German who dropped a Mayan skull owned by Himmler will be to blame if world ends on 21-12-12 By Allan Hall In Berlin Published: 16:17 GMT, 10 May 2012 | Updated: 00:03 GMT, 11 May 2012 If the world ends on December 21, blame a German butterfingers who dropped a volcanic rock skull once owned by SS overlord Heinrich Himmler in his laboratory this week. According to legend, the Mayan skull, which was stolen from Tibet by the Nazis and imbued for believers with magical powers to enable mankind to survive an apocalypse, fell and chipped during a photo shoot. For some, this is a catastrophe that foretells the end of the world, but others advise us to keep calm and carry on. Apocalypse soon: For some, ancient Mayan calculations indicate the world will end on December 21, 2012 'It was probably put down somewhere a bit wobbly,' an eyewitness told a German newspaper. Some interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar point to December 21, 2012 as the end of the world. Other theorists have found evidence of a 2012 apocalypse in the Bible or the prophesies of Nostradamus.
5 myths about Christopher Columbus Today is Columbus Day, time to buy appliances on sale and contemplate other things that have nothing to do with Christopher Columbus. So much of what we say about Columbus is either wholly untrue or greatly exaggerated. Here are a few of the top offenders. 1. Columbus set out to prove the world was round. If he did, he was about 2,000 years too late. Columbus, a self-taught man, greatly underestimated the Earth's circumference. The Columbus flat-earth myth perhaps originated with Washington Irving's 1828 biography of Columbus; there's no mention of this before that point. 2. Yes, let's ignore the fact that millions of humans already inhabited this land later to be called the Americas, having discovered it millennia before. What Columbus "discovered" was the Bahamas archipelago and then the island later named Hispaniola, now split into Haiti and the Dominican Republic. 3. This is hotly debated. 4. Columbus wasn't a rich man when he died in Spain at age 54 in 1506. 5.
8 Secessionist Movements in American History We all know about the Confederate states leaving the Union. But that was far from the only secessionist movement in American history. Here are some rebellious regions you won't find in too many history books. 1. Beaver Island, a small island in Lake Michigan, became the home of Mormon leader James Strang and his followers—called Strangites—in 1848. 2. Concern over a perceived lack of interest from the Michigan state government, the people of the Upper Peninsula (U.P.), affectionately known as "Yoopers," have been trying to secede and form the State of Superior since as far back as 1897. 3. Rough and Ready, California, was a mining town founded in 1849 by the Rough and Ready Company of Wisconsin. But just three months later, as the Fourth of July approached, The Great Republic of Rough and Ready wanted to have a celebration (which seems odd considering they were no longer, technically, Americans). 4. In the early-1980s, the U.S. 5. 6. 7. 8. See also...
ENIGMA'S SECRET TWIN SPOOKS AND PATENTS | October 22nd 2008 Why didn’t Germany crack the British codes during the second world war? Alan Judd does some digging in the archives to find out ... From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, Autumn 2008 Most of us know the story of Enigma, the German cipher machine eventually broken by clever people at MI6's country house, Bletchley Park, following brilliant early work by Polish mathematicians. In the 1920s a German company, Enigma Chiffriermaschinen Aktiengesellschaft (ECA), marketed Enigma and the German government bought and developed it. Given that, I wondered, how did they not learn that the British were reading Enigma in the war? The story began in 1928 when the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS)--forerunner of GCHQ and then part of MI6--acquired two Enigma machines at the Admiralty's request. There were three British patents but Lywood began adapting it regardless, with help from GC&CS. Picture credit: x_jamesmorris (via Flickr)
Nicolaus Copernicus Biography: Facts and Discoveries The Copernican Planisphere, illustrated in 1661 by Andreas Cellarius.Credit: Public domain In the early 1500s, when virtually everyone believed Earth was the center of the universe, Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus proposed that the planets instead revolved around the sun. Although his model wasn't completely correct, it formed a strong foundation for future scientists to build on and improve mankind's understanding of the motion of heavenly bodies. Indeed, other astronomers built on Copernicus’ work and proved that our planet is just one world orbiting one star in a vast cosmos loaded with both, and that we’re far from the center of anything. [See also our overview of Famous Astronomers and great scientists from many fields who have contributed to the rich history of discoveries in astronomy.] Here is a brief biography of Copernicus: Celestial education Nicolaus Copernicus Credit: Public Domain A new model Video unavailable due to location Refining the work Related:
Top 10 Badasses You Haven’t Heard Of History Okay granted there may be one or two on this list that you do know – though maybe not by name – but hopefully the vast majority of readers will be unfamiliar with most of the badass men and women featured on this list. History is full of badasses, and it is very hard to rank them, so here we are ranking by reverse chronological order. Enjoy the list and be sure to mention other badasses in the comments. This list was inspired by the book “Badass” by Ben Thompson which contains a chapter on each of the characters below as well as dozens more. Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya, born in Bihar, Eastern India, was an orphaned commoner who changed the face of India and forever altered its history, by clawing his way from the slums to forging one of the most expansive Empires in India’s history. Charles Martel 688 – 22 October 741 Ulf The Quarrelsome 11th Century AD Ulf (which means wolf) the Quarrelsome was a brutal Irish Warrior and brother of High King Brian Boru (pictured above).
