Image: Gabriel Cañas

Mexican industrial designer Gabriel Cañas created this fiberglass Tetris-inspired chair. So far, it's one-of-a-kind, so it's not yet available for retail. Follow the link to Cañas' portfolio for more odd furniture.

Link via GearFuse | Previously on Neatorama: Tetris Furniture

(YouTube Link)

Meredith Woerner of the sci-fi blog io9 suspects that this video might be viral marketing for the next Star Trek movie. Ostensibly, it's a Klingon military recruiting commercial. I'm not sure what is the original language, but thankfully it's been dubbed into Klingon for your convenience.

via io9

(YouTube Link)

Five artists from the art collective Cube Works in Toronto recreated Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper out of 4,050 cubes, in all measuring 8.5 by 17 feet. The work was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records and sold to a collector in Florida.

Link via Popped Culture | Artists' Website (Warning: self-starting audio)

Image: Ryan Dunlavey

Artist Ryan Dunlavey has created several comic strips mixing science fiction franchises with classic comics, such as the above mashup of Family Circus with The Fantastic Four. Others include He-Man with Garfield, Peanuts with X-Men, and Alien vs. Predator with Spy vs. Spy.

Previously on Neatorama: Dunlavey's Action Philosophers comic book series.

Link via io9 | Artist's Website

(Video Link)

The Harvey Awards are given annually by the comic book industry. This promotional video for them is a parody of Alec Baldwin's sales rant from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. The corporate office sends Val down to talk to the dregs in the sales department: Garfield, Heathcliff, Dagwood, Charlie Brown, and that guy from B.C. The message is simple: sell newspapers or you're fired.

First prize is a Harvey Award. Anybody want to see Second prize? A can of spinach. Third prize is you're fired. You get the picture? ... You've got a readership. The syndicates paid good money. Get them to buy the newspaper!

Here's the original scene from Glengarry Glen Ross. Content warning: adult language in both videos.

via Popped Culture | Harvey Awards

(YouTube Link)

Researchers at at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been working since the 1990s on helicopters that can navigate indoor spaces autonomously. This one won the 2009 AUVSI Aerial Robotics Competition. Laser scanners and cameras allow it to move through a building on its own. Potential applications include industrial inspection and disaster rescue in hazardous locations.

Contest Page via Popular Science

Image: Edgadget

Look at the picture. When the man moves his joystick to the left, the helmet on the girl's head pulls her left ear, signally that she should go left. When he moves his joystick to the right, the opposite occurs.

Thomas Ricker of Engadget speculates about the most obvious application for this device from Kajimoto Laboratory: a navigation aid for the blind. With a GPS system added, it could be used to give the visually impaired greater independence.

Four years ago, Alex wrote about a similar gadget.

Link (Google Translator version) via Engadget

Uterus transplants have been thus far unsuccessful because the transplanted uteri do not maintain a blood supply strong enough to keep a fetus alive. But now British medical researchers may have solved that problem. The Guardian reports:

They have worked out how to transplant a womb with a good blood supply which could mean it lasts long enough to carry a pregnancy to term.[...]

Their most recent study involved five donor rabbits and five recipients, which were operated on at the Royal Veterinary College in London.

Five rabbits received a womb using a "vascular patch technique" which connected major blood vessels, including the aorta.

Of the five, two rabbits lived to 10 months and examinations after death showed the transplants were a success.

Link via Discover | Image: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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Sam Hart wrote a love song for his cat entitled "Kitty Song." Then he sang it to his cat while stacking 61 objects on top of him. Most of them are just playing cards, but others are quite large. You can find the lyrics to the song at the YouTube link.

via Have You Seen This?

Image: Aaron Diaz

In this issue of the webcomic Dresden Codak, Aaron Diaz pokes fun at the contrived plot devices of movie makers, such as the Reverse MacGuffin and the Double Shyamalan. My favorite is the Unreliable Reader -- a counterpart to the Unreliable Narrator. Click on the link for a larger image.

Link via Popped Culture | Interview with the Artist

(YouTube Link)

Animator Noam Raby expressed his love for the webcomic xkcd and the many interests of its artist, Randall Munroe, in this one minute music video. Raby and Munroe have previously collaborated on another animated video entitled "Letting Go."

Art by Randall Munroe and singing by Olga Nunes.

via io9 | xkcd.com | Raby's Website | Olga Nunes' Website | Interview with Randall Munroe

In his new book Manthropology, Peter McAllister argues that human physical strength and endurance have deteriorated over time. John Mehaffey writes for Reuters:

Many prehistoric Australian aboriginals could have outrun world 100 and 200 meters record holder Usain Bolt in modern conditions.

Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the current world high jump record of 2.45 meters during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood.

Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.

McAllister blames technology that, for all the good it has done, has reduced the physical demands of human existence. Even our comparatively recent ancestors could best us:

* Roman legions completed more than one-and-a-half marathons a day carrying more than half their body weight in equipment.

* Athens employed 30,000 rowers who could all exceed the achievements of modern oarsmen.

* Australian aboriginals threw a hardwood spear 110 meters or more (the current world javelin record is 98.48).

Link via Jules Crittenden | Image: American Museum of Natural History

(YouTube Link)

Artist Soomi Park created a LED rig that gives the user the appearance of having glowing eyelashes. Here's her motivation:

An LED Eyelash project is brought into the world to find an answer to this simple question: Why do women want larger and bigger eyes? In particular, Asians tend to have stronger needs for bigger eyes as a standard of beauty.

Since relatively few Asians are born with big eyes, those without can only look for alternative ways to make their eyes look prettier - i.e., larger. They have a repertoire of skills to make their eyes look enlarged: makeup, jewelry, and plastic surgery. Their desire for bigger eyes are almost obsessive in that so many women look to plastic surgery in order to make their dream come true. Soomi calls this, the fetish of Big Eyes.

Artist's Website via Make

Mexican firm Decano Industries has developed a speed bump that remains in place when a vehicle that is moving too quickly is about to drive over it, but retracts when a slow-moving vehicle approaches. Christ Hawley writes in USA Today:

"With this speed bump, people will feel rewarded for obeying the law," says Carlos Cano, the company's president.

The technology is relatively basic: The speed bump is formed by two steel plates that form a triangle sticking out of the pavement. When a car tire touches the plate, a patented device under the triangle measures the force of the impact.

If the tire's impact is gentle enough — that is, if the vehicle is traveling slowly — both plates immediately collapse into the ground under the weight of the car.

Link via DVICE | Image: Sergio Solache, USA Today

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Un Trou a la Place du Coeur (A Hole in the Place of the Heart) is a short sand animation film by David Myriam. He writes that it describes "When the violence of individuals generates the birth of an unverifiable collective monster." Run time: 3 minutes.

via Have You Seen This? | Artist Website | Artist Bio | YouTube Channel