Tuesday, August 31, 2010

6

McDonald's Happy Meal Don’t Age Even After 137 Days

New York based artist Sally Davies has been photographing one McDonald’s burger-and-fries Happy Meal, that she bought on April 10, 2010, every day for the last 137 days. Other than a little patty shrinkage, the burger look essentially the same.

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Davies plans to keep going with the project until something happens, but she has no idea what she is getting into. A few years ago, a twelve-year-old McDonald's burger surfaced that looked shockingly well-preserved. Again, earlier this year, a blogger left a McDonald Happy Meal exposed for a year and found it mostly unchanged. Sally Davies experiment is the closest thing we’ve seen to transparent scientific documentation on the subject, and provides terrifying evidence that McDonald’s burgers are worst possible thing you can put in your body.

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New York: The City That Never Sleeps

Last week The Wall Street Journal sent a bunch of their in-house photographers out in the depth of the night to shoot the New York city when most of its citizens were asleep. But even at those unearthly hours, certain parts of the city was buzzing with activity – hawkers arranging newspapers to be delivered early in the morning, policemen patrolling the streets, late night owls enjoying a drink at a bar and an occasional street peddler or two. This gallery showcases those people who are awake when most of the city is not.

Delivery man Rich Lopes carries a stack of newspapers to a vendor on Wall Streets at 5:57 a.m. (Keith Bedford For The Wall Street Journal)

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The Fantastical Art of James Gurney

Inspired by archaeology, lost civilizations, and the art of illustration, James Gurney’s children book Dinotopia creates an extraordinary place where humans and dinosaurs live in harmony. "The thing I love about dinosaurs is that they are on that balance point between fantasy and reality," says Gurney. "It might be hard to believe that mermaids and dragons really existed, but we know that dinosaurs did—we can see their footprints and skeletons but we can't photograph them or see them, except in our imagination."

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Afghanistan: In 1994 and 2010

Photographer Seamus Murphy, of VII Photo Agency, returned to Afghanistan in June 2010 and revisited some of the locations he had photographed on his first trip to Afghanistan in 1994. After all these years of violence and war, and billions of dollars spent on the supposed development, it is surprising how little has changed.

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I returned to Afghanistan in May/June 2010 and revisited some locations I had photographed on my first trip to Afghanistan in 1994. It was surprising how little had actually changed after all the years of violence and tumult in Kabul, and after all the billions of dollars that Afghanistan and the Afghans are supposed to be grateful for receiving. Not much evidence of it here.

I was able to reframe the original places using reference points like poles and structures that were still standing from 1994. I was also helped by advice from locals who became excited when they saw the prints that I had brought of my original photographs--they had not seen too many photographs of their neighborhood from those years. And then they would become quiet, shaking their heads at the madness of their history. Many had been refugees who had fled the fighting to Pakistan or Iran, some had spent time in the UK and the U.S. Police were suspicious and, at times, dismissive of me but once they realized what was happening, helped me in their own way.

Monday, August 30, 2010

10

Liu Bolin’s Art of Being Invisible

Liu Bolin is a 35-year-old artist from Shandong, China, who has a special talent to blend himself into any surroundings by covering himself with paint. This human chameleon works on a single photo for up to 10 hours at a time, to make sure he gets it just right. Sometimes passers-by don’t even realize he is there until he moves.

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"Some people call me the invisible man, but for me it's what is not seen in a picture which is really what tells the story," Mr Bolin says. "I experienced the dark side of society, without social relations, and had a feeling that no one cared about me, I felt myself unnecessary in this world. Mr Liu says his work is also a protest against the government, who shut down his art studio in 2005.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

9

Tomatina Festival 2010, Spain

La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain. Tens of metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown at each other in the streets during this day. The week-long festival features music, parades, dancing, and fireworks among other things. On the night before, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest. This festival started in a casual way in 1945, but wasn't officially recognized until 1952.

These images are from the Tomatina festival on August 25, 2010.

