This Could Be The Most Famous Picture In The World

Do you recognise the picture above? Chances are very high that you would recognise it almost immediately.

Yes, this is the default wallpaper for Microsoft Windows XP which was released in 2001 and has since had more than 400 million copies in use as at 2006 (excluding pirated copies). So we know for a fact that this particular picture has been seen several billion times over the years.

The image is called Bliss, it is a real photo of a real place (Sonoma County,California) it is free of any digital manipulation and the photo was taken by photographer Charles O'Rear in 1996.

Microsoft now owns all the copyright to this picture and the photographer, Charles O'Rear cannot say exactly how much Microsoft bought it from him (because of a Non-disclosure agreement) but he would only say that it was an "extraordinary amount" and one of the largest ever paid to a living, working photographer.

Pictures of Queen Elizabeth With The Last 12 American Presidents

Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne on Feb.6 1952 and since then she has met all the U.S Presidents with the exception of Lyndon Johnson.

Below are pictures of her with the U.S Presidents she met through the decades.

Queen Elizabeth with former President Herbert Hoover on October 21,1957 in New York. This meeting took place more than 20 years after Herbert Hoover left the White House.

The then Princess Elizabeth with U.S President Harry S. Truman at the Canadian embassy in Washington Nov. 1 1951.

Queen Elizabeth with President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the White House on Oct. 20, 1957.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip host President John Kennedy and his wife at Buckingham Palace on June 5,1961.

Queen Elizabeth with President Richard Nixon at Buckinghamshire in 1970.

Queen Elizabeth dancing with President Gerald Ford during a State Dinner at the White House on July 17, 1976.

The Queen with President Jimmy Carter in Buckingham Palace May 1, 1977. President Carter refused to bow and instead opted for a kiss, and the Queen held a grudge against him for several years.

The Queen with President Ronald Reagan at San Francisco, 1983. 

Queen Elizabeth with President Goerge H.W Bush at the White House on May 15,1991. 

Queen Elizabeth with President Bill Clinton in June 1994.

Queen Elizabeth with President George W. Bush at Windsor Castle on June 15,2008.

Queen Elizabeth making a toast with President Barak Obama at Buckingham Palace on May 24,2011.

If All The World Had Just 100 People

With the population of the world surpassing the 7 billion and counting very fast. A research website called 100people.org has made a compilation which would help people "better understand the complex issues facing our planet and the resources we share by framing the global population as 100 people".

Below is a compilation of 100people.org statisical findings into 14 image macros to further simplify the message they are trying to get across.

These Words Have No Direct English Equivalents

These illustrations were done by Mumbai-born graphic designer Anjana Ilyer, now based in Auckland, New Zealand.

It highlights words in other languages that have no direct English equivalents. This means that there are no exact English words for them, word-for-word.

Below are come of these words in graphic illustration:

Spanish

Add caption

German

Czeck/Slovak

Japanese

Russian

Yagan

Japanese

Maori

German