AMAZING FACTS

EVERY THING ABOUT EINSTEIN

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:02:00 +0000

Albert Einstein was born at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich, where he later on began his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to find a teaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor's degree.

10 QUICK FACTS ABOUT EINSTEIN

1. Einstein Was a Fat Baby with Large Head
2. Einstein Had Speech Difficulty as a Child
3. Einstein was Inspired by a Compass
4. Einstein Failed his University Entrance Exam
5. Einstein had an Illegitimate Child
6. Einstein Became Estranged From His First Wife, then Proposed a Strange "Contract"
7. Einstein Didn’t Get Along with His Oldest Son
8. Einstein was a Ladies’ Man
9. Einstein, the War Pacifist, Urged FDR to Build the Atom Bomb
10. The Saga of Einstein’s Brain: Pickled in a Jar for 43 Years and Driven Cross Country in a Trunk of a Buick!

QUOTES BY EINSTEIN

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."
"I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
"The only real valuable thing is intuition."
"I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."
"God is subtle but he is not malicious."
"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."
"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
"The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."

RESEARCHES BY EINSTEIN

Einstein's researches are, of course, well chronicled and his more important works include Special Theory of Relativity (1905), Relativity (English translations, 1920 and 1950), General Theory of Relativity (1916), Investigations on Theory of Brownian Movement (1926), and The Evolution of Physics (1938). Among his non-scientific works, About Zionism (1930), Why War? (1933), My Philosophy (1934), and Out of My Later Years (1950) are perhaps the most important.

FACTS ABOUT GOLD AND PEARLS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:14:00 +0000

Twenty-Four-Karat Gold is not pure gold; there is a small amount of copper in it. Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.

Did you know pearls are found in oysters? The largest pearl ever found was 620 carats.

SEVEN UNKNOWN FACTS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:09:00 +0000

SE7EN UNKNOWN FACTS

1. 9pin bowling was made up in Germany during the Medieval ages

2. Did you know the first toy balloon, made of vulcanized rubber, was thought of by someone in the J.G.Ingram company in London, England in 1847.

3. The first metal bicycle was called the High-Wheel or Penny Farthing. People had a hard time keeping their balance on this type of bicycle.

4. the first bicycle that was made in 1817 by Baron von Drais didn't have any pedals? People walked it along

5.The first kind of PENCIL was a bunch of GRAPHITE sticks held together by string. Then someone decided it would be better to push the graphite into the inside of a hollow wooden stick.

6.JOSEPH RECHENDORFER was the first person to think of putting a piece of rubber onto the top of a pencil which makes it real easy to rub out mistakes.

7.Did you know that 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? Amazing fact! Now imagine an eraser that could match it !!!

PHOBIAS STARTING WITH LETTER B

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:04:00 +0000

PHOBIAS STARTING WITH LETTER B

Bacillophobia- Fear of microbes.
Bacteriophobia- Fear of bacteria.
Ballistophobia- Fear of missiles or bullets.
Bolshephobia- Fear of Bolsheviks.
Barophobia- Fear of gravity.
Basophobia or Basiphobia- Inability to stand. Fear of walking or falling.
Bathmophobia- Fear of stairs or steep slopes.
Bathophobia- Fear of depth.
Batophobia- Fear of heights or being close to high buildings.
Batrachophobia- Fear of amphibians, such as frogs, newts, salamanders, etc.
Belonephobia- Fear of pins and needles. (Aichmophobia)
Bibliophobia- Fear of books.
Blennophobia- Fear of slime.
Bogyphobia- Fear of bogeys or the bogeyman.
Botanophobia- Fear of plants.
Bromidrosiphobia or Bromidrophobia- Fear of body smells.
Brontophobia- Fear of thunder and lightning.
Bufonophobia- Fear of toads.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MARS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:42:00 +0000

AMAZING FACTS ABOUT MARS

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and is almost half the size of Earth. Mars orbits the sun at an average distance of 227,936,640 km. A full orbit around the sun takes around 687 Earth days. At 24.7 hours, a day on Mars is only slightly longer than a day on Earth.

