cattleya

Inscriptions in Jadoua trees is a fascinating

2011-11-25T00:19:00.001+02:00

Inscriptions in Jadoua trees is a fascinating

Sculpture in Jadoua trees or wood in general is not an easy thing and a real innovation, but when mastered by, here you will see the sculptures of the artist Dr. Randall. Bonnie famous wildlife artist.

I hope you watch the fun

Earth At Night

2011-11-17T16:55:00.001+02:00

Earth As Never Seen Before
Amazing Video From The International Space Station To Earth At Night

The Longest Beard In The World

2011-11-17T16:50:00.001+02:00

The Longest Beard In The World

Sarwan Singh, the man with the longest beard in the world. His beard is long 2.36 and he also entered the Guinness Book of Records as man who has the longest beard in the world.

Microsoft erects world’s largest ‘Windows Phone’ in NYC

2011-11-12T00:16:00.001+02:00

Microsoft erects world’s largest ‘Windows Phone’ in NYC

Microsoft has erected the world's largest "Windows Phone' in New York City in celebration of the launch of its three new Windows Phones. Perhaps Microsoft is taking the concept of increased screen real-estate too far — in celebration of the launch of its three new Windows Phones – the samsung Focus S, Focus Flash, and HTC Radar 4G, Microsoft has assembled a six-story ‘Windows Phone’ in the Herald Square area of New york City. The large six-story screen operates more like a large television than a phone with each individual tile fed by various video feeds that can be moved to accommodate live stage performances. It would appear that the big ‘M’ is trying to foster some much needed publicity for its own mobile phone platform. Microsoft has been lagging somewhat behind competitors — Apple and its ubiquitous I phone, and the strong presence of Android-based phones on the market. Time will tell whether the new phones will prove popular among smartphone consumers, but in the meantime no one can fault Microsoft for trying to promote its latest offerings.

Super Awesome Pumpkin

2011-11-03T23:36:00.003+02:00

Super Awesome Pumpkin

When it comes to All Hallow’s Eve, pumpkin carving is a time-honored tradition. However, while most of us are content to simply slice a boring, old smiley face out of our big giant gourds, the more motivated artiste has the potential to create some truly amazing artwork. Below are 11 creative, funny and completely awesome pumpkin carvings.

When Angle Isn’t Exactly Right

2011-10-30T01:08:00.000+02:00

When Angle Isn’t Exactly Right

Amazingly colourful aerial pictures that highlight damage to Earth wrought by industry

2011-10-28T00:17:00.002+02:00

Polluted America: Amazingly colourful aerial pictures that highlight damage to Earth wrought by industry

At first glance they're beautiful, but these incredible snaps reveal something far more ugly.

J Henry Fair's spectacular aerial images show the devastation man has wreaked on America. Pollution is exposed on a massive scale, creating striking vivid colours that highlight the scars of spillages, open cast mining, chemical and oil leaks, industrial decay and deforestation. Mr Fair, from New York, said the beauty of the pictures draws people in and then they learn the reasons for the vivid colours and the shapes.He said: 'I have been concerned about environmental issues for a long time as well as being fascinated by the graphic beauty of machines and the importance of industrial decay. 'All of these interests combine in this body of work. 'They came together a few years ago with the realisation that this subject matter could move people to potentially have the power to change our direction for the better. By the time I am actually photographing something, so much research has gone into the subject that my understanding of it forces me to see it for what it is. During the shooting process, I am looking to compose and create images that will captivate, so in some sense I am attempting to make a silk purse from a sow's ear. I have found that the reason this project has had so much success is because the beauty of the images initially draws audiences in; they are captivating in the same way that timeless pieces by the great abstract expressionists are. I think that if the initial beauty in the photographs was not present, the project would not have the same affect on people. Because the pictures are so beautiful, people want to learn more about what is going on in each image. Mr Fair has a photographic studio in New York and his images are available in his new book called 'The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis.'

a Rocky Architectural Oddity in Iran

2011-10-25T23:13:00.001+02:00

Kandovan Village, a Rocky Architectural Oddity in Iran

Kandovan is an extraordinary ancient village in the province of East Azarbaijan, near the city of Tabriz, Iran. With its at least 800 years existence, this remarkable place is inhabited by 670 people and offers scenic beauty for its travelers. With homes carved inside rocks, some of them 700 years old, the Kandovan village is said to have been partially formed by volcanic remains from a strong Mount Sahand eruptions hundreds of years ago , As you will see in the small movie below, this is a place where houses are not built on a mountain, but within a mountain. Another interesting aspect is the fact that the rock acts as an energy efficient material, keeping the house cool during summer and warm during winter. This is why most of the inhabitants here do not use heaters or air conditioning systems. The intriguing architecture of this village seems to defy all rules and travelers are usually fascinated by its incredible slopes and irreverent paths. Recently a hotel was built, inspired by and connected to the “style” of the village. The “Rocky Hotel” features beautiful cave interiors with very comfortable living spaces. What we found interesting is that it takes ten months for four people to dig a room. Be sure to check out the video to see how these rooms look.

