By this Author: Peter

Recently, the Australian government has been running some insipid (taxpayer funded.. grr..) ads promoting their "action" on climate change (which includes being one of 2 countries NOT to ratify the Kyoto accord .. ahem).

This ad aired during the AFL grand final this past weekend, which is the largest TV event of the year in Australia. It was funded by a people movement called Getup!

It's amazing (and very refreshing) to me to see the public really driving this issue much, much more than politicians. They just seem to constantly be catching up with the general population's opinions on the matter.

Have a look.. even if you haven't seen the original, it's pretty funny

Travellerspoint Photo Moderator Marlis Seelos just returned from a trip to Cuba and has started uploading some of her excellent photography. Cuba seems to generate some of the most interesting photos I come across while featuring photos; old cars, weathered faces and buildings and an abundance of colour are the usual recipe. Looking back over the previously featured photos from Cuba, I decided to pick my 10 absolute favourites.

"Revolucion" by Corrado

"Bici taxi" by marlis

"The women at the door" by marlis

"Murals in Havana" by jza80

"Smoking" by corrado

"Habana centro" by fruitybean

"Balcony discussion in Havana" by snowgirl

"Neptuno Dudes" by Cuba-Junky

"Lada Stretch Limo" by Marlis

"Coco Taxi" by DinaRosado

If those don't inspire you to add Cuba to your must-visit list, I'm not sure what will And if you do decide to travel to Cuba, Travellerspoint is one of the few sites that will let you book hostels, guesthouses and hotels there in advance! More inspiration in the featured Cuba photos gallery for those of you that can't get enough.

A great theme of travel photography is the capturing of weird and wacky signs. We've had some classic examples uploaded to Travellerspoint over the years and so I decided to compile 20 of my favourites, in no particular order.

Rain not permitted

Taken by Gelli in Xi'an, China

Please go south for 80 miles. Just on your left.

Taken by Gelli in Beijing, China

Wank

Taken by Nikio in Germany

The child forbids playing here, take care dangerously

Taken by dakiar in Ya'an, China

Do not feed or play with the alligators

Taken by markxrose in Florida, USA

Do not gossip. Let him drive.

Taken by daveh in India

Chinese Paper Cut

Taken by towangle in China

Dyslexic Tiefs, Beware of God

Taken by stevedana in the Bahamas

Tourists! Don't Follow Your Guides!

Taken by wilmar in Budapest, Hungary

Where to Park?

Taken by erodrigo in Mongolia

NOTICE. Thank you for noticing this notice

Taken by roblist in Australia

CLOSE 25:00

Taken by Gelli in Japan

Information Centre

Taken by myself in Canada

Stairs for Up

Taken by Gelli in Hakodate, Japan

Beware! of shaven head child pickpocket

Taken by Gelli in Thailand

No Snails

Taken by Gelli in Beograd, Serbia

No Machine Guns

Taken by Gelli in Skopje, Macedonia

Toilet instructions

Taken by tommydavis in Guatemala

Dangerous not to swim

Taken by tommydavis, Mexico

Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did! Many more great travel photos can be found in our Travel Photography galleries, now with well over 100,000 images.

• **

If you liked this entry, please share them with others through StumbleUpon, Reddit, or Digg.

Here's a bit of light-hearted entertainment.

News overnight that the Cutty Sark, a 137-year-old tea clipper, one of London's popular tourist attractions, had gone up in flames shocked many. After looking at the charred remains of that once beautiful ship, it was hard to imagine this icon being worth restoring. Therefore I was surprised this morning to see this quote from Chris Livett, the chairman of Cutty Sark Enterprises:

It will be the old ship. We are absolutely devoted to the ship and will be progressing with her conservation.

We are determined to put it back together.

I wonder though, what really is the value in restoring such historic treasures when I can only imagine it will end up being little more than a replica.

Another great example of this is the Mostar Bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Destroyed during the Balkan war, it was entirely reconstructed and was reopened in 2004.

There are countless other examples through the ages. The Cutty Sark seems destined to be added to that list.

via The Herald