The surface of Mars has undergone many changes due to volcanism, impacts from other bodies, movements of its crust, and atmospheric effects such as dust storms. The dust storms can reach tremendous proportions. Recent Hubble images have shown the whole surface of the planet covered with a massive dust storm. Polar ice caps are present on Mars. These ice caps increase and decrease in size depending on the season.

Mars has some remarkable geological characteristics, including the largest volcanic mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons (27 km high and 600 km across); volcanoes in the northern Tharsis region that are so huge they deform the planet's roundness; and a gigantic equatorial rift valley, the Valles Marineris.

Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. It is uncertain how they formed, but it is believed that they may be asteroids that have been snared by Mars' gravity.

9 FACTS ABOUT MARS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:38:00 +0000

STRANGE FACTS ABOUT MARS

Fact One:
Of all the planets in the Solar System, Mars is the one people believe is most likely to contain or to have contained life. In 1900, a prize was offered to the first person to be contact an extra-terrestrial being. However, this extra-terrestrial being was not allowed to come from Mars because that would make the competition too easy! In 1938, a radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (a story about an invasion of Earth by Martians) caused a near panic in America because so many people believed it to be true.

Fact Two:
The largest volcano in the Solar System is on Mars. It is called Olympus Mons.

Fact Three:
Mars has polar caps like Earth, containing frozen carbon dioxide (and small amount of water).

Fact Four:
Mars is believed to have had water flowing around it like Earth once. It may have had a blue sky too. However, it is unlikely that it had grass, trees and plants like Earth has now.

Fact Five:
The Valles Marineris, the greatest gorge on any planet in the Solar System, was caused when volcanoes erupting around it tore up the land, leaving a huge valley.

Fact Six:
We can see how long Mars has been a 'dead' planet by the number of meteorite impacts on its surface. In comparison, Earth and Venus have fewer impact craters because they have newer surfaces formed by recent geological activity.

Fact Seven:
Mars has seasons like Earth. This is caused by the tilt of the planet's axis, at a similar angle to the tilt of Earth's axis.

Fact Eight:
The Sun appears about half the size on Mars as it does from Earth.

Fact Nine:
The first space probe to take pictures of Mars' surface (Mariner 4 in 1964) is still in space, orbiting the Sun. Still orbiting Mars itself are Mariner 9 (launched in 1971), Viking 1 and 2 (launched in 1975), the Mars Global Surveyor (launched in 1996, which is currently looking for the Mars Polar Lander, launched in 1998) and the Mars Climate Orbitor (launched in 1998 to orbit Mars in 1999). These are American space probes.

NUMERICAL FACTS ABOUT MARS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:35:00 +0000

NUMERICAL FACTS ABOUT MARS

Average Distance from the Sun: Metric: 227,936,640 km

Perihelion (closest): Metric: 206,600,000 km

Aphelion (farthest): Metric: 249,200,000 km

Equatorial Radius: Metric: 3,397 km

Equatorial Circumference: Metric: 21,344 km

Mass: 641,850,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg

Volume: 163,140,00,000 km3

Density: 3.94 g/cm3

Surface Area: 144,100,000 km2

Equatorial Surface Gravity: 3.693 m/s2

Escape Velocity: 18,072 km/h

Length of Day: 24.62 hours

Length of Year: 686.93 Earth days

Mean Orbit Velocity: 86,871 km/h

Orbital Eccentricity: .0934

Orbital Inclination to Ecliptic: 1.8 degrees

Equatorial Inclination to Orbit: 25.19

Orbital Circumference: 1.366,900,000 km

Min/Max Surface Temperature: -87 to -5 °C

Atmospheric Constituents: Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, Argon

