Sikorsky
[Igor Sikorsky (May 25, 1889 – October 26, 1972), born Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was a Russian American pioneer of aviation in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. He designed and flew the world's first multi-engine fixed-wing aircraft, the Russky Vityaz in 1913, and the first airliner, Ilya Muromets, in 1914. After immigrating to the United States in 1919, Sikorsky founded the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in 1923, and developed the first of Pan American Airways' ocean-conquering flying boats in the 1930s. In 1939 Sikorsky designed and flew the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, the...
L. Ron Hubbard
[Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986), better known as L. Ron Hubbard (and often referred to by his initials, LRH), was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology. After establishing a career as a writer, becoming best known for his science fiction and fantasy stories, he developed a self-help system called Dianetics which was first published in May 1950. He subsequently developed his ideas into a wide-ranging set of doctrines and rituals as part of a new religious movement that he called Scientology. His writings...
Biggest Flower In The World: The Titan Arum Or Amorphophallus Titanum
[The titan arum or Amorphophallus titanum (from Ancient Greek amorphos, [without form, misshapen] + phallos, [phallus], and titan, [giant]) is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The titan arums inflorescence is not as large as that of the Talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera, but the inflorescence of the Talipot palm is branched rather than unbranched]. – Wikipedia
Photo: Kew Gardens employee Lauren Bird Royal examines the flowering of the Titan Arum lily at the Botanical Gardens at Kew on September 30, 2005 in London, England. For the...
Eton Wall Game
[The Eton wall game is a game similar to football and Rugby Union, that originated from and is still played at Eton College. It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long next to a slightly curved brick wall, erected in 1717]. – Wikipedia
Photo: The [Collegers] and the [Oppidans] of Eton College take part in the [Wall Game] as boys in their traditional school uniform watch from on top of the wall on November 17, 2007 in Eton, near Windsor, Berkshire, England. The first recorded [Wall Game] took place in 1766 with competition between the two houses at...
Ophiocordyceps Sinensis A.K.A. Caterpillar Fungus
[There are over 680 documented species of the sac fungus genus Ophiocordyceps, and one of the best known of these is Ophiocordyceps sinensis, colloquially known as caterpillar fungus. The fungus is known in Tibetan as yartsa gunbu or yatsa gunbu. O. sinensis is known in the West as a medicinal mushroom and its use has a long history in Traditional Chinese medicine as well as Traditional Tibetan medicine. The highly valuable fungus-caterpillar combination is hand-collected and is used as an aphrodisiac and as a treatment for a variety of ailments from fatigue to cancer]. –...
The Giant Clam A.K.A. Tridacna Gigas
[The giant clam, Tridacna gigas (known as pā’ua in Cook Islands Māori), is the largest living bivalve mollusc. T. gigas is one of the most endangered clam species. It was mentioned as early as 1825 in scientific reports. One of a number of large clam species native to the shallow coral reefs of the South Pacific and Indian oceans, they can weigh more than 200 kilograms (440 lb) measure as much as 120 cm (47 in) across, and have an average lifespan in the wild of 100 years or more]. – Wikipedia
Photo: Tridacna Gigas, or Giant Clams spew water as a traditional fisherman passes...
Exclusive for AvaxNews: The [Secret] of Vladimir Lenin's Mausoleum
![Exclusive for AvaxNews: The [Secret] of Vladimir Lenin's Mausoleum](http://img.gagdaily.com/uploads/posts/edu/2013/short/00004697_medium.jpg "Exclusive for AvaxNews: The [Secret] of Vladimir Lenin's Mausoleum")
Photo: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 – 1924) lying in state in the Kremlin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1924
Important! For the same article in Russian language click here.
Something quite intriguing is happening within Russian-speaking internet during the last few – should you type a fully academic inquiry (at least, according to Russian academic requirements) in national search engines for "Lenin's mausoleum" – the first thing you get (even in top 10 searches) is website pages talking about black magic and occult. Website authors view...
Nuclear Football
[The nuclear football (also known as the atomic football, the presidents emergency satchel, the button, the black box, or just the football) is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the President of the United States of America to authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room. It functions as a mobile hub in the strategic defense system of the United States. It is a metallic Zero Halliburton briefcase carried in a black leather [jacket]. The package weighs around 45 pounds (20 kilograms). A small antenna...
UEFA Euro 2012: Wrocław
Wrocław has been selected as European Capital of Culture for 2016. The Wrocław area has many popular professional sports teams. The most popular sport today is football, thanks to Śląsk Wrocław. Some matches of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championships in Poland and Ukraine are scheduled to take place in Wrocław on The Municipal Stadium.
Photo by: penny_7b ; Source: Flickr...
Thor Heyerdahl
[Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway – April 18, 2002, Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 8,000 km (4,300 miles) by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. All his expeditions are shown in the Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo]. – Wikipedia
Photo: Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl with a model of the balsa raft [Kon-Tiki] on which he drifted 4,300 miles from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands, proving his theory that Polynesia...
![Rare [Hybrid] Total Solar Eclipse](http://img.gagdaily.com/uploads/posts/fact/2013/short/00010c55_medium.jpg "Rare [Hybrid] Total Solar Eclipse")
