World Press Photo Winners 1955-2011

1955

A competitor tumbles off his motorcycle during the Motorcross World Championship at the Volk Mølle race course. (Mogens von Haven)

1956

A German World War II prisoner, released by the Soviet Union, is reunited with his daughter. The child had not seen her father since she was one-year-old. (Helmuth Pirath)

The 10 Most Decadent Gourmet Hot Dogs From Around The Country

"The Dragon Dog"- $100

History: The decadent Dragon Dog was created by Dougie Luv, the owner of DougieDog in Vancouver, BC.

What's in this decadent dog? So, I'm sure you're wondering, what exactly you'd get for $100? This hotdog consists of a pork bratwurst infused with Rémy Martin Louis XIII Cognac (which sells for anywhere from $1,900 to $2,500.) The bratwurst is sautéed in olive and truffle oil, placed on a sourdough sweetbread bun, and topped with Kobe beef, fresh lobster, tomatoes, truffles, aioli and a hot sauce that is “just a little spicy.”

Paper Castle

Paper Castle

London At Night From Sky

London At Night From Sky

WHAT A LEAP!

WHAT A LEAP!

Sweden had an unusual day in history-February 30, 1712! it was because Sweden's calendar then was not synchronised with either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar. Sweden"s calendar was finally converted to the Gregorian system in 1753 with a 10-day correction by leaping from February 17 to March 1.

In order to catch up with the solar cycle, the practice of adding one extra day every 4 years(366 days instead of 365) was first introduced in 45 BC by the Roman emperor, Julius Caesar. The Julian calendar which remained in use in some countries until as late as the 20th century had thus taken into account the yearly shortfall of 6 hours.

A year that is evenly divisible by 4 is a leap year. But century years are not leap years unless they can be evenly divided by 400. This is because the exact period of 365.242 days has been rounded off to 365.25 for convenient measurement. However, over many centuries the difference between the approximate value (0.25 day) which is about 11 minutes, accumulates significantly. To compensate for this, the leap year is omitted three times every 400 years. Thus 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years but 1600 and 2000 were.

This change was incorporated in the Gregorian calendar that we use today which is actually a modified version of the Julian calendar.

Quiz for Bright People

Quiz for Bright People

There are only nine questions.

This is a quiz for people who know everything.
 I found out in a hurry that I didn't.  These are not trick questions.  They are straight questions with straight answers...

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators, nor the participants, know the score, or the leader, until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark
is constantly moving backward?  

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons.  All other vegetables must be replanted every year.
What are the only two perennial vegetables? 

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy Pear Brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way.
How did the pear get inside the bottle? 

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters ' dw' and they are all common words.  Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar.
Can you name at least half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable, or fruit, that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form, except fresh. 

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter 'S.'

 

Answers To Quiz: 

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators, nor the participants, know the score, or the leader, until the contest ends:
Boxing. 

2. North American landmark constantly moving backward:
Niagara Falls ....
The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water and sand that rush over it every minute.

3. The only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons:
Asparagus and Rhubarb.

4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside:   Strawberry. 

5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle?...
It grew inside the bottle.
The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree.  The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season.  When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.

6. Three English words beginning with dw:   Dwarf, dwell and dwindle. 

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar:
Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.  

8. The only vegetable, or fruit, never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh:
Lettuce. 

9. Six, or more, things you can wear on your feet beginning with 'S':
Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings and stilts. 

16 Things to learn

16 Things to learn


1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

16. Thought for the day: Men are like fine wine. They start out as grapes, and it's up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something
acceptable to have dinner with.