SaiL Amsterdam — Parade of ships

SAIL Amsterdam is a large maritime event held every five years in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Tall ships from all over the world visit the city to moor in its Eastern harbour, and people can then visit the ships for four days (free of charge). The event was organised for the first time in 1975 to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Amsterdam, under the name 'Sail Amsterdam 700'. At that time, interest in tall ships, which had sunk to a low since the 1930s when the last commercial tall ships had been built, was starting to rise[citation needed]. The success of Sail Amsterdam 700 led to the establishment of the Stichting Sail Amsterdam (SSA, Foundation Sail Amsterdam). More images after the break...

Sail is one of the largest maritime manifestations in the world, and the largest event of any kind in the Netherlands. Tens of tall ships and hundreds of other historical ships are involved. Numerous other ships and boats are present besides the participating ships, amounting to 8000 boats in the 2000 edition.

Lesser events take place during the festival, involving small sailboats, sailor choirs or re-enactments of naval battles. The Sail In or Parade of Sail on the first day attracts many other small ships, including creations like a sailing organ (with trumpet accompaniment) or a train converted to a ship. On the next to last day there is a naval pageant and on the last day the 'Sail Out'. The Next Sail Amsterdam will be held from 20 August to 24 August 2015.

World’s Biggest Chocolate Bar

Switzerland and Belgium may be the world's most famous chocolate-making countries, but tiny Armenia has just stolen some of their spotlight by creating the largest chocolate bar, ever. more after the break...

The sweet event took place in Armenia's capital of Yerevan, and was organized by the Grand Candy Factory – a local chocolate making company – as a way to celebrate to celebrate its 10 years of existence. Guinness Book representatives were invited to take part in the unveiling of the chocolate monster created, and to make sure this event goes into the record books.

The giant chocolate bar weighs 4,400 kilograms, is 224 inches long, 110 inches wide, 10 inches thick and is made from cocoa beans from Ghana. In the following weeks, the world's biggest chocolate down will be chipped into pieces and handed out to freely around Yerevan. The previous record for the world's biggest chocolate bar was set in 2007, in Italy.

Who's there on the Bridge

Who's there on the bridge ? Find the answer after the break...

Here is the perfect example of how a moonlight stroll can go horribly wrong.Two young goats that wandered onto the thin ledge of a 60ft railway bridge had to be rescued by a crane after two days high above a remote highway.The poor animals' plight was only discovered when a passing motorist contacted a local charity and alerted them to the situation.Rimrock Humane Society called the police, who then enlisted the help of a local coal mine to bring in a crane and pluck the animals to safety near Roundup, southern Montana.

The young female animals, weighing about 30lb each, mostly stayed on the angled ledge - even though there was a wider surface area on a pillar just a few feet away. Rimrock Humane Society president Sandy Church said: 'The whole time, we thought they were going to fall off. These guys are just babies.' Ms Church said it wasn't clear how the nimble-footed animals got into the predicament, but she speculated they wandered onto the ledge at night and then froze after the sun rose and they discovered where they were. She said that the goats sometimes stepped to the pillar but returned to the narrower ledge, where they tried to rest their tired legs by tucking them under their bodies for a few seconds at a time.

Authorities were called on Tuesday, when the goats were first spotted. But confusion about the location delayed the rescue until another caller alerted the humane society yesterday. The sheriff's office, Ms Church and Cory Freeman, a humane society volunteer who runs the Animal Edventures Sanctuary, enlisted the help of officials at Signal Peak Energy, which operates a nearby coal mine. Mine boss John DeMichiei volunteered a mining crane with an arm high enough to reach the stranded goats that eventually moved to the pillar. Both animals were thirsty and tired but have recovered well after their ordeal - and are undoubtedly giving late-night walks a miss for the time being.

Top 10 most creative people in business

This year's 100 Most Creative People offers our own, idiosyncratic perspective on business. The selections reflect the breadth of news ideas and new pursuits at play in our business landscape. Here we present the top 10 from list of innovators.

10. Qi Lu – President of Online Services, Bing; Microsoft

It's hard to imagine software giant Microsoft in the role of David, but up against the search Goliath Google, the casting fits. Spurning the antiquated practice of releasing new updates every couple of years, Lu is creating an environment where live-cycle updates and product improvements are constant. Bing's share of the search business is still only about 12%, but if anyone can turn a pebble into a deadly stone, Lu is the man. More after the break...

9. James Cameron – Filmmaker, Lightstorm Entertainment

Not only did Avatar become the highest-grossing film in history (nearly $2.7 billion worldwide) — surpassing Cameron's previous record setter, Titanic — but its visual spectacle and technical mastery also laid to rest any doubts about 3-D as a profound medium for live action and artistic ambition. When it comes to the business of Hollywood, Avatar cemented his place in the realm of the gods.

8. Hannah Jones – VP of Sustainable Business and Innovation, Nike

Jones says she joined Nike's sustainability team to test whether it was "more effective to shout from the outside or work from the inside." Her conclusion: The creative combination of both is the most potent. She has paired Nike with NASA and venture capitalists to address water shortages; with Creative Commons to launch GreenXchange, a platform for companies to share green intellectual property; and with PopTech to create an Open Collaboration Lab for scientists and engineers.

7. Chris Anderson – Curator, TED Conferences

As chief curator of TED — the Long Beach, California, conference of multidisciplinary luminaries turned viral-video phenomenon turned cultural juggernaut — the Brit has guided it into a newly global, open-source phase this year. Volunteers have translated thousands of videos into 76 languages and introduced TEDx, independently organized events that in the first year has produced an astonishing 500 gatherings in 70 countries and 35 languages.

