Category Fun Facts

What are some interesting facts about jaguars?

Did you know that the jaguar is the third-largest cat species in the world after the tiger and the lion? Read on to know fascinating facts about the big cat species.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

*A jaguar has an attractive, tawny coat with black rosettes. The jaguar rosettes have a spot in the middle and they are irregularly shaped.

* A jaguar is stockier and more heavily muscled, with a larger head and wider shoulders.

*It has the shortest tail among the big cats from 45 to 75 cm in length.

 *From tip to tail, it measures 1.5 m to 2.5 m and weighs between 68 and 136 kg.

*The legs are short, but thick and powerful with broad paws.

Found in the Amazon basin

The only big cat species in the New World, jaguars are today found mostly in the Amazon basin of South and Central America and southern Mexico, though they once ranged as far north as southern USA. They are the third-largest cat species in the world after the tiger and the lion.

To the indigenous Americans, particularly the Maya, the Aztec and the Olmec, the jaguar was a god of both night and light, and was revered and feared in equal measure for his strength, fertility, agility and beauty. The native chiefs sat on jaguar thrones and wore jaguar pelts. A Mayan tribe named itself Jaguar’s Paw.

Jaguars vs. leopards

Like leopards, which belong to the Old World and whom they most resemble, jaguars have an attractive tawny or orange coat with black rosettes. However, jaguar rosettes have a spot in the middle and they are irregularly shaped. Leopard rosettes are complete and the spots are absent.

Though both live in similar habitats and have similar habits, the physical resemblance ends there. A jaguar is stockier and more heavily muscled, with a larger head and wider shoulders. It has the shortest tail among the big cats from 45 to 75 cm in length. From tip to tail, it measures 1.5 m to 2.5 m and weighs between 68 and 136 kilos. The legs are short, but thick and powerful with broad paws.

Lethal bite

Jaguars are most at home in the tropical rainforest, though they are adaptable to grasslands, woodlands and even deserts. Their build and coloration are ideal for stalking prey stealthily on the ground or ambushing them from the top of trees, and for swimming. The jaguar is the only big cat that grasps the prey's head in its powerful jaws and kills with a lethal bite by piercing the prey's skull with its sharp teeth, rather than by breaking its neck. It is very comfortable eating the spectacled caiman (a kind of small alligator) and hard-shelled turtles and tortoises. It also devours capybaras, the world's biggest rodents. It goes fishing too, slapping the water with its tail, and spearing the fish thus lured with its sharp claws!

Solitary and nocturnal

These elusive cats are nocturnal, solitary and extremely territorial, coming together only to mate. A male jaguar’s roar is more like a loud bark that ends in a deep growl. The female makes a coughing sound.

The female raises her one to four cubs alone, and is so protective she will bristle with rage even if the father approaches! The cubs stay with the mother till they are two years old.

Picture Credit : Google 

 

Did you know how the Singer Sewing Machine became the premier sewing machine in the world?

Isaac Singer made the first commercially successful sewing machine in the 1850s. While developing his famous sewing machine, Singer, at one point was faced with a problem that seemed insurmountable: how to get the thread to run through the needle smoothly and continuously without breaking or getting stuck.

One night he dreamt that he was being chased by tribals carrying large spears. As they drew closer he noticed that every spear had a hole just below the point of the blade. He awoke with a start.

The next morning he made a needle with its eye near the point instead of at the top. That solved his problem. The thread could now run consistently through the needle. His invention was complete and the Singer Sewing Machine soon became the premier sewing machine in the world.

Charles Richard Drew’s method for storing of blood plasma revolutionised the medical profession by helping save countless lives across the world.

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CAN YOU PUT A BIG BLOWN BALLOON INSIDE A NARROW JAR WITHOUT DEFLATING IT?

What you need:

A glass jar, a balloon, a bowl of ice water, a piece of string

What you do:

  • Blow up the balloon so that it is just a little too big to go into the jar.
  • Tie the end of the balloon with a piece of string so that the air cannot get out.
  • Now place the balloon in a bowl of ice water.
  • After some time take the balloon out and try to put it into the glass jar.

What you find:

The balloon goes inside the jar.

Why does this happen?

When you put the balloon in the cold water. the air in it gets cooled. The cooled air contracts and so the balloon diminishes in size and is able to go into the jar.

