Girl makes portraits of chewing gum

Ukrainian artist Anna Sofia Matveyeva first chews gums, then sorts them by color and then heats them up in the microwave.

Her best works are portraits of Steve Jobs and Elton John. For portrait of Steve Jobs it was necessary over 1000 chewing gums while for a portrait of Elton John "only" 250 chewing gums.

Matveyeva currently creating a portrait of Mircea Lucescu, a manager of FC Shakhtar, for which, according to estimates, it will also be necessary 250 chewing gums.  

"Chewing gum is not only use as a material, it represents some sort of symbol," says Matveyeva.

For creating a portrait she needs about ten days, while Steve Jobs portrait was making over three weeks. Each portrait weighs about five pounds, and Matveyeva hopes soon she will make her first exhibition. 

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Rio de Janeiro: Bar Codes on Sidewalks Give Tourist Info

Rio de Janeiro is mixing technology with tradition to provide tourists information about the city by embedding bar codes into the black and white mosaic sidewalks that are a symbol of the city.

The city installed its first two-dimensional bar codes, or QR codes, as they're known, at Arpoador, the massive boulder that separates Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. The image was built into the sidewalk with the same black and white stones that decorate sidewalks around town with mosaics of waves, fish and abstract images.

With an accompanying smartphone application, onlookers were able to take snapshots of the mosaic QR codes with their phones or tablets before being directed to a website that disbursed information in Brazil's native Portuguese, and also in Spanish and English. A map of the area was also included.

They learned, for example, that Arpoador gets big waves, making it a hot spot for surfing and giving the 500-meter beach nearby the name of "Praia do Diabo," or Devil's Beach. They could also find out that the rock is called Arpoador because fishermen once harpooned whales off the shore.

Each stone code reportedly takes about seven days to construct due to the level of precision necessary to make it scan, though some future iterations will be constructed out of different recycled materials. The next four, expected by March, will pop up at Redra do Leme, Sao Conrado Beach, Mirante do Leblon and Pepe Beach in Barra da Tijuca.


The Department of Conservation said it plans to implement the co-called QRIO project at 30 locations across the city by the year’s end and 50 locations by July 2014 when Rio hosts the FIFA World Cup.

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Spooky cemetery in Peru

The oldest cemetery in Peru has become a hit with tourists and locals.

The Presbitero Maestro Cemetery was built between 1805 and 1808 on the former outskirts of Lima and was the first municipal cemetery in Latin America. This impressive and beautiful historical Sanctuary houses the final resting places of many historical important personalities, but is still in use. The neoclassical complex contains the largest collection of 19th century European marble sculptures in Latin America. It’s absolutely worth seeing!

It was cold and dark, and people clutching lanterns in the moonlight gave a spooky cast to Peru's oldest cemetery, now Lima's oddball hit with locals and tourists. "It is scary. But we're into it," said a teenage girl clinging to her boyfriend as they walked through darkness and silence interrupted only by visitors' footsteps.
Each group has a guide who entertain visitors with tales about those buried at the Presbitero Matias Maestro Museum-Cemetery, a Peruvian national historical monument.

The cemetery covers an area of 25,000 m². It has 6 magnificent main gates and over 220,000 people found their final resting place at this outstanding burial ground. Although the Presbitero Maestro Cemetery was declared a National Historic Monument in 1972 the sculptures and the impressive mausoleums are threatened by natural aging, air pollution, pressure of the growing population and unfortunately by vandalism. At least the Public Beneficence Society of Lima tries to preserve this jewel of peace with a very tight budget.

Night tours are scheduled with different themes for different crowds: one focuses on love; another on patriotic fervor; still others on presidents; and inevitably one focuses on death itself. "What really brings in the most people is the tour focused on death, in November, and another on love, in February," says historian Jose Bocanegra, who has the historical details at the ready.

Some visitors are so apprehensive about being in a cemetery that they tiptoe around expecting something worthy of a horror movie. 

When tours started a decade ago they were limited to no more than 40 people; but they have become so popular that groups are now as large as 350 people, mainly young people and tourists, Bocanegra said.

One of the most popular tombs for local visitors is Peruvian poet Jose Santos Chocano, who asked to be buried standing, in a one square meter space. "So his coffin was placed in the niche vertically. And on his tombstone, there are lines from his poem 'Shipwrecked Life,'" Bocanegra said. "This square meter that I have looked for on Earth will be mine, if a bit late. Dead, in the end, I shall have it. ... I only expect now a square meter, where one day they'll have to bury me, standing," the poem reads.

It is a cemetery, and it is dark, to be sure. But there is enough light for visitors to stop and get a look at Carrara marble sculptures like the "La Dama de la Mantilla" (Lady in a mantilla) and "El bastón de Hermes" (Hermes' staff). Bronze works such as "A mother weeping at her son's tomb" and "A cry of pain" also are on display, steeped in the mood of the location, adorning mausoleums that are often caked in mud and apparently forgotten.

The cemetery, tucked into a corner of Lima's Barrios Altos district, was named for its designer, the priest Matias Maestro, who also was buried there. Opened in 1808 by Viceroy Fernando Abascal during Spanish colonial rule, the facility is a sort of history of Peru in tombs and crypts. Decorated with a staggering 940 sculptures -- some of them from as far away as Italy, by sculptors like Santo Varni, Pietro Costa, Ulderico Tenderini, and Rinaldo Rinaldi, or France's Jean Louis Barrias and Antonin Marcie.

The success of the tours is a blessing for the facility, providing a source of funding to care for tombs and sculptures that have themselves often seemed on their last legs.

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The World's Smelliest Man: this man has not bathed in over 38 years!

The world's smelliest man is Indian, Kailash Singh (66) who did not bathe in over 38 years. He listened to the priest's advice back in 1974., that would have a son if stop to take a bath!
Today he has seven daughters and still not giving up on a given testament.

More precisely, the priest has guarantee him a son if he stop to take a bath and to cut his hair.
- He said he would rather die than take a bath and that the only son could force him to change his opinion. It's been so many years that I have already got used to it, says wife Kalavati Devi.

Make no mistake, Kailash is still "cares about personal hygiene." Every night he performs "fire bath" to resolve the odor. His bath form includes smoking marijuana, including a prayer to God Shiva and dancing around the fire. He claims that in this way solves the stench, but his family and neighbors is absolutely disagree with that. 

Although the priest's advice was obviously not good, this man still refuses to bathe, and only son could force him to change his opinion. Of course, it is unlikely that they will have another child, given that his wife is now sixty years old. 

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World’s Earliest Prosthetics: Egyptian Mummy's Fake Toe

Two artificial big toes - one found strapped to the mummified remains of an Egyptian woman - may be the world's earliest functional prosthetic body parts, according to a study: the linen and plaster "Greville Chester toe," which dates back past 600 BC; and the wood and leather "Cairo toe," which was built between 950-710 BC.

A superbly preserved artificial big toe from the Cairo museum in Egypt was found in 2000 in a tomb near Luxor in the ancient necropolis of Thebes. Archaeologists speculated the 50- to 60-year-old woman the prosthesis came from might have lost her toe due to complications from diabetes.

 

The Greville Chester Great Toe also shows signs of wear, suggesting that it may have been worn by its owner in life and not simply attached to the foot during mummification for religious or ceremonial reasons. However, unlike the Cairo specimen, the Greville Chester Great Toe does not bend and so is likely to have been more cosmetic.

That would easily make it the most ancient replacement limb known, several centuries older that the Roman-era bronze-and-wood leg unearthed from a burial site near Capua, Italy.

Both replicas, which even look like toes, were tested on two volunteers who had lost their right big toes. Lead researcher Dr Jacky Finch, from the University of Manchester, carried out the tests in the Gait Laboratory at Salford University's Centre for Rehabilitation and Human Performance Research. Sure enough, the false toes offered greater mobility and comfort. Said Manchester study leader Dr. Jacky Finch in a recent article in The Lancet:

To be classed as true prosthetic devices any replacement must satisfy several criteria. The material must withstand bodily forces so that it does not snap or crack with use. Proportion is important and the appearance must be sufficiently lifelike as to be acceptable to both the wearer and those around them. The stump must also be kept clean, so it must be easy to take on and off. But most importantly, it must assist walking. The big toe is thought to carry some 40% of the bodyweight and is responsible for forward propulsion although those without it can adapt well [...]
My findings strongly suggest that both of these designs were capable of functioning as replacements for the lost toe and so could indeed be classed as prosthetic devices.
If that is the case then it would appear that the first glimmers of this branch of medicine should be firmly laid at the feet of the ancient Egyptians.

