The World’s Highest Bridge

The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by architect Norman Foster, in collaboration with French bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux, it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one pier's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft)—slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 38 m (125 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. It was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic two days later.

Statistics
2,460 m: total length of the roadway
7: number of piers
77 m: height of Pier 7, the shortest
343 m: height of Pier 2, the tallest (245 m at the roadway's level)
87 m: height of a pylon
154: number of shrouds
270 m: average height of the roadway
4.20 m: thickness of the roadway
32.05 m: width of the roadway
85,000 m³: total volume of concrete used
290,000 tonnes: total weight of the bridge
10,000–25,000 vehicles: estimated daily traffic
€4.90–6.50: typical automobile toll, as of 2005
20 km: horizontal radius of curvature of the road deck

Aim...Fire! (High Speed Photography)

High speed, or "flash" photography is an art, widely used in scientific research, which also has a dedicated following among those wanting to "blow things apart" in the most elegant way possible. Witness the very popular Flickr group and a multitude of posts around the world, all joining in the delirious excitement of exploding various objects on camera. It's not easy to come up with a perfect shot... consider 1200ft/sec average speed of a bullet, plus a synchronizing laser, hi-tec flash setup and a fancy camera-work. The following is "the best of" gallery from a few masters of the genre:

Stefan, a.k.a. Fotofrog has a gorgeous set, where fruits and some vegetables get blown to smithereens, together with some tableware:
























(images credit: Stefan - Fotofrog)

Crayons from Spyzter:


(image credit: Khuong)

Shattered glass lamp:


("Shattered Glass" by Raniel)

Peeled banana (and more from Jasper Nance)


(image credit: Jasper Nance)

Antibacterial soap bar:


(image credit: Jasper Nance)

Unfortunate? doll:


(image credit: Jasper Nance)

Hot tomato:


(image credit: Jasper Nance)

Bullet through a bottle:


(image credit: Johnny Lee)

"Pulsetronics" is UK company specializing in high-speed photography, mostly for science research. They also have a few artistic gems there:











Full Magnum Force:


(image credit: Arya Abidi)

Two spherical shock waves are visible on this "schlieren image" (an interferometric technique used to study the distribution of density gradients within a transparent medium). A serious weapon with considerable force, but nothing a good solid bottle of beer couldn't do:


(image credit: Laughlin Barker)