A passenger waits after his train arrived in Nouadhibou, Mauritania’s second largest city and the main export port for the country’s iron ore industry, on June 25, 2014. The mining company’s employees proudly call their firm the lung of their nation's economy and the train that ferries the ore to the coast stretches some two kilometres, making it one of the world's longest. SNIM mines black iron ore in the northern town of Zouerate, a remote desert location which nevertheless attracts people from all over the country looking for work. (Photo by Joe Penney/Reuters)

Filipino typhoon survivor children, who escaped after their village was attacked by allegedly armed men, wait for social workers in the super typhoon devastated city of Tacloban, Leyte province, Philippines, 13 November 2013. Aid workers and relief supplies were being poured into eastern provinces hit by Typhoon Haiyan, which aid agencies and officials estimated has left thousands dead and staggering destruction in its wake. The official death toll in the Philippines from one of the world’s strongest typhoons rose to 1,833, the national disaster relief agency said with many towns still unaccounted for. (Photo by Dennis M. Sabangan/EPA)

Inga Paltser is a young painter from Severodvinsk known for her watercolor illustrations and paintings of owls. Inga prefers working with paper, but sometimes also creates on textile, wood, and canvas. She started painting in her childhood at the local school of arts. However, after high school Inga decided to become a biologist and now she works as a researcher. Even though art hasn’t become her profession, Inga finds time to create wonderful paintings presented on this website. Her first owls were painted spontaneously – Inga decided to utilize small pieces of watercolor and pastel paper and created two cute owls called “Friends”. Inga’s owls instantly received recognition across the web and social networks and now are greatly loved by thousands of people around the world.

James Kerr started his project “Scorpion Dagger” without any real direction, except for the intention to make one GIF everyday(ish) for one year. He had been making collages for some time and “Scorpion Dagger” started out to be a test of discipline and a way for him to learn how to animate. Making GIFs was a logical evolution to him. The project represents many different things to him, the works from which he draws upon are so powerful and inspirational to him, that he is now nearly obsessed with repurposing them to share his vision of the world, and perhaps inspire people to look at art differently. The project is tremendously personal to him, it’s a lot more than the humor that’s at its surface and he is still trying to work out what “Scorpion Dagger” really is.

“Dubai is sometimes called the “City of Gold” because of its stunning growth from a sleepy Gulf port to a world-famous business crossroads in the space of a single generation. Its nickname has a literal meaning for traders in the precious metal. The city is building itself up as a center for the gold trade, between sources in Africa and consumers in the rising economies of China and India”. – Kamran Jebreili via Associated Press

Photo: A gold press operator collects 10 gram gold blanks to press them with the logo of the Emirates Gold company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Gold prices remained relatively steady in 2012, close to $1,700 an ounce. (Photo by Kamran Jebreili/AP Photo)

The holder of half a dozen world records will walk across the Grand Canyon on a steel cable with nothing but the Little Colorado River 1,500 feet below on June 23. With no tethers or safety nets, the walk will be the highest tightrope attempt ever for the 34-year-old, at a height taller than the Empire State Building. Last year, Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the “Flying Wallendas” family of acrobats, became the only person to walk a wire over the brink of Niagara Falls. Photo: Nik Wallenda walks across a tightrope 200 feet above U.S. 41 on January 29, 2013 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Tim Boyles)

“In 2009 a monumental underwater museum called “MUSA” (Museo Subacuático de Arte) was formed in the waters surrounding Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Punta Nizuc. The project founded by Jaime Gonzalez Cano of The National Marine Park, Roberto Diaz of The Cancun Nautical Association and Jason deCaires Taylor consists of over 450 permanent life-size sculptures and is one of the largest and most ambitious underwater artificial art attractions in the world”. – UnderwaterSculpture (Photos by Jason deCaires Taylor/Intrepidacious/Kozy and Dan Kitchens)

“The Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft. It was developed as a black project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by the Lockheed Skunk Works. Clarence “Kelly” Johnson was responsible for many of the design's innovative concepts. During reconnaissance missions the SR-71 operated at high speeds and altitudes to allow it to outrace threats. If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outrun the missile”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A U.S. Air Force SR-71A, also known as the “Blackbird”, is put through it's paces during a test flight over Beale Air Force Base in California. The aircraft is a strategic reconnaissance plane by Lockheed and is the world's fastest and highest flying operational aircraft. (Photo by Getty Images)