วันอาทิตย์ที่ 3 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2555

10 Most Haunted Places in the World!

10. Berry Pomeroy Castle, Totness

Berry Pomeroy Castle, near Totness
Source
There are a number of legends associated with this 14th-century castle, and it has a reputation of being haunted. It has 2 famous female ghosts; the White Lady and the Blue Lady. According to legend the White Lady is the spirit of Margaret Pomeroy, who starved to death while imprisoned in the dungeons by her jealous sister. Apparently she haunts the dark dungeons, and rises from St Margaret’s Tower to the castle walls. The Blue Lady is not confined to specific areas and is supposed to lure people into parts of the ruin. Apparently it’s a very bad idea to follow her!

9. Dominican Hill, Baguio City, Philippines.

Dominican Hill, Baguio City, Philippines
According to some people the ghosts of people who were killed during the war haunt this place. Some say the patients who died here despite having the hope to be alive turned into ghosts. Hearing the banging of doors, windows, clattering of dishes and screaming voices during night are reported by people.

8. Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland


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This magnificent castle is typically medieval, perched atop a rocky crag, giving it an amazing vista of  Scottish hills. But inside the empty halls and narrow streets of Edinburgh, there are the echoes of the dead. At least, that’s what has been reported. Hot spots for specters include the castle’s prison cells, the South Bridge vaults and Mary’s King Close, a disused street used to quarantine and eventually entomb victims of the plague. There are also reports of ghost dogs, a headless drummer, and the bodies of prisoners taken during the French seven-year war and the American War of Independence.

7. Monte Cristo, New South Wales, Australia


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Monte Cristo, Australia’s most haunted mansion is located in Junee, New South Wales. Mrs Crawley, the owner of the house never came out of her home after the death of her husband in 23 years of her remaining life except for two times. After her death her ghost haunts the place particularly her former room. Bodiless ghost, phantom face in the window, floating apparition, strange and ghostly voices, automatic turning on and off lights are some haunting experiences of the people. Some people reported that when they entered the boy’s bed room they were breathless and turned purple and almost died, they became normal after coming out from the room.

6. Ancient Ram Inn, Gloucestershire, England

Ancient Ram Inn, Gloucestershire, England.
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Whether you believe in ghosts or not, a trip to the Ancient Ram Inn is an unsettling experience. Its creaky floorboards, cold bare walls, musty smells and dimly lit nooks and crannies epitomise everything a haunted house should be. And the stories attached to this creepy building are not for the fainthearted: Murder, satanism and child sacrifice are just a few of the dark deeds said to have occurred here, oh and did we mention apparently it’s built on a pagan burial ground?

5. Highgate Cemetery, North London, England

Highgate Cemetery

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By night, Highgate Cemetery is like something out of a horror movie. Eerie crooked gravestones, headless angles covered in ivy, dark overgrown passages between the tombs, it’s no wonder this is Britain’s number-one ghost spot. Despite it’s chilling atmosphere, by day Highgate Cemetery showcases some of the Britain’s most spectacular Gothic architecture, offers fascinating guided tours. It’s also the burial place of Karl Marx.

4. Bhangarh Fort, India

Bhangarh Fort
Bhangarh Fort is on way from Jaipur to Alwar in Rajasthan, India. According to a legend, Singhia, a black magic tantrik cursed the palace that everybody would die in the palace and their souls will stay there for centuries without rebirth. Another interesting point is, all the houses in this area are without roofs because whenever a house is built with roof, the roof collapses. This is the called most haunting place in India. People who visit this place experience anxiety and restlessness. It is said that nobody returns from this place that stays there after dark. Government prohibited this area from staying after sunset. You will find a board installed by Archaeological Survey of India displaying “Staying after sunset is strictly prohibited in this area”.

