What is one battle, if the result was flipped, would have changed the world the most?

 History does not necessarily progress slowly. It happens that one day can make a difference. Among such days was the Battle of Blenheim on August 13, 1704.

Louis XIV the king of France was the most powerful man in Europe at the time. He was so mighty that people referred to him as the Sun King. His army was enormous and he enjoyed a great partnership with Spain. They both were on the verge of taking most of Europe. Without someone to halt them the balance of power would fade away.

However, there was one man who made a decision: John Churchill.

He was aware of the fact that the French army was about to conquer Austria. Churchill acted hurriedly instead of waiting. He led his army through Europe that was approximately 250 miles. The procession was rapid and silent, and the French never dreamed that he was approaching.

As the fight commenced, Frenchmen applied the old technique, which was to halt, aim and shoot.

The soldiers of Churchill did just the contrary. They charged at a good pace with swords and before the French could respond, they struck them. Churchill went to the extent of moving his forces through a muddy swamp that the French imagined that no army could pass.

This surprise passing the French lines, caused their army to fall.

This triumph prevented the conquest of Europe by France. It was also used to save the future of the British Empire and then the establishment of the United States.

The success of Churchill was such that he received the great Blenheim Palace. It would later become the birthplace of another legendary leader, Winston Churchill, who would also lead to the salvaging of Europe many years later.

What are the most interesting cultures in the world?

 This question is brutally difficult to answer, because there are so many cultures in the world and so many of them are amazingly fascinating and unique. So, I’ll try my best to narrow it down a top ten, in no particular order. Enjoy!

• The Himba. This semi-nomadic tribe, found in the deserts of northern Namibia, numbers about 50,000. The women wear goat leather crowns (Erembe) and cover their skin and hair with otzije, a reddish mixture of milk fat and ochre, which cleanses the skin and protects from the heat. It also gives their hair a bizarre, tentacle-like appearance. Their diet consists almost entirely of porridge and women are forbidden to wash with water (as it’s scarce) so they must use smoke from charcoals instead.

• The Sentinelese of the tiny North Sentinel Island (in the Andamans). There may be as little as 50 of them, and they are, in many ways, still in the Stone Age. They live almost naked (although the jawbones of deceased ancestors are sometimes worn) as hunter-gatherers, and have been isolated from other peoples for as much as 60,000 years. Notoriously, they are extremely hostile to outsiders, riddling helicopters with spears and killing an idiotic missionary in 2018. There has only been one peaceful contact in history.

• The Dogon, which inhabit parts of Mali and Burkina Faso. Their population is centered around an enormous cliff of sandstone which stretches for some 150 kilometres, known as the Bandiagara Escarpment. In the shelter of this cliff, the Dogon build exquisite mud villages, and the language they speak represents a wholly unique branch of the Niger-Congo language family. They’re also known for their beautiful wooden masks, dances, and mysteriously sophisticated knowledge of the cosmos.

• The Ainu people of Hokkaido and the Russian Far East. In Japan, where the best part of them live, their culture was sadly suppressed following the Meiji Restoration as they were assimilated into mainland Japanese culture. These traditions, though much more uncommon today, are fascinating. Traditionally Ainu live as hunter-gatherers in reed huts, and worship nature gods (the bear is especially revered). Genetically, they are not closely related to any modern ethnic group.

• Papua New Guinea’s Chambri people. They are chiefly a fishing and bartering people, living on islands in the Sepik River. They’re known for their unusual gender roles, in which neither the women nor the men are dominant. They also revere the river’s crocodiles, holding festivals in their honour. To come of age, the boys must undergo a grotesque rite of passage where their back and chest are scarified (without anaesthetic) so that they are covered in “crocodile scales”.

• An unmissable choice - the Kazakhs. Most of what I say here is also true of their cousins the Kyrgyz, which have a very similar culture and could be substituted on this list. Traditional Kazakhs are nomadic herders and hunters which roam the Eurasian steppe. Perhaps most fascinatingly of all, many Kazakhs in Mongolia still practice the ancient tradition of hunting with trained eagles and other birds of prey.

• In Pakistan’s fertile Chitral Valley, you can find the unique Kalash people. Unlike most Pakistanis, the Kalash traditionally follow a polytheistic religion which has similarities to ancient forms of Hinduism. The women wear vibrant dresses, and there are many colourful and bizarre festivals (one involves sending a young boy to live with goats for a summer). Some speculate that they are of European descent, but genetic evidence shows that they’re 100% South Asians, albeit quite unique.

• Our first culture from the Americas - the Pirahã. This is an isolated hunter-gatherer people which dwells in the Amazon Rainforest. Their way of life is heavily based on direct, real-time experience - they keep no history and worship no deity. They have no formal leaders, do not preserve food, and they never make drawings. The Pirahã language is amazing, too - there are only 8 consonants and 3 vowels, and it’s spoken in whistles and hums. They have no words for colors or even numbers. Pirahã culture is human culture boiled down to its rawest, most natural form - simple but enough.

• Another easy choice for this list - the Bajau. Sometimes referred to as “sea nomads”, these people of the Malay Archipelago traditionally live almost entirely at sea. They dwell in houseboats, small fleets of which travel from place to place, and construct stilted villages in shallow seas. Their cuisine consists chiefly of fish and other marine life. Strangest of all, they are genetically adapted to be exceptional freedivers - spending up to 5 hours daily underwater, they’re more resistant to hypoxia, more tolerant of CO2 in the blood, and store more haemoglobin than normal humans.

• Finally, a broader group from India - the Naga people. This is an umbrella term for a variety of tribes found in Northeast India’s Seven Sisters and parts of neighbouring Myanmar. They’re diverse, but nevertheless similar in terms of culture. The Naga people often adorn themselves with colourful jewelry (including tusks, shell, bone and much more), and they speak nearly 90 different languages. They’re also some of the last people India which still practice entomophagy; the eating of insects.

So, those are the ten ethnic groups whose cultures I find most interesting. There were certainly others which I came close to being included - the Yakuts, the Quechuas, and various peoples from Oceania, for example - but I decided to keep it to these ten.

Also note that in this answer, I talk about the traditional lifestyles of these people. For most if not all of them, many individuals live a more modern, conventional life - sometimes the majority, in fact. The sad truth is that tribes like these are usually assimilated by the region’s dominant culture.

Anywho, thanks for reading, I hope you learned some new things, have a nice day.

How many human beings have lived on Earth? How many are dead?

 

As of 2017 there are 7.5 billion people on earth. According to the United Nations, world population reached 7 Billion on October 31, 2011. The Population Reference Bureau estimates that about 107 billion people have ever lived are now dead. This means that the world is nowhere near as close to having more alive people than dead people. In fact, there are 15 dead people for every person living.

What are some facts you feel the world needs to know?

 Here are some of the interesting facts ….

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What are the most interesting "world's largest ___" that are around the world?

 Apparently as far as Iran is considered, bigger is better.

Iraq may have the largest cemetery in the world, but Iran has the largest shopping mall in the world.

The Iran Mall is located in Tehran, Iran, and is currently 15 million square feet.

To put that in simpler terms, this behemoth is the size of 260 football fields, all put together. It is over double the size of the previous biggest mall, which is the South China Mall.

What exactly will you find in this massive shopping complex? Nothing much, just…

• Three food courts with over 200 restaurants.
• 700 shops.
• A book garden with 67,000 volumes of books.
• A 215,000 square foot hypermarket.
• A 129,000 square foot ice rink and swimming pools.
• 12 IMAX theaters.
• A 5-star luxury hotel with 450 rooms.
• A roofed amusement park.
• 15 sports fields.

And many more miscellaneous features, from things as mundane as a museum to things as interesting as a permanent car showroom; this place has it all.

Oh, and by the way, this shopping mall was introduced in 2018, so it’s still pretty new. In fact, all those shops and restaurants and car showrooms? Those are just the first phase. The second phase will add another 6 million square feet and who knows how many more facilities.

My question is, how long until this “shopping mall” has to be classified as a city…

The longest train in the world

 

• Mauritanian Iron Train - Perhaps the longest train in the world

It is a freight train that has been operating since the 1960s and connects the enormous iron mines of the city of Zouèrat , located deep in the Sahara, with the port of Nouadhibou , a town on the Atlantic coast in northern Mauritania.

The iron train has an impressive number of wagons, around 200, and is between 2.5 km and 3 km long depending on the quantity of ore transported.

It travels on a single 704-kilometer track that starts from the mines inland and ends at the coast.

Typically, during the day, there are 6 trains in total , 3 travelling loaded from the mines to the coast, and 3 travelling unloaded back to the mines.

Who are the 5 Indian politicians who have the top most world beauties as their wives?

 

Image source— Google

1 Gorgeous wife of congress leader Sachin Pilot, Sara Pilot

Sachin Pilot married Sara Abdullah on 15 January 2004. She is is the daughter of Farooq Abdullah.

Image source— Google

2.Beautiful wife of UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav

Akhilesh Yadav got married to Dimple Yadav on 24 November 1999. She is MP from Kannauj constituency.

Image source— Google

3.Beautiful wife of Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, Priyadarshini Raje Scindia

The couple have one son and one daughter.

Image source— Google

4.Gorgeous wife of Sukhbir Singh Badal, Harsimrat Kaur Badal

She is Food Processing minister of India.

Image source— Google

5.Gorgeous wife of congress leader Digvijay Singh, Amrita Rai

Amrita Rai is a journalist.

Image source— Google

6.Gorgeous wife of BJP leader Ravi Rana, Navneet Kaur

Navneet Kaur is actress and MLA.

7.Gorgeous wife of BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, Amruta Fadnavis

Amruta Fadnavis is Indian banker and famous for his song released on T-Series.

