Have you ever wondered where ice-cream flavors go to die? Well, believe it or not, they have their very own cemetery, in Vermont.

The New England city of Vermont is famous for its Ben&Jerry’s ice cream, and the company’s Waterbury factory is the most popular tourist attraction in the whole state. One of the things that makes Ben&Jerry’s special is the wide variety of flavors, but as new ones emerge every year, older and unpopular ones reach the end of the line. To honor their memory, Ben&Jerry’s built a cemetery just for them.

Located on a hill, behind the famous Waterbury ice-cream factory, the Flavor Cemetery features hundreds of plastic tombstones, for every wacky flavor ever launched by Ben&Jerry’s. Each tombstone has an artist-written epitaph and a list of ingredients of the “deceased” ice-creams. Since the birth of Ben&Jerry’s, 200 flavors that have failed to impress customers, ended up pushing daisies in the Flavor Cemetery.

But don’t start crying over the demise of your favorite ice-cream flavor, just yet. According to Ben&Jerry’s, you have the power to bring “deceased” flavors back from the dead, by asking for it on their official website. If a flavor gets enough votes to convince management, it will be exhumed and brought back in the world of the living.

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On a quest to change the way people think about trash, Yoav Kotik uses plain bottle caps to create beautiful pieces of jewelry.

The 52-year-old Israeli artist used to work as an industrial designer, and also tested the waters in the insurance industry, before focusing all his attention on the art world. Though many might be tempted to think Yoav Kotik was inspired by environmental issues, he confesses he was simply inspired by the urban environment that surrounds him.

His unique jewelry sets from his “Precious Metal” collection are part precious (metals like silver and gold, as well as precious stones) and part junk (mainly useless bottle caps, bent or carved into unique artworks). The bottle caps are collected from various places and cultures around the world, and moulded into unique masterpieces.

Apart from his jewelry collection, Yoav Kotik has also created various bottle cap artworks, from flowers to chandeliers.

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With tech garbage on the rise, it’s important we always come up with new ways of disposing of it in a way that doesn’t hurt the environment, and the computer-part coffee table made by Dmaloney serves as a great example.

This unique piece of furniture is actually made of two separate coffee tables, one that holds all the circuit boards, and another that acts as the glass surface. The components you see inside the coffee table are old circuit boards and dives from the late eighties and nineties, many of which actually come from his very first computer. He managed to fit them all together, on a coffee table, like puzzle.

Another cool feature of the computer-part coffee table is the set of LED lights programmed to come on when it gets dark.

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Part of the Green Dream Park, in Beijing, the 10-meter-tall statue of Optimus Prime managed to attract the gazes of many passers-by.

With all the Transformers statues, made from recycled materials, showing up everywhere I’m thinking they’re a great way of raising awareness to the problems of the environment, especially as far as young people are concerned.

Assembled near Bird’s Nest Stadium, in Beijing, the 10-meter-tall leader of the Autobots is made only from waste materials, brought in all the way from Taiwan. But this awesome Optimus Prime statue goes to show you that just because something is made from junk, doesn’t mean it’s junk.

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Inspired by the works of Stan Herd and the famous Nazca Lines of Peru, American artist Daniel Dancer creates unique paintings made of latex paint and a lot of people.

66-year-old Daniel Dancer has spent the last ten years of his life traveling the world over and creating unique artworks, choreographed and immortalized from way up in the sky. Upon discovering the mysterious Nazca Lines, in South America, he wanted to create his own artistry, so he bought some paint, gathered 800 school children and made a giant salmon, in Oregon.

So far, the Kansas-based artist has created hundreds of human paintings and has convinced thousands of people to participate in his Art of the Sky project. His artworks include a bald eagle made with the help of 1,400 people and a portrait of Barrack Obama.

To properly choreograph the participants in the Art of the Sky project, Daniel Dancer climbs in hot air balloons or large cranes. When everyone is in place, he asks the people to lie on their hands and knees, so the largest amount of color is exposed.

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The Everglades is home to many unique plant and animal species, mostly because it’s the farthest-north tropical environment in the world. It is the only true tropical forest in the northern hemisphere. The flora and fauna found in the Everglades are without peer.

Fauna

Florida Panther & Florida Black Bear – This entry gets two, since you’re not likely to see either of them. Both species are critically endangered, so count yourself lucky if you see the slight frame and tan fur of the Florida Panther, or hear the inquisitive snuffling of the Florida Black Bear. Well, count yourself lucky, back away slowly, and hope the animal isn’t hungry.

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The printed press may be dying, but Tucson based artist Nick Georgiou has found a way of breathing new life into old newspapers.

Nick’s art is inspired by the death of the printed world, economic crisis, and political and environmental uncertainty. He states “Books and newspapers are becoming artifacts of the 21st century. Whatever we used to read off paper, we’re now reading off digital screens. Our way of interacting with text is changing. My work is not only about the decline of the printed word in today’s society but its rebirth as art.”

Nick Georgiou uses old newspapers, collected by him or donated by others, tears them into folds and stitches them into various creatures. His works have been exhibited in various shows and galleries, bot in the US and abroad.

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A giant Nokia mobile phone has appeared in one of the biggest squares in Cluj, Romania, as part of the Planet Report Environmental and Film Festival.

Cluj is probably the most beautiful city in Romania, and I’m glad I finally get the chance to mention it in one of my posts. The first edition of the Planet Report Environmental and Film Festival aims to point out today’s environmental issues, and get the public and local authorities to take them more seriously.

As part of this eco-festival, local artists were asked to create various artworks out of waste. The most popular piece, so far, was a giant Nokia mobile phone, make of dozens of recycled mobiles, old keyboards and other computer parts.

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Jurustic Park is the brainchild of Clyde and Nancy Wynia, a couple of artists who create unique creatures, out of various metals, and scatter them through their yard, for the world to see.

This wondrous place was born in 1993, when Clyde decided to sculpt a giant iron bird, and hang it from one of the trees in his backyard. A curious neighbor asked him how he got his hands on something like that and the first thing that came into Clyde’s mind was “I dug it out of the nearby marsh where it inhabited the swamp during the Iron Age.” And That’s how his yard earned the name of Jurustic Park.

Clyde calls himself an amateur paleontologist who excavates and recreates the now extinct creatures that inhabited the large McMillan Marsh, near Marshfield, Winsconsin, during the Iron Age. he explains that these mysterious metal creatures went extinct during the 19th century, when farming and industry moved into the area. Many were used as parts for various machinery, while others were destroyed by the acid rains caused by pollution.

After 17 years of work, Clyde Wynia has managed to decorate his yard with over 250 iron sculptures, from large dragons, to tiny mosquitoes. Whenever he feels the urge to recreate yet another metal creature, he just has some iron delivered to his Jurustic Park, and starts welding.

Over 15,000 people, from all around the United States, and 30 other different countries, visit Jurustic Park, every year, and although Clyde never sells his large metal sculptures, he donates his works to charitable auctions, evey year, and earns about $6,000 for various causes.

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Five resourceful Chinese students have managed to built a fully functional Bugatti Veyron out of 10,280 empty cigarette packs.

This incredible project began when the five students, from Xi’an Electrical Mechanical University, decided to do something to determine their fellow students to quit smoking. Cigarette packs were a part of their project, from the start, but at first they wanted to arrange them into different anti-smoking logos. But as they gathered more and more empty packs, the idea of an environment-friendly electric car became more attractive.

During an inspection, university officials found the empty cigarette packs, and were ready to punish the five But after learning the reason of their effort, the university backed their initiative 100%, offered them work space, expert advice from experienced teachers and got all the 2,500 students of the school to help them gather empty cigarette packs.

The five students were thus able to finish their cigarette pack Bugatti Veyron, in time for the World No Smoking Day. Their incredible creation is just 300 kilogram heavy, and apart from the steel frame, engine, break system and gearbox, it’s made out of 10,280 empty cigarette packs.

It’s hard to imagine a Bugatti Veyron made of cigarette packs actually works, but this one actually does, and you can see it for yourself, in the video, at the bottom. Sorry about the low quality pics!

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With so many people to drive around, it’s no wonder the Chinese taxi business is so competitive, but authorities are finally doing something about those unlicensed cabs that are ruining perfectly legitimate companies.

To show the world they are committed to riding China of illegal taxi cabs, authorities in Chengdu have invited 50 taxi drivers to publicly destroy 140 illegal vehicles, captured by the police. Armed with iron bars, the drivers released all their anger and frustration on their competition’s cars, until they reduced them to mere scrap metal.

