Rotary Clubs Light Up the World to Eradicate Polio
Rotary clubs will once again illuminate landmarks and iconic structures around the world in view of the group’s pledge to the ‘End Polio Now’ campaign. Worldwide, fewer than 650 polio cases have been confirmed in 2011, less than half the 1,352 infections reported in 2010.
Rotary is a global humanitarian organization with more than 1.2 million members in their 34,000 Rotary clubs spread over 200 countries. Rotary members are men and women who belong to the business, professional and community leaders with a shared commitment to make the world a better place and one of their top priorities is the global eradication of polio.
Hydrabad, India-Rotary Clubs Light up the World to End Polio. Continue reading »
The Sony World Photography Awards 2012: Student Focus Shortlist
The Danish School of Media & Journalism: this image is entitled Escaping the Heat
Photograph: Nikolai Linares/Sony World Photography Awards 2012 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 »
2012 Sony World Photography Awards
A selection of some of the strongest images from the professional and open shortlist for the 2012 Sony World Photography awards.
Flower by Alexandr Afonin, a winner in the open shortlist – enhanced category. Continue reading »
It’s a Snap: Travel Photos from Around the World
Chameleon, Hawaii. (Sher Williamson / UGC) Continue reading »
The World’s Most Expensive Parking Lot is in the Middle of the Ocean
The deck of the USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is covered with the vehicles of sailors, making it a strong contender for the title of the world’s most expensive parking lot. The ship, currently on its way to Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Wash., has cars worth a total of $4.5 billion! 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 »
WAZUMA V8: World’s Most Expensive Quad Bike Goes on Sale for $265,000
It may look impressive and worth an eye-watering £170,000, but the world’s most expensive quad bike can’t even be driven on the road. Manufacturers Lazareth say that the Wazuma V8 is so powerful it is purely a track-only vehicle.
he quad bike is on the market for a staggering $265,000, making it the most expensive in the world. Continue reading »
Steaming Ahead, the 180-Year-Old Toy Train that’s the Oldest in the World
A rudimentary model of Stephenson’s Rocket that was made by a father for his son after seeing it chug past their home has emerged as the oldest toy train in the world. The simple wooden toy was hand-crafted out of scraps of wood by the loving dad who whittled them into the shape of the legendary steam locomotive.
Made from sight in the late 1820s or early 1830s, the model is almost as old as the first real locomotives. The ten-inch long toy has four wheels attached to a block of wood, a cylindrical piece that may have been a stair banister for the boiler and a chair leg for the iconic blast pipe. (Daily Mail Reporter)
World’s Tallest 48-Meter Buddha Statue in Eastern China
A statue of Amitabha, also known as the Buddha of Infinite Light, is going up in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, Nov 4, 2011. The 48-meter statue is one of the world’s tallest. (CFP) Continue reading »
The World’s Highest Lego Tower
People look at the world’s highest Lego tower, at a stand at Kidexpo, a fair dedicated to games and leisure for children, in Paris (FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images)
World’s Most Expensive Campervan Up For Sale
The Marchi Mobile EleMMent Palazzo is the world’s most expensive motorhome, up for sale with a price tag of $3 000 000. Continue reading »
50 Of The World’s Best Breakfasts
1. A full English Breakfast – it must have beans, sausages, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, hash browns and toast. Of course, it should all be knocked back with a cup of tea, but black pudding is optional as far as I’m concerned. Continue reading »
The World’s Most Expensive Model Car
The world’s most expensive model car is expected to be auctioned for £3million in December, which is nearly 12 times the price of a real Lamborghini Aventador. German model maker Robert Wilhelm Gülpen took 500 hours to create the 1:8 scale model. Nearly £1.8 million worth of precious stones and metals have gone into this piece of auto-art. Mr Gülpen says: “Essentially the model is made out of solid gold and platinum. The body of the prototype additionally features genuine carbon fiber, as used in Formula 1 cars; gold and platinum rims and to add that extra wow factor diamonds in the seats, steering wheel and headlights.” If a potential buyer doesn’t feel like waiting until Christmas, they can buy the model car now by shelling out an extra million pounds. They can go to Robert directly to secure the model car for themselves before it goes to auction for a fixed price of £4,144,646. They have the option to personalise the model car. (RGE Robert Gülpen Engineering/Rex Features)
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 »
Alien Hunter: World’s Biggest Telescope will be Built in Chile
The European Extremely Large Telescope, also known as the alien hunter, will be the world’s largest optical telescope. Its mirror alone will be 137 feet wide, half the size of a regular football field.
The whole structure will weigh 2,800 tonnes, making it the heaviest of all telescopes as well. It will gather 13 times more light than existing earthbound telescopes and can even provide images 16 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope’s. European astronomers took years to decide on the final design of the alien hunter telescope.
“At the end of the three-year final design study, we will know exactly how everything is going to be built, including a detailed costing,” said Catherine Cesarsky, the European Southern Observatory’s director general. “We then hope to start construction and have it ready by 2017, when we can install instruments and use it.”
The E-ELT will find its home in Chile, where Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno signed an accord with the European Southern Observatory. The Chilean government will donate 189 acres of land around the Cerro Armazones mountain. And in return, they will have 10 percent of the observing time on the huge telescope.
Construction will begin in early 2012 and the target year for operation is in 2018. The revolutionary telescope is designed to see the deepest parts of the universe and provide clear images of planets, stars and other galaxies.
This architectural concept drawing of ESO’s planned European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) shows the world’s largest planned optical telescope gazing heavenwards. Slated to begin operations early in the next decade, the E-ELT will tackle the biggest scientific challenges of our time. (IBITImes/Swinburne Astronomy Production) Continue reading »
Square-eyed Contestants Attempt to Set TV-watching World Record
Candidates taking part in a World Record TV watching contest in the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in Hilversum, The Netherlands, on September 29. The winner will get a trip to Los Angeles. (Freek Van Asperen / EPA) Continue reading »
English Vegetable Grower Claims Guinness World Record for 8 kg Onion
Gardener Peter Glazebrook poses for photographers with his world record breaking onion at The Harrogate Autumn Flower Show on September 16 in Harrogate, England. Peter Glazebrook from Newark, Nottinghamshire claimed a Guinness World Record with his giant onion weighing 8.150kg. (Christopher Furlong / Getty Images)
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 »
Dog Sets New World Record for Having Longest Ears
An eight-year-old coonhound from Boulder, Colorado, USA, gets the 2012 Guinness World Records title for “longest ears on a living dog.” The officials confirmed that the dog, Harbor, has ears measuring 12.25 inches in length on the left and 13.5 inches on the right. Continue reading »
World’s First Smart Virtual Store Opens in Korea
Customers purchase items with their smartphones by scanning QR codes using the Homeplus app at the Seolleung subway station, southern Seoul, yesterday, where Homeplus has opened the world’s first “virtual” store. (YONHAP)
World’s Biggest Yellow Rabbit Built in Sweden
A Big Yellow Rabbit has installed in Örebro, a small Swedish town. Built by the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. Estimate cost about US$20,000. 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.