Picture Credit : Google 

Where the chalk comes from?

Have you ever wondered where the chalk comes from? Well, it originates from fossils. Chalk comes from the calcareous remains (fossils) of single-celled algae called coccolithophores and from the shells of single-celled marine animals known as foraminifera!

When foraminifera, coccolithophores and other die, their remains sink to the organisms bottom and accumulate as a fine-grained marine sediment known as ooze. These deposits, built up over many, many years, eventually consolidate into chalk rocks and give rise to chalk cliffs above sea level due to the movement of Earth. Such cliffs are found in many parts of the world. So, chalk is nothing but the white or light grey, porous limestone composed mainly of calcium carbonate quarried from chalk cliffs. Chalk is used for making lime and portland cement and for drawing on blackboard in schools. Finely ground and purified chalk is used as a filler in a wide variety of materials, including ceramics, putty, cosmetics, crayons, plastics, rubber, paper, and paints.

Chalk did not become standard in schools until the 19th century, when class sizes began to increase. Not only did instructors use large blackboards, but students also had individual chalkboards with chalk sticks and a sponge or cloth to use as an eraser. Pens and ink were the preferred tool for writing a final copy, but these were reserved for older students. At this time paper was expensive and rarely used.  Chalk and blackboards are still the standard in classrooms today. Some alternate ways are available, but are patterned after the chalk and blackboard principle. For example – dry erase boards. They can be seen as a substitute for chalk and a blackboard.

Credit :History of Pencils

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Which school students write with both hands?

Veena Vadini School in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, is India’s only ‘ambidextrous’ school whose 300 students write using both hands together at the same time. These students have a high speed of writing with both hands and can finish a three-hour long exam in one or one and half hours! When a new student joins the school, he/she holds the pen with one hand, and is taught to use the other hand after a month. After that, they are taught to use both hands together. B. P. Sharma, founder and principal of the school, was inspired to start the school after reading about the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, who was ambidextrous.

Only 1 in 100 people can write with both hands but at the Veena Vadini School in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, all 300 students are ambidextrous.
Their training starts from class 1 and by class 3, they become comfortable enough to write with both hands.
The students are taught 6 different languages including Roman and Arabic and students of class 8 can easily write 2 different scripts at the same time. BP Sharma, the founder, states that Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first president, who was Ambidextrous, was the inspiration behind the initiative. He also claims that his students take at only 1.5 hours to complete a 3 hour exam.

Credit : Our Time 

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Where is the highest post office is located in the world?

The world’s highest post office is located in Hikkim in Himachal Pradesh at 14,567 feet above sea level. India has the largest postal network in the world with 1,55,618 post offices.

There are myriad interesting facts about India that the world is not yet aware of and one of among those is that India is the place, where world’s highest post office is located. Yes, there is a beautiful village called Hikkim in the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh; it is set at an elevation of 4440 m (14,567 ft above sea level). The location is credited for being the World’s Highest Post Office with the pin code 172114.

Located about 15 km from the town of Kaza in Spiti Valley, Hikkim has a population that is majorly Buddhist. For most of the months, this place remains cut off from rest of the world due to heavy snowfall over the passes.

In existence from November 5, 1983, the post office too gets shut down for six months due to extreme climatic conditions. Considering the rugged terrains and remoteness of the village, the journey uphill to this post office is quite a tough one. We can just imagine how difficult it must be for the post master, Rinchen Chhering, to send out mails from here.

Rinchen Chhering has been serving at the post office as a Post Master for more than 30 years now. He has been here since the inception of this post office and joined at the young age of 22, just because he was a fast runner and owned a bicycle. For all these years, the man has been doing all work single handedly and loyally, which is simply commendable.

Well, it is quite a long journey from here for the mails. All the posts and letters are firstly sent on foot to Kaza every day. These are then taken to Reckong Peo by bus and then to Shimla. Later, mails are loaded on a train and sent to Kalka; from here, a bus takes the cargo to Delhi. The mails’ journey to its real destination begins from Delhi. So, there is a lot sweat and hard work involved in this entire mail trail!

Is it all not fascinating? The journey, the job, and everything related to this post office that makes it a must-visit in India. If ever you get a chance, do not miss out on exploring this amazing place.

