SPECIAL ITEMS

Special items for morning assembly

Honors and Awards

Nobel Prizes – Winners of the last five years

2003 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Shirin Ebadi (Iran). She won the prize for her work as a human rights activist and lawyer.

Literature: J. M. Coetzee (South Africa).

Physics: Alexei A. Abrikosov (Russia, U.S.), Anthony J. Leggett (UK, U.S.), and Vitaly L. Ginzburg (Russia). They shared the prize for theories about superconductivity.

Chemistry: Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon (both U.S.). They shared the prize for studies on channels in cell walls.

Medicine: Paul C. Lauterbur (U.S.) and Sir Peter Mansfield (UK). They won the prize for discoveries leading to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Economics: Robert F. Engle (U.S.) and Clive W. J. Granger (UK). They won the prize for developing statistical tools to improve analysis of stock prices and other data.

2004 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Wangari Maathai (Kenya). She won the prize for ‘her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace’.

Literature: Elfriede Jelinek (Austria)

Physics: David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, and Frank Wilczek (all U.S.). They won the prize for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction.

Chemistry: Aaron Ciechanover (Israel), Avram Hershko (Israel), and Irwin Rose (U.S.). They won the prize for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.

Physiology or Medicine: Richard Axel and Linda Buck (both U.S.). They shared the prize for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system.

Economics: Finn E. Kydland (Norway) and Edward C. Prescott (U.S.). They won the prize for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics.

2005 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Mohamed ElBaradei (Egypt) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Literature: Harold Pinter (United Kingdom)

Physics: Roy J. Glauber (U.S.), John L. Hall (U.S.) and Theodor W. Hänsch (Germany)

Chemistry: Yves Chauvin (France), Robert H. Grubbs (U.S.), and Richard R. Schrock (U.S.)

Physiology or Medicine: Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren (both Australia)

Economics: Robert J. Aumann (U.S.) and Thomas C. Schelling (U.S.)

2006 Nobel Prize Winners

Peace: Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh) and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh

Literature: Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)

Physics: John C. Mather and George F. Smoot (both U.S.)

Chemistry: Roger D. Kornberg (U.S.)

Physiology or Medicine: Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello (both U.S.)

Economics: Edmund S. Phelps (U.S.)

2007 Nobel Prize Winners

Physics: Albert Fert (France) and Peter Grünberg (Germany)

Medicine: Mario R. Capecchi (U.S.), Sir Martin J. Evans (U.K.), and Oliver Smithies (U.S.)

Chemistry: Gerhard Ertl (Germany)

Literature: Doris Lessing (U.K.)

Peace: Al Gore (U.S.) and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Switzerland)

Economics: Leonid Hurwicz (U.S.), Eric S. Maskin (U.S.), and Roger B. Myerson (U.S.)

Amazing Facts About India

• India is the world’s largest, oldest, continuous civilization.
• India is the world’s Largest democracy.
• India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.
• India invented the number system. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
• There are 300,000 active mosques in India , more than in any other country, including the Muslim world
• Sanskrit is the mother of all the European Languages . Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software – a report in Forbes magzine July 1987.
• Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
• India is one of the few countries in the world, which gain independence without violence.
• India has the second largest pool of Scientist and Engineers in the World.
• India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
• India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indeigenously.
• India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world
• The largest employer in the world is the Indian Railways , employing over a million people
• India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India’s wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
• The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982
• The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world’s largest religious pilgrimagedestination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
• Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called “the Ancient City” when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
• Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
• Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