Out of the 140 destroyed cabs, 73 were knock-offs, and 67 were illegal vehicles whose drivers failed to pay their fines, in due time. Most of the illegal taxi cabs in China are put together from scrap metal parts, and made to appear brand new. Their severely used parts and tires often lead to severe accidents, and the cars are very difficult to chase down.

Photos via ImagineChina

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Using vegetables of all shapes and sizes, Chinese artist, Ju Duoqi, recreates famous masterpieces, like The Last Supper, or Mona Lisa.

Ju Duoqi first started working with vegetables in the summer of 2006, when she spent two days peeling a few kilograms of peas, before stringing them on a wire and transforming them in a skirt, a top, a headdress and a magic wand. This was her first experience with vegetable art, and it was called Pea Beauty Pageant.

In the years that followed, Ju Duoqi spent a lot of her time going to the vegetable market, picking them up and placed them in different positions, to see which ones made them more interesting. She discovered the different colors and textures of vegetables offered a rich source of imagery. And frying, boiling, drying, pickling or letting them rot made them even more interesting. The artist realized she no longer needed models for her artworks, as the vegetables could easily be used as models and props alike.

The Chinese artist decided to restage La Liberte Guidant le Peuple, using only vegetables, and called it La Liberte Guidant les Legumes. She used rotting ketchup for blood, potatoes as soldiers and rotting vegetables as background. She went on to create the vegetable art masterpieces you see below.

Ju Duoqi hardly ever leaves her home, and when she does she rarely travels for over 15 km, so she created her vegetable art for all women who love their home. She considers it an environmental way of bringing art and life together.

via ParisBeijing Photo Gallery

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Inspired by a Charlie Chaplin comedy, the World Custard Pie Championship is held every year, since 1967, in the village of Coxheath, Britain.

Teams came from as far as Germany and South Africa to compete in one of the wackiest events on the face of the Earth. Working in teams of five, contestants had to throw pies as accurately as possible, and hit opponents in certain parts of their bodies, to gather as many points as possible. Hitting an adversary in the face, earns the maximum of six points. Judges will also grant an extra five points for original and amusing styles of pie throwing.

Twelve teams took part in the World Custard Pie Championship 2010, and the champions were the High Pressure Cleaning team, who disposed of last’s year’s winners, Coxheath, in the final match. The pies used don’t actually contain custard, but they are made using a secret recipe.

The World Custard Pie Championship began as a charity event, in 1967, and as the years went by, it became more and more popular. Now bankers, and other people working in stressful environments welcome the opportunity to just let go and pummel someone with pies.

Photos by DAVID ROSE via Telegraph.co.uk

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All you Batman fanboys out there, better get your tissues, so you don’t drool on your keyboards, because this Batpod replica is a treat.

We’ve seen cool Tumbler replicas before, but this is the first functional Batpod I’ve seen, so far. And the best thing about this thing is that it’s for sale. Sure, we can’t all just whip out $100,000 to buy it, but at least we can dream.

The 1:1 replica Batpod took several months to complete, including 2 months of research and over 1,000 hours of intense labor. Its frame and tubing are made of hardened steel, the covers and arm guards are high tensile strength fiberglass. The engine is a whopping 650cc, which features nitrous injection boost and water cooling.

In case you’re wondering this custom made Batpod can be ridden, and although it’s not street legal, it has been tested in a controlled environment. According to the seller, it can be made street legal, at the buyer’s request. Still I wouldn’t recommend taking this thing for a ride on the highway, if you value your life.

The auction for the Batpod replica is ongoing on eBay, so you still have a chance of snatching it, for $100,000.

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Danish artist Nina Maria Kleivan replaced her new-born daughter’s baby clothes with uniforms of known dictators .

No, Ms. Kleivan is not a fan of dictatorship, she just used this opportunity to show that evil is present in all of us, no matter how innocent we may look. The idea for this unusual art project came to Nina after she suffered some complications from her pregnancy,and was forced to spend some time at home.

Away from her art studio, the artist chose her young daughter, Faustina, as a canvas. Looking at her, Nina started contemplating on the idea that each human being starts with a clean slate and has the opportunity to do good or bad, in life. “Even my daughter could end up ruling Denmark with an iron fist. The possibility is still there,” she says.

Like the Childzilla series, Potency may be comical, but it’s meant to have people ponder on where evil comes from. Read More »