NASA NEWS

          National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was founded by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958 in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the first artificial satellite the previous year on July 29, 1958. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, on July 29, 1958 to established NASA  and it started operations on October 1, 1958.  President John F. Kennedy gave NASA the goal of sending a man to the moon by the end of the 1960s. There are some awesome facts about NASA - 

             

          NASA began its operation with 8000 employees, three major research laboratories - Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, an annual budget of  $100 million  and two small test facilities.

         On July 20, 1969, the first men walked on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission.

         Apollo was one of the most expensive American scientific programs ever. It cost was more than $20 billion dollars.

         Twelve men have walked on the moon, all during the Apollo missions.

         In 1970, the Apollo 13 lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded.

         The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft landed in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans when they returned to Earth.

          NASA has a goal to send man on Mars in the 2030s.

          NASA has an Office of Planetary Protection as there is a chance to find life on some other planet.

         NASA will pay you $15,000 for sleeping 24 hours a day for 90 days to measure the effects of zero gravity on your body.

         NASA will send you a text message on mobile whenever the International Space Station passes over your location.

         The area code of Kennedy Space Center  is 321.The number imitates the countdown before liftoff.

                         

         Famous actress Nichelle Nichols  became a recruiter of NASA in 1960, after her show Star Trek series got cancelled. She recruited the first female astronaut, Dr Sally Ride, and also the NASA administrator, Charles Bolden.

        The Discovery is one of the most impressive spacecrafts for NASA. It flew 39 space missions between 1984 and 2011.

        NASA has its own radio station called the 'Third Rock Radio'. The radio plays Rock music besides NASA news and mission updates.

       The Apollo Astronauts were unable to qualify for life insurance and were not insured by NASA.

       NASA will consider you as an astronaut if you travel at least 50 miles above the surface of the Earth otherwise not.

       Thad Roberts, a NASA scientist, went to federal prison for 7 years after having sex with his girlfriend on a bed full of stolen moon rocks.

       There  is a myth that NASA spent millions of dollars producing the space pen while soviet astronauts simply used a pencil.

       Cape Canaveral, Florida was chosen for launching spaceships because of its proximity to the equator. This location gives it more linear velocity than any other location in the United States.

                               

Google Story

        Google is the largest and most popular Search Engine in the world. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. The company was launched on September 4, 1998. Here is some interesting story about Google which you do not know -

        Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin kept their company name "Backrub". The name of Google came from the misspelling of founders "Googol", which is a mathematical term is basically 1 with a 100 zeros following it.
  
                                

        In 1999, the founders of Google tried to sell their company to Yahoo in just  $1 million but Yahoo rejected  their offer. Now Google is 400 billion dollar company.

        Google is the most visited website in Internet world, it also beats Facebook according to Alexa.

        Google operates 70 offices in more than 40 countries.

        Google homepage is used in 88 languages around the world.

        There are more than 2 million searches handled by Google in per second and over 1 billion per day by using over 1 million computers around the world.

       Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube — that's almost an hour for every person on Earth. 

      You can also see the map of Mars by searching Google Mars  -   is it not strange !

      Microsoft pay you for using Bing instead of Google.

      Some developers of Mozilla Firefox is now working for Google Chrome. 

      Go to Google homepage and type the words “I want to commit suicide”. Above all the search results, Google provides you the Suicide Helpline number of your country.

     Go to Google Maps . Click on the satellite view and zoom out as much as possible. You can see an amazing view of earth with real time shadows.  And zoom in twice You can see the real time clouds of earth. So amazing !

      Go to Google Image and Search “Atari breakout”,  you can play the game. Try it after reading the blog.

      Google set its logo on 31 March, 2001.

      Google earns US$20 billion a year from advertising, more than the revenues of CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX combined. Google earn its 91% revenue from advertisement.

     On August 16, 2013, Google went down for 5 minutes and in that time, the global Internet traffic dropped by 40%.

     When a Google employee dies, their spouses receive the half pay of 10 years and their children $1,000 per month until 19 years old.

     Gmail was first launched on 1st April, 2004 that's why many people thought that it was a April fool.

     The first tweet of Google  was "I'm feeling lucky" written in binary code.

     "Don’t be evil” is the unofficial slogan of Google. Google is used by 57%  american kids as their first word.

               

                         

                         

Land of the Rising Sun

     The word “Japan”  means “Land of the Rising Sun.”  Japan is an island nation situated in East Asia. Japan is the first country where you can see the first rising sun in the East in the morning.  That's why the celebration of New year start from Japan. The nation is located in Pacific Ocean with 6800 island. The country is in the east of  China, North Korea, Russia and South Korea.  You can make your next trip to Japan. Know some interesting facts about Japan before you travel -

     Japan is the 10th most populous country in the world with a population of over 127 million people. The Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area is the largest populated metropolitan area in the world with over 35 million people. Tokyo is the second most expensive city in the world to live in.

       More than 70% of Japan consists of mountains, including more than 200 volcanoes in which  over 100  volcanoes are active. Mt. Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan,  it is also an active volcano. 

