Affichage des articles dont le libellé est People. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est People. Afficher tous les articles
A secret underground bunker built to protect essential services in the event of a nuclear war is to go under the hammer.
1. Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norway)
This vault is located in the isolated arctic of Norway at a distance of only 810 miles from the North Pole. The vault acts like a Noah’s arc of vegetation and is designed to store and protect countless types of seeds.
2. Denver International Airport (Colorado)
This airport is one of the world’s largest and busiest. The airport covers 53 square miles and is rumored to contain a bunker underneath the buildings that stands above the plain. Five buildings are said to have been built “incorrectly” and then new buildings placed on top of them.
3. The Shanghai Complex (China)
Most of the details of this facility have been kept hidden but what is known is that the bunker covers one million square feet and is capable of housing up to 200,000 people. The shelter has the ability to withstand blasts, nuclear radiation and poisonous gases.
4. Burlington Bunker (UK)
This is a 35 acre cold war city located 100 feet beneath the surface of Corsham. The site was built by the British government in 1950 and code named Burlington. The shelter could accomodate 6,000 people for 3 months and withstand nuclear strikes.
5. The Greenbrier Bunker (Virginia)
The US government built an addition to this hotel in 1958 and in exchange, they were allowed to build a 120,000 square foot bunker underneath it. The bunker remained a secret until 1990 when it was revealed and then decommissioned.
6. Iron Mountain (Massachusetts)
This underground fortress was originally built by an enterprise information management services company. Although not originally intended to be a survival bunker, place is ranked as one of the most secure places on the planet. The fortress takes up 10,000 square feet in a 1,000 acre limestone mine.
7. The Moscow Metro (Russia)
This subway system is also a large subterranean system of secret trains and bunkers. It is a hidden city underneath Moscow. Most of the Metro was built by Stalin during the Cold War.
8. Raven Rock Mountain Complex (Pennsylvania-Maryland)
There are five, three-story buildings in the complex meant to relocate the the pentagon site. The facilities in this complex contain everything you could need including a dental clinic, snack bar, barber shop and even a Starbucks.
9. Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado)
Located 2,000 feet deep in granite, this facility was originally designed to withstand a 5 megaton nuclear explosion at a distance of 1.7 miles. This place is probably the safest in all of Colorado.
10. Mount Weather (Virginia)
This civilian command facility is a bunker and is also used as the command center for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Announcements made by the President or FEMA over the Emergency Alert System are most likely to come from here. The site has fortified building above the surface and underground bunkers as well.
El Caminito del Rey (“The King’s Little Path”) is one of the most dangerous walkways in the world and is located on the narrow walls of a steep gorge in El Choro near Álora, in the province of Málaga, Spain. This narrow, old walkway has been worn over the years and is now in despair, but still sought out by adventurers.
The purpose of the walkway was to provide workers with a way to cross between the two hydroelectric power plants in Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls and it was built between 1901 and 1905. The walkway is 3 feet 3 inches wide and is located 350 feet above the river at the foot of the gorge, running over a distance of 1.8 miles.
Even though the walkway was completed in 1905, it was not inaugurated until 1921 when Spanish King Alfonso XIII crossed it, hence giving it the name “The King’s Pathway”. The pathway was constructed using concrete on top of steel rails that were supported by stanchions that were nailed into the rock face at 45 degrees. The current state of the walkway is pretty bad and there are entire sections of it that are missing or in very bad shape.
The resulting large gaps are bridged only by narrow beams or other support fixtures. Almost none of the original handrails exist, but a safety-wire runs the entire length of the walkway. The very danger created by the desolate state of the walkway is what attracts thrill seekers and people on adventurous vacations.
Unfortunately, after several fatal accidents, the gorge was closed off by the government in 2000. This, however, has not stopped people from going around barriers and experiencing the thrill for themselves. In June 2011, the government decided to restore the walkway and built car parking and even a museum since people would not stop visiting it anyway. New materials used to restore The King’s Pathway will be in accordance with the old design, and the project will take about three years to complete. Check out the video below to see what it’s like on the dangerously exhilarating pathway.
