Over 26 years, Graham Barker of Perth, Australia, collected 22.1 grams of belly button lint. After saving it in three jars, he recently sold his collection to a museum:
"The raw material is worthless but as a unique world record collection and a piece of cultural heritage, of debatable merit, it has some curiosity value," he said.
While most people have a positive reaction to his collection there is "a small minority – usually women" who find it unappealing.
Mr Barker said he had come across a handful of other navel fluff collectors, but none had taken their hobby to such lengths. He explained: "One guy might have persisted, but he got married and his wife ordered him to stop."
The largest magnet in the world, located at CERN in Switzerland, weighs 12,500 tonnes. Scientists in India plan to build one weighing 50,000 tonnes in order to do neutrino research:
Neutrinos will interact with the iron – which will be layered in sheets – and spew out charged particles, whose paths will be bent by the iron's magnetic field. About 30,000 detectors sandwiched between the sheets of iron will track these charged particles, providing information about the incident neutrinos.
INO will initially study atmospheric neutrinos, which are produced when cosmic rays smash into the upper atmosphere.
Unlike most neutrino detectors, such as the Super-Kamiokande in Japan or the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada, INO will be sensitive to both neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, which interact with matter in different ways.
Link via Gizmodo | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user sparr0 used under Creative Commons license
This past weekend, Moscow hosted the Millionaire Fair. It's an exhibition of the world's most luxurious products, including a diamond-encrusted saucepan:
Its handle and lid were encrusted with nearly 300 diamonds and was decorated with 18-carat gold. It's made by German cookware brand Fissler. But wealthy cooks might be disappointed: the pan isn't suitable for cooking.
"It is for serving food beautifully," brand manager Natalya Oreshkina said.
Jed Stoneham of Urlesque gathered pictures from Google Street View that look like they were taken in wilderness areas. Pictured above is a scene from a road inside Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa.
Google Translate isn't doing too well, but I gather that a Japanese professor named Sekine was tired of getting stung by wasps in his laboratory. So he designed and built a mohawk-wearing fembot to climb a ladder and whack the wasps.
In the 12th Century A.D., the rulers of the city of Hama, Syria, built enormous waterwheels -- norias -- to carry water into the city. These were expanded and enhanced for several centuries:
Each of the wheels can be anything up to 20 meters in diameter (close to 70 feet( and the river water is channelled in to a sluice on the wheel. This flow then forces the wheel to turn and wood boxes raise the water upwards. At the top of the wheel there is an artificial channel in to which the water is discharged.
Using gravity, the water then flows through aqueduct channels to either households or farms in the vicinity. Just as math was used in the construction of the waterwheels so it was in working out the times at which people had access to the water. As a precious commodity it was important that it was shared fairly.
We Make Carpets is an art collective consisting of Stijn van der Vleuten, Marcia Nolte, and Bob Waardenburg. They make temporary structures that resemble carpets from a distance, such as the one pictured above. It's actually made out of bricks, not fabric. They've also made carpets out of medical tape, cotton balls, balloons, and pasta.
Babylon 5, which ran from a 1993 pilot movie until its final episode in 1998, has been called the greatest science fiction show ever created. Producer, director, and writer J. Michael Straczynski created a high drama that set a new standard for science fiction television. Here are some things that you might not know about the series:
1. Straczynski planned the entire story arc from the beginning. He kept a written copy of it on a 200-page encrypted computer file. Straczynski never revealed his full plans to his writing team until the very end of the series. He intentionally included red herrings in the plot so that viewers would not be able to predict the outcome of the series.
2. Staczynski wanted to create mature, adult science fiction -- not a kids’ show. His rule was that any cute kids that appeared in an episode had to be killed off by the end of that episode (e.g. “Believers” and “Confessions and Lamentations.”)
3. The design of Vorlon ships (right) by special effects artist Ron Thornton is based on the shape of a bulb of garlic.
4. In the episodes “Shadow Dancing” and “Z’ha’dum”, Bruce Boxleitner (John Sheridan) played opposite of Melissa Gilbert (Anna Sheridan), John’s late wife returned from the dead. In real life, Gilbert and Boxleitner are married.
