A little girl dressed as famed comic book artist Stan Lee at the Motor City Comic Con has captured the hearts of of the people of the internet. Here's a photo of her (right) with the great man himself (left).

Link -via Fashionably Geek

(Photo: Vincent James Cracchiolo)

Uranus Wall Clock 

Are you tired of your tardiness making you the butt of office jokes? You need the Uranus Wall Clock from the NeatoShop. This beautiful clock features a graphic of Uranus, as captured by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft. Now you can gleefully tell people that Uranus helps you stay on time. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Clocks & Timers. 

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Did you lose your cats? Redditor thingsaintjust found a pile of them sleeping on the porch.

Tyler Marcum made a silly dance video in his underwear back in college ten years ago. Now he's turning 30 and recreated that same dance, side-by-side with the original, to mark the occasion. The song is "Landslide," originally by Fleetwood Mac, but this verso is by the Dixie Chicks. -via Viral Viral Videos

It's been a while since we last featured Worth1000, but their "let's photoshop celebrities into Renaissance paintings" contest is full of all sorts of win. Check out the rest of the winning entries: Link - via Co.CREATE

Hugh Laurie

Steve Carrell

Natalie Portman

... and how could we not see this one coming?

Honey Boo Boo's Mama June

Link: Via Mashable

Jason Criss's knuckles tattoo shows the Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He writes:

It took me a while to figure out what kind of Star Trek tattoo I wanted to get. I finally decided that the enterprise d on my knuckles was the best choice for me. It’s still a work in progress there will be more shading and colors after the initial outline heals. let me know what you think of them so far.

Note that he can perform a saucer separation by just moving his fists apart.

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Economic recessions, terrorist attacks and natural disasters are massive, looming threats, but we have little power over when they occur or how or what happens afterward. In these moments of powerlessness and uncertainty, a part of the brain called the amygdala kicks into action. Paul Whalen, a scientist at Dartmouth College who studies the amygdala, says it doesn’t exactly do anything on its own. Instead, the amygdala jump-starts the rest of the brain into analytical overdrive — prompting repeated reassessments of information in an attempt to create a coherent and understandable narrative, to understand what just happened, what threats still exist and what should be done now. This may be a useful way to understand how, writ large, the brain’s capacity for generating new narratives after shocking events can contribute to so much paranoia in this country.

“If you know the truth and others don’t, that’s one way you can reassert feelings of having agency,” Swami says. It can be comforting to do your own research even if that research is flawed. It feels good to be the wise old goat in a flock of sheep.

Read more about the research into conspiracy theories in an article by Maggie Koerth-Beker in the New York Times. Link

(image credit: Matt Dorfman)

YouTube user Charles Cook uploaded a video clip that captured the birth of the devastating May 20, 2013 tornado at Newcastle, Oklahoma. That tornado later moved to Moore, where it turned into an EF5 tornado, with peak winds at 210 mph (340 km/h) and width of 1.3 miles (2.1 km).

"The birth of the May 20, 2013 tornado," Cook wrote. "Moved from there to Moore where it turned into an F4. God be with its victims."

A Reddit.com user claiming to be the man's son posted a link to the footage.

"Incredible video my Dad took of the May 20th tornado FORMING and destroying everything in its path near Newcastle," the user wrote. "He was out that way for work today and just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He was worried it was going to come back at him and was searching for a way to scoot out [of its] way once he was able to gauge how insanely close it was to him. He hung in there, though. Unbelievable."

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Yahoo! News

Do you maintain a gluten-free diet? You might want to check out this blog I've just discovered: Mom, What's For Dinner? The author, Christi Silbaugh, specializes in creative recipes for that dietary need. Here's her scratch-made ice cream that combines chocolate with--oddly enough--avocados! You can find her recipe at the link.

Link -via Tasteologie

Crown Prosecutor Jackie Hartnett told the court in October last year the woman had gone to her stepson's room to discuss his driving lessons.

Although the pair had previously had a strained relationship, tickling led to kissing and then to intercourse, the prosecutor said.

