28 amazing photos at Boston.com: "Wealthy Dubai continues to grow though, in both land area as new islands are built, and in height as new, taller skyscrapers are planned to best the Burj Dubai, already the tallest in the world. "

(Chongqing IV )

Don't Panic: "The Yangtze is the longest river in the world to run through one single country. More people live along its banks than in the United States. Understandably it forms a key part of Chinese cultural identity. Nadav Kander travelled its length to take these photographs, which form a diary of development."

Go to www.nadavkander.com for more.

(48 min.) Documentary by National Geographic

Dinosaurs were the only thing those guys in Dubai didn't have yet, I guess....

dubaicondoproperty.com: Imagine going back 100 million years or more to feel the power of the cosmic forces that helped shape our planet, and come face to face with giant dinosaurs. Restless Planet is a unique electronic media and natural history experience, where visitors enter a prehistoric world.

Restless Planet offers the world's ultimate theme ride back into the mists of time, through the state-of-the-art electronics of today. Here, in the glittering new City of Arabia, you are transported back millions of years into the prehistoric kingdom of the dinosaurs. The world-renowned Natural History Museum of London has drawn on the elite of science, entertainment and technology expertise to realize the dream of bringing these giant creatures and the wonders of prehistoric earth back to life.

Along with the acclaimed dinosaur authority Jack Horner, Tokyo-based animatronics team Kokoro have recreated the real life creatures of the Jurassic era, enclosed within an 80-metre high translucent dome designed by international theme park specialists Jack Rouse Associates.

Very interesting story in the Design Observer: "One rainy night eight years ago, in Watertown, Massachusetts, a man was taking his dog for a walk. On the curb, in front of a neighbor’s house, he spotted a pile of trash: old mattresses, cardboard boxes, a few broken lamps. Amidst the garbage he caught sight of a battered suitcase. He bent down, turned the case on its side and popped the clasps.

He was surprised to discover that the suitcase was full of black-and-white photographs. He was even more astonished by their subject matter: devastated buildings, twisted girders, broken bridges — snapshots from an annihilated city. He quickly closed the case and made his way back home.

At the kitchen table, he looked through the photographs again and confirmed what he had suspected. He was looking at something he had never seen before: the effects of the first use of the Atomic bomb. The man was looking at Hiroshima.

In a dispassionate and scientific style, the seven hundred and one photographs inside the suitcase catalogued a city seared by a new form of warfare. The origin and purpose of the photographs were a mystery to the man who found them that night. Now, over sixty years after the bombing of Hiroshima, their story can be told. "

Art, architecture and the financial crisis back in the old days. Originally aired on US television in 1997

Playlist with all episodes of "American Visions"

From Dark Roasted Blend's most excellent feature Most Ridiculous Things to Do with Superheroes

Lots of great photos over here!

Interesting story in The Guardian about the financial crisis: The party's over for Iceland, the island that tried to buy the world

Amazing pictures on Boston.com: "These photos were all taken within the past six months - some taken from the borders, peering in, others provided by North Korea itself, and several generously shared by freelance photographer Eric Lafforgue, who recently spent some time inside the country."

Tons of great pictures over at pixdaus.com/

Really cool: 10 documentary videos about Washington D.C., the "capitol of punk".

Hier sitzen die Kreuzberger ab 17 Uhr und gehen ihren religiösen Ritualen nach: Bionade oder Bier trinken, so tun als ob man liest, den Papadam-Mann grüßen, beim Dixie Duo mitsingen und den Sonnengott von Kreuzberg einen guten Mann sein lassen.

North Oaks tells Google Maps: Keep out - we mean it

The St. Paul suburb with private roads may be the first U.S. city to ask that street images be removed.

Blog and videos like Shopping Can Be Fun (1957). "One of the gayest experiences..."

Sir Graves also writes Deviled Ham, a great blog about that Satan dude, Motel Hell and a few more blogs.

Daily Mail: "Schoolchildren near 'suicide hotspot' set homework of planning their own funerals Children from a school near Bridgend were set a homework project to plan their own funerals, it was revealed today.

The pupils as young as 12 were asked to decide what music they would like played and what they would want the mourners to wear at their own memorial service.

It was condemned by a furious mother today - just a day another nearby school asked children to write their own suicide note.

The school has apologised to mother Sharon Vaughan after her daughter Lauren, 12, was told to plan her funeral - and then given detention when she refused."

Have hours of fun with the field guide to Military Urbanism

Stuff.co.nz: "Scientists trekking across a little visited part of Antarctica have discovered a bizarre relic of the Soviet Union is dominating the South Pole of Inaccessibility. In the middle of no-where – literally the point on Antarctica furthest from the sea – an imposing bust of revolutionary Bolshevik Vladimir Lenin peers out onto the polar emptiness."

Related: 33 Weird Statues and Sculptures Around The World

Der Altar zur Kunst!

Gesagt, getan - Die Festplatte wird Hackerinsel

"The Local" from Sweden reports: Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is planning to buy its own nation in an attempt to circumvent international copyright laws. The group has set up a campaign to raise money to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform in the North Sea that has been designated a 'micronation', and claims to be outside the jurisdiction of the UK or any other country."

www.buysealand.com

Vor einem Jahr: DIE FESTPLATTE oder SEALAND, DAS KLEINSTE LAND DER WELT - Story und Sealand Links

Was lesen wir da? Aha, eine Tagung in Bielefeld und Second Life: Mittelständische Unternehmen profitieren von Web 2.0 und Social Software. Und dabei wissen wir: Bielefeld existiert gar nicht! Und "Second Life" eigentlich auch nicht. Eben! Alles Schwindel!

Und das nennen die feinen Herren dann wohl Arbeit!

Weburbanist strikes gain : Lost Caverns and Buried Cities. Incredible!

"The Foster + Partners and URS team has won an international competition to build the first private spaceport in the world - The New Mexico Spaceport Authority Building. The sinuous shape of the building in the landscape and its interior spaces seek to capture the drama and mystery of space flight itself, articulating the thrill of space travel for the first space tourists."

It's real! Just in case the aliens come back to New Mexico, eh?

Nachrichten.Ch: "Zehn Millionen Euro sind auf Ebay geboten worden für Belgien, «ein Königreich in drei Teilen». Dann wurde die Versteigerung von Ebay gestoppt.(...) Als Verkäufer war ein früherer Journalist, Gerrit Six, eingetragen. Als Nachteil verwies er auf «300 Milliarden Staatsschulden». Belgien bestehe aus «Flandern, Brüssel und Wallonien», hiess es in der Produktbeschreibung weiter. Es könne als Ganzes gekauft werden, das sei aber nicht ratsam."