Tim Hawkinson made this model sailing ship that's twisted like a möbius strip:

Echoing the working methods of ship-in-a-bottle hobbyists, Hawkinson created a painstakingly detailed model ship that twists in upon itself, presenting the viewer with a thought-provoking visual conundrum. The title is a witty play on Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, which famously relates the tale of a ship captain’s all-consuming obsession with an elusive white whale. The ambitious and imaginative structure of Hawkinson’s sculpture offers an uncanny visual metaphor for Melville’s epic tale, which is often considered the ultimate American novel.

Link -via Kottke | Photo: Indianapolis Museum of Art

Nabisco first unveiled the Oreo in 1912, then marked with a distinctive logo on the outer cookie shingles. In changed in 1924, and then acquired its current form in 1954. Oreo enthusiasts have studied the logos extensively, searching for their meanings:

The circle topped with a two-bar cross in which the word “OREO” resides is a variant of the Nabisco logo, and is either “an early European symbol for quality” (according to Nabisco’s promotional materials) or a Cross of Lorraine, as carried by the Knights Templar into the Crusades. Continuing the Da Vinci Code-theme, the Oreo’s geometric pattern of a dot with four triangles radiating outward is either a schematic drawing of a four-leaf clover or — cue the cliffhanger music from Jaws — the cross pattée, also associated with the Knights Templar, as well as with the German military and today’s Freemasons.

Offer your own conspiracy theories in the comments.

Link -via The Mary Sue | Photo by Flickr user pumpkinsoupsauce used under Creative Commons license

The USS Macon was a military airship operated by the United States from 1933-1935. Retired computer engineer Jack Clemens spent two and a half years building a 20-foot replica that flies for 45 minutes at a time:

The Macon was an airship, not a blimp, meaning it had a rigid hull. A backbone made from 12 circular frames connected with strips of wood called longerons gave the 785-foot-long craft its form. Clemens wanted to mimic the structure in his model, so he built a jig to ensure that the frames--made from thousands of balsa-wood sticks--were precisely the right size. Although the Macon’s skin was a mix of cotton muslin and metal-colored sealant, Clemens’s model used Mylar because it was lightweight, tough and the right color.

Clemens calculated that to get his craft to fly, he would need a total of eight small model-airplane propellers anchored to the sides of the frame. “It takes very little propulsive force to move an airship,” he explains. The propellers are powered by a single 2.5-ounce lithium-polymer battery that sits in the nose of the craft and helps balance the weight of pulleys and servomotors in the tail.

The airship takes up a lot of room in Clemens' home, so he hopes to donate it to a museum. http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2011-04/you-built-what-retired-engineer-crafts-colossal-gliding-model-1935-airship | Photo: Cody Pickens

I'm having trouble tracking down the artist responsible for this piece, so if you know, let me know in the comments. Well, other Van Gogh, obviously. I'm assuming that this is not an alternate Starry Night that he painted himself. -via blastr

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Karl Stefanovic, an Australian newscaster, got a chance to sit down and talk with the Dalai Lama. Naturally, he took the opportunity to tell the Dalai Lama a Buddhism joke. At least, Buddhism as it is popularly understood in the West -- your own theological mileage may vary. Watch and see how well it went over.

via reddit

Have you seen The Venture Bros.? It's a great show, and in my opinion, the funniest currently in production. Gamma Squad has a roundup of some of the best cosplay by fans. Here we see three young ladies dressed up as Hank Venture, Dean Venture, and Sgt. Hatred. The expression on Dean's face is perfect.

