Author: menno

New York holds a special place in our hearts, even for people who have never been there. This is due, in part, to the predominance placed on New York by theatre and movie directors, but also owes something to the proximity of the United Nations Headquarters – the centre of ‘good’ politics, where politicians from all over the world come to meet peacefully to find harmonious solutions to world issues. Few visitors who make the trip to New York come away unimpressed despite the glamorous depiction of the city – it is one of the few places that lives up…

When it comes to the heaviest living animals, marine mammals win all the way, with whales making up the whole of the top ten. They are so large that they don’t fit on to any scales, and have to be weighed in parts. The figures on this list are calculated from average body mass. Also read the top 10 heaviest terrestrial animals 10. Gray whale (19.5 tonnes) Gray whales are baleen whales, with baleen plates to filter food from water, rather than through teeth. As long as 49 feet in length, and once known as devil fish due to fierce…

10. Gaur (Bos gaurus) Average mass: 0.95 tonnes Average length: 3.8 metres The guar, or Indian bison, is found in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The tallest species of wild cattle, the guar is heavy and strong with long curved horns common to both males and females, and large ears. A prominent bony ridge stretches along the back from the shoulders. The male colouring is dark brown to black whilst females and juveniles are much paler. Guar habitat is mostly evergreen forests and areas with a moist deciduous and semi-evergreen forest mix. Though they rarely bathe or wallow, optimal environments…

10. Amsterdam Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands is worthy of a visit lasting a week or two, and even then you will be hard-pressed to fit everything in! Every visitor should start with a lengthy canal tour over and around the web of canals that spider through the oldest parts of the city. The canals date back some 600 years and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site in their own right, as well as taking the visitor past fabulous architecture and important sights, such as the Anne Frank Museum. History aficionados will not want to miss Amsterdam’s Jewish Historical…

Prague is steeped in history, having stood for over 1100 years, even able to boast being the former seat of the Holy Roman Empire. Now best known as the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague is a very popular tourist destination. The city escaped heavy bombardment during the Second World War and as a result still has many superb examples of architecture dating back through the centuries. 10. Wenceslas Square Wenceslas Square is not really a square at all. It is more of a wide, spacious avenue some 60 metres wide by 750 metres long. It was originally included in…

On Broadway and the surrounding streets, there are more than ninety theaters with more than 500 seats available. If you’ve made it to Broadway, you’ve really made it. The following ten musicals are the most succesful, and some are even still running *Still running 10. Beauty and the Beast – 5.461 shows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyq5VI2486I ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is a musical from the lyric team of Tim Rice and Howard Ashman which also features a music score by Alan Menken. The work also gained inspiration from Linda Woolverton’s book with the same title – this book, and a 1991 film feature,…

In the past, travellers simply required somewhere safe and comfortable to rest. We have moved on from that, via convenient city stopovers and mid-range package tours, to huge resorts that are essentially mini-cities catering for every need. This list details the ten largest hoteslt in the world. 10. Aria Resort & Casino – Las Vegas, USA – 4.004 Rooms The tenth largest hotel in the world is the Aria Resort and Casino in Gambling city Las Vegas, USA. The name refers to its central position on the CityCentre complex of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, an aria being the…

Rippling rivers in a beautiful landscape: you will find this special picture in many European places. Europe has countless rivers that flow through several countries. But which rivers have the longest length of all? You will discover it in these top 10 longest rivers in Europe. 10. Dniester river – 1,411 kilometers The Dniester can be found in eastern Europe. Here the river flows through both Ukraine and Moldova. The start is in the Carpathians: a mountain region in Ukraine. Then the river flows slowly but surely to the south, where it flows into the Black Sea. What makes this…

A natural disaster is a sudden event that causes widespread destruction, lots of collateral damage or loss of life, brought about by forces other than the acts of human beings. A natural disaster might be caused by earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruption, landslide, hurricanes etc. In order to be classified as a disaster, it will have profound environmental effect and/or human loss and frequently incurs financial loss. The following ten natural diasasters since 1900 have the highest death toll. 10. Bangladesh: Cyclone 1991: 138,866 lives lost Despite having the rather friendly sounding designation Bob 01, this cyclone turned out to be…

Arnold Schwarzenegger was an unlikely candidate to become one of the world’s most successful actors and the king of action cinema. Speaking with an impenetrable Austrian drawl and possessing an almost inhuman muscular physique, no one could have predicted that this bodybuilder would become a charismatic leading man who would turn in iconic performances in some of the biggest blockbusters of all time. 10. Commando (1985) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPhISgw3I2w Commando is a shining example of the excesses and cheesiness of 80s action cinema. With its cheesy synth music, overuse of montages, clichéd ‘black ops soldier comes out of retirement’ story and huge…

