I have to save the first spot for what started this who 1541 debarkle off.. the sandwich eating dwarves. Fast food chains have long been accused of using actors with small hands to make their burgers look bigger. That 12″ sub looks to be about two-feet long.

 Next we are in China, where Police officers have come up with an unusual measure to deter speeding drivers – by dressing stone monkey statues in fluorescent jackets.
Clearly not content with the outcomes of speed cameras and sleeping policemen, traffic enforcers have turned to the novel idea of playing dress-up with animal statues.

 Last but certainly not least, and for those who read my blog regularly will know these stories will know and understand my love for cute furry animal stories, and this one will certainly not dissapoint. A cat and a baby deer have become best of friends at the Odessa Zoo, Ukraine.

The moment stopped visitors in their tracks as they passed by the enclosure. As the baby deer rested in the shade during a warm summers day the domestic zoo cat approached. After a quick hello both decided a bit of sleep was in order and the ginger moggy nestled peacefully into the side of the deer.

It’s no secret that ‘social media’ is growing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. We won’t bore you too much with that.

There are a million and one places where you can find social media stats, but what use are statistics alone? It’s not until they’re put in to some perspective that they can truly be appreciated.

Leading digital blog, Econsultancy has been documenting social media facts and figures year-on-year and has recently published a post highlighting social media growth over the past year (or so).

The following statistics go some way to demonstrate the sheer scale of growth of some of the better-known social media channels.

Twitter

In January 2010 Twitter had 75 million user accounts, but only 15 million used the site regularly. This resulted in 27 million Tweets per day.

Now, there are more than 175 million registered Twitter users. How many of these are regular users is unclear, but the number of Tweets per day has rocketed to 95 million – an increase of 250 percent.

Linkedin

LinkedIn has grown by an impressive 100 percent from last year, it now has over 100 million users across the globe. Interestingly, 56% of these users are from outside of the US.

Facebook

The ever-growing behemoth that is Facebook has shown some impressive growth over the last year.

Back in January 2010, the site had 350 million active users across the globe, it now has in excess of 640 million – half of which login daily. Based on this figure, Facebook has seen a 40 percent increase in daily usage over the past 12 months.

Users accessing Facebook via their mobile device has grown by over 200 percent. In early 2010 the figure was around 65 million, it now stands upwards of 200 million. This figure evidently reflects the rise in mobile and tablet usage around the globe. Interestingly, those who access Facebook via their mobile device are proven to be twice as active as those who don’t.

People are sharing more content on Facebook now too. On average, there are more than 7 billion pieces of content shared on the site weekly. This figure has risen from last year, when it was 3.5 billion.

As Facebook continues to expand on its services, expect more growth for the next 12 months.

 Flickr

At the start of 2010, Flickr was hosting around 4 billion images.

Since then it has grown by around 25 percent. By December 2010, the site was hosting more than 5 billion images. This equates to it’s members uploading more than 3,000 images per minute.

 Wikipedia

Wikipedia is one of the most visited and trusted websites in the world. At the turn of 2010 the site played host to over 14 million articles from over 85,000 different contributors.

Now, the site has grown to over 17 million articles from 91,000 contributors. That’s a lot of content!

Going back to the topic of showing numbers in perspective, the figures above demonstrate just that – a truly staggering rate of growth across the board.

What will the next 12 months hold? Will Facebook continue to grow at this rate? Will Google finally crack social media? Will Twitter run out of juice?

Jurgen Freund’s pictures of a baby turtle, a barrel sponge and other beauties of the deep have been released to back environmental campaigners the WWF.

His photographs are shown as part of the charity’s Blue Mile project to raise money for its global conservation work.

Freund took the photos during an 18-month expedition to the Coral Triangle – the coastline of the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

This the where the world’s marine life is concentrated and its 6million sq km is home to many species of whales, dolphins, tuna, reef fish, rays, sharks and turtles.

The WWF hopes the pictures show what the world could lose if climate change and pollution are allowed to take hold of fragile eco-systems.

As part of Blue Mile, the WWF is urging people to take part in a sponsored event – covering a mile in or by water.

Fundraisers can swim, paddle, kayak, or stroll beside a river, lake or beach.

They can organise an event or join the WWF’s London event on Sunday, September 4, at Stoke Newington West Reservoir. For details, visit wwf.org.uk/bluemile or call 02392 312008.

They say that dogs are a man’s best friends, and who can argue when this clever hound has learned to open her owner’s fridge and pick up a beverage on command. She also fetches creature comforts such as slippers and blankets and can even empty the washing machine.

‘If I come in from work after a hard day and Kalula fetches me a beer, it makes everything seem so much better,’ said owner Nicole Jennings. ‘I attached a tea towel to the handle of the fridge, which Kalula tugs at to open the door.

‘She always closes it behind her, though.’

So take note grotty teenagers of Britain, if your too lazy to help around the house invest in a pooch like Kalula – I cant guarantee they can do your homework though..

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/869259-kalula-the-booze-hound-probably-the-best-dog-in-the-world-#ixzz1S4HacQir

So inviting and warming was this bed, we managed to sleep through the alarm and miss breakfast. Hungry again we suited up and made our way down the valley to a small cafe for some brunch, it wasn’t nearly as good as the Scandinavian breakfast we had at the lodge but it filled a hole!

