Sometimes you have to transport remarkably huge payload over great distances. Doesn’t matter whether it’s passenger, cargo or spaceship payload, you need huge aircraft for this task. The thing is, ships can rarely go inland and to transport it by train you need to disassemble it to pieces. It would be much easier to just rent high capacity airplane and do the job. That’s when these machines comes to the full time use.

Antonov An-225 “Mriya”

“Mriya” (or dream in Russian) is world largest aircraft ever to be made. When I say largest I mean it. How else to call airplane that can carry 250,000 kg of goods over 4,000 kilometers with some 800 km/h speed? Six engines, six crew members, it takes some 3,500 meters of runway just to take off. This airplane will surely catch your attention when flying past, with it’s remarkable size and interesting shape. One would ask: how do they steer such a giant plane.
It was designed for the Soviet space program, had first flight in December 1988. It can carry spaceship like Buran space shuttle, on the top of airplane (cargo on top can be up to 200,000 kg and 70 meters in length). Only two were ordered but collapse of the Soviet Union caused only one to enter service and the other one to be abandoned partially completed. The one that is operational is used all over the world for heavy-payload transport. Who knows, due to it’s value, maybe more aircraft will be built in the future.

Airbus A380

Another huge aircraft. However, this one is passenger airplane and quite a goodie. Made in some 50 or 60 examples this is quite frankly remarkable machine. Currently some 525 passengers can be transported but some configuration increase that number up to 840! Over 1,000 km/h cruise speed, takes 2,700 meters of runway for take-off and can reach 15,200 km of range. Made it’s commercial flight in 2007 so it’s quite new and modern aircraft. Human vision to carry more, fly farther and with greater speed is slowly coming close. And if history taught us anything than it is that soon never versions will appear with greater characteristics. Always the quest for better, faster, greater, more efficient etc.

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy

Pride of United States Air Force. C-5 Galaxy is huge strategic airlift, designed to transport oversize and huge cargo over great distances. As you know, military can produce big tasks to the Air Force. This airplane makes sure those tasks are fulfilled. Some 130 were built with symbolic 167 million $ cost per unit. But it pays up with every cent. With crew of 8 this airplane can carry 122 tons of payload with speed of around 900 km/h over 4,440 km range. Quite impressive. Great aircraft to transport military supplies and war material over great distances. To add to it it is a very reliable aircraft and some are used in extreme conditions like polar circle and dust of the Middle East.

Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter

Another large aircraft. To add to it also have interesting shape in the middle section of fuselage. This airplane is made exclusively for Boeing business, for cargo transfer to the main factories. It is a drastic modification of Boeing 747 with almost 400 tons of weight, 900 km/h and service range of 7,800 km. Also known as Dreamlifter this aircraft can surely catch your eyesight. It has 1,840 cubic meters of the cargo compartment. Just imagine what can be put inside.

Tupolev Tu-160 “Blackjack”

Last but not least, pride of Soviet and now Russian air force. Tu-160 (NATO codename Blackjack) is world largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft, greatest total thrust and heaviest takeoff weight of combat aircraft.  Also holds largest top speed of any bomber in the world. Primary usage is as strategic bomber. It can carry some 40 tons of combat ordinance with 960 km/h up to 12,300 km range (without air refueling). Also it goes up to 15,000 km in flying height and can carry 12 short-range nuclear missiles. It has beautiful shape which is recognizable quite easy. It was Tu-160 to drop Father of all bombs in 2007. It remains newest Russian strategic bomber with full potential of modernization.

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War as event always brings up full potential of mankind to create new and more effective weapon systems to wage them with greater efficiency. Some of those systems stay and goes under further upgrade to become the iron fist of the army. Some are researched and abandoned. Amongst them you may find very intriguing results and above all: be surprised of human creativity. World War II brought us many new advances in weapon systems. However some weapons are forgotten but should be revised simply because they are interesting.

1. Anti-tank dog

It is not a joke: dogs not only bark but they tend to knock-out enemy armored vehicles, if properly trained though. Soviet army was researching way of using trained dogs to destroy enemy tanks by placing mines underneath them. Procedure was for dog to run to the enemy tank, get it’s mine of by clinching it with teeth (failed to work) or later with special lever which would get stuck on the enemy tank and therefore release mine of the dog’s back. Mines were two in pack of some 12 kg and the point was to drop them beneath the tank (where tank is truly vulnerable). Success was different in units, with some managed to inflict damage to the German armored units while some suffered “friendly fire” (dogs not trained properly had used to run back to Soviet lines when fired upon, scared to death, and with their mines on time fuze). Nevertheless program continued up until 1996.

2. Goliath – Radio controlled mine

Sure it’s not uncommon sight today to see people driving radio controlled vehicles (like planes, cars, tanks and such). However very few people know that in the WWII German army used this technique for quite different purpose. A so called Sd.Kfz. 302/303 Goliath might look like a tank toy: but inside lay 60 kg of high explosive, it was controlled by cable and joystick and was annoyance to any armored vehicles (and strong point alike). Idea was to deliver remote controlled bomb from the safe distance. It was partly successful. Vehicle itself was blowing away and doing damage to the enemy and it had strong psychological effect. However thin armor, low speed (some 9 to 10 km/h) together with controller exposure were deficiencies. Nevertheless many were used with strong effect and they proved to be one step in the staircase of the future technologies.