The colorful United States between 1939-1943 This is a group of color photos that shootted since 1939 to 1943 , It is a true portrayal of American society in that age. There are some very touching photo, which shoot by the photographers whose come from the security administrational office of the farm in the U.S. operational information services. Let us walk together into the life of farms and farmers in United States during World War II. 70 Photos
Yang Youde Yang Youde "Personal interests are trivial, but failure to implement official policies is serious.Outsiders must not enter/exit at will, or they will be responsible for any accident that happens to them. Yang Youde is a 56 year-old farmer living outside Wuhan city in China's Hubei province who never really wanted anything more than to live in peace and not get reamed in the asshole when he finally got around to selling his small, quiet farm. He signed a contract that would allow him to live in his home and work his land until 2019, and spent the long days out in the fields harvesting cotton and fruit and fishing in a nearby lake for food. Life was good, even if it was probably a little boring from time to time. At the beginning of this year, however, Youde quickly learned that living on a farm and not being utterly screwed over by greedy douchebags was apparently too much to ask. What you're looking at is a fucking MLRS made out of PVC pipe and a wheelbarrow. He still owns the farm. Main
Get your shovel! (5 still hidden treasures) « A Whole Lot of Nothing Everyone loves a good treasure hunt, right? It’s the thrill of the chase and the fortune that can be had at the end. And who couldn’t use a few extra bucks in this economy? There are many stories of people who have dedicated their life to find treasure, only to go broke and never find that proverbial (or in this case actual) pot of gold. Even if they find the treasure, there will likely be a lengthy battle over who owns it. A few years ago an expedition found a treasure in a sunken ship worth as much as $500 million. Finders not necessarily keepers So even if you find it, there’s no guarantee that you will keep it and reap the rewards. Captain Kidd’s plunder Treasure: Gold Possible sites: Connecticut River, Block Island in New York William Kidd was a Scottish sailor who was a privateer (read: pirate hunter) who allegedly turned to the very act he was supposed to stop. He was tough. The most talked about location of Kidd’s treasure is up the Connecticut River somewhere on Clarke’s Island.
Visual Studio 11 User Interface Updates Coming in RC - The Visual Studio Blog With the release of Visual Studio 11 Beta back in February of this year, we introduced changes to the user experience based on two core design principles, the first being to give you more space for your content and the second being to draw more focus to that content. Since the debut of these changes there’s been significant community response and feedback. We’ve taken this feedback and based on what we heard have made a number of changes planned for Visual Studio 11 RC. I want to thank you for your continued feedback through this blog, and also through the various other community channels - please keep it coming. The purpose of this post is to provide you with an update on the changes we’ve made since beta. We have been fortunate in getting a lot of actionable user feedback relating to the Visual Studio 11 Beta release. Here is a quick glimpse at the changes we’ve made from beta to RC in keeping with what we heard from you. The second is to colorize the Status Bar.
Top 10 Most Evil Humans Crime As we approach the new year, I thought it would be appropriate to do a list that combines and ranks entries from a combination of related lists – a summary list. This list looks at the last three years of lists of evil men and women, and combines and ranks the worst of the worst. Children are excluded as the evil children don’t rank anywhere near the evil of adults seen in the past. LaLaurie was a sadistic socialite who lived in New Orleans. Known as The “Bitch of Buchenwald” because of her sadistic cruelty towards prisoners, Ilse Koch was married to another evil Nazi, who served in the SS, Karl Otto Koch, but outshone him in the depraved, inhumane disregard for life which was her trademark. Ishii was a microbiologist and the lieutenant general of Unit 731, a biological warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Jiang Qing was the wife of Mao Tse-tung, the Communist dictator of China. Jamie Frater Jamie is the founder of Listverse.