Austria’s Felix Baumgartner earned his place in the history books on Sunday October 14, 2012 after overcoming concerns with the power for his visor heater that impaired his vision and nearly jeopardized the mission. Baumgartner reached an estimated speed of 1,342.8 km/h (834.37 mph) jumping from the stratosphere, which when certified will make him…
*Update: The Top 100 ‘Pictures of the Day’ for 2012 have just been published. Click here to check out the most up-to-date post! After the positive reception from last year’s “Top 50 ‘Pictures of the Day’ for 2011“, the Sifter promised to highlight the top 25 ‘Pictures of the Day‘ at the end of…
Photograph by Neil Brown on Flickr At the outbreak of World War II, the Port of London was the busiest port in the world. The German Navy recognized the Thames as an important shipping route and sought to disrupt its usage through the use of a new secret weapon — the magnetic influence…
EARTHQUAKE MOUNTAIN DUST Photograph by Roberto and Adrian Maquez (via NBC Sand Diego) The 2010 Baja California earthquake (also known as 2010 Easter earthquake, 2010 Sierra El Mayor earthquake, or 2010 El Mayor – Cucapah earthquake) was an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude on the moment magnitude scale. It started 26 kilometers…
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs. In the original use of the word, these buildings served no other…
THE LARGEST MONUMENT IN PETRA, JORDAN Photograph by Berthold Werner Petra is an historical and archaeological city in Jordan that is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Established possibly as early as 312 BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan and…
THE $126 BILLION PHOTOGRAPH Photograph by Michael Prince for Forbes In this epic group photo taken on June 26, 2012 by Michael Prince for Forbes Magazine, we see twelve well known philanthropists with a total net worth of $126 billion. This photograph, which graces the cover of the 30th anniversary issue…
WATCHING WAR UNFOLD Photograph via Kevork Djansezian/AP (via MSNBC) In this powerful image from 2006, we see two Lebanese citizens watching Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah speak on television as black smoke rises from Israeli attacks on the Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. The 2006 Lebanon War…
Photograph via Wikipedia That’s Jeanne Calment, a French citizen who has the longest confirmed human lifespan in history at 122 years and 164 days. She was born on February 21, 1875 and passed on August 4, 1997 [Source]. She’s lived through both world wars, seen humankind land on the moon and witnessed the…
On a day marred by tragedy, an uplifting story of the human spirit emerged on the shores of Manhattan. Along with the coast guard, a group of everyday citizens worked together to accomplish the largest sea evacuation in history. Half a million people were transported in a stretch of nine hours. It was…
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