3 Interesting Facts and Wonders About Stars You Probably Didn't Know

We all know one thing about the wonder we call stars and that our very own sun is in fact a star. What you may not know, is that the reason why the sun seems so enormous to us, is only due to the fact that it is the closest star to the earth. Here are the 3 interesting facts and wonders about stars you probably didn't know:

1. Stars are formed in dust clouds
The universe as we know it is mostly empty space (well as far as we know and are told). In this empty vast of space are galaxies, which are made up of a system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held together by gravitational attraction.
These galaxies are themselves fairly empty but in some regions though, possess giant clouds of dust and gas. After a very long time these clouds may become disturbed and one may smash into another. Perhaps a star nearby explodes. When a glob gets dense enough, its center becomes very hot. This heat is so intense it is hot enough to create a nuclear furnace and with this, a star is born. Stars are gluttonous wonders, as new stars gobble up anything nearby. So when all the dust and gas that are close enough are no more, the star's birth ends.

2. Stars range from small to gigantic
As mentioned above, the closest star to the earth is the Sun. Its nearness makes it easy for astronomers to study. Much of what we know about stars comes from what we actually have learned from studying the Sun. The Sun when compared to the earth is humongous. Its diameter is 1.4 million kilometers (~860,000 miles). This means that one could probably fit thousands of earth-sized planets inside it. The Sun is considered a "main sequence star"(Main sequence stars fuse hydrogen atoms to form helium atoms in their cores.) Some stars are thought to be at least 2000 times the size of the Sun. Just think about how big that is compared to our planet. 
From the humongous to the tiny (in respects to the size of those huge stars) are the brown dwarf stars. These can be the size of a large planet for example Jupiter. They are really hard to see because they do not give off much light.

3. Color indicates a Star's temperature
Just as in the flame of a match/candle that possesses a range of colors, so do Stars have the same range. These colors indicate different temperature from hot yellow to hotter blue. This color range gives astronomers the ability to detect the surface temperature of stars. At first glance, stars may seem white but if you take a longer look at the night sky, you'll notice some stars are definitely not white. Some are deep red, such as the super giant Antares in the southern sky. You can see the many colors stars possess.

Interesting Baby Names: Top 10 Worst Names

After stumbling upon an advertisement for cool baby names and clicking on said advertisement, this idea came to me, what are the top 10 worst baby names I can find.
Now, this was only after seeing a cute baby picture with the name 'Baby Boi' as a cool name to give your son.
Before you all say "but Baby Boi ain't that bad", bear in mind that this is all the poor child's first name. Not first and middle but all first.

After doing some research (well, what I call research which is about half an hour of reading through a list of bad names) I came up with my list of  top 10 worst names to give your baby.
Some are a little interesting to say the least but from what I have seen, please for the love of all that is good DO NOT combine names without thinking.

Now let's get to it, drum roll please.......

10. Hashtag
Not too bad but seems like not too much thought into it either. Sounds cool-ish enough but then again hashtag is what we used to allow users and search engines alike to find a topic. So his/her's name is not really too unique in meaning.

9. Audacious
Sigh, this baby's parents had the audacity to come up with such a name smh. Nice to say though

8. Aquafresh
Do they not know how cruel kids can be. All I can say is this kid's parents better make sure his teeth are always clean.

7.Vejonica
Here goes the combination story, baby's grandparents names are John and Veronica. I'm sure you can guess what they did.

6. Dorcus
-_- As I said, do these people not know or remember how cruel kids can be?? My heart goes out to you man.

5. Phelony
Again this one does not sound too bad, however, just the meaning of the word alone made it reach top 5. They should have gone back to the drawing board,. Are they trying to pick the career path already for the baby

4. Hellzel
I can't even, I just cannot get the reasoning behind this. Dad loves hell's angels I think and mom didn't like Hazel so compromise (shrugs shoulder)

3. Orgasm
-_- So I take it that this kid's parents needed a reminder of how he/she got here.

2. Chlamydia
Yes boys and girls you read that one correctly. Not a typo, not an excerpt from another article but yup, that's the baby's name. Poor kid

And my number 1 name which was almost tied with number 2 is...........

1. Syphilis 
What in the what? Who does that? It really should be a crime to give your baby weird names. One can only imagine the life set out ahead for this poor child's future.

