The unlucky number 13 !!!!

•It is estimated that the fear of Friday the 13th afflicts between 17-21 million people in the USA alone. Has anyone done the same research for Australia, the UK, Europe, Africa or Asia? It could be interesting to compare the differences.

• The state lotteries of France and Italy in particular, never sell tickets with that number printed on it.

• It is very unlucky to have a dinner table set for 13 people. It is believed that the first person to leave the table will die within a year. Some people believe the death of Jesus proves this.

• In Scotland, the number 13 is known as the Devil’s dozen.

• The registration of Princess Mary’s birth on that particular day was delayed on purpose so she would not be entered as number 13.

• All around the world, there are a certain major hospitals who will go out of their way not to label any of their operating theaters with the dreaded number 13. This is interesting as the health industry is supposed to be based upon the practicalities of science and not upon religious superstitions.

• You may remember the disaster that befell NASA’s space shuttle, Apollo 13. Did you know that Apollo 13 left our planet on the 13th hour? An explosion in the fuel cells of the service module severely crippled the spacecraft. The number 13 may have brought good luck for the 3 Astronauts who returned safety to earth on Friday 17 April 1970.

• Staying with NASA for the moment – this multimillion dollar corporation was forced to cancel a space launch scheduled to lift off on Friday 13 November 1981, due to a problem with fuel cells.

• Numerologists consider the number 12 as being a complete number, as there are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of both the eastern and western zodiacs, 12 Gods of Olympus, the 12 Labours of Hercules, the 12 Apostles and the 12 Tribes of Israel. To exceed this number by one is to go beyond completeness and perfection.

• Have you ever wondered why at school as young children, we were never allowed to learn our multiplication tables beyond the number 12?

• In regards to Friday, this too had a reputation of being a bad day. Here is just a small smattering of well known biblical events that all happened on a Friday – Jesus was crucified and Eve tempted Adam with an apple on a Friday. Today however, if you are an employee, you hang out and crave for Friday being the last working day of the week for most people.

Haji Mastan Mirza Biography (Sultan Mirza)

Haji Mastan Mirza popularly known as Haji Mastan OR bawa; was a Bombay (Mumbai) gangster and smuggler in the 1960s and 70s. He was born in the coastal town of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. Mastan became the first celebrity gangster of the city, expanding his clout in the Bollywood. As Mastan’s influence in Bollywood grew, he began to produce films. He was also known for his links with the legendary actor Dilip Kumar.During the Indian Emergency (1975 – 77) he was imprisoned, in prison he learned Hindi. Haji Mastan became a Muslim leader in 1984. He formed Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh in 1985-86. Aslam Kiratpuri a well known journalist, gave him ideas how to speak in public meetings after which he became a good speaker. In the year 1994 he died in Mumbai. Haji Mastan is a Tamilian who migrated to Mumbai from Madras at the age of 17 , in 1955. In fact, Tamil was the only language that he could read comfortably. He imported daily issues of Tamil newspapers in his Bombay home. Haji Mastan at first started working on docks of Bombay as a Cooli (porter) later became so powerful as to become indispensable to the political leadership of Maharashtra. After joining politics he had a long list of fan followers.

Haji Mastan Mirza popularly known as Haji Mastan OR bawa; was a Bombay (Mumbai) gangster and smuggler in the 1960s and 70s. He was born in the coastal town of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. Mastan became the first celebrity gangster of the city, expanding his clout in the Bollywood. As Mastan’s influence in Bollywood grew, he began to produce films. He was also known for his links with the legendary actor Dilip Kumar.During the Indian Emergency (1975 – 77) he was imprisoned, in prison he learned Hindi. Haji Mastan became a Muslim leader in 1984. He formed Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh in 1985-86. Aslam Kiratpuri a well known journalist, gave him ideas how to speak in public meetings after which he became a good speaker. In the year 1994 he died in Mumbai. Haji Mastan is a Tamilian who migrated to Mumbai from Madras at the age of 17 , in 1955. In fact, Tamil was the only language that he could read comfortably. He imported daily issues of Tamil newspapers in his Bombay home. Haji Mastan at first started working on docks of Bombay as a Cooli (porter) later became so powerful as to become indispensable to the political leadership of Maharashtra. After joining politics he had a long list of fan followers.

