Factually Weird

Don Juan Pond, the hypersaline lake in western Antarctica which has even greater salinity than the Dead Sea With a salinity of over 40%, Don Juan Pond is the saltiest body of water in the world It is named after the two pilots who first investigated the pond in 1961, Lt Don Roe and Lt John Hickey It is a small lake, only 100m by 300m, and on average 0.1m deep, but it is so salty that even in the Antarctic, where the temperature at the pond regularly drops to as low as -30 degrees Celsius, it never freezes It is 18 times saltier than sea water, compared to the Dead Sea which is only 8 times saltier than sea water At its saltiest, Don Juan Pond contains 671 parts per thousand salt, compared to 35 and 300 for the ocean and the Dead Sea respectively A beautiful salty pool in Antarctica's Dry Valleys is teaching scientists about the potential for life in brine pools on ancient Mars The study also reveals a previously unreported mechanism for producing an important greenhouse gas - nitro...

John James Audubon from 1785 to1851 was an American Woodsman John James Audubon was not the first person to attempt to paint and describe all the birds of America (Alexander Wilson has that distinction), but for half a century he was the young country’s dominant wildlife artist His seminal Birds of America, a collection of 435 life-size prints, quickly eclipsed Wilson’s work and is still a standard against which 20th and 21st century bird artists, such as Roger Tory Peterson and David Sibley, are measured Although Audubon had no role in the organization that bears his name, there is a connection: George Bird Grinnell, one of the founders of the early Audubon Society in the late 1800s, was tutored by Lucy Audubon, John James’s widow Knowing Audubon’s reputation, Grinnell chose his name as the inspiration for the organization’s earliest work to protect birds and their habitats Today, the name Audubon remains synonymous with birds and bird conservation the world over John James Audubon wa...

A city founded in the early 1870s and named after Lake Rotorua whose Maori name means ‘Second Lake’ from roto ‘lake’ and rua ‘two’ or ‘second’ It is said that it was so named by a traveller as he went along the Kaituna River; the first was Lake Rotoiti ‘Small Lake’. However, this may be a convenient invention to justify claims to the area by the local tribe The city of Rotorua, about 30 miles (48 km) inland on the Volcanic Plateau, is noted for the geysers, fumaroles, boiling mud, and warm mineral bathing pools in its vicinity Rotorua sits squarely on the Pacific Ring of Fire, so volcanic activity is part of the city’s past and present The city is also the tribal home of the Te Arawa people, who settled in lakeside geothermal areas more than 600 years ago Entertaining in any weather, and at any time of the year, Rotorua promises to keep you captivated with geothermal phenomena and special cultural experiences Geysers, boiling mud pools, marae stays, hangi feasts, an authentic pre-Europ...

Measuring 1,200 square miles, Socotra (also Suqutra) Island is located in the Arabian Sea, about 500 miles from Aden and less than 200 miles from Somalia The sparsely populated island has a mountainous interior and most of its population engages in farming or fishing; the most striking feature of this isolated place is its biodiversity and the great number of unique flora and fauna The ruler of the Mahra Sultanate of Qishn and Socotra resided there under British rule during much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries The island became a part of South Yemen in 1967 and, with Yemeni unification in 1990, it became a part of the Republic of Yemen (ROY) Given its location near the sea lanes, Socotra was long thought to be of strategic value by Western imperial powers During the latter half of the Cold War, South Yemen allowed the Soviet Union to maintain a submarine base and other military facilities there; Russia continues to maintain a modest naval presence During the late 1990s there ...

Largest sand dune in Europe is the great dune of Pyla Size of sand dune of Pyla is about 60,000,000 cubic meters It measures 1,640 feet (500 m) wide and 1.86 miles (3 km long), with the height ranging from 328 to 383.8 feet (100 to 117 m) above sea level The Dune of Pilat is also known as the Great Dune of Pyla It is located in the La Teste-de-Buch of the Arcachon Bay area At 60Km from Bordeaux, in the South of the Arcachon Bay, it is possible to visit the highest dune in Europe, the Great Dune of Pyla (or Pilat) This hight of dune of Pyla reaches upto a height of 107m At this summit, the view is spectacular with the ocean coast, the inlet of the Bay, the large pine forest and, when the sky is very clear, the Pyrenees Range This Great Dune is constituted of fine sand which the siliceous grains have about the same size Since about ten years, this area is also became a point of start to the lover of delta planes The Great Dune of Pyla is located on the “La Teste de Buch” district (Girond...

