Venice Floods: The Difference Between Europe and The US? Look at people smiling through the ordeal

Check out the other pictures. How can they be like this? Let's ask FEMA... How about real preparation? Text-message warnings, workers setting up elevated platforms, etc.

Futuristic Atlantis Hotel In Dubai

Looks a lot like the one here in the Bahamas. Look forward to visiting both. ;-)

More Atlantis

Socotra Island: The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth

More.

The Steepest Stairs I've Ever Seen

Very cool... anyone knows where this is?

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
Matt's website.

Matt is a 31-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. Matt achieved this goal pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around Asia until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.

A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.

A couple years later, someone found the video online and passed it to someone else, who passed it to someone else, and so on. Now Matt is quasi-famous as "That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I'll send you the link. It's funny."

The response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at Stride gum. They asked Matt if he'd be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they'd be paying for it. They said yes. Matt thought this sounded like another very good idea.

In 2006, Matt took a 6 month trip through 39 countries on all 7 continents. In that time, he danced a great deal.

The second video made Matt even more quasi-famous. In fact, for a brief period in July, he was semi-famous.

Things settled down again, and then in 2007 Matt went back to Stride with another idea. He realized his bad dancing wasn't actually all that interesting, and that other people were much better at being bad at it. He showed them his inbox, which, as a result of his semi-famousness, was overflowing with emails from all over the planet. He told them he wanted to travel around the world one more time and invite the people who'd written him to come out and dance too.

The Stride people thought that sounded like yet another very good idea, so they let him do it. And he did. And now it's done. And he hopes you like it.

Matt lives in Seattle, Washington with his girlfriend, Melissa, and dog, Sydney. He hasn't had a real job since Stride called him up. Matt doesn't mind working, but he doesn't much care for having to show up at the same place every day.

Matt is not rich. Matt also doesn't have some magical secret for traveling cheaply. He does it pretty much the same way everybody else does.

Matt thinks Americans need to travel abroad more.

Bicycles in Amsterdam

More great photos here.

World's Most Unique Hotels

8 Hotels You Won't Believe

From the annals of the wacky, the odd, and the inspired – these unusual lodgings will make you look twice.

Meet the giraffes

Without sacrificing its estate-in-the-country dignity—or all of it, anyway—Giraffe Manor in Langata, Kenya, is arranged so that roaming giraffes can poke their heads into any open window or doorway with impunity and lather guests with their sticky, prehensile tongues.

Hang out like a Teamster

For savoring the windswept Dutch landscape, nothing will lift you higher than the Harbour Crane, which for almost 30 years toiled at unloading timber at Harlingen, a port city an hour outside of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Since 2003, the massive crane has housed a luxury hotel room for two, roughly 60 feet above the harbor docks.

A trailer with a view

Hotel Everland is a one-room portable inn created by Switzerland-based installation artists Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann. It's mobile, like a trailer home, but it's fancy, too, with pastel walls that swirl and swoop. The artists are moving the inn around Europe; through 2008, it will reside in Paris on the rooftop of the Palais de Tokyo museum, with its heart-swelling views of the Seine, 100 feet below, and the Eiffel Tower, in the near distance.


Hobbit habitats for humanity

If you queued up for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, you'd probably feel right at home in the Hobbit Motel, in Otorohanga, New Zealand. The motel's two hillside burrows are faithful replicas of the fictional hobbit dwellings— right down to the circular windows and doorways, red-and-beige walls, and camouflaged exteriors. The real-life rooms are scaled to human proportions, though, so actual hobbits might find them disagreeable.

More.

Swimming at the Edge of a Waterfall!

It may look insane, but the guy at the picture is not a Photoshoped silhouette placed over a fake landscape. He's swimming at the Devil’s Pool, a natural rock pool at the very top of the Victoria Falls, at Zimbabwe, with a height of about 100 metres.



The Victoria Falls is a waterfall situated in southern Africa between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. From September to December, due to low water levels, it is possible to swim at the edge of the falls in a naturally formed safe pool, accessed via Livingstone Island.

More pics and vids.

Beware of Hotel Glasses

Conclusion: Use disposable cups.

Crazy Dangerous Roads

More.

Bush's Gulliverrian Traveling Entourage

German Schilderwald (Sign Forest) Distracts Drivers

For nearly a decade, Germany's 15 million-member ADAC automobile association has been curb-crawling the nation's streets with municipal officials in an effort to persuade them to get rid of as much as half the country's estimated 20 million traffic signs. Many Germans believe the country's signage has become so dense that it's a safety hazard. A recent study concluded that the distracting signs keep drivers from watching the road.

Germans have coined a term for the phenomenon -- Schilderwald, or sign forest. But as the van-load of officials touring Troisdorf for surplus signs discovered on a recent morning, parting with them isn't proving easy.

More.

