Google are said to have more than 450 000 servers. The chocolate chip cookie was created by accident. There are penguins in Africa. Norway is the world's third largest oil exporter. Burma was the second richest country in Asia before WWII. Yellow is the color of mourning in Burma. A dog can hear sounds 250 yards away. About 50% of U.S. 21 year olds have produced web content. The first commercial text message was sent 1992. Singapore is the most expensive place on earth to own a car. Singapore is one of two cities in the world with a tropical rainforest. A day on Mars is about half an hour longer than a day on Earth. ------------------------------------- Africa Ethiopia celebrated millennium in September 2007. Uganda has the source of River Nile. People from Niger are Nigerien. People from Nigeria are Nigerian. About 20 million of flip flops are produced each year in Mombasa. Merry Christmas in Ghana is "Afishapa". Namib Desert is believed to be the oldest desert in the world. In Eastern Africa you can buy beer brewed from bananas. Togo held its first multiparty election for parliament in 1994. African Grey Parrots are known to have vocabularies of over 200 words. The African elephant is the Heaviest land mammal in the world. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue. About 28% of Africa is wilderness. In South Africa the @ is called "aapstert" which means a "monkey's tail". The only dog in the world that does not bark is an African dog, Basenji. Cape Agulhas is the southernmost tip in Africa. Some lions can mate over 50 times a day. Giraffes give birth standing up. The baby falls from a height of six feet and usually without being hurt. The most populated country in Africa is Nigeria. In Kenya a child's middle name is given based on the time during the day the child is born. Nigeria is home to about 400 languages. The Star of Africa is the largest cut diamond in the world. The reggae term Rastafarian refers to Haile Selassie. The highest free standing mountain in the world is Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes. Nine out of ten women in Ethiopia give birth at home. ------------------------------------------ Ancient Egypt The Egyptians thought it was good luck to enter a house left foot first. Only about 4% of Egypt can be used for agriculture. A group of Egyptian tombs is called a Necropolis. Cleopatra wasn't Egyptian, she was Greek. The only one of the Seven Wonders that still survives is The Great Pyramid of Giza. The first sailing boats were built in Egypt. The Great Pyramid at Giza plateau is made up of about 2,500,000 stones. These stones weighing between 2-70 tons each. The Great Pyramid at Giza holds a constant temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The Average Egyptian man was about 5 feet tall. Egypt was conquered many times before the Romans came. The first man ever to be mummified was probably Osiris. At the age of about 13 years old you were considered an adult. Priests removed all hair from their bodies including eyelashes and eyebrows. Mummies are wrapped with about ten layers of linen, sometimes more. The real name of Egypt is actually Misr. It was the Greeks who named it Egypt after its fall. Almost all of the Egyptians were clean shaven. There are two kinds of constructions to pyramids, step pyramids and true Pyramids. In Ancient Egypt there where just a few who knew how to read and write. About 99% did not. The longest river in the world is the Nile (4000 miles). The Egyptians where the inventors of the calendar. Every year the Nile flooded its banks for three months so the Egyptians set their calendars after it. The color of the pyramids was originally white but over the years the color has changed. Some doctors where 'skilled' and even performed brain surgery. Lettuce was grown in ancient Egypt. ------------------------------------------------ Australia Australia was once called New Holland. In Australia light bulbs are called globes. Ayers Rock means meeting place in the Aboriginal language. Lonely Planet is based in Melbourne Australia. Australians have about 380,000 sq m of land/per person. Yet 91% live in urban areas. Australia has more than 1500 species of spiders. Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. 95 percent of the world's opals are mined in Australia. Australia has the biggest number of wild one humped camels in the world. The biggest pure-gold nugget was found in Australia in 1869 and weighed 156 pounds. Australia use to have stamps that actually look like gems. The first time South Africa beat Australia in a cricket game was in Adelaide in 1910-1911. The only continent occupied by only one nation is Australia. There are 6000 species of flies in Australia. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest organic construction on earth. A billabong is a stagnant body of backwater attached to a river or a stream. QANTAS stands for Queensland and Northern Territories Airline Service. Australia is the world's driest continent. In Australia a banana bender means that a person comes from Queensland. It was an Australian meteorologist who first began to give tropical storms women's names at the end of the 19th century. Melbourne in Australia has, after Athens, the largest Greek population in the world. ---------------------------------------------- Brazil In Brazil about 40 percent of all vehicle fuel is ethanol. More than a 25% of all rainforest is in Brazil. Brazil has the biggest eucalyptus plantations in the world. Brazil is named after a tree. Brazil is home to the longest buses in the world. The buses are 26,5 metres long and made by Volvo. The biggest exporter of Brazil nuts is Bolivia. Brazilian bees could prevent tooth decay. Brazil has the 2nd highest Christian population in the world. Brazil has more species of monkeys than any other country. Brazil covers about 50% of the South American continent. Brazil once had an emperor, in 1822. Brazil borders every country in South America except Chile and Ecuador. Brazil's soccer team is the only team in the world to have won the World Cup 5 times. --------------------------------------------- Business & Money The first print ad for Johnnie Walker appeared in 1883. The original game of monopole was circular. The Chevrolet Cavalier, Honda Civic and Honda Accord where the top 3 selling cars in Canada in 1991. 681 cars were imported from the UK to Canada in 1939. Gasoline in US cost about $.33 per gallon in 1967. Turkey has about 60 companies that manufacturing chewing gum. Krispy Kreme dont spend money on advertising. Mesothelioma lawyers, consolidate loans and refinancing mortgage are three of Google's most expensive keywords. The best production year for Corvette's was 1979. A US Postage Stamp cost 10 cents in 1974. IBM's motto is Think. The Aztecs and Mayans used cacao beans as currency. Mercedes cars are named after an Austrian girl. Hilton was the first international hotel chain. Mozambique was the world's largest producer of cashew nuts during the 1970s. eBay is the Worlds Largest Online Auction. An angry Newcastle United fan once put the star player Kieron Dyer for sale on eBay. When other countries than the United States use the U.S. dollar as their currency is called dollarization. The BBC own the Fawlty Towers trade mark. Henry Ford was the first billionaire in the US. Nokia is named after a place in Southern Finland. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar. Monopoly game is considered to be the most played board game in the world. Liverpool had its own currency between 1793 - 1796. Travel is the worlds largest industry. The average items for sale on EBAY is about 18,000,000 at any time. Sweden is one of few countries where Coca-Cola sales drop a lot during Christmas. The reason is that most Swedes drink something called Julmust instead. The first penny had the motto Mind your own business. The most expensive teabag in the world was sold at auction for 7,500 pounds. The bag was filled with 280 diamonds. Pound for pound, hamburgers cost more than new cars. Dollar is the most common currency followed by franc, pound, dinar, peso, and rupee. Each year over $2,000,000,000 worth of Halloween candy is sold. American Airlines saved $40 000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class. On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag over the Parliament Building is an American flag. Al Capone made about $60 million dollars per year during the prohibition. 18% of an Americans income is spent on transportation. The harmonica is the world's best-selling music instrument. 96% of all candles being sold are purchased by women. The life span of 1 dollar bill is calculated for only 18 months. After the French Revolution of 1789 selling sour wine was considered against national interest and the punishment was execution. The three most valuable brand names on earth are Marlboro, Coca Cola, and Budweiser, in that order. The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer. 66% of home based businesses in the U.S. are owned by women. The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven is about $6 400. Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury. Green color was chosen for the paper currency in the U.S.