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Showing posts with label TRAVEL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TRAVEL. Show all posts

10 Strangest Beaches In The World

By On December 15, 2017 In
Everyone loves a trip to the beach. The warmth of the Sun on your skin, the fresh air blowing off the sea, the soft sand between your toes, the glowing waves, the chunks of ice, and the hot springs are what make a holiday special.
You probably weren’t expecting to read some of the items in that last sentence, but not all beaches are the same. Some have very unique qualities. Here are ten of the most unusual beaches on Earth to plan your next holiday around.
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10 Lesser-Known Transport Disasters Of The 20th Century

By On March 14, 2017 In
The sinking of the Titanic, the collision of the SS Mont-Blanc, and the Hindenburg explosion are all well-known transport disasters that are always remembered and talked about. They’ve become icons, have been made into movies, and have ensured their place in history, never to be forgotten. But there are many more disasters out there that each one mattered just as much for the people involved. Each one made our world a safer place.


10The Iolaire

HMS Iolaire
Photo via Wikimedia
On January 1, 1919, two months after the end of World War I, British sailors who’d survived the perils of both the ocean and the war were returning to their families on the Isle of Lewis and Harris, only to tragically perish within miles of reaching home.
The Iolaire (which means “eagle” in Gaelic) was built as a luxury yacht in 1881. During the war, it was equipped with guns and performed anti-submarine and patrol work. The Isle of Lewis and Harris saw a fifth of its population of 30,000 killed in World War I; the crew of the Iolaire were the lucky ones, eager to celebrate the New Year with their families.
Before anyone could celebrate, the ship struck the rocks known as the Beasts of Holm. It was only meant to carry 100 people, but there were almost 300 aboard, with only 80 life jackets and two lifeboats. It was expected to dock in Stornoway Harbour, but due to low visibility, it struck the rocks at the entrance of the harbor and quickly sank, less than 1 kilometer (0.6 mi) from shore. While 205 perished, 40 were saved by a brave man who improvised a rescuing implement from a rope, and 39 more were able to make it to shore on their own.
A naval inquiry was held in private on January 8, its results not being released to the public until 1970. It reached the conclusion that due to the fact that no officers survived, “No opinion can be given as to whether blame is attributable to anyone in the matter.” Numerous other inquiries, both official and unofficial, were held, none of which settled the matter. The weather wasn’t very bad, but those in charge should have taken safety precautions, like slowing down while approaching the harbor and having more lifeboats.
The site of the wreck is marked today by a pillar that reminds everyone who enters Stornoway Harbour of the cruel irony that befell those who survived the war and were so close to enjoying peace.

9USS Akron

USS Akron
Photo via Wikimedia
Following the example of the Hindenburg, the US built two helium-filled airships, each 239 meters (784 ft) long and carrying enough fuel to travel 16,900 kilometers (10,500 mi). One of them was named the USS Akron and was commissioned by the US Navy in 1931. Its mission was to provide long-distance scouting in support of fleet operations, and after a number of trials, the airship was equipped with reconnaissance aircraft and a system designed for in-flight launch and recovery of Sparrowhawk biplanes.
On a routine mission, disaster struck. During the early hours of April 4, 1933, off the coast of New Jersey, a storm began, which caused the airship to strike the water with its tail. The Akron quickly broke apart. What’s intriguing is that it carried no life jackets and only one rubber raft, which dramatically diminished the crew’s chances of survival. Of the 76 onboard, 73 drowned or died of hypothermia.
Although the weather was certainly a factor, Captain Frank McCord is also considered responsible, for flying too low and not taking into account the length of his ship when he tried to climb higher. It is also believed that the barometric altimeter failed due to low pressure caused by the storm.
Akron’s sister ship, the USS Macon, was also lost off the California coast in 1935. Fortunately, that time, only two people perished. These events prompted the US to end its rigid airship program.



8Junyo Maru Tragedy

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The Japanese are remembered for being extremely cruel to their captives during World War II, especially to prisoners of war, who were moved around the Pacific in rusted ships and used for forced labor. The problem with these ships was that they were not marked with a red cross in order to be identified as prison ships per the Geneva Convention, which made them vulnerable to being sunk by Allied aircraft or submarines. The largest maritime disaster in World War II occurred because of this.
On September 18, 1944, the Junyo Maru was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean by the British submarine HMS Tradewind, which couldn’t have known what cargo the ship was carrying. Of the 6,500 Dutch, British, American, Australian, and Japanese slave laborers and POWs onboard, 5,620 died as a result. The Junyo Maru was sailing up the west coast of Java from Batavia (now called Jakarta) to Padang, where its prisoners were to be taken to work on the Sumatra Railway.
Conditions onboard were indescribably bad. Many people were literally packed into bamboo cages like sardines. Those in charge put their life jackets on as soon as they left, whereas the POWs could only count on two lifeboats and a few rafts.
Even more tragically, the approximately 700 POWs who were pulled from the water were still taken to work in the Sumatra Railway construction camps. Only about 100 survived.

