Here’s three samples found at freechristmaswallpapers:

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Related website: 11 Winter Wallpapers

At the website below, you will find 30 “get-you-talking” advertisements.  Here are my picks from:

MAJOR BRANDS

Image kuteev

CHARITIES

Image The Inspiration Room

Image Frederik Samuel

PHARMACEUTICALS

Image I Believe in Advertising

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Find all the ads here.

I just love libraries; I wish I could visit every single one of them.  And I love history.  So, when I found this website, I just had to share it with you!

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1. The Great Library & Mouseion: The First Universal Library (Alexandria, Egypt)

History tells us that the first ‘universal’ library was the Great Library & Mouseion in Alexandria, Egypt. Hungry for conquest and knowledge, Alexander the Great spent the last 11 years of his life (334 to 333 B.C.) exploring the world. To broaden the enterprise, he dispatched scholars to unexplored regions to gather knowledge and map their journeys…[more info at the website below]

2. The Celsus Library: One of Antiquity’s Finest Libraries (Ephesus, Turkey)

Image: Alaskan Dude

Another early library was the Celsus Library in Ephesus, built in 110 A.D. by the Council Gaius Julius Aquila. The library became one of the largest collections of antiquity, storing an estimated 12,000 hand-written books. Books could not be taken out of the library, but were handed to readers by library officials and read in the reading room.  Interestingly, the library had its own temperature regulation system: a second set of outer walls to protect the books from humidity and temperature variations.

3. The University of Sankore: An Ancient Seat of Muslim Learning (Sankore, Timbuktu)

Image: upyernoz

All this copying provided a lot of work for scribes. The University of Sankore in Timbuktu employed an army of scribes, who earned their living copying the manuscripts. As a result, Timbuktu became a repository of an extensive collection of manuscripts.

What were scribes paid? A papyrus of the second century AD gives rates “for 10,000 lines, 28 drachmae … For 6,300 lines, 13 drachmae.” The Emperor Diocletian tried to standardise the pay scribes received throughout the Roman Empire: “to a scribe for the best writing, 100 lines, 25 denarii; for second quality writing 100 lines 20 denarii; to a notary for writing a petition or legal document, 100 lines, 10 denarii.”

4. The Bodleian: One of The Oldest Surviving European Libraries (Oxford, England)

Image: J.Salmoral

It is said that King Charles I once asked the chief librarian of the Bodleian Library if he could borrow a book. A few years later, Oliver Cromwell asked the same question. The librarian refused them both. Stuart or Roundhead, books in the Bodleian could be read on the premises or not at all.

An earlier repository of books and documents at Oxford University was destroyed in the effort to rid England of all traces of Roman Catholicism, including “superstitious books and images”. Some were burnt, some sold and others used by glove makers to press gloves. Oxford University was not a wealthy institution and did not have the resources to build up a collection of new printed books to replace those destroyed…Today’s Bodleian claims to hold 11 million volumes, and to offer fuller access to online publications and databases than any other academic institution in the UK.

5. Chetham’s Library: The UK’s Oldest Free Public Reference Library (Manchester, England)

Image: infomotions

Chetham’s library is said to be Britain’s oldest surviving public library. Karl Marx visited the library in 1846, at the invitation of his friend Frederick Engels. In the bay of the library’s reading room, they carried out the research for Das Kapital…

6. Library of Congress: Jefferson’s Legacy (Washington D.C., United States)

Image: miss_villanelle

The Library of Congress, founded in 1800, is said to be the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. However, like the libraries of Ephesus and Alexandria, it became a victim of fire. During the War for Independence in 1814, British troops burned the Capitol building and destroyed the Library’s core collection of 3,000 volumes. One year later, however, Congress approved the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of 6,487 books for $23,950 and the Library was restored.

Today the Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world, with nearly 142 million items on approximately 650 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 32 million books and other print materials, 3 million recordings, 12.5 million photographs, 5.3 million maps, 5.6 million pieces of sheet music and 62 million manuscripts.