The purpose of the walkway was to provide workers with a way to cross between the two hydroelectric power plants in Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls and it was built between 1901 and 1905. The walkway is 3 feet 3 inches wide and is located 350 feet above the river at the foot of the gorge, running over a distance of 1.8 miles.
Unfortunately, after several fatal accidents, the gorge was closed off by the government in 2000. This, however, has not stopped people from going around barriers and experiencing the thrill for themselves. In June 2011, the government decided to restore the walkway and built car parking and even a museum since people would not stop visiting it anyway. New materials used to restore The King’s Pathway will be in accordance with the old design, and the project will take about three years to complete. Check out the video below to see what it’s like on the dangerously exhilarating pathway.
Okay, by now pretty much the whole world knows that Ricky Gervais is an atheist (and thank God for that). However, he is by far the only non-believer in the world of Hollywood. While fellow atheists such as Seth MacFarlane, David Cross and Sarah Silverman may not surprise you, there are numerous big celebs that you may not know are atheist. Here are 15 of them…
15 Katharine Hepburn
Yep, that’s right. The American Film Institute’s “Greatest Female Star” in the history of American cinema was an atheist. In a 1991 interview with Ladies’ Home Journal, Ms. Hepburn stated, “I’m an atheist, and that’s it. I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for people.”
14 Brangelina
We can count Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie as one person, right? According to Brad Pitt, he is “probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic.” Proving that married people typically share in the same beliefs, Angelina has made statements that also depict her disbelief in God.
13 Paul Giamatti
Paul Giamatti is one of today’s greatest character actors. During his career, he has won 26 different awards, including an Emmy and a Golden Globe (for John Adams). One can only assume none of his acceptance speeches included a shout-out to the man upstairs.
12 Sir Ian McKellen
“THOUGH SHALL NOT PASS”… into the gates of heaven because they don’t exist. Or, at least so believes Sir Ian Mckellen. As Ian himself puts it, “I’m an atheist. So God, if She exists, isn’t really a part of my life.”
11 Woody Allen
Woody Allen has had a couple great and memorable quips that pertain to his atheism. For example, “If it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever.”
10 Hugh Laurie
You’ll find a lot more British celebrities who are atheist (or at least willing to admit it) than American celebrities. Hugh Laurie is a case in point. Not only is his television character, Dr. Gregory House, a self-proclaimed atheist, but so too is the actor himself.
9 Daniel Radcliffe
Yet another British atheist. Actually, I’m sure this comes at no surprise to those Christians who believe Harry Potter books and magic in general are tools of the devil. According to Radcliffe, “I’m an atheist, but I’m very relaxed about it.”
8 Keanu Reeves
Is ‘sad Keanu’ so sad because he has nothing to look forward to once his life here on earth is over? Probably not. In interviews Keanu seems perfectly content with his conclusion that God does not exist.
7 Gene Wilder
Celebrities from the older generations of Hollywood who ‘come out’ as atheist are typically more surprising than all those hedonistic young kids growing up in Hollywood these days. In a 2005 interview, the original (and best) Willie Wonka told a reporter, “Well, I’m a Jewish-Buddhist-Atheist, I guess.”
6 Daniel Day-Lewis
Actually, Daniel Day-Lewis considers himself an agnostic. This fact means that he believes the existence of a God is currently impossible to know. As such, he chooses to suspend his judgment on deciding whether or not one (or many) exists.
5 Julianne Moore
During a 2002 interview on Inside the Actor’s Studio, James Lipton asked Julianne Moore what God would say to her when she appeared before him at the pearly gates. She replied, “Well, I guess you were wrong, because I do exist.”
4 James Lipton
Speaking of James Lipton, Tom Cruise once turned Lipton’s famous “God at the pearly gates” question around on him. In response to the question Lipton answered in a similar manner as Julianne Moore, “You see Jim, you were wrong. I exist, but you may come in anyway.”
