Summer Solstice: Some Facts About

summer-solstice a couple enjoying

In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice begins at 6:51 a.m. EDT on June 21, according to Almanac.com, officially ringing in summer. The date brings the year’s longest stretch of daylight. Though the hours of sunlight depend on location, many areas will see 16 hours’ worth of light on Saturday.

Did you ever wonder why the days are so long in the summer and so short in the winter? The length changes throughout the year. In the summer, around June 20 or 21, we experience the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year. And in the winter, December 21 or 22 is the winter solstice, or shortest day.

But wait! If you live in Australia, you experience the opposite—the longest day is in December and the shortest is in June. Why?

Earth's Angle 

The answer all depends on Earth's tilt. In the course of one year, Earth orbits around the sun. It does not complete this trip, however, with the North Pole at the top and the South Pole at the bottom because Earth is tilted. In fact, it's tilted just about 23.5 degrees. So at different times of the year, either the northern or the southern hemisphere is tilted toward and is therefore closer to the sun.

Solstice & Equinox

A solstice is different from an equinox, the two times each year when the sun is directly above the Earth's equator and day and night are of equal length. Equinoxes mark the beginning of spring (March) and fall (September).

Sun Stands Still

Solstice loosely translated in Latin is "sun stands still". For several days before and after each solstice the sun appears to stand still in the sky, i.e., its noontime elevation does not seem to change from day to day.

Celebrations

Historically, the solstice has been celebrated by numerous cultures around the world. Thousands of people annually celebrate the summer solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England.

At sunrise at Stonehenge on the longest day of the year, the rising sun appears behind one of the main stones, creating the illusion that the sun is balancing on the stone.

Read More

Apple's iWatch Is Coming In October

Apple will introduce a smartwatch with a display that likely measures 2.5 inches diagonally and is slightly

rectangular, one of the sources said. The source added that the watch face will protrude slightly from the band, creating an arched shape, and will feature a touch interface and wireless charging capabilities.

The source said Apple expects to ship 50 million units within the first year of the product's release, although these types of initial estimates can be subject to change. The watch is currently in trial production at Quanta, which will be the main manufacturer, accounting for at least 70 percent of final assembly, the source said.

While the watch is widely expected, the start date of its mass production and the extent of Quanta's involvement were not known until now. Mass production will start in July and the commercial launch will come as early as October, according to the source and another person familiar with the matter.

A third source said LG Display Co Ltd is the exclusive supplier of the screen for the gadget's initial batch of production.

It also contains a sensor that monitors the user's pulse. Singapore-based imaging and sensor maker Heptagon is on the supplier list for the feature, two other sources said.
Apple declined to comment. Quanta, LG Display and Heptagon also declined to comment.

Read More

10 Teams Most Likely to Win the 2014 FIFA World Cup

10. France

France have a good chance of winning the whole thing because they have a world class offense paired with some of the best defenders in the world. 

9. Belgium

Belgium possess a complete first team, with plenty of high quality substitutes. The midfield is especially strong with plenty of tactical, physical and intelligent players.

8. England

Quality players coming in and finally an English manager, where the players can communicate properly with him.

7. Netherlands

Netherlands has good chance to win this world cup because she will meet Spain in the groups and might or not meet Brazil if they beat one of them sure no team can stop them

6. Portugal

Portugal deserve to win, they are a better team than Spain and after hard work they have always been in the top.

5.Italy

Italy should be favorites over anybody but Germany right now, if they face Brazil they will win it would be the 3rd time they played them in the past 2 years and prendalli is not a stupid man.

4. Spain

There are great teams in this world cup, Germany has a great squad, Brazil as well, but Spain is above being a "great" team.

3. Argentina

The fantastic four (leo, kun, dim, higz) is the undisputed strongest attack in the world

2.  Brazil

If it's the will of GOD, Brazil will surely win this time. The 1950 world cup loss to Uruguay at their home soil are still fresh in their minds. 

1. Germany

Germany has the most complete team. They could create two different teams, and they both will have a more than decent chance to win the World Cup.

Read More

Guiness Records Nobody Would Want To Break

1. Farthest Distance Thrown By A Tornado And Survived. Matt Suter was a 19-year-old high school senior on March 12, 2006, when a storm rolled over his hometown of Fordland, Missouri.It was an F2 tornado and it carried Suter 398.37 meters (1,307 ft)—the length of four football fields.

2. The Most Prolific Parents. Feodor and two wives sired 22 sets of twins, 9 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets.

3. The Heaviest Humans. Of all the countries, the US had the highest percentage—34 percent—of obesity in 2013. Jon Brower Minnoch hailed from Washington state and at age 12 he weighed 135 kilograms (298 lb). His weight increased steadily until he reached a peak weight of 635 kilograms (1,400 lb) in 1978.

4. The Most And Biggest Kidney Stones. In December 2009, 45-year-old Dhanraj Wadile, a shop owner in Shahadah,  got removed 172,155 calcium oxalate and phosphate stones ranging in size from a millimeter to 2.5 centimeters (.039–.98 in). 

