Top 8 Longest Place Names In The World

The world is full of amazing locations and some are simply too good for commonly mundane names. Below is a list of places that have drifted far from the economy of words and have instead hung their hat on sheer length.

 

1. Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukakapiki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatahu (85 letters)

• Short-forms: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu (57 letters)
• Location: A hill on North Island, New Zealand
• Language: Māori

Image source

Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukakapiki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatahu is the Māori name for a hill, 305 metres (1,001 ft) high, close to Porangahau, south of Waipukurau in southern Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.

The name is often shortened to Taumata by the locals for ease of conversation. The New Zealand Geographic Placenames Database, maintained by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), records the name as "Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­pokai­whenua­ki­tana­tahu". It has gained a measure of fame as it is the longest place-name found in any English-speaking country, and it is the second longest place-name in the world, according to Wises New Zealand Guide and reported in the New Zealand Herald.

Image source

 

 

2. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantys-iliogogogoch (58 letters)

• Short-forms: Llanfairpwllgwyngyll (20 letters)
• Location: a village in Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom
• Language: Welsh

Image source

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is a large village and community on the island of Anglesey in Wales, situated on the Menai Strait next to the Britannia Bridge and across the strait from Bangor. This village has the longest place name in Europe and one of the longest place names in the world. The short form of the village's name is Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, also spelled Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll. It is commonly known as Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwll.

Image source

 

 

3. Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagung-amaugg (45 letters)

• Short-forms: Lake Chaubunagungamaug (17 letters)
• Location: a lake in Massachusetts, United States
• Language: Nipmuc

Image source

Lake Chaubunagungamaug, also known as Webster Lake, is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of 1,442 acres (5.84 km²).

Image source

 

 

4. Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein (44 letters)

• Location: South Africa
• Language: Afrikaans

Image source

Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein is a farm in the North West province of South Africa, located about 200 km west of Pretoria and 20 km east of Lichtenburg whose 44-character name has entered South African folklore in much the same way that Llanfairpwllgwyngyll-gogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysilio-gogogoch railway station has entered British folklore. The name was used as the title for an Afrikaans lyric written by Fanus Rautenbach and performed by Anton Goosen.

 

 

5. Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä (35 letters)

• Location: Lapland, Finland
• Language: Finnish (northern dialect)

Image source

Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä is a bog region in Savukoski, Lapland in Finland. The name is 35 letters long and is the longest place name in Finland.

 

 

6. Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik (31 letters)

• Location: a lake in Manitoba and Nunavut, Canada
• Language: Inuktitut

Image source

Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik Lake is a lake of Manitoba. The name is Cree for "where the wild trout are caught by fishing with hooks." It is the longest place name in Canada at 31 letters long.

 

 

7. Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta (28 letters)

• Location: a village in Andhra Pradesh, India
• Language: Telugu

Image source

Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta or Venkatanarasimha Rajuvaripet is a railway station in Andhra Pradesh on the border with Tamil Nadu, India with the distinction of having the longest name among all stations on the Indian Railway system. It is on the Renigunta-Arakkonam section of Southern Railway.

 

 

8. Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya (26 letters)

• Location: a hill in South Australia, Australia
• Language: Pitjantjatjara

Image source

Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya Hill is a hill in South Australia. The name means "where the devil urinates" in the regional Pitjantjatjara language. It is the longest official place name in Australia.

Source: Wikipedia.org

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The Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of All Time [INFOGRAPHIC]

Here are the top 10 most pirated movies of all time according to TorrentFreak. Thousands of illegal movies are downloaded everyday via Bittorrent or other peer-to-peer (P2P) communications protocol for file sharing but ever wonder what movies where downloaded the most? Although the the top 10 movies have been downloaded millions of times they have also done very well in the box-office. The data that was collected to create the list on TorrentFreak are from public BitTorrent trackers dating back from 2006. I would suggest movie-lovers to stick to Blockbuster total access or Netflix for all your online movie needs but if your wondering what to watch, the infographic might point you in the right direction. (Data was gathered from TorrentFreak).