Just across the bridge was the small Swedish town of Karesuando. We were on the northern border of Sweden & could see the village across the Muonio River from the lodge. Most notably seen is the church, it’s spiral can be seen from the top of mountain that we had been star gazing the night before.

After a short walk we came to the bridge, with it an old iron sign marking the divide. The river was frozen solid with a thick layer of ice, if it weren’t for the ski, snowmobile and footprints it would have looked like the icing on a cake. People were free to cross the border without any checks, a bit like England and Wales really.

Our first stop was to the church, which we learnt is the most northerly church in all of Sweden! It was quite modern inside, I wasn’t allowed to take photos but it was more like the happy clappy churches you get in America. From the outside however it stood tall and proud at the top of it’s drive, overlooking the river.

There wasn’t a great deal going on in the village, a couple of shops and residential areas but that’s it. It was very pretty though and nice to walk around. The only people we saw were those serving in the shop, a bit if a ghost town. They are probably hibernating, which I don’t blame them for, it’s freezing!

After lunch came the activity I was most looking forward too, Husky safari! Saying I am dog lover is an understatement, I adore them, especially huskies! As we approached the farm you could hear them howling with excitement, they had 92 in total including a few pups. Most of them are crossbreeds, either with greyhounds for speed or arctic wolves for strength. People think its cruel making huskies pull a sleigh but I can honestly say they genuinely love it. The sleighs are tied to a tree with a pack of six huskies tied to the front, they with howl, jump, spin round in circles until we finally until the sleigh and whoosh they are off! The two at the back are usually the matured males, wolf cross breads for strength, they do most of the work, the middle two are younger, very cheeky but hard workers. The front are usually female, they are the more intelligent ones who can lead.

They were pretty easy to steer, a bit like riding a bicycle, you lean the way you wish to turn and you have a foot break. On the up slopes you have to give the dogs a helping hand and push the sleigh.

After two hours out in the wilderness it was time to day goodbye, we were introduced to the leader of the farm, Roy! He looked like a St Bernard’s but was a cross of some other breeds. He looked like a huge White fluff ball, a mini polar bear almost. If any of the heard were to escape he would herd them back into the kennel.

That evening it was time to unwind and relax, the first night we could have a good sleep. We curled up in front of the fire in the Sami lounge, with beer in hand and enjoyed sharing stories with the other guests.

Cheers!

Breakfast was a gods send, a full English Scandinavian style. Having settled the hunger, we retreated to the Sami lounge where Ian welcomed us to his hotel and gave us a bit of history. The lounge we were sat is was named after the native Sami’s, who are Europe’s northernmost and the Nordic countries’ only officially indigenous people.

A Sami family in Norway around 1900

Having been welcomed to the Davvi Arctic Lodge, our holiday guide, Greta, lead us down to fetch out thermal snow outfits. Neither of us were expecting the sheer extent of the sub zero temperatures. It was minus 26 out and my nostril hairs instantly turned to ice. After just 5 minutes I had lost feeling in my hands, feet and ears. That will teach me for going outside in nothing more than jeans and a rugby shirt!

Abbey enjoying her thermal suit!

We spent the rest of the afternoon dressed like Michelin men, layered up to the neck exploring the Davvi Artic Lodge and it’s surroundings. You could hear a pin drop it was quite surreal how quite it was, there was not a human, bird or vehicle in sight. We trekked up to the top of the hill and through the woods to discover a gleaming full moon surrounded by a bed of purple and pinks. Although by 5pm the night is drawing in we were too early to see the northern lights so we took a look around and made our way back to the lodge for dinner.

A night spent gazing at the stars

The food here was fantastic, warm hearty food full of nutrients and protein. Flavorsome soups to start, roasted or stewed meats for main and rich sweet deserts. The beer was pretty good too, I’m not a massive larger drinker in the UK as I find it usually tastes of chemicals, but when on the continent I enjoy a good bottle or two of the local brew, this one of which was called Koff, which the most popular of beers in Finland.

Tonight was the night in the Igloo, sleeping among the stars and spirits of the Arctic Circle under a thick wall of ice. Abbey was not looking for to it, she gets cold under her 3 large quilts and full PJs when it’s not even in the minuses at home so not sure how she will cope in the igloo.

It’s been a steady -24 degrees for most of the day, with temperatures dropping to around minus 30 in the evening. We were reassured it would be a warmer -5 in side the igloo, so with our full Artcic thermal gear on, including 3 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of long John’s and 10 other layers covering everything else we made our way into the igloo. A candle lit snow trail awaited us guiding us to our front door. We were passed our hot chocolates and climbed into our arctic sleeping bags resting on the ice mattress. I felt rather snug inside, my body heat slowly warmed the sleeping bag and felt safe in the knowledge I was warm. Abbey on the other hand, didn’t feel the same reassurance. She was shivering from the word go, I could just about see two eyes poking through the thermal layers.

Our bed for the night!

So on that note, its time to snuggle up & get warm or face another sleepness night.

Hyvää yötä!