Most Expensive Brands of Wines In The World

Most Expensive Brands of Wines In The World

While many people consider wine as a vitiated juice derived from grapes, many wine aficionados consider it as an identity resplendent, a life independent and a living thing. You might be wondering about why wines are greatly priced in auctions and market today but you should know that they come in a package of over a hundred-year refinement, amazing culture behind its bottle and sumptuous wine manufacturing, processing and drinking experience.

Through the years, wines have become a symbol of sophistication, glamour and pricey fixed attitude in the society. Here is the list of the best and most expensive wines which can benefit both lovers and non-lovers of wine. If have been raised in such a wealthy and sophisticated setting, you might be encouraged to purchase a new bottle of the wine to add in your luxurious collection of the world's most expensive wines. If you cannot afford having these expensive brands of wines, reading this article gives you the opportunity to learn more about the characteristics and prices of the world' s most expensive brands of wines.

The Most World's Most Expensive Wines

How much are you willing to spend for something which you cannot use? Hundreds of bucks? Thousands? You might be left in awe if you will discover the prices of wines described below. The price of wine is actually determined by a variety of factors including its market value, vineyard, owner of the wine bottle and the age of the wine are the major factors that affect the price of the wine.

One of the best ways to impress a woman is to lead her to a cellar filled with the finest quality and great tasting wines. If not possible, give her loads of information about wines and she'll definitely gets interested into you. Here is the list of the most expensive wines in the world and their selling or auction price.

 

Chateau Lafite (1869) – $232,692

Chateau Lafite (1787) – $160,000

Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Jeroboam (1945) – $114,614

Screaming Eagle Cab (1994) – $80,000

Penfold Grange Hermitage (1951) – $56,988

Chateau d'Y quem (1784) – $56,588

Massandra Sherry (1775) – $43,500

Romanee Cont, DRC (1990) – $28,112

Montrachet (1978) – $23,929

1787 Chateau Margaux also comes in the list with an insurance of $225,000. To some, it is easy to forget the names of the most expensive wines available on the market today but to many wine aficionados, a collection of the world's most expensive wines is more than just a hobby. These expensive wines have surely made a mark on the minds of wine aficionados and lovers because of their substance and market value. A wine expert can tell you why these wines have gone up to such expensive rate

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50 Highest-Paid CEOs of 2012 – AP Pay Survey

50 Highest-Paid CEOs of 2012 – AP Pay Survey

The 50 highest-paid CEOs for 2011, according to an Associated Press. To determine 2011 pay packages, the AP used Equilar data to look at the 322 companies in the S&P 500of Standard & Poor's 500 companies that had filed statements with federal regulators through April 30. To make comparisons fair, the sample includes only CEOs in place for at least two years. The compensation formula, which adds up salary, perks, bonuses, preferential interest rates on pay set aside for later, and company estimates for the value of stock options and stock awards on the day they were granted in 2011.

1. David Simon, Simon Property Group, $137.2 million, up 458 percent

2. Leslie Moonves, CBS, $68.4 million, up 20 percent

3. David M. Zaslav, Discovery Communications, $52.4 million, up 23 percent

4. Sanjay K. Jha, Motorola Mobility, $47.2 million, up 262 percent

5. Philippe P. Dauman, Viacom, $43.1 million, down 49 percent

6. David M. Cote, Honeywell International, $35.7 million, up 135 percent

7. Robert A. Iger, Walt Disney, $31.4 million, up 12 percent

8. Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., Marathon Oil, $29.9 million, up 239 percent

9. John P. Daane, Altera, $29.6, million, up 278 percent

10. Alan Mulally, Ford Motor, $29.5 million, up 11 percent

11. Gregory Q. Brown, Motorola Solutions, $29.3 million, up 113 percent

12. Richard C. Adkerson, Freeport-McMoRan, $28.4 million, down 19 percent

13. Ian M. Cumming, Leucadia National, $28.2 million, up 531 percent

14. Brian L. Roberts, Comcast, $26.9 million, down 13 percent

15. Jeffrey L. Bewkes, Time Warner, $25.7 million, down 2 percent

16. Rex W. Tillerson, Exxon Mobil, $25.2 million, up 17 percent

17. Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM, $24.2 million, down 4 percent

18. William C. Weldon, Johnson & Johnson, $23.4 million, up 1 percent

19. James Dimon, JPMorgan Chase, $23.1 million, up 11 percent

20. Louis R. Chenevert, United Technologies, $22.9 million, up 17 percent

21. Kenneth I. Chenault, American Express, $22.5 million, up 38 percent

22. Laurence D. Fink, BlackRock, $21.9 million, down 8 percent

23. Paul E. Jacobs, Qualcomm, $21.7 million, up 23 percent

24. H. Lawrence Culp Jr., Danaher, $21.7 million, up 27 percent

25. Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola, $21.2 million, up 10 percent

26. Kirk S. Hachigian, Cooper Industries, $21.1 million, down 16 percent

27. Wesley G. Bush, Northrop Grumman, $21 million, down 5 percent

28. Robert J. Stevens, Lockheed Martin, $20.5 million, up 7 percent

29. Louis C. Camilleri, Philip Morris International, $20.2 million, down 2 percent

30. Gregg W. Steinhafel, Target, $19.5 million, down 18 percent

31. James T. Hackett, Anadarko Petroleum, $19.5 million, up 4 percent

32. Steve Ells, Chipotle Mexican Grill, $19.4 million, up 38 percent

33. Leslie H. Wexner, Limited Brands, $19.2 million, down 6 percent

34. James J. Mulva, ConocoPhillips, $19.2 million, up 7 percent

35. Miles D. White, Abbott Laboratories, $19 million, down 6 percent

36. David M. Cordani, Cigna, $18.9 million, up 25 percent

37. Kevin W. Sharer, Amgen, $18.9 million, down 11 percent

38. Montgomery F. Moran, Chipotle Mexican Grill, $18.8 million, up 39 percent

39. Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T, $18.7 million, down 8 percent

