10. The 4400 - The 4400 tells the stories of 4,400 abductees after they are returned to earth….
9. True Blood - Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, returns to HBO with a new series based on the novel series Southern Vampire by Charlaine Harris. The series follows Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic barmaid who finds comfort in the company of vampires since they have no brainwave activity for her to read. She and her brother Jason were raised by her grandmother after losing their parents in a flood and she tries to keep her telepathic ability a secret. Thanks largely in part to the creation of a Japanese-made synthetic blood called Tru Blood (where the series takes it name) vampires have made their existence known to the world. Sookie works at the bar ‘Merlotte’s’ which is owned and operated by her boss Sam Merlotte who has a secret of his own.
8. The Dresden Files -Ever since he was a boy, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, knew that monsters were real, just as he was able to make things happen simply with the force of his will. As he grew he began to learn of his magical heritage, given to him by his mother, and coveted by his Uncle, who would stop at nothing to possess it.
Now that he is grown Harry is the only private investigator / wizard in Chicago and listed in the phone book. He uses real magic to help him solve his cases, much to the chagrin of both the police and the magical establishment, whose shadow wars often spill into the ‘real’ world and involve people who have no idea just how magical, and dark, the world can be.
7. Star Trek DS9 - When the Cardassian occupation of Bajor ended in 2369, the mining space-station Terok Nor was left abandoned, its systems ripped out. By invitation of the provisional Bajoran government, Starfleet stepped in to oversee the rebuilding and day-to-day operations of the newly christened Deep Space Nine. Starfleet’s position was a tentative one, many Bajorans suspicious and unwelcoming as a result of Cardassian oppression and brutality. However the alliance held and soon DS9 was a center of travel and commerce thanks to a newly found stable wormhole, leading to the largely unexplored Gamma Quadrant.
6. Smallville - Smallville tells the tale of a teenage Clark Kent in the days before he was Superman. It is the town where he came from where very strange things started happening with his arrival in a spaceship in the midst of a meteor storm of green rocks. Clark must deal with a variety of individuals given powers by the green rocks, keep his powers a secret, cope with his friendship with a young Lex Luthor, and balance the two girls in his life, Chloe and Lana. The show also shows us how Lex Luthor develops from a friend of Clark’s and kinda-okay guy to (presumably) the villain who will plague Superman in his later years.
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5. Iguazu Falls – Argentina/Brazil
Iguazu Falls is a complex of falls on the Iguazu River within Iguazu National Park, which is located on the border between Brazil and Argentina. The waterfall took its name from the Guaraní words “y” as water and “guasu” meaning large. Iguazu Falls contains around 270 smaller falls with an overall width of 2,7 km. The major waterfall in the Iguazu complex is called Devil’s Throat (also knows as “Garganta del Diablo” in Spanish) and is outlining the border between the two countries. Multiple islands separate the waterfalls from other. Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States’ First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed “Poor Niagara!” Undoubtedly, Iguazu must be on your list of places to visit.
Iguazu Falls photo by mArIaMaRtA
4. Huangguoshu Waterfall – China
Huangguoshu (also known as Yellow Fruit Tree Waterfall) is one of the largest waterfalls in China (and Asia as a whole). It is located on the Baihe River in Anshun, Guizhou Province. It’s possible to explore, watch and even touch the waterfall from behind – from the water-curtain cave named “Shuiliandong”. Because of this fact the Huangguoshu Waterfalls is one of the few falls in the world that can be viewed from any of its sides – back, front, above, below, left and right.
Huangguoshu Waterfall photo by chanhhtravel
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8. Jennifer Aniston - is an American actress. She became famous from the mid 1990s to the early 2000s for playing the role of Rachel Green in the popular US sitcom Friends, a role for which she won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Jennifer Aniston
She earned more than $8 million for “Marley & Me.”
7.Anne Hathaway - is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the 1999 television series Get Real, but her first prominent role was in Disney’s family comedy The Princess Diaries (starring opposite Julie Andrews), which established her career.
