According to NASA, Datuk Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Is Not An Astronaut.

According to NASA, Datuk Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is a "Spaceflight Participant"

This puts him in line with other speceflight participants such as Charles Simonyi, Richard Garriot, Greg Olsen and Anousheh Ansari

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

Tempura Does Not Originate From Japan!

Although widely associated with Japan, the origins of tempura came halfway around the world.

It was brought to Japan by Portugeese missionaries and traders in the mid of the sixteenth century.

It became very popular in Japan and is also reported to have caused the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and the first shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate apparently from eating too much of it.

Source: 1, 2

This Lightbulb Has Been Burning For 110 Years!!!

This remarkable lightbulb shines at a fire station in Livermore, California and it hasn't been turned off since summer 1901.

Despite few power outages and two moves, the bulb known as the "Centennial Light" is recognised by the Guiness Book of Records as the world's oldest known working lightbulb.

Sources: 1, 2, 3

Men Can Definitely Walk On Water!

In fact, there's a sport in Portugal that emphasizes on, well, to be precise, running on water!

The sport (named Liquid Mountaineering) have since spread over Europe and also have reached the North America.

Disney's Copyright for Mickey Mouse Was Supposed To Expire in 2003

Walt Disney's Studio claims of copyrights for Mickey Mouse was due to expire in 2003. This was to be followed in 2009 by many other early Disney's character including Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck.

According to the copyright law, upon the expiration of the copyright protection, anyone could copy, reproduce and sell any articles covered by the copyrights without paying royalties to the original owner since it has been a public domain.

But, being a very influential entity in politics, The Walt Disney Company along with other copyright holders managed to persuade the American Congress to change the copyright law.

Under the so called The Sonny Bono Term Extension Act, or more famously known as "The Mickey Mouse Protection Act", which was passed on 28th October 1998, the copyright protection for Mickey Mouse and other Disney's characters gets an extension of 20 years.

This means that Mickey Mouse will not become public domain at least until 2023.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

At 2000 Years Old, A Date Palm Seed Is The Oldest Seed To Germinate

When scientists explored the ruins of Masada Fortress in 1960s, they found artifacts in which, among others, several seeds of an ancient date palm.

Recently, the seeds were planted in soil and it results in one seed to germinate.

Carbon dating were then conducted on the remaining seeds that did not germinate and the result shows that the seeds were approximately 2000 years old.

The date palm (pictured below) is named Methusaleh and is currently holding the title the oldest seed to germinate after a 1300 year old lotus seed which was found in China.

Sources: 1, 2

This Hotel Was Built in SIX Days!!!

Industrialized Building System (IBS) has done wonders in the Construction Industry. Take a look at this hotel in China for example,this hotel (nemed The Ark Hotel) is a sustainable, level 9 Earthquake-resistant, thermal-insulated building which also features sound-proofing systems. It is also 15 stories tall. The construction of this hotel (minus the foundation works) only takes six days! What more amazing was that the structural works only took 2 days and the remaining four days was for installing the fixtures and cladding.

RM 806.4 Trillion Phone Bill?

The phone line that belonged to the man's late father was disconnected somewhere in January 2006 but few months later, Yahya Wahab of Kedah got a shock of his life when he received a phone bill from the phone company. Even more shocking was that the amount stated in the bill was

RM 806,400,000,000,000.01

and it had to be settled within ten days or he had to face legal proceedings.

Yahya's father left behind an outstanding bill of RM 84.00 in which he had it taken care before disconnection.

For comparison, Malaysia's National debt for 2006 was only RM 0.175 Trillion

Sources: 1, 2

This Leaf is Able to Support A Six Year Old Child

The title of the largest leaf in nature is held by the Giant Amazon Water Lily (Victoria amazonica).

It spans up to 2.4 meters across.

It grows naturally in calm waters of the great river, the ox-bow lakes and flooded grasslands of Amazon.

It was initially named Victoria regia in honor of the Queen of England but later, the name was changed to Victoria amazonica to better reflect its native origin.

Sources: 1, 2

Belgium is Currently The Country Without a Government For the Longest Period of Time

After defeating Iraq's 289 days without a government, Belgium is now holding the world record for the longest time for a country to be without a government. As this article was written, Belgium has gone without a government for a period of 306 days. That is equivalent to 10 months and 2 days.

Sources 1, 2

A Type of Protein is Named After Pikachu

This newly found protein, essential to our vision is named Pikachurin after the famed Pokemon character Pikachu. It was found by a team of 18 researchers at the Department of Developmental Biology, Osaka Bioscience Institute in Japan.

Pikachurin is essential in forming precise reactions between protoreceptor ribbon synapses and bipolar dendrites and without it, the images would travel from our eyes to our brain three times slower.

The name Pikachurin was inspired by Pikachu's lightning fast moves and shocking electric effects. Interesting isn't it?

Sources 1, 2, 3