World’s Most Creative Buildings

The Astra House (Germany)

The Basket Building (United States)

 The Blue Building (Netherlands)

The Crooked House (Poland)

 The Dancing House (Czech Republic)

Kansas City Library (United States)

The Piano House (China)

 The Robot Building (Thailand)

 Sam Kee Building: six feet deep, world’s thinnest (Canada)

Interesting Facts On India That You Had No Idea About

A floating post office

India has the largest postal network in the world with over 1, 55,015 post offices. A single post office on an average serves a population of 7,175 people. The floating post office in Dal Lake, Srinagar, was inaugurated in August 2011.

The highest cricket ground in the world: At an altitude of 2,444 meters, the Chail Cricket Ground in Chail, Himachal Pradesh, is the highest in the world. It was built in 1893 and is a part of the Chail Military School.

Shampooing is an Indian concept: Shampoo was invented in India, not the commercial liquid ones but the method by use of herbs. The word 'shampoo' itself has been derived from the Sanskrit word champu, which means to massage.

Kumbh Mela gathering visible from space: The 2011 Kumbh Mela was the largest gathering of people with over 75 million pilgrims. The gathering was so huge that the crowd was visible from space.

Bandra Worli Sealink has steel wires equal to the earth's circumference

It took a total of 2,57,00,000 man hours for completion and also weighs as much as 50,000 African elephants. A true engineering and architectural marvel.

The Indian national Kabaddi team has won all World Cups: India has won all 5 men's Kabaddi World Cups held till now and have been undefeated throughout these tournaments. The Indian women's team has also won all Kabaddi World Cups held till date.

Water on the moon was discovered by India: In September 2009, India's ISRO Chandrayaan- 1 using its Moon Mineralogy Mapper detected water on the moon for the first time.

Science day in Switzerland is dedicated to Ex-Indian President, APJ Abdul Kalam
The father of India's missile programme had visited Switzerland back in 2006. Upon his arrival, Switzerland declared May 26th as Science Day.

India's first President only took 50% of his salary: When Dr Rajendra Prasad was appointed the President of India, he only took 50% of his salary, claiming he did not require more than that. Towards the end of his 12-year tenure he only took 25% of his salary. The salary of the President was Rs 10,000 back then.

The first rocket in India was transported on a cycle: The first rocket was so light and small that it was transported on a bicycle to the Thumba Launching Station in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

 India has a spa just for elephants: Elephants receive baths, massages and even food at the Punnathoor Cotta Elephant Yard Rejuvenation Centre in Kerala. Now that's a BIG step for the country.

India is the world's second-largest English speaking country

India is second only to the USA when it comes to speaking English with around 125 million people speaking the language, which is only 10% of our population. This is expected to grow by quite a margin in the coming years.

The world's largest producer of milk: India recently overtook the European Union with production reaching over 132.4m tonnes in 2014.

 
The first country to consume sugar: India was the first country to develop extraction and purifying techniques of sugar. Many visitors from abroad learnt the refining and cultivation of sugar from us.

Rabindranath Tagore also wrote the national anthem for Bangladesh
Rabindranath Tagore is credited not only for writing the Indian national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, but the Bangladeshi national anthem, Amar Sonar Bangla, as well. He was also offered knighthood by the British but refused the honour after the Jalianwala Bagh massacre.

Dhyan Chand was offered German citizenship

After defeating Germany 8-1 in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Major Dhyan Chand, the wizard of hockey, was summoned by Hitler. He was promised German citizenship, a high post in the German military and the chance to play for the German national side. Dhyan Chand however declined the offer.

Astronaut Rakesh Sharma said India looks saare jahaan se achcha from space
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked the first Indian in space, Rakesh Sharma, about how India looked from space. His response was our famous patriotic song, "Saare Jahaan Se Achcha."

Havell's is purely an Indian brand & named after its first owner

Though the company was bought for just 10 lakh Rupees a long time ago and is now a multi-billion electrical goods company, it's an Indian company and is still named after its original owner, Haveli Ram Gupta.

Diamonds were first mined in India
Initially, diamonds were only found in the alluvial deposits in Guntur and Krishna District of the Krishna River Delta. Until diamonds were found in Brazil during the 18th century, India led the world in diamond production.

Snakes and Ladders originated in India

Earlier known as Moksha Patamu, the game was initially invented as a moral lesson about karma to be taught to children. It was later commercialized and has become one of the most popular board games in the world.