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At the Heart of Valentines Day [INFOGRAPHIC]

It is true that many of the traditions surrounding Valentine’s Day and similar holidays worldwide are directly linked to consumer industries scheming up ways to build business. And it’s clear from the US spending statistics that silly as some people may find it, Valentine’s Day is no laughing matter when it comes to the flower and candy industries. However, it’s interesting to see different ways this looks across the globe, and to explore some of the deeper legend and history behind it.

Overall, I think giving is a good thing, as long as you keep it within reason, and don’t get too caught up in the consumer hype surrounding holidays like this. Check out this infographic to learn a little bit more about just how complex the construction of Valentine’s Day really is.

Source: frugaldad.com, damncoolpictures.com

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Top 10 Mega-Construction Projects That Could Save the Environment and the Economy

We humans are builders. One of the ways we leave a mark on the universe is by creating massive structures that show that some opposable digits have been here. So when things get tough, like due to an economic meltdown or a cascading environmental crisis, what can we do but build?

Here are 10 massive engineering projects — some pretty real, some quite fanciful — that could help turn our economic and environmental crises around.

 

10. Renewable Energy

Let's start with a super obvious one — according to Bloomberg News, 2011 marked the first time that investment in renewable energy was greater than investment in fossil fuels: $187 billion versus $157 billion. The cost of solar energy is dropping rapidly, but even with a loss for the most recent quarter and a trade complaint, the Motley Fool still praised Chinese solar power company Yingli Green Energy as a solid investment. At a time when global investment is down in general, investment in solar and wind power is soaring, and could be the key to reducing CO2 emissions before we reach another point of no return.

 

9. Masdar City

As we wrote back in 2008, Abu Dhabi plans to build the world's first carbon-neutral city over 10 years, near the Abu Dhabi airport. According to NPR, the city would use shade and Northeast-facing buildings to reduce the need for air conditioning, and cars would be banned within the city limits. Instead, solar-powered vehicles would navigate within the city. And 80 percent of water will be recycled. And all human waste will be "repurposed" and used as energy. Shaikh Zayed, founding father of the United Arab Emirates, describes Masdar City as a way to move past a dependency on oil for the region's fortunes.

 

8. The Desert Aquanet

The Shimizu Corporation has proposed to create a matrix of artificial and interconnected seawater lakes in the desert, each with an artificial island in its center for farming and city construction. Theoretically, the lakes would cool the air above each island, making the land arable (after desalination) and the adjacent territory livable for humans. It's unknown what effects the lakes may have on global weather patterns or, even the potential fallout of the lakes themselves — but first the project would have to get past the biggest hurdle of them all: the question of sovereignty.

 

7. AMFORA

Architect Moshé Zwarts wants to build an underwater city beneath Amsterdam. And Zwarts says it isn't as ludicrous as it sounds: "It is both feasible and sustainable, creating a city beneath the city is not futuristic, it is a necessity in this day and age." Zwarts says they could drill under the city without disturbing the existing street traffic or causing any construction noise, once they had resealed the canals overhead. "Amsterdam sits on a 30-metre layer of waterproof clay which will be used together with concrete and sand to make new walls." And once construction was finished, AMFORA would be carbon-neutral, because heat pumps would provide the energy for heating and cooling, and excess energy would be used for temperature control in buildings aboveground. Some question, though, whether what Amsterdam really needs is more parking and shopping.

 

6. Geothermal Power Plants.

California start-up company Simbol Materials believes they can extract lithium, zinc and manganese from the brine produced by geothermal power plants, potentially producing the world's purest and lowest costing lithium on the market. As demand for lithium batteries skyrockets, this could be the cleanest and most potentially profitable way to satisfy all that demand. Simbol already has a plant that filters 20 gallons a minute. And a commercial plant, being built in 2012 near the Salton Sea, will have the capacity to generate 16,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year. By 2020, Simbol plans to triple production.

 

5. Megacity Pyramids

Another absurdly ambitious project from the Shimizu Corporation: a three-mile-long pyramid, 14 times higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza (made from 204 smaller pyramids) capable of housing 750,000 people on Tokyo Bay. Inspired by the Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner, the lightweight carbon fiber pyramid would boast research facilities, shopping centers, private homes and restaurants. The businesses and residences would be powered by solar power, wind power, and even algae/pond scum. This pyramid is apparently already in development.

