The Unsinkable Pygmy Gecko

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The Unsinkable Pygmy Gecko

One of the highlights of the BBC Life Series is this fascinating (and cute) video of the pygmy gecko floating atop a puddle, running on water, and evading the raindrop bombardment. Seems like nothing can indeed sink the little critter - here is a positive, life-affirming message for your day...

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Today's pictures & links:

A Smoke Break To Remember!

If you think that this is Photoshopped, you are sorely mistaken. Neither is this a virtual location, plucked from some computer game environment. This is the actual Congress Hall in Biel, Switzerland - augmented by an art project by urban artists Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann.

This pair of designers are also responsible for the "Everland" hotel room concept, which you can stick pretty much anywhere - including to the wall of any building - and enjoy the view that comes with the location:

(images credit: Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann)

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"I am... Who am I?"

(Photo by Gregory Guida, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.)

UPDATE: This is a Hispaniolan solenodon - more info. A venomous animal, and a living fossil!

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Better than the Grand Canyon Skywalk?

This is the Five Fingers Viewing Platform, above the Salzkammergut area in Austria:

What do you think? More spectacular than Grand Canyon Skywalk experience? To see other breathtaking viewing platforms around the world, we refer you to this page.

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I'm Bored

I could not banish this image from my mind for days... Be warned.

Hopefully DRB can provide some remedy from this condition.

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Mixed fresh links for today:

Really Weird Vintage Inventions (you're going to enjoy this) - [gadgets]
Incredible paper art book, scroll down for images - [wow art]
"As Slow As Possible, And Then Some!" - [epic music project]
Weirdest, Wildest Pumpkin Carvings - [wow collection]
Lifeguard Towers: some are really strange - [architecture]
Use of Elements in the Periodic Table - [infographic]
Steampunk Speaking Piano - [a voice for Anonymous?]
Shocking Abuse of Children - [Onion article]
Feel-Good Sixties Girl Dance (and a song) - [fun video]
Remember Killdozer Rampage? - Here is the full story - [crazy]
Making music with bottles, in an awesome way - [wow video]
You don't need a translation for this - [fun video]
Phenomenal Urban Photographers - [urban art]
Toxic Cosmetic Ingredients You Should Avoid - [health tips]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]

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Want to better appreciate your current place of living?

Well then, count your blessings. Compare your living standards with these sobering shots from South Bronx (Mott Haven area), NY in the 1970s-1980s.

(images via)

Similar soul-crushing conditions were all over New York ghettos in the 1970s, due to the "Planned Shrinkage" doctrine adopted by the City Council.

"By the mid 1970s, The Bronx had 120,000 fires per year (an average of about 3 fires every 2 hours); 40 percent of the housing in the area was destroyed."

See a whole lot more at this page. But also marvel at the modern miracle of community revitalization - compare these shots with Bronx today: the area looks nothing like before, it has even become a desirable (sort-of) place to live for NY hipsters...

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Emotionally Charged

(original unknown)

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Brian Berg, the King of Cardstacking, creates a hotel room out of 200,000 Holiday Inn keycards

- The 400 sq. ft. - a guest bedroom, bathroom and lobby, all fully equipped with life-sized furniture made out of Holiday Inn key cards.
- The largest card structure Berg has ever built and the only one in the world of its kind - the only card creation made at full human scale
- Made of more than 200,000 Holiday Inn key cards, weighs 4,000 pounds, took four months to construct

Bryan Berg broke the Guinness World Record for the World's Tallest House of Cards in 1992 at the age of seventeen, with a tower fourteen feet, six inches tall. His latest record-holding structure in the category is over twenty-five feet tall. Berg also established a new record category for World's Largest House of Cards in 2004, and continues to hold both records. Learn more at CardStacker.com

Watch "Behind The Scenes" video here, detailing the project.

IHG, the world's largest hotel group, unveiled the Holiday Inn "Key Card Hotel," the first-ever hotel made of keycards on September 17 in New York City, to mark the relaunch of 1,200 Holiday Inn hotels globally this autumn. Holiday Inn has also launched its global "Key to Change" promotion, giving guests the chance to win an all-expense paid trip to a relaunched Holiday Inn of their choice, anywhere in the world - www.holidayinn.com/Key.

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When Your Girlfriend Tries to Tell You Something...

(image via)

...Answer by making music with a little help from her cats... The Cat Piano:

Also, remember a "Mouse Organ" in this Monty Python sketch?

This cat can't be too enthusiastic about Cat Piano, or much of anything, actually:

(original unknown)

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Is it a tank? Is it a Transformer? Well, it's just a "humble" logging truck...

Roger Snider takes wicked pictures of various wicked American custom big rigs - see our previous article for some super examples. Now, his recent gallery of the Pacific North West logging rigs is pretty impressive, but some shots (exclusive for DRB) taken in California are also full of brute beauty:

(images credit: Roger Snider)

See more images at Ultra Rigs of the World.

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Kris Kuksi Creates an Awesome Sculpture - Again

Seems like this man is incapable of producing boring, run-of-the-mill art. Here is a steampunk-ish shocker, titled "Anglo-Parisian Barnstormer":

(images credit: Kris Kuksi)

This, and other works by Kris Kuksi and other masters of Steampunk Art can be seen at the world's first major exhibition of "Steampunk", which opened on October 13th in Oxford England. It showcases a unique collection of art inspired by devious devices, confusing contraptions and other oddities taking place at the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University.

See more sculptures by Kris here, and read DRB interview with him on this page.

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The kitchen every woman wants... (1960 advertisement)

Best thing since the heart-shaped hair -