The barking giants

They look like normal dogs on steroids but they’re one of the most sweet-tempered, generous, patient and intelligent breeds in the world, they are the Irish Wolfhounds.

First of all, don’t worry, although they look big enough to eat people, they don’t. Actually they aren’t even very good watchdogs since they tend to greet everyone as their friend. Keep in mind that some reach the size of a pony so if you are thinking of getting one you have to have a spacey home, at least one with a large yard.

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Soon to be largest horse in the world

Meet Digger, a burly Clydersdale, Britain’s largest horse and soon to be largest horse in the entire world.

At just 4 years of age, a regular teenager, Digger measures 19 hands and 2 inches and promises to stomp over the current record of 20 hands, held by Tina, a shire from Tennessee. Digger didn’t start very well in life, he was an orphan before he was taken in to International League for the Protection of Horses’ Belwade Farm in Aboyne, Scotland, after his former owners couldn’t cope with him, due to health reasons. But now Digger is more than ok, devouring 42 to 55 pounds of food a day, plus treats like chocolate muffins, carrots and apples from visitors.

Strangest thing is Digger is best friends with Sweep, a 12 years old Shetland mini pony, who can easily walk right under Digger‘s belly.

Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis are natural colored light displays, which are usually observed in the night sky, particularly in the polar zone.

It often appears as a greenish glow (or sometimes a faint red), as if the sun were rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis is also called the northern polar lights, as it is only visible in the North sky from the Northern Hemisphere. The aurora borealis most often occurs from September to October and from March to April.

Auroras are produced by the collision of charged particles from Earth’s magnetosphere, mostly electrons but also protons and heavier particles, with atoms and molecules of Earth’s upper atmosphere. The collisions in the atmosphere electronically excite atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere. The excitation energy can be lost by light emission or collisions. Most aurorae are green and red emission from atomic oxygen. Molecular nitrogen and nitrogen ions produce some low level red and very high blue/violet aurorae.

Photo: Kristian Pikner/Wikimedia Commons

 

Photo: Sebastien Giguere/Wikimedia Commons

 

Scummacher’s island in “The World”

Some people are just too lucky! Lucky enough to receive a whole island in an exotic paradise, as a gift.

Which brings us to Michael Schummacher, the best Formula 1 pilot that ever lived, who retired at the end of 2006 and received a $7 million gift, an island in “The World” from Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai. Scummacher‘s island is located in Antarctica and it’s simply beautiful.

Other stars like Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Richard Branson, Michael Jackson, David Beckham or Rod Stewart are rumored to be owners of islands in the man-made archipelago.

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Overgrown vegies

Here’s a collection of abnormally large vegetables, a real treat if you’re into them, but for a hardcore carnivore like myself those things are freakin’ scary! Well I guess it would be nice to have them grow like this on a regular basis, they’d help solve the world hunger issue.

Tallest snowman ever

Come to think about it, snowman is not really the appropriate term, since it actually bears the name Olympia Snowe.

Olympia was “born” in the town of Bethel, Maine and at 122 feet and 1 inch in length managed to toppled the world record previously held by…Bethel, Maine. Her eyebrows are made of skies, her lips out of red-painted tires and she has 2 pine trees serving as arms.

Olympia Snowe, named after Maine’s senior senator, takes the title of world’s tallest snowman from Angus, King of the mountain, who brought the title to the US, from Japan, 9 years ago.

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Are you sad? Take a happy pill!

Of course you’ll need to travel to Barcelona, Spain in order to get one but I hear they work every time.

This has to be one of the most ingenious ideas I have ever heard, we all know sweets make everyone feel better so why not use them as actual anti-depressives? That’s exactly what the Happy Pills shop in Barcelona is doing, it raps all kinds of tasty, gummy sweets in plastic bottles, labeled with pink crosses and prescriptions like: “against Mondays” or “against the intolerable lightness of being”. The shop is like a long hallway and you can get a bottle and a spoon and serve yourself from the various medicines.

I have to remember this place for when i visit Barcelona…hope it’s going to be soon!

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World’s largest container ship

I’m sure most people think of container ships as just ships that carry containers and nothing more. Now I don’t know how many of you have actually seen one but these beasts can be quite impressive. And the most impressive is the Emma Maersk, the biggest container transporter in the world.

With a declared capacity of 11,000 TEU, the ‘Emma Maersk‘ is able to handle a significantly greater number of containers than any other ship currently in operation. It has a length of 397 metres, over 31 metres longer than the next longest container ship, the Maersk ‘G’ classes, and a width of 57 metres, 15 metres wider than any other container ship. If the containers on board were lined up end to end, they would stretch approximately 42 miles.

The vessel is longer than the height of some well-known landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, which measures 320 meters, and the Empire State Building, at 381 meters. It is four times the length of a normal football pitch.

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The real Catman

And I’m not talking about the comic-book hero, but about the real cat-man…or Stalking Cat as he likes to be addressed to.

David Avner, a native American, part Huron, part Lakota has spent more than $200.000 on plastic surgery to make himself look as a tiger, his totem animal. He even had all of his teeth removed and replaced them with feline-like ones, he has tattooed his face with stripes, he modified his upper lip and inserted stainless steel implants to insert whiskers in, he had his ears surgically pointed and inserted silicone in different areas of his face.

Catman has become quite famous after appearing on several TV shows, including Ripley’s Believe it or Not and Larry King Live. Read More »

Star Wars origami

Star Wars isn’t exactly one of my favorite films of all times, so I can’t say I’m really impressed by all these little paper foldings. I am however surprised to see people have enough time on their hands to actually sit down and start folding pieces of paper into Star-Wars memorabilia...Get a job!

Harbin Snow Sculpture Festival

I have to be honest and start by saying I’m a huge fan of winter and all that it implies, snow, ice, cold weather, the whole enchilada, so I guess I was a little subjective in picking this piece over others. But even you sun worshipers have to admit that these snow sculptures, especially the castles are simply amazing.

These were all sculpted in blocks of snow and ice, during the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, in China by the most talented sculptures in the world. The festival dates back to 1963 and is one of the four largest ice and snow festivals, along with along with Japan’s Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada’s Quebec City Winter Carnival, and Norway’s Ski Festival.

harbin.jpg

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Sindi, the juggling dog

I’ve seen dogs pull off amazing tricks but one that can actually balance tea cups on its paws is definitely something new. Sindi is an 8 year old Cocker Spaniel from England that could easily be working in a bar or caffe, she could carry the coffees on its paws and the spoons in her mouth.

Blue building of Rotterdam

I guess the Dutch have a thing for colorful infrastructure, because the famous Yellow Brick Road is also found in Holland.

This blue building is set in the Delfshaven district, in Rotterdam and it used to be one of the towns least interesting buildings and one of the most unnoticed by the public. The administration asked an artistic firm to freshen the place up, or it would be demolished. They chose to paint the place blue and the deal with the neighborhood is that it will stay this way until the community comes up with a new plan for the area.

Funniest thing is the blue building has become the most photographed building in Rotterdam. That’s how important 2 layers of paint can be.

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Fabulous wood art

Who ever said wood was to stiff and can’t be molded into anything that comes into our minds? These creations prove that, with a lot of talent, wood can take any given shape. My regards to the sculptors, they did an awesome job!
 

 

Paradise is moving to Dubai

If you haven’t started saving up for a house on the Palm Paradise of Dubai, you’d better start soon the construction will be done soon. Progress is significant according to these pics, with several houses actually finished and ready to welcome their owners. Just imagine walking out of one of those beauties and plunging into the clear blue waters…must be heaven on Earth!

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