Oktoberfest - World’s Largest Beer Festival

Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival held each year in Munich, Germany, running from late September to early October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year, and is an important part of Bavarian culture. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations, modeled after the Munich event.

The Munich Oktoberfest, traditionally, takes place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. In 1994, the schedule was modified in response to German reunification so that if the first Sunday in October falls on the 1st or 2nd, then the festival will go on until October 3 (German Unity Day). Thus, the festival is now 17 days when the 1st Sunday is October 2 and 18 days when it is October 1. The festival is held on an area named the Theresienwiese (field, or meadow, of Therese), often called d’ Wiesn for short.

Visitors also eat huge amounts of traditional hearty fare such as Hendl (chicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Haxn (knuckle of pork), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstl (sausages) along with Brezn (Pretzel), Knödeln (potato or bread dumplings), Kaasspotzn (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Rotkraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a fatty, spiced cheese-butter concoction) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).

Oktoberfest numbers (2007):

• Area: 103.79 acres (0.42 km²)
• Seats in the festival halls: approx. 100,000
• Visitors: 6.2 million
• Beer: appr. 6,940,600 liters (126,900 liters non-alcoholic)
• Wine: 79,624 liters
• Sparkling wine: 32,047 liters
• Coffee, tea: 222,725 liters
• Water, lemonade: 909,765 ½ liters
• Chicken: 521,872 units
• Pork sausages: 142,253 pairs
• Fish: 38,650 kg
• Pork knuckles: 58,446 units
• Oxen: 104 units,
• Expenditure of electricity: 2.8 million kWh (as much as 14% of Munich's daily need or as much as a four person family will need in 52 years and 4 months)
• Expenditure of gas: about 205,000 m³
• Expenditure of water: about 90,000 m³ (as much as 27% of Munich's daily need )
• Waste: 678 t (2004)
• Toilets: about 980 seated, more than 878 meters of urinals and 17 for disabled persons
• Telephones: 83, also for international credit cards
• Lost property: about 4000 items, among them 260 pairs of glasses, 200 mobile phones, wedding rings, and even crutches.
  

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10 of the World's Largest Roadside Attractions

Big Merino

The Big Merino is a 15 metre tall concrete Merino sheep (a type of sheep that is drought tolerant), located in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. Nicknamed "Rambo" by locals, the Big Merino contains a gift shop on the ground floor and a wool display on the second floor. Visitors can climb to the top and look out through the Merino's eyes to view the local area. (At this time, Jan '08, there is a sign claiming that due to insurance reasons the lookout is closed.)

The Big Merino was officially opened on 20 September 1985. In 1992 the Hume Highway bypassed Goulburn, which resulted in a loss of 40 busloads of tourists to the Big Merino complex per day. On 26 May 2007, the Big Merino was moved to a location closer to the Hume Highway to increase visitor numbers and is now located near the freeway interchange at a service station.

Big Pineapple

The Big Pineapple is a tourist attraction and working farm situated at Woombye near Nambour, Queensland. There are rides, tours of pineapple plantations and other agricultural products, shops, restaurants and exhibits for visitors to enjoy.

The Big Pineapple is 16 metres high and was originally opened on the 15th of August 1971. Entry is free. The attraction went on the market in June 2005.

The Big Pineapple features two rides: One on a Nut Mobile, the other on a small train. The rides take visitors around the plantation while the driver broadcasts information about the plants at the plantation, along with a history.

World's Largest Dinosaur

The "World's Largest Dinosaur" is the name of a model Tyrannosaurus rex located in the town of Drumheller in the Canadian province of Alberta. Built of fiberglass and steel, has a height of 25 metres (82 ft) and a length of 46 metres (151 ft), considerably larger than the largest known specimens of the actual dinosaur which reached up to 12.8 m (42 ft) in length, and was up to 4 m (13 ft) tall at the hips.

Drumheller is a town in the Badlands of east-central Alberta, on the Red Deer River, located 135 kilometres (84 mi) northeast of Calgary. Drumheller is home to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Various smaller dinosaur models are placed throughbout the town.

World's tallest thermometer

The world's tallest thermometer is a landmark located in Baker, California, USA.

It is technically an electric sign, rather than a tall thermometer; however, it exists as a tribute to the record 134 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius) recorded in nearby Death Valley on July 10, 1913.

It stands 134 feet tall and is capable of displaying a maximum temperature of 134, both a reference to the temperature record.

