who was already cast as Bella Swan, rehearsed the "Love Scene"/"Meadow Scene" on Hardwicke's own bed.

All of the actors playing the Cullens wear topaz-colored contacts.

Taylor Lautner had to wear a wig for his role as Jacob Black.

Over 5,000 actors auditioned for the role of Edward.

According to a July interview between network.nationalpost.com and director Catherine Hardwicke, Kristen Stewart was recommended for the role of Bella Swan by Emile Hirsch, her co-star from Into the Wild (2007) and whom Hardwicke directed in Lords of Dogtown (2005).

The script was finished in 6 weeks.

Robert Pattinson stated in an interview that this is his first American role and he had no formal training to perfect his American accent.

When the 'evil vampires' make their first appearance, actors Cam Gigandet, Rachelle Lefevre and Edi Gathegi are all wearing little slippers painted like bare feet.

Jessica in the movie is a combination of the characters Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory from the book.

Eric in the movie is a combination of the characters Eric Yorkie and Ben Cheney from the book.

Kristen Stewart wore hair pieces so they didn't have to waste time doing her hair, and therefore had more time to shoot.

Kristen Stewart turned eighteen while filming the movie and was rewarded with a birthday cake - and a full night of shooting.

Nikki Reed (Rosalie Hale) and Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Hale) learned how to play baseball left-handed for the famous baseball scene.

Stephenie Meyer claims these authors partially inspired her: Jane Austen, Orson Scott Card, Shakespeare, and Charlotte Bronte

Christian Serratos wore her own glasses for her part as Angela Weber.

When Bella is searching the internet and finds the link for the bookstore in Port Angeles, the link above it is for Little Brown. Little Brown is the publisher of the Twilight Saga.

Before casting, Robert Pattinson had never heard of the Twilight novel. He only attended casting because he liked Kristen Stewart's performance in Into the Wild (2007).

MTV Films & Maverick Films were the original owners of the rights to produce the film. Paramount was set as the distributor. Eventually MTV Films wasn't able to get a script they felt was good enough for the film and Summit Entertainment ended up getting the rights and actually producing and distributing the film.

Cameo: [Stephenie Meyer] The author of the original books can be seen next to a laptop ordering a vegetarian sandwich in the diner at the beginning of the scene where Charlie asks Bella if she likes the boys in town.

With its $69.6 million opening weekend gross the movie had the biggest opening ever for a film directed by a woman, and also for a film starring a woman.

At the cafeteria salad bar, Bella drops an apple which Edward picks back up and then cradles in his hands, copying the cover image of the Twilight novel. On the one of the DVD's special features Catherine Hardwicke said that took them 13 takes to get it right.

Stephenie Meyer cited the band Muse as her source of inspiration to write her books, and another of her favorite groups is Linkin Park. Both bands contributed a song to the movie's soundtrack.

Kristen Stewart's stunt double, Katie Powers, also plays a waitress at the diner.

During the filming of the prom scene, Kristen Stewart didn't like the songs playing so suggested 'Flightless Bird, American Mouth' by Iron & Wine which they decided to use.

In almost every scene involving a television, the ending ballet studio scene is being played.

Robert Pattinson performed two songs in the movie, however only one of these songs, "Never Think," appears on the soundtrack. His other song, "Let Me Sign", is a bonus track.

In the hospital scene, when Bella and her mother are talking about the accident, the TV in the background can be seen playing the previous scene.

It took 36 hours to turn Nikki Reed's naturally brunette hair to blonde.

All of the Cullens can be seen wearing jewelry with the same symbol on it. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett all had the same wristband, and Alice and Rosalie had similar necklaces with the symbol on it; Esme had a bracelet and Carlisle had a ring.

The jacket worn by Solomon Trimble in the LaPush beach scene was handmade by his mother from a Pendleton blanket.

Robert Pattinson unknowingly contributed two songs to this film. Apparently, he didn't know that "a mysterious third party" had given the director a copy of music he had recorded years ago. She decided to use two of the songs, and he was surprised to hear them when viewing early film footage. The songs are: "Never Think" [playing during the restaurant scene] and "Let Me Sign" (plays during the scene where Edward has to drink Bella's blood to save her). Pattinson said he was overwhelmed by how well "Let Me Sign" fit into the film.

Stephenie Meyer wrote a parallel novel (unfinished) to "Twilight" called "Midnight Sun". It tells the story of the first book from Edward's point of view. In it, he comments that the arrival of Bella to the school has all of the boys "acting like they're in first grade and she's the shiny new toy". This thought is spoken aloud by Jessica during Bella's first lunch in the cafeteria.

The original release date for Twilight (2008/I) was December 12, 2008. When the release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) was moved from November 21, 2008, to July 17, 2009, Twilight's release date was moved forward to November 21 in a attempt to fill the Harry Potter gap.

Catherine Hardwicke has said that she filmed a scene with Robert Pattinson taken directly out of "Midnight Sun", the unfinished novel by Stephenie Meyer telling the story of Twilight through Edward's perspective. According to her, this scene will be on the DVD.

The Cullen family crest (seen worn by all the Cullens) is a lion with a hand over its head, and a downward pointing chevron with 3 clovers. The lion was added because of the famous line "And so the Lion fell in love with the Lamb", but the other portions (chevron, clovers, and hand) are from the actual Cullen Coat of Arms, although there are fewer clovers (2), more hands (3), and a sheaf of wheat on the real one.

Even though there is a song by Radiohead in the movie, it never made it to the official soundtrack album.

Stephenie Meyer had her own personal cast before all the roles were officially casted. They including Emily Browning as Bella Swan, Henry Cavill as Edward Cullen, Charlie Hunnam as Carlisle Cullen, Mary-Louise Parker as Esme Cullen, Rachael Leigh Cook as Alice Cullen, Trent Ford as Jasper Hale, Tom Welling as Emmett Cullen and Olivia Wilde as Rosalie Hale.

The movie was shot in 48 days.

Nikki Reed was the one who got the producers to add Robert Pattinson's songs to the film. Reed secretly started recording him from her laptop, while he was singing, and playing his guitar. She then took it to the film producers, were they fell in love with his songs. The next day, they asked Rob if he could sing a few of his songs for the soundtrack, and he accepted.

Cam Gigandet was originally cast as Emmett Cullen, but asked director Catherine Hardwicke if he could play the role of James instead. She agreed.

The beer that Charlie drinks in the movie is "Rainier Beer", a brewing company originally based out of Seattle, Washington. Charlie refers to it as "vitamin R", which is a common nickname for Rainer Beer.

Robert Pattinson actually plays the piano in the scene where Edward is playing "Bella's Lullaby".

The song playing on the background when Bella comes to "have dinner" at the Cullen's is the aria "Libiamo" from La Traviata. "Libiamo" literally means "Let's Drink", which is exactly what the Cullens do when they "have dinner".

When Bella and Edward are lying in the meadow, the sun coming through the trees makes a heart between them.

Prior to the release of the Twilight Soundtrack featuring Carter Burwell's scored theme of "Bella's Lullaby", Yurima's piano composition, "River Flows in You", was largely and erroneously believed by many fans to be featured in the movie as the lullaby. This was due to a popular fan site including the piece by Yurima on a playlist of songs that served as their personal soundtrack for the Twilight book. While this song was how the fan site imagined the lullaby to sound (and subsequently thousands of fans online), it was never a part of the movie.

Matt Bellamy of Muse gave Carter Burwell music for Bella's Lullaby, but it wasn't used.

While entering the building at the prom, Victoria can be seen at a slot machine to the right of Bella, her hair in a bun, fur, and dress.

As soon as Robert Pattinson was cast, he moved to Oregon and began working on his character, both physically and mentally. He worked out five hours a day with a trainer: learning to fight, play baseball, and do stunts. He also had to learn to drive and get an Oregon driver's license.

When Edward enters the cafeteria, Robert Pattinson's sister, Lizzie, can be heard singing vocals on the soundtrack.

Robert Pattinson moved to Oregon a few weeks before filming began and didn't talk to anyone to try and feel as isolated as Edward Cullen.

The apple on the cover of the book is not only a symbol for the forbidden; in Scandinavian mythology the apple is a symbol for eternal youth and beauty. However, on her official website 'Stephanie Meyer' states that she used the apple on the book cover because of the past literary connections (causing trouble every time) like in Snow White and the Golden Apple Paris gives to Aphrodite in Greek Mythology and because to her apple represents "choice".

The first scenes filmed for the movie were the ballet room showdown and the baseball scene as Cam Gignet had to leave the set to shoot another movie.

Edward's car is a Volvo C30.

The dress Kristen Stewart wears in the prom scene was only twenty dollars. The suit Robert Pattinson wore was the most expensive item of clothing from the entire shoot.

When Carlisle bit Edward, he whispered something into his ear. The first time it was "I'm sorry" then "My son". On about the fifth take he said, "You're sexy".

In the kissing scene Kristen is wearing one of director Catherine Hardwicke's shirts.

The playing cards used during the prom were from Rio, a Las Vegas casino.

In the hospital scene at the end with Edward and Bella there is a drawing of the ballet studio.

In the scene where Bella goes to the Cullens house for the first time, when Nikki Reed's character had to break the bowl, she actually cut her hands. This is why she is wearing gloves for the scene in the film.

When the high school students are getting ready for prom, Eric tells Bella he'll need to borrow her iPod for dance music. 'Kristen Stewart' (Bella) actually suggested the song "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" by Iron & Wine to play during the dance scene Bella shares with Edward at prom.

Peter Facinelli was the second choice to play Carlisle Cullen. When he found out that he lost out on the final round of auditions, he wrote a note to Catherine Hardwicke, saying, "I hope to work with you sometime." At the last minute before shooting, the original actor withdrew due to shooting conflicts. Hardwicke then offered the role to Facinelli, who immediately took up. He had to dye his hair blond before starting work.

While doing location scouting work in La Push, Catherine Hardwicke and the crew saw people surfing and suggested to screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to add beach surfing scene. Rosenberg agreed and added it but the scene had to be scrapped because of budget constraints.

In the script, the climatic Bella's "limbo" scene was intended to be an underwater sequence but budget constraints will not allow the scene to be filmed. As the alternative, outtakes from other scenes of Bella and Edward together were used, albeit digitally modified.

Bryce Dallas Howard was offered the role of Victoria but turned it down as she found the role too small. She later took the role when Summit Entertainment fired Rachelle Lefevre from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010).

In addition to Robert Pattinson and Jackson Rathbone among the 4 finalists for the role of Edward, the other two, according to Catherine Hardwicke were Ben Barnes and Shiloh Fernandez. Rathbone was eventually offered the other role of Jasper instead.

Kristen Stewart, who plays Bella in the Twilight movie, was "discovered" by an agent when she was 8-years-old and starring in her elementary school Christmas pageant.

When Meyer began writing the book, she didn't have names yet for Edward and Bella, so she just called them "he" and "she" in the first chapter (Chapter 13) that she wrote. Like Bella before she moved to Forks, Washington, Meyer also grew up in Phoenix, Arizona.

Also like Bella – who went from mousy to one of the most sought after girls at her school when she moved from Phoenix to Forks – Meyer said that, compared to the "Barbies" in her Scottsdale, Arizona high school, she was considered a "5." But when she went away to college, she was suddenly popular with guys.

The idea for the book came to author Stephenie Meyer in a dream. She even remembers the exact day of the dream: June 2, 2003.

Thousands of men wanted to audition for the part of Edward in the Twilight movie, and fans wanted Smallville hottie Tom Welling to play the part.

