Repository of world's most interesting facts http://www.interestingfacts.org/ <![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 <![CDATA[Svalbard Global Seed vault was established to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds in an underground cavern. It is an assurance to reduce of hunger & poverty due to the national disaster. Construction of the Seed Vault, which cost approximately 45 million Norwegian Kroner (9 million USD), was funded entirely by the Government of Norway. The seed bank is constructed 120 meters (390 ft) inside a sandstone mountain at Svalbard on Spitsbergen Island. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened officially on February 26, 2008. The first seeds arrived in January 2008. This vault can storage 4.5 million samples of different seeds in the dry temperature of 0&deg; F (-18&deg; C). This storage process can protect the seeds for the thousands of years. Svalbard Global Seed Vault ranked no.6 on Time's Best Inventions Of 2008. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/the-global-seed-vault <![CDATA[Imagine an insect that is brainwashed by parasitic fungi (genus Cordyceps). This interesting fungi manipulates insect's brain forcing him to climb the plant or tree, and upon reaching to the top grows out of his head or body! Cordyceps also called Chinese caterpillar fungus, native to the Tibetan plateau in China. In human beings, it enters through the ears, germinates in the mind, causes the host to destroy rival communities, and exits via the mouth, and infects others. A Korean study of a related species of Cordyceps indicates that it has components that may inhibit coagulation, making it potentially beneficial in stroke and heart attack prevention. A hot water extract of the fungus appeared to stimulate the immune system. In other studies, which have reported that Cordyceps may be useful in treating Hepatitis B. A study from Thailand reported that Cordyceps nipponica might be of value in the treating malaria. Another review concluded that Cordyceps might be promising as a possible support for heart & lung function. Interesting fact is that Chinese Olympic athletes use this fungi to improve their performance and stamina. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/brainwashed-by-fungi <![CDATA[There are theories that there is a group of children with special abilities called Indigo Children. Concept based on the Nancy Ann Tappe book believes that children are born with a biological connection to their own spirituality. It is said that they are born after 1995, but some consider that starting point could be even 1980's. They have affinity to rocks and stones. The indigo children are known to have higher sensitivity hence are highly allergic to foreign substances. These children may have intuitive abilities, psychic or telepathic traits. These children have heightened emotions. They are usually loners and strong willed. Most of such children are known to be right brain dominated. Most indigo children are creative. These children have a strong spiritual inclination. The indigo child has superior healing capabilities. Most of these children have amazing sense of balance. Skeptics believe that Indigo children have attention deficit disorder (ADD) combined with hyperactivity and that parents like to believe that their kids are special. ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/indigo-children-facts <![CDATA[Twitter is a micro-blogging social network service which allows users to share not-so-important things in their life by answering a simple question: "What are you doing?" Answers to this question are organized in a short messages called Tweets, length is limited to 140 characters. The good thing about Twitter, there is no "noise" created by boring people since "friendships" are not mutual - you can "follow" interesting people while they don't have to follow you. In February 2009, Twitter had a monthly growth (of users) of over 1300 percent - several times more than Facebook. Twitter made huge success from the mobile device users (in 2009 there was 735,000 unique mobile visitors). ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/twitter-facts <![CDATA[The First President to be born in a hospital, a student of Nuclear physics and a speed reader who can read almost 2000 words a minute, Jimmy Carter once panned for Gold too. At the age of five he was punished by his father for stealing from the collection plate at a church, a penny. The draft resisters that belong to the Vietnam War were also pardoned by him. Before he entered the world of politics, Jimmy Carter used to ride motorcycles. Jimmy Carter is said to be the first President whose mother was sent on a diplomatic mission. After his father's death, he ran very successfully his family's peanut farm. Jimmy Carter received 2002 Nobel Peace Prize in the Oslo, Norway. Jimmy Carter said about Iraq war: "I thought then, and I think now, that the invasion of Iraq was unnecessary and unjust. And I think the premises on which it was launched were false." ]]> http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/facts-about-jimmy-carter