What is a particle accelerator? It is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams and direct them into various targets. An ordinary television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field accelerators.

Particle accelerators come in two basic types:
Linear – Particles travel down a long, straight track and collide with the target. These accelerators are huge, and are kept underground.
Circular – Particles travel around in a circle until they collide with the target. Circular accelerators do essentially the same jobs as linacs. However, instead of using a long linear track, they propel the particles around a circular track many times. At each pass, the magnetic field is strengthened so that the particle beam accelerates with each consecutive pass.

The biggest particle accelerator in the world is the one developed by CERN, found near Geneva, Switzerland.

The precise circumference of the LHC accelerator is 26 659 m, with a total of 9300 magnets inside. Not only is the LHC the world’s largest particle accelerator, just one-eighth of its cryogenic distribution system would qualify as the world’s largest fridge. All the magnets will be pre cooled to -193.2°C (80 K) using 10 080 tones of liquid nitrogen, before they are filled with nearly 120 tones of liquid helium to bring them down to -271.3°C (1.9 K).

The LHC accelerator raises many questions, including existential ones from Catholic officials. Be that as it may, the world will always seek for answers and if it finds them, there will always be new questions.

It is the opera of a famous Spanish architect, Antonio Gaudi, even though the original construction plan belonged to Francisco del Villar. Villar was overwhelmed by the complexity and dimensions of the cathedral and decided to pass the project to Antonio Gaudi.
The idea of building a church began to an organization mainly interested in changing the mentality of the majority, who started to lose its belief in God, and even mocked Him. The organization bought a little spot of land in Barcelona in 1877, and by 1882, Francisco del Villar started constructing the neo-gothic building.

Just a year later, Antonio Gaudi took over the project, at the age of 31. He gave his entire life at the construction site, and almost changed the entire shape of the cathedral. He died in 1926, at the age of 74, leaving the construction site unfinished. In fact, the cathedral isn’t at its final form not even today.

Gaudi planned for there to be 18 spires, symbolising the 12 apostles, 4 evangelists, the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. So far 8 have been built. In effect the building is a living sculpture of the New Testament.

Nowadays the architects work on the main chamber’s interior and struggle to finish the outside walls. The main tower, which houses the church bell, once finished, will be the biggest ever built, measuring 170 m(560 ft).

Construction passed its mid point last year and some of the projects most challenging elements are still yet to be tackled. The buildings anticipated completion date is 2026, a century after Gaudi’s death. In November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the building as a minor basilica.

In it’s full name, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, lived from the 6th of March 1475, to February, 1564 and was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, writer, poet and engineer.

Michelangelo lost his mother at an early age. His father was very angry when he found out that Michelangelo wanted to become an artist. Michelangelo was often beaten by his father and uncles when he first began to draw.

Michelangelo’s most famous art works are The Pieta (1499), the giant Statue of David (1501-1504), the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chape

l (1508-1512) and The Last Judgment (1534-1541) on the altar wall of the same chapel, one of the most discussed-over paintings in history.

Michelangelo painted over 300 figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The interesting part is that each one of them is unique. Not even two of them are alike or featuring the same poses. It is said that Michelangelo had an incredible memory and he never painted or sculpted the same likeness or pose twice because he remembered every single thing he’s ever done.

Michelangelo was mostly known as a famous sculptor, painter and architect but few know that he was also a prolific poet. He composed over 250 pieces of poetry during his life.

Michelangelo was very poor but he liked this state. The food for him was more necessity than pleasure and often his diet consisted just of bread and wine. Sometimes he would eat his dinner while he worked, chewing on a piece of bread as he painted.
Michelangelo died in Rome weakened by fever on February 18, 1564 and according to his wishes his body was secretly moved to his beloved city of Florence where he is brried in a tomb designed by Giorgio Vasari in Santa Croce.

First, to put it briefly, there are Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches, with different rites. There are many types of churches, but a discussion of such kind is a little boring.