What are the most interesting "world's largest ___" that are around the world?

 This is the world’s largest restaurant.

Most people don’t know about it as it’s in the most unexpected place; Damascus, Syria.

It’s called Bawabet Dimashq which translates to Damascus gate.

It served different types of cuisines including Indian, Chinese, Iranian, and, of course, Syrian and Middle Eastern cuisines. It had 6 themed sections and many decorative features such as waterfalls, fountains, replicas of famous archaeological ruins in Syria, and a big children’s playground

It had the potential to serve 6014 guests all at once. It occupies 54000 square meters. The kitchen itself is 2500 square meters. During the peak times in the summer there would be around 1500 employees to serve the customers that could reach up to more than 4000 at once.

The restaurant’s kitchen was said to resemble a mini production factory. The equipment and the preparations’ dynamics made it possible for each chef to serve up to 30 of the popular dishes such as hummus in one minute which means a plate was filled every 2 seconds.

Even though it was quite successful back in the day, it has been closed since 2012 as the area was affected by the armed conflict and was occupied first by the opposition fighters and later by the military forces who used the abandoned restaurant as a base for their operations.

I went there once with my family in 2005 as it was famous for being the biggest restaurant in Damascus. I had no idea at the time it was the biggest in the world. We only heard about that in 2008 after the owners had contacted the Guinness world records. I was shocked to know that. I knew we loved food and gatherings, but I didn’t expect it to be to that extent.

What I found even more interesting when I was reading about the restaurant is the fact that it had a unique piece of a meteorite on display that supposedly fell down in Siberia in 1947. It had been in the possession of the Soviet Union before it was purchased by the restaurant’s owner, Shaker Al Samman, in exchange for 15 million dollars.

Odd, I know. He must’ve been obsessed with standing out using his wealth. First with the restaurant and then by this.

Anyway, now since the conflict had cooled down, I’ve heard there are a few restaurants in that area getting refurbished and might re-open soon. So, who knows? The biggest restaurant in the world might be open to the public again soon.

It’s worth mentioning that Damascus used to receive a lot of tourists during the summer, especially from Arab Gulf countries since its weather is cooler and it’s a cheap tourist destination. So 4000 visitors were achievable for a restaurant of that size and fame.

Which is the largest aircraft in the world, and is it possible to land that in all airports?

 Not even close.

The largest aircraft in the world is the Antonov AN-225 “Mriya”.

Photo from Reddit

This behemoth has a landing distance of 2,400 meters when empty. That is around 1.5 miles, or about 2/3 the length of Central Park in New York.

Now that that’s covered, the world’s shortest commercial runway is Juancho E Yrausquin Airport, Saba coming in at a whopping 1,312 feet long, or about 400 meters.

Photo from Charismatic Planet

The 225 would touch down and promptly fall into the ocean on the other side of the runway. It would probably be safer to ditch in the ocean beside the airport.

Without using the runway above, there are many, many regional and municipal airports where the 225 simply could not land. For instance, Skyline Airport in Idaho has a runway length of only 400 feet. It is so small, I couldn’t find a picture of it. Either way, the AN225 is 275’ long, over half the length of the airport’s runway. No matter which way you cut it, the 225 isn’t going to be landing there anytime soon.

Who is the richest scientist in the world?

 Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong ($12 billion)

He's an entrepreneur

Patrick Soon-Shiong born July 29, 1952 is a South African-born American surgeon, medical researcher, businessman, philanthropist, and professor at University of California at Los Angeles. He is currently chairman of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation and chairman and CEO of the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Advanced Health, National LambdaRail, the Healthcare Transformation Institute and NantWorks, LLC.

He owns the Lakers

He is minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and is ranked by Forbes as the wealthiest American in the healthcare industry and the wealthiest man in Los Angeles with a net worth of US$12 billion.

He's won a whole lot of scientific awards

Soon-Shiong’s research has been recognized by national and international awards such as:

• Association for Academic Surgery Award for Research
• American College of Surgeons Schering Scholar
• Royal College Physicians and Surgeons Research Award
• Peter Kiewit Distinguished Membership in Medicine Award
• International J.W. Hyatt Award for Service to Mankind.

Soon-Shiong received the 2006 Gilda Club Award for the advancement of cancer medicine and is a recipient of a 2007 Ellis Island Medal of Honor as well as the St. Mary Medical Center Life Achievement Award in 2007 and the St. John’s Health Center Caritas Award in 2007. In 2008, he received the Medical Visionary Award from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network for his work in pancreatic cancer & the Los Angeles County Economic Development Council Eddy Award in November 2009. The Los Angeles Business Journal recognized him as their 2010 Business Person of the Year, and the National Library of Medicine awarded Soon-Shiong the Distinguished Medical Science Award. The University of Arizona awarded him an honorary doctorate in December 2010, and Visiting Professor of the Imperial College of London in 2011.