40. Richard D. Fairbank, Capital One Financial, $18.7 million, up 26 percent

41. Debra A. Cafaro, Ventas, $18.5 million, up 117 percent

42. W. James McNerney Jr., Boeing, $18.4 million, up 34 percent

43. John S. Watson, Chevron, $18.1 million, up 30 percent

44. Michael T. Duke, Wal-Mart Stores, $18.1 million, down 3 percent

45. John G. Stumpf, Wells Fargo, $17.9 million, up 2 percent

46. Kent J. Thiry, DaVita, $17.5 million, up 24 percent

47. James M. Cracchiolo, Ameriprise Financial, $17.3 million, up 3 percent

48. Paul S. Otellini, Intel, $17.2 million, up 11 percent

49. Robert J. Coury, Mylan, $16.8 million, up 12 percent

50. Evan G. Greenberg, ACE, $16.6 million, up 6 percent

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New Extraordinary and interesting facts about Human Body

Facts about Human body:

• 50,000 of the cells in your body will die and be replaced with new cells, all while you have been reading this sentence! pretty cool
• Your body requires 1000-1500 calories per day just to simply survive (breathing, sleeping, eating).
• The brain itself cannot feel pain. While the brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain.
• The average human body contains enough: Sulphur to kill all fleas on an average dog, Carbon to make 900 pencils, Potassium to fire a toy cannon, Fat to make 7 bars of soap, Phosphorus to make 2,200 match heads, and enough Water to fill a ten gallon tank
• Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.
• The average human produces a quart of saliva a day or 10,000 gallons in a lifetime.
• Every day an adult body produces 300 billion new cells.
• In one hour, your heart works hard enough to produce the equivalent energy to raise almost 1 ton of weight 1 yard off the ground.
• Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream.
• The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest it the male sperm.
• You use 200 muscles to take one step.
• You use an average of 43 muscles for a frown.
• You use an average of 17 muscles for a smile.
• The average human's heart will beat 3000 million times in their lifetime.
• The average human will pump 48 million gallons of blood in their lifetime.
• In 1 square inch of skin there lies 4 yards of nerve fibers, 1300 nerve cells, 100 sweat glands, 3 million cells, and 3 yards of blood vessels.
• There are 45 miles of nerves in the skin of a human being.
• Muscle cells live as long as you do while skin cells live less than 24 hours.
• A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months.
• A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball.
• You burn 26 calories in a one minute kiss.
• Your brain operates on the same amount of power that would light a 10-watt light bulb.
• There are 5 million hair follicles on an average adult.
• The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades.
• The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Brittanica.
• Approximately 75% of human poop is made of water.
• Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing.
• It takes the food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
• The average human dream lasts 2-3 seconds.
• Your brain is more active during the night than the day.
• One human hair can support 3kg.
• Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.
• The tooth is the only part of the human body that can't repair itself.
• An average human loses about 200 head hairs per day.
• The white part of your fingernail is called the Lunula.
• There is enough iron in a human being to make one small nail.
• Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.
• A shank is the part of the sole between the heel and the ball of the foot.
• The talus is the second largest bone in the foot.
• The attachment of human muscles to skin is what causes dimples.
• The world`s first test-tube twins were born in June 1981.
• A 13 year old child found a tooth growing out of his foot in 1977.
• Neurons continue to grow throughout human life.
• Your thumb is approximately the same size as your nose.
• A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.
• In a year, a person`s heart beats 40,000,000 times.
• Dogs and Humans are the only animals with prostates.
• It only takes 7lbs of of pressure to rip off your ears.
• There are nine muscles in your ear.
• Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents.
• The navel divides the body of a newborn baby into two equal parts.
• If the average male never shaved, his beard would be 13 feet long when he died.
• Experts say the human body has 60,000 miles of blood vessels. Verified Human Anatomy and Physiology", Third Edition, by Elaine N. Marieb. copyright date is 1995. p. 643 Thxs, monkee191
• If they were laid end to end, the blood vessels in your body would wrap around the equator 2 1/2 times.
• The tongue is the only muscle attached at one end.
• Foetuses can hiccup.
• Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.
• Your brain uses 40% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream.
• Scientists have counted over 500 different liver functions.
• Men without hair on their chests are more likely to get cirrhosis of the liver than men with hair.
• The longest recorded bout of hiccups lasted for 65 years.
• The longest recorded sneezing fit lasted 978 days. Verified
• Your stomach has 35 million digestive glands.
• Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it will digest itself.
• At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell.
• There is about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
• Each square inch of human skin consists of twenty feet of blood vessels.
• There are no two tongue prints that are alike.
• Your body contains about four ounces of salt.
• Injured fingernails grow faster than uninjured ones.
• Women blink twice as much as men.
• Most people blink about 25 times a minute.
• It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. Verified
• The average person's skin weighs twice as much as their brain.
• When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.
• It takes twice as long to lose new muscle if you stop working out than it did to gain it.
• The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are 1) frogs 2) worms 3) potted plants.
• Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.
• Blondes have more hair than dark-haired people.
• The largest internal organ is the small intestine. Despite being called the smaller of the two intestines, your small intestine is actually four times as long as the average adult is tall.
• Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body.
• Bone is stronger, inch for inch, than the steel in skyscrapers.
• About one third of the human race has 20-20 vision.
• In a hot climate, you can sweat as much as 3 gallons of water a day.
• Fingernails are made from the same substance as a bird's beak.
• A runner consumes about 7 quarts of oxygen while running a 100-yard dash.
• Among the first known "dentists" of the world were the Etruscans. In 700 BC they carved false teeth from the teeth of various mammals and produced partial bridgework good enough to eat with.
• The enamel in your teeth is the hardest substance in your body.
• Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born.
• Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three.
• A pair of human feet contains 250,000 sweat glands.
• Ophthalmic surgery was one of the most advanced areas of medicine in the ancient world. Detailed descriptions of delicate cataract surgery with sophisticated needle syringes is contained in the medical writings of Celsus (A.D. 14-37)
• Living brain cells are bright pink.
• You're ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren't.
• Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.
• If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.
• Your body contains the same amount of iron as an iron nail.
• The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.
• The ashes of a cremated person average about 9 pounds. A big part of what gives the human body weight is the water trapped in our cells.
• Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.
• About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home.

