Funny Palace

Most Beautiful Gardens in France

2012-04-10T02:40:00.000-07:00

Most Beautiful Gardens in France...Really One Of the most Beautiful Place In Earth

Incredible Sandstorm in Kuwait

2012-04-10T02:33:00.000-07:00

Incredible Sandstorm in Kuwait..Just Unseen

Japans 65-Foot Towering Snow Walls

2012-04-10T02:29:00.000-07:00

Japans 65-Foot Towering Snow Walls, Just Watch and Enjoy...

Top 5 Misconceptions About Technology

2012-04-10T02:24:00.000-07:00

5. Macs and Viruses

Misconception: Apple Macs don’t get viruses

While it is true that Macs almost never get viruses, it is also true that there are some in existence. First of all there are Macro Viruses which infect Microsoft Word and Excel documents. Because Word and Excel are available for the Mac also, this means that they can be potentially harmful on Macs as well (thanks Microsoft). As of writing, Apple recognizes four possible viruses for Macs, though they are seldom seen. The reason for the low number of viruses is that the Mac operating system is based on a Unix subsystem which usually prevents the average user from running software with sufficient privileges to allow harmful software to cause damage.

4. Hitler’s Motorway
Misconception: Hitler created the autobahn

Many people believe that Hitler and the Nazis conceived of the idea of the first Autobahn (essentially a large motorway) in Germany (and the first laned free public motorway in the world). But in fact the autobahn was built in 1931 and opened by Konrad Adenauer, the Mayor of Cologne. This was two years before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Interestingly, however, the very first motorway (unlaned) was the pet project of a dictator: the Autostrada dei laghi was inaugaurated on the 21st of September 1924 in Milan during the rule of Benito Mussolini.

3. Plane Toilets
Misconception: Planes dump their toilet waste while up in the air

Not only do planes not dump their waste mid-flight, it is also impossible for them to do so short of some kind of catastrophe which causes the waste tanks to explode open (because the valve is on the outside of the plane). When toilets are used on a plane, the waste is dumped into a special tank. The waste remains in the tank until the plane lands, and then special ground crew members pump the tanks. So now you can rest safe in the knowledge that you don’t need to watch out for flying chunks of frozen poop when a plane flies over you. In case you are wondering about the sucking noise toilets on planes make, a vacuum is used to allow the toilet to be flushed with less water and because plumbing cannot rely on gravity alone in an aircraft in motion.

2. First Video Game
Misconception: Pong was the first video game

Computers are much older than many people think and when you talk about the very first game, most people tend to think of Pong. Pong was invented in 1972 by Atari and it was an arcade style game that featured two opposing paddles and a ball with which you played virtual tennis. It was the first commercially successful video game and it launched the video game industry. But… Twenty years earlier (in 1952), another game was created. It was called OXO and it was a noughts-and-crosses (tic-tac-toe) type game which was played on the EDSAC computer. It was made by Alexander Douglas for his PhD thesis at Cambridge University. It is quite astonishing to think that the very first computer game was created nearly sixty years ago!

1. The Web / Internet
Misconception: The web is the Internet

This is a very common misconception, most likely brought about due to the fact that most people use the web as their almost exclusive method of using the Internet. But in fact, the Internet technically began to exist in the form we know it on January 1, 1983 when its predecessor (Arpanet) began using TCP/IP – the system of network communication still used today. The web was invented by an Englishman called Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. The World Wide Web is made up of servers (which serve the pages) and clients (like Firefox, Safari, and IE) which display the page. The Internet is the set of technologies beneath the web which enable the web to exist. If the Internet didn’t exist, the web would not be able to function; if the web didn’t exist, the Internet still would. Other programs that use the Internet which have nothing at all to do with the web are email, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), most internet messaging programs, newsgroups, BitTorrent, telnet, FTP, etc.

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Top 5 Amazing Commercial Airline Crews in Crisis

2012-04-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

5. British Airways Flight 9
Jakarta, June 24, 1982

Air crew: Captain Eric Moody, Senior First Officer Roger Greaves and Senior Engineer Officer Barry Townley-Freeman
A 747 flight named The City of Edinburgh was en route from London to Auckland when the pilots inadvertently flew her through the ash cloud of Mount Galunggung, an Indonesian volcano. Lacking any moisture, the ash cloud did not show up on their radar screen. The ash shut down all four engines and the oxygen supply stopped working properly. With no engines, Moody put her in a steep, 6,000-foot dive to reach breathable air, then turned toward Jakarta for a possible water landing—all while gliding. Fortunately, after they cleared the ash cloud, the crew got the engines restarted and they landed safely in Jakarta. Fun fact: Captain Moody issued what’s justly called a “masterpiece of understatement” when he told passengers: “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.”

4. American Airlines Flight 96
Detroit, June 12, 1972

Air crew: Captain Bryce McCormick and First Officer Peter Whitney
This DC-10 suffered explosive decompression when a cargo hatch blew out. Rapid decompression crumpled part of the cabin, damaged hydraulic controls, cut controls to the top engine and caused the rudder to stick at far right. Despite the severe damage to the aircraft, the pilots landed her safely with no loss of life. The cause of the accident was a faulty locking mechanism on the cargo bay door.

3. DHL OO-DLL transport
Baghdad, Nov. 22, 2003

Air crew: Captain Eric Gennotte, First Officer Steve Michielsen and Flight Engineer Mario Rofail
“Fedayeen” scum fired a missile at this Airbus A300 cargo plane doing a rapid-climb takeoff from Baghdad airport. The missile hit the left wing, destroyed an engine and irreparably damaged all hydraulic systems. Without hydraulics, they could use only differential throttles to control the A300, whereby pilots gain a measure of lateral control through running one engine faster than the other, and a smidgen of horizontal control by increasing/decreasing speed. After experimenting for 10 minutes, the three-person crew turned the damaged craft around for a landing. They veered off the runway into soft sand, using only reverse thrust to stop the craft. Fascinating note: Capt. Gennotte got the idea to use differential throttles after attending a seminar given by Capt. Al Haynes, the pilot of United Airlines Flight 232 (see #2 below), who used the techniques when his aircraft lost all hydraulics.

2. United Airlines Flight 811
Honolulu, Feb. 24, 1989

Air crew: Captain David Cronin, First Officer Gregory Slader and Flight Engineer Randal Thomas
A cargo door failed on this 747-122 bound for New Zealand, causing explosive decompression. Nine passengers were killed and several injured. The crew lost some flight controls and fires started in engines 3 and 4. They took the 747 down to breathable air—the accident also destroyed the oxygen equipment —and turned the plane back to Honolulu. With only partial flaps, they landed successfully.

1. Aloha Airlines Flight 243
Maui, April 28, 1988

Air crew: Captain Robert Schornstheimer and First Officer Madeline “Mimi” Tompkins
This is probably one of the most well-known air disasters. This 737, bound for Honolulu, suffered serious structural damage when the top portion of the passenger cabin literally ripped off. Metal fatigue and corrosion from continual operation near salt water caused hairline fractures that eventually led to catastrophic structural failure. One crewmember was killed and about 65 people were injured. The pilots brought the heavily damaged craft down safely, despite not knowing whether the front landing gear had deployed correctly. It is absolutely amazing that the 737 stayed in the air.

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Top 5 Creepy Aspects of Victorian Life

2012-04-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

5. Gothic Novel

How could the gothic novel (a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance) not be included on a list like this? It was the Victorian period that gave us such great works of terror as Dracula, and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Even the Americans got in on the act with Edgar Allen Poe producing some of the greatest gothic literature of the time. The Victorians knew how to frighten people and they knew how to do it in grand style. These works still form the basis of much modern horror and their power to thrill has not dwindled in the least.

4. Jack the Ripper

In the late Victorian era, London was terrorized by the monster known as Jack the Ripper. Using the pea-soupers as a cover, the Ripper ultimately slaughtered five or more prostitutes working in the East End. Newspapers, whose circulation had been growing during this era, bestowed widespread and enduring notoriety on the killer because of the savagery of the attacks and the failure of the police to capture the murderer. Because the killer’s identity has never been confirmed, the legends surrounding the murders have become a combination of genuine historical research, folklore, and pseudohistory. Many authors, historians, and amateur detectives have proposed theories about the identity of the killer and his victims. You can read a list of the most fascinating Jack the Ripper suspects on our Top 10 Interesting Jack The Ripper Suspects.

3. Freak Shows

A freak show is an exhibition of rarities, “freaks of nature” — such as unusually tall or short humans, and people with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics or other extraordinary diseases and conditions — and performances that are expected to be shocking to the viewers. Probably the most famous member of a freak show is the Elephant Man (pictured above). Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890) was an Englishman who became known as “The Elephant Man” because of his physical appearance caused by a congenital disorder. His left side was overgrown and distorted causing him to wear a mask for most of his life. You can read about two other famous “freaks” who had what is probably the most bizarre relationship in history here. There can be no doubt that the Victorian freak shows were one of the creepiest aspects of society at the time.

