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๐Ÿ”— An-225

๐Ÿ”— Aviation ๐Ÿ”— Soviet Union ๐Ÿ”— Russia ๐Ÿ”— Russia/technology and engineering in Russia ๐Ÿ”— Aviation/aircraft ๐Ÿ”— Ukraine

The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Ukrainian: ะะฝั‚ะพะฝะพะฒ ะะฝ-225 ะœั€ั–ั, lit.โ€‰'dream' or 'inspiration'; NATO reporting name: Cossack) is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft that was designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Ukrainian SSR within the Soviet Union during the 1980s. Originally, this unique aircraft was developed as an enlargement of the Antonov An-124 to transport Buran-class orbiters. After successfully fulfilling its Soviet military missions, it was mothballed for eight years. It was then refurbished and reintroduced into commercial operation with Antonov Airlines, carrying oversized payloads. While a second airframe with a slightly different configuration was partially built, construction was halted more than once due to a lack of funding and interest. This second aircraft was last brought up to 60โ€“70% completion in 2009.

As an over sized aircraft the Antonov An-225 Mriya holds multiple records which include; heaviest aircraft ever built, and largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service. Other records held by the An-225 are cargo related in terms of weight and length as the Antonov An-225 has the capability to carry up to 640 tonnes (705 short tons). The An-225 attracts a high degree of public interest, so much that it has managed to attain a global following due to its size and its uniqueness. People frequently visit airports to see its scheduled arrivals and departures.

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๐Ÿ”— Fred Dibnah

๐Ÿ”— Biography ๐Ÿ”— Greater Manchester

Frederick Travis Dibnah, (29ย April 1938ย โ€“ 6ย November 2004) was an English steeplejack and television personality, with a keen interest in mechanical engineering, who described himself as a "backstreet mechanic".

When Dibnah was born, Britain relied heavily upon coal to fuel its industry. As a child, he was fascinated by the steam engines which powered the many textile mills in Bolton, but he paid particular attention to chimneys and the men who worked on them. He began his working life as a joiner, before becoming a steeplejack. From ageย 22, he served for two years in the Army Catering Corps of the British Army, undertaking his National Service. Once demobilised, he returned to steeplejacking but met with limited success until he was asked to repair Bolton's parish church. The resulting publicity provided a boost to his business, ensuring he was almost never out of work.

In 1978, while making repairs to Bolton Town Hall, Dibnah was filmed by a regional BBC news crew. The BBC then commissioned a documentary, which followed the rough-hewn steeplejack as he worked on chimneys, interacted with his family and talked about his favourite hobbyโ€”steam. His Lanky manner and gentle, self-taught philosophical outlook proved popular with viewers and he featured in a number of television programmes. Toward the end of his life, the decline of Britain's industry was mirrored by a decline in his steeplejacking business and Dibnah increasingly came to rely on public appearances and after-dinner speaking to support his income. In 1998, he presented a programme on Britain's industrial history and went on to present a number of series, largely concerned with the Industrial Revolution and its mechanical and architectural legacy.

He died from bladder cancer in November 2004, aged 66.

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๐Ÿ”— XKeyscore

๐Ÿ”— United States/U.S. Government ๐Ÿ”— United States ๐Ÿ”— Mass surveillance ๐Ÿ”— Espionage ๐Ÿ”— Computing ๐Ÿ”— Australia ๐Ÿ”— New Zealand ๐Ÿ”— United Kingdom ๐Ÿ”— Computing/Computer Security ๐Ÿ”— Computing/Networking

XKeyscore (XKEYSCORE or XKS) is a secret computer system used by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) for searching and analyzing global Internet data, which it collects in real time. The NSA has shared XKeyscore with other intelligence agencies, including the Australian Signals Directorate, Canada's Communications Security Establishment, New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau, Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, Japan's Defense Intelligence Headquarters, and Germany's Bundesnachrichtendienst.

In July 2013, Edward Snowden publicly revealed the program's purpose and use by the NSA in The Sydney Morning Herald and O Globo newspapers. The code name was already public knowledge because it was mentioned in earlier articles, and, like many other code names, it appears in job postings and online rรฉsumรฉs of employees.

On July 3, 2014, German public broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, a member of ARD, published excerpts of XKeyscore's source code. A team of experts analyzed the source code.

๐Ÿ”— UCI

๐Ÿ”— Video games ๐Ÿ”— Chess

The Universal Chess Interface (UCI) is an open communication protocol that enables chess engines to communicate with user interfaces.

๐Ÿ”— The Battle of Snake Island

๐Ÿ”— Russia ๐Ÿ”— Military history ๐Ÿ”— Ukraine ๐Ÿ”— Russia/politics and law of Russia ๐Ÿ”— Military history/Russian, Soviet and CIS military history ๐Ÿ”— Russia/history of Russia ๐Ÿ”— Military history/European military history ๐Ÿ”— Military history/Post-Cold War

The Battle of Snake Island took place on 24 February 2022 on Snake Island (Ukrainian: ะžัั‚ั€ั–ะฒ ะ—ะผั–ั—ะฝะธะน, romanized:ย Ostriv Zmiinyi) during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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๐Ÿ”— Lithops

๐Ÿ”— Plants

Lithops is a genus of succulent plants in the ice plant family, Aizoaceae. Members of the genus are native to southern Africa. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words ฮปฮฏฮธฮฟฯ‚ (lรญthos), meaning "stone," and แฝ„ฯˆ (รณps), meaning "face," referring to the stone-like appearance of the plants. They avoid being eaten by blending in with surrounding rocks and are often known as pebble plants or living stones. The formation of the name from the Ancient Greek "-ops" means that even a single plant is called a Lithops.

