World's Photos

 Laconia Motorcycle Week

Laconia Motorcycle Week is one of the oldest and largest motorcycle Festivals in the country, taking place each year at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Between 300,000 and 400,000 bikers attend the weeklong event for camping, vendors, racing, and so much more! The 2008 event will be held from June 14 - 22nd and marks the 85th anniversary of Laconia Motorcycle Week!


Laughlin River Run



Out west and along the banks of the Colorado River, the Laughlin River Run is the destination for Harley riders. The festival features concerts, a bike show, gaming, and several rides designed to support major charities such as the Easter Seals, Boys & Girls Clubs, and the Susan G. Komen Brest Cancer Foundation. Ladies are especially welcome in Laughlin, especially if they’re riding their own bikes!


The Rock Store



The Rock Store isn’t so much a festival as it is a year round destination for bikers. Located in Los Angeles, California, a trip to The Rock Store requires a trip through the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains. Almost every biker in the area knows about this amazing destination - including hotshots like Jay Leno. Drop by one weekend for a drink or a burger!


 Girl Power Run



The annual Girl Power Run takes place in San Francisco, California every year and is for girls only! Sponsored by the Devil Dolls, it’s a short, three-hour ride designed to give biker girls a chance to bond without being overshadowed by the concept of women on the back of a bike. While the Devil Dolls is one of the most well known female bike clubs, there are certainly others. As a matter of fact, all-women biker clubs have been around since the 1940’s. The girls let the guys join in on the fun later on for contests and food!


Route 66



Route 66 runs from Chicago, Illinois through to Santa Monica, California. Stops along the way include Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The AMA runs regular motorcycle tours along Route 66, allowing you to ride and enjoy some of the country’s most beautiful and historic scenery without worrying about the route you’ll take or where you’ll be able to stop to eat and sleep. If you’re traveling from a distance and can’t bring your own, you can rent a cruiser in Chicago and then hit the road!


Sturgis Motorcycle Rally



The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is another one of the largest bike festivals conducted each year, with anywhere from 450-800,000 riders flocking to the hills of Sturgis, South Dakoka. The 10-day festival takes place every August - this year from the 4th through the 10th. The rally started out almost 70 years ago as a small race and has evolved into an amazing event, chock full of bikes, rides, camping, and entertainment you won’t want to miss!


 Daytona Bike Week



Bikers itching for the winter months to end flock to sunny Daytona, Florida every month for one of the earliest bike festivals of the year. Almost 500,000 bikers will visit Daytona over the course of the week for races at the Daytona International Speedway, bike and merchandise displays, crazy parties, food, fun, camping, and entertainment. Looking for a unique wedding experience? Dozens of couples get married on the beach during the Daytona Bike Festival every year!


Rolling Thunder



The Rolling Thunder festival is held on Memorial Day weekend every year as thousands of bike riders and military veterans travel from across the country to Washington, DC to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to pay tribute to our country’s finest military members and those who gave their lives. The ride actually forms in areas all across the country, but the original ride started in New Jersey.


Harley-Davidson USA



The Harley-Davidson factory in Milwaukee is an incredibly popular destination for bike enthusiasts, and for obvious reasons. Harley-Davidson festivals and rallies form all year round, all over the world and the company also sponsors it’s own Rolling Thunder Ride each year. Eat in the Harley-Davidson restaurant in New York, visit the factory in Milwaukee, or locate any of the Harley-Davidson stores throughout the country and stop in on your next ride. You’ll be greeted with a warm biker welcome!

It doesn’t matter where you ride, as long as you get there safely and have fun. Enjoy the summer on your bike - especially as you take advantage of the incredible gas mileage those of us without bikes are NOT getting these days!

Evel Knievel Days


The Evel Knievel Days festival is held in Butte, Montana - the home of the legendary Knievel himself. The festival is only 7 years old, and is designed to catch the attention of bikers on their way to the Sturgis Festival. This year’s event will be held from July 24th through the 26th. There will be races - there will be rides - and there will be dozens of crazy stunts crammed into this short event. Everything is Evel Knievel style. Don’t miss out!

Here are 15 athletes that are the highest paid in sports currently.

