Ten discoveries that no one can explain

Ten discoveries that no one can explain

The history of the world is full of surprising mysteries. None of us will live long enough to see them all solved. But it’s always interesting to have a look at some of the truly bizarre things which lie beneath the surface.

1. Moa Birds

Moa birds were flightless birds that used to inhabit New Zealand, which became extinct around the year 1500. They were killed off, according to one theory, by the Māori people. During an expedition in the twentieth century, scientists stumbled across a very large claw from one of the birds which had somehow been incredibly well preserved for centuries.

2. The Temple Complex of Saksaywaman, Peru

The perfect stonework of this ancient temple complex, which was completed without the use of a single drop of mortar, is truly amazing. In some cases, it’s impossible to pass even a piece of paper between the stones. Every block, moreover, has a smooth surface and rounded corners. How was it constructed? No one knows.

3. Gate of the Sun, Bolivia

The Gate of the Sun can be found in Tiwanaku — an ancient and mysterious city in Bolivia. Some archaeologists believe that it was the centre of a huge empire during the first millenium AD. No one has any idea what the carvings on the Gate are meant to mean. Possibly, they have some astrological or astronomical significance.

4. The Longyou Caves, China

These caves were gouged out of sandstone by human hands. Such difficult work would have required the participation of thousands of people. Yet there is no mention of these caves, or the methods used to construct them, anywhere in historical records.

5. The Unfinished Obelisk, Egypt

This obelisk initially began to be carved straight out of a rock face, but it appears that it began to crack. It was left in this condition, unfinished. Its size is simply staggering!

6. The Underwater City of Yonaguni, Japan

This ancient complex was discovered by chance by diving instructor Kihachiro Aratake. The underwater city has confounded all scientific theories. The rock from which it is carved was submerged underwater about 10,000 years ago — long before even the Egyptian pyramids were erected. Some archaeologists believe that during this primitive era, people still huddled in caves and lived off edible roots rather than hunted; they certainly couldn’t erect stone cities.

7. Mohenjo-daro (’The Mound of the Dead’), Pakistan

The secret of this city’s downfall has perplexed experts for decades. In 1922, the Indian archaeologist R. D. Banerji discovered ancient ruins on one of the islands in the Indus River. Questions arose: how was this great city destroyed? What happened to its inhabitants? Numerous excavations have not offered any answers.

8. L’Anse aux Meadows, Canada

This archaeological site in Canada was once a settlement founded by the Vikings about a thousand years ago. The fact that it exists indicates that the Scandinavian seafarers reached North America long before the birth of Christopher Columbus.

9. Stone-Age Tunnels

The discovery of an extensive network of underground tunnels, which stretch across all of Europe from Scotland to Turkey, shows that stone-age communities were not simply hunter-gatherers. But the real purposes of the tunnels is still a mystery. Some researchers believe they were used as protection against predators, whilst others believe they provided a way to travel around in safety, protected from the rigours of the weather and various conflicts.

10. The giant stone spheres of Costa Rica

These mysterious stone formations are intriguing not only for their perfectly spherical shape, but also on account of their unknown origins and purpose. They were discovered in the 1930s by workers clearing the jungle from a banana plantation. Local legends suggested that the mysterious spheres contained hidden gold, but they turned out to be empty.

Koh-i-Noor to Hope: 5 of the most expensive diamonds in the world will blind you with their beauty

Koh-i-Noor to Hope: 5 of the most expensive diamonds in the world will blind you with their beauty

From their price to their size, not just the legendary Koh-i-Noor, all these diamonds will blind you with their beauty!

With four countries including India laying the claim on the Koh-i-Noor, considered to be the most expensive diamond in the world, the stone's changed hands time and again before ending up in Britain. While the diamond belonged to the Mughals who ruled the Indian subcontinent, it was snatched by Persian ruler Nadir Shah who invaded the country in the 18th century.

Soon after the diamond came in the possession of Ahmad Shah Durrani, whose descendant Shuja Shah Durrani brought the Koh-i-noor back to India in early 19th century after which the diamond ended up with Maharaja Ranjit Singh--the founder of the Sikh empire.

While the ruler had willed the diamond to the Jagannath Temple in Puri, his will wasn't executed by the East India Company. After the Sikhs lost in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the stone came in the possession of the British empire.

Even today, every time the news of any political exchange between India and Britain breaks out, the Indian population nevers fails to point out that their diamond be returned to the country. However it's only after a PIL filed by All India Human Rights & Social Justice Front, regarding the diamond's return to which the country's Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar's replied, "It was given voluntarily by Ranjit Singh to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh Wars. The Koh-i-Noor is not a stolen object," that the subject has gained momentum again.

