Tuesday, June 29, 2010

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Oxford Cardboard Boat Race 2010

The 22nd annual cardboard boat race was held on the Tred Avon River in Oxford. Teams compete in various categories for prizes, including the prize for the most fun boat.

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The Oxford Cardboard Boat Race is a family friendly event, organized by a group of local volunteers, known as “Boat Bums International” , with proceedings going to the Maryland Special Olympics fund. As you may have guessed, the challenge of this particular race is to build a human-powered boat out of corrugated cardboard capable of staying afloat long enough to finish the course.

Monday, June 28, 2010

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Sandrine Estrade Boulet’s Clever Illustrations

Sandrine Estrade Boulet sees different things in the streets than everyone and visualizes them with her beautiful illustrations.

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Saturday, June 26, 2010

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101 Creative Uses for ‘My Ex-Wife’s Wedding Dress’

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When Kevin Cotter's wife of 12 years packed up and moved out last year, she left behind one thing in her closet – her wedding dress.

“You forgot something,” Cotter told her.

“And what’s that?” she replied.

“Your wedding dress.”

“Yeah, I’m not taking that.”

“What do you expect me to do with it?”

“Do whatever you want with it,” she said before she drove away.

And so he did. Cotter started a blog named My Ex-Wife’s Wedding Dress where he plans to show 101 awesome and creative ways of putting it to use – from door mat, to scarecrow, to dental floss. Cotter’s blog has become a viral phenomenon – he appeared at a television show, did numerous shows for local radios stations, and his story was featured in AOL News, Huffington Post and MSNBC.

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Infinity Pool at Marina Bay Sands Hotel

The Sands SkyPark in Singapore is an awe-inspiring engineering wonder. This unique structural masterpiece, designed by visionary architect Moshe Safdie, floats atop the three soaring Marina Bay Sands hotel towers 200m in the sky. At the top of the 55 storey building is a 150-meter infinity swimming pool.

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But swimming to the edge won't be quite as risky as it looks. While the water in the infinity pool seems to end in a sheer drop, it actually spills into a catchment area where it is pumped back into the main pool. The pools have two circulation systems. The first functions like that of a regular pool, filtering and heating the water in the main pool. The second filters the water in the catch basin and returns it to the upper pool.

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What if Today’s Gadgets Been Made in the 70s?

What would have happened if you could have had an iPod, a laptop, or a cell hone back in the 70s? Designer Alex Varanese envisions this in the wonderful fictional print ad series named ALT/1977: WE ARE NOT TIME TRAVELERS

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Zhangjiajie National Forest Park – Pandora on Earth

The floating ‘Hallelujah Mountains’ you saw on the movie Avatar has been inspired by a real place on Earth – China.

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Friday, June 25, 2010

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Legoland Deutschland Theme Park in Germany

The Legoland Deutschland is a Legoland theme park located in the Bavarian town of Günzburg, Germany. It occupies an area of 43.5 hectares in size, and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bavaria. Opened to the public on May 17, 2002, Legoland Deutschland is the first of its kind in Germany, and only the fourth in the entire world. The other Legoland parks are located in Billund (Denmark), Windsor (England) and California (USA).

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Thursday, June 24, 2010

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Unexpected Turn of Events at The Guinea Pig Festival

Huacho is a small and picturesque city in the costal regions of the South American country of Peru. For the last few years the locals of Huacho has been organizing an unusual kind of festival – the festival of guinea pigs. In this one-day event, guinea pigs are dressed up in traditional Peruvian local dresses. Some of them are turned into kings and queens while others are dressed up as miners and peasants.

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

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Pixeleted Sculptures by Shawn Smith

Austin based artist Shawn Smith is behind these stunning animal sculptures that bring digital 3D pixels into the real world. The sculptures are made out of hundreds of pieces of wood and colored with acrylic.

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27

Alcohol Under The Microscope

A company called Bevshots has produced a series of shots of booze under the microscope at the Florida State University's chemistry labs. This is Dry Martini at 1000x magnification.

DRY-MARTINI

The process consist of letting a droplet of liquor dry out completely on a slide in an airtight container, and photographing the result with a 35mm camera. The entire process can take up to three months and as many as 200 attempts to properly capture the drink's constituent parts.

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The Most Identical British Twins Competition

On Monday, June 21, an Identical Twins competition was held at Pineapple Studios in London. The competition was won by 18 year old twin sisters Pearl and Ruby Day.

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Sunday, June 20, 2010

3

Wave Gothic Treffen Festival in Leipzig

The Wave Gotik Treffen is an annual festival for "dark" music and arts in Leipzig, Germany and considered to be the world’s largest event of Goth. More than a hundred and fifty bands and artists from various backgrounds took part in the 4 day festival last month and played at several venues throughout the city. The festival also featured several fairs with medieval, gothic and cultural merchandise.

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The Spanish Baby Jumping Festival of El Colacho

Every year during the month of June, the Spanish village of Castrillo de Murcia near Burgos holds its traditional Baby-Jumping Festival as part of its Corpus Christi celebrations. During the act, known as El Colacho, men dressed as the Devil (known as the Colacho) leaps over babies born during the previous twelve months of the year who lie on mattresses in the street.

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Tilt Shift Photography by Brian Solarski

Bryan Solarski utilizes an in-camera technical manipulation known as Tilt Shift in order to create these colorful, miniaturized versions of actually experienced scenarios and events.

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Saturday, June 19, 2010

2

The Curious Story of ‘Bobby's Bus Shelter’ at Unst, Scotland

Bobby's Bus Shelter at Unst, one of the northernmost isle of Shetland Islands in Scotland, might be the only bust stop in the world that is visited by bus loads of tourists every day during the summer. The reason: the inventive decor, some homemade fudge, a pair of resident beer-quaffing hamsters and an intriguing story.

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Friday, June 18, 2010

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EIZO Pin-up Calendar 2010 is Not What You Expect

The Eizo: Pin-up Calendar 2010 offers you more than the usual nude –  it shows everything.

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EIZO is a manufacturer of medical imaging high precision displays for the examination and diagnosis of radiographs. Whereas craftsmen are showered with pin-up-calendars at the end of every year, this kind of present is less popular among medics. EIZO breaks this taboo. This brilliant advertising campaign of pin-up calendar of X-rayed girls was created by a German advertising agency named Butter.

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Wacky and Colorful Fans at the World Cup

World cup football always has the best fans – wild, wacky, colorful, full of fun and always enjoying.

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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

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Giant Sand Art by Jim Denevan

Santa Cruz, CA-based artist Jim Denevan makes freehand drawings in sand, laboring up to seven hours and walking for as many as 30 miles to create massive artwork using no measuring aids whatsoever. Sometime Jim uses vehicles to create patterns out of tire-tracks. Sadly, Jim’s creations are temporary as they are eventually erased by waves, rain and weather.

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International Fire Festival in Kiev, Ukraine

The International Fire Festival was held on June 12, 2010 in Kiev, Ukraine. The festival, which is in its fourth year, showcases amazing fire art performances by men and women.

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

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Women Fans at The World Cup

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Underwater Photographs of Swimming Babies

Phil Shaw and his partner Ana Torres set up London Baby Swim in 2008, offering classes for parents and babies as young as six weeks old to take to the water and develop their skills. Enrolment numbers rose from just 85 in the first year to 500 this summer.

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Monday, June 14, 2010

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Rome Builds a Hotel From Beach Trash

Last week a hotel constructed from rubbish collected from beaches opened its doors in Rome, to highlight the growing problem of litter in European beaches. The Corona Save the Beach Hotel was built using 12 tonnes of trash, including plastic bottles, cans and even car exhaust pipes collected from the Capocotta beach in Rome.

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2

Mysterious Venezuela's Catatumbo Lightning

You must have heard that lightening doesn’t strike the same place twice. Say that to the natives of Venezuela and they will ride you down to the mouth of river Catatumbo and let you watch the spectacular lightening show of your life. The Catatumbo Lightning is one of the coolest natural phenomenon on earth. It occurs strictly in an area located over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo. Over this relatively small area powerful flashes of lightening more than 5 km in height strike at surprising frequency - during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day and up to 280 times per hour.

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Sunday, June 13, 2010

1

66th Anniversary of Operation Overlord: Normandy Landings

Operation Overlord was the code name for the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. Operation Overlord was the single largest military operation of all time. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy Landings, commonly known as D-Day. The landings took place along a 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. A 12,000-plane airborne assault preceded the assault involving almost 7,000 vessels carrying nearly 160,000 troops. More than 3 million troops were in France by the end of August.

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4

Food Shaped Pendant and Earrings

Looks tasty. Also see these Ridiculous Rings

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Saturday, June 12, 2010

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Unbelievable Pencil Drawings by Paul Lung

Previously we were blown away by the Linda Huber and another faceless artist. This weekend I discovered Paul Lung.

Paul hails from Hong Kong and produces incredibly detailed sketches using a simple pencil. He says he spends up to 60 hours sketching a single portrait.

eric

Friday, June 11, 2010

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ESPN’s FIFA World Cup 2010 Team Posters

A few hours from now the 19th FIFA World Cup 2010 will kick off. To set the mood ESPN had recently released their brilliant advertising campaign for this summer’s biggest blockbuster in the form of creatively designed artistic murals. 33 in total, all 32 nations are represented with a South Africa World Cup mural to highlight what’s to come. So which team are your supporting?

All-32-Nations

0

Mysterious Morning Glory Cloud Formation

The Morning Glory cloud is a rare meteorological phenomenon observed in Northern Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria. A Morning Glory cloud is a roll cloud that can be up to 1000 kilometers long, 1 to 2 kilometers high, and can move at speeds up to 60 kilometers per hour. The Morning Glory is often accompanied by sudden wind squalls, intense low-level wind shear, a rapid increase in the vertical displacement of air parcels, and a sharp pressure jump at the surface. In the front of the cloud, there is strong vertical motion that transports air up through the cloud and creates the rolling appearance, while the air in the middle and rear of the cloud becomes turbulent and sinks.

