Shanghai's Expo nearly ready

Organizers of Shanghai's World Expo have been holding trial runs, before the official opening, May 1st. About 70 percent of the nearly 200 participants participated in the trials, and visitors were already encountering long lines. Officials now estimate the 6-month event, themed "Better City, Better Life", will attract up to 100 million visitors, 95 percent of them Chinese. Shanghai has spent 400 billion yuan (58.6 billion US dollars) preparing for the Expo, according to state media - more than was spent on the Beijing Olympics. Collected here are photographs of last-minute preparations in Shanghai as they prepare to welcome the world.

1. Visitors gather in front of a huge animated baby mannequin displayed in the Spanish pavilion at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 25, 2010. Expo organizers gave members of the public a preview of the largest-ever World's Fair as they tested facilities and public transportation before the official start on May 1. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Yushu Earthquake, 12 days later

Wednesday, April 21st was a national day of mourning in China, for victims of the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck remote Yushu County on April 14th, 2010 with over 2,200 confirmed dead and many thousands injured or homeless. The response on the ground has moved from search and rescue to recovery and care, hampered by geography and weather. The political response is also complex, as official Chinese coverage has emphasized solidarity in crisis despite a long-troubled relationship with the ethnic Tibetan residents. Buddhist monks who had been assisting with relief efforts were asked by Chinese authorities to halt their work last week, some monks complaining it was for political motives, officials claiming it was for safety reasons. The bodies of hundreds of victims were cremated on April 17th, necessity forcing local Tibetans to break with a tradition of leaving their dead out for vultures.

1. A Tibetan monk gestures as other monks lay corpses for a mass cremation of earthquake victims in the town of Gyegu in Yushu County, Qinghai province, China on April 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Alfred Jin)

dan the man

Vietnam, 35 years later

On April 30th, was the 35th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, and on May 4th, was the 40th anniversary of the shooting of protesting students at Kent State University. The Vietnam War and America's involvement in it affected the lives of millions for well over a decade, exacting a massive human cost with millions of deaths and countless injuries - both physical and mental - that plague many of those involved to this day. United States military involvement and troop strength grew rapidly after 1964 - at its highest level in 1968, with over 500,000 troops on the ground. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. now bears the engraved names of 58,267 of those troops.

1. Hovering U.S. Army helicopters pour machine gun fire into a tree line to cover the advance of South Vietnamese ground troops in an attack on a Viet Cong camp 18 miles north of Tay Ninh, northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border, in Vietnam on March 1965. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)

kitty kitty ...

Sick of Facebook's lack of respect for your data? Add your name and commit to quit!

Why are we quitting?

For us it comes down to two things: fair choices and best intentions. In our view, Facebook doesn't do a good job in either department. Facebook gives you choices about how to manage your data, but they aren't fair choices, and while the onus is on the individual to manage these choices, Facebook makes it damn difficult for the average user to understand or manage this. We also don't think Facebook has much respect for you or your data, especially in the context of the future.

For a lot of people, quitting Facebook revolves around privacy. This is a legitimate concern, but we also think the privacy issue is just the symptom of a larger set of issues. The cumulative effects of what Facebook does now will not play out well in the future, and we care deeply about the future of the web as an open, safe and human place. We just can't see Facebook's current direction being aligned with any positive future for the web, so we're leaving.

Committed Facebook Quitters

What should I know?

Quitting Facebook isn't easy. Facebook is engaging, enjoyable and quite frankly, addictive. Quitting something like Facebook is like quitting smoking. It's hard to stay on the wagon long enough to actually change your habits. Having peer support helps, but the way to quit Facebook is not to start a group on Facebook about leaving Facebook.

Part of quitting is understanding the nature of the problem, and there have been a number of recent articlesand posts that do a much better job than us at articulating what's wrong with Facebook. We encourage you to read them and form your own opinions. Moving on will be easier to do when you have made a clear and conscious choice about why you'd prefer your online life to be Facebook-free.

What are my options?

