Top 10 Facts That May Surprise You About Mosquitoes

One thing we can all agree on here. Nobody likes mosquitoes. But our hatred for these pesky insects is also intertwined with an ironic interest to know more about them. Here are some mosquito facts you may not know and a few facts that may help you from becoming of victim of their love bites. 
1. Females Mosquitoes Can Live Twice as Long
Just like humans, the female is known to outlive the male but by a much larger difference. Given the right environment, an adult female can live over a month while males normally do not make it past two weeks. 
2. Only Female Mosquitoes Bite
In reality, they don’t bite, but suck. After finding her target she inserts the elongated, razor-sharp proboscis (their mouth equivalent) through the skin looking for a blood meal which will nourish her future eggs. If left undisturbed, the female will feed until her abdomen is completely full.  
3. A Popularity Contest?
To mate, the males form large swarms at dusk and the females enter to take their pick. And for mosquitoes, it’s not the size that counts. Studies show that medium-sized males attract the most females because of their ability to stay up (in the air) longer. 
4. Finding a Perfect Harmony
To mate, the males form large swarms at dusk and the females enter to take their pick. And for mosquitoes, it’s not the size that counts. Studies show that medium-sized males attract the most females because of their ability to stay up (in the air) longer.
5. Mosquitoes Don’t Like Fans
You can use creams, sprays, candles, and more, but a great mosquito repellent that doesn’t leave you smelling like…well, mosquito repellent…is a fan. Because of their incredibly light weight, it is difficult for mosquitoes to maneuver their flight and even more difficult to steady themselves on a target. 
6. “Mosquito” is a Spanish Word Meaning “Little Fly”
A little Spanish lesson: mosca is Spanish for fly. In Spanish, the diminutive form of a main word is used to describe something smaller yet similar. This is achieved by adding –ito to the end of the word. Therefore, the result is mosquito.
7. Bill Gates Hates Mosquitoes Too
The Anopheles mosquito species is the overwhelming human malaria carrier. 90% of malaria cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa. In February 2009, philanthropist Bill Gates released a jar of mosquitoes at a technology conference in California in order to get his point across concerning funding for further malaria vaccine development.
8. Mosquitoes Like Your Breathing and Sweaty
Were you ever told that mosquitoes were biting you in particular because you were just so sweet? Not really…what attracts mosquitoes most is the carbon dioxide exhaled from our mouths and certain aromas that each individual’s body creates. Completely opposite from sweet, it is said that mosquitoes fly more towards sweaty surfaces.
9. Mosquitoes Stay Close to Home
A mosquito can develop from egg to adult in as little as 4 days, but it hardly ever wanders far from the “nest.” Since it only travels between 1 and 1.5 miles per hour, it rarely goes beyond a 1 mile radius from its birth place during its short life cycle.
10. There are a lot of Mosquito Species
There are around 3,000 mosquito species in the world. Between 150 and 200 of those can be found in North America. West Virginia reports the fewest species (26) while Texas claims the most (85). Every July the small town of Clute Texas hosts The Great Texas Mosquito Festival complete with a Mosquito Chase Race and Mosquito Calling Contest.

Top Ten Most Expensive Metals

The price of most metals is directly related to the metal’s rarity. Over the last several decades, investing in metals has become a popular alternative to the more volatile stock market.  Many of the metals on this list have multiple applications. Some metals are popular for jewelry while others are used for components within aircraft engines. The metals on this list display a wide array of different characteristics. Some are sought after due to their tolerance to corrosion, while others are sought after for their reflectivity. Here are the top ten most expensive metals in the world:

1.Rhodium

Rhodium is the world’s most valuable metal. It is commonly sought after due to its reflective properties. It is often used in large mirrors, search lights, and as a coating for jewelry. This extremely rare metal is only found in a handful of places on Earth. Nearly 60% of all rhodium comes from South Africa, followed next by Russia.

2.Platinum

Found throughout South Africa, Russia, Canada, and several other countries, platinum is known for its malleability, density, and non-corrosive properties. Similar to palladium, platinum is also known for its ability to withstand great quantities of hydrogen. Due to is many desirable properties, platinum is widely used for making jewelry, in dentistry, weaponry, and in the aerospace industry.

3.Gold

Without a doubt, gold is the most recognizable metal on Earth. Its value has been known for centuries. Due to its durability, malleability, and desirability, gold is one of the most sought after metals in the world. It is also a very common investment option as well. The largest miners of gold in the world are South Africa, the United States, Australia, and China. Besides for making attractive jewelry, gold has a number of valuable industrial applications as well. Due to its high conductivity, gold is commonly used in a number of electronics products. It is also used to create better radiation shields and glass due to its high reflectivity.

4.Ruthenium

Originally discovered by Russian scientist Karl Karlovich in 1844, ruthenium is a member of the platinum metals group. As a result, it retains many of the properties the other metals of this group including hardness, rarity, and the ability to withstand outside elements. Ruthenium is primarily found throughout areas in Russia, North America, and South America. After a complex process, the metal can be isolated and used for a variety of purposes. Most commonly ruthenium is added as an alloy to platinum and palladium in order to increase its hardness and to make other metals more corrosion-resistant. The two primary applications of ruthenium are in jewelry and electrical contacts.

5.Iridium

Also discovered by Smithson Tennant, iridium is considered to be the most extreme member of the platinum group. This whitish metal has a high melting point, is very dense, and is the most corrosion-resistant metal. Even acid, has no real affect on iridium. The properties of iridium have allowed it to contribute to advances in medicine, electronics, and automobiles. The majority of iridium is mined in South Africa as a by-product of nickel mining.

