Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favorite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding
Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat
Canada: The Melansons of Iqaluit, Nunavut Territory
Food expenditure for one week: US$345
Favorite foods: narwhal, polar bear, extra cheese stuffed crust pizza,
Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Favorite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks
Kuwait: The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City
Food expenditure for one week: 63.63 dinar or $221.45
Family recipe: Chicken biryani with basmati rice
China: The Dong family of Beijing
Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce
Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips
Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork
Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton
Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Family recipe: Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips
Mali: The Natomos of Kouakourou
Food expenditure for one week: 17,670 francs or $26.39
Family Recipe: Natomo Family Rice Dish
France: The Le Moines of Montreuil
Food expenditure for one week: 315.17 euros or $419.95
Favorite foods: Delphine Le Moine's Apricot Tarts, pasta carbonara, Thai food
India: The Patkars of Ujjain
Food expenditure for one week: 1,636.25 rupees or $39.27
Family Recipe: Sangeeta Patkar's Poha (Rice Flakes)
Australia: The Browns of River View
Food expenditure for one week: 481.14 Australian dollars or US$376.45
Family Recipe: Marge Brown's Quandong (an Australian peach) Pie, Yogurt
Here is a photo essay made by photographer Peter Menzel: What the World Eats.
In 2005 Menzel took a photographic survey of the diets of families around the world, documenting what they purchased and ate in the course of a week. The results are visually striking – Menzel has cleverly remade the classic family portrait as an intimate archive of consumption and metabolism – and they also reveal a remarkable range in the quantity, quality, and variety of foods that families across the world take as quotidian.
How about you, what do you eat in one week?
Sky burial, or ritual dissection, is a funerary practice in Tibet, wherein a human corpse was incised in certain locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements (mahabhuta) and animals – especially to predatory birds. The locations of preparation and sky burial are understood in the Vajrayana traditions as charnel grounds. In Tibet the practice is known as jhator ( Wylie: bya gtor), which means "giving alms to the birds."
There are more than 20,000 slaves buried in New York!
Archaeologists in New York have been investigating a burial site located under the busy New York streets. They estimate that about 20,000 slaves were buried under the metropolis. They've found many skeletons with filed teeth, a practice that leads them to believe that they arrived to New York straight from Africa. These slaves helped build the ...city back when it was becoming the economic center of the United States.
One horrible finding that has been found on these slave burial grounds is that half of the remains were children under 12 years old! Researchers speculate that it was more cost effective for slave owners to work people to death and replace them instead of taking good care of them, so they took people that were young, but ready to work
A girl and a guy are on a motorcycle..
Girl: This is really scary, slow down!
Guy: No, I'm having too much fun!
Girl: Please stop!
Guy: First hug me
Girl: *hugs*
Guy: Tell me you love me
Girl:I love you, can you slow down now?
Guy: Can you take my helmet off and put it on yourself? It's bugging me
Girl: *puts on helmet*
Next Day's Headlines:
There was an accident involving a motocycle accident.
There were two people riding the motorcycle at the time of impact.
The vehicle was speeding out of control
and drove off road and into a building.
Only one of the two people died.
What Really Happened:
Half way through the ride the guy noticed that the brakes were gone,
but he didn't want to scare the girl.
So he got her to hug him one last time,
and to know that she loved him.
He got her to wear the helmet so that if they did crash,
that she would survive,
although that meant that he had to die...
The Mysterious Blood Falls :
One of the most amazing sights in Antarctica, the Blood Falls have been a mystery ever since they were discovered, in 1911.
A bloody column of water coming out of a glacier isn’t what you’d expect to see in the frozen land of Antarctica, but if you visit Taylor Glacier, that’s exactly what you’re going to find. At first, scientists thought they were dealing with some sorts of red algae, but further research proved the bloody color was caused by something spectacular.
It turns out a small lake was sealed under Taylor Glacier roughly 2 million years ago. Incredible, isn’t it?!? Actually no, what’s incredible is the glacier acted like a natural time capsule for the ancient microbes living in the lake. These invisible forms of life have survived without oxygen, light or heat and are considered to be the “primordial ooze” out which every living thing on Earth evolved.
FACTS ABOUT TITANIC. NOT TO BE MISSED!!!