2. Memento Mori

Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning “Remember you shall die”. In the Victorian era, photography was young and extremely costly. When a loved one died, their relatives would sometimes have a photograph taken of the corpse in a pose – oftentimes with other members of the family. For the vast majority of Victorians, this was the only time they would be photographed. In these post-mortem photographs, the effect of life was sometimes enhanced by either propping the subject’s eyes open or painting pupils onto the photographic print, and many early images have a rosy tint added to the cheeks of the corpse. Adults were more commonly posed in chairs or even braced on specially-designed frames. Flowers were also a common prop in post-mortem photography of all types. In the photo above, the fact that the girl is dead is made slightly more obvious (and creepy) by the fact that the slight movement of her parents causes them to be slightly blurred due to the long exposure time, while the girl is deathly still and, thus, perfectly in focus. You can read an excellent article on memento mori (post-morten photographs) complete with a huge archive of somewhat macabre photos here.

1. Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria has to have position number one on this list because the era is named for her and, frankly, she was bloody creepy. When her husband Albert died in 1861, she went into mourning – donning black frocks until her own death many years later – and expected her nation to do so too. She avoided public appearances and rarely set foot in London in the following years. Her seclusion earned her the name “Widow of Windsor.” Her sombre reign cast a dark pall across Britain and her influence was so great that the entire period was fraught with creepiness. Ironically, since Victoria disliked black funerals so much, London was festooned in purple and white when she died.

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Top 5 Truly Bizarre Scientific Studies

2012-04-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

5. Herring Gas

The Study: Do Herring Communicate by Passing Gas Study
Conducted By: Canada and Britain
Two teams carried out this research project. One studied Pacific herring in Bamfield, British Columbia, while the other focused on Atlantic herring in Oban, Scotland. It was discovered that the Atlantic and Pacific herring create a mysterious underwater noise. It turns out that the high-frequency sound was created by releasing air from their anuses. The noise was always accompanied by a fine stream of bubbles. Researchers suspect herring hear the bubbles as they’re expelled, helping the fish form protective shoals at night.
Interesting Fact: Researchers named the phenomenon Fast Repetitive Tick, which makes for a rather interesting acronym, FRT. Scientists say unlike the human version, these FRTs are thought to bring the fish closer together.

4. Bouncing Bosom

The Study: Bra Support for Bouncing Breasts Study
Conducted By: University of Portsmouth, England
70 women were recruited including students at University of Portsmouth with bra sizes ranging from A-cup to extra-large (DD, E, FF, G, H, HH, J and JJ). Each woman walked, jogged and ran while wearing different bra types. During the exercise, biomechanical measurements were taken of breast movement in three directions: up-and-down, side-to-side and in-and-out. During walking exercise, the women’s breasts moved relatively the same amount in all directions. But when participants sped up to a jog or run, their breasts moved proportionally more in some directions than others: The overall pattern of the movement resembled a figure-8. The study showed A-cup women, wearing a sports bra reduced overall breast movement by 53 percent, compared with a 55-percent reduction for G-cup women. A pair of D-cup breasts weighs about 15 to 23 pounds (7 to 10 kilograms) and had little support with ligaments and the skin doing most or all of the support work. It was concluded that whether women are flat-chested or big-busted, ordinary bras fall short when it comes to supporting bouncing breasts.
Interesting Fact: The momentum created by intense bouncing can stretch the breast’s connective tissues, causing sagging and pain for many women. An estimated 50 percent of women experience breast pain during exercise.

3. Fertility Sexiness

The Study: Do Women Walk Sexier When Fertile Study
Conducted By: Meghan Provosat Queens University, Canada
The idea behind this study was to determine whether women give subtle signals to men to advertise they are experiencing different levels of sex hormones. The lead researcher Meghan Provost had expected a sexy hip-swinging walk to be one of those signals. She analyzed the gait of female volunteers and their levels of sex hormones in their saliva. She then showed video clips to 40 men asking them to rate the attractiveness of the way the women walked and then matched the results to the hormone tests. The results were so surprising that she repeated the experiment again with another group of male viewers. The researchers found those with alluring walks were the furthest away from ovulation and the women who were most fertile walked with fewer hip movements and with their knees closer together.
Interesting Fact: It was suggested that during the most high hormonal time it is in a woman’s best interests to form a closer attachment to one man to help raise children rather than to advertise her fertile time and be approached by a larger number of competing males. Also a sexy walk would be too obvious, so women are thought to use changes in smell and facial expressions that can be experienced only at close range.

2. Sexy Shouting

The Study: Why Female Monkeys Shout During Sex Study
Conducted By: The German Primate Center in Göttingen
To investigate the purpose behind the female monkey’s shouting calls, behavioral scientist and primatologists focused on Barbary macaques (Old World monkey species) for two years in a nature reserve in Gibraltar. The researchers found that females yelled during 86 percent of all sexual encounters. When females shouted, males ejaculated 59 percent of the time. However, when females did not holler, males ejaculated less than 2 percent of the time. To see if yelling resulted from how vigorous the sex was the scientists counted the number of pelvic thrusts males gave and timed when they happened. They found when shouting occurred thrusting increased and led to more vigorous sex. It was concluded that female monkeys may shout during sex to help their male partners climax. Scientists found that without these yells male Barbary macaques almost never ejaculated. The information on the study did not reveal how they were able to detect whether an ejaculation occurred but I guess its best to leave some things to the imagination.
Interesting Fact: Male and female Barbary macaques are promiscuous, often having sex with many partners. The females shout when they are most fertile, so males can make the most use of their sperm.

1. Big Hands, Big Feet, Big…

The Study: Foot Size and Penile Length Study
Conducted By: The University College, London
In this study the researchers measured 104 men’s feet and their penises. Because there is no perfect way to measure a man’s penis, they did what many other studies do that measure penis length. The researchers stretched the penis with a defined amount of force to determine how long it can get. This gives a pretty good indication of how long the penis would be when fully erect. The result of this study, (to the relief of all size seven shoe-wearing males) was that there is no scientific support for the relationship between a man’s shoe size and the length of his penis.
Interesting Fact: In another study a group of Greek researchers measured height, weight, waist/hip ratio, finger length and penis length of fifty-two men, aged nineteen to thirty-eight. They found that age and body characteristics were not associated with size of penis except for the “index finger length, which correlated significantly with the dimensions of the flaccid, maximally stretched penis.” A similar study with 1500 men also found that length of index the finger was significantly correlated with penis dimensions.

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5 Fascinating Facts That Are Wrong

2012-04-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

5. Newton’s Apple

Myth: Newton devised his universal law of gravity when an apple fell on his head from the tree under which he was sitting
It is always exciting to think of a great discovery happening in the blink of an eye due to a coincidental event – we consider that if it were not for the right person being in the right place at the right time, man would have lost an incredibly significant piece of knowledge. For this reason people have clung to the idea that Newton devised his universal law of gravity because of an apple hitting him on the head. But in fact the first mention of an apple in relation to Newton came 60 years after his death: “Whilst he was musing in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (which brought an apple from the tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from the earth but that this power must extend much further.”

Interesting Fact: Though he is better known for his love of science, the Bible was Sir Isaac Newton’s greatest passion. He devoted more time to the study of Scripture than to science, and he said, “I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.” He spent a great deal of time trying to discover hidden messages within the Bible.

4. Typhoid Mary

Myth: Typhoid Mary, the most dangerous woman in America, killed hundreds (if not thousands) by infecting them with typhoid
The story is Typhoid Mary is relatively well known and it certainly is true that she (Mary Mallon) carried Typhoid fever without catching it herself. It is also true that she caused human deaths as a consequence. What is not true is the enormity of the carnage she left behind her. In fact, Mary (who worked as a cook) caused 30 – 53 (different sources cite different numbers) people to catch Typhoid, but only 3 of those people died. When it was first discovered that Mary was the cause of these people becoming ill, she was quarantined. This was for a short time only as it was felt that it was unfair to quarantine her as others in a similar situation were not. Mary was allowed to leave on the condition that she stop working as a cook. She accepted the condition but unable to get a job paying as well as cooking, she took on a false name and began working at a hospital as a cook. She caused 25 people there to become sick and one died. For this reason she was arrested and put in quarantine until she died 18 years later. She is pictured above in a bed during her first quarantine.
Interesting Fact: Typhoid is spread by the salmonella typhi pathogen which would normally be killed by the heat of cooking – but one of Mary’s specialty dishes (that was frequently requested by diners) was her peach icecream. Mary’s lack of hygiene when using the toilet enabled the bacteria to transfer from feces to her hands.