6.Osmium

This bluish-silver metal is one of the densest elements on Earth. Osmium was discovered by Smithson Tennant in 1803. The most common use of osmium is to harden platinum alloys for electrics contacts, filaments, and other industrial uses. Humans must be careful when handling osmium because it can emit a toxic oxide that can cause severe tissue damage. The largest largest producer of osmium is Russia followed by the United States and various countries in South America.

7.Palladium

Named after the Greek goddess Pallas, palladium is considered to be a member of the precious-metals group. Palladium was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston when he discovered a way to separate palladium from its surrounding platinum ore. Some of the properties of palladium include its ability to absorb a considerable amount of hydrogen at room temperature, its stability under hot conditions, and its malleability. Today, palladium is used by automobile manufacturers in catalytic converters to reduce emissions, jewelers use palladium to create white gold alloys, and electronics manufacturers use palladium to coat components with it. Nearly half of the world’s palladium comes from Russia, followed by South Africa, the United States, and Canada.

8.Rhenium

Although not widely as well known as some of the other metals on this list, rhenium has a number of uses due to it being one of the densest metals and having the third highest melting point. Due to its density, rhenium is able to withstand a number of harsh conditions. Originally discovered in 1925, rhenium is used nowadays in high-temperature turbine engines. Some of the other common uses of rhenium include electrical contacts, thermocouples, and filaments.

9.Silver

Classically known as one of the most expensive metals on Earth, silver has many different uses. As most people know, silver is used commonly in jewelry, coins, circuitry, dentistry, and in batteries. However, silver also has a number of less known uses as well. Silver has the property of being able to stop the spread of bacteria, control odors, and prevent mold growth in treated wood. Peru, Chile, Mexico, and China are the largest producers of silver in the world. The prices of silver have been steadily increasing over the last few decades, making silver one of the best commodity investments around.

10.Indium

Known for being soft, silvery-white in color, indium was first discovered by Ferdinand Reich in Germany in 1863. Interestingly, when bent, the metal lets out a high-pitched scream. It is useful for making low-melting point alloys and is used in a variety a reflective surfaces. During World War II, indium was used as a coating for aircraft bearings and in aircraft engines. Currently, Canada is the world’s largest producer of indium.

10 Hollywood Myths People Still Believe

10. Marilyn Monroe Was A Size 16

Whenever someone wants to remind our weight-obsessed culture that curves can be beautiful, they often mention that the most revered sex symbol of the western hemisphere, Marilyn Monroe, wore a size 16 (or 12, depending on what country you’re from). Either way, she was as wide as several of today’s starlets standing side by side.
It couldn’t be less true. Several of Monroe’s famous costumes were recently auctioned off, including the white dress from The Seven Year Itch and the red sequined number from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and spectators were shocked to see the teeny, tiny mannequins on which they were displayed. Monroe actually didn’t fit any standard size, because her waist was disproportionately smaller than her bust and hips. Her dresses averaged 22-inch waists and 34-inch busts, so she was somewhere around a 2–4 in today’s US standard dress sizes—about the same as most modern actresses.

9. The Ghost Boy In Three Men And A Baby

In the years following the 1987 release of Three Men and a Baby, thousands of viewers reported spooky sightings of what appeared to be the ghost of a little boy in the background of one scene. Unsurprisingly, they quickly started making stuff up to explain it, and rumors circulated that the son of the couple whose New York apartment was rented for the filming had been killed there, and it was his image that appeared in the film. They even insisted the parents had appeared on 60 Minutes or 20/20 to tell the tale.
First of all, the movie wasn’t even filmed in a New York apartment; it was a Toronto soundstage. More importantly, the filmmakers swiftly provided an explanation for the startling sight—it was a cardboard cutout of star Ted Dansen that someone had misplaced. Poor attention to detail, yes, but nothing supernatural. Even though it was quickly debunked, the rumor persists.

8. Back To The Future Predicts The Future

When the Miami Marlins won the World Series in 1997, rumors circulated that their triumph was predicted in Back to the Future Part II. People claimed that Biff perused a sports almanac and quipped, “Florida wins the 1997 World Series, yeah right.” Alternately, people claimed this was a broadcast displayed on a holographic billboard shown in the future.
Biff never makes any such remark. What the billboard actually said was that the Chicago Cubs would defeat an unspecified Miami team represented by an alligator, which you might recognize as the farthest possible thing from a marlin.
This defeat would’ve taken place the same year as the movie, 2015, which hasn’t actually happened yet. The year in which the film takes place seems to be an ongoing point of contention, despite being clearly stated in the film, and altered images of the dashboard of the DeLorean keep popping up, claiming that we’ve reached the date that it reads. For the record, it’s October 21, 2015. We’ve got a couple of years to go.

7. A Famous Actor Was The Gerber Baby

Since the adoption of the mascot in 1931, people have been speculating about the identity of the iconic Gerber Baby, which was kept secret by the company for over 40 years. The name that seems to come up the most often (inexplicably) is Humphrey Bogart. A poll conducted by the company found that many people still believed that either Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, or Senator Bob Dole were the Gerber Baby, even though it was revealed to be mystery novelist Ann Turner Cook in 1978.

6. Steven Spielberg Got His Start After Sneaking Into Universal Studios

Over the years, Spielberg has told the story of how, as a young unknown, he sneaked into Universal Studios and moved into an empty office. He fit right in with his suit and briefcase, casually chatting with employees as if he had every right to be there, so nobody thought to check whether he actually did. The bluff was so successful that they started actually giving him work, and the rest is history.
Except, according to other people working at Universal during that time, it never happened. His career at Universal began when he was legitimately hired as an unpaid intern by family friend and editor Chuck Silvers. Silvers’s office mate, purchasing agent Julie Raymond, straight up said that Spielberg is lying. It’s true that he had to sneak onto movie sets to talk to people and make connections, but Spielberg was authorized to work in Silvers’s office. Spielberg’s version of events has changed a lot over the years. For instance, he’s claimed to be anywhere from 17 to 21 years old when it happened, with Silvers claiming he was hired at 16—so even Spielberg isn’t sure what the story is.