 

4. Seasteading Arcologies

In recent years, cutting-edge design gurus have proposed combining two old trends: the arcology, a self-contained monolithic city, and seasteading. Floating, self-sufficient arcologies have been proposed in places like Boston and San Francisco, but perhaps the most famous is the New Orleans Arcology Habitat, or NOAH. Among other things, the structure is intended to be sustainable, using "secured wind turbines, fresh water recovery and storage systems, passive glazing system, sky garden heating/cooling vents, grey water treatment, solar array banding panels, and river based water turbines." There would be internal electrical transport systems, both vertical and horizontal, eliminating the need for cars within the structure.

 

3. Coral Venice

Dr. Rachel Armstrong believes it's possible to create chemically engineered building materials in the form of synthetic limestone reefs. Created from protocells, fatty bags of DNA that move and react like living organisms, her buildings would grow, self-repair and respond to environmental pressures just as if they were living creatures. Armstrong believes that future architecture should be connected to the natural world, and communicate with nature. If that's not cool enough, Armstrong's technology could theoretically save Venice, Italy from sinking by lifting it from the ocean. (Top image: Mitchell Joachim. TERREFORM1: BlimpBumperBus, via Archimorph)

 

2. The Space Elevator

This is probably our best hope for colonizing space — an elevator that could lift tons of material off our planet. As we explained back in February:

Because the space elevator pulls cargo out of our gravity well, rather than pushing it using combustion, it would save a lot of energy and be capable of bringing far more materials offworld quickly. It would also be sustainable, making one or more runs per day. That it's reusable already makes it many thousands of times cheaper than the one-time-use Soyuz rockets that bring supplies to the International Space Station, only to destroy themselves in Earth's atmosphere.

A single Space Shuttle launch cost $450 million, but the space elevator could be much cheaper and much more energy-efficient. We attended a conference about space elevators in November, where people were talking seriously about how to make this ambitious project work.

 

1. Lunar Ring:

One more cool idea from the Shimizu Corporation. Shimizu's website describes a "masterplan" to place a belt of solar panels along the moon's equator, spanning an awesome 11,000 miles in length. A power conversion facility built on the moon (by robots!) would relay stored energy back to Earth through microwaves, later reconverting them to electricity at a power plant on Earth. Though only in the planning
stages, Shimizu's theoretical ring may ultimately suffer severe degradation from radiation and meteor showers, and technically no one is certain what the effects of such a massive beam of microwaves would have on the environment and wildlife (possibly none), but the idea of a robot-manned lunar ring around the moon would be too cool (and beneficial!) to pass up.

Article By: Charlie Jane Anders and Gordon Jackson, io9.com

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Giant 40-foot Whaleshark Caught

KARACHI, Pakistan -- A giant 40-foot whaleshark from the Arabian sea was brought to a port city in Pakistan by a group of fisherman, according to the Daily Mail of London.

Cranes were needed to lift the massive 8-ton shark from the water in Karachi, Pakistan.

The shark was reportedly spotted floating unconscious in the sea ten days ago, about 90 miles offshore.

A large crowd gathered in Karachi to watch as the whaleshark was hoisted from the sea at Charai Fishery.

Source 1, Source 2

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13 Strangest Necks

Most people don’t pay much attention to other people’s necks. But if you would look closely you would see that no neck is the same. Some people have long necks, others don’t. In either case they can be attractive or less attractive, depending what you like. Some necks look the way they do from birth; others are altered through all kinds of methods and reasons, like religious ones. These are some of the most bizarre necks.

Ethnic neck. (Link)

NFL's Paul Posluszny, linebacker, Jacksonville Jaguars (Link)

Weird neck mugshot. (Link)

Tattooed neck.

Celebrity weird neck: Victoria Beckham (Link)

Fat neck (Link)

Pierced neck. (Link)

NFL's Roman Harper has a neck wider than his head. (Link)

Really long and thin neck (Link)

No neck

No neck 2. Melinda Doolittle from American Idol. (Link)

George Fisher/Corpsegrinder, frontman of metal band Cannibal Corpse

Some South African government official in a swimming pool.

Source

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The 14 Things You Should Know About Pizza [INFOGRAPHIC]

One of the most popular and recognizable foods in the world, pizza is both delicious and affordable. Not a friend of weight loss though. Traditionally, pizza pies were oven backed, oval shaped and topped with just tomatoes and cheese, but modern variations use ingredients like egg, potatoes, and coconut. No matter what pizza is your favorite, the following facts are sure to spike your interest.

