Alarmed that her students were bringing junk food for lunch, Chicago school Principal Elsa Carmona decided to save the children from their (nutritionally-challenged) parents ... by banning brown bag lunches:

... Little Village Academy on Chicago's West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria.

Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices.

"Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school," Carmona said. "It's about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception."

Carmona said she created the policy six years ago after watching students bring "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" on field trips for their lunch. Although she would not name any other schools that employ such practices, she said it was fairly common.

What do you think? Good idea or Big Brother? Link - via Dvorak Uncensored

Photo: Peter Harholdt for Amelia Island Concours, Gary & Diane Cerveny Collection

I don't usually ooh-and-aah over cars, but I'll gladly make an exception for this 1948 Timbs Special by Norman E. Timbs (and restored by Dave Crouse for the 2010 Concours d'Elegance).

Detroit, why don't you make cars like this? Link | More images at Supercars.net

Toothbrush (2010) by Nancy Faust

Artist Nancy Fouts creates some mind-bogglingly awesome (not to mention humorous) art from unlikely combination of things. The BBC has the photo gallery of her recent art exhibit: Link

Ada Rimon and Ofeq Shemer of Toosh created this clever stop motion video clip of themselves blowing up bottles (not that way, oh just see the clip - it's easier than me having to explain).

Hit play or go to Link [vimeo] - via Feingut

Scientists from the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan cultivated embryonic stem cells in a test tube and added proteins to coax them into developing. They had wanted it to form a recognizable organ, but were stunned to find that over 10 days, the stem cells had formed an embryonic eye:

Professor Yoshiki Sasai, lead author said: "What we've been able to do in this study is resolve a nearly century-old problem in embryology, by showing that retinal precursors have the inherent ability to give rise to the complex structure of the optic cup."

His team, who filmed the technique as it unfolded, grew floating clusters of the mouse cells in a special tissue culture in the laboratory that had previously been successfully used to make a variety of brain cells.

By adding particular proteins they were able to get the cells to build a three dimensional layered structure reminiscent of the optic cup within 10 days.

Link - via TWYWKIWDBI

If you really love your dog, you can immortalize its nose in jewelry! Jackie Kaufman makes these necklaces using a mold of your dog's nose, which you can do yourself using a kit. Find out more at Pawesome. http://www.pawesome.net/2011/04/dog-nose-print-necklace/

Next Movie honors five classic comedians by enshrining them in comic book covers as superheroes, as rendered by the artists at Old Red Jalopy. Besides Steve Martin, see Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, and Will Farrell in tights on their own covers. Link -via mental_floss

(YouTube link)

The term "globally" here does not mean worldwide so much as it means seeing the problem as a whole as opposed to its parts. Dr. Eli Goldratt {wiki} explains what happens to the supply chain of consumer goods during a recession, in terms even I can understand. With animation by Aharon Charnov. -Thanks, Joe Brown!

If Evolution Really Works - $9.95

Are you looking for the perfect Mother's Day gift for your favorite multitasking Mom?  Well, look no further! You need the If Evolution Really Works... T-shirt from the NeatoShop.  This T-shirt is all but  guaranteed to give your hard working Mom a well deserved laugh.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Funny T-shirts and Mother's Day Gift!

Liz says she knows nothing about music, but she is willing to learn. So she's set herself a goal.

There's a book out there that I've had on my shelf for years but never really touched. It's the "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". They start with Frank Sinatra's "In The Wee Small Hours" from 1955 and go all the way up to 2007. (List is over here!)
So here's the plan. 1001 Albums. 1001 Days. I'll listen to the whole album, start to finish, no skipping. I'll write about how I feel about the album, my thoughts about the music, my life, etc. We'll see how this goes..

OK, I have a jaded view of music because I played some of these albums on radio until the vinyl fell apart. So let me say I find it refreshing to revisit them as heard through the ears of a 25-year-old newbie music critic. Maybe you will, too, or maybe you'll find something new you'd like to listen to. Liz plans to be through the list of albums by May of 2012, and has reviewed 520 albums so far. Link

Some artists use marble, some use wood, but this Pixiv user (can anyone translate more info?) uses ... bananas! Obvious Winner has more: http://www.obviouswinner.com/obvwin/2011/4/10/omg-these-geeky-banana-sculptures-are-bananas.html - via Geekologie

Update 4/12/11: The artist's name is Suu (male, 23 years old). Twitter: y_yamaden - Thanks Wakaranyo!

To be honest, these really are music videos, but they were recorded as plot points in TV shows by actors playing fictional characters. That doesn't mean they aren't good, but it means you (most likely) won't get to see the artist perform the songs on tour. However, you can find them on YouTube, and in syndication on the original TV shows they were made for. For example, you remember the song "Smelly Cat" from the series Friends.

Friend's Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) has a long list of occupations during the course of the show, including singer-songwriter for which she is best known for her least popular song, "Smelly Cat". Encouraged by a record producer, she records the song professionally as both a track and a music video, but her voice for both is overdubbed by another artist, E.G. Daily, who is less attractive but a much better singer. However Phoebe still appears in the video, along with three backing vocalists, a cast of homeless people, and a possessed (did you see its eyes?) cat.

Read the stories behind ten such videos (and watch them) in this list at brainwavez. Link -Thanks, Mandy!

On April 12th, 1861, 150 years ago today, the first battle of the US Civil War was fought at Ft. Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina. Southern states had been seceding from the union for months, but the US still maintained coastal forts.

During the four months leading up to Lincoln's Inauguration, the seceding states, one after another, seized federal forts, arsenals, and customs houses within their borders.

There was little to oppose the breakaway forces, a caretaker and a guard or two comprising many of the garrisons. Most of the 16,000 or so regular Army soldiers had been posted to the western frontier to protect settlers against the perceived threat from American Indians.

On March 4, 1861, Lincoln was inaugurated, promising the seceding states that he would use force only "to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places" belonging to the federal government.

The stage was set for the inevitable showdown.

National Geographic takes a look back with a rundown of what actually happened on April 12th at Ft. Sumter, and how those actions sent the nation into four years of war and cost more than 600,000 men their lives. Link

(Image credit: Library of Congress)

Artist Celina Saubidet creates "Osseus Jewelry," with designs based on bones, like this silver-plated skeletal hand necklace. Yes, it's full-size and was inspired by a real skeleton. She also has rings and cufflinks that resemble bones at her Etsy store Link -via Bioephemera

On April 12th, 1961, 50 years ago today, Yuri Gagarin {wiki} became the first human to go into space. Today is also the premiere of a full-length movie First Orbit.

In a unique collaboration with the European Space Agency, and the Expedition 26/27 crew of the International Space Station, we have created a new film of what Gagarin first witnessed fifty years ago.

By matching the orbital path of the Space Station, as closely as possible, to that of Gagarin's Vostok 1 spaceship and filming the same vistas of the Earth through the new giant cupola window, astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and documentary film maker Christopher Riley, have captured a new digital high definition view of the Earth below, half a century after Gagarin first witnessed it.

Weaving these new views together with historic, recordings of Gagarin from the time, (subtitled in Englsih) and an original score by composer Philip Sheppard, we have created a spellbinding film to share with people around the world on this historic anniversary.

You can watch the entire movie (99 minutes) at the website. Link