Number of Moons: 2

LIST OF PHOBIAS STARTING WITH LETTER A

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:52:00 +0000

LIST OF PHOBIAS STARTING WITH LETTER A

Achluophobia - Fear of darkness.
Acousticophobia - Fear of noise.
Aeroacrophobia - Fear of open high places.
Aeronausiphobia - Fear of vomiting secondary to airsickness.
Aerophobia - Fear of drafts, air swallowing, or airborne noxious substances.
Agliophobia - Fear of pain.
Agoraphobia - Fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places like markets. Fear of leaving a safe place. Fear of crowds.
Agraphobia - Fear of sexual abuse.
Agrizoophobia - Fear of wild animals.
Agyrophobia - Fear of streets or crossing the street.
Aichmophobia - Fear of needles or pointed objects.
Ailurophobia - Fear of cats.
Albuminurophobia - Fear of kidney disease.
Alektorophobia - Fear of chickens.
Algophobia - Fear of pain.
Alliumphobia - Fear of garlic.
Allodoxaphobia - Fear of opinions.
Altophobia - Fear of heights.
Amathophobia - Fear of dust.
Amaxophobia - Fear of riding in a car.
Ambulophobia - Fear of walking.
Amnesiphobia - Fear of amnesia.
Amychophobia - Fear of scratches or being scratched.
Anablephobia - Fear of looking up.
Ancraophobia - Fear of wind.
Androphobia - Fear of men.
Anemophobia - Fear of air drafts or wind.
Anemophobia - Fear of wind.
Anginophobia - Fear of angina, choking of narrowness.
Anglophobia - Fear of England, English culture, ect.
Angrophobia - Fear of becoming angry

NUMBER 13 AND ITS MYSTERIES

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:49:00 +0000

The number 13

It is believed that the fear for the number 13 stems from primitive man being unable to count past 12. Numbers beyond 12 do now have an individual and independent name but are a combination of the first 12 numbers. With 12 being the end of the line, 13 was moving into unknown territory.

In Norse mythology the 13th number led to the death of Baldur, the beloved of the gods. When the 12 gods gathered for a banquet in Valhalla, Loki gatecrashed the party, increasing the number to 13, which led to the death of Baldur. It also happens that in Tarot cards, 13 is called "Death."
The baker's dozen

The "unlucky 13" is the reason why the thirteen loaves that bakers once supplied were never called by the number, but described as "a baker's dozen." The thirteenth loaf was regarded as a special bribe for the devil not to spoil the sale or the bread.
The lucky number 13

But 13 is not unlucky for all. The Mayas worshipped the 13 gods of the upper world. The Aztecs climbed 13 steps to their sacred places. Buddhists paid homage to 13 Buddhas. In Jewish faith, God revealed Himself by 13 attributes of bountiful mercy (Exodus 34: 6-7). The orthodox Jewish prayer book hold the Thirteen Principles of Faith. Jewish boys celebrate their Bar Mitzvah at age 13.

The number 13 in Greek is triskaideka and the fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia.

FEAR OF FRIDAY AND WHAT IT IS CALLED

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:47:00 +0000

FRIDAY

In pagan times Friday was the luckiest day of the week because it was ruled by the planet Venus, the symbol of love and fortune. In fact, Friday is named in honour of Freya, goddess of Love. But for Christians, Friday has not been a good day. Adam and Eve is said to have eaten the forbidden fruit on a Friday and died on a Friday. Jesus was crucified on a Friday.

For centuries sailors refused to set sail on a Friday. It is told that when the reluctance of seamen to set sail on a Friday had reached such proportions that it interfered with naval operations, the British Admiralty decided to prove once and for all that it is a fallacy. They laid the keel of a new vessel on a Friday, named her H.M.S. Friday, and launched her on a Friday. On her first voyage, setting sail on a Friday, she was commanded by Captain James Friday. She left the harbour and nothing has since been heard of her or her crew. The identical story has also found its place in American lore.

