The City Hall subway station in New York City was built to be beautiful, as a showcase for the entire train system. But it was closed in 1945. However, passengers on the 6 train can see it if they don't disembark on the last stop -the train turns around in the closed station. If you're not in New York, you can see it in pictures at Jalopnik. Link -via Evil Mad Linkblog

(Image credit: John-Paul Palescandolo, Fred Guenther)

The Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites are sending back images of Earth in false color. Not only are they useful to scientists and cartographers, but they can also be called works of art. The image here shows phytoplankton swirling around the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Yes, I thought of Van Gogh's Starry Night when I saw this as well as you did. See 22 such images at Wired. Link

Ming Li was on her way to school when a tractor ran over her and severed her left hand. Doctors in China thought the hand could be saved, but the arm was too damaged for reattachment. So they grafted the hand to Ming's leg in to keep it alive! After three months of repair and healing, the 9-year-old's arm was judged to be ready for the hand.

Dr Hou Jianxi, spokesman for the hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, said the hand had now been transplanted back on to her arm.

"When she came in, her left hand was completely severed from her body. It was very scary," he told the Zhoukou Evening Post.

"But Ming Li can now move her wrist again and her left hand is a healthy pink colour proving that the blood is circulating well."

With therapy and additional surgery, doctors believe she will be able to use the hand for most normal activities. Link -via Breakfast Links

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Is this turtle wearing additional protection or just a convenient disguise? The kitten doesn't know what to do with a walking step stool! -via Arbroath

A tavern in Australia got a visit from what turned out to be a celebrity last weekend. Patrons took pictures and called friends to come over to see the koala who came in, presumably to get out of the rain.

Kevin Martin, who works at the Marlin Bar on Queensland's Magnetic Island, was stunned a wild male koala wandered inside just after 8pm on Saturday.

"He sauntered up to the bar ... I asked him for ID and he got all disgruntled ... walked around the bar and then climbed up a pole and sulked," Mr Martin said today.

"We have a big stuffed marlin on the roof and he just sat under the marlin in front of the speaker, listening to the music.

"He fell asleep."

Rangers were called to take the koala back to his natural habitat. Magnetic Island is known for its large population of koalas. Link -via Fark

(Image credit: Flickr user Matt Hobbs)

Update: See a picture of the koala here.

Jeffrey Martin shot 8,000 photographs of London and then spent six weeks stitching them together to create this amazing seamless 360-degree panorama of the city. You can zoom in and lose yourself looking at details, or zoom back and admire the city as a whole. The quality of this panorama was impossible to achieve only a year ago -and at 80 gigapixels, it is the largest 360-degree panorama in the world! Open the map to find specific landmarks, or take the tour to see places you'd never think to look for on your own. This is the next best thing to traveling to London, and you don't even have to leave your desk! Link

(Image credit: Jeffrey Martin, www.360cities.net)

When a bat used at a Major League Baseball game gets cracked or otherwise rendered unusable, it's not just chucked in the garbage. Oh no! They are made into souvenirs, like this bottle opener. Each one has a unique hologram number that lets you look up what game the bat was used in -sort of a modern certificate of authenticity. Link

Now open in London, England, Lily's Kitchen serves a very specific clientele: dogs. Cats are welcome, too, but they don't serve people. And it's free!

Lily’s Kitchen recently opened on Pimlico Road, in London’s upscale Belgravia neighborhood, and dog owners were quick to have their pooches test out the menu, for free. That’s right, your four-legged friends get to sit at one of the restaurant’s three tables and fill up their bellies with organic food served by a waiter, and you don’t have to pay for it. It sounds to good to be true, but this is just a clever way a dog food company has found to promote their line of organic foods.

During the six week period Lily’s Kitchen is open, dogs will get the chance to be the stars, for a change, while their owners relax or take care of their daily chores. The dogs are served their favorite dishes in paper bowls, by waiters who actually love serving canines, because they never complain about the food, check or stuff like that. After they’ve filled their stomachs, dogs have a wide range of pleasant activities to enjoy. They can have their bellies rubbed, snooze on a comfy sofa, have their aches soothed by a holistic vet, or even enjoy a nice story, read to them by members of the restaurant staff.

Link

This building which houses the health department in BilBao, Spain is described as "origami-like". I can see that, but my first impression was that some special-effects giant monster is trying to burst out of it! The unique design is not just for looks. The city building code requires multi-story buildings to have stepped setbacks, so they incorporated that into an artful design. There are also environmental benefits from the folded glass appearance. Read about it and see more pictures at Jetsetta. Link

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Do you ever feel like you are just a cog in a machine? This Indian ad for a pain reliever illustrates that feeling, as humans are turned into industrial machines and vehicles. -via the Presurfer

The website Can You Draw the Internet? wants your imagination. They recruited a bunch of children to illustrate the idea of the internet. And they invited a bunch of graphic designers and advertising people to do the same. Now they are asking for your input as well! You can submit a drawing or vote on the drawings already there. This particular artwork is by Dan Sollis of Digital Distortion. Link -via Breakfast Links

This really happened, in Hudson, Ohio. http://www.hudsonhubtimes.com/news/article/4930914 -via The Daily What

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On October 17th, a landslide destroyed the pier at Chibatão Port on the Amazon River in Brazil. This video from a security camera shows the destruction as it happened. The river had been at it lowest level since records started being kept in 1902. A cracked developed along the river bank and cargo containers were sucked down as the banks collapsed. Link -Thanks, Chris!

As the 19th century turned into the 20th century, woman tried their hands at sports that they were previously prohibited from participating in. See vintage photographs of women playing soccer, baseball, cricket, bowling, tennis, and other sports. The boxing match pictured here took place on March 7th, 1912 between Mrs. Edwards and Fraulein Kussin. Link

(Image credit: The Library of Congress)

You've probably seen the 1957 move The Bridge On the River Kwai, but you might not know how much of the film was real and how much was fictionalized. The real history of how the railway between Burma and China was built, including the bridge, is a horrific story. The British didn't build the railway in the 19th century because it would be too expensive. During World War II, the invading Japanese took on the project, but expected it to take five years to complete. Those plans were drawn before they found a source of free labor: the Allied POWs. Because of the inhuman amount of labor forced on the prisoners, the railway line that was expected to take five years to complete was ready in only 16 months.

Starvation provisions, overloading of work, dismal or absent accommodation and sanitation, and the individual viciousness of Japanese and Korean engineers and guards, took their expected toll. Disease (predominantly dysentery, malaria, beriberi and cholera), brutality (69 men were beaten to death by their guards) and 12 to 18 hour daily work shifts made for a high death rate. In fact, the work went on 24 hours a day with the aid of oil pot lamps and bamboo/wood fires that were kept burning all night long. When looking down on the wok area at night it looked like working in the “jaws of hell” - thus the workers gave it the name “Hellfire Pass”.

Read the rest of the story at Environmental Graffiti. Link

(Image credit: ©Pascal Engelmajer)