The first kind of PENCIL was a bunch of GRAPHITE sticks held together by string.

Then someone decided it would be better to push the graphite into the inside of a hollow wooden stick. JOSEPH RECHENDORFER was the first person to think of putting a piece of rubber onto the top of a pencil which makes it real easy to rub out mistakes. Did you know that the average lead pencil can draw a line that is almost 35 miles long or you can write almost 50,000 words in English with just one pencil? Amazing fact! Now imagine an eraser that could imagine match it !!!

This is what an old airplane looked like. The Wright Brothers invented one of the first airplanes. It was called the Kitty Hawk

Did you know the first bicycle that was made in 1817 by Baron von Drais didn't have an any pedals? People walked it along

The first metal bicycle was called the High-Wheel or Wheel Penny Farthing. People had a hard time keeping their balance on this type of bicycle
Did you know the first toy balloon, made of vulcanized rubber, was thought of balloon, by someone in the J.G.Ingram company in London, England in 1847. 9pin bowling was made up in Germany during the Medieval ages
Karl Benz invented the first gas powered car. The car had only three wheels. The first car with four wheels was made in France in 1901 by Panhard et LeVassor The first pick-up truck in the world was made by Gottlieb Daimler in 1886. Gottlieb up produced the world's first motorcycle in 1885. orld's Gottlieb Daimler also built the world's first taxi in 1897. It was called the Daimler Victoria and had a taxi meter. On 16 June of that year the taxi was delivered to Stuttgart transportation entrepreneur Friedrich Greiner who used it to start the world's first motorized taxi company.

The first steam powered train was invented by Robert Stephenson. It was called the Rocket.

Did you know?

The Industrial Revolution in Europe first saw the beginning of air pollution, which gradually became a major global problem. The major air-polluting industries are iron, steel and, cement. Of the 35-40 million tonnes of flyash generated annually by thermal power plants in India, only 2-3 percent is productively utilized. The worst industrial disaster in India, occurred in 1984 in Bhopal the capital of Madhya Pradesh. A deadly chemical, methly isocyanate leaked out of the Union Carbide factory killing more than 2500 and leaving thousands sick. In fact the effects of this gas tragedy is being felt even today. Every year some 50million cars are added to the worlds roads. Car making is now the largest manufacturing industry in the world. In India the number of motorized vehicles have increased from 0.2 million in 1947 to 36.3 million in 1997. The number of registered vehicles in Delhi is more than the sum total of registered vehicles in Mumbai, Calcutta, and Chennai. Major contributor to Delhi's air pollution are vehicles. Nearly three-fourths of India's population, which is rural, bears 84% of the burden of exposure to air pollution. Growing population, poverty, and inadequate access to clean fuels in rural areas have perpetuated the use of biomass, thereby condemning more than 90% of rural households and more than 35% of urban hoseholds to high levels of indoor air pollution. One of the most important measure to counter pollution is planting trees. With neem and peepal being the largest emitters of oxygen, planting them in the gardens purifies the surrounding air and helps in maintaining hygienic conditions. While champa, mogra and chameli have better chances of surviving pollution in summer, bulbous varieties do better in winter. Courtesy http://edugreen.teri.res.in/

Did You know - The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven! A cat can run about 20 kilometres per hour (12 miles per hour) when it grows up. This one is going nowhere today - it is too lazy !.

A cheetah can run 76 kilometres per hour (46 miles per hour) - that's really fast! The fastest human beings runs only about 30 kilometres per hour (18 miles per hour). a cheetah does not roar like a lion - it purrs like a cat (meow). A Zipper joins two pieces of material together.A zipper is used everywhere, on clothing, pencil cases, boots and suitcases, wallets, and a zillion other things. Everyone thinks it was Whitcomb Judson who invented the zipper but it was really Elias Howe. Elias was so busy inventing the sewing machine that he didn't get around to selling his zipper invention which he called a "clothing closure". Did you know Sailor, Dead Leaf, Paper Kite, Blue Striped Crow, Julia and Great Egg Fly are all names of BUTTERFLIES The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'! Bears whose brown fur is tipped with lighter-colored hairs are called grizzly bears . The smallest species of bears is called sun or Malayan bears. Male bears are called boars. Bears are native to the continents of North America, Asia, Europe, and South America. Alaskan brown bears, world's largest meat-eating animals that live on land, can weigh as much as 1,700 pounds (771 kilograms) The largest frog in the world is called Goliath frog. Frogs start their lives as 'eggs' often laid in or near fresh water. Frogs live on all continents except Antarctica. Frogs belong to a group of animals called amphibians. There are more than 50 different kinds of kangaroos. Kangaroos are native of Australia. A group of kangaroos is called a mob. Young kangaroos are called joeys. No two zebras have stripes that are exactly alike. Zebras enemies include hyenas, wild dogs, and lions. Male zebras are called stallions. Zebras usually travel in herds. Some scientists believe that the earth began billions of years ago as a huge ball of swirling dust and gases. If you dig in your backyard, dont worry about running into the earths core. Youd have to dig a hole 4,000 miles (6,437 kilometers) deep! How do reindeers survive in the extreme cold? Most animals dont eat moss. Its hard to digest, and it has little nutritional value. But reindeer fill up with lots of moss. Why? The moss contains a special chemical that helps reindeer keep their body fluids warm. When the reindeer make their yearly journey across the icy Arctic region, the chemical keeps them from freezingmuch as antifreeze keeps a car from freezing up in winter

Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet! -A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body. -A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't. -A rat can last longer without water than a camel can. -About 10% of the world's population is left-handed.