Big Chicken

The Big Chicken is a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Marietta, Georgia, which features a 56-foot-tall (17 m) steel-sided structure designed in the appearance of a chicken rising up from the top of the building. It is located at the city's biggest intersection of Cobb Parkway (U.S. 41) and Roswell Road (former Georgia 120) and is a well-known landmark in the area. The exact address is 12 Cobb Parkway North, Marietta GA 30062.

World's largest tire

Allen Park is home to the Uniroyal Tire, the world's largest tire. The tire, moved from the 1964 New York World's Fair to Allen Park in 1966, is 80 feet (24 m) tall and weighs 12 tons. The tire is located off Interstate 94. This 12-ton, 80-foot-tall behemoth was built to withstand hurricane-force winds, and served as a ferris wheel (and a huge advertisement for Uniroyal) at the 1964–65 New York World's Fair. Twenty-four gondolas circled the tire where the treads are today, carrying nearly two million people.

In 1998, Uniroyal stabbed the tire with the world's largest nail. The nail was 11 feet long and 250 pounds. This was done to promote their puncture-resistant Tiger Paw Nailgard tire. The big tire withstood the assault and the nail was eventually removed and given to Allen Park, which then put it up for sale on eBay in 2003 to raise money for a local historical society. The city hoped that someone would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the nail, the final price paid by local businessman Ralph Roberts was $3,000 (Roberts lends out the nail for local events).

Jolly Green Giant

The Jolly Green Giant is a symbol of the Green Giant food company of the United States, appearing as a smiling green-skinned giant wearing a tunic, wreath and boots made of leaves. In 1973, JGG teamed up with "Little Green Sprout", the diminutive young green giant. Created by Leo Burnett, the Giant first appeared in advertisements in 1928; the name originally came from a variety of unusually large pea called the "Green Giant" that the company canned and sold.

Salem Sue

Salem Sue (or The World's Largest Holstein Cow) is a large fiberglass holstein cow sculpture located in New Salem, North Dakota. Salem Sue was built in 1974 for $40,000. The project was sponsored by the New Salem Lions Club in honor of the local dairy farming industry. The statue stands 38 feet high and is 50 feet long. It sits on School Hill near Interstate 94 off exit 27 S and can be viewed for several miles.

Free Stamp

Free Stamp is an outdoor sculpture located in Cleveland, Ohio's Willard Park. Created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, it has been called the "world's largest rubber stamp". The dimensions of the sculpture are 28 ft 10 in (8.79 m) by 26 ft (7.9 m) by 49 ft (15 m). The sculpture depicts a rubber stamp with the word "FREE" in its stamping area.

World's Largest Buffalo

The "World's Largest Buffalo" is a sculpture of an American Bison located in Jamestown, North Dakota at the Frontier Village. It was built in 1959 by local businessman Harold Newman. It can be seen from Interstate 94, overlooking the city from above the James River valley.

The statue is a significant tourist draw for Jamestown and the source of its nickname, The Buffalo City. It is 26 feet (7.9 m) tall, 46 feet (14 m) long and weighs 60 tons. It was constructed with stucco and cement around a steel beam frame shaped with wire mesh. The final cost of construction was approximately $8500 in 1969; a significant overrun from initial estimates closer to $4600. The concrete slab that lies under the sculpture was added later and was not included in the initial cost.

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World's Largest Disco Ball

When the French conceptual artist Michel de Broin first spoke to his mates about producing the biggest disco ball the world had ever seen and suspending high above the night sky of Paris, surely they would have thought him a little nutso. True Michel's work does dabble in the absurd both in public and private spaces but a 7.5 metre disco ball featuring 1000 mirrors suspended by a freaking crane 50 metre into the air... I mean, really?

While many undoubtedly thought him a few stubbies short, Michel got the last laugh when his luminous, ginormous ball was suspended in the Jardin du Luxembourg during the Nuit Blanche event in Paris. The so called La Maîtresse de la Tour Eiffel when hit with spotlights from all over the city shot shards of light across Paris like a fairytale dream. Nice one Michel. Sure beats that dumb ass blimp that hovers over our city with that even dumber tv screen on it during that one day in September.

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World's Largest Living Insect - Chan's Megastick

The world’s largest insect has been discovered by scientists in London.

