And I mean that literally. 20 Slices consists of twenty slices of American cheese wrapped in plastic sheets.

It's the work of Ben Denzer, an artist and designer who is fascinated with book production. He makes books out of unusual materials and content sources, such as fortune cookie fortunes, ice cream, and ketchup packets.

Some libraries have acquired 20 Slices. At Atlas Obscura, Abigail Cain writes about Denzer's works and how libraries have processed it and made it accessible to patrons. Jamie Lausch Vander Broek, a librarian at the University of Michigan, who bought it for her library, describes student reactions:

“One student was like, ‘Well, you know, I think the cheese was already a book,’ and I thought that was a really astute observation,” Vander Broek says. “I think that what [Denzer] is doing is elevating things that already want to be books because they formally exhibit the characteristics of a book. There’s so much there to talk about that really gets at the nuance of ‘What is a book, exactly?’”

I wonder if could request a copy of 20 Slices through interlibrary loan after the pandemic subsides and ILL service reopens. Currently, I can get only digital ILL materials, so I could probably request a photocopy the pages of 20 Slices.

Photo: Ben Denzer

Maybe researchers can discover the dimensions Dr. Strange can travel in and out of, damn. All jokes (or references) aside, a new study shows that the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest atom smasher, could open a window to learning more about gravity, and possibly, unknown dimensions. Space gives us details on the wild theory that our universe may be studded with small black holes that they could exist in between atoms! Check the full piece here to learn more. 

Image via Space 

Alice Springs lies in the middle of the Australian desert. The Todd River has water only during the occasional rainfall. But that doesn't stop residents from enjoying a good boat race there. The Henley on Todd Regatta is perhaps the world's most unusual boat race because the participants have to carry their boats on foot through the desert sands.

There are several boating events, such as the team race embedded above. There's also land surfing, hamster wheel racing, and sand shoveling.

-via Amusing Planet | Photo: Alli Polin

Yikes. At least put some clothes on, man! Imagine seeing him break into your home in real time! A family from Massachusetts discovered a naked man breaking into their home from their security cameras. The man picked up a rock and smashed a window on the door. Don’t worry, the family managed to call the cops on him. But why was he butt naked? 

(via Flipboard) 

Image via Flipboard 

The answer usually comes in the form of emulation or replaying old games (hey, there’s no harm in replaying old games). However, my bet is on the fact that if you do have an old Wii console, it’s probably stashed somewhere in your home. It doesn’t really have to sit unused, as it could be repurposed for different kinds of things besides gaming, if you have the time and patience to tweak a few things here and there. Make Use Of lists some ideas you could use for your old Nintendo Wii. Check their full piece here. 

Image via Make Use Of 

Ready for another Norse myth? Everyone loved Baldaur, except Loki, who was jealous. That leads to deadly mischief. This TED-Ed story comes from Iseult Gillespie, with lovely animation. -via Geeks Are Sexy

Kossan1108, a Buddhist monk in Japan, sings and performs his take on Metallica's iconic song "Enter Sandman" with traditional percussion instruments.

The video is almost 10 minutes long. That's not because Kossan1108's rendition is slow, but because the second half of the video appears to show him meditating after completing his performance.

Or perhaps, as this YouTube commenter suggests, he's just playing another work.

-via Born in Space

When I first saw this video going around today, I thought that it was a commercial that spoofed the common tropes of Lifetime original movies. But it's not.

Oh, yes, it's a commercial. But the video above is just an ad for the an actual movie that will air on the Lifetime channel on December 13.

Mario Lopez of Saved by the Bell fame stars as Colonel Harland Sanders as the chef in residence at manor filled with beautiful, scheming, murderous lovers. The movie, which is titled A Recipe for Seduction, is 15 minutes long, which is shorter than most films, but longer than most commercials.

By starring in this role, Lopez follows in the footsteps of Sanders, who played himself in several low-budget films, as David Burge notes.

-via Instapundit

Jim Behymer knows sandwiches. He runs a site called Sandwich Tribunal and he makes his own bologna. Behymer saw a meme referencing pumpkin spice bologna, which does not exist -or it didn't until he made some.

First I want to say this: pumpkin spice bologna is delicious. It works way better than you think it should, way better than our calcified tastes want it to. It’s fatty meat, cured and spiced, and what’s so wrong about that?

Also let us firmly state the obvious: that pumpkin spice bologna is a stupid idea, it should not exist, and I was an idiot to make it, must less make this video about it.

