You sank my noble gases!

Karyn homeschools 4 children. She's devised a brilliantly creative way to teach chemistry. It's a game modeled on the classic board game Battleship. Her materials are simple: 2 folders, 4 laminated copies of the periodic table of elements, and 2 dry erase markers.

The players first mark where their ships are. Then they call out elements, missing or hitting opposing ships. Karyn explains:

The kids can then mark where they want to place their ships by circling rows of 2, 3, 4, and 5 elements on the lower table.. They play by calling out coordinates. If they miss they put an X on the spot they chose on the upper table. If they get a hit, they circle it. They can continue playing until one person sinks all of another person’s ships.

-via Technabob

(Photo: Wicki)

Now, which way do we turn to find Nazis? If you glance quickly at this sign in Kamakura, Japan, you might think that they're everywhere. Johnny of the blog Spoon & Tamago understands your confusion:

When we moved to Japan in the early 80s my dad, a Jewish New Yorker from the Bronx, quickly realized that he had made a terrible mistake. “We’re surrounded by Nazi’s,” he proclaimed, wide-eyed, as we all stared at a map of our local neighborhood in Koenji. He was, of course, looking at the manji symbol (卍), a reverse swastika that could understandably be mistaken for the symbol of Nazi Germany, instead of its intended representation of Buddhist temples.

Once foreign travelers have calmed down about the Nazi menace, they still have problems. A lot of the street signs common to Japan are non-intuitive to outsiders. That's why the country is changing many of its standard navigational signs:

In Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, the lovable rogue Han Solo is a dad. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I imagine that Han probably rags on his son Kylo Ren in an affectionate way. That's how dads build good relationships with their kids.

Ben, guess why your mother always picks where the rebels hide out Because she knows how to Leia low! Your mother is a treasure

— Dad Joke Han Solo (@dadjokehansolo) January 12, 2016

The movie has inspired Peter Chiykowski, the artist for the webcomic Rock, Paper, Cynic, to create a Twitter feed filled with Han Solo's lame dad jokes.

Lock Block Ltd. uses a mortarless stone concrete block system to assemble enormous and strong forms. The truck in particular in this demonstration video is a fascinating design. The back appears to be covered with rollers that serve as braces as the blocks are set into an interlocked arch. The roller back looks like it’s tapered, so the truck smoothly exits a section of tunnel by driving forward.

Also, the construction blocks look almost exactly like Lego pieces:

True crime murder mysteries, like Serial and Making a Murderer, are very popular these days. Would you like to compose a murder mystery that appeals to modern audiences? Then you need a hip way to have your protagonist knock off the victim—especially if you’re chasing the advertising dollars thrown at millennials.

Tom Gauld shows you how in this cartoon for The Guardian. I’m glad that my idea—bludgeoned to death by a gluten-free selfie stick—isn’t already taken.

(Charlie Higson)

Similarly, if you need to kill a werewolf, shoot him with a silver bullet. If that kills him, then you know that you knocked off a werewolf.

All you need is a command of basic science and logic to dispatch most hidden enemies in your midst. Charlie Higson illustrates this in an everyday life hack.

-via Geek Art Gallery

(Photo: CCTVNews)

Rocket News 24 accurately describes the story as “like something straight out of a Studio Ghibli film.” Kana Harada, a high school student, is the only passenger who uses the Kyu-Shirataki Station in a rural area of northern Japan.

Every school day, Harada’s parents drive her to the station, which is a few minutes from their home. She’s usually 1 of 10 students on the train at the time. From her station, it takes Harada an hour to arrive at her school. She uses that time to study, read, or listen to music.

Japan Rail Hokkaido recently announced plans to close that station. But after learning of Harada’s solitary use of the station, the company has decided to keep it open until she graduates this March.

(Photo: Caromont Farm)

Caromont Farm in Alebemarle County, Virginia is a dairy. It raises goats and uses their milk to make cheese.

The staff expects that about 90 kids will be born in February. They’ll need round-the-clock care for a while, with snuggles and bottle feedings every 4 hours. The baby goats will have lots of hay, little sweaters, and heaters. But they’ll still need some tender loving care that only humans can provide.

So the farm is asking for volunteers to take 4-hour snuggle shifts. You can find the sign-up list here.

-via Dave Barry

Does the world glitch like a bad video in front of you? Can you be sure that you’re experiencing reality? Maybe not after looking at the sculptures of Paul Kaptein. He carves real life visual glitches out of wood. His forms are ordinary, but warped in unsettling ways. They’re fascinating juxtapositions of old technology with new and fantasy with reality.

(Video Link)

Ross Marquand is an actor and impersonator. When you need someone to pretend to be Matthew McConaughey eating food off the floor, then you call this guy.

In this video for Vanity Fair magazine, Marquand offers 17 quick impersonations of celebrities doing very specific things. Each one is precisely right. If you imagine what Harrison Ford would look like while struggling to finish a sneeze that just won’t go all the way through, it’s exactly what Marquand presents.

He also shows Liam Neeson navigating an automated phone system, Antonio Banderas forgetting a password, and Michael Caine trying to open a jar.

-via reddit

Philip Traber isn't just a bartender. He's an artist with glass and liquor. His YouTube channel is filled with amazing trick shots of him making shots, such as these 14 Jägerbombs.

(Video Link)

Traber begins by stacking the glasses vertically, then pouring Jägermeister into the rims. He doesn't make a mess in the process, though I'm at a loss to understand how.

Then Traber pours the Jägermeister into what look like sherry glasses simultaneously from a horizontal position. Again, he doesn't spill a drop. With a tap, he sends these glasses into the beer glasses. You are now ready to drink.

-via That's Nerdalicious!

(Video Link)

Queen's majestic song "Bohemian Rhapsody" turned 40 last year. To mark the occasion, the British newspaper The Guardian arranged this video showing interpretations of the classic song by the Trinity Boys Choir, the English National Ballet, and the Royal Academy of Music's string quartet. Their contributions are as beautiful as the original song.

I'm especially taken with this thrilling moment by the string quartet.

-via TYWKIWDBI

Instructables member caitlinsdad has a wide range of interests and crafts, including jalapeño poppers with tails, a shelf that looks like the Enterprise, and a theremin bra that plays Star Wars music.

His latest project is equally fashionable and practical. This scarf measures and displays the temperature. It has a temperature sensor and a strip of LEDs that glow incrementally with an Arduino controller as the sensor indicates greater heat.

-via Hack A Day

Gimli, son of Glóin and member of the Fellowship of the Ring, was a simple dwarf of simple tastes and so preferred a simple long-stemmed pipe. But Instagram member SV Pipes Design in Tirana, Albania has more refined desires and the skills to match. He carved this ornate design that looks like the great hero of The Lord of the Rings.

-via Technabob

Follow only if ye be men of valor, for the entrance to this cave is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived! Bones of four fifty men lie strewn about its lair. So, brave knights, if you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for death awaits you all with nasty big pointy teeth!

Wait--it's nothing to be concerned about. This isn't the monster of the cave of Caerbannog. A friend of redditor brokebackhill just gave her rabbit a cherry. That's all.

-via Robb Allen