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Here’s a video of the robotic fish, previously posted by Alex, in action.
It’s amazing how realistic it looks.
This commercial from the Netherlands had me in stitches. Apparently it’s for an insurance company.
Back in the old days (the late 1980s), my mom loved Tetris so much that the old amber monitor on her IBM PC-XT actually had the Tetris screen burned into it (along with her accounting software’s main menu).
I’ve never seen anyone play Tetris better than my mom, until I saw this guy. Video at YouTube.
From the Homemaker’s Encyclopedia 1954, lovingly compiled by RetroLife, comes this picture of a prototypical husband of the 50′s (notice the ever-present pipe) doing the dishes!
Danica McKellar ("Winnie Cooper" from the 80s hit TV series The Wonder Years) is living proof that brain and beauty can go hand in hand: she has written a textbook to encourage middle school girls to learn math.
This has inspired Jason from our pal mental_floss blog to compile a list of twenty celebrities that actually have brains in addition to mere good looks.
For example, consider Mayam Bialik (from Blossom):
We don’t set the bar too high for child stars. Avoid jail and rehab and exceed all expectations. But Mayim Bialik has kept her name out of the tabloids and her nose in the books. The former Blossom star is closing in on her PhD in neuroscience at UCLA. She’s writing her thesis on Prader-Willi syndrome, a strange DNA disorder that forces its victims to go crazy and destroy their homes in a desperate search for food.
Links: Celebs with Brains article at mental_floss | Danica McKellar’s website
Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck created a series of amazing 3D bas-reliefs done with cardboard, called "Silent Interior":
Silent Interior consists of six bas-reliefs done in cardboard and wood, each providing a view of an abandoned household interior. Each interior refers to a specific period in the last fifty years. The interiors were inspired by real photographic material taken from books and magazines: all bear witness to dreams of comfort and optimism about the future. The interchangeability of the various household settings is emphasized by the presence of similar party decorations. Each room is decorated with banners and balloons, as though a birthday party, an anniversary or a homecoming has been celebrated there the day before. Now that the festive moment is past, the decorations take on something harsh and cheerless.
Link [Flash, click on works > 2006 > Silent Interior] – via Paper Forest
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Spotted over at the Nickelodeon Magazine, here are some cartoon interpretations of what is probably the world’s most recognizable art: Mona Lisa by da Vinci.
This one to the left is the Popeye Mona Lisa, drawn by Johnny Ryan.
Link – via Drawn! (with more fan-art of the Mona Lisa)
What do you do with old, burnt light bulbs? Throw ‘em away? Recycle ‘em? How about "creacycle" yourself a new light fixture with a kit from Bulbs Unlimited.
The kit includes a device called the "Inkubator" which allows you to precisely glue snap buttons so you can connect lightbulbs together just like LEGO bricks!
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Dr. Thomas Südhof (left) and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have bred a mouse model for autism, nicknamed the "Rain Man" mouse:
Mice containing a mutated human gene implicated in autism exhibit the poor social skills but increased intelligence akin to the title character’s traits in the movie “Rain Man,” researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.
The researchers’ study also shows how the mutation affects nerve function and provides an animal model that might allow further study of the debilitating condition.
Photoshop smhotoshop! Artist Ophelia Chong makes art the honest-to-goodness way: with some paper, blades and a cup of tea! This one above is called Caterina Cries, inspired by Sposalizio Di Si Caterina by Bernardino Luini (1470-1533) .
Here’s a Flickr photoset of her beautiful collages: Link | Ophelia’s Blog – via Metafilter
The island on the left is in Canada, the one on the right is in the USA.
A video from the Hello Kitty Wedding that was featured at Neatorama earlier this year.
Cool looking graffiti lamps from the California based furniture store Weego Home.
An updated version of the Blogosphere and Internet trends “subway” map.
Link – via soaphia.com
Found at Engrish, who has a huge collection of humorous English mistakes in (mostly) Japanese and Chinese designs and products.
Boring office meeting? Well, with this B-52 Ejection Office Chair, you can just pull the lever and abort!
The chair is made by Donovan Fell III of MotoArt, who specializes in taking old airplane parts from the junk yard and turning them into some amazing looking furnitures.
Link (Don’t miss the DC-6 Cowling Desk!)
Image: Nick Woolsey spinning, photo by Alex Grunenfelder (Flickr)
Remember how fun it was twirling things when you were a kid? These people never outgrew that – in fact, they combined their love of twirling with fire to create a performance art called Fire Dancing [wiki] (or Fire Spinning).
Here’s a fantastic Fire Poi Dancing photoset on Flickr, just to show you what can be done if you like playing (non-destructively) with fire. More info at Play Poi. Kids, don’t try this at home.
Travis Millard (aka Fudge) of Fudge Factory doodles like he’s on steroids! Check out his artwork here: Link
Robotics and automation company Festo took a page from Mother Nature’s design book and designed an air-powered robotic arm modeled on a human one. The result? Airic’s arm with "Fluidic Muscle," a combination of artificial bones and muscles that allow the arms to move gracefully:
The Airic’s_arm is a robotic arm fitted with artificial bones and muscles. The bone structure, consisting of the human bones such as ulna and radius, metacarpal bone and finger bone, shoulder joint and shoulder blade – joints that do not occur as such in the technical world – is moved via 30 muscles.
Link (Don’t miss the amazing video)
Do you live in a teeny tiny apartment? Then this chair, sofa, and bed combo is for you! Link – via The Bed Blog
Move over Seurat, Argentinian graphic designer Azul De Corso uses pointillism to create some very interesting artwork. Check out her gallery here: Link
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The "Bookinist" is a mobile reading chair, created by Nils Holger Moormann. Ouzox blog wrote:
The design reminded me of the Bibliochaise, but I love the little details like the built-in reading lamp, and an secret compartment in the armrest, that holds bookmarks, pencils, notepad, and a magnifying glass. And of course the wheel, to carry the chair to your favorite reading spot, or follow the sun around the house on a reading marathon.
Link | Original website [in German]
