Can we give my friends a ride to school??

Roadside rest

Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival opens on January 5th.  The month long event is held in the Heilongjiang Province in North East China. The weather stays cold enough to keep the sculptures frozen for the event.  The Ice comes from the Songhua River.  More images can be viewed here.

Mad Max

Schmid

The Copenhagen Wheel

iPad users click here to watch the video

Merry Christmas

Simulated aging process

Christmas watch dog

Native bee inventory

Sam Droege is head of the USGS Native Bee Invertory and Monitoring Program in Maryland.  Who knew there are thousands of bee species in the US?  Sam is on the way to documenting them all.  Enlarge the image by clicking on it to appreciate the detail.

See additional images as well as a video here.

Manarola, Italy

Those damn hippies

The Hornet

Blocking the bread aisle

Cadillac concept car- 1959

Taking the plunge

Global nuclear detonations

Have you ever wondered just how many nuclear devices have been detonated on our planet?  The US has won the gold medal in this category.  The Soviets have fallen short in their efforts, but have managed to take home the silver.  Any guesses on the bronze medal winner?

iPad users click here to watch the video

Free Bill Posters

Hiro Yamagata art

Sometime around 1995 Hiro Yamagata spent $20M in frame-off restorations of twentytwo Mercedes 220a cabriolets.  He then painted each of the cars differently while maintaining a nature theme.  The project was titled Earthly Paradise. The cars were displayed at the Hollywood Oscars in 1996.  Eleven of the cars remain in the US while the other 11 were shipped back to a Japanese museum.

This example is currently for sale for $295,000.  Arrangements to purchase can be made through Hemmings Daily.

Earthscape artist

The Brown sisters

Nicholas Nixon has documented his wife Bebe and her sisters Heather, Mimi, and Laurie for thirty years. Click here and then scroll down to walk back through time with the Brown sisters.

Tilting bridge

Located in Gateshead, England is the Millennium Bridge.  It is the world's only tilting bridge.

The Bear and the Hare

People seldom think about the time and effort needed to create the things in our lives with which we come in contact.  I think this video can serve as an illustration.

Watch the two minute video and try to imagine how it might have been produced.  Then watch the second video that shows just a portion of the vast amount of work that was necessary.

Is your doctor making you sick?

As with every study there are unanswered questions, but this study suggests that your doctor's tie and long sleeves may be a real risk of transmitting germs from one patient to another.

Juan Gonzalez, keeper of the glasses.....

John Lennon was murdered 33 years ago tonight.  13 years ago a bronze statue of Lennon was installed in a park in Havana, Cuba.  People kept stealing the iconic Lennon glasses.  When they tried to glue them on people simply broke them off.

A 96 year old Cuban, Juan Gonzalez, has become the guardian of the glasses.  Juan has spent most of his days in the last 13 years in the park.  When tourists show up to take pictures Juan takes the glasses from his pocket and gently places them on Lennon's face.  When they leave he removes them and tucks them into his pocket.

Russian police tactics

iPad users click here to view the video

Self service

I would have guessed that self service was the way gasoline is purchased in the United States, but I would be wrong.  Laws in Oregon and New Jersey (since the 1950's) make it illegal for persons to pump their own gasoline.  As an odd twist to the law in New Jersey, those consumers wishing to purchase diesel for their vehicle can pump it themselves.

Welcome back, Radio Pants

With a winter storm warning and falling snow it seemed like a good day to put up the Christmas tree.  Radio Pants was liberated and took up his seasonal post on the tree.  It is his twenty- fourth Christmas with us. Read the story of Radio Pants here.

Riding the range

Troubling addiction

Golden Gate

This striking image of the Golden Gate Bridge was captured by Ali Erturk a San Francisco based photographer.

Dutch cycling paths

iPad users click here to view the video

Menswear Dog

You live in NYC and see a puppy in the window.   You take him home and name him Bodhe. You raise him to be a model.  You design/create a wardrobe for him and start a blog.  It is fun as well as successful so you quit your day jobs and ride the wave.

Follow the blog at http://mensweardog.tumblr.com/

Pushmobiles

100 years ago they raced "pushmobiles" in Worshester, Massachusetts.  The April 1914 issue of Boys Life had an article that gave plans for making your very own pushmobile.  See it and additional photos here.

Beer can stove

Some of the best travel blogs are those that are written by people who see the world on a bicycle.  Link jumping on the internet brought me to this video and the blog associated with it.  You can find the blog at http://tomsbiketrip.com/

Colorful serpents

Atheris hispida is a nocturnal venomous viper found in central Africa.  Learn more here.

Diadophis punctatus regalis, commonly called the regal ringneck lives in the mountains of the southwest United States and northern Mexico. Learn more here.

Happy Thanksgiving

Flame from water

iPad users click here to view the video

Seeking speed 1913

Meat head

I've got my eye on you

I'm a little teapot

Catching rays

View more of Tadao Cern's images here.

Public toilet

This glass enclosed public toilet in Ichibara, Japan is surrounded by fence for privacy.  It is an installation in the city's art festival.

Some ads are simply better than others

iPad users click here.

Scooter transport

Sidewalk chalk

View more of David Zinn's chalk drawings on his Facebook page.

Eduardo Kobra

Eduardo Kobra is a Brazilian arts who recently finished this massive piece in Lexington, Kentucky.  It follows his trademark style of using an array of bright colors.  His previous piece is in Moscow where he painted a mural as a tribute to Maya Plisetskaya who is one of leading names in Russian ballet.  She turned 88 in October.

Taking the fall

Creative parking

Sulky racer

Camel fair

The annual five-day camel and livestock fair is currently running in Pushkar, India.  An opportunity to mingle with 300,000 people while enjoying 20,000 camels, horses, and cattle.  Additional information about the fair is available here.

Pixelstick

The pixelstick is a piece of hardware used to paint with light, rather than computer software used to rework an existing video.  For an explanation of how it works see their promotional video on Kickstarter by clicking here.

When pigs fly

Dance like no one is watching

Makerbot and Robohand

iPad users click here.

An inspiring story about a woodworker who developed a robotic hand for himself and then went on to enrich the lives of children born with amniotic band syndrome.  More information available at the Makerbot site.

A little off of the top

Cozy ride

1912 Henderson

Landwasser Viaduct

A Swiss engineering feat from 1901.  Read more here.

FEI contest winners

This image shows the aquatic third stage of an Asian tiger mosquito magnified 800 times.  It was the winner of one of the contests that invites people to submit FEI (electron microscope) images.

Additional images are here.