There you have it Interesting Baby Names: my Top 10 Worst Names

The Mighty Tigon

So what is a Tigon? Not to be confused with the Liger (discussed in earlier posts), the Tigon is a hybrid cross between, as you probably have guessed, a tiger and a lion. However, the sex of the parents from the two species is what makes a cub a Tigon or a Liger. The tigon is therefore, the result of only when a male tiger mates with a female lion.

This beautiful beast possesses genetic make up from both parents, making it's visible characteristics quite random. They may have spots from the  mother lion ("lions carry genes for spots-lion cubs are spotted and some adults retain faint markings) and stripes from the father. Male tigon may possess a mane but is quite shorter than a regular lion's. Although quite remarkable on it's own merit, they are not as popular as the other hybrid, the liger. This is due to the fact that the tigons do not grow to the majestic larger size as the ligers can.

A nice interesting fact about these tigons are that they can produce both lion and tiger sounds when they roar. A sad fact though is that their lifespan, as with most hybrid animals, are shorter than that of  a normal species. They tend to be prone to illnesses which can make life difficult for them.

One thing for sure though, I would love the chance to see one in person one day. Here is Maude, she is displayed in  The Manchester Museum  located in the United Kingdom. Beautiful isn't she.

Strange But True: Suicidal Deer Signs Now On Highway In Illinois

Suicidal huh, well that's one way of getting passing drivers to read a sign. And no, the deer in rural Ford County, Illinois place aren't depressed about the stock market and committing suicide. The sign above are one of four that the Ford County have bought to put up on highways to warn drivers of crossing deer.

It seems, the plain old deer crossing signs we are all used to were not cutting it in this county. As last year there were more than 30 vehicle-deer collisions in the county causing concern (Ford County, Illinois has a population of 13,832). Al Cambronne who is the author of Deerland: America's Hunt for Ecological Balance and the Essence of Wildness, wrote last year in the Slate that approximately 150 persons die and that more than 10,000 injured as a result from deer-related crashes. So this extra attention to deer crossing isn't a bad idea at all, if it will save more lives (both human and deer alike). 

Though the sign in Ford County have become a bit of a viral spark on the internet they aren't the first to come up with this idea. A local highway commissioner, Ron Hilligoss, got the idea from a photo his nephew sent him. Speaking with the Ford County Record, he told them he saw the photo of a similar sign in Colorado about 6 months ago in the text his nephew sent. Figuring it was a good idea, he brought it to the attention of the Ford County Highway Department at meeting and they agreed and bought four of the signs.

Hopefully, this strange but true fact will be a catching trend that lowers the numbers of deaths brought on by deer collisions.

Interesting fact, interesting indeed.

Crazy Facts

• If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months, & 6 days you would've produced enough sound energy to heat 1 cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.)
  

• If you fart consistently for 6 years & 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Now that's more like it!)

• A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig.)

• A cockroach will live 9 days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy.) (I'm still not over the pig.)

• The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. (Honey, I'm home... WTF?!)

• A flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field. (30 minutes . . . lucky pig! Can you imagine?)

• The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

• Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know. NOT!)

• Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (I still want to be a pig in my next life. Quality over quantity.)
  

• A cat's urine glows under a black light. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out?)

• Humans & dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about that pig????)
  

• The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. (Ok then i'd like to see my tongue bench 250)

50 INTERESTING FACTS

1. If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.

2. If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. For when a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.

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

4. Your tongue is germ free only if it is pink. If it is white there is a thin film of bacteria on it.

5. The Mercedes-Benz motto is “Das Beste oder Nichts” meaning “the best or nothing”.

6. The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.

7. The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.

8. The average person who stops smoking

requires one hour less sleep a night.

9. Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

10. The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

11. Dalmatians are born without spots.

12. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

13. The ‘v’ in the name of a court case does not stand for ‘versus’, but for ‘and’ (in civil proceedings) or ‘against’ (in criminal proceedings).

14. Men’s shirts have the buttons on the right, but women’s shirts have the buttons on the left.

15. The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids.

16. The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it’s already been digested by a bee.

17. Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.

18. The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.

19. Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.

20. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.

21. The verb “cleave” is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.

22. When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.

23. When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.

24. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.

25. The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named Volney.

26. Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros.

27. Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan.

