Light stenciling is like light graffiti, except that it uses stencils for greater control. Wittner Fabrice is a master of the craft and used his skills to create portraits in Vietnam. The people look like phantoms moving through the night.

Link | Artist's Website | How Light Stencils Work

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The highly entertaining Vi Hart is back with another episode of Doodling in Math Class. Her videos are fun to watch, clear and easy to understand, and express the joy of scientific discovery:

This pattern is not just useful, not just beautiful, but inevitable. This is why science and mathematics are so much fun. You discover things that seem impossible to be true and then get to figure out why it's impossible for them to not be.

-via Make

Related: a wonderful cartoon by Abstruse Goose that makes the same point.

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Joanna Montgomery invented Pillow Talk, a system for lovers who are far apart. Each person wears a chest belt that measures his/her heartbeat. A transmitter sends that rhythm to a pillow. Just hold it close to feel, in a small way, together.

Link -via The Mary Sue

Latin is a dead language, as dead as it can be. It killed the ancient Romans,and now it's killing me!

But it's payback time. In July, The International Botanical Congress voted to relax the rules that required that all new plant species be described in Latin. This move breaks with a tradition that botanists had maintained since the Renaissance. James Miller, a botanist at the New York Botanical Garden, explained why this change makes sense:

Miller is a big fan of the relaxed rule, which, along with another measure allowing species to be published in electronic journals alone, will remove bottlenecks in the process of getting new flora out there.

When he published the discovery of a small tropical tree called Cordia koemarae, he had to write a Latin description that ran to 100 words and included: “Folia persistentia; laminae anisophyllae, foliis majoribus ellipticis.” Roughly translated: The tree hangs on to its leaves, which vary by size. The bigger leaf blades are elliptical.

“The bottom line is that only a tiny percentage of us really learn much Latin and are really capable of writing a grammatically correct description,” he said. “It’s an additional encumbrance.”

Link -via @brainpicker | Image of the Roman poet Virgil via QuartierLatin1968

Master case modder Brian Carter made this amazing case. It includes rollbars, a USB-powered beverage cooler disguised as a first aid kit, and a spinning imitation minigun. Yes, that is a fake minigun. But we'll probably see real ones on the next generation of super case mods. Look at more pictures and a video at the link.

Link

Remember the experiment in which people didn't wash their jeans for three months? Just think about how long you could prolong washing if you wore jeans that released a perfume when scratched. Shoot, why even bother taking a shower? You're wearing sweet-smelling jeans. Let them do their magic.

Link -via DVICE | Photo: Naked & Famous Denim

Previously: Scratch & Sniff Business Suit

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The awesomest viral video of the day is this gem hosted by YouTube user sillysparrowness. She built a (nonfunctional model of a) TARDIS. Why? "A woman isn't complete without her own TARDIS."

The construction is good, but her hilarious presentation and video editing make this the best home TARDIS construction project ever. She'd be a great companion for the Doctor.

-via Boing Boing

This majestic coffee table is one that only a true Trekkie could appreciate because it's modeled on the obscure Enterprise-C. Barry Shields (up!) built it to appear in forward motion and suspended in space.

Link -via Technabob

Melanie Janem is a modern day Prometheus, shining a sugary light into the darkness of our stomachs. Let us be thankful.

Link -via That's Nerdalicious! | Previously: Death by Oreo Cupcake

Although these rolls look simple, the instructions that food blogger Von provides show how complex is the work of a sushi chef. These are made from tomato-flavored tuna.

Link -via Theresa Coleman

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This ad for Moe's Southwestern Grill shows either how terrible or awesome microwaves are. I had no idea that bar soap would do that in a microwave.

Question: what would happen if you tried to microwave a microwave?

-via NotCot

You can't take your dog into grocery stores, so where do you put him? If you tie him up outside, someone could steal him. The Hundehiet is one solution from Norway. Just stick your dog inside while you shop and pick him up when you're done.

Link -via Technabob | Photo: Henrick Eriksson

Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Jaws and Chief Brody. Ronald McDonald and the Burger King. They aren't destined to be enemies. All they need is to show each other a little love, as Ingrid Aspöck's cartoons illustrate. You should do likewise! Hug the next person that you see.

Link -via Bit Rebels | Artist's Website

It's called the Floating Flamer, and the design is simple but ingenious. Why bother leaving the pool to get fresh, hot burgers and steaks? Just swim over. The Floating Flamer is available in two models and, here's the kicker: this is the smaller one.

Link -via Gizmodo | Product Website

Dan Beckemeyer added needle felted muscles and blood vessels to anatomical diagrams. It's like the drawings are coming to life.

Link -via Colossal