Pictures of Children Frightened By Santa Claus

He's huge and hairy and hulking.
He dresses in strange furry clothing.
He sneaks into people's homes at night.
Who wouldn't be afraid of . . . Santa Claus?!?

In 2003 and 2006 edition of the Chicago Tribune, readers were asked to send them their favorite photos of children, frightened by Santa Claus. The result: hundreds of photos of children with tearful eyes and a gaily smiling Santa Claus. The best pictures from the collection - more than two hundred and fifty - were rounded up to make the book - Scared of Santa: Scenes of Terror in Toyland

Scared of Santa offers a cornucopia of photographic funnies—from sixty-year-old family heirlooms to last year's howlers—along with delightful commentary on those unforgettable childhood visits to scary ol' Saint Nick.

Here is a small of the hilarious pictures from the book.

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Disturbingly Beautiful Macro Photos of Eyes by Suren Manvelyan

Physics teacher Suren Manvelyan took these portraits of eyes using his friends, colleagues and pupils as models. For the first time these intensely detailed shots provide a microscopic look at the human eye structure, providing viewers with a different perspective of its complexity.

'I was not aware they are of such complicated appearance. Everyday we see hundreds of eyes but do not even suspect they have such beautiful structure, like surfaces of unknown planets.'

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Son Doong, The World’s Largest Cave

Hang Son Doong cave, sometimes called simply Son Doong, is a cave in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam, that is believed to be the largest discovered till now.

The cave was found by a local man named Hồ-Khanh in 1991 but the local jungle men were afraid to explore because of the whistling sound it makes from the underground river. However, not until 2009 was it made known to the public when a group of British scientists from the British Cave Research Association, led by Howard Limbert, conducted a survey in Phong Nha-Ke Bang in April, 2009. According to Limbert, this cave is five times larger than the Phong Nha cave, previously considered the biggest cave in Vietnam. The biggest chamber of Son Doong is over five kilometers in length, 200 meters high and 150 meters wide. With these dimensions, Son Doong overtakes Deer Cave in Malaysia to take the title of the world's largest cave.

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The Witch's Well in Tuhala

The Witch’s Well, as it is called, is a peculiar attraction in the Estonian village of Tuhala. The well for the most time appears normal. But after a heavy downpour, it begins to spout water and floods the entire area – an occurrence the local people attributes to the misdoings of witches. According to legend, the witches of Tuhala gather in the sauna underground and beats each other vigorously with birch branches, oblivious to the commotion they create on the surface.

The truth is, the well happens to be placed just over an underground river. After rain water floods the river, water pressure builds to the point that it shoots up out of the well, usually for a few days. The well is only 2.5 m deep, but under pressure it can spurt water up to half a meter. It is said that more than 100 liters of water can flow out every second.

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Unclaimed Baggage Center: A Retail Store of Lost Luggage

Ever wondered what happens to lost airline baggage? It ends up in Scottsboro in Alabama, the United States at the Unclaimed Baggage Center. The store's concept of reselling of lost or unclaimed airline luggage has received national attention over the years, including mentions on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Late Night with David Letterman and the Today show.

At Unclaimed Baggage Center you can buy a lost $1000 Versace dress for $55, an Adidas jacket for $15, a tube of slightly used Japanese toothpaste for 50 cents, a $15,000 sapphire and diamond bracelet for $7500, gold wedding bands and pearl necklaces for half their value. Over a million customers visit the 50,000-square-foot store each year to browse through some of the 7,000 items added each day.

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Intricate Paper Sculptures by Cheong-ah Hwang

Korean-born artist Cheong-ah Hwang has been exclusively working in paper since 2000, producing beautiful 2D paper sculpture with a subtle 3D effect produced by folding and layering. This Ohio based artist is entirely self taught.

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Beauty Pageant for Dolls: Miss Barbie Venezuela

Barbie dolls in Venezuela have their own beauty pageants. Early this month, the fifth installment of the Miss Barbie Venezuela 2010 beauty pageant was held in Caracas. Doll obsessed and Barbie fanatics gave the famous toy their own signature looks adorning them with fresh makeup, new hairstyles, shoes and accessories and stylish frocks and swimwear as their plastic dolls competed for the title of Miss Barbie Venezuela. The event also includes questions round which has to be answered by the contestants, just like in a typical pageant contest.

The dolls even have their own names, body measurements and even invented professions. What's more? The winner of the Miss Barbie Venezuela title will progress through to the Miss Barbie Universe contest to be held later.

