Cool

Can you imagine Christmas without gingerbread cookies or other baked gingerbread goods? Most of us can’t. In fact, many people like them and yet don’t know that the tradition of using ginger to make a delicious sweet treat began in Europe around the 11th century. At first European monks used to make honey cakes with honey that they would harvest themselves. When ginger spice became more frequent and people got the chance to use it in cooking and baking, the spice was added to the honey-spice cakes, turning their honey cakes into gingerbread. From then on gingerbread became a part of the Christmas tradition. If you haven’t tried making anything else apart from the regular and simple gingerbread cookies, now is the time to practice more and master the art. Get inspired by these extraordinary, almost art-like pieces – gingerbread creations, which were submitted to Canada’s National Gingerbread Showcase 2012.

A breath-taking cave of crystals was discovered by two brothers while drilling in the Naica silver and lead mine nearly 1.000 ft below the Chihuaha Desert in Mexico. The cave is estimated to be around 600.000 years old and is filled with over 170 luminous obelisks that are up to 37 ft hight. Millions of years ago the ground water that’s saturated with calcium sulphate was warmed by magma about a mile below, and started to penetrate the cave. When magma started to cool, the minerals began to precipitate out of the water and thus formed the blade-sharp crystals. The crystals kept growing till 1985, when the cave was discovered and and drained by the miners. Even though the crystals resemble icicles and suggest it should be bloody freezing in there, the temperature actually reaches 112 degrees F, and the humidity measures up to 90-100%. Such conditions make it impossible to enter without a protective suit and backpacks filled with ice-cooled air. The pictures from the cave look fantasy movie scenes, don’t they?

Is this your first NYE on the town? Or was last year a total fail? Take these tips on what you need in your purse before the clock strikes 12 (aka 2013). You never know where you'll end up next year ;)

What would you think of a soldier in a pink uniform or a bunch of rebels in a pink field? Don’t try answering before you see this photo series called “Infra” by an Irish photographer Richard Mosse. Mosse has been travelling around the Democratic Republic of Congo and documenting the ongoing civil war and violance in the country, mostly operated by rebels. But what’s with the pink? The images were shot on Kodak Aerochrome, a discontinued false-color reversal infrared film, originally produced for surveillance purposes for the U.S. military in 1940′s. Used for camouflage detection, the film reveals a part of the light spectrum that is invisible to the human eye, rendering the green landscape in vivid hues of lavender, crimson and hot pink. Since the light is invisible, Mosse says “I was literally photographing blind. The film places me at the limits of representation, the points at which not just photography but perception itself begins to fail.”

Many times pictures speak louder than stories: by creating a time-lapse portrait series of soldiers before, during and after the war, Lalage Snow reveals more about their psychological drama then their own words could. Titled “We are the not dead”, the portraits show an 8 month span in the lives of the British soldiers that were deployed in Afghanistan, and the changes in their eventually weary faces are striking. The British journalist, photographer and film maker, Currently based in Afghanistan, explains that this project was aimed at drawing the attention away from the politics of war and from the growing body count of British soldiers that were killed or wounded. Besides acknowledging their bravery, Lalage also wanted to give them a chance to make themselves heard: “‘We Are The Not Dead’ is an attempt at giving the brave young men and women the chance to explain how it really is.”

It’s hard to explain why, but there’s something so addicting about the perfect shapes of the spiral stairs that it’s hard to take your eyes off them. Interestingly, spiral staircases were introduced relatively late into the architecture due to their complex helical structure. Although first examples date back to 5th century BC, it wasn’t until the Trajan’s Column, erected in Rome in 113 AD, that this space-saving element won itself a place in Roman architecture. Because of their elegant round shape, spiral staircases give a more romantic touch to the building than the regular stairs would. The photogenic side of the spiral stairs has been widely exploited by photographers and movie-makers alike. The stair shots have developed many symbolic meanings that help to strengthen the message of the movie when used appropriately. The symbolism didn’t go unnoticed even by Dr. Sigmund Freud, who, unsurprisingly, considered walking up and down the stairs as a representation of the sexual act. As the architectural styles get more diverse, so do the examples of spiral stairs. Without further ado, take a look at this mesmerizing selection of spiral staircases from all around the world! P.S.: some locations are missing, let us know if you recognize them!

If you’re a Christmas addict (like me), you’ve probably already had a blast wrapping presents. But I bet you have never thought of doing it this way. Kim Neill asks, who needs gift wrap when there is snow?

CombiBars are detachable bullion gold bars. You can easily break a small 1 g bar and sell it if you need cash. CombiBars are being produced by ESG, the German company Heimerle + Meule and the Swiss Mint Valcambi.

These movies have been not so lucky this year... I'm very sorry for them.

These pictures show the incredible sculptures carved from egg shells by Chinese artist Wen Fuliang Wen, of Shaanxi province, was laid off from his job as a wood carver and turned to the unusual and skillful form of art to make ends meet. He uses chicken, goose and duck eggshells to carve out places of interest, such as the iconic Dayan Pagoda in Xi'an.