Cool Interior Design Tricks to Transform Your House

Accent wall: To make your room colorful and exciting, it’s not necessary to paint every wall. Simply paint one wall, or decorate it with wood panels.

Transparent furniture: This trick works especially well for small studio apartments because transparent furniture creates the illusion of extra space, adding a light and airy feeling to your interior design.

DIY ordinary furniture into designer pieces: With a bucket of paint and a few wood blocks, you can transform the simplest furniture into a designer piece. It will also be one of a kind.

 Plants: Plants bring life to the most boring home designs and also significantly improve the microclimate in a room. You can place them in different corners of the room or group them together on one shelf.

 Books as a design element: No need to hide your books in bookcases: their colorful spines will serve as a wonderful decoration. They can be showcased on the most unusual surfaces, even inside an old radiator.

Different chairs: Having identical chairs around your dining table is an old-fashioned and boring way to go. Decorators now suggest bringing different chairs into the same design: the main trick is to make sure they all work well together. For example, they can be of the same color or have a similar design.

Unusual lighting: Simple fairy lights can be turned into far more than a source of light. For instance, they can become an unusual canvas for polaroid photos.

Room dividers: A room divider is a great way to separate your space into several cozy areas. Besides, a divider does not have to be built from scratch: you can use a storage cabinet with open shelves.

A cozy window seat: The space by your window is the perfect place for relaxing. It could be a storage bench or a full sofa, where you can curl up with a good book or nap.

Bonus: In addition, if you really love nature, you can incorporate it into your design. For instance, use wooden elements in your furniture, hang a wall mural with a forest theme, or build a hanging bed for an outdoorsy feel.

Amazing Facts about Food

1. Peanuts are used to make dynamites.

2. Fortune cookies were invented in San Francisco in early 1900. They are not a traditional Chinese custom.

3. In  U.S an average person eats 35 tons of food in his/her lifetime.

4. Scientists found a way to turn peanut butter into diamonds.

5. The most stolen food in the world is cheese.

6. Honey can last for 3000 years, it is the only food item that will never get rotten.

7. Originally Carrots are purple in color.

8. Every year almost 50% of the world’s food is thrown away as waste.

9. In emergencies, coconut water can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.

10. “Soy-lent”, is a food substitute intended to supply all daily nutritional needs.

11. 40 years ago, chicken contained 266% less fat than it did now.

12. Nutritious food costs up to 10 times more than junk food ounce by ounce.

13. The most expensive coffee in the world, kopi luwak(“civet coffee”)costs around $80 for a single cup. It is brewed from the coffee beans that are partially digested by Asian palm civet.

14. Common bananas are all genetically identical, they all have the exact same generic code as the first Cavendish tree.

15. Coca-Cola is the only company that can import coca leaves in U.S, U.S law prohibits all others from importing it.

16.  Honey enters the blood stream within a period of 20 minutes, when it is swallowed.

17.  The juice that contains a small amount of alcohol is Orange juice.

18.  Except vitamin C, eggs contain most of the recognized vitamins.

19.  Strawberries contain less sugar than lemons.

20.  The only fruit which has its seed on its outer skin is Strawberry.

21.  Grapes explode when they are put in a microwave.

22.   More than 7,000 varieties of apples are grown all over the world.

23.  Don’t feed your dogs with chocolate, it can kill your pet; it directly affects their nervous system and heart.

24.  Lettuce belongs to the sun-flower family, lighter green lettuce leaves are less nutritious than darker green leaves.

25.  Lettuce is the second most popular fresh vegetable,in the United States.

26.  One-fourth of all iceberg lettuce is made into fresh cut salads and almost all lettuce is packed in the field.

27.  The banana plant can grow as high as a two-story house, which is around 20 feet tall.

28.  Potassium keeps your body fluids in balance and helps build muscle power, Bananas are a great source of them.

29.  If injected intravenously, Nutmeg is extremely poisonous.

30.  This is difficult to believe! when pearls are kept in vinegar, they will melt.

31.  Onions, potatoes, and apples all taste the same when eaten with your nose plugged.

32.  No one really knows who invented donuts or when they were invented.

33.  When an egg floats in water, it should not be eaten as it is “off”.

34.  Catecholamines are released in the body, when natural vanilla is consumed, for this reason it is considered to be addictive.

