Pigs don't sweat much, so they wallow in the mud to cool off their bodies. So how did the English language expression "sweating like a pig" develop? It's actually a reference to pig iron, which is form of iron smelting:

When pig iron is originally created from iron ore, the smelter needs to heat the ore to extreme temperatures, and then move the liquid metal into the mold. Until the liquid cools, it can't be safely moved, as the extremely hot metal is liable to spill, burning whatever it comes in contact with.

How does the smelter know when the metal is cool enough to transport? When the "pigs" "sweat." As the metal cools, the air around it reaches the dew point, causing droplets to form on the metal's surface.

Link | Photo via Flickr user The Pug Father used under Creative Commons license

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Kim Pimmel placed a magnet in the middle of a pile of soap bubbles and then poured ferrofluid along the outer edge. Watch magnetic forces pull the ferrofluid through the bubbles! It's an amazing demonstration of the use of macro lenses and time-lapse photography. -via Colossal

Drew Robarge, a technician at the National Museum of American History in Washington, came upon a unique pair of eyeglasses. They were donated to the museum in 1982, but otherwise, he has learned nothing about them. Well, given the story expressed in the updated BSG, I think that it's likely that these are at least 150,000 years old and probably belonged to a crew member of the original Galactica.

Link -via blastr | Photo: Smithsonian

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Patton Oswalt's book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland includes his reflections on the impact of role-playing games upon his life. This is followed by a lengthy poem entitled "The Song of Ulvaak," which is about one of Oswalt's own characters. Allie Goetz, who composed the Dungeons & Dragons song "Tonight," has put the poem into music. It's a lovely, haunting poem, especially as Ulvaak becomes aware of his true nature.

-via Uniblog

For a century, Russia and the United States have considered building a tunnel or a bridge across the 64-mile Bering Strait -- the body of water that separates Siberia and Alaska. Now the Russian government is making serious plans to build a transcontinental railway and tunnel system at the cost of $65 billion:

Russian officials insist that the tunnel is an economic idea whose time has now come and that it could be ready within ten years. They argue that it would repay construction costs by stimulating up to 100 million tons of freight traffic each year, as well as supplying oil, gas and electricity from Siberia to the US and Canada.[...]

The tunnel across the international date-line would be built in three sections through two islands in the Bering Strait and would link 6,000km (3,728 miles) of new railway lines. The tunnel alone would cost an estimated $10-12 billion to construct.

Link -via Gizmodo | Image: St. John Fisher College

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Benjamin Krempel founded a company called PumpTire, which is marketing a rather unique bicycle tire. It has a partially open tube on the outer circumference. As the wheel turns, it opens and closes the tube, which draws air from the outside and pumps it into the interior of the tire. When the tire reaches maximum pressure, it shuts off. In a test ride featured in the video, the tire inflated from 22 to 52 psi after three and a half minutes of riding. Link -via DVICE

A Webshots user who goes by the name gothamtradingcompany makes high-quality tables with popular themes. He's made a few Batman tables, one featuring the Scottish lion, and several with the logos of American sports teams. Link -via Walyou

Etsy seller Love & A Sandwich is currently sold out of these cute works of embroidery and appliqué, but she still has available a hoop featuring Beast from the X-Men. Still, I have my heart set on the Fuzzball hoop. Link -via The Mary Sue

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YouTube user simplydreaming had some fun with his mom's parrot, Kiwi. I wonder if there is any human equivalent to what animals experience when they encounter a laser pointer's red dot. -via Urlesque

These pods are moored in a canal in The Hague. They used to be oil rig life rafts, but now they serve as hotel rooms. Except for an exterior lock and a chemical toilet, they remain in their original state. This way, you can get the true life raft-in-a-canal experience!

Denis Oudendijk, the owner, established this business in 2004 as an art project. He plans to expand it to include pods in Amsterdam and Nantes.

http://www.unusualhotelsoftheworld.com/CapsuleHotel -via The Presurfer | Photo: Unusual Hotels of the World

The father of redditor BronyaCovooper carves monkey sculptures out of dried peach pits. All it takes him is a pocket knife and thirty minutes of work. Link -via Nerdcore

Prop maker Chris Myles, the man behind those marvelous lemon grenades, devised several functional Rubik's Cubes that look like Weighted Companion Cubes. Lambert Varias of Technabob asks "What’s next Chris? A GLaDOS Speak & Spell?" Yes, please!

Link -via Technabob

Scott Gundersen makes enormous portraits out of used wine corks. If I understand it correctly, Gundersen doesn't paint the corks at all, but arranges them by their pre-existing colors.

Pictured above is Grace, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who, Gundersen states, "came to fully embody her name, shared her story and regained her smile."

Link -via Dude Craft

Chefs at an exhibition hosted by the Fuzhou Hotel in Fuzhou, China, made motorcycle sculptures out of pieces of lobster. Warning: not street-legal in the US.

Link -via Geekologie | Image: Xinhua/Zheng Shuai

The unnamed gentlemen in this video are concerned about running out of ammunition during a major zombie attack. So they devised this ingenious solution: two 100-round magazines for an AK-47 strapped together. When you empty one side, flip it over.

Video Link -via Everyday, No Days Off