Credit : Times of india 

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What are the interesting facts about the Pyramids of Giza?

The Great Pyramid of Giza, located on the bank of River Nile in Egypt is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Relics of Egypt’s Old Kingdom era, they were constructed nearly 4,500 years ago. Egyptian pharaohs (kings) erected temples and giant tombs for themselves to sustain them in their afterlife. These tombs that we know as pyramids were filled with all the things the pharaohs would need in their afterlife, including gold, boats to carry them. and small tombs for the officials and relatives they would like to accompany them. Today, the Great Pyramid is the oldest and the only remaining ancient wonder of the world.

1. The three pyramids

The Giza pyramid complex has three pyramids. The first pyramid, known as the Great Pyramid of Khufu, was built by Pharaoh Khufu. It is the tallest among the three and was built around 2550 BC. It stands at 481 feet above the plateau.

The second pyramid was built by Khufu’s son, Pharaoh Khafre in 2520 BC. Khafre also built the Sphinx, a mysterious limestone monument of a lion with a pharaoh’s face.

The third pyramid, which is the smallest of the three, was built by Pharaoh Menkaure, son of Khafre, in 2490 BC.

2. The weight of the Great Pyramid

The Great Pyramid of Khufu took nearly 20 years to build. The massive structure required 2.5 million limestone and granite blocks to build. While some of the limestone blocks were quarried from near the site. the larger granite stones were fetched from Aswan, nearly 800 km away. Each stone block on average weighed 2.5 tonnes. The pyramid was built by skilled Egyptian workers who lived in a temporary city close by. When it was completed, the Great Pyramid was the tallest structure in the world. It retained the title for nearly 3,800 years, when it was finally overtaken by the Lincoln Cathedral in the 1300s. Experts estimate that the Great Pyramid would cost over 1 billion dollars if it were to be built today.

3. Aligned to the stars

The three pyramids of the Giza necropolis are built in such a way that they are perfectly aligned with the Orion constellation.

4. The monument of Glorious Light

In its initial years, the Great Pyramid was covered in highly polished limestone blocks known as casing stones. These stones reflected the Sun’s light so well that the people of ancient Egypt used to call the Great Pyramid Ikhet, meaning GloriouS Light. The casing stones are now gone. It is suspected that massive earthquakes loosened the stones and they were taken away to build mosques in Cairo.

5. Depicting life in ancient Egypt

The interiors of the Pyramids of Giza are decorator with scenes from every aspect of life in ancient Egypt. The art includes depictions of carpentry, costumes, ancient farmers working in their fields, fishing, religious rituals and burial practices among others. The pyramids also contain inscriptions and texts that allow experts to research ancient Egyptian language and grammar.

 

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Can elephants hear with their feet?

The sound waves come from the animals’ huge vocal cords, and distant elephants “hear” the signals with their highly sensitive feet.

Elephants perceive vibrations through the soles of their feet. Vibrations travel up through their bones to their head. They are then amplified by the skull’s bones and transmitted to the ossicles of the ear. The elephant pounds the earth to alert others of danger. Such messages can be perceived at a distance of up to 18.5 mi. (30 km).

To test the theory that elephants transmit and receive underground messages, O’Connell-Rodwell and her colleagues previously conducted several novel experiments with pachyderms in Africa, India and at a captive elephant facility in Texas.

“We went to Etosha National Park in Namibia and recorded three acoustic calls commonly made by wild African elephants,” she says. “One is a warning call, another is a greeting and the third is the elephant equivalent of ‘Let’s go!'”

The researchers wanted to find out if elephants would respond to recordings played through the ground, so they installed seismic transmitters at a tourist facility in Zimbabwe where eight trained, young elephants were housed.

The idea was to convert audible “Greetings,” “Warning!” and “Let’s go!” calls into underground seismic waves that an elephant could feel but not hear directly through the air.

“We used a mix of elephant calls, synthesized low-frequency tones, rock music and silence for comparison,” says O’Connell-Rodwell.

“When the ‘Warning!’ calls were played, one female got so agitated she bent down and bit the ground,” she notes. “That’s very unusual behavior for an elephant, but it has been observed in the wild under conditions of extreme agitation.”

The young female had the same agitated response each time the experiment was repeated. Researchers also played recorded calls to seven captive males.

