actres in bikini

Duel In The Desert


The Carrier Classic isn't the only outdoor basketball game in recent years. The Suns and Nuggets played the first outdoor game in modern NBA history in 2008 at Indian Wells Tennis Center in California, a 77-72 Denver victory marred by poor shooting, gusty winds and frigid desert temperatures.

Squash At Grand Central


How do you make one of the Professional Squash Association's most significant events more attractive to spectators? Bring it to the masses. The J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions is annually held at New York City's Grand Central Terminal in a specially constructed four-walled glass court inside Vanderbilt Hall.

King Of Grass vs. King Of Clay


The above image is not a trick. Tennis stars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal really did play a 2007 exhibition match in Mallorca, Spain, on a customized half-clay, half-grass court designed to determine which of the two players was the best all-surface player. Nadal won a tightly contested three-set match much to the delight of the Spanish fans in the crowd.

The WNBA Takes Center Stage


Kicked out of Madison Square Garden as a result of the 2004 Republican National Convention, the New York Liberty seized the opportunity to find a new venue that would bring some rare mainstream attention to the WNBA. They hosted the Detroit Shock at historic Radio City Music Hall, a venue that was especially unusual because seating there allowed fans to watch the game from only one side of the court.

Two Teams, One End Zone


A football game between Northwestern and Illinois at Wrigley Field seemed like a natural fit in 2010, but organizers failed to take into account the lack of space between the back of one end zone and the ivy-covered outfield wall. As a result, only the other end zone could be used for offense due to safety concerns, an embarrassing gaffe for the Big Ten but one that also made the game memorable.

The Boys Of Winter


The popularity of hockey in outdoor football stadiums has steadily increased since Spartan Stadium hosted Michigan and Michigan State in 2001, but the signature event has become the NHL's Winter Classic held annually on New Year's Day. And no Winter Classic has piqued the interest of fans quite as much as the sight of the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins squaring off on the field and famed Fenway Park in 2010. Bruins fans went home satisfied: Their team won 2-1 in overtime.

Golf On Glaciers


Golf is hard enough in picturesque 70-degree weather, so imagine how much more difficult it is when you introduce arctic conditions. That's the challenge each March in Greenland at the World Ice Golf Championships, which is played with a fluorescent orange ball and with glaciers and icebergs replacing sand traps and water as hazards.

The Carrier Classic


Michigan State and North Carolina will pay tribute to the military by playing a basketball game on an aircraft carrier on Veteran's Day in San Diego. The two teams will don camouflage jerseys with U.S.A. on the back of them, and President Obama and thousands of military personnel will be in the audience. If it's sunny out, the game will take place on the flight deck. If not, it will move a level below into the air plane hangar.

The Great Wall Marathon


Hitting the wall isn't just a figure of speech at this grueling annual marathon. A quarter of the scenic 26.2-mile route takes place on China's famed Great Wall itself, and every runner must ascend about 3,800 stone steps to reach the finish line. The course record belongs to Spaniard Salvador Calvo, who won the 2007 race in 3 hours, 23 minutes, 10 seconds.


Tennis On a Helipad


The most memorable points Andre Agassi and Roger Federer ever played against one another didn't come at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open or any other Grand Slam. None of that compared to the sight of the two tennis superstars trading ground strokes 700 feet above Dubai's Jumeirah beach in a February 2005 exhibition on the helipad on the roof of the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel.

Source: Yahoo.com

The Acklay


I feel like I’m betraying geeks the world over by putting anything from the prequel films at #1, but the Acklay – largest of several vicious arena beasts from Episode II – was created when George Lucas specifically requested a cross between “a praying mantis and a velociraptor.” If you can conceive of a more impressive predator without your head exploding, you’re probably an alien yourself.

The Sarlacc


Jabba the Hutt is understandably pissed when his Rancor gets put down, but luckily he’s such a bad mofo that he knows an even BIGGER hole with an even WORSE monster to throw people into. Chew on that, Jedi! No, wait, Get chewed on BY that, JERKI! Haha! That’s totally what I’d say if I were Jabba.