Funny political photos

2011-10-23T00:22:00.000+02:00

Politics is one of the most popular topics in our time and there there is one thing about politicians to which everybody might agree: sometimes they are really funny!

Nicolas Sarkozy

Queen Elizabeth II

Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy

Vladimir Putin

Barack Obama, Silvio Berlusconi and Dmitry Medvedev pose for a family photo during the G20 summit.

Angela Merkel

George Bush.

Dmitry Medvedev

Nicolas Sarkozy

Boris Yeltsin

Silvio Berlusconi

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

Relax, Mr. Sarkozy!

Obama Alter Ego.

Putin’s comments.

Gordon Brown sleeping

Pope John meets Bush.

Bush’s Heart.

Funny Animals

2011-10-21T01:16:00.002+02:00

Lime Cat

Limecat is an internet meme featuring an angry-looking cat with a lime cut to resemble a helmet on its head. This famous picture became a internet sensation meme with thousands of captions were added all over the internet.

Don’t Shoot

Don’t Shoot
This poor kitty has be held up at gun point. Our poor little kitty looks cute when it holds up is little paws up high as it gives in to the demands of our evil gunman.

Funny Photo of a Pidgin reading a Pooping On People Book

When you life is a Pidgin there are many simple things to do. Take a stroll in the park, hangout on some window ledges, apartment roofs. But the most sacrid activity that all Pidgin’s love to do is Poop on People. Those annoying people who always keep moving in more and more each year, stealing our precious space. It’s time for a little Pidgin payback.

Mouse Video Game

This is a funny picture of a mouse playing a small version of a Video Game. It looks like our mouse friend is also the winner! We are not sure who took this picture, but it was too cute to pass up so we have listed it here n odd animals. Winner by KO!

Monkey Business

Now thats some Series Monkey Business

Time to get to work. This monkey has a busy work schedule. At least he has taken 5 seconds from his important business call to pose for our photo. This Monkey is really series, or is it even a Monkey?

Top 5 People with Incredible Abilities

2011-10-18T01:04:00.001+02:00

Top 5 people with incredible abilities

5. The Incredible Brain (Daniel Tammet)

Daniel Paul Tammet is a British high-functioning autistic savant gifted with a facility for mathematical calculations, sequence memory, and natural language learning. He was born with congenital childhood epilepsy. Experiencing numbers as colors or sensations is a well-documented form of synesthesia, but the detail and specificity of Tammet’s mental imagery of numbers is unique. In his mind, he says, each number up to 10,000 has its own unique shape and feel, that he can “see” results of calculations as landscapes, and that he can “sense” whether a number is prime or composite. He has described his visual image of 289 as particularly ugly, 333 as particularly attractive, and pi as beautiful. Tammet not only verbally describes these visions, but also creates artwork, particularly watercolor paintings, such as his painting of Pi.
Tammet holds the European record for memorising and recounting pi to 22,514 digits in just over five hours. He also speaks a variety of languages including English, French, Finnish, German, Spanish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Estonian, Icelandic, Welsh and Esperanto. He particularly likes Estonian, because it is rich in vowels. Tammet is creating a new language called Mänti. Tammet is capable of learning new languages very quickly. To prove this for the Channel Five documentary, Tammet was challenged to learn Icelandic in one week. Seven days later he appeared on Icelandic television conversing in Icelandic, with his Icelandic language instructor saying it was “not human.”

4. The Boy with Sonar Vision (Ben Underwood)

Ben Underwoodtaught is blind, both of his eyes were removed( cancer) when he was 3. Yet, he plays basketball, rides on a bicycle, and lives a quite normal life. He taught himself to use echo location to navigate around the world. With no guide-dogs, he doesn’t even need hands: he uses sound. Ben makes a short click sound that bounces back from objects. Amazingly, his ears pick up the ecos to let him know where the objects are. He’s the only person in the world who sees using nothing but eco location, like a sonar or a dolphin.

