When Martin Lindsay returned to his car, parked near a new 37-storey skyscraper in London dubbed the "Walkie Talkie" because of its shape, he found that his car had been melted:
Mr Lindsay, director of tiling company Moderna Contracts Ltd, said: "I was walking down the road and saw a photographer taking photos and asked, 'what's happening?'
"The photographer asked me 'have you seen that car? The owner won't be happy.'
"I said: 'I am the owner. Crikey, that's awful.'"
The wing mirror, panels and Jaguar badge had all melted, Mr Lindsay said.
"You can't believe something like this would happen," he added. "They've got to do something about it.
"It could be dangerous. Imagine if the sun reflected on the wrong part of the body.
"On the windscreen, there was a note from the construction company saying 'your car's buckled, could you give us a call?'"
You know the story. A young merman prince, dissatisfied with life under the sea and curious about the human world, goes to the surface and encounters a lovely young woman.
deviantARTist FERNL re-imagined The Little Mermaid with Ariel as a human princess and Prince Eric as the merman son of the King of the Sea: Link
Funny, I don't remember Mario in Jurassic Park, but why not? Isn't Yoshi a dinosaur? (Photo provenance unknown - does anyone know the back story of this bootleg video game?)
It's raining ... sand! If you're in Cardiff, Wales, this week, check out Jesus Hernandez' performance art "The Sand" at the World Stage Design 2013. Now where's my umbrella?
In Russia, firetruck apparently has a completely different meaning. Perhaps that's how they deliver fire in Russia ... Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]
A 19th century training text used by martial arts school in Japan to teach the bushi (samurai) class has been deciphered. Bugei no jo, or "Introduction to Martial Arts" is dated to the 15th year of Tenpo (1844) and contains 12 rules that samurais were expected to follow, including:
Do not leave the path of honor
Do not commit shameful deeds
Do not let the school's teachings leak out
Do not compete
Do not tell bad things about other schools
Read more about the samurai text in this intriguing article by Owen Jarus over at LiveScience.
Well, what do you expect from a company that dropped a man from orbit as a stunt? The 3rd Red Bull Illume Image Quest photography competition, where 6,417 photographers from 124 countries competed to submit the most epic action and adventure sports photos (there were more than 28,000 entries), has just announced the winners.
And as expected, there was much epicness
Where else could you make a deposit and a withdrawal at the same time? Redditor dropstop spotted this perfect union of ATM and toilet in an unnamed strip joint.
What do you say to a Russian artist who has just painted President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in lingerie? Three words: "You better run."
Artist Konstantin Altunin fled to Paris, where he's applying for political asylum, after his paintings were seized from a recently opened Museum of Power in St. Petersburg:
According to the Museum of Power's director Tatyana Titova, a group of more than 10 security personnel carrying machine guns confiscated Altunin's paintings on Monday night and forced the museum to close. [...]
Altunin's painting entitled “Travesty” shows Putin's and Medvedev's heads atop women’s bodies. In another painting, Russian parliamentarian Vitaly Milonov, the initiator of a controversial "gay propaganda" ban introduced earlier this year, stands against a rainbow background.
Albina Kovalyova has the story over at NBC News - Thanks Tiffany!
Can you be fat and healthy at the same time? Apparently so, according to a new study by University of Pennsylvania physicians and obesity researchers who say that there are people with "metabolically healthy obesity."
Many obese people are classified as such when their body mass index or BMI reaches a certain value. BMI, a formula based on a person's weight and height, was invented by Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet in the early 19 century and has garnered wide acceptance as a simple way to measure "fatness." It's quick and easy to administer - requiring only a scale and a ruler - and allows for comparison for broad populations, taking in age and country-by-country variations. Indeed, BMI is a good statistical measure of the obesity of a whole population of people.
Doctors have noted, however, that some people with BMI in the obese range are actually quite healthy and that in many cases, fat people fare better than thin ones with the same ailments. In the "obesity paradox," researchers noted that diabetic patient of normal weight are twice as likely to die than those who are obese. Others have pointed out that thin dialysis patients are more likely to die than heavier ones.
In recent years, the medical field has began to accept that BMI is not a reliable measure of health in individuals, and that some people who are obese do not have nor are they in any danger of developing obesity-related diseases.
But how many people are actually "fat but fit" and "not fat but not fit"? The answer may surprise you. For 1 in 5 Americans, BMI may actually tell the wrong story:
- 8% of normal-weight adults in the United States are actually metabolically unhealthy
This translates to 19.2 million people whom doctors may not currently worry about but should.
- 10% of obese adults
are actually metabolically healthy
This means that 24 million chubby Americans are not in any danger of dying because of obesity-related illnesses, but are probably badgered by their family, friends and employers to lose weight.
Forget the gavel! When push comes to shove, Mexican judge Justice Miguel Angel Falcon decided that trial by combat was better than all that lawyerly stuff:
A Mexican judge sprang from his chair to push and punch two fellow justices during a court session, adding to a string of embarrassments for Mexico's scandal-plagued judicial system.
The head of the Morelos state appeals court said Thursday that Justice Miguel Angel Falcon had brought shame upon the court and faces possible impeachment, though he couldn't be immediately suspended following the Wednesday attack.
The stocky Falcon got mad at fellow judge Ruben Jasso, at one point calling him "stupid," and then became enraged when Jasso accused Falcon of insulting him.
As Jasso spoke, Falcon suddenly leaped from his chair, rushed over to Jasso and began pummeling him, apparently knocking him to the floor. Another justice who got in his way was knocked back into his chair.
How would you explain the Internet if you've never been online? Justine Sharrock of Buzzfeed asked a handful of inmates from California's San Quentin State Prison who began serving long sentences in prison without ever having been on the 'Net before. Here's what they said:
I have seen the advertisements of both the internet and the apps on the television, but I never paid close attention about their usage. I did not consider their significance.
I was completely in the blind about the purpose. I thought they were just sites for people to socialize and spend their idle time.
- Jorge Heredia, 37; entered prison in 1998
"Sites for people to socialize and spend their idle time" Nailed it! Read the rest over at Buzzfeed.
Want to take a photo of the gorgeous city skyline but not the pesky smog? Don't let reality ruin your vacation photo! Take one in front of this backdrop, instead.
Photo: David Rennie, Mandurah Wetlands, Western Australia
Photographer David Rennie captured this fantastic photo of an encounter of an osprey and a spoonbill in mid-air. Rennie wrote that the young osprey was learning to fish. It was her sixth try one morning, when she came out of the water and looked at her talons to see why she missed her prey. At that exact time, a spoonbill was coming in to land and the two had a "near miss."
Rennie's photo won overall winner at the Australian Geographic's 2013 ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year contest. It beat more than 1,800 photographs submitted from around the world.
It's hard to beat the Bacon Taco Shell that John posted here on Neatorama last year, but Nick of Dude Foods has improved upon that timeless design, by weaving the strips of bacon together (what simple yet genius improvement in structural stability!) and making it a breakfast food: Link
