Climbing Frozen Waterfalls

Rule number 1: be very brave
Rule number 2: don’t suffer from fear of heights
Rule number 3: be resistant to cold
We are talking about a very unusual sport. Lovers of this sport take up the challenge of climbing frozen waterfalls.
When the temperature goes down to several degrees below zero, rivers stop flowing and waterfalls turn into huge sheets of ice. These enormous columns of ice caught the imagination of a French mountain-climber who, about 20 years ago, decided to try climbing them. To climb the ice he put a couple of crampons on his feet and carried two ice-axes.
Then, a little nervous, he began … to climb the waterfall. Slowly he managed to climb a few metres.
“It’s not difficult!” he thought while he was catching his breath. “Tomorrow I’ll come back with a rope and try to reach the top”.
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Blue Hope

Blue Hope is the most mysterious diamond in the world. Its last owner’s story is absolutely incredible and mysterious.
In May 1912, Evalyn McLean, well known New York beauty, ran into the church not far from her house and said to the priest: “I want to consecrate this ill-fated stone!” And she tore off her necklace – a huge dark blue diamond surrounded by sparkling stones.
The priest silently put the necklace on the cushion, picked up the cross, and suddenly… everything began howling and squealing, and the stone glowed with a sinister blue flame…
There was a sound of thunder. The heavens poured down rain. Windows were broken. Evalyn cried. But the priest didn’t stop. And everything became quiet again.
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Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter

Tales about a boy with glasses and a scar on his forehead – Harry Potter – have become very popular in the XXI century. Harry Potter’s “mom” is a British writer Joanne Rowling, who was born on July 31, 1965.
She started the first book about the English boy who entered the school of magic, the famous Hogwarts, in 1991, when she was a modest French teacher. Initially, several publishers rejected the manuscript because it was not interesting enough. That is why the “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” appeared in print only in 1997. And fabulous novel became a book of the year. Last novel “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was released in 2007.
“Fairy tale about the boy wizard taught children to read,” says teachers.
In fact, the novels are made up of well-known magic cubes – Philosopher’s Stone, phoenix, Goblet of Fire.
The secret mission of novels is rehabilitation of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And it happened in England, a country where magic is strong traditionally, where there are still many secret societies.
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Astrid Lindgren

Astrid Lindgren was a great Swedish writer. Readers of the twentieth century named her “Storyteller number one”. Fellow writers gave her Gold Medal. Statistics say that if you take all the editions of her books, you get 175 Eiffel Towers. But she wasn’t going to be a storyteller at all.
Astrid Ericsson (the birth name of the writer) was born in Småland, province of Sweden, in 1907. At school, she fell in love with her classmate. The result of the “great feeling” was Astrid’s pregnancy and an ardent admirer suddenly disappeared from her life. It was a tragedy. If anybody had learned about it, it sure would have been a great shame. Therefore, parents sent their daughter to Stockholm. Big city hid “the little sin” of the girl. Astrid gave birth to a son and named him Lars. The young girl became a secretary in a small company. She was very hardworking, could arrange any meeting and maintain a conversation with any client. Other firms also wanted to have a brilliant worker. Sture Lindgren, charming chef, solved the problem simply and elegantly: he made a marriage proposal to Astrid. However, the fairy tale of Cinderella, who married the boss, didn’t end as desired. Mr. Lindgren became a director of the Swedish Automobile Trade Association and began to drink, waste money and spend months somewhere, forgetting about the family. By that time his daughter Karin was born. And Astrid understood why the tale of Cinderella ended with a wedding. Because it’s an end of a happy life, then follow gray days. When her husband died in 1952, Astrid decided not to get married again.
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The blood-red mirror by Gerhard Richter

These paintings are vivid examples of how you can get fabulous money for any “masterpiece” (drawn by a five-year child or bought at a flea market or garage sale, for example). You just need to give it a sounding name, make up an incredible story and put it up for world’s most famous auction.

“The blood-red mirror” by Gerhard Richter – $ 1.1 million
Gerhard Richter is one of the most famous German visual artists of our time. His pictures are controversial and ambiguous. As I see, it is just red paint on a mirror.
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Owl

Art Wolfe, the famous wildlife photographer, has been traveling through the mountains, forests and deserts for more than 35 years.
Like no one else he can show the beauty of the wildlife, wild animals and all the colors of our environment.
In these photos there are animals that are able to become invisible. The project is called Vanishing Act. How did the author manage to see them? Some animals are masters of camouflage. This ability is called mimicry (similarity of one species to another which protects one or both).
How many seconds or minutes do you need to find the animal?
It’s a real idyllic world of plants and animals! By the way, the author began work on his masterpiece in 1989, and showed a series of photos in 2005. Only 16 years later!
Art says that the main purpose of his work is to support and develop the idea of perfect beauty of the Earth.
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Ginny – the dog who rescued cats. Philip Gonzalez and Ginny

Ginny was a dog that had saved the hundreds of homeless cats. She was found in an abandoned house. Ginny was locked in a closet with her three puppies with no food or water for about a week. Fortunately, they were rescued.
In 1990, as a result of an accident at work, Philip Gonzalez became disabled. The man was depressed and his neighbor, Sheila Harris, persuaded him to adopt a dog to lift his spirits. They went to shelter together. Philip wanted a big dog – a Doberman or Rottweiler. But at that time there were no big dogs there. A shelter worker offered to look at a Schnauzer/Siberian-Husky mix. When Philip came to the dog, she began licking his hands. At first he wasn’t impressed at all but Sheila advised to take the dog for a walk. After the walk Philip adopted her from the shelter and named Ginny. Philip was actually her first rescue.
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