40 Interesting Facts

40 Interesting Facts

 1. California has issued at least 6 drivers licenses to people named Jesus Christ.

2. Kangaroos can not walk backwards.

3. 'Jedi' is an official religion, with over 70,000 followers, in Australia.

4. According to a recent survey, more than half of British adults have had sex in a public place!

5. Most alcoholic beverages contain all 13 minerals necessary to sustain human life.

6. Nachos is the food most craved by pregnant women.

7. Each year, 24,000 Americans are bitten by rats!

8. Most dreams last only 5 to 20 minutes.

9. The hair of an adult man or woman can stretch 25 percent of its length without breaking.

10. On average, the life span of an American dollar bill is eighteen months.

11. Non-dairy creamer is flammable.

12. The first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com.

13. Americans collectively eat one hundred pounds of chocolate every second.

14. U.S. President Calvin Coolidge liked to eat breakfast while having his head rubbed with Vaseline.

15. When a giraffe's baby is born it falls from a height of six feet, normally without being hurt.

16. Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

17. The creator of the NIKE Swoosh symbol was paid only $35 for the design.

18. How does a shark find fish? It can hear their hearts beating.

19. Penguins can convert salt water into fresh water.

20. In ten minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world's nuclear weapons combined!

21. The IRS employees tax manual has instructions for collecting taxes after a nuclear war.

22. During WWII, because a lot of players were called to duty, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles combined to become The Steagles.

23. Nearly 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong account over the next hour.

24. More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.

25. There are more fatal car accidents in July than any other month.

26. There are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people in the world.

27. More than 2 million documents will be lost by the IRS this year.

28. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

29. Washington, D.C. has one lawyer for every 19 residents!

30. Avocados have more protein than any other fruit.

31. The average car produces a pound of pollution every 25 miles!

32. Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.

33. In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die!

34. The most powerful electric eel is found in the rivers of Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, and Peru, and produces a shock of 400-650 volts.

35. If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

36. Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country.

37. In India, people are legally allowed to marry a dog!

38. You are more likely to get attacked by a cow than a shark.

39. Half of all identity thieves are either relatives, friends, or neighbors of their victims.

40. One in three male motorists picks their nose while driving.

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More Little Known Facts About New Zealand

As promised here is more information about the Tuatara and some interesting facts about the rare birds only found in New Zealand.

The Tuatara has eyes that can focus independently and they have two types of cells so that they can see both by day and by night. It also has a third eye on the top of its head but is only visible when it is born. They grow to be about 20 inches long and can weigh up to 2 lbs. Unlike the Kiwi bird where the female is the larger the Tuatara male is almost twice as big as the female.

The Tuatara eat beetles, crickets and spiders also frogs and the eggs of birds and lizards. They reproduce very slowly taking up to five years. Before they can even reproduce it takes ten years for them to reach sexual maturity. It also takes between 12 and 15 months from copulation to hatching depending on the temperature. The temperature also has an influence on whether the eggs will produce males or females. It is the warmer temperature that contributes most usually in the producing of males.

The Tuatara average life span is 60 years although they can often live to be over 100 years old. They continue to grow for the first 35 years of their life. The courtship and mating ritual is quite unique, but that is for another article at another time.

New Zealand is the home to over 170 types of birds so we will only deal with some of the more interesting ones only found in New Zealand. The most well known is the Tiki Bird although because of its nocturnal nature it is rarely seen. You can see a photo of this rare bird on my site. The other one is the Pukeko again you can see a photo on my website. Other unusual looking birds are the Yellow Eyed Penguin also called Hoiho. Like the Kiwi they are also flightless. They have short stubby flippers and waterproof feathers. They are one of the three species that breed on the mainland of New Zealand.

Another rare bird is the Kakapo with only slightly more than one hundred of these unique birds in existence. It is now considered one of the rarest of birds. The story of their being is special and like the Tuatara is worthy of an article all of its own. Their breeding habit is so unusual it is totally dependent on the Kahikatea or Rimu Tree. These trees only bear fruit every two or three years.

