Most species exhibit conspicuous sexual dimorphism, with males brightly colored and females displaying cryptic coloration.Iridescent plumage is present in both sexes of most species, with green being the most common color. Highly modified structures within certain feathers, usually concentrated on the head and breast, produce intense metallic iridescence.

Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of plants and are important pollinators, especially of deep-throated, tubular flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they reject flower types that produce nectar which is less than 15% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is around 25%. Nectar is a poor source of nutrients, so hummingbirds meet their needs for protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc. by preying on insects and spiders, especially when feeding young.

Most hummingbirds have bills that are long and straight or nearly so, but in some species the bill shape is adapted for specialized feeding. Thornbills have short, sharp bills adapted for feeding from flowers with short corollas and piercing the bases of longer ones. The Sicklebills’ extremely decurved bills are adapted to extracting nectar from the curved corollas of flowers in the family Gesneriaceae. The bill of the Fiery-tailed Awlbill has an upturned tip, as in the Avocets. The male Tooth-billed Hummingbird has barracuda-like spikes at the tip of its long, straight bill.

The two halves of a hummingbird’s bill have a pronounced overlap, with the lower half (mandible) fitting tightly inside the upper half (maxilla). When hummingbirds feed on nectar, the bill is usually only opened slightly, allowing the tongue to dart out and into the interior of flowers.

Like the similar nectar-feeding sunbirds and unlike other birds, hummingbirds drink by using protrusible grooved or trough-like tongues.

Hummingbirds do not spend all day flying, as the energy costs of this would be prohibitive; the majority of their activity consists simply of sitting or perching. Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, consuming many small invertebrates and up to five times their own body weight in nectar each day. They spend an average of 10-15% of their time feeding and 75-80% sitting and digesting.

Hummingbird flight has been studied intensively from an aerodynamic perspective using wind tunnels and high-speed video cameras.

Writing in Nature, the biomechanist Douglas Warrick and coworkers studied the Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus, in a wind tunnel using particle image velocimetry techniques and investigated the lift generated on the bird’s upstroke and downstroke.

They concluded that their subjects produced 75% of their weight support during the down-stroke and 25% during the up-stroke: many earlier studies had assumed (implicitly or explicitly) that lift was generated equally during the two phases of the wingbeat cycle, as is the case of insects of a similar size. This finding shows that hummingbirds’ hovering is similar to, but distinct from, that of hovering insects such as the hawk moths.

The Giant Hummingbird’s wings beat at 8–10 beats per second, the wings of medium-sized hummingbirds beat about 20–25 beats per second and the smallest beat 70 beats per second.

As far as is known, male hummingbirds do not take part in nesting. Most species make a cup-shaped nest on the branch of a tree or shrub. Two white eggs are laid which, despite being the smallest of all bird eggs, are in fact large relative to the hummingbird’s adult size. Incubation typically lasts 12–19 days. The nest varies in size relative to species, from smaller than half of a walnut shell to several centimeters in diameter.

Hummingbirds are found only in the Americas, from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, including the Caribbean. The majority of species occur in tropical Central and South America, but several species also breed in temperate areas. Only the migratory Ruby-throated Hummingbird breeds in continental North America east of the Mississippi River and Great Lakes. The Black-chinned Hummingbird, its close relative and another migrant, is the most widespread and common species in the western United States, while the Rufous Hummingbird is the most widespread species in western Canada.

Most hummingbirds of the U.S. and Canada migrate south in fall to spend the northern winter in Mexico or Central America. A few southern South American species also move to the tropics in the southern winter. A few species are year-round residents in the warmer coastal and interior desert regions. Among these is Anna’s Hummingbird, a common resident from southern California inland to southern Arizona and north to southwestern British Columbia.

Timothy Treadwell  was an American bear enthusiast, environmentalist, amateur naturalist, and documentary film maker, whose birthname was Timothy Dexter. He lived among the coastal grizzly bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska, USA, for approximately 13 seasons. At the end of his 13th season in the park in 2003, he and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed and devoured by one or possibly two grizzly bears.Treadwell’s life, work, and death were the subject of the 2005 documentary film by Werner Herzog titled Grizzly Man.An audio recording of the attack survived and part of it can be found on the internet.

In October 2003, Treadwell and his girlfriend, a physician assistant, Amie Huguenard, visited Katmai National Park in Alaska. Treadwell chose to set his campsite near a salmon stream where grizzlies commonly feed in the fall. Treadwell was in the park later in the year than usual at a time when bears fight to gain as much fat as possible before winter and limited food supplies cause them to be more aggressive than in other months. Food was scarce that fall, so the grizzly bears were even more aggressive than usual.
Treadwell was supposed to leave the park at his usual time of year, but he had a disagreement with the airline about his ticket and decided to stay longer in the park. The bears he’d been used to during the summer had already gone into hibernation, and bears that Treadwell did not know from other parts of the park were moving into the area. The very last footage that shows Treadwell alive also shows a bear behind him; the bear had been diving into the river over and over for a piece of dead salmon.

Lee Seung Seop

Lee Seung Seop was an industrial boiler repairman in Taego South Korea. He was fired for his job for missing work to play computer games.
On August 3, 2005, he achieved global notoriety when he visited a nearby Internet cafe and proceeded to play StarCraft for almost fifty consecutive hours. Ultimately, from both exhaustion and dehydration induced heart failure he went into cardiac arrest. He died shortly thereafter at a local hospital. A friend commented: “He was a game addict. We all knew about it. He couldn’t stop himself.” About six weeks before his death, his girlfriend, also an avid gamer, broke up with him, and he had been fired from his job for missing work to play computer games

Carol Gotbaum

New Yorker Carol Gotbaum died while in police custody at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport in 2007. Authorities said she may have strangled herself while attempting to get out of handcuffs.

