Friday 22 January 2010

Eyam: The Village That Died to Save Its Neighbors

Eyam: The Village That Died to Save Its Neighbors: "

Eyam is a small village in Derbyshire, UK. In 1665, the bubonic plague hit its population. Rather than flee, the villagers were persuaded that they had a moral obligation to isolate themselves from the outside world in order to prevent the spread of that disease:

They lined up stones to mark the village boundaries, and no one was allowed beyond them. Supplies of food and clothing brought to the village from the outside were left at the boundary stones and were paid for with coins placed in a disinfectant of vinegar and water.

The horror increased as the months passed. By the end of August 1666, two-thirds of the original population had perished. Format burial services were no longer held. When the cemetery became full, the dead were buried in gardens and fields.

Only a fourth of the population had survived when outsiders made contact a year later. Today, although the village was subsequently resettled, much of it is a museum and a memorial to its inhabitants.

Photo: Cressbrook Multimedia

What?

via 9gag: "


Hitler's Favorite Painter (and one of mine too)

Hitler's Favorite Painter (and one of mine too): "
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The Isle of the Dead


Arnold Bocklin was a 19th century symbolist painter whose work influenced and inspired Salvador Dali, Sergi Rachmaninoff, Marcel Duchamp and H. R. Giger. Adolph Hitler owned eleven of his paintings and cited Bocklin as his favorite painter.


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Click through the jump for a gallery of weird and wonderful art by this little known, but profoundly influential artist...

The following images come from this great Japanese site devoted to Bocklin's work. (Too bad I don't speak Japanese!)



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Wednesday 20 January 2010

Ninja's Unboxing

I love the Android platform....and even though i normally hate the apple juggernaut, their ads are brilliant. But this......Oh yes!!!


Ninja's Unboxing: "






Tuesday 19 January 2010

More Than Fit to Sit: 15 Clever Bench Ads

More Than Fit to Sit: 15 Clever Bench Ads: "[ By Steph in Guerilla Marketing & Ads, Subvertising & Counter-Ads, Urban Images. ]


A bench is a bench – except when it’s also a platform for a surprising, thought-provoking, memorable advertisement that sometimes even functions as urban art. The best bench ads turn ubiquitous public furniture into interactive displays that entreat the public to get fit, go on vacation, try a new product and even conserve resources.


District 9 Bench: For Humans Only



(image via: aharvey2k)

Before anyone heard of a little film called District 9, signs barring non-humans from using benches and restrooms could be seen in major cities such as Los Angeles. With a phone number and a warning that “non-human secretions may corrode metal”, these advertisements blurred the line between reality and the fictional world created by the filmmakers in typical guerilla fashion.


Fed-Ex Bubble Wrap Bench



(image via: advertolog)

Fed-Ex can ship practically anything – including benches, as ‘demonstrated’ by this bubble-wrapped bench. The ad series, conceived by BBDO New York, was created to announce the opening of FedEx Kinko’s locations in fairly remote locations.


Instant Ski Vacation



(image via: adsneeze)

Can you picture yourself on an adventurous ski trip, heading up the slope on a lift that provides stunning views of the surrounding landscape? If not, Alberta Travel is happy to help with this creative bench ad that even emulates skis on your feet and snow down below.


Use Only What You Need



(image via: advertolog)

Ads promoting water conservation might be easily overlooked by a public that has begun to tune out conventional modes of promotion. But, it’s hard to pass by this bench, created by Sukle Advertising & Design advertising agency for Denver Water, without taking a second look and absorbing the message: use only what you need.


Skinny Bench for Skinny People



(image via: scaryideas)

A similarly skinny bench communicates something different altogether: if you can’t sit here, perhaps you need to lose some weight. Slim Fast helpfully points people in the right direction with a plaque that reads “Donated by Slim Fast”.


Collapsing Bench for Special K



(image via: coloribus)

Similarly, one cereal brand hopes that consumers will be enticed to try their product after finding that a public bench caves in beneath their weight. This bench in Germany was made with a flexible material to shock people into thinking about how heavy they are, and convince them that 99.9% fat-free Special K was the way to fix the problem.


A Weighty Matter



(image via: businessweek)

Of course, if undersized or collapsing seating areas don’t work, there’s always a more potent way to shame the overweight public: a bus shelter bench with a built-in scale that broadcasts their weight to the world at large. This one in Amsterdam was created by the world’s third-largest gym chain, Fitness First.


No Choice But to Get Closer



(image via: directdaily)

Just try sitting on this slanted bench with somebody else without sliding right into each other. It literally forces people to “Get Closer”, which happens to be the ad slogan for a Czech liquor called Becherovka.


