Huge Pharaonic Statues Unveiled in Egyptian Temple City
Archaeologists on Sunday unveiled two colossal statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in Egypt’s famed temple city of Luxor, adding to an existing pair of world-renowned tourist attractions. The two monoliths in red quartzite were raised at what European and Egyptian archaeologists said were their original sites in the funerary temple of the king, on the west bank of the Nile.
The temple is already famous for its existing 3,400-year-old Memnon colossi – twin statues of Amenhotep III whose reign, archaeologists say, marked the political and cultural zenith of ancient Egyptian civilization. “The world until now knew two Memnon colossi, but from today it will know four colossi of Amenhotep III”, said German-Armenian archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian, who heads the project to conserve the Amenhotep III temple.
The existing two statues, both showing the pharaoh seated, are known across the globe. The two restored additions have weathered severe damage for centuries, Sourouzian said. “The statues had lain in pieces for centuries in the fields, damaged by destructive forces of nature like earthquakes, and later by irrigation water, salt, encroachment and vandalism”, she said as behind her excavators and local villagers washed pieces of artifacts and statues that have been unearthed over the past months.
Tourists and journalists stand next to a newly displayed statue of pharaoh Amenhotep III and his wife Tiye (Down) in Egypt’s temple city of Luxor on March 23, 2014. Two colossal statues of pharaoh Amenhotep III were unveiled by archaeologists today in their original sites in the funerary temple of the king, on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor, adding to the existing two famous ancient Memnon colossi. (Photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP Photo) Continue reading »
Paris Mayor’s Race Offers Chance to Reimagine City
This computer image provided Monday March 17, 2014 by the Press Office of socialist candidate to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, shows a tunnel of abandoned railway from the 19th century, now ramshackle and overgrown, turned into a cinema. Hidalgo’s plan envisions not just a green space but in the tunnels, places for farming fish and mushrooms. (Photo by AP Photo/Anne Hidalgo’s Press Office) Continue reading »
ESRC Photography Competition Winners
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has announced the winners of a UK national photography competition in which we challenged young people aged 14–18 for their unique take on society and the social sciences by asking them to take a picture on the theme of “Where Do I Belong?” – ESRC Press Office
“Be ready” (Overall winner and category winner). (Photo by Leone Crick/ESRC) Continue reading »
Russian Zombiepocalypse Car
This insane vehicle apparently started out as a Nissan Maxima, but with a little nip here and tuck there in some 3D modeling software – and a whole lot of metal bending and welding, it sure doesn’t look like a Nissan anymore. Actually, if you stand back and squint really hard, it looks kind of like a massive VW Beetle. Continue reading »
Insult Magnets For Shitty Parking Jobs!
Sticking these Do Your Park magnets onto cars might not seem to do much, at least, in the physical sense, but the insults printed on them will send a message that the recipient isn’t likely to forget. Each pack contains ten magnets with an assortment of insults, ranging from subtle to in-your-face cracks about their inability to park courteously. Continue reading »
Cute Little Girl Models Paper Versions Of Famous Fashion Design Dresses
A cute little 4 year old girl and her mum have been creating copies of famous fashion design dresses and the results are adorable. From Jennifer Lawrence at the Golden Globes to Anna from Frozen, the creative mother and daughter duo have created dozens of fabulous dresses out of materials straight from the craft shop. Continue reading »
Norway Will Cut Through An Island In Tribute To Massacre Victims
How do you adequately craft a memorial for one of the worst days in a country’s modern history? That’s the question that was posed to architects and artists as part of a competition for a dual-site memorial commemorating the attacks in Norway on July 22nd, 2011. On that day, 77 people were killed, eight by an Oslo car bomb and 69 in a massacre at a youth event on the island of Utøya. After holding an open competition, Norway has decided to install a pair of memorials designed by Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the attacks. Continue reading »
The Kollie – Cybernetic Organism
Dmitry Izotov’s graphic design project, The Kollie – Cybernetic Organism, is a series of photographs that have been altered to include a steampunk machine similar to something seen in James Cameron’s Avatar. Instead of a human sitting at the helm, though, we have a dog, empowered by its increased size, steel breastplate and claws of death. Continue reading »
Shanghai Tower Cranes Come Down
Cranes that have helped to build the Shanghai Tower, China’s tallest building and the world’s 2nd tallest, are seen being dismantled. (Photo by Rex Features) Continue reading »
Zombie Proof Vehicles By Donal O’Keeffe
A London-based designer has come up with a collection of zombie-proof vehicles, just in time for Halloween. Donal O’Keeffe from Cork in Ireland, created the Zombie Survival Series with 3D rendering after being inspired by his love of horror films. The 31-year-old put the collection together after imagining what city-life would be like if the streets were taken over by wandering undead, from which there would be no safer escape than one of these modified, mobile fortresses.
