Amazing Facts

15 lbs baby born in Bulgaria

2011-05-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

A baby with a record weight of 7.1 kilograms, 15.65 pounds, or 1.12 stone, was born on Friday in the Bulgarian city of Burgas.

The boy was 55 centimeters, or 21.65 inches, long and was born to a women with diabetes.

The high content of sugar in the mother's blood, according to doctors, resulted in the record weight of the newborn.

The child was named Miglen and is the undisputed heavy weight champion of Bulgaria among newborns.

The previous record belonged to another child weighing 6 kilograms who was 57 centimeters long and was born in Pomerania in January.

Most Friendly Country in the World: Canada

2011-04-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

Canada has been rated the friendliest country in the world for expatriates by Forbes magazine, while the Netherlands and India are rated among the lowest scorers overall.

The US is rated fourth after Canada, Bermuda and South Africa by the US magazine which looked at the results of a recent HSBC Bank International`s Expat Explorer survey in four categories.

These are the countries where it`s easiest to befriend locals, learn the language, fit into the new culture and integrate into the community.

But "day-to-day life in India is challenging", noted HSBC survey respondent Naomi Hattaway, a homemaker from the US who lives with her family in New Delhi .

"The simple existence is challenging. It is difficult to be so far away from family and friends and frustrating at times to feel as if you`re nomads in a country that has adopted you, yet will never quite feel like home."

Still, she was quoted as saying, for the most part, her experience has been pleasant.

Canada was most welcoming for the second year in a row; more than half of survey-takers there said they`d made friends with locals.

In the case of US, the results of the survey suggest that ease of learning the local language and adapting to the local culture are areas in which the US fares well as an expat destination - despite low scores in organising finances and health care.

Canada, Bermuda and South Africa were helped to the top of the list because more than 80 percent of the expats surveyed there say they are native English speakers.

The top ten friendly nations were: Canada, Bermuda, South Africa, US, Australia, Spain , France , Britain, Malaysia and Germany.

Alarming Facts About Global Warming

2011-04-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

1. Every single day, 70 million tons of carbon dioxide are released into our world’s atmosphere. That’s 1.4 billion pounds – yesterday, today, tomorrow, and every single day.

2. The warmest years on record have been in the past 10 out of 12 years. Since record-keeping began in 1880, the planet’s 10 hottest years were all in your lifetime, between 1997 and 2008.

3. 2008 saw the second-lowest summer Arctic sea ice ever recorded since satellites began keeping track in 1979, at 1.74 million square miles.This is 860,000 square miles below the average minimum seen in the summers from 1979 to 2000. (Summer 2007 saw the lowest levels ever recorded, at 1.65 million square miles).

4. Ships for the first time can sail along the Northwest Passage above North America. Once a fabled passageway, melting Arctic ice from global warming has let this route become a reality for the first time in over 100 years.

5. Arctic summers could be ice-free by 2040 or sooner, decades ahead of previous estimates.As this ice “mirror” that reflects sunlight back into space disappears, the effects of global warming will increase as the oceans absorb more of the sun’s heat. This melting ice will cause polar bears and other species to lose their icy habitat and eventually become extinct.

6. 82% of glaciers have disappeared in Glacier National Park, Montana. Today this beautiful park has only 27 glaciers, compared with 150 in 1910.

7. 500,000 cubic miles of ice would be lost if either of the rapidly melting ice sheets in Greenland or Antarctica completely melted.Dumping this much freshwater into the ocean would be catastrophic not only to low-lying areas, but it would also mess up the ocean’s complicated currents.

8. 20 million tons of ice per day are lost by only one of the glaciers in Greenland. The ice melting from Greenland’s glaciers has more than doubled over the past decade, adding to the dangerous rise in sea levels. For those living in New York City – this amount lost per day is equal to the amount of water you and your Big Apple neighbors use for an entire year.

9. Over a hundred million people will be displaced by just a 1-yard rise in sea levels.Many scientists predict that the oceans will rise at least this much by 2100. As more and more freshwater melts into the sea, this could greatly disrupt the ocean’s vital currents and, ironically, even bring a mini-Ice Age to Europe.

10. Sea levels will rise by 20 feet if either the Greenland or West Antarctic Ice Sheets completely melt – 40 feet if both melt. Maps as you know them would be completely changed, as this would flood much of Florida, Louisiana, Manhattan, China, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and many more areas.

