Double Dutch Bus: Artist Creates Amazing Sculpture for London Olympics

A controversial artist has constructed a fitting new sculpture to commemorate the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, set to begin this week, using one of the city's iconic double-Decker buses.

Czech sculptor David Cerny fashioned his pièce de résistance to resemble an athlete doing push-ups from a circa 1957 London bus. The avant-garde new piece of art is named "London Boosted" and is situated at the  complex housing the Czech Olympic team in Islington, North London. 

The incredible new sculpture is also animatronic, featuring groaning noises as wiring and suspension tools move the artwork up and down on its bright red arms, with video projections coming from the bus windows. 

Cerny purchased the classic bus from an owner in the Netherlands. "There is one common exercise for every sportsman in the world and that is push-ups," he explained. "...push-ups are a very universal physical activity... It is in a way very ironic."

Cerny has courted controversy in the past with his artwork. As his native Czech Republic began its EU presidency in 2009, he revealed a huge, puzzle-like object he named Entropa, which portrayed many of the European nations in highly unflattering ways.

Burning Bridges: Metal Thieves Steal 10-Ton Bridge

How easy is it to steal a 10-ton bridge? Very easy, as was the case in the Czech Republic.

It seems a group of very crafty metal thieves concocted a rather simple plan: pretend to be part of a demolition crew contracted by the state to tear down a pedestrian footbridge over a length of unused railroad tracks to make way for a new bicycle route. The plan worked, and the metal thieves quickly took to task dismantling the steel bridge, working tirelessly until the (devilish) deed was done.

After the bridge and over 650 feet of railroad track had been taken away, city officials soon discovered that there had been no order or contract to take down the bridge, and that they had been duped by some clever grifters who were only interested in selling the remnants of the bridge and railroad track for scrap to make some quick, dishonest money!

Now, the poor town is without a pedestrian bridge and new cycling route, not to mention potentially millions that the scrap metal would have brought to the city's coffers!