Couples who sign up with uTango spend online and get cash back each year for spending habits as well as larger bonuses for every 10 years they stay married.
Many married couples are signing up for a program that offers them big rewards to stay married. The program called uTango is an online rewards program that urges couples to stay together through financial perks. As they spend money online at one of 300 companies, they earn points. These points add up to cash back bonuses at the end of the year and even larger bonuses when couples reach marriage milestones. These bonuses can add up to a million dollars. All they have to do is stay married.
The company is headed by CEO Jim Miller who believes that couples who stay married deserve extra perks for their accomplishments. Single and engaged couples are also permitted to join as well as newlyweds. If and when these couples do decide to marry, they can use their cash back bonuses to pay for their wedding expenses. Married couples who join must be married less than three years.
Different plans require different online spending requirements each year, promoting online spending as often as possible. There are three types of plans that users can choose from. These include the $250,000, $500,000, and $1,000,000 rewards plan. Each plan names the amount that couples receive when they hit their 30th anniversary. Each has a different yearly online spending requirement with $5,000 being the minimum on the lowest plan and $20,000 with the highest plan. Once married, couples get $10,000 on their 10th anniversary, $100,000 on their 20th anniversary, and those who sign up for the most expensive plan can get up to $1 million on their 30th anniversary. If they get divorced, the cash stops coming.
There are 15 shopping categories to choose from on the site to help couples reach their spending requirements. These categories range from clothing to travel and include toys, jewelry, electronics, and lawn and garden. Such a service is likely to be a success in this country which has growing numbers of online buying practices. According to a recent online shopping survey conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project last year, online buying increased from 22 percent to 49 percent since June 2000 to September 2007. In fact, about 66 percent of Americans who have internet access have purchased at least one item online. The uTango service may be one of the services that help increase the number of online spenders as well as promote long term marriages, blending modern technology with traditional values.
Couples Paid To Stay Married
Strange Things You Probably Never Knew !!!
A rat can last longer without water than a camel.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.
The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.
A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and
down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2" by 3-1/2".
During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur," a small red car can be seen
in the distance (and Heston's wearing a watch).
On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily!
(That explains a few mysteries....)
Sherlock Holmes NEVER said, "Elementary, my dear Watson."
Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per
side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.
There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange,
purple and silver.
Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space
because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.
The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
Weatherman Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald.
If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will
instantly go mad and sting itself to death. (Who was the sadist who
discovered this??)
Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down
so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.
The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in
the USA."
The original name for butterfly was flutterby.
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which
stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player
for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet.
By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot
sink into quicksand.
Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a
piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.
Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin
look-alike contest.
An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman
to take more than three steps backwards while dancing!
The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book
most often stolen from public libraries.
The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave!
Thanks to Deborah for submitting this!!
And another via email --this comes by Suzie T....
In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb"
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
Men can read smaller print then women can; women can hear better.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace.
Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?
A. One thousand
Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.
Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the "honeymoon".
Ever heard about Aeroplane Crossing ... ?
We have heard about railway crossing or bus crossing or even ship crossing under the bridges. But have u ever heard about Aeroplane crossing ... ?
See the picture where the vehicles wait for the aeroplane to cross the road. This is in Germany where the runway crosses a road.
Weird, Strange but true facts about the Earth
In 1783 an Icelandic eruption threw up enough dust to temporarily block out the sun over Europe.
About 20 to 30 volcanoes erupt each year, mostly under the sea.
A huge underground river runs underneath the Nile, with six times more water than the river above.
Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana formed in a hollow made by a meteorite.
Beaver Lake, in Yellowstone Park, USA, was artificially created by beaver damming.
Off the coast of Florida there is an underwater hotel. Guests have to dive to the entrance.
Venice in Italy is built on 118 sea islets joined by 400 bridges. It is gradually sinking into the water.
The Ancient Egyptians worshipped a sky goddess called Nut.
The world's windiest place is Commonwealth Bay, Antartica.
In 1934, a gust of wind reached 371 km/h on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA.
American Roy Sullivan has been struck by lighting a record seven times.
The desert baobab tree can store up to 1000 litres of water in its trunk.
The oldest living tree is a California bristlecone pine name 'Methuselah'. It is about 4600 years old. The largest tree in the world is a giant sequoia growing in California. It is 84 meters tall and measures 29 meters round the trunk. The fastest growing tree is the eucalyptus. It can grow 10 meters a year.
