This garage system from China reminds the Geekologie writer of a hungry caterpillar, but my first thought was that of the gaping maw of a hippopotamus from the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos swallowing a car and its driver whole.
John Farrier's Blog Posts
(Photo: Simbe Robotics)
One of the most common tasks for retail workers is to look at the shelves, see which items are low, and restock those areas from storage. Now that task may be partially replaced with robots.
Simbe Robotics calls its invention Tally. This robot roams a store autonomously, scanning shelves, finding out which areas are low, and then telling human workers what items are needed. Then it plugs itself into a charging dock.
The company says that it's completely safe to use while the store is open and customers are present. It will remain loyal to its human masters when other robots rise up to destroy their fleshy creators.
-via Technabob
Teya Salat, a 22-year old Russian tattoo model, designed a line of ski masks that will make you look even cooler when you hit the slopes this winter. She sells a vast array of balaclavas, including ones that show Killer Croc from the Batman comics and Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat.
But what's grabbing the internet's attention and affections are her adorable animal masks. You can look like a panda or a raccoon, complete with appropriate ears. Even Grumpy Cat is present, staying happy enough to venture out into the cold. You can see a selection of some of these animal balaclavas at Bored Panda.
-via Fashionably Geek
A barrel organ is a musical instrument that combines the best features of a pipe organ and a mechanical music box. As the operator turns the crank, the pipes bellow out musical notes encoded on rolls of paper.
Patrick Mathis is a musician who specializes in this staple of carnival life. But in this video, he plays a song that you may not often hear at a fair: "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson.
This is no ordinary, plastic folding wet floor sign. Those are for the proles. If you want to express your wealth and also keep people from walking on the floor that you've just mopped, marring it with their filthy shoes, then you need this stainless steel sign found by redditor Dad_Illusion in an office buliding in Colorado.
Before a discount, Amazon sells them for $168.98 each. It's nice, but I would prefer a handcrafted mahogany and teak frame with a gold-plated sign. People should get the right impression.
-via Tastefully Offensive
(Photo: Tessa Calder)
Tessa Calder, 21, is a college student in Australia. She has cancer, but she doesn't let that keep her down. When she has chemotherapy, she dresses in elaborate costumes and decorates her IV pole so that it becomes an appropriate prop. Here, it's Harry Potter's broomstick. In others, it's Galdalf's staff or a boxer's punching bag.
Calder told ABC News about the first time she came up with an IV costume. She appeared as a pope:
"I had a window and you could sort of look up to the second floor where it was just like a glass corridor – and these patients would walk by in their white hospital gowns with their IV poles and Dad was just trying to make me laugh: 'Oh look, Tessa, there's the Pope! There he is again, there's so many popes!'," she said.
"I had time on my hands so I got some paper and made a pope hat and I think people thought I was absolutely ridiculous – I got some very weird looks!"
-via My Modern Met
Project Oxford is a fascinating and very entertaining application developed by Microsoft. You can load photos of people in it and the program will read the emotions displayed on the faces. There are eight emotions and the results give their relative weights.
You can upload your friends, family, celebrities, or favorite TV and movie characters.
Here's how it reads Miss Cellania's face:
In this trippy video from Red Bull, BMX champion Kriss Kyle rides his bike through a shimmering array of fractal shapes and vibrant colors. It's like he's inside a kaleidoscope. As the tube twists, Kyle jumps over obstacles, performs sudden turns, and bounces off seemingly invisible planes.
-via Laughing Squid
Look at that thing! It's just beautiful.
You know, back in the old days, everyone had to work on one of these beauties. They'd make the most beautiful clacking and slithering sounds. And the sensation of a tentacle sucker popping on your skin . . . well, they don't make typewriters like this 1938 Underwood anymore. And we lost something wonderful when they did.
Courtney Brown, an artist in Oakland, calls her sculpture "Self Organization." It's on display at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art until November 15. You can see more photos at Colossal.
It's called a "birthie." And you should take one!