5. Richard Gere And The Gerbil

Poor Richard Gere has been plagued by rumors since the early ’90s that claim he had sexual relations with a gerbil. According to the story, the LA Times ran a report claiming that Gere checked into the Cedards-Sinai hospital to have a troubling cavity removed from his furry friend, but nobody seems able to track down such a report. According to Sylvester Stallone, Gere blames him for starting the rumor after a falling out, but he denies it.

4 The Goldfinger Death

In a rumor about 1964’s Goldfinger, the actress who played the woman killed by being covered in gold paint really did die the same way. As Bond explains, covering the skin entirely in the paint will cause suffocation—because people breathe through their skin.
Obviously, that’s not how it works. Sometimes people refer to letting their skin “breathe,” but no, all real breathing is done with the lungs. Blocking your pores like that still isn’t a great idea, and you can be slowly poisoned if the paint contains toxic elements, but it won’t cause instant death. The actress in the film, Shirley Eaton, is alive and well.

3 Brandon Lee’s Final Moments Captured On Film

The promising career of Bruce Lee’s son came to an abrupt and tragic end while shooting 1993’s The Crow. In an opening scene in which his character is murdered, a series of events led to a stunt gun being loaded with real bullets, and Lee was really shot and killed. Fans claimed this gruesome moment stayed in the film for all to see, but it’s not true. The scene was re-shot with a double, and it was decided that Draven would be murdered by knife—presumably by filmmakers not wanting to tempt fate a second time.

2 The Haunting Of The Amityville Horror Really Happened

The fact that it was a true story was a huge selling point for the book—and later, the movie—about the terrifying events that plagued the Lutz family after they bought a haunted house in Amityville, New York. But when the movie was released, the lawyer defending the original murderer, William Weber, was livid.
The Lutzes originally agreed to write the book with him, and according to him, they made up the entire story together. The Lutzes eventually ditched him for a better deal; apparently they hadn’t fled the house in terror so much as an inability to pay for it. A long paper trail of lawsuits and back-room deals is on his side, as well as the sequel, which was based on the book he was writing with the Lutzes.

1. Jayne Mansfield Was Decapitated

The beheading of the Girl Can’t Help It star is one of the most notorious pop culture references. Everyone knows she died in a car accident, and some even claim that it was her signature scarf that pulled her head off when it got stuck in the accident. It’s all a big misunderstanding though—Mansfield was wearing a wig when the accident happened. It flew off and was mistaken by witnesses for her head. An employee of the funeral home informs us, rather creepily, that her head was very much attached when he . . . attended to her.

Gonorrhea Is The Strongest Living Creature

Scientists have recently discovered that gonorrhea bacterium is, pound for pound, the strongest living creature on Earth, capable of pulling up to 100,000 times its body weight. Filaments called pili, which grow from the bacteria, can be up to 10 times as long as the bacteria itself and are what the gonorrhea uses to move itself or pull other organisms.
Researchers at Columbia University have recently discovered a new holder for the title of strongest living creature: the gonorrhea bacterium. Able to pull up to 100,000 times its own body weight, it is immensely stronger than any other creature ever recorded. (The Oribatid mite, probably second to gonorrhea, can only lift a little over 1,000 times its body weight, making it nearly 10 times weaker than the bacterium.) A typical heavy horse with this strength would be able to pull 100 million kilograms of weight (but without the aid of sissy things like wheels).
Gonorrhea, like various other bacterium, produces filaments from its “body,” known as pili. These pseudo-appendages are responsible for movement and pushing things out of the way. The scientists wanted to study how gonorrhea uses them to help infect healthy cells and accidentally uncovered their hidden strength. Basically speaking, every once in a while (about 1 percent of the time) the gonorrhea would start to pull something and then it seemed it used other pili to assist, incrementally increasing the strength up to 10 times the original amount with which it was able to work.
The force gonorrhea is able to exert is relatively small, equal to about one-billionth of a Newton, a unit of measure which is the amount of forced needed for a human to accelerate one kilogram of weight by one meter per second squared. The scientists said this process has gone unnoticed for so long because a protein usually added to the bacterium blocks gonorrhea’s ability to use its pili.

Tortoises Long Believed Extinct Are Alive!

A species of giant tortoise thought to have been extinct for 150 years has not disappeared from the earth after all!

Thanks to sophisticated DNA analysis techniques and diligent fieldwork, scientists have learned that some giant tortoises recently discovered on an island in the Galapagos are immediate descendants of a tortoise species long thought extinct. And it gets better: scientists and conservationists are confident that they can restore a sizeable population of the tortoise species to its original home of the Galapagos island called Floreana.

SCIENCE TO THE RESCUE

Several years ago, scientists discovered on the Galapagos island called Isabela a colony of giant tortoises living on the slopes of a volcano. Then, in 2008, scientists returned to Isabela to conduct DNA tests on some of the tortoises they’d found. Blood samples taken from more than 1,600, or about 20% of the tortoises, showed that 84 of them had a pure Floreana tortoise as a parent.

Since giant tortoises typically live more than 100 years, and because 30 of the 84 tortoises with a Floreana tortoise parent were under the age of 15, it seemed highly likely that some of the tortoises on Isabela were pure Floreana tortoises.

A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR FLOREANA TORTOISES

Such encouraging news offers great hope for recovery of this giant tortoise species, researchers say. One reason for optimism is that over the last 50 years, other Galapagos tortoise species have responded well to recovery efforts. In the 1960s, the number of tortoises was as low as 14 individuals on one island. But since that time, more than 4,000 young tortoises have been returned to the wild in the Galapagos. Many have been reproducing, and populations have been increasing.

