Tallest Building in the World

Mar 2 2011
Since its completion in January 2010, the tallest building in the world has been the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Here is the current official list of the thirteen tallest buildings in the world, as recorded by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, based in Chicago.

1. World's Tallest Building: Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Completed in January 2010 with 160 stories which reach 2,716 feet (828 meters) high!

Source : http://geography.about.com/od/lists/a/tallestbuilding.htm

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The Difference Between Insects And Spiders ?

Despite the visual similarities between the two both are actually members of distinct families. Spiders are members of the Arachnid family whilst insects belong to the Insect family. So what makes the two families different ?
Well for starters spiders have 8 legs whilst insects have just 6. Insects have 3 distinct body parts, a head, thorax and abdomen whilst spiders have just 2, a combined head and thorax known as the cephalothorax and an abdomen.
As well as the above, other interesting differences include the eyes. Spiders have simple eyes whilst insects have compound eyes. Spiders have piercing jaws whilst insects have jaws which are more suitable for chewing. All spiders can make silk thread (although not all spiders spin webs) whilst most insects cannot. Spiders can’t fly where as many insects have wings allowing them to do so.
So yes to the untrained eye there is indeed very little visual difference but if you look really hard then they’re actually worlds apart.

Source : http://www.science-facts.com/animals/the-difference-between-insects-and-spiders/

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50 Interesting Facts About Men (Rita Rudner)

I must admit that my last few postings have been on the “heavy” side. Today, I was thinking I should “lighten up” a wee bit.
Many of you know the well known and very famous Rita Rudner. She is an American comedienne, writer, and actress. She has for many years been a head-liner act in the Las Vegas casinos.
Here is a great list she wrote on her famous 50 Facts About Men:
1. Men like to barbecue. Men will cook if danger is involved.
2. Men who have pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They’ve experienced pain and bought jewelry.
3. If you buy your husband or boyfriend a video camera, for the first few weeks he has it, lock the door when you go to the bathroom. Most of my husband’s early films end with a scream and a flush.
4. Be careful of men who are bald and rich; the arrogance of “rich” usually cancels out the “nice” of bald.
5. Marrying a divorced man is ecologically responsible. In a world where there are more women than men, it pays to recycle.
6. Men are very confident people. My husband is so confident that when he watches sports on television, he thinks that if he concentrates really hard, he can help his team. If his team is in trouble, he coaches the players from the living room. If they are really in trouble, I have to get off the phone in case they call him.
7. If it’s attention you want, don’t get involved with a man during play-off season.
8. Men like phones with lots of buttons. It makes them feel important.
9. Men love to be the first to read the newspaper in the morning. Not being the first is upsetting to their psyches.
10. All men look nerdy in black socks and sandals.
11. The way a man looks at himself in the mirror will tell you if he can ever care about anyone else.
12. Don’t try to teach men how to do anything in public. They can learn in private; in public they have to KNOW.
13. Men who are going bald often wear baseball caps.
14. All men are afraid of eyelash curlers. I sleep with one under my pillow instead of a gun.
15. A good place to meet a man is at the dry cleaner. These men usually have jobs and bathe.
16. Men love watches with multiple functions. My husband has one that is a combination address book, telescope and piano.
17. All men hate to hear “We need to talk.” No matter what the subject is, these seven words strike fear in the heart of even General Norman Schwarzkopf.
18. Men are sensitive in strange ways. If a man has built a fire and the last log doesn’t burn, he will take it personally.
19. Men are brave enough to go to war, but they are not brave enough to get a bikini wax.
20. All men think they’re nice guys. Some of them are not. Contact me for a list of names.
21. Men do not get cellulite. Another point for god possibly being a man.
22. Men have an easier time shopping for a bathing suit. Women have two types: Depressing and More depressing! Men have two types: Nerdy and Not Nerdy.
23. Men have higher body temperatures than women. If your heating goes out in the winter, I recommend sleeping next to a man. Men are like portable heaters that snore.
24. Women take clothing much more seriously than men. I’ve never seen a man walk into a party and say “Oh, my god, I’m so embarrassed. There’s another man wearing a black tuxedo!”
25. Most men hate to shop. That is why the men’s department is usually on the first floor of a department store, two inches from the door.
26. If a man prepares dinner for you and the salad contains three or more types of lettuce, he is serious.
27. If you are dating a man who you think might be Mr. Right if he only: a) got older b) got a new job or c) visited a psychiatrist, you are in for a rude awakening. The cocoon-to-butterfly theory only works on cocoons and butterflies.
28. Men own basketball teams. Every year cheerleaders’ outfits get tighter and briefer, and players’ shorts get looser, baggier and longer.
29. No man is charming all of the time. Even Cary Grant is on record saying he wished he could be Cary Grant.
30. When four or more men get together, they talk about sports.
31. When four or more women get together, they talk about men.
32. Not one man in a beer commercial has a beer belly.
33. Men are less sentimental than women. No man has ever seen the movie The Way We Were twice, voluntarily.
34. Most women are introspective. “Am I In Love? Am I emotionally and creatively fulfilled?” Most men are outrospective: “Did my team win? How’s my car?”
35. If a man says “I’ll call you,” and he doesn’t, he didn’t FORGET… he didn’t LOSE your number… he didn’t DIE! He just didn’t want to call you.
36. Men hate to lose. I once beat my husband at tennis. I asked him, “Are we going to have sex again?” He said, “Yes. But not with each other.”
37. Men who can eat anything they want and not gain weight should do it out of the sight of women.
38. Getting rid of a man without hurting his masculinity is a problem. “Get out” and “I never want to see you again” might sound like a challenge. If you want to get rid of a man, I suggest saying “I love you… I want to marry you… I want to have your children.” Sometimes they leave skid marks.
39. Men accept compliments much better than women do. Example: “Mitch, you look great.” Mitch: “Thanks.” On the other side, “Ruth, you look great.” Ruth: “I do? Must be the lighting.”
40. Impulse buying is not macho. Men rarely call the Home Shopping Network.
41. Men who listen to classical music tend not to spit.
42. Only men who have worn a ski suit understand how complicated it is for a woman to go to the bathroom when she’s wearing a jumpsuit.
43. Men don’t feel the urge to get married as quickly as women do because their clothes all button and zip in the front. Women’s dresses usually button and zip in the back. We need men emotionally and sexually, but we also need men to help us get dressed.
44. Men are self-confident because they grow up identifying with superheroes. Women have bad self images because they grow up identifying with Barbie.
45. When a woman tries on clothing from her closet that feels tight, she will assume she has gained weight. When a man tries something from his closet that feels tight, he will assume his clothing has shrunk.
46. Male menopause is a lot more fun than female menopause. With female menopause you gain weight and get hot flashes. Male menopause: you get to date young girls and drive motorcycles.
47. Men forget everything. Women remember everything.
48. That’s why men need instant replays in sports. They’ve already forgotten what happened.
49. Men would like monogamy better if it sounded less like monotony.
50. All men would still really like to own a train set.
I know that most women will agree with almost all of the items on this list. The issue of men believing this list is another matter.
To learn more about Rita Rudner visit: Rita Funny
Hope this post brought a little fun to your day. A smile goes a long way in the day.
Tomorrow, back to the serious problems of the world.

