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This is a truly amazing story happened last August in Charlottesville, Virginia, which I've been looking forward to tell you for a long time.
After three days of storms and heavy rain in the area, two guys who were checking the filters of the swimming pools found these three bizarre charachters, clinging to each other to survive. The filters are terrible traps in this cases and they usually fill up with frogs, beetles, grasshoppers which are doomed to drown. Nevertheless these three decided not to die and in a moving, exceptional realized that surprising Totem Pole Turtle-Frog-Spider that eventually saved their life. All of them were exhausted from the effort when the guys found and save them from the pool filter and were reluctant to part ways after being rescued like if their bond, born from their struggle for life, woul be now too much stronger to be broken.
this is just a synthesis of this story that seems to me exceptionally beautiful and moving. The best things you can do now is to read the report directly from the words of the two protagonists o this story in their own blogs:
- All the way down @ Darren Hoyt Blog
- Something cute I fished out of the pool filter today @ The Blog of Wistar Watts Murray
Reuters
While residents of Venice have been coping with one of the worst floods in the lagoon city for more than 20 years (Click here to see the post I've published just two days ago about this) , Duncan Zuur a famous wakeborder and Red Bull sponsored athlete took advantage of the adverse conditions to wakeboard through the city's famous St Mark's Square.
Everything happened at the speed of light on Tuesday: just a few minutes after 11 a.m., the high-water mark had reached 1.35 metres, equivalent to a good half metre of water covering St. Mark's Square.
Duncan Zuur's team pulled a compact, 20 horsepower motor winch from its hiding place and placed it under the square's arches. One team member, clad in rubber boots, pulled the winchs cable about 120 metres across the square and pressed one end firmly into the hand of Duncan Zuur, who had taken the opportunity to get into his wakeboarding gear. Four elegant turns later, the event was over prompting by a standing ovation from an astounding crowd of tourists.
Getty Images
This is not a news. This picture is already one year old. But I find it beautiful.. isn't it? Even not knowing the story behind and why this little chinese girl is running I find this picture amazing.
Obviously to be in this blog it has something to do with water.
This is the story:
Weinan, China. A girl runs to get drinking water as water wagon arrives July 26, 2007. People in some parts of the city have faced severe water shortages since the beginning of May due to persistent drought and pollution along the Weihe River. Mass water pollution incidents are on the rise as China's environment deteriorates. A State Council executive meeting, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, stressed the need to amend the existing law on the handling of water pollution, allowing for harsher punishment for illegal practices.
This is a clever and cool idea but most of all it is a necessary idea. It could seems incredible but our society is currently selling billions of gallons of water in everlasting plastic bottles to people who already have access to clean water sources. As crazy as that sounds. And this absurd idea is turning our planet into a gigantic garbage heap. At the end of this post you'll see the perfect graphic explanation of this concept.
In a rare attempt to do something for this problem BRANDIMAGE has created the 360 Paper Bottles which as the name states are bottles made of 100% renewable paper. This idea has granted them an IDEA (International Design Excellence Award). Let's read the explanation of the concept in their own words:
CHALLENGE
Each day, Americans throw out 60 million plastic bottles. Only 14% actually get recycled—
meaning 86% become garbage or litter. We looked at this as a radical problem requiring an
equally radical solution. Could we design a container that would leverage sustainability, be
easy to transport, and enhance the consumer’s drinking experience?
SOLUTION
The 360 Paper Bottle is a sustainable vision of the future. It is the first totally recyclable
paper container made from 100% renewable resources. Versatile in its range of consumer
applications and made from food-safe and fully recyclable materials, it decreases energy
consumed throughout the product life cycle without sacrificing functionality. It is paper
packaging that stands up to all liquid categories.
As I've said before I'll now show you what I think is the best graphical explanation of the actual size of the plastic bottle problem.
This is the work of Chris Jordan, a famous artist/photographer who has recently deeply affected the public opinion with his artworks that are able to mix the cold numbers of statistics, art and social and environmental protest. This is one work form 2007 which is called "Plastic Bottles"
Two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.
© Chris Jordan
CLIC ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM
Visit ChrisJordan.com to see his other amazing artworks
This is the biggest Christmas Tree of the world and it is floating on an anrtificial island in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake in Rio de Janeiro. The tree measures 82 m (269 feet) and consists of 2.8 million multi-colored bulbs. The following pictures were taken at the lighting ceremony, two days ago, during a huge and wonderful fireworks show.