The Antartic notothenia fish has a protein in its blood that acts like antifreeze and stops the fish freezing in icy sea.
The USA uses 29% of the world's petrol and 33% of the world's electricity.
The industrial complex of Cubatao in Brazil is known as the Valley of Death because its pollution has destroyed the trees and rivers nearby.
Tibet is the highest country in the world. Its average height above sea level is 4500 meters.
Some of the oldest mountains in the world are the Highlands in Scotland. They are estimated to be about 400 million years old.
Fresh water from the River Amazon can be found up to 180 km out to sea.
The White Sea, in Russia, has the lowest temperature, only -2 degrees centigrade. The Persian Gulf is the warmest sea. In the summer its temperature reaches 35.6 degrees centigrade.
There is no land at all at the North Pole, only ice on top of sea. The Arctic Ocean has about 12 million sq km of floating ice and has the coldest winter temperature of -34 degrees centigrade.
The Antarctic ice sheet is 3-4 km thick, covers 13 million sq km and has temperatures as low as -70 degrees centigrade.
Over 4 million cars in Brazil are now running on gasohol instead of petrol. Gasohol is a fuel made from sugar cane.
Cricket {Sports} ..intresting facts shared
The first international cricket match was held between the US and Canada in 1844. The match was played in New York and Canada won by 23 runs.
India were all out for 54 in October 2000, their lowest ever total in One Day Internationals against Sri Lanka.
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 longest test match of all was played between England and South Africa at Durban in 1938-39. This was a timeless test which lasted for 9 days, despite which the match ended in a draw since the England players had to leave to catch the boat back to England!
Only four test series have ended 0-0 with all five matches being drawn. India was involved in three of them, including two in a row against Pakistan.
Two spectators were killed and several injured when a stand collapsed during the India v England game at Nagpur in January 1985
England's John Jameson, who was born in India, made his highest Test score( 82 ) against India.
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.
At an individual level, 1982 Duleep Mendis of Sri Lanka scored 105 in both innings against India. He is the only batsman to hit identical hundreds in both innings of a test match.
Hinduism Facts...
The term ‘Hinduism’ is really a term used by travellers to India in the 18th and 19th centuries to describe the different but related religious ideas, cultures and philosophies which they found there.
It has been suggested that it is more accurate to speak of “Hinduisms” rather than a single tradition. Hindu religious leaders prefer to use the term Sanatana Dharma (the universal law of order – unity in diversity) instead of Hinduism. (The word ‘Hindu’ stems from the Sanskrit term to describe India – Sapta Sindhu [pronounced Hapta Hindu] – the land of seven great rivers: Ganges, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Godavari, Indus, Narmada, and Cauvery.)
The Hindu traditions are believed to have come to India through the arrival in India of the Aryans. They came from the west around 1700-1500 BCE, though some dispute this and point to earlier traditions native to the Indus Valley.
The oldest of the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, were written in the period between 1500 and 500 BCE, known as the Vedic Period.
The origins of the Om (sometimes given as Aum) symbol are obscure but the sound is believed to be an aspect of the creation of the cosmos.
Another significant Hindu symbol is the swastika, which is found all over Hindu temples, signs, altars, pictures and iconography in India and Nepal. It is seen as pointing in all four directions (North, East, South and West) and thus signifies stability and groundedness. The swastika is considered extremely holy and auspicious by all Hindus and is regularly used to decorate all sorts of items to do with Hindu culture. (The symbol is found widely in the ancient world but was taken over by the Nazis in the 1920s as a symbol of white supremacy.
Since the Second World War (and following Indian independence) many have also migrated to Britain, Ireland and North America, where there are now substantial Hindu communities.
Hindu temples range from the small and simple to the very grand and elaborately decorated, outside as well as inside. Each temple has at least one priest who looks after the images of the gods and leads the prayers.
People may come to worship individually or in groups. Group worship normally involves the singing of hymns from the Vedas, saying prayers and lighting a small fire, and waving a live flame over the images of the gods.
The popular festival of Diwali, which is also celebrated by Sikhs, marks the start of the New Year (in October or November) for many Hindus.
The Gayatri Mantra from the Rig Veda (which altogether contains over one thousand poems) is used by many Hindus in morning worship:
“We meditate on the most excellent splendour of the Creator.
