Fun Fact Friday!

Our world is made up of approximately 180,497 islands. That number changes constantly as new islands are born or eventually disappear back into the ocean (like Venice). Lands are split apart by the movement of tectonic plates to create new land. Volcanoes erupt under the sea, with lava building up and building up until new land emerges from the water.

The world's youngest island is Surtsey. Part of Iceland and its most southerly point, Surtsey was created by a huge underwater volcanic eruption in the 1960's. It has been protected so that it can be explored by scientists in order to study the creation of new land. People cannot walk on the island but visitors can travel around it by boat.

The world's largest island is Greenland at 2,131,600 sq km although new land has recently (2007) been discovered off its east coast. This new land was once part of the mainland, attached by a glacier, but was separated as a result of part of the huge ice sheet melting. Scary proof of global warming.

Like the evolution of man, our world is changing and developing - the smaller islands are eventually eroded away by extreme weather and the constant biting of waves at it's edges where bigger islands continue to grow as more lava is pumped out of the earth forming mountains and extending the land - it wont be the same when we leave as it was when we got here and it probably won't be around forever so we need to do all we can to protect it and enjoy everything it has to offer.

An extension of land formed by a cascade of
molten lava, cooled by the sea.

Another land arch, this time formed by a strong underwater
current and harsh waves.

Fun Fact Friday!

Most of us have some kind of literature in the loo - a book, the paper, a couple of magazines. Some people even have puzzles - Rubik's cube perhaps.

Well, how about a Sega games console where pee means prizes?

That's exactly what is turning up in lavs in Japan right now!

Aptly named 'Toylets' are Sega's latest creation; the aim ('scuse the pun) is the longer, faster and more accurately you widdle, the more points you score! There are four games to choose from - one you have to erase grafitti off the wall and another one you have to try and lift a ladies skirt (Marilyn Monroe stylee). You can even plug in a USB stick to keep track of your scores between visits!

Obviously, unless you are very skilled in the firing department, these games are for boys only.

They can be found in the urinals at the Sega Mega-Store in Akihabara's Electric Town in Tokyo.

This brings a whole new meaning to Nintendo Wii!

Japanese Space Toilet...
complete with bird song setting for those
'noisier' visitors!

Fun fact Friday!

This weeks fun world fact is:

The world is flat!

Only kidding, we already know this not to be true.

I am really passionate about language, both written and spoken. I love the different sounds of each word, the way the accents make me feel. Some places write from left to right, some from right to left, others right top to bottom. I like to look at the different letters - from weird upside down and backward letters in Greek to pictures in hieroglyphics - there is so much variety in the world and the way we all communicate with each other.

Hieroglyphics in an egyptian tomb

Wherever I go in the world, I always make an effort to learn at least a few words - it goes a long way to making friends with the locals. Sometimes language can be a real barrier, but I always find some way or another to communicate. Whether it be pointing, signing or even using pictures, there is always a way to get your point across and sometimes the results are hilarious if it doesn't go quite right!

Don't look at the monkeys in the eye
Kyoto, Japan

When my Grandad first moved to the South of France, he saw what he thought was potato pie on a menu. He hadn't had it in years so he ordered it straight away. When he asked for salt, the waiter shot him a strange look but gave it to him anyway. After smothering the pie in salt and taking his first bite, he realised his mistake - pomme means apple and pommes de terre means potato! He had to sit there and eat salty apple pie and pretend that he enjoyed every bite!

Bamboo forest - Kyoto, Japan

So, today's fun fact is:

There are approximately 6800 recognised languages in the world. I say recognised because there could be many, many more spoken in areas which have not been explored yet.

There are over 100,000 alphabets!

In Papua New Guinea, there are different languages between different families - 832 in total! There are only 230 languages spoken in the whole of Europe!

About a quarter of the worlds languages are spoken by less than 1000 people and as those people grow older and die out, gradually, so does the language.

Pavement artist - Chinese Calligraphy
Beijing

Sources: 


Linguistic Society of America
Wiki Answers

Fun Fact Friday

I am fascinated by interesting world facts... I set myself funny little challenges from time like learning the names of every country in the world or the population of every country in the world, or all the capital cities of the world. I'm not sure if I'm OCD or boring - either way, I really enjoy it. And it's good exercise for my photographic memory.

So, I have set myself a new challenge: to learn a new world fact every Friday and share it here - Fun Fact Friday! (I'm thinking a jingle in my head, it goes like this: Fun Fact Friday-der-der-der-der-der Fun Fact Friday!)

And here is today's fun fact:

The tallest building in America is the Willis Tower in Chicago. It has 108 floors and is 442 metres high. It has been used in lots of films, usually with someone falling or jumping off the top of it: Batman the Dark Knight and the new transformers film.

The Willis Tower, Chicago, USA

It was the tallest building in the world until 1998 when it was overtaken by the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur (both 452 metres tall).

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The tallest building in the world, as at 2010, at almost twice the height of Willis Tower is Burj Khalifa in Dubai (828 metres, 163 floors).

Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Images courtesy of Wikipedia.