28. It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it.

29. The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples.

30. There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

31. The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.

32. Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

33. It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.

34. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

35. Most soccer players run 7 miles in a game.

36. The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.

37. Every day 200 million couples make love, 400,000 babies are born, and 140,000 people die.

38. In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it
is smiling).

39. Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command “go hang yourself.”

40. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.

41. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

42. The average person laughs 13 times a day.

43. Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are:Mizaru(See no evil), Mikazaru(Hear no evil), and Mazaru(Speak no evil)

44. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

45. German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.

46. Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.

47. Whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.

48. Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two hapless protesters to death.

49. If a statue in the park of a person 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 all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.

50. The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet!!

WORLD'S FASTEST ANIMALS

Marine mammal: On October 12, 1958 a bull killer whale (Orcinus Ocra) measuring an estimated 6.1-7.6m [20-25ft] in length was timed at 55.5km/h [34.5mph] in the east pacific. However, some say that the common dolphin is the fastest animal clocking amazing speeds of up to 64km/h [39.8mph].

Land mammal: The cheetah can reach speeds of 70 mph (yes miles per hour) to 75 mph, there main downfall is their stamina. They can only maintain this speed for short period of bursts up to 460 m (500 yards). For example many antelope species can easily outrun a cheetah over a long distance. The cheetah must catch an antelope in the first minute or less of the chase; after that the cheetah has to slow down but the antelope does not. In comparison to cars a cheetah has the ability to accelerate from 0 to 110 km/h [68 mph] in three seconds, faster than most super cars.

Fish: The fastest fish is the Indo-Pacific sailfish which can grow to over 3.4 m in total length and 100 kg in weight. They have clocked speeds of up to 110km/h [ 68 mph] over short periods.

Bird: Fastest in this category is the peregrine. "The peregrine is most completely adapted to long distance hunting on the wing. In horizontal swoop dives, it reaches extraordinary speeds. The swooping speed of one which wintered on the tower of Cologne Cathedral and hunted pigeons from there was measured accurately at 70-90 meters per second." On average they reach speeds of up to 241.4 km/h [150 mph].

Insect: The fastest airborne insect is the dragonfly at speeds of up to 57.9 km/h [36 miles per hour]. The fastest land based insect is yes, you might have guessed it is the tropical cockroach [no wonder they are so hard to catch]. With speeds of up to 5.4 km/h [3.36 mph] or 50 body lengths per second.

Reptile: Turtles may move very slowly on land, but in the water the Pacific leathferback turtle is the fastest reptile of all. It is more streamlined than other turtles and can swim at 35 km/h [21.7 mph].

A Liger??????

What is a liger??It is the final product of crossing a male lion and a tigress. The liger is not to be confused with the tigon which the crossbreed of a male tiger and a lioness. The liger is the largest of all cats and extant felines. A liger looks more like a giant lion with diffused stripes and it is known that some male ligers grow sparse manes. These massive creatures are on average 10 feet long and weigh approximately 700 lb (320kg). The history of ligers dates to at least the early 19th century in Asia. A painting of two liger cubs was made by Michael Isasi (1772−1844). In 1825, G.B. Whittaker made an engraving of liger cubs born in 1824. The parents and their three liger offspring are also depicted with their trainer in a 19th Century painting in the naïve style. Ligers love swimming - trait common to tigers but lacking in lions. Ligers have been bred in captivity, deliberately and accidentally, since shortly before World War II. The largest non-obese liger alive today is appropriately named Hercules and lives in Jungle Island in Miami. Hercules weighing in at 900 lbs and eating approximately 20 pounds of meat a day is truly a beautiful giant.( The picture of the liger is Hercules and his trainer Dr. Bhagavan Antle)

Interesting Elephant facts

Elephants are large mammals well known for their intelligence and caring for each other. Elephants cry and laugh and are the largest animals that live on land. Elephants live long, between 60-70 years and the females have a gestation period (it is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal) of 22 months which is the longest of any land animal. Elephant's musk has more than 100,000 muscle units and elephant poops around 80 pounds a day. It is known that elephants take a great care over dead bones of their family members. However, the idea of secret "elephant burial grounds" is nothing more than a myth. Interesting elephant fact is that periodically male elephants go through musth (Hindi for 'madness'), sometimes spelled 'must' in English or extremely aggressive sexual behavior. Musth in Persian means "intoxicated" and it is recorded that male elephant in musth has 60 times higher level of testosterone than in the normal elephant. Elephant male in the musth will kill and destroy everything in his path.