May 2012
40 posts
5 tags
The World's Wackiest Weddings
“Shrek”
Welsh couple Tracey and Vivian Williams had guests green with envy when they got hitched in a Shrek-themed wedding. Covered head-to-toe in green paint, fake ogre ears, wigs and dressed in outfits resembling Fiona and Shrek, the newlyweds opted for the ogre theme as Shrek was what they saw on their first date. However, they weren’t out of place: other family and friends...
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A Glimpse At The Brooklyn Bridge In 1905
Open to the public only two years before this photo was taken in 1903, the Brooklyn Bridge boasted the title of first steel-wire suspension bridge and was dubbed a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
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A Sunset In St. Ives
The sleepy seaside town of St. Ives, England offers world weary travelers an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life as well as stunning and serene sunsets.
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Japan's Scenic Hitachi Seaside Park
Filled with woods, gardens, a mini amusement area and cycling courses sprinkled throughout the park, Hitachi Seaside Park is a must-see for anyone venturing to Japan.
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Kids Reacting To A Guignol Puppet Show
Snapped by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1963 the moment a puppet dragon was slain, these kids provide visual proof that there was such thing as entertainment before Xbox.
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Meet The Superb Fairywren
No, “superb” isn’t a superlative used by us, it’s actually part of its name. Known for their peculiar behaviors, male wrens pluck yellow petals and display them to females as part of a courtship display.
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Five Amazing Survival Stories
Wenseslao Moguel vs. Firing Squad
One day in March, Wenseslao Moguel was captured for taking part in the 1915 Mexican Revolution. As a result, Moguel was sentenced—without trial—to execution by firing squad. During the execution, Moguel was shot nine times with the final bullet going through his head at close range. Remarkably, he survived and managed to live on to a ripe age,...
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Helsinki's Mindblowing Temppeliaukio Church
Excavated in 1968, the interior of Finland’s fantastic rock church boasts fine acoustics and natural lights streaming through its glazed dome.
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The Rise And Fall Of The Berlin Wall
Erected in the 1960s, the Berlin Wall divided communist East Germany from the noncommunist West. For 28 years, the Iron Curtain kept East Germans from fleeing to the West and the momentous occasion of its destruction signified a resounding international celebration for freedom.
August 13, 1961
Despite previous assertions that “Nobody intends to build a wall”, Communist East German leader...
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The Meeting Of Sitting Bull And Buffalo Bill
Four years after the tribal leader surrendered to the United States, Sitting Bull posed with Buffalo Bill for this iconic 1885 photo. For a time, Sitting Bull even toured with Bill’s Wild West Show.
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India's Zany Purple Swamphen Bird
This bird’s large feet aren’t the only things to boast about; its squawk is described as “raucous high-pitched screech, with a subdued musical tuk-tuk.” Fun fact: during the Roman Empire, the birds were considered so noble that they were one of the few fowl Romans wouldn’t eat.
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Bulgaria's Kooky Kukeri Festival
At the end of January, thousands of people from around the world gather in Bulgaria for the three-day event known as the Kukeri Festival. A Bulgarian tradition, the Kukeri marks an event where individuals play ritualized games in honor of the god Dionysus. However, only young men – “kukeri” – dressed in colorful costumes and scary masks may take part in said games. These masks are decorated to...
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A Transport Plane Over The Egyptian Pyramids
Taken in the midst of World War II in 1943, this iconic photo presents a rather prescient image of Western policy regarding the Middle East.
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The Amazing World Of Sand Art
If you think that building a bucket-shaped sandcastle adorned with sea shells is an artistic feat, you should take a look at the works of actual sand artists.
Sand brushing, sculpting, painting and bottling all fall under the umbrella term of sand art – the practice of modeling sand into an artistic form. Just like your own backyard sand castle endeavors, these works of art only require the...
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A Good Day In Gdansk
Located on the Baltic coast, Gdansk is Poland’s largest seaport and served as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement, which brought an end to Communist rule throughout Central Europe.
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The Pristine Piuva Tree Of Brazil
As if Brazil didn’t already have a lot to offer, how about adding a stunning purple tree to the mix?
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The Pristine Piuva Tree Of Brazil
As if Brazil didn’t already have a lot to offer, how about adding a stunning purple tree to the mix?
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Lithuania's Hallowed Hill Of Crosses
Located 12 kilometers north of Šiauliai, Lithuania stands the aptly named Hill of Crosses. This symbolic hill serves as an international pilgrimage site covered in over 100,000 crosses of all different sizes.
The construction of the crosses is said to have begun as a symbolic way for Lithuanians to simultaneously fight for their independence and Catholicism as well as against foreign...
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The Beatles Teach Ed Sullivan How To Play The...
Taken in 1964, the then-baby faced Beatles took some time to teach iconic talk show host Ed Sullivan how to strum a few chords while on the show. The next Paul McCartney? Doubtful.
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The World's Strangest Recorded Deaths
The ways people die are often conventional, however, history provides us with a multitude of recorded deaths that are markedly more interesting:
Chrysippus of Soli, 207 BC
Chrysippus was a Greek philosopher who devoted his life to important matters including ethics, mathematics, physics, epistemology and religion. Despite being a great thinker, even he would not have been able to imagine his...