A Stroller Fit for a Baby Giraffe



(image via: ads of the world)

This extra-tall stroller – or pram, if you’re not American – certainly catches the attention of anyone who happens to sit on the bench beside it. The unusual ad by Calgary Zoo uses an embroidered blanket to tell the public that “the baby giraffe is here”.


Nivea Says Goodbye to Cellulite



(image via: directdaily)

Sitting on cellulite isn’t pretty – unless it’s in the form of a dimpled blue bench. This ad by Nivea promoting its Goodbye-Cellulite lotion manages to convey the message that smooth skin is superior to cellulite without anything too disturbingly skin-like.


Homey IKEA Bench Makeover



(image via: culture-buzz)

IKEA proves that even the ugliest, most worn-out bench you can find in an urban environment can be instantly transformed into a homey, welcoming space to relax with some inexpensive Swedish fabric and accessories.


Kit-Kat Bench



(image via: Noah Dylan Goldblatt)

Seeing the brown slats of a bench partially enveloped in a Kit-Kat wrapper begs the question: why didn’t they think of this earlier? It’s a perfect fit that undoubtedly had many an onlooker suddenly craving chocolate-covered wafers.


Istanbul’s Book Benches



(image via: adrants)

Istanbul is an open book – 18 of them, in fact, all written by Turkish poets. This ad campaign not only promotes reading and publicizes the work of native writers, but turns boring public furniture into functional works of art.


Amnesty International ‘Electric Bench’



(image via: funforever)

We might let important social issues slip our minds while going about our daily lives, but Amnesty International is here to remind us that “More than 4000 condemned until death are waiting for their execution. No to Capital punishment”. Accompanying these words at a Barcelona bus shelter was a bench designed to look like a pair of electric chairs.


‘Extra Safe’ Credit Union Ad



(image via: thefinancialbrand)

If this ad and others in the same series were put out by an insurance agency, one would have to wonder whether the “extra safe” message really implies that consumers are buying way more coverage than they need. But the ads were actually created by FirstOntario Credit Union to assure the public that their short-term investments are secure as can be, even in this shaky economic climate – so it works.

A Cat on a Cat

A Cat on a Cat: "

Picshag


Sometimes you can see something in the shape of an animal’s spots, but have you ever seen a cat shape on the back of a cat? Link -via The Daily What

WallBase: Download Over 350,000 High-Quality Wallpapers

WallBase: Download Over 350,000 High-Quality Wallpapers: "

Customizing your desktop starts with having a wallpaper you like. There are tons of websites that provide free wallpapers but if you are looking for a large collection of high-quality wallpapers, WallBase is an excellent option. The site hosts over 350,000 free wallpapers that you can download.


You can search WallBase by keywords or even by color. Just select any color from the HTML color wizard and WallBase will display wallpapers containing that color. You can also narrow down the search by specifying the desired resolution, aspect ratio and purity level. Search results are displayed as thumbnails and clicking on any thumbnail would open the image in full resolution. You can also browse images randomly or go through the toplist.


WallBase: Download Over 350,000 High Quality Wallpapers (pic)


WallBase: Download Over 350,000 High Quality Wallpapers (pic)

Well who doesnt love a pretty wallpaper?

New Evidence For Seas of Liquid Diamond On Neptune [Planet Porn]

New Evidence For Seas of Liquid Diamond On Neptune [Planet Porn]: "

Remote gas giant planets Neptune and Uranus could be covered in vast seas of liquid diamond, dotted with solid diamond chunks like icebergs. A new experiment revealed such oceans are plausible, and would explain some oddities about Neptune's magnetic field.


Published recently in Nature Physics, the study is an effort to explain two things: What causes the magnetic poles of Neptune and Uranus to be so far off their geographic poles; and what would cause the planets to have a 10 percent carbon makeup. Diamond seas are the answer, and their experiment suggested that these seas would behave a lot like water oceans.



Scientists have produced liquid diamond before (you can see a picture of the 'z machine' above, which liquifies diamond using electricity and pressure), but mostly for industrial applications. The researchers in this study, however, wondered what would happen to diamond in an ultra-hot, high-pressure atmosphere like Neptune's. Once they had liquified the diamond at extreme pressures, the researchers brought the pressure back up to Neptune levels (about 11 million times Earth's), while bringing the up to the planet's usual 50,000 degrees. As the atmospheric mix stabilized, they discovered that chunks of solid diamond appeared in the liquid, floating atop it like sheets of ice.


