On a 1,666-square-foot curved LED screen in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, a gigantic cat looms over the crowd near a busy railway station. Part of an experiment in “digital signage,” the scale of the feline is startling. Finally a pet cat worthy of Godzilla!
Month: July 2021
Monsters in Winnipeg!
Why? Where did they come from? What do they want!?
Sasquatch Provincial Park
Sasquatch Provincial Park is a provincial park in Kent, British Columbia, Canada.
The park was established 1968, in its present condition. It actually began in 1959 as a 20 hectare inland fjord called Green Point Park, which was expanded into a picnicking area in 1960. Eight years later the park was expanded greatly and renamed. It was named after Sasquatch (a Halkomelem Salish word), the cryptid said to be endemic to the area.
The park is 1217 hectares in size. It is characterized by a series of pocket lakes, a unique second-growth and birch forest, and scenic mountain ridges.
The park is located in the District of Kent, 6 kilometres north of Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia.
Conservation
Wildlife: tailed frogs, beavers, mountain goats, bears, deer, and Sasquatch
Fish: sturgeon, smelt, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, brook char, salmon, catfish, and stickleback
Birds: bald eagles, woodpeckers, warblers, and vireos
Insect: black petaltail dragonfly
Sasquatch sightings go back as far as the 1800s when prospectors and miners from the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon told stories of wild ape-men. In British Columbia, over 200 Sasquatch sightings have been reported in the area of Harrison Hot Springs, Pitt Lake, Whistler and Squamish, Hope, Mission, and on Vancouver Island. People have also reported hearing the Sasquatch making high-pitched screams and howling at night across British Columbia.
The last sighting on record was in 2014; Global News reported that a Sasquatch-like creature was seen trudging through snow in a remote area near Whistler.
Northumberlandia: The Lady of the North
In the former coal mining town of Cramlington, Northumberland, North East England, is a gigantic piece of land art in the shape of reclining naked lady named ‘Northumberlandia’. She is more than a hundred feet tall at her tallest point, her forehead, and a quarter of a mile long. She lies on her back, with her hairs spread out, upper body in supine position and her lower torso twisted towards her left, as if she is dancing. Created by American landscape architect and designer Charles Jencks, Northumberlandia is said to be largest human landform sculpture in the world.
It is intended to be a major tourist attraction, with the developers hoping that it will attract an additional 200,000 visitors a year to Northumberland. It was officially opened by Anne, Princess Royal on 29 August 2012. A day-long Community Opening Event on 20 October 2012 marked the park becoming fully open to the public.
Northumberlandia was created from the by-products of an opencast mine in Shotton owned by Banks Group and Blagdon Estates. While digging for coal the employers realized that there was a splendid opportunity to creatively reuse all the rocks and dirt dug out of the ground instead of dumping them into bland hills. So they contacted renowned artist Charles Jencks to see what could be done and Northumberlandia was born.
It took Charles Jencks two years to build and shape her curvaceous figure and sensual limbs out of 1.5m tonnes of rock, clay and soil discarded from the mine. Her core is made of rocks, layered over with clay and topped with soil over which a fine grass now grows. Some of her features are artistically highlighted with stone from the mine that is often used for the restoration of old buildings. The figure provides a series of resting and viewing platforms, the uppermost on the forehead, from which you can get a view of the open cast mine from where she came.
Joey Chestnut just keeps rapidly slamming back those hot dogs
Joseph Christian Chestnut (born November 25, 1983) is an American competitive eater. He is currently ranked first in the world by Major League Eating. He is a Vallejo, California, native and resides in Westfield, Indiana. Chestnut’s height is 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m); his weight is 230 pounds (100 kg).
