The Presurfer

Daffy?

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:57:00 +0000

If you turn the Dodge Viper logo upside down, it looks like Daffy Duck.

(via Bits & Pieces)

The Skateboard Car

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:49:00 +0000

What if the next car you buy will be the only car you ever have to buy again? What if you could sit where ever you wanted when you drove? What if you didn't need a steering wheel? But could navigate using a joystick or a mouse. And what if you never burned a single drop of gas wherever you went, because your car had no engine.

The Skateboard Car!

Rotterdam Rooftops

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:48:00 +0000

Rotterdam Rooftops ('Het Dak van Rotterdam' in Dutch) is a website that visualizes the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from a spectacular and new point of view.

This virtual tour over the skyline contains 42 fullscreen panoramic images made on the rooftops of buildings to give the people living in the city and every other interested person the possibility to explore the city from above.

(thanks Cora)

Alliance To Rescue Civilization

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:46:00 +0000

The Alliance to Rescue Civilization is a group that advocates a backup for humanity by way of a station on the Moon replete with DNA samples of all life on Earth, as well as a compendium of all human knowledge.

It would be run by people who, through fertility treatments and frozen human eggs and sperm, could serve as a new Adam and Eve in addition to their role as a new Noah.

The mission of the Alliance to Rescue Civilization is to protect the human species and its civilization from destruction that could result from a global catastrophic event, including nuclear war, acts of terrorism, plague and asteroid collisions.

Weird Food McDonald's Sells Around The World

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:42:00 +0000

If you think McDonald's sells the same burgers and fries everywhere in the world, think again. In Asia they've had to make some concessions to local tastes and come up with some peculiar fast food variations on Asian favourites.

Basic Cloud Atlas

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:35:00 +0000

A cloud is a visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body. And they have beautiful names like cumulonimbus, cirrus, cumulus castellanus, or noctilucent clouds.

Here's a basic cloud atlas to learn what a particular cloud looks like.

Flu Attack: How A Virus Invades Your Body

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:04:00 +0000

When you get the flu, viruses turn your cells into tiny factories that help spread the disease. In this animation, NPR's Robert Krulwich and medical animator David Bolinsky explain how a flu virus can trick a single cell into making a million more viruses.

Yoga: Sun Salutations

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:56:00 +0000

image credit

Sun Salutations are an ancient series of yoga postures that promote flexibility of the spine and work all the major muscle groups. They're very versatile and can be used to suit individual needs or abilities.

Here are some postures that show the core steps of yoga Sun Salutation.

Big Farting Bull

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:54:00 +0000

Beijing’s burgeoning art district has a new symbol for its growing influence in the global art world -a giant farting bull.

Created by sculptor Chen Wenling, the 20-foot statue depicts a big fiberglass bull that rams a devil figure with its horns while making whoopie so hard the devil crashes into a wall.

Ian Fisher : American Soldier

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:50:00 +0000

For 27 months, Ian Fisher, his parents and friends, and the U.S. Army allowed Denver Post reporters and a photographer to watch and chronicle his recruitment, induction, training, deployment, and, finally, his return from combat.

The story was written by Kevin Simpson with Michael Riley, Bruce Finley and Craig Walker. It was reported by Riley in Colorado and at Fort Benning, Finley at Fort Carson and in Iraq, and photographer Craig F. Walker throughout.

(via Now That's Nifty)

Kasabian Football Hero

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:49:00 +0000

A team of talented soccer players accurately kick soccer balls against large custom Guitar Hero buttons to play the game.

(thanks Cora)

Steel Animals

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:46:00 +0000

Steel Animals by French artist Edouard Martinet. Martinet transforms everyday objects found in flea-markets into works of art. He uses materials such as rusted kitchen sides, typewriter keys, bicycle brakes, and cake pans.

Edouard Martinet website.

Portion Size, Then Vs. Now

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:41:00 +0000

The bagel on the left was the serving size 20 years ago. On the right is bagel you get now. Over the past few decades, portion sizes of everything from muffins to sandwiches have grown considerably. Large quantities of cheap food have distorted our perceptions of what a typical meal is supposed to look like.

These portion comparisons, adapted from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Portion Distortion Quiz, give a visual representation of what sizes used to be compared to what they are today.

The Average Color Of The Universe

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:32:00 +0000

See the picture above? That's the average color of the universe. More precisely, if the entire sky were smeared out, the final mix would be this color, a shade of beige. To determine this, astronomers computationally averaged the light emitted by one of the largest sample of galaxies yet analyzed: the 200,000 galaxies of the 2dF survey.

