Dreams

Dreams

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Our dreams are frequently full of strangers who play out certain parts? They are real faces of real people that you may have seen during your life but may not know or remember. The evil killer in your latest dream may be the guy who pumped petrol in to your Dad’s car when you were just a little kid. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces through our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

Sleep

Sleep

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . When you dream, your body is paralyzed? In the first 90 minutes of sleep, you go through deepening stages ranging from light sleep to deep sleep. Then you enter a phase called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. During REM sleep, the rest of your body essentially becomes paralyzed. The release of certain neurotransmitters are shut down and your large muscles do not move. Some people have abnormal REM sleep in which those neurotransmitters do not shut down, and they act out their dreams. Most of the dreams we vividly remember happen during REM, as our brain has higher activity during this phase.

Photo credit: sheknows.com

Last Known Soldier To Have Fought In World War I

Harry Patch

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The last known soldier to have fought in the brutal trench warfare of World War I was Britain's Harry Patch, who died in July 25, 2009 aged 111? Born in Somerset in June 17, 1898 and grew up in Combe Down, near Bath, Patch was recruited in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry where he was a machine-gunner from June to September 1917 fighting in the trenches at the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele in which more than 70,000 British troops died. He was 16 when World War I broke out and fought at the frontline immediately after six months training. He was the number two in the Lewis gun team and his role was to carry and assemble spare parts for the machine gun and ensure it worked. On September 22, 1917, a shell attack exploded above Patch's head killing three of his closest comrades. He was hit by a shrapnel in the lower abdomen but survived. In 1999, Patch was awarded the Legion D'Honneur medal by the French government, and dedicated it to his three fallen comrades.

Photo credit: mirror.co.uk

The Simpsons

The Simpsons

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Matt Groening named the characters in "The Simpsons" after his own family. Groening's father's name was Homer, his mom's name is Margaret, and his sisters are named Lisa and Maggie. He started "The Simpsons" by making animated shorts for "The Tracey Ullman Show". He didn't want to adapt his comic series "Life in Hell" for the cartoon, so he made the show about a dysfunctional family instead. Because he didn't want the show to be autobiographical, he named the older brother character "Bart" instead of Matt. Why Bart? Bart is an anagram for "brat".

Photo credit: simpsonix.deviantart.com

Hottest Temperature On Earth

El Azizia in Liby

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth is 58°C (136.4°F) at Al-ʿAzīzīyah in Libya on September 13, 1922, making it the hottest place in the world? 

Photo credit: virginmedia.com

Walk Around The World

Walking

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . In an average lifetime (69.4 years), a person will walk the equivalent of three times around the world?

Photo credit: globalwalkamileday.thepixelproject.net

Coldest Temperature On Earth

Vostok Scientific Station in Antarctica

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth is minus 89.6°C at the Vostok Scientific Station in Antarctica on 21, 1983, making it the coldest place in the world?

Photo credit: expeditions.com

Venus

Venus

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . All the planets in our solar system rotate counterclockwise, except Venus? It is the only planet that rotates clockwise. Known as the Morning Star, Venus is the brightest planet in the Solar System and can be seen even in daylight. It is also the hottest planet, even hotter than Mercury, which is closer to the Sun. The temperature on the surface of Venus is about 860° Fahrenheit (460° Celsius). There is no life on Venus and life could never be supported there because of extreme heat.

Photo credit: planetsforkids.org

Bristlecone Pine Tree

Bristlecone Pine Tree

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Trees live much longer than any other type of plant or animal? In fact, it is possible to know the age of a tree by counting the rings in its trunk (one ring generally equates to one year). The oldest living tree and hence one of the oldest known living things on Earth is a bristlecone pine tree in California, North America. It is over 4,600 years old.

Photo credit: Cassygirl

Woodpecker

Woodpecker

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . A woodpecker can peck with a force as high as 1,200 G's with each impact equivalent to a human striking his head against a wall at a speed of 25 km (16 miles) an hour each time?

Photo credit: dcwild.com

Kevlar - The Strongest Material Known to Mankind

Kevlar

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The strongest material known to mankind is called a Kevlar? It was invented by a Polish-American chemist, Stephen Kwolek in 1971. Kevlar is a chemical compound - polyparaphenylene terepthalamide which belongs to the class aromatic polyamide - a para-aramid synthetic fibre which gives Kevlar its high strength and thermal stability. Kevlar is 5 times stronger than steel but is very light weight and half the weight of fiberglass which makes it ideal for making bulletproof vests. It is resistant to impact and abrasion damage. In seawater, its strength is 20 times more than steel which also makes it excellent for offshore drilling operations. Kevlar is made by Dupont Corporation.

