Repository of world's most interesting facts http://www.interestingfacts.org/ Facebook was originally named TheFaceBook and it was developed by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. The first use of the FaceBook was on the Harvard campus and it was limited only to Harvard students. Soon the FaceBook spread like wild fire around the other major U.S. Universities. Mark Zuckerberg dropped the Harvard and pursued his facebook dream to become one of the 4th most-trafficked websites in the world with more than 90 million active users. The FaceBook website is built on PHP-MySQL technology and it is probably the most popular PHP website ever built. Interesting fact is that the facebook.com domain was purchased for $200,000 and FaceBook has more than 24 million photos uploaded daily.<br><br> [youtube]3ZzP_69ZTFk[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/375 Love to surf? Then you have to visit Brazil to surf the longest wave on the planet Earth called Pororoca. Between February and March Atlantic ocean tides generate waves up to 12 feet high which can last for over half an hour. Pororoca in indigenous Tupi language means "great destructive noise" and it destroys everything in its path with the speed of 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 km) per hour.<br><br> [youtube]2VMI8EVdQBo[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/374 Goats can climb trees! In Morocco goats climb Argan trees to consume delicious berries which are similar to the olives. Local farmers follow these goats because fruit of the Argan tree has the nut inside which is used to make delicious cooking oil. Interesting fact (besides the climbing goats) is that Morocco goats spit or excrete these nuts, which then farmers use to make the Argan oil. However, Argan trees are close to extinction because of the tree wood harvesting. Some organizations are trying to promote Argan oil to became marketing success in order to preserve these weird trees. We all hope that these goats will continue their climbing adventures!<br><br> [img]http://www.incolo.us/images/tree_goats2.jpg[/img]<br><br> [img]http://www.incolo.us/images/tree_goats.jpg[/img]<br><br> [youtube]oQev3UoGp2M[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/357 Are you addicted to your online connection? Are you one of those crazy folks that can’t wait to read the email with your morning coffee? Doctors are calling it serious addiction combined with: Cybersexual Addiction, Computer Addiction and Cyber-Relational Addiction. They even managed to stamp the cool names for it, like Internet Addictive Disorder (IAD) or the Internet Overuse Syndrome (IOS). Based on the latest research and simple human reasoning. Internet addiction should not be labeled as addiction like gambling or drug addiction. There should be a strict line that distances other addictions from the “internet addiction”. Staying in touch with your friends or watching funny YouTube videos is not a destructive behavior which usually characterizes major addictions. If you gamble on the internet then you are not addicted to the internet, but online gambling. Internet is a wonderful tool, but like everything else in this Universe there is the sunny side and the dark side of the pyramid of life. Stay Positive! http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/353 China, the new emerging power has been the oldest continuous civilization on Earth, for the last 4000 years. Chinese flag is red which represents the blood spilled during the communist revolution. On the flag there is one large star, representing leadership, and four small stars which represent four social classes: capitalists, bourgeoisie, workers and peasants all united under one Communist Party. Some of the China’s inventions: gunpowder, paper, printing, compass, porcelain, first paper currency, animal zodiac, cast iron, chopsticks, crossbow, toilet paper, collapsible umbrella, fork and many other cool inventions. Interesting fact about China is that in last three years growth of China’s economy was around 10% per year making China the country with largest world economy. The funny fact is that China was in dispute with WTO (World Trade Organization) because of the extremely low taxes on their exports. However, United States was in the dispute with WTO because of the high taxes on U.S. imports. "We are committed to challenging China's WTO-inconsistent practices that harm American workers and businesses," said U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/351 There are more than 5000 ladybird species. Ladybirds usually eat plant lice. However, Asian species when introduced to the Europe attacked European ladybirds. Dots on the ladybirds have nothing to do with the years of living. Some ladybirds have up to 22 dots on the back. Average lifespan of these cute bugs is three years. Some people believe that ladybirds can predict the weather. If they fell off your hand it would rain, if they flew away it would be fine. <br> <br> [youtube]maUe1TKsQCU[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/344 Zero was invented in India by Indian mathematicians dating as early as 5th century. They widely used it in calculations, astronomy and astrology. Zero was spread by Arabians to the Europe and there on it was spread all over. Before this, all Europeans used roman numerical which were difficult to calculate on as they were in the form of Symbols, lengthy and had limits. <br><br> New Math Multiplication Method <br>[youtube]zvpLN5KJg0c[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/342 The Hawaiian Alphabet only contains 12 letters: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p and w. Every word ends with a vowel. A glottal stop is also