Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, is locked under the rule of extremists from the Islamic State group trying to purge it of everything they see as contradicting their stark vision of Islam. A trove of photographs now housed at the Library of Congress offers a glimpse of a different Mosul – before wars, insurgency, sectarian strife and now radicals' rule. The scenes were taken in the autumn of 1932 by staff from the American Colony Photo Department during a visit to Iraq at the end of the British mandate. (Photo by AP Photo)

“Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line. He has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedy actors ever in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians. He has also had cinematic success with his performances in the Mr Bean movie adaptations Bean and Mr. Bean's Holiday and in Johnny English and its sequel Johnny English Reborn”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Actor Rowan Atkinson attends a photocall for “Mr. Bean's Holiday” at the Adlon Hotel March 22, 2007 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

“The Darwin Beer Can Regatta is an event which has been held annually since 1974 in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia at Mindil Beach. Participants create boats using empty beer cans, soft drink (soda) cans, soft drink bottle and milk cartons. The vessels are not tested for seaworthiness, prior to water events, and those that fall apart are part of the day's entertainment. A great many sundry events go along with the regatta, including concerts, a thong-throwing contest and the "Henley-on-Mindil" competition (named after the Henley-on-Todd Regatta), where participants run their "boats" around like Flintstones cars”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A Darwin Beer Can Boat sails in Darling Harbour on October 31, in Sydney, Australia. Darwin has been named as one of Lonely Planet's top ten cities in the world to visit in it's Best in Travel publication. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images for Tourism NT)

“Ba game is a version of medieval football played in Scotland, perhaps most notably in Orkney and the Scottish Borders, around Christmas and New Year”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Men tussle for the leather ball during the annual “Fastern Eve Handba” event in Jedburgh's High Street in the Scottish Borders on March 1, 2012 in Jedburgh, Scotland. The annual event, which started in the 1700's, takes place today and involves two teams, the Uppies (residents from the higher part of Jedburgh) and the Doonies (residents from the lower part of Jedburgh) getting the ball to either the top or bottom of the town. The ball, which is made of leather, stuffed with straw and decorated with ribbons is thrown into the crowd to begin the game. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

“A Cornish pasty, sometimes known as a pastie or British pasty in the United States, is a filled pastry case, associated in particular with Cornwall in Great Britain. It is made by placing the uncooked filling on a flat pastry circle, and folding it to wrap the filling, crimping the edge at the side or top to form a seal. The result is a raised semicircular package”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Cornish students (R) Nina Brooke, 21 and (L) Bonnie Mably, 20, laugh as they pose for a photograph as they try a Cornish pasty that has been baked as part of the World Cornish Pasty Championships at The Eden Project on March 3, 2012 in St Austell, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

In this composite image, (Bottom Photo) a car drives past a ship called Asia Symphony that was left stranded prior to the sixth month anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and massive tsunami on September 10, 2011 in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. (Top Photo) Local residents walk past the Asia Symphony, which has been left stranded after being lifted up onto the promenade of the docks March 24, 2011 in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. A 9.0 magnitude strong earthquake struck Japan offshore on March 11 at 2:46pm local time, triggering a tsunami wave of up to ten metres which engulfed large parts of north-eastern Japan and also damaging the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing the worst nuclear crisis in decades. The current number of dead and missing is reportedly estimated to be 22,900. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)

“Ecotricity's Greenbird vehicle, designed and piloted by Richard Jenkins, broke the land speed world record for a wind-powered vehicle in 2009. Greenbird recorded a top speed of 126.4 mph (203.4 km/h), and sustained a speed of 126.2 mph (203.1 km/h) for the required time of three seconds, beating the previous, American held, record of 116 mph (186.7 km/h), set by Bob Schumacher in the Iron Duck in March 1999 at the same location”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Richard Jenkins poses for photographs with the world's fastest wind powered land Vehicle at Science Museum on August 3, 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Sleep under the Stars, hosted by Hepburn Wind, has given us an opportunity to enrich our daily life with art. Thanks to this festival, a regular wind turbine was turned into a marvelous peace of art. The artwork is especially noticeable, since its theme greatly contrasts with the background behind the wind turbine. Moreover, the idea of drawing a woman-giantess walking over the mountain tops on a large conical object is quite extraordinary. Nevertheless, the grey and green colors of the picture were very well chosen for this particular image. You can only imagine the obstacles that the artists had to face when making a picture on such a large object. However, nowadays, people never cease to amaze with their ingenuity, leaving us gaping in awe at their creations.