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The Grand Canyon of Verdon

The Verdon Gorge in south-eastern France has been dubbed the Grand Canyon of Verdon because of its topological similarities with the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, United States. The Grand Canyon of Verdon is about 25 kilometers long and up to 700 meters deep and measures 200 to 1500 meters from one side of the Gorge to the other. It is formed the Verdon River, which is named after its startling turquoise-green colour, one of the canyon's most distinguishing characteristics. The most impressive part lies between the towns of Castellane and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, where the river has cut a ravine up to 700 metres down through the limestone mass. At the end of the canyon, the Verdon river flows into the artificial lake of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon.

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Because of its proximity to the French Riviera, the canyon is very popular with tourists, who can drive around its rim, rent kayaks or hike. The limestone walls, which are several hundreds of meters high, attract many rock climbers. It is considered an outstanding destination for multi-pitch climbing. There are routes encompassing cracks, pillars and seemingly endless walls. The climbing is generally of a technical nature, and there are over 1,500 routes, ranging from 20m to over 400m.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

1

Stationery of Horror: Creative Stationary Designs

Advertising agency Jung von Matt created these very unusual and macabre stationary items for 13th Street, a television channel in Europe owned by NBC Universal Global Networks. These unique creation has won several awards for creative advertising at the New York Festivals, ADC Germany, ADC Europe and D&AD.

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Tsingy: The Stone Forest of Madagascar

Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve is located close to the western coast of Madagascar. This 666 square kilometer region has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990 because of its unique, breathtaking geography, preserved mangrove forests, and wild bird and lemur populations.

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The Tsingy rise up to 70 meters from the ground. At these heights, the tops are bare and razor sharp. At lesser heights, one gets to see vegetations with roots tens of meters below.

The word tsingy is indigenous to the Malagasy language as a description of the karst badlands of Madagascar. The word which translates into English as “where one cannot walk barefoot”, aptly describes the exceptional topography. This topography of eroded limestone may exist in other areas around the world, but nowhere as tall, slender and extensive as the spires here. Beneath this apparent austerity, an extraordinary world of forest canyons, humid caves and burning karst karren is inhabited by fundamentally differing plants and animals who thrive in close proximity.

Friday, August 27, 2010

3

Superheroes Gone Wild

Italian artist Giuseppe Veneziano recently opened a show that features superheroes and various loved cartoon characters as well as prominent historical personalities doing unspeakable acts of crime and passion. Catwoman, Robin and Batman having a threesome, Spider-Man snorting cocaine, Spider-Man and Batman hand-cuffed and masturbating Wonder Woman are among a few of them.

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The show in Pietrasanta, Italy has stirred up controversy due mostly to it’s image of a baby Hitler cuddling up with the Virgin Mary, but it also features several other strange images of beloved and some not-so-beloved characters engaging in ridiculous activities.

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The Bottle Tree Ranch of Elmer Long

The Bottle Tree Ranch created by Elmer Long offers one of the most strangest sight along Route 66 in California’s Mojave County.

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When Elmer was a kid, he used to travel through the desert, with his dad, who would collect any objects they found, and painstakingly keep notes about their location. After Elmer’s dad died, he was left with a sizable collection of colorful bottles, but he had no idea what to do with it. One day Elmer put some of the bottles on a wooden post and created the first bottle tree. The next morning when the sun rose and shone through the colored bottles, he was strangely mesmerize. He knew what to do with the bottles. Elmer Long started the Bottle Tree Ranch in 2000, and since then has created over 200 bottle trees.

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Frog Jump Festival, Ohio

The traditional Frog Jump festival was held on August 15, 2010, in Valley City, Ohio. For more than 45 years, Valley City has been jumping for joy when frogs take to the pavement to test their leg strength in a peculiar festival that celebrates their leaping abilities. More than two thousand people gather annually to partake in the fun. Frog owners often bring their slimy competitors in old coffee cans, coolers and jars. There are about 600 frogs entered into the contest by toddlers, retirees and everyone in-between. Trophies are awarded to the winners. Food, beverage and souvenirs are available as well as music and games.

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

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When New York Sleeps

The Wall Street Journal sent several photographers out overnight to shoot the New York city during the hours when most of its citizens are sleeping. These are some of the pictures they returned with. Also see, New York: The City That Never Sleeps

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Steam escapes from a manhole in Times Square late at night. (Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal)

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

5

Miss Universe 2010 Finals in Pictures

On August 23, in the final showdown of the Miss Universe 2010, 83 participants from around the world gave their last best effort for the title of beauty queen. The crown winner was 22-year-old Jimena Navarrete of Mexico. The new Miss Universe got a diamond tiara with a set of jewelry from Diamond Nexus Labs, and a prize money, the size of which the organizing committee refuse to disclose. We know it would be substantial.