It is a vital rule in the gaming community that a game is only as good as its weapons. No matter what the story or the setting, there must be a deadly weapon to characterize mayhem in the game. The sword of Geralt of Rivera is a testimony to this concept. There are many weapons which dominate the gaming scenario. Out of all the options for offensive and defensive weaponry, swords hold a distinctive place.  This bladed arsenal is an acute representation of authority, defense, ability, vigor, and valor. All the tales from cultures around the world are decorated with…

Mobile phones are an integral part of our lives. We use them every day and prefer to always have the latest model in our pocket. Our smartphones are now small pocket computers, but that used to be different. Over the years, a number of iconic mobile phones have been released that turned the world upside down. Which phones are they? You can read that in this top 10. The list is in chronological order 10. Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (1983) Redrum0486 & Rico Shen / Wikipedia The world of mobile phones had to start somewhere. The first mobile phones were already…

No matter how solid the ground looks, it is always possible for a sinkhole to form. The soil collapses from one moment to the next, and suddenly there is a deep hole in the ground. In some situations, these holes drag cars and buildings with them, but (luckely) many sinkholes are located in remote places in nature. What are the largest sinkholes in the world? You can read that in this top 10. 10. Nongle – China – 384 feet deep This sinkhole is located in a beautiful location, in the middle of Chinese nature. The environment of the sinkhole…

A Ferris wheel is the perfect attraction for young and old. As you slowly but surely reach the top of the Ferris wheel, you will enjoy a beautiful view of the surroundings. In more and more places you will find a giant Ferris wheel with dimensions that will destroy all other Ferris wheels. Are you curious about the tallest Ferris wheels in the world? Then read on, because everything you need to know is in this top 10. 10. Changsha Ferris Wheel – 120 meters high (393 feet) ZDL / Shutterstock.com This Ferris wheel in China is part of a…

A helicopter can land on almost any flat terrain, which is a major advantage over an airplane. It can also remain suspended in the air on site. A helicopter is very suitable for military purposes, as it can deliver troops and supplies to the most inhospitable regions. However, the helicopter is also used en masse in search and rescue operations, for transporting the seriously injured to a distant hospital or for monitoring traffic jams and traffic. Below is an overview of the ten largest helicopters that have ever been built. 10. V-22 Osprey Santiparp Wattanaporn / Shutterstock.com It looks a…

Aircraft carriers play a major role in military operations. Fighter jets and helicopters can take off and land from these gigantic ships. Aircraft carriers ensure that the range of the air force is expanded enormously. In the First World War, the first ships that could take a few planes appeared. After WWI, the development of aircraft carriers got under way. 10. Chakri Naruebet – 183 meters (600 feet) The Chakri Naruebet was built in Spain in 1994 and first served with the Spanish Navy. In 1997, the Thai government bought the aircraft carrier from Spain. This purchase was intended to…

There are always new apps and websites that are the trend of the moment. Social media platform TikTok is one of them. This app is the place to share short videos of yourself, preferably with good music and a few dances. But who has the most followers on TikTok? You can read that in these top 10 most popular TikTokkers. 10. Flighthouse – 22.5 million followers @flighthouse daisykeech said “pow, pow” ? #dancecharades w / addisonre ♬ Say So – Doja Cat Flighthouse is a large company that focuses primarily on creating content for TikTok. Their videos are about the…

In the 90s Happy Hardcore was a very popular music movement in Europe. The songs are the ‘happy’ variance of hardcore house. A typical Happy Hardcore songs features cheerful vocals (often ‘samples’ from other songs that have been accelerated), happy lyrics and a beat between 165 and 180 per minute. The happy hardcore movement was particularly popular in the Netherlands and Germany. Many of the popular happy hardcore acts are from these countries. These are the ten most popular ones. Be sure to also check out the top 30 greatest happy harcore songs on bestmusiclists.com 10. Flamman & Abraxas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxBgGZMVQbY…

In the animal kingdom you encounter the most diverse and bizarre creatures. Some animals, however, know how to hide their characteristics. For example, tongues with anabsurd size or remarkable function. Many animal tongues look dirty and slimy, but they play an important role in gathering food. Here is a list of the most bizarre, extreme and unique tongues in the animal world. Chameleon – Long tongue Chameleons are one of the most extraordinary animals on earth. Not just because their skin color can change; they also have eyes that can look in almost any direction, and a tongue that is…

