Notre-Dame de Paris
Notre-Dame de Paris, also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral or simply Notre-Dame, is a historic Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. The cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, and it is among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. The naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture.
As the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Paris, Notre-Dame is the parish that contains the cathedra, or official chair, of the archbishop of Paris, currently Cardinal André Vingt-Trois. The cathedral treasury is notable for its reliquary which houses some of Catholicism's most important first-class relics including the purported Crown of Thorns, a fragment of the True Cross, and one of the Holy Nails.
In the 1790s, Notre-Dame suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. An extensive restoration supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc began in 1845. A project of further restoration and maintenance began in 1991.
Taipei 101 night
Taipei 101 (Chinese: 臺北101 / 台北101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark supertall skyscraper in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The building was officially classified as the world's tallest in 2004, and remained such until the opening of Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. In July 2011, the building was awarded the LEED Platinum certification, the highest award according the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, and became the tallest and largest green building in the world. Taipei 101 was designed by C.Y. Lee & partners and constructed primarily by KTRT Joint Venture. The construction started in 1999 and finished in 2004. The tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening. Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year's Eve broadcasts and the structure appears frequently in travel literature and international media.
Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground. The building was architecturally created as a symbol of the evolution of technology and Asian tradition. Its postmodernist approach to style incorporates traditional design elements and gives them modern treatments. The tower is designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. A multi-level shopping mall adjoining the tower houses hundreds of stores, restaurants and clubs.
Taipei 101 is owned by Taipei Financial Center Corp. (TFCC) and managed by the International division of Urban Retail Properties Corporation based in Chicago. The name originally planned for the building, Taipei World Financial Center, until 2003, was derived from the name of the owner. The original name in Chinese was literally Taipei International Financial Center (臺北國際金融中心).
Amazing View of Corinthos Channel - Greece.
The Corinth Canal is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland, thus effectively making the former peninsula an island. The builders dug the canal through the Isthmus at sea level; no locks are employed. It is 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) in length and only 21.4 metres (70 ft) wide at its base, making it impassable for most modern ships. It now has little economic importance.
The canal was mooted in classical times and an abortive effort was made to build it in the 1st century AD. Construction finally got underway in 1881 but was hampered by geological and financial problems that bankrupted the original builders. It was completed in 1893, but due to the canal's narrowness, navigational problems and periodic closures to repair landslides from its steep walls, it failed to attract the level of traffic anticipated by its operators. It is now used mainly for tourist traffic.
Miniature pig
Miniature pigs, also known as micro pigs, pocket pigs, or teacup pigs, have seen an increase in popularity in being kept as pets, especially following Paris Hilton's purchase of one in 2009. They are intelligent animals and can be house-trained. They do not shed and tend to keep themselves clean.
Micro pigs can potentially make great pets, but there are considerably more risks involved when buying a micro pig over other common pets, such as cats or dogs. The biggest concern is that, since there is no established breed of "teacup pig", there is no guarantee that the pig sold as such will actually stay small. The risk of ending up with a large pig can be somewhat minimized by looking at the pig's parents and grandparents if possible. If they are on the smaller side, the odds are better that the pig will remain small. However, since pigs can breed years before they fully mature, unscrupulous or ignorant breeders may show off parent pigs which are not fully grown themselves, so have not reached their full adult size. Some breeders may falsely claim that a mini-pig is guaranteed to stay under a certain weight, and sometimes will recommend a diet regimen that starves the animal and unnaturally stunts its growth.
The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit
The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is the world’s smallest breed, and one of the rarest. Fully grown these little creatures weigh in at less than a pound. Some years ago, it was feared that the breed had vanished, but a few were found and rescued.
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros, often abbreviated as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to Southern Asia.
Rhinoceros are killed by humans for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market, and which are used by some cultures for ornamental or traditional medicinal purposes. East Asia, specifically Vietnam, is the largest market for rhino horns. By weight, rhino horns cost as much as gold on the black market. People grind up the horns and then consume them believing the dust has therapeutic properties. The horns are made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails. Both African species and the Sumatran rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan rhinoceros have a single horn.
The IUCN Red List identifies three of the species as critically endangered.
Colorado River
The Colorado River is the principal river of the Southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. The 1,450-mile (2,330 km) river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. and two Mexican states. Rising in the central Rocky Mountains in the U.S., the river flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada line, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the large Colorado River Delta where it naturally emptied into the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora, though it no longer reaches its delta or the sea.
Ban Gioc Waterfall
Ban Gioc – Detian Falls (Vietnamese: thác Bản Giốc, Chinese: 德天瀑布) are two waterfalls on the Quây Sơn River (Chinese: 桂春河), straddling the Sino-Vietnamese border, located in the Karst hills of Daxin County, Guangxi (Chinese side), and in Trùng Khánh District, Cao Bằng Province on the Vietnamese side, 272 km (169 mi) north of Hanoi.
In Vietnamese, the two falls are considered as two parts of one waterfall with the sole name Bản Giốc. The two parts are called as: thác chính (Main waterfall) and thác phụ (Subordinate waterfall). Chinese texts sometimes name both falls from the Détiān falls on the Chinese side. During the summer rains the two waterfalls may join together.
Crocodile Attacks Elephant
When a mother elephant decides to take a drink from a river, she is unaware that there is danger lurking right below the surface. A huge 10 ft crocodile decides to latch its jaws onto the unsuspecting elephant's trunk. The young elephants watch helplessly as the crocodile attacks and the mother fights back.
Jane Goodall (1964)
Dame Jane Morris Goodall is an English primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 55-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. She is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and the Roots & Shoots program, and she has worked extensively on conservation and animal welfare issues. She has served on the board of the Nonhuman Rights Project since its founding in 1996.
Awesome 3D art, Rennes, Brittany
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.
Trolltunga Norway
Trolltunga (Troll's tongue) is a piece of rock jutting horizontally out of a mountain about 700 metres (2,300 ft) above the north side of the lake Ringedalsvatnet in the municipality of Odda in Hordaland county, Norway. The cliff is located east of the Skjeggedal area, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of the village of Tyssedal and the Sørfjorden (a branch off of the main Hardanger Fjord). The name translated to English is The Troll's tongue.
Giant Crocodile
The people in a village on the Niger River in Africa were losing fellow villagers at a rapid rate, and called in the army, which shot a > 7 m, 1200 Kg crocodile.
Gung Fu
Chinese martial arts, colloquially referred to as kung fu or gung fu (Chinese: 功夫; pinyin: gōngfu) and wushu (simplified Chinese: 武術; traditional Chinese: 武術; pinyin: wǔshù), are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families" (家; jiā), "sects" (派; pài) or "schools" (門, mén) of martial arts. Examples of such traits include physical exercises involving animal mimicry, or training methods inspired by Chinese philosophies, religions and legends. Styles that focus on qi manipulation are called internal (内家拳; nèijiāquán), while others that concentrate on improving muscle and cardiovascular fitness are called "external" (外家拳; wàijiāquán). Geographical association, as in northern (北拳; běiquán) and "southern" (南拳; nánquán), is another popular classification method.
Chinese martial arts
The genesis of Chinese martial arts has been attributed to the need for self-defense, hunting techniques and military training in ancient China. Hand-to-hand combat and weapons practice were important in training ancient Chinese soldiers.
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