The Most Interesting and Unusual Facts on the Net

Facetious and abstemious are the only words that contain all the vowels in the correct order.“Adcomsubordcomphibspac” is the longest acronym. It is a Navy term standing for Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command.“Almost” is the longest commonly used word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.“Flushable” toilets were in use in ancient Rome. “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson was the first video to air on MTV by a black artist. “Canada” is an Indian word meaning “Big Village”. “Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt”. “Duff” is the decaying organic matter found on a forest floor. “Fickleheaded” and “fiddledeedee” are the longest words consisting only of letters in the first half of the alphabet. “Asthma” and “isthmi” are the only six-letter words that begin and end with a vowel and have no other vowels between. “Fortnight” is a contraction of “fourteen nights.” In the US “two weeks” is more commonly used. “Forty” is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical order. “One” is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order. “Four” is the only number whose number of letters in the name equals the number. “Hang on Sloopy” is the official rock song of Ohio. “Happy Birthday” was the first song to be performed in outer space, sung by the Apollo IX astronauts on March 8, 1969. “Kemo Sabe”, meaning an all knowing one, is actually a mispronunciation by Native American of the Spanish phrase, Quien lo Sabe, meaning one who knows.” The lunula is the half-moon shaped pale area at the bottom of finger nails. “Ma is as selfless as I am” can be read the same way backwards. If you take away all the spaces you can see that all the letters can be spelled out both ways. “Mad About You” star Paul Reiser plays the piano on the show’s theme song. “One thousand” contains the letter A, but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine has an A. “Ough” can be pronounced in eight different ways. The following sentence contains them all: “A rough-coated, dough-faced ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough, coughing and hiccoughing thoughtfully. “Rhythms” is the longest English word without the normal vowels, a, e, i, o, or u. “Second string,” meaning “replacement or backup,” comes from the middle ages. An archer always carried a second string in case the one on his bow broke. “Speak of the Devil” is short for “Speak of the Devil and he shall come”. It was believed that if you spoke about the Devil it would attract his attention. That’s why when you’re talking about someone and they show up people say “Speak of the Devil.” “Stewardesses” is the longest word that can be typed with only the left hand. “Tautonyms” are scientific names for which the genus and species are the same. “Taxi” is spelled exactly the same in English, French, German, Swedish, Portuguese, and Dutch. “Teh” means “cool” in Thai. (Pronounced “tay”). “The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English. “THEREIN” is a seven-letter word that contains thirteen words spelled using consecutive letters: the, he, her, er, here, I, there, ere, rein, re, in, therein, and herein. “Underground” is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters “und.” $203,000,000 is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S. 1 and 2 are the only numbers where they are values of the numbers of the factors they have. 1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue. 1 in every 3 people in the country of Israel use a cell phone. 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of lemons contain more sugar than 1 kg of strawberries. 1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire are strung across the Unites States. 1.7 litres of saliva is produced each day. In Discovery Channel, its a quart. 10 percent of all human beings ever born are alive at this very moment. 10% of human dry weight comes from bacteria 11% of the world is left-handed. 111, 111, 111 X 111, 111, 111 = 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321 1200 equals 1 pound (72 rupees). 123,000,000 cars are being driven on highways in the United States. 166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year in the United States. 1959’s A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. 2 and 5 are the only prime numbers that end in 2 or 5. 203 million dollars is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S. 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next hour. 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks. 25% of a human’s bones are in its feet. 259200 people die every day. 27% of Americans believe we never landed on the moon. 27% of U.S. male college students believe life is “a meaningless existential hell.” 3% of all mammals are monogamous 315 entries in Webster’s 1996 dictionary were misspelled. 315 words in the 1996 Webster’s dictionary were mispelled. 4 tablespoons of ketchup has about the same amount of nutrition as a ripe tomato. 40% of all people who come to a party snoop in your medicine cabinet. 40% of McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals. 43.7% of all statistics are made up right on the spot 48% of astronauts experience motion sickness. 52% of Americans drink coffee. 55.1% of all US prisoners are in prison for drug offenses. 56,000,000 people go to Major League baseball games each year 67 million pounds of pesticides and about 3 million tons of fertilizer are used annually on lawns in the US. 78 rpm albums, used prior to 1948, were only capable of recording for four minutes. It wasn’t until later that year that Columbia Records introduced 33 rpm albums capable of playing 23 minutes per side. 80% of animals on earth are insects. 