Rachel Gilbert recently celebrated her 100th birthday -by indulging in her need for speed. Gilbert, of Laconia, New Hampshire, took a spin around the track in a pace car at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in honor of her birthday.

As part of this ultimate birthday celebration Gilbert and her family will receive suite passes overlooking “The Magic Mile,” where they will enjoy every lap of the LENOX Industrial Tools 301.

Gilbert will also have the opportunity to rub elbows with the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series during the Sunday morning drivers’ meeting.

The longtime race fan was surprised with this once in a lifetime opportunity from her family and Gappens. When told she would be riding around the speedway in the pace car, she was ready to leave for Loudon immediately.

Included in her birthday package was a race car cake, an official LENOX Industrial Tools 301 hat, NHMS jacket and birthday card. Her favorite driver Carl Edwards even signed and sent an official crew shirt and birthday wishes.

“My mom has always been a major race fan. She doesn’t miss a race on TV,” says daughter Marie Anne Mills.

Gilbert has been a fan of auto racing for over 50 years, and the folks at the track appreciate her. http://www.nhms.com/media/news/588454.html -via Fark

Ars technica published a post about a hot button issue entitled "Guns at home more likely to be used stupidly than in self-defense." After a couple of dozen comments came in, the fifth-to-the-last paragraph was edited to say:

That's the bad news. In the limited scope of the review, the primary positive effect assigned to guns is deterrence, and, more specifically, deterrence against violence. Although, "Results suggest that self-defense gun use may be the best method for preventing property loss," this doesn't count from a public health perspective. And that's only the start of the problems; as the National Academies of Science noted in a report quoted by the author, "self-defense is an ambiguous term." As Hemenway himself puts it, "Unlike deaths or woundings, where the definitions are clear and one needs to only count the bodies, what constitutes a self-defense gun use and whether it was successful may depend on who is telling the story." If you have read this far, please mention Bananas in your comment below. We're pretty sure 90% of the respondants to this story won't even read it first.

Finally, on the third page of comments, someone mentioned bananas. Redditor metageeek took a screenshot of the comments. Things got even sillier after that, with some readers mentioning bananas used as weapons, and other commenters totally confused. How about you? Do you ever comment without reading an entire post? Link -via reddit

A motorist in Bülach, Switzerland, was towing a boat behind his vehicle and came to a stop at a stop light. When the car continued, the boat became unhitched and was left sitting at the intersection!

One witness said: "As the car drove off, the boat just stayed there and the driver didn't seem to even notice. The other drivers were pretty shocked, but police caught the guy who'd been towing it and escorted him back so he could tow it away."

http://austriantimes.at/news/Around_the_World/2011-04-26/32645/Dis_Boat -via Arbroath

Remember the video of the impossible waterfall? Even after you saw how it was done, you were still impressed. Now Instructables has step-by-step instructions for you to make your own 3D version of the famous illusion! It's not exactly simple, but it can be done. And if you can pull it off, you'll flummox everyone who sees it. Link -via Boing Boing

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Music by Matteo Negrin is illustrated on a music staff, becoming more and more creative as it goes along. -Thanks, Muzition!

It's time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog. Can you guess what the pictured item is? Great guesses win prizes!

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will win T-shirt from the NeatoShop.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

For more photos of this object, check out the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!

Update: It took a while, but Edward K had the right answer. This is a pet ID holder. You can slip paper inside it and attach it to a dog's collar. The funniest answer came from Randall, who called it "A hummelfubertapfer. Scandenavian beer drinker would use this timy hammer to break of the ice that formed on their beer as they drank it. This led to the colloquial joke of 'Is that your wife's nose or a Hummelfubertapfer?' after which the the joke's subject would either fly into a rage or laugh uproarously, depending on their level of inebriation." Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!

I'm not particularly enamored of the Royal Wedding, but with the press reaching a fever pitch this week, it's hard not to get caught up in it a little bit. "Kate Middleton for the Win" is a tongue-in-cheek Tumblr about Kate's poshness and how she's maybe just a little bit smug about the fact that she's getting married to a prince tomorrow.

Link via Love at First Shop

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Sean Ohlenkamp, an associate creative director from Toronto, Canada, placed a folder on the desktop of his wife's computer to celebrate their third anniversary.

via Nerdcore

Wales is having an identity crisis. Actually, it's been having one off and on for the past 2,000 years. Is it part of England? Part of the U.K? Or is Wales just ...Wales?

Sometime in Britain's mythological past, King Llud Llaw Eraint had a problem with dragons. Specifically, two warring dragons -one white and one red- whose screams rang through the countryside, causing women to miscarry and livestock to become barren. So, the king lured the dragons in to a deep pit and got them so drunk that they passed out. While the dragons were asleep, he buried them deep underneath a mountain in Wales. "The white dragon is the Saxon," the Welsh magician Merlin once explained. "The red dragon is Cymru [Wales], and so they will fight, red against the white, until at last the dragon of Wales is triumphant over the dragon of the Saxons."



Today, the red dragon of Wales has reappeared. It's everywhere in 21st-century Welsh culture -on the flag, on t-shirts, ashtrays, and bumper stickers, and on the tattoos of patriotic men and women. It embodies the spirit of the country. For 2,000 years, Wales has suffered though waves of invaders and conquerors, and each time, its people have emerged with a deepened sense of national pride. Its character is one of defiance -a red dragon always ready for battle.

Pickle Toothpaste - $4.45

Do you love pickles, and hate your minty toothpaste? The Pickle Toothpaste from the NeatoShop is for you!

With the Pickle Toothpaste from the NeatoShop you can finally have that briny fresh breath you always wanted.  Great dental hygiene has never tasted so good.

Be sure to check out all wonderfully wacky Personal Care products available at the NeatoShop!

The parents of a 25-year old man in Spain told him to either look for a job or they would stop paying him $588 in monthly allowance. Then they followed through on their threat. So the young man sued them in court. The judge dismissed his complaint and ordered him to move out of their home and find a job:

However, the judge told the man, who has not been named in court documents, that he must leave his parents' house within 30 days.

The judge said the man was studying law, albeit at a slow rate, and would probably not complete the degree for several years, but he thought he was still capable of finding some kind of work.

Link via Lowering the Bar | Photo by Flickr user Tax_Rebate used under Creative Commons license

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I'm having trouble finding any information about this video. It appears to show a performer balancing sticks, one on top of another, without dropping a single one. At the very end, he must balance the entire assembly on one remaining, upright stick. How does he do it?

via reddit

No, the NHL isn't that old, but Alexandr Reut is fond of suggesting that it is. He's composed several works showing hockey in a style reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance. This one depicts the Washington Capitals winning the Stanley Cup. If the players are unfamiliar to you, the legend at the article link identifies each one.

eBay Link and Article Link via Copyranter

Tim Delger has made some nifty tables and chairs from old road signs, such as the coffee table above. I'd love to see what he could do with a Bucket of Blood Street sign.

Link via Dude Craft

The architectural firm KWK Promes takes security very seriously. Its "Safe House" design, at the push of a button, drops steel shutters, swings concrete slabs over windows, and lifts a drawbridge. For those of you who think that this is silly (because zombies, unlike vampires and werewolves, aren't real), just remember:

If you’re prepared for the zombie apocalypse, a hurricane is just a storm.

Link via Geekologie | Photos: KWK Promes