The following day, the woman's de facto partner set up a video camera in a bid to capture evidence of paranormal activity in the house, but forgot to turn it off.

When he returned from work and reviewed the footage, he saw his son and the woman kissing and cuddling.

So instead of "paranormal activity," the camera caught normal, but illegal, activity. Link  -via news.com.au

Bartkira is Ryan Humphrey's project to recreate the iconic manga Akira using characters from The Simpsons. So far, he's enlisted over 300 artists in the venture to participate in the development of Neo-Springfield. You can view illustrations from it at the link.

Link -via Booooooom

Captain America Night Light

Are you looking for a night light that is strong enough to stand up to whatever boogie men lurk in the shadows of your home? You need the Captain America Night Light from the NeatoShop. This brave nightlight has his shield in hand and is ready to fight whatever darkness comes his way.   

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Night Lights. 

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There's a colorful train that carries visitors to the Asahiyama Zoo in northern Japan. It's designed to amuse and excite kids. Among its features are animal shaped seats. Please let me sit in one, too!

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(Images: JR)

It's amazing what you can do with time, imagination, and modern cameras. The group Homemade Movies recreated the "chestburster" scene from the movie Alien -and nailed it. You can see a behind-the-scenes video and a side-by-side comparison with the original at Laughing Squid. Link

Undergraduate mechanical engineering students at Rice University built a shoe that recovers and stores energy generated by walking. This energy could be used to power small electronic devices, such as cell phones:

The Agitation Squad – Carlos Armada, Julian Castro, David Morilla and Tyler Wiest – decided last fall to focus their attention on where the rubber meets the road to create a shoe-mounted generator. Another device to draw energy from the motion of the knee had already been developed and patented and led them to analyze other sources of energy.

Working with the Motion Analysis Laboratory at Shriners Hospital for Children in Houston, the team determined the force at the heel delivered far more potential for power than any other part of the foot.

“We went to the lab and saw the force distribution across the bottom of your foot, to see where the most force is felt,” Morilla said. “We found it would be at the heel and at the balls of your toes, as you push off. We went with the heel because, unless you’re sprinting, you’re letting gravity do the work.” […]

The prototypes deliver an average of 400 milliwatts, enough to charge a battery, in benchtop tests (and a little less in walking tests, where the moving parts don’t move as far). They send energy through wires to a belt-mounted battery pack. A voltage regulator keeps it flowing steadily to the battery.

The PediPower hits the ground before any other part of the prototype shoe. A lever arm strikes first. It is attached to a gearbox that replaces much of the shoe’s sole and turns the gears a little with each step. The gears drive a motor mounted on the outside of the shoe that generates electricity to send up to the battery.

You can watch a video of their device at the link.

Link -via Inhabitat

An analysis of the world’s rarest and most expensive coffee
by Massimo F. Marcone, Ph.D., C.Chem., Chimiste (PQ) Adjunct Professor, Department of Food Science University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

[EDITOR’SNOTE: Kopi Luwak (sometimes spelled Kopi Luak) is a rare and prized variety of coffee. It was the subject of the 1995 Ig Nobel Prize in the field of Nutrition. Professor Marcone’s work, described here, advances our understanding of Kopi Luwak. Title image by Praveenp.]

No coffee is perhaps in shorter supply and has a more distinct flavor and history than “Kopi Luwak” from Indonesia. With an annual production of less than 500 pounds and a price tag of 500-600 dollars (Canadian) per pound, it commands the undisputed reputation of being the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world. This is indeed a unique coffee, as it is processed through the digestive system of a palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). This three-to-ten pound arboreal animal uses its keen sense of eyesight during the night to smell and seek out only the ripest reddish coffee cherries to eat. The coffee cherry fruit is completely digested by the civet, whereas the actual coffee beans are excreted in their feces, being deposited in civetries. These are ultimately collected and washed by local coffee collectors. The internal fermentation and action by different digestive enzymes add a unique flavor to the beans. This flavor has been described as earthy, musty, syrupy, smooth, and rich with both jungle and chocolate undertones.

The author displays some coffee beans.

