The United States and the Kalashnikovs

In parts of the Western world especially the United States, The Avtomat Kalashnikova Model or AK-47 machine gun and semi-automatic weapon is associated with their enemies; both Cold War era and present-day. In the cold war era the AK-47 assault rifle, first developed in the USSR by Mikhail Kalashnikova for the Russian army in 1947 was the primary infantry weapon of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Vietcong (VC) in Vietnam War, a war in which America lost 58000 soldiers and a war which America lost. These assault rifles which were used in the war and mostly made in the People's Republic of China, the chief supplier of armaments to NVA and VC forces is been said to be one of the factors that made America lost the Vietnam war.
 

Most armaments analysts judge the AK-47, which normally holds thirty bullets, to be superior to the U.S. M-16, which became the standard weapon of American, Korean, and South Vietnamese troops in the Vietnam War. It was more durable and less adversely affected by the climate and conditions of Vietnam. M-16 which is better in accuracy and long range targets was a high maintenance weapon while AK-47 which is inexpensive and less expensive to manufacture, required little maintenance and was perfect for inexperienced troops. Dust, dirt and grime build-up would fail the M-16 while the AK-47 still functioned exceptionally well. The AK-47 wins hands down when it came to firepower. For example a single shot from an AK-47 would break a cinder block. An M-16 bullet would just create a bullet hole on a similar cinder block. This powerful firepower and the rapid-fire capability (600 rounds/min) of AK-47 alone could have turned the tide of war against the Americans in Vietnam. There are a number of accounts of cases in which American troops preferred to use the AK-47 and in fact did use it when combat conditions permitted. The continuing popularity of this weapon is illustrated by its use in many military hostilities since the Vietnam War.

 

During the 1980s, Russia became the principal arms dealer to countries embargoed by Western nations, including Middle Eastern nations such as Syria, Libya and Iran, who welcomed Soviet Union backing against Israel. After the fall of the Soviet Union, AK-47s were sold both openly and on the black market to any group with cash, including drug cartels and dictatorial states, and more recently they have been seen in the hands of violent Islamic terrorist groups such as the Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria, Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq, FARC, Ejército de Liberación Nacional guerrillas in Colombia. Western movies often portray criminals, gang members and terrorists using AK-47s. For these reasons, in the U.S. and Western Europe the AK-47 is stereotypically regarded as the weapon of murder and a weapon of choice of insurgents, gangsters and terrorists. Conversely, throughout the developing world, the AK-47 can be positively attributed with revolutionaries or "freedom fighters" against foreign occupation, imperialism or colonialism. In Mexico, the AK-47 is known as "Cuerno de Chivo" (Ram's Horn) and is one of the weapons of choice of Mexican drug cartels. In the United States its considered counterculture, which is always something that citizens in Mexico kind of like ... It's kind of sticking a finger in the eye of the man, if you will.

Director James Cameron reached the Earth's deepest point

Explorer and filmmaker James Cameron on Sunday, March 25, 2012, journeyed to a place only two men have gone before - to the Earth's deepest point called the Mariana Trench, which is more than a mile deeper than Mount Everest is tall. Director James Cameron reached the Earth's deepest point after travelling nearly 7 miles undersea in a solo submarine, the Deapsea Challenger

The Great Redwoods

The Redwoods (Sequoia and Sequoiadendron) are massive trees. The three Redwood subfamily genera are: The Metasequoia, with the living species Metasequoia glyptostroboides found in China (which are smaller trees); Sequoia and Sequoiadendron of California and Oregon, USA. The redwood species contains the largest and tallest trees in the world. These trees can live to an old age, with some for hundreds to thousands of years. They are the sky scrapers of the plant world. The tallest tree in the world is a Sequoia sempervirens (the Hyperion Tree) which is a coast Redwood in Northern California that was measured at 115.61 metres (379.3 ft). This ranks it as the world's tallest known living tree. Despite its great height, Hyperion is not the largest known coast Redwood; that distinction belongs to the Lost Monarch tree. The largest tree in the world is a Sequoiadendron giganteum (the General Sherman Tree) located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth.

Why the Portuguese called it Benin City

In the late sixteen century, a time when the word "City" really meant city, a time when the words - village and hamlet were the only word use to describe settlements in black-Africa, a time when blacks where called monkeys, at a time when the English believes and thinks black-Africans lives on trees and a time before the English even dreamt of coming to sub-Sahara Africa, Dutch and Portuguese traders were already using the name Benin city to identify Benin. Benin which was originally called Ile Binu (land of anger) which was changed by Oba Eweka (King Eweka) to Ubini which was sometimes shortened as Bini which the Portuguese corrupted in their own language and wrote down as Benin City. The question is why did they call it a city in such a time? The pictures and writings of then explorers, missionaries and traders may give us some of the answers.

Roese, P. M., and D. M. Bondarenko in their book, A Popular History of Benin. The Rise and Fall of a Mighty Forest Kingdom, wrote:
 

"The kingdom and the capital city were both called Benin. The city of Benin was laid out in a system of huge straight streets. These streets were very wide, very long, and well maintained although they were not paved. You could travel on foot in a straight line for 15 or 20 minutes and not see the end of the street. Other streets opened from the main streets. They were also wide. Houses were built in rows along all of the streets. On the street front side, houses had covered porches to keep people dry as they sat outside. The Dutch and Portuguese traders who came to Benin by sea were not invited into the nobles' or artists homes. So we don't know how their homes were arranged, or what the back looked like. But we do know about the palace. "
 

"Dutch and Portuguese traders were invited into the king's palace - and thus we have written records of what the palace looked like."The king's court is very big, having within it many wide squares with galleries round them where watch is always kept. I went so far within these builds that I passed through four such squared, and wherever I looked I still saw gate after gate which opened into other places."

A seventeenth century Dutch engraving from Olfert Dapper's Nauwkeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaansche Gewesten, published in Amsterdam in 1668 described the palace thus:

"The king's palace or court is a square, and is as large as the town of Haarlem and entirely surrounded by a special wall, like that which encircles the town. It is divided into many magnificent palaces, houses, and apartments of the courtiers, and comprises beautiful and long square galleries, about as large as the Exchange at Amsterdam, but one larger than another, resting on wooden pillars, from top to bottom covered with cast copper, on which are engraved the pictures of their war exploits and battles, and are kept very clean. Most palaces and houses of the king are covered with palm leaves instead of square pieces of wood, and every roof is decorated with a small turret ending in a point, on which birds are standing, birds cast in copper with outspread wings, cleverly made after living models."

Nigerian woman sets new record in drug smuggling

Bola Adebisi, a Nigerian woman last weekend (Saturday) set an unfortunate record at the Dulles International Airport when she tried to smuggle almost five pounds of heroin she swallowed into the United States of America. The handout photo provided by the US Customs and Border Protection shows 2157.4g of ingested heroin pellets. The 52-year-old woman said she ingested 180 thumb-sized pellets filled with $150,000 worth of heroin. The previous record for an ingested drug seizure at Dulles occurred last year, when another Nigerian was discovered with more than four pounds of pellets. Customs officials at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, say she has been charged with drug smuggling in federal court Alexandra in the United States.