She continued to appear in family films over the next three years, with lead roles in Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement in 2004. Hathaway would later venture away from the “G-rated” image her early acting career bestowed upon her, starring in the films Havoc and Brokeback Mountain. She later starred in The Devil Wears Prada, opposite Meryl Streep; Becoming Jane, in which she portrays Jane Austen, and Get Smart, opposite Steve Carell. In 2008 she earned widespread critical acclaim for her star turn in the film Rachel Getting Married, for which she won numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Anne Hathaway
She was paid about $5 million for “Bride Wars,” but can expect to command more after critical acclaim for Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married.”
6.Kate Hudson - is an American film actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after receiving an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for her role in the drama Almost Famous, and has since established herself as a Hollywood lead actress, starring in several films, including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Skeleton Key, You, Me and Dupree, Fool’s Gold, and Bride Wars.
Kate Hudson
She took in about $7 million each for “My Best Friend’s Girl” and upcoming “Bride Wars.”
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5. Kolossi Castle
The Kolossi Castle is stronghold located a few kilometers outside the city of Limassol on the island of Cyprus. It held a great strategic importance and contained production of sugar, one of Cyprus’ main exports in the Middle Ages. The original castle was built about 1210 by Frankish military when the land of Kolossi was given by King Hugh I to the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers). It is a stone fortress and the baseground was probably used as a store with two underground cisterns.
Kolossi Castle
You’ll enter the first floor via a suspended bridge, and on the south wall of one of the two lower rooms there is a wall painting representing the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the Blason Magnac, which is testimony to the royal devotional use of this room. The next room with the fireplace was likely to be the main dining and reception room. On the second floor there are two more rooms, which were used for lodging. On the roof of the monument, a scalding bowl and loopholes bring the thought of the visitor back to medieval sieges, along with the thought of boiling oil. Former inhabitants of this castle include Richard the Lionhearted and the Knights Templar.
4. Rhodes Castle
The Island of Roses, or Rhodes, is famous for its historic Medieval town, great shopping, and the site of the Colossus of Rhodes. This ‘castle’ was built within the Old Town walls at the beginning of the 13th century CE by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The building is comprised of 205 rooms and a conference area that hosts summits for European and world leaders. Today it attracts visitors from around the world as it houses the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes. Rhodes lies between Crete and the near East along the Aegean ocean. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands and popular even among the Greeks as a holiday retreat. Rhodes holds about sixty thousand permanent residents, and it is the financial and cultural center of the southeastern Aegean area. The excellent tourist infrastructure that includes a wide variety of entertainment makes Rhodes a popular destination.
Rhodes Castle
3. Arg-é Bam Castle
This enormous citadel, situated on the famous Silk Road, was built some time before 500 BCE and remained in use until 1850 CE. It is not known for certain why it was then abandoned. Located in Bam, Iran, this castle is the largest adobe building in the world. The entire building was a large fortress in whose heart the citadel itself was located, but because of the impressive look of the citadel, which forms the highest point, the entire fortress is named the Bam Citadel. It is listed by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage Site, but an earthquake in 2003 destroyed more than 80 percent of the buildings. However, since it is a World Heritage site, several countries - including Japan, Italy, and France - have joined forces to reconstruct the buildings. The World Bank has also granted a large sum of money to the restoration project.
Arg-é Bam Castle
2. Castle Zaman
Castle Zaman is perched atop a desert cliff midway between Taba and Nuweiba in Sinai. The simple architecture provides amazing views over the Gulf of Aqaba, and into Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The exact site signifies a landmark on the ancient road that connected St. Catherine’s Monastery with Jerusalem. But, while a distant perspective might fool your eyes into believing this is an ancient ruin, Castle Zaman was built along a local theme to accommodate the contemporary tourist market. Used for honeymooners, parties, film or fashion shootings, the castle and its amenities are available for rent on a weekly or daily basis depending upon availability. Zaman’s private beach, with its pristine sand and crystal clear waters, is the only virgin beach left in the Taba and Nuweiba area.
