USS Seadragon (SSN-484) was a Skate-class nuclear submarine that surfaced through the icecap at the North Pole on September 15, 1960. For recreation, the sailors laid out a softball diamond that used the marker for the North Pole as the pitcher's mound. When a sailor successfully cleared the bases, he circumnavigated the world.
-via US Naval Institute | Photo: Norman Polmar
Yes, Moo Deng, the baby pygmy hippopotamus, is cute as she tries to eat the zookeepers. Full-size hippopotami (Hippopotamus amphibius), though, are dangerous wild animals that kill between 500 and 3,000 humans per year.
It's entirely possible that a hippopotamus is stalking you right now.
What happens when a hippopotamus decides he doesn't like the bumper sticker on the back of your truck? Katherine Gilson, Steve Teichmann, and Richard Teichmann found out when a hippo charged them during an expedition through the Manyoni Private Game Reserve in South Africa. The humans escaped, but their truck took some damage.
Content warning: foul language.
-via David Thompson
Before we get into the sheer technical sophistication and precise direction of this video, I'd like to point out that the song itself is beautiful. "A Stone Only Rolls Downhill" calls upon us to stoically accept the hardships of life:
I wish I could say it would be all right
I wish I could tell you it would all be fine
But a stone only rolls downhill
And these things
They'll be what they will
All of which is true for the human adventure.
Now let's get into the video. OK Go is famous for its innovative and physically complex music videos. The band recorded 64 videos and displayed them on 64 phones side by side. The final product is not a digital rendering, but, Rolling Stone reports, a recording of those videos playing on the actual phones.
-via Nag on the Lake
Core77 directs our attention to this unusual door manufactured by the New Jersey-based firm Construction Specialties. The door has a door inside. Why? The answer is below the fold.
Kevin Parry is a master of stop-motion animation. We've shared his work extensively and all is worth watching.
His latest project used 444 shots recorded over a 10 day period. The end result of his precise labor is 36 seconds of adrenalin-pumping chasing. Parry depicts a man on the run from the law and being pursued by police cruisers. He never leaves his chair, but with clever yet often simple visual effects, he tells a story of a cunning criminal who has complete mastery of his car.
Enjoy this episode of Grand Theft Auto: Living Room. But don't drive like this at home.
-via The Awesomer
Bruno Lobo was a champion swimmer and triathelte before switching to kite surfing, a sport in which he represented his homeland of Brazil in the 2024 Olympics. Sky News reports that on January 10 he was recording a training session off the coast of São Luís when he saw a 15-year old girl struggling to swim and losing her strength.
Lobo immediately abandoned his surfing and brought the girl to his board, then paddled the two of them ashore as she clung to his back. Lifeguards met them in the surf. The girl appeared to be okay and, at the end of the video, is in good enough condition to thank and hug Lobo.
-via Colin Rugg
Bobo is a genius--a tortured genius. That's because no one understands the meaning and depth that lie within Bobo's art. He is an ape of vision. As he sucks on a heater back in his studio, Bobo knows this is true. But he remembers the fate of Vincent Van Gogh--he might not be honored in his own lifetime. Or, worse, even after that.
Bobo is less fortunate than Beetle Moses, the artist who composed this cartoon.
Some people enjoy pineapple on pizza. I am one of them and am a noted gourmand, so let that fact speak on behalf of this pizza preference.
The "chefs" at Lupa Pizza in Norfolk, UK* disagree. The Norfolk Evening News reports that they will make you a Hawaiian pizza if you insist upon it. But it's going to cost you £100.
The owner, Francis Woolf, is allowing customers to vote to make this pizza a special. But he's also threatening to raise the price to £200 if they do so. Cross his taste buds at your peril.
-via Dave Barry
*The British should not criticize anyone's culinary choices.
Colossal introduces us to the fabric arts of Emily O'Leary, an artist in New York who has gained fame for her original applications for embroidery and rug hooking. The latter category includes rugs that looks almost exactly like dogs sleeping on floors, enjoying the carefree lives that we humans give to them.
The dogs are functional rugs, so they look flattened. But, from a distance and without depth perception, you'd swear that you're about to meet a real dog.
O'Leary crafts her rugs from photos of real dogs. You can read a comprehensive description of her creation process with photos of each step here.
The parachutist had planned to land in a soccer field as part of a public celebration in Rhenen, the Netherlands, on Saturday. But he was unable to steer his descent precisely and instead came down inside the Ouwehands Zoo. Specifically, he arrived inside the enclosure dedicated to and ruled by bonobo chimpanzees.
The NL Times reports that the gentleman was fortunate in that he landed in that particular open-air habitat. The bonobos were indoors at the time. And, furthermore, had he drifted a bit further, he could have landed in the nearby lion or elephant habitats.
-via Super Punch | Photo: Aart Maren
Japan is famous for its sophisticated vending machines where people can buy an incredible variety of items far beyond mere cold drinks. These include vending machines that sell chicken nuggets, diapers, and even other vending machines.
Sonsern Lin, known on the internet as Hungry OC, discovered another remarkable vending machine in that fabled land of vending machine wonders. This food blogger known for eating the most extreme foods dared a vending machine that sells edible crickets.
We've known that crickets can be a food source for a while. But it appears that this vending machine also offers hornets as an option.
-via Massimo
Tim King does home remodeling in western Chicago. Recently, he worked on the home that belonged to his parents. While tearing down some drywall, he found a wrapped Christmas present. It had his name on it and dated back to 1978, when King was six years old.
King figures that it must have been in the attic and fallen inside the wall. Now, this prized toy was finally in his hands. WGN 9 News reports that removing the wrapping paper revealed a Matchbox Sky Busters toy plane set. King affirms that, at six, he would have loved to receive this gift. It's a bit late now, but he still enjoys the present.
-via Born in Space
Part of the charm of cuckoo clocks is their old world charm that inspires images of the Alpine cultures that created them. Etsy seller woodmess of Istanbul designs and builds modern interpretations of the classic design with vibrant colors and robust curves.
Like its predecessors, the bird pops out at the hour to sing and dance. But this time, it pops out of a house that looks like it belongs in a Los Angeles suburb instead of southern Germany. Each clock is made to order to suit each customer's color preferences, although woodmess urges light colors for the bird to ensure that it doesn't disappear in its cave.
-via Core77
Redditor /u/mstacle has an impressive corpus of work, but I'm especially taken with this playful sculpture that looks like a melting ice cream treat. They tell us that the ice cream is made out of walnut and the stick is made of maple. Like the line attributed to Michelangelo that he was freeing the angel concealed in the marble, /u/mstacle experienced "a tedious process of slowly removing the material to get the melty vibe."
Ai Nurul, a cosplayer in Malaysia, integrates the hijab into all of her costumes. This often involves making creatively designed and assembled hijabs that serve as wigs, convincingly presenting as hair. You can see that vividly in this horror version of a female Ronald MacDonald.
