WOW 
Thursday, 31. January 2008
Growth of a Venus Fly Trap
A timelapse video by Paul Lenz: "There are tons of videos which show how a Venus Fly Trap chatchs a fly, but only this one shows the fascinating process of growing! It is a time-lapse video which compresses the original growth time (four weeks!) into less than one minute."His machine which moved the camera can be seen here. (German)
59th Sapporo Snow Festival
Should you find yourself in or around Sapporo, Japan between February 5 – 11, 2008, check out the annual Sapporo Snow Festival.
The Sapporo Snow Festival, one of Japan's largest winter events, attracts a growing number of visitors from Japan and abroad every year.
Every winter, about two million people come to Sapporo to see the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures which line Odori Park,the grounds at Satoland, and the main street in Susukino.
For seven days in February,these statues and sculptures(both large and small) turn Sapporo into a winter dreamland of crystal-like ice and white snow.
The Snow Festival began in 1950, when local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. in 1955, the Self-Defense Force joined in and built the very first massive snow sculpture, for which the Snow Festival has become famous for now. The Festival has grown from these humble beginnings to become one of the biggest and most well known of Hokkaido's winter events.
The Snow Festival is considered to be a festival of international-caliber.
59th Sapporo Snow Festival - February 5 - 11, 2008. (Official Site)
You can view the ice sculptures outside via many webcams!
Cams: 01 ||| 02 ||| 03 ||| 04 ||| 05 ||| 06 ||| 07 ||| 08 ||| 09
More Infos: Sapporo Snow & Ice Festival by Japan Travel Guide.
The picture below show a snow statue shaped of the Horyu Temple in the Sapporo Snow Festival.
More Photos by Horyuji / 法隆寺 金堂
K-Swiss Free Running
Creative Social cofounder Mark Chalmers and his partner James Goode teamed up with Perfect Fools to launch kswissfreerunning.com for sneaker brand K-Swiss. The campaign site promotes K-Swiss' Ariake, the first trainer specially designed for the acrobatic urban sport of Free Running. K-Swiss developed the Ariake together with Free Running's creator Sébastien Foucan – also known for his appearances in the recent James Bond movie Casino Royale and with Madonna. At kswissfreerunning.com visitors create and send their own messages with rich film sequences of Foucan going alphabetic in a sweet pair of Ariakes.K-Swiss Free Running - type something and watch Sebastien Foucan jumping over the letters. Nice work by Perfect Fools.
Wednesday, 30. January 2008
Mikael Rantalainen Photography
Nature, landscape, and event photos:
Mikael Rantalainen Photography
The beauty of Finland - and other places ...
F*** Planet Earth
It's definitively not that kind of nature videos you normally can see on my website. But yeah, I can't stay away from that one .. it’s f***tastic!Unscramble Befuddled Photos
Befuddlr is a fun little image-based puzzle game, using images from Flickr. It's an online version of those plastic scramble puzzles I had when I was a kid and had to slide the pieces around to get the numbers in order or to put the pieces of an image in the right places to display the picture correctly.Designed by Erik Kastner and Amy Hoy, this thing is surprisingly addictive ... be warned: you can spend hours de scrambling images.
Tuesday, 29. January 2008
How To ...
Science is fun and educational with Professor Gizmo and his Amazing Science Presentations. You will learn how airplanes fly, how gravity works, where weather comes from and more, through this award-winning science teacher's zany experiments and the incredible, explosive gizmos he makes out of ordinary household items. Professor Gizmo-Amazing Science Presentations: Fun Science.How To Make An Ocean In A Bottle
World's Largest Moose
Northern Sweden have the all-clear for the construction of the world's largest elk, or moose as the animal is known in North America. Perched on top of a mountain, the 45-metre (148-foot) elk will double as a restaurant and concert hall that can seat up to 350 guests. From its antlers, more than 500 metres above sea level, visitors will be able to enjoy the spectacular view over the valleys below.World's Largest Moose
A junction in the nortern part of Sweden, a destination for people all over the world, a monument dedicated to wilderness, nature and the king of the forest. Our goal is for this giant moose to be "born" before the end of 2009.