Curiously, Kopi Luwak is not the first nor the only food that-- prior to human consumption-- makes a passage through the entire, or partial, digestive tract of an animal.

In fact humanity’s oldest known sweetener, honey, is produced in part from nectar that bees have swallowed, transported,and regurgitated.

Bird’s-nest soup is another such food. Often referred to as the “Caviar from the East,” it is produced from the saliva of a swiftlet (a small bird native to Southeast Asia). Bird’s-nest soup is consumed in many parts of the world, with the United States being one of the biggest importers.

Yet another is Argan oil from Morocco, which is produced from the nuts eaten by goats that have climbed into acacia-like trees during their herding. The locals remove the pits from the feces, and grind these carefully harvested nuts to extract their oil. This unusual and expensive oil is used in cooking and also in massaging. It is reputed to be an aphrodisiac.

(Image credit: Flickr user michele molinari)

Recently, I published a study entitled “Composition and Properties of Indonesian Palm Civet Coffee (Kopi Luwak) and Ethiopian CivetCoffee.” (The study appears in the journal Food Research International, vol. 37, no. 9, 2004, pp. 901-12.) It describes an exploration in Eastern Africa-- specifically, Ethiopia-- which ultimately culminated in my finding a new potential source and type of Kopi Luwak. This particular African coffee has properties similar, but not identical, to those of the prized Kopi Luwak from Indonesia.

The paper also documents a series of newly developed analytical methods that can be used to determine the authenticity of this coffee, both for coffee beans that are green and for those that have been roasted.

Armed with these analytical methods, I tested a series of coffees purporting to be authentic Kopi Luwak (obtained in the United States and directly from Indonesia). The results of the preliminary test show that 41% of coffees tested either were not Kopi Luwak or were adulterated with other non-Kopi Luwak type coffee beans. My study, even though it is not extensive, is a first indication that further monitoring maybe need to protect individuals throughout the supply chain. Such monitoring is especially needed to protect the consumer who wishes to count him or herself among the elite few who have consumed the rarest and most expensive beverage in the world.

The author and an Ethiopian coffee plant.

_____________________

This article is republished with permission from the September-October 2005 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift!

Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

In the Star Trek canon, the United Federation of Planets was formed in San Francisco, California. Starfleet maintains its headquarters there. Starfleet Academy lies within sight of the bay. Much of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home takes place in that city. More than any other city, San Francisco is the center of the Star Trek universe.

Why San Francisco as opposed to, say, Lubbock? Or Dallas, Brownsville, San Antonio, Longview or other excellent options? Ted Trautman of Wired examined why that city was important to Gene Roddenberry and a symbol of Star Trek. San Francisco was a Navy town, a site of technological innovation and a diverse, international city. Trautman writes:

Plenty of science fiction is city-specific: it’s impossible to imagine RoboCop anywhere but Detroit, or Blade Runner outside of Los Angeles. What sets Star Trek apart is the attention it pays to one little city, barely seven miles across, when the other points on its journey are not cities or countries, but planets and star systems. Many of Star Trek’s struggles take place not long ago in a galaxy far, far away, but in a city we have already built, just a couple centuries down the road. And it’s a city whose culture of curiosity, craftsmanship and tolerance have left an indelible mark on one of the world’s most successful sci-fi franchises.

What other cities on Earth do you think would represent Star Trek well?

Link

(Image: CBS)

Francisco Mingorance snapped this photo of a fennec fox walking against the wind in the Sahara Desert in Morocco, and submitted it to the 2013 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. Link - via In Focus

Movie posters are pretty important to the overall success of a film. They go through different drafts of different visions before the final product is released. What didn't make the cut gives us a glimpse into the creative process. In this collection at Flavorwire, you will see that changing and refining the initial concept is usually a good idea. Link

Oliver Burton, 10, is fighting a form of bone cancer. He wanted to have tea with Queen Elizabeth II. Unfortunately, she was not available. But Helen Mirren, the actress who portrayed the Queen in a 2006 biopic and in an ongoing stage production, was. Tara Brady of The Daily Mail writes about Dame Mirren's in-character meeting with Oliver:

Catherine and father James were so delighted that their son actually thought the actress was the real Queen.

