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The Tree of Knowledge

In the small southern Iraqi city of Qurna, an unusual shrine stands on the shore of the Tigris: a small, dead tree, protected by low brick walls and surrounded by a concrete plaza. This tree is, according to local legend, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the one that Eve ate from in the Garden of Eden.

Qurna (also spelled Qurnah, and pronounced “gurna”) has been noted in travelers’ accounts for centuries as the place point where the great Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet and join together for a few miles before emptying into the Persian Gulf. The Tigris and Euphrates are two of the four “rivers of paradise” that flowed out of the Garden of Eden, as named in Genesis 2:10-14. Elements from the early stories of Genesis have been traced to the cuneiform tablets written by the Sumerians and Babylonians, who lived in this part of the world.

It is clearly a deciduous tree, not a palm, but no one can say for sure which species it once was, or how long it has been there. British soldiers reportedly climbed and broke the Tree in post-World War I occupation; it was repaired with concrete. In the 1950s, a small park of local plants was built around the Tree as a gesture of goodwill after World War II. Under the early reign of Saddam Hussein, the shrine was preserved in a small concrete plaza, which has reportedly deteriorated in the wake of the 2003 American invasion. By then there were actually several Trees of Knowledge.

Although the shrine is associated with the Garden of Eden story, which is shared among Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, it also retains aspects of much older, pre-monotheistic traditions of tree worship in the Middle East. When one sacred tree dies, you must plant another to preserve the sacredness, so often several trees are standing in different stages of decay. People travel from other parts of the country to pray at the Tree, sometimes tying small green pieces of cloth around its branches as a token.

Propeller Island City Lodge

Berlin is a city known for the pervasiveness of art and for its tendency toward outlandish character. Propeller Island City Lodge does not disappoint that legacy.

Propeller Island is the pseudonym used by the German artist Lars Stroschen whose usual oeuvre consists of audio-visual creations. This particular construct of his takes D.I.Y to the extreme. This hotel is hand-made down to the last detail; original, uncopied and unique.

Each room has a different character, whether it is the “Padded Room” where everything is upholstered with green leather or “Two Lions” where guests get to choose between sleeping in elevated cages or a twin bed down below.
Perhaps those are more of an acquired taste? Rest assured there is space for those who would like a gentler introduction to such as their “Blue Room” where you will be surrounded by mirrored sails and remains one of the most popular City Lodge rooms.

Consider yourself part of the performance and rest easy inside of this permanent art installation hotel.

Rio Tinto (Red River)

Originating in the Sierra de Huelva mountains of Andalusia, in the town of Nerva, Spain's "red river" runs through the southwestern region of the country. For approximately five thousand years, copper, gold, silver and other minerals have been mined along the river, with dissolving iron giving it a strange reddish hue.

The Red River is often considered the birthplace of both the Copper Age and Bronze Age. The Iberians and Tartessians in the area began mining the river in 3000 BCE, followed by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, and Moors. For hundreds of years, the river's mines were abandoned until rediscovered and operated by the Spanish government in 1724.

After large-scale excavations by companies from the United Kingdom in the 19th century made the river extremely dangerous for people because of the high acidity level, the multinational Rio Tinto Company was formed to operate the mines. Rio Tinto no longer manages the river, but by the end of the 20th century it had become one of the world's largest mining companies.

The high acidity keeps people away from the waters, but draws scientists in. Extremophile aerobic bacteria in the water provide conditions similar to those found in other areas in the solar system. Jupiter's moon Europa, for example, is thought to contain an acidic ocean underneath its surface. Life in the Rio Tinto - the bacteria feed on iron and sulfide minerals in the river's subsurface rocks - make the likelihood of life on Europa all the more possible.

Big Rock Erratic

An erratic is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Large, hulking chunks of rock, jutting out of an otherwise flat and sparse landscape, catching the eye and mystifying any comprehension of its origin.

Properly called “glacial erratics,” these rock formations are actually relatively common. Formed by dislodged rocks that traveled on top of a glacier thousands of years ago, their decidedly out-of-place appearance comes from the result of that glacier-based piggyback ride, as the melting ice deposited the far-flung rocks where they didn’t belong.

In Alberta, Canada, there is a particularly large and far-reaching trail thousands of erratics known as the Foothills Erratics Train. The Big Rock erratic is its crown jewel.

Comprised of 16,500 tons of quartzite, the Big Rock, or Okotoks, erratic is the largest known glacial erratic on the planet. Located just over four miles from Okotoks, Alberta, from which it derives its name, the massive rock formation is an unmistakable monolith in an otherwise monotonous landscape.

Despite the interesting but simple origins of this slow-forming landmark, it has long attracted legends and myths. These date back thousands of years to the Blackfoot tribe, whose legends explained the rock’s peculiar location by detailing an argument between the rock and a young warrior that eventually gave way to a frantic chase and the eventual splitting of the rock down its center.

Today, mysticism-minded travelers still find themselves drawn to the Big Rock, usually avoiding the scientific explanation for the unusual formation, instead preferring to make up their own stories as time goes on.

Socotra Island

The island of Socotra is part of an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. It is so isolated that a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. Notable are the dragon's blood trees that look like flying saucers perched on trunks. Adenium socotranum are trees that look like elephants' legs with pink flowers on top. Birds such as the Socotra starling, Socotra sunbird, and Socotra grosbeak are found nowhere else on Earth. Bats are the island's only native mammal.

In 2010 a Russian archaeological team discovered the ruins of a city on Socotra dating to the second century AD. The island is also held by some to be the location of the original Garden of Eden, due to its isolation, biological diversity, and the fact that it is located on the edge of Yemen's Gulf of Aden, which many connect with the ancient Sumerian tales of a paradise called Dilmun.

There are almost no roads on the island, which is also home to a collection of caves and a number of shipwrecks.

Montserrat's City of Ash

As vacationers flew to the Caribbean on a Boeing 737 in 2010 they heard the pilot get on the intercom and calmly announce "Ladies and gentlemen, if you look to the left of the plane, you'll see a volcano erupting."

The volcano that they saw erupting and hurling a plume of ash into the sky was the Soufriere Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. The volcano has been doing just that, intermittently, for the last 15 years.

While we tend to think about volcanos as having short-lasting, devastating eruptions, many are very slow moving, operating on a much more geological time scale. So it is with the Soufriere Hills volcano, which -- much to the horror of the island residents -- has been taking its sweet time, and been in an active state of eruption since 1995.

When the previously quiet volcano began to erupt in 1995, the first eruptions since the 17th century, it sent lava flows and ash falls over the small island of Montserrat. The affected areas were evacuated and no one was killed. However, after people had resettled, the volcano went off again in 1997, this time killing nineteen. The volcano would continue to erupt and would destroy the capital city of Plymouth, the islands only port, and its only airport as well as cover the entire south side of the 10 mile long island in a thick layer of ash. (Montserrat has had particularly bad natural disaster luck, as 90 percent of the islands buildings had previously been damaged by 1989's Hurricane Hugo.)

With the ongoing eruption the South side of the island was declared uninhabitable and over half of the 12,000 people living on the island before the eruption have never returned since being evacuated. Those that have stayed live on the north side of the island and have rebuilt their port and airport.

The volcano is being closely studied by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. Scientists believe that the volcano is made up of two large magma chambers stacked on top of each other, which may be causing the extended eruption.

The people of Montserrat live in the shadow of a continually active volcano, but despite the hardships that can bring, they persevere, developing the culture and economy of their beautiful island home with the cheerful determination they are famous for.

Within the last year, lava flows came down the south side of mountain and reached the sea, while part of the lava dome collapsed sending a plume of ash 20,000 feet into the air. Just another day in Montserrat.

Asahi Plaza Capsule Hotel

Japan has a multitude of interesting and innovative ideas to its credit. Many have been adapted by other cultures. Some remain uniquely Japanese. Pod hotels are in the latter category.

Created to meet the need for hotel rooms in the crowded urban centers around Japan, they provide the most basic of accommodations when visiting a city. A bed, and not much more, is fit into the science fiction-esque sleeping quarters. Some technology is mounted on the walls, but not much more, as it's aimed at visitors who have better things to do in Osaka than spend hours sitting around in a rented room.

There is more to do at the hotel than to just enjoy your personal pod, as it is equipped with a variety of communal rooms, such as saunas and a comic book room, though many of the extras cost a little to use.

First opened in 1979, the trend has spread to other locations and cities, but doesn't seem to have left this corner of the globe.

uHigh Bridge

High Bridge is a steel arch bridge that spans the Harlem River, connecting New York City’s Manhattan and The Bronx. The bridge was completed in 1848, nearly 11 years after construction began, and stands 140 feet high and over 2,000 feet long. The height of the bridge was a decision of the New York Legislature, who worried that a low bridge would obstruct boat traffic, so they ultimately decided that a higher, more expensive bridge was necessary.

High Bridge was built as part of the Croton Aqueduct, New York City’s first reliable and plentiful water supply system, which carried water 10 miles south from the Croton River. The aqueduct had to cross the Harlem River at some point along its route south, so the Water Commission decided it best to utilize a bridge to do so.

In 1928, the historic masonry arches that spanned the river were demolished and replaced with a single steel arch of about 450 feet in length. The arches were removed to create space under the bridge for easier boat navigation. However, several of these masonry arches of the original 1848 bridge still remain on either side, with only one on Manhattan and ten on The Bronx.

City officials considered closing the bridge in the mid 1960s, nearly 120 years after initial construction, because of despair. However, the bridge was not closed until 1970 when a pedestrian threw a rock from the bridge and damaged a tour boat.

In 2009, the city began preliminary planning to restore the High Bridge as a pedestrian and bicycle greenway. Despite these initial efforts, the bridge remains closed to this day.

Shatrunjaya Hill

As typified by Muslims' pilgrimages to Mecca or Jews' to Jerusalem, most religions have epic places to where devotees can travel to better secure their places in heaven. The pilgrimage site for Jains, an Indian religious group, is particularly epic. A hugely-complex series of more than 1,000 temples, pilgrims can only reach the site by climbing up nearly 4,000 steps.

Jainism is a relatively small religion, with only a little over 4 million believers in India and small pockets of followers throughout the rest of the world. The Jains' primary belief is non-violence; they believe that people, animals and even plants have souls and should be treated equally and well. Although they have no gods or spiritual figures, they do live with the principle of reincarnation in mind, hoping to eventually be liberated from the cycle of life and rebirth in an eternal transcedence.

The Shatrunjaya Hill site is huge and pilgrimage rites are difficult for such an ascetic religion. The hill's 3,950 steps often take three hours to climb, with the elderly often hiring a dholi, a seat attached to a pole carried by strong men, to the top. It is the goal of devout Jains to climb the mountain 99 times in their lifetimes. Once at the top, devotees are and then devotees are expected to pay homage at each of the complex's many tuks, similar to temples. In worship, Jains sweep the grounds with brooms and remove their shoes so they don't kill anything before sitting down.Then, white-robed pilgrims, monks and nuns chant sacred texts, surrounded by Tirthankaras, similar to unclothed Buddha statues.

In their building, the temples followed the Jainist principle of non-violence. None of the temples were built with ivory or clay because it contains micro-organisms and insects. Instead, all of the temples--the oldest of which dates back to the 11th century--are made of marble, bronze or stone.

The Stonework of Machu Picchu

Cusco, at 11,000 feet the mountain weather is kaleidoscopic, and the Inca tradition is palpably present. Cusco is every single thing that Santa Fe, New Mexico would like to be - magnificently Spanish colonial, profoundly Indian, filled with often brilliant crafts, and made entirely of real adobe. Just up the hill is the famed Sacsayhuaman complex of behemoth stones perfectly fitted together by Incan engineers. (A nice place to stay in Cusco is the Hotel Monasterio - a restored monastery now run by the Orient Express.)

The train ride to Machu Picchu is worth the trip all by itself. Surprisingly, Machu Picchu itself is in fact down from Cusco, and it's eastward, down into the Amazon jungle. As one travels along one sees the biomes change before their eyes. Along the whole way are spectacular rivers, especially the Urubamba, plunging white water without end for miles - it is so relentless and violent, that to this day it has never been kayaked. (When the train stops jump out for some hot corn on the cob offered by locals, with kernels seemingly as big as Inca stonework and purely delicious.)

One is also reminded they are in the Andes. They dwarf all other mountain ranges. So godallmighty huge and steep and inviting and menacing and one marvels at the skill of the Inca and their predecessors, to imagine their mastering these mountains as they did.

