The Leaning Tower Of Pisa isn't Italian just because it was built in Italy. It's Italian through and through. Its History, its Construction, its faults and its beauty are all, just so very Italian! 1. Showing off The Tower was designed to be a free-standing bell tower for the cathedral in the walled-in complex called Piazza Dei Miracoli or Miracle Square. The reason for its creation was because Pisa was becoming a powerful and prosperous city and they wanted to show off their wealth by constructing grand buildings, they also needed a place to display all the treasure and works of art they had pillaged from Sicily. 2. Unsound Foundation The soil under the tower is a mixture of sandy and clayey silts, this material is very unstable, and considering the height of the water table and the height and weight of the tower, the foundations should have been made a lot deeper than the 3 meters they were, However, these weak, spongey foundations have actually saved the tower from falling in at least 4 occasions. Since the middle ages, there have been 4 severe earthquakes that, had the ground beneath the tower been harder would have shaken the tower to pieces but the softer soil under the tower actually absorbs the vibrations ensuring that the tower doesn't resonate with the earthquake. 3. Tranquillo. Construction of the first stage was started in 1173 but then postponed for 60 years because of ongoing conflicts with Florence, Genoa, and Lucca. Construction of the second part started again in 1233 and continued to stop and start again until 1284 when the Pisans were defeated by the Genoese. In 1319, the seventh and final floor was completed but it wasn't until 1372, 199 years after construction had started the bell tower was added and the tower was finally completed. 4. 7 Floors of Flaws. The Tower of Pisa actually began to lean shortly after construction of the second floor started, and construction was stopped after the third floor was completed. After the 100 year break, they attempted to build more floors and correct the leaning problem by building one side slightly higher than the other, however, this only added more masonry and weight to the weakest side of the foundations causing the Tower to lean more! So now the tower was not only still leaning but it was also bent too. 5. Digging yourself into a hole. In 1838, an Architect called Alessandro Della Gherardesca wanted to uncover the beautiful stonework at the base of the tower that, under the tower's 14,500 tonnes, had been pushed under ground-level. He decided to dig a trench all the way around the base of the tower, making the stonework visible once again, but this trench became flooded with water and that water, and the removal of soil from around the tower's base only caused its inclination to in ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVhkPVPCEz0

If you feel like you are having a bad day, don't worry because these hilarious pets will make you laugh out loud while you watch some of their funniest moments. See more at www.brilliantnews.com #pets #hilarious #funny #cute #cats #dogs #videooftheday #compilation ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ6vfG6z_94

Whether it's in a menu or TV commercial, food always looks much nicer when advertised. But just HOW do photographers get the food to look even more tasty than in real-life? Ironically, by making it taste a whole lot worse... Here are 10 unsavory techniques commercials use to make food look more appetising! 1. Wood Glue On the packet of your favorite cereal, the flakes in the bowl of milk are never soggy, and the milk is always mighty white. This is because it's not milk, it's wood glue. A special shallow bowl accommodates a thin layer of PVA glue in which the cereal is sprinkled, stopping it from going soggy throughout the photoshoot. 2. Newspaper and Paint In those lovely commercials where a delicious Thanksgiving Turkey is featured, looking plump and golden brown, is actually a barely cooked bird, which is stuffed full of newspaper and then spray painted a golden brown color. Delicious! 3. Mash Potatoes How does a frosty ice-cream keep it together throughout a gruelling photo session? It doesn't. It melts everywhere. This is why they use mash potato instead! Added food coloring makes it look like any desired flavor. 4. A Fridge How do some photographers capture super macro shots of fidgety bugs, without them all being blurred? By sticking the insect in the fridge for a couple of hours! This slows down the creature's metabolism like a bear in winter, keeping them alive for the shoot, and slow enough to film. 5. Motor Oil Surely nothing is more appetising than a stack of pancakes with syrup dribbling down them? Well, no that's not not syrup. It's motor oil. Not so appetising now? Also to stop the pancakes absorbing the oil and getting soggy, they spray them with water resistant fabric protector. 6. Cotton Wool How do food items stay steaming hot throughout a long shoot? They don't. The amount of steam that comes off a food is relevant to the amount of liquid it holds. Bread for example wouldn't steam for very long at all. Cotton wool balls however, hold a lot of water and therefore give off steam for a lot longer. Place them behind the food et voila! 7. Shaving Foam What sulks on your plate almost faster than ice-cream under a spotlight? Whipped cream. Just a few minutes after being sprayed from the can, you have a volume-less blob. That is why advertisers use shaving foam which holds it's shape for a lot longer. You wouldn't want to put that on your strawberries... 8. Shoe Polish We all love that char-grilled chicken fresh from the barbecue. Scrummy. But achieving that perfect looking char without burning the bird is much more trickier than just painting on the char-marks with shoe polish. Of course, it's not as tasty tho... 9. Wax Supermarkets have covered fruit in a layer of wax for years, making apples glisten with a seemingly natural he ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ7HSF8kJBU

See more at www.brilliantnews.com We all depend on gadgets in our day to day lives, some are fundamental and others... Well just weird. Here are 6 of the craziest! 1. Threadrobe Don't you just hate drying, folding and storing your clothes? Well now threadrobe will do this for you. Just toss your freshly washed garments into the dryer and the built in robotic arms will do the rest! Folding, storing and even categorizing your clothes. When you want to wear something, simply select it in the app, and Threadrobe will deliver! 2. Breaze For areas were vehicle fumes contaminate your air on a daily basis, or whether you commute in areas of mass transit, Breaze protects you from viruses and pollution giving you nothing but fresh air. Unlike other face masks, Breaze has a facial window so the user's expression is never lost. 3. Walkcar Unlike other remote controlled skateboards or Segways, Walkcar fits in your rucksack or locker and is controlled by the rider's posture. It also comes with built in lights, and a Bluetooth speaker to listen to music while you wait to be transported to your destination. 4. Polarmond When camping a bad night's sleep can ruin the whole trip. Getting cold, turning over, pillow sliding about... It can all be uncomfortable. That's why Polarmond is like a tent within a tent, allowing you to sleep as if you were in a bed, whilst still being inside a sleeping bag. 5. Snow-C Forget having to remember to pack your PowerBank, the Snow-C coat has one built in to the pocket! By simply popping your phone into your coat pocket it charges it wirelessly with its built in 3000 milliamp battery. 6. Bodyguard This futuristic looking gauntlet packs a punch. Not just for survivalists, with built in accessories like a taser, laser guided camera, and gps functionality it has attracted even the attention of law enforcement officers and was even funded by the original Bodyguard, Kevin Costner! Which of these strange inventions surprised you the most? Comment Below! ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCgNU5lOnQc