The New York Post reports that an Ecuadorian restaurant has opened in the Corona neighborhood of Queens. Le Casa Del Guy -- "the house of the guinea pig" -- has become famous for its focus on a staple of Ecuadorian cuisine: the guinea pig.

Guinea pigs raised for food are usually larger than those raised to be pets, weighing about two and a half pounds and measuring sixteen inches long. They can be quite expensive, sometimes over $100 a plate. That's because the restaurant management has to have the guinea pigs shipped from Ecuador then inspected. It might be cheaper to raise them domestically.

-via Dave Barry | Photo: La Casa del Cuy

Altas Obscura tells us about the S.S. Relief--the formal name for an outhouse that floats in Lake Casitas near Ventura, California. The artificial lake is an important water reservoir for the thirsty people of southern California, so the Casitas Municipal Water District takes its cleanliness very seriously.

The lake is popular among boaters and fishermen. After a few hours out on the water, people need to relieve themselves. They can then paddle up to the S.S. Relief, which is a 2-seater outhouse that floats on the surface of the water. The waste is contained on the barge, so there's no contamination of the lake's purity.

Night is a sculpture on the tomb of Giuliano de Medici, the Duke of Urbino, in the city of Florence. Michelangelo carved it between 1526 and 1531 and composed these lines to place in the mouth of this personification of the night:

Precious is sleep, better to be of stone,
while the oppression and the shame still last;
not seeing and not hearing, I am blest;
so do not wake me, hush! keep your voice down

In a 2000 letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, James J. Stark and Jonathan Katz Nelson argue that the model that Michelanglo used likely had advanced breast cancer. Her left breast has lumps indicative of a tumor in the nipple or the lymphatics beneath the nipple. As these shapes are not present in the other female breasts that Michelanglo composed, it's likely that this shape reflects, tragically, the model herself.

-via TYWKIWDBI

The USS Thomas A. Edison was an Ethan Allen-class ballistic missile submarine in the service of the United States Navy from 1961 until 1983. Although submarines, especially boomers, are supposed to prize silence, the Edison was built with a fully functional piano that remained in use throughout the boat's service.

The Naval Submarine League reports that Steinway and Sons made the custom upright piano for the Navy, which installed the huge instrument during the submarine's construction. Crew members who knew how to play it did so and the piano was often the centerpiece of musical performances conducted by the crew.

The piano was removed when the Edison was scrapped. Veterans of the boat rescued the piano from destruction and arranged for its restoration. It's now in the Steinway and Sons Museum in New York.

-via U.S. Naval Institute

Spikeball is a recently-invented game that developed from volleyball. A webpage from Southern Arkansas University summarizes the rules. Two teams of two players each surround a circular let. Each person bounces a ball toward his/her partner. The partners can touch the ball up to three times before it must be served again at the net.

As you can see, this is similar to volleyball. But one core difference is that there are no fixed sides. Players can move around each other, seeking the best angles to serve and receive the ball. When one team loses control over the ball, the other team receives a point.

-via Massimo

We mentioned a few years ago that Japan planned to build and deploy wooden satellites. The first of these, dubbed LingoSat, arrived on Tuesday at the International Space Station on a SpaceX vehicle. Space.com describes it as a small cube--just four inches on a side. It's a substantial innovation in space exploration because that it is made of wood.*

Most satellites are made of aluminum, which causes environmental damage when satellites burn up in the atmosphere at the end of their use. The designers at Kyoto University and a Japanese logging firm hope that wood components can offer practical alternatives to metals.

-via Marginal Revolution

*This is, by the way, why witches burn.

The Campuestohan Highland Resort is a lovely venue on the Philippine island of Negros. Standing at the summit of the hill that is at the center of the resort is a building shaped like a massive chicken. This modern Colossus of Rhodes stands over 114 feet tall and contains 15 hotel rooms. That size has secured it a Guinness World Record, as well as the awe of all who survey its majesty.

Astonishingly, from concept to groundbreaking took just six months and the total construction under a year and a half, thus displaying the can-do attitude of the Filipino people. Look upon these works, ye mighty, and despair.