3. Screaming Tunnel, Niagara Falls, Ontario

screaming tunnel
Source
The haunting of the Screaming Tunnel is one of Niagara Falls’ most enduring legends. Located off Warner Road, the tunnel runs under the railway tracks that link Niagara Falls to Toronto and New York City. According to local legend, over a century ago, a farm house located just past the south entrance to the tunnel caught fire one night. A young girl, her clothes engulfed in flames, fled screaming from the house. She ran through the tunnel in an attempt to extinguish her garments but collapsed and died on the tunnel floor. A variation of this story has the girl set ablaze in the tunnel by her enraged father when he learned his wife had won custody of their children during an nasty divorce battle. Another version tells of a young girl who was raped inside the tunnel and her body burned to cover the evidence. All these stories allege that if you stand in the middle of the dark tunnel at midnight and light a match, the flame will go out and a girl’s screams will be heard.

2. Ohio University,  Athens, America

Ohio University, America
Source
Ohio University is known in state folklore as the most haunted college campus. A large number of places on campus are said to be haunted, and numerous other popular tales are told about the university across Athens county. The British Society for Psychical Research claims that Athens, Ohio, is one of the most haunted places in the world. Wilson Hall, famous for a girl (a supposed witch)who killed herself moments after writing satanic and supernatural things on the wall in her own blood. The five cemetaries that form a pentagram that surrounds the campus, with the administrative building being in the center of the devil’s sign. Washington Hall, which is famous for housing a team of basketball players who all died in a terrible crashm their ghosts still haunt the hall, and you can sometimes hear them dribbling. The catacombs of Jefferson Hall, where numerous ghost sightings have occurred. And finally, for The Ridges, an abandoned insane asylum that was known for thousands of labotamies and electro shock treatments. Also, a patient who disappeared, and was found five weeks later, her body decomposed onto the floor and left a stain that outlines her body. This stain can still be seen today.

1. Changi Beach, Singapore


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Changi Beach served as a popular killing ground for the Japanese during the Sook Ching massacre of The Second World War. Thousands of Chinese were tortured and killed during this Operation as they were suspected of being anti-Japanese. Strange crying and screaming are reported by people. The heads of the Chinese dead bodies are sometimes seen flying everywhere and headless bodies walk around the beach. The scariest thing is that the ghosts leave blood stains. During nights people observe dug holes that appear as if they were used for burying bodies.

TOP 10 Weird Movies You Should See

If you are looking to expand your film viewing into a strange realm, here is a list of 10 movies that are a good primer for the field!




Akira Kurasowa’s ‘Dreams’ is a very odd movie not only in the way it’s shot, but the way it’s structured as well. I can’t really go into much detail about the film as it’s very difficult to explain. However it is worth watching for it’s visuals. Very beautiful to look at.




Jacob’s Ladder is the film equivalent of a mind-fuck. Honestly this movie is terrifying and will really play with your head the whole way through. Watch this movie alone late at night if you need to stay up. Seriously, do yourself a favor and check this out. I first saw this when I was my parent’s friend’s house. They were out talking while I was watching TV and this movie came on. Needless to say it messed my little brain up hahaha. But this movie holds up so well and is just as frightening (if not more so) today


Charlie Kaufman always makes strange movies. That is not a surprise. However, his directorial debut is one of the strangest of his catalogue so far. A meditation on life and how you view the world and others and what that can take on, this film is beautiful and challenging. This is a movie that demands more than one viewing to really take it all in.


Tideland is to me a beautiful disaster. It was slammed by critics and moviegoers alike. A story of a young girl who escapes into her own fantasy world after her drug addicted parents die and she is left alone in an old house in the middle of nowhere. I mean for ¾’s of the movie Jeff Bridges is a rotting corpse in the house while the little girl feeds him and dresses him up. I can totally understand why people hate this movie, but for some reason I was captivated by it and I think it is worth at least one viewing.




James Wood’s puts a vhs tape inside of his newly formed stomach-vag. Do I need to say more? A classic body horror from Cronenberg, and an ahead-of-it’s-time satire about media and its effects on the viewer.


From Alex Winter (from Bill and Ted films and The Idiot Box) made what is in my opinion one of the most absurd and hilarious comedies ever made. This movie is weird and is shamefully unseen by most people. You’ll never look at a Styrofoam Cup the same again.


A Warning: If you are at all sensitive to the grotesque or have hang ups about nudity/sex this is definitely not the movie for you. John Water’s seminal shock film. This movie still is shocking even by today’s standards. This is not Hairspray. So I’ll posit this question: Can you handle a butthole singing ‘Surfin’ Bird’? If you answered no, then stay away from Pink Flamingos.


3.  Gummo
Gummo is a movie that I love and I hate. It’s filthy, disgusting, brilliant, terrible. The first time I watched it, once the credits rolled, I sat in silence for a long time, then I rewound the tape and watched it again. This movie feels like it’s real and a nightmare. When I used to work at a popular video store I used to recommend it to teeny-boppers looking for a Friday night flick. Hope they enjoyed it.



It’s so hard to pick a weird Lynch film to recommend. But this is the Lynch-pin (hardy har har). This movie is, make no mistake, a horror film. Lynch’s use of sound and black and white, creates such a horrifying vision of parenthood and relationships. The ‘baby’ in this movie still freaks me out to this day.



As much as I love El Topo, I think The Holy Mountain is a better movie. Like Jodorowsky’s other film’s this is steeped in religious allegory and symbolism. And it is absolutely amazing. One of my all time favorite movies and has the best twist ending ever.

17 coolest hidden Google tricks!


Google is awesome. Yes, there have been questions raised about its new privacy policy and creepy Safari tracking and frankly, it just knows way too much about everyone who has ever created a Google account. But let’s put that aside for a moment and focus on all its cool quirks, shall we?
They’re built into practically every Google product — if you look hard enough, you’ll find that entering the right search term or typing a code can make Google collapse, spin or create fictional characters. Here are 15 easter eggs (hidden, entertaining things developers build into a website or program) for you to discover the next time you’re Googling.
1. Walking to Mordor:
mordor
If you’ve ever watched The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (or just seen various versions of the meme) you may never stop laughing at this Google Maps quirk (or maybe it’s just me). If you try to get walking directions from “The Shire” or “Rivendell” to “Mordor” (and ignore the suggestions that pop up), Google will give you the route… and a warning. In other news, according to my Google Maps, Mordor is located just outside Cape Town, South Africa. Nice.
2. Barrel roll:
barrel roll
Endlessly entertaining, this one trended worldwide on Twitter in November. Simply search “do a barrel roll” — if you have Google’s instant results functions enabled, your results page will be spinning before you’ve completed the instruction.
3. 42:
42
What is 42, you ask? Geez, it’s only the answer to life, the universe and everything. Ok, so if you’ve never read or watched The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, you won’t get this one. But Google’s built-in calculator will.
4. Gravity:
gravity
If, by any chance, you feeling like searching “Google gravity” and hitting “I’m feeling lucky”, don’t be surprised if Google comes crashing down around you the second you move the mouse.
5. Recursion:
recursion
Google pokes fun at its own “did you mean” suggestions if you search recursion (repetition or returning) by questioning your spelling even though you didn’t make a mistake.
6. Klingon:
klingon
So “GoogleDaq ylnej” means “Google search”. Hmmm. Who knew? Well, you, if you speak Klingon. Yes, there is a Klingon version of Google. There is also a pirate and Elmer Fudd version, if that’s more your thing.