used, called an 'okina (meaning cutting, 'oki meaning cut and na meaning -ing). It used to be called an 'u'ina (meaning snap). http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/338 His full name was "Pablito Diego Jose Santiago Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispin Crispiniano de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz Blasco y Picasso Lopez". While living in Paris (1900) Pablo had lots of financial problems and he burned many of his paintings to stay warm. Besides his wife he had many mistresses. Pablo loved to work with the candle light. His first exhibit was at the age of thirteen. Interesting fact is that Steve Wynn owner of the Picasso's famed "Dream" painting poke the hole accidentally through the multimillion dollar painting while showing his friends portrait of Picasso's mistress Marie-Therese Walter. <br> <br> [youtube]eLztFSjXIGQ[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/335 Imagine the world without cancer. It has been proven that cancer is a deficiency disease caused by the lack of Vitamin B17 (Laetrile). Today there are more people making money from cancer than dying from it. That is the one of the main reasons why Vitamin B17 is disapproved by FDA and cancer associations. You can do research and find that pharmaceuticals companies pushed FDA to disallow sales of raw apricot seeds in the United States. Raw apricot seeds are known to have abundance of B17 vitamin. There is lots of money to make from patented drugs and if we all start eating raw apricot seeds than there will be no profit. This information is not a new breaking research, but we are trying to spread the truth about Vitamin B17 through the Internet.<b> This fact has not been proven as fact or fiction. Please see the comments and draw conclusions on your own research.</b><br> <br> [youtube]w6xR5ilBSo8[/youtube] <br> <br> [youtube]ZFnP9sU1KW4[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/321 An interesting fact regarding this insect is that when exactly before it starts mating, the female eats the male. No one knows for sure the reason, but the probability is that it does this so that the extra protein helps the eggs that will be fertilized. Who wants to be a mantis?<br><br> [img]http://www.incolo.us/images/Praying_Mantis.jpg[/img] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/273 A lot of General Practitioners argue that a balanced diet is all we need to live healthy. They are so wrong! 50 years ago, a plate of spinach contained all the minerals we needed to live healthier, but due to over farming, even if you eat a tablespoonful of spinach, there are some minerals such as mobidium, selenium and other trace minerals that are missing. Besides, a gp only studies nutrition on one semester, while nutritionists study the whole course! Minerals are the actual tools that repair your body! http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/272 An atom is made of 200 or more than 200 subatomic particles because it is told that in an atom there is so much space and electrons take only 1/1000th volume of it so there left very much space. That space may have more subatomic particles in it and according to the calculations there may come more than 200 subatomic particles. Array http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/248 Fluoride is the bio-accumulative toxic that we all ingest every day either through the drinking water or toothpaste. It is believed that someone has lots of benefits from making people sick (to sell pills) or to make them dumber so we can listen/obey better. It is believed that fluoride does exactly that! We ingest it in large quantities without any reason. The fact is that we can have perfectly good teeth without fluoride. US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never approved any fluoride product designed for ingestion as safe or effective. Some of the diseases/states that have direct influence from ingesting fluoride on daily basis: Osteoporosis, Dental Fluorosis, Hypoactivity or sluggishness, Reduced I.Q, Alzheimer's disease, Cancer. The list continues.<br> <br> [youtube]_Ys9q1cvKGk[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/238 2012 is expected to be year of great positive change. It is not the end of the world! Back in 1899 something was identified called Schumann Cavity Resonance. It is the heart beat or frequency of the Earth. Since its discovery till 1986 this heart beat frequency was constant 7.8 Hertz per second. From 1986 it started to raise dramatically and in 1998 it was reported to be 10 hertz per second. On other hand magnetics of the earth are dropping dramatically and it is expected they will reach zero point in 2012. Maya calendar and other calendars end in 2012, but it is not the end of the world just beginning of the new one since every 26000 years Earth goes through grand cycle of evolution. <br><br> [youtube]11iCmzGnOI8[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/202 The Blue Hole is located just off of the coast of Belize, near the Ambergris Caye. The Blue Hole began as a limestone cave in our last Ice Age. After ages of erosion the cave collapsed leaving the scenic beauty we see today! The Blue Hole is almost perfectly circular reaching 300m (1000ft) across and 120m (400ft) deep. The blue cave is perfect spot for all divers because of its beauty and geological history. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/198 The speed of light was broken by two physicists, Gunter Nimtz and Alfons Stahlhofen, in Germany from the University of Koblenz. This seriously questions Einstein's theory that no object or information can move faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. An example of what could happen with this is time travel, but not like you imagine: If you went for a car trip faster than the speed of light, you'd arrive at your destination before you'd even leave, theoretically, of course. As Dr Guenter Nimtz said: "The effect cannot be used to go back in time, only to reduce the time between cause and effect a little bit." http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/194 It is believed that in a small town in North Eastern part of India (Jatinga) birds commit suicide in a particular 1.5 km long and around 200 meters wide strip of field area. These birds are not suicidal since their behavior may be attributed to heavy rains and floods and submergence of their natural habitat in the surrounding areas. Also the local villagers light torches which attract the birds migrating at night. They then clobber them to death with bamboo poles and eat them! http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/188 Nikola Tesla (Serbian scientist) the greatest genius since Leonardo da Vinci. Few people even know that man who invented the 20th century even existed. His ideas and inventions were credited by others. Nikola invented X-rays (credited to Roentgen), radio (credited to Marconi), the microwave oven, speedometer, automobile ignition system, basics behind radar, fluorescent bulb, electron microscope, neon lights and on top of all Tesla designed the first hydro-electric power plant in Niagara Falls (invented alternating currents). Tesla had biggest competitor Thomas Edison, who did everything to prove Tesla wrong and to erase him from history books. Tesla's ideas were so extreme that scientist community thought he was lunatic. He believed that both voice and image could be transmitted through the air (in the late 1800's), which of course was true since we have wireless Internet today. <br> <br> [youtube]pTiiblwwLPk[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/185 The stereotypical vision of the Egyptian Pyramids are large mountain like brown piles of stone uprooting from the desert having a rough contour. Though when first constructed around 2500 BC. The pyramids were paper white and as smooth as glass, toping the pyramid was a golden capstone that gleamed in the desert sun. It was an amazing spectacle. The pyramids somewhat stayed in this state until the Arab invasion of Egypt around AD 500. The Arab invaders stripped the pyramid of it's smooth limestone and built a huge section of Cairo. Many of the Mosques and Palaces of Cairo consist of the Ancient stones of the pyramids. Quite sad actually. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/183 India which is one of the densely populated country had a bachelor (a man who has never been married) prime minister, president and defense minister in 2000. For 4-5 years when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister. Coincidence? India is the second country in the world after China to cross the one billion mark. India's population rose by 21.34 % between 1991 - 2001. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/181 In 1940 Dr. S.S. Bryukhonenko at the Institute of Experimental Physiology and Therapy, Voronezh, U.S.S.R conducted research where he experimented with dogs and proved that dogs head can live without its body for three days. Special artificial conditions were created to power the head with arterial and venous pumps. Dog's isolated head reacted to all basic external stimulants: light, sound, pain and taste. This disturbing Russian experiment helped scientist around the world to create artificial organs that are used by many medical institutes. More recently Dr. Robert White of Ohio claims that he transplanted a monkey's head onto another monkey's body. If you have a good stomach check this odd video which shows in detail how dog's head is living without body. <a href="http://www.interestingfacts.org/?page=russia_dog_living_head"><img src="http://www.interestingfacts.org/images/fact-video.jpg" alt="dog without head" border="0" /></a> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/180 In 490 BCE, Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, ran from Marathon to Athens (about 25 miles) to inform the Athenians the outcome of the battle with invading Persians. The distance was filled with hills and other obstacles; thus Pheidippides arrived in Athens exhausted and with bleeding feet. After telling the townspeople of the Greeks' success in the battle, Pheidippides fell to the ground dead. In 1896, at the first modern Olympic Games, held a race of approximately the same length in commemoration of Pheidippides. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/178 Although most known Scottish shepherd, Lassie, is white-brown, original Collies were mostly tricolor: white, brown and mostly black (on the back). It's also interesting that Collies are better known as "Lassie", than "Collie" or "Scottish shepherd". http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/175 Printer manufacturers print invisible yellow dots on consumer's prints that check to see if a person is printing counterfeit money. If you call your printer manufacturer and ask them to "please stop spying on you", they will send secret services to your address to find out why you care about your privacy. Upset? You should be. The more people who call their printer's manufacturers and make this request, the more likely secret services will refuse to investigate. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/166 After several debates, astronomers have determined the age of the universe by using a Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. By examining the microwave background radiation that WMAP provided, astronomers were able to pin down the age of the universe, accurate to 1%, to 13.7 billion years old. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/165 Do you wonder where fireflies got their internal light? Fireflies actually contain the so-called Luciferin. This substance when combined with oxygen will enable them to produce light. This process is called bioluminescence and they light up to attract the mate. Same is true with angler fish which also produces light, but they use it to catch the prey. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/142 Probably the most popular car in the world, Beetle had fascinating past. It was proposed by Adolf Hitler to make peoples car that can fit 5 people and deliver speed of 100km/h (62mph) later known as "Volks-Wagen" ("People's Car"). Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche founder of automotive design company, which became known as the Porsche Büro. Ferdinand also designed German tanks, Tiger I and Tiger II. The first Porsche ever build was Porsche 356 created by Ferry Porsche son of Ferdinand Porsche. Porsche currently owns 31% of the Volkswagen car company. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/141 Andy Warhol was American Pop Artist famous for his painting of Campbell's Soup cans. Andy almost died when he was shot three times in the chest by Valerie Solanis. Valerie said that Andy Warhol had too much control over her life. Valerie was a founder of club called SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) and she was the only member of the group. For those who didn't know Andy Warhol was homosexual, but also very religious man. He died in hospital from heart attack because hospital stuff overloaded him with fluids after his routine gallbladder surgery.<br> <br> [youtube]4yIeda70XaM&NR[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/120 It is the internet myth that the name of the popular Scottish game Golf stands for "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden." The word golf originates form medieval Scottish and Dutch dialects. Back in a day before the creation of dictionaries, there was no standardized spelling of any given word. So it is believed that word golf originates from Dutch word "kolf" or "kolve" which meant "club." Later on old Scots dialect transformed the word into "gouf" or "golve ." http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/108 If you spell all the numbers and try to find letter "A" you will have to count to thousAnd. Did you know that: 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321 Weird huh? http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/80 Einstein declined the presidency of the state of Israel when it was offered to him in 1952 by state leaders. The element einsteinium, discovered in 1952, was named in honor of Albert Einstein. Picture of Einstein sticking his tongue was taken on his 72nd birthday by annoying press photographer Arthur Sasse. Albert loved the photo so much that he cut his image out and send it to all his friends.<br><br> [youtube]JNOKT-xv7Dw[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/58 Mao Tse-tung founded the People's Republic of China in 1949. He was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist party in 1921. In 1915 Mao attended university in Changsa, China where he wrote the longest recorded graphite, criticizing the Chinese school system and current state of Chinese society. His graphite consisted of more than 4000 Chinese characters. Mao Tse-tung was married four times and he believed that having sex with virgins "would help to restore and reinvigorate a man’s health and vigor”. Mao was responsible for more than 30 millions deaths mostly from hunger and starvation. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/50 Did you know that the average chocolate bar in the U.S. contains at least 8 pieces of an insect in it? Harvesting of the cacao beans occurs in the tropical countries of South America with low sanitation levels. Cacao tree beans are cut and piled in the farmer's field where they ferment for 6 days. During this process, children and adults walk over the piles; insects, rodents, small animals and other living things that make their nests in the piles. Actually the The U. S. Department of Health publishes a book entitled "The Food Defect Action Levels" in which they list unavoidable defects in food (insect, rodents etc.) all allowed by FDA. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/49 Edgar Allan Poe, American poet, was seventeen years old when accepted into Virginia University. First year he managed to gamble all his scholarship money. It was also reported that Edgar owed around $2500 to local gamblers. Gambling addiction led to alcoholism, which is still debated by many Poe's followers. However, it was reported by school systems that Edgar showed up in class drunk even during the examinations. The interesting fact is that Edgar Allan Poe finished with highest grades in his class and became best student of his generation. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/48 MySpace was founded by former Friendster members Chris Dewolfe and Tom Anderson in 2003. They saw opportunity to beat Friendster with more options and less restrictions for social network users. MySpace was purchased in 2005 for $580 million by Rupert Murdoch creator of a media empire that includes 20th Century Fox and the Fox television stations. MySpace has more than 40 billion page views a month. Google paid $900 million to be MySpace's search provider. MySpace runs on Microsoft .NET Framework, operating under Windows 2003 server and applications written in C# for ASP.NET. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/47 Highest mountain on Earth, Mt. Everest grows about 4 millimeters a year since two tectonic plates which collided millions of years ago to form the Himalayas, continue to press against each other. Earths highest waterfall is at Angel Falls in Venezuela which drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). Hottest place on earth is Azizia in Libya 136 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius) and coldest was in Vostok, Antarctica -129 Fahrenheit (-89 Celsius). Pacific is the biggest ocean (32.6% of the Earth's surface)and Nile River in Africa is longest 4,160 miles (6,695 kilometers). http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/46 The fear of number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia and it was derived from treiskaideka, the Greek word for thirteen and phobia. There were thirteen people at Christ's Last Supper before his captivity, it is recorder that Christ was crucified on Friday. Routine mission to the moon goes drastically wrong on Apollo 13. Some hotels skip number thirteen when numbering rooms. In Formula 1, there is no car with the number 13. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/45 A pound of armadillo meat contains 780 calories. Most armadillos seen dead on the road did not get hit by the wheels. When an armadillo is frightened it jumps straight into the air. Armadillos have four babies at a time, always all the same sex. They are perfect quadruplets, the fertilized cell split into quarters, resulting in four identical armadillos. Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day. Armadillos can walk underwater. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/44 Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world. No taxes on income and there are no personal taxes either. In Dubai Emirates Mall you can ski indoors while shopping, measuring 400 meters and using 6000 tons of snow. Burj Dubai will become the world's tallest building, along with the world's tallest man-made structure when it is completed. Eighty percent of Dubai residents are foreigners. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/43 Uma Karuna Thurman, daughter of Robert Thurman and Nena Thurman, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 29, 1970. Uma's father was the first American to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Her mother is a Swedish psychotherapist and former Vogue model once married to the LSD guru Timothy Leary. Uma's mothers father, german baron, was held by Nazis because he didn't want to reveal his Jewish friends hideout. Uma Thurman had been briefly married to Gary Oldman when she was nineteen. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/42 Tsar and Emperor of Russia Peter the Great (1672-1725) was unusual ruler by many means. In the battle against the Turks in 1695 he fought as regular foot soldier believing that was the only way to beat the Turks. Peter is believed to have been six feet, seven inches in height (2.04 meters). He married twice and had 11 children, many of whom died in infancy. The eldest son from his first marriage, Czarevich Alexei, was convicted of high treason by his father and secretly executed in 1718. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/41 Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda and the former heavyweight boxing champion of Uganda was one of Africa's most notorious dictators. During his eight-year rule an estimated 500,000 people disappeared or were killed. He praised Hitler and said the German dictator "was right to burn six million Jews." He offered to be king of Scotland if asked. It was reported that Idi Amin ate his opponents. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/40 Tasmanian tiger-wolf is an extinct wolf like carnivorous marsupial of Tasmania having stripes on its back. Despite its popular name, this animal is neither a tiger nor a wolf and it is closely related to the kangaroo. Tasmanian tiger-wolf has a pouch for its babies to climb in. The extinction of the Tasmanian wolf is attributable solely to activities of human beings, it was said to become extinct in 1936.<br><br>[youtube]hxrL4kSzr5A[/youtube] http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/39 United States presidential election, 1824, Andrew Jackson emerged as winner with majority of votes. However, under the 12th Amendment, if no candidate got a majority of the college, the election went to the House and there it was decided by Henry Clay, the all-powerful Speaker, who gave it to Adams, under the secret condition that Adam makes him secretary of state. Arguments went out of control and Adams supporters claimed that Jackson is bigamist, adulterer and murderer. Adams was accused of trafficking American virgins to Russian Tsar. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/38 Before Stanley Kubrick took over, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones were considered to play the "droogs" in the Clockwork Orange. Anthony Burgess the author of Clockwork Orange wanted to sell his novel rights to Mick Jagger for few hundred dollars. Luckily for the sake of film industry Malcolm McDowell got the main part in the movie and Stanley Kubrick directed what is considered to be the most controversial movie of all time. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/37 Monopoly was invented by Charles B. Darrow during the Depression in the 1934 and at first it was rejected by Parker Brothers due to "52 design errors"! Streets in Monopoly are taken from Atlantic City, New Jersey. Game was very popular in Cuba until Fidel Castro took power and burned all the Monopoly sets. Standard Monopoly bank starts with $15,140 and it is estimated that Monopoly has been sold 250 million times through out the world. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/35 Company in Brazil (Suite Vollard) constructed a building in which each floor can rotate 360 degrees. Each building has 11 apartments and each apartment can spin individually in any direction. One rotation takes a full hour, but apartment owner can set rotation speed through apartment control panel. Facades are made of three different types of glass which give wonderful effects when building spins during the sunset. Cost of each apartment is $US 300,000.00. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/33 In the Second World War, during the Blitzkrieg campaign, German tanks were too fast and too powerful for Russian military. Russians idea was to train the dogs to carry bombs under the German tanks. The trainers would first starve the dogs, and then train them to find a food under the tank. Unfortunately, problem was that dogs trained under the Soviet tanks not the loud German diesel tanks. Plan backfired on Soviets, but they did manage to disable a reported 300 German tanks. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/32 Maya people were masters of mathematics and calendars and they were keeping track of time using three separate calendars. For predictions about the beginning and end of the “world” they used “Long Count” calender. And on December 21st 2012, the Long Count will be at the point zero which Maya predicts as the end of time and beginning of the new world. The Mayas were very accurate in their predictions and they predicted invasions on their soil and the World Wars. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/30 The largest octopus weighs about 15kg (Octopus dofleini). An Octopus has three hearts and it can squeeze through a hole the size of a 10-cent coin. Hapalochlaena species can inject enough venom in one bite to kill several adult humans. They can adopt a two-tentacles "walk" that frees up their six remaining limbs and makes them look like an armed vehicle. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/29 Cars today put out a lot of pollution, and use up fossil fuels. Predictions are that hydrogen cars with combination of solar and electricity source, are the future of transportation. Device that is the size of microwave oven may be all you need to fuel your car in the future. Using small device, hydrogen can be easily and cleanly extracted from water and power family car for up to 150 kilometers. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/28 Some say that 1974 FIFA World Cup was the one of the most intense world cups ever played. Juergen Sparwasser scored the most famous goal in the German soccer history, giving East Germany a win over the West in the only meeting between the sides. That was the only lost game for West Germany in the World Cup and that year West Germany became new World Cup Champion. Juergen was arrested later on for re-painting street signs in East Germany. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/27 Curling is a Olympic sport founded by Scots in the 1540's and it is played on ice by two teams of four players each, using heavy stones which they slide down the ice towards a target area. It was brought to North America by Scottish immigrants and since it is played in the cold, founded by Scots surely back then alcohol was a regular part of playing. Interesting fact is that there are no judges in the Curling competition. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/26 Jeff Bezos coined the term Amazon.com from the earlier name Cadabra.com. It was the excellent way to present large volume online bookstore. But did he have hidden intentions? It is hard to believe but in the early Internet days, when Yahoo was dominant search engine, results on one page were listed alphabetically. Amazon would always appear above its competition for a specific keywords. This could be a breaking point for Jeff to expand and became what it is today. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/25 Johnny Cash (1932 – 2003) was an influential country song writer and singer from Kingsland, Arkansas, who sang to himself while picking cotton in the fields. His song “Ring of Fire” was refused by his family to be in hemorrhoid-relief commercial. "The song is about the transformative power of love …"said Cash's daughter, Rosanne. "Love is a burning thing and it makes a fiery ring bound by wild desire," the song goes. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/24 Marathon in Berlin is 26 miles long and it was apparently too long for thirty three runners who decided to take a shortcut by riding the subway. They obviously forgot the computer chips they were wearing, which automatically record their time every three miles. They were of course disqualified and their times were removed from the scoreboard. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/23 Lie is usually manifested by these signs: a sudden increase in the number of "ums" and "ahs.", overly defensive, no eye contact, lying is stressful, they will try to be sarcastic, turning his body away from you, talking fast, making statements that contradict each other, unusual body language or a hand reaching to cover mouth. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/22 Maybe you didn’t know but WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. Name was coined by the chemist, Norm Larsen, while he was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosion by displacing water. Norm's persistence paid off when he perfected the formula on his 40th try. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/21 His Excellency Saparmurat Niyazov Turkmenbashi, president of Turkmenistan is one of the most controlling dictators in the world today. There are no churches because he knocks them down. Each year he wants to resign as the president, but congress begs him to stay. He has even rewritten the calendar and renamed the month of January to "Turkmenbashi." April is named after his mother. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/20 Only female mosquitoes bites humans and drinks their blood. Male mosquitoes are much bigger than females, but they are harmless to the humans. Female mosquito uses blood to produce eggs since certain proteins are needed for reproduction. Actually mosquitoes are principally nectar feeders except of course for the females. However, mosquito family Toxorhynchites never drinks blood. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/19 On February 22, 1732 George Washington was born. George Washington was the only of all Founding Fathers to free his slaves. Marijuana was the primary crop grown by George Washington at Mount Vernon. He was the first Mason to serve as president. Washington rejected a movement among army officers to make him king of the United States. Washington is the only president who was elected unanimously. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/18 The word "testis" cames from the Latin meaning to bear witness. In ancient Rome, only men could bear witness or testify in a public forum. In order to show importance to their testimony, they would hold their testicles as they spoke, and an oath was declared while holding another's testicles. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/17 Hyenas live in a female dominated society. Female Hyenas are the most masculine females in the animal kingdom. They have very high levels of hormones that are usually found in the males. Also many female hyenas have enlarged clitoris, to the point of looking like a penis. The female hyena urinates, mates and gives birth through this modified clitoris (it is inverted for mating). http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/16 The full chemical name for caffeine is 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine and its chemical formula is C8H10N4O2. When coffee is roasted, and when the coffee beans begin to cool, they release about 700 chemical substances that make up the vaporizing aromas. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/15 St. Malachy, (d. 1148) Irish Bishop and Seer, produced an accurate list of future popes which began with Pope Celestine II in the year 1143. The prophecy is concerned with the succession of the Popes and there will be one more Pope after the current Pope Benedict XVI according to the prophecies of St. Malachy. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/14 In ancient Japan, public contests were held to see who in a town could fart the loudest and longest. Winners were awarded many prizes and received great recognition. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/13 You may believe that the richest person in the world is a certain sheik who controls oil companies. Nah. The top three spots hold computer, newspaper, and steel industry giants. The top five richest people are: 1.Bill Gates, 2.Warren Buffett, 3.Lakshmi Mittal, 4.Carlos Slim Helu, 5.Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/12 Closest galaxy to our Milk Way galaxy is Andromeda and even traveling at the speed of light it would take 2 million years to reach it. There are 100 billion galaxies that we can observe. Prediction is that there is much more, but Hubble Space Telescope couldn’t detect them. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/11 When a female horse and a male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and a female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny. When a male zebra and a female donkey mate the offspring is called a ‘zedonk’ or ‘zebrass’. All of these resulting offspring are sterile (can't have babies). http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/10 The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World compiled by ancient Greek historians are: The Great Pyramid of Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Colossus of Rhodes and The Lighthouse of Alexandria. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/9 Google, the Internet search company founded in September 1998. by Larry Page & Sergey Brin, got it's name from the word Googol, which represents number 1 followed with hundred zeros after it. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/8 Yahoo the complex internet organism has complicated name. Word "Yahoo" is shortcut for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle". It was coined by PhD candidates at Stanford University: David Filo and Jerry Yang. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/7 The East Japan Railway Company (JR-East), as part of research aimed at developing more environmentally friendly train stations, is testing an experimental system that produces electricity as people pass through ticket gates. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/6 It is common mistake to say that The Great wall of China is visible from outer space. It is too thin to be noticed from such a great distance. Only two man made structures visible from space are: The Pyramids of Giza and the Hoover Dam. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/5 People that are allergic to cats will be able to pet them without sneezing and scratching. Genetically engineered cats will be produced to help people with allergies enjoy their sneeze-free kitties Allerca, Inc., a biotechnology firm in San Diego, California, says it has bred Hypoallergenic Cats and is now taking orders from customers in the United States. http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/3