May we be guided and inspired by his wisdom.”
The Upanishads (meaning ‘sit down near’ or ‘lessons’) are the last part of each Veda. They were written around 600 BCE and introduced the idea of reincarnation. People used to sit down near wise teachers and learn from them.
The Sutras (meaning ‘threads’) are short sayings and verses based on the Vedas and were written between 500 and 100 BCE.
There are also several famous epic spiritual poems, best known of which are the Ramayana which tells the story of Prince Rama (written around 100 BCE and 100 CE) and the Bhagavad-gita (the Song of God) written around 250 CE.
Hunger (Hungry ) Facts...
1) Hunger and malnutrition kill more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
2) Every five seconds a child dies because he or she was hungry.
3) There are more than 800 million people around the world who know what it is like to go to bed hungry.
4) The world produces enough food to feed everyone but still these 800 million remain chronically hungry.
5) In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, there are 198 million hungry people.
6) More than 2 million people are likely to be dependent on food aid in the Darfur region of western Sudan by next year.
7) Almost 10 million people are killed around the world each year by hunger and malnutrition. That is more than the total number of people who died in World War I.
8) One out of every three people in Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from hunger.
9) Almost a quarter of the world's hungry people live in Africa.
10) Good nutrition helps prolongs the life of HIV sufferers.
11) Africa has already lost more farmers to AIDS (7 million) than there are farmers in Europe and North America.
12) By 2020, HIV is expected to have killed 20% of southern Africa's farm workers.
13) HIV and hunger work together. Malnutrition accelerates the progress of HIV. HIV worsens malnutrition.
14) There are 11 million AIDS orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. Most never learnt how their parents grew or prepared food.
15) 10 pence a day is all it takes to feed a hungry child at school.
16) Hunger is inherited. Each year 17 million children are born underweight because their mothers are malnourished.
17) Providing pregnant mothers with nutritionally balanced food can reduce the likelihood of an underweight baby by 32%.
18) In the 1990s, global poverty dropped by 20% but the number of undernourished people around the world increased.
19) The World Food Programme devotes a larger proportion of its assistance (on average half) to Africa than any other UN agency or individual government donor.
20) Food aid from the World Food Programme has reached 1.2 billion of the world's poor over the past 4 decades - that's almost the equal to the population of India.
Some facts about mercury
ALTHOUGH best known as the silver liquid in thermometers, mercury has over 3,000 industrial uses. It occurs in nature mostly as mercuric sulphide, known as cinnabar, which has been refined for its mercury content since the 16th century. Mercury is present in numerous compounds and is toxic even in its elementary form.
A blob of the silver liquid, which is toxic even in its elementary form.
Properties such as the ability to alloy with most metals, liquefy at room temperature, vapourise and freeze with ease and conduct electricity make mercury an important industrial metal. Mercury in elemental or inorganic form is transformed into organic forms (especially the methylated form) by biological systems when it comes into contact with micro-organisms in the soil and water.
Humans come into contact with mercury through environmental, occupational or accidental exposure. Methylated mercury compounds are toxic and can accumulate in the environment and in the food chain.
Mercury magnifies up to 100,000 times in predatory fish. In the 1950s, the consumption of fish contaminated by methylated mercury led to the poisoning of thousands of fishing families in Minimata, Japan. The pollution, caused by an acetaldehyde manufacturing unit owned by the Chisso industrial group, affected over 10,000 people over a period of three decades.
Occupational exposure to mercury occurs through the inhalation of contaminated air, skin contact with liquid mercury, or oral exposure through contaminated hands or food. Mercury can cause acute or chronic health problems. It accumulates in the kidney, the brain and the blood. The amount of mercury absorbed by the body - and thus the degree of toxicity - depends upon its chemical form. Elemental mercury, the form workers are exposed to, is the most hazardous when inhaled. Only about 25 per cent of the inhaled dose is exhaled.
Very high exposure to mercury vapour can cause acute poisoning. This may lead to pneumonia and can be fatal. People with chronic mercury poisoning experience wide mood swings and become irritable, depressed or excited for no apparent reason. The earliest symptom is tremor of the hand, tongue and eyelids, which can progress to problems with balancing and walking.
Over 40 States in the United States and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have issued at least 2,000 public health warnings about mercury contamination. Several States and municipal administrations have begun to check the amount of mercury in the environment by banning mercury thermometers, as "even if one thermometer contaminates a drinking water supply source, it can be permanently unusable".
