Have you ever noticed that famous landmarks always seem to look good in photographs?
You’d think the Taj Mahal was in the middle of a fantasy kingdom when you see it in photos, but zoom out a bit and show the surrounding area and you’ll discover that the Taj Mahal is sitting right next to a barren landscape littered with trash.
Zoom out on the pyramids at Giza and you’ve got a bustling metropolis all around, zoom out on Niagara Falls and it looks like part of a Las Vegas water park, but crop out the parts you don't want to see and those famous landmark photos will always look good! See more at PolicyMic.
We're having a cold snap down here in Texas. It's gotten as low as 50ºF! Brrr. We'll survive though.
Now in Antarctica, they've got it really rough. Here's a video from McMurdo Station, the main American research center in Antarctica. It's a 2006 video showing what the weather is like in what the natives call "Condition 1." That's when the wind speed exceeds 55 knots, visibility is less than 100 feet or the wind chill temperature is below -100ºF. Rather nippy.
Air Tahiti Nui is a French Polynesian airline (nicknamed Tiare) that not only takes tourists to paradise from France, the U.S., Japan, New Zealand, and Australia, but also hops from tiny island to not-so-tiny island. This video makes use of GoPro cameras in the strangest places, even inside a jet turbine, to give us an up close and personal view of an Airbus and its routine. Plane maintenance between flights is included, and the views from above the islands are awesome. Do not miss the final shot at the end.
The video was not made by the airline, but was a project by fans with the cooperation of Tiare as a gift to the Air Tahiti Nui staff on the company's 15th anniversary. -via Boing Boing
Pope Francis addressed families in St. Peter Square at the Vatican last Saturday. There's a video of the event, but it is four hours long. One of the highlights was a little boy who became attached to the pope, and came to stand beside him on stage. When some cardinals tried to remove him, the pontiff allowed the child to stay. The charming sequence is captured in a series of gifs and photographs at Buzzfeed.
You hear about people donating a kidney to their spouse, but this story has that backward. Kyle Froelich lived with a fatal kidney disorder since he was twelve years old. By the time he was 19, he desperately needed a kidney transplant, but the willing donors among his family and friends were never a match. Then he met Chelsea Clair, and within a few hours of knowing each other, she offered her own kidney. She proved to be a perfect match, and the transplant was carried out six months later.
On Oct. 12, signs with cut-out hearts led about 50 guests to the Danville Conservation Club. There, nearly four years after Clair first met Froelich at that car show, and three years after she gave him the kidney that would save his life, they were married.
Instead of the traditional promise to love “in sickness and in health,” the couple pledged to each other, “I offer you my hand, my heart and my soul, as I know they will be safe with you.”
The couple will celebrate the anniversary of their marriage, but they also celebrate the anniversary of the life-saving surgery every year with a party they call Sparkypalooza -because Sparky is what they call the donated kidney. You can read their story at the Indianapolis Star. -via Time Newsfeed
Remember the amazing Skidboot? The dog was a legend. Skidboot and his owner David Hartwig show off a little in this clip. These guys have probably done this routine a million times, but it's still impressive, and downright humorous. After watching this, you'll probably want to go back and watch the full report we posted a few years ago. -via Tastefully Offensive
16-year old Timothy Doner of New York City started learning Hebrew to better understand Israeli rap music. Now he can speak 23 languages, including Hindi, Arabic, Latin, Swahili and Ojibwe. Doner uses the Internet to have conversations with people around the world and quickly absorbs new languages as he does so.
The Marietas Islands off the Pacific coast of Mexico contain a gem of nature: a hidden beach. La Playa de Amor is accessible through a sea cave. It's set in a wildlife preserve, so access is restricted. But those who can get in experience a geological marvel. You can view more photos at the link.
How do you make a chocolate chip cookie ice cream cone? Nick of DudeFoods found that his waffle cone maker wasn't up to the task. But he pressed on with his research and tried to cook the cone around a metal cone mold. That didn't work. Finally, Nick found a solution:
For my third and final attempt I decided to just bake one giant cookie in my oven and then roll it into a cone the second it was done baking, before it could harden. Well, I guess sometimes the simplest idea is the best, because this worked like a charm. To roll mine I used the cone-form that came along with my waffle cone maker, but any cone-shaped object should work just as well. Then, once the cookie cone cooled and hardened it was all set to eat!
If not for the sign, would you have ever guessed that this building is a McDonald's restaurant? It was an exhibition building in Batumi, Republic of Georgia that ceased to be used for its original purpose. Architect Giorgi Khmaladze turned it into a restaurant and gas station.
It's "like Hawaiian Style pizza, but without all the crust." That's how Instructables member crapsoup describes this marvelous mouth-sized bite of happiness. To make it less nourishing, crapsoup made it with turkey bacon and turkey pepperoni. You can find the recipe at the link.
Chance Miller recorded this incident of an octopus -a fairly big octopus- making its way back to sea by squeezing through a tiny hole. -via Daily Picks and Flicks
Will the wonder that is Japan ever cease? First, the country gave us
Dragon Ball Z. Then she gives us Kamehameha,
a meme where people imitate anime fight scenes. How awesome is it? Let's
just say that it's over NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!