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30+ New and interesting facts about Skin

Facts about Skin:

• The skin is the largest organ in the body and weighs 12 – 15% of the total body weight.
  
• There are 2 different types of skin:
  
  • •Glaborous skin which is non-hairy (i.e. soles of feet and palms of hands)
    
  • •Hairy skin
    
• The average human being has 21 sq ft of skin and about 300 million skin cells.
  
• The skin is constantly renewing itself from the bottom up and takes 52 – 77 days to shed cells.
  
• Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour – about 1.5 pounds a year. By 70 years of age, an average person will have lost 105 pounds of skin. Wow!
  
• Each half square inch of skin has approx 10 hairs, 15 sebaceous glands, 100 sweat glands, 3.2 feet of tiny blood vessels.
  
• There are 45 miles of nerves in the skin of a human being. That is longer than my commute to work!
  
• Seventy percent of the dust in your home consists of shed human skin. Those dust bunnies are not cute.
  
• Goose bumps are actually little pimples that help retain a layer of warm air over our body.
  
• Big, big, crazy fact: globally, dead skin accounts for about a billion tons of dust in the atmosphere. Wow!
  
• As you can see, our skin plays a huge part in our overall health. Our skin works overtime to keep us healthy, thank your skin by giving yourself a big hug and giving it the nutrients it needs to take even better care of you
  
• It's your body's largest organ, despite what the readers of Maxim think.
  
• An average adult's skin spans 21 square feet, weighs nine pounds, and contains more than 11 miles of blood vessels.
  
• The skin releases as much as three gallons of sweat a day in hot weather. The areas that don't sweat are the nail bed, the margins of the lips, the tip of the penis, and the eardrums.
  
• Ooh, that smell: Body odour comes from a second kind of sweat—a fatty secretion produced by the apocrine sweat glands, found mostly around the armpits, genitals, and anus.
  
• Yum! The odour is caused by bacteria on the skin eating and digesting those fatty compounds.
  
• Breasts are a modified form of the apocrine sweat gland.
  
• Fetuses don't develop fingerprints until three months' gestation.
  
• Without a trace: Some people never develop fingerprints at all. Two rare genetic defects, known as Naegeli syndrome and dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis, can leave carriers without any identifying ridges on their skin.
  
• Fingerprints increase friction and help grip objects. New World monkeys have similar prints on the undersides of their tails, the better to grasp as they swing from branch to branch.
  
• Blowing' in the wind: Globally, dead skin accounts for about a billion tons of dust in the atmosphere. Your skin sheds 50,000 cells every minute.
  
• There are at least five types of receptors in the skin that respond to pain and to touch.
  
• One experiment revealed that Meissner corpuscles—touch receptors that are concentrated in the fingertips and palms, lips and tongue, nipples, penis and clitoris—respond to a pressure of just 20 milligrams, the weight of a fly.
  
• In blind people, the brain's visual cortex is rewired to respond to stimuli received through touch and hearing, so they literally "see" the world by touch and sound.
  
• "In the buff" became synonymous for "nude" in 17th-century England. The term derives from soldiers' leather tunics, or "buffs," whose light brown colour apparently resembled an Anglo-Saxon backside.
  
• White skin appeared just 20,000 to 50,000 years ago, as dark-skinned humans migrated to colder climes and lost much of their melanin pigment.
  
• I see very, very white people: Albinos are often cast as movie villains, as seen in The Da Vinci Code, Die Another Day, The Matrix Reloaded, and—inexplicably—the 2001 flick Josie and the Pussycats. Robert Lima of Penn State suggests that people associate pale-skinned albinos with vampires and other mythical creatures of the night.
  
• More than 2,000 people have radio frequency identification chips, or RFID tags, inserted under their skin. The tags can provide access to medical information, log on to computers, or unlock car doors.
  
• Flesh for fantasy: At the Baja Beach club in Barcelona, customers can get an implanted RFID "debit card" and party until their funds are exhausted.
  
• The Cleveland Public Library, Harvard Law School, and Brown University all have books clad in skin stripped from executed criminals or from the poor.
  
• Hopefully, they didn't have to reprint it: One such volume is Andreas Vesalius's pioneering 16th-century work of anatomy, De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body).

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New and interesting facts about Human eye

Facts about Human eye:

• Human eyes are the most complex organs except brain.
  
• Human eyes are composed of more than 2 million working parts
  
• The average person blinks 12 times per minute – about 10,000 blinks in an average day
  
• Human eyes can process 36,000 bits of information every hour.
  
• Only 1/6th of human eyeball is exposed to the outside world
  
• The external muscles that move the eyes are the strongest muscles in the human body for the job that they have to do. They are 100 times more powerful than they need to be.
  
• Colour blind people do see color but confuse certain colors in certain conditions.
  
• Red and Green are the most commonly confused colours among colour blind people.
  
• Colour blindness is 10 times more common in males than females
  
• The eye is the only part of the human body that can function at 100% ability at any moment, day or night, without rest.
  
• Human eyelids and the external muscles of your eyes need rest, the lubrication of your eyes requires replenishment, but your eyes themselves never need rest.
  
• Human eyelashes have an average life span of 5 months.
  
• The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams.
  
• The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of the gray.
  
• People generally read 25% slower from a computer screen than from paper.
  
• Men are able to read fine print better than women can.
  
• The reason why your nose gets runny when you are crying is because the tears from the eyes drain into the nose.
  
• It is impossible to sneeze with eyes open.
  
• Human eye will focus on about 50 things per second.
  
• Human retina contains 120 million rods for "night vision", and 8 million cones that are colour sensitive and work best under daylight conditions.
  
• Human Eyes contribute towards 85% of total knowledge.
  
• About half of the brain is involved in the seeing process. Humans are very much visual animals.
  
• Under the right conditions, the human eye can see the light of a candle at a distance of 14 miles.
  
• The cornea is the only part of the human body that has no blood supply.
  
  
• The average adult blinks at a rate of 10 to 20 times per minute. With an average of 4,200,000 blinks a year.
  