“The bulls reacted, too, but their response was much more subtle,” notes O’Connell-Rodwell.

“We think they’re sensing these underground vibrations through their feet,” she adds. “Seismic waves could travel from their toenails to the ear via bone conduction, or through somatosensory receptors in the foot similar to ones found in the trunk. We think it may be a combination of both.”

 

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What is the meaning of name rhinoceros?

The literal translation of rhinoceros is ‘nose-horned’. It comes from the Greek word ‘rhinokeros’ from ‘rhinos’ meaning ‘nose’ and ‘keras’ meaning ‘horn of an animal’. 

Rhinoceros are killed by some poachers for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market, and used by some cultures for ornaments or traditional medicine. East Asia, specifically Vietnam, is the largest market for rhino horns. By weight, rhino horns cost as much as gold on the black market. Some cultures believe the horns to have therapeutic properties and they are ground up and the dust consumed. The horns are made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails. Both African species and the Sumatran rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan rhinoceros have a single horn. The IUCN Red List identifies the black, Javan, and Sumatran rhinoceros as critically endangered.

The family Rhinocerotidae consists of only four extant genera: Ceratotherium (white rhinoceros), Diceros (black rhinoceros), Dicerorhinus (Sumatran rhinoceros), and Rhinoceros (Indian and Javan rhinoceros). The living species fall into three categories. The two African species, the white rhinoceros and the black rhinoceros, belong to the tribe Dicerotini, which originated in the middle Miocene, about 14.2 million years ago. The species diverged during the early Pliocene (about 5 million years ago). The main difference between black and white rhinos is the shape of their mouths – white rhinos have broad flat lips for grazing, whereas black rhinos have long pointed lips for eating foliage. There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the Indian rhinoceros and the Javan rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago. The Sumatran rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (about 20 million years ago).

 

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What are some mind-blowing facts about biology?

1. During pregnancy, the baby in womb can help repair a mother’s organ damage by giving its stem cells. In Biology, it’s a form of chimerism called the Fetomaternal microchimerism (FMc). Alternatively, this is a survival mechanism by which the fetus ensures maternal fitness in order to enhance its own chances of survival.

2. Some humans have a total of 207 bones instead of 206. The Fabella is a tiny sesamoid bone in the knee that has been making a come back in recent years. At present, around 39% of the population have the extra fabella bone, which is three times more in 100 years, compared to only 11% of world population having it in 1918. Scientists theorize, this emergence is due to increased nutrition and humans getting taller and heavier.

3. A newborn baby has only one cup (0.2 liters) of blood in the whole body, whereas, the healthy adult has about 1.3 to 1.6 gallons or 4.0 to 5.0 litres of blood circulating inside their body.

4. Lungs are the only organ in the human body that can float on water. In fact, medical examiners use the “lung float test” during autopsies to determine if a baby was stillborn (died in the womb). If the lungs float, the baby was born alive; if the lungs don’t float, the baby was stillborn.

5. Speaking about lungs, did you know that you can live with just one lung? Patients with lung cancer, can still live healthily even after a lung is removed, retaining at least 70% of their previous respiratory function. Surprisingly, the remaining lung will expand to fill the empty space of the other lung in the chest.

6. If you pulled out the blood vessels from an an average child and laid out in one single line, it would stretch to over 60,000 miles. The entire circumference of the earth at it’s largest is 24,900 miles.

7. Your eyes blink over ten million times a year!

8. The entire surface of your skin is replaced every month, which put another way means you have about 1,000 different skins in your life.

9. Next time you’re wounded, and can’t find a bandage, just ask the friendly spider next wall. Spiderwebs/cobwebs have natural antiseptic and anti-fungal properties, and were used in ancient Greece and Rome by physicians to make bandages. They’re also thought to be rich in Vitamin K. 

10. While you’re sleeping, your ears continue to function. They will pick up sounds, but your brain acts as a filter and blocks out the unimportant ones.

11. More humans are evolving to have three arteries in their arms. The Median artery which is present during the early human embryonic stage is later replaced by the ulnar and radial artery during developmental changes. However new research shows that median artery is now prevalent in about 35% of the population and researchers predict that people born 80 years from now might all carry a median artery. This is an example of Micro-evolutionary changes that are occurring in the human body.

