Huang Nubo, the sixteenth richest person in China, has offered $100 million to buy 300 square kilometres of Icelandic wilderness. He calls himself a “poet and adventurer,” so it would make sense that he’d want to buy the property to develop a golf course and tourist destination.
Recession reschmesssion. Russia has unveiled an ambitious (read: $65 billion) plan to build the world’s longest tunnel under the Bering Strait – as part of a railway corridor linking North America to Europe, via Siberia. Because ships and planes just weren’t cutting it. Also, this sucker’s going to be entirely fueled by green energy, apparently.
Scientists have made a unique discovery in the Brazilian rainforests of the Amazon: a subterranean river that flows underneath the Amazon River, some four thousand metres below the actual Amazon River. It’s also roughly the same length of the Amazon River, according to the scientists.
Chris Anderson, graphic design student, is installing 1 000 broken surfboards in the sands of a Sydney beach to inform people of the unsustainable practices in surfboard manufacturing. I’m not sure how breaking a thousand surfboards helps this problem, but the installation looks pretty cool.
Last night the people of New York were told they had better prepare themselves for a direct hit by Hurricane Irene over the weekend. In fact, it seems that being a victim of the hurricane, which has already caused devastation in the Bahamas, will not be acceptable if and when it hits NYC.
We live in a progressive city here in Cape Town – we like to think out of the box. And that’s just what Kristin van der Hoven has done by launching Proud Hounds Doggie Daycare in the city. Sick of leaving your precious pup at home while you’re at work? Then bring it to Kristin and the crew for the day.
What did you do today? New York elementary school student Aidan Dwyer has designed and constructed a solar array based on the Fibonacci sequence that stores and generates energy between 20% and 50% more effectively than existing setups. He got the idea after noticing growth patterns in oak trees.
Google has begun to map parts of the Amazon and Rio Negro Rivers, as well as small areas of northwestern Brazil, in an attempt to capture panoramic images of the remote region and its communities for the world to see. Google enlisted the help of locals and will use camera-equipped tricycles as well as boats to capture the imagery.
The Karoo Shale Gas Community Forum said today that fracking critics are ignoring the needs of the Karoo’s poverty-stricken residents. Spokesperson Vuyisa Jantjies criticized those who oppose fracking by Shell, by saying: “If you have still the demonstrations that you have had, I will tell you that they’re purely white, rented crowds, that come and toyi-toyi in front of Parliament.”
Bad cellphone reception and weak signal strength might be caused by the sun, according to new research. Solar flares emanating from the sun could be to blame for telecommunications customers’ slow internet, signal reception issues and GPS problems, thus taking some the pressure off the network providers, for now.
One of the passengers on the two light aircraft that went missing in George’s Valley, Limpopo, is a Durban air show coordinator, according to organisers. They won’t release a name however, out of respect for the person’s family.
About 1000 Thai dogs – destined to be cooked and eaten in Vietnam – escaped a gruesome fate when they were rescued by police before the weekend. As you’ll see from the video, they were stuffed into tiny cages, stacked high in scores of crates. Even though the story has a happy ending, please be warned that the visuals are very disturbing.
At around lunch time yesterday, two light aircraft travelling from Limpopo to Gauteng’s Rand Airport simply disappeared off the radar. Between 12 and 14 passengers, including some kids, were on board when the planes departed after an airshow in Tzaneen.
Earlier this year 2oceansVibe reported about a tribe in western Brazil, living some 50 kilometres from the Peruvian border, that had until then, not been contacted by modern man. Sadly the tribe has gone missing after drug traffickers overran Brazilian guards posted to protect the area around which the tribe was living.
“Boom.” Of course, there can only be one reason for this unusual meteorological blessing: The TBG is on the Mountain. Coincidence? I think not. Come on. Don’t be silly. [Headline image source:tablemountain]
Aleksandr Pylyshenko, a Ukrainian artist who owns a private zoo in the city of Vasilyevka, plans on living in an enclosure with Katya and Samson, his lions, for five weeks to raise money to improve the zoo’s living conditions and to increase awareness of underfunded private Ukrainian zoos. So that makes sense.