The Koh-i-Noor means the Mountain of Light in Persian and can be seen at the Tower of London, adorning the Queen's crown. However the 105.60 carat diamond isn't the only known stone in the world.

Here are the nine most expensive diamonds in the world...

Sancy

sancy

Weighing 55.23 carats, the priceless pale yellow diamond again has Indian origins and is considered to be one of the first large diamonds to be cut with symmetrical facets. The diamond is on display at the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre.

Cullinan

Cullinan

Valued at USD 400 million or Rs 26,62,13,80,000, the Cullinan Diamond weighs 3,106,75 carats and is famous for being the largest gem-quality diamond found in the world. It was cut into nine diamonds, of which the Cullinan I and Cullinan II are most famous and can be viewed at the Tower of London as they adorn the Sovereign's Scepter with Cross and the Imperial State Crown.

Hope

Hope

Believed to have originated in India, the diamond weighs 45.52 carats and is on display at the National Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. The legendary diamond is famous for its deep-blue colour and gives a red glow after being exposed to ultraviolet light. It's currently valued at USD 350 million or Rs 23,28,95,07,500 and has also made a name for itself as a cursed stone that brings bad luck or death to its owners.

De Beers Centenary Diamond

De Beers Centenary Diamond

Valued at USD 100 million or Rs 6,65,40,45,000, the De Beers Centenary Diamond is among the most beautiful diamonds in the world to have received grade D rating by the Gemological Institute of America for being internally and externally flawless and for belonging to the highest grade of colourless diamonds. The sparkler has been cut into a heart shape without a groove.

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The world's top 10 biggest diamond mines

The world's top 10 biggest diamond mines

The ten largest diamond mines in the world by measurable reserves contain more than one billion carats of recoverable diamonds. Russia is home to half of the world's biggest diamond mines, while Botswana houses two; including the world's largest diamond producing mine Orapa. Mining-technology.com profiles the top 10 biggest mines based on contained diamond reserves and excluding alluvial diamond mining projects.

Jubilee

Jubilee, also known as the Yubileyny diamond mine, located in Sakha (Yakutia), Republic of Russia, is the biggest diamond mine in the world. The mine was estimated to contain more than 153 million carats (Mct) of recoverable diamonds, including 51Mct of probable underground reserves as of January 2013.

The open-pit diamond mine is owned and operated by the Aikhal mining and processing division of Russia's state-owned diamond company Alrosa.

The mine has been in production since 1986. It extracts diamond ore from the Yubileynaya kimberlite pipe, which was estimated to contain Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC)-compliant probable reserves of 107.163 million tonnes (Mt) grading 0.90 carat per tonne (ct/t) as of July 2013.

Jubilee diamond mine produced 10.4Mt of ore in 2012. The open pit mine is presently operating at a depth of 320m, but is expected to eventually reach 720m.

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Udachny

Udachny diamond mine, also located in the Yakutia region of Russia, ranks as the world's second largest diamond mine by reserve size. Estimated diamond reserves at the mine exceeded 152Mct as of January 2013.

The mine is owned by Alrosa and operated by its Udachny mining and processing division. The mine extracts ore from the Udachnaya Kimberlite pipe, whose JORC-compliant diamond reserves as of July 2013 were estimated at more than 120Mct, including 7.3Mct of proven reserve from the ore stockpile. Udachny is bigger than Jubilee in terms of JORC reserve estimates.

The Udachnaya pipe discovered in 1955 is the largest diamond deposit in Russia. Udachny, which is one of the deepest open pit mines in the world, produced 10Mct of diamonds a year until 2011. The open pit operation is, however, expected to close in 2014, while the underground operation is expected to continue for more than 30 years.

Mir

Mir or Mirny, another diamond mine in the Yakutia region of Russia, is the third biggest diamond mine in the world. The underground diamond mine was estimated to contain more than 141Mct of probable diamond reserves as of January 2013.

The diamond mine is owned and operated by the Mirny mining and processing division of Alrosa. It extracts diamond ore from the Mir kimberlite pipe, whose JORC reserve stood at 29.586Mt grading 3.29ct/t diamond as of July 2013.

The Mir pipe was discovered in 1955. Open-pit mining started in 1957 and closed in 2001. Underground mining at Mir has been underway since 2009. The mine produced 497,000 tonnes of ore in 2012. The production is expected to reach 1Mt by 2014.

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Argyle

Argyle diamond mine located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia ranks as the world's biggest diamond mine if JORC reserves alone are taken into account. The recoverable diamond reserve at Argyle as of December 2012 was estimated to be 140Mct (67Mt grading 2.1ct/t diamond).

The diamond mine, owned by Rio Tinto, has been in production since 1983. Argyle is currently transitioning from open pit to underground operations to access diamonds at depth. Argyle Underground will be the first block cave mine in Western Australia.