Robert Pattinson, who won the role of Edward in the Nov. 21 movie, is also an aspiring rock star whose songs are included on the movie's official soundtrack.

Meyer originally titled Twilight after the real-world town most of the story is set in: Forks.

On her official Website, Meyer has shared a list of the music she listened to while writing Twilight, including tunes by Radiohead, Coldplay, Linkin Park, Dido and Billy Joel.

More than 100 Twilight fans each day make trips to the real small town of Forks, Washington. A restaurant called Sully's Drive-In even offers a Bella Burger on its menu, and the burger comes with a special side item: A pair of fake plastic vampire teeth!

Meyer started writing a companion book to Twilight, one that would tell that book's story from Edward's perspective instead of Bella's. When someone closer to the author leaked chapters from the book onto the Internet, Meyer — at least temporarily — abandoned the project, but she has posted the leaked chapters on her Website.

Kristin Stewart was only 17 throughout most of the Twilight movie shoot. Her favorite part of getting to play Bella, she says, was "getting to kiss Edward Cullen."

Amazing Facts About USA

2009-12-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

The highest point in the United States of America is Mount McKinley (6,194 m).

The Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater) in Arizona, estimated to be 49,000 years old, is 1.2 km across and 100 m deep.

The Mississippi-Missouri is the longest river in the USA.

Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes, is the USA's largest lake.

Six hundred and forty thousand years ago, a massive volcanic eruption took place in present-day Yellowstone Park (Wyoming). The caldera is seventy kilometres long and thirty kilometres wide. Yellowstone became the world's first National Park in 1872.

Skeletons of prehistoric animals buried by volcanic ash in the State of Nebraska can be seen at the Ashfall State Historical Park.

Twenty thousand years ago nomadic people, thought to have traveled from Asia, hunted mammoths and antelope in New Mexico.

Recent studies point to a very early migration of people to America across the Atlantic. One theory is that the Solutrean Neolithic (Stone Age) people from southwest France may have made the journey.

Poverty Point, Louisiana, is an archaeological site dating back to 2200 BC. It contains a geometric earthwork complex, consisting of over eleven miles of raised terraces.

In the sixth century AD the Ancestral Pueblo built villages in the south-west of the country. An example of Ancestral Pueblo architecture can be seen in Mesa Verde National Park.

The pre-Columbian settlement of Cahokia (800-1400 AD), near St Louis, had a population of twenty thousand people.

About a thousand years ago Leif Ericson (born in Iceland) made voyages along the North American coast.

The voyages of Christopher Columbus to the New World took place between 1492 and 1504.

The explorer Amerigo Vespucci gave his name to America.

When the first settlers arrived in America millions of buffalo roamed the plains.

The Indian princess Pocahontas (1595-1617) was a friend to the colonists of Jamestown in Virginia at a time when they were finding life difficult. During a period when she was held captive, to exchange for English prisoners, Pocahontas met and married the colonist John Rolfe.

Well remembered Native American Indian leaders include Cochise (Apache) Geronimo (Apache) and Sitting Bull (Sioux).

Famous American outlaws include Jesse James, Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy.

Oklahoma was a centre of the early cattle industry.

Over the years immigrants arrived in the USA from all over the world: China, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Spain and Vietnam.

Richmond, the capital of the state of Virginia in the USA, was named after Richmond upon Thames in the UK.

The State of Nevada's name comes from the Spanish meaning snow-capped.

The State of Louisiana was named after the French King Louis XIV.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote Paul Revere's Ride. The poem tells the story of the ride through the country to alert people to the beginning of the American War of Independence:

"The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat."

George Washington was the first President of the United States.

The American Colonization Society promoted resettling freed American slaves in Africa. The resettlement of freed slaves in Liberia began in 1822.

President Abraham Lincoln was shot while attending the theatre with his wife. He died the following morning on 15 April 1865.

Between 1927 and 1941, Gutzon Borglum sculpted busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore.

Russia sold the State of Alaska (to the west of Canada) to the United States in 1867.

Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty and Gustave Eiffel its structural engineer. The statue was presented to the American people by the people of France on 4th July 1884 and shipped to the US in early 1885.

Al Capone, one of America's most famous gangsters, made his money selling alcohol during Prohibition (anti-alcohol laws).

Helen Keller was born in Alabama in 1880 and lost her sight and hearing at a very early age. Helen grew up to become a famous speaker who also helped to set up the American Foundation for the Blind.

In 1903 the Wright brothers made the first successful flight in a plane.

Lindburgh made the first non-stop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in 1927.

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic (1931).

New York's Empire State Building, a National Historic Landmark, is one of the world's tallest buildings.

Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park on Lake Michigan is among the world's largest fountains and one of Chicago's most familiar landmarks.

William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) was an American newspaper owner who is said to have inspired Citizen Kane, the film directed by Orson Welles.

Jean Paul Getty (1892-1976), the American oil baron, set up a foundation dedicated to the visual arts and the humanities.

During the Second World War in August 1945 the USA dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Polaris atomic-powered submarines were launched in 1958. They were armed with nuclear warheads and had a very long firing range.

In 1960 a US reconnaissance plane was shot down over the USSR. Its pilot, Gary Powers, was captured but later released.

Malcolm X, the black militant leader, was shot and killed in 1965.

1968 saw the death of Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights leader, aged 38. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

The Anti-Vietnam War Movement in the US gained momentum in the late 1960s and early 1970s; the Americans withdrew from Vietnam in 1973.

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were Washington Post reporters who investigated the Watergate break-ins. President Nixon ordered a cover-up of the affair and eventually had to resign.

On 18 May 1980 the Mount St Helens volcano (Washington State) erupted. Fifty-seven people and thousands of animals perished.

In 1986 seven members of the crew of the Challenger Space Shuttle were killed when the Challenger exploded just over a minute after take-off.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 to study stars and galaxies.

On 11 September 2001 four US planes were hijacked by terrorists; two crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, one crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. It was estimated that around three thousand people were killed.

In August 2005 Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf Coast of the USA killing thousands of people, destroying homes, property and infrastructure.

On 4 November 2008 Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States of America. Barack Obama is the first African-American to be elected President of the USA.

The Mustard Museum in the United States in in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin. (4-12-2007)

$12 was the cost of General Electric’s first set of 24 Christmas lights (equaled the average paycheck of one work week in 1903).

The average number of lights on a Christmas tree is 200 lights.

In 1882, Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees.

There are 50,000 lights on the tallest lighted living Christmas tree, located in Blue River, Oregon.

There are approximately 300,000 Christmas lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah

The first train robbery in the United States was committed by the Reno brothers in 1866. They hopped the Ohio and Minnesota train as it pulled out of the Seymour, Indiana depot. Their take was $15,000.

The Greene County (Indiana) viaduct was completed in 1906. Locally known as "Tulip Trestle", it is 180 feet high and 2,295 feet long making it the longest train trestle in the U. S.

In 1862, Richard Gatling of Indianapolis, Indiana invented the rapid-fire machine gun.

The tallest person in modern history was Robert Pershing Wadlow, born in Alton, IL. He was 8 feet & 11 inches tall. He was born in 1918. He died in 1940. Submitted by Emily R, Illinois, age 12 (8-20-03)

America eats approximately 100 acres of pizza every day!! (7-29-03)

The Lincoln Highway, U.S. Route 30 sparked a country's imagination as the nation's first coast-to-coast highway, running from New York to San Francisco and igniting a wave of automobile tourism in the early 20th century. (5-2001)

The only time you may fly the U.S. flag upside down is when signaling for distress. (Submitted by April)

The United States is the most obese society in the world with fully 33% of our population overweight -- over 30% fat by body weight, for women, 25% for men. Compare this fact to the 3% overweight in France!!

In the early 1800's, a man named John Chapman crossed over and around the state of Ohio planting Apple seeds. We know him better as Johnny Appleseed. He was born and raised in Leominster, Massachusetts and finally settled in Mansfield, OH after his days of traveling were over

RAINBOWS & MOONBOWS

A spectacular phenomenon known as a blanket of fire/rainbow was seen on Saturday, 8 June 2006 on the Washington-Idaho border around midday, covering hundreds of square miles. A spokesman for the US National Weather Service in Spokane, Washington said, “It was even more spectacular than the Northern Lights. I feel lucky to have seen it because it only forms in very rare situations. This is the first one I've ever seen. It was a breathtaking sight and it hung around for about an hour. See a picture of this rainbow (6-27-2006)

Moonbows appear to be more common than our first submitters thought!

Moon bows are not uncommon on Kauai, Hawaii. They are reflections of moonlight off of evening showers, usually, just after full moon rise. They can be viewed at this time by looking west at a shower when the moon is unobstructed to the east. Submitted by Jack

The only moonbow in the western hemisphere occurs at Cumberland Falls, Kentucky during the full moon. This is also the largest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains and south of Niagara Falls

My friends and I saw a moonbow on the beach of Nags Head North Carolina in the Summer of 1996. It was very late in the evening, shortly after the moon rose high in the sky. It began to rain briefly and then suddenly stopped. Very soon after, a moonbow appeared, stretching the length of our view of the Atlantic ocean -- Extremely beautiful and majestic. It was very pale white, gray, blue & darker blue. So they do happen almost anywhere if the conditions are right. They just don't occur regularly. It is a very special thing. (9-01)

A Moonbow has been seen on more than one occasion formed by a nearly full moon on Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park.

Moonbows can be seen anywhere a full moon is rising and precipitation is opposite. They can be seen WITH FAINT COLOR as we witnessed one in southern Saskatchewan in Aug 2000. This has to do with the "largeness" of the precipitation. Since it was a rain with huge drops, we could see faint color. (1-03)

AIRPORTS & TRAVEL RELATED FACTS

The New York City Transit Authority says that, “The city’s first regular elevated railway service began on 14 February 1870. The El ran along Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan. Elevated train service expanded and dominated rapid transit for the next few decades.” (http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/facts/ffhist.htm) This elevated train system emerged in the 1870s as an efficient means of transporting commuter, avoiding Manhattan’s congested streets. (2-2006)

Much is made of Chicago's famous elevated trains in the Loop. There they are called the "L". Their theretofore elevated trains were electrified in 1895. For which they are touted as being the first elevated electrified trains in the USA. The 1886 Louisville Ky elevated trains of the Kentucky & Indiana Bridge co. Initially these were steam powered trains, but in 1893....a full two years earlier than Chicago. Louisville Ky had a 5.5 mile elevated system with multiple car electric trains running from 5:45 am till 2:30 am. Thousands commuted by these trains. This commuter train was enormously popular a popularity which grew exponentially from day one. By 1907 over 1500 commuted on a daily basis, over 1,500,000 passengers per annum. YES !!! Louisville Kentuckys electric elevateds were up and running before Chicago's. (10-16-08)

Denver International Airport is the largest in the USA and second largest in the world in terms of size over 53 square miles… Also has the longest commerical runway at 16,000 feet! (12-05)

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world's busiest airport. Locatedjust 10 miles south of downtown Atlanta, Georgia's capital city. Atlanta also had the first air passenger terminal in the world. (submitted 5-2008)

The City Of Kinston, NC is home to the world's first Global Transpark, The North Carolina Global Transpark. Adjacent to the park is the Kinston Regional Airport, the largest airport in Coastal North Carolina, has a landing strip of 17,000 feet, the longest in the United States. Also the jetport is one of the only airports to originally be an air force base. (Originally Stallings Air Force Base, Kinston)
Submitted by Collin Patrick Nethercutt, original Kinstonian (1-2003)

College Park Maryland has the oldest functioning airport in the USA. The Wright Brothers tested airplanes at this airport! (submitted by Amanda)

Passenger traffic at the Portland International Airport (Oregon) has more than doubled in the past decade to over 13 million people a year

The Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport is larger than New York City's Manhattan Island!

