The Presurfer

Landscape With Duck

2012-02-23T11:35:00.002+01:00

A wayward duck tries to catch up with his companions on their migration south in this hand-drawn animated short.

Vimeo link

(thanks Cora)

The Myth Of The Eight-Hour Sleep

2012-02-23T11:33:00.002+01:00

We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night - but it could be good for you. A growing body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural. In 2001, historian Roger Ekirch of Virginia Tech published a seminal paper, drawn from 16 years of research, revealing a wealth of historical evidence that humans used to sleep in two distinct chunks.

His book At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, published four years later, unearths more than 500 references to a segmented sleeping pattern - in diaries, court records, medical books and literature, from Homer's Odyssey to an anthropological account of modern tribes in Nigeria. These references describe a first sleep which began about two hours after dusk, followed by a waking period of one or two hours and then a second sleep.

image credit

Au Revoir, Mademoiselle

2012-02-23T11:31:00.000+01:00

France has abolished the term Mademoiselle from all official documents because it suggests a woman is 'available'. Prime minister Francois Fillon said the word - the French equivalent of 'Miss' - discriminates against women by asking them to reveal if they are married.

In a major victory for French feminists, the change was revealed in an official decree to ministries and regional authorities. From now on, Mademoiselle should be replaced with 'Madame', the female equivalent of 'Monsieur', because it does not indicate marital status, the order said.

The Unearthly Beauty Of Antelope Canyon

2012-02-23T11:27:00.000+01:00

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The Navajo call it 'the place where water runs through rocks' and that is literally true. The peculiar formation of a slot canyon can make for an eerie experience and certainly the Antelope Canyon, on the lands of the LeChee people of the Navajo Nation is one of the stranger places you might choose to visit if your budget doesn't quite run to a space shuttle.

The shuttle, though, never lands on alien planets - yet you can still get the experience for very little here on our very own third rock from the sun. One of the most unearthly places on the planet, take a look at the astounding Antelope Canyon.

Incredible Ice City

2012-02-23T11:25:00.000+01:00

The temperature in Harbin, China reaches forty below zero and stays below freezing nearly half the year. The city is actually further north than notoriously cold Vladivostok, Russia, just 300 miles away.

So what does one do here every winter? Hold an outdoor festival, of course! Rather than suffer the cold, the residents of Harbin celebrate it, with an annual festival of snow and ice sculptures and competitions.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

Crazy Stuff People Do To Get Jobs

2012-02-23T11:23:00.000+01:00

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Would you auction yourself on eBay to get a job? Or spent $7,000 to rent a billboard to advertise yourself? Or write a song that explains your qualifications? Some people do! Here are some of the crazy stunts people pulled to solidify employment for themselves.

Top 10 Worst Food And Drink World Records

2012-02-23T11:21:00.000+01:00

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People have set world records for most 'ghost chillis' eaten in two minutes, eating the world's largest burger, fastest ice cream eating, drinking the largest cup of coffee, etc. But it's really not that healthy.

Top 10 Worst Food And Drink World Records.

MyAllSearch

2012-02-23T11:19:00.000+01:00

MyAllSearch is an internet search tool that saves you time and makes your Web searches much easier. With MyAllSearch you only enter keywords once, then getting and comparing original results from over sixty search engines across seven categories is as simple as clicking the engine's name. No more retyping keywords into different search engines.

MyAllSearch gives one click access to the search results of the best search providers on the Internet, featuring Google, Bing, Ask.com, Yahoo!, Temoa, Lycos, MetaCrawler, Blekko, and DuckDuckGo.

FriendSheep

2012-02-22T10:14:00.000+01:00

A short film made entirely by students from the Valencia-based school of animation PrimerFrame , pre-production began in March 2010, completing a year later and has since received numerous awards, nominations and national projections and internationally.

Vimeo link

(thanks Cora)

Worf Is Always Wrong

2012-02-22T10:13:00.000+01:00

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Worf is a Klingon character in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' and in seasons four to seven of 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.' Worf is a character who doesn't get much respect - despite frequent suggestions for action, he is routinely denied, his orders belayed, and his opinion generally disrespected. In fact, frustration is his primary emotion. Despite this, he never loses his cool.

Google Doodle Pays Tribute To Heinrich Hertz

2012-02-22T10:10:00.000+01:00

Today's Google doodle takes the form of electromagnetic waves to pay tribute to German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz on his 155th birth anniversary. Hertz was born at Hamburg on February 22, 1857. Hertz was the first to broadcast and receive radio waves. His pioneering work laid the way for the development of radio, television and radar.

Portrait Made With Coffe Cup Rings

2012-02-22T10:08:00.000+01:00

Malaysian artist Hong Yi (nicknamed Red) graduated from the University of Melbourne, Australia, with a Master of Architecture degree and a Bachelor of Planning and Design degree. In her final year, she was awarded a Melbourne Abroad Scholarship to study at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, which broadened her perspective and exposure in the field of European architecture.