7. The British Library: One of The World’s Most Extensive Collections (London, England)

Image: lisabatty

Compared to many other significant libraries, the British Library is relatively young having been brought into existence by the 1972 The British Library Act. The 1971 White Paper recognised that the constituent bodies of the proposed British Library (principally the British Museum Library) were seriously short of space and that rehousing the various collections was of top priority…

Literacy & Power: Inextricably Linked

Image: carf

…From the early sixteenth century onwards it was viewed as especially dangerous for women to read fiction.

In the Civil War era in the United States, knowledge was considered dangerous and white citizens in many areas imposed a ban on teaching slaves to read or write. In the years following the Civil War, only those who could read and write could vote, effectively fencing out many African Americans.

The First Public Libraries & The Spread of Knowledge

Image: Celeste

The dream of Thomas Bodley was to make collected books “available to the whole republic of the learned”.

In the 1840s, William Ewart, Joseph Brotherton, and Edward Edwards espoused a more democratic vision and launched a campaign to provide a system of public libraries. Brotherton and Ewart were both Liberal MPs. Edwards, however, was a Chartist and involved in the struggle for universal suffrage. A former bricklayer, he had educated himself by spending his non-working time in Mechanics’ Institute libraries, and in 1839 became an assistant in the Department of Printed Books in the British Museum.

However, when William Ewart introduced his Public Libraries Bill in 1849, he encountered considerable hostility from the Conservatives in the House of Commons. They argued that the rate-paying middle and upper classes would be supporting a service that would be mainly used by the working classes, and harked back to the old argument that: “the more education people get the more difficult they are to manage.”

After several fairly significant compromises, the Public Libraries Act became law in 1850. Due to these compromises, libraries were largely unfunded for many years and had to rely on the support of wealthy entrepreneurs. The greatest financial supporter of public libraries was Andrew Carnegie, who helped to finance over 380 libraries in Britain. It was not until 1919 that a truly comprehensive and free library service emerged.

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Please visit the website to find out about the first public libraries and more!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Borrow a book ‘wherever you are’ offer from libraries (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina at Stanford Next Month (longnow.org)

Sharing another wallpaper site–never get tired of them!  My favorites include:

(7) Enchanted Forest

(37) Survivor

(38) Distraction

(43) Leaf and Water

(48) A Dark Starry Night Wallpaper

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See all 66 images here.

Presenting a calendar made of matches…

“The idea was to create as unique a calendar so that the process of its presenting would become an outstanding event.  Alongside with this, it was important to expose the idea of “energy”, as it is predetermined by the name and logo of the company.  Each page is a month and it looks like a comb made of matches that correspond to the days.  The matches are real and the construction of the calendar is absolutely safe.”

Specifics

• 9.8 inches wide, 5 inches high.
• Bound on metal spring 1.2 inches diameter
• Silk printing 2 colors.
• Matches are dipped in a special chemical solution and covered with sulphur, striking surface stripes are applied on both sides of a stand base.

from Calendar Made of Matches

Fantastic for desktop wallpaper…

These scenes produce spectacular atmosphere and look stunning. Today, we have collected 55 truly brilliant landscapes captured by photographers that will definitely inspire you.

Here are some of my favorites:

Active Volcano

Angry Clouds

Margate

Tornados

Weather

Source

Image via Wikipedia

Fingerprint ridges are formed during the third to fourth month of fetal development. The ridges begin to develop on the skin of the thumbs and fingers.

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The earliest dated prints of the ridged skin on human hands were made about 4,000 years ago during the pyramid building era in Egypt.  In addition, one small portion of palm print, not known to be human, has been found impressed in hardened mud at a 10,000-year old site in Egypt.