7MV Wilhelm Gustloff Disaster


Nazi Germany designed a state-controlled leisure organization in order to show its citizens the benefits of living in a national socialist regime. Working-class Germans were taken on tours for holidays aboard the MV Wilhelm Gustloff and the program, nicknamed Strength Through Joy, became the largest tour operator in the world in the 1930s.

This all ended when World War II began. In 1945, the Wilhelm Gustloff became part of Operation Hannibal, the German evacuation of over one million civilians and military personnel due to the advancing Red Army in Prussia. Over 10,000 people, 4,000 of whom were children, were crammed onto the ship, all of them desperate to reach safety in the West. The ship was only meant to carry 1,800 people.
The Wilhelm Gustloff set off on January 30, 1945, against the advice of military commander Wilhelm Zahn, who said it was best to sail close to shore and with no lights. Instead, Captain Friedrich Petersen decided to go for deep water. He later learned of a German minesweeper convoy which was heading their way and decided to turn on the navigation lights in order to avoid a collision in the dark. This would soon prove to be a fatal decision. The Gustloff was carrying anti-aircraft guns and military personnel but wasn’t marked as a hospital ship, which would have protected her. Soviet submarine S-13 needed no second invitation to torpedo the shiny target three times.
Ample rescue efforts were made, which saved approximately 1,230 people. Over 9,000 perished in the cold waters of the Baltic Sea, the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking.

6Gillingham Bus Disaster


On the evening of December 4, 1951, 52 Royal Marine cadets, boys between 10 and 13 years old, were marching from a barrack in Gillingham, Kent, to one in Chatham to watch a box tournament. Their military uniforms were dark clothes and had nothing on them to make the cadets visible. The entrance to the Chatham Royal Naval Dockyard had a malfunctioning light, which made it impossible for the driver of an approaching double-decker bus to see the boys. He plunged right through them before stopping.
The driver, John Samson, had 40 years of experience behind the wheel, but inexplicably for the foggy weather, he didn’t have his headlights on. He claimed to have been traveling at no more than 32 kilometers per hour (20 mph). According to the only adult who was with the boys, Lieutenant Clarence Carter, Samson was going at least twice as fast.
Regardless of the bus’s speed, 17 boys died on the spot, with seven more sent to the hospital. Never before had there been such a tragic loss of life on British streets, and the victims were given a grand military funeral at Rochester Cathedral. Thousands of locals attended. The incident was ruled an accident despite the driver not turning on the headlights or braking until he was a few meters away. Samson was later fined £20 and had his right to drive revoked for three years.
Every such disaster is followed by improvements in order to prevent further loss of life. This time, it was decided that British military marchers will wear rear-facing red lights at night.


5Harrow & Wealdstone Rail Crash


October 8, 1952, is remembered by Londoners as the day of the worst peacetime rail crash in the UK. It was only exceeded by the Gretna Green disaster during World War I in 1915, when 227 Scottish soldiers headed for the front perished. The Harrow & Wealdstone rail crash involved three trains—a local passenger train from Tring, a Perth night express, which was running late because of foggy conditions, and an express train from Euston.

The driver of the Perth train passed a distant yellow signal, which means “caution,” without slowing, possibly because he couldn’t see it due to the weather. He also passed a later semaphore, which indicated “stop.” He only hit the brakes when it was already too late. Meanwhile, the train from Tring was waiting at the Harrow & Wealdstone Station for its passengers to embark. The Perth train impacted at approximately 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph). The disaster wouldn’t stop there. The fast-moving express from Euston approaching on a different line hit the debris from the initial impact and derailed.
In total, 16 carriages were destroyed, 13 of which were compressed into a pile only 41 meters (134 ft) long, 16 meters (52 ft) wide, and 9 meters (30 ft) tall. The human casualties would total 112 (102 immediately after the accident and 10 more later at the hospital), and 340 were injured.
Although the exact causes and persons responsible were hard to determine, it is believed that a combination of fog, misread signals, and out-of-date equipment caused the horrific crash. All the equipment was working, and the drivers were experienced men; all they needed was an updated system to back them up. The accident sped up the process of introducing the Automated Warning System of the British Railways. The system works by giving a driver who passes a caution or danger signal automated feedback, whether he saw the signal or not, and automatically applying the brakes.