Do you know !!! about Biiliards.
Billiard Origin
The origin of all billiard games is an outdoor game similar to croquet, used to be played in France on the 14th century. Due to the game popularity among royalty as well as common people and thanks to the capriciousness of the European weather, the billiard game was born as an indoor game. Billiard was played on a table covered with green felt in order to resemble the lawn on which the ancestor game was played.Billiard and the Law
The billiard game was outlawed for many years and in different countries: still at the early days of billiard, the game was accused of being immoral. Therefore, this faulty activity and its devoted players were chased by the Church. On the early history of American billiards, when the term "pool room" was still a synonym for horse betting parlor, the game was illegal in many states. Even Thomas Jefferson had to hide a billiard table in his residency.1st World Championship
Nevertheless, the first world championship in sports history was the 1873 World Billiards Championship. William Cook won the title. John Roberts was the runner up.
Billiard and Celebs
Other historic celebrities who had owned a billiard table include King Louis XI and Mary the Queen of Scots (whose billiard table cloth was used by her assassins as cerements). Captain Mingaud, whose responsible for inventing the leather cue tip, had a billiard table in his prison cell.Pool halls History
The first public pool hall in history was built in England during the end of the 18th century. The pool hall featured one billiard table with one pocket. The biggest pool hall in history was built in Detroit in the 1920s; it featured more than 100 tables in addition to an exhibition room attached to a 250-seats theatre hall.
Billiard's French Origins
The term "billiard" is derived from the French word for mace – billiart. Before the cue stick was invented (the term "cue" also has French origins. Queue, is tail in French), a wooden mace with a handle, similar to a tail, was used to shoot the balls. For a long period after the cue stick invention, only men were allowed to use it; women billiard players were automatically accused of misusing the cue and ripping the table cloth.
Billiard's 1st Female ChampionThe first woman who won in World Billiard Champion was actually a man. The woman billiard champion, who was known by the name of Frances Anderson and for outplaying (almost) every man and woman in both the American and European billiards world throughout the first centuries of the 20th century, came out as a man that was born under the name of Orie and created quite a stir on the 1920s billiards circle.
Useless Historical facts about life in England
- In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight".
- It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month or what we know today as the honeymoon.
- In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".
- Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.
- In Scotland, a new game was invented entitled: Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden....and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
NOKIA Phones - Known , Unknown Facts
1. Unlike other modern day handsets, Nokia phones do not automatically start the call timer when the call is connected, but start it when the call is initiated. (Except for Series 60 based handsets like the Nokia 6600)
2. The name of the town of Nokia originated from the river which flowed through the town. The river itself, Nokianvirta, was named after the old Finnish word originally meaning sable, later pine marten. A species of this small, black-furred predatory animal was once found in the region, but it is now extinct.
3. The native Finnish pronunciation of “Nokia” is [’no.ki.a], i.e. stress on the first syllable and all vowels short. English speakers often pronounce the name approximately [nou.ki.É™] (adapting the Finnish short ‘o’ [o] to the English “long O” [əυ]) or [nak’kii.É™] (postponing stress and replacing the short ‘i’ [i] with a “tense I” [ii]).
4. The “Special” tone available to users of Nokia phones when receiving SMS (text messages) is actually Morse code for “SMS”. Similarly, the “Ascending” SMS tone is Morse code for “Connecting People,” Nokia’s slogan. The “Standard” SMS tone is Morse code for “M” (Message).
5. The ringtone “Nokia tune” is actually based on a 19th century guitar work named “Gran Vals” by Spanish musician Francisco Tárrega. The Nokia Tune was originally named “Grande Valse” on Nokia phones but was changed to “Nokia Tune” around 1998 when it became so well known that people referred to it as the “Nokia Tune.”
6. Nokia is sometimes called aikon (Nokia backwards) by non-Nokia mobile phone users and by mobile software developers, because “aikon” is used in various SDK software packages, including Nokia’s own Symbian S60 SDK.
7. Nokia sponsored several pan-European Alternate Reality Games from 1999 to 2005, under the name Nokia Game. These were used to promote their latest phones, as well as introducing the ARG format to Europe.
