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Jumbo sized Airplane Art

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:34:29 +0000

Take a look at this jumbo sized art from around the world. Creativity certainly abounds with these flights of fancy.

Japan Airlines – JAL – Boeing 747-446D.

Southwest Airlines – Boeing 737-3H4

Continental Airlines – Boeing 777-224/ER.

Alitalia – Boeing 747-243B – Advertising for Bulgari Designer Watches.

Japan Airlines – JAL – Boeing 747-446D.

Qantas – Boeing 747-438/ER

Flying dragon. This acrobatic airplane model has a very attractive ornamental painting.

All Nippon Airways – ANA – Boeing 747-481D.

Western Pacific – Boeing 737-301.

Etihad Airways – Airbus A340-642 .

Austrian Airlines – Airbus A321-111

German Tornado Formation Flight 2003 – st. Tornado (white with yellow/red flames) German Naval Airwing 2 Eggebek – now in a Museum
2nd Tornado (blue airbrush design) German Airforce – 31th Fighter Squadron Boelcke – now a Gate Guard
3rd Tornado (green coloured) – 38th Fightersquadron Jever – now scrapped
4th Tornado (in front with tiger colours) – 51th reconnaissance squadron Jagel – now scrapped
5th Tornado – 32th fighter squadron Lechfeld
The MiG 29 was the last MiG29 in the German Airforce

Slovakia – Air Force – Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29A (9-12A)

Astraeus – Boeing 757-23A.

Netherlands – Air Force – Fokker F-16AM Fighting Falcon.

Belgium – Air Force – SABCA F-16AM Fighting Falcon.

Air New Zealand – Boeing 747-4F6.

Article Source

The Great Dupont Snowball Fight of 2010

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:07:40 +0000

Many of you probably heard about all the snow and associated issues the Mid-Atlantic Region experienced over the weekend. One of the worst snowstorms in the city’s history. However, even in the face of adversity, people manage to find the bright side of a bad situation! The city’s residents gathered for a snowball fight of historic proportions to take advantage of all of the snow on the ground. The great snowball fight was planned on Facebook and hundreds of people turned out for a little light-hearted fun.

Images Source Link

Be careful where you’re walking

Michael — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:22:13 +0000

The photos below are a reminder why it’s never a good idea to walk home in the dark or after you’ve had too much to imbibe. I ran across the photos below on smilepanic.com related to some of the biggest holes on earth – no doubt!

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Mir Mine was an open pit diamond mine located in Mirny, Eastern Siberia, Russia. The mine is 1,720 ft deep with a diameter of 3,900 ft, and is the second largest excavated hole in the world. Even the airspace above the mine is closed to helicopters because they have actually been sucked in by the downward air flow.

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The Big Hole is located in Kimberley, the capital of the Northern Cape of South Africa and is 1,500 feet wide, over 42 acres in surface, and over 700 feet deep.

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The Great Blue Hole is a large underwater sinkhole off the coast of Belize near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 62 mi from Belize City. Looks like a great place to go diving!

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The Glory Hole at Monticello Dam, California. A glory hole is used to drain water from a reservoir when the dam is at full capacity. It is the largest in the world, enabling it to consume 400 cubic feet of water every second. You definitely do NOT want to fall into this area when the Glory Hole is in operation!

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These sinkholes are called “Las Simas de Sarisariñama” and can be found on the Sarisariñama Plateau in Venezuela. They are some of the largest sinkholes in the world. The sinkholes measure 350 meters wide and 350 meters deep and are a geological marvel.

photo source: amazonair.com

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The Bingham Canyon Mine is the largest man-made excavation in the world. Located near Salt Lake City, Utah this open-pit mining operation in production since 1906 extracts copper from the Oquirrh Mountains. The pit is 2.5 miles wide, over 0.75 miles deep, and covers 1,900 acres.

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Guatemala City Sinkhole. On the 23rd of February 2007, a 330 foot deep sinkhole swallowed up part of a crowded neighborhood in Guatemala City and killed two people. The video below is in Spanish but still gives you an understanding of the enormity of this unexpected natural phenomena.

Unique and Artistic Painted Houses

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:04:30 +0000

I am always amazed at how creative people can be. Take a look at these uber-artistic painted houses from around the world…

Large scale Stanley Donwood piece painted on a side of a house in Ladbroke Grove in London. photo by artofthestate

Rainbow House in San Francisco. Named after a real woman named Rainbow. mybluemuse

Colorfully painted house in Basel photo by m.a.r.c.

