The Cold Pole

Verkhoyansk, Russia

On the frigid taiga, 3000 miles east of Moscow, deep in the heart of Siberia, sits Verkhoyansk, the oldest city above the Arctic Circle. For more than three centuries, Russians have continuously resided here, braving endless winters on the banks of the Yana River, which is frozen solid for nine months of the year. Today, approximately 1500 people live here.

Verkhoyansk lays claim to the title of coldest city in the world, the so-called Cold Pole. It’s hard to dispute the designation, when you consider that from September to March the city averages fewer than 5 hours of sunlight each day. (In December and January, there is nearly no sunlight.) Winter temperatures there typically fall between minus 60 and minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The low, recorded in the late 19th century, was minus 90.

Nowadays, the city is attempting to attract “extreme tourists,” who are drawn by the intense cold. For much of its history, however, Verkhoyansk was a preferred exile destination, used first by the czars, then later by the Soviets. In the 20th century, Verkoyansk’s population peaked at 2500 residents.

The Mountain of Fire

Mount Merapi, Indonesia

Even during its most tranquil periods, Mount Merapi, on the island of Java, smolders. Smoke ominously floats from its mouth, 10,000 feet in the sky. “Fire Mountain,” as its name translates to English, has erupted about 60 times in the past five centuries, most recently in 2006. Before that, a 1994 eruption sent forth a lethal cloud of scalding hot gas, which burned 60 people to death. In 1930, more than 1000 people died when Merapi spewed lava over 8 square miles around its base, the high death toll being the result of too many people living too close.

In spite of this volatile history, approximately 200,000 villagers reside within 4 miles of the volcano. But Merapi is just one example of Javans tempting fate in the proximity of active volcanoes—it’s estimated that 120 million of the island’s residents live at the foot of 22 active volcanoes.

Haiti’s Perfect Storms

Gonaïves, Haiti

First came tropical storm Fay on August 16. A week later, Hurricane Gustav blew through. Following in quick succession were Hurricanes Hanna and Ike. In the span of just one month, the coastal city of Gonaïves, one of Haiti’s five largest cities, found itself on the receiving end of four devastating tropical cyclones. When the last storm passed, Gonaïves had practically been washed out to sea. Much of the city was buried under mud, or submerged in filthy water that stood 12 feet deep in some places. The death toll ran close to 500.

But the storms of August to September 2008 weren’t the most deadly in Gonaïves’ recent history. In 2004, the city of 104,000 took a severe beating from Hurricane Jeanne. Three thousand Haitians died when the Category 3 storm hit and leveled large swaths of the city.

What makes Gonaïves so susceptible to destruction by hurricane? Aside from its coastal location on the Gulf of Gonâve, smack-dab in the cyclone-inclined Caribbean, Gonaïves rests on a flood plain prone to washing out when inland rivers swell. Furthermore, Haitians rely on wood to make charcoal, their primary source of fuel, and this has led to massive deforestation of the hillsides surrounding the city. As a result, when the rains come, the hills around Gonaïves melt away and mudslides nearly bury the city.

The African Lake of Death

Lake Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo/Rwanda

Lake Kivu, located along the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, is one of Africa’s Great Lakes. Deep below the surface of this lake’s 2700 square miles, there are 2.3 trillion cubic feet of methane gas, along with 60 cubic miles of carbon dioxide trapped beneath the lake under the pressure of the water and earth. If released from the depths, these gases could spread a cloud of death over the 2 million Africans who make their home in the Lake Kivu basin.

The precedent for this concern stems from a pair of events that occurred in the 1980s at two other African lakes with similar chemical compositions. In 1984, 37 people died around Cameroon’s Lake Monoun in a limnic eruption. Three years later, at Lake Nyos, also in Cameroon, 80 cubic meters of CO2 were released from the water. Subsequently, 1700 people died from exposure to the toxic gas. These incidents were apparently caused by volcanic activity below the lakes, which triggered the release of the gas. Similar activity is believed to occur beneath Lake Kivu, causing many to worry that this area is next. A report from the United Nations’ Environmental Program went so far as to call the three bodies “Africa’s Killer Lakes,” and said Lake Kivu was cause for “serious concern.”

The Ephemeral Isles

The Maldives

The Maldives are such a dangerous place that Muhammed Nasheed, upon taking office in 2008, made it one his first items of business as the Maldives’ first democratically elected president to announce a plan to create a fund for financing the relocation of the entire population.

The Maldives is a confederation of 1190 islands and atolls in the Indian Ocean. Its highest point of elevation is little more than 6 feet, and, sometime in the not-too-distant future, it is likely to be swallowed whole by rising sea levels. A 2005 assessment by the United States Geological Survey, conducted after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, called the Maldives one of the Earth’s youngest land masses, adding that they’re not long for life above water. According to the report, the islands “should be considered ephemeral features over geologic time.”