Castle Zaman
1.Krak des Chevaliers
T.E. Lawrence once described this castle, located in Syria, as “the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world.” It is the easternmost of a chain of five castles intended to secure the Homs Gap, atop a 650-meter-high hill along the only route from Antioch to Beirut and the Mediterranean Sea. This castle and Beaufort, located in Lebanon as well, were the most important connection castles in the Middle East and they planed a major role in coastal defense for the Crusaders. In 1142 the castle was given by Raymond, Count of Tripoli, to the Knights Hospitallers, and it was they who, during the ensuing fifty years, remodeled and developed it as the most distinguished work of military architecture of its time. The castle remains one of the most complete pieces of military architecture dating from this period, and it holds some of the best preserved Crusader frescoes in the world. The complex contains two concentric walls that sandwich a ditch. The outer wall is an impressive three meters in width, and originally featured a dry moat and drawbridge and was designed to be able to withstand a siege lasting up to five years. Three of the eight round towers were built following the Crusades. Additionally, a chapel within this complex was later converted into a mosque.
Krak des Chevaliers
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10. Jennifer Love Hewitt
Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated. She rose to fame in teenage popular culture via her roles in the Fox series Party of Five, as Sarah Reeves, and the films I Know What You Did Last Summer and its sequel, as Julie James.
As a singer, Hewitt has been signed by Atlantic Records and Jive Records. She is primarily known for her recordings in the pop genre and has a contralto vocal range. To date, her most successful single on the Billboard Hot 100 is the 1999 release “How Do I Deal,” which peaked at #59. In addition, she has contributed music to the promotion or soundtracks of acting projects.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Hewitt’s physical appearance has been the subject of much media attention throughout her career. Named the sexiest woman in the world in 1999 and the sexiest woman on television in 2008, she has been repeatedly honored by publications such as Maxim, TV Guide, FHM, and numerous readers of these periodicals. In 2007, paparazzi photos of Hewitt on a beach led to a much-publicized matter in which she defended her weight, and was supported by other celebrities. These incidents received coverage from People magazine.
In addition to acting, Hewitt has also served as a producer on certain film or television projects. She can be seen on the CBS television program Ghost Whisperer as Melinda Gordon, a young woman who can communicate with ghosts. She won a Saturn Award in 2007 and 2008 for Best Actress on Television.
9. Jordana Brewster - is an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles in The Fast and the Furious, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Faculty, D.E.B.S., Annapolis, Chuck, and most recently Fast & Furious in 2009. Brewster made her debut in daytime soap operas, with a one-time appearance on All My Children as Anita Santos, followed by a recurring role on As the World Turns as Nikki Munson from 1995 to 1998. Her first film role was in Robert Rodriguez’s 1998 film, The Faculty.
Jordana Brewster
One of Brewster’s most notable film roles to date is Mia Toretto from The Fast and the Furious (2001), which she reprised in Fast and Furious (2009). Subsequent film work has included roles in Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (scenes deleted), as criminal mastermind Lucy Diamond in D.E.B.S., and as Chrissie in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.
Her television work includes the NBC miniseries The 60’s, as Sarah Weinstock, a college student and radical activist, and a pilot for a followup to the film Mr & Mrs. Smith, playing the role depicted in the film by Angelina Jolie. She is also appearing on Chuck, as the title character’s former girlfriend in a multi-episode stint during the second season.
In 2002, Stuff magazine named her the 96th hottest woman in their “102 Sexiest Women in the World”. In 2005 Maxim magazine named her the 54th sexiest woman in the world in their annual Hot 100. In 2006 Maxim ranked her at #59 on their Hot 100. She placed 8th on afterellen.com’s “100 Hottest Women” list in 2007, 22nd in 2008. and 9th in 2009.
8. Rihanna - is a Barbadian singer, model, and beauty queen. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna relocated to the United States at the age of sixteen to pursue a recording career, under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers. She subsequently signed a contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for then-label head Jay-Z.
