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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Vitalich and Jirka are a young couple who decided to have their very own special wedding, as zombies. I guess not even death can split-up these two.

Believe it or not, this is the couple’s third wedding so far. Every time they married each other. It sounds strange, I know, but they have reasonably good explanation. Their very first wedding was pretty much what you’d expect a normal wedding to be like. They did it to please their families, but felt they needed to have a new ceremony just for them

The problem was in order to legally get married again, they had to divorce each other. And so they did. Thei second wedding was Goth-themed and their most recent one was all about zombies. They got some real cool make-up on, dyed their clothes and asked the same thing of their friends. They consider themselves normal people who just love getting married in the most unique ways. Read More »

An ambitious chef from the Philippines has created the world’s most expensive sushi, wrapped in sheets of gold and small African diamonds.

Angelito Araneta Jr., a young chef from Manila, managed to create yet another delicious treat for snobs the rich and famous. The ingredients used in his serving of sushi are not much different than what you’d expect to find in any other pieces of sushi you’ve had before, except for some thin sheets of 24 carat gold and a bunch of .20 carat African diamonds.

The five pieces of gold and diamond sushi cost around $2750 and can be found in a restaurant in Manila. You might think no one buys this incredibly expensive dish, but according to Angelito Araneta Jr, his unique sushi is often used in marriage proposals and during courtship.

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Just because someone can’t ride a standard motorcycle anymore doesn’t mean they have to stop exploring the open road. With the Conquest wheelchair motorcycle you can keep the dream alive.

We live in an era where being disabled below the waist doesn’t mean you have to give up driving, thanks to custom made cars, but for motorcycle enthusiasts things didn’t look so good. Until the invention of the Conquest, that is. Thanks to this innovative three-wheel motorcycle disabled bikers don’t have to give up what they love most.

Sure, it doesn’t look as good as a Harley, but it does come with a 1170 cc engine, that pushes the Conquest to speeds up to 105 mph, and gets it for 0 to 60 in 7.6 seconds. Thanks to its rearward ramp, riders can get on board in their wheelchairs, and fasten it with a locking mechanism.

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Aryan Hopkins, a piercing enthusiast from Roseville, California, has set a new world record for the highest number of piercings in one session.

Before you start calling this guy all sorts of things, you should know Aryan Hopkins made this bizarre attempt to raise money for the Shriners Hospital for Children, in Northern California. You have to respect that, if nothing else.

On Saturday, June 26, at the Abstract Ink Tattoo parlor, which Hopkins owns with his wife, piercing enthusiasts as well as members of the local media gathered to witness an attempt to break the highest number of piercings with an 18-gauge needle, in one sitting. The old record stood at 900, and after going through a lot of pain, Aryan Hopkins managed to push the number to 1,091.

That’s definitely an impressive figure, but Hopkins set out to reach 2,000 piercings, but the excruciating pain caused him to start shaking and losing feeling in his hands and arms. Read More »

Lonomia obliqua is just as frail as any other caterpillars you might have seen, but that doesn’t stop it from causing severe serious internal hemorrhaging and even death, if you just touch it.

This terrible Lonomia caterpillars live in the rainforests of South America, and cause a few deaths every year, especially in southern Brazil, where they’re usually found on the bark of trees. Blending perfectly in their surrounding, Lonomia obliqua caterpillars often can’t be avoided, even if people watch out for them. Most incidents occur when travelers lean against a tree and unknowingly brush against one of more caterpillars, which release a very powerful anticoagulant venom.

Symptoms of Lonomia obliqua poisoning include severe internal bleeding, renal failure and hemolysis. If the skin comes into contact with several caterpillars, death is often the outcome. The lethal dose of the toxin secreted by this terrible creature is among the lowest of all known toxins.

But there is also a bright side to the Lonomia obliqua caterpillar. Its powerful anticoagulant could be used in the prevention of life-threatening blood-clots, but research is still being conducted in the hope of somehow isolating some pharmaceutically valuable chemicals. But until that happens, all you can do is refrain yourself from leaning on trees, the next time you’re in South America.

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People brought their wacky home-made cardboard boats for the 22nd edition of the Cardboard Boat Race, on the Trend Avon river, in Oxford.

The Oxford Cardboard Boat Race is a family friendly event, organized by a group of local volunteers, known as “Boat Bums International” , with proceedings going to the Maryland Special Olympics fund. As you may have guessed, the challenge of this particular race is to build a human-powered boat out of corrugated cardboard capable of staying afloat long enough to finish the course.

But, with cardboard being so sensitive to water and all, many of the funny looking boats sink moments after they’ve touched water, but seeing boats sink is actually one of the highlights of the Cardboard Boat Race.

This year’s race took place on June 26th and, like every year, drew quite a crowd of eager paddlers, just waiting for an excuse to get away from the city on a weekend. Kids had the most fun, although adults didn’t shy away from proving their rowing skills on the 600-yard course. The entrance fee was $25 if you brought your home-built boat, and $100 for a rented one. Either way, the fun was guaranteed.

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I’m pretty sure not even Intel knew they made candy, but these Russian candy clearly have the Intel logo on the wrapper.

