lisbon

art with boulders (really cobbles and pebbles)

What's Better For Afghanistan's Future: Buddha Tours Or A Copper Mine?

About an hour's drive south of Kabul, there's a vast Buddhist archaeological site dating back at least 1,500 years. It happens to be sitting on top of one of the biggest untapped copper deposits in the world, potentially worth billions of dollars.

 Nearly a hundred ancient Buddhist shrines like this one have been uncovered by archaeologists at Mes Aynak, south of Kabul.

 The ground at Mes Aynak is so rich in copper that rock and bones — like this skeleton found lying near a Buddhist shrine — are stained greenish-blue.

By the time archaeologists uncovered this statue of the Buddha at Mes Aynak, its head was gone — likely broken off by looters.

Eight years ago, the Afghan government made a deal with a Chinese conglomerate to mine the copper, but mining hasn't begun and likely won't for several more years. The area in which the copper is located, Logar Province, presents challenges in both security and infrastructure: no reliable water or power supply, no railway for transporting copper and increasing threats from the Taliban.

The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that Afghanistan holds $1 trillion in mineral wealth but none of it has ever been developed. This could represent a huge and much-needed source of revenue for a country long dependent on foreign aid. But given other countries' experience with the so-called "resource curse," concerns have been raised over whether Afghanistan's natural resources can or will be exploited responsibly. Part of the concern has centered on whether extracting copper at Mes Aynak must result inevitably in the destruction of a spectacular archaeological site that has been compared to Machu Picchu and Pompeii. Historical riches like this, advocates argue, represent a different kind of wealth and could hold the key to a thriving tourism industry in the future.

Villagers have been hired to help archaeologists with the excavation.

npr

metal before the common era

foram park in Zhongshan Guangdong China

China has another first: a park dedicated to some 114 large sculptures of foraminifera! These marine unicellular microorganisms mostly secrete a calcium-carbonate shell and live at all depths in the ocean. Their stable isotopes are widely used by paleoclimatologists to reconstruct past global climates and ice volume (sea-level changes). They are also important paleobathymetric indicators and indispensible in the field of paleoceanography.

The germ of an idea for a sculpture park first began some ten years earlier when marine geologist Bilal Haq of the National Science Foundation visited the lab of marine biologist and academician Zheng Shouyi at the Institute the Institute of Oceanology in Qingdao. A prolific taxonomist and one of the world’s leading foraminiferalogist, Zheng had meticulously produced palm-size models of over a hundred of these submicroscopic species of both benthic and planktonic foraminifera for educational purposes. Haq was struck by their aesthetic beauty and almost abstract quality that suggested Henry Moore sculptures in miniature. He proposed to Zheng that some of them could be enlarged into sculptures. He also ventured a suggestion that perhaps a whole park populated by such sculptures could be a great outreach project for the general public. Zheng, a woman of action and a politically influential scientist, took the suggestion seriously and was able to convince the authorities in her hometown of Zhongshan (also the hometown of Sun Yat-Sen) in Guangdong Province to do just that. Thus, 114 sculptures of over a 100 different Paleozoic to modern species were carved out of marble, granite and sandstone by artisans under the exacting eye of Zheng Shouyi over a period of five years.

cushmanfoundation.org

octopus heels; shoe game by fleek

bottle cap rooster

glass river table by Greg Klassen

Japanese Artist Indicted For 'Vagina Kayak'

Provocative Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi, who has been arrested twice this year on charges related to her design for a kayak that incorporates a 3-D model of her genitals, has been indicted on charges that she distributed "obscene" data.

The case has attracted wide attention, both for its unique circumstances and for its depiction of how Japan's pornography laws interact with cutting-edge technology and images of the female body.

"Obscenity laws ban pictures of actual genitalia, which normally are obscured in pornography," Japan Times notes today. "If convicted, Igarashi could face up to two years behind bars and a fine of [$20,755]."

Her lawyers say Igarashi will plead not guilty to the charges. She was arrested in early December over what police called her distribution of "obscene" data — computer code that would let other people use a 3-D printer to make their own copy of a kayak that's based on her vagina.

Igarashi, 42, is also known by the name of Rokudenashiko, Japanese slang that is often translated as "reprobate child." She had reportedly offered to send the kayak data to the biggest donors to a crowdfunding campaign that supported her project to build the boat.

An arrest on similar charges in July resulted in Igarashi being released. At the time, she said, "I don't believe my vagina is anything obscene," according to theJapan Times. "I was determined I would never yield to police power."

Igarashi drew headlines last year when she rowed her kayak across a Tokyo river, a trip that was meant "to confront the county's taboos regarding the female form," as The Washington Post reported.

Other than the now-famous kayak, Igarashi makes cartoon-like figurines. As she says in her Twitter bio, her vagina is the "primary motif" of her work. She also tried highlights what her supporters call flaws in Japanese laws.

After her July arrest, Igarashi was released from jail after an online petition drew more than 21,000 signatures.

"Supporters felt that the Japanese laws, which came down too hard on women, while allowing men to celebrate an annual 'penis festival,' should be reconsidered," the website 3Dprint.com reported.

That festival is the Kahamara Matsuri, an event held at a shrine in Kawasaki; the event's name is often translated as the "Festival of the Steel Phallus," which includes a parade that features models and sculptures of male genitalia. npr

Scientists Create the Face of Crystal Skull Vodka From a Bottle

Crystal Skull vodka is probably known for its distinctive bottle. Forensic scientists used the bottle as a base and reconstructed its face - straight out of a crime drama! 

Crystal Skull Vodka

glass invertebrates by guido mocafico

Glass Invertebrates by Guido Mocafico

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anatomical wax model

This anatomical wax model shows the internal organs in a female torso and head, including the lungs, liver, stomach, kidneys and intestines. Complete with the veins and arteries, the heart is entirely removable. 

The figure was made by Francesco Calenzuoli (1796-1821), an Italian model maker renowned for his attention to detail. Wax models were used for teaching anatomy to medical students because they made it possible to pick out and emphasise specific features of the body, making their structure and function easier to understand. 

This made them especially useful at a time when few bodies were available for dissection. The model was donated by the Department of Human Anatomy at the University of Oxford.

new hand carved cranky man box

Scott Campbell’s Skulls made of US Currency

Scott Campbell’s Skulls made of US Currency.

skateboard skull

Skull by HAROSHI
Used skateboards
8 5/8 × 5 1/8 × 6 3/4 in // 21.9 × 13 × 17.1 cm.
Courtesy of Jonathan LeVine Gallery.
Photo by Taro Hirano / Pictureman Studio.

Our Exquisite Corpse

Our Exquisite Corpse Huichol Black Skull Made Exclusively For LN-CC.

Vrbanus Steampunk Victorian

Luxurious cars by Metal Art workshop Vrbanus Steampunk Victorian filigree beetle Volkswagen by Metal Art shop Vrbanus, Sisak, Croatia. Three craftsmen spent 3000 hours, about four months on the painstaking job with details such as 24-carat gold leaf embelishments and a hand-stiched leather interior

L'automate by +Karl Dupere-Richer

octopus exhibit in Monaco's Oceanographic museum

Huang Yong Ping (b. 1954 in Xiamen, Fujian province, China) - Wu Zei, 2010.  A 25 meters wide Octopus from the exhibition Mediterranean Seaat Monaco’s Oceanographic museum.

creatures of the mechazoic era by chase black