If we judge the Greeks and Romans highly because of the excellence of their architecture, what do we make of the Inca, who could be said to surpass them architecturally? In fact the Inca surpass everybody in their reverence for stone and water.

At Machu Picchu sixteen stone waterfalls sequence down one side of the site. All over Machu Picchu massive crafted stones are fit together in near perfect harmony and celebrate the sun, the year cycle, the surrounding mountain shapes, and the way humans take a step.

Daspark hotel unigue

For most travelers, staying overnight in a sewer pipe sounds like just about the worst possible accommodations imaginable -- more like a trip gone wrong than an enlightening and satisfying home away from home.

Dasparkhotel aims to change all of that. Consisting of several individual rooms constructed out of repurposed metropolitan drainage pipes, the proprietors of this hotel have created one of the most unique and thoughtful lodgings in the world.

Industrial drainage pipes are strong and incredibly long-lasting. Unfortunately, that usually means that when they are discarded, they last many decades beyond their actual use, in scrapyards, landfills, or even on the side of the road in some cases. They’re usually buried underground and never really considered by the civilians traveling along the roads and sidewalks they’re built beneath and meant to drain.

By taking some of these hidden yet structurally sound symbols of civilization’s subterranean machinations, dasparkhotel has not only discovered a sustainable and cheap means of launching a business venture, but they also offer travelers a chance to experience a part of society they never see or even think about.

True to the mission statement of most green initiatives, dasparkhotel can get people to about the world we live in, seen and unseen, in an entirely new way. For some, perhaps it’s guilt about the massive orchestration and resources required to simply sustain our way of life; for others, it might be a rare opportunity to appreciate all of the everyday marvels that go misunderstood and underappreciated.

For most, however, dasparkhotel is simple: a place for unique and thought-provoking fun. With each cramped-yet-cozy room, complete with bed, shelving, and a skylight, one gets to say they’ve been in a place they’ve never been before, and hopefully (except for dasparkhotel itself), they won’t ever be again.

WATER FALL RESTAURANT | PHILIPPINES

The Labassin Waterfall Restaurant is a truly singular and memorable experience. Located at the Villa Escudero Resort in the Philippines, guests can enjoy lunch while the water flows under their feet . Besides enjoying the authentic local cuisine, you can enjoy the almost untouched nature of the region formerly occupied by a farm and coconut plantations.

Tibidabo

Mountain where Jesus was first tempted by the Devil

A mountain overlooking Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Tibidabo stands more than 500 meters tall. The highest peak anywhere in the Serra de Collserola range, Tibidabo is home to an amusement park, a telecommunications tower, and Sagrat Cor, a Catholic church.

Sagrat Cor is perhaps the most fitting of Tibidabo's attractions as this is the site where local legend says the devil tempted Jesus. The name Tibidabo derives from the Latin Vulgate Bible verses, Matthew 4:9 and Luke 4:6. The phrase, tibi dabo, means "I will give to you." It was supposedly said to Jesus by the devil as they looked down from a mountain on the kingdoms of the world. The name of Barcelona's hill, then, refers to how it is the tallest anywhere around.

Designed by Enric Sagnier, the church took about 60 years to build. At the top of the church, Sagrat Cor, is a sculpture of the Sacred Heart by Josep Miret Llopart.

Tibidabo can be reached by a funicular railway, by bus, and by car. The railway, built in 1901, was the first of its kind in Spain. The amusement park is also the oldest of its kind in the area. Constructed in 1899, the park offers more than thirty different rides, some of them dating back many decades. A few of the original attractions are also still operating, including the Museo de Automatas (Mechanical Museum).

Tengzug Shrine

Topless shrine of northern Ghana

The Talensis people of Northern Ghana require you to be topless to observe one of their sacred rituals. With the smell of animal blood and feces bombarding their senses, man and woman alike must bare themselves to the sub-Saharan heat to enter the Tengzug Shrine in the Tongo Hills.

The Tengzug Shrine, one of the most famous in the region, was once a hideout for slaves evading their captors. Now, it is used more traditionally for religious animal sacrifices for good luck and to please the ancestors of the Talensis. With a guide, visitors can scale the rocks up to the Tengzug Shrine, remove their tops and witness the sacrifice of birds and chickens.

In the shrine, among the remnants of the recently sacrificed, visitors get a panoramic view of the region and the surreal world of the Tongo Hills. Giant Baobab trees and boulders define the dry landscape that draws both tourists and religious pilgrims. The Tongo Hills comprise only twenty square kilometers, but are richly packed with history, religious significance, and fantastic hiking.

Along with the many shrines tucked away in the rock formations of the area, the local population has rebuilt a number of classic Talensis homes. Shaped like cylinders and grouped into neighborhoods, the homes have miniature doorways, followed by a short wall inside the home that allows for protection from intruders. Other than the doorway and a few holes for smoke to exit the structure, they are completely closed off to the outside world.

The Tongo Hills give visitors a window into the world of the Talensis, and visitors coming at the right times can experience one of the region’s vibrant festivals. In March, the Talensi celebrate the Golob Festival focusing on the sowing of the fields. With a bit more show to it, the Bo’araam Festival in October and November includes drinking traditional beer and the sacrifice of donkeys, goats, and fowl.

The Natural Bridge

Often cited as having a place among the great wonders of the natural world, particularly by early visitors to the US, Virginia's Natural Bridge is an enormous natural limestone arch. Carved by Cedar Creek over thousands of years, the arch was created when an ancient cavern collapsed leaving only the bridge. It is the largest natural land bridge on the North American continent.

The 215-foot-long bridge was sacred to the Monocan, native American tribe, and was revered by the American colonists.

The site was surveyed in 1750 by a young George Washington, who allegedly carved his initials into the rock. Thomas Jefferson called Natural Bridge "the most sublime of nature's works" when he purchased 157 acres of land, including the bridge, from King George III of England in 1774.

William Cullen Bryant said that Natural Bridge, along with Niagara Falls, were the two most notable features of North America. The Natural Bridge is also alluded to in Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

Perhaps the oddest parts of this natural wonder is "The Drama of Creation," a Biblically-themed evening light show that has been projected onto the bridge every night since 1920. The show is the longest continuously running light show in the US.

The Natural Bridge Caverns, the deepest caves on the east coast are less than half a mile away from the Natural Bridge. Other attractions in the area include a wax museum and a living history Monocan Indian Village.

