Statues of Beautiful Penitents of Taxco, Mexico

In many countries especially those with past Spanish links, some Roman Catholic believers still follow the old medieval practice of painful and bloody self-penitence to atone for their sins. The town of Taxco, Mexico is perhaps the most famous for this ritual which takes place every year during the Easter week, where the repenting sinners known as "Penitentes" walk through cobbled winding streets of the old town.

The Penitentes always wear black dress and their head is also fully covered with black hood with small openings for eyes. The Penitentes are further categorised by the method of penance.

"Penitentes Flagelante" are those who walk the route shirtless and carry a large, heavy wooden cross in their arms. They carry a rosary and a whip with thorny metallic end in their hands. They frequently stop during the procession, give the heavy cross to attendees who accompany them and then flagellate (whip) their backs. This is repeated every night during Holy Week reopening the wounds of the earlier day.

"Penitentes Encruzado" are those who instead of the cross, carry a heavy bundle (40-50 kg.) of thorned blackberry canes which is tied across their bare back and outstretched arms. They are also helped by attendees who occasionally give support to the thorny bundle when the procession is not moving.

"Animas Penitentes" wear full black dress covering their whole body and also cover their head with hood. They have heavy chains attached to their ankles and walk in stooped bent posture carrying small crosses or lighted candles. As they always face the ground, these penitentes have attendants who guide them during the procession. When the procession stops, they are allowed to rest only by going down on hands and knees.

This is the only category in which women also take part.

To honour the Repenting Sinners, three statues, representing each category of the penitentes, have been installed behind the oldest monastery in the town - The ex-monastery of San Bernardino de Siena, constructed at the end of the 16th century.

Image from Wikimedia Commons is by User:Gengiskanhg

Blue City of Jodhpur founded in 1459, ubiquitous blueness of Jodhpur

Travellers journeying through the desolate landscape of the unforgiving Thar desert in the Indian state of Rajasthan would know when they had reached their destination. The sky would fall to the ground and everything would become a single color – blue. Jodhpur would lie before them, opening up like a blue treasure in the desert.

10 Funniest Comedy Sketches About Aliens

Aliens are inherently funny, even when they're drinking the marrow out of your funny bone. These are ten of the best alien-themed sketches this side of the Crab Nebula (and no, Coneheads is not #1).

10.) "Spacelords" from Human Giant (2007)
An extra-dimensional despot and his crew disintegrate a bunch of food service workers, take over the restaurant, and then torture the customers. Like Superman 2, if General Zod had really low aspirations for intergalactic conquest.

Beautiful movable city on rails, Norwegian city of Andalsnes

Imagine a city in motion, where not a single building is anchored to the ground, with hotels, event halls and other structures all on rails and movable at will. That’s the vision behind ‘A Rolling Master Plan‘, a concept for the Norwegian city of Andalsnes by Swedish architects Jägnefält Milton. Both existing and new railway systems would be used to reconfigure the town for seasonal changes and special events.

Qingdao Haiwan Bridge - China World’s Longest Sea Bridge

At 42.5 kilometers, the Qingdao Haiwan Bridge, connecting the city of Qingdao in Eastern China's Shandong province with the suburban Huangdao District across the waters of the northern part of Jiaozhou Bay, is the longest bridge over water. The six-lane road bridge is almost 5 kilometers longer than the previous record holder - the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the American state of Louisiana. When it opens to traffic later this year, the bridge is expected to carry over 30,000 cars a day and will cut the commute between the city of Qingdao and the sprawling suburb of Huangdao by between 20 and 30 minutes.

Humongous Hair Creations - spectacular hairstyles, crazy looks

Avant Garde Hairstyles by Arnostyle are Awesomely Futuristic

It’s truly amazing what people can do with hair, just look at these spectacular hairstyles by Arnostyle. Said to be one of the “masters of hairstyling,” Arnostyle creates massive masterpieces from the follicles of his models.

The hairstyles by Arnostyle are anything but subtle. This hair wizard’s work is over the top, exciting, and outrageous. He must go through millions of hairspray cans a year creating these crazy looks. Some of his wicked work can be seen in the gallery.