Haji Mastan planned his own foray into films with a project titled Mere Garib Nawaz and followed by other movies. He was a successful distributor and he excelled in cinema business. Deewar (1975 film) – a well recognized film in Bollywood’s crime genre – is based on the life of Haji Mastan. The protagonist in the film, played by Amitabh Bachchan survives as long as he wears a plate with the number 786, dies at the hands of his honest brother.

To give the role authenticity, Amitabh Bachchan reportedly (by whom?) met Haji Mastan to study his mannerisms.

Contrary to general belief, Haji Mastan Mirza was never an underworld don or even a goon for that matter. He was a smuggler and a shrewd man who rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty of his era. Be it Karim Lala or Varadarajan Mudaliar, Dilip Kumar or Shashi Kapoor, he had friends from the world of politics. To an extent, he was a simple man at home, with bare minimum needs and facilities. Though he possessed a huge mansion in a posh locality off Peddar Road, opposite Sophia College, he virtually lived his life in a small room built on the terrace of his bungalow. He worshipped the sea and had a clear view of the ocean from his terrace abode.

fact of hitler's love!!!!!!!

HITLER'S NIECE

By Ron Hansen.

310 pp. New York:

HarperCollins Publishers. $25.

In her poem ''Hitler's First Photograph,'' Wislawa Szymborska, the Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet, asks: ''And who's this little fellow in his itty-bitty robe? / That's tiny baby Adolf, the Hitlers' little boy! . . . / Where will those tootsy-wootsies finally wander? / To a garden, to a school, to an office, to a bride?''

In ''Hitler's Niece,'' Ron Hansen, the author of ''Mariette in Ecstasy'' and ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,'' among other books, seeks to answer those questions, which in the end boil down to -- how human are the inhuman? Dictators are most difficult to portray when they are at the height of their power, for by then they have sacrificed the conscience, compassion and humor that make us human. Tyrants are their own first victim. For that reason -- and in this there is a form of justice -- Anne Frank is more real to us than Hitler.

The very title of this work invites us to consider Hitler in a new light, not as Fhrer but as Onkel. But Hitler was no ordinary uncle -- his relationship with his niece Geli Raubal, the daughter of his half sister, is said to have been a noxious brew of avuncular solicitude and erotic obsession that led to the young woman's death at 23. Officially her death was labeled a suicide, though Hansen prefers homicide by Hitler himself as an explanation. Clearly it's the more dramatic solution, but since Uncle Adolf no doubt drove his niece to her death, there is at the very least a symbolic truth to this version. Ultimately, it does not matter greatly just how she died. What counts here is the depiction of Hitler, of his niece and of their relationship, perhaps the most grotesque of all concepts -- Hitler in love.

Geli is filled with the anarchic mischief of youth, and at her most winning when puncturing the pomposities of her uncle and his cronies. Rescued from poverty by Hitler, she is exhilarated and corrupted by her realization that her uncle's infatuation with her gives her power over him. At first she enjoys that power merrily as her uncle spoils her: ''Geli was new to luxuries and having money, and with a flirtatious tyranny forced her uncle to wait like a forbearing husband as she tried on 20 hats then settled on a beret, or dotted her wrists with French perfumes and held them to his fussy and defenseless nose.''

Fact about Dreams!!!

Dreams 

1. One third of our lives is spent sleeping.

2. In your lifetime, you would've spent about 6 years of it dreaming. That is more than 2,100 days spent in a different world.

3. Dreams have been here as long as mankind. Back in the Roman Era, striking and significant dreams were submitted to the Senate for analysis and interpretation.

4. Everybody dreams. EVERYBODY! Simply because you do not remember your dream does not mean that you did not dream.

5. Dreams are indispensable. A lack of dream activity can mean protein deficiency or a personality disorder.

6. We dream on average of one or two hours every night. And we often even have 4-7 dreams in one night.

7. Blind people do dream. Whether visual images will appear in their dream depends on whether they where blind at birth or became blind later in life. But vision is not the only sense that constitutes a dream. Sounds, tactility, and smell become hypersensitive for the blind and their dreams are based on these senses.

