There have only been 230 years of peace

It has been calculated that in the last 3,500 years, there have only been 230 years of peace throughout the civilized world.

Neverending file

If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

Be careful not to fall off the bed

About 1 out of every 2 million people will die by falling out of bed. Be careful, not funny. Most who will die this way are either very young children or elderly people.

How much hair a man has?

The average human with a full head of hair contains between 85,000 to 150,000 hairs.

Top 15 olympic athlete of all time

1 Michael Phelps     United States     Swimming     2004–2008     Summer     M     14     0     2     16
2 Larisa Latynina     Soviet Union     Gymnastics     1956–1964     Summer     F     9     5     4     18
3 Paavo Nurmi             Finland     Athletics     1920–1928     Summer     M     9     3     0     12
4 Mark Spitz             United States     Swimming     1968–1972     Summer     M     9     1     1     11
5 Carl Lewis             United States     Athletics     1984–1996     Summer     M     9     1     0     10
6 Bjørn Dæhlie             Norway       Cross-country skiing     1992–1998     Winter     M     8     4     0     12
6 Birgit Fischer     Germany     Canoeing     1980–2004     Summer     F     8     4     0     12
8 Sawao Kato             Japan             Gymnastics     1968–1976     Summer     M     8     3     1     12
8 Jenny Thompson     United States     Swimming     1992–2004     Summer     F     8     3     1     12
10 Matt Biondi             United States     Swimming     1984–1992     Summer     M     8     2     1     11
11 Ray Ewry             United States     Athletics     1900–1908     Summer     M     8     0     0     8
12 Nikolai Andrianov     Soviet Union     Gymnastics     1972–1980     Summer     M     7     5     3     15
13 Boris Shakhlin     Soviet Union     Gymnastics     1956–1964     Summer     M     7     4     2     13
14 Věra Čáslavská     Czechoslovakia     Gymnastics     1960–1968     Summer     F     7     4     0     11
15 Viktor Chukarin     Soviet Union     Gymnastics     1952–1956     Summer     M     7     3     1     11

Top 20 Olympic Nations of All Time

1) USA- 2582 total medals   (1032 golds)
---Summer: 2327   (first overall)
---Winter: 254    (second overall)
Dominant Sports: Track and Field (759 medals, more than that of the next five countries combined!), Swimming (493), Diving (128), Basketball (24, 19 of which were gold), Figure Skating (47),  Snowboarding (19), Shooting (103), Boxing (108), Freestyle Skiing (14), Rowing (84)
Greatest Olympians: Michael Phelps (swimming), Jesse Owens (athletics), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (long jump, heptathlon), Jim Thorpe (pentathlon, decathlon), Carl Lewis (athletics), Edwin Moses (hurdles), Cassius Clay (boxing), Babe Didrikson (track and field), Mark Spitz (swimming), Rafer Johnson (decathlon), Greg Louganis (diving), Eric Heiden (speed skating), Al Oerter (discus), Bonnie Blair (speed skating), Michael Johnson (sprinting), Florence Griffith-Joyner (track), Bob Mathias (decathlon), Bob Beamon (long jump), Dan O'Brien (decathlon), Wilma Rudolph (track), Ray Ewry (track and field), Apolo Anton Ohno (speed skating), Matthew Biondi (swimming), Bruce Jenner (decathlon), Mary Lou Retton (gymnastics), Jenny Thompson (swimming) Dara Torres (swimming), Dick Fosbury (high jump), Johnny Weismuller (swimming).

2) Soviet Union- 1204 total medals   (473 golds)
---Summer: 1010   (second overall)
---Winter: 194   (fifth overall)
Dominant Sports: Gymnastics (193), Volleyball (12), Weightlifting (62)
Greatest Olympians: Larisa Latynina (gymnastics), Olga Korbut (gymnastics), Nikolai Andrianov (gymnastics), Boris Shakhlin (gymnastics), Lidia Skoblikova (speed skating), Irina Rodnina (figure skating), Dmitry Bilozerchev (gymnastics), Vladislav Tretyak (hockey goalie), Nellie Kim (gymnastics), Pavel Lednyov (modern petathlon)

3) Germany- 899 total medals   (282 golds)
---Summer: 684   (fifth overall)
---Winter: 209   (third overall)
Dominant Sports: Biathlon (43),  Luge (31)
Greatest Olympians: Brigit Fischer (canoeing), Claudia Pechstein (speed skating), Reiner Klimke (equestrian), Hans Günter Winkler (equestrian), Kati Wilhelm (biathlon)

4) France- 787 total medals   (238 golds)
---Summer: 693   (fourth overall)
---Winter: 156    (twelfth overall)
Dominant Sports: Cycling (93)
Greatest Olympians: Christian d'Oriola (fencing), Jean-Claude Killy (alpine skiing), The Goitschel sisters (alpine skiing), David Douillet (judo)