-A typical bed usually houses over 6 billion dust mites. -A person afflicted with hexadectylism has six fingers or six toes on one or both hands and feet -A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second. -A zebra is white with black stripes. - Porpoises and dolphins communicate with each other by squeaking, growling, moaning, and whistling. Porpoises and dolphins are mammals. There are about 40 species or kinds of porpoises and dolphins. Most porpoises and dolphins navigate by using "echolocation". The largest member of the dolphin family is called an orca or killer whale. - The hippopotamus gives birth under water and nurses its young in the river as well, though the young hippos do come up periodically for air. -A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime The world's largest rodent is the Capybara. An Amazon water hog that looks like a guinea pig, it can weigh more than 100 pounds. The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny. -- How the wind blows. As the sun warms the earths surface, the atmosphere warms too. Some parts of the earth receive direct rays from the sun all year and are always warm. Other places receive indirect rays, so the climate is colder. Warm air, which weighs less than cool air, rises. Then cool air moves in and replaces the rising warm air. This movement of air is what makes the wind blow. - Dolphins sleep with one eye open! --Why do we might feel warmer wearing a dark-colored jacket than a light-colored one? . Dark colors absorb light energy. Light colors and white reflect light energy. When light shines on your dark jacket, the jacket fabric absorbs light energy. The absorbed light energy causes electrons in the atoms of the jacket to vibrate. This activity releases heat energy, which makes the jacketand youwarmer. That's why we like to wear more dark colors in winter and more light colors in summer. -While sleeping, one man in eight snores, and one in ten grinds his teeth. -At 188 decibels, the whistle of the blue whale is the loudest sound produced by any animal. --A flute made of bone is the oldest playable musical instrument in the world. Its a flute carved from a birds wing bone more than 9,000 years ago. The flute was discovered with other flutes at an ancient burial site in China. - The fastest dog, the greyhound, can reach speeds of upto 41.7 miles per hour. The breed was known to exist in ancient Egypt 6,000 years ago -- Glue dates back to prehistoric times. Artists once mixed colorings with raw eggs, dried blood, and plant juices to make sticky paints for cave murals. Later, ancient Egyptians and other people learned to make stronger glues by boiling animal bones and hides. Today companies make glues using synthetic substances.

-A cat sees about six times better than a human at night because of the tapetum lucidum , a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light. -A cat uses whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through. The whiskers act as antennae, helping the animal to judge the precise width of any passage. -A cat will clean itself with paw and tongue after a dangerous experience or when it has fought with another cat. This is an attempt by the animal to soothe its nerves by doing something natural and instinctive. -The grizzly bear can run as fast as the average horse!! - The female lion does more than 90% of the hunting while the male simply prefers to rest. !! - A jellyfish is 95 percent water! - At birth, a panda is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces. -Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails! -You blink over 10,000,000 times a year! - Of all the words in the English language, the word ' set ' has the most definitions! - The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth!- Dogs and cats, like humans, are either right or left handed... or is that paws?! - A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue! - A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. -A cat's jaws cannot move sideways. -More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes. - "Go." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language The vocabulary of the average person consists of 5,000 to 6,000 words. - No word in the English language rhymes with "month". - An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. -An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. The average person laughs about 15 times a day. The average person walks the equivalent of twice around the world in a lifetime. - All polar bears are left handed.

-Ants don't sleep.

The word "racecar", "kayak", and "radar" are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left. "a man a plan a canal panama" spelled backwards is still "a man a plan a canal panama"

Did you know there are two kinds of pandas? There is the Long-tailed Himalayan carnivore that looks like a raccoon and there is the Giant panda bear that lives in Western China. Did you know there are two kinds of camels? One is the Arabian that lives in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It has one hump. And the second kind is called Bactrian which has two humps and lives in Mongolia and Chinese Turkistan. The Blue Whale's whistle is the loudest noise made by an animal. There are two kinds of elephants: the African that is taller and has larger ears and the Indian that is small and has smaller ears. The fastest human swimmer can swim at 6 miles per hour. The fastest mammal - the dolphin - can swim up to 35 miles per hour. The smallest bird in the world is the Hummingbird. It weighs 1oz.
Did you know fishes talk to each other? Some of them communicate by making noises in their throats by rasping their teeth, others use their swim bladders to make sounds Did you know fishes talk to each other? Some of them communicate by making noises in their throats by rasping their teeth, others use their swim bladders to make sounds Napoleon's christening name was Italian: Napoleone Buonaparte(OR Bonaparte). He was born on the island of Corsica one year after it became French property. As a boy, Napoleon hated the French. The brain of an average adult male weighs 1,375 gm (55 oz). The brain of Russian novelist Turgenev weighed 2021 gm (81 oz), Bismark's weighed 1807 gm (72 oz),

while that of French statesman Gambetta was only 1294 gm (51 oz). Einstein's brain was of average size. The the oldest living thing on earth is 12,000 years old. It is the flowering shrubs called creosote bushes in the Mojave Desert.