The longest bridges in the world are mainly found in Asia and the United States. Yet enough impressive long bridges have been built in Europe. Do you want to know what the most impressive bridges of this continent are? You read it in the top 10 longest bridges in Europe. 10. Ponte Salgueiro Maia in Portugal – 4,300 meters (14,100 feet) Ricardo Reis /flickr This bridge is built to take motorists from one side of the Tagus river to the other. This river is incredibly wide, which meant that an enormously long bridge was needed (but a large part of…

Some holders of a title in the Guinness Book of Records do everything to get a record in that book. Dirty records aren’t an exception. We list the 15 dirtiest records in the book. Anyone interest in breaking these records?   15. Dirtiest drink that you can actually drink The honor of the dirties drink in the world goes to tribal tribes in Afghanistan. This dirty drink is part of the wedding night. Khoona is the local name for this brew. It is the bull that makes it. Khoona is lukewarm sperm from the bull. Nice to start your wedding…

The 10 highest mountains in the world are all located in the Himalayan Mountains. As a matter of fact, the 100 largest mountains are all located in the Himalayan and the neighboring Karakoram mountain (all mountains higher than 7,000 meters). 10. Annapurna I – 26,545 feet (8,091m) The Annapurna region of the Himalaya Mountains is home to a number of renowned, towering peaks, the tallest being Annapurna I. The western slopes of the mountain are made up of grand glaciers whilst the northern side slopes down into a great gorge. Its name is translated as ‘Goddess of the Harvests’ and…

If you think you know a few things about the world’s highest bridges, you could be slightly out of date; a lot has changed in recent years. An astonishing eight out of the ten highest bridges in the world are in China, and all of these eight were constructed in the last ten years. Incidentally, it’s important to distinguish between a high bridge and a tall one; ‘tall’ refers to the size of the supporting pillars, and ‘high’ means the distance from the deck of the bridge to the ground or water below. The bridges in this list tend to…

The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and 1928 for women. The 10-second barrier is a term used in track and field athletics, which refers to the physical and psychological barrier of completing the men’s 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement was traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class sprinter. Its significance has become less…

Since its creation in 1946, the NBA has had thousands basketball players. But have you ever wondered who the best NBA basketball players of all time are? Well, here is a list of the top 10 best NBA basketball players of all time: 10. Oscar Robertson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPdQ7EhCYa8&feature=emb_title Robertson was born in Charlotte, Tennessee in 1938. He, as most professional basketball athletes, started playing basketball in high school. Robertson was selected by the Cincinnati Royals (now know as the Sacramento Kings)in the 1960 NBA Draft. Tagged ‘The Big O’ for standing at 1.96m and weighing 100kg, Robertson played for the Cincinnati…

The following ten buildings are the largest in the world measured by floor space. 10. Central Park Jakarta Complex – Indonesia – 655,000 m² (7.0 million sq ft) Starting with number 10, the Central Park Jakarta Complex is primarily used as a shopping mall but it also includes office space, a hotel and a selection of apartment spaces. It gets its name from the same tourist attraction in New York City and its whimsical nature is highlighted by a collection of musical water fountains outside that perform daily shows for guests. For ease of transport, the complex also features a…

Just like all the highest mountains in the world are in the Himalayan mountains (the top 100 even), the top 10 highest peaks in the USA can all be found in Alaska. Number 12 would be the first mountain outside of Alaska: Mount Whitney in California, 14.505 feet high. 10. Mount Hunter (Alaska Range) – 14,573 ft Mount Hunger (aka Begguya) is one of the most technically difficult mountains to climb in the US because it is such a complex structure with corniced ridges and extremely steep faces. It is 4442 meters (14,573 feet) above sea level, making it the…

Any list in which the charming Dr Seuss (11) and manga virtuoso Eiichiro Oda (12) fails to make it into the top ten is sure to be an impressive one: and it is! Each of the following authors have readership of half a billion or more, whether it is for many books, single series or their collected works. 10. Gilbert Patten With an estimated 40 million words to his name (his estimate), you may expect to recognise the name, but Gilbert Patten was something of a jobbing writer, churning out dime novels at a rate of twenty thousand words per…

Any professional athlete knows that an injury can make their life come crashing down around them. A sprained ankle or a nasty fall can bench a sports star for weeks, even months, as they take time off to recover and get back into fighting shape. However, some injuries can be much, much worse. 10. Lachie Munro (Rugby) Bit of a scratch for Lachie Munro of Lyon in #ProD2 in #France pic.twitter.com/R0hVIO4bEy— Tom May (@TomMay1) 18 januari 2014 Rugby is one of the toughest and most physically demanding full contact sports. Unlike American Football, there is no padding and no stop/start…