-via Dave Barry | Photos: Guinness World Records

Yuki Kojima is a Japanese musician who specializes in the street organ--a hand-cranked instrument that uses bellows to pump air through pipes. I don't think that it takes advanced skill to operate one--it's a sort of music box that uses cardboard segments as a control mechanism. But probably creating the cards is a demanding task worthy of a skilled artisan.

Kojima's YouTube channel has many popular tunes from video games, such as Chrono Trigger and Super Mario Bros. But classic hard rock is my preference and music doesn't get any better than "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC.

-via Laughing Squid

Dindin, a guinea pig who lives in Paris, has the same reaction that I do when listening to Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune." It's incredibly soothing for my skittish soul that is always looking around for predators to avoid and food to eat. Watch him sit on his human's piano and enjoy a private performance.

-via Massimo

Hospitalization is especially stressful for children, which is why children's hospitals search for means to maintain the emotional well-being of their patients. To that end, Glasgow Children's Hospital in Scotland has a "gamer-in-residence" who plays video games with children.

BBC News introduces us to Steven Mair, who is a full-time, professional gamer who wheels gaming consoles into kids' rooms and plays with them. Donations raised by the local community and the gaming industry pay his salary, permitting him to focus on the needs of the children. This program provides social interaction and entertainment to kids in often dire medical conditions.

-via Kottke

This one goes out to all the ketchup lovers out there. Everyone I’ve shared it with either thinks it is awesome or gross. Nothing in between. Also some interesting science stuff happening . . . pic.twitter.com/1hNapN6oRs

— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) October 23, 2024

Commander Matthew Dominick (USN), an American astronaut on the International Space Station, demonstrates his advanced knowledge of physics by squirting ketchup directly into his mouth. In the absence of Earth-level gravity, the fluid pours into his mouth, then pools into a tower of tomato-y goodness on his chin. Popular Science prudently warns us that this video, once seen, cannot be unseen.

-via Dave Barry

X user Nicole Ruiz shares this photo from the recent New York City Marathon. I'm 99% certain that I have identified the woman and found her on Instagram, but will refrain from naming her as she may prefer to remain private.

Anyway, the lady is an innovator. She wants a boyfriend and offers a QR code that links to her Instagram page. This is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that helps break out of the glutted dating market. She's direct about what she wants and markets herself in a novel and attention-getting fashion. If I were single, I might try this at an anime fandom convention (although with perhaps different results).

On reddit, /u/Otherwise_Finger_166 asks what this symbol means. One joker suggests, "This side up," but the black triangle actually designates an important location called William Shatner's Seat.

The New York Post explains that it is from this location that aircraft crew can get the best view of the wing and thereby assess its condition. The presence of ice could necessitate a change of plans.

Why is it named after William Shatner? Before Star Trek, Shatner starred in a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone titled "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." Shatner is an aircraft passenger sitting over the wing who sees a creature tearing up the plane. Prudent aircraft designers have clearly learned from that episode how important it is to get the best view of the wings.

-via Massimo

The fabric arts are, nowadays, a mostly feminine space. But they don't have to be. There is a space for men to carve out, sometimes literally, and artist Brochet shows us the way. His Instagram page is filled with astonishingly vivid creations in yarn with an emphasis on weapons and the gore that they create.

You want a brain ripped from its braincase? Brochet can provide. How about a bow and arrow? According to this video, they actually work.

Most recently, Brochet made this chainsaw and boomstick set for a realistic Army of Darkness costume that secured him and his companion a Best Couples Costume award at a cosplay competition. Ash would be proud to go into battle with them.

Inventions are often used for purposes other than their original intention. Chainsaws, for example, were conceived of as surgical instruments. Maxipads were designed to soak up blood from wounds (handy, if you misuse a chainsaw).

Similarly, canned crescent rolls can be put to uses other than as mere baked crescent rolls. Takeout has a roundup of 13 uses for canned crescent roll dough, including to make beignets, apple dumplings, and breakfast casserole. My favorite, though, is s'mores made with crescent roll dough as demonstrated by the food blog Lemon Tree Dwelling.

Slightly off topic: I recently used canned crescent rolls as part of a set of ongoing culinary experiments. These have been successful and I plan to, in about a month, inflict upon the world an original recipe that will offend half of you and delight the other half.