Amazing Facts

* The average brain contains about 10,000 million neurons - microscopic nerve cells.
Each neuron is also linked to neighbouring neurons by up to 50,000 connections
known as dendrites.

* The human adult brain weighs about a mere three pounds, but if you were able to
unravel all of its nerve cells and string them out, you would have a path stretching
from the earth to the moon!

* One-fifth of the oxygen we inhale is used up by the cells in the brain.

* There are 35 million digestive glands in the stomach.

* The inside of our intestines, when opened out, would occupy an area the size
of a football field.

* Muscles contract in waves to move food down the oesophagus. This means
that food would get to the person's stomach even if they were standing on
their head.

* The skin on the bottom of your feet is 12 times thicker than the skin on your eyelids.

* An average adult's skin weighs 9 pounds, three times as much as the brain
and covers an area more than 18 sq. ft.

* The skin is elastic. It stretches to accommodate weight gain and shrinks to
your new size as you become slimmer.

* The work done by the heart in 12 hours could lift a 65-ton weight a foot into
the air, or in a year lift its owner a hundred miles from the ground.

* An empty stomach has a volume of about 60 mililitres, but it can expand to hold
over 2 litres of food after a big meal.

* A ton of recycled paper means 17 trees and 21,000 litres of water saved, 30 kg
less air pollution and 2.3 m3 less trash in a landfill.

* The biggest appetite belongs to the larva of the Polyphemus moth. In the first
eight week's of its life, it consumes a quantity of food weighing the equivalent of food
weighing the equivalent of 86,000 times its own body weight.

* The human body needs 14 metal elements to function properly. They are calcium,
potassium,sodium,magnesium,iron,zinc,copper,tin,vanadium,chromium,cobalt and nickel.

A Case of Wrong Timing

* Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 ton
- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

* I think there is a world market for .... 5 computers
- Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943

* There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home
- Ken Olson, President-Chairman-Founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

* 640k ought to be enough for anybody - Bill Gates, 1981

Did You Know ?

* How long did it take for Windows 95 to sell 1 million copies - Four days

* Did you know original Apple Computer had a logo of Sir Issac Newton on it.

* Mario, the game character was named after Nintendo's landlord

* He once said, "When I was 19, I caught sight of the future and based my career
on what I saw. I turned out to have been right." He founded a company with his classmate
from Lakeside school in 1975 and together they built it into a $500 million behemoth.
- William Henry (Bill) Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft

* This Australian comes from a family of newspaper magnates. He ran his first paper,
the Adelaide Herald when he was 23 years old. He took over 20th Century Fox in
1985. He is one of the largest media tycoons in the world.
- Keith Rupert Murdoch, News Corp.

* The largest airport in the world, measured in terms of total land area, is Saudi Arabia's
King Khalid International Airport, which covers 87 sq. miles (225 sq. km).
It was opened in 1983.

Food for Thought

* We all have one thing in common ... a 24-hour day. It's how we use it, that
makes all the difference.

* Honesty is the best policy. It is best because it has little competition.

* No Goals .. No Glory.

* Difficulties can be stepping stones or stumbling blocks. It's just a matter
of how you view them..

* People, like pins, are useless .. if they lose their heads.

* An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less.