Source: trendhunter

Beautiful Vintage Coloured Photographs - George Eastman

On September 4th, 1888, 122 years ago, George Eastman applied for a camera patent. It wasn’t the first camera, but it was the first portable film camera Vintage Coloured Photographs







George’s interest with cameras had first ignited when he planned to take a camera on vacation to Europe. He ended up canceling the trip, but he became obsessed with photography. It was such a hassle to take a picture with the glass plates and wet chemicals and so he was a banker by day and chemical experimenter at night spending all his time after work scheming up a way to make the camera portable. He started experimenting with taking Vintage photos on paper that had been painted with emulsion and later he got the combination right by putting photos on cellulose which allowed him to easily roll the film up for storage and development later.

Rare & Beautiful Vintage Visions of the Future

In his patent he refers to it as a “detective camera.” I can only imagine that it’s because a detective would be the type of person who would need a portable camera. The way it worked is you would take 100 pictures and send it to Kodak for processing and they would send you back 100 pictures and a new roll of film.





Vintage Photography's earliest practitioners dreamed of finding a method for reproducing the world around them in color. Some nineteenth-century photographers experimented with chemical formulations aimed at producing color images by direct exposure, while others applied paints and powders to the surfaces of monochrome prints. Vigorous experimentation led to several early color processes, some of which were even patented, but the methods were often impractical, cumbersome and unreliable. 12 vintage cigarette ads





After decades of wishing for a practical color process, photographers were thrilled when Auguste and Louis Lumière announced the invention of the autochrome process. The Lumière brothers, inventors of the motion picture camera, presented their invention to the French Academy of Sciences in 1904.







The process used a screen of tiny potato starch grains dyed orange-red, green and violet. Dusted onto a glass plate, the dyed grains were covered with a layer of sensitive panchromatic silver bromide emulsion. As light entered the camera, it was filtered by the dyed grains before it reached the emulsion. While the exposure time was very long, the plate could be processed easily by a photographer familiar with standard darkroom procedures. The result was a unique, realistic, positive color image on glass that required no further printing.







George Eastman House has significant holdings of autochromes, including over 3900 examples by amateur photographer Charles Zoller of Rochester, New York. The museum also holds autochromes by Edward Steichen among others.









Woman in Oriental inspired gown, sitting in wooden throne, 1915



Costumed man examining jewelry, ca. 1910



Woman posed as Sphinx, ca. 1910



Genre scene, woman in kitchen peeling vegetables, ca. 1910

World's Scariest Bridges Never stare downstairs

From sky-high suspension bridges to dilapidated rope bridges, these crossings aren’t for the meek.

All beautiful stunning bridges serve a purpose, whether utilitarian or inspirational. And some of them add a distinct element of fear. But you don’t have to be in a remote part of the world: scary bridges exist everywhere, in all shapes, sizes, and heights. And crossing over them can be the ultimate in adventure travel.


Many courageous (or foolhardy) travelers seek out hair-raising bridges just for the thrill. The bridges along the route to Colombia’s National Archaeological Park of Tierradentro are a good example. Though there are safer routes via bus from La Plata, some thrill-seekers choose to ride motorcycles over slippery bamboo crossings deep in the mountains, where one wrong move could mean plunging into a turbulent river.

So get ready to face your fears—or maybe find your next adventure—with our list of the world’s most petrifying bridges.

Aiguille du Midi Bridge
France

Don’t look down. At this height, you’ll want to keep your eyes locked on the panorama of the craggy French Alps. Fortunately, the bridge itself is short, making for an easy escape if acrophobia sets in. But those truly afraid of heights probably won’t even see the bridge; getting here requires taking a cable car that climbs 9,200 vertical feet in just 20 minutes.

Where: The summit of Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif near Chamonix.

Stats: 12,605 feet above sea level.

Extraordinary Bridges Around the World

Royal Gorge Bridge
Colorado

America’s highest suspension bridge may be breathtaking for some, but those scared of heights may be left gasping for air as they stare straight down nearly 90 stories at the Arkansas River below. Completed in 1929, the bridge didn’t have stabilizing wind cables until 1982.

