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GORP: Hiking & Backpacking Guide
Regional hiking guides, hiking trip primers, and answers to hiking questions from experts. Visit the gear marketplace, check out discussion boards, and sift through a directory of worldwide hiking trips. Hiking Gear & Camping Gear: Sonoma Outfitter
Extensive selection of hiking boots and trail shoes, plus flashlights, first aid packages, and trekking poles. Shop online or by phone. Read about their return policies.
Hiking Gear and Backpacking
Hiking tips, maps, and a nationwide directory of clubs. Outdoor gear buying advice section offers help in choosing the right boots, backpacks, and outwear. Hiking Gear: REI
Trusted name in outdoor gear offers sales of its hiking and camping merchandise. Purchase sunglasses, headlamps, and jackets. View bargains to be had in the REI outlet and sale sections.
Hiking and Walking Homepage
Easy access to hiking clubs and organizations across America. Find reviews of proper footwear for outdoor expeditions, recommended hiking vacations throughout the world, and lists of popular hiking spots. Hiking Gear: L.L. Bean
Footwear, apparel, and accessories for hiking, camping, and backpacking. All items for sale come with descriptions, prices, and shipping information. Find directories of retail and factory stores.
The Hiking Web Site
Terrific site for beginners offers an introduction to the leisure activity, plus recommendations on how to get started. Check out U.S. trail info, links to online map shops, and a handy gear checklist. Hiking Gear: Sierra Trading Post
"Your In-Home Outlet Mall" offers great deals on men's and women's hiking socks, shorts, shirts, and jackets, plus trekking poles and daypacks. Drop by the bargain barn for merchandise marked down at least 60%.
The Trail Database
Discover the homepages of hiking clubs and organizations in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Links section offers gateways to info on equipment, health, maps, and trip packing lists. Hiking Gear: Amazon.com
Great deals on footwear, backpacks, binoculars, walking sticks, water bottles, first aid kits, and apparel for men, women, and children. View buying guides and the day's best-selling items.
Eowyn's Challenge
For people who want to walk for health, but need a 'destination' or 'goal', this may be the website for you, particularly if you are a Lord of the Rings enthusiast. Walk from the Shire to Rivendell (or farther), by tracking your mileage on their MiddleEarth maps. Hiking Gear: Backcountry.com
Men's and women's sections offer sales of clothing, footwear, watches, and gloves. Shop for backpacks and navigational devices as well. Search for what you want by brand or category.
HikeMore
Select the state you live in on the trail finder page for profiles of hiking spots near you. Tips on gear and shoes, links to hiking clubs, and details on popular hiking vacations.
Hiking Gear at eBay
Thousands of items. Choose from apparel, backpacks, walking/trekking sticks, topographic maps and tons more. Check seller's feedback and shipping costs.
One Day Hikes
Select a continent from the map of the world for detailed guides to hikes. View the free hiking guides and the top 10 hikes for such places as the Canadian Rockies. Gordon's Guide: Hiking Vacations
Look for hiking vacations according to region or travel company. Browse the related walking tours and ecotourism and cultural tours pages. See which hiking companies are currently in the spotlight.
MountainZone.com: Hiking
Enjoy an archived collection of articles on hiking, including pieces on hiking the White Mountains and the Appalachian Trail. Use the trail finder to locate hiking spots near you. Hiking Books: Barnes & Noble
Sift through a collection of thousands of titles covering all aspects of hiking. All titles include price and shipping info and details on whether the book is available used.
The Walking Connection: Hiking
Information, articles, and stories on popular hikes and walks throughout America. Learn about hiking safety, subscribe to the free newsletter for hiking news, and read answers to common hiking and walking questions. Books: Get Hiking
View this list of favorite books on hiking. Includes sales of the Lonely Planet Hiking in the USA guide and the Nols Wilderness First Aid book.
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Saturday, October 31, 2009
TOP 10 GUITAR WEB SITES
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Guitars: Guitar Noise
Free lessons for absolute beginners, plus advice on how to purchase a guitar, theory, easy songs to learn, and an entire section for intermediate players. Also find forums, a chapter on guitar basics, and tablature. Gibson Guitars
World-famous electric, acoustic, and bass guitar maker has its trustworthy line of products on display. Do a dealer search to find a shop near you selling Gibson guitars.
LoveToKnow Guitars
Whether you are looking to purchase a guitar or are just looking to learn more about guitars, you can get the information you need including where to find the best electric guitars, how to read guitar tabs and even where to find guitar lessons online and much more. Guitars: Fender.com
Classic American guitar company products include electric guitars and basses, plus amplifiers and an assortment of guitar accessories. Drop by the online store to make purchases, or locate a dealer anywhere throughout the United States.
Cyberfret.com
Online lessons and advice for guitar players and beginning guitar players. Check out user-submitted lessons and info on how and where to begin. Chapters on reading sheet music, ear training, scales, chords, and power practicing available. Amazon.com
An enormous selection of acoustic, electric, and bass guitars for sale at varying prices. Shop for guitar effects, amplifiers, and accessories. See the day's top sellers and browse other musical instrument categories.
Guitar.com
The redesigned site is a place for guitarists to interact via helpful discussion forums. Soon to offer a desktop application that allows musicians to collaborate, record, edit, and produce music. Guitar Center
Official site for the nationally known guitar shop allows browsers to find a location nearby via zip code. Or make purchases from a wide variety of products online. See the line of products.
Guitar Player Magazine
Popular publication for guitar players and enthusiasts offers feature stories on musical artists, lessons, and riffs on songwriting, gigging, and recording. Find reviews merchandise, and contests too. Guitars, Amps, & Effects Online: Zzounds.com:
Shop online for classical, acoustic-electric, and electric guitars, as well as amps and instructional guitar books, videos, and CD-ROMs. Conduct searches for what you want by brand, title, or price range.
Guitar Tricks
Online lessons from a variety of different instructors, a guide for beginners, and hints and tricks broken down by style and inspiration. Read sections on reference, technique, and theory. Sign-up for the free exercises. Guitars, Amps, & Effects: Same Day Music
Search by brand or category for the guitar, amp, or effects pedals you want. Guaranteed same day shipment. Accessories for sale too, including picks, straps, and footstools.
Guitarists.net
"Your online guitar community" provides forums, lessons, gear reviews, chords, scales, software, polls, and links to additional resources. Registration is required but free. Guitars: American Musical Supply
Check out the massive selection of electric, acoustic, and bass guitars for sale. Available too are guitar cases, effects, and strings Visit the specials department for amazing deals on select guitar makes and models.
WholeNote
Place where "some-time, full-time, and not-enough-time guitarists" can partake in online lessons, read up on playing basics, and check out news related to the instrument. Offers MP3s, tablature, and access to the Guitar Store. Learn Guitar Now
Instructional package includes video clips and ebooks that will teach newcomers to the instrument all the basics of playing. See the complete set of info on the product and read reviews from satisfied customers. Available to order via major credit card for just $9.95.
How Stuff Works: How Electric Guitar Works
Read the introduction to the popular instrument, learn how it makes the sounds it does, and find out what amps do with an electric guitar's sound. Also learn how acoustic guitars work. Guitars: GuitarBooks.com
Well-designed and helpful site links guitar players to instructional guitar books for sale on Amazon.com in such categories as acoustic, blues and rock, country and bluegrass, and many more. Books for sale on chords and finger style, too.
Guitar Lesson World
Patrick MacFarlane's guitar playing site has been featured in Rolling Stone and Acoustic Guitar magazines. He offers online exercises on strength and speed building, plus left hand mechanics. Find over three-dozen lessons for playing as well. Guitars: Play Guitar
Interactive guitar lessons available for sale on CD. See the complete line of products available for both beginner and intermediate/advanced players. A free demo is available to download for sampling purposes. Read what people in the industry are saying about Play Guitar.
Guitars: Guitar Noise
Free lessons for absolute beginners, plus advice on how to purchase a guitar, theory, easy songs to learn, and an entire section for intermediate players. Also find forums, a chapter on guitar basics, and tablature. Gibson Guitars
World-famous electric, acoustic, and bass guitar maker has its trustworthy line of products on display. Do a dealer search to find a shop near you selling Gibson guitars.
LoveToKnow Guitars
Whether you are looking to purchase a guitar or are just looking to learn more about guitars, you can get the information you need including where to find the best electric guitars, how to read guitar tabs and even where to find guitar lessons online and much more. Guitars: Fender.com
Classic American guitar company products include electric guitars and basses, plus amplifiers and an assortment of guitar accessories. Drop by the online store to make purchases, or locate a dealer anywhere throughout the United States.
Cyberfret.com
Online lessons and advice for guitar players and beginning guitar players. Check out user-submitted lessons and info on how and where to begin. Chapters on reading sheet music, ear training, scales, chords, and power practicing available. Amazon.com
An enormous selection of acoustic, electric, and bass guitars for sale at varying prices. Shop for guitar effects, amplifiers, and accessories. See the day's top sellers and browse other musical instrument categories.
Guitar.com
The redesigned site is a place for guitarists to interact via helpful discussion forums. Soon to offer a desktop application that allows musicians to collaborate, record, edit, and produce music. Guitar Center
Official site for the nationally known guitar shop allows browsers to find a location nearby via zip code. Or make purchases from a wide variety of products online. See the line of products.
Guitar Player Magazine
Popular publication for guitar players and enthusiasts offers feature stories on musical artists, lessons, and riffs on songwriting, gigging, and recording. Find reviews merchandise, and contests too. Guitars, Amps, & Effects Online: Zzounds.com:
Shop online for classical, acoustic-electric, and electric guitars, as well as amps and instructional guitar books, videos, and CD-ROMs. Conduct searches for what you want by brand, title, or price range.
Guitar Tricks
Online lessons from a variety of different instructors, a guide for beginners, and hints and tricks broken down by style and inspiration. Read sections on reference, technique, and theory. Sign-up for the free exercises. Guitars, Amps, & Effects: Same Day Music
Search by brand or category for the guitar, amp, or effects pedals you want. Guaranteed same day shipment. Accessories for sale too, including picks, straps, and footstools.
Guitarists.net
"Your online guitar community" provides forums, lessons, gear reviews, chords, scales, software, polls, and links to additional resources. Registration is required but free. Guitars: American Musical Supply
Check out the massive selection of electric, acoustic, and bass guitars for sale. Available too are guitar cases, effects, and strings Visit the specials department for amazing deals on select guitar makes and models.
WholeNote
Place where "some-time, full-time, and not-enough-time guitarists" can partake in online lessons, read up on playing basics, and check out news related to the instrument. Offers MP3s, tablature, and access to the Guitar Store. Learn Guitar Now
Instructional package includes video clips and ebooks that will teach newcomers to the instrument all the basics of playing. See the complete set of info on the product and read reviews from satisfied customers. Available to order via major credit card for just $9.95.
How Stuff Works: How Electric Guitar Works
Read the introduction to the popular instrument, learn how it makes the sounds it does, and find out what amps do with an electric guitar's sound. Also learn how acoustic guitars work. Guitars: GuitarBooks.com
Well-designed and helpful site links guitar players to instructional guitar books for sale on Amazon.com in such categories as acoustic, blues and rock, country and bluegrass, and many more. Books for sale on chords and finger style, too.
Guitar Lesson World
Patrick MacFarlane's guitar playing site has been featured in Rolling Stone and Acoustic Guitar magazines. He offers online exercises on strength and speed building, plus left hand mechanics. Find over three-dozen lessons for playing as well. Guitars: Play Guitar
Interactive guitar lessons available for sale on CD. See the complete line of products available for both beginner and intermediate/advanced players. A free demo is available to download for sampling purposes. Read what people in the industry are saying about Play Guitar.
TOP 10 DRUMS WEB SITES
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Drums Database
"The Internet's first and largest drum lesson database." Discover over 400 free lessons and drum tabs. Instruction in such genres as punk, jazz, mamba, and funk. New lessons are added every week. Also visit Drum Tabs Database. Drum Sets: Pearl
"The best reason to play drums." Legendary drum manufacturing company offers visitors to their official site the chance to locate a Pearl dealer in their state. View their line of products in the departments' section.
Drum Sets - Reviews: Drum! Magazine
Updates on the latest news, contests, and happenings surrounding drum sets. Register for free from the home page and find drums and drummer news, reviews, forums, and articles at the official site for the popular magazine. Subscribe to the print edition and get big savings. Drum Sets: Ludwig/Musser Drums
Esteemed company's line of products includes marching percussion, concert percussion, and snare drums and accessories. View a searchable list of products. Find drum education info, a list of artists who use Ludwig/Musser products, and a dealer locator for shops in the United States.
Harmony Central: Drums & Percussion
Smashing directory offers easy access to rhythm and drum set lessons, drum tablature, concert and marching percussion lessons, hand drum lessons, drum schools, and commercial instruction. Learn how to add a link yourself. Drum Sets: MusiciansFriend.com: Drums/Percussion
Browse the enormous selection of acoustic drums and electronic and world percussion drum sets. Also shop for cymbals, hardware like pedals and stands, and drum sticks and various accessories. Check out the free catalog and learn how to shop by brand.
Drummer World
Read biographies of famous drummers from the worlds of rock, jazz, and big band and swing. Listen to drumming MP3s, check out news stories, watch videos of drum performances, and enter the drummer discussion forum. Drum Sets: Music123: Percussion
Online music store has complete drum sets, sticks, hardware, cymbals, mounting systems, and heads, pads, and muffling for sale, plus percussion instruction videos and CDs. Order online or over the phone. Create a wish list for a birthday or holiday.
Drum Dojo
"The percussionist's resource" provides "free, detailed advice" on orchestral and tuned percussion and indigenous percussion instruments, plus online lessons. Find drum reviews, discussion groups, and info on proper tuning, too. Drum Sets: Amazon.com
Exceedingly popular online mall allows musicians to purchase an assortment of bass and snare drums and accessories. Brands to shop from include Gibraltar, Evans, Remo, and Puresound. Results can be narrowed according to price.
Modern Drummer
"The world's most widely read drum magazine" provides feature stories on artists, news and event, listings, and MP3s. Drum critiques and recommended books, too. Visit the blog for updates on the world of drumming or join the mailing list for updates via email. Drum Sets: Yahoo! Shopping
Categories to shop from include bongos, drum machines, pedals, and complete drum sets. View other drum and percussion categories to shop from, and sort all results by top matches or price.
Drum Sets Buying Gudes: Drums & Drum Sets
Historical information and buying guides for drum sets from Yamaha, Pearl, and Tama. Also find a drum lessons resource guide. Suitable for beginner to advanced drummers. See the extensive directory of the best places to buy drums online. Drum Sets: Drum Central Superstore
Drum sets from Yamaha, Tama, Pearl, and Ludwig are for sale. Also find information on school percussion, drum shields, and drum hardware. Check out the information page for tips and articles.
Percussion Information
Tips and articles on how to move around a drum set, stay healthy while drumming, compositions for percussion, and details on how to perform the triple stroke generator and rudiment matrix. Check out the detailed information about sticks. Drum Pro Magazine
Access great subscription deals for the print version of the popular drummer magazine, which offers lessons, workshops, artist interviews, and CD and DVD reviews. Register with the online version of the publication and gain entry to DrumPro Corps and DrumPro World, too.
Tiger Bill's Drum Beat
A wide range of articles, covering recording, healthy drumming, how-to guides on topics such as sticks and finding the best instructor and beginning lessons. Access these features and an informative newsletter by registering for free. DrumBum
"T-shirts and gifts for drummers." Place orders online or over the phone for posters, jewelry, coffee mugs, and hats. Customer service section displays info on shipping and ordering.
Drums: MSN Encarta Encyclopedia
Extensive article on the history and function of the musical instrument examines its various shapes, cultural and musical uses, and how it is classified in regards to sound. Find drum audio in the multimedia section. GigaJam: Drum School
Acclaimed series of professionally written lesson modules, instruction videos, music files, and software can be used for teaching with just a PC and a basic drum kit. Visit the Try Before You Buy section to download the lesson for a 14-day free trial.
Drums Database
"The Internet's first and largest drum lesson database." Discover over 400 free lessons and drum tabs. Instruction in such genres as punk, jazz, mamba, and funk. New lessons are added every week. Also visit Drum Tabs Database. Drum Sets: Pearl
"The best reason to play drums." Legendary drum manufacturing company offers visitors to their official site the chance to locate a Pearl dealer in their state. View their line of products in the departments' section.
Drum Sets - Reviews: Drum! Magazine
Updates on the latest news, contests, and happenings surrounding drum sets. Register for free from the home page and find drums and drummer news, reviews, forums, and articles at the official site for the popular magazine. Subscribe to the print edition and get big savings. Drum Sets: Ludwig/Musser Drums
Esteemed company's line of products includes marching percussion, concert percussion, and snare drums and accessories. View a searchable list of products. Find drum education info, a list of artists who use Ludwig/Musser products, and a dealer locator for shops in the United States.
Harmony Central: Drums & Percussion
Smashing directory offers easy access to rhythm and drum set lessons, drum tablature, concert and marching percussion lessons, hand drum lessons, drum schools, and commercial instruction. Learn how to add a link yourself. Drum Sets: MusiciansFriend.com: Drums/Percussion
Browse the enormous selection of acoustic drums and electronic and world percussion drum sets. Also shop for cymbals, hardware like pedals and stands, and drum sticks and various accessories. Check out the free catalog and learn how to shop by brand.
Drummer World
Read biographies of famous drummers from the worlds of rock, jazz, and big band and swing. Listen to drumming MP3s, check out news stories, watch videos of drum performances, and enter the drummer discussion forum. Drum Sets: Music123: Percussion
Online music store has complete drum sets, sticks, hardware, cymbals, mounting systems, and heads, pads, and muffling for sale, plus percussion instruction videos and CDs. Order online or over the phone. Create a wish list for a birthday or holiday.
Drum Dojo
"The percussionist's resource" provides "free, detailed advice" on orchestral and tuned percussion and indigenous percussion instruments, plus online lessons. Find drum reviews, discussion groups, and info on proper tuning, too. Drum Sets: Amazon.com
Exceedingly popular online mall allows musicians to purchase an assortment of bass and snare drums and accessories. Brands to shop from include Gibraltar, Evans, Remo, and Puresound. Results can be narrowed according to price.
Modern Drummer
"The world's most widely read drum magazine" provides feature stories on artists, news and event, listings, and MP3s. Drum critiques and recommended books, too. Visit the blog for updates on the world of drumming or join the mailing list for updates via email. Drum Sets: Yahoo! Shopping
Categories to shop from include bongos, drum machines, pedals, and complete drum sets. View other drum and percussion categories to shop from, and sort all results by top matches or price.
Drum Sets Buying Gudes: Drums & Drum Sets
Historical information and buying guides for drum sets from Yamaha, Pearl, and Tama. Also find a drum lessons resource guide. Suitable for beginner to advanced drummers. See the extensive directory of the best places to buy drums online. Drum Sets: Drum Central Superstore
Drum sets from Yamaha, Tama, Pearl, and Ludwig are for sale. Also find information on school percussion, drum shields, and drum hardware. Check out the information page for tips and articles.
Percussion Information
Tips and articles on how to move around a drum set, stay healthy while drumming, compositions for percussion, and details on how to perform the triple stroke generator and rudiment matrix. Check out the detailed information about sticks. Drum Pro Magazine
Access great subscription deals for the print version of the popular drummer magazine, which offers lessons, workshops, artist interviews, and CD and DVD reviews. Register with the online version of the publication and gain entry to DrumPro Corps and DrumPro World, too.
Tiger Bill's Drum Beat
A wide range of articles, covering recording, healthy drumming, how-to guides on topics such as sticks and finding the best instructor and beginning lessons. Access these features and an informative newsletter by registering for free. DrumBum
"T-shirts and gifts for drummers." Place orders online or over the phone for posters, jewelry, coffee mugs, and hats. Customer service section displays info on shipping and ordering.
Drums: MSN Encarta Encyclopedia
Extensive article on the history and function of the musical instrument examines its various shapes, cultural and musical uses, and how it is classified in regards to sound. Find drum audio in the multimedia section. GigaJam: Drum School
Acclaimed series of professionally written lesson modules, instruction videos, music files, and software can be used for teaching with just a PC and a basic drum kit. Visit the Try Before You Buy section to download the lesson for a 14-day free trial.
TOP 10 MOST VISITED WEBSITES
TOP 10 MOST VISITED WEBSITES »
Top 10 best most visited web sites rated by the LoveToKnow editors.
Most popular web sites
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Top 10 List how we choose
Facebook.com
Facebook is a social network created to connect people. First made popular by college and high school students, Facebook is used today by people of all ages. Sign up for a free account and start uploading photos and writing notes. You can also visit other Facebook user pages and get news and insight into a variety of topics. Once you register, you'll be able to search for old friends and connect online or seek out new friends.
Google.com
Google has become such a popular search engine that people have coined the phrase "Googling" to describe searching for topics on the Internet. In addition to serving as one of the top search engines, you can get maps and directions to a variety of destinations, read news articles on today's hot topics and benefit from an excellent online shopping mall where you can compare prices and read customer reviews on products and retailers. Google also has an email system called Gmail that is free.
Hi5.com
Another portal to help you get connected with folks around the world. Locate friends locally or that have relocated around the world, share photos, listen to music and create your own page. You can also share messages with others. You'll also find videos and how to connect by group such as a specific college, the grammar school or high school you attended. There are many groups based on interests, such as family and home, entertainment and arts, pets and animals or religious beliefs.
Live.com
Windows live is an online environment to help you get organized, connected and utilize your online time more efficiently. From the portal, you can access your hotmail account where you'll be able to receive and send email or check your calendar for events. You can also connect to online spaces such as SkyDrive, where you can chat with friends. Finally, OneCare will allow you to keep your PC running at premium speeds and keep your family safe at the same time.
MSN.com
MSN is a multifaceted website offering more features than could possibly be listed. Some of the more popular characteristics of the site include a search engine that is built into the other pages, so you can easily search the web for any topic that pops into your mind as you're reading an article or chatting with others. You can also access Messenger for the ability to instant message with others. You can also take a look at things such as politics, air tickets and travel, maps and directions and sports to name a few.
MySpace.com
MySpace is known as the place for friends. In addition to being able to host your own website page where you can share your interests and information about yourself, you can also read blogs, visit forums and view MySpace TV Videos. Everything is divided by categories or you can use the site's search feature to find specific topics or users. MySpace has also added a section for classified ads.
Orkut.com
Awesome site that will allow you to share pictures, videos and interests. An easy and fun place to meet new people via online communities and friends of friends. Also provides instant messaging. Upload your pictures to share with family and that don't live nearby. Also allows users to search for romantic connections or find connections you can use in your business life. You can access Orkut with your Google account.
Wikipedia
The Internet's largest and most interactive encyclopedia. It comes in several popular languages, including English, French, Italian, Spanish and Chinese. Each day a specific article is featured along with what topics are currently in the news and links to more information to learn more about those topics. Use the handy search feature to locate the topic of your choice. Within each article are additional links to both internal and external sources to expand on the topic at hand.
Yahoo.com
Yahoo is a multi-faceted resource for Internet users, from the advanced search engine functions to free e-mail. You can easily customize your home page and access local weather, news and events. Yahoo also offers shopping, information on automobiles and real estate. Yahoo offers a question and answer area with a wealth of information. Sign up to ask questions or answer questions and collect points. Old questions and answers are archived for future reference.
YouTube.com
Popular with both adults and teens, this site offers a myriad of online videos on just about any topic imaginable. Search by keyword or link to additional related titles from the current video you're viewing. Sign up for free and upload your own videos or share and bookmark your favorite videos. The community area helps with directions and the ability to find out how to perform different tasks at YouTube. Not sure how to upload your own video? The community is the place to ask.
Top 10 best most visited web sites rated by the LoveToKnow editors.
Most popular web sites
Ads by Google
Paid Search XML Feeds - Top Tier PPC Rates paid search listings for your site www.searchenginexml.com
MSc in Asian Studies - Learn more about Asia’s influence in a leading Asian institute. www.rsis.edu.sg
Research Phenomenology - Read full-text academic philosophy books & journals online at Questia. www.Questia.com/Phenomenology
Human Rights Education - Raise Human Rights Awareness To Our Youth. Get Free DVD & Info Kit YouthForHumanRights.org
Top 10 List how we choose
Facebook.com
Facebook is a social network created to connect people. First made popular by college and high school students, Facebook is used today by people of all ages. Sign up for a free account and start uploading photos and writing notes. You can also visit other Facebook user pages and get news and insight into a variety of topics. Once you register, you'll be able to search for old friends and connect online or seek out new friends.
Google.com
Google has become such a popular search engine that people have coined the phrase "Googling" to describe searching for topics on the Internet. In addition to serving as one of the top search engines, you can get maps and directions to a variety of destinations, read news articles on today's hot topics and benefit from an excellent online shopping mall where you can compare prices and read customer reviews on products and retailers. Google also has an email system called Gmail that is free.
Hi5.com
Another portal to help you get connected with folks around the world. Locate friends locally or that have relocated around the world, share photos, listen to music and create your own page. You can also share messages with others. You'll also find videos and how to connect by group such as a specific college, the grammar school or high school you attended. There are many groups based on interests, such as family and home, entertainment and arts, pets and animals or religious beliefs.
Live.com
Windows live is an online environment to help you get organized, connected and utilize your online time more efficiently. From the portal, you can access your hotmail account where you'll be able to receive and send email or check your calendar for events. You can also connect to online spaces such as SkyDrive, where you can chat with friends. Finally, OneCare will allow you to keep your PC running at premium speeds and keep your family safe at the same time.
MSN.com
MSN is a multifaceted website offering more features than could possibly be listed. Some of the more popular characteristics of the site include a search engine that is built into the other pages, so you can easily search the web for any topic that pops into your mind as you're reading an article or chatting with others. You can also access Messenger for the ability to instant message with others. You can also take a look at things such as politics, air tickets and travel, maps and directions and sports to name a few.
MySpace.com
MySpace is known as the place for friends. In addition to being able to host your own website page where you can share your interests and information about yourself, you can also read blogs, visit forums and view MySpace TV Videos. Everything is divided by categories or you can use the site's search feature to find specific topics or users. MySpace has also added a section for classified ads.
Orkut.com
Awesome site that will allow you to share pictures, videos and interests. An easy and fun place to meet new people via online communities and friends of friends. Also provides instant messaging. Upload your pictures to share with family and that don't live nearby. Also allows users to search for romantic connections or find connections you can use in your business life. You can access Orkut with your Google account.
Wikipedia
The Internet's largest and most interactive encyclopedia. It comes in several popular languages, including English, French, Italian, Spanish and Chinese. Each day a specific article is featured along with what topics are currently in the news and links to more information to learn more about those topics. Use the handy search feature to locate the topic of your choice. Within each article are additional links to both internal and external sources to expand on the topic at hand.
Yahoo.com
Yahoo is a multi-faceted resource for Internet users, from the advanced search engine functions to free e-mail. You can easily customize your home page and access local weather, news and events. Yahoo also offers shopping, information on automobiles and real estate. Yahoo offers a question and answer area with a wealth of information. Sign up to ask questions or answer questions and collect points. Old questions and answers are archived for future reference.
YouTube.com
Popular with both adults and teens, this site offers a myriad of online videos on just about any topic imaginable. Search by keyword or link to additional related titles from the current video you're viewing. Sign up for free and upload your own videos or share and bookmark your favorite videos. The community area helps with directions and the ability to find out how to perform different tasks at YouTube. Not sure how to upload your own video? The community is the place to ask.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Climb The Mountain
Climb The Mountain
By Donald L. Norbie
“You have to be committed” – that’s what he said. We were climbing Mount Sneffels, one of Colorado’s great mountains, 14,150 feet tall. I was talking with a friend as we climbed. He said, “My wife is along, but she’s not committed to making the top. She gets tired, she may turn back. It’s no big deal with her whether she gets to the top or not. But me, I’m committed. My goal is to reach the summit. My muscles may be aching and my body wanting to quit, but I’ll push on.” Ah, yes, those are the ones that reach the top.
In the Old Testament, God is compared to a mountain. “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds, Thy righteousness is like the great mountains” (Psalm 36:5-6). The Christian life is like a mountain climb, climbing the mountain of God. God is our mountain to which we cling as we journey toward heaven. Some like to stand at a distance and admire a mountain. What a grand sight it is! But they never get to know the mountain. It is those who struggle up it, who taste its toughness, its difficulty, these get to know the mountain. It is those who cling to the rock when there is exposure and danger, who experience the awesome might of a storm, all the hazards, these get to know the mountain.
Some like to stand at a distance and study God. One may sit in his paneled study and discuss theology, arguing Calvinism vs. Arminianism, dispensationalism vs. covenant theology. It becomes a profound, intellectual exercise, stimulating to the mind. But you do not really get to know God through academic study.
Before climbing a mountain, one should get maps and read what he can about the different routes to the summit. But the only way to get to know the strength and force of the mountain is to climb. This requires time, pain, and struggle.
And it is true that we only really get to know God as we experience the pain and struggles of life – and keep on climbing, clinging to our Rock. This takes commitment. The first and great commandment is: “Thou shalt love thy Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew. 22:37). And so I must ask myself, “Is God first in my life? Am I committed to Him above all else? Am I committed to reaching the summit, or, if the going gets tough, will I drop out?”
It is a glorious feeling to finally break over the summit and to stand there, gasping for air, legs trembling with fatigue, to see that magnificent vista of mountain range after range unfolding before you. Then you turn to your climbing companion and shout, “Yahoo! We made it! We made it!” You feel your own smallness and the greatness of God. And below, you see the route that was difficult to see as you came up, but now is all in plain view.
One day, the climb of life will be over. We will reach the summit, turn to our fellow climbers and shout, “Hallelujah! We made it!” And we will see the Lord Jesus, face to face, and delight in the presence of Almighty God – awesome experience. We will look back down the mountain and see the route that God so tenderly laid out for us, all plain now. At times, when we were climbing, it seemed so dark and confusing. But now it is all clear. How good God has been!
In the Swiss Alps, there is an epitaph on a tombstone for a Swiss guide: “He died climbing.” May this be true of us as Christians.