3. The Rubberboy (Daniel Browning Smith)

Five time Guiness Record holder, The Rubberboy is the most flexible man alive and the most famous contortionist. He has been in many professional basketball or baseball games and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, ESPN’s Sports Center, Oprah Winfrey, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Cirque du Soleil, Best Damn Sports Show Period, The Discovery Channel, Men in Black 2, HBO’s Carnivale, and CSI: NY and American got a talent. He dislocates his arms to crawl through an unstrung tennis racquet. He performs contortion handstands and unique acrobatics.

2. Mister Eat-it-All (Michel Lotito)

Michel Lotito (born 1950) is a French entertainer, famous as the consumer of undigestables, and is known as Monsieur Mangetout (Mister Eat-it-all). Lotito’s performances are the consumption of metal, glass, rubber and so on in items such as bicycles, televisions, a Cessna 150, and smaller items which are disassembled, cut-up and swallowed. The aircraft took roughly two years to be ‘eaten’ from 1978 to 1980. He began eating unusual material while a child and has been performing publicly since 1966. Lotito does not often suffer from ill-effects due to his diet, even after the consumption of materials usually considered poisonous. When performing he consumes around a kilogram of material daily, preceding it with mineral oil and drinking considerable quantities of water during the ‘meal’. He apparently possesses a stomach and intestine with walls of twice the expected thickness, and his digestive acids are, allegedly, unusually powerful, allowing him to digest a certain portion of his metallic meals.

1. King Tooth (Rathakrishnan Velu)

On August 30, 2007, the eve of Malaysia’s 50th Independence Day, Rathakrishnan Velu (or Raja Gigi, as he is known locally) broke his own world record for pulling train with his teeth, this time with 6 coaches attached weighing 297.1 tons over a distance of 2.8 metres at the Old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station. Raja Gigi, from Tampin in Malaysia learned a technique of concentrating his powers to any part of his body from an Indian guru at a young age of 14.

indian wedding traditions

2011-10-16T16:55:00.002+02:00

indian wedding traditions

Sweets, eggs, and money are woven into to wedding themes of India. They symbolize, respectively, a sweet life, feretility, and prosperity. The Hindu wedding ceremony includes customary rituals to ward off evil spirits. After the wedding vows have been exchanged the groom's father or brother showers flower petals on the newlyweds; then he holds a coconut over the bride and groom's heads and circles it around them three times. An Indian groom often wears a turban with a veil of flowers streaming down in front of his face to protect him from evil spirits.

Traditional Indian brides wear pink and red saris on their wedding day, adorning themselves extravagantly with as much jewelry as possible. Henna staining, a customary art form, is still practiced by Indian brides to be. On the eve of her wedding vows, following a traditional ceremonial cleansing, the bride-to-be will have her hands and feet painted with henna, in beautiful paisley or medallion patterns.

indian wedding traditions

flamenco dance

2011-10-16T00:26:00.000+02:00

Flamenco Dance alegrias"Gades"

i like it :)

Traditional Dancers

2011-10-16T00:11:00.002+02:00

Tshwane cultural troupe - Temba, South Africa

traditional architecture in africa

2011-10-15T22:46:00.000+02:00

Traditional architecture in Africa

In Yemen :

Traditional Asian Architecture

2011-10-15T01:16:00.000+02:00

Traditional Asian Architecture

Hong Kong

__________________

Thai Architecture

Myanmar Traditional Architecture

China

INDONESIA

Gallery of European traditional costumes & cultural uniforms 4

2011-10-14T20:27:00.003+02:00

Macedonia:
Macedonia's dress is very different from any other culture in Europe. As a very young social identity of Slavs that now retrojectively considers itself the descendants of the ancient Macedonians (and Alexander the Great in many Macedonians' minds), Macedonians have created a dress reflecting their independence from Yugoslavia. Due to its geography, we see Greek, Albanian, and Turkish elements alongside their native Slavic heritage. It is among the most encumbering of European costumes.

Bulgaria:
Bulgarian traditional dress is unique in its own, but strongly Slavic like its people. There is a wide diversity in their costumes for men and women, reflecting a proud and long familial tradition in Europe's oldest Slavic nation. Cities like Varna take great pride in their costumes, and many families still personally knit one for their weddings.

Romania, Moldova:
Romanian dresses are highly unique, presenting a variety of influences from the Turkish Muslim, Slavic, and even Gypsy occupations in Romania throughout their long history. Moldovan costumes are highly similar (though also diverse) because of the common history, culture, and language Moldova and Romania (Wallachia) have shared, with the two countries only dividing because of Cold War politics.

