Watch the sand particles take cool shapes when the plate underneath is vibrated (Thanks Sergi!)

From the website:

The brochure on the nightstand explained that it is called a furo. Furo is the Japanese word for a single-person hot tub.

The term "low tech" doesn’t begin to cover the simplicity and functionality of the design. No bubbles, no jets, no electricity, nothing to break, just deep hot water up to your neck. Asians have known for thousands of years the benefits of sitting alone immersed in hot water. And, as I have since learned, the favorite place for Japanese college students to study is in the furo.

Basically, it is just a plywood box with a cool Oriental name. At first glance it seems like you may have your knees in your mouth, but this is not the case, due to your natural buoyancy—you feel so good you just don’t care. I’m tall for a short person, over 5′ 10", and I fit very comfortably. You get the same benefits of a hot tub, but none of the contamination consequences, plus you get to be alone and not feel completely antisocial. Try to remember, did you ever take a tub all alone and not feel self-conscious and wasteful? I did it once and felt as if I were driving a Winnebago to the grocery store.

Link (via Unique Daily)

From the website:

Nor Che Musa said although there was a huge gap between his age and that of his bride Hukuntoh, he wasn’t embarrassed introducing his wife to others.

"Nothing can stop our marriage if God wants us together. My heart feels peaceful after I have married her," he added. …

Hukuntoh has been married for 21 times but has no children.

Link

It’s that time of the year again: the International German Beard Championships. From the website:

The competition allows 16 categories of beards, the most popular one being freestyle because it sets no limits on creativity. One contestant came with a bushy beard shaped like a windmill. Contestants sporting Chinese-style beards — two long strands drooping down far below the chin, were virtually assured of an award because only a few men showed up with that particular style.

A beard can also be dangerous, though. One of this year’s winners, Willi Chevalier, injured himself a few years ago when his beard caught in a rotating drill. It could have been the end of his beard competition career but the insurance salesman and dance instructor had a lucky escape.

Master hairdresser Elmar Weisser, 41, had his sister help him form his beard into a windmill. It took four hours and 400 grams of gel.

Link | Previously on Neatorama: World’s Beard Champs.

Ng Hak Beng collects over 400 Star Wars action figures and 50 vehicles in the past 28 years. Check out his massive collection: Link (via Fosfor and Unique Daily)

A very funny comic strip – check it out: Link (Thanks Matt FL!)

If you can’t live without this awesome pink pig grill, then all you have to do is shell out $1495 and it’s yours!

Link (via J-Walk Blog)

A Japanese company called Sunamiya has developed a gun-shaped party cracker that shoots out a teddy bear. The teddy bear would then parachute down.

Developers hit on the idea after noticing that it had become a trend for people to throw teddy bears into the air instead of bouquets at wedding receptions.

Link (via Exploding Aardvark)

From the website:

The operator of a local private shelter for cats says she’s astonished by her latest charge – an affectionate six-legged orange tabby she’s named Willoughby. …

The year-old Willoughby somehow manages to get around with an extra two front legs. Two of the legs are fused together on one side from the shoulder down to the paw. The other two front limbs, which are much shorter, likely will have to be amputated, Hervey said.

"He can move them but he can’t walk on them. Primarily he walks on the one side," she said. Hervey plans to schedule the short-haired cat for cosmetic surgery, which she estimates will cost about $2,000.

Link (via Look At This)

South African diamond company Nare Diamonds Ltd. uncovered a huge 235-carat diamond (the size of a hen’s egg), just weeks after launching its operations:

The mine was shut down three years ago by another firm that went bankrupt, a spokesman said. During the mine’s previous operations, the average size of stones was 1.14 carats.

"The large-sized gemstone is octahedron in shape and of very good quality according to a third party assessor," the statement to the London stock exchange said.

Link (via Kahsoon)

Ueba has these amazing pics of Venice, re-created with Lego bricks: Link (Thanks Yayo!)

From the website:

The Knife Ship became the protagonist of the performance held in Venice on the Campo dell’Arsenale, September 6, 7 and 8, 1985. With its corkscrew and blades folded upward, the Knife Ship echoed vertical structures such as the campanile of San Marco and the parapet of the Arsenale, while its color, red, could be associated with the city’s ancient ceremonial ship, the Bucintoro. By coincidence, the knife, with its blades and corkscrew, could be equated with fish and snakes, the two biomorphic shapes used by Il Corso del Coltello co-author Frank Gehry in his architecture.

See more of Claes’ giant artwork: Link (Thanks Fennec!)

This one above is titled "Court of Appeals". See more of Will Bullas witty word-play paintings: Link

This latest Jesus sighting – an image in a Peruvian sand dune – is brought to you by Google Maps. (via The Register)

Hubble Space Telescope took this amazing picture of Open Cluster NGC290, located about 200,000 light-years away in a neighboring galaxy called the Small Cloud of Magellan.

Link (via Starspirit)

Yuehe Lin and Guodong Liu of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a technique to force a variety of enzymes to self-assemble layer-by-layer on a carbon nanotube. In the future, this technique may be used to develop an ultra sensitive "biosensor layered like a lasagna":

One promising application of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) involves their use in the construction of chemical sensors and biosensors. In the present work, highly sensitive amperometric biosensors for glucose, choline, organophosphate pesticides and nerve agents based on self-assembly of enzymes on CNT electrode have been developed.

Link (via /.)

From the website:

A blistering comedy “tribute” to President Bush by Comedy Central’s faux talk-show host Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close.

Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk-show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “If anything, they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”

Link | Whatever you do, don’t miss the video | Transcript (via One Good Move)

Update 5/2/06: You can now thank Stephen for his “truthiness” performance here: Link (via Boing Boing)

On May 1, 2006, dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants" (in reference to the movie "A Day Without A Mexican", a million people across the United States protested a proposed bill making illegal immigration a felony. Roads were jammed, as many as 1 in 4 students skipped school, and many businesses were closed in solidarity and because their workers skipped work.

In Mexico and other Latin American countries, there was a one-day boycott ("Nothing Gringo Boycott") against US-made products as well as protests on the streets. There were reports, however, that thirsty protesters buy record numbers of Coca-Cola from street vendors.

Articles: CNN | ABC News | Photo from Haacked (via Boing Boing)