8. Nokia was listed as the 20th most admirable company worldwide in Fortune’s list of 2006 (1st in network communications, 4th non-US company).[6]
9. Nokia is currently the world’s largest digital camera manufacturer, as the sales of its camera-equipped mobile phones have exceeded those of any conventional camera manufacturer.
10. In the mobile phone market, Nokia is in direct competition with Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung Electronics, LG, Philips, Kyocera, SAGEM, among others.
11. In Asia, the digit 4 never appears in any handset model number, because 4 is considered unlucky in many parts of Southeast/East Asia.
12. The Nokia corporate font (typeface) is the AgfaMonotype Nokia Sans font, originally designed by Eric Spiekermann. Previously in advertising and in its mobile phone User’s Guides Nokia mostly used the Agfa Rotis Sans font.
Ten things you probably didn't know about Africa:
- The Nile is the longest river in the world, flowing through Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt - if all the bends in the river were straightened out, it would flow from the Equator right up to the Scottish Highlands.
- Many children in Africa don’t get the chance to go to school. If you grew up in Mali in west Africa, for example, you’d only have a one in three chance of being able to go to primary school. Puts things in perspective rather yes?
- Four of the five fastest land animals live in Africa – the cheetah, which can run at an amazing 70 miles per hour, wildebeest, lion and gazelle.
- Lake Malawi in southern Africa is home to around 500 different types of fish. That’s more than anywhere else in the world! Gosh!
- Africa is almost an island. Its only connection to other land is the tiny Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.
- Africa is the home of the Human species, which developed there about 5 million years ago.
- More people are killed in Africa by crocodiles than by lions. We probably should include crocs on our scary stuff page .. oh well, too late!
- The banjo as we know it originated from a single-string, gourd-bodied African lute (sometimes called the "hodu") which the Griots of West Africa played to accompany storytelling. Now, bet you feel better for knowing that!
- Only three countries in the world are bigger than the Sahara Desert – Russia, Canada and China. The Kalahari Desert in southern Africa covers an area larger than France.
- The only street in the world to house two Nobel Peace prize winners is in Soweto, South Africa. Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu both have houses in Vilakazi Street.
Turtles can cry (amazing facts)
1. Sea turtles cry. The green sea turtle lives in the salty ocean, and gets rid of the excess salt from its body by way of its eyes, in very salty tears.
2. All turtles lay their eggs on land, even turtles that never come out of the water otherwise such as the giant sea
turtles.
3. Most turtles can live much longer than people can. One turtle was estimated to be fifty years old when it was
caught, and it lived another one hundred and fifty-two years after that!
4. Turtles are cold-blooded, like all reptiles. But the Blanding's Turtle, a common North American freshwater
species, has been seen swimming under the ice in the Great Lakes in winter.
5. Some water turtles can absorb oxygen through their skin on their necks and cloacal areas (their rear ends), so they can not only stay underwater for long periods, they can hibernate underwater.
6. Some land turtles can outrun a person on level ground. But they still can't outrun a hare.
7. A turtle's shell is made of over sixty bones all fused together, and they are connected to the bottom shell, so a
turtle can't really take off its shell like they do in the cartoons.
8. The largest turtle ever found was a fossil of a sea turtle that was over fifteen feet long! The largest turtle
species living now is the Leatherback Sea Turtle, which can grow to as large as nine feet long, six feet wide and can weigh over 1,000 pounds.
9. Some aquatic turtles such as the snapping turtle and soft-shelled turtles have eyes that let them easily look up. They can sit on the bottom under the water and look up for predators or food swimming by, or lay in shallow water with just their eyes and nostrils above the water so land predators can't see them.
10. No turtles have teeth. Instead they have a strong beak to cut and chew their food. Many also have sharp ridges on their beaks to saw through their food. Some turtles catch and eat fish; so those beaks work pretty well.
Facts on languages worldwide
Widow is the only female form in the English language that is shorter than its corresponding male term (widower).
Victor Hugo's Les Miserable contains one of the longest sentences in the French language 823 words without a period.
There is only ONE word in the English language with THREE CONSECUTIVE SETS OF DOUBLE LETTERS.... Bookkeeper
There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs five times: "indivisibility."
There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
There are thirteen languages spoken by more than 100 million people. They are: Mandarin Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Bengali, Portuguese, Malay-Indonesian, French, Japanese, German, and Urdu.
There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today. However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers. The most widely spoken language in the world is Mandarin Chinese. There are 885,000,000 people in China that speak that language.
