Amazing Facts..

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Al Capo ne's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the
back of the $5 bill.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Babies are born without kneecaps; they don't appear until the child
reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".


February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full
moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

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

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an
average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears
never stop growing.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and
"lollipop" with your right.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of die! sel
that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and
a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every
letter of the alphabet.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely
solid.

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are
read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous":
tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in
order: "abstemious" and "facetious."

There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewable Vitamins.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only
on one row of the keyboard.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks;
otherwise it will digest itself.

What Is A 4G Network?

The fourth generation of the wireless networks is called a 4G network. Although it is still in its development stage, various cell phone and related technology companies are actively researching on this technology. The main aim of the research is to ensure that a secure and comprehensive Internet Protocol solution is developed which would have much faster speeds as compared to the older generation networks.

During the 1980s, the 1G network or the first wireless network was developed. In the early 1990s, the 2G network was introduced. The 2G network had the ability to allow more transmissions per communication channel. In the late 1990s, the 3G network was researched upon and developed and during early 21st century it had been implemented in various countries.

Providing higher quality of service is the main aim of the 4G network. The other priorities include information exchanges, better reception and less dropped data. The standards of the present networks are calculated by the ITU or International Telecommunications Union and it had stated that the present networks need to have an improved multimedia message service which includes video services also. A minimum of 100 megabits per second of data rate is recommended by the ITU if a user is moving at very high speeds and one gigabit per second of data rate if a user is stationary. Interactive roaming between various networks is also recommended by the UTI.

There has been an establishment of various groups who work on developing the 4G network. One of the options recommended by these groups is WiMax which is a much faster version of WiFi networks. The packet-based information exchange which is based upon standard IP technology is planned to be utilized too. So, this could be the fastest mobile communication method.

However, there should be development and implementation of smart antennas in order to make an efficient 4G network. A number of methods to transmit data were created with the advent of 2G and 3G networks. The 4G network can utilize these technologies. But standardized antennas are preferred by the ITU and other working groups. Spatial multiplexing is one of the techniques that have been recommended to order to achieve this. In this type of multiplexing, a single receiver and transmitter system is linked to a series of antennas. The space-time exchange rate of data can be speeded up as these antennas have the capability to work simultaneously.

It took a decade for the overall implementation of 3G around the world. However, a much more timely and effective rolling out of the 4G network is planned by the ITU. It is expected that the 4G network will revolutionize the wireless communication systems due to its improved video and technology and much faster speeds. The other factors that are being considered regarding the development of 4G are security and stability.

How To Speed Up A Computer?

A computer is a machine which can be programmed. It receives input, stores data and processes it to give us an output in a useful format. Although, mechanical computers have existed for a long time – abacus and slide rule are good examples of this – electronic computers are a fairly recent phenomenon. This recent phenomenon has become so much an important part of our lives that nothing feels more annoying when computers don’t work or work at a snail’s pace! If your computer is also working slower, then here are a couple of tips you can try:

Booting:
If there are a lot of programs installed on your computer then it would take longer to boot up. It is certainly not advisable to delete some of them, because you may need them, but there is a little thing that we can do. We can identify programs that are least used and then, can load them only when a need arises.

(1) When your computer starts, all the programs that are installed on it are loaded and it takes longer than it would have if only those programs which are used most were to load during booting. So the first step is to click on the Start Menu, go to Run Type (Microsoft configurations). There among other options you will be presented with there two options: Normal Start Up and Selective Start Up. Just click on Selective Start Up tab and select the programs you use most of the time and unmark those, which are not-so-used.

(2) When you are in Microsoft Configurations(MS configuration) mode, you can look for BOOT.INI tab. Click on it and you will find a new box, which reads Timeout. It’s is normally set at 30 sec. which means a delay of half a minute. Change that to 3 sec., click on the tab OK and reboot your computer. After this, it is possible that your computer gives you a pop up saying you’re in selective boot mode; now just disable the window while saving your changes.

(3) There is a program called HijackThis, which can be downloaded from merijn.org. This program will analyze the processes that are running on your computer and will alert you about the things which are not needed.

(4) If you can ascertain that Trojans and Ad Ware are not loading when you boot, it would enhance the performance of your computer.