Link -via The Mary Sue | Photo: The Tall Tales of Little Brian Danger

The Danes started making LEGO bricks in 1949 using a hand-cranked molding machine. This LEGO set permits you to make a model of that machine. It is not yet a fully functional model, but I'm sure some LEGO enthusiasts are working on remedying that problem. Then we would have self-replicating LEGO machines, which would be awesome unless they gained sentience. Link -via Nerdcore | Photo: Eurobicks user Vassal

I can't find out much information about Nguyen Hung Cuong, but his origami work is simply amazing. He's got a whole series of lovely insect pieces at the link. Link -via Colossal

Owen Silverwood launches model NASA spacecraft in tanks of water to recreate the effect of billowing clouds of rocket exhaust. The space shuttle shot at the link is particularly glorious. http://www.owensilverwood.com/index.php?/pers/inner-space/ -via Fubiz (Google Translate)

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Zane Whitmore of Seattle was pierced through the flesh on his shoulder blades four times, and then hung from these piercings onto a hot air balloon. He floated around California's Long Valley Caldera for seventy-five minutes, suspended ten thousand feet over the ground:

The stunt was part of a Portland film production company's filming of a feature-length documentary called Feet Off the Ground. Planning for the hot air balloon ride took about two years.

"This balloon suspension is really the culmination of several years of immersing ourselves in the body modification and suspension communities," Matt Morgan, co-founder of film production company Precarious Egg and one of the producers of the film, said in a press release describing the project.

Link -via Boing Boing

A couple of years ago, I mentioned that researchers were making headway toward transplanting a human uterus. Now doctors in Sweden have scheduled an experimental transplant between 56-year old Eva Ottosson and her 25-year old daughter Sara. The daughter has Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser (MRKH) syndrome and was consequently born without a uterus. If the procedure is successful, the uterus that she herself lived in for nine months will be implanted inside her own body. It will be a challenging operation:

Dr Mats Brannstrom, who is leading the medical team, said a womb transplant remained one of the most complex operations known to medical science.

He said: “Technically it is lot more difficult than transplanting a kidney, liver or heart. The difficulty with it is avoiding haemorrhage and making sure you have long enough blood vessels to connect the womb.

“You are also working deep down in the pelvis area and it is like working in a funnel. It is not like working with a kidney, which is really accessible.”

Link -via Gizmodo | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user tofslie used under Creative Commons license

At that price, they're not just called "guard dogs" but "executive protection dogs". Harrison Prather owns a South Carolina-based company that specializes in training elite protection dogs for private individuals. Julia, a German Shepherd that cost $230,000, helps protect the family of John Johnson:

Mr. Johnson said he got his first protection dog after receiving personal threats while he was running the Northland Group, a debt-collection company in Minnesota that he founded and eventually sold three years ago. Now he has six protection dogs, all German shepherds, and normally takes a couple in his car whenever he goes out.

“It’s for both security and companionship,” he said as Julia nuzzled his leg, looking like a gentle enough companion. But when an intruder emerged near the tennis court of his estate, all it took was one command, “Packen!” (the bite command from the German word for “seize”), to send Julia racing across the lawn.

She sunk her teeth into the intruder’s arm, which was encased in padding for a demonstration, and hung on even as he lifted her off the ground in a vain attempt to shake free of her. She let go only upon being commanded and then stood guard over her new prisoner, barking and threatening to bite again whenever he made a move to escape, which he wisely did not try.

Link -via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Allen Brisson-Smith for The New York Times

Andrew Schneider's invention is the glorious future of swimwear that will replace the obsolete and dangerous coal-burning bikinis of today:

The suit is a standard medium-sized bikini swimsuit retrofitted with 1" x 4" photovoltaic film strips sewn together in series with conductive thread. The cells terminate in a 5 volt regulator into a female USB connection

Question: wouldn't it make more sense to make a one piece swimsuit? You know -- for more electricity.

Link and Project Website -via Technabob | Photo: Ecouterre

LEGO artist Ryan McNaught's largest project to date is a 250,000-piece Pacific Princess from The Love Boat. McNaught writes:

It has 450 minifigs enjoying a fabulous cruise and the best holiday they have ever had! Its full of power functions, The anchor, bow thrusters, the lifeboat raise/lower, the propeller, and the rudder at the rear. The ship of course has all the Love Boat crew onboard as well as a whole series of 80’s washed up TV stars including none other than the Hoff!

http://thebrickman.com/index.php?option=com_morfeoshow&task=view&gallery=18&Itemid=53 via Craft

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Nibble the duckling wants to stay awake, but can't quite do it as he lies in Audrey's lap. Cue: awwwwww. -via Geekosystem