Midwest Flooding Continues To Worsen As Days Pass:

An aerial photograph shows houses completely submerged by floodwaters from the Mississippi River in Burlington, Iowa.

It's Certainly Man-Made But It's Interesting Regardless:

Another crop circle has appeared in the English countryside — and this one's clearly been made by someone, or something, that understands math.

At first glance, the strange ratcheted pattern, radiating out clockwise, doesn't look like much — modern art, perhaps.

But an electrical engineer from North Carolina — described by the London newspapers as a "retired astrophysicist" — figured out that it was an abstract representation of pi, the number at the center of Euclidean geometry.

Flood Waters Continue To Take Their Toll On Iowa:

House boats from the Ellis Marina on the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids lie jammed and destroyed against the Quaker Oats railroad bridge after breaking free from their moorings in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa June 13, 2008. Overflowing rivers in Iowa forced evacuations and disrupted the region's economy on Friday with fears of worse to come from fragile levees and more rain. Thousands were forced to leave their homes in the worst Midwest flooding in 15 years.

A Woman In Taiwan Is Set For Surgery On Her Massive Legs:

An upcoming surgery in Taiwan may end the suffering of a young Chinese woman who has been unable to leave her house for nearly 20 years because of a rare condition known as elephantiasis, Agence France-Presse reported Friday.

Wang Cheng, 24, who lives in the eastern Chinese province of Zhiangsu, has not left her house or worn pants since she was 6 years old because the condition has caused her legs to deform and triple in size.

Her legs have swelled to 110 pounds, but the free surgery planned for Monday may alleviate the swelling by cutting away lymphatic tissue.

700-Year-Old Evangelist Church Burns In Translyvania:

The steeple of Evangelist church in the city of Bistrita in Romania's Transylvania region burns after fire broke out in the 700-year-old building.

Floods Drench Indiana And The Entire Midwest Is Under Water:

David Shepard removes a stuffed king salmon from his flooded home on Sunday, June 8, 2008, in Edinburgh, Ind. As much as 11 inches of rain swamped the state Saturday, flooding homes, threatening dams and closing several roads and highways. Weekend storms pounded the U.S. from the Midwest to the East Coast, forcing hundreds of people to flee flooded communities, spawning tornadoes that tore up houses and killing at least five people.

Shuttle Discovery Approaches The International Space Station:

In this image provided by NASA the Space Shuttle Discovery approaches the International Space Station, as seen through a window on the International Space Station, during rendezvous and docking operations.

Superman Faces Off With Mobil Worker At Gas Price Protest:

Demonstrator Norberto Gonzalez, second from right, wears a Superman costume as he joins consumers to protest the high cost of gasoline as a mobile worker gestures at right Tuesday, June 3, 2008, at a Mobil gas station in Los Angeles. At far right is an unidentified station employee. Oil prices fell sharply Tuesday, dropping below $124 a barrel as demand concerns grew and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated that more interest rate cuts are unlikely.

These Jaw Dropping Photos Were Snapped In Mexico Sunday:

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — A car has plowed into a bike race along a highway near the US-Mexico border, killing one and injuring 10 others.

Police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez says the 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race.

A photograph taken by a city official shows bicyclists and equipment being hurled high in to the air by the collision.

Rodriguez says Juan Campos was charged with killing Alejandro Alvarez, 37, of Monterrey.

Authorities say the wreck happened 15 minutes into the race along a highway between Playa Bagdad and Matamoros.

Campos says he is an American citizen living in Brownsville, Texas. U.S. consulate spokesman Todd Huizinga said officials were looking into whether Americans were involved.

The Citizens Of South Korean Hold A Bizarre Beef Vigil:

There is a sombre atmosphere in front of Seoul City Hall in the South Korean capital, as a vigil is held against lifting the ban on US beef imports to the country.

"Uncontacted Indians," who have never before had any contact with the outside world, were discovered in the Envira River region in Brazil during a flight in May 2008 according to Funai, the National Indian Foundation, and the group Survival International. The tribe is shown here reacting to the unexpected visit over their camp, located close to the border with Peru.

Cody Hall Endured 18 Surgeries To Reverse A Birth Defect:




Compare The Happy, Smiling Teen Above With Her Younger Self:

Cody Hall was born with a hemangioma, a tumorous birthmark that distorted the shape of her face and grew larger as she got older.

When she was 1-year-old, her doctors in England told her parents that nothing could be done about her condition, so her parents took her to see surgeons in the U.S.

Fourteen years and 18 reconstructive surgeries later, most of them at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, the girl who once had a hopelessly deformed face was flashing a beautiful smile at the prom.

French Fishermen Pull A Robin Hood In Supermarket Protest:

Protesting French fishermen take frozen fish from a supermarket to hand out to passers-by in western France.

NASA Lander 'Phoenix' Outfitted With CD From Earth:



The photo above shows the base of 'Phoenix' which is outfitted with a disc labeled 'Messages from Earth'. The date is 2007 so if any creatures loaded up with CDROMs stumble upon the lander they may be a bit behind the times. Here are some more details...

Attached to the deck of the lander (next to the US Flag) is "The Phoenix DVD", compiled by the Planetary Society. The disc contains Visions of Mars, a multimedia collection of literature and art about the Red Planet. Works include the text of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds (and its infamous radio broadcast by Orson Welles), Percival Lowell's Mars as the Abode of Life with a map of his proposed canals, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, and Kim Stanley Robinson's Green Mars. There are also messages directly addressed to future Martian visitors or settlers from, among others, Carl Sagan and Arthur C. Clarke. In 2006, The Planetary Society collected a quarter million names submitted through the internet and placed them on the disc, which claims, on the front, to be "the first library on Mars".

The Phoenix DVD is made of a special silica glass designed to withstand the Martian environment, lasting for hundreds (if not thousands) of years on the surface while it awaits discoverers.

'El Colacho' Jumps Over Babies For Good Luck In Spain:

A man representing the devil and dressed in a traditional red and yellow costume, known as El Colacho, jumps over babies placed on a mattress in Castrillo de Murcia, Spain. 'El Colacho' has been jumping over babies during the traditional celebration of Corpus Christi for centuries in an unusual ritual to protect them from evil spirits.

NASA Releases Two More Photos From 'Phoenix' Landing:



Snapped By An Orbiting Satellite As Phoenix Descended:



Amazing. NASA was able to launch a small vehicle from Earth to Mars, some 170 million miles away. They predicted the area where it would land, pulled off a spectacular landing and 15 minutes later images from Mars were transmitted back to Earth. The landing was captured by a different satellite launched some time ago that is now orbiting the planet. Is anyone else blow away by this?

Violent Mobs Make Their Way South To Cape Town, South Africa:





Police claim 'all is quiet' while photos disagree. Xenophobia seems to have hit it's stride across the whole of the continent.

Massive Array Of Assault Rifles Seized In Cali Raids:

Soldiers stand by tables displaying assault rifles seized from a drug traffickers at the military base in Cali, Tuesday, May 20, 2008. Hundreds of rifles were seized during an anti-drug gang operation in Cali.

Senator Ted Kennedy Proves He Is Still Alive And Well:

With Beacon Hill visable through a window behind them Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and his wife Vicki sit together in a family room at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Tuesday afternoon, May 20, 2008. Kennedy has been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

Chinese Earthquake Captured In Dramatic Set Of Wedding Photos:

May 12 - A couple just took some lovely outdoor wedding shots outside of a beautiful 100-year-old church in Pongzho, Sichuan province in China.