Germania: The Nazi's Monumental Plans for Berlin

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Germania: The Nazi's Monumental Plans for Berlin

Here is a fascinating 3-D modelled flyby of Nazi Germany's planned architectural makeover of Berlin. Hitler intended to establish a World Capital he called Germania (strangely, this is the Russian term for Germany) with some of the most colossal buildings ever conceived. The Volkshalle (People's Hall) was designed by Hitler himself (read more about Germania's planned monumental architecture here).

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Also read our article Totalitarian Architecture of the Third Reich.

Today's pictures & links:

Cadillac, 1958 Models. Shades of Glory Past.

Click to enlarge these gorgeous renditions, courtesy Plan59 - great site devoted to the vintage advertisements and automobile ephemera.

(images via)

See more American vintage car advertisements in our series Cars and Girls.

And not to forget some very groovy-looking "Atomic Age" concepts from General Motors in the 1950s:

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Majestic Space, Courtesy the Refurbished Hubble Telescope

Simply mind-blowing in their beauty, these images were released by NASA on Sept. 9, 2009 (more info). Click to enlarge.

Stars bursting to life in the chaotic Carina Nebula (AP Photo/ NASA)

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217 (AP Photo/ NASA)

A clash among members of a famous galaxy quintet reveals an assortment of stars across a wide color range, from young, blue stars to aging, red stars (AP Photo/ NASA)

A Perfect Storm of Turbulent Gases STScI-PRC2003-13 (AP Photo/ NASA)

"Resembling the fury of a raging sea, the image above actually shows a bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen gas and small amounts of other elements such as oxygen and sulfur - a small region within M17, a hotbed of star formation. M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. The wave-like patterns of gas have been sculpted and illuminated by a torrent of ultraviolet radiation from young, massive stars, which lie outside the picture to the upper left. The glow of these patterns accentuates the three-dimensional structure of the gases. The ultraviolet radiation is carving and heating the surfaces of cold hydrogen gas clouds. The warmed surfaces glow orange and red in this photograph."

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The Prayer Meeting

(original unknown)

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Mixed fresh links for today:

Russians do have a Doomsday Machine after all - [Dr. Strangelove?]
Missions to Mars should be one-way only? - [interesting idea]
Unexpected result of the melting of Arctic ice - [hilarious]
Architecture designed to make you fell hungry - [weird designs]
The Intricate Art of the Banknote - [cool art]
Steampunk Mechanical Giraffe Sculpture - [art]
Are you a nerd, dork, geek, or dweeb? - [neat chart]
Unlawful and weird food, and where to get it - [weird]
Should I eat this marshmallow now, or... - [fun video]
San Francisco now has... skater's downhill neon Tetris! - [wow video]
Artificial Paradise, Inc. (a short film) - [impressive video]
The Poetry of Forgotten Places - [abandoned]
Mobile Homes of the Future - [futurist design]
Lovely markings on Animals (Not Photoshop) - [cute pics]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]

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Speaking of the Russian Doomsday Machine ("The Perimeter", or "The Dead Hand")

The first article linked to above is a chilling look at an automatic nuclear launch system that unleashes once it decides that a full-scale nuclear attack on Russia is taking place. Nobody knows exactly where the "Perimeter" system robot brain resides, but there are some sites that have been on American radar for some time.

Here are photos of at least one such ballistic nuclear installation: Kosvin Kamen, deep in the Ural Mountains. The location of this nuclear base is well-known in the West, but what exactly hides beneath the pretty mountain shown below, is open to conjecture. The eye-witnesses in the nearby village testify that this mountain is completely honeycombed with tunnels, with more trucks and construction coming to the site.

These are the "control missiles", or "master missiles". They launch first, and once safely airborne activate the launch codes for all other Russian nukes (including the ones on the submarines, and on heavy bombers):

The "Dead Hand" system would still require a human touch: a soldier somewhere deep in the bunker will need to actually push the button, before all Hell breaks loose:

(images via)

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Street Artist Cyclops' New Show in London

Lucas Price - aka Cyclops - is a new star in the urban art world; his debut show running from October 15-November 13 show marks his ascension from a life on the streets to one of the UK’s bestselling graffiti-inspired artists.

This image particularly strikes a chord:

(image credit: Lucas Price)

"Featuring the artist’s irreverent and often politically-loaded satire as well as visual commentary on society’s dark underbelly, this promises to be the most audacious debut show of the year."

Another great exhibition is taking place in West Hollywood, California, through Saturday, September 26, 2009 - "The Machine in the Garden", featuring original paintings by Tristan Shane and four other steampunk-oriented artists:

(click to enlarge)

Here is the sculpture by Ron Rogers, for example:

(image credit: Ron Rogers)

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The Apotheosis of Taste...

... has been reached somewhere in Russia:

In the meantime, according to reputable news source The Onion Western civilization will reach its nadir this Friday, which is... um, today... Read more here.

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See What Can't Be Seen

Send your sample to ASPEX, a leading producer of scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and microanalysis software, and have them scan it for you!.

Yes, you heard right, we are talking about a free, SEM scan of any sample you'd like to send them. You could send a piece of glass, some broccoli, pocket lint perhaps... anything you'd like to see a picture of under a powerful microscope. Once they receive the sample, they'll post the resulting picture online for you and all of your friends to see. Hopefully, you can find some pretty intriguing stuff lying around your homes or offices to scan!

(images credit: ASPEX Corp. EDX Spectroscopy)

To send a sample, you need to download and fill out this form from the ASPEX website. Then mail it along with the sample to:

ASPEX Corporation
Free Sample Submissions
175 Sheffield Dr.
Delmont, PA 15626

Once ASPEX has completed the scan, the images and report will be posted on their website on this page. It should take about two weeks for the results to post to the ASPEX website, and they will also notify submitters via email. Samples scanned for free will not be returned.

Also don't miss our article Joys of Microscope Photography.

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Mi-i-i-i-ne!!!!

(original unknown)

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Steampunk Little Atrocities

They feel unwanted and unloved... it is really too bad.

Any company will do:

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The Most Branded Object in the World

You can order it here, but then all these brands should pay you to wear it:

(art by Frank Tjepkema)

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Can Nature Get Any Weirder?

Read all about this five-fingered carrot hand here.

(image via)

(original unknown)

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Some of the Great Star Wars T-shirts

There's a gazillion of Star Wars t-shirts available online... but some did catch our eye recently:

Didn't feel the Force (or the Froth) with any of these ones? Try this list, then.

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Perhaps the Best Way to Fish:

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Something Entirely Weird and Addictive

See if you can resist reading this great anthology of "flash fiction" from a roster of talented "new weird" writers, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. The cover itself speaks volumes about the dizzying heights of literary madness attained inside the book's covers. I predict that this sort of "flash fiction" will become highly contagious, and you might even get to writing a vignette or two yourself. Read more about it here.

Contributors include Peter Straub, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Brian Evenson, Henry Kaiser, Gene Wolfe, Hal Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, Rikki Ducornet, Holly Phillips, Stephen R. Donaldson, K.J. Bishop, Michael Swanwick, Ellen Kushner, Daniel Abraham, Jay Lake, Liz Williams, Tanith Lee, Sarah Monette, Conrad Williams, and Marly Youmans.

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Mystery Bike-Thing

Well... I can not imagine why would anyone want to ride it this way, other than to get his, or her head straight.