Newlyweds Christian and Angela Hesketh, from Rochester in Kent, returned back from their honeymoon in 2000 to find that their house had been painted tiger skin by a friend. Unique wedding gift or prank?
telegraph.co.uk

Jason Gundy painted his house in Usk, South Wales, in a tribute to the Disney film 101 Dalmations. telegraph.co.uk

Artist Jens Werner Andersen from Norway painted his house in Burberry check pattern. He said he woke up one day and thought it would be a fun idea. The 33-year-old decided to turn his home, a former public lavatory building in Larvik, Norway, into a “gathering place for happy people. dailymail.co.uk

The Farm pub in St Werburghs, Bristol, was painted by graffiti artists Xenz and Paris. telegraph.co.uk

This is the home of window cleaner Vince Holden, 47, in Penrith, Cumbria. He attempted to brighten up his neighborhood by painting his terraced house pink with yellow spots. telegraph.co.uk

Lesedi Cultural Village South Africa photo by Anna Louise

Cape Town’s Bo Kaap quarter Photo by Mervyn Hector

This artistic endeavor goes beyond just painting the exterior walls of the house – an architect in Klagenfurt, Austria painted his entire house and everything surrounding it bright blue. Arty Peter Kaschnig said he wanted to see the psychological effects of living surrounded by just one color. telegraph.co.uk

Interesting concept apartmenttherapy.com

The brightly painted houses of Illulissat, a town in western Greenland where tourists travel to look at the icebergs.Photo: Reuters

Space Images from the Hubble Telescope

Michael — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:11:37 +0000

We’ve all heard about the Hubble telescope and maybe even seen some images here and there but there is so much more to see. Visit Hubble.org for an amazing tour of our universe.

Background: The Hubble Telescope was launched in 1990. Mission: place a telescope in space – above Earth’s turbulent atmosphere so scientist and astronomers could more fully study our galaxy and the universe. Astronomers using Hubble data have published nearly 7,000 scientific papers, making it one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built. The farthest objects Hubble has seen are galaxies well over 12 billion light years away.

Hubble was recently repaired and upgraded with newer technology so that it is now significantly more powerful than ever, well-equipped to last into the next decade. Hubble’s suite of new instruments allows it to study the universe across a wide swath of the light spectrum, from ultraviolet all the way to near-infrared.

When many people think of space they think of a cold, dark and desolate place. Take a look at the images below though to gain a new appreciation of just how fascinating the universe really is…

A Perfect Storm of Turbulent Gases in the Omega Swan Nebula

Source: Hubblesite.org

Red Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis

Source: Hubblesite.org

The Cat’s Eye Nebula

Source: Hubblesite.org

Giant Twisters in the Lagoon Nebula

Gas Pillars in the Eagle Nebula

Source: Hubblesite.org

Orion Nebula

Source: Hubblesite.org

Saturn

Source: Hubblesite.org

Orion Nebula

Source: Hubblesite.org

Cone Nebula Star-Forming Pillar of Gas and Dust

Source: Hubblesite.org

Supergiant Shell LMC-4 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Source: Hubblesite.org

Ultraviolet Image of Multiple Comet Impacts on Jupiter

Source: Hubblesite.org

Star Cluster

Source: Hubblesite.org

Uranus

Source: Hubblesite.org

The Colorful Demise of a Sun-like Star

Stellar “Eggs” Emerge from Molecular Cloud: Closeup of Evaporating Globules in M16

Source: Hubblesite.org

Speed Painting

Michael — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:28:56 +0000

Speed Painting in one version or another has been around for quite a while. I remember watching artists with their paint and brushes creating landscapes in just a short television program. The new take is digital painting that artists do with Photoshop and a drawing tablet. Take a look at these videos…Amazing!

MEGAN FOX – by Nico Di Mattia

Jessica Alba by mediamaster

SPIDER-MAN by Nico Di Mattia

Rihanna by Mediamaster

Indiana Jones – S. Maguire

MONA LISA – by Martin Missfeldt

IRONMAN – by Nico di Mattia

Views from Above – photos taken from airplane windows

admin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:02:10 +0000

I always ask for a window seat when I fly. The views can be amazing and spectacular. I often think about how never before in human history have we ever been able to fly above the clouds and see the world in a whole new way than our ancestors.

The images below are from The Weather Channel – Weather.com.

Over Denver, CO

Taken by chrphi

Looking Down on Sierra Nevada Mountains

Taken by seasab

Over Daytona Beach, FL

Taken by benrio

Sunset Over Saint Croix, VI

Taken by shasmi

Storm System Over Flint, MI

Taken by nicgay

Over Talkeetna, AK

Taken by loulas

Over Everglades City, FL

Taken by ivamir

In the Sky Above Nashville, TN

Taken by ransch

Cloud Formations Over Dallas, TX

Taken by graowe

Cotton Balls over Nashville, TN

Taken by Ransch

Thunderstorm Over Minneapolis

Taken by micief

Cold Front Over Corpus Christi, TX

Taken by budtoe

Space Shuttle Launch View

Taken by rsbennett3

Tips from Your Grocer

Michael — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:21:13 +0000

Reader’s Digest has been giving good tips for everyday life since 1922. We appreciate their articles on Grocer Tips from earlier this year that we can use while shopping…

Be a Savvy Shopper by following these tips

1. If you hate crowds and lines, shop at dinnertime (5 to 9 p.m.) or even later. Only 4 percent of shoppers hit the aisles between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. Least-crowded day of the week? Wednesday.