Now let’s see three of the biggest (by area) churches in the world:
I. The Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City- 164.000 square feet. It was built between 1506 and 1626. It is a Roman Catholic Church and can hold 60.000 people.
II. Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil – 129.000 square feet. It’s also a Roman Catholic Church and it’s located in Aparecida, Brazil. It can hold up to 45.000 people.
III. Cathedral of Seville in Spain – 124.000 square feet. A Catholic Church situated in southern Spain, in Seville. Built between 1402 and 1511, it has a Gothic Style and can house 40.000 people.

Ok, let’s see the top 3 tallest Churches in the World:
I. Ulm Minster- 161.5 m (530 ft). The Largest Protestant Gothic church in Germany. Has 768 stairs going up to a height of 143 m. Spires were intended to be shorter, but height increased to outdo Cologne Cathedral.
II. Lincoln Cathedral- 159.7 m (524 ft) The tallest building in the world from 1311 to 1549. Was 103 meters from 1549 to 1807.
III. Saint Olaf- 159 m (521.6 ft). The tallest building in the world from 1549 to 1625; tallest church in the Baltic States.

Churches are the most visited tourist sites in the world. It doesn’t come as a surprise, regarding their scale and beautifulness.

The city is named like this since 1873, when Buda, Pestand Old Buda parts joined together.

Budapest has 1.7 million inhabitants and is divided in 23 districts. Like most of the big cities in Europe, it has an astounding history, meaning all sorts of people passed through it, and many remained. For instance, in the first part of the 19^th century, many Jews came and remained in Budapest. That is why the city is the home of the largest synagogue in Europe:

Dohány Street Synagogue is colossal. It is able to house 3000 people and is stretching 44 meters high. The total size of this temple has over 2000 square meters.  It is the second largest synagogue in the world, after one in New York.

Budapest also has the oldest underground railway system in mainland Europe. Apart from London off the mainland – whose underground lines are the oldest in the world -Budapest can proudly boast some of the oldest metro railways in the world, with work beginning on the system in 1896. But there are only three lines and in order to get onto the others you have to change at one station. Something London might struggle with in rush hour.

And last, but not least,Budapest has more thermal springs below the city than any other capital in the world. The springs have given birth to dozens of medicinal baths all over the city and can produce an amazing 70 million liters of water every single day. There are also over 100 springs that have been enjoyed by many of the patrons and visitors of Budapest since the Roman Empire.

I hope these things gave you the necessary impulse to want to visit Budapest any time soon.

The baboon is basically a large monkey that lives in savannahs and rocky hills in Africa and Arabia. The baboons reach a height of 1.8 meters, meaning 6 ft, not to mention his25 inch long tail (65 cm), and weigh up to40 kg(almost 90 pounds). After this general presentation, let’s see some odd facts:

Baboons make lots of faces: laugh, smile, raise their eyebrows. Whatever a baboon does with its face, we laugh. But, in fact, these are only ways to transmit information to other baboons.

Baboons gather up in troops that can number up to 200 members. 80 percent are females and their cubs. Several male adults lead the group and each has a certain rank.

Like most monkeys, they tend to get very dirty. But not to fear, they have the solution. One baboon helps another groom by carefully picking parasites and dirt out of the other baboon’s fur. Grooming is an important part of baboon life. It helps baboons develop strong relationships with one another. Usually, lower-ranking members groom higher-ranking members of a baboon troop. It’s also a very important social activity.

Baboons are very good climbers. Throughout the day, they climb in trees and rocks. In fact, before they go to sleep, a half an hour of climbing is needed, in order to reach safe ground, where leopards and lions can’t climb to.

But lions, cheetahs and such aren’t the only baboon predators. Several species of baboons are endangered due to loss of habitat and indiscriminate hunting for their edible flesh.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. He was the second of eight surviving children born to Carlo Buonaparte (1746-1785), a lawyer, and Letizia Romalino Buonaparte (1750-1836).

