Saturday, February 02, 2013

Stuff you did not know ...



1. Sudan Has More Pyramids Than Egypt

Sudanese pyramids
Sudan has more pyramids than any other country on Earth - even more than Egypt. There are at least 223 pyramids in the Sudanese cities of Al Kurru, Nuri, Gebel Barkal and Meroë. They are generally 20 to 30 metres (65 -100 ft) high and steep sided.

2. Countries Driving on the Left
Red - drives on right; Blue - drives on left source
Although people in the majority of countries of the world drive on the right side of roads, there are some fifty nations in which people drive on the left. These include England and many former English colonies such as Australia,New Zealand, India...etc... but not the U.S. or Canada. There are several non-English countries where people also drive on the left including Japan.

3. Country With More Horses Than People

Mongolian horses photo source
The Mongolian horse is the native horse breed of Mongolia. The breed is purported to be largely unchanged since the time of Genghis Khan. Nomads living in the traditional Mongol fashion still hold more than 3 million animals, which outnumber the country's human population (2,75 million). Despite their small size, they are horses, not ponies.

4. The Most Linguistically Diverse Country

Port Moresby - capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea 
Papua New Guinea is the country that is home to the most languages, over 750 in all! The most commonly spoken languages in Papua New Guinea, however, are Motu and pidgin English.


5. Alaska Has a Sand Dunes?

The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes lie 40 miles above the Arctic Circle, yet summer temperatures there can soar to 100 degress Fahrenheit! One of Alaska's true oddities, in some places, the sand stands 100 feet high. The three clusters of dunes within the park — the Great Kobuk, the Little Kobuk, and the Hunt River Sand Dunes — cover 25 square miles and constitute the largest active sand dunes within arctic latitudes.

6. Strange Windmills in Ireland
Elphin Windmill, Ireland
All windmills in Ireland turn in a clockwise direction, while the rest of the windmills in the world turn counter-clockwise.

7. London Bridge Over Lake Havasu?


The original London Bridge was shipped stone-by-stone and reconstructed inLake Havasu City. When the bridge, built in the 1830s began to sink into the Thames River in the 1960s, it was replaced by a more modern concrete bridge. Then, England put the stones up for sale in 1967. A man named Robert P. McCulloch Sr., purchased the bridge on April 17, 1968, at a cost of $2,460,000. The 10,246 blocks were shipped to Arizona and reassembled over a lagoon at the edge Lake Havasu at a cost of $3 Million. The Bridge opened in 1971.

8. The Most Isolated City in the World


Perth, Australia, is the most isolated city on the planet. 200 miles acrossimpenetrable desert from the next city of any size.


9. Power of Amazon River


The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean.

10. The World’s Longest Train Journey


The Trans-Siberian Railway offers the world’s longest train journey. It takes about 7 days to travel the 5,580 miles or 9,000 km between Moscow and Vladivostok.

11. Deforestation


About 22% of the earth's original forest coverage remains. Western Europe has lost 98% or so of its primary forests; Asia 94%; Africa 92%; Oceania 78%;North America 66%, and South America 54%. Approximately 45% of the world's tropical forests, originally covering 1.4 billion hectares, have disappeared in the last few decades.

12. Shortest Intercontinental Commercial Flight


Shortest Intercontinental Commercial Flight in the world is from Gibraltar(Europe) to Tangier (Africa.) Distance is 34 miles, flight time 20 minutes.

13. World's Widest Bridge

According to the Guinness World Records, Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world's widest long-span bridge - 16 lanes of car traffic - 8 lanes in the upper floor, 8 in the lower floor (double-decker bridge). The 49 metre (161ft) wide deck makes Sydney Harbour Bridge the widest long-span bridge in the world. It is also the fifth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world, and it is the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 metres (440 ft) from top to water level.



14. World's Largest Palace Complex

Aerial view of the Forbidden City, Beijing photo source

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 m2 (7,800,000 sq ft). The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere.

Smarts ...

Q. How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
... A. Concrete floors are very hard to crack! (UPSC Topper)

Q. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?
A. No time at all it is already built. (UPSC 23rd Rank Opted for IFS)

Q. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have?
A. Very large hands. (Good one) (UPSC 11 Rank Opted for IPS)

Q. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
A. you will never find an elephant with one hand. (UPSC Rank 14 Opted for IES)

Q. How can a man go eight days without sleep?
A. No Probs, He sleeps at night. (UPSC IAS Rank 98)

Q. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
A. It will Wet or Sink as simple as that. (UPSC IAS Rank 2)

Q. What looks like half apple ?
A: The other half. (UPSC - IAS Topper )

Q. What can you never eat for breakfast?
A: Dinner.

Q. Bay of Bengal is in which state?
A: Liquid (UPSC 33 Rank)

Interviewer said "I shall either ask you ten easy questions or one really difficult question. Think well before you make up your mind!" The boy thought for a while and said, "my choice is one really difficult question." "Well, good luck to you, you have made your own choice! Now tell me this.
"What comes first, Day or Night?"
The boy was jolted into reality as his admission depends on the correctness of his answer, but he thought for a while and said, "It's the DAY sir!"
"How" the interviewer asked.
"Sorry sir, you promised me that you will not ask me a SECOND difficult question!"
He was selected for IIM!