80% of arrested criminals are male. In Disney’s Fantasia, the Sorcerer to whom Mickey played an apprentice was named Yensid, which is Disney spelled backward. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand. One in ten people live on an island. 84% of a raw apple is water. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. 85% of men who die of heartattacks during intercourse, are found to have been cheating on their wives. 85,000,000 tons of paper are used in the United States each year. 28% of Africa is classified as wilderness. In North America, its 38%. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying. 90% of bird species are monogamous; only 3% of animals are. 90% of New York City cab drivers are recently arrived immigrants. 98% of all murders and rapes are by a close family member or friend of the victim. 98% of the weight of water is made up from oxygen. 99% of the pumpkins sold in the US end up as jack-o-lanterns. A “2 by 4” is really 1 1/2 by 3 1/2. A “Blue Moon” is the second full moon in a calendar month (it is rarely blue). A “hairbreadth away” is 1/48 of an inch. A “jiffy” is actually a proper time unit for 1/100th of a second A “quidnunc” is a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip. A 1,200-pound horse eats about seven times it’s own weight each year. A 1.5 oz. milk chocolate bar has only 220 calories. A 1.75 oz. serving of potato chips has 230 calories. A 10-gallon hat actually only holds about 3/4 gallon. A 14-year old French girl had extraordinary electrical power. With a gentle touch she could knock over heavy pieces of furniture and people in physical contact with her received an electrical shock. A 17 year old girl from Miami, Florida started to sneeze on 4th January’66 ant continued till 8th June’66. A 6 pound sea-hare can lay 40,000eggs in a single minute. A 7-year study, which concluded in the summer of 2000, found that 33 U.S. deaths were caused by rottweilers, pit bulls were responsible for 27 deaths. A acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries. That amounts to approximately 2000 pounds of beans after hulling or milling. A B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945. A Baboon called “Jackie” became a private in the South African army in World War I. A bat is the only mammal that flies. A bathometer is an instrument for indicating the depth of the sea beneath a moving vessel. A bean has more DNA per cell than a human cell A bee could travel 4 million miles (6.5 million km) at 7 mph (11 km/h) on the energy it would obtain from 1 gallon (3.785 liters) of nectar, or it could just sit down on and enjoy that honey properly. A beaver’s teeth never stop growing. A bibliophile is a collector of rare books. A bibliopole is a seller of rare books. A bird requires more food in proportion to its size than a baby or a cat. A Blue Earth, Minnesota, law declares that no child under the age of twelve may talk over the telephone unless monitored by a parent. A blue whales heart only beats nine times per minute. A body decomposes four times as fast in water than on land. A Boeing 747’s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother’s first flight. A bowling pin only needs to tilt 7.5 degrees to fall. A broken clock is right at least twice a day. A butterfly can look at you through 12,000 eyes. A Californian doctor has set the record of eating 17 bananas in two minutes. A Canadian tattoo artist had 4,831 tattoos on his body. A capon is a castrated rooster. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear. A cat has 4 rows of whiskers. A cat uses it’s whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through. A chameleon can move its eyes in two directions at the same time. A chameleon’s tongue is twice the length of its body. A Cheetah at full speed takes strides of 8 meters. A cheetah is the fastest animal, clocked in at: 70mph. A chef’s hat is tall and balloons at the top so as to counteract the intense heat in the kitchen. The unique shape allows air to circulate around the scalp, keeping the head cool. A Chicago law forbids eating in a place that is on fire. A chicken who just lost its head can run the length of a football field before dropping dead. A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can’t. A citizen of Calcutta, India , grew the fingernails on his left hand to a length of 76 inches. A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are known as fingers. A cockroach can live nine days without its head before it starves to death. A cockroaches favorite food is the glue on the back of stamps. A company, Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song “Happy Birthday”. A Cornish game hen is really a young chicken, usually 5 to 6 weeks of age, that weighs no more than 2 pounds. A cough releases an explosive charge of air that moves at speeds up to 60 mph. A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime. A cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. A crocodiles tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth. A cucumber is 96% water. A Dalmatian is the only dog that can get gout. A day on the planet Mercury is twice as long as its year. A decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up. A dentist invented the Electric Chair. A device invented sometime around the time of the birth of Jesus as a primitive steam engine by the Greek engineer Hero is used today as a rotating sprinkler. A diamond will not dissolve in acid. The only thing that can destroy it is intense heat. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge. A quarter has 119. A dog can hear high frequency sounds, which a human ear cannot. A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule will not. A dragonfly can fly 25 mph. A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours. A dragonfly is also known as “devil’s darning needle”, “horse stinger” and “devil’s steelyard”. A Fag is to work hard or to tire by strenuous activity and cigarettes are sometimes called Fags A fagot is a bundle of sticks or a bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be shaped by rolling or hammering at high temperature. A father Emperor penguin withstands the Antarctic cold for 60 days or more to protect his eggs, which he keeps on his feet, covered with a feathered flap. During this entire time he doesn’t eat a thing. Most father penguins lose about 25 pounds while they wait for their babies to hatch. Afterward, they feed the chicks a special liquid from their throats. When the mother penguins return to care for the young, the fathers go to sea to eat and rest. A father sea catfish keeps the eggs of his young in his mouth until they are ready to hatch. He will not eat until his young are born, which may take several weeks. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate. A female mackerel lays about 500,000 eggs at one time. A female swine or sow will always have an even number of teats or nipples. A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. A fingernail or toenail takes about 6 months to grow from base to tip. A fish’s memory span is 3 seconds. A five and a half year old weighing 250 pounds was exhibited at a meeting of the Physical Society of Vienna on December 4, 1894. She ate a normal diet and was otherwise in good health. The problem: she wasn’t able to sweat. A flea can jump 350 times is own body length. (say..you jumping the length of a soccer field)thanx seraph A flock of sheep grazed during Woodrow Wilson’s term. Their wool was sold to raise money for the Red Cross during World War I. A fly always jumps backwards for a quick getaway when you try to hit it. A fly hums in the middle octave, key F. A foal is a baby horse. A full moon is nine times brighter than a half moon. A full-grown bear can run as fast as a horse. A full-grown pumpkin has about 15 miles of roots. A ghost writer pens an anonymous book. A giant squid has eyes that can grow up to 20 inches in diameter. (Now think of how big your computer screen is..) A giraffe and rat can go longer without water than a camel can. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue. i know some people who can do some amazing stuff too. A goldfish has a memory span of 3 seconds. A googol is a 1 followed by 100 zeros. Mathematician Edward Kasner supposedly asked his nephew Milton Sirotta to suggest a name for the number, and he came up with this word. A grasshopper needs a minimum temperature of 62 degrees Fahrenheit in order to be able to hop. A group od geese on the ground is a gaggle, a group in the air is a skein. A group of crows is called a murder. A hamlet is a village without a church and a town is not a city until it has a cathedral. A hard-boiled egg will spin. An uncooked or soft-boiled egg will not. A healthy (non-colorblind) human eye can distinguish between 500 shades of gray. A healthy individual releases 3.5 oz. of gas in a single flatulent emission, or about 17 oz. in a day. A hedgehog’s heart beats 190 times a minute on average and drops to only 20 beats per minute during hibernation. A hedgehog’s skin is so tough that when they get run over, its entrails come out of its mouth and its ass. A herd of forty-five thirsty, rambunctious elephants stampeded into a brewery in Midnapore, where they smashed vats and slurped up beer in a bender that went on for two days. A hinny is the offspring of a female donkey. A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside. A hippopotamus can run faster than a man can. A Holstein’s spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots. A honey bee must tap two million flowers to make one pound of honey A honey bee travels an estimated 43,000 miles to gather one pound of honey. A pound of honey consists of 29,184 drops. A honeybee can fly at fifteen miles per hour. A horse can sleep standing up. A Horse has 18 more bones than a Human. A human being loses an average of 40 to 100 strands of hair a day. A human has a bone just after the spine ends, which helps proves that humans once had tails (possibly). A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated. A human’s scent membrane in the nose is about the size of a postage stamp. A dog’s is about the size of a handkerchief. It’s olfactory lobe is also 4 times that of a humanThanx liz chell A humming bird flaps its wings up to 90 times in one second or over 5000 times a minute. A hummingbird weighs less than a penny 10 Interesting facts about India: The famous board game, called Chess, was invented in India. In India’s 100,000 years of history, it has never invaded any other country. India is the 7th largest country in the world, the largest democracy and one of the oldest civilizations. India was one of the richest countries in the world before the British invasion in 17th century. The value of “pi” used in mathematics was first calculated by the Indian mathematician Budhayana in 6th century. India is one of the largest exporter of computer software products. It exports software to over 90 countries. India is home to the world’s largest pilgrimage destination called the Vishnu Temple. The temple is located in the city of Tirupati. About an average of 30,000 people visit this temple donating about $6 million US dollars, everyday. India originated Yoga about 5,000 years ago. India has the most number of mosques. It has 300,000 mosques which is much more than the Muslim world. Christians and Jews have been living in India since 52 A.D. and 200 B.C. respectively. VERY INTERESTING UNKNOWN FACTS 1. The Statue of Liberty’s index finger is eight feet long. 2. Rain has never been recorded in some parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile. 3. A 75 year old person will have slept about 23 years. 