The newly launched Floreana tortoise rescue mission will be part of Project Floreana, a comprehensive effort to restore the island, as nearly as possible, to the way it was in 1835, when Charles Darwin first visited it, explains Dr. Linda Cayot, science advisor to the Galapagos Conservancy. “Restoring true Floreana tortoises as part of that effort is now a dream that could come true,” she says.

Scientists and conservationists will increase the Floreana tortoise population by carefully breeding those tortoises that have one Floreana parent and also by breeding pure Floreana tortoises.

Project Floreana is also dedicated to ensuring a sustainable community for the island’s several hundred human residents and to involving the people in all phases of the conservation program.

 

GREAT VALUE OF GIANT TORTOISES

Restoration of the Floreana tortoise is a good thing not just because a fellow species is being brought back from the brink of extinction. The Floreana tortoise plays a vital role in maintaining healthy Galapagos ecosystems. As the only grazing herbivores in the Galapagos, giant tortoises keep invasive plants in check, disperse seeds, and, in general, maintain habitat diversity which allows many native species to thrive.

A TORTOISE MYSTERY

Perhaps you wonder how the Floreana giant tortoises came to be living on a different island, Isabela, 150 years after they had disappeared from their native Floreana. During the nineteenth century, pirates and other visitors to the Galapagos frequently picked up giant tortoises on one island and kept them aboard ship to use later as food. Tortoises were often left behind on one island or another when they were no longer needed. Pirates probably left some of the Floreana tortoises on Isabela, afterwhich those on Floreana were hunted until all had been killed.

A FEW FACTS ABOUT GIANT TORTOISES

• A giant tortoise can reach a length of almost six feet and a weight of 880 pounds.
• With a lifespan of more than 100 years, giant tortoises are one of the longest living animals on earth.
• Giant tortoises are native to seven Galapagos islands. (The Galapagos archipelago consists of 13 large islands, six small ones, and more than 40 islets).
• ‘Galapago’ means ‘turtle’ in Spanish.
• Differences in tortoise size and shape from island to island helped Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution.
• In the 1600s, there were more than 250,000 giant tortoises in the Galapagos. Today there are about 15,000 tortoises, of several different species.

The Origin of the Universe

Have you ever wondered why we’re here on this little speck of dust we call Earth?
Consider this: In all of the known universe, throughout all of the untold billions and trillions of galaxies, there is only one planet which we know of, which can support life: planet Earth. Is that a mere accident, or an on-purpose? Our solar system is so huge that it’s unfathomable, but it’s just a tiny speck in the galaxy we call the Milky Way, which is our tiny little corner of what appears to be an infinite universe. The more powerful telescopes we develop, the further we see. Billions of light years away, we see galaxies, super novas, gaseous formations, you name it. To put this in perspective, to travel a distance of one light year, you would have to go 186,000 miles per SECOND, for a WHOLE YEAR, nonstop. But we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of a universe which, for all we know, goes on forever.
The Milky Way is just a little galaxy, in which our solar system is found. Our Sun is one of those “200 to 400 billion stars”.
It is believed that Earth is the only planet in the entire universe that can support life. Is this an accident?
I challenge you to think this through very carefully. Is it possible that this entire, limitless universe could come from a single point of infinitely small size, as the “big bang” theory asserts? I assert that it takes more blind faith to believe that, than to believe that this universe, and everything in it, was created by an all-powerful, all-caring, infinite Creator whose purposes are higher than our own. Yes, the universe may have originated as an infinitely small point in space. But let’s qualify that assessment. In the natural world, we observe that nothing comes from nothing, and things that were, also become nothing. In other words, the universe is running down. When it came into being, the universe was endowed with a certain amount of energy, and as that energy is expended, things degrade into what scientists call “entropy”. Entropy is simply the natural decay of valuable energy and material into worthless waste. We see this in our universe, as stars burn out, black holes collapse on themselves, and so on.
There must be an infinite source of energy in order to be able to cause something to come from nothing, right? After all, how would it be possible to cram an apparently infinite (or finite, if you prefer) universe into an infinitely small point in space, as the “big bang” theory asserts? Let’s assume the universe has a finite (measurable) size. The “big bang” theory asserts that the universe began as an infinitely small point in space, “exploded” into what it is today, and is still expanding at an ever-decreasing rate. Well, let’s think the math through. Let’s say you have an object the size of a pin head. How much energy would it take to cram it into an infinitely small point in space? The answer: an infinite amount of energy. I’m no genius, but I get this. I hope you do too, because most third-graders can grasp the concept of infinity, if it is explained properly. Infinity is one divided by zero. No matter how many zeros you add together, they’ll never equal one. So if the universe started as an infinitely small point in space, as asserted by the “big bang” theory, then it would have taken an infinite amount of energy to cram all of that matter into that infinitely small point in space. Once you achieve infinitity with regard to energy, you can do anything. It takes the same amount of energy to jam an object the size of a pin head into an infinitely small point in space, as it does to jam an infinitely large universe into the same point: an infinite amount of energy.
So, how did it happen? Scientists, to whom I credit much blind faith, believe it just “happened”. They offer no explanation as to how or why, just that it happened. To any clear-thinking person, there has to be a reason. The conclusion: for matter to exist at all, there had to be an origin of that matter. Something or someone who has existed for all eternity. Some continual power that (who) has been around forever, and will continue to be around forever, and is the source of all things. Time to meet God.Let’s crack open our Bibles. Bible, you say? What’s That? It’s that book that sits on your bookshelf and collects dust. More accurately, it’s God’s love letter to mankind. His instruction book for how to live life to the fullest.