You’d think whoever made these would at least change its logo from “Intel inside” to something like “Candy inside”, but apparently they decided to take full advantage of the “i CORE” processors series to sell their products. I have to agree those are some sweet processors to have in your rig, but I never imagined they were actually good enough to eat. The i3, i5 and i7 Intel candy comes in different flavors and can be found in various Russian shops.

I wonder what’s next, Nvidia waffles?

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Dating back to the year 1357, the Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival is the oldest wrestling event in the world, attracting oiled up wrestlers from all over Turkey, and beyond.

Oil wrestling is one of Turkey’s most popular sports, and regarded by many as the manliest sport on Earth, so it’s no wonder over 1,500 oiled up Turks gather, every year, on a green field near Edirne, for a seven day event that decides the best oil wrestler in the land.

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A few months ago, I received an email from a contributor, about an art project called “Presidential Ham“. I was to busy to read it, at the time, and then forgot all about it. Yesterday, while tidying up my inbox, I stumbled upon it again, and finally checked it out.

The Presidential Ham is an original art project that depicts American presidents holding a big piece of (you guessed it) ham. It doesn’t make much sense, I know, but that’s the main reason I thought it was perfect for OC. Bijijoo, the artist behind Presidential Ham, has always wanted to paint the presidents holding a ham, and 2010 is the year he finally realized his dream. The portraits are oil painted on prepared board, and you can check them all out on PresidentialHam.com.

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British artist Bruce Murno made use of hundreds of thousands of CDs to fulfill a childhood fantasy and create a real CD sea.

Named CDSea (original, I know) the adventurous art project was set up on Long Knoll field, near Kilmington. To realizes his dream, the famous artist appealed to the general public, through the UK press and BBC radio, and asked everyone to send him any unwanted CDs they may have lying around. He received a massive response, and thousands of CDs began arriving from as far as California or Brazil.

Last weekend, the natural ‘canvas” at Long Knoll field was mowed and the time consuming task of arranging every CD by hand, got under way. With the help of 140 friends and colleagues from the art world, Murno created his inland sea out of 600,000 old CDs.

CDSea is just the first of a series of self-funded art installations made from discarded and recyclable materials, and will be available for public view over the next two months. Aftre that, all CDs will be sent at a recycling plant.

If yo happen to be in the area, don’t miss the chance to see the mirror-like CDSea reflect the sunshine and moonlight.

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With the eyes of the entire world on the Football World Cup, in South Africa, local authorities from Changsha, China had to come up with something better, yet related to current events.

And what’s better than football? Mud football, played by barely dressed gorgeous models, of course. So they set up a small football pitch, filled it with mud, brought in  models from various Chinese cities, and got the Beauty Mud Cup 2010 under way. In the photos below, teams from Hunan and Hubei go head to head, in one of the first matches of the competition. I don’t know the score, and neither do most of the male spectators who resumed to roars and cheers every time any of the girls kicked the ball through the mud.

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It may not look like it, but this weird-looking limousine is actually a Mercedes. Well, make that two Mercedes-Benze 300TD, and it can be yours for the modest price of $950,000.

That’s right folks, this ‘beautiful’ art-car, made of two welded Mercedez-Benz,containing parts from over 40 different cars is on sale for under $1 million. It’s even more unbelievable considering this limo has won the title of best art-car, at the Houston Art Car event, twice (2007 and 2009).

This alien-looking vehicle is the work of Antti Rahko, an art-car enthusiast who spent 10 years of his life welding two Cars into a 10-seater limousine, and decorated it with 86 lights and 36 mirrors. With that much visibility, you practically can’t crash this car.

I can understand Mr. Rahko worked hard on this art-car, but placing a $950,000 price tag on it seems just a bit ridiculous. Right now the bid on eBay is at $10,000, and he’ll probably need inflation to move a bit faster, if he wants to get the asking price in his lifetime.

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Just because it sank almost 100 years ago, doesn’t mean you can’t visit the famous Titanic. One of the best way to do it is to travel to the Titanic Museum, in rural Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

The world’s largest museum attraction, this 50% scale replica of the Titanic is actually just the front bow of the famous ship. Located in Pigeon Forge, this new tourist attraction cost $24 million and took over one year to build. But it has plans of attracting around 1 million visitors a year.

Unlike its sister museum, in Branson, Missouri, The Titanic of Pigeon Forge is not a Hollywood style museum, it’s an interactive experience that features all the tragic elements of the Titanic story. As soon as they enter the museum, visitors are offered a boarding pass with the name of one of the original passengers, and are greeted by in-character stewards and ship officers, always ready to offer information about the ship. There is even a section where visitors can sink there hand in a tank of -2 degrees Celsius cold water, the temperature the water was when the Titanic sank.

The Titanic Museum of Pigeon Forge also has a replica of the beautiful White Star liners Grand Staircase, as well as 400 artefacts from the original Titanic, including a life vest, and a tooth, recovered from survivors.

Even though the Titanic didn’t make it to America, it continues to fascinate its inhabitants, and the owners of the Titanic Museum hope this will make their investment profitable.

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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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