4. Boeing 747’s wing span is longer than the Wright brother’s first flight. The Wright brother’s invented the airplane. 5. There are as many chickens on earth as there are humans. 6. One type of hummingbird weighs less than a penny. 7. The word “set” has the most number of definitions in the English language; 192 Slugs have four noses. 8. Sharks can live up to 100 years. 9. Mosquitos are more attracted to the color blue than any other color. 10. Kangaroos can’t walk backwards. 11. About 75 acres of pizza are eaten in in the U.S. everyday. 12. The largest recorded snowflake was 15 Inch wide and 8 Inch thick. It fell in Montana in 1887. 13. The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that the sound it makes is actually a tiny sonic boom. 14. Former president Bill Clinton only sent 2 emails in his entire 8 year presidency. 15. Koalas and humans are the only animals that have finger prints. 16. There are 200,000,000 insects for every one human. 17. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery had in it to begin with. 18. The world’s largest Montessori school is in India, with 26,312 students in 2002. 19. Octopus have three hearts. 20. If you ate too many carrots, you would turn orange. 21. The average person spends two weeks waiting for a traffic light to change. 22. 1 in 2,000,000,000 people will live to be 116 or old. 23. The body has 2-3 million sweat glands. 24. Sperm whales have the biggest brains; 20 lbs. 25. Tiger shark embroyos fight each other in their mother’s womb. The survivor is born. 26. Most cats are left pawed. 27. 250 people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa. 28. A Blue whale’s tongue weighs more than an elephant. 29. You use 14 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Keep Smiling! 30. Bamboo can grow up to 3 ft in 24 hours. Top 10 Interesting Taj Mahal Facts 1. One of the most interesting Taj Mahal facts is that the building will appear to be a different color depending on what time of day it is, and whether or not there is a moon at night. 2. The Taj Mahal is one of the most popular Agra tourist attractions, and the building was started in 1631 by Shah Jahan. 3. No Golden Triangle tours in India would be complete without a visit to the Taj Mahal. This building is recognized by people all around the world, even those who have never been to India. 4. Taj Mahal facts which are fascinating include the fact that all of the artisans and skilled workers had their hands removed when the building was finally finished. This was to ensure no other structure could compare to the magnificent Taj Mahal. 5. The construction of the Taj Mahal took twenty two years to complete, and required more than twenty two thousand workers who were brought in from all over. There were more than one thousand elephants that were used just to haul the materials needed. 6. Interesting Taj Mahal facts include the symmetry of the structure, which is perfect except for the interior tombs. Tradition dictated that the tomb for the male must be larger than the one for the female. 7. There are many Agra tourist places, and a popular one is the black marble base. This base was intended as a mirror image of the Taj Mahal, except for black marble being used in place of white, but the structure was never completed. 8. The Taj Mahal has been designated as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, and it draws people from everywhere on the globe. 9. One of the really fascinating Taj Mahal facts has to do with the exterior pillars. These were placed at an outward tilt, so if an earthquake occurred the fall of the pillars could be controlled. 10. One of the less common known Taj Mahal facts is that many jewels and semi precious gems were used to decorate the structure. Over the years and through a number of wars and pillages these jewels were removed, but you can still see where they were. Ten fun facts about Cricket Fact 1: It is said that cricket originated in England. Since they used to raise sheep, the grass was so short that it was possible to roll a lump of wool on it which they used as a ball. Fact 2: The first recorded game was played in 1646, and later fines were handed out for those who missed the church to play. Fact 3: In the 1760’s, pitching a ball through the air was considered normal, thus the bat shape changed from a curve to a straight one. Fact 4: The longest cricket match took place in 1939 between England and South Africa, after 14 days it ended with a tie. Fact 5: The two most common causes for pausing or suspending a cricket game is rain and bad light. Fact 6: When a batsman scores 100 runs, it called a century and is considered an achievement. Fact 7: A cricket game was once stopped because a pig ran across the field. It is even considered legal to suspend the game if an animal entered the field. Fact 8: Only one player can run out at a time. Usually left for the umpire to decide. Fact 9: A cricket game has two umpires in the field and one off the field. Fact 10: Despite being a team game, individuals are stressed upon and put under pressure. Interesting Computer Facts 1. 80% of all pictures on the internet are of naked women 2. Another name for a Microsoft Windows tutorial is ‘Crash Course’! 3. Bill Gates house was designed using a Macintosh computer. 