As you roll your shopping cart through the grocery store, you glance at your shopping list. The next item is pasta. But which among the many brands will catch your eye first?
Nikita, a designer in Moscow, makes this suggestion. He's developed a line of packaging concepts that make boxed pasta look like hair. The noodles become luxurious, fashionable hair in addition to food. You can see more digital renderings of the boxes here.
-via Toxel
It's not polite to stare, but you'll be in for quite a show if you do so at these dresses by Ying Gao. He's a textile artist in Québec. Gao calls this project from 2014 (No)where (Now)here.
It consists of two dresses covered with a layer of fibers. When eye-motion sensing cameras determine that someone is looking at them, the fibers writhe like living tendrils. The effect is even more startling when the lights are turned off.
The Predator forgot the dental module of his med-kit while packing for his hunting trip on Earth. Now he's having a rough time at the dentist's office.
Artist Simon Lee made this funny, detailed sculpture after listening to a real-life horror story from one of his friends about a visit to a dentist. Which tooth needs a filling? If it bleeds we can fill it.
-via Geek Tyrant
(Image: Alexrk2)
In 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, Maryland was a slave state. There were many Confederate sympathizers in the state. There was a small chance that, left to its own devices, Maryland might have secede from the Union.
But the capital of the United States government lay on the southern edge of Maryland, so President Lincoln took no chances. For much of the war, Maryland would be occupied by Federal forces deployed to fight the Confederacy in Virginia.
It would be an ugly war, as Maryland would discover early on. One of the first outbreaks of violence was a riot in Baltimore on April 19, 1861--just a week after the Battle of Fort Sumter. Federal troops and pro-Confederate Marylanders brawled. Several of those Marylanders were killed.
Among the fatalities was a friend of James Ryder Randall, a journalist who would later join the Confederate Navy. In grief and anger over his loss, Randall wrote the song "Maryland, My Maryland." It includes this passage:
Maryland!
The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!
"Maryland, My Maryland" became a Confederate war song and, eventually, the state song of Maryland. But now legislators want to remove the secessionist elements of the song. The Post-Star reports:
Sen. Robert Cassilly, a Republican, said it was wrong to try to eliminate parts of the state's history.
"Our song doesn't belong to the Confederacy. It belongs to us," he said.
Cassilly said the song celebrates the courage of people who are willing to stand up and fight for what they believe in, even if they turn out to be on the wrong side of history.
"It is what it is, but we learn from history, we learn from each other and we build upon it, so the idea that we're trying to excise our history is just, I don't think that's America," Cassilly said. "That's not what we're about." […]
The song calls for Maryland to secede from the Union — at a time when Maryland residents sympathized with the Confederacy. The song begins with a hostile reference to Lincoln, who brought troops through Baltimore to protect Washington: "The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland! His torch is at thy temple door, Maryland!"
-via Marginal Revolution
(Unrelated photo by nahkon100)
A gentleman approached sales staff at a BMW dealership in Pompano Beach, Florida. He wished to purchase one of their luxury automobiles. Alas, they declined the opportunity when he attempted to buy one with his EBT (electronic benefits transfer) card.
Police say that he returned later that night after the dealership had closed. There, he acquired many car keys and one of the vehicles, then drove off. WPTV reports:
Jackson didn't have money to fill the tank and had run out of gas near SW Baneberry Trail and SW High Meadows Avenue. Detectives say they were able to trace the car and keys back to the victimized dealership.
Jackson got a free lift to the Martin County Jail.
He’s charged with grand theft auto.
-via Florida Man
Lilica is simply glowing with joy. It's no wonder! She's a new mommy. That's why her human's friend, Ana Paula Grillo, gave her a professional-grade photo shoot. Grillo tells The Dodo that Lilica was smiling and enjoying the entire experience.
Since the photo shoot, Lilica has gone on to give birth to five puppies, each of whom has been adopted by members of Lilica's extended human family.
-via Telegraph
Domino's Pizza hopes to offer an alternative to human delivery of its pizza. It recently unveiled its new autonomous delivery robot in Australia. It's called the DRU: Domino's Robotic Unit. It's a 450-pound machine that travels up to 12.4 miles per hour and contains chilled and heated compartments for food.
The DRU uses GPS navigation system to find its way to the delivery destination. Autonomous programming permits it to maneuver around obstacles. When it arrives, customers type in a code to access their food. Forbes reports:
DRU is reportedly fully autonomous, and sports a water-tight, weather-proof acrylic plastic exterior and aluminum and mild steel interior for keeping orders at their best. Like today’s self-driving cars, it uses LIDAR laser-light sensory technology to detect and navigate around obstacles along its journey, and also has a back-up system of traditional sensors (such as you’d find on home cleaning-bots) to ensure it reaches its destination safely.
-via That's Nerdalicious!
BB-8, the adorable droid star of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has rolled into our hearts. He's smart, handy, and, above all, cute. So he's naturally inspired many Star Wars fans to create costumes of him. Here are some of the best, including this elegant corset-centered outfit which includes a motorized hat by Lady Death Star.
(Photo: David Ngo)
Professional cosplay photographer David Ngo snapped these two gentlemen at C2E2, an entertainment convention in Chicago. They're taking the title of the movie Captain America: Civil War very literally by portraying Captain America as a US Army officer and Iron Man as a Confederate Army officer.
The baby elephant at Kruger National Park in South Africa has discovered something important: he has a long dangly thing hanging on his face. It appears to be flexible, although he needs to practice controlling it. The dangly thing flops around in every direction except the one he wants. Perhaps he should consult the owner's manual.
YouTube user rgraves62002 owns Stella the dog. Stella loves to run around and play. To keep her in the yard, he built a sturdy wooden fence to pen her in. Immediately after finishing the project, he proudly recorded his handiwork. And Stella expressed her opinion of the fence.
-via Tastefully Offensive
Going to the see the doctor? That's not icky at all. And Karolyn Gehrig wants you and everyone else to feel that way. That's why she created a series of sensuous and fashionable photos of herself in real-life medical settings. Gehrig calls the project #HospitalGlam.
Dealing with medical issues doesn't make you less beautiful. Gehrig explains:
#HospitalGlam is a movement for and by people with disabilities that started by appropriating fashion imagery and reinserting it into medical environments using bodies that don’t outwardly present as sick or disabled.
You can see more of her photos at My Modern Met.
Do you need to power your rotisserie while camping? Forget a generator. Nature provides all the force you need. Here's a rack of beef ribs rotating on a water wheel. The fire is in a metal pan so that it doesn't get wet.
Casual Googling suggests that this is not a new idea, though it is a clever one. You can find instructions on how to make your own courtesy of DJ BBQ.
-via Geekologie
(Photo: Eurobeat Kasumi Photography)
Koneko, a cosplayer who calls herself "Your Average Nerd," made this far above average costume of Thor, God of Thunder. She wore it last month at Katsucon.
Her Mjölnir was made not by the dwarves of Nidavellir, but by the employees of PropNerd Props, who are, to the best of my knowledge, human.
You can see more photos of this marvelous cosplay at Fashionably Geek.
(Image: unknown)
You're impressed, but the Master is just bored. This is nothing to him. In fact, he doesn't even need a knife to perform this feat. He can use just his mind. But he knows that makes the other cooks uncomfortable.
Teach me, Sensei.
-via That's Nerdalicious!