-- A crocodile can't move its tongue and cannot chew. Its digestive juices are so strong that it can digest a steel nail. Money notes are not made from paper, they are made mostly from a special blend of cotton and linen. In 1932, when a shortage of cash occurred in Tenino, Washington, USA, notes were made out of wood for a brief period.

-- The Grammy Awards were introduced to counter the threat of rock music. In the late 1950s, a group of record executives were alarmed by the explosive success of rock n roll, considering it a threat to "quality" music.

-- Tea is said to have been discovered in 2737 BC by a Chinese emperor when some tea leaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water. The tea bag was introduced in 1908 by Thomas Sullivan of New York.

-- Over the last 150 years the average height of people in industrialised nations has increased 10 cm (about 4 inches). In the 19th century, American men were the tallest in the world, averaging 1,71m (5'6"). Today, the average height for American men is 1,75m (5'7"), compared to 1,77 (5'8") for Swedes, and 1,78 (5'8.5") for the Dutch. The tallest nation in the world is the Watusis of Burundi.

-- In 1955 the richest woman in the world was Mrs Hetty Green Wilks, who left an estate of $95 million in a will that was found in a tin box with four pieces of soap. Queen Elizabeth of Britain and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands count under the 10 wealthiest women in the world.

-- Joseph Niepce developed the world's first photographic image in 1827. Thomas Edison and W K L Dickson introduced the film camera in 1894. But the first projection of an image on a screen was made by a German priest. In 1646, Athanasius Kircher used a candle or oil lamp to project hand-painted images onto a white screen.

- In 1935 a writer named Dudley Nichols refused to accept the Oscar for his movie The Informer because the Writers Guild was on strike against the movie studios. In 1970 George C. Scott refused the Best Actor Oscar for Patton. In 1972 Marlon Brando refused the Oscar for his role in The Godfather.

-- The system of democracy was introduced 2 500 years ago in Athens, Greece. The oldest existing governing body operates in Althing in Iceland. It was established in 930 AD.

-- A person can live without food for about a month, but only about a week without water. If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, you'll feel thirsty. If it's reduced by 10%, you'll die.

-- According to a study by the Economic Research Service, 27% of all food production in Western nations ends up in garbage cans. Yet, 1,2 billion people are underfed - the same number of people who are overweight.

-- Camels are called "ships of the desert" because of the way they move, not because of their transport capabilities. A Dromedary camel has one hump and a Bactrian camel two humps. The humps are used as fat storage. Thus, an undernourished camel will not have a hump. Socrates was one of the wisest men in Greece? He became famous for asking questions about almost everything.

Alexander the Great was one of the most famous generals in history? He conquered much of the early civilized world, and introduced Greek ideas and ways to the people he conquered.

Hammurabi, a famous historical world leader, defeated the Sumerians about 3,000 years ago, and created Hammurabi's Laws which stated that strong people should not hurt weak people?

The first Egyptian pharaoh was Menes? Pharaoh is another name for king.

One of Egypt's most famous and powerful pharaohs was a woman names Hatshepsut? She sent ships to parts of the world to find treasures.

Confucius was one of China's greatest teachers?

Julius Caesar was a famous Roman dictator? He was responsible for conquering many new lands for Rome.

Augustus Caesar became the first Roman emperor? He brought peace to the Roman empire.

Charlemagne was one of the greatest kings to rule during the Middle Ages? He believed that people should learn as much as they could.

Martin Luther founded the Protestant religion?

King William of France conquered the English, and after his death, other kings built a strong government for England?

Henry II of England established laws for all of the people of England?

King John, who was considered unfair, was forced by English nobles to sign the Maga Carta which limited the powers of a king?

Under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I, England became one of the most powerful nations in the world?

Joseph Stalin, a leader of the Soviet Union, wanted all of Eastern Europe to become communist?

Lech Walesa was a famous leader in Poland who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983? He was the leader of the Solidarity movement in Poland which won freedom from communist rule. Mikhail Gorbachev, a famous leader of the Communist party, is known for bringing many new ideas into the communist government?

One of the most famous leaders in Africa was Nelson Mandela? He fought against apartheid (separation of whites and blacks)?

Mao Zedong, a Communist general, took control of China after World II ended and began to rebuild China?
The average lead pencil can draw a line that is almost 35 miles long or you can write almost 50,000 words in English .....

It is really bad to a smoke cigarette.. The Taj Mahal is one of the wonders of the world. Chocolate kills dogs! . A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
The world's tallest woman is Sandy Allen. She is 2.35m (7 ft. 7 in.).

Socrates became famous for asking questions about almost everything !!