• Humans are the only animal on the planet to show the white of their eyes.
  
• Vastly more men suffer colour blindness than women. All babies are colour blind when they are born. The primary cause of blindness in adults in the United States is diabetes.
  
• The human eye can distinguish 500 shades of the gray and can detect over 10 million colors.
  
• Involuntary eye muscle spasms are a symptom of those suffering with blepharospasms.
  
• An average adult eye weighs approximately 1 oz.
  
• A fingerprint has 40 different unique characteristics an iris has 256, hence the growing use of iris scans for security purposes.
  
• Is about 100,000 times more sensitive to light in darkness than they are in bright daylight.
  
• People with blue eyes are better able to see in the dark than people with darker ones.
  
• Healthy eyes are so sensitive to light that a candle burning in the dark can be detected 1.6km (1 mile) away.
  
• The human eye can distinguish about 10 million different colors.
  
• The cornea in eye is the only living tissue in the human body that does not contain any blood vessels.
  
• All babies are colour blind when they are born. Babies' eyes do not produce tears until the baby is approximately six to eight weeks old.
  
• Vitamin A can help to improve eyesight because it is needed by retina for forming specific metabolite.

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50+ New and interesting facts about Human Body

50+ new facts about Human body

• If stomachs did not have a lining of mucus, your stomach would digest itself.
  
• There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body.
  
• It takes about 60 seconds for a human blood cell to make a complete circuit of the body.
  
• The average person will shed 40 pounds of skin in his/her lifetime.
  
• 1/15th of a pint of blood is pumped with every heartbeat.
  
• Humans share 98.4% of our DNA with chimps. In comparison, we share 70% of our DNA with a slug.
  
• The lightest baby to survive weighed a mere 283 grams.
  
• On average, women say 7,000 words per day while men manage just over 2,000 words.
  
• The human brain uses 20% of the body's energy but is only 2% of the body's weight.
  
• On average, humans lose 40-100 strands of hair per day.
  
• A sneeze can exceed the speed of 100mph.
  
• A cough can reach the speed of 60mph.
  
• The average person will drink about 16,000 gallons of water in his/her lifetime.
  
• It takes 17 muscles to smile while taking 43 muscles to frown.
  
• The human brain is composed of 75% water.
  
• Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
  
• More germs are transferred while shaking hands compared to kissing.
  
• There are approximately 550 hairs in a person's eyebrow.
  
• The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue.
  
• A person produces 10,000 gallons of saliva in an average lifetime.
  
• The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone.
  
• The number of eye blinks varies greatly from about 29 blinks each minute if you are talking to someone to only 4 blinks each minute if you are reading.
  
• The average human blinks 25 times per minute.
  
• A nail takes around 6 months to grow from base to the tip.
  
• Each second 10,000,000 cells die and are replaced in your body.
  
• Your liver performs over 500 functions in your body.
  
• The average person spends 1/3 of their lifetime sleeping.
  
• More germs are transferred when shaking hands than kissing.
  
• The average person (from western culture) consumes 10 liters of alcohol per year.
  
• Roughly 75% of people who play the radio in their car sing along to it.
  
• Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
  
• Your right lung takes in more air than your left one does.
  
• The human brain is composed of 75% water.
  
• 70% of the composition of dust in your home is made up of shed human skin and hair.
  
• The tooth is the only part of the human body that can't repair itself.
  
• One human hair can support 3kg.
  
• Humans are the only animals that cry tears and blush.
  
• It takes the interaction of 72 different muscles to produce human speech.
  
• If the normal one hundred thousand hairs on a head were woven into a rope, it could support a weight of more than twelve tons.
  
• The fingernail grows about 1.5 inches per year.
  
• The total amount of skin covering an adult human weighs 6 lbs.
  
• The average person flexes the joints in their fingers 24 million times during a lifetime.
  
• Each person inhales about seven quarts of air every minute.
  
• On average, we breathe between 12 and 18 times a minute.
  
• The average guy will grow about 27 feet of hair out of his face during his lifetime.
  
• Approximately 1 out of 25 people suffers from asthma.
  
• The average man sweats 2 1/2 quarts every day.
  
• One out of every hundred American citizens is color blind.
  
• An average person laughs about 15 times a day.
  
• A human heart beats 100,000 times a day.

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50+ New and interesting facts about Human Blood

Facts about Blood:

• 4.5 million Americans will a need blood transfusion each year.
  
• 43,000 pints: amount of donated blood used each day in the U.S. and Canada.
  
• Someone needs blood every two seconds.
  
• Only 37 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood – less than 10 percent do annually.
  
• About 1 in 7 people entering a hospital need blood.
  
• One pint of blood can save up to three lives.
  
• Healthy adults who are at least 17 years old, and at least 110 pounds may donate about a pint of blood – the most common form of donation – every 56 days, or every two months. Females receive 53 percent of blood transfusions; males receive 47 percent.
  
• 94 percent of blood donors are registered voters.
  
• Four main red blood cell types: A, B, AB and O. Each can be positive or negative for the Rh factor. AB is the universal recipient; O negative is the universal donor of red blood cells.
  
• Dr. Karl Landsteiner first identified the major human blood groups – A, B, AB and O – in 1901.
  
• One unit of blood can be separated into several components: red blood cells, plasma, platelets and cryoprecipitate.
  
• Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body's organs and tissues.
  
• Red blood cells live about 120 days in the circulatory system.
  
• Platelets promote blood clotting and give those with leukemia and other cancers a chance to live.
  
• Plasma is a pale yellow mixture of water, proteins and salts.
  
• Plasma, which is 90 percent water, makes up 55 percent of blood volume.
  
• Healthy bone marrow makes a constant supply of red cells, plasma and platelets.
  
• Blood or plasma that comes from people who have been paid for it cannot be used to human transfusion.
  
• Granulocytes, a type of white blood cell, roll along blood vessel walls in search of bacteria to engulf and destroy.
  
• White cells are the body's primary defense against infection.
  
• Apheresis is a special kind of blood donation that allows a donor to give specific blood components, such as platelets.
  
• Forty-two days: how long most donated red blood cells can be stored.
  