Marsh's Free Museum

Marsh's Free Museum is a roadside stop that lures you in with more than tacky seashell gifts (though they have plenty of those too). The walls and ceiling are lined with various knick knacks from snake skins to weapons to bee hives to soviet military metals.

The main attraction at Marsh's, however, is "Jake the Alligator Man," a mummified half-man half-alligator. Visitors can easily spend the better part of an hour browsing Marsh's taxidermy collection, which includes a two-headed calf, a cycloptic lamb, a two-headed pig, and a shark. A real (or so it is claimed) shrunken head is also on display.

From "mechanized antique gaming machines and peepshows, there is no end to the marvels one uncovers in every nook and cranny," according to Marsh's official website.

The Museum of the Weird

The dime or dime store museum is by all accounts an endangered species. The first dime museum, "The American Museum," was opened in 1841 by none other than P. T. Barnum himself. It represented a departure from high-class art and science museums, catering to a poorer crowd and offering items of a much more dubious nature.

Part of the appeal of the dime store museum lay in arguing about what was real and what was a "humbug," as P. T. Barnum called a hoax or fake display. Feejee mermaids (a type of fake or "gaff" taxidermy made from a monkey and a fish, sewn together to form an incredibly ugly "mermaid") mixed with real exotic animals, and scientific instruments sat next to a loom run by a dog. Unfortunately, Barnum's American Museum burned to the ground in 1865.

Though many dime museums had disappeared by the 1920s, dime museums such as New York City's Hubert's Museum would remain open until the late 1960s. One of the best recreation dime museums, Baltimore's American Dime Museum, opened in 1999 only to shutter its doors in 2007. So though it may not look like much at first, "Austin's Museum of the Weird" is in fact a rare beast.

Created by artist-entrepreneur Steve Busti, the museum lives in the back of his store, the "Lucky Lizard," and features many of the same types of curios you might have encountered in a turn-of-the-century dime museum, including a feejee mermaid. Among the other items shown are a a cyclops pig, a hand of glory (supposedly the dried and pickled hand of a man who has been hanged), live tarantulas, a two-headed chicken, shrunken heads, and mummies. Among the more recent additions are items from 1960s and 70s camp horror films, such as full-sized figures of Frankenstein and other classic monsters.

American Museum of Magic

Presto Change-o! Founded in 1978, the American Museum of Magic has been around for more than three decades, but that's only a blip in the history of the building in which it resides, an old Victorian building in Calhoun County, Michigan. Formerly a saloon, a clothing store, and a billiard parlor, the building was constructed in 1868.

Spread across three floors of the restored structured, the American Museum of Magic is filled from wall to wall, ceiling to floor, with props from all of the greatest magicians of the 19th and 20th centuries. It's the largest magic museum in the United States that is open to the public.

Half a million pieces of memorabilia are crammed inside of the museum. Among the pieces are more than 10,000 books, 24,000 magazines, 46,000 photographs, letters, more than 2,000 handbills. One of the highlights is an escape apparatus used by Houdini.

What makes the collection more impressive is that most of it was assembled by one man, the late Robert Lund. A Detroit-based writer, Lund was obsessed with magic, but learned early on that he didn't have what it takes. Instead of embarrassing himself as a failed magician, Lund decided he would become the foremost student of magic history and collect everything related to the art that he could get his hands on.

The separate research center for aspiring magicians and historians of magic includes more than one million archived pieces, including a 50,000-volume library.

Awashima Jinja

A Japanese shrine to dolls

Awashima jinja is a shrine for women and is famous for its enormous collection of dolls. There are a lot of Japanese superstitions about dolls, and a good number of people in Japan seem to find them a little mysterious or frightening, believing that they have souls or the power to influence human lives. There are a number of shrines and festivals wherein people dispose of their old dolls and toys - they feel that if they just threw them in the garbage, the dolls' souls might come back to haunt them like ghosts.

Awashima jinja is mainly for hina ningyo, dolls that are given to young girls to be displayed every year on Girl's Day, March 3rd. The festival dates back to 1687 and is a time for praying for the health and happiness of a family's daughters. Awashima jinja's collection is not limited to hina ningyo, however. There are literally thousands of dolls here, and an even greater number of sculptures, figurines, carvings, and statues. You'll find tanuki, maneki neko, daruma, frogs, yoshitsune, shichi fukujin, and many more.

Every year on March 3rd, Awashima jinja is home to a doll festival called nagashi bina, in which boatloads of hina ningyo are launched into the ocean. As the boats are rocked by the waves, the dolls fall overboard and sink into the ocean. It is believed that the dolls will take away the sicknesses and bad luck afflicting their former owners, and the ritual has become very popular.

Summum Pyramid

In 1975, Claude Corky Nowell said he had an encounter with highly intelligent beings he called "Summa individuals" who revealed to him the true nature of the universe. Corky promptly changed his name to Summum Bonum Amon Ra -- though he goes by the more casual Corky Ra -- and founded the "Summum" religion.

Based out of Salt Lake City, the Summum (Summus is Latin "highest," and Summum is a play on that) religion has its own principles of creation and laws of learning. To an outside observer, Summum resembles a blend of science fiction (encounters with aliens and cloning), new age mysticism and a blend of ancient religions.

Summum draws many of its beliefs from Egyptian polytheism, with a particular emphasis on the Sun God Ra, hence Corky's new name, though it also relies on the teachings of "Gnostic Christians," such as those found in the Gospel of Thomas. Practice of the religion relies heavily on meditation, aimed at the Summum goal of "spiritual Psychokinesis."

A particular peculiarity of the church is that it practices modern mummification. They hold that mummification allows for a soul to smoothly depart from our world to the next. Additionally, they claim the modern mummification process they use preserves the cells and enables them to be cloned in the future. For Summum followers reincarnation is a scientific as well as as spiritual concept.

The Summum pyramid was built between 1977 to 1979 and serves as the church's main teaching space, mediation hall, and provider of modern mummification. The pyramid, like their religion, is "Sealed Except to the Open Mind." Curiously the pyramid itself, which incorporates the divine proportions into its measurements, is not zoned as a church but as a bonded winery. This is so the pyramid can produce what the Summum church calls "Nectar Publications," alcoholic drinks used during their meditation services. "Nectar Publications" serves another purpose as well. Since the organization doesn't keep formal membership records they base the number of people who have received the "message" of Summum on the number of wine bottles, or publications, they have distributed; some 250,000 so far.

In early 2009, the church attracted national attention during a legal scuffle with the city of Pleasant Grove, 35 miles south of Salt Lake City. Within the central city park stands a large monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The Summum church wrote to the mayor of Pleasant Grove with a proposal to erect their own monument inscribed with their "Seven Aphorisms", which are seen as restored extensions of the original Ten Commandments. The city said no, and the church sued on the grounds of free speech. In November 2008, "Pleasant Grove City vs. Summum went all the way to the US Supreme Court. In February of 2009, the Supreme Court sided with the City, with Justice Alito's written opinion stating that a permanent public monument is perceived to be a declaration of the intentions of the local government. Thus, the city can decide if they agree with the tenets set forth on a monument, or not.

To help make ends meet the Summum church offers mummification services to non-Summum members for those who "yearn for something more... something that appeals to our sense of care and lasting peace of mind, and with which we may feel secure." They offer the service to both humans and pets alike; prices range from $67,000 for a person to as low as $4,000 for a pet under 15 lbs.

The church is open to the public on Thursday evenings for philosophy discussion.

Adam-ondi-Ahman

Today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is associated with Utah, where they settled in 1847, before it officially became a state. But Joseph Smith founded Mormonism in 1830 in the “Burned-Over District” of upstate New York, and led his growing band of followers westward, through Ohio and Illinois. Independence, Missouri was declared by Smith to be the original Garden of Eden, or Zion, and he laid the ground for a Mormon temple.

Before it could be built, tensions mounted with the local settlers who were largely pro-slavery in this border state, and the “Saints,” as they called themselves, were forced to resettle in a small village north of Independence which Smith christened Adam-ondi-Ahman. Also the name of a classic Mormon hymn, the phrase is supposed to mean “Adam settled here,” in a secret language revealed to Smith by God.

Smith preached standing on a large, flat stone in a wooded area on the edge of a field, where he claimed Adam and Eve had made their first sacrifice upon settling in their new home. According to Smith, Adam and Eve lived long, peaceful lives and had many children. The Mormon settlers were not so fortunate: in 1838 the bloody Mormon War forced them into exile again.

Today the site, a peaceful expanse of forests and fields in the rolling hills of Missouri farmland, has been turned into a Church-owned park, where you can tour sites related to Smith. Due to some discrepancy over which stone was the one that Smith designated as Adam’s, there is no longer an official Church plaque singling out the stone, but if you follow an unofficial path downhill from one of the viewing areas, you will come to something that is rumored to be “preacher’s rock,” along with a number of other landmark stones.

It is said that because visiting Mormons will take small stones they find in Adam-ondi-Ahman’s fields home with them as souvenirs, local farmers bring their troublesome stones into the park to get rid of them. The park, including a picnic area, is open to the public during daylight hours, and cared for by a couple of young Mormon missionaries who live in a small house on site.

Leviathan of Parsonstown

The real measure of a telescope's power is not how greatly it can magnify a distant object, but what portion of that object's light the instrument actually collects.

It's easy if you think of the photons, or light particles, as raindrops, and the telescope as a bucket. The larger your bucket is, the more rain you will collect. Similarly, a telescope's "light gathering power" is a measure of how efficiently it collects photons, and this power depends on the diameter or "aperture" of the lens, or mirror.

For over a century, astronomers have raced to build telescopes with larger and larger apertures precisely so that they could gather more of the heavens' light. In essence, a large lens or mirror allows scientists to look deeper into space and see fainter objects. An early example of this thirst for photons is the Leviathan of Parsonstown, a six-foot-diameter telescope built in the 1840s by William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse.

For many years, Lord Rosse studied the night sky using his 36-inch telescope at Birr Castle in Ireland. The objects which interested him most were called "nebulae," a term that once referred to any fuzzy object in the sky. At that time, it was not known that these so-called nebulae were actually an assortment of different objects ranging from star clusters and galaxies to clouds of gas and dust. The telescopes of Parsons's day were simply not powerful enough to resolve the mysterious wisps of light.

Consequently, an outstanding question in astronomy arose: "Do nebulae contain stars?" Knowing that a larger instrument was needed to resolve this issue, Lord Rosse set out to build a six-foot telescope. All that stood in his way were a number of remarkable feats of engineering that would have to be performed to build such a device.

Today it is possible to create telescope mirrors in excess of 30 feet by coating a glass surface with a reflective metal. In the late 1800s, however, mirrors were made using the much heavier and more problematic speculum metal. This copper and tin alloy is not only difficult to cast and shape, but also quick to tarnish in humid climates such as Ireland's. However, after three attempts using large peat-fired furnaces, Lord Rosse and his men succeeded in creating the world's largest telescope mirror. In actuality, two mirrors were made: a backup was necessary because the speculum's sensitive nature required the mirror to be resurfaced every six months.

Dubbed the Leviathan of Parsonstown, Lord Rosse's reflecting telescope remained the largest in the world for over 75 years. However, the instrument was not without its drawbacks. To accommodate such a large telescope, a unique mounting system was employed which restricted motion in the east-west direction.

This mount was the first and last of its kind, and, with a fortress-like appearance, it remains quite impressive. The 58-foot telescope tube is suspended between two stone walls, 70-feet-long and 50-feet-high. At the top of these walls, which protect the instrument from high winds, is a movable observing platform. From here Lord Rosse spent many cold nights drawing the elaborate celestial structures revealed to him.

At first, the majority of observations taken were of the Moon and several of the planets. While the instrument exposed our solar system in greater detail than ever, the most important discovery made at Parsonstown was that of the spiral nature of the M51 nebula. Now known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, M51 was the first categorized spiral object. While Lord Rosse correctly observed M51 to be "studded with stars," the debate over the true characteristics of nebulae lingered, and it was not until the 1920s that Edwin Hubble recognized some of the fuzzy objects to be galaxies like our Milky Way.

Nevertheless, the Leviathan is a testament to Parsons' skills in engineering, optics, and astronomy. In fact, for one galaxy, the Earl's hand-drawn illustrations contain more detail than a photograph taken with the 200-inch telescope at Palomar Observatory a century later. Continuing in his father's footsteps, the fourth Earl of Rosse, used the telescope for his own observations. The instrument fell into disuse in 1878, however, and was dismantled in 1908.

