By far the most costly war in terms of human life was World War II (1939–45), in which the total number of fatalities, including battle deaths and civilians of all countries, is estimated to have been 56.4 million, assuming 26.6 million Soviet fatalities and 7.8 million Chinese civilians were killed. The country that suffered most in proportion to its population was Poland, with 6,028,000 or 17.2 per cent of its population of 35,100,000 killed. In the Paraguayan war of 1864–70 against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, Continue reading →

The greatest altitude at which a formal meal has been held is 6,805 m (22,326 ft) by Henry Shelford, Thomas Shelford, Nakul Misra Pathak, Robert Aitken, Robert Sully (all UK), Caio Buzzolini (Australia) and appointed butler Joshua Heming (UK), who dined on Lhakpa Ri, Tibet on 3 May 2004. The expedition team named “Henry Shelford’s 30th birthday party” were set to dine on the summit of the 7,054 m (23,113 ft) mountain but hurricanes forced them to descend to a more sheltered spot. The team Continue reading →

Most RPGs use a system of experience levels to give players an idea of their power relative to enemies in the game – and to encourage them to keep playing. The RPG series that has taken this idea to its most extreme is Disgaea (Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice pictured), which allows players to take their characters from a lowly level 1 up to an incredible level 9,999. Many players are competing online to discover the fastest way to achieve this feat. Source: Gamer’s Edition Continue reading →

Eugene Andreev (USSR) holds the official World Air Sports Federation (FAI) record for the longest free-fall parachute jump, after falling for 24,500 m (80,380 ft) from an altitude of 25,458 m (83,523 ft) near the city of Saratov, Russia, on 1 November 1962. He jumped from a balloon. He opened his parachute at 958 m (3,143 ft). See also: Longest freefall parachute jump (unofficial).

The highest free throw percentage in a WNBA single season is .960 by Becky Hammon (USA) in 2010. Hammon made 97 of 101 free throw attempts.

Bats (order Chiroptera) have the most acute hearing of any non-aquatic animal, due to their ultrasonic echolocation. Most species use frequencies in the 20-80 kHz range, although some can hear frequencies as high as 120-250 kHz, compared with almost 20 kHz for the human limit and 280 kHz for the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis). Echolocation is a method of sensory perception by which bats orient themselves to their surroundings, detect obstacles, communicate with others, and find food. Bats send out sound waves using their mouth Continue reading →

On 4 April 2010, a South Korean owned VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier), the 319, 430 tonne (DWT) supertanker, the Samho Dream, was hi-jacked by Somali pirates about 930 miles (1,500 km) south east of the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean. It was carrying a load of crude oil allegedly worth some US $170 (£106.27) million. The ship and crew were released 7 months later on 6 November 2010, and a reported ransom of US $9.5 million (£5.8 million) was paid – the Continue reading →

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows had an initial print run of 12 million copies making it the biggest initial print run in history when it was released at midnight on 21 July 2007.

The human eye is capable of judging relative position with remarkable accuracy, reaching limits of between 3 and 5 seconds of arc. In April 1984, Dr Dennis M. Levi (USA) of the College of Optometry, University of Houston, Texas, USA, repeatedly identified the relative position of a thin bright green line within 0.85 seconds of arc. This is equivalent to a displacement of some 6 mm (0.25 in) at a distance of 1.6 km (1 mile).