 

Credit : Quora

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What are some mind-blowing facts about food?

White chocolate is not chocolate
Don’t be fooled by the name of white chocolate. It doesn’t contain any chocolate. It’s actually just a mixture of sugar, milk, vanilla, lecithin and cocoa butter.

Nutmeg is a hallucinogen
If you take a lot of nutmeg, it works like a psychedelic because it contains a natural compound called “myxorubicin.”. If taken in large doses, it can have a mind altering effect. It is also poisonous in large doses.

There is no difference between the wax on the surface of fruit candy and that on the car
The luster of fruit fudge comes from the palm wax of Brazil, which is actually the same type of wax used in cars. I don’t know what you think about this!

Ketchup was once used as medicine
As early as 1800, people believed that tomatoes had medicinal value. Doctors at the time claimed that ketchup could treat diarrhea and indigestion, so it was once used as a pill.

Biscuits are more harmful to your teeth than sugar
Acid is the biggest cause of tooth decay, not sugar! Biscuits tend to stick to your teeth and eventually become a hotbed of bacteria.

Drink more wine in the bar, not because it is good, but because the music is loud
Studies have shown that the volume of music can change people’s drinking habits. Loud music seems to make people drink more and faster.

The validity period of bottled water has nothing to do with water
Water doesn’t expire, but bottles do. Plastic bottles will leak chemical particles into the water over time. Although it will not make the water harmful, it will reduce the freshness of the water.

 Honey is actually the vomit of bees
When bees collect nectar, they take nectar and keep it in their stomachs. Once back in the hive, the nectar is expelled back into the hive.

Sweet drinks can cause dementia
Studies have shown that people who drink one or more artificial sweetened drink a day are three times more likely to develop dementia than others.

 

Credit : Quora

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What are the most interesting and unknown facts?

1. North Korea is the only country that do not sell Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola cannot be bought or sold in Cuba due to the long-term US trade embargo since 1962. Cuba was actually one of the first 3 countries outside the US to bottle Coke in 1906 but the company moved out as Fidel Castro’s government began seizing private assets in the 1960s & has never returned

2. The entire world’s population could fit inside Los Angeles standing shoulder to shoulder.

3. The world’s hottest pepper could kill you.

4. The Canary Islands are named after Dogs.

5. The longest place name in the world is 85 letters long.

6. Four babies are born every second.

7. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -144°F(-98°C).

8. The current amount of people who are alive represents only 7% of those who have ever lived.

9. California is home to the Artichoke Capital in the world.

10. The world’s largest man-made oyster reef was created in Maryland.

 

Credit : Quora

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What are baby turtles called?

A baby turtle is called a hatchling, while hatchling is most often used for a young bird, tadpoles, newts and new born baby turtles.

Baby turtles are cute little creatures that require totally different care than adult turtles, needing a lot of special care to keep them alive and healthy. They’re prone to many diseases and carry many disease-carrying germs. You have to feed a baby turtle food that is available in the pet store, while supplementing their diets with vegetables, meat and fruit. Land turtles tend to eat more vegetables than those living in water.

The building block of your baby turtle’s diet is the pellet or gel capsule supplement, which is a snap to find in any pet store that sells turtle supplies. There are two caveats, however: you should examine each label to make sure your newborn turtle is getting the best diet possible, and you should select a formula that’s been approved for your particular shelled pet. For example, what a baby box turtle eats is more of a true omnivorous diet than a water turtle eats, which includes more raw meat as a baby but a more omnivorous diet as an adult.

 

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Are turtles reptiles or mammals?

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines. They are characterized by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield. “Turtle” may refer to the order as a whole (American English) or to fresh-water and sea-dwelling Testudines (British English). Testudines includes both extant (living) and extinct species. Its earliest known members date from the Middle Jurassic. Turtles are one of the oldest reptile groups, more ancient than snakes or crocodilians. Of the 356 known extant species, some are highly endangered.

A turtle’s diet varies greatly depending on the environment in which it lives. Adult turtles typically eat aquatic plants,[citation needed] invertebrates such as insects, snails, and worms, and have been reported to occasionally eat dead marine animals. Several small freshwater species are carnivorous, eating small fish and a wide range of aquatic life. However, protein is essential to turtle growth and juvenile turtles are purely carnivorous.