3. Einstein Failed Math

Myth: Einstein failed math at school
This is a surprisingly old error which everyone seems to believe. Its origins seem to be a 1935 article in the Ripley’s Believe it or not magazine in which the myth first appears in print under the heading “Greatest living mathematician failed in mathematics.” Many failing students probably take heart in the myth thinking that there may be hope for them if Einstein could flunk math and still become a genius, but unfortunately for them, Einstein showed genius from a very young age – including in the field of mathematics. When he was shown the article from the magazine, Einstein laughed and said: “I never failed in mathematics. Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus.”
Interesting Fact: In 1905, during his spare time, Einstein produced four papers that upended physics. The first showed that light could be conceived as particles as well as waves. The second proved the existence of atoms and molecules. The third, the special theory of relativity, said that there was no such thing as absolute time or space. And the fourth noted an equivalence between energy and mass described by the most famous equation in all of physics, E=mc^2.

2. Titanic SOS

Myth: The Titanic was the first ship to send out the SOS signal
Initially the Titanic sent out the CQD signal (standing for “All stations: distress”) but Britain had recently signed up to the new standard of SOS so one of the crew suggested that it be used as well: “Send SOS; it’s the new call, and besides, this may be your last chance to send it!” It certainly was new to British ships, but the standard had been in use for some years prior and there is even a newspaper article from 1909 which describes its use by an American ship, the Arapahoe.
Interesting Fact: Contrary to popular belief, SOS does not stand for anything. Some believe it means “save our souls” or “send out ships” but in fact, the signal was chosen because it was so simple to send that a person who was unfamiliar with radio equipment could send it in the case of an emergency (… / – – – / … SOS in Morse Code – is far easier than the previous distress signal of CQD: -.-. / – -.- / -..).
1. Margarine MadnessMyth: The Titanic was the first ship to send out the SOS signal
Initially the Titanic sent out the CQD signal (standing for “All stations: distress”) but Britain had recently signed up to the new standard of SOS so one of the crew suggested that it be used as well: “Send SOS; it’s the new call, and besides, this may be your last chance to send it!” It certainly was new to British ships, but the standard had been in use for some years prior and there is even a newspaper article from 1909 which describes its use by an American ship, the Arapahoe.
Interesting Fact: Contrary to popular belief, SOS does not stand for anything. Some believe it means “save our souls” or “send out ships” but in fact, the signal was chosen because it was so simple to send that a person who was unfamiliar with radio equipment could send it in the case of an emergency (… / – – – / … SOS in Morse Code – is far easier than the previous distress signal of CQD: -.-. / – -.- / -..).

1. Margarine Madness

Myth: Margarine is 1 molecule away from plastic
Americans eat four times as much margarine as butter every year which seems surprising considering so many people believe this little myth about the chemical spread. While much of the negative stuff we hear about margarine is true, this particular myth is not. Margarine is made by heating vegetable oil and infusing it with hydrogen – in other words saturating it to a point that it remains hard at room temperature. It is then mixed with other ingredients to give a white lump that resembles fat. Yellow food coloring is added and voila – we have margarine. There is not one molecule of anything that you could add to margarine to turn it into plastic.
Interesting Fact: Margarine was invented because Emperor Louis Napoleon III of France offered a prize in 1869 for anyone that could come up with a cheap butter alternative for the army and the lower classes. Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés (a French chemist) won the prize with his oleomargarine. Governments around the world tried to stop people from using margarine by putting heavy taxes on it and banning its coloring.

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Incredible Natural Wonders Of The World

2012-03-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

A new list of seven wonders of nature has been released. The list was made by Swiss New7Wonders Foundation. Winners were determined by the public vote, so the results came out unexpected, even for the organizers.

Top 5 Worst Moments in Human History

2012-03-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

5. World War One

One of only two wars to make this list, this one does because of the hideous speed at which hostilities escalated in 1914, and because there is no single villain to blame. Humanity in general is to blame for this one. In retrospect, it appears as if every country in Europe was harboring a festering hatred for one another, and everyone was looking for an excuse to invade. The act that touched it off was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este, by Gavrilo Princip, whose motive was no more complicated than a desire to prove his bravery to the Serbian army, which had rejected him for being too small and weak.
Almost every nation in Europe had a treaty with another nation, and these treaties all said the same thing: if anyone attacks you, we’ve got your back. Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which prompted Russia to declare war on Austro-Hungary, which prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on Russia, which prompted the United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany and Italy. Spain and, of course, Switzerland stayed out of it.
The United States stayed out of it until Germany waged total war on international unarmed merchant ships, particularly Lusitania, and because of the Zimmermann Telegram which Germany sent to Mexico, urging it to declare war on the U. S. The British intercepted this memo, but Mexico, to its credit, did not dare attack the U. S.
We can all agree that war is the epitome of human stupidity, and as wars go, WWI may be insurmountable in exemplary idiocy. War theory, if we may call it that, had progressed in terms of modern defense, but not attack: both sides were armed with more or less the very same weaponry, especially the Maxim machine gun, the first truly modern machine gun. It is belt-fed, fires the .303 British, the 8mm Mauser, or the 7.62 NATO, at a rate of 450 to 500 rounds per minute, sufficient to cut men in half, which is precisely what it did tens of thousands of times for 4 years.
The British, French, Germans, Russians, and Americans all had them, and for the first 2 and a half years, the trench warfare involved one side charging out across 100 to 1000 yards of no-man’s land, through shell craters, barbed wire, mud and mines, right into the waiting machine gun lines of the enemy trenches. Each time one side was beaten back with severe losses, the other side thought there would be a weakness and charged after them, right into waiting machine gun lines. Kaiser Wilhelm sent a telegram in late 1914 to his cousin, Tsar Nicholas II, that read, in Russian, “Nicky, how can we stop this?”
On the first day of the Battle of the Somme River, 1 July 1916, the middle day of the middle year of the Great War, as it was called before 1939, the British conducted the European Slow March, walking, not running, toward the Germans, on the theory that the slower they advanced, the more difficult they would be to hit, and more fearsome they would be to the enemy. After 12 hours, 19,240 British soldiers lay dead in about 25 square miles. This was the most lethal day in the British military’s history.
The Somme was begun in an attempt to draw men of both sides away from the Battle of Verdun, so a decision there could be attained. Instead, the Somme became an even larger battle in scale, and it and Verdun remain the most epic of the War. 698,000 men died at Verdun, 70,000 per month for 10 months. Over 300,000 died at the Somme. Each battle resulted in over 1 million casualties, the debut of the modern flamethrower at Verdun, and the tank at the Somme.
The Germans opened hostilities at Verdun with a 10-hour cannonade of 808 artillery pieces, firing almost 1 million shells, some as wide as steering wheels. Around the French fortifications, the blackened skeletons of trees were festooned with human and horse intestines. The Germans also used ample supplies of mustard gas in both battles. Mustard gas is essentially aerosol hydrochloric acid. One breath of it can kill a man by internal drowning. It also severely burns and blisters skin and blinds eyes.
Both battles ended in utter stalemate, because mobility had not progressed on par with firepower, and that lack of mobility, especially on the first day of the Somme, displayed more directly than any other action in any war the utter futility and insanity of warfare. Neither side could approach the other, but the Germans found their losses more irreplaceable than the combined French and British. When the Americans showed up, the Germans simply could not cope with the overwhelming enemy men and materiel for much longer. About 15 million, military and civilian, died, unless we include deaths from Spanish influenza, which was itself a direct result of the War. That puts the estimate at about 65 million.

4. The Black Death

There is no one cause to blame for the Bubonic plague’s rise to power in 1346 or so, but Europe in general can be criticized strongly for its primitive belief in witches. Because “witches” were hunted down wholesale by reason of an insufferably pervasive fear of the Devil, domestic and feral cats were also killed by the hundreds of thousands, because they were thought to be witches’ “familiars,” that without one, a witch could not adequately cast spells.
So once witch-hunts showed up in full swing and cats started disappearing into the fires, the entire European world was ripe for an epidemic of rats. And the rats showed up in full swing in 1346 in the Crimea, via the Silk Road from China. There were no cats to check the rats stowing away onboard merchant ships, and these rats were infested with fleas. The fleas carried yersinia pests, better known as plague.
Today, this bacteria has been all but eradicated in most places around the world, because cleanliness is next to Godliness. A regular hot bath with soap will rid you of fleas, but such baths were not regular in the Middle Ages. Once bitten by an infected flea, curing yourself is really not difficult at all. Streptomycin prevents the bacteria from replicating, which gives the immune system enough time to tailor an antibody to kill it. Europe didn’t know about antibiotics, and had they, they might have had fair results by eating moldy bread.
Without treatment, plague is one of only three known diseases with a mortality rate of 100%. The other two are rabies encephalitis and HIV. Given the primitive medical knowledge of the Middle Ages, the world didn’t have a chance. Even the best physicians had no clue what to do to protect themselves, much less the populace.
Doctors entered homes only after donning full-body leather armor, helmets and masks shaped like hawk beaks, filled with aromatic herbs, due to the miasmatic theory of diseases. According to this theory, simply “stirring up the vapors” would cure the area of plague, while the doctor would remain safe breathing in his mask. The masks had red glass over the eyeholes, because even looking at an infected person was thought to cause infection.
Ringing bells was thought to stir up the vapors. Or the sick person could stand next to a latrine and inhale the stench. About the only method that actually worked to a small degree was smoking tobacco, because the smoke kept the fleas away. But the most infamous methods for curing the plague were based on the principle that God was very angry with the whole world.
The Flagellants began roaming the countryside by 1349, especially in Germany, and they beat themselves bloody with Roman-style flails, the same kind used to scourge Christ. The idea was that if they suffered enough, God would relent and the plague would stop. It didn’t work.
So, like clockwork, God’s wrath was blamed on the non-Christians throughout Europe, and that mostly meant Jews. In February of 1349, 2,000 Jews were hacked to pieces and burned at the stake in Strasbourg, on the French-German border. But the plague kept coming. It killed 40% of Egypt, 30% of the Middle East, about half of the 100,000 people in Paris. The worst hit area was Mediterranean Europe, including Italy, Spain, and southern France. There, about 75% to 80% died. The Pope, Clement VI, survived by surrounding his throne 24 hours a day with torches burning close to the floor. In the aftermath, his servants found scorched fleas “like pepper” just outside the ring of flame.
England suffered about 20% dead. The total average was about 25% of the whole world, as evidence indicates plague deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, India, and the Orient. As much as 66% of Europe and Asia succumbed. Approximately 100,000,000 people died in 4 years.