It was common practice for the Chinese to use inked fingerprints on official documents, land sales, contracts, loans and acknowledgements of debts.  The oldest existing documents so endorsed date from the 3rd century BC, and it was still an effective practice until recent times.  Even though it is recorded that the Chinese used their fingerprints to establish identity in courts in litigation over disputed business dealings, researchers fail to agree as to whether the Chinese were fully aware of the uniqueness of a fingerprint or whether the physical contact with documents had some spiritual significance.

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation established its first fingerprint identification division in the year 1924, with a collection of 810,188 fingerprint files taken mostly from the Leavenworth Penitentiary. These files became more and more important with the emergence of an increasing number of intellectual criminals who crossed all legal and state lines.  Today, the FBI has in possession more than 250 millions different sets of fingerprint records. This collection is enormous and is composed of both civil as well as criminal prints. The civil file includes prints of government employees and candidates for federal jobs.

Source

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Related articles by Zemanta

• Touchless 3-D Fingerprinting (technologyreview.com)

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These totally fall in the ‘weird’ category …

Find lots more here - Source

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Get these beauties here - Source

Eaten by Vultures

The ancient Zoroastrians believed life was a constant battle between light and dark, good and evil. Their duty was to preserve the natural balance until, as with all eschataological beliefs, the world would end and a new better world would be born in which true believers would live forever in spiritual delight.

However, in the boring material world people die and need to be disposed of. How to do this without upsetting the elements? Well the Zoroastrian way, which still exists in parts of Iran and India, is to perch the naked body onto a ‘dokhma’ (a stone tower) and let it be eaten by vultures. No waste, you see. Apparently in recent years a lack of vultures in India has made this process more difficult.

A very similar custom called sky burial was practised by Buddhists in Tibet who believe the body is nothing more than flesh after death.

Hanging Coffins

In certain regions in China and the Philippines it won’t be just birds you find nesting on cliff faces. Because the ancient tradition of coffin hanging amongst some groups, primarily the Bo people in China, in Sagada on Luzon Island in the Philippines and amongst the Sa’da Toraja people of Indonesia ensured some of the best spots for the deceased. The coffins were lowered down on ropes and fixed between wooden stakes. The practice does not exist today but the coffins are still there with their beautiful sea views.

Eating the Ashes

The Yanomami tribe of the Amazon do not believe in death. Or at least they do not believe in death as a natural state. They believe all death is inflicted from a hostile source, an evil spirit, a shaman of another tribe. To ensure the evil is destroyed the Yanomami cremate the body after death and swallow the ashes, during which there is a lot of screaming and shouting, thumping the earth and singing.

Another form of endocannabalism is practised by the Amahuaca tribe of Peru. They like to crush the bones of their tribe members into a paste, cook and eat. They also take hallucinatory drugs and kill their children. Still if you’re a woman you get to enjoy the company of all your husband’s brothers.

Funeral bundles

In the Andes the Paracas people would shape their dead into the fetal position and wrap them in a bundle with gifts, clothing, food and gold. The funeral bundle was then moved to a nearby burial site, often in a cave and marked with a pole or a cane.

Exploding Ashes

The great thing about ashes is you can scatter them anywhere. Off a cliff, in the sea, on a football pitch, in a computer, even in space. And yes all of these scatterings have happened. To be buried in a computer was the dying wish of one William Alan Watson who is now spending his time inside a SPARCstation. The floppy drive, hard drive and power supply had to be removed to accommodate William but apparently he now rests very peacefully. Condolences were written on Post-it notes and posted through the floppy slot.

One of the first men on Earth to have their ashes exploded in space was Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. In 1997 Gene along with the ashes of writer Timothy Leary and nineteen others were popped into a space capsule and blasted into orbit. Unfortunately after ten years the capsule dropped back to Earth and burnt up in the atmosphere. Still they were ashes not people.

Writer Hunter S Thompson (pictured above) was determined to cause a bang. His final wish after he shot himself through the head was to be the central part of a huge fireworks display. His ashes were exploded from a 150ft cannon during a party at his home in Colorado, all paid for by the actor Johnny Depp. It cost millions apparently.