GEOGRAPHY & RELATED FACTS

Tallest mountain in the world if you account for the entire mountain is located in Hawaii Mauna Kea is 33,480 feet tall however only 13,796 is above sea level (12-05)

Reno and Carson City, Nevada are west of a north-south longitude line running through Los Angeles, California. (4-11-2007)

Louisville Kentucky is closer to Windsor Canada than it is to Memphis TN. (10-16-08)

Mount Rushmore used to be called Slaughterhouse Rock. It had also been called Cougar Mountain. (3-2002)

The tallest waterfall east of the Rockies is Whitewater Falls in North Carolina at 411 feet
This fact has been disputed:

Amicalola, a Cherokee Indian word meaning "tumbling waters," is an appropriate name for these 729-foot falls - the tallest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River. Amicalola Falls is located in Amicalola Falls State Park (5-2008)

Niagara Falls, on the New York-Canadian border and fed by the waters of Lake Erie, goes down 193 feet (59 meters) to feed into Lake Ontario. Enough water plunges over the edge to fill approximately 4,000 bathtubs every second!!

The deepest gorge in the USA and the world is at Hells Canyon, on the Snake River, in Idaho. This gorge is 7,900 feet deep (2,408 meters).

Point Roberts, Washington cannot be entered or exited without going through Canada. It is a mini Alaska surrounded by water on 3 sides and the Canadian boarder to the North. Both nations have Customs and Immigration points of entry despite a population of less than 1,000. (2-27-02)

Another isolated area is located in Minnesota, where you need to travel up and through Canada (Road 308) and then turn right at Road 525 (very small sign) to reach a piece of U.S. land along the western shores of the Lake of the Woods called Oak Island, most of land occupied by the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Another distinction for this tiny area is while it lies surrounded on its north, south and east by (a line extended within) the Province of Ontario, to reach it on land, a person must pass through the Province of Manitoba.

Additionally, at the western right-handed turn of the U.S. border out in the Lake of the Woods that creates this "blip" turns out to be the eastern terminus of more than 1,200 miles of straight-line border land between Canada and the U.S. running along the 49th parallel, involving four provinces and four states and part of another (Minnesota)

Ironically, the western most end of parallel, runs through Point Roberts and ends 10 miles west of there out in the middle of the sound.

Prior to the admission of Alaska as a state, this outcropping of Minnesota has the distinction of being the most northern piece of land in the U.S. (most people wrongly guess Maine, which at its most northern border is just barely north of the 46th). (Submitted by Gary Mortenson 1-1-05)

Isle Royal in Michigan is farther north than the northern tip of Maine (4-14-07)

Even though the state of Rhode Island isn't really an island, it consists of many islands in the state.

Across the bay from San Francisco, California, is a mountain called Mount Diablo, located near Walnut Creek, California. While it is not a very tall (3848 feet / 1733 meters) mountain, it holds the distinction of allowing those at its top an unparalleled, unobstructed view. You may even be able to see Mount Lassen or Mount Shasta on a very clear day. Even the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, has a view obstructed by all the other, but not as high, mountains surrounding it. (4-2001)

Zebulon Pike once asserted that Pikes Peak couldn't be climbed to its summit. It's been climbed untold thousands of times since. But most people prefer to drive up.

The State of Alabama has more navigable waterways (7) than any other state in the USA. They are the Alabama, Black Warrior, Chattahoochee, Coosa, Mobile, Tennessee, and Tombigbee Rivers, altogether a total of 1,445 navigable miles of inland waterway is available in this state. - Submitted by: Mr. Sam Johnson, San Antonio, Texas

Bonne Terre, Missouri, is home to the World's Largest Underground Lake. The Bonne Terre Lead Mine (1867-1962) is the actual home to the lake. The Mine lies 365 feet below the town, and it's tunnels, caverns, and yes, the lake snake it's way under most of the small town itself. The Underground Lake is remarkably clear, with 100 feet plus visibility, and remains a constant 58 degrees, while the mine stays at 62 degrees. There is approximately 80 sq. miles for the 5 levels of the mine, and 17 miles of underground shoreline. The Underground Lake is a popular attraction to scuba divers who say it is "truly a remarkable and unusual place to dive, offering new experiences even for the been there done that diver." Submitted by "A Loyal Citizen of the Small Town of Bonne Terre" (10-2002)

The alpine mountain range of the Rockies and Continental Divide within the State of Colorado gives birth to three major US river systems--the Arkansas, Colorado, and Rio Grande Rivers. It also is home to the headwater streams that form the Missouri Rivers' two largest tributaries --the Kansas River (formed by the Republican & Smoky Hill Rivers ) and the Platte River (formed by the North and South Platte Rivers). - Submitted by: Mr. Sam Johnson, San Antonio, Texas

ReelFoot Lake in Tiptonville, Tennessee is the largest lake formed by earthquake

Deep below the earth in Southern Indiana is a sea of limestone that is one of the richest deposits of top-quality limestone found anywhere on earth. New York City’s Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the Pentagon, the U.S. Treasury, and a dozen other government buildings in Washington, D.C., as well as 14 state capitols around the nation are built from this sturdy, beautiful Indiana limestone.

All of Florida is south of California.

Wisconsin has more lakes than Minnesota (10-16-08)

New York is the only state that touches both the Great Lakes and the Atlantic.
Here is another version of this fact:
ACTUALLY,: Pennsylvania touches both, since the estuary of the Delaware River is part of the Atlantic. Submitted by Kenn Morris (7-2004)

Reno, Nevada is farther West than Los Angeles, California. (submitted by Clarence)

There are over 3 million lakes in the state of Alaska.

Lake Michigan is the largest lake entirely in the United States. It is also the only one of the Great Lakes so designated. Half of Lake Superior is in Canada......

Now, here's another fact: Western Maryland is only three miles wide at its skinniest point This point is located halfway between Cumberland, Maryland and Baltimore, Maryland (Submitted by Nancy)

The shortest river is the D River in Lincoln City, Oregon. It flows 120 feet from Devil's Lake to the Pacific Ocean.
D River State Recreation Site

The Pacific Crest Trail is 4,300 Km, or 2666 miles long.

California also has the highest and lowest point in the contiguous United States -- Mt Whitney and Death Valley, respectively.

The Great Lakes hold one-fourth of all the fresh water in the world. There is enough to cover the whole United States 12 feet deep.

Note from a viewer: This figure of holding 25% of the worlds fresh water is correct only if you don't include the frozen fresh water masses at the poles.

The lowest point in the USA is Death Valley, California. It is 282 feet below sea level
added 6-6-06: This would be the lowest point on dry land. Lake Superior is 601 feet above sea level, but it's deepest point is -1,333 ft. near the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan waters. That puts it's lowest point at 732 feet below sea level.

The distinction of having the most rainfall of any spot in the USA and in the world goes to Mt. Waialeale, Hawaii. It receives 460 inches (11,684 millimeters) of rainfall each year !!

The highest point in the USA is Mount McKinley in Alaska. The mountain is 20,320 feet high (6,194 meters).
Note from a viewer: this fact applies to all of North America, not just the USA.

Lake Superior, one of the Great Lakes, is the largest body of fresh water in the world . It is 1,333 feet deep (406 meters).

Addendum: One of your "facts" states that Lake Superior is the largest body of fresh water in the world. As a native Michigander, I would love for this to be true, but it's only half right. Superior is the largest in surface area, but the honor of largest freshwater lake in the world by volume belongs to Lake Baikal in Siberia. It alone holds almost as much water as all the Great Lakes combined. Submitted by Chris Moore (6-2008)

Okefenokee Swamp, in southeast Georgia and northern Florida covers 681 square miles (1,764 square kilometers).

Hells Canyon, in Oregon is the deepest river-carved gorge in North America.

The Appalachian mountain chain stretches all the way from northern Alabama up to northern Canada, though it is known by different names along the way.
The Appalachians were created by the collision of what is now North America, Europe, and Africa, about 350 million years ago, to form the super continent Pangea. This collision of three mammoth continental plates resulted in the formation of an enormous mountain chain, the Appalachians. The Appalachians actually span from Alabama to England and Norway, since as recently as 225 million years ago they were part of the same land mass. The same type of mountain building is taking place right now as India collides with Asia, creating the Himalayas. (A side note: India is still moving into Asia today at nearly 2 inches (5 centimeters) per year.) (5-8-01)

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the quantity of water in the upper 2600 feet of the continental crust is about 3000 times greater than the volume of water in all rivers at any one time, and nearly 20 times greater than the combined volume in all lakes and rivers (i.e., over 95% of the fresh water is underground). In the United States, subsurface water supplies about 20% of our country's freshwater requirements. (Essentials of Geology, Lutgens and Tarbuck, 1986) By itself, California's economy would rank as the 15th largest in the world. (5-2001)

The longest stone arch bridge in the world is the Rockville Bridge in Marysville, PA
Submitted by Samantha age 9

The New River, located in North Carolina and West Virginia, is unusual in several regards. It flows north, like the Tennessee and a handful of other rivers in North America, AND it is one of the oldest rivers in the world, approximately 1 billion years old (the Nile River is older). It is called the "New River" because it came as a shock when it was first brought to the attention of mapmakers. Locals had known about it forever of course, but it didn't appear on maps until well after areas much further west were already mapped.

The Tennessee River flows to the north into the Ohio River.

The Willamette River in Oregon runs north.

Another river that runs north is the St. Johns River in Florida.

The Fox River in Wisconsin runs from south to north between Appleton (Lake Winnebago) and Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Lake George and Lake Champlain connected by the Lachute River in upstate New York all flow North to the St. Lawrence Sea Way.

The Green River and the Kentucky River, both in Kentucky, run north

The highest waterfall in the USA is in California's Yosemite National Park. It is 2,425 feet high (739 meters).

Feather Falls, in Butte County, California, is the sixth highest waterfall in the United States

Where is the geographic center of the USA?
These figures may be off by as much as ten miles in any direction.

The geographic center of the forty-eight contiguous states was determined by the Coast & Geodetic Survey in 1918. This geographic center is approximately at latitude 39 degrees 50'N, longitude 98 degrees 35'W, near Lebanon, Kansas.

When Alaska was admitted to the Union, the geographic center of the forty-nine states shifted about 439 miles northwest to a point at approximately latitude 44 degrees 59'N, longitude 103 degrees 38'W, about eleven miles west of Castle Rock, Butte County, South Dakota.

With the addition of Hawaii as the 50th state, the geographic center of the fifty states, then shifted about six miles west-southwest to latitude 44 degrees 58'N, longitude 103 degrees 46'W, which is approximately 17 miles west of Castle Rock, Butte County, South Dakota. (2006)
from website: Geographic Center of the Nation

The geographic center of the North American continent is located at 48°10' North, 100°10' West about 6 miles west of Balta, Pierce County, North Dakota

Belle Fourche, South Dakota, is the nearest town (about 20 miles away) to the geographical center of the United States of America, designated in 1959 and noted by an official marker and sheepherder's monument in Belle Fourche called a "Stone Johnnie". Come visit the Tri State Museum and the Visitors Center when you arrive. (2002)

Where is the mean population center of the USA?
According to the website, the mean population center of the United States was:

In 2000: 37°41'49" North, 91°48'34" West - 2.8 miles east of Edgar Springs, Phelps County, Missouri.
In 1990: 37°52' North, 91°13' West - 10 miles southeast of Steelville, Crawford County, Missouri.
(2006)

STATES, CITIES AND FACTS

Austin, Texas is the most southerly state capital in the contiguous US (5-09)

The Everglades in Florida is between 6 inches and 2 feet deep (5-09)

Salt Lake City has a law against carrying an unwrapped ukulele on the street. (6-05)

There is not a single billboard ad in the state of Vermont. This makes for the most beautiful state to drive in!

