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Parry Gripp took a minute of footage from a nature documentary and turned it into a music video for a song about a pathetically lazy harp seal. The harp seal is utterly devoid of ambition or material possessions. But strangely, women find him attractive.

You can watch the original video below the jump.

-via The Mary Sue | Parry Gripp's Website

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Who would ever think of using a jawbreaker as a sculpting material? YouTube user hifijohn did. In this long, meditative video, he gently shapes one mounted on a lathe. It gradually takes the shape of an elegant cup.

-via Boing Boing

Even a four-wheel drive truck isn't going to make it over high, shifting sand dunes. That's why design student Frederic Schwab thinks that an ambulance for the roughest desert terrain should be pulled by a camel. He envisions that a doctor would sit in the shaded cockpit and navigate by GPS. Compartments behind the cockpit, as well as additional cases strapped to the camel, would contain medical supplies.

Link -via Oddity Central | Schwab's Blog

Florence is a nurse shark who lives in an aquarium in Birmingham, UK. She's a strict vegetarian. Even when her caretakers wrap fish in lettuce, she turns away from it. Instead, she competes with other herbivores for plants:

Florence’s mouth is filled with razor-sharp, serrated teeth designed for demolishing fish and crustaceans.

Instead she uses them for pulping broccoli and cabbage and any other greens she can steal from fellow ocean tank resident Molokai the green turtle.

I suspect that she simply hasn't encountered bacon yet.

News Story and More Pictures -via Dave Barry

Photo: Birmingham National Sea Life Center

If you want to climb out of that garbage compactor, you'll need some sturdy handholds. Hang Fast volumes makes several appropriate ones, including volumes that are shaped like the Death Star, R2-D2's head, and the Millennium Falcon.

Link -via Technabob

Computer engineer Jeri Ellsworth built an electric bass into the body of a Commodore 64. Here she is with it at the ongoing Maker Faire in San Mateo, California. And yes, she's wearing roller skates.

Another Photo | Ellsworth's Twitter Feed | Maker Faire | Photo: Blake Maloof

How do you get really good at anything? Practice, practice, practice.

That's hard to manage with dueling. So in the first few years of the Twentieth Century, a Parisian doctor named de Villers founded a school where ambitious men could develop their dueling skills without dying. This was an age before paintball guns, so they used pistols that fired wax bullets:

This remarkable academy is conducted by Dr. de Villers, and combats frequently take place there by way of practice. In these mimic duels wire masks are worn to protect the face and bullets made of wax are used, so that no injury may be sustained by the combatants. In all other respects, however, the conduct of the affair is carried through as on the “field of honour,” so that when the time comes — if it ever does come — for the scholars to take part in a serious duel they may acquit themselves with credit to themselves and disaster to their adversary — although this latter point is not of much importance.

Link -via Say Uncle | Photo: Bartitsu Society

The fourth Star Trek series, Voyager, told the story of a ship and its crew hurled to the opposite side of the galaxy. At the best possible speed, it would take 75 years for them to return home -- if they completed the journey at all. From 1995 to 2001, we watched their tales of comradeship, courage and inventiveness. Here are ten things you might not know about the show.

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1. Kate Mulgrew, who played Captain Janeway, was not the first pick for that role. She only got it after another actress quit two days into shooting of the first episode. Here’s a scene shot with Geneviève Bujold, the first actress to portray Janeway. 2. In the original series bible, Tom Paris was a Small Attack Vessel pilot after graduating from Starfleet Academy. During a wargame, he accidentally killed another officer. Paris lied and blamed the dead man. When investigators uncovered his lie, Starfleet dismissed him from the service. This story is very similar to the Next Generation episode "The First Duty." In that episode, a young Starfleet cadet named Nicholas Locarno accidentally killed another pilot during training, then lied about it. Both Nicholas Locarno and Tom Paris were played by the same actor -- Robert Duncan McNeill. 3. Tom Paris’s middle name is Eugene in honor of Gene Roddenberry.

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4. King Abdullah II of Jordan appeared as an unnamed ensign in the episode “Investigations.”

If there's something more powerful than the Force, it's the brain of an 800-year old Time Lord. Artist Benoît Dromby shows the Doctor quickly and gracefully ending a lightsaber duel.

Link -via io9

In 1914, malaria was a serious public health threat to the people of San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Charles Campbell figured that the best way to reduce the mosquito population was with bats. So he built this giant roost for bats to live in.

But what do you do if you've got too many bats? Then you need to attract eagles with knives -- as many as possible -- in order to kill off the bats.

Link -via Offbeat Home | Photo: George Grantham Bain Collection

While taking pictures in Västerbotten, Sweden, Dutch photographer Han Bouwmeester failed to maintain control of his weapon. And this golden eagle took it from him.

The rising has begun. Prepare yourselves.

Link (Google Translate) -via Joe Carter | Photographer's Website

From 1980 to 1991, Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly's Raw was a major venue for underground comics. Many aspiring artists submitted work to them in order to (presumably) have their hopes and dreams crushed. This was the editors' standard rejection letter. Be sure to read the second page at the link, where the editors twist the knife.

Link

Liberty Bell High School in Winthrop, Washington recently began offering classes in welding. Seniors there put their skills to good use by cutting a truck in half, then welding it back together around a column -- all without damaging the column.

Link -via Dave Barry | Photo: Komo News

UPDATE 4/19/12:



A reader, who asks that her name be withheld, emails:

That’s my Boy!!!

Thank you very much for helping to make this wonderful prank a sensation. My son is the mastermind behind the well executed hilarious Senior Prank.

He’s on his way to college next to get his AA in Automotive technologies.

I’m the one that sent the pics and story to the news.

That's not a Beetle, but a Fiat. And it was parked right in front of the headquarters of Volkswagen's Swedish division as a Google Street View car drove by.

Alternatively, as one MArooned commenter points out, maybe the car isn't parked. Maybe that's just where it broke down.

It is, after all, a Fiat.

Link -via MArooned

This Insanewich brings a touch of class to a common sandwich. It's ham, salami, capaccolo, pancetta and various cheeses served in an elegant, if awkward manner. This one is paired with a Barolo -- an Italian red wine.

Link -via That's Nerdalicious!