United States Map Made from Wood Matches - Claire Fontaine

U.S.A. (burnt/unburnt) is a 2011 installation by Paris-based artist Claire Fontaine. Art of "Evidence of Bricks" at the 2011 Time-Based Art Festival.

Fontaine has made somewhat of a name for herself with her match installations and flaming geography, most recently completing a similar U.S.A. map at Queens Nails Gallery in San Francisco. Unlike the installation in Portland above, the Queens Nails artwork was actually set on fire, and while it may not have gone exactly as intended, the final post-flame artwork is impressive nonetheless. Photographs above for PICA by Dan Kvitka.

Mummified Remains of 2000 Year Old Egyptian Cat

The Mystery of a mummified Egyptian cat left languishing in a Roseland attic has been partly solved.

Robert Gray, from Portscatho, inherited the remarkable object from his father, renowned Egyptologist Peter Gray, who died in 1984. Mr Gray never knew what the arcane package might contain, as many mummified cats were sold by disreputable traders in the ancient world with nothing but rags inside. However, X-rays carried out at a Truro veterinary surgery have clearly shown the figure of a cat that has been preserved for more than 2,000 years.

Mr Gray said: "My father acquired the cat in the 1970s as a token of thanks from a museum.

"It's been in the loft in Portscatho, where my father had a house; it's been languishing there for 50 years."

Mr Gray said he had always been unsure whether the mummy bundle actually contained a cat: "You went to the mummifiers and said you wanted to send goodwill to the afterlife and some naughty mummifiers would take your money and stuff a bunch of rags inside."

Mr Gray met Jane Marley, from the Royal Cornwall Museum, to open the X-rays, taken at Clifton Villa Vets.

Mr Gray said: "History was made today. I felt quite emotional when I opened it up. It's something that has lived with me for most of my life and it's revealed itself today."

The X-ray showed the cat's neck was intact, he said, which suggested the cat was a prized pet rather than deliberately killed as a sacrifice to the gods.

Mrs Marley, curator of archaeology and world culture at the museum, said: "It was very exciting to see the X-ray. It's a lovely face and the wrapping is very good – it's been very well kept."

Mr Gray's father also played a part in the story of the 2,500-year-old mummy of Iset Tayef Nakht, kept out of sight in storage at the Royal Cornwall Museum until Dr Gray inquired about it in the 1960s.

It is now the River Street museum's most popular exhibit.

The moment of revelation was filmed by the Cornwall Channel. The programmes are broadcast on Monday at 9pm on Sky channel 212 or Freesat 401.

Kawazu-Nanadaru Loop Bridge - Japan

 Photo — Link

How do you build a bridge on a mountainside when the grade is so steep that a linear ramp isn't possible? Build a loop, and if one is not enough, build two. This is what engineers did when the built the Kawazu-Nanadaru Loop Bridge, also known as the Japanese Double loop spiral, in Kawazu, Japan. This double spiral brings cars up and down a full 45 meters while being seemingly suspended in a valley between two mountainsides. The spirals measure 80m in diameter and the whole ramp section is 1.1km long.

The bridge on Highway 414 between Tokyo and the Izu peninsular was finished in 1982 and has become a well known landmark since.

 Photo — Link

  Photo — Link

Fascinating Stuff ... Astronaut Mail

NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock who is currently
aboard the International Space Station shares pictures
of the Earth he snaps with the world through Twitter.
( http://twitter.com/#!/astro_wheels )
Known to his nearly 68,000 Twitter followers as
Astro_Wheels, Wheelock has been posting impressive
photos of the Earth and some of his thoughts ever
since he moved into the space station in June, five
months after it got Internet access.


Greek islands on a clear night during our flight over
Europe .. Athens shine brightly along the
Mediterranean Sea .


" Mystery Island " - located in the Indian Ocean close
to Madagascar . Interesting features on the island
and the unusual shape should be enough to help
you discover this beautiful place.


Northern lights in the distance in one of the finest
nights over Europe . The photo clearly shows the
Strait of Dover . Paris is dazzling with the city lights.
A little fog over the western part of England ,
particularly over London ..

Google is Preparing a $82 Million on its Own Airport

In the futuristic project Google Glass, dedicated to innovative augmented reality glasses co-founder Sergey Brin is regularly seen in public, wearing one of the neat working prototypes. In particular, he recently boasted these glasses in the subway. But not so simple the company, as it was known at the moment  Google is interested in the opportunity to build its own airport. Yes its true they are interested in building the airport just to bring an innovation in the history of companies having their own airports.

It is assumed that the airport Google will be built in the city of San Jose (USA, pieces. Calif.), it will cost the company $ 82 million. Project development and construction of the object assigned to Signature Aviation, the customer stands Blue City Holdings, the brand represents Google . It will be a full-fledged airport serving only aircraft owned by, and for posting guidelines provide a separate terminal.

By the way, nothing surprising in this initiative is not, as of 2011 available to Google was 8 own aircraft, and there is no doubt that by now the size of the fleet has grown. But the work of Google is its own airport since 2005.

26 Absolutely Breathtaking Photos of Central Park

After seeing just one magical photo of Central Park in the winter (see above composite by Stephen Wilkes), we felt compelled to put together this list of 20 of the most breathtaking photos of the world's most famous park. Though it officially opened in 1857, it was a year later that landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Calvert Vaux beat out 32 entries to win a landscape design contest that would transform the park. They called their project the Greensward Plan.

Photo — Link

As you may or may not know, Central Park was the first landscaped public park in the history of the United States. It is also entirely man-made. The lakes, streams and ponds were all created artificially and the only natural feature on site is exposed bedrock, called Manhattan Schist, that's approximately 450 million years old.

Photo — Link

The design of the park was innovative because it called for an interwoven transportation system for pedestrians, horseback riders and pleasure vehicles. Since it is only half a mile wide, the designers had to create a compact system of bridges and arches that allowed for separate levels of pathways. All in all, they envisioned it as a "unified work of landscape art."