Archive for December, 2009
Cars with Propellers: An Illustrated Overview
If you ever wanted to shred the air (and pedestrians) in your wake, here is your chance.
Why attach propeller to a perfectly normal car? Because you can! Because you can rid the car of transmission, clutch and brakes. Because you can utilize air power and powerful aircraft engines, gain lots of traction and never have to worry about wheelspins or getting stuck in snow or mud.
Some of these cars are even today seen running at the shows (with onlookers keeping a respectable distance). Most models feature sluggish low-speed acceleration (0 to 40mph), great maximum speed (up to 170mph), bad fuel economy and a ridiculous noise from propellers. All this does not take away from awesomeness of owing one.
(images via)
In the early 1900s some rather crazy-looking armored vehicles were used by the military; here is a “Sizaire-Berwick Wind Wagon” from 1905 (and some nameless model under it)
Women as explained by Engineers
This post is to all the guys for a good laugh, and to all the ladies who have a good sense of humor.
Caravan in the Desert
Camel Caravan Crossing the Lybian Desert
Caravan at Pyramids of Giza by lucinka
Camel Caravan Shadow by causalien
Pyramids of Giza by Richard Nowitz
Camel Caravan, Sahara Desert, Morocco by Simon Purdy
Camel Caravan Crossing Desert by phuongtrinh20890
Caravan by Swiatoslaw Wojtkowiak
The Best of Portrait Photography
Rediscover the beauty and the mystery of a human face
Portrait-photos.org is a recommended Russian photo site of outstanding quality.
Here are some samples from it:
Photo by Samvel Sevada
Photo by Styush
Photo by Oleg Kozlov
Photo by Alexander Verne
Photo by Mikhail Tarasov
Photo by Alexander Verne
Photo by Ivan Ushakov
Photo by Alex Zinin
Photo by Mikhail Tarasov
Photo by Asnat
Photo by Styush
Photo by Woman (Irina)
Earth’s Toughest Spots
Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) ride out high surf on blue-ice icebergs near Candlemas Island in the South Sandwich Islands.
For trees that grow on mountaintops near Cape Town, South Africa, wind can be a magnificent sculptor. Trees that can handle the wind’s effects best will alter their shape to deal with the load of the wind.
Silhouetted by the sun, the Hand of Fatima rock formations near Hombori village stretch toward the sky in Mali. The tallest tower rises 2,000 feet (610 meters) from the desert floor. Lore has it that the formation’s name stems from the five towers’ resemblance to a hand from the sky.
Erosion’s force becomes clear in these limestone cliffs in Port Campbell National Park, Australia. About five million years ago the area was a limestone plateau, but as sea levels rose the effects of surf and rain began to carve out these magnificent cliffs, along with stacks and arches.
A storm passes over Yellow Mounds Overlook in South Dakotas Badlands, casting light and shadow below. Although the regions name derives from the Oglala Sioux.
Travertine chimneys near Lake Abbe, Djibouti, were created by hot springs depositing
calcium carbonate the same process that creates stalactites and stalagmites. Some of the formations reach 165 feet (50 meters) near the lake located on the Ethiopia-Djibouti border.
A thick blanket of snow covers West Thumb Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. There are more geysers in this park than anywhere else in the world.
Towers of salt and a riverbed colored by crystallized salt create an otherworldly landscape in Ethiopias Danakil Desert. Sitting more than 300 feet (90 meters) below sea level, with temperatures reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius), local inhabitants prize the Danakil for one thing: its salt deposits.
A deep gorge drops some 650 feet (198 meters) near the abandoned city of Araden, Crete. Visitors can descend into the gorge and walk a little more than 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) to the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to magnificent scenery, the gorge provides a 2,460-foot (750-meter) descent to the sea.
Towering in close symmetry, these basalt columns near Fingals Cave form the base of the
Scottish island of Staffa. The columns formed when cooling lava flows met bedrock and the regions cold weather. The island contains three main caves.
Happy Holidays Greeting
Funny Fuzzies and Fuzzy Funnies to Make You Feel Warm
Here are just a few pics to brighten up your day – have a great time with your family and friends!
This house is both heavenly and… haunted:
(the 100-year old “Chimera House” in Kiev, featuring scores of gargoyles)
(image credit: Bukvar)
The way is fraught with dangers:
(image via)
What a perfect idea – to put the most spectacular Hubble telescope images on Holiday cards! Order them here.
(image credit: Hubble site)
Santa crunch:
Photo by Dennis Stock / Magnum, 1961
This is what Santa will have to do without reindeer:
Nike ad “Just Do It”
So they’d better be in good shape:
(original unknown)
Send a greeting to your fellow IT employee…
(image credit: Jen Cleary)
Join the festivities!
(image via)
This seems like a reasonable request:
Labor union members in Newark, New Jersey march against Prohibition, 1931.
More Groovy Christmas Trees and Almost-Trees
Here is the hubcap tree (or a bush) – this is a creation by artist Jim Pollack in Baltimore (on the left) – and a strangely festive structure made by fishermen at some Russian lake:
Gigantic Christmas tree (literally) goes through the roof of this family’s house – more info
(images via)
We’ve seen outrageous electic light truck decoration in Japan, but this Christmas decorated truck can hold its own against them – seen in St. Louis recently:
(image via)
Over-the-top light displays – just a couple; I am sure you’ll find pretty elaborate ones in your neighborhood:
Three-dimensional snow impressions, made on cars and snowbanks:
(images via)
This is the natural icicle formation – amazingly, showing the profile of the Old Man Winter (more info)
(image credit: Jeremy Olden)
Snow casualties… wicked sculptures:
(original unknown)
Irreverent Christmas
All tangled up:
(image credit: Zen Sutherland)
Tongue-in-cheek, or worse… -
(image credit: Rob Sheridan)
A costume gone wrong:
Pretty much everything done wrong:
The Miracle of Light
Now, here is something that really touches my heart. Take a grimey, miserable, mundane background – and add a touch of magic to it; in this case – little figures from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:
As we know nature does the same thing with little prompting: here is a real frosted window, worthy to be displayed in an art gallery -
(image credit: Ksenia Solokha)
Pause for a minute and look at it…
11 Extraordinary Black and White Landscapes
Landscapes can be a tough subject for any photographer. Black and white landscape photos can be particularly tricky to make interesting. This collection, however, manages to bridge that gap and create some astonishing images. If you would like to try your hand, then check out our list of tutorials at the end of the collection.
