World's Most Extreme Bridges

 

Bryce Canyon's Natural Bridge (Utah, US)

Natural Bridge, the most popular arch in Bryce Canyon, is located 1.7 miles past Fairview Point and is visible from the Natural Bridge turn-out. The naming of Natural Bridge in Bryce Canyon caused a slight uproar in the geology circles. Even though the natural-made structure looks like a bridge, it is in fact an arch.

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Vitim River Bridge (Siberia)

 This broad river is the Vitim River in Siberia, Russia. The bridge that's provided to get you across is made of wood and not in a very good condition. It's only wide enough for one car but it's 570 meter (1870 feet) so it takes good 3 minutes to drive across it if you're a skilled driver. If you're not so skilled, you could be looking at a 15 meters drop into the Vitim River, which ain't no fun. And that's really nothing. 

Vitim River Bridge is in Russian Siberia. For those who don't know this region, it gets brutally cold there most of the year with temperatures way below Northern Ontario and everything covered in snow and ice. This bridge turns into an icicle with no traction yet locals drive up and down this bridge as it's often their only way across Vitim River.

Hussaini Hanging Bridge (Pakistan)

Known as the most dangerous bridge in the world, the Hussaini Hanging Bridge is only one of many precarious rope bridges in Northern Pakistan. For most of the citizens, the only way to travel was by walking across mountain passes to Rawalpindi. In 1978, the Karakoram Highway was completed and the region was connected, but inter-region travel remains as difficult as it was 100 years ago.

Regular aspects of travel through this region include the rickety cable and plank bridges which cross Northern Pakistan's mountain streams and rivers. Among these is the Hussaini Hanging Bridge, crossing Borit Lake in the Upper Hunza. This rope bridge is both long and poorly maintained. Many planks are missing, and strong winds shake the bridge as you cross it. It does little to ease nerves that a previous, older, broken bridge hangs in tatters next to the "new" one.

Despite its dangerous looks, however, the Hussaini is a relatively safe bridge and has become something of a tourist draw, with hikers testing their nerves as they carefully work their way across.

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Puente de Ojuela (Mexico)

Ojuela was a small mining settlement located northwest of the city of Durango, Durango, in northern Mexico. The settlement is now well known as a ghost town as a result of the mineral ore being exhausted. The only surviving and functional structure is a suspension bridge.

The bridge is known as "Puente de Ojuela" (Ojuela Bridge) by the locals. The original bridge was designed by the famous Roebling brothers, who also designed the Brooklyn Bridge. At the time of construction, the Puente de Ojuela was the third longest suspension bridge in the world.

It was rebuilt recently by the Peñoles Company, the original was scrapped and only the main arches are now displayed at the Torreón Exposition Center.

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Pulau Langkawi's Suspended Bridge (Malaysia)

This sky bridge spans around the gorge on Pulau Langkawi, which is the largest island in the Langkawi archipelago, Malaysia. It's suspended at 687 m above sea level, offering magnificent views of the Andaman Sea and Thailand's Tarutao Island. 

The view from the bridge is really breathtaking – its curves provide different perspectives of the landscapes. The Sky Bridge is one of the most spectacular bridges in the world that delivers quite a pump of adrenaline. This unique cable-stayed bridge is suspended by only one support column. This 95-yard column is held up by 8 load-balancing cables. 

The curved pedestrian bridge spans 125 m across a spectacular chasm. The bridge is 136 yards long and 2 yards wide. The 1.8 m-wide Sky Bridge had two 3.6 m-wide triangular platforms that provided a spectacular viewing area for visitors. And remember when in the front of the bridge, you are standing 687 m above sea level.

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Inca Rope Bridge (Inca Empire, Peru)

Inca rope bridges were simple suspension bridges over canyons and gorges (pongos) to provide access for the Inca Empire. Bridges of this type were suitable for use since the Inca people did not use wheeled transport - traffic was limited to pedestrians and livestock. These bridges were an integral part on the Inca road system and are an example of Inca innovation in engineering. They were frequently used by Chasqui runners delivering messages throughout the Inca Empire.

The Incas used natural fibers found within the local vegetation to build bridges. These fibers were woven together creating a strong enough rope and were reinforced with wood creating a cable floor. Each side was then attached to a pair of stone anchors on each side of the canyon with massive cables of woven grass linking these two pylons together.

