Paseo Santa Lucía
Picture of the Day. Al-Janoudia, Idlib, Syria. A soldier with the Free Syrian Army rests in a storehouse.
News: A new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows that Syrian arms purchases increased fivefold between 2007 and 2011.
Photo Credit: Giorgio Moustafis/AFP/Getty . Via.
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(via thepoliticalnotebook)
A jumbo-sized cloud of tiny birds called red-billed queleas surrounds an elephant at the Satao Camp water hole in East Tsavo, Kenya. Photographer Antero Topp said: “There are big trees close to waterhole where the birds landed and at that time we suddenly heard a strong crack. A huge branch had been broken by the weight of these tiny birds despite them only weighing about 10 grams each. All the birds took off and you could hear an unbelievable whoosh… Picture: ANTERO TOPP / CATERS NEWS (via Pictures of the day: 1 March 2012 - Telegraph)
(via geologise)
Daredevil Makes Test Jump at 71,581 Feet
The plunge from 71,581 feet was a success. Next up: 120,000 feet.
Daredevil adventurer Felix Baumgartner’s plans to plunge 23 miles from the edge of space back to Earth — a Red Bull-sponsored stunt that would be the world’s highest freefall — and on Thursday, his team announced the completion of a key test flight over Roswell, N.M.
“The height of Felix’s test flight was significant, as it was the first time he passed the Armstrong Line of approximately 63,000 feet, where the atmospheric pressure truly tests Felix’s custom-made space suit,” his team said in a news release.
Heavy fighting raged near Baba Amro in Homs on Wednesday after elite Syrian troops attacked the rebel-held bastion that has endured 25 days of siege and fierce bombardment, activists said.
The Farouq Brigade of the Free Syrian Army was trying to hold off the assault led by units of the armored Fourth Division, which is commanded by Maher al-Assad, the hardline brother of President Bashar al-Assad.
The rebels have sworn to fight to the last man, according to Ahmed, an activist who said he had just left Baba Amro. He said other opposition areas of Homs were also under attack but gave no details of casualties.
Read: Syrian army unit attacks rebel districts | Photos: Syrian uprising
An ant appears to be trying to roll a perfectly spherical droplet of water back to its nest. Photographer Rakesh Rocky from Warangal, India, came across the plucky insects with a ball. But although the ball may have looked like a water drop, it was actually a water-absorbing polymer - or water gel - a biodegradable, non-toxic absorbent crystal alternative soil for potting plants. It can absorb approximately 400 times its weight in water.
Picture: Rakesh Rocky / Rex Features (via Pictures of the day: 29 February 2012 - Telegraph)
This is my kinda Snow White…
#sexygymchics
Northern Lights
by Kwon O Chul
A green display of aurora appears in the sky of Yellowknife, northern Canada.
(via geologise)
“In The Name of Freedom (بأسم الحرية).” This song is a wonderful piece of Syrian protest music being sung by the brother of Ibrahim Qashoush (he isn’t identified by name, understandably). Ibrahim Qashoush was the singer (an amateur poet who found his lyrical calling in the Syrian uprising) from Hama who wrote “Yalla Irhal Ya Bashar (Go On Leave Bashar),” the most famous anthem of the Syrian revolution so far. It earned him fame among the protesters and the nickname “Nightingale of the Revolution.” It also earned him the attention of the regime and he was brutally murdered by Syrian security forces this summer, with his vocal cords cut out as an obvious message. It seems his brother has picked up his role.
[YouTube]