15. Dwyane Wade (NBA) $27,779,912


14. Peyton Manning (NFL) $30,800,000 (for now)


13. Derek Jeter (MLB) $31,000,000


12. Kobe Bryant (NBA) $33,034,375


11. Shaquille O'Neal (NBA) $36,000,000


10. Alex Rodriguez (MLB) $37,000,000


9. Manny Pacquiao (Boxing) $38,000,000


8. Christiano Ronaldo (Soccer) $40,000,000


7. David Beckham (Soccer) $40,500,000


6. Lionel Messi (Soccer) $44,000,000


5. LeBron James (NBA) $45,779,912


4. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (Boxing) $60,250,000


3. Phil Mickelson (Golf) $61,660,757


2. Roger Federer (Tennis) $61,700,000


1. Tiger Woods (Golf) $90,508,163

Ryan, 16, lost half of his nose to cancer at the age of 3. Since then, he's worn a prosthetic nose to hide the huge hole left behind by the cancer. Ryan had to wait until his body stopped growing before he could undergo reconstructive surgery on his nose. Thirteen years after having half of his nose removed, Ryan was ready for surgery. He had to endure five different surgeries, which took skin from his forehead and groin and cartilage from his ear to reconstruct his nose. He spent a total of 15 hours in surgery and each procedure required three weeks of recovery time. The total cost for Ryan's surgeries: $65,000.



Born with a skull abnormality called craniosynostosis, Isabella was just 3 months old when she underwent surgery to reshape her head. The surgery required doctors to restructure the plates in her head and took six hours to perform. The operation cost $20,000-plus, and it will take Isabella two years to fully recover.



Lori underwent gastric bypass surgery a few years back in order to lose weight she'd put on during years of hard times in her life. The surgery was successful — she lost 170 pounds in two years — but Lori was left with loads of excess skin. Lori underwent an operation that removed 20 pounds of excess skin from different parts of her body. She also got breast implants. The procedure took five hours and cost $25,000. It took Lori about three weeks to fully recover.



Robin, 47, has been a flight attendant for 14 years and was beginning to feel that her face was showing the effects of many hours clocked onboard airplanes. To undo what time and her lifestyle had done, Robin had laser resurfacing, a brow lift and rhinoplasty. It took 4.5 hours and cost $13,000. Robin's recovery time was four weeks.



Stanley, 54, has spent nearly his entire life with acne scars on his face and a nose he didn't like. As a teacher, he's on stage every day and wanted to feel good about himself once and for all. In order to achieve this, Stanley underwent a laser peel, neck liposuction, a chin implant, a face lift, a brow lift and rhinoplasty. Stanley was in surgery for 4.5 hours and will need six weeks to fully recover. His procedures added up to $30,000.



Susan, 46, a chef who is constantly working on deadline and in a fast-paced environment, found that her face was showing the effects of long nights and age. She became very self-conscious and, as a result, reclusive. She turned down friends' offers for nights out or dinner dates. In an attempt to turn back the hands of time, Susan chose to undergo nine procedures: a brow lift, fat removal from the eye area, a mid-face-lift, cheek implants, a face-lift, a neck lift, lip augmentation, fat grafting and laser resurfacing. The surgery took 5.5 hours and cost $60,000.



Vertice, 44, is an R&B singer living in Hollywood. As she became more popular, Vertice became increasingly concerned about a large flap of excess skin at her waist, which was the result of gaining and losing weight over the years. To treat this, she underwent a tummy tuck and a little bit of liposuction. After all was said and done, Vertice lost 8 1/2 pounds of skin and fat. Her surgery took three hours and cost $10,000. It will take Vertice two weeks to heal completely.



Wendy, 37, was content in life, but not with her looks. Since high school she's been bothered by the shape of her nose and always shied away from photographs — even on her wedding day. Wendy chose to undergo a nose job as well as have her lower eyelids lifted, liposuction under her chin and fat injected into her cheeks. Her surgery took five hours, cost $18,000 and took two weeks to recover from.


























Above: A family photo of nine-year-old Sandeep Kaur before a grass-cutting machine completely amputated her face and scalp. The machine caught one of Sandeep's braids and then pulled her head in. Sandeep's mother, who witnessed the accident, said: "I didn't know where her face was. Everything was peeled off."




