10 Interesting facts about Australia

1. Each and every part of Australia is within a distance of 1000km from ocean or a beach.

2. 30,028 square km of land is under cattle ranch. This area size is almost the same as that of the whole Belgium.

3. People of Queensland in Australia are called "Banana Benders", and "Sand Gropers" is the name given to the people from Western Australia.

4. There are nearly 20,000,000 people in Australia, of which approximately 80% live in cities next to the sea.

5. Australia has, probably, the lowest population density of any country in the world, ie, 2 people per square km. Japan has 327 people/2km.

6. The area of Australia that is covered by snow in winter is larger than the area of Switzerland.

7. 70% of the world's wool comes from Australia. We have over 126,000,000 sheep, which use fully half the continent for grazing.

8. The longest fence in the world is in Australia, and it runs for over 5,530 kms. It's designed to keep dingoes away from the sheep.

9. The wine cask, the ubiquitous plastic bag full of wine contained in a cardboard box, was invented in Australia in 1967.

10. The world's longest golf course, measuring more than 850 miles long is located in Australia.

Want to heat a Cup of Coffee?

If you screamed constantly for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would produce enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. How that was figured out, we have no idea, and we don't know if it's true, but its pretty interesting fact.

Largest Barbie Doll collection by Bettina Dorfmann

Bettina Dorfmann, has collected 6,025 Barbie dolls, worth £100,000 setting the world record for the Largest Barbie doll collection. The obsessed Barbie fan keeps the dolls in a bedroom, her cellar and half the kitchen in her house. She plans to boast a collection of at least 10,000 dolls. She started collecting Barbies from 1993 and doesn't plan on ever ending her quest for new additions. Her first one was a rare Midge doll, brought out by Mattel in 1963 and marketed as Barbie's best friend. She has even set up a repair service with people sending her dolls from all across the world. Bettina Dorfmann says she will not stop collecting Barbies until she dies.

First News - World's smallest newspaper

FirstNews, a children's publication (London, England), has hit the Guinness Book of World Records for being the world's smallest newspaper. Though you may need to have a magnifying glass ready before attempting to read the paper. The smallest newspaper was launched by editorial director Piers Morgan, Its aims 7-14 years old readers. The size of the paper is 32 x 22 mm (1.25 x 0.86 in).

Walter Cavanagh owns 1,497 valid credit cards

Walter Cavanagh has 1,497 valid credit cards, all of which amount to a $1.7 million line of credit. Currently, he holds the record for the most credit cards and for the world's longest wallet, which stretches 250 feet, weighs about 38 pounds and can hold 800 cards. But he keeps most of them in bank safe-deposit boxes.

The "Guinness Book of World Records" gave him the title "Mr. Plastic Fantastic" and he has been in the book every year since 1971.

Biggest collection traffic cones

David Morgan from Burford, England has the biggest collection traffic cones. David, began collecting traffic cones in 1986. He now owns a traffic cone from more than two thirds of all the types of cone ever made. He set the Guinness World Record with 137 different traffic cones. Since then his collection amassed to more than 550 different cones.

David finds traffic cones shapes, models and sizes very interesting. Wherever he goes, he collects traffic cones. He stores his cone collection in a lock up with no harmful UV light to break down the plastic cones. In fact he is a sales director of a plastics factory which is the world's largest producer of the cones, so David is often dubbed "cone man".

Monowi, Nebraska - One women town

Monowi is a village in Nebraska, United States, whose only remaining resident is a 77-year old woman named Elsie Eiler. Eiler lives in a mobile home a half-block from the only business left in Monowi, a dark, wood-paneled tavern, thick with smoke which Eiler runs. She also runs the town library, a tiny building jammed with 5,000 books left behind by her late husband who was a devoted reader. Elise is also the mayor of Monowi.

Monowi's peak years were in the 1930s, when it had a population of 130. Monowi, like many other small communities in the Great Plains, lost its younger residents to cities that were experiencing growth and offering better jobs. During the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 2 - only one married couple, Rudy and Elsie Eiler. Mr. Eiler died in 2004, leaving his wife Elsie Eiler as the only remaining resident.

Eiler's life as its mayor and sole resident is surreal. Once a year she raises taxes from herself to keep the four street lights on and a few other basic amenities going. She runs the town's only business, the Monowi Tavern, and lives in the only remaining habitable building. She grants her own liquor licence and elects herself mayor. Her customers come off the highway that runs through Monowi or from nearby towns.

This town is an extreme example of what has happened across America's heartland. The depopulation of the countryside over the last 50 years has been called the largest migration in American history. Nowhere is that more starkly illustrated than on the Great Plains, which includes Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. 

Sailing Stones of Death Valley

It is one big mystery that a stone that weighs more or less like a man can move on its own. This has become quite a puzzle for the past decade. The mysterious sailing stones of Death Valley have been discovered to slide over valleys that people do not live in. These valleys are filled with dry cracking muddy ground during summer and ice during winter. Many geologists have gone to all the places in Racetrack Playa and its surrounding.