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In addition to jewelry, Miss Navarrete received an assortment of prizes which includes a one year scholarship (including housing) from the New York Film Academy, a set of collectible shoes, bathing suits, sets of skin care, hair services of leading hairdressers, stylists, dermatologists, and what not.

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Miniature World Heritage Buildings at Tobu World Square

If you have a dream to travel the world, but have a budget to visit one country, choose Japan and visit the Tobu World Square in Nikko. This theme park contains over a hundred 1:25 scale models of famous buildings designated as World Cultural and Heritage Sites by the UNESCO and other important landmarks, complete with 140,000 1:25 scale miniature people. As incredible as it may sound, no two of the 140,000 miniature residents at Tobu World Square looks alike! The park also has 20,000 real bonsai trees.

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The White House

At Tobu World Square, it took 5 years for artisans to create the miniature reproductions of world historical sites like the Sphinx, the Parthenon, the Great Wall of China and the World Trade Center. From these pictures, it is impossible to tell whether they are real or models. Take the visitors out of the picture and your sense of scale is seriously impaired.

Monday, August 23, 2010

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Beautiful Adhesive Tape Art by Mark Khaisman

Ukrainian born mixed media artist Mark Khaisman uses translucent packing tape on Plexiglas panels with a light source behind to create incredible images that have the shadow and depth of large scale paintings. Khaisman uses several layers of tape to give the pieces contrast and thinner stripes of tape to achieve smaller “brush strokes” and utilizes the natural crinkles to create subtle texture as needed. The artist achieves even complex features in the faces of his characters, as can be seen from this image gallery. Totally awesome.

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Sunday, August 22, 2010

10

The Termite Pavilion: View Inside a Termite Mound

The ‘Termite Pavilion’ is a six square meter walk-in wooden structure inspired by the inside of a Namibian termite mound that was on display at the Pestival, a festival dedicated to insects, in London last year. The ‘Termite Pavilion’ allowed Pestival goers a unique insight into these extraordinary organic forms.

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The piece is in part based on the pioneering work of Dr Rupert Soar of Loughborough University’s School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and the TERMES (Termite Emulation of Regulatory Mound Environments by Simulation) project, a team of international experts based in Namibia who have created the first ever 3D scans of termite mounds. The termite mound scan was then scaled up to a size that allowed humans to move about the sensational structure.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

5

Realistic Wildlife Paintings by Collin Bogle

Inspired by the beauty of nature talented award-winning artist Collin Bogle uses pastels, colored-pencil, watercolor and acrylic, all that’s needed to create stunning realistic and almost photographic paintings, which brought him well-deserved popularity and prestige. His collection contains beautiful nature, wildlife, animal and flower paintings. The artist exhibited in art shows through the United States and in the most famous and prestigious galleries in the world.

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Vegetable Art By Ju Duoqi

Chinese artist Ju Duoqi recreates the world-famous paintings from potatoes, onions, cabbage and other vegetables. It started in the summer of 2006 when she bought several kilograms of peas. She sat there quietly for two days peeling them, before stringing them on a wire and turning them into a skirt, a top, a headdress and a magic wand. She took a photo of herself in them, and named it Pea Beauty Pageant. That was Duoqi’s first work of vegetable art.

For the next two years Duoqi created dozens of sculptures often pacing in front of vegetable stalls, deliberating on different vegetables as she mentally sketched her “paintings”. Duoqi was born in Chongqing in 1973. In 1996 she graduated from the Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts, and has been working as a freelance artist since 2005.

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Liberty Leading the Vegetables

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Earth from Above: Photography by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

"Earth From Above" is the result of the aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand's five-year airborne odyssey across six continents. It's a spectacular presentation of large scale photographs of astonishing natural landscapes. Every stunning aerial photograph tells a story about our changing planet. This is a just a small collection. You can see the more at his website.

(Also See the aerial photographs by Alex Maclean and New York from above).

