Cyclone Waka was one of the most destructive tropical cyclones ever to impact the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga. Waka originated within the near-equatorial trough in mid-December 2001. The storm gradually matured and attained tropical cyclone status on December 29. Subsequently, Waka underwent rapid intensification in which it attained its peak intensity as a Category 4 severe tropical cyclone on December 31, with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph). Shortly thereafter, it passed directly over Vava'u, Tonga, resulting in widespread damage. By January 1, 2002, the cyclone began to weaken as it underwent an extratropical transition. The remnants of Waka persisted for several more days and were last observed near the Southern Ocean on January 6. Although the storm affected several countries along its path, Waka left the most significant losses in Tonga, where it killed one person and wrought 104.2 million paʻanga ($51.3 million USD) in damage. Hundreds of structures, including 200 in the island's largest city, and much of the nation's agriculture were destroyed. Due to the severity of damage, the name Waka was later retired and replaced with Wiki. (more...)
... that in The Wedding Dance(pictured), a 1566 oil painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the movements of the people show that they are acting inappropriately or in an epitome of rustic buffoonery?
... that despite not playing football before he was 10 years, Zymer Bytyqi became the youngest player in Tippeligaen aged 15 years and 261 days?
... that the title of the Japanese-language album 20 [Twenty] by South Korean rock band F.T. Island refers to the average age of the band members?
... that a character in the British farceSimple Spymen remarks he needs "a thin moustache on the top lip and a pointed beard on the bottom" to pass for a Frenchman?
1928 – Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew landed their Southern Cross aircraft in Brisbane, completing the first ever trans-Pacific flight from the United States mainland to Australia.
A 3-Dsolid model of a jack inside a cube. Solid modeling is a set of principles for creating three-dimensional shapes that, when combined with geometric modeling, form the foundation of computer-aided design and in general support the creation, exchange, visualization, animation, interrogation, and annotation of digital models of physical objects.