Technical Skill is the mastery of complexity, while Creativity is the master of presence of mind.
This is a famous paper written for an Oxford philosophy exam, normally requiring an eight page essay answer and expected to be backed up with source material, quotes and analytical reasoning. This guy wrote the below answer and topped the exam!

OXFORD EXAMINATION BOARD 1987, ESSAY QUESTION
Question: What is courage? (50 Marks)
Answer (After 7 blank pages, at the end of the last page…): This is courage

Saturday, July 21, 2012

The world we live in ...

.




__._,_.___
 


An illuminated snow tunnel in Russia
amazing photos
Everybody was kung fu fighting
amazing photos
First contact
amazing photos
Moon bridge in Dahu Park, Taipei
amazing photos
Gásadalur Village in the Faroe Islands
amazing photos
World’s edge
amazing photos
The Capilano suspension bridge in Vancouver
amazing photos
The largest raft of canoes and kayaks in the world
amazing photos


The stunning green vine snake
amazing photos
Aurora australis (southern lights) from space
amazing photos
Mount Kilimanjaro from above
amazing photos


Felix Baumgartner jumps from 71,580 feet
amazing photos
The most incredible aurora of 2012
amazing photos


A pod of sleeping sperm whales
amazing photos
7 hours in one image
amazing photos
Striking artistry of multiple takeoffs at Hannover Airport
amazing photos
Sailing like a boss
amazing photos

Maelstrom at Kauai, Hawaii
amazing photos

Serenity now
amazing photos

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Old World War Photos ...



Japanese Kawanishi H8K seaplane after strafing. Kwajalein .
 




Squad of Rufe's at Bougainville . These things were very nimble even with the pontoons. 




The A6M2-N float plane version of the Zero did extremely well, suffering only a small loss in its legendary maneuverability. Top speed was not affected, however, the aircraft's relatively light armament was a detriment. 








Snow on deck. USS Philippine Sea North Pacific 1945. 





HARVS incoming! Shot by a P-47. Rare shot. 








Deck crew climbing up to get the pilot out. He did. Is that a fuel tank he's standing on? Empty








Marines disembark LST at Tinian Island . 










Bougainville








 
Guam. 








Outside Bastogne 








 
German 280mm K5 firing. 










U.S. munitions ship goes up during the invasion of Sicily . 







V1

Spitfire "tipping-off" a V1. If you've never heard of this insane tactic .......
At first V1's were shot down by gunfire. Optimum range was inside 200yds, which was marginal for survival. Many planes were damaged and quite a few pilots killed. Basically at such high speed and low altitude a plane had to fly though the explosion and hope for the best. At great risk of being blown up, some of the best pilots started "tipping-off" the V1's wing, because of damage to wing tips they later developed a tactic of disrupting the V1's airflow by placing their wing very close to the V1's wing, causing it to topple.
Not every pilot did this. At night this tactic was impossible, as the exhaust plume from the V1 blinded the pilot to everything else, though some Mossie pilots flew past and closely in front of the V1, called a "thumping," again causing it to topple. The thought of doing this at 450mph, 4,000 feet above the ground, at night and being blinded gives me the willies.





Panzerkampfwagen VI "E Tiger." 






Ju 88 loading a torpedo. This is one HUGE bomber ... and it's on pontoons!!!! 





German "KARL" mortars. Sebastopol . 










Reloading a KARL. 





BOOM! 








Macchi 202v.






Italian 303 Bombers over N Africa.








PICTURES TAKEN 69 YRS AGO & LEFT IN A BROWNIE ARE REAL INTERESTING.
=======================
Pear Harbor, Hawaii (December 7, 1941)

Isn't it amazing how a film could last so long in a camera without disintegrating?

Fantastic photos taken 69 years ago. Some of you will have to go to a museum to see what a Brownie camera looked like?
Here is a simple picture of what we are talking about. . .


These photos are absolutely incredible.....Read below, the first picture and at the end...

PHOTOS STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA
Thought you might find these photos very interesting; what quality from 1941.

Pearl Harbor photos found in an old Brownie stored in a foot locker. And just recently

Taken to be developed.
THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM A SAILOR WHO WAS ON THE USS QUAPAW ATF-11O.

PEARL HARBOR
December 7th, 1941