Sea turtles typically feed on jellyfish, sponges, and other soft-bodied organisms. Some species with stronger jaws have been observed to eat shellfish, while others, such as the green sea turtle, do not eat meat at all and, instead, have a diet largely made up of algae.

 

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Can sea turtles feel it when you touch their shell?

Yes, sea turtles can feel it when you touch their shell. Sea turtle shells consist of bones, which are covered by a layer of so-called scutes (plates). These scutes are made of keratin, the same material that human fingernails are made of. There are nerve endings enervating even the bones of the shell. These nerve endings are sensitive to pressure, for example from a touch on the back.

A tortoise’s shell obviously isn’t as sensitive as its skin, but the animals are able to feel the tactile sensations that occur when someone pats, rubs, scratches, or taps it. This has to do with how the shell is physically attached to the tortoise’s body.

One thing that tortoises and turtles have in common is their tendency to recede into their shells when they feel threatened. In the proper care, however, most tortoises appear to enjoy being touched by their caretakers. In some cases, they extend their necks out while being touched or massaged – a sign that the animal wants to be rubbed some more.

 

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Which is the oldest dog in the world?

According to the Guinness World Records, the oldest dog on record was another Australian dog named Bluey, who was 29 years and five months. Bluey died in 1939.

Bluey – or, known by his full name as Bluey Les Hall – lived from 7 June 1910 to 14 November 1939. He was owned by Les and Esma Hall and is officially the oldest dog according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Bluey’s age is part of what urged a study to be conducted regarding the longevity of the lives of Australian cattle dogs. This study involved one hundred dogs and found that, on average, this breed of dog had the tendency to live about one year longer than other breeds. As such, Bluey’s case is still considered an outlier as he lived a full decade and a half more than the average life expectancy.

 

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How good is a dog’s sense of hearing than humans?

Dogs have a keen sense of hearing. In fact, they are capable of hearing sounds four times further away than the human ear can discern. Their ears are also better designed to gather more available sound waves. They have 15 different muscles that move their ears in all directions. Plus they can move one ear at a time, independently of the other, to absorb even more information.

They can also hear sounds four times further away — so what human ears can hear from 20 feet away; our dogs can hear from 80 feet away.

Even though our dogs can hear better than we can, do they understand what they’re hearing?

Two studies, one published in the journal Current Biology and the other in Science, conclude that the answer is yes! Your dog might not understand everything you say, but he listens and pays attention similar to the way humans do. The researchers discovered that dogs — like humans — respond not only to the words we say to them, but also to the emotional tone of our voices.

 

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Do Dogs Dream?

If you’ve ever watched your dog twitching, chattering or moving their paws while sleeping, you may have wondered if they are dreaming. The answer is yes. Dogs do dream.

While we know that humans regularly dream during their sleep, for many years it was unclear if animals did. So scientists monitored the brains of rats while awake and performing tasks such as running around tracks for food. They then compared their brain activity while asleep and discovered exactly the same. This indicated that rats were indeed dreaming. In fact it’s likely that all mammals dream. But why?

To understand dreaming, it helps to understand the process of sleep. Sleep is a natural state characterised by reduced consciousness along with reduced or paused sensory and voluntary muscular activity. In other words, you don’t eat, smell or walk during your sleep. We still do not know the reason that sleep is so important to animals but it appears to aid in growth and repair of our body systems. During sleep the brain also appears to process information and experiences gained during the day.

 

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What are the interesting facts about the social media?

The leading cause of procrastination

Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something, and the number one cause for procrastination these days is said to be Facebook. Yes, social media distracts many of us, but Facebook seems to top the list.

The most followed

Instagram is a social networking site.app where around the world share picture stories. It is also a way for people to connect with each. So, do you know who is the most followed person/thing on Instagram? It’s Instagram. Yes, the app’s official account has nearly 313 million folloers!

The most populated

We all know China is the most populated country in the world. But, if social networking sites were to be considered countries, Facebook would be the most populated country in the world, with China coming in second.

On the job

Linkedin is popular social networking platform for professionals and freshers who wish to find jobs and build a network. Do you know the rate at which new users are joining Linkedin? Two users per second!

It’s all in the name

Twitter and tweet are popular terms these days. But did you know that Twitter would have been named friendstalker? Yes, twitter co-founder Evan Williams had thought of the name but it was turned down.