3. The Holodomor

Holodomor is the Ukrainian word for “killing by hunger.” It is now the proper term for Josef Stalin’s forced starvation genocide against the Ukraine from 1932 to 1933. The manner by which Stalin forced it on the Ukrainian people is open for discussion, but most historians agree that he knew what was happening in the Ukraine and refused to provide relief of any kind, even ordering food shipments diverted from the Ukraine and what food its population had confiscated, violently whenever necessary. He imposed this particularly cruel death sentence on so many solely out of retaliation for the Ukraine striving for national recognition and independence.
Today, we refer to it as a country, Ukraine, with Kiev as its capital city. But at that time, it was still referred to as “the Ukrainian SSR,” or simply, “the Ukraine,” one of many areas of Russia. The famine was manmade, an imposition directly from Stalin, but whether he premeditated it beforehand is difficult to determine. Most of Russia was experiencing a famine at that time, and Stalin may have seen this a chance to make the Holodomor look, at best, like an accident, at worst, passive justice.
The numbers are the saddest testimony overall in every one of these entries. Records were not well kept during the famine, so the death toll ranges from 1.8 to 12 million. Some scholars have narrowed this down to about 4 to 5 million. The borders were closed by the NKVD, the precursor to the KGB, and anyone attempting to flee to other countries or Russian states was either shot or captured and brought back to starve. 190,000 tried to escape the Ukraine after the first year. Starvation may be the most awful cause of death. The commoners’ despair, agony, and terror led tens of thousands to resort to eating their own children. Many ate their own feet. It did not end until Stalin’s implementation of forced collectivization of grain threatened to destroy all of Russia, not just the Ukraine. Once the police and military stopped stealing everyone’s grain, farmers were able to grow for small communities, as they always had.

2. World War Two

This war can be blamed mostly on one man, Adolf Hitler. Let us take a brief look at the motives by which he initiated global hostilities in 1939. Whereas, Stalin was patently paranoid that he would lose his power, Hitler was not afraid. He simply carried a fuming rage which, in childhood, he directed against nothing in particular.
He was imprisoned for his failed Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt to overthrow the Kaiser government, in 1923. While serving 8 months, he and Rudolf Hess wrote Mein Kampf, in which Hitler blamed absolutely everything bad that had ever happened to Germany on the Jews, all of them everywhere on Earth. Whether he actually believed this is open to debate, but there is no denying that he saw in Jews an outstanding scapegoat, one against which all non-Jewish Germans would rally.
It worked better than he could possibly have imagined. He emerged from prison a national hero and 10 years later took control of the government. What followed was a nationwide brainwashing: everyone began hating Jews intensely. Many of the Jews saw the trouble coming and left for England or America. Most stayed, hoping they would be saved. They weren’t, until it was too late.
6 years later, Hitler made good on his promise to acquire “lebensraum” for the German people, by invading Poland. Britain and France immediately declared war on Germany. Russia made a pact with Germany because Stalin knew he could not conquer Germany at that time. Hitler bided his time before invading Russia 2 years later, in the knowledge that Russia’s military was woefully inadequate. Japan invaded China for its resources, and in September 1940 Japan, Italy, and Germany became the formal Axis Powers, solely because they understood their identical desires to conquer other countries.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in retaliation for the U. S. embargo on oil, iron, and machinery. The U. S. then declared war on Japan, and there were declarations of war all around. Oh, what a merry world it became so quickly. After 6 years, 71 million people were dead. Rome, Paris, Moscow, Leningrad, and London were smoldering. Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Stalingrad, and Manila were obliterated.
The most infamous aspect of the War will forever remain the Holocaust. It is also referred to as HaShoah, which is Hebrew for “The Catastrophe.” Much has been said about it already on Listverse, so let us briefly examine Hitler’s methods, by which he remorselessly and unsympathetically attempted to eradicate an entire race of humans.
His seething, abiding rage found in Jews the perfect target, and he set about in his political ambitions, surrounding himself with men who agreed, some for power, some out of rage or delight, all out of hatred, that the Jews as a race needed to, and could, be extinguished. The Wehrmacht, for its part, had nothing at all to do with the Holocaust, and had very little idea it was going on. They were an honorable institution, if honor, just as compassion, can be found in war.
The Schutzstaffel, or SS, carried out the murder of 6 million men, women, and children, by poisonous gas, shooting, beating, torturing, “scientific” experiments, systematic starvation, and overwork, on the pretense that “Aryans” were superior humans, and that Jews were no better than cattle, in which terms, the question was asked, “Do we feel bad when we slaughter cows for food?”
1.1 million were murdered at Auschwitz, 700,000 to 800,000 at Treblinka, 600,000 at Belzec, 360,000 at Majdanek, 320,000 at Chelmno, 250,000 at Sobibor. Merely because they were Jewish. Meawhile, at least 750,000 soldiers and civilians died in 199 days in Stalingrad. That was only one battle of the War.

1. The Crusades

Whereas, Stalin never offered any political explanation for, nor a formal admission of, attempting to starve all of Ukraine, and Hitler explained the Holocaust as “a necessary step” in the process of purifying and strengthening the “master race,” the Crusades were undertaken by both the Christians and the Muslims for the openly expressed purpose of exterminating the opposing religion along with all its adherents, solely to glorify God. It remains the blackest moment in the history of all religion.
It lasted from c. 1063 until c. 1434, when handheld gunpowder weapons were first used to good effect in combat. Keep in mind, before you denounce God for allowing or causing it to happen, that doing so is foolishly dismissive. Assuming there is a God, the Crusades were not his fault. They remain humanity’s fault by two causes: first, the refusal to tolerate differences; and second, the active enjoyment derived from hurting things, especially other humans, since they can best voice their disapproval of such actions.
The use of the word “God” in any language to justify one’s actions of violence is but a means to an end, and also sweetens the enjoyment of another person’s pain, since by denouncing that person as an infidel, the malicious party can believe that person is also destined for eternal agony, after the agony s/he is forced to suffer on Earth. Sounds appetizing, doesn’t it? Because we all get angry at other people for various perceived offenses, deep down doesn’t it sound appetizing to believe those people are going to Hell, regardless of how much they suffer in life? No one would ever admit to it, of course, but it’s a primitive passion innate in every human, and precisely the heart of the Crusades.

In 1099, the 1st Crusade ended in “Christian” victory, when knights and soldiers from France, England, Germany, and Apulia (southern Italy) successfully besieged Jerusalem from 7 June to 15 July. They were opposed by the Islamic Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt, under Iftikhar ad-Dawla, who had 400 cavalrymen and a garrison of Muslim and Nubian troops comparable in size to the invaders, about 13,000 for each side. Inside the city there lived over 60,000 unarmed civilians, mostly Muslims and Jews.
Once the city fell, the invaders stormed in, ransacked every building and murdered every single man, woman, and child within the walls. 70,000 people were hacked to pieces “in the name of Christ.” The horses waded in blood up to their knees. Probably half the women were raped, and most of everyone was tortured by varying methods. It was unbridled, bacchanalian sadism. About 500 Jews fought alongside the Muslims, then took refuge in a synagogue. The French burned the synagogue to the ground, with everyone in it.
88 years later, Salah ad-Din successfully took Jerusalem back for Islam and allowed all those inside to return unharmed to their homelands provided they paid a ransom. Those who could not afford it were sold into slavery. Two years later, Richard I of England (the Lionheart) arrived with Phillip II of France and Frederick I of Germany. Richard was not the chivalrous hero he is frequently depicted as in films. He spent barely 6 months of his 10-year regency in England. He lived in France, spoke only Langues d’Oil and Langues d’Oc, two dialects of Old French, did not speak any form of English, and used England as a money machine to finance his conquests. He loved the sport and glory of overpowering other nations. His Crusade, the 3rd, ended in an uneasy stalemate.
There would be 6 more Crusades, with the Holy Land changing hands several times, costing hundreds of thousands of lives, all in the name of one god or another. All the while, both bibles stated, “Love your enemies.”

