5 Interesting Sights on Google Maps

Attack of the Killer Bug on Google Maps
The giant bug discovered over Germany on Google Maps has made its rounds around the blogosphere over the past few weeks and I'm finally making my mention of it today. As Ted Timmons of Sightseeing with Google Maps tells us in the title for this find: "Apparently, a bug got squished on the map during the scanning process."



Topless Sunbather caught on Google 'EARTH'
A find by GoogleSightseeing raised some eyebrows a few weeks back when they linked to what appeared to be a nude sunbather in the Netherlands. While this is more of a Google Earth sight (Google Maps doesn't zoom far enough), It's still based on the same imagery that Google Maps uses. Proof of the popularity of this sight can be seen on this Digg entry which has over 3000 diggs. For more on this, check out this story by Stephen Hutcheon of the Sydney Morning Herald. Stephen has also created a video on Youtube that can take you to the location instead of opening it up in Google Earth.


A community shaped like a wheel
This next interesting Google Maps find comes from the popular BoingBoing blog. Some readers have posted some information about the weird community layout of Nahalal, Israel. A brief history and photos can be found here and on the post there is a document link to the obituary of the designer of this settlement.


First Russian shuttle found
This is an interesting Google Maps location of where the first Russian shuttle Buran is now resting. It appears from the links off of this satellite link over on Sightseeing with Google Maps that it was a bit of a mystery for some time. From some earlier pictures it didn't appear that it found its way to any sort of space museum. It now looks like it has a good home in what looks to be a park in Moscow.


Funerals being captured on Google Maps
This post from GoogleSightseeing shows how the satellite photography on Google Maps really does capture life happening.. and ending. If you were to drive by these scenes you might slow down to show respect and I found myself doing the same thing on the web when I saw this post. Many people have an odd curiosity when it comes to funerals.


Source: googlemapsmania.blogspot.com

Interesting Facts about Basketball

James Naismith, a teacher at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, is credited with inventing basketball in 1891.

The first “hoops” were actually just peach baskets and the first backboards were made of wire.

The game became an official Olympic event at the Summer Games in Berlin, Germany in 1936.

Two leagues called the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) merged after the 1948-49 season to become today's National Basketball Association (NBA).

The Boston Celtics have won the most NBA championships (16), including seven straight from 1960 to 1966.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 seasons in the NBA, holds the record for most points scored in a career with 38,387.


On March 2, 1962, Philadelphia center Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in one game against New York. That is the most one player has ever scored in one game.

Current Atlanta Hawks coach Lenny Wilkens has won more basketball games than any other coach.

The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a 10-team rival league to the NBA that began play in the 1967-68 season and folded nine years later after the 1975-76 season. Four current NBA teams – Indiana, Denver, New York, and San Antonio – originated in the ABA.

The NBA instituted the three-pointer before the 1979-80 season, an idea it borrowed from the ABA.

The Chicago Bulls have won all six NBA Finals in which they've appeared.

Michael Jordan, who retired in January 1999 but returned to the league in 2001, has scored more points (5,987) in the playoffs than any other player.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, Mass

The Original 7 Wonders of the World

Why name new wonders of the world? Most of the original ancient wonders no longer exist. More than 2,000 years ago, many travelers wrote about incredible sights they had seen on their journeys. Over time, seven of those places made history as the "wonders of the ancient world."

The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
Built: About 2,600 B.C.
Massive tombs of Egyptian pharaohs, the pyramids are the only ancient wonders still standing today.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Iraq
Built: Date unknown

Legend has it that this garden paradise was planted on an artificial mountain, but many experts say it never really existed.

Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Turkey Built: Sixth century B.C.
This towering temple was built to honor Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt.

Statue of Zeus, Greece Built: Fifth century B.C.
This 40-foot (12-meter) statue depicted the king of the Greek gods.

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Turkey
Build: Fourth century B.C.

This elaborate tomb was built for King Mausolus.

Colossus of Rhodes, Rhodes (an island in the Mediterranean Sea) Built: Fourth century B.C.
A 110-foot (33.5-meter) statue honored the Greek sun god Helios.

Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt Built: Third century B.C.
The world's first lighthouse used mirrors to reflect sunlight for miles out to sea.

source: nationalgeographic.com

Interesting Facts About Technology

In 1982 the computer was named "Man of the Year" by Time magazine.

A Chinese Scientist discovered that the Earth is round during the Han Dynasty by measuring the sun and moon's path in the sky. He recorded this fact down in the imperial records but went unnoticed until it was unearthed recently.

The largest diamond that was ever found was 3106 carats.

A rocket-like device can be traced back to Ancient Greece when a flying steam-powered pigeon was built out of wood.

Before air conditioning was invented, white cotton slipcovers were put on furniture to keep the air cool.