The resulting cosmic spectrum has some emission in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, but a single perceived composite color. This color has become much less blue over the past 10 billion years, indicating that redder stars are becoming more prevalent.

What Is The Weather And What To Wear?

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:29:00 +0000

You don't have to check your thermometer anytime you go out in order to decide what clothes to wear. No more 'let's look out of the window to see what people wear today' or go out to the balcony to feel if the clothes you've chosen is ok not to get freezed or hot.

All you need is to check what Obama wears. Or Angelina Jolie, House, or Bender. You get to see the temperature of today and a 5-day forecast.

Lord Likely's Extra-Ordinary Inter-Active Moustache-O-Rama

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:27:00 +0000

Now you can take great delight in affixing a variety of different moustaches to my handsome face, to see how I might look sporting a completely different piece of face-fuzz - all thanks to Lord Likely's Extra-Ordinary Inter-Active Moustache-O-Rama.

Why Are There So Many Different Sockets?

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:24:00 +0000

If you buy a phone charger at the airport in Florida, you won't be able to use it when your flight lands in France. If you buy a three-pronged adapter in Paris, you might not be able to plug it in when your train drops you off in Germany.

And when your flight finally bounces to a stop on the runway in London, get ready to buy a comically large adapter to tap into the grid there. Why are there so many different sockets? A funny story.

(via Miss Cellania)

Vets Baffled By Bald Bears With Mystery Condition

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:22:00 +0000

Vets have been left baffled by the condition of the bespectacled bear, who lives at a zoo in Leipzig, Germany. The sudden hair loss has affected all female bears at the zoo. Some experts believe it could be due to a genetic defect though the animals do not seem to be suffering from any other affliction.

The bears, which originate from South America, normally have fluffy dark brown fur and would now be growing a thicker fur coat to keep warm during the winter.

9 Eye-Popping Illusions

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:20:00 +0000

We love looking at illusions that challenge our minds (and our eyes), but that doesn't mean we can even fathom how they are created, let alone how they work.

From a girl that spins multiple ways to a window that seems it could be on either side of the building, see if you can handle these nine tricky pictures.

(thanks Jessie)

16 Unbelievably Elaborate Indian Miniature Paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:57:00 +0000

image credit

Indian miniature painting is one of the world's most impressive artistic disciplines. As the name suggests, it involves painting images onto implausibly tiny canvases, often no larger than a few centimetres in width and height.

If you've never seen a miniature painting before, you'll be stunned by the level of detail involved. Individual leaves on trees and hairs on human heads are clearly defined on paintings no larger than train tickets.

(thanks Andy)

Bum Chin

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:55:00 +0000

A cleft chin, dimple chin, and sometimes called a bum chin, is a dimple on the chin. It is a Y-shaped fissure on the chin with an underlying bony peculiarity. The chin fissure follows the fissure in the lower jaw bone resulted from the incomplete fusion of the left and right halves of the jaw during the embryonal and fetal development.

Here are some pictures of people with a 'bum chin.'

(thanks Nick)

International Museum Of Surgical Science

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:46:00 +0000

Granddads would have you believe things were better in the good ol’ days, but a short stroll through the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago makes liars of them all. From graphic paintings of childbirth to a vast collection of often-ghastly tools of the trade, the Surgical Museum is a morbidly fascinating journey into the blood-spattered beginnings of modern medicine.

Here's a photo tour of the International Museum of Surgical Science that will make you grateful you weren't sick back when surgeons wielded tools that would make Sweeney Todd blush.

Kung Fu Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:11:00 +0000

Look at those moves!

Happiness Hat

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:09:00 +0000

The Happiness Hat from designer Lauren McCarthy is a wearable conditioning device that detects if you're smiling and provides pain feedback if you're not. Frowning creates intense pain but a full smile leaves you pain free.

An enclosed bend sensor attaches to the cheek and measures smile size, a servo motor moves a metal spike into the head inversely proportional to the degree of smile. Through repeated use of the Happiness Hat you can train your brain to smile all the time.

How To Use An Apostrophe

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:07:00 +0000

The apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets. In English it has two main functions: it marks omissions, and it assists in marking the possessives of nouns and some pronouns.

The apostrophe is also the most abused punctuation mark in the language. It only has two functions to perform and they're both straightforward, but still it gets pushed in where it doesn't belong or left out of where it wants to be.