(5)Once or twice a month, clear all your temporary Internet files, vacant your recycle bin and move files, which are not needed to back up drive. Go to My Computer, click on Properties followed by Tools and then select the tab defragment. It would take some time but improve the booting time of your computer.

(6)If you are leaving your computer for not a long time, say only a couple of hours, then instead of shutting down your computer you can leave it in a stand-by mode. A computer on a stand-by mode remembers everything you were doing but this memory is called volatile memory. You can also save everything; this would an insurance against a power cut.

(7)Hibernate mode is a better option than stand-by mode if you are not going to use your computer for a whole day or similarly for long intervals. Hibernation mode saves an image of your computer’s open application and documents on the hard drive. You can put your computer on hibernate mode by going into the computer’s Control Panel. Turn off your computer holding down the shift key and the Hibernate option will appear, just click on it and your computer will go into a snooze.

How To Get Rid Of Computer Viruses?

Computer viruses are unwanted computer programs. They keep themselves hidden in your computer and then replicate themselves in their own way and multiply (spread). The Internet connects a lot of computers to each other and sometimes, while sharing data; sending emails etc, along with the files, computer viruses also get transmitted. A virus can do anything to a computer – it can delete files, it can corrupt data and it can also disable your computer’s security systems or can damage it irreversibly.

Viruses are sometime transmitted unknowingly but not always because there are people, who are known as hackers, who design these computer programs to break into others’ computers. Their reason could be any i.e. stealing data, personal animosity etc.

Common Types:

Resident Viruses: They remain hidden in your computer. They are in the RAM memory and control and intercept the operations which are carried out by the system. Their primary use is to capture secret information about the user i.e. passwords, credit card numbers etc.

Direct Action Viruses: They quickly replicate themselves and they are designed to fulfill a certain objective. They normally attach themselves to the files stored in the computer and when that file is made to run they get activated.

Overwrite Viruses: Their objective is straightforward – to destroy whatever information it can put its hands on. It deletes all the information contained in a file and copies itself on the files resulting in the files becoming useless.

Boot Virus: Boot system is that part of a computer which stores basic programs like how to start the computer etc. These viruses are after the boot sector of computers. The best ways to avoid them is to write-protect the floppy discs and never start you computer with an unknown floppy disc in the drive.

Macro Viruses: Programs like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint etc, have the ability to use small programs, known as ‘helper’ programs, to expand their functionality. These ‘helper’ programs are called ‘macros’. They remain stored in the document files of a computer. When that file is run, the virus gets activated.

File Infectors: Viruses falling in this category infect executable files (programs). Most of the viruses found today are of this category. Once the infected program is run, they get activated.

Solutions:
The best defense against any type of infection is a virus scanner that not only detects a threat, but eradicates it as well. Installing anti-virus software is the best solution and some of them are available for free:

Commercial:
There are some companies like McAfee Antivirus, the oldest antivirus development company in the world, which are experienced. And there is another of the Norton Antivirus kind, with really heavy antivirus systems. Other famous names include Quick Heal, ESET etc.

Free:
There are some companies which provide antivirus for free for home use. They include Avast Antivirus and AVG. Both are relatively new companies and provide you with an easy to install protection shield. There are other companies too, which make anti-virus software available for free under certain conditions – Avira AntiVirus Personal, Bit Defender etc.

Full Form Of Computer Related Words

PCMCIA
People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms

ISDN
It Still Does Nothing

APPLE
Arrogance Produces Profit-Losing Entity

SCSI
System Can't See It

DOS
Defective Operating System

BASICBill's Attempt to Seize Industry Control

IBM
I Blame Microsoft

DEC
Do Expect Cuts

CD-ROM
Consumer Device, Rendered Obsolete in Months

OS/2
Obsolete Soon, Too.

WWW
World Wide Wait

MACINTOSH
Most Applications Crash; If Not, The Operating System Hangs

PENTIUM
Produces Erroneous Numbers Through Incorrect Understanding of Mathematics

COBOL
Completely Obsolete Business Oriented Language

AMIGA
A Merely Insignificant Game Addiction

LISP
Lots of Infuriating & Silly Parenthesis

MIPS
Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed

WINDOWS
Will Install Needless Data On Whole System

GIRO
Garbage In Rubbish Out

MICROSOFT
Most Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software Only (for) Fools (&) Teenagers.