The Button King

2011-03-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

While most people refer to a button as the “thing” that holds your pants up, for 75-year-old Dalton Stevens, it’s a work of art.

Stevens, better known as the “Button King,” has been practicing this art form for 15 years.

He got involved with the hobby after suffering from insomnia and needed something to keep him busy.
“I didn’t sleep some times for four or five days,” Stevens said. “So I started doing buttons, the first thing I did was sew buttons on a suit.”

The suit has 16,333 buttons sewed onto the material and took him two years and 10 months to complete.

Among the other items Stevens has put buttons on are: an outhouse, a hearse, a Chevrolet Chevette, a guitar, a piano and two caskets, one of which he will be buried in when he passes away. The hearse has 600,000 buttons while the Chevrolet has 149,000 buttons attached.

Recently he just opened a museum to showcase all of his creations.

The museum is located off of Highway 34 between Bishopville and Camden and is open six days a week. For those interested in touring the museum you can call Stevens at (803) 428-3841.

Stevens puts the buttons on with contact cement and gets a lot of supplies donated by different companies including the Adelphia Button Co. of Philadelphia.
He picks and chooses what items he puts the buttons on.

“The reason I did the outhouse is because I have a lot of school children that come through here and have never seen anything like that before,” he said. “And a lot of the senior citizens that come have seen something like that and have used it like I have.”

In years past he has appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, “The David Letterman Show” and “Nashville Now” with Ralph Emery. He has even appeared in Star Magazine and on local and national television newscasts.

“I’ve been on Carson show twice and Letterman three times,” Stevens said. “When I appeared on the Carson show I had been married for thirty-two years. He asked me what was the secret of a long marriage. I told him if anything ever happens between me and my wife I’m gonna get one of your ex wives that gets all that alimony money. That was about one of the best things that I’ve done on TV.”

Stevens said that he never thought that his hobby would lead to so many opportunities.

“On these shows you can’t buy your way or you can’t beg your way on,” he said. “I earned the opportunity to appear on these shows and in the magazines.”

Stevens has even developed a fan base out of this popularity.

“A woman from California called me and told me that I was the last thing that she saw at night and the first thing she saw in the morning,” Stevens said. “I told her that I don’t believe I understand what you’re talking about. She told me that she had my picture above her bed on the ceiling. I told her that was pretty unique.”

Stevens is also a vocalist and has two songs that he wrote about all of his creations.

“I have a unique song and it goes like this,” he said. “If you like the color of my clothes, would you give me buttons instead of a rose. Buttons can be square or round, they keep my pants from falling down.”

His other song, “Insomniac Shuffle” is as follows: “Give me a bag of buttons, buttons are my bag, I start sewing buttons before my eyes begin to sag. Buttons will make or break me when I sign the big contract, then I’ll be the richest of all insomniacs.”

As of this time, Stevens has no plans of creating any more of his patented items.

These days he enjoys spending time with his wife of 50 years and his three children, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

“I just got tired of going,” Stevens said. “I decided that if people want to see it they can come to me.”

Admission to the museum is free, but Stevens does accept donations.

Bank with no locks: 'God As Guard'

2011-03-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

Shani Shingnapur, the world famous temple town in Maharashtra, India where houses have neither doors nor locks, now befittingly has its first commercial bank branch with no locks on its front door.

The public sector UCO Bank is the first to throw open the doors of commercial banking to this unique town of 3,000 people. Bowing to local religious sentiments, the bank last week decided to open the branch without a lock on its front door.

The people of Shani Shingnapur fix only door frames, but no doors to their homes and no locks for their safety lockers because they believe the temple is a "living abode" of Lord Shani, the ruling deity. And so strong is the belief that no one dares to attempt theft for fear of inviting Lord Shani's wrath upon himself and his family.

However, as a precautionary measure, some of the six-member staff of UCO Bank posted they take turns to stay within the branch premises all the time.

"There is no lock on the bank's main entrance. But with cash boxes and other important documents kept inside, security precautions needed to be taken," said an official.

The inauguration was done amid fanfare on January 6 by local legislator Shankarrao Gadak of the Nationalist Congress Party, who is also an important driving force behind the Shani Shingnapur temple.

The bank's branch manager, UK Shah said that the first bank in the town has already caught the imagination of the people and that he was optimistic of good growth.

"So far, we have built a customer base of over 200 people and more are coming in. We plan to have our ATM here soon," a proud Shah said.