The fear for traveling on a Friday continued until the early 20th century where in Europe bus and train travel was lowest on a Friday. But before you say "Thank Goodness, it's Friday!" consider that today, FBI statistics show, most robberies take place on a Friday.

WHAT DO PEOPLE FEAR MOST

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:45:00 +0000

What do people fear most?

At the top of the list is death, the fear of which is necrophobia. Second, apparently, is the fear of failure, which is called kakorrhaphiophobia. There is of course a story of how fears developed, like fear for the number 13. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia

mysteries surrounding the death of tupac shakur

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:31:00 +0000

After leaving the Tyson fight on Saturday September 7, 1996 Tupac was alledgedly shot 5 times. He lived through the shooting and was taken to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead on Friday September 13, 1996.

The suspicious facts:

Friday the 13th is a very suspicious day. There were never any pictures released of Tupac in the hospital. In the song "Life Goes On", Tupac raps about his own funeral.

The driver of the car in which Tupac was riding, Suge Knight (the executive producer of Death Row Records), didn't show up for questioning about the shooting.

The video "I ain't Mad at Cha" was released only a few days after his death. "I ain't Mad at Cha" is track 13 on the album All Eyes On Me. The video shows Tupac as an angel in heaven. In the video, Tupac was shot after leaving a theater with a friend, which is very similar to how he was shot in real life. Interestingly, Tupac dies in his last video released under the name "Tupac". His new video "Toss It Up" from the new album was released under the name "Makaveli".

The second video to be released by the name Makaveli is "To Live and Die in L.A." But how could they shoot the second video when he is "dead". Do you really think the video was shot 4 months ago, back in August of '96? Think about it.

In the video "Hail Mary" released under the name Makaveli, there is a gravestone that says Makaveli. But the gravestone is cracked and there is a hole right in front of it, inferring that Makaveli rose from the dead.

A shooting involving Snoop Doggy Dogg occured close to the release of his album Doggystyle. The shooting made Snoop appear more "real" and showed his fans that he really was a gangsta. The shooting gave him respect because everyone that bought his album believed what he was talking about. Within one week of its release, Doggystyle went platnium.

Tupac officially died at 4:03 PM. 4+3 = 7 Also he "died" at an age of 25 years. 2+5 = 7 It seems as if seven is Tupac's number.

There is nothing in the new album that says TUPAC RIP 1971-1996. Wouldn't it make sense to include something like that in the first album after his "death"? The only thing mentioned is "EXIT TUPAC ENTER MAKAVELI".

In Richie Rich's album Seasoned Veteran, which was released on the same day as The 7 Day Theory, on the song "N*ggas Done Changed" which is a duet with Tupac, Tupac says the following lyrics: "I've been shot and murdered, can't tell you how it happened word for word / but best believe that n*ggas' gonna get what they deserve." This phrase implies that Tupac knows he will be dead when Richie Rich's album is released.

In Makaveli's (Tupac's) song "White Man's World" on album The 7 Day Theory, he says "We ain't never gonna walk off this planet unless ya'll choose to." Did he choose to walk off the planet by faking his death?

In Tupac's song "Ambitionz az a Ridah" on the album All Eyes On Me, he says "Blast me but they didn't finish, didn't diminish my powers so now I'm back to be a muthaf*ckin' menace, they cowards thats why they tried to set me up, had b*tch *ss n*ggas on my team so indeed they wet me up, BUT I'M BACK REINCARNATED." This implies that Tupac is reincarnated as Makaveli.

In Tupac's song "Life of an Outlaw" on the album The 7 Day Theory, he says "All for the street fame on how to be managed, to plan sh*t, 6 months in advance to what we plotted, approved to go on swole and now I got it"-Life Of An Outla

In E-40's album Hall Of Game in the song "Million Dollar Spot" which is a duet with Tupac, Tupac says, "Fans can't understand my ghetto slang, so i evade and plot and plan a life of better things...." Once again Tupac mentions his "plan".