On July 4, 2007, Chestnut won the 92nd Annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, beating six-time defending champion Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi by consuming a world record 66 hot dogs and buns (HDB) in 12 minutes, after losing to Kobayashi in 2005 and 2006. The following year, he successfully defended his title by winning a five hot dog eat-off after tying Kobayashi in consuming 59 HDB in ten minutes. On July 4, 2009, Chestnut beat Kobayashi again, by consuming a world record 68 HDB and winning his third consecutive title. On July 4, 2010, Chestnut took home his 4th consecutive Mustard Belt eating 54 HDB. The 2010 contest was a runaway victory, as Kobayashi did not compete due to a contract dispute with Major League Eating. On July 4, 2011, he won his fifth-consecutive championship with 62 HDB. 2012 marked his sixth consecutive win, when Chestnut tied his own world record from 2009 by devouring 68 HDB. In 2013, Chestnut captured his seventh straight title, eating a total of 69 HDB, breaking his previous world record. In 2014, Chestnut captured his eighth straight title eating a total of 61 HDB.
Chestnut lost the 2015 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest to Matt Stonie. On July 4, 2016, Chestnut regained the championship belt from Stonie by eating 70 hot dogs; 3.5 hot dogs short of his record-setting qualifying round. A year later on July 4, 2017, he raised the bar again by raising his record to 72 hot dogs; and again the following year to a world record of 74. In 2019, he secured a twelfth title with 71 HDB, but failed to beat his previous record. In 2020, he consumed 75 HDB, a world record for the contest. In 2021, he consumed 76 HDB, breaking his own world record for the contest.
Chestnut, a San Jose State University student, entered the competitive eating scene in 2005 with a break-out performance in the deep-fried asparagus eating championship, in which he beat high-ranked eater Rich LeFevre by eating 6.3 pounds (2.9 kg) of asparagus in 11.5 minutes. That same year, during Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, he ate 32 HDB, placing third behind Takeru Kobayashi and Sonya Thomas.
On October 22, 2005, Chestnut set a new world record for downing 32.5 grilled cheese sandwiches in ten minutes at the Arizona State Fair, as part of the GoldenPalace.net World Grilled Cheese Eating Championship circuit.
Chestnut defeated Thomas in the Waffle House World Waffle Eating Championship and placed second to her in a Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship qualifier, eating 56 Krystal Burgers in eight minutes to her 57. He later beat her by eating 91 hamburgers in the finals, finishing second to the 97 hamburgers consumed by Kobayashi.
Chestnut trains by fasting and by stretching his stomach with milk, water and protein supplements. Since the start of his competitive eating career, his competition weight has varied from 225–240 pounds (102–109 kg). After winning his sixth consecutive hot dog eating contest in 2012 by eating 68 hot dogs, he stated, “I will not stop until I reach 70. This sport isn’t about eating. It’s about drive and dedication, and at the end of the day, hot dog eating challenges both my body and my mind.” He says he trains for hot dog eating competitions by cooking hot dogs at his house and then eating them in a simulated competition style. He starts with 40 hot dogs and then works his way up until he is in game shape. He compared it to running or lifting weights for other athletes.
This is not exactly a classic sports moment.
Royal Marines test out jet suit
Jet suit developer Gravity Industries has joined forces with the Royal Marines to test its latest product for maritime boarding operations. The company said it spent three days with 42 Commando Royal Marines off the south coast of the UK. The suit was tested in exercises between two moving vessels as an alternative to boarding via helicopter fast-roping.
Little Islands
Aoga-shima island off the coast of Japan
Inishturkbeg Island off Ireland
Male, capital island city of the Maldives
Battleship Island, Japan. There was a coal mine under the island, the company built apartment buildings for the workers and their families. It was abandoned in the 1980’s.
Palau, South Pacific
Lejima Island, Japan
Sark Island, English Channel
Babel Island, off Tasmania
Thousand Island Lake, China
Small island off of Thunder Bay, Ontario
Whitsunday Island, Australia
Vietnam War GI Helmet Graffiti
Vietnam War (American involvement) 1964-1973.
Happy July 4th America – from Buzz Aldrin.
The second man to walk on the moon is still alive and kicking. 91 years old.
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