Allya, a beluga whale at an aquarium in Hamada City, Japan, wows spectators by blowing bubbles at them.

"She has long been blowing water through her mouth when playing, so we thought that if there was a way to get air into her mouth, we would be able to get her to blow bubble rings," said keeper Daisuke Hirano.

Her new skill was displayed to the public last December and since then, her fame has spread. Locals even believe that those who are the target of Allya’s "happy bubble ring kisses" will have happiness bestowed upon them.

Link

Go ahead, take a virtual drive of Seattle and San Francisco, courtesy of Microsoft’s Virtual Earth Technology Preview. Link (hint use arrow keys, it’s easier than using your mouse).

Do you think you have a squirrel problem?

Don’t complain until you see this: Link (via Nothing to do with Arbroath)

Five kids from the auto shop program at West Philadelphia High School built a car that can go from 0 to 60 MPH in 4 seconds, get more than 50 MPG, and get this – uses soybean oil as fuel!

The five kids, along with a handful of schoolmates, built the soybean-fueled car as an after-school project. It took them more than a year — rummaging for parts, configuring wires and learning as they went. As teacher Simon Hauger notes, these kids weren’t exactly the cream of the academic crop.

"We have a number of high school dropouts," he says. "We have a number that have been removed for disciplinary reasons and they end up with us."

One of the Fab Five, Kosi Harmon, was in a gang at his old school — and he was a terrible student. The car project has changed all that.

Link

Surely by now you’re aware that Americans know more about the Simpson rather than the First Amendment:

Another finding from the poll, a telephone survey of 1,000 random adults with an error margin of 3%, was that 22% of Americans could name all five Simpson characters.

By comparison, just one in 1,000 people could name all five First Amendment freedoms.

About one in five thought the right to own a pet was one of the freedoms.

Link

Bicycle + Parachute + Big Ass Fan = Para-Cycle. Checkout it out: Link

Would you believe it – that’s an Elvis picture made from Lego! Corey made this 30" wide mosaic with over 24,000 lego pieces.

See more here: Link

Andrew built this retro-futuristic computer from a fully working 1988 Mac SE, a 1923 Underwood typewriter, and a fresnel lens.

Built for a game of Cthulhu Lives! that has yet to be played, this piece was inspired by the retro-futuristic machines in the movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam. It was one of the most difficult and time-consuming pieces I’ve ever attempted.

Despite the ridiculous amount of abuse I subjected it to, and despite the fact that all its components are now exposed to the air, the 1988 Macintosh SE which forms the heart of this piece still works just fine.

Link

Check out more of Luke Brown’s Eastern mysticism-inspired artwork here: Link

A group of German scientists discovered that an ancient 3,600 year-old Bronze Age artefact called the Sky Disc of Nebra was an advanced astronomical clock.

The explanation of the disc’s purpose sheds new light on the astronomical knowledge and abilities of the Bronze Age people, who used a combination of solar and lunar calendars as important indicators for agricultural seasons and passage of time.

"The sensation lies in the fact that the Bronze Age people managed to harmonize the solar and lunar years. We never thought they would have managed that," Meller said.

Link (via Digg)