• Five days: how long most donated platelets can be stored.
  
• One year: how long frozen plasma can be stored.
  
• Much of today's medical care depends on a steady supply of blood from healthy donors.
  
• pints: the average whole blood and red blood cell transfusion.*
  
• Children being treated for cancer, premature infants and children having heart surgery need blood and platelets from donors of all types, especially type O.
  
• Anemic patients need blood transfusions to increase their red blood cell levels.
  
• Cancer, transplant and trauma patients, and patients undergoing open-heart surgery may require platelet transfusions to survive.
  
• Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease that affects more than 80,000 people in the United States, 98 percent of whom are of African descent.
  
• Many patients with severe sickle cell disease receive blood transfusions every month.
  
• A patient could be forced to pass up a lifesaving organ, if compatible blood is not available to support the transplant.
  
• Thirteen tests (11 for infectious diseases) are performed on each unit of donated blood.
  
• 17 percent of non-donors cite "never thought about it" as the main reason for not giving, while 15 percent say they're too busy.
  
• The #1 reason blood donors say they give is because they "want to help others."
  
• Shortages of all blood types happen during the summer and winter holidays.
  
• Blood centers often run short of types O and B red blood cells.
  
• The rarest blood type is the one not on the shelf when it's needed by a patient.
  
• There is no substitute for human blood.
  
• If all blood donors gave three times a year, blood shortages would be a rare event (The current average is about two.).
  
• If only one more percent of all Americans would give blood, blood shortages would disappear for the foreseeable future.
  
• 46.5 gallons: amount of blood you could donate if you begin at age 17 and donate every 56 days until you reach 79 years old.
  
• Four easy steps to donate blood: medical history, quick physical, donation and snacks.
  
• The actual blood donation usually takes about 10 minutes. The entire process – from the time you sign in to the time you leave – takes about an hour.
  
• After donating blood, you replace the fluid in hours and the red blood cells within four weeks. It takes eight weeks to restore the iron lost after donating.
  
• You cannot get AIDS or any other infectious disease by donating blood.
  
• 10 pints: amount of blood in the body of an average adult.
  
• One unit of whole blood is roughly the equivalent of one pint.
  
• Blood makes up about 7 percent of your body's weight.
  
• A new-born baby has about one cup of blood in his body.
  
• Giving blood will not decrease your strength.
  
• Any company, community organization, place of worship or individual may contact their local community blood centre to host a blood drive.
  
• Blood drives hosted by companies, schools, places of worship and civic organizations supply roughly half of all blood donations across the U.S.
  
• People who donate blood are volunteers and are not paid for their donation.
  
• 500,000: the number of Americans who donated blood in the days following the September 11 attacks.

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Different Species of Bears

The Eight Species of Bears:

 

1. Helarctos malayanus (Malayan Sun Bear)
   
2. Melursus ursinus (Sloth Bear)
   
3. Tremarctos ornatus (Spectacled Bear)
   
4. Ursus americanus (American Black Bear)
   
5. Ursus arctos (Brown Bear or Grizzly Bear)
   
6. Ursus maritimus (Polar Bear)
   
7. Ursus thibetanus (Asiatic Black Bear)
   
8. Ailuropoda melanoleuca (Giant Panda)

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80+ Interesting Facts about Bears

80+ Facts about Bears

1. The largest carnivore that ever lived on land was the giant short-faced bear. Twice the size of the biggest modern bear, it was 6' 5" tall at the shoulder when standing on all fours. Scientists believe it had very long legs and chased antelope on the North American prairies. It died around 12,000 years ago.
   
2. The sloth bear has the shaggiest fur. The sun bear has the shortest fur so it can keep cool in the hot forests of Southeast Asia.
   
3. The most accurate way to determine the age of a bear is to count the rings in a cross section of its tooth root under a microscope.
   
4. Bears have two layers of fur. A short layer of fur keeps the bear warm. And a long layer keeps water away from the skin and short fur.
   
5. Bears are highly intelligent animals 5.Bears are very smart and have been known to roll rocks into bear traps to set off the trap and eat the bait in safety.
   
6. Bears live as long as 30 years in the wild. One captive brown bear lived to the age of 47.d
   
7. Bears are bowlegged. This gives them better grip and balance.
   
8. Only the polar bear is a true carnivore. All other bears are omnivores, or animals that eat both plants and meat.
   
9. Sun bears have the longest claws of any bear. They also have the longest tongues, which can reach 9.8" long.
   
10. Bears can run up to 40 miles per hour, fast enough to catch a running horse. The fastest known human alive today is Usain Bolt, who can run 27mph.
    
11. The shape of a bear's claw differs according to the type of bear. Bears that climb, such as black bears, have claws that are curved and strong to allow them to claw at tree bark. Bears that dig, such as grizzly bears, have straight and long claws.
    
12. Koala bears are not bears at all and are not related to the bear family. They are marsupials.
    
13. A bear's normal heartbeat is 40 beats per minute. A hibernating bear's heart rate drops to 8 bpm.
    
14. Because bears can walk short distances on their hind legs, some Native Americans called them "the beast that walks like a man."
    
15. The bear that a person living in North America is most likely to run into is the black bear. They live in wooded areas in every Canadian province, many U.S. states, and parts of Mexico.
    
16. Black bears are not always black. They come in a rainbow of colors from black to reddish brown (cinnamon bears) to light brown to white.
    
17. Bears can see roughly as well as humans 17.Unlike many mammals, bears can see in color.
    
18. The world's most common bear is the brown bear.
    
19. When bears mate, the eggs within the female's body are fertilized but do not implant in her uterus and begin developing for several months.
    
20. A swimming polar bear can jump 8 ft. (2.4 m) out of the water to surprise a seal.
    
21. A polar bear's stomach can hold 150 lbs. (68 kg) of meat.
    
22. Panda bears have an extra "thumb" (which is actually an extra-large wrist bone) just for holding onto bamboo stalks. A panda bear can eat over 45 lbs. (20.4 kg) of bamboo per day.
    
