The Biggest Diamond Heist in History

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The Biggest Diamond Heist in History

This caper is described in detail in the Wired magazine article, and makes for an extremely entertaining read. It asks to be made into an Oceans-22 movie, but for now enjoy this video and make sure to check out the full account of how Leonardo and his team of "Monsters and Geniuses" broke into the most secure vault in the world, got appr. $100 million worth of diamonds, what later went wrong and how they got caught (not all of them, mind you)

Today's pictures & links:

Speaking of throwing away money...

This is a great symbolic image for the modern economy:

(original unknown)

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Radiant Copenhagen - city-wide urban apocalyptic art

An apocalyptic show and a guided bus tour will be provided for those wanting to check out the "Radiant Copenhagen" - a future version of Copenhagen (meaning alternative realities created through eye-catching contemporary art)

The Giant Skull in place of a Little Mermaid; the Bubble Architecture; and the Perfect Concrete Wave on a sidewalk

Check out the wiki-fied Google map (with description of each installation) on their site - you'll see weird dystopian locations, which will spread from the internet into the real city, with enactments of staged reality appearing without warning.

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Gigantic Helicopter Hotel

As a strangely timely addition to our recent "Giant Helicopters" article, this bit of fantastic news fits perfectly - read more info here - this is a souped-up (very souped-up) version of the largest helicopter Mi V-12:

(images via)

This thing is (sadly) not real. Good idea, though.

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Manufacturing MIG-29K Russian fighter jets at Lukhovitzy's Factory

To be sold in India. See a lot more images at original site Blog Pilota, or a page at EnglishRussia.

(images credit: Blog Pilota)

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Mixed fresh links for today:

Most gigantic miniature railroad in the world - [awesome]
Shudder Pulps! - [gallery, some nsfw]
The Evolution of the Suitcase - [vintage]
Paul DiFilippo on recent apocalyptic fiction - [books]
Manga Gadgets Anime Cornucopia - [gadgets]
Washed Dogs Website - [miserable animals]
Babe-asaurus Rex and her Popup Book - [art]
No Chute Sky-Diving - [wow video ad]
"Shaking All Over" in Cantonese (rare) - [fun video]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]

"Most people think time is like a river, that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm..."
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

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Original Batmobile at Southern California Car Wash

A careful detailing and a wash of the Batman vehicle from the 1960s TV series - info

(image via)

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Russian Robot "Tekhnika"

The picture was taken in the 1970s inside one of the Russian assembly factories. Looks like the "robots-to-people" ratio is entirely fine, thank you.

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All wrapped up

(image via)

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Updates from Mike Libby and Stephane Halleux

Mike Libby from Insect Lab Studio has new clockwork masterpieces on display, and also invites you to join his Facebook page.

(images credit: Insect Lab Studio)

We mentioned his work in our Robots in Arts article. Another artist whom we featured before has put up great updates on his redesigned site - Stephane Halleux:

(image credit: Stephane Halleux)

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I see what you did here.

As a Photoshop supplement to our recent compilation of weirdest kiddie slides, here is a classic one, made from a grater:

In case you'd think that it happens only in Photoshop land, here is an example from a recent contemporary design show... also using grater:

(original unknown)

It has so many holes, I don't see the point for this "screen", really.

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An interesting retro all-terrain vehicle from Porsche

This was 1943 Skoda Radschlepper Ost (designed by Porsche) - more info. It only achieved 15 km/h on a highway - a heavy tractor designed to pull artillery weapons.

(images via)s

"The development of this vehicle started in 1941/42 as a result of conditions on the Eastern Front. Complete vehicle was to be ready for Winter of 1942/43. Prototype was ready in late 1942 and 200 vehicles were ordered and then in 1943 order was reduced to 100 vehicles. The vehicles proved to be a failure and didn't fulfill the role they were designed for."

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Is he lost? or just exploring?

(original unknown)

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Mystery Photo

The Giant Cube. What?.. Why?.. "All your base are belong to us"?

(image via)

UPDATE: This monolith is the work of Jean Nouvel displayed at EXPO.02 in Morat, Switzerland. There was also pretty cool "floating cloud" structure at Yverdon: