Redditor alison_bee photographed these bizarre clouds over Birmingham, Alabama. I planned to go with the end of the world as an explanation, but another redditor, claiming to be a meteorologist, explains what's happening in more scientific terms:

What is happening is that the nocturnal near-surface layers (lowest 50-100m) of the atmosphere are much more stable than the layers above it in the mornings. Until the ground heats up due to daytime heating, the surface layers stay more stable than the air over it. Kelvin-Helmholtz waves occur when the wind shear between the layers destabilizes the topmost portion of that stable layer, and entrains the air into the unstable layer. What you see is stable air being lifted, cooled, and condensed so that this process becomes visible, though this commonly happens many places without being visible.

I'd also like to note that this is different from gravity waves as stated elsewhere as these are completely shear induced while gravity waves are usually from lifting buoyant air into a stable region and gravity pulling that air back down. When that air is pulled back down, it can overshoot it's location of being stable, and a wave pattern forms.

Link -via Geekosystem (where there's a video)

"Logan, you're lucky it didn't cut your eye! Those claws have been known to kill people!" Draw 2D2 invited artists to submit their mashups of Marvel Comics and the classic movie A Christmas Story. Check out the rest at the link.

Link -via io9 | Image: Justin LaRocca Hansen

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There's nothing old fashioned about this pinball game! CT Light Concept projected a pinball game called "Urban Flipper" on the front of the Théâtre des Célestins in Lyon, France. The bumpers, kickers, and targets make use of the features on the theater's facade.

Link -via NotCot

This is what champagne looks like through a microscope. About twenty-five years ago, Michael Davidson, a scientist at Florida State University, started putting alcoholic beverages under his microscope and taking beautiful pictures of what he saw. The results are lovely, especially after a few shots.

http://www.bevshots.com/prints.html -via Nag on the Lake

deviantART user amanda04 did a fine job recreating Charles Schulz's characters on her own fingernails. Lucy doesn't look happy. In amanda04's gallery, you can find other fingernail images from Peanuts.

Link

There'll be no shortage of players at your next tabletop role-playing game campaign! New rule: if you roll the highest value, you get to eat the die. Ariel Segall built a custom mold to bake chocolate dice. At the link, you can find her step-by-step instructions for the project.

Link -via Geek Dad | Photo: Ariel Segall

Periscopes may be best known now for their use on submarines, but clever inventors have found other uses for them as well through history. Here's one that creates an illusion. The uninformed viewer thinks that he's looking through a rock! Check out eight other clever or silly uses for periscopes at the link.

Link -via Gizmodo | Image via Kenyon College

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Show off both your mad video game skills and your muscular body with this modified Nintendo Entertainment System controller. Brian Kaminski's interface lets you control Mario's movements by flexing your biceps and forearms. His instructions at the link show you how to build one that just plugs into a USB port.

Link -via DVICE

In 1995, Kevin Costner released Waterworld, a grand post-apocalyptic movie which he produced, directed, and even starred in. It was, at that point, the most expensive movie ever made. And it was a considered an utter flop. The movie made back less than half of its cost domestically. Overseas revenues ultimately made up the cost of the movie, but Waterworld still has a reputation as a failure.

Yet for Costner, it wasn't. The movie inspired him to learn more about separating oil from water and he decided to invest in emerging oil spill cleanup technologies:

He purchased a company — including some intellectual property — from the U.S. government for $20 million. The technology? A machine which uses centrifugal force to separate oil from water. Costner’s partner, the company’s CEO John Houghtaling, called the machine a “kind of like a big vacuum cleaner.”

For 15 years, he and his business partners refined the technology, waiting for the next great oil spill disaster. When the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Costner and team were ready to spring into action. They offered their technology, which allegedly can separate 97 to 99% of the oil out of water at the rate of 200 gallons a minute, to BP. BP ended up buying 32 of the machines as part of the on-going cleanup at an unreported price.

Link | Image: Universal Pictures

There's only so much survival gear that you can easily carry. That's what makes Doug and Chelsey Luehr's invention so awesome. The whole thing unravels into 80 feet of 550 strength paracord that you can use to MacGyver your way out of whatever mess you've gotten yourself into.

Link -via Boing Boing

Hubcap trees are, of course, a pre-Christian pagan tradition from Europe. But they remain popular symbols of Christmas to this day. Champion Auto Sales in Arundel, Maine participated in the ancient tradition by erecting this one.

Link -via Dude Craft | Photo: Champion Auto Sales

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Stefan Kanetis's mother loved her life as a dancer, but paid a price for it when she was in her later years. The wear and tear on her body made it difficult for her to get around. Her doctor suggested swimming, but getting in and out of a pool would be very difficult. So Mr. Kanetis invented a pool with a floor that raised and lowered. The end result was this amazing pool that is perfect for your inner James Bond villain.

Link -via Super Punch

A man in Vermont is accused of vandalizing his ex-girlfriend's car. He would have gotten away with carving the word "slut" into her car, except that he misspelled it as "sult". The woman identified him as the likely perpetrator, so the police called the man into their station to question him:

Police called Hall into the station and issued him a citation. Hall denied any involvement with the vandalism, but when asked to write the sentence “You are a slut,” on a piece of paper, Hall wrote “You are a sult,” instead. The misspelling matched that of the vandalism.

Stay in school, kids, and pay attention in English class. It pays off in the long run.

Link -via Althouse | Photo: Flickr user Shayne Kaye

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YouTube user Hickok45, who we've seen previously seen carving a jack-o'-lantern with a Glock, knows how to use tools in unorthodox ways. He starts out trying to chop down a small Christmas tree with a heavy knife but then adds a unique "attachment" that gets the job done.

-via Everyday, No Days Off

Even typographers need to prepare for the inevitable rising of the undead. To encourage them, Avery Oldfield, Jack Inscoe and Amanda Dockery made a typeface that reminds them to get ready with every word that they read. Visit the link and type in your own text to see what your words look like in fetid corpses.

Link -via Jeremy Durocher

Then visit our Zombie Shop to find the right gift for the walking dead in your life.