It might look like a giant minty cupcake with white cream frosting but this stunning picture is actually a bizarre cloud formation over a remote rocky island.
Perched on top of the rocky outcrop LÌtla DÌmu, in the Faroe Islands, the little cloud seems be spread over it like icing sugar.
The unusual phenomenon at LÌtla DÌmu — the smallest and only uninhabited of main 18 islands — was caught on camera by Italian tourist Andrea Ricordi.
The amateur photographer said he couldn’t believe his eyes when he spied the odd cloud formation while taking the ferry between the Faroes capital Torshavn and the southern island of Suouroy.
The island’s only inhabitants are wild sheep and seabirds. SOURCE: metro.co.uk
A ‘zooming’ coffee table
A French furniture designer created a conversation piece — by encasing the wreck of a Ferrari supercar in a coffee table. Charly Molinelli, from Corsica, was approached by a customer who wanted a talking point for her living room.
Knowing his client was a motor sports fan, he approached a friend who worked at a scrapyard that was crushing a Ferrari F40.
The 27-year-old explains: “The project came at the request from a customer who wanted a coffee table sofa to work as both a practical piece of furniture and an artistic statement.
“The idea of using the Ferrari came very naturally, as my client was very sensitive to everything related to the world of motor and luxury.”
The finished work took two months, with Mr Molinelli using other recycled materials to complete it.
“At first, I turned to several professionals before conception, to ask their points of views,” he says.
“Finally I decided to build it myself with recovered materials, including various woods, cement, paint and varnish.”
SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk
Ssslithery retribution
Two Indian farmers who were fed up with alleged bribery demands made by local officials decided to take matters into their own hands. The pair, identified as Hukkul Khan and Ramkul Ram, emptied three bags filled with around 40 snakes in a busy tax office in northern India, an official revealed.
Uttar Pradesh state official Ramsukh Sharma said clerks and villagers in the office were sent scurrying for cover when the farmers emptied the bags, which included at least four deadly cobras.
“Snakes started climbing up the tables and chairs,” he said.
“There was total chaos. Hundreds of people gathered outside the room, some of them with sticks in their hands, shouting that the snakes should be killed.”
The farmers had been asking for tax records for their land in a nearby village, but officials in the tax office had withheld the files and were reportedly demanding bribes.
Mr Sharma said their method of protest was ‘unacceptable’ and revealed that the police are searching for the farmers.
No one was bitten or injured in the incident, and police and forest officials captured the snakes.
SOURCE: metro.co.uk
False meow!
Rescuers spent 12 hours trying to save what they thought was a trapped cat — only to find out that it was a squeaky toy. A passer-by heard meowing from inside a recycled clothes bin and thought a missing pregnant cat called Puss Puss was stuck inside. Villagers tried to open the container but were unable to do so because its locks had been tampered with.
Firefighters and the RSPCA were then called but they also could not prise open the bin so it was transported 28 kilometres to an engineering company.
Workers sliced through the metal container with steel-cutting equipment to reveal... a battery-operated toy cat.
Kelvin Owen, owner of the K Owen engineering company, said: “Once we got into the bin we heard the meow again. It sounded just like a cat and we all started to carefully search the bags. Then I found a bag of toys and picked out a toy cat.”
“I said, ‘It couldn’t be this could it?’. It wasn’t making any noise and I asked if I could cut it open to investigate. As I held it, it went off meow, meow — mystery solved.”
Jasmine Hazelhurst, who helped with the ‘rescue’ in Moelfre, Anglesey, said: “I did feel embarrassed when they pulled out the stuffed cat. But I am also proud at the way everyone rallied round to try to save the cat. Local people did so much to save the cat and it shows what community spirit there is.”
“We feared finding a dead cat in the clothes bank, so to find a stuffed toy was a relief.” SOURCE: metro.co.uk
Miraculous escape
A lorry driver had an amazing escape in China after his truck went over a cliff and fell more than 600 feet down a mountain.
Zheng Yongping lost control while negotiating a sharp bend at a quarry in the mountains near Wannian Town, Jiangxi Province.