However, the local and district police are not impressed by the 'lock-less' bank branch and have already sounded a word of caution to the concerned authorities.

For one, keeping large quantities of cash without security could attract undue attention of undesirable elements, a district police official pointed out.

The other banks in the nearest town Sonai have refused to cooperate with the UCO Bank branch to store its cash overnight on public holidays and weekends.

The UCO Bank's own nearest branch is at Ahmednagar, 40 km away, making it an impractical proposition to transfer huge amounts of cash to and fro twice a day by road.

The bank authorities discussed security aspects with the police and the local police have offered to provide them armed gunmen - but at a cost of nearly Rs.100,000 per month. This was not acceptable to the bank authorities, an official said.

Despite repeated attempts by IANS, the UCO Bank authorities in Kolkata and Mumbai regional and zonal offices chose to keep mum on the security considerations for the Shani Shingnapur branch.

A district official said that contrary to the image of the temple town, tourists and pilgrims are blatantly fleeced in the name of religion by nearly 300 touts operating outside the temple precincts.

According to a police official, a couple of decades ago, wearing of lungi or a coloured dhoti was suddenly introduced for devotees visiting the temple -- without which, the touts claimed, the Sun God would not accept their prayers.

"A single lungi is rented to several pilgrims at exorbitant rates of Rs.200 and more. Since nobody carries a lungi with them, they are forced to rent it. The district authorities have done nothing to stop this menace," the police official said.

On an average, around 5,000 tourists and pilgrims visit the town daily and on weekends the number swells to over 50,000.

Incidentally, on October 25 last year, the first ever case of robbery was recorded by the Sonai police. A Haryana tourist lost valuables worth around Rs. 35,000, a Sonai police official said.

British woman fails driving test 90 times

2011-03-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

A young British woman has failed her driving theory exam an astonishing 90 times, spending about 3,000 pounds before she even sits for the practical test.

The 26-year-old from London, who last appeared in her theory test in November 2010, set a British record by failing for the 90th time, the Daily Mail reported. The Driving Standards Agency revealed the figures after a Freedom of Information request to find the worst drivers in Britain.

The driving theory test costs 31 pounds to sit and is a multiple choice exam in which a wannabe driver has to get 43 or more questions out of 50 correct within 57 minutes before taking to the road for their practical test.

According to the figures, a 39-year-old man from the West Midlands, England has set a record for the most number of practical tests in Britain. He failed the last test, his 36th, last year.

The Guinness World Record for the most practical driving tests ever taken is held by Git Kaur Randhawa, of Hayes, Middlesex, who finally triumphed at her 48th attempt after more than 330 lessons in 1987 just weeks before her 50th birthday.

The world record for the number of theory tests taken is held by a South Korean woman called Cha Sa-soon who passed at her 950th attempt in November 2009.

World's youngest CEO

2011-03-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

Sindhuja Rajaraman, a ninth standard student has become the world's youngest Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The 14-year old girl became the head of Seppan Company, an animation firm, in October 2010. The company was set up by her father.

She was adjudged the fastest 2D and 3D animator by software lobby NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) at the Gaming and Animation Conclave 2010 held in Hyderabad.

"I am just proud to be an animator. The CEO is just a post given in this company," Rajaraman.

"I am learning animation for this CEO post to make myself worthy for the CEO post," she said. "There is no age bar or age limit for animation. Everybody can do animation."

"The scope for animation in India is growing everyday. There is going to be a big boom in India and all industries are into the animation, they need animation and multimedia. I am enjoying work and I am also getting challenging works," she added.

Britain's fattest teenager is 40 stone at 17

2011-03-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

Britain's fattest teenager Georgia Davis now weighs 40 stone at just 17-years-old despite losing 15 stone at a US fat camp.

Georgia said depression over her size only makes her eat more. The 17-year-old now weighs 40st 6lbs.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper Georgia said: "I try not to think about it too much, otherwise I panic and it makes my eating problem worse — but I do know it is serious.

"I've covered over the mirror in my bedroom, but there is one in the bathroom I have to look into each morning when I wash and brush my teeth and it makes me feel so sad.

"Sometimes the sadness makes me eat more, but sometimes I just cry."
Georgia has put on an extra seven stone since she was 15-years-old when she weighed 33 stone.

Despite nine months at a US fat camp, where she lost 15 stone in 2009, she has managed to regain all that weight as well as much more.

