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| The colisseum, where gladiators fought as the crowds went wild. Photo by Kevin Connors |
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| The London Eye |
The
bridge was officially opened on 30 June 1894 by The Prince of Wales and
his wife, The Princess of Wales. Tower Bridge is one of five London
bridges now owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a
charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. It is the
only one of the Trust's bridges not to connect the City of London to the
Southwark bank, the northern landfall being in Tower Hamlets. |
| Amazon River - the worlds largest River (not longest) at a width of about 40 kilometres. Image Credit: Wikipedia |
The
People's Liberation Army (PLA) is a unified military which was
established on 1st August 1927 as the military arm of the Communist
Party of China (CCP). The PLA is not only the biggest army in the world
but also the biggest employer in the world, with an estimated 2.225m
personnel in total. Military service is compulsory for all men who reach
the age of 18, at least in theory, although this has never been
enforced due to the number of men who wish to join each year far
outstripping capacity. The Chinese military aim to only become involved
in genuine national defence and the assistance in emergency relief and
economic construction.
50,000
years ago, a small light grew brightly into a 26,000 miles per hour
flaming meteor and struck a rocky plain in the northern Arizona desert
and exploded with a force greater than 20 million tons of TNT. The
impact generated powerful shock waves that swept across the plain.
Pressures in the ground rose to over 20 million pounds per square inch
and iron and rock experienced vaporization and melting. Due to these
violent conditions, a giant bowl-shaped cavity was created, 700 feet
deep and over 4,000 feet wide. Over 175 million tons of sandstone and
limestone were ejected into the air and landed all around the crater
forming a beautiful blanket and debris. 
South
Africa remained the worlds biggest producer of gold in 2006, with a
'production' of 396.3 tonnes. This is well below the countries all time
production high which is 619.5 tonnes and was achieved back in 1993.
This figure equates to 15.7% of the worlds total gold production.
The
second largest gold producer of 2005 was Australia who produced a total
of 262.9 tonnes of gold, this is the first time that Australia jumped
the USA in gold production despite their production having peaked at
313.2 tonnes back in 1997. Australias output equates to around 10.4% of
total world output. |
| Mammoth Jack 'Coffee Hollow French Roast' in New Zealand
Photographed by Brian Harricks, now owned by Awapuni Donkey Stud in New
Zealand (link provided at foot of page) |
The
World is the name for a luxury cruise ship which slowly travels the
world, spending 2-5 days at each port. It is a not a typical holiday
cruise liner. On this cruise ship, it is owned by its residents. People
buy their apartment, and can live on board, or call it their holiday
home.
Cruises
have become tremendously popular due to the fact that they combine
entertainment, activities and an opportunity to see some of the most
fabulous sights in the world. Add in world class food and it is little
wonder that so many people choose to take a cruise for their vacation.
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| Only known picture known to exist of Lavinia Fisher |
Dr
Harold Shipman was a British General Practitioner, who on 31st January
2000 was found guilty of 15 murders. He was given a whole life sentence
by the British Home Secretary despite the government having abolished
such terms prior to the case. After the trial a public enquiry called
the 'Shipman Enquiry' found that there was enough evidence to suggest
that Shipman had probably killed around 250 people, of whom 218 could
be identified.
Gary
Ridgeway, also known as the 'Green River Killer', killed numerous women
during the 1980s and 1990s in Washington; he strangled his victims with
rope, fishing line and sometimes any other thing he could find. He also
subjected many of his victims to forms of torture, rape and even
engaged in necrophilia. He was arrested on November 30th 2001, as he
left the factory where he worked, on suspicion of the murders of 4 women
which he had been linked to through DNA evidence.
Shipman remains the only British doctor to ever have been found
guilty of murdering a patient and his conviction led to an overhaul of
the legal structure for health care and medicine. A particular
characteristic of Shipmans crimes is that 80% of his victims were women
and that most were elderly, with his youngest victim being a 41 year old
male. Harold Shipman had graduated from Leeds School of Medicine in
1970 and started his career at Pontefract General Infirmary in
Pontefract, West Yorkshire. He moved on in 1974 to Todmorden, West
Yorkshire, where he took his first position as a GP. Just a year later
he was caught stealing subscription drug pethidine for his own use. He
was fined £600 and sent to a drug rehab clinic in York until clean.
Thug
Behram (ca 1765 - 1840), a one time leader of the 'Thuggee Cult' in
India is said to have killed up to 931 victims by strangulation with the
ceremonial cloth used by his cult. Behram is quoted however as saying
that he was in fact 'present' at 931 murders, but only actually
committed 125 himself, and actually witnessed about a further 150 being
strangled. Behram was hanged for his murders in 1840. 
21-year-old
Russian Kristina Svechinskaya is already known as the next Anna
Chapman. The girl was among four New York students who are accused of
stealing at least $3 million from US accounts and another $9.5 million
from UK bank accounts.