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Top 5 Strange and Unique Forests

2012-03-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

5. Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell Forest

Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell is a 147 km² (57 sq mi) nature reserve located in Buskerud, Norway. It was created on December 13, 2002 and is located in the mountain areas between Nore in Numedal and Solevann in Sigdal. Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell holds the last ancient wilderness forests of Norway. The land has all the qualities of the original Norwegian forests, including untouched valleys, rivers, lakes, and very old trees. Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell is home to 93 red list and endangered species.
Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell holds a large amount of animals that are dependent on the forest dynamics. The area is one of the few untouched woodlands in Norway. Some of the endangered species that frequent the forest are the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tree-toed Woodpecker, Siberian Jay, Stock Dove, and Golden Eagle. The forest is also home to endangered lichens, mosses, and fungi. Currently, about 75% of Trillemarka – Rollagsfjell has been protected by the government, and there is a controversy in Norway over how much of the remaining land should be set aside for future generations. It appears that Norway is lagging behind neighboring countries in forest protection.
Selected Quote: “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” Franklin D. Roosevelt.

4. Dark Entry Forest

Dudley Town (the Village of the Damned) is a ghost town in Cornwall, Connecticut. It was founded as a small settlement in the mid-1740s and was a thriving community by the 18th century, known as Owlsbury. The town was primarily fueled by the region’s iron industry. It was a popular place to visit until people started to report strange sightings, unexplained murders, and mass suicides. In some cases, the town residents experienced hallucinations which included demons who commanded them to commit suicide. It was also a regular occurrence for sheep and heard animals to go missing in the town.
Many early settlers of Dudley Town began to think the area was cursed. By the middle of the 20th century, everyone in the town had either died or moved away. Today, Dudley Town looks like it did when Thomas Griffis first settled it some 250 years ago. It is a very thick forest with rocky terrain and it sits in the shadow of three separate mountains: Bald Mountain, Woodbury Mountain, and The Coltsfoot Triplets. Because of the dense and tall woods, the forest has been given the name “Dark Entry Forest.” The land is not officially located in a Connecticut state forest, but sits on private land near the Mohawk State Forest and Mohawk Trail.
The ruins of Dudley Town and the Dark Entry Forest are patrolled by the Dark Entry Forest group, which prosecutes anyone who trespasses on the land. Hundreds of people have been arrested for visiting the site. The area is also known for a large collection of orbs, unexplained lights, and bizarre sounds. Similar to other strange forests, visitors claim that the trees are unusually quiet and without wildlife. Contemporary researchers have suggested that the town may have succumbed to mass hysteria or that the groundwater could have been contaminated with lead which caused the deaths.
Selected Quote: “An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.” Charles Dickens.

3. Ardennes

The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The land is covered by thick forests and rugged terrain. The region is rich in timber, minerals, and wild game. The Ardennes holds a strategic position in Europe. For this reason, a large number of famous battles have been fought on the land. The Ardennes has changed hands on many different occasions. In the 20th century, the Ardennes was thought unsuitable for large-scale military operations, but in both World War I and World War II, Germany successfully gambled on making a passage through the area to attack France.
The Ardennes was the site of three major battles in the 20th century, the Battle of the Ardennes (1914), the Battle of France (1940), and the Battle of the Bulge (1944). During the Battle of the Ardennes, French and German troops literally stumbled into each other on the battlefield due to the thick fog. In the winter of 1944, the Third Reich launched a major offensive through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium. The event has become known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Before the Battle of the Bulge, the snow-covered Ardennes was so quiet it was termed “the Ghost Front.” The United States placed its greenest units on the wooded hills, along with combat-shattered troops. Hitler valued the Ardennes and arranged for two full Panzer armies and 300,000 troops to conduct a surprise attack designed to shatter the American front. Many of the towns in the region were badly damaged during the battle, including the historic city of La Roche-en-Ardenne. The forest wasn’t completely taken back from Nazi rule until early 1945. Today, the beauty of the Ardennes and its wide variety of outdoor activities, including hunting, cycling, walking, canoeing, and historic landmarks make it a popular tourist destination.
Selected Quote: “Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.” Karl Von Clausewitz.

2. Hoia-Baciu Forest

The Hoia-Baciu Forest is located near Cluj-Napoca, Romania and is locally referred to as the Bermuda Triangle of Romania. The forest was named after a shepherd that disappeared in the area with two hundred sheep. Most people who live near the forest are afraid to enter. They believe that those who visit the site will never return. Many of the locals who have gone into the forest complain of physical harm, including rashes, nausea, vomiting, migraines, burns, scratches, anxiety, and other unusual bodily sensations.
The Hoia-Baciu Forest has a reputation for paranormal activity. People have witnessed several strange events on the land. The most common phenomenon includes seeing mysterious orb-like lights, female voices, giggling, apparitions, and cases of people being scratched. In the 1970s, the area was a hotbed for UFO sighting and unexplained lights. Visitors to the forest have reported a strong sense of anxiety and the feeling of being watched. The local vegetation in the forest is bizarre and some trees hold an unexplained charring. On August 18, 1968, a military technician named Emil Barnea captured a famous photograph of a saucer-like object over the Hoia-Baciu Forest.
Many people who live near the Hoia-Baciu Forest have reported a large collection of orb-like lights inside the tree line. When using a thermal, these lights don’t seem to be producing any heat signatures. Some people who enter the forest suddenly remember all of their past experiences in the trees, but then forget the memories after leaving the land. Specialists from around the world are fascinated by the forest. Scientists from Germany, France, the United States, and Hungary have managed to capture bizarre material structures on film, including faces and apparitions. Some of the structures are seen with the naked eye and others only in photos or videos.
Selected Quote: “Authoritarian political ideologies have a vested interest in promoting fear, a sense of the imminence of takeover by aliens and real diseases are useful material.” Susan Sontag.

1. Ancient Wuda Forest

In February of 2012, scientists in northern China announced that they had finished reconstructing an ancient forest that was found buried under a thick layer of volcanic ash near the Mongolian district of Wuda. The 20 square kilometer (12.4 mile) forest was completely preserved after a large volcano erupted 298 million years ago and dropped a large amount of lava and ash on the site. The discovery was reminiscent of the destruction of the Roman city of Pompeii in A.D. 79. It was determined that the blast came from a large volcano around 100 kilometers away. The destruction left a layer of ash that is now 66-cm (about 40 inches) thick. The blast ripped leaves from branches, knocked down trees, and buried the forest.
Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, Shenyang Normal University, and Yunnan University have been able to reconstruct 10,000 square feet (3,048 meters) of the subtropical forest. They have identified a large collection of plant species and flora that has been extinct for centuries. It is believed that the forest sat on the edge of a large tropical island off Pangaea’s eastern shore. It was swampy land, with a layer of peat and a few inches of standing water. In all, six different species of trees have been identified in the preserved forest, including the tall Sigillaria, Cordaites, and the smaller spore-bearing Noeggerathiales, which is believed to be related to the fern family. Scientists haven’t found any evidence for animal life, such as ancient amphibians.
Selected Quote: “All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.” Henry David Thoreau.

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Scary Nyiragongo Lava Lake

2012-03-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

This volcano has probably the most violent lava lake in the world as it continues to be fuelled by frequent eruptions of Nyiragongo Volcano, which are caused by the rifting of the Earth’s crust where a part of the African Plate is breaking apart.

Top 5 Largest Protected Areas in the World

2012-03-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

A protected area is a designated location that has been preserved for its ecological, natural and/or cultural values. Governments work with conservationists to ensure that these areas continue to function naturally, with minimal (if any) human management. The preservation of many protected areas has stopped or slowed the extinction rate of several species. Currently, there are over 160,000 protected areas in the world that cover 10 to 15 percent of the world’s surface area (both land and sea)

05. Northeast Greenland National Park

Size: 927,000 square kilometers

Encompassing the entire northeastern portion of Greenland, this is the largest national park in the world. It is larger than 163 countries (there are roughly 194 countries in the world). The land is inhabited by polar bears, walrus, arctic fox, snowy owl and musk oxen, among many other species. Northeast Greenland is the most northerly national park in the world.

04. Chagos Marine Protected Area

Size: 545,000 sq. km.

Part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Chagos Marine Protected Area is the largest marine reserve in the world. Larger than the country of France, this marine reserve is located 500 kilometers south of Maldives. The seven atolls of Chagos are a wonder to see and are rich in biodiversity.

03. Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area

Size: 287,132 kilometers

The protected area covers land in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe on the continent of Africa. There are several national parks incorporated into this preserved area, including Chobe National Park, Hwange National Park, the Okavango Delta and Victoria Falls. Designed to encourage tourism across several borders and the migration of mammals across borders, the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area was created by the Peace Parks Foundation and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

02. Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park

Size: 99,800 sq. km.

Ever growing, this peace park covers land in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe and is comprised of 10 different national parks and reserves, including Banhine National Park, Kruger National Park and Limpopo National Park. Wildlife that makes their home here includes African elephants, giraffes, African leopards, cheetahs and spotted hyenas, among others.

01. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Size: 53,321 sq. km.

Located in southern Alaska, this U.S. National Park has also been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is included in an International Biosphere Reserve. It is the largest national park in the United States by area, and is larger than nine states. Located in the park, Mt. St. Elias is the second highest mountain in both Canada and the United States; nine of the 16 highest peaks in the U.S. are located in the park.

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Worst Earthquakes In History

2012-03-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

Photographs of the worst earthquakes in the history of mankind.

The Scariest and Ugliest Fishes

2012-03-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

These are real marine reptiles that seem to come directly from hell.

Top 5 Ancient Laws Way Ahead Of Their Time

2012-03-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

Ancient codes, or sets of laws, have been written down since around 2000 BC. Many of these laws were harsh and would be seen as barbaric compared to our current laws, but many of them were actually just as compassionate and fair, and sometimes moreso, than the laws we have now.

05. Animal Rights

The Law: ”It is illegal to override a horse, force a weakened ox to do excessive work or threaten an animal with angry vehemence which breaks bones.”

Courtesy Of: Brehon Law (Ancient Celtic)

Animals have often been seen as worth only how much work they can do before they die. They have been traditionally taken advantage of in the hopes of their owners collecting a larger profit. This law was probably written at least four thousand years ago, and it proclaimed that work animals were not to be abused or taken advantage of. A law in the United States stating the same thing wasn’t put into place until the mid-20th century, with the passage of the Animal Welfare Act of 1966.

04. Nobody Is Above The Law

The Law: “A king exercises not falsehood nor force nor oppressive might. He is righteous towards all his people, both weak and strong.”

Courtesy Of: Brehon Law (Ancient Celtic)

During most of Europe’s history, government existed solely in the form of monarchs who ruled with absolute power. The theory of divine right stated that kings were put in charge by God, and thus could not be held accountable for any of their actions. But this law, which came about roughly four thousand years ago, went against the authority of leaders. It was one of the very first laws put in place to limit the power of the king. It stated that they must rule fairly, and later in the text describes instances in which a king may be overthrown.

03. Income Regulation

The Law: “Do not withhold that which is due your neighbor. Do not let a worker’s wages remain with you overnight until morning.”

Courtesy Of: The Mosaic Code

This was probably written around 1400 B.C. This law meant employers had to pay their workers on the day their compensation was due. Workers throughout history have often completed their work only to be screwed out of their pay. This was the first time records were kept of workers’ wages. Before this, there was no way to prove whether or not a worker had been paid for what they had been hired to do. The US didn’t start regulating workers income until 1938 with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

02. Sublimus Dei

The Law: “The said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.”

Courtesy Of: Catholic Papal Bulls

This proclamation came out in 1537. It was written by Pope Paul III. And it outlawed slavery. It was written mainly to forbid the enslavement of people indigenous to America and the West Indies. But it also included another group that could not be enslaved- all other people. Unfortunately, colonists mainly ignored it, and the United States didn’t officially ban slavery until 1864, with the writing of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In opposition to what many people think, the Emancipation Proclamation, passed a year earlier, did not make slavery illegal. It only freed slaves in ten confederate states, none of which were terribly interested in following the laws of an enemy country, and was only passed as a temporary measure intended to help the Union win the Civil War.

01. Minimum Wage

The Law: “If any one hires a field laborer, he shall pay him eight gur of corn per year. “

Courtesy Of: The Hammurabi Code

This sounds so simple, and yet, it is one of the most ahead of its time laws in history. This was the first establishment of a minimum wage. No longer could employers pay virtually nothing. Well, eight gur per year still seems pretty low, but it sure is a hell of a lot better than one gur. Although there were laws in Australia in the 1890’s regarding minimum pay, the first US national minimum wage was not set until 1938. The Code of Hammurabi did this in the 1700’s…BC. That’s right; the US was over 3500 years behind in passing this little piece of protection for workers. And by the way: US politicians are STILL arguing about whether we should have a minimum wage.

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The Biggest Gymnastic Show Ever

2012-03-21T00:37:00.000-07:00

Imagine a performance with 100,000 artists at the stadium! Instead of changing the outfits of gymnasts, the Korean directors change actors already dressed in a required form. The synchronization and team work of all participants is just amazing. A really cool show.

Top 5 Events Surrounding September 11

2012-03-21T00:19:00.000-07:00

5. US Government Exercises

On September 11, 2001, the United States government held a series of military exercises and drills. Operation Northern Vigilance was a NORAD operation, which involved deploying fighter aircraft to the northwestern part of North America, specifically Alaska and Northern Canada. The exercise was one part simulation, one part real world. It was in response to a similar test acted out by Russia on September 11, where long-range bombers were dispatched to Russia’s high north. The exercises were immediately called off after the news of the terrorist attacks, and all simulated information was purged from NORADs computer screens. However, the event was a distraction for the US government on 9/11.
Operation Northern Vigilance was not the only US exercise planned for September 11. A series of war games were also acted out, specifically Global Guardian. Global Guardian is an annual, command-level exercise held in the United States. It is an important task, and the purpose of the drill is to test and validate US nuclear command, control and execution procedures. Vigilant Guardian is an exercise that was run in conjunction with Global Guardian. It involved a simulated bomber attack from the former Soviet Union. The drill was conducted in real time, and appeared legitimate in offices and on computers, but without any planes in the air. One of the drills included was a traditional simulated hijacking.
The National Reconnaissance Office drill that was being conducted on September 11, 2001, is the strangest. In the exercise, a simulated small aircraft crashed into one of the towers at the NRO headquarters. No plane was involved in the drill, but to simulate damage from the crash, some stairwells and exits were closed off. A bioterrorism exercise was planned for September 12, 2001. It was named Operation Tripod and included a real life test of the US plan to distribute antibiotics to an entire city population during a bioterrorism attack.

4. Nimda Virus

In the months before and after September 11, 2001, the United States was bombarded with a series of cyber attacks. A group of criminals exposed vulnerabilities in the Microsoft operating system, and created a buffer overflow virus, which executed arbitrary code and infected hundreds of thousands of computers. By July 19, 2001, the amount of infected hosts reached over 350,000 zombies. A series of separate viruses named Code Red I and Code Red II crippled valuable servers and made calculated attacks on US government computers.
On September 18, 2001, a new virus attacked United States operating systems. The worm was given the name Nimda, and it was an advanced version of Code Red II. Some might say that the Code Red viruses were created in preparation for the much larger Nimda attack, which was executed the week following the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Due to the release date of the virus, members of the American government speculated on a link between the cyber attacks and Al Qaeda, but this theory ended up proving unfounded. The American media did not report much on the virus because of the terrorist attacks.
Multiple propagation vectors allowed Nimda to become the Internet’s most widespread and dangerous virus. It took only 22 minutes for the worm to rip through the American financial sector, causing over $3 billion in damage. The Nimda virus was so effective because it used five different infection vectors. People could, and still can, get the virus via e-mail, open network shares, infected websites, exploitation or via back doors left behind by the Code Red II virus. The group of people behind the Nimda virus and the theft of billions of dollars are unknown. The event greatly damaged the world’s financial sector and economy.

3. Wave of Accidents

In the months following September 11, 2001, there was a wave of international accidents and events. On September 21, 2001, the AZF chemical factory located near Toulouse, France exploded. The event occurred when three hundred tons of ammonium nitrates ignited. The blast left a crater with a depth of 20 to 30 m (65 to 100 ft), and with a diameter of 200 m (650 ft). It was a major incident in France, and 29 people were killed. The event is recognized as an environmental catastrophe, and the total damages already paid by insurance groups are exceeding 1.5 billion euros. The blast is believed to have occurred due to the improper handling of ammonium nitrate, including the mixing of chemical impurities. However, on October 2, 2001, France’s then Environment Minister, Yves Cochet, announced that the explosion “may have been a terrorist attack” and identified Hassan Jandoubi as a person of interest.
On October 4, 2001, Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashed over the Black Sea. The plane was en route from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Novosibirsk, Russia, and all 78 people aboard were killed. The crash was initially thought to be a terrorist attack, since an Armenian plane near the scene reported seeing the Russian plane explode before it crashed into the sea. However, American intelligence reported that the crash was due to an errant S-200 surface to air missile fired as part of a Ukrainian Air Defense Forces exercise. Many people have labeled this hypothesis unlikely, considering the missiles range and safety features, claiming that the US was in fear of mass hysteria with yet another terrorist attack in the weeks following September 11. Ultimately, the government of Ukraine officially recognized their military’s fault in the accident and started negotiating compensation payments for victims’ relatives.
On November 12, 2001, the United States experienced its second deadliest aviation accident in history. It occurred when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, New York. The accident took place two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and it caused panic in New York. Thousands of people witnessed the Airbus A300 crash to the ground, killing all 260 people on board. Many people reported a fire and explosion before the plane crashed, but the National Transportation Safety Board attributed the disaster to the first officer’s overuse of rudder controls. Al-Qaeda has listed the crash among its successes, but physical evidence was never presented indicating terrorist activity. Surprisingly, the story was widely underreported in the United States, considering the magnitude of the crash. In the months after the tragedy, rumors were circulated that suggested that the plane was exploded by a shoe bomber, similar to the failed attempt of Richard Reid, but these claims are unsubstantiated.