In 1876, the first microphone was invented by Emile Berliner.

Research on pigs led to the development of CAT scans.

Sixteen percent fewer girls than boys reported ever talking to their parents about science and technology issues.

A cesium atom in an atomic clock that beats over nine billion times a second.

From the smallest microprocessor to the largest mainframes, an average American depends on more than 250 computers per day.

Dating back to the 1600s, thermometers were filled with brandy instead of mercury.

The first hard drive available for the Apple II had a capacity of 5 Megabytes.

Would you believe that the quartz crystal in your wristwatch vibrates 32,768 times a second.

The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

The first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph were, "Mary had a little lamb."

While still in college, Bill Gates and Paul Allen once built a special purpose machine called "Traff-O-Data." It was a machine to analyze information gathered by traffic monitors. But they never found any buyers for their machine.

Interesting Facts About Birthday

Enjoy these interesting and funny Birthday Facts on your special day or share it your friends on their birthday. You will surely be amazed to learn about the bizarre and strange Birthday Trivia.

Birthday Trivia
  • More people celebrate their birthdays in August than in any other month (about 9% of all people). The two other months that rate high for birthdays are July and September.
  • Close to 2 billion Birthday Cards are sent each year in the U.S. alone, accounting for nearly 58 percent of all cards sent.
  • The world's largest birthday cake was created in 1989 for the 100th Birthday of the city of Fort Payne, Alabama. The cake weighed 128,238 pounds, 8 oz. and used 16,209 pounds of icing.
  • The most famous rendition of "Happy Birthday" is when Marilyn Monroe sang to "Happy Birthday, Mr President" to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden on 19 May 1962.
  • Paul McCartney's Birth Certificate was auctioned in March 1997, for US $84,146. It is believed to be the world's most expensive Birth Certificate.
  • The Sultan of Brunei hosted the world's most expensive Birthday Party to celebrate his 50th Birthday on 13 July, 1996. The cost was a whopping US $27.2 million. Three concerts featuring Michael Jackson costs US $16 million of the total amounts.
  • Anne Frank's world famous diary was given to her as a present for her 13th birthday.
  • William Shakespeare's died on his 52nd birthday: 23 April 1616.
  • A recent survey suggests that more people are born on October 5 in the United States than any other day. October 5 holds a not-so-surprising significance, as conception would have fallen on New Year's Eve.
  • The least common birth date in the U.S. is May 22nd.

Birthday Facts from India
  • 14th November - the Birthday of Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India is celebrated as Children's Day in India in memory of his love of children.
  • 5th of September - the Birthday of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan - former President of India and a great educationist is celebrated as Teachers Day.
Strange Birthday Facts
  • Since your last birthday 31,536,000 seconds have passed.
  • In the past year your hair will most likely have grown 12 cm and your nail about 4 cm.
  • Your heart beats at a rate of around of 72 to 80 beats per minute - since your last birthday it will have beat about 42,075,900 times.
  • You breath at a rate of about 30 breaths per minute so, since your last birthday you have taken approximately 15,768,000 breaths.
  • The volume of blood in your body is approximately 5 litres. The heart pumps about 280 litres of blood around your body every hour - that’s 2,688,000 litres per year!
  • The average garden snail (not one that has entered the Olympics 100 meters race) moves at around 0.03 mph. If one set out on your last birthday, and walked non-stop it would have traveled 263 miles. If you walked this distance non-stop you would complete it in around three days.
  • Since your last birthday you will have had about 1,460 dreams.
  • World population has grown by around 76,570,430 since your last birthday. In the time it takes you to read this another five babies will have been born.
  • During the past year there have been more than 50,000 earthquakes throughout the world.
  • The Earth is zooming around the sun at around 66,780 miles per hour! Since your last birthday the Earth has completed one journey around the sun travelling about 584,337,600 miles.
  • If you counted 24 hours a day, you would be over 31,000 years old when you reach one trillion!
Source: tokenz.com

Interesting Facts About Gregory House M.D

The Fictional Dr. Gregory House is Played by Golden Globe Winner Hugh Laurie

Gregory House might have been born in Ohio. His social security number was issued in that state.

House is an infectious disease specialist.

He's the head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.

His father was a United States Marine which may explain his ease with languages. He speaks or understands Japanese, Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish.

Gregory House's father prescribed severe punishments. Some of the punishments included sleeping outside and taking ice baths.

At John's Hopkins Medical school house was ousted for cheating. He eventually earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan.

Gregory House and Hugh Laurie were both born on June 11, 1959.

Gregory House's leg injury stems from an infarction. Dead muscle was removed leaving him with partial use of his right leg and constant pain.

House is a Vicodin addict.

