Hidden deep in an Australian rainforest, the clay sculptures of William Ricketts express the Aborigines’ deep connection with Mother Nature.

Born in 1898, William Ricketts was an Australian sculptor and potter who developed a spiritual bond with the Aboriginal people of Central Australia. The time he spent with them, between 1949 and 1960 inspired his works in Potter’s Sanctuary (now known as William Ricketts Sanctuary).

The 92 intricate ceramic sculptures placed along the passageways seem as they are merging with the surrounding plant-life, thus expressing the strong bond Aborigines have always had with nature. Designed as a place where man’s spirit becomes one with nature, William Ricketts Sanctuary inspires us all to protect Mother Nature instead of constantly exploiting her.

William Ricketts spent most of his life in this sanctuary, located on Mount Dandenong, near Olinda, and died here, in 1993, at the age of 94.

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Produced by Japanese company Megahouse, the GUMMIX kit allows kids and grown-ups to make their own jelly insects, as pranks or food decorations.

GUMMIX is part of the Megahouse 2010 Shokking lineup, and consists of special gelatin powder and insect molds. It’s as simple as it is fun. Just mix the gelatin with fruit syrup, ketchup or soy sauce, depending on what you’re trying to achieve, and pour the mixture into the molds.  When the jelly starts to harden, attach the limbs with the included tweezers, and there you have it, an edible bug.

The GUMMIX insect kit comes with a mixing cup, recipe cards, and 4 moulds of a beetle, a crawfish, a stag beetle and a sow bug. It costs 3675 yen ($40) and you can purchase 3 extra moulds, for 1570 yen each ($17).

via Gigazine

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After the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Indians realized exclusive golf clubs are on the list of potential targets, and came up with an electric armored golf cart.

The Metaltech Anti-Terrorist Assault Cart, or A-TAC, was designed to assist Indian armed forces in dealing with terrorists, and can easily fit into lifts and narrow corridors, thanks to its cart-like shape. The A-TAC might look like a wacky golf-cart but it will protect you even against explosions, not to mention gunshots.

Weighing around a half-a-ton, the Meltatech Anti-Terrorist Assault Cart is powered by an electric battery and runs for six hours, on a single charge. As you’d expect, it doesn’t reach impressive speeds, but 25km/h is not bad for an armored golf-cart.

If you’re looking for protection on the golf course, you’ll have to fork out $45,000 for Metaltech’s Anti-Terrorist Assault Cart.

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A cement quarry near Sucre is home the world’s largest site of dinosaur tracks, known by the locals as Cal Orko.

More than 68 million years ago, thousands of dinosaurs flocked at Cal Orko (a lakeside in those times) in search of food and water. This explains the over 5,000 dinosaur tracks, laid in around 350 criss-cross trackways, on a crumbling wall. The most amazing thing about Cal Orko is it features footprints from 330 dinosaur species, from the Cretaceous, just before they went extinct.

The fascinating 70-degree rockface is a rather new discovery, found by Bolivian workers, in 1994. It stretches 1.5 kilometers in length and it’s 150 meters tall. Compared to other dinosaur track sites, on any other continent, Cal Orko is by far the biggest and most important.

Unfortunately, Cal Orko is in constant danger of crumbling and Bolivian authorities spend $30 million every year, to keep it in place. With all their efforts, part of the Dinosaur Wall has crumbled at the beginning of February, and with it about 300 footprints have been lost.

Photos via Fogonazos

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Known as ‘The River of Five Colors” or “The Rainbow River”, Cano Cristales is one of the most amazing rivers of our world.

For the most part of a year, Cano Cristales river, in Colombia, is just an ordinary as any other flowing waters you might have seen. But for a brief period of time, it becomes the scene of a natural festival of colors. The special algae living on the river’s bed of rocks is behind this incredible natural phenomenon.

The river’s flow of water regulates the amount of sunlight reaching the algae, and during the rainy season, it keeps the sun’s rays from reaching the bottom. During the dry season, the water is too shallow to sustain river life, but between these two seasons, conditions are just right for the colors of Cano Cristales to come to life.

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Lolo, a black jaguar, originally from South America, enjoys her first press conference together with her adorable spotted cub. Looking at the first photo, you can see she’s just as surprised as you are.

She’s the mother, so we can’t really pin this abnormality on her being unfaithful. Believe it or not, it’s not the babies spots that are odd, it’s his mother’s pitch-black fur. Most jaguars have brown spots that help them blend better in their environment, but about 6% of them suffer from a genetic condition known as melanism, which causes them to be entirely black.

Lolo and her two-year-old cub live at the Yaduda zoo, in Jordan. The youngster’s father, Falah, was separated, so he wouldn’t hurt the cub. It’s pretty selfish of us humans to keep such extraordinary creatures in depressing conditions, simply for our entertainment.That little beast is adorable, but just thinking about the rest of his life in a zoo, instead of in the jungle, where he belongs, makes me feel depressed.

Photos by REUTERS via Daylife

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Every year, the people of Suzdal, a small Russian town north-east of Moscow, gather at the the Museum of Wooden Architecture, for the traditional goose fight.

Locals form a circle that acts as the circle of the fighting ring, and the geese are simply unleashed. Apparently, the colder the winter, the more aggressive the birds. This year the temperatures were way below zero,  so the geese started fighting almost instantly.

Two families are released into the ring, but only two geese take part in the actual confrontation, withe the rest of the parties doing all the cheering. But this isn’t as violent as it my look. Unlike cock fights or ouzel fights, goose fighting is a lot more gentle, resulting in only a few plucked feathers.

via toprn

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I’ve seen my share of Jabba the Hutt birthday cakes on the web, but this is by far the best ever.

