National Anthems: Algeria

"We swear by the lightning that destroys,
By the virtuous and fragrant flood...
...So we have taken the drum of gunpowder as our rhythm
And the sound of machine guns as our melody"

This is part of the Algerian national anthem "Kassaman" or "Quassaman" which was written by Mufdi Zakariah in 1956 when he was imprisoned by the French colonial forces. Zakariah actually wrote the anthem on cell walls with his own blood.

Greenland is the One With the Ice

Over 80% of Greenland is covered with ice.

Iceland is the Green One

Over 70% of energy used in Iceland comes from its own resources. Around 50% is geothermal energy and around 17% is hydro-electric.

Latvian folk songs

In the course of the last few thousand years, 30,000 Latvian folk songs have been made.

Macaroni and Cheese

The nation that consumes the most macaroni and cheese is Canada!

During the three seconds you needed to read this post...

During the three seconds you needed to read this post, planet Earth has moved almost 90 km on its orbit around the Sun.



Photo: thinkquest(dot)org

1.3 million Earths Can Fit Inside the Sun

You could fit 1.3 million Earths inside of the Sun.



Photo credit: ipadfreaks(dot)com

Great Wall: Can wrap around Cuba more than twice!

The Great Wall of China could wrap around Cuba more than twice!



Photo credit: travlang (dot) com

Monaco: highest average age at 45.7 years

The country of Monaco has the highest average age at 45.7 years.

90mph Hurricanes: Generate 100x More Energy Than All Power Plants Combined

A hurricane with winds in excess of 90 mph can generate 100 times more energy then all the power plants in the world combined.




Photo: howstuffworks(dot)com

New Zealand: 8 times more sheep than people

There are almost 8 times more sheep than people in New Zealand!
Baaaa!!



Photo: myadventuresinnz(dot)blogspot(dot)com

Leaning Tower of Pisa: Tilts 3.99º

The Leaning Tower of Pisa tilts at 3.99 degrees.

Saltier than any ocean

The Dead Sea is 8.6 times saltier than any ocean.

The salt concentration wavers around 31.5%.

The Dead Sea is named "dead" because the high salinity doesn't allow aquatic organisms, like fish and aquatic plants living in the sea. But, tiny amounts of microbial fungi and bacteria live there.

Nose inflates balloon

Andrew Dahl, is 16 years old, and can inflate balloons with his nose.

He holds the record for inflating the most balloons by nose in just three minutes, 23 by the way. He can even inflate two at once; one on each nostril. But sometimes, the balloons can pop and as Andrew says "it's pretty gross for everyone standing a little too close."

Dahl started when he was 7 years old, "when we had barbecues or get-togethers I'd do it just to show that I could," he said.

When Dahl was 14, he set the world record when he blew 213 balloons in an hour (an average of more than three and a half per minute).

Neptune: Discovered 1 Year Ago Today

The planet Neptune was discovered exactly one year ago today ... in Neptunian years. 


Astronomers first observed it on July 22, 1846. Its full orbit from that point is at 22:27 UT.


The existence of Neptune was actually already predicted years earlier because of some gravitational effect on Uranus. 


Only on September 23, 1846 was the planet's existence confirmed. Johann Galle, a German astronomer, had predicted the location of appearance in the sky, looked through his telescope at that exact point and saw a blue-green speck (which was why it was named after the Roman god of the sea). 


Galileo actually spotted the planet more than 200 years earlier, but assumed it was only a star because he couldn't see very clearly, as it was cloudy.


According to Erich Karkoschka, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, Neptune 'only gets 0.1 percent as much sunlight as Earth, but Neptune has storms and its appearance changes over time.' People wonder why it has such an active atmosphere. In the 1970s and 1980s, it had appeared darker than it is now.



Neptune seen from Triton, its largest moon.


[Source and image: National Geographic]

Asia's land area > Moon's land area

Asia has more land area than the Moon.

Asia has an area of 44.5 million square kilometres. The moon, however, has an area of 37.8 million square kilometres. (That's a difference of 6.7 million square kilometres!)



[Source: fun-interesting-facts.com; Image: Zonu]

'Friday' was taken down from YouTube due of a copyright claim by Rebecca Black

According to YouTube, the Friday official music video uploaded by ARK Music Factory, was taken down due to 'a copyright claim by Rebecca Black'.

The caption reads "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black. Sorry about that."

The video has received more than 167 million views, though it has disappeared from YouTube more than once. Her mother had paid ARK Music Factory $4000 to have a single with a music video for her daughter.

[Source: Mashable]

Ugliest Face Contest

In England, there is an ugliest face contest.

Called the World Gurning Championships, the winner will receive a cash prize of £150 (approximately $245 USD).







[Source: BBC News]

Vampire Stars in the Milky Way's bulge

These vampire stars drain life away from other stars and were found for the first time in the heart of our Milky Way galaxy.

Called blue stragglers, they appear to lag in age next to other stars with which they formed, appearing younger by looking bluer and hotter. Some astronomers think that the blue stragglers look so youthful because they steal hydrogen fuel from other stars, for all one knows, after colliding into their victims, which happens in other parts of the universe.

A team of astronomers looked at 180,000 stars in and near the bulge, using the Hubble, and found 42 unusual blue stars, who were much, much, much younger than the surrounding stars. The researchers estimated that onlu 18 to 37 of these stars are actual blue stragglers that are likely to be about 10 billion to 11 billion years old.

(artist's concept. Source: NASA)

[Source: NatGeo News]

Roach, Missouri

There is an unincorporated community in Missouri, United States called Roach.

The community has two churches, houses, and a post office. The name was established after the postmaster's last name (at the time), which was indeed, Roach.

[Source: Wikipedia]