5. Naval personnel in particular were fans of Babylon 5 because, compared to other science fiction shows, it realistically showed life inside a small metal box far away from home.
6. The space suit props worn by B5 Starfury fighter pilots were liquid-cooled. The detailed helmets alone cost $3,000 each.
7. Jerry Doyle’s (Michael Garibaldi) favorite episode was “Points of Departure” because his character spent the entire episode in a coma, but Doyle received full salary for that role.
8. Author Peter David made J. Michael Straczynski a teddy bear wearing a baseball jersey. The shirt was inscribed “Babearlyon 5” on the front and “J.S.” (for Joe Straczynski) on the front. Straczynski made it the topic of conversation in a scene between Sheridan and Ivonova.
9. Babylon 5 actors Jerry Doyle (Michael Garibaldi) and Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters) married in 1995.
10. The Psi Corps recruiting commercial that appears in the episode “And Now for a Word” contains a subliminal message that says “The Psi Corps is your friend. Trust the Corps.” It’s at 1:49. Sources: Bassom, David. Creating Babylon 5. New York: Random House, 1997. Lane, Andy. The Babylon File: The Definitive Unauthorised Guide to J. Michael Straczynski's TV Series Babylon 5. London: Virgin, 1997. Images: Warner Bros.
TrustoCorp is a New York City-based art collective that spreads messages to the public by creating signs or shopdropping. Its Flickr photostream is filled with works similar to the sign above.
Yes, this is a real product. It's 128 times the size of a normal gummy worm, weighs 3 pounds, and contains 4,000 calories. The candy is available in a variety of flavors.
A box was found unattended on the front steps of the Social Security office in Cocoa Beach, Florida. The bomb squad rushed to the scene to defuse what employees feared might be a bomb. It turned out to be a box full of kittens:
The bomb squad quickly suited up and headed to the scene to defuse the situation. Once they arrived on scene, specialists found a box slightly stirring. There was no "tick-tock," but a different familiar sound. Meow.
A quick examination by the experts determined the box's contents was about to explode - with cute and cuddliness. Inside were two kittens, which the bomb squad manual states is more dangerous to a ball of yarn than to an office building.
Link via Gizmodo | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user abcrumley used under Creative Commons license
Chupacabras are legendary creatures said to roam North America at night. They've been occasionally sighted, but never definitively proven real. Some researchers now think that they're actually just coyotes with severe cases of mange. Barry O'Connor of the University of Michigan explained:
[...] the mite responsible for the extreme hair loss seen in "chupacabras syndrome" is Sarcoptes scabiei, which also causes the itchy rash known as scabies in people. Human scabies is an annoyance, but not usually a serious health or appearance problem, partly because our bodies are already virtually hairless and partly because the population of mites on a given person usually is relatively small---only 20 or 30 mites.
Humans have likely evolved natural defenses for this mite over the years. When we began to domesticate dogs, we likely spread the mites to them. When the mites then transfer to wild dogs, such as foxes, wolves and coyotes, the victims appear to be less able to fight them off.[...]
In these unfortunate animals, large numbers of mites burrowing under the skin cause inflammation, which results in thickening of the skin. Blood supply to hair follicles is cut off, so the fur falls out. In especially bad cases, the animal's weakened condition opens the door to bacteria that cause secondary skin infections, sometimes producing a foul odor. Put it all together, and you've got an ugly, naked, leathery, smelly monstrosity: the chupacabras.
Chen Wei-yih of Taiwan has found the right person to marry -- herself. She's spending $5,675 on a groom-less wedding that concludes with a honeymoon in Australia:
"Age thirty is a prime period for me. My work and experience are in good shape, but I haven't found a partner, so what can I do?" Chen said.
"It's not that I'm anti-marriage. I just hope that I can express a different idea within the bounds of a tradition," she added.[...]
"If I had a steady boyfriend, I wouldn't do this," Chen said. "It would be offensive to him, anyway."
The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was in business from 1907-1925. It was noted for a series of silent Charlie Chaplin films. Pictured above is a manuscript rejection notice, presumably mailed to writers who contacted the company.
In the comments, make suggestions for disqualifiers that you would like to see on a modern version of this document.