4. By the year 2012 there will be approximately 17 billion devices connected to the Internet. 5. Domain names are being registered at a rate of more than one million names every month. 6. E-mail has been around longer than the World Wide Web. 7. For every ‘normal’ webpage, there are five porn pages. 8. In the 1980s, an IBM computer wasn’t considered 100% compatible unless it could run Microsoft Flight Simulator*. 9. MySpace reports over 110 million registered users. Were it a country, it would be the tenth largest, just behind Mexico. 10. One of every 8 married couples in the US last year met online. 11. The average 21 year old has spent 5,000 hours playing video games, has exchanged 250,000 e-mails, instant and text messages and has spent 10,000 hours on the mobile phone. 12. The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute, less than half the normal rate of 20. 13. The first banner advertising was used in 1994. 14. The first computer mouse was invented by Doug Engelbart in around 1964 and was made of wood. 15. The first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com. 16. The world’s first computer, called the Z1, was invented by Konrad Zuse in 1936. His next invention, the Z2 was finished in 1939 and was the first fully functioning electro-mechanical computer. 17. There are approximately 1,319,872,109 people on the Internet. 18. There are approximately 1.06 billion instant messaging accounts worldwide. 19. While it took the radio 38 years, and the television a short 13 years, it took the World Wide Web only 4 years to reach 50 million users. 20.70% of virus writers work under contract for organized crime syndicates. Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About the Human Brain Weight. The weight of the human brain is about 3 lbs. Cerebrum. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and makes up 85% of the brain’s weight. Skin. Your skin weighs twice as much as your brain. Gray matter. The brain’s gray matter is made up of neurons, which gather and transmit signals. White matter. The white matter is made up of dendrites and axons, which create the network by which neurons send their signals. Gray and white. Your brain is 60% white matter and 40% gray matter. Water. The brain is made up of about 75% water. Neurons. Your brain consists of about 100 billion neurons. Synapses. There are anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 synapses for each neuron. No pain. There are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain can feel no pain. Largest brain. While an elephant’s brain is physically larger than a human brain, the human brain is 2% of total body weight (compared to 0.15% of an elephant’s brain), meaning humans have the largest brain to body size. Blood vessels. There are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain. Fat. The human brain is the fattest organ in the body and may consists of at least 60% fat. The Developing Brain Starting from within the womb, fetal brain development begins the amazing journey that leads to a well-developed brain at birth that continues to grow for 18 more years. Neurons. Neurons develop at the rate of 250,000 neurons per minute during early pregnancy. Size at birth. At birth, your brain was almost the same size as an adult brain and contained most of the brain cells for your whole life. Newborn’s growth. A newborn baby’s brain grows about three times its size in the first year. Stopped growing. Your brain stopped growing at age 18. Cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex grows thicker as you learn to use it. Stimulation. A stimulating environment for a child can make the difference between a 25% greater ability to learn or 25% less in an environment with little stimulation. New neurons. Humans continue to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity. Unbelievable Facts About The Universe! Antares is about 420 million kms in diameter, which is 300 times the width of the sun. The gravitational field inside a black hole is so strong that it can swallow anything in the universe, even a passing star and its light. If an objest weighing 1 kg is brought to within 6 m of a black hole, it would weigh a million million tonnes. The surface of the moon is pitted with craters of all sizes upto 250 km in diameter. These have been created by meteorites smashing into the surface long ago. The largest Volcano in the solar system is on Mars Olympus Moons, 600 km wide and 24,000 m high, is nearly three times higher than Mt. Everest. Quassars are stupendous power houses. They give out as much energy as hundreds of galaxies from a volume of space only a light year across. Halley’s comet is seen after every 76 years in the sky. It was last seen in the year 1986. The sun is a 5 billion years old star and is supposed to remain exist for another 5 billion years. Jupiter planet is mostly made of gases. Unlike other planets in the solar system, Venus spins not from west to east, but from east to west. A new and tiny moon of jupiter revolves around the planet in just over 7 hours – making it the fastest moon in the solar system. More than 75 million meteors enter the earth’s atmosphere every day, but they disintegrate before hitting the ground. Mars is called the Red planet because it’s surface is red. Pluto is the smallest and coldest planet among all ten planets. Sirus star is much brighter than the sun. In fact, no star is as bright as sirus. A person of 60 kgs weight barely will weigh 10 kg on moon, but 1,680 kg on the sun. Maths Interesting Facts The word “mathematics” comes from the Greek máthēma, which means learning, study, science. What comes after a million, billion and trillion? A quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion, decillion and undecillion. Different names for the number 0 include zero, nought, naught, nil, zilch and zip. The = sign (“equals sign”) was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing “is equal to” in his equations. Googol (meaning & origin of Google brand ) is the term used for a number 1 followed by 100 zeros and that it was used by a nine-year old, Milton Sirotta, in 1940. The name of the popular search engine ‘Google’ came from a misspelling of the word ‘googol’. Abacus is considered the origin of the calculator. Equal sign (=) was first used in 1557 by Robert Recorde, an Englishman. 