The Mariana trench in the Pacific Ocean is so deep that it would take a metal object over 60 minutes to reach the seabed.
Astronaut Neil Armstrong's total travel allowance during his 8-day mission to the moon was $2 a day!
It takes a bigger section of the brain to operate a thumb than to operate the stomach.
Larry Lacerte of Dallas, Texas has 50 phone lines in his home - 30 for his business and 20 for his family.
In England it's against the law for a person to wrestle with an untrained bull.
A Hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute.
Charlotte Hamlin of Winthrop, Washington, Age 68, bicycled across the U.S. riding 8 hrs. a day for 67 days in a row.
Jack Wright of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, keeps 689 pet cats in his home.
Stars explode at a speed of 1.5 million mph.
The average thundercloud holds 6 Trillion raindrops.
Janet Cooper makes jewellry out of recycled bottle caps.
A book about the HISTORY OF ENGLAND was returned to Harvard University 233 years after it was first checked out !
In ancient China, the punishment for public drunkeness was death by strangulation.
Whelks lay upto 2000 eggs at a time but only about 20 hatch and survive - the rest devour each other.
Researchers in the Arctic conducted an experiment in which they stood outside naked to see how many mosquitoes would bite them in one minute - The total was 9000 !
Jokes Galore
* Little birdie in the sky, dropped a poopie in my eye. I didn't scream, I didn't cry, But I thanked the Lord cows can't fly!
* If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it was, and always will be yours. If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with. If it just sits in your room, messes up your stuff, eats your food, uses your phone, takes your money, and never behaves as if you actually set it free in the first place, you either married it or gave birth to it.
* A paperless office has about as much chance as a paperless bathroom.
* Sit next to a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. Sit on a red-hot stove for a minute, it seems like an hour. That's relativity - Albert Einstein
* Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night." - Charlie Brown
* John came back from a safari in Africa. Upon arrival, he went to his partner, Mark, and told him of his adventures. "I was out in the jungle," he said, "when all of a sudden I heard a noise in the bush behind me. Looking back, I saw a huge lion.He jumped on me. When the lion was almost at my neck, he suddenly slipped and I started running. The lion started gaining on me, and as he got closer, once agian he slipped. Then a saw a house nearby and ran towards it. "As I got close to the house, the lion was almost on top of me, when he slipped for a third time. With all my strength, I ran into the house and closed the door on the lion's face." "That's some story there, John. Hell, I would have shit my pants in such danger! "Mark, Mark, Mark. What do you think the lion kept slipping on!?"
* With the help of a fertility specialist, a 65 year old woman has a baby. All her relatives come to visit and meet the newest member of their family. When they ask to see the baby, the 65 year old mother says "not yet". A little later they ask to see the baby again. Again the mother says "not yet". Finally they say, "when can we see the baby?" And the mother says, "When the baby cries." And they ask, "Why do we have to wait until the baby cries?" The new mother says," because I forgot where I put it."
* One day a preacher goes to visit an elderly lady. As he is sitting there talking with her, he notices a bowl of peanuts on the table in front of him. 'Do you mind if I have a few peanuts?' he asks the lady. 'Help yourself,' she replies. After about an hour and a half visit, he gets up to leave and notices that he has eated almost all of the peanuts in the bowl. 'I apologise,' he says to the elderly lady. 'I only meant to eat a few.' 'That's okay', says the lady,'Since I've lost my teeth, all I've been able to do is suck the chocolate off of them.
* A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realise how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him! The morals of this story are: 1) Not everyone who drops shit on you is your enemy. 2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend. 3) And when you're in deep shit, keep your mouth shut.
* A lawyer named Strange died, and his friend asked the tombstone maker to inscribe on his tombstone, "Here lies Strange, an honest man, and a lawyer". The inscriber insisted that such an inscription would be confusing, for passers-by would tend to think that three men were buried under the stone. However he suggested an alternative: He would inscribe, "Here lies a man who was both honest and a lawyer." That way, whenever anyone walked by the tombstone and read it, they would be certain to remark: "That's Strange".
* A man was walking along and stumbled across an old lamp. He picked it up and rubbed it and out popped a genie. The genie said "OK.You released me from the lamp so you can have only one wish!" The man thought for a while and said, "I've always wanted to go to Hawaii but I'm scared to fly. Could you build me a bridge to Hawaii so I can drive over there to visit?" The genie laughed and said, "That's impossible. Think of the logistics of that! How would the supports ever reach the bottom of the Pacific? Think of how much concrete...how much steel!! No-think of another wish. Finally, he said, "All my 4 ex-wives left me because they thought i was insensitive and could not understand them.So,I wish that I could understand women, know how they feel,what they really want when they say 'nothing',how to make them happy.The genie said,"You want that bridge 2 lanes or 4?"