At peak production Argyle Underground is expected to produce 20Mct of diamonds a year, which will make it the largest diamond producing mine in the world.

The open pit mine has produced more than 791Mct of diamonds in its life, which the company believes will extend beyond 2020.

Catoca

Catoca diamond mine in Angola ranks as the fifth biggest diamond mine in the world. The Catoca open-pit located near Saurimo, around 840km east of Luanda, is estimated to contain up to 130Mct of mineable diamonds.

The diamond mine is operated by Sociedade Mineira de Catoca, a joint venture of Angola's state-owned diamond company Endiama (32.8%), Alrosa (32.8), as well as China and state oil producer Sonangol (18%) and Odebrecht of Brazil (16.4%). The mine has been operational since 1993.

Catoca mine produced 6.5Mct of diamonds from around 10Mt of ore in 2012, which accounted for about 70% of Angola's total diamond output. The open-pit currently operating at a depth exceeding 200m is scheduled to reach at least 600m deep. The mine life of Catoca is extendable up to 30 years.

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Venetia

Venetia diamond mine located 80km from Musina in Limpopo Province of South Africa ranks as the world's sixth largest diamond mine. Venetia's diamond reserves as of December 2012 stood at more than 102Mct. The open pit reserves are estimated to be 32.8Mct (33.6Mt grading 0.975ct/t diamond) and the underground diamond reserves are estimated at 70Mct (91.4Mt grading 0.765ct/t diamond).

Venetia is the largest diamond producing mine in South Africa. It produced 3.066Mct of diamonds from 5.618Mt of ore in 2012. The deposit comprises of 12 kimberlite pipes.

The mine is owned and operated by De Beers and has been in production since 1992. The open-pit operation is expected to continue up to 2021, after which it will be switched over to underground mining. The mine life of Venetia Underground is expected to be more than 20 years.

Grib

Grib diamond mine, which is yet to commence commercial production, is Russia's fourth largest and world's seventh largest diamond mine. The estimated diamond reserve of the mine exceeds 98Mct.

The mine is being developed by Russian oil company Lukoil through its diamond-mining subsidiary Arkhangelskgeoldobycha (AGD). The mine will extract the Grib pipe situated at Verkhotina in the Arkhangelsk region of north-western Russia.

Diamond mining at Grib is expected to begin by early 2014. The annual diamond production at Grib is anticipated to be 4Mct. The mine is planned to go underground after 16 years of open-pit operation. The mine is expected to be put up for sale after the commencement of production.

Jwaneng

Jwaneng diamond mine in African country Botswana ranks as the eighth biggest diamond mine in the world. The open-pit mine located 160 miles south-west of Gaborone in south central Botswana was estimated to contain diamond reserves of 88.3Mct (70.1Mt grading 1.26ct/t diamond) as of December 2012.

Jwaneng is considered to be the world's richest diamond mine in terms of value, and is owned by Debswana, a partnership between the De Beers and the Government of Botswana. The mine has been in production since 1982. It accounts for up to 70% revenue of Debswana, which operates four diamond mines in Botswana.

The mine produced 8.172Mct of diamonds in 2012 and 10.641Mct in 2011. The current operating depth of the Jwaneng pit is 350m. The mine is, however, expected to reach a depth of 625m by 2017. A major extension project, namely Cut-8, has been underway at Jwaneng since 2010, which will extend the mine's life to at least 2025.

Orapa

Orapa diamond mine located 240km west of Francistown city in Central Botswana is the ninth largest diamond mine in the world by reserve. The open-pit mine was estimated to contain 85.7Mct of diamond reserves (146.1Mt grading 0.587ct/t diamond) as of December 2012.

Orapa has been in production since 1971. It is the oldest of the four diamond mines operated by Debswana. The kimberlite pipe mined by Orapa is one of the largest in the world. It covers an area of 118km² at the surface.

Orapa produced 11.089Mct of diamonds in 2012, compared to 11.158Mct in 2011. Orapa is the world's biggest diamond mine based on 2012 production. The mine achieved a record production of 17.3Mct in 2006.

Botuobinskaya

Botuobinskaya diamond mine, due to commence production in 2015, is located in the Nakyn kimberlite field, around 200km north-west of Nyurba in the Yakutia region of Russia.

The mine will extract from the Botuobinskaya pipe which contains 70.9Mct of JORC-compliant diamond reserves (13.839Mt grading 5.13ct/t diamond).

The mine is owned and operated by Nyurba mining and processing division of Alrosa. Alrosa's Nyurba division has been mining the Nyurbinskaya pipe three kilometres away from the Botuobinskaya pipe since 2000.

