CultCase

Color Pic-a-Pix Light Vol 1: Solve the Puzzle and Discover a Beautiful Pixel-Art Picture

2012-01-31T14:44:00.001+02:00

The object in this new game from Conceptis is to reveal a hidden picture by painting blocks according to the rules. There is only one unique solution for each puzzle.

Rules are pretty simple: Each row and column should be painted so their length, color and sequence corresponds to the clues, and there is at least one empty square between adjacent same-color blocks. It is allowed to have no empty square between adjacent different-color blocks.

How to play

Select the color you wish to use and click the desired square in the grid. First mouse click fills a square, second mouse click displays a dot to indicate the square is blank and third click brings the square back to its original state. Multiple squares may be filled or blanked by dragging the mouse.

Play Color Pic-a-Pix Light Vol 1

More Weird Skulls?

2012-01-02T17:55:00.003+02:00

The above pictures came in via email from a guy who lives in Northeast Ohio, claims to have found while 'out hunting in concord' and asks if we at CultCase think we're able to 'tell what it is'. We're guessing our opinion on the subject is appreciated mainly due to this article which was published on CultCase a few years ago. We always welcome questions from our readers, especially when they're about our favorite subject (Paleontological mythology). Therefore, we examined the artifact and came to a conclusion it has to be either a dinosaur goat or one of these.

March of the Million: 14 Spectacular Photos from Israel's Biggest Ever Demonstration

2011-09-04T19:15:00.000+03:00

Some say 400K, others count 430K and - as a matter of fact - the official title was actually 'March of the Million' but the exact figures are obviously minor by now. This way or another Israel saw its biggest ever cross-country demonstration yesterday night, demanding social justice and a lower cost of living. The largest demonstration took place in Tel Aviv, where approx. 300K took part. Additional 50,000 protested in Jerusalem, 40,000 marched in Haifa and many others in smaller protests in dozens of other towns and cities. The following are 14 of the most spectacular moments from yesterday's events.

Bird-Eye Views

The following bird-eye views were taken above Kikar Hamedina square in Tel Aviv from a police helicopter. More in the official Facebook album of the Israeli police.

And here are a couple above Iben Gavirol St. nearby the Kikar Rabin square:

.

Ground Views

The following faceshots were all published on Haaretz newspaper's Facebook page. More in this Facebook album.

Nearby Building Views

And here are 3 more of Kikar Hamedina, taken by Oren Ziv of ActiveStills.

Sunrise View of Tycho Crater's Peak

2011-09-02T12:37:00.001+03:00

Tycho is a 110 million years old lunar crater about 51 miles (82 km) in diameter. Earlier this summer, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft "angled its orbit 65° to the west", allowing its camera to capture this dramatic sunrise view of Tycho (Click image for high-res version).

More about Tycho:

The summit of the central peak is 1.24 miles (2 km) above the crater floor.
The distance from Tycho's floor to its rim is about 2.92 miles (4.7 km).
Tycho crater's central peak complex, shown above, is about 9.3 miles (15 km) wide, left to right (southeast to northwest in this view).

Via NASA | Photo credit: NASA Goddard/Arizona State University

Passionate about Passion Fruit

2011-08-19T16:40:00.021+03:00

Passionate about Passion fruit.

me @Instagr.am

Creek Face

2011-08-04T15:58:00.005+03:00

Creek Face by Stumbleforfree / freepostia.com

Twitter: From 0 to 200 Million Tweets a Day in 5 Years [Infographic]

2011-07-18T15:55:00.043+03:00

Love Infographics? Here is a new one we think you should check out: created by visual.ly, a start-up company specializing in machine generated data visualizations, the neat infographic below plots out "key milestones" on Twitter's path to 200 million tweets a day. Cheers, Twitter!

Source: Following Twitter by visual.ly

Robber Beaten by Hair Salon Owner and Sex-Slaved for 3 Days Fed Only Viagra

2011-07-17T12:21:00.050+03:00

Planning to rob any Russian hair salons in the near future? Better make sure the owners are not Pulp Fiction fans with a black belt in Karate, first. Viktor Jasinski (32) who tried doing just that ended up as a sex victim after the female shop owner Olga Zajac (28, shown above at the top) overpowered him with a single kick and decided to 'teach him a lesson'.

Then, in a nearly perfect remake of the famous 'gimp scene' in Tarantino's 1994 Pulp Fiction (starring Ving Rhames and Bruce Willis, need a reminder? check the video below) the lady dragged the semi-conscious kicked 'robber' to a back room of her salon and stripped him naked. She then tied him up 'to a radiator' using a 'hair dryer cable' and used him as a sex slave while force feeding him Viagra to 'keep the lesson going'.

According to the local police the above procedure went on for 3 consecutive days, until the would-be robber was eventually released with Zajak saying 'he had learned his lesson'. We're pretty sure that he did. Anyways, both Jasinski and Zajac have now been arrested. More details? Read the full story here

Collage images

Top: Olga Zajac (via DailyMail) | Bottom left: Ving Rhames and Bruce Willis in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction | Bottom right: Official Pulp Fiction poster

Sad View from Hashalom Interchange [pic]

2011-07-10T16:04:00.035+03:00

Just a random shot taken from Hashalom interchange, right above the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv. Take a closer look below.

Drive carefully, folks.

(Photo by CultCase)

It's Not About Who You Know, It's About Where You Are.

2011-06-30T12:45:00.017+03:00

It's not about who you know, It's about where you are.

7 Contemporary High-Speed Photographers

2011-06-20T16:47:00.006+03:00

If you ever tried taking a photograph of a running dog or a fast moving car you must have noticed it is quite a difficult task. Even with the most generous lighting conditions and very good lenses normal photography equipment is unable to capture sharp images of extremely fast motion due to the familiar effect of motion-blur. That's where special High Speed Photography equipment and a lot of experience and knowhow get into the picture... High Speed Photography is the art and science of taking of motion picture film, video or still photos of extremely fast phenomena such as explosions and detonations; water splashes; gunshots and other extreme high-speed actions.

* Note: This article was originally published on January 25, 2008. It got lost during a major CultCase crash and was republished on June, 2011.

The first practical application of high-speed photography is attributed to Eadweard Muybridge for his famous horse feet research. Later innovators such as of Eastman Kodak's, Bell Labs', Wollensak Optical's, Redlake Laboratories' and others further developed the equipment allowing up to 10,000 frames in a single second, even though most modern equipment is usually a bit slower that that. The Photron APX camera, for example, is capable of high resolution capturing of 1024 x 1024 images at 2000FPS or 1024 x 512 ones in 4000FPS.

Apparently, a few physical and chemical phenomena are way too fast to be captured even via a 10,000 FPS camera. Some stages in nuclear explosions occur in the speed of light or in other words exactly 299,792,458 meters per second. That was just too fast for any device to be able to capture until the 1940s when Harold E. Edgerton, AKA the "Doc" introduced us with a new ultra high-speed technique titled Stroboscopic Photography.

The amazing images shown above taken by Edgerton in the early 50s show the growing hit and shock fireballs about one millisecond after nuclear detonation. Using his Rapatronic cameras Edgerton managed to take such nuclear detonation photographs with the amazing exposure time of up to 10 billionths of a second. For making Stroboscopy and High Speed photography what they are today Edgerton (below) won many awards including the SMPTE Progress Medal in 1959 and the Eastman Kodak Gold Medal Award in 1983.

Lucky for us and right from the start, Edgerton's work was in no way limited to the physics of nuclear detonations. In 1937 Edgerton's "Coronet" milk drop photo was featured in the first photography exhibit of New York Museum of Modern Art's. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Edgerton was also of the first photographers to take high-speed shots of subjects commonly experimented by contemporary photographers. He took the pictures of athletes (1938), hummingbirds hovering (1953), bullets bursting balloons (1959) and blood coursing through capillaries (1964), and set up the path for countless of enthusiastic followers. "Self-Portrait with Balloon and Bullet" for example (below), was taken in 1959 but still looks fresh and stylish.

Today, following the path-breaking achievements of Edgerton and other High Speed Photography innovators and as technology become cheaper and more affordable, high-speed photographers became more common. What was once a technical scientific occupation is today a popular form of art attracting countless of enthusiasts across the world. Thus, fueled by the power of Internet, countless of High Speed Photo fans are able to freeze time and share fractions of their reality with you and me.

The following is a selection of seven outstanding contemporary High Speed photographers and some of their work. While some of them are already famous and others don't even have a name, each one of them has his own unique visual language. Enjoy.

1. fotofrog
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotofrog/

Based in Hagen, Germany fotofrog has been photographing for over 20 years with his main interests being High speed photography, infrared and macro. Gunshot and impact photos are pretty common nowadays but fotofrog spices them up with a with some thrill and danger, combining his model hands in the shot, very close to the action. A word of advice from fotofrog: don't try this at home.

2. Kai Kuusisto
http://www.flickr.com/people/kaintero/

The photos Kai Kuusisto, AKA kaintero, takes with bicycle rider Antti Koljonen particularly interesting as they always combine some drama or a good sense of humor with their high speed subject. Other than a great High Speed photographer this 27 years old great looking dude from Helsinki, Finland is also a bmx rider and a civil engineer. Stylish. You can also meet him on MySpace or read this recent article from delarge.co.uk.

3. Andrew Davidhazy
http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/

Professor Andrew Davidhazy of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology is one of the most outstanding experts for High Speed Photography worldwide. His photos include everything from Gunshots, Splashes and Dripping water to Schlieren and Photoinstrumentation Photographs.

4. Greg Scott
http://www.gregscott.com

Hummingbirds are living helicopters made by nature. They can fly forward, backward, up, down, and even upside-down. Their wings' motion changes its angle with each flap. Unlike other birds, hummingbirds flap their wings horizontally in the shape of a figure 8 and do that on an average rate of 50 times per second. During courtship Hummingbirds' wings can speed up to 200 times a second. The above photos were all taken at 1/33000 sec, using an Olsen custom flash. Click them and have a look at the high-res versions. In my humble opinion, considering the way these birds were moving while being photographed, the level of details and focus here is simply amazing.

5. breic
http://www.flickr.com/people/breic/

Water and milk splash photos are amongst the most popular High Speed Photography subjects and it's not easy to make a difference. There is not much publicly known about breic except for being a north American and having a unique visual language for a spectacular set of milk color splash photos. The above milk splashing onto black plastic photos include food coloring. Lighting: Vivitar 283 (without diffusion) at camera right, aluminum foil reflector at left. ISO100, f/38.

6. Pulse Photonics
http://www.pulsephotonics.com

There are many great companies out there doing fabulous High Speed work. Yet Pulse Photonics has been in business for more than 25 years during which time it has supplied lighting and cameras for many scientific research disciplines. The wealth of experience gained during this period is clearly shown in their work and has gained them the only slot on this article devoted to a company rather than an artist. Some of the bullet photos taken by Pulse Photonics, such as the above "Bullet through metal" for example, are within the level of art. At least I would gladly have one in my living room for what it counts.

7. bowie22
http://www.flickr.com/people/13281157@N05/

Other than being a "taken" young man bowie22 from Kingsport, Tennessee has a special talent for drop and reflection photos. For me drop and reflection photos are of the most interesting High Speeds due to the clean look of the water surface, the shape of the drop serving as a mirror and the additional requirement of macro techniques.

A view of Israel's northern shoreline from Rosh HaNikra

2011-06-12T18:48:00.025+03:00

We had the pleasure of taking this photo of Israel's shoreline from the top of the Rosh HaNikra cliff, a few meters from the Israel-Lebanon border. Now it's a nominee for June's best Travel photo in Panoramio. Wish us luck!

High-Res version | View in Google Earth

Chernobyl Journal: HDR Photo Journey to the Zone of Exclusion

2009-07-25T18:29:00.020+03:00

It was exactly 01:23:45 AM (UTC+3) on 26 April 1986 when reactor #4 at the Chernobyl plant, near Pripyat in the former U.S.S.R., exploded and sparked a chain reaction ending up with what we know today as the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history. A huge plume of highly radioactive fallout, 400 times more than during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (Wikipedia), was exploded into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area. But 23 years later, for Swiss decay photographer Timm Suess the Chernobyl ground-zero is also the stuff dreams are made of. At least his dreams.

Like Stalker in Tarkovsky's sci-fi masterpiece, filmed 7 years before the Chernobyl disaster, Suess takes us to a stunning photo-journey into one of the most horrific, abandoned and destructed areas on the surface of earth. While the "Zone" parts in Tarkovsky's fiction film where shot at a deserted hydro power plant on the Jägala river near Tallinn, Estonia, Suess' Chernobyl Journal is an overwhelming HDR photo documentary project chronicling a two-day trip taken in March 2009 through the real thing – the Chernobyl zone of exclusion. Packaged into an online presentation on Suess' website, the must see collection includes approx. 450 photographs as well as a few short videos. Below are a few samples we find particularly interesting.

The Road to Chernobyl

Road towards Chernobyl town, still outside the zone (Source). More from this set, including pictures taken in the town of Chernobyl nearby Suess base camp, here.

Red Forest

Panorama of the Chernobyl power plant, view from the railway bridge (Source). More from this set, taken around the Red Forest area near Pripyat, Chernobyl, here.

Pripyat Center

The Pripyat city administration building. The radioactivity sign was probably placed there after the accident (Source). More from this set, taken in the city square of the ghost town of Pripyat west of Chernobyl, here.

Apartment Building

Another corridor in an apartment block in the ghost city of Pripyat near Chernobyl (Source). More from this set, taken around an apartment block in the ghost town of Pripyat near Chernobyl, here.

Amusement Park

The Ferris wheel in the ghost town of Pripyat near Chernobyl (Source). More from this set, taken around the amusement park in the ghost city of Pripyat near Chernobyl, here.

Swimming pool

The public swimming pool in the ghost town of Priypat near Chernobyl (Source). More from this set, taken in a public swimming pool in the ghost town of Pripyat near Chernobyl, here.

School Greenhouse

Greenhouse of a school in the ghost town of Pripyat near Chernobyl (Source). More from this set, taken in and around the greenhouse of school #1 in the ghost town of Pripyat near Chernobyl, here.

Ship Graveyard

Liquidator boats at the ship graveyard north of Chernobyl (Source). More from this set, taken in the North of Chernobyl, where the old liquidator ships went to die, here.

Around Reactor Island

Cooling tower of the unfinished Chernobyl reactors 5 and 6 (Source). More from this horrifying and thrilling set of pictures from and around the Chernobyl Reactor Island, including reactors 1-4 and unfinished reactors 5 and 6, here.

For more see Chernobyl Journal:
http://timmsuess.com/chernobyl-journal/

Scramateurs: Distorted Para-Sexual Images

2009-07-17T10:08:00.053+03:00

Delving into the female form and erotica yet claiming to avoid sexual context, Scramateurs by Laurence Taylor is a set of 6 digitally retouched images based on women photographs that had either been taken by themselves or by someone they knew. Taylor then focuses on the sexiest part of his subject's personal image, cutting off all excess parts. Then, through the use of distortion techniques, a theme that is used extensively throughout his work, Taylor takes the sexiness away, or in his own words to CultCase:

"denying the viewer of what was at one point a very enjoyable, erotic image."

So, even though we are not 100 percent sure about how really "not erotic" the set really is, but we do feel Scramateurs is a powerful para-sexual and enjoyable creation. The photo set below is curtsy of Laurence Taylor and published with permission of the artist. You may enjoy it the way you see right / your religion allows (...) but please be nice and check with Laurence before copying it.

The Couch

The Belt

The Pants

The Pit

The Teeth

The Grope

More from Laurence Taylor on Flickr

Spiderweb

2009-07-15T19:03:00.013+03:00

Did you know that not all spiders build webs to catch their prey, and some do not build webs at all? Designed to be used as traps, spiderwebs are of nature's most sophisticated devices and are built by spiders out of a special silk extruded from their spinnerets. Insects get trapped in spiderwebs and then eaten, providing nutrition to the spider. The tensile strength of spider silk is greater than the same weight of steel and has much greater elasticity. Spiderweb structure is constantly being researched for potential industrial applications. Two examples are bullet-proof vests and artificial tendons (Wikipedia).