God In Software Industry

Brahma -- Systems Installation

Vishnu -- Systems Administration & Support

Lakshmi -- Finance and Accounts consultant

Saraswati -- Training and Knowledge Management

Shiva -- DBA (Crash Specialist)

Ganesh -- Quality Assuarance & Documentation

Narada -- Data transfer

Yama -- Reorganization & Downsizing Consultant

Chitragupta -- IDP & Personal Records

Apsaras -- Downloadable Viruses

Shakuni -- Annual appraisal & Promotion

Valmiki -- Technical Writer (Ramayana Sign off document)

Krishna -- SDLC ( Sudarshan Wheel Development Life Cycle )

Dharmaraj Yudhishthira -- ISO Consultant (CMM level 5)

Arjun -- Lead Programmer (all companies are vying for him)

Abhimanyu -- Trainee Programmer

Draupadi -- Motivation & Team building

Devas -- Mainframe Programmers

Surya -- Solaris Administrator

Rakshasas -- In house Hackers

Ravan -- Internet Explorer WWWF

Kumbhakarnan -- Zombie Process

Lakshman -- Support Software and Backup

Hanuman -- Linux/s390

Vaali -- MS Windows

Sugreeva -- DOS

Jatayu -- Firewall

Dronacharya -- System Programmer

Vishwamitra -- Sr. Manager Projects

Bhima -- MAINFRAME LEGACY SYSTEM

Duryodhana -- Microsoft product Written in VB

Karna -- Contract programmer

Dhrutarashtra -- Visual C++

Gandhari -- Dreamweaver

100 Kauravas -- Microsoft Service Packs and patches

Whatever Your Cross...

Whatever your cross,
whatever your pain,
there will always be sunshine,
after the rain ....
Perhaps you may stumble,
perhaps even fall,
But God's always ready,
To answer your call ...
He knows every heartache,
sees every tear,
A word from His lips,
can calm every fear ...
Your sorrows may linger,
throughout the night,
But suddenly vanish,
in dawn's early light ...
The Savior is waiting,
somewhere above,
To give you His grace,
and send you His love ..
Whatever your cross,
whatever your pain,

"God always sends rainbows ....

after the rain ... "

Excellent Article On Cancer

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ANDELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY .

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins :

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few
billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are
unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumours.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiplenutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental,food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiplenutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow,
gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence
the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also causecancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

WHAT CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like
NutraSweet, Equal,Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very sma ll amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and
substituting with unsweetened soy milk, cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than
beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline
environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to no urish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties.
Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified
and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of
cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the
body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the
body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger,
unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax
and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

About a dog called 'Faith'..

This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 2 legs -
He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.


















His first owner also did not think that he could survive and he was thinking of 'putting him to sleep'. But then, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him. She became determined to teach and train this little dog to walk by himself.. She named him 'Faith'.
















In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfboard to let him feel the movement.
Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for him for standing up and jumping around. Even the other dog at home encouraged him to walk.
Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on his hind legs and to jump to move forward. After further training in the snow, he could now walk like a human being.















Faith loves to walk around now. No matter where he goes, he attracts people to him.
He is fast becoming famous on the international scene and has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows. There is now a book entitled 'With a Little Faith' being published about him.. He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies.


















His present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul'.












































































































In life there are always undesirable things, so in order to feel better
you just need to look at life from another direction. I hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and that everyone will appreciate and be thankful for each beautiful day. Faith is the continual demonstration of the strength and wonder of life .

What and who I am

Today i thought my life has ended
when i heard the words you said
spoke so calmly without emotion
that put me in place
i’ve seen to many times before
till i realize each time
i felt my heart was dead
was when new life actually begun
with break of heart
each touch of pain
comes a cleansing rain
sowing the seed of a new life
giving birth to realizing
that percieve temporary loss
lies not within me
but in those who choose
to walk away
it comes with realizing
while i’m not GOD
nor his greatest gift
i have more to offer
than most take time to know
and what and who i am
and i am becoming to be
offers something very special
to those who take the time
to know the real me
so while i’m not perfect
by any means
when someone walks away
it’s not the death of me
it’s merely the beginning
of new life as i’m becoming
who am i supposed to be.

Is It A Dream?

