Assassin’s Creed is a game that is set in the past with the main character’s subconsciousness traveling through the fabric of time to acquire hidden knowledge. The level designers of Assassin’s Creed Unity have meticulously recreated the streets of 1789 Paris to allow the users to become completely engulfed by the atmosphere of this proud and ancient city. Each year, games are becoming more and more realistic, and soon the line between movie footage and computer generated world will completely blur. This is both scary and exciting prospect, yet there is no doubt that someday, virtual world will be indistinguishable from the real one. To illustrate this, Damien Hypolite has taken a series of photos which compare scenes from Assassin’s Creed to the real placed in modern Paris. (Photo by Damien)

For a long time the laws of Canada have explicitly banned gambling in any form. This may be the reason why the country does not have so many gambling establishments as the USA - but their quality surely makes up for the quantity. The first Canadian casino was opened in Dawson City, Yukon, in 1972 - it was the first one after gambling has been banned in the country in 1892. The Diamond Tooth Gertie's Gambling Casino did not operate for long, though. The first permanent commercial casino was opened in 1989, and it was the first of many - there are currently 75 casinos operating on Canadian soil.

Every year, participants in the Burning Man Festival descend on the playa of Nevada's Black Rock Desert to form a temporary city – a self-reliant community populated by performers, artists, free spirits, and more. Last week, an estimated 68,000 people came to Burning Man 2013 from all over the world to dance, express themselves, and take in the spectacle. Gathered below are some of the sights from the festival, which lasted a week and came to its conclusion yesterday

The Slauerhoffbrug (English: Slauerhoff Bridge) is a fully automatic bascule bridge (aka tail bridge) in the city of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. It uses two arms to swing a section of road in and out of place within the road itself. It is also known as the “Slauerhoffbrug ‘Flying’ Drawbridge”. A tail bridge can quickly and efficiently be raised and lowered from one pylon (instead of hinges). This quickly allows water traffic to pass while only briefly stalling road traffic. The deck is 15 m by 15 m. It is painted in yellow and blue, representative of Leeuwarden's flag and seal.

Titanoboa, meaning "titanic boa," is an extinct genus of snake that lived approximately 60–58 million years ago, during the Paleocene epoch, a 10-million-year period immediately following the dinosaur extinction event. The only known species is Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest, longest, and heaviest snake ever discovered, which supplanted the previous record holder, Gigantophis.

A full-scale model of the snake was unveiled at New York City's Grand Central station before the exhibit opens at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.

Catherine Nelson is a visual artist who uses the digital medium to paint images together into personal and imaginary landscapes. Trained as a painter in Sydney and London and with years of experience in the creation of visual effects for feature films like Moulin Rouge and Harry Potter, she now has dedicated her skills to her own art work combining the techniques from both these worlds into a new contemporary art medium. Her latest series have been exhibited in Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, USA and Europe and have captivated audiences and art collectors in cities like Sydney, Paris, Los Angeles, Beijing and Seoul.

Flossis by the artist Rosalie are known far beyond the boundaries of Dьsseldorf, Germany. In this city on the Rhine, the Flossis became famous. Many buildings’ outer walls are decorated with these figures. Flossis by Rosalie come in different variants of small to large and they are popular among young and old. Flossis are made of resin and resist temperatures under -15 degrees. Below that, they should be brought to the warm inside of the building. The currently most sold Flossi, is the “type I” in red, like shown in the following illustration.