WOW 
Monday, 19. May 2008
Plantwire
Plantwire is a fun, easy way to find and learn about plants.We provide information on many of the world's most beautiful, interesting, and important plants. You can search by plant name, flower color, or by tags. Our database now includes over 300 plants and is growing quickly. We provide general descriptive information, flower colors, and basic instructions on how to grow and propagate each plant. More than 6000 images are included.
Plantwire
(via The Presurfer)
Sunday, 18. May 2008
Tibet's Hidden Kingdom
Tibet at the end of the nineteenth century was one of the last great unexplored regions of the world – a mysterious kingdom on the rooftop of the world.As it became aware of the colonial designs of European power on central Asia, Tibet expelled westerners and closed its frontiers. As its isolation deepened, so did Tibet's allure and mystique.
European and North American 'gentlemen' explorers, government agents, missionaries and adventurers had managed to penetrate nearly every other corner of Africa and Asia. Yet Tibet remained as a tantalizing fruit ready to fall into the hand of the first person to pluck it.
Naturally, therefore, many British military and civil servants thought to pluck it on behalf of Queen Victoria and the British Empire.
In 1865, the British first sent Nain Singh, an unassuming Indian Hillman, into Tibet to map its treacherous mountain passes. This documentary follows his travels, triumphs and tribulations through some of the worlds highest altitudes and hottest deserts.
Later, Lord Curzon, the British viceroy in India, sent Younghusband with a military expedition into Tibet in 1904, where he forced a treaty upon the Dalai Lama, opening Tibet to Western trade.
Francis Younghusband, a British Army officer, colonialist and explorer, with the help of Nain Sing, managed to penetrate the hidden city of Lhasa and bring to an end the country’s years of isolation. He forced the conclusion of the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty (September 1904) that gained Britain long-sought trade concessions.
This documentary cleverly blends authentic black/white images and documents with modern colour footage of the once forbidden land and interviews with historians and Tibet experts.
Winner of the Cine Golden Eagle Award. this documentary is part of the "Treasure Seekers" series, produced for National Geographic in 2001.
Duration: 53 minutes
Wish you a nice and sunny Sunday!
Saturday, 17. May 2008
Yves Rossy - The 1st Flying Man
Yves Rossy, known as the 'Fusion Man,' flies with a jet-powered single wing over the Alps in Bex, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 14, 2008.A Swiss pilot strapped on a jet-powered wing and leaped from a plane Wednesday for the first public demonstration of the homemade device, turning figure eights and soaring high above the Alps.
Yves Rossy's performance in front of the world press capped five years of training and many more years of dreaming.
"This flight was absolutely excellent," the former fighter pilot and extreme sports enthusiast said after touching down on an airfield near the eastern shore of Lake Geneva. Rossy, 48, had stepped out of the Swiss-built Pilatus Porter aircraft at 7,500 feet and unfolded the rigid eight-foot wings strapped to his back before jumping.
Passing from free fall to a gentle glide, Rossy then triggered four jet turbines and accelerated to 186 miles per hour, about 65 miles per hour faster than the typical falling skydiver. A plane that flew at some distance beside him measured his speed.
Read the rest of the story by AP:
Swiss man soars above Alps with jet-powered wing.
See the slide show: Man soars above Alps with jet-powered wing (34 pics).
Visit Yves Rossy's Website: FusionMan.
Pua and Stewie - The Anteaters
Life must be interesting with two anteaters as pets.
It certainly looks interesting on Tamandua Girl' site It's all about the animals. The anteaters like to dress up, explore the house, go for walks, and take baths.
See also the FAQ - by - Pua and check out the 147 (!) videos.
The coolest dude among all animals!
Enjoy Pua and Stewie, the anteaters. Here as king/queen of the chair:
(via Dark Roasted Blend)
The Several Journeys of Reemus & Evolver
| The Several Journeys of Reemus is a unusual Point'n'Click adventure game: Help Reemus, the insect exterminator, and his buddy Liam defeat the Queen of the giant ants. Click around to solve the puzzles. Click Reemus for a relevant action. Click Liam for information on the level. Have fun! |
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 | Try to evolve your monkey into a modern human being. Can it be done? Click, click, click and see where that gets you: Evolver. |
Friday, 16. May 2008
Bellagio Fountains
You will find tons of videos on Bellagio Fountains on the net. But this one is SUPERBE!The uploader Michael John wrote: On a recent visit to Las Vegas my wife had I stayed at the Bellagio on the the Strip. Our room, on the 27th floor, overlooked the Bellagio's man-made Lake Como.