The JORC reserve of Nyurbinskaya (Nyurba) open-pit mine was estimated at 40.394Mct as of July 2013. Nyurba mine produced 7.955Mct of diamond in 2012.

Striping operations at the Botuobinskaya pipe began in December 2012. The Botuobinskaya mine is expected to produce 1.5Mct of diamonds annually for more than 40 years from the start of operations.

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Top 10 Most Brilliant Architects in The World

       

Top 10 Most Brilliant Architects in The World

Building and construction is known since millions of years. Many features and styles appear in the building. Architects have shown their skills and talents in their designs. Times show magnificent works appeared in pyramids, houses, temples … etc. There are many famous architects, whose works are telling. Here is the list of the top 10 most successful architects.

10

Daniel Libeskind

He is a Polish architect who was born in 1946. Libeskind joined Bronx High School of Science and later Cooper Union for architecture. He worked for Richard Meier for a short period of time. Cooperating with his wife Nina Lewis, Libeskind established Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989. Moreover, the Jewish Museum in Berlin was Libeskind’s most important global work that gains him too much success. He offered other prominent works such as the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin, as well as the Imperial War Museum North in England.

09

Sir Norman Foster

Sir Norman Foster is a graduate of Manchester University School of Architecture as well as Yale University’s Masters in Architecture program. In 1967, he established Foster + Partners. In 1999, he won the Pritzker Prize. Foster + Partners has gained more than 470 awards for its excellence, such as Gold Medals from the RIBA and the AIA. Foster’s most distinguished works embrace the Beijing Airport, , Boston Museum of Fine Arts, along with the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.

08

Renzo Piano

He is an Italian architect. After graduating from Politecnico di Milano School of Architecture, Renzo was an employee in the company of Louis Khan in Philadelphia. His magnificent works involve the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris as well as the California Academy of Sciences. For awards, Piano received the Pritzker Prize in 1998 along with the AIA Gold Medal in 2008.

07

Rem Koolhaas

His fame is due to his avant-garde and weird buildings. In 1975 Koolhaas, established OMA, a cooperative hothouse research lab. Koolhaas is an author, a theorist, a cultural researcher as well as a professor at Harvard. From the most significant works are the Seattle Central Library, also the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing.

06

Zaha Hadid

She received the Pritzker Prize award in 2004. She was the first and only female to gain the award. She was assigned to design Cincinnati’s Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art. The building is described as the most imperative new building in America from the time when the Cold War exists. Many projects are hers such as public transportation, libraries as well as opera houses.

05

Cesar Pelli

He was born in 1926 in Argentina. He attended the University of Tucmán, where he learned architecture. Pelli joined the working team in the office of Eero Saarinen and Associates. He was a project designer for the famed TWA terminal at JFK Airport. Pelli and his wife released Cesar Pelli. Moreover, he gained the AIA Gold Medal for his architectural designs. Pelli’s most outstanding works are the World Financial Center in NYC, and the Petronas Twin Towers.

04

Walter Gropius

He is famous as he is the first director of the high-status design school, the Bauhaus. Gropius designed the school’s second place in Dessau, Germany. In 1937, he was request to lecture at Harvard University. Gropius along with Marcel Breuer established a joint architectural company. They designed many remarkable works from which the Pennsylvania Pavilion for the 1939 World’s Fair is marvelous. The Royal Institute of British Architects gave him Gold Medals.

03

Eero Saarinen

He was born in Finland. Saarinen started working at his father’s architecture office. At Cranbrook he got acquainted with Charles Eames and the two designed new furniture forms. Saarinen and Eames participated in the “Organic Design in Home Furnishings”. Saarinen settled on to center on Architecture than furniture, producing the TWA terminal at JFK Airport as well as Dulles International Airport.

02

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

One of Mies’ most celebrated works was his Barcelona Pavilion at the International Exposition. He started one of the most victorious professions. He designed The Farnsworth House. He received the AIA Gold Medal as well as the Royal Gold Medal for his works.

01

 Michael Graves

He is one of the post-modernists. He was very interested in painting that affected his architecture. Graves joined the working team of Carl Strauss and Ray Rousen. His noteworthy works include the Portland Building in Oregon. When it comes to the awards, he received the AIA Gold Medal in 2001.

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Top-earning dead celebrity Michael Jackson

Top-earning dead celebrity Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Late King of Pop Michael Jackson has topped an annual list of top-earning dead celebrities for the fourth straight year.

He has surpassed his fellow musical icons Prince and David Bowie, who passed away earlier this year, in the list, which has been released by Forbes magazine, reported theguardian.com.

Jackson, who died in 2009, raked in a bumper $825 million in earnings for the 12 months ending October 1, the report said.

The earnings came mostly from the Jackson estate's $750 million sale of the late singer's remaining stake in the Sony/ATV music publishing catalog -- which includes the rights to many Beatles songs -- to Sony Corporation.

