Sigiriya
Sigiriya (Lion's rock) is an ancient rock fortress and palace ruin situated in the central Matale District of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures.
Jan Grzebski
Jan Grzebski was a Polish man who woke up from a 19-year coma to find the Communist party no longer in power and food no longer rationed.
Eden Project
The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England. The complex is dominated by two huge enclosures consisting of adjoining domes that house thousands of plant species, and each enclosure emulates a natural biome.
Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Born on this day in 1886, the explorer was only in his twenties when in 1910 he volunteered to go to the Antarctic with explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his men. Their mission: to be first to make it to the South Pole. That expedition did not go as planned—at all. But it led to the writing of his book, which chronicled his adventure seeking emperor penguin embryos and of being a part of the search party that found the body of Scott and his two companions, Lt. Henry Bowers and Edward A. Wilson, the expedition’s chief scientist.
Monte Verità
Monte Verità in Ascona has served as the site of many different Utopian and cultural events and communities since the beginning of the twentieth century. Artists and other famous people attracted to this hill included Hermann Hesse, Carl Jung, Isadora Duncan, Paul Klee, Carlo Mense, Rudolf Steiner, and Mary Wigman.
Swan Upping
Swan Upping is an annual ceremonial and practical activity in Britain in which mute swans on the River Thames are rounded up, caught, marked, and then released.
James Eads How
James Eads Howwas an American organizer of the hobo community in the early 20th century. He was heir of a wealthy St. Louis family, but chose to live as a hobo and to help the homeless migrant workers. The newspapers often referred to him as the "Millionaire Hobo".
Neptune Grass
In 2006 a huge clonal colony of Neptune Grass was discovered south of the island of Ibiza. At 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) across and possibly up to 100,000 years of age, it may be one of the largest and oldest clonal colonies on Earth.
Pando
Pando (or The Trembling Giant) is a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) located in the U.S. state of Utah, all determined to be part of a single living organism by identical genetic markers and one massive underground root system, although whether it is a single tree is disputed, as it depends on one's definition of an individual tree. The plant is estimated to weigh collectively 6,000 tonnes (6,615 tons), making it the heaviest known organism. The root system of Pando is claimed by some to be among the oldest known living organisms in existence at 80,000 years of age.
Pacific Blackdragon
Female blackdragons are about 61 cm long and have fang-like teeth and a long chin whisker. The males are small, about 8 cm in length, and brownish in color. They have no teeth, no chin barbel and no stomach. Unable to eat, the male lives only long enough to mate.