World renowned architect Zaha Hadid has just won a competition to design the new metro station for Saudia Arabia's capital city Riyadh. The city's population has doubled since 1990 and is now home to more than 5 million people. Due to this large influx of citizens, the city has now started planning a brand new metro system to better aid them in their day to day life.
Located in the King Abdullah Financial District, Hadid architect's proposal is a four story building that will feature six train platforms, two levels of underground parking, and even access to the cities pre-existing monorail line by use of a sky bridge. Much thought has been given into diminishing congestion by using a series of pedestrian walkways that run throughout the building without interfering with commuters and travelers.
Other design aspects of this project are the undulating waves featured on the walls and roof that are meant to symbolize Saudia Arabia's rolling desert dunes and give the building its unique fluid look. The structure's woven latice facade is designed to allow natural light to enter the interior of the station without causing a harsh glare. The estimated completion date of this project is 2017 and is sure to be an iconic landmark for the city of Riyadh. 05 more images after the break...
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Another proposal for the much talked about competition for the new landmark at the Bayfront Park in Miami and this time proposal comes from visiondivision practice. Their design captures the soul of Miami as well as giving the city a fresh and innovative icon that would boost Miami's architectural legacy. Here comes the Miami Sun by visiondivision's group.
Background — Miami is located in the Sunshine State of Florida and is a city that is blessed with a tropical climate and great weather almost all year around, making it a major tourist destination and a popular place to retire. The city of Miami that we know of today is a reclaimed city in many ways. The land where most of the downtown area is, used to be a part of the Everglades wetland, but was drained to create land opportunities. A major part of the city was also created by landfill with the dredging of Biscayne Bay. The majority of Miami Beach is mainly created in this way and this is also the case for the many islands that lies between Miami Beach and the downtown area, such as the port of Miami for example, which is the base for the enormous cruise ships that has their embarkation point from this area. These ships are own little islands in themselves and Miami is the number one cruise port in the world. The tradition of creating new spaces from water leads to a pretty unsentimental and interesting approach to landscaping as well as architecture. The Bayfront Park which is the setting for this new proposed landmark was also created in this traditional way to free new spaces, in this case by setting up a retaining wall and pumping out sea water. 08 more images after the break...
The Idea — The new landmark is both a monument of the good life, as well as a landscape addition to enrich and counter balance the existing park with its already tropical landscaping. The new monument is a thin, half sphere-shaped hotel with a casino on its lower floors and an observation deck on its upper floors, which gradually shifts its colors during the day, mimicking a dimmed sun at daytime and creating spectacular sunrises and blazing sunsets for the park at dusk and dawn. At night time it shifts to a moon. The sun and the tropical archipelago will be a relaxed and positive monument that many people also can enjoy physically and that symbolize both the laid back way of the Miami lifestyle as well as the flamboyant decadence. This tropical vista will attract many visitors, and the Bayfront Park will receive more people as a result, which is what this park lacks when there is not an event going on here. People will hopefully flock once again to the front porch of Miami to catch a relaxing tropical sunset or listening to house music and drinking coconut drinks on a small tropical island next to a huge moon.
The building and the water park — The building is reached by tender boats just like the nearby cruise ships has when they anchor in small harbours. This seclusion enhances the monumentality and the sun illusion and also heightens the exclusiveness of the hotel itself aswell as state its energy independence. The sites close vicinity with the cruises makes this a great destination for cruise tourists that normally have a couple of days in Miami before sailing out on their Caribbean adventures.
The building is a grid shell structure with a glass facade that is coated with a film of transparent solar panels. This is a new technique which is possible by letting the visible spectra of sun light straight through, and instead absorbing the high amount of ultravilolet and infrared light. This energy is more than enough to power the building and the surplus goes to the stripes of mono-frequency lights that are integrated on the end of each floor slab and that points outwards to give a glow around the hotel and make the sun effect sharp and bright at dusk and dawn. Mono-frequency lamps are powerful lights that produce light with a narrow frequency that makes colors other than black and the chosen color invisible. This makes the surrounding tinted with that specific color and creates an enchanted atmosphere around the building. At daytime the lamps will be slightly dimmed just to create a shimmering and reflective effect. At night it glows milky white like a moon.