Source : http://www.thoughtsonmyday.com/2009/04/22/thoughts/50-interesting-facts-about-men/

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How Heavy Is The Earth ?

Now despite science coming forward in leaps and bounds the simple question of how much the Earth weighs isn’t as straightforward as you might think. Certainly placing the earth onto a massive set of weighing scales isn’t an option. So how do we measure the total weight of the earth ?
Well scientists initially went about this task by trying to estimate the weight of a very large mountain and then simply scaling that figure up. However this method led to some peculiar results and since then the mathematics and calculations involved have changed taking into consideration further factors such as the volume and overall density of the planet.
If you combine the above with weighted samples of various parts of the planet scientists have come up with a more accurate number which they believe to be around 6 quadrillion kilograms. Mind boggling to say the least but if you think that’s a big number don’t forget to check out our article on the number Googol.

Source : http://www.science-facts.com/earth/how-heavy-is-the-earth/

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Deepest Lake In The World ?

Lake Baikal (Baikal) in Siberia, Russia is the deepest lake in the world measuring 1620m deep at its deepest point. This makes it not only deep but also the oldest lake in the world estimated to be around 25 million years old. At over 636 kilometers long and 80 kilometers wide this fresh water lake holds over 20 percent of all the fresh water in the world and is second in size only to the Caspian Sea (the caspian is called a sea but is technically a lake).

To put things into perspective the lake is so big that if all the rivers in the world flowed into its basin it would take almost 1 year to fill. We all know Siberia isn’t the warmest of places so you can imagine what a phenomenal site it is when in the winter months the lake freezes over holding ice up to 115 meters thick. Now that’s a lot of ice!

Source : http://www.science-facts.com/nature/deepest-lake-in-the-world/

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11 Facts About Cyber Bullying

1. Nearly 42% of kids have been bullied online and almost one in four have had it happen more than once.

2. Among this percentage, being ignored and disrespected were the most common forms of cyber bullying.

3.Nine out of ten middle school students have had their feelings hurt online.