He doesn't think this addiction is an issue because it doesn't interfere with his life.

Gregory House thinks everyone lies and approaches all of his cases with that in mind.

House is written like a modern day Sherlock Holmes. House's name is meant to mimic Holmes' name with regard to sound and representation. Sherlock Holmes was a drug addict as well.

The genius doctors loves music and is a gifted pianist(as is Hugh Laurie). Sherlock Holmes was gifted violinist.

According to his boss, Dr. Lisa Cuddy and ex-girlfriend Stacy Warner, Gregory House only has one real friend, Dr. James Wilson.

Wilson is meant to be a representation of Sherlock Holmes' side kick, Dr. Watson. Like Dr. Watson, Wilson has an affinity for the ladies. Both men have been married more than once. Wilson has had an affair with at least one patient.

Gregory House has some sort of romantic history with Cuddy. They have gone on at least one date and might have slept together.

Gregory House has a hard time accepting gratitude or complements. He often deflects them with sarcasm or humor.

House also had a bit of a romantic history and perhaps future with his subordinate Dr. Allison Cameron. They've been out on two occasions and recently shared a kiss while Cameron tried to sneak a blood sample from him.

House once told Cameron he loved her so that he could take a swab for an HIV test.

Source: associatedcontent.com

Interesting Photo: Leningrad Siege: Now and Then

“The Siege of Leningrad, also known as The Leningrad Blockade was an unsuccessful military operation by the Axis (Nazi) powers to capture Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) during World War II. The siege lasted from September 9, 1941, to January 27, 1944, when a narrow land corridor to the city was established by the Soviets. The total lifting of the siege occurred on January 27, 1944. The Siege of Leningrad was one of the longest and most destructive sieges of major cities in modern history and it was the second most costly.” - from Wikipedia.

During nine hundred (!) days a few million people city of Leningrad suffered from cold and hunger, being deprived of almost all supplies of food and fuel. Many thousands died, those who survived remember this not very willingly. The situation with food was so heavy, no food was sold/distributed among people except a few grams (not even tens or hundred grams) of bread, and not each day, that people had to eat stuff that they would never eat in normal life, like making soups of leather boots (because leather is of animal origin) or boiling the wallpaper because the glue with which they were attached to walls contained a bit of organic stuff. Of course many occasions of cannibalism occurred.

On those photos you can see some pieces of those old photos made during those black days overlaid to the modern city views, respecting the place and angle of view.

(Click to Enlarge)

made by Segei Larenkov

Interesting Facts about Antarctica

If Antarctica's ice sheets melted, the world's oceans would rise by 60 meters. Currently 200 times all of the fresh water stored in the worlds lakes, rivers and is frozen in Antarctic ice sheets, and it would take 1000 years for the water discharged from these lakes and rivers to fill the ice cap to its current volume.

The Antarctic ice cap has 7 million cubic miles of ice. This is 90% of all the ice on the planet and 70% of all of the world's fresh water. Only about 2% percent of Antarctica is not covered by ice.

The weight of the ice sheets covering Antarcitca physically lowers the continent. If all of the ice were to melt, then the continent would slowly raise back up until it reaches and equilibrium.
This process is known as isostatic rebound.

Scotland and Scandinavia are still rebounding today after the last ice age - at the rate of half a meter a century in the Northern Baltic - the fastest place.

The ice averages one and a half miles in thickness, with the thickest ice being almost three miles thick.

The Lambert Glacier in East Antarctica, the world's largest valley glacier, discharges some 8.4 cubic miles of ice into the Avery Ice Sheet every year.

At depths of 10,000 feet, the weight of the ice is some 30 tons per square foot.

The polar ice cap around the South Pole advances about 33 feet annually.

Antarctica's area is 5.4 million square miles. That's 1.5 times the entire area of the USA!

The largest iceberg ever spotted was sighted by the USS Glacier on November 12, 1956. It measured
208 miles long by 60 miles wide--the size of Belgium.

Samples of ice known as ice cores are regularly drilled in Antarctica by scientists. They are removed as a long cylinder of ice that records snow fall as far back as 30 thousand years! The properties of the ice, the dust trapped within it, and even the air bubbles in the ice give valuable information about the earth's climate at various times in the past.

Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest, and windiest continent.

Most of Antarctica is a desert, with the annual snow accumulation over much of East Antarctica being the equivalent of less than two inches of rainfall.

The Transantarctic Mountain range, which separates East and West Antarctica, is one of the world's great mountain ranges, stretching a full 3,000 miles--the width of the continental U.S.

Mount Vinson, Antarctica's highest mountain at 16,600 feet, was discovered only in 1958 by U.S. Navy Aircraft.

The lowest point on the continent is the Bentley Subglacial Trench, which is 8,325 feet below sea level.