The water park between the existing park and the new hotel is made up by a large shallow pool that surrounds a small archipelago with landscaped small sand islands with palm trees on them. The sand is taken from different popular beaches around the Caribbean so you can sample the best sand from Miami’s neighbours without leaving the city. The pools are only waist deep so you can wade to the islands and also use the whole premise as a spectacular arena for the Ultra Music Festival and other venues. The pool could also be completely dried out if needed for any special type of event.
Project: The Miami Sun
Designed by visiondivision
Location: Miami, Florida, USA
Website: www.visiondivision.com
Via — Link
Streets of France by OakOakFrom the Architects:
Background — Miami is located in the Sunshine State of Florida and is a city that is blessed with a tropical climate and great weather almost all year around, making it a major tourist destination and a popular place to retire. The city of Miami that we know of today is a reclaimed city in many ways. The land where most of the downtown area is, used to be a part of the Everglades wetland, but was drained to create land opportunities. A major part of the city was also created by landfill with the dredging of Biscayne Bay. The majority of Miami Beach is mainly created in this way and this is also the case for the many islands that lies between Miami Beach and the downtown area, such as the port of Miami for example, which is the base for the enormous cruise ships that has their embarkation point from this area. These ships are own little islands in themselves and Miami is the number one cruise port in the world. The tradition of creating new spaces from water leads to a pretty unsentimental and interesting approach to landscaping as well as architecture. The Bayfront Park which is the setting for this new proposed landmark was also created in this traditional way to free new spaces, in this case by setting up a retaining wall and pumping out sea water. 08 more images after the break...
The Idea — The new landmark is both a monument of the good life, as well as a landscape addition to enrich and counter balance the existing park with its already tropical landscaping. The new monument is a thin, half sphere-shaped hotel with a casino on its lower floors and an observation deck on its upper floors, which gradually shifts its colors during the day, mimicking a dimmed sun at daytime and creating spectacular sunrises and blazing sunsets for the park at dusk and dawn. At night time it shifts to a moon. The sun and the tropical archipelago will be a relaxed and positive monument that many people also can enjoy physically and that symbolize both the laid back way of the Miami lifestyle as well as the flamboyant decadence. This tropical vista will attract many visitors, and the Bayfront Park will receive more people as a result, which is what this park lacks when there is not an event going on here. People will hopefully flock once again to the front porch of Miami to catch a relaxing tropical sunset or listening to house music and drinking coconut drinks on a small tropical island next to a huge moon.
The building and the water park — The building is reached by tender boats just like the nearby cruise ships has when they anchor in small harbours. This seclusion enhances the monumentality and the sun illusion and also heightens the exclusiveness of the hotel itself aswell as state its energy independence. The sites close vicinity with the cruises makes this a great destination for cruise tourists that normally have a couple of days in Miami before sailing out on their Caribbean adventures.
The building is a grid shell structure with a glass facade that is coated with a film of transparent solar panels. This is a new technique which is possible by letting the visible spectra of sun light straight through, and instead absorbing the high amount of ultravilolet and infrared light. This energy is more than enough to power the building and the surplus goes to the stripes of mono-frequency lights that are integrated on the end of each floor slab and that points outwards to give a glow around the hotel and make the sun effect sharp and bright at dusk and dawn. Mono-frequency lamps are powerful lights that produce light with a narrow frequency that makes colors other than black and the chosen color invisible. This makes the surrounding tinted with that specific color and creates an enchanted atmosphere around the building. At daytime the lamps will be slightly dimmed just to create a shimmering and reflective effect. At night it glows milky white like a moon.
The water park between the existing park and the new hotel is made up by a large shallow pool that surrounds a small archipelago with landscaped small sand islands with palm trees on them. The sand is taken from different popular beaches around the Caribbean so you can sample the best sand from Miami’s neighbours without leaving the city. The pools are only waist deep so you can wade to the islands and also use the whole premise as a spectacular arena for the Ultra Music Festival and other venues. The pool could also be completely dried out if needed for any special type of event.
Project: The Miami Sun
Designed by visiondivision
Location: Miami, Florida, USA
Website: www.visiondivision.com
Via — Link
OakOak is a street artist from Saint-Étienne, France, whose playful diversions bring smiles to those who come across his work. The Outsiders Gallery sums up his style nicely:
Pen-pusher by day, street art superhero by night, Saint-Étienne sensation OakOak’s hilarious, imaginative, irreverent and sometimes a little macabre street work has filled column inches from BBC Brazil to Beijing’s biggest daily newspaper… Daubing simple graffiti and paintings on urban features – often the broken ones – OakOak does what street art does best, amuse and inspire people of all ages and demographics by appropriating the city’s less appealing elements.