Golden ball in da sky
shining bright,inspiring high
wunneful dawn,soothin breeze
rekindled joys,mind so pleased
heart filld wit hopes & desires unrevealed
evry whr i see lov nd peace
smilin faces ~ cheerful,serene..
is it real or jus anothr dream?

Small Wonders

cute lil babies ~ chubby,meek
angelic face,oh! so swt
twinklin eyes,itty bitty toes
full of energy,heart so pure
giggles,wriggles,blubbering,yelling
crazy toks,incredible queries
mesemerizin innocence,unconditionl lov
a bliss in lyf,small wonders of da world

Missing You

I miss your smile…
I miss your loving face…
I miss your arms with sweet embrace…
I miss you…

I miss the way you look at me…
I miss the way you hold my hand…
I miss the way you hold me tight…
I miss you…

I miss the way how you touch my lips
I miss the way how we kiss…
I miss the way we made love…
I miss you…

I never thought that I would be missing you…
Though you are always here beside me…
Yet, my love I miss you…

You and I

I always remember the first time we’ve glance at each other
I didn’t even notice that it was you, the one that I always “texted”…

I always remember all those wonderful friendship quotes you’ve sent…
And eventually, those love quotes with the touch of your true love…

I always remember the first time we had lunch together…
I always remember that very first time you made me laugh…

I always remember the first time I made you “fruit salad” for you told me it was your favorite dessert…
I remembered how you like the way it is for it has a lot of cheese…

I always remember that I like you to be my friend but not as more than friends…
I remembered that I even tried to push you away and to tell you to court my other “friend”…

I always remember that you always care and you’re always there whenever I need you…
I always remember that no matter how I tried to push you away, you still stay…

I remembered how jealous I felt when I saw you with my other “friend”…
I remembered that I told myself “Why do I feel this way? does it mean I want him now more than just friends?”…

Then I remembered how fast my heartbeats when finally we’ve kissed…
From then on I told myself… this is the kind of man I shouldn’t miss…

Finally, enough of playing hard to get for I don’t want you to be upset…
I told you that I do love you, too and from then on YOU and I shared a love so true…

The Way I Love You

Everynight i lay in my bed and think back to everything you said.

you say that you love me
you say that you cared
and that what’s not gonna
fade is the love that we
shared.

so baby i hope what you
say is true cause i dont
love no one the way i love
you.

Beautiful Nature

Lambent Sun glowing bright
gentle breeze ~ so warm,so light
subtle clouds ~ silky,vivid
spirit rejuvnated in d day so livid

inky velvet ovr da mighty sky
lucent moon ~ b’ful,white
silent sea ~ peaceful,stunning
heart enliven in da sight so soothin

Top Excuses For Not Calling Your Lover

Here are few more excuses which girls and boys can use when they are scolded by the boyfriend and girl friend respectively for not calling them

1. Hey!! I was calling you but the operator said the girl you are calling is an angel and its not possible to call heaven this time

2. I called on your mobile but it was out of reach or switched off

3. Hi sweetheart I was just thinking of calling you but you know my balance is low

4. Hey you were calling me thats why I was getting that the mobile you are trying to reach is currently busy

5. Hello dear, you know I just had finished my dinner and was about to call you. But I am glad you called me first

6. I am totally messed up with this mobile set. I had to call you but the keypad had stopped working.

7. Thank God you called me up. You know I needed to talk with you but had lost all my contacts in the phonebook.

8. My mobile was with my friend and thats why I have not called you from last night

9. My mom and dad had seen my past bill and they were curious to know to whom I talked so much on the phone and thats why I have decided not to call you for few days

10. Hey I was out with family so could not talk with you honey.

Cooking Excuse

So whats your excuse today to make sure your better part cooks for you? Here are some which you can try

1. I’m exhausted

2. I’m going with my friends

3. Not feeling well today

4. I’m on fast

5. I’m not professional

6. Honey you’re very kind to me….can’t you cook today

7. Last day it was my turn

8. Are you alright…we had dinner last night

9. I’m not hungry

10. According to my horoscope, I should stay away from kitchen today

11. Let’s go for a ride

12. We should give time to our relationship

Excuses For Breaking Up With Someone

If you think you already had enough with someone and wish to break up, then these excuses can help you

1. Actually I feel I am not the perfect match for you.

2. I need sometime and space to think about our relationship. You always try to dominate me which I am not ready to accept.