There are only 46 states in the USA and then there are the Commonwealth of Virginia, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (5-2007)

The first city to have a center divider (median) in the road was Redlands, California (1-05)

In the early 1950s, Denver architect Temple H. Buell, often called the "Father of the Mall,"
conceived and built one of the first shopping malls in the United States: the Cherry Creek Mall (12-04)

the first indoor shopping mall in America was built in 1828. It's a National Historic Landmark.
It's called The Arcade and it's located in Providence, Rhode Island.
Cleveland, Ohio's Old Arcade (1894), Seattle, Washington's Northgate Mall (1950), Appleton, Wisconsin's Valley Fair shopping mall (1954), and Edina, Minnesota's Southdale Center (1958) all claim to be the country's oldest/first indoor/enclosed shopping mall.(1-08)

Indiana has earned the nickname "Mother of Vice-Presidents". There have been five men from Indiana elected as vice-presidents: Schuyler Colfax, Thomas A. Hendricks, Charles W. Fairbanks, Thomas Marshall and Dan Quayle.

Indiana was the first state to provide for a free public school system in its constitution.

It was once illegal to take a bath in the wintertime in Indiana.

Indianapolis, Indiana was laid out on a wheel pattern following the design of Washington, D.C

The first professional baseball game was played in Fort Wayne, Indiana on May 4, 1871.
The Kekiongas beat the Forest Citys of Cleveland 2-0 before a crowd of 200. (more information)

Crawfordsville, Indiana is the home of the only known working rotary jail in the United States. The jail, with its rotating cellblock, was built in 1882 and served as the Montgomery County jail until 1972. It is now a museum.

Historic Parke County, Indiana has 32 covered bridges and is the Covered Bridge Capital of the world.

The Saturday Evening Post is published in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Courthouse in Greensburg, Indiana has a tree growing from it.

Tomato juice was first served at a French Lick, Indiana Hotel in 1925.

An average of 400 funnel clouds are sighted each year in Indiana.

Infamous bank robber, John Dillinger, declared he would never rob any banks in Anderson, Indiana because there were railroad tracks over every exit road.

Crown Hill Cemetery (Indianapolis) is the largest cemetery in the U.S.

Pendleton, Indiana was the site of the first hanging of a white man for killing Indians.

Indianapolis has the most Interstate legs in the U.S. earning it the title of "Crossroads of America".

The world's first transistor radio was made in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Elkhart, Indiana is the band instrument capitol of the World.

LaPorte County (Indiana) is the only county in America having 2 functioning Courthouses.

California Trivia:
More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state.

Fallbrook California is the avocado capital of the WORLD.

Located in Sacramento, the California State Railroad Museum is the largest of it's kind in North America.

Totaling 20,105 square miles, San Bernardino County has the largest land area of any county in the country.

San Bernardino County, California, is so large at 20,105 square miles, it could hold two Rhode Islands, @ 1,045 sq miles each, the 50th state in size, three Delawares, @ 1,954 sq miles each, the 49th state in size, Connecticut, (@ 4,845 sq miles, the 48th state in size, and Hawaii, (@ 6,423 sq miles 47th state in size, and have 885 square miles left over. (12-2002, amended 6-2009)

San Bernardino County in California at 20,105 square miles, has the largest land area of any county in the country. . It is larger than each of the six smallest states. Four boroughs of Alaska are each larger, but, of course, they are not "counties". (6-2009)

The Hollywood Bowl is the world's largest amphitheater

The hottest and driest place is Death Valley, summer temperatures reach around 115 on average.

The first motion picture theater opened in Los Angeles on April 2, 1902.

San Francisco Bay is considered the world’s largest landlocked harbor.

California state is the first state to reach over a trillion dollar economy in gross state product.

If California's economic size by itself to other countries, it would rank the 7th largest rank in the world.

There are approximately 500,000 detectable seismic tremors in California annually.

300,000 tons of grapes are grown in California. Which means California produces 17 million gallons of wine each year.

Fresno, California is the raisin capital of the world.

Castroville California is the artichoke capital of the world. (6-2004)

Los Angeles County, California is the most populated county in the country in 2000 at 9,519,338 people. (6-2009)

New Amsterdam, Indiana is the smallest city in the U.S., they have a population of 1. (6-04)
Deals Gap, North Carolina has the small population of 6 people (10-06 - Submitted by Darrell)
Dellview, NC is the smallest town in the United States. Population is 10 people. (Submitted by Patrick Nethercutt (1-2003)
Rendville is now the smallest city in Ohio, pop. 29 people. (6-04)
Vermont is the only state in the U.S. that does not have a city with a population of at least 50,000. (2-2003)
Smallest Incorporated town in Ohio is Jacksonburg, Ohio. Population 37
submitted by James Adorno, Centerville,Ohio (10-2002)

The City of OCONOMOWOC Wisconsin west of Milwaukee has the letter O before every other letter in its name.
Submitted by John and his granddaughter, Kayla. (2-04)

Oldest State park in the USA, Indian Springs State Park in Georgia

Located off I-75 in the middle of Georgia, Indian Springs is thought to be the oldest state park in the nation. It was ceded to the state in 1825 and became an official "State Forest Park" in 1927. The Creek Indians used the springs for centuries to heal the sick and impart extra vigor to the well. During the 1800s, the area was a bustling resort town. (9-22-03)

First Negro State Park in Georgia was George Washington Carver State Park. (9-10-03)

The electric Trolley Car was first used in the city of Richmond, Virginia. It was later that San Francisco’s identity became associated with the Trolley Cars.
Submitted by Ken Wilbourne, Jr. (5-15-03)

I've read that Detroit, Michigan is the only city in the continental US directly north of Canada. (Windsor, Ontario, Canada)
Submitted by David J. Michnal (May 2003), Gary Mortenson (Jan 2005)

The only city that I know of in Georgia that has a river, and a road named after it is Willacoochee. (The Willacoochee River, Willacoochee City, and Willacoochee Road) (4-2003)

Boston, Massachusetts, has the world's smallest suspension bridge. It is in the public garden. (4-2003)

Texas is the first state to have 5 straight Miss USA winners 1985, 86. 87, 88 ,89. Texas also has the most Miss USA winners (8). Submitted by John Paul Duran, Albuquerque New Mexico (2-2003)

Kinston, NC was the North Carolina State Capital during the Revolutionary War.
Submitted by Patrick Nethercutt (1-2003)

According to the AWS Weatherbug, Holt MO holds the US and World record for accumulating one FOOT of water in only 42 minutes! (22 June 1947) That's a record I'm sure they don't want to beat!
(1-2003)

Hot Springs Village, Arkansas is a full-service gated community, developed in 1970 by Cooper Communities, Inc. Its 26,000 acres of woodlands and lakes are set in a rural, scenic environment, surrounded by the beauty of the Ouachita Mountains. It is the largest gated community in the USA (1-2003)

Tallahassee,FL was the only Confederate state capital that did not fall to the Union Army. (12-2002)

Centerville, Ohio has the largest collection of early stone buildings in Ohio.
submitted by James Adorno, Centerville,Ohio (10-2002)

Dayton, Ohio was where the first NFL touchdown was scored.
submitted by James Adorno, Centerville,Ohio (10-2002)

Octa, Ohio is the only town I know that has more shops than people.
Population of Octa is 78.
submitted by James Adorno, Centerville,Ohio (10-2002)

Ohio is the Largest state not to have a National Park.
submitted by James Adorno, Centerville,Ohio (10-2002)
Correction: There in fact are several National Parks in Ohio including the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, David Berger National Memorial, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, First Ladies National Historic Site, Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial, William Howard Taft National Historic Site.(8-2007)

I-80 is the longest road in the United States, from Oakland, CA to NYC, NY.
submitted by James Adorno, Centerville,Ohio (10-2002)
Correction: Interstate 90 is 3,112 miles long. Interstate 80 is only 2,909 miles.
Submitted by George Oosterhous (8-2003)

The first female governor was Nellie Ross (D) in Wyoming. She succeeded her dead husband in January 1925. Also in January 1925 Miriam Amanda Ferguson (D) became the governor of Texas. She succeeded her husband, who was impeached and removed. Both Ross and Ferguson were elected on November 9, 1924, but Ross is considered the first female governor because she was inaugurated on January 5, 1925, fifteen days before Ferguson's inauguration. The first woman to be elected on her own right was Ella Grasso, a democrat, who became governor of Connecticut in 1975. (10-2002)

Chesterton, Indiana is the only town named Chesterton in the United States. It exists in the only county named Porter in the United States. (10-2002)

Coeur D'Alene Idaho is the only city in the United States with an apostrophe. (10-2002)
We received a note that there is another one!! - D'Iberville, Mississippi can also be included (10-2002)
Here comes another - D'Lo, Mississippi (5-2003)
It appears there are quite a few of these – another: L'Anse, Michigan in the upper peninsula (9-2003)
Still another Lee's Summit, Missouri named since 1865 (7-2009)
Here is another short list:
Morgan’s Point, O'Brien, O’Donnell and Port O'Connor, all in Texas
Also Prince’s Lake, Indiana (1-2005)

Petoskey, Michigan is the only city to have the official state stone named after it. The Petoskey area is also the only area in the world to find the "Petoskey stone." (4-2002)

There are more horses in Oakland County, Michigan than in any other county in the U.S.A. (at least c1990) - (4-2002)

Watertown, Wisconsin had the first kindergarten in the US (3-2002)

The first electric traffic light to control the different streams of traffic was set up at the crossroads formed by Euclid Avenue and 105th Street, Cleveland, Ohio, on August 14, 1914. They were red and green lights with a buzzer. The first red, green and amber traffic lights were installed in New York City in 1918. (7-2002)

Did you know the first newspaper crossword puzzle was published in a Sunday supplement to the New York World in 1913. (3-2002)

There are more cows in Montana than people. (2-2002)

Montana is the 4th largest state in USA. (2-2002)

Rhode island is the smallest state but it has the longest official name "State of Rhode Island and Providence plantations

There are 3,066 counties in the United States which vary greatly in size and population. They range in area from 67 square kilometers (Arlington County, Va.) to 227,559 square kilometers (North Slope Borough, Alaska). Forty-eight of the 50 states have operational county governments. Connecticut and Rhode Island are divided into geographic regions called counties, but they do not have functioning governments. Alaska calls its counties boroughs and Louisiana calls them parishes.

California is home to the largest tree (the Giant Sequoia), the tallest tree (the Coastal redwood which is even taller than the Statue of Liberty), the oldest tree (the Bristlecone Pine) and the only indigenous palm in North America (the California Palm).

Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. capitol to not have a McDonald's in it. (7-2001)

A city name with one word with 17 letters was found! Kleinfeltersville, Pennsylvania (1-2002)
A city name with one word with 16 letters was found! Chancellorsville, Virginia! (12-2001)
Runners-up were a number of communities with 15 letters. The communities are:
Correctionville, Iowa
Carpentersville, Illinois
Connoquenessing, Pennsylvania
Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania
Trumbauersville, Pennsylvania
Washingtonville, Pennsylvania
Charlottesville, Virginia

We also looked for city names with more than one word. Spaces don't count as letters. We found many, but the one with the most was in New Jersey. Parsippany Troy Hills Township in Morris County in the north-central region of New Jersey has 27 letters! (2-2002)

Nether Providence Township, Pennsylvania is a second runner-up now. It has 24 letters. There were just two with 23 letters - North Brunswick Township, New Jersey and North Attleborough Center, Massachusetts.

Here is an interesting fact: The City of Los Angeles, California is known simply as Los Angeles at the present time, but in the past, it had a much longer name. We're including it here for information's sake as a city with 12 words and 55 words!
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola)
submitted by David Carr (7-2008)

The largest we found with two words were 17 letters:

Wiederkehr Village, Arkansas.. (6-2001)
Schooleys Mountain, New Jersey (8-2002)
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey (8-2002)

Cedar Rapids, Iowa is one of only two cities in the world whose city hall & courthouse are built upon an island. The other is Paris, France. (6-2001)
Submitted by: Mike Sherrill
Correction: A third city is Osaka, Japan (7-2004)
Submitted by: Steve Lavrenz

Haleyville, Alabama is the originator of the 911 emergency telephone number in the U.S (4-2001)
Correction: The originator of the 9-1-1 emergency telephone number in the U.S. was a committee within AT&T, which published its recommendation on January 12, 1968. Haleyville, Alabama was the location of the first 9-1-1 call on February 16, 1968. (Submitted by Russ, 7-2002)

Nappanee, Indiana is the only town in the USA that uses all the letters twice!
Submitted by Jena, age 14, Kendallville Indiana (4-2001)
While it's not technically a town, there is a Lolo, Montana (4-2004)

The largest city in the United States in land area is Sitka, Alaska at 2,881.5 square miles. At the time of its incorporation, it replaced Juneau as the largest city.

Jacksonville, Florida is the largest city in the lower 48 states with 758.7 square miles of land area. Jacksonville is the largest city in size in Florida, but also the most populated with more than twice the number of people than the city of Miami. (3-2001)

Bellefontaine, Ohio is the home of the first concrete street in the U.S.

US President, George W. Bush, is not originally from Texas. He was born in New Haven, CT, the same hometown of the former Dem. VP candidate Joseph Lieberman.

Weirton, West Virginia is the only place in the country where a state is only one city wide. We are bordered on the West by Ohio and on the East by Pennsylvania.....Submitted by Kathy Fodor, Weirton WV

York, Maine is America's first chartered town - 1641. (to go along with Albany, New York - the first chartered city)

Aroostook county in northern Maine is larger in land area than the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined - 6543 square miles.
added in 2009 - the county has 6829 square miles. It is the largest county in land area in the state of Maine.

Maine raises 98% of the nations blueberries.

Miami is the biggest melting pot in the continental U.S.

Did you know that Spring Byington was the real name of the famous movie actress who stared in December Bride. Her mom was in Pennsylvania and met a tourist named Spring Harbaugh. Her mom took a fancy to the name and on October 17th, 1893 Spring Byington was born.

Though Alaska has no counties, only boroughs, they are larger in land area than any other county-type area in the USA. The largest county, San Bernardino County in California in sixth behind the Alaska areas.
1 Unorganized Borough, Alaska 330,074.96 square miles
2 North Slope Borough, Alaska 88,817.12 square miles
3 Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska 35,898.34 square miles
4 Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska 24,681.54 square miles
5 Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska 23,781.96 square miles
6 San Bernardino County, California 20,105.50 square miles
(6-2009)

Davy, West Virginia had the longest flower box in the United States

Broadway, the famous avenue in New York City, was originally an Indian trail.

In the continental 48 states, the largest UNINCORPORATED County Seat is located in Towson (Baltimore County), MD (just north of Baltimore) (2000 population 51,793).

Kannapolis, NC (home of Cannon towels) is the largest unincorporated city in the US, at around 36,910 people (2002)

Kentucky had 2 people who were president. Lincoln was from Kentucky
and so was Jefferson Davis, The President of the Confederate States

Bird's Landing, near Montezuma Slough, in the Central California Delta area, is the smallest town in the U.S.A. with a post office. The ghost town of Collinsville is a neighbor.

Minnesota has more miles of paved trails than any other state.

Lenapah, Oklahoma is the world's only site of a Drive-in Rodeo

Syracuse, New York is the only place in the United States with a traffic sign that has the green on top.
North Wilkesboro, NC (home of Lowe's) used to have upside down traffic lights when I was a kid in the 1960's and 1970's

In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first city in the United States to put fluoride in its water

Eight out of the ten fastest growing cities in the United States are WEST of the Mississippi River. The other two are in Florida. The top ten are: Henderson, Nevada; Chandler, Arizona; Pembroke Pines, FL; Plano, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Scottsdale, Arizona; Corona, California, Laredo, Texas, Coral Springs, Florida, and Palmdale, California. (1999)

Also, nine out of the ten fastest shrinking cities in the United States are EAST of the Mississippi River. The top ten shrinking cities are: Norfolk, Virginia; Saint Louis, Missouri; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York; Dayton, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Cincinnati, Ohio. (1999)

Largest cities in the United States by population according to 2000 census

1 - 8,008,278 - New York City, New York
2 - 3,694,820 - Los Angeles, California
3 - 2,896,016 - Chicago, Illinois
4 - 1,953,631 - Houston, Texas
5.- 1,517,550 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
6 - 1,321,045 - Phoenix, Arizona
7 - 1,223,400 - San Diego, California
8 - 1,188,580 - Dallas, Texas
9 - 1,144,646 - San Antonio, Texas
10 - 951,270 - Detroit, MI

Did you know Mt. Carmel, Pa. was one of the first cities in the WORLD to have electric street lamps?

Wabash, Indiana was the first electrically lighted city in the world

Dublin Texas is the home of the first Dr. Pepper bottling company.

Oregon grows the only Myrtlewood trees...they have Myrtlewood bushes in the Holy Land.

98% of the worlds hazelnuts grow in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

The Columbia River Gorge is the country's only National Scenic Area.

Louisiana is America's second largest producer of natural gas. It supplies one-third of the total U.S. production.

Louisiana has 2,482 islands, covering nearly 1.3 million acres.

The "Boston Tea Party" was copied from a tea party in the harbor of Charleston, SC! This party occurred a month earlier.

Texas has more miles of paved streets than the former Soviet Union!

Volleyball was invented in Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1895.
Come check out the Volleyball Hall of Fame

Ohio is the only state to win the Miss America Pageant two years in a row by the same contestant - Mary Campbell, from Columbus, in 1922 and 1923. She also was first-runner-up in 1924. After that, the Miss America Pageant changed their rules so that any contestant could only compete once in the pageant at the national level.

The first dedicated highway across America, coast-to-coast, was the famous Lincoln Highway, in 1915. Organized by Carl Fisher, the Lincoln Highway was dedicated to the memory of President Lincoln. Charted from existing roads, it started at Times Square in New York City, proceeded down 42nd Street, and then traveled across the country, ending as California Street in San Francisco and terminating at the Palace of Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park in San Francisco at the Pacific Ocean. Over the years, the road was realigned and improved, and by 1926 was given route numbers - it is primarily US Route 30 from Philadelphia to central Wyoming, at which point it becomes US Route 40, then US Route 50 across Nevada, south of Lake Tahoe it goes through the Sierra Nevadas, and into California. Interstate 80 is today's "coast-to-coast" highway that most closely follows the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln Highway is older, longer, and was much more widely traveled than its nearest competitor, Route 66, which traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles. (fact amended 17 Nov 2004)

The highest bridge towers in the world are still the art-deco towers of the Golden Gate Bridge at 750 feet, completed in 1937. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge across San Francisco Bay and completed in 1936 still holds three world records: 1) the largest diameter bore tunnel which is the double-decker vehicle tunnel through Yerba Buena Island in the Bay connecting the two halves of the bridge; 2) the world's largest toll booth - 18 lanes; and 3) still the world's longest and highest bridge over ocean-navigable waters - the San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco is the most popular city in the world for tourists, and has held that record for the last 25 years. Paris is second.

The largest wine producing region in the world, in both quantity and revenue, is now Sonoma County around the city of Santa Rosa, in the Northern California Wine County north of San Francisco. Sonoma County has recently surpassed its neighbor, the famous Napa Valley in adjacent Napa County, California.

Due to its geographically central location, the state of Ohio, for its size, has more interstate freeways, and more interstate traffic per mile, than any other state. Consequently, the very strict Ohio State Highway Patrol generates the highest number of speeding tickets per mile. Ask any trucker.

The US city located within the greatest number of people in North America is Mansfield, in North-central Ohio. Within 500 miles of Mansfield lies 75% of the population of the US, including not only the major Ohio cites of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron & Dayton, but also such major cities and metropolitan areas as New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington DC, Charleston WV, Richmond VA, Charlotte NC, Atlanta, Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison WI, Detroit, and the Canadian cities of Toronto and Ottawa.

Ohio is the birthplace of more Presidents than any other state - eight.

Virginia (officially nicknamed "Mother of Presidents") also has 8 as follows:
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, WH Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, and Wilson. Harrison's family moved to Ohio and Wilson's family moved to New Jersey, but both were born in Virginia. Ohio is the birthplace of 7 US Presidents. Ohio claims WH Harrison as its own, but he was born in Berkeley, VA on February 9, 1773. His grandson (and later President), Benjamin Harrison, on the other hand, was born in Ohio

Ohio is the home of both John Glenn, the first astronaut to orbit the earth, and Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.

The most popular cartoonist in the world (and the wealthiest, by far) is Charles Schulz, creater of "Peanuts." He resided in Santa Rosa, California until he passed away in early 2000.

Forty-eight of the 50 states have operational county governments. Connecticut and Rhode Island are divided into geographic regions called counties, but they do not have functioning governments. Alaska calls its counties boroughs and Louisiana calls them parishes.

The business identity recognized by more people worldwide than any other is a little outfit based in Atlanta: Coca-Cola.

Jacksonville, Fla., is the westernmost point on the East Coast.

Key West, Fla., is the southernmost city of the continental United States.

El Paso, TX is closer to San Diego than it is to Houston.

It is also closer to Denver than it is to Dallas.

St. Louis, Evansville, and Louisville are all closer to the Gulf of Mexico than is El Paso.

Charleston, WV and Youngstown, OH are both further east than Jacksonville, FL which is on the Atlantic Coast.

Cleveland, OH is further east than Tampa, FL

Birmingham, Nashville, Louisville and Indianapolis are all further east than Pensacola, FL.

Dallas is further south than San Diego.

"Jingle Bells" was written where no one dashes through the snow: Savannah, Ga.

Maryland has the only state flag that can have a cross atop the flagpole--because there is a cross in the flag itself, which uses the magnificent heraldry colors of the Calverts, the Lords of Baltimore

The US has only lost two of the 10 major wars it has been involved in, and since war was never officially declared on Vietnam, Canada is the only country to ever really whup you rednecks with a hickory stick like you deserve!
Submitted by a Canadian!

Hot Springs, AR is the only national park that is a city!

Oklahoma has more shore line than any other state. According to the narrated PBS documentary, Oklahoma, the shore line is greater than the East AND Gulf coast combined.

We have also heard: Your fact concerning the state with the most shoreline is incorrect. The correct answer is Alaska.

You'll have to discover this shore line fact's correctness for yourself!