3. Bachem Ba 349

Quest for speed – or quest to shoot down Allied bombers who were making havoc in German rear and industry during the World War II. Bombing campaign forced German scientist to create fast airplane, armed with rockets, made of available material (to remind, aluminum was in a very short supply and dedicated to fighter planes) but already too late to change the course of war. However this airplane had significant impact in the future avionics. Process was very simple: launch airplane from the platform guide it by radio to the bomber squadrons when pilot had to aim it and fire it’s 24 73mm rockets (clustered in the nose), then glide airplane down when it separates: main parts would drop with parachutes and be used again while fuselage was disposable. With maximum speed of 1,000 km/h this could have been a formidable weapon.

4. Zielgerät 1229 “Vampire”

Human eyesight, no matter how perfect and advanced, have many obstacles. Especially in dark or less light, those obstacles can truly make difference in combat. Every modern army has it’s potential on night vision devices which are so powerful that they can really help you out to see in the dark. However, true basis for this was set up in the World War II. Near the end of war German army equipped certain number of soldiers with infrared devices commonly known as “Vampires”. They were operating in upper infrared light spectrum with device permitting infrared light only. It was a common practice to attach those devices to vehicles and weapons like MG-34 or MG-42 (machineguns with long and accurate barrels). Even though only small number of devices saw combat it was enough to start revolution of military night vision devices.

5. Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka “Baka”

Kamikaze: ultimate sacrifice of soldier who commits suicide but takes lives of enemy soldiers as well. As Japan went from bad to worse (in war conditions) they looked upon Kamikaze tactics to change the course of war. You must take note that whoever controls Pacific wins war. To control Pacific you need large fleet, something Japan did not have (lost it in battles). US Navy was poised to launch final strikes against Japan mainland and people were rushed in to conduct suicide attacks with airplanes by flying full speed and crashing into the Allied ships. However they would soon meet with intense and heavy anti-aircraft power so Japanese scientists came up with this airplane. It’s not much of a airplane as much as it is a controlled bomb. Flying more than 800 km/h with 1,200 kg warhead in the nose “Baka” was death threat to the enemy ships. However, it had one big flaw: it had to be  brought to the battlefield attached to some bomber and released upon seeing enemy ship.

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As you already know modern art is really weird sometimes like in the following examples. The jewelry on the following pictures was made by Anna Schwamborn, and they have the right to carry the title “Weirdest jewelry Ever”. Why are they weird, you may ask? Well, simply because they are created from human hair. And besides being unusual and weird, these pieces of jewelry are really impressive and unique.

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Although there are many reasons why would anyone steal someone others car, it seems that older car models are stolen more often than others. According to a recent survey made by NICB (National Insurance Crime Bureau) the following models are the “Top 3 Most Stolen Cars”. As you can see the average age on this list is more than 12 years, but there is one younger model that is about to join them. it is the 2009 Toyota Corolla.

Here is a list of the most frequently stolen cars in the USA last year.

1. 1994 Honda Accord

2. 1995 Honda Civic

3. 1991 Toyota Camry

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These motorbike certainly won’t get unnoticed wherever they show up, and all you have to do to have one like these is a little creativity, time and money. But it looks like the owners of these modded motorbikes have gone a bit too far with their desire to have something unique.

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The event to be seen on the following pictures represents a strength competition, which is a tradition in Belarusia. The Belarusian Interior Ministry participates in this competition taking the event to the extreme. Unlike the “usual” tug-of-war, chinups etc. there are some skills that a normal person couldn’t do: wrestling in the snow half naked, skiing on concrete and many more.

They have their own variation of the wheelbarrow race, a popular children’s game. But here we have top soldiers ready to wing the Madder beret – a symbol of toughness and honor. For that they are ready to pass an obstacle course made of a deep marsh, high walls, barbed wire obstacles, fire flames, “death” traps, tear gas, gunfire and even a fight with soldiers who’ve already reached the Madder Beret rank. And we have to admit that after passing all of these they are really ready to do anything.

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The smallest cow in the world, named Swallow, is only 33 inches tall, i.e. it is the size of a sheep. It is also registered in the Guinness book of records. What is interesting about this sheep-sized cow is that it likes listening to BBC radio.
The mentioned cow belongs to the Dexter breed of cows known by it’s small size. However even according to their usual size this cow can be considered small.
Despite her size this cow has already given birth to 9 calves and the 10th is on the way.

Source: www.guinnessworldrecords.com

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According to certain sources on the internet this is the strongest dog in the world (or at least the one with most muscles) and guess who it works for? It works for the Russian army. Wendy, now called the Incredible Hulk amongst dogs was born with a genetic defect (unfortunately this is not photoshopped photo below) which caused it to look like this today – larger and much more muscular than any other dog in her breed. With the weight of 27 kgs this dog is double size than it should normally be.  She belongs to the whippet breed and is twice the size of an average female whippet. And no matter how frightening it looks, the owner says she is very friendly, and likes what other dogs normally do. However I wouldn’t like to be near Wendy when she runs in the park or something.

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On the frozen surface on the lake Baikal there is a figure 13 miles in diameter. The creator of this record breaking creation, the extraordinary landscape artist Jim Denevan and his team, needed 15 days to finish this masterpiece. The Fibonacci curve made of more than 1000 circles was used as a model.

Image 1. As you can see, this image represents the artist Jim Denevan at the centre of the biggest drawing in the world.

Slika 2. Crop circles on ice. One of the smaller circles traced by a truck

Slika 3: This picture represents an earlier work of the artist. It is a long piece of sand art in the Nevada Desert. This drawing was only 3 miles long.

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Amazing and creepy, if you ask me, collection of photos of dead flies.
This is the work of the Swedish photographer Magnus Muhr. Despite his extremely good photographs on his portfolio, this gallery of dead flies has taken all my attention. So it’s got to be here at lolhunter.com. Some of you may like it some may not, but the photos have much to tell. Feel free to check out all the photosbelow.

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