Holland's Flower Sculpture Parade or Bloemencorso

Holland is predominantly famous for 2 things, the first is that it’s one of the best places to live in the world (and most liberal), secondly they are the envy of the world when it comes to flowers. They have fields of flowers so famous in fact, that tourists flock to them each year.

So it’s not surprising really that Zundert, a country town in the heart of Noord Brabant should be host to what is now the biggest and most impressive flower parade the world has ever seen.

It’s called Bloemencorso, with each entry being a float made entirely of flowers, but not just any flowers – they can only be dahlias. That’s the only rule – you can create, design and bring to life anything you like. The town and local judges then vote for their favourite flower floats and the winners are celebrated, with their works lauded around town until it all begins again the following year. Organized since 1936, the festival takes place on every 1st Sunday of September and is nothign short of Spectacular!

Every year, the parade consists of around 20 different floats, the construction of which is non-commercial and totally volunteer. The massive master pieces, created from dahlias only, are put during the summer by the neighborhoods of a town that’s home to 20.000 people only.

As you can imagine, it takes A LOT of work and even more dedication. Hundreds of people collaborate to construct each float, tediously working away wrapping wire, sticks, glue, cardboard not to mention thousands of flowers together to create these gigantic and jaw-dropping creations. Every year the likes of fish, vampires, tigers & even meerkats got their day in the sun – which makes you wonder more you would get to see in the next few years.

If you’re in the Netherlands and are planning on attendinging this eye-catching event, you’d better be there between September 1 & 2 – as that’s the confirmed date for the 2013 show.

10 Crazy Unique Mugs

Nothing wakes me up better than a good cuppa in the morning. To some of us, cups, mugs, glasses; they are just something to hold our beverages; what matters is what we pour into them. To others, it wouldn’t hurt to have an unusual mug or two that screams "this mug is unique, and it’s also mine".

One of the best things to do in the morning is to sip on a hot cuppa joe while read the newspaper or watching the morning news on the telly. To most of us cups are just a carrier for your beverages, but there are some that have their favorite mugs that they can only drink out of. Here are some unique designs and ideas of personalized mugs.

Coffee Bean Mug
With the exterior covered with coffee beans that fall together in intricate beauty, perfect for a hot mug of coffee!

Camera Lens Mug
This is an insane idea that would freak some of our Camera junky friends out when they see it. It resembles an extendable camera lens but is actually a mug that you could use for a hot cup of coffee or tea!

Knuckle Buster Mug
The perfect sidekick for when you want to ward of poachers from your hot beverages. These mean coffee holding machines look majestic with their silver exterior and the knuckle buster for a handle.

Ironius
Multi purpose mugs have become a thing of the future, and here is one where you can drink coffee as well as iron your clothes at the same time!

Face Mug
There is nothing like a couple of cookies while drink that hot cup of coffee, tea or Chocolate. And when you have a cup that can hold those cookies for you while you sip your beverage, it just brilliantly convenient!

Snout Mug
These are plain fun for anyone drinking out of them and sitting across unsuspecting on-lookers. As you sip on your cup, the bottom resembles a pig snout or the snout of another animal and looks like the snout is yours!

Finger Cup
These are oddly eerie cups with fingers protruding out of the cups that, when held, looks like its holding on to your hands with interlocked fingers.

Moustache Mug
Drink like a sir with these funky mugs that have various types of mustaches on them to make you look like a gentleman that loves his coffee.

Denture Mug
These resemble old people dentures. You would probably have to be careful while drinking out of them cause of the way the teeth are lined along the rim of the cup.

Slim Cup
These funky cups were designed for a project inculcating tradition and technology together. The Designer said his interpretation for this title was the way things get slimmer as technology moves forward.

Bees 'pick up electric signals'

Press Association – Thu, Feb 21, 2013

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  View PhotoPress Association - Scientists say bumblebees are able to find and decipher weak electric signals emitted by flowers

Plants use electric fields to communicate with bees, scientists have learned.

