Category: bizarre

World’s Largest Rhythmic Spring

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, places, science

A rhythmic spring is a water spring from which the flow of water either varies or starts and stops entirely, over a fairly regular time-scale of minutes or hours. The “Intermittent Spring” located in Swift Creek canyon in Star Valley, near Afton, Wyoming is the largest rhythmic spring in the world. The theory is that as groundwater flows continuously into a cavern, it fills a narrow tube that leads out. As the cavern overflows it creates a siphoning effect and when that happens the hydraulic effect pulls the water out of that cavern and creates a river which runs for about 15 minutes. Eventually this siphon is broken once air reaches the pipe and it breaks off. Then the cavern fills again with water and it starts the process all over again.

Ninjatacoshell, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A squishy bog in kathmandu, Nepal

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, funny, science

This is called a floating bog. You can tell by the way it moves it’s made of a big mat of moss and other plants growing together floating on-top of standing water.

A tree growing out of a white salt island in the heart of the Dead Sea

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, places

Dead Sea is one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water – 9.6 times as salty as the ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. A tree growing out of a white salt island in the heart of the Dead Sea isn’t something you’d expect to see The tree on this unique island off the shores of the Dead Sea was planted there by a local artist. The artist every day puts mud around its base to ensure that it gets all the nutrients needed to survive.

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Japan’s Star Sand Beach

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, places

Located on Iriomote Island in southwestern Japan, Hoshizuna-no-hama beach is famous for its star-shaped grains of sand..These unique grains are actually the pointy husks of millions of tiny protists known as Foraminifera.

http://Alain COUETTE, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Lancashire’s secret ‘Dragon’s Eye Cave’

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, places

In West Lancashire, UK, there is a hidden cave only known to a few urban explorers and the locals. The cave is thought to be formed from an old mine shaft and at its center there is the spectacular‘dragon’s eye’. The mythical looking pattern is believed to have developed ‘as a result of a collapsed mine roof that exposed different colour sediments’, according to discvr.blog.

 

Window tax – One of the weirdest taxes in history

by eMORFES, posted in architecture, bizarre, places

Window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France, and Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax, some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces

In 1696 in England, William III introduced the infamous Window tax, taxing houses based on the number of windows they had. Houses with more than ten windows had to pay a steep ten shillings. Many houses bricked up their windows to reduce the number which caused health problems. After 156 years, it was repealed in 1851 following campaigners branded it a “tax on health” and “tax on light and air”.

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Twigsaints by Chris Kenny

by eMORFES, posted in art, bizarre, sculptures

Chris Kenny works with humble, found materials: like twigs. These little figures demonstrate the saintly characteristics of self-denial and humility. Since March 2017, Chris Kenny has been making a daily sculpture of a saint cut from a twig and posting it on Instagram as @twigsaints .

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Experimental Forestry in Japan results to amazing Tree ‘Crop Circles’ half a century later

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, places

Aerial photos reveal groups of Japanese cedar trees swelling toward the sky, creating two forest circles. According to a 1973 document from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, researchers had embarked on a project designed to examine tree spacing and its effect on growth. According to Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, the height difference between the smallest trees at the center and the tallest trees on the outer ring was over 5 meters. Again, this implies that trees in less dense areas have more access to resources while trees in the center, have to compete for sunlight and water.  The research team is bringing the experiment to an end. The trees will be harvested unless they are preserved as a tourist attraction.

Photograph via Google Earth
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Baikal Zen – Lake Rocks seem like they are floating in the air

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, places

A rare phenomenon in Lake Baikal in Siberia called “Baikal Zen”, Rocks lying on the surface of the frozen lake are heated by sunlight that melts the ice below. When the sun sets, the ice freezes again, creating these incredible frozen structures.

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Snow Gum Tree

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre

Eucalyptus pauciflora, commonly known as snow gum, is a species of tree native to eastern Australia. It has smooth bark in shades of white, gray, and occasionally red and white flowers. The bark sheds, giving it an attractive mottled appearance in various colors.


MayumiKataoka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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