5. Longest Time Spent On A Gurney In A Hospital Hallway. Guinness created a new category when Tony Collins, a 40-year-old Brit, reported that he had lain on a gurney for 77 hours and 30 minutes.

6. Most Bones Broken. By the time he jumped for the last time in 1977, Robert Craig Knievel, known as Evel Knievel, had logged 150 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps over various obstacles. He crashed or had major mishaps during 18 of those jumps. As a result, he suffered more than 433 fractures of 35 different bones, a world record. 

Read More

11 Mind-Blowing Facts About Video Games

1. Sonic The Hedgehog isn't only the name of Sega's speedy mascot, but also a gene on

chromosome 7 of the human genome.

2. In 1986, Nintendo released a special Disk System peripheral for the NES in Japan. Among its features was a microphone in the controller, which certain games used, including an updated version of the original Zelda. You could only destroy a certain enemy by shouting into the mic.

3. Homefront, a video game released in early 2011, based on a war against North Korean global power, has so far successfully predicted both the year of Kim Jong-Il’s death (2011) and North Korea’s nuclear test in 2013.

4. In Assassin’s Creed, every key character you assassinate was a real person, and the date and location of their death is accurate.

5. In 2011, a 46 year old man from Plymouth, England found and attacked a 13-year-old kid because the kid killed him too many times in Call of Duty.

6. Studies have found that surgeons, who regularly play video games make 37% fewer errors and perform tasks 27% faster than their peers

7. Steve Wozniak’s (co-creator of Apple) favorite video game is Tetris. He submitted so many high scores to Nintendo Power that they eventually stopped printing them, so he then sent in his scores under the name “Evets Kainzow”

8. It is illegal for kids 16 and under in South Korea to play video games past midnight

9. Brazil has a 120% tax on video games because of an old law that classifies all games as gambling.

10. Mortal Kombat(1992) was the first game ever to get a “Mature” Rating by ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board). In fact, it was this game that was directly responsible for the creation of the ESRB.

1. PETA condemned a rat killing scene in the famous war shooter game Battlefield 3 by stating it can have, “a brutalizing effect on the target audience.”

Read More

FIFA World Cup 2014 Facts

1. This Will Be The First World Cup Ever With Goal-Line Technology. Finally!

2. The Local Organisation Committee Includes Five Brazilian World Cup Champions

3. It’s The 2nd Time Brazil Will host A World Cup

4. Brazil Is The 5th Country To Host A World Cup For The 2nd Time

5. It Took 36 Years Before South America Will Host A World Cup Again

6. Argentina And Colombia Also Showed Interest In Hosting The 2014 World Cup

7. 17 Cities Showed Interest In Being A 2014 World Cup Host City




8. For The First Time 2 Consecutive World Cups Are Not Hosted In Europe

9. The 2014 World Cup Official TV Opening Is An Animation Video

10. Brazil Will Use Drones and US Robots During The World Cup

Read More

10 Mind Blowing Killer Facts About Insurance

1 .Travelers is known to write the first liability car insurance policy in 1897.
2. The first known car insurance policy was written in the UK in 1895.
3. Prior to 1997 car insurance was pricier because people could not access the internet for better rates and had to rely on their local brokers.
4. The Internet changed everything on how people shop for insurance.
5. At first, every person was paying almost the same for insurance. Then companies made changes to the $ they pay depending how they drive and this way they can get more customers by lowering their rates because they are better drivers.








6. Farmers only sold car insurance to farmers for quite some time before branching out to other kinds of auto insurance.
7. Insurance generates more than $1 trillion.
8. Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance is a $420+ billion industry.
9. Personal auto insurance is a $160 billion industry sector.
10. Life/health (L/H) insurance is a $500+ billion industry.

Read More

10 Facts About Eminem You Probably Dont Know

1. Eminem has three aliases: Eminem, The Slim Shady, and his original teenage stage name, which was M&M. His real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III.
2. Before he heard rap, he wanted to be a comic book artist.
3. Eminem's relatives used to call him 'Mickey' when he was a baby because he had big ears.
4. Eminem dropped out of school after failing 9th grade 3 times, mainly because he skipped school too many times to battle kids on the street corners
5. Eminem cuts his own hair
6.To be signed to Shady Records,one of the requirement is you to have battle Eminem.
 


7. IN the video "My Name Is," Eminem was not supposed to get hit in the face with the newspaper at the beginning and was not supposed to fall of the chair. They were both accidents but the directors decided to keep them in the video.
8. Eminem has been falsely reported dead by a car crash 4 times and a drug overdose once.
9. Eminem's all-time favorite movie is The Matrix.
10.Eminem is in the Guinness Book of world Records for being fastest selling hip-hop artist.

Read More

Invention of Corn Flakes

When Will Keith Kellogg began helping his brother cook meals for patients at the Sanitarium at which he worked, he ended up accidentally

 stumbling across the recipe for Corn Flakes after leaving some bread dough sitting out for several hours. Upon finding the flaky dough he decided to see what 

would happen so he baked it anyway, and the rest is history.

Read More