Crystal Smith of The Achilles Effect blog looked at the words from TV commercials for toys and used Wordle to present the stark gender bias in toy advertising in graphic form. I'm not surprised at the presence of "battle" or "heroes" in boys' toys, but am quite suprised to find that "fun" is missing Link - via Wonderland
Words in ads for girls' toys
("fun" is there for the girls' though.)
(Video Link)
Designer Kelli Anderson made this wedding invitation for her friends, Mike Tarantino and Karen Sandler. Although it's made of paper, it folds into a semi-functional record player which plays a song composed by the couple. Anderson writes:
The resulting booklet is comprised of a cover, two inner pages, a letterpressed band (with instructions and a tear-off RSVP postcard), and a flexdisc on a screwpost. The recipient bends the second page of the booklet back to create a tented “arm.” With the needle placed, they then carefully spin the flexidisc at 45 RPM (ish) to hear the song. The sewing needle travels the length of the song and produces the sound. Its vibrations are amplified by the thin, snappy paper to which it is adhered. To keep the needle down on the record, we reinforced the back of the “tent” with a spray-mounted half page of heavier cardstock. To reduce friction between the acetate flexidisc and the backing cover, we had the inside of the booklet laminated to be slick and conducive to hand-spinning.
Link via Walyou
Chris Parks painted and arranged twelve skateboards that depict Jesus and his disciples from Da Vinci's The Last Supper as Mexican wrestlers. Naturally, the Eucharistic elements are a taco and a Corona beer. You can see several detailed photos at the link.
Link via Nerdcore
If you liked this, be sure to check out Jeremy Barker's massive repository of pop culture Last Suppers.
(Video Link)
For unambitious people like you and me, it might be enough to drive one bumper car down the streets of a city. But not for this fellow. No, he insisted on driving two bumper cars at the same time. That's a resume builder if I ever saw one.
via Geekosystem
Craftster user Omega Chicken made this sampler as a simple way to remember her WiFi password:
My housemate got the idea from when friends come over with laptops and mobile devices and always need to connect to her wifi. It was a hassle looking at the router every time and she doesn't know how to change the password to something memorable and whenever she wrote it down on something, it'd get lost. So here it is to be framed and hung on the wall.
Link via Geek Crafts
Early in their relationship, Kelly Riplinger and Jason Fordley encountered Andres Amador at work on a beach in San Francisco. It was a special memory for both of them, so when it was time for Jason to propose to Kelly, he commissioned Amador to create a mural doing just that:
Three years later, Jason tracked down the artist via the Internet and asked him to create a wedding proposal sand mural on February 12. The artist conceptualized the design and directed a handful of the couple's friends in raking it into Ocean Beach. It took them, according to Amador, about an hour and a half to get the job done; then everyone took cover on the sidewalk above the rocks.
Meanwhile, Jason was luring Kelly back to the picnic spot. "As we walked down the beach, we talked about the mural we'd seen years ago," Kelly says. "When we came upon the patterns in the sand, I couldn't believe the artist was back!"
Because the design was so large, Kelly couldn't read the message until she climbed up on the rocks (which took some coaxing). The waves were just starting to erase the edges of the mural when Jason pointed out the words and got on his knee. "I was in total shock," says Kelly. "I mean, after five years I was getting a bit impatient, but I had no idea he would do anything like that! He told me that he'd made me wait so long, he knew he had to make it really good."
And, as I said at the beginning, she said "yes." Jason slipped the ring he'd designed on her finger, their friends (and the small band of onlookers) cheered and the champagne started flowing by a fire pit on the beach.
Link via Craft | Photo: 7x7SF
Previously by Andres Amador: Sand Circles
Neatorama's own Adam Koford made this delightful mashup of Doctor Who and Peanuts. The Sopwith Camel could be a major advantage to a species that struggles with stairs.