The Kotare or more commonly known as the Kingfisher is a distant relative of the Kookaburra bird of Australia. It is believed that the first Kotare cane to New Zealand over ten thousand years ago. It eats skinks, spiders, earthworms and mice. It eats fish and have been known to also eat crab which it dashes against tree trunks to break them up. It then eats the peaces shell and all. It vomits the shell up at a later time.
I truly hope that you are enjoying the articles about the Unique and unusual wildlife of New Zealand. Visit my site and see photos of some of these rarities. I intend to change the photos from time to time so visit me often. http://www.uniquegiftsfromnewzealand.com

Thanks for your time,

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Amazing Anglerfish - Anglerfish Facts, Photos, Information, Habitats, News

Anglerfish - Lophius piscatorius

Anglerfish are the members of the order Lophiiformes. They are bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, wherein a fleshy growth from the fish's head (the esca or illicium) acts as a lure; this is considered analogous to angling.

Some anglerfish are pelagic (live in the open water), while others are benthic (bottom-dwelling). Some live in the deep sea (e.g. Ceratiidae) and others on the continental shelf (e.g. the frogfishes Antennariidae and the monkfish/goosefish Lophiidae). They occur worldwide. Pelagic forms are most laterally (sideways) compressed whereas the benthic forms are often extremely dorsoventrally compressed (depressed) often with large upward pointing mouths.

The angry-looking deep sea anglerfish has a right to be cranky. It is quite possibly the ugliest animal on the planet, and it lives in what is easily Earth's most inhospitable habitat: the lonely, lightless bottom of the sea.

There are more than 200 species of anglerfish, most of which live in the murky depths of the Atlantic and Antarctic oceans, up to a mile below the surface, although some live in shallow, tropical environments. Generally dark gray to dark brown in color, they have huge heads and enormous crescent-shaped mouths filled with sharp, translucent teeth. Some angler fish can be quite large, reaching 3.3 feet (1 meter) in length. Most however are significantly smaller, often less than a foot.

Their most distinctive feature, worn only by females, is a piece of dorsal spine that protrudes above their mouths like a fishing pole—hence their name. Tipped with a lure of luminous flesh this built-in rod baits prey close enough to be snatched. Their mouths are so big and their bodies so pliable, they can actually swallow prey up to twice their own size.

The male, which is significantly smaller than the female, has no need for such an adaptation. In lieu of continually seeking the vast abyss for a female, it has evolved into a permanent parasitic mate. When a young, free-swimming male angler encounters a female, he latches onto her with his sharp teeth. Over time, the male physically fuses with the female, connecting to her skin and bloodstream and losing his eyes and all his internal organs except the testes. A female will carry six or more males on her body.

Fast Facts about Anglerfish

Type: Fish

Diet: Carnivore

Size: 8 in (20 cm) up to 3.3 ft (1 m)

Weight: Up to 110 lbs (50 kg)

Group name: School

Did you know?: The anglerfish's lighted lure glows with the help of millions of bioluminescent bacteria.

Courtesy : http://animals.nationalgeographic.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglerfish

Anglerfish Images / Pictures

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Incredible, Cultural, Spiritual & Mystic India - Amazing Facts about incredible India and Indians!

Facts about Incredible, Cultural, Spiritual & Mystic India

India, conventional long name Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism—originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early 18th century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence which was marked by non-violent resistance and led by Mahatma Gandhi.

The Indian economy is the world's tenth largest economy by nominal GDP and fourth largest economy by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India has become one of the fastest growing major economies, and is considered a newly industrialized country; however, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, illiteracy, corruption and inadequate public health. A nuclear weapons state and a regional power, it has the third-largest standing army in the world, and ranks tenth in military expenditure among nations.

India is a federal constitutional republic with a parliamentary democracy consisting of 28 states and seven union territories. It is one of the five BRICS nations. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society. It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.

Amazing Facts about incredible India and Indians!

* India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization.

* India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

* India is the world's largest democracy.

* Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called "the ancient city" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.

* India invented the Number System . Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

* The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

* Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.

* Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.

* Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.

* The art of Navigation was bornin the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.

* Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.

* The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.

* Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).

* IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.

* The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

* According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.

* Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.

* Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.

* When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).

* The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.

* The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

* India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.

* India has the second largest pool of Scientists 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 indigenously.