By Donald L. Norbie
“You have to be committed” – that’s what he said. We were climbing Mount Sneffels, one of Colorado’s great mountains, 14,150 feet tall. I was talking with a friend as we climbed. He said, “My wife is along, but she’s not committed to making the top. She gets tired, she may turn back. It’s no big deal with her whether she gets to the top or not. But me, I’m committed. My goal is to reach the summit. My muscles may be aching and my body wanting to quit, but I’ll push on.” Ah, yes, those are the ones that reach the top.
In the Old Testament, God is compared to a mountain. “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds, Thy righteousness is like the great mountains” (Psalm 36:5-6). The Christian life is like a mountain climb, climbing the mountain of God. God is our mountain to which we cling as we journey toward heaven. Some like to stand at a distance and admire a mountain. What a grand sight it is! But they never get to know the mountain. It is those who struggle up it, who taste its toughness, its difficulty, these get to know the mountain. It is those who cling to the rock when there is exposure and danger, who experience the awesome might of a storm, all the hazards, these get to know the mountain.
Some like to stand at a distance and study God. One may sit in his paneled study and discuss theology, arguing Calvinism vs. Arminianism, dispensationalism vs. covenant theology. It becomes a profound, intellectual exercise, stimulating to the mind. But you do not really get to know God through academic study.
Before climbing a mountain, one should get maps and read what he can about the different routes to the summit. But the only way to get to know the strength and force of the mountain is to climb. This requires time, pain, and struggle.
And it is true that we only really get to know God as we experience the pain and struggles of life – and keep on climbing, clinging to our Rock. This takes commitment. The first and great commandment is: “Thou shalt love thy Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew. 22:37). And so I must ask myself, “Is God first in my life? Am I committed to Him above all else? Am I committed to reaching the summit, or, if the going gets tough, will I drop out?”
It is a glorious feeling to finally break over the summit and to stand there, gasping for air, legs trembling with fatigue, to see that magnificent vista of mountain range after range unfolding before you. Then you turn to your climbing companion and shout, “Yahoo! We made it! We made it!” You feel your own smallness and the greatness of God. And below, you see the route that was difficult to see as you came up, but now is all in plain view.
One day, the climb of life will be over. We will reach the summit, turn to our fellow climbers and shout, “Hallelujah! We made it!” And we will see the Lord Jesus, face to face, and delight in the presence of Almighty God – awesome experience. We will look back down the mountain and see the route that God so tenderly laid out for us, all plain now. At times, when we were climbing, it seemed so dark and confusing. But now it is all clear. How good God has been!
In the Swiss Alps, there is an epitaph on a tombstone for a Swiss guide: “He died climbing.” May this be true of us as Christians.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
0 cool things you can do with a USB flash drive
0 cool things you can do with a USB flash drive
* Date: August 5th, 2009
* Author: Greg Shultz
* Category: 10 things, Network administration, Support
* Tags: Microsoft Windows, USB Flash Drive, ReadyBoost, Flash Memory, Jody Gilbert
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116
Your USB flash drive can do a whole lot more than just move data around. Greg Shultz introduces a variety of creative ways to put that drive to good use.
Transporting your data is probably the most common use for a USB flash drive. But there’s a world of other things you can do with these handy pocket-size drives. Here are 10 ways you can use that USB flash drive to do more than just move data.
Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.
1: Run portable applications
In addition to storing your data, you can run portable applications from a USB flash drive. For example, OpenOffice, which is a complete office suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package, and database, is available as a portable application. Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are also available as portable applications. When you combine the office suite with the ability to surf the Web and check email, you’ll be able to take your most vital computing applications with you wherever you go — right in your pocket.
If that’s not enough, you can choose other applications to install on your USB flash drive from PortableApps.com (Figure A). You can even install an entire prepackaged suite of applications that includes such things as an audio player, games, an antivirus utility, and a handy menu system.
Figure A
The PortableApps.com suite comes with a menu system to allow you to easily access your portable applications.
2: Boot an operating system
If you want to do more than just run your own applications, you might want to consider booting an entire operating system from your USB flash drive. You can boot either Windows or Linux from a USB flash drive; however, the process is not an exact science and you may be in for a technical adventure.
Fortunately, there are some guides you can follow. To learn how to boot Windows XP from a USB flash drive, see the article Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP. To learn how to boot a version of Linux from a USB flash drive, see the article Puppy Linux teaches an old dog new tricks.
3: Connect to a wireless network
If you have a wireless network, you can use the Wireless Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP or the Windows Connect Now (WCN) feature built into Vista to save wireless network configuration information to a USB flash drive. You can then use your drive to quickly and easily connect another computer or a WCN-compatible device, such as a router or printer, to your wireless network. To learn more about using the Wireless Network Setup Wizard, see the Help And Support Center, which is accessible from Windows XP’s Start menu. To learn more about using the Windows Connect Now feature, see Windows Help And Support, which is accessible from Windows Vista’s Start menu.
4: Create a password reset disk
A password reset disk can really come in handy if you forget the password to your user account on a Windows system that is not a part of a domain. If you find yourself in that situation, you can use the password reset disk to reset your password and quickly get back into your user account. In Windows Vista, you can use USB flash drive rather than a floppy disk as a password reset disk (Figure B). For details on how to do so, see the article Create a Vista password reset disk using a USB flash drive.
Figure B
You can use your USB flash drive as a password reset disk.
5: Boost performance
If you’re running Windows Vista, you can use a USB flash drive to speed up your system with the ReadyBoost technology. ReadyBoost can use the storage space on a USB Flash drive as an additional memory cache to aid the memory cache on your hard disk. And because flash memory is more responsive than a hard disk, with its physical moving parts, the memory cache provided by ReadyBoost can significantly improve system responsiveness.
Using ReadyBoost is easy. You just insert your USB flash drive into your Vista system and follow the onscreen prompts to configure and use ReadyBoost. If you want more details, check out the article How SuperFetch and ReadyBoost work together.
6: Manage it
If all you really want to do with your USB flash drive is transport data, and you’re running Windows XP, you can do so more efficiently with the Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager (Figure C). Once you have installed this manager, you can easily copy files to and from your drive, back up and restore the entire flash drive to and from your hard disk, change the drive label, and even create an autorun.inf file to launch Drive Manager automatically when you plug in the drive. To learn more about and download the USB Flash Drive Manager visit the Microsoft TechNet Magazine site.
Figure C
The Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager provides you with a host of features, such as drive backup.
7: Use it as an MP3 player
Would you like to be listening to music when you’re using a computer at the office, but you don’t have an MP3 player? If so, you can use a USB flash drive as an MP3 player along with Windows Media Player and a set of headphones. Just copy your MP3 files to your USB flash drive, plug it into your computer, and direct Windows Media Player to build a library of the songs on your drive. You can use all of Windows Media Player’s playback features, such as playlists and favorites, to easily customize your music listening experience. And best of all, you won’t have to worry about running low on battery power.
8: Password-protect it
If you use a USB flash drive to transport sensitive data that you would prefer to protect from prying eyes, should you lose the drive, Rohos Mini Drive (Figure D) can safeguard that data. This security tool allows you to create a secret partition on the drive and then password-protect/encrypt that partition, thus protecting any documents you copy to that partition via the utility’s file manager. You can download (and read a review of) Rohos Mini Drive at Download.com.
Figure D
Using Rohos Mini Drive, you can secure sensitive files on your USB flash drive.
9: Run a Web site from it
If you are a Web developer, you may be interested to know that with Server2Go, you can easily run a Web server that supports Apache, PHP, MySQL, and Perl right from a USB flash drive. You can use Server2Go right out of the box without any installation. It runs on all versions of Windows, supports most common browsers, and is completely free. To a developer, the benefits of having a portable Web server on a USB drive are numerous. For example, imagine being able to carry a live Web site demo into a sales pitch meeting. For more information about this package, visit the Server2Go site.
10: Lock your PC
Have you ever seen a movie in which a person in some secret government installation simply inserts and removes a card to log in and log out of a PC? If you thought that idea was cool, you’ll definitely want to investigate Predator (Figure E). Once installed and configured, this little freeware utility will allow you to turn a USB flash drive into a key you can use to lock and unlock your computer.
Figure E
With Predator, you can use a USB flash drive as a key to lock and unlock your computer.
While the USB flash drive is connected to your computer, everything works as it normally would. Once you remove the USB flash drive, your computer is locked down — the keyboard and mouse are disabled and the screen darkens. To unlock your computer, you just plug in the USB flash drive and the computer will be unlocked and you can begin using it. To learn more about Predator, and/or to download it, visit the developer’s Web site.
Finally: 10 Things… the newsletter!
Get the key facts on a wide range of technologies, techniques, strategies, and skills with the help of the concise need-to-know lists featured in TechRepublic’s 10 Things newsletter, delivered every Friday. Automatically sign up today.
* Date: August 5th, 2009
* Author: Greg Shultz
* Category: 10 things, Network administration, Support
* Tags: Microsoft Windows, USB Flash Drive, ReadyBoost, Flash Memory, Jody Gilbert
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54 comment(s)
* Save
* Share
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* Recommend
*
116
Your USB flash drive can do a whole lot more than just move data around. Greg Shultz introduces a variety of creative ways to put that drive to good use.
Transporting your data is probably the most common use for a USB flash drive. But there’s a world of other things you can do with these handy pocket-size drives. Here are 10 ways you can use that USB flash drive to do more than just move data.
Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.
1: Run portable applications
In addition to storing your data, you can run portable applications from a USB flash drive. For example, OpenOffice, which is a complete office suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package, and database, is available as a portable application. Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are also available as portable applications. When you combine the office suite with the ability to surf the Web and check email, you’ll be able to take your most vital computing applications with you wherever you go — right in your pocket.
If that’s not enough, you can choose other applications to install on your USB flash drive from PortableApps.com (Figure A). You can even install an entire prepackaged suite of applications that includes such things as an audio player, games, an antivirus utility, and a handy menu system.
Figure A
The PortableApps.com suite comes with a menu system to allow you to easily access your portable applications.
2: Boot an operating system
If you want to do more than just run your own applications, you might want to consider booting an entire operating system from your USB flash drive. You can boot either Windows or Linux from a USB flash drive; however, the process is not an exact science and you may be in for a technical adventure.
Fortunately, there are some guides you can follow. To learn how to boot Windows XP from a USB flash drive, see the article Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP. To learn how to boot a version of Linux from a USB flash drive, see the article Puppy Linux teaches an old dog new tricks.
3: Connect to a wireless network
If you have a wireless network, you can use the Wireless Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP or the Windows Connect Now (WCN) feature built into Vista to save wireless network configuration information to a USB flash drive. You can then use your drive to quickly and easily connect another computer or a WCN-compatible device, such as a router or printer, to your wireless network. To learn more about using the Wireless Network Setup Wizard, see the Help And Support Center, which is accessible from Windows XP’s Start menu. To learn more about using the Windows Connect Now feature, see Windows Help And Support, which is accessible from Windows Vista’s Start menu.
4: Create a password reset disk
A password reset disk can really come in handy if you forget the password to your user account on a Windows system that is not a part of a domain. If you find yourself in that situation, you can use the password reset disk to reset your password and quickly get back into your user account. In Windows Vista, you can use USB flash drive rather than a floppy disk as a password reset disk (Figure B). For details on how to do so, see the article Create a Vista password reset disk using a USB flash drive.
Figure B
You can use your USB flash drive as a password reset disk.
5: Boost performance
If you’re running Windows Vista, you can use a USB flash drive to speed up your system with the ReadyBoost technology. ReadyBoost can use the storage space on a USB Flash drive as an additional memory cache to aid the memory cache on your hard disk. And because flash memory is more responsive than a hard disk, with its physical moving parts, the memory cache provided by ReadyBoost can significantly improve system responsiveness.
Using ReadyBoost is easy. You just insert your USB flash drive into your Vista system and follow the onscreen prompts to configure and use ReadyBoost. If you want more details, check out the article How SuperFetch and ReadyBoost work together.
6: Manage it
If all you really want to do with your USB flash drive is transport data, and you’re running Windows XP, you can do so more efficiently with the Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager (Figure C). Once you have installed this manager, you can easily copy files to and from your drive, back up and restore the entire flash drive to and from your hard disk, change the drive label, and even create an autorun.inf file to launch Drive Manager automatically when you plug in the drive. To learn more about and download the USB Flash Drive Manager visit the Microsoft TechNet Magazine site.
Figure C
The Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager provides you with a host of features, such as drive backup.
7: Use it as an MP3 player
Would you like to be listening to music when you’re using a computer at the office, but you don’t have an MP3 player? If so, you can use a USB flash drive as an MP3 player along with Windows Media Player and a set of headphones. Just copy your MP3 files to your USB flash drive, plug it into your computer, and direct Windows Media Player to build a library of the songs on your drive. You can use all of Windows Media Player’s playback features, such as playlists and favorites, to easily customize your music listening experience. And best of all, you won’t have to worry about running low on battery power.
8: Password-protect it
If you use a USB flash drive to transport sensitive data that you would prefer to protect from prying eyes, should you lose the drive, Rohos Mini Drive (Figure D) can safeguard that data. This security tool allows you to create a secret partition on the drive and then password-protect/encrypt that partition, thus protecting any documents you copy to that partition via the utility’s file manager. You can download (and read a review of) Rohos Mini Drive at Download.com.
Figure D
Using Rohos Mini Drive, you can secure sensitive files on your USB flash drive.
9: Run a Web site from it
If you are a Web developer, you may be interested to know that with Server2Go, you can easily run a Web server that supports Apache, PHP, MySQL, and Perl right from a USB flash drive. You can use Server2Go right out of the box without any installation. It runs on all versions of Windows, supports most common browsers, and is completely free. To a developer, the benefits of having a portable Web server on a USB drive are numerous. For example, imagine being able to carry a live Web site demo into a sales pitch meeting. For more information about this package, visit the Server2Go site.
10: Lock your PC
Have you ever seen a movie in which a person in some secret government installation simply inserts and removes a card to log in and log out of a PC? If you thought that idea was cool, you’ll definitely want to investigate Predator (Figure E). Once installed and configured, this little freeware utility will allow you to turn a USB flash drive into a key you can use to lock and unlock your computer.
Figure E
With Predator, you can use a USB flash drive as a key to lock and unlock your computer.
While the USB flash drive is connected to your computer, everything works as it normally would. Once you remove the USB flash drive, your computer is locked down — the keyboard and mouse are disabled and the screen darkens. To unlock your computer, you just plug in the USB flash drive and the computer will be unlocked and you can begin using it. To learn more about Predator, and/or to download it, visit the developer’s Web site.
Finally: 10 Things… the newsletter!
Get the key facts on a wide range of technologies, techniques, strategies, and skills with the help of the concise need-to-know lists featured in TechRepublic’s 10 Things newsletter, delivered every Friday. Automatically sign up today.
Monday, October 26, 2009
MUST READ BOOK: Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits (Hardcover) by Bo Parfet (Author), Richard Buskin (Author)
Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits (Hardcover)
by Bo Parfet (Author), Richard Buskin (Author)
In early 2003, a young Wall Street investment banker named Bo Parfet set out to accomplish something very few had done before—climbing the highest mountain on every continent. He was not a professional climber, but what began as a casual interest would soon become a lifelong passion and in just over four years, Bo would overcome the odds and conquer all of the mountains—Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Denali, Vinson Massif, Elbrus, Carstenz Pyramid, Kosciusko, and Everest—with courage, unbridled passion, and determination.
Combining the gripping narrative of Into Thin Air with the adrenaline-fueled drama of Vertical Limit, Die Trying is the incredible story of one man's battle against his own limitations. From dodging avalanches to crossing a ladder over a seemingly bottomless crevasse, to making his way through the Khumbu Icefall and burying a dead teammate at 27, 000 feet, we experience all of the author’s exhilarating, often terrifying climbs first-hand. We travel with him during his near-death experiences when falling into a crevasse in New Zealand and nearly-drowning in crocodile-infested rapids during a canoe race in Belize. And we share the terror of his confrontations with corrupt army officials, cannibalistic tribesmen, and local militia groups. Harrowing and uplifting, Die Trying is a riveting memoir that will inspire all of us to defy the odds and fulfill our dreams.
by Bo Parfet (Author), Richard Buskin (Author)
In early 2003, a young Wall Street investment banker named Bo Parfet set out to accomplish something very few had done before—climbing the highest mountain on every continent. He was not a professional climber, but what began as a casual interest would soon become a lifelong passion and in just over four years, Bo would overcome the odds and conquer all of the mountains—Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Denali, Vinson Massif, Elbrus, Carstenz Pyramid, Kosciusko, and Everest—with courage, unbridled passion, and determination.
Combining the gripping narrative of Into Thin Air with the adrenaline-fueled drama of Vertical Limit, Die Trying is the incredible story of one man's battle against his own limitations. From dodging avalanches to crossing a ladder over a seemingly bottomless crevasse, to making his way through the Khumbu Icefall and burying a dead teammate at 27, 000 feet, we experience all of the author’s exhilarating, often terrifying climbs first-hand. We travel with him during his near-death experiences when falling into a crevasse in New Zealand and nearly-drowning in crocodile-infested rapids during a canoe race in Belize. And we share the terror of his confrontations with corrupt army officials, cannibalistic tribesmen, and local militia groups. Harrowing and uplifting, Die Trying is a riveting memoir that will inspire all of us to defy the odds and fulfill our dreams.
In Paradigm Shift 1: A Long Look Back
In Paradigm Shift 1: A Long Look Back
Only One World By Sylvia Mayuga (philstar.com) Updated October 11, 2009 08:45 AM
Tayabas Mountaineers swung on mountaineering ropes in breathtaking relay rescue of riverbank dwellers being swept in a river suddenly swelling. Honed by scaling majestic Banahaw in their backyard, the mountaineers rushed to sudden disaster led by their founding president Jun Redor, mental and moral muscle in full harness for Typhoon Rosing in 1995, the first “hundred-year rain” they’d ever known.
Redor is a scholarly son of old Tayabas, an artist, mythologist and deep ecologist who believes in and lives the unity of all things. As mountaineer he teaches one mind as the first condition to reaching peaks together in constant danger through steep passes, over yawning abyss, into virgin forest with ever new, not always pleasant surprises. The Tayabas Mountaineers love the sheer adventure in a friendship of rare quality. They share passion for Banahaw’s full reality, in life and death, with strangers who become lifelong allies.
In Rosing’s aftermath, geologist Raymundo Punongbayan fascinated us all. He was a treasured resource on the volcanic reality of the Philippine web of life in his lifetime, prodding imagination deep in the earth’s crust and deeper into its radioactive core. He surfaced in Banahaw with a warning. This mountain range belongs to one huge caldera with Taal and Makiling, volcanoes all, active or dormant, he said. A prospect of sudden major tectonic movement in this caldera, likely in its long quietude in a volatile region, could be Biblical devastation with upland deforestation. Could be worse than Rosing, he added.
Such impact can be visualized in a recorded 18th century eruption of Taal Volcano, lopping off an original peak originally visible all the way in Manila, creating that crater-lake with a tiny island in very deep turquoise waters viewed from the scenic volcanic lip of Tagaytay ridge. Tradition recalls a similar tectonic event creating the Banahaw crater-lake pouring havoc with water mightily pouring with great speed from heights to foothills with Typhoon Rosing, most tellingly in Sariaya. There’s hidden majesty to a slow motion story that began in our archipelago’s birth, continuing to this day.
LABB a.k.a. Luntiang Alyansa para sa Bundok Banahaw, our NGO, pleaded in all the foothill towns for everyone to protect this mountain range from a growing number of human predators. Beyond their threat to its abundant water for drink, irrigation and gravity-fed hydro-electricity was a barely written oral tradition in this hearth of first fire that kindled the Katipunan over a century later. Apolinario de la Cruz of Lucban lit that fire for the first time since Spanish colonization – the heretical notion that all men are born equal, indios included. His Cofradia de San Jose sprung from Manong Pule’s Burning Bush, wildfire spreading through the foothills, grazing Camarines Norte, south to all Katagalugan from the early to mid 19th century.
Rey Ileto’s Pasyon and Revolution said the cofrades vanished from the lowlands after Pule’s capture in Banahaw de Tayabas and execution in the plaza of this seat of Spanish government in 1847. A Franciscan mission settlement turned cabecera, Tayabas gave its name to the original Quezon province stretching to the northernmost end of Luzon. The Cofradia re-converged in Banahaw’s elevations from all over, turning their backs on the colonizer's lowland church in new places of worship under the ancestral creator Bathala.
Around those caves, boulders, waterfalls, creeks, rivers and springs – erehiyas, shrines for erejes, heretics – was beauty in golden beetles, butterflies in delicate lilac or white with amusing red polka dots, rare stick insects as long as my forearm with carmine tail and a huge violet eye. Lovely aliens, these in hard won paradise trekking up vulcan de agua with disciplined young mountaineers, crowning years of travel camped in song with sunburned, laughing, musical company under full golden moon, waking to otherworldly dawn and ablution with mountain waters gurgling by.
In earlier travels through Katagalugan and neighboring provinces, signs on little wooden chapels always caught my eye. Banahaw gave them sharper slant– Cofradia descendants, kin to the Rizalistas. Westernized Filipino academics generally ignore them as anachronistic. Media skims them mechanically for shallow Holy Week stories then it’s back to invisibility for them.
They miss out. The best of this folk still live in lost intimacy with Nature in reverent tradition, waiting for the return of our revolutionary heroes in a Second Coming led by Mahal na Doktor José Rizál. If your formal education cannot grant that as a prophetic riddle of Filipino culture, look at the NPA. They’ve joined the ranks of illegal loggers in imported dialectical materialism cashing in on what forests remain, depriving the progeny of a nation they claim to liberate.
Typhoon Rosing had just confirmed our warning on Sariaya’s severely deforested slopes when new threat buzzed. Quezon governor Eddie Rodriguez was pushing a new proposal from Hopewell of the troublesome Pagbilao coal-powered plant, for northward extension of the Southern Luzon Expressway, SLEX, through Dolores and Sariaya. It seemed they were trying to pay smaller compensation for scenic foothill uplands declared a national park in the American period. Money over and under the table for capitol and governor in another urban-centric scheme was likely. The usual first question was only “how much.”
But a first sustainable development workshop nine days before Rosing brought Sariaya Mayor Juanito Manigbas to see this SLEX extension as a grave threat to life and livelihood in Banahaw looming over his town. Facing the unthinkable, Mayor Johnny woke his people to remember gawi, old eco-friendly customs – likas na agham, indigenous science, I told. They liked that. So they had science, too! Then news from Manila broke: The EIS bill mandating popular consent to such projects had been signed into law. Why, they could do their own EIS, whatever it was. A well-loved mayor set the ball rolling. We combed UPLB for environmental scientists to guide the first-ever people-researched Environmental Impact Study. No boundaries to the possible, not in emergency.
Progressives from old families and cults in upland Dolores met lowland Catholic ecologists in a team of seminarians with the diocesan spokesman, outspoken Fr. Raul Enriquez, a mestizo born in genteel lowland Sariaya. A first encounter allies in Banahaw de Dolores took him to trekking to its peak in their with very brown ranks. There said Mass with cult leaders under the eye of Bathala, Dios Ama at Inain Banahaw. We had a breakthrough.
And Kapit bisig was born in People Power á la Banal na Bundok : a chain of gallant mountaineers, Banahaw sect leaders, open-minded religious, proverb-spouting farmers, earnest lowland townsfolk and tradespeople, devoted scientists, determined artists and media culture bearers with NGO icon Dinky Soliman’s first-rate community organizers melting like super vitamins into organized ranks raring for action. EIS planning began in workshops at the beach, on to library, field research and fun climbs replete with Banahaw rituals. Teams trekked and camped with the folk in eloquent tongue, again with much laughter, always with lambanog refined to standards as old as Tayabas, nothing like those cheap versions sold on the highway. All it lacked was a direct line to central government in Manila.
Continued Next Week.
Only One World By Sylvia Mayuga (philstar.com) Updated October 11, 2009 08:45 AM
Tayabas Mountaineers swung on mountaineering ropes in breathtaking relay rescue of riverbank dwellers being swept in a river suddenly swelling. Honed by scaling majestic Banahaw in their backyard, the mountaineers rushed to sudden disaster led by their founding president Jun Redor, mental and moral muscle in full harness for Typhoon Rosing in 1995, the first “hundred-year rain” they’d ever known.
Redor is a scholarly son of old Tayabas, an artist, mythologist and deep ecologist who believes in and lives the unity of all things. As mountaineer he teaches one mind as the first condition to reaching peaks together in constant danger through steep passes, over yawning abyss, into virgin forest with ever new, not always pleasant surprises. The Tayabas Mountaineers love the sheer adventure in a friendship of rare quality. They share passion for Banahaw’s full reality, in life and death, with strangers who become lifelong allies.
In Rosing’s aftermath, geologist Raymundo Punongbayan fascinated us all. He was a treasured resource on the volcanic reality of the Philippine web of life in his lifetime, prodding imagination deep in the earth’s crust and deeper into its radioactive core. He surfaced in Banahaw with a warning. This mountain range belongs to one huge caldera with Taal and Makiling, volcanoes all, active or dormant, he said. A prospect of sudden major tectonic movement in this caldera, likely in its long quietude in a volatile region, could be Biblical devastation with upland deforestation. Could be worse than Rosing, he added.
Such impact can be visualized in a recorded 18th century eruption of Taal Volcano, lopping off an original peak originally visible all the way in Manila, creating that crater-lake with a tiny island in very deep turquoise waters viewed from the scenic volcanic lip of Tagaytay ridge. Tradition recalls a similar tectonic event creating the Banahaw crater-lake pouring havoc with water mightily pouring with great speed from heights to foothills with Typhoon Rosing, most tellingly in Sariaya. There’s hidden majesty to a slow motion story that began in our archipelago’s birth, continuing to this day.
LABB a.k.a. Luntiang Alyansa para sa Bundok Banahaw, our NGO, pleaded in all the foothill towns for everyone to protect this mountain range from a growing number of human predators. Beyond their threat to its abundant water for drink, irrigation and gravity-fed hydro-electricity was a barely written oral tradition in this hearth of first fire that kindled the Katipunan over a century later. Apolinario de la Cruz of Lucban lit that fire for the first time since Spanish colonization – the heretical notion that all men are born equal, indios included. His Cofradia de San Jose sprung from Manong Pule’s Burning Bush, wildfire spreading through the foothills, grazing Camarines Norte, south to all Katagalugan from the early to mid 19th century.
Rey Ileto’s Pasyon and Revolution said the cofrades vanished from the lowlands after Pule’s capture in Banahaw de Tayabas and execution in the plaza of this seat of Spanish government in 1847. A Franciscan mission settlement turned cabecera, Tayabas gave its name to the original Quezon province stretching to the northernmost end of Luzon. The Cofradia re-converged in Banahaw’s elevations from all over, turning their backs on the colonizer's lowland church in new places of worship under the ancestral creator Bathala.
Around those caves, boulders, waterfalls, creeks, rivers and springs – erehiyas, shrines for erejes, heretics – was beauty in golden beetles, butterflies in delicate lilac or white with amusing red polka dots, rare stick insects as long as my forearm with carmine tail and a huge violet eye. Lovely aliens, these in hard won paradise trekking up vulcan de agua with disciplined young mountaineers, crowning years of travel camped in song with sunburned, laughing, musical company under full golden moon, waking to otherworldly dawn and ablution with mountain waters gurgling by.
In earlier travels through Katagalugan and neighboring provinces, signs on little wooden chapels always caught my eye. Banahaw gave them sharper slant– Cofradia descendants, kin to the Rizalistas. Westernized Filipino academics generally ignore them as anachronistic. Media skims them mechanically for shallow Holy Week stories then it’s back to invisibility for them.
They miss out. The best of this folk still live in lost intimacy with Nature in reverent tradition, waiting for the return of our revolutionary heroes in a Second Coming led by Mahal na Doktor José Rizál. If your formal education cannot grant that as a prophetic riddle of Filipino culture, look at the NPA. They’ve joined the ranks of illegal loggers in imported dialectical materialism cashing in on what forests remain, depriving the progeny of a nation they claim to liberate.
Typhoon Rosing had just confirmed our warning on Sariaya’s severely deforested slopes when new threat buzzed. Quezon governor Eddie Rodriguez was pushing a new proposal from Hopewell of the troublesome Pagbilao coal-powered plant, for northward extension of the Southern Luzon Expressway, SLEX, through Dolores and Sariaya. It seemed they were trying to pay smaller compensation for scenic foothill uplands declared a national park in the American period. Money over and under the table for capitol and governor in another urban-centric scheme was likely. The usual first question was only “how much.”
But a first sustainable development workshop nine days before Rosing brought Sariaya Mayor Juanito Manigbas to see this SLEX extension as a grave threat to life and livelihood in Banahaw looming over his town. Facing the unthinkable, Mayor Johnny woke his people to remember gawi, old eco-friendly customs – likas na agham, indigenous science, I told. They liked that. So they had science, too! Then news from Manila broke: The EIS bill mandating popular consent to such projects had been signed into law. Why, they could do their own EIS, whatever it was. A well-loved mayor set the ball rolling. We combed UPLB for environmental scientists to guide the first-ever people-researched Environmental Impact Study. No boundaries to the possible, not in emergency.
Progressives from old families and cults in upland Dolores met lowland Catholic ecologists in a team of seminarians with the diocesan spokesman, outspoken Fr. Raul Enriquez, a mestizo born in genteel lowland Sariaya. A first encounter allies in Banahaw de Dolores took him to trekking to its peak in their with very brown ranks. There said Mass with cult leaders under the eye of Bathala, Dios Ama at Inain Banahaw. We had a breakthrough.
And Kapit bisig was born in People Power á la Banal na Bundok : a chain of gallant mountaineers, Banahaw sect leaders, open-minded religious, proverb-spouting farmers, earnest lowland townsfolk and tradespeople, devoted scientists, determined artists and media culture bearers with NGO icon Dinky Soliman’s first-rate community organizers melting like super vitamins into organized ranks raring for action. EIS planning began in workshops at the beach, on to library, field research and fun climbs replete with Banahaw rituals. Teams trekked and camped with the folk in eloquent tongue, again with much laughter, always with lambanog refined to standards as old as Tayabas, nothing like those cheap versions sold on the highway. All it lacked was a direct line to central government in Manila.
Continued Next Week.
10 Drugstore Shampoos You Shouldn't Buy (Even if they're on Sale)
If there's one hair care secret I'd like everyone to know it's this: you don't have to spend a lot of money on shampoo to have healthy hair. True, there are great salon and high-end shampoos out there that are more than worth their price. But, for most of us, we can get along just fine using a quality drugstore shampoo.
Please note however that I said a quality drugstore shampoo. Because plenty of them just aren't good enough for your hair. Take, for example, the shampoos below. TotalBeauty.com readers tried them and found they left their hair dirty, dry or greasy -- ugh! Peruse the products below, and toss any coupons you may have for them, they're totally not worth it.
No. 10: Pantene Pro-V Nature Fusion Smooth Vitality Shampoo, $8.33
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.8 (out of 10)
Why: Most readers weren't impressed by this. "I don't think this shampoo and conditioner did anything out of the ordinary for my hair," one reader says. Another reader says it gave her "the weirdest breakouts on my upper arms."
No. 9: Suave Professionals Radiant Brunette Shampoo, $3.48
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.8
Why: Most readers did not find that this enhanced their hair color. Instead it "left my hair rather tangled" and one reader says it actually "stripped away the color!" Others complain that this left them with "straw-like [and] dull" hair. One reader says, "I had colored my hair [and] it went a little too dark. I went to a salon … this is what they used to strip my hair of the color. LOL!"
No. 8: Sunsilk Anti-Caida (Anti-Fall) Shampoo, $4.59
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.6
Why: The verdict: "This stuff dried my hair out and made my color run." Other readers agree, saying even though "I love the Sunsilk brand … this dried my hair out." The final word: "BAD."
No. 7: TIGI Bed Head Self Absorbed Shampoo, $10.50
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.5
Why: Readers feel a bit "blah" about this shampoo. "[Hair] wasn't stripped, but it wasn't very soft or shiny," readers say. While most readers had a so-so experience, one reader says, "my hair [was] so dry and tangle-y that my fingers got stuck in it when I tried to rinse the shampoo out." One reader laments, "Now I have 1 liter of this sitting around. It wasn't completely terrible but I don't use it."
No. 6: John Frieda Radiant Red Color Captivating Shampoo, $5.49
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.5
Why: This was a double-whammy disappointment, readers say. One complaint: "[It] made my soft, silky hair rough and tangled … unmanageable." But the biggest problem: "it did not seem to preserve my color at all," readers say. One reader was so sad that "all it did was stain my fingernails and towels red."
No. 5: TIGI Bed Head Moisture Maniac Shampoo, $10.50
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.4
Why: While readers do concede that this "smells good," they still can't endorse it. Why? "After using it my hair is rough and hard to brush," one reader says. Readers generally agree that this shampoo is "not nearly as moisturizing as its name leads you to believe."
No. 4: Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint Shampoo Bar, $5.99
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.1
Why: While this may work for short hair, readers with long hair say, "you'll do what I did and give up in the shower the first time." One reader says, "it was pretty difficult to get enough lather to completely get my hair clean, and I ended up in the shower for way longer than I wanted to be." The ultimate un-endorsement: "It made my hair look and feel like pubic hair," one reader says. "Nuff said."
No. 3: TreSemme ColorThrive Brunette Shampoo, $3.99
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5
Why: Our readers' major complaint with this was its lack of cleaning power. "I have fine, oily hair and must shampoo daily. With this product, I find myself wanting to wash my hair twice a day," one reader says. Another agrees, saying "my hair doesn't feel as clean after I rinse." Other annoyances: "the smell isn't that great" and "three times after I had used it, my scalp was all itchy," one reader says, adding "I'm not [usually] allergic to any shampoo."
No. 2: TreSemme Vitamin B12 & Gelatin Anti-Breakage Shampoo, $6.99
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 4.9
Why: This left readers perplexed: "You'd think that a product that's supposed to inhibit breakage would help moisturize hair, but this really didn't at all," one says. She adds, "This ? actually seemed to dry my hair out even more." Other readers didn't like that "it left my hair feeling waxy (from the gelatin in it) and dry."
No. 1: Samy Smooth Shampoo, $5.99
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 4.3
Why: Smooth? Not so much, readers say. Instead, "it completely left my hair feeling heavy and dry," one reader says. Another adds, "It doesn't smooth, and it leaves hair funky feeling and dry." Fine, oily haired readers didn't like it either. "Made my fine hair greasy," and "made my hair limp and unmanageable, and it always felt dirty," readers say.
* So you've seen the worst, now it's time to check out the best (break the coupons back out, you'll definitely want to buy these).
Please note however that I said a quality drugstore shampoo. Because plenty of them just aren't good enough for your hair. Take, for example, the shampoos below. TotalBeauty.com readers tried them and found they left their hair dirty, dry or greasy -- ugh! Peruse the products below, and toss any coupons you may have for them, they're totally not worth it.
No. 10: Pantene Pro-V Nature Fusion Smooth Vitality Shampoo, $8.33
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.8 (out of 10)
Why: Most readers weren't impressed by this. "I don't think this shampoo and conditioner did anything out of the ordinary for my hair," one reader says. Another reader says it gave her "the weirdest breakouts on my upper arms."
No. 9: Suave Professionals Radiant Brunette Shampoo, $3.48
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.8
Why: Most readers did not find that this enhanced their hair color. Instead it "left my hair rather tangled" and one reader says it actually "stripped away the color!" Others complain that this left them with "straw-like [and] dull" hair. One reader says, "I had colored my hair [and] it went a little too dark. I went to a salon … this is what they used to strip my hair of the color. LOL!"
No. 8: Sunsilk Anti-Caida (Anti-Fall) Shampoo, $4.59
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.6
Why: The verdict: "This stuff dried my hair out and made my color run." Other readers agree, saying even though "I love the Sunsilk brand … this dried my hair out." The final word: "BAD."
No. 7: TIGI Bed Head Self Absorbed Shampoo, $10.50
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.5
Why: Readers feel a bit "blah" about this shampoo. "[Hair] wasn't stripped, but it wasn't very soft or shiny," readers say. While most readers had a so-so experience, one reader says, "my hair [was] so dry and tangle-y that my fingers got stuck in it when I tried to rinse the shampoo out." One reader laments, "Now I have 1 liter of this sitting around. It wasn't completely terrible but I don't use it."
No. 6: John Frieda Radiant Red Color Captivating Shampoo, $5.49
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.5
Why: This was a double-whammy disappointment, readers say. One complaint: "[It] made my soft, silky hair rough and tangled … unmanageable." But the biggest problem: "it did not seem to preserve my color at all," readers say. One reader was so sad that "all it did was stain my fingernails and towels red."
No. 5: TIGI Bed Head Moisture Maniac Shampoo, $10.50
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.4
Why: While readers do concede that this "smells good," they still can't endorse it. Why? "After using it my hair is rough and hard to brush," one reader says. Readers generally agree that this shampoo is "not nearly as moisturizing as its name leads you to believe."
No. 4: Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint Shampoo Bar, $5.99
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5.1
Why: While this may work for short hair, readers with long hair say, "you'll do what I did and give up in the shower the first time." One reader says, "it was pretty difficult to get enough lather to completely get my hair clean, and I ended up in the shower for way longer than I wanted to be." The ultimate un-endorsement: "It made my hair look and feel like pubic hair," one reader says. "Nuff said."
No. 3: TreSemme ColorThrive Brunette Shampoo, $3.99
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 5
Why: Our readers' major complaint with this was its lack of cleaning power. "I have fine, oily hair and must shampoo daily. With this product, I find myself wanting to wash my hair twice a day," one reader says. Another agrees, saying "my hair doesn't feel as clean after I rinse." Other annoyances: "the smell isn't that great" and "three times after I had used it, my scalp was all itchy," one reader says, adding "I'm not [usually] allergic to any shampoo."
No. 2: TreSemme Vitamin B12 & Gelatin Anti-Breakage Shampoo, $6.99
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 4.9
Why: This left readers perplexed: "You'd think that a product that's supposed to inhibit breakage would help moisturize hair, but this really didn't at all," one says. She adds, "This ? actually seemed to dry my hair out even more." Other readers didn't like that "it left my hair feeling waxy (from the gelatin in it) and dry."
No. 1: Samy Smooth Shampoo, $5.99
TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 4.3
Why: Smooth? Not so much, readers say. Instead, "it completely left my hair feeling heavy and dry," one reader says. Another adds, "It doesn't smooth, and it leaves hair funky feeling and dry." Fine, oily haired readers didn't like it either. "Made my fine hair greasy," and "made my hair limp and unmanageable, and it always felt dirty," readers say.
* So you've seen the worst, now it's time to check out the best (break the coupons back out, you'll definitely want to buy these).
6,000 volunteers to plant 20,000 trees in 9 villages
6,000 volunteers to plant 20,000 trees in 9 villages
Written by: Fusilero , Kristianne
Friday, 23 October 2009
OVER 6,000 volunteers will plant trees and collect garbage tomorrow along the Talomo River for the Operation Kontra Baha, spanning 17 kilometers and nine barangays, in what organizers claimed is the biggest simultaneous effort of its kind.
Gregorio Sarmiento, Knights of Columbus Council 9573 grand knight and program organizer, told the Times in a phone interview that they hope to plant 20,000 malibago trees across barangays Tugok, Ula, Sto. Niño, Tacunan, Mintal, Catalunan Pequeño, Catalunan Grande, Talomo Proper and Los Amigos.
“In our survey last two months ago, the worst case scenario that would happen in our city in five years time is that we might have the same fate as Luzon’s experience of typhoon ‘Ondoy’. To minimize the damage to lives and properties, we should plant more trees,” he said.
He said the malibago was chosen because it is endemic to the area and has a very resilient characteristic. “It is fast-growing, too. Not just that, it does not have a commercial value compare to gemelina and to that there is lesser chances that it would be cut down,” he added.
The Knights of Columbus allocated P500,000 for the 5-year multi-sectoral Operation Kontra Baha that was launched last September 16.
Commander Felipe Macabbabad, deputy commander of Philippine Coast Guard-Southern Mindanao, said they decided participate in the tree-planting activity for the good of the people.
“As we focused marine environment, we need to get involve in this kind of activity. The situation of the river affects marine life. Our assistance is really needed,” he said.
Macabbabad also said their mandate is not only the protection of the marine life but the environment as a whole. “Since we are also public servants, our contribution is in exchange to our pay that came from the taxpayers,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sarmiento said part of the original plan was to relocate the informal settlers along the riverbanks in Talomo, Matina, and Davao River.
“Part of our policy recommendation is to remove the informal settlers because it was seen as a problem during our survey last two months ago as it dangerous to live near the riverbanks. However, it is beyond our capacity to implement it,” Sarmiento said.
The program’s major partners are the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao, Philippine Navy, Southeastern Mindanao Coast Guard District, Philippine Coast Guard, Davao City’s Liga ng mga Barangay, and the Mountaineering Federation of Southern Mindanao.
Written by: Fusilero , Kristianne
Friday, 23 October 2009
OVER 6,000 volunteers will plant trees and collect garbage tomorrow along the Talomo River for the Operation Kontra Baha, spanning 17 kilometers and nine barangays, in what organizers claimed is the biggest simultaneous effort of its kind.
Gregorio Sarmiento, Knights of Columbus Council 9573 grand knight and program organizer, told the Times in a phone interview that they hope to plant 20,000 malibago trees across barangays Tugok, Ula, Sto. Niño, Tacunan, Mintal, Catalunan Pequeño, Catalunan Grande, Talomo Proper and Los Amigos.
“In our survey last two months ago, the worst case scenario that would happen in our city in five years time is that we might have the same fate as Luzon’s experience of typhoon ‘Ondoy’. To minimize the damage to lives and properties, we should plant more trees,” he said.
He said the malibago was chosen because it is endemic to the area and has a very resilient characteristic. “It is fast-growing, too. Not just that, it does not have a commercial value compare to gemelina and to that there is lesser chances that it would be cut down,” he added.
The Knights of Columbus allocated P500,000 for the 5-year multi-sectoral Operation Kontra Baha that was launched last September 16.
Commander Felipe Macabbabad, deputy commander of Philippine Coast Guard-Southern Mindanao, said they decided participate in the tree-planting activity for the good of the people.
“As we focused marine environment, we need to get involve in this kind of activity. The situation of the river affects marine life. Our assistance is really needed,” he said.
Macabbabad also said their mandate is not only the protection of the marine life but the environment as a whole. “Since we are also public servants, our contribution is in exchange to our pay that came from the taxpayers,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sarmiento said part of the original plan was to relocate the informal settlers along the riverbanks in Talomo, Matina, and Davao River.
“Part of our policy recommendation is to remove the informal settlers because it was seen as a problem during our survey last two months ago as it dangerous to live near the riverbanks. However, it is beyond our capacity to implement it,” Sarmiento said.
The program’s major partners are the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao, Philippine Navy, Southeastern Mindanao Coast Guard District, Philippine Coast Guard, Davao City’s Liga ng mga Barangay, and the Mountaineering Federation of Southern Mindanao.
Filipinos get ‘high’ with skyrunning
Filipinos get ‘high’ with skyrunning
By Rome Jorge, Lifestyle Editor
The air is thin, making every breath all the more precious. Humid with mist, the fog renders perspiration superfluous and makes clothes cling viscously to one’s dewy body. Beyond the canopy of the rainforest, the wind reveals itself to be a bracing chill. But not that it matters; every sinew burns with adrenalin. Far from just an automatic and instinctive motion, each step necessitates strategic placement. The next foothold is a knee-high ledge of craggy volcanic rock. A majestic panorama presents itself with every bend on the trail. The mountain’s pinnacle beckons. But that’s not the end of it all. The thrilling run back downhill awaits next. And going slow may not be an option. Gravity makes sprinting down the steep trail all but irresistible.
This is skyrunning—where athletes run mountain routes of 2000 or more meters altitude and where trails can be as steep as 40-percent inclines. It is a new sport; the International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) was founded in 2008. And already Filipinos are making their mark. A related sport—mountain running—is the term used for trails below 2000 meters altitude.
The Philippine Skyrunning Association (PSA) is a nonstock, nonprofit organization promoting the sport of skyrunning (high altitude running) in the Philippines. PSA is recognized by the ISF and is acknowledged as the official ISF member-organization in the Philippines.
The PSA was formed after Filipino athletes participating in the International Kinabalu Climbathon of 2007 in Malaysia—part of the ISF-sanctioned World Skyrunning Series—found themselves to be the largest foreign contingent. It was but natural that these pioneers unite.
Nina Patricia Dacanay—25-year-old triathlete, adventure racer, Team David Salon member and Kinabalu Climbathon veteran—is president of PSA.
She recalls: “It all started in 2007 when I felt a personal need for something new, a new goal to set. I think maybe it was a quarter life crisis. But whatever it was, the 21st International Kinabalu Climbathon [this was only one of several peaks for skyrunning around the world] soon came to my attention. Along with only four other Filipinos [Mon Marchan, Ige Lopez, Kath Rabe and Cel Canovas] as travel companions, we joined the race. The mountain was majestic and the experience, exhilarating. I finished the race but it was the first race I ever doubted I could complete because of the challenging terrain and the cruel cut off times. There were two: the first at the peak and another at the finish line. I was wowed by the international athletes who completed the course in half of the cut off time. It was then when the sport of skyrunning and the circuit called the World Skyrunning Series—the annual world event of skyrunning—came to my awareness. After my experience in the Mount Kinabalu Climbathon in 2007, I had such a great and uplifting time that I wanted to be part of enabling other Filipinos to experience what I did.”
It’s easy to see why high altitude running appeals to Dacanay and a burgeoning number of skyrunning enthusiasts. Unlike mountaineers encumbered by heavy backpacks and loads of gear, skyrunners enjoy the majesty of the great outdoors while freely reveling in their athleticism. Unlike marathoners plodding circuitous routes in the cities, high altitude runners enjoy a goal and a challenge set by nature herself.
Instead of trudging mindlessly, the trails they face require dexterity and forethought.
The right stuff
Many skyrunners have previous experience in other sports. Dacanay reveals, “My athletic background and training is more on middle and long distance running. I was in the track and field varsity team of Ateneo de Manila. During my college years, I was introduced to the Philippines’ mountainous outdoors as a member of the Loyola Mountaineers. And now, as I venture into women empowerment through an all-female multi-sports team—Team David’s Salon—I see skyrunning as a combination of all of my past athletic experiences. It comes full circle and I’m glad to be able to share it with other fun-loving, talented nature/mountain-lovers and runners who comprise the Philippine Skyrunning Association.”
Such athleticism all comes into play with skyrunning. Dacanay reveals what it takes to be a skyrunner: “It’s advantageous to have a background in running or mountaineering. Good foot coordination and balance, strong knees that can handle the downhill pounding once the route goes down. Leg, core and arm strength would also be a plus. Other skyrunning venues/routes require some upper body strength in pulling one’s weight up using ropes/chains to gain access to higher ground. Also, it would be important to note that fear of heights would present a big impediment to the sport. However, it’s been refreshing to see some friends and members who claim to have faced their fear of heights head on by trying out skyrunning and mountain running.”
She explains how to prepare for the sport: “Training for skyrunning only differs from marathon training in two aspects: venue/terrain and altitude. The venue for skyrunning is more on trail running and with altitude. Stair climbing and mountain running would be good ways to train. And because of the altitude difference, it’s also important for the skyrunner to study how his or her body reacts to sudden increases and decreases in altitude. More importantly, it’s important for a person to know how to manage altitude sickness.”
Champion adventure racer, Filipino skyrunning guru and fellow PSA member, Miguel Antonio “Ige” Lopez, also suggest biking as a good way to a strengthen the knees, which are prone to wear and tear during downhill running where gravity compounds the impact of one’s stride. Skyrunners and mountain runners who are not confident in sprinting downhill break themselves with each step instead of letting gravity help them as they bound down the trail are much more prone to this type of injury.
There are shoes specifically designed for sky and mountain running. These combine the lightweight and flexibility of running shoes with the support and the all-terrain tread pattern of hiking boots. According to Lopez, the best ones flex well at the toe but offer rigid support from the heel to the arch. They feature lugs at the sole that not only grip but also easily shed mud to prevent buildup.
Lopez also recommend socks that are a bit higher than those in vogue for marathon running to prevent pebbles from entering the shoe. To totally prevent such discomfort, he notes that mountaineering gaiters can also be worn.
For steep climbs where supporting one’s self on all fours may be necessary, ski poles and gloves can be useful. Though organized competitions do offer drinking stations, a backpack hydration system is a worthwhile investment, most especially for training. Besides such personal water supply, a separate water bottle filled with energy drink as well as a stash of energy bars or trail mix of GORP (granola, oats, raisins, and peanuts) can be helpful for very long distances.
Dacanay notes, “There’s not much difference between regular distance running and skyrunning in terms of gear. What would probably be a little unique is the need of some skyrunners to wear warm clothes to manage the cold climate at high altitude and the gloves to protect the hands from the cold and from getting wounded while climbing up ropes/chains. Although not considered as gear, medicine to manage vertigo and altitude sickness is also important.”
The splendor of the mountain awaits. The trail beckons. All it takes is putting one foot in front of the other.
For details, www.pinoyskyrunners.multiply.com.
By Rome Jorge, Lifestyle Editor
The air is thin, making every breath all the more precious. Humid with mist, the fog renders perspiration superfluous and makes clothes cling viscously to one’s dewy body. Beyond the canopy of the rainforest, the wind reveals itself to be a bracing chill. But not that it matters; every sinew burns with adrenalin. Far from just an automatic and instinctive motion, each step necessitates strategic placement. The next foothold is a knee-high ledge of craggy volcanic rock. A majestic panorama presents itself with every bend on the trail. The mountain’s pinnacle beckons. But that’s not the end of it all. The thrilling run back downhill awaits next. And going slow may not be an option. Gravity makes sprinting down the steep trail all but irresistible.
This is skyrunning—where athletes run mountain routes of 2000 or more meters altitude and where trails can be as steep as 40-percent inclines. It is a new sport; the International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) was founded in 2008. And already Filipinos are making their mark. A related sport—mountain running—is the term used for trails below 2000 meters altitude.
The Philippine Skyrunning Association (PSA) is a nonstock, nonprofit organization promoting the sport of skyrunning (high altitude running) in the Philippines. PSA is recognized by the ISF and is acknowledged as the official ISF member-organization in the Philippines.
The PSA was formed after Filipino athletes participating in the International Kinabalu Climbathon of 2007 in Malaysia—part of the ISF-sanctioned World Skyrunning Series—found themselves to be the largest foreign contingent. It was but natural that these pioneers unite.
Nina Patricia Dacanay—25-year-old triathlete, adventure racer, Team David Salon member and Kinabalu Climbathon veteran—is president of PSA.
She recalls: “It all started in 2007 when I felt a personal need for something new, a new goal to set. I think maybe it was a quarter life crisis. But whatever it was, the 21st International Kinabalu Climbathon [this was only one of several peaks for skyrunning around the world] soon came to my attention. Along with only four other Filipinos [Mon Marchan, Ige Lopez, Kath Rabe and Cel Canovas] as travel companions, we joined the race. The mountain was majestic and the experience, exhilarating. I finished the race but it was the first race I ever doubted I could complete because of the challenging terrain and the cruel cut off times. There were two: the first at the peak and another at the finish line. I was wowed by the international athletes who completed the course in half of the cut off time. It was then when the sport of skyrunning and the circuit called the World Skyrunning Series—the annual world event of skyrunning—came to my awareness. After my experience in the Mount Kinabalu Climbathon in 2007, I had such a great and uplifting time that I wanted to be part of enabling other Filipinos to experience what I did.”
It’s easy to see why high altitude running appeals to Dacanay and a burgeoning number of skyrunning enthusiasts. Unlike mountaineers encumbered by heavy backpacks and loads of gear, skyrunners enjoy the majesty of the great outdoors while freely reveling in their athleticism. Unlike marathoners plodding circuitous routes in the cities, high altitude runners enjoy a goal and a challenge set by nature herself.
Instead of trudging mindlessly, the trails they face require dexterity and forethought.
The right stuff
Many skyrunners have previous experience in other sports. Dacanay reveals, “My athletic background and training is more on middle and long distance running. I was in the track and field varsity team of Ateneo de Manila. During my college years, I was introduced to the Philippines’ mountainous outdoors as a member of the Loyola Mountaineers. And now, as I venture into women empowerment through an all-female multi-sports team—Team David’s Salon—I see skyrunning as a combination of all of my past athletic experiences. It comes full circle and I’m glad to be able to share it with other fun-loving, talented nature/mountain-lovers and runners who comprise the Philippine Skyrunning Association.”
Such athleticism all comes into play with skyrunning. Dacanay reveals what it takes to be a skyrunner: “It’s advantageous to have a background in running or mountaineering. Good foot coordination and balance, strong knees that can handle the downhill pounding once the route goes down. Leg, core and arm strength would also be a plus. Other skyrunning venues/routes require some upper body strength in pulling one’s weight up using ropes/chains to gain access to higher ground. Also, it would be important to note that fear of heights would present a big impediment to the sport. However, it’s been refreshing to see some friends and members who claim to have faced their fear of heights head on by trying out skyrunning and mountain running.”
She explains how to prepare for the sport: “Training for skyrunning only differs from marathon training in two aspects: venue/terrain and altitude. The venue for skyrunning is more on trail running and with altitude. Stair climbing and mountain running would be good ways to train. And because of the altitude difference, it’s also important for the skyrunner to study how his or her body reacts to sudden increases and decreases in altitude. More importantly, it’s important for a person to know how to manage altitude sickness.”
Champion adventure racer, Filipino skyrunning guru and fellow PSA member, Miguel Antonio “Ige” Lopez, also suggest biking as a good way to a strengthen the knees, which are prone to wear and tear during downhill running where gravity compounds the impact of one’s stride. Skyrunners and mountain runners who are not confident in sprinting downhill break themselves with each step instead of letting gravity help them as they bound down the trail are much more prone to this type of injury.
There are shoes specifically designed for sky and mountain running. These combine the lightweight and flexibility of running shoes with the support and the all-terrain tread pattern of hiking boots. According to Lopez, the best ones flex well at the toe but offer rigid support from the heel to the arch. They feature lugs at the sole that not only grip but also easily shed mud to prevent buildup.
Lopez also recommend socks that are a bit higher than those in vogue for marathon running to prevent pebbles from entering the shoe. To totally prevent such discomfort, he notes that mountaineering gaiters can also be worn.
For steep climbs where supporting one’s self on all fours may be necessary, ski poles and gloves can be useful. Though organized competitions do offer drinking stations, a backpack hydration system is a worthwhile investment, most especially for training. Besides such personal water supply, a separate water bottle filled with energy drink as well as a stash of energy bars or trail mix of GORP (granola, oats, raisins, and peanuts) can be helpful for very long distances.
Dacanay notes, “There’s not much difference between regular distance running and skyrunning in terms of gear. What would probably be a little unique is the need of some skyrunners to wear warm clothes to manage the cold climate at high altitude and the gloves to protect the hands from the cold and from getting wounded while climbing up ropes/chains. Although not considered as gear, medicine to manage vertigo and altitude sickness is also important.”
The splendor of the mountain awaits. The trail beckons. All it takes is putting one foot in front of the other.
For details, www.pinoyskyrunners.multiply.com.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
HM Transport and Green Star
HM Transport and Green Star: Bus to Laguna Calamba, Los Banos, Sta. Cruz, Pagsanjan
Years ago, when people wanted to commute to Sta. Cruz, Laguna by bus, one of the popular bus companies was Kapalaran Bus Line (KBL) but the bus company folded up due to labor disputes. The other two companies then were BLTB and the newer Laguna Trans owned by the same owners of JAM Transit.
At present, BLTB no longer services the route while Laguna Trans split to two bus lines: HM Transport servicing Cubao to Sta. Cruz route and Green Star plying the LRT/Taft to Sta. Cruz route. The two bus lines share the same bus terminal in Pagsanjan right after barangay Pagsawitan, Sta. Cruz (the fork on the highway where most passengers alight to transfer to jeepneys going to other Laguna towns).
Due to lack of official website, Tutubi's posting these information on the bus companies of his home province:
HM Transport
Route: Cubao to Sta. Cruz: EDSA, SLEX, Calamba (Mayapa, Paciano, Parian, Crossing, Halang, Bucal, Pansol, Bagong Kalsada), Los Banos (Lalakay, College (UPLB)), Bay (poblacion), Victoria (highway), Pila (poblacion), Sta. Cruz. Terminal. Travel time is 3 hours (2 hours for early morning trips)
hm transport bus
Cubao Bus Terminal is on the southbound lane of EDSA, Cubao, Quezon City near Victory Liner and the concrete pedestrian overpass. The terminal has a JAM sign with peach colored wall and a branch of Tio Pepe's (carinderia owned by Jollibee). It's walking distance from MRT Cubao-Araneta Center Station and LRT 2 Cubao Station.
HM Transport Contact Number
Sta. Cruz Terminal: +63.49.821.0531
Cubao Terminal: (to be updated once available)
Trip Schedules (according to bus conductor): first trip Cubao - Sta. Cruz is at 3:20am, last trip at 9:30pm spaced about 20 minutes apart. first trip from Sta. Cruz to Cubao is at 2am and last trip at 7:30pm
Green Star Express
Route: LRT Taft to Sta. Cruz: Taft, Buendia, SLEX, Calamba (Mayapa, Paciano, Parian, Crossing, Halang, Bucal, Pansol, Bagong Kalsada), Los Banos (Lalakay, Olivarez Plaza, College (UPLB)), Bay (poblacion), Victoria (Highway), Pila (poblacion), Sta. Cruz. Terminal
Bus terminal is shared with South Star and Grand Star (buses going to Lucena and Tagkawayan, Quezon), on north-bound Taft Avenue near corner Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Pasay City. It's walking distance from LRT Buendia Station, is beside Arellano University, also near bus terminal of JAM Transit and Tritran (buses going to Batangas).
Green Star Express Contact Number
Sta. Cruz Terminal: +63.49.808.3172; +63.49.808.3701
Pasay Terminal: (to be updated once available)
Trip Schedules: first trip LRT/Taft - Sta. Cruz is at 3:20am, last trip at 9:30pm spaced about 20 minutes apart. First trip from Sta. Cruz to LRT/Taft is at 2am and last trip at 7:30pm
Bus fares (all air-conditioned units, no ordinary)
Calamba: around PhP80.00 (depends on where you're going: Crossing, Halang, Pansol, Bucal), travel time around 1 to 1.5 hours
Los Banos (UPLB, Olivarez Plaza): around PhP92.00
Bay (poblacion)
Pila (Poblacion, Linga)
Cubao to Sta. Cruz: PhP130.50
LRT to Sta. Cruz: PhP123.25
Notes:
HM Transport and Green Star use Alabang viaduct and do not drop off/pick up passengers in Alabang. Try H.M. Liner servicing Calamba-Lawton route and it's competitor Calamba Megatrans but using ordinary buses. These buses will not take you directly to Pansol Resorts, if you're going there, you have to transfer to jeepneys going to Sta. Cruz.
The air-conditioned buses have reclining seats with four columns and may be standing room only if you ride in Calamba going to Manila.
Bus drivers take their time and don't speed up but their 3 hours travel time is consistent.
On summer months, expect heavy traffic between Calamba and Los Banos, particularly in Pansol where the hot spring resorts are located.
On reaching Sta. Cruz you can transfer to jeepneys going to Siniloan (will pass by Pagsanjan, Lumban, Kalayaan, Paete, Pakil, Pangil then Siniloan (where jeeps to Tanay, Rizal are present, also tricycles to Famy and Mabitac)), Pagsanjan, Lumban, Paete, Liliw, Magdalena, Majayjay, Lumot (Cavinti, Lake Caliraya and Lumot Lake), Luisiana, Nagcarlan, Rizal, San Pablo and the Quezon towns of Lucban, Tayabas and Lucena City.
Years ago, when people wanted to commute to Sta. Cruz, Laguna by bus, one of the popular bus companies was Kapalaran Bus Line (KBL) but the bus company folded up due to labor disputes. The other two companies then were BLTB and the newer Laguna Trans owned by the same owners of JAM Transit.
At present, BLTB no longer services the route while Laguna Trans split to two bus lines: HM Transport servicing Cubao to Sta. Cruz route and Green Star plying the LRT/Taft to Sta. Cruz route. The two bus lines share the same bus terminal in Pagsanjan right after barangay Pagsawitan, Sta. Cruz (the fork on the highway where most passengers alight to transfer to jeepneys going to other Laguna towns).
Due to lack of official website, Tutubi's posting these information on the bus companies of his home province:
HM Transport
Route: Cubao to Sta. Cruz: EDSA, SLEX, Calamba (Mayapa, Paciano, Parian, Crossing, Halang, Bucal, Pansol, Bagong Kalsada), Los Banos (Lalakay, College (UPLB)), Bay (poblacion), Victoria (highway), Pila (poblacion), Sta. Cruz. Terminal. Travel time is 3 hours (2 hours for early morning trips)
hm transport bus
Cubao Bus Terminal is on the southbound lane of EDSA, Cubao, Quezon City near Victory Liner and the concrete pedestrian overpass. The terminal has a JAM sign with peach colored wall and a branch of Tio Pepe's (carinderia owned by Jollibee). It's walking distance from MRT Cubao-Araneta Center Station and LRT 2 Cubao Station.
HM Transport Contact Number
Sta. Cruz Terminal: +63.49.821.0531
Cubao Terminal: (to be updated once available)
Trip Schedules (according to bus conductor): first trip Cubao - Sta. Cruz is at 3:20am, last trip at 9:30pm spaced about 20 minutes apart. first trip from Sta. Cruz to Cubao is at 2am and last trip at 7:30pm
Green Star Express
Route: LRT Taft to Sta. Cruz: Taft, Buendia, SLEX, Calamba (Mayapa, Paciano, Parian, Crossing, Halang, Bucal, Pansol, Bagong Kalsada), Los Banos (Lalakay, Olivarez Plaza, College (UPLB)), Bay (poblacion), Victoria (Highway), Pila (poblacion), Sta. Cruz. Terminal
Bus terminal is shared with South Star and Grand Star (buses going to Lucena and Tagkawayan, Quezon), on north-bound Taft Avenue near corner Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Pasay City. It's walking distance from LRT Buendia Station, is beside Arellano University, also near bus terminal of JAM Transit and Tritran (buses going to Batangas).
Green Star Express Contact Number
Sta. Cruz Terminal: +63.49.808.3172; +63.49.808.3701
Pasay Terminal: (to be updated once available)
Trip Schedules: first trip LRT/Taft - Sta. Cruz is at 3:20am, last trip at 9:30pm spaced about 20 minutes apart. First trip from Sta. Cruz to LRT/Taft is at 2am and last trip at 7:30pm
Bus fares (all air-conditioned units, no ordinary)
Calamba: around PhP80.00 (depends on where you're going: Crossing, Halang, Pansol, Bucal), travel time around 1 to 1.5 hours
Los Banos (UPLB, Olivarez Plaza): around PhP92.00
Bay (poblacion)
Pila (Poblacion, Linga)
Cubao to Sta. Cruz: PhP130.50
LRT to Sta. Cruz: PhP123.25
Notes:
HM Transport and Green Star use Alabang viaduct and do not drop off/pick up passengers in Alabang. Try H.M. Liner servicing Calamba-Lawton route and it's competitor Calamba Megatrans but using ordinary buses. These buses will not take you directly to Pansol Resorts, if you're going there, you have to transfer to jeepneys going to Sta. Cruz.
The air-conditioned buses have reclining seats with four columns and may be standing room only if you ride in Calamba going to Manila.
Bus drivers take their time and don't speed up but their 3 hours travel time is consistent.
On summer months, expect heavy traffic between Calamba and Los Banos, particularly in Pansol where the hot spring resorts are located.
On reaching Sta. Cruz you can transfer to jeepneys going to Siniloan (will pass by Pagsanjan, Lumban, Kalayaan, Paete, Pakil, Pangil then Siniloan (where jeeps to Tanay, Rizal are present, also tricycles to Famy and Mabitac)), Pagsanjan, Lumban, Paete, Liliw, Magdalena, Majayjay, Lumot (Cavinti, Lake Caliraya and Lumot Lake), Luisiana, Nagcarlan, Rizal, San Pablo and the Quezon towns of Lucban, Tayabas and Lucena City.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Mountaineering-Are the risks worth taking?
Mountaineering-Are the risks worth taking?
By Luke Bream on October 2, 2009
For most of my life I have been facinated by mountaineer’s. I remember as a child being given various biographies and reading them cover to cover. I was gripped with their tales of courage and daring as they pushed on into the “death zone” (above 8000m)
As I have got older I have begun to unsderstand and appreciate the full cost of what these incredible adventurers and explorers undertake. The enormous level of risk that they experience and the fragility of their lives. This has a powerful effect on them and even more so their families.
I read a report titled “letter to Daniel” (his son) by the BBC reporter Fergal Keane, in it he was writing about his life as a war correspondant and the effects on his family. I felt that his words equally applied to mountaineering and have used them in the following film which is dedicated to all those who didn’t return.
Please watch this mountaineering film and share your comments below.
By Luke Bream on October 2, 2009
For most of my life I have been facinated by mountaineer’s. I remember as a child being given various biographies and reading them cover to cover. I was gripped with their tales of courage and daring as they pushed on into the “death zone” (above 8000m)
As I have got older I have begun to unsderstand and appreciate the full cost of what these incredible adventurers and explorers undertake. The enormous level of risk that they experience and the fragility of their lives. This has a powerful effect on them and even more so their families.
I read a report titled “letter to Daniel” (his son) by the BBC reporter Fergal Keane, in it he was writing about his life as a war correspondant and the effects on his family. I felt that his words equally applied to mountaineering and have used them in the following film which is dedicated to all those who didn’t return.
Please watch this mountaineering film and share your comments below.
Extreme Ski Mountaineering on K2 by Inspirational Climber
Extreme Ski Mountaineering on K2 by Inspirational Climber
By Luke Bream on October 16, 2009
Ski mountaineering is a relativly new take on alpinism and climbing mountains. Not only must climbers have the necessary mountaineering skills they must also be incredible extreme skiers. Dave Watson oppitimises this new breed of inspirational alpine adventureres. In August 2009 he climbed to within 500 feet of the summit of K2 (bad snow conditions stopped him reaching the top) then attached skiis and took the ride of his life !
I hope you enjoy this extreme ski mountaineering video – Please take a moment to comment afterwards and give your thoughts on Dave Watson’s epic climbing challenge, is this the ultimate form of mountaineering, is it in the spirit of alpinism, do you dream of attemping your own K2 expedition ?
For more information on the alpinist Dave watson’s radical mountaineering decent of K2 visit his website www.k2tracks.com
Credits for the images used in this movie about ski mountaineering on K2 belong to Dave Watson.
Please support CrazyJourneys.com by taking a moment to comment on this extreme skiing film and also tweet or share it. Help Luke to spread the word. The buttons are below:
By Luke Bream on October 16, 2009
Ski mountaineering is a relativly new take on alpinism and climbing mountains. Not only must climbers have the necessary mountaineering skills they must also be incredible extreme skiers. Dave Watson oppitimises this new breed of inspirational alpine adventureres. In August 2009 he climbed to within 500 feet of the summit of K2 (bad snow conditions stopped him reaching the top) then attached skiis and took the ride of his life !
I hope you enjoy this extreme ski mountaineering video – Please take a moment to comment afterwards and give your thoughts on Dave Watson’s epic climbing challenge, is this the ultimate form of mountaineering, is it in the spirit of alpinism, do you dream of attemping your own K2 expedition ?
For more information on the alpinist Dave watson’s radical mountaineering decent of K2 visit his website www.k2tracks.com
Credits for the images used in this movie about ski mountaineering on K2 belong to Dave Watson.
Please support CrazyJourneys.com by taking a moment to comment on this extreme skiing film and also tweet or share it. Help Luke to spread the word. The buttons are below:
Saturday, October 10, 2009
fashion for a cause
Do you love fashion and want to help give back to the community while having fun? Join us and other bloggers as we go to the GK Sunshineville in Las Pinas on 10 October 2009! (Saturday)
Get to see and experience first-hand the "Bayong ng Kabuhayan" project at the GK Sunshineville. The "Bayong ng Kabuhayan" project is a livelihood program where members of the community create stylish and eco-trendy products such as bags plus home and office accessories from Doy-pack materials. The weaving livelihood provides opportunities for 30 of its residents and has the potential to grow into a sustainable and profitable enterprise.
Meet the community members who who are part of the program and see how the products are made. You'll even get to bring home a bag for yourself!
Please click here to see a quick video about GK Sunshinville and "Bayong ng Kabuhayan"
Let's help make a difference and spread the word through blogging!
Details: GK Sunshineville Visit
When: 17 Oct 2009
Time: 9am-12nn
Where: Gawad Kalinga Sunshineville, Las Pinas
Meeting Place and drop-off point after: Starbucks Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City (beside Pancake House). Transportation and food will be taken care of.
Max # of bloggers: 10 (first ten to confirm will be joining the trip)
Please RSVP on or before: 14 Oct Wed.
To RSVP, kindly email gksunshinevillevisit@gmail.com.
Please include your name, blog address and mobile # so we can easily coordinate.
Thanks and looking forward to your participation!
Cheers!
The Nuffnang Team
Get to see and experience first-hand the "Bayong ng Kabuhayan" project at the GK Sunshineville. The "Bayong ng Kabuhayan" project is a livelihood program where members of the community create stylish and eco-trendy products such as bags plus home and office accessories from Doy-pack materials. The weaving livelihood provides opportunities for 30 of its residents and has the potential to grow into a sustainable and profitable enterprise.
Meet the community members who who are part of the program and see how the products are made. You'll even get to bring home a bag for yourself!
Please click here to see a quick video about GK Sunshinville and "Bayong ng Kabuhayan"
Let's help make a difference and spread the word through blogging!
Details: GK Sunshineville Visit
When: 17 Oct 2009
Time: 9am-12nn
Where: Gawad Kalinga Sunshineville, Las Pinas
Meeting Place and drop-off point after: Starbucks Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City (beside Pancake House). Transportation and food will be taken care of.
Max # of bloggers: 10 (first ten to confirm will be joining the trip)
Please RSVP on or before: 14 Oct Wed.
To RSVP, kindly email gksunshinevillevisit@gmail.com.
Please include your name, blog address and mobile # so we can easily coordinate.
Thanks and looking forward to your participation!
Cheers!
The Nuffnang Team
Eddie Bauer Launching New Mountaineering Gear on October 12th
Eddie Bauer Launching New Mountaineering Gear on October 12th
Eddie Bauer First Ascent Gear
Eddie Bauer is launching First Ascent in its stores beginning October 12th. First Ascent is Eddie Bauer's new line of mountaineering outerwear, apparel, and gear that was built by a team of the world's foremost mountain guides, including Peter Whittaker, Ed Viesturs and Dave Hahn.
First Ascent "shops" will carry the line's complete system – from baselayer and insulating layers to soft shell and hard shell outerwear. The line also includes backpacks, duffels, knives and other gear. The in-store experience takes the customer to Mt. Everest with footage from the First Ascent team's recent summit shown on 65" screens, which provide access to the guides, their climbing adventures, and an understanding of how they built the gear.
"The launch of First Ascent brings Eddie Bauer full circle," says Neil Fiske, President and CEO of Eddie Bauer. "As the original expedition outfitter, Eddie Bauer developed outerwear with mountaineering pioneers of his time, and now we've aligned with today's generation of world-class climbers to match his exacting standards for technical performance and craftsmanship."
Eddie Bauer First Ascent Gear
Eddie Bauer is launching First Ascent in its stores beginning October 12th. First Ascent is Eddie Bauer's new line of mountaineering outerwear, apparel, and gear that was built by a team of the world's foremost mountain guides, including Peter Whittaker, Ed Viesturs and Dave Hahn.
First Ascent "shops" will carry the line's complete system – from baselayer and insulating layers to soft shell and hard shell outerwear. The line also includes backpacks, duffels, knives and other gear. The in-store experience takes the customer to Mt. Everest with footage from the First Ascent team's recent summit shown on 65" screens, which provide access to the guides, their climbing adventures, and an understanding of how they built the gear.
"The launch of First Ascent brings Eddie Bauer full circle," says Neil Fiske, President and CEO of Eddie Bauer. "As the original expedition outfitter, Eddie Bauer developed outerwear with mountaineering pioneers of his time, and now we've aligned with today's generation of world-class climbers to match his exacting standards for technical performance and craftsmanship."
Cool Facts about Pigeons
Cool Facts about Pigeons
Gallagher PigeonCool Pigeon Facts
Origins: Pigeons and doves have been around for a long time—long before humans. Rock Doves are thought to have originated in southern Asia several million years ago. Compare this to modern humans that first appeared about 120,000 years ago.
Size and weight: A pigeon is about 13 inches (32 cm) in length from bill to tail and weighs a little less than a pound (0.35 kg). Males are slightly bigger than females.
A pigeon family:
* Hen: an adult female pigeon
* Cock: an adult male pigeon
* Hatchling: a newly hatched pigeon
just a few days old
* Squab: a young pigeon from 1–30 days old.
When ready to leave its nest, a squab can sometimes weigh more than its parents.
* Peeper or Squeaker: a young bird that is learning to eat
* Fledgling: a bird that is ready to fly or that has just taken its first flight
* Juvenile: a bird out of its nest and flying but less than eight months old
Nest and roosting sites: A pigeon nest usually is constructed on covered building ledges that resemble cliffs, a Rock Dove’s natural habitat. They also nest and roost on the support structures under bridges in cities and along highways.
Nests: Pigeons build their nests with small twigs. A cock brings the nesting material to his mate, one piece at a time, and she builds the nest. Nests are usually well-hidden and hard to find.
Eggs and incubation: Pigeons usually lay two white eggs. The parents take turns keeping their eggs warm (incubating). Males usually stay on the nest during the day; females, at night. Eggs take about 18 days to hatch.
Food for young: Both male and female parent pigeons produce a special substance called "pigeon milk," which they feed to their hatchlings during their first week of life. Pigeon milk is made in a special part of the bird’s digestive system called the "crop." When hatchlings are about one week old, the parents start regurgitating seeds with crop milk; eventually seeds replace the pigeon milk.
Colors: There may be as many as 28 pigeon color types, called "morphs," but Project PigeonWatch groups them into just seven morphs. Pigeons also have colorful neck feathers. These iridescent green, yellow, and purple feathers are called "hackle." Adult males and females look alike, but a male’s hackle is more iridescent than a female’s.
White "color:" White feathers are actually feathers that have no color pigments. So, when you see white on pigeons you are actually seeing no color.
Feathers: Pigeons have many types of feathers including contour feathers, the stiff feathers that give the body its shape, and down, the fluffy insulating feathers. Many pigeon feathers are accompanied by one or two filoplume feathers, which look like hairs. These filoplumes may have sensory functions, such as, detecting touch and pressure changes.
Eye colors: Adults have orange or reddish orange eyes; juveniles that are less than six to eight months old have medium brown or grayish brown eyes.
Leg and feet colors: Pigeon legs and feet are red to pink to grayish black. Their claws are usually grayish black but can be white on some pigeons. Some birds have "stockings," which are feathers on their legs and feet!
Cere: The cere is the fleshy covering on the upper part of a pigeon's beak. It is grayish in young birds or juveniles, and white in adults. Albino birds may have pinkish ceres.
Eyesight: Pigeon eyesight is excellent. Like humans, pigeons can see color, but they also can see ultraviolet light—part of the light spectrum that humans can’t see. Pigeons are sometimes used in human search-and-rescue missions because of their exceptional vision.
Hearing: Pigeons can hear sounds at much lower frequencies than humans can, such as wind blowing across buildings and mountains, distant thunderstorms, and even far-away volcanoes. Sensitive hearing may explain why pigeons sometimes fly away for no apparent reason: maybe they heard something you can’t.
Sounds: Pigeons make two types of sounds: vocal (using voice) and nonvocal. The primary call used by males to attract mates and defend territories is coo roo-c’too-coo. From their nests they might say oh-oo-oor. When they are startled or scared they might make an alarm call like: oorhh! Pigeon babies make nonvocal sounds such as bill snapping and hissing. After mating, males often make clapping sounds with their wings.
Unique drinking behavior: Most birds take a sip of water and throw back their heads to let the water trickle down their throats. But pigeons (and all of their relatives in the family Columbidae) suck up water, using their beaks like straws.
Magnetic sensitivity: Do pigeons have compasses in their heads? Not really, but pigeons, especially those bred for their homing instincts, seem to be able to detect the Earth’s magnetic fields. Cornell University pigeon researcher Dr. Charles Walcott says that magnetic sensitivity, along with an ability to tell direction by the sun, seems to help pigeons find their ways home.
Locomotion: On the ground, pigeons don’t hop the way many birds do. They walk or run with their heads bobbing back and forth. Pigeons are strong fliers and can fly up to 40 or 50 miles per hour. Some pigeons are raised for their exceptional abilities to fly fast and find their ways home. These pigeons may fly as far as 600 miles in a day. Although feral pigeons are good fliers too, most of these birds seem to stay close to their regular feeding sites.
Natural predators: One species of falcon, Merlin, eats so many pigeons its scientific name is Falco columbarius (with the "columba-" meaning pigeon) and it was formerly called Pigeon Hawk. Merlins are medium-sized falcons and although they are not very common in cities, you can bet they are preying on pigeons living in open parks near marshes and ponds. In cities where Peregrine Falcons have become established, they catch and eat feral pigeons, often carrying them back to feed to their nestlings. Red-tailed and Cooper’s hawks also prey on pigeons in cities and in rural areas.
Fancy pigeons: People raise all kinds of fancy pigeons. The breeds have names, such as rollers, tumblers, and fantails, which reflect the way the birds fly or the way they look. Sometimes, people take their fancy pigeons to compete in shows.
Gallagher PigeonCool Pigeon Facts
Origins: Pigeons and doves have been around for a long time—long before humans. Rock Doves are thought to have originated in southern Asia several million years ago. Compare this to modern humans that first appeared about 120,000 years ago.
Size and weight: A pigeon is about 13 inches (32 cm) in length from bill to tail and weighs a little less than a pound (0.35 kg). Males are slightly bigger than females.
A pigeon family:
* Hen: an adult female pigeon
* Cock: an adult male pigeon
* Hatchling: a newly hatched pigeon
just a few days old
* Squab: a young pigeon from 1–30 days old.
When ready to leave its nest, a squab can sometimes weigh more than its parents.
* Peeper or Squeaker: a young bird that is learning to eat
* Fledgling: a bird that is ready to fly or that has just taken its first flight
* Juvenile: a bird out of its nest and flying but less than eight months old
Nest and roosting sites: A pigeon nest usually is constructed on covered building ledges that resemble cliffs, a Rock Dove’s natural habitat. They also nest and roost on the support structures under bridges in cities and along highways.
Nests: Pigeons build their nests with small twigs. A cock brings the nesting material to his mate, one piece at a time, and she builds the nest. Nests are usually well-hidden and hard to find.
Eggs and incubation: Pigeons usually lay two white eggs. The parents take turns keeping their eggs warm (incubating). Males usually stay on the nest during the day; females, at night. Eggs take about 18 days to hatch.
Food for young: Both male and female parent pigeons produce a special substance called "pigeon milk," which they feed to their hatchlings during their first week of life. Pigeon milk is made in a special part of the bird’s digestive system called the "crop." When hatchlings are about one week old, the parents start regurgitating seeds with crop milk; eventually seeds replace the pigeon milk.
Colors: There may be as many as 28 pigeon color types, called "morphs," but Project PigeonWatch groups them into just seven morphs. Pigeons also have colorful neck feathers. These iridescent green, yellow, and purple feathers are called "hackle." Adult males and females look alike, but a male’s hackle is more iridescent than a female’s.
White "color:" White feathers are actually feathers that have no color pigments. So, when you see white on pigeons you are actually seeing no color.
Feathers: Pigeons have many types of feathers including contour feathers, the stiff feathers that give the body its shape, and down, the fluffy insulating feathers. Many pigeon feathers are accompanied by one or two filoplume feathers, which look like hairs. These filoplumes may have sensory functions, such as, detecting touch and pressure changes.
Eye colors: Adults have orange or reddish orange eyes; juveniles that are less than six to eight months old have medium brown or grayish brown eyes.
Leg and feet colors: Pigeon legs and feet are red to pink to grayish black. Their claws are usually grayish black but can be white on some pigeons. Some birds have "stockings," which are feathers on their legs and feet!
Cere: The cere is the fleshy covering on the upper part of a pigeon's beak. It is grayish in young birds or juveniles, and white in adults. Albino birds may have pinkish ceres.
Eyesight: Pigeon eyesight is excellent. Like humans, pigeons can see color, but they also can see ultraviolet light—part of the light spectrum that humans can’t see. Pigeons are sometimes used in human search-and-rescue missions because of their exceptional vision.
Hearing: Pigeons can hear sounds at much lower frequencies than humans can, such as wind blowing across buildings and mountains, distant thunderstorms, and even far-away volcanoes. Sensitive hearing may explain why pigeons sometimes fly away for no apparent reason: maybe they heard something you can’t.
Sounds: Pigeons make two types of sounds: vocal (using voice) and nonvocal. The primary call used by males to attract mates and defend territories is coo roo-c’too-coo. From their nests they might say oh-oo-oor. When they are startled or scared they might make an alarm call like: oorhh! Pigeon babies make nonvocal sounds such as bill snapping and hissing. After mating, males often make clapping sounds with their wings.
Unique drinking behavior: Most birds take a sip of water and throw back their heads to let the water trickle down their throats. But pigeons (and all of their relatives in the family Columbidae) suck up water, using their beaks like straws.
Magnetic sensitivity: Do pigeons have compasses in their heads? Not really, but pigeons, especially those bred for their homing instincts, seem to be able to detect the Earth’s magnetic fields. Cornell University pigeon researcher Dr. Charles Walcott says that magnetic sensitivity, along with an ability to tell direction by the sun, seems to help pigeons find their ways home.
Locomotion: On the ground, pigeons don’t hop the way many birds do. They walk or run with their heads bobbing back and forth. Pigeons are strong fliers and can fly up to 40 or 50 miles per hour. Some pigeons are raised for their exceptional abilities to fly fast and find their ways home. These pigeons may fly as far as 600 miles in a day. Although feral pigeons are good fliers too, most of these birds seem to stay close to their regular feeding sites.
Natural predators: One species of falcon, Merlin, eats so many pigeons its scientific name is Falco columbarius (with the "columba-" meaning pigeon) and it was formerly called Pigeon Hawk. Merlins are medium-sized falcons and although they are not very common in cities, you can bet they are preying on pigeons living in open parks near marshes and ponds. In cities where Peregrine Falcons have become established, they catch and eat feral pigeons, often carrying them back to feed to their nestlings. Red-tailed and Cooper’s hawks also prey on pigeons in cities and in rural areas.
Fancy pigeons: People raise all kinds of fancy pigeons. The breeds have names, such as rollers, tumblers, and fantails, which reflect the way the birds fly or the way they look. Sometimes, people take their fancy pigeons to compete in shows.
21 Amazing Facts You Didn't Know About Pigeons
How old are pigeons?
Pigeons have lived alongside man for thousands of years with the first images of pigeons being found by archaeologists in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and dating back to 3000 BC. It was the Sumerians in Mesopotamia that first started to breed white doves from the wild pigeon that we see in our towns and cities today and this undoubtedly accounts for the amazing variety of colors that are found in the average flock of urban pigeons. To ancient peoples a white pigeon would have seemed miraculous and this explains why the bird was widely worshipped and considered to be sacred. Throughout human history the pigeon has adopted many roles ranging from symbols of gods and goddesses through to sacrificial victims, messengers, pets, food and even war heroes!
Biblical references
The first biblical reference to the pigeon (or dove) was in the Old Testament of the Bible in the first millennium AC and was the story of Noah and the dove of peace. Later, in the New Testament, the pigeon was first mentioned during the baptism of Christ where the dove descended as the Holy Spirit, an image now used extensively in Christian art. These early biblical references have paved the way for the many different ways that the urban pigeon is viewed in modern societies worldwide. Perception of the pigeon through the centuries has changed from God to the devil and from hero to zero!
Pigeon poop – foul or fantastic?
Although pigeon poo is seen as a major problem for property owners in the 21st Century, it was considered to be an invaluable resource in the 16th, 17th and 18th century in Europe. Pigeon poop was a highly prized fertiliser and considered to be far more potent than farmyard manure. So prized in fact that armed guards were stationed at the entrances to dovecotes (pigeon houses) to stop thieves stealing it! Not only this, but in England in the 16th century pigeon poop was the only known source of saltpetre, an essential ingredient of gunpowder and was considered a highly valued commodity as a result. In Iran, where eating pigeon flesh was forbidden, dovecotes were set up and used simply as a source of fertilizer for melon crops and in France and Italy it was used to fertilize vineyards and hemp crops.
The pigeon as a war hero
In modern times the feral pigeon has been used to great effect during wartime. In both the first and second World Wars the pigeon saved hundreds of thousands of human lives by carrying messages across enemy lines. Pigeons were carried on ships in convoys and in the event of a U-boat attack a messenger pigeon was released with details of the location of the sinking ship. In many cases this lead to the survivors being rescued and lives saved. Mobile pigeon lofts were set up behind the trenches in the First World War from which pigeons often had to fly through enemy fire and poison gas to get their messages home. The birds played a vital role in intelligence gathering and were used extensively behind enemy lines where the survival rate was only 10%. In the Second World War pigeons were used less due to advances in telecommunications, but the birds relayed invaluable information back to the allies about the German V1 and V2 Rocket sites on the other side of the Channel.
The pigeon as a messenger
The earliest large scale communication network using pigeons as messengers was established in Syria and Persia about 5th Century BC. Much later in the 12th Century AD the city of Baghdad and all the main towns and cities in Syria and Egypt were linked by messages carried by pigeons. This was the sole source of communication. In Roman times the pigeon was used to carry results of sporting events such as the Olympic Games and this is why white doves are released at the start of the Olympic Games today. In England, prior to the days of telegraphs, pigeons were often taken to soccer matches and released to carry home the result of the game. Their use as a messenger in war time resulted in many pigeons being awarded honors by both the British and French Governments. Incredibly, the last ‘pigeon post’ service was abandoned in India in 2004 with the birds being retired to live out the rest of their days in peace.
The religious significance of the pigeon
Many religious groups including Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs feed pigeons for religious reasons. Many older Sikhs feed pigeons ceremoniously to honour the high priest and warrior Guru Govind Singh who was a known friend of the pigeon (or rock dove). Some Sikhs also feed pigeons because they believe that when they are reincarnated they will never go hungry if they have fed pigeons in their previous life. Other religious groups in India believe that when a person dies his or her soul assumes the form of a bird (normally a pigeon) and therefore by feeding birds they are caring for the souls of their departed ancestors. The pigeon is revered in India with huge flocks numbering many thousands of birds being fed daily at Hindu temples in town and city centres throughout the country. In both eastern and western societies many of the most entrenched pigeon-related problems in urban areas are considered to be caused, certainly in part, by religious feeding of the birds. In the Christian religion the pigeon is both a symbol of peace and of the Holy Spirit.
Famous pigeons
During the First World War a pigeon named Cher Ami (Dear friend) saved the lives of many French soldiers by carrying a message across enemy lines in the heat of battle. Cher Ami was shot in the chest and the leg, loosing most of the leg to which the message was attached, but continued the 25 minute flight avoiding shrapnel and poison gas to get the message home. Cher Ami was awarded the French ‘Croix de Guerre’ for heroic service. Another heroic pigeon named G.I. Joe saved the lives of a thousand soldiers in World War 2 after British troops had established a position within an Italian town that was due to be bombed by allied planes. Communication equipment was down and the only means of stopping the raid was to attach a hastily written message to G.I. Joe and send him to the HQ. G.I. Joe flew 20 miles in 20 minutes arriving at the air base whilst the planes were taxiing on the runway. Disaster was averted with 5 minutes to spare. G.I. Joe received the ‘Dickin’ medal for his bravery.
‘Rock Dove’ or ‘pigeon’?
The feral pigeon that we see in our towns and cities today is descended from the Rock Dove (Columba livia), a cliff dwelling bird historically found in coastal regions. The word ‘pigeon’ is actually derived from the Latin word ‘pipio’ which meant ‘young bird’. The word then passed into Old French as ‘pijon’ and thus the English name ‘pigeon’ was derived and is now used the world over as a common name for the Rock Dove. Other common names include ‘domestic pigeon’ and the ‘feral pigeon’. In 2004 British and American Ornithologists officially re-named the bird the Rock Pigeon.
Why do pigeons bob their heads?
The pigeon has side mounted eyes unlike humans and owls which have forward facing eyes. As a pigeons have monocular vision rather than binocular vision they bob their heads for depth of perception. The pigeon’s eyes work much better with stationary images and therefore, as the pigeon takes a step forward the head is temporarily left behind. The next step jerks the head forward again and so on. This allows the bird to correctly orient itself.
Pigeon-gram Air Mail service
The first organised pigeon air-mail service was started in 1896 between New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef. The sinking of the SS Wairarapa off the Great Barrier Reef, with the loss of 134 lives, was a catalyst for the service. News of the disaster did not reach New Zealand for 3-days and as a direct result a pigeon-gram service was set up between the two islands. The first message was carried in January 1896 and took less than 1.75 hours to reach Aukland. Up to 5 messages were carried by each pigeon with the record time for the journey being held by a pigeon called ‘Velocity’ taking only 50 minutes and averaging 125 kmph (only 40% slower than a modern aircraft!). Special pigeon-gram stamps were issued costing 2/- each (20 cents) with the fee being paid in cash before the pigeon was released.
