Cheryl Lee Myers, an artist in Cape Coral, Florida, makes a variety of uniquely surreal sculptures. I'm especially taken with her dioramas set inside split coconuts. What does this mysterious apothecary offer you from his laboratory?

-via So Super Awesome

Kitty wants to join you at work, but your office furniture isn't always designed with cats' needs in mind. That's where designer Dan Devine comes in. His Ascend Desk makes it easy for cats to climb up to your level and lounge around.

To make the desk more comfortable, you can add carpeting. And there's even a built-in cat bed! The only feature that is missing is a litter pan.

-via Toxel

It’s very expensive, though. The YInMn Blue was discovered in 2009 at an Oregon State University lab. The discovery of the pigment was serendipitous, with chemist Mas Subramanian and his team coming upon the color after conducting experiments with rare elements. YInMn Blue’s name comes from the elements Yttrium, Indium, and Manganese, as Artnet details:

YInMn Blue’s appeal stems in part from its high opacity, which means you don’t need to apply much of it to get a good coating. (Ultramarine, by comparison is quite transparent.) It also has unusual hyper-spectral properties, reflecting most infrared radiation, which keeps the pigment cool.

That makes it especially well-suited for energy-saving applications on building exteriors—which was part of what attracted Shepherd Color, which sells pigments for industrial use.

“The art world likes it because of the color. The industrial world likes it because of what it can do in terms of environmental regulations for building products,” Shepherd Color marketing manger Mark Ryan told Artnet News.

The pigment also has a great deal to offer anyone more focused on the visual appeal.

“It is very vivid compared to Cobalt blue or Prussian blue, and it comes with some additional advantages in terms of the durability and stability of the pigment,” Subramanian told Artnet News.

Described as something of a cross between Ultramarine blue and Cobalt blue, YInMn Blue fills “a gap in the range of colors,” Georg Kremer, Kremer’s founder and president, said. “Our customers loved it from the very first moment they had seen it.”

Image via Artnet 

Among the wild ducks of Lake Merritt, Oakland residents noticed and soon became fans of two that really stuck out from the crowd. He was tall, dark, and handsome, with a green head and a proud stance. She was a white duck with a plume of poufy feathers on her head. And they were devoted to each other. The two ducks became social media favorites, as people shared images and videos. But those who know ducks were worried.

“When you see a duck that looks a little different, it’s probably not supposed to be there,” says Kira Kiesler, who, along with her family, runs a Bay Area animal rescue organization called Genevieve’s Gentle Hearts Rescue.

This was the case for the Lake Merritt ducks, whom some in the community call Ebony and Ivory. Both are domestic breeds, not wild like the others around them. Ebony, the black duck, is a male Cayuga. Ivory, the white duck, is a female crested duck.

“They weren’t supposed to be at Lake Merritt, which is why they were so friendly,” Kiesler adds. “Someone actually hand-raised them. And unfortunately, they dumped them there, which is a very common story.”

Read the story of how Ebony and Ivory charmed Oakland and were finally rescued and given a proper home, at the Bold Italic. Do not miss the video of Ivory taking a bath surrounded by rubber duckies. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: bentonboy)

Just in case the purpose of helicopter skids is unclear, this HH-60G Pave Hawk in the US Air National Guard has footprints painted on its feet. This chopper is engaged in search and rescue training. Let us hope that the feet make it more visible to people in need of rescue.

-via Super Punch | Photo: Senior Airman Kelly Willett

You know that someone really loves what he’s doing when he braves even a winter storm, in a rather thin costume, just to show the world what he’s passionate about. New York cosplayer CosPlayNay donned his Frozone costume as he headed out to face the snow and the gusty winds in the city.

CosPlayNay had also found himself sliding down a snowy hill on the superhero's iconic snowboard later that day. The kids who had brought their sleds for some winter fun quickly noticed CosPlayNay as Frozone and were ecstatic to see him.