Novelty Coffins in Ghana

Getting buried in Ghana is fun. Especially if you’re a member of the Ga tribe. The Ga tribe do coffins in a big big way. Basically whatever your job was or your love, interest or hobby is exactly what you are going to be buried in the earth in. So that guy down the road who loved cigarettes and smoked 100 a day and died yesterday at the age of 45 will be buried in a giant cigarette. The man who wore new shoes everyday will enter the ground in a giant shoe. The woman who washed floors is buried in a bucket, the fish man in a fish, the kid who liked coke a Coke bottle. You get the idea? It is simple and it is brilliant and I want to die in Ghana.

The Religions

We need to devote at least three lines to the world’s main religions so here goes:

• Christianity: House, church, coffin, burial, cremation
• Judaism: House, synagogue, burial (as soon as possible after death, same day or next day) seven days of mourning
• Islam: Bathe the body (males wash males, females wash females (except husbands and wives)) ,enshroud body in white sheets (no more than three), funeral prayer, burial, head pointing towards Mecca
• Buddhism: Prayers and cremation
• Hinduism: Funeral before sun goes down on day of death, body laid head pointing south, oil lamp lit next to body and burnt for three days after death, body washed and dressed, body covered with flowers and cremated

Go Green

As the world gets greener so do the funerals. You can now be buried wearing a bio-degradable shroud inside a cardboard or bamboo coffin within an eco-cemetery (a park or natural woodland) with a tree planted on top. No one will know you were ever here.

Source

I’m feeling kind of good!  I received an email from the Schmap Niagara Falls Guide–my photo is in their online and mobile guide.  I took the picture at the Buttefly Conservatory.

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Hi 1websurfer,I am delighted to let you know that one of your photos with a Creative Commons license has been selected for inclusion in the newly released ninth edition of our Schmap Niagara Falls Guide:Butterfly Conservatory
www.schmap.com/niagarafalls/sights_stamford/p=260923/i=260923_95.jpg

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Awesome!

Here’s my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1websurfer/

Here’s a related :13 video:

Read the details to all these photos here.

How pretty is this village!

All transportation in Giethoorn, Holland (Venice of the Netherlands) is done with a “whisper boat” (an electric powered boat, which hardly makes any noise).  It’s run with two big batteries, which allows seven hours of continuous ‘driving’. In the old part of the village, there were no roads and all transport was done by water.  Now there is a cycling path.

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A couple purchased this old church in Kyloe, North Cumberland, England.  They invested lots of money to keep the outside and inside as it was, and restored instead of renovated (3 times more money).

What a heavenly idea!

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Which one gave you the biggest smile?

I wish I could create things like this…

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I know your smiling right now.

Keep it going!

Stephen Wiltshire–”The Living Camera”

This astonishing 18ft drawing of the world’s most famous skyline was created by autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire after he spent just 20 minutes in a helicopter gazing at the panorama.

The unbelievably intricate picture was drawn at Brooklyn’s prestigious Pratt Institute from Stephen’s memory, with details of every building sketched in to scale.

Landmarks including the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building can be seen towering above smaller buildings after just three days in his spellbinding creation.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223790/Autistic-artist-draws-18ft-picture-New-York-skyline-memory.html#ixzz0VWxlbCeq