Yesterday her true wright was revealed when she stood on a weighbridge designed for industrial materials after being too heavy for traditional scales at her local hospital.

She said: "I'd been following a programme of healthy eating in the camp where I'd been living in North Carolina, America, and I'd learned to enjoy low-fat foods like salads, bagels, yoghurt and even buffalo meat. "I was really looking forward to trying it all out back home but, when I arrived, my mum said she hadn't had time to prepare any healthy food so we had fish and chips instead.
"From that moment on, I had a niggling feeling that things weren't going to work out."

Georgia added: "I'd also learned to love exercise in America, using a gym and playing proper sports like tennis and basketball for the first time. But back home, it soon became obvious it wasn't going to be easy.

"The same facilities weren't available here and I couldn't easily afford to join the local gym. I soon found I was becoming much less mobile, just like before."

Egyptian father names his daughter “Facebook”

2011-03-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

An Egyptian man has decided to show his appreciation towards social networking site "Facebook" for its role during the revolution in his country by naming his newborn daughter Facebook.

Giving the girl an unusual name, Jamal Ibrahim, thanked the Facebook, who has played an important role in organizing mass protests in Egypt.

Egyptian dictator Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak was in power from 1981 until February 11, 2011, when he resigned after 18 days of protests. Facebook has been credited for helping organize regime-ending protests in the country. Although the Egyptian revolution saw some planning done via Twitter, direct text messages, and other forms of electronic communication, Facebook has come to symbolize all the forms of social media that people used to organize the revolutions in the Middle East.

Out of the 79 million citizens in Egypt (September 2010 estimate), 5 million are on Facebook. The company itself has reported an increase in Egyptian users on its website, with 32,000 Facebook groups and 14,000 pages created in the two weeks after January 25 (the first day of revolutions).

Few days ago, the Egyptian army, which is currently running the country after Mubarak was ousted, launched Facebook Page to boost its image.

Gamal Ibrahim, a 20-something, gave his daughter the name “to express his joy at the achievements made by the January 25 youth,” according to a report in Al-Ahram, one of Egypt’s most popular newspapers.

Many young people used Facebook and other social media networks to organize the protests, which began January 25 and ultimately led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power.

Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who organized a Facebook page on his own time, became a central figure of the revolution.

The longest hair in the world

2011-03-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

Miss Qiuping, Recent world’s record holder for the longest hair according to Guinness book since May 8, 2008, was born in 1960.She started to grow her hair and decided not to cut it since she was 13 years old or 1973.

She longs her hair with various herbals and various hair treatments for the past 38 years.
She made a record of world’s longest hair in Guinness World’s of records on May 8, 2004 at Guang Xi province of China.

Guinness measured her hair and found that the length of her hair was 18 ft. 5.54 inches or 5.627 cm and sure, it is longer this time.

This record outmatched the world’s record holder that was set by Tran Van Hay who petted his hair for more than 42 years. Aesthetically, Miss Qiuping` s hair is far silky, shine and well treated unlike the hair bundle that lay over the head of Tran Van hay.

Longest street in the world

2011-03-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yonge Street (pronounced "young") located in Ontario, Canada, is a major arterial street in Toronto and its northern suburbs.

It was previously listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world.

Yonge Street is home or close to many attractions in Toronto, including street and theatre performances, the Eaton Centre, Dundas Square, the Hockey Hall of Fame, Sam the Record Man, and at the very start of the road, 'One Yonge Street', the offices of the Toronto Star.

The Yonge Line of the Toronto Subway runs under and in open cuts beside Yonge Street from south of King Street to Finch Avenue.

Yonge Street was originally a military trail linking Lake Ontario with the northern Great Lakes. For this reason, it is unusually long and straight.

World's youngest grandmother at 23

2011-03-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

A 23-year-old woman from Romania has claimed to have become the "world's youngest grandmother".

Mum-of-two Rifca Stanescu was 12 when she had her first child Maria. She urged her daughter not to follow her example -- but Maria gave birth to son Ion while only 11, 'The Sun' reported.

Rifca had married jewellery seller Ionel Stanescu when she was 11 and he was 13. They eloped because Rifca feared her father wanted her to marry another village lad in Investi in Romania. She was forgiven when she had her daughter - making her mum, also Maria, a great grandmother at 40.

Son Nicolae was born a year later. The young mum later tried to persuade Maria to stay at school. But Maria left to wed when she was 10 and had her baby six months later, the report said.