Cattle, Argentina

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Friday, August 20, 2010

3

The Longest Bench in the World

The longest bench in Britain and soon to the longest one in the world was opened to the the public in Littlehampton, West Sussex on the 30th July 2010. The bench has a seating capacity of over 300 people and lies along Littlehampton’s promenade, overlooking the town’s Blue Flag beach. The bench winds along the town’s promenade, meandering around lampposts, bending behind bins, and ducking down into the ground to allow access between the beach and the Green.

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The 324-meter-long bench is made from thousands of hardwood bars reclaimed from sources including old seaside groynes and rescued from landfill. The variety of reclaimed timbers sports splashes of bright colour wherever the bench wriggles, bends or dips. The bench is interspersed by two giant shelters within which bench loops and turns and bounces off the wall. It is quite a sight.

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Victor Rodriguez’s Incredible Paintings

Victor Rodriguez was born in Mexico City, 1970, Currently Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He is considered to be the leader of the new generation of hyperrealist artists working internationally today. He has exhibited extensively internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, the Flint Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Museo de Monterrey in Mexico and Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey MARCO.

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Miss Universe 2010 National Costumes [Full Set]

The 59th edition of the Miss Universe 2010 pageant is currently underway in Las Vegas, with various stages of the competition happening for the past several weeks. August 16 was the day to show off national costumes. 83 contestants paraded in their national costumes at Mizuya Lounge of Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Check out the photos of Miss Universe 2010 Contestants in their National Costumes.

Miss Albania Angela Martini

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

6

Brilliant Underwater Shots from the European Championships

Photographer Francois Xavier Marit used an underwater camera to capture the European Swimming Championships in a unique way this summer in Budapest. By staying underwater with his camera, instead of using a remote trigger, he composed his frames and tripped his shutter at just the right moments.

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Team Ukraine competes during the synchronized swimming free combination final at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest on August 8, 2010.

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Kyle Lambert's iPad Portraits of Celebrities

Kyle Lambert, from Altringham in Cheshire, creates stunning portraits of celebrities on Apple iPad using a a £4.99 app called Brushes. The 23-year-old recently graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University where he studied illustration and animation. Lambert is a seasoned digital artist who also works on other products like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. You can see more of his work and watch videos of him in action at his website.

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Flintstones Inspired Stone House

This real rock house stand in the mountains of Fafe in Portugal. Inspired by the Flintstones, this odd house was constructed between two giant stones on the hillside of Fafe Mountains. Like most contemporary homes, it has a front door, roof, and selection of windows, while the huge spherical boulder on the uphill side of the house and scoop-shaped end give it a prehistoric feel. Must feel awesome to live there.

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

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Hundreds Re-Enact Iconic Kiss in Time Square

Hundreds of couples wore sailor hats and nurses' caps and smooched in New York's Time Square on Mondau, August 16, to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II. The couples were re-enacting the famous Life magazine photo of a nurse being passionately kissed by a sailor at the end of the war, a photograph popularly known as the V-J Day in Times Square. An eight-meter statue replicating the photo was also erected for the celebration.

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What’s In Your Bag?

Atlanta-based photographer Jason Travis has a cool photo series on Flickr called "Persona," where he snaps portraits of people along with the contents of their purses and bags.

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The twenty-eight-year-old photographer came up with the idea because he was "interested in what people take with them on a daily basis." He also wanted to study what we have in common, and see if our individual possessions would show communal similarities. Travis’s Personas is also an eye opener for those who believe women carry more items in their handbags then men.

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Chicago Air And Water Show 2010

The Chicago Air and Water Show takes place every summer for one weekend in August. During this two-day event over 2 million people flock to the shores of Lake Michigan to watch airplanes do barrel roll and other terrifying tricks up in the air. In the United States, it is the oldest and largest free show of its type. This year the event took place on August 14 and 15. Here are some of the picture highlights of the show.

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

9

Kettlewell's Scarecrow Festival

Kettlewell's Scarecrow Festival is an annual event in the idyllic Yorkshire Dales. During this week long event villagers comes with the most outlandish scarecrow designs ever. Visitors to the festival can spend the day wandering around the village enjoying the scarecrows and they can also take part in a treasure hunt.

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Scarecrows first came to Kettlewell in 1994 when a fund raising event was organized for the local school which serves much of Upper Whrfedale with its villages, isolated hamlets and remote farms. The enthusiastic response of parents and residents led to over 100 scarecrows appearing in gardens, open spaces, hidden corners and even on rooftops. The event was successfully repeated and, growing year by year,now attracts thousands of visitors over a nine day period in August.

Monday, August 16, 2010

3

Lexus Art Installation - CT Umbra

This artistic sculpture, titled CT Umbra, is a part of the Lexus debate series tour called Darker side of Green. Created by Los Angeles-based Nondesign, the installation aimed to highlight the two seemingly opposing features of the vehicle - luxury and eco-friendliness – by changing colors from luxurious gold to earthy green and blue.

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The sculpture is based on a map of vertical lines created from the CAD model of CT 200h. It was built of 2,500 half-inch anodized aluminum bars cut to the exact measurements of the map. Lexus introduced the debate concept in March with a celebrity-attended press event at Skylight West in New York just before the car’s launch at the New York International Auto Show.

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V8 Hotel for Car Lovers in Stuttgart

The V8 Hotel in Stuttgart, Germany is a paradise for auto enthusiasts. The hotel features themed rooms done with trendy details and many original parts from the automotive world, including a 70′s Cadillac drive-in cinema, a Mercedez-Benz carwarsh, a Morris Minor garage and many more.

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The luxurious 4-star hotel incorporates 34 rooms each of which is decorated with different theme related to cars such as motor-racing, V8 camp, drive-in cinema, tuning, or the like.Some of the larger and more expensive rooms in the V8 hotel come with classic car beds and amazing auto accessories.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

3

Jonathan Wateridge’s Exceptional Oil Paintings

Jonathan Wateridge was born in Zambia in 1972. He currently lives and works in London.

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Brussels' Flower Carpet

The Brussels' Flower Carpet is a special event that comes every two years. During this event a huge carpet of flower is laid out on the main square in Brussels in front of the City Hall. The festivities started on the evening of August 12 and the flower carpet was opened for public view on August 13 and will remain open till August 15. The viewing is free, but if you want a better view, you can pay 3 Euros to go up one of the buildings to get a panoramic view. Nearly 700,000 flowers were used to make this year’s carpet.

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Cancun Underwater Sculpture Museum

If you want to checkout the new museum at Cancun, Mexico, you will have to don snorkel gear and take dive under the sea, for it’s the world’s largest underwater sculpture museum. The Cancun underwater museum features a series of concrete sculptures by Jason DeCaires Taylor placed underwater off the coast of Isla de Mujeres and CancĂşn, Mexico. The project began in November 2009 with placement of 100 statues in shallow waters of the CancĂşn National Marine Park which had been previously damaged by storms. A total of 400 sculptures is planned to be installed by the end of 2010.

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The primary purpose of the sculpture garden is environmental. Nearly 300,000 visitors flock to the area each year to explore the white sands and turquoise Caribbean sea, but they are causing damage to marine life. The idea is to eventually form artificial corals from the sculptures that will support a variety of marine life. There’s also hope that the touristic value of the underwater sculpture garden will draw people away from the over-visited and severely degraded natural corals of the nearby West Coast National Park.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

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Andy Aaron’s Antique Calculators

Designer Andy Aaron makes Victorian-era calculators using antique components such as switches, cranks, and levers, which he then mounts in a large, antique-style frame. The calculators are fully functional and can perform basic mathematical operations. Aaron calls them Adding Machines.

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“I strive to have my pieces look like they are functional, utilitarian, mass-produced devices plucked from some imaginary office of another era,” Aaron explains. “Perhaps from the 19th century, perhaps from a time that never existed.” 

Aaron’s company custom-builds each device to be unique and produces only 2 to 3 calculators per each year, that have prices starting from $5,000.

Friday, August 13, 2010

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Breast Paintings by Kira Ayn Varszegi

American artists Kira Ayn Varszegi uses her ample 38DD boobs as paint brushes to create abstract work of art. She covers her breasts in paint and then presses them like brushes against her canvases. Kira Ayn Varszegi’s artwork aren’t even remotely close to anything we typically feature on Amusing Planet, but her unconventional choice of painting tool does warrant her a place in our What The Fuck section. No offence to Kira, we also feature you in Arts.