OakOak is a street artist, but he is not a fine artist painting in public. His work, either on the streets of his native St Etienne, France, or made on his travels, is opportunistic and never “authorised”. He is completely untrained in art and works full-time in an office. Whilst his favourite artist is Amedeo Modigliani, he cites his main influences as football, comic books, video games and his home town. “I like this city, her atmosphere” OakOak says of Saint-Étienne “and I wanted it to look nicer. It was an industrial city with many coal mines; now it’s in regeneration and still quite poor. But it’s easily travelled by foot with awkward aspects ideal for art. I saw shapes everywhere, and wanted to realise them.” 20 more images after the break...
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‘Pont de Signe’ Bridge Held by Three Big Helium BalloonsPen-pusher by day, street art superhero by night, Saint-Étienne sensation OakOak’s hilarious, imaginative, irreverent and sometimes a little macabre street work has filled column inches from BBC Brazil to Beijing’s biggest daily newspaper… Daubing simple graffiti and paintings on urban features – often the broken ones – OakOak does what street art does best, amuse and inspire people of all ages and demographics by appropriating the city’s less appealing elements.
OakOak is a street artist, but he is not a fine artist painting in public. His work, either on the streets of his native St Etienne, France, or made on his travels, is opportunistic and never “authorised”. He is completely untrained in art and works full-time in an office. Whilst his favourite artist is Amedeo Modigliani, he cites his main influences as football, comic books, video games and his home town. “I like this city, her atmosphere” OakOak says of Saint-Étienne “and I wanted it to look nicer. It was an industrial city with many coal mines; now it’s in regeneration and still quite poor. But it’s easily travelled by foot with awkward aspects ideal for art. I saw shapes everywhere, and wanted to realise them.” 20 more images after the break...
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French artist Olivier Grossetête used three enormous helium balloons to float a rope bridge over a lake in Tatton Park, a historic estate in north-west England. Oliver Grossetête created Pont de Singe, which means "monkey bridge", for the Tatton Park Biennial, which this year was themed around flight. Located in the park's Japanese garden, the structure comprised a long rope bridge made of cedar wood held aloft by three helium-filled balloons. The ends of the bridge were left to trail in the water. Though visitors weren't allowed to use the bridge, it would theoretically be strong enough to hold the weight of a person, according to Grossetête. 08 more images after the break...
Replacing the usual foundations and joints of a bridge with three balloons leads us to question our perceptions, the artist explained. "My artistic work tries to make alive the poetry and dreams within our everyday life," added Grossetête.
The artist had previously experimented with another floating bridge in his 2007 project Pont Suspendu, where he used a cluster of helium balloons to float a small bridge structure into the air.
Photograph by Thierry Bal Toby Savage
This girl named Paris Jackson, she is now 15 years old and she is the daughter of Michael Jackson.
Wow. This one cuts deep.
One young man went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the initial interview, and now would meet the director for the final interview.
The director discovered from his CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent. He asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "no".
" Was it your father who paid for your school fees?"
"My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.” he replied.
" Where did your mother work?"
"My mother worked as clothes cleaner."
The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.
" Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?"
"Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Besides, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.
The director said, "I have a request. When you go home today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.
The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back home, he asked his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to her son.
The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother winced when he touched it.
This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fees. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his education, his school activities and his future.
After cleaning his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.
That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.
Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.
The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, when he asked: "Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"
The youth answered," I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'
“I know now what appreciation is. Without my mother, I would not be who I am today. By helping my mother, only now do I realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done on your own. And I have come to appreciate the importance and value of helping one’s family.
The director said, "This is what I am looking for in a manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life.”
“You are hired.”
This young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and worked as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.
A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop an "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who may be good academically, they may be successful for a while, but eventually they would not feel a sense of achievement. They will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying our children instead?
You can let your child live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch on a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your child learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.
Try to forward this story to as many as possible...this may change somebody's fate.