Rihanna
In 2005, Rihanna released her debut studio album, Music of the Sun, which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200 and features the Billboard Hot 100 hit single “Pon de Replay”. Less than a year later, she released her second studio album, A Girl Like Me, peaking within the top five of the Billboard albums chart and produced her first number one single, “SOS”. Rihanna’s third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), peaking at number two on the Billboard 200, released three US number one hit singles—”Umbrella”, “Take a Bow”, and “Disturbia”, and the worldwide hit “Don’t Stop the Music”. The album was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “Umbrella”, which features Jay-Z.
Rihanna had sold over twelve million albums worldwide[3][4] and has received several allocates, including the 2007 World Music Awards for World’s Best-Selling Pop Female Artist and Female Entertainer of the Year, as well as the 2008 American Music Awards for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist and Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist.[5][6] She also serves as one of Barbados’ cultural ambassadors.
7. Adriana Lima - is a Brazilian model best known as a Victoria’s Secret Angel since 2000 and a spokesmodel for Maybelline cosmetics from 2003 to 2009. At age 15, Lima finished first place in Ford’s “Supermodel of Brazil” competition and took second place the following year in the Ford “Supermodel of the World” competition before signing with Elite Model Management in New York City.
Adriana Lima
6. Eliza Dushku - born December 30, 1980) is an American actress who appeared in several Hollywood movies such as True Lies, The New Guy, Bring It On, Wrong Turn and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. She is also well known for her acting on television, such as her recurring appearances on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel as Faith, as well as the main character, Tru Davies, in the series Tru Calling. She also produces and stars as Echo in the series Dollhouse, created by Joss Whedon (with whom Dushku worked on Buffy and Angel), which premiered February 2009 on Fox.
Eliza Dushku
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10. Brigitte Bardot - is a French actress, former fashion model, singer and animal welfare/rights activist. In 2007 she was named among Empire’s 100 Sexiest Film Stars.
Brigitte Bardot
In her early life Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer. She started her acting career in 1952 and after appearing in 16 films became world-famous due to her role in controversial film And God Created Woman. During her career in show business Bardot starred in 48 films, performed in numerous musical shows, recorded 80 songs. After her retirement from the entertainment industry in the 1973, Bardot established herself as an animal rights activist. During the 1990s she became outspoken in her criticism of immigration, interracial relationships, Islam in France and homosexuality, and has been convicted five times for “inciting racial hatred”
9. Halle Berry - is an American actress, former fashion model, and beauty queen. Berry has received Emmy and Golden Globe awards for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001 for her performance in Monster’s Ball, becoming the first and, as of 2008, only woman of African-American descent to have won the award for Best Actress. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood and also a Revlon spokeswoman. She has also been involved in the production side of several of her films.
Halle Berry
Before becoming an actress, Berry entered several beauty contests, finishing runner-up in the Miss USA (1986), and winning the Miss USA World 1986 title. Her breakthrough feature film role was in the 1991 Jungle Fever. This led to roles in The Flintstones (1994), Bulworth (1998), X-Men (2000) and its sequels, and as Bond Girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002). She also won a worst actress Razzie Award in 2005 for Catwoman and accepted the award in person.
Divorced from baseball player David Justice and musician Eric Benét, Berry has been dating French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry since November 2005. Their first child, a girl named Nahla Ariela Aubry,[6] was born on March 16, 2008.
8. Keira Knightley - is a Golden Globe-, BAFTA-, and Academy Award-nominated English[2] film and television actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2003 after co-starring in the films Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.
Keira Knightley
Knightley has appeared in several Hollywood films and earned an Academy Award nomination for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice. She received critical praise for her newest role as Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, in The Duchess.
As of 2008, Forbes claims Knightley to be the second highest paid actress in Hollywood (behind Cameron Diaz), having reportedly earned $32 million in 2007, making her the only non-American person on the list of highest paid actors or actresses. Knightley, however has denied such a figure.