Photo credit: the-rc.com

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia is the deepest lake in the world measuring 1,620 meters deep? This makes it not only the deepest but also the oldest lake in the world estimated to be around 25 million years old. At over 636 kilometers long and 80 kilometers wide, this fresh water lake holds over 20 percent of all the fresh waters in the world and is second in size only to the Caspian Sea (the Caspian is called a sea but is technically a lake). The lake is so big that, if all the rivers in the world flowed into its basin, it would take almost 1 year to fill it in. Siberia is not the warmest of places so what a phenomenal site it is when in the winter months the lake freezes over, holding ice up to 115 meters thick.

Photo credit: americanmonsters.com

Yonge Street

Yonge Street

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The longest street in the world is Yonge Street in Toronto, Canada spanning 1,896 kilometers (1,178 miles).?

Photo credit: waymarking.com

Bee Hummingbird

Bee Hummingbird

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . At 5 cm long and 2 gm in weight, the smallest bird in the world is none other than the Bee Hummingbird? Found mainly in Cuba, it also holds the record for the smallest egg in the world. Like all hummingbirds they can fly not only forwards but also backwards, up, down, and even just hover. They have the ability to beat their wings at up to 80 times per second, so fast that humans can only see the wings moving as a faint blur. Their tiny size and amazing flying skills allow them to move from flower to another collecting nectar and hunt even small insects. In fact, they are so good at flying (some as many as 1,500 flowers a day) that they do not even walk anymore and only use their feet for perching.

Photo credit: personal.psu.edu

World’s Most Expensive Cell Phone

Stuart Hughes iPhone 4 Diamond Rose Edition

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The world's most expensive cell phone is Stuart Hughes' iPhone 4 Diamond Rose Edition amounting to a staggering $8 million? Hughes has recreated the infamous antenna band that wraps around the sides of the latest iPhone, as well as the back plate, using rose gold. The band is adorned with 100 carats of flawless diamonds, and the Apple logo is formed with 53 more diamonds. Even the home button is made of platinum and features a rare 7.4-carat pink diamond. The phone comes in an imperial pink 7-kilogram chest cut from a single block of granite and lined with nubuck top-grain leather. It also comes with an 8-carat flawless diamond that can be used in place of the pink one.

Photo credit: touchmyapps.com

Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy

Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . There are eerie similarities between U.S. Presidents, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy?

* Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

* Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

* Both were shot in the back of the head in the presence of their wives.

* Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

* Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

* Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.

* Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

* Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

* Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theater. Kennedy was shot in a Lincoln, made by Ford.

* Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse. Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

* Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

Photo credit: rockofgibraltar.blogspot.com

Sun

Sun

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . If you could drive to the Sun at a speed of 160 km/h (100 mp/h) non-stop, it would take you around 193 years to get there?

Photo credit: rolland.starazagora.net

Guyabano

Guyabano

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The Guyabano (Soursop) or the fruit from the graviola tree is a miraculous natural cancer cell killer 10,000 times more potent than Chemotherapy? The Guyabano (Annona muricata) is a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree native to Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America: Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. Guyabano is also native to sub-Saharan African countries that lie within the tropics. Today, it is also grown in some areas of Southeast Asia. It was most likely brought from Mexico to the Philippines by way of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade. It is in the same genus as the chirimoya and the same family as the pawpaw. Guyabano is adapted to areas of high humidity and relatively warm winters; temperatures below 5 °C (41 °F) will cause damage to leaves and small branches, and temperatures below 3 °C (37 °F) can be fatal. The fruit becomes dry and is no longer good for concentrate. Its flavor has been described as a combination of strawberry and pineapple with sour citrus flavor contrasting with an underlying creamy flavor reminiscent of coconut or banana.