8. Five minutes after the end of the dream, half the content is forgotten. After ten minutes, 90% is lost.

9. The word dream stems from the Middle English word, dreme which means "joy" and "music".

10. Men tend to dream more about other men, while women dream equally about men and women.

11. Studies have shown that our brain waves are more active when we are dreaming than when we are awake.

12. Dreamers who are awakened right after REM sleep, are able to recall their dreams more vividly than those who slept through the night until morning.

13. Physiologically speaking, researchers found that during dreaming REM sleep, males experience erections and females experience increased vaginal blood flow - no matter what the content of the dream. In fact, "wet dreams" may not necessarily coincide with overtly sexual dream content.

14. People who are giving up smoking have longer and more intense dreams.

15. Toddlers do not dream about themselves. They do not appear in their own dreams until the age of 3 or 4.

16. If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.

17. Nightmares are common in children, typically beginning at around age 3 and occurring up to age 7-8.

18. In a poll, 67% of Americans have experienced Deja Vu in their dreams, occurring more often in females than males.

History and Fact about Mona Lisa!!!!

The Mona Lisa is possibly the most famous painting.  Known by many because of the model represented, it is shrouded in mystery.  Painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in a span of nearly 16 years during the Italian Renaissance, the portrait appears to ask questions of the viewer.  Long debated is the question as to who Da Vinci was painting.
One of the first theories is that the Mona Lisa portrait is actually a self portrait of Da Vinci.  Using talent and skill, DaVinci simply applied the necessary qualities to depict a female as opposed to his male self.  For a time this idea was embraced by many and comparisons were made between his features as those of the Mona Lisa.  Most recently this theory has since been considered to be false and replaced by several others.

To study the portrait one can see the similarities between the Mona Lisa and DaVinci’s self portrait.  Theorists who have since denied that the people depicted are one and the same point to the conclusion that DaVinci was responsible for both his self portrait and the Mona Lisa.  Therefore, the similarities would be apparent as artists tend to present signature qualities in their work regardless of the subject.

Many historians have pointed to numerous possible individuals who DaVinci could have painted.  These include those subjects closest to him such as his mother or grandmother.  In addition, DaVinci could have painted a random individual that presented some quality he wanted to capture.  In this instance the subject could possibly remain nameless forever.

Facts Egypt Mummy !!!!!!!!

2. Mummification was not limited to Egyptians. Greeks 
3. and Romans who resided in Egypt were also 
4. mummified in Egyptian fashion.
5. 
   
6. The process of mummification continued in Egypt as late as the fifth century c.e., then slowly tapered off when Christianity took hold.
7. 
   
8. From 400 to 1400 c.e. there was a common belief that mummia was a potent medicine with curative powers. This mummia was obtained by grinding up actual mummies.
9. 
   
10. Many travelers who visited Egypt from Europe in the 1600s and 1700s took mummies home and displayed them as centerpieces or in curio cabinets.
11. 
    
12. The study of Egyptian antiquities, known as Egyptology, became a popular academic discipline in the 1800s. The event of "unwrapping a mummy" became a most popular attraction and draw to European museums.
13. 
    
14. In 1896, British archaeologist William Flinders Petrie began using X-ray techniques to examine mummies without unwrapping them.
15. 
    
16. In the early 1970s, scientists began using computed tomography, or CAT scans, to create images of the insides of mummies. This aided them in determining information about the embalming and wrapping processes the Egyptians used.
17. 
    
18. During the 1980s and 1990s, scientists extracted DNA from mummies in hopes of gathering information about ancient Egyptian patterns of settlement and migration, as well as information on diseases and genetic characteristics.
19. 
    
20. Recent approaches to studying mummies involve the interdisciplinary cooperation of Egyptologists, physicians, radiologists, physical anthropologists, and specialists in ancient languages.
21. 
    