Above: A spiderweb in our garden.
Photo by CultCase. High-res here.

Man Comes Back From The Dead in Israel

2009-07-03T14:11:00.042+03:00

An ambulance crew dispatched to the apartment of an 84 year old man in the city of Ramat Gan in Israel, found him lying on his stomach amid filth in his living room. Maggots and blue death marks were all over the body that was already cold. There was also no pulse or breathing or other life signs and there could be no mistake about the strong putrid smell in the apartment. In other words, the man was dead. So, after a doctor arrived to the scene and examined the body he signed the death certificate shown in the above photo.

But as the saying goes, it ain't over till it's over. A few minutes later, when the body evacuation crew was waiting for the CSIs to complete their documentation process, a policeman came near to the "corpse" and could see it is, well... moving his hand. The paramedics were called back, and the man was taken, conscious, to Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. Naturally, until the recommendations of the special investigation team that had been set up following the incident are issued, the team that declared the man dead was suspended from all medical activity.

We're relived.

Via JPost and Ynet
Photo by paramedic team member Berale Yaakobovitch, via Ynet

Worst Parking Fail Ever

2009-06-29T20:43:00.029+03:00

Gladly, most of us know that "the art of parking" go hand in hand with "the art of driving". Some of us, unfortunately, tend to focus on "driving" and forget about the "parking" part. Take that 23 years old woman, for example, was - sadly - severely injured today after falling 3 stories with her Mazda due to a failed parking attempt at the Malha shopping mall in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, according to the Israeli news portal Ynet, her husband who was standing outside the car was also injured after getting hit by the running car on its way down.

Please don't get us wrong here, this is not about female drivers! Women are often more careful than men and known to account for fewer car accidents. It's just that this one is not a very good example to all that. Photographs by Gil Yochanan, Ynet.

Manhole Cover Designs: Urban Industrial Artworks under Our Feet

2009-06-15T13:50:00.074+03:00

Manhole design has been around for many years, since the era of ancient Rome to be exact, when people began using sewage and drainage systems. An extraordinary ahead-of-its-time book by Mimi and Robert Melnick is most likely, however, to be the first attempt to define and document manhole covers and their place in (American) culture as an urban industrial art. As described by MITpress in the book intro:

"They lie underfoot, embellished and gleaming. They seal off and provide entry to an underground world of conduits, water mains, power lines, and sewers. They appear by the thousands in our cities, but very few people ever look at them or think about them as art. At once completely ordinary and totally unexpected, manhole covers present an infinite variety of design in the commonplace as well as a record of defunct utility companies, forgotten business firms, and obsolete foundries."

Manhole cover design varies greatly from city to city, with each municipality particular approach for budget versus art. According to ManHole.ca, a website dedicated to Fine Sewer Art and Manhole Cover Photography - some cities, such as Seattle, opted for a clever street map design on their covers while others go for city logos or seals. A few cities, such as Vancouver, Seattle, New York and Tokyo, went even further and pursued commissioned designer covers. Furthermore, in competitions to find the best designs, these cities have had their communities actively participating in waste awareness. Above: "In Direct Line With Another & The Next", taken in Downtown, New York by Jenna, via Jason Eppink.

With their own astonishing variety depending on locality, utility type and manufacturer but often including a symbol specific to an area or town as part of the overall design, Japanese are considered amongst the most extraordinary manhole covers. In Kyoto, for example, a turtle symbolizing wisdom and longevity is the main motif. In other cases local landmarks, festivals or flora and fauna are used (japanvisitor.com). Above: manhole cover in Himeji by tickle_tickle. The following are a few of the most interesting cover designs as photographed and collected by people in Japan, USA, Germany, Canada and Mexico. If you have any photos of other interesting manhole covers from around the world please send them over or post their links here as a comment. Enjoy!

Manholes in Japan

Kobe (1), Japan
By Alexis Lê-Quôc [Source]

Kobe (2), Japan.
By Janne Moren [Source]

Kobe (3), Japan.
By Janne Moren [Source]

Takaoka, Japan.
By Trane DeVore, Troutfactory [Source]

Fukuoka, Japan.
By Trane DeVore, Troutfactory [Source]

Toshogu, Japan.
By Trane DeVore, Troutfactory [Source]

Fire hydrant cover at Hanahaku park with the character from the flower exhibition in 1990.
By Janne Moren [Source]

Manholes in USA

Seattle, USA.
By JR Conlin [Source]

San Francisco, USA.
By mr.nunez.sfo [Source]

East Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, USA
By Nick Sherman [Source].

Manholes in Germany

Berlin, Germany
By Ted Stevens [Source]

Freiburg i.Br., Germany
By madcrow [Source]

Manhole in Canada

Vancouver, Canada.
By Fecki [Source]

Manhole in Mexico

Unknown, Mexico
By Avi Dolgin [Source]

Manhole Collections

Host, aka Puppenspieler
Janne Moren aka Jannem
Trane DeVore, aka Troutfactory (Also see Japan’s beautiful manhole covers)

Top montage

Left: "In Direct Line With Another & The Next", taken in Downtown, New York by Jenna, via Jason Eppink, Manhole in Mexico by Avi Dolgin [Source], Manhole in Freiburg i.Br., Germany by madcrow [Source], Right: Manhole in Takaoka, Japan by Trane DeVore, Troutfactory [Source].