Jennifer Lea Strange

Jennifer Lea Strange was a 28-year-old woman who died of water intoxication on January 12, 2007 after taking part in a Sacramento, California, radio station’s water-drinking contest. Strange, along with twenty other participants, took part in a contest held by KDND-FM’s “Morning Rave” show called “Hold Your Wee for a Wii,” where the winner would win a Wii, a popular and at that time difficult-to-obtain Nintendo video game console. The winner was the one who could consume the most water without urinating. Strange came in second place; it was not immediately known how much water Strange consumed, but other contestants speculate that Strange drank up to two gallons of water .

Cheryl Sarate

Cheryl Sarate was a college freshman in the Philippines who burned to death when her costume caught fire during a college beauty pageant. The tragedy dominated headlines for many months in the Philippines media and engendered much discussion and controversy over issues of safety, responsibility, and liability.

A few days after Sarate’s death, TV network ABS-CBN obtained and broadcasted part of an amateur video (available for viewing on YouTube) of the incident. Although mitigated by the camera angle (which never shows a totally unobstructed view of Sarate on fire due to spectators in the field of view), it nevertheless horrified viewers, both for the horrendous nature of the accident, as well as the seeming indifference and neglect of those present. It showed that most bystanders did not attempt to come to her aid, many simply standing and staring at what was happening, while others moved away from Sarate for their own safety. There is even some laughter heard on the soundtrack. Additionally, the emcee is heard announcing that the pageant would resume in 20 minutes, apparently unaware of or indifferent to the severity of Sarate’s injuries.

Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko

Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko  was a former officer of the Russian State security service, and later a Russian dissident and writer.

Litvinenko worked in the Military Counter Intelligence. He was promoted to the Central Staff, and specialised in counter-terrorism and infiltration of organised crime. Six years later, he was promoted to senior operational officer and deputy head of the Seventh Section of the FSB.

On November 1, 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill and was hospitalised. His illness was later attributed to poisoning with radionuclide polonium-210 after the Health Protection Agency found significant amounts of the rare and highly toxic element in his body. In interviews, Litvinenko stated that he met with two former KGB agents early on the day he fell ill – Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, though they deny any wrongdoing. The men also introduced Litvinenko to a tall, thin man of central Asian appearance called ‘Vladislav Sokolenko’ who Lugovoi said was a business partner. Lugovoi is also a former bodyguard of Russian ex-prime minister Yegor Gaidar (who also suffered from a mysterious illness in November 2006). Later, he had lunch at Itsu, a sushi restaurant in Soho in London, with an Italian acquaintance and nuclear waste expert, Mario Scaramella, to whom he made the allegations regarding Italy’s Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Scaramella, attached to the Mitrokhin Commission investigating KGB penetration of Italian politics, claimed to have information on the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who was killed at her Moscow apartment in October 2006.

Stephen Robert Irwin

Stephen Robert Irwin known simply as Steve Irwin and nicknamed “The Crocodile Hunter”, was an iconic Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. He achieved world-wide fame from the television program The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series co-hosted with his wife Terri Irwin.

On 4 September 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray spine while snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, at Batt Reef, which is located off the coast of Port Douglas in Queensland.

Brian Douglas Wells

Brian Douglas Wells was an American pizza delivery man who was killed by a time bomb fastened to his neck, purportedly under duress from the maker of the bomb. After he was apprehended by the police for robbing a bank, the bomb exploded. The bizarre affair was subject to much attention in the mass media.

In a July 2007 indictment, federal prosecutors alleged that Wells had been involved in the planning of the botched crime. Two of his co-conspirators, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and Kenneth Barnes, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bank robbery, conspiracy, and weapons charges. A third co-conspirator, William Stockton, was given immunity in exchange for his testimony.Kenneth Barnes subsequently pleaded guilty in September 2008 and largely confirmed that Wells was indeed involved in planning the robbery but also revealed Wells was under the impression an actual bomb would not be used. When he discovered the bomb was real, Barnes said a pistol was fired, and witnesses confirmed hearing a gunshot, in order to force Wells’ compliance.

Kenneth Pinyan

Kenneth Pinyan  was a Gig Harbor,Washington resident who engaged in receptive anal sex with full-size stallions at a farm near the city of Enumclaw. He videotaped those sex acts and distributed them informally under the name Mr. Hands.
During a July 2005 sex act, which was being videotaped by a friend of his, he suffered a perforated colon, and later died of his injuries. The story was reported in the The Seattle Times and was one of that paper’s most read stories of 2005.
Pinyan’s death prompted the passing of a bill in Washington State some months later prohibiting both sex with animals, and the videotaping of the same. However, the video seen by many others was before the accident.
A documentary of the life and death of Pinyan, and the life led by those who came to the farm near Enumclaw as he did, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival 2007 under the title Zoo. It was one of 16 winners out of 856 candidates for the festival, and played at numerous regional festivals in the USA thereafter.[4] Following Sundance, it was also selected as one of the top five American films to be presented at the prestigious Directors Fortnight sidebar at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
The media outlets that reported the story withheld Pinyan’s name. His name was revealed on national radio by talk show host Tom Leykis in the summer of 2005.

Owen James Hart

Owen James Hart was a Canadian professional wrestler who was widely known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Hart was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada the youngest of 12 children to wrestling promoter Stu Hart and Helen Hart. He was the younger brother of professional wrestler Bret Hart.

On May 23, 1999, Hart fell to his death in Kansas City, Missouri during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event. Hart was in the process of being lowered via harness and rappel line into the ring from the rafters of Kemper Arena for a booked Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather. In keeping with the Blazer’s new “buffoonish superhero” character, he was to begin a dramatic entrance, being lowered to just above ring level, at which time he would act “entangled”, then release himself from the safety harness and fall flat on his face for comedic effect – this necessitated the use of a quick release mechanism. It was an elaboration on a Blue Blazer stunt done previously on the Sunday Night Heat before Survivor Series 1998. This time, something went wrong with the stunt harness, apparently triggering the release mechanism early as he was being lowered. Hart fell 78 feet (24 m) into the ring, landing chest-first on the top rope, approximately a foot from the nearest turnbuckle, throwing him into the ring. In Mick Foley’s autobiography Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, he claims that following the fall, Hart attempted to sit up and did so before falling back.