It careered down the steep slope, eventually being torn in two after hitting an iron ore conveyor.
Zheng said: “I can clearly remember going over the edge and my first thought was to jump out of the cab.
“But the handle broke off in my hand so I just held on to the steering wheel and pushed my feet on the floor as hard as I could and prayed for luck.”
After hitting the conveyor, the driver’s cab was torn away from the rest of the truck and came to rest halfway down the mountain.
Villagers who saw the horrific accident called police immediately but rescuers did not expect to find anybody still alive.
“I was trapped in the cab, and I wanted to call my wife, but I couldn’t find my mobile phone. I felt so weak, but then I saw people coming,” added Zheng. He was taken for treatment at the Wannian County People’s Hospital where he is now in a stable condition. The chief surgeon commented: “It’s a pure miracle.”
SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk
No ordinary mince pie
The world’s most valuable mince pie will go on show at a shopping centre in London.
The £3,000(Rs413810) mince pie was made using traditional ingredients from recipes dating back to the 17th century.
They include the highest-grade platinum leaf, holy water from Lourdes to bind the pastry, vanilla beans and cinnamon from eastern spice markets, and ambergris sugar which is derived from sperm whale secretions.
It also contains a solid platinum coin in keeping with the British tradition of placing a silver coin in a Christmas cake or pudding.
It took ten days for Andrew Stellitano, who runs food design company Astarism, to make the exclusive mince pie.
The pie will be on display for a month at the Marvellous Mince Pie Manufactory in The Exchange shopping centre in Ilford.
It’s said to be worth £3,000(Rs413810) but will go to the winner of a prize draw on December 19. SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk
Man cannot live on bread alone — but a woman can!
A mother-of-two has told how her life was saved in a car crash — by a loaf of bread.
The medium-sliced £1.15(Rs158) Hovis Soft White flew from Liz Douglas’s shopping bag and cushioned her head when her car hit a telegraph pole.
Her Nissan Note flipped over and was a write-off — but she escaped with minor cuts and bruises.Mrs Douglas, 51, of Stronachlachar, Stirling, said: “It stopped my head hitting the top of the car, and saved my life.
“I’ve written Hovis an email to say thank you. I’ll always feel a certain loyalty to it now.”
She has kept the bread loaf as a reminder. SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk
Paint them white
High on the Peruvian Andes one man and his team are taking an unusual approach to tackle the lack of glaciers — by painting the mountains. The area is too cold for vegetation to grow and life has always depended on the ice that covered the mountains.
However, in recent years, the lack of ice has created a great challenge to shepherds raising the areas native alpacas who say a lack of ice means no water and in turn no grass to feed the animals.
Eduardo Gold is founder of Peru Glaciers, an organisation aimed at bringing ice back to the mountains.
Mr Gold and his crew are working at an elevation of 5,000 metres on the project to bring the glaciers back.
Eduardo Gold is chief of the mission to bring the glaciers back, with his theory being that if dark mountains absorb heat from the sun then white mountains will have the opposite effect — the solution is to make them white. He and his team have been using a combination of water sand and lime to paint the mountains white in a bid to reduce their temperature. And it appears to be working.
When he tests the temperature of a white mountain it shows a difference of 10 to 12 degrees celcius and he finds a buried hunk of ice.
He told CNN: “This community is closely tied to the glaciers. As soon as they disappear the livelihood disappears for them as well.”
“This is an experiment — it may not work at all. Doing something is better than doing nothing at all.” Shepherd, Salomon Parco who lives in the Peruvian town of Licapa said , “No ice means no water an no water means no grass to feed the animals. When I was a little boy the mountain tops were white with snow and ice but they now look black.” SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
Zombie takeover!
The streets of Mexico City have been taken over by zombies. But don’t worry — it was all for a world record.
Nearly 10,000 people splattered themselves in fake blood as they took part in the largest ever zombie walk.
The Mexican parade of the living dead beat the previous world record held by the USA.
Zombie walks have grown in popularity worldwide in recent years. The craze for dressing up as the “living dead” has been fuelled by movies and TV. source: bbc.co.uk
Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2011.
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