3. My father just told me about our family tree and we both are from same ancestors.So it makes us brother and sister.

4. I consulted an astrologer and she told me that the person whose name starts with ‘J’ is unlucky for me and I am afraid your name is Jackson.

5. You actually are more nice that what I anticipated.I am sorry but I don’t like people who are overprotective

6. You are so rude and you don’t even care for me.You know girls want someone who is very nice and protective ( This one can work if top excuse fails )

7. My friend told that after some time couples start to look like each other. So I have decided to break up with you as I don’t wish to look like you.

8. You are so truthful and strong believer of God and thus I have decided to become a Nun / Monk

9. Yesterday one of friend saw you with another girl. Do you care to tell me who she was? [ You just made up this one as none of your friends saw.Its a mere accusation]

10. My friend told me that you were one of the members of the Rob’s gang, the one who always teased girls. So now I have decided to break up.

Best Not Getting Job Excuses

Here we have a list of excuses for not getting job, this is one of the best excuses you can find.

1. I don’t speak enough English/Spanish/Russian/Navajo for them to hire me.

2. I don’t have the time.

3. I’d lose my shirt. I’d lose my kids medicaid, and what happens if they get sick and need to see a doctor.

4. They don’t offer enough benefits.

5. I’m not into the eight-to-five scene.

6. There’s nothing within walking distance of my house.

7. There’s no jobs out there.

8. I had surgery last year.

9. I’m not about to lower myself to take the kinds of jobs they’re offering.

10.I don’t look for work outside my field.

Amazing Earth Facts 1

1. What is the hottest place on Earth?

Count one wrong if you guessed Death Valley in California. True enough on many days. But El Azizia in Libya recorded a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius) on Sept. 13, 1922 — the hottest ever measured. In Death Valley, it got up to 134 Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913.

2. And the coldest place around here?

Far and away, the coldest temperature ever measured on Earth was -129 Fahrenheit (-89 Celsius) at Vostok, Antarctica, on July 21, 1983.

3. What makes thunder?

If you thought, “Lightning!” then hats off to you. But I had a more illuminating answer in mind. The air around a lightning bolt is superheated to about five times the temperature of the Sun. This sudden heating causes the air to expand faster than the speed of sound, which compresses the air and forms a shock wave; we hear it as thunder.

4. Can rocks float?

In a volcanic eruption, the violent separation of gas from lava produces a “frothy” rock called pumice, loaded with gas bubbles. Some of it can float, geologists say. I’ve never seen this happen, and I’m thankful for that.

5. Can rocks grow?

Yes, but observing the process is less interesting than watching paint dry. Rocks called iron-manganese crusts grow on mountains under the sea. The crusts precipitate material slowly from seawater, growing about 1 millimeter every million years. Your fingernails grow about the same amount every two weeks.

6. How much space dust falls to Earth each year?

Estimates vary, but the USGS says at least 1,000 million grams, or roughly 1,000 tons of material enters the atmosphere every year and makes its way to Earths surface. One group of scientists claims microbes rain down from space, too, and that extraterrestrial organisms are responsible for flu epidemics. There’s been no proof of this, and I’m not holding my breath.

7. How far does regular dust blow in the wind?

A 1999 study showed that African dust finds its way to Florida and can help push parts of the state over the prescribed air quality limit for particulate matter set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The dust is kicked up by high winds in North Africa and carried as high as 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), where it’s caught up in the trade winds and carried across the sea. Dust from China makes its way to North America, too.

8. Where is the worlds highest waterfall?

The water of Angel Falls in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters).

9. What two great American cities are destined to merge?

The San Andreas fault, which runs north-south, is slipping at a rate of about 2 inches (5 centimeters) per year, causing Los Angeles to move towards San Francisco. Scientists forecast LA will be a suburb of the City by the Bay in about 15 million years.

10. Is Earth a sphere?

Because the planet rotates and is more flexible than you might imagine, it bulges at the midsection, creating a sort of pumpkin shape. The bulge was lessening for centuries but now, suddenly, it is growing, a recent study showed. Accelerated melting of Earth’s glaciers is taking the blame for the gain in equatorial girth.