Okay, so we’re going to start at the beginning. The first book of the Old Testament: Genesis. Why is it called Old Testament? That’s an exercise I leave to you. In fact, I challenge you to learn the difference between the Old and New Testaments (or more accurately, Covenants). Hint: a Covenant is an Agreement. Did you know that God made two different Agreements with mankind? Did you know that the New Covenant does away with the Old Covenant? Well, then why even read the Old Testament chapters? One word answer: History. If you don’t understand the beginning, you won’t understand the end.
Genesis 1:1: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Really? Are you sure it didn’t explode from some infinite point in space? Take some time to think about this. If you’ve been through the public school system, or in any secular university in the past 50 years, you’ve probably had a different story crammed down your throat. Well, I’m here to tell you that it takes more faith to believe what the “educated elite” would have you believe, than what the Bible says. Pure, simple, innocent and true. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Who is God? Well, let’s put it together. Let’s give science a resonable benefit and say that the entire universe exploded into being from this infinitely small point in space. By the way, how can one conceive of an infinitely small point in space? If something is infinitely small, does it even exist? The answer: no.
Use your Bible program. The word for “created” is the Hebrew word “Berah”, which when translated to English, means “made from nothing”. In other words, if we were to measure the universe scientifically, everything would indicate that the universe came into being from nothing. If something as infinitely huge as the universe came into being from nothing, then there has to have been some cause to make it come into being. There can’t be something where there had previously been nothing, unless someone or some power put it there. Again, “created” (”Berah” in Hebrew) in Genesis 1:1, means “made from nothing”.
Can you make something from nothing? I’m a software developer. One could argue, in a shallow way, that I make something from nothing every day. I write software — computer instructions that tell a computer how to produce certain results based on input. But in reality, this is not producing something from nothing. I have to breathe air, eat food, drink liquid and sleep indoors (ok, the last one is by preference) in order to continue to exist. As I expend the energy that is produced by the resulting chemical processes that keep my physical body alive, the universe moves closer toward that state of entropy that scientists talk about, where there is no more energy to expend (or all energy has degraded into an un-harnessable, unusable state), life ceases to exist, and the entire universe has wound down. So the answer is simple, right? You can’t make something from nothing. We all require energy to continue to live, and energy comes from various sources, all of which require sacrificing a portion of the universe’s energy which can never be reclaimed. The universe is a physical machine which was put into motion and endowed with great energy by a great Creator God. So in order to be honest, we must credit God with our very existence, including the very air we breathe, food we eat, water we drink, and everything we enjoy. When we understand this, there is cause for great thankfulness. God created this entire universe for us to enjoy, because He loves us.
Isaiah 40:12 tells us that God measured the entire universe with the span of His hand (the distance between the thumb and forefinger).
There IS a God, and He loves each and every one of us, and knows each of us personally. In fact, He knows each one of us better than we know ourselves. He created each of us as a unique, wonderful person to share in fellowship with Him. Our strengths and weaknesses, everything that we are, all come from Him. We are each created by Him, and are special to Him. If you want to know Him more deeply, continue to visit this site. God willing, I will be posting more Bible studies over the upcoming months.

Top Ten Largest Rivers Of The World

Have you ever sailed on one of these following largest rivers in the world? If you haven’t tried to sail at the sea, then try to sail on these rivers. Since they are really large and long, some of you should have come to try to sail on them. As you know, rive has a long history in human life. Several rivers in several countries are the main transportation lines. Some rivers are even used for trading and business. These largest rivers are for examples.

1. Amazon River

 Amazon River is the largest river in the world by volume of water discharged. It’s the second longest river in the world. It has the largest drainage basin in the world, about 7,050,000 square km and accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world’s total river flow. This largest rivers in the world is also generally called the Amazon downstream from the confluence of the Maranon and Ucayali rivers in Peru. 

2. Congo River

Congo River is one of the largest rivers in the world by volume of water discharged. It’s a river in Africa and also the deepest in the world, with measured depths in excess of 220 m. With overall length of about 4,700 km, this second largest river in the world is also considered as the ninth longest river in the world.

3. Orinoco River

Orinoco River is one of the largest rivers in the world. It’s also one of the longest rivers in South America at 2,140 km. Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers about 880,000 square km, with 76.3% of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. This 3rd largest river in the world and its tributaries are the major transportation system for eastern and interior Venezuela and the Ilanos of Colombia.

4. Yangtze River

Yangtze River is one of the largest rivers in the world. It’s the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world. It flows for about 6,418 km from the glaciers on the Qinghai-Tiber Plateau in Qinghai, before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. This 4th largest river in the world also drains one-fifth of the land area of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its river basin is home to one-third of the PRC’s population.

5. Brahmaputra River

Brahmaputra River is one of the largest rivers in the world. It’s a transboundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia and also known as Tsangpo-Brahmaputra. With its origining at Angsi Glacier, this 5th largest largest river in the world flows across southern Tibet to break through the Himalayas in great gorges and into Arunachal Pradesh where it is known as Dihang or Siang.

6. Yellow River

Yellow River is one of the largest rivers in the world. It’s the second-longest river in China after Yangtze River and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of 5,464 km. Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, this 6th largest river in the world flows through nine provinces of China and empties into the Bohai Sea.

7. Ob River

Ob River is one of the largest rivers in the world. It’s a major river in western Siberia, Russia, and also the world’s seventh longest river in the world. This 7th largest river in the world is also the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean: the other two are Yenisei River and Lena River. The Gulf of Ob is the world’s longest estuary.

8. Yenisei River

Yenisei River is one of the largest rivers in the world. It’s the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. This river is also the central of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean (the other two being the Ob River and the Lena River). Rising in Mongolia, this 8th largest river follows a northerly course to the Yenisei Gulf in the Kara Sea, draining a large part of central Siberia.

