Pakistani nature photographer Atif Saeed managed to capture this stunning shot of a lion — just before it leapt at him.
This photograph was snapped by Atif Saeed at a safari zoo park near Lahore. He got out of his jeep to take the photo, but the sound of the lens’s whizzing caught the lion’s attention. Saeed figures the big cat got as close as 10 feet, before he was able to reach the safety of his jeep.
Central Park Tower (also known as the Nordstrom Tower) will be a supertall mixed-use commercial/residential project being developed by the Extell Development Company and Shanghai Municipal Investment Group in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, in the U.S. state of New York. The building will rise 1,550 feet (472 m) to the roof. Upon completion, Central Park Tower will become the second-tallest skyscraper in the United States and the Western Hemisphere and the tallest by roof height of a building outside of Asia, surpassing the Willis Tower by around 95 feet.
Alpine Ibex are big mountain goats that live among the peaks in the European Alps where predators cannot reach. They occupy the steep, rocky terrain above the tree line between two to three thousand meters above sea level. But they can’t live there at all times, because there is no food up there. During spring and summer, the Ibex live among the conifers and the meadows where there are plenty of grass to feed. Before the first snow falls, the Ibex has to fatten up and build reserves to help see them through the Alpine winters. Once winter arrives, the Ibex retreats to the safety of their homes in the clouds.
Like many herbivores, the Alpine Ibex lacks salt and other essential minerals in their diet which they can’t get from grass. So the Ibex has to seek out natural salt licks. In springtime, when salt requirements are the highest, the Ibex can be seen licking rock surfaces for leached salts.
Dam walls are another precious source of salts and minerals. Dams are composed of concrete, and concrete releases a calcium-aluminium mineral called ettringite as part of the curing process. Up to twenty percent of hardened concrete is composed of ettringite.
Only the Alpine Ibex can exploit this resource. Being excellent climbers, the Ibex will climb the sheer vertical face of the dam’s wall using the small protruding boulders as foothold to lick ettringite off the wall’s surface. The Ibex can scale such great heights because of their soft, split hooves that can grip any surface like a pincer.
The Cingino Dam in northern Italy, not far from the Swiss border, is one place where you can observe the Alpine Ibex’s gravity-defying stunts—but it’s not the only place. This behavior has also been observed at the Barbellino dam in Lombardy, and Lago della Rossa dam in Valli di Lanzo, Piemonte.
Mother nature’s power and beauty were on full display in Chicago Monday night when lightning lit up the city’s skyline.
The electric bursts reportedly struck four of the city’s tallest buildings in a rare occurrence of what’s called ‘upward lightning,’ according to the Washington Post.
The phenomenon usually involves tall man-made structure, like skyscrapers, and follows the more common cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.
Upward strikes typically occur after positive charges from a cloud to ground strike leave an imbalance of positive energy on a building or tower, which shoots a bolt into the sky to meet and balance out a mirroring negative charge.
All the buildings struck by lightning were reportedly taller than 1,000 feet
Seven Sisters Waterfall Norway
Baatara Gorge Waterfall Lebanon
Dettifoss Waterfall Iceland, yes this is the one from the movie Prometheus.
Dietan Waterfall, on the border of China and Vietnam
Paradise in the Grand Canyon, USA
Glacial waterfall in Greenland
Waterfall and isolated beach in Hawaii
Iceland
Train bridge over a waterfall in Letchworth State Park, New York
Migus Mill North Carolina. An aqueduct was built to power a corn mill.
Nepal
Norway
Pearl Waterfall, China
Strange moss waterfall in Romania
Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, Iceland
Tibet
Waterfall of the Gods, Iceland
Zion National Park, Utah
No neighbours to worry about
The famous black sand
Creative hydro towers
The Island country is on a major earthquake fault intersection
| Capital and largest city |
Reykjavík 64°08′N 21°56′W / 64.133°N 21.933°W / 64.133; -21.933 |
|
| Official language and national language |
Icelandic | |
|---|---|---|
| Ethnic groups (2014) |
|
|
| Religion | Evangelical Lutheranism | |
| Demonym | Icelander | |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic | |
| – | President | Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson |
| – | Prime Minister | Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson |
| – | Speaker of Parliament | Einar Kristinn Guðfinnsson |
| – | President of Supreme Court | Markús Sigurbjörnsson |
| Legislature | Althing | |
| Formation | ||
| – | Settlement | 9th century |
| – | Commonwealth | 930–1262 |
| – | Union with Norway | 1262–1814 |
| – | Danish monarchy | 1380–1944 |
| – | Constitution | 5 January 1874 |
| – | Kingdom | 1 December 1918 |
| – | Republic | 17 June 1944 |
| Area | ||
| – | Total | 102,775 km2 (108th) 39,699 sq mi |
| – | Water (%) | 2.7 |
| Population | ||
| – | 1 January 2015 estimate | 329,100 (182nd) |
| – | Density | 3.2/km2 (233rd) 8.29/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) | 2015 estimate | |
| – | Total | $14.488 billion (142nd) |
| – | Per capita | $44,575 (23rd) |
Late next year, you’ll be able to buy your own flying car — er, “roadable aircraft” — thanks to a thumbs-up from the Federal Aviation Administration. As long as you have $194,000 and a sport pilot license.
The agency approved the Transition plane-car this week, giving it a Light Sport Aircraft rating. The test prototype has been flying for about a year, but plane-maker Terrafugia will unveil its production-class plane next month at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual convention in Oshkosh, Wisc.
The Transition drives like a car, uses normal high-octane gasoline, has front-wheel-drive and even comes with airbags. Its fuel economy is about 30 miles per gallon. But unlike your Prius, it can unfold its wings and fly. You’ll only need a one-third of a mile strip for a runway, meaning you could conceivably use your own street. It is powered by a rear propeller and flies about 115 miles per hour.
The ideal customer is a sport pilot who gets tired of flying to regional regional airports only to have to wait for a cab, rent a car or use public transportation. Now he or she can just fold up the wings and motor on to the next errand.
It won’t be ideal for cargo trips — it only holds about 460 pounds, including fuel and passengers — but for sport pilots on short jaunts, it’s a one-vehicle solution.
The Transition uses normal fuel, making it the greenest plane in the sky, Terrafugia says. And potentially one of the safest — if the weather turns bad, the plane can land and drive home instead.
General characteristics
Performance
The MarkoZen Blog 