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World Biggest Brands Logo Design History - Amazing Story/Facts behind Logos of Famous Brands

Famous Logos - Amazing and Hidden Information contained in Famous Logo designs

See Following collection of some of the well-known logos of big brands and companies with a creative rationale behind their design, meaning of those logos, their design, which hopefully will inspire other graphic designers and educate clients. 

Google Logo

Google is known as a strong leader of the web-search industry. Its goal is to provide relevant information and groundbreaking products to its customers. It all started in 1996 as a research project by two Stanford University's students, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The Google logo has had many different versions since its renaming from BackRub. The current official logo design of Google Inc. represents the name "Google" in logotype based on the Catull typeface and was created by Ruth Kedar. Its almost amateurish simplicity may correspond to the simplicity of the search engine. Every once in a while, the company uses various features of the logo which compliment and refer to birthdays of illustrious personalities like Leonardo Di Vinci, Albert Einstein, Edward Munch; holidays like 4th of July, Christmas, Mother's Day and specific events such as The Olympics, World Cup etc. These special modification have become known as Google Doodles and were first created by the fondaters of the company in 1999. The doodles are currently designed by Dennis Hwang who has created over 150 doodles since the year 2000.

Lamborghini Logo

The logo seen on all the Lambos out there (burning or not) isn't surprising at all. The bull logo actually stands for the founder's, Ferruccio Lamborghini, zodiacal sign (Taurus), and is obviously accompanied by the company's name, Lamborghini. Contrary to other "patriot" Italian carmakers, Lamborghini does not use the Italy's colors on its logo.


Bacardi Logo

In 1862 Cuban wine merchant Facundo Bacardi, originating from Spain, acquired a distillery in Santiago de Cuba. This facility used the method developed by Bacardi for refining sugar and liquor into a white-colored, mild rum. Because there were a large number of bats living under the roof of the distillery, it was decided that it was appropriate to also show the bats on the brand of its white Bacardi Rum products. It's worth mentioning that fruit bats are a symbol of good luck in Cuba.

Amazon Logo

This logo doesn’t seem to hide much at first sight, but it gives you a little insight in the philosophy behind the brand. First of all, the yellow swoosh looks like a smile: Amazon.com want to have the best customer satisfaction. The swoosh also connects the letters a and z, meaning that this store has everything from A to Z. 

Fedex Logo 

This is probably one of the best known logos with a hidden meaning. If you look closely, you’ll see an arrow that’s formed by the letters E and x. This arrow symbolizes speed and precision, two major selling points of this company. 

Continental Logo 

Continental is a manufacturer of tyres. You could actually see this in their logo, because the first two letters create a 3-dimensional tyre. 

Toblerone Logo 

Toblerone is a chocolate-company from Bern, Switzerland. Bern is sometimes called ‘The City Of Bears’. They have incorporated this idea in the Toblerone logo, because if you look closely, you’ll see the silhouette of a bear. 

Baskin Robins Logo 

The old logo of Baskin Robbins had the number 31 with an arc above it. The new logo took this idea to the next level. The pink parts of the BR still form the number 31, a reference to the 31 flavours. 

Sony Vaio Logo 

Sony Vaio is a well known brand of laptops. But did you know that the name Vaio logo also had a hidden meaning? Well, the first two letters represent the basic analogue signal. The last two letters look like a 1 and 0, representing the digital signal. 

Carrefour Logo 

Carrefour is one of the biggest European retailers, and it’s also French for “crossroads”. The logo symbolizes this word via two opposite arrows. They also added the first letter of the name, because if you look closely you’ll see the letter C in the negative space between the two arrows. 

Unilever Logo 

Unilever is one of the biggest producers of food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. They produce a huge amount of different products and they wanted to reflect this in their logo. Each part of the logo has a meaning. For example: the heart represents love, care and health - feeling good, a bird is a symbol of freedom. Relief from daily chores – getting more out of life. 

Formula 1 Logo 

At first, this logo might not make much sense. But if you look closely, you’ll see the number 1 in the negative space between the F and the red stripes. I also love how this logo communicates a feeling of speed. 

