Miniature Chameleon of Madagascar

DID YOU KNOW? The newest edition to the reptile family is barely bigger than the head of a match. Called Brookesia minima clade, these super-tiny chameleons were discovered in Madagascar, and measure just tens of millimeters from head to tail, ranking them among the smallest reptiles in the world.

Photo credit: globalanimal.org

Paedophryne Amauensis - World's Smallest Frog

DID YOU KNOW? Paedophryne Amauensis is about quarter of an inch long and lives on the big floor of tropical forests. The tiny frog is said to be a case of island dwarfism - the tendecy of animals living on isolated islands to evolve into even smaller species. It was discovered recently in Papua New Guinea by researchers from Louisiana State University. The frog averages about 0.27 of an inch in length - about the size of a housefly. Because of its extreme diminutive size, Paedophryne amauens holds the title of the world's smallest vertebrate.

Photo credit: sciencebuzz.org

Electric Oven

DID YOU KNOW? An electric oven uses one kilowatt-hour of electricity in about 20 minutes. One kilowatt-hour is enough to power a television for 3 hours, run a 100-watt bulb for 12 hours, and keep an electric clock ticking for 3 months.

Photo credit: renthire.com

Can Opener

DID YOU KNOW? The can opener was invented 48 years after cans were introduced. The use of tin cans for food preservation was patented in 1810 by an Englishman named Peter Durand. The can opener, on the other hand, was invented 48 years later by Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S.A.

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

Crayons

DID YOU KNOW? The first crayons was a mixture of charcoal and oil. In the early 1900s, cousins Edwin Binney and Harold Smith developed a nontoxic wax crayon. Binney’s wife, Alice, attached the French word for chalk, "craie", with "ola", from oily, to form the Crayola brand name. Their first box of Crayola crayons came in a box of eight colors of black, blue, brown, green, orange, purple, red, and yellow, and were sold for a nickel in 1903.  By 1957, 40 new colors were added. Today, there are more than 120 crayon colours, including Atomic Tangerine, Blizzard Blue, Mango Tango, Outrageous Orange, Laser Lemon, Screamin’ Green and Shocking Pink. Over 5 billion crayons are produced each year. To date, over a 100 billion crayons have been produced so far. 

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E-mail

DID YOU KNOW? About 160 billion emails are sent daily; more than 2 million per second by 1.2 billion email senders. However, 97% of it is spam.

Photo credit: pavingtheroadtosuccess.blogspot.com

Carrots

DID YOU KNOW? Carrots are loaded with Vitamin A - a kind of vitamin that prevents "night blindness." One medium carrot provides more than 200% of recommended daily intake of Vitamin A, and 2 grams of fiber - all for a mere 25 calories.

Photo credit: ifood.tv

Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Wille, 1928

DID YOU KNOW? Walt Disney, who founded the world renown Walt Disney company in 1923, came up with the idea for an animated mouse called Mortimer Mouse in 1927. His wife, Lillian, hated the name and convinced him to rename the famous character to Mickey Mouse.

Photo credit: time.com

Avocados

DID YOU KNOW? Avocados have a higher fiber content and fat than any other fruit, with 30 percent of your daily recommended amount in a single cup. The monounsaturated fat avocados contain has the power to protect you from heart disease! So, eating avocados will not only protect your heart but lower your cholesterol too!

Photo credit: homeescapade.com

Travertine Pools of Pamukkale

Travertine Pools of Pamukkale

DID YOU KNOW? There is a place in Turkey called the "Travertine Pools of Pamukkale". This strange and extraordinary wonder of beautiful terraced pools have been a subject of fascination for over two millennia and yet little is known about this natural wonder of the world. Thousands of years ago, earthquakes (which are common in Turkey) created fractures in the ground that brought forth powerful hot thermal spring water rich in calcium carbonate to the surface. As the water evaporated, the chalky material condensed and formed layer-upon layer a vast white cliff side with scallop-like shaped basins of frozen waterfalls of travertine in the same way that a stalactite forms in a cave. The radiance of the cascades change colour depending on how the sunlight strikes them. Apparently, Pammakale means "Castle of Cotton", but the Greco-Romans built a town above it called Heirapolis – meaning “Holy City” or “Sacred City”. They too recognised it as a rare and important place attributing healing powers to its milky-white waters. Pamukkale is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the pools have been closed to the tourists that once bathed in their waters to save them from further damage.

