WordsNClouds

2015-09-02 European migrant crisis

(Click on the corpse to enlarge picture… and show that you care) The European migrant crisis arose through the rising number of migrant arrivals in 2015 – a combination of economic migrants and refugees – to the European Union (EU) across the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans from North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. The term has been used since April 2015, when at least five boats…

2015-07-20 Country Series part 2 – France

(click to enlarge picture…) Wikipedia Introduction: France, officially the French Republic (French: République française), is a sovereign state comprising territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean; France covers 640,679 square…

2015-07-19 Country Series part 1 – United States

  Wikipedia Introduction The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and a federal district.   The 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is located in the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an…

(click on the scorpion to enlarge picture…) Scorpions are eight legged venomous arachnids. They have a long body with an extended tail with a sting. The average adult scorpion is about 3 inches in length. he longest scorpion is the African scorpion, which can be 9 inches long. There are about 1,750 species of scorpions worldwide. The evolutionary history of scorpions goes back to the Silurian,…

2015-06-07 – Scorpion

(Click on the relay runner to enlarge picture…) Of all the Olympic adventures enjoyed by athletes down the years, few can match the drama experienced by American sprinter Betty Robinson. Elizabeth (“Betty”) Robinson (August 23, 1911 – May 18, 1999), later Elizabeth R. Schwartz was an American athlete and winner of the first Olympic 100 m for women. She was the first women’s 100m champion, she…

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After Britain removed itself from North Africa, Egypt and Sudan had to draw a border up between themselves.

For the most part, the border was a completely straight line, until they reached the Red Sea.

Both countries desired a region called the Hala’ib Triangle because it had resourced and a settlement, the synonymous town of Hala’ib.

Britain intervened and…

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A total solar eclipse occurred on Friday March 20, 2015.

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is larger than the Sun’s, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness.

T…

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DeflateGate is a current scandal in the National Football League, stemming from an allegation that the New England Patriots deliberately or negligently underinflated footballs used in the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts.

The Official Rules of the National Football League require footballs to be inflated to a pressure between 12½ and…

2015-01-17 2014 Breaks Heat Record

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Last year was the hottest on earth since record-keeping began in 1880, scientists reported on Friday, underscoring warnings about the risks of runaway greenhouse gas emissions and undermining claims by climate change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped.

Extreme heat blanketed Alaska and much of the western United States last year.

Re…

2015-01-11 Charlie Hebdo Shooting

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On 7 January 2015, at about 11:30 CET (10:30 UTC), two masked gunmen armed with AK-47 assault rifles, a shotgun, and an RPG launcher forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France.

The gunmen fired up to 50 shots with automatic weapons, while shouting “Allahu Akbar“, Arabic for “God is great”.

They killed…

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Cuba and the United States of America have had an interest in one another since well before either of their independence movements.

Plans for the purchase of Cuba from the Spanish Empire were put forward at various times by the United States.

As the Spanish influence waned in the Caribbean, the United States gradually gained a position of economic and…

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During World War 2, US Office of Strategic Services decided that the best way to ensure that their bombs reached the intended naval targets was to strap them to cats and drop the cats from planes with parachutes.

The thinking was that cats hated waterso much that, if you dropped a cat bomb in the general vicinity of a ship, the cat would…

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The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in war.

It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words “For Gallantry” and “We Also Serve” within a laurel wreath, carried on a ribbon of striped green, dark brown and pale blue.

It is awarded to animals that have displayed “conspicuous gallantry…

2014-12-01 Magnus Carlsen defeats Viswanathan Anand to retain the World Chess Championship title.

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The World Chess Championship 2014 was a match between the world champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Viswanathan Anand, to determine the World Chess Champion.

It was held 7–28 November 2014, under the auspices of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) in Sochi, Russia.

The match was decided after eleven of twelve scheduled games.

On 23 November 2014 Carlsen…

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Phillip Joel Hughes (30 November 1988 – 27 November 2014) was an Australian Test and One-Day International (ODI) cricketer who played domestic cricket for South Australia and Worcestershire.

Hughes was born in Macksville, a small town on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, to Greg, a banana farmer, and his Italian wife Virginia.

Hughes…

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Maglev (derived from magnetic levitation) is a method of transportation that uses magnetic levitation to carry vehicles with magnets rather than with wheels, axles and bearings.

With maglev, a vehicle is levitated a short distance away from a guide way using magnets to create both lift and propulsion.

Maglev trains move more smoothlyand somewhat more…