REUTLINGEN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 17: Students hang out finished parchment leather at the LGR (Lederinstitut Gerberschule Reutlingen) tannery school on November 17, 2010 in Reutlingen, Germany. Even in early antiquity and up their hair or dried goat and sheep skins were used as material for documents. In the small Asian city Pergamon these skins were processed in large quantities for this purpose, so they formed the main trading arm of the city, of which the name is parchment is derived. In medieval times, reached the parchment is of great importance, it was such as France's production under the supervision of the University of Paris. Even now, important documents, placed on their unlimited shelf life as possible large value (eg diplomas, addresses, memory, writings, documents for primary and keystones) written on parchment...

We're getting some feedback: “Hi, I have a question. Why is it that 90% of your posts are about women? You don't seem to acknowledge the existence of men unless they were migrants. You're seriously telling me that you can't find a few great accomplishments that MEN are making?? If this is a feminist website I think you should make that public. I've been viewing your posts since 2010 I think, since you first created avaxnews. Now I'm seriously considering blocking you guys”.



And we can reply: We like women more and for that humbly beg for your forgiveness. In general you are right. We promise to rectify the situation somehow.

The winners of the Historic Photographer of the Year Awards 2020 from triphistoric.com celebrate the places and cultural sites around the world that offer a window to the history that exists all around us. This year, restricted by Covid, photographers were called on to scour their photographic archive to share their imagery of those places that dominate our past. Here: The Brighton Palace Pier. (Photo by Michael Marsh/Historic Photographer of the Year 2020)

“The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth and a special thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker. It is the world's largest nocturnal primate, and is characterized by its unusual method of finding food; it taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood and inserts its narrow middle finger to pull the grubs out. The only other animal species known to find food in this way is the striped possum. From an ecological point of view the aye-aye fills the niche of a woodpecker as it is capable of penetrating wood to extract the invertebrates within”. – Wikipedia

Photo: In this handout image from Bristol Zoo is seen the first captive bred aye-aye in the UK named “Kintana” (meaning star in Malagasy) April 15, 2005 at Bristol Zoo Gardens, England. The zoo announced today only the second baby aye-aye to be hand-reared in the world (the first was in Jersey Zoo) and has now made his first public appearance since his birth on 11 February 2005. (Photo by Rob Cousins/Bristol Zoo via Getty Images)

“The Zulu are the largest South African ethnic group, with an estimated 10–11 million people living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Small numbers also live in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique. Their language, Zulu, is a Bantu language; more specifically, part of the Nguni subgroup. The Zulu Kingdom played a major role in South African history during the 19th and 20th centuries. Under apartheid, Zulu people were classed as third-class citizens and suffered from state-sanctioned discrimination. They remain today the most numerous ethnic group in South Africa, and now have equal rights along with all other citizens”. – Wikipedia.

Photo: A Zulu woman playing the piano while a group of others sit and listen (to put it briefly, Englishmen scoff over Zulu). South Africa, circa 1925. (Photo by General Photographic Agency)

Anti-balaka militia originally sprang up to protect the Christian population of the Central African Republic, but now stand accused of human rights abuses themselves. Last month, the African Union branded militia targeting Muslims in Central African Republic as “terrorists” and said they would be treated as enemy combatants, a day after killing a Congolese peacekeeper and amid deepening international frustration at continuing violence in the impoverished and landlocked country. Photo: A female member of the anti-balaka, a Christian militia, patrols with other militiamen outside village of Zawa April 8, 2014. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

It's taken roughly five months, but a massive iceberg has separated from Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier. According to NASA's Earth Observatory, the estimated size of this iceberg, named B-31, is around 660 square kilometres (33 km long by 20 km wide) – a city-sized block of ice that has slowly migrated away from the continent, and is now floating out to sea. Take a look at some massive icebergs afloat in the oceans. Photo: File photo of an iceberg floating near a harbour in the town of Kulusuk, east Greenland August 1, 2009. (Photo by Bob Strong/Reuters)

Kevin Russ, a photographer & image moderator for iStockphoto, grew up in Arroyo Grande, California. In 2003, he made the move to Portland, planning to study at Multnomah Bible College. Finding the workload to be minimal, Kevin invested in a camera, filling his free time and finding himself instantly smitten with the craft. A year and a half later, photography had evolved into his full-time job. However, after 4 years of consistent portrait work, Kevin became burnt out and took a step back from photography altogether. Two years later, he picked up the camera again and now spends the majority of his time on the road, exploring & photographing the rustic landscapes & wildlife he encounters.