Interesting pictures

For some time now, I've kept three files in draft on this blog: "Interesting pictures," "book-related stuff," and "humor." Basically every time I come across something interesting – or book-related or funny – I just add it to the appropriate file.

Two of the files ("Interesting" and "Humor") are enormous and growing daily, so I figure it's time to publish one of them and start a new file.

So, without further ado and in no particular order, here are a bunch of interesting photos I've come across in the last few months.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger with Wilt Chamberlain and Andrè the Giant on the set of "Conan The Destroyer," 1983.

A motor home in 1922.

Star Wars characters together from left to right: Han Solo, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2 (1977)

Before and after photos of the excavation of an ancient Greek stadium.

Cats waiting for the return of fishermen, Greece, 1970

Sitting on the edge of the abyss.

These aren't leaves. They're Australian budgies in a dead tree.

Bald eagle's nest with a ranger for scale.

Clever desk lamp.

These clouds over an unknown beach look like a massive wave about to crash down.

Alpine refuge from World War I located at 2760 meters, Monte Cristallo, Italy.

Frost on windshield looks like glaciers towering over a boat.

Paperclips in the shape of cows.

April 20, 1992. The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert held at Wembley Stadium, featuring Queen, Metallica, Def Leppard, Spinal Tap, U2, Guns N' Roses, David Bowie, Elton John, etc. It's not that I have any interest in Freddie Mercury or any of the rock bands listed; but the photo of the massive crowd is both awe-inspiring and horrifying (I don't care for crowds).

The Cistercian monks invented a numbering system in the 13th century which meant that any number from 1 to 9999 could be written using a single symbol.

"Meeting the Giant." Award-winning photograph by Tomasz Szpila.

Some species of burrowing spiders keep tiny frogs in their burrows to keep it free of bugs too small for the spider to get that might try to eat the spider's eggs. (This means the tiny frogs are spider cats.)

Scientists believe one of the functions of a zebra's stripes is to deter insects, so a team of researchers painted black-and-white stripes on several cows and discovered it reduced the number of biting flies landing on the cows by more than 50%. 

Clever braiding.

Artist's depiction of the future, painted in 1930.

Jane Goodall got her own Barbie doll as part of Mattel's Inspiring Women series.

Same place, same memory, 58 years later.

And, along the same lines: 5MB storage in 1956 vs. 1TB storage now.

Aerial view of over 400,000 people at Woodstock, 1969.

Planes fly between the towers and pedestrians cross as part of the opening celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge, May 1937

Christopher Guinet sculptures.

Interesting optical illusion.

Magnificent "jar" quilt. Apparently it took the quilter almost three years to collect the correct fabrics.

Knitting ramen.

Kelvin–Helmholtz clouds photographed from Sheridan, Wyoming over the Big Horn Mountains.

These are bathroom tiles from the Lithuanian design studio Gyva Grafika.

Size of a tornado compared to wind turbines (lower right).

The barge 'Marine Angel' negotiates a turn through the upraised Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago, 1953.

Los Angeles development boom of the 1950s.

Unborn bat.

Along the same lines, a skeleton of a pregnant bat.

A huge walrus fell asleep on the hatch of a submarine, blocking the crew from exiting. They had to use the rear hatch to get out.

Artistic grooming on a camel.

Hong Kong, 1950s-60s (photo by Fan Ho).

Kiwi with egg. These birds have the largest egg compared to body size of any animal.

In 2000, a father in Utah designed this tombstone for his son, depicting the child "free of his earthly burdens." His son passed away in his sleep after spending the majority of his life wheelchair-bound, blind, and paralyzed. Poignant.

Tokyo from the sky, the most populated city in the world with 37 million inhabitants.

New York City from the air.

As of 2020, half of the U.S. population lives in the black counties, and half lives in the orange.

The making of Batman in 1966.

This is the hand of Andrè the Giant holding a regular-size can of beer.

Sizes of Russia and Bangladesh compared to their populations.

The Nambia Desert meets the ocean.

Realistic drawings of gems.

Talented embroidery.

The most detailed model of a human cell to date, obtained using x-ray, NMR, and cryoelectron microscopy datasets. 

A spider came back to molt in the same place on a book four times.

The Bone Church in the Czech Republic.

Photo taken from the top of the Juche Tower in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2016.

A tree saved by a tree. The caption read: "When branches or roots from different trees are in prolonged intimate contact, they often abrade each other exposing their inner tissues, which may eventually fuse. This process is called inosculation, a natural phenomenon in which trunks, branches or roots of two trees grow together. It is biologically similar to grafting. Such trees are referred to in forestry as gemels, from the Latin word meaning 'a pair.'"

This advertisement from 1996 was prophetic. It reads: "They say in thirty years a burger & fries could cost $16, a vacation $12,500, and a basic car $65,000. No problem. You'll eat in. You won't drive. And you won't go anywhere."

Apoica wasp nest.

Forest ballerinas. A clever interpretation.

Four shades of blue in Antarctica.

Old World language family tree.

Huangjuewan interchange in China.

Sorvagsvatn, the lake that hangs over the ocean.

Entrance exam for an art school in China.

Mt. Fuji from the International Space Station.

Cannabis field in the middle of a cornfield.

Microscopic look at bee stinger vs. needle.

NASA's James Webb telescope spotted a giant 'question mark' object in deep space. The first photo has the selected area circled at bottom center.

Kola Superdeep Borehole. It's 40,230 feet (7.619 miles) deep and yet it looks like a manhole cover. More information here.

A dad talked to his baby in the womb. When she was born, she greeted him with a beaming smile the instant she recognized his voice.

Mother with a calf.

Girls dressed as Matryoshka dolls.

Astounding chess ring.

Container ship from above.

Ants carrying a glove up a lamp post.

According to the caption: "This is not a scene from any game or image of a fantasy world. This is an aerial shot of a housing development on the outskirts of Mexico City."

Macau, China.

Story in one picture.

1750s Baroque pulpit in Dobroszów.

Old meets new in China.

Red-eyed crocodile skinks. Definitely not baby dragons.

Hong Kong in 1964 and 2016.

Opportunistic!

Clever

Hong Kong.

Chicago skyline visible from nearly 50 miles away in Indiana Dunes sunset.

The "Black Crack" along Utah's White Rim trail, a natural fissure in the rock a few feet wide and deep enough to kill you.

Some say this is AI-generated. Regardless, it's pretty.

A matter of perspective.

Dewey spider web.

That's all the "interesting pictures" I've collected so far. I'll start another file and post a new one at some point in the future. Enjoy!