Sun Microsystems Logo 

The Sun logo is one of the most famous ambigrams in the world. You can read the brand name in every direction; both horizontally and vertically. This logo was designed by professor Vaughan Pratt of the Stanford University. 

NBC Logo 

The NBC (National Broadcasting Company) is one of the biggest American television networks. I think most of you have already seen the peacock in this logo. The peacock has 6 different tail feathers, referring to the six divisions at the time that this logo was created. The peacock’s head is flipped to the right to suggest it was looking forward, not back. 

Puma Logo

The Puma logo has an image of a leaping Puma, an animal otherwise called a cougar, a panther or a mountain lion. Active both day and night, it is a powerful beast and an expert hunter that can jump to a maximum of 20 feet high in a single bounce. By incorporating the creature in the Puma logo, the company has summarized the complete meaning of  its products into a powerful identity. The Puma logo itself characterizes the brand’s reliability and its products’.

Toyota Logo

The Toyota logo contains three ellipses, which represent the heart of the customer, the heart of  the product and the heart of technological progress and limitless opportunities of the future. In Japanese, “Toyo” signifies abundance, and “ta” means rice. In some Asian cultures, the rice represents wealth.

Volkswagen Logo

The simple logo icon contains the letters V and W: “volks” means “people” and “wagen” means “car”.

Ferrari Logo

Almost every car enthusiast out there knows the "Prancing Horse", especially thanks to the great achievements the Italian carmaker recorded in the past. But the story of its logo is once again related to multiple theories. First of all, it is believed that the black prancing horse on yellow background was first used by Count Francesco Baracca, the Italian airforce that made a name for itself in World War I. Another theory claims the symbol was actually seen on a German pilot's plane that crashed during the war - the horse is actually the symbol of Stuttgart, which might raise some eyebrows because Porsche uses the same element as source of inspiration for its very own badge.

Mobil Logo

A simple typeface was used to attain exuberance and vitality. Red, being the intense color, evokes the strength and blue builds up a feeling of faithfulness and security for the company.

Mercedes-Benz Logo

The star in three corners represents the Mercedes-Benz dominance on land, sea and air.

McDonalds Logo

The idea of ‘arches’ was first introduced by Dick and Mac McDonald as arch shaped signs on the sides of their then ‘walk-up hamburger stand’. From an angle, those arches looked like the letter “M” and thus, were incorporated in the McDonalds logo as a merger of  the two golden arches together.

IBM Logo

If observed closely, the IBM logo, also known as “Big Blue”, generates a message of “Equality”. The Big Blue IBM logo, with its lower right parallel lines, highlights in the shape of an “equals” sign. Furthermore, the term “BIG” in the Big Blue IBM logo refers to the company’s size in the market share, whereas, the “BLUE” is the official color of the eight-bar IBM logo.

BMW Logo

The BMW medallion represents a propeller of  a plane in motion, and the blue represents the sky. This is because BMW has built engines for the German military planes in World War II.

Audi Logo

The "brand with the four rings" as Audi is often called is currently one of the world's top automakers and surely a leading German brand. Its logo, seen on millions of cars sold worldwide, is believed to have multiple meanings. On the other hand, some people believe that Audi's logo is a bit older and has a strong connection with the Olympic games.Either of the two meanings are actually true, the Audi logo underwent a minor makeover in 2009 when the badge got a new font plus a restyled 3D design of the four rings.

The four rings, which make up the Audi logo, represent the four companies that were part of the Auto-Union Consortium in 1932. They were DKW, Horch, Wanderer and Audi.

Apple Logo

The apple is a reference from the Bible story of  Adam and Eve, where the apple represents the fruit of Tree of Knowledge, with a pun on ” byte/bite”. Rob Janoff, said in an interview that though he was mindful of the “byte/bite” pun (Apple’s slogan back then: “Byte into an Apple”), he designed the logo as such to “prevent the apple from looking like a cherry tomato.”

Adidas Logo

The shape of 3 stripes on the Adidas Logo represents a mountain, pointing out towards the challenges that are seen ahead and goals that can be achieved.

READ MORE - World Biggest Brands Logo Design History - Amazing Story/Facts behind Logos of Famous Brands