7. Kerning:
kerning
Designers will love this one — kerning is the spacing between letters in a word. When you do a search for kerning, Google changes the spaces between letters in the word ‘kerning’ in all the results. Heehee. You see what they did there?
8. Hello, Nessy:
lochness monster
Picture this: You’re working under a tight deadline, your clock is slowly counting the minutes past 3AM and your coffee and Red Bull combo is failing. The sleep deprivation is starting to affect you — you are starting to see things. You click to your home page, and there, rising gracefully from the dark waves in your iGoogle theme, is the Lochness Monster.
No, you’re not hallucinating — you really did see Nessy. If you are ever awake and online at 3:14 AM (those are the first three digits in Pi, by the way. Gosh, those Google nerds), and have the iGoogle beach theme installed, Nessy will come to visit for a minute. If you’re not an insomniac, you can always just change the timezone on your computer and in your iGoogle settings and just wait until 14 minutes past the hour (I was in Bangkok last night, as far as Google knows).
9. Nagging Rams:
anagram
Similar to the ‘recursion’ response, if you search for ‘anagram’ (rearranging the letters in a word to make a new word or phrase, in case you didn’t know), Google rearranges the letters to suggest you were really searching for ‘nag a ram’.
10. Antarctic Penguins:
penguin
If you ever want to creep the Antarctic on Google Maps, you may be surprised to find the little orange peg man you drag and drop to change to Google Street View has transformed into a fat little penguin. Awwww.
11. Doodles:
doodles
What do you get if you don’t actually search for anything, and just hit ‘I’m feeling lucky’? A catalogue of all the Google doodles — all the way back to 1998. There were just three in that year — there have already been 69 in 2012.
12. Konami ninja:
ninja
If you type in the Konami code (a cheat code used in Konami games) in Google Reader, the side panel will turn blue and a cute ninja will appear on the left of your screen. Use your arrow keys and keyboard to enter the code — it’s up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, followed by the letters B and A.
13. Street View team:
street view
Ever wanted to see the people who work at Google doing cool things like Google Street View? Well, if you hop along to the back of the Google offices in Mountain View, you can see them all.
14. Laundry:
laundry
There are a lot of things Gmail can do for you — filter spam, flood you with ads, apply a plethora of pretty coloured labels to your messages — but, as yet, it can’t do your laundry.  However, it is an option on the ‘suggest a feature’ page for Gmail.
15. Pacman:
pacman
It started out as a Google doodle to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Pacman in 2010, but the Google Pacman game was so popular, it was given a permanent home.
16. Zerg rush:
Zerg rush
Google “zerg rush” and prepare to defend your browser against hordes of the letter ‘o’ in Google’s logo, which will start to destroy your search results. They’re apparently undefeatable, but you can try to fight them off by clicking on them and share your high score on Google +. For those who aren’t familiar with StarCraft, a ‘zerg rush’ is a tactic where swarms of aliens known as ‘zergs’ descend in multitudes in order to overwhelm their enemies.
17. You’ll never find Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris google
Because Chuck Norris jokes never get old, there is a warning hidden in Google search results to ward off those who dare to attempt to find him. Just search ‘find Chuck Norris’ and hit ‘I’m feeling lucky’ and you’ll see what I mean.