In Tupac's song "Ain't Hard 2 Find" on the album All Eyes On Me, he says "I heard rumors I died, murdered in cold blood, tramatized pictures of me in my final states, you know momma cryed, but that was fiction, some coward got the story twisted." It seems as if Tupac foretold the future.

Scarface's song "Smile", which is a duet with Tupac, was supposedly recorded in September of '96, before Tupac was "shot". But the video for the song was released in May of '97 and the video depicts Tupac rapping while he appears to be crucified. At the end of the video, Tupac falls off the cross and stands up...which is another image of resurection. Towards the end of the video, it becomes slightly apparent that Tupac is actually portrayed by a look-alike. I still wonder, if he is really dead, then why do they keep making everyone so suspicious???

In the video for "I Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto" the town it takes place in is called Rukahs. "Rukahs" spelled backwards is "Shakur". The room he goes into with the girl is room number 7. The clock in the background at the end is at 4:03...the same time he officially died. More funny stuff from the video producers. My question still remains, why?

In Tupac's song "No More Pain" on the album All Eyes On Me, he says "A heart of a soldier with the brains to teach a whole nation." Could this be a reference to Machievelli or Jesus?

On the cover of The 7 Day Theory, there is a picture of Tupac being crucified. This fits with the idea that Tupac "died" so he could be reincarnated as Makaveli. In the picture, there are five bullet holes. Interestingly, Tupac was "shot" 5 times.

The only witness to the shooting, Yafeu Fula, was found shot to death on Nov. 10th in a hallway of an apartment building in East Orange, NJ. Hmm...now no one will get any info out of him.

After the shooting of Notorious B.I.G. on March 9th, 1997 Lieutenant Wayne Petersen of the the homicide division of the Las Vegas Police Department who has been investigating Shakur's alleged killing said, "Before yesterday, I had never even heard of the Notorious B.I.G. There is no link between the two murders. We think the only connection is in the minds of the media. The media wants to connect the two." If you asked anyone who knows anything about the Tupac case, they would say something about the rivalry between Biggie and Tupac. How will the Las Vegas police ever solve the case if they don't know the basics? The answer is that they won't. C'mon guys, that is pretty pathetic.

10 best amazing facts

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:29:00 +0000

10 best amazing facts

1. According to hospital figures, dogs bite an average of 1 million Americans a year.

2. The last animal in the dictionary is the Zyzzyva, a tropical weevil.

3. Honeybees have hair on their eyes.

4. The only continent without reptiles or snakes is Antarctica

5. The study of ants is called Myrmecology.

6. The biggest ant colony was found on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido: 306 million worker ants and 1 million queens lived in 45,000 interconnected nests over an area of 2.7 square kilometres (1.7 square miles). A worker ant will live for up to 5 years; while a Queen will live up to 25 years.

7. The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.

8. The tallest dog on record was named Shamgret Danzas. He was 42 inches tall (at the shoulder!) and weighed 238 lbs.

9. The first dog show was held in England in 1859.

10. Dolphins sleep with one half of the brain at a time, and one eye closed.

FACTS ABOUT PATENTS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:31:00 +0000

Thomas Edison filed 1,093 patents, including those for the light bulb, electric railways and the movie camera. When he died in 1931, he held 34 patents for the telephone, 141 for batteries, 150 for the telegraph and 389 patents for electric light and power.

One hour before Alexander Graham Bell registered his patent for the telephone in 1876, Elisha Gray patented his design. After years of litigation, the patent went to Bell.

THE REAL VALUE OF PI

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:28:00 +0000

=3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 34825 34211 70679 82148 08651 32823 ..

THE REAL SEVEN WONDERS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:21:00 +0000

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World that still survives. Can you name the other six?

They are:

1) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which were built on the banks of the Euphrates river by King Nebuchadnezzar II.

2) The gigantic gold statue of Zeus was built by the sculptor Pheidias at Olympia.

3) The temple of Artemis was erected in the Asia Minor city of Ephesus in honour of the Greek goddess of hunting and wild nature.

4) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a huge tomb constructed for King Maussollos, Persian satrap of Caria.

5) The Colossus of Rhodes was a massive statue erected by the Greeks in honour of Helios the sun-god.

6) The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built by the Ptolemies on the island of Pharos.

The Great Pyramid of Giza was built near the ancient city of Memphis for Pharaoh Khufu in the period of the Fourth Dynasty, between 2613 and 2494BC. The Greeks refered to it as the Pyramid of Cheops. A true wonder, it is immense: according to Mysteries of the Unknown, it covers a ground area of 13.1 acres (32,4 hectares), composed of some 2.3 million limestone blocks average two-and-a-half tonnes each, enough stone to build a wall of foot-square cubes two-thirds around the globe at the equator, a distance of 16,600 miles (26 500km).

The oldest statue in the world is the Great Sphinx of Egypt. Carved out of limestone, it stands 19,8 metres (65 ft) high and is 73 metres (240 ft) long.

FACT ABOUT NOSTRADAMUS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:15:00 +0000

NOSTRADAMUS, the French Christian Jew who lived in France in the 16th century, made many accurate forecasts, including the two World Wars. 18 of his 950 quatrains refer to a third world war. Some Nostradamus experts had given the date for the start of such a war as mid-1999, referring to the Balkan conflict surrounding Kosovo. They obviously misinterpreted the quatrains. Their attention then turned to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

Born Michel de Notredame on 14 December 1503 in St Remy, France, he was the oldest of five sons. His grandfather, Jean, taught him Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics and astrology at an early age. Nostradamus received a medical degree in 1529 and became physician-in-ordinary to Charles IX during the bubonic plague. He is said to have had extraordinary healing abilities.

Nostradamus was in his late 40s when, it is told, he frequently went into a meditative state and had visions of the future. He began to document the visions in a mixture of Lain, French, and Greek quatrains, publishing his famous "Centuries" in 1558.

Nostradamus was married twice, losing his first wife and two children to the plague. He died on 2 July 1566. "Centuries" was translated into English in 1672. In 1781 it was banned by the Roman Catholic Church. Ironically, in 1553, when Nostradamus encountered a group of Franciscan monks he threw himself on his knees, clutching at the garment of one of the monks, Felice Peretti. When asked why he had done this he replied that he must yield "before his Holiness." Nineteen years after the death of Nostradamus, Peretti became Pope Sixtus V.

TOP PAID YOUNG CEO'S

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:40:00 +0000

TOP PAID YOUNG CEO'S

Forbes recently released the top-paid young CEOs list that features two Indians (or should I say Indian origin) - Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen and Cognizant’s Francisco D’Souza.
The list that features 15 top-paid young CEOs ranks Narayen at 5th and D’Souza at the 15th position. In terms of age, D’Souza is the youngest of the 15 CEOs at 39.
The top spot is taken by Pakistiani origin Nabeel Gareeb, who is the CEO of chip-maker MEMC Electronic Materials (Interestingly, Gareeb in hindi means Poor – what a Oxymoron :). He takes home annual pay package of 79.6 million dollars (roughly 315 crore rupees) !

UNKNOWN FACTS ABOUT INDIA AND INDIANS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:33:00 +0000

