HOME |
RSS | 
After graduating high school, three Japanese buddies decided to follow their dream of a year-long cross-country road trip, from the northeastern island of Hokkaido to the southwestern one of Yakushima. But before they set out, the trio built one of the coolest road trip cars ever conceived, from a decrepit mid-80s Toyota Toyoace.
The men are neither carpenters nor engineers, so the project took two years. The truck has two stories: the upper deck is a sleeping area, and the bottom has a fully-functional kitchen and bath. It even has a full-size bathtub! Link -via the Presurfer
Why settle for chips and dip when you can watch the game noshing on Beer Ice Cream with Pretzel Crust and Dipping Sauces, or Puffed Sauerkraut, or Pizza Pebbles?
Wired Science asked leading molecular gastronomists for their own preferred finger foods recipes. Inspired by the experimental spirit of science, they’ve come up with new variations on old standbys, from Wylie Dufresne’s pizza pebbles to Homaro Cantu’s olive dipping chips.
Sometimes a little critter just can’t catch a break. This poor little man keeps trying to eat a cherry tomato, which keeps sliding just out of reach. Thank goodness for the kind Samaritan that finally holds the food in place for him.
Link Via GiggleSugar
Strange de Jim has been archiving zingers delivered by late night TV show hosts for a decade. It’s probably the most complete archive of such one-liners – from 1999 through this past Friday.
Here’s an example from this past week:
The Daily Show titled the Rod Blagojevich story “Scumdog Million-Hairs,” and a White House story “Big ‘Bama’s House.”
Dave Letterman: “This woman had eight babies. Of course, now she’s moving to a much bigger shoe.” “Benjamin Button starts out old and ends up as a baby who’s adopted by Angelina Jolie.”
Jay Leno: “It’s Chinese New Year. Their resolution is to get the lead out.”
Jimmy Kimmel: “It’s Oprah’s birthday, and I feel sorry for Steadman. What do you give a woman who has her own President? You can’t just give her a mix tape.”
Conan O’Brien: “Viagra profits are down 90%. The president of the company said, ‘Honest, this has never happened before.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by strange.
Its hard to believe these little things can even fly. They are about as small as a quarter and are simply cool.
Ilan Kroo and his colleagues at Stanford hope to use them for Mars exploration or atmospheric research one day!
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by slowboy.
Cake Wrecks, the blog devoted to photos of mistakes in cakes, has been featured on Neatorama in the past.
But with the Super Bowl imminent, this seemed like an appropriate moment to take another look at some sports-related cake atrocities.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
Our fight against global warming is futile. Nature is going to equalize everything in the end.
Here is a cool animation about plate techtonics before and after our time.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Christophe.
The discovery of an abandoned baby Fongoli chimp in Senegal caused Jill Pruetz, a biological anthropologist at Iowa State University, to drop everything and hop on a plane. Pruetz has studied the Fongoli chimps of Senegal and as a result of her pioneering fieldwork she was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer last year, so she knew this particular group of chimps very well. The baby had been found by hunters, and Pruetz and her team searched for the mother, hoping she had not been killed. They found a large group of chimps in a tree, with only one female without a baby, and they put the baby on the ground nearby. As Pruetz described the scene:
Mike, an adolescent [chimp] whose own mother disappeared soon after he was weaned, came down and approached the baby, who just sat in the sack and looked from us to the chimps. He looked at her and smelled her and then picked her up and took her to the tree where her mother, Tia, raced down and retrieved her!
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
French Performance Art outfit La Machine unveiled this 3 million dollar steampunk spider, La Princesse, as part of the City of Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture.
Over a four day period, La Princesse – in search of a nest – climbed walls, stalked the streets and sprayed unwary citizens. This huge construction (here seen in some wonderful pictures) was deemed a huge success – but possibly not by any resident arachnaphobes.
This is in fact a massive thirty six tonne hydraulic spider scaling the side of a city block in Liverpool, England. The city is of course best known for The Beatles. However, during its time as the European City of Culture visitors to one of its main railway stations, Lime Street, could have been forgiven for thinking that the city had been invaded by a different type of insect altogether.
Link – via webphemera
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.