2. Go ahead and reach way back for the fresh milk. (note from Miche – check dates on milk and bread – the freshest products are in the back).

3. Coupons with a bar codes take less time because they are easy to scan.

4. That star fruit has been here a lot longer than the broccoli. Familiar produce turns over more quickly than exotic things.

5. “The more products you see, the more you are likely to buy,” says Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat. “That’s why the aisles are so long and the milk is usually in the far corner.”

6. Check sizes. “Manufacturers are constantly trying to repackage things to make them sound like a better deal,” says David Livingston, a supermarket industry consultant. “Some new peanut butter containers may look the same, but look closely and you’ll see they actually have less peanut butter inside. Ninety-five percent of customers don’t watch this kind of stuff.”

7. Like employees with a good attitude? Shop at chains that are employee-owned, suggest customer-satisfaction surveys. When employees have a stake in the profits, it shows in their attitude.

8. Look high and low-literally-for good values from smaller manufacturers who can’t afford to stock their products in the eye-level sweet spot.

9. Groceries are marketing to your kids too. That’s why they put the rainbow-colored cereals and other kiddie catnip at their eye level.

10. Be wary of “specials.” When people see signs with numbers-”8 for $10!” “Limit: 5 per customer”—they buy 30 to 100 percent more than they otherwise might have.

11. You’ll end up tossing 12 percent of what you buy.

12. “Don’t buy anything with more than five ingredients (too processed), with ingredients you can’t pronounce (too processed), with anything artificial (tastes bad), with a cartoon on it (direct marketing to children), or with a health claim (misleading),” says Nestle.

13. Dig and reach for the freshest produce. Older merchandise gets pushed to the front of the bin and spread across the top to encourage customers to take it first.

14. Watch out for gimmicks. They are intended to get you into a store more frequently and to keep you away from competitors.

15. Signs of a store in trouble: Stocking fewer perishable items, storing non-perishables in refrigerated cases to make them look full, and “dummying up” shelves with empty boxes. If the supermarket was offering the best prices and highest quality, wouldn’t there be more people shopping there?

16. Watch those shopping-cart handles. They’re covered in bacteria, says food-safety consultant Jeff Nelken. Use a sanitary wipe if the store provides them.

17. The baby formula is locked up because thieves resell it on the black market. Ditto for the cough and cold medications, smoking-cessation products, razor blades, and batteries.

18. After-tax net profit for the grocery industry is less than 2 percent, and by the end of 2013, the Food Marketing Institute, an industry group, predicts annual average wages will be just $18,000.

Fun with Clouds

Michael — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:21:16 +0000

The images below are not created with Photoshop. You could say it’s a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Either that or being very, very patient. Photographers show their unique perspective on the world with these creative use of clouds…

Gilles Pinault - http://1x.com/photos/conceptual/15001/

please don't fall, cloud by =P0RG http://p0rg.deviantart.com/art/please-don-t-fall-cloud-82369686

gelato di nuvola by *meppol http://meppol.deviantart.com/art/gelato-di-nuvola-86395618

God's Canvas by *Delacorr- http://delacorr.deviantart.com/art/God-s-Canvas-23077281

SKYraker by hb19 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/h19/3416747566/

making wonderful clouds

A Salute to Heroes on Veteran’s Day

Michael — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:55:05 +0000

On Wednesday, the US will celebrate Veteran’s Day. An opportunity to honor those that have served our country during peacetime and during the conflicts and wars when the ultimate sacrifice has often been made to ensure the US remains as a beacon of freedom around the world.

It was known as “the War to end all Wars.” World War I was unparalleled at the time in shear terms of its enormity and the amount of countries and people worldwide that were affected. It has been estimated that more than 61.5 million soldiers from nations all around the globe took part in the war, of which 8.5 million were killed and almost 20 million were injured.

World War I hostilities ended at 11:00 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). One year later, President Wilson proclaimed November 11, 1919, as “Armistice Day,” the original name for what is now known as Veteran’s Day.

President Eisenhower, in 1954, signed the bill proclaiming November 11th as Veteran’s Day, and he called for Americans everywhere to rededicate themselves to the cause of peace.

Today we honor all of the Veterans for their pride, dedication, and commitment in their service to the United States of America!

photo courtesy of www.Vietnam War.com

Gulf War

Troops in Afghanistan - photo credit: MailOnline

Saddam Topples