Bumblebees are able to find and decipher weak electric signals emitted by flowers, according to a study published in the latest online edition of the journal Science.
Tests revealed that bees can distinguish between different floral fields, as if they were petal colours. The electric signals may also let the insects know if another bee has recently visited a flower.
How bees detect the fields is unknown, but the researchers suspect the electrostatic force might make their hair bristle. A similar hair-raising effect is seen when placing one's head close to an old-style TV screen. Flowers were already known to use bright colours, patterns and enticing scents to attract pollinators. Electrical signals may provide a deeper level of communication, the scientists believe.
Dr Heather Whitney, a member of the University of Bristol team, said: "This novel communication channel reveals how flowers can potentially inform their pollinators about the honest status of their precious nectar and pollen reserves."
Plants are known to emit weak negatively charged electric fields, and bees acquire a positive charge of up to 200 volts as they fly through the air. As a charged bee approaches a flower, the difference in electrical potential is not enough to produce sparks, but can be felt by the insect.
The researchers investigated the signals by placing electrodes in the stems of petunias. They found that when a bee landed on a flower, the plant's electrical potential changed and remained altered for several minutes. This could be a way of letting a bee know it is landing on a flower that has already been visited and lost its nectar, the scientists speculate.
Study leader Professor Daniel Robert said: "This novel communication channel reveals how flowers can potentially inform their pollinators about the honest status of their precious nectar and pollen reserves. The last thing a flower wants is to attract a bee and then fail to provide nectar; a lesson in honest advertising since bees are good learners and would soon lose interest in an unrewarding flower."
To their surprise, the scientists discovered that bumblebees can distinguish between different floral electric fields. They were also quicker at learning the difference between two flower colours when electrical signals were also present.
Prof Robert added: "The co-evolution between flowers and bees has a long and beneficial history, so perhaps it's not entirely surprising that we are still discovering today how remarkably sophisticated their communication is."

Russian Meteor Explosion Not Caused by Asteroid Flyby, NASA Scientist Says

by Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor

Date: 15 February 2013 Time: 08:16 AM ET

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What appears to be a meteor trail over eastern Russia is seen in this image released Feb. 15, 2013, by the Russian Emergency Ministry. The meteor fall included a massive blast, according to Russian reports. CREDIT: Russian Emergency Ministry View full size image

Update: For complete coverage of the Russian meteor explosion, including videos, photos and analysis, read: Meteor Blast Over Russia Feb. 15: Complete Coverage
The meteor explosion over Russia that injured more than 500 people and damaged hundreds of buildings was not caused by an asteroid zooming close by the Earth today (Feb.15), a NASA scientist says.
NASA asteroid expert Don Yeomans, head of the agency's Near-Earth Object Program Office, told SPACE.com that the object which exploded over a thinly inhabited stretch of eastern Europe today was most likely an exploding fireball known as a bolide.

More than 500 people were injured, mostly by glass cuts when windows shattered during the blast, according to the Russian Emergency Ministry.
"If the reports of ground damage can be verified, it might suggest an object whose original size was several meters in extent before entering the atmosphere, fragmenting and exploding due to the unequal pressure on the leading side vs the trailing side (it pancaked and exploded)," Yeomans told SPACE.com in an email. "It is far too early to provide estimates of the energy released or provide a reliable estimate of the original size." [Photos of Russia's Meteor Fireball Blast]
Yeoman stressed that the bolide event was likely not associated at all with the incoming asteroid 2012 DA14, which will fly within 17,200 miles (27,000 kilometers) of Earth when it passes safely by our planet today.
"The asteroid will travel south to north," Yeomans said. "The bolide trail was not south to north and the separation in time between the fireball and 2012 DA14 close approach is significant."

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is 150 feet (45 meters) wide — about half the size of a football field — and will make its closest approach to Earth at 2:24 p.m. EST (1924 GMT) when it passes over Indonesia. It will be about 5,000 miles (8,046 kilometers) closer to Earth than the communications satellites circling the planet in geosynchronous orbits.
NASA scientists and professional and amateur astronomers around the world have been tracking asteroid 2012 DA14 since it was first discovered by a team of amateurs in February 2012. Not only does the asteroid pose no threat to Earth during today's flyby, but it will not hit Earth for the foreseeable future, NASA scientists have said.
Visit SPACE.com today for complete coverage of asteroid 2012 DA14's flyby.
Editor's note: If you snapped a photo of the meteor explosion over Russia that you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Romantic Cookout With Alcohol

The Trea is a compact alcohol powered stove that is ready for the go. Ideal for the urban outdoors, this stylish 3-logs-fire-inspired appliance adds a touch of glam to your romantic evening. Crafted from poles of stainless steel and processed with Milling router, milling cutter filled with soaking material and stainless steel wire net, the stove is foldable and compact and definitely not clumsy!

Designer: Michael Kononsky