credit : http://memeburn.com/2012/03/15-of-the-coolest-hidden-google-tricks/

วันเสาร์ที่ 2 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2555

Where Speech Recognition Is Going..



Until recently, the idea of holding a conversation with a computer seemed pure science fiction. If you asked a computer to “open the pod bay doors”—well, that was only in movies.
But things are changing, and quickly. A growing number of people now talk to their mobile smart phones, asking them to send e-mail and text messages, search for directions, or find information on the Web.
“We’re at a transition point where voice and natural-language understanding are suddenly at the forefront,” says Vlad Sejnoha, chief technology officer of Nuance Communications, a company based in Burlington, Massachusetts, that dominates the market for speech recognition with its Dragon software and other products. “I think speech recognition is really going to upend the current [computer] interface.”
Progress has come about thanks in part to steady progress in the technologies needed to help machines understand human speech, including machine learning and statistical data-mining techniques. Sophisticated voice technology is already commonplace in call centers, where it lets users navigate through menus and helps identify irate customers who should be handed off to a real customer service rep.
Now the rapid rise of powerful mobile devices is making voice interfaces even more useful and pervasive.
Jim Glass, a senior research scientist at MIT who has been working on speech interfaces since the 1980s, says today’s smart phones pack as much processing power as the laboratory machines he worked with in the ’90s. Smart phones also have high-bandwidth data connections to the cloud, where servers can do the heavy lifting involved with both voice recognition and understanding spoken queries. “The combination of more data and more computing power means you can do things today that you just couldn’t do before,” says Glass. “You can use more sophisticated statistical models.”
The most prominent example of a mobile voice interface is, of course, Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant that comes built into the latest iPhone. But voice functionality is built into Android, the Windows Phone platform, and most other mobile systems, as well as many apps. While these interfaces still have considerable limitations (see Social Intelligence), we are inching closer to machine interfaces we can actually talk to.
Nuance is at the heart of the boom in voice technology. The company was founded in 1992 as Visioneer and has acquired dozens of other voice technology businesses. It now has more than 6,000 staff members at 35 locations around the world, and its revenues in the second quarter of 2012 were $390.3 million, a 22.4 percent increase over the same period in 2011.
In recent years, Nuance has deftly applied its expertise in voice recognition to the emerging market for speech interfaces. The company supplies voice recognition technology to many other companies and is widely believed to provide the speech component of Siri.
Speech is ideally suited to mobile computing, says Nuance’s CTO, partly because users have their hands and eyes otherwise occupied—but also because a single spoken command can accomplish tasks that would normally require a multitude of swipes and presses. “Suddenly you have this new building block, this new dimension that you can bring to the problem,” says Sejnoha. “And I think we’re going to be designing the basic modern device UI with that in mind.”
Inspired by the success of voice recognition software on mobile phones, Nuance hopes to put its speech interfaces in many more places, most notably the television and the automobile. Both are popular and ripe for innovation.
To find a show on TV, or to schedule a DVR recording, viewers currently have to navigate awkward menus using a remote that was never designed for keying in text queries. Products that were supposed to make finding a show easier, such as Google TV, have proved too complex for people who just want to relax for an evening’s entertainment.
At Nuance’s research labs, Sejnoha demonstrated software called Dragon TV running on a television in a mocked-up living room. When a colleague said, “Dragon TV, find movies starring Meryl Streep,” the interface instantly scanned through channel listings to select several appropriate movies. A version of this technology is already in some televisions sold by Samsung.
Apple is widely rumored to be developing its own television, and it’s speculated that Siri will be its controller. The idea has been fueled by Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, in which the late CEO is said to have claimed that he’d “finally solved” the TV interface.
Meanwhile, the Sync entertainment system in Ford automobiles already uses Nuance’s technology to let drivers pull up directions, weather information, and songs. About four million Ford cars on the road have Sync with voice recognition. Last week, Nuance introduced software called Dragon Drive that will let other car manufacturers add voice-control features to vehicles.
Both these new contexts are challenging. One reason voice interfaces have become popular on smart phones is that users speak directly into the device’s microphone. To ensure that the system works well in televisions and cars, where there is more background noise, the company is experimenting with array microphones and noise-canceling technology.
Nuance makes a number of software development kits available to anyone who wants to include voice recognition technology in an application. Montrue Technologies, a company based in Ashland, Oregon, used Nuance’s mobile medical SDK to develop an iPad app that lets physicians dictate notes.
“It’s astonishingly accurate,” says Brian Phelps, CEO and cofounder of Montrue and himself an ER doctor. “Speech has turned a corner; it’s gotten to a point where we’re getting incredible accuracy right out of the box.”
In turn, the kits shore up Nuance’s position, helping the company improve its voice recognition and language processing algorithms by sending ever more voice data through its servers.  As MIT’s Glass says, “there has been a long-time saying in the speech-recognition community: ‘There’s no data like more data’.” Nuance says it stores the data in an anonymous format to protect privacy.
Sejnoha believes that within a few years, mobile voice interfaces will be much more pervasive and powerful. “I should just be able to talk to it without touching it,” he says. “It will constantly be listening for trigger words, and will just do it—pop up a calendar, or ready a text message, or a browser that’s navigated to where you want to go.”
Perhaps people will even speak to computers they wear, like the photo-snapping eyeglasses in development at Google. Sources at Nuance say they are actively planning how speech technology would have to be architected to run on wearable computers.
This article originally published at MIT Technology Review here.

