Photograph by Ross Aldershoff Completed in 2007 by Merkx + Girod Architecten, the Selexyz Dominicanen Bookstore in Maastricht in the Netherlands is an incredible church conversion that was originally consecrated in 1294. Located between Maastricht’s two major squares (the Markt and the Vrijthof), the bookstore is run by a large Dutch chain in…
I was having a mediocre day until a photo of a baby elephant immediately lifted my spirits (#2 below, saw it on Reddit). I thought, if one simple baby elephant picture could spontaneously lift my spirits, a whole gallery may very well increase the happiness index the world over (quite facetious, yes). Sure when…
Photograph via UrinalCakes on Reddit Located approximately 6 km (3.73 miles) from the outskirts of the city of Dunhuang in Western China, lies Crescent Lake, an incredible oasis in the Gobi desert. Known as Yueyaquan in Chinese, the crescent-shaped lake is a major tourist attraction where one of the world’s great shrines to…
Photograph by yatpay on Reddit On May 25th, 2012, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) made history when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle in history to successfully attach to the International Space Station. Previously only four governments – the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency – had achieved this…
Throughout India, Pakistan and the Middle East you will find camels. These domesticated even-toe ungulates are not only hard workers, but they also provide milk and meat. These animals are celebrated in a variety of festivals including the world famous Bikaner Camel Festival in Rajasthan, India and camel beauty pageants in Abu Dhabi and…
Alpacas are a domesticated species of South American camelid, bearing a striking resemblance to llamas only much smaller. They have been bred specifically for their ‘fiber’ which is used for similar knitted and woven products that wool is used for. This wonderful ‘fiber’ comes in more than 52 natural colors as classified in Peru,…
A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar; less commonly and with lower association to the term a lake may form in an impact crater caused by a meteorite, or in an artificial explosion caused by humans. Sometimes lakes which form inside calderas are…
Photograph by Shawn Knol (sknol on Flickr) A ferrofluid (portmanteau of ferromagnetic, and fluid) is a liquid which becomes strongly magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field. Ferrofluids are colloidal liquids made of nanoscale ferromagnetic, or ferrimagnetic, particles suspended in a carrier fluid (usually an organic solvent or water). Each tiny particle…
Built in 1889 as the entrance arch to the World’s Fair, the 320 meter (1,050 ft) tall Eiffel Tower, located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, is undoubtedly one of the most iconic structures in the world. For 41 years it held the title as the world’s tallest man-made structure until the completion…
Sure we’ve all heard of synonyms (words that have same/similar meanings) and antonyms (words that have opposite meanings) but have you ever heard of a contronym? A contronym is a word that can be it’s own antonym i.e., an individual word with opposite meanings. There’s a great list of these English oddities on Rinkworks…