Edible Jabba was made for the birthday of a four-year-old fan of the famous Star-Wars character, who specifically requested that Rotta (Jabba’s son) also be included in the sweet work of art. It was made by an unnamed ‘friend of the family’, out of chocolate cake, chocolate fudge and fondant. As delicious as that sounds I couldn’t take one bite out of this Jabba the Hutt cake, it’s just too perfect.

Congratulations to the artist for a job well done! Photos via icruise_flickr, parent of a very lucky 4-year-old.

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Why kill an animal and have it stuffed with straw and stuff, when you van have artist Shauna Richardson crochet you the best trophy head you could ever dream of?

Shauna Richardson is a true crochetdermy expert. What is crochetdermy, you ask? Well it’s kind of like taxidermy, only without the dead animals. The UK based artist uses coarse wools like mohair, and glass eyes to create animal models and hunting trophies. She uses a single color and only one type of stitch for an entire crochetdermy model, changing the direction of the stitches to highlight certain anatomical features. She works with a single 3mm hook.

Although it takes Shauna over a month to complete one of her crochetdermy masterpieces, the end result is definitely worth the effort.

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Each year, the French town of Menton hosts an event unique in the world, La Fete de Citron, or the Lemon Festival.

This year’s 77th edition of the Menton Lemon Festival takes place between February 12 and March 3 and has the theme “Menton does cinema”. The second most important festival on the French Riviera, after the Carnival of Nice and just before the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Monaco, The Lemon Festival draws in a crowd of over 230,000 people.

The lemons grown in the Menton area are favored by the world’s star chefs, for their distinct flavor and superior sugar content. The French town enjoys a sub-tropical climate,sheltered by a nearby mountain chain.

Back in the 1930s, locals used to celebrate by parading a few carts loaded wit orange and lemon trees, but throughout the years, the festivities turned into an international carnival. Over 300 professionals work on arranging around 145 tons of citrus fruits as giant sculptures.

Photos via CCTV

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Jim Jablon used the skin of a dead alligator to create one of the strangest bikes ever seen on the roads of Florida.

Ironically enough, Jim Jablon’s ‘Gator Bike‘ was created using the skin of an alligator killed by authorities, but it’s now used to raise funds for a wildlife foundation. Alligator are constantly culled, in order to keep their numbers under control, and most of the skins end up pinned up in people’s yards. So Jim thought to put one to good use and get some exposure for his Wildlife Rehabilitation of Hernando (WROH) foundation. That’s basically how the Gator Bike was born.

The Gator Bike took Swedish leather expert Benny Ohrman a full year to complete. The skin and tail come of the bike, but the alligator head is fixed in place and has the speedometer and the rest of the gauges in the back of the head.

Jim Jablon decided to raise money for his foundation by organizing a raffle with the Gator Bike as the prize. A raffle ticket costs $100 and only 1,000 will be sold. The winner of the bike will be selected in May, in Fort Lauderdale.

It’s worth mentioning the Gator Bike comes with a powerful Ultima engine, and over $86,000 to make.

via Daily Mail

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I know they look ‘photoshopped’ but these amazing flowers are the real thing, and can be bought at some select flower-shops around the world.

Invented by Peter van der Werken, the owner of a flower company close to Den Bosch, Holland, rainbow roses look like they’ve been seriously modified in programs like Adobe Photoshop. But, they are actually the result of careful flower engineering. Dye is inserted into the stem of the rose as it’s growing, and the petals simply absorb it. Sounds easy enough, but it’s a very difficult process.

Sadly, you can’t buy rainbow rose bushes, only cut, or dried flowers. And even those come at a price meant to keep most of us away. Five cut rainbow roses sell for $55 and two dozens cost up to $325. But it you’re going to spend a small fortune on a flower, why not buy a freeze-dried rainbow rose that will last for years.

Rainbow Roses are special, but I for one like the common kind better. I guess I’m old fashioned.

via TheFunTimesGuide

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Minnesota farmer Bruce Andersland thought to himself “Nothing says I love you like a big heart made of manure”.

That’s right, the (overly) original Bruce decided to surprise his wife of 37 years with a stinky Valentine. He used his animals’ manure to draw a half a mile wide heart , on their farmland. Y’all might think it’s gross, but his wife Beth says she thinks it’s cute and by far the most original Valentine she has ever received.

The stinky Valentine’s Day gift isn’t visible from the ground, so Darren Schone, from the Minnesota Aviation took some photos, as proof.

Photos by Darren Schone/AP

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In order to draw attention to their protest against the Israeli barrier near the village of Bilin, a group of activists dressed themselves as Na’vi from James Cameron’s Avatar.

A barrier that Israel says is needed for its protection has been rerouted to swallow the Palestinian village of Bilin. Palestinian as well as foreign protesters dressed in blue suits, wearing loincloths, wigs and tails sought to show the similarities between their situation and that of the Na’vi aliens from the blockbuster Avatar.

Really colorful protest, I must say, but sadly it won’t make a hell of a difference…

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Cats are famous for their relaxing effect on people, but in a country like Japan, where space is an issue, having a pet is problematic. That’s when cat cafes come into play.

For a modest fee of between $5 and $8 Japanese animal lovers can enjoy their usual coffee surrounded by dozens of playful cats. Spending an hour in the company of cats can work wonders on the human mind, and when you’re as stressed as Japanese business-men, even more so. Many of them can’t fit a household pet into their busy schedules, so they opt for a relaxing one-hour break in the company of purring felines.

It might seem like an oddity to us, but ever since the first cat cafe opened in 2004, in Osaka, this sort of establishment has become mainstream in Japan. While you can pet the cats and pay with them, you must obey a very simple set of rules regarding hygiene. In order to prevent infection OF THE CATS, customers have to wear disposable socks and slippers, as well as wash their hands with antiseptic.

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