There are alternatives to Facebook. Understanding what is best for you will depend a lot on what you need out of your social graph on a daily basis. For some, a combination of services like email, Twitter and Flickr might work. For others, a Ning group or a specialized social site like Akoha might be an option. If the entire population of Brazil can use Orkut, we think that there's hope for you to find a new home on the web. Wired, ReadWriteWeb and others have recently called for an open alternative to Facebook, and we're personally excited about the potential of the Diaspora project. At the moment, there aren't a lot of great options for direct replacement, but know that you're not alone. When there's a market need, it's not long before better options appear. In our minds, the best thing to do is to contribute to that need - and that's what Quit Facebook Day is about.

Who set this up?

@mmilan and @josephdee. Putting that for disclosure, but we want the focus on the real issue: Should you leave Facebook?

Shanghai Highways

I'm amazed at how high the highways can stack up in Shanghai. Progress, it seems, or keeping up with the ever increasing numbers of cars on the roads in China.

Sidewalk Café, Paris

Paris is a densely settled metropolis, but one with numerous small parks and gardens. Most public places have benches or chairs, which encourage people to stop, rest, and talk. And of course sidewalk cafés, like this one, are everywhere.

nap - The power

M.I.K.E. Presents Plastic Boy "Chocolate Infusion / Exposed"

Crackdown in Bangkok

Soldiers from the Thai Army broke down barricades and entered the fortified camp occupied by anti-government Red Shirt protesters for the past several weeks in downtown Bangkok. Several clashes took place, and Red Shirt leaders announced to their followers that they were surrendering to police as the soldiers approached. Many protesters dispersed, but some continued to battle with grenades, guns, slingshots and fire, setting as many as 20 locations ablaze in central Bangkok. At this stage, it is unclear how many have been killed or injured, but at least five are known to have died, with dozens more injured. Thai authorities have imposed a curfew as they battle fires, process detainees and clear the rest of the Red Shirt encampment.

1. Thai soldiers storm through the barricade of anti-government protesters on Wednesday, May 19, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand. Downtown Bangkok became a raging battleground Wednesday as the army stormed a barricaded protest camp and toppled the Red Shirt leadership, enraging demonstrators who fired grenades and set fires that cloaked the skyline in a black haze. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E )

it is real! the Big Ben is disappeared!!!

bloody fuck... bring them back!!!!

Protests turn deadly in Thailand

The Red Shirt political protest in Bangkok, Thailand has been active for nearly two months now, and has entered a new, deadly phase in the past week, with at least 36 of the total 60 deaths occurring in just the last few days. Anti-government protesters have barricaded themselves against government troops and the Thai army has declared certain protest areas to be "Live Fire Zones". A state of emergency is in effect, covering 17 provinces in the country, as protesters have refused orders to leave, and news just emerged that a renegade general who supported the Red Shirts, Khattiya Sawatdithol, died today from a gunshot wound he suffered on May 13th. Collected here are photos of the recent turmoil in central Bangkok.

1. A "Red Shirt" anti-government protester kneels down as he runs away from gunfire as the violence in central Bangkok continues on May 16, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)

Roof Jump Fail!!!

basket... FAIL!

Alizée - J'ai Pas Vingt Ans (I am not twenty)

hey you...

Oil spill approaches Louisiana coast

Late on the night of April 20th, 50 miles from the shore of Louisiana, a fire broke out aboard the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig under lease by BP, with 126 individuals on board. After a massive explosion, all but 11 of the crew managed to escape as the rig was consumed by fire, later collapsing and sinking into the Gulf. Safeguards set in place to automatically cap the oil well in case of catastrophe did not work as expected, and now an estimated 5,000 barrels (over 200,000 gallons) of crude oil is pouring into the Gulf of Mexico every day - and could possibly continue to do so for months as complicated efforts are made to stop the leak. Collected here are several recent photos of the developing situation along Louisiana's Gulf Shore - one with the potential to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in scope and damage.