The state of Michigan is second to the state of Alaska in shoreline miles

Michigan has the longest fresh water shoreline in the world.

Maine has more ocean shoreline than California due to the many coves.

Alaska is the Northernmost, Westernmost and Easternmost State in the United States. It is the easternmost because the Aleutian Island Chain crosses the 180 degree Meridian which places part of the state (some of the Aleutians) in the Eastern Hemisphere.

The most northerly city in the USA is Barrow, Alaska. It is definitely the most northern city in Alaska. The latitude is 71.62.

The most westerly city is Atka in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska Its longitude is slightly over 174.20. The Aleutian Islands are much further west than any other place

The southernmost incorporated city in the US is Naalehu, Hawaii on the Big Island. It lies at 19.07 degrees north of the equator. Eat your heart out, Key West! (24.56 latitude)

The most easternly city on the mainland appears to be Lubec on the east coast of Maine, with Eastport a close second at 67.01 longitude

Oklahoma has more turnpikes (parkways, tollroads) than any other state. They have 10, (H.E. Bailey, Turner, Will Rogers, Cimarron, Creek, Kilpatrick, Chickasaw, Muskogee, and Indian Nation) all of which still require toll. An interesting fact is that if one of them isn't paid for, all of them require toll, even if it is paid for.

The State of Kentucky has more toll roads (Parkways, turnpikes) than any other state than Oklahoma---8. They are Hatcher (Green River), Audubon, Western Kentucky, Cumberland, Daniel Boone, Bert T Combs Mountain, Blue Grass Purchase. Of the eight, however, only four still require toll charges, Audubon, Cumberland, Daniel Boone and Hatcher (Green River). (submitted by Sam Johnson, San Antonio, Texas.)

NOTE: Which has more Oklahoma or Kentucky? Are these the same types of roads? If you have an answer for us, drop us an email and let us know.

The first yield sign in the U.S. was installed in Tulsa, Oklahoma at 5th and Birmingham

1997 - Polka music is Wisconsin state music

Baraboo, Wisconsin (north of the Dells) is home the worlds first circus. (10-16-08)

Did you know that every county or parish in Wisconsin has an emergency management team.

The city name which can be found in all 50 states is GREENVILLE !! (Each Greenville may not be spelled exactly the same) - Dawne Clark
Another reader has conflicting views: A review of the Rand McNally Road Atlas and the United States Postal Services ZIP code directory reveals that there is no Greenville or similarly spelled town or city in Hawaii or Alaska. (3-2004)
Apparently, there is a Greenville in Alaska - The City of Greenville is located in South Central Alaska off of Highway 1 at Mile 55, and has a population of 10,000 residents. (5-2007)
Does anyone know of a city/town/community name found in all 50 states? If so, email Key to the City.

The first public college for women was founded in Columbus, MS in 1884 as the Industrial Institute and College. It is now Mississippi University for Women. In 1982 the Supreme Court ordered MUW to admit male students. Since 1982, MUW has had 2 male student body presidents.

Due to the maritime effect, Miami, Florida has never seen 100 degrees F.

For a website with more fun facts about America, go to the Roadside America website.

Albany, New York is America's oldest chartered city, over three hundred years old

St Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States. The city was named by Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1672 on the day he landed.

Pensacola, Florida is actually the oldest city in the US. It was settled in 1559 by Don Tristan de Luna.

The first public university in the the United States was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was chartered by the N C General Assembly in 1789. However, the first class was not admitted until 1795.

The Top Ten largest Metropolitan areas are: (1997)

New York City, New York; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan; San Francisco, California; Washington DC; Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts - Submitted by Robert

Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States.

The first orphanage in the USA was founded in Georgia by German Lutherans

1912 - Juliette Gordon Low founded girl scouts..

The first newspaper in the USA using a native language was The Cherokee Phoenix

Georgia was the first state to require birth registration.

Kentucky has the largest cave system in the world. Mammoth cave has over 200 miles of caves

Kentucky has the greatest number of miles of running water in any state except Alaska

The first college west of the Alleghenies was Transylvania College

The first post office west of the Alleghenies was opened at Danville Ky in 1792

Louisiana is the only state that does not use the term "county." We still use the term "parish." Submitted by Claude Adams of New Orleans, LA.
Alaska uses the term, "borough" rather than county.

The State Flag of Ohio is the only one that is not rectangular -- it is pennant shaped. (Submitted by Paul)

New York has more ski areas than any state in the US

The first foreign country south of Detroit is Canada

Only four of the US's 50 states still regard themselves as Commonwealths: Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Virginia. (submitted by Sam Johnson, San Antonio, Texas.)

The present population of California (33,871,648 - 2000 census) is equal to that of the entire United States at the outbreak of the civil war. (submitted by Steve Demers)

If Los Angeles county were to become a state of its own, it would rank 9th in population behind CA, TX, NY, FL, PA, IL, OH and MI. (submitted by Steve Demers)

If the Southernmost nine counties in California were to secede from the state to become a state of their own, they would rank first in population, in front of TX, NY, FL and the remainder of CA. (submitted by Steve Demers)

The Statue of Liberty, which is often associated with the state of New York, actually is located (physically) in the State of New Jersey. - Submitted by: Mr Sam Johnson, San Antonio, Texas

Anchorage, Alaska, holds over 1/3 of the state's population of 626,932 (2000)

Alaska is not the least populated state, Wyoming and Vermont are smaller

Temperatures in Fairbanks, AK, range from the 90's in summer to -60s in winter

Highest temperature in Alaska: 100F, Highest in Hawaii: 100F

The population of Oregon is about the same as the Seattle Metro Area-around 3,421,399 (2000)

Did you know that the oldest private school in the country is the Collegiate School, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan? (This fact brought to you by Jeffrey J. Walsh, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA)

50% of the state of Florida is covered in swamp.

Ashtabula County, Ohio, has more covered bridges than any other county in the state of Ohio.

Shelby County, Tennessee has more horses per capita than in any other county in the United States.

The strongest surface wind ever recorded was 231 mph at Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It was recorded in 1934

Here is an addendum to the above fact:
In 1999, on May 3rd, surface windspeeds of the tornado that struck Oklahoma City measured 318 mph; windspeeds exceeded 319 mph high above ground. (1-2003)

Here is another addendum:
The wind measurement was taken with a Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radar truck by Dr. Josh Wurman, Professor of Meteorolgy at the University of Oklahoma at that time. His claim of 318 mph is disputed, since it was measured as a radial velocity using a Doppler weather radar - not a traditional surface anemometer. Furthermore, this wind estimate can not conclusively be determined to be a surface measurement, as the radar did have a positive tilt while scanning the severe thunderstorms - at best we can assume that these measurements were near surface. (10-2005)

Yet another addendum to the wind fact:
I first learned of this record from information sent out by well-known Meteorologist Don Kent who, starting in 1951 and for 34-years thereafter, forecasted the weather of New England from WBZ on both radio and TV in Boston, MA. As I recall, his version of the record was a little more descriptive and qualified the record. I decided to check with the Mt. Washington Observatory web site for the historical information. Here is what I extracted from the recorded story which resulted in that record.

Then, at 1:21 pm on April 12, 1934, the extreme value of 231 mph out of the southeast was recorded. This would prove to be the highest natural surface wind velocity ever officially recorded by means of an anemometer, anywhere in the world
After that the anemometer was tested for accuracy at a laboratory at MIT in Boston, MA and afterwards by tests conducted by the National Weather Bureau. Those test results confirmed the prior historic measurement of 231 mph. Clearly, it has been known for some time now that the rotating wind velocities of many tornados must reach and exceed 231 mph but the method used to measure that have not yet been done by anemometers. (After reading the entire account leading up to the record-breaking event, if the record of 231 mph had been accomplished by means of a hand-held anemometer, I doubt that that record could ever be broken!)

By the way, Don Kent, now retired but still quite active, today lives in New Hampshire - not all that far from where this all took place - Mt. Washington!
(24 June 2006 – submitted by Bruce I. Coggins)

The San Francisco Cable Cars are one of several National Historical Landmarks (not a National Monument) that are mobile. Others are the ships Constitution in Boston Naval Shipyard in Charlestown, MA, and the Olympia at Pier 40 in Philadelphia, PA. (7-2002)

Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio.

The longest bridge in the USA is the bridge that crosses Lake Ponchartrain in New Orleans. The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, with a length of 23.87 miles, is the world's longest bridge built entirely over water.

Did you know that the capital building of Georgia, in Atlanta, has a domed roof that is gold leaf. The gold is mined from the Dalonhega Mountains in North Georgia (This fact brought to you by PHOENIX@surfsouth.com)

Domes on capitol buildings other than GA are also gold leafed, for example NJ which had their dome recovered in Gold during the 1980s.

The capital of Vermont, Montpelier, also has a dome of gold leaf. Montpelier is the most beautiful capital since it nestles against a lush stand of evergreens.

The Statue of Liberty weighs 254 metric tons.

Texas has more counties (254) than any other state.

The land area of Texas is larger than all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois combined, extending 801 miles from north to south and 773 miles from east to west.

Of the nation's 10 largest cities, 3 are in Texas (Houston, Dallas & San Antonio).

The Liberty Bell is found in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The liberty bell rested in Independence hall until 1976 the year of the U S bicentennial. During that year in time for the 4th of July celebration, a new building was constructed just to house the liberty bell. This building is entirely made of glass so that the liberty bell can be observed by visitors 24 Hrs. per day. When the building is closed; observers can select a button to push to hear the story of this great piece of Americana on demand, electronically, in a variety of languages. This is the bell used to ring out the news of the independence of the United States of America. The bell's tones rang out for the last time on February 22, 1846, George Washington's Birthday.

On December 17, 1903, history was changed once again when Wilber and Orville Wright sent their new airplane into the air for 12 seconds at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Alaska is the least crowded state in the USA with about 0.7 person per square mile (0.3 person per square kilometer).

The highest city in the USA is in Colorado. The city, Leadville, is 10,200 feet above sea level (3,109 meters).

90% of the land in the state of Maine is forested !!

The largest meat-eating land animal in the USA and in the world is the Alaska Brown Bear.
Note from a reader: Kodiak bears and Grizzly's are larger than the Alaskan Brown Bear and eat meat and reside in the US, and the Polar bear is larger than all three of those and eats meat.
Another note from a reader: Alaska Brown Bears and Kodiak bears are one and the same. The bears on Kodiak Island tend to grow the largest of the brown bears in Alaska. The size of Kodiak bears vs. polar bears is debatable...not clear which is larger.
Another comment: Regarding meat eating bears: the polar bear is the largest true land dwelling carnivore on the planet.

Wyoming became the first place in the USA to allow women to hold office and vote. This was in 1869, even before Wyoming became a state.

You can stand in four states at the same time at Four Corners. Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona make up these four states.

In Minnesota, there is an acre of water for every 20 acres of land !!

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the people of the USA from the people of France in 1884. The famous statue, situated in New York Harbor in New York State is 151 feet 1 inch tall (46.05 meters). It is actually physically located in the state of New Jersey

The village of Waunakee in Wisconsin is the only Waunakee in the world.

Life In 3000 A.D

2009-11-25T07:05:00.000-08:00

Life In 3000 A.D

Michael Jackson Amazing Facts

2009-11-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

Michael Jackson is the third biggest selling pop act of all time, after The Beatles and Elvis Presley, with album sales of 750 million.

His 1982 album Thriller is thought to be the biggest-selling album ever, shifting 65 million copies, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

With the music industry moving from selling whole albums to marketing individual tracks online he is likely to keep his position on the list of all time greats.

Michael Jackson's earnings from record sales, tours, merchandising and other business interests are estimated to have exceeded $700m (£423m) in his 40-year recording career.

Since the early 1980s his recordings have generated more than $300 million in royalties. Despite this, in 2006 he is said to have secured a loan of around $300 million to pay off his debts.

In 2005 the jury at the trial of Michael Jackson in Santa Maria, California, sat through 66 days of evidence.

He faced 10 charges, including molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo, giving alcohol to a minor and conspiring to kidnap him and his family.

Had he been convicted Jackson could have faced up to 18 years in prison, but after hearing the evidence of 141 witnesses the jury cleared him on all charges.

Jackson was finishing rehearsals for a series of 50 concerts at the O2 Arena beginning on 13 July.

Originally announced as 10 concerts, further dates were added until around 800,000 people had bought tickets worth a total of £52m.

AEG Live, the organiser of the concerts has already spent $30m on the production but could be in financial difficulty since it only insured the first 10 nights, according to a report in Billboard magazine.

In 1985 Jackson paid $47.5 million for the publishing rights to a catalogue of 4,000-songs, including at least 200 Beatles tunes.

By 2005 the catalogue, now co-owned by Sony, was worth $500m.

One person said to have been irritated by Jackson's ownership of publishing rights for The Beatles is Paul McCartney, who is believed to have originally tipped him off about the financial benefits of owning music catalogues.

Fans had kept a vigil outside the Santa Maria courthouse during the whole of Jackson's trial in 2005.

When it was announced that he had been cleared of all charges, a fan released 14 white doves to celebrate his acquittal.

His acquittal was also a relief to local police who, in case of a guilty verdict, had dozens of officers on the street outside the courthouse carrying riot batons.

Michael Jackson won 13 Grammy awards.

Ten were for his work as a solo artist, three others were shared with producer Quincy Jones, his sister Janet, and various artists who contributed to his Aid for Africa track, We Are the World.

Thriller netted him Album of the Year and Best Pop vocal Performance awards.

Tracks Billie Jean and Beat It each won him another pair of Grammys. He also picked two other awards for his music video work.

Michael Jackson was 11 years old when he performed on television for the first time with The Jackson Five.

They were regulars on programmes such as 'The Ed Sullivan Show', one of the most watched shows in the US, and on which they performed their debut single I Want You Back.

He quickly became the centre of attention taking lead vocal duties as the band built up a reputation on the live circuit.

Michael Jackson released 10 solo albums containing original material: Got to be There; Music & Me; Ben; Forever Michael; Off the Wall; Thriller; Bad; Dangerous; History and Invincible.

As well as his solo albums Michael recorded another 16 albums with his brothers as both The Jackson 5 and The Jacksons.

Michael Jackson had eight siblings - all older than him, with the exception of brother Randy and sister Janet.

Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon and Randy, have all had careers as singers after the family stopped performing together. His sisters, Rebbie, La Toya and Janet, are also performers.

He is survived by his three children: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, born to Mr. Jackson's second wife, Deborah Jeanne Rowe, and Prince Michael Jackson II, the son of a surrogate mother.

In 1987, Jackson bought a 2,800 acre property north west of Santa Barbara for $14.6m and named it Neverland, after the imaginary land in JM Barrie's novel Peter Pan.

Within the grounds he built a private zoo and a fairground with a roller coaster and a ferris wheel. By 2006 it was costing $4m a year to run the Neverland ranch and its staff.

A Michael Jackson statue was floated on the River Thames in 1995.

Asked how he would like to promote the album, HIStory, Jackson told Sony record executives: "build a statue of me".

A 30-feet high glass fibre statue of the troubled popstar was placed on a boat and towed down the Thames.

Tower Bridge was raised to let it pass and it was moored near the Tower of London for a week before "touring the country."

Two Computer Viruses That Shook The World

2009-11-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder which computer viruses did the most damage in the world?

Today, the rapidly changing shape of the world is making way to various breakthroughs that can either help or destroy the world. In the cyber world, a different battle is continually being fought against mutations in certain programs that become a threat to most computer systems. Trojans, worms and other viruses are present most of the time, at varying degrees or damage levels.

Even if coders or programmers have developed certain counter programs such as shields and firewalls to safeguard their computers against cyber attacks and other similar threats, sometimes these are just not enough to handle all the stress. Computer viruses still managed to pack in some considerable amount of damage despite all the futile efforts to stop them.

Like biological viruses, the cyber PC viruses behave in the same way for they cause some negative outcomes that is detrimental to the overall health of cyberspace. The damages that all these viruses caused may have reached a cumulative cost of over a hundred billion dollars. Hence, it is but fitting to enumerate two of the most well-known computer viruses that shook the world by storm.

CIH, Melissa, ILOVEYOU, Code Red, SQL Slammer, Blaster, Sobig.F, Bagle, MyDoom, and Sasser are among the most popular computer viruses of all time. But according to the extent of damage that was made, these two are the most worthy of being mentioned.

Melissa Virus

David L. Smith, the alleged creator of the Melissa virus

Melissa back in 1999 amounted to almost 600 million dollars worth of damage. The spread of this virus is so great that some giant companies such as Microsoft was forced to contain the virus infection by switching all systems off and all email capabilities shut down. It is because the virus made use of the mailing inter connectivity of the MS Outlook wherein all infected mails will receive a document email attachment that enables the replication of the virus once it is opened.
The problem is, it will email itself to 50 other names in the email directory.

ILOVEYOU Virus

On the contrary, if you want to know about a peculiar virus that gave a whooping 15 billion dollars worth of damages then the ILOVEYOU Virus is the one to talk about. This Love Bug is actually a visual basic script. Many became infected with this virus due to the very catchy ‘emotional’ or ‘affectionate’ feel to the e-mails transmitting the said virus.

These emails come with the mysterious attachment of Love-Letter-For-You.TXT.vbs. Like its Melissa predecessor, the virus self transmits itself to the names found in the Outlook’s contact list but this time, the ILOVEYOU computer virus is transmitting the infection to everyone and not just 50. To further its damage, it even had the capability to overwrite music, picture files and automatically hunt for user name or passwords that will be sent back to the virus author.

The Living Bridges of Cherrapunji

2009-11-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

The Living Bridges of Cherrapunji

In the depths of northeastern India, in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren't built - they're grown.

The living bridges of Cherrapunji, India are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree. This tree produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers themselves.

Cherrapunji is credited with being the wettest place on earth, and The War-Khasis, a tribe in Meghalaya, long ago noticed this tree and saw in its powerful roots an opportunity to easily cross the area's many rivers. Now, whenever and wherever the need arises, they simply grow their bridges.

In order to make a rubber tree's roots grow in the right direction - say, over a river - the Khasis use betel nut trunks, sliced down the middle and hollowed out, to create root-guidance systems. The thin, tender roots of the rubber tree, prevented from fanning out by the betel nut trunks, grow straight out. When they reach the other side of the river, they're allowed to take root in the soil. Given enough time, a sturdy, living bridge is produced.

The root bridges, some of which are over a hundred feet long, take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional, but they're extraordinarily strong - strong enough that some of them can support the weight of fifty or more people at a time.

Because they are alive and still growing, the bridges actually gain strength over time - and some of the ancient root bridges used daily by the people of the villages around Cherrapunji may be well over five hundred years old.

One special root bridge, believed to be the only one of its kind in the world, is actually two bridges stacked one over the other and has come to be known as the "Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge."

Mind Blowing Facts

2009-09-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

1. Turtles have no teeth.

2. Prehistoric turtles may have weighed as much as 5,000 pounds.

3. Only one out of a thousand baby sea turtles survives after hatching.

4. Sea turtles absorb a lot of salt from the sea water in which they live. They excrete excess salt from their eyes, so it often looks as though they're crying.

5. Helium is a colourless, odourless, tasteless inert gas at room temperature and makes up about 0.0005% of the air we breathe.

6. Helium Balloon Gas makes balloons float. Helium is lighter than air and just as the heaviest things will tend to fall to the bottom, the lightest things will rise to the top.

7. Helium Balloon Gas makes balloons float. Helium is lighter than air and just as the heaviest things will tend to fall to the bottom, the lightest things will rise to the top.

8. Camels can spit.

9. An ostrich can run 43 miles per hour (70 kilometers per hour).

10. Pigs are the fourth most intelligent animal in the world.

11. Dinosaurs didn't eat grass? There was no grass in the days of the dinosaurs.

12. Dolphins can swim 37 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour).

13. A crocodile's tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth? It cannot move. It cannot chew but its Digestive juices are so strong that it can digest a steel nail, Glass pieces, etc

14. Sharks are immune to disease i.e they do not suffer from any Disease.

15. Animals are either right- or left-handed? Polar bears are always left-handed, and so is Kermit the Frog.

16. Paris, France has more dogs than people.

17. New Zealand is home to 70 million sheep and only 40 million people.

18. Male polar bears weigh 1400 pounds and females only weight 550 pounds, on average.

19. Bison are excellent swimmers? Their head, hump and tail never go below the surface of the water.

20. There are 6 to 14 frogs species in the world that have no tongues. One of these is the African dwarf frog.

21. A frog named Santjie, who was in a frog derby in South Africa jumped 33 feet 5.5 inches.

22. The longest life span of a frog was 40 years

23. The eyes of a frog flatten down when it swallows its prey

24. The name `India' is derived from the River Indus

25. The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name `Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.

26. Chess was invented in India.

27. The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India.

28. 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.

29. India has the most post offices in the world

30. 'Navigation' is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH

31. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.

32. Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world

33. The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India.

34. A snail can sleep for 3 years.

35. The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start

36. Twenty-Four-Karat Gold is not pure gold since there is a small amount of copper in it. Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.

37. Electricity doesn't move through a wire but through a field around the wire.

38. The first bicycle that was made in 1817 by Baron von Drais didn't have any pedals? People walked it along

39. The first steam powered train was invented by Robert Stephenson. It was called the Rocket.

40. A cheetah does not roar like a lion - it purrs like a cat (meow).

41. The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'

42. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

43. Ants don't sleep.

44. Dolphins usually live up to about twenty years, but have been known to live for about forty.

45. Dolphins sleep in a semi-alert state by resting one side of their brain at a time

46. A dolphin can hold its breath for 5 to 8 minutes at a time

47. Bats can detect warmth of an animal from about 16 cm away using its "nose-leaf".

48. Bats can also find food up to 18 ft. away and get information about the type of insect using their sense of echolocation.

49. The eyes of the chameleon can move independently & can see in two different directions at the same time.

50. Cockroach: Can detect movement as small as 2,000 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom.

51. Dragonfly: Eye contains 30,000 lenses.

52. Pig's Tongue contains 15,000 taste buds. For comparison, the human tongue has 9,000 taste buds.

53. The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who invented the digit zero.

54. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

55. Earth weighs 5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons

56. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

57. A duck's quack doesn't echo anywhere

58. Man is the only animal who'll eat with an enemy

59. The average woman uses about her height in lipstick every five years.

60. The first Christmas was celebrated on December 25,

61. AD 336 in Rome.

62. A Cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.

63. A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't

64. A rat can last longer without water than a camel can

65. About 10% of the world's population is left-handed

66. Dolphins sleep with one eye open

67. Snakes have no external ears. Therefore, they do not hear the music of a "snake charmer". Instead, they are probably responding to the movements of the snake charmer and the flute. However, sound waves may travel through bones in their heads to the middle ear.

68. Many spiders have eight eyes.

69. The tongue of snakes has no taste buds. Instead, the tongue is used to bring smells and tastes into the mouth. Smells and tastes are then detected in two pits, called "Jacobson's organs", on the roof of their mouths. Receptors in the pits then transmit smell and taste information to the brain.

70. Birds don't sweat

71. The highest kangaroo leap recorded is 10 ft and the longest is 42 ft

72. Flamingo tongues were eaten common at Roman feasts

73. The smallest bird in the world is the Hummingbird. It weighs 1oz

74. The bird that can fly the fastest is called a White it can fly up to 95 miles per hour.

75. The oldest living thing on earth is 12,000 years old. It is the flowering shrubs called creosote bushes in the Mojave Desert

76. Tea is said to have been discovered in 2737 BC by a Chinese emperor when some tea leaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water.

77. A person can live without food for about a month, but only about a week without water.

If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, you'll feel thirsty.

If it's reduced by 10%, you'll die.

78. Along with its length neck, the giraffe has a very long tongue -- more than a foot and a half long. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue

79. Ostriches can kick with tremendous force, but only forward. Don't Mess with them

80. An elephant can smell water three miles away

81. If you were to remove your skin, it would weigh as much as 5 pounds

82. A hippopotamus can run faster than a man

83. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history

84. The world's known tallest man is Robert Pershing Wadlow. The giraffe is 5.49m (18 ft.), the man is 2.55m (8ft. 11.1 in.).

85. The world's tallest woman is Sandy Allen. She is 2.35m (7 ft. 7 in.).

86. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.

87. The blue whale is the largest animal on earth. The heart of a blue whale is as big as a car, and its tongue is as long as an elephant.

88. The largest bird egg in the world today is that of the ostrich. Ostrich eggs are from 6 to 8 inches long. Because of their size and the thickness of their shells, they take 40 minutes to hard-boil. The average adult male ostrich, the world's largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.

89. Every dolphin has its own signature whistle to distinguish it from other dolphins, much like a human fingerprint

90. The world's largest mammal, the blue whale, weighs 50 tons i.e. 50000 Kg at birth. Fully grown, it weighs as much as 150 tons i.e. 150000 Kg.

91. 90 % of all the ice in the world in on Antarctica

92. Antarctica is DRIEST continent. Antarctica is a desert

93. Antarctica is COLDEST continent, averaging minus 76 degrees in the winter

94. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and it doesn't have a moon. Its atmosphere is so thin that during the day the temperature reaches 750 degrees, but at night it gets down to -300 degrees.

95. Jupiter is the largest planet. If Jupiter were hollow, you could fit 1000 earths inside! It is made up of gas and is not solid. The most famous feature on Jupiter is its Red Spot, which is actually an enormous hurricane that has been raging on Jupiter for hundreds of years! Sixteen moons orbit Jupiter.

96. Saturn is a very windy place! Winds can reach up to 1,100 miles per hour. Saturn is also made of gas. If you could find an ocean large enough, it would float. This planet is famous for its beautiful rings, and has at least 18 moons.

97. Uranus is the third largest planet, and is also made of gas. It's tilted on its side and spins north-south rather than east-west. Uranus has 15 moons.

98. Neptune takes 165 Earth years to get around the sun. It appears blue because it is made of methane gas. Neptune also has a big Spot like Jupiter. Winds on Neptune get up to 1,200 mile per hour! Neptune has 8 moons.

99. Pluto is the farthest planet from the sun... usually. It has such an unusual orbit that it is occasionally closer to the sun than Neptune. Pluto is made of rock and ice.

100. Just about everyone listens to the radio! 99% of homes in the United States have a least one radio. Most families have several radios.

101. Sound is sent from the radio station through the air to your radio by means of electromagnetic waves. News, music, Bible teaching, baseball games, plays, advertisements- these sounds are all converted into electromagnetic waves (radio waves) before they reach your radio and your ears.

102. At the radio station, the announcer speaks into a microphone. The microphone changes the sound of his voice into an electrical signal. This signal is weak and can't travel very far, so it's sent to a transmitter. The transmitter mixes the signal with some strong radio signals called carrier waves. These waves are then sent out through a special antenna at the speed of light! They reach the antenna of your radio. Your antenna "catches" the signal, and the radio's amplifier strengthens the signal and sends it to the speakers. The speakers vibrate, and your ears pick up the vibrations and your brain translates them into the voice of the radio announcer back at the station. When you consider all the places the announcer's voice travels

103. Every radio station has its own frequency. When you turn the tuning knob on your radio, you are choosing which frequency you want your antenna to "catch."

104. Mountain lions are known by more than 100 names, including panther, catamount, cougar, painter and puma. It's scientific name is Felis concolor, which means "cat of one color." At one time, mountain lions were very common!

105. The large cats of the world are divided into two groups- those that roar, like tigers and African lions, and those that purr. Mountain lions purr, hiss, scream, and snarl, but they cannot roar.

106. They can jump a distance of 30 feet, and jump as high as 15 feet. It would take quite a fence to keep a mountain lion out!

107. Their favorite food is deer, but they'll eat other critters as well. They hunt alone, not in packs like wolves. They sneak up on their prey just like a house cat sneaks up on a bird or toy- one slow step at a time. A lion can eat ten pounds of meat at one time! That's equivalent to 40 quarter-pounder hamburgers!

108. Queen ants can live to be 30 years old

109. Dragonflies can flap their wings 28 times per second and they can fly up to 60 miles per hour

110. As fast as dragonflies can flap their wings, bees are even faster... they can flap their wings 435 times per second

111. Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

112. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath

113. Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day

114. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people

115. The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!

116. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!

117. Women blink nearly twice as much as men

118. 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

119. Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren't added to it.

120. More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.

121. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand

122. Earth is the only planet not named after a god.

123. It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.

124. Some worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food!

125. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open

126. 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

127. Slugs have 4 noses.

128. Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.

129. Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end

130. More than 1,000 different languages are spoken on the continent of Africa.

131. There was once an undersea post office in the Bahamas.

132. Abraham Lincoln's mother died when she drank the milk of a cow that grazed on poisonous snakeroot

133. After the death of Albert Einstein his brain was removed by a pathologist and put in a jar for future study.

134. Penguins are not found in the North Pole

135. A dentist invented the Electric Chair.

136. A whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound

137. Alexander Graham Bell's wife and mother were both deaf

138. Cockroaches break wind every 15 minutes.

139. Fish scales are an ingredient in most lipsticks

140. Canada" is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".

141. 259200 people die every day.

142. 11% of the world is left-handed

143. 1.7 litres of saliva is produced each day

144. The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!

145. The largest beetle in the Americas is the Hercules beetle, which can be 4 to 6 inches in length. That's bigger than your hand!

146. A full-grown male mountain lion may be 9 feet long, including his tail!

147. There are two kinds of radio stations: AM and FM. That's why there are two dials on your radio. AM is used mostly for stations that specialize in talking, such as Christian stations that have Bible stories and sermons; sports stations that broadcast live baseball and football games; and stations that specialize in news programs and "talk shows," where listeners call the station and discuss various topics. FM is used mostly for stations that specialize in music.

148. The average lead pencil can draw a line that is almost 35 miles long or you can write almost 50,000 words in English with just one pencil

149. The Wright Brothers invented one of the first airplanes. It was called the Kitty Hawk.

150. The worst industrial disaster in India, occurred in 1984 in Bhopal the capital of Madhya Pradesh. A deadly chemical, methly isocyanate leaked out of the Union Carbide factory killing more than 2500 and leaving thousands sick. In fact the effects of this gas tragedy is being felt even today.

151. Mars is nicknamed the "Red Planet," because it looks reddish in the night sky. Mars has 2 moons.

152. Venus is nicknamed the "Jewel of the Sky." Because of the greenhouse effect, it is hotter than Mercury, even though it's not as close to the sun. Venus does not have a moon but it does have clouds of sulfuric acid! If you're gonna visit Venus, pack your gas mask!

153. Tens of thousands of participants come from all over the world, fight in a harmless battle where more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets.

French Open Tennis Amazing Facts

2009-09-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's one of the world's biggest tennis tournaments and the only one played on clay.

The French Open has been held in Paris every year since 1891, except from 1939-1945, when it was cancelled because of World War II.

Women's singles were added to the French Open in 1897. In 1925, the French Open was opened up to the best foreign players.

In 1928, the French Open was held at Roland-Garros, for the first time. The new stadium was named after a former French tennis player who was also the first pilot to fly over the Mediterranean Sea.

The French Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament played on clay courts. On clay, the ball bounces much higher than on other surfaces so players have to hit the ball at shoulder level. The ball also travels slower on a clay surface, so rallies tend to last longer, which means players spend more time running back and forth. Moving around on a clay surface can also be more difficult for players because the clay isn't as firm as a hard court surface.

The top seed in the men's bracket belongs to Roger Federer, followed by second seed Rafael Nadar and third seed Andy Roddick. Rafael, who is the defending French Open champion and king of clay courts, saw his 81 straight clay court victories come to an end after a recent loss to Roger. The French Open in the only Grand Slam tournament that Roger has not won. Since losing to Rafael in the French Open finals last year, Roger has won all three other Grand Slams.

The ladies bracket is led by Justine Henin of Belgium. The second seed belongs to Maria Sharapova while Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova owns the third seed. Some sleepers who could make some noise this year are eighth seed Serena Williams and fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo.

The French Open is 110 years old. It first took place in 1891 in the form of a national championship and became international in 1925.

In 1926, Suzanne Lenglen won the women's singles final in 27 minutes.

American Althea Gibson was the first black player to win a Grand Slam tournament in 1956.

In 1966, Istvan Gulyas of Hungary agreed to delay the men's singles final 24 hours to give Tony Roche of Australia time to get over an ankle injury and subsequently win the tournament.

In 1891, the first national championship was held in France and was won by H. Briggs. Françoise Masson won the first ladies competition, in 1897.

The French Championships, as the tournament was originally called, was open to only French residents and consequently suffered from not being able to have the best foreign players take on the nation's stars.

That changed in 1925 when the competition became international. Coincidentally, that was the first year that the French team lost to the United States in the Davis Cup challenge round. The French would lose to the Americans the next year as well, but in 1927, the team, led by the French Musketeers (Jacques Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste) took the Davis Cup.

Davis Cup tradition holds that the return match is played on the winner's soil. However, there was no stadium in France sufficient to hold the event. So, a stadium was built at Porte d'Auteuil on a three-hectare site contributed by the city of Paris. It was given the name of a famous aviator and hero of World War I, Roland Garros.

Roland Garros played host to the 1928 French Championships and the Davis Cup later that year. Henri Cochet was the first male tennis player to win the tournament on Centre Court, in 1928.

The French Open is officially known as Roland Garros.

Roland Garros is named after its stadium, which is in turn named after the World War I French pilot.

The aviator, Roland Garros is known as the world's first fighter ace, the first real fighter pilot.

The French Open began as a national tournament in 1891. In 1925, the tournament opened itself to international competitors with the event held on a grass surface.

Red clay was installed when the new stadium was built.

As of 2006, the last six French Open men's singles championships were won by men who did not win any other Grand Slam tournament.

In 1968, the French Championships became the first Grand Slam tournament to go "open", allowing both amateurs and professionals to compete.

Bjorn Borg has the most singles titles at the French, with 6. Chris Evert holds the record for the women, with 7.

Michael Chang is the youngest singles champion. He was 17 years 3 months in 1989 when he beat Stefan Edberg 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. The youngest women was Monica Seles when she beat Steffi Graf 7-6, 6-4, she was 16 years 6 months.