5) Great Britain-771 total medals   (226 golds)
---Summer: 746   (third overall)
---Winter: 25   (twenty-first overall)
Dominant Sports: Tennis (40)
Greatest Olympians: Steve Redgrave (rowing), Daley Thompson (decathlon), Sebastian Coe (track), Chris Hoy (cycling), Jayne Torvill and Christophen Dean (ice dancing)

6)  Italy- 6563 total medals   (242 golds)
---Summer: 554   (sixth overall)
---Winter: 109    (eleventh overall)
Greatest Olympians: Edoardo Mangiarotti (fencing), Alberto Tomba (alpine skiing), Nedo Nadi (fencing)

7) Sweden- 621 total medals   (194 golds)
---Summer: 489   (seventh overall)
---Winter: 129    (eighth overall)
Greatest Olympians: Gert Fredriksson (canoeing), Gunde Svan (cross-country skiing), Gillis Grafström (figure skating), Sixten Jernberg (cross-country skiing), Ingemar Stenmark (alpine skiing)

8) East Germany- 519 total medals   (192 golds)
---Summer: 409   (tenth overall)
---Winter: 100    (tenth overall)
Greatest Olympians: Kristin Otto (swimming), Katarina Witt (figure skating), Brigit Fischer (canoeing), Roland Matthes (swimming)

9) Hungary- 479 total medals   (162 golds) 
---Summer: 473   (eighth overall)
---Winter: 6    (thirtieth overall)
Dominant Sports- Water Polo (15)
Greatest Olympians: Krisztina Egerszegi (swimming), Aladár Gerevich (fencing), Ágnes Keleti (gymnastics), Tamás Darnyi (swimming), András Balczó (pentathlon), László Papp (boxing), Dezső Gyarmati (water polo)

10) Finland- 464 total medals   (147 golds) 
---Summer: 308   (fourteenth overall)
---Winter: 156    (sixth overall)
Greatest Olympians: Paavo Nurmi (middle and long-distance running), Ville Ritola (long-distance runner), Matti Nykänen (ski jumping), Clas Thunberg (speed skating)

11) Norway- 454 total medals   (164 gold)
---Summer: 151   (twenty-sixth overall)
---Winter: 303   (first overall)
Dominant Sports: Nordic Combined (26),  Cross-Country Skiing (96)
Greatest Olympians: Bjørn Dæhlie (cross-country skiing), Ole Einar Bjørndalen (biathlon), Thomas Alsgaard (cross-country skiing), Kjetil André Aamodt (alpine skiing), Johann Olav Koss (speed skating), Sonja Henie (figure skating)

12) Australia- 449 total medals   (137 gold)
---Summer: 440    (ninth overall)
---Winter: 9   (twenty-fifth overall)
Greatest Olympians: Ian Thorpe (swimming), Murray Rose (swimming), Dawn Fraser (swimming), Rechelle Hawkes (hockey)

13) China- 435 total medals   (176 gold)
---Summer: 391   (eleventh overall)
---Winter: 44   (sixteenth overall)
Dominant Sports: Badminton (30), Table Tennis (41)
Greatest Olympians: Guo Jingjing (diving), Wang Meng (speed skating), Wang Nan (table tennis), Li Xiaopeng (gymnastics), Wang Junxia (long-distance runner), Deng Yaping (table tennis), Gao Ling (badminton)

14) Russia- 417 total medals   (146 gold)
---Summer: 326    (thirteenth overall)
---Winter: 91    (thirteenth overall)
Greatest Olympians: Alexander Popov (swimming), Lyubov Yegorova (cross-country skiing), Aleksandr Karelin (wrestling), Alexei Nemov (gymnastics), Dmitri Sautin (diving)

15) Canada- 408 total medals   (111 gold)
---Summer: 263   (seventeenth overall)
---Winter: 145   (seventh overall)
Dominant Sports: Curling (8), Ice Hockey (18, 11 of which were golds)
Greatest Olympians:  Clara Hughes (speed skating, cycling), Donovan Bailey (sprinting), Gaétan Boucher (speed skating)

16) Japan- 402 total medals   (132 gold)
---Summer: 365   (twelfth overall)
---Winter: 37   (eighteenth overall)
Dominant Sports: Judo (66), Synchronized Swimming (12)
Greatest Olympians: Sawao Kato (gymnastics), Tadahiro Nomura (judo), Akinori Nakayama (gymnastics), Mitsuo Tsukahara (gymnastics), Takashi Ono (gymnastics), Ryoko Tani (judo)

17) Netherlands- 344 total medals   (103 gold)
---Summer: 258   (eighteenth overall)
---Winter: 86   (fourteenth overall)
Greatest Olympians: Fanny Blankers-Koen (track), Inge de Bruijn (swimming), Leontien van Moorsel (cycling)

18) Switzerland- 325 total medals   (97 gold)
---Summer: 198   (twenty-second overall)
---Winter: 127   (ninth overall)
Dominant Sports: Bobsledding (30)
Greatest Olympians: Vreni Schneider (alpine skiing), Georges Miez (gymnastics), Simon Ammann (ski jumping)

