Interesting Facts about Dragon Boat Festival

Some of The Facts about Dragon Boat Festival

In China, the Dragon Boat Festival is popularly known as the "Duanwu" Festival (in Mandarin Chinese pronunciation) or Tuen Ng Festival (in Cantonese Chinese pronunciation) is a Chinese traditional and statutory holiday. 

"Duan Wu" was celebrated in mainland China as a public holiday for the first time in 2008.

In mainland China and Taiwan, the Dragon Boat Festival is a public holiday and known as the "Duanwu Jie".

Dragon boat racing was listed into the Chinese state sports competition programs for the first time in
1980.
The Chinese government made "Duan Wu" a national holiday in the People's Republic of China in the year 2007. 

The International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) organizes dragon boat races and sets standards and regulations for the sport. 

As per the Georgian calendar, the "Double Fifth Day" (5th day of the 5th Chinese lunar month) falls on June 27 in 2009, June 16 in 2010 and June 6 in 2011.

In the early years of the formation of the Republic of China, Duan Wu was also celebrated as "Poets' Day," owing to the fact that the festival is commonly believed to be a commemoration of the death of Qu Yuan, supposed to be the first poet of China.

Dragon boat races are typically 500 meters, but occasionally there are 250m, 1000m, 2000m and marathon races.

Dragon boat racing is said to have originated in Southern China over 2000 years ago.

Dragon boat racing is practiced in over 50 countries and territories around the world.

Dragon Boat Festival is called Duan Wu Jie in Chinese. Jie means festival. The festival is celebrated on the 5th of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar (June 4, 2003).

The most popular theory of the origin of the festival is that it was derived from the activities of commemorating a great patriot poet, Qu Yuan. The story about Qu Yuan has been deeply rooted in Chinese culture and this festival, so it is definitely a very important factor for the origin of the festival.

But since some of the well-known traditions of the festival already existed even before Qu Yuan, other origins of the festival were also suggested. Wen Yiduo suggested that the festival may be associated with dragon closely because two of the most important activities of the festival, dragon boat racing and eating zongzi, are related to dragon. Another view is that the festival is originated from the taboo of evil days. The fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar is traditionally considered an evil month and the 5th of the month is particularly a bad day, so a lot of taboo had been developed.

Most likely, the festival was gradually derived from all of the suggestions and the story of Qu Yuan is certainly the driving power to make it a great festival today.

Like other Chinese festivals, there is also a legend behind the festival. Qu Yuan served in the court of Emperor Huai during the Warring States (475 - 221 BC). He was a wise and erudite man. His ability and fight against corruption antagonized other court officials. They exerted their evil influence on the Emperor, so the Emperor gradually dismissed Qu Yuan and eventually exiled him. During his exile, Qu Yuan did not give up. He traveled extensively, taught and wrote about his ideas. His works, the Lament (Li Sao), the Nine Chapters (Jiu Zhang), and Wen tian, are masterpieces and invaluable for studying ancient Chinese culture. He saw the gradual decline of his mother country, the Chu State. And when he heard that the Chu State was defeated by the strong Qin State, he was so despaired that he ended his life by flinging himself into the Miluo River.

Legend says after people heard he drowned, they were greatly dismayed. Fishermen raced to the spot in their boats to search for his body. Unable to find his body, people threw zongzi, eggs and other food into the river to feed fish, so hoped to salvage his body. Since then, people started to commemorate Qu Yuan through dragon boat races, eating zongzi and other activities, on the anniversary of his death, the 5th of the fifth month.

Zongzi is the most popular food for the festival. Zongzi is a special kind of dumpling. It is usually made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. Fresh bamboo leaves are the best for the wrapping since the taste and smell of the fresh bamboo leaves is part of zongzi. Unfortunately fresh bamboo leaves are hard to find.

Today you may see zongzi in different shapes and with a variety of fillings. The most popular shapes are triangular and pyramidal. The fillings include dates, meat, yolk of egg, etc. The most popular fillings are dates. The festival is closely associated with zongzi and dragon boat races. More importantly this is also a national patriot festival through commemorating the great patriot poet, Qu Yuan. People are reminded that the importance of loyalty and commitment to the community in the festival.
Source: The Holiday Spot & About

Movie Review: X-Man – First Class

Movie Review: X-Man – First Class:

The Bottom Line: A first-class production that excitingly reenergizes a flagging franchise.