Imgur user samuelorsaumell has developed a series of photo manipulations under the apt title Celebrity Photoshop Bobbleheads that features some of today's most prominent stars as disproportionate people with abnormally giant heads. Like a set of wobbly-headed figurines that furnish many desks, these re-imagined celebrities are cartoonish in their warped proportions yet oddly believable due to the artist's skilled abilities.
From leading ladies like Emma Watson and Jennifer Lawrence to scene-stealing men like Will Ferrell and Michael C. Hall, the series presents a fully rounded collection of unnaturally large famous faces on comparably small bodies. The digital artist shared these life-size bobblehead images on reddit where it was met with a flood of attention and praise for his clean craftsmanship. 13 more images after the break...
The photo manipulator explains his process: "It's actually pretty simple, most of these images are ~5 min jobs. The process is mostly just:
1) Copy the head onto a new layer.
2) Reduce background to 65% size (that's the value I was using anyway)
3) Puppet warp the base of the neck/hair to get it to match with the shrunk background as much as possible. 4) Mask away (with a soft brush) the edges of the head layer to make it consistent with the shrunk background."
Via — Link
Scientist Generates Electricity from Foods
Back to Light is a creatively scientific series by photographer Caleb Charland that explores the naturally electrifying power of ordinary objects like fruits and loose change. The images in the series features a number of materials, including consumables readily found in one's pantry, generating enough power to light lamps and LED lights.
The ongoing photo project, which began in 2010, was initially inspired by the powerful simplicity of the potato battery. The science enthusiast explains, "By inserting a galvanized nail into one side of a potato and a copper wire in the other side a small electrical current is generated. The zinc coating on the nail gives off electrons due to the electrolyte environment within the potato. These electrons then travel along the copper wire providing the electrical voltage to illuminate a small light emitting diode. The utter simplicity of this electrical phenomenon is endlessly fascinating for me."
Orange Battery
Additionally, Charland reflects on his own project by saying: "This work speaks to a common curiosity we all have for how the world works as well as a global concern for the future of earth’s energy sources. My hope is that these photographs function as micro utopias by suggesting and illustrating the endless possibilities of alternative and sustainable energy production."
Charland tells us that he hopes to expand his project this summer by making "little hydro electric generators and installing them in the landscape." Until then, the photographer is showing a selection of his works at Schneider Gallery in Chicago and has a solo show coming up at Gallery Kayafas in Boston from May 17th through June 7th. 11 more images after the break...
Battery From a Single Potato
Grapefruit and Pomelo Battery
Vinegar Battery
Fruit Battery Still Life (Citrus)
Coin Battery
Electricity From a Ring of Apples
Fruit Battery with Hanging Apples
Limes and Lemons
Vinegar Batteries with Glassware and Shelf
Garage of Organic Batteries
Potato Power, LaJoie Growers LLC, Van Buren, Maine
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The World's Biggest Megacities
20. Buenos Aires
Urban area: 13.5 million people
City: 2.9 million people
According to the 2012 edition of Demographia's World Urban Areas index, the capital of Argentina is the second largest urban area in South America after Sao Paulo. Its per capita income is among the highest in Latin America and its quality of life is ranked number one in the region, although some estimates say that 4 million people in the area live in poverty. It is also reportedly the most visited city in Latin America.
Urban Detail — Buenos Aires is known for its European style architecture and culture, a legacy of the Spanish and Italian origins of most of the population. It has the highest concentration of theatres in Latin America and is the birthplace of Tango music and dance. (Source: Reuters) 19 more after the break...
19. Karachi, Pakistan
Urban area:13.8 million people
City: 13.0 million people
Students attend a rooftop evening class in a private school in a slum area in Karachi, the largest city, main seaport and financial center of Pakistan. Karachi is the second largest city proper in the world after Shanghai and accounts for about 20 percent of Pakistan’s GDP. It is growing rapidly due to rural-urban migration.
Urban Detail — After Pakistan won independence from the British and separated from India Karachi’s population increased hugely as hundreds of thousands of Muslim migrants from India settled there, transforming its demographics and economy. (Source: Reuters)
18. Kolkata, India
Urban area: 14.4 million people
City proper: 4.5 million people
Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, sits on the banks of the River Hooghly which empties into the Bay of Bengal. The city is India’s oldest port and the commercial and cultural capital of East India, with the third largest economy in South Asia after Mumbai and Delhi. Here Kolkata students smear each other with colored powder during Holi, the Indian festival of colours heralding the beginning of Spring.