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

Mimic Octopus

DID YOU KNOW? The amazing Mimic Octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) is able to mimic up to 24 marine creatures. This fascinating creature was discovered in 1998 off the coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia on the bottom of a muddy river mouth. It can reach about 60 cm in length and is typically brown and white striped. A strategy to avoid predators, the highly intelligent Mimic Octopus is the first known species to take on the characteristics of multiple species, such as: sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, sole fish, sand anemones, stingrays, mantis shrimp, and even jellyfish. This animal is so intelligent that it is able to discern which dangerous sea creature to impersonate that will present the greatest threat to its current possible predator. For example, when the octopus was attacked by territorial damselfishes, it mimicked the banded sea snake, a known predator of damselfishes. Because Mimic Octopuses are found in muddy river bottoms and estuaries, its diet most likely consists of small crustaceans and fish.

Photo credit: Brandon Cole Marine Photography

Great Pyramid of Giza

DID YOU KNOW? The Great Pyramid of Giza weighs 6.5 million tons! The Great Pyramid of Giza is located at the northern edge of the Giza plateau. It was built as a tomb for Egyptian King Khufu and is also known as the Pyramid of Khufu. It is the largest of Egypt's pyramids. It was the tallest structure in the world for close to 4,000 years. Today, it stands at 449.5 feet having lost 31 feet due to erosion. The base of the Great Pyramid is a square with each side measuring 756 feet that can fit nearly 10 football fields. The four triangular sides slope equally from the base precisely 51 degrees. Each side has an area of 5.5 acres. There are currently 203 levels of steps to its summit. Construction started in 2540 BC and took 23 years to complete. The Great Pyramid contains nearly 2.3 million blocks. Average weight per block of stone is 7 tons. Workers would have set a block every 2.5 minutes, 7 days a week to finish in 23 years. Over the centuries, the pyramid was stripped of its casing stones to use in rebuilding bridges, mosques, and palaces. You could build 30 Empire State Buildings with its masonry. The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and the only one still standing.

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

Angel Falls in Venezuela

DID YOU KNOW? The tallest waterfalls in the world is the Angel Falls in Venezuela. At 979 meters (3,212 ft), it is 19 times taller than the Niagara Falls, or 3 times taller than the Empire State Building in New York. It pours about 2.8 billion liters (748 million gallons) per second of water over its edges.

Photo credit: worldislandparadise.com

YouTube

DID YOU KNOW? About 200,000 videos are uploaded to YouTube everyday. Also, It will take a person more than 400 years to watch all the videos on YouTube.

Photo credit: ohinternet.com

The White House

DID YOU KNOW? It takes 570 gallons of paint to coat the White House.

Photo credit: daftblogger.com

Sharks

DID YOU KNOW? Sharks are the only animals that are immune to every known disease including cancer. Their body frames are not made up of bones but cartilage - the tough, fibrous tissue that shapes our noses and ears. Instead of scales, shark skins have small tooth-like spikes that are so sharp that it has long been used as sandpaper. It is thought that some types of big sharks, including the Great White Shark, change sex when they reach a certain size - males become females to ensure survival of their species.

Photo credit: vertebratejournal.org

Edward Theodore "Ed" Gein

DID YOU KNOW? The hideous characters in the classic films, Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Silence of the Lambs and  the 1974 film, Deranged were all based on a real person, Edward Theodore "Ed" Gein (1906-1984). Ed was a murderer and grave robber who had developed a taste for slicing up people; creating masks, a body suit, and other objects from the tanned skins of the dead women's bodies. He murdered his victims, cut them up, and then used their bones to make furniture. When caught in 1957, his room featured lampshades and chair seats made of human skin. When caught in 1957, his room featured lampshades and chair seats made of human skin. He died on July 26 , 1984 of respiratory failure in the Mendota Mental Health Institute, Wisconsin.

Photo credit: fineartamerica.com

Mauna Kea - World's Tallest Mountain

Mauna Kea

DID YOU KNOW? The tallest mountain on Earth is not Mount Everest with an elevation of 8,848 meters or 29,029 feet high, but actually Mauna Kea (White Mountain) in Hawaii which is 10,200 meters or 33,465 feet high. However, much of Mauna Kea is submerged under the ocean, about 6,060 meters or 19,669 feet deep. Only 4,140 meters or 13,796 feet of the mountain is above sea level. Perched on its summit is a cluster of observatory domes considered the greatest collection of astronomical telescopes in the world. Mauna Kea is Hawaii's highest mountain peak.

Photo credit: chuiloo98508.web.officelive.com

1936 Bugatti 57SC Atlantic - Most Expensive Car Ever Sold

Ralph Lauren with his Bugatti 57SC Atlantic

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The most expensive car ever sold, (for a staggering $30 million to an anonymous buyer!), is the Bugatti 57SC Atlantic? Built by Bugatti in 1936, the 57SC Atlantic was based on the Aerolithe Electron Coupe, a show car that was built for the 1935 Paris Auto Salon.  The car's famous low-slung, pontoon-fender was designed by Jean Bugatti, son of the founder Ettore Bugatti. The car is also the rarest car ever built - just four units were made. The production Atlantics used plain aluminium, and dorsal seams which have led to the car's fame. However, only two of the cars survived. One is in the collection of fashion designer, Ralph Lauren; the second is owned by Dr. Peter Williamson.

Photo credit: extravaganzi.com

Facebook

Facebook

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Facebook was launched eight years ago, on February 4, 2004? Back then it was called "Thefacebook", and it was originally located at "thefacebook.com", but it is definitely one and the same project. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg, together with his college roommates Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, Facebook was originally intended to be a network only for Harvard students, but was later expanded to other universities and finally to everyone. By far, Facebook is the biggest social network on the Internet today. It boasts more than 800 million users worldwide - or 40% of all Internet users - and is estimated to reach 1 billion members by August. Behind Google, it is the number one most-visited website worldwide.

Photo credit: bloggersmind.com

The Last American Veteran of World War I

Left: Frank Buckles' enlistment photo into the U.S. Army. Right: Mr Buckles signs a World War One era ambulance corps helmet after receiving the Legion of Honor at the French Embassy in Washington in 2008. Photo: AP/REUTERS

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The last American veteran of World War I was Frank Buckles of Charles Town, West Virginia? Born Frank Woodruff Buckles on February 1, 1901, on a farm near Bethany, Missouri, Buckles lied about his age when he enlisted in the Marine Corps under serial number 15577 on August 14, 1917 at age 16 after repeatedly rejected by military recruiters. He sailed for England in December 1917 aboard the Carpathia, (the same ship that helped save survivors of the Titanic’s sinking in 1912), and served as a corporal for the American Expeditionary in France in 1918, including Bordeaux, driving military ambulances. After the Armistice, Buckles escorted German POWs back to their homeland, then returned to the United States and later worked in the Toronto office of the White Star shipping line. He traveled widely over the years, working for steamship companies, and it was while he was on business in Manila, Philippines when he was captured by the Japanese troops and spent three years in a prison camp where he lost more than 50 pounds before being liberated by an American airborne unit in February 1945. After retiring from steamship work in the mid-1950s, Buckles ran a cattle ranch in Charles Town, (he was still riding a tractor there at age 106). In April 2007, Buckles was identified by the Department of Veterans Affairs as one of the four known survivors among the more than 4.7 million Americans who had served in the armed forces of the Allied nations from April 6, 1917, when the United States entered World War I, to Nov. 11, 1918, the date of the armistice. The US government has awarded him the World War I Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, while France bestowed upon him the French Legion of Honor medal. Remembered as "The Last Torchbearer" of WWI, Frank Buckles died of natural causes at aged 110 on February 27, 2011 at his farm in West Virginia. He is survived by his daughter, Susannah Flanagan. His wife, Audrey, died in 1999.

Photo credit: telegraph.co.uk

BMW

BMW

YOU KNOW THAT . . . BMW is the acronym for BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AG or in English, Bavarian Motor Works? BMW is a German automobile, motorcycle, and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the MINI brand, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands.

Photo credit: csmonitor.com

Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx 4G Smartphone

Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . The Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx 4G Smartphone - the latest addition to the RAZR series has, by far, the world's longest lasting battery that promises 21 hours of use on a single charge? This Smartphone is thin, made of KEVLAR, and is equipped with 4G LTE Speed and dual-core power. It also has 32GB of storage instead of the standard 16GB.

Photo credit: cnet.com

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . Queen Victoria, the great-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II, was the longest-reigning British monarch in history (63 years, seven months, three days) and the last monarch of the House of Hanover? Victoria was crowned queen at just 18 in 1837. Although British sovereigns no longer wielded significant political power by the time she ascended the thrown, she managed to influence government policy and helped shape the culture of the era that would bear her name. All of Victoria’s nine children and many of her grandchildren married into other powerful royal or noble families, earning her the nickname "The Grandmother of Europe."

Photo credit: isc.ca