London Cab
– Roof-mounted flood lights.
– Canned food supply along with cooking and cleaning utensils.
– Spiked front-grille.
– Pick axe at hand for passengers. Continue reading »
Nicholas Mee And Co, Aston Martin Heritage
Nicholas Mee & Co, an Aston Martin Heritage Dealer in West London, have just finished putting the final touches to a fully functional kid-sized car inspired by the legendary Aston Martin DB models of the 1960s. But this is no rickety pedal car. It has a steel chassis, composite bodywork, leather seats, a wood rimmed steering wheel and Brembo disc brakes. Continue reading »
Life Inside One of the Largest Favela in Rio de Janeiro
“A favela is the term for a slum in Brazil, most often within urban areas. The first favelas appeared in the late 19th century and were built by soldiers who had nowhere to live. Some of the first settlements were called bairros africanos (African neighbourhoods). This was the place where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for work lived. Over the years, many former black slaves moved in.
Even before the first favela came into being, poor citizens were pushed away from the city and forced to live in the far suburbs. However, most modern favelas appeared in the 1970s due to rural exodus, when many people left rural areas of Brazil and moved to cities. Unable to find a place to live, many people ended up in a favela. Census data released in December 2011 by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) shows that in 2010, about 6 percent of the population lived in slums in Brazil. This means that 11.4 million of the 190 million people that lived in the country resided in areas of irregular occupation definable by lack of public services or urbanization, referred to by the IBGE as “subnormal agglomerations”. – Wikipedia
Residents (R to L) Luiza, Janubie, Leiticia and Lucas sit beneath an overpass near their houses in an impoverished area in the unpacified Complexo da Mare slum complex, one of the largest “favela” complexes in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Continue reading »
The Bond of Two German Shorthaired Pointers
The two dogs Travis, 10, and Gus, 5 have become an Internet hit on Instagram. These images were taken by Canadian photographer Steph McCombie. Continue reading »
Kitten Who Likes To Travel In A Backpack
Higgs the kitten loves exploring the great outdoors – by going on holiday in his owner’s rucksack. The adorable five-month-old took his first steps outdoors while holidaying in the Highlands with owners Christian Witte and Kimia Mohammadi last month. But scared by the strong winds along the coastline of Sanna Bay, he scrambled up on Christian’s back before hopping into his backpack. Continue reading »
Pink Champagne Fox Miko
Meet this Miko, a 4-month fox color “pink champagne”. Fox this color were first bred on the Canadian farm, one hundred years ago. They are so rare species that currently exist in the world only two such individuals: one lives in Ontario, and the other is Miko. Such foxes bred in captivity and contain only as pets in Canada. Continue reading »
Quirky Post-it Note Art
This bespectacled Spanish sketcher is to Post-It notes what Sara Lee is to meringue and gateaux: he makes them better.
Not only does he improve them aesthetically though, he imbues them with all sorts of personality, conjuring pop culture icons, cartoon characters and imaginary scenarios, whilst delivering humour and wryness by the bucketload.
Currently the world just knows him as ‘The Postit days”. Continue reading »
Exclusive Photos Of Facebook’s Sprawling New HQ, Designed Frank Gehry
After Facebook assumed the former Sun Microsystems complex in Palo Alto in 2011, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg set out to find an architect capable of handling a grand design for its main main headquarters building. Zuckerberg chose world famous architect Frank Gehry for the job. At more than 435,000 square feet, spread across 22 acres, the new building dips and rises from 45 to 73 feet. It is built above a surface-level parking lot with a massive rooftop green space that resembles a park more than a small corporate outdoor garden. Continue reading »
Inside Iceland’s Crystal Ice Cave
Shimmering clearest blue and stretching as far as the eye can see, this is one of Iceland’s famed crystal ice caves. The giant solid waves look frozen in time but they are slowly moving along as part of the Vatnajokull Glacier – which stretches across eight per cent of the island. The images were captured in February 2014 by British photographer Rob Lott.
A view of Rob Lott standing in the crystal ice cave in the Vatnajokull Glacier, Iceland. (Photo by Rob Lott/Barcroft Media) Continue reading »
The Zelda Project
The Zelda Project is a Los Angeles, CA based group of friends who seek to bring to life the characters, settings, and overall feel of Ocarina of Time through photography and film. Our ultimate goal is to create the characters as they would appear in reality to the best of our abilities, placing them in beautiful sceneries true to their Hyrulean counterparts, and creating elaborate photosets utilizing art ranging from costuming to 3D CGI. Continue reading »
A Cheetah Encounter in the Serengeti
This is the heart-stopping moment a photographer came within inches of a young cheetah when it stuck its head through her sun roof. Continue reading »
Chinese Villagers Zip Line
This cable ropeway suspended between cliffs is the only access to Yushan village in Hubei Province, Chin, which has a population of just over 200 people. The ropeway was built in 1997; before that villagers faced a walk of several days to get to the next nearest village. The ropeway, which is powered by a diesel engine, is 1,000 metres long and 400 metres above the valley floor. (Quirky China News/Rex Features) Continue reading »
Giant Polar Bear Of London
Her name is Aurora, and she is the star of “Aurora’s Parade”, the London chapter of ceride – Greenpeace’s global day of action to protest against Arctic destruction. According to DesignBoom, this giant people-powered super-puppet weighs about 3 tons and needs 15 puppeteers and 30 volunteers to operate. Aurora, described as “part protest, part performance”, has fur that includes the names of each supporter in the movement. Greenpeace hopes she will bring the voice and spirit of the Arctic to the public. Continue reading »
Chinese Cats Saved From The Cooking Pot
A truck filled with 500 cats thought to be destined for restaurants was intercepted on Wednesday in Xuzhou, eastern China’s Jiangsu Province. Officer Sun Hai said he and a colleague pulled the vehicle over during a routine traffic check. The officer commented, “The driver said it was a full load of rabbit, but after we instructed him to uncover the load we were shocked to find a full load of living cats.” Continue reading »
Python Meets A Crocodile See What Happened Next
What happens in the wild is sometimes hard to imagine. Sometimes other animals can be others prey. In this case, here is a python and a crocodile who come across each other in Australia. This is a bit graphic, so beware. Continue reading »
Hippo Saves Gnu from Crocodile
This is the amazing moment a heroic hippo saved a gnu from certain death. After being bitten by a crocodile, the large antelope is seen being dragged slowly under the water. But in a miraculous turn of events, a nearby hippo is seen making its way across the water to help the animal in its hour of need.
After chasing the giant crocodile away, the unlikely hero is then seen guarding the creature and even nudges the gnu to the edge of the river in effort to move it out of harm’s way. The jaw dropping moment stunned onlookers, including Israeli photographer, Vadim Onishchenko, 34, who managed to capture the rare moment on camera. Captured whilst on safari in Masai Mara in Kenya, the exhausted antelope later managed to escape to safety.
The gnu struggling to get to the bank of the river is dragged back by the crocodile. Continue reading »