She also likes to create art. Not with the usual paintbrush and pencils though but with whatever she can get hold of. Using nothing but coffee cup rings she created a portrait of Taiwanese musician Jay Chou. The work took 12 hours to complete.

(via Fresh Pics)

Wau: The Most Amazing, Ancient, And Singular Number

2012-02-22T10:06:00.000+01:00

Wau (the ancestor of the Latin letter F) is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet which originally stood for the sound /w/ and later remained in use only as a numeral symbol for the number '6'. Whereas it was originally called wau, its most common appellation in classical Greek is digamma.

YouTube link

(via Reality Carnival)

Dune De Pyla - A New 'Sahara' Desert Being Born In France

2012-02-22T10:04:00.000+01:00

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It looks like Europe has started turning into a new sahara desert. The Great Dune of Pyla is the tallest sand dune in Europe. It is located in the Arcachon Bay area in France.

The dune has a volume of about 60,000,000 m³, measuring around 1,640 ft (500 m) wide from east to west and 1,9 miles (3 km) in length from north to south. The dune moves relentlessly towards the interior of the country and gradually covers buildings and roads.

(thanks Stanley)

Listerine Cigarettes

2012-02-22T10:02:00.000+01:00

Listerine is a brand of antiseptic mouthwash. It was named after Joseph Lister who promoted the idea of sterile surgery by sterilizing instruments.

Originally marketed by the Lambert Pharmacal Company (which later became Warner-Lambert), it is currently manufactured and distributed by Johnson and Johnson. For a short time, beginning in 1927, the Lambert Pharmacal Company even marketed Listerine Cigarettes.

Photographer Spends Over 10 Years Building 35-Foot-Long Camera

2012-02-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

In a world where all things small are considered beautiful and cool, a photographer is doing something quite drastically different from the norm. Dennis Manarchy is in the process of creating a camera that is so huge, it captures 24-foot tall realistic photographs of incredible detail.

The camera itself is huge. Being 35 feet long, 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide, it's large enough to fit a small apartment into. It uses negatives that are 4.5×6 feet in size. An actual window needs to be used as a lightbox to view them. As opposed to dipping the negatives in chemicals, they need to be showered with the stuff in order to be developed.

(via Nag on the Lake)

6 Everyday Things Seen Really Close Up

2012-02-21T10:48:00.000+01:00

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Microscopes turn everyday things like table salt and Velcro into otherworldly landscapes full of massive crystal blocks and fields of black twisted trunks thrust into the air. Besides being an invaluable tool in scientific fields too numerous to mention, microscopes are great for expanding a person's perspective on the world.

It's a well-rounded person who has at least some basic concepts of the scale of the universe - from the smallest quarks through the enormity of the observable universe. Here are some great examples of what some normal everyday things look like really close up.

10 Things You Didn't Know About The President's Secret Army

2012-02-21T10:39:00.001+01:00

The U.S. Joint Special Operations Command is best known for the Osama bin Laden raid. But it has long served as the president's secret army, planning and executing the most dangerous, highly classified missions of the United States military. In 2009, its snipers rescued an American ship captain held captive by Somali pirates.

In 2003, they hunted down and captured Saddam Hussein near Tikrit, Iraq. In 1993, two Delta snipers earned posthumous Congressional Medals of Honor for actions during the Battle of Mogadishu. And before that, members of the Command were tracking Scud missiles during the Gulf War and slithering down ropes in Panama.

Here are a few things about the president's secret army that you might not know.

DarwinBot - The Pet Companion Robot

2012-02-21T10:23:00.002+01:00

Jordan Correa is a developer on the Microsoft Robotics Team and recently built a remotely operated robot for interacting and playing with his pet over the internet. It has two way audio and video through Skype, a ball launcher, treat dispenser, ball recovery arm and a pan and tilt camera.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

Fanfare

2012-02-21T10:22:00.000+01:00

Here's something to brighten up your day. Take a tuba, a trumpet, a bass drum, a snare drum, a sousaphone, and a trombone and what do you get. You get a fanfare. Click on the characters to make them play.

(thanks Cora)

Mystery

2012-02-21T10:19:00.000+01:00

(via Criggo)

Buenos Aires - Inception Park

2012-02-21T10:17:00.001+01:00

Buenos Aires - Inception Park, directed by Fernando Livschitz.

Vimeo link

(thanks Miss Rare)

The Hospital Room Of Tomorrow

2012-02-21T10:16:00.001+01:00

In this infographic, you'll see the hospital room of the future where advances in medical science and technology promise to provide you with better medicine and a more pleasurable experience.

(via Look At This...)

Self-Made Carousel

2012-02-20T12:11:00.003+01:00

A self-made carousel from ~~Moldova~~ Brazil. That has to go wrong.

YouTube link

What's The Difference Between A Street And A Road?

2012-02-20T12:10:00.000+01:00

What's the difference between a street and a road? Although both terms are often applied to the same thing, a road is different from a street, at least in theory. Looking at the definitions and history of the usage of the words, the difference is a matter of place and purpose. And what about an avenue, a boulevard, a drive or a lane?