"[They called me] Hey Iceman! Hey Mr. Freeze! Hey Frozone! You're that guy from the cartoon!" CosPlayNay told Cosplay Central. "They kept asking 'Hey Frozone are you cold?!' and I responded with 'I'm never cold, just cool.'"

When asked why he wanted to cosplay as Frozone, CosPlayNay explained that he felt like he connected to the character.

"Aside from my love for The Incredibles, I strongly feel more black super heroes need to be recognized, acknowledged and shown on the silver screen," CosPlayNay told Cosplay Central. "Frozone is one of the coolest characters (no pun intended. He's tall, dark, average build, funny, witty, stylish, loves the kids, loves the people and overall a character/person a lot of people can genuinely relate."

Now this is dedication!

(Image Credit: CosPlayNay/ Twitter)

Vox populi. The voice of the people, or at least the majority of people. I believe that it is a phrase that exists for a reason, as the voice of people can do many things. It can establish and overthrow rulers. It can also reshape society through change and revolution. Time and time again, the voice of the people has proved itself to be a powerful force, and it seems that it has displayed its power once again, and this time, you can hear it in the meme world and the cryptocurrency market, specifically, in Dogecoin — a cryptocurrency inspired by a meme.

One of the most difficult problems in finance right now is figuring out the fundamental economic value of cryptocurrencies. And the past week has complicated this further.

For many cryptocurrency investors, the value of Bitcoin is based on the fact it is artificially scarce. A hard cap on “minting” new coins means there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin in existence. And unlike national currencies such as the Australian dollar, the rate of release for new Bitcoin is slowing down over time.

Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that takes its name and logo from a Shiba Inu meme that was popular several years ago, doesn’t have a cap. Launched in 2013, there are now 100 billion Dogecoin in existence, with as many as five billion new coins minted each year.

But how can a currency with a seemingly unlimited supply have any value at all? And why did Dogecoin’s price suddenly surge more than 800% in 24 hours on January 29?

At the time of publication, the “memecoin” was worth about A$5.6 billion on the stock market.

If there’s one thing that this sudden phenomenon teaches us, it is this: “memes move markets.”

More about this over at The Conversation.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: ARTIST Ryzhi/ Wikimedia Commons)

In 1902, Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais revealed his findings about an object found in a shipwreck off the coast of Greece near Antikythera. Seeing a gear embedded in the strange object, Stais deduced that the object in question was an astronomy-based clock.

He was in the minority—most agreed that something so sophisticated must have entered the wreck long after its other 2,000-year-old artifacts. Nothing like it was believed to have existed until 1,500 years later.

It turns out, however, that Stais’s insight about the object was correct. The object, which we now call “Antikythera mechanism", is in fact, an astronomy-based clock.

In 1951, British historian Derek J. de Solla Price began studying the find, and by 1974 he had worked out that it was, in fact, a device from 150 to 100 BC Greece. He realized it used meshing bronze gears connected to a crank to move hands on the device's face in accordance with the Metonic cycle, the 235-month pattern that ancient astronomers used to predict eclipses.

By 2009, modern imaging technology had identified all 30 of the Antikythera mechanism's gears, and a virtual model of it was released.

Understanding how the pieces fit goes together confirmed that the Antikythera mechanism was capable of predicting the positions of the planets with which the Greeks were familiar—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn—as well as the sun and moon, and eclipses. It even has a black and white stone that turns to show the phases of the moon. Andrew Carol, an engineer from Apple, built a (much bigger) working model of the device using Legos to demonstrate its operation.

Learn more about this fascinating device over at Big Think.

(Image Credit: Marsyas/ Wikimedia Commons)

The search for eco-friendly materials, which we can use to build eco-friendly stuff, goes on as we try to solve the problem of climate change, and it seems that mushrooms are going to be of great help in our quest.

Mushrooms are helping architects and engineers solve one the world’s biggest crises: climate change. These fungi are durable, biodegradable, and are proving to be a good alternative to more polluting materials.

