What is it about breasts that heterosexual men find attractive? From one perspective of evolutionary psychology, the fat reserves of breasts represent material prosperity. So it follows that men who lack resource security (meaning that they're poor) are more likely to find larger breasts attractive compared to men who are wealthier.

This led psychological researchers Viren Swami and Martin J. Tovée to conduct studies about how men at varying levels of socioeconomic prosperity and varying levels of hunger rated the attractiveness of women with varying breast sizes. From the abstract to their 2013 journal article:

 In Study 1, 266 men from three sites in Malaysia varying in relative socioeconomic status (high to low) rated a series of animated figures varying in breast size for physical attractiveness. Results showed that men from the low socioeconomic context rated larger breasts as more attractive than did men from the medium socioeconomic context, who in turn perceived larger breasts as attractive than men from a high socioeconomic context. Study 2 compared the breast size judgements of 66 hungry versus 58 satiated men within the same environmental context in Britain. Results showed that hungry men rated larger breasts as significantly more attractive than satiated men. Taken together, these studies provide evidence that resource security impacts upon men's attractiveness ratings based on women's breast size.

Citation:

Swami, Viren, and Martin J. Tovée. “Resource Security Impacts Men’s Female Breast Size Preferences.” PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 3, Mar. 2013, pp. 1–7. Academic Search Complete, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057623.

Photo: Brian Solis

I ask because these are actual place names in Porter's Lake, Nova Scotia. It might be fun for locals to give intentionally confusing directions.

For greater ease of navigation, I suggest Harlingen, Texas. When, a couple decades ago, I was trying to find my way around, I realized that the street names were all US Presidents in the order of their presidencies. I could navigate historically.

-via TYWKIWDBI

It's real and it's amazing. And for $52,000, you can have your own Godzilla guitar. This officially licensed guitar was designed for Japanese rock star Takamizawa Toshihiko. It comes with glowing purple LEDs in the body and red LEDs in the fingerboard to create a spectacular show in darkness.

-via Technabob

IDIDTHAT, a company in San Jose, California, repurposes old tools and equipment into stylish, retro furnishings. This phone, for example, has become an adjustable lamp.

In 1874, John Ward Westcott founded a company which ferried supplies, including mail, to mariners on Great Lakes of North America. 145 years later, his company, still in the hands of his family, continues that tradition on the 45-foot J.W. Westcott II, ZIP code 48222.

That's right: this boat has its own ZIP code. It's the only floating ZIP code in the United States.

Based out of Detroit, the J.W. Westcott II delivers mail, supplies, and sometimes crew to the working vessels that pass by. Glen Mannisto, a former captain of the boat, describes his work in Great Lakes Now:

The job requires complete attention. Your body becomes a gyroscope in the rollicking waves in order to remain somewhat vertical to perform the simple task of putting a bundle of mail in a pail. In the 1970s, when I was manning the Westcott’s helm, we averaged about 20 boats per 8 eight-hour shift, but that number could climb to as many as 60 per shift. There were times that we were barely able to get to and from the dock to get mail and freight and sometimes had to signal the freighter to slow down (three quick blasts of our horn) if “she had a bone in her teeth” (going so fast she had white bow waves like a joyful running dog with a white bone in its mouth) to catch them – or they went without their coveted mail.

via Weird Universe | Photo: Robert Hensleigh

He may be milking his original approach for all it's worth, but it's udderly worth the effort.

Internet rumor attributes this image to a Singaporean farmer who, looking for an fresh way to propose marriage to his girlfriend, slipped the engagement ring over a cow's teat.

The New York Post reports that some netizens have resorted to "ring shaming" the farmer of his romantic efforts. That's unfortunate. He liked it, so he put a ring on it.

-via Dave Barry

Nothing is quite what it seems in Hugh Hayden's surreal world. In the past few years, he's been fascinated by borders, fences, and other objects designed to keep people out and away from the territories of other people.

On the left is Big Bird. On the right is Abelardo, the equivalent character on the Sésamo, the version of Sesame Street that airs in Mexico. He's one of many Big Bird characters that exists in what is apparently a Sesame Street multiverse.

Ani Abakumova, an artist from Russia, uses computer applications to develop embroidery patterns that result in astonishingly realistic recreations of famous paintings, such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Lady Lilith.

As you can see from this time-lapse video, the lengthy process involves only a few colors layered to create a final visual effect.

You can see more of Abakumova's work, including those inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, William Adolphe Bouguereau, and Johannes Vermeer, on her Instagram page.

-via Colossal

Leonard Solomon is a musician who builds and performs on unusual homemade instruments, such as his oomphapompatronium.

His latest instrument is a bottle organ, which he controls with air bladders next to the bottles. In this video, Solomon performs "Papageno's Song" from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute.

As you can see in this video, Solomon is not only a performer of music, but an entertainer who engages with his audience. In an interview about this work, Solomon describes the bliss of gelling with his audience:

One of my favorite moments performing, was in a big stage show in Jordan Hall, Boston, a grand old concert hall. I was part of a show called "A Taste of Passover." in which I was doing short 5-minute bits in between the other acts. In one of my entrances, I was planning to play just the first few measures of a song on a harmonica, before going into the comedy routine. But when I started the song, the people started humming along. It was an old familiar Jewish melody, and they all knew the tune. So instead of doing the routine as I had planned, I just kept playing the song on the harmonica. The whole audience was swaying back and forth and humming along with my simple music, and for a timeless minute, I felt like I was in a dream; as if I had seen this experience in a vision, long ago. It was one of the sweetest moments I've ever had on stage.

-via Geekologie

Japanese artist @shinrashinge built a miniature mechanical projector with paper, cardboard, pencils, and what appears to be plastic spools. The design is simple but very effective. The movie--a sweet tale of love enduring into dementia--is a long scroll of stills that he moves with the pencils.

Here's a video of what the projector looks from the other side.

I think that if I can 3D print the spools, I could build one in my library's makerspace.

-via Sora News 24

The design is simple but ingenious. The bubble trap by Tank Matez is held in place with a magnet on the other side of the glass. When the fish swims into the baited bubble, pull the magnet away from the glass. This releases the bubble to float to the top. It's designed to right itself so that the fish cannot simply swim away.

There's even a remote system that will automatically trap a fish, so you can leave the trap in place and come back later, once your fish is captured.

-via reddit

I don't know how @Ipnot, an embroidery artist in Japan, does it. His/her creations appear to pop off the fabric, tempting me to bite into them.

I'm especially impressed with the use of threads to show gooey, melted cheese. Be sure to check out his/her Instagram page further to see videos of these embroidery pieces in smooth, delicious motion.

On the left is a dress. On the right is a bag of onions. Can you see the difference?

Granted, there's not much of one--though the contents within each are noticeably different. British design firm Elissa Poppy offers this 100% latex dress for a mere $332, discounted from an original price of $553. She advises applying talcum powder before slipping it on.

-via Dave Barry | Photos: Elissa Poppy and Harris Seeds

Surprisingly, this worked. Instructables member tm36usa glued a USB WiFi adapter on the inside of a metal food steamer and mounted it on a tripod. The steamer functions as a parabolic reflector, capturing WiFi signals:

Just plug the USB WIFI adaptor into the socket on the dish and plug the other end into your computer. Enjoy boosted signal strength and improved distance. Fire up Netstumber or Kismet to really see the gain in power. This works even better than I thought it would. Be sure to leave your comments on how well it worked. Works great for war driving too.

-via Hack A Day