The Secret Behind Octopus Paul

Before footie fever gripped the world, a brush with an octopus would be the exotic gourmet kinds, forkingHtapothi Makaronatha or Htapothi Stifatho or any of the Greek delicacies prepared with octopus. Now, it’sthe Octopus Paul – the oracle, the soothsayer, the official footie star who found fame without stepping anywhere near a football field. Everyone’s gaga over the resident of the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany. So far he has managed to correctly predict the winner of every game at the tournament featuring his adopted country’s team (he’s British born but reared in Germany).

Top 10 things you need to know about World Cup star Paul the Psychic Octopus

Not just Paul, many pet owners can detect a sixth sense in their pets.

Do you have a psychic pet?

How does Paul see the future? By the way, he’s named Paul after a poem by German author Boy Lornse titled Der Tintenfisch Paul Oktopus. His keeper Oliver Walenciak believes it might have something to do with the fact that “all octopus have nine brains so we know he has exceptional powers.”

So, its not just Paul, but many psychic octopuses could be gliding around in the deep blue. Says Carl Zimmer in Slate: Octopuses can learn, they can process complex information in their heads, and they can behave in equally complex ways. But it would be a mistake to try to give octopuses an IQ score. They are not intelligent in the way we are—not because they’re dumb but because their behavior is the product of hundreds of millions of years of evolution under radically different conditions than the ones under which our own brains evolved.” The article gives a fascinating insight into the 1950 discovery of the massive brains of octopuses.

Researchers say octopuses are known to be highly intelligent and curious. This archived article from Discover explores the brainpower of an octopus.

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Strange Facts

Saturday mail delivery in Canada was eliminated by Canada Post on February 1, 1969!

In Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car for most trips of less than 50 minutes!

There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers cookie zoo!

Should there be a crash, Prince Charles and Prince William never travel on the same airplane as a precaution!

Your body is creating and killing 15 million red blood cells per second!

The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache on a standard playing card!

There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos!

There is one slot machine in Las Vegas for every eight inhabitants!

Every day 20 banks are robbed. The average take is $2,500!

The most popular first name in the world is Muhammad!

Tablecloths were originally meant to be served as towels with which dinner guests could wipe their hands and faces after eating!

Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult!

One car out of every 230 made was stolen last year!

The names of Popeye’s four nephews are Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye!

Until the nineteenth century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia!

The Nobel Peace Prize medal depicts three naked men with their hands on each other’s shoulders!

When glass breaks, the cracks move faster than 3,000 miles per hour. To photograph the event, a camera must shoot at a millionth of a second!

A Boeing 747 airliner holds 57,285 gallons of fuel!

A car uses 1.6 ounces of gas idling for one minute. Half an ounce is used to start the average automobile!

A lightning bolt generates temperatures five times hotter than those found at the sun’s surface!

A violin contains about 70 separate pieces of wood!

It is estimated that 4 million “junk” telephone calls, phone solicitations by persons or programmed machine are made every day in the United States!

It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times!

Forest fires move faster uphill than downhill!

Almost half the newspapers in the world are published in the United States and Canada!

Strange but True -Volcanoes-

The loudest noise ever known was produced by a volcanic eruption at Krakatoa, near Javan, in 1883. The sound was heard in Australia, 5000 km away.

When Laki volcano in Iceland erupted in 1783, its lava flow stretched 65 km, the longest ever recorded.

There are over 500 active volcanoes in the world.

About 20 per cent of all volcanoes are underwater.

About 20 to 30 volcanoes erupt each year, mostly under the sea.

Lava from an erupting volcano may be as hot as 1200 degrees centigrade.

source: http://www.thatsweird.net

Strange But True -Earth-

Strange but true facts about the Earth
In 1783 an Icelandic eruption threw up enough dust to temporarily block out the sun over Europe.

About 20 to 30 volcanoes erupt each year, mostly under the sea.

A huge underground river runs underneath the Nile, with six times more water than the river above.

Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana formed in a hollow made by a meteorite.

Beaver Lake, in Yellowstone Park, USA, was artificially created by beaver damming.

Off the coast of Florida there is an underwater hotel. Guests have to dive to the entrance.

Venice in Italy is built on 118 sea islets joined by 400 bridges. It is gradually sinking into the water.

The Ancient Egyptians worshipped a sky goddess called Nut.

The world’s windiest place is Commonwealth Bay, Antartica.

In 1934, a gust of wind reached 371 km/h on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA.

American Roy Sullivan has been struck by lighting a record seven times.

The desert baobab tree can store up to 1000 litres of water in its trunk.

The oldest living tree is a California bristlecone pine name ‘Methuselah’. It is about 4600 years old. The largest tree in the world is a giant sequoia growing in California. It is 84 meters tall and measures 29 meters round the trunk. The fastest growing tree is the eucalyptus. It can grow 10 meters a year.

The Antartic notothenia fish has a protein in its blood that acts like antifreeze and stops the fish freezing in icy sea.

The USA uses 29% of the world’s petrol and 33% of the world’s electricity.

The industrial complex of Cubatao in Brazil is known as the Valley of Death because its pollution has destroyed the trees and rivers nearby.

Tibet is the highest country in the world. Its average height above sea level is 4500 meters.

Some of the oldest mountains in the world are the Highlands in Scotland. They are estimated to be about 400 million years old.

Fresh water from the River Amazon can be found up to 180 km out to sea.

The White Sea, in Russia, has the lowest temperature, only -2 degrees centigrade. The Persian Gulf is the warmest sea. In the summer its temperature reaches 35.6 degrees centigrade.

There is no land at all at the North Pole, only ice on top of sea. The Arctic Ocean has about 12 million sq km of floating ice and has the coldest winter temperature of -34 degrees centigrade.

The Antarctic ice sheet is 3-4 km thick, covers 13 million sq km and has temperatures as low as -70 degrees centigrade.

Over 4 million cars in Brazil are now running on gasohol instead of petrol. Gasohol is a fuel made from sugar cane.

source: http://www.thatsweird.net