Planetary Panoramas

A multiple camera, 360 degree, night-sky time-lapse by photographer Vincent Brady and musician Brandon McCoy.



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America's Scariest Motel

image credit: Librarianguish

There's a lonely old motel out on Highway 95 that is downright terrifying to stay in, and considered by many guests to be haunted.

This motel is home to thousands of clowns, and even if you're not currently scared of clowns you will be after staying at Tonopah, Nevada's Clown Motel.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Street Artist Plasters The Paris Panthéon With Portraits

image credit: Yann Caradec

The secular temple of The Pantheon in Paris is home to the remains of thousands of France's famous sons and daughters including Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo, and Zola. During the long overdue restoration of the vast shrine it was decided to allow a contemporary project to take place in its environs to help mask some of the renovations.

Street artist JR collected thousands of portraits of everyday French people and has created one of the largest photographic collages the world has ever seen.

The Nictitating Membrane: The Third Eyelid

image credit: alde

From these photographs you could easily imagine that the animal kingdom had suddenly been enveloped in its own zombie apocalypse. Yet these pictures do not feature the Squawking Dead.

Thanks to high speed photography, these pictures capture the nictitating membrane in action. It is also known as the third eyelid, haw and the inner eyelid. It is drawn across the eye to protect and moisturize it while retaining visibility.

Got Some Trees To Clear? You Need This

The machine is called an excavator mulcher. Use it and a tree is gone in 3, 2, 1.



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The Evolution Of Karate

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Karate stands alongside the likes of judo, kendo, and sumo as one of Japan's most famous martial arts. However, as Karate Kid II taught us, karate was born in Okinawa.

Not only that, but it was born in a time when Okinawa wasn't part of Japan and had its own culture and language. Over many decades, karate evolved from an Okinawan fighting style, to a Japanese martial art, to a global sport.

Clever Landscaping That Bounces Plane Noise Back Into the Sky

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No one wants to live near a runway, but you definitely don't want to live by Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands. It's the fourth-busiest airport in Europe, and it's located in what might be the least soundproof place on Earth: a cold, wide-open flatland where noise can travel unobstructed for miles.

After researchers discovered that things got quieter whenever nearby farmers plowed their fields, they hired landscape artist Paul de Kort to design a peculiar kind of park. Its pattern of noise-deflecting ridges intercepts the sound waves generated by arriving and departing aircraft and bounces them skyward.

(thanks Cora)

Bison Doing The Itchy-Twitchy Dance

A bison scratches his back on a cable at the National Bison Range in Montana, USA.



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(thanks Cora)

The Curious Case Of Sausages

image credit: Thomas Quine

Everything has its weird side and sausages are no different! Did you know that there is a male and female sausage? How about the Sausage Museum? I'm pretty sure you've never thought of following an academic career in them too, right?

Asteroid Zoo

A new citizen science project called Asteroid Zoo asks you, the peaceful citizens of planet Earth, to lend your hands in finding in the depths of space. The project pulls night sky photo series from the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, and asks users to identify how many asteroids, if any, are in the frames.

Its purpose is twofold: One, to help researchers find asteroids that may potentially collide with our planet down the road; and two, to find good mining candidates for future space exploration.

Barstool Races

Martin City in Montana, USA, is famous for its own form of winter sports. Watch these brave souls endure brutal wind chills to witness the annual Cabin Fever Days' barstool races.



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See Live Cyber Attacks Right Now

St Louis-based security company Norse has released a live interactive cyber-threat map showing attacks on the internet in real time. It can be used to see which countries are being targeted, and which are initiating attacks.

8 Things You May Not Know About Nutella

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Nutella is the brand name of a hazelnut chocolate spread. Manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero, it was introduced to the market in 1964.

Pietro Ferrero, who owned a bakery, started to sell a creamy version in 1951 as 'Supercrema.' In 1963, Ferrero's son Michele Ferrero revamped Supercrema with the intention of marketing it across Europe. Its composition was modified and it was renamed 'Nutella.'

11 Paper Place

11 Paper Place is a love story about two 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper that magically transform into paper people as they are spit out of a malfunctioning printer into a recycling bin.



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How To Divvy Up A Dollar

Doing the math.

(via Bad Newspaper)

8 Sensational Female Murderers From History

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When someone tells you that female murderers are rare, keep in mind that means 'relatively' rare, as in less common than male murderers. It also means that women who are found to be killers can become quite famous for it, as the media sensationalizes their crimes.