At nearly the length of a human arm, the stick insect is not the kind of creepy crawlie you’d want to find sheltering in your bath tub.

Named Phobaeticus Chani - meaning "Chan's megastick" – the insect is more than half a metre with legs outstretched – 55.6cm between the tips of its long spindly legs.

No living examples of the creature have ever been seen, but they are thought to live in the tops of giant rain forest trees on the island of Borneo.

Scientists have only just twigged that the stick insect, which belongs to the Natural History Museum in London, is a new species.

It is more than one centimetre longer than the previous title holder for world’s largest insect.

Dr George Beccaloni, curator of stick insects and their relatives at the Natural History Museum, said: "What seems very likely is that they live at the top of massive rainforest trees, which is why no-one has seen any of them alive. Our specimen probably fell out of a tree or died."

The stick insect, described and named for the first time this week in the journal Zootaxa, was in the hands of a private collector for 10 years before being donated to the museum.

Dr Beccaloni said it was likely the animals were still living undiscovered in the remote forest canopy, but warned they may be in danger.

"The rain forest in Borneo is being badly damaged, and who knows how endangered this species might be,” he said.

"I think it's incredible that it has been left to 2008 to discover the longest insect on the planet. It's amazing that such big things are still out there, and makes you wonder what else there might be."

INTERESTING FACT

An unusual feature of P. chani is its eggs. Each egg capsule has wing-like projections on each side, like the flying "snitch" ball in the Harry Potter novels.

The "wings" are thought to allow the eggs to drift in the wind after being laid, helping the species to spread.

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Mammoth Cave - World's Longest Cave

Mammoth Cave National Park is a U.S. National Park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. The official name of the system is the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System for the ridge under which the cave has formed. The park was established as a national park on July 1, 1941. It became a World Heritage Site on October 27, 1981, and an international Biosphere Reserve on September 26, 1990.

The park's 52,835 acres (21,382 ha) are located primarily in Edmonson County, Kentucky, with small areas extending eastward into Hart County and Barren County. It is centered around the Green River, with a tributary, the Nolin River, feeding into the Green just inside the park. With a confirmed 365 miles of passageways it is by far the world's longest known cave system, being well over twice as long as the second longest cave system, which is South Dakota's Jewel Cave with 145 miles of passageways.

Mammoth Cave developed in thick Mississippian-aged limestone strata capped by a layer of sandstone, making the system remarkably stable. It is known to include more than 360 miles (580 km) of passageway; new discoveries and connections add several miles to this figure each year. Mammoth Cave National Park was established to preserve the cave system.

The National Park Service offers several cave tours to visitors. Many of the most famous features of the cave, such as Grand Avenue, Frozen Niagara, and Fat Man's Misery, can be seen on lighted tours ranging from one to six hours in length. Two tours, lit only by visitor-carried paraffin lamps, are popular alternatives to the electric-lit routes. Several "wild" tours venture away from the developed parts of the cave into muddy crawls and dusty tunnels.

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World's Most Dangerous Places To Live Cause By Mother Nature

Nature is the home in which you can find out many exiting and dangerous places. Most dangerous places on the earth include volcano eruption valleys, cold places, mountains, lakes and thick dense forests. All these places make life incredible difficult for human beings. It is important to know about all these places before going there. In recent years, many people relocated from these places to safe areas. Our mother nature has many things which are not known to most people and dangerous places are one among those unknown things. This article gives best information on nine most dangerous places on the earth.

Mt Vesuvius Volcano, Campania, Italy

It is one of the world’s most dangerous and worst volcanoes. Normally a volcano erupts or explodes once in twenty years, but the last eruption of this volcano was in 1944. Mount Vesuvius is located in Campania, Italy. Millions of people are living close to this volcano. By chance, if volcano erupts, then many people will lose their lives. So in recent years, an attempt has been made to relocate some residents to non explosive location. In 79 AD an explosion of this volcano destroyed Pompeii and remains as popular tourist location in south of Napoli.

The Cold Pole, Verkhoyansk, Russia

Verkhoyansk is treated as coldest city in the world. It is also called as the Cold Pole. It best suits its nickname as Cold Pole especially from September to March. In this period, its average sunlight is lesser than 5 hours a day. In December and January, there is no sunlight at all. Temperature in winter ranges from minus 40 to minus 60 Fahrenheit. Nowadays, this city is attracting many “extreme tourists,” because of its cold nature. The population of Verkhoyansk is nearly 2500 residents.

