The Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Maharaja Jai Singh II at his then new capital of Jaipur between 1727 and 1734. It is modeled after the one that he had built for him at the then Mughal capital of Delhi.
Jan Ove Waldner has been called the "Mozart of table tennis" because of his ability to play many different compositions on the table. If not Mozart, Waldner is certainly the Michael Jordan of his sport. His domination and nearly mythical status among the sport's players and fans is unprecedented in the history of the game. Although table tennis doesn't enjoy the respect reserved for the world's more recognized sports, Waldner, in countries that take the sport seriously, is widely recognized as the best player of all time. He is one of two players in the sport's history to win all three major titles—at the World Championships, the Olympics and the World Cup. He is also known for possessing the finest serve technique in the European game.
Ilha de Queimada Grande, nicknamed Snake Island, is a 430,000-square-metre island off the coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is home to a species of fer-de-lance, the Golden Lancehead, which is one of the most venomous snakes in the world; local legend claims that there are five snakes to every square metre, while a documentary on the Discovery Channel says that in some places there are as many as one snake per square metre. The Golden Lancehead is the only species of snake on the island, yet is considered in danger of extinction since it has no other habitat, and might be wiped out by wildfire. Plans to build a banana plantation on the island fizzled, and, for a long time, the island's only inhabitant was a lighthouse keeper. Currently, the Brazilian Navy bans civilians from the island, though scientists sometimes receive waivers.
Ferret legging is a sport that seems to have been popular among coal miners in Yorkshire, England. The male-only contestants put live ferrets inside their trousers; the winner is the one who is the last to release the animals. The world record is five hours and thirty minutes.
Strom Thurmond left office as the only senator to reach the age of 100 while still in office and as the oldest-serving and longest-serving senator in U.S. history (although he was later surpassed in the latter by Robert Byrd). Thurmond holds the record for the longest serving Dean of the United States Senate in U.S. history at 14 years. He conducted the longest filibuster ever by a lone senator in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957, at 24 hours and 18 minutes in length, nonstop. He later moderated his position on race, but continued to defend his early segregationist campaigns on the basis of states' rights in the context of Southern society at the time, never fully renouncing his earlier viewpoints. After his death it was revealed that Thurmond and a black maid, Carrie Butler, had a daughter whom Thurmond never publicly acknowledged.
For a six-year run beginning in 1987, CS Leigh was one of the most visible - and ambitious - independent curators in the international art world. Then he vanished. He's since then hustled people in film, art, and publishing. A sadly beautiful con man.
Bo Harwood is a composer who worked closely with John Cassavetes.
Prized for its beauty, shade, and medicinal properties, the cultivar was thought to have become extinct sometime around AD 150. However, in 2005, a preserved 2,000-year-old seed sprouted. It is the oldest known human-assisted germination of a seed.
The Maunsell Sea Forts were small fortified towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom.
The Large Helical Device is a fusion research device in Japan and is the largest superconducting stellarator in the world.