Sea Monster

Original owner claims this is a real sea monster that was dumped by the sea on a near-bye beach. Discovery Channel also claimed that unbelievable sea creatures live in deep-sea, and that we aren’t aware of their existance.

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Top 10 Most Dangerous Roads in the World

At one time or another, most drivers encounter unsafe road conditions. Hazards can appear in many different forms; for instance, poor weather, drunk drivers, and simple human error can all complicate an otherwise uneventful journey. On the other hand, sometimes the condition of the road itself can put your life in jeopardy.

Some of the following roads appear normal, but actually have high death rates. Others just look outrageously insane. And, of course, some roads fall into both categories.

This list is dedicated to all the white-knuckled, terrified drivers who are forced to brave dangerous roads – and to all the crazies who navigate them for fun.

10. Grand Trunk Road (India)

Constructed by the Pashtun emperor Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century, India’s Grand Trunk Road (also known as GT) spans more than 1,500 miles from Bangladesh in the east to Pakistan in the west, serving as one of the main thoroughfares across the Indian subcontinent. Over the years, it has functioned both as a major trade route and as a convenient right-of-way for invading armies.

GT is considered dangerous not because of risky heights or disheartening road conditions, but because of the traffic congestion. Trucks, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, and animals have turned parts of this heavily-used road into a major headache. If you’re planning to drive here, you’ll want to be as alert as possible.

9. San Isidro de General – Cartago (Costa Rica)

The Pan-American Highway has plenty of dangerous stretches, but the old road that passes through the Costa Rican mountains to link San Isidro de General and Cartago is especially hazardous.

The high point in the pass is known as Cerro de la Muerte, or Mountain of Death – not technically because of the road, but because people traveling through the pass before the road existed often didn’t survive the cold journey. However, the name happens to be an apt descriptor for the road itself, which tests drivers with excessive potholes, steep, narrow curves, and plenty of fog. The road’s height (13,000 feet) can also cause altitude sickness, further impairing drivers.

In addition to these perils, you can also expect to deal with the imprudent habits of local bus and truck drivers, who tend to drive very aggressively and irresponsibly despite the unsafe conditions. Fortunately, a new paved road between Quepos and Dominical has recently been completed, which will give travelers an alternative to the Mountain of Death route.

8. Sichuan – Tibet Highway (China)

China’s high-altitude Sichuan – Tibet Highway covers about 1,500 miles between Chengdu in the east and Lhasa (Tibet) in the west, offering the choice between the northern or southern route. Both options boast beautiful scenery, enormous mountain peaks, various cultural and historical attractions, and many famous rivers. Que’er Mountain pass, the highest point on the route, rises to over 20,000 feet.

Like many other roads that cut through mountains, the Sichuan – Tibet Highway is prone to landslides, falling rocks, and extreme weather conditions that can close roads for a month at a time. Add avalanches and altitude sickness to the lineup, and you could find yourself in rather unsafe driving conditions. It’s certainly a great route for sightseeing, but keep in mind that it will also add a good dose of intensity to your driving adventures.

7. Skippers Road (New Zealand)

In 1862, a couple of shepherds discovered gold in the Shotover River near Queenstown, New Zealand, prompting an immediate gold rush. This in turn necessitated the creation of an access route, and the result was Skippers Road, a narrow, winding, and exhilaratingly treacherous pathway that twists and turns for about 16 ½ miles through Skippers Canyon.

Carved and blasted right out of the solid rock by Chinese laborers, Skippers Road took 22 years to complete, and it doesn’t look much different today than when it was first created. In most places it’s too narrow for vehicles to pass each other, there are no guardrails, and the drop-offs leave absolutely no room for error.

Beautiful, yes, but also risky. Unless you’re a thrill seeker, leave the driving to the tour guides, and keep in mind that car rental companies probably won’t allow you to explore Skippers Road with their vehicles.

6. Halsema Highway (Philippines)

Located on the island of Luzon, the Halsema Highway runs through the Central Cordillera Valley in the Philippines from Baguio to Bontoc and farther on toward Tabuk and Tuguegarao. Landslides and rock falls are common, often stranding motorists for long periods of time. Many portions of the road are still unpaved, although work is supposedly in progress to bring about some improvements, and there are plenty of drop-offs that are steep enough to kill you.