Urban Detail — Much of the city was originally wetland and swamp. The land was reclaimed over the centuries to accommodate the rapidly increasing population. Kolkata is where Mother Teresa began her work caring for the poor and the sick. (Source: Reuters)
17. Los Angeles, USA
Urban area: 14.9 million people
City: 3.8 million people
Los Angeles is the second biggest city in the United States by land size. An extensive grid of freeways, boulevards, and smaller neighborhood roads spans the city.
Urban Detail — Los Angeles is home to the largest Mexican, Guatemalan, and Korean populations outside of those countries. Almost 40 percent of the city’s population was born outside the United States. (Source: Reuters)
16. Dhaka, Bangladesh
Urban area: 15.4 million people
City: 7 million people
One of the fastest growing cities in the world, Dhaka has attracted economic migrants from all over Bangladesh. As many as one quarter of Dhaka’s residents live in crowded slums, according to the World Bank.
Urban Detail — Dhaka is known as the rickshaw capital of the world as most people get around using cycle rickshaws or autorickshaws. (Source: Reuters)
15. Moscow, Russia
Urban area: 15.5 million people
City: 11.8 million people
By far Europe's biggest city, Moscow has been swelled by rising numbers of migrants from other parts of Russia and the former Soviet states, attracted by higher living standards. Russia’s expanding economy has attracted people to the capital which is becoming richer.
Urban Detail — With more passengers than New York City and London combined, Moscow has the world’s second busiest metro system after Tokyo. It serves more than nine million people a day, has 182 stations, and 301 kilometers (187 miles) of routes. (Source: Reuters)
14. Guangzhou-Foshan
Urban area: 16.8 million people
City: 11 million people
Historically known as Canton, Guangzhou is China’s third largest city and located on the Pearl River in southern China about 120 kilometers northwest of Hong Kong. It is a critical trading port and capital of China’s industrial and manufacturing province of Guangdong, which has been one of the fastest urbanizing areas of the world for many years.
Urban Detail — Ahead of the Asian Games in 2010 many buildings were demolished to make way for more modern developments as property prices soared and developers poured billions into real estate. (Source: Reuters)
13. Mumbai, India
Urban area: 16.9 million people
City: 12.5 million people
Mumbai–called Bombay until the name was changed in 1995–is the commercial and movie capital of India and has attracted millions of migrants from the countryside. With high birth rates and the continued influx of migrants, Mumbai’s population is expected to grow rapidly in the future.
Urban Detail — Over half of the city’s population lives in slums. Poor infrastructure and widespread poverty make it very difficult to meet the demands of an ever-growing population. (Source: Reuters)
12. Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto
Urban area: 17 million people
City: N/A
Made up of the commercial and industrial city of Osaka, the port of Kobe, and the ancient cultural capital of Kyoto, the Kansai megacity encompasses all aspects of Japanese life from the neon lit Dotonbori shopping district in Osaka pictured here to the Zen gardens and geisha houses of Kyoto and is home to about 15 percent of Japan’s population.
Urban Detail — Large parts of the city of Kobe were destroyed in the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 which claimed over 6000 lives and caused about 100 billion dollars in damages. The disaster was widely seen as a major wake up call for the Japanese emergency services and led to improvements in construction that paid dividends during the massive 2011 earthquake. (Source: Reuters)
11. Beijing, China
Urban Area: 17.3 million people
City: 11.7 million people
China’s capital hosted a spectacular if controversial Olympic Games in 2008. Despite spending billions to clean the city's air, average air pollution levels remain five times above WHO safety standards.
Urban Detail — Bicycles are a common means of transportation for most people in Beijing. But the number of cars is increasing by an estimated 15,000 every day. (Source: Reuters)
10. Cairo, Egypt
Urban Area: 17.8 million people
City: 6.7 million people
Located on the banks of the Nile River, Cairo is the biggest urban area in Africa and in the Arab world. Bustling bazaars and narrow lanes, the smells of spices and pipe smoke, the call to prayer five times a day and the cacophony of horns–this is Cairo.