[MIT Technology Review is a Mashable publishing partner that identifies emerging technologies and analyzes their impact for technology and business leaders. This article is reprinted with the publisher's permission.]

Top 10 most amazing dog breeds 2012

If you’re thinking of a breed of dog to take care of, it is good to have an idea about what its temperament is, its characteristic and what makes it unique. To help you out, we will have a countdown of the top 10 most amazing dog breeds 2012 – ranging from the most dangerous, loyal, fascinating, popular and expensive breeds that you can buy.

1. Dog Breed: Doberman pinscher

Distinction: One of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world.


With their tall and compact bodies, dark color and alert ears, it is easy to see why the Doberman Pinscher as a dog breed is considered to be one of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world. Simply referred to as Doberman, this canine breed originated from Germany.

Generally, a domesticated Doberman is loyal, intelligent and alert. If you own this dog breed, they will be particularly loyal to you and aggressive towards strangers. They also do not like rivalry with other dogs.
What makes caring for a Doberman pinscher particularly dangerous is when the owners lack guidance, subject them to abuse or if not enough attention is given to them – upon which they can become destructive, dominant and extremely aggressive.

2. Dog Breed: German Shepherd

Distinction: One of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world.


Another German breed of dog which is considered to be one of the most dangerous in the world is the German Shepherd. Unlike the Dobermans, this breed of canine does not have a particularly menacing look because they have a long coat and a generally mild-looking face.

However, they are extremely intelligent, strong and obedient, which is probably the reason why most police and military establishments employ them as guard dogs. Another characteristic of the German Shepherds  which makes them particularly dangerous is their aggression towards smaller dog breeds.

3. Dog Breed: Rottweiler

Distinction: One of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world.

Did you know that Rottweiler is also known as Butcher dog? This canine breed ranks third in our list of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world. They are energetic, intelligent and hardy animals.
The thing which makes Rottweiler – and any dog breed for that matter – become dangerous is when they are subject to abuse and neglect. They also become a hazard to the community if they do not have sufficient training when it comes to mingling with humans or other animals.
In addition, Rottweilers are aggressive towards other dogs of the same sex. If you have cats and birds in the house, they might also exhibit aggressive behavior towards them.

4. Dog Breed: Samoyed

Distinction: One of the most expensive dog breeds in the world.


Next, we will take a look at a few of the most expensive dog breeds in the world. This ‘luxury’ dog breed has a price ranging from around $3,000 to $8,000.

What makes the Samoyed breed particularly expensive is the fact that they are among the ancient dog breeds that have been around for the last three centuries.
There are also a dwindling number of Samoyed dog breeders which is another reason why an owner needs to pay an arm and a leg to call this canine breed his or her best friend.

5. Dog Breed: English Bulldog or British Bulldog

Distinction: One of the most expensive dog breeds in the world.


How would you feel about owning a dog breed which is also owned by the British royals? In the United States in particular, English or British bulldogs are both expensive and popular. This breed of dog is also favored by a lot of men who see the breed as being a symbol of masculinity and tenacity.

If you’re thinking about a breed of dog to buy and you are willing to shell out the money for it, then you might as well go with one of the most popular and expensive dog breeds in the world – the British or English bulldog. A typical English bulldog puppy can cost you anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000.

6. Dog Breed: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Distinction: One of the most expensive dog breeds in the world.


To cap off our list of the most expensive dog breeds, there is the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel which can cost anywhere from $800 to about $3,500 for a puppy. What makes the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel expensive and special is that they are the ultimate definition of a man’s best friend.

When you look at their puppy-dog eyes, their rich coats and their small, compact bodies, it is easy to see why anybody would want to spend a significant amount of money just to be able to own a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy.

7. Dog Breed: Labrador Retriever

Distinction: One of the most popular dog breeds in the world.


Finally, we’ll move on to some of the most popular dog breeds in the world. First, there’s the Labrador Retriever. They are among the world’s most popular dog breeds according to the American Kennel Club because of their friendly demeanor.

