Years later I learned a lot about various methods to move practically anything regardless of the size. Nonetheless I’m still captivated by big mechanisms that can easily lift and move objects that are also humongous. All these mechanisms are nothing but extension of our own arms, a logical sequel of a digging stick, stone hammer, lever, etc. It started so simply, and has gone so far.

This picture shows a floating crane “Titan” lifting a passenger ferry Karrabbee in Sidney, Australia. During the traditional ferry competition one of ferries happened to… sink. Luckily it happened after all passengers had gotten off the board. So the organizers simply pulled the “Titan” to the site and picked up the ferry from the bottom. By the way, this thing actually floats itself too! Who knows, perhaps, if their catholic highnesses of middle ages knew of such machines in their time, there would have been fewer her majesty ships at the bottom of the see. “Titan” lifted Karrabbee in 1984. And in late 80s “Titan” sank itself when it was being towed from Australia to Asia during a storm or something. Don’t you just love this picture: “Titan” floating from Australia to Asia…

And this cutie is called “Yoshida”.

Doesn’t it look like one of those lovely monsters from Japanese movies? Say, Godzilla, Motra and such? Floating crane Yoshida was built by Mitsubishi heavy Industries Division. Its lifting capacity is 3700 tons with 925 tonns per each hook.


Here is a submarine hanging on its ropes as a fish on a fishing rod.

Here is a floating crane «Asian Hercules» puting down the famous Gateshead Millennium Bridge in New Castle.

«Asian Hercules» participated in dismantling of the world’s largest (as of 2002) gantry cranes “Kockums” and replacing it with the new one called “Hyundai”.

Here is “Kockums”, 128m high and capable of lifting 1,500 tons with rail track 175 meters wide and 710 meters long.


It was assembled in 1973-74. It stood in the shipyard in Malmo, in Sweden, and up till its dismantling it had participated in the construction of 75 boats and ships. For the very last time it was used in 1997 when it loaded the Oresund Bridge’s fundamental high pillars (see the picture below) onto a cargo ship.

By then the Kockums crane had significantly worn out. In the 1990s it was sold to Burmeister & Wain, a Danish company which soon became bankrupt even before the dismantling began. Thus the Kockums remained integral until 2002 when it was again sold to Hyundai Heavy Industries (a Korean company) for… (guess how much). One dollar! It was shipped thereafter to Korea as a historical object of interest. By the way, Koreans named it “Malmo tears”. The Swedes cried when saying goodbye to the Malmo landmark that served as a background to their lives.
Dismantling.

The Koreans put a bright Korean thingamajig in the place of the previous crane loved by so many Swedes.





Some retro: 1951, floating crane “London Mammoth” is towing a steamer.

7500t Full Revolving Floating Crane. This name speaks for itself. It lifts 7500 tonns and spins like an ice skater. It is set on a floating platform which also has another crane of a smaller size and plenty of various hoists – just in case. This wonder is assembled in Shanghai by the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co.

Seven and a half thousand tons – this is really a lot. I don’t think there are crane with bigger capacity. But we’ll keep looking.

This Cognac is ultimate luxury! Henri IV Dudognon Heritage, valued in the decanter shown here at 1 million British pounds sterling ($1.9 million US). The name Henri IV honors the French king (1553-1610) who is a direct ancestor of Claudine Dudognon–Buraud, heiress to Maison Dudognon, which is located in the center of the smallest area of France’s Cognac Grande Champagne region. It has been producing this cognac since 1776. The decanter is made of 24 K Yellow Gold & Sterling Platinum and decorated with 6,500 certified brilliant cut diamonds. It weighs about 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds) and is filled with 33 ounces of Dudognon Heritage Cognac Grande Champagne, aged in barrels for more than 100 years to produce an alcohol content of 41%. This a luxury masterpiece was created by jeweller Jose Davalos.

The most expensive Tequila – Tequila Ley .925

Mexican tequila distilling company called Tequila Ley .925 made the most expensive tequila bottle in the world – which currently holds the Guinness World Book of Records title for the most expensive tequila bottle ever made. Tequila Ley .925 an estimated value of 1 million Euros. Bottle made of platinum, adorned 6,000 brilliant-cut diamonds 1 to 30 points “D” quality. Bottle design by Fernando Altamirano.

The most expensive Vodka – DIVA Premium Vodka

Each bottle is decorated with precious stones. As a result, the cost of one bottle DIVA Premium Vodka is between £ 2000 to £ 540000 (from $ 3700 to $ 1000000). It is triple-distilled, ice-filtered, filtered through purifying Nordic birch charcoal, then finally passed through a fine sand of diamonds and gems.

Traditional ?arnaval in Rio de Janeiro is taking place once a year and this year, the main celebration in the city will last from 2 to 5 February. The main event of the carnival is a competition in the traditional dance Samba. In Rio de Janeiro 12 main samba schools. In fact, it is areas of the city. During the carnival competition is taking place not only in the ability to dance, as well as competition for the best costume and decoration.

Also see last year’s best pictures from the ?arnival in Rio.

Photos: ©Reuters, AP, AFP, DPA

2. Star-nosed Mole (more info about Star-nosed Mole)

3. Red-lipped batfish

4. Narwhal (more info about Narwhal)

5. Megalopyge opercularis

The moth Megalopyge opercularis has numerous common names, including southern flannel moth, pussy moth, puss caterpillar, and, in Texas, asp. It is visually striking in both larval and adult forms. The inch-long larva is generously coated in long, luxuriant hair-like setae, making it resemble a tiny Persian cat, the characteristic that presumably gave it the name “puss.” The ‘fur’ of the larva contains venomous spines that cause extremely painful reactions in human skin upon contact. The reactions are sometimes localized to the affected area but are often very severe, radiating up a limb and causing burning, swelling, nausea, headache, abdominal distress, rashes, blisters, and sometimes chest pain, numbness, or difficulty breathing.

6. Giant Anteater

The Giant anteater can be found in large parts of southern Central America and the northern and central parts of South America. The anteater’s mouth is a small opening at the end of a long snout on an elongated head. They have very poor eyesight but well-developed hearing and smelling senses. A keen sense of smell is critical for the Giant anteater. It is used to locate ant colonies located in the anteater’s territory. The coat is gray in color with a distinctive black and white shoulder stripe. Anteaters feed on ants and termites ripping open a nest and harvesting the insects with their long thin grey tongue that can grow up to a meter in length. Tongue of anteater covered with sticky saliva.

7. Giant isopod

They are thought to be abundant in cold, deep waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean and, is the largest known isopod and is the one most often referred to by the common name “giant isopod“. Maturing to a length between 19 and 37 cm, and maximally reaching a weight of approximately 1.7 kg. Giant isopods are important scavengers in the deep-sea benthic environment. Although generalist scavengers, these isopods are mostly carnivorous and feed on dead whales, fish, and squid.

8. Long-Eared Jerboa

The Long-eared Jerboa is a nocturnal mouse-like rodent with a long tail, long hind legs for jumping, and exceptionally large ears. The Long-eared Jerboa can be found in desert of Trans Altai Govi Desert and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

9. Platypus

The Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a unique mammals species because they lay eggs. The platypus lives only in Australia. It has webbed feet and a large, rubbery snout; these are features that appear closer to those of a duck than to those of any known mammal. The body and the broad, flat tail of the Platypus are covered with dense brown fur that traps a layer of insulating air to keep the animal warm. Weight varies considerably from 700 g to 2.4 kg with males being larger than females: males average 50 cm total length while females average 43 cm. It is one of the few venomous mammals ; the male Platypus has a spur on the hind foot which delivers a poison. Platypus venom is not considered to be life-threatening to a healthy human. Platypus poison triggers severe pain, but is so excruciating that the victim may be incapacitated.

10. The Philippine Tarsier (more info about Star-nosed Mole)

Sources: wikipedia nature|pbs

This special project of “Eyescapes” were photographed by famous photographer Rankin. “The eye is the first thing that I look at,” says Rankin. See and enjoy beautiful series of photos “Eyescapes”.

© Rankin

Beautiful and appetizing

Microsoft Windows 1.0 [1985]

Apple Macintosh II [1987]

MS Windows 2.0 [1987]

NeXTStep OS [1988]

OS/2 Version 2.0. IBM [1992]

Microsoft Windows 3.11 [1993]

MS Windows 95 [1995]

IBM OS/2 Warp 4 [1996]

KDE 1.0 for Linux [1998]

Gnome 1.0 [1999]

MacOS X on Unix base [1999]

Apple Aqua, new MacOS X theme[2000]

MS Windows XP [2001]

Kubuntu Linux Dapper Drake [2006]

Windows Vista [2006]

Linspire [2006]

OS X Leopard from Apple [2007]

The main ritual on this day centres around a bonfire ceremoniously kindled at the time of the rising moon. This suggests that the festival is also a celebration of the barley harvest. People start collecting fire – wood, cow-dung and rubbish around a central pole in their locality many days in advance. On Choti Holi, they come together to light the fire. Men and women circumambulate the fire singing and dancing. A pot of new barley seeds is buried under the pyre for roasting. These seeds are eaten after the fire is extinguished . Divinations for the coming harvest are cast by interpreting the direction of the flames or by the state of the seeds in the buried pot. People sometimes take embers from the fire to their homes to rekindle their own domestic fires. The ashes from the Holi fire are also believed to provide protection against diseases.

