Falling Sky

Christmas In The Old Country

I've wibbled enthusiastically about the Krampus before, but this picture is just glorious. It's taken from the Boston Globe's The Big Picture, a superb photoblog bringing together news pool photographs on particular subjects, the above taken from the end of the Christmas Season. I don't normally dip into my Austrian ancestry, but this is a tradition I'd happily see brought to the UK. Having done vikings last year, the subject of our next Christmas's cards is clear! Now all I have to do is remember this in eleven months time...

Bosh!

A South Korean special forces soldier shatters a stack of stone blocks during a martial arts display to celebrate a public holiday in Seoul. (BBC News)

Stars Under Ice

There's a whole bunch of fascinating pictures at this National Geographic News article on unknown beasties discovered under Antarctica earlier this year (dear god, look at those starfish!). I was tempted by the globular bulbousity of the sea pig, but I reckon this photo is the best of the bunch.

Photograph by DTIS camera/NZ IPY-CAML

High-powered cameras photographed this sea star or a starfish of the genus Labediaster (lower left) surrounded by brittle stars on a seamount 492 feet (150 meters) below the surface of Antarctica's Ross Sea.

"I Know, My Love, But This Can Never Be!" Part II

Danger mouse – This genetically-modified mouse senses no fear after certain smell receptors in its brain have been switched off. Japanese scientists designed the fearless rodents to help understand the mechanisms of smell (Kobayakawa). - BBC NEWS

Death From Above

...Santa?, originally uploaded by Falling Sky.

So what's the story? A few weeks ago, at around 6am, a big pile of debris fell into the fireplace in our living room for no clear reason, sending a layer of black dust over everything nearby. Over the next few days, more debris toppled down, along with a few feathers and some bird shit. Quite unsettling, and having never had a 'live' chimney before we weren't too sure what the deuce to do about it. To stop any more dust or debris manking up the room, I placed a nice big A1 board over the fireplace until it looked as though things had settled down. One week later, thankfully while we were out of the room, the cause of all that debris, feathers and shit fell down into our fireplace, stone cold dead. As goodies coming down the chimney go, crows are not high on my list, but it made a nicely dramatic photo. Suitably cleaned up, the fire now burns nicely, while the wannabe Santa rests in peace in the local landfill.

"I Know, My Love, But This Can Never Be!"

In this photo and caption provided by Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Beauregard, an 8-month-old male Grants zebra is greeted by Brandy, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin while out on a daily walk around the park at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007. Beauregard was hand-reared at the park and takes daily strolls around the 135-acre park. (AP Photo/Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Mike Owyang)

Neptune's Ducky

Quiet, isn't it?  Sorry about that - I've been kept out of mischief with oodles of proofreading for work, fistfuls of overtime, packing boxes, posting Ebayed stuff and resisting the temptation to call in an air-strike on the flat beneath us (you can see the flaw in such a plan).  I'll try and get things a bit more yappy here once the proofreading wraps up soon, but for now here's a duck, spotted nicely by the Cellar Image of the Day last week..

Look at the size of that beauty!  It's the work of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, based on the Loire river in France and is called, rather suitably, 'Rubber Duck'.  His website describes it thus:

A yellow spot on the horizon slowly approaches the coast. People have gatherd and watch in amazement as a giant yellow Rubber Duck approaches. The spectators are greeted by the duck, which slowly nods its head. The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn't discriminate people and doesn't have a political connotation. The friendly, floating Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them. The rubber duck is soft, friendly and suitable for all ages!

The fellow's definitely onto something.  In a perfect world, every warship would be replaced with flotillas of enormous floating ducks.  Just wait 'til I'm king.  QUAAAACK.

Inner Light

An X-ray of an four foot long pine snake who swallowed a couple of light bulbs is on display during the grand opening of Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium Thursday, June 21, 2007 in New York's Times Square. (AP Photo/ Ripley's Believe It Or Not)

Spot The Difference

Yang Yang, a 3-year-old Chinese boy swims with a beluga as part of the Polar Region Ocean World's publicity ahead of the June 1 International Children's Day in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong Province, Tuesday, May 29, 2007. (AP Photo/EyePress)

Odin, a five-year-old, 445 pound white Bengal tiger dives for a piece of meat during a performance at the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif., Wednesday, May 30, 2007. Odin was born at the park and was hand raised. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

There Goes The Neighbourhood

Tiger cubs play with chicks at a zoo in Wenling, Zhejian province, May 29, 2007. The chicks, who were not harmed by the cubs, were feeding at a nearby river before entering the tigers' cage. It is the first time zoo staff have witnessed such an occurrence, China Daily reported. REUTERS/China Daily