Daniel Tammet set the European and British record by reciting Pi to 22,514 decimal places in just a little over 5 hours.

The record-breaking bid was dubbed 'Pi in the Sky' by its brainchild Daniel, whose astonishing mental skills include the ability to 'see' numbers in his head. These abilities first emerged following epileptic seizures as a toddler. Daniel is one of only 25 documented 'savants' in the world according to eminent US psychiatrist Dr Darold Treffert who is the world's leading expert in Savant Syndrome and was a consultant to the movie Rain Man in which Dustin Hoffman plays an autistic savant.

If that's not strange enough, consider this:

Link

US District Court ruled that Pennsylvania school cannot teach intelligent design in science classes.

"We have concluded that it is not [science], and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents," Jones writes in his 139-page opinion posted on the court's Web site.

"To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions," Jones writes.

Link to CNN Article | Link to Wikipedia's Intelligent Design Article

Also checkout ID critics / Internet phenomenon: Flying Sphagetti Monster

On Thanksgiving Day in 1987, Larry Van Pelt awoke in the middle of the night and had an epiphany:

I was awakened in the middle of the night with a clear, vivid impression that the Lord wanted me to do some special drawings -- drawings depicting ordinary people in their everyday environment . . . . with one important addition: the presence of Jesus Christ and His involvement in those routine activities.

The result? See for yourself: Link

Sandia National Laboratories' robot, dubbed M2 for the cartoon character "Mighty Mouse" successfully freed a radiation source (the size of a restaurant salt shaker) at the White Sands Missile Range lab.

The robot had to withstand radiation strong enough to kill 40 men during this operation.

http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2005/manuf-tech-robotics/mm-robot.html

See more pics of pimped dump trucks: Link (via Fawn Jotter)

Researchers at the Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Japans has developed a headgear to control human movements, using a technology sinisterly called galvanic vestibular stimulation.

A special headset ... sent a very low voltage electric current from the back of my ears through my head - either from left ts deo right or right to left, depending on which way the joystick on a remote-control was moved.

The electrical current messes with the person's sense of balance and create an irresistible urge to turn left or right.

Link

You can even rent this Couchbike at Brent Curry's Bicycle Forest: http://www.bikeforest.com/cb/index.php

Tom's cactus is one of the most pathetic plants I've ever seen. Let's hope it survives the icy winter season that's gripping the East Coast! Link (via Fennec's blog).

James Croak chose a unique medium for his art: cast dirt. http://jamescroak.com/dirtman/index.html (via Jaf Project)

Using zebrafish as a model, Keith Cheng of Penn State College of Medicine and colleagues have discovered that mutations in the gene for melanosome production in humans may be responsible for skin color.

The finding, published in Science, may help explain why people of European descent have lighter skin than those from Africa.

It is hoped the research may lead to new ways to treat skin cancer.

But I think they're really, really excited about this:

Potentially, it may also lead to the development of new ways to modify skin colour without damaging it by tanning or using harsh chemical lighteners.

BBC Article | Live Science Article

The Dutch take their latte seriously - so seriously that there is actually a latte art championship there. http://www.latteart.nl/fotos_etching.asp

I can't say it any better:

UK tabloid The Sun reports that the size of 26-year-old Brandon Routh's bulge in the superhero's skintight costume could be distracting enough that the studio has ordered the makers to cover it up with digital effects. Their source says "It's a major issue for the studio. Brandon is extremely well endowed and they don't want it up on the big screen. We may be forced to erase his package with digital effects".

Link

Peterson Tuners made this beer bottle organ, which produces sound by blowing air over the tops of real beer bottles.

"The bottles are filled or "tuned" using mineral oil, so it will not evaporate or change tunings during weather changes. "

Link