Riding in a Harley-Davidson hearse is actually not a bad way to go.

There are many funeral homes that offer services like this, but this particular motorcycle hearse belongs to Clear Creek Coach, a family owned Motorcycle Hearse Service, in Topeka, Kansas. This has to be the perfect way to go for life-long bikers who want to make a stylish exit. The company offers this service because they “geniunely care about providing something special for those wanting to honor their loved ones memory in a unique way. ” Read More »

Are you worried your PC could be more environment-friendly? You’re right, but don’t worry, thanks to Recompute you don’t have to give up web-surfing.

Recompute is a green concept that means to completely revolutionize the computer industry. Instead of a plastic, aluminum or iron case, Recompute uses a recyclable and renewable case, made out of corrugated cardboard.

Recompute uses only 3 electronic components, a motherboarde with processor and memory, a power-source and a hard-drive. It’s designed to allow the user to take parts like the keyboard or mouse from an old comuter. The electronic parts can be recycled easily, without having to use tools.

via core77

Known as the toughest competition in the world, the Tough Guy Race asked its question again in 2009, “Are you strong enough?”

More than 5,000 people gathered at the start line of the Tough Guy Race this year, only to face the torture of a 13 km endurance course, designed by a former Grenadier Guardsman named Billy Wilson, in 1986. Competitors had to run and crawl through mud and flames, while dodging smoke bombs, barbed wire and electric charges.

The Tough Guy course is so dangerous the competitors had to sign a disclaimer saying “It’s my own bloody fault for being here”. Accordingto the official site of the Tough Guy Race, there were many broken arms and legs tis year, but luckily no one lost their lives.

This year’s competition looks even worse than Tough Guy Race 2008.

(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

(Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

(REUTERS/Kieran Doherty)

(AP Photo/Simon Dawson)

(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Who better to make time sand than one of the world’s most famous time-piece manufacturers, Rolex.

In order for an hourglass to  acurately measure time, its sand would have to be of uniform size and texture. Michael Marcovici used this kind of sand in one of his latest artworks. Famous for stacking 10 million $100 bills on 12 pallets, to offer a view at $1,000,000,000, Marcovici now stacked 972 Rolex Time Sand bags, on 18 pallets. Each bag weighed 30 kg and it would last for 30 days, flowing through an ordinary hourglass.

All the sand bags, weighing over 29,000 kg, represent a generous estimation of an average lifetime, 81 years. The second photo shows the amount of life already consumed by the artist, 39 years.

via Artmarcovici

One of the oldest castles in Scotland, Kelburn is now also one of the most modern.

Kelburn castle was built in the 13th century, remodelled in the 16th century, and opened to the public, as a country park, in 1977. It’s one of many beautiful castles in Britain, but Kelburn stands out through its bizarre, grafitti-covered exterior. In 2007, after experts told him the outer facing would have to be replaced in order to prevent further damage to the castle walls, the Earl of Scotland invited grafitti artists to prove their skills on the walls.

The grafitti-painted walls of Kelburn Castle will be reconditioned in 2009 at the earliest, so you still have time to admire one of the most unusual-looking medieval castles in the world.

Photos via Hohota.net

Ever wondered what a professional camera looks like on the inside?

You know how merchants slice watermelons at the market, so you can see they are ripe? I think somebody used the same sales strategy on this professional camera. How else would you explain this oddity, a camera sliced in half. I can think of just one other possibility that makes everything possible, art. The weirder the exhibit, the more successful it is.

If you happen to know why someone would ruin a great camera like that, shre your knowledge with the rest of us.

Amazons don’t just live through legends and myths, they live in the real world.

French explorer Guillaume Herbaut stumbled upon a group of young amazons deep in the Ukrainean forest. They dress in traditional outfits of their people, study martial arts and live together, away from men, just like the ancient female warriors used to do.

The idol of these modern amazons is the Ukrainean prime-minister Iulia Timoshenko.

Just what we guys needed, another group of women who could kick our asses.

via English Russia

Some people love anime heroes that much.

We all know how popular anime are worldwide, but especially in the coutry that invented them, Japan. Known as Itasha, the art of covering the body of a car with fictional anime characters, is very popular in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Gatherings to show off the coolest Itasha cars are held regularly, and the latest was organized in Nagara town, just north of Tokyo. Called “Winter 2009 Itasha Collection“, it was held on January 25 and brought together over 150 cool cars. A 20 million-yen Itasha car was reportedly also presented there.

Source [Mainichi via Bouncing Red Ball]

For the first time ever, a polar bear has been spotted floating on a small iceberg, in London.

It’s not ever day you see a polar bear floating on the river Thames, let alone one that is 100% recyclable. To celebrate the opening of Eden, a new natural history television channel, a sculpture of a stranded polar bear and his cub was comissioned and set afloat in Greenwich, southeast London.

The whole point of Eden‘s 16-foot-sculpture was to attract attention on a burning environemental issue, the melting of the polar bear‘s habitat. If extreme measures are not taken, the largest land predator on Earth could become extinct.

The recyclable polar bear was launched on the Thames on January 26, at 6:30 in the morning, and traveled for 7.5 miles before stopping beside Tower Bridge for a photo shoot.

via Planetsave.com

Obama-mania obviously hit Japan as well, as they rush to buy the best Obama action-figure ever.

Barack Obama is already a hero not only for Americans, but also for the Japanese. The Obama action-figure can be found on the shelves of many japanese toy-stores, together with patriotic accessories, like the American flag and changeable palms, to better express himself.

Obama-san also has some damn cool weapons to fight terrorism, political opponents and maybe even the economic crysis.  The new American president comes equipped with a katana (Japanese sword) and wakizashi (long knife), a gun and a rifle, but also with a very cool light-saber, to help him fight his nemesis, Darth Vader(?!?).

The Obama action-figure was created by Hong Kong-based toy company DID Corporation and can be bought online here

Didn’t know Russia builds super-cars? That’s alright, they didn’t, until now.

Marussia is the invention of Russian GT driver Nikolai Fomenko and it has become the first Grand Turismo car built in Russia. That’s not the most important thing about Marussia, since most of the parts come from abroad, but the fact that you can change its body as easy as replacing a mobile phone’s facet.

The steel frame that holds the 3,5 litre engine and all the other important parts is the core of the Marussia, while the ultra-light plastic body can be easily changed by the owner.

Marussia is a true GT racer, producing 300 horse-power and accelerating from 0 to 100 km. per hour in just 4.2 seconds.

To celebrate the Orthodox holiday of the Epiphany, on January 19, Russians plunge into ice-cold water to purify their bodies.

In a ritual imitating the baptism of Jesus Christ in the River Jordan, wholes are cut into the ice covering rivers and ponds across Russia and priests bless their waters. People actually stand in line, late into the night, wearing only their swim-suits or underwear, to jump into the ice-cold water.

The cold water is said to have a cleansing effect on those brave enough to jump into it, but some of the brave swimmers just do it for fun and thrills. Not recommended for the faint-hearted, the ritual of the Epihany helps harden the body and make it more resisliant to illness.

Surely some good Russian vodka helps the swimmers get through the ritual a lot easier.

Ilham Anas is a 34-year-old photographer who has become famous for looking like Barack Obama, the new president of the United States of America.

Ilham Anas has become quite a celebrity in his home country of Indonesia and he now makes most of his money from appearing on various TV shows and posing as Barack Obama. His success story began when the original Obama won the elections last year, and his colleagues started making jokes about their striking resemblence.

His co-workers even dressed him up in a suit and tie, and took pictures that quickly found their ay on the internet. Since then his popularity has grown constantly and Indonesian can’t get enough of Obama’s look-alike. As you may know, Barack Obama lived in Indonesia fo 4 years, so his popularity is pretty high there.

via Prikola

I always thought celebrating New Year’s was all about fun. How can bathing in ice-cold water be considered and enjoyable experience…unless you’re a seal or a penguin?

About 6,500 Dutch gathered on Scheveningen Beach, in The Hague, for a quick splash in the waves, to celebrate the coming of a new year. Both young and old, most of the crazy swimmers said they do this kind of thing for kicks, because being normal is simply too boring. I agree with that, but swimming in water with a temperature of just 6 degrees Celsius? No thanks, I think I’d rather jump out of an airplane.

via Prikola

Often shortened to El Camino del Rey, this dangerous walkway has claimed many lives in recent years.

El Caminito del Rey was built in 1901 as a connection between the power plants of Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls. It took four years to finish and in 1905 Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, crossed the walkway for the inauguration, thus giving it its name, The King’s Walkway.

Built along the steep walls of a narrow gorge, in the Malaga region, El Caminito del Rey has deteriorated severely in the last years and after four people died crossing it, in 1999 and 2000, the authorities decided to close it off to tourists. It’s only 1 meter wide and it stands 300 meters above the river floating in the area. Onlly a small part of the walkway has handrails and much of the concrete  walkway has collapsed, leaving only the steel beam that originally held it up.

Despite the efforts to keep tourists away from El Caminito del Rey, many still sneak past security in search of adrenalin-induced thrills. In 2006, the regional government of Andalusia approved a restoration plan of 7 million euro.

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