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Thursday, June 10, 2010

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Rooftops of Rich People of New York

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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

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Alex Andreyev’s Surrealistic Paintings

Alex Andreyev is a Russian artist who lives in Saint Petersburg. He has been drawing, painting and doing graphic design over the last 20 years.

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Monday, June 7, 2010

0

Mud Olympics Germany 2010

Mud Olympics, called Wattolympiade in the local tongue, is an annual event held in mud flats along the banks of the Elbe River in Brunsbüttel near Hamburg, Germany. Competitions in the mud along the river here have been played since 1978. Today the competition is held alongside a series of concerts on the same weekend for local bands, called "Mudstock", which raise money for the Schleswig-Holstein Cancer Society.

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2

What's In Your Refrigerator?

For three years, photographer Mark Menjivar of San Antonio, Texas, USA, traveled across the country exploring food issues. The more time he spent speaking and listening to individual stories, the more he began to think about the foods we consume and the effects they have on us as individuals and communities. The result is a photo series You Are What You Eat.

These are portraits of the rich and the poor. Vegetarians, Republicans, members of the NRA, those left out, the under appreciated, former soldiers in Hitler’s SS, dreamers, and so much more.

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Sunday, June 6, 2010

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Giant 200 Feet Hole Opens Up in Guatemala

Last Monday, May 31, 2010, a ravaging tropical storm named Agatha swept across Central America bringing torrential rain that killed more than 100 people and opened a 200 feet (60m) deep sinkhole in Guatemala City which reportedly swallowed up a three-storey building. Witnesses claim at least one man went down the hole.

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Saturday, June 5, 2010

1

Sinking of Decommissioned Ships

After a ship is decommissioned from service it is often used as a target to test new weapons or training personnel in the operating of the same weapon. Sometime a ship is sunk to make artificial reef and diving site. A well documented weapon test operation, pictures of which were released by the Navy in the public domain, is the sinking of the HMAS Torrens on 14 June 1999. HMAS Torrens was a destroyer escort of the Royal Australian Navy from 1971 till her decommissioning in 1998. She was sunk by a torpedo from a submarine during the latter's combat system trials.

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0

World Custard Pie Throwing Championship

Almost 50 competitors slugged it out on May 23 to be crowned the World Custard Pie Throwing Champions, an event held annually in Maidstone, Kent, UK. Teams from as far away as Germany and South Africa came in to take part in the 43rd edition of the championship.

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The Largest Superheroes Congregation at Melbourne

The Guinness World Record for the most number of people wearing superhero costumes in one location has been broken in Melbourne on May 29, 2010. Melbourne smashed the previous record of 1091 people wearing super hero costumes in the one place held by the UK, when 1245 people gathered at Federation Square.

Superhero_01

1

The Two Year-Old Smoker

Ardi Rizal, a two year-old toddler from Indonesia has become something of a celebrity after a video appeared on the Internet of him smoking and his parents seeming to be unconcerned with his deadly habit. Aldi was given his first cigarettes by none other than his father when he was just 18 months old. Mohammad of Musi Banyuasin, Indonesia, said: "I'm not worried about his health -- he looks healthy. He cries and throws tantrums when we don't let him smoke. He's addicted."

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Friday, June 4, 2010

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Berlin After The World War 2

I love vintage black and white photos, particularly of the world war era. Here is one such collection that shows the scale of destruction in the German city of Berlin.

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0

Star Trek Beads Sculpture At Microsoft

Microsoft’s Studio D offices in Redmond, Washington have something that every Star Trek fan would love to have in their own home. However, it probably came at quite a price! The work called Mirror Universe by sculptor Devorah Sperber is based on images from the 1967 episode Mirror, Mirror. In this episode the crew encounter their evil counterparts from a parallel universe.

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Massive Graffiti Art by Os Gemeos and Blu

Os Gemeos and Blu of Lisbo recently did a massive graffiti work covering an entire facade of a building. Looks amazing.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

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Willy Verginer’s Incredible Wooden Sculptures

Willy Verginer was born in 1957 in Brixen . He works and lives in Ortisei, Italy

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

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Underwater Ice Formations in Lake Sassolo

These stunning shots show the beautiful and eerie underwater world of a Swiss ice-filled Alpine lake named Lake Sassolo located  in Sambuco Valley, Ticino, Switzerland. These pictures were taken by photographer Franco Banfi.

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0

Blonde Parade in Riga

For the second year, an army of 500 young blondes wearing pink dresses walked through the streets of the Latvian capital Riga during a blonde parade on May 31, staged under the slogan “Make This World a Blonder Place” in an attempt to lift the national spirit. Latvia needs some cheering up. It has Europe's highest unemployment rate, and its economy shrank by 18 percent in 2009.

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