Developing Story A light helicopter flipped on its roof on UCT’s Middle Campus early this morning. Injuries or deaths are as yet unknown. Confirmed reports are that a photographer and the pilot survived the crash unharmed. More pics, and audio after the jump!
The future is officially nuts. It’s getting to a point where stuff like this probably won’t shock you anymore. It should. Be shocked. These robo-seals, called ‘Paro’, not only bring comfort to recovering Japanese tsunami patients, they also sing, clap, and even take part in the residents daily exercise routines.
If all goes according to plan, it won’t be long before residents in Jozi face fines for improperly managing their waste. While the move will definitely result in a fair amount of complaining, it’s arguable that recycling has been happening around the world for ages. In fact, it should be a habit and duty for all of us.
A leopard that mauled 11 people in a fierce showdown with villagers and forest officials, in the Indian town of Prakash Nagar, West Bengal, has died of knife wounds after being captured. It’s been reported that the animal was also stoned by villagers after forest officials had eventually managed to subdue the panicked animal.
The last time a 500kg, three-metre long Great White jumped into my boat, I woke up safely under my duvet, with my great white cat playing bouncy castle on my bed. You have to hand it to these boys though, not only did they escape this situation unscathed but they had to shack up with sharky, while being towed to Mossel Bay harbour.
In a scene straight out of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, a five-year-old boy got into a frightening tussle with a Bengal tiger at a golf estate in Limpopo on Saturday. You read all of the above correctly.
Yesterday, the Sunday Times carried a story about a dog attack. A four-year-old girl was mauled by a Rottweiler in the upmarket Hyde Park shopping centre last Monday. But what was unique about this? The dog’s handler is a dog whisperer and also claims to be “Africa’s number one dog expert.”
Taking the Bear Grylls survival lifestyle to the next level, a crew member of the final space shuttle mission aboard space shuttle Atlantis, which departed on Friday, will reportedly be testing out a new system designed to turn urine into a sugary-flavoured sports drink.
A massive sand storm, called a “Haboob”, wreaked havoc in Phoenix, Arizona when it came roaring through the desert like an apocalyptic nightmare on Tuesday night. The massive storm resulted in absolute chaos, delaying flights and causing power outages across the city.
“When it snows in East London” is a bit like saying “When hell freezes over”. That is, it never happens (not what you thought I was saying). But this week, the windy city has experienced unusually low temperatures coupled with unbelievable snowfall. Click through for photos of Vincent Park shopping centre in the aftermath of flooding and snow yesterday.
“Jy speel op Avbob se stoep!” If you aren’t familiar with this Afrikaans saying, get Johan in the office to translate it for you. This is exactly what the dove in this video is busy doing. Watch as this cheeky bugger sides up to a sleeping cat and… no, rather watch it yourself. This is too priceless to spoil!
In their never-ending pursuit to find nuts, squirrels can sometimes forget to look left and right before crossing the road. The end result of this is not always nice, trust me, I work in Stellenbosch and see this daily. But check out this cheeky bugger – attempting to outrun a Lamborghini LP670-4 SV going at 160km per hour. That’s bold!
Scott Ramsay is about to embark on a year-long journey through South Africa’s 31 most beautiful and precious wilderness spots. He begins his journey this Monday, and for over 365 days, Scott will be updating his website with great written, photographic, and video content documenting the places, people, and wildlife that he sees. Check out the great video after the jump!
You guys remember that VW commercial that ran during the Superbowl with a tiny Darth Vader? Well, Greenpeace does. And they’ve made a spoof follow-up in an effort to call attention to the automaker’s environmental record. Liberal media sentiments aside, it’s cute – click through for a tiny Vader and a Message About The Environment.