“A cuddle party or cuddle puddle is an event designed with the intention of allowing people to experience non-sexual group physical intimacy through cuddling. Cuddle parties are described by organizers as “workshop/social-events” that gives adults an opportunity to “give and receive welcomed affectionate touch in a no-expectation, friendly setting, according to your needs, desires, interests, and boundaries”. Cuddle parties are described as non-sexual events but kissing may occur at some parties”. – Wikipedia

Photo: People cuddle during an a “Cuddle Party” October 16, 2004 in New York City. Started by Reid Mihalko and Marcia Baczynski, cuddle parties are events for adults to get together and explore affectionate touch and communication without it becoming sexualized. At the parties, strangers spend time introducing themselves and setting boundaries before lying down to cuddle. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“Mehndi or menhdi is the application of henna as a temporary form of skin decoration in India, as well as by expatriate communities from the country. The word mehndi is derived from the Sanskrit word mendhikā. The use of mehndi and turmeric is described in the earliest Vedic ritual books. Haldi (Staining oneself with turmeric paste) as well as mehndi are important Vedic customs as a symbolic representation of the Outer and the Inner Sun. Vedic customs are meant to awaken the “inner light” and so the gold of the inner Sun has an important symbolic function”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Application of henna or “Mehndi” to a girls hand in a market on October 18, 2010 in Jaipur, India. (Photo by Simon de Trey-White/Getty Images)

Filipino typhoon victims walk through heavy mud in the typhoon hit town of Taft, Samar island, Philippines, 08 December 2014. Typhoon Hagupit weakened into a tropical storm as it moved towards the Philippine capital after killing at least 27 people and displacing more than one million people in the eastern and central provinces. Hagupit slammed into the country's eastern coast on 06 December evening, bringing heavy rains and gale-force winds that flattened homes, ripped off roofs, and knocked out power and communications. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA)

Hundreds of houses painted in bright colors in what organizers claim is Mexico's largest mural, is part of a government-sponsored project is called Pachuca Paints Itself, in the Palmitas neighborhood, in Pachuca, Mexico, Thursday, July 30, 2015. German Crew is the artist collective responsible for painting the mural project. Director Enrique Gomez, who goes by MYBE, said the crew has painted 1,500 square meters with 20,000 liters of paint. Working hand-in-hand with residents, muralists have painted the facades of 200 homes bright lavender, lime green, incandescent orange – hues more commonly found in a bag of Skittles than in the drab, cement-and-cinderblock neighborhoods where many of Mexico's poor live. The project aims to bring the community together and rehabilitate the area. (Photo by Sofia Jaramillo/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, January 7, 2015 photo, a Sri Lankan Catholic devotee Rita Anthony kisses her rosary as she prays inside her house in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Vatican has said that it hopes that Sri Lanka's Christians can play a role in helping heal the wounds of the island nation's bloody 25-year civil war, when the Tamil Tiger rebels fought to create a separate homeland in the north for the minority Tamils, who are mostly Hindu. The war came to a bloody end in 2009, but many Tamils say they feel forgotten by the central government, which is dominated by the country's ethnic Sinhala majority, which is overwhelmingly Buddhist. Sri Lanka's Christians come from both the Tamil and the Sinhala communities, making them a natural bridge between the two sides. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)

Naki'o, a mixed-breed dog with four prosthetic devices, goes for a run in Colorado Springs April 12, 2013. Naki'o lost all four feet to frostbite when he was abandoned as a puppy in a foreclosed home. (Photo by Rick Wilking/Reuters)

“The Trabant is a car that was produced by former East German auto maker VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Sachsen. It was the most common vehicle in East Germany, and was also exported to countries both inside and outside the communist bloc. The main selling points was that it had room for four adults and luggage in a compact, light and durable shell and that it was fast (when introduced) and durable. With its mediocre performance, smoky two-stroke engine, and production shortages, the Trabant is often cited as an example of the disadvantages of centralized planning; on the other hand, it is regarded with derisive affection as a symbol of the failed former East Germany and of the fall of communism (in former West Germany, as many East Germans streamed into West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989). It was in production without any significant changes for nearly 30 years with 3,096,099 Trabants produced in total”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Enthusiasts weared in uniforms of the former eastern german army trive in a military Trabant car as fans and owners of East German-era Trabant cars gather at the 2011 International Trabantfahrer Treffen (International Trabant Drivers Meeting) on June 26, 2011 in Zwickau, Germany. The Trabant, also known as the Trabi, was among the main cars produced in communist East Germany and built by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke in Zwickau for 30 years until 1989. Today the car has cult status for many followers and one company, IndiKar, is even seeking to revive the brand in a modern, electric version. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

Commended. In late May, about a quarter of a million snow geese arrive from North America to nest on Wrangel Island, in northeastern Russia. They form the world's largest breeding colony of snow geese. Photographer Sergey Gorshkov spent two months on the remote island photographing the unfolding dramas. Arctic foxes take advantage of the abundance of eggs, caching surplus eggs for leaner times. But a goose (here the gander) is easily a match for a fox, which must rely on speed and guile to steal eggs. “The battles were fairly equal”, notes Sergey, “and I only saw a fox succeed in grabbing an egg on a couple of occasions, despite many attempts”. Surprisingly, “the geese lacked any sense of community spirit”, he adds, “and never reacted when a fox harassed a neighboring pair nesting close by”. (Photo by Sergey Gorshkov/Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer)