Mathematician or writer?
Did you know that Lewis Carroll, renowned author and poet was also a great mathematician? Yes, the author of several children's books most famously Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, was also a great mathematician. Lewis Carroll was only the penname or pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.Tough Adventurous Journey
What comes to your mind when someone says that he is going to travel 8,120 km on a windsurfer across the ocean? Most people thought Flavio Jardim and Diogo Guerreiro had gone mad when they stated their intention to attempt this landmark journey.
But then when they completed 61-day their journey from Chui to Oiapoque on the Brazilian coast on July 18, 2005 and notched up a world record in the process, everybody was in complete awe of them. The wind surfing duo traveled 8,129 km (5,045 miles) across icy and turbulent seas to create the world record.
What kind of world record would you like to create?Unusual Hobby
Brent Dixon of Georgia, USA has a strange hobby. He collects key chains in his home in Valdosta, Georgia. His large collection of 41,418 non-duplicated key chains attracted the attention of Guinness book of world records recently. He started collecting key chains in 2001 and in just about 7 years he has made it to the top.
Ever wonder why you throw away key chains? Next time think of Brent and start collecting them yourself.Heard of the Texas Snake Man
Most people are afraid of snakes, and almost all of us would not like to touch one of these crawlies because of the slimy feel of their skin. There are people who love these creepy creatures and one of them is Jackie Bibby of Dublin, Texas.
Texan, Jackie Bibby has earned the sobriquet The Texas Snake Man after he earned the world record by sitting a glass bathtub along with 87 poisonous and wild rattlesnakes. He achieved this feat on November 5, 2007 in Dublin, Texas. He sat in the tub with the poisonous reptiles for 45 minutes and created a new world record.Smoking is injurious to health
Tobacco is one of the most dangerous herbs to have been discovered. Cigarette smoking is responsible for over 45,000 deaths in the US. Let us learn a few facts about this dangerous habit and be away from it.
* Smoking was first started by indigenous people of South America (Brazil), who used to roll tobacco leaves in paper and smoke them.
* Christopher Columbus was the first person to introduce tobacco to Europe and thereafter to the rest of the world.
* Way back in the 1600s Tobacco was outlawed in several countries such as Turkey, China and Russia. Penalties for people caught using tobacco included death sentence.Know your President
Barack Obama created history when he was elected president of United States earlier this year. Everybody knows about his family life, education and political career but here are some facts about the great man which are not so well known:
1. Obama is a huge fan of Spiderman and Conan the barbarian comics and has been collecting them since several years
2. His high school nickname was 'O' Bomber because of his skill in basketball.
3. He is a 2006 Grammy award winner for the audio-version of his book Dreams from my father
4. He is the sixth post-war US president to be left-handed
5. He has read every one of Harry Potter books
6. He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad AliWorld's Tallest Canine
Did you know that the world's tallest dog lives in the US? Read on to more about this gentle giant. Gibson, a harlequin great Dane is the tallest dog living. Standing tall at 107 cm (42.2 in/ 3 ft 6.2 in) tall on August 31, 2004, Gibson played with the Guinness officials who were trying to measure his height. His proud owner Sandy Hall of Grass Valley, California, USA was all praise and gushing with happiness at this special feat.World's Longest Motorcycle
America is definitely the land of large motorcycles. There is the Boss Hoss, Harley Davidson, BMW and numerous other brands selling amazing motorcycles here. Did you know that the world's longest motorcycle is not in the US?
Yes the world's longest motorcycle was created/ engineered by Colin Furze of United Kingdom. The home-grown motorcycle measures 14.03 meters (46 ft 3 in) in length and was recognized by the Guinness committee which measured the motorcycle at Saltby Aerodrome, Leicestershire, UK on October 14, 2008 only after Colin rode the vehicle for a little over 100 meters.The smallest state in US
1. Rhode Island is the smallest state in the US, it is just 4,002 sq km and hosts 1.05 million people.
2. This small state was the first to declare its independence from the British Crown in 1776 and they continue to celebrate their own independence day on May 4th every year.
3. The oldest synagogue in the United States, Touro Synagogue in Newport, was founded in 1762.Fun Facts about South Dakota
There are 50 states in the US, it is rare to come across an individual who has been to all of them. Today we will learn a little about South Dakota.
1. South Dakota hosts the world's largest publicly owned bison herds. There are 1,500 heads of bison in the herd and they all roam free in the Custer State Park.