6. Steve Burd – CEO, Safeway

Steve Burd played a crucial role in the recent health-care debate. The exec appeared repeatedly on Capitol Hill to describe the health and financial benefits of the grocery chain's unconventional wellness program, which includes lower insurance premiums for nonunion employees who maintain healthy blood-pressure and cholesterol levels and don't smoke. Burd insists that the company's health-care costs rose just 2% from 2005 to 2009 compared to a nearly 40% increase for most companies. "The Safeway amendment" — a provision that increases the incentives companies can pay healthy employees — is now law.

5. Ryan Murphy – Creator and Producer, Glee

The Peabody-winning Fox series Glee, his satire about a high-school show choir, has become a ratings rock star. It's the No. 1 show among female teens and the top new show among women 18 to 49, and more of its viewership is made up of 18- to 49-year-olds in households making $100,000-plus than any other broadcast-network show.Glee has also spawned more than 50 iTunes singles — Murphy picks all the songs himself — as well as three soundtracks and a sold-out concert tour.

4. Shiro Nakamura – Chief Creative Officer, Nissan

 With the zero-emissions Leaf — which goes on sale later this year and is the first global mass-market electric car — he has tried to put his finger on the consumer pulse and make a car that will sell. "We did not want to make something very strange for just the niche buyer," Nakamura said last year. That hews to his belief that creativity at its best isn't about just doing whatever you want: "More designers have to understand the values of society and the people they are creating the vehicles for."

3. Elizabeth Warren – Consumer advocate, Congressional Oversight Panel

By calling the likes of Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit on the carpet, jawboning with Jon Stewart, and pushing to create a consumer financial protection agency, Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren has taken what could have been a paper-pushing position as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the bank bailout to the forefront of the public conversation over financial reform.

2. Eddy Cue – VP of Internet services, Apple

Steve Jobs may own the limelight, but Eddy Cue holds the key to the Apple kingdom. Cue runs arguably the most disruptive 21st-century Web businesses: iTunes and the App Store, the latter of which is poised to create a $4 billion app economy by 2012. Cue's next campaign will be challenging Amazon's Kindle dominance, with the Cupertino cocktail of the iPad and the iBook store.

1. Lady Gaga – Pop Artist

Gaga broke through last year as a global phenomenon, musing on "disco sticks," channeling Madonna's glitter-glam fashion, and cribbing shock-rock performance notes from Alice Cooper. Gaga has done something unprecedented, melding her inspirations with au courant dance pop and Web savvy to build a business empire notable for both the speed of its creation and the diversity of its platforms.

Cascamorras — Festival Celebrated in Spain

According to legend, the origin of "La Fiesta del Cascamorras" can be traced back to 1490, when Don Luis de Acuña Herrera decided to built the Church of Mercy in the town of Baza, where a Moazarabic mosque had previously been erected. While chiseling a block of plaster, Juan Pedernal, a worker from the nearby town of Guadix, heard a soft, soothing voice coming from inside a cavern, which said "Have mercy!". Upon examining the cavity he stumbled upon a statue of the Virgin Mary, that came to be known as "Our Lady of Mercy". More images and video after the break...

You would think finding a miraculous statue was a joyful event for everyone, but in reality, its discovery caused turmoil between the towns of Baza and Guadix. After the two towns argued about the ownership of Our Lady of Mercy, courts of the time decided the statue would remain in Baza, while rights to host celebrations on every September 8th be given to the people of Guadix. It was also agreed that if ever a commissioner from Guadix would enter the town of Baza and reach the Church of Mercy without getting stained by locals, he would be allowed to take the holystatue to his home town.

And that takes us to the modern Festival of Cascamorras. The first Cascamorras was builder Juan Pedernal, and every year since his first attempt to recover thestatue he discovered, his place has been taken by other locals from Guadix. Every September 8th, the people of Guadix journey to Baza to hold the religious festivities that were awarded to them, 500 years ago. Every time, their chosen Cascamorras tries to reach Baza church unstained, but as all the young people of Baza await him covered in black paint, it's no wonder in five centuries time no Cascamorras has ever reached his goal.

As soon as the Guadix pilgrims approach Guadix, their Cascamorras is assaulted by hundreds of youngsters covered in black paint, and gets smeared with the oily substance. What's even worse, the Cascamorras gets the same kind treatment from his own people, upon returning to Guadix. As punishment for not being able to retrieve Our Lady of Mercy, the Cascamorras cover him in different kinds of paint. Via Link

Venice Regatta Storica

Every year the first Sunday in September, held in Venice Historical Regatta (Regata  ). The festival is held around the subsequent scenario: first, held a parade - Hundreds of residents in elegant Venetian costumes sit in the gondolas of various sizes and swim through a large column, and then arrange four boat races of various types. Hence the name - Regatta. It is noteworthy that, instead of medals, the winners presented with flags. Previously, except for flags, gave more and live pigs, but the World Organization for the Protection of Animals PETA banned this funny prize several years ago. More images after the break...

The Regata Storica is the main event in the annual "Voga alla Veneta" rowing calendar. This unique sport has been practised in the Venetian lagoon for thousands of years and today it is particularly well-known for the spectacular historical water pageant that precedes the race. Scores of typically 16th century-style boats with gondoliers in period costume carry the Doge, the Doge's wife and all the highest ranking Venetian officials up the Grand Canal in a brightly coloured parade. An unforgettable sight and a true reconstruction of the glorious past of one of most the powerful and influential Maritime Republics in the Mediterranean. The Regata Storica dates back centuries, probably as far back as the mid thirteenth century when the Serenissima needed to train the crews of its huge navy in the art of rowing.

Today there are four races divided in terms of age and type of craft. The best known and most exciting of these is the "Campioni su Gondolini" race, where a series of small, sporting gondolas fly down the Grand Canal to the finishing line at the famous "machina", the spectacular floating stage located in front of the Ca' Foscari palace. Via Link