The mother of all European languages is Sanskrit, which is considered the most suitable language for computer software - Amazing India facts

The earliest maps were made by the Babylonians about 2300 B.C.
Cell Phone Etiquette It is considered rude to talk aloud while on the cell-phone

The greenhouse effect causes trouble by raising the temperature of the planet.

Did you know......... some interesting facts

A zebra is white with black stripes. All the planets in our solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise. Hummingbirds are the only animal that can also fly backwards. Insects do not make noises with their voices. The noise of bees, mosquitoes and other buzzing insects is caused by rapidly moving their wings. The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs covering a meter a second. The word "listen" contains the same letters as the word "silent". The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it's head are the rabbit and the parrot. A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. The whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound. A hippopotamus can run faster than a man. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history. 'Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia' is the fear of long words. Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school. Phobatrivaphobia is a fear of trivia about phobias !! It is impossible to lick your elbow. ( We know you gonna try this !!! ) A snail can sleep for 3 years. ( wow, lucky chap eh ? ) The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start In 1883 the explosion of the volcano Krakatoa put so much dust into the earth's atmosphere that sunsets appeared green and the moon appeared blue around the world for almost two years. "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order. Twenty-Four-Karat Gold is not pure gold since there is a small amount of copper in it. Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands. Electricity doesn't move through a wire but through a field around the wire.

Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are: Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Hear no evil), and Mazaru (Say no evil ).

55 per cent of people yawn within 5 minutes of seeing someone else yawn. Reading about yawning makes most people yawn. hello, zzzzz zzzz ? Six out of seven Ancient Wonders did not survive to this present day. Human imagination urged poets, writers, and historians to seek "replacements" for the fallen monuments. Some proposed a new list for the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Others argued that Ancient civilizations which the Greeks did not know of, erected monuments that should have been included in the original list. Wonders such as the Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal in Agra, and the Temple of Angkor in Cambodia are a few examples. Like the ancient list, the new ones include fascinating monuments and structures that changed the existing landscape. However, no single list won unanimous approval among historians, artists, and architects. Here is an alphabetical listing of some Forgotten, Modern, and Natural Wonders.

Ancient Seven Wonders of the world

Name Egyptian Pyramids Date Built More than 4000 years ago 305-292 BC History Oldest of the ancient wonders and the only one surviving today. Served as tombs for Egyptian pharoahs 32 meters (105 ft) high bronze statue of the sun god Helius. Destroyed by an earthquake in 224 BC Series of terraces of trees and flowers along the banks of the Euphrates. Built by Nebuchadnezzar II. Tomb of Mausolus built by his widow. Destroyed by an earthquake before the 15th century. The world's first known lighthouse at the entrance of Alexandria harbour in Egypt. 122 meters (400 ft) high. In ruins by 15th century. 9 meter (30 ft) high wooden statue of Greek god Zeus covered with gold and ivory. Designed by Athens sculptor Phidias. Destroyed by fire in 475 AD.

Colossus of Rhodes

Hanging Gardens of Babylon Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Asia Minor Pharos of Alexandria

6th century BC 4th century BC 270 BC

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

5th century BC

Temple of Arthemis at 6th century Ephesus, Asia Minor BC

Marble temple in honor of goddess of hunting and the moon. Rebuilt in 4th century BC but destroyed by Goths in 3rd century AD

Chocolate kills dogs! True, chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces are enough to kill a small dog.
At an estimated population of 40 million, there are more than twice as many kangaroos as people in Australia. There are more than 50 different kinds of kangaroos.
It is commonly known that the Giraffe is the tallest animal in the world, sometimes reaching a height in excess of 18 feet. Along with it's length neck, the giraffe has a very long tongue -- more than a foot and a half long. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue! Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead The largest bird egg in the world today is that of the ostrich. Ostrich eggs are from 6 to 8 inches long. Because of their size and the thickness of their shells, they take 40 minutes to hard-boil. The average adult male ostrich, the world's largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.

The worlds fastest reptile (measured on land) is the spiny-tailed iguana of Costa Rica. It has been clocked at 21.7 mph. - The shadow bird always builds a 3-room nest. The third section is the nursery; the second is a pantry; and in the first, the male parent stands guard against intruders.
- Ostriches can kick with tremendous force, but only forward. Don't Mess with them !

- The reef heron, which feeds on shellfish on the Great Barrier Reef, daily flies 30 miles from the Australian mainland, and although the tide changes vary by 45 minutes a day, the heron always arrives at the exact time that the water recedes.

- Because of their weight, which averages 22 pounds, Japanese cranes require a run of more than 30 feet to become airborne

An elephant can smell water three miles away.

-The breed of the Thoroughbred horse is only about 300 years old, although horse racing has been popular in England since Roman times, and can be traced back to Central Asia among prehistoric nomads. - An adult crow needs 11 ounces of food each day. - If the great horned owl were to be totally stripped of its feathers, the naked bird would weigh less than its feathers - A pair of nesting barn owls is capable of catching and eating nearly 3,000 rats a year.

A Joke :
Each evening bird lover Raju stood in his backyard, hooting like an owl and one night, an owl finally called back to him. For a year, the man and his feathered friend hooted back and forth. He even kept a log of the "conversation." Just as he thought he was on the verge of a breakthrough in interspecies communication, his wife had a chat with her next door neighbour. "My husband spends his nights ... calling out to owls," she said. "That's odd," the neighbor replied. "So does my husband."
Cell-phone etiquette is really just common courtesy. Most people today have a Mobile phone. In fact, many people can't imagine how they ever got along without a portable phone. However, many people also complain about cell phone users. People complain about other people loudly discussing personal matters in public places. They complain when cell phones ring in movie theaters and concert halls. They complain about people driving too slow, and not paying attention to where they are going because they are talking on a cell phone. And they complain about people walking around talking to people who aren't there.

Whenever a new communications technology becomes popular, it changes the way society is organized. Society has to invent rules for the polite way to use the new devices. Our social etiquette, our rules of politeness for cell phones, is still evolving. Cell-phone etiquette apply to most public places. Always try to keep your phone ringer as low as possible or put your mobile phone on vibrate, so it does not distract the people around you. A good time to leave your phone at home, or at least in the car, would be at a funeral, wedding or some event along those lines. Basic Cell phone etiquette rules include : Switching it Off : Know when to turn it off or vibrate it. eg meetings, movies, worship, seminars, etc . Vibrate mode when in places where you can take a call, but don't want to disturb others. Be Brief : When you get a call and you're with friends, keep the call short. Permission : Often, it is correct etiquette to inform others at the beginning of the meeting that you are expecting an important call and get their permission. Be Polite : Don't scream : speak in a lower-than-normal voice, you will be heard by the caller, and not others in the room Don't Distract : Avoid talking where you may be distracting to others. Driving : It is not only very dangerous, but also unlawful in most countries ( even India ) to drive & talk on your cell Phone

Did you know the largest fish ever caught was the Whale Shark? It was 59ft long. These fish can weigh up to 15 tons.

Did you know fishes cannot live in the Dead Sea because the water has too much salt in it?
A parrotfish makes its own sleeping bag to sleep in. It uses mucous (like spit) to make a see-through bag all around it's body to protect it from attack by other creatures in the ocean.

The blue whale is the largest animal on earth. The heart of a blue whale is as big as a car, and it's tongue is as long as an elephant.

The pelican uses the funny looking pouch under its lower beak for catching fish. It does this by swooshing into the water and scooping up as many fish as possible. The heaviest fish ever caught was the OCEAN SUNFISH. It weighed 4,928 lbs. Did you know pearls are found in oysters? The largest pearl ever found was 620 carats.

The swordtail is the fastest swimmer of all the fish

Most animals don't eat moss. It's hard to digest, and it has little nutritional value. But reindeer fill up with lots of moss, because the moss contains a special chemical that helps reindeer keep their body fluids warm. When the reindeer make their yearly journey across the icy Arctic region, the chemical keeps them from freezing-much as antifreeze keeps a car from freezing up in winter.

A Cloud forest hosts huge numbers of plants and animals; the cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica, host over 425 bird species and more varieties of insects than anyone knows.

The Human Body

your body is made up of trillions of cells? Different parts of your body are made of different kinds of cells. ...your brain is like a computer, and controls your entire body? ...your heart beats about 70 times a minute, and each time it beats, it pumps about about a cupful of blood? ...an adult human heart weighs about 10 ounces and beats over 100,000 times a day? ...there are 206 bones in your skeleton? ...about half of the bones in the human body are located in the hands and feet? ...everyone has thirty-two teeth? ...your muscles make up about one-half of your body weight? ...if you were to remove your skin, it would weigh as much as 5 pounds? ...about 70 percent of your body weight is water?

...physics includes the study of light, magnets, electricity, forms of energy, sound, mechanics (studying the action of forces on matter)? ...objects and people move and obey three basic laws of motion: inertia, mass and force, action and reaction? ...inertia, the first law of motion, states that objects that are at rest tend to stay at rest unless acted upon by some outside force? A ball will not move unless someone kicks it. ...the second law of motion deals with the mass (the amount of matter in an object) and force (the action on an object)? A ball does not speed up or slow down all by itself because it takes a force to move it or slow it down. How the ball moves depends upon the the object that is used to move it, the force used to move it, and the direction of the force. ...the third law of motion, action and reaction, states that for every action their is an equal or opposite reaction? A person on a skateboard pushes back to accelerate, and his push back on the ground sends him forward on his skateboard. ...Isaac Newton discovered the laws of motion more than 300 years ago?

The giant who fought David in the Bible was 2.97m (9ft. 9in.) tall. The oldest man to reach the Everest (8848 m), the world's highest peak is a venezuelan. He is Ramn Blanco and he did it in september 1993, he was 60 years old.
Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers hold the title of the tallest buildings in the world. Both the towers reach a total height of 1,483 feet (452 meters) measured from the ground to the tip of the masts. Is has 29 double-deck passenger elevators in each tower and a total of 76 lifts serve the towers. Each tower has 2 million square feet of office area equal to 48 football fields.