-March 31, 1909 in Belfast (Ireland)
-The Titanic was constructed by the Harland & Wolff company
- Titanic construction took about 3 years and $7.5 million to complete
- It took around 3000 laborers to construct the Titanic
- Of the 2, 227 people aboard the Titanic, only 705 survived
- Many Titanic survivor diaries were discovered and illustrated the despair involved with the Titanic
- The death of Captain Edward Smith is a topic of debate; many think the Titanic could have been saved if he acted differently, some think not
- The Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlant ocean near the cost of Newfoundland shortly before Midnight, April 14, 1912
- The Titanic movie was nominated for 14 Oscars and won 11 of them making it the first film to win that many
- In 1997 it became the highest grossing film of all time, it now ranks 6th in North America
- No individuals with the same name as Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack Dawson) and Kate Winslett (Rose DeWitt Bukater) were on the shiP
The Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi is the largest arthropod in the world in overall size, weighing up to 20 kg (44 lb), having a body up to 60 cm (2 ft) long and having a leg span of almost 4 m (13 ft). It is indisputably the largest member of Brachyura (crabs).
Huge saltwater croc
The huge crocodile caught in Manilla, Philippines. It weighed 1075kg and was 21 ft long. It was seen to kill a water buffalo and might have killed two villagers too.
Initially, it destroyed 4 traps but was later caught using steel cables.
100 people were said to be needed to pull the croc from the creek to a clearing where a crane lifted it to a truck.
It is now safely placed in an enclosed cage and an ecotourism center will be built there
Really heart touching.........
I was walking around in a Big Bazar store making shopping, when I saw
a Cashier talking to a boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years
old..
TheCashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy
this doll. Then the little boy turned to me and asked: ''Uncle, are
you sure I don't have enough money?''
I counted his cash and replied: ''You know that you don't have enough
money to buy the doll, my dear.'' The little boy was still holding the
doll in his hand.
Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give
this doll to. 'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so
much . I wanted to Gift her for her BIRTHDAY.
I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my
sister when she goes there.' His eyes were so sad while saying this.
'My Sister has gone to be with God.. Daddy says that Mommy is going to
see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with
her to give it to my sister...''
My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I
told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I
come back from the mall.' Then he showed me a very nice photo of him
where he was laughing. He then told me 'I want mommy to take my
picture with her so my sister won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I
wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go
to be with my little sister.' Then he looked again at the doll with
sad eyes, very quietly..
I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check
again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?''
'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to
his with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough
for the doll and even some spare money.
The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!'
Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to
sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so
that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted
to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't
dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll
and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.'
I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I
started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I
remembered a local
news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a
truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The
little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical
state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the
life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to
recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?
Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news
paper that the young woman had passed away.. I couldn't stop myself as
I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where
the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make
last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a
beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and
the doll placed over her chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling
that my life had been changed for ever...
The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is
still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a
drunk driver had taken all this away from him.
Please DO NOT DRINK & DRIVE.
Now you have 2 choices:
1) Share this message, or
2) Ignore it as if it never touched your heart.
The value of a man or woman resides in what he or she gives, not in
what they are capable of receivinG
The baby lives inside a transparent membrane called the amniotic sac. The sac is filled with a salty solution which bathes the body's cells. In a complex process - the body recycles the fluid, swallowing some, absorbing some, expelling some - while at the same time manusacturing most of it. The embryo floats almost weightlessly in the fluid so it is protected from shocks and does not have to fight gravity.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT PENGUINS :-
1. Penguins are found only in the Southern Hemisphere. The northernmost penguin species is the Galapagos penguin, which lives year-round near the equator.
2. Penguins lost the ability to fly millions of years ago, but their powerful flipper-like wings and streamlined bodies make them very accomplished swimmers.
3. While swimming, penguins will leap above the surface of the water. This coats their plumage with tiny bubbles that reduce friction, allowing them to swim as fast as 20 miles per hour (32 kph).
4. Penguins’ eyes work better underwater than they do in the air, giving them superior eyesight to spot prey while hunting, even in cloudy or murky water.