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Forest Fire in Russia

A devastating forest fire has been raging in Russia for the last 2 weeks, in the midst of a heat wave described by experts as the worst in the thousand-year history of the country. Homes has been destroyed, wildlife and farm stock lost and more than 50 people are dead.

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Nearly 50,000 people were battling the fires, which on Friday were raging dangerously close to Russia's main nuclear research center in Sarov. There have also been fears the fires could stir up particles on land in western Russia still contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Meanwhile a dense blanket of smog has covered all over Moscow. 

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Garbage Dumpster Swimming Pools on the Streets of New York

On last Saturday (August 7), the New York City closed down Park Avenue to cars so that people could spread out to bike, walk, play, watch live theater, and swim in three makeshift swimming pools made from repurposed garbage dumpsters. This event was a part of its third annual Summer Streets program.

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On Saturday, 420 swimmers took a dip in one of the three pools located near the Grand Central viaduct on Park Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets. The pools will be open for the next two Saturdays (August 14 and 21) from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. The city is distributing bracelets on a first-come first-serve basis so swimmers can enter in shifts.

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Inception Scenes Recreated in Lego

Ever since Inception was released, it has been the talk of the Internet with parodies and infographics surfacing around. A Lego version was inevitable. Two Flickr users, Profound Whatever and Ochre Jelly, just did that. Those who haven’t seen the movie shouldn’t worry about spoilers, for none of the plot or story lines are given away. On the other hand, these amazing creations might just drive you to the theatre today. See other movie Lego creations.

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

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A Swimming Pool of Diet Cola

How would you like to swim in a pool filled with delicious, sugary cola? Artist Mike Bouchet, who started making his own cola in 2004, recently tried out this insane idea. On July 4th, in Twentynine Palms, California, the artist filled a swimming pool (oddly at the former home of sugary British 60’s singer Donovan) with 100,000 liters of homemade Diet Cola. The Cola Pool is the culmination of several cola based art work by the artist which includes paintings made using cola as paint and a Cola Fountain.

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Boeing 747 Airplane Hotel in Costa Rica

What can you do with an old Boeing 727? You can sent it to a junkyard or you can rebuild it, refurbish and turn it into a hotel, like the Costa Verde Hotel in Costa Rica.

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The airplane in question, a 1965 model, spent decades flying as part of the South African Airways, and later Columbia’s Avianca Airlines, fleet. When it was time for the plane to be retired a group of investors bought it and flew it to San Jose. From there the plane was divided to five sections so that trucks could transport it 150 kilometers (90 miles) to it’s current location on the grounds of the Costa Verde Hotel.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

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Gorgeous Paintings by Mary Jane Ansell

Mary Jane Ansell graduated from Brighton University in 1994 and currently works from her studio in Brighton’s North Laine.  She has exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and has won numerous awards. Ansell was also a finalist for the BP Portrait Award in 2004 and 2009.

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

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Tour de France 2010 in Pictures

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in in France that covers more than 3,600 kilometers (2,200 mi) and lasts three weeks. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are aggregated to determine the overall winner at the end of the race. The course changes every year, but the race has always finished in Paris. This year, the 97th anniversary of the legendary cycle race started in Rotterdam, with 198 participants consisting of 22 teams of nine men each, and was completed in Paris on the Champs Elysees on July 25. A distance of over 3642 km was covered.

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1. Cyclists passes under a bridge on the third stage of the Tour de France 2010 Vanzie - Arenberg Porte du Hainaut July 6. (Bryn Lennon / Getty Images)

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Flowers Under X-Ray

British artist and photographer Hugh Turvey uses x-ray to produce compelling and insightful constructed images of everyday objects. This time he puts flowers under the scanner. (also see gaming consoles and even pin-up girls under X-ray!)

X Ray Flowers...***EXCLUSIVE***
UNSPECIFED - UNDATED: Lily, coloured X-ray.
These mesmerising shots are the fruit of years of careful experimentation by artist Hugh Turvey, using x-rays to really get under the surface of things. The technique, which came about thanks to a chance commission from a musician friend who wanted an x-ray image, has been 14 years in the making and has now been so well honed by Hugh that his work is becoming highly sought after. The flowers are the latest in a long line of subjects, including motorbikes, suitcases and stiletto-clad feet.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SPL / BARCROFT MEDIA LTD
UK Office, London.
T +44 845 370 2233
W www.barcroftmedia.com
USA Office, New York City.
T +1 212 564 8159
W www.barcroftusa.com
Indian Office, Delhi.
T +91 114 653 2118
W www.barcroftindia.com
Australasian & Pacific Rim Office, Melbourne.
E info@barcroftpacific.com
T +613 9510 3188 or +613 9510 0688
W www.barcroftpacific.com

Pictures above is a Lily under X-ray.

Monday, August 9, 2010

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Vertical Garden in San Vicente

A vertical garden has been erected in the new children's library in San Vicente in Southern Spain, by architect Jose Maria Chofre. The six-story garden is situated on the dividing wall of an existing apartment building and the library. The structure consist of cubic containers confined between two metal grids, and filled with soil and planted with different varieties of floral and herbaceous species. The containers are accessible and retrievable from several corridors located in the rear. At the front stands a suspended scaffold that allows pruning and replacing of the potted plants.

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Maximidia’s Vintage Internet Ads

Sao Paulo-based ad agency Moma has created some amusing advertisement posters for Brazil’s MaxiMidia seminar series. The ads features Facebook, Skype, Twitter and YouTube in a style reminiscent of the 1960s, implying these are already yesterday’s news. The slogan “Everything Ages Fast. Update.” appears nearby.

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Sunday, August 8, 2010

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65th Anniversary of Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Drop

The 65th anniversary event at the site of the world’s first A-bomb attack echoed with the choirs of schoolchildren and the solemn ringing of bells Friday as Hiroshima marked the occasion. At 8:15 a.m. – the time the bomb dropped, incinerating most of the city – a moment of silence was observed.

On Aug. 6, 1945, during World War II, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. About 140,000 people were killed or died within months when the American B-29 “Enola Gay” bombed Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. Three days later, about 80,000 people died after the United States also bombed Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II. To this day, the bombings remain the only time nuclear weapons have been unleashed.

Also see: 66th Anniversary of Operation Overlord: Normandy Landings.

TIME STOPPED BY ATOM BOMB

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Lady Gaga Lookalike Contest in Chicago

Lured by the grand prize of tickets to see Lady Gaga herself at Lollapalooza last week, a small group of pop-star doppelgangers descended upon State Street Pizza in Chicago on Thursday for yesterday’s lunchtime contest - a Lady Gaga look-a-like competetion. Eight women turned out for the contest in front of the pizza parlor donning their best Gaga-esque outfits teamed up with bright colored wigs and dance moves to impersonate the star.

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The girls were judged by the current Miss Illinois and Miss Chicago, who awarded Friday Lolla tickets to the top three look-a-likes. They’ll join the throngs of people who’ll be flocking out for Gaga’s headlining performance in Grant Park.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

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Ear Pull Championship

Ear Pull is an unusual sporting event played at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. The object is to tests the competitors' ability to endure pain. In the ear pull, two competitors sit facing each other, their legs straddled and interlocked. A two-foot-long loop of string, similar to a thick, waxed dental floss, is looped behind their ears, connecting right ear to right ear, or left to left. The competitors then pull upon the opposing ear using their own ear until the cord comes free or one player quits from the pain. The game has been omitted from some Arctic sports competitions due to safety concerns and the squeamishness of spectators; the event can cause bleeding and competitors sometimes require stitches.

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The Most Expensive Coffee in The World is Made From Animal Poop

Kopi luwak, the world’s most expensive coffee, is made from a certain variety of wild red coffee beans but only after it has passed through the digestive track of the Asian Palm Civet. The berries which grow in Indonesia and Philippines are eaten by the civet, a weasel-like animal, who likes the berries for their flesh. But they can't digest the inner beans which come out as poop.

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These droppings are gathered, thoroughly washed, sun dried, roasted and when brewed, they yield an aromatic coffee. Apparently, the beans after having spend about a day and a half in the civet's digestive tract pick up a unique flavor. Drinkers swear it tastes like caramel and chocolate!