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Nothing is worse than active ignorance.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The smartest person ever
Good video that introduces you to people who are claimed to be the smartest in the history. The video creator gives good points and has a nice critical view on a few of the people presented.
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More autistic savants
Savant syndrome (pronounced /səˈvɑːnt/[1]), sometimes referred to as savantism, is a rare condition in which people with developmental disorders have one or more areas of expertise, ability, or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations. Although not a recognized medical diagnosis, researcher Darold Treffert says the condition may be either genetic or acquired.[2]
Savantism on Wiki
Leslie Lemke:
An amazing story about Leslie Lemke. He had his eyes removed as a child and suffers from a very difficult autism.
Leslie Lemke on Wikipedia
Alonzo Clemons:
Alonzo is an amazing animal sculptor, who molds creatures out of clay so easily. Atleast it is easy for him!
Alonzo's sculptings
Alonzo on Wikipedia
Autism, Savantism and Daniel Tammet
Savant syndrome (pronounced /səˈvɑːnt/[1]), sometimes referred to as savantism, is a rare condition in which people with developmental disorders have one or more areas of expertise, ability, or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations. Although not a recognized medical diagnosis, researcher Darold Treffert says the condition may be either genetic or acquired.[2]
Savantism on Wiki
Daniel Paul Tammet (born 31 January 1979) is a writer with high-functioning autism and savant syndrome. His bestselling 2006 memoir Born On A Blue Day was named a "Best Book for Young Adults" in 2008 by the American Library Association.
Tammet's second book, Embracing the Wide Sky, was named one of France's bestselling books of 2009 by L'Express magazine in its March 2010 edition.
Source
Tallest trees
Tallest trees
The heights of the tallest trees in the world have been the subject of considerable dispute and much exaggeration. Modern verified measurements with laser rangefinders, other measuring devices, or with tape drop measurements made by tree climbers (such as those carried out by canopy researchers or members of groups like the U.S. Eastern Native Tree Society), have shown that some older measuring methods and measurements are often unreliable, sometimes producing exaggerations of 5% to 15% or more above the real height.
Historical claims of trees growing to 130 m (427 ft), and even 150 m (492 ft), are now largely disregarded as unreliable, and attributed to human error.
Historical records of fallen trees measured prostrate on the ground are considered to be somewhat more reliable. The following are now accepted as the top ten tallest reliably measured species:
1. Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens): 115.56 m (379.1 ft), Redwood National Park, California, United States
2. Australian Mountain-ash (Eucalyptus regnans): 99.6 m (326.8 ft), south of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
3. Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii): 99.4 m (326.1 ft), Brummit Creek, Coos County, Oregon, United States
4. Philippine rosewood (Petersianthus quadrialatus): 96.9 m (317.9 ft), Agusan del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines (it is possible that it is slightly lower, because the height might include Christmas decorations on the top of the tree)
5. Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis): 96.7 m (317.3 ft), Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California, United States
6. Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum): 94.9 m (311.4 ft), Redwood Mountain Grove, Kings Canyon National Park, California, United States
7. Tasmanian Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus): 90.7 m (297.6 ft), Tasmania, Australia[15]
8. Manna Gum (Eucalyptus viminalis): 89 m (292 ft), Evercreech Forest Reserve, Tasmania, Australia
9. Shorea faguetiana: 88.3 m (289.7 ft) Tawau Hills National Park, in Sabah on the island of Borneo
10. Alpine Ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis): 87.9 m (288.4 ft), Tasmania, Australia Source
A good site concerning tallest trees
Mitch Hedberg doing stand-up
A very funny man who passed away in 2005. His absurd one-liners easily catch you off guard!
Wiki says:
Mitchell Lee "Mitch" Hedberg (February 24, 1968 – March 29, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comedic delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes, mixed with absurd elements and non sequiturs. Hedberg's comedy and on-stage persona gained him a cult following, with audience members sometimes shouting out the punchlines to his jokes before he could finish them.
Mitch Hedberg on Wikipedia
Western world's toxic waste in Somalia
Article from 2005 on the subject
Another article from 2005 below:
Nairobi - Very toxic waste washed on to Somali's coastline by last December's tsumani have spawned diseases bearing symptoms of radioactive exposure in villagers along the shorelines of the shattered African nation, UN Environment Programme said on Friday
"There are reports from villagers of a wide range of medical problems like mouth bleeds, abdominal haemorrhages, unusual skin disorders and breathing difficulties," Nuttall said. UN officials familiar with the situation say the diseases bear radiation sickness symptoms.
Source
Ship Breakers in India
Until the late 20th century, ship breaking took place in port cities of industrialized countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. Today, most ship breaking yards are in Alang in India, Chittagong in Bangladesh, Aliaga in Turkey and Gadani near Karachi in Pakistan, due to lower labor costs and less stringent environmental regulations dealing with the disposal of lead paint and other toxic substances. Some "breakers" still remain in the United States which work primarily on government surplus vessels. There are also some in Dubai, UAE for tankers. China used to be an important player in the 1990s. It is now trying to reposition itself in more environmentally friendly industries.
Ship breaking can occur in a wide variety of facilities. They range from advanced sites like Van Heyghen Recycling and other "Green Ship Recycling" approved facilities in industrialized ports, to low-tech facilities such as at Alang, India. At present the only truly environmentally friendly option is the use of "Green Ship Recycling" at approved facilities. These facilities can recover up to 99% of the ship's materials and correctly process hazardous waste such as asbestos.[1]
Ship Breaking on Wiki
Albert Kahn, autochrome color photos from the early 1900's
Albert Kahn's homepage
I have to remind you that many of these autochrome photos are from early 1910's, Titanic sinked in 1912! Absolutely blows your mind.
Taken from Wiki:
Watch Japan in Colour - The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn in Educational & How-To | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Albert Kahn on Wiki.
I have to remind you that many of these autochrome photos are from early 1910's, Titanic sinked in 1912! Absolutely blows your mind.
Taken from Wiki:
In 1909 Kahn travelled with his chauffeur and photographer, Alfred Dutertre to Japan on business and returned with many photographs of the journey. This prompted him to begin a project collecting a photographic record of the entire Earth. He appointed Jean Brunhes as the project director, and sent photographers to every continent to record images of the planet using the first colour photography, autochrome plates, and early cinematography. Between 1909 and 1931 they collected 72,000 colour photographs and 183,000 meters of film. These form a unique historical record of 50 countries, known as "The Archives of the Planet".
Autochrome was the first industrial process for true colour photography. When the Lumière brothers launched it commercially in June 1907, it was a photograhic revolution - black and white came to life in colour. Autochromes consist of fine layers of microscopic grains of potato starch dyed either red-orange, green or violet blue combined with black carbon particles, spread over a glass plate where it is combined with a black and white photographic emulsion. All colours can be reproduced from three primary colours.Source
Watch Japan in Colour - The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn in Educational & How-To | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Albert Kahn on Wiki.
North Korea
What a twisted country, thanks to their leader. The whole North Korea is an epitome of a tragic story.
On Wiki
Two excellent Chernobyl documentaries
The True Battle of Chernobyl - Uncensored:
I suggest that you watch this magnificent documentary when you have enough time(takes one an a half hours). Everyone knows chernobyl, atleast they should! It was the worst nuclear disaster in the history. This documentary gives a great window view to the whole event, it shows you how it happened and how the world reacted to it. It also shows what horrible tasks the liquidators had to do. This documentary is a must see.
Inside Chernobyl's Sarcophagus:
A group of soviet scientists in 1991 go inside the sarcophagus to look for the missing nuclear fuel. It basically is a suicide mission. A great documentary also.
Additional links:
Chernobyl Disaster on Wiki
Pripyat on Wiki
The most powerful bomb ever, Tsar Bomba(50 megatons)
The detonation of Tsar Bomba:
Despite the cloudy weather, the flash of light was visible as far as 1,000 kilometers distant, though the sound of the blast would not reach that far for forty-nine minutes, in the form of an indistinct, heavy blow. The giant fireball reached from ground-level to about 34,000 feet into the air, violently releasing 3800 times more explosive energy than the Hiroshima bomb– equivalent to fifty million metric tons of TNT. One hundred kilometers from ground zero the heat would have inflicted third degree burns. Atmospheric focusing produced areas of destruction hundreds of kilometers from ground zero, including wooden structures which were completely destroyed, and some shattered windows in Finland. The explosion’s atmospheric shockwave traveled around the Earth three times before it dissipated.
The mushroom cloud which followed the blast was enormous in scale. It stretched sixty kilometers into the sky, and had a diameter of about forty kilometers. Ionization from the explosion disrupted radio communications for the better part of an hour.
Some time after the explosion, a team was dispatched to ground zero to take photographs. One witness reported: “The ground surface of the island has been levelled, swept and licked so that it looks like a skating rink. The same goes for rocks. The snow has melted and their sides and edges are shiny. There is not a trace of unevenness in the ground… Everything in this area has been swept clean, scoured, melted and blown away.” Analysis of the explosion showed that the area of complete destruction had a radius of twenty-five kilometers from ground zero.
Source
Soviet atomic bomb project on Wiki
Great site about Tsar Bomba
Tsar Bomba :
Aftermath:
RNA-interference
2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winning invention that basically puts for instance viruses and cancer cells to sleep.
RNA-interference well explained:
RNAi on Wiki
RNA-interference well explained:
RNAi on Wiki
Fatal Familial Insomnia
Fatal Familial Insomnia is a disease that causes complete inability to fall asleep and eventually leads to death.
A short video clip about the disease:
Documentary, Dying to sleep
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The age of onset is variable, ranging from 35 to 60, with an average of 50. However the disease tends to prominently occur in later years, primarily following childbirth. The disease can be detected prior to onset by genetic testing.[4] Death usually occurs between 7 and 36 months from onset. The presentation of the disease varies considerably from person to person, even among patients from within the same family.
The disease has four stages, taking 7 to 18 months to run its course:
1. The patient suffers increasing insomnia, resulting in panic attacks, paranoia, and phobias. This stage lasts for about four months.
2. Hallucinations and panic attacks become noticeable, continuing for about five months.
3. Complete inability to sleep is followed by rapid loss of weight. This lasts for about three months.
4. Dementia, during which the patient becomes unresponsive or mute over the course of six months. This is the final progression of the disease, resulting in death.
FFI on Wiki
A short video clip about the disease:
Documentary, Dying to sleep
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Two Prehistoric monster fishes
DUNKLEOSTEUS
Dunkleosteus apparently just bit its victim in half with the massive jaws and ate it. It weighed around 3 tons and was up to 10 meters long
Dunkleosteus on wiki
MEGALODON
An average bull sperm whale weighs around 41 tons and biggest sperm whales weigh around 57 tons. This megalodon-monster might have weighed 50 tons! Pretty scary!
Megalodon on Wiki
Dunkleosteus apparently just bit its victim in half with the massive jaws and ate it. It weighed around 3 tons and was up to 10 meters long
Picture yourself submerged in an ancient sea, 400 million years ago. Above, a large shape appears, gliding powerfully through the water. Its head and trunk are covered with bony plates of armor, and the great, jagged jaws are like a primitive slicing machine, roughly made but clearly effective.
This is Dunkleosteus, one of the first jawed vertebrates, and one of the largest of the armored fishes called placoderms. The fossil record indicates that this fish was an aggressive predator. Some placoderm fossils contain evidence of gouges and scrapes and cuts in the surface of the large bones, matching fairly well to the serrated edges of Dunkleosteus jaw bones; others show that puncture wounds go right through the bones.
The serrated, razor-sharp edges of bones in Dunkleosteus' jaws served as cutting edges. As they rubbed against each other, the opposing jaw blades were like self-sharpening shears. These bones grew continually, regenerating as they were worn down by usage.
Dunkleosteus was undoubtedly a powerful swimmer, much like today's large sharks. Its twenty-foot-long, muscular body ended in a shark-like tail. Its features are clearly those of a predator, and there were plenty of fish to feed on in the Devonian seas. Its prey may well have included primitive sharks, which did not achieve great size and diversity until Dunkleosteus and the other placoderms had disappeared from the oceans. Source
Dunkleosteus on wiki
MEGALODON
An average bull sperm whale weighs around 41 tons and biggest sperm whales weigh around 57 tons. This megalodon-monster might have weighed 50 tons! Pretty scary!
This extinct shark was a monster. Scientists think it may have grown as long as 50 feet (15.25 meters). It could have weighed as much as 50 tons (50,000 kg).
Carcharodon megalodon represents the largest, meat-eating fish to have ever lived. The information we have about its size is drawn from comparisons with living sharks and the relationship between tooth size and total body length. Based on this information we can estimate the overall dimensions of this huge animal. Source
Megalodon on Wiki
Gorilla walks like a man!
This fellow named Ambam apparently has been walking this way since his youth. Maybe this was the kind of event that took place with one of our ancestors when they ended up walking on two legs.
Kyshtym disaster and Lake Karachay
Introducing the second worst nuclear disaster in the history right after chernobyl and the most contaminated place on earth.
A documentary filmed in Muslyomovo, near Mayak.
During the first minutes on the video below, you can see concrete being dumped into the Lake Karachay. They dumped concrete prevent the highly radioactive sediments from shifting.
The Kyshtym disaster was a radiation contamination incident that occurred on 29 September 1957 at Mayak, a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Russia (then a part of the Soviet Union). It measured as a Level 6 disaster on the International Nuclear Event Scale, making it the second most serious nuclear accident ever recorded (after the Chernobyl disaster). The event occurred in the town of Ozyorsk, a closed city built around the Mayak plant. Since Ozyorsk/Mayak (also known as Chelyabinsk-40 and Chelyabinsk-65) was not marked on maps, the disaster was named after Kyshtym, the nearest known town.
In September 1957 the cooling system in one of the tanks containing about 70–80 tons of radioactive waste failed, and the temperature in it started to rise, resulting in a non-nuclear explosion of the dried waste having a force estimated at about 70–100 tons of TNT, which threw the concrete lid, weighing 160 tons, into the air. There were no immediate casualties as a result of the explosion, which released an estimated 2 to 50 MCi (74 to 1850 PBq ) of radioactivity.
In the next 10 to 11 hours the radioactive cloud moved towards the northeast, reaching 300–350 kilometers from the accident. The fallout of the cloud resulted in a long-term contamination of an area of more than 800 square kilometers, primarily with caesium-137 and strontium-90. This area is usually referred to as the East-Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT).
Because of the secrecy surrounding Mayak, the population of affected areas were not initially informed of the accident. A week later (on 6 October) an operation for evacuating 10,000 people from the affected area started, still without giving an explanation of the reasons for evacuation. People "grew hysterical with fear with the incidence of unknown 'mysterious' diseases breaking out. Victims were seen with skin 'sloughing off' their faces, hands and other exposed parts of their bodies." It was Zhores Medvedev who revealed the nature and extent of the disaster to the world.
Wikipedia
A documentary filmed in Muslyomovo, near Mayak.
Lake Karachay (Russian: Карача́й), sometimes spelled Karachai, is a small lake in the southern Ural mountains in western Russia. Starting in 1951 the Soviet Union used Karachay as a dumping site for radioactive waste from Mayak, the nearby nuclear waste storage and reprocessing facility, located near the town of Ozyorsk (then called Chelyabinsk-40). According to a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Worldwatch Institute on nuclear waste, Karachay is the most polluted spot on Earth. The lake accumulated some 4.44 exabecquerels (EBq) of radioactivity, including 3.6 EBq of Caesium-137 and 0.74 EBq of Strontium-90. For comparison, the Chernobyl disaster released from 5 to 12 EBq of radioactivity, but this radiation is not concentrated in one location.
The radiation level in the region near where radioactive effluent is discharged into the lake was 600 röntgens per hour in 1990, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Natural Resources Defense Council, more than sufficient to give a lethal dose to a human within an hour. Wikipedia
During the first minutes on the video below, you can see concrete being dumped into the Lake Karachay. They dumped concrete prevent the highly radioactive sediments from shifting.
The largest ever polar bear
The largest polar bear ever recorded was shot in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska in 1960 weighing 1002 kilograms or 2,210 pounds and stood 11 feet 11 inches in height.
What a huge creature, all I can say.
Polar Bear
Chili
Some people like chili, others don't. Capsaicin makes chili peppers spicy and even burning. The strength of chili peppers is measured in scovilles. Pure Capsaicin is measured at around 16 million scoville units.
Chili on wikipedia
The hottest chili right now is a hybrid chili pepper called Naga Viper. It is measured at around 1,3 million scoville units
Okay, time for some chili eating videos:
Naga Viper tested:
Naga Morich (around 1 million scoville units) eaten by a bad ass:
Money and things involved with it
Everyone wants to make money. But instead of trying to find easy solutions the best way is to understand how money, you and the world works.
History of money
Numismatics = Study of money
Paper currency
What's a company?
Investment
What is a bank?
Video: "Conversations With History: The Ascent of Money"
Stock market
How stock market works
What makes a succesfull business person
List of small business ideas
Bad business ideas
How not to lose money to Scam Artist:
Scam Artists: How to spot one
Art Scams: tips to protect yourself
Tilaa:
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