22. Recent discoveries of mummies in the Sinai Peninsula, the desert oases, and the eastern delta of the Nile River are providing abundant information about the regional mummification styles

Facebook – The Complete Biography

Facebook is the second largest social network on the web!!!!!!!!


Primarily focused on high school to college students, Facebook has been gaining market share, and more significantly a supportive user base. Since their launch in February 2004, they’ve been able to obtain over 8 million users in the U.S. alone and expand worldwide to 7 other English-speaking countries, with more to follow. A growing phenomenon, let’s discover Facebook.


History


Originally called thefacebook, Facebook was founded by former-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (while at Harvard) who ran it as one of his hobby projects with some financial help from Eduardo Saverin. Within months, Facebook and its core idea spread across the dorm rooms of Harvard where it was very well received. Soon enough, it was extended to Stanford and Yale where, like Harvard, it was widely endorsed.

Before he knew it, Mark Zuckerberg was joined by two other fellow Harvard-students – Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes – to help him grow the site to the next level. Only months later when it was officially a national student network phenomenon, Zuckerberg and Moskovitz dropped out of Harvard to pursue their dreams and run Facebook full time. In August 2005, thefacebook was officially called Facebook and the domain facebook.com was purchased for a reported $200,000.

Surveys & Studies

A large number of surveys and studies have been conducted around Facebook – some with interesting results. For instance, according to an internal September 2005 survey, approximately 85% of the students in the supported colleges had a Facebook account, with 60% of them logging in daily. A survey conducted by Student Monitor revealed Facebook was the most “in” thing after the iPod and tying with beer, and comScore Media Metrix discovered users spend approximately 20 minutes everyday on Facebook.Another 2005 survey said 90% of all undergraduates in the U.S. use either Facebook or MySpace regularly, and a detailed questionnaire analysis by Chris Roberts revealed that 76.2% never click on its ads. Perhaps the most amazing statistic of all may be that Facebook is the 7th most trafficked site in the U.S.

sharks - fact or fiction

• Sharks have been around for over 400 million years
• Sharks live in every ocean of the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
• The average life span of a shark is around 25 years, but some have been known to live to 100
• The biggest shark is the Whale Shark, it can be up to 50 feet (15 m) in length. It is what is called a filter feeder, it sieves plankton in huge amounts to eat through its gills as it swims along
• The dwarf lantern shark is the smallest shark at a size of around 15cm
• The Shortfin Mako shark is probably the fastest fish in the ocean
• The Whale Sharks has approximately 300 rows of teeth, each with hundreds of tiny teeth
• The Whale Shark has the biggest mouth of all the sharks
• The Great White Shark can grow to to 21 feet (6.4m) long. It is the largest meat eating member of the shark family
• Probably the most dangerous sharks in the world include the Great White, Tiger shark, Bull shark and the oceanic whitetip shark.
• The Great White Sharks can go for up to three months without eating
• Sharks have very sensitive hearing. A shark can identify much lower sounds than the human ear can. Sharks can hear sounds up to 700 feet away
• There are over some 330 species of sharks
• Sharks have an extremely acute sense of smell. Some sharks are thought to be able to track their prey by smell from over a mile away
• Sharks do not have bones their skeleton is made up of cartilage
• Sharks attack fewer than 100 people annually. More people are killed by dogs, pigs and deer each year than by sharks
• Fishermen kill an estimated 30 million to 100 million sharks every year
• A Shark has around six and a half tons per square inch of biting force
• The Dogfish shark is so called because of it's tendency to attack it's prey like a pack of wild dogs
• Fishermen are estimated to kill around 30 million to 100 million sharks each year
• Sharks don't chew - they use their teeth to bite and tear food
• Some people believe a shark will often mistake a surfer in the water for a seal or sea lion, both of which are among it's favourite snacks
• The White Shark is at the very top of the food chain
• About 35 species of shark are known to attack man
• Apparently bees, wasps and snakes kill more people each year than sharks
• To put it all into perspective in the USA alone you are 30 times more likely to get kill by lightening than from a shark.