4. About 75% have visited a Web site bashing another student.

5. Four out of ten middle school students have had their password(s) stolen and changed by a bully who then locked them out of their own account or sent communications posing as them.

6. About 21% of kids have received mean or threatening e-mails.

7. The psychological and emotional outcomes of cyber bullying are similar to real-life bullying outcomes, except for the reality that with cyber bullying there is often no escape. School ends at 3 p.m., while the Internet is available all the time.

8. The primary cyber bullying location where victimizing occurs, at 56%, is in chat rooms.

9. Girls are about twice as likely as boys to be victims and perpetrators of cyber bullying.

9. About 58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once.

10. Cyber bullying has increased in recent years. In a national survey of 10-17 year olds, twice as many children indicated they had been victims and perpetrators.

Source : http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying

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30 Interesting Facts about Human Brain

Brain is the central organ of the human body. It is extremely complex and sophisticated. The functions of the brain were found by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks in 400 BC. It was Hippocrates who first discovered that brain played an important role in sensation and intelligence. Nowadays, everyone understand the importance of having the brain, but most of us don’t know much about it, so here are some interesting facts for you.

1) There are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain can feel no pain.

2) The human brain is the fattest organ in the body and may consists of at least 60% fat.

3) Neurons develop at the rate of 250,000 neurons per minute during early pregnancy.

4) Humans continue to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity.

5) Alcohol interferes with brain processes by weakening connections between neurons.

6) Altitude makes the brain see strange visions – Many religions involve special visions that occurred at great heights. For example, Moses encountered a voice emanating from a burning bush on Mount Sinai and Muhammad was visited by an angel on Mount Hira. Similar phenomena are reported by mountain climbers, but they don’t think it’s very mystical. Many of the effects are attributable to the reduced supply of oxygen to the brain. At 8,000ft or higher, some mountaineers report perceiving unseen companions, seeing light emanating from themselves or others, seeing a second body like their own, and suddenly feeling emotions such as fear. Oxygen deprivation is likely to interfere with brain regions active in visual and face processing, and in emotional events.


7) Reading aloud and talking often to a young child promotes brain development.

8 ) Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Not all neurons are the same. There are a few different types within the body and transmission along these different kinds can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.


9) The capacity for such emotions as joy, happiness, fear, and shyness are already developed at birth. The specific type of nurturing a child receives shapes how these emotions are developed.

10) The left side of your brain (left hemisphere) controls the right side of your body; and, the right side of your brain (right hemisphere) controls the left side of your body.

11) Children who learn two languages before the age of five alters the brain structure and adults have a much denser gray matter.

12) Information can be processed as slowly as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec (about 268 miles/hr).

13) While awake, your brain generates between 10 and 23 watts of power–or enough energy to power a light bulb.

14) The old adage of humans only using 10% of their brain is not true. Every part of the brain has a known function.

15) A study of one million students in New York showed thatstudents who ate lunches that did not include artificial flavors, preservatives, and dyes did 14% better on IQ tests than students who ate lunches with these additives.

16) For years, scientists believed that tinnitus was due to a function within the mechanics of the ear, but newer evidence shows that it is actually a function of the brain.

17) Every time you recall a memory or have a new thought, you are creating a new connection in your brain.

18) Memories triggered by scent have a stronger emotional connection, therefore appear more intense than other memory triggers.

19) Each time we blink, our brain kicks in and keeps things illuminated so the whole world doesn’t go dark each time we blink (about 20,000 times a day).

20) Laughing at a joke is no simple task as it requires activity in five different areas of the brain.

21) The average number of thoughts that humans are believed to experience each day is 70,000.

22) There are two different schools of thought as to why we dream: the physiological school, and the psychological school. While many theories have been proposed, not single consensus has emerged as to why we dream. Some researchers suggest that dreams serve no real purpose, while other believe that dreaming is essential to mental, emotional and physical well-being. One theory for dreaming suggests dreams serve to clean up clutter from the mind.

23) The Hypothalamus part of the brain regulates body temperature much like a thermostat. The hypothalamus knows what temperature your body should be (about 98.6 Fahrenheit or 37 Celsius), and if your body is too hot, the hypothalamus tells it to sweat. If you’re too cold, the hypothalamus makes you start shivering. Shivering and sweating helps get your body’s temperature back to normal.

24) Approximately 85,000 neocortical neurons are lost each day in your brain. Fortunately, his goes unnoticed due to the built-in redundancies and the fact that even after three years this loss adds up to less than 1% of the total.

25) Differences in brain weight and size do not equal differences in mental ability. The weight of Albert Einstein’s brain was 1,230 grams that is less than an average weight of the human brain.

