Something Different : entertainment

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Some Unsolved Mysteries of the World

Mary Celeste

Mary Celeste, originally named “Amazon” was launched in 1860 at Nova Scotia; Mysteric disappearing of its crew and captain is one of the most fascinating mysteries of all time; the captain of the ship (Benjamin Briggs), his family and ship’s crew all disappeared in straits of Gibralter after leaving for Genoa Italy, carrying 1700 barrels of raw American alcohol.

According to some reports later in 1873, some life boats were found allegedly having bodies of crew of Mary Celeste,there was also an American flag in one of these boats but these bodies were never identified; Mary Celeste was 103 ft tall and it was sold in New York auction for $ 3000.

The Taus Hum

Taus Hum is a buzz type of low pitched sound heard in several countries like USA,UK and some parts of Europe; Taos Hum name is derived from the Taos and Hum, Taos is a city of New Mexico and Hum is the sound type; ; people say that it seems that it is described as a sound of distant diesel engine; lot of people have different theories about the origin of this sound but none knows the exact reason of the these sounds.

Jack the Ripper

Jack the ripper is the name given to the supposed perpetrator of series of murders in 1888 in London, all the victims of the killer were prostitutes with cut throats and damaged bodies;it is suspected by some experts that actually Prince albert victor ( Member of British royal family) was Jack the ripper ; putting aside all these speculations no one knows who exactly is Jack the Ripper.

Bermuda Triangle

Bermuda Triangle is a traingled shaped mysterious area situated in North Atlantic ocean; if we look at our history it is full of incidents, in which numerous planes and boats mysteriously disappeared in this area.

Many campaigns were launched to solve this mystery and there are lot of theories about this mystery like bad weather,alien encounters etc but till date no one succeeded to explain the exact reason of these disappearances.

Shroud of Turin

According to Roman catholics, Shroud of Turin is a linen clothing having image of Jesus Christ, but carbon dating tests have showed that linen fibres of shroud were grown in middle ages; this linen clothing is still subject of debate among experts and the reality of this clothing is still a mystery.

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Most Amazing Places That Look Out of This World

Our planet Earth has many strange and often beautiful places that retain the power to inspire and mystify. They remind us that even in this age of technical and technological marvels there are still amazing places to be discovered. Here are some of our favorite alien-like landscapes on earth:
1. The Spotted Lake

Spotted Lake is a saline endorheic alkali lake located northwest of Osoyoos in British Columbia and is very highly concentrated with numerous different minerals.
In the summer, most of the water in the lake evaporates leaving behind all the minerals. Large “spots” on the lake appear and depending on the mineral composition at the time, the spots will be different colors. The spots are made mainly of magnesium sulfate, which crystallizes in the summer. Since in the summer, only the minerals in the lake remain, they harden to form natural “walkways” around and between the spots.

Spotted Lake contains some of the highest quantities in the world of magnesium sulfate, calcium and sodium sulphates.

2. The Giant's Causeway

The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim, on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland.

Legend has it that the Irish warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner. One version of the legend tells that Fionn fell asleep before he got to Scotland. When he did not arrive, the much larger Benandonner crossed the bridge looking for him. To protect Fionn, his wife Oonagh laid a blanket over him so he could pretend that he was actually their baby son. In a variation, Fionn fled after seeing Benandonner's great bulk, and asked his wife to disguise him as the baby. In both versions, when Benandonner saw the size of the ‘infant', he assumed the alleged father, Fionn, must be gigantic indeed. Therefore, Benandonner fled home in terror, ripping up the Causeway in case he was followed by Fionn.

The Giant's Causeway is today owned and managed by the National Trust and it is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland.

3. Pamukkale

The strange and weirdly beautiful terraced pools of Pamukkale have been appreciated for over two millennia and yet still remain a little known wonder of the world.

Thousands of years ago earthquakes, which are common in Turkey, created fractures that allowed powerful hot springs to bring water rich in calcium carbonate to the surface. As the water evaporated the chalky material condensed and formed layer-upon-layer of Travertine and thus slowly built up the walls over time in the same way that a stalactite forms in a cave.

Apparently Pammakale means Castle of Cotton but the Greco-Romans built a town above it called Heirapolis – meaning “Holy City” or “Sacred City”. They too recognised it as a rare and important place attributing healing powers to the milky-white waters.

4. McMurdo Dry Valleys

The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of valleys in Antarctica located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound. The terrain looks like something not of this Earth. The region includes many interesting geological features including Lake Vida and the Onyx River, Antarctica's longest river.

The valley's floor occasionally contains a perennially frozen lake with ice several meters thick. It is also one of the world's most extreme deserts Under the ice, in the extremely salty water, live mysterious simple organisms, a subject of on-going research.

Scientists consider the Dry Valleys perhaps an important source of insights into possible extraterrestrial life.

5. Socotra Island

This island simply blows away any notion about what is considered “normal” for a landscape on Earth, you'd be inclined to think you were transported to another planet - or traveled to another era of Earth's history.

Socotra Island, which is part of a group of four islands, has been geographically isolated from mainland Africa for the last 6 or 7 million years. Like the Galapagos Islands, the island is teeming with 700 extremely rare species of flora and fauna, a full 1/3 of which are endemic.

The climate is harsh, hot and dry, and yet - the most amazing plant life thrives there. Situated in the Indian Ocean 250 km from Somalia and 340 km from Yemen, the wide sandy beaches rise to limestone plateaus full of caves (some 7 kilometers in length) and mountains up to 1525 meters high. The trees and plants of this island were preserved thru the long geological isolation, some varieties being 20 million years old.

6. Lencois Maranhenses

Located in the State of Maranhão, on the north shore of Brazil, the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park is an area of about 300 square kilometers (155,000 ha) of blinding white dunes and deep blue lagoons, forming one of the most beautiful and unique places in the world. The dunes invade the continent over 50km (31 miles) from the cost, creating a landscape that reminds a white bed sheet, when seen from above.

Lençóis Maranhenses looks like an archetypal desert. In fact it isn't actually a desert. Lying just outside the Amazon basin, the region is subject to a regular rain season during the beginning of the year. The rains cause a peculiar phenomenon: fresh water collects in the valleys between sand dunes, spotting the desert with blue and green lagoons that reach their fullest between July and September.

The area is also surprisingly home to a variety of fish which, despite the almost complete disappearance of the lagoons during the dry season, have their eggs brought from the sea by birds.

7. Rio Tinto

The vast mines of Rio Tinto give a hypnagogic, almost martian landscape. Its growth has consumed not only mountains and valleys but even entire villages.

This river has gained recent scientific interest due to the presence of extremophile aerobic bacteria that dwell in the water. The extreme conditions in the river are analogous to other locations in the solar system thought to contain liquid water, such as subterranean Mars.

Río Tinto is notable for being very acidic (pH 2) and its deep reddish hue. It is metal solvent and surely not human-friendly!