If you would like to purchase a dog breed which is great with kids and works as a great solo companion as well, then you can never go wrong by choosing to care for a Labrador Retriever.

8. Dog Breed: Golden Retriever

Distinction: One of the most popular dog breeds in the worlds.

Golden Retrievers rank next to the Labrador Retriever as the most popular dog breeds in the world. This cousin breed is almost synonymous with the dog that almost every average American family has.
What’s so good about this breed of canine is that they are gentle by nature and their temperament is suitable for kids and all members of the family to play with.
Despite their large size, they do have a way with kids which make for the perfect canine friend. Just make sure that you have enough room for them to grow, because they can weigh as much as 90 pounds.

9. Dog Breed: Yorkshire Terrier

Distinction: One of the most popular dog breeds in the world.


Yorkshire Terrier dogs are small pooches which are also an ideal family dog. Let’s say that you live in an apartment which allows pets – but there isn’t much room for the dogs to move around. Naturally, you would be selecting a breed which is small in nature – and the Yorkshire Terrier is perfect for such a setup.

10. Dog Breed: Dachshunds

Distinction: One of the most popular dog breeds in the world.

This dog breed with a unique name, Dachshund, is also known as wiener dogs. They do have a unique body shape and they are known for their playful and sometimes ferocious nature.
There are different kinds of Dachshunds that you can own – including the long-haired, standard Dachshunds which has a calm demeanor, or the wire-haired Dachshund which has a personality more like the terrier’s.

10 amazing fun facts you didnt know about google


Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” So began the “letter from the founders” penned by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in the company’s securities registration form in 2004. Despite ever-increasing commercial success since that date, Brin and Page have kept to their word.
Google is an unconventional company with a huge stake in our online lives. It is a source of fascination for many, including us, but what really happens in the Googleplex? And what cool factoids and stats exist from the company’s relatively short past?
Here we bring you 10 fun facts about Google to quench our own thirst for Google knowledge as well as hopefully offer you a distracting diversion from your daily life.


1. The First Google Doodle


Google’s famous homepage “Doodles” (the changing Google logo graphics) are well known and enjoyed by millions around the world as a way to mark an event or anniversary. But did you know that the very first Google Doodle was designed as a kind of “out of office” message?
In 1998 Brin and Page took the weekend off to go the Burning Man festival in Nevada. The Burning Man doodle (shown above), was designed by the Google guys and added to the homepage to let their users know they were out of office and couldn’t fix technical issues like a server crash.

2. Interesting Figures from the Google IPO


While the initial price for Google’s stock at its Initial Public Offering in August 2004 is an interesting stat in itself, there’s more to the story. The opening price for Google’s stock was $85 per share. At the time of writing, the stock price was $483 but has soared as high as $600 in the past year, making GOOG a rather nice investment for many.
A bonus factoid from Google’s IPO process is the value Google stated it hoped to raise on its S-1 form — as much as $2,718,281,828. It may just look like a string of numbers to non-mathletes, but 2,718,281,828 is actually the first ten digits of the mathematical constant ““e”,” showing that even as their company was planning to go public, the Google guys could still geek out with a bit of numerical humor.

3. The First Google Storage Was Made From LEGO



As proud hosts to Google back when it was still a research project, and known as “BackRub,” here Stanford now showcases the original Google storage from way back in 1996. It’s made up of a whopping 40 GB (less than a modern iPod) and it’s made from, as fans of the building bricks will be delighted to see, LEGO. It even hash funny mini-figures on the top.
Legend has it that the reason for the LEGO construction was that the Google guys needed an easily expandable, and cheap way to house 10 4 GB hard drives, and LEGO fit the bill. Whether the primary colors of the bricks used were the hues that went on to inspire the Google logo’s design is up for debate, but we’d guess it wasn’t just a coincidence.

4. Google’s First Ever Tweet


Google’s first ever Twitter post was as satisfyingly geeky as you could hope for. The message, sent in February 2009, reads “I’m 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001 00001010.”
For anyone not fluent in binary, here’s a hint — it’s a well known phrase from the company’s homepage. Got it? Yep, it reads: “I’m feeling lucky.”