26) A living brain is so soft you could cut it with a table knife.

27) There are about 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain.

28) London taxi drivers ,famous for knowing all the London streets by heart, have a larger than normal hippocampus, especially the drivers who have been on the job longest. The study suggests that as people memorize more and more information, this part of their brain continues to grow.

29) The brain can live for 4 to 6 minutes without oxygen, and then it begins to die. No oxygen for 5 to 10 minutes will result in permanent brain damage.

30) Our brain often fools us. It often perceives things differently from the reality. Look at those pictures. Square A and B are actually the same shade of gray.

Source : http://www.tastyhuman.com/30-interesting-facts-about-human-brain/

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Top 10 Interesting Facts About Pyramids

Think you know all there is to know about these goliaths of the ancient world? Heritage Key picks out ten key facts aboutpyramids.

1. There are actually 118 pyramids in Egypt. Sure, you might have heard of Khufu's, or Khafre's – or even Djoser's incredible StepPyramid at Saqqara, the first known pyramid ever built. But what about the ones which don't grab the headlines: Amenemhat III's Black Pyramid of Dashur looks more like Ayer's Rock than an Egyptian tomb, and Sahure's fine mausoleum in Abusir once stood 47m high.

The Pyramid Of Giza

2. The 118th pyramid was unearthed by Egypt's most famous archaeologist Zahi Hawass, as he and his team uncovered the 4,300-year-old tomb of the 6th Dynasty queen Sesheshet in November last year. The team had been searching for the impressive Old Kingdom pyramid for over two years, and it's the third known 'subsidiary' tomb of Sesheshet's husband, Pharaoh Teti.

4. Khufu's Great Pyramid may be, well, great - but it's also the only surviving ancient wonder of the world, and the oldest at around 4,600 years old. Other staggering numbers for the monument are that it includes 2.3 million limestone blocks and weighs 5.9 million tonnes. Oh, and it held the title of tallest man-made structure for around 4,000 years at 146m, until Lincoln Cathedral (160m) surpassed it in 1311.3. Millions of people know about the Giza necropolis, but have you ever heard of the Pyramid of Djedefre? This largely ruined pyramidEgypt's northernmost, and was commissioned by the son of Khufu, the pharaoh who constructed the largest pyramid in the world. Some have speculated that it was once as tall as Menkaure'spyramid, the third largest of the great triumvirate at Giza.

5. Staying on Khufu's masterpiece, up to 100,000 labourers built the behemoth according to Greek historian Herodotus. This is more than the entire population of the world's biggest cities at the time, and many think Herodotus may have been a bit overexcited - he was going on the words of friends; and lived almost 2,000 years after thepyramid was built. Modern experts place the number nearer 20,000 – still a large enough number of builders in one place.

6. Even the builders had tombs: When an American tourist was thrown from her horse in Giza in 1990, a stone the horse stumbled on turned out to be the tip of an enormous builders' necropolis. Zahi Hawass' team would subsequently unearth over 600 tombs. One of them, the 'egg dome' tomb, is now an attraction in its own right.

The Bent Pyramid, Egypt. Image Credits - a rancid amoeba

7. One of King Sneferu's three pyramids, at the royal necropolis of Dashur, is significantly bent from around halfway up at a shallower angle. It creates a unique shape for the empire, and experts think it may have been done simply because the existing angle began to weaken the building. Other think it may have been hurried, as Sneferu's death was approaching. Its name today? The BentPyramid, of course.

8. Pyramid building spread southwards in the later years of Egypt's cultural zenith: just look at the Nile-based Kushite capital of Meroe, located some hundred miles north-east of Khartoum, Sudan. Its own beautiful network of small, steep pyramids was created between the 4th century BC and 3rd century AD. Kushite kings ruled Egypt throughout its 25th Dynasty.

9. Pyramids don't stop at the Sahara. The step pyramids of the Mayas in Central America are some of the world's most recognisable and breath-taking mad-made monuments, and recent years have seen the alleged 'discovery' of an 

Mayan Pyramid, Chichen Itza. Image Credit - Mananetwork

alternative Valley of the Pyramids in Bosnia. If deemed to be a pyramid, the BosnianPyramid of the Sun would become the largest such structure of the ancient world, eclipsing Khufu's opus by some way.

10. The excavation of pyramids doesn't stop with dusty shirts and beaten trowels – robots are making some of the biggest strides in Egypt today. A Japanese model has been searching inside theOsiris shaft below Khafre's pyramid, whereas a University of Leeds-developed 'RoboScarab' (copyright Ann) is making its way through the mysterious shafts of Khufu's Great Pyramid.

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