Hart had performed the stunt only a few times before and was worried about performing the stunt at the Kemper Arena due to the height involved. Hart’s wife Martha has suggested that, by moving around to get comfortable with both the harness and his cape on, Hart unintentionally triggered an early release. TV viewers at home did not see the incident or its aftermath – at the moment of the fall, a pre-taped vignette was being shown on the pay-per-view broadcast as well as on the monitors in the darkened arena. After, while Hart was being worked on by medical personnel inside the ring, the live event’s broadcast showed only the audience. Meanwhile, WWF television announcer Jim Ross repeatedly told those watching live on pay-per-view that what had just transpired was not a wrestling angle or storyline and that Hart was hurt badly, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation. Hart was transported to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. (Hart had actually died while still being tended to in the ring.) The cause was later revealed to be internal bleeding from blunt chest trauma.

Salvatore Phillip Bono

Salvatore Phillip “Sonny” Bono was an American record producer, singer, actor, and politician whose career spanned over three decades.
On January 5, 1998, Bono died of injuries after striking a tree while skiing on the Nevada side of the Heavenly Ski Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California.
Bono’s death came just days after Michael Kennedy, a son of Robert F. Kennedy, died in a similar skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado. Bono’s widow, Mary, was elected to fill the remainder of the Congressional term. Over 10 years after his death, she continues to champion many of Sonny’s causes, including the ongoing fight to save the Salton Sea.

After Sonny’s death, Mary told an interviewer from TV Guide that Sonny was addicted to and seriously abusing prescription drugs, mainly Vicodin and Valium. Even though Mary claimed that Sonny’s drug use caused the accident, the autopsy showed no narcotics and only a very small amount of Valium, not enough to cause impairment according to the Washoe County Coroner’s report.

After being asked by Mary Bono, Sonny’s ex-wife, Cher, gave a eulogy at Bono’s funeral. His final resting place is Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California. The epitaph on Bono’s headstone reads: “And The Beat Goes On.”

Garry Hoy

Garry Hoy  was a lawyer for the law firm of Holden Day Wilson in Toronto. He is best known for the circumstances of his death; in an attempt to prove to a group of summer interns that the glass in the Toronto-Dominion Centre was unbreakable, he threw himself through a glass wall on the 24th story and fell to his death after the window frame gave way.  He had apparently attempted this stunt many times in the past, having previously bounced harmlessly off the glass.

Robert  Dwyer

Robert “Budd” Dwyer  was an American politician who, on the morning of January 22, 1987, committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a revolver during a televised press conference.

Thomas Lanier Williams

Williams died on February 24, 1983, after he choked on an eyedrop bottle cap in his room at the Hotel Elysee in New York. He would routinely place the cap in his mouth, lean back, and place his eyedrops in each eye.His brother Dakin and some friends believed he was murdered. The police report, however, suggested his use of drugs and alcohol contributed to his death. Many toxic drugs were found in the room. Williams’ response may have been diminished by the effects of drugs and alcohol.

Williams’ funeral took place on Saturday March 3, 1983 at St. Malachy’s Roman Catholic Church in New York City. Williams’ body was interred in the Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri. Williams had long told his friends he wanted to be buried at sea at approximately the same place as the poet Hart Crane, as he considered Crane to be one of his most significant influences.

Williams left his literary rights to The University of the South in honor of his grandfather, Walter Dakin, an alumnus of the university. It is located in Sewanee, Tennessee. The funds support a creative writing program. When his sister Rose died after many years in a mental institution, she bequeathed over 50 million dollars from her part of the Williams estate to The University of the South as well.

In 1989, the City of St. Louis inducted Tennessee Williams into its St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Christine Chubbuck

Christine Chubbuck was an American television news reporter who committed suicide during a live television broadcast

George S. Patton

U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton survived battles with Pancho Villa’s forces, survived World War I and then survived World War II, only to break his neck in a car crash in Germany in December 1945. He died of complications from that injury less than two weeks later.

Sherwood Anderson

Sherwood Anderson  was an American writer, mainly of short stories, most notably the collection Winesburg, Ohio. That work’s influence on American fiction was profound, and its literary voice can be heard in Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, John Steinbeck, Erskine Caldwell and others.Anderson died in Panama at the age of 64. The cause of death was peritonitis after he accidentally swallowed a piece of a toothpick embedded in a martini olive at a party. He was buried at Round Hill Cemetery in Marion, Virginia. His epitaph reads, “Life, Not Death, is the Great Adventure.”

Isadora Duncan

Isadora Duncan  was an American dancer. She was born  in San Francisco, California. Isadora Duncan is considered by many to be the mother of Modern Dance. Although never very popular in the United States, she entertained throughout Europe.

Duncan’s fondness for flowing scarves which trailed behind her was the cause of her death in a freak automobile accident in Nice, France, on the night of September 14, 1927, at the age of 50. The scarf was hand painted silk from the Russian-born artist Roman Chatov. The accident gave rise to Gertrude Stein’s mordant remark that “affectations can be dangerous.

Duncan was a passenger in the Amilcar automobile of a handsome young Italian mechanic, Benoît Falchetto, whom she had ironically nicknamed ‘Buggatti’ . (The marque of the automobile is open to dispute but the informed opinion is that it was an Amilcar, a 1924 GS model. It was regularly described and filmed as a more glamorous Bugatti.) Before getting into the car, she said to a friend, Mary Desti (mother of 1940′s Hollywood writer-director Preston Sturges), and some companions, “Adieu, mes amis. Je vais à la gloire!” (“Goodbye, my friends, I am off to glory!”); however, according to the diaries of the American novelist Glenway Wescott, who was in Nice at the time and visited Duncan’s body in the morgue (his diaries are in the collection of the Beineke Library at Yale University), Desti admitted that she had lied about Duncan’s last words. Instead, she told Wescott, the dancer actually said, “Je vais à l’amour” (“I am off to love”), which Desti considered too embarrassing to go down in history as the legend’s final utterance, especially since it suggested that Duncan hoped that she and Falchetto were going to her hotel for a sexual assignation. Whatever her actual last words, when Falchetto drove off, Duncan’s immense handpainted silk scarf, which was a gift from Desti and was large enough to be wrapped around her body and neck and flutter out of the car, became entangled around one of the vehicle’s open-spoked wheels and rear axle. As The New York Times noted in its obituary of the dancer on September 15, 1927, “The automobile was going at full speed when the scarf of strong silk began winding around the wheel and with terrific force dragged Miss Duncan, around whom it was securely wrapped, bodily over the side of the car, precipitating her with violence against the cobblestone street. She was dragged for several yards before the chauffeur halted, attracted by her cries in the street. Medical aid was summoned, but it was stated that she had been strangled and killed instantly.