There are some pretty nifty things you can win through puzzles and contests. iPods, concert tickets or dvd’s…but what about a house? Dave Mackie, a 49 year old Englishman is offering his house (valued roughly at $750,000) as a prize to whoever can solve a Sudoku puzzle.
To participate you’ll have to pay 60 bucks, but otherwise there is no catch. Mackie claims he is planning to migrate to Egypt and needed a fun way to get rid of his current home near Blackpool, England. Being addicted to Sudoku’s himself, Mackie quickly set up the plan. He is hoping enough people will participate so that he will have a fair amount of money in return for his house, which includes a sauna and hot tub.
"It’s a fun way to sell my house and a way to avoid getting sucked into the global financial crisis" says Mackie.
The puzzle will be available on Mackie’s website til February 2010. By then Mackie hopes at least 14,000 people will have participated.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by lilrawker.
The World Laughter Pledge is a pledge to get everyone in the world to laugh at 9am, every Saturday, in their respective timezones.
It was started on January 24th by Robin Graham (left) in an attempt to make the world a little happier – one laugh at a time. You can check out the official World Laughter Pledge here.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Jerse.
Not to sound like a complete girl cliche, but I’m really not interested in the Super Bowl this year. There are some years I’m interested, but not this year. And I should probably care a little more, since Kurt Warner is from Iowa, but… meh.
But Puppy Bowl? That’s an event I can get behind. Plus, the website is kind of awesome. It gives you tips and tricks on how to throw the perfect Puppy Bowl party (tail-gate, hahaha), offers tongue-in-cheek interviews with the Puppy Bowl “ref,” lets you check out the starting lineup and even gives you a sneak preview of this year’s Star Spangled Banner Performer – Pepper the Parrot.
I confess – part of the reason the Puppy Bowl is awesome is because I think it’s funny to watch my dogs watching dogs on T.V.
Before the newest Super Bowl ads roll out today, refresh yourself with some of the biggest ads from Super Bowls past. I totally remember the Michael Jordan/Larry Bird commercial, and I’m amused by the Michael J. Fox ad for Diet Pepsi. It’s so ’80s! Warning: there are current ads sprinkled here and there as well.
Relax, take a deep breath, and give puzzle game Perfect Balance a go. As the name implies, you need to try to get a collection of shapes to balance perfectly on a base structure.
There are 80 levels in total. Prepare for frustration.
Link – via onelargeprawn
Armando Lee of the Astronomical League of the Philippines, F. Naelga Jr., and 100 Hours of Astronomy took this fantastic photo of a partial eclipse of the Sun over Manila Bay, which was showcased on APOD. I couldn’t resist putting on the obvious googly eyes … Come on, you know you’re thinking it too!
We posted about the surprising news that the octuplets’ mother already having 6 children. Today, more disturbing details are emerging about the woman:
The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization, is not married and has been obsessed with having children since she was a teenager, her mother said. [...]
Little psychological research has been conducted on the reasons some mothers seem hooked on repeated pregnancies. David Diamond, a co-director for the Center for Reproductive Psychology in San Diego, said mothers can be drawn to repeat pregnancies for a number of reasons, with some finding the experience so satisfying they choose to become surrogates.
Diane G. Sanford, a psychologist and author specializing in women’s reproductive mental health, said while she doesn’t know much about Nadya Suleman’s background, women that have obsessive-compulsive disorder can become fixated on different obsessions.
"Her obsession centers around children, having children and being a mother," she said. "To what degree are her esteem and identity based on being a mom and why has this from a young age been such a preoccupation of hers?"
Biologists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama are suggesting that the rain forests may not be doing so badly after all. While it’s certainly true that original rain forest is being destroyed at an unprecedented rate, until recently biologists have ignored the effect of secondary forests, which are growing on land that was once farmed, logged, or destroyed by natural disaster. According to the New York Times, "By one estimate, for every acre of rain forest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics."
Environmentalists argue that this secondary forest is not as valuable as the original rain forest, but scientists at the Smithsonian and the United Nations point out that the new forests could blunt the effects of rain forest destruction by absorbing carbon dioxide, the leading heat-trapping gas linked to global warming.
Farming lands have been abandoned as previously agricultural people seek higher-paying jobs in cities, and more efficient farming techniques that require less acreage to produce food means that more land can revert to its natural state.