Annually, April 22 is a day set aside to honor the Earth. But every day is Earth Day, and some of the things that will happen 365 times in a year are listed below In 1969, Nelson, considered one of the leaders of the modern environmental movement, developed the idea for Earth Day after being inspired by the anti-Vietnam War "teach-ins" that were taking place on college campuses around the United States According to Nelson, he envisioned a large-scale, grassroots environmental demonstration "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda." Nelson announced the Earth Day concept at a conference in Seattle in the fall of 1969 and invited the entire nation to get involved A highlight of the United Nations' Earth Day celebration in New York City is the ringing of the Peace Bell, a gift from Japan, at the exact moment of the vernal equinox Earth Day Networks estimates that 500 million people from 4,500 organizations in 180 countr...

Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater located approximately 43 miles (69 km) east of Flagstaff, near Winslow in the northern Arizona desert of the United States Because the US Department of the Interior Division of Names commonly recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest post office, the feature acquired the name of “Meteor Crater” from the nearby post office named Meteor Middlesboro is the only city in the United States built within a meteor crater The crater was created about 50,000 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch when the local climate on the Colorado Plateau was much cooler and damper At the time, the area was an open grassland dotted with woodlands inhabited by woolly mammoths, giant ground sloths, and camels It was probably not inhabited by humans; the earliest confirmed record of human habitation in the Americas dates from long after this impact The object that excavated the crater was a nickel-iron meteorite about 50 meters (54 yards) across, whi...

Mount Roraima (mountain, South America) giant flat-topped mountain, or mesa, in the Pakaraima Mountains of the Guiana Highlands , at the point where the boundaries of Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana meet About 9 miles (14 km) long and 9,094 feet (2,772 metres) high, it is the source of many rivers of Guyana, and of the Amazon and Orinoco Mount Roraima is a pretty remarkable place. It is a tabletop mountain with sheer 400-metre high cliffs on all sides There is only one ‘easy’ way up, on a natural staircase-like ramp on the Venezuelan side – to get up any other way takes and experienced rock climber On the top of the mountain it rains almost every day, washing away most of the nutrients for plants to grow and creating a unique landscape on the bare sandstone surface This also creates some of the highest waterfalls in the world over the sides (Angel falls is located on a similar tabletop mountain some 130 miles away) Though there are only a few marshes on the mountain where vegetation can ...

East of the Caspian Sea in the middle of Karakum desert somewhere in Central Asia hide a secret It is something so surreal and extraordinary in the same time you thing is not real at all Here near a small town of Darvaza, Turkmenistan is located “The door to hell” how locals name the strange place In fact it is a 50 – 100 meter crater who burn continues for 35 years without any pause The Door to Hell, as local residents at the nearby town of Darvaza have dubbed it, is a 70 meter wide crater in Turkmenistan that has been burning continuously for 35 years In 1971, geologists drilling for gas deposits uncovered a huge underground cavern, which caused the ground over it to collapse, taking down all their equipment and their camp with it During a drilling they found an underground cavern filled with natural gas In this moment the ground collapsed, leaving a large gaping hole exposed To avoid poisonous gases coming out of the hole, it was decide to fire up and let the gas burn Since the ...

Walk up behind girl and point fingers shaped like gun into her back "You're under arrest!" For what? "For stealing my heart."  Hi, my name is Chance, Do I have one? Are your legs tired? Girl: Why? because you have been running through my mind all day!  "I lost my phone number, can I borrow yours?"  Can you give me directions to your heart? I've seemed to have lost myself in your eyes. Take a look at the tag on the girls shirt, jacket, etc. She would say,"What are you doing" you respond,"Oh, just checking to see if you were made in Heaven." Pick up a flower and walk over to girl. "I was just showing this flower how beautiful you are." Is it hot in here or is it just you?  Hey Girls, walk up to a guy and say: "Are you from Greece?" "No" he answers. Then you say, "Oh, I thought all the Gods were from Greece"  GEEEEE.. I FEEL LIKE RICHARD GERE STANDING BESIDE YOU ........... PRETTY WOMEN

He was born four days before Adolf Hitler, in 1889 Charlie Chaplin was so popular during the 1920s and 1930s, he received over 73,00 letters in just 2 days during a visit to London After adopting his trademark Little Tramp costume, consisting of baggy pants, bamboo cane, bowler hat, and over-sized shoes, Chaplin became a Hollywood icon Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look alike contest He was the first actor to appear on Time magazine. Chaplin appeared on the July 6, 1925 issue of Time magazine, a U.S.-based news magazine. He was the first actor ever to appear on the magazine known for its influential cover photo Screenshot From Movie "THE GREAT DICTATOR" His understudy in England was Stan Laurel; they sailed to America together and shared a boarding house when they arrived In 1925, he was the first actor to appear on the cover of Time magazine At the height of his popularity, he failed to win a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest His imprints were r...