Vast seas of diamond could also explain how the giant planets' magnetic fields got warped too, with the magnetic pole as much as 60 degrees off from the geologic one.


If DeBeers owns beaches in South Africa just to protect its diamond mines, imagine what they'll do with this kind of real estate. DeBeers Ocean on Neptune?

Secret "Jesus" Bible codes inscribed on American military weapons

Secret "Jesus" Bible codes inscribed on American military weapons: "ABC News reports that high-powered rifle sights provided to the US Army and Marines by Michigan weapons maker Trijicon include coded references to Bible passages about Jesus Christ:



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The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.


U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious 'Crusade' in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.


One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: 'For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.'



U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes (ABC News)

Trijicon (corporate website)


Garbage Juice

Garbage Juice: "

Monday 18 January 2010

Who's the King of Pop now, bitch?

Who's the King of Pop now, bitch?: "

"

Nook Stool

Nook Stool: "


Nook is the first piece of furniture from new company VIAL, which will be presented at IMM Cologne 2010. Nook was designed by award-winning designer Patrick Frey and is made form a single pieces of VarioLine®, a high-tech plastic never before used in furniture production.


Tiger Woods ‘Drags His Knackered Todger To Sex Rehab’

Tiger Woods ‘Drags His Knackered Todger To Sex Rehab’: "

Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods rehabYou people make us sick. You laughed at Tiger Woods for humping everything in sight like some kind of horny billionaire terrier?

Well stop. Tiger Woods has a disease. He didn’t have it off with all those women because he’s a thoughtless, power-hungry, sweating nutsack of a man who enjoys no-strings sexual intercourse behind his wife’s back with an endless procession of identically orange cocktail hostesses with too many vowels shoehorned into their names and so much collagen stuffed up their crevices that they barely look able to stand up properly.

No. Tiger Woods did all that because he has an illness – an illness called sex addiction. And even though it’s an illness that probably doesn’t even exist, Tiger Woods has gone to rehab for it anyway. Who knows, maybe he’ll bump into someone who’s being treated for superfluous vowel addiction and they’ll hit it off.

It’s taken a while, but it looks as though Tiger Woods has finally decided to follow the Mel Gibson Rule to the letter. You know the Mel Gibson Rule – it’s practically the guidebook for celebrities with no self-control who want to let themselves off the hook by distancing themselves from the concept of personal responsibility. Although Mel Gibson may have invented the rule after screaming about how much he hates Jewish people during his DUI arrest, it’s been followed by many since – and the latest student is Tiger Woods.

Let’s just run down the rule to see how Tiger Woods is doing:

1 - Apologise for mistake? Check. Following his scandal, Tiger Woods wrote a cursory apology on his website that briefly expressed a minimum amount of contrition for his so-called ‘transgressions’.

2 - Apologise again with feeling? Check. After the first apology didn’t work – note to celebrities: it never does – Tiger Woods then wrote something a little more heartfelt and specific to bide him some time in the hope that this would all blow over.

3 – Go to rehab? Check. This one’s key. It doesn’t matter if your problem is tangible like an alcohol or substance addiction, woolly and untreatable like homophobia or something in the middle like sex addiction – going to rehab is the only way to cure yourself. And, even though his only real addiction is to being a sweaty pervert who can’t look at anything for more than five seconds without seeing if his willy can fit inside it, that’s what Tiger Woods has reportedly done. OK! reports:

With new reports surfacing that Tiger Woods is being treated at the Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services facility in Miss., the professional golfer has opted to live alone during his stay. Tiger was granted special permission to live without a roommate as he undergoes therapy in one of the best sex addiction programs around lead by Dr. Patrick Carnes.

Of course, a single-occupancy stay at sex rehab works well for everyone. On Tiger’s part it means that he’s less exposed to unscrupulous patients who’ll try to sell information about his demons to the media, and for everyone else in the facility it means sleeping soundly in the knowledge that they won’t be woken up by the sight of Tiger Woods’ bulging eyes looming over them as he tries to stuff it up one of their orifices.

So that’s part three on the boil. But don’t think that Tiger Woods is in the clear yet – Mel Gibson Rule also has a fourth part. Tiger Woods won’t have completed his penance until he’s directly apologised to a leader of the community most affected by his behaviour.

That could prove to be tricky – sun-damaged, money-grabbing opportunists with ratty nylon hair extensions, fake boobs the same size and density of maritime cannonballs and collagen-enhanced lips that look like the end result of an ill-advised lilo-eating competition tend not to be grouped into a formally unionised community. But there’s always Al Sharpton. Apologising to Al Sharpton never hurt anyone, did it?