35.  Banana trees are giant herbs, they are not trees.

36.  Ketchup was originally a fish sauce.

37.  Butter tea is common drink in Tibet, it is made from yak butter, salt, and tea.

38.  Chewing gum will keep you from crying while peeling onions.

39.  Smelling green apples and/or bananas can help you lose weight!!

40.  To live longer, eat lemons.  Studies show that eating lemons will make you live longer.

41.  The chances of getting a heart attack is reduced by 50% by eating one meal of fish a week.

42.  Roast turkey was the first meal on the moon, eaten by Buzz Aldrin and Niel Armstrong.

43.  Before being eaten, a banana travels 4,000 miles on an average.

44.  The world’s most recognizable smell is Coffee.

45.  The food item that has zero fat content is carrot.

Amazing Facts about Tea

1. You will be surprised to know that there are around 1,500 different types of tea.

2. Do you know that tea is the national drink in Afghanistan and Iran. Both the green tea and black tea are prepared with lots of sugars. Black tea is a warming beverage and green tea is consumed as a thirst quencher.

3. The United Kingdom consumes about 62 billion cups of tea per year , or 165 million cups a day.

4. Ireland stands in first place when it comes to the list of countries ordered by annual per capita consumption of tea .

5. Russians started drinking tea in the 17th century, but it did not become widely popular until the beginning of the 19th century because of its high price. Tea in Russia has historically been prepared in a samovar, which keeps tea hot for hours is a heated metal container.

6. It is the man’s job to pour the tea in Morocco. To have a slightly frothy head in each glass of tea he holds the long spouted pot high above the glass while pouring.

7. India is the world’s second largest producer of tea. In 2009, India produced 979,000 tonnes;China was first with 1,359,000 tonnes.

8. It is widely believed that iced tea was invented by Richard Blechynden, a British tea merchant at the St. Louis World Fair in 1904 .

9. Most of the tea that is consumed in the United States is iced tea and an estimate shows that it is around 85%. Each year over 519 million pounds of tea is imported into the United States.

10. Do you know that in the U.S. over 1.42 million pounds of tea is consumed every day.

11. You will be surprised to know that the Lipton Tea Factory produces 5 billion tea bags a year, present in Jebel Ali, Dubai.

12. Worldwide the total value of the tea market was over $20 billion, in 2005.

13. Every year over 3 million tons of tea is produced around the world.

14. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world.

15. White tea undergoes the shortest process of oxidation. Black tea undergoes the longest.

16. It is important to store loose tea or tea bags in a sealed or tin jar, because tea absorbs moisture.

17. Americans consumed around 65 billion servings of tea in 2011 which is approximately 3 billion gallons. An estimate shows that 14% of all tea was green tea, 85% was black tea and the rest was white tea and oolong tea.

18. The North-east and South have the greatest concentration of tea drinkers, in the United States.

19. It takes about three years before a new plant is ready to harvest but for a tea plant to produce seed it takes around four to 12 years.

20. At least 50 inches of rain a year is needed for tea plants.

21. Do you know that most of the world’s tea is grown between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and in mountain areas 3,000-7,000 feet above sea level. Tea-producing countries include Indonesia, Kenya Malawi, Sri Lanka, Argentina, China, India, and Tanzania.

22. The flushes of the plant or just the top 1 to 2 inches of a mature plant are picked to make tea. It takes 7 to 15 days during growing season for a new flush to grow.

23. You will be surprised to know that a tea plant can grow into a tree that is as tall as 52 feet if its leaves are not harvested. But the cultivated plants are usually pruned to waist height.

24. There are 6 basic categories of tea: 1) white, 2) black, 3) post-fermented, 4) oolong, 5) yellow and 6) green.

25. Do you know that in China Black tea is called “red tea”.

26. At a price of $8,888 per couple, The Ritz Carlton of Hong Kong has the world’s most expensive High Tea meal.

27. The most expensive teabag in the world is a handcrafted diamond teabag made by Boodles jewelers worth $15,250, which contains 280 diamonds and is being used to raise money for a children’s charity in Manchester, England.

28. Tieguanyin is the most expensive tea in the world which is a rare Chinese tea and costs around $1,500/lb. The tea is named after the Buddhist deity Guan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy) and is an oolong tea.

29. Recent studies suggest that tea, especially green tea helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, helps bad breath, reduces some forms of cancer, reduces blood pressure, helps with weight control, acts as an anti-inflammatory, kills bacteria and virus, and has neuro-protective power.

30. You will be surprised to know that more than half of tea brewed in the U. S. was prepared using tea bags which is over 65%.

31. Do you know that tea was discovered accidentally, it was discovered by Chinese Emperor Shen-Ning in 2737 B. C., where he discovered the beverage when tea leaves accidentally blew into his pot of boiling water.