Sandeep Kaur's face arrived in two pieces at a hospital in India where it was replanted onto her skull 10 years ago. "Looking at it, I said: 'Is it possible to do anything at all?'" said Sandeep's doctor, Abraham Thomas, one of India's top microsurgeons, who was on duty when Sandeep arrived at the hospital unconscious with her face in a plastic bag. "It was actually quite a frightening sight," said Dr. Thomas. "The first response was 'Oh my, God, I cannot do that (reattach her face).'"


Sandeep Kaur after her groundbreaking face replant. Although they didn't realize it at the time, Sandeep's doctors were making history. Sandeep's operation is considered the world's first full-face replant. It has inspired a team of doctors in Louisville, Ky., to attempt the first human face transplant.


Sandeep Kaur aged 19, 10 years after the accident that ripped off her face and nearly claimed her life. Today, Sandeep is training to be a nurse. Says Sandeep: "I think God had to have sent Dr. Thomas. It was such a big tragedy." Her miraculous surgery has begged the question: If it's possible to attach one's own torn-off face, is it possible to transplant a face?


John Barker, a research scientist and the man behind the team of U.S. doctors who plan to attempt the first face transplant. "Hopefully we can dispel some of the myths that are out there … of face transplantation. This is not a Hollywood movie. This is science," says Barker, who is among the many doctors inspired by Sandeep Kaur's face-replacement procedure.



"We've now transplanted heart, liver, lung, pancreas, bone, skin, nerve — so why aren't we doing it on the face?" asks Joe Banis, a top reconstructive surgeon in the United States and part of the human-face transplant team. Banis, 56, is renowned for his ability to rebuild faces, including that of a man who lost part of his face after falling 45 feet from a construction crane and skewering himself with an iron rod.


Transplant surgeon Nadey Hakim (left) was part of the surgical team that transplanted the hand and forearm of a dead man onto amputee Clint Hallam. Anti-rejection drugs tricked Hallam's body into believing that the transplanted tissue was the same as his own. "There is no doubt that it was a historical day," recalls Hakim. "We saw the history happening in front of our eyes."


Clint Hallam's newly transplanted hand and forearm. The 14-hour operation highlighted the possibilities for other cutting-edge transplants, including a face transplant. More than two years later, however, the pioneering operation went disastrously wrong. Hallam asked surgeons to remove the hand.


Jacqueline "Jacqui" Saburido before being hit by a drunk driver that left her face permanently disfigured. The car in which Jacqui was riding caught on fire, causing third-degree burns to 60 percent of her body. The majority of people burned as badly as Jacqui die.


Jacqui Saburido after being hit by a drunk driver. To date, Jacqui has undergone more than 50 operations. Doctors have tried to reconstruct Jacqui's eyelids, nose, mouth and neck. "But really for me, if I can do a face transplant that will be wonderful, but it depends on how many positive or how many negative things," Jacqui says. For complete rehabilitation, Jacqui would need a total face and scalp transplant. That would mean a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs with side effects that include a higher risk of cancer and diabetes. There's also the danger that a new face would be rejected, requiring Jacqui to undergo difficult skin-graft operations


Surgeon Marshall Strome risked his medical reputation by giving patient Tim Heidler a larynx transplant. Recalled Strome: "I said to my wife: 'If this fails, people are going to say I was nuts for the rest of my life.'" But Heidler, whose larynx was crushed in a motorcycle accident, was determined to have Strome do the operation. Heidler told Strome that — like facial disfigurement — losing his voice was like losing his identity. As he spoke through an electrical larynx, Heidler told Strome: "No one will ever appreciate what it's like to talk like this."


Three days after the operation to replace his crushed larynx, Tim Heidler (shown here talking through an electrical larynx), spoke his first words in 20 years. He said: "Hi, my name's Tim Heidler and the day today is January 21st."




If you have the kind of head where even hookers tell you they've got a headache, you're in luck. Recent success with face transplants can transform your vomit inducing mug into something more visually palatable. Hell, you might even get laid!
 
 The condition of a 29-year-old man who had the lower half of a donor's face transplanted onto him 12 months ago. We're sure you'll agree that he's gone from a "two bagger" - when you put a bag over your head in case the bag over his head breaks - to a veritable Brad Pitt...well maybe not quite.

Face transplant procedures have come a long way since the early days where things didn't always go to plan.