A contestant combs his Barbie doll, "Shantal Martinez Gruber" before entering the doll in the Miss Barbie Venezuela 2010 beauty pageant as "Miss Guarico" in Caracas on Dec. 9.

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How The Military Hid The Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant

During World War II, in an effort to disguise the facility and ward off enemy fire, officials at Burbank's Lockheed Air Terminal (now known as Bob Hope Airport ) took the unusual but highly effective step of covering the entire airport with strategically placed camouflage netting. Up from the air, in the eyes of the enemy, the entire area looked like a rural subdivision.

Before

After

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Behind the Scenes at Particle Physics Labs

In August, 2010, 200 amateur photographers had the opportunity to walk into the top five particle physics laboratories in four countries and take pictures as a part of the InterAction Collaborations Particle Physics Photowalk contest. Thousands of photographs were submitted to local competitions at the participating laboratories, which included DESY, TRIUMF, CERN in Switzerland, Fermilab in Illinois, and KEK in Japan. Each laboratory selected their local winners, and forwarded the top three to compete in two global competitions organized by the laboratories in the spirit of friendly competition.

This portrait of a wire chamber won first place in the people's choice global competition, second place in the global jury competition, and first place in DESY's local competition. Photographer: Hans-Peter Hildebrandt

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Urban Forest: Photography by Colleen Mullins

After Katrina, 70% of trees in New Orleans lay decimated. But it is not that damage on which the photographs of Colleen Mullins gaze, but on the damage at the hands of man, that has followed. This particular canopy degradation is setting the stage for an already palpable loss that even with massive replanting efforts, is leaving a scar on the area that will not heal for generations.

We have a strange relationship with nature as urban dwellers. And we seemingly hold a cultural belief that if it is an Eden we planted, we have eminent domain over the territory it occupies. While sometimes their deformities can be perceived as comical, the impact of this loss will be faced by New Orleans residents returning home for years to come. Absent street signs, and often the houses themselves, these trees are frequently the only signifiers to tell me that I’ve returned to a site to photograph. Imagine if the tree was not a marker for a photograph, but a marker for your home.

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Star Trails by Ben Canales

Photographer Ben Canales takes mesmerizing long exposure shots of the night sky and stars.

Canales grew up in in the Northeast of the US in between three major cities. As a kid, Canales never got enough oppurtunity to see many stars. A few years ago, he moved to East Coast for the West Coast where the skies are less polluted. “It's been a thrill and a treasured experience to look up and see a literal field of diamonds in the stars above,” he says.

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Amazing Leaf Carving Art

Leaf Carving is the newest form of art out of China, where skilled artisans carve incredibly detailed portraits and pictures on the leaves of the Chinar tree.

The process is extremely delicate and complicated. It begins with the gathering of choose leaves from the Chinar tree which is native to India, Pakistan and China. The leaves are then put through a 60 step process such as shaving, pressing, curing, dying and so on. The outer surface of the leaf is carefully removed without cutting or removing the leafs veins which add detail into the subject matter of the carving.

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Linnea Strid's Incredible Oil Paintings

Linnea Strid is an emerging Swedish artist currently based in Stockholm who has a pretty impressive style. Her realistic paintings, particularly those depicting subjects playing with water are stunning. Check out some of her works.

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Baobab: The Upside-Down Tree

Adansonia digitata, or Baobab tree is a strange looking tree that grows in low-lying areas in Africa and Australia. The Baobab is also called the upside-down tree because when bare of leaves, the spreading branches of the Baobab look like roots sticking up into the air, as if it had been planted upside-down. Legend holds that god Thora took a dislike to the Baobab growing in his garden, so he threw it out over the wall of Paradise on to Earth below, and although the tree landed upside-down it continued to grow. Another story goes that when the Baobab was planted by God, it kept walking, so God pulled it up and replanted it upside down to stop it moving.

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Swimming in -36 degrees? No Thanks

Members of a local winter swimmers' club went swimming in the ice-cold Yenisei River with the air temperature at about -36 degrees Celsius in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, in what appears to be an annual tradition of the club.

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2010 Winter in Pictures

Winter has hit the United States and parts of Europe with an intense not felt for nearly half a century. Temperatures has fallen to –20 degree Celsius and less at places, and meteorological experts has predicted status quo for days to come.

In this gallery we look at how people are coping (or enjoying) the incessant snowing and bone chilling cold this winter.