Keep trying till you succeed

Snapchat, the picture-sharing app, which has risen in popularity over the years was the 35th idea of its founders. Evan Speigel, Reggie Brown Poster and Bobby Murphy, the founders of Snapchat, had tried their hands on 34 projects before they came up with the idea of Snapchat.

 

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What are the interesting facts of the Great Zimbabwe Wall, Zimbabwe?

  • The soaring walls of Great Zimbabwe date back to 11th century, during the country’s Late Iron Age.
  • The walls rise as high as 32 feet and were constructed from granite blocks of the exposed rock of nearby hills.
  • The walls were built by laying stones one on top of the other without the use of mortar.
  • It is believed that a maximum of 20,000 people lived inside its walls at its height.
  • For many decades, the ruins at Great Zimbabwe were described, by Europeans, as a perplexing ‘mystery’ and an ancient ‘riddle,’. They refused to believe that such a complex site was built by Africans who they considered to be lower people and attributed the site’s construction to foreign sources.
  • The Great Zimbabwe and the culture that flourished inside its walls declined by the 15th century.

 

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What are the interesting facts of the Hadrian’s Wall, England?

  • Commissioned by the Roman emperor Hadrian to defend the part of Britain the Romans controlled from attacks.
  • Some believe that it was constructed to prevent immigration and smuggling.
  • The 117.5 km-long wall ran coast to coast from the banks of the River Tyre near the North Sea to the Solway Firth on the Irish Sea.
  • It is called Vallum Hadriani in Latin.
  • A significant portion of the wall still stands and is considered a British cultural icon. It is one of Britain’s ancient tourist attractions.
  • Work commenced on the wall in 122 AD and was completed around six years later. It goes without saying that a construction project of such nation-spanning proportions required significant manpower. Three legions – comprised of around 5,000 infantrymen each – were employed to take care of the major construction work.
  • It’s a popular misconception that Hadrian’s Wall marks the border between England and Scotland. In fact, the wall predates both kingdoms, while substantial sections of modern-day Northumberland and Cumbria – both of which are located south of the border – are bisected by it.

 

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What are the interesting facts of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, the U.S.?

  • This wall is a national memorial in Washington, D.C. built to honour the U.S. Armed forces who fought the Vietnam war, and the service members who died in service or were unaccounted for during the war.
  • The memorial is maintained by the National Park Service, the U.S. and receives around 30 lakh visitors each year.
  • The Memorial Wall is made of two long, black granite walls, etched with the names of those being honoured in 140 panels.
  • The stone for the panels was quarried from Bengaluru, India.
  • Visitors can see a reflection of themselves in the names on the black granite walls, connecting the living to those lost.
  • The names are listed in chronological order by date of their casualty and begin and end at the origin point, or center, of the memorial where the two walls meet.

 

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What are the interesting facts of the Walls of Babylon, Iraq?

  • Built several centuries ago, the walls of Babylon are situated 85km south of Baghdad.
  • The ancient city of Babylon in Mesopotamia was protected by these walls.
  • The Ishtar Gate, the eighth gate and the main entrance to the inner city of Babylon, was considered one of the world’s wonders for its beautiful design and relief work.
  • Many of the walls of Babylon, like the ancient city itself, is now in ruins due to damage caused by reconstruction ordered by former President Saddam Hussein in the 1980s and more recently, the U.S. military occupation.
  • Like the Hanging Gardens, they were included among the “world’s seven wonders,” and, according to every account given of them, their magnitude and construction were remarkable.
  • The supposed height of the walls was improbable, as it is unlikely that mud-brick construction material described would have been solid enough to support the weight of such a structure, and exploration has shown that the length of this wall seems to have been closer to twelve miles around.

 

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What are the interesting facts of the Berlin Wall, Germany?

  • The construction of the Berlin Wall commenced in August 1961 to prevent the people of East Germany from migrating to West Germany in search of better jobs.
  • Since it was built in the middle of Berlin, dividing the city into two, it was called the Berlin Wall.
  • The 155 km-long wall divided the city for nearly 30 years, bringing misery to a lot of families whose members were split on either side. Many people who tried to cross the wall were killed.
  • It was demolished on November 9, 1989 after several uprisings and the beginning of the fall of the Eastern bloc.
  • Today, the remains of the Berlin Wall are a tourist attraction.
  • No fewer than 327 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall into West Germany, 10 percent of whom were women. Another 5,000 people were captured trying to escape over (or sometimes, under) the wall.