Materials made with mycelium, the fungal network from which mushrooms grow, might be able to help turn that around. They produce far less planet-heating carbon dioxide than traditional materials like cement. An added bonus is that mushrooms are biodegradable, so they leave behind less harmful waste than traditional building materials. Mushrooms can even help with clean-up efforts, feeding off things that might have otherwise ended up in a landfill, like sawdust or agricultural waste.

While materials made from mushrooms are still in the early stages of development, they’re already showing some promise as an insulation material and as an alternative to concrete blocks. And how do they perform? The Verge documents it in this video.

(Image Credit: The Verge/ YouTube)

One glance at a couple’s bed and you’ll know immediately who lies down on which side. How? Easy. Just look at which side is clean and organized, and which is dirty. The former belongs to the woman, and the latter belongs to the man. Of course, this is not to generalize that men don’t organize their stuff, as there are some who do, but this is the case most of the time. And men’s side of the bed have lots of things in common, like the weapon (a knife, a baseball bat, or a gun), a water bottle, charging cables, and some gadgets.

Bored Panda has compiled various tweets of women comparing their side of the bed to their respective partners. Check out the photos over at the site.

(Image Credit: Bored Panda)

It’s been many months since many of us were introduced to a work-from-home setup, and by now we’re used to it. Many places in our homes, such as tables and sofas now have become makeshift offices. But if there’s a place that is rarely converted to a workplace, it would be the bed, and that is for good reason.

“When we use our bed for other activities, like working,... we create an association with wakefulness. We want the bed to be a cue for sleep, and working in bed weakens this association,” behavioral sleep medicine therapist Annie Miller told Healthline.

But working from bed has its pros, too.

Counsellor Kerry Quigley, accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, has also linked working from bed to lower anxiety. “Working from the comfort of your bed can feel like a safe calming space, particularly when anxiety is an issue,” she’s said.

Snigdha Bansal has documented her experience working from bed for a week. See her story over at Vice.

(Image Credit: Snigdha Bansal/ Vice)

Have you read Facebook’s privacy policies? Chances are you haven’t. And if you did read them, chances are you didn’t read them all. Thankfully, there are those, like Shoshana Wodinsky of Gizmodo, who read that stuff and then share with us what they’ve read. And what did Wodinsky find out about Facebook’s privacy policies? Lots of things, and many of them are scary stuff.

Facebook’s privacy policies are a master class in divulging just enough to satisfy most people’s curiosities about the company’s creepiest practices, without giving them enough details to actually protect themselves. It’s a privacy policy loaded with dead ends and tech tangents designed to give you the illusion of control—but that’s it.

See more about Wodinsky’s findings over at Gizmodo.

(Image Credit: TheDigitalArtist/ Pixabay)

You speak in acronyms! You speak in acronyms! You speak in acronyms! Everybody speaks in acronyms!

Does your boss or your co-workers use acronyms inside the office? If yes, how often do they do it, and how many acronyms do you know?

(Image Credit: Viva La Dirt League/ YouTube)

From beaded dresses and corsets spring forth various plants and flowers, which can act as a skirt, or a part of the body, such as the legs, the arms, and the head. In this series of paintings, artist Amy Laskin “juxtaposes decorative fashions and organic beauty.”

Each piece is figurative but non-representational, a decision Laskin shares stems from the idea that “nature is anonymous. She needs no name. She is everything.”

The artist’s studio is located in the Blue Mountains in Jamaica, the place she’s drawn inspiration from since moving to the island as a Peace Corps volunteer years ago. You can find more of Laskin’s work that’s brimming with the flora native to the region on her site and Artsy.

See some of Laskin’s paintings over at Colossal.

(Image Credit: Amy Laskin/ Colossal)

If you haven’t slept in a hammock yet, then you wouldn’t know how comfy it is to sleep in one. However, sometimes what happened to this poor kid, happens when you rest on a hammock, so make sure you don’t end up in this position as you sleep.

Thankfully, the baby did not suffocate while in this position.

Well, what do you think?

(Image Credit: Noor Doing Things/ Facebook)