The Biggest Hole in the World

It’s a diamond mine in Mirna, Siberia. It measures 525 m deep and 1.25 km in diameter. The suction from the hole is so powerful that helicopters flying over it have crashed. Link via Absolute Moral Authority

Around the World Record in a Helicopter

Scott Kasprowicz and Steve Sheik flew a helicopter around the world in 13 days, breaking the record for helicopter speed. The previous fastest round-the-world flight was 17 days, set in 1996. Kasprowicz and Sheik completed their journey by landing in New York yesterday.

The first week went off without a hitch. Kasprowicz and Sheik made it from New York to London in a stunning 40 hours and 41 minutes, shattering the previous record by a whopping 35 hours. Europe was a piece of cake, but Russia — as they expected — was a bear.

They arrived on the 13th, but construction at one airport and a fuel shortage at another cost them almost a full day. Things went from bad to worse after taking off from the Siberian city of Magadan — the oil temperature in one of the copter’s two engines rose so high Kasprowicz had to shut it down to avert crippling damage. They finally sorted things out with some help from local mechanics, but they lost still more precious time.

The route took the pilots through 15 countries. Link

(image credit: Grand Adventure 2008)

Air Conditioned Bus Stop

That, my friend, is an air-conditioned bus stop (presumably near Burj Al Arab hotel, where one night stay costs about US$ 1,000). Must be nice to be rich! (though why would they take the bus, then?)

Found at Tell Me Something I Don’t Know

The Nike Burger by Olle Hemmendorff

That’s the Nike (Burger) Air Max 90 by Olle Hemmendorff, a Swedish illustrator/designer who was commissioned by Nike (along with 7 other artists) to "interpret" their sneakers. Olle decided to make one out of … hamburger!

Link

Strange Middle Eastern Products

Thembi of What Would Thembi Do? blog went to the Persian Gulf (specifically Doha, Qatar) and blogged about it - one of the interesting things she found and photographed was this shelf of dubious products in a store the Old Souq Waqif.

Buttock Enlarging cream? Virginity Soap? Someone got a sense of humor there … Link

Build the Taj Mahal out of 5900 LEGO pieces, the biggest LEGO set ever made

Quit wasting your time building LEGO models of Death Stars and LEGO space ships from moldy and childish movies that are decades old. Leap back a few centuries and build the Taj Mahal, the most beautiful structure ever created.

Construct the 5900 LEGO pieces — the biggest commercially available LEGO set yet — and you’ll have this detailed replica of the gorgeous mausoleum commissioned by India’s Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his main squeeze, Mumtaz Mahal.

You might need to spend some serious time to build this beast, but it certainly won’t take the 22 years and twenty thousand workers required to finish construction of the original back in 1648. And when you figure it would cost trillions of today’s dollars to build the real Taj, the $299 price of this LEGO set seems cheap.

Stinky Open Landfills? Spray Perfume on the Garbage!

Open landfills in Mumbai, India, have been so stinky that municipal workers resorted to desperate means: spraying the garbage with perfumes!

Mumbai has a population of nearly 18 million, and generates 8,500 metric tonnes of rubbish every day. Nearly 500,000 people live near rubbish landfills. Officials say that the stench from the landfills in Deonar and Mulund was so great that local residents started protesting.

So the authorities hit upon the novel idea of dousing the landfills with perfume to kill the stench. A herbal perfume diluted with water is sprayed over the landfills almost every day. The perfume costs $114,000 for 42,000 litres, which is required to "perfume" the landfills for between six to eight months.

"Perfuming the garbage has helped. Residents are complaining less. This will continue till we find a long-term solution," said senior municipal engineer A Karim.

Link - via Arbroath

More Exciting Olympic Events

Photoshop enthusiasts make existing Olympic events more exciting for the spectator at Worth1000. Link -via Geek Like Me

Not Cute Enough for the Olympics!

Millions of viewers were captivated by Lin Miaoke, the cute little girl who sang during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Problem was, she was lip-synching because the real singer, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, was deemed not cute enough:

"The reason was for the national interest," said Chen Qigang, the ceremony’s musical director, in a state radio interview. "The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression. … Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects."