4USS Thresher Sinking

USS Thresher
Photo via Wikimedia
The USS Thresher was the first in a new fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarine. It was commissioned in 1961 and went through numerous sea trials to test its new technological systems. As if foreshadowing the disaster that was to strike later on, these trials were interrupted by the failure of the generator while the reactor was shut down, which caused the temperature in the hull to spike, prompting an evacuation. Another setback occurred when the Thresher was hit by a tug and needed extensive repairs.
On April 10, 1963, the sub was conducting drills in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Cod, when it suddenly plunged to the seafloor and broke apart. All 129 passengers were killed—96 sailors, 16 officers, and 17 civilians. During the investigation into the accident, a leak in one of the joints in the engine room was discovered, which caused a short circuit in the electrical system and made it impossible to resurface the Thresher. The sub had no other choice but to sink and implode due to increasing water pressure.
The disaster mobilized the US Navy to put more effort into SUBSAFE, a program designed to rigorously control the quality of nuclear submarine construction.

3MV Derbyshire Sinking


The MV Derbyshire is the largest British bulk carrier lost at sea. Built in 1976, it was a majestic ship built in 1976 at 281 meters (922 ft) in length, 44 meters (144 ft) in width, and 24 meters (79 ft) in depth. It had been in service for only four years when it set sail toward its doom on July 11, 1980, carrying 150,000 tons of ore.

On September 9 or 10, Typhoon Orchid struck the Derbyshire in the East China Sea, just as the ship was approaching its destination. At the time, it was carrying 44 people, all of whom perished during the journey from Canada to Japan, where the ship was meant to transport its cargo.
What sets this disaster apart from others is that the ship seemed to be lost forever, with initial searches for the wreckage turning up nothing. The absence of any mayday call or distress signal beforehand was also intriguing to the families of those lost. A formal investigation was conducted seven years later in 1987. It concluded that no structural or other failures were to blame; the weather conditions were responsible.
The grieving families were not convinced, and they decided to from the Derbyshire Families Association (DFA) to work together toward the truth. They managed to raise enough funds to finally find what remained of the Derbyshire in 1994, lying on the seabed more than 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) down in the abyss. DFA members continued to push for a number of investigations, which resulted in increased ship safety over the years. While the 1970s were plagued by bulk carrier sinkings, with 17 lost each year. The numbers are much lower today.

2Bihar Train Accident

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Were it not for the British rule over India, which aimed to improve the transport system among other things, the Bihar train accident would have never happened. On June 6, 1981, a train with around 1,000 passengers crowed into nine coaches was traveling through the Indian state of Bihar, 400 kilometers (250 mi) away from Calcutta. It was the monsoon season in India, which meant that heavy rains made the tracks slippery, and the river below was swollen.
It is believed the tragedy that followed was caused by the driver, who saw a cow along the tracks and braked hard. Cows are sacred animals in the Hindu religion, and he was a devout follower. Due to the rain, the tracks were too slippery, and the wheels failed to grip, causing the carriages to plunge into the Baghmati River below, sinking fast. Rescue efforts were hours away, and by the time they arrived, almost 600 people had died, and another 300 remain missing.

1Ufa Train Explosion

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The 1980s were difficult times for Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who was trying to hold together the Soviet Union and maintain the Communist Party’s commanding role. At the same time, a series of disasters couldn’t hide the fact that the country’s infrastructure was old and dangerous. One of these disasters happened on June 4, 1989.
Two Russian passenger trains with hundreds of people onboard were passing one another near the city of Ufa, close to the Ural Mountains, when they met an extremely flammable cloud of gas leaking from a nearby pipeline. Sparks released by their passing blew both trains to pieces. Seven carriages were reduced to dust, while 37 more were destroyed, along with the engines. More than 500 people perished, many of whom were children returning from a holiday on the Black Sea. The force of the explosion was estimated to be similar to 10 kilotons of TNT, which nearly equaled that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The fireball formed was 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) long and destroyed all trees in a 4-kilometer (2.4 mi) radius.
The pipeline going along the rail lines was full of propane, butane, and hydrocarbons, and the pressure within was high enough to keep it in a liquid state. On the morning of June 4, a drop in pressure was observed, but instead of checking it out, the people in charge increased the pressure. Consequently, clouds of heavier-than-air propane formed and left the pipe, traveling along the rails. All they needed was a spark.
As with many disasters, the Ufa train explosion happened because finishing something quickly at minimal cost was more important than long-term consequences. The pipeline had more than 50 leaks in three years, and the Soviet Ministry of Petroleum didn’t want to admit their negligence. Worse, railway traffic controllers didn’t have the authority to halt trains on the Trans-Siberian railway, even if they smelled gas.
Teo loves animals, chocolate, and constantly finding out more about this magnificent and diverse world.
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10 Unusual Statues And Monuments From Around The World