5. Google Rents Goats


 
This one isn’t actually one of Google’s infamous April Fools’ Day jokes: Google rents out goats. Yes you read that right. It rents goats from a company called California Grazing to help cut down the amount of weeds and brush at Google HQ.
The operation of 200 goats (plus herder and a border collie) is kind to the environment, and as Google puts it: “A lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers.”

6. Google’s Impact on Language


While you’d think the news that the Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionary adding “google” as a verb to their lexicons in 2006 would thrill the search engine, Google was actually none too pleased with the development.
“We’d like to make clear that you should please only use ‘Google’ when you’re actually referring to Google Inc. and our services,” the company wrote in a blog post at the time.
The rationale behind the semantic displeasure was that Google had “a brand to protect,” and feared Google would “slip from trademarked status into common usage.” Now, four years later, we have to say Google was fighting a losing battle — just ‘google it.’
However, we’ve found some other Google-themed linguistic delights for you — a Google staffer is commonly referred to as a “Googler,” while a new team member joins as a “Noogler.” Nooglers also used to wear a colorful hat with a spinner on top. According to a former employee, those hats are now pretty scarce in some offices, instead: “Every Noogler gets a yellow smiley balloon and a nameplate.”

7. Google Is Dog-Friendly


 
 
Google is a super dog-friendly company. It proudly names “company dogs,” like Yoshka (described as a “free-range Leonberger”) pictured above. Yoshka accompanies Urs Holzle, senior VP operations and Google Fellow to the Googleplex. Less senior staff are also allowed to bring their dogs to the office.
According to Google’s “Dog Policy”, one indiscretion too many on the Google carpets, or aggressive behavior, means Lassie will have to stay at home in the future. Strong bladdered and friendly canines are more than welcome across the campus.
Unfortunately, cats are not quite as welcome. Here’s an excerpt taken directly from Google’s Code of Conduct: “Google’s affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our corporate culture. We like cats, but we’re a dog company, so as a general rule we feel cats visiting our offices would be fairly stressed out.”

8. Google’s First Ever “Company Snack” Was Swedish Fish


Back in February, 1999, the chewy candy known as “Swedish Fish” became the first ever company snack (not counting beverages) that was ordered into the Google office.
Although a relatively small event, it has led to big things. Google is infamous in the industry for treating its employees to not just free drinks and snacks on tap, but full-on gourmet meals, three times a day at a plethora of on-site cafes and eateries, as well as regular BBQs during the summer.
Brin and Page have been quoted in the past as saying no Googler should have to go more than 100 feet for food, leading to snack-filled “microkitchens” that are liberally dotted around the Google offices.
In fact, the free food is said to be so tempting that Googlers risk the “Google 15,” similar to the “Freshman 15,” where they pile on weight soon after joining the company. Good thing they also have a Google gym.
Backing this up, here’s a stat from Google — “Bay Area Googlers consumed approximately 5,500 pounds of handmade chocolates from the snack bins in the microkitchens in 2007.” Wow.

9. The Google Logo Was Not Centered Until 2001


Google’s famously sparse homepage is considered a classic design in the online world. The Google logo, however, wasn’t actually centered on the page until March 31, 2001. As early users will remember, the homepage had a bias to the left-hand side, and even earlier — back in 1998 — Google sported a Yahoo-style exclamation mark.

10. Google Has a Company Dinosaur


By all accounts, there are many wondrous sights to be seen at the Googleplex, but one of the most arresting is surely the gigantic T-Rex skeleton — nicknamed “Stan” after a “real” dino found nearby — that looms menacingly at Googlers in Mountain View.
Joining Stan in the unique campus decorations is a scale replica of the SpaceShipOne, enormous Android-themed models, pink flamingos, a large LEGO man, Google-colored phone boxes and grown-up size ball pits. One thing seems for sure — just like the company itself — life at the Googleplex must be far from dull.