An original sketch of Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger and Piglet by E.H. Shepard has fetched $50,000 at auction:
The oval pencil sketch by E.H. Shepard, one of children's literature's most famous illustrators, shows Pooh dipping his paw into a pot of honey while sitting at a table as Piglet and Tigger look on.
Auctioneer Bonhams said the successful telephone bidder was from Germany and bought the picture for his wife, a long-time Pooh fan.
Some people are very attached to their false teeth that they're willing to fight bloody battles and even kill their loved ones for 'em.
Take the case of one Louise Deeringer, 56, of Tampa, Florida:
It all started about 11:15 p.m. Thursday in a mobile home at 6012 Broadway Ave., where Deeringer confronted Dugas about where he had put her teeth, police said.
Dugas, 49, said he didn't know where her teeth were, but Deeringer, 56, didn't believe him, police said. Dugas got angry and gave Deeringer what she told police were "flying lessons" – he tossed her up in the air and on the kitchen floor, police said.
Deeringer grabbed a kitchen knife and chased him outside, police said. She saw him re-enter through the back door and chased him down a hall, at one point saying, "You're going to tell me where my teeth are, or I'm going to kill you," police said.
Turns out, the teeth were behind the TV stand. Oops! http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/31/311634/tampa-police-womans-missing-teeth-gum-relationship/
Photo: No. Nein [Flickr]
It's official: Barack Obama has made history in being elected the 44th President of the United States! Congratulations to President-Elect Obama!
Photo: Dr Jim Gehling, South Australian Museum
Before dinosaurs, this strange eight-armed creature ruled the Earth:
Scientists have discovered what they believe is an eight-armed creature, which colonised a large section of the world's oceans over 300 million years before the first dinosaurs emerged.
The findings represent the first comparable animal fossils from the Ediacaran Period, 635 to 541 million years ago, which appear in two drastically different preservation environments - black shale of South China and quartz rock of South Australia. [...]
The eight arms are clearly preserved in our specimens," says Zhu, adding that the arms were tubular and in close contact with each other, but not joined.
He and his colleagues believe the animal was a soft-bodied, dome-shaped organism that lived on seabeds and fed by absorbing dissolved nutrients from the ambient environment.
I, for one, welcome our extinct 8-armed overlord: Link
Chief Justice William Rehnquist loved Gilbert and Sullivan (so much so that he added yellow stripes to his robe) but his successor John Roberts, Jr. prefers crime noir.
Just check out his dissent in the Pennsylvania v. Dunlap:
"Officer Sean Devlin, Narcotics Strike Force, was working the morning shift. Undercover surveillance. The neighborhood? Tough as a three dollar steak. Devlin knew. Five years on the beat, nine months with the Strike Force. He’d made fifteen, twenty drug busts in the neighborhood.
"Devlin spotted him: a lone man on the corner. Another approached. Quick exchange of words. Cash handed over; small objects handed back. Each man then quickly on his own way. Devlin knew the guy wasn’t buying bus tokens. He radioed a description and Officer Stein picked up the buyer. Sure enough: three bags of crack in the guy’s pocket. Head downtown and book him. Just another day at the office."
Tony Mauro of The Blog of Legal Times has more on the story: Link - via On Deadline
Why settle for boring bike racks? Cities across the United States are installing artistic bike racks, some of which look too good to chain your bike on to! This one above is created by artist Tom Crimboli of Eastpointe, Michigan.
When creating streetscape such as artistic bike racks, Herndon says artists should follow "the 300-pound drunk moron rule."
"Assume a 300-pound drunk moron is going to try to bend it, climb it or do something to it, because they will," he says. "It has to be built really, really well."
Teruhiko Wakayama and colleagues at RIKEN, Japan, have successfully cloned a mouse from cells of a dead mouse that has been frozen for 16 years. Things brings up two questions: 1) When are we going to bring back the mammoth, and 2) WHO KEEPS A FROZEN MOUSE FOR 16 YEARS?!?!
Oh, and it reminds me to clean out my freezer. Who knows what's in there now ... Link (with video clip) - via Gizmodo
When asked about alternative energy, most people think of solar and wind power generators. But there are other forms, like geothermal or biomass power system.
Our pal WebEcoist explores one unique benefit of using this form of alternative energy:
Unlike solar and wind power generators, earth-based energy sources such as geothermal or biomass power systems are often completely invisible in the finished design of a building with one. However, in hidden partnership with other sustainable systems biomass and thermal energy strategies have been incorporated into the design and construction of some amazing architectural structures.
Link - Thanks Mu!
Image: Tor Myhren / Grey NYC via thecoolhunter
Grey NYC's Creative director Tor Myhren came up with this brilliant poster to bring into the forefront what a lot of people have been thinking of, but couldn't bring themselves to say in polite company: the issue of race in the 2008 US Presidential election.
Regardless of what you think of the candidates, I'm sure you can marvel at the photoshoppery of turning Obama and McCain into persons of another race: Link - via Miss Cellania
At a glance, we only had handful of (and not to mention, mild) political posts - so on the eve of this historic election, let me ask you this: what would you say to someone who's on the fence on either candidates? Why should I vote for Barack Obama or John McCain?
Artist and "Plushinator" Lana Crooks created these awesomely cute Octoplush collectibles ("Octoplushies?") - They're on display on her solo show Crooked Critter at A.Okay in Chicago: Link | Lana's Blog - via Super Punch
Don't miss this one from the recent Plush Monsters show at G1988 in San Francisco (more at Toycyte)
Here's the best clown clip you'll see today: Behold, the Kung Fu Clowns. Those of you who have coulrophobia or the irrational fears of clowns may want to skip this one.
You'll never guess the ending: Link [embedded YouTube clip]
Reading a scary book? Here's the perfect bookmark: Liquid Bookmark by Kyouei Design, which looks like your book is dripping blood! Link
After bowling for 45 years, a Michigan man named Bob Doanne finally bowled a perfect 300 game ... and then moments later, he died of a heart attack!
Photo: David Maitland / National Geographic
Photographer David Maitland won the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest with this stunning photo captured in the dead of night in a Belizean rain forst. Aptly titled Deadlock, the photo is of a rare Morelet's tree frog refusing to be dinner for a cat-eyed snake.
In 2006, professional Bob Burnquist built a skateboard ramp in his backyard. But it's not just any skate ramp ... the $280,000 mega ramp is 8-story tall and longer than a football field! (It has an acrobat's net to um, save a skateboarder from plunging to certain death)
On a recent sunny afternoon, the ramp's owner, Bob Burnquist, a renowned 30-year-old professional skateboarder from Brazil, peered over the side to treetops below and said: ''I'm not afraid of falling. I'm afraid I might jump.''
That mind-set helps on the Mega Ramp, where skaters reach speeds of up to 55 miles an hour and soar like stuntmen.
Approximately 360 feet long, the ramp is 75 feet high at its apex.
That is where riders begin their run, speeding down a 180-foot-long roll-in to a ramp that launches them across a 70-foot gap with trapeze netting below. Landing on a 27-foot sloped section, they then boost up to 50 feet above the ground from a 30-foot quarterpipe. A shorter route begins with a 55-foot-tall platform leading to a 50-foot gap, and the 30-foot quarterpipe.
Links: NY Times article by Matt Higgins | YouTube Link - via Ride Legend