Forbes's estimates were based on pre-tax income, before management and legal expenses, and were compiled through interviews with estate experts and data on record sales, touring and movie earnings.

Sales of Prince's albums soared after the musician died because of accidental drug overdose in April. Forbes ranked him in fifth place overall with estimated earnings of $25 million, just below Elvis Presley, with $27 million.

Bowie, who died of cancer in January came days after a new album release, outsold both Presley and Jackson in albums and singles in 2016, but the British singer's overall estimated earnings were $10.5 million, Forbes said.

Golf legend Arnold Palmer, who died in September at age 87, claimed the third spot with earnings of $40 million, mostly from licensing and endorsements of his signature Arnold Palmer iced tea and lemonade drink, leisure wear label, and golf course designs.

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10 Contemporary Philosophers in the world still 2016

10 Contemporary Philosophers

From philosophy of mind to language, from logic to feminism, get to know some of the world’s brightest intellects.

There is a popular misconception that philosophy has been dead since the glorious golden age of Plato and Aristotle, or, at the very least, Kant and Hegel. However, this glorious intellectual enterprise is today alive and kicking and produces output admirable for its sharpness, profundity, and richness. From fields as obscure as modal epistemology, to more common ones such as feminism and ethics, here are 10 leaders of today’s best achievements of the human mind.

Martha Nussbaum (b. 1947)

Martha Nussbaum

In a field severely dominated by men, even more so than hardcore sciences, Martha Nussbaum compensates for this in two ways. Originally hailing from New York, she is now a professor at the University of Chicago, she is a passionate and fervent advocate of women’s rights and her views on feminism are elaborate, bold, and always fruitfully controversial. Her open confrontation with another feminist philosopher of a different school of thought, Judith Butler, in the later 90s made history and, in the end, promoted the feminist cause to new heights. Moreover, the sheer volume of her output makes her one of the most laborious and productive philosophers in ethics and political science, with significant work on animal rights, emotions, and gay rights.

Cornel West (b. 1952)

Cornel West

West is a heavy hitter in social philosophy, having pioneered the school of “neopragmatism” with a focus on the condition of race and class in America. West was the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1980. West has penned some massively influential texts, including Race Matters (1994), in which he uses moral authority to address race and social issues, as well the socio-political text Democracy Matters (2004). West is also among the most public living philosophers appearing on several talk shows, including CNN and the Colbert Show, and has even been parodied on Saturday Night Live. He is currently a Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Gayatri Spivak (b. 1942)

Gayatri Spivak

Arguably the most influential contemporary philosopher to hail from the Indian subcontinent, Spivak has spent her career turning post-colonial theory on its head. With her influential critique “Can the Subaltern Speak?” she ushered in the concept of the subaltern, the study of populations who live below normal social and hegemonic power structures. She is also renowned for her translation of  Jacques Derrida’s De la grammatologie, a text that laid the foundations for Deconstructionism, in which she contributed an impactful introduction. She is the recipient of the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy and India’s Padma Bhushan for her contributions to literary and cultural theory. Spivak is a founding member of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University, where she teaches.

Slavoj Žižek (b. 1949)

Slavoj Žižek

Known for his idiosyncratic approach to psychoanalytic philosophy and cultural criticism, Žižek’s doesn’t spare either the political right or the liberal left in his anti-capitalist and neo-liberal criticism. Žižek’s career has mostly focused on developing a school of thought based on authentic experiences, what he calls “The Real”, and his work infamously bounces from from the high-brow masterpiece The Sublime Object of Ideology (1989) to the low-brow antithetical work The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2012). Because of his willingness to explore low-cultural tropes, and bring them into philosophic discourse, he has achieved wide cultural acclaim. Žižek has cited as a “a celebrity philosopher,” the “Elvis of Cultural Theory” and “the most dangerous philosopher in the West.” He teaches at New York University.

Judith Butler (b. 1956)

Judith Butler

Butler has had a seminal impact on feminism and gender philosophy since the publication of her treatises Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity and Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. She is widely credited for developing a theory based around the social construction of gender. Her work is influenced by philosopher Michel Foucault, to which she has cited in her arguments that the language of gender has been pushed to necessity from the desire of powers to censor any deviation from heterosexuality. Along with being a voice for LGBTQ issues, Butler, who is Jewish, has been a vocal critic of Israeli politics, a stance that led to certain Israeli leaders to protest her selection for the Theodor Adorno Prize, an award given for outstanding achievements in philosophy.

