Clipmarks | michellezm's clips

Some are as useful as a GPS device, others aren't that useful but give you something to do when you had nothing planned for the day. Put them all together and they become TIME.com's 2008 picks for the best the Web has to offer

Tags: top'100'search'engines'&'bookmarks'

Idyllic Latvian Village

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:49:16 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly

Clip Source: englishrussia.com

A Latvian billionaire implemented a fantastic project nearby Cēsis town in Latvia. If you’ve believed there is no Sun City, only Sin City, now you can see that you’ve been totally wrong. There people live according to special rules and have a routine different from those of common human beings. The three-storey houses are constructed of green materials and are located on various height so that the dwellers don’t see other houses from the windows of their own. If you want to live in a hobbit hut, you know now where to head.

Fantastic shots taken from very strange animals

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:49:23 GMT

clipped by: xpersianx

Clip Source: www.neogaf.com

Blue Dragon Sea Slug

Dude, you left out the best Coconut crab image:

And yeah, fuck those goblin sharks, they're like the mouth snappers in Aliens. Fuck that right off.

Kenny the inbred White Tiger

Intricate Rainforest Sculptures of Olinda

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:00:45 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: more: Ricketts gained his deep understanding of Aboriginal culture during frequent trips to Central Australia
, where he lived with the Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte people from 1949 -1960. They soon adopted him as one of their own and willingly posed for the sculptures that would become their legacy.
William Ricketts died in 1993 at the ripe old age of 94 but he will always be remembered as his figure, too, is dotted around the tranquil fern gully, forever connected to both the family and the land he so loved.

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

Hidden deep within a lush Australian rainforest are a set of mystical Aborigine sculptures seemingly merged into the natural surroundings. Moss covered torsos of men, women and children protrude from tree trunks and boulders. Some reach heavenward with widespread wings, others envelop each other protectively – all are symbols of the relationship the indigenous Australian Aborigines have with nature.

These mesmerizing sculptures are the work of William Ricketts, a rare Australian born in 1898 who was in awe of the connection the Aborigine people have with the land.

The clay figures, which Ricketts created on site in his home on Mount Dandenong, near Olinda, express his devout philosophy that all people need to act as custodians of the natural environment just as the Aboriginal people do.

The Lost Cities of the Cloud People

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:54:35 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: more: Much about the Cloud People is shrouded in mystery. As recently as 2008, a lost Chachapoya city was discovered in the isolated Amazon rainforest during an archaeological expedition to Peru’s Jamalca district, about five hundred miles north-east of Lima. The fortified citadel was found to contain the walls of buildings and rock paintings, and perched on the edge of a chasm – literally carved into the Andes – it may have been used by the Cloud People to keep a lookout for enemies
Little is known about the Chachapoyas as they left no written records, but it appears their culture began to prosper in the 9th century, when their towering cities were developed, possibly as defensive measures against invading Huaris. However, five hundred years on, their fortunes faltered with the spread of the Inca Empire. Despite fierce resistance, the Cloud People were conquered by the Incas, and were by turns rebelling and being suppressed when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in 1535.

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

The figures balance aloft on the ledge of a cliff, their gaze fixed where the first rays of the rising sun will appear, waiting for a new day to dawn. Known by the name Warriors of the Clouds, the Chachapoyas were an ancient Andean people who inhabited the mist-swathed rainforests of what is now northern Peru. They were wiped out some five hundred years ago, and looking out over the vast Utcubamba Valley, these figures stand as remnants of their once great civilisation.

In the remote mountainous Amazonas region of present-day Peru, various relics stand as testimony to the Chachapoyas and what they achieved. The scene just described is the site of Karijia, where six full-size sarcophagi preside over the surrounding territory, and have done for almost a millennium. Made of clay and plant matter, the masked coffins contain the mummified remains of Chachapoya elite. How they were placed in such an inaccessible position, no one knows for certain.

Mineral Collecting in India – Photo Gallery

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:15:57 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.spiriferminerals.com

Colse-up of a geode in Lonavala Quarry

Gigant specimen of mesolite, calcite and stilbite

Wadgaon Quarry

About 1,5 m big geode with green apophylite and stilbite

a specimen of calite with apophyllite

Miners and cavansites freshly taken out

Close-up of some cavansites

Stilbites

Scolecites

Scolecite

Famous Ajanta Caves - rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century B.C., the most beautiful in whole India.