2. Black Hills is a mountainous region of South Dakota from where thousands of Native Americans were evicted so that new European settlers could prospect for gold during the 1870s. The region is named Black Hills because it looks black from a distance.
3. Edible Murals are created every year out of corn, grain and grass grown in the area, on the exterior of Mitchell, South Dakota's Corn Palace. This tradition which started in 1892 continues to be followed as a tribute to South Dakota's farmers.There is more to Las Vegas
When one hears of Las Vegas, Casinos, shows and money comes to the mind. There's more than that to Las Vegas. Nevada's largest city is home to the Liberace Museum, dedicated to the life of flamboyant entertainer Liberace, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1987. It houses Liberace's collections of jewelry, clothes, antiques, pianos and custom cars.The highest and lowest!
The altitude of any place is measured in terms of its relative position to the sea level. Within the US, Colorado state is remembered as the place of mountains, and one tends to think that the highest point in the US will be located there. That is wrong, California is endowed with some tall mountains, in fact the highest and lowest points in the continental United States: Mount Whitney (14,494 ft) and Badwater in Death Valley (282 feel below sea level) are located within the precincts of California.Wine and California
Ever wonder why California is referred to as America's wine country? There are more than 300,000 tons of grapes grown in California annually. It is because California produces over 17 million gallons of wine annually.Long Fingernails
It is common to see fashionable women sporting long colorful nails. But have you ever seen a woman with 28 ft long nails? Probably not! Last year Lee Redmond of USA was awarded the Guinness World Record for being the woman with longest nails in the world. Her carefully nurtured and manicured finger nails, which had not been cut since 1979 measured 8.65 m (28 ft 4.5 in) on February 23, 2008.
Now that is a little extreme, would you like to try it?Most calves delivered by one cow
Recently when a California woman delivered eight children, it became national news. But just imagine a cow giving birth to five calves, that event made global news. On March 18, 2005, a cow belonging to Santa Clara Ranch, Congregacion Garza, Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, delivered five calves in a single birth. The proud owners Guadalupe Olivares Garza and his children were thrilled to see that the cow along with her five calves were healthy.Largest Motorcycle Pyramid
For the past several years the Dare Devils Team f the Indian Army Signal Core have been repeating and improving their unique feat of putting the largest number of people on motorcycles. On July 5, 2001, the team put together a motorcycle pyramid that involved 201 men on 10 motorcycles, a record which is yet to be broken. This was achieved at the Gowri Shankar Parade Grounds, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, the central state of India. The complete pyramid traveled a distance of 129 m (424 ft).Fastest blindfolded motorcycle ride
Billy Baxter (UK) became the fastest blind-folded man to ride a motorcycle on August 2, 20003. He achieved a top speed of 265.33 km/h (164.87 mph) as he hurtled down the road on a 1,200cc Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle blindfolded, at RAF Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, UK.Guinness World Records
Did you know, the heaviest weight dangled from a swallowed sword is 25 kg (55 lb 1 oz). The person who lifted this load was Thomas Blackthorne of United Kingdom (UK). He performed this feat on the set of Lo Show Dei Record, in Italy, on 19 April 2009.Facts about Ice Cream
Summer is the time when one reaches out for cool drinks or ice cream. Ice cream is not new, it has been around for a long time.Longer than one would imagine, Ice cream has been around in the world since about 4,000 years. Here are some interesting facts about this common succulent food item.
* Ice cream was first invented in China around 2000 BC
* The first ice cream parlor in US opened in New York City in 1776
* US residents are the largest consumer of ice cream across the world
* In 1984, President Ronald Reagan declared July as National Ice Cream Month.
* The largest ice cream sundae was made in Alberta, Canada in 1988. It weighed 55,000 lbs
* The most expensive ice cream sundae is The Frrrozen Haute Chocolate. It costs about $25,000 and is sold at the Serendipity 3 restaurant, New York.Education Enthusiast!
Benjamin Bolger is a academic achiever. He has 11 advanced degrees and continues to study. Bolger, 32, donned a cap and gown at Harvard University on June 5th to receive his 11th graduate degree, and his first doctorate. Bolger holds degrees in politics, Accounts and related fields. He continues to study for five more advanced degrees from Penn and Cornell
Several people in the world have achieved multiple degrees, but what makes Bolger unique is that he is severely dyslexic. He has problems reading and understanding. Bolger's reading skills are still at elementary school level. His mother, Loretta Bolger, reads books out loud and helps him in studies.
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