5. The emperor penguin is the largest of the penguin species and can weigh up to 90 pounds. The fairy penguin is the smallest and weighs only 2 pounds. Depending on the species, a wild penguin can live 15-20 years
Finger Monkey
The pygmy marmoset or dwarf monkey is a New World monkey native to the rainforest canopies of western Brazil, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is one of the smallest primates, and the smallest true monkey, with its body length ranging from 14 to 16 centimetres
Hippo to help: Amazing moment hippopotamus tries to rescue drowning wildebeest :
Stuck on a rock in a crocodile infested river, this Wildebeest must have feared for its life. And, separated from the rest of the herd with a group of hippos closing in, the prospects for the animal did not seem appealing. But in an amazing act of animal compassion one of the passing hippos paddles
over and gives the wildebeest a quick leg-up to set it on its way.
The bull hippo takes pity on the struggling creature and fixes it enormous jaws around it and lifts it away from the rock. The wildebeest was then released from the rock and tried to join the rest of its herd which had been crossing the Masai River during an annual crossing in Masai Mara, Kenya.
Grand Canyon Skywalk :
The Grand Canyon Skywalk is a transparent horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge and tourist attraction in Arizona near the Colorado River on the edge of a side canyon in the Grand Canyon West area of the main canyon. USGS topographic maps show the elevation at the Skywalk's location as 4,770 ft (1,450 m) and the elevation of the Colorado River in the base of the canyon as 1,160 ft (350 m), and they show that the height of the precisely vertical drop directly under the skywalk is between 500 ft (150 m) and 800 ft (240 m).
The Incredible Tree-Climbing Goats of Morocco :
Before you jump to conclusions: no, these were not created by a bored geek in Photoshop. Amazingly, these uncanny animals are actually real: they climb the Argan trees of Morocco in search of food, which is otherwise sparse in the region. Over time they have become not only able to climb trees but downright adept at the art – the traipse across trees with a sure-footedness that is hard to imagine from a hoofed animal.
1. Seahorses have no stomach and no teeth. Food passes through their digestive system very quickly and thus they should eat constantly in order to stay alive.
2. They may not look like a fish but they are true fishes.
3. The small fin on their back can flutter up to 35 times per second. Currently about 35 species of seahorses have been identified.
4. The female seahorse lay eggs into a brood pouch on the ventral of male seahorse. Male fertilize these eggs in his pouch and he carries the eggs in his pouch until they hatch, then releases little hatchlings into the water.
5. They are commonly used in Chinese herbal medicines and it is estimated that as much as 20 million sea horses are caught and sold each year for this purpose.
Iceberg Pleneau Bay, Antarctica
Entrance to the Southern Water Tribe! :))
This is one tough mother: Ines Ramirez is the only woman known to have performed a successful Caesarean-section on herself! The sun had set hours ago. The nearest clinic was 80 km away over rough roads, and her husband, her only assistant during a half-dozen previous births, was drinking at a cantina. She had no phone and neither did the cantina.
So at midnight, after 12 hours of constant pain, the petite, 40-year-old mother of six sat down on a low wooden bench. She took several gulps from a bottle of rubbing alcohol, grabbed a 15-cm knife and began to cut.
By the light of a single dim bulb, Ramirez sawed through skin, fat and muscle before reaching inside her uterus and pulling out her baby boy. She says she cut his umbilical cord with a pair of scissors, then passed out. When she regained consciousness, she wrapped a sweater around her bleeding abdomen and asked her 6-year-old son, Benito, to run for help. Several hours later, the village health assistant, Leon Cruz, and a second health worker found Ramirez alert and lying beside her live baby. Cruz sewed her 17-cm incision up with a regular needle and thread. The two men lifted mother and child onto a thin straw mat, lugged them up horse paths to the town's only road, then drove them to the clinic over two hours away.
That was March 5, 2000. Now Ines Ramirez is recognized internationally as a modern miracle: She is believed to be the only woman known to have performed a successful Caesarean-section on herself.
I went to the party and remembered what you said. You asked me not to drink alcohol. So I drank a Sprite. I felt proud of myself, as you said I should feel. You said I should not drink and drive, contrary to what some friends told me. I made a healthy choice and your advice was correct, as all you give me forever.
When the party finally ended, people began to drive without being able to do so. I went to my car with the certainty that he would return home in peace. I never imagined what awaited me, Mom. Now I'm lying in the street and I hear the policeman say: "The kid that caused this accident was drunk." Mom, his voice seems so distant. My blood is spilled everywhere and I'm trying with all my might not moan. I can hear the doctors say, "This girl is going to die." I have the certainty that the young man, who ran at full speed, decided to drink and drive, and now I have to die.