19) Austria- 307 total medals   (80 gold)
---Summer: 106   (thirty-first overall)
---Winter: 201    (fourth overall)
Dominant Sports: Alpine Skiing (105)
Greatest Olympians: Toni Sailer (alpine skiing), Hermann Maier (alpine skiing)

20) Romania- 294 total medals   (86 gold)
---Summer: 293    (fifteenth overall)
---Winter: 1    (forty-first overall)
Greatest Olympians: Nadia Comăneci (gymnastics), Elisabeta Lipă (rowing), Ecaterina Szabo (gymnastics)

Olympic Games Facts

1.    Rope Climbing took place in the following years: 1896, 1904, 1906, 1924, 1932. Rudimentary gym skills were all it took to win Olympic gold in the early 20th century it appears, as this event basically consisted of shimmying up a rope.
2.    Club Swinging occurred in 1904 and 1932. This consisted of swinging a club festooned with ribbons around your body and head.  Strange but true.
3.    Tug-of-War between 1900 -1920.  Indeed this trickiest of sports favoured by rather overweight beer drinkers in pubs was actually considered an Olympic event.  We hear competitive tug-of-war gave way to another short-lived event: the 40m three-legged race.
4.    In wrestling at the Stockholm Games in 1912, the light heavyweight final between a Swede, Anders Ahlgren, and a Finn, Ivar Bohling, lasted nine hours.  Since neither had gained an advantage over the other, no gold medal was awarded. Each received a silver medal.
5.    Motor boating was an official sport at the 1908 Olympics. It was frowned upon because the competitors were often out of sight of the watching crowds.
6.    Polo was played at the Olympics in 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, and 1936.
7.    In 1912, in Stockholm, the first electric timing devices and public address system was used at the Olympics.
8.    Ralph Craig ran in the 100m for the USA in 1912.  He next competed in the Olympics in the USA yachting team, some 36 years later in 1948.
9.    The key word "amateur" was eliminated from the Olympic Charter in 1971.
10.    American swimmer Michael Phelps holds both the record for most gold medals won at an Olympic Games, eight, and most career gold medals with 14.
11.    At the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, silver medals were awarded to the winners and bronze to the second place getters.
12.    Olympic gold medals haven't been pure gold in years. The 1912 Olympics was the last time that gold medals were solid gold.  Ever since, they've been silver with gold plating.
13.    Starting in Amsterdam 1928, all Summer Olympic medals featured the same design: a Greek goddess, the Olympic Rings, the Coliseum of ancient Athens, a Greek vase, a horse-drawn chariot.  Each host city then adds their own design together with with the year and the number of Olympiad.  The host city has control over the design of the reverse side of the medal.
14.    In 1900, in France, Olympian winners got paintings instead of gold medals. Gold, silver and bronze medals weren't given out until the third modern Olympics in 1904. The French gave the winners paintings because they believed they were more valuable.
15.    Incidentally, more athletes than spectators attended the 1900 Paris Olympic Games.
16.   
17.        No women competed in 1896, as de Coubertin felt that their inclusion would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect."
18.        The first black athlete to compete at the Olympics was Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera, competing for France in 1900.
19.        The Berlin 1936 Olympiad was the first games to be televised.
20.        The only Olympian ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was Philip Noel-Baker of Great Britain, who won the silver in the 1500 metres in 1920.
21.        The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Norway has won the most medals (263) at the Winter Games.
22.        In Beijing 2008, equestrian rider Hiroshi Hoketsu became the oldest Japanese Olympic representative at age 67. Hoketsu also took part in the 1964 Tokyo Games at the age of 23 where he finished 40th in the show jumping event.
23.        In order for a sport to be considered for inclusion in the Olympics it must be 'widely practiced' by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents, and by women in at least 40 countries and on three continents.
24.   
25.        The very first recorded Ancient Olympic Games took place in 776 BC. The event was a 'stadion' race - a foot race on a running track 183m [200 yards] long.  The Greeks called this measurement a stade - from which we derive the word "stadium".
26.        Milo of Kroton, one of the greatest Ancient Olympic champions. He won the wrestling event 6 times, over a span of 34 years. [The famous wrestler Milo was said to train by carrying a calf every day.  As the calf grew heavier, his muscles got stronger.]
27.        Did you know that all athletes competed in the nude at the ancient Olympics?
28.        The early Olympic Games included competitions for trumpeters.
29.        In the ancient Olympics, the philosopher Plato [427-347 BC] was a double winner of the Pankration. [Combat sport, a mix of wrestling and boxing].
30.        In ancient times married women were prohibited from watching the Games under penalty of death.
31.        In ancient times big sunhats were banned in the crowd, because they blocked other spectators' view.

We are just a hologram

There is a theory that our universe is nothing more than a holographic representation of the “Real” universe. That this “hologram” exists in the event horizon of a black hole.