Our pal mental_floss has a really neat article about the Lazarus species, basically animals that were once thought to be extinct, until they were rediscovered.

This one to the left is the devil bird:

This diabolical ave wasn’t thought to be real until 2001. In Sri Lanka, where the Devil Bird legend originated, the bird is known as Ulama. It has a shrill shriek that sounds eerily human-like and is said to predict the death of a loved one. But when the Spot-bellied Eagle-owl was discovered seven years ago, it was quickly realized that it matched the description of the Devil Bird quite closely.

Check out the rest of the 10 creatures people didn't think existed anymore: Link - via i met a possum

Nick Pitera is an animator by day, and an incredible mimic singer by night.

This YouTube clip of Nick singing the duet (all by himself) A Whole New World from Disney's Aladdin has gotten more than 6 million views: Link [embedded YouTube]

If you still want more after that, check out his Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, and Mariah Carey (more? Check out the entire list)

When Mac Rumors forum user markm49uk turned on his brand new Apple iPhone 3G, he found a little "surprise": some photos of a factory worker that assembled it!

Looked like someone at the production line was having a bit of fun (they're probably sooo fired!): Link - via Gizmodo

There's a strange (and refreshing) fashion trend afoot with today's teenage girls: they're dressing modestly!

While skimpy clothes still dominate the fashion scene, today there's a flip side to girls gone wild.

Call it "girls gone mild" — a building modesty movement among many young women. "The young girls themselves, they are the ones leading the modesty revolution," said author Wendy Shalit.

The "modest fashion" these girls wear may not be to everyone's taste, but most looks are straight off the catwalk. A slick new magazine Eliza caters to the modest dresser. Shalit said the thousands of young women she'd heard from wanted to fit in and be cool, just not trashy.

These new modest fashionistas prefer their necklines higher and their hemlines lower — no more than four fingers above the knee.

Link | See also this CNN article "Mom shocked by teen's modest clothing" - via AdFreak

It seems that the Texas polygamist sect's new online clothing store is catching on!

That George Clooney is one classy guy. Here's what happened when he accidentally hit someone's car:

The 47-year-old Ocean's Eleven star shunted the woman's Lancia Ypsilon from behind in his black saloon, leaving minor damages.

But he quickly accepted blame for the accident, which happened in Penabilli, central Italy.

When the woman went to collect it from the repair garage she found a brand new model and a note of apology on the windscreen.

The Hollywood star, who rose to fame in ER, had written: "I'm so sorry . Hope you'll forgive me. George Clooney."

Link

You, me, and all living things on Earth will - some day - die. But some deaths are more gruesome than others.

Anna Gosline of New Scientist wrote a morbid yet fascinating article about what some of the worst ways to die feel (or technically, should feel) like. Take for instance, decaptiation:

Quick it may be, but consciousness is nevertheless believed to continue after the spinal chord is severed. A study in rats in 1991 found that it takes 2.7 seconds for the brain to consume the oxygen from the blood in the head; the equivalent figure for humans has been calculated at 7 seconds. Some macabre historical reports from post-revolutionary France cited movements of the eyes and mouth for 15 to 30 seconds after the blade struck, although these may have been post-mortem twitches and reflexes.

Link - via Look at this

Quick: what do you think of when you hear the word "nanotechnology"? High tech robots crawling through your bloodstream battling cancer cells? Well - that may be coming in the future, but nanotech is actually here - in a more humble form of shaving!

Here's a perfect example of how nanotechnology is now entering the realm of practical products for better living for ordinary folks:

Could your morning shave get any smoother? You bet - and no, this isn’t about some new 16-bladed razor from Gillette. Adding more blades seems to have reached the limits of practicality, and has forced razor researchers to take a closer look at the blades themselves. In the FX Diamond, nanotechnology is being used to coat each blade, greatly extending their durability. Electric razors are also trumpeting nanotechnology these days, one example being the Panasonic Arc electronic razor. The Arc features whirling blades impregnated with nanoparticles that make them sharper.

Read more about the real-life applications of nanotechnology at WebUrbanist: Link

What do you do with the coffee grounds after brewing coffee? Most of us throw them in the trash, but Life Hackery blog writes that they're actually worth keeping for other things. For example:

Fridge Deodorizer – Storing different types of food inside the fridge can produce a nasty mixture of odors. Remove those pungent smells with a bowl filled with coffee grounds. Place the bowl inside your fridge and your coffee ground deodorizer will gradually absorb all unwanted scents. If your fridge is packed with stored food, just add more grounds and a few drops of vanilla to your deodorizer so that it can absorb more odors.

Skin Exfoliant – Rubbing your skin with coffee ground extract seems silly but it is actually a good idea. The extract removes dead skin cells, which results in better-looking skin. It can save you hundreds of dollars since this simple product can practically replacesseveral pricey sessions with your dermatologist.

Check out 9 other alternative uses of coffee grounds here: Link

Something worth doing is worth doing well is probably Steve Norris' life motto. The Ontario, Canada, father of two decided that his children's treehouse would be the best treehouse EVAR!

Here's what he did:

It's equipped with electricity and cable TV. There's an intercom so Norris can talk to his kids if they're having a sleepover, and a urinal that drains into a pail beneath the structure.

A smoke detector is wired to the house, so family members can be alerted to any smoke, whether they're in the treehouse or not. A revolving light clicks on when the treehouse's trap door opens (where a rope ladder drops down).

Old fire horns that Norris snagged from the University of Waterloo blare if an intruder tries to break into the fort. "It sounds like an air-raid back in Berlin. But I had to do it for my peace of mind."