UNKNOWN FACTS ABOUT INDIA AND INDIANS

India is one of only three countries that makes supercomputers (the US and Japan are the other two).
India is one of six countries that launches satellites.
The Bombay stock exchange lists more than 6,600 companies. Only the NYSE has more.
Eight Indian companies are listed on the NYSE; three on the NASDAQ.
By volume of pills produced, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world’s second largest after China.
India has the second largest community of software developers, after the U.S.
India has the second largest network of paved highways, after the U.S.
India is the world’s largest producer of milk, and among the top five producers of sugar, cotton, tea, coffee, spices, rubber, silk, and fish.
100 of the Fortune 500 companies have R&D facilities in India.
Two million people of Indian origin live in the U.S.
Indian-born Americans are among the most affluent and best educated of the recent immigrant groups in the U.S.
Thirty percent of the R&D researchers in American pharmaceutical companies are Indian Americans.
Nearly 49% of the high-tech startups in silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. are owned by Indians or Indian-Americans.
India sends more students to U.S. colleges than any country in the world. In 2004-2005, over 80,000 Indian students entered the U.S. China sent only 65,000 students during the same time.
In a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, an Indian-American woman scientist, Dr. Ananda Chakrabaty, won the argument that persons may be granted patents for useful manufacture of living organisms. She defeated the U.S. Patent Office, that argued that living things may not be patented, thus establishing the legal foundation for the biotech industry, (Diamond vs. Chakrabaty, 1980). Dr. Chakrabaty invented a microbe that eats oil spills.

INTERESTING AND STRANGE FACTS ABOUT LONDON'S UNDERGROUND

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:14:00 +0000

20 FACTS ABOUT LONDON'S UNDERGROUND

There is only one tube station name which does not have any letters of the word "mackerel" in it - St John's Wood.

There are only two tube stations which have all five vowels in them - Mansion House and South Ealing.

Considering there are 287 tube stations, things 1 and 2 are quite surprising.

Chancery Lane has the shortest escalator on the system - 50 steps.

Travelling on the tube for 40 minutes is the equivalent of smoking two cigarettes - so save yourself a packet, all you smokers and get on the tube more often.

The shortest distance between tube stations is Leicester Square and Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line - 0.16 miles.

The most popular route for tourists is Leicester Square to Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line. It is quicker to walk this distance than travel on the tube.

The only tube station which shares the name of a well known pop group is All Saints (yeah I know it's on the Docklands Light Railway - but it's still on the tube map).

The phrase "Mind the Gap" originated on the Northern line.

The Jubilee line was originally going to be called the Fleet line.

Northfields station on the Piccadilly line was the first to use kestrels and hawks to kill pigeons and stop them setting up homes in stations.

The Central line covers the longest route - from West Ruislip to Epping you will travel 34 miles without changing.

The Waterloo and City line covers the shortest route - 2 kilometres, but considering it only covers two stations - Waterloo and Bank, it doesn't take Stephen Hawkins to work that one out.

The oldest tube line in the world is the Metropolitan line. It opened on the 10th January 1863.

Tube carriages originally had no windows and buttoned upholstery and were nicknamed "padded cells". No change there then.

Men have to sit with their legs apart when travelling on the tube. This is due to special magnetic fibres on the upholstery of the seats which interacts with testosterone to provide an antimagnetic outward force.

Julian Lloyd Webber was London Underground's first official busker - I didn't know he needed the money that badly.

More of the London Underground is open than in a tunnel. Tell yourself this fact if you suffer from claustrophobia.

Bank has more escalators than any other station on the tube - 15 plus two moving walkways - count em!

Out of the 287 stations, only 29 are south of the river Thames.

One of the female automated voice announcers is called Sonia - because her voice "gets on yer nerves".

Fish and Parcels is the slang name for the District Line. It should be Pony and Trap.

Edward Johnston designed the font for the London Underground in 1916.

The peak hour for tube suicides is 11am.

The Jubilee Line Extension was the most expensive railway line ever built. It cost USD 330 million per kilometre. Shame they didn't make the platforms and the trains bigger though.

AMAZING,INTERESTING AND FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT LONDON

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:07:00 +0000

FACTS ABOUT LONDON

There are over a million children in London’s schools.

Over 100,000 children were born in London last year.

Greater London covers an area of 656 square miles, with some areas 45 miles from the centre.

Greater London has over 600 square miles of roads, with over 50 High Streets! But traffic in Central London moves at the same average speed as it did in 1911.