Via: OnlineSchools.org

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Top 10 Most Addictive Video Games Of All Time

Here are the top ten most addictive video games of all time, illustrated through a infographic. The top ten list showcases everything from the very oldies to the classics. The data that was used was taken from Ranker.com with real-time ranking. The list is compiled with the video games that gamers just cant put down. The argument can be made of what is the top 10 most addictive games of all time but I’m sure most can agree that many of the games listed in the infographic belong on the top ten.

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World’s Fastest Finger Painting Artist

Meet Fabian Gaete Maureira, probably the most talented finger painter the world has ever seen. He's been called "Bob Ross on meth". The Chilean artist paints the detailed landscape portraits of trees, mountains and waterfalls with just the tips of his fingers in less than three minutes in this amazing YouTube video first found on reddit.

Source

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Benefits of Plants [INFOGRAPHIC]

The very survival of the human race (in fact of all the animals) is challenged without plants. Apart from being the source of food and nutrients for all the animals on the planet, plants keep the environment healthy by absorbing carbon dioxide and reducing global warming. The infographic below depicts some quantifiable as well as unquantifiable benefits of plants:

Infographic via: http://www.thegardencentral.com/plant-garden/benefits-of-plants/

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Top 10 Most Bizarre Facebook Stories Of 2011

A bunch of people did some really dumb things on Facebook this year. Here's a recap of some of these finer moments.

 

10.

Crystal Yamnitzky and her boyfriend Robert Driscoll stole a $12,000 ring. Shortly after, Yamnitzky posted pictures of it on Facebook with the caption, “Look what Robby gave me. I love him so much.”

They were both arrested shortly after.

Source: pittsburgh.cbslocal.com

 

9.

University of Georgia sophomore Nitesh Bhakta used Facebook to help foil an armed robbery in progress at his family's home. The 20-year-old was in his room on his laptop when he heard his grandmother scream.

"As soon as I opened my door, I saw three hooded guys like all masked in black at the front door," Bhakta said. "I shut my door, locked it, grabbed my laptop, went into the attic and hid."

"I don't think [Facebook] is really meant as a lifesaving tool, but it's the only way I could think of contacting someone immediately to call for help," he said.

So, as the intruders rifled through the home, Bhakta updated his Facebook status: "HELP, ROBBERS, NO PHONE." In all caps, naturally.

"A lot of people thought it was a joke," he said.

Fortunately his best friend, John Salter, took him seriously, notifying Bartow County sheriff's deputies as Bhatka hid in the dark.

Source: ajc.com

 

8.

In April, after the Royal Wedding, the Pippa Middleton's A*s Appreciation Society was started. It now has over 240,000 fans.

Source: news.com.au

 

7.

In May, a study came out that said young people would rather lose their sense of smell instead of their social networks.

​ A McCann survey of 6,000 people aged 16 to 30 found that 53 percent of respondents would rather forfeit the ability to smell than lose access to social networking websites.

Source: blogs.villagevoice.com

 

6.

In February, an Egyptian man named his daughter Facebook.

Source: haaretz.com

 

5.

In May, Lady Gaga used Farmville to premiere new music.

Source: ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com

 

4.

In December, a cab driver got revenge on a passenger who didn't pay and left his phone by updating his Facebook status.

Source: thedailywh.at

 

3.

Jason Valdez held a woman hostage for 16 hours in a hotel room in Utah and basically live-blogged the entire thing on Facebook. Read all of the status updates here.

Source: mjs538

 

2.

Nikki Rasmussen was arrested for lighting her friend's house on fire because her friend defriended her on Facebook.

A police report says that when an officer asked Nikki Rasmussen about Jen Harris, Rasmussen said “… the two are no longer friends due to a dispute over Facebook. According to Nikki, Jen is angry with her because she ended their friendship on Facebook.”

Source: blogs.desmoinesregister.com

 

1.

In November, a burglar signed into Facebook from a computer inside a home he broke into before sprinting from the scene. Unfortunately, he forgot to logout before he left.

Source: atlanta.cbslocal.com

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