Mount Merapi, Indonesia

Mount Merapi is famously called as mountain of fire. Even at peace time, smoke continuously comes from its entrance at the height of 10,000 feet in the blue sky. It is located on the island of Java, smolders. Its name gets changed to “Fire Mountain,” when it is translated to English language. In the past 500 years, it has exploded around 60 times. Its recent explosion is in the year 2006.When it was exploded in 1994, it released dangerous cloud of warm gas that took 60 people in to d-e-a-t-h. In the year of 1930, this Merapi spread lava more than 8 square miles and succumbed 1000 people in to d-e-a-t-h.

Every time Merapi erupts, death toll increases. This is because many people are living very close to this volcano. The bad news is that approximately 2 lakh villagers live within 4 miles of this volcanic mountain. It is the best example for active volcanoes.

 Haiti

It is the first tropical storm struck on August 16. A week after the first storm, Hurricane Gustav blew Gonaïves city causing great damage. Two storms Hurricane Hanna and Hurricane Ike followed this. With in the time of one month, the Gonaïves is one of the largest cities of Haiti, and receiving end of 4 unforgettable tropical cyclones. At the end of last storm, the Gonaïves city practically cleaned out to sea. Whole city was filled with mud and dirty water and became Mini Island. In some areas of the city, the amount of water is up to 12 feet height. The number of people died in this event was close to 500. The d-e-a-d-l-i-e-s-t hurricane that Gonaïves come across in recent history is in the year 2008. In the year of 2004, the Gonaïves city took great damage from Hurricane Jeanne making 104,000 people homeless. It affected almost 100 percent population. 3000 people d-i-e-d in this incident.

Addition: This year (2010) Haiti earthquake left 100,000 d-e-a-d in 60 seconds - and toll could reach 500,000!!!

Lake Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo/Rwanda

Lake Kivu, popularly called as D-e-a-t-h Lake of Africa is located along the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Its depth is 2700 square miles. At this depth below the earth there is 2.3 trillion of methane gas, along with 60 cubic miles of carbon dioxide under the pressure of both water and earth. In case if this gas explodes it causes great damage to 2 million African people who are residing close to this lake. Approximately 1700 people k-i-l-l-e-d in this incident by exposing to toxic gases. It is found that these activities occur due to the volcanic activities below the lake, which release dangerous hot gases.

The Ephemeral Isles, the Maldives

Maldives consists of 1190 islands and are close to the Indian Ocean. An ephemeral isle is one mini island and its highest is little more than 6 feet. In near future it is likely to be swallowed by the rising sea levels. After tsunami in Indian Ocean in 2004, the United States Geological Survey conducted an assessment and called Maldives is one the earth’s youngest land masses with lesser life time.

Hurricane Capital of the World, Grand Cayman

The Cayman Islands, Hurricane Capital of the World is a British territory located 150 miles south of Cuba. According to the reports from the tropical-storm-tracking website hurricanecity.com, Grand Cayman is the largest among three Cayman isles. It is hit by at least one hurricane every 2.16 years. Since 1871, 64 storms have battered this location. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan, a Category 5 storm struck this city at a speed of 150 miles per hour, dumping a foot of rain on Grand Cayman.70 percent of the island’s buildings were destroyed in this event.

The I-44 Tornado Corridor, Oklahoma City/Tulsa, Oklahoma

Since 1890, more than 120 cyclones struck Oklahoma City which has a population of 700,000 approximately. In 1999, 70 tornados struck the Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas destroying 9000 homes altogether. It caused damage more than 1 billion in addition to the lost lives. One more city called Tulsa is present at the north east of Oklahoma which is experiencing its own share of cyclones. 69 tornados struck this city between 1950 and 2006. Tulsa is extremely vulnerable to rain water which is accompanied by Oklahoma’s bad weather.

China’s Creeping Sandbox, Minquin County, China

Minquin County, the creeping sandbox of china is located in the northwest Gansu province of china. Decade long drought and upriver diversion of water from Shiyang River have left Minquin in to tengger desert. Since from 1950, this desert swallowed more than 100 square miles. Studies in 2004 showed that it is swallowing at the rate of 10 meters per year. It produces dust and wind for more than 130 days in a year making it most d-e-a-d-l-y desert in the china. Due to its rapid desertification, the Chinese government ordered his farmers to relocate to safer places.

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