Opens: Friday, June 3 (20th Century Fox)

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult

Director: Matthew Vaughn

A first-class production that excitingly reenergizes a flagging franchise

Much as Casino Royale rebooted the James Bond franchise in a fresh and dynamic way, X-Men: First Class injects new blood into a franchise that, for all its profitability, had become blandly anemic. In fact, roughly the first half of this massive and very well cast origins extravaganza is arguably the best hour of Marvel Comics-derived filmmaking among the torrent of it that's cascaded across screens in recent years. Audacious, confident and fueled by youthful energy, this is a surefire summer winner for a wide global audience.

The spectre of Bond actually hovers over this British-flavored production in a number of ways, all of them beneficial: The 1962 setting shot through with Cold War tensions conjures up the political moment at which 007 was born cinematically, the hardware and style harken back to an earlier high-tech era that looks quaintly beguiling today and Michael Fassbender as Erik, the future Magneto, cuts a dashingly ruthless figure that can only have been patterned on Sean Connery in the early Bonds. First Class is comprised of an enormous stew of elements and influences but head chef Matthew Vaughn has stirred things so as to make them not only digestible but quite tasty.

Departing from the backstory of the comics, the new yarn, devised by Sheldon Turner and original X-Men director Bryan Singer and written by Thor co-scenarists Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz along with Jane Goldman and Vaughn, pivots on an alluringly fanciful proposition, that the real events of the Cuban missile crisis had a shadow history involving manipulations by figures whose super powers put those of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to shame; it's as if JFK, Khrushchev, Castro, the CIA and the combined armed forces of the East and West were mere puppets doing the bidding of unsuspected Olympian gods, the most spiteful of whom desire nothing less than human extermination.

Not inaptly, then, it all begins (as did Singer's original 2000 X-Men) at Auschwitz, where young Erik, challenged to display his “magnetic” powers, sees his mother gunned down by the heinous camp doctor (Kevin Bacon), an event that dictates all his actions from then on. In the more benign setting of Westchester, New York, two kids, Charles and Raven, exhibit odd characteristics of their own that, nearly two decades later, will put them in the forefront of the mutant movement.

Like the most peripatetic of 1960s globe-hopping thrillers, the early stretch of First Class hardly stays put for more than a moment, jumping all over the world—Geneva, Oxford, Las Vegas, Argentina, Miami, Washington, D.C.--in the service of introducing an enormous number of characters and delineating their unique powers. Under the circumstances, director Vaughn impressively maintains a strong focus dedicated to clarity and dramatic power; while Erik scours the world for stray Nazis (his confrontation with two of them in a tavern on the pampas is an early highlight), Charles (James McAvoy) achieves academic prominence and, with Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), is recruited by the CIA with the eventual aim of assembling a “Division of Mutant Powers.”

Even though a lot of the early material is set-up, it nevertheless develops surprising momentum and tension. The malevolent doctor Erik remembers from the concentration camp now resurfaces as Sebastian Shaw, who has developed an extraordinary capacity to absorb, harness and deploy energy, while his fabulously sexy partner in crime, Emma Frost (January Jones), not only has extreme telepathic ability but possesses an optional indestructible diamond veneer. When Erik tracks them down on board their yacht and seems on the verge of fulfilling his vengeful 18-year quest, his quarry escape in a manner befitting the best of the Bonds.

Once the loner Erik decides to join forces with Charles under the auspices of an offbeat CIA honcho (Oliver Platt) and an adventurous agent (Rose Byrne), the film takes on more the air of a standard-issue Marvel effort as mutant youngsters are trained in hiding to master their unusual powers; they are Hank/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Alex/Havoc (Lucas Till), Sean/Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Armondo/Darwin (Edi Gathegi) and, for a while, Angel (Zoe Kravitz). The problem here is not only familiarity but that, unlike the other characters, these kids seem resolutely 21st century, not early 1960s; one of them even says “whatever.” Another drawback, a likely victim of an overcrowded roster of characters, is that two swarthy henchmen of Shaw's are not even given the benefit of an introduction, much less anything to play.

Still, once Emma Frost penetrates the inner sanctum of the Soviet military and the enormity of Shaw's scheme becomes clear, the film takes off again with a fantastical rendition of an American/Soviet naval confrontation off Cuba trumped by the manipulative antics of battling telepathic mutants on board an ultra-futuristic plane and a stealth submarine.