Photo credit: www.doyouknowhy.blogspot.com

Rolls-Royce Picadilly P1 Roadster

Mr. Allen Swift with his 1928 Rolls-Royce Piccadilly P1 Roadster

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Mr. Allen Swift of Springfield, Massachusetts received this 1928 Rolls-Royce Piccadilly P1 Roadster from his father, brand new as a graduation gift in 1928? Swift drove up the car until his death at the age of 102. He was also the oldest living owner of a car. He donated it to a Springfield museum after his death. The car has 170,000 miles on it, and still runs like a Swiss watch - dead silent at any speed and is in perfect cosmetic condition after 82 years - that is approximately 2,000 miles per year.

Photo credit: garagecrawlers.com

Yacht Island Design

Yacht Island Design

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . A UK-based yacht design company called Yacht Island Designs, built a whole island onto a yacht? The design is inspired by tropical islands, complete with huts, a pool and a whole volcano. Crazy?. . . Since it is a yacht, it comes packed with special VIP rooms, arcades, gym, lounges, spas, and even a helipad. The volcano adds beauty to the whole look of the yacht, which also happens to have water flowing out of it onto the pool creating this amazing river complementing the whole tropical look.

Photo credit: raredelights.com

Giant Crystal Cave

Cueva de los Cristales

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Superman's Fortress of Solitude exists! Actually, a cave in the Chihuahua desert in Mexico contains hundreds of huge crystal formations that each can measure 12 meters long and weigh 55 tons! It is called Cueva de los Cristales, or Giant Crystal Cave. It is one of the deadliest places on Earth because of the hostile environment inside it. Less than a hundred people have been inside the cave and, with 50° Celsius and a humidity of 100%, it's so deadly that even with respirators and suits of ice you can only survive for 20 minutes before your body starts to fail. It’s the nearest thing to visiting another planet.

Photo credit: Carsten Peter/Speleoresearch & Films published in National Geographic

Last Known Surviving Veteran of World War I

Florence Green on her 109th birthday

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Florence Green was the last known surviving veteran of World War I and the 6th oldest person in Britain? Born Florence Beatrice Patterson in London on Feb. 19, 1901, she joined the newly formed Women's Royal Air Force in September 1918 at the age of 17 where she worked as a waitress in the officers' mess, first at the Narborough airdrome and then at Royal Air Force, Marham in eastern England, and was serving there when the war ended on Nov. 11, 1918. It was not until 2010 that she was officially recognized as a veteran after a British correspondent, Andrew Holmes of the US-based Gerontology Research Group, found her service record in Britain's National Archives. Green died at aged 110 Saturday at the Briar House Care Home in King's Lynn, eastern England, two weeks before her 111th birthday. She is survived by two daughters, a son and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Photo credit: thehistorybucket.blogspot.com

Ali Mall

Ali Mall

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Ali Mall is the very first major shopping mall in the Philippines? It was constructed in 1975 on a 62,000 sq.m. commercial lot in Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City following Muhammad Ali's boxing victory over Joe Frazier in what had been dubbed as the fight of the century, "Thrilla in Manila" held in Araneta Coliseum. The mall was named in honor of Muhammad Ali. 

Photo credit: Mga Batang 90's

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Sixty years ago today, February 6, Queen Elizabeth II was 25 years old when she ascended the British throne upon the death of her father, King George VI, and became Queen of England in 1952. Nearly 400 years earlier, England’s first Queen Elizabeth also became queen at age 25.

Photo credit: topnews.in

Biggest Papal Crowd

Pope John Paul II

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . On January 18, 1995, Pope John Paul II celebrated mass to an estimated 4 to 5 million people at Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines, making it to the Guiness Book of World Records for the Biggest Papal Crowd.

Photo credit: www.wowphilippines-exp.blogspot.com

Taal Volcano

Taal Volcano

DID YOU NOW THAT . . . The Philippines has an island situated in a lake within an island within a lake within an island. Vulcan Point is a place in the Philippines that is in Main Crater Lake, which is within Volcano Island, which is within Lake Taal, which is within the island of Luzon. It is all part of the complex volcanic system of the Taal Volcano. It is considered the smallest volcano in the world and remains active today and is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Viewed from Tagaytay Ridge, Taal Volcano presents one of the most picturesque and attractive views in the Philippines.

Photo credit: www.what-to-do-in-the-philippines.com

Palawan Underground River

Palawan Underground River

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The world's longest underground river system accessible to human can be found in Palawan, Philippines. Recently named as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, the Palawan Underground River is about 8.2 kilometers of navigable river. Tourists, however, are only permitted to navigate 1.2 kilometers of it.

Photo credit: www.buyanihan.com