The Moor's leg
32.
The chicken test, as it is sometimes known
(although any four-pound bird will do), is just one
of a series of bird-strike tests any new engine must
pass to earn FAA certification.
Along with the single four-pound bird (recently raised
to an eight-pound bird for very large engines), an engine
must also swallow a volley of eight one-and-a-half pound
birds, fired in quick succession, and a further volley
of sixteen smaller birds of three ounces each.
Read more
(although any four-pound bird will do), is just one
of a series of bird-strike tests any new engine must
pass to earn FAA certification.
Along with the single four-pound bird (recently raised
to an eight-pound bird for very large engines), an engine
must also swallow a volley of eight one-and-a-half pound
birds, fired in quick succession, and a further volley
of sixteen smaller birds of three ounces each.
Read more
34.
British intelligence agents are working on deciphering a coded message
that has remained a secret for nearly 70 years — attached to the leg of
a hero World War II carrier pigeon. Found in the chimney of 17th-century
home in Bletchingley, Surrey, the bird’s skeleton was found in 1982 when
the home’s current owner David Martin decided to restore the fireplace.
“I started finding bits of a dead pigeon. We thought it might be a racing pigeon
until we spotted a red capsule,” Martin told reporters. The small red cylinder
contained a mysterious cigarette paper-sized encrypted message.
source: Discovery News
that has remained a secret for nearly 70 years — attached to the leg of
a hero World War II carrier pigeon. Found in the chimney of 17th-century
home in Bletchingley, Surrey, the bird’s skeleton was found in 1982 when
the home’s current owner David Martin decided to restore the fireplace.
“I started finding bits of a dead pigeon. We thought it might be a racing pigeon
until we spotted a red capsule,” Martin told reporters. The small red cylinder
contained a mysterious cigarette paper-sized encrypted message.
source: Discovery News
45.
Ectodactyly, or lobster claw syndrome, is the name given to the condition in which
hands or feet have a claw-like deformation. Lord Lokhraed, guitarist and singer
of French Black Metal band Nocturnal Depression, has ectrodactyly on his fretting hand,
and Lee Hee-ah, a Korean pianist, has only two fingers on each hand.
46.
After the Congo Free State was formed as a private state under
the control of King Leopold II, he exploited the land’s people
and resources as much as possible, especially rubber.
Workers who failed to meet their rubber collection quotas
were often punished with death.
Their hands were chopped off by forces of Leopold and
shown to superiors to prove punishment had been dealt.
Victims of this torture were either killed before the severing
or simply had their hand chopped off and left to die.
Some of the victims who had been left for dead managed to
survive and share their story.
53.
54.
An elephant at a zoo in South Korea has made news around the world after learning to imitate human speech. Koshik, who is in captivity at the Everland Zoo, places the tip of his trunk into his mouth to transform his natural low rumble into what sounds remarkably like a human voice.
Read more: Nonhuman Rights project
57.
For her project Sworn Virgins of Albania, photographer Jill Peters visited to the mountain villages of northern Albania to capture portraits of “burneshas,” or females who have lived their lives as men for reasons related to their culture and society.Many of the women assumed their male identities from an early age as a way to avoid the old codes that governed the tribal clans, which stated that women were the property of their husbands. Peters explains: ‘The freedom to vote, drive, conduct business, earn money, drink, smoke, swear, own a gun or wear pants was traditionally the exclusive province of men. Young girls were commonly forced into arranged marriages, often with much older men in distant villages. As an alternative, becoming a Sworn Virgin, or ‘burnesha” elevated a woman to the status of a man and granted her all the rights and privileges of the male population. In order to manifest the transition such a woman cut her hair, donned male clothing and sometimes even changed her name. Male gestures and swaggers were practiced until they became second nature. Most importantly of all, she took a vow of celibacy to remain chaste for life. She became a “he”. This practice continues today but as modernization inches toward the small villages nestled in the Alps, this archaic tradition is increasingly seen as obsolete. Only a few aging Sworn Virgins remain.
59.
Martin Joe Laurello (May 1885 - 1955),
AKA “The Man with the Revolving Head,” “The Human Owl,”
or “Bobby, The Boy with the Revolving Head,” was born in May 1885
in Nuremburg, Germany. He was born with a twisted spine that allowed
his head to turn a complete 180°. When he had his head turned, his spine
was in the shape of a question mark. He was married to Amelia Emmerling,
and was a Nazi sympathizer.
Read more
AKA “The Man with the Revolving Head,” “The Human Owl,”
or “Bobby, The Boy with the Revolving Head,” was born in May 1885
in Nuremburg, Germany. He was born with a twisted spine that allowed
his head to turn a complete 180°. When he had his head turned, his spine
was in the shape of a question mark. He was married to Amelia Emmerling,
and was a Nazi sympathizer.
Read more