Why do people do this, Mom, knowing that this is going to ruin many lives? The pain is cutting me like a hundred knives. Tell my sister not to cry, tell Daddy to be strong. And when I go to heaven, I'll be watching for you all. Someone should have taught that boy is wrong to drink and drive. Maybe if his parents would have said, I would not be dying now. My breath is getting weaker, more and more. Mom, these are my last moments and I feel so desperate. I wish I could hug Mom, while I'm lying here dying. I wish I could tell you how much I love you, Mom. So .. I love ... y. .. goodbye ... "
(These words were written by a reporter who witnessed the accident. The girl, as he died, I was saying these words and the reporter wrote down ... very overwhelmed. The journalist started this campaign, if you read this note, please click " share ", so more people can be aware. Therefore, I ask one small gesture, send it to your friends, family and loved ones.
A dog in the middle of a street, tries to awaken his dead friend, who had been hit by a car. The dog would bark and growl at anyone trying to get close, and he would not leave his friend. Some animals are more compassionate and loyal than humans. ♥
One day an 11 year old girl asked her daddy,
"What are you going to get me for my 15th birthday?"
The father replied, "There is much time left."
When the girl was 14 she fainted and was rushed to the hospital.
The doctor came out and told her dad she had a bad heart& she is probably gonna die
When she was lying in the hospital bed she said
"Daddy,. have they told you i am going to die ?"
The father replied no you will live as he left weeping.
She said "How can you be sure."
He turned around from the door and said "I know."
She turns 15 when she is recovering and comes home to find a letter on her bed. It says ;
"My Dearest Daughter, if you are reading this it means all went well as I told you. One day you asked me what I was giving you for your 15th birthday, I didn't know then but now my preasent to you is a MY HEART."
Her father donated his heart♥
There is a tree so poisonous that rainwater running off it's leaves will burn your skin.
It's called Manchineel and it's a fruit tree native to Florida. However, you probably don't want to eat the fruit! The fruit looks like an apple and it is believed to cause death when eaten. In fact the spanish name for the fruit is "manazanilla de la muerte" or "little apple of death."
The tree is so poison...ous that rainfall that touches its leaves will cause somone's skin to blister. Despite this, they are good natural wind breakers and they're used to prevent beaches from eroding. To prevent people from getting burnt, most trees are marked either with signs or red Xs to indicate that they're a dangerous tree.
INCREDIBLE AND SIMPLY MIND-BLOWING!!!
Where two oceans meet... but do not mix!
These two bodies of water were merging in the middle of The Gulf of Alaska and there was a foam developing only at their junction. It is a result of the melting glaciers being composed of fresh water and the ocean has a higher percentage of salt causing the two bodies of water to have different densities and therefore makes it more difficult to mix..
Giant Tsunami-Shape Clouds Roll Across Alabama Sky :
For a morning, the sky looked like a surfer's dream: A series of huge breaking waves lined the horizon in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday (Dec. 16), their crests surging forward in slow motion. Amazed Alabamans took photos of the clouds and sent them to their local weather station, wondering, "What are these tsunamis in the sky?"
Experts say the clouds were pristine examples of "Kelvin-Helmholtz waves." Whether seen in the sky or in the ocean, this type of turbulence always forms when a fast-moving layer of fluid slides on top of a slower, thicker layer, dragging its surface.
She was 9 in long when she was born and weighed under 8 oz, about the weight of a fizzy drink can or a mobile phone. She made her parents cry, lying there all wrinkly, hooked up to the wires and the oxygen, dwarfed by her incubator and less than half the size of her twin. But Rumaisa Rahman, born 14 weeks early, battled for life and claimed her place in the record books as the smallest baby known to survive. She and her sister, Hiba, who weighed just 1lb 4oz at birth but is now a healthy 5lb, were delivered on September 19, 2004 by Caesarean section near Chicago. Doctors took the agonizing decision to deliver them at just twenty-five weeks and six days because their mother was suffering from such high blood pressure that her life, and the life of the twins she was carrying, were at risk. The gamble paid off. Rumaisa, broke a 15-year-old record set by a baby at the same hospital whose birth weight was just under 10 oz.