23. The giant panda has a large head for its body. Scientists believe this is because it needs a strong jaw and neck muscles to eat bamboo, which makes up 99% of its diet. The remaining 1% consists of insects on the bamboo and dead meat that the panda may find.
    
24. Sloth bears' favorite food is termites. These bears have no front teeth, so they easily suck out insects from their nests like a vacuum cleaner. They can also seal their nostrils for better suction.
    
25. Bears have been known to eat almost anything, including snowmobile seats, engine oil, and rubber boots.
    
26. Lumber companies felt they had no choice but to kill the black bears in Washington State that were eating the bark from trees. However, once someone thought to put piles of food in the forest, the bears stopped eating the trees, and were happy to eat the free food. Because feeding the bears cost less than killing them, the lumber companies were happy, too.
    
27. About 98% of the grizzly bear population in the U.S. lives in Alaska.
    
28. A polar bear can swim up to 100 miles without resting.
    
29. Bears can see almost as well as humans, and they can hear a little better. But they can smell much better. In fact, a bear's sense of smell is around 100 times greater than a human's. Polar bears can track down an odor from 20 miles (32 km) away. They can smell a dead seal under 3 feet of solid ice.
    
30. After deciding it liked a particular type of beer, a black bear drank several more cans before passing out 30.In 2004, a black bear was found unconscious in a campground in Seattle, Washington. It had broken into a cooler and used its claws and teeth to open dozens of beer cans. Although it sampled other types of beer, it chose to drink all the cans of only one type of beer. After its drinking binge, the bear passed out.
    
31. A male bear is called a boar or a he-bear. A female bear is called a sow or a she-bear. A group of bears is called a sleuth or sloth.
    
32. "Bear" is an LGBT slang term used by homosexual men to describe hyper masculine men who have hairy bodies and facial hair or who are heavy set.
    
33. The word "bear" is an Old English word, derived from the Proto-Indo-European *bher-, meaning "bright brown."
    
34. The symbol of the United Russia Party is a bear. In fact, bears have traditionally not only been a symbol of pride and power in Russia, but have also been common images in fairy tales and myth.
    
35. The Ursa Major or "Great Bear" constellation is the third-largest constellation and contains the Big Dipper.
    
36. The bear ancestor is an offshoot of the ancient Canidae family of dogs, wolves, foxes, and coyotes.
    
37. The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is the largest bear species. A male polar bear can measure up to 10 feet long and weigh 1,500 lbs., which is about the weight of eight human adults. Female polar bears are up to 50% smaller than the males.
    
38. Polar bears are the only bear species that is a marine mammal.
    
39. A polar bear's fur ranges in color from ivory to pale tan. Underneath its fur coat, the polar bear's skin is black to help absorb heat from the sun.
    
40. The name "grizzly bear" refers to the silver-tipped or "grizzled" hair of a brown bear.
    
41. One variation of the black bear is a white bear called the Kermode, ghost, or spirit bear. These bears are very rare. Native Americans believed these white bears had supernatural power.
    
42. In 2008, a Canadian man was attached by a grizzly bear. He survived the attack by playing dead, even when the bear began to gnaw on his scalp. The bear eventually lost interest and went away.
    
43. For many years, scientists thought that the Giant Panda was not a bear at all but a relative of the raccoon. Scientists have shown through DNA evidence that giant pandas are indeed true bears.
    
44. The Sun bear is the smallest of the bears 44.The Sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is the smallest of the bears and is about the size of a large dog. It gets its name from a blond chest patch of fur that looks like a setting sun. Sun bears are also known as honey bears.
    
45. Of the eight bear species, four live in the Southern Hemisphere and four in the Northern Hemisphere.
    
46. Spectacled bears are the only wild bears that live in South America.
    
47. North America is home to three of the world's eight bear species: brown, American black, and polar bears. Almost two thirds of the bears in the world live in North America.
    
48. Polar bears live only north of the Equator, in the Arctic. Penguins live only south of the Equator, in Antarctica. Approximately 21,000 to 28,000 polar bears live in the Arctic.
    
49. Bears are descended from small, insect-eating mammals called miacids, which lived during the time of the dinosaurs. The first true bears evolved from heavy bear-like dogs around 27 million years ago. The oldest known bear, the Dawn Bear, lived about 20 million years ago and was the size of a small dog.
    
50. Bears have never lived in Australia or Antarctica. Although bears do not currently live in Africa, bear fossils have been found there. Scientists are unsure why bears do not live in Africa today.
    
51. Sloth bears are the only bears that are more active at night.
    
52. Polar bears have a thick coat with 9,677 hairs per square inch.
    
53. Most bears are born without fur. Only polar bears and giant pandas are born with thin white fur.
    
54. Bears have nonretractable claws like dogs and unlike cats.
    
55. While most bears have bare feet, the paws of polar bears have fur on the bottoms and between the toes. Bears lose most of their heat from their paws.
    
56. Like people, all bears except pandas walk by putting their feet flat on the ground. This kind of walking is called "plantigrade." In contrast to bears, other large animals—including dogs, horses, and even elephants—walk on their toes.
    
57. The claws on the front feet of bears are longer than the claws on the back feet. Some large bears have claws almost 5" long.
    
58. Bears are the only large predators that regularly eat both meat and plants. For this reason, they have different teeth specifically used for meat eating and plant eating.
    
59. During hibernation, a bear does not defecate 59.During hibernation, a bear does not defecate. Its body can somehow recycle body waste into protein—a process scientists still do not understand.
    
60. Not all bears hibernate. Asiatic black bears, American black bears, some brown bear species, and pregnant polar bears hibernate. Sloth bears live in warm places with abundant food, so they don't need to hibernate.
    
61. A newly born Kodiak brown bear can weigh less than one pound. As it grows up, its weight may increase as much as 1,000 times. If human babies grew this much, as adults they would weigh over 6,000 lbs.
    
62. Polar bears have the largest home ranges of any bear. One polar bear can hunt and live in an area as big as Maine.
    
63. Stone-age hunters worshipped and hunted bears at the same time. To show their respect, they sang and danced and prayed that the bear would forgive them for killing it.
    
