World’s Strangest

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, love is in the air – and it’s all over the earth too.In these spectacular aerial pictures giant hearts can be seen in the unlikeliest of places.From the mangroves of the River Amazon to islands in French Polynesia and heart-shaped coral on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, love’s [...]

Last year, organizers at the Rocks Aroma Festival in Sydney, Australia, made an enormous image of the Mona Lisa using thousands of cups of coffee lightened with milk (to varying quantities) in order to create different shades: The different colours were created by adding no, little or lots of milk to each cup of black coffee. It [...]

This week’s Late Movies is a bit more serious than usual. I’ve been really interested lately in how the ubiquity of cameras — in phones, in iPods, small enough to tuck into a shirt pocket — have changed the way we see the world. It’s removed part of the filter of “mainstream journalism” through which [...]

The authors of an article in Focus magazine, a BBC publication, took a look at statistics in 35 countries to rank those nations according to their tendency towards the seven deadly sins. Australia was found to be the most “sin-prone” nation, with the US coming in second. Canada, Finland, and Spain rounded out the most [...]

In her new book This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, Marilyn Johnson explores the relevance of librarians in the technological age. She also makes them seem like the coolest people on earth. In one chapter, she notes that readers wouldn’t believe how many videos of librarians dancing to Michael [...]

Vegemite Bikini Wrestling in AustraliaYesterday was the 222nd anniversary of the fine country of Australia, celebrated under the clever moniker Australia Day — or Invasion Day, if you want to get all badass about it.What do your favorite Foster’s-guzzling, thong-footwear-wearing, Sydney Opera House–worshiping football hooligans do to quietly honor their maiden land? Why, they lather [...]

It was an accident. Gye Gardner of the Northern Territory of Australia keeps his phone headset in his ear all day. Recently the truck driver hit his head against the boom of his truck and broke the earpiece. Gardner repaired it with superglue. Then his boss called him. Without thinking, Gardner put the piece in [...]

(YouTube Link) The Huntsman spider, common in Australia, aren’t as deadly as they look, but will bite if provoked. In this video, “Daddy” does his best to safely remove the arachnid from his home. His daughter has some choice words for him afterwards. -via Bits & Pieces

If you have a serious phobia of frogs, rats, bees or snakes, you probably shouldn’t read WebEcoist’s article on the most invasive species in the world. On the other hand, if you don’t have any phobias, it’s fascinating to know just how devastating a pair of bunnies ended up being to Australia and how Florida [...]

We often write their names on the “Pay to the Order of” lines of our donation checks, but how well do we know the inspiring people behind some of our favorite charities and foundations? A lot of charitable foundations are named after the celebrities or high-profile business tycoons who founded them, but others are named [...]