[photos] WEIRD wallpaper for your desktop – Part 1

These totally fall in the ‘weird’ category …

Find lots more here - Source

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Get these beauties here - Source

[video] YouTube advertisement has surprising end

What a powerful visual hook!  I’d like to add more but it would spoil the ending…I’ll bet you can’t tell what this captivating commercial is for.

If that’s not enough, look at the jpg ad on their website.

Well?  What are your thoughts about the video and image?  Were you surprised?

(8) Strange funeral customs

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

(4) Unique wallpaper photos

Check out the new wallpaper at VisualParadox.com

Found here.

Sea Turtle

And my personal favorite wallpaper of a neuron…

Neuron

The sea turtle and  neuron wallpaper is in the “top 10″ section on this page…

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I’ll keep looking for unique wallpaper so stay tuned…

Gold-silver glitter phrases for emails and websites (I-W)

Here’s the last of the phrases…

Silver-glitter phrases for your emails and websites (A-H)

I made some glitter phrases and thought I’d share them with you.  Just right click, choose ’save image as’ and then use them any way you want!

If you’d like to see more phrases, let me know and I’ll make them!

[6 photos] “Whisper Boats” are the mode of transportation in this Holland village

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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Have you ever lived or visited there?  Post your experience.

[12 photos] Restored church creates heavenly living quarters

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!

[photos] 14 Images to help you smile

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Which one gave you the biggest smile?

[photos] Food carvings: Apple butterfly, Banana dolphin, Cauliflower lamb…

I wish I could create things like this…

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I know your smiling right now.

Keep it going!

[photos] Staircase to…

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

Source

 

[photos] 9 Creative headstones

My favorites images are #2 and #9…

         

Source: From a forwarded email

[video] Weather/cloud experts–please identify

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[crafts/photos] How to make a rose from leaves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(10) Creations from money [photos]

Financial Orgami!  Here are my three favorites:

Money Hats

Money Suits

Money Bears

Click here to see the other seven.

Money DOES grow on trees in Ingleton, North Yorkshire! [photos]

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.

“Fun theory” encourages exercise and trash reduction [video]

How cool is this?

“Piano Stairs” to encourage exercise…

“Deep Garbage Bins” to encourage trash reduction…

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Brilliant!  Brilliant!

The face of life [photo]

What is your first emotional reaction when you see this picture taken in Hoi An, Viet Nam?

Source

(7) Lighthouse Hotels [photos]

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!

(4) CREATIVE ads!

And the punch line…

Unique desktop wallpaper [photos]

Don’t you just love changing your desktop with stunning wallpaper?  Well, I dug out another source.  You’ll find wallpaper in these categories:

• 3D
• Aerial
• Animated (requires membership)
• Creatures
• Flowers
• Fractual
• Landscape
• Macro
• Military
• Photos
• Space
• What’s New

Samples…

Source: Cognitive Distortion

Other related links

* MoodFlow * TheMind’sEye

Unique way to organize books

How cool is this!

Source

Low-Rise: a staple city [photos]

I just love creative, unique things.  You know, things that make you say, “How cool is that!”  Well, artist Peter Root, created one of them…

“Low-Rise is a precarious assemblage of thousands of free-standing stacks of staples densely tessellated to create a city-like mosaic. Like a city, the staples are subject to the elements, on a micro scale. The slightest breath or vibration and the domino effect kicks in.”  Source

Originally found via Presurfer

An unusual approach to writers block [video]

Watch this video and listen to an unusual–but helpful–approach to the phenomenon of writers block and how to overcome it.

Link

Remarkable image of a ‘pushy’ baby [photo]

I think this is one determined human being who is going to push its way through life!

Click on the source link to see the full size.

Photo link: http://connect.tangle.com/uphoto?PID=359480

Source

(10) Spectacular photographs [photos]

WOW!  More spectacular photographs by artist Gordon McBryde

(all rights reserved; see link below) …

Source

Gordon McBryde

(20) Unique abstract desktop wallpaper [photos]

Wow!  Look at the desktop wallpapers that you’ll find at this site…

Source

Unusual objects: mailboxes and pool tables [photos]

Here are three unique mailboxes out of 17 shown at the link:

Link

Here are some unique pool tables :

Link

Jesus’ obituary [photo]

Jesus' obituary

(10) unique staircases [photos]

I absolutely LOVE staircases; so when I saw these, I just had to share them.  Image credits unknown.

Some days I feel like this… [photo]

Found on imgspark.com