Czech, Slovak:
Czech and Slovak costumes display regional variation due to these two peoples' distinct political and geographic history, despite their almost identical genetic and linguistic heritage. The Czech and Bohemian people spent most of their history under German rule after centuries of proud independence, whilst the Slovaks were ruled by the Hungarians until the destruction of Austria-Hungary in 1918. Hungary was ceremonially under German (Habsburg) political and therefore cultural rule, since the Germans were the wealthiest component of the empire. As a result, both Czech and Slovak costumes demonstrate German influence, but there are still noticeable regional and Hungarian influences on Slovak costumes.

Poland:
Polish costumes are unique, though distinctly Slavic. Poland as one of the oldest and proudest Slavic countries delivered influence on many of the neighboring Slavic cultures. There is also significant regional variation in the different regions where ethnic Poles live, such as Ukraine (Galicia), Lithuania, and Silesia.

Lithuania:
Lithuanian costumes are unique and divergent from all other neighboring costumes in their historic effort to promote and create a distinct culture seeking freedom from Soviet and Polish influence. They are unusually simple.

Latvia:
Latvian costumes are relatively simple and warm due to their very cold climate. We see many influences in their national dress, including those reflecting historic occupant nations (Poland, Russia, Sweden, Germany), and also unique characteristics in their attempt to build a unique culture to encourage their independence from Russia.

Belarus:
Belarusian costumes are largely derived from Russian and other regional influences, reflecting their strong Slavic heritage. We see great similarities to Polish costumes due to the fact that the Slavs of the region (there was no Belarusian identity) were under Polish-Lithuanian rule for nearly 400 years.

Hungary:
Hungarian dress is unique because of the long history of Hungary as a major independent European power. During the eclipse of Hungary's independence due to the devastating invasion of Hungary by the Ottoman jihad, and during 400 years of German rule in the Austrian Empire (1526-1918), Hungarian identity remained strongly independent. The Hungarians were given political and ethnic status second only to the Germans in this massive multi-ethnic empire, and thus the Hungarians spent most of their time as subjects to the Germans defining themselves as a separate community. Hungarians remain proud equestrians, harking back to their heritage as steppe riders who entered the Hungarian plain from the Ural Mountains over a millennium ago before settling to become one of the most magnificent powers of Eastern Europe.

Estonia:
Estonian dress is unique despite their cultural, religious (Lutheran), ethnic, and linguistic similarities with their Finnish brothers to the north. Their distinct features in their dress reflect Estonia's struggle against foreign occupants (Russians, Poles, Lithuanians, etc.). Naturally, there is great Scandinavian/Germanic influence, but also evident influence from the Poles, likely proliferated through Polish-ruled Latvia/Livonia because the Poles never ruled Estonia.

Ukraine:
Ukrainian costumes, like their culture, are linked to other Slavic ones, particularly Russian, but their distinct historical hardships due to national, religious, and socioeconomic conflicts has caused the formation of a separate Ukrainian identity. Due to changing political boundaries and migration, ethnic Ukrainian minorities (Rus, Ruthenes, Rusyn) populate some of eastern Poland, Moldova, Romania, and Russia. There is blatant variation across these regional communities. The region of Galicia, straddling Poland and Ukraine and previously split between two bitter rival Ukrainian and Polish populations that mutually engaged in ethnic cleansing throughout the early 20th century, was mostly transferred to the Ukrainian SSR after 1939 and again in 1945 by the Soviet Union. Marked differences are present in this region, as well as Central Ukraine, that diverge from the standard.
(Thanks to Ms. Herasymenko for the picture corrections)

from the New York Ukrainian Festival

Russia:
Russian traditional dress are unique, but closely linked to other Slavic cultures' national costumes. They are some of the most varied of all European costumes.

Gallery of European traditional costumes & cultural uniforms 3

2011-10-14T20:26:00.000+02:00

Slovenia:
Slovene costumes are unusual in their own, though very similar to their Slavic cousins in Croatia to the southeast. There is a presence of German influence in the male legging, a legacy of Austrian rule for five centuries.

Malta:
Maltese costumes are incredibly unique, reflecting the island nation's distinct history as an independent people. They are largely believed to be related genetically to the Italians and Mediterannean peoples with a similar culture, though they speak a language related to Arabic that they inherited either from the ancient Phoenecians or from the conquering Muslim Arabs. We see some Italian, Greek, and Turkish influence in their dress.

Bosnia:
Bosnia's costumes are very different due to their unusual history in the Balkans. They are a Slavic people speaking a Slavic language, though some 40% of their population is nominally Islamic due to nearly 500 years of Turkish rule and often forced conversion. Thus, we see a slight Turkish style in their clothing.