The next day is called ‘Dhulendi‘ and it is during these celeberations that people throw colored powder or ‘gulal’ and colored water on each other using ‘pichkaris’ shouting ‘bura na mano holi hai’. The origin of this custom can be found in the pranks of Krishna, who used to drench the village belles or “gopis” with water and play tricks on them. ‘Thandai‘, a drink made with almonds and milk, and cannabis ‘bhang’ pakoras are extremely popular on this day. A typical sweet meat served on this day is ‘gujhia’ and ‘kanji vadas’ are a popular appetiser.

Holi at Mathura and Vrindavana is celebrated with great gusto for many days, as these were the places where Krishna spent most of his childhood. Each major temple celebrates Holi in a different day. People throng the temples to get drenched with colored water and consider it a blessing from the god. Of particular interest is the Holi festival in the village of Barsana, 42 km from Mathura. Radha belonged to Barsana while Krishna hailed from Nandagaon. On Holi, men from Nandagaon come to Barsana to celebrate Holi with the women here, who are ready to beat them with sticks instead of playing with ‘gulal’. This is called “lathamar Holi”. This is very similar to the “Dhulendi Holi” played in Haryana, where the “bhabhi” (sister-in-law) beats her “devar” (younger brother-in-law) with her sari rolled up into a rope. All this is done in good humor and in the evening the devar brings sweetmeats for his bhabhi.

Holi though is not very popular in South India, but a similar festival in the honor of the god of love Kama, takes place there at the same time. While there does not seem to be a direct link between the two rituals, literary sources suggest that both occasions are examples of an age-old tradition of celebrating the arrival of spring.

In Maharashtra and Gujarat, a grand procession of men soaked with colored water walk through the streets shouting ‘Govinda alha re alha, zara matki sambhal brijbala”. This refers to Krishna’s habit of stealing butter and milk stored in terracotta pots from people’s homes. As a child, Krishna who was extremely fond of milk and milk products would prowl into any accessible house with his friends and steal pots of butter or break pots of milk. During Holi, a pot of buttermilk is hung high up in the street. Men forming a human staircase try to break this pot, and whoever succeeds is crowned the Holi king of the locality for that year.

In Bengal, Holi is called Dol Yatra, or the swing festival. Idols of Radha and Krishna are placed on swings and devotees take turns to swing them. Women dance around the swing and sing devotional songs, as men spray colored water at them. In Manipur too, Holi is extremely interesting. It is a six-day festival here, commencing on the full moon day of Phalguna. The traditional and centuries-old Yaosang festival of Manipur amalgamated with Holi in the18th century with the introduction of Vaishnavism. The entire theme of the festival is woven into the worship of Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, also known as Lord Gauranga.

Thabal Chongba, a popular Manipuri folk dance, is associated with this festival. The literal meaning of Thabal is ‘moonlight‘ and Chongba means ‘dance’, thus ‘dancing in the moonlight’. Traditionally conservative Manipuri parents did not allow their daughters to go out and meet any young men without their consent. Thabal Chongba therefore provided the only chance for girls to meet and talk to the boys. In earlier times, this dance was performed in the moonlight accompanied by folk songs. The only musical instrument used was a dholakor drum. It is performed in every locality on all the six days of the festival. Instead of a fire, a hut is built and then set ablaze. The next day, boys go in groups to play gulal with the girls. And in return for playing with them, the girls extract money from the boys.

Another significant feature of the festival in Manipur is the groups of devotees from different areas who gather at the Shree Govindaji Temple in Imphal. Dressed in the traditional white and yellow turbans, they sing songs in praise of Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, play gulal and dance in front of the temple. On Halangkar, the last day of the festival, hundreds of devotees gather at the temple as usual and march together towards the Vijay Govindaji Temple about 3 km west of Imphal where various cultural activities are performed. This brings to an end the Yaosang festival.