Foggy conditions paired with the lack of much-needed guardrails in certain areas only complicate the Halsema Highway’s already dangerous conditions. Local accounts also indicate that buses traversing this route are less than considerate when it comes to road rules, so watch your step.

5. Patiopoulo – Perdikaki Road (Greece)

In the mountainous Agrafa region of Greece, the route connecting Patiopoulo and Perdikaki is an unnerving example of roads that require constant attentiveness and care from their travelers. Potholes and loose, slippery gravel weaken a driver’s control while distractions from heavy traffic, pedestrians, and livestock create additional hazards. Many sections are very steep and narrow, demanding the utmost of caution.

But there’s more madness involved here – the road apparently includes sharp drop-offs on not just one, but on both sides. And there aren’t any barriers. Strictly for your driving pleasure, of course.

4. Luxor – al – Hurghada Road (Egypt)

The road connecting Luxor (the site of the ancient city of Thebes) with the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Hurghada is paved, marked, and appears to be relatively safe. However, bandits, terrorist attempts to undermine the tourism industry, and frightened drivers have all combined to turn this route into a major nightmare.

The violent attacks along this road are dangerous enough by themselves, but what sometimes makes it even worse is the fact that most people who drive at night don’t use headlights for fear of announcing their approach. Yes, it could be a great way to avoid unseen enemies, but it also invites other disasters in the form of head-on collisions.

Invisibility might save you from one threat, but there’s a good chance it will deliver you into the hands of another. Consider buying some of those night vision goggles if you plan to drive this road after dark.

3. Fairy Meadows Road (Pakistan)

Situated at the base of Pakistan’s 26,660-foot Nanga Parbat, Fairy Meadows is a picturesque destination for backpackers, photographers, and mountain climbers who want to get closer to the enormous peak and enjoy the scenery. Getting to Fairy Meadows, however, is not such an attractive experience. Part of the trip involves surviving a 6-mile, hour-long drive on an unstable gravel road hacked out of the barren hills.

From Raikot Bridge to the village of Tato, this ‘road’ offers the motorist all the insane features of your typical mountainside dirt trail. It’s narrow, unpaved, steep, and of course there aren’t any guardrails to prevent your Jeep from rolling down into the gorge. You can’t even drive it all the way to Fairy Meadows; the last section has to be covered by bicycle or on foot.

A great road for adventurers, Fairy Meadows Road is definitely not for the faint of heart.

2. Nairobi – Nakuru – Eldoret Highway (Kenya)

As anyone who’s ever driven a car before knows, a road can qualify as dangerous without having muddy, hairpin turns thousands of feet in the air. People die on roads around the world because of other irresponsible drivers, and that’s why this road in Kenya made it onto the list. It looks like a decent place to drive, but speeding, unsafe passing attempts, and drunk driving have inflated the death toll to over 300 every year.

In other words, you might actually have a better chance of surviving on one of those precarious mountain roads.

1. Old Yungas Road (Bolivia)

According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel, the title for World’s Most Dangerous Road goes to Bolivia’s old Yungas Road, which twists and turns for about 40 miles between the capital city of La Paz and the town of Coroico in the Yungas jungle region. If other roads seem risky, the old Yungas Road is nothing less than a suicide mission.

Built in the 1930s by Paraguayan prisoners of war, the Yungas Road was until recently the main route from La Paz to Bolivia’s northern Amazon rainforest region. Dropping nearly 12,000 feet in overall elevation, the road is extremely narrow, subject to frequent landslides and fog, and offers no protection from the sheer cliffs that drop straight down for a couple thousand feet. Before a modernized and safer route was completed in 2006, somewhere between 100-200 fatalities occurred every year, and the roadside is presently littered with crosses and memorials. For obvious reasons, locals have given it a simple yet somber nickname – Death Road.

By the way, there are quite a few companies in La Paz that offer extreme bike tours of the Yungas Road for adventure seekers. If you like teasing death, then this is the road for you.

Creative Design for Zodiac Signs

TAURUS

SCORPIO

SAGUITTARIUS

PISCES

LIBRA

LEO

 

VIRGO

GEMINI

CAPRICORN

CANCER

ARIES

AQUARIUS

Top 10 Spy

Although most people think of spies as a Cold War phenomenon, they’ve actually been around for hundreds of years, and include in their ranks larger than life figures like big game hunters, revolutionary war heroes, and even exotic dancers. While these real life spies might not have had cool gadgets or fast cars like James Bond, their lives still make for some pretty amazing stories, so sit back with a shaken-not-stirred martini and have a look at this list of the top ten masters of espionage throughout history.