* A doctor and a lawyer were talking at a party. Their conversation was constantly interrupted by people describing their ailments and asking the doctor for free medical advice. After an hour of this, the exasperated doctor asked the lawyer, "What do you do to stop people from asking you for legal advice when you're out of the office?" "I give it to them," replied the lawyer, "and then I send them an astronomical bill." The doctor was shocked, but agreed to give it a try. The next day, still feeling guilty, the doctor prepared the bills, then he went to place them in his mailbox to be picked up by the postman. When he got there he was stunned to find a bill from the lawyer!
* A man goes to his doctor and says 'I don't think my wife's hearing is as good as it used to be, what should I do?' The doctor gives him a note 'Try this test to find out for sure. When your wife is in the kitchen doing dishes, stand 15 feet behind her and ask her a question, if she doesn't respond keep moving closer asking the question until she hears you. The man goes home and sees his wife preparing dinner. He stands 15 feet behind her and says 'What's for dinner, honey ?' No response. He moves 10 feet behind her and asks again, no response. Five feet no answer. Finally he stands right behind her and says, 'Honey, what's for supper?' She says, 'For the fourth time, I SAID CHICKEN!'
* A man walks into a bar looking deeply depressed. After his fourth shot, the bartender said, 'Man you really look like you are having a rough day.' The man replied, 'Yeah, today I found out my oldest son is gay.' The bartender said, 'Man that sucks.' The next day the guy returned to the bar looking even more depressed and ordered several shots. The bartender said, 'Man you look like you're having a terrible day, what seems to be the problem today?' The man replied, 'Today I found out my youngest son is gay.' The bartender said, 'Damn, doesn't anyone in your family like women?' The man said, 'Yeah my wife.'
* In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year, they both speak and the neighbours listen.
* A man was wandering around a fairground and he happened to see a fortune-teller's tent. Thinking it would be good for a laugh, he went inside and sat down. "Ah ......" said the woman as she gazed into her crystal ball. "I see you are the father of two children." "That's what you think," said the man scornfully. "I'm the father of THREE children." The woman grinned and said, "That's what YOU think!"
* A man wanted to determine if both his wife and mistress were faithful to him. So he decided to send them on the same cruise, then later question each one on the other's behavior. When his wife returned, he asked her about the people on the trip in general, then casually asked her about the specific behavior of the passenger he knew to be his mistress. "She slept with nearly every man on the ship," his wife reported. The disheartened man then rendezvoused with his cheating mistress to ask her the same questions about his wife. "She was a real lady," his mistress said. "How so?" the encouraged man asked. "She came on board with her husband and never left his side."
* A man was wandering in the woods pondering over all the things of life, and his own personal problems. He couldn't find the answers so he sought help from God. "God, God are you there God?" he asked "Yes what is it my son?" God answered "I have a few questions, mind if I ask?" the man asked. "Go ahead my son, anything." "God, what is a million years to you?" God answered,"a million years to me is only a second." The man asked again "God, what is a million dollars worth to you?" God replied "a million dollars to me is worth only a penny?" The man asked his final question ...... "God, can I have a penny?" God answered "Sure, in a second."
* A young ventriloquist is touring the clubs and one night he's doing a show in a small club. With his dummy on his knee, he's going through his usual dumb blonde jokes when a blonde woman in the 4th row stands on her chair and starts shouting : "I've heard enough of your stupid blonde jokes. What makes you think you can stereotype women that way? What does the colour of a person's hair have to do with her worth as a human being? It's guys like you who keep women like me from being respected at work and in the community because you and your kind continue to perpetuate discrimination against, not only blondes, but women in general, and all in the name of humour!" The ventriloquist is embarrassed and begins to apologise, when the blonde yells, "You stay out of this, mister! I'm talking to that little jerk on your knee!"
* There was a farmer who raised watermelons. He was doing pretty well but he was disturbed by some local kids who would sneak into his watermelon patch at night and eat his watermelons. After some careful thought he comes up with a clever idea to scare the kids away. So he makes up a sign and posts it in the field. The next day the kids show up and saw the sign, which says, "Warning, ONE of the watermelons in this field has been injected with cyanide". So the kids run off and make up their own sign, which they post next to the farmer's sign. The farmer showed up next day. He notices that no watermelons are missing but he notices a new sign next to his. He drives over to the sign and reads it, which says, "Now there are TWO".
* A young woman, with a baby in her arms, entered this butcher shop and confronted the butcher with the news that the baby was his and asked what he was doing to do about it. He offered to provide her with free meat until the boy was 16. She agreed to this arrangement. One day the teenager who had been collecting the meat each week, came into the shop and said, "I'll be 16 tomorrow." "I know," said the butcher with a smile, "I've been counting too, tell your mother, when you take this parcel of meat home, that is the last free meat she'll get, and watch the expression on her face." When the boy arrived home he told his mother. The woman nodded and said, "Son, go back to the butcher and tell him I have also had free bread, free milk and free groceries for the last 16 years and watch the expression on HIS face!"