Pigeons in Wall Street
One of the richest and most famous families in the world amassed its wealth, certainly in part, as a result of exploiting the pigeon. In the early 1800’s the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe and used homing pigeons to carry information between its financial houses. This method proved to be quicker and more efficient than any other means of communication available at the time. The speed of the service combined with the ability to send and receive information ahead of the competition helped the Rothschild family amass a fortune which still exists today.
Mating habits of the pigeon
The feral pigeon mates for life and can breed up to 8 times a year in optimum conditions, bringing two young into the world each time. The frequency of breeding is dictated by the abundance of food. The eggs take 18/19 days to hatch with both parents incubating the eggs. Young dependant pigeons are commonly known as ‘squabs’. Both parents feed the young with a special ‘pigeon milk’ that is regurgitated and fed to the squabs. Each squab can double its birth weight in one day but it takes 4 days for the eyes to open. When squabs are hungry they ‘squeak’ whilst flapping their wings and as a result they are also commonly known as ‘squeakers’. At approximately 2 months of age the young are ready to fledge and leave the nest. This much longer than average time spent in the nest ensures that life expectancy of a juvenile pigeon is far greater than that of other fledglings.
Pigeons are big business
We normally think of the pigeon as being an unwelcome guest in our towns and cities but most of us are unaware that racing pigeons can be worth huge sums of money. One racing pigeon recently sold for a staggering $132,517.00! The 3-year old bird was a champion racer beating 21,000 other pigeons in one long distance race. For this reason he was bought by one British company that breeds racing pigeons for ‘stud’. One very happy pigeon! The previous record price for a pigeon was $73, 800.00.
How do pigeons navigate?
There are many theories about how pigeons manage to return ‘home’ when released 100’s of miles from their loft. A champion racing pigeon can be released 400-600 miles away from its home and still return within the day. This amazing feat does not just apply to ‘racing’ or ‘homing’ pigeons, all pigeons have the ability to return to their roost. A 10-year study carried out by Oxford University concluded that pigeons use roads and freeways to navigate, in some cases even changing direction at freeway junctions. Other theories include navigation by use of the earth’s magnetic field, visual clues such as landmarks, the sun and even infrasounds (low frequency seismic waves). Whatever the truth, this unique ability makes the pigeon a very special bird.
Famous people and pigeons
The humble pigeon has attracted some very famous fans over the last few thousand years ranging from Royalty to rock and roll singers and actors through to fashion designers. One of the most famous royals is Queen Elizabeth of England who has lofts and pigeon keepers at her estate in Sandringham, Norfolk. Elvis Presley had a soft spot for pigeons and Mike Tyson is also an enthusiastic pigeon keeper. Even Maurizzo Gucci the internationally renowned fashion designer is a keen pigeon fancier spending a reputed $10,000 on one American pigeon. 'One famous couple, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, are keen pigeon fanciers but after being swamped by autograph hunters at a pigeon show they are apparently less comfortable to show their affection for the birds publicly.' Last but not least, and probably the most famous of all... Noah!
Pigeon disasters
Probably the greatest disaster to befall the species was the extermination of the passenger pigeon in North America in the early part of the 20th century. It is estimated that there were 3-5 billion passenger pigeons in North America at the time. Flocks of 100,000’s of the birds would blacken the skies as they flew over but early settlers managed to wipe out every last bird by 1914 through over-hunting. A more recent, and quite bizarre disaster, befell tens of thousands of racing pigeons released from Nantes in France as part of a race held to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Racing Pigeon Association in England. 60,000 pigeons were released but only a few birds ever arrived back at their lofts throughout southern England. One theory suggests that the sonic boom created by Concorde as it flew over the English Channel, at the precise time the pigeons would have been at the same point, completely disorientated the birds, compromising their inbuilt navigation system.
Pigeons as lifesavers
Although pigeons are one of the most intelligent of all the bird species man has found limited uses for the birds other than for the purposes of sport, food and as a message carrier. A team of navy researchers, however, has found that pigeons can be trained to save human lives at sea with high success rates. Project Sea Hunt has trained a number of pigeons to identify red or yellow life jackets when floating in the water. The pigeons were not only found to be more reliable than humans but they were also many times quicker than humans when it came to spotting survivors from a capsized or sinking boat. The pigeon can see color in the same way that humans do but they can also see ultra-violet, a part of the spectrum that humans cannot see, and this is one of the reasons they are so well adapted to lifesaving.
Pigeons in the news
One of the world’s most famous news agencies, Reuters, started its European business by using trained homing pigeons. The service was started in 1850 with 45 pigeons carrying the latest news and stock prices from Aachen in Germany to Brussels in Belgium. Although a telegraph service between the two countries existed, numerous gaps in the transmission lines made communication difficult and slow. The birds travelled the 76 miles in a record-breaking two hours beating the railway by four hours.
Why do you never see a baby pigeon?
Most small birds rear and fledge their young in 2/3 weeks with young birds sometimes leaving the nest after only 10 days of life, but pigeons are different, their young remain in the nest for up to 2 months before fledging. This gives the young pigeon an advantage over many other species of bird. It leaves the nest as a relatively mature juvenile, allowing the bird to cope better in the first few days of its life, a dangerous time for all youngsters. Juveniles can be told apart from adults but it takes an experienced eye. A juvenile’s beak often appears to be far too long for the size of its body and the cere (the fleshy area at the top of the beak) is white in adults and greyish pink in juveniles.
What is the natural predator of the pigeon?
Although the natural enemy of the feral pigeon is now man, with millions of pigeons being killed in control operations the world over, it is the peregrine falcon that is the pigeons’ real natural predator. Although a shy and retiring bird that has its natural habitat along rocky coastlines, the peregrine is now being introduced into towns and cities as a ‘natural’ pigeon control. The peregrine is the fastest bird on the planet when in a dive and can achieve speeds in excess of 200 mph, over 130 mph faster than a pigeon.
Are pigeons intelligent?
Pigeons are considered to be one of the most intelligent birds on the planet with pigeons being able to undertake tasks previously thought to be the sole preserve of humans and primates. The pigeon has also been found to pass the ‘mirror test’ (being able to recognise its reflection in a mirror) and is one of only 6 species, and the only non-mammal, that has this ability. The pigeon can also recognise all 26 letters of the English language as well as being able to conceptualise. In scientific tests pigeons have been found to be able to differentiate between photographs and even differentiate between two different human beings in a photograph when rewarded with food for doing so.
For more information on Pigeon Control visit the Pigeon Control Resource Centre.
Pigeons have lived alongside man for thousands of years with the first images of pigeons being found by archaeologists in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and dating back to 3000 BC. It was the Sumerians in Mesopotamia that first started to breed white doves from the wild pigeon that we see in our towns and cities today and this undoubtedly accounts for the amazing variety of colors that are found in the average flock of urban pigeons. To ancient peoples a white pigeon would have seemed miraculous and this explains why the bird was widely worshipped and considered to be sacred. Throughout human history the pigeon has adopted many roles ranging from symbols of gods and goddesses through to sacrificial victims, messengers, pets, food and even war heroes!
Biblical references
The first biblical reference to the pigeon (or dove) was in the Old Testament of the Bible in the first millennium AC and was the story of Noah and the dove of peace. Later, in the New Testament, the pigeon was first mentioned during the baptism of Christ where the dove descended as the Holy Spirit, an image now used extensively in Christian art. These early biblical references have paved the way for the many different ways that the urban pigeon is viewed in modern societies worldwide. Perception of the pigeon through the centuries has changed from God to the devil and from hero to zero!
Pigeon poop – foul or fantastic?
Although pigeon poo is seen as a major problem for property owners in the 21st Century, it was considered to be an invaluable resource in the 16th, 17th and 18th century in Europe. Pigeon poop was a highly prized fertiliser and considered to be far more potent than farmyard manure. So prized in fact that armed guards were stationed at the entrances to dovecotes (pigeon houses) to stop thieves stealing it! Not only this, but in England in the 16th century pigeon poop was the only known source of saltpetre, an essential ingredient of gunpowder and was considered a highly valued commodity as a result. In Iran, where eating pigeon flesh was forbidden, dovecotes were set up and used simply as a source of fertilizer for melon crops and in France and Italy it was used to fertilize vineyards and hemp crops.
The pigeon as a war hero
In modern times the feral pigeon has been used to great effect during wartime. In both the first and second World Wars the pigeon saved hundreds of thousands of human lives by carrying messages across enemy lines. Pigeons were carried on ships in convoys and in the event of a U-boat attack a messenger pigeon was released with details of the location of the sinking ship. In many cases this lead to the survivors being rescued and lives saved. Mobile pigeon lofts were set up behind the trenches in the First World War from which pigeons often had to fly through enemy fire and poison gas to get their messages home. The birds played a vital role in intelligence gathering and were used extensively behind enemy lines where the survival rate was only 10%. In the Second World War pigeons were used less due to advances in telecommunications, but the birds relayed invaluable information back to the allies about the German V1 and V2 Rocket sites on the other side of the Channel.
The pigeon as a messenger
The earliest large scale communication network using pigeons as messengers was established in Syria and Persia about 5th Century BC. Much later in the 12th Century AD the city of Baghdad and all the main towns and cities in Syria and Egypt were linked by messages carried by pigeons. This was the sole source of communication. In Roman times the pigeon was used to carry results of sporting events such as the Olympic Games and this is why white doves are released at the start of the Olympic Games today. In England, prior to the days of telegraphs, pigeons were often taken to soccer matches and released to carry home the result of the game. Their use as a messenger in war time resulted in many pigeons being awarded honors by both the British and French Governments. Incredibly, the last ‘pigeon post’ service was abandoned in India in 2004 with the birds being retired to live out the rest of their days in peace.
The religious significance of the pigeon
Many religious groups including Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs feed pigeons for religious reasons. Many older Sikhs feed pigeons ceremoniously to honour the high priest and warrior Guru Govind Singh who was a known friend of the pigeon (or rock dove). Some Sikhs also feed pigeons because they believe that when they are reincarnated they will never go hungry if they have fed pigeons in their previous life. Other religious groups in India believe that when a person dies his or her soul assumes the form of a bird (normally a pigeon) and therefore by feeding birds they are caring for the souls of their departed ancestors. The pigeon is revered in India with huge flocks numbering many thousands of birds being fed daily at Hindu temples in town and city centres throughout the country. In both eastern and western societies many of the most entrenched pigeon-related problems in urban areas are considered to be caused, certainly in part, by religious feeding of the birds. In the Christian religion the pigeon is both a symbol of peace and of the Holy Spirit.
Famous pigeons
During the First World War a pigeon named Cher Ami (Dear friend) saved the lives of many French soldiers by carrying a message across enemy lines in the heat of battle. Cher Ami was shot in the chest and the leg, loosing most of the leg to which the message was attached, but continued the 25 minute flight avoiding shrapnel and poison gas to get the message home. Cher Ami was awarded the French ‘Croix de Guerre’ for heroic service. Another heroic pigeon named G.I. Joe saved the lives of a thousand soldiers in World War 2 after British troops had established a position within an Italian town that was due to be bombed by allied planes. Communication equipment was down and the only means of stopping the raid was to attach a hastily written message to G.I. Joe and send him to the HQ. G.I. Joe flew 20 miles in 20 minutes arriving at the air base whilst the planes were taxiing on the runway. Disaster was averted with 5 minutes to spare. G.I. Joe received the ‘Dickin’ medal for his bravery.
‘Rock Dove’ or ‘pigeon’?
The feral pigeon that we see in our towns and cities today is descended from the Rock Dove (Columba livia), a cliff dwelling bird historically found in coastal regions. The word ‘pigeon’ is actually derived from the Latin word ‘pipio’ which meant ‘young bird’. The word then passed into Old French as ‘pijon’ and thus the English name ‘pigeon’ was derived and is now used the world over as a common name for the Rock Dove. Other common names include ‘domestic pigeon’ and the ‘feral pigeon’. In 2004 British and American Ornithologists officially re-named the bird the Rock Pigeon.
Why do pigeons bob their heads?
The pigeon has side mounted eyes unlike humans and owls which have forward facing eyes. As a pigeons have monocular vision rather than binocular vision they bob their heads for depth of perception. The pigeon’s eyes work much better with stationary images and therefore, as the pigeon takes a step forward the head is temporarily left behind. The next step jerks the head forward again and so on. This allows the bird to correctly orient itself.
Pigeon-gram Air Mail service
The first organised pigeon air-mail service was started in 1896 between New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef. The sinking of the SS Wairarapa off the Great Barrier Reef, with the loss of 134 lives, was a catalyst for the service. News of the disaster did not reach New Zealand for 3-days and as a direct result a pigeon-gram service was set up between the two islands. The first message was carried in January 1896 and took less than 1.75 hours to reach Aukland. Up to 5 messages were carried by each pigeon with the record time for the journey being held by a pigeon called ‘Velocity’ taking only 50 minutes and averaging 125 kmph (only 40% slower than a modern aircraft!). Special pigeon-gram stamps were issued costing 2/- each (20 cents) with the fee being paid in cash before the pigeon was released.
Pigeons in Wall Street
One of the richest and most famous families in the world amassed its wealth, certainly in part, as a result of exploiting the pigeon. In the early 1800’s the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe and used homing pigeons to carry information between its financial houses. This method proved to be quicker and more efficient than any other means of communication available at the time. The speed of the service combined with the ability to send and receive information ahead of the competition helped the Rothschild family amass a fortune which still exists today.
Mating habits of the pigeon
The feral pigeon mates for life and can breed up to 8 times a year in optimum conditions, bringing two young into the world each time. The frequency of breeding is dictated by the abundance of food. The eggs take 18/19 days to hatch with both parents incubating the eggs. Young dependant pigeons are commonly known as ‘squabs’. Both parents feed the young with a special ‘pigeon milk’ that is regurgitated and fed to the squabs. Each squab can double its birth weight in one day but it takes 4 days for the eyes to open. When squabs are hungry they ‘squeak’ whilst flapping their wings and as a result they are also commonly known as ‘squeakers’. At approximately 2 months of age the young are ready to fledge and leave the nest. This much longer than average time spent in the nest ensures that life expectancy of a juvenile pigeon is far greater than that of other fledglings.
Pigeons are big business
We normally think of the pigeon as being an unwelcome guest in our towns and cities but most of us are unaware that racing pigeons can be worth huge sums of money. One racing pigeon recently sold for a staggering $132,517.00! The 3-year old bird was a champion racer beating 21,000 other pigeons in one long distance race. For this reason he was bought by one British company that breeds racing pigeons for ‘stud’. One very happy pigeon! The previous record price for a pigeon was $73, 800.00.
How do pigeons navigate?
There are many theories about how pigeons manage to return ‘home’ when released 100’s of miles from their loft. A champion racing pigeon can be released 400-600 miles away from its home and still return within the day. This amazing feat does not just apply to ‘racing’ or ‘homing’ pigeons, all pigeons have the ability to return to their roost. A 10-year study carried out by Oxford University concluded that pigeons use roads and freeways to navigate, in some cases even changing direction at freeway junctions. Other theories include navigation by use of the earth’s magnetic field, visual clues such as landmarks, the sun and even infrasounds (low frequency seismic waves). Whatever the truth, this unique ability makes the pigeon a very special bird.
Famous people and pigeons
The humble pigeon has attracted some very famous fans over the last few thousand years ranging from Royalty to rock and roll singers and actors through to fashion designers. One of the most famous royals is Queen Elizabeth of England who has lofts and pigeon keepers at her estate in Sandringham, Norfolk. Elvis Presley had a soft spot for pigeons and Mike Tyson is also an enthusiastic pigeon keeper. Even Maurizzo Gucci the internationally renowned fashion designer is a keen pigeon fancier spending a reputed $10,000 on one American pigeon. 'One famous couple, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, are keen pigeon fanciers but after being swamped by autograph hunters at a pigeon show they are apparently less comfortable to show their affection for the birds publicly.' Last but not least, and probably the most famous of all... Noah!
Pigeon disasters
Probably the greatest disaster to befall the species was the extermination of the passenger pigeon in North America in the early part of the 20th century. It is estimated that there were 3-5 billion passenger pigeons in North America at the time. Flocks of 100,000’s of the birds would blacken the skies as they flew over but early settlers managed to wipe out every last bird by 1914 through over-hunting. A more recent, and quite bizarre disaster, befell tens of thousands of racing pigeons released from Nantes in France as part of a race held to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Racing Pigeon Association in England. 60,000 pigeons were released but only a few birds ever arrived back at their lofts throughout southern England. One theory suggests that the sonic boom created by Concorde as it flew over the English Channel, at the precise time the pigeons would have been at the same point, completely disorientated the birds, compromising their inbuilt navigation system.
Pigeons as lifesavers
Although pigeons are one of the most intelligent of all the bird species man has found limited uses for the birds other than for the purposes of sport, food and as a message carrier. A team of navy researchers, however, has found that pigeons can be trained to save human lives at sea with high success rates. Project Sea Hunt has trained a number of pigeons to identify red or yellow life jackets when floating in the water. The pigeons were not only found to be more reliable than humans but they were also many times quicker than humans when it came to spotting survivors from a capsized or sinking boat. The pigeon can see color in the same way that humans do but they can also see ultra-violet, a part of the spectrum that humans cannot see, and this is one of the reasons they are so well adapted to lifesaving.
Pigeons in the news
One of the world’s most famous news agencies, Reuters, started its European business by using trained homing pigeons. The service was started in 1850 with 45 pigeons carrying the latest news and stock prices from Aachen in Germany to Brussels in Belgium. Although a telegraph service between the two countries existed, numerous gaps in the transmission lines made communication difficult and slow. The birds travelled the 76 miles in a record-breaking two hours beating the railway by four hours.
Why do you never see a baby pigeon?
Most small birds rear and fledge their young in 2/3 weeks with young birds sometimes leaving the nest after only 10 days of life, but pigeons are different, their young remain in the nest for up to 2 months before fledging. This gives the young pigeon an advantage over many other species of bird. It leaves the nest as a relatively mature juvenile, allowing the bird to cope better in the first few days of its life, a dangerous time for all youngsters. Juveniles can be told apart from adults but it takes an experienced eye. A juvenile’s beak often appears to be far too long for the size of its body and the cere (the fleshy area at the top of the beak) is white in adults and greyish pink in juveniles.
What is the natural predator of the pigeon?
Although the natural enemy of the feral pigeon is now man, with millions of pigeons being killed in control operations the world over, it is the peregrine falcon that is the pigeons’ real natural predator. Although a shy and retiring bird that has its natural habitat along rocky coastlines, the peregrine is now being introduced into towns and cities as a ‘natural’ pigeon control. The peregrine is the fastest bird on the planet when in a dive and can achieve speeds in excess of 200 mph, over 130 mph faster than a pigeon.
Are pigeons intelligent?
Pigeons are considered to be one of the most intelligent birds on the planet with pigeons being able to undertake tasks previously thought to be the sole preserve of humans and primates. The pigeon has also been found to pass the ‘mirror test’ (being able to recognise its reflection in a mirror) and is one of only 6 species, and the only non-mammal, that has this ability. The pigeon can also recognise all 26 letters of the English language as well as being able to conceptualise. In scientific tests pigeons have been found to be able to differentiate between photographs and even differentiate between two different human beings in a photograph when rewarded with food for doing so.
For more information on Pigeon Control visit the Pigeon Control Resource Centre.
Man auctions permanent advertising tattoo on back of neck
Man auctions permanent advertising tattoo on back of neck
A 25-year-old man from Maine is auctioning off the back of his neck as advertising space. The winning bidder can put a permanent tattoo ad on the back of Mark's neck.
Mark Greenlaw from Biddeford, Maine has ran crazy auctions since the day he started the all famous weirdebay.com but nothing could prepare him for his newest adventure. The 25 year old has decided to offer a permanent advertising spot on the back of his neck to the highest bidder, when sitting down with Mark Greenlaw he had a smile that would make you think he was just your normal crazy guy, in reality he is a very nice guy at age 25.
Mark Greenlaw has three kids ages 5, 3, and 2 his exact words to me were “I am doing this auction to help support my family and if it takes a little pain and a logo on the back of my neck to do so then I will do it.” When asked does it bother you that this company will be branded on you for life? He replied: “Not at all I think it will be fun for both myself and the company, just image the media exposure the company will receive.”
Mark Greenlaw’s auction can be found on the world famous auction site E-bay his user ID is maineelectronics the auction currently has one bid of ninety nine cents but the reserve has yet to be met, The auction still has 9 days and 12 hours remaining as of January 16, 2006 and you can also search for this auction by the auction ID which is 5657013788.
In the auction Mark Greenlaw has stated that a Portland, Maine based radio station WPOR with DJ Joe Lerman will be doing a live interview with him on Wednesday, January 18 and during that interview he will tell the listeners who the highest bidder is and what their company is.
A 25-year-old man from Maine is auctioning off the back of his neck as advertising space. The winning bidder can put a permanent tattoo ad on the back of Mark's neck.
Mark Greenlaw from Biddeford, Maine has ran crazy auctions since the day he started the all famous weirdebay.com but nothing could prepare him for his newest adventure. The 25 year old has decided to offer a permanent advertising spot on the back of his neck to the highest bidder, when sitting down with Mark Greenlaw he had a smile that would make you think he was just your normal crazy guy, in reality he is a very nice guy at age 25.
Mark Greenlaw has three kids ages 5, 3, and 2 his exact words to me were “I am doing this auction to help support my family and if it takes a little pain and a logo on the back of my neck to do so then I will do it.” When asked does it bother you that this company will be branded on you for life? He replied: “Not at all I think it will be fun for both myself and the company, just image the media exposure the company will receive.”
Mark Greenlaw’s auction can be found on the world famous auction site E-bay his user ID is maineelectronics the auction currently has one bid of ninety nine cents but the reserve has yet to be met, The auction still has 9 days and 12 hours remaining as of January 16, 2006 and you can also search for this auction by the auction ID which is 5657013788.
In the auction Mark Greenlaw has stated that a Portland, Maine based radio station WPOR with DJ Joe Lerman will be doing a live interview with him on Wednesday, January 18 and during that interview he will tell the listeners who the highest bidder is and what their company is.
Weird Facts 3
* About 22% of the earth's original forest coverage remains. Western Europe has lost 98% or so of its primary forests; Asia 94%; Africa 92%; Oceania 78%; North America 66%, and South America 54%. Approximately 45% of the world's tropical forests, originally covering 1.4 billion hectares, have disappeared in the last few decades. (taken from a Greenpeace website, but the figures are accurate to the best of my knowledge)
* In 1950, rain forests covered about 14% of the earth's land surface. By 2001, this had diminished to 6%. Approximately half of the world's estimated 10 million species of life are believed to be found only in rain forests. The Amazon constitutes about 40% of the remaining rain forests, but it is disappearing at the rate of 7 football fields per minute - that's 20,000 km2 (7700 mi2) per year and increasing. From 1970 to 2000, an area the size of France or Texas was deforested by ranchers, farmers, loggers (mostly illegal), miners and developments of various kinds. The population of the Amazon is now over 20 million and rapidly increasing, since there is great poverty in Brazil, and the forest is seen as a vast area of land to be cleared and occupied.
* The density of a Neutron Star, which is formed by the gravitational collapse of stars 1.5 to 3 times the sun's mass, is a mind-twisting 100 million tonnes per cubic centimeter (about the size of a sugar cube). They are about 100 km in diameter (estimates range from 20 to 300 km), which means you'd have to be traveling at half the speed of light (300,000 km/second (186,000 miles/sec)) in order to escape their gravitational force of 100 billion times that of the earth. They are over 150 times as hot as the sun, and can rotate 1000 times per second! For a great summary of these weird denizens of our universe, see: http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/~ryden/ast162_5/notes21.html
* The male seahorse is the only husband in the world that carries the babies until they are ready to be born. In an interesting reversal of roles, the female deposits her eggs into the male's body and then retires from the family scene. After giving birth to live sea-horse babies, a male is ready to start all over again the very same day.
* Bacteria weigh about one trillionth of a gram ( about 400 trillion bacteria per pound). Viruses are typically 1000 times lighter still!!
* Desert animals have developed many fascinating ways of living in extremely harsh conditions. Of the most interesting of these belongs to the desert grouse of the Nabib desert, in SW Africa: the male uses a sponge-like mat of fluffy breast feathers to soak up water which it carries many miles each day to its chicks, who for safety reasons live nowhere near the water hole. The chicks simply lick the water off their father's breast-feather water-carrier!
* The world's fastest computer is the Japanese World Simulation Supercomputer, built to handle the huge amount of number crunching needed to handle climate change models. It zips along at over 35 "Terraflops" (trillion calculations per second) - 7 times faster than the fastest American machines.
* Dogs cannot perspire. To cool themselves off in hot weather or after exercise, they pant - i.e. they evaporate water from their tongue. Since this method is less efficient than perspiring all over, dogs can become overheated more easily - so it's not a smart idea to leave your dog in the car when you go shopping on a warm day!!
* Cats have been domesticated for thousands of years. In that time, their voices have become less harsh - more pleasing to the humans who serve them. A recent careful study which compared the mews, snarls and hisses of house cats with the sounds that wild cats of similar sizes make, found that the house cats made noises considerably more pleasant to the human ear. Although they can make most of their wishes known to their human house-mates, they cannot in any sense of the word "talk", contrary to the claims of many ardent cat fanciers.....
* A good way to restore the sound of scratched CDs is to coat them with a thin layer of wax or silicone: the data is still present no matter how many scratches there are, but they interfere with the ability of the laser to read the discs. The wax, silicone or other clear coating fills up the scratches, making it possible for the laser to do its job again.
* Until just a few years ago, data transmission on the Internet was so slow it was often called the "World Wide Wait". With a good 56k modem, rates of 10k (ie, 10 thousand "bytes" (a bite is the equivalent of one letter or number)) per second are to be expected, and with a LAN or T-1 connection, speeds of 200k are not uncommon. However, a company in Japan is working towards commercial speeds of up to 2.5 GIGAbytes per second (ie, about 10,000 times the top speed most WWW users can hope for today!). To date, they have achieved 800 megabytes per second - still not too shabby (that's more than twice the complete encyclopedia Britannica each second, by the way)!
* The school bus might be the safest method of travel ever invented. In the USA, where almost a thousand children are killed on their way to and from school each year, on the average only 5 die while traveling in school buses. The most dangerous way to get to or from school is inside a car driven by teenage classmates (no surprise there!!).
* One in 5 children in the world have never seen the inside of a school room - but the "developed" world doesn't exactly come off smelling like roses either, when the chips are counted up: in places such as Canada and other "g-7" countries, 40% or more of the adult population is "functionally illiterate" - i.e., they can read a cereal box, street sign or parking ticket, but give them a copy of "Great Expectations" and they would be as lost as Jaques Cousteau on Mars. (Force them to read a couple of pages of "Ulysses" and their heads would most likely explode......)
* A recent (released June 2002) research project has found organic farming to be a viable alternative to the high-tech farming methods of most of the "developed" world. On the average, yields were only 20% less (worst for potatoes at 38%, best for corn grown in a legume rotation, at only a few %) than chemical-based methods, and the amount of energy used is FAR less. In regions where there is surplus labor, organic methods would in many cases much more economical and sustainable.
* Figures released by Great Britain's Office of National Statistics show that in 2000, one in six people aged over 16 was caring for a sick or elderly person and that one in five households had a carer. This is a problem worldwide that will get worse as the "baby boom" generation grows older.
* The Romany (also called "gypsies") (Europe's largest minority, despite systematic persecution) appear to have originated as a branch or branches of the Dom tribal group of Northern India, which were displaced by the invasion of the Aryans about 1500 B.C. They left India around 500 A.D.. One branch migrated to Syria, while another settled in Byzantium about 900 A.D., and arrived in Europe in the 13th to 15th centuries. Long regarded in ill favor by the firmly settled peoples of Europe, they have a rich culture and language, with an extensive body of oral history and legends that rivals any of their persecutors. See http://www.paulpolansky.nstemp.com/gypsies.htmfor some interesting background.
* The Aryan peoples, lauded as the "master race" by Nazis and their modern offshoots, were in fact a barbarian destroyer of civilizations in their early history. For example, the Indus Valley civilization, perhaps the most brilliant of its time, was destroyed by a massive Aryan invasion around 1500 B.C. Although this invasion is disputed by Hindu nationalists in India, there is ample evidence supporting it. They spread out from an area in what is now northern Iran, and most of the languages from Europe to northern India belong to the "Indo-European" language family.
* The graffiti in ancient Pompey, which was preserved very nicely by being buried in ash from the volcano Vesuvius in 79 A.D., included graphic pornographic poetry.
* While global warming will cause desertification in many parts of the world, it may also cause much of Europe to become so cold it would be uninhabitable. Northern Europe is currently warmed by the North Atlantic Drift - the continuation of the Gulf Stream, which wraps around Ireland and Scandinavia. This current is fed by heavy, high-salinity water sinking in the arctic, because of the freezing of sea water to form ice in the winter (when salt water freezes, the salt ions are forced out, which is why sea ice melts into fresh water!). If more sea ice melts due to higher average temperatures, the salinity of the surface water will be raised to the point where it will no longer sink, and thus no longer feed the Gulf Stram/North Atlantic Drift. If this occurs, Europe will no longer be indirectly warmed by the heat of the Caribbean sun, and it will be chilled to the point where another ice age is possible in the northern parts of the
* An adult of the smallest humming bird in the world weighs less than a penny.
* Although the water which reaches Antarctica is warming up, causing some of the major ice shelfs to become unstable and shrink, the air over that continent is actually cooling, due to the famous "hole" (actually only a thinning) in the ozone layer: less ultraviolet light is absorbed in the upper atmosphere by the ozone (when it is, the result is warming), which means more is simply reflected back into space after bouncing off of the polar ice. The net result is a cooling of the atmosphere that extends from the stratosphere all the way down to the surface - due to vertical mixing of the air caused by the "polar vortex" winds.
* Many of the tools we use are designed for right-handed people. Every year, thousands of left-handed people die in accidents resulting from problems involving right-handed tools!
* One ragweed plant can release as many as a billion grains of pollen per year.
* The hearts of many mammals (such as us!) beat approximately 3 billion times during their owner's lifetime.
* The average human body contains over 100,000 km (60,000 miles) of arteries, veins and capillaries.