Geode with green apophylite and stilbite

Apophylite

Calcite

Heulandite

Sculptures in basalt

Fluorites

Quartz geode

Men from the near village presenting how he is looking for the fluorites. Fot. J. Gajowniczek.

Fluorite and amethiste

Agate

Geode with apophylite

Apophylite

Powellite

Tags: geology

10 Extraordinary Lakes

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:53:37 GMT

clipped by: EddieIsSteady

Clip Source: www.womansday.com

10 Extraordinary Lakes

Discover which bodies of water boast the most unexpected traits

When a body of water is inland, not part of an ocean, deeper than a pond and fed by a river, it is classified as a lake. Usually created by rifts, tectonic shifts and ongoing glaciations—often found in basins or along mature rivers—they’re some of the most beautiful nature-made landmarks on earth. See for yourself: Whether dotted with mineral accumulations, cascading down mountains or home to a rare breed of flamingo, each of these 10 lakes is definitely worth veering off course for.

Plitvice Lakes in Croatia

Laguna Colorada in Bolivia

Dead Sea in Jordan and Israel

Spotted Lake in Canada

Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and Peru

Pitch Lake in Trinidad

Five-Flower Lake in China

Lake Nakuru in Kenya

Kelimutu Crater Lakes in Indonesia

Boiling Lake in Dominica

Tags: photography, travel, lakes

Mantis (15 pics)

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:39:56 GMT

clipped by: xpersianx
clipper's remarks: Amaaaaaaazing

Clip Source: izismile.com

Rocky Road bars: recipe

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:24:15 GMT

clipped by: bignosemousie
clipper's remarks: I am not a fan of marshmallow, but these look like a great gift.

Clip Source: www.hersheys.com

Rocky Road Tasty Team Treats

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups finely crushed thin pretzels or pretzel sticks
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1-3/4 cups (10-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S MINI KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1-1/3 cups coarsely chopped pecans or pecan pieces

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. Combine pretzels and melted butter in small bowl; press evenly onto bottom of prepared pan. Spread sweetened condensed milk evenly over pretzel layer; layer evenly with chocolates, marshmallows and pecans, in order. Press down firmly on pecans.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned; cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. About 36 bars.

Top 10 Incredible Sharks

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:14:55 GMT

clipped by: xpersianx

Clip Source: listverse.com

Despite the fact that most sharks are harmless, the very thought of them strikes fear in most of us. Swimming at the beach just hasn’t been the same since the film Jaws came out. This list looks at ten sharks that are incredible due to their appearance, ability, or uniqueness in the animal kingdom. If you wish to share other incredible sharks, do so in the comments.

Great White Shark

The great white shark is an exceptionally large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. Reaching

Cow Shark

Cow sharks are considered the most primitive of all the sharks, because

Zebra Shark

The zebra shark is a species of carpet shark.

Frilled Shark

The frilled shark is a living fossil shark species which looks like a hideous giant eel but is actually a shark. On

Leopard Shark

The leopard shark is a species of houndshark found

Cookiecutter Shark

The cookiecutter shark is a small, rarely-seen dogfish shark.

Whale Shark

Megamouth Shark

Hammerhead Shark

Goblin Shark

50 Best Websites 2009 - By Time Magazine

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:47:18 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: Full list at source

Clip Source: www.time.com

Flickr

Clip Source: www.time.com

California Coastline

Clip Source: www.time.com

Delicious

Clip Source: www.time.com

Tags: websites, internet

Wild Pacific DVD for nature lovers

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:14:36 GMT

clipped by: shaor
clipper's remarks: geckos that can breed without any need of a male,----How boring!! Takes all the fun away!

Clip Source: www.monstersandcritics.com

DVD - Wild Pacific

This landmark series explores the sheer scale and majesty of the largest ocean on Earth, the isolation of its islands, the extraordinary journeys wildlife and humans have gone through to reach these specks of land, and what happened to both after their arrival. Unimaginably vast, the Pacific is 99% water and only 1% land - you could fit the whole of the world's landmasses into it and still have enough room for another Africa!