A hundred years later, these cases may be mostly forgotten, but the stories are still there for those who want to learn about them. Be warned that these tales are disturbing.

Michelin Company History

Founded in 1888 in France, Michelin is the world's largest tire producer with company offerings fitted as original equipment by premiere automotive names such as Mercedes-Benz, Acura, Audi, BMW, Lexus, Volvo, Honda, Chevrolet Corvette, and Dodge Viper.



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(thanks Cora)

How Evolution Gave Some Fish Their Electric Powers

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The electric eel is one of the many creatures Charles Darwin sliced up and examined in his years aboard the H.M.S. Beagle. When he cut it open, he found that 80 percent of the fish's body was taken up by three organs made of what looked like muscle tissue, but not quite. This is where the animal makes electricity.

After finding similar organs in other fish, Darwin correctly deduced that the lineages came to the same adaptive conclusion independent of one another. Until now, though, no one has known how similar they were. According to a paper published today in Science, at least three of the six lineages evolved their electric organs through the same genetic pathways.

Five Myths About The Moon

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We have full moons, blue moons, Harvest moons, supermoons and any number of culturally relevant references to the moon. Maybe it's time to unearth a few moon myths and misconceptions. Here are five of the most common myths about the moon explained.

You're Getting Old

I'm getting old! The television series The Lone Ranger aired its first episode when I was 2 days old. Joseph Stalin died when I was 3 years old. The board game 'Scrabble' was launched when I was 5 years old. The hard disk drive was invented by IBM on my 7th birthday. The first Starbucks opened in Seattle, Washington when I was 21 years old. Yes, time is catching up with me.

How about you? Do the years seem to be going ridiculously quickly now? There's a reason for it.
You're Getting Old will provide you a report full of interesting stuff.

(via Bits & Pieces)

The 7 Deadliest Fashion Trends Of All Time

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Keeping up with fashion trends can sometimes be uncomfortable and expensive. But trying a new style or two is typically not life-threatening - except in the case of these dangerous trends, that maimed (and sometimes killed) anyone brave enough to sport them.

(via Neatorama)

Heathrow - One Of The World's Busiest Airports

Heathrow is one of the world's busiest airports with more than 70 million passengers in 2012. It handles the most international passengers of any airport (some US airports handle more, but largely domestic) though it is likely to be overtaken before long by Dubai.



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(thanks Cora)

The Good Country Index

The idea of the Good Country Index is pretty simple: to measure what each country on earth contributes to the common good of humanity, and what it takes away. Using a wide range of data from the U.N. and other international organisations, each country is given a balance-sheet to show at a glance whether it's a net creditor to mankind, a burden on the planet, or something in between.

30th Anniversary Of Ghostbusters

image credit: Doug Kline

Ghostbusters is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City who start a ghost-catching business.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary, here's an infographic about Ghostbusters.

(via Look At This...)

Pablo Escobar's Hippos: A Growing Problem

image credit: FICG.mx

A herd of hippopotamuses once owned by the late Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar has been taking over the countryside near his former ranch - and no-one quite knows what to do with them.

It was in 2007, 14 years after Escobar's death, that people in rural Antioquia, 200 miles north-west of Bogota, began phoning the Ministry of Environment to report sightings of a peculiar animal. They found a creature in a river that they had never seen before, with small ears and a really big mouth.

Perfect Female Nose Revealed

image credit: Wonderlane

Having a slightly upturned nose makes women appear more feminine, according to scientists from New York University who claim the angle at the nasal tip should be exactly 106 degrees.

Noses which point downwards are generally thought to appear droopy, long and masculine but a survey of people's reactions to digitally altered photographs found that those which incline slightly upwards - with an angle greater than 90 degrees - can enhance femininity.

North Atlantic Skies

A visualization of all the airplanes that go through the five major air spaces over the North Atlantic during a 24 hour period.



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Daily Maintenance

Make sure you have a dry, clean cloth.

(via Bad Newspaper)

How Much Would It Cost To Buy The Largest Transformer, Metroplex?

Have you ever dreamt of living among the Transformers? One of the most titanic Transformers of all time, Metroplex could transform into a city. The team at Movoto decided to see how much it would cost to buy the largest Autobot, Metroplex.

(thanks Chad)

Rio

No wonder the beautiful city of Rio De Janeiro was chosen to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. Rio de Janeiro is one of the most visited cities in the southern hemisphere and is known for its natural settings, carnival celebrations, samba, Bossa Nova, balneario beaches such as Barra da Tijuca, Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon.

Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado mountain, Sugarloaf mountain with its cable car; the Sambódromo, a permanent grandstand-lined parade avenue which is used during Carnival; and Maracanã Stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums.



Vimeo link

(thanks Cora)

Black Glamour Power: The Stars Who Blazed A Trail For Beyoncé And Lupita Nyong'o

Inspired by an aunt who competed in 1950s black beauty pageants, Nichelle Gainer uncovered a history of glamorous African American stars celebrated in the black community, and sometimes even in the mainstream.

She created the Vintage Black Glamour Tumblr to post their pictures, and now she's publishing a coffee-table book. In this interview with Collectors Weekly, she explains the stories behind the photos she's found and why Vintage Black Glamour will be more than just a collection of pretty pictures.

(thanks Lisa)

England's Full World Cup History

A chart depicting England's full World Cup history. See the scores, the progression and the countries England played against, including the full qualifying campaigns and every round that saw England play. With this interactive piece you can see just how far England managed to get in each of the past 16 World Cup campaigns.

8 Vending Machines You Didn't Know You Needed

image credit: calflier001

Legend has it the first machine dispensed holy water in exchange for a coin in ancient Egypt. Tobacco vending machines have been around since the 1600s. Then came soft drinks, chocolate bars, bubble gum and condoms.

Now, vending machines can be used for anything small enough to be lifted out of a tray, it seems. Japan has embraced the concept wholeheartedly, selling eggs, bras, live lobsters, salad, cold and hot coffee, and ties.

Holland Vs The Netherlands

I'm from the Netherlands. I'm not from Holland. Some people will ask: Isn't that the same? No, it isn't! This video explains the complicated state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.



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How Powerful Is Your Passport?

image credit: clappstar

Even in our digital world, a 3x5 inch paper booklet we call the passport dominates our ability to travel between countries. But no two national passports are created equal. As we all know some passports enjoy a lot more privileges than others.

Check out this infographic from GOOD Infographics to see how your passport ranks in terms of mobility. Can you guess which passports are the most valuable?

31 Essential Science Fiction Terms And Where They Came From

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There are so many words and phrases that we use in science fiction - and even science - without giving it much thought. But where did we get terms like 'alien,' 'death ray,' 'terraforming,' 'hive mind,' telepathy,'' and 'parallel universe.'

Super-Colorful Rivers

image credit: oledoe

Rivers hold a presence in our hearts comparable to that of an ocean, but more dynamic, more alive and in tune with a changeable human nature. An ocean is a ponderous entity, immense and immovable, but rivers flow and change their character.

Their nature is at once boisterous and disciplined, humbly contained within the geological framework allotted to them. Some rivers sparkle with many colors, and here are some of the most colorful rivers in the world.

Polar Bears - The Quest For Sea Ice

Take a swim with a polar bear family as they traverse the Arctic Ocean in search of sea ice.



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(thanks Cora)

Vitra Encourages Designers With A Cool New Slide

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Vitra is a German design firm that, like many innovative companies, tries to keep its creatives inspired and happy. To that end, the Weil am Rhein campus recently had a new building installed... well, more of a sculpture than a building.

The Vitra Slide Tower is a high observation tower located in the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany. It was inaugurated on 18th June 2014 and was created by the Belgian artist Carsten Höller. On top of the tower there is mounted a clock of a diameter of six metres.

Waterfalls On Uluru: A Rare Sight

image credit: Maarten Danial

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia, and one of the most recognizable natural landmarks of the country. The sandstone formation looks the most wonderful during sunrise and sunset when the fiery red sun is reflected off its surface. But the real spectacle occurs in summer when the region experiences heavy rains.

Rains occur between November and March. At such times, the famous monolith is covered with innumerable streams of water that changes the very color of Ayers Rock to a rare shade of violet.

Singing Bird Box By Charles Bruguier

A singing bird box is a box, usually rectangular-shaped, which contains within a miniature automaton singing bird concealed below an oval lid and activated by means of an operating lever. One of the great master mechanicians in the crafting of bird boxes was Charles Abraham Bruguier from Switzerland.

Among his contributions are the improvements in the sound and the extension of the bird's performance.



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(thanks Cora)

5 Famous Dishes That Are Named After Humans

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If you think that the Caesar's salad is in honor of Julius Caesar or do not know why a certain pizza is called Margherita, or even if you think that Carpaccio refers to an Italian painter, this is the time to figure everything out.

