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)
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Photographer Builds World’s Largest Camera
A woman poses for her husband alongside a giant camera Thursday, November 7, 2013 outside the Historic Green County Courthouse in Monroe, Wis. Chicago photographer Dennis Manarchy created what’s being called the world’s largest camera. It’s 35-feet long and 12-feet tall it’s a working replica of a vintage accordion-style camera that produces 16- by 24-foot prints, the equivalent of a two-story building. The giant camera is on display in Monroe through November 17 because a Monroe company manufactured the specially-built trailer. Manarchy plans to tow the camera around the country to shoot photos of indigenous cultures. (Photo by Mark Hoffman) Continue reading »
Photo of the Day: The World’s Largest Motorcycle
Undated handout photo issued by Guinness World Records of Fabio Reggiani from Italy who has made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for constructing the worlds largest rideable motorcycle measuring 5.10 meters (16ft 8.78 in) from the ground to the top of the handlebars. Six times larger than a normal motorcycle, it’s 10.03 m long, 2.5 m wide, and weighs approximately 5,000 kg (5 tonnes). (Photo by Guinness World Records/PA Wire)
Largest Mural on an Inhabited Building in the World
Steve Rolle paints the final element next to a trompe l’oeil depicting a woman and a squirrel at a window that are among features painted on the facade of the Wohngenossenschaft Soldaritaet coop apartment buildings as part of a 22,000 square meter mural in Berlin, on August 20, 2013. A group of artists working for French-based Citecreation painted the facades of the three buildings in imagery inspired by a nearby zoo and in cooperation with the buildings’ residents. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) Continue reading »
The World’s Largest Hot Sauce Collection
Vic Clinco owns what is thought to be the world’s largest hot sauce collection. His amazing 6,000 bottles collection from around the world includes a rare bottle of “Blair’s 16 Million Reserve”, the hottest sauce on the planet. The condiments line shelves, from floor to ceiling, in the dining room of his home in Phoenix, Arizona, as well as being crammed into cupboards and the fridge.
He has been collecting the jars for the past 17 years and is widely thought to hold the world record for a private collection. Mr Clinco, who works as a staff cook at the Four Seasons hotel, said his most expensive bottle is worth about $900 – a one of a kind – and the most he has ever paid for a bottle is $400. (Photos by Barcroft Media) Continue reading »
World’s Largest Rubber Duck Comes to Hong Kong
Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman goes big – so big, that it’s practically impossible to miss his artistic statements. His latest work is a 46 feet tall and 55 feet long inflatable rubber duck, which today arrived to Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour and will stay there till June 9. Boldly called the Rubber Duck, this floating sculpture is described by Florentijn as a “very positive artistic statement that immediately connects people to their childhood”.
The World’s Largest LED Light Sculpture
The San Francisco Bay Bridge is lit up with the world’s largest LED light sculpture. It stretches 1.8 miles (2.89km) and is 500 feet (152,4m) high. The Bay Lights exhibit has 25,000 white LED lights that are individually programmed by artist Leo Villareal to create a never-repeating display across the Bay Bridge’s west span. (EPA/MONICA M. DAVEY)
Mariner Valley on Mars – the Galaxy’s Largest Valley
Just to the east of the great volcanoes on Mars is a system of canyons called Valles Marineris, “Mariner Valleys”, named after the Mariner 9 spacecraft that discovered it. Continue reading »
World’s Largest Textile Created from Golden Spider Silk Dazzles
A four-metre-long woven textile made from the silk of more than a million female Golden Orb spiders collected from the highlands of Madagascar is on display at the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum in London. The hand-woven brocaded textile, which is on display at the museum till June 5, 2012, is naturally golden in colour and took over four years to create.
It will be shown together with a new golden cape, currently being woven and embroidered in Madagascar, which will go on public display for the very first time at the V&A. The clothes have reportedly been made by Englishman Simon Peers, who lives in Madagascar, and American Nicholas Godley, and are the only large textiles in the world to have been made from spider silk.
Yellow woven spider silk cape. Continue reading »
Thousands Compete in the World’s Largest Open Water Race in Australia
The Lorne Pier to Pub is an annual, 1.2-km open water swimming race held in January at Lorne, a town located on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. It began in the 1970s, when members of the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club dared each other to dive from the pier, swim through Louttit Bay and finish by body-surfing the waves onto the Lorne foreshore, before attending the Lorne Pub. Continue reading »
World’s Largest Balloon Sculpture Created by a Single Artist
Adam Lee, balloon twisting artist, stands beneath his giant balloon sculpture hanging in the Great Wolf Lodge Lobby in Grand Mound, Wash. On Oct. 13. Lee broke the Guinness World Record for “Largest Balloon Sculpture” with nearly 3,000 balloons measuring 45 feet 2 inches wide by 22 feet 2 inches long. (Otto Greule Jr. / AP) Continue reading »
Largest Apple Store Opens in Shanghai
A security guard stands in front of an Apple logo during the inauguration of a new Apple store in Nanjing Road, downtown Shanghai, September 23, 2011. The store is Apple’s fifth and largest in Chinese mainland. (Xinhua) Continue reading »
Photo of the Day: The Largest Collection of Stuffed Dogs in the World
The largest collection of stuffed dogs in the world, was created by the last owner of the Bitov Castle, Baron George Haas, who commited suicide in 1945 before deportation to Austria, at Bitov Castle in Bitov, South Moravia. The Baron had thousands of animals and around 200 dogs, of which 51 were stuffed after their death and are part of the Guinness World Record collection. (Radek Mica/AFP/Getty Images) Click image to zoom.
Wyoming Manufacturer Builds World’s Largest Coal Hauler
A truck with Westech’s Flow Control Body holds 447 tons of coal at Peabody Energy’s North Antelope Rochelle coal mine, north of Douglas, Wyo. Guinness World Records recently awarded the body’s manufacturer, Mills-based Westech, a certificate for its custom-built unit designed for a Wyoming mine. (Westech via Casper Star-Tribune) Continue reading »
ConQuest of Mythodea, the Largest Role Playing Event
The ConQuest event is the largest interactive festival of that kind. Year by year in summer, the Brokeloh Manor near Hannover. More than 7000 participants from Europe, the US and other places in the world meet up with over 1000 fully trained and supplied extras. The event staff, holding 250 persons, over 120 tons of props and equipment change the manor and more than 60 hectars of fields, forests and else into the fantastic and mystical world of “Mythodea”. (PETER STEFFEN/AFP/Getty Images) Continue reading »
Photo of the Day: Spectacular Photos of World’s Largest Fish Whale Sharks Seen Almost Swallowing Dive
A diver was almost swallowed by a whale shark while he was staring into the mammoth jaws of the largest fish in the world that feed mainly on plankton. The breathtaking photograph was captured by photographer Mauricio Handler in the waters of Mujeres Island in Mexico. (Mauricio Handler/handlerphoto) Zoom.
The World’s Largest Gummy Worm
The World’s Largest Gummy Worm is 128 times more massive than a traditional gummy worm. Measuring twenty-six inches long and weighing in at approximately 3 pounds, the World’s Largest Gummy Worm is the most delicious 4,000-calorie candy worm in existence.
Each World’s Largest Gummy Worm features dual flavors, a ribbed body, and a five inch girth. It makes an amazing gift for now or later due to its year-long shelf life. Handmade in the USA. Available in five flavor combinations.
Photo credits: JASON CROMBIE.
Shanghai 2020: The World’s Largest Architectural Installation
Shanghai 2020 architectural installation based in Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. About 300 square meters. Continue reading »