Isadora Duncan was cremated and her ashes were placed next to those of her beloved children in the columbarium of Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. At her death she was a Soviet citizen, and her will was the first of a Soviet citizen probated in the USA.

McLean Stevenson

McLean Stevenson  was an American actor most recognized for his role as Lt. Colonel Henry Blake on the TV series M*A*S*H.Stevenson was a character on the tv show and Roger Bowen played the same role in the movie. They both died within a day of one another of cardiac arrest.

Frank Hayes

Frank Hayes was a jockey who, in 1923, suffered a fatal heart attack in the midst of a race at Belmont Park in New York. His horse, Sweet Kiss, finished and won the race with his lifeless body still atop, making him the first, and thus far, only, jockey to win a race after death.

Raymond  Chapman

Raymond Johnson Chapman  was an American baseball player, spending his entire career as a shortstop for Cleveland.

He is the second of only two Major League Baseball players to have died as a result of an injury received in a game (the first was Mike “Doc” Powers in 1909)Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by Yankees pitcher Carl Mays. His death led Major League Baseball to establish a rule requiring umpires to replace the ball whenever it became dirty. His death was also one of the examples used to emphasize the need for wearing batting helmets (although the rule was not adopted until over thirty years later). His death was partially the reason MLB banned the spitball after the season.

French president Felix Faure

Faure died suddenly from apoplexy on 16 February 1899, at a critical juncture whilst engaging in sexual activities in his office with 30-year-old Marguerite Steinheil. It has been widely reported that those activities were oral sex, but their exact nature is in fact unknown and such reports may have stemmed from various jeux de mots (puns) made up afterward by his political opponents. One such pun was to nickname Mme Steinheil “la pompe funèbre” (wordplay in French: could mean both “funeral pomp” and “funeral pump”). George Clemenceau’s epitaph of Faure, in the same trend, was “Il voulait être César, il ne fut que Pompée” (another wordplay in French; could mean both “he wished to be Caesar, but ended up as Pompey”, or “he wished to be Caesar and ended up being pumped”); Clemenceau, who was also editor of the newspaper l’Aurore, wrote that “upon entering the void, he [Faure] must have felt home”.After his death, some alleged extracts from his private journals, dealing with French policy, were published in the Paris press.

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was an American military leader, politician, the ninth President of the United States, and the first President to die in office. The oldest President elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, Harrison had served 30 days in office, still the shortest tenure in United States presidential history, before his death in April 1841. His death created a brief constitutional crisis, but ultimately resolved many questions about presidential succession left unanswered by the Constitution until passage of the 25th Amendment,died of pneumonia on April 4, 1841, exactly one month after taking office. Harrison had delivered his two-hour inaugural address outdoors, in the cold, with no overcoat

The PT-91 Twardy is a Polish main battle tank. It is an extensive modernization of the T-72M1 and first entered service in 1995. The PT-91 was designed at the Research and Development Centre of Mechanical Systems OBRUM and is produced by the Bumar Łabędy company. Changes from the T-72 include a new dual-axis stabilized fire-control system, reactive armour, a slightly more powerful 850hp S12U engine, and hydraulic transmission with seven forward gears and one reverse. In 1995 the PT-91 underwent a second modernization, to PT-91A standard, including a 1000hp engine, more advanced fire-control system, and new automatic loader.

Weight     46.5 tonnes
Length     6.67 m
Width     3.4 m
Height     2.19 m
Crew     3
Armor     composite armour; front and side armor laminated; front, side and top armor behind Erawa-1/Erawa-2 ERA, steel side anti-cumulative screens
Primary
armament     1 x 125mm 2A46MS gun
Secondary
armament     1 x 7.62mm FN MAG coaxial general purpose machine gun,
1 x 12.7mm FN M2 HB anti-aircraft heavy machine gun
Engine     PZL-Wola S-1000 diesel
1000 HP (735 kW)
Power/weight     16 kW/t
Suspension     torsion-bar
Operational
range     500 km
Speed     70 km/h

11….         AL-Khalid

The Al-Khalid or MBT 2000 (Type 90-IIM) is a modern main battle tank co-developed by China and Pakistan. It is produced in Pakistan, and in service with the Pakistan Army. It is operated by a crew of three, and armed with 125mm smoothbore gun with mechanical autoloader, capable of firing anti-tank missiles, with modern fire-control and night-fighting equipment. The MBT 2000 is named after the legendary Muslim general Khalid ibn al-Walid.

Based on its Chinese and Soviet design ancestry, the MBT2000/Al-Khalid is considerably smaller and lighter than most western main battle tanks. The design is based on the Chinese model Type 90 main battle tank project, which combines technologies from several Soviet and western tanks, and is ultimately a descendant of the widely-produced Soviet T-54A. The MBT 2000 is unusual in that it is adaptable for manufacture with any of a variety engines and transmissions of foreign origin.

The Al-Khalid is a version of this tank produced in Pakistan, with a compact diesel engine supplied by Ukraine’s KMDB design bureau. The first tanks were completed and entered Pakistan Army service in 2001, and Pakistan had planned to induct 600 of these by 2007.