Adding to this construction, two additional cables acted as guardrails. The cables which supported the foot-path were reinforced with plaited branches. This multi-structure system made these bridges strong enough to even carry the Spaniards while riding horses after they arrived. 

However, these massive bridges were so heavy that they tended to sag in the middle, and this caused them to sway in strong winds. Part of the bridge's strength and reliability came from the fact that each cable was replaced every year by local villagers as part of their mita public service or obligation.

In some instances, these local peasants had the sole task of maintaining and repairing these bridges so that the Inca highways or road systems could continue to function. The greatest bridges of this kind resided in the Apurimac Canyon along the main road north from Cuzco.

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Royal Gorge Bridge (Colorado)

The Royal Gorge Bridge is a tourist attraction near Cañon City, Colorado, within a 360-acre (150 ha) theme park. The bridge deck hangs 955 feet (291 m) above the Arkansas River, and held the record of highest bridge in the world from 1929 until 2003, when it was surpassed by the Beipanjiang River 2003 Bridge in China. It is a suspension bridge with a main span of 938 feet (286 m). The bridge is 1,260 feet (384 m) long and 18 feet (5.5 m) wide, with a wooden walkway with 1292 planks. The bridge is suspended from towers that are 150 feet (46 m) high.

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The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (Ireland)

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is a rope suspension bridge near Ballintoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny Carrick Island. The site is owned and maintained by the National Trust, spans twenty metres and is thirty metres above the rocks below. Today the bridge is mainly a tourist attraction, with 247,000 visitors in 2009. When it's windy, this is truly an exhilarating experience – terrifying (if you're afraid of heights) but exhilarating.

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The Old Bridge of Konitsa (Greece)

This centuries-old bridge in Greece spans the river Aoos, which is
full in winter. If you look carefully to the right under the top of the bridge, you can see a small bell. Villagers say that when there is enough wind to make the bell sound, it is too dangerous to cross the bridge.

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The Immortal Bridge (China)

Mount Tai in the Shandon Province of China has had cultural and religious significance for thousands of years. It is one of the five sacred mountains of China and is associated with the dawn, birth and renaissance. As you progress up the mountain you will come across this – The Immortal Bridge. This Bridge is composed of three huge rocks and several smaller ones. Below it is a valley and to the south is a seemingly bottomless abyss. No one knows quite when these enormous rocks fell into their current place but it is quite likely they have been like this since the last ice age.

(Link | Via)

6 Most Extremely Modified People - Part 2

Etienne Dumont: Living art

Etienne Dumont is an art & culture critic for a newspaper in Geneva who just happens to be covered head to toe in some of the most vibrant tattoos ever mande. He also has silicon implants under the skin which give the horned appearance, 2.7 inch rings in each earlobe and plexiglass piercings through the nose and under his bottom lip. And he claims to wear his tattoos like art

Lucky Diamond Rich: World's Most Tattooed Person

The ultimate in multi-layered tattooing is represented by the chainsaw juggling, unicycling, sword-swallowing Lucky Diamond Rich from Australia, who has spent over 1,000 hours having his body modified by hundreds of tattoo artists. He began by having a full collection of colourful designs from around the world tattooed over his entire body. But not content with stopping there, Lucky next opted for a 100% covering of black ink, including eyelids, the delicate skin between the toes, down into the ears, and even his gums. He is now being tattooed with white designs on top of the black, and coloured designs on top of the white! He is now, officially, the world's most tattooed person, having a full body coverage. 

 

Paul Lawrence: The Enigma

You've probably heard about The Enigma. Paul Lawrence is the guy with blue puzzle pieces tattooed all over his body who has made a name for himself performing stunts such as sword swallowing, pushing a moving power drill up his nose and swallowing various liquids, pumping them out of his stomach and swallowing them again. The Enigma is also an accomplished musician. 

 

Tiger Lady: Enigma's ex-wife

The Tiger Lady is the stage name of the heavily modified female performance artist and tattoo artist Katzen, whose full body tattoo theme is that of a tiger. She received extensive tattooing on all parts of her body and wears tiger whiskers attached via piercings on her face. She was once married to "The Enigma". They got divorced and now she works at a tattoo shop in Austin, Texas. 

 

Elaine Davidson: World's Most Pierced Woman

Elaine Davidson is the World's Most Pierced Woman, according to the Guinness World Records. When examined by a Guinness official in May 2000, Davidson had 462 piercings, with 192 in her face alone. Performing at the Edinburgh Festival in 2005, the Guardian reported that she now had 3,950 body piercings. She has more piercings in her genitalia than in any other part of the body - 500 in all, externally and internally. The total weight of her jewelry is estimated to be about 3 kilograms. As of May 2008, Davidson's piercings total 5,920. As of Feb. 2009 her piercings total 6,005. 

