18 Meters Tall Image

"the redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. no one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. the feeling they produce is not transferable. from them comes silence and awe. it’s not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes. no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time."
so wrote john steinbeck. but it was photographer michael nichols’ ambition to attempt such a photograph, an ambition finally made feasible given today’s technology and equipment. so over a period of nineteen days, nichols took 84 separate photographs, each of which needed over an hour to complete, to capture this 1500 year old, 300 feet tall giant redwood in california’s prairie creek redwoods state park. the resultant stitched image stands 18 meters tall (click to see it displayed).
coast redwoods house a complex ecosystem, with dense mats of soil (up to three feet thick) on the tree’s limbs and trunk folds which support ferns, confiers and berry bushes. this particular redwood has the most complex crown ever mapped by scientists. but as one of the most valuable timber species in the lumber industry, 90 to 98% of old growth redwood forest has now been felled. 

 At least 1,500 years old, a 300-foot titan in California’s Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park has the most complex crown scientists have mapped. This photo, taken by Michael Nichols, is a mosaic composed of 84 images.

Source: 

awkwardsituationist

Colosseum Carved into (real?) Tooth by ILLUSION CO.LTD.

First I find it here, and as it claimed to be real tooth that Colosseum was carved into, I've done a little research and discovered that it is toothpaste advertisement campaign, which was to convey this “Roman Civilization Cavity”, i.e. not to let germs settle down on your teeth, or else you will have to end up with such a “Colosseum” cavity.
The two CGI sculptures related to Civilization-Egypt and Civilization-Rome.
Therefore, the CGI picture neither shows a real tooth, nor a colosseum carved into it. It is not so amazing fact, but a good health campaign nevertheless!

A GYMNAST BASE jumper attempts a somersault on a high bar, perched on the edge of a cliff! What

 could go wrong? Well, a lot really.

The presenter Arde Sende Osen admits he thought the base jumper would be killed after witnessing the 'worst' accident he has ever see at work

A second camera shows the startling danger that that the daredevil is left in when it all goes wrong

But the helpless crew are relieved to see the parachute open as he gets closer towards the ground

Richard Henriksen, a Norwegian surgeon, who doubles as a daredevil was a victim of a stunt gone wrong.

While filming a daredevil segment for the “Normal Madness” TV show, his plan was to swing around the high bar and somersault off the cliff but while he was swinging around the bar, the frames broke loose and he disappeared from site, flying off the 4,000-foot cliff. Luckily he did not crash into the rocky surface and was able to open his parachute for a safe landing.

Credits: Mediakraze and Daily Mail

Palm Oil: The Other Kind of Oil Spill

 I really get upset seeing things like this on net! A photo of devastated nature circling as nature(???)... I understand that beauty is in shapes and forms... and image itself is beautiful, but its purpose is to raise awareness of ever growing destruction of nature, deforestation in particular, and also to hazards of monoculture, and peatland clearance, practices which release vast amounts of carbon dioxide.
 Now I know there are ignorant people and people who simply don't care, so I don't react on first, but when things like this turn viral; that's a different pair of shoes! Then I need.....
 


  DEFORESTATION FOR PALM OIL Deforestation to make way for palm oil plantations is getting to be a huge problem.
Palm oil can be found in many of our household products.
Acres of forests are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations.
The United Nations links this to global warming directly.
Not only is this leading to climate change, but endangered species such as the orangutan population, is being completely wiped out!

 Visit http://a-z-animals.com and sign the petition against palm oil.

Products Containing Palm Oil

Licorne thermonuclear test in French Polynesia

It has been fired at 18.30 on July 3, 1970, and yielded 914 kilotons, quite less than Canopus, but still impressive and dreadful.

These images made by the French Army are scanned from a hard-copy and processed to remove dust and scratches by  Pierre J.

 

Zaha Hadid Architects - City of Dreams Hotel Tower Macau

Zaha Hadid Architects - City of Dreams Hotel Tower Macau ~ YouTube

 

 

 Zaha Hadid Architects

Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid, DBE is an Iraqi-British architect. She received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004—the first woman to do so—and the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011. Wikipedia

The 780-room hotel was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects for property developer and casino specialist Melco Crown Entertainment.

                                                                             Images and animation are by Methanoia.

Other works: 

                                                                         Zaha Hadid's Beko Building In Belgrade

                                     © Unique Circle Yachts / Zaha Hadid Architects for Bloom+Voss Shipyards (via/more)

Zaha Hadid has collaborated with the Hamburg-based shipbuilders Blohm+Voss to design a new concept for a family of superyachts: a 128-meter master prototype that will  eventually spawn five, fully-engineered, 90-meter “Unique Circle Yachts.” According to Hadid, the overall design is informed by “fluid dynamics and underwater ecosystems, with hydrodynamic research shaping the design of the hull.”

Meet the Ultra Punk Mary River Turtle

The Mary River turtle, Elusor macrurus, is an endangered short-necked turtle that inhabits the Mary River in South-East Queensland, Australia. In the 1960s and 1970s, they were popular as pets in Australia, with about 15,000 sent to shops every year during a ten-year period. They were originally known as the "Penny Turtle" or "Pet Shop Turtle". Elusor is a monotypic genus representing a very old lineage of turtles that has all but disappeared from the evolutionary history of Australia.

                                                               algae punk-rock hairstyle; photo: Chris Van Wyk

 The Mary River turtle is one of Australia's largest turtles. Specimens in excess of 50 cm carapace length have been recorded. Hatchlings have a straight carapace length of 2–3.5 cm. Adult Mary River turtles have an elongated, streamlined carapace that can be plain in colour or intricately patterned. Overall colour can vary from rusty red to brown and almost black. The plastron varies from cream to pale pink. The skin colouration is similar to that of the shell and often has salmon pink present on the tail and limbs. The iris can be pale blue. Mary River turtles use bimodal respiration, and are therefore capable of absorbing oxygen via the cloaca whilst underwater. However, they do regularly come to the surface to breathe air in the usual way.

                                                                                                    photo: Chris Van Wyk

 A unique feature of male Mary River turtles is the tail, which can measure almost two-thirds of the carapace length. The tail has haemal arches, a feature lost in all other modern turtles. It is probably a derived feature but its function is not understood. Another unique feature is the exceptionally long barbels under the mandible. Proportionately, the Mary River turtle has the smallest head and largest hind feet of all the species within the catchment, which contributes to its distinction of being the fastest swimmer. Wikipedia

                                                                                 photo: National Aquarium

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