Patrick Case and Jesse Sebelko rake the car out of snow in Yu Claire, Wisconsin. (Steve Kinderman / Eau Claire Leader-Telegram)

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Le Truc: Restaurant on Bus

San Frfancisco chef Hugh Schick has transformed a originally yellow school bus into a mobile kitchen and eatery he calls Le Truc. The new “bustaurant” has a gourmet kitchen, skylights and indoor seating for up to 12 and serves locally sourced, seasonal menus.

The Le Truc bus opened Tuesday, serving up savory sandwiches made with ingredients like grilled Portobello mushrooms, grilled duck breast with a reduction of dried cherry and ground-chicken meatballs. Currently, Le Truc’s operators are lobbying to serve alcohol for food/beer pairings. They also plan to set up for dinner in a second location a few blocks away near San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood.

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Birds of America: The World's Most Expensive Book

A copy of John James Audubon's “Birds of America” was sold at an auction in London last week for £7.3 million ($11.5 million), and thus becoming the most expensive book ever sold. The auction was a rare chance to own one of the best preserved editions of the 19th century masterpiece, with its 435 hand-colored illustrations. The winning bid was placed by London-based art dealer Michael Tollemache, who outbid three others during the auction.

Birds of America was first published as a series of sections between 1827 and 1838. Only 119 copies were published of which fewer than a dozen are in private hands. Each of the printed book were colored by hand, and it was an extremely laborious process. Even by today's standards, the vividness of its illustrations of birds is extraordinary but when it was being released in the 1830s it was mindboggling.

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Amazing 3D Paper Sculptures by Bert Simons

Dutch artist Bert Simons has discovered a way to create very life like 3-D sculptures out of paper. He first maps his subjects' faces using sophisticated tracking technology and feeds the data into a computer. Then using some special software he constructs the subject’s contour and then print their form on paper before putting it together using glue.

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The Abandoned Remains of the Superconducting Super Collider

Long before the Large Hadron Collider was even sketched out on paper, the US Department of Defense embarked on an ambitious project of creating the world’s largest particle accelerator. Construction on the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), as it was named, began on 1991 in the vicinity of Waxahachie, Texas. Its planned ring circumference was 87.1 kilometers with an energy of 20 TeV per beam of protons – numbers that surpasses those of the now operational Large Hadron Collider by a factor of three (27 kilometer with an energy of 7TeV per beam) .

The intention of the collider was to detect the elusive Higgs boson, a particle that is thought to exist in all matter and which gives particles their mass, and provide clues to other mysteries of the universe.

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Matthew Albanese Creates Dramatic Landscapes Out of Ordinary Items

New Jersey-based artist Matthew Albanese creates astonishingly detailed small-scale miniatures landscapes out of ordinary household items such as spices, cotton, colored paper, ink and glasses. He then photographs them using forced perspective techniques to create stunning landscapes you wouldn’t believe if I tell you were created in his living room. From grassy fields, to tornadoes and volcanoes - Matthew Albanese has done it all.

In the artist’s own words:

My work involves the construction of small-scale meticulously detailed models using various materials and objects to create emotive landscapes. Every aspect from the construction to the lighting of the final model is painstakingly pre-planned using methods which force the viewers perspective when photographed from a specific angle. Using a mixture of photographic techniques such as scale, depth of field, white balance and lighting I am able to drastically alter the appearance of my materials.

"Wildfire"

Diorama made from wood, moss, yellow glitter, clear garbage bags, cooked sugar, scotch-brite pot scrubbers, bottle brushes, clipping from a bush in bloom (white flowers) clear thread, sand, tile grout (coloring), wire, paper and alternating yellow, red and orange party bulbs.

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We Make Carpets Out Of Everything

Designers Marcia Nolte and Stijn Van Der Vleuten and visual artist Bob Waardenburg together comprises of We Make Carpets - an art collective that creates temporary structures that resemble carpets. The trio uses all sorts of materials to build them – pasta, toy soldiers, coffee cups, forks and others.

Pasta

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Kensington Dollshouse Festival 2010

The Kensington Doll House Festival is considered one of the premier dolls house shows of the world. Established in 1985, the show has become the leading event for craftsmen and miniatures enthusiasts to get together and enjoy their obsession. Visitors travel to London from Japan, USA and Europe to attend the Festival every year and there are over 175 crafts people exhibiting, many of which also come from abroad. The event is held annually at the Kensington Town Hall in London.