1960 Ford Prefect Farewell

2009-05-19T12:41:00.041+03:00

We have been together for 12 years. During three of them she was my best mate. Most reliable piece of machinery I've ever had. Everything with this 1960 Ford Prefect could be fixed with nothing but the simplest tools, a few cheap spare parts and two hands. No computer experts. With a 997 CC, 4 Cylinder engine and more than a ton of steel acceleration was not the best on the road (OK, it was horrible.) but since you can not go faster than 80 KPH anyway it really did not matter much. Safer and better fun looking at the view too.

Love matters but nonetheless, after a few years life had its say and attention had to put in some other more important aims. You know. Family oriented "nothing about that old wreck" ones. So, the heart is broken, but - knowing she'll get a good care and be back on the road soon - the mind fills with of joy. The snapshots below were taken in 2 separate occasions. The first - in 2003 during a general work session. The second a few weeks ago, when it was taken after sold. $600 for those who are interested.

2003

Front view, 2003

Back view, 2003

Left side view, 2003

Internal view, 2003

2009

Departing 1960 Ford Prefect: Left side, 2009

Departing 1960 Ford Prefect: Front side, 2009

Departing 1960 Ford Prefect: Going up on the tow truck, 2009

Departing 1960 Ford Prefect: Up on the tow truck, 2009

Departing 1960 Ford Prefect: farewell

895 Feet Long Mural Painted by Community

2009-05-16T15:54:00.073+03:00

While technically a mural can be any piece of artwork on a wall, ceiling, or other large permanent surface (Wikipedia) some of us tend to associate murals with ancient masterpieces made by masters painters and artists rather than with ordinary people and suburb communities. Yet, a small suburbs community in an Israeli village named Kfar Netter, has recently collaborated on a unique project, mixing self-expression, fun and community relationships into a gigantic wall mural next to a walkway crossing the village. Made from 70 separate elements, all designed and painted by the residents, this impressive mural measures 895 feet (approx. 273 meter or about 0.17 miles) long and 6 feet high.

Environmental art or casual creative entertainment, call it as you like - the people of Kfar Netter seem to have liked the idea and about half of them - approximately 400 people - have attended the single day gathering. It was hot. Music was loud, cold drinks were all over and within a few hours the mural was done, accept for a few minor segments which were taken care of later on.

OK, we know what you are thinking. Since most of us like to paint but not everyone is a painter, here are just a few words about how it was practically done: First a date for the special gathering day was set and announced. Each family was then invited to come up with its own masterpiece and provide it to the event organizers in the form of a standard A3 paper sheet.

A special company was hired to cover the entire wall with a primary paint and then sketch the outline drawings based on the given residents' input. Above is an example of such an outline prior to the paint job. Below: a Google earth snapshot showing the exact location of the wall and the mural (kmz file here).

Here are a few selected photos taken during the painting gathering.

Photos by CultCase

20 (More) Great Artists that Never Reached 30

2009-05-08T11:50:00.127+03:00

Several performing artists enjoyed long, almost epic in magnitude, careers. But for some, cultural significance was achieved in a short, meteoric explosion. Some fade away, some burn out. If you are a frequent CultCase reader you may have already stumbled the first article in this topic. It was only thank to our devoted readers, who protested the omission of their favorite under-30 dead artists, that we managed to assemble this complementary list. Before we begin, based on 40 examined cases, the following is a non exhaustive list of recommendations for our young, under 30, artistically inclined readers:

If you do drugs not to overdose (8 didn't). Stay away from guns, mainly held by others but also by yourself (7 didn't). Diseases such as Influenza, Tuberculosis and Typhoid often disagree with you (6 didn’t realize it in time). Modern transportation arrangements such as cars and buses (4) or planes (4) can be extremely dangerous, especially when their drivers are heavily sedated or alcohol intoxicated. Avoid fluids in your respiratory system (3 didn't) and try to stay away from wars (2 didn't). Artists can bleed. here they are, 20 more culturally significant artists that never made 30.

Hank Williams (29)

Age: 29
Cause of death: Morphine overdose

Hank Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer and songwriter and musician who has become an icon of country music and one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century. Above Image: Williams on stage at the Midnight Jamboree broadcasting from the Ernest Tubb Record Store. Copyright: Jett Williams

On January 1, 1953, a 17-year-old chauffeur named Charles Carr pulled over at an all-night service station in Oak Hill, West Virginia and discovered that Hank Williams was dead in the back seat. Controversy has since surrounded Williams' death, with some people claiming Williams was dead before leaving Knoxville on his way to Oak Hill. In the above image: Hank giving a concert from the back of a flatbed truck in his hometown of Georgiana, Alabama. Audrey, Hank's first wife, is the woman in sunglasses in the foreground. Copyright: Hank Williams Boyhood Home and Museum

Alain Fournier (28)

Age: 28
Cause of death: War

Henri-Alban Fournier, who wrote under the pseudonym Alain-Fournier,was born October 3, 1886 at the Chapelle d’Anguillon in France. In 1910, he went to work as a journalist for the Paris Journal and fell in love with Jeanne Bruneau who was later the basis for the character of Valentine in his book "le Grand Meaulnes (The Wanderer)". The creation was first published in the July-October 1913 issue of the "Nouvelle Revue française" and later on as a book. Although nominated for the prestigious Goncourt Prize, The Wanderer narrowly lost the prize to Marc Elder's "Le Peuple de la Mer".

In 1914, Alain-Fournier started work on a new book "Colombe Blanchet", which remained unfinished as he had to join the army in August 1914 and got killed only one month later. His body remained unidentified until 1991, at which time he waslaidtorest in the cemetery of Saint Remy la Colonne. Above: Alain-Fournier, 19 years old.