- Situated on top of the mountain "Vithatten"
2 legs in the district of Arvidsjaur and region "Norrbotten".
2 legs in the district of Skellefteå and region "Västerbotten."
Construction completly made of gluelam wood with steeltubes in the legs and in the "pinetree".
Approx. 47 m long, 12 m wide, 35 m on the back, ca 45 m on the antlers. The antlers incl. tines approx. 100 m².
all inside the body of a wooden moose:
Tony-b Machine
Just want to have a little fun? The Tony-b Machine is an online synthesizer you play with your keyboard or your mouse. Tons of beats and special effects and best of all, you can record your track and share them for free.It's the best flash techno-music webtoy I've played since a long time ...
Monday, 28. January 2008
Predator Crocs
Things don't look too easy for this vicious predator!
Again, great footage by National Geographic - enjoy!
Museum of Organs
You are now in the foyer of the Museum of Organs. Currently, there are displayed more than thirty original high-resolution pictures which I photographed during the last 25 years.The visual design of an organ is inseparable from the architectural style and the interior of the building. The purpose of the exhibitions is to demonstrate how it varies with the times and the region.
Albi: Cathédrale (Tarn, France)
The original instrument was built by Christophe Moucherel in 1734-36.
The organ case is one of the largest in France and there are 222 pipes in front.
See also the Organs and Organ Music Links and the mp3 section.
Voki - Your Avatar Service
- Select a character from one of our many styles: Classic, Animals, Oddballs and more!
Change the look, clothing and accessories.
Add your own voice via phoine, microphone, text to speech or upload a file.
Choose a background from the library or upload your own.
Embed on your web page or send via email and mobile devices
Cool free avatar service: Voki!
Click the play button to see/hear some examples below.
Hill-Billy Clinton:
Oh baby baby balla balla:
Meet your son's new girlfriend:
Sunday, 27. January 2008
MegaStructures: The Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge has been under constant attack from treacherous currents, fierce winds and sea fog laden with corrosive salts. But the worst is still to come. Seismic engineers are predicting a massive tremor within the next 50 years. In a $400 milmillion retrofit, state-of-the-art isolation bearings and absorption devices are being installed to soak up an earthquake's damaging vibrations. It is a race against time.-- Source National Geographic Channel
Duration: 47 minutes.
Have a nice sunday everyone and everywhere!
Saturday, 26. January 2008
Felice Beato's Japan: Places & People
Felice A. Beato (ca. 1825–1908) was the most-celebrated of 19th century photographers in Japan.Although not the very first to photograph in Japan—the first studios opened in the late 1850s—Beato was the first to work extensively in the country. He ran a studio in Yokohama from 1863 to 1877. After leaving the country in 1884, he opened a furniture and curio business in Burma. Beato’s residence in Japan coincided with a period of rapid modernization during the Meiji period, 1868–1912.
Employing a documentary style, Beato’s work encompassed studio portraits, landscapes, and scenes from daily life. Most of his portraits are hand-colored, a practice that he introduced to Japan. The photo of the artist is, in fact, the man who was responsible for coloring Beato’s pictures. Inspired perhaps by woodblock prints, Beato produced a series of photos of the Tokaido Road, running between Kyoto and Tokyo (Edo). -- Source: Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
Felice Beato's Japan: Places - This 50-image album features scenes along the routes that foreign sightseers travelled in the opening years of the Meiji period. Album courtesy of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College. Essay by Allen Hockley.
Click the picture for a larger view
Felice Beato's Japan: People - These photos of men and women from different walks of life catered to foreign curiosity about the "exotic" Japanese. Most were taken in Beato's studio in Yokohama. Album courtesy of the Smith College Museum of Art. Essay by Alona C. Wilson.
Click the picture for a larger view