HOME |
RSS | 
If you’re looking for a new job, here’s a tip: have a firm handshake.
In a new study, scientists put 98 students through mock job interviews with businesspeople. The students also met with trained handshake raters who, unbeknownst to the students, rated their grips. Separately, the businesspeople graded each student’s overall performance and hireability. The two group’s scores were then compared.
Students who got high handshake marks were also rated most hireable.
"We’ve always heard that interviewers make up their mind about a person in the first two or three minutes of an interview, no matter how long the interview lasts," said study leader Greg Stewart, associate professor of management and organizations at the University of Iowa. "We found that the first impression begins with a handshake that sets the tone for the rest of the interview."
Link – Thanks Geekazoid!
Here’s the third and final Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt question you’ve been waiting for:
How many LEDs are featured in the Pimp Star Performer watch design?
Got all three answers? Then string ‘em together (all lower case, numbers are all in numerals) for the answer URL. Be sure to follow the instruction there to put your name down for a chance to win a Free Tokyoflash watch!
If you don’t know what this post is all about, I suggest you read this post (then hunt around for the second post). Good luck!
Update 5/11/08: Congratulations to knox52 who won a free Tokyoflash watch! Check out the answer page here: Link.
Photo: Proggie [Flickr]
Got a big bottom? Well, take heart, as scientists found something good about that: it protects you from diabetes!
A type of fat that accumulates around the hips and bottom may actually offer some protection against diabetes, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. They said subcutaneous fat, or fat that collects under the skin, helped to improve sensitivity to the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar.
Mice that got transplants of this type of fat deep into their abdomens lost weight and their fat cells shrank, even though they made no changes in their diet or activity levels.
"It was a surprising result," said Dr. Ronald Kahn of Harvard Medical School in Boston, whose study appears in the journal Cell Metabolism. "We actually found it had a beneficial effect, and it was especially true when you put it inside the abdomen," Kahn said in a telephone interview.
Link – via Dave Barry’s Blog
And yes, the sculpture above is by the incomparable Ferdinand Botero.
Neatorama pal Dan Piraro is auctioning off original Bizarro comic arts on Heritage Auction Galleries. If you love Bizarro, this is the perfect opportunity to own your very own original comic strip: Link – Thanks Dan!
(And the comic above, "Return to Oz" is so true: just ask any graduate student!)
Automobile makers usually try to find the best way to build a car, but Mazda had the unenviable task of finding the best way to destroy over 4,700 brand new cars:
It all started about two years ago, when a ship carrying 4,703 shiny new Mazdas nearly sank in the Pacific. The freighter, the Cougar Ace, spent weeks bobbing on the high seas, listing at a severe 60-degree angle, before finally being righted.
The mishap created a dilemma: What to do with the cars? They had remained safely strapped down throughout the ordeal — but no one knew for sure what damage, if any, might be caused by dangling cars at such a steep angle for so long. Might corrosive fluids seep into chambers where they don’t belong? Was the Cougar Ace now full of lemons?
The Japanese car maker, controlled by Ford Motor Corp., easily could have found takers for the vehicles. Hundreds of people called about buying cheap Mazdas. Schools wanted them for auto-shop courses. Hollywood asked about using them for stunts.
Mazda turned everyone away. It worried about getting sued someday if, say, an air-bag failed to fire properly due to overexposure to salty sea air.
It also worried that scammers might find a way to spirit the cars abroad to sell as new. That happened to thousands of so-called "Katrina cars" salvaged from New Orleans’ flooding three years ago. Those cars — their electronics gone haywire and sand in the engines — were given a paint job and unloaded in Latin America on unsuspecting buyers, damaging auto makers’ reputations.
Joel Millman of The Wall Street Journal has the story (and video): Link – via Look At This
Now this is a time-lapse video! Andrew Curtis stitched over 2600 photos he took in the Cinco De Mayo Carnival in Waterfront Park, Portland, Oregon to make this neat video:
Shooting 1 second exposures every 2 seconds
A total of 2683 images in this video, played back at 12fps.
Shot on 2 consecutive nights. First night was the panning tripod. While we were shooting, a guy called me back about an ad on craigslist for his Peleng 8mm fisheye. We went and picked it up at midnight and brought it along the 2nd night, when we did all the still shots.
Hit play or go to Link [Vimeo] – via Ursi’s Blog
Photo: Travispastrana.com
Oh, to be Travis Pastrana: bored by motocross/supercross, freestyle motoX, rally racing, doing a double backflip and jumping out of a plane without a parachute, he invented the new sport of Hydrojump: basically hydroplaning and then launching a bike off a floating ramp.
By late afternoon we headed back to the Hydrojump and Jim was ready to get this one over with. He geared up and let 'er rip! The tricky part on this one was the run up, there was a 90 degree turn at the top of the hill you came down then you had to line up with not a lot of time to hit the water after the 90, also having to keep your momentum for a great amount of speed to reach the ramp, not to mention it had been rain off and on all day and it was slick as heck! A lot to think about as your coming up to a 110 foot long hydroplane off a 4 foot wide freestyle ramp. Just thread the needle boys!
They're still looking for that bike at the bottom of the lake. Link: Travis' website | Gallery at Autoblog | Youtube clip at Didn't You Hear...
Photo: Brian Klaus
Cigarette smoking may be bad for your health, but it's great for the wildlife! Brian Klaus of Nothing Else Better To Do Than Read This Blog wrote:
I opened the door and went onto the patio to ask Gabriel what he wanted. I haven't been out on this patio since I quit smoking (I would never smoke in the house). I guess I prefer my patio on the ground.
Now here's the embarrassing part. I used to dump my ash tray into a trash can that was on the patio. I guess since I haven't been on the patio in so long I've forgotten to empty the trash can which is filled about 2/5's of the way up with cigarette butts. Pretty gross, I know. I'm a slob, I admit it.
Just as I was about to shout down to Gabriel I noticed the trash can and a bird that made it's nest inside of it!! I can't tell if there's eggs in the nest of butts and twigs that the bird had made for itself, but I don't have the heart to chase the bird away.
Link | And as you can see above, the first egg hatched! - Thanks Brian!
I spend a lot of time lurking at Craftster because there’s always tons of cool projects to check out and get inspiration from. But every now and then I see something that just absolutely blows my mind. Like this embroidered blanket:
Here’s a couple of detail shots:
For more photos, visit Craftster. Prepare to be impressed.
All Photos by AMAZING Craftster user McBeth
Here’s a funny site where the heads of fathers are photoshopped in their kid’s place.
Link: manbabies
He may look like a panther, but he’s all jaguar. A rare black jaguar cub was born a couple of months ago at the Huachipa zoo in Lima. The unnamed youngster is the third of this endangered species to be born in capitivity in Peru. You can see his faint jaguar markings in another picture at Green Expander. Link -via Fark
Correction: Jess left a comment and told me something I did not know:
Black jaguars are panthers. Any jaguar, leopard, or cougar who is born black can be called a black panther.
I had always thought a panther was a black leopard only, but Wikipedia says Jess is right!
Legoland Windsor in Berkshire, England has the world’s largest Lego tower ever! The tower, shaped like a Viking longboat, was completed just a couple of days ago with the help of park visitors. Children built 20 cm sections, which were hoisted in place by crane.
The park’s special events manager, Penny Jenkins, said: “We are thrilled to bring the World Record to Legoland Windsor after four days of hard work, not to mention nearly 500,000 bricks, and it now stands at nearly 100ft.
“It has been a great way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lego bricks.” The record attempt is awaiting official verification by Guinness World Records.
The official record is held by a 96-foot tower built in Toronto last year. Link -via Gizmodo