From November to February the sun does not set, but rather circles overhead. Starting in February the sun dips down below the horizon for just few minutes a day. Through March this period of darkness increases as daylight shortens. Finally in April the sun never rises and it remains sunless until September when the sun begins to rise for longer periods of time each day. By November the sun never sets and the annual cycle repeats. Check out this animation.

The mean summer temperature on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is -22°F and mean winter temperature around -76°F. The lowest temperature ever recorded was at the Russian Vostok station, -129°F

Antarctica is the best place in the world to find meteorites. Dark meteorites show up against the white expanse of ice and snow where they remain unweathered and exposed due to the lack of vegetation. In places the ice flows into natural barriers where it slowly melts to expose the meteorites that were hidden within the ice. These areas are known as "cul-de-sacs" becuase of their high concentration of meteorites.

The cold and dry conditions in the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica are so close to those on Mars that NASA did testing there for the Viking mission.

The cold ocean surrounding Antarctica has circulated for the past 20 million years and is distinct from the waters to the north due to its temperature, speed and salinity. This division, known as the Antarctic Convergence, prevents fish and other marine life from mixing with their neighbors to the north, which has allowed them to adapt very well to extremely cold temperatures.

Antarctic fish have lived at between 36°F and 28°F for 5 million years (28°F is the freezing point of sea water, which is lower than fresh water because of the salt). They are therefore the best cold adapted animals known on earth, and even have antifreeze molecules, known as glycopeptides in their blood.

Antarctica has a unique group of fish called Ice Fish. These fish have no haemoglobin in their blood to carry oxygen. The extremely cold water can dissolve more oxygen than warm water, so they get by perfectly well without haemoglobin. They have a larger volume of clear blood instead and so unusually have a ghostly white color, particularly their gills. Researchers have found that ice fish DNA has been damaged by high levels of ultraviolet light resulting from the ozone hole.
It has been estimated that during the feeding season in Antarctica, a full grown blue whale eats about 4 million krill, small shrimp-like animals, per day that's 4 tons every day for 6 months. The daily intake would feed a human for about 4 years!

Antarctica's largest land animal is a wingless midge (Belgica antarctica), which grows to half an inch long. The largest land predator is a mite that weighs only 100 micrograms.

Antarctica has just two native flowering plants, Deschampsia antarctica (a grass) and Colobenthos subulatus (a pearlwort).
Of some 20,000 fish species, only about 120 swim in Antarctic waters.

Antarctica is pushed into the earth by the weight of its ice sheets. If they melted, it would "spring back" about 500m (1 625 ft). It would do this very slowly taking about 10000 years to do so.

Scotland and Scandinavia are still rebounding today after the last ice age - at the rate of half a meter a century in the Northern Baltic - the fastest place.

Antarctica is the best place in the world to find meteorites. Dark meteorites show up against the white expanse of ice and snow and don't get covered by vegetation. In some places, the way the ice flows concentrates meteorites there.

The cold and dry conditions in the "Dry Valleys" region of Antarctica are so close to those on Mars that NASA did testing there for the Viking mission. It has not rained in the dry valleys for at least 2 million years.
One of the biggest icebergs ever (possibly the biggest iceberg ever) broke free from the Ross ice shelf in Antarctica in 2000.
It was 295km (183 miles) long and 37km (23 miles) wide, with a surface area of 11,000 sq km (4,250 square miles) - similar in size to The Gambia, Qatar, The Bahamas, or Connecticut - above water - and 10 times bigger below.

It has been estimated that during the feeding season in Antarctica, a full grown blue whale eats about 4 million krill per day (krill are small shrimp-like creatures), that's 3600 kg or 4 tons - every day for 6 months.
The daily intake would feed a human for about 4 years! (if you could stomach it, krill may be nutritious but they're not very nice as people food - fortunately for the whales!).

Since the Antarctic convergence arose about 20 million years ago, there has been very little exchange of fish or other marine life in either direction.
Antarctic fish have lived at between +2C and -2C for 5 million years (-2C is the freezing point of sea water, below zero because of the salt). They are therefore the best cold adapted animals that there are on the planet - now or ever.

A domestic deep freeze runs at about -20?C. The mean summer temperature on the great East Antarctica icecap is -30?C and mean winter temperature around -60?C.
The lowest ever temperature recorded was at the Russian Vostok station, - 89.6?C

When the Antarctic sea-ice begins to expand at the beginning of winter, it advances by around 40000 square miles (100000 square kilometres) per day, and eventually doubles the size of Antarctica, adding up to an extra 20 million square kilometres of ice around the land mass.
That's one and a half USA's, two Australia's or 50 UK's worth of ice area that forms, then breaks up and melts on an annual basis.