Gu Su (b. 1955)

Gu Su

Chinese philosopher Gu Su has had the precarious position of introducing liberal philosophies into Chinese culture. Having been the recipient of both a Eastern and Western education (Nanjing and Duke), he published the massively influential Essential Ideas of Liberalism which has been published in both Taiwan and mainland China, in which he argued for the benefits of liberal policies within the Chinese political system. In 2010, he worked with fellow Chinese philosopher Yu Keping on the anthology: Democratization: The Chinese Model and Course of Political Development. Gu Su is member of editorial Board of the journal NanoEthics and currently a Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Social Sciences at Fudan University.

Thomas Nagel (b. 1937)

Thomas Nagel

Another major philosopher working from the U.S., Thomas Nagel was however born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). He currently teaches philosophy and law at New York University, his intellectual home that he has not abandoned since 1980. His influential essay ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ opened new ways in which philosophers see the human mind, attacking what is often called reductionism – the claim that mental states are, in one way or another, just brain, physical states. Nagel has been a prominent public intellectual too, however, his most notable work being another essay, ‘War and Massacre’, which launched a harsh critique on American war policies in Vietnam, in the early 70s.

John McDowell (b. 1942)

John McDowell 

McDowell to the rare but honorable tradition of anti-philosophers, dating back at least to its chief originator, Ludwig Wittgenstein. This line of philosophers do not really seek solutions to philosophical problems but dissolutions; that is, they deny that the problems are indeed problems in the first place. Born in South Africa, and now a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, John McDowell has exhibited extraordinary philosophical repertoire, his theories stemming from Kant to Wittgenstein and from Hegel to Sellars. In tandem with his anti-philosophy also goes some degree of pragmatism, roughly the view that what really matters about theories that explain reality is not their truth but the fact that they actually work.

David Chalmers (b. 1966)

David Chalmers

Another example of an ‘unorthodox’ philosopher, Chalmers too belongs to the New York University crew of star philosophers, but also teaches at the Australian National University. Advertised by the press as one of the best books of the year of its publication, The Conscious Mind is his magnum opus, where he revives the long dead worldview of dualism, going as far back as Rene Descartes and the 16th century. Dubbing it ‘naturalistic dualism’, his philosophy argues to the effect that the properties of the mind are of a significantly different kind of the properties of the rest of the physical world.

Saul Kripke (b. 1940)

Saul Kripke

Another multitasker of a philosopher, Saul Kripke is an American philosopher, currently emeritus professor at Princeton University, who has spread his wings across philosophy of language, logic, philosophy of mathematics, metaphysics, and epistemology. Listed in the top ten of the most influential philosophers of the past 200 years in a recent poll, this titan made it to fame with his book “Naming and Necessity”, where he argues that certain true statements are necessarily so, that is they cannot be conceived to be false, although they cannot be discovered just by armchair reasoning, like mathematics. They need empirical discovery. His quirky reading of L. Wittgenstein has come to be known in philosophical argot by the portmanteau ‘Kripkestein’.

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Motivating Quotes on Success 101

Motivating Quotes on Success

We all want it in some way.

In school or in our careers. In relationships with our children, partner, friends, someone we just started seeing and with ourselves. With our mental and physical health.

But how do you find success? And what is success?

This week I’d like to get help from the people who walked this earth before us (and from some who are still here). I’d like to share timeless advice that was as helpful 2000 years ago as it is now.

This is 101 thought-provoking, motivating, useful and sometimes funny quotes on success.


01. “Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.”
– Zig Ziglar

02. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
– Herman Cain

03. “Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”
– Richard Branson

04. “Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.”
– Arnold H. Glasgow

05. “Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.”
– Malcolm S. Forbes

06. “Action is the foundational key to all success.”
– Pablo Picasso

07. “The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.”
– Albert Ellis

08. “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure which is: Try to please everybody.”
– Herbert B. Swope

09. “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.”
– George Lorimer

10. “Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”
– Winston Churchill

11. “If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.”
– Olin Miller

12. “The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do.”
– Roy L. Smith

13. “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”
– Lucille Ball

14. “Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.”
– Orison Swett Marden

15. “Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.”
– George Bernard Shaw

16. “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.”
– Florence Nightingale

17. “Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.”
– Vincent Van Gogh

18. “Follow effective actions with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
– Peter Drucker

19. “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
– Albert Einstein

20. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
– Stephen King

21. “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
– Abraham Lincoln

22. “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
– John R. Wooden

23. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
– George Bernard Shaw

24. “Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.”
– Erich Fromm

25. ”Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.”
– Brian Tracy

26. “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
– Abraham Maslow

27. “Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.”
– Charles F. Kettering

28. “The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.”
– Bruce Feirstein

29. “Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.”
– George Sheehan

30. “Never limit yourself because of others’ limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination.”
– Mae Jemison

31. “Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.”
– William James

32. “To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”
– Mark Twain

33. “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.”
– Swami Vivekananda

34. “The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.”
– Benjamin Disraeli