Albania:
As Europe's sole Muslim-majority nation (Albania is 70% Muslim, though highly nominal), Albanian clothing is expresses blatant Turkish influences as a result of nearly 500 years of Ottoman rule following the victory of their jihad against Gjergj Skanderbeg. We see some Greek and Slavic influences also, preceding the Islamic assault.

Serbia, Montenegro:
Serbia as one of Europe's proudest Slavic peoples has a distinctly Slavic traditional dress generally free of foreign influence, reflecting Serbs' historic resilience to foreign conquest even during hundreds of years of Turkish Ottoman rule. Montenegrins, an independent nation yet again after 2006 after breaking from Serbia, have largely the same genetic, cultural, and linguistic heritage as the Serbs, but a distinct history and costume. Montenegro was one of the few Balkan states to remain free from the Ottoman orbit (typically called "Zeta"), but was included into Yugoslavia in 1918 and again under the socialist union after 1944.

Montenegrin costumes:

.

to be continue ...last part

Gallery of European traditional costumes & cultural uniforms ..2

2011-10-14T20:22:00.001+02:00

Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland (includes Saami tribes)
All of Scandinavia wears a common or similar dress largely influenced by Denmark and Germany because of centuries of shared rule by the Danes (greatly influenced by their German relatives to the south). Finland's dress is related to the Swedish a common heritage springing from nearly 600 years of Swedish rule.

The Saami tribes of northern Scandinavia have a very unique dress of their own because of their isolation from Germanic culture to the south. Their ethnicity is the same.

Greece:
The Greek costume is highly unique, with no other country similar to it. Greeks are very proud of their military tradition, and treat these costume-donning regulars on the public squares of Athens with great respect.

Italy:
Italy's costumes are diverse, reflecting Italy's history as a nation seldom unified throughout its history, though its regions retain the same ethnicity and culture.

Ireland, Scotland, Wales:
Irish, Welsh, and Scottish costumes are unique in their shared attempt to praise their common Celtic heritage. The Scottish costume has more northern English influence.

Scottish costumes are famous and unique from Irish ones.

Welsh costumes are unique as a Celtic-rooted uniform with a unique hat.

to be continue .....

Gallery of European traditional costumes & cultural uniforms

2011-10-14T20:19:00.003+02:00

Gallery of European traditional costumes & cultural uniforms

Gallery of European traditional costumes & cultural uniforms

This article shows a variety of cultural dress and traditional costumes from distinct European cultures. Note that there are too many varieties to possibly delineate, so this article emphasizes the cultural and ethnic traits of these peoples overall.

Croatia:
The Croatian costume reveals in some cases a middle point between their ethnic Slavic customs and the Hungarian & German authority that ruled Croatia for nearly 1,000 years.

Spain (including Galician Celts):
The famous Spanish costumes are unique to the Iberian peninsula, expressing the Portuguese' and Spaniards' distinct heritage and sovereignty. It must be acknowledged that each sub-national identity in Spain has its own national costume and visual heritage. Andalusia, the Catalans, the Basques, and the "Celts" of Galicia have their own costumes. Galicia in the northwest, whose inhabitants consider themselves descendents of the Celtoiberians and not of the mainland Spaniards, have a unique costume shocking to many because it is almost identical to that of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Castilian standard

Galician Celtic costumes of northwest Spain

Portugal:
Portuguese costume reveals a cultural and ethnic link to their Spanish brothers, with slight divergences to reflect Portugal's longer and distinct history. It is, interestingly, similar in many ways to Basque dress.

Basque Country:
The Basques of northern Spain attempt to use their bizarrely unique national dress as an outlet to express their independent history, customs, and tradition as the only surviving Spanish community free of Latin historic influence.

Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland:
Germany's costumes are slightly diverse. The major costume for men in Germanic countries (Norway, Denmark, Austria, Germany, etc.) is a form of the Lederhosen. For women, the dress varies broadly. In Brandenburg (the state housing Berlin), traditional dress may bear a slight Slavic influence because of the presence of Slavs there today and before the German empire conquered the region from the broken Polish state under Heinrich the Lion. In Switzerland, where the Germans are the majority population, the German-Austrian costume is generally worn. The French and Italian minorities wear their respective dresses. The Netherlands has famous distinctions of their own, derived largely from German tradition because of a shared heritage and history. Belgium's Dutch (the Flemings), having broken from the Dutch only in the 19th century, are largely indistinguishable in terms of national dress.

we will continue .....