Source

Bradley Nowell (28)

Age: 28
Cause of death: Heroin overdose

Bradley James Nowell (February 22, 1968 – May 25, 1996) was an American musician who served as lead singer and guitarist of the popular genre transcendent band Sublime. He died at 28 from a heroin overdose shortly before the release of Sublime's self-titled major label debut. Shown above (center) with his Sublime mates and below, young and happy.

Source
Image sources: 1, 2

Brandon Lee (28)

Age: 28
Cause of death: Gunshot while filming

Brandon Bruce Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) was a Chinese-American actor and the son of the late legendary martial arts film star Bruce Lee. Lee followed in his father's footsteps, starting a promising career in action movies and signing a multi-film contract with 20th Century Fox. He was accidentally shot and killed while filming The Crow (1994). Leading critic Roger Ebert wrote that "Lee clearly demonstrate[d] that he might have become an action star, had he lived."

Source
Image sources: 1, 2, 3

Heath Ledger (28)

Age: 28
Cause of death: Toxic combination of prescription drugs

Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian television and film actor. His work includes 19 films, most notably 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), Monster's Ball (2001), A Knight's Tale (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008). In addition to his acting, he produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.

Ledger died at the age of 28 from an accidental "toxic combination of prescription drugs." A few months before his death, he had finished filming his penultimate performance, as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

Source
Image sources: 1, 2

Jean-Michel Basquiat (27)

Age: 27
Cause of death: Cocaine and heroin mix ("speedballing) overdose

Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was a Haitian American artist. He gained popularity first as a graffiti artist in New York City, and then as a successful 1980s-era Neo-expressionist artist. Basquiat's paintings continue to influence modern-day artists and command high prices. He died accidentally of mixed-drug toxicity, combining cocaine and heroin, a mix known as "speedballing" at his studio in 1988. Above: Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1987 in a photo portrait by Ari Marcopoulos.

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Image sources: 1, 2

Nick Drake (26)

Age: 26
Cause of death: Suicide by acute amitriptyline poisoning

Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician best known for his acoustic, autumnal songs. His primary instrument was the guitar, though he was also proficient at piano, clarinet, and saxophone. Although he failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, Drake now ranks among the most influential English singer-songwriters of the last 50 years. During the night of 24/25 November 1974 Drake died at home in Far Leys from an overdose of amitriptyline, a type of antidepressant. The cause of death has been stated as a result of "Acute amitriptyline poisoning - self administered when suffering from a depressive illness", and concluded a verdict of suicide.

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Image sources: 1, 2

Tose Proeski (26)

Age: 26
Cause of death: Car accident

Todor "Toše" Proeski (January 25, 1981 – October 16, 2007) was a famous Macedonian pop singer. He was popular across the entire Balkan area and further north, and locally he was considered a top act of the Macedonian music scene. Proeski was known for his trademark quote "Ve sakam site" (I Love You All), and was called "Elvis Presley of the Balkans" by BBC News. He died in a car crash in Croatia on October 16, 2007.

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Image sources: 1, 2

Aubrey Beardsley (25)

Age: 25
Cause of death: Tuberculosis

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 1872 – 16 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. Beardsley was active till his death in Menton, France, at the age of 25 on 16 March 1898, of tuberculosis.

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John Keats (25)

Age: 25
Cause of death: Tuberculosis

John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet who became one of the key poets of the English Romantic movement during the early nineteenth century. During his very short life, his work received constant critical attacks from periodicals of the day, but his posthumous influence on poets such as Alfred Tennyson has been immense. In 1820, Keats began showing serious signs of tuberculosis, the disease that had plagued his family. On the suggestion of his doctors, he moved into a house in Rome, Italy (today a museum dedicated to his life and work) where despite attentive care the poet's health rapidly deteriorated. He died in 23 February 1821 and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome.

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Randy Rhoads (25)

Age: 25
Cause of death: Plane crash

Randall William "Randy" Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. Despite his short career, he is cited as an influence by many contemporary heavy metal guitarists. Rhoads was killed instantly in a plane crash along with 2 of his friends, including the pilot of the plane Andrew Aycock who was also the Blizzard of Ozz group tour bus driver. All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, and were identified by dental records. It was later revealed in an autopsy that Aycock's system showed traces of cocaine at the time; Rhoads' toxicology test revealed only nicotine.

Tupac Shakur (25)

Age: 25
Cause of death: Murdered by gunshot

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. In addition to his status as a top-selling recording artist, Shakur was also a promising actor and a social activist. Most of Shakur's songs are about growing up amid violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in society and conflicts with other rappers. On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas and was admitted to University of Nevada Medical Center. He died six days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Center. 2Pac became the unlikely martyr of gangsta rap, and a tragic symbol of the toll its lifestyle exacted on urban black America.

2Pac died six days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Center and became the unlikely martyr of gangsta rap, and a tragic symbol of the toll its lifestyle exacted on urban black America.

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Images sources: 1, 2

Cliff Burton (24)

Age: 24
Cause of death: Bus accident

Clifford Lee Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was a bassist best known for his work with the American heavy metal band Metallica from 1982 until his death in 1986. As a bassist he made heavy use of distortion and effects (several of which are usually associated with non-bass guitars), best exemplified on his signature piece, "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth".