35. “There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.”
– Ray Goforth

36. “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”
– Napoleon Hill

37. “You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.”
– Clay P. Bedford

38. “After every difficulty, ask yourself two questions: “What did I do right?” and “What would I do differently?”
– Brian Tracy

39. “Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.”
– Leo Buscaglia

40. “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
– Oprah Winfrey

41. “Life’s real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up.”
– Unknown

42. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
– Winston Churchill

43. “Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”
– Wayne Dyer

44. “The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”
– Mark Caine

45. “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
– Theodore Roosevelt

46. “Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don’t over-analyze your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness. “
– Leo F. Buscaglia

47. “For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.”
– Harry F. Banks

48. “Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost legendary. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.”
– Calvin Coolidge

49. “Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.”
– Dalai Lama

50. “Your work is discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.”
– Buddha

51. “People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. Similarly, when someone is failing, the tendency is to get on a downward spiral that can even become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
– Tony Robbins

52. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”
– Henry David Thoreau

53. “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
– Dale Carnegie

54. “Success is largely a matter of holding on after others have let go.”
– Unknown

55. “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.”
– David M. Burns

56. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
– Arthur Ashe

57. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
– Conrad Hilton

58. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”
– Vince Lombardi

59. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
– Mark Twain

60. “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”
– George S. Patton

61. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
– Samuel Beckett

62. “What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.”
– Oscar Wilde

63. “Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”
– Mark Victor Hansen

64. “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”
– Zig Ziglar

65. “If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents. Value what you know and start charging for it.”
– Kim Garst

66. “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
– Bruce Lee

67. “Some of the biggest challenges in relationships come from the fact that most people enter a relationship in order to get something: they’re trying to find someone who’s going to make them feel good. In reality, the only way a relationship will last is if you see your relationship as a place that you go to give, and not a place that you go to take.”
– Anthony Robbins

68. “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”
– Peter Drucker

69. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

70. “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.”
– Albert Einstein

71. “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
– Alexander Graham Bell

72. “The road to success is always under construction.”
– Lily Tomlin

73. “If people did not do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein

74. “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
– Harriet Tubman

75. “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.”
– Thomas Jefferson

76. “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”
– Jim Rohn

77. “Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the ‘someday I’ll’ philosophy.”
– Denis Waitley

78. “Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.”
– Robert Kiyosaki

79. “Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.”
– David Bly

80. “Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve.”
– Wilfred Peterson

81. “Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.”
– Vaibhav Shah

82. “For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his/her happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time.
If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.”
– Andy Rooney

83. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.”
– Robert Collier

84. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
– Michael Jordan

85. “The best revenge is massive success.”
    – Frank Sinatra

86. “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”
    – Napoleon Bonaparte

87. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
   – Mark Twain

88. “Success comes in cans; failure in can’ts.”
   – Unknown

89.“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”
   – Napoleon Hill

90. “Life will bring you pain all by itself. Your responsibility is to create joy.”
   – Milton Erickson

91. “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
   – Ayn Rand

92. "If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play,              and Z keeping your mouth shut.”
   – Albert Einstein

93. “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.”
   – Abraham Lincoln

94. “If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”
    – Jim Rohn

95. “The best way to succeed in this world is to act on the advice you give to others.”
     – Unknown

96. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
      – Winston Churchill

97. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
       – Martin Luther King, Jr.

98. “We become what we think about most of the time, and that’s the strangest secret.”
       – Earl Nightingale

99. “Our greatest fear should not be of failure … but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really             matter.”
         – Francis Chan

100. “A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
        – Karen Lamb

101. “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children… to leave the world a better place… to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is your favorite quote on success? Feel free to share the best one(s) you have found in this article or in your life in the comments section below.

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most dangerous rivers and lakes in the world

10 most dangerous rivers and lakes in the world

Lake of Death,  (Italy)

Lake of Death

Want to drop everything in this stuffy town and get away from the August heat to the beach, close to the water, but can not? Offer a look at our selection - possibly desire disappears.

On the island of Sicily, became famous for the destructive power of the volcano Etna and no less frightening, though not exhibited at the show, the government mafia clans, there is a very dangerous attraction. Waters of Lake of Death , which are inherently not water at all, and concentrated sulfuric acid, so destructive, it is the place of the current perceptions of Sicily rumored Cosa Nostra used to hide the bodies of their unfortunate enemies. In a few minutes the deadly pond, fed by two underground sources with H2SO4, destroys any organic matter, leaving around a lifeless space.