In 1795, Napoleon suppressed a royalist insurrection against the revolutionary government in Paris and was promoted to major general. Since 1792,France’s revolutionary government had been engaged in military conflicts with various European nations. In 1796, Napoleon commanded a French army that defeated the larger armies of Austria, one of his country’s primary rivals, in a series of battles in Italy. In 1797, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, resulting in territorial gains for the French. In 1804, he crowned himself emperor ofFrance in a lavish ceremony at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

In 1810, Russia withdrew from the Continental System. In retaliation, Napoleon led a massive army into Russiain the summer of 1812. The Russian army didn’t fight a traditional war, but instead they burned everything in Napoleon’s way, and thus, the army became weaker and weaker. Of Napoleon’s 600,000 troops who began the campaign, only an estimated 100,000 made it out of Russia. That was the beginning of the end for the great ruler. After fighting all across Europe, on April 6, 1814, Napoleon, then in his mid-40s, was forced to abdicate the throne. And after the famous Battle of Waterloo, on June 22, 1815, Napoleon was once again forced to abdicate.

In October 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the remote, British-held island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. He died there on May 5, 1821, at age 51, most likely from stomach cancer. In 1840, his remains were returned toFrance and entombed in a crypt at Les Invalides inParis, where other French military leaders are interred.

Here’s some gold-worth information: 40 percent of the world’s gold is found in Johannesburg. That is why the city is also known as Egoli, meaning The Place of Gold.

The Johannesburg Zoo is the proud owner of the only 2 polar bears on the entire African Continent.

Again, 40 percent of the remains of our human ancestors are found on the city’s outskirts.

The African city sits6000 feet(2000 m) above the sea level. Here’s an interesting fact for you: because of the altitude, it takes 90 seconds longer to boil an egg than if you were to do that exact thing on the coast, because the air is thinner al high altitudes.

Two of the city’s stadiums hosted the Soccer World Cup tournament matches. Soccer City, Africa’s own calabash, has a capacity for 98 000 spectators and has been nominated for the Fulton Award, held every two years to honor top construction companies for remarkable structures they’ve built. Coca Cola Park on the other hand can host 62 000 spectators and even offers Braai facilities on the north side of the stadium.

Johannesburg’s daily and annual traffic is surely worth mentioned. It is the city with the highest number of highways from everywhere inSouth Africa which not only makes it an easy to reach destination, but getting lost is a definite possibility. Highways include N1 from Cape Town and Harare in Zimbabwe, N3 from Durban, N4 from Nelspruit and the Kruger National Park, as well as Botswana, N12 from Kimberley and Potchefstroom, N14 from Upington and Namibia.

The koalas have somewhere between 25 and35 inches(70-90 cm), and a maximum weight of20 lb(10 kg).

Koalas live in eucalypt forests of Eastern and South-Eastern Australia.

Their fur is thick soft and very pleasant to touch. These marsupials can live up 18 years however males life expectancy is less than 10 years, due to injuries during fights, dogs and cars. Presently, up to 4,000 koalas are being killed each year by cars and dogs. Females generally live longer. Koala spends sleeping 75% of its time. Just after sunset koalas move around and can often be heard “barking” aggressively at each other.

Now let’s see some fun facts about them:

Koala is the only mammal, other than the Greater Glider and Ringtail Possum, which can survive on a diet of leaves; eucalyptus is their favorite type.

Koala seldom drinks water obtaining it from the eucalyptus leaves, which are 50% consisting of water.

Koalas consume eucalyptus leaves and bark from 12 different eucalyptus tree species. They also consume mistletoe and box leaves. Sometimes koalas eat leaves from other trees such as wattle tree, tea tree, paper-bark tree.

The koalas have lived inAustraliafor the past 35 million years. Fossil remains of koala-like animals have been found since.

John Price was the first European who described koalas1798. In1816, the koala was given its scientific name, phascolarctos cinereus, meaning ‘ash grey pouched bear’.

Once there were millions of Koalas, but in the early 20th century the animal was hunted almost to extinction. In the 1920s and 1930s nearly eight million koalas were killed for their fur. But since then, after the Australian government made it an endangered specie, the population in slowly growing.