The height of The Empire State Building in New York : 1,250 feet (381 m) Eiffel Tower, Paris : 984 feet (300 m) Statue of Liberty, New York : 310 feet (92 m)

World's Tallest Building: Who Holds The Title? The Petronas-Sears Controversy
Officially, the World's Tallest Buildings are the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1483 feet / 452m) -- but put Petronas side by side with the former title holder, Sears Tower, and look again. The casual observer would say Sears Tower is tops, and by quite a wide margin! The highest occupiable floor of Sears is more then 200 feet higher than the top floor in Petronas and its antennas go even higher. So why are the Petronas Towers considered the World's Tallest Buildings? Because, in the tradition and lore of tall building, spires count, antennas don't.

Spires are architectural features and they have been traditionally counted in a building's height, a precedent that dates to the Chrysler Building. Antennas are not normally considered architectural features. So...based on the long and storied tradition of tall buildings, the winner by decision is the Petronas Towers. Mountain heights... Mount Everest : 29,028 feet (8,853 m) Aconcagua (South America) : 22,834 feet (6,960 m) McKinley / Denali (North America) : 20,320 feet ( m) Kilimanjaro, Africa : 19,340 feet (5,894m) Elbrus, Southern Europe : 18,510 feet (5,642 m) The elephant is the largest animal on land. But it is much smaller than the blue whale. Did you know moths are not really attracted to light? Moths fly towards the blackest point which is behind the light. The rhino is a primitive-looking animal. They have looked the same for thousands of years. There are two species of rhino: the white (or square-lipped rhino) and the black (or hooked-lipped rhino). The black rhino has three toes on each foot. Both the black and white rhino have two horns. A mouse is so small compared to an elephant, that an elephant does not even know that there is a mouse close to it !! The typical laboratory mouse runs 2.5 miles per night on its treadmill. A rat can last longer without water than a camel. The mouse is the most common mammal in the US. The SIBERIAN TIGER is the largest cat in the world. It weighs up to 300kg (660 lbs) and can eat 27,2 kg (60 lb) of meat at one mealtime. Did you know Sailor, Dead Leaf, Paper Kite, Blue Striped Crow, Julia and Great Egg Fly are all names of BUTTERFLIES The rhinoceros's horn is made of the same stuff found in our hair and fingernails which is called keratin. It also contains something called gelatin. The rhino is a primitive-looking animal. They have looked the same for thousands of years. There are two species of rhino: the white (or square-lipped rhino) and the black (or hooked-lipped rhino). The black rhino has three toes on each foot. Both the black and white rhino have two horns. Ancients Greeks believed earthquakes were caused by giants fighting underneath the ground. The Ancient Japanese thought there was a giant spider living under the earth, and each time it moved, it caused the earth to quake

Our body has some natural protection for our eyes. Our eyelashes help to keep dirt out of our eyes. Hundreds of years ago, rockets were invented in China. The first rockets were shaped like arrows and they were not very powerful. The power of early rockets came from gunpowder. Do you know why people are hooked or addicted to cigarettes? The ANSWER is a chemical called Nicotine (Pronounced as: nih-keh-teen)......This chemical is found in stinky cigarettes and is the reason why people get hooked on the smoking habit. Say no to cigaretes - YUCKS !! it's Horrible! Smoking gives you bad breath, makes you cough, and is responsible for many diseases including cancer. If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. --The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet. --On average people fear spiders more than they do death. --The strongest muscle in the body is the TONGUE. --It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. --Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day. --Did you know that you are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider? --Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. -In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes. -- The act of snapping one's fingers is called a "fillip". -----The dot on top of the letter 'i' is called a tittle. -- Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing. ---Any number, squared, is equal to one more than the numbers on either side of it -- 4x6 is 24, 5x5 is 25 etc. --A "hairbreadth away" is 1/48 of an inch. --The word four has four letters. In the English language there is no other number whose number of letters is equal to its value.

--The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache. ----No piece of square dry paper can be folded more than 7 times in half. --A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. --The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its always falls over on its right side when intoxicated. --Polar bears are left handed. --The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds, that makes the catfish rank #1 for animal having the most taste buds. --The flea can jump 350 times its body length, that is like a length of a football field. --Butterflies taste with their feet. --. It is impossible to sneeze and keep ones eye's open at the same time. --Elephants are the only animals that can't jump. ( thankfully !!) --A cat's urine glows under a black light. --An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain. --Cockroaches can change course as many as 25 times in one second, making them the most nimble animals known. --Mosquitoes do not bite. They stab. A mosquito has no jaws, hence when attacking a victim, it pierces it with its long proboscis and sucks the blood up through it's nasal tube. --Starfishes haven't got brains. - Ostriches live about 75 years and can reproduce for 50 years. - Some breeds of vultures can fly at altitudes as high as 36,900 feet. --The skin of the armpits can harbor up to 516,000 bacteria per square inch, while drier areas, such as the forearms, have only about 13,000 bacteria per square inch on them. --The most destructive disease is malaria. More than 1.5 million people die from malaria every year -A light year is 5,865,696,000,000 miles or about 9,460,800,000,000 kilometers. A light nanosecond is the distance light can travel in a billionth of a second and is 1 foot or about 30 cm. human jumping the own weight and