River Rio Tinto, (Spain)

River Rio Tinto


Red like blood, water of the Rio Tinto, which has its origin in the Spanish province of Huelva and flowing of Andalusia, unattractive, not only externally. Due to the high concentrations of metals originating from copper, silver and gold mines, this body of water got fame as one of the most acidic sites in the world.Water, pH-factor which varies within 1.7-2.5 and practically corresponds to the acidity of gastric juice, dangerous for any living creature. The only inhabitants of "Martian rivers" are favorite scientists aerobic bacteria extremophile, eating iron.

Black Hole Lake, (Russia)

Black Hole Lake

A few years ago, according to the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, marshy lake black hole, located between Nizhny Novgorod and Dzerzhinsk, should fill with sand and bulldoze. The reason for such barbaric attitude to the pond is simple - the object of the socialist heritage, Solid waste plant "Plexiglas", recognized as one of the most polluted in the world. The stench emanating from the black hole is so strong that even interrupts fumes from fires covering Russia during the hot summer days, and the fluid that fills the lake, and at all resembles a caustic black resin, sucking all life.

Yangtze River, (China)

Yangtze River

The third longest river of the world, second only to the Amazon and the Nile in length, exceeds them in another, it is not as positive. Due to the fact that 17,000 Chinese settlements along the banks of the Yangtze, have no sewage systems, waste all their vital functions are discharged into the pond without filtration. Do not add purity river and numerous chemical plants, steel and oil complexes as well as regular transport of dangerous goods. According to the most conservative estimates, the volume of contaminated water into the main waterway of China reached 34 billion tons and continues to grow.

Lake Karachay, (Russia)

Lake Karachay


More recently, one hour spent on the shores of Lake Karachay in the Urals, was enough to meet a painful death due to exposure to 600 X-rays. All the fault of the explosion, which occurred on the storage of fissile materials plant "Mayak" in 1957 and was the cause of the unprecedented pollution of the river Techa cascade and its ponds. Although every year the company receives several million rubles for disaster management, groundwater continue to spread deadly radiation. Fortunately, according to recent studies the situation in the area of ​​Lake Karachay is gradually improving.

The Amazon River, (South America)

The Amazon River

Danger of the deepest rivers in the world, which is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world, is not only in its power. Artery, every second pouring into the Atlantic Ocean about 220 thousand cubic meters of water, and awarded the title "River Sea", is teeming with bloodthirsty monsters. Here live voracious piranhas, ruthless black caimans, enormous anaconda, giant carnivorous Arkaima and small, but no less terrible candiru parasites that enter the urinary system. Amazon is full of impassable swamps and bogs deadly, and its spill forming high tidal waves, devastating for fields and villages.

Boiling Lake, (Dominican Republic)

Boiling Lake

On the lake, located near the valley of despair in the Dominican National Park Morne Trois Pitons, walks notoriety. If inadvertently plunge here in the dry season, you can easily boil alive, echoing the way overbearing king of "The Little Humpbacked Horse". The water temperature in the center of the Boiling Lake, enveloped in thick white vapor reaches 92 ° C and is suitable except for tea. This body of water was the cause of so many accidents, even in the rainy season, when the lake is relatively cool to swim here is strictly prohibited.

Ganges River, (India)

Ganges River

Indian epic "Ramayana" says that the waters of the sacred river Ganges have the power to return the dead to life and get rid of ailments. Unfortunately, the reality is far from the myths: the main river of India is included in the list of the most fouled waters of the world. Flocking here many production waste and feces coming from the overcrowded cities. Even bathing in the Ganges, the number of enterobacteria which is 120 times higher than normal, leading to infection and each year causes the death of thousands of people . Among the problems that could interfere with purification of the sacred pond, and added a ritual burial of bodies in Varanasi.

Onondaga Lake, (United States)

Onondaga Lake


In the XIX century Onondaga Lake, located near the American Syracuse, was a popular place to stay.A century later, the pond, fell under the impact of technological "progress" on the brink of ecological disaster. In 1901, Onondaga water saturated due to the discharge of industrial waste nitrates, phosphates, mercury, and pathogenic bacteria, banned the use in the food industry. In 1940, it was vetoed by bathing, and in 1970 - and fishing. After the ban on waste disposal, sewage treatment facilities and installation of the enactment of clean water to the lake situation is gradually improving, but cleaned the pond for a long time.

Tsitarum River, (Indonesia)

Tsitarum River

With the advent of advanced technologies along the shores of the once beautiful, now one of the most intoxicated in the nature of rivers, located on the island of Java, has grown more than five hundred plants. Pond, first served source of income for many fishermen, has been home to other hunters - hunters debris. Muddy water, teeming with bacteria and invisible under a thick layer of household and industrial waste, is still used for drinking and irrigation. Scientists predict that in the coming years Tsitaruma pollution reaches a critical level, and may lead to a shutdown of the largest hydroelectric power station in Java.

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