HOME |
RSS | 
If you’re sick of all the cute, sweet plushies out there, then these great toys are for you. They’re by artist Patricia Waller who has a ton of other awesome designs as well. These specific toys belong to her “Accident” series and the “How to kill your first love” series. I love the teddy bear myself.
Yummy burgers made out of mushrooms that look like Mario mushrooms! 1 Up to nom town. For instructions to make your own, don’t miss this Instructables post. If you like that, don’t miss their Mario holiday guide here.
…or Europe, or the whole world, actually. But those didn’t rhyme, so I went with “U.S.A.” Next time you go on vacation, take a few of these little beauties along, and with a tiny amount of sewing, you can show your besties back at home exactly what routes you have taken. Yeah, you could do the same thing with a Sharpie, but that’s not nearly as cute.
Link via Mighty Goods
In a Public Space is a website/collaborative art project where people are invited to leave strange objects in random public spaces (this bullhorn to the left was deposited in a library). Then people write in with a picture of their object and the location they left it. I think it’s pretty interesting – you know you’ve found things before and wondered, “How did that get there?” Next time that happens, I’ll wonder not only how it got there, but if it was part of a collaborative art project.
Do you ever get a craving for a candy you know isn’t sold in stores these days? Mine is York Peppermint Patty Bites. They came in bags like the Reese’s Bites and Hershey’s Bites and other candy bars rolled up into a bite-sized ball form. They were soooo good in the freezer. Alas, they discontinued them, I think in favor of the York Mints. I enjoy those too, but they aren’t the same. Anyway, thanks to our own Neatoramanaut SparkS, we now have a link to CandyDirect, a place where you can possibly relive your childhood by purchasing that discontinued candy you haven’t seen in years. They have everything from bubble gum cigars and candy cigarettes (which have long been discontinued in that format since it pretty much encourages kids to smoke) to Violet mints, you’ll find almost anything you want. Except for York Peppermint Patty Bites.
Link via Neatorama Forum
Photo from Cardhouse.com
I love Cakewrecks. I’m totally addicted. This week, they’ve highlighted a totally hideous Kwanzaa cake by Sandra Lee made with pre-made angel food cake, store-bought icing, and, obviously, corn nuts. Well, Sandra calls them “acorns” but the recipe calls for corn nuts. It also calls for popcorn and pumpkin seeds. It would appear the hate mail about this cake was so numerous that Food Network pulled the recipe, but with a little digging you can still find it floating around. In case you have always dreamed of a corn nut-cake hybrid, the recipe is at the bottom of the post.
The hate sites are pretty numerous, too. Here are a couple:
The Kwanzaa Cake and Other Edible Hate Crimes
Nobody Does it Like Sandra Lee
Random Access Babble
And, the infamous recipe:
1 (10 to 12-ounce) purchased angel food cake
1 container (16 ounce) vanilla frosting
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (21-ounce) container apple filling or topping
1 (1.7-ounce) package corn nuts
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
1/2 cup popped popcornSpecial Equipment:
Kwanzaa candlesUsing a serrated knife, cut cake horizontally into 2 layers. Place bottom cake layer, cut side up, on a serving platter. Mix frosting, cocoa powder, vanilla, and cinnamon in large bowl until combined. Spread about 1/4 of the frosting over top of cake layer on platter. Top with second cake layer, cut side down. Spread remaining frosting evenly over top and sides of cake to coat completely. Spoon apple pie filling into hole in center of cake. Place candles atop cake. Sprinkle top of cake with some corn nuts, pumpkin seeds, and popcorn. Sprinkle remaining corn nuts and pumpkin seeds around base of cake.
British inventor Josh Silver began working on eyeglasses that can be tuned by the wearer in 1985. His goal is to bring better vision to a billion people worldwide who cannot afford, or don’t have access to, an optometrist.
Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device’s tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles.
The wearer adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. When the wearer is happy with the strength of each lens the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription.
Silver’s goal is to distribute a billion pairs of his adaptive glasses to poor people by 2020 (the pun in the year is intended, I’m sure). Already, 30,000 pairs have been given out in 15 countries.
“The reaction is universal,” says Major Kevin White, formerly of the US military’s humanitarian programme, who organised the distribution of thousands of pairs around the world after discovering Silver’s glasses on Google. “People put them on, and smile. They all say, ‘Look, I can read those tiny little letters.’”
Silver hopes to get the cost of manufacturing each pair down to a dollar each. Link -Thanks, Cuimhne!
(image credit: Michael Lewis)