INTERCHANGEABILITY contains the words THREE, EIGHT, NINE, TEN, THIRTEEN, THIRTY, THIRTY-NINE, EIGHTY, EIGHTY-NINE, NINETY, and NINETY-EIGHT One thousand contains the letter A, but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine has an A. FOUR has four letters; no other number has this property in English such that the number of letters in the name equals the number. Some words with horizontal symmetry (they reflect themselves across a horizontal line) are: BEDECKED, BOOHOOED, CEBID (a type of monkey), CHECKBOOK, CHOICE, CODEBOOK, COOKBOOK, DECIDED, DIOXIDE, DOBCHICK, EXCEEDED, HIDE, HOODOOED, ICEBOX, KEBOBBED, OBOE, OKEECHOBEE. Some words with vertical symmetry are MOM, WOW, OTTO, MAAM, MA'AM, TOOT, AHA, AA, AHA, AIA, AMA, AVA, AWA, HAH, HOH, HUH, MAM, MIM, MM, MUM, OHO, OO, OXO, TAT, TIT, TOT, TUT, UTU, VAV, WAW. R.S.V.P. comes from the French phrase, 'rpondez, s'il vous plat,' which means 'please reply.' According to western etiquette, you should reply promptly if you receive a formal invitation. A mile on the ocean and a mile on land are not the same distance. On the ocean, a nautical mile measures 6,080 feet. A land or statute mile is 5,280 feet. A nanosecond (ns or nsec) is one billionth (10-9) of a second and is a common measurement of read or write access time to random access memory

INTESTINES has each of its letters occurring twice. Some other such words: APPEASES, ARRAIGNING, BERIBERI, BILABIAL, CAUCASUS, CHOWCHOW, CONCISIONS, COUSCOUS, ESOPHAGOGRAPHERS, FROUFROU, GENSENGS, GREEGREE, GUITGUIT, HAPPENCHANCE, HORSESHOER, HOTSHOTS, JIPIJAPA, MAHIMAHI, MESOSOME, MILLIEME, MIMETITE, RAPPAREE, REAPPEAR, SCINTILLESCENT, SHAMMASH, SHANGHAIINGS, TEAMMATE, UNSUFFICIENCES, VETITIVE

There are three sets of letters on the standard typewriter and computer keyboards which are in alphabetical order, reading left to right. They are f-g-h, j-k-l, and o-p.

Bird records The largest bird in the world today is the Ostrich Struthio camelus. The North African Ostrich subspecies is the tallest of all the Ostriches. Males can be 2.74 m tall. The head and neck can be 1.4 m long. The average height is around 2 m. The smallest bird in the world is either the Bee Hummingbird Mellisuga helenae from Cuba and the Isle of Pines or the Little Woodstar Acestrura bombus of Ecuador and

northern Peru. The male hummingbird is 57 mm and weighs 1.6 g. Half of its length is taken up by the bill and the tail. Some experts think the Woodstar is even smaller. The bird with the largest wingspan is the Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans which lives in the southern oceans. Its wings average 2.54 - 3.51 m. The largest recorded wingspan was of a very old male whose wings measured 3.63 m. The Australian Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus has the longest bill of any bill measuring 34 - 47 cm. The bird with the longest bill to body size is the Sword-billed Hummingbird Ensifera ensifera that lives in the high Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia. Its bill is 10.2 cm long, four times longer than the bird's body, not counting the tail. Ostriches Struthio camelus have the longest legs. Their legs can be up to 1.3 m long. A number of swifts have the shortest legs. Their family name Apodidae means 'lacking legs'. Jacanas (Jacanidae family) have the longest toes relative to body length. Some of the larger Jacanas can have 'toespans' of at least 15 cm. The Phoenix Fowl has the longest feathers. The upper tail can grow for six years and one measured 10.6 m. The Phoenix Fowl has been bred as an ornamental bird in Japan since the mid 17th century and is a breed of the Red Jungle Fowl Gallus gallus. The longest feathers of a wild bird relative to body size, are the central tail feathers of the male Ribbon-tailed Bird of Paradise Asptrapia mayeri. It lives in the mountain rainforest of New Guinea. The most feathers ever counted on one bird was 25 216 on the Tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus. 80 per cent of feathers were on the bird's head. The least number of feathers ever counted was 940 on a Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris. But this bird, relative to its body size, has more feathers than most other birds. It measures only 9 cm. The Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus is the fastest bird and fastest of any kind of animal. It can reach speeds of at least 200 km when diving for prey in the air. Hummingbirds have the fastest wingbeat. The Horned Sungem Heliactin cornuta, in tropical South America beats its wings at 90 beats per second. Hummingbirds, Family Trochilidae have been recorded in experiments, hovering for 50 minutes. The Artic Tern Sterna paradisaea is believed to migrate the furthest. It flies from the shores of the Arctic to the Antarctic. One banded Arctic Tern cover 22 530 km flying from the White Sea Coast of Russia to Fremantle, Western Australia. Relative to body size the Long Rufous Humingbird Selasphorus rufus makes the longest migration. It measures 10 cm and flies from as far north as Alaska to Mexico and back again - 10 000 km. The highest recorded altitude for any bird was 11 277 m for a Ruppell's Griffon Vulture Gyps Rueppellii. It flew into a plane. The largest bird egg is from the Ostrich Sturthio camelus. The egg measures 15 - 20 cm long, 10 - 15 cm in diameter and weighs 1 - 1.78 kg. The smallest known egg is the egg of the Vervain Hummingbird Mellisuga minima of Jamacia and nearby islets. The egg is barely the size of a pea and measures less than 10 mm in length and weighs 0.356 g. The largest nest was built by a pair of Bald Eagles Haliaeetus leucocephalus was 2.9 m wide and 6 m deep. The Mallee Fowl Leipoa ocellata of Australia builds a mound for a nest. These mounds have been measured at 4.57 m high and 10.6 m long. A mound this size means the bird moved 250 cubic metres of vegetation and 300 tonnes of soil. The Rhinoceros Auklet Cerorhinca monocerata which measures 35 cm and nests on islands in the North Pacific excavates a burrow of 2 - 3 m in length. Burrows up to 6 m are not uncommon and 8 m burrows have also been found.

