|
Subject |
Comments |
Views |
Author |
Date Written |
An ancient status symbol in China
|
view preview
Started in Imperial China in the 10 th or 11 th century, upper-class court dancers would wrap their feet to make them permanently smaller. Although this made it difficult for a woman to walk, small feet indicated that a woman’s husband did not need his wife’s labor. To make the feet even smaller, sometimes the baby’s feet were broken and wrapped tightly. Some baby’s toes were cut off! Footbinding was banned by the Chinese government in 1911, but continued to be practiced in some places for several decades, as shown in the picture above. ...
|
|
|
0 |
5215 |
bio_man |
7 years ago |
|
1 |
5200 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Sticking together is what good melons do
|
view preview
We're all thinking it... this watermelon looks like a big green butt. Accidentally grown in Japan, it formed when two watermelons grew too close together and fused. And it turns out that 'Japanese butt melons' aren't all that uncommon
|
|
|
0 |
4967 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
A purple and blue crustacean
|
view preview
These brightly colored crayfish are found in Indonesia. While colored crayfish have been sold commercially in Asia since the early 2000s, this recently-discovered sub-species has a distinctive body shape and color from others in the Cherax family.
|
|
|
0 |
4791 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Designer crab
|
view preview
This is Trapezia rufopunctata, a small and brightly coloured species of crab native to the lagoons and coastal reefs of the Maldives, Polynesia and the Indo-Pacific region. Also known as a guard crab, it lives symbiotically with corals, feeding on their discarded tissue and mucus while defending them from predators. ...
|
|
|
0 |
4683 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
|
0 |
4675 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
The year summer was erased
|
view preview
The eruption of Mount Tambora was so massive, it erased summer that year.The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora was one of the most powerful eruptions in recorded history. The eruption of the volcano, on the island of Sumbawa in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), reached a climax on 10 April 1815 and was followed by between six months and three years of increased steaming and small phreatic eruptions. The ash from the eruption column dispersed around the world and lowered global temperatures, leading to worldwide harvest failures in an event sometimes known as the Year Without a Summer in 1816. The eruption resulted in a brief period of significant climate change that led to various cases of extreme weather. Several climate forcings ...
|
|
|
0 |
4186 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
This dish will probably turn your stomach
|
view preview
Fruit bat soup is a popular dish in Palau, Micronesia - the bat is served whole! For those that eat fruit bats, their flavor is similar to that of chicken, and that they are clean animals living exclusively on fruit. Bats have a low fat content and are high in protein. Even more interesting, during cooking, bats may emit strong odors reminiscent of urine, because bats spend a significant amount of time in an upside-down position, in which urine and fecal matter may be on their bodies. ...
|
|
|
2 |
4140 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Custom fruit shaped to your desire
|
view preview
These are all real, and perfectly edible. Baby-shaped pears, heart-shaped watermelons and square apples are hitting supermarkets in China and Japan. But are these fruits just frivolous fun? The answer, for the most part, is yes.
|
|
|
0 |
4115 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Colorful trees
|
view preview
These are rainbow eucalyptus trees ( Eucalyptus deglupta) and they hail from the Philippine Islands. The trees get their name from the striking colours observed on their trunks and limbs. Although it may look like someone took a paintbrush to them, these colours are entirely natural. Unlike most trees, the rainbow eucalyptus does not have a thick, cork-like layer of bark on its trunk. The bark is smooth and as it grows it 'exfoliates' layers of spent tissue. This exfoliation technique occurs at different stages and in different zones of the tree. Once a layer is shed, a new fresh green bark is exposed. As this new bark ages, we can see the tissue change colour to dark green followed by a bluish colour, then to purple and pink-orange and then f ...
|
|
|
0 |
4070 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Coolest beach sand
|
view preview
The sand in Okinawa, Japan, is made up of tiny stars! These "stars" are exoskeletons of marine protozoas (foraminifera) that have washed up, most famously, on Okinawa's Hoshizuna Beach.
|
|
|
1 |
3920 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
|
0 |
3541 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Go home nature. You are drunk!
|
view preview
This is the Wilson's bird-of-paradise, found exclusively on the tiny islands of Waigeo and Batanta in the Raja Ampat archipelago of West Papua. That turquoise cap isn't made of feathers - it's actually a patch of very brightly coloured bald skin.
|
|
|
1 |
3283 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
It pays to recycle ... in some countries
|
view preview
Beijing subway owners have begun to offer its passengers the ability to pay their bills with plastic bottles, thus helping to preserve the environment and helping the pocket of every traveller.
|
|
|
1 |
3251 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Floating train
|
view preview
Scientists in Japan have built a levitating train that in recent trials hit speeds of almost 500 km/h. It's hoped that by 2027, this floating 'maglev' train will cut 55 minutes off the current travel time between Nagoya and Tokyo on today's high-speed trains.
|
|
|
0 |
3236 |
duddy |
10 years ago |