This is Jim and Linda Onan’s Gold Pyramid House in Wadsworth, Illinois. Yes, it really is a six-storey gold-plated pyramid in the middle of Illinois – and apparently it’s the world’s largest gold-plated object.

Near the entrance to the grounds you can also spot a 64-foot statue of Ramesses (not sure which one though), and just to the west of the main pyramid are three smaller pyramids, which join to form a three-car garage. Practical huh?

Thanks to Barry Scott, David Reeves and Seth.

Another great farm maze here, this one is west of Toronto in Canada. I’ve rotated the image in thumbnail so you can make it out. It shows a farm, with barn and silo and wee tractor pulling a trailer at the bottom. Cheekily, there is also a URL which I worked out to be www.downeysfarm.on.ca.

Thanks: Shaun Hill

This is the Akashi-Kaikyo bridge in Japan – the largest suspension bridge in the world. Suspension bridges are measured by the length of their main span (i.e. the longest distance between suspension towers), and the Akashi-Kaikyo has an absolutely massive central span of 1991 metres – the longest bridge span in the world in fact.

Actually, it used to be 1990 metres but was stretched a full metre in the Kobe earthquake of January 17, 1995.

The bridge has a total length of nearly 4 kilometres, was completed in 1998 and cost around 5 billion US dollars to build – unfortunately it seems that the bridge toll is so high that most drivers still prefer to use the ferries. Oh well.

More info on the Akashi-Kaikyo bridge is available over at Wikipedia, where they also have a comprehensive list of the longest suspension bridges in the world.

Thanks to Jonathan Louie, belola, Trey Hunner and Kevertje.

These spiky looking red things are “anti-tank hedghogs” just outside of Moscow. They are designed to be placed in roads or along defensive lines to stop mobile armour zooming about. These hedghogs are a memorial that marks the closest point to Moscow reached by the German armour in the winter of 1941.

That huge car park and building to the south-west is bizzarely an Ikea store. There is some concern about future construction and its proximity to the monument.

This is a cracking shot of a B-1 bomber on the runway at Hills Air Force Base in Utah. The B-1 long range strategic bomber was first built in 1984 and has seen combat in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is a big beast of an aircraft with a crew of four and that cool “Swing-Wing” thing. This allows it to take advantage of the aerodynamics of swept back wings at high speeds (top speed of Mach 1.2) while avoiding the drawbacks of such a configuration at lower speeds. It can carry a frightening 34,000kg in ordnance in three internal bays.

The B-1R is a proposed replacement for the aging B-1 fleet and would have air-to-air missile capabilities and the engines of an F-22, allowing it a much improved top speed of Mach 2.2.

Thanks Jack Guritza