A three-part wood and leather artefact housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and the Greville Chester artificial toe on display in the British Museum, helped their toe-less owners walk like Egyptians.

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Ritual Use of Caffeinated ‘Vomit Drink’

Caffeine-loaded black drinks apparently dominated the heartland of America earlier than once thought — a beverage neither coffee nor cola, but instead brewed from holly leaves, researchers say. Made from the roasted leaves of the Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) that grew more than 300 miles away, researchers found evidence that inhabitants at Cahokia, "North America's first city," were enjoying caffeinated tea beverages some 700 to 900 years ago. Cahokia existed near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from about 1050 to 1350 in what is now in St. Louis, East St. Louis and the surrounding five counties, and inspired short-lived settlements as far away as Wisconsin. The core of this society, Greater Cahokia, had as many as 50,000 residents in its heyday living amidst earthen mounds, some more than 100 feet (30 meters) in height, making it the largest prehistoric North American settlement north of Mexico. 

The “black drink” was used by different groups for different purposes, but according to researchers it was a key component in a purification ritual before battle or other important events. The drink had as much as six times the amount of caffeine as a strong cup of coffee, which induced sweating. Quick consumption of the hot beverage allowed men to vomit, an important part of the purification ritual according to researchers.

The ancient people may have downed the brew before ritual vomiting as part of purification ceremonies, the scientists added. “We’re not sure when Native Americans stopped using black drink,” researcher Thomas Emerson, the director of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, told LiveScience. “I think its use went more into the closet, due to pressure from Europeans to drop pagan practices.”

People in South America still make drinks from varieties of holly, like yerba maté and té o’ maté, though the drinks are typically made in more relaxed settings.
For many tribes of Native Americans, the black drink was a key component of purification rituals before war parties, religious ceremonies, important political councils or other important events. Rapid consumption of large quantities of the hot drink preceded ritual vomiting as part of the purification rituals. People in South America continue to make drinks from varieties of holly, such as yerba maté and té o' maté, albeit in more relaxed contexts.

"I would argue that it was the first pan-Indian city in North America, because there are both widespread contacts and emigrants," Emerson said. "The evidence from artifacts indicates that people from a broad region, what is now the Midwest and southeast U.S., were in contact with Cahokia. This is a level of population density, a level of political organization that has not been seen before in North America."
How this early city held together for as long as it did has remained a mystery.

The study on the black drink appeared online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences August 6.

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York Minster gets new carpet made of grass

A belief in Christianity may transport you to pastures greener, but one gardener has taken holy mow-tivation to a whole new level. York Minster has had a new carpet fitted which is made from 1,500 square metres of real grass. The carpet, which has been laid in the nave of the building, is being prepared for the York Minster Rose Dinner that was take on evening June 8.

The guests was walking and dining on the real grass inside the Minster. The spectacular Nave, transformed into an Eden for the event, was play host for 900 people, all there to raise money for the York Minster Fund.

The live grass is called 'Wow! Grass!' and has been donated by local company Lindum which manufactures it. The product was first launched at last year's Chelsea Flower Show. The grass is grown in specially-adapted felt that is made from recycled British textiles, rather than soil. 

 

One of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe, York Minster's history stretches back to the 7th century. It has survived lightening and fires, most famously in 1984 when the South Transept caught fire ater being struck by lightning. Three hours of fire took nearly four years to repair. 

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Weird business of turning the dead into diamonds

Losing a loved-one is heartbreaking enough, whether they were a relative, a lover, partner, best friend or pet. Scattering their ashes is too much of a final closure, they may have spent many years with you on this earth and you may feel you never wish to ever forget them.

What better more fitting way could you remember them forever than with a real memorial diamond made from the last remnants of their existence – diamonds are forever they say.

Turning ashes into diamonds was invented by LifeGem diamonds in 1999 and brought to the public in 2002. Since then, creating diamonds from ashes has become an accepted practice worldwide and considered by many to be the most prestigious way of memorializing a loved one to date.

Eva Wu has kept her son's room unchanged ever since he died in January of 2011. Cornald passed away from a rare form of cancer, known as PEComa, at age 17. Divorced and single, Wu recalled his optimism even in his final days.