Snow falling at the South Pole takes about 100 000 years to "flow" to the coast of Antarctica before it drops off the end as part of an iceberg.
11/ The Antarctic ice cap has 29 million cubic kilometres of ice. This is 90% of all the ice on the planet and between 60 and 70 % of all of the world's fresh water.
Only about 0.4 percent of Antarctica is not covered by ice.

Antarctica has a peculiar group of fish called the ice fish. These have no red pigment - haemoglobin - in their blood to carry oxygen around. Because the temperature is so low and oxygen dissolves better in cold temperatures, they get by perfectly well without it. They just have a larger volume of clear blood instead and so unusually have a ghostly white colour, particularly their gills.
These ice fish have recently been shown to have their DNA damaged by high levels of ultra violet light resulting from the ozone hole (they have less pigment to prevent the UV getting through).
Many other Antarctic sea creatures including fish have antifreeze in their blood so they don't accidentally get frozen solid!
The largest land animal in Antarctica is an insect, a wingless midge, Belgica antarctica, less than 1.3cm (0.5in) long. There are no flying insects (they'd get blown away), just shiny black springtails that hop like fleas and tend to live among penguin colonies.

Samples of ice known as ice cores are regularly drilled through the ice in Antarctica by scientists. They are removed as a long cylinder of ice that gives an indication of the past going back tens of thousands of years. The properties of the ice, of dust trapped in the ice, and even of air bubbles trapped in the ice give valuable information about the earth's climate at various times in the past.

In 1981 a swarm of krill was tracked by US scientists that was estimated at being up to 10 million tonnes of krill!!!!! This is the equivalent of about 143 million people (at an average of 70kg each) or more than the entire populations of the UK and Germany combined ( and wandering around in a group!)

Russian Passport Kenny - South Park

Russian “South Park” TV series fans have found one of it’s heroes - Kenny right in… Russian passport.

They claim that Kenny lives on the pages 8 and 18 of the Russian passport. You can take a look now too, those are unedited scans from those pages of the Russian passport. Does it look like Kenny?

Interesting Facts About Mount Fuji

by Matthew Firestone
There is only another week or so left in the Fuji climbing season...

While most of you probably won't get the chance to scale Japan's most iconic peak this summer, fret not as there's always next year! In the meantime however, here is a list of fun facts about Mount Fuji (Fuji-san) to get you excited about the climb...

Did you know?

- Every summer, more than 200,000 people climb to the top of Fuji. Some years, about a quarter of all of the climbers on the mountain are foreign residents and tourists.

- In the Japanese language, there is a dedicated word that describes the sunrise at the top of Fuji, namely goraiko.

- The summit of Fuji is high enough to induce altitude sickness (kouzanbyou), though it's possible to buy bottles of oxygen along the climbing route.

The list goes on, so keep reading!

Did you know?

- Mount Fuji has been regarded by the Japanese as a sacred moumtain since the earliest recorded history on the archipelago.

- An anonymous monk first reached the summit of the mountain in 663. However, it was forbidden for women to climb until the Meiji Era (1868-1912).

- The first ascent of Fuji by a foreigner was in 1860 by Sir Rutherford Alcock, the first British diplomatic representative in Japan.

- Gotemba 5th Station, located between Subashiri and Houei-zan peak on the south side of the mountain, is one of Japan's most famous take-off spots for paragliding.

- In feudal times, the town of Gotemba was used by the samurai as a remote wilderness training camp.

- Fuji is an active volcano, though it is classified as having a low risk of eruption. The last recorded eruption started on December 16, 1707, and ended on New Year's Day of 1708.

- Fuji's eruption during the Edo Period is known as the 'The Great Houei Eruption,' which resulted in cinder and ash raining down across the surrounding countryside.

- Mount Fuji is located at the point where the Eurasian Plate meets the Okhotsk and Philippine Plates (think lots and lots of earthquakes!).

- The forest at the base of Fuji, which is known as Aokigahara, is reported to be the world's second most popular suicide location after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

- In the ancient days of Japan, people believed that Aokigahara was haunted by evil demons. Poor families used the forest as a place of abandonment for the very young and the very old.

- While long lines occasionally form near the summit along the Kawaguchiko route, the Yoshida route is so remote that bears are occasionally spotted by hikers.

source: gadling.com

Interesting Facts About Cricket

Sir D. Bradman of Australia is considered the bestbatsman of all times. He played 80 test innings with an average of 99.9. He scored 29 centuries and 13 fifties. His highest score was 334.

Australia holds the record of most consecutive wons in test matches i.e. 16 consecutive test matches won.

West Indies holds the record of Most consecutive test matches drwan i.e. 10 test matches drawn consecutively.