Vaughn orchestrates the mayhem with a laudable coherence, a task made easier by a charging, churning score by Henry Jackman that, much as that of his mentor Hans Zimmer did inInception, helps smooth the connections among rapidly changing locations and events. A few of the effects in the climactic section don't quite measure up, but the visual effects by veteran wizard John Dykstra are mostly terrific. Top-drawer contributions are also delivered by production designer Chris Seagers, costume designer Sammy Sheldon and cinematographer John Mathieson.

The cast is almost absurdly easy on the eyes and is most powerful at the top, thanks to the intense Fassbender, who will now need no audition if Daniel Craig decides to give up Bond after another picture or two. McAvoy is forced to spend a bit too much time with his hand to head summoning telepathic signals but nonetheless conveys the intelligence and sobriety required for the future Professor X. Bacon is formidable as the former Nazi who aspires to far greater power than Hitler could ever dream of, while Jones dazzlingly projects the arrogance of maximum beauty and invulnerability. As the naturally blue-skinned, red-haired and yellow-eyed Raven/Mystique, Lawrence is at her most appealing when conveying an ashamed insecurity about her natural looks, which she can conceal with a human facade. A vulgar cameo by a certain hirsute character provides a hearty laugh.

Opens: June 3 (20th Century Fox)

Production: Bad Hat Harry/Donners' Company, Marvel Entertainment, Dune Entertainment

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Oliver Platt, Jason Flemyng, Lucas Till, Edi Gathegi, Kevin Bacon, Caleb Landry Jones, Zoe Kravitz, Matt Craven, Alex Gonzalez, Rade Sherbedgia, Glenn Morshower

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Screenwriters: Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn; story, Sheldon Turner, Bryan Singer

Proucers: Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Gregory Goodman

Executive Producers: Stan Lee, Tarquin Pack, Josh McLaglen

Director of Photography: John Mathieson

Production Designer: Chris Seagers

Costume Designer: Sammy Sheldon

Editors: Lee Smith, Eddie Hamilton

Music: Henry Jackman

Visual Effects Designer: John Dykstra

PG-13 rating, 132 minutes

Source: The Hollywood Reporters 

Interesting Facts about Britney Spears

Here are some of the Interesting Facts about Britney Spears including fun facts: 

Early Years

• Britney Spears was born Dec. 2, 1981 and is a Sagittarius.
• Her middle name is Jean.
• She has one brother, Bryan, and one sister, Jamie Lynn.
• Spears appeared on Star Search in 1992, but lost the competition.
• She studied for three summers at the famous Professional Performing Arts School in New York.
• Spears landed a spot on The New Mickey Mouse Club at age 11 and appeared on the show for 2 years.

Professional Career

• Spears signed with Jive Records when she was just 16 years old.
• Her first album, ...Baby One More Time, debuted in 1999 and sold more than 20 million copies.
• Spears is well known for her sexy videos, from the school girl look in "...Baby One More Time" to the red catsuit in "Oops!…I Did It Again."
• Spears' first Grammy win came in 2003 for "Toxic," which was named the Best Dance Recording.
• After a series of ups and downs in her personal life, Spears made a professional comeback in 2008 with "Piece of Me," for which she earned several MTV Video Music Awards.

Personal Life

• Spears is a Louisiana native and, in 2005, auctioned off many personal items and donated the proceeds to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
• She dated Justin Timberlake for several years before a very publicized breakup in 2002.
• Spears married a childhood friend, Jason Alexander, in Las Vegas in 2004, but the marriage was annulled just a few days later.
• In November of 2004, Spears married dancer Kevin Federline and they had two boys, Sean Preston (born in 2005) and Jayden James (born in 2006).
• The year 2006 marked the beginning of a series of erratic and dangerous behavior, from shaving her head to checking in and out of rehab. She lost custody of her children in 2007.