Thanks to the seventh and present Earl, the telescope was reconstructed in the late 1990s with a new mirror and motors to make pointing easier. Observations continue even today, as amateur astronomers often peer through the Leviathan. Ireland's Historic Science Centre also resides at the castle, where a large collection of astronomical instruments and artifacts are on display.

But to catch a glimpse of the original speculum mirror, you must travel to the London Science Museum.

Today's youth and their lifestyle

Youth comprises of maximum population in India. But the lifestyle of today's youth is confined only to gizmo gadgets, discos and pubs. They don't have any interest in national politics and don't even know what's happening around the world
NIGHT OUTS, lounging in the pubs, tapping your feet to the rocking music in discs, showing off 8 GB i-pods, N-Series mobiles, Levis jeans and Woodland shoes are the common lifestyle of the urban youth today. They feel if they do not have all these ’cool stuffs’, then it will affect their image in college campus or their common hang-outs.
Today’s generation does not even realise where they are heading to. Their thought is limited and views confined and outlook, they don’t have any. Their thought is limited only to gizmo gadgets, two-wheelers and night life. Today, how many of them would prefer a pen, if laptop is given, as one of the options? How many of them would prefer playing outdoor games if video games are given as one of the options? How many of them would prefer a calm walk if a two-wheeler is provided? No doubt, they are useful to us but what is the use if we humans turn out to be sophisticated and arrogant and neglect the human being we have within us. “All that glitters is not gold,” is a saying which is true indeed in its own way, but its value is perhaps lost somewhere. Spending quality time with their parents or to help them, if they need, are some of the special moments, perhaps, our ancestors would have preferred, but youth today prefer spending most of their time in discos and pubs. They come to college only for the sake of coming, but they forget their primary responsibility ie to study. It is highly contradictory to think that this is the same land where a youth like Bhagat Singh was born, a youth like Capt Vikram Batra was born. Even they did not see much of their life, they died at a very young age but they left a mark in everyone’s heart. Why aren’t these kinds of youths born again and again so that our nation becomes proud?


We are the light of the future, entertainment is fine upto certain limit but we must draw a line between our responsibility and fun. We must learn to be even more responsible and see the world in a much wider perspective. The youth comprises of maximum population in India and we must show to the rest of the world that if we take some kind of responsibility even we can prove out to be the best.

Today's Lifestyle is a Disease in itself - An Indian Perspective

Modern science through improved sanitation, vaccination, and antibiotics, and medical attention has eliminated the threat of death from most infectious diseases. This means that death from lifestyle diseases like heart disease and cancer are now the primary causes of death. Everybody naturally has to die of something, but lifestyle diseases take people before their time. Too many people are dying relatively young from Heart Disease and Cancer and other lifestyle diseases in modern times.
In India the situation is quite alarming. The disease profile is changing rapidly. The World health Organization (WHO) has identified India as one of the nations that is going to have most of the lifestyle disorders in the near future. Nowadays, not only are lifestyle disorders becoming more common, but they are also affecting younger population. Hence, the population at risk shifts from 40+ to maybe 30+ or even younger. Already considered the diabetes capital of the world, India now appears headed towards gaining another dubious distinction — of becoming the lifestyle-related disease capital as well. A study conducted jointly by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Max Hospital shows the incidence of hypertension, obesity and heart disease is increasing at an alarming rate, especially in the young, urban population. According to doctors say, a sedentary lifestyle combined with an increase in the consumption of fatty food and alcohol is to blame cases of obesity, diabetes, hypertension etc.
Lifestyle Disorders in India causing death

Heart Risk

• India No.1 in cardiac patients:  10% population affected, US/Europe No. 2: 7% each; China: 4%.
• Heart Diseases to be single greatest 'killer' in India by 2015 (WHO).
• 50 million people in India suffer from heart problems. Number expected to double by 2010.
• Highest growth among young executives:  1 of 8 is under 40 years.
• Heart attacks among executives at 10 years ahead of global average age:  Prevention needs to start in early 20s.
• Prevalence of CAD up from 17.5% to 35% among corporate executives in past decade: two-fold rise
• Heart attacks kill one in every 10 Indians

Obesity/ Diabetes

• 31 percent of urban Indians are either overweight or obese
• Obesity can, in fact, triple the risk of heart disease.
• India has one of the highest numbers of diabetic patients in the world, as many as 30 million, and growing by the day.

Stress/ Hypertension/Lipids

• Hypertension & Stress, especially from work, account for more than 50% of heart ailments
• 100 million people in India have high blood pressure
• Two out of three employees in India are  victim of stress
• Over 40% of urban Indians have high lipid levels (cholesterol and triglycerides)  that are the major risk factors for heart disease

Source: IOA,2008

Dictionary meaning of Lifestyle disease: A disease associated with the way a person or group of people lives. Lifestyle diseases are diseases that appear to become ever more widespread as countries become more industrialized. These are different from other diseases because they are potentially preventable, and can be lowered with changes in diet, lifestyle, and environment. These include hypertension , heart disease, stroke, obesity ,diabetes, diseases associated with smoking and alcohol and drug abuse, tobacco- and nutrition-induced cancers, chronic bronchitis, emphysema  and premature mortality.

TOP LIFE STYLE DISEASES

Name	Comments
Alzheimer's Disease: a form of brain disease.	No one knows the exact cause, but a real breakdown of the cells of the brain does occur. There is no treatment, but good nutrition may slow the progress of this lifestyle disease.
Arteriosclerosis: A generic term for several diseases in which the arterial wall becomes thicken and loses elasticity. Atherosclerosis is the most common and serious vascular disease.	Plaques (atheromas) deposited in the walls of arteries are major causes of heart disease, chest pain (angina pectoris), heart attacks, and other disorders of the circulation. Atherosclerosis usually occurs with aging. It is linked to overweight, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Cancer: diseases characterized by uncontrolled, abnormal growth of cells.	Cancer is definitely considered the number one Disease of Civilization. There are more than 150 different kinds of cancer and many different causes.
	Top 5 Cancers
	MEN 1. Prostate (28%)     2.    2. Lung (17%) 3. Colorectal (12%) 4. Bladder (07%) Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (04%)	WOMEN 1. Breast (30%) 2. Lung (13%) 3. Colorectal (12%) 4. Uterus (06%) Ovary (04%)
Chronic Liver Disease/Cirrhosis: any of a group of liver disorders.	Characteristics of liver disease are jaundice, loss of appetite, liver enlargement, fluid accumulation, and impaired consciousness.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): a disease characterized by slowly progressing, irreversible airway obstruction.	The symptoms are problems in breathing while exercising, difficulty in breathing in or out deeply, and sometimes a long-term cough. The condition may result from chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, or chronic bronchiolitis. Cigarette smoking and air pollution make it worse.
Diabetes: a disease affecting sugars used by the body.	There are four main types of diabetes mellitus. Type I diabetes is also called insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile-onset diabetes, brittle diabetes, or ketosis-prone diabetes. Type II diabetes is also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes, adult-onset diabetes, ketosis-resistant diabetes, or stable diabetes. Type II often develops in over weight adults. Type III, or gestational diabetes, occurs in some women during pregnancy. Type IV includes other types of diabetes are linked to disease of the pancreas, hormonal changes, side effects of drugs, or genetic defects.
Heart Disease: any of several abnormalities that affect the heart muscle or the blood vessels of the heart.	Heart disease has been the number one cause of mortality and morbidity. There are a couple dozen forms of this lifestyle disease. Heart disease and other forms of cardiovascular disease can lead to congestive heart failure, a condition in which the heart cannot pump sufficient blood to meet the demands of the body.
Nephritis/CRF: any disease of the kidney marked by swelling and abnormal function.	Characteristics of kidney disease are bloody urine, persistent protein in urine, pus in urine, difficult urination, and pain in the back.
Stroke: a condition due to the lack of oxygen to the brain that may lead to reversible or irreversible paralysis.	Stroke is linked to advanced age, high blood pressure, previous attacks of poor circulation, cigarette smoking, heart disorders, embolism, family history of strokes, use of birth-control pills, diabetes mellitus, lack of exercise, overweight, high cholesterol etc

It is predicted that globally, deaths from non communicable diseases (NCD) will increase by 77% between 1990 and 2020 and that most of these deaths will occur in the developing regions of the world including India. These conditions not only cause enormous human suffering, they also threat the economies of many countries as they impact on the older and experienced members of the workforce. In India alone, heart ailments, stroke and diabetes are the most demanding ones which are expected to eat away the country's gross national income to a huge extent by the year 2015. Nowadays, worldwide the true picture is, the sedentary lifestyle is more dangerous for our health than smoking. Researchers of University of Hong Kong in a study looked at the level of physical activity in people who died and were able to correlate their level of physical activity with their risk of dying.
The results are fascinating: 20% of all deaths of people 35 and older were attributed to a lack of physical activity. That's more deaths than can be attributed to smoking. Looking at specific diseases, the risk of dying from cancer increased 45% for men and 28% for women due to lack of physical activity. The risk of dying from respiratory ailments was 92% higher for men and 75% higher for women. The risk of dying from heart disease was 52% higher for men and 28% higher for women, all due to a lack of physical activity.

In India, the scenario is quite worse. It is said that, the possibility of an Indian suffering from a lifestyle disease is four per cent greater than people from other nationalities. Changing lifestyle is mainly responsible for an increase in the number of people suffering from hypertension, stress and other heart ailments. Today's 24x7 world order leaves little room for entertainment, social life, exercise and regular eating and sleeping patterns. Time is being converted into money and personal priorities take back seats as corporate interests and personal ambitions take centre stage. Only when our body starts showing signs of fatigue and inability, we look at our daily routine and think how the same impacts our personal lives. Doctors term these diseases as 'affluent society diseases', which are mainly caused due to reduced physical activity and consumption of fast food and alcohol. Since factors like heredity, sex, age cannot be avoided, one must manage one's lifestyle to avoid being at risk of different lifestyle dominated diseases.

In this context, the people suffering from different ailments or those who stays in the risk zone, should have periodic health checkups for early detection of risk factors and diseases. Regular health-checks coupled with lifestyle changes can go a long way in prevention, early detection and cure of diseases. Preventive healthcare involves health promotion, which is aimed at modifying the individual's social circumstance and lifestyle, which can be also termed as Lifestyle Medicine.

Lifestyle Medicine is nothing but the use of lifestyle interventions in the treatment and management of lifestyle diseases. Such interventions include diet rectifications (good nutrition), exercise, stress management, smoking cessation, and a variety of other non-drug modalities. A growing body of scientific evidence has demonstrated that lifestyle intervention is an essential component in the treatment of chronic disease that can be effective when used appropriately with medication.

The emphasis of lifestyle medicine is on:

Assessing lifestyle
Evaluating the risk factors
Evaluating laboratory reports
Discussing the opportunities for interventions
Prescribing an optimal lifestyle
Tracking and follow-ups

Other than lifestyle interventions in various forms, the healthy lifestyle habits that each member of the society should practice are:
- A strict No to - Smoking
- Alcohol
- Illegal Drugs
- Hypertension
- Stress
- Eat Low Fat, Low Salt, High Fiber Diet
- Do Physical Activity etc.

Lifestyle diseases are our own creation. Most men are unable to resist the temptation of cocktail partying, obsession with shopping, workaholism, sedentary living environment, , blind pleasure psychosis, suffocating dispositions, exchanging conscience and faith with wealth, consumption-based happiness indices, absence of regular sleep, leisure, socialising, taking metric kilos of junk food, and finally the mad march against indomitable time. The only remedy lies in the fact that, man needs to control his senses, freshen up his common sense to make life more convenient in the long run.