By President Nasheed’s reckoning, the people of the Maldives would be well-served to find someplace else—India or Sri Lanka were floated as potential refuges—lest they too become ephemeral. Recent events support his decision to invest money earned through tourism in a relocation fund: The 2004 tsunami, which occurred at low tide, swept over the island, leaving 10 percent of the country uninhabitable. Of the Maldives’ 300,000 citizens, one-third were left homeless, and more than 80 people died. In 1987, during so-called “king tides,” the capital of Malé, an island city covering 1 square mile, was completely inundated. The effects of these disasters were compounded by the mining of the coral reefs that surround the islands, which has made them highly susceptible to sea erosion.

Here’s the other place which is included into the most dangerous place to live in earth on picture..

Source of the news : http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4329314.html?page=1

Viewed 42926 times by 11976 viewers

His painstaking work began in 1986, when he moved in with his wife Annette, in the ninth floor flat of a tower bloc in Southampton. He hated the copper pebble dash wallpaper he found there and decided something had to be done. At first he just started panelling the walls, without having a clue of what it was going to turn into.

Although he has no training in constructions or design, and he has never once visited the real Versailles, Adrian Reeman managed to create an honorable small-scale replica of the popular French palace. He now sees no reason to visit the real thing, since he’s living in it himself, just on a slightly smaller scale.

Reeman says he’s not 100% happy with how the Versailles apartment came out, but he’s getting a little too old to keep working on it. He figures he’ll live in the unique flat for the rest of his life, since law states tenants have to deliver the apartments in the same state they received them. The Reemans couldn’t possibly restore their mini Versailles to its original condition.

Viewed 8581 times by 1982 viewers

We’re gonna take you to a tour to the World most glamorous cruise ship ever. The RMS Queen Mary 2 is an ocean liner named after the Cunard Lines original Queen Mary, which was in turn named after British Queen Mary of Teck, wife of King George V. It does not commemorate the reign of Queen Mary II. At the time of her construction in 2003 by the Chantiers de l’Atlantique, the Queen Mary 2 was the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built, and at gross tonnage (GT) of 148,528 tons, was also the largest. She lost the gross tonnage distinction to Royal Caribbean International’s 154,407 GT Freedom of the Seas in April 2006, but Queen Mary 2 remains the largest ocean liner (as opposed to cruise ship) ever built, and her width, length, and waterline breadth are unsurpassed by any other passenger ship. Moreover, the Queen Mary 2 displaces approximately 76,000 tons; the Royal Caribbean Freedom ships displace about 64,000 tons. The Queen Mary 2 was the first major ocean liner built since the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969.

Prepare to meet royalty as we take you on a luxury tour of the world’s largest and most glamourous passenger liner

Grand Lobby Atrium

Luxury Lounging

Queen Mary II Planetarium

Queen Mary II Soothing sail

Queen Mary II Dark Room

Queen Mary 2's Grand Duplexes

Queen Mary II Rooms

Queen Mary II Casino

Queen Mary II Restaurant

Viewed 39769 times by 8390 viewers

This island is located in the coastal waters of Bay Mak Jantu, located in South City District Singkawang Singkawang, West Kalimantan. This island in the region including coastal tourism Sinka Island Park, To be able to reach the island is not difficult. Singkawang toward the city from the Gulf Coast Mak Jantu, or Sinka Island Park only takes about 20 Minutes. If the direction of Pontianak take about 3 hour trip to the direction of Singkawang

As information, this island Simping including in the area Sinka Island Park, and adjacent to Sinka Zoo (Safari Park and the zoo), which is one location. View that the offer is also not less interesting. Hills and beach. So you can enjoy the adventure of Complete. This region included in conservation areas and protected forests (sinka zoo).

the United Nation also recognized this island as the world smallest island.

Viewed 37164 times by 6265 viewers

The 30-bed Hau Sheng Hospital in Yuanlin in central Taiwan claims to be the only institution of its kind authorized by the popular cartoon cat’s parent company Sanrio Co Ltd.

Newborns get everything Hello Kitty but a set of whiskers, including pink or blue receiving blankets, nurses dressed in pink uniforms with cat-themed aprons, cot linen and room decor.

In the lobby, a Hello Kitty statue in a doctor’s uniform greets patients, and twice a year people in feline costumes visit mothers and children.

The cat’s likeness even shows up on birth certificate covers.

Director Tsai Tsung-chi said he hopes the white, mouthless cat that is one of the world’s most recognizable characters will ease the pain and fear associated with childbirth and being admitted into hospital.

“I wish that everyone who comes here, mothers who suffer while giving birth and children who suffer from an illness, can get medical care while seeing these kitties and bring a smile to their faces, helping forget about discomfort and recover faster,” he told Reuters.

Tsai opened the hospital with T$100 million ($3 million) in his hometown of 126,000 because his mother, wife and daughter all like the cartoon cat.

“Unlike traditional hospitals that are mostly white, I feel this one is pretty good,” said Chen Shing-chiu, 38, mother of a newborn baby boy. “I like Hello Kitty very much myself.”

Hello Kitty has a loyal following in Japan and elsewhere, mainly of young females who consider her the epitome of cuteness. The podgy feline has even been featured in the Japanese issue of fashion magazine Vogue this year.

Viewed 9055 times by 2246 viewers