 

The Tentacle Man

This unknown brazilian man shows some heavy tentacle suction-cup implants, done by Dark Freak at Luck All in Sao Paulo, Brasil.  

6 Most Extremely Modified People - Part 1

 

 Rick: The Zombie Boy

 Meet Rick. He's turning himself into a zombie. So far, more than 24 hours of tattoos --costing over $4,075 Canadian dollars-- have got him halfway there and made him a minor celebrity on the internet, where people can’t decide if he’s a body modification visionary or mentally ill sicko. 

 

 

 

 

 Eric Sprague: The Lizardman

 Born Eric Sprague in 1972, the Lizardman was one of the first people to have a split tongue and in some circles is seen to be wholly responsible for the recent popularity of this particular modification. This 37 year old man has transformed himself into a reptile via 700 hours of tattooing, five Teflon horns implanted beneath the skin of his eyebrows, filing down of his teeth into sharp fangs, bifurcation of his tongue, and stretching of his septum and earlobes.

 

Tom Leppard: The Leopard Man

Formerly considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world's most tattooed man, Tom Leppard, now 73 years old, fled society years ago after spending £5,500 to have his body covered in leopard-like spots. He lived in a small cabin on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Once every week, the ex-soldier travelled by canoe to buy supplies and pick up his pension. However, in 2008 he moved into a small house on Skye after a friend offered to move him by boat. "I'm getting too old for that kind of life," he said. 

 

Julia Gnuse: The Illustrated Lady

Julia Gnuse, also known as the illustrated lady, was born with a condition called porphyria which causes her skin to blister regularly and ultimately scar. In order to cover this up she started getting tattoos applied over the affected areas. After 10 years she was covered in the bastards and holds the Guinness Record for being the most tattooed woman in the world. 

Horace Ridler: The Zebra Man

A professional freak and sideshow performer, Horace Ridler exhibited himself as The Great Omi or The Zebra Man. Horace was an English aristocrat who returned from the First World War to Twenties' London where he began his transformation into one of the world's greatest oddities. Tattooed from head to foot in black and white stripes, he became Omni - the Zebra Man. As the years wore on the Omi’s appearance became more and more outrageous as did his personality. He took to wearing lipstick and nail polish and signed his pitch cards, ‘the Barbaric Beauty’. Despite his appearance, “underneath it all, I’m just an ordinary man,” he insisted shortly before his death in 1969. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dennis Avner: Catman

Dennis Avner, also known by "Catman" or his native american name of "Stalking Cat", undergone incredible extensive surgery in order to look like his totem animal, the tiger. Modifications include extensive tattooing, transdermal implants to allow whiskers to be worn, subdermal implants to change the shape of the face and the filing and shaping of the teeth to make them look more like a tiger's. 

15 Most Extreme Scarification Tattoos

5 Unbelievable Medical Mistakes (PART 2)

Hospital makes a wrong-sided brain surgery... for the third time in a year

For the third time on the same year, doctors at Rhode Island Hospital have operated on the wrong side of a patient's head. The most recent incident occurred Nov. 23 2007. An 82-year-old woman required an operation to stop bleeding between her brain and her skull. A neurosurgeon at the hospital began a surgery by drilling the right side of the patient's head, even though a CT scan showed bleeding on the left side, according to local reports. The resident reportedly caught his mistake early, after which he closed the initial hole and proceeded on the left side of the patient's head. The patient was listed in fair condition on Sunday.

The case echoes of a similar mistake last February, in which a different doctor operated on the wrong side of a patient's head. And last August, an 86-year-old man died three weeks after a surgeon at Rhode Island Hospital accidentally operated on the wrong side of his head.

The Surgeon who removed the wrong leg

In what was, perhaps, the most publicized case of a surgical mistake in its time, a Tampa (Florida) surgeon mistakenly removed the wrong leg of his patient, 52-year-old Willie King, during an amputation procedure in February 1995.

It was later revealed that a chain of errors before the surgery culminated in the wrong leg being prepped for the procedure. While the surgeon's team realized in the middle of the procedure that they were operating on the wrong leg, it was already too late, and the leg was removed. As a result of the error, the surgeon's medical license was suspended for six months and he was fined $10,000. University Community Hospital in Tampa, the medical center where the surgery took place, paid $900,000 to King and the surgeon involved in the case paid an additional $250,000 to King.

