A South Korean diver clad in Santa Claus costume swims with sardines at The Coex Aquarium on December 8, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. Even though the official religion of South Korea is Buddhism, about 30 percent of it is Christian and Christmas is one of the biggest holidays to be celebrated in South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun)

The northeastern United States sweltered this week in a scorching summer heat wave, complete with stagnant, sticky air and no winds for relief, forecasters said. Even in a summer already filled with stretches of very hot weather, this week will be stubbornly brutal, with no relief in sight until the weekend brings thunderstorms to the region, they said. "Plain and simple, this week may feel the worst of any week for this summer in the Northeast," said Accuweather.com meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. (Reuters)

“Guns have a massive amount of power associated with them. They are designed to kill. We decided to photograph portraits of them in a similar way you might photograph a powerful person. Like powerful people, pistols have this “perfect” quality that we wanted to explore. As we started shooting them, we could see flaws in their design. Metal burring around the barrels, scratches in the metal. This imperfection and detail were very interesting to us; connecting us back to these images as portraits”. – Peter Andrew. (Photo by Peter Andrew/Simon Duffy/Derek Blais)

Papai Simon Ole Mamai of the Maasai Cricket Warriors team from Kenya runs during a match against English team “The Shed” during “The Last Man Stands” cricket tournament at Dulwich sports ground in South London September 1, 2013. (Photo by Philip Brown/Reuters)

McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research centre located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as the United States Antarctic science facility. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo.

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Based on the layout of Helm’s Deep featured in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation, this 150,000 brick set piece is astounding. The artists, who go by the names Rich-K and Big J, apparently, nail the atmosphere and scale of the conflict of one Lord of the Rings most iconic scenes. At the time these photos were taken, the model was about 90% complete, with an estimated four months worth of work. The time, money and personal investment that must have gone into this project is impressive.

Bikini-clad women sit as they operate a 3.6 metre-high custom-made female robot at the “Robot Restaurant” in Kabukicho, one of Tokyo's best known red light districts, August 15, 2012. (Photo by Tokyo Scum Brigade)