The Solar Furnace

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The Solar Furnace

A piece of steel being melted by the Sun - and episode from James May's "Big Ideas":

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The power of the Solar Furnace was discussed as far back as 1931, as in this article from Modern Mechanics:

(image credit: ModernMechanix)

Today's pictures & links:

Abarth Cisitalia 207, 1955

"A Boano Spider" version, more images here.

(image credit: hotwheels)

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Big Hole

The Big Hole is an open-pit mine in Kimberley, South Africa. It's the second largest hole excavated by hand. The largest is an abandoned Jagersfontein mine.

(image credit: Rudolph Botha)

Almost 500 meters wide, excavated to a depth of 240 meters...

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War Cart

An image from (quite controversial) document: "How to Hack the Boston Subway"

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Consider it an urban art, not a real thing. Leave Boston subway alone.

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Strong Wind?

(original unknown)

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The Best and Worst Historic Places

The annual survey "Historic Places Rated" by National Geographic Traveler magazine is combined with the info from the NatGeo Center for Sustainable Destinations (evaluating destinations based on how well these places take care of their natural and cultural resources). Among the top such places that you should check out:

Wachau/Melk Abbey, Austria and Ghent, Belgium:

(photos by Sisse Brimberg and Cottoln Coulson/Keenpress and Joe Patronite/NGS)

The worst historic place? Central City, Colorado - The 19th-century mining boomtown had lost its character and culture "amid the noise of slot machines."

(photo by Rex A. Stucky/NGS)

See the whole Historic Destinations list here.

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Mixed fresh links for today:

Truly unimaginable times for auto industry - [crisis]
One of the best graffiti collections in months - [urban art]
Architectural Optical Illusions and Distortions - [weird]
Periodic Table of Elements (Artistic Version) - [cool art]
Tiny Biology-based Computers - [wow tech]
Interactive Touch Sensitive Mirror - [gadgets]
How many of them were in this van? - [fun video]
These bears want to get your attention - [fun video]
When Robot Programmers Get Bored - [wow video]
A community for financial news, ideas, and tips - [promotion]

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Yet another scary clown

This is in the same vein as all these Cold War-inspired creepy images of people in the gas masks - see our series Part 1, 2 and 3.

Art by Maleonn, see more here

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Wondering about computer technology that brought us to the Moon?

Here is an example - the first e-book reader!