Costumes from BlizzCon 2011

Well, it's that time of year again. Time for BlizzCon, the annual gathering in Anaheim, California, where fans celebrate the massively successful WarCraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises created by Blizzard Entertainment. And BlizzCon means costumes.

Gamers got their hands on yet-to-be released Blizzard titles such as Diablo III, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard DotA and the World of WarCraft: Mist of Pandaria expansion while surrounded by life-size statues and cosplayers of familiar game characters.






















































































Source: flickr

Paga Crocodile Pond in Ghana

Located in the north-eastern border of Ghana, Paga is a sacred crocodile sanctuary. Although crocodiles are considered as wild creatures, the Paga crocodiles are friendly and coexist with humans.

The friendly relationship between the crocodiles and humans continue to baffle the minds of many. This is in contrast to the perception of crocodiles as dangerous.

It is a customary offence to harm, kill or show any sign of disrespect to the crocodile of Paga. It is common to find children and or visitors sitting at the back of or holding the tale of a crocodile without any harm, after a sacrifice of a chicken.

According to the villagers, the crocodiles have never harmed anyone but since there’s a first time for everything, a hospital is located 200 km to the south in the capital city of northern Ghana, Tamale.

This is normal for the people of Paga but a mystery to visitors.

Visualizing How A Population Grows To 7 Billion

The U.N. estimates that the world`s population will pass the 7 billion mark today. That`s a whole lotta people. Much of that growth has happened in Asia — in India and China.

This video does an excellent job of explaining how population growth has happened with beautiful visualizations. Click through to watch it. It’s worth it.


Source: npr

Holiday Spending Forecast [infographic]

We all know consumers spend more during the holiday season than any other time during the year. But did you know 38% of people have already began their yearly shopping extravaganzas?

Online shopping now beats out shopping in stores (for the social media users who responded to the survey) and electronics are at the top of their shopping lists. Seventy-two percent get gift ideas from Facebook, the most popular social network for researching.

The infographic, created by Lab42, also includes some interesting stats, such as the average shopper in 2010 spent $107.50 on themselves. Thirty-one percent of people will spend over $700 this year.

Lab42′s data comes from an online survey of 545 social media users between Oct. 18 and Oct. 20.

More Infographics.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Source: mashable