Here are five dishes, and a lot of people's favourite choices, that are named after actual humans. And, yes, you are right believing that the Wellington beef was named after the 1st Duke of Wellington.

The Essential Wedding Registry Checklist For Your Kitchen

Congratulations! You're getting married! By now you know that getting engaged means you're instantly bombarded by annoying logistics, and one of them is setting up your wedding registry. Here are the basics you absolutely need - and what brand, and what size - then some next-level things you might just want.

(via Miss Cellania)

Marais Poitevin: France's Green Venice

image credit: Alain Joseph

Probably the best known and certainly the largest wetlands in France is the Camargue. Yet the second largest is, outside of the country, little known. Marais Poitevin in the south western region of Poitou-Charentes covers a huge area - over 370 square miles.

Its name means the Poitou Marsh but the French also know it by a more venerable title - la Venise Verte. This Green Venice certainly lives up to its name.

New SportsCenter Studio

SportsCenter is a daily sports news television program of television network ESPN since the network's launch on September 7, 1979. Now, ESPN unveils the new SportsCenter after 35 yrs of being in the old studio. For this production assistant, delivering the highlight reel to the new set involved Parkour all over the Bristol campus.



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(thanks Bryce and Kyle)

Shake Your Power

image credit Vimeo

Shake Your Power is a Kickstarter project that aims to help those without electricity generate their own power through music. Sudha Kheterpal, best know as the percussionist from South London band Faithless, is launching a campaign to raise £50,000 ($85,000) for the Shake Your Power project.

For the last year, Sudha has been developing a musical instrument, a prototype percussion shaker called SPARK, which converts the energy from shaking it, into electricity. Users can then plug in a light or charge up a mobile telephone.

(thanks Lee)

Why Do People Get Ice Cream Headaches?

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You may know an ice cream headache by one of its other names: brain freeze, a cold-stimulus headache, or sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. But no matter what you call it, it hurts like hell.

Brain freeze is brought on by the speedy consumption of cold beverages or food. According to Dr. Joseph Hulihan, a former assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at the Temple University Health Sciences Center, ice cream is a very common cause of head pain, with about one third of a randomly selected population succumbing to ice cream headaches.

Brazilian Twelve-Fingered Family

The Brazilian family da Silva with a rare genetic disorder giving six fingers on each hand has become a symbol of their nation's hopes to bring home Brazil's sixth world cup title.



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(via UniqueDaily)

The Depressing Industrial City Of Norilsk

image credit: Socialism Expo

Norilsk is an industrial city located in Krasnoyarsk Krai, in Russia, with a population of 170,000. Norilsk is almost cut off from the world. The only way to leave Norilsk is to travel 2,000 km down the Yenisei River or by air.

The city was founded in 1935, as a slave labor camp, and later as a settlement for those working in mining and metallurgic operation. Norilsk contains the world's largest heavy metals smelting complex, producing more than 20 percent of the world's nickel, 50 percent of its palladium, more than 10 percent of its cobalt, and 3 percent of its copper.

The Magnificent Wreck Of SS American Star

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When SS American Star ran aground off Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands in 1994, the magnificent ocean liner, which was once hailed the most beautiful ship ever to fly the US flag, quickly became one of the world's most recognisable shipwrecks.

Why Do Koalas Hug Trees?

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Everyone has seen a picture like this at least once, sometimes in a random way. The koala leans forward and in an almost loving way, hugs the tree trunk.

Have you ever wondered why does this happen though? Scientists, led by researchers from the University of Melbourne have discovered the reasoning behind this unusual hugging act of these cute animals.

Sky Over Holland

Movie by Edwin Haighton. A timelapse compilation of the skies over the province of South-Holland, the Netherlands.



Vimeo link

(thanks Cora)

Images Of The Medieval City

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What did medieval cities look like? Or more precisely, how did medieval people depict cities? Here are 15 images from the Middle Ages that show how the urban world looked like.

A Mysterious Law That Predicts The Size Of The World's Biggest Cities

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Back in 1949, American linguist George Kingsley Zipf noticed something odd about how often people use words in a given language. If he ranked the words in order of popularity, a striking pattern emerged. The number one ranked word was always used twice as often as the second rank word, and three times as often as the third rank. He called this a rank vs. frequency rule, and found that it could also be used to describe income distributions in any given country, with the richest person making twice as much money as the next richest, and so forth.