* One of the fastest production cars around, is a certain brand of Lamburghini which i can't recall the name of, which can zip along at 330+ kph. It has 580 horses under the bonnet, can go from 0 to 100 in 3.5 seconds, and costs less than half a million dollars (but that's USD...). The debate over which is REALLY the fastest production car (ie, one that is produced for anyone to buy, according to a standard plan, as opposed to vehicles that are either custom-built or modified from their original factory condition), is amazinly complex - i won't bore you with the technical details, but suffice it to say that consensus has NOT been reached in this matter yet!!!
* Famines in many countries in Africa have been made considerably worse by the insistence of countries that lend them money, that they reduce agricultural subsidies to subsistence farmers, as well as cut back on strategic grain reserves. This is especially ironic in light of a certain superpower's recent massive increase in subsidies to giant agri-businessess, in an apparent bid to protect domestic food producers from the competition from counties such as those in Africa which are now suffering from bad advice to do the opposite!! (hey, this one may be a bit political, but it is still a "wierd fact", even if it isn't very funny!)
* The universe appears to be expanding at an ever-faster rate (i.e., there will be no "big crunch" at the end of the universe!). This seems to be due to a force Einstein called the "cosmological constant" - a repulsive force that operates primarily at huge scales, in opposition to normal gravity. Interestingly enough, the theory of a speeding-up universe was first supported (in 1999) by observations made by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem - that Einstein himself helped found!!
* Nuclear pasta (G. Watanabe, K. Sato, K. Yasuoka, T. Ebisuzaki): The formation of neutron stars from collapsing supernovae includes some of the most dramatic processes in stellar evolution. In a neutron star, high densities cause matter to form a uniform liquid of neutrons, but just before that happens, nuclei form rod-like and slab-like structures and bubbles, termed nuclear “pasta”. The existence of pasta phases change the dynamics of neutron stars and how they behave astrophysically. New detailed simulations have shown how hot nucleic matter can form the various pasta phases as it cools. The matter seems to pass through a series of phases starting from uniform matter and heading through spherical, cylinder-like, slab-like phases and then as more uniform matter with holes that are cylindrical and then spherical before the whole lot becomes uniform again at a lower temperature.
* Until the 16th century, carrots were black, green, red and purple - until a Dutch horticulturist discovered some mutant yellow seeds that produced a freaky orange color that caught on big, worldwide!!
* Scientists estimate that there are at least 3 x 10E16 stars in the universe - that's 15 million stars for every man woman and child on our crowded little planet!!
* Some species of buzzard attract mates by eating cow dung, which contains a yellow pigment that turns the area around their eyes into a yellow mask! Scientists postulate that to a female buzzard, a bright yellow mask proves that her mate is healthy enough to overcome the multitudes of parasites present in such malodorous fare (or perhaps its just the "macho" thing for buzzards to do...?).
* The world's biggest shrimp, a 14-inch specimen of a deep-water species that dwells in the Gulf of Mexico, is proudly displayed at the Old Spanish Fort Museum in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
* Bacteria have been found from 40 miles up in the stratosphere to 7km below the ocean's bottom. According to recent research done at the University of Georgia, there are perhaps 5 x 10E30 (i.e., 5 followed by 30 zeros!!) individual bacteria on Earth. To put this into perspective, if each of them were to grow to the size of a period (.) and they were to be lined up, they would reach over 50 billion light years, or nearly twice the diameter of the known universe.
* Several lizards, such as the green anole, use their lungs to help them hear: they can detect vibrations though the air in their lungs when full.
* One of the funniest pages on the internet, especially if a) you are at least halfway to becoming a "computer geek", and b) can overlook a couple of naughty articles mixed in with the good ones, is to be found at http://www.klawitter.de/enhumor.html#100bugs.
* The average cost of a wedding in the USA is pushing $20,000, with half of that related to the reception (average attendance: 175 people) Even relatively small items such as the bridesmaids' corsages can run nearly $200 each! See http://www.theknot.com/pl_budgetavg.shtml for the gory details.
* The average cost of dying in North America has tripled in the past 15 years: the average funeral now runs almost $6000. This makes the going price for scattering your ashes into outer space (a paltry $4800) look like a bargain! (of course, while you get perpetual care at a cemetery, your orbiting ashes are burned up upon re-entry after only 6 years.....)
* Tiger eye, a semi-precious gem known for its changeable colors when tilted , comes in 4 colors: red, blue, green (the most uncommon), and yellow - the color that inspired its name.
* It is impossible to lick your elbow (unless you are double-jointed, or have, like Houdini, perfected the art of dislocating your joints (which he did to facilitate quick straight jacket escapes)).
* The great escape-artist Houdini could dislocate almost any joint in his body. He was immensely fit: one of his best-known escapes was when he was thrown into the Chicago River (clad only in a small bathing suit) in mid-winter in a trunk with a hidden release mechanism: things went well until he surfaced only to find he had miscalculated for the current and could not find the hole in the ice he was to emerge through. He dove back to the bottom to see if he could see the hole, with no luck. Back at the surface again he found a small pocket of air to breathe for a few seconds, after which he continued the search for the hole, which he found after nearly 10 minutes in the icy water. Most people would not last more than a few minutes under such circumstances. (if you doubt this, try it - with suitable supervision by divers in dry suits!!)
* Most lists of so-called "weird facts" on the internet contain an amusing cocktail of "urban legends", dubious anecdotes, and strange-but-untrue "facts" seemingly made up on the spot just to spice up the list. A good example is the well-known classic "A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why" - totally false, yet for some reason repeated as often as possible on the World Wide Web! Another oldie but goodie is the one about sneezing that says if you try too hard to keep your eyes open during a sneeze, they will pop out (i've tried this one personally!). I try hard to keep the offerings on this list falsehood-free, but if you see something you know to be erroneous, please let me know!
* Australian ("Esturine") crocodiles have salt glands in their tongue. This means that if they swallow too much salt, they can excrete it through their tongue. Alligators and their Caiman relatives don't have salt glands so they are mainly restricted to fresh water. The Estuarine crocodile has been found up to 1,350 kilometers out to sea. More great info on Crocs and 'gators can be found at http://www.hartleyscreek.com/facts-myths.htm
* Crocodiles can swim up to 25 km/hr when attacking, but cannot outrun people or horses, as is widely reported. A good-sized croc can only manage 10 km/hr on land, while a person being chased by one should be capable of over 3 times that speed!
* Bet you just tried to lick your elbow a few minutes ago!!
* People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because in the Dark Ages, it was thought that when you sneezed, a brief opportunity for devils to enter your mouth was created.
* When you sneeze, your heart stops for a tiny fraction of a second.
* It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
* A pregnant goldfish is called a twit. (i'm trying to limit the number of absolutely useless facts on this list, but this was just too silly to pass up!!)
* More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
* Rats and horses can't vomit.
* Cockroaches are an ancient (predating dinosaurs) life-form that can even withstand a nuclear holocaust because their DNA is not affected nearly as much as other species, by radiation.
* A single female German Cockroach can produce up to 100,000 progeny in a single year (for details, see http://pested.unl.edu/chapter3.htm)
* The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
* These are extremely rare occurrences, but if you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
* Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.
* Wearing headphones can increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
* In every episode of the television program Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
* The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
* Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
* An estimated 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks.
* The glossy look to lipstick comes from fish scales, which are iridescent.
* Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
* Estimates of the number of species presently sharing our planet with us range from 7 to 100 million (about 15 million is a pretty good bet, IMHO). Of these, only about 1.5 million are presently known to science.
* Of the 1.5 million or so species known to science, over half of them are insects - and 300,000 of these are beetles. One saucy biologist is noted for his quip that "God must have an inordinate fondness for beetles." In one 1980 study of just 19 trees in Panama, fully 80 percent of the 1,200 beetle species discovered were previously unknown to science - so we've only scratched the surface so far!
* As scientists begin investigating relatively little-known ecosystems, like the soil and the deep sea, "surprising" discoveries of undiscovered species have become commonplace. Small wonder: A single square meter of temperate forest can hold 200,000 mites and tens of thousands of other invertebrates. A similar-sized plot from tropical grasslands can hold 32 million nematodes, and one gram of the same soil might hold 90 million bacteria and other microbes.
* The song "White Christmas", as sung by Bing Crosby, has sold over 100 million records over the years, making it the most popular recording of all time.
* In Fiji, owning a specimen of one of the most famous mollusc shells, the "Golden Cowrie", was once punishable by death, unless you were a Chief: they wore them on a necklace as a symbol of their authority.
* In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagans to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them. The date had been celebrated in many religions and traditions, in connection with the winter solstice and the birthday of various gods and goddesses.
* The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany.
* The largest animal ever to live on the planet is the Blue Whale, which grows up to 174 tonnes - that's 80 full-grown elephants - an entire herd! This true Leviathan is also the loudest: its calls reach 188 decibels, and carry hundreds of miles. For comparison, a jet engine, should you be standing next to it, is only 140 decibels.
* The most ancient life form on earth may be a form of slime mold found on the scorching NW coast of Australia: it forms structures called "stromatolites" that have been found in rocks estimated to be nearly 3 billion years old!
* According to astronomers' latest calculations, the universe is approximately 13 billion years old. By comparison, our species is said to be less than 100,000 years old, and our civilization, less than 5,000 years.
* When a water-based solution is diluted, the molecules of the dissolved subtance(s) do not move further apart, as might be expected. Instead, they clump together - the more dilute the solution, the larger the clumps become. This may help explain why some homeopathic treatments (it is believed by homeopaths that the more dilute a solution is, the more powerful it becomes) actually seem to work. See http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991532 for further details.
* Obsidian (volcanic glass with ultra-small crystals of quartz) tools many thousands of years old are often sharper than the sharpest steel scalpels used by today's surgeons. Incisions made with these ancient knives heal surprisingly quickly and leave almost no scar.
* Of the approximately 1.4 billion cubic Km of water on earth, only 3% is fresh water. Of this 3%, groundwater is about 20 percent, Ice & glaciers about 79 percent, and all the water in the air, soil, lakes, rivers and living creatures, only 1 percent.
* The total weight of all the bacteria on earth is estimated (according to researchers at the University of Georgia), to be about 5 x 10E14 kg, or roughly the weight of the United Kingdom.
* The height of the Eiffel Tower varies by as much as six inches, depending on the temperature.
* The leaves of the water lily Victoria regia grow as large as eight feet across.
* The annual harvest of an entire coffee tree is required to make one pound of ground coffee.
* In 1642, Dr. John Lightfoot wrote that man was created at 9:00 a.m., and in 1644, he wrote that the world was created on Sunday, September 12, 3928 B.C.. In 1650, the Irish Archbishop, James Ussher, published his computations that the world was created on Sunday, October 23rd, 4004 B.C., beginning at sunset of the 22nd. These dates, their relationship to each other, and their methodology, are widely misquoted.
* A woodchuck breathes only 10 times per hour while hibernating. An active woodchuck breathes 2,100 times per hour.
* In an average acre of green land, you would expect to find about 50,000 spiders.
* A mosquito has 47 "teeth" that enable it to drill through your skin in a half second flat.
* When diving, the peregrine falcon can reach a speed of over 200 miles (322 km) per hour. Their numbers were drastically reduced in the late 1960s because DDT, a very toxic pesticide, accumulated in their bodies and caused their eggshells to be so fragile they broke while being incubated. When DDT was later banned, peregrine populations rebounded, but they are still not as common as they used to be.
* One square inch of the sun's surface shines with the intensity of 300,000 candles.
* Should you be so inclined, you would have to fold a piece of American currency back and forth about 4,000 times before it would easily tear.
* The roots from one plant of common oats can total a quarter mile in cumulative length. They can reach down a hundred feet to find water when the water table is low.
* During one growing season, an oak tree can give off 28,000 gallons of moisture. This "transpiration" of water by trees is an important factor in providing moisture and rain for local climates. When forests are reduced in any given region, there is less water in the air, and less rain as well - hence deforestation is a major contributor to drought. Also, deforestation leads to rapid erosion of the soil they hold in place, inhibiting the reforestation process, an contributes greatly to flooding, since instead of being absorbed into the forest floor, rain simply quickly runs off the land and into streams and rivers.
* The cheetah is the only member of the cat family that has non-retractable claws. Other cats retract their claws to keep them sharp, like carving knives kept in a sheath --the cheetah's claws are designed not for cutting but for traction. This is an animal biologically designed to run. It can tear up the turf at up to 115+ km (70 miles) per hour, but only at a cost: it is much lighter than most big cats, and its dull claws cannot rip open tough hides such as wildebeest. However, these "macho" characteristics are not necessary, since antelope-like animals such as gazelles and springbok, which are small and thin-skinned, are its main food source. No lion alive could catch one of these, except by sheer luck!
* The heart of a giraffe weighs 25 pounds, is two feet long, and has walls 3 inches thick.
* Gold is malleable enough that one ounce of it can be beaten into a thin sheet that covers 100 square feet.
* In ancient Egypt, certain baboons were mummified when they died.
* The world's strongest recorded gust of wind (not counting tornadoes) was clocked on the summit of Mount Washington by Observatory crew on April 12, 1934 at 231 miles per hour. Other observations of slightly faster speeds have been made since then, but they lack credibility because of the reliability of the instruments used.
* It was widely believed in the Middle Ages that the heart was the center of human intelligence.
* According to Aristotle, whose views were adopted by some theologians and held sway for hundreds of years, the brain's primary purpose was to cool the blood.
* Even if up to 80 percent of it is removed, the human liver will continue to function and will grow again to its original size. A healthy individual can grow a good chunk of new liver in about 3 months.
* The ancient Romans were fond of eating mice. [They also liked to eat until they threw up: any relationship between these two facts, i wonder?]
* Pain travels at a speed of 350 feet per second.
* Sunglasses were invented by the Chinese in the 13th century.
* The total weight of all insects on Earth is twelve times greater than the weight of all people.
* To ward off enemies, the horned lizard can squirt blood from its eyelids.
* Bats consume 400-500 mosquitoes an hour. [and to think that some folks STILL don't like them....]
* In a house fire, an open-framed steel - studded house will collapse faster than a wooden house will: the steel melts in the intense heat.
* One ounce of the silk that forms a spider's web could stretch 2,000 miles.
* Spider silk, by weight, is stronger than steel. Scientists are genetically engineering a breed of goat so that its milk can be turned into spider silk, then spun into ultra-strong ropes.
* There are more than 3,500 living species of cockroaches. Scientists estimate that there may be over 5 million species of insects, a surprising number of the total being beetles.
* The World Trade Centre towers were designed to collapse in a pancake-like fashion, instead of simply falling over on their sides. This design feature saved hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives on Sept. 11, 2001, when they were destroyed by terrorists.
* There are more caribou in Alaska than there are people. [Of course if ANWR is exploited for oil, this may change...]
* Robots in Japan pay union dues. [but they NEVER go on strike!]
* Blue whale calves do not leave their mother until they are about 13m (45 feet) long. They can drink as much as 80 kg (180 lbs) of milk each day.
* Polar bears have black skin. They appear white because their hair is colorless and hollow, and so reflects the sunlight.
* At a steady jogger's pace of six miles per hour, it would take 173 days to go around the equatorial circumference of Earth, and over five years to go around Jupiter, the largest planet.
* Botanically speaking, "true" berries include the grape, tomato, and eggplant, but not raspberries or blackberries, which are drupes (i.e., clusters of small berries).
* Many of the foods we normally call "vegetables", such as squash & pumpkin, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and eggplant, are actually fruits. Anything that contains seeds in a pulpy matrix, is a fruit. (if the seeds are enclosed in a separate casing, they are nuts.)
* A meal of beans, corn, tomatoes, squash, green peppers, zucchini loaf, cucumbers, with pumkin pie for dessert, would contain no vegetables at all: beans are legumes, corn is a grain, and all the rest are fruits.
* The rubble from the World Trade buildings in New York totaled nearly a million tons (900,000 tonnes). The site is now contaminated by asbestos and other toxins, and will require extensive clean-up before anything else can be built there.
* Swimming at its top speed of 25 knots, an adult blue whale expends 3,400 horsepower.
* The feet of the gecko are so sticky they can hold onto a cieling upside down, from a single toe. Spiderman eat your heart out!!!
* Worldwide, about 40 square miles of land are transformed into desert each day, mainly in sub-Saheel Africa (i.e., the area just south of the Sahara desert), and in China. [NOTE: In 2002, due to changing climate patterns and successful tree-planting campaigns, this area just south of the Sahara Desert is now starting to become greener: in this part of the world at least, the desert is losing!!]
* A person living to age 75 will have slept about 220,000 hours -- or about 23 years. [About 20% of that time will be spent dreaming, which is almost 5 years' worth of dreams!!]
* Between dawn and dusk, an acre of peas can increase in weight by up to 50 percent, owing to the vegetable's high capacity for absorption. [ Don't quote me on this one.]
* The total amount of skin covering the human body weighs six pounds, making it the body's largest organ.
* Since the moon has no atmosphere, footprints left there by astronauts should remain visible for at least ten million years.
* It was only after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 that the U.S. Congress enacted a law making it a federal crime to specifically kill, kidnap, or assault the President, Vice-President, or President-elect.
* By day 23 a human embryo has the makings of a heart, brain, and spinal cord.
* A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.
* The albatross can glide on air currents for several days and can even sleep while in flight.
* Nicaragua had 396 different rulers between 1839 and 1855, their average reign lasting less than 15 days.
* The sperm whale's intestines are over 450 feet long.
* A human's small intestine is about 22 feet long.
* The brightest star in the night sky, Sirius [the "Dog Star"] gives out twenty-six times as much light as the Sun, which by the time it reaches us is still bright enough to make it our planet's second-brightest star (the sun being the brightest).
* Prior to World War II, when guards were posted at the fence, anyone could wander right up to the front door of the U.S. President's residence, the White House.
* Each of the more than 200 lashes on each eye is shed every three to five months.
* Rain has never been recorded in some parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile.
* Each year about $200 million worth of U.S. stamps go unused, finding their way into the albums of some 22 million stamp collectors (this factoid dates from around 1995)
* To keep from being separated while sleeping, sea otters tie themselves together with kelp, often drifting miles out to sea during the night [Now that's what i call a "bonding experience"!]
* The oldest national flag still in existence, that of Denmark, dates back to the 13th century.
* The sun is ninety-three million miles (about 150 million km) from Earth, yet it is two hundred seventy (270) times closer than the next nearest star.
* Just twenty seconds' worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon.
* The amniotic fluid that surrounds a baby in the womb is completely replaced every three hours.
* Mailing an entire building has been illegal in the U.S. since 1916 when a man mailed a 40,000 pound brick house across Utah to avoid high freight rates.
* A bald eagle's nest can be 12 feet deep and 10 feet wide.
* The tinamou, a South American game bird resembling the quail, lays eggs having such a highly polished, glasslike surface that they reflect images like a mirror.
* The Earth is home to more than 300 million cubic miles of water. This volume could cover the United States to a depth of 100 miles (160 km).
* A solar day on Mercury, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about six Earth months.
* A horse has sixteen muscles in each ear, which allows it to rotate its ears a full 180 degrees. (and we think we're clever if we can just wiggle ours!!)
* Human skin sheds continually, and the outer layer of skin is entirely replaced every 28 days.
* The Earth travels around the sun at about 67,000 miles per hour.
* One type of mushroom, the Ganoderma Applanatum, can live for fifty years and grow to a diameter of two feet. It is also Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for March 1999. See http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/ for a LOT of great Fungus info (Tom's a great party guest: he's a real fun gi....)
* It takes more than two tons of South African rock to produce less than an ounce of gold.
* The burrowing rate of the gopher is equivalent to a human digging a tunnel eighteen inches in diameter and seven miles long in a period of ten hours.
* An eagle's beak can close with a force of 350 pounds per square inch.
* The umbrella originated in ancient Egypt, where it was used by the royal family and nobles as a symbol of rank.
* Due to its reclining S shape, the sun rises on the Pacific Coast and sets on the Atlantic Coast in the Isthmus of Panama.
* A horse's heart is capable of pumping 200 liters (about 50 gallons) of blood per minute -- enough to fill the gas tank on a pickup truck three times faster than a gas pump would.
* Payment for English trial lawyers is considered an honorarium -- so there is no legal obligation for clients to pay them.
* The moon appears to revolve around the Earth from east to west, but it actually moves from west to east -- because the Earth's rotation is faster than the moon's revolution.
* There are locusts that have an adult life-span of only a few weeks -- after having lived in the ground as grubs for fifteen years.
* The longest non-talking film ever made was Andy Warhol's Sleep. It consists solely of a man sleeping for eight hours. Remember - this is the same guy that made a fortune from stencils of Campell's tomato soup cans.
* The quitest piece of music in the world is John Cage's 1950s piece called "4:33 (short for 4 minutes and 33 seconds", which consists of a person sitting down in front of a piano for that length of time and then leaving. His idea was that the sounds the audience made would become the "music". He also wrote the famous "Symphony for 8 short wave radios".
* A female pigeon can't lay an egg unless she sees another pigeon. If another pigeon isn't available, her own reflection in a mirror will suffice.
* When tea was first introduced in the American colonies, many people -- not knowing what to do with the stuff -- served the tea leaves with sugar or syrup and threw away the water they had been boiled in. (Heck, some folks even dressed up like Injuns and threw a bunch of it in Boston's Harbour.....)
* The people of Iceland read more books per capita than any other people in the world.
* The fastest temperature change on record is a rise of 49 degrees Fahrenheit in two minutes, from -4 degrees F to 45 degrees F. It happened in Spearfish, South Dakota, U.S.
* Sponges eat by filtering food out of the water that passes through them. In order to eat enough food to gain an ounce of body weight, they must filter one ton of water.
* The temperature in eastern Siberia can get so cold that the moisture in a person's breath can freeze in the air and fall to the ground.
* The easiest way to tell the difference between -50 F and -60 F is: When you spit at -50, it freezes with a sharp crack when it hits the ground. When you spit at -60, you hear 2 distinct cracks, the first one being the spit freezing in mid-air.
* The Egyptians trained baboons to wait on tables. We now use unemployed actors for this task.
* Up to 150 tons of meteorite fragments slam into Earth every year.
* The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea, off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean.
* Most people, by age sixty, have lost 50 percent of their taste buds and 40 percent of their ability to smell. This accounts for the propensity of older ladies to use WAY too much perfume.....
* Kernels of popcorn have been found in the graves of pre-Columbian Indians. [i wonder if the quality of the average movie was any better then than it is now....]
* The human body consists of about 60 trillion cells. Each cell has about 10,000 times as many molecules as the Milky Way has stars. (so when someone says they love you with every molecule of their body, that's a LOT of love!!)
* Rain contains vitamin B-12. [a good thing to know if you are a strict vegetarian!]
* The heaviest known meteorite to fall to Earth weighed about 60 tons.
* The largest landfill in the world is in Fresh Kills, New York. More than 14,000 tons of garbage is dumped into it each day.
* Lightning strikes the earth somewhere more than seventeen million times every day, or about two hundred times every second.
* New York City's Central Park is nearly twice as big as the world's second-smallest country, Monaco.
* Bees must collect the nectar from two thousand flowers to make one tablespoonful of honey.
* Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has had time to cover only about 20 percent of its orbit, and the last time it was in its present position was before the American Revolution.
* Sharks have a sixth sense that enables them to detect bio-electrical fields radiated by other sea creatures and to navigate by sensing changes in the earth's magnetic field.
* Seventy percent of the dust in your home consists of shed human skin particles.
* "Dust allergies" are mostly due to the doo-doo of dust mites, which feed off of the pieces of skin that dust mostly is. [Guess that one comes from the "revolting-but-true" file!!]
* In current existence there are more handwritten letters from George Washington than from John F. Kennedy.
* Rainforests cover less than 7 percent of the earth's surface, yet they receive almost half of all the rain that falls on land.
* Scientists estimate that the mighty Amazon rain forest, often called the "lungs of the planet" because of the oxygen they produce, may disappear entirely inside of 40 years, and that the point of no return may be reached within 15 years. [This, circa 2000]
* The moon is one million times drier than the Gobi Desert.
* Ten minutes of one hurricane contains enough energy to match the nuclear stockpiles of the world.
* Before 1800 there were no separately designed shoes for right and left feet.
* One cord of wood -- that's a 4x4x8 foot stack -- produces only 250 copies of the Sunday New York Times.
* The world's smallest tree is the dwarf willow, which grows to two inches tall on the tundra of Greenland.
* There are three times as many households in the United States without telephones as there are without television sets.
* The average human produces a quart of saliva a day -- about 10,000 gallons in a lifetime.
* If a bolt of lightning travels at speeds of about one hundred million feet (30 million meters) per second, or ninety million miles per hour, just imagine how fast GREASED lightning is!!
* Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.
* The embryos of tiger sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born.
* If the world's total land area was divided equally among the world's people, each person would get 8.5 hectares (about 21 acres) [1997]
* A lightning bolt generates temperatures five times hotter than those found at the sun's surface.
* A dolphin's hearing is so acute that it can pick up an underwater sound from fifteen miles away.
* Each square inch of human skin consists of twenty feet of blood vessels.
* An inch of snow falling evenly on one acre of ground is equivalent to about 2,715 gallons of water.
* The U.S. shreds seven thousand tons of worn-out currency each year.
* The eye of the giant squid is fifteen inches in diameter -- the size of a basketball.
* The largest volcano known is on Mars: Olympus Mons, 370 miles wide and 79,000 feet high, is almost three times higher than Mount Everest.
* Dragonflies may have as many as twenty thousand lenses in each eye.
* Each square inch of human skin contains seventy-two feet of nerves.
* The Amazon River moves 23 percent of the earth's fresh water.
* Proportionally speaking, the earth is smoother than a billiard ball.
* The human body's immune system is able to respond to as many as 10 billion different types of viruses, if there ever were to be that many species of them.
* Alaska is the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost state in the U.S. Northernmost and westernmost are self-explanatory, but how can it be easternmost, too? The Aleutian Islands extend past the 180 degree line of longitude, putting them in the Eastern Hemisphere
* Soccer players who head the ball 10 or more times per game have an average IQ of 103. Those who head the ball once or less have an average IQ of 112. [wonder what the average footballer's IQ is, before and after their career on the field?]
* Before dolphins initiate any group action, the pod floats together just below the surface of the water and holds an impromptu "conference," during which each individual animal gets a chance to vocalize. Then a consensus is reached.
* Fingernails have a life span of three to six months. That's how long it takes them to grow from base to tip, progressing at the pace of 1.5 inches a year -- or 0.000000047 inches a second. [so be careful when swinging that hammer....]
* There are an estimated 50,000 nerve endings per square inch in your fingertips [ibid.!!]
* More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.
* Ralph Waldo Emerson died in 1882 from the effects of a cold caught while attending the funeral of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [poetic injustice?]
* Traveling at the speed of the fastest elevator in the Empire State Building, it would take 30 minutes to reach the bottom of the Marianas Trench.
* In the 19th century, the British Navy attempted to dispel the superstition that Friday is an unlucky day to embark on a ship. The keel of a new ship was laid on a Friday, she was named H.M.S. Friday, commanded by a Captain Friday, and finally went to sea on a Friday. Neither the ship nor her crew were ever heard of again.
* Eating eight ounces of potato chips is like eating an eight-ounce potato with 12 to 20 teaspoons of vegetable oil added to it.
* A 1992 study found that the type of item that constitutes the largest volume of trash chucked out by Americans is grass clippings and other yard waste [and in landfill sites, it takes decades to turn to compost, as opposed to a couple of years in a pile in your yard or composter!]
* An opossum is pregnant for only thirteen days before giving birth
* Bamboo plants can grow as much as 36 inches in a 24-hour period - so fast that at top speed you can actually watch it happening!!
* The arctic tern is the natural world's greatest traveler: it breeds in the Arctic in the late spring and spends its winters 17,000 km away in the Antarctic.
* The design of a U.S. coin cannot be changed more than once in 25 years without special legislation by Congress
* The food making up a single bite for a Tyrannosaurus rex, it was speculated, would feed a human family of four for an entire month
* If space debris already circling the globe continues to increase at its current rate, the chance that a space shuttle will collide with debris will increase to 1-in-10 flights by the year 2000 [this was written in 1997: It is well and truly said that predicting things is REALLY hard, especially when it concerns the future.....(Yogi Berra, i think?)]
* Besides inventing dynamite, Alfred Nobel also created plywood and was one of the first designers of prefabricated housing
* The Amazon River has a daily flow that is three times the flow of all rivers in the United States combined
* While living in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1866-67, Thomas Edison developed a device to electrocute cockroaches [Not all of his 10,000 inventions caught on bigtime....]
* Bergy seltzer, which is the sound made by air escaping from icebergs, can be heard by sonar one hundred miles away.
* The only part of the human body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.
* The Australian walking fish can not only survive without water, it can also climb trees to feed on insects.
* A typical lightning bolt is only two to four inches wide, but two miles long.
* The Sun converts more than four million tons of matter into energy every second.
* Both Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury (famous science and science fiction writers) refrained from airplane travel, and Bradbury would not drive a car.
* During the eighteenth century, books that were considered offensive were sometimes punished by being whipped.
* Thomas Jefferson anonymously submitted design plans for the White House. They were rejected.
* The male of one species of insect related to the praying mantis can only reproduce after the female has bitten off his head. [and you thought YOU were henpecked....]
* Abraham Lincoln was the only U.S. president ever granted a patent.
* The human brain consists of about 1,000,000,000,000 nerve cells.
* The concept of a countdown before a rocket launch originated as a tension-building device in the 1929 movie The Woman on the Moon.
* Despite being a nine-inch-tall bird (unlike in cartoons), the roadrunner can run as fast as a human sprinter.
* In seventeenth-century Massachusetts, smoking was legal only at a distance of five miles from any town. [an idea WAY ahead of its time!!]
* The date of Easter [in the Roman tradition, i.e.: the Orthodox method is different] is determined by taking the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox.
* About thirty-six million phone calls are placed each day in New York City.
* The largest iceberg ever seen was 208 miles long and 60 miles wide. [Came off the Ross Ice Shelf, interestingly enough!]