                     

       21% of the Japanese population is over 65 years old, the highest proportion in the world. In Japan the average lifetime of a man is 83 years and women is almost 86 years. Japan has more than 50,000 people who are over 100 years old.

       One of the tragedy is that the suicide rates of Japan is one of the highest in the world. Japan has a ‘suicide forest’ Called ‘the perfect place to die’, in the Aokigahara forest  at Mount Fuji’s base is the world’s second most popular suicide point after San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

      Japan is one of the well literate country in the world with 99% literacy in children over 15  years old.

2.           Japan experiences about 1500 earthquakes per year. 
3.          Kongō Gumi Co., Ltd., a Japanese construction company is the oldest company of the world which operated from 578AD to 2006. The company was headquartered in Osaka and was absorbed as a subsidiary of Takamatsu in 2006.
4.            Many couples in Japan celebrate Christmas like Valentine's Day.  It is a unofficial holiday to the lovers in Japan.
6.    Sumo is Japan's national sport, although baseball is also very popular.In Japan, a sumo wrestler is known as Rikishi and the tradition of sumo wrestling is almost 1,500 years old. Sumo wrestlers eat a stew called Chankonabe . Many restaurants in the Ryogoku district of Tokyo serve this Chankonabe. Younger sumo wrestlers have to clean and bathe the senior wrestlers. In Japan there is a ‘crying sumo’ contest where wrestlers compete to see who can make a baby cry first.

     There are four different writing systems in Japan; Romaji, Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji.

       The Japanese eat more fish than any other people in the world, about 17 million tons per year. A large number a fisher live in the various island of Japan. Tsukiji market in Tokyo is the  largest fish market in the world. Japan import the highest seafood in the world,  about one third of the total, about four million tons  per year. More than 20% of Japanese protein is obtained through fish and fish products. 

         Shinjuku station is the  main train station of Tokyo which is the busiest station in the world with over 2 million people daily passing through this station. Japanese trains are among the world’s most punctual: their average delay is just 18 seconds, is it not amazing! And the video of cleaning of  the Bullet train in just 7 minutes is viral in Youtube and Social media. 

       

           90% of all mobile phones sold in Japan are waterproof because youth like to use them even while showering. 

          In 1993, Japanese author Yume-Hotaru wrote the world’s first novel  " Maho No I- rando"  which is written entirely on a cell phone. 

         Japan produces 60%  animated films and television shows of the world that's why there are almost 130 voice-acting schools in the country.

• In Japan there are more pets than children.
Japan has more than 3,000 McDonald’s restaurants, the largest number of McDonald’s restaurants in any other country outside the U.S. Due to a lack of a clear ‘R’ sound in Japanese people call Donald McDonald instead of Ronald McDonald in Japan.

Japan has more than 5.5 million vending machines. You can find them on almost every street corner. You can buy beer, cigarettes, condoms, comic books, toilet paper, umbrellas, porn magazines, and also used women's underwear.

Know your heart

      Heart is our most important organ, it keeps us alive after all it does the most important task to ensure that all of our organs will remain healthy. Heart works as a giant pump in our body. Heart performs its 24/7 hours duty when you are working, playing, sleeping or resting, heart does not take any break. Our heart can  beat even after disconnecting from the body. If you do not look after your heart your body will not be able to function properly. The heart of a adult is the same size of two fists and a child is the same size of a single fist.

      Our heart pump about 2,000 gallons of blood every day and  1.5  million barrels of blood during average a lifetime.

       The average  heart beats 72 times a minute, 100000 times a day,  3600000 times a year, and 2.5 billion times during a lifetime.

       An electrical system controls the rhythm of our heart  called the cardiac conduction system.

        The beating sound of our heart is caused of opening and closing of the valves of the heart.

        A woman’s heart beats slightly faster than a man’s heart.The heart  beat of an average adult man approximately 70 times a minute, whereas the average heart beat of a  woman is 78 times per minute.

       The heart pumps blood to 75 trillion cells of our body. The work done by the heart during average a lifetime is equal to 2.5 gigajoules.

         The heart start beating after four weeks of conception and does not stop until death.

         The heart pumps oxygenated blood through the aorta, the largest artery at about  1.6 km per hour.

        The first successful heart transplant was happened On December 3, 1967 by Dr. Christiaan of South Africa transplanted a human heart into the body of Louis Washansky.

        Heart cells stop dividing, which means heart cancer is extremely rare.

        The first open- heart surgery occurred in 1893 by  U.S.  cardiologists Daniel Hale Williams. The first implantable pacemaker  to Arne Larsson was used in 1958.

          The fairy fly is a kind of wasp, has the smallest heart of any living creature.The American pygmy shrew has the fastest heartbeat with 1,200 beats per minute.

          The hearts of a man and woman in love will begin to synchronize after the couple has gazed into each other’s eyes for three minutes. Men who are having an affair are more likely to die of cardiac arrest during sex.

          Most heart attacks happen on Monday. Christmas day is the most common day of the year for heart attacks.