Reuters
AP
Reuters
Reuters
AFP/Getty Images
The struggle for the conservation of the whales is with no doubts one of this blog's favourite topic and I've posted pictures of any kind of protest in the past.
However this time it's something quite different as you may have already understood by yourself...
Argentine bunny girl and former Play Mate 2007 Vanessa Carbone holds a sign reading "Let them live" during a protest against the whales killing and the illegal traffic of animal skins, outside the embassy of Japan in Santiago, on December 1st, 2008. The activists demand the government to declare Chilean territorial waters in the Pacific Ocean a whale sanctuary.
AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images
A moment aboard Ericsson 4 as Ryan Godfrey and Dave Endean are about to get a soaking!
Photo: Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race
After having won the first leg Alicante - Cape Town (realizing also an impressive record), Ericsson 4, helmed by Torben Grael has won also the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Cochin. Up to now they seems the most probable candidate to the final victory thanks to Grael's great experience, perfect teamwork and a boat that have proved to be really fast.
To see the rankings, nore info and pictures: VolvoOceanRace.org
Reuters
Venice is one of the most scpectacular place you could ever see in your life. No words could ever describe the charm of this city built on the water, so the best thing you can do is see it with your own eyes.
Right now, however, Venice is a really problematic destination because it's more "underwater" than "above the water" due to the phenomenon of "Acqua Alta"
"Acqua Alta" (litterally means High Water in Italian) is a phenomenon that regularly occurs in the city of Venice, Italy, most commonly during high and spring tide. It involves the flooding of the most low-lying areas of Venice, or, in more severe cases, up to 96% of the City. By official definition, acqua alta occurs when water is higher than 90mm (3.54 inches) above normal tide.
The news is that the Acqua Alta is at a record level, never reached in the last thirty years: One metre and sixty centimetres. A level that could create some problems even to the most used citizens and obviously is astonishing the tourists.
the following pictures are a selection of a REUTERS gallery you can see in full, clicking here.
All the pictures by REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri and REUTERS/Michele Crosera
If you've never been there the best way to understand how Venice is effectively built on the water is an aerial view (click on the picture to enlarge it):
Click to enlarge
Reuters
It was just a week ago that 64 pilot whales stranded together in a Tasmanian beach. Volunteers worked hard but they managed to save only eleven of themand. The worst part is that it appears that they were just the vanguard. Two days ago, 30st November, nearly 150 long-finned pilot whales beached themselves in a rocky Tasmanian reef, known as Sandy Cape, and died. When they were discovered many of them were suffering serious injuries from jagged rocks and the sea was red of their blood. 30 whales that had been trapped in shallow water were led to open waters by rescuers using small boats, unfortunately for the other 150 whales it was too late. It has been the worst whale stranding in the last twenty years. One of the hypothesis is that this strandings are due to submarine earthquakes that dazed pilot whales orientation system.
Ap
The only good news is that the satellite tracking devices that were mounted on 5 of the 11 whales that survived last week stranding are sending data that shows that the whales are well and out of danger as you can see in the map below which shows their route.
Ap
Gianluca Genoni, is the new new static apnea world record holder. The Italian diver has beaten thursday 27th November the previous record, realized by the famous illusionist David Blaine, of one minute realizing the TOTALLY INCREDIBLE RECORD OF 18 MINUTES AND 3 SECONDS WITHOUT BREATHING!!!
Gianluca Genoni is not new to extreme exploits having set many world records of free diving in variable weight apnea, however this new record appears so extreme and almost beyond human capacities that it has also given rise to some arguments about the dangers of this kind of attempts.
The extreme static apnea (which is an apnea inside a pool in almost trance conditions of total relax) in fact could be very dangerous but Gianluca Genoni is a professional and behind its record there is a scientific research of Dan Europe. It's not the first time that Gianluca "lend" his incredible body to the scientific research, like in 2003 when he was the first man diving at 5200m at the foot of Mt. Everest.
Let's look through this incredible record. How Gianluca managed to hold his breath for 18'03"69 when a normal person with difficulty resist more than two minutes and a professional swimmer could maybe reach five?
There are many reason, first of all his great concentration ability but that's not enough:
30 cardiac pulsation in a minute is the level he can reach during the apnea
9 litres is the extraordinary pulmonary capacity of Gianluca. Common people do not exceed 6.
80% oxygen more. Stored thanks to hyperventilation, pulmonary volume and air inhalation from an oxygen tank before the attempt
Believe it or not, Gianluca and his equipe are already thinking to surpass the twenty minutes barrier. Incredible.
Gianluca concentrating
Gianluca during his free-diving exploits