Rifca cuddled grandson Ion, now two, and said: "I am happy to be a grandmother but wished more for Maria."

Britain's previous youngest grandmother was an unnamed 26-year-old from Yorks. Her daughter, 12, gave birth in 1999.

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Amazing Trees

2011-03-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

Pictures of most amazing and unusual trees from around the world

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World's Top Earning Cricketer

2011-03-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has topped the list of world’s 10 top earning cricketers compiled by Forbes, which also features four other players from the sub-continent: Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

Raking in $ 10 million, Dhoni is at the top of the chart followed by Tendulkar at the second spot with earnings worth $ 8 million in the list of "The World's Top-Earning Cricketers'.

While Singh and Dravid are at the third and fourth spot, respectively, Ganguly and Australian Cricketer Ricky Ponting share the sixth place.”Paycheck figures include club and national team salaries and commercial endorsement income over the last 12 months,” Forbes said.

Dhoni Singh earned $ 5.5 million while Dravid and Ganguly raked in $ 5 million and $ 3.5 million, respectively. Ponting also earned $ 3.5 million.The India cricket captain, is also the country’s most expensive sportsman.

World's Most Livable City

2011-03-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Vancouver topped the list of the world's most livable cities for the fifth straight year, while Melbourne claimed second place from Vienna and Australian and Canadian cities dominated the list's top 10 spots. Take a look at the top 10, along with some other notable cities.

(Rankings based on a combination of stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure)

For the fifth year in a row, Vancouver has been named the most livable city in the world. Still riding an Olympic high from hosting the Vancouver 2010 Games, the city beat out Melbourne, Australia and Vienna, Austria as the place where people most choose to live.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Two other Canadian cities, Toronto and Calgary, also made the Economist Intelligence Unit’s top ten list at fourth and fifth respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum was Harare, Zimbabwe, once a beautiful city but after three decades of rule under Robert Mugabe is squalid.

Vancouver took top spot with a score of 98 per cent based on rankings including health care, infrastructure, culture, environment and education. The Economist surveyed 140 cities.
Vancouver deserves to be at the top of the list, but it can just as easily be knocked off, according to Tourism Vancouver president Rick Antonson.
“This is something we can never, ever take for granted,” he said. “It’s something as a Vancouver resident it’s wonderful since you have your own set of glasses to look through. Given what this means to visitors, this means the city has all the right attributes. But being able to sustain something like that is a constant watch. It has to be top of mind that we do not let something like that slip.”

Melbourne, Australia

The top 10 most livable cities in the world:
1. Vancouver
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Vienna, Austria
4. Toronto
5. Calgary
6. Helsinki, Finland
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Perth, Australia
8. Adelaide, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand

The 10 least livable cities:
1. Harare, Zimbabwe
2. Dhaka, Bangladesh
3. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
4. Lagos, Nigeria
5. Algiers, Algeria
6. Karachi, Pakistan
7. Douala, Cameroon
8. Tehran, Iran
9. Dakar, Senegal
10. Colombo, Sri Lanka

World's Hairiest Girl

2011-03-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

Supatra Sasuphan doesn't mind being called the "World's Hairiest Girl." She and her family even sought the title from Guinness World Records.

The 11-year-old from Bangkok is likely to become a future Guinness star. She has a condition known as hypertrichosis, otherwise known as "Werewolf Syndrome."

"She's a remarkable little girl," said Marco Frigatti, a Guinness judge. "She's proud of who she is and wants to be treated just like everyone else. She's not the one with the problem; it's only those who treat her differently who've got the problem."

"Nat," as the girl likes to be called, told Guinness, "I don't feel any different to anyone else, and I've got lots of friends at school."

She doesn't like being called a "werewolf," but she is enjoying her newfound fame, having recently taken her first airplane ride.

"Being hairy makes me special," she said. "This the happiest day of my life!"

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Amphibian Couple to the rescue

2011-03-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

Bangladesh suffered its driest July 2010 in decades, prompting farmers to turn to the centuries-old ritual of frog marriages.

Ramchandrapur village in Bangladesh's Sadullahpur district enjoyed an usual wedding.The marriage ceremony was comprised of the same rituals that are performed to certify an alliance between two humans. It was a joyous occasion for the residents with an urgent underlying appeal to God for a sufficient and consistent rainfall in the coming months.

Scientists say Bangladesh is one of the countries worst hit by the effects of climate change with extreme weather conditions such as drought and flooding likely to increase in future.