The healthy kidney removed by mistake

In St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a patient was submitted at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital to have one of his kidneys removed because it had a tumor believed to be cancerous. Instead, doctors removed the healthy one.

"The discovery that this was the wrong kidney was made the next day when the pathologist examined the material and found no evidence of any malignancy," said Samuel Carlson, M.D. and Park Nicollet Chief Medical Officer. The potentially cancerous kidney remained intact and functioning. For privacy and family's request, no details about the patient were released.

Wide-Awake Surgery led to his suicide

A West Virginia man's family claims inadequate anesthetic during surgery allowed him to feel every slice of the surgeon's scalpel - a trauma they believe led him to take his own life two weeks later. Sherman Sizemore was admitted to Raleigh General Hospital in Beckley, W.Va., Jan. 19, 2006 for exploratory surgery to determine the cause of his abdominal pain. But during the operation, he reportedly experienced a phenomenon known as anesthetic awareness -- a state in which a surgical patient is able to feel pain, pressure or discomfort during an operation, but is unable to move or communicate with doctors.

According to the complaint, anesthesiologists administered the drugs to numb the patient, but they failed to give him the general anesthetic that would render him unconscious until 16 minutes after surgeons first cut into his abdomen. Family members say the 73-year-old Baptist minister was driven to kill himself by the traumatic experience of being awake during surgery but unable to move or cry out in pain.

Not so funny: wrong artery bypassed

Two months after a double bypass heart operation that was supposed to save his life, comedian and former Saturday Night Live cast member Dana Carvey got some disheartening news: the cardiac surgeon had bypassed the wrong artery. It took another emergency operation to clear the blockage that was threatening to kill the 45-year-old funnyman and father of two young kids. Responding to a $7.5 million lawsuit Carvey brought against him, the surgeon said he'd made an honest mistake because Carvey's artery was unusually situated in his heart. But Carvey didn't see it that way: "It's like removing the wrong kidney. It's that big a mistake," the entertainer told People magazine.

Living on the Edge: 5 Clifftop Towns

Santorini (Greece): a 300 meter (984 ft) high paradise

Located about 200 km southeast from Greece's mainland, the archipelago of Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island, and leading to the creation of the current geological caldera. Its spectacular physical beauty, along with a dynamic nightlife, have made the island one of Europe's tourist hotspots. The Minoan eruption, which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization, left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of feet deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km (70 miles) to the south, through the creation of a gigantic tsunami. The giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular, mesures about 12 km by 7 km (8 mi by 4 mi) and is surrounded by 300 m (984 ft) high steep cliffs on three sides.

Ronda (Spain): divided by a 100-meter deep canyon

Located in a very mountainous area about 750 metres (2,500 ft) above mean sea level, Ronda is a clifftop town in the spanish province of Malaga. "El Tajo", a 100-meter deep canyon, separates the old town form the new one, leaving some of the buildings and houses right on the edge of abyss. Going from one side to the other is possible, as the canyon is spanned by three bridges, each built in a different historical age: Roman, Moorish and 18th Century.

Castellfolit de la Roca (Spain): situated on a 50 meters (164 ft) high basalt crag

A municipality in Catalonia, Spain, Castellfollit de la Roca is bordered by the confluence of the Fluvià and Toronell rivers, between which the town's basalt cliff rises. The basalt crag where the town is situated is over 50 meters high and almost a kilometre long. It was formed by the overlaying of two lava flows and it is one of the smallest towns in the province.

Manarola (Italy): Italy's most precariously placed town

Located in Liguria, Manarola is certainly one of Italy's most precariously placed towns. It’s hard to say just how old this village is, but ancient Roman texts have been found which celebrated the wines produced there. Today, you can still enjoy strolls through the vineyards, a walk on the Via dell’Amore (Path of Love) and its brightly colored buildings just near the edge.

Bonifacio (Corsica): 70 meters (230 ft) over the Mediterranean Sea

At the southern tip of the island of Corsica, Bonifacio is the largest commune of the island. This fragile looking citadel sits precariously at 70 meters (230 ft) over the white limestone cliffs, eaten away by the wind and waves of the Mediterranean Sea. A naval haven throughout the century, Bonifacio is now a small marina for expensive yachts from around the world.