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An Illustrated History of Bond Cars

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Essen Motor Show 2010 Pictures

The Essen Motor Show is an auto show held annually in the city of Essen, Germany. It is the world's largest tuning fair, like Europe's version of the SEMA show. The 43rd anniversary of the event was held from 27th Nov to 5th Dec 2010.

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Toys From Hard Drive Parts

Creative staff members of the Russian IT and computer store Vist has created these cute toys from old hard drive parts.

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Model Cities Made From Computer Parts

Italian artist Franco Recchia builds complex miniature cityscapes from discarded computer parts, casings, circuit boards and electronic components. The sculptures are on exhibition at the Agora Gallery in NYC until July 2011.

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Carhenge: The Stonehenge of Vintage American Cars

Carhenge is a curious replica of England’s Stonehenge constructed of old American cars, located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska on the High Plains. It was the brainchild of Jim Reinders, who constructed it as a memorial to his father in 1987. Carhenge has since become a tourist destination, drawing as many as 80,000 visitors annually to the site.

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Massive Wall Portraits by Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada

Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada is a Cuban born artist based in New York and Barcelona, and founder of the artists direction “Culture Jamming “ in the New York City. Rodriguez-Gerada creates gigantic portraits of anonymous people in charcoal which scale the walls of buildings in different cities around the world.

The artistic process begins with the search for the city, the building, and most importantly the person to be depicted. This person must have a sense of belonging to the city that hosts the artwork, and must accept being converted into a monumental hero. These drawings question the controls imposed on public space and are intended to reclaim these spaces that have been snatched from our hands by advertisers anxious to sell us perfect men and women, and politicians, who against all the evidence, want to convince us that they are perfect.

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Berlin Tattoo Convention 2010

The 20th Berlin Tattoo Convention took off on December 3 and the organizers expect over 15,000 visitors over the three days. To participate in the festival artists from Japan, China, Taiwan, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Samoa, and from all European countries has arrived with the latest technics, designs and color creations. Below are some pictures from the convention.

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Fake Hostage Backdrop by Helmut Smits

This clever installation entitled Photo tip, by the talented Netherlands artist Helmut Smits, offers visitor the possibility of posing as a hostage by extremists on CNN.

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Jason Kronenwald’s Chewing Gum Portraits

Jason Kronenwald, an MFA graduate from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, creates fascinating portraits of celebrities out of chewed pieces of bubblegum – an art which he has been perfecting since 1996. Jason smoothes chewed gum over plywood, creating realistic skin tones and hair color, composing his palette from the multitude of different flavors and colors chewed together. Kronenwald has a dedicated team of chewers and prefers the texture of Trident. However, he does not chew gum himself unless he must.

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United Bamboo Fall Winter Calendar 2011 Features Cats

To display the winter collection this fall, fashion house United Bamboo has hired a couple of fashionable felines to play the role of models. Fashion designers Thuy Pham and Miho Aoki have for the second year created a calendar featuring cats wearing mini versions of their designs. The calendar which features 12 different cats dressed in their haute couture is available for $50 on the United Bamboo website and profits of the sale will be divided between charities Animal Haven and Kitty Kind.

January

Radley, aged 5 years old, is wearing a sequined racer back cocktail dress. "Radley's pet peeve is the litter box. He thinks his poo may chase him - he doesn't understand it's not alive. So he runs out fast after doing his business and does circles around the apartment to make sure no Mr Hanky is following"

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Never Before Seen Works By Pablo Picasso

A retired French electrician Pierre Le Guennec, who once worked for Pablo Picasso and his wife tucked away a staggering trove of paintings by Pablo Picasso, which is believed to be authentic, inside a trunk in the garage of their home on the French Riviera. The cache, dating from the artist's most creative period from 1900 to 1932, contains 271 never-before-seen works including lithographs, portraits, watercolors, and sketches, plus nine Cubist collages said to be worth €40m alone.

Olga Accoudee (Olga Elbowed) by Picasso

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Insects as Food

Entomophagy is the practice of eating insects as food. While it is common for many insects, birds and animals to indulge themselves, people in some parts of the world too consider insects a tasty delicacy. Human insect-eating is common in cultures in parts of the world such as North, Central and South America; and Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. However in some societies insect-eating is uncommon or even taboo.

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Optimus Prime Ice Sculpture

Finnish artist Antti Pedrozo and Dutch artist Michel de Kok has together sculpted an 8 meter high model of Optimus Prime, from Transformer's fame, out of ice.

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