Urban detail — The city is also known by the name “Al-Qahirah”, “The Triumphant” in Arabic. It is home to the oldest and biggest music and film industry in the Arab world. (Source: Reuters)
09. Mexico City, Mexico
Urban area: 19.4 million people
City: 8.8 million people
Mexico City is ten times the size it was in 1940. The Mexican capital generates a quarter of the country's wealth. However, with low population growth, the number of people in retirement is expected to rise rapidly.
Urban Detail — Security, air pollution, and traffic congestion are prime concerns in Mexico City. These problems result from poor resource management and unstructured growth. (Source: Reuters)
08. Sao Paulo, Brazil
Urban area: 20.2 million people
City: 11.2 million people
Sao Paulo is Brazil’s richest city and the most important financial center in Latin America. Poverty and crime, however, remain a problem. An average of 6,000 people are murdered annually in Sao Paulo.
Urban Detail — Sao Paulo is a very young and ethnically diverse city. More than half of its population is under twenty years old, and it is home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan. (Source: Shutterstock)
07. New York, USA
Urban area: 20.4 million people
City: 8.2 million people
New York City, especially Manhattan, is a role model for balancing dense development with good public transport and access to open spaces. New York is the only American city where most households do not own a car.
Urban Detail — New York has been a gateway to America ever since the first immigrants came to the U.S. Over 170 languages are spoken there today. No single nationality or ethnicity dominates the city’s culturally diverse population. (Source: Reuters)
06. Shanghai, China
Urban area: 20.8 million people
City: 17.8 million people
Shanghai has become China's financial and commercial center and is ranked as the planet's largest city proper. It has one of the world’s busiest ports and the world’s most extensive bus system with more than one thousand lines.
Urban Detail — Shanghai has one of the world's most remarkable skylines. Thirty five structures are taller than 200 meters, including two over 450 meters, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. (Source: Reuters)
05. Manila, Philippines
Urban Area: 21.9 million people
City: 11.8 million people
Manila's colonial past is reflected in its architecture. Intramuros, the historic center, is surrounded by a massive wall built by the Spanish in the 16th century. Its parks and historic buildings have become a major tourist attraction.
Urban Detail — More than 3 million people in Manila live in slums without electricity, sanitation, and access to drinking water. Population density is extremely high, in some areas more than 100,000 people live on one square kilometer. (Source: Reuters)
04. Delhi, India
Urban Area: 22.2 million people
City: 11 million people
Delhi is India’s capital and recently overtook Mumbai as the biggest city by population size. It’s a place of striking contrasts. Mosques, bazaars, and narrow lanes mark the old town. New Delhi, the capital, features grand boulevards, business centers, and shopping malls.
Urban detail — Twenty languages are spoken in Delhi. The official and most widely spoken language is Hindi, followed by Punjabi. English is used for business and other official purposes. Urdu is common among the Muslim community. (Source: Shutterstock)
03. Seoul-Incheon, South Korea
Urban area: 22.5 million people
City: 10.5 million people
Seoul has grown rapidly since the Korean War (1950-53). Today, nearly half of the country’s population lives in and around Seoul. Seoul has made remarkable progress in combating air pollution and is one of the cleanest cities in Asia.
Urban Detail — Seoul is located 50 kilometers south of the heavily armed border with North Korea. The city is in range of North Korean artillery. Plans to move the capital further south have already caused much debate. (Source: Reuters)
02. Jakarta, Indonesia
Urban area: 26 million people
City: 9.6 million people
Jakarta has been booming since 2005 after suffering economic crises and disasters like floods and earthquakes in recent decades. Jakarta's economy has boosted Indonesia’s economy to a growth rate of 6 percent.
Urban Detail — Despite many wide roads, Jakarta suffers from terrible traffic congestion. To reduce traffic jams, some major roads have a 'three in one' rule during rush hours, prohibiting fewer than three passengers per car. (Source: Reuters)
01. Tokyo, Japan
Urban area: 37.2 million people
City: 8.9 million people
Greater Tokyo is the largest urban agglomeration in the world, swallowing up the neighboring cities of Yokohama, Kawasaki, and Chiba. Despite its size, Tokyo has very efficient public transportation, which accounts for almost 80 percent of all journeys.
Urban Detail — Tokyo Bay has been gradually filled up to create more living space. Odaiba, an island made from waste, has become one of Tokyo’s most interesting tourist spots and destinations for day trippers. (Source: Miki Yokoyama)
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A Few Intriguing Facts about Britain
Recycling of Old Shoes in Africa
What will these old shoes become after the recycling? Take a look, 04 more images after the break...
