The Boston Latin School, a private prep school, issued a press release in the hopes of quashing rumors that the school is infested with vampires:

"The headmaster believes that the outrageous rumors had reached a point where she had to say something to families to ensure that all students felt safe and respected," said Chris Horan, School Department spokesman.

In my experience, when an authority figure denies that there is a problem, the problem has become much, much worse than feared.

Link via Hit & Run

This panel from Zach Weiner's webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal reveals what I've always suspected about physicists.

If you've never read SMBC, you're missing out on a treat. Check it out.

(YouTube Link)

This 4-minute video from Current TV's SuperNews lampoons the Twitter phenomenon. Why would anyone want hourly updates on the mundane details of other people's lives? SuperNews explains.

Via Gavin Richardson

(YouTube Link)

Nemesis is a short film by Leonard Scarlow about an ordinary man trying to discover his hidden superpowers -- because deep down inside of himself, he knows that he was meant to be a superhero.

It's about 9 minutes long. The dialogue is in Norwegian, but it's subtitled in English.

Here are a few panels of Charles Schulz's comic strip Peanuts, as though they had been written and drawn by Frank Miller in the style of Sin City. By deviant art user ninjaink.

Link via Popped Culture

(Video Link)

Only with your taxpayer dollars can Lex finally destroy Superman. Please call or e-mail your representatives in Congress and ask them to rescue the troubled LexCorp.

When the month and day form the square root of the year, math geeks celebrate a special holiday. Well, presumably. I never made it past precalculus, so I'm only going by what the Associated Press says:

The math-buffs' holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine). "These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they're gone," said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City teacher who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event. The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event. Gordon's daughter even set up a Facebook page — one of a half-dozen or so dedicated to the holiday — and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol.

How will you celebrate Square Root Day? 

Image via flickr user d3 Dan

I'm a big fan of the genre of fiction known as alternate history. That's why I'm excited about a new novel by Harry Turtledove and Bryce Zabel called Winter of Our Discontent: The Impeachment and Trial of John F. Kennedy.

The point of divergence is that a Secret Service agent spotted the glint off of Oswald's rifle seconds before he fired. Kennedy survived November 22, 1963. Whether or not he would survive scandals that would rock his administration would not be so certain.

You can read the first chapter of the novel here, and the articles of impeachment here.

http://www.impeachjfk.com/

(Video Link)
Khoda is a short film by Reza Dolatabadi made from 6,000 paintings that he created over a two-year period. It's a psychological thriller about a prison escape.

His other paintings are also quite stunning and I recommend checking them out.

Via Geekologie

Unshelved is a webcomic by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes about the staff of a public library. It's a focal point of librarian subculture as it's written from an insider point of view.

Every year for the past three years, Unshelved has hosted a contest called "Pimp My Bookcart", wherein library staffers trick out their bookcarts in outrageous ways, such as this circus-themed cart above. Click on the link to see this past year's winners.

Link

Klingon Nightschool

(Video Link)

A short film celebrating the wonderful gifts that (Klingon) teachers give to their students, and all of society as well. Directed by Gord McWatters, RT: 1 minute, 37 seconds.

Via Topless Robot

This short video by the geniuses at College Humor shows how the people who create products sold on informercials imagine a clumsier and stupider world.

(Video Link)

Have you ever wanted to smell like a sweaty James Doohan? Well, then, good news! CBS is licensing three Star Trek-themed body fragrances in order to market the new movie in the series.

Bonus points: in the comments, give Alex ideas for describe a Neatorama-themed scent.

Link via Topless Robot

Johanna Sigurdardottir, an Icelandic MP, was elected Prime Minister of Iceland this week. She is the first openly gay prime minister in world history.

The 66-year-old politician lives with her partner, Jonina Leosdottir, a journalist and playwright. The couple were joined in a civil ceremony in 2002. Don't expect them to show up togetherfor photocalls, however – that's not the Icelandic way. Though she is famous across the island, having been a top politician for years, her lesbian union was no big deal in this calmly progressive nation of only 300,000 people.

"Johanna is a very private person," said an Icelandic government source. "A lot of people didn't even know she was gay. When they learn about it people tend to shrug and say, 'Oh'. That's not to say they are not interested; they are interested in who she's living with – but no more so than if she was a man living with a woman."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/world-gets-its-first-gay-head-of-state-1519068.html

Artist Saimir Strati creates enormous mosaics out of nails, corks, and toothpicks. Here is a picture of him at work on his 2006 portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. It's made entirely out of nails. You can see a full gallery of high-resolution photographs of his work at the link.

Link via Bits & Pieces