2. 2001 Anthrax Attacks

Most people are familiar with the wave of anthrax attacks waged against the United States in the weeks following September, 11. Beginning on September 18, a group of letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to US media outlets, and the offices of two US senators. In all, five people were killed in the terrorist activity, and seventeen others were seriously affected. The letters addressed to the US senators, Democrats Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, were laced with a highly refined dry anthrax powder. Shortly after the first wave of attacks, two letters were sent to the New York Post and NBC News. The letters contained threats mentioning 9/11, and implied a new wave of terrorist activity. For this reason, it was highly reported in America that Al-Qaeda was behind the 2001 anthrax attacks.
On September 11, George W. Bush and the White House staff began taking a regimen of Cipro, which is a powerful antibiotic. This activity has led to a list of conspiracy theories accusing the US government of having pre-knowledge of the anthrax attacks. The investigation into the crimes was one of the longest and most complex in the history of law enforcement. Ultimately, investigators began to focus their attention on an American scientist named Bruce Edwards Ivins. Ivins worked at the US government’s biodefense labs at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. After extensive research, on August 6, 2008, federal prosecutors declared Bruce Edwards Ivins to be the sole culprit of the 2001 anthrax attacks. He committed suicide on July 29, 2008, after learning that he was going to be formally charged with the crimes. One would think that a media circus would have ensued, but little was mentioned about Bruce Edwards Ivins in the US press. His motives for blaming the attacks on Al-Qaeda are unknown.

1. USA PATRIOT Act

On October 26, 2001, US President George W. Bush enacted the USA PATRIOT Act. The bill was in direct response to the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11. The goal of the Act was to reduce restrictions on law enforcement and government officials when investigating criminal activity. It gave international law organizations the right to probe and search citizen’s e-mail, medical, financial and personal records. Some of the main sections of the law enacted restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering, expanded the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions, and broadened immigration laws in regards to detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts. The bill was passed by a wide margin in the US Congress. It was supported by some people and seen as an attack on civil liberties by others.
Entire websites have been dedicated to examining the Patriot Acts apparent lack of safeguards surrounding the rights of American citizens and foreign advocates. The bill made significant amendments to over 15 important constitutional statutes. The sections of the Patriot Act discussing Internet supervision and monitoring are confusing and extensive, ultimately reaching far beyond simple e-mail correspondence. One of the most surprising aspects of the USA PATRIOT Act is the lack of public and media debate regarding its introduction. Before September 11, provisions of the Act related to electronic surveillance were proposed and highly debated. However, many people feel that the Patriot Act has helped make America a safer place and stopped terrorist activity. In the first part of 2010, Barack Obama signed a one-year extension on several provisions in the Patriot Act.

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Top 10 Worst Female Health Habits

2012-03-21T00:13:00.000-07:00

From workouts to healthy diets, many of us make an effort to look after ourselves. However, we could be compromising our health on a daily basis without even knowing it. It includes everything, from carrying heavy handbags to wearing crippling heels. In order to improve the health, we have listed 10 worst female habits that you should try to break...

1. Wearing heels

More and more of us are opting to wear heels on a daily basis, and this could be bad news for our health. High heels affect our posture, put pressure on joints, and can lead to a range of conditions including arthritis, hammer toes, back pain and tendon injuries – and that's before you take into account any heel-related accidents! To minimize damage, limit your heels to 1.5 inches for daily wear, and wear insoles to help reduce the pressure on joints.

2. Carrying a heavy handbag

With the rising number of gadgets and accessories the majority of women haul around, many of us are carrying around several pounds of weight on our shoulders every day. As a result, lots of us are also putting our long term health at risk. While you may not feel the effects right now, lugging around a heavy handbag can lead to serious back problems and neck pain as well as poor posture. Don't wait until the damage is done – do your health a favour and try clearing out all non-essential items and switching to a smaller bag.

3. Sleeping in makeup

Most of us have succumbed to the temptation to sleep in our post-party makeup at some point. However, leaving makeup on overnight – along with the dirt and oil that naturally accumulates on skin throughout the day –is a quick route to clogged pores, congested skin and spots. Sleeping with mascara and eye makeup on can also affect your health by causing eye irritation, bloodshot eyes or even infection.

4. Matching men drink for drink

From networking drinks to first dates and social events, there are many instances when women may feel compelled to keep up with the drinking habits of the opposite sex. However, women not only tend to weigh less than men but they have less body water to dilute the alcohol, which means they tend to get more drunk more quickly. To minimize the risks of alcohol on your health, try to keep within the recommended guidelines for alcohol consumption and alternate alcohol with soft drinks.

5. Not getting enough sleep

Not only can lack of sleep make us look and feel at our worst, but insufficient shut-eye can also lead to increased accidents, calorie consumption and heart disease risk. Unluckily for women, statistics suggest that sleep problems affect more women than men, while a study by the University of Michigan found that women are more than twice as likely to give up sleep to care for others. Unfortunately, sleep has been found to affect women's blood pressure and mood more than men's, making it imperative that you do your best to get a good night's sleep.

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5 Most Common Health Mistakes to Avoid

2012-03-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

If health is lost than everything we do in our life is lost. All of us make little health mistakes that cause damage to our bodies in the long run - simply because we are unaware we are doing something wrong. Here are some of the most common mistakes made by many of us. Have a look at it and try to avoid it to have a healthy life.

1. Crossing The Legs

Although we may believe that this is the lady-like elegant way to sit, sitting this way cuts down circulation to your legs. If you don't want varicose veins to mar the beauty of your legs and compromise your health, uncross your legs every time you realize you have one knee on top of the other. The best way to sit is to simply place both legs together on the floor, balancing your weight equally. If you feel like changing position, instead of crossing your legs, simply move both legs together to one side. As an alternative, you could also consider crossing your legs loosely at the ankles. This is a classically elegant way to sit, and is far better for your legs and your health than sitting with your legs crossed at your knees.

2. Not Changing Our Toothbrush

Most of us wait until most of the bristles have either fallen off, or are in such bad shape that we'd be embarrassed to pull out our brush in public. However, since not many of us need to pull out our brush in public, we carry on with our frayed one until we lose it. Replace your toothbrush often. Damaged bristles can harm the enamel, and don't massage your gums well. If you find brushing your teeth a pain like I do, but know you must do it, you might as well be doing it right. Imagine going through the annoyance of brushing your teeth twice a day only to find out that you're damaging your enamel every time you clean your teeth. Also, use a brush with soft bristles unless your dentist has advised otherwise.

3. Eating Out Often

There are oils that are high in cholesterol, and oils that cause little harm and are better for your heart. However, no matter how light the oil is, it is never a good idea to eat too much of it. Avoid fried foods. Remember that in all probability your favorite Indian food restaurant throws a huge, HUGE chunk of butter in a tiny bowl of dal. Rita, who worked in the kitchen of a 5 star hotel, was shocked when she saw the cook chop a 500gm butter slab in half, and throw half into a Paneer Makhani dish. No wonder the customers left licking their fingers. And no wonder they felt so stuffed and heavy afterwards. Limit outdoor eating unless you know that you"re getting served light and healthy food.

4. Skipping Breakfast

Never, ever skip breakfast. Remember, when you wake up in the morning it's been around 10-12 hours since your last meal. Your body needs food now, more than at any other time. Eat a heavy breakfast. You will then be busy through the day, and the calories will get expended quickly. If you are trying to diet, eat a light dinner. Here are some more common health mistakes we make. Being informed and making a few changes can help make us feel a whole lot better.

5. Wearing High Heels

High heels sure look great, but they're murder for your back. This however doesn't mean you should steer clear of stilettos. Wear them, but not when you know you will be walking around a lot. Wear them when going out for lunch or dinner - when the only walking you will be doing is to your car, to the table, and back. Avoid high heels when you are going somewhere on foot. If you are constantly tempted to wear your heels, take a good look at your flats. Is there something about them you dislike? Invest in a new pair of beautiful flats or shoes with a low heel. Buy something you love, that you will enjoy wearing. If possible, get a matching bag. You will then enjoy your flats as much as you do your heels.