Even the family's Jack Russell-cross, Sammy, has his own ramp. Norris made it after the dog fell near the top of the wide, stair-like ladder.

The roof is sealed and welded on tight, and the floor is sturdy enough to hold an adult. Stephen sleeps in a loft bed, Ryan on a mini-futon and their father on a pull-down bed.

April Robinson of The Record has the story: Link

(Photo: David Bebee / The Record)

Noise Addict blog has a neat post about some of the strangest and most mysterious sounds from the Earth (some with audio clips). Like this one, nicknamed "The Bloop," for instance:

At various times during the summer of 1997, an ultra-low frequency sound that rose rapidly in frequency over about one minute was detected at 50 degrees S, 100 degrees W. The sound was detected by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with the Equatorial Pacific Ocean autonomous hydrophone array (which was U.S. Navy equipment originally designed to detect Soviet submarines), and was loud enough to be heard on multiple sensors, up to 5000km apart. Scientists dubbed it the "Bloop" (not to be confused with the "Boing ".)

Although the sound matches the profile of a living animal, it is much louder than any known creature can produce. Any creature that could produce such a sound would have to be many times larger than the largest whale.

You can hear a very short recording of the sound here . The recording is short because it’s been sped up 16x to make it audible to you and I.

Some people link the Bloop to Cthulhu, a mythical creature from an H.P. Lovecraft story as the noise originated from an area near the mythical sunken city of R’lyeh from the same story.

Link

I can easily imagine a thief stealing and then selling a stolen bike. Or a dozen bikes. But 2,396 stolen bikes? Here's the strange story of Igor Kenk, who single-handedly made Toronto the bike capital of North America:

Clearly this collection has been growing for a very long time. His shop even had a reputation as the place to go to buy back your stolen bike - but no one knew for sure that he was the one stealing them. Rumor has it he was waiting for a big energy crisis where the world as we know it would come to an end and he could make a killing reselling the rest.

Over ten thousand frustrated bicycle theft victims have perused Igor’s reclaimed collection of stolen goods but only a few hundred bycles have been returned. He is now facing dozens of counts relating to the thefts alone, but the story doesn’t end there: raids on Igor Kenk’s house and myriad storage places revealed crack, cocaine and pounds of marijuana … as well as a stolen bronze statue of a centaur and snake in the heat of battle. How that fits in is anyone’s guess.

Link (Photo: Eye Weekly)

This is pretty trippy: David OReilly found that a large grid rotating at a certain speed will appear to group itself into smaller grids, rotating independently.

It appears the persistence of vision effect overrides our knowledge that this is a single grid and divides it up optically. This only seems to work on a uniform grid (I also had interesting results with a brick formation), but the effect is lost when using a checkered texture.

http://www.davidoreilly.com/blog/2008/07/rotating-grid-illusion/

Vicky Walker of Portchesther, Portsmouth, UK, found this squirrel in her backyard that looks just like ... Atlas!

Hauling a hefty coconut into the air with consummate ease, the grey squirrel is going to extraordinary lengths as he prepares his hoard of food for the winter.

In one pose, he resembles Atlas - famous in Greek mythology for supporting the heavens on his shoulders - as he hoists the shell aloft.

The next moment, he buries his head inside the coconut.

Then, in a daring finish worthy of a circus strongman, the squirrel balances his prize on one little fist. The miniature marvel was spotted in the back garden of Vicky Walker, in Portchester, Fareham, near Portsmouth.

Link

A North Carolina man has just set a new state record for largest catfish, which he caught ... with his granddaughter's pink Barbie rod and reel!

David Hayes doesn't usually fish with a pink Barbie rod and reel, but when his 3-year-old granddaughter Alyssa handed him her fishing pole, he used it to haul in a state record channel catfish.

"She said, ‘Papa, I gotta go potty. Hold my fishing rod,'" Hayes said. "She wasn't in the house a few seconds when the catfish took off with the bait."

The catfish weighed 21 pounds, 1 ounce, which has been certified as a state record by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

Link

(Photo: NC Wildlife Resources CommissionDavid Hayes )

Mickey Mouse has a tremendous recognition rate. Indeed, the cartoon mouse is the world's most famous personality - he's even better known than Santa Claus in the US!

But did a mistake by Disney in the 1920s cause it to lose its copyright over Mickey Mouse? Here's an interesting article at the Los Angeles Times by Joseph Menn:

Film credits from the 1920s revealed imprecision in copyright claims that some experts say could invalidate Disney's long-held copyright, though a Disney lawyer dismissed that idea as "frivolous." [...]

Copyright questions apply to an older incarnation, a rendition of Mickey still recognizable but slightly different. Original Mickey, the star of the first synchronized sound cartoon, "Steamboat Willie," and other early classics, had longer arms, smaller ears and a more pointy nose.

The notion that any Mickey Mouse might be free of copyright restrictions is about as welcome in the Magic Kingdom as a hag with a poisoned apple. Yet elsewhere, especially in academia, the idea has attracted surprising support.

"That 'Steamboat Willie' is in the public domain is easy. That's a foregone conclusion," said copyright scholar Peter Jaszi of American University's Washington College of Law after studying the issue at The Times' request.

The issue has been chewed over by law students as class projects and debated by professors. It produced one little-noticed law review article: a 23-page essay in a 2003 University of Virginia legal journal that argued "there are no grounds in copyright law for protecting" the Mickey of those early films.

Link - via Boing Boing