                       

Awesome Antarctica

           Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent in the world. The icy continent covers more than 5.4 million square miles about one and a half times of the size of the United States. It is situated almost entirely within the Arctic Circle that's why the temperatures are consistently below zero.  Almost 99 percent of  Antarctica is covered in ice which is over 20 million square kilometers  and only 1 percent is ice-free. This ice, with an average thickness of 1.6 km, contributes about 70 percent of  the planet freshwater and 90 percent of the planet freshwater ice. Antarctica is the coldest part of the world. The coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth is minus  89.2 degrees Celsius  on July 21, 1983, at Antarctica's Vostok station. Once a period  of 40-50 million years ago the continent was as warm as California is currently because there were higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. That time the temperature has reached up to 17 degrees Celsius. A Russian expedition first discovered Antarctica in 1820.

          Antarctica is not only the coldest  but also windiest, highest and  driest continent on Earth. The Dry Valleys in Antarctica are the driest places on earth with low humidity and almost no snow or ice cover.  The valleys are just a dusty expanse of dirt.

          Antarctica has several volcanoes, the largest of them is Mount Erebus, this volcano was formed around 1.3 million years ago, and is almost 12,500 feet above sea level.

           The largest ice shelf of Antarctica is the Ross Ice Shelf, which is 197,000 square miles, 3.7 percent of the total area of Antarctica.

             The Transantarctic Mountains divide the continent into two sections. The 2,175 miles long Transantarctic range is one of the longest mountain ranges on Earth.

             There are more than 300 lakes in  Antarctica. Lake Vostok is the biggest among them.

           Antarctica is  the windiest place on Earth. Sometimes the wind speed  have reached up to 200 miles per hour. 

           The Gamburtsev Mountains is the biggest mountain range in Antarctica.

Mystery of The Bermuda Triangle

       The Bermuda Triangle is one of the great mystery of the world might which has no explanation. It is also known as the Devil's Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle is situated in the North Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico where dozens of ships and airplanes have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The area of the Bermuda Triangle covers about 500,000 square miles in the Atlantic Ocean. Actually it is the southeastern tip of Florida. The first case of the Bermuda Triangle published in the magazine "Bermuda Triangle" in 1964 by  the author Vincent Gaddis. The Bermuda Triangle has many  mysterious stories includes  Flight 19, a group of 5 U.S.  Navy torpedo bombers plane carrying 14 men took off from  Lauderdale, Florida, that vanished in the Triangle in December, 1945. That same day, a rescue plane with 13 crew members also disappeared. Other stories include the mystery of USS Cyclops,  a 542-foot-long the  largest  cargo ship   of U.S. Navy with a crew of 309 and 10,000 tons of manganese went missing in March 1918 between Barbados and the Chesapeake Bay.  In 1941 two of the Cyclops’ sister ships similarly vanished in the same route. Even recently in 2015, El Faro, a cargo ship with 33 on board vanished in the area. As far as it is known 75 planes and hundreds of ships have demised in the Bermuda Triangle. The US Army, Navy and Coast Guard agree with the disappearance.

        However, there is no single theory that solves the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. Scientists give the different explanation about the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, it may be for over time flying or sailing , ranging from the paranormal, electromagnetic interference that causes compass problems, bad weather, the gulf stream, and large undersea fields of methane. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson said  “Only God and the sea know what happened to the great ship”. After long time of search the U.S. Coast Guard said “In a review of many aircraft and vessel losses in the area over the years, there has been nothing discovered that would indicate that casualties were the result of anything other than physical causes. No extraordinary factors have ever been identified.”          
       
       Many other sources dismiss the idea of Bermuda mystery because Cruise ships regularly sail through the area, and commercial and private aircraft of  Americas, Europe and the Caribbean islands routinely fly over it.

                                           

Interesting story about Ashes Series

     Ashes is the most traditional Test cricket match series played between England and Australia. The series is playing since 1882-83. The first Test match between England and Australia was played in Melbourne, Australia, in 1877. After 5 years and played nine match Ashes series was started in 1882. The first match of Ashes was played in Oval, England on 30 December, 1882. So Oval is the birth place of Ashes. England won the First Ashes series. 
       Mr. Ivo Bligh was the first captain of  England in Ashes series. Ashes series played after one year or one time in two years. England won first 8 series continuously. Australia won the Ashes series in 1892, for the first time. At first days Ashes was 2 or 3 matches series but after 1897 Ashes became 5 matches series. 
       The winning team is awarded with a replica of the Ashes Trophy and the  original Trophy has kept in the MCC  museum at Lord's.The Ashes Trophy is made of terracotta  and about 15 cm  tall.
        So far, 325 tests have been played in Ashes series. Australia manages to win 130 matches while England have won 106 matches. However, 89 matches have finished in a draw. 
        Sir Don Bradman is the highest scorer in Ashes with more than 5000 runs and highest average ever. Shane Warne has played 14 years in Ashes series for Australia. He is the highest wicket taker in Ashes with 195 wicket.