There are only two sequences of four consecutive letters that can be found in the English language: "rstu" and "mnop." Examples of each are understudy and gynophobia.
There are only 4 words in the English language which end in "duos": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
There are at least two words in the English language that use all of the vowels, in the correct order, and end in the letter Y: abstemiously & facetiously.
There are 41,806 different spoken languages in the world today.
The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.
The word "honcho" comes from a Japanese word meaning "squad leader" and first came into usage in the English language during the American occupation of Japan following World War II.
he shortest word in the English language with all its letters in alphabetical order is the word "almost."
The Philippines has more than 1,000 regional dialects and two official languages.
The only MLB team to have both its city's name and its team name in a foreign language is the San Diego Padres.
The longest word in the Finnish language, that isn't a compound word, is 'epaejaerjestelmaellistyttaemaettoemyydellaensaekaeaen'. In English it means 'even with their lack of ability to disorganize'.
The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis. The only other word with the same amount of letters ispneumonoultra-microscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.
The longest word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a distinct part of DNA.
The longest one syllable word in he English language is "screeched".
The letter most in use in the English language is "E" and the letter "Q" is least used.
The computer programming language ADA was named in honor of Augusta Ada King. The U.S. Defense Department named the language after the Countess of Lovelace and daughter of Lord Byron because she helped finance and program what is thought to be the first computer, the “analytical engine” designed by Charles Babbage.
The Chinese language does not require punctuation.
The "huddle" in football was formed due a deaf football player who used sign language to communicate and his team didn't want the opposition to see the signals he used and in turn huddled around him.
South Africa used to have two official languages, now it has eleven.
Some biblical scholars believe that Aramaic (the language of the ancient Bible) did not contain an easy way to say 'many things' and used a term which has come down to us as 40. This means that when the bible -in many places -refers to '40 days,' they meant many days.
Seoul, the South Korean capital, just means "the capital" in the Korean language.
Shoes also have an History...
Sandals were the most common footwear in most early civilizations, however, a few early cultures had shoes. In Mesopotamia, (c. 1600–1200 BC) a type of soft shoes were worn by the mountain people who lived on the border of Iran. In India various epics and regions have indicated usage of a wooden sandal “Khadaon” which were used.
The soft shoe was made of wraparound leather, similiar to a moccasin. "As late as 1850 most shoes were made on absolutely straight lasts, there being no difference between the right and the left shoe."
The firt rubber heel for shoes was patented on January 24, 1899 by Irish-American Humphrey O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan patented the rubber heel which outlasted the leather heel then in use.
The first rubber soled shoes called plimsolls were developed and manufactured in the United States in the late 1800s. In 1892, nine small rubber manufacturing companies consolidated to form the U.S. Rubber Company. Among them was the Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company, organized in the 1840s in Naugatuck, Connecticut.
Bermuda Triangle Mysteries: Is it real ...
Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and surface vessels have disappeared in what are said to be circumstances that fall beyond the boundaries of human error or acts of nature.
The Bermuda Triangle has been a topic of hot discussion and interest for many years because so many strange occurrences have taken place in this area of the world that lies between the southern eastern coast of the United States and the islands of the West Indies. Basically, if you draw a line from Miami to Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico to Bermuda and then Bermuda back to Miami you would have the area that is known as the Bermuda Triangle.
Many boats, airplanes, and ships have mysteriously disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle with no explanation for what happened to the crafts or the individuals on board. In the past 100 years, more than 1000 lives have vanished in the Bermuda Triangle. For many years individuals attributed the disappearances and strange events to extraterrestrials or aliens because there simply was no other explanation for what was happening in this area of the world.
In fact, in 1974 Charles Berlitz wrote about the mysterious Bermuda Triangle in a book that sold almost 20 million copies in more than 30 languages. This is because the entire world is intrigued by the unknown that is the Bermuda Triangle.
However, the unknown of the Bermuda Triangle does have some explanations other than extraterrestrials or aliens flying down and snatching up boats, ships and airplanes. Some simply say that accidents happen and while some of those accidents occurred in what is known as the Bermuda Triangle, many more have occurred outside of it. Then, there are those looking for something more substantial to answer the questions of the Bermuda Triangle. One such result is that methane gas hydrate is the explanation for the disappearances of boats and planes over the years.