The decision was made at the highest levels, Chen said.

"We had to do it," he said. "We’d been through several inspections. They’re all very strict. When we rehearsed at the spot, there were several spectators from various divisions, especially leaders from the Politburo, who gave the opinion it must change."

Link

The Landmark Cyber Park: India’s Cutting Edge IT Hub

The construction industry is booming in India, and skyscrapers are lining the country’s skyline. Much of this development does not integrate sustainable features, however many architects and planners have realized the importance of green building practices, and many new buildings and housing projects have adopted green technologies. In line with these developments, India’s new Cyber Park IT hub is vying to be one of the greenest sites in the country.

READ MORE >

Aston Martin’s $2.3 Million One-77 Car!

Poor Bugatti Veyron: it wasn’t enough that the $1.4 million car was dethroned as the fastest production car on the planet, it’s now not even the most expensive one …

Here’s the One-77, a $2.3 million hand-made coupe by Aston Martin:

Paying $2.3 million for anything that doesn’t have wings is beyond excessive, but then, those few who get a One-77 aren’t buying a car. They are, according to Aston Martin, buying An Experience. Autocar says buyers will be invited to the factory in Gaydon, where they’ll meet with designers and engineers to develop the car to their exact specifications.

"It’s a very special car for customers who want to take the bespoke experience to a higher level," company chairman David Richard told Autocar. "Every car will be entirely individual."

And bookies are taking bets on who would be the first to buy the car (so far David Beckham is the favorite!)

Link

Abhinav Bindra strikes GOLD at Beijing Olympics!

Abhinav Bindra clinched the World Champioship gold, the first ever for the country in shooting, with a spectacular performance in the air rifle final on Monday.

The 23-year-old Delhi lad, a two-time Olympian, went into the final a joint leader with two others at 597, and shot a 102.1 in a nerve-wracking climax to emerge top from a strong field of 122 shooters from nearly 100 countries.

"He needed a 10.4 with his last shot to ensure the gold and he shot a 10.7. It was simply wonderful. To win the Olympic quota place with a World championship gold is fantastic. He has worked hard for it, and fought brilliantly today,'' said National coach Prof. Sunny Thomas.

"I have worked hard for this. It was my day. I have always believed that I could do this and am happy to have done it. I have been in the sport for ten years, and I know that the difference between winning and losing is not much. I didn't do anything very different today,'' said Abhinav, who has been battling with a career-threatening back problem in recent months.

"He was the World junior record holder and now he is the World champion. He is not competing in prone or the 3-position events. He will be consulting doctors in Germany on 27th to decide whether he would need a surgery to solve the back problem. It has been a courageous performance from him considering his physical condition,'' said Prof. Thomas.

Chinese Farmers Build Birds Nest Stadium Out of Bamboo

The Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed “The Bird's Nest,” has already become an icon in the country of 1.3 billion. But for some farmers close to Hangzhou (located in the southeast of China), the Herzog & de Meuron structure was just too darn far away... so in a fit of DIY ingenuity, they built their own replica out of bamboo.

Altogether, it took ten bamboo sculptors roughly two weeks to put together the Bird's Nest (at a 1:20 scale of the Beijing original) out of 800 pieces of bamboo. The villagers say they plan to use the structure for local sports events. Hmmm... As cool as this DIY structure is, I'm not sure what kind of sport you'd be able to fit in it. Ping pong? [Shufa via Weird Asia News]

And just for comparison, the Beijing Stadium:

Lila Jang’s Wall-Climbing Sofa

This wall-climbing sofa by Lila Jang is the perfect for that odd corner of the house where no other furniture fits It’s part of the 2007 contemporary art exhibition Parcours Saint Germain in Paris - via basic_sounds

The 50 Most Famous Cars

Ride Lust has a rundown of famous cars from movies and television, in no particular order. Take a look and see if your favorite is there. Link -via the Presurfer