Where: Royal Gorge, Colorado, over the Arkansas River.

Stats: 969 feet above the gorge; 1,260 feet long.

Beautiful Bridges around the World

Trift Suspension Bridge
Switzerland

One of the Alps’ longest and highest pedestrian suspension bridges, Trift was built in 2004 to reconnect hikers to a hut made inaccessible by a retreating glacier. A replacement in 2009 gave this bridge higher handrails and stabilizing cables to prevent it from swinging violently in the wind. But it still provides an adrenaline rush.

Where: Trift Glacier, near the town of Gadmen in the Swiss Alps.

Stats: 328 feet high; 558 feet long.

Word first bridges aren't built - they're grown in india

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
Northern Ireland

First things first: nobody has fallen off this bridge. However, many visitors who walk across simply can’t handle the return and have to go by boat. It used to be even scarier. Erected by fishermen who went to the island to catch salmon, the original bridge had only a single handrail. The rope bridge eventually became popular with tourists seeking a thrill, and the National Trust replaced it with a sturdier structure with two handrails.

Where: Near Ballintoy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Stats: 65 feet long; nearly 100 feet above the rocks below.

10 Beautiful Bridges Around the World

Capilano Suspension Bridge
Canada

Originally built in 1889, this simple suspension footbridge surrounded by an evergreen forest is very high, fairly narrow, and extremely shaky—the cedar planks bounce on their steel cables as you walk across them. If the bridge doesn’t scare you, wait until the spring of 2011; the Cliffhanger attraction will allow visitors to climb across a series of suspended walkways attached to a cliff.

Where: North Vancouver, British Columbia, across the Capilano River.

Stats: 450 feet long; 230 feet high.

Top 10 Longest Bridges In World

Mackinac Bridge
Michigan

Some drivers get so nervous about crossing this five-mile-long bridge that they don’t even go. And this happens so often that the Mackinac Bridge Authority will drive your car or motorcycle for you (and for free). The biggest fear is the wind, which often exceeds 30 miles per hour on the bridge.

Where: Between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.

Stats: 5 miles long; 199 feet above the water.

10 Most Beautiful Stunning Bridges Around The World

Puente de Ojuela
Mexico

This bridge leads to a ghost town, but it’s the squeaky wood floor that makes it scary. Fortunately, steel cables suspended from two towers bring a greater feeling of safety. Still, steel is a relatively recent addition: when German engineer Santiago Minhguin built this bridge in the 19th century, those towers were made of wood.

Where: The ghost town of Ojuela, an old mining settlement in the northern state of Durango, Mexico.

Stats: 1,043 feet long; 2 feet wide; 360 feet above a gorge.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Maryland

Drivers are notoriously afraid of this bridge, as it’s subjected to frequent—and often violent—storms. And when the bad weather hits, forget about visibility: get to the middle of this five-mile-long bridge and you can barely see land.

Where: Spanning the Chesapeake Bay to connect Maryland’s eastern and western shores.

Stats: Nearly 5 miles long; 186 feet high at its highest point.

Monkey Bridges
Vietnam

It may seem that only monkeys could make it across traditional monkey bridges—after all, they’re typically made of a single bamboo log and one handrail. However, the name comes from the stooped monkey-like posture you have to maintain when crossing, so as not to plunge into the river below.

Where: Various points across the Mekong Delta at the southern tip of Vietnam.

Stats: These bridges are built by hand by local residents and vary from town to town. Newer ones are made of concrete.

Hussaini Hanging Bridge
Pakistan

Massive gaps between the planks, a wild side-to-side swing: there are reasons this is considered one of the world’s most harrowing suspension bridges. While rickety cable and wood bridges are common in this area, crossing this bridge over the rapidly flowing Hunza River is particularly frightening, as the tattered remains of the previous bridge hang by threads next to the one currently in use.

Where: In the village of Hussaini in Northern Pakistan, crossing the Hunza River.

Stats: Floodwaters reportedly submerged the bridge in May 2010. However, due to its draw as a popular adventure-travel activity, the bridge is likely to be rebuilt.