Emperor Penguins Aptenodytes forsteri make the deepest dive of any bird ranging from 444 - 483 m. They also stay under water the longest. The maximum dive time recorded has been 18 minutes. The fastest swimmer is probably the Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua at 27 km per hour. The fastest runner is the Ostrich Struthio camelus. It can run up to 72 km per hour over short distances. The only poisonous birds known are the three species of Pitohui from Papua new Guinea - the Hooded Pitohui Pitohui dichrous the Rusty Pitohui P. ferrugineus and the Variable Pitohui P. kirhocephalus. The Hooded Pitohui is the deadliest. The skin and feathers contain almost the same homobatrachotoxin as the Poison Arrow Frogs.

The official Sanskrit name for India is Bharat. INDIA has been called Bharat even in Satya yuga ( Golden Age )
More INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT India The name `India is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu. The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name `Hindustan combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus. The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who invented the digit zero. Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is because it is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software. ( a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987 ). Chess was invented in India. Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in India. The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India. The first six Mogul Emperor's of India ruled in an unbroken succession from father to son for two hundred years, from 1526 to 1707. The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola India is.......the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old). The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births. The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level. India has the most post offices in the world !

The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people !. The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Although modern images & descriptions of India often show poverty, India was one of the richest countries till the time of British in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered America by mistake. The art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh 6000 over years ago. The very word 'Navigation' is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'. Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His calculations was Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 365.258756484 days. The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from India. Quadratic equations were used 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 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12 ). Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. ( Source . Gemological Institute of America ) 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. Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also plastic surgery and brain surgeries. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts. India also celebrates the birthday of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President and Vice-President and great statesman, as "Teachers' Day". Born on September 5, 1888, at Tiruttani, 40 miles to the north-east of Madras, Radhakrishnan grew to become the most famous Indian teacher and philosopher of all times. In his honour, this day is celebrated as Teacher's Day. He was also the Vice-President of India from 1952-1962. He held the office of the Chancellor, University of Delhi, before taking over as the President of India in May 1962.

"What makes a nation, is the past, what justifies one nation against others is the past", says the noted historian Eric Hobsbawm.

Hence, when talking of a nation, it becomes very imperative that the past should also be talked about. And the past of India is as fascinating and interesting as it is momentous.

...the map is the most important tool of geography? ...the word MAP comes from the Latin word, "mappa", and means napkin, cloth, or sheet? ...a map is the representation of a geographic area, usually a portion of the earth's surface, drawn or printed on a flat surface? ...the earliest maps were made by the Babylonians about 2300 B.C.? ...the first map to represent the known world was created by Anaximander, a Greek philosopher, in the 6th century B.C.? ...in 1507 Martin Waldseemuller, a German cartographer, was the first to add the Americas to a map he created? ...during the last two centuries, travelers, surveyors, explorers, and scientific observers have contributed valuable information about the world's geography? ...the Chinese, Egyptians, and Phoenicians contributed to the world's geography by making long journeys and recording their observations of new lands? ...a cartographer is a person who creates maps? ...there are many types of maps: topographic, special purpose, relief, political, geologic? ...a topographic map is a basic type of map that shows the natural and artificial features of an area. It also shows the borders of towns, states, or countries? ...navigational and aviation maps are special purpose maps used by pilots and ship captains? ...a relief map is a 3-dimensional model of the terrain of an area. It is usually made from clay or plaster of paris?

...a political map shows towns without any land features? ...a geologic map shows land use, rainfall, population, and other kinds of scientific data? ...the symbols used on a map are the map's legend? ...points on a map can be accurately defined by giving degrees, minutes, and seconds for both latitude and longitude? ...the earth is divided into two hemispheres, the northern and southern? ...the equator is the imaginary circle on the surface of the earth, which is equal distance between the north and south poles. It divides the earth into two hemispheres? ...a map on a spherical surface is called a globe? ...even today, not all of the earth's surface has been surveyed in detail? ...satellites are helping to create new and more detailed maps of the earth's surface?