Weight     48 tonnes
Length     10.07 m
Width     3.50 m
Height     2.40 m
Crew     3
Armour     600 mm est.
Primary
armament     125 mm smoothbore gun
Secondary
armament     12.7 mm antiaircraft, 7.62 mm coaxial machine guns
Engine     12-cylinder diesel model 6TD-2
1,200 hp (895 kW)
Power/weight     26 hp/tonne
Transmission     torsion-bar
Operational
range     500 km
Speed     72 km/h

10….          T-90

T-90 is a Russian main battle tank (MBT) derived from the T-72, and is currently the most modern tank in the Russian Ground Forces and is also in service with various other foreign military operators. The successor to T-72BM, the T-90 uses the gun and 1G46 gunner sights from the T-80U, a new engine, and thermal sights. Protective measures include Kontakt-5 ERA, laser warning receivers, the EMT-7 electromagnetic pulse creator for the destruction of magnetic mines and the Shtora infrared ATGM jamming system.

Weight     46.5 tonnes
Length     9.53 m (31.27 ft)
Width     3.78 m (9.12 ft)
Height     2.22 m (7.28 ft)
Crew     3
Armor     Classified steel-composite-reactive blend
Primary
armament     125 mm smoothbore gun with ATGM capability; mainly 9M119 Svir
Secondary
armament     7.62 mm coaxial machine gun, 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun
Engine     Model 84 V-84 12-cyl. diesel[1]

V-92 12-cyl. diesel
V-96 12-cyl. diesel
840 hp (626 kW) for Model 84 V-84 12-cyl. diesel engine
950 hp (708 kW) for V-92 12-cyl. diesel engine
1,100 hp (820 kW) for V-96 12-cyl. diesel engine
Power/weight     18.1 hp/tonne (13.5 kW/tonne) for Model 84 V-84 12-cyl. diesel engine

20.4 hp/tonne (15.2 kW/tonne) for V-92 12-cyl. diesel engine
23.7 hp/tonne (17.6 kW/tonne) for V-96 12-cyl. diesel engine
Suspension     torsion bar
Operational
range     650 km
Speed     65 km/h

Unit cost   $1,371,000 USD

9….          Type 99

The Type 99, also known as ZTZ-99 and WZ-123, developed from the Type 98G (in turn, a development of the Type 98), is a 3rd generation main battle tank (MBT) fielded by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. It is made to compete with modern western tanks. Although not expected to be acquired in large numbers due to its high cost compared to the more economical Type 96, it is currently the most advanced MBT fielded by China.

Weight     ~54 tonnes
Length     11.0 m
Width     3.4 m
Height     2.2 m
Crew     3 (4 originally based on the Type 98 prototypes without autoloader)
Armor     Composite with ERA
Primary
armament     125 mm smoothbore tank gun, compatible with Chinese 140mm guns[2][3]
Secondary
armament     12.7 mm commander’s machine gun, 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun
Engine     liquid-cooled diesel
1,500 hp (1,100 kW)
Power/weight     27.8 hp/tonne
Suspension     torsion bar
Operational
range     600 km
Speed     80 km/h (50 mph)

Unit cost  approx 2,500,000 USD

8….          K1a1

The K1 is a main battle tank in use with the South Korean ground forces. The vehicle was designed by General Dynamics, while the production is handled domestically by Hyundai Precision.

The K1A1 was accepted into Korean service on October 13, 2001 after the first one was produced on April 3, 1996. It is similar to its predecessor, with the exception of a larger 120 mm main gun with vastly improved penetration power. The new version also includes an improved fire-control system featuring thermal image KGPS (Korean Gunner’s Primary Sight), KCPS (Korean Commander’s Panoramic Sight), along with improved survivability for the engine. The FCS gives the tank a 90% or greater chance of hitting its target while on the move, while the highest score it achieved topped off at 98%. The improved armor is roughly equivalent to that of an M1A1 without depleted uranium plating inserts. The laser rangefinder is CO2-based.

Weight     K1 — 51.1 tons
K1A1 — 54.5 tons
Length     K1 — 9.67 m
K1A1 — 9.71m
Width     3.60 m
Height     2.25 m
Crew     4 (commander, gunner, loader and driver)
Armor     Composite
Primary
armament     K1 — KM68A1 105 mm (47 rounds)
K1A1 — KM256 120mm (32 rounds)
Secondary
armament     12.7 mm K6 HMG on right pintle mount for commander
7.62 mm M60 on left pintle mount for loader
7.62 mm M60 on coaxial mount
Engine     10-cyl. water-cooled diesel MTU 871 Ka-501
1200 hp (890 kW) at 2600 rpm
Power/weight     K1 — 23.4 hp / ton
K1A1 — 22.0 hp / ton
Transmission     ZF LSG 3000 (Four forward, two reverse)
Suspension     Hydropneumatic at front, torsion bar at rear of the chassis
Operational
range     500 km
Speed     65 km/h

Unit cost $ 4,066,00.00 USD

7….          Type 90

The Type 90  is the current main battle tank (MBT) of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF). It is built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and was designed as a replacement for all deployed Type 61s and a portion of their Type 74 tanks, and entered service in 1990. It is slated to be complemented by the Type 10.

Weight     50.2 tonnes
Length     9.755 m
Width     3.33 m
Height     2.33 m
Crew     3
Armor     Modular ceramic/steel composite armour
Primary
armament     120 mm smoothbore gun with automatic loader

35 rounds
Secondary
armament     M2HB 12.7 mm machine gun

1,500 rounds
7.62mm machine gun Type 74 2,000 rounds
Engine     Mitsubishi 10ZG 10 cylinder, Two stroke cycle

Diesel 21500cc
1500ps/2400rpm (1,120 kW), 15min output rating: 4410Nm 450kgfm)
Power/weight     30 hp/tonne
Suspension     hydropneumatic
Operational
range     350 km (fuel 1100 L)
Speed     70 km/h (acceleration: 0-200 m in 20 s)

Unit cost $ 3,644,00.00 USD

6….          Leclerc

The Leclerc is a main battle tank (MBT) built by Nexter of France. It was named in honour of General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque who led the drive towards Paris while in command of the Free French 2nd Armoured Division  in World War II.