In 1981 a geochemist by the name of Richard McIver introduced his theory of the role methane gas hydrate plays in the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. His theory was that to the North of the Bermuda Triangle huge landslides occur on the continental shelf, which results in large stones and sludge falling rapidly to the sea floor and ultimately rupturing the sea floor which covers a layer of gas hydrate. When the seafloor is ruptured the hydrate is released rapidly as well as methane within the hydrate causing a huge surge of gas which erupts from the surface of the water with no warning. When this happens any ship, airplane, or boat within the vicinity will be in immediate peril because the water and air no longer have the same density, causing the vessels to sink rapidly and lie to rest covered by sludge on the floor of the ocean.
While this is a somewhat viable theory, most people prefer to believe in something more extraordinary that happens in the Bermuda Triangle. Because of its triangular shape and strange events many individuals believe it is a portal to another world, outer space, or even the Lost City of Atlantis. Also, people claim to have an unusual feeling when they are in the Bermuda Triangle, as if something is calling to them from another place and time. Many claim there is something strange about the Triangle because it is the only place on earth where the compass points true north. There are no definitive answers as to which theory is the truth behind the Bermuda Triangle, or if the extraordinary Bermuda Triangle is simply a myth that has been created over the years.
However, no matter whether you choose to believe in one myth or other, or a combination, or simply believe the Bermuda Triangle is nothing more than a lot of hype, you will probably still be apprehensive when traveling in the area simply because of the question, “What if.” So, until more concrete information is found that points to one solid answer behind the disappearances of boats, ships, planes and people in the Atlantic’s Bermuda Triangle it is up to you to decide if the Bermuda Triangle’s disappearances are simply accidents played up into something dramatic or whether there truly is something otherworldly about the Bermuda Triangle. So, what do you think? Are the Bermuda Triangle myths fact or fiction?
Books for additional Information:
# Into the Bermuda Triangle: Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery, Gian J. Quasar, International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press (2003) ISBN 0-07-142640-X. (Reprinted in paperback (2005) ISBN 0-07-145217-6).
# The Bermuda Triangle, Charles Berlitz (ISBN 0-385-04114-4).
# The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved (1975). Lawrence David Kusche (ISBN 0-87975-971-2).
# Limbo Of The Lost, John Wallace Spencer (ISBN 0-686-10658-X).
# The Evidence for the Bermuda Triangle, (1984), David Group (ISBN 0-85030-413-X).
Spam Email -- History and Facts
77 percent of Yahoo! Mail poll respondents said they are more aggravated by weeding through spam than they are by cleaning a dirty toilet. 1
Spam is already considered more annoying than junk postal mail and door-to-door salespeople, and it is quickly becoming as annoying as telemarketing calls. 1 Most annoying forms of spam are as follows:
Telemarketing calls
Spam e-mail
Door-to-door salespeople
Junk postal mail
Three-quarters of e-mail users think spammers should be punished, with the majority favoring stiff fines as the ideal punishment , while 8 percent think spammers should do jail time. 1
How spam affects trust
With the increase in spam, people are not comfortable giving out their primary e-mail address:
When purchasing products online: 45 percent
When subscribing to a newsletter: 56 percent
When joining an online community: 72 percent 2
As a way to control spam, one out of three survey respondents would feel more comfortable conducting online transactions with a disposable e-mail address.
How users are helping spammmers
48 percent of e-mail users still think that they can unsubscribe from spam by responding to spammers. 1 (You should only unsubscribe from a unsolicited email if you know and trust the sender.)
35 percent of e-mail users still post their addresses on message boards. 1 (Use an
AddressGuard™ disposable address when posting online to protect your primary address from being harvested by a spammer.)
Why is junk email called spam? The history of spamÂ…
Unsolicited email earned the name "spam" because it resembled a Monty Python skit where a chorus of Vikings drowned out other sounds by singing "spam, spam, spam."
Early digital marketing pioneers contend that spam is actually an acronym for Simultaneously Posted Advertising Message.
The first spam email may have been sent in 1978 by a Digital Equipment Corporation salesperson to announce a product presentation. Source: The New York Times, February 9, 2003.
1. Internal Yahoo! data based on 28,000 Yahoo! Mail survey respondents, August 2003
2. Harris Interactive Survey, September 2003
(Source :http://antispam.yahoo.com/funfacts
Copied as it is , no offence meant , information is worth sharing ..Thanks Yahoo)