10. Allan Pinkerton

Allan Pinkerton was a Scottish detective who pioneered many spying techniques that are still used today. He was one of the first detectives to shadow his subjects, and his undercover operations, what he called “assuming a role,” helped shape modern espionage. In 1850 he founded the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, a group of private detectives and policemen. The group was well known throughout the 1800s, and is best remembered for their involvement in the tracking and capture of several old west outlaws. During the American Civil War, Pinkerton was the head of the Union Intelligence Service, and was a close advisor and confidant to Abraham Lincoln. He helped foil an assassination plot on Lincoln in 1861, planted agents inside the Confederate army, and even went undercover as a Confederate officer in order to report on troop movements.

9. Klaus Fuchs

A German theoretical physicist and an expert on atomic bomb technology, Klaus Fuchs passed on a number of significant weapons secrets to the USSR while working as a scientist for the American government. Fuchs made a number of breakthroughs in nuclear fission, and was a part of the famed Manhattan Project that led to the development of the first A-bomb. A communist in his youth, he was recruited by a KGB case officer in 1941, and for years he passed on information about bomb technology and the state of the U.S. weapons stockpile to the Soviets. Fuchs was apprehended in 1946 after a Soviet cipher was cracked by Allied intelligence forces, and under interrogation he admitted to working for the Russians. While he is not as well known as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the atomic secrets provided by Klaus Fuchs are said to have had a bigger effect on the Russians’ knowledge of the U.S. nuclear program, and even helped aid them in the development of their own atomic weapons.

8. Elizabeth Van Lew

Elizabeth Van Lew was a spy who worked on behalf of the Union during the American Civil War. Van Lew operated under the cover of a charity worker, and was allowed to enter the infamous Libby Prison in the Southern capital of Richmond to bring Union prisoners food and supplies. While there, she would gather information about Confederate troop movements and pass it on to U.S. forces. She also operated a small spy ring that was based out of Richmond and included several high profile members of the Confederate government, and it is rumored that she even managed to get one of her former slaves hired on at the White House of the Confederacy to act as an informant. After the war ended, Van Lew was credited by Ulysses Grant as the most valuable source of information on the Confederate capital city. Along with Belle Boyd on the Southern side, she is remembered as the most famous spy of the Civil War, and she was eventually inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.

7. Aldrich Ames

While most spies engage in espionage for political or ideological reasons, for CIA mole Aldrich Ames the motivation was purely monetary. Ames, who worked as a counter-intelligence analyst in Washington D.C., was desperate for cash, and in 1985 he began supplying secrets to the Soviets in exchange for a fee, eventually receiving over $4 million from the Russians. Over the course of nine years, Ames supplied the Soviets with countless secrets, including the names of over 100 U.S. informants working in Russia, at least ten of whom were eventually executed. Ames used his millions to fund a lavish lifestyle, which attracted the attention of the CIA, but thanks to his intelligence training he was able to repeatedly pass lie detector tests. He was finally arrested in 1994, and after pleading guilty to spying, was sentenced to life in prison. Interestingly, at least $2 million of his fee remains in an undisclosed bank account, and to this day the Russians have refused to turn this money over to American authorities.

6. Richard Sorge

Considered to be one of the most skilled spies of the 20th century, Richard Sorge was a Soviet master of espionage who worked all over the world before and during World War II. For much of his career, he operated under the cover of a professional journalist, traveling to various European countries to calculate the chances of possible Communist uprisings. At the outbreak of WWII, Sorge traveled to Japan under the guise of a Nazi reporter and began supplying the Soviets with valuable intelligence about Japanese and German combat operations. He warned them about the Pearl Harbor attack, the planned German invasion of Russia, and countless other missions, but a lot of his intelligence was ignored by Stalin. Sorge was eventually captured by the Japanese in 1944, and though he never admitted to being a Soviet spy even under torture, was executed shortly thereafter. The Soviets did not recognize him or his activities until 1964, at which point he was belatedly hailed as a national hero.

