A Blast From The Past: Episode 9

A collection of interesting articles that you may have missed, pulled out from Amusing Planet’s past archives.

Close Up Pictures Reveal The Beautiful Side of Gulf Oil Spill

Tendrils and plumes of oil have covered the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, leaving a viscous mess in the open sea. The environmental disaster that was caused by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill is horrible and will no doubt have a long lasting impact on the Gulf. While on assignment for GQ magazine covering the disaster, photographer Benjamin Lowy however was struck by how beautiful the congealed pockets of crude were. Floating on the sea, swirling with the seawater, they looked strangely like abstract paintings. These are close up images of the pools of oil that stagnate on the surface of the Gulf.

Jill Draper’s Hyper-Realistic Embroideries

These incredibly realistic scenes from rural life have been painstakingly created by a British artist in her own living room - sewn using just a needle and thread. Jill Draper, 62, renders pictures of rural life and shimmering seascapes in her embroidered tapestries recreating scenes with astonishing accuracy from photographs. Each picture measuring around 15 by 30 inches takes up to 120 and contains hundreds of thousands of stitches done by hand and machine.

World War 2 WAVES – Women in the US Navy

As the US Navy ramped up for World War 2, its leadership began the unprecedented task of recruiting 27,000 female sailors called WAVES, an acronym for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. Previously, it was only during the first world war that the Navy accepted females into its ranks, and mainly for clerical roles and as nurses, not as officers. After a twenty-three-year absence, women returned to general Navy service in early August 1942, when Mildred McAfee was sworn in as a Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander, the first female commissioned officer in US Navy history, and the first Director of the WAVES.

Salmon Spawning at Kuril Lake in Kamchatka

Kamchatka contains probably the world's greatest diversity of salmonid fish, including all six species of anadromous Pacific salmon (chinook, chum, coho, seema, pink, and sockeye). Biologists estimate that a sixth to a quarter of all Pacific salmon originates in Kamchatka. Kuril Lake is recognized as the biggest spawning-ground for sockeye in Eurasia.

Incredibly Realistic Fabric Sculptures by Lisa Lichtenfels

Artist Lisa Lichtenfels is acclaimed for pushing the boundaries of fabric sculpture. This soft sculpture artist creates the inner frame from wire shaped by heavy felt, muscles made of wadding and the realistic skin tones are achieved by using nylon. Photographs of her sculptures are often mistaken for photos of living beings.