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Showing posts with label Weird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weird. Show all posts

The White Oak Tree That Owns Itself

At the intersection of Dearing Street and Finley Street, in a quiet residential neighborhood near downtown Athens, in the state of Georgia, the US, stands a white oak tree that might be the strangest property owner in the world. For nearly two centuries, this tree is believed to have owned itself and a small patch of land surrounding its base.

The story of its ownership goes back to 1890 when it was first reported in a local newspaper. According to the article published, the property originally belonged to one Colonel William Henry Jackson, who had such true love for the tree, that he devised a way that would ensure the tree survived long after he was gone. So sometime between 1820 and 1832, Col. Jackson prepared a deed that transferred the tree’s ownership to itself and all of the land within eight feet of its trunk on all sides.

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The Tree That Was Arrested

In the Landi Kotal army cantonment area in present-day Pakistan, there is a banyan tree that is kept chained to the ground as if to prevent it from escaping. A board hanging from its branches read, in part: "I am under arrest."

The story goes that in 1898, a British army officer named James Squid, under the influence of alcohol, thought that the tree was lurching towards him. Threatened by the tree, the officer ordered the mess sergeant to arrest it. The mess sergeant followed the officer's orders and chained the offending tree. More than a hundred years later, the tree is still in chains.

“Through this act, the British basically implied to the tribesmen that if they dared act against the Raj, they too would be punished in a similar fashion," a resident of the army cantonment told the Tribune.

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Polar Stratospheric Clouds And Its Dark Secret

Sometimes deep into the winter, after sunset or before dawn, sheets of unbelievably bright and vividly colored clouds can be seen forming against the partially dark twilight sky. This rare type of cloud formations are known as “polar stratospheric clouds” or “nacreous clouds”, and they can only be seen from high latitude regions such as Iceland, Alaska, Northern Canada, the Scandinavian countries and Antarctica. The Scandinavians call them “mother of pearls” because of their spectacular iridescent colors. Described as “one of the most beautiful of all cloud formations,” nacreous clouds are also the most destructive to our atmosphere. Their presence encourages a chemical reaction that breaks down the ozone layer, which is an essential shield protecting us from the sun's harmful rays.

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Wunderland Kalkar: Nuclear Power Plant Turned Amusement Park

In Kalkar in 1972, construction was started on the SNR-300, the first fast breeder nuclear reactor in Germany. The reactor was designed to use plutonium as fuel and be cooled by sodium, and was to output 327 megawatts of energy. It was still a very new technology at the time, but the German government was determined to limit energy import and, as the uranium supply in Germany was limited, a breeder facility to use the limited resources efficiently was required.

The local state government was concerned about the safety of nuclear energy, and sporadic demonstration continually delayed the project. In 1979, disaster struck at another nuclear plant at Three Mile Island, and public protests reached new heights. Despite opposition, construction of the SNR-300 continued and by 1985 the power plant was competed. By that time about 7 billion Deutsche Mark (about 3.5 billion euros or over 4 billion USD) were already spent on it.

Then in 1986, after the Chernobyl disaster, the SNR-300 never went into full operation, and in 1991, the project was officially cancelled.

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Denki Buro: The Electric Baths of Japan

Many public bath houses in Japan have special pools lined with live metal electrodes for those peculiar bathers who would rather have actual electricity surging through their bodies than have coffees like normal folks. These baths are known as denki buro or “electric baths” and they are found throughout Japan.

Whatever you had learned about the deadly combination of electricity and water at primary school, you can experience first hand at a denki buro. The bather sits in a small pool between two plates of opposite electric polarity and lets a low-level electric current to pass through their body. The current induces mild shock causing the muscles to contract and develop a tingling sensation which some people find relaxing while others find it painful. Electric baths are said to provide relief from rheumatism and spondylitis, but it is also rumored, especially by the younger generation, that denki buro reduces sperm count.

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NASA’s Mars Explorers Recruitment Posters

Continuing with the theme of imaginary space-based scenarios, NASA has released a new set of posters calling for explorers to join them on their journey to Mars. Drawn in the style similar to NASA’s futuristic space-tourism posters depicting faraway exoplanets and solar systems as sightseeing destinations, these new ‘Mars Explorers Wanted’ posters depict the various roles explorers would need to fit into in order to explore and colonize the red planet. This include surveyors, farmers, technicians, teachers and so on.

According to NASA’s website, these posters were originally commissioned for an exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex in 2009. They were released online as high-resolution, printable posters sometime in the middle of June this year. Be sure to checkout their Visions of the Future posters as well.

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