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Double Headed Animals of the 21st Century

2012-03-20T04:43:00.000-07:00

Twin Head Cat (Frank and Louie) Twin Head Sheep Twin Head Calf Twin Head Turtle and Tortoise Twin Head Snakes Twin Head Bobtail Lizard ..Here You can Find Lots of Thing Which are really Bizarre..

Funny And Perfect Sports Photos, Funny Pictures, Crazy Pictures, Amazing Pictures, Thrilling Pictures, Fun, Bizarre, Hot Pictures, Sensational Photos, Weird Pictures, Shocking Pictures, Rare Pictures

Top 5 Largest Robberies in History

2012-03-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

5. Knightsbridge Security Deposit
12th July 1987-UK: £60 million

Valerio Viccei migrated to the UK from Italy in 1986, where he was wanted for over 50 armed robberies. He decided to continue his successful trade in his new homeland, where he and an accomplice entered the Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Centre and asked to rent a Safe Deposit Box. After being led into the vault, they subdued the manager and the guards. Valerio hung a sign outside stating that the Deposit was temporarily closed to deter more customers, and then went about letting in more accomplices. The gang then plundered the safe deposit boxes at will and netted an estimated £60 million, which translates approximately into a whopping $174 million in today’s money. The police were not alerted until an hour after the robbery, giving the team plenty of time to flee the scene. Valerio fled to Latin America whilst his accomplices were arrested, then foolishly returned to England sometime later to retrieve his beloved Ferrari, where he was subsequently caught. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison. One would think that with the better part of $174 million, you would just buy another Ferrari. Or two. He was killed in 2000 while on day release in Italy, as a result of a gunfight with police.

4. Baghdad Bank Robbery
12th July 2007- Baghdad, Iraq: $282 million

Employees of the Dar Es Salaam bank showed up to work one morning to find that the doors were unlocked, the vault open, and all the money was gone. It is believed that 3 guards at the bank made off with a staggering $282 million in this whopping haul. Yes, more than a quarter of a billion dollars! That’s more money than the entire economies of some small countries. It is unclear why the bank had such a large amount of cash on hand, but it was all in US currency. It is suspected that the guards had the assistance of militias, to avoid detection at security checkpoints around Baghdad, as having a lazy $282 million in the boot of your car might raise suspicions. No one has been brought to justice for this brazen crime and none of the money has been recovered. The robbery received surprisingly little media coverage.

3. Boston Museum
18th March 1990- Boston, USA: $300 million

Number 3 on our list is also considered the biggest art heist in history. Two men dressed as police officers convinced 2 inexperienced security guards at the Gardner Museum that they were responding to a disturbance. Contrary to museum policy, the 2 guards let the “officers” into the premises, where they quickly learned that they had been duped after being handcuffed by the men in the basement. Amazingly, the 2 men managed to do this despite having no visible weapons whatsoever. The men spent the next 81 minutes calmly selecting 12 pieces of art with a combined value of over $300 million, and this was 20 years ago. Among the paintings stolen were 3 Rembrandt’s and a Vermeer. The two then took the surveillance tapes and departed, never to be heard from again, though in 1994 an offer was made to return the paintings for $2.6 million and immunity from prosecution, but the writer was never heard from again. The men appear to possibly be amateurs, as they made no effort to avoid damaging the paintings and left even more valuable works behind. The case has never been solved and there is a $5 million reward for any information pertaining to the return of the artworks. Also, authorities have announced that they will not prosecute anyone who has the paintings and offers to return them. More on the details of this interesting robbery can be read here.

2. City Bonds Robbery
2nd May 1990- London, UK: £292 million

John Goddard was a 58 year old messenger working for broker Sheppards, who was mugged whilst carrying a briefcase on a quiet London side street. However, the contents of that briefcase contained £292 million in bearer bonds. Goddard was delivering Bank of England Treasury bills from banks and building societies. Due to the nature of bearer bonds, whoever is carrying them is deemed the owner. They are as good as cash. He was held at knifepoint, whilst his assailant made off with 301 Treasury bills, most valued at £1 million each. Keith Cheeseman was arrested in connection to the crime and received a 6 and a half year sentence. Police believe that the mugging was carried out by Patrick Thomas, but he was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head before he could be charged. All but 2 of the bonds were recovered after police and the FBI infiltrated the gang responsible. It’s amazing that the second largest robbery in history was carried out by a low level thief brandishing only a knife on an insignificant back street.

1. Central Bank of Iraq
18th March 2003- Baghdad, Iraq: $1 billion

Some robberies require careful planning. Others use brute force. But the largest in history was as simple was it was effective. Saddam Hussein treated Iraq as his own personal fiefdom, so it’s no surprise that he would feel that the Central Bank of Iraq was his personal bank account. The day before Coalition forces began bombing Iraq, he sent his son Qusay to make a withdrawal on his behalf with a handwritten note. Qusay oversaw the withdrawal of boxes stuffed with $100 bills in a five-hour operation which netted the dictator about $1 billion in US dollars. It didn’t get him very far, as he was caught sometime later hiding in a hole in the ground whilst his son was killed by US forces. Approximately $650 million was later found by US troops hidden in the walls of one of his palace’s, though the remaining $350 million has never been recovered and is considered lost.

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Top 5 Worst Moments in US History

2012-03-20T04:25:00.000-07:00

5. The Trail of Tears
1838

The Trail of Tears was the relocation and movement of Native Americans, including many members of the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, and Choctaw nations among others in the United States, from their homelands to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) in the Western United States. The phrase originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831. Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their destinations, and many died, including 4,000 of the 15,000 relocated Cherokee. By 1837, 46,000 Native Americans from these southeastern nations had been removed from their homelands thereby opening 25 million acres for settlement by European Americans

4. The Dred Scott Decision
1857

The Dred Scott Decision was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that ruled that people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants—whether or not they were slaves—were not protected by the Constitution and could never be citizens of the United States. It also held that the United States Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. The Court also ruled that because slaves were not citizens, they could not sue in court. Lastly, the Court ruled that slaves—as chattel or private property—could not be taken away from their owners without due process.

3. The battle of Antietam
1862

The battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties. The Union had 12,401 casualties with 2,108 dead. Confederate casualties were 10,318 with 1,546 dead. This represented 25% of the Federal force and 31% of the Confederate. More Americans died on September 17, 1862, than on any other day in the nation’s military history. Several generals died as a result of the battle, including Maj. Gens. Joseph K. Mansfield , Israel B. Richardson and Brig. Gen. Isaac P. Rodman on the Union side (all mortally wounded), and Brig. Gens. Lawrence O. Branch, William E. Starke on the Confederate side (killed).

2. The Stock Market Crash
1929

A massive drop in value of the stock market helped trigger the Great Depression which lasted until the increased economic activity spurred by WW2 got us going back in the right direction. The Great Depression had devastating effects in virtually every country, rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, and international trade plunged by a half to two-thirds. Unemployment in the United States rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by approximately 60 percent.

1. Interment Camps
1942

The US government came to the conclusion that interning Japanese-American citizens was the best of a number of bad options. Roughly a hundred thousand Japanese-Americans ended up in camps. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 on February 19, uprooting Japanese Americans on the west coast to be sent to Internment camps. The order led to the internment of Japanese Americans or AJAs (Americans of Japanese Ancestry) in which some 120,000 ethnic Japanese people were held in internment camps for the duration of the war. Of the Japanese interned, 62% were Nisei (American-born, second-generation Japanese American and therefore American citizens) or Sansei (third-generation Japanese American, also American citizens) and the rest were Issei (Japanese immigrants and resident aliens, first-generation Japanese American).

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Amazing Extinct Animals From Past To Present

2012-03-20T00:31:00.000-07:00

The extinction of species has always been a natural part of evolution. The fossil record shows that since life originated about four billion years ago the vast majority of species that have existed are now extinct. Extinct species outnumber living ones by a factor of perhaps a thousand to one. Scientists have identified five extinction events in Earth’s history, with some so severe that more than 90 percent of all life forms were killed off. The last and most famous extinction was the Cretaceous-Tertiary event some 63 million years ago that killed off the dinosaurs and allowed the rise of mammals. It is thought to have been caused by an asteroid hitting Earth. Now mankind has the honor of quite possibly being the most destructive force to ever hit mother nature. Take a look at these amazing extinct animals.

World’s Longest Treetop Walk

2012-03-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

This amazing wooden construction located in Neuschönau, Bavaria, is completely integrated into the surrounding forest and delivers a unique experience. Along the path you will find various Points of information regarding the mountain forest as well as some adventures points. Designed for viewers to discover forest and it`s different forms of life from a totally different point of view. The path, 1300 meters long, winds up to an impressive tower with a height of 44 meters and provides an extraordinary and almost “borderless” view.