Strange but true facts

Without Sleep
The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.

Shift in Earth's magnetic field
The increased electricity used by modern appliances is causing a shift in the Earth's magnetic field. By the year 2327, the North Pole will be located in mid-Kansas, while the South Pole will be just off the coast of East Africa.

The World's first university
The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

The largest employer
The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people!

Post Offices
India has the most post offices in the world!

The highest cricket ground
The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh.
Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.

Snakes & ladders
The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

India
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in India.

Poisonous birds
The only poisonous birds known are the three species of Pitohui from Papua new Guinea - the Hooded Pitohui Pitohui dichrous the Rusty Pitohui P. ferrugineus and the Variable Pitohui P. kirhocephalus. The Hooded Pitohui is the deadliest. The skin and feathers contain almost the same homobatrachotoxin as the Poison Arrow Frogs.

Nautical mile
A mile on the ocean and a mile on land are not the same distance. On the ocean, a nautical mile measures 6,080 feet. A land or statute mile is 5,280 feet.

R.S.V.P.
R.S.V.P. comes from the French phrase, 'répondez, s'il vous plaît,' which means 'please reply.' According to western etiquette, you should reply promptly if you receive a formal invitation.

999
One thousand contains the letter A, but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine has an A.

Most destructive disease
The most destructive disease is malaria. More than 1.5 million people die from malaria every year.

Bacteria per square inch
The skin of the armpits can harbor up to 516,000 bacteria per square inch, while drier areas, such as the forearms, have only about 13,000 bacteria per square inch on them.

Highest Flight
Some breeds of vultures can fly at altitudes as high as 36,900 feet.

Mosquitoes do not bite
Mosquitoes do not bite. They stab. A mosquito has no jaws, hence when attacking a victim, it pierces it with its long proboscis and sucks the blood up through it's nasal tube.

Cat's urine
A cat's urine glows under a black light.

Powerful ant
The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

Alternates hands when typing
Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing.

Spiders fear
On average people fear spiders more than they do death.

Human heart
The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet.

To heat one cup of coffee
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

Siberian Tiger
The SIBERIAN TIGER is the largest cat in the world. It weighs up to 300kg (660 lbs) and can eat 27.2 kg (60 lb) of meat at one mealtime.

Eelphant vs Mouse
A mouse is so small compared to an elephant, that an elephant does not even know that there is a mouse close to it !!

Albert Einstein's brain
After the death of Albert Einstein his brain was removed by a pathologist and put in a jar for future study.

Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace in England has over six hundred rooms.

Tongue
Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

Paper fold
No piece of square dry paper can be folded more than 7 times in half.

Four
The word four has four letters. In the English language there is no other number whose number of letters is equal to its value.

Dice cube
The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven.