Planet Bizzle

BB-8 Notification

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:36:00 +0000

Jumping Stick Insect Looks Like A Sci-Fi Character

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 22:42:00 +0000

Alex Wild took this photo of an Apioscelis jumping stick insect in the Jatun Sacha reserve, Napo, Ecuador, that looks straight out of a sci-fi movie.

Barack Obama sings Call Me Maybe

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 11:57:00 +0000

Fadi Saleh, a 19-year-old biochemistry major, started Barack’s Dubs, a popular YouTube music video series that slices clips from Obama’s speeches together to forcefully recreate pop songs like “Born This Way” and “Call Me Maybe.” Backed by Maker Studies, his channel has over 127,000 subscribers and an online store, featuring T-shirts featuring Obama dressed as Lady Gaga and Redfoo from LMFAO with phrases like “Tea Party” and “Sorry for party rocking.” Saleh uses videos from the White House public domain and his video-editing skills to produce this quality entertainment. Bravo!

Frankenstein's Monster Variations

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:52:00 +0000

This funky Frankenstein's monster sculpture looks good enough to eat! Created as part of the It’s Alive Project, this is one of 80 busts created by different artists striving to show the monster in a different light. Look out for the FrankenBieber, and the hilarious Mt. Frankenmore!

Gull Attack!

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:01:00 +0000

Wildlife photographer Markus Varesvuo snapped this amazing picture of a herring gull attacking an eagle. Gulls often join together to drive predators away from breeding grounds, but sometimes solitary gulls do the dirty work, too. For the greatest impact, they swoop in from above and behind a bird of prey.

Ketchup Fountain

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Chocolate fountains…psshh, those are so 2008. These days, it’s all about the ketchup fountain when you want to make a classy statement at your next party.

Making of a 3D LEGO Chalk Drawing

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:17:00 +0000

After a picture of the LEGO street painting was posted on Reddit, the Internet took over, making it a sensation online. Created for the Sarasota Chalk Festival in Florida, this amazing mashup of Legos and Terracotta warriors is magnificent in every sense of the word.

What exactly went into creating it? "There were some challenges, starting with translating our first design to a gridded blueprint with the exact right distortions," said Peter Westerink of Planet Streetpainting. "Our next challenge was to copy the blueprint to the pavement, again in the exact right proportions, only 100 times bigger (30 x 40 feet)! Last, but not least, we had to make sure we would finish in time, while answering the questions of the thousands of people that came by daily to see our piece."

The Easter Island “Heads” Have Bodies

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:06:00 +0000

Maybe this isn’t a newsflash to anyone but me, but, um, the Moai “heads” on Easter Island have bodies. Because some of the statues are set deep into the ground, and because the heads on the statues are disproportionately large, many people (myself included) tend to think of them as just big heads. But the bodies (generally not including legs, though there is at least one kneeling statue) are there — in many cases, underground. What’s even more interesting — there are petroglyphs (rock markings) that have been preserved below the soil level, where they have been protected from erosion. This research report has been making the rounds; it discusses recent progress by The Easter Island Statue Project to uncover, study, and catalogue two statues.

Smiling Faces

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:52:00 +0000

What you are looking at here is a cross-section of a blade of marram grass, which is used to stabilize coastal dunes. Fluorescent dye has been added to highlight the internal structures. Those internal structures look happy to see us! Read more about it at Beyond the Human Eye.

Famous Capsules

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:37:00 +0000

This artwork by Grégoire Guillemin contains lots of pop culture icons. How many do you recognize? I didn’t count, but most of them are familiar enough. You can see larger images at Guillemin’s gallery (which contains just a couple of spoilers).

16 Years Later...

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:09:00 +0000

Nyan Cat as an NES Game

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:09:00 +0000

If Nyan Cat were around in 1988, he would the star of an NES game. And it would be in the bargain bin now. J. R. Baker took this idea and ran with it, designing both the front and back of the game case in the style of Konami games from the ’80s. I love how he included Tacnayn as well. See the expanded art and work in progress at his site.

Alien Planet Made of Diamond

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:09:00 +0000

The super-high pressure of the planet, which orbits a rapidly pulsing neutron star, has likely caused the carbon within it to crystallize into an actual diamond, a new study suggests. Also worth noting, the planet is larger than its sun. With a diameter of about 37,300 miles (60,000 km), the planet is five times the size of Earth, but 3,000 times larger than the millisecond pulsar it orbits. The entire system (PSR J1719-1438) would fit within the diameter of our sun, and is located about 4,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Serpens (The Snake).

Liu Bolin's Camouflage Art

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:08:00 +0000

Chinese artist Lui Bolin has a unique approach to his art–instead of standing out, he tries his best not to be seen and to blend in. This photo is from his newest installation - it’s called “Plasticizer.” Hard not to admire his ingenuity.