Music is by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman and is titled "Time to Say Goodbye."
The best way to experience the fountains is in person. They are an engineering marvel; the experience can be quite moving.
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
North Germany, 1835 World Atlas
The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection has over 17,400 maps online. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North American and South American maps and other cartographic materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa are also represented.
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Note: Over 100 new maps added in the Gallery Layer of Google Earth (download here) and to a new layer in Google Maps.
Montreal 1815
Terra Galleria
View on-line galleries of travel, adventure, landscape, and nature photography by Quang-Tuan Luong. The browsable image bank contains more than 18,000 pictures from around the world (including many large format images).
Terra Galleria
E.g. QT Luong has photographed in extraordinary detail each of the 58 US National Parks, resulting in this unique collection of more than 5000 pictures.
(Thanks Romana)
Thursday, 15. May 2008
Cannes Film Festival 2008: Streaming Live Cam
This year again, as it was already possible last year: Cannes Cam - Live from the Croisette 24/7.Coming to you live from a perch above the Palais red carpet, it's the IFC Cannes Cam, your 24-hour a day window into an important film festival in the world.
Watch stars on the red carpet cam like: Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchet, Harrison Ford, Penélope Cruz, Angelina Jolie, Clint Eastwood and others ...
They are covering Cannes all festival long. Check back for photos, video, articles, and more: Festival de Cannes Website.
Earth Temperature Surface Since 1884
Earth temperature surface since 1884.
Video released by NASA and GISS.
WorldWide Telescope
Think of Google Maps or Microsoft’s Live Maps. How dragging a map around lets you see the world in a new way. Zoom in. Zoom out. You have the whole world in a window on your screen.
Now, think of the sky. Perhaps you are familiar with 'Sky View' in Google Earth ... huh ... it makes Google Earth look stone age. So or so - I like this project from Microsoft and it is finally ready for download and play. Sorry, no Macs.
Far better integration than Google’s Sky View. A lot more telescopes. Try it!
WorldWide Telescope is a program that will give you access to the same collection of high resolution telescopic space imagery as used by scientific researchers. The system requirements are a little high and you'll need to install .net framework 2.0, but its worth it.
Want to see the same images that scientists at NASA use for their research or perform your own research with those images? Or do you want to see the Earth from the same perspective that astronauts see as they descend to Earth? How about taking a 5 minute break and viewing a panorama of a different city? Install WWT and start your explorations.
Science educator Roy Gould and Microsoft's Curtis Wong give a sneak preview of Microsoft's new WorldWide Telescope:
Wednesday, 14. May 2008
Kestrel Nest Live Streams
Here you can see a kestrel - a small, reddish-gray European falcon.See the upbringing of young kestrels in the town of Muttenz, near Basel, in Switzerland. Right now they are breeding and as you can see, this kestrel has four eggs ...
The cam is available 24/7 - color pictures during the day and black-and-white infrared pictures at night.
More info about this kestrel nest at Der Turmfalke - Vogel des Jahres 2008 (German only).
Other falcon nest live streams of high quality I found:
Columbus Peregrine Falcon Nest - also Live NestboxCam Streaming with Audio. The nest and cams are located on the 41st floor of the Rhodes State Office Tower in Columbus, Ohio.
Already one falcon chick.
Continuous streaming video feed: Peregrine FalconCam by the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning.
Three chicks.
Életvonal - Life line
With his short "Életvonal - Life line", Tomek Ducki won the Golden Dove at the 50th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film in 2007. Tomek’ style is realy unic and individual.This is just a part of a longer six minute film, which not available online.
Deep Lift & Canyon Shooter
| Jump from platform to platform and reach the exit without dying. Each time you want to jump, you have to chose an angle. The faster you run, the more powerful your jump will be. Note: moving underwater is different than on dry land ... good luck! Deep Lift |
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 | Normally I'm not a big fan of shooter games, but this one I like: Canyon Shooter. |
Tuesday, 13. May 2008
Amazing Tapir
Related to the rhinoceros, called a mountain cow, and having a flexible nose like an elephant: An unusual pet! Spotlight on the Tapir!Four species of tapir inhabit the planet today.
All of them are endangered.