Physics professor Kenneth from California Institute of Technology has been studying snowflakes since 1997. Using a special device, he shows us what they look like in reality.

Try to guess, what this is in these pictures. The answer is in the end of the post.

Lots of people in America posted pictures of themselves with their Christmas presents in social networks. They mentioned that this is exactly, what they wanted.

The creators posted pictures from behind the scenes of this popular TV series on Facebook. Let's take a look at the process of shooting the 7th season.

As lucky bounces go it’s right up there with the Dambusters – and only narrowly missed ending in catastrophe. But this time it wasn’t the RAF dropping bouncing bombs on Germany, but the modern Luftwaffe inadvertently dropping one of its own transporter planes onto a busy main road, from where it bounced onto the runway, 30 yards away, as up to a thousand spectators watched in horror. It was the plane’s last fight and one its pilot, Captain Jasmin Kirsch, is unlikely to forget – but for all the wrong reasons.

Has Google been in your dreams lately? There's probably an explanation for that. But if you're not the type to check dreamdictionary.com, then just look at these lovely, yet haunting, typography creations from another Google dreamer.

Ever thought about making your favorite spices into lamps? If you're a cook, or have a cooking show on You Tube, this is a pretty cool addition to your set decor! As the Italians say, "Let There Be Garlic!"

If you're in a wintery place for new years, you better forget about wearing that skimpy little gold dress you've been eyeing on NastyGal, because pneumonia is NOT fun! Try one of these fabulous finds instead!

Get drunk with class this NYE! Forget mimosas or other boring champs cocktails, because this year you're going out with glitz and glamour. Even if you have to force that douche bag "I used to be a bartender," guy to mix you up some bubbly.

The new year is just around the corner and you don't know what to make for that party at your BFF's house. Try these! New Years cupcakes are always a big hit because they're easy to carry, easy to eat, and delicious. This time, make them a step further with awesome decor.

There are many ways to wear a top knot. Wear one for new years!

Anna Sui gets weird for next year, with cut off tights and wild prints. What do you think? Are you ready to go all out? Sans the blue wig, of course ;)

Vitaly Raskalov and Alexander Remnov are just two typical Russian dudes. They wake up in the morning and go for walks with their camreas. Sometimes their 'walks' end up on the top of a building. Sometimes it is the top of a crane or maybe its the Russian Academy of Sciences. They take amazing, vertigo-inducing shots of the top of the world.

Skywalkers sure does sound like an appropriate name for this lot.

If you're thinking about proposing for NYE (or in 2013 at all), take these beauties into consideration. There's something in here for every nature lover, hipster, emo/goth girl, and even for the girly prom queen type. Best part is, most of these are pretty affordable styles!

Get inspired by your favorite celebs for your NYE makeup. After all, who wants to look back at their first photo of the year and think, "I really did put on way too much glitter," or "Why didn't anyone tell me my lipstick looked so off?" Get glamorous from the queens of glamour with the tips below.

Three-time award-winning world champion sand sculptor Joo Heng Tan was approached by ad agency Lowe in Singapore to help create these impressive backdrops for an OMO washing detergent ad campaign. In an age when something like this could have been created digitally, they asked Tan to physically build sculptures to be used as backdrops in ads encouraging kids to get dirty. Tan built three 18-ton sand sculptures which consisted of a giant tree, a galactic setting and a dinosaur-searching escapade.

Canadian artist Heather Benning has turned an abandoned farm house she found in 2005 in Manitoba, Canada, into a life-sized dollhouse. Miss Benning, 32, discovered the tumble-down home in 2005 during an artist in residence program for the community of Redvers, Saskatchewan. While driving to the nearest city of Brandon, Manitoba, to get art supplies she spotted the crumbling former home and pulled over to get a closer look. She immediately knew what she wanted to do. She contacted the landowners of the property and found out the house had been abandoned since the late 1960s and was suffering from substantial water damage. After a meeting, the owners agreed to donate the house to Heather so that she could make her dream of producing a real-life dollhouse come to life.

On December 12, 2012, ThyssenKrupp Elevator team members hoisted an escalator using a rooftop crane to the 101st floor of the One World Trade Center. This is one of 11 escalators and 74 elevators being installed on the project which will include the fastest elevators in the western hemisphere. Technical specialist and ThyssenKrupp Elevator field engineer Scott Lahmers documented the entire process and a 30-picture gallery was recently uploaded to ThysssenKrupp’s Flickr account. Below you will find highlights of this impressive feat.

Sergei Bobkov is a talented Russian artist that uses wood chips to create intricate and realistic looking animal sculptures. The first step in the process is to carefully understand the anatomy of a creature. The next step is to create his own wood chips. To do this he shaves 100-150 chips from a solid stick of cedar. He then soaks the fragments in water for several days before beginning to carve. Each sculpture can take up to six months to complete.

Human beings are the most versatile, amazing creatures on earth, in my opinion since I am a bit of a Biologist. The versitility in humanity can be very easily seen in these fabulous people that do drag. Who is behind the lip gloss and eye shadow though? Hmm, let's take a look...

These (famous and not-so-famous) same-sex couples got married in a landmark year for marriage equality.