Shruthi Hassan — Maxim Magazine Photoshoot
Maxim magazine got its prominence for photo shoots of famous actresses and here is the turn of Shruti hassan. Her makeup is minimal and she has tried to give a natural look to all her poses. 10 more images after the break...
Fountain Sprays Water Look Like a Boat
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Can imagine this is fountain sprays water to look like a boat, At first, the image above looks like a boat, one that is caught in a soaking surge of water, but it is in fact a cleverly designed fountain sprinkling water out of its man-made pores. Located at Playa de la Malvarrosa in Valencia, Spain and known simply as Water Boat Fountain (or Fuente del Barco de Agua in Spanish) by visitors and locals alike, the sculptural fountain creates the illusion of both the hull and the sail of a boat with liquid jets. One is left baffled by its simple design mimicking the appearance of a sailboat with nothing more than a few rods spraying fine streams of water.
A variety of similar designs of the structure are said to be situated around the world, including one in Portugal and one in Israel, though this one in Spain appears to gain the most attention from foreign visitors. The brilliant attraction invites visitors to take in its surreal appearance, which adds a lively playfulness to the environment. 11 more images after the break...
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Katrina Kaif hotoshoot for L'officiel
Katrina Kaif Stunning Photoshoot For L’Official India 2013. Katrina Kaif emphasizes on the front of L'Officiel Magazine's Indian release for the month of April 2013. She looks beautiful in the 11th anniversary issue phtoshoot. Katrina kaif is the most popular women in the world. she says, she will wins the hearts of public all arround the work. 05 more images after the break...
Guess Who?
Guess who? 05 more images after the break...
Her name is Bindi Irwin and she is daughter of Steve Irwin - nicknames " The Crocodile Hunter" was an Australian wildlife expert, and conservationist, Who was died on 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingry barb while filmin an underwater documentary film titeld Ocean's Deadliest.
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Steep Stairs illusion — Video
A Touching Lover Story
10th Grade:-
As I sat there in English class, I stared at the girl next to me. She was my so called ‘best friend’. I stared at her long, silky hair, and wished she was mine. But she didn’t notice me like that, and I knew it. After class, she walked up to me and asked me for the notes she had missed the day before. I handed them to her.
She said ‘thanks’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don’t want to be just friends, I love her but I’m just too shy, and I don’t know why.
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11th grade:-
The phone rang. On the other end, it was her. She was in tears, mumbling on and on about how her love had broke her heart. She asked me to come over because she didn’t want to be alone, So I did. As I sat next to her on the sofa, I stared at her soft eyes, wishing she was mine. After 2 hours, one Drew Barrymore movie, and three bags of chips, she decided to go home.
She looked at me, said ‘thanks’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek..I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don’t want to be just friends, I love her but I’m just too shy, and I don’t know why.
Senior year:-
One fine day she walked to my locker. “My date is sick” she said, ”hes not gonna go” well, I didn’t have a date, and in 7th grade, we made a promise that if neither of us had dates, we would go together just as ‘best friends’.
So we did. That night, after everything was over, I was standing at her front door step. I stared at her as She smiled at me and stared at me with her crystal eyes.
Then she said- “I had the best time, thanks!” and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don’t want to be just friends, I love her but I’m just too shy, and I don’t know why.
Graduation:-
A day passed, then a week, then a month. Before I could blink, it was graduation day. I watched as her perfect body floated like an angel up on stage to get her diploma. I wanted her to be mine-but she didn’t notice me like that, and I knew it.
Before everyone went home, she came to me in her smock and hat, and cried as I hugged her.
Then she lifted her head from my shoulder and said- ‘you’re my best friend, thanks’ and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don’t want to be just friends, I love her but I’m just too shy, and I don’t know why.
Marriage:-
Now I sit in the pews of the church. That girl is getting married now. and drive off to her new life, married to another man. I wanted her to be mine, but she didn’t see me like that, and I knew it. But before she drove away, she came to me and said ‘you came !’.
She said ‘thanks’ and kissed me on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don’t want to be just friends, I love her but I’m just too shy, and I don’t know why.
Death:-
Years passed, I looked down at the coffin of a girl who used to be my ‘best friend’.