64. In Asia, bear cubs are often taken from their mothers at an early age to be trained as dancing bears. The ability of bears to stand up on their hind feet makes it possible for them to shuffle in a way that looks somewhat like dancing.
    
65. People in Asian cultures have traditionally used bear organs and secretions for medicinal purposes. One author notes that there "are fewer than one million bears on Earth and more than one billion potential consumers of bear parts as medicine."
    
66. In Asia in the early 1990s, bear gallbladders would sell from $1 to $210 a gram. A gallbladder of an Asiatic black bear killed in South Korea sold at a public auction for $64,000. On a price-per-gram basis, bear gallbladders often cost more than gold.
    
67. Currently, approximately 8,000 bears are kept on "bear farms" in China. They are bred and kept in captivity so that bile from the gallbladders can be extracted for medicinal use. The bile is removed from the live animal through a catheter surgically implanted into the gallbladder.
    
68. All bears are good swimmers, but the polar bear is the most efficient swimmer. It can swim up to 4-6 mph (6-10 km/hr) for 100 miles (161 km). One polar bear swam 200 miles without stopping. Polar bears can also swim very well under water.
    
69. The only species of bear that does not move its ears to pick up sound is the giant panda.
    
70. The Asiatic black bear has the largest ears of any species of bears.
    
71. Because a giant panda's eye is a vertical slit, like many nocturnal animals it can see by day and by night.
    
72. Male pandas do not help raise their young 72.Once bears breed, they go their separate ways. Male bears do not help the mother bear raise the cubs. Depending on the breed, intercourse may last a few minutes (giant panda) or half an hour (polar bear).
    
73. When U.S. President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt refused to shoot a black bear cub on a hunting trip, a cartoon featured the event, and soon stuffed toy manufacturers popularized "Teddy's bear."
    
74. Only about 1,000 giant pandas live in the wild today.
    
75. The lips of bears are not attacked to their gums, which make their lips look rubbery.
    
76. Baloo, from The Jungle Book, is a sloth bear.
    
77. Most bears have 42 teeth, which is about 10 more than people have. A bear's canines can reach 1.5" long, while a human's are less than a half inch long.
    
78. The giant panda has been described as a living fossil because it is such an ancient animal.
    
79. Polar bears are the largest land predators on earth. They can stand more than 11' high and weigh more than 1,700 lbs.
    
80. Black bears are typically smaller than grizzly bears, have a smaller shoulder hump, less shaggy fur, longer ears, and a less concave facial profile. Black bear claws are also smaller and more curved to better climb trees.
    

 

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Interesting Facts about Pomegranate

Facts about Pomegranate:

1. The pomegranate is native to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Northern India, Bengal, and Southern Asia and is cultivated widely throughout the Middle East, India, southeast Asia, and parts of Africa.
   
2. There are over 760 varieties of pomegranate.
   
3. Pomegranate remains dating back to 1000 BC have been found in Transcaucasia.
   
4. Ancient Egyptions were often buried with pomegranates. A large, dry pomegranate was found in the tomb of Djehuty, the butler of Egypt's Queen Hatshepsut.
   
5. The city of Granada, Spain is named after the Spanish word for pomegranate, "granada." The city's heraldic device is the pomegranate.
   
6. In early English, the pomegranate was called the "apple of Grenada."
   
7. Pomegranates are mentioned numerous times in the Bible. Exodus 28:33-34 says that images of pomegranates should be woven onto the hem of the robe worn by the Hebrew High Priest.
   
8. Jewish tradition teaches that the pomegranate is a symbol of righteousness because its 613 seeds correspond with the 613 commandments of the Torah. However, the number of seeds in a pomegranate varies.
   
9. Pomegranate is one of the Seven Spices (shivat haminim), seven fruits and grains named in the Hebrew Bible as being native to Israel.
   
10. Many scholars believe it was a pomegranate rather than an apple that tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
    
11. In the Qur'an, pomegranates are named as one of the fruits that will grow in the gardens of paradise.
    
12. In Hinduism, the pomegranate symbolizes prosperity and fertility.
    
13. The English word "pomegranate" comes from the Latin words for apple ("pomum") (apple) and seeded ("granatus").
    
14. The pomegranate was an emblem in the coat of arms of Catherine of Aragon, Henry the VIII's first wife. When Anne Boleyn took her place as Henry's wife, she changed to emblem to an image of a white dove pecking at a pomegranate.
    
15. The pomegranate was introduced to California by Spanish settlers in 1769.
    
16. Thomas Jefferson planted pomegranates at Monticello in 1771.
    
17. In Greek mythology, Persephone is condemned to spend every winter in the underworld after the god Hades tricks her into eating pomegranate seeds.
    
18. In Greece, a traditional housewarming gift is a pomegranate placed under or near the ikonostasi (home altar) of the house in order to bring good luck, fertility, and abundance.
    
19. In Greece it is traditional to break pomegranates on the ground at weddings and on New Year's.
    
20. In Japan, the pomegranate plant is often used for bonsai because of the interesting twisted bark some pomegranate plants can attain.
    
21. Every October, the Pomegranate Festival is held in Goychay, Azerbaijan. The festival features pomegranate cuisine, dancing, and music.
    
22. Pomegranate season is from September to February in the Northern Hemisphere. This has earned it the nickname "The Jewel of Winter."

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Facts and Health Benefits about Papaya

Facts about Papaya:

1. The papaya is the fruit of the Carica Papaya tree.
   
2. It is native to southern Mexico and Central America and is now cultivated in many tropical regions.
   
3. The fruit sometimes used to be referred to as a "tree melon." In Australia it is called Papaw or Paw Paw.
   
4. Today there are two varieties of papaya, Hawaiian and Mexican. The Mexican papaya can weigh as much as ten pounds while the Hawaiian usually weighs about a pound. It is the smaller Hawaiian papaya that is found in most produce aisles.
   
5. The papaya was introduced to Hawaii in the early 1800s. Today, Hawaii is the only U.S. state that grows papayas commercially.
   
6. In the 1990s, two genetically modified varieties of papaya were introduced to Hawaii, making papaya the first genetically modified food to be introduced into the United States food supply.
   