Colonel Yuri A. Gagarin was born on a collective farm in a region west of Moscow, Russia on March 9, 1934 Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space and the first man to orbit the Earth making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft  His father was a carpenter. Yuri attended the local school for six years and continued his education at vocational and technical schools Yuri Gagarin joined the Russian Air Force in 1955 and graduated with honors from the Soviet Air Force Academy in 1957 Soon afterward, he became a military fighter pilot. By 1959, he had been selected for cosmonaut training as part of the first group of USSR cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin flew only one space mission On April 12, 1961 he became the first human to orbit Earth. Gagarin's spacecraft, Vostok 1, circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour The flight lasted 108 minutes. At the highest point, Gagarin was about 327 kilometers above Earth Once in orbit, Yuri Gagarin had no c...

Human brain neurons system is so large that you start from earth and take a round of moon and back to starting position Average human brain usage is  upto 2 % out of 100 % while Einstein uses his brain upto 15 %, thats  why he is so genius The odds are 1 out of 7,143 (.014%) that you have a brain tumor Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour The average human brain has about 100 billion nerve cells The average human loses 85,000 brain cells each day, while only 50 are regenerated each day According to UCLA neuroscientists, only one brain cell is needed to spot a familiar face After age 30, the brain begins to lose about 50,000 neurons per day - shrinking the brain .25% each year The human central nervous system filters out 99% of what your senses register so the brain doesn't have to bother processing unimportant matters More electrical impulses are generated in one day by a single human brain than in all the telephone...

Armadillos, sloths, and anteaters (Xenarthra) are notable for the unique joints in their backbone that provide them with the strength and support they need to dig and burrow Armadillos, sloths, and anteaters have few or no teeth and a small brain Xenarthra are an ancient group of placental mammals that once roamed across Gondwanaland before the continents of the southern hemisphere separated into their present-day configuration When Gondwanaland divided, it split up to form South America, Africa, India, Arabia, New Zealand, and Australia, Xenarthra were initially isolated on the continent of South America but have since spread northward into areas of Central America and southern parts of North America Though xenarthran populations were absent from Africa, Asia, and Australia, these regions contain unrelated species that evolved to resemble xenarthrans Similar environmental conditions in these distant parts of the world resulted in species that, although unrelated, adapted in a similar ...

Having a wingspan of only ½", the smallest butterfly is in the world is found in South Africa. It is know as the Dwarf Blue Butterfly Did you know that butterflies need the warmth of the sun to enable them to fly? Butterflies are cold-blooded and will not fly if the temperature is below 50 degrees Fiction, you will not hurt a butterfly if you touch it, although you might rub off some of the color of its wings which are actually miniature scales Butterfly wings are actually clear. Their colors and patterns are made by the reflection of the scales that cover them In Pacific Grove, California, it is a misdemeanor to kill a butterfly Caterpillars do NOT have bones, they have over 1,000 muscles in which they use to move from place to place and they can move at a very quick pace If you find a caterpillar and place him in a designated place, before you know it , he will have crawled out of sight Nicole Kidman has a morbid fear of butterflies Butterflies taste with their feet Butterflies ...

Ben and Jerry's send the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs loved every flavor except for Mint Oreo Julia Roberts and Christie Brinkley once sold ice cream Barack Obama worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream In 1984, Ronald Reagan declared the month of July to be "National Ice Cream Month." One out of five people that eat ice cream binge on ice cream in the middle of the night. The person is usually between 18 - 24 years old The last thing Elvis Presley ate before he died was four scoops of ice cream and 6 chocolate chip cookies Donald F. Duncan, the man who made the yo-yo an American tradition, is also credited with popularizing the parking meter and introducing Good Humor "ice cream on a stick Dolley Madison is credited with inventing ice cream Nancy Johnson, the wife of a naval officer, is credited for inventing the ice cream freezer Ice cream cones were first served in 1904 at t...

You burn 26 calories in a one-minute kiss Longest underwater kiss - 2 minutes and 18 seconds in Tokyo, Japan, on April 2, 1980 Ancient Egyptians kissed with their noses instead of with their lips The average amount of time spent kissing for a person in a lifetime is 20,160 minutes The longest kiss on record lasted 30 hours and 45 minutes. Dror Orpaz and Carmit Tsubara recorded it on April 5, 1999 at a kissing contest held in Tel Aviv, Israel It takes 20 different muscles to form a kiss James Bond is also known as Mr. Kiss-Kiss-Bang-Bang The first far eastern country to permit kissing in films was China. The first oriental screen kiss was bestowed on Miss Mamie Lee in the movie "Two Women in the House" People are more likely to tilt their heads to the right when kissing instead of the left (65 percent of people go to the right!) The record for most kisses in a movie is 127 in Don Juan 8 percent of Americans kiss with their eyes open During a kiss , as many as 278 bacteria colo...