9. Mississippi River

Mississippi River is one of the largest rivers in the world. It’s the chief river of the largest river system in North America. It flows entirely in the United States, rises in northern Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for 4,075 km to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. This 9th largest rivers in the world also drains all or parts of 31 US states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains.

10. Parana River

Parana River is one of the largest rivers in the world. It’s a river in south Central South America, running thorough Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some 4,800 km. It is also the second largest in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. This 10th largest rivers in the world will merge first with the Paraguay River and then farther downstream with the Uruguay River to form the Rio de la Plata and empties to the ocean.

Nile-The Largest River in the World

 

The largest river in the world can be hard to calculate. Many factors come into play: the source, the identification of the mouth, and the measurement of the river length between source and mouth. As a result, the measurements of many rivers are only approximations. So, there has been disagreement whether the Amazon or the Nile is the world’s largest river based on the inclusion of estuaries.
The mouth of a river is hard to determine in cases where the river has a large estuary that gradually widens and opens into the ocean. The source of some rivers starting in farming areas can be difficult to determine, if the river is formed by the confluence of several farm field drainage ditches which only contain water after rain. Similarly, in rivers starting in a chalk area the length of the upper course which is dry varies with how high the water table is. How large a river is between source and mouth may be hard to determine due to issues of map scale. Small scale maps tend to generalize more than large scale maps. In general, length measurements should be based on maps that are large enough scale to show the width of the river, and the path measured is the path a small boat would take down the middle of the river.
Given, and despite, this ambiguity, the Nile has been determined to be the largest river in the world followed by the Amazon and the Yangtze. The Nile is a north-flowing river in North Africa. It is 6,650 km long. It has two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The Blue Nile is the source of most of the water and fertile soil in the system. The White Nile is longer and rises in central Africa beginning in Rwanda. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The northern section of the Nile flows almost entirely through desert. Most of the ancient civilizations of the area were centered along the river’s banks. The Nile ends in a large delta that empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

Top Ten Largest Lakes in the World

The Ten Largest Lakes of the World

Rank Name, Location Area (sq. miles) Length (miles) Max. Depth (feet) 1. Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan-Russia-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran (salt water) 152,239 745 3,104 2. Superior, U.S.-Canada 31,820 383 1,333 3. Victoria, Tanzania-Uganda 26,828 200 270 4. Huron, U.S.-Canada 23,010 247 750 5. Michigan, U.S. 22,400 321 923 6. Aral, Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan 13,000 266 223 7. Tanganyika, Tanzania-Congo 12,700 420 4,708 8. Baikal, Russia 12,162 395 5,712 9. Great Bear, Canada 12,000 232 270 10. Nyasa, Malawi-Mozambique-Tanzania 11,600 360 2,316

Note: The Caspian Sea is called "sea" because the Romans, finding it salty, named it Mare Caspium. Many geographers, however, consider it a lake because it is land locked.

Top Ten Deadliest Tornadoes

Tornadoes cause major damage, often without warning. Severe thunderstorms can produce twisters more than a mile wide. The storms rip through both rural and urban areas causing billions of dollars in damages every year. Here, I present a list of the top 10 deadliest tornadoes in the United States. All statistics are from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). The NCDC maintains and archives all confirmed weather events for the United States.

1. March 18, 1925

The Tri-State Tornado event affected Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana injuring 2027 people. There were 695 deaths from the F5 tornado. The storm was so bad, the National Weather Service maintains a memorial page on the event called 1925: A Look Back at the Tri-State Tornado.

2. May 6, 1840

A tornado of unknown intensity struck Louisiana and Mississippi killing 317 people and injuring an additional 109. The event is summarized by the National Weather Service at the Natchez Tornado page.

3. May 27, 1896

A tornado estimated at an F4 rating on the Fujita Scale hit Missori and Illinois. At least 1000 were injured. The storm, known as the Great St. Louis Tornado, killed 255 people.

4. April 5, 1936

Mississippi was the target of a deadly F5 tornado that killed 216 people in Tulepo. More than 700 people were also injured in the event.

5. April 6, 1936

Just one day after the Mississippi tornadoes, an F4 tornado struck Georgia killing 203 people. The death toll was less than the death toll from the Missippi tornadoes, but the injury rate was higher. A total of 1600 people were injured in the tornado.

6. April 9, 1947

Tornado Alley lived up to its name in the tornado event on April 9, 1947 in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The death toll was 181 people. An additional 970 people were injured.

7. April 24, 1908

Amite, Louisiana and Purvis, Mississippi were hit by tornadoes estimated at an F4 intensity. A total of 770 injuries and 143 deaths were reported.

8. June 12, 1899

An F5 tornado hit Wisconsin causing 117 deaths and 200 injuries. The event, known as the New Richmond Tornado, was the worst tornado in Wisconsin history.

9. May 11, 1953

The Waco, Texas tornado event of 1953 struck the town with a vengeance. Death tolls from the storm totaled 114 individuals. A reported 597 additional people were also injured.

10. June 8, 1953

The Beecher-Flint, Michigan Tornado was an F5 that killed 115 people and injured an additional 844.

Crab in the tide pool

Here is a photo that shouldn't be published, yet here it is on Forgotten Photo Friday. It's a picture of a crab. Can you spot it? It's a little fuzzy because it was shot through three inches of water.

You may have to wait until it moves…

Natural tips

Natural ways to remove scars

1. To clear scars caused by accidents, roast turmeric powder (not packed turmeric available in markets but turmeric used on face) and mix it with desi ghee. Apply this gently on your scars with the help of your fingertips. Wash this off in about 20 minutes. This mixture completely clears scars but it is always good to ask your physician before starting off on any beauty regime.

