December 2011
21 posts
7 tags
The World's Six Smallest and Deadliest Animals
Poison Dart Frog
The sprightly and brightly colored frog may look enchanting, but it can produce enough poison to kill 10 humans. Thriving in humid, tropical environments of Central and Latin America, the poison dart frog oozes black slime from its back, which is actually a neurotoxin used to ward off predators.
Australian Box Jellyfish
Found across the northern half of Australia...
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The Best Of The PBH Network In 2011
5. Dam Goats!
Talk about daring. Hanging out on Italy’s Cingino dam, these Alpine Ibex goats make Spiderman look like an amateur.
4. Who Knew? Cute Spiders Exist
Maybe “cute” isn’t the most accurate term for these jumping spiders, but as they are the largest family of spiders it would behoove of us to get to know our neighbors.
3. Kenny, the Inbred White Tiger
As...
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Six Of The World's Strangest Plants
Rafflesia Arnoldii
The largest flower in the world, this parasitic plant can bloom over three feet tall. Despite its alluring appearance, the plant exudes a pungent smell and has no leaves, stems or roots. The large center can hold six to seven quarts of water.
Selaginella Lepidophylla
Also known as Rose of Jericho, this impressive plant is native to the Chihuahuan Desert and...
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The Night Trawlers
The Night Trawlers is a painting by Robert Steven Connett depicting aquatic life in a modernist, vivid style.
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Five Unusual Rites of Passage
Wysoccan, Algonquin Indian Tribe
In Quebec, young boys of the Algonquin Indian Tribe were caged and fed the hallucinogen, wysoccan, to usher them into manhood. Considered more powerful than LSD, the drug was used to force adolescents to forget memories of their childhood.
Teeth Filing, Bali
In Bali, it is customary for boys and girls to have their upper teeth filed as part of their...
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Shanghai At Night
For more interesting pictures of Shanghai’s skyline, check out the transformation of Shanghai from 1990 to 2010.
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Ten Bizarre And Unusual Phobias
Nomophobia
Topping the list for unusual phobias is the modern affliction, nomophobia. The phobia is characterized by feelings of anxiety that arise from being out of a phone’s range of service, not having one’s phone charged, having no credit on one’s phone or misplacing it. It is believed that over 50 percent of cell phone users are affected by nomophobia.
Ancraophobia or anemophobia
...
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Rappelling Into The Lost Cave
Photographer Chris McLennan captures Johnny Tate’s 330 foot abseil into the Lost World Cave in New Zealand’s Northern Island.
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The Seven Most Unusual Religious Rituals and...
Baby Throwing
The Grishneshwar Temple in Indian state of Maharashtra is the site of a very unusual – and potentially dangerous - religious ritual. As the name suggests, babies between the ages of one and two are thrown from a 50-foot tower, with men positioned beneath to catch the babies on sheets. The 700 year old ceremony is believed to make children more intelligent, luckier and healthier...
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The Serene Lakefront of Hallstat, Austria
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The Six Biggest Betrayals In History
Alfred Redl and Austria
If betrayal by numbers is anything to go buy, Austrian army officer Alfred Redl takes the cake. Before and during World War 1, Redl worked as a spy for the Russian military and sold secrets about the Austrian army. Redl leaked the Austrian invasion plan for Serbia, which Russia in turn sold to Serbia. He continued to double cross his countrymen by supplying the wrong...
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The Sand And The Surf
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The Seven Cutest Animals You've Never Seen
Red Panda
More closely related to raccoons and weasel, the adorable red pandas frolic in the forests of the Himalayas, Burma and central China. These adorable creatures hardly grow bigger than a house cat and spend most of their time in trees. Their numbers, however, have been dwindling thanks to deforestation.
Long Tailed Chinchilla
These cute and cuddly critters are...
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The Bizarre Hanging Coffins Of China
The hanging coffin is a unique Chinese funerary custom that began in the 8th century BC. As the name suggests, families would place the deceased into wooden coffins and hang them on the side of cliffs.
Origins of the Hanging Coffin
Although no one knows exactly how or why the hanging coffins came to be, there are various hypotheses about their origins. Most commonly, they are attributed to...
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The First Wire Dispatch After Pearl Harbor
Seventy years ago today, minutes after the Japanese attacked American forces at Pearl Harbor, the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet sent out the above message to other US military forces.
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The Dubai Skyline In The Fog
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The Eight Weirdest Things You Can Buy Online
A Friend - Amazon
For only a $1.28, you can now grow your own boyfriend, girlfriend or even gay best friend. All you have to do is douse the miniature doll in water, after which it expands by 600%. As an added bonus (or if you live in Russia), the dolls can also be doused with alcohol for the same effect.
Price: $1.28 for girlfriend and gay best friends, $1.99 for boyfriend
JL421...
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The Cityscape Of Venice From Above
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Seventeenth & Eighteenth Century Art: The Rococo...
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Rococo was an art movement that emerged in France and spread throughout the world in the late 17th and early 18th century. The word is a derivative of the French term rocaille, which means “rock and shell garden ornamentation”. It began in 1699...
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On Top Of The Dolomites
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Five Mysteries Uncovered By Google Earth
Ancient Human Ancestor, South Africa
Plucky paleoanthropologist Professor Lee Berger used Google Earth (from the comfort of his armchair) to find bones of an ancient human ancestor in South Africa. After isolating patterns in a region he thought most likely to house human remains, Berger led a small contingent (his dog, son and one student) to the caves and fossil sites. The hunch paid off:...