That's what Gil Solano did. His wife was experiencing a radical new type of pain that he never, ever would. This was obviously the ideal time to take a picture of himself and, of course, his beloved wife in the background. He explained on reddit:
My wife wanted to make sure that someone took a picture of the expression on our faces when our daughter was born today. So I took one.
Well, then, mission accomplished.
Mrs. Solano gave birth to a healthy 7 pound, 6 ounce girl that the couple has named Eva Nell. Gil swears that his wife finds the photo funny.
-via Dave Barry
Jonathan H. Liu recently watched Star Wars with his kids. His toddler, who is 2 and a half, really enjoyed it--especially the Imperial March, which is also known as the Darth Vader theme. After she went to bed for a nap, the cutest little Sith began singing that piece of music.
Here she is with a captured piece of Rebel equipment. At Geek Dad, Liu explains that his daughter is fascinated with Darth Vader:
When he first appeared on the screen, she started mimicking the sound of his breathing. When the Imperial March started playing, she stood up and danced! Lately she keeps asking us to sing the “Star Wars song”–sometimes she means the theme song, but quite often what she really wants to hear is Darth Vader’s theme instead.
She has chosen her path wisely.
-via Huffington Post
I could grow a man bun. And I obviously should. Then I could look like famous world leaders and wear tiny fedoras on the bun. But I don't want to wait to grow my hair out until it's long enough to have one. By the time it is for me to have a natural man bun, the fashion trend could have passed.
The solution is to wear a clip-on man bun. It's like a clip-on tie, but obviously more dignified. And now is the time to invest in this fashion solution because the discount site Groupon is offering them for a mere $9.99 each. That's easily worth the chance to become an object of desire among women and envy among men. Choose one to match your own natural hair color, or a different one for an eye-grabbing contrast.
CNN reports that Groupon has already sold a thousand of these wonders. So you'd better get one while they're still available.
-via The Mary Sue
On June 18, 1947, a commercial airliner crashed in Syria. The young co-pilot took the time in the midst of the chaos and fear to tell a young woman that she was going to be alright. He helped a stranger in a small but important way.
About a third of the way through the story, I recognized the co-pilot. He would later become famous for inspiring millions of other people through television.
Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal tells the story and why it is important. Read the whole thing here and know that it's going to be okay.
(Image: Guinness World Records)
Your daily commute may be a bit shorter on this ride--possibly only a few bike lengths.
Mijil Van Mares Werkploeg, a cycling organization in the Netherlands, built this custom bicycle in order to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's longest bicycle. As it's 117 feet and 5 inches long, it succeeded! The bike is made of the same sort of aluminum trusses used in concert lighting rigs. One person steers from the front and another pedals from the rear. There are no stabilizers, so it's a real bike!
Is it hard to ride? Team leader Frank Pelt says that it's no problem. You can ride it as long as you like, so as long as you don't need to turn a corner.
(Photo: Tony Giberson/PNJ.com)
Jon Masters is homeless. But that may end very soon.
In September, he begged for money by a road in Pensacola, Florida. He collected $40. With that, he purchased art supplies. He began painting landscapes, then selling them by the side of the road. Each one goes for about $25-40. You can find an online gallery of his work here.
Masters and his dog, Sheba, still live outdoors for now. But as Masters's fame and income rise, he's embracing new opportunities. USA Today (warning: auto-start video) reports:
On Tuesday, Daniel Dugan, organizer of the weekly Gulf Breeze Farmers Market, picked Masters up and drove him out to Gulf Breeze Community Center, where a covered booth awaited the artist. But first, with a little extra money in his pocket from a few sales, he went and purchased a new shirt and jeans. He has been wearing his previous outfit, splattered with paint, since his release.
"Don't I look fancy?" he asked with a smile, sitting under the covered booth tent at the market. "I'm hoity-toity now."
Dugan, who operates three farmers markets in Northwest Florida, said he hopes more homeless people follow Masters' lead.
"I saw the PNJ article and I was impressed and inspired and had the ability to offer him some space," he said. "That's what we want to do. If one person can inspire our homeless population, that is what we need. He's doing it right. He knocked on the door and it got opened."
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