7. Elizabeth Taylor - is an English-born American actress. Known for her acting skills and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, including many marriages, Taylor is considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood’s golden years, as well as a larger-than-life celebrity.
Elizabeth Taylor
The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.
6. Catherine Zeta Jones - is a Welsh actress, presently based in the United States. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of UK and US television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as The Phantom, The Mask of Zorro, and Entrapment in the late 1990s. She won an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for portraying Velma Kelly in the 2002 film adaptation of Chicago.
Catherine Zeta-Jones
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10. Weeds - This series is a single-camera comedy about a single mother who makes ends meet by selling marijuana in the fictional suburb of Agrestic, California. The series exposes the dirty little secrets that lie behind the pristine lawns and shiny closed doors of homes in the of this gated community. Mary Louise Parker stars as the suburban mom who resorts to selling weed to support her family after her husband unexpectedly dies.
9. Entourage - Vince Chase is the newest “it” actor. His career is sky-rocketing. He makes the move to Hollywood and brings his childhood friends from Queens with him. Eric, his best and closest friend, takes on the roll of Vince’s manager. Drama, Vince’s half-brother, is also an actor who follows along with Vince hoping to gain his own fame. Turtle is the least experienced member of the group and spends his days running errands, wanting to party and using Vince’s fame to get girls. Then there is Ari, Vince’s aggressive and high-powered agent.
Watch as Vince and his buddies soak up everything that Hollywood has to offer. See what it’s like to make it as a movie star.
8. Futurama - Futurama follows the exploits of Fry, a pizza delivery boy who was cryogenically frozen by accident for 1,000 years; Leela, a female cyclops; Bender, an immoral robot, and others as they work for an intergalactic delivery service owned by Fry’s great, great, great… nephew, Professor Farnsworth.
7. The Simpsons - The FOX network’s most successful series to date was a spin-off from The Tracey Ullman Show. Originally appearing on that series as a 1 minute filler, it was decided that these characters could support a half hour series.
6. Californication - David Duchovny heads up the cast in this comedy about a novelist with sex and drug addictions who is struggling to raise his daughter half the time, while having problems with his ex-girlfriend. (continue reading…)
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10.Easter Island
Easter Island
Located some 2,000 miles west of the Chilean Coast, Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is a tiny island that has become famous for its remarkable isolation in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. It is relatively small, measuring roughly seventy square miles in size, and is today home to around 4,000 people. The island has become well known for the massive rock sculptures called Moai that dot its beaches. They were carved sometime around the year 1500 by the island’s earliest inhabitants, and it has been said that the massive wood sleds needed to transport them from one place to another are a big part of what led to the almost total deforestation of Easter Island. Scientists have argued that the island was once lush and tree-covered, but today it is relatively barren, a feature that only adds to the sense of sheer isolation that is said to overtake most first-time visitors. When the first settlers migrated to the island, the journey took several weeks, but today there is a small airport (reportedly the most remote in all the world) that carries passengers to the island by way of Santiago, Chile.
9. La Rinconada, Peru
For sheer inaccessibility, few locations in South America compare to La Rinconada, a small mining town in the Peruvian Andes. Located nearly 17,000 feet above sea level, La Rinconada is considered the “highest” city in the world, and it is this stunning geography that makes it so desolate. The city is located on a permanently frozen glacier, and can only be reached by truck via treacherous and winding mountain roads. Just reaching the city takes days, and even then altitude sickness, combined with the shantytown’s deplorable condition, means that few people can handle living there for long. Still, the town is said to have as many as 30,000 inhabitants, almost all of whom are involved in the business of mining gold, which is extracted from beneath the ice inside nearby caverns. In addition to its remoteness, La Rinconada has gained a dubious reputation as a destination for poor and desperate workers, many of whom work the mines for free in exchange for the right to keep a small percentage of the gold ore they find.
8. McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Located literally at the bottom of the world, Antarctica is easily one of the most remote places on the face of the Earth. There are no native inhabitants to the continent, but there are several research centers constantly in operation there, and of these McMurdo Station is the largest. Located on Ross Island near the northern tip of the continent, the almost perpetually frozen station is a center of international research, and is home to as many as 1,200 scientists and workers during the warmer summer months. It’s one of the most desolate locations on the planet, but although McMurdo is as far from a major city as any location in the world, even it is no longer as backwater as it used to be. Trips by boat to Antarctica once took months, sometimes even years, but McMurdo’s three airstrips have helped make the region a much less remote destination than before. Thanks to this, the scientists at the station now enjoy many of the modern amenities found in major cities, including gyms, television, and even a nine-hole Frisbee golf course.
7. Cape York Peninsula, Australia
Australia is known both for its extremely low population density and untouched natural beauty, both of which are best exemplified by Cape York, Peninsula, a huge expanse of untouched wilderness located on the country’s northern tip. The region has a population of only 18,000 people, most of whom are part of the country’s aboriginal tribes, and it is considered to be one of the largest undeveloped places left in the world. This helps contribute to its stunning natural beauty, but it also makes Cape York about as difficult to reach as any destination in Australia. The peninsula has become a popular destination for adventurous tourists, who drive jeeps and trucks down the unpaved Peninsula Development Road whenever it isn’t closed due to flooding during the rainy season. But even with 4-wheel drive trucks, many of the more heavily overgrown parts of Cape York Peninsula are completely inaccessible, and some regions have still only been surveyed by helicopter. Photo: http://www.abc.net.au
6. Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland
At 836,000 square miles in size, Greenland is the world’s largest island, but its tiny population of 57,000 people means that it’s also the most desolate. And of all the towns in Greenland, perhaps none is as remote (or as difficult to pronounce) as Ittoqqortoormiit, a small fishing and hunting village located on the island’s eastern shore, to the north of Iceland. The town is part of a municipal district roughly the size of England, but it has a population of only slightly more than 500 people, meaning that each person technically has more than 150 square miles to call their own. Residents make their living off of hunting polar bears and whales, which are prevalent in the area, and by fishing for Halibut during the warmer months. Ittoqqortoormiit lies on the coast, but the seas surrounding it are almost perpetually frozen, leaving only a three-month window when the town is easily accessible by boat. There is an airport some 25 miles away, but flights are rare. For the most part, the town, one of the northernmost settlements in the world, is completely isolated in the vastness of the tundra. Photo: http://dlareh.blogspot.com (continue reading…)
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10. Vietnam
Active troops : 484 000
Reserve troops: 4 000 000
Defense budget: 3.2 BN $
Tanks: 1 829
Aircraft carriers: 0
Submarines: 2
Nuclear submarines: 0
Fighter aircraft: 211
Nuclear weapons: 0
9.Turkey
Active troops : 514 000
Reserve troops: 378 000
Defense budget: 22.56 BN $
Tanks: 4 205
Aircraft carriers: 0
Submarines: 14
Nuclear submarines: 0
Fighter aircraft: 900
Nuclear weapons: NATO Shared
8.Iran
Active troops : 545 000
Reserve troops: 350 000
Defense budget: 6.2 BN $
Tanks: 1 800
Aircraft carriers: 0
Submarines: 13
Nuclear submarines: 0
Fighter aircraft: 214
Nuclear weapons:0
7.Pakistan (Nuclear power)
Active troops : 650 000
Reserve troops: 518 000
Defense budget: 5.2 BN $
Tanks: 2 451
Aircraft carriers: 0
Submarines: 8
Nuclear submarines: 0
Fighter aircraft: 523
Nuclear weapons:55-90
6.Republic of Korea
Active troops : 687 000
Reserve troops: 4 500 000
Defense budget: 29.53 BN $
Tanks: 2 300
Aircraft carriers: 0
Submarines: 11
Nuclear submarines: 0
Fighter aircraft: 388
Nuclear weapons:0 (continue reading…)
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10. Chocolate Hills, Philippines
More than 1,770 perfectly cone-shaped hills can be found in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines, more exactly in Bohol. Unfortunately, these amazing hills aren’t really made of chocolate, but they do look curious. The hills look like a sea of chocolate kisses during the dry season. The unusual geological formation has baffled geologists for decades. There are different theories on how the conical hills formed.
Spread over an area of 50 square kilometers, the amazing hills are Philippines’s 3rd National Geological Monument together with Hundred Islands National Park and Taal Volcano, the world’s smallest active volcano.
9. Moeraki Boulders, New Zealand
Scattered along the beautiful Koekohe beach in New Zealand, these unusually large boulders attract tourists from all over the world. According to the Society for Sedimentary Geology, “the Moeraki boulders are large calcite concretions with septarian veins of calcite and rare late-stage quartz and ferrous dolomite”. What’s so special about the Moeraki Boulders is the fact that they formed on the sea bed approximately 65 million years ago, a period that coincides with the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, now called the Cretaceous–Paleogene (or K–Pg) extinction event, a period of massive extinction of species, including dinosaurs.
8. Gates to Hell, Turkmenistan
It is estimated that Turkmenistan owns the world’s fifth largest reserves of natural gas. In May 2011, this was discovered in Turkmenistan – the second largest gas deposit, the South Yoloten gas field. It covers 1,500 square miles and is preceded by Iran’s South Pars gas field, the world’s largest.
The Darvaza Gas Crater, also known as Gates to Hell, is burning without interruption since 1971. It’s the year when some geologists who were digging in Darvaza for gas deposits, discovered a huge crater filled with poisonous gas and decided to light it on fire to burn off the excess and prevent local poisoning. Unfortunately, the deposit continues to burn to this day. Nobody knows for sure how much gas has been wasted and for how long it will continue to burn. Doesn’t this story remind you of the Centralia PA mine fire?
7. Pinnacles Desert, Australia
The enigmatic Pinnacles Desert is located in Australia’s Nambung National Park. Thousands of limestone pillars rise from the sands of the desert. The strange-looking limestone formations reach up to four meters in height.
Australia is famous for its unusual rock formations. Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), Ayers Rock – also known as Uluru, the world’s largest monolith – Devil’s Marbles, the Wilpena Pound in Flinders Ranges, Murphy’s Haystacks, the Twelve Apostles and the incredible Wave Rock are some of the world’s most fascinating rock formations.
6. Stone Forests, China
The South China Karst region extends over 500.000 square kilometers. The spectacular karst topography comprises three provinces: Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou.
The Naigu Stone Forest and and the Suogeyi Village are protected UNESCO Sites since 2007. According to Unesco.org, the stone forests of Shilin, Yunnan Province “represent one of the world’s most spectacular examples of humid tropical to subtropical karst landscapes. The stone forests of Shilin are considered superlative natural phenomena and a world reference with a wider range of pinnacle shapes than other karst landscapes with pinnacles, and a higher diversity of shapes and changing colors.”
5. Göreme National Park, Turkey
The main attraction of Turkey’s Cappadocia region is the Göreme National Park located in the Göreme Valley. Entirely sculpted by erosion, this spectacular landscape hides a wonderful historical heritage. Part of the national park includes rock-hewn sanctuaries that contain unique evidence of Byzantine art from the post-Iconoclastic era, ancient underground cave dwellings and troglodyte villages. There have been discovered the remains of a human habitat estimated to date back to the 4th century.
According to geologists, the eroded plateau of the Turkish valley is an extraordinary example “of the effects of differential erosion of the volcanic tuff sediments by wind and water.” Unesco.org
4. Rio Tinto, Spain
The 58-mile-long Spanish river flows from the mountains of Sierra Morena to the Gulf of Cadiz through one of the earth’s largest deposits of pyrite. The rather otherworldly landscape is the result of at least 5,000 years of mining activity. With a low pH and full of heavy metals, scientists claim that the Rio Tinto fluvial-estuarine system is one of the planet’s most polluted.
Rio Tinto played a key role in history. It is the birthplace of the Bronze Age and Copper Age.
See the final top at toptenz.net
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