Squirrels are not a common food source in the United States, but they are certainly edible. Mike Huckabee once taught us how to cook one in a popcorn popper. The brains are, I gather, a fine delicacy. So it is proper that people gather together to enjoy the best possible ways to prepare a sciurine feast at the World Champion Squirrel Cook Off.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission reports that this annual event will take place on September 13 in the town of Springdale. 40 teams will compete to prepare the most delicious squirrel dishes you've ever scooped into your mouth.

-via Dave Barry

The best use for artificial intelligence, aside from the eventual enslavement of the human race, is the creation of entertainments that would not be practical to produce otherwise.

The YouTube channel Neural Derp is dedicated to this noble pursuit. In this video, we listen to a country song about the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation traveling from trailer park to trailer park in their warp-powered RV. They're a close-knit crew with each person contributing to the work, whether it's wrestling raccoons or using telepathic powers to cheat at poker. The bits about the foibles of Wesley Crusher are especially amusing.

-via The Awesomer

The Clark County Historical Society preserves and educates people about the history of the area around Springfield, Ohio. John Fritz, a member of the society, has been a dedicated volunteer and supporter for many years. The society has honored his tireless work for its mission by mounting an engraved plaque in his honor above a urinal in the men's room.

No disrespect is intended. For years, Fritz has joked that he wished to be honored for his work with a plaque above a urinal. The society has chosen to fulfill that specific wish. Visit the site and pay homage to his work.

-via Dave Barry

The Seattle Kraken is a professional hockey team that hails from Seattle. Its mascot is Buoy, a "sea-troll" indigenous to Puget Sound. Buoy and the team recently visited Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska for fly fishing during a high school hockey camp event in Anchorange.

During the fishing, a grizzly bear carefully watched the party. Then it charged Buoy, perhaps enticed by his unusual appearance. Was this creature a new, exotic delicacy?

Fortunately for the human inside the Buoy suit, the bear kept some distance and no one was injured.

-via Fox News

Japanese artist Nanako Kume produced this stylish and eye-catching lampshade that look like shavings from a giant pencil. That's because that's what she actually made. Kume produced a giant wooden pencil (minus the lead) and a scaled-up manual pencil sharpener. Then she cut the shavings off one by one to form shades for pendant lights.

-via Nag on the Lake

"Tradition," G.K. Chesterton wrote, "means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is a democracy of the dead." To embrace tradition means to recognize that our forebearers were not fools and may offer us lessons that we need not learn the hard way with each succeeding generation.

So it is fitting that, as The Wall Street Journal reports, Heather Schroering and Nick Phillips married at a Las Vegas chapel in a ceremony presided over by Manny Mayo, the mascot of the Hellmann's brand of mayonnaise. Unilever, the owner of the Hellmann's brand, paid for the event in exchange for using it to create commercials--as is tradition.

-via Dave Barry | Photo: Hellmann's Mayonnaise

Orville and Wilbur Wright are credited with the first sustained flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft that is powered by an engine in 1903. It can be argued, though, that Wilhelm Kress designed, built, and flew the first such vehicle in 1901. Much depends upon precise definitions.

The first few years of the Twentieth Century were filled with rapid technological innovation, so it should not come as a surprise that inventions developed almost simultaneously as humanity soared off into the heavens.

Similarly, The Takeout explains, we cannot be certain who invented the corn dog. But the era of maximal corn dog development was from 1937 to 1946, when several geniuses labored independently at the creation of this supreme food. George and Vera Boyington of the Pronto Pup brand are most commonly credited with the invention in 1941.

No matter who created the corn dog first, we can all be grateful for their efforts to advance the human adventure.

Photo: Flickr user Intangible Arts used under Creative Commons license

This composition smoothly juxtaposes multiple media and aesthetics. Redditor /u/p_batess purchased an old chair and added small stained glass panels to each of the holes. The design is a pixelated version of the default Windows OS background. They ask that you not sit on it as one tourist sat on a chair-shaped sculpture in Verona last month.

The Great Loop, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration informs us, is a circuit of navigable rivers, canals, and oceanic waters in the United States and Canada. A boater who completes the journey can claim the title of a "Looper." It's a great test of skill and endurance. Robert Youens, the Pensacola News Journal reports, has secured a record for the fastest passage through this circuit when he arrived in Pensacola on Thursday evening.

The 71-year old adventurer from Texas completed the journey in a record time while piloting his humble 16-foot jon boat named Ageless Wanderer. You can watch a video interview about his journey here.

-via John Konrad | Photo: Scott Anderson

Chuck Jurgen Teschke, an engineer and aviation technician from Canada, modifies helicopter bodies into works of art. Auto Evolution tells us that the Frankencopter 4, which is pictured above, is a synthesis of a Volkswagen Type 2 microbus and a H125 Airbus helicopter. Although it does not fly, it does inspire the imagination to reach new heights as one contemplates a groovy and retro form of air transportation.

Again, this is the Frankencopter 4--the fourth of a series of helicopter transformations that Teschke has constructed. Others include what appear to be combinations of an old Ford truck cab and a tractor cab smoothly welded into helicopter frames. You can see photos of them at Auto Evolution.

-via Toxel

Car & Driver reports on a curious legal battle in Ohio. Tiah McCreary purchased on loan a car from a Kia dealership in the town of Lima. A month later, the dealership concluded that there was not enough information to continue the loan and so repossessed the car while McCreary was at work.

McCreary discovered that the dealership company did not own the name "Taylor Kia of Lima", which is the name under which it operated. So she registered a claim on that name and her attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter to the dealership, ordering it to stop using a name that was McCreary's property. The outcome of the case is still in progress.

-via Instapundit | Unrelated photo by Lee Stockton used under Creative Commons license

In 1993, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine aired. Like The Next Generation, it took a couple of years to find its narrative rhythm. But once DS9 adopted a serial format, it became the greatest series in the franchise.

To promote it, Paramount released many promotional items, including this rare TV/VCR combination kit. The curves reflect the Cardassian aesthetic that is foundational to the design of the Deep Space 9 station--what the Cardassians referred to as Terok Nor. The package included photos, headshots of actors in costume, and a VHS tape to complete the press it. Perhaps a handful were made.

-via reddit

Nik Bentel is a product designer in New York City. His whimsical designs attract attention, especially if worn with mesh shirts, as his Dinner Bag is photographed here. It comes with a plate, knife, and fork strapped to the outside to make dining an immediate option.

Gabi Rizea is a Romanian artist who wields a chainsaw as his sculptor's blade. The above work from a few years ago is what has most captured the Internet's attention and drawn appreciation from around the world. As an optical illusion, the pouring bucket of water supported by the liquid creates a surrealistic impression.

There are parts of rural Vermont without consistent cell service. So, ABC News reports, an electrical engineer named Patrick Schlott refurbished old pay phones and installed them in public locations so that people can, when needed, call the outside world.

Schlott finds the pay phones for sale on auction sites for a few hundred dollars. With modification, they will transmit sound over the internet. There are now three in place, one at a general store and two at public libraries. One of those library locations has experienced at least 370 calls, thus demonstrating a real need for this old fashioned technology.

-via My Modern Met | Photo: RandTel