So like…anyway…the Sarlacc is a huge, slimy, tooth-lined, freudian orifice out in the desert, lined with squirming tentacles and a snapping CGI beak it spontaneously evolved one day. If that’s not grotesque enough, it supposedly takes over a thousand years to digest its prey and somehow keeps them alive the entire time, an adaptation that makes absolutely zero biological sense but sounds pretty damn ominous. Peripheral Star Wars literature delves into all the disturbing details, with victims going steadily insane as tentacles drill through their flesh in a literal living hell. You have to wonder, though, if Jabba had even MORE back-up monster-holes to execute his prisoners. Increasingly horrible ones. Would you ever even want to see a worse hole than the sarlacc pit? I sure would, but I’m just like that I guess.

The Rancor


Slimy crime boss Jabba the Hutt lives every man’s dream; alien bounty hunters taking his orders, half-naked alien women on leashes and a giant button to drop anyone he doesn’t like down a hole. A hole inhabited by a slobbering, hulking, ravenous flesh-eating beast. With its toothy pug face, reptilian skin and creepy oversized hands, the Rancor is as elegantly simple as a monster can get…the sort of nondescript scaly whatsit we all knew crept out of the closet and watched us sleep when we were five. Luke Skywalker’s encounter with the Rancor is one of the original trilogy’s most suspenseful battle scenes, but best remembered for its almost comical finale – once the beast is crushed under a falling gate, his portly human keeper breaks down sobbing like he just lost a puppy.

The Wampa


Appearing in The Empire Strikes back in only brief glimpses, the Wampa is the dominant predator of the frozen planet Hoth, a huge and hungry cross between a polar bear, a yeti and a mountain goat. What makes this shaggy brute an especially abominable snowman is its habit of hanging prey upside down and still alive from the ceiling of its icy lair, apparently keeping a larder of the freshest meat possible.

Space Slug


When Han and Chewie open fire on the troublemaking Mynocks, the entire slimy “cave” begins to tremble. Leia already notes that the ground is awfully squishy, and you know that nothing good is ever squishy in outer space. The cave is, of course, a living thing – an impossibly vast organism originally referred to only as the “space slug.” The scene is a brief diversion with no impact on the storyline, but the imagery of a spaceship narrowly escaping a gargantuan set of alien jaws is one of the most memorable moments in science fiction cinema, even if it was rather obviously a hand puppet. According to a 2007 Star Wars comic, these monstrosities are properly known as “Exogorths.” Could there possibly be a more suitable name? That thing is PRECISELY what the word “Exogorth” brings to mind.

Keep in mind that about 95% of airplane crashes have survivors. For the survivor thinking why me and was it fate, or was it not my time, was it destiny or was it just pure luck?

Juliane Köpcke



Date of Crash: December 24, 1971
Aircraft type: Lockheed Electra L-188A
Crash Site: Puerto Inca, Peru
Passengers & Crew: 92
Fatalities: 91
Cause of Crash: Human Error and Structural failure possibly struck by lightning

On Christmas Eve 1971 the Peruvian airliner, had taken off from the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima on a flight to Pucallpa, Peru. About a half hour after takeoff and at about 21,000 feet, the aircraft entered a thunderstorm and heavy turbulence and was possibly struck by lightning. The pilots had difficulty controlling the aircraft and it soon went into a dive.

The crew attempted to level out the plane, but the fire and turbulent forces on the wings caused the right wing and most of the left wing to separate from the aircraft. The aircraft came crashing down in a mountainous region of the Amazon. Miraculously, a German teenager (17) Juliane Koepcke who was traveling with her mother survived the crash and was still strapped in her seat.

After searching for her mother in vain Koepcke wandered through the jungle for nine days looking for help. On the ninth day, she found a canoe and shelter. Hours later, local lumbermen returned and found her. The men took her on the final seven hour journey via canoe down the river to a lumber station where she was airlifted to a hospital.

Cecelia Cichan


Date of Crash: August 16, 1987
Aircraft type: McDonnell Douglas MD-82
Operator : Northwest Airlines
Crash Site: Romulus, Michigan (western Detroit)
Passengers & Crew Onboard: 155
Fatalities Onboard: 154 – 2 on the ground were also killed
Cause of Crash: Pilot error

After taking off from Metro Airport, during the initial climb, the plane rolled about 35 degrees in each direction. The left wing struck a light pole about ½ mile (800 m) from the end of the runway, struck other light poles, the roof of a car rental building, and then the ground. Cecelia Cichan was located by rescue workers in her seat several feet away from her mother’s body along with Cecelia’s father, and her 6-year-old brother. Her survival of the crash was considered unexplainable and miraculous by many, including airline crash investigators.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew’s failure to use the taxi checklist to ensure the flaps and slats were extended for takeoff. Cecelia is now married and earned a Psychology degree from the University of Alabama. Although she has made no public statements or attended annual memorial services regarding the tragic crash, she corresponds with some of the crash victims’ loved ones.

Vesna Vulović


Date of Crash: January 26, 1972
Aircraft type: McDonnell-Douglas DC-9
Operator: Jugoslovenski Aero transport
Cause of Crash: Bombing
Crash Site: Hinterhermsdorf , East Germany
Passengers & Crew :28
Fatalities: 27

This is close to the top of the list because of the overall circumstances and the unbelievable survival story of Vesna Vulović . Vesna was a flight attendant onboard when a bomb went off at the altitude of 33,000 ft. (10,050 meters). The terrorist act was attributed to Croatian Ustashe terrorists. The explosion tore the jet into several pieces in mid-air. The wreckage fell through the sky for three minutes before striking a frozen mountainside. A German man upon arriving at the crash found Vesna lying half outside of the plane, with another crew member’s body on top of her, and a serving cart pinned against her body.

The man was a medic in the second world war, and did what he could for her until further help arrived. Vesna’s injuries included a fractured skull, two broken legs and three broken vertebrae, which left her temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. She regained the use of her legs after surgery and continued working for JAT at a desk job. It was discovered later her schedule had been mixed up with that of another flight attendant named Vesna, and she was subsequently placed on the wrong flight.

Vesna still holds the Guinness World Record for the highest fall survived without a parachute, at 33,330 feet. She is considered a national heroine throughout the former Yugoslavia.

Mohammed el-Fateh Osman


Date of Crash: July 8, 2003
Aircraft type: Boeing 737
Operator : Sudan Airways
Crash Site: Port Sudan
Passengers & Crew: 116
Fatalities: 115
Cause of Crash: *Unknown

About 10 minutes after takeoff heading from Port Sudan on the northeastern coast to the capital, the pilot radioed the control tower about a problem in one engine. The pilot killed that engine and told the tower he was returning to the airport. Ten minutes later Sudanese airliner plunged into a hillside while attempting an emergency landing killing 116 people and leaving only 3-year old Mohammed el-Fateh Osman amid a scene of charred corpses as the only survivor.

The boy was found injured and lying on a fallen tree by a nomad. The boy’s mother was among the victims. Mohammed lost part of a lower leg and was treated for severe burns. The bodies were buried in a mass grave after performing the Muslim prayer because the conditions of the bodies would not allow transporting and delivering them to the relatives.

*The country blamed the United States on the crash saying that sanctions had restricted vital aircraft parts. The United States denied that claim stating that there was no ban on equipment required for aviation safety.

George Lamson, Jr.


Date of Crash: January 21, 1985
Aircraft type: Lockheed Electra 188
Crash Site: Reno, Nevada, USA
Passengers & Crew: 71
Fatalities: 70
Cause of Crash: Pilot/Ground Crew error

After a weekend of skiing 17 year old George Lamson had taken a seat next to his father in the front row of the airplane’s cabin, directly behind the bulkhead. As the plane began to shudder the plane’s right wing dipped as it began its ill-advised right turn. Lamson pulled his knees to his chest just as the plane hit the ground. The force of the crash ripped Lamson’s seat from of the fuselage and was catapulted out of the plane landing upright in the middle of the highway and was still strapped in his seatbelt.