2. Another homemade remedy to clear scars is by the use of baking soda, which is a natural exfoliator and aids in gently scraping the scar tissue layer by layer. Make a light paste using two parts of water and one part of baking soda. Scrub this gently on the scars for about a minute after which you can rinse it off. Make sure you avoid rubbing vigorously.

 What to remember: 

1. Apply vitamin E oil, you can extract it from a capsule and apply it on your scars before you hit the bed everyday. This is an effective method to fade out spots and scars. 

2. Drink a lot of water. Keep a track that you eat healthy because this helps in removing the toxins from your body and in turn gives you a scar-free face.

3. Never use plain lemon juice on your face because it can harm the skin. Dilute lemon juice in water or rose water and then use it on your skin.
4. Wash your face at least twice a day if not more, using fresh cold water. This prevents the clogging of pores.5. Use a good oil control face wash to help prevent excess oil secretion which leads to acne and scars.

5 Natural tips to prevent hair loss

1. Hot oil treatments: Take any natural oil - olive, coconut, canola - and heat it up so that it is warm, but not too hot. Massage it gently into your scalp. Put on a shower cap and leave it on for an hour, then shampoo your hair.

2. Natural juices: You can rub your scalp with either garlic juice, onion juice or ginger juice. Leave it on overnight and wash it thoroughly in the morning.

3. Get a head massage: Massaging your scalp for a few minutes daily will help stimulate circulation. Good circulation in the scalp keeps hair follicles active. Circulation may be improved through massage by using a few drops of lavender or bay essential oil in an almond or sesame oil base.

4. Antioxidants: Apply warm green tea (two bags brewed in one cup of water) on your scalp and leave this mixture on for an hour and then rinse. Green tea contains antioxidants which prevent hair loss and boost hair growth.

5. Practice meditation: Believe it or not, most of the times, the root cause for hair loss is stress and tension. Meditation can help in reducing that and restore hormonal balance.

DO IT NATURALLY......

Cure Your Common Cold The Natural Way

Here's what you can do in this cold-and-cough season.

There is no reason or no weather to get a common cold.
Wheezing, cough, runny nose and an aching body are the symptoms and it's horrid, even popping in medicines doesn't help.What does help is a DIY detox bath which is really effective. What all you need? A bath tub, hot water, hydrogen peroxide (3 per cent) and about 50 gram grounded sugar.

Run a hot bath, it opens up all the pores and prepares the body for cleansing. Add 1.5 litres (or three pints) hydrogen peroxide (3 per cent) in the hot water. This oxygenates the body and helps purge toxins. It's also antibacterial and antiviral. Add the grounded sugar, a natural anti-inflammatory that increases blood circulation and helps promote the elimination of toxins. Mind you, you will sweat, a lot. Soak in this for about 30-40 minutes. The more you sweat, the better as the sweat detoxes the body.
Try it on if you have a cold or a cough. Also, after this detox programme, drink a lot of water as your body needs all the fluids back. However, some people might be allergic to hydrogen peroxide, in case you have a sensitive skin, consult a physician before this DIY bath

 

Largest Volcano Eruptions

The biggest eruption was at Yellowstone about 2.2 million years ago. An explosive eruption produced 2,500 cubic kilometers of ash 

(That’s about 2,500 times more ash than Mount St. Helens erupted!)

Yellowstone has had three very large eruptions in the last 2 million years. These eruptions occurred 2.2, 1.2, and 0.6 million years ago.

Only four eruptions in the last 10,000 years have been assigned a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7.
They are:

• Tambora, Indonesia 1815
• Baitoushan, China-Korea border, about 1050
• Kikai, Japan, about 4350 B.C.
• Crater Lake, Oregon, USA, about 4895 B.C.

A Big Ten list of eruptions based on explosive force and destruction in recent time would include:

1. Tambora, Indonesia 1815: VEI=7, 92,000 casualties
2. Santorini, Greece 1628 B.C.: VEI=6, unknown casualties
3. Krakatau, Indonesia 1883: VEI=6, 36,400 casualties
4. Santa Maria, Guatemala 1902: VEI=6, 6,000 casualties
5. Mount St. Helens, USA 1980: VEI=5, 57 casualties
6. Vesuvius, Italy 79: VEI=5, 3,360 casualties
7. Pinatubo, Philippines 1991: VEI=5, 932 casualties
8. Mount Pelee, Martinique 1902: VEI=4, 29,000 casualties
9. Nevado del Ruiz, Columbia 1985: VEI=3, 23,000 casualties
10. Unzen, Japan 1792: VEI=2, 15,000 casualties.

Bemuda Triangle

You won't find it on any official map and you won't know when you cross the line, but according to some people, the Bermuda Triangle is a very real place where dozen of ships,planes and people have disappeared with no good explanation. Since a magazine first coined the phrase "Bermuda Triangle" in 1964, the mystery has continued to attract attention. When you dig deeper into most cases, though, they're much less mysterious. Either they were never in the area to begin with, they were actually found, or there's a reasonable explanation for their disappearance.
Does this mean there's nothing to the claims of so many who have had odd experiences in the Bermuda Triangle? Not necessarily. Scientists have documented deviations from the norm in the area and have found some interesting formations on the seafloor within the Bermuda Triangle's boundaries. So, for those who like to believe in it, there is plenty fuel for the fire.
In this article, we'll look at the facts surrounding what we do know about the area as well as some of the most commonly-recited stories. We'll also explore the bizarre theories like aliens and space portals as well as the mundane explanations.
­Many think of the Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, as an "imaginary" area. The U. S. Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle and does not maintain an official file on it. However, within this imaginary area, many real vessels and the people aboard them have seemingly disappeared without explanation.
The Bermuda Triangle is located off the Southeastern coast of the United States in the Atlantic Ocean, with its apexes in the vicinities of Bermuda, Miami, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. It covers roughly 500,000 square miles.
The area may have been named after its Bermuda apex since Bermuda was once known as the "Isle of Devils." Treacherous reefs that have ensnared ships sailing too close to its shores surround Bermuda, and there are hundreds of shipwrecks in the waters that surround it.