New Grand Canyon Skywalk

Opened to the public yesterday 3/20/07.

The glass bridge is suspended 4,000 feet (1 219 meters) above the canyon, a height that eclipses the world's largest skyscrapers.[1] The bridge's walls and floor are built of glass 4 inches (10.2 cm) thick. The horseshoe shaped bridge protrudes 65 (20 meters) feet from the edge of the canyon. The Skywalk is able to hold 70 tons of weight, allowing for 800 people weighing 175 lbs. (80 kg) each to stand on the bridge. The allowed capacity, though, will be limited to only 120 persons.

More details here.

Fly to the Other Side of The Planet in Two Hours

Two hour flights to the other side of the world may seem like a scene from a science fiction movie; but the technology is in place, and a plane that can do just that is currently in development.

Traveling as fast as Mach 25 with at least 30 minutes of space shuttle-like views while in orbit is the highlight of this plane, and The Astrox Corporation, along with their partners, are claiming to have finally overcome their largest problem, mixing fuel.

By using an inward-turning scramjet engine, The Astrox Corporation, along with their partners, has successfully designed and tested a combustor for the Astrox space plane.

The scramjet engine uses no moving parts, and is shaped like a rectangular funnel. Air enters the engine at an astonishing 2,200 MPH, mixes with fuel, undergoes ignition, and is combusted within one millisecond!

The research team has currently tested the combustor at Mach 2 in a supersonic wind tunnel, and Kothari plans to test both his design and the combustor in a small, model space plane before marketing their vehicle design.

More.


Sounds like fun... and you could probably fly to New Zealand and arrive the previous day! :-)

Graffitti Art in Rio

To set foot in Rio is to set foot in one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.

From the stunning beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, to the soaring granite rock towers dotted around the city like exclamation marks of awe.

But more and more there is an encroaching beauty engaging the eye in Rio: Graffiti.

For the past 11 years, the paint sprayed on the walls in Rio has moved away from simple scrawls of names and epithets to eye-catching displays of wonder.

"I know the definition of art is something very relative, today, so many things could be consider art. But I believe, that even when a guy signs his name on the walls, that it is art because the letters are calligraphy, and there is such care and and love in that."

Echos of Warhol, Kandinsky, da Vinci, and Peter Blake intermingle with Japanese anime as well as the graffiti artists own ideas and concepts.

More.
Thanks to Dr. Dan.

Italian Police Lamborghini

Nice!

Durian Fruit

Interesting. The text is quite funny too.

The durian is a large, spiky fruit, native to the tropical rainforests of South-East Asia - where is is known as "the king of the fruits".

It is known to those who hate it for its penetrating, powerful smell - and to those who love it for its wonderful taste.

The texture is like a sort of slighly fibrous custard.

The taste is unique. Custard, almonds, and perhaps a hint of garlic. Or perhaps banana, papaya, vanilla, and - rotting onions.

To those who appreciate it, eating durian is often an incredible, beautiful experience.

It seems similar to the Jackfruit, very common in Brazil.

More here and here.

Horseback Riding Machine

Horseback-simulation machines have become one of the hottest fitness trends in Japan, with a sharp rise in sales and a three-week wait for buyers to get hold of the Joba. The machines are heading over to the U.S., too. After renaming the Joba the “core trainer,” Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. began marketing it under its Panasonic brand in January, landing it in catalogs like Hammacher Schlemmer and a few U.S. fitness clubs.

Part of the attraction, for a country with an aging and increasingly sedentary population, is that a Joba workout doesn't take much effort. “I ride the Joba when I'm feeling a little tired because I can get exercise just by sitting on it,” says Fukatsu. Marketers pitch the machine, which was designed to fit into a living room, as something that can easily be used while watching TV.

But the machine does provide a workout. Using it for about 15 minutes a day, three days a week tones muscles, improves posture and increases metabolism, according to studies by Matsushita and a handful of universities. Fitness experts agree that the Joba can help work a limited set of muscles. Toru Nakayama, a Tokyo personal trainer who participates in jujitsu competitions, says, “It's better than nothing because it'll help tone the middle area and thighs,” though he adds that running is more effective for people who want to lose weight.

More.

Hot Turkey Muscle

Hey fellow Floridians... if you like cars and want an excuse to take a quick travel to Daytona, they will have the Turkey Run (why is it called that?) car show with over 5,000 cars in November. Have fun and let me know if you're going...

The Turkey Run is the Southeast’s largest car show with over 5,000 muscle, hot rod and classic cars the fill the infield of the Daytona International Speedway and beyond!.

33rd Turkey Run is held in Daytona Florida
November 22 – 26th
1,000’s of Cars
Car Raffle/ Swap Meet

Plus it’s in sunny Daytona Beach in November.
Bring your family – they can come to the car show or spend the day at the beach!

More.

Click for Area info.

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