Repository of world's most interesting facts http://www.interestingfacts.org/ <![CDATA[Are you aware of the interesting facts about Hollywood, the world renowned name in the motion picture industry? This district of Los Angeles has the well-known Hollywood sign. In reality, this sign was built in 1923 by one of the real estate agents and an investor, Harry Chandler, with a motive of advertisement. He spent around $21, 000 for this and wanted it to stay for 18 months. But at that stage he was not aware that this construction would become a legend in itself. Today, the famous Hollywood sign is more than 80 years old. Initially, the sign used to read "Hollywood Land". But in 1949, "Land" was removed and only "Hollywood" remained. Today, the sign is taken care of by "Hollywood Sign Trust" which was formed in the year of 1995. On September 18, 1932, Lillian Millicent "Peg" Entwistle after unsuccessful Hollywood carrier, jumped from the letter 'H' into her death. She was only 24 years old. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/hollywood-facts <![CDATA[Dream is a semi-conscious state where we have absolutely no control over our thoughts and expressions (unless we master lucid dreaming). Did you know that most of us spend six years or more of our lifetime dreaming? Research proves that all of us dream at least twice or more in our sleep though we may not remember when we get up. In 5 minutes of waking, half of our dream is forgotten and within 10 minutes, almost all dreams are forgotten. People who are blind from birth too dream. It is just that the dreams of these individuals are formed by other sense such as the touch, smell, sound and taste. During roman era some dreams were even discussed and interpreted in the senate as the dream was considered to be a God sent message for the mankind. Lucid dreams are considered those dreams where person can take full or partial control of their dreams. Most important fact in order to be aware that we are dreaming is practice. Writing down and keeping track of your dreams is very important. Second thing is noticing signs or triggers that can help us stay aware that we are in dreaming state. Once we start dreaming lucidly we could control the imaginary experiences in the dream environment. This is extremely important for people that have nightmares. Interesting facts is that our body is paralyzed during our sleep probably to prevent the body from acting out dreams.]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/dream-facts <![CDATA[Did you know that Bible was written over a period of 1600 years? 40 men were given inspiration by God to continue writing the Bible and it has 66 books which are related. There is an Old and New Testament and they are divided by the life of Jesus Christ. The Bible has been successfully translated to more than twelve hundred languages and dialects in part or whole. The Bible is still bestselling book of all time. Translation into English was first started by John Wycliffe and completed by John Purvey in 1388. This highest selling book is much revered and was first divided into chapter\'s paragraph in the Geneva Bible of 1560. Lots of data in Bible are prophecies and some of them have come true. Some theories say that Bible wasn\'t even written by its original authors. Some things sound like a child storytelling: \"It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested. (From the NIV Bible, Exodus 31:17).\" Our opinion is that Bible is like everything else on our planet with its good and bad sides. Usually bad things are the ones that are written by human hand. The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible. Books alternate in color between white and light gray. The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in the chapter. Each of the 63,779 cross references found in the Bible is depicted by a single arc - the color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/interesting-bible-facts <![CDATA[Amazing new discovery in Israel! Near the city of Eilat in the Red Sea, scientists caught coral sucking in a large jellyfish. "During the survey we were amazed to notice some mushroom corals actively feeding on the moon jellyfish," says Ada Alamaru, Tel Aviv University, Israel. This is extremely strange behavior for corals since their regular diet usually includes only microscopic organisms called zooplankton (tiny drifting animals). Some corals consume organic debris. This is the first time ever reported that coral is feeding on a large jellyfish. "In fact we saw a few corals feeding and not only one," Ms Alamaru says. Scientists think that due to the climate change, jellyfish are over populating coral reefs and it seems that nature found a way to balance a large number of jellyfish. Ms Alamaru also suggests that ability to utilize a variety of food sources and to take advantage of such a bloom event gives the mushroom corals an advantage compared with other small polyped corals that are not able to feed on such large prey items. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/coral-attacks-jellyfish <![CDATA[Do you know the smallest monkey spends its entire life on trees? Yes! It's true. Tarsier, an unusual mammal, just keeps clinging to the trunk of the trees, even while sleeping and giving birth to the young ones. Isn't it amazing? This nocturnal animal has large eyes, a long tail and ears with almost no hair. It is a carnivores animal and can move its ears to determine the location of the prey. The most unusual thing about this animal is its flexible neck that it can turn up to 360 degrees. Tarsier is about the size of squirrel but it has long tail. Since they can't walk, they hop when they on ground and mark their trees with their urine. Interesting fact is that Tarsier is neither a monkey nor a primate. It is something in between. Philippines' tarsiers are smallest of all tarsiers and their eyes are as big as their brain. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/tarsier-the-smallest-monkey <![CDATA[One of the oldest micronations, the republic of Molossia It is located in Dayton, Nevada. It is inhabited by only four citizens, one of whom, Kevin Baugh is the president. It was founded in May 1977 by Baugh when he was aged fourteen and was formerly known as the republic of Vuldnstein. It has its own space program, has a railway and issues currency (valora) as well. Relations with the neighboring Muchistan have been troubled of late. In 2000, Molassia staged the first ever Micronation Olympic games in tune with the Sydney Olympics. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/smallest-country-molossia <![CDATA[This ancient breed of dog (records show their presence in 1121 BC) proudly stands as one of the strongest dogs today. Marco Polo described them as "tall as a donkey with a voice as powerful as that of a lion. "Known in Tibetan as 'Do khyi' meaning 'home guard' which indicates it's use as a protector of homes and livestock. It is classified as a primitive breed and still exhibits characteristics and adaptations necessary for it to survive in the high altitude and severe cols in Tibet. Intelligent and ferocious, they can ably fight mountain lions in the high mountains of Tibet, aided by their relatively large size. The first Western traveler to have encountered Tibetan mastiffs was Marco Polo. They were used to guard Lhasa. In 19th century England, King George owned a pair. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/tibetan-mastiff-facts <![CDATA[Spanning across Anchorage in south central Alaska and stretching to the Western coast of the Bering Sea, each team of twelve to sixteen huskies and their musher cover a huge distance of 1150 miles in ten to seventeen days. Rick Swenson of Alaska won Iditarod five times and Susan Butcher is the only woman to have won it on four occasions. It is organized by thousands of volunteers who make arrangements for medical equipments supplies, food stocks and veterinarians. The now historic Iditarod begun as a mail supply route from coastal towns like Seward and Knik to interior mining camps. Almost every year one dog dies on IditaRod. However, today dogs are equipped with microchips in order to track them easily. This is truly the toughest race on Earth. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/iditarod-facts <![CDATA[Jeanne Louise Calment of Arles, France was the world\'s longest living person. Jeanne was born on February 21, 1875 and died on August 4, 1997. Her height was 4'11" (1.50m). Jeanne died at the age of 122 in a nursing home in Arles. She lived 122 years and 164 days (44,724 days total). Jeanne's name appears in the Guinness Book of World Records. At age 121, she released her two CDs, one in French and another in English titled, Maitresse du Temps (Time's Mistress). During the end stage, she became blind, she could not hear properly and was confined to a wheelchair but was in high spirits and mentally alert. Interesting fact is that Jeanne smoked cigarettes until the age of 117. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/oldest-women <![CDATA[Juneau is capital of Alaska, and it is not accessible by road from any other state. Alaska has 17 of the 20 highest peaks in United States. Alaska has more than 3 million lakes. Kodiak bear found in Alaska is the largest in the world. The coastline of Alaska is greater than the combined coastline of United States. There are 29 volcanoes in Alaska. Alaska was first discovered in 1741. 25 % of the oil produced in US comes from Alaska. The official insect of this state is a four-spot skimmer dragonfly. The official flower of Alaska is forget-me-not. Transnational Corporation called "Russian-American Company" owned Alaska and in 1867, during the Russian difficult financial position, sold Alaska to United Sates for 7.2 million dollars. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/facts-about-alaska