Central Perk: Damn Cool Pics

luni, 20 iunie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Miss USA 2011 Swimsuit Competition
Man Builds World's Tallest Sandcastle
Retail Showdown: Amazon vs Walmart [infographic]

Miss USA 2011 Swimsuit Competition

Posted: 20 Jun 2011 06:00 PM PDT

The 60th Annual Miss USA Pageant was held at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Miss California Alyssa Campanella was crowned Miss USA 2011. The preliminary swimsuit competition took place on Thursday, June 15.

Dressed in patriotic red, white and blue bikini swimsuits, the 51 contestants strutted their stuff for the judges.

During the past six decades, several states have seen far more than their fair share of Miss USA winners: Texas, 9, California, 5, New York, Hawaii and Illinois, 4 each.

Man Builds World's Tallest Sandcastle

Posted: 20 Jun 2011 03:38 PM PDT

Ed Jarrett, Guinness World Record holder for the tallest sandcastle, has beaten his own record for the second time.

His latest incredible construction was built at Winding Trails Recreation Area in Farmington, Connecticut, USA and measured 37 ft 10 in - a full 6 ft taller than his previous record. The medieval castle's design features a two-headed, fire-breathing dragon and Rapunzel.

Over 1.6 million pounds of sand and water were used to create the structure, while more than 1,000 volunteers were on hand to help Ed, collectively contributing over 2,000 work hours.

Ed began work on the castle on April 1, with the completed structure finished in time for official measurements a whole seven weeks later on May 20.

Source: jarrettscastle

Retail Showdown: Amazon vs Walmart [infographic]

Posted: 20 Jun 2011 03:30 PM PDT

Are Wal-Mart and Amazon two retail giants in competition with each other, or do they exist in parallel worlds?

In recent weeks, Amazon has aggressively pushed into the digital retail market, adding Cloud-based streaming movies and music to a growing list of digital products. Sales at the Kindle store are already booming, though the latest, highly-ranked Nook from Barnes & Noble is threatening the Kindle's supremacy. Now Amazon chief Jeff Bezos is dropping hints about a tablet computer in the works, one that would compete with Apple's iPad. Yet another new Amazon business will focus on pets, according to reports.

Wal-Mart, meanwhile, continues to break new ground in a literal sense, last week opening Wal-Mart Express, a chain of boutique outlets to compete with convenience and dollar stores. The first location opened in Gentry, Arkansas, and hundreds more are due to roll out across the country. Each will be roughly 15,000-square-feet in size "small" only in comparison to typical Wal-Mart supercenters, which average 185,000 square feet.

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