On the evening of September 26, 1986, Burton was asleep when at several minutes before 7 am (on the 27th), according to the driver, the band's tour bus ran over a patch of black ice, skidded off of the road and flipped onto the grass in Ljungby Municipality, near Dörarp in rural southern Sweden. Burton was thrown through the window of the bus, which fell on top of him causing his death. James Hetfield later stated that he first believed the bus flipped because the driverwasdrunk,claiming he had smelled alcohol on the driver's breath after the accident. Above: Metallica. Left to right - Cliff Burton, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett

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Image sources: 1, 2

Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (23)

Age: 23
Cause of death: Murdered by gunshot

Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), best known as Selena, was an American singer who has been called "The Queen of Tejano music". The youngest child of a Mexican couple, Selena released her first album at the age of 12(!). She won Female Vocalist of the Year at the 1987 Tejano Music Awards and landed a recording contract with EMI a few years later. Her fame grew throughout the early 1990s, especially in Spanish-speaking countries.

On the morning of March 31, 1995 at a hotel room, Selena and Yolanda Saldívar - the president of Selena's fan club and the manager of her boutiques - had a fight over some missing financial papers. At 11:48 am, Saldívar drew a gun from her purse, pointing at Selena. As the singer turned and left the room, Saldívar shot her once in the back. Critically wounded, Selena ran towards the lobby to get help. She collapsed on the floor as the clerk called 911, with Saldívar chasing her, calling her a bitch. Before collapsing to the floor, Selena named Saldívar as her assailant and gave the room number where she had been shot. After an ambulance and the police arrived on the scene, Selena was transported to a local hospital and died there from loss of blood at 1:05 p.m. She was 23.

Aaliyah Dana Haughton (22)

Age: 22
Cause of death: Plane crash

Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001), who performed under the mononym Aaliyah, was an American recording artist and actress. Introduced to audiences by R&B singer R. Kelly, Aaliyah became famous during the mid-1990s with several hit records from the songwriting-production team of Missy Elliott and Timbaland. She found success with her debut album Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, while introducing a "street but sweet" style which would become her trademark throughout her career followed by two more albums, One In a Million and the eponymous Aaliyah.

In addition to Aaliyah's commercial success, collaborations with Timbaland helped shape the sound of R&B in the later half of the 1990s. She also modeled for Tommy Hilfiger, appeared in a Victoria Secret ad and starred in two motion pictures, Romeo Must Die and Queen of the Damned, before she and 8 other people died in a small plane crash in the Bahamas on August 25, 2001 after filming the music video for the single "Rock the Boat".

Darby Crash (22)

Age: 22
Cause of death: Heroin overdose

Darby Crash (September 26, 1958 – December 7, 1980) was an American punk musician who, along with long time friend Pat Smear, co-founded the music band The Germs. Crash committed suicide on December 7, 1980, at age 22. Unreported at the time, Crash had overdosed on heroin in a suicide pact with close friend Casey Cola, who ended up surviving. She insists that he did not intend for her to live, nor did he change his mind at the last minute and intend for himself to live. As he lay dying, he attempted to write "Here lies Darby Crash" on the wall, but did not finish.

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Image sources: 1, 2, 3

Rebecca Schaeffer (21)

Age: 22
Cause of death: Murdered by gunshot

Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer (November 6, 1967 – July 18, 1989) was an American actress who was best known for her role in the sitcom My Sister Sam. Schaeffer was stalked and then murdered by an obsessed fan, prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California. On July 18, 1989, Schaeffer was murdered by Robert John Bardo, an obsessed fan who had been stalking her for three years. Bardo pulled out a gun from a brown paper bag and shot her once at point-blank range in the chest in the doorway of her apartment building in Los Angeles, California. Schaeffer screamed and collapsed in her doorway as Bardo fled. The following day, Bardo was arrested in Tucson, after motorists reported a man darting through traffic on Interstate 10. He immediately confessed to the murder.

Above: Rebecca Shaeffer and Pam Dawber in My Sister Sam

Raymond Radiguet (20)

Age: 20
Cause of death: Typhoid fever

Raymond Radiguet (June 18, 1903 – December 12, 1923) was a French author. He associated himself with the Modernist set, befriending Picasso, Max Jacob, Juan Gris and especially Jean Cocteau, who became his mentor. Radiguet also had several well-documented relationships with women. An anecdote told by Ernest Hemingway has an enraged Cocteau charging Radiguet with decadence for his tryst with a model: "Bébé est vicieuse. Il aime les femmes." ("Baby is depraved. He likes women.") Radiguet, Hemingway implies, employed his sexuality to advance his career, being a writer "who knew how to make his career not only with his pen but with his pencil." Above: left - Raymond Radiguet. Right: Jean Cocteau, Georges Auric, Raymond Radiguet at John Russell Bibliothèque Jacques Doucet, Paris.

Radiguet had died December 12, 1923 aged 20, of typhoid fever, which he contracted after a trip he took with Cocteau. In reaction to this death Francis Poulenc wrote, "For two days I was unable to do anything, I was so stunned". Alongside these two novels, Radiguet's works include a few poetry volumes and a play. Above: Portrait de Raymond Radiguet by Jacques-Emile Blanche.

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Image sources: 1, 2, 3

Ritchie Valens (17)

Age: 17
Cause of death: Plane crash

Ritchie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela; May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens' recording career lasted only eight months. During this time, however, he scored several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which was originally a Mexican folk song that Valens transformed with a rock rhythm and beat that became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement.

On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as The Day the Music Died, Valens was killed in a small-plane crash in Iowa, an event that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. Above: Valens with Bob Keane.

