To celebrate Independence Day in the US, I've collected fireworks displays from around the world. Can't find a good fireworks show in your neighborhood? Just make these fullscreen and crank up the speakers. New Year's Day 2012 - London BBC One's coverage of the fireworks display in London for New Year's 2012, complete with an over-the-top musical medley. Now you know what Big Ben looks like spouting rockets. Set this one to HD and be amazed. Disney's Crazy Star Wars Fireworks Display... READ ON

Kaiten-zushi is better known in the US as "conveyer-belt sushi" or a "sushi train." Sushi is placed on small plates, and the plates on a conveyer belt that runs around the restaurant. Patrons sit at a bar or in booths along the belt's path, picking off plates as they go by. Plates are generally priced according to a color scheme (at my local joint, light green is $1, orange is $1.50, then there's the dreaded and rare dark blue at $3!). At the end of the meal, plates are totaled up to calculate a bill.... READ ON

In Japan, it's an end-of-year tradition to sing "Ode to Joy," the final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The song is so well-known in Japan that it's known simply as daiku, literally "number nine." In Osaka, a 10,000-person-strong "Number Nine Chorus" of amateur singers performs daiku every December, to thundering effect. While there are some professionals involved (the soloists and orchestra), the Number Nine Chorus is largely a community effort. And the sound of 10,000 singers, trained or... READ ON

Photographer Alex Rivest has made a habit of creating beautiful timelapse films. Some are very popular, but others have been seen by only a handful of people. Here are some of my favorites from Rivest's collection; there are more on his Vimeo page. Amsterdam Scenes of life in Amsterdam, July 2011. My favorites are the water closeups. Lava in Hawaii File under: beautiful to look at, glad I wasn't... READ ON