7. Unripe, green papaya fruit and the leaves of the papaya tree contain an enzyme called papain. Papain has been used as a natural meat tenderizer for thousands of years and today is an ingredient in many commercial meat tenderizers.
   
8. Its tenderizing properties are also being applied to the human body. Injections of papain enzyme are given to treat herniated discs. When Harrison Ford suffered a ruptured disc on the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, he was treated with papain injections.
   
9. Papain has other health benefits. it is also a natural digestive aid and can be applied topically in an ointment to treat burns, rashes, and cuts.
   
10. In many parts of the world, unripe papaya has been used for centuries by women as a natural contraceptive and to induce abortion. Modern research has confirmed that unripe papaya does indeed work as a natural contraceptive and can induce abortion when eaten in large quantities.
    
11. In addition, research has found that papaya seeds have contraceptive effects in male monkeys.
    
12. Tea made from papaya leaves is consumed in some countries as protection against malaria.
    
13. The Papaya Fruit Fly is a threat to the fruit.
    
14. The seeds of the fruit resemble peppercorns and are edible. They can be ground up and used as a substitute for black pepper.
    
15. Papaya leaves are steamed and eaten in parts of Asia.
    
16. The bark of the papaya tree is often used to make rope.
    
17. Ripe papaya is usually eaten raw. Unripe papaya can be eaten if cooked and is used in many sauces and dishes around the world.
    
18. Papaya contains latex (the white sap that oozes out of an unripe papaya) which can cause an allergic reaction in people with a latex allergy. The greener (more unripe) the fruit is, the more latex it contains.
    
19. As with eating too many carrots, eating too much papaya can cause carotenemia, the yellowing of the soles of the feet and the palms. It is temporary and goes away once excessive amounts of papaya are no longer being eaten.
    
20. When buying papayas, look for ones that are mostly or completely yellow and give slightly to pressure. Green, hard papayas are unripe and will never ripen properly.
    
21. A small papaya contains about 300% of the recommended daily amount of Vitamin C.
    

Nutritional Benefits

• The nutritional highlight of papaya is a proteolytic enzyme called papain which is an excellent aid to digestion. This enzyme is so powerful that it is said to digest an amazing 200 times its own weight in protein. It assists our body's own enzymes in assimilating the maximum nutritional value from the food we eat.
  
• Papain can be made into an immediate home remedy treatment for jellyfish sting or other wounds, even surgical wounds. The highest concentration of this substance is on the skin of unripe papayas. Cut the skin and apply it directly to the affected area.
  
• Papaya is a wholesome fruit, another of my favourite. It is a rich source of anti-oxidant nutrients such as beta-carotene (which is what gives it the orange color; green papaya does not contain this carotene), vitamin A and C and flavonoids, B vitamins, folate and pantothenic acid.
  
• It also contains small amounts of of the minerals calcium, chlorine, iron, phosphorus, potassium, silicon and sodium.
  
• The carbohydrate content in papaya is mainly of invert sugar which is a form of pre-digested food. The ripe papaya is endowed with an abundance of energy-boosting natural sugars.
  

Health Benefits

• The papaya has remarkable medicinal virtues recognized from ancient times. It is not a commonly allergenic food. Being one of the most easily digested fruits, it is an excellent wholesome food for young to old, a rejuvenating choice.
  
• The health benefits of papayas are too many to mention, but here is a list of cures for some of the more common ailments:
  
• Anti-Inflammatory: The anti-inflammatory virtue from the papain in papaya greatly reduce inflammation in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, gout and asthma.
  
• Colon Cancer, Prevention Of: The rich fibre in papaya bind to cancer-causing toxins in the colon and is eliminated from the body during bowel movements.
  
• Digestive Aid: Papaya is commonly known for its fine and natural laxative virtue which aids digestion. Taken regularly, it can help habitual constipation, bleeding piles and chronic diarrhoea.
  
• Emphysema, Protection Against: If you are a smoker, or are frequently exposed to second-hand smoke, consume papaya juice regularly for its high vitamin A content. This may save your life as it will highly reduce your lung inflammation.
  
• Heart Disease, Protection Against: The three very powerful anti-oxidants in papayas help prevent the oxidation of cholesterol. Oxidized cholesterol forms dangerous plagues that can eventually cause heart attacks or strokes.
  
• Intestinal Disorders: The papain in unripe papaya is extremely beneficial for those who are deficient in gastric juice, have excess of unhealthy mucus in the stomach, dyspepsia and intestinal irritation.
  
• Menstrual Irregularities: Consumption of unripe papaya juice help to contract the muscle fibres of the womb, resulting in proper and regular menstrual flow. It is especially helpful in cases of menstruation cessation in young ladies due to cold or trauma.
  
• Skin Diseases: The juice from unripe papaya is highly beneficial in treating skin disorders like acne and psoriasis. When applied to wounds, it prevents pus formation and swelling. Paste made from unripe papaya when applied to the face, may remove pigmentation or brown spots, and making the skin smooth and delicate. Try it.
  
• Spleen Enlargement: Immerse cut ripe papaya in vinegar for a week, then consume twice a day with meals until spleen is normalized.
  
• Throat Disorders: Drink honey mixed in fresh juice from unripe papaya regularly over inflamed tonsils for diphtheria and other throat disorders. It dissolves the membrane and prevents infection from spreading.
  

Consumption Tips

• Choose papayas that have reddish-orange skin if you want to eat them within the day of purchase. Avoid fruit that is bruised or has patches of deep orange colour which indicates that it is over-ripe.
  
• Purchase green papayas only if you intend to cook them as the flesh will not develop its sweet juicy flavour.
  
• If you want to slow the ripening process, keep the fruit in the refrigerator. To hasten the ripening process, keep it out in the open, in room temperature
  
• A papaya can be eaten as it is, with its skin cut. Cut the papaya length-wise, and then into smaller pieces. The sweetest part of the papaya is concentrated on the end furthest from the stem.
  
• You may also sprinkle your papaya with fresh lime juice. It adds taste to the fruit.
  
• Or, finally, blend it with other fruits like strawberry or yogurt to make a smoothie.

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