For some winter fun, these Latvians made a functional carousel on a frozen lake. They used chainsaws to cut a circle out of the ice, then a foot-wide channel between that circle and the rest of the lake. A boat motor attached to one side of the circle provided propulsion, gently spinning the circle around and around. It looks like fun!
-via Ace of Spades HQ
My mom tells me that when I was 4 years old, I walked up to a stranger who was smoking and said, “You know that you’re going to die, right?”
The Twitter hashtag #geethankskid is filled with things parents have heard from their kids. Sometimes they’re insensitive. And sometimes they’re just insufficiently self-censored. Often, they’re funny—especially when kids make comments about our bodies. How to Be a Dad illustrated 20 of them. Just in case you’ve forgotten that you’re turning older, fatter, and grayer, your kids remind you of your changing physical attributes.
(Photo: Chung Hu)
Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park, California is unlike any other in the world. Due to its location, direction, and shape, at a particular moment each year, it will appear to glow. Sunlight hits it at just the right angle to produce what appears to be a river of fire.
This is 1 of 20 of the most wondrous waterfalls in the world rounded up by When on Earth. They include a waterfall that is sticky because of the limestone content of its bed and one that flows directly into the ocean.
(Photo: London Legacy Development Corporation)
Architects Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond designed the ArcelorMittal Orbit, a sculpture in London made for 2012 Summer Olympics. At 376 feet tall, it’s the tallest sculpture in the entire UK. Now it’s about to become the world’s tallest, longest, and therefore greatest slide.
The slide will descend 249 feet while spiraling 5 times around the tower. Visitors will spend about $8 each to go down it at speeds as high as 15 miles per hour. The journey takes a full 37 seconds.
This slide will have features that set it above similar rides, such as mirrors along the route that confuse the visitors as to which way is up. It will also be wheelchair accessible. You can read more about the project at the London Evening Standard.
-via Juxtapoz
It’s the Swiss Army knife of corndogs. From left to right, you’ve got chorizo, Italian sausage, Polish sausage, bratwurst, and a standard hot dog. It’s clearly the greatest corn dog ever.
And as you might expect, yes: this in the work of Nick Chipman of DudeFoods. He’s found a way to reach every palate’s desires with a multifunctional meat deployment system. Chipman says:
If I ever open a booth at the Wisconsin State Fair — which coincidentally starts later this week! — this will be one of the first items on my menu.
-via Incredible Things
It is now time to begin obsessively following the work of Lou Lou P, a baker in Leeds, UK. Very recently, she introduced us to the Cat Loaf and the Pug Loaf. Lou Lou is not done. She keeps knocking out hits, day after day. You want a burger with unicorn meat? She can't supply it. But this unicorn burger bun is just as good--and she's just getting started!
Calm down, Mr. Shatner. That’s just a drawing on a transparency taped over an airplane window. Claire Harvey, an artist from the UK, calls her series Postcards. They show solitary travelers standing on the wings of airliners, sometimes longingly gazing at the abyss below.
I can find little information about the series from the artist herself. What is notable is how other people explain the meanings that they find in these images. Junkculture sees the subjects as living in existential crises. Taylor Holmes thinks that the transparencies show “removable people.” I am withholding an assessment at the moment, but I do find Harvey’s work here fascinating. You can see more examples from the series at Arch Atlas.
Pack some antacid, bring a bib, and make out your will because it’s time to go to the Orange County Fair. This glorious event occurs every year at Costa Mesa, California. Peter Pham of Foodbeast has rounded up 125 wonderfully bad foods from it and mapped their locations on the fairgrounds. They include deep fried Klondike Bars, solid bricks of French fries, and caviar-covered Twinkies.
-via Nag on the Lake
Bradford Exchange produces this incredibly detailed clock that looks like a vintage Pac-Man arcade cabinet. It even has a joystick, coin slots, a Pac-Man pendulum, and the original sound effects. Every hour, it will chime with the sounds you loved as a child. And you don’t even have to put quarters in to make it keep ticking!
-via Technabob
(Photo: Mapa Scotland)
On the grounds of a hotel in Scotland, there's an enormous outdoor map of that country, covering every part of its rich contours at a 1:10,000 scale.
The project was the brainchild of Jan Tomasik, a Polish soldier during World War II. He was a member of a Polish Army unit that escaped to France and then to Britain after Nazi Germany's conquest of his nation. While in the UK, Tomasik was stationed in Scotland. He fell in love with the country. After the Communists conquered Poland in 1945, he decided to settle in Scotland. Tomasik became a prosperous businessman, managing and owning hotels and pubs, among other enterprises.
Tomasik wanted to express his appreciation for the UK and Scotland in particular for giving him and his fellow Poles a place of refuge during the Nazi and Communist occupations of Poland. In 1968, he bought Barony Castle, an old manor home converted into a hotel. In 1972, he began construction of an enormous scale relief map of Scotland on its grounds. When it was completed in 1979, it offered visitors a spectacular presentation of Scottish geography in a beautifully pastoral setting.
The Barony Castle Hotel closed in 1985 and Tomasik died in 1991. The enormous map, which became known as Mapa Scotland, fell into disrepair. But now there is a volunteer effort to restore the map at the hotel, which has since reopened. You can read more at the official Mapa Scotland site.
-via Amusing Planet
This amazing video shows motorcycle daredevil Robbie Maddison, who once set a world record for the longest motorcycle jump, riding his bike out on the water like it is a surfboard.
My first thought was that he was riding a motorized surfboard rigged to look like a dirt bike.
No.
That's a completely functional dirt bike. You can see that at the beginning of the video, during which Maddison rides the bike over land, right into the water. He's equipped it with outriggers that make it amphibious.
In this promotional video for DC Shoes, Maddison surfs his bike off the coast of Tahiti. Surfer magazine asked Maddison how he came up with this idea. He responded:
Well, I grew up surfing, and my wife is a big-time wakeboard champion, so every time we’re home in Australia we’re in boats, on the water, etc. I guess the idea originally came from—well I mean I’m obviously a motorcycle guy—but I was on the back of a boat and we were cruising along the river and I’m looking at the wake coming up the back, watching her wakeboard, and something clicked in my head. I fantasized putting skis on a bike and riding on water. It was a stupid vision at the time, but I kept toying with it, playing with designs and concepts, and eventually it became a reality.
-via Jalopnik
Bananas aren't just for humans and chimps. Cats love them, too! Or, at least, Mao does. He enthusiastically licks one, then chomps down.
-via Gifsboom
(Photo: Todd Selby)
Artist Meryl Smith made a real t-shirt. Er, I mean, tea shirt. It's complete with actual tea inside and a tag labeled with her name and a design reminiscent of the Lipton logo. It reflects Smith's visual puns, such as a dog bag that looks like a dog.
-via Oxot
(Photo: WCNC)
All Nicholas Anderson wanted to do was propose to his girlfriend, Deanna. He worked out a plan with Brighton, who is Deanna's son. They would take her to Salsarita's, a local restaurant. He would pop the question there.
But before Nicholas could do so, a man tried to rob the restaurant. A manager locked the front door to trap him inside. The robber tried to push his way through the door. That's when Nicholas stepped forward, put the robber in a chokehold, and knocked him out.
Then Nicholas proposed to Deanna. And she said yes!
-via Glenn Reynolds
Redditor xclever_name_user writes "Pouring a beer last night at work and part of the glass just kinda fell out." He says that the edges aren't sharp at all but "smooth as butter."
I've broken many glasses, but I've never seen one pop out a smooth section without further fracturing. How did this happen?