I’m sure someone reading this understands the following explanation…

Video

A 39-year-old woman with a 1-year history of Stage IV melanoma presented with progressive shortness of breath, fatigue, and edema in the legs, which had developed over the course of the previous week. At the time of the melanoma diagnosis, a mediastinal and right supraclavicular mass had been seen without identification of a primary tumor. The patient had been treated with five cycles of biochemotherapy and then with antibodies against cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4. Subsequently, the superior vena cava syndrome and tracheal compression had developed, which had required stenting. The patient had then received radiation therapy. Integrated positron-emission tomography and computed tomography continued to show active and spreading disease. The physical examination revealed hypotension, tachycardia, jugular venous distention, pulsus paradoxus, and distant heart sounds. The blood pressure was 82/64 mm Hg, and the heart rate was 110 beats per minute. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a large pericardial effusion with swinging of the heart (see video) and collapse of the right atrium (RA) and left atrium (LA) in end diastole (Panel A, arrows) and diastolic collapse of the right ventricle (RV) (Panel B, arrows), which was consistent with pericardial tamponade. Pericardiocentesis yielded 1.6 liters of bloody fluid; the fluid was subsequently shown to be a malignant effusion. Swinging of the heart that is due to a large pericardial effusion is responsible for the beat-to-beat shift in the axis, amplitude, and morphology of the QRS interval (electrical alternans) on electrocardiography. In this patient, the condition resulted in a “pseudo” 2:1 atrioventricular-block pattern, with an absent QRS interval after every other P wave (Panel A, arrowheads), despite ventricular contraction on echocardiography. Follow-up echocardiography over the next 2 days showed no reaccumulation of effusion. Paclitaxel was administered, but the patient died within 2 months after the initiation of therapy.

Source

Where does this staircase, located at Palace of Congresses in Biel, Switzerland lead to?

Source

Financial Orgami!  Here are my three favorites:

Money Hats

Money Suits

Money Bears

Click here to see the other seven.

These pictures add meaning to the quote, “If there’s a will, there’s a way.”  Enjoy!

Source: forwarded in an email

This gives new meaning to the term “financial growth.”

Did your mother ever chastise you with the words ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ in a possibly fruitless attempt to curb your profligate ways? Well, maybe – just maybe – she was wrong. There are places in England where money apparently does just that.

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Money_tree.jpg)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyjakeman/3482999725/)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackham/240783599/)

The details are found here.

This website has an extensive list of celebrity portraits.  For example, there is 750+ portraits of Michael Jackson. 

You’ll find celebrity categories such as:

• music
• cinema
• television
• sports
• politics
• supermodels
• fiction
• other

Source

Boy, would I love to spend a weekend in one of these lighthouse hotels!  Some are remote and accessible only by helicopter, some have spas, some have in-house light keepers, while others rent the entire island.

In alphabetical order, here are some exterior/interior views and US prices of:

East Brother Light Station – East Brother Island, California [US $400 to $550]

Harlingen Lighthouse – Harlingen, Netherlands [US $400 to $550]

Heceta Head Lighthouse – Yachats, Oregon [US $250 -$400]

Molja Lighthouse – Aalesund, Norway [US $250 -$400]

Saugerties Lighthouse – Saugerties, New York [US $400 to $550]

Svinoey Lighthouse – 6099 Heroy, Norway [US $100 to $250] *accessible only by helicopter

West USK Lighthouse – Newport, UK [US $100 to $250]

To see more pictures of these lighthouses, click here.

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Question: Have you ever spent a night or a weekend in a lighthouse?  If so, describe the experience!

Michelle Childers and her husband, Daniel, were taking a recreational drive on a rural road in Idaho on Sept 5 when a spruce tree crashed through the passenger side window of the vehicle.

The twenty-two-year-old said she then felt a “strange” pressure on her neck and shoulder.

“I asked (my husband) ‘what where is it?’ “she told Fox News.

Her husband, twenty-two- year-old Daniel Childers, told her that the tree limb had impaled her.

The branch was more than an inch in diameter and 18 inches long.

However, Mrs Childers said she felt no pain.

The couple drove to the Lochsa Lodge near the Idaho-Montana border to call for help and was flown by helicopter to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont.

Childers said the 13-inch tree limb was removed from her neck during a six-hour surgery.

Doctors discovered that the branch had somehow missed her jugular vein and her windpipe. The branch penetrated its way to the back of her left shoulder.

Source

Have you had a similar experience?