The Leclerc is in service with the French Army and the army of the United Arab Emirates. In production since 1991,the Leclerc entered French service in 1992, replacing the venerable AMX 30 as the country’s main armoured platform. With production now complete, the French Army has a total of 406 Leclercs and the United Arab Emirates Army has 388.

Weight     54.5 tonnes
Length     9.87 m (6.88 without gun
Width     3.71 m
Height     2.53 m
Crew     3[1] (Commander, gunner, driver)
Armour     Steel, titanium, NERA
Primary
armament     120mm tank gun
40 rounds (1 round ready to fire in the chamber, 22 rounds inside autoloader magazine with additional 18 rounds in the chassis)
Secondary
armament     12.7 mm coaxial M2HB machine gun
1,100 rounds
7.62mm machine gun
3,000 rounds
Engine     8-cylinder diesel Wärtsilä
1,500 hp[1] (1,100 kW)
Power/weight     27.52 hp/tonne
Suspension     hydropneumatic
Operational
range     550 km
Speed     71 km/h

Unit cost ₣ 29.000.000 in 1993

5….           K2 Black Panther

K2 Black Panther  is an advanced main battle tank which will replace the aging M48A5K Patton tanks and complement the K1 series of main battle tanks currently fielded by the Republic of Korea. Full-scale mass-production is expected to start in 2009. The ROK Army plans to field approximately 680 Black Panthers.

Weight     55 tonnes (60.63 tons)
Length     10 m including gun (32.81 ft)
7.5 m chassis only (24.61 ft)
Width     3.1 m (10.17 ft)
Height     2.2 m (7.23 ft)
Crew     3 (commander, gunner, driver)
Armor     Layers consisting of soft- and hard-kill anti-missile defense systems, ERA, NERA, modular & new unknown type of composite armor
Primary
armament     120 mm (4.72 in.), 55 caliber smoothbore gun (40 rounds)
Secondary
armament     1× 12.7 mm (.50 caliber) K6 heavy machine gun (3,200 rounds)
1x 7.62 mm (.30 caliber) coaxial machine gun (12,000 rounds)
Engine     4-cycle, 12-cylinder water-cooled diesel
1,500 hp
Power/weight     27.2 hp/tonne
Suspension     In-arm Suspension Unit
Operational
range     450 km
Speed     70 km/h (43.5 mph) (acceleration of 0–32 km/h [0–19.9 mph] within 7 seconds)

Unit $ 7,800,000.00 USD

4….          Merkava

The Merkava is the main battle tank of the Israel Defense Forces. Since the early 1980s, four main versions have been deployed. The “Merkava” name was derived from the IDF’s development program name.

This platform is optimized for crew survival and rapid battle damage repair. With the use of spaced-armor techniques and quick-replacement modular designs, the design team was able to incorporate the composite armor, a derivative of rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) and Chobham armor. Additionally, the space between the inner and outer hulls is filled with diesel fuel an economical storage method and effective means of defeating HEAT rounds.

Following the model of contemporary self-propelled howitzers, the turret assembly is located nearer the rear than in most main battle tanks. This gives the crew additional protection against a frontal attack by putting the engine between them and the front of the tank. This arrangement also creates an otherwise unused space in the rear of the tank that allows increased storage capacity, as well as a rear entrance to the main crew cabinet allowing easy access even under enemy fire. This allows the tank to be used as a platform for medical disembarkation, a forward command and control station, and an armored personnel carrier. The rear entrance’s clamshell-style doors provide overhead protection when off- and on-loading cargo and personnel.

It was reportedly decided shortly before the beginning of the 2006 Lebanon War that the Merkava line would be discontinued within four years.However, on 7 November 2006, Haaretz reported that an Israeli General Staff assessment had ruled of the Merkava Mark IV that “if properly deployed, the tank can provide its crew with better protection than in the past,” and deferred the decision on discontinuing the line.

Weight     65 tonnes
Length     9.04 m (29.66 ft) – rear to muzzle
7.60 m (24.93 ft) – without gun
Width     3.72 m (12.2 ft) – without skirts
Height     2.66 m (8.73 ft) – turret roof
Crew     4 (commander, driver, gunner, loader)
Armor     Classified composite matrix of laminated ceramic-steel-nickel alloy. Sloped modular design.
Primary
armament     120 mm (4.7 in) MG253 smoothbore gun, capable of firing LAHAT ATGM
Secondary
armament     1 × 12.7 mm (0.5 in) MG
2 × 7.62 mm (0.3 in) MG
1 × 60 mm (2.4 in) internal mortar
12 smoke grenades
Engine     1,500 hp (1,119 kW) turbocharged diesel engine
Power/weight     23 hp/ton
Payload capacity     48 rounds
Transmission     Renk RK 325
Suspension     Helical spring
Ground clearance     0.45 m (1.48 ft)
Fuel capacity     1400 litres
Operational
range     500 km (311 mi)
Speed     64 km/h (40 mph) on road
55 km/h (34 mph) off road

Unit cost $ 5,224,00.00 USD

3….          Challenger

FV4034 Challenger 2 is a main battle tank (MBT) currently in service with the armies of the United Kingdom and Oman. It is built by the British company Vickers Defence Systems (now part of BAE Systems Land and Armaments). The manufacturer advertises it as the world’s most reliable main battle tank As of January 2008, two Challenger 2s have been damaged and one destroyed (by a friendly fire engagement with another Challenger 2) in combat.

Challenger 2 is an extensive redesign from Challenger 1, the MBT from which it was developed. It uses the basic hull and automotive parts of its predecessor but all else is new. Less than 5% of components are interchangeable. It is armoured with a second generation of Chobham armour called Dorchester, just as the Challenger I was armoured with the first generation of Chobham armour.

Challenger 2 has now replaced Challenger 1 in service with the British Army and is also used by the Royal Army of Oman. The UK placed orders for 127 Challenger 2 tanks in 1991 and an additional 259 in 1994. Oman ordered 18 of the tanks in 1993 and a further 20 in November 1997. Challenger 2 entered service with the British Army in 1998, with the last delivered in 2002. It is expected to remain in service until 2035. Deliveries for Oman were completed in 2001. Challenger 2 has seen operational service in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq (2003–present). During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, this was the only tank operating in the Gulf that did not suffer a single loss to enemy fire. In one engagement a Challenger took multiple hits from rocket propelled grenades and from one MILAN anti tank missile.