1. Two brown pelicans and a flock of seagulls rest on the shore of Ship Island as a boom line floats just offshore Thursday, April 29, 2010 in Gulfport, Miss. Several hundred yards of boom line has been set up on the north side of the island to try and contain the oncoming oil spill. Crews are placing the boom in different areas on Coast waterways to help protect against an approaching oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/The Sun Herald, William Colgin)
2. U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies respond to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th, 2010. Original here. (Otto Candies/US Coast Guard Press / CC BY)

Disaster unfolds slowly in the Gulf of Mexico

In the three weeks since the April 20th explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and the start of the subsequent massive (and ongoing) oil leak, many attempts have been made to contain and control the scale of the environmental disaster. Oil dispersants are being sprayed, containment booms erected, protective barriers built, controlled burns undertaken, and devices are being lowered to the sea floor to try and cap the leaks, with little success to date. While tracking the volume of the continued flow of oil is difficult, an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil (possibly much more) continues to pour into the gulf every day. While visible damage to shorelines has been minimal to date as the oil has spread slowly, the scene remains, in the words of President Obama, a "potentially unprecedented environmental disaster."

1. Seawater covered with thick black oil splashes up in brown-stained whitecaps off the side of the supply vessel Joe Griffin at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill containment efforts in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana Sunday, May 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

t.A.T.u. Friend or Foe

315 ideas for t-shirts!!! (take a deep breath)

abcd
acrobat
afromonkey
alcoholic
alcoholica
alien toy
alitaria

Lightning, Cape Town

Two separate lightning bolts converge over Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, with an amazing display of natural electricity.

Salvador Dali (68 paintings)

Salvador Dali - The Enigma of Desire

Pantanal, Brazil

An enthusiastic history of Greek protest dogs

By Katie Paul

Though there are many weapons available to the street protester, there is perhaps only one for which there is no defense: A really cute friggin’ dog. After Kanellos the Greek protest dog shot to fame when the Guardian published a photographic profile piece dedicated exclusively to him, careful observers started to notice that, hey! There are a lot of dogs hanging with these Greek protesters and, they really seem to want to stick it to the man. True, the dogs’ presence may be due less to any burning desire to fight the power and more to the fact that, well, there are a whole lot of stray dogs in Athens. They can be easily mistaken for one another since they all wear the same collars, blue for boys and red for girls, which are provided by the city with tracking tags when the dogs are vaccinated and spayed or neutered. Here’s where they’ve been spotted in the past.

8 incredibles holes! (on earth)

These holes are not only incredibles but they are also very terrifiyng. Especially the number 8.

1. Kimberley Big Hole - South Africa --- It seems the bigger hole on the earth. Deep 1.097 metres, this mine gave more than 3 tonnes of diamonds before it was closed on 1914.
2. Glory Hole – Monticello dike, California --- The Glory Hole check the level of dike’s water.
It can drain 14.400 cubic metres of water every second.
On the left the hole from the top.
And this is the water that comes out of the dike. Try to immagine what could happen if you fall into the hole.
3. Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah --- This hole is deep 5 km with 2 km in diameter.
4. Great Blue Hole, Belize --- This is a geographic phenomenon called Blue hole. There are many of these holes but this is the biggest and amazing.
The deep is around 145 metres and, of course, it is the paradise for the scuba divers.
5. Mirny Diamond Mine, Serbia --- This is for sure the widest mine diamonds (1.200 metres). It is deep 525 metres, Elicopters can’t flight over because of the whirpool.
The red arrow on the right show a big truck.
From satellite
6. Sinkhole in Guatemala

This hole swallowed a dozen of houses... Included people who lived into.
7. Diavik Mine, Canada --- This incredible mine is located at 300 km north east of Yellowknife, in Canada
Magnificent view also with ice all around.
8. Here it is the most appalling hole in the world. Where is it? In Rome (Italy) and it is called Italian Parliament.... This hole is not so deep but, inspite of all, it can swallow and wanish millions of Euros every day. This is for sure the most frighterning hole ever built by men!!!

Un record tutto italiano. Non esiste niente di simile in tutto il mondo!

Failed car jump!!!!!!

Green Field, Germany

This is a photo of some new growing fields in a southern part of Germany, near the park called Schoenbuch. I took this picture a few minutes before a storm came on in full power.

we love panda! we support panda!!!

suggested by Lollitop's reader =)

Billy Idol - Cradle Of Love (Music Video) HD

Mr. Bean goes to the swimming pool

the art... of fart... (low level collection)

and the winner is...

Laser Pointer Dog Attack

mother of the year!