* The distance from New York to Boston is about one million human steps. [so if you didn't pause at all, you could walk it in two weeks, at the rate of one step per second.]
* The largest bird egg ever laid -- that of an extinct bird native to Madagascar -- had a volume of more than 2 gallons.
* About 3,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef.
* Because of the salt content of the Dead Sea, it is difficult to dive below its surface. [however, it is not as salty as a lake in Saskatchewan, Canada i visited once, where you can lay on the water and read a newspaper without getting it wet!!]
* More than 10 percent of all the salt produced annually in the world is used to de-ice American roads.
* The Russian Czar Alexander II sold Alaska for about $72 million to the USA, to pay off his gambling debts. At the time, most folks considered this to be a really bad deal for America.
* There are over 3 million lakes in Alaska. The largest, Lake Iliamna, is the size of Connecticut. [People in Canada like to boast about how many lakes we have, but the number is only about 3 million, which is no more than good old Alaska!! (but ours are bigger....)]
* When insurance on ships and their cargoes was introduced in 14th-century Europe, it met opposition the grounds that it was an attempt to defeat financial disasters willed by God.
* More than five thousand hummingbird eggs can fit inside one ostrich egg.
* The bacteria found on human skin is roughly the numerical equivalent of all the humans on Earth.
* Healthy human bones can withstand stresses of twenty-four thousand pounds per square inch.
* The world's smallest known primate, the hairy-eared dwarf lemur of Madagascar, is the size of a mouse and weighs just three and a half ounces.
* The world's smallest bird is the Cuban Bee Hummingbird. It is only about 60mm long (just over 2 inches), its heart beats at about 300 times per minute, and its wings can flutter at an astounding 200 times per second (that's about the A flat below the C below middle C). More hummingbird and other wildlife facts can be found at the National Wildlife website.
* Americans use over 16,000 tons of aspirin a year. [I could crack wise about this, but i suspect Canada might be almost as big a pain....]
* A cubic mile of ordinary fog contains less than a gallon of water.
* The largest animal brain belongs to the sperm whale, reaching twenty pounds. The human brain, in comparison, weighs about three pounds.
* In the Middle Ages, pepper was used for bartering, and it was often more valuable and stable in value than gold.
* The surface area of the Pacific Ocean is over three times that of Asia, the largest continent.
* The odds against a person being struck by a celestial stone -- a meteorite -- are ten trillion to one (about the same as winning a Powerball lottery?)
* Africa's Nile crocodile can measure twenty feet long and weigh two thousand pounds.
* In supporting weight, human bones are as strong as granite.
* A human fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. At 10 weeks, it looks very much like a baby, and they start to actually think long before being born!
* An adult blue whale has a tongue the size of a car, and a heart that weighs half a ton and generates ten horsepower to pump its eight tons of blood.
* Schools of South American Humboldt squid, which reach twelve feet in length, have been known to strip five-hundred-pound marlins to the bone.
* There is enough material in the Great Wall of China to build an eight-foot wall circling the globe at the equator.
* While humans have 639 muscles, caterpillars have over four thousand.
* When the finback whale calls as it cruises near the surface searching for a mate, its voice carries for up to fifty miles. However, this is paltry compared to the blue whale, whose low frequency mating call can attract a mate from nearly 500 miles away!
* If you could drive to the sun -- at 55 miles (90 km) per hour -- it would take about 193 years.
* Saturn's atmosphere has very strong winds, sometimes with speeds exceeding 1,000 miles per hour.
* The Great Wall of China stretches over more than one-twentieth of the earth's circumference. It was the longest continuous construction project in history, built over a period of 1,700 years, and is one of the very few human structures visible to the naked eye from space (clearly visible in satellite photos, but in fact quite tricky to see with the unaided eye, although it is possible under certain conditions.)
* In South America a fish known as the payara has saber teeth that are two inches long. A common bait used to catch these freshwater fish is a small piranha.
* The U.S. Treasury Department produced $4,096 in paper currency each minute in 1996.
* If the normal one hundred thousand hairs on a head were woven into a rope, it could support a weight of more than twelve tons.
* Rainfall worldwide averages 960 million tons of water a minute.
* Each minute, an average of 88,000 faxes are transmitted in the U.S. [This was 1997, before most of the world discovered the e-mail.]
* Control of the thumb requires more of the brain's gray matter than does the control of the chest and abdomen. [and you thought hitch-hiking was easy....]
* The average meteor is no larger than a grain of sand, but is moving at nearly 30,000 miles per hour when it enters the atmosphere, so it's burn-out is bright enough to be seen as a "shooting star" here on the ground.
* During one four-year period, inventor Thomas Edison received almost three hundred patents.
* Shivering is caused by muscles contracting up to 20 times per second.
* The African elephant's ears weigh more than 100 pounds each.
* Air isn't particularly light: In a moderate-size room with enough space for twenty-five people, the air in the room weighs almost as much as the people.
* There are five counties in Texas that are larger than the state of Rhode Island.
* A single modeern (2003) computer chip the size of a postage stamp, functions more than 100 times faster than the **entire** original ENIAC computer, which weighed 30 tons, contained 18,000 vacuum tubes, and took five people to operate.
* The sound waves created when a consonant is spoken are more than 600 times more powerful than those created when a vowel is spoken.
* Droplets from a sneeze can remain in the air for three hours. If inhaled, they can transmit viruses quite nicely!
* A human sneeze exits the mouth at almost 300 mph - the speed of the winds in a class 5 tornado!!
* On food energy equivalent to one gallon of gasoline, a human could bicycle about 930 miles.
* Mosquitoes in the Canadian Arctic attack warm-blooded animals in such numbers that they could suck a naked human dry in four hours.
* Each year lightning causes about 10,000 fires in the U.S. alone.
* A certain kind of seal, the Weddell seal, can travel underwater for seven miles without surfacing for air.
* The sperm whale can dive to depths of a half mile, and can stay submerged for 30 minutes or more, fighting giant squid and other tough meals!
* The fastest moon in our solar system circles Jupiter once every seven hours — traveling at 70,400 miles per hour.
* One pound of bituminous coal contains as much energy as a human exerts in a full day of heavy manual labor.
* The five Great Lakes - Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior — hold almost 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh water [i.e., water on the surface in liquid form, not counting ground water or ice].
* Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake on Earth containing 23,000 cubic kilometers of water, or roughly 20 percent of the world's total surface fresh water. It contains as much fresh water as the Great Lakes of North America combined. It is also the deepest lake in the world (1600m - almost exactly a mile!), and at perhaps more than 25 million years old, the oldest as well. The water of Lake Baikal is so fresh that calcium carbonate does not survive in the fossil record. Despite the lake's great depth , its water is well-oxygenated throughout creating unique biological habitats.
* Some whales, when they surface, can inhale up to 530 gallons of air in two seconds.
* An elephant can smell water three miles away.
* The African lungfish can live out of water for up to four years.
* The brain in a developing fetus grows by about 250,000 cells per minute.
* Canada and Alaska have more lakes than the rest of the world combined : about 3 million each.
* The great Roman emperor Julius Caesar lost many ships when he invaded Britain -- he didn't beach them high enough because he hadn't take tides into account.
* The Japanese throne has been occupied by a member of the same family since the sixth century. The present emperor is the 125th in succession.
* Gold is so ductile that a single ounce can be drawn into a fine wire 50 miles long.
* The digestive juices of crocodiles contain so much hydrochloric acid that they have dissolved swallowed iron spearheads and six-inch steel hooks.
* Until the Middle Ages, underwater divers near the Mediterranean coastline collected golden strands from the pen shell, which used the strands to hold itself in place. The strands were woven into a luxury textile and made into ladies' gloves so fine that a pair could be packed into an empty walnut shell.
* Snails produce a colorless, sticky discharge that forms a protective carpet under them as they crawl along. The discharge is so effective that snails can crawl along the edge of a razor without cutting themselves.
* At the height of the various ice ages of the last million years, as much as 30 percent of all the land on Earth was covered with a thick layer of ice.
* Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952. (Turning it down may have been his biggest mistake!!)
* Besides inventing the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell set a world water speed record of 70 miles per hour in a hydrofoil boat [on a lake in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia!] when he was 72.
* Because of heavy traffic congestion, Julius Caesar banned all wheeled vehicles from Rome during daylight hours.
* Because he felt such an important tool should be public property, English chemist John Walker never patented his invention -- matches.
* An estimated ninety-five percent of all forms of life that have existed on Earth are now extinct.
* A fully loaded supertanker traveling at its normal speed of 16 knots needs at least 20 minutes to stop.
* At its zenith, about 200-250 A.D., the land area of the Roman Empire was roughly the size of the present-day United States.
* The Roman Empire lasted about 2150 years from beginning to end: from about 700 B.C., when legend has it that Romulus and Remus (according to legend, orphans brought up by wolves!) founded Rome, to 1453 when the Eastern, or Byzantine branch of the Empire, fell to the Turks.
* At birth a panda bear is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces.
* If the population of the Earth continued to increase at its present rate indefinitely, by 3530 A.D. the total mass of human flesh and blood would equal the mass of the Earth. By 6826 A.D. it would equal the mass of the known universe. [This factoid dates from the early 1990s. Since then, population growth has declined signficantly.]
* "Red tape," the rigid application of regulations and routine that results in delay getting business done, got its name from the color of the tape that was commonly used to tie official papers. The term has been in use since at least 1658.
* The royal house of Saudi Arabia may at present have as many as 5,000 princes and an equal number of princesses. King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, who ruled from 1932 until death in 1953, had 300 wives.
* The Tower of London, the home of the British Crown Jewels, has at various times since construction was begun on it in 1078 housed a zoo, an observatory, a mint, and a prison.
* A device invented as a primitive steam engine by the Greek engineer Hero at about the time of the birth of Christ finds use today in a modified form, as a rotating lawn sprinkler.
* A silicon chip a quarter-inch square has the computational capacity of the famous 1949 ENIAC computer, which used 18.000 vacuum tubes, weighed over 60,000 lbs, and occupied a city block. [This was circa mid-1990s. By now (2003), we are approaching the 100 gigaflop landmark - (a "flop" is a simple calculation per second), which is a million times faster than the plodding ENIAC monster. Petaflop (1,000,000,000,000 calculations per second) computers are predicted to be commercially availale by 2008]
* Bacteria, the tiniest free-living cells, are so small that a single drop of liquid contains as many as 50 million of them.
* The tautara, which lives in New Zealand, is the only survivor of the beak-headed order of reptiles, called Rhynchocephalia, that goes all the way back to the time of the dinosaurs. It has three eyes -- two in the center of its head and one on top.
* Every 24 hours a leaking water faucet with an opening the size of a pin will waste 170 gallons.
* The world's largest metal coins, in both size and standard value, were copper plates used in Alaska about 150 years ago. They were about three feet long, two feet wide, weighed ninety pounds, and were worth $2,500.
* Herons have been observed to drop insects on the water and then catch the fish that surface for the bugs.
* When Benjamin Franklin was appointed Postmaster General of the U.S. in 1775, his staff handled just 250,000 pieces of mail each year. In comparison, the U.S. Postal Service now handles 162 billion pieces per year.
* From the proclamation of her independence in 1804 until the intervention of the United States in 1915, Haiti had 24 presidents, 17 of whom mysteriously disappeared with the contents of her treasury. [gives new meaning to the concept of "cleptocracy"!]
* In 1950, rain forests covered about 14% of the earth's land surface. By 2001, this had diminished to 6%. Approximately half of the world's estimated 10 million species of life are believed to be found only in rain forests. The Amazon constitutes about 40% of the remaining rain forests, but it is disappearing at the rate of 7 football fields per minute - that's 20,000 km2 (7700 mi2) per year and increasing. From 1970 to 2000, an area the size of France or Texas was deforested by ranchers, farmers, loggers (mostly illegal), miners and developments of various kinds. The population of the Amazon is now over 20 million and rapidly increasing, since there is great poverty in Brazil, and the forest is seen as a vast area of land to be cleared and occupied.
* The density of a Neutron Star, which is formed by the gravitational collapse of stars 1.5 to 3 times the sun's mass, is a mind-twisting 100 million tonnes per cubic centimeter (about the size of a sugar cube). They are about 100 km in diameter (estimates range from 20 to 300 km), which means you'd have to be traveling at half the speed of light (300,000 km/second (186,000 miles/sec)) in order to escape their gravitational force of 100 billion times that of the earth. They are over 150 times as hot as the sun, and can rotate 1000 times per second! For a great summary of these weird denizens of our universe, see: http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/~ryden/ast162_5/notes21.html
* The male seahorse is the only husband in the world that carries the babies until they are ready to be born. In an interesting reversal of roles, the female deposits her eggs into the male's body and then retires from the family scene. After giving birth to live sea-horse babies, a male is ready to start all over again the very same day.
* Bacteria weigh about one trillionth of a gram ( about 400 trillion bacteria per pound). Viruses are typically 1000 times lighter still!!
* Desert animals have developed many fascinating ways of living in extremely harsh conditions. Of the most interesting of these belongs to the desert grouse of the Nabib desert, in SW Africa: the male uses a sponge-like mat of fluffy breast feathers to soak up water which it carries many miles each day to its chicks, who for safety reasons live nowhere near the water hole. The chicks simply lick the water off their father's breast-feather water-carrier!
* The world's fastest computer is the Japanese World Simulation Supercomputer, built to handle the huge amount of number crunching needed to handle climate change models. It zips along at over 35 "Terraflops" (trillion calculations per second) - 7 times faster than the fastest American machines.
* Dogs cannot perspire. To cool themselves off in hot weather or after exercise, they pant - i.e. they evaporate water from their tongue. Since this method is less efficient than perspiring all over, dogs can become overheated more easily - so it's not a smart idea to leave your dog in the car when you go shopping on a warm day!!
* Cats have been domesticated for thousands of years. In that time, their voices have become less harsh - more pleasing to the humans who serve them. A recent careful study which compared the mews, snarls and hisses of house cats with the sounds that wild cats of similar sizes make, found that the house cats made noises considerably more pleasant to the human ear. Although they can make most of their wishes known to their human house-mates, they cannot in any sense of the word "talk", contrary to the claims of many ardent cat fanciers.....
* A good way to restore the sound of scratched CDs is to coat them with a thin layer of wax or silicone: the data is still present no matter how many scratches there are, but they interfere with the ability of the laser to read the discs. The wax, silicone or other clear coating fills up the scratches, making it possible for the laser to do its job again.
* Until just a few years ago, data transmission on the Internet was so slow it was often called the "World Wide Wait". With a good 56k modem, rates of 10k (ie, 10 thousand "bytes" (a bite is the equivalent of one letter or number)) per second are to be expected, and with a LAN or T-1 connection, speeds of 200k are not uncommon. However, a company in Japan is working towards commercial speeds of up to 2.5 GIGAbytes per second (ie, about 10,000 times the top speed most WWW users can hope for today!). To date, they have achieved 800 megabytes per second - still not too shabby (that's more than twice the complete encyclopedia Britannica each second, by the way)!
* The school bus might be the safest method of travel ever invented. In the USA, where almost a thousand children are killed on their way to and from school each year, on the average only 5 die while traveling in school buses. The most dangerous way to get to or from school is inside a car driven by teenage classmates (no surprise there!!).
* One in 5 children in the world have never seen the inside of a school room - but the "developed" world doesn't exactly come off smelling like roses either, when the chips are counted up: in places such as Canada and other "g-7" countries, 40% or more of the adult population is "functionally illiterate" - i.e., they can read a cereal box, street sign or parking ticket, but give them a copy of "Great Expectations" and they would be as lost as Jaques Cousteau on Mars. (Force them to read a couple of pages of "Ulysses" and their heads would most likely explode......)
* A recent (released June 2002) research project has found organic farming to be a viable alternative to the high-tech farming methods of most of the "developed" world. On the average, yields were only 20% less (worst for potatoes at 38%, best for corn grown in a legume rotation, at only a few %) than chemical-based methods, and the amount of energy used is FAR less. In regions where there is surplus labor, organic methods would in many cases much more economical and sustainable.
* Figures released by Great Britain's Office of National Statistics show that in 2000, one in six people aged over 16 was caring for a sick or elderly person and that one in five households had a carer. This is a problem worldwide that will get worse as the "baby boom" generation grows older.
* The Romany (also called "gypsies") (Europe's largest minority, despite systematic persecution) appear to have originated as a branch or branches of the Dom tribal group of Northern India, which were displaced by the invasion of the Aryans about 1500 B.C. They left India around 500 A.D.. One branch migrated to Syria, while another settled in Byzantium about 900 A.D., and arrived in Europe in the 13th to 15th centuries. Long regarded in ill favor by the firmly settled peoples of Europe, they have a rich culture and language, with an extensive body of oral history and legends that rivals any of their persecutors. See http://www.paulpolansky.nstemp.com/gypsies.htmfor some interesting background.
* The Aryan peoples, lauded as the "master race" by Nazis and their modern offshoots, were in fact a barbarian destroyer of civilizations in their early history. For example, the Indus Valley civilization, perhaps the most brilliant of its time, was destroyed by a massive Aryan invasion around 1500 B.C. Although this invasion is disputed by Hindu nationalists in India, there is ample evidence supporting it. They spread out from an area in what is now northern Iran, and most of the languages from Europe to northern India belong to the "Indo-European" language family.
* The graffiti in ancient Pompey, which was preserved very nicely by being buried in ash from the volcano Vesuvius in 79 A.D., included graphic pornographic poetry.
* While global warming will cause desertification in many parts of the world, it may also cause much of Europe to become so cold it would be uninhabitable. Northern Europe is currently warmed by the North Atlantic Drift - the continuation of the Gulf Stream, which wraps around Ireland and Scandinavia. This current is fed by heavy, high-salinity water sinking in the arctic, because of the freezing of sea water to form ice in the winter (when salt water freezes, the salt ions are forced out, which is why sea ice melts into fresh water!). If more sea ice melts due to higher average temperatures, the salinity of the surface water will be raised to the point where it will no longer sink, and thus no longer feed the Gulf Stram/North Atlantic Drift. If this occurs, Europe will no longer be indirectly warmed by the heat of the Caribbean sun, and it will be chilled to the point where another ice age is possible in the northern parts of the
* An adult of the smallest humming bird in the world weighs less than a penny.
* Although the water which reaches Antarctica is warming up, causing some of the major ice shelfs to become unstable and shrink, the air over that continent is actually cooling, due to the famous "hole" (actually only a thinning) in the ozone layer: less ultraviolet light is absorbed in the upper atmosphere by the ozone (when it is, the result is warming), which means more is simply reflected back into space after bouncing off of the polar ice. The net result is a cooling of the atmosphere that extends from the stratosphere all the way down to the surface - due to vertical mixing of the air caused by the "polar vortex" winds.
* Many of the tools we use are designed for right-handed people. Every year, thousands of left-handed people die in accidents resulting from problems involving right-handed tools!
* One ragweed plant can release as many as a billion grains of pollen per year.
* The hearts of many mammals (such as us!) beat approximately 3 billion times during their owner's lifetime.
* The average human body contains over 100,000 km (60,000 miles) of arteries, veins and capillaries.
* One of the fastest production cars around, is a certain brand of Lamburghini which i can't recall the name of, which can zip along at 330+ kph. It has 580 horses under the bonnet, can go from 0 to 100 in 3.5 seconds, and costs less than half a million dollars (but that's USD...). The debate over which is REALLY the fastest production car (ie, one that is produced for anyone to buy, according to a standard plan, as opposed to vehicles that are either custom-built or modified from their original factory condition), is amazinly complex - i won't bore you with the technical details, but suffice it to say that consensus has NOT been reached in this matter yet!!!
* Famines in many countries in Africa have been made considerably worse by the insistence of countries that lend them money, that they reduce agricultural subsidies to subsistence farmers, as well as cut back on strategic grain reserves. This is especially ironic in light of a certain superpower's recent massive increase in subsidies to giant agri-businessess, in an apparent bid to protect domestic food producers from the competition from counties such as those in Africa which are now suffering from bad advice to do the opposite!! (hey, this one may be a bit political, but it is still a "wierd fact", even if it isn't very funny!)
* The universe appears to be expanding at an ever-faster rate (i.e., there will be no "big crunch" at the end of the universe!). This seems to be due to a force Einstein called the "cosmological constant" - a repulsive force that operates primarily at huge scales, in opposition to normal gravity. Interestingly enough, the theory of a speeding-up universe was first supported (in 1999) by observations made by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem - that Einstein himself helped found!!
* Nuclear pasta (G. Watanabe, K. Sato, K. Yasuoka, T. Ebisuzaki): The formation of neutron stars from collapsing supernovae includes some of the most dramatic processes in stellar evolution. In a neutron star, high densities cause matter to form a uniform liquid of neutrons, but just before that happens, nuclei form rod-like and slab-like structures and bubbles, termed nuclear “pasta”. The existence of pasta phases change the dynamics of neutron stars and how they behave astrophysically. New detailed simulations have shown how hot nucleic matter can form the various pasta phases as it cools. The matter seems to pass through a series of phases starting from uniform matter and heading through spherical, cylinder-like, slab-like phases and then as more uniform matter with holes that are cylindrical and then spherical before the whole lot becomes uniform again at a lower temperature.
* Until the 16th century, carrots were black, green, red and purple - until a Dutch horticulturist discovered some mutant yellow seeds that produced a freaky orange color that caught on big, worldwide!!
* Scientists estimate that there are at least 3 x 10E16 stars in the universe - that's 15 million stars for every man woman and child on our crowded little planet!!
* Some species of buzzard attract mates by eating cow dung, which contains a yellow pigment that turns the area around their eyes into a yellow mask! Scientists postulate that to a female buzzard, a bright yellow mask proves that her mate is healthy enough to overcome the multitudes of parasites present in such malodorous fare (or perhaps its just the "macho" thing for buzzards to do...?).
* The world's biggest shrimp, a 14-inch specimen of a deep-water species that dwells in the Gulf of Mexico, is proudly displayed at the Old Spanish Fort Museum in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
* Bacteria have been found from 40 miles up in the stratosphere to 7km below the ocean's bottom. According to recent research done at the University of Georgia, there are perhaps 5 x 10E30 (i.e., 5 followed by 30 zeros!!) individual bacteria on Earth. To put this into perspective, if each of them were to grow to the size of a period (.) and they were to be lined up, they would reach over 50 billion light years, or nearly twice the diameter of the known universe.
* Several lizards, such as the green anole, use their lungs to help them hear: they can detect vibrations though the air in their lungs when full.
* One of the funniest pages on the internet, especially if a) you are at least halfway to becoming a "computer geek", and b) can overlook a couple of naughty articles mixed in with the good ones, is to be found at http://www.klawitter.de/enhumor.html#100bugs.
* The average cost of a wedding in the USA is pushing $20,000, with half of that related to the reception (average attendance: 175 people) Even relatively small items such as the bridesmaids' corsages can run nearly $200 each! See http://www.theknot.com/pl_budgetavg.shtml for the gory details.
* The average cost of dying in North America has tripled in the past 15 years: the average funeral now runs almost $6000. This makes the going price for scattering your ashes into outer space (a paltry $4800) look like a bargain! (of course, while you get perpetual care at a cemetery, your orbiting ashes are burned up upon re-entry after only 6 years.....)
* Tiger eye, a semi-precious gem known for its changeable colors when tilted , comes in 4 colors: red, blue, green (the most uncommon), and yellow - the color that inspired its name.
* It is impossible to lick your elbow (unless you are double-jointed, or have, like Houdini, perfected the art of dislocating your joints (which he did to facilitate quick straight jacket escapes)).
* The great escape-artist Houdini could dislocate almost any joint in his body. He was immensely fit: one of his best-known escapes was when he was thrown into the Chicago River (clad only in a small bathing suit) in mid-winter in a trunk with a hidden release mechanism: things went well until he surfaced only to find he had miscalculated for the current and could not find the hole in the ice he was to emerge through. He dove back to the bottom to see if he could see the hole, with no luck. Back at the surface again he found a small pocket of air to breathe for a few seconds, after which he continued the search for the hole, which he found after nearly 10 minutes in the icy water. Most people would not last more than a few minutes under such circumstances. (if you doubt this, try it - with suitable supervision by divers in dry suits!!)
* Most lists of so-called "weird facts" on the internet contain an amusing cocktail of "urban legends", dubious anecdotes, and strange-but-untrue "facts" seemingly made up on the spot just to spice up the list. A good example is the well-known classic "A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why" - totally false, yet for some reason repeated as often as possible on the World Wide Web! Another oldie but goodie is the one about sneezing that says if you try too hard to keep your eyes open during a sneeze, they will pop out (i've tried this one personally!). I try hard to keep the offerings on this list falsehood-free, but if you see something you know to be erroneous, please let me know!
* Australian ("Esturine") crocodiles have salt glands in their tongue. This means that if they swallow too much salt, they can excrete it through their tongue. Alligators and their Caiman relatives don't have salt glands so they are mainly restricted to fresh water. The Estuarine crocodile has been found up to 1,350 kilometers out to sea. More great info on Crocs and 'gators can be found at http://www.hartleyscreek.com/facts-myths.htm
* Crocodiles can swim up to 25 km/hr when attacking, but cannot outrun people or horses, as is widely reported. A good-sized croc can only manage 10 km/hr on land, while a person being chased by one should be capable of over 3 times that speed!
* Bet you just tried to lick your elbow a few minutes ago!!
* People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because in the Dark Ages, it was thought that when you sneezed, a brief opportunity for devils to enter your mouth was created.
* When you sneeze, your heart stops for a tiny fraction of a second.
* It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
* A pregnant goldfish is called a twit. (i'm trying to limit the number of absolutely useless facts on this list, but this was just too silly to pass up!!)
* More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
* Rats and horses can't vomit.
* Cockroaches are an ancient (predating dinosaurs) life-form that can even withstand a nuclear holocaust because their DNA is not affected nearly as much as other species, by radiation.
* A single female German Cockroach can produce up to 100,000 progeny in a single year (for details, see http://pested.unl.edu/chapter3.htm)
* The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
* These are extremely rare occurrences, but if you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
* Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.
* Wearing headphones can increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
* In every episode of the television program Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
* The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
* Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
* An estimated 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks.
* The glossy look to lipstick comes from fish scales, which are iridescent.
* Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
* Estimates of the number of species presently sharing our planet with us range from 7 to 100 million (about 15 million is a pretty good bet, IMHO). Of these, only about 1.5 million are presently known to science.
* Of the 1.5 million or so species known to science, over half of them are insects - and 300,000 of these are beetles. One saucy biologist is noted for his quip that "God must have an inordinate fondness for beetles." In one 1980 study of just 19 trees in Panama, fully 80 percent of the 1,200 beetle species discovered were previously unknown to science - so we've only scratched the surface so far!
* As scientists begin investigating relatively little-known ecosystems, like the soil and the deep sea, "surprising" discoveries of undiscovered species have become commonplace. Small wonder: A single square meter of temperate forest can hold 200,000 mites and tens of thousands of other invertebrates. A similar-sized plot from tropical grasslands can hold 32 million nematodes, and one gram of the same soil might hold 90 million bacteria and other microbes.
* The song "White Christmas", as sung by Bing Crosby, has sold over 100 million records over the years, making it the most popular recording of all time.
* In Fiji, owning a specimen of one of the most famous mollusc shells, the "Golden Cowrie", was once punishable by death, unless you were a Chief: they wore them on a necklace as a symbol of their authority.
* In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagans to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them. The date had been celebrated in many religions and traditions, in connection with the winter solstice and the birthday of various gods and goddesses.
* The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany.
* The largest animal ever to live on the planet is the Blue Whale, which grows up to 174 tonnes - that's 80 full-grown elephants - an entire herd! This true Leviathan is also the loudest: its calls reach 188 decibels, and carry hundreds of miles. For comparison, a jet engine, should you be standing next to it, is only 140 decibels.
* The most ancient life form on earth may be a form of slime mold found on the scorching NW coast of Australia: it forms structures called "stromatolites" that have been found in rocks estimated to be nearly 3 billion years old!
* According to astronomers' latest calculations, the universe is approximately 13 billion years old. By comparison, our species is said to be less than 100,000 years old, and our civilization, less than 5,000 years.
* When a water-based solution is diluted, the molecules of the dissolved subtance(s) do not move further apart, as might be expected. Instead, they clump together - the more dilute the solution, the larger the clumps become. This may help explain why some homeopathic treatments (it is believed by homeopaths that the more dilute a solution is, the more powerful it becomes) actually seem to work. See http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991532 for further details.
* Obsidian (volcanic glass with ultra-small crystals of quartz) tools many thousands of years old are often sharper than the sharpest steel scalpels used by today's surgeons. Incisions made with these ancient knives heal surprisingly quickly and leave almost no scar.
* Of the approximately 1.4 billion cubic Km of water on earth, only 3% is fresh water. Of this 3%, groundwater is about 20 percent, Ice & glaciers about 79 percent, and all the water in the air, soil, lakes, rivers and living creatures, only 1 percent.
* The total weight of all the bacteria on earth is estimated (according to researchers at the University of Georgia), to be about 5 x 10E14 kg, or roughly the weight of the United Kingdom.
* The height of the Eiffel Tower varies by as much as six inches, depending on the temperature.
* The leaves of the water lily Victoria regia grow as large as eight feet across.
* The annual harvest of an entire coffee tree is required to make one pound of ground coffee.
* In 1642, Dr. John Lightfoot wrote that man was created at 9:00 a.m., and in 1644, he wrote that the world was created on Sunday, September 12, 3928 B.C.. In 1650, the Irish Archbishop, James Ussher, published his computations that the world was created on Sunday, October 23rd, 4004 B.C., beginning at sunset of the 22nd. These dates, their relationship to each other, and their methodology, are widely misquoted.
* A woodchuck breathes only 10 times per hour while hibernating. An active woodchuck breathes 2,100 times per hour.
* In an average acre of green land, you would expect to find about 50,000 spiders.
* A mosquito has 47 "teeth" that enable it to drill through your skin in a half second flat.
* When diving, the peregrine falcon can reach a speed of over 200 miles (322 km) per hour. Their numbers were drastically reduced in the late 1960s because DDT, a very toxic pesticide, accumulated in their bodies and caused their eggshells to be so fragile they broke while being incubated. When DDT was later banned, peregrine populations rebounded, but they are still not as common as they used to be.
* One square inch of the sun's surface shines with the intensity of 300,000 candles.
* Should you be so inclined, you would have to fold a piece of American currency back and forth about 4,000 times before it would easily tear.
* The roots from one plant of common oats can total a quarter mile in cumulative length. They can reach down a hundred feet to find water when the water table is low.
* During one growing season, an oak tree can give off 28,000 gallons of moisture. This "transpiration" of water by trees is an important factor in providing moisture and rain for local climates. When forests are reduced in any given region, there is less water in the air, and less rain as well - hence deforestation is a major contributor to drought. Also, deforestation leads to rapid erosion of the soil they hold in place, inhibiting the reforestation process, an contributes greatly to flooding, since instead of being absorbed into the forest floor, rain simply quickly runs off the land and into streams and rivers.
* The cheetah is the only member of the cat family that has non-retractable claws. Other cats retract their claws to keep them sharp, like carving knives kept in a sheath --the cheetah's claws are designed not for cutting but for traction. This is an animal biologically designed to run. It can tear up the turf at up to 115+ km (70 miles) per hour, but only at a cost: it is much lighter than most big cats, and its dull claws cannot rip open tough hides such as wildebeest. However, these "macho" characteristics are not necessary, since antelope-like animals such as gazelles and springbok, which are small and thin-skinned, are its main food source. No lion alive could catch one of these, except by sheer luck!
* The heart of a giraffe weighs 25 pounds, is two feet long, and has walls 3 inches thick.
* Gold is malleable enough that one ounce of it can be beaten into a thin sheet that covers 100 square feet.
* In ancient Egypt, certain baboons were mummified when they died.
* The world's strongest recorded gust of wind (not counting tornadoes) was clocked on the summit of Mount Washington by Observatory crew on April 12, 1934 at 231 miles per hour. Other observations of slightly faster speeds have been made since then, but they lack credibility because of the reliability of the instruments used.
* It was widely believed in the Middle Ages that the heart was the center of human intelligence.
* According to Aristotle, whose views were adopted by some theologians and held sway for hundreds of years, the brain's primary purpose was to cool the blood.
* Even if up to 80 percent of it is removed, the human liver will continue to function and will grow again to its original size. A healthy individual can grow a good chunk of new liver in about 3 months.
* The ancient Romans were fond of eating mice. [They also liked to eat until they threw up: any relationship between these two facts, i wonder?]
* Pain travels at a speed of 350 feet per second.
* Sunglasses were invented by the Chinese in the 13th century.
* The total weight of all insects on Earth is twelve times greater than the weight of all people.
* To ward off enemies, the horned lizard can squirt blood from its eyelids.
* Bats consume 400-500 mosquitoes an hour. [and to think that some folks STILL don't like them....]
* In a house fire, an open-framed steel - studded house will collapse faster than a wooden house will: the steel melts in the intense heat.
* One ounce of the silk that forms a spider's web could stretch 2,000 miles.
* Spider silk, by weight, is stronger than steel. Scientists are genetically engineering a breed of goat so that its milk can be turned into spider silk, then spun into ultra-strong ropes.
* There are more than 3,500 living species of cockroaches. Scientists estimate that there may be over 5 million species of insects, a surprising number of the total being beetles.
* The World Trade Centre towers were designed to collapse in a pancake-like fashion, instead of simply falling over on their sides. This design feature saved hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives on Sept. 11, 2001, when they were destroyed by terrorists.
* There are more caribou in Alaska than there are people. [Of course if ANWR is exploited for oil, this may change...]
* Robots in Japan pay union dues. [but they NEVER go on strike!]
* Blue whale calves do not leave their mother until they are about 13m (45 feet) long. They can drink as much as 80 kg (180 lbs) of milk each day.
* Polar bears have black skin. They appear white because their hair is colorless and hollow, and so reflects the sunlight.
* At a steady jogger's pace of six miles per hour, it would take 173 days to go around the equatorial circumference of Earth, and over five years to go around Jupiter, the largest planet.
* Botanically speaking, "true" berries include the grape, tomato, and eggplant, but not raspberries or blackberries, which are drupes (i.e., clusters of small berries).
* Many of the foods we normally call "vegetables", such as squash & pumpkin, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and eggplant, are actually fruits. Anything that contains seeds in a pulpy matrix, is a fruit. (if the seeds are enclosed in a separate casing, they are nuts.)
* A meal of beans, corn, tomatoes, squash, green peppers, zucchini loaf, cucumbers, with pumkin pie for dessert, would contain no vegetables at all: beans are legumes, corn is a grain, and all the rest are fruits.
* The rubble from the World Trade buildings in New York totaled nearly a million tons (900,000 tonnes). The site is now contaminated by asbestos and other toxins, and will require extensive clean-up before anything else can be built there.
* Swimming at its top speed of 25 knots, an adult blue whale expends 3,400 horsepower.
* The feet of the gecko are so sticky they can hold onto a cieling upside down, from a single toe. Spiderman eat your heart out!!!
* Worldwide, about 40 square miles of land are transformed into desert each day, mainly in sub-Saheel Africa (i.e., the area just south of the Sahara desert), and in China. [NOTE: In 2002, due to changing climate patterns and successful tree-planting campaigns, this area just south of the Sahara Desert is now starting to become greener: in this part of the world at least, the desert is losing!!]
* A person living to age 75 will have slept about 220,000 hours -- or about 23 years. [About 20% of that time will be spent dreaming, which is almost 5 years' worth of dreams!!]
* Between dawn and dusk, an acre of peas can increase in weight by up to 50 percent, owing to the vegetable's high capacity for absorption. [ Don't quote me on this one.]
* The total amount of skin covering the human body weighs six pounds, making it the body's largest organ.
* Since the moon has no atmosphere, footprints left there by astronauts should remain visible for at least ten million years.
* It was only after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 that the U.S. Congress enacted a law making it a federal crime to specifically kill, kidnap, or assault the President, Vice-President, or President-elect.
* By day 23 a human embryo has the makings of a heart, brain, and spinal cord.
* A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.
* The albatross can glide on air currents for several days and can even sleep while in flight.
* Nicaragua had 396 different rulers between 1839 and 1855, their average reign lasting less than 15 days.
* The sperm whale's intestines are over 450 feet long.
* A human's small intestine is about 22 feet long.
* The brightest star in the night sky, Sirius [the "Dog Star"] gives out twenty-six times as much light as the Sun, which by the time it reaches us is still bright enough to make it our planet's second-brightest star (the sun being the brightest).
* Prior to World War II, when guards were posted at the fence, anyone could wander right up to the front door of the U.S. President's residence, the White House.
* Each of the more than 200 lashes on each eye is shed every three to five months.
* Rain has never been recorded in some parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile.
* Each year about $200 million worth of U.S. stamps go unused, finding their way into the albums of some 22 million stamp collectors (this factoid dates from around 1995)
* To keep from being separated while sleeping, sea otters tie themselves together with kelp, often drifting miles out to sea during the night [Now that's what i call a "bonding experience"!]
* The oldest national flag still in existence, that of Denmark, dates back to the 13th century.
* The sun is ninety-three million miles (about 150 million km) from Earth, yet it is two hundred seventy (270) times closer than the next nearest star.
* Just twenty seconds' worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon.
* The amniotic fluid that surrounds a baby in the womb is completely replaced every three hours.
* Mailing an entire building has been illegal in the U.S. since 1916 when a man mailed a 40,000 pound brick house across Utah to avoid high freight rates.
* A bald eagle's nest can be 12 feet deep and 10 feet wide.
* The tinamou, a South American game bird resembling the quail, lays eggs having such a highly polished, glasslike surface that they reflect images like a mirror.
* The Earth is home to more than 300 million cubic miles of water. This volume could cover the United States to a depth of 100 miles (160 km).
* A solar day on Mercury, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about six Earth months.
* A horse has sixteen muscles in each ear, which allows it to rotate its ears a full 180 degrees. (and we think we're clever if we can just wiggle ours!!)
* Human skin sheds continually, and the outer layer of skin is entirely replaced every 28 days.
* The Earth travels around the sun at about 67,000 miles per hour.
* One type of mushroom, the Ganoderma Applanatum, can live for fifty years and grow to a diameter of two feet. It is also Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for March 1999. See http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/ for a LOT of great Fungus info (Tom's a great party guest: he's a real fun gi....)
* It takes more than two tons of South African rock to produce less than an ounce of gold.
* The burrowing rate of the gopher is equivalent to a human digging a tunnel eighteen inches in diameter and seven miles long in a period of ten hours.
* An eagle's beak can close with a force of 350 pounds per square inch.
* The umbrella originated in ancient Egypt, where it was used by the royal family and nobles as a symbol of rank.
* Due to its reclining S shape, the sun rises on the Pacific Coast and sets on the Atlantic Coast in the Isthmus of Panama.
* A horse's heart is capable of pumping 200 liters (about 50 gallons) of blood per minute -- enough to fill the gas tank on a pickup truck three times faster than a gas pump would.
* Payment for English trial lawyers is considered an honorarium -- so there is no legal obligation for clients to pay them.
* The moon appears to revolve around the Earth from east to west, but it actually moves from west to east -- because the Earth's rotation is faster than the moon's revolution.
* There are locusts that have an adult life-span of only a few weeks -- after having lived in the ground as grubs for fifteen years.
* The longest non-talking film ever made was Andy Warhol's Sleep. It consists solely of a man sleeping for eight hours. Remember - this is the same guy that made a fortune from stencils of Campell's tomato soup cans.
* The quitest piece of music in the world is John Cage's 1950s piece called "4:33 (short for 4 minutes and 33 seconds", which consists of a person sitting down in front of a piano for that length of time and then leaving. His idea was that the sounds the audience made would become the "music". He also wrote the famous "Symphony for 8 short wave radios".
* A female pigeon can't lay an egg unless she sees another pigeon. If another pigeon isn't available, her own reflection in a mirror will suffice.
* When tea was first introduced in the American colonies, many people -- not knowing what to do with the stuff -- served the tea leaves with sugar or syrup and threw away the water they had been boiled in. (Heck, some folks even dressed up like Injuns and threw a bunch of it in Boston's Harbour.....)
* The people of Iceland read more books per capita than any other people in the world.
* The fastest temperature change on record is a rise of 49 degrees Fahrenheit in two minutes, from -4 degrees F to 45 degrees F. It happened in Spearfish, South Dakota, U.S.
* Sponges eat by filtering food out of the water that passes through them. In order to eat enough food to gain an ounce of body weight, they must filter one ton of water.
* The temperature in eastern Siberia can get so cold that the moisture in a person's breath can freeze in the air and fall to the ground.
* The easiest way to tell the difference between -50 F and -60 F is: When you spit at -50, it freezes with a sharp crack when it hits the ground. When you spit at -60, you hear 2 distinct cracks, the first one being the spit freezing in mid-air.
* The Egyptians trained baboons to wait on tables. We now use unemployed actors for this task.
* Up to 150 tons of meteorite fragments slam into Earth every year.
* The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea, off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean.
* Most people, by age sixty, have lost 50 percent of their taste buds and 40 percent of their ability to smell. This accounts for the propensity of older ladies to use WAY too much perfume.....
* Kernels of popcorn have been found in the graves of pre-Columbian Indians. [i wonder if the quality of the average movie was any better then than it is now....]
* The human body consists of about 60 trillion cells. Each cell has about 10,000 times as many molecules as the Milky Way has stars. (so when someone says they love you with every molecule of their body, that's a LOT of love!!)
* Rain contains vitamin B-12. [a good thing to know if you are a strict vegetarian!]
* The heaviest known meteorite to fall to Earth weighed about 60 tons.
* The largest landfill in the world is in Fresh Kills, New York. More than 14,000 tons of garbage is dumped into it each day.
* Lightning strikes the earth somewhere more than seventeen million times every day, or about two hundred times every second.
* New York City's Central Park is nearly twice as big as the world's second-smallest country, Monaco.
* Bees must collect the nectar from two thousand flowers to make one tablespoonful of honey.
* Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has had time to cover only about 20 percent of its orbit, and the last time it was in its present position was before the American Revolution.
* Sharks have a sixth sense that enables them to detect bio-electrical fields radiated by other sea creatures and to navigate by sensing changes in the earth's magnetic field.
* Seventy percent of the dust in your home consists of shed human skin particles.
* "Dust allergies" are mostly due to the doo-doo of dust mites, which feed off of the pieces of skin that dust mostly is. [Guess that one comes from the "revolting-but-true" file!!]
* In current existence there are more handwritten letters from George Washington than from John F. Kennedy.
* Rainforests cover less than 7 percent of the earth's surface, yet they receive almost half of all the rain that falls on land.
* Scientists estimate that the mighty Amazon rain forest, often called the "lungs of the planet" because of the oxygen they produce, may disappear entirely inside of 40 years, and that the point of no return may be reached within 15 years. [This, circa 2000]
* The moon is one million times drier than the Gobi Desert.
* Ten minutes of one hurricane contains enough energy to match the nuclear stockpiles of the world.
* Before 1800 there were no separately designed shoes for right and left feet.
* One cord of wood -- that's a 4x4x8 foot stack -- produces only 250 copies of the Sunday New York Times.
* The world's smallest tree is the dwarf willow, which grows to two inches tall on the tundra of Greenland.
* There are three times as many households in the United States without telephones as there are without television sets.
* The average human produces a quart of saliva a day -- about 10,000 gallons in a lifetime.
* If a bolt of lightning travels at speeds of about one hundred million feet (30 million meters) per second, or ninety million miles per hour, just imagine how fast GREASED lightning is!!
* Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.
* The embryos of tiger sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born.
* If the world's total land area was divided equally among the world's people, each person would get 8.5 hectares (about 21 acres) [1997]
* A lightning bolt generates temperatures five times hotter than those found at the sun's surface.
* A dolphin's hearing is so acute that it can pick up an underwater sound from fifteen miles away.
* Each square inch of human skin consists of twenty feet of blood vessels.
* An inch of snow falling evenly on one acre of ground is equivalent to about 2,715 gallons of water.
* The U.S. shreds seven thousand tons of worn-out currency each year.
* The eye of the giant squid is fifteen inches in diameter -- the size of a basketball.
* The largest volcano known is on Mars: Olympus Mons, 370 miles wide and 79,000 feet high, is almost three times higher than Mount Everest.
* Dragonflies may have as many as twenty thousand lenses in each eye.
* Each square inch of human skin contains seventy-two feet of nerves.
* The Amazon River moves 23 percent of the earth's fresh water.
* Proportionally speaking, the earth is smoother than a billiard ball.
* The human body's immune system is able to respond to as many as 10 billion different types of viruses, if there ever were to be that many species of them.
* Alaska is the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost state in the U.S. Northernmost and westernmost are self-explanatory, but how can it be easternmost, too? The Aleutian Islands extend past the 180 degree line of longitude, putting them in the Eastern Hemisphere
* Soccer players who head the ball 10 or more times per game have an average IQ of 103. Those who head the ball once or less have an average IQ of 112. [wonder what the average footballer's IQ is, before and after their career on the field?]
* Before dolphins initiate any group action, the pod floats together just below the surface of the water and holds an impromptu "conference," during which each individual animal gets a chance to vocalize. Then a consensus is reached.
* Fingernails have a life span of three to six months. That's how long it takes them to grow from base to tip, progressing at the pace of 1.5 inches a year -- or 0.000000047 inches a second. [so be careful when swinging that hammer....]
* There are an estimated 50,000 nerve endings per square inch in your fingertips [ibid.!!]
* More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.
* Ralph Waldo Emerson died in 1882 from the effects of a cold caught while attending the funeral of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [poetic injustice?]
* Traveling at the speed of the fastest elevator in the Empire State Building, it would take 30 minutes to reach the bottom of the Marianas Trench.
* In the 19th century, the British Navy attempted to dispel the superstition that Friday is an unlucky day to embark on a ship. The keel of a new ship was laid on a Friday, she was named H.M.S. Friday, commanded by a Captain Friday, and finally went to sea on a Friday. Neither the ship nor her crew were ever heard of again.
* Eating eight ounces of potato chips is like eating an eight-ounce potato with 12 to 20 teaspoons of vegetable oil added to it.
* A 1992 study found that the type of item that constitutes the largest volume of trash chucked out by Americans is grass clippings and other yard waste [and in landfill sites, it takes decades to turn to compost, as opposed to a couple of years in a pile in your yard or composter!]
* An opossum is pregnant for only thirteen days before giving birth
* Bamboo plants can grow as much as 36 inches in a 24-hour period - so fast that at top speed you can actually watch it happening!!
* The arctic tern is the natural world's greatest traveler: it breeds in the Arctic in the late spring and spends its winters 17,000 km away in the Antarctic.
* The design of a U.S. coin cannot be changed more than once in 25 years without special legislation by Congress
* The food making up a single bite for a Tyrannosaurus rex, it was speculated, would feed a human family of four for an entire month
* If space debris already circling the globe continues to increase at its current rate, the chance that a space shuttle will collide with debris will increase to 1-in-10 flights by the year 2000 [this was written in 1997: It is well and truly said that predicting things is REALLY hard, especially when it concerns the future.....(Yogi Berra, i think?)]
* Besides inventing dynamite, Alfred Nobel also created plywood and was one of the first designers of prefabricated housing
* The Amazon River has a daily flow that is three times the flow of all rivers in the United States combined
* While living in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1866-67, Thomas Edison developed a device to electrocute cockroaches [Not all of his 10,000 inventions caught on bigtime....]
* Bergy seltzer, which is the sound made by air escaping from icebergs, can be heard by sonar one hundred miles away.
* The only part of the human body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.
* The Australian walking fish can not only survive without water, it can also climb trees to feed on insects.
* A typical lightning bolt is only two to four inches wide, but two miles long.
* The Sun converts more than four million tons of matter into energy every second.
* Both Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury (famous science and science fiction writers) refrained from airplane travel, and Bradbury would not drive a car.
* During the eighteenth century, books that were considered offensive were sometimes punished by being whipped.
* Thomas Jefferson anonymously submitted design plans for the White House. They were rejected.
* The male of one species of insect related to the praying mantis can only reproduce after the female has bitten off his head. [and you thought YOU were henpecked....]
* Abraham Lincoln was the only U.S. president ever granted a patent.
* The human brain consists of about 1,000,000,000,000 nerve cells.
* The concept of a countdown before a rocket launch originated as a tension-building device in the 1929 movie The Woman on the Moon.
* Despite being a nine-inch-tall bird (unlike in cartoons), the roadrunner can run as fast as a human sprinter.
* In seventeenth-century Massachusetts, smoking was legal only at a distance of five miles from any town. [an idea WAY ahead of its time!!]
* The date of Easter [in the Roman tradition, i.e.: the Orthodox method is different] is determined by taking the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox.
* About thirty-six million phone calls are placed each day in New York City.
* The largest iceberg ever seen was 208 miles long and 60 miles wide. [Came off the Ross Ice Shelf, interestingly enough!]
* The distance from New York to Boston is about one million human steps. [so if you didn't pause at all, you could walk it in two weeks, at the rate of one step per second.]
* The largest bird egg ever laid -- that of an extinct bird native to Madagascar -- had a volume of more than 2 gallons.
* About 3,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef.
* Because of the salt content of the Dead Sea, it is difficult to dive below its surface. [however, it is not as salty as a lake in Saskatchewan, Canada i visited once, where you can lay on the water and read a newspaper without getting it wet!!]
* More than 10 percent of all the salt produced annually in the world is used to de-ice American roads.
* The Russian Czar Alexander II sold Alaska for about $72 million to the USA, to pay off his gambling debts. At the time, most folks considered this to be a really bad deal for America.
* There are over 3 million lakes in Alaska. The largest, Lake Iliamna, is the size of Connecticut. [People in Canada like to boast about how many lakes we have, but the number is only about 3 million, which is no more than good old Alaska!! (but ours are bigger....)]
* When insurance on ships and their cargoes was introduced in 14th-century Europe, it met opposition the grounds that it was an attempt to defeat financial disasters willed by God.
* More than five thousand hummingbird eggs can fit inside one ostrich egg.
* The bacteria found on human skin is roughly the numerical equivalent of all the humans on Earth.
* Healthy human bones can withstand stresses of twenty-four thousand pounds per square inch.
* The world's smallest known primate, the hairy-eared dwarf lemur of Madagascar, is the size of a mouse and weighs just three and a half ounces.
* The world's smallest bird is the Cuban Bee Hummingbird. It is only about 60mm long (just over 2 inches), its heart beats at about 300 times per minute, and its wings can flutter at an astounding 200 times per second (that's about the A flat below the C below middle C). More hummingbird and other wildlife facts can be found at the National Wildlife website.
* Americans use over 16,000 tons of aspirin a year. [I could crack wise about this, but i suspect Canada might be almost as big a pain....]
* A cubic mile of ordinary fog contains less than a gallon of water.
* The largest animal brain belongs to the sperm whale, reaching twenty pounds. The human brain, in comparison, weighs about three pounds.
* In the Middle Ages, pepper was used for bartering, and it was often more valuable and stable in value than gold.
* The surface area of the Pacific Ocean is over three times that of Asia, the largest continent.
* The odds against a person being struck by a celestial stone -- a meteorite -- are ten trillion to one (about the same as winning a Powerball lottery?)
* Africa's Nile crocodile can measure twenty feet long and weigh two thousand pounds.
* In supporting weight, human bones are as strong as granite.
* A human fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. At 10 weeks, it looks very much like a baby, and they start to actually think long before being born!
* An adult blue whale has a tongue the size of a car, and a heart that weighs half a ton and generates ten horsepower to pump its eight tons of blood.
* Schools of South American Humboldt squid, which reach twelve feet in length, have been known to strip five-hundred-pound marlins to the bone.
* There is enough material in the Great Wall of China to build an eight-foot wall circling the globe at the equator.
* While humans have 639 muscles, caterpillars have over four thousand.
* When the finback whale calls as it cruises near the surface searching for a mate, its voice carries for up to fifty miles. However, this is paltry compared to the blue whale, whose low frequency mating call can attract a mate from nearly 500 miles away!
* If you could drive to the sun -- at 55 miles (90 km) per hour -- it would take about 193 years.
* Saturn's atmosphere has very strong winds, sometimes with speeds exceeding 1,000 miles per hour.
* The Great Wall of China stretches over more than one-twentieth of the earth's circumference. It was the longest continuous construction project in history, built over a period of 1,700 years, and is one of the very few human structures visible to the naked eye from space (clearly visible in satellite photos, but in fact quite tricky to see with the unaided eye, although it is possible under certain conditions.)
* In South America a fish known as the payara has saber teeth that are two inches long. A common bait used to catch these freshwater fish is a small piranha.
* The U.S. Treasury Department produced $4,096 in paper currency each minute in 1996.
* If the normal one hundred thousand hairs on a head were woven into a rope, it could support a weight of more than twelve tons.
* Rainfall worldwide averages 960 million tons of water a minute.
* Each minute, an average of 88,000 faxes are transmitted in the U.S. [This was 1997, before most of the world discovered the e-mail.]
* Control of the thumb requires more of the brain's gray matter than does the control of the chest and abdomen. [and you thought hitch-hiking was easy....]
* The average meteor is no larger than a grain of sand, but is moving at nearly 30,000 miles per hour when it enters the atmosphere, so it's burn-out is bright enough to be seen as a "shooting star" here on the ground.
* During one four-year period, inventor Thomas Edison received almost three hundred patents.
* Shivering is caused by muscles contracting up to 20 times per second.
* The African elephant's ears weigh more than 100 pounds each.
* Air isn't particularly light: In a moderate-size room with enough space for twenty-five people, the air in the room weighs almost as much as the people.
* There are five counties in Texas that are larger than the state of Rhode Island.
* A single modeern (2003) computer chip the size of a postage stamp, functions more than 100 times faster than the **entire** original ENIAC computer, which weighed 30 tons, contained 18,000 vacuum tubes, and took five people to operate.
* The sound waves created when a consonant is spoken are more than 600 times more powerful than those created when a vowel is spoken.
* Droplets from a sneeze can remain in the air for three hours. If inhaled, they can transmit viruses quite nicely!
* A human sneeze exits the mouth at almost 300 mph - the speed of the winds in a class 5 tornado!!
* On food energy equivalent to one gallon of gasoline, a human could bicycle about 930 miles.
* Mosquitoes in the Canadian Arctic attack warm-blooded animals in such numbers that they could suck a naked human dry in four hours.
* Each year lightning causes about 10,000 fires in the U.S. alone.
* A certain kind of seal, the Weddell seal, can travel underwater for seven miles without surfacing for air.
* The sperm whale can dive to depths of a half mile, and can stay submerged for 30 minutes or more, fighting giant squid and other tough meals!
* The fastest moon in our solar system circles Jupiter once every seven hours — traveling at 70,400 miles per hour.
* One pound of bituminous coal contains as much energy as a human exerts in a full day of heavy manual labor.
* The five Great Lakes - Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior — hold almost 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh water [i.e., water on the surface in liquid form, not counting ground water or ice].
* Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake on Earth containing 23,000 cubic kilometers of water, or roughly 20 percent of the world's total surface fresh water. It contains as much fresh water as the Great Lakes of North America combined. It is also the deepest lake in the world (1600m - almost exactly a mile!), and at perhaps more than 25 million years old, the oldest as well. The water of Lake Baikal is so fresh that calcium carbonate does not survive in the fossil record. Despite the lake's great depth , its water is well-oxygenated throughout creating unique biological habitats.
* Some whales, when they surface, can inhale up to 530 gallons of air in two seconds.
* An elephant can smell water three miles away.
* The African lungfish can live out of water for up to four years.
* The brain in a developing fetus grows by about 250,000 cells per minute.
* Canada and Alaska have more lakes than the rest of the world combined : about 3 million each.
* The great Roman emperor Julius Caesar lost many ships when he invaded Britain -- he didn't beach them high enough because he hadn't take tides into account.
* The Japanese throne has been occupied by a member of the same family since the sixth century. The present emperor is the 125th in succession.
* Gold is so ductile that a single ounce can be drawn into a fine wire 50 miles long.
* The digestive juices of crocodiles contain so much hydrochloric acid that they have dissolved swallowed iron spearheads and six-inch steel hooks.
* Until the Middle Ages, underwater divers near the Mediterranean coastline collected golden strands from the pen shell, which used the strands to hold itself in place. The strands were woven into a luxury textile and made into ladies' gloves so fine that a pair could be packed into an empty walnut shell.
* Snails produce a colorless, sticky discharge that forms a protective carpet under them as they crawl along. The discharge is so effective that snails can crawl along the edge of a razor without cutting themselves.
* At the height of the various ice ages of the last million years, as much as 30 percent of all the land on Earth was covered with a thick layer of ice.
* Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952. (Turning it down may have been his biggest mistake!!)
* Besides inventing the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell set a world water speed record of 70 miles per hour in a hydrofoil boat [on a lake in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia!] when he was 72.
* Because of heavy traffic congestion, Julius Caesar banned all wheeled vehicles from Rome during daylight hours.
* Because he felt such an important tool should be public property, English chemist John Walker never patented his invention -- matches.
* An estimated ninety-five percent of all forms of life that have existed on Earth are now extinct.
* A fully loaded supertanker traveling at its normal speed of 16 knots needs at least 20 minutes to stop.
* At its zenith, about 200-250 A.D., the land area of the Roman Empire was roughly the size of the present-day United States.
* The Roman Empire lasted about 2150 years from beginning to end: from about 700 B.C., when legend has it that Romulus and Remus (according to legend, orphans brought up by wolves!) founded Rome, to 1453 when the Eastern, or Byzantine branch of the Empire, fell to the Turks.
* At birth a panda bear is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces.
* If the population of the Earth continued to increase at its present rate indefinitely, by 3530 A.D. the total mass of human flesh and blood would equal the mass of the Earth. By 6826 A.D. it would equal the mass of the known universe. [This factoid dates from the early 1990s. Since then, population growth has declined signficantly.]
* "Red tape," the rigid application of regulations and routine that results in delay getting business done, got its name from the color of the tape that was commonly used to tie official papers. The term has been in use since at least 1658.
* The royal house of Saudi Arabia may at present have as many as 5,000 princes and an equal number of princesses. King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, who ruled from 1932 until death in 1953, had 300 wives.
* The Tower of London, the home of the British Crown Jewels, has at various times since construction was begun on it in 1078 housed a zoo, an observatory, a mint, and a prison.
* A device invented as a primitive steam engine by the Greek engineer Hero at about the time of the birth of Christ finds use today in a modified form, as a rotating lawn sprinkler.
* A silicon chip a quarter-inch square has the computational capacity of the famous 1949 ENIAC computer, which used 18.000 vacuum tubes, weighed over 60,000 lbs, and occupied a city block. [This was circa mid-1990s. By now (2003), we are approaching the 100 gigaflop landmark - (a "flop" is a simple calculation per second), which is a million times faster than the plodding ENIAC monster. Petaflop (1,000,000,000,000 calculations per second) computers are predicted to be commercially availale by 2008]
* Bacteria, the tiniest free-living cells, are so small that a single drop of liquid contains as many as 50 million of them.
* The tautara, which lives in New Zealand, is the only survivor of the beak-headed order of reptiles, called Rhynchocephalia, that goes all the way back to the time of the dinosaurs. It has three eyes -- two in the center of its head and one on top.
* Every 24 hours a leaking water faucet with an opening the size of a pin will waste 170 gallons.
* The world's largest metal coins, in both size and standard value, were copper plates used in Alaska about 150 years ago. They were about three feet long, two feet wide, weighed ninety pounds, and were worth $2,500.
* Herons have been observed to drop insects on the water and then catch the fish that surface for the bugs.
* When Benjamin Franklin was appointed Postmaster General of the U.S. in 1775, his staff handled just 250,000 pieces of mail each year. In comparison, the U.S. Postal Service now handles 162 billion pieces per year.
* From the proclamation of her independence in 1804 until the intervention of the United States in 1915, Haiti had 24 presidents, 17 of whom mysteriously disappeared with the contents of her treasury. [gives new meaning to the concept of "cleptocracy"!]
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