References:

1. Adams M; Sedentary lifestyle causes more deaths than smoking, says study; Natural news.com

2. Hatfield F. (2004);Exercise and Diabetes; Fitness the Complete Guide

3. Jenkins M. & O'Connell M. (2005); Nutrition: You Really Are What You Eat;The Jump Off

4. Bhatia.C; (2008);We are more prone to lifestyle disorders, a healthy diet is the only solution; Express India

5. Sassi F and Hurst J(2008); The Prevention of Lifestyle-related Chronic Diseases: An Economic Framework; OECD Health Working Paper

6. Stanelli De (2007); Dangers Of A Sedentary Lifestyle- Disease Risks Associated To Physical Inactivity; Suite101.com

7. Lifestyle Diseases-The Natural Health Perspective tm

Modern Halfway up hairstyle for women 2012

Here you can find the best halfway up hairstyles that you can use to wear to a casual or a formal event.For a casual style, make a part at the crown and brush your hair back from there. You can style it into a ponytail or a bun. You may even want to get creative and braid it or add some colorful accessories.When it comes to hairstyles to match the occasion, it can become quite a mammoth task. The trick is to find a style that can be used to suit any event. One such style is the halfway up hairstyle, and it is perfect for casual or formal occasions.For a more natural look you can part your hair in the middle and braid the front sections. For a more formal style you can part your hair to one side. Take the front sections and tie them using a clip or twist them into a bun.The leftover sections can be curled or left straight. To add that extra something special you can add some glitter or a fresh flower to your hair that matches your dress. To keep the style in place, use some hairspray or lacquer.

Modern funky short and long hairstyles photos for women 2013

There are funky hairstyles for short and long hairstyles also, for women with longer hair there are more choices for a funky hairstyles but short hair is more modern.If you have straight hair and want a modern curly haircuts you can easily use the curling iron and have great modern curl.When you want to get a funky hair, you need to go back to the basic rule: throw out the list of demographics and focus on your own. This hairstyle doesn’t choose people or race or gender or age. You simply need to let your creative energy flow and pour it in to your hair.There are also some who believe that funky hairstyles are not for everyone. Though there’s a hint of truth to this—as only those who are brave enough to wear them can carry them with great sense of style and confidence technically anyone can have a funky hairstyle. It doesn’t matter if you have a round or heart shape, or if you have curly or wavy hair.There are a number of misconceptions people have about this kind of cut. When one says funky, it doesn’t mean that you have to resort to a Mohawk, dreadlock, or a Chelsea hair. You also don’t need to be goth or emo.

Crimped Hairstyle Pictures

Crimped hair fashion trends hair is very popular in the era of 80's. At that time the artist that inspired the crimped hair that is Tina Turner. To crimped la Tina Turner may also be called a lion's hair. You do not mistaken that same crimped curls (curly). Techniques to form a crimped somewhat different with curly. Moreover, most of it naturally curly hair, whereas artificial crimped. Crimped hair using a tool called crimping iron (sort of clamp). If the clamp to align the crimping iron to create a zig zag curve in the hair. With crimped then formed a thin hair can look thick because it inflates.

Short hair styles / Stubble

Short hair style, it still survived in 2010. Short hair can look more modern with the new arrangement. Make the ends of the hair looks more pointed and focused on one side. Your appearance may be more young and chic.


Make short hair in a bob a bit bumpy in the back is also one way to update the appearance. This is done Victoria Beckham to make his new look. This short haircut, suitable for your face oval or tapered.

Hair styles are

if the hair-cut responsibilities, not too long and not too short, you can do many things to arrange. Makes it a little wavy or straighten is one way for a new look and different hair.


Pieces layer can be to make the hair look more volume responsibilities. As for the curly hair, pieces of layer can be made more easily arranged.

Long hair

Long layers are still the mainstay for the hair style of 2010 and very cock for you who have the cheek contain as slim impression. To be more refreshed appearance make it look more layers are corrugated to give the impression glamorous. Various electronic equipment for hairdressing already widely available on the market. Do not be lazy to be creative with these tools for your long hair does not look monotonous. Blake Lively's hair style is long with large wavy layers you can copy to update the appearance of hair.

Teen Hair Style Today

Today many haircuts we meet a variety of forms and variations. One of them is Emo Hair Fashion and Harajuku. Harajuku Emo and this is a longer hair fashion trends of his time. This is evident most of the young kids today, especially students like this hair trend. Trend hair neatly combed bangs that covered her eyes and short aside on the back is the main feature Emo style. This haircut is known by many teens this past year. As haircut Iyan Kasela vocalist King, Kangen band and much more. Emo Hair Style is called bias.

Villa Demidoff

Globe > Europe > Italy >

The beauty and mystery of renaissance gardens seems only to grow once given over to centuries of abandonment. Such is the case of Villa Demidoff.

Commissioned by Francesco I de' Medici in the 16th century Villa Demidoff and the nearby Villa di Pratolino took over 12 years to complete. The end result was a stunning near-labyrinth of natural caves, lakes and massive sculptures. Of the statuary, the 16th century "Appennine Colossus," is the main focal point of the landscape. He sits atop a grotto in apparent anguish at his fate.

Although most of the park and villa was completed in the 16th century, it was all but abandoned in the early 1800s, and some of its delicate statues were actually removed and taken to another Italian garden. Slowly being consumed by nature, the gardens were finally rescued by Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who was so struck by their natural beauty of the place, that he decided to destroy the ruins of the villa and focus completely on the gardens themselves.

After changing hands a few more times, the wild grounds eventually fell into the hands of the government of Florence, who operated the area as a public park during the spring and summer months.

Q Confucius Number 2

Globe > Asia > China

46-year-old Zhang Huan had already made waves across the international art world when he released Q Confucius Number 2 in 2011. Well-known for his works such as "Ash Jesus" and "Three Heads, Six Arms," Huan took his work to a new level when he debuted an animatronic sculpture of Confucius in the bathtub that actually breathes.

Reaching the height of the cavernous room that holds it, Confucius Number 2 perfectly resembles the philosopher down to the long beard and age spots that are present on his face. The sculpture, made out of steel, silicone, carbon fiber, and acrylic, attempts to captures every detail of the human body. The work even has wrinkles and pores around its sculpted features.

Although it is only being displayed until January 29, 2012 at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, Confucius will likely make the art rounds for some time before settling down in a permanent location.

Gun Totem

North America > United States > Rhode Island

Standing 12 feet high in front of Providence's Federal Courthouse is an unusual monument constructed out of steel, concrete and used handguns.

Dubbed the Gun Totem by its artist, Boris Bally, the imposing obelisk was constructed in 2001 with guns from a firearm buy-back program in Pittsburgh. Altogether, more than 1000 guns went into the construction of the pillar, which was commissioned by the Providence Parks Department. All of the guns included in the project were disabled and fossilized beneath concrete, and bits of the pillar were chipped away so people could see the deadly layer beneath the its exterior.

Bally has teamed up with the gun program in Pittsburgh again and has been working on a new project, a series of gun-arches, using disabled handguns in the area.