This is Dodgers Fan Man, a hero whose identity remains a secret. He is known only for his L.A. Dodgers ballcap and for, more importantly, carrying an elderly man out of a burning house.

(Video Link)

On Saturday, a duplex in Fresno, California caught on fire. Beth Lederach was driving in the area when she noticed it. She parked and recorded the video above. The rescue occurs at the 1:28 mark. There are shouts of alarm when the people in the area realize that an elderly and infirm man is still inside the building. But, suddenly, Dodgers Fan Man appears, carrying the old man over his shoulder! He put the man down, then disappeared. Carmen George writes for The Fresno Bee:

“I couldn’t believe it,” Lederach said. “I was so relieved, I just wanted to cry.”

The rescued man — whose identity also was not released — was transported to a hospital for smoke inhalation, said Kris Townsend, a spokesman for the Fresno Fire Department.

The rescuer appeared to have "come out of nowhere,” Lederach said. “He just calmly walked right in there and then came walking right back out with this guy.”

Lederach said the rescued man “was visibly shaken and wiping his brow; very sweaty.”

-via Huffington Post

Amy Lynn of Geek Crafts turned two ceramic garden gnomes into performers for the glam metal band KISS. She used sculpey, model car paint, sequins, and beads to make guitarist Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss. All Amy needs now is a few firecrackers to complete the scene.

(Video Link)

The relaxing water puts this turtle in the mood to dance. Laugh if you like. But we all do this in the shower, right? Just remember that no one wants to see a video of that scene.

-via Tastefully Offensive

This is a unicycle? But where's the flame throwing bagpipes? As counter-intuitive as it may seen, Shane Chen's Lunicycle is a highly-functional unicycle.

Besides the conspicious absence of a set of flame throwing bagpipes, Chen's stripped-down design also lacks a seat. What it does have leg supports which permit the rider to squeeze his/her legs against the fame. This provides additional stability.

(Video Link)

-via Inventor Spot

(Photo: austinmonster)

Would you like to be a polite, thoughtful person? Then comment on the personal appearances of complete strangers. That's what you need to do.

And if you mention that someone you don't know is tall, hopefully s/he will hand you this card that will deliver a verbal rather than physical smacking.

-via Pleated Jeans

Ian McKellen, the actor who played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings movies, advises students to study thoroughly for their tests. What will happen if they don't? Listen to McKellen's warning:

(Video Link)

McKellen delivered Gandalf's iconic line to students at the Chew Valley School in Chew Stoke, Somerset, UK. May they all heed his warning.

-via 22 Words

The design studio Goula Figuera, which consists of Pablo Figuera and Álvaro Goula, developed this clever couch design called Orwell. It's a couch for sitting, a bed for napping, and a pillow fort for . . . well, pillow forts are self-evidently useful. 

The name is a reference to George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the horrifying dystopia in which that novel is set, there is no privacy anywhere. There's a 2-way telescreen in every home which broadcasts propaganda and surveils every person.

Hopefully you don't live in such a nightmarish society. But a bit of privacy can be nice. When you need to retreat from the world, slide into the couch and lower the draperies.

(Video Link)

Todd Robins and Joe Robins, the filmmakers behind Kuma Films, travel around the world filming people demonstrating incredible skills. While in Singapore, they met performers who can make cards dance in their hands. Watch the magic of these masters of cardistry.

-via Daily of the Day

Amy of the wonderful food blog Oh, Bite It! is committed to proving that anything can--and therefore should--be deep fried. We've previously seen her deep fry Twinkie spring rolls, tequila shots, and Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. More recently, she took on candy corn, a traditional Halloween candy.

The process was straightforward. Amy made circles of canned crescent roll dough, then wrapped them around a few kernels of candy corn. Then she deep fried the dough balls and dusted them with powdered sugar.

(Photo: Kriyate Design Solutions)

Kriyate Design Solutions, a start-up company in India, has developed a phone specifically for people with visual impairments. The phone has metal pins built into the body that raise and lower, permitting users to read text in Braille. This is an interface that offers radically new opportunities. Bob Yirka explains in PhysOrg:

Up till now, blind people have had to rely on apps (such as Georgie developed by Sight and Sound Technology) to use their smartphones. Such apps typically make use of GPS to help those that cannot see find their way around unknown areas and to help read signs, menus, etc. With this new innovation, blind users will be able to send and receive text messages, read web content, use custom apps (including those with GPS abilities) and even take pictures of things and look at them using their fingers. It's a significant step forward and likely would not have occurred had not an insightful person come up with a workable idea, and then been backed by a company with very deep pockets and no expectations of making a profit from its investment.

-via Gearfuse

(Video Link)

As a librarian, I found this 1947 vocational guidance film from Iowa State University fascinating. Paul of Weird Universe comments, "I don't believe the information sciences are much like this anymore." I disagree.

Oh, the technology has certainly changed! Programming, 3D printing, and manipulating learning management programs, among other technology skills, are common tasks for librarians today. But one thing definitely hasn't changed. At the beginning of this video, the narrator gets to the heart of librarianship:

Now, do you like people? And do people like you? Do you like all kinds of people? The young as well as the old? People in all stations of life? You do? That's wonderful.

Aside from a few specialized roles, librarianship is, above all, working with different people effectively. All of the principles outlined in this video made 67 years ago are still applicable.

(Photo: Sven Torfinn/New York Times)

Nairobi is a rapidly growing city opening to international markets. There's an emerging status symbol among wealthy Kenyans that some clever restaurateurs have exploited: being waited on by a white person at a restaurant. In the New York Times, Jeffrey Gettleman describes the scene at the Caramel, a high-end restaurant:

The other night, Martin Mileveski, a smiley young man from Macedonia, leaned over a table of three immaculately dressed Kenyan women and delicately poured out the Captain Morgan rum.

“Anything else I can get you ladies?”

They smiled and he drifted away.

“That’s kind of cool,” said one of the women, Lawrencia Namulanda. “A mzungu,” or foreigner.

The food that Mileveski serves includes macaroni and cheese, a dish seen as quintissentially American. Other members of the staff are also white or from the West. Their presence draws in customers:

The other night Caramel featured a hostess from Las Vegas, a leggy bartender from San Diego, a chef from Goa, Mr. Mileveski and another young man from Macedonia. The foreigners made up a small percentage of the total staff but were definitely the most visible. Some said they were here for just a short time, to train Kenyans; others said they planned to stay awhile.

“I see job in Internet, I come Africa,” said Nenad Angelovski, the other Macedonian import, whose English was not nearly at the level of the Kenyan waiters. “I like Africa. I like adventure.”

There have previously been a handful of Westerners running restaurants here, the occasional Italian maître d’hôtel or Israeli manager helping bring a hot plate to a table or making a wine suggestion. But when Caramel opened in September, the word quickly spread: mzungu waiters, mzungu waiters. Many Kenyan customers said it was the first time they ever had their dirty dishes cleared by a white person.

“We never had anything like this in Nairobi,” said Cecilia Wairimu, a well-known Kenyan singer who recently dined at Caramel. “I think it’s awesome.”

Like any other motivation, racism provides a market that can be exploited profitably.

-via Marginal Revolution

(Photo: OpenBiome)

Certain bacteria in the colon are essential to survive. If you don't have that bacteria, it may be necessary to take someone else's poop and put it up your colon in order to transplant the bacteria. The conventional method is by colonoscopy, but there will soon be an oral delivery method.

Many hospitals maintain in-house poop banks to have the bacteria readily available for fecal transplants. But smaller clinics and independent doctors usually don't have such resources. That's where OpenBiome comes in. This new company founded by MIT scholar Mark Smith collects medical grade poop and distributes to doctors in need. Chelsea Rice writes for the Boston Globe:

“Think of us as a blood bank, but for poop,” said Smith, who developed OpenBiome when he saw the gap in the medical structure to provide many patients with the life-saving fecal samples. “You shouldn’t have to fly across the country to get poop.”

How many lives could you change with your poop? Here's our handy guide. #EatMoreFiber #FecalTransplants pic.twitter.com/DOlyvfEMKx

— OpenBiome (@OpenBiome) August 13, 2014

Donors undergo a thorough medical screening that includes tests for infectious diseases. Once approved, they visit the facility, make a deposit, and earn $40:

Once a donor’s sample passes the medical exam, he or she is enrolled and scheduled to visit the Medford facility every day. Each visit takes 30 minutes, during which the donor produces a sample into a hat-shaped bowl that rests over an ordinary toilet. Then the donor walks out with $40.

The cold, hard cash is not, however, the only reward. To further encourage new donors to sign up, and current donors to donate more often, OpenBiome is turning pooping into a game, awarding Super Pooper nicknames—such as Vladimir Pootin, King of Poop, and Winnie the Poo—to those donors with the most samples. (These heroes remain anonymous.) The more doo you donate, the higher your Super Pooper character will climbs in the rankings. So eat your fiber!

To celebrate the move to our new lab, some sweet treats inspired by our product line. Patty cake anybody? pic.twitter.com/gj1R61s3il

— OpenBiome (@OpenBiome) April 17, 2014

-via Dave Barry

(Image: Lucasfilm)

Sky Hits is a cable television channel in Germany and Austria. From December 1-14, it will show all 6 Star Wars movies, Star Wars documentaries, and specials on a continuous loop, 24 hours a day. The movies will air in the narrative order, so this glorious fortnight begins with The Phantom Menace. The documentaries and special videos will air between the movies.

Up to 3.8 million subscribers in Germany and Austria will have access to this event. So if you live in those two nations, it's time to ask for two weeks of vacation.

-via Uproxx

And that was the day my dog saved my life. If he had not torn up that pillow and pooped on the floor, I would never have made it hope. Thank you, Beagle Cop, for responding to my dog's emergency so quickly and intelligently.

Lately, cartoonist Jim Benton has been working on a series called Beagle Cop--the dog with a badge. So far, there are three cartoons in the series.