He unbuckled and dashed toward a field at the far edge of the pavement as the plane exploded. Three people survived the crash initially including George Lamson’s father but both died a few days later of severe burns and head injuries. It was later determined that the probable cause of this accident was the captain’s failure to control and the copilot’s failure to monitor the flight path and airspeed of the aircraft. This is what caused the unexpected vibration shortly after takeoff.

Lamson was recently contacted by the press and is a now a father himself. He asked the reporter not to reveal anything more of his work or whereabouts and remains a very private person.

Erika Delgado


Date of Crash: Jan 13, 1995
Aircraft type: DC-9
Operator : Intercontinental airlines
Crash Site: Maria La Baja, 500 miles north- west of Bogota
Passengers & Crew: 52
Fatalities: 51
Cause of Crash: Unknown

This airliner exploded in mid-air as the pilot apparently was attempting an emergency landing near a swamp but hit a grassy field and exploded and then toppled into a lagoon. A farmer said he heard cries for help and found a 9 year old girl Erika Delgado on a mound of seaweed, which had broken her fall. She was the only survivor. She was travelling with her parents and a younger brother from Bogota to the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena.

The rescuers said she told them her mother had shoved her out of the plane as it broke up and burst into flames. She was taken to hospital in shock and with a broken arm. Erika later recalls someone approached and ignored her cries for help but ripped a gold necklace from her neck and ran away. Witnesses say scavengers also looted the bodies of other passengers. Erika issued a plea for the return of the necklace, which she says was the only memento of her father.

Nestor Mata


Date of Crash: March 17, 1957
Aircraft type: C-47 Skytrain
Operator : Philippine Air Force
Crash Site: 22 miles NW of Cebu City, Philippines
Passengers & Crew: 26
Fatalities: 25
Cause of Crash: Metal fatigue

This crash killed the 7th President of the Philippines, Ramon Magsaysay, as well as many high ranking military officials. A reporter for the Philippine Herald, Nestor Mata, was the sole survivor of the accident. The aircraft took off from Lahug Airport for Nichols Field, eyewitnesses on the ground observed that the airplane had not gained enough altitude as it approached the mountain ranges in Balamban. Mata was sitting in the second seat next to the President’s compartment when the crash occurred and remembers there was a blinding flash for a moment, then he fell unconscious.

When he regained consciousness he found himself on the side of a steep cliff among trees and bushes. As he was in agonizing pain, he began shouting, ‘Mr. President! Mr. President!’ When some farmers found him they had to return to the village to get a hammock on which they loaded and carried him for 18 hours through rugged terrain.

As soon as Mata reached the Southern Island Hospital in Cebu he was treated for severe shock and pain from second and third degree burn. Mata did not lose consciousness in the hospital and was able to dictate to a nurse a press dispatch to his paper. It began ‘President Magsaysay is dead.’

Foye Kenneth Roberts


Date of Crash: JUNE 14 1943
Aircraft type: B-17C Flying Fortress
Crash Site: BAKERS CREEK NEAR MACKAY, QLD Australia
Passengers & Crew: 41
Fatalities: 40
Cause of Crash: unknown

For reasons of military security and morale, this incident was hushed-up by U.S. Army and Australian civil authorities for many years. The plane carried forty-one American servicemen returning from ten days of leave. The aircraft took off into ground fog and leveled off at an altitude of about 300 feet. In a matter of minutes the plane had caught fire in the air, and as it dived into the trees one of its wings came away leaving a great opening in the fuselage through which most of the passengers were emptied into the bush before the final impact.

The only survivor was Foye Kenneth Roberts. Robert’s suffered head injuries that were not diagnosed at the time of the crash and lost his speech for many years after lifesaving brain surgery. Robert’s cannot recall anything of the actual crash. In February 2004 Foye Kenneth Roberts, passed away. Another fact that is remarkable is that still to this day this crash rates as the worst aviation disaster in Australian history.

James Polehinke


Date of Crash: August 27, 2006
Aircraft type: Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) CRJ-100ER
Operator : Comair (d/b/a Delta Connection
Crash Site: Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Kentucky
Passengers & Crew Onboard: 50
Fatalities: 49
Cause of Crash: Pilot Error

This aircraft was assigned the airport’s Runway 22 for the takeoff, but used Runway 26 instead. Runway 26 was too short for a safe takeoff, causing the aircraft to overrun at the end of the runway before it could become airborne killing all 47 passengers and two of the three crew. The Flights First officer James Polehinke was the only survivor.