At the service, they read a diary entry she had wrote in her high school years.
This is what it read:
‘I stare at him wishing he was mine, but he doesn’t notice me like that, and I know it. I want to tell him, I want him to know that I don’t want to be just friends,
I love him but I’m just too shy, and I don’t know why. I wish he would tell me he loved me !
………’I wish I did too…’
I thought to my self, and I cried.
What is the view of Other Planets Were as Close to Earth as the Moon
Distance of Moon From Earth in Sky
What if a celestial body like Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system, was as close to the Earth as our moon? Would it fill the night sky? Illustrator and author Ron Miller[www.black-cat-studios.com] sought to answer the question using the reference photograph above.
It’s important to note that this is strictly a visual exercise. If a planet like Jupiter were actually as close to Earth as the Moon, its immense gravitation would wreak havoc on our planet. So for the gallery below, please temporarily suspend your disbelief and just imagine how amazing it would be to see a planet like Saturn in such incredible detail.
For reference, the Moon is about 386,243 km (240,000 miles) from Earth and has a diameter of approximately 3,476 km (2,160 miles). The Earth’s diameter is 12,742 km (7,918 miles) 05 more Planet after the break...
MARS
Diameter 6,792 km |4,220 miles
VENUS
Diameter 12,104 km | 7,521 miles
NEPTUNE
Diameter 49,244 km | 30,599 miles
URANUS
Diameter 50,724 km | 31,518 miles
SATURN
Diameter 116,464 km | 72,367 miles
JUPITER
Diameter 139,822 km | 86,881 miles
102-Year-Old Abandoned Ship is a Floating Forest
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The SS Ayrfield is one of many decommissioned ships in the Homebush Bay, just west of Sydney, but what separates it from the other stranded vessels is the incredible foliage that adorns the rusted hull. The beautiful spectacle, also referred to as The Floating Forest, adds a bit of life to the area, which happens to be a sort of ship graveyard.
Originally launched as the SS Corrimal, the massive 1,140-tonne steel beast was built in 1911 in the UK and registered in Sydney in 1912 as a steam collier which was later used to transport supplies to American troops stationed in the Pacific region during World War II. The ship went on to serve as a collier between Newcastle and Miller's terminal in Blackwattle Bay.
Eventually, in 1972, the SS Ayrfield was retired and sent to Homebush Bay which served as a ship-breaking yard. While many ships were taken apart, about four metallic bodies of vessels that are over 75 years old currently float in the bay, though none are enveloped by nature quite like the Ayrfield. The ship continues to attract visitors to its majestic presence, rich with mangrove trees. 05 more images after the break...
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Thousand Year Old Baobab Tree
Spotted in the Ifaty reserve, north of Tulear in southwestern Madagascar (Lat: -23.15, Long: 43.62), is this incredible Baobab tree that is purportedly a thousand years old. Adansonia za, common name Baobab, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Adansonia belonging to the Bombacaceae family.
It’s a large thick-stemmed deciduous tree, about 10–40 meters (33–130 ft) high and about 6 meters (20 ft) in diameter. The trunk and branches have a brownish-rose colored hue. The tree is wide at the base and grows to a narrow point towards the top of the tree.
Adansonia is a genus of eight species of tree, six native to Madagascar, one native to mainland Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and one to Australia. Some baobabs are reputed to be many thousands of years old, which can be difficult to verify, as the wood does not produce annual growth rings, though radiocarbon dating may be able to provide age data.
The photograph was taken by Dan Doucette for Project Noah. Project Noah is a platform designed to help people reconnect with the natural world. Launched out of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program in early 2010, the project began as an experiment to mobilize citizen scientists and build a digital butterfly net for the 21st century. Backed by National Geographic, their ultimate goal is to build the go-to platform for documenting all the world’s organisms, and through doing this they hope to develop an effective way to measure Mother Nature’s pulse. More images at our Previous Post.
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David Tyson Gentry
Jim Henson
Bob Marley
Oscar Wilde
Plutarch
Photograph by Dimitris Papazimouris
Ralph Waldo Emerson
C.S. Lewis
Mark Twain
Friedrich Nietzsche
Henry David Thoreau
Photograph by Ross Pollack
Marlene Dietrich
Photograph by Bùi Linh Ngân
Virginia Woolf
Linda Grayson
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