London has over 11,000 restaurants, cafes and takeaways.

Over 25 million people visited London last year.

If London was a country, it would be the 8th largest country in Europe.

There are more languages spoken in London than in any other city in the world.

INTERSTING FACTS ABOUT NAMES

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 07:16:00 +0000

The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz."

The name of the Vulcan's heaven is Sha Ka Ree, this is a play on the name Sean Connery who was considered for the part of Sarek, Spock's father.

The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."

The names of the three wise monkeys are: Mizaru: See no evil, Mikazaru: Hear no evil, and Mazaru: Speak no evil.

SOME WEIRD FACTS

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 07:09:00 +0000

Walt Disney named Mickey Mouse after Mickey Rooney, whose mother he dated for some time.
Walt Disney's autograph bears no resemblance to the famous Disney logo.
Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
When opossums are playing opossum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.
When young and impoverished, Pablo Picasso kept warm by burning his own paintings.
While at Havard University, Edward Kennedy was suspended for cheating on a Spanish exam.
While performing her duties as queen, Cleopatra sometimes wore a fake beard.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M-1, named so because it was the first paved road anywhere.

INTERESTING,AMAZING AND STRANGE FACTS ABOUT LEANING TOWER OF PISA

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:01:00 +0000

Leaning Tower of Pisa is a bell tower at Pisa, Italy. It is famous for leaning 4.4 meters out of line when measured from the seventh story. It was built to stand vertically but began leaning soon after construction started in August 1173. It tilts because its foundation was built on unstable soil. The ground beneath the tower first started to sink after the first three stories were built. The height of the tower is 55 meters from the ground. The construction of the building began in 1173 and lasted two centuries.

The leaning tower of Pisa was commenced in 1152, and was not finished till the fourteenth century. Tho cathedral to which this belongs was erected to celebrate a triumph of the Pisans in the harbor of Palermo in 1063, when allied with the Normans to drive the Saracens out of Sicily. It is a circular building, one hundred feet in diameter and 179 feet in extreme height, and has fine mosaic pavements, elaborately carved columns, and numerous bas-reliefs. The building is of white marble. The tower is divided into eight stories, each having an outside gallery of seven feet projection, and the topmost story overhangs the base about sixteen feet, though, as the center of gravity is still ten feet within the base, the building is perfectly safe.

It has been supposed that this inclination was intentional, but the opinion that the foundation has sunk is no doubt correct. It is most likely that the defective foundation became perceptible before the tower had reached one-half its height, as at that elevation the unequal length of the columns exhibits an endeavor to restore the perpendicular, and at about the same place the walls are strengthened with iron bars.

INTERESTING,STRANGE AND AMAZING FACTS ABOUT CITIES

noreply@blogger.com (AMAZING FACTS) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:04:00 +0000

Alaska
	More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

Amazon
	The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% the world's oxygen supply. The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

Antarctica
	Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, i.e.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Brazil
	Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

Canada
	Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village."

Chicago
	Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Detroit
	Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, named so because it was the first paved road anywhere.

Damascus, Syria
	Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey
	Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Kola Peninsula, Russia
	The deepest hole ever made by humans is in Kola Peninsula in Russia, was completed in 1989, creating a hole 12,262 meters (7.6 miles) deep.

Los Angeles
	Los Angeles's full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula --and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

New York City
	The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930's who used the slang expression "apple" for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple. There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv,Â Â Israel.

Ohio
	There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is manmade.

Pitcairn Island
	The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km.

Rome
	The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C. There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Siberia
	Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests. S.M.O.M.The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta ( S.M.O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 people less than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

Sahara Desert
	In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

Spain
	Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits'.

St. Paul, Minnesota
	St.Paul, Minnesota, was originally called Pig's Eye after a man named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant who set up the first business there.

Roads
	Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A.: 1%, in Canada: 75% The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

United States' Waterfalls
	The water of Angel Falls (the World's highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.