His father James Browne said: 'She stayed in character for the whole thing. Oliver thought she was the real Queen, and well, that's good enough for us.

'She was really lovely. She did the whole thing - had a butler there, was dressed in costume and did it all properly for him.

'She sat in Oliver's wheelchair and gave him her big chair. She had a glass of coke together and biscuits and little sandwiches and they even brought in her corgis from the show, Coco and Roco.

'She was wonderful and in some of the photos you do a double take because she really does look like the real Queen.

'She knighted him and told everyone that they had to call him Sir Oliver. He had a brilliant day.

He took his British flag and got her to sign it and just waved and waved it all day.'

At the link, you can see photos of their meeting.

Link -via The Mary Sue

(Image: Panthé Pictures)

To infinity, and beyond real life ... Dan Luvisi reimagined Buzz Lightyear as a real character in his series Popped Culture. Buzz looks like he belonged in Gears of War! Link - via The Fox is Black

Imagine that you bake so many pies that you need a special tool for crimping the top and bottom crust together -one that makes different patterns to keep things interesting. Then imagine that yours was custom-carved from whalebone or walrus tusk by someone who loves you. The New Bedford Whaling Museum has many, many scrimshaw pie crimpers.

The exhibit attributes this functional extravagance to many hours of boredom at sea, but also to the American diet in the nineteenth century. A typical New England meal of the era would involve not just pie, but pies, in both savoury and sweet form. Armed with a crimping multi-tool, a lucky whaler’s spouse or mother need never fear a moment’s confusion differentiating between her cherry and chicken pies.

Read more about these intricately-carved tools at Edible Geography. Link -via TYWKIWDBI

(Image credit: Nicola Twilley)

Mummy Plush

Sometimes you just need a hug from your mummy. For those tough days there is the Mummy Plush from the NeatoShop. This cuddly monster movie plush is shaped like The Mummy. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Plush Toys. 

Link

All you need is toothpicks, a sharp knife and a steady hand. In a few minutes, you'll have a healthy food item that still won't fool your kids one bit.

-via Obvious Winner

(Photo: unknown)

Rhode Islander Kristen Ruggiero is a single mom of three who has had a tough time making ends meet by working the restaurant job she’s held for the last 15 years. One day last year, a couple came in and ordered a pizza, a salad and a pitcher of beer only to settle their $42 bill by leaving $500 on the table. At first, the waitress thought they made a mistake and accidentally left the five hundreds thinking they were ten dollar bills. So Kristen set the money aside until the pair returned to the restaurant and tried to return it to them. That’s when they assured her that the $458 tip was no mistake. "He said no it was absolutely not a mistake, you deserved it," Kristen said.

But that's far from the biggest tip in this roundup of stories at mental_floss. Link

DeviantART member Fox Blue made this sporty hat from an old toaster. It's probably hot in the summer, but handy for those frequent toast emergencies. He writes "it's a lot lighter then I thought it would be." The should be a dial for adjusting that.

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Polish photographer Joanna Jaskólska kicked it old school by combining breakdancing (or b-boying, if you're a purist) with light painting. Now that's what I call a powermove! Check out more over at her website: Link - via Khool

A juvenile fox takes advantage of a golf ball coming his way. This hazard wasn't explained back at the club house. Still, watching him play was probably more fun than the game. -via Daily of the Day

So what are you waiting for? Eat up! The National Confectioners Association, a trade group representing candy manufacturers, have scientifically proven that eating candies is totally not bad for you and even won't make you fat:

Some findings from the study:

1.) "Frequency of candy consumption was not associated with the risk of obesity, overweight/obesity, elevated waist circumference, elevated skinfold thickness, blood pressure, low density lipoprotein (LDL) or high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, or insulin resistance."

2.) "Increased frequency of candy consumption among adults in the United States was not associated with objective measures of adiposity or select cardiovascular risk factors, despite associated dietary differences."

Sounds legit! Break out the M&Ms! Colin Lecher of PopSci explains: Link