Later dubbed Zipf's law, the rank vs. frequency rule also works if you apply it to the sizes of cities. The city with the largest population in any country is generally twice as large as the next-biggest, and so on. Incredibly, Zipf's law for cities has held true for every country in the world, for the past century.

Eye To Eye With A Manta Ray

image credit: David Spreekmeester

Manta rays are large eagle rays belonging to the genus Manta. The Manta ray has fascinated people for centuries. Yet we usually encounter them as they glide magnificently through the oceans. A lucky few will get to see them when they break the surface and leap in to the air.

For many people, however, the only time they will encounter a Manta ray is in an aquarium. It is then that the inquisitive rays will show their faces, as it were. The result is quite extraordinary.

Planetary Panoramas

Using four cameras and fisheye lenses, Michigan photographer Vincent Brady has produced a stirring time-lapse tribute to the unpolluted night sky. Music by Brandon McCoy.



YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

The Tech Shop

A clean service.

(via Bad Newspaper)

Speeding Around The World In Under 5 Minutes

Time-lapse movie by photographer Kien Lam. 17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs.



YouTube link

(thanks MsFlorida7)

180 Photography Tips To Capture Your Home

Thinking of selling your home, or just looking to improve indoor photography?
These 180 photography tips will have you covered.

(via Terrys Blinds)

A Sumo Training Session

Sumo is a competitive full-contact wrestling sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. Watch as fifteen tremendous Sumo athletes go through their morning routine.

(thanks Juergen)

How To Cure Garlic Breath

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Counter to most vampire lore, there is no magic to the pungent odor of garlic. The stench is the result of four major sulfur-containing compounds, which, when ingested, move into the bloodstream and then out through the lungs and sweat glands.

But that doesn't make it any less repellent. In April, food scientists at Ohio State University published a paper exploring the best foods and beverages to neutralize garlic's noxious effect.

First Prize

Wow! And a ham!

(via Bad Newspaper)

5 Historical Misconceptions

Vikings used horned helmets in battle, Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry, Napoleon was short, a Roman vomitorium is a space for the purpose of actual vomiting, and Columbus had difficulty obtaining support for his plan because many Catholic theologians insisted that the Earth was flat.



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60 Insane Cloud Formations From Around The World

image credit: Michel Filion

Condensation or deposition of water above the Earth's surface creates clouds. In general, clouds develop in any air mass that becomes saturated. Here are 60 insane cloud formations from around the world.

The Colour Clock

The Colour Clock shows time as a hexadecimal colour value.

Die Rakotzbrück Or Devil's Bridge

image credit: Holger Wirth

The Devil's Bridge (Rakotzbrücke) in Kromlauer Park, Gablenz, Germany, was built almost 150 years ago, back in 1860. Because of the unique construction accuracy, the bridge and its reflection merge into a perfect circle, regardless of the point of observation. This extraordinary sight is a beloved spot for professional photographers.

The Shibuya Crossing

Shibuya is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. Shibuya is famous for its scramble crossing. It is located in front of the Shibuya Station Hachikō exit and stops vehicles in all directions to allow pedestrians to inundate the entire intersection. The statue of Hachikō, a dog, between the station and the intersection, is a common meeting place and almost always crowded.

More info on the Shibuya crossing at Tokyo for 91 Days.



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Storseisundet - The Bridge To Nowhere

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Nervous drivers (and their equally nervous passengers) beware! You should really prepare yourselves for the sight of Storseisundet Bridge in Norway. The road connection from the mainland Romsdal peninsula to the island of Averøya in Møre og Romsdal county doesn't look as if it actually connects as you drive towards it. In fact it looks very much as if you are in for an icy bath as you plummet off its 23 meters height.

However, you will be relieved to hear that this is simply something of an optical illusion. The bridge is built in such a way that from a certain angle, as you approach, it looks as it is more diving board than bridge.

Retail In Real Time

Take a look at this visualization of popular US consumer spendings in real time. It's a glimpse of how and where the US spends its cash and just how quickly these numbers grow.

The Sleep Schedules Of 27 Of History's Greatest Minds

The science of sleep and its glorious effects on creativity, productivity, and sanity gets a lot of press these days. That said, the sleep habits of some of your favorite writers, musicians, and artists may surprise you a little.

The bedtimes and rising times of history's greatest minds are inventively illustrated in this infographic. It seems to debunk the myth that geniuses stay up through the wee hours working manically, and that you're more creative when you're tired - most of these 27 luminaries got a wholesome eight hours a night.