Fish with a Cockpit

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Fish with a Cockpit

Even if you've seen the pictures, you've got to see this video... transparent head, tubular eyes, The Pacific barreleye fish has a head reminiscent of a fighter-plane cockpit. Video courtesy Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBARI) -

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"The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute discovered the fish 20,000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface off California’s central coast. Although the fish had been known to exist since 1939, it was the first of its kind to be found with its soft transparent dome intact." - more info.

(photos by Monterey Bay Aquarium, National Geographic)

Today's pictures & links:

CGSociety announces winners of their "Steampunk Myths & Legends" contest

This is a spectacular link filled with sophisticated art and top-notch videos, so allow some time to browse it. Here is a winner in "individual image" category - "Steamnocchio", by Fabricio Moraes from Brazil, which perfectly captures the spirit of steampunk.

For the sheer spectacle, consider this intense work by Marcin Jakubowski: "Titanomachy - fall of the Hyperion" (click to enlarge to see incredible detail)

(images courtesy CGSociety)

See the whole feature, and don't miss some exceptional (slightly nsfw) art on other pages...

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Atmospheric Sprites

Lightning-generated "sprites" high above thunderstorms - or gigantic lightning "jets", reaching for 90 kilometers... ("including dancing red blobs with tentacles and blue jets shaped like water fountains.") Here is the appearance of a "sprite" (about 30 miles high by 30 miles wide) above a distant thunderstorm. The "sprite" is about 175-250 miles away from the camera:

(images credit: ILAN Science Team, via)

To see the video of these intense balls of energy, click here. Sometimes the energy comes down from lofty heights, and get very personal:

One witness account:
"Last summer we had an intense thunderstorm. I had just got home from work, and was removing my boots. Just then a big forked bolt of lightning struck two trees, about 75 feet apart in my yard. One of the trees is about 15 feet outside the window from where I was sitting. At that instant, a ball of light came out of the HVAC air duct near the baseboard in my room where I was. I happened to be facing that way... in less then a second it raced around the perimeter of the room, when it reached the wires coming from my PC. There was a loud spark sound, and it was gone. It fried the computer, and a lot of other electronics in the house. It was the strangest and scariest thing I've ever witnessed. It looked something like the arc from a welder, but about the size of a grapefruit." (more info)

(images via 1, 2)

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Release your inner "Calvin" snow sculptor

Expanding Calvin & Hobbes repertoire:

Calvin's nightmare:

(originals unknown)

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It's Velvet Underground all over again

Pul(sew)idth sews vintage keyboards and guitars, making soft and groovy little pillows... which very possibly produce soft, groovy sounds at night.

Every item corresponds to a certain vintage model, and there are guitars in her wooly line-up, as well.

(images credit: pul(sew)idth)

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Mixed fresh links for today:

If your city was nuked... - [apocalyptic]
Light Speed Tunnel - [architecture]
Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street - [wow]
Spilled Blood Pillow - [weird design]
Teenager Sound Test - [weird site]
Hilarious Job Interviews - [fun videos, language]
Wonderful Wallet Hacks - [more weird design]
Some trees have a secret... - [neat video ad]
The most extreme printer jam, source - [cool animation]
Most Beautiful Places of the World - [promotion]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]

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World Photography Awards 2009 - an opportunity for amateur photographers

If you have an interest in photography, you can afford to miss "World Photography Awards" 2009 competition results, that will be unveiled in Cannes, France. The 2009 Campaign Award is a brand new category for amateur photographers in which you are invited to enter with a single image that captures the beauty and spirit of football in unexpected places.

Enjoy our exclusive gallery of the past winners of the contest:

(photo by Howard Schatz)

(photo by Pierre-Elie de Pibrac)

(photo by Nana Ziesche)

(photo by Neil Bradfield)

Even more special is this series of images by Robin Utrecht:

(photos by Robin Utrecht)

The image should look beyond the standard snapshot of an action moment during a game and aim to capture the vibrancy, the magic, the celebration, the camaraderie and the cultural phenomenon that is football.

The deadline for this competition has been extended and DRB readers now have until 28th February 2009 to enter. Here is the link to the World Photography Awards website where you can find details on entering: www.worldphotographyawards.org

There is a fantastic prize to be won:
1. 2 VIP tickets to attend the evening gala awards ceremony in Cannes on the 16th April 2009 (including flights and two nights’ accommodation in a luxury hotel on the famous Croisette)
2. An Alpha camera + lens
3. The opportunity to be one of the photographers used in Sony’s forthcoming digital imaging campaign work.
4. 2 tickets to a South Africa World Cup game in 2010 (travel and accommodation included)

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Vintage Prams

Antique and doll prams, and some vintage postcards featuring prams... can be seen here:

(images via)

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London artists achieve a new "high"

Mark Obstfeld writes to us: "just down the road from me there's a couple of London Underground trains which have been transformed into (what I believe to be) artists' studios - the trains carriages are also situated way up above street level on what was an old bridge..."

(photos by Mark Obstfeld)

Something that belongs in William Gibson novels, in his "Bridge" trilogy....

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Vertigo

Speaking of bridges, this is the most breathtaking photo one could possibly make of the Golden Gate bridge (for those with fear of heights) - click on the image to get a wallpaper version.