3 Roger Ebert
According to the world’s most famous TV critic (sorry, Gene Shalit), “I have never said, although readers have freely informed me, that I am an atheist, agnostic, or at the very least a secular humanist – which I am.”
2 Bruce Lee
When considering the master martial artistry of Bruce Lee, one might guess that he was perhaps Buddhist. However, towards the end of his life in the early 1970s he confirmed the fact that he was indeed an atheist.
1 Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin was a public atheist well before it was socially acceptable to be so (although, it’s really still not all that acceptable). Regardless, Chaplin discusses his atheism in his 1964 autobiography and has been quoted to say, “By simple common sense I don’t believe in God, in none.”
On January 16, 2014, the Chinese capital of Beijing was hit by the season’s first wave of smog caused by the massive amount of air pollution in the region. The readings recorded were the highest since January 2013 and the city has become almost completely depleted of natural light. The situation has gotten so bad that people gathered at 4 AM at the various squares across the city wearing industrial face masks just to watch a televised sunrise on the giant LED screens, usually used for advertising tourist destinations.
“Protecting Atmospheric Environment Is Everyone’s Responsibility”
The government ordered the elderly and school children to stay in, while others wore face masks and trudged through the dark, smoggy city. The city’s air quality is often poor and has been getting worse in the past few years, with winters being the worst time due to the stagnant weather patterns and excessive coal burning. The PM 2.5 readings on Thursday, January 16th were the first of the season to exceed 500 micrograms per cubic meter. PM 2.5 readings are a measure of the concentration of fine particulate matter which is less than 2.5 microns in the air. Particulate matter that small can be inhaled into the lungs and is dangerous for human health. The World Health Organization has set the safety standard for PM 2.5 as 25 micrograms, with levels above 300 being deemed hazardous. In Beijing, however, it reached values 26 times greater than the prescribed limit, as a monitoring post in the US Embassy in Beijing recorded a PM 2.5 value of 671. The air has and acrid odor and during the morning, no sunlight could penetrate the thick layer of smog engulfing the city.
Air pollution has reached such high values in many major cities of China where environmental protection is sacrificed for the sake of economic development. In the northeastern city of Harbin, readings reached values up to 1000 micrograms in October. In December, Shanghai and it’s neighboring areas reported PM 2.5 values exceeding 600. The worst area in the country, however, is the Hebei province which has seven of the ten most polluted cities of China. As the country’s biggest steel producing province, the pollution from Hebein spreads to the neighboring areas of Beijing and Tianjin.
Coal burning and car emissions are the major reasons for air pollution, but there is also the influence of powerful enterprises which keeps China’s government from cracking down many violators of China’s new environmental protection policies and standards. With Beijing alone reporting 58 days of serious pollution in 2013 (or one day every week), the city’s mayor, Wang Anshun, announced that the use of coal in Beijing will be cut down by 2.6 million tonnes and that $2.4 billion will be set aside to improve the air quality. Xinhua, a state news agency, reported Wang saying that coal-burning boilers in Beijing’s fifth ring road will be shutdown, and measures will be taken against coal burning in areas neighboring the capital. The capital will also ban heavily polluting vehicles this year and promote the use of new ‘greener’ vehicles.
Due to widespread public anger, local authorities are implementing policies more strictly and punishing officials in regions where the pollution has worsened due to leniency in enforcement. In the Hebei province alone, 8,347 companies were shutdown last year due to the heavy pollution they were causing. The province plans to cut crude steel production by 15 million tonnes this year, with coal consumption being reduced by the same amount. China’s commercial capital, Shanghai, introduced emergency measures in case of severe smog, allowing it to close schools and order cars off the road.
The government is taking steps to improve the quality of its environment, but could it be too little, too late?
The government is taking steps to improve the quality of its environment, but could it be too little, too late?