The United Nations is undertaking the first global catalog of the new forests, which vary greatly in their stage of growth.
Photo by Tito Herrera for the New York Times
Link – via pajamasmedia
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
It started in Lucca this week, when the town council banned any new ethnic food outlets from opening within the walls of the medieval city. And it quickly spread to Milan: a ban on ethnic foods, meaning foods that are not Italian. The Northern League party wants to protect regional specialties from the encroaching popularity of ethnic cuisines, like egg rolls and kebabs.
The Italian Minister of Agriculture, Luca Zaia, applauded the restrictions, saying ethnic restaurants should "stop importing container loads of meat and fish from who knows where" and use only Italian ingredients. Asked if he had ever tried a kebab, Mr. Zaia said no: "I prefer the dishes of my native Veneto. I even refuse to eat pineapple."
Is it gastronomic racism, or a legitimate attempt to preserve authentic Italian cuisine?
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
Strap explosives to the business end of a long hammer and bang it hard on the ground. That’s the basic idea of this strange celebration in the town of San Juan de la Vega in Guanajuato, Mexico.
Metafilter user aetg explains what’s going on:
OK, so the reasons for doing so may be a little vague, but in any case, they’re exploding ‘artisanal’ explosives of a potassium chloride and sulphur base with big hammers. Apparently 17 people had minor wounds seen to by medics in 2007, and 50 in 2008, mostly due to being hit by explosive fragments, etc. That’s not so bad given that there are 10-20 thousand people that come for the celebration. There are actually authorities supervising everything that’s going on.
Explosives on a hammer? What can go wrong?
– via ask
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Christophe.
Google Maps out of control? See more funny and peculiar photos of vehicle accidents on Dark Roasted Blend’s 5th installment of "Accidents Big and Small".
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
Here’s an early test of a new computer drawing tool by Ze Frank, in which you use your voice to create pictures on your computer screeen.
You’ll need a computer with a microphone to try this. You vary your voice volume to create different kinds of lines. For example, high volume makes the line turn clockwise, low volume makes it go counterclockwise, and medium volume makes it go straight. The drawing begins at the center.
Ze Frank would love to hear back from you with the results of this tool, which is still in beta.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
Got an old X-ray film from a medical visit laying around your house gathering dust?
You can make something fun out of it, just like what Sture Pallarp, Elin Hedlund and Emmelie Karlström of the Beckmans College of Design did.
They took X-ray films and turn them into beautiful lamps!
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by zeo.
Kusudama is an ancient Japanese form of paper folding which is still practiced today. As time passed the form evolved in to something that looks similar to origami but has a very different set of rules.
Quazen has some great pictures of both Kusudama and modular origami, into which it evolved:
The form of Kusudama goes back to before written history. The general consensus is that they were used to hold bunches of herbs or flowers as urban culture
took hold. With urbanization the desire for objects with both utility and beauty took greater hold. Before this the plants would have been hung on their own and the kusudama evolved as an aesthetically pleasing receptacle for both potpourri and incense.
Link – via webphemera
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.
Whether its bad service or you just are not pleased with the product, you want to vent. A passenger on a Virgin Airlines flight not only wrote Sir Richard Branson, she also sent photographs just for good measure. The full letter is hilarious and can be found below.
“I’ll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve year old boy Richard. Now imagine it’s Christmas morning and you’re sat their with your final present to open. It’s a big one, and you know what it is. It’s that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about. Only you open the present and it’s not in there. It’s your hamster Richard. It’s your hamster in the box and it’s not breathing. That’s how I felt when I peeled back the foil and saw this.”
Link – via suburbanfood
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by stevesteve8383.
I’ve wondered about this sport ever since we had an intern in our office who was selected for the U.S. national team. There are very few places you can actually watch underwater hockey being played, so I liked finding this article about it via Dark Roasted Blend.
The game was invented in Great Britain in the 1950s by divers who wanted to stay in shape during the winter. You play underwater hockey without air tanks, only a snorkel, so you have to be good at holding your breath for a long time. The puck weighs over one kilogram, and you hit it with tiny sticks that sends it zooming along the bottom of the pool into your opponent’s goal.
This video of the Singapore Underwater Hockey Club helps you see what’s going on from the players’ point of view.
Link – via darkroastedblend
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