Some of the Other Interesting Facts about Britney Spears

• Ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist in the the United States, with 31 million sold albums. 
• One of the world's best-selling music artists having sold around 83 million records worldwide. 
• Holds the title to multiple Guinness World Records.
• Her mother Lynne Irene Spears, is a former elementary school teacher.
• Her father Jamie Lynn Spears, is a former building contractor & chef.
• She was an accomplished gymnast, and attended classes until she was nine.
• When she was eight she entered the Professional Performing Arts School, in New York.
• She has appeared in off-Broadway Productions.
• In 1997, Spears was in the all-female group called Innosense.
• Later that year she recorded a solo demo and was then signed to Jive Records.
• In 1999, she performed her song, "Drive Me Crazy", on "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch". 
• Before the shaving head episode, Britney's aunt Sandra Bridges Covington, died of ovarian cancer, this was January 21, 2007. She is said to have been very close to her aunt.
• Britney did performed six shows under the name "The M+M's". 
• Spears has a light soprano vocal range.
• In 2008, Bronx's John Phillip Sousa Middle School, named their music studio after her. She was present during the ceremony and also donated $10,000 to the school's music program.
• She has published four books, seven DVDs, and her self-produced reality series "Britney & Kevin: Chaotic".
• Her first fragrance "Curious" was endorsed by Elizabeth Arden and earned $100 million in sales in the first five weeks of it's 2004 release. Her other fragrances are "Fantasy", “Curious: In Control", "Midnight Fantasy", "Believe", "Curious Heart", and "Hidden Fantasy". 
• Her albums include "...Baby One More Time", "Opps!...I Did It Again", "In The Zone", "Blackout", and "Circus". The albums were released in the years 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, and 2008. 
• Her tours include "Baby One More Time Tour", "Crazy 2K Tour", "Opps!... I Did It Again Tour", "Dream Within A Dream Tour", "The Onyx Hotel Tour", "The M+M's Tour", and "The Circus Starring: Britney Spears". 
• She has appeared in television shows since 1991, starting with "The Mickey Mouse Club" and has since appeared in guest, cameo, and movie roles.
• Britney is named as the most-searched woman in the world, and frankly I'm not surprised. Her success has been well received professionally. I hope she continues to be successful, in life especially. I hope to see her regain control of her own life and hope she keeps a positive life-style.

Here are 25 things about Britney Spears that may or may not be true and that someone working for her tried to write from her perspective:

• My favorite ice cream is orange sherbet.
• I take two baths a day.
• I love chewing ice.
• I make a mean fake dinosaur when playing with the two loves of my life, Sean, 5, and Jayden, 4.
• My favorite flowers are white lilies.
• I’m a huge fan of animated films.
• I can eat chocolate morning, noon and night.
• I love boutique shopping.
• I have more than 50 purses in my closet.
• I have more than 50 jackets in my closet.
• I love to draw.
• I enjoy cooking spaghetti.
• I’m secretly a photographer.
• I’m addicted to shopping online.
• I collect dolls.
• I love Adele’s new album.
• I really want to learn another language.
• I played basketball — guard — in high school.
• I don’t own a cellphone.
• I’m constantly cleaning my house.
• My favorite drink is sweet ice tea.
• I love I Love Lucy.
• I make my own bed every morning.
• I made the first move on [beau] Jason Trawick.
• I wrecked my mom’s Lexus in high school.

Source: Associated Content, The Hollywood Gossip & Life 123

Interesting Facts about FIFA and its Governing Body

Fifa started out as a tiny voluntary organisation, and grew and grew into a global behemoth with more member nations than the UN. Here are six unusual facts about the secretive organisation that governs world football.

1. It is a registered charity. Fifa pays little tax in its home country of Switzerland. It also requires tax exemption in countries wishing to host a World Cup competition. "Any host country requires a comprehensive tax exemption to be given to Fifa and further parties involved in the hosting and staging of an event," a Fifa spokesman told the BBC last year. The 2010 tournament - the most expensive yet - cost South Africa 33bn rand (£3bn; $4.86bn). But a "tax-free bubble" was established around the event at Fifa's request, relieving Fifa, its subsidiaries, and foreign football associations of any obligation to pay income tax, customs duties or VAT.

2. This charitable status dates from its early days as a tiny voluntary organisation run on goodwill from a suburban villa in Zurich, says David Goldblatt, author of The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football.

3. Broadcast rights to the first televised World Cup - the 1954 tournament hosted by Switzerland and won by West Germany - were given away for nothing. With a global TV audience numbering many millions, Fifa realised this was a goldmine. By 1986, TV rights sold for 49m Swiss francs (£35m) - a fraction of the $2.4bn in broadcast earnings for the period of the last World Cup (see graphic below).