Weight     62.5 tonnes
Length     8.3 m (11.50 m with gun forward)
Width     3.5 m (4.2 m with appliqué armour)
Height     2.5 m
Crew     4 (commander, gunner, loader/operator, driver)
Armour     Chobham/Dorchester Level 2 (classified)
Primary
armament     L30A1 120 mm Rifled gun
with 52 rounds
Secondary
armament     coaxial 7.62 mm L94A1 EX-34 (chain gun),
7.62 mm L37A2 Commander’s cupola machine gun
Engine     Perkins CV-12 Diesel
1,200 hp (895 kW)
Power/weight     19.2 hp/tonne
Suspension     hydropneumatic
Operational
range     450 km (279 miles)
Speed     59 km/h (37 mph)

Unit cost $ 7,921,000.00 USD Approx

2….          Leopard 2

The Leopard 2 is a German main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the early 1970s and first entering service in 1979. The Leopard 2 replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the foremost MBT in the German Army. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and ten other European countries, as well as non-European nations. More than 3,480 Leopard 2s have been manufactured.

There are two main development batches of the tank, the original models up to Leopard 2A4 which have vertically-faced turret armour, and the “improved” batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions, which have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with a number of other improvements. All models feature digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders, a fully stabilized main gun and coaxial machine gun and advanced night vision and sighting equipment (first vehicles used a low-light level TV system or LLLTV; thermal imaging was introduced later on). The tank has the ability to engage moving targets while moving over rough terrain. It can drive through water 4 meters (13 ft) deep using a snorkel or 1.2 meters (3.9 ft) without any preparation and climb vertical obstacles over one metre high. The tank is powered with a turbo-charged multi-fuel V12 diesel engine that produces 1,500 PS (1,479 hp, 1,103 kW).

Weight     62.3 tonnes
Length     9.97 m (393 in) (gun forward)
Width     3.75 m (148 in)
Height     3.0 m (120 in)
Crew     4 [1]
Armor     3rd Generation composite; including high-hardness steel, tungsten and plastic filler with ceramic component.
Primary
armament     1 x 120 mm Rheinmetall L55 smoothbore gun.
42 rounds
Secondary
armament     2 x 7.62 mm MG3A1
4,750 rounds
Engine     MTU MB 873 Ka-501 12-cylinder diesel
1,500 PS (1,479 hp, 1,103 kW) at 2600 rpm
Power/weight     24.1 PS/t (17.7 kW/t)
Transmission     Renk HSWL 354
Suspension     Torsion-bar
Operational
range     550 km (340 mi) (internal fuel)
Speed     72 km/h (45 mph)

1….          M1a2 Abrams

The M1 Abrams is a main battle tank produced in the United States. The M1 is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of US military forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. It is a well armed, heavily armored, and highly mobile tank designed for modern armored ground warfare.Notable features of the M1 Abrams include the use of a powerful gas turbine engine, the adoption of sophisticated composite armor, and separate ammunition storage in a blow-out compartment for crew safety. It is one of the heaviest tanks in service, weighing in at close to 70 tons.

The M1 Abrams entered U.S. service in 1980, replacing the 105 mm gun full tracked combat tank M60, Main Battle Tank.It did, however, serve for over a decade alongside the improved M60A3, which had entered service in 1978. Three main versions of the M1 Abrams have been deployed, the M1, M1A1, and M1A2, incorporating improved armament, protection and electronics. These improvements, as well as periodic upgrades to older tanks have allowed this long-serving vehicle to remain in front-line service. It is the principal combat tank of the United States Army and Marine Corps, and the armies of Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and as of 2007, Australia.

Weight     67.6 short tons (61.4 metric tons)
Length     Gun forward: 32.04 ft (9.77 m)
Hull length: 26.02 ft (7.93 m)
Width     12 ft (3.66 m)
Height     8 ft (2.44 m)
Crew     4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)
Armor     Chobham, RHA, steel encased depleted uranium mesh plating
Primary
armament     105 mm M68 rifled cannon (M1)
120 mm M256 smoothbore cannon (M1A1, M1A2, M1A2SEP)
Secondary
armament     1 x .50-caliber (12.7 mm) M2HB heavy machine gun
2 x M240 7.62 mm machine guns (1 pintle-mounted, 1 coaxial)
Engine     AGT-1500C multi-fuel turbine engine
1500 hp (1119 kW)
Power/weight     24.5 hp/metric ton
Transmission     Allison DDA X-1100-3B
Suspension     Torsion bar
Ground clearance     0.48 m (M1, M1A1)
0.43 m (M1A2)
Operational
range     465.29 km (289 mi)
With NBC system: 449.19 km (279 mi)
Speed     Road: 67.72 km/h (42 mph)
Off-road: 48.3 km/h (30 mph)

Unit cost US$4.35 million

When the U.S. Air Force (USAF) began the Joint Service Small Arms Program, Beretta entered the competition. The Beretta 92SB (92S-1) won, but the Army contested the Air Force’s methods. There would be several more competitions, and Beretta refined the design of the Beretta 92SB into the Beretta 92SB-F and in slightly modified form the Beretta 92G. These designs were ultimately selected by the United States (Beretta 92F, U.S. Military designation of M9 Pistol) and France (Beretta 92G, French military designation of “PAMAS”). The M9 Pistol was intended to replace the M1911A1 and .38-caliber revolvers and pistols. Over 500,000 M9 pistols were made and the switch-over was largely achieved.

To keep in line with the introduction of laws in some locations restricting magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, Beretta now manufactures magazines that hold less than the factory standard 15 rounds. These magazines have heavier crimping (deeper indentations in the side) to reduce the available space while still keeping the same external dimensions and ensuring that these magazines can be used on existing firearms.Italian magazine manufacturer Mec-Gar now produces magazines in blue and nickel finishes with a 17 round capacity, which fit flush in the magazine well on the 92 series. Mec-Gar also produces an extended 20 round blued magazine that protrudes below the frame by a couple of inches. These magazines provide users in unrestricted states with an even higher capacity.