Pakistan's Mohammed Yousuf holds the record of most runs in a calender year and most centuries in a calender year. He broke both these records in 2006.

Australia has the best win record in test matches, that is 63.92% wins, they have won 319 of 686 test matches since march 1887.

Shahid Afridi of Pakistan scored fastes ODI century in 1996. It was scored on 37 balls. He still holds that record.


The sport of Cricket is full of controversies.Lets take a look at a few of them...

The biggest controversy of Cricket history took place at the Oval groundat August 11, 2006. Umpire Darrell Hair of Australia accused Pakistani players of tempering the ball and changed the ball and refused to tell which Pakistani player has tempered with the ball. The drama didn't end here, when pakistani team made a short delay in comming to the ground as to register their protest, Darrell Hair awarded the match to England which was almost won by Pakistanis. Earlier that day, before the play was started, the president of the cricket board of England had requested Darrell Hair to check Pakistani players for ball tempering whichmade it more controversial. Later Darrell Hair was fired from the umpiring panel.

World Cup hosts in 2003, South Africa failed to read their rain-affected target correctly, tied their match against Sri Lanka and plunged out of the tour at the first round stage.

Match referee Clive Lloyd banned Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar for one Test and two one-day internationals for abusing a tail-end batsman.
However Lloyd refused to dole out similarly tough punishment to England's Nasser Hussain two months later, as Hussain's reported comments to Muttiah Muralitharan could not be proven.

South African player Herschelle Gibbs was banned for two test matches after abusing Pakistani spectators in the first test match of a 3 test match series against pakistan in 2007.

source: www.factsnfacts.com

Interesting Facts About Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.

It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest hurricane on record that made landfall in the United States.

Due to its sheer size, Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast as far as 100 miles (160 km) from the storm's center.

Katrina was formed on August 23, 2005 and it dissipated on August 31, 2005.

Katrina caused 1836 fatalties.

The storm is estimated to have been responsible for $81.2 billion U.S. dollars in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States.

Shortly after the hurricane moved away on August 30, 2005, some residents of New Orleans who remained in the city began looting stores. Many looters were in search of food and water that were not available to them through any other means.

Reports of carjacking, murders, thefts, and rapes in New Orleans flooded the news.

Rapper Kanye West accused President George W. Bush of racism during a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert.

The government was accused of making things worse, instead of making things better, by preventing help by others while also delaying its own response.

Interesting Facts About Titanic

The sinking of Titanic is one of the deadliest disasters that occure in sea.

The company that built the Titanic was White Star Line and was owned by J.P. Morgan.

The builders of Titanic claimed that nothing can sink it, but the Titanic sunk in its first ever ride.

The cost to build the Titanic was about $7.5 million.

3,000 men worked together to build the Titanic.

Three million rivets held its massive hull together.

The Titanic was never christened. It was not the practice of the White Star Line to hold such ceremonies.

Although there were 4 funnels (smoke stacks), only 3 were operational. The 4th funnel was for looks.

There were 6 ice warnings received by Titanic on the day of the collision. The wireless operator who was preoccupied with transmitting passenger messages ignored them all.

The iceberg that struck the Titanic was not a very big one. It didn’t even come up as high as the bridge of the ship.

The iceberg that the Titanic struck was unusual in such a way that it was not white like most others, but more of a clear look caused by continuous melting. The clear surface in effect reflected the dark night sky and water like a mirror, thereby making it a black object, almost impossible to see from a certain distance. The term for this kind of iceberg is "blackberg", and is similar to the black ice found on cold icy roads.

The Titanic was traveling 22.5 knots while cruising the iceberg-laden water. Just .5 knot from her maximum speed capability.

The gash that the iceberg cut into the hull of the Titanic was between 220 to 245 feet long. The total length of the ship was approximately 882 feet.

The collision occurred at 11:40 P.M. on Sunday, April 14, 1912.

The ship could have stayed aloft had only four compartments flooded… Five became flooded.

1,503 people total died, including passengers and crew.

Only 705 people survived.

Law required 962 lifeboat seats.

1,178 lifeboat seats were carried aboard.

2,208 lifeboat seats were needed.

One of the first lifeboats to leave the Titanic carried only 28 people; it could have held 64 people.

There were 472 lifeboat seats not used.

There were enough life jackets for all 2,208 people, and mostly everyone was wearing one.

300 dead bodies were pulled from the sea the next morning. They were found floating in their life jackets.

There were many dogs on the Titanic. Only two of the dogs survived.

Orders from the captain were that, children and women were to board the lifeboats first.

Charles Joughin was the only person to survive the cold water… He reportedly had been drinking heavily.

Only 1 child from the first class died while 49 children from steerage died.

Passengers rode the stationary bicycles in the Gymnasium to pass time before the ship sank!