To acknowledge that both these things are true, simultaneously, is to acknowledge the absurdity of our existence. Or at least the absurdity of my existence.

Watching Behymer grind the spices and meat and make pumpkin spice bologna is quite pleasant -and I would imagine certainly more pleasant than watching a commercial meat processor do it. He makes a sandwich with pumpkin spice bologna and another with his homemade pumpkin spice mortadella. Even if you would never be inclined to eat such a thing (my only objection is the use of white bread), you'll enjoy seeing it because of Behymer's attention to detail and his obvious appreciation of a well-made sandwich. Get his recipe for pumpkin spice bologna here. -via Metafilter

Jacquet Droz, a Swiss watchmaking firm created in the 1760s by a craftsman of the same name, makes astonishing works of art in the form of watches. They're playful automata as much as they are luxurious timepieces. Each one tells a story in intricate, precise, clockwork motion.

This one, titled Tropical Bird Repeater, will have a run of merely eight machines. The company describes the wonders of this tiny masterpiece:

The fully hand-engraved and hand-painted dial is showcasing 7 different animation that may exceed 12 seconds allow for up to 4 different scenarios, all the more striking as they contrast with the suspended background of the scene.

The waterfall flows eternally in perfect realistic fashion. A one-of-a-kind animation in watchmaking history, the hummingbird wings beat up to 40 times a second (80 times in real life), adding incredible realism to the scene. The peacock opens and closes its tail, while a toucan emerges from the palm leaves to open its beak. The dancing flight of three elegant dragonflies adds to the magic by day or by night as their tiny SuperLuminova®-coated wings glow in the dark.

-via Nag on the Lake

Ah, the power of optical illusion! A morphing installation outside the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts wows visitors with its rippling lines and geometric forms. The installation’s shape fully emphasizes the mural that covers it. The mural, called Moving Dunes, was designed to  challenge the role of perspective in visual representation: 

“We feel that the installation is a kind of public/exterior extension of the exhibition,” Proulx tells My Modern Met, “so the visitor could immerse themselves in an abstract and playful environment, a giant ‘trompe l’oeil' in reference to cubist techniques.” The architecture firm achieved that aim through the use of an optical illusion process called anamorphosis, which requires the viewer to observe the mural from a particular vantage point in order to fully appreciate its form. Experiencing it from alternate viewpoints would break the illusion.

Image via My Modern Met 

British Royal Air Force was able to capture photos of the world’s largest iceberg as it headed towards the South Atlantic, specifically toward South Georgia Island. The photos of the iceberg, called A68a, were taken by a British military aircraft, which was able to get close to the iceberg: 

In a Facebook post, British officials note that because of the iceberg's massive size, it's nearly impossible to photograph it in full with the exception of satellite imagery.

The chunk of ice cleaved off the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica in 2017 at a reported size of roughly 2,300 square miles. Researchers have noted for some weeks now that A68a has been on a collision with the island of South Georgia.

The iceberg is roughly 130 miles off the island's coast and could run aground in shallow coastal waters.

The government there said Saturday that it's keeping a close eye on the iceberg's trajectory.

Image via NPR 

Maybe you’ve heard about these films, too! Here’s the thing about the film industry: a massive amount of hype can make producers adapt a book or comic series into a movie. However, if the initial movie underperforms (both sales and reception-wise), we’re not going to expect a sequel at all. There are cases where PR and marketing people release announcements to hype up a release of an upcoming film, even though there’s no certainty that it will actually be released to the public. Looper lists different films that were never released. Check the full list here. 

Image via Looper 

How did he get a haircut if he's on the run from the police? Lol!

Funny Video!

This photo shows a white cougar, caught on a trail camera at Serra dos Órgãos National Park in Brazil. It was snapped in 2013, and the cat was never seen afterward. The photos from that time are the only evidence of a cougar with leucism in the wild. Ever.

“That shows you how extremely unusual it is,” says Luke Hunter, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Big Cats Program and author of the book Wild Cats of the World. “It’s a striking set of photos.”

Genetic color aberrations, such as albinism and leucism, are relatively common among wild cats, but for unknown reasons, they’re almost unheard of in cougars, a successful predator whose habitat stretches from Canada to Chile, the biggest north-south range of any wild cat.

Read about the mutation that can make a white cougar and other color aberrations in cats at National Geographic. -via Damn Interesting