Polehinke suffered serious injuries, including multiple broken bones, a collapsed lung, and severe bleeding. Doctors later determined that Polehinke had suffered brain damage and has no memory of the crash or the events leading up to it. Polehinke was flying the plane when it crashed, but it was the flight’s captain, Jeffrey Clay, who taxied the aircraft onto the wrong runway.

First Lieutenant Martin Farkaš


Date of Crash: January 19, 2006
Aircraft type: Antonov An-24
Operator: Slovak Air Force
Crash Site: Hejce, Hungary
Passengers & Crew: 43
Fatalities : 42
Cause of Crash: Pilot Error

This airplane was carrying Slovak peacekeepers. The aircraft crashed in snowy and forested terrain on Borsó Hill at an elevation of 700 meters (2,300 feet) near the Hungarian village of Hejce and the town of Telkibánya. The plane hit the tops of trees before catching fire and crashing.

The bodies and wreckage were scattered over a large area. Michaela Farkasova, the wife of the only survivor, reported that she received a cellular telephone call from her husband and told her that his plane had crashed in a forest. He asked her to alert rescue services. Shortly after the phone call Farkas was found. According to rescuers, his survival was pure luck as he was found in the aircraft’s lavatory, which received little damage.

Farkaš suffered minor brain swelling and lung injuries after the crash. He was put into a medically induced coma, and was soon reported to be in stable condition. Further investigations indicated that the pilot descended too early in the dark towards the lights of Košice.

Darvaza Gas Crater, Turkmenistan


In 1971, geologists discovered a massive underground deposit of natural gas on this site. Whilst excavating the hole to tap the gas, the drilling rig collapsed leaving a massive hole. To prevent poisonous gasses from escaping, the hole was allowed to burn. It continues to burn to this day and has done so without ceasing.

Kimberley Diamond Mine, South Africa


The Kimberley Diamond Mine (also known as the Big Hole) holds the (disputed) title of being the largest hand-dug hole in the world. From 1866 to 1914 50,000 miners dug the hole with picks and shovels, yielding 2,722 kg of diamonds. Attempts are being made to have it registered as a world heritage site.

Monticello Dam, California


The Monticello Dam is a dam in Napa County, California, United States most noted for its large circular spillway with a rate of 48,400 cubic feet per second.

Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah


The Bingham Canyon Mine is a copper mine in the Oquirrh mountains, Utah. The mine is 0.75 mile (1.2 km) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide. It is the world’s largest manmade excavation.

Great Blue Hole, Belize


The Great Blue Hole is an underwater sinkhole off the coast of Belize. The hole is 1,000 feet across and 400 feet deep. It was formed as a limestone cave during the last iceage.

Mirny Diamond Mine, Siberia


The Diavik Mine is a mine in the Northwest territories of Canada. The mine (opened in 2003) produces 8 million carats or about 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) of diamonds every year.

Diavik Mine, Canada


The Mirny Diamond Mine is 525m deep and has a diameter of 1200m. It was the first, and one of the largest, diamond Pipes in the USSR. It is now abandoned. While it was still operational, it would take two hours for trucks to drive from the top to the bottom of the mine.

Sink Hole, Guatemala


In 2007, a 300 foot deep sinkhole swallowed a dozen homes in Guatemala - killing 2 and causing thousands to be evacuated. The sinkhole was caused by rains and an underground sewage flow.

Udachnaya Pipe, Russia


The Udachnaya Pipe is a diamond mine in Russia. The owners of the mine plan to cease its operations in 2010 - in favor of underground mining. The mine was discovered in 1955 and is over 600 meters deep.

Chuquicamata, Chile


Chuquicamata is an open pit copper mine in Chile. It is the mine with the largest total production of copper in the world - though it is not the largest copper mine. The mine is over 850 meters deep.

Some extremely beautiful and creative moments captured from various authors.