5. Sidney Reilly

One of the major models for the James Bond character, Sidney Reilly was a master spy who worked for a number of governments in the early 20th century. Known as the “Ace of Spies,” Reilly was an expert at deception and self-promotion, so a lot of the information on his life is unreliable. We do know that he was a master of disguise, and frequently crossed national borders under assumed identities in order to steal military secrets, building plans, and aircraft prototypes. He was also known for his debonair character, and often used his charm to seduce the wives of politicians and military officers in order to get information from them. In his most famous exploit, Reilly worked as the leader of a British intelligence group involved in trying to overthrow the Bolshevik government in Russia in 1917. He helped stage an unsuccessful coup, and led an attempted assassination plot on Vladimir Lenin, but his group was eventually found out and he only narrowly escaped arrest by assuming the identity of German national and escaping to Finland. He was sentenced to death in absentia by the Russian government, and in 1925 he was lured to back into the Soviet Union as a part of a sting operation and captured. Though he never admitted to being a spy, he was eventually executed by firing squad.

4. Fritz Joubert Duquesne

Fritz Joubert Duquesne was a larger than life writer, soldier, and adventurer who gained fame as a spy for the Germans during World Wars I and II. As a young man, he fought against England in his native South Africa during the First and Second Boer Wars, at one point enlisting in the British army in order to sabotage missions and report on troop movements. This experience helped foster a lifelong hatred of all things English, and at the outbreak of the First World War, Duquesne began working for the Germans as a spy, planting bombs on several British ships that eventually went down at sea. He was captured in 1917 and extradited to New York, but after two years in jail he made a daring escape by cutting through the bars of his cell and scaling the prison walls. He disappeared for some time, working as a freelance journalist and even writing his own biography, before resurfacing at the outbreak of WWII and resuming his spy activities for the Germans. His days of espionage came to an end in 1942 when Duquesne, along with 33 other German spies, were arrested in what became known as the biggest espionage ring conviction in American history.

3. Nathan Hale

Considered by many to be America’s first spy, Nathan Hale was a soldier in the Continental Army who in 1776 volunteered to go on a dangerous intelligence-gathering mission behind enemy lines. Hale, who was only 21 at the time, ventured into New York City in disguise in order to report on British troop movements, but after the city fell to the English, he was found out by a British officer and captured. Although spying wasn’t widely practiced at the time, Hale was charged with being an illegal combatant and was hanged a few days after being apprehended. Before his execution, he is said to have uttered the now famous line “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” This speech and his espionage activities cemented Hale’s reputation as one of the heroes of the Revolutionary War, and to this day a statue of him stands outside of the CIA headquarters.

2. Kim Philby

Perhaps the most famous double agent of the Cold War, Kim Philby was a globetrotting British spy who was in actuality a socialist under the control of the Soviet KGB. In a career that took him to Spain, Africa, the U.S., Istanbul, and Moscow, Philby gained a reputation as one of Britain’s most capable spies, but all the while he was secretly sending along information to the Soviet Embassy in Paris. In the late forties, he was assigned to act as an intermediary between the British and U.S. intelligence organizations in Washington D.C. During this time, he passed along significant information on U.S. armaments and atomic weapons stockpiles, and many credit these reports with influencing Josef Stalin’s political decisions and helping to lead to the Korean War. Philby was suspected as a possible Soviet spy by British intelligence throughout his career, but they were unable to prove anything, and he remained on the periphery of the intelligence community until he defected to the Soviet Union in 1963. He continued to work in Soviet intelligence until his death in 1988, when he was given numerous posthumous awards by the Russian government.

1. Mata Hari

Now recognized as the prototypical femme fatale, Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, AKA Mata Hari, was a famous exotic dancer and performer who was executed in 1917 for spying for the Germans during World War I. She gained fame in Paris for her risqué dance routines and performances, and at the outbreak of the war she was the mistress and escort to many high profile businessman and military officers. As a citizen of the neutral Netherlands, Mata Hari frequently crossed national borders, a practice that eventually attracted the attention of the Allies. When questioned by British intelligence, she claimed to be an undercover spy for the French, but their government denied this. Soon after, the French intercepted a German radio transmission detailing the activities of one of their most successful spies. Evidence pointed to Mata Hari as the culprit, and she was quickly arrested and charged with contributing to the deaths of 50,000 people. She was found guilty during a trial and executed in October of 1917 by firing squad. Although it has never been determined whether she was really working for the Germans or the French, Mata Hari continues to be remembered as one of the most famous spies of all time.