• Take your passion to the grave in a Crazy Coffin

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors photograph various custom designed coffins, during the "Death - Festival for the Living" exhibit, at the Royal Festival Hall in London, on Jan. 28. Crazy Coffins, an offshoot of a Nottingham-based traditional coffin and urn maker which took on a new identity in the 1990s when people began asking to customize their final resting places, presents uncanny coffins as part of the exhibit. The "Death - Festival for the Living" exhibit is open from Jan. 20-29.

    If you're wondering how much a Crazy Coffin will set you back, the Nottingham, England based company's site offers the following on their pricing:

    A coffin shaped like a particular motor car may set you back four or five thousand pounds. But a simplified football boot may cost you only eight hundred pounds.

    Crazy Coffins has yet to fill an order outside the United Kingdom, but waits in anticipation to do so:

    The time between death and the funeral is sometimes short and can prohibit an order from abroad. A better idea is to buy now and die later!

    Learn more about their work: Crazy Coffins

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors look at a sled coffin made for Richard Mullard. Mullard plans to be buried wearing his skis and commissioned this replica of a Laplanders sled, with boots to fit, so that his funeral resembles a final expedition to the frozen north.

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors listen to a talk by former Concord engineer Malcolm Brocklhurst, top right, as they look at his airplane coffin.

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Railway enthusiast Brian Holden, 83, poses for a photograph with the Orient Express Railway Carriage coffin he commissioned.

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors look at a corkscrew shaped coffin.

    Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

    Visitors look at a ballet shoe shaped coffin commissioned by ballet fan Pat Cox.

     

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  • Lanterns light the sky for good fortune and prosperity in Taiwan

    Wally Santana / AP

    Hundreds of Taiwanese release "sky lanterns" in hopes of good fortune and prosperity in the new year and to celebrate the upcoming traditional Chinese Lantern Festival on Jan. 28, in the Pingxi district of New Taipei City, Taiwan. The start of the Chinese Lantern festival falls on Monday, Feb. 6.

    Related content:

    Slideshow: Chinese New Year celebrations around the world

    Peter Parks / AFP - Getty Images

    Millions around the world celebrate the Lunar New Year, which began on Jan. 23 and welcomes the year of the dragon.

    Launch slideshow

     

  • Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

    People run into the Chesapeake Bay at Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis, Md., during the 16th Annual Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge, Jan. 28. The MSP Polar Bear Plunge is a charity function benefiting the Maryland State Special Olympics.

    Swimmers take a chilly dip to benefit Maryland State Special Olympics

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  • 26 killed in fire at rehabilitation center in Peru

    Ernesto Benavides / AFP - Getty Images

    Relatives of patients of the "Christ is Love" rehabilitation center for drug and alcohol addicts react after a fire in San Juan de Lurigancho district, in Lima, Peru, on Jan. 28. A fire swept through a drug rehabilitation center in a densely populated area of Lima Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 12 others who were trapped inside.

    AP reports:

    "This rehabilitation center wasn't authorized. It was a house that they had taken over ... for patients with addictions and they had the habit of leaving people locked up with no medical supervision," Tejada, the health minister, said.

    Authorities said they did not know how many people were inside the center at the time of the fire. They said they were looking for the center's owners and staff, some of whom apparently fled the scene.

    Full story: Peru: 26 killed in fire at rehabilitation center

    AP

    The bodies of people who were killed in a fire lie on the ground as firefighters try to revive others after removing them from the Christ is Love center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Jan. 28.

     

  • St. Louis hosts first big parade to welcome Iraq War veterans

    Jeff Roberson / AP

    Participants in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans make their way along a downtown street Saturday, Jan. 28, in St. Louis, Mo. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the United States since the last troops left Iraq in December.

    AP reports:

    People in the crowd waved American flags and held signs reading, "Welcome Home" and "God Bless Our Troops." Fire trucks with aerial ladders hoisted three huge American flags along the route.

    Two St. Louis men launched a grass-roots effort to hold the parade after noticing there'd been no large public celebrations to welcome troops home.

    Full story: St. Louis hosting 1st big parade on Iraq War's end

    Sarah Conard / Reuters

    Larry Connor, center, Vietnam veteran, salutes his fellow servicemen during the Welcome Home Heroes Parade in downtown St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 28.

    Jeff Roberson / AP

    Stephanie King holds a picture of her uncle, Col. Stephen Scott, who was killed in Iraq in 2008, as she prepares to participate in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans, Jan. 28, in St. Louis, Mo.

