Did you know that Tom Sellect almost played Indiana Jones? Or that there was an elephant almost ruined the Temple of Doom's nightclub scene? Or that the latest one was almost named Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars?

Here are the top 10 awesome Indiana Jones Facts, written by our very own Miss Cellania for our pal mental_floss: Link

Y-larvae or facetotectans were first discovered in 1899, but no one actually knew the adult form of the crustaceans ... until now. Scientists dosed the y-larvae with a hormone to force them into a growth spurt and discovered something strange: the bizarre crustaceans seem to undergo evolution, but in reverse!

The researchers next exposed y-larvae to a crustacean hormone that encouraged them to mature. The creatures metamorphosized into a juvenile form, dubbed "ypsigons," unexpectedly shedding their exoskeletons to become wriggling, eyeless, limbless creatures that resemble parasitic crustaceans.

At first the researchers thought their eyes were tricking them, but eventually "the juvenile literally crawled out of the old larval carapace," Glenner recalled. "It was only after several repeated experiments we actually believed what we saw. That feeling was a mind-blowing experience."

The fact that ypsigons are vastly different and far simpler than y-larvae might help explain why the adult versions of these creatures have escaped detection for so long. These are so simple compared with y-larvae that they even lack digestive tracts and nervous systems.

Link | The video of the metamorphosis

California biotech company BioArts International is holding an unusual auction, called Best Friends Again. With bidding starting at $100,000, the company promises to ... clone your dog!

His new company, BioArts, began work last fall to clone Missy, he said, who was three-quarters border collie and one-quarter husky.

Missy died in 2002 at age 15. But Mr. Hawthorne had taken genetic samples from Missy in 1997, and had more taken after she died.

In December, he said, a clone was born, Mira. Two other clones of Missy, Chin-Gu and Sarang, were born in February, he said. Tests by the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, indicated that the three dogs were clones, not just relatives.

As for the auctions, Mr. Hawthorne said the bidding would start at $100,000. He said that was a starting price, not a minimum, and could drop.

He said that the opening and closing times for the auctions would be staggered, to reach potential customers in different time zones, and that the starting bids for the later auctions would be higher “to steer people to participate in the earlier auctions if they can, and avoid a phenomenon of everyone waiting to see how they go.”

He said that BioArts would not spend the money “unless and until we deliver a cloned dog that they sign off on,” and that the company would guarantee the resemblance between the customer’s dog and the clone.

Link (Photo: Heidi Schumann / The New York Times) - via Blue's News

Visuwords is a neat online graphical dictionary and thesaurus. The website allows you to look up a word's definition and find synonyms in a network of nodes called "synsets." Kind of neat! Link - Thanks Eli Schwimmer!

Before the Galaxy Far, Far Away, there was The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Greg Davies wrote a neat post on Cineleet about the cinematic influences on Star Wars: movies that inspired George Lucas and colored various scenes of his sci-fi epic.

Oh, and the scene of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly that "made" it into Star Wars? It was when Tuco shot first!

Link - Thanks Andy!

Bad Idea: Telling strangers your social security number.
Really Bad Idea: Broadcasting it nationwide to advertise your fraud-prevention company.
Neatorama Worthy: Getting burned because your identity actually did get stolen!

Here's the story of Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock, who used his real social security number in TV and radio ads, and how he's being sued because his company failed to protect his own identity:

Todd Davis has dared criminals for two years to try stealing his identity: Ads for his fraud-prevention company, LifeLock, even offer his Social Security number next to his smiling mug.

Now, Lifelock customers in Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia are suing Davis, claiming his service didn't work as promised and he knew it wouldn't, because the service had failed even him.

Attorney David Paris said he found records of other people applying for or receiving driver's licenses at least 20 times using Davis' Social Security number, though some of the applications may have been rejected because data in them didn't match what the Social Security Administration had on file.

Davis acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that his stunt has led to at least 87 instances in which people have tried to steal his identity, and one succeeded: a guy in Texas who duped an online payday loan operation last year into giving him $500 using Davis' Social Security number.

Link - via Boing Boing

This week's collaboration with What is it? blog brings us this strange contraption: do you know what it is for?

Place your guess in the comment section - no prize this week, you're playing for bragging rights and fun only! For more clues, check out What is it? blog. Good luck!

A barrel maker's hoop lifter, lever hook, or hoop dog, it was used for stretching or levering a hoop over the top of the staves.

Photo: Mark Jemison of Melbourne

Do you remember the travelling gnome, who was made famous in the 2001
French film Amélie? Well, this is kind of like that, except with a can of S&W Black Beans.

It all started as a practical joke between friends that got out of control, way out of control. Thanks to the Interweb, the "Beans Around the World" can of S&W Black Beans (okay, technically it's not the same can, but who cares) has been to 515 different cities so far: Link - Thanks Forrest!

There's a thin line between genius and insanity, or so says Jeff Schultz who shot and directed this little documentary video called Rampenfest, about a little Bavarian village who built a giant ramp to bring the village closer to heaven ... and to shoot the new BMW Series 1 from Bavaria straight to the United States!

(Yes, it's a viral ad/film by BMW. 30+ minutes long)

Link - Thanks Franz Brendl!

Photo: Image Metrics and Anthony Verducci

That's Glenn Derene of Popular Mechanics, who turned himself into an "emoting" avatar (i.e. with facial expressions), courtesy of a new generation of motion capture software by Image Metrics:

Image Metrics focuses on one of the traditional weaknesses of motion capture: natural facial expression. For his face to be rendered with conventional motion capture, an actor would have a series of dots painted on as reference points for postproduction software to later attach a digital “skin” to follow his expressions. This technique was used to great effect in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, in which Bill Nighy played the aquatic Davy Jones, complete with a beard of slithering octopus tentacles. Nevertheless, painting a face full of markers can be as time consuming and laborious as traditional makeup work, and the back-end CGI is time intensive and takes a lot of processing power.

Tracking all aspects of a face’s motion (including eyes and lips, which are difficult to attach markers to), Image Metrics then sets its software loose to automatically map that motion to a template character. Changes in the actor’s expression automatically create changes in the expression of the avatar. Here at PM headquarters, we filmed a close-up video of my face with a garden-variety camcorder (OK, not that garden variety—this is our test lab after all). We then e-mailed the movie file to Image Metrics, who used it for the video above to turn me into what I can only assume was the company’s most embarrassing set of characters.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4264771.html?series=6 (with a pretty cool video) - Thanks Matt Sullivan!

Biggify here

Gas prices have topped $4 in the city where I live, so I was wondering just how high are gas prices across the United States? Gas Buddy, a website dedicated to spotting cheap gas prices, has the answer.

Here's a "temperature" map of gas prices in the United States, broken down into counties. California, unsurprisingly is the "hottest": Link - via Treehugger, thanks Chris!

How do you load a Bobcat loader onto a flatbed truck with no ramp? By backing it in, of course! - you'll see: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - Thanks M!hai!

Chuck Norris once wrote a column If I am elected president, in which he listed things he will do in the Oval Office. Well, it seems that he won't get that chance to be president, but the race on vice presidency is still wide open ... so here are the things Chuck Norris would do if he's elected Vice President:

It really doesn't matter whose presidential ticket I ride on as vice president, since America will be a Chucktatorship when I step into office. If I am elected vice president, I promise to unilaterally fulfill these pledges within my first 30 days in office:

If I win on McCain's ticket, consider the Middle East wars over. Our enemies are toast.

If I win on Hillary's ticket, I promise you that Bill will stay out of the Oval Office and on his Total Gym. If he argues with me, I will put him on latrine duty throughout the whole White House.

If I win on Obama's ticket, I will appoint Barack as co-editor with Oprah for my new political magazine, "Uh-O!"

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64641 - via Conservative Grapevine (Photo: Cpl. Lynn Murillo [wikipedia])

William McGonagall, ridiculed as "the world's worst poet" has just outsold Harry Potter in an auction in Edinburgh, Ireland Scotland (duh!):

Alex Dove, from auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull, said: "He was a confident gentleman who thought that his poetry was some of the best.

"He once walked all the way to Balmoral to try to become Poet Laureate. Unfortunately the Queen wasn't in.

"He spent a lot of time on the streets of Dundee trying to sell his poems and performing them, much to the amusement of the residents. "Poet-baiting became quite an activity for the students of the time, where they would encourage him to perform, and then they would throw eggs and vegetables at him.

The new owner's bid for the poems was £5,500, but once commission is included they will have to fork out £6,600. The Harry Potter books only brought in £6,000.

Link

Previously on Neatorama: The World's Worst Poet

When Yosuke the parrot flew his coop and got lost, he found his way back home by telling people his home address. (But not to the cops - This parrot is no stool pigeon!)

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

"We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we've found Yosuke," Uemura said.

The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.

Link - Thanks Geekazoid and Tiffany! (Photo: Kyodo News / AP)