By On March 12, 2017 In
Some monuments and statues instill a sense of pride, beauty, and country—those unforgettable works of art that you saw on field trips and in the pages of history books. But there are also less-explored monuments—odes to the weird, the wonderful, and the just plain wacky. There are thousands of commemorative monuments out there and plenty of roadside guides and travel books to point you in the right direction to see them. These quirky monuments draw in tons of visitors per year; sometimes, it’s just too hard to resist the bizarre.


10Boll Weevil Monument


There is nothing out of the ordinary about erecting a statue to commemorate a noble person or a period in history. However, a memorial for an insect is far less common. In Enterprise, Alabama, visitors have the unique opportunity to visit the Boll Weevil Monument, a statue of a woman proudly displaying a large boll weevil above her head. The monument was constructed in 1919 as a symbol of the perseverance of local farmers.

It seems that this particular agricultural pest wreaked havoc on the cotton crop and forced farmers to take up planting peanuts instead, a move that turned out to be extremely profitable for the town. The statue sits in the middle of Main Street and receives several visitors each year. The plaque on the monument reads, “In profound appreciation of the Boll Weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity, this monument is erected by the citizens of Enterprise.”

9Carhenge


Nearly all of us have heard of Stonehenge, but you’d be hard pressed to find many who have heard of Carhenge. This bizarre monument sits in the grassy planes of Alliance, Nebraska, a memorial to the classic American cars of yesteryear. The cars, mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, are situated in a circle with their noses in the ground and yet more cars balancing on top of them. The roadside attraction was built in the 1980s and mimics the exact arrangement of Stonehenge.

The maker of this odd monument created it to commemorate his father. The property upon which it resides contains other automotive tributes, including a cemetery dedicated to fallen foreign vehicles. In 2011, Carhenge was put up for sale with an asking price of $300,000. That may seem like a steep price, but it is estimated that this quirky site attracts around 80,000 visitors per year from all over the globe.



8Enema Monument


Why anyone would want to build an ode to an enema is beyond most, but such a monument does exist in the southern Russian city of Zheleznovodsk. The bronze memorial weighs 360 kilograms (800 lb), is 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall, and is balanced on the backs of three naked cherubs. The enema is considered a work of art by the director of the Mashuk-Akva Term Spa and is proudly displayed in the front courtyard of the building. The mountainous region where the spa is located is known for its digestive treatments, which involve enemas filled with natural spring water to help patients deal with intestinal discomfort. In this way, the enema actually serves as a symbol of local health services.

The statue cost a whopping $42,000 and was unveiled in 2008 to an excited crowd. A banner stuck on one of the spa walls read, “Let’s beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas.” The sculptor who created the enema said that she did so with irony and humor in mind. Her goal was to model the three angels after those seen in works from the Italian Renaissance. No doubt Botticelli would be proud.

7Steve Jobs Monument


After the death of Steve Jobs, an interactive iPhone was erected in front of St. Petersburg’s National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics, and Optics. The memorial had a lit display with a slideshow displaying photographs and videos from the life and career of Jobs, focusing on his many achievements as CEO of Apple. The phone also had a large QR code on the back, which visitors were able to scan and be redirected to a website commemorating Jobs.

Despite being quite popular, the giant iPhone was taken down by Russian officials only a year after it was unveiled. The firm that originally put the memorial up decided to dismantle it the day after Tim Cooke, Apple’s newest CEO, announced his sexual orientation. A Russian news station reported that the monument was removed because of the country’s homosexuality laws involving minors and because it was revealed that there may be a tie between Apple’s products and national security. The college where the iPhone was displayed denies these claims and states that the phone was malfunctioning and needed to be repaired. The monument has not been put back up.

6Shit Fountain


Artist Jerzy Kenar got tired of stepping out of his Chicago home and constantly stepping in dog poop. So, he decided to put his talents to good use and created a visual monument that would serve as a reminder to the dog owners of the neighborhood to scoop up what their pups leave behind. Enter Shit Fountain, a fecal-shaped bronze coil on top of a cement pillar with the monument’s title carved into the side.

The statue also has water trickling over the top of it in order to give it that freshly excreted look. The fountain is beloved by passersby, and people often have their photos taken squatting above the statue or mimicking quenching their thirst. The artist believes that it has helped local dog owners to be more conscientious and finds the work to be an important part of the neighborhood scenery.