     

  • Gingrich, Romney shake it in Florida

    Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

    U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich shakes hands after a St. Lucie Meet and Greet event in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Jan. 28.

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    Oh, the handshake…

    Shaking someone’s hand is a relatively intimate experience, as it can convey a decent amount of information about a person and should always be done, according to American etiquette, naked. Well, at least with a naked hand unless customs or health precautions suggest otherwise.

    There’s nothing worse than a limp, too-smooth, sweaty-palmed handshake from a man that says, “I couldn’t tell a socket wrench from an Allen wrench to save my life.”

    I want a handshake to be firm and have some texture … like the guy regularly does a little work outside. Maybe that’s because those are the kind of hands I grew up with in my family … my dad, my uncles, my grandfathers and my great grandfathers all either worked the land or worked construction to put themselves through school and had the rough, worn hands to prove it.

    That being said, maybe not everyone is appreciative of the same sort of grip.

    John Curran / AP file

    Actress Elizabeth Taylor and former Navy Secretary John Warner, wave to supporters on Friday, June 2, 1978, in Richmond, Va., during Warner's campaign for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate.

    I recall a story my dad tells involving two relevant topics here: his handshake and politics.

    He was dragged by my mother to a political shindig for John Warner when Warner was running for U.S. Senate in Virginia in the late ‘70s, and Warner also happened to be married to Elizabeth Taylor at the time.

    My dad and my mom were in the event-typical receiving line to shake hands with the couple. My mom ahead of him in all of her glory at those sorts of things, shaking and smiling while my dad did his best as the dutiful husband to grip and grin through his social pain.

    Dad shook Warner’s hand first and then consciously went to ease his grasp a bit for Taylor. No sooner had he touched her hand, she began to shriek in pain. My mom shot my dad a look that could have killed as she turned various shades of crimson, while my dad looked for a table to crawl under as Taylor was tended to by her entourage. 

    Come to find out, a blood vessel had freakishly burst in her hand just as she went to meet my dad’s grip, so it really wasn’t his fault, though I’m not sure how many people at the Strawberry Banks in Hampton, Va., knew it that night.

    One thing is for certain, I don’t think my dad ever shook another politician or politician spouse’s hand again.

    I wonder if candidates on the campaign trail remember events such as these as vividly as we do, or if they shake so many hands that a zillion palms in different cities simply add up to percentage points won or lost.

    How about you? Any tales to tell of a memorable political palming?

    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands with supporters after delivering a campaign speech about innovation on Florida's Space Coast at Astrotech Corporation, Jan. 27, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The commerical aerospace company provides satellite and spacecraft pre-launch processing and other services.

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    Romney, McCain rally vets in Pensacola, Fla.

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  • Aaron Favila / AP

    Victoria Azarenka of Belarus kisses the trophy during the awarding ceremony after defeating Maria Sharapova of Russia in their women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 28.

    Victoria Azarenka defeats Maria Sharapova in Australian Open final; 6-3, 6-0

    AP reports:

    "It's a dream come true," she said. "I have been dreaming and working so hard to win the Grand Slam, and being No. 1 is pretty good bonus. Just the perfect ending and the perfect position to be in."

    Azarenka won 11 straight matches, including a run to the Sydney International title, to reach her first Grand Slam final. Her previous best performance at a major was a semifinal loss to Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon last year. Sharapova had all the experience, being in her sixth major final and having won three - dating back to her 2004 Wimbledon title.

    Full story: Azarenka cruises to Aussie title

  • Nepalese children write on temple wall to celebrate Shreepanchami festival

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    A child writes with a chalk to celebrate the Shreepanchami festival at the Saraswati temple in Kathmandu on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    Boys climb the wall of the Saraswati temple to write with chalk while celebrating the Shreepanchami festival in Kathmandu.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    A child writes with a chalk on the wall of the Saraswati temple.

    Wikipedia: Shreepanchami festival is a Hindu festival celebrating Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, music and art. It is celebrated every year on the first day of spring. Traditionally during this festival children are taught to write their first words and most educational institutions organize special prayer for Saraswati.

    The color yellow also plays an important role in this festival, in that people usually wear yellow garments, Saraswati is worshipped dressed in yellow, and yellow sweets are consumed within the families.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    Boys write with chalk to celebrate the Shreepanchami festival at the Saraswati temple in Kathmandu.

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