Ferdinandea

April 23rd, 2012

Ferdinandea will rise:

In the Mediterranean Sea southwest of Sicily, an island comes and goes. Called, alternately and among other names, depending on whose territorial interests are at stake, Graham Bank, Île Julia, the island of Ferdinandea, or, more extravagantly, a complex known as the Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia (the Phlegraean Fields of the Sicily Sea), this geographic phenomenon is fueled by a range of submerged volcanoes. One peak, in particular, has been known to break the waves, forming a small, ephemeral island off the coast of Italy.

And, when it does, several nation-states are quick to claim it, including, in 1831, when the island appeared above water, "the navies of France, Britain, Spain, and Italy." Unfortunately for them, it eroded away and disappeared beneath the waves in 1832. [...]

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Pico del Teide

April 18th, 2011

Another day, another time-lapse film. This time it's Terje Sorgjerd's The Mountain, a spectacular view of the Milky Way as seen from Mount Teide, Spain's highest peak.

[Via The Awl]

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The Shining meets Samara meets reality TV

March 6th, 2011

A Spanish TV show decided to put a spooky little girl in a hotel corridor and see what happened next.1

Don't let the language barrier stop you from watching: the body language for "WTF! OMG! Run away!" seems to be pretty universal.

[Via MetaFilter]

  1. I think it's fair to assume that the producers edited out the bits where at least some of the guests, after the initial fright, asked the little girl if she had lost her parents or needed any help. ↩

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Howlett's Newt

September 28th, 2009

This seems to be turning into Weird Creatures Week. Yesterday it was the freaky-looking leopard gecko, today it's the turn of the Spanish ribbed newt:

Like the X-Men's Wolverine extending his claws, the Spanish ribbed newt slashes through itself with its sharp rib bones to create defensive spines, according to a new study.

Now I'm afraid to look at the internet tomorrow, for fear of what hideous, spiny creature I'm going to read about next…

[Via kottke.org]

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Pedreres de s'Hostal

February 9th, 2009

The Pedreres de s'Hostal on Minorca is a disused stone quarry that is gradually being turned into a heritage park:

In actuality, not only has the quarry been turned into an outdoor history museum decorated with artifacts, it's been landscaped as an arboretum showcasing native Minorcan flora. In keeping with the stonecutters' tradition of cultivating orchards and vegetable gardens in disused quarries, each excavated spaces plays host to a different plant community. For instance, there is a quarry for fruit trees, another for bushes and shrubs and another containing cultivated olive trees and aromatic plants. In one quarry, there is a pond containing freshwater Minorcan plants.

Go and see the photographs; it's a remarkable site sight.

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