 

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What are the interesting facts of the Walls of Troy, Turkey?

  • These walls were first erected in the Bronze Age between 3000 and 2600 BC.
  • They are among the oldest walls standing now.
  • Built to protect the city of Troy, the walls were over 5.2 m-tall when erected.
  • They have stood the test of time and continue to draw tourists from around the world.
  • The city was considerably enlarged and furnished with a massive defensive wall made of cut blocks of stone and rectangular clay bricks.
  • Troy archaeologists have found ceramics and bronze axes from southeast Europe, suggesting that that people may have moved into the city from there. 
  • Many of the people who reoccupied Troy may not have been Greek colonists but rather people who already lived in the area.  

 

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What are the interesting facts about the internet?

Are they the same?

Although the world wide web and the internet are used alternatively, the two are not the same. Internet is a network of networks that links computers together. The world wide web on the other hand is a collection of lined pages that are accessed using the Internet and a web browser.

WWW for free

The World Wide Web was made available to the public for free in 1993. Initially, it was meant only for physicists at the European organisation for nuclear research (CERN) to share data.

Biggest medium of communication

The WWW is the fastest growing communication medium of all time. Imagine, it took a WWW only four years to reach 50 million people. In contrast, it took the radio 38 years and television 13 years to reach the same number.

The Apple connection

Did you know that the entire world wide web stored on a NeXT computer when it was created? NeXT was the company started by Steve Jobs after he was ousted from Apple Inc.

What’s in a name?

Before the name World Wide Web was finalised, there were other options such as Mine of Information, Information Mine, and Mesh. These names don’t sound cooler than the World Wide Web, do they?

 

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What are the fun facts about PowerPoint?

Not develop for Microsoft

We might know PowerPoint as software from Microsoft. But unlike Word and Excel, PowerPoint was not developed for Microsoft. The presentation program was created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc.

Not just for presentations

While PowerPoint is primarily presentation software, one can also use it to make infographics, GIFs, quizzes, photo albums and more!

Designed for MAC

WHEN Gaskins was working on PowerPoint, he designed it for the Macintosh OS (macOS). PowerPoint was released for MAC on April 20, 1987. Just three months after its release, the product was acquired by Microsoft from Forethought, Inc for $14 million.

It’s Karaoke time!

Yes, PowerPoint Karaoke is the current fad, though it does not involve music or singing. It is an improvisational activity, where a participant makes a presentation based on a set of slides he or she has never seen before! Imagine how comical this could turn out to be. PowerPoint Karaoke originated in January 2006 in Berlin as a creation of a collective of writers and artists.

Presenter to PowerPoint

The first version of PowerPoint, which was designed for MAC, was called ‘Presenter’. However, due to Trademark issues, the name had to be scrapped. It was later changed to PowerPoint.

 

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What are the fun facts about MS Word?

Not always called Word

MS Word was released on October 25, 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word. However, the marketing department of the company thought the name was too long, so they shortened it to its current name, Word.

Check that spelling?

Word helps thousands today by prompting spelling and grammatical errors. However, the AutoCorrect feature and the red squiggly line you see under misspelt words were introduced with Word 95 in the year 1933.

Before that users had to check their spelling and grammar on their own.

Say ‘Hello’ to Clippy!

With the version of Word 97, Microsoft introduced Clippy, an animated interactive paperclip. Clippy was a word assistant which would assist users with formatting word documents. However, Clippy is said to be despised by many users, as it would distract them. Microsoft finally pulled Clippy out of service with the release of Word 2007.

Not the first word processor

Word is popular around the world, but it wasn’t the first word processor to have been developed. That credit goes to Bravo. In 1981, Microsoft hired Charles Simonyi, the primary developer of Bravo. It was Simpnyi who developed MS Word along with others.

Games for features

While Clippy made its exit with Word 2007, Microsoft introduced the ‘Ribbon’ feature in this version. It was a change in the user-interface for most users. However, to ease the process, Microsoft developed Ribbon Hero, a video game to educate users about the features of MS Word.

 

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