Heather O'Rourke (12)

Age: 12
Cause of death: Cardiac arrest caused by septic shock due / medical misdiagnosis

Heather O'Rourke (December 27, 1975 – February 1, 1988) was an American child actress who played Carol Anne Freeling in the Poltergeist film trilogy and made several television guest appearances. O'Rourke became ill in early 1987, and was misdiagnosed by Kaiser Permanente Hospital as having Crohn's disease. She was prescribed medicine to treat the Crohn's, which allegedly "puffed up her cheeks".

On January 31, 1988 O'Rourke was ill again, vomiting and unable to keep anything down. The next morning she collapsed while trying to leave for the hospital and her step-father called paramedics. She suffered a cardiac arrest en route to the hospital, and after resuscitation was airlifted by helicopter to Children's Hospital and Health Center in San Diego, where she died.

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Image sources: 1, 2

Enjoyed this article? See also: Live Fast, Die Young: 20 Great Artists that Never Reached 30

OneShot Stencils: Urban Street Riddles by klone

2009-05-03T19:03:00.005+03:00

OneShot stencils by klone is a series of uniquely designed free-style cut graffiti templates combining conventional graffiti techniques with a surprising twist. The stencils are mounted up on street walls using sticky tapes or nails and spray-painted. Yet, as opposed to ordinary graffiti templates, klone's OneShot stencils are left hanging in their position, covering their positive copy like whimsical urban riddles until some random passer-by takes them off to discover the hidden graffiti underneath. For more visit klone yourself! on flickr or see International Street Artists Add (More) Multicultural Sauce to Israeli Society.

An uncovered OneShot stencil example (Source)

Meal for two (uncovered): collaborated project with $0.00 , Kloz and Know Hope in Florentine neighborhood, Tell Aviv. (Source)

Uncovered OneShot stencil collection. (Source)

Feeding the new generation of gods (Source)

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klone yourself!

Crescent Moon with Earthshine over Israel

2009-04-27T11:26:00.012+03:00

World's greatest spectacle yesterday (April 26, 2009) was taking place at dusk, high above all of us in the western sky. At that time, the crescent Moon, Mercury and the Pleiades star cluster had gathered for a three-way conjunction, potentially visible to the naked eye even from light-polluted cities. This was not an everyday event, as described by Dr. Tony Phillips from Science @ NASA:

The show begins before the sky fades to black. The Moon pops out of the twilight first, an exquisitely slender 5% crescent surrounded by cobalt blue. The horns of the crescent cradle a softly-glowing image of the full Moon. That is Earthshine- dark lunar terrain illuminated by sunlight reflected from Earth [...] Shortly after the Moon appears, Mercury materializes just below it [...] To the naked eye, Mercury looks like a pink 1st-magnitude star. The planet itself is not pink; it only looks that way because it has to shine through dusty lower layers of Earth’s atmosphere.

But wait, according to Dr. Phillips, there was even more:

Next, do nothing. Spend some quiet moments absorbing the view. As the twilight deepens, your eyes will dark-adapt and - voilà! There are the Pleiades [...] The brightest stars of the cluster are only 2nd magnitude, not terrifically bright. Nevertheless, the Pleiades are compelling in disproportion to their luminosity. Every ancient culture -- Greek, Maya, Aztec, Aborigine, Māori and others - put the cluster in its myths and legends. On April 26th you may discover why, even if you cannot articulate your findings.

So, we are no astronomy photo experts but below are a few photographs we managed to take yesterday night, in spite of some pretty bad air pollution over the nearby western city of Netanya. Just as Dr. Phillips said, it's very hard to articulate our findings... We think we did capture our own Crescent Moon plus, we suspect we got a view of the so called Earthshine. Yet, what a bummer - we could not have identify any materializing Mercury below the moon... Can you see any?

8:05 PM + detail. No materializing Mercury...

A wide angle shot including some of the area, 8:15 PM

8:30 PM + detail

OK, we also see there is something else there, we are not that blind. The problem is that, according to Phillips, the Pleiades are "a cluster of young stars about a hundred light years from Earth" forming "a miniature Little Dipper located, on this particular evening, halfway between Mercury and the Moon." (See infographic). Therefore we don't believe the small cluster of lights shown in the below detail is actually the Pleiades, but we thought it might worth adding nevertheless. Just in case anyone of you kind readers can help us find out what it was.

Another 8:30 PM detail (cropped from left side) showing a bright cluster of lights. Probably not The Pleiades...

Article by Dr. Tony Phillips via RedOrbit
Photos by CultCase, April 26, 2009
Taken with Nikon CoolPix 8800
Kfar Netter, Israel

The Sexiest Pair of Lemons You've Ever Seen

2009-04-26T03:18:00.010+03:00

A pair of sexy lemons in afternoon magic-hour light. Photo by CultCase.
High-res version here

7 English Words and their Biblical Hebrew Origin

2009-04-23T14:38:00.020+03:00

English is the world's unofficial "lingua franca" - a language used to communicate between people not sharing a mother tongue. Some English words are used in almost every country and by every nationality. We say OK and Cowboy knowing these words will be understood just as if they were in the listener's native language. The English language originated from several dialects which were brought to the British Isles by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the beginning of the 5th century. It was heavily influenced by the Old Norse language of Viking invaders. However, there are also English words originating in other languages, sometimes very ancient ones. The following are 7 interesting English words and examples from their Biblical Hebrew origin.

Armageddon

The English word Armageddon derives from the Hebrew word combination of Har Megido (הר מגידו) meaning Megido Mountain, the biblical location of an apocalyptic battle.

Biblical example (Hebrew)