So it's the last transit of Venus across the sun in our lifetimes.

I dunno. Kinda of...boring, actually. There are cat videos on YouTube. I think that I'll go back to them.

Link -via Gizmodo | Photo: Mario R.

Some irresponsible hunters eat just the best parts of the Ewok--rump roast, drumsticks, flank steak--and throw the rest of the carcass away. But not Etsy seller Crissy Baker, who made full use of several Ewok hides to create this lovely dress. It even comes with a matching hood so that you can almost look like a real Ewok.

There's also Chewbacca's bandoleer. No explanation of how she got that. Presumably she didn't let the Wookiee win.

Link -via Walyou

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Arden McMath started to black out on the track toward the end of the 3,200-meter race. Her competitor, 17-year old Meghan Vogel of West Liberty, Ohio, saw her struggling. Vogel could have passed McNath, but instead she put her arm around her and guided her to the finish line. Vogel's spontaneous act of sportmanship has won her widespread praise:

It’s an honor and very humbling,” Vogel said in a telephone interview from her West Liberty home. “I just thought I was doing the right thing, and I think others would have done the same.”

But McMath, 16, of Findlay, said in a telephone interview from her northwestern Ohio home that she’s not so sure.

“I’ really don’t think just everyone would have done that,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe what she did — especially pushing me in front of her — and I’m so grateful.”

Link -via reddit

No matter where we go, we should always have tampons with us. Yes, fellas, even we men should do so. It may keep us alive. Creek Stewart, an expert on wilderness survival, has thought of ten practical uses for tampons in the wild. They can be used to make animal snares, blow darts, fire tinder, water filters, fishing bobs and more. So put a tampon in your pocket and make it a part of your everyday carry.

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This beautiful work illuminating the Brooklyn skyline is artist Tom Fruin's collection of plexiglass recycled from buildings and projects around New York City. It won't hold water, but it does come with access ladders and a functional roof hatch.

Link -via Gizmodo | Artist's Website | Photo: Robert Banat

Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin is best known for the Rubin Vase -- an optical illusion that looks like either two faces or a vase. Here's a real vase that was created for Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977. When positioned just right, one side shows the Queen and the other the Prince Consort. You can find it at the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions museum in Edinburgh.

Link -via My Modern Met | Photo: Camera Obscura and World of Illusions

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I've heard that tattoos can be removed with lasers, but I had no idea that it could be done so quickly. In just a few minutes, huge swaths of this man's sleeve tattoo vanish.

More Information -via OhGizmo!

During her sixty years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II has worn many different colors. Oh, not every color in Pantone's color inventory, but a lot of them. To mark her Diamond Jubilee, Pantone and designer Lee Burnett made this color wheel that helps you match a color with a queen.

Link -via Craft

It's best to let your car drip dry on a clothesline for an hour or so after washing. The art collective Generik Vapeur illustrated this at the Flurstücke 011 festival last year in Münster, Germany.

Link -via Colossal | Festival Website | Art Collective Website | Photo: Ingeborg

Poor R5-D4. To millions of Star Wars fans, he'll be known as just an inferior droid with a bad motivator -- not a Jedi knight who sacrificed himself for the good of the rebellion. Hopefully fans will see Chris Hill's tattoo and learn of the nobility of that little R5 unit.

Link -via Fashionably Geek

My first thought was that the balloons are fake and the desk is attached a strut that is bolted to the ceiling. But no: those are real, helium/hydrogen-filled balloons. This reception desk at the Dublin-based ad agency Boys and Girls is held aloft by balloons that are made to remain permanently inflated. The other end of the table is propped up on giant Jenga blocks.

Link -via Swiss Miss | Photo: Boys and Girls

UPDATE 6/5/12: Two commenters provide good reasons to think that the balloons really are fake.

Do we want to fight the aliens? No. They have ability to cross the depths of space and and probably comparable destructive abilities (but possibly not). We have to fight them with the technology that we have, despite its limitations.

So let's ask ourselves: what can we field now -- or in the near future -- that could be used to good effect against a spaceborne invasion? Foreign Policy magazine has several proposals now being frantically examined by DARPA. Among them is a missile defense laser system that can be mounted on fighter jets:

From studying footage of TIE-fighters and Cylon Raiders, we know that small alien craft may have the upper hand on even our most advanced jets when it comes to maneuverability. So when our flyboys or flygirls have alien fighters bearing down on their six, let's hope they're outfitted with this under-development project from DARPA that aims to "improve the performance of high energy lasers on tactical aircraft against targets" -- such as an incoming missile -- "in the aft field of regard." It might not win the dogfight, but it can buy us enough time for the cavalry to arrive.

Link -via Glenn Reynolds | Image: DARPA

Which clever inventions will shape life in the next few decades? The editors of the New York Times have 32 suggestions, including a monitor that reduces eye strain and improves your posture:

If you slump down when you’re typing on an ErgoSensor monitor by Philips, it’ll suggest that you sit up straighter. To help office workers avoid achy backs and tired eyes, the device’s built-in camera follows the position of your pupils to determine how you are sitting. Are you too close? Is your neck tilted too much? Algorithms crunch the raw data from the sensor and tell you how to adjust your body to achieve ergonomic correctness. The monitor can also inform you that it’s time to stand up and take a break, and it will automatically power down when it senses that you’ve left.

Read the rest at the link. Which one do you think will have the most impact on your life?

Link -via @BrainPicker | Image: Philips

For real estate agent Bob Egan, it's all about preserving history:

Manhattan is constantly being torn down and rebuilt anew, and I'm trying to find these places while they are still around.

That's why he scours the streets of New York City to find the precise locations that album cover photos were made. The cover of Bob Dylan's iconic 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited was shot at 4 Gramercy Park West. Egan didn't just do a simple Google search to find that information, but engaged in careful detective work. You can read his research stories at the link.

Link -via Flavorwire

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This is wonderful! Just because people can't see doesn't mean they can't play a competitive sport. Beep Baseball uses beeping softballs and bases to tell players when to swing the bat and where to find the bases. The pitcher is on the offensive team and an announcer calls out the location of balls hit into the field. Otherwise, it's almost identical to softball.

-via TYWKIWDBI