Video Of The Day: Men Nearly Drop Saint Statue On Crowd At Peruvian Festival

by Libby Zay on

Bearing the weight of a saint on your shoulders can be a heavy burden. Just watch the men struggling to carry their church’s patron saint around the main square in Cusco, Peru, at the annual Corpus Christi festival earlier this month and you’ll get a feel for the lumbering task. The video comes from this year’s festival, customarily held 60 days after Easter Sunday. It takes up to 50 men to carry these statues around the main square (and make a few signs of the cross with it at alters scattered about), and they only get a few breathers in between.

The act of carrying a statue in this way is a mix of pre-Columbian and colonial traditions. Back in the time of the Inca Empire, richly embellished mummies of esteemed leaders and ancestors were carried around the square on similar platforms during holidays. When the Spanish came, effigies of saints and virgins were swapped in and adorned with flowers, lace, mirrors, beads and other accessories. The custom stuck, and today Corpus Christi remains one of the most important religious festivals in the country.

This year, I was lucky enough to be in Cusco’s main square during Corpus Christi. The square and surrounding streets were overflowing with revelers, who danced, played music, shot off fireworks and enjoyed plenty of delicious Peruvian street food. I was so happy to be enjoying the festival that I almost got caught under the weight of a saint myself. Watch my own video after the jump.

Historic Battleship USS Texas Taking In Water, Leaking Oil

by Sean McLachlan on


The USS Texas is America’s oldest battleship. Commissioned in 1914, it fought in both World War I and World War II. Since 1948 it’s been utilized as a museum at La Porte, Texas, on the outskirts of Houston.

Now the vessel is in peril. It’s sprung a leak and is taking on water. So much water entered the ship that it started noticeably listing to port. The old oil tanks got flooded. While the tanks had been emptied decades ago, they’d never been cleaned, so oily water spread out into the bay.

The oil is being cleaned and the water pumped out. While problems continue, the ship doesn’t appear to be in danger of sinking. The Houston Chronicle reports the ship is taking less water now, from a high of 850 gallons a minute down to 100. Repairs will hopefully start Monday and the ship will be closed for the foreseeable future.

Despite its current troubles, the future may be bright for this floating bit of history. In 2007 a state bond issue raised $25 million to dry berth the ship. This would help preserve it for future generations. Now it’s estimated the project may cost twice that. Getting the money will be difficult in this economic climate, but the project would create jobs and preserve a major tourist attraction.

Check out the video to learn more about this amazing vessel.

Video: How To Make Crop Circles

by Sean McLachlan on


Spring has sprung, crops are growing, and it’s time once again for everyone’s favorite landscape art – crop circles!

The year is already starting off well with some lovely examples in England, Italy and other countries. Numbers will increase in the summer as crops grow and provide a better palette. Crop Circle Connector keeps a running tally so you can see what’s up in the world of cereology, the study of, well, you know.

Now before anyone starts filling the comments section with wild-eyed tales of UFOs and Earth energies, let me rain on your parade by saying that crop circles were debunked a long time ago. The Circlemakers group has taken credit for many of them and they have even posted a beginner’s guide to making crop circles. There are also plenty of how-to videos, like this one commissioned by a British tabloid. It will show you, step-by-step, how to annoy farmers and entrance crystal-clutching New Agers.

This video was made way back in 2001, yet still there are superstitious dupes paranormal investigators who insist that while many are faked, some crop circles “cannot be explained.” As I noted in an earlier post, that’s like saying that while we have documentation for the construction of most medieval cathedrals, there are no blueprints or payrolls for other cathedrals and therefore they must have been made by aliens.

But who cares? Crop circles are beautiful and fun. It raises awareness of the natural landscape. Even better, the crops can still be harvested. No wheat was harmed in the making of this video. Now get out there and start circling!

Video Of The Day: Huayna Picchu Offers Bird’s-Eye View Of Machu Picchu

by Libby Zay on

Standing on the mountain ridge of Machu Picchu, the most recognized site of the Incas that sits high above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, is an experience sought after by people from all over the world. Walking around the UNESCO World Heritage Site, one can’t help but wonder what life was like for the Incas who lived there in the 15th century. As visitors take a moment – or in some cases, several hours – to sit and soak up the surrounding peaks of the Andes Mountains, one gets a sense of the kind of connection the Incas must have had to the breathtaking landscape that surrounded them. One of those peaks, Huayna Picchu, or “Young Peak,” is the emblematic sugarloaf mountain that rises over Machu Picchu in most photos. The Incas paved a trail up the side of the mountain and built temples and terraces on its summit – where local guides say the high priest and local virgins lived. Today, 400 tourists can enter Huayna Picchu each day by purchasing advanced tickets for 152 Peruvian neuvos soles, or around $57 U.S. dollars. The one-hour climb to the top isn’t easy; it’s a steep ascent the equivalent of 253 flights of stairs that includes some dizzying hairpin turns where climbers must use steel cables for support and – in certain spots – leaves climbers exposed on the side of the mountain on tiny steps. In this video, Mike Theiss takes viewers to the summit, showing how hikers must squeeze through a cave at one point and demonstrating just how harrowing some of the stairs can be. But the best parts about the hike (and the above video) are the 360-degree view from the top and the bird’s-eye view of Machu Picchu. Watch closely to see the switchback road the buses take to transport travelers from Aguas Calientes, the town below the Inca site, to Machu Picchu. Believe me, the views are worth braving your fear of heights and the soreness that results from the climb!

Video: Base Jumping In The Himalaya

by Kraig Becker on

In April, Russian mountaineer and base jumper Valery Rozov traveled to a remote region of the Himalaya Mountains in India to climb a peak known as Mt. Shivling. After spending a month acclimatizing to the altitude and preparing for the climb, he and two companions started off for the summit located at 6543 meters (21,466 feet).

The technically difficult climb took six days to complete but Rozov found a much easier and quicker way to get back down. Clad in a wing suit, the Russian jumped from a ledge and safely glided and parachuted to the valley below. That descent took just 90 seconds with Valery reaching speeds of approximately 125 mph along the way.

The video of this base jump, which you’ll find below, was released earlier this week. At the time it was widely reported that this was a new world record for altitude, but that distinction actually belongs to a couple named Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan. That husband and wife team jumped from the 6604-meter (21,666-feet) Mt. Meru back in 2006.