32.In 1904 the United States invented both the tea bag and iced tea. Many tea lovers consider the tea bag as one of the worst inventions of the 20th century and most of us don’t know that Tea brewed with loose tea is generally considered to be richer than tea made from bags.

33. From one pound of loose tea leaves more than 200 cups of tea can be brewed.

34. Tea contains less amount of caffeine than coffee, a cup of tea contains less than half the caffeine of a cup of coffee.

35. Famous songs about tea are “No, No, Nanette,” “Tea for Two,” and “When I Take My Sugar to Tea.”

36. The Duchess of Bedford,one of Queen Victoria’s ladies in waiting is usually credited with the idea of “English Afternoon Tea.” The British invented two kinds of afternoon tea: “High tea,” which is served on a “high” dining room table and “low tea,” or afternoon tea served on a low “tea table.”

37. You will be surprised to know that Black tea constitutes most of the world’s tea consumption which is around 75%.

38. Black tea is the most common tea beverage in the United States, Europe, and the U.K.. Green tea is popular in China and Japan. White tea and Oolong are in general less popular.

39. Do you know that all tea is made from the leaf of the plant Camellia sinensis and the specific types of tea are made by processing the tea leaves differently.

40. Oolong tea is the most “fussy” type of tea. The least processed type of tea is White tea.

41. Tea is an important part of the day and an expression of hospitality in many parts of the world.

42. Tea was a major factor in establishing connections between the West and the East. You will be surprised to know that tea was also a catalyst for developing new technologies such as faster transport ships and many others.

43. Green tea can help to boost the health of plants when added to water as it is full of antioxidants.

44. Studies show that green tea can stop bleeding. The tannins that are found in green tea help to stop bleeding by coagulating the blood.

45. The world’s best selling tea brand is Lipton.

Amazing Facts about Water which we must know

Do you know that one plastic water bottle takes 500 years to decompose and Americans empty 2.5 million plastic water bottles in an hour.

1. Do you know that 1 in 9 people lack access to an improved and cleaner water source on planet earth! If you are reading this,it means that you have access to purified water.

2. You will be amazed to know that there’s a billboard that creates drinkable water of thin air in Peru.

3. Don’t waste water as drinkable water is only 1% of the world’s water.

4. 6 liters of clean water is used by the average toilet in a single flush.Want to know how the flush toilet evolved?

5. Due to evaporation and other causes, in a month an average swimming pool loses 3,785 Liters of water. (1000 gallons).

6. To collect water, people in Asia and Africa have to walk for an average of 6 km (3.7 miles).

7. You will be shocked to know that each year 3.4 million people die from water-related causes.

8. Most of us don’t know that around 1/3 rd of our bones are composed of water, which is approximately around 31%.

9. Do you know that around 700 million people in China drink contaminated water.

10. Water is not a good conductor of electricity but the impurities found in water make it a very good conductor of electricity.

11. You will be surprised to know that beer was consumed more than water in the middle ages as the alcohol made it safer.

12. Water is made up of two elements, oxygen and hydrogen and its chemical formula is H2O.

13. For existence of life on Earth water is essential.

14. 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by water.

15. Water is called Universal solvent as it dissolves almost everything. It dissolves salts, sugars and even acids where as on the other hand oils and fats don’t mix well with water.

16. Water is found on Mars, it is in the form of ice and is found at polar ice caps of the planet, some scientists suggested that there is a possibility of finding liquid water on the red planet.

17. Pure water is odorless and tasteless and has a pH around 7, whereas rain water is a bit acidic and has pH less than 7.

18. Most of us know that water boils at 100 °C (212 °F), which is at normal conditions. The boiling point changes relative to the barometric pressure, for example water boils at just 68 °C (154 °F) on the top of Mount Everest and can remain in liquid form at temperature higher than 100 °C (212 °F) in ocean floors.

19. Liquids usually expand when temperature rises, but water contracts from 0 °C to 4 °C.

20. In the United States, the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act (1974) regulates only 91 of the over 80,000 chemicals used in the country. Even low levels of hundreds of legally allowed contaminants can cause wide range of diseases such as cancer.

21. The types of dangerous pollutants in the water are increased by the widespread city infrastructures which are decaying at a rapid rate.

22. You will be shocked to know that the tap water of at least 41 million Americans has been found to contain wide range of pharmaceuticals, including anti-seizure medicine and sex hormones.

23. The study by the EPA will shock you for sure. The study revealed that employees of bottled water companies are not tested for disease, nor are they required to avoid the bottling area if they have open cuts or infections in their hands or sneezing from colds.

24. Efforts to tighten drinking water standards that would restrict and regulate common drinking water contaminants such as tricholoethylene (a degreaser used in manufacturing), perchloroethylene (a cleaning solvent) and perchlorate (a rocket fuel additive) have been blocked by military and industrial lobbyists.

25. In the United States, annually a massive amount of new toxins are released into soil, atmosphere and groundwater, totaling nearly 18 billion pounds.

26. Do you know that one plastic water bottle takes 500 years to decompose and Americans empty 2.5 million plastic water bottles in an hour.

27. Since 2004 more than 62 million Americans have been exposed to substandard tap water and it lasted for years for some people.

28. The severely outdated Safe Drinking Water Act (1974) cannot adequately prevent people from being exposed to serious health dangers because of their drinking water.

29. Do you know that toxins in tap water can accumulate in the human body for years and increase the risk for developing all types of diseases including cancer.

30. An average water molecule will spend 10,000 to 1,000,000+ years in an Antarctic ice cap, 10,000-100,000+ years underground, 3,000 to 5,000 years in an ocean, 10 years in a large lake, 2 weeks in a river and 9 days in the atmosphere.

31. An average person in a developing country slum uses less water for an entire day than an American taking a five-minute shower.

32. The sanitation and water crisis claims more lives through disease than any war.

33. Around the globe one billion people don’t have access to safe drinking water.

34. Do you know that many girls in developing countries cannot attend school because they are responsible for gathering domestic water and schools lack separate toilet facilities according to the World Water Development Report.

35. You will be shocked to know that a child dies from contaminated water every eight seconds.

36. It is sad to hear that each year twenty-five million people die from contaminated water, which is approximately equal to the entire population of Canada.

37. In developing countries, contaminated or impure water is the leading cause of epidemics.

38. Contaminants in tap water can increase the risk of learning disorders. Lead is the core contaminant.

39. Estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) say that Americans annually take 40 trillion gallons of water from the ground, and the rate of use is increasing alarmingly at a rate of 25% per decade.

40. 946 liters (250 gallons) of water a day are used by the average American family whereas the average African family uses about 23 liters (5 gallons) a day.

41. Water accounts for approximately 80% of an infant’s body weight at birth.

42. A healthy person can drink 48 cups of water daily, which is around three gallons.

43. Never drink too much water too quickly as it leads to water intoxication which occurs when water dilutes the sodium level in the blood stream and causes an imbalance of water in the brain.

44. Coffee and soft drinks contain caffeine which can act as a mild diuretic, prevents water from traveling to necessary locations in the body.

45. You will be surprised to know that water is the only substance found on earth naturally in three forms: solid, liquid, and gas.

46. To grow food for the planet it takes 200,000,000 liters per second.

47. Do you know that water regulates the Earth’s temperature?

48. It would take 170 liters of water to produce just one pint of beer.

49. This one will amaze you for sure. If the entire adult population of Wales and England remember to turn off the tap when they were brushing their teeth, we could save 180 mega liters of water a day.

50. More than half of our daily water consumption at home originates from the toilet and bathroom which is around 63%.

50 MOST INTERESTING UNKNOWN FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

1. Hot water will turn into ice faster than cold water.
2. The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.
3. The sentence, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter in the English language.
4. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
5. Ants never sleep!
6. “I Am” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
7. Coca-Cola was originally green.
8. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
9. When the moon is directly overhead, you will weigh slightly less.
10. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from the blowing desert sand.
11. There are only two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: “abstemious” and “facetious.”
12. The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
13. There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
14. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
15. Minus 40 degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
16. Chocolate can kill dogs, as it contains theobromine, which affects their heart and nervous system.
17. Women blink nearly twice as much as men!
18. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
19. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
20. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
21. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
22. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky
23. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
24. “Rhythm” is the longest English word without a vowel.
25. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
26. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.
Spades - King David
Clubs - Alexander the Great, 
Hearts - Charlemagne 
Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
27. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
28. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
29. If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.
If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.
If the horse has a all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
30. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?
Ans. - All invented by women.
31. Question - This is the only food that doesn't spoil. What is this? 
Ans. - Honey
32. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
33. A snail can sleep for three years.
34. All polar bears are left handed.
35. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
36. Butterflies taste with their feet.
37. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
38. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
39. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
40. Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
41. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
42. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
43. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
44. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
45. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times
46. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
47. Most lipstick contains fish scales.
48. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different