The Desert Eagle

The Desert Eagle is a large caliber gas-operated semi-automatic pistol manufactured primarily in Israel by IMI (Israel Military Industries, now Israel Weapon Industries) for Magnum Research, Inc. Magnum Research has marketed various versions of the short recoil Jericho 941 pistol under the Baby Eagle name; these have no functional relationship to the Desert Eagle and bear only a moderate cosmetic resemblance.

Magnum Research, based in the U.S., developed and patented the original Desert Eagle design, and built the first prototypes of the gun, but manufacturing was contracted out to Israel, who made the final refinements to the design and put the gun into production. Manufacturing was moved to Saco Defense in the state of Maine from 1996 to 2000 which carried the XIX designation, but shifted back to Israel when Saco was acquired by General Dynamics

Due to its easily recognizable silhouette and large-caliber cartridge, the Desert Eagle has become a popular weapon in both films and games. Although it hasn’t been a plot device in a popular novel or film the way the .44 Magnum was in Taxi Driver, it can be spotted in the hands of various characters, such as the agents in The Matrix. In first-person shooter video games such as Counter-Strike, the Desert Eagle is often a weapon available to the player. Though it is not always referred to by its proper name, the weapon has become recognizable to video game players everywhere, since it is typically represented as an accurate and powerful weapon.
The Desert Eagle is sometimes referred to as a “Deagle”, particularly on internet forums. It has been theorized that this practice began with Rainbow Six kill messages shortening the name, possibly for the sake of space.

The Colt Python

The Colt Python is a double action, handgun chambered for the powerful .357 Magnum cartridge built on Colt’s large I-frame. Pythons have a reputation for superior fit & finish, accuracy, smooth trigger pull and a tight cylinder lock-up. If there is a downside to all this precision, it is the Python’s tendency to go “out of time” with continued heavy shooting. This is a condition in which the cylinder is no longer turning into exact alignment with the forcing cone, so a shooter may be sprayed with tiny bits of hot gun powder when the gun is fired, or the gun may not fire when used as a double-action. When this happens, the lockwork needs to be re-timed.

The Python was originally available in two finishes: Royal Blue and Bright Nickel. The Bright Nickel model was discontinued with the introduction of the more durable satin stainless and mirror-polished Ultimate Stainless models. The stainless steel and Royal Blue finishes were offered until 2003 by Colt on the Python “Elite” model.
Pythons were available with 2.5 inch, 4 inch, 6 inch, and 8 inch barrels. The six-inch model was the most popular generally and the 8 inch model was intended for hunting. A rare 3 inch barrel version is very collectible, although not all 3 inch barrel variants are rare.

The Smith & Wesson Model 629

The Smith & Wesson Model 629 is ( one of the best pistols) a powerful, six-shot, double-action revolver chambered for the .44 Magnum cartridge, manufactured by the U.S. company Smith & Wesson. It was made famous by and is still most often associated with the Dirty Harry series of films starring Clint Eastwood.

The Model 629 was offered with 4″, 5″, 6-1/2″, 8-3/8″. and, later, 10 5/8″ barrel lengths as standard models. Other barrel lengths were available either by special order from Smith & Wesson’s Custom Shop or custom built by gunsmiths. The 5″ barreled variant had a full length underlug. Finish options available included a highly polished blued or nickel-plated surface.

The Model 629, based on S&W’s N (large) revolver frame, was first introduced in 1955. It remained primarily the province of handgun enthusiasts, some law enforcement personnel and hunters until 1971, when Clint Eastwood reportedly made it famous as “the most powerful handgun in the world” in the movie Dirty Harry. It was also mentioned in the popular film Taxi Driver in 1974 and James Bond film, Live and Let Die in 1973. Although the Model 629 has never been the most powerful handgun in the world as stated in the movie, the Model 629 was among the most powerful at the time, at least as far as commercially available weapons go. Whether the phrase from the movie is an accurate statement when it was made is subjective to several factors such as overall terminal ballistics, external ballistics, or some combination of other factors. After the movie’s release Smith & Wesson could not keep up with the demand for the Model 629.

SIG P226

The P226 was designed for entry into the XM9 Service Pistol Trials, which were held by the US Army in 1984 on behalf of the US armed forces to find a replacement for the M1911A1. Only the Beretta 92F and the SIG P226 satisfactorily completed the trials. According to a GAO report, Beretta was awarded the M9 contract for the 92F due to better durability during endurance testing and a lower total package price. During the endurance testing none of the 92Fs broke, while two of the P226s cracked frames between six and seven thousand rounds. The minimum endurance requirement was five thousand rounds, so the P226s were considered acceptable.

The P226 cost less per pistol than the 92F, but SIG’s package price with magazines and spare parts was higher than Beretta’s. The Navy SEALs, however, chose to adopt the P226 later after several catastrophic slide failures with issued Beretta M9s.
The original P226 was manufactured in West Germany, featured a mandrel-stamped steel slide, and was available in blued, nickel, and two-tone finishes.Though ergonomically sound, there were some minor concerns with the reliability of the pistol when using after-market grips.Early versions fitted with after-market or replacement grip panels occasionally (albeit rarely) developed reliability issues because the inside of the grip panel put pressure on (and thereby interfered with) the firing mechanism. OEM and later quality replacement panels, coupled with keeping the grip screws tight, resolved this issue.

my dog works as a therapy dog in an adult day care center so we dress him up all the time and the old people love it. plus if you had to take a crap outside in the snow wouldn’t you appreciate some clothes?

Goossens’ images have received awards in a number of prestigious international photography competitions including Gold and Silver medals at the Trierenberg Super Circuit, the world’s largest annual photography salon. Goossens has also seen his work widely published, including an in-depth 10 page exposition in the March 2007 edition of Photo Art International. His composite photos are remarkable for their seamless yet painterly renderings of Surreal dreamscapes.