Saturday, December 31, 2011

Extraordinary Photos

The world's highest chained carousel, located in Vienna, at a height of 117 meters.




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Thor's Well a/k/a "the gates of the dungeon" on Cape Perpetua, Oregon. At moderate tide and strong surf, flowing water creates a fantastic landscape

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   Emerald Lake in the crater of an extinct volcano.
Tongariro National Park - NewZealand

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Restaurant on a cliff on the east coast of Zanzibar.
Depending on the tide the restaurant can be reached both on foot and by boat.

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Office of Selgas Cano in Madrid

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Desert with Phacelia (Scorpion Weed). Flowering once in several years.

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Balloons in Cappadocia.

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Dubai. The view from the skyscraper BurjKhalifa. The height of buildings is 828 m (163 floors).

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And this is the view down

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These trees grow in the forest near Gryfino, Poland. The cause of the curvature is unknown

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The border between Belgium and the Netherlands in a cafe

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Twice a year in the Gulf of Mexico rays migrate.
About 10 thousand stingrays swim from the Yucatan Peninsula to Florida in the spring and back in the fall.

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In the resort town of Skagen you can watch an amazing natural phenomenon. This city is the northernmost point of Denmark, where the Baltic and North Seas meet. The two opposing tides in this place can not merge because they have different densities.

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In the Chinese province of Shandong is a bridge across the Gulf of Jiaozhou. The bridge length over 36 km is calculated for eight car lanes, and is the longest sea bridge in the world.

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Day and night. The monument in Kaunas, Lithuania

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An unusual tunnel in California's Sequoia National Park

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This statue, created by Bruno Catalano, is located in France

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Family photo

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The longest traffic jam in the world recorded in China.
Its length is 260 kilometers

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Paris computer games store. In fact, the floor is absolutely flat.

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Marcus Levine - slaughtering an artist in the literal sense. He creates his paintings by nailing a white wooden panel. At his latest series of paintings exhibited in a gallery in London, Marcus has spent more than 50 000 pieces of iron.

Posted at 07:04 AM | Permalink

Friday, December 30, 2011

Economic Reality of the USA

SINCE 1980, GAINS IN INCOME HAVE GONE TO THE TOP 1%

From 19225-1980, income gains accrued to all of society (see here for much more on this).

THIS WEALTH DISPARITY IS WORSE IN THE US THAN ANY OTHER NATION

TAXES HERE ARE HIGH? COMPARED TO WHERE?

compared to others, the US is a low tax country.

TAXES ON THE WEALTHIEST HAVE FALLEN DRAMATICALLY

THE 1990S TAXES WORKED FOR BUSINESS AND JOB CREATIONS AND REDUCED DEFICITS (growth).

THE LARGEST CAUSE OF DEFICITS WERE MASSIVE TAX CUTS

#7: You didn’t expect us to do the above for the deficit and not for the debt??!!

HEALTH CARE COSTS GROW FASTEST IN PRIVATE SCTOR

THE LOST DECADE FOR MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES

http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-best-of-cbpp-graphics/

Posted at 05:49 AM | Permalink

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Insects Made From Uncut Paper

Realistic Insects Made From One Sheet of Uncut Paper

Wednesday 12.28.2011 , Posted by Benjamin Starr

http://www.visualnews.com/2011/12/28/realistic-insects-made-from-one-sheet-of-paper/

Even with a second glance, these amazingly intricate origami designs by Brian Chan still look like real insects. The 31-year old has been working with paper since his youth, making other’s designs and perfecting is craft. In recent years he’s started creating his own designs, carefully planning exactly where folds need to be in a flat sheet of paper… transforming it into a miniature, lifelike sculpture. I’ve included one of his plans below to show how astounding the detail in his planning actually is… remember, these are all one sheet of uncut paper!!

Considering the near impossible detail that goes into each of his pieces, it might not come as a surprise when I tell you that Chan is an instructor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he teaches crafts. The designs featured here are his hobby and are created in his spare time.

SEE ALSO: A Tiny World of Nano Origami

What draws him to this challenging art form? “As an artist,” he says, “I am particularly drawn to Origami because it adds the extra challenge of folding from a square (and I like challenges, sometimes) and incorporates a lot of geometry, which was my more favored sector of mathematics.” See Chan in action at the bottom of this post, then for more of his astounding pieces, see his website.

Above: Flying Katydid
Below: Flying Grasshopper

Mayfly

The detailed design behind the mayfly above.

Locust

Allomyrina dichotoma

Goliath beetle

Dorcus curvidens

Locust nymph

Samurai Helmet Beetle

Stomatopod

Hissing Roach

Dobsonfly

Water Strider

Via: odditycentral.com

Posted at 05:29 PM | Permalink

Loafing, as illustrated by professionals

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted at 04:32 PM | Permalink

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Dead Sea Salt Formations

By Rob Beschizza at 10:11 am Monday, Dec 26

http://boingboing.net/2011/12/26/dead-sea-salt-formations-gall.html#more-136002

The Dead Sea's salinity of 33.7 percent makes it 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. Bordering Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, it is 423m below sea level, making it the lowest place on land on Earth. A tourist hotspot for millennia, more than 1m visitors a year visit on the Israeli & Palestinian side alone. The view from the shore is one thing, but from the air, the sheer strangeness of the salt formations in and around the lake become readily apparent. Photos by Baz Ratner, of Reuters, and others.