World’s Strangest

Stunning Miniature Wonderland

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Stunning Miniature Wonderland

Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany. This is not “tilt-shift” effect; these are real, incredibly detailed and meticulously put-together models: whole cities, working airports, including the largest model railway / railroad in the world:

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Today’s pictures & links:

Mind-Bending Cityscape

(“City in the Sky” by unknown Japanese artist, via, click to enlarge)

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Cool GAZ M-1 Tuning Job

(images via)

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Some Incredible Places to Visit

Best trips for 2012? National Geographic suggests some here in a spectacular photo gallery:

(photos by Jon Hicks, Jose Fuste Raga, Reiner Harscher, Massimo Ripani)

1. Dresden, Germany
2. Istria, Croatia
3. The Roussanou Monastery, Meteora, Greece
4. Tossa de Mar in the Costa Brava coastal region of Catalonia.

(photos by Greg Elms and Andy Rouse)

Shown above is the Poya Festival in Sri Lanka, and a leopard in Yala National Park.

“A long line of lights illuminates the path to the summit of Adam’s Peak during the Poya Festival in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. This mountainous, mist-draped realm has long been popular with backpackers and other adventurers for its tea plantations and rain forest preserves.”

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Ocean Floor News!

(image via)

Underwater photography from Marineland, 1940.

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Mixed fresh links for today:

Cute Robot Recognizes Itself – [is it me? NICE!...]
Insightful: 10 Myths About Introverts – [cool article]
This is reads like Cyberpunk fiction – [Bitcoin story]
Fetuses Help Their Mothers to Get Healed – [fascinating]
Hilarious Photoshop Disaster in Japanese Ad – [funny]
Adventurers of the Year – [NatGeo Award]
Wow Galleries: Creepiest Waterparks, Volcanic Eruptions – [wow pics]
Very Honest, Extreme Look at Book Business – [fun, some language]
Ice Finger of Death Filmed in Antarctic – [wow video]
Miniature Glass Steam Engine – [wow video]
Origami Stroller Demo – [wow video]
Extreme Helicopter Landing – [wow video]
Cute & Funny: Owl Battles Ghosts – [fun video]
Vertigo-Inducing Skyliners Team – [wow video]
The Ultimate 2011 Christmas Gift Guide – [promo]

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Gas Station Happiness from the 1950s

Check out these “service station inspectors” from 1959:

(image via)

No wonder drivers were excited to get there! -

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We are happy to give DRB readers access to the twelve lecture course at a substantial discount — 50% off — using a Dark Roasted Blend Discount code “DRB”. Make the best use of this opportunity!

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Addition to our “Heavy Machinery in Trouble” series

Sad ending for this trucks’ encounter with the CPR bridge in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Canada:

(sent in by a DRB reader)

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Cows Camouflage

(original unknown)

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Big-Eyed Wonder!

(Amy Adams in Enchanted)

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A moment of beauty and sad romanticism

(Photo: Russian actress Galina Belyaeva in movie “Park”, 1983)

Here is a song to listen to if you want some heartbreaking bittersweet experience. The lyrics (“Finally, We…”) are in Italian, but Google translation may give you an idea.

Pooh (featuring Riccardo Fogli, 1973) “Infiniti Noi” – Listen here

(photo by Ana-Maria Ilinca, Romania)

Ancient Chinese Poetry: “Facing Snow”

A chaos of clouds droops into the sunset;
The stove abides, there coals glow red.
No news from anywhere gets through;
Sadness sits, to draft a letter
Into emptiness.
…yet at my window the moon
climbs a solitary peak.

When I awake, I’ll memorize returning.

–T’ao Ch’ien (365-427)

Sir, you ask guidance, RULES for success and failure:
“The fisherman’s song strikes deep up the cove.”

–Wang Wei (701-761)

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One Dreamy Cat

Wonderfully warm, glowing photo by Sasha Levin, Russia:

(image credit: Sasha Levin)