The sailing stones of Death Valley slide on very smooth ground and leave a trail behind. Some geologists came up with the conclusion that the mysterious sailing stones of death valley move through the smooth ground when the mud is wet and the stones have little ice droplets on them with the help of the wind. This is however not entirely true because the stones move during the summer when the temperature is too high and even dries the stones themselves.The mysterious sailing stones of Death Valley not only slide on smooth ground but dig and leave shallow track in their wake.

The sailing stones of Death Valley are a magnificent phenomenon in the sense that they can take different turns around each other. This is mind challenging because the mysterious sailing stones of Death Valley start moving in a parallel direction. As the years proceed, each stone takes its own different path. Some stones make linear turns others make oval turns while others create a wavy shape on their tracks. No one has ever seen them move and nobody knows the speed they move with. The mysterious sailing stones of Death Valley turn while they are sliding through the flat leveled valley and this leaves different tracks behind them. Some stones move further than others over two to five years.

World's most expensive Razor

The most expensive razor with pure sapphire blades with an edge less than 100 atoms across, 5000 times thinner than a strand of your hair, the Zafiro Iridium razor may have even the best straight razor beat.

The handle is made out of 99.95% pure iridium, one of the rarest elements present in the earth’s crust. The hexagonal screws used in the razor are 99.95% pure platinum.

The Zafiro Iridium razor went on sale for a cost of $100,000 per piece, setting the world record for Most expensive razor.

Longest Place Name in the World

"Taumata whakatangihanga koauau o tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu" is the Māori name for a hill, 305 metres (1,001 ft) high in New Zealand. It has gained a measure of fame as it is the longest place-name found in any English-speaking country.

The name on the sign that marks the hill is "Taumata whakatangihanga koauau o tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu", which translates roughly as The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one. At 85 letters, it has been listed in the Guinness World Records as one of the longest place names in the world.

It’s shortened to "Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu" (57 letters) in the New Zealand Geographic Placenames Database, and often shortened even further to “Taumata”, for ease of conversation by the locals.

High Heel Marathon Event

High heel marathon is an unusual event, which is held in many cities, such as Sydney, Paris, Moscow and Amsterdam. But the citizens of Milan were lucky most of all - not every day the winner of such race gets a couple of delicious, lust luxury open-toe sandals from Manolo Blahnik.

Up to 300 girls took part at this competition who must overcome a distance of 80 m running on high heels. The heels should be a minimum 7 cm height and 1.5 cm in diameter. All these fashion sacrifices make only with the aim to get a pair of sandals from the shoe master Manolo Blanik. The winner in the Milan race was not single, but three which means that these three lucky women became the owner of the most elegant heels in the world.

The Man who invented Basketball

James Naismith a Canadian-American sports coach was the inventor of Basketball. He invented the sport of basketball in 1891. He was the one who wrote the original basketball rule book. At Springfield YMCA Naismith was asked to create a new indoor game within 14 days.

The first game of basketball was played in December 1891. And, in the year 1936, Basketball was introduced in the official Olympic sports program when Naismith was 75. He witnessed his creation to be the part of most precious Olympic Games. Naismith was also a National Guard chaplain with the First Kansas Infantry Regiment. He taught his soldiers basketball to control their excess energy.

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, Golden Rock, Burma

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda also known as Golden Rock, sits on top of a granite boulder covered with gold leaves pasted on by devotees. The magnificent Golden Rock balances on the edge of a cliff at the top of Kyaikto Mountain. Believers claim that it was placed at the cliff's edge by two nats (Burmese guardian spirits) 2500 years ago on top of a hair of Buddha. The nats used a boat to search for the best location on which to keep this sacred hair. Having found a location on top of the tallest mountain around, the Nats placed a large boulder on top of the hair to keep it safe. It is this hair of Buddha what maintains the boulder balanced and prevents it from falling. The golden pagoda is 5.5m (18ft) tall sits on top of the rock. Kyaiktiyo has become a popular tourist attraction place of Pagodas in Burma.

Bailong Elevator - World’s tallest outdoor elevator

Bailong Elevator is claimed to be the world's tallest glass elevator, is built onto the side of a huge cliff in Zhangjiajie China and takes you a whopping 1,070 feet high. Bailong Elevator has set three Guinness world Records i.e. World’s tallest full-exposure outdoor elevator, world’s tallest double-deck sightseeing elevator and world’s fastest passenger traffic elevator with biggest carrying capacity but due to the potential harm caused to the surrounding landscape, its future remains uncertain.

Zeus - Guiness World Record for Tallest Dog

Zeus from Michigan in the United States has entered into the Guinness World Records 2013 Book for World's Tallest Dog. The 3-year-old dog measures 44 inches from foot to shoulder. Standing on his hind legs, Zeus stretches to 7-foot-4 and towers over his owner, Denise Doorlag. Zeus is so tall, in fact, that he can drink water from the kitchen faucet without even standing on his hind legs. Zeus breaks the record of previous record-breaking Giant George, who is 1-inch shorter. Zeus eats an entire 14-kilogram bag of food every day and weighs in at 70.3 kilograms.

Real Superpower Man who eats everything

Michel Lotito has a stomach lining which is twice as thick as normal, and it is a rare condition that most doctors are not sure how it occurs. This man can eat metal, glass, as well as toxic and poisonous material. He also consumes mineral oil and drinks tons of water. His gastric juices, or digestive acids, are unusually powerful, which is the only explanation on how he can digest metallic feasts. He entered the Guinness book of records after eating an airplane. It took him TWO YEARS to finish it (from 1978 to 1980).

Here is the list of items consumed by Michel Lotito

Bicycle - 18
Shopping cart - 15
Television - 7
Chandelier - 6
Bed - 2
Skis - 1
Cessna aircraft - 1
Coffin - 1
A steel chain - 400m

Michel Lotito died of natural causes on June 25, 2007, ten days after his 57th birthday.

El Colacho Festival, Spain

El Colacho Festival, better known as the Baby Jumping Festival, it takes place in June of each year in Castrillo de Murcia, Spain. It is a truly bizarre Spanish practice that dates all the way back to 1620, which celebrates the Christian Feast of Corpus Christi. It's hard to explain the Baby Jumping Festival without sounding like I’m making it up, but here it goes. Grown men dress up as the Devil and jump over babies born in the last 12 months of the year, which lie on mattresses in the street. The aim of the festival is to cleanse the babies of original sin and protect them against illness and evil spirits. It is absolutely crazy to jump over babies in such a manner, if this happened outside of the festival child welfare or social services would surely be called in.

World's Smallest Fish

The Paedocypris progenetica is officially the world's smallest fish at only 7.9mm long, that is less than 1/3 of an inch! Not only is in the smallest fish in the world, but it is also that smallest vertebrate or backboned animal in the entire world! It was discovered in the swamps on the Indonesian island of Sumatra in water that has a PH level of 3. This is about 100 times more acidic than regular rainwater.

The Paedocypris progenetica is actually partially see-through, they have a reduced head skeleton, which leaves the brain completely unprotected by bone. The previous record for smallest vertebrate was held by an 8mm species of Indo Pacific Goby. This discovery was made in 2006, wonder if this really will hold up as the world's smallest fish.

World's most viewed photograph by Charles O'Rear

If you owned a Windows XP computer, then you viewed the image that has recently been called the world's most viewed photograph. Called the Bliss, it is the default wallpaper for the Luna theme of Microsoft's XP operating system, which was a big hit for the company. This success of the OS brought the photograph to the living rooms of as many as a billion people, if a blog is to be believed.

However, Charles O'Rear, the photographer who clicked the iconic picture, feels that the one-billion-figure is an educated guess rather than a fully-accounted-for statistic. Nevertheless, he does agree that the picture is easily one of the most recognisable across the world.

He says, "All the folks I talk with agree it is the most 'recognisable' photo ever. If it were shown to a villager in rural China, for example, good chance they would recognise it. If it were shown to astronauts on the ISS, good bet they would know it, too. I have seen it appear in photos of the White House situation room, the Kremlin, etc."

O'Rear took the picture five years before Windows XP was rolled out, when he was passing through Napa Valley in California. After he captured the image, he refrained from altering or digitally improving it in any way. Though it is not known how much Microsoft paid for the photograph, O'Rear says that the amount was "extraordinary."

World's Widest Street - 9 de Julio Avenue

9 de Julio Avenue (or Avenida 9 de Julio, in the local tongue) in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, is not just any street. Nine lanes wide, with gardened medians between the opposing flow of traffic, this is the widest street in the world. Only those with a quick pace and long legs will be lucky to get to the other side before the traffic lights at the intersection changes. A pedestrian crossing this street usually requires a few extra minutes and two to three traffic light rotations. 9 de Julio Avenue is only 1 km long but 110 meters wide.

The avenue's unusual width is because it spans an entire city block, the distance between two streets in the checkerboard pattern used in Buenos Aires. The avenue runs to the west of the Río de la Plata waterfront, from the Retiro district in the north to Constitución station in the south. It has up to seven lanes in each direction and is flanked on either side by parallel streets of two lanes each.

The avenue was first planned in 1888, with the name of Ayohuma; but the road was long opposed by affected landlords and residents, so work did not start until 1935. Even the French government refused to submit the embassy building for demolition, and local preservationists opposed the move as well, as the building is widely hailed as an architectural masterpiece. The initial phase was inaugurated on 9 July 1937 and the main stretch of the avenue was completed in the 1960s. The southern connections were completed after 1980, when the downtown portion of the tollway system was completed. Clearing the right-of-way for these intersections required massive condemnations in the Constitución area.