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๐Ÿ”— Josรฉ Mujica

๐Ÿ”— Biography ๐Ÿ”— Military history ๐Ÿ”— Politics ๐Ÿ”— Military history/Military biography ๐Ÿ”— Biography/military biography ๐Ÿ”— Military history/Cold War ๐Ÿ”— Biography/politics and government ๐Ÿ”— Military history/South American military history ๐Ÿ”— Uruguay

Josรฉ Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano (Spanish:ย [xoหˆse muหˆxika]; born 20 May 1935) is a Uruguayan politician and farmer who served as the 40th President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and imprisoned for 14 years during the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. A member of the Broad Front coalition of left-wing parties, Mujica was Minister of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries from 2005 to 2008 and a Senator afterwards. As the candidate of the Broad Front, he won the 2009 presidential election and took office as President on 1 March 2010.

He has been described as "the world's humblest head of state" due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around 90 percent of his $12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs. An outspoken critic of capitalismโ€™s focus on stockpiling material possessions which do not contribute to human happiness, Pepe is often seen riding his 60-year-old bicycle. The Times Higher Education called him the "philosopher president" in 2015, a play on words of Plato's conception of the philosopher king.

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๐Ÿ”— List of U.S. states and territories by net migration

๐Ÿ”— United States

This is a list of U.S. states and the District of Columbia by annual net migration. The first table lists U.S. states and the District of Columbia by annual net domestic migration, while the second table lists U.S. states and the District of Columbia by annual net international migration. There is a separate table for the U.S. territories. The term net domestic migration describes the total number of people moving to a state from another state minus people moving to another state from that state. The term net international migration describes the total number of people moving to a state from another country minus people moving to another country from that state.

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๐Ÿ”— Nacirema

๐Ÿ”— United States ๐Ÿ”— Skepticism ๐Ÿ”— Anthropology

Nacirema ("American" spelled backwards) is a term used in anthropology and sociology in relation to aspects of the behavior and society of citizens of the United States of America. The neologism attempts to create a deliberate sense of self-distancing in order that American anthropologists might look at their own culture more objectively.

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๐Ÿ”— Aral Sea

๐Ÿ”— Central Asia ๐Ÿ”— Oceans ๐Ÿ”— Lakes ๐Ÿ”— Central Asia/Kazakhstan ๐Ÿ”— Central Asia/Uzbekistan

The Aral Sea ( ARR-ษ™l; Kazakh: ะั€ะฐะป ั‚ะตาฃั–ะทั–, romanized:ย Aral teรฑฤฑzฤฑ; Uzbek: ะžั€ะพะป ะดะตะฝะณะธะทะธ, romanized:ย Orol dengizi; Karakalpak: ะั€ะฐะป ั‚ะตาฃะธะทะธ, romanized:ย Aral teล„izi; Russian: ะั€ะฐะปัŒัะบะพะต ะผะพั€ะต, romanized:ย Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakhstan (Aktobe and Kyzylorda Regions) in the north and Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan autonomous region) in the south which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up by the 2010s. The name roughly translates as "Sea of Islands", referring to over 1,100 islands that had dotted its waters. In the Mongolic and Turkic languages aral means "island, archipelago". The Aral Sea drainage basin encompasses Uzbekistan and parts of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Iran.

Formerly the fourth largest lake in the world with an area of 68,000ย km2 (26,300ย sqย mi), the Aral Sea began shrinking in the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects. By 1997, it had declined to 10% of its original size, splitting into four lakes: the North Aral Sea, the eastern and western basins of the once far larger South Aral Sea, and the smaller intermediate Barsakelmes Lake.

By 2009, the southeastern lake had disappeared and the southwestern lake had retreated to a thin strip at the western edge of the former southern sea. In subsequent years occasional water flows have led to the southeastern lake sometimes being replenished to a small degree. Satellite images by NASA in August 2014 revealed that for the first time in modern history the eastern basin of the Aral Sea had completely dried up. The eastern basin is now called the Aralkum Desert.

In an ongoing effort in Kazakhstan to save and replenish the North Aral Sea, the Dike Kokaral dam was completed in 2005. By 2008, the water level had risen 12ย m (39ย ft) above that of 2003. Salinity has dropped, and fish are again present in sufficient numbers for some fishing to be viable. The maximum depth of the North Aral Sea was 42ย m (138ย ft) (as of 2008).

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the shrinking of the Aral Sea "one of the planet's worst environmental disasters". The region's once-prosperous fishing industry has been devastated, bringing unemployment and economic hardship. The water from the diverted Syr Darya river is used to irrigate about two million hectares (5,000,000 acres) of farmland in the Ferghana Valley. The Aral Sea region is heavily polluted, with consequent serious public health problems. UNESCO has added historical documents concerning the Aral Sea to its Memory of the World Register as a resource to study the environmental tragedy.

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