As soon as you realise that you are expecting a baby, you want to know whether you are having a boy or a girl. Modern methods can now let us know this all important fact early on in the pregnancy, but a few decades ago the only way to tell was to wait and see what arrived on the day! A lot of midwives and old wives swore by various ‘sure-fire’ methods of letting the expectant mum know whether they should be buying pink or blue! 10 Spotty the Girl! Some people believed that if you are carrying a girl…

Every now and then things happen that make us think twice. Here are ten puzzles that can be perfectly explained if we accept that time travel is real. Or will be real. 10. Cell phone Charlie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiIrpEMbQ2M When some extra footage was released with a new edition of Charlie Chaplin’s movie The Circus , (watch the whole movie here on Youtube) people were shocked to see a woman striding past in the background, apparently talking on a mobile phone as she went. As the film was made way back in 1928, this caused quite a stir, and was taken by…

Ever since the story of Jesus began to be passed around, people have been fascinated by the man, his teachings and his crucifixion and resurrection. Here are ten films – in chronological order – starring the man himself. The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on3M7YWlewo This movie plays out the events told in the Bible as a straight-forward narrative, and it is easy to see why they did so: it begins with the traditional nativity story, leads onto to Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod’s mass infanticide and follows Jesus’s life – miracles, healing, water into wine…

Almost everyone has heard of Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate change activist who has gone viral with her student protest outside government offices growing from just her to millions of people all over the world in a single year. But Greta is not the only person working to raise awareness of environmental issues: the late Wangari Maathai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her contributions to sustainable development amongst other things, inspired children all over the world to plant a billion trees; there is Tewolde Egziabher – also an award winner, in this case the Right Livelihood Award…

The following ten islands are the largest in the world compared by area. Continents aren’t taken into account. I.e. Australia has an are of 2,900,000 square mile, and Afro-Eurasia 32,500,000 square mile. 10. Ellesmere Island – Canada(87,182 sq mi) Within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Ellesmere Island is one of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, and contains the most northerly point of Canada in Cape Columbia. With an area of 87,182 square miles, Ellesmere Island is dominated by the Arctic Cordillera mountain system, making the island the most mountainous in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Drawn to the island for the hunting (mainly…

You might never have heard of the quokka, but once known this small marsupial is hard to forget. Here are ten fascinating quokka facts: 10. What’s in a Name? It is an unusual and cute sounding name, and it comes from the original Nyungar (an Australian Aboriginal language that is still spoken by a small number of tribal members) word ‘gwaga’ which was then corrupted by European tongues into ‘quokka’. 9. Been Known a Long Time The cute little creatures have been known for a long time, but not always as the adorable marsupial we tend to think they are:…

These ten diseases sound terrible: and their sufferers would agree with that judgement. However, none of these diseases are actually real – or rather, no physical causes for the conditions have yet been found. Science may one day vindicate all these patients, and issue an apology for telling them that their conditions are not real and therefore cannot be treated… 10. Werewolf syndrome Lycanthropy is the formal name for being a werewolf, which is, of course, not real. However, there is a medical condition in which earlier sufferers claimed that they were turning into werewolves. This had the result of…

Some movies are much harder to forget than others. Sure, we all love our rousing blockbusters and by-the-number thrillers, but sometimes we want something which will really mess with our heads. Whether it’s a crazy twist that you never saw coming or some seriously disturbing visual imagery that is hard to shake from memory, these movies will stay with you long after the credits have rolled. 10. Videodrome (1983) David Cronenberg is a filmmaker who loves making audiences squirm. Cronenberg has pushed the boundaries of his love for ‘body horror’ in mindfuck films like eXistenZ, Naked Lunch and The Fly,…

Opening scenes have the power to grab an audience’s attention and drag them deep into an unknown cinematic world. They can be so strange and unexpected that you are left begging for an explanation and a desire to find out more, or they can be big, showy set pieces which tease that the best is yet to come. From iconic monologues to world-building montages, the following are some of the best opening scenes in cinema. 10. Watchmen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24D87SqaLQ Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Alan Moore’s iconic Watchmen received a mixed reception from comic book fans and critics upon its release, but…

Sometimes you just don’t want a movie to end. Whether you love the characters, the premise or the setting, some movies are the perfect source material to inspire TV shows based on their name. Unfortunately, more often than not these spin-offs fell massively short of their superior predecessors. 10. Ferris Bueller (1990 – 1991) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70J1Lo6jIAg Although this spin-off was based on ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, the series was not a canon continuation. Instead, it was the ‘real life’ inspiration from which the film was loosely based – the ‘real’ Ferris even made references to his disappointment of the movie. Airing…