5The Headington Shark


The 8-meter-tall (25 ft) fiberglass Headington Shark is hard to miss not just because of its length, but more so because it appears to be crashing headfirst into the roof of a cozy British house. The shark was placed on the house’s roof on August 9, 1986, the 41st anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing, by the homeowner as a statement about the devastation brought on by the use of nuclear weapons. The local neighborhood council wasn’t particularly thrilled about the bizarre leviathan and attempted to have it removed. However, the homeowner successfully appealed to the British Secretary of the Environment on behalf of the shark and was able to save it from being taken down.

Visitors from around the world flock to New High Street to see the shark each year. Many come to celebrate the shark’s birthday. Drinks and cake are served, and the owner of the home signs copies of his book, The Hunting of the Shark. The home (shark attached) went up for rent in 2014 for just over £2,000 a month. The owner prefers to rent to individuals who don’t mind visitors taking photographs of the shark and who don’t mind answering the occasional question about its meaning. Ironically, however, he has asked that only tenants without pets inquire.

4Die Badende


“Die Badende” translates to “The Bather,” and one look at the statue in the Inner Alster Lake in Hamburg, Germany, will tell you why. The huge sculpture of a woman’s head and bare knees was on display for only 10 days and gave the body of water the appearance of a giant bathtub. The Bather was 20 meters (67 ft) long and weighed more than 2 tons. Tourists came in droves to view the woman before she was removed weeks later by a large crane. Swimming through her parted legs was particularly popular among boats crammed with visitors.

Artist Oliver Voss created the sculpture as an advertisement for British beauty company Glory. The company wanted to make a “big splash” in thanking the German people for embracing their latest line of products. The advertisement proved very successful; customers and a large crowd gathered to watch the woman hoisted from the water. The movers had a large towel ready to conceal her lady bits from peeping eyes.

3Jimmy Carter Peanut

Jimmy Carter Peanut
Photo credit: National Park Service
The Jimmy Carter Peanut might give you nightmares, standing at 4 meters (13 ft) tall with a wide, toothy smile and no eyes. The peanut can be found on the side of the road in Plains, Georgia. The structure started out far from Georgia, however. It was actually constructed in Indiana in 1976 to honor Jimmy Carter’s visit to the state during his presidential campaign tour. Why was a giant, smiling peanut, of all things, used as a tribute? Well, before he was president, Carter was actually a peanut farmer.
The statue also possesses the same grin that was known so fondly as one of Carter’s most handsome traits during his years in office. In 2000, a car struck the poor peanut, causing it to topple over. But don’t worry: The peanut was restored to its former glory and can still be visited today. Not surprisingly, it’s the most (if not the only) photographed thing in Plains.

2Jeju Loveland


The salacious monuments found on Jeju Island in South Korea were made to honor sexual acts. The park itself is called Jeju Loveland and arouses more than just curiosity from its many visitors. The theme park opened in 2004 and has a collection of more than 140 erotic statues depicting sexual encounters between both humans and animals. The goals of the theme park are to break down barriers and taboo feelings surrounding sex and promote the “natural beauty of sexuality.”

The park is roughly the size of two soccer fields, and it takes visitors about an hour to see all that it has to offer. The statues were created by graduate students from Seoul’s Hongik University and have an educational function as well. Many marriages in South Korea are arranged, and as such, couples can find themselves in the situation of being new to the delights of marriage. Jeju Loveland has become a popular spot for honeymooners to visit and receive a type of crash course in sex education. The theme park wants to be open to all types of visitors and even has a playground for anyone visiting with children.

1Brownnosers


Brownnosers, created by Czech artist David Cerny, takes the term “brownnoser” to an entirely new (and literal) level. The two statues stand, or rather bend over, outside the Futura Gallery in Prague. The two figures are positioned side-by-side with the lower portions of their torsos protruding from a cement wall. Viewers are invited to climb ladders attached to the open anuses of the figures and stick their heads inside the openings.

Inside the statue is a video depicting the Czech President Vaclav Klaus and the head of the National Gallery spoon-feeding one another. The video shows the two men (really actors) in masks, feeding each other to the tune of Queen’s famous song “We Are The Champions.” The piece is meant as a criticism not only of the political situation in the Czech Republic, but as a physical manifestation of the artist’s disdain for the National Gallery. In fact, Cerny’s hate for the gallery runs so deep that he actually refused to accept the award they gave him. He stated that upon meeting the curator of the museum, “It was hate at first sight.”
Lee DeGraw is a freelance writer with an inquiring mind.
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