Link via Super Punch | Adam's Website
Strange Attractor Magnetic Thinking Putty - $13.45
What's more fun than playing with putty? Playing with the Strange Attractor Magnetic Thinking Putty from the NeatoShop of course! Can your old fashioned putty pick up paperclips and other small metal objects? I didn't think so!Be sure to check out all the strange and wonderful Cubicle Toys available at the NeatoShop!
When committing a crime, perhaps it's not the best of ideas to leave behind a T-shirt with your face on it:
Making money was his "thang", now, it's being arrested.
Jonathan Huntley turned himself in to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, after a t-shirt he left, with his picture on it, at a home he robbed two days earlier, was posted all over the Internet.The victim was at his Dinglewood Avenue home at the time of the March 29th robbery hiding room to room, and found Huntley's incriminating t-shirt after Huntley and another suspect, who is still at large, had left the scene.
Link - via The Dumbass Daily
Chris Kluender wants to take his high school sweetheart Tiffany Gall to the prom. After all, they started dating a couple of years ago when she was a senior and the couple went to her prom.
But there's a teensy weensy problem now, when Chris wants to take her to his prom: at 19 years old, the school says she's too old to attend:
Tiffany currently attends St. Leo Universtiry with a major in healthcare administration. Chris also plans to attend St. Leo and is interested in sports management. They both feel their strong credentials, good grades and high morals should be enough to make an exception in this case.
As for the principal, Ray Bonti, he says rules are rules.
"If I have to make an exception for her, where does it stop? We know they are good people, but I can't have adults at a high school dance," said Bonti. "Parents trust me to take care of their kids. I can't have older adults there."
He went on to say, "We understand he is a great young man, and he can bring any one of the 2,100 other students to the prom."
Link | There's even a Facebook page to petition the school to let Chris bring his girlfriend
Kest Schwartzman of Vagabond Jewelry made this cheerful wedding ring. If you want to end the marriage, there's a price to be paid.
Link | Vagabond Jewelry
Print journalism is dying, but perhaps not stitch journalism! Inge Jacobsen recreated two Vogue covers in thread. You can see the other one at the first link.
Link and Link via Flavorwire
Unlike their American counterparts, Soviet cosmonauts went into space armed. Specifically, they carried the TP-82, pictured above. It had three barrels, the top two which fired approximately 40 gauge shotgun rounds. The lower barrel was chambered for the 5.45x39mm rifle round. If that didn't do the job, there was a machete built into the stock -- just in case....
Why did the cosmonauts carry this gun? It wasn't to fight off aliens, but protect themselves from human threats if they landed in unfriendly territory at the end of their missions.
This gun was used until 2006, when it was replaced with a standard semi-automatic handgun.
Link | Image: mpopeneker
At The Art of Manliness, Ty Karnitz makes the case for reviving the codpiece as a modern, manly fashion:
Any man boldly sporting a codpiece as he walks into a room will instantly gain everyone’s full attention. But remember, the codpiece is supposed to accentuate and not dominate, so even though everyone is likely to be staring at you, keep the focus on them. Maintain eye contact and talk about others. Following those simple rules will also help draw a lady’s attention.
Karnitz includes pictures of modern codpieces. What do you think? Does the codpiece deserve another chance as a popular fashion?
Link | Photo by Flickr user alphaxion used under Creative Commons license
De Moulin Bros. was a catalog company specializing in providing arcane trick props for hazing and initiation rites in fraternal lodges in the United States of the early 20th century. They were quite well known for their "goat trikes":
An inductee would ride the goat blindfolded while being pushed around the room by Lodge members. The DeMoulin Bros. first product was made in 1892 and quickly became a popular item, especially with Woodmen and Odd Fellow Lodges. [...]
Another funny factory addition that came on the above goat is... underneath the front part of the body a duck call is mounted with a rubber hose and a squeeze bulb. When the candidate was being wheeled around, you could make the goat quack. This was just more feature that added to the "degree of laughter" early Lodge Brothers engaged in when initiating new members!