The "Thuggie" is So Gangster

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:08:00 +0000

What happens when you combine a Snuggie with a hoodie? You get the Thuggie. It might sound like a joke, but the site is very real and you can absolutely buy your own embarrassingly long sweatshirt if you so please.

Faux Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:08:00 +0000

It looks like a pizza and is made from a bunch of pizza-flavored ingredients, but it certainly isn’t a pizza and almost definitely tastes nothing like a pizza. This “meta-pizza”is made from Pizza Supreme Doritos, Pizza Pringles, Flavor Blasted Xplosive Pizza Goldfish Crackers, Pepperoni Pizza flavored Combos and Pizza-flavored Tribe hummus. Yummy? I’m not so sure.

Photographic Proof of Leia's Affair With Chewie

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:07:00 +0000

Sure Leia was always flirting with Han, but it was easy to see her eyes shooting longing looks of love over to Chewbacca, so it’s not all that surprising to see photographic evidence of their affair being made public all these years later.

Fairy Tales Retold With Balloons

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:07:00 +0000

I love these fairy tale recreations by artists Larry Moss and Kelly Cheatle of Airigami.com. Larry did the actual bending and twisting of the balloons, and Kelly uses Photoshop to alter the images to look more 2D.

Johan's Ark

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:41:00 +0000

Twenty years ago, Dutch native Johan Huibers had a dream about devastating floods...so he did what any sensible person would do and set out to build a seaworthy ark. It’s 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high - half the size of the Titanic. After three years of work it is near completion and he is stocking it with faux animals. He is hoping to turn the vessel into a tourist attraction and to bring the ark down the Thames River for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Trash Can Games

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:39:00 +0000

This is a picture of a trash can in Lucerne, Switzerland. The city government wants to discourage littering by drawing attention to public trash cans. So it put down little games, including mazes and hopscotch, around the cans.

The Last Incan Handwoven Rope Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:37:00 +0000

Known as keshwa chaca, this is the only remaining example of the Incan handwoven bridges once common in the Incan road system. Made of woven grass, the bridge spans 118 feet and hangs 220 feet above the canyon’s rushing river.

The Incan women braided small, thin ropes, which were then braided again by the men into large support cables, much like a modern steel suspension bridge. Handwoven bridges lasted as long as 500 years and were held in very high regard by the Inca. The punishment for tampering with such a bridge was death.

Over time, however, the bridges decayed, or were removed, leaving this single testament to Incan engineering. This previously sagging bridge was repaired in 2003, christened with a traditional Incan ceremonial bridge blessing, and is now in extremely good condition.

7 Famous Movie Cars Redone As Pixar Characters

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:32:00 +0000

By the hand of Old Red Jalopy, we get to see what some classic movie characters -who happen to be cars- would look like if they were in the new Pixar film Cars 2.

The Batmobile

Bumblebee

The DeLorean

Ecto-1

The General Lee

Herbie

X-34 Landspeeder

A Public Library that Straddles the US-Canadian Border

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:30:00 +0000

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is the public library of Derby Line, Vermont and Stanstead, Quebec. It sits right on the US-Canadian border. In fact, a black line across the floor marks the division. You enter the lovely turn-of-the-century building in Vermont, but you check out the books in Quebec. And, the librarian who assists you may be either a citizen of the United States or Canada, or both and, probably bilingual. The building and its facilities are governed by a seven-member board of trustees — four Americans and three Canadians — who serve without pay.

The Extra Hand: SOLVED

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:41:00 +0000

Possibly you’ve seen this strange picture of President Obama and his wife Michelle holding hands -with an extra hand. Many people assumed the picture was the victim of Photoshop, but Chicago Tribune photojournalist Alex Garcia has posted an explanation and the rest of the photo sequence:

Man Claims Mudflap Girl is His Mom

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:34:00 +0000

The iconic “Mudflap Girl”, long seen on America’s highways, finally has an identity. Ed Allen of Washington, D.C. says that it’s his mother. Allen’s father, a trucker, kept a photo of his wife wearing a swimsuit in his rig.

"Dad kept the photo in the cab of his truck, which always bore mom's name on the hood," said Allen.

When a new corporate owner forbade Stewart from decorating a company-owned vehicle, Stewart put his wife’s silhouette on his trailer’s mudflaps so his boss couldn’t see her when the truck was backed up to a loading dock.

In 1967, Ed Allen said that a local truck-accessories manufacturer named Bill Zinda saw the design. He liked it and, with Allen's permission, started selling it. No one ever trademarked the image, and Mudflap Girl got around a lot during the freewheeling ’70s.