12,345,678,987,654,321 is the product of 111,111,111 x 111,111,111. Notice the sequence of the numbers 1 to 9 and back to 1. Plus (+) and Minus (-) sign symbols were used as early as 1489 A.D. An icosagon is a shape with 20 sides. Trigonometry is the study of the relationship between the angles of triangles and their sides. If you add up the numbers 1-100 consecutively (1+2+3+4+5…) the total is 5050. 2 and 5 are the only primes that end in 2 or 5. From 0 to 1,000, the letter “A” only appears in 1,000 (“one thousand”). A ‘jiffy’ is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. ‘FOUR’ is the only number in the English language that is spelt with the same number of letters as the number itself 40 when written “forty” is the only number with letters in alphabetical order, while “one” is the only one with letters in reverse order. In a group of 23 people, at least two have the same birthday with the probability greater than 1/2 . If there are 50 students in a class then it’s virtually certain that two will share the same birthday.. Among all shapes with the same perimeter a circle has the largest area. Among all shapes with the same area circle has the shortest perimeter . In 1995 in Taipei, citizens were allowed to remove ‘4’ from street numbers because it sounded like ‘death’ in Chinese. Many Chinese hospitals do not have a 4th floor. The word “FRACTION” derives from the Latin ” fractio – to break”. Top 20 Amazing Science Facts 1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body – laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5 times 2. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth 3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300 years 4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons 5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent of 8,000 one megaton bombs Facts 6 – 10 6. Blood sucking hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide 7. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 166.94 mph, by Fred Rompelberg 8. We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine 9. 65% of those with autism are left handed 10. The combined length of the roots of a Finnish pine tree is over 30 miles Facts 11 – 15 11. The oceans contain enough salt to cover all the continents to a depth of nearly 500 feet 12. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol [JFrater is planning to move there in the near future] 13. Polar Bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump over 6 feet in the air 14. 60-65 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor 15. Polar Bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur Facts 16 – 20 16. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life 17. A single rye plant can spread up to 400 miles of roots underground 18. The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds 430 degrees C during the day, and, at night, plummets to minus 180 degrees centigrade 19. The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours 20. Butterflies taste with their hind feet, and their taste sensation works on touch – this allows them to determine whether a leaf is edible   15 facts about aliens 1 Aliens are very sensitive about human feelings. They even understand maternal affection and your girlfriend’s love. 2 Contrary to international research results (that they are greenish in colour), aliens are actually blue in colour. 3 They are not sticky as shown in Hollywood. They are very cute, fresh-looking, neat and clean people. You can even kiss them without worrying about any chemical on their skin. 4 Even though they are believed to be very powerful and advanced in science (see their spaceships), they are still scared of dogs and elephants. 5. They do not eat anything; they live only on solar energy. They get charged from sunlight or dhoop (perhaps like our calculators). 6 Their powers are rivalled by no less than God himself. They can cure a mentally handicapped child (whom even US doctors have given up on) with just a tap on his head. 7 Forget contact lenses, contact aliens. They can correct your vision. 8 They can help humans fly (provided it is not cloudy outside and they have enough dhoop). The flying helps in many ways, including winning basketball games. 9 Given a chance, they can earn well with their magic shows. After all, they are very good working magic with clouds and your shadows, etc. 10 They can understand and speak Hindi and English. 11 Did you know ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) actually works on alien research and not on space research? 12 If you have a green monocrome monitor and four obsolete 5-1/2″ floppy drives, you can make a device with which you can communicate with aliens. 13 Aliens will never come to your city until they first ensure a total power blackout. 14 They are generous enough to resume power connections in your city soon after they take off. 15 If you produce a particular sound (by whistle, instrument or whatever) you can call them as many times as you want to your town. They are free and are actually looking for such invitations so they can visit earth.