The band played music up to the last few minutes before the ship went under. None survived.

One of the last songs the band reportedly played before their death was, "Songe d'Automne".

As the ship was sinking, the stern rose out of the water, and broke into two pieces between the third and fourth funnels.

The Titanic now lies 12,600 feet (over 2.33 miles) at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The two pieces of the Titanic lay 1,970 feet apart from one another on the ocean floor.

Because the front section of the Titanic went down nose first, the bow is buried 60 feet below the ocean floor. The huge gash is also buried.

The Titanic was rediscovered on July 14th, 1986. 74 years after it sank.

Interesting Facts About Earthquakes

The deadliest earthquake ever recorded occured on January 23, 1556, in Shensi (Shaanxi).
More than 830000 people died in this earthquake. In 1976 another deadly earthquake struck in Tangshan, China, where more than 250,000 people were killed.

The largest recorded earthquake in the United States was a magnitude 9.2 that struck Prince William Sound, Alaska on Good Friday, March 28, 1964 UTC.

The largest recorded earthquake in the world was a magnitude 9.5 (Mw) in Chile on May 22, 1960.
More than 2,000 people died and 2 million were left homeless. It also caused tsunami as far away as Japan where they killed 138 people.

The earliest reported earthquake in California was felt in 1769 by the exploring expedition of Gaspar de Portola while the group was camping about 48 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Los Angeles.

According to the National Earthquake Information Center of USA, about 12000 to 14000 earthquakes occur yearly in the United States. That averages about 35 earthquakes per day.

According to the USGS, an earthquake occurs when plates grind and scrape against each other.

Statistics show that great earthquakes with magnitude 8 or more occur once a year on the average, while minor earthquakes with magnitude 1 to 3 occur 9000 times per day.

Before electronics allowed recordings of large earthquakes, scientists built large spring-pendulum seismometers in an attempt to record the long-period motion produced by such quakes. The largest one weighed about 15 tons. There is a medium-sized one three stories high in Mexico City that is still in operation.

The East African Rift System is a 50-60 km (31-37 miles) wide zone of active volcanics and faulting that extends north-south in eastern Africa for more than 3000 km (1864 miles) from Ethiopia in the north to Zambezi in the south. It is a rare example of an active continental rift zone, where a continental plate is attempting to split into two plates which are moving away from one another.

The first "pendulum seismoscope" to measure the shaking of the ground during an earthquake was developed in 1751, and it wasn't until 1855 that faults were recognized as the source of earthquakes.

Moonquakes ("earthquakes" on the moon) do occur, but they happen less frequently and have smaller magnitudes than earthquakes on the Earth. It appears they are related to the tidal stresses associated with the varying distance between the Earth and Moon. They also occur at great depth, about halfway between the surface and the center of the moon.

Although both are sea waves, a tsunami and a tidal wave are two different unrelated phenomenona. A tidal wave is a shallow water wave caused by the gravitational interactions between the Sun, Moon, and Earth. A tsunami is a sea wave caused by an underwater earthquake or landslide (usually triggered by an earthquake) displacing the ocean water.

The hypocenter of an earthquake is the location beneath the earth's surface where the rupture of the fault begins. The epicenter of an earthquake is the location directly above the hypocenter on the surface of the earth.

The greatest mountain range is the Mid-Ocean Ridge, extending 64,374 km (40,000 mi) from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, around Africa, Asia, and Australia, and under the Pacific Ocean to the west coast of North America. It has a greatest height of 4207 m (13,800 ft) above the base ocean depth.

The world's greatest land mountain range is the Himalaya-Karakoram. It countains 96 of the world's 109 peaks of over 7317 m (24,000 ft). The longest range is the Andes of South America which is 7564 km (4700 mi) in length. Both were created bythe movement of tectonic plates.

It is thought that more damage was done by the resulting fire after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake than by the earthquake itself.

A seiche (pronounced SAYSH) is what happens in the swimming pools of Californians during and after an earthquake. It is "an internal wave oscillating in a body of water" or, in other words, it is the sloshing of the water in your swimming pool, or any body of water, caused by the ground shaking in an earthquake. It may continue for a few moments or hours, long after the generating force is gone. A seiche can also be caused by wind or tides.

The Wasatch Range, with its outstanding ski areas, runs North-South through Utah, and like all mountain ranges it was produced by a series of earthquakes. The 386 km (240-mile)-long Wasatch Fault is made up of several segments, each capable of producing up to a M7.5 earthquake. During the past 6000 years, there has been a M6.5+ about once every 350 years, and it has been 150 years since the last powerful earthquake.

