These houses look like something George Lucas would have dreamed up

Looking at these white globe houses, you would be forgiven for thinking that they were something from Star Wars. Located in the Dutch city of Den Bosch, they were designed in the 1970s by Dries Kreij Camp and built in 1984.

Called bolwoningen (which translates as either "ball" or "bulb" houses/apartments), the UFO-like dwellings are low maintenance, lightweight and relatively small. Each unit measures just 5.5 meters in diameter, but all of them have two bedrooms on the ground floor, a bathroom and kitchen in the middle and a living room with a nice view on top. If you happen to be in Amsterdam and you have a car, it will only take you about an hour to reach this really cool neighborhood.

According to this site:

"The idea behind these unusual cement and fibreglass buildings sprang not from the architect's leap of madness, but in the 'optimal experience of nature in all its facets', or so Mr. Kreijkamp claims. Supposedly residents feel much closer to nature, because it can be seen from all directions within each globe. The unusual shape of the buildings is accented all the more because they are located next to 'normal' houses."

Image credits: Super Formosa

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Preserved tattoos of the dead

The idea of preserving tattoos after death came into existence long before NAPSA . London's Wellcome Collection has over 300 specimens of preserved human flesh bearing tattoos , collected in the late 19th century. There are many more examples of smaller collections in Paris, Poland, Portugal, Berlin, and Austria. But what fascinates me the most is this lesser-known museum at Tokyo University, the Medical Pathology Museum, which houses pieces of skin collected since 1926 by Dr. Masaichi Fukushi. "Fukushi would perform autopsies on donated cadavers and dissect off just the skin. He created a method of treatment to preserve the skin and kept them stretched in a glass frame, essentially like a leather. Later the ownership of the tattooed skin collection was passed on to Fukushi's son Katsunari. Katsunari added a further 20 tattooed skins himself and it's believed that the Medical Pathology Museum has 105 in its collection, many with full body suits." ...

This monk makes the best vinegar in New York

Brother Victor-Antoine d' Avila-Latourrette is a Benedictine monk who lives at a secluded monastery in New York's Hudson Valley. He's an internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of several cookbooks, including From a Monastery Kitchen and Twelve Months of Monastery Salads . And he makes vinegars unlike those found in most markets.

Here's an interesting rock formation

There's a cliff on the island of Heimaey in Iceland's Vestmannaeyjar archipelago that looks just like a giant elephant. Heimaey is the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast, and it attracts thousands of visitors each year because of this amazing rock formation. You can see few more shots over at 1 Million Pictures .

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