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So much time is lost when switching partners. These two boys have got it all figured out!

via Joe Carter

A Jalopnik reader sent in this photo of a custom motorcycle with dangerously high ape hanger handlebars:

The high handlebars — "ape hangers" in chopper speak — rank among the tallest in the world, and far exceed the 15-inch height above the seat allowed by Missouri state law. We'd guess the tassels are there for both fashion and safety; they give the bike that backstage-at-Altamont vibe and can be used as grips when the rider inevitably loses control after all the blood drains from his arms.

Link

Maxime Ansiau, an artist based in Amsterdam, has made four sets of conjoined porcelain plates showing very tall or very wide buildings. I have no idea how she does it, but I'm most curious.

http://www.maximeansiau.com/index.php?/project/plates/ via Colossal

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YouTube user T. Shamir, who made the excellent tiny cannon that we featured last year, has machined a crossbow from gold, silver, and steel. It comes with a tiny aperture sight and a pull of 5.9 pounds. The above video shows the impressive capabilities of this little crossbow and the various bolts that Shamir made. Among them, toward the end, is a flaming bolt that sets its target on fire.

via Geekologie

The Lucasfilm Animation building in Singapore looks rather like a sandcrawler, don't you think? This is just an artist's conception, as groundbreaking occurred only this week.

Link via CrunchGear | Images: FuriousFanboys, CrunchGear, Lucasfilm

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This tree in Lewisburg, Tennessee has a lot of pollen. A gentle shake reveals how much.

via Geekosystem

We've posted about wood gas burning cars before, but those were cars not inherently cool, namely a Yugo and an old Citroën. An El Camino, on the other hand, is awesome even if it can't run. This one, however, dubbed the El Kamina, works quite well on a wood-burning engine:

Juhas Sipilä’s 1987 El Camino, affectionately dubbed “El Kamina” (The Stove), features a very steampunk-like woodgas generator taking up about half of the truckbed. El Kamina’s 400 Chevy engine can take the 4,400 pound truck about 125 miles on 175 pounds of biomass, or about 1.4 pounds of biomass-per-mile. The truck itself can carry enough fuel for around 800 total miles of travel.

Video at the link.

Link via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Juha Sipilä

Melissa Smith of Zoey Cakes has made what may be the ultimate Cadbury Creme Egg creation. It's baked with an egg inside, covered with vanilla buttercream frosting, and then topped with a mini egg.

Link via Craft | Zoey Cakes

Previously: Giant Cadbury Egg

It's hard to find much information about this type of firearm. Steve of The Firearm Blog suspects that these weapons were decorative rather than practical. There are apparently a couple examples on display in the armory at Castle Eltz in western Germany.

Link | Photo: RC-MIR.com

This handy chart was created by Landon Schurtz, a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Oklahoma. I'm curious about what would constitute a personal foul in debate.

via Marginal Revolution

Now you can literally curl up in the pages of a good book! Yusuke Suzuki made this bed with sheets forming the pages and pillows serving as bookmarks.

Link via Doobybrain | Designer's Website | Photo: Fubiz

Chess is very popular in Armenia. In a move to become globally known for prowess in the game, the government of Armenia has made the study of it mandatory for school children:

The authorities led by President Serzh Sarkisian, an enthusiastic supporter of the game, have committed around $1.43 million to the scheme - a large sum in the impoverished but chess-mad country.

Children from the age of six will learn chess as a separate subject on the curriculum for two hours a week.

Aivazian said the lessons, which start later this year, would "foster schoolchildren's intellectual development" and teach them to "think flexibly and wisely".

Do you think that the children will benefit from this time spent studying chess?

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/armenia-makes-chess-compulsory-in-schools/story-e6frfku0-1226039947579 via reddit | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user Andréia used under Creative Commons license

Paris-based photographer Thomas M. made a set of pictures showing people as the default Facebook profile image. He writes "The aim of this project is to humanize the Facebook default avatar provided at the first login." Mission accomplished.

Link via Walyou | Artist's Website

If you want to say 'I'm a practical person' while still wearing high heeled shoes, these stilettos by Christian Louboutin should do the trick. It's just a pity that they're only in metric.

http://us.christianlouboutin.com/shoes/evening/police-100mm.html via Craft | Photo: Christian Loutoubin

Modern love is best expressed with bacon, but for the traditionalist, there are always bacon roses. Instructables user kaptaink_cg explains how to make them. You'll need a broiling pan, a mini muffin pan, marbles, and a drill. It'll be necessary to actually destroy the muffin pan, but it'll be worth it.

Link via Geekosystem