There is no such thing as "earthquake weather". Statistically, there is an equal distribution of earthquakes in cold weather, hot weather, rainy weather, etc. Furthermore, there is no physical way that the weather could affect the forces several miles beneath the surface of the earth. The changes in barometric pressure in the atmosphere are very small compared to the forces in the crust, and the effect of the barometric pressure does not reach beneath the soil.

The core of the earth was the first internal structural element to be identified. In 1906 R.D. Oldham discovered it from his studies of earthquake records. The inner core is solid, and the outer core is liquid and so does not transmit the shear wave energy released during an earthquake.

The swimming pool at the University of Arizona in Tucson lost water from sloshing (seiche) caused by the 1985 M8.1 Michoacan, Mexico earthquake 2000 km (1240 miles) away.

Earthquakes occur in the central portion of the United States too! Some very powerful earthquakes occurred along the New Madrid fault in the Mississippi Valley in 1811-1812. The effects of shaking from these magnitude 8+ earthquakes caused church bells to ring in Boston, Massachusetts, nearly 1600 km (1000 miles) away.

Most earthquakes occur at depths of less than 80 km (50 miles) from the Earth's surface.

In 1960 when the Chilean earthquake occurred, seismographs recorded seismic waves that traveled all around the Earth. These seismic waves shook the entire earth for many days! This phenomenon is called the free oscillation of the Earth.

The San Andreas fault is NOT a single, continuous fault, but rather is actually a fault zone made up of many segments. Movement may occur along any of the many fault segments along the zone at any time. The San Andreas fault system is more that 1300 km (800 miles) long, and in some spots is as much as 16 km (10 miles) deep.

North Dakota and Florida have the smallest number of earthquakes than any other state in the United States.

The deepest earthquakes typically occur at plate boundaries where the Earth's crust is being subducted into the Earth's mantle. These occur as deep as 750 km (400 miles) below the surface.

Alaska is the most earthquake-prone state and one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Alaska experiences a magnitude 7 earthquake almost every year, and a magnitude 8 or greater earthquake on average every 14 years.

The majority of the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur along plate boundaries such as the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American plate. One of the most active plate boundaries where earthquakes and eruptions are frequent, for example, is around the massive Pacific Plate commonly referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire.

The earliest recorded evidence of an earthquake has been traced back to 1831 BC in the Shandong province of China, but there is a fairly complete record starting in 780 BC during the Zhou Dynasty in China.

Greek scientist Aristotle noticed that soft ground shakes more than hard rock in an earthquake.
He gave this theory as early as 350 BC.

The cause of earthquakes was stated correctly in 1760 by British engineer John Michell, one of the first fathers of seismology, in a memoir where he wrote that earthquakes and the waves of energy that they make are caused by "shifting masses of rock miles below the surface".

In 1663 the European settlers experienced their first earthquake in USA.

Human beings can detect sounds in the frequency range 20-10,000 Hertz. If a P wave refracts out of the rock surface into the air, and it has a frequency in the audible range, it will be heard as a rumble. Most earthquake waves have a frequency of less than 20 Hz, so the waves themselves are usually not heard. Most of the rumbling noise heard during an earthquake is the building and its contents moving.

Antarctica has icequakes in its interior, although they are much smaller, but are perhaps more frequent than earthquakes in Antarctica. The icequakes are similar to earthquakes, but occur within the ice sheet itself instead of the land underneath the ice. Some of our polar observers have told us they can hear the icequakes and see them on the South Pole seismograph station, but they are much too small to be seen on enough stations to obtain an exact location.

The San Andreas Fault was named in 1895 by geologist A.C. Lawson. He named it after the San Andreas Lake, a sag pond through which the fault passes about 20 miles south of San Francisco. He likely did not realize at the time that the fault ran almost the entire length of California.

Facts about Pakistan Earthquake 2005

On the morning of October 8, 2005, an earthquake struck Pakistan at 8:50 AM local time with a magnitude of 7.6.

The earthquake lasted two minutes killing 100,000 people.

On November 19, 2005 it was estimated that the international community as a whole pledged about 5.8 billion USD, but as a matter of fact about more than half of this amount was given as a loan and not as an aid. Then the corrupt Pakistani government made it sure that the aid could not reach the affected people and now as more than eighteen months have passed to this incident those people who somehow survived the earthquake but lost their homes in it are still suffering and are living in tents under critical whether conditions as they dont have any other option.

Survivors of the Oct 2005 earthquake in Balakot are facing extreme hardships due to the freezing temperature in the area. They are living through the hardest days and looking for a miracle to end their miseries, said journalist Shahjehan Khan, who still lives in a damaged tent in the town.

The number of patients has increased due to the inclement weather conditions.

There is one hospital in the town constructed by a local cellular company Paktel, but the patients remain unattended due to the absence of doctors and paramedical staff.

Source: factsnfacts.com