Highest Mountain Ranges in the World

The world’s tallest mountains are some of the most majestic and beautiful things that one can be blessed enough to witness in their lifetime. They are all located in Asia and each reach an altitude of over eight thousand meters in height. There are only fourteen mountains in the world that can boast such a height.

Below are the ten highest of these fourteen mountains.
Mount Everest. Standing at about 29,029 feet (8,848 meters), Everest boasts the top spot for the tallest mountain in the world. It is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and Tibet, China and is part of the Himalayan Mountain Range. Although it is the tallest mountain and attracts many climbers of both advanced and limited climbing skill, it is one of the easier mountains to climb. Don’t be mistaken by what we mean by easier, there is still the danger posed by weather changes, winds, temperature and altitude sickness that can make such a long climb difficult, but the terrain is a lot more simple to take than some of the other tallest mountains like K2 or Nanga Parbat.
K2 (Mount Godwin-Austen) is located on the border between Pakistan and China and is part of the Himalayan Mountain Range. It is the second highest mountain in the world and is a far more treacherous climb than Everest. In fact, one of every four people that attempts to reach the summit at about 28,251 feet (8,611 meters), dos not live to see the bottom again. Of all of the highest mountains, above eight thousand meters, K2 has the third highest mortality rate.
Kangchenjunga, once thought to be the tallest mountain in the world, was stated as the third highest mountain at 28,169 feet (8,586 meters) in 1848. Its name translates to “The Five Treasures of the Snow” and each of these peaks is said to represent the five repositories of God: gold, silver, gems, grain and holy books. This mountain is sacred to Kirant religion and because of this when the first expedition to the summit occurred in 1955; the British exploration team stopped a few feet away from the actual summit out of respect. A tradition which most teams that have successfully reached the summit have honorably followed.
Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain on Earth and is connected to Everest at the South Col. It is located on the boarder between Nepal and China and at it highest peak is about 27,940 feet (8,516 meters) high. This mountain is best known for its close proximity to Everest but is special in own right because it is the home of the steepest face of a mountain that is approximately 1.98×1.4 miles in size. This southern face has been the setting for any failed attempts, some notable fatalities and very few successful summit reaches.
Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world and is located about 14 miles east of Everest. It is located on the boarder of Nepal and China. It is an isolated peak that has the unique shape of a four-sided pyramid. There is another subsidiary peak that doesn’t quite meet up to the “eight-thousander” reputation called Kangchungtse, or Makalu II. It lies northeast of the main summit and is connected to it by a arrow saddle called Chomo Lonzo.
Cho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain in the world and stands at about 26,906 feet (8,201meters) high. Like most of the other Himalayan Mountains, it lies between Nepal and China (Tibet). Its name in Tibetan means “Turquoise Goddess”. It was used as a warm up for climbing Mount Everest when people were first exploring the Himalayan Mountains and today it is considered the easiest of al of the “eight-thousander” mountains to climb.
Dhaulagiri is the seventh highest mountain in the world and is about 26,795 feet (8,167 meters) tall. It is located just north of central Nepal. Its name means “White Mountain”. The South and West faces of Dhaulagiri both feature massive drops; each rises over 4000 meters from its base, and each has been the site of epic climbs. This mountain, along with Annapurna, is home to a more dramatic scene than most of the other mountains, for they face each other while separated by a valley. This is an amazing sight to see, and one of the main reasons why, for thirty years, it was thought to be the highest mountain in the world.
Manaslu, when translated means “Mountain of the Spirit” and is the eighth highest mountain in the world. It is a part of the Nepalese Himalayans and stands at about 26,759 feet (8,156 meters) high. The mountain’s long ridges and valley glaciers offer feasible approaches from all directions, and culminate in a peak that towers steeply above its surrounding landscape. This is the most dominant feature when viewed from far way.
Nanga Parbat is the world’s ninth tallest mountain and stands at about 26,660 feet (8,126 meters) in height. Although the name is Urdu for “Naked Mountain”, for first half of the twentieth century it was known as “Killer Mountain”. It was called this because it used to be an incredibly dangerous climb to the top. Now however, it is less dangerous to climb, but still very difficult. This mountain is an immense and dramatic peak that rises above its surrounding area in Pakistan.
Annapurna is a series of peaks, the highest of which is called Annapurna I, which is the tenth highest mountain in the world. It is located in central Nepal and is approximately 26,545 feet (8,091 meters) tall. Its peaks are some of the world’s most dangerous to climb. In fact, they have a fatality rate of about forty percent.

World's Top Ten Highest Mountains

Rank	Mountain	Range	Country	Feet
1.	Everest	Himalayas	Nepal/Tibet	29,035
2.	K2 (Mount Godwin Austen)	Karakoram	Pakistan/China	28,250
3.	Kangchenjunga	Himalayas	India/Nepal	28,169
4.	Lhotse	Himalayas	Nepal/Tibet	27,940
5.	Makalu	Himalayas	Nepal/Tibet	27,766
6.	Cho Oyu	Himalayas	Nepal/Tibet	26,906
7.	Dhaulagiri	Himalayas	Nepal	26,795
8.	Manaslu	Himalayas	Nepal	26,781
9.	Nanga Parbat	Himalayas	Pakistan	26,660
10.	Annapurna	Himalayas	Nepal	26,545