4. Fifa set the template for modern sports sponsorship after an awkward scramble to secure advertising rights for its new partner, Coca-Cola, at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. A military coup two years earlier threw up a dilemma for the organisers, says sports marketing expert Patrick Nally. With no control over the stadia, and no advertising agreements in place, how could Fifa ensure the soft drinks giant had a presence in such a strictly controlled country? It came down to money. Fifa asked Coca-Cola to advance it an extra 12m to 15m Swiss francs to buy these rights from Argentina, so it could then offer the company an exclusive relationship at its own event.

5. Globalisation of the game came under Joao Havelange, Fifa's seventh president and Sepp Blatter's predecessor. Spain expected to host 16 nations when it bid for the 1982 tournament; Fifa later told it this would be rounded up to 24, as Mr Havelange made good on his election promises to bolster training and opportunities for teams from Asia and Africa. To subsidise this, Fifa again went cap-in-hand to Coca-Cola for an extra $40m in sponsorship. The only way to make this worthwhile was to guarantee its sponsors wide-ranging benefits from exclusive signage, licensing and merchandising. "And with that, the package of exclusivity and global coverage that defines modern sports sponsorship was born," says Goldblatt, presenter of the BBC Radio 4 documentary Fifa: Football, Power and Politics.

6. Today Fifa has more member countries than the United Nations - 208 to the UN's 192. Only eight internationally recognised countries are not Fifa affiliates, including Vatican City, Kiribati and Monaco. It is a far cry from its beginnings in 1904, when the representatives of seven European football associations banded together with the aim of improving football's global reach.

First Goal

The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930. Many believed American Bart McGee scored the first goal in the World Cup, against Belgium in the 40th minute. But a dispute erupted and FIFA, soccer's governing body, determined the first goal was scored by Frenchman Lucien Laurent in the 19th minute against Mexico on July 13, 1930. 

First Red Card
The red and yellow card system was not introduced until the 1970 World Cup. The first player to receive a red card was Chile's Carlos Caszely in 1974 in a match against West Germany in the 67th minute. 

World Cup Oldest and Youngest Players:

The oldest player in a world cup game was Rojer Milla of Cameroon, who played in the 1994 tournament at the age of 42 years, 1 month and 8 days.

The youngest player in a world cup game was Mario Mendez  of Uruguay, who played at the 1954 tournament at the age of 16 years, 1 month and 5 days.

World Cup Shortest and Tallest Players:

The tallest ever world cup footballer to date is Nikola Zigic who played for Serbia, at 6ft 81/2 ins.

The shortest ever world cup footballer to date is Diego Maradonna, who played for Argentina, at 5ft 5ins. 

First Fifa World Cup Trophy

Largest Attendance

The highest attendance for one match was in the 1950 final. The official attendance was 199,854 for the match between Brazil  and Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Top Scoring Team
Hungary scored 27 goals in the 1954 World Cup. Hungary made the finals that year but lost to West Germany 3-2. 
Most Consecutive First-Round Eliminations
Scotland holds the record with eight: 1954, 1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1998. 

Current Fifa World Cup Trophy

World Cup All time Top Three Players: 

1) Diego Maradonna (Argentina)

2) Pele (Brazil)

3) Zinedine Zidane (France)

All Time Top Player - Diego Maradonna

All Time Top Player - Pele

All Time Top Player - Zinedine Zidane

World Cup Records:

• Mexico’s Antonio Carbajal and Germany’s Lother Matthaus have both played in a record five World Cup tournaments.
• Brazil and Germany have both played 92 matches each in World Cup tournaments, but have only played each other the once, in 2002.
• Brazil is the only nation to have played in every World Cup tournament.
• Brazil has scored the most goals of any country, with an amazing 201 goals.
• Brazil has been in the most World Cup finals with a total of 7 finals to their credit.
• Brazil has won the tournament the most times, with an astounding five wins.
• France’s Just Fontaine has scored the most goals in any single World Cup, when he scored 13 in the 1958 tournament.
• Brazil’s Ronaldo has scored the most goals in more than one tournament with 15 goals, with Germany’s Gerd Muller having scored 14 goals in more than one tournament. 

Highest Goal Scorer - Ronaldo

Source: BBC News & Factoidz

Hilary Duff Beach Wallpapers

Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, author, and humanitarian. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Duff appeared in local theatre productions and television commercials before coming to prominence in the title role of Disney Channel's teen comedyLizzie McGuire. Established as a teen idol, Duff reprised that role in The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003) and ventured into motion pictures with her early films Agent Cody Banks (2003), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003),A Cinderella Story (2004) and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005) being among the biggest commercial successes of her career. Most recently, she has performed in a string of independent films and television dramas, such as Gossip Girl, in addition to sharing production credits.

Milla Jovovich New Wallpapers

Milla Jovovich is an Ukrainian-born actress, supermodel, fashion designer, singer and public figure, who was on the cover of more than a hundred magazines, and starred in such films as The Fifth Element, Ultraviolet, and the Resident Evil franchise.

Interesting Facts About Mt Everest

Elevation: 29,035 feet (8,850 meters)
Location: Nepal/Tibet, Asia
First Ascent: Sir Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) and Tenzing Norgay (Nepal), May 29, 1953

Interesting Facts About Mt Everest:

Mount Everest is also called Chomolangma, meaning “Goddess Mother of Snows” in Tibetan and Sagarmatha, meaning "Mother of the Universe" in Nepalese. The mountain is sacred to the native people.

British surveyors named the peak for George Everest (properly pronounced “I-ver-ist”) a Surveyor General of India in the mid-nineteenth century.

Age: approximately 60 million years old.

Everest's current elevation is based on a GPS device implanted on the highest rock point under ice and snow in 1999 by an American expedition. The mountain is higher than 21 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other.

Mount Everest was once surveyed at exactly 29,000 feet but the surveyors didn't think people would believe that so they added two feet to its elevation, making it 29,002 feet.

Mount Everest is rising from 3 to 6 millimeters or about 1/3 inch a year. Everest is also moving northeastward about 3 inches a year.

Mount Everest was dissected by glaciers into a huge pyramid with three faces and three major ridges on the north, south, and west sides of the mountain. Five major glaciers continue to chisel Mount Everest—Kangshung Glacier on the east; East Rongbuk Glacier on the northeast; Rongbuk Glacier on the north; and Khumbu Glacier on the west and southwest.

Mount Everest has an extreme climate. The summit temperature never rises above freezing or 32° F (0° C). Its summit temperatures in January average -33° F (-36° C) and can drop to -76° F (-60° C). In July, the average summit temperature is -2° F (-19° C).

The best time to climb Everest is in early May before the monsoon season.

The Southeast Ridge from Nepal, called the South Col Route, and the Northeast Ridge or the North Col Route from Tibet are the usual climbing routes.

In 1978 Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler were the first to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Messner later described his summit experience: "In my state of spiritual abstraction, I no longer belong to myself and to my eyesight. I am nothing more than a single narrow gasping lung, floating over the mists and summits." In 1980 Messner made the first solo ascent, which was via a new route on the mountain's north side.

The largest expedition to climb Mount Everest was a 410-climber Chinese team in 1975.

The most climbers to reach the summit in a single day was 40 on May 10, 1993.

The safest year on Mount Everest was 1993 when 129 climbers reached the summit and only 8 died.

The least safe year on Mount Everest was 1996 when 98 climbers summitted and 15 died. That season was the Into Thin Air fiasco documented by author Jon Krakauer

Sherpa Babu Chiri stayed on the summit of Everest for 21 hours and 30 minutes.

Stacey Allison from Portland, Oregon made the first ascent by an American woman on September 29, 1988.

The country with the most deaths on Mount Everest is Nepal with 47 (as of 2009).

Jean-Marc Boivin of France made the fastest descent from the summit of Mount Everest to the base by swiftly paragliding down in 11 minutes.

Davo Kamicar of Slovenia made the first ski descent of Mount Everest on October 10, 2000.

Over 150 bodies of dead climbers are on the peak.

A jumping spider lives up to 22,000 feet on Mount Everest.

A helicopter piloted by a Frenchman supposedly made a hover landing on the summit in 2005.

New World Record has been set by Apa Sherpa from Nepal. He climbed Mt. Everest 21 times till date i.e. June 2011.

Notable dates: 
1921 — Dalai Lama allows British reconnaissance party to visit Tibet and the northern side of Mt. Everest. 
1924 — British explorers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappear near the summit, along the Northeast Ridge. It is possible that they may have actually been the first to reach the summit, but they never returned.
1949 — Nepal opens its borders, making access to the mountain's southern peak possible.
1953 — Hillary and Norgay reach summit.
1963 — First Americans reach the summit.
1989 — First two women, both American, reach the summit.
1990 — Sir Edmund Hillary's son, Peter, reaches summit.
1996 — Eleven people die during spring expeditions.