The distance between these islands can be huge - literally hundreds or thousands of miles - but somehow, life made it there. Isolation does curious things - animals evolve and adapt in strange ways. Witness flesh-eating caterpillars, giant crabs capable of opening coconuts, geckos that can breed without any need of a male, frogs that have never been tadpoles... Beyond cliched images of swaying palms and idyllic beaches, this is the real, immense and surprising South Pacific.

The Strangest Things Pulled Out of Peat Bogs

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:12:42 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: more: Murder wasn’t all that happened out on the bogs. Multiple trepanated skulls, that is to say, skulls with holes drilled in them, have been found. Based on the use of the procedure in medieval times, one hypothesis is that the “operation may have been performed to remove a blood clot or a less-tangible thing like a spirit” from an individual. Even now, there’s still a small number of people who think drilling holes in their skulls is therapeutic.

While we don’t know much about the people who wandered these bogs thousands of years ago, analytical chemistry has helped identify substances that make them seem startlingly modern.One corpse’s hair appears to have been coated with primitive hair gel, made from “vegetable oil mixed with resin from pine trees found in Spain and southwest France.” The man lived around 300 B.C.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

By Alexis Madrigal

More than 270 kegs of bog butter have been retrieved from the wetlands, along with dozens of ancient bodies, swords, and ornaments. Here, we run down some of the strangest things that scientists and citizens have pulled from the peat.

All kinds of bodies have been found with their skin and organs intact. The objects are preserved by the remarkable properties of Sphagnum mosses, which come with preservatives built into their cell walls. After they die, they decay very slowly. and anything that falls into the Sphagnum peat bogs decays more slowly, too.

Murder weapons are a common find. Archaeologists believe the bogs were sites for ritual sacrifices, because many of the bodies appear to have been tortured or “overkilled.” In the picture (above) of a find named Yde girl, you can see the cord that was used to strangle her. Tollund Man suffered a similar fate: A noose was found around his neck.

swords from what are now Sweden and Denmark were discovered in the late 1890s.

Personas

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:42:34 GMT

clipped by: Fast T friend
clipper's remarks: In a world where fortunes are sought through data-mining vast information repositories, the computer is our indispensable but far from infallible assistant. Personas demonstrates the computer's uncanny insights and its inadvertent errors, such as the mischaracterizations caused by the inability to separate data from multiple owners of the same name. It is meant for the viewer to reflect on our current and future world, where digital histories are as important if not more important than oral histories, and computational methods of condensing our digital traces are opaque and socially ignorant.

Clip Source: personas.media.mit.edu

Personas is a component of the Metropath(ologies) exhibit, currently on display at the MIT Museum by the Sociable Media Group from the MIT Media Lab. It uses sophisticated natural language processing and the Internet to create a data portrait of one's aggregated online identity. In short, Personas shows you how the Internet sees you.

Enter your name, and Personas scours the web for information and attempts to characterize the person - to fit them to a predetermined set of categories that an algorithmic process created from a massive corpus of data. The computational process is visualized with each stage of the analysis, finally resulting in the presentation of a seemingly authoritative personal profile.

Tags: mit, lab, media, social, online, identity

Interesting Facts About Unusual Dog Breeds

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:04:47 GMT

clipped by: GarryWert

Clip Source: www.theequinest.com

Interesting Facts About Unusual Dog Breeds

There is a long list of dog breeds out there (almost rivaling that of horse breeds). Each breed has their own unique characteristics and history, usually based on the conditions of their natural habitat.

Chinese Crested

Interestingly enough, this breed originated in Africa, which goes a long way towards explaining their curious “naked” bodies. Chinese traders picked them up along trade routes to catch rats on their ships. In fact they became quite popular for this and the name Chinese Crested stuck with them.

Chow Chow

A very old breed, the Chow Chow has been bred in China for thousands of years. Known for several distinguishing characteristics like their black tongue, their almost straight hind legs, and their thick fur. They were traditionally bred for their fur and their meat (which used to be a delicacy in China).