Fabratastic is a small British company that offers unique pillows that are ideal for someone in mourning. Send its tailors a shirt belonging to a departed friend or relative, and they'll send it back as a pillow. Each one comes embroidered with a message to help you grieve, remember, and heal.
The company has been flooded with orders, so it won't take any more until after Christmas. I'm not surprised. It's a wonderful service.
-via Laughing Squid
(Image: Onderdonk's The Fall of the Alamo, photo by Argos'Dad)
Have you visited the Alamo? You won't be able to access the basement, but you can explore the beautifully preserved remains of the battle site, explained in rich detail by tour guides and signs.
(Photo: David R. Tribble)
Among the many memorials there is this unusual monument inscribed with classical Chinese script. It was placed there in 1914 by Shiga Shigetaka, a visiting Japanese scholar who wanted to express the admiration of the Japanese people for the gallant defenders of Texas liberty who fell there in 1836.
Now how did that happen? How did people in Japan learn about the Alamo? Franz-Stefan Gady explains at The Diplomat.
In the 1870s, American Civil War veteran William S. Clarke, formerly the colonel of a Massachusetts regiment of volunteers, taught at an agricultural college in Japan. Among other courses, he taught on military history. In it, he told the story of the Alamo to young student Shiga Shigeta.
(Image: Bill Donahue)
Players are going to play and haters are going to hate, but singer Taylor Swift will continue to shake them off. Jesse Braham, a rhythm and blues musician, recently sued Swift for copyright infringement, claiming that her song "Shake It Off," which is embedded below, is a rip-off of his song "Haters Gone Hate."
U.S. District Court Judge Gail Standish dismissed the lawsuit. In the final paragraph of her ruling, she referenced "Shake It Off," as well 4 other Swift songs: "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," "I Knew You Were Trouble," "Blank Space," and "Bad Blood."
-via The Mary Sue
Cyla Panin of BuzzFeed explains that, "it wouldn't just be all Winterfell." Toronto would, of course, be King's Landing (sorry, Ottawa). Newfies have the same spirit as Iron Islanders. And Winterfell, I assume, would be set on a major trade route, like Whitehorse is in Yukon.
What other Westeros locations would you match in Canada?
-via Jeremy Barker
This garage system from China reminds the Geekologie writer of a hungry caterpillar, but my first thought was that of the gaping maw of a hippopotamus from the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos swallowing a car and its driver whole.
(Photo: Simbe Robotics)
One of the most common tasks for retail workers is to look at the shelves, see which items are low, and restock those areas from storage. Now that task may be partially replaced with robots.
Simbe Robotics calls its invention Tally. This robot roams a store autonomously, scanning shelves, finding out which areas are low, and then telling human workers what items are needed. Then it plugs itself into a charging dock.
The company says that it's completely safe to use while the store is open and customers are present. It will remain loyal to its human masters when other robots rise up to destroy their fleshy creators.
-via Technabob
Teya Salat, a 22-year old Russian tattoo model, designed a line of ski masks that will make you look even cooler when you hit the slopes this winter. She sells a vast array of balaclavas, including ones that show Killer Croc from the Batman comics and Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat.
But what's grabbing the internet's attention and affections are her adorable animal masks. You can look like a panda or a raccoon, complete with appropriate ears. Even Grumpy Cat is present, staying happy enough to venture out into the cold. You can see a selection of some of these animal balaclavas at Bored Panda.
-via Fashionably Geek
A barrel organ is a musical instrument that combines the best features of a pipe organ and a mechanical music box. As the operator turns the crank, the pipes bellow out musical notes encoded on rolls of paper.
Patrick Mathis is a musician who specializes in this staple of carnival life. But in this video, he plays a song that you may not often hear at a fair: "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson.
This is no ordinary, plastic folding wet floor sign. Those are for the proles. If you want to express your wealth and also keep people from walking on the floor that you've just mopped, marring it with their filthy shoes, then you need this stainless steel sign found by redditor Dad_Illusion in an office buliding in Colorado.
Before a discount, Amazon sells them for $168.98 each. It's nice, but I would prefer a handcrafted mahogany and teak frame with a gold-plated sign. People should get the right impression.
-via Tastefully Offensive
(Photo: Tessa Calder)
Tessa Calder, 21, is a college student in Australia. She has cancer, but she doesn't let that keep her down. When she has chemotherapy, she dresses in elaborate costumes and decorates her IV pole so that it becomes an appropriate prop. Here, it's Harry Potter's broomstick. In others, it's Galdalf's staff or a boxer's punching bag.
Calder told ABC News about the first time she came up with an IV costume. She appeared as a pope:
"I had a window and you could sort of look up to the second floor where it was just like a glass corridor – and these patients would walk by in their white hospital gowns with their IV poles and Dad was just trying to make me laugh: 'Oh look, Tessa, there's the Pope! There he is again, there's so many popes!'," she said.
"I had time on my hands so I got some paper and made a pope hat and I think people thought I was absolutely ridiculous – I got some very weird looks!"
-via My Modern Met
Project Oxford is a fascinating and very entertaining application developed by Microsoft. You can load photos of people in it and the program will read the emotions displayed on the faces. There are eight emotions and the results give their relative weights.
You can upload your friends, family, celebrities, or favorite TV and movie characters.
Here's how it reads Miss Cellania's face:
In this trippy video from Red Bull, BMX champion Kriss Kyle rides his bike through a shimmering array of fractal shapes and vibrant colors. It's like he's inside a kaleidoscope. As the tube twists, Kyle jumps over obstacles, performs sudden turns, and bounces off seemingly invisible planes.
-via Laughing Squid
Look at that thing! It's just beautiful.
You know, back in the old days, everyone had to work on one of these beauties. They'd make the most beautiful clacking and slithering sounds. And the sensation of a tentacle sucker popping on your skin . . . well, they don't make typewriters like this 1938 Underwood anymore. And we lost something wonderful when they did.
Courtney Brown, an artist in Oakland, calls her sculpture "Self Organization." It's on display at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art until November 15. You can see more photos at Colossal.
It's called a "birthie." And you should take one!
That's what Gil Solano did. His wife was experiencing a radical new type of pain that he never, ever would. This was obviously the ideal time to take a picture of himself and, of course, his beloved wife in the background. He explained on reddit:
My wife wanted to make sure that someone took a picture of the expression on our faces when our daughter was born today. So I took one.
Well, then, mission accomplished.
Mrs. Solano gave birth to a healthy 7 pound, 6 ounce girl that the couple has named Eva Nell. Gil swears that his wife finds the photo funny.
-via Dave Barry
Jonathan H. Liu recently watched Star Wars with his kids. His toddler, who is 2 and a half, really enjoyed it--especially the Imperial March, which is also known as the Darth Vader theme. After she went to bed for a nap, the cutest little Sith began singing that piece of music.
Here she is with a captured piece of Rebel equipment. At Geek Dad, Liu explains that his daughter is fascinated with Darth Vader:
When he first appeared on the screen, she started mimicking the sound of his breathing. When the Imperial March started playing, she stood up and danced! Lately she keeps asking us to sing the “Star Wars song”–sometimes she means the theme song, but quite often what she really wants to hear is Darth Vader’s theme instead.
She has chosen her path wisely.
-via Huffington Post