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Death Penalty Throughout The World
The United States has quite a bit in common with its “enemies”, doesn’t it? Of the 194 member states in the United Nations, 50% have abolished capital punishment all together and a mere 22% maintain it in law and practice. Despite championing itself as a defender of life, liberty and forward thinking, the United States surrounds itself with mixed company. Human rights group...
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Madrid's Enchanting El Escorial
This premise is fit for a king, literally. El Escorial, located 28 miles northwest of Madrid, is the historical home of the King of Spain.
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The World's Most Intriguing Shipwrecks
Pearl Harbor Fleet of Ships, Hawaii
Popularly described as “a day that will live in infamy”, the infamous attack on a U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 resulted in the deaths of 2,402 people and marked the United States entry into World War Two. Over 300 Japanese planes bombed the area, damaging or destroying eight Navy ships, three cruisers, an anti-aircraft training...
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A Harrowing Photo Of The 1978 Jonestown Massacre
Formed by cult leader Jim Jones, the tragic November 18, 1978 mass suicide resulted in the deaths over 900 individuals.
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Ancient History's Greatest Speeches
The Ten Commandments, Moses
As religious history goes, this one’s a biggie. Moses delivered this speech regarding God’s Ten Commandments, which define ethics and worship in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. For those unfamiliar with the story, God inscribed the commandments on two tablets, which he gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, where Moses read them out.
One liner:
“For in six days...
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US Military Presence Throughout The World
What’s the cost of being free? With over 700 military bases in 130 countries throughout the globe, the United States military spending is greater than the military spending of China, Russia, Japan, India and the rest of NATO combined. And as the country drowns in debt, sources estimate that together, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost more than $150 billion a year. Imagine what the...
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The Gentle Waters Of Hamburg
Nestled on the Elbe River, while Hamburg is the second largest port in Europe it remains one of the prettiest.
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The Five Weirdest Fashion Trends In Human History
The Mullet
The mullet hairstyle boasts a contrasting and distinct mix of short hair in the front and longer looking “tail” down the back. Prominent mainly in the 60s and 70s, this trend can actually (and unfortunately) be dated back to the 6th century Byzantine Era when rebels cut their hair to stand out among the Roman crowd. The style’s popularity hit dizzying heights in the 1980s when...
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A Fatherly Ernest Hemingway
While Ernest Hemingway is famous for his pure virility, he is less known for being a father. Here is a photographic testament to that fact.
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The Emerging Art Of Reverse Graffiti
Also known as clean tagging, dust tagging, grime writing, green graffiti or clean advertising, reverse graffiti is a method of creating temporary or semi permanent images through the removal of dirt. It is often done by removing grime with fingers – as is often seen on dirty cars – but can also involve larger-scale crud removal via a high power washer.
UK street artist Paul Curtis...
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The Beautiful Photography Of Rory Dexter
The PBH Network is happy to announce that Rory Dexter recently won the All That Is Interesting/Viewbug photography contest. In his photography, Dexter, a social worker hailing from Massachusetts, seeks to produce a tangible testament to the strong connections he shares with the children and families with whom he works. For Dexter, photography provides the means to celebrate the people, ideas and...
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A Picturesque Photo Of Prague
The capital of the Czech Republic, the city of Prague is a European destination you should not miss.
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Iceland's Collision Of Two Worlds
In this impressive photograph, an aurora meets a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Even though its photographic display is a strange one. it certainly is captivating.
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Announcing The Speckled Axe
We are proud to announce that we have launched an exciting new site devoted to politics, economics and culture: Speckled Axe. Getting its name from a passage in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography on the pursuit of self-betterment, Speckled Axe is about providing the most relevant, compelling and shareworthy commentary and journalism to the internet’s most active participants.
We all...
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Four Awesome Graffiti Artists That Aren't Banksy
Steve Powers/ESPO
Steve Powers (aka ESPO) was a graffiti writer most popular in NYC who had consistently blurred the lines of illegal and legal graffiti. His graffiti writing usually took place during the day and generally involved tagging closed storefronts under the disguise of an “Exterior Surface Painting Outreach” (ESPO) member and telling passersby he was simply cleaning the fronts....
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The Spellbinding Antennae Galaxies
Located in the Corvus constellation, the Antennae galaxies are currently in the throes of a celestial collision. But with its other worldly appearance, one could hardly tell.
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The Greatest Speeches In Modern History
I am prepared to die, Nelson Mandela
One of the most memorable speeches in modern history comes from Nelson Mandela, the man who fought tirelessly against South African apartheid. His revolutionary work, however, had him wrongfully arrested in 1962 on charges of treason and for inciting the public to strike against the government. Mandela was sentenced to life in prison but delivered this...
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Hiroo Onoda, The Loneliest Soldier
A testament to the truly devastating effects of war, Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda fought a guerilla war—alone—in the forbidding jungles of the Philippines’ Lubang Island for nearly 30 years following the end of Word War II. Read more about this mystifying character here.
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A Stunning Sunrise In Hawaii
Taken from the geologically oldest of the Hawaiian islands, Kauai, it is plain to see why Hawaiians are known for their amiable demeanor.
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The World's Most Unusual Clubs
Miniscule of Sound, UK
Established in 1998 out of a small back yard in East London, the Miniscule of Sound is the smallest nightclub in the world. Accommodating only 14 people at a time, the Miniscule of Sound is a transportable club that has traversed the globe from China to Australia. Despite its miniature 8x4x8 size, the décor doesn’t skimp on the club feel: it’s replete with flashing...
