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Posted on 12/29/2011 02:29:00 PM

Major News Stories of 2011 In Lego

Filed Under () at 12/29/2011 02:29:00 PM

The Guardian has rounded up this year’s top news in pictures but instead of using regular photos they used pictures of Legos that reenacted some of major news stories of the past 12 months. From the royal wedding to the death of Osama bin Laden, the English summer riots and the fall of Gaddafi, here is what grabbed news headline during the past year.


March 2011 - troubled star Charlie Sheen was fired from American sitcom Two and a Half Men after he rejected requests by its broadcast network to enter rehabilitation


June 2011 - Barack Obama, appears with Angela Merkel, played down the prospect of a double-dip recession


May 2011 - US president Barack Obama and his national security team were picture in a now famous photo watching the mission to kill Osama bin Laden unfold in real time


July 2011 - Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng blocked him from getting cream-pied during a hearing of a government select committee hearing on phone hacking


August 2011 - rioters clash with police in London, Birmingham and Manchester, as local businesses and buildings are looted and damaged


April 2011 - The Royal wedding


October 2011 - tributes were paid across the web to Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, who died aged 56


October 2011 - Hosts New Zealand beat France in the final of the Rugby World Cup


September 2011 - protesters camped out in Zuccotti Park as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, sparking copycat demonstrations across the globe

November 2011 - the pepper spraying cop at a protest in California


October 2011 - fighting continues in Libya between anti-Gaddafi forces and loyalists as the rebels mount a massive attack on Gaddafi's forces in Sirte

amusingplanet.com

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Stare at these pictures for long enough and you might just spot some clever creatures playing the ultimate game of hide and seek.

This Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko is barely visible against the leaves in the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, Madagascar.

These amazing animals are true masters at blending effortlessly into their environment as a means of survival in the natural world.

This Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko hides from predators in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, Madagascar, or is it just a leaf?


It's nearly impossible to pick out this Lichen Spider at the Erawan National Park in Thailand


A Speckled Sanddab blends perfectly with the pebbled ocean floor


This Sandhopper protects itself by covering red sand all over its body in the desert


An Orchid Mantis sits inside a flower


A Bat-faced Toad hides among dead leaves in Amacayacu National Park, Colombia


A snow leopard looks for prey in the Himalayas


This Peppered Moth has found the perfect hiding place on a rock


A Righteye Flounder camouflages himself on the ocean floor


A Katydid blends into foliage in Costa Rica


This Leaf Katydid looks like part of the forest floor in San Cipriano Reserve, Colombia


A Vietnamese Mossy Frog is perfectly adapted to his surroundings


The Great Potoo hides in a tree in Brazil as it searches for food


A pair of Glass Frogs shelter in foliage at Manu National Park, Peru


This Mossy Leaf-tailed Gecko is a master of disguise in Montagne dAmbre National Park, Madagascar


There's a Leaf Frog in there somewhere

dailymail.co.uk

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After receiving more than 20,000 photo submissions from over 130 countries, the National Geographic Photo Contest 2011 concluded last month and the judging began.

The winners were announced this week, with the grand prize awarded to Shikhei Goh for his capture of a dragonfly riding out a rainstorm in Indonesia. Goh was awarded $10,000 and a trip to the National Geographic Photography Seminar next year. National Geographic has shared the following winning photos (and honorable mentions) from this year's contest here. All captions and photos are by the individual photographers.


Also see: Photo Entries of National Geographic Photo Contest 2011

"Splashing", Grand Prize Winner and winner of the Nature category. This photo was taken when I was taking photos of other insects, as I normally did during macro photo hunting. I wasn't actually aware of this dragonfly since I was occupied with other objects. When I was about to take a picture of it, it suddenly rained, but the lighting was just superb. I decided to take the shot regardless of the rain. The result caused me to be overjoyed, and I hope it pleases viewers. Location: Batam, Riau Islands, Indonesia. (© Shikhei Goh)

"Flying Kites", honorable mention in Places category. Kite battle at Santa Marta ghetto, Rio de Janeiro. For many years, the kites were used to alert the drug dealers when their enemies were coming. The place was a "war zone" controlled by traffickers that were in constant conflicts against each other to control the drug market. A few years ago, Santa Marta was occupied by the Pacifier Police Division, which released the population from the traffic domination. Location: Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro (© Felipe Carvalho)


"The Fjellman Family", winner of the People Category. One shot and the reindeer is dead. The Sámi family Fjellman, which lives in Arjeplog, northern Sweden, now have food on their table. In the early autumn they slaughter a couple of their reindeer for food during the cold winter months. Location: Arjeplog, Lapland, Sweden. (© Izabelle Nordfjell)


"Sulfuric Fire Festival", honorable mention in Places category. Once a year, Formosa fishermen's unique sulfuric fire fishing ritual is handed down from generation to generation. Location: Taipei (© Hung-Hsiu Shih)


"Blue Pond & First Snow", honorable mention in Nature category. The blue pond of the famous tourist resort. This is a place where many tourists gather in spring, summer, and autumn. However, since this pond freezes in winter, nobody is there during that period. This photograph is the moment of the first snow of the season falling on that blue pond. We can see the first snow of the season beginning at the end of October. Why is the pond blue? Because the underground hot spring ingredient is gushing. This blue pond changes color every day. I think that mystical blue and pure white snow are beautiful. All are nature's tints. Location: Biei, Hokkaido, Japan. (© Kent Shiraishi)


"Cyber Monsoon", honorable mention in Places category. A torrential monsoon rain in Bhaktapur, Nepal. (© Anuar Patjane)


"Panic in the Pan", honorable mention in Nature category. I was leading a photographic safari in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. It was midday and we came across a dazzle of zebras approaching a waterhole to quench their thirst. Every few minutes the zebras will enter the water to drink, just to panic and scatter out of the water again. Location: Serengeti National Park, Tanzania (© Marius Coetzee)


"Sunrising Jellyfish", honorable mention in Nature category. Jellyfish (Cotylorhiza tuberculata) drifting just beneath the surface, looking to capture the first sunrays to trigger their symbiotic algae to produce energy for it. Location: Mar Menor coastal lagoon, Murcia province, Spain (© Angel Fitor)


"Auburn Pride", honorable mention in People category. Young men driving into a patch of reflected light along Auburn Road. Part of a larger personal project documenting the western Sydney suburb of Auburn. The series provides a glimpse into the life of the next generation of Australians living in Auburn, peering behind the veil of this little-known side of society. Auburn is a small suburb in Sydney's west, a landing point for many migrants and refugees when they first arrive in Australia. Location: Sydney, Australia (© George Voulgaropoulos)


"Zombies, Brisbane", honorable mention in People category. A young family dressed as zombies in Brisbane, Queensland. Each year around Halloween time a gathering of people dressed as zombies walks through the city in an effort to raise money for the Brain Foundation of Australia. Location: Brisbane, Australia. (© Lisa Clarke)


"Waterway to Orbit", honorable mention in Places category. Space shuttle Endeavour STS-130 launches into orbit toward the east, as the stars and waning crescent moon trail toward the west, leaving a beautiful reflection on the Intracoastal Waterway in Ponte Vedra, Florida. This 132-second time exposure of the final night launch of a space shuttle, from launch through SRB separation, was taken 115 miles north of Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Location: Ponte Vedra, Florida (© James Vernacotola)


Beluga whales in the arctic having fun. Viewers' Choice winner in the Nature category. (© Dafna Ben Nun)


"From Up Here", honorable mention in People category. Stephen "ST 2 Lettaz" Harris, and David "Yung Clova" Williams make up the Huntsville rap duo G-Side. I took this photo of them on tour, conducting a cell phone interview with a journalist on a fire escape in Manhattan. The photo speaks to the "D.I.Y." nature of the current independent music scene. Digital technology has played a big role in G-Side's business strategy, enabling them to use the Internet and viral word of mouth to build a diverse international fan base. G-Side released a track in 2011 called "Nat Geo." Location: Manhattan, NY, USA (© Helen Pearson)


"Into the Green Zone", winner in the Places category. A beautiful rainbow after the rain, into the green zone of the Palawan Islands. Location: Onuk island, Balabac Palawan, Philippines (© George Tapan)


"The Hunt", honorable mention in Nature category. I personally believe that, beyond the formal representation of reality, mediated by the technical instruments necessary to fix an image in time, photography is made of insights. The shot is the last act of image capturing and in many ways the easiest part of the whole process. This panning effect, even in its imperfection, with the chromatic harmony of the background, with all the needless information eliminated and the luck of having the big cat's lifted tail in symmetry with the impala horns, brings the observer inside the hunting without distractions. Location: Kenya, Masai Mara National Reserve (© Stefano Pesarelli)

theatlantic.com

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Google needs its engineers to come up with brilliant ideas, and to help them do that apparently a work environment like the Big Brother House will do the trick.

The search giant’s London headquarters in Victoria covers three floors. But last November some of its 350 staff began using a revamped engineering floor - called L4 - that has to be one of the trendiest in the world.

Nelson Mattos, Google’s Vice President of Engineering, said: ‘We hire the brightest and best engineers in the UK and put them together in a highly creative, relaxed and exciting environment.’

When Google set about creating it, they started with a completely blank canvas.

All the walls were knocked through and the furniture taken away.


A Google worker hoping for inspiration


Cushions are all-important at Google


One of the ultra trendy meeting rooms in the London office


The Coffee Lab serves 19 blends


Google's corridors look very futuristic


For bigger team talks bosses can use this state-of-the-art suite


The office is designed to be completely stress free


Google workers are treated to a pool table and games consoles


Unconventional seating is a must at Google


Workers can even write ideas down on white boards in the corridors


One of the many relaxation areas in L4


A picture of a spaceship from Star Wars adorns one of the meeting-room walls


Workers can always tune out with a pair of headphones if they're being distracted


There's no diary room, but L4 does have futuristic meeting pods


May the force be with them: Programmers are encouraged to play with toys


Perhaps Google Googled 'trendy office' for inspiration


The next Google Doodle?


One hull of an office: The resident rowing boat


L4 is paradise for creative thinkers


Hi-tech video conferencing is a cinch at L4


Two workers admire their new super-clean office environment



All white on the night: There aren't many dark corners at Google


Global headquarters: The Googleplex headquarters in San Francisco is also quirky

dailymail.co.uk

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