To keep him close in death as he was in life, Wu had his ashes made into a diamond. "I feel peace. I feel he's near me. And it's 100% him. Nothing else but him," said Wu, who keeps the diamond on a cross necklace. "And I can recall his smiling face, and I can recall his gentle character."

That peace is thanks to the Hong Kong company Algordanza. Algordanza sends 200 grams of cremated remains to its laboratory in Switzerland. The carbon from those ashes is then filtered out to more than 99% purity and refined into silky, black graphite. A machine then applies volcano-like pressure and temperature: Nine hours later, a synthetic diamond -- which has a bluish rather than clear tint, owing to boron found naturally in the body -- is born.A quarter-carat diamond retails for about $3000. A two-carat diamond, the biggest that Algordanza makes, costs about $37,000.

This price range makes remembrance diamonds competitive with the cost of Hong Kong burials, which range from $2,000 to more than $200,000 depending on the choice of coffin, according to the city's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

Father of the head director of Algordanza died a few weeks ago due to complications from liver cancer. His remains will be made into a diamond and split among his four children who live around the world.

Wu admits a remembrance diamond may not be the way everyone may want to commemorate their loved ones. But aside from the love held for the departed, a diamond can last nearly as long, she adds.

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Giant bull head off South Dakota

 

A giant bull's head is just one of the many cartoon-like creatures welcoming tourists to the Porter Sculpture Park in Montrose, S.D.

Wayne Porter (61), the sculptor behind Porter Sculpture Park, has created several interesting sculptures to fill the outdoor gallery off of Interstate 90 in South Dakota. Cartoonlike buzzards wielding a knife and fork, anvil and oversized mallet might seem like an odd way to welcome tourists. The vultures representing reincarnated politicians are just a few of the more than 40 quirky creations originating in the mind of Wayne Porter, who uses his blacksmith know-how and appreciation of history to turn twisted concepts into metallic works of art.
The park's signature piece is a 60-foot-tall Egyptian-style bull's head that stares down Interstate 90 motorists as they head out to South Dakota's Black Hills. Porter spent three years creating the 25-ton monstrosity out of railroad tie plates, dubbing it the "World's Largest Bull's Head" on a nearby billboard.

Porter has been creating metal sculptures since he first learned to weld in his father’s blacksmith shop when he was 12-years-old. He’s been working on his craft on and off over the years and in 2000 he opened Porter Sculpture Park.

The biography on his website reads:

“His metal art is large in size and much of it is comprised of junk metal. His largest sculpture is 60 feet tall and weighs more than 25 tons… His pieces are majestic, whimsical and thought provoking and readily display the influence of the South Dakota prairies that he grew up on reflect his quick wit, humor, and diverse interests.”

Not one to rest on his laurels, Porter has already begun construction of another gigantic attraction: A 40-foot-tall metal horse. However, since the artist’s blacksmithing workshop is quite a distance from his sculpture garden, transporting the item to its permanent home may prove difficult.

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How did Da Vinci knew this?

In the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London is the largest and most impressive exhibition of anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci in history.

Experts who have had the opportunity to examine his papers claim that the drawings were a great artist and universal genius, who died in 1519th year, for its precision were hundreds of years ahead of its time, and that in some respects may even contribute to our present understanding of the human body.

Experts in the field of clinical anatomy, such as Peter Ejbrahams, professor of anatomy at the University of Warwick in the UK, claim that Leonardo's work was at least 300 years ahead of its time, and that in some aspects of his drawings even better than what it offers Gray "Anatomy" of the 19th century.

A true step forward compared to what the Renaissance genius managed to achieve only with the help of hand-eye has been made only recently, with the help of digital technology.

Many drawings of Leonardo da Vinci - his studies of the skull, chest, bones and ligaments, in full, however, consistent with images obtained with the help of today's modern appliances such as x-ray and scanner. That is, by no means behind the modern two-dimensional images.

Drawings of famous artists to coincide with the most modern recordings that modern medicine can produce. However, there are also differences in relation to what modern medicine has discovered about the human body. Among the biggest mistakes is the one that shows the system reproduktvni women and pregnancy, the uterus and fetus in it.

Experts explain the fact that it is probably difficult to reach women's bodies, especially the corpse of a woman in advanced pregnancy, which the artist tried to make use of analogy with the anatomy of domestic animals, for example. cows, to which the drawings of these organs actually resemble. 

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