Showing posts with label countries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label countries. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Which country can manufacture jet engines?

 Six countries. The US, the UK, France, Russia, Ukraine and China. The most successful manufacturer in the world is Rolls‑Royce of the UK, and the manufacturer of the most high‑end jet engine in the world for fighter jets is Pratt & Whitney of the US.

GE is not as good as Pratt & Whitney in the high‑end engine market, but it is ranked second in both military and civilian markets, and it has Saffron, a joint venture with French Snecma, as its subsidiary. French Snecma seems to have great technology in both civilian and military markets.

Ukraine has the ability to design and manufacture jet engines for very large aircraft. Russia is particularly famous for its durability, although its turbine blade durability is inferior to that of the US and UK. I don't have much information on China. I know that it is a country where the people are very interested in jet engines.

Many dozens of countries can manufacture jet engines, keep in mind jet engines can be built with WWII era fabrication technology using materials that is not even the best available during the 1930s and 1940s. But those jet engines, while still functional jet engines, would be beneath absolute crap by contemporary standard of durability, efficiency, and reliability. If the goal is to manufacture technologically reasonably competitive military or civil engines, the list drastically shortens to just a handful.

Several countries license produce engines designed by others, and probably can build competitive engines of their own given additional investment. These might include Japan and India.

engines designed by others, and probably can build competitive engines of their own given additional investment. These might include Japan and India.

My friend, one of the build supervisors for the first Trent engines at the Rolls‑Royce factory at Ansty, used to put a half‑pence coin on the edge of one of the turbine blades and this micro weight was sufficient to turn the blades. “We didn’t build engines for Rolls‑Royce — we built them for us and they were the best in the world.”

Thursday, February 12, 2026

What are some interesting facts about the least known countries in the world?

 Nauru

  • Nauru has the world’s highest level of type 2 diabetes, with more than 40% of the population (10,084 in a 2011 census) being affected.
  • It’s believed that Nauru’s phosphate deposits come from the droppings of seabirds.
  • John Fearn, the first Western to visit Nauru, named it “Pleasant Island”.

Tajikistan

  • Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe means Monday in Tajik, so named because it grew from a village originally having a popular market on Mondays.
  • Tajikistan has the largest glacier in the world, except for polar areas. The glacier is Fedchenko Glacier.

Azerbaijan

  • The first known fireplace and construction in human history was found in Azikh Cave, dating back from 700,000–500,000 years ago.
  • Neft Dashlar is the first and largest town on stilts to be constructed at sea.

Timor-Leste (East Timor)

  • The primary staple food is corn, not rice.
  • People sending mail to East Timor should include “via Darwin, Australia”, else it may never reach its destination.

Brunei

  • Brunei was discovered by Awang Alak Betatar. He said “Baru nah!” which led to the word Brunei.
  • The 29th Sultan of Brunei was the world’s richest man in 1993.

Kyrgyzstan

  • Kyrgyz comes from the Turkic word for “forty”, a reference to the 40 clans of the great Manas. The country’s flag has a 40 ray Sun.
  • Kyrgyzstan is worth 30 points in Scrabble.

Footnotes

What are some interesting facts about the least known countries in the world?

 Albania & Kosovo

Albania

  • Albanian Flag is one of 5 most interesting flags in the world.

  • Mother Teresa (Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu) is generally celebrated as the only Albanian to win a Nobel Prize, though born in Skopje in 1910 (now in Macedonia but then in the Ottoman Empire)
  • But:
  • The other Nobel Prize winner of Albanian origin was Ferid Murad (USA) who won the 1998 prize for Medicine. His father was Albanian.

Update: This is a 'gift' from Google, on 28th November 2015, for celebrating Albania's 103rd Birthday.

  • The Tirana International airport was named after Mother Teresa in 2001.
  • Albania is one of the most rare countries that is almost totally surrounded by its ethnic population: Albanians.
  • John Belushi (star of the film The Blues Brothers) and Jim Belushi, also had an Albanian father.
  • Albania, Armenia and Vatican City are the only European countries without a McDonald’s branch.
  • Albanian Language is a branch by itself in Indo-European languages.
    • There are 36 letters in its alphabet, so there's almost no sound we can't articulate. (Yes, dh, th, xh, gj, rr.. all are included)

  • Albanians in Albania (but not Albanians in Kosovo, Macedonia and so on) nod their head up and down to mean ‘no’, and shake it from side to side for ‘yes’.
  • During Hoxha's regime, approximately 700.000 bunkers were built all over the country, just in case "the enemies attacked the country, everyone had somewhere to hide in"..
    • -Did 'enemies' ever attack it?
    • -Which enemies? (They never appeared. So 700.000 bunkers.. were just a waste of money!)

Some of the Communist regime statues:

Geography:

KOSOVO (KOSOVA)

  • South Sudan and Kosovo are the youngest countries in the world!
  • It declared unilaterally independence from Serbia in February, 2008 and today is recognized by:
    • 111 countries of United Nations,
    • 23 out of 28 countries of European Union,
    • 7/8 of G8 countries.
  • It's historically important, especially because of Battle of Kosovo that took place in 1389.
  • More than 90% of its population is ethnically Albanian.
  • It had a terrible war with Serbia and had the intervention of NATO during Kosovo War in 1999, and now confirmed, it had about 10.000 losses.
  • Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo, is also the largest city of the country. Along with this, it is the nation’s industrial, commercial and cultural centre. The city is densely populated and is home to 500,000 people.
  • But the cultural capital is Prizren.
  • The climate of Kosovo is continental with warm summers and cold and snowy winters because of its proximity to the Adriatic Sea and the west and mountain ranges to the east.
  • The natural resources include lead, zinc, copper, silver, gold, brown coal, bauxite, lignite and nickel. Agriculture, mining and micro-enterprises are the major industries prevailing in the country.
  • It is believed that Kosovo has reserves of approximately 14,000 billion tonnes of lignite.
  • Kosovo acts as an important link between central and southern Europe
  • Kosovo has adopted the €uro unilaterally and uses it as its currency. It is one of two countries outside the Eurozone that uses the Euro; the other country is Montenegro.
  • It’s cheap and it’s all in euros
  • A cup of coffee costs between fifty cents to one euro depending on the café. A traditional meal can be had for as little as €1.50.
  • Kosovo is well connected.
  • The most popular connections are with Macedonia’s capital Skopje, Albania, and Belgrade. Highways are free of congestion and flights from low cost carriers to the region are incredibly inexpensive if booked in advance.
  • Where's the Best Macchiato in the World? (Hint, It's not in Italy) "It's in Kosovo" says Italian Yahoo Managing Editor.
  • Both Albania and Kosovo have Muslim-majority populations, but there is an excellent inter-religious coexistence and harmony.