The Tasmanian Giant Crab is the king of crabs
Add the Tasmanian Giant Crab (Pseudocarcinus gigas) to one of the animals you’ll want to see in person one day. Moreover, the crab’s…
Keep readingCategory: Architecture & Design
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Topiary sculpture of a sleeping baby bird
Keep reading: Topiary sculpture of a sleeping baby birdHere’s a bird you’ll never get tired of looking at. Children’s author and illustrator Claude Ponti’s gigantic topiary named Poussin Endormi or Sleepy Chick resides in Jardin des Plantes’ botanical garden in Nantes, France. The outdoor installation relaxes nearby Ponti’s zany other works, the sleeping koala. Who wouldn’t want these in their front yard? Check…
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Long exposure traffic lights in the night
Keep reading: Long exposure traffic lights in the nightPhotographer Lucas Zimmermann’s long exposure photos of traffic lights in the fog are mesmerizing. The images appear as part two of the German fine art photographer’s Traffic Light series. “The unknown hue of blueish light is hidden for the human eye, but the photography shows us things we otherwise overlook, such as a simple traffic light on…
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Photographer captures rare Devil Horns solar eclipse over the Persian Gulf
Keep reading: Photographer captures rare Devil Horns solar eclipse over the Persian GulfOn December 26, 2019, amateur photographer Elias Chasiotis captured an incredible ‘red devil horns’ sunrise over the Persian Gulf during a rare solar eclipse. The Athens-based photographer was vacationing in the coastal city of Al Wakrah in Qatar just before the new year when he snapped the rare spectacle of the moon blocking the sun.…
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Yarn artist Liisa Hietanen makes human embroidered figures
Keep reading: Yarn artist Liisa Hietanen makes human embroidered figuresKnitting is a popular hobby in Finland. But 30-year-old artist Liisa Hietnanen takes the practice to a whole new level. She uses wool to create life-size crocheted sculptures of the neighbors in her village. “The slow handcraft techniques work as a counterforce to the accelerating pace in different areas of life,” says the artist, who…
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Beautiful apples from around the world
Keep reading: Beautiful apples from around the worldWilliam Mullan is a photographer who specializes in taking pictures of rare apples from around the world. The golden Knobbed Russet, the star-shaped api etoile, hard red Black Oxford apple — these are just a few of the varieties that appear in Mullan’s 200-page photo-book, Odd Apples. Writes Atlas Obscura on how Mullan’s fascination with…
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Rejected designs for the Eiffel Tower
Keep reading: Rejected designs for the Eiffel TowerIn the 1880s, French designers Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier mocked up what would become the Eiffel Tower. You can even see the size in comparison to other landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty. Thankfully, someone held on to the 14 other rejected designs. Number 3 seems to come closest to the final design, with embellished trusses…
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Waves in progress
Keep reading: Waves in progressHere’s something you can look at for hours: looping waves in progress. Created using visual effect software Houdini by Polish motion designer who goes by the name 00.032, according to her dribble page, the piece takes after Matthieu Lehanneur’s original physical work of the same vein. The French designer Lehanneur constructed a furniture collection called…
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Time travel back to New York City, 1911
Keep reading: Time travel back to New York City, 1911In 1911, Swedish film company Svenska Biografteatern recorded its trip to New York. Fortunately, the footage survived and most recently was speed-corrected (slowed down) and reproduced with the ambient audio of street sounds of car horns, horses, and police whistles to give us a sense of the environment back then. There’s also a color version of the…
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The treadmill was originally a torture device
Keep reading: The treadmill was originally a torture deviceTreadmills were originally torture devices, meant to break the mind, body, and spirit of English prisoners. Two hundred years ago, the treadmill was invented in England as a prison rehabilitation device. It was meant to cause the incarcerated to suffer and learn from their sweat. Groups of prisoners were forced to walk 6 hours a…
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Spooky Indonesian church shaped like a chicken
Keep reading: Spooky Indonesian church shaped like a chickenThere is a bizarre-looking church in the Indonesian jungle that’s shaped like a giant chicken. Located in the forests of Magelang, Central Java (here it is on Google Maps, Gereja Ayam or “Chicken Church” was built in 1992 by Daniel Alamsjah. He foresaw the structure in the late 80s when he received a spiritual message…
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Why pirates actually wore an eye patch
Keep reading: Why pirates actually wore an eye patchEye patch, parrot, and wooden leg, and a limp. Those are the essential ingredients to becoming a pirate. But did you know that pirates wore an eye patch, not because of a missing eye, but because the patch increased their sight instantly inside low lit areas? Early technology to avoid temporary blindness During raids, pirates…
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The musical road in the Netherlands that sings Frisian national anthem
Keep reading: The musical road in the Netherlands that sings Frisian national anthemThere’s a road in the Netherlands that starts to sing the Frisian Folk Song when cars hit the right speed of 60 kph/40 mph limit. The musical road resides in the village of Jelsum in the north part of Holland. The structure of the strategically laid “rumble strips” was built in 2018 to celebrate the…
