Super Shady Optical Illusion

No camera tricks or special effects here...just an optical illusion. Watch what happens with these cylinders. LINK: Youtube

Amazing and Beautiful Flooded Meadow

The "Grüner See" (engl. Green Lake) is situated in upper styria, austria (see geotag). It is amazingly beautiful because of its deep green/blue colour and the surrounding alpine scenery. The lake itself dries up in autumn but fills up with melting water. The water itself of the lake is extremely pure, like glass. The colour is a result of light refraction. LINK: Youtube

Statue Of Christ Gets $4m Facelift

“The iconic statue of Christ with outstretched arms that overlooks Rio de Janeiro is getting a $4 million renovation. Heavy rains have eroded portions of the face and hands of the statue. It has also been damaged by lightning strikes over the years. Workers this week started replacing large pieces of the statue’s soapstone exterior and patching up a layer of concrete underneath. They expect to be done by June. The Rio archdiocese that manages the statue says donations will pay for the repairs.” w/ photos. LINK

Perched atop a mountain above Rio's white-sand beaches, the 38-meter (125 foot) statue was inaugurated in 1931.

It was designed by local engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and created by French sculptor Paul Landowski.

Shrimp Surprise

(YouTube link)

Life flourishes in the strangest places on earth. From the YouTube link:

At a depth of 600 feet beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet, a small shrimp-like creature managed to brighten up an otherwise gray polar day in late November 2009. This critter is a three-inch long Lyssianasid amphipod found beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, about 12.5 miles away from open water. NASA scientists were using a borehole camera to look back up towards the ice surface when they spotted this pinkish-orange creature swimming beneath the ice.

-Via: The Presurfer, Via: Neatorama

Mark Twain at Stormfield, 1909 (Edison film)

Silent film footage taken in 1909 by Thomas Edison at Stormfield (CT) at Mark Twain's estate. Twain is shown walkng around his home and playing cards with his daughters Clara and Jean. The flickering is due to film deterioration, but this is the only known footage of the great author.

Mark Twain died a year after this footage was filmed, but here we are—over a century later—watching him walk and laugh. [YouTube, Via: Open Culture, Via: Roger Ebert, Via: Gizmodo]