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Adorable baby elephant is adorable. This scene was shot in Phuket, Thailand.

via Geekosystem | Previously: A Celebration of Elephants

The now-completed Qingdao Haiwan Bridge over Jiaozhou Bay in China is 26.4 miles long. It's three miles longer than the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, the previous holder of the world record for the longest bridge over water:

No longer dependent on western expertise for such sophisticated projects, the six-lane road bridge is supported by more than 5,200 columns and was designed by the Shandong Gausu Group. When it opens to traffic later this year, the bridge is expected to carry over 30,000 cars a day and will cut the commute between the city of Qingdao and the sprawling suburb of Huangdao by between 20 and 30 minutes.

The bridge is built to withstand an 8.0 Richter scale earthquake take punishment from the occasional typhoon.

Link via DVICE | Photo: WENN

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Yes, a cactus is a playable instrument. This video shows a person playing a jazzy tune on one while accompanied by a piano. Google Translate is having trouble with the website, but apparently the cactus died in 2009 or 2010, so the project is on hiatus.

Link (Google Translate) via The Presurfer

UPDATE 1/12/11: GearFuse has a lot more information about the project and the man behind it.

Etsy seller WayOutHere turned an old oven into a functional lounge chair. The bottom drawer is opened to support the seat and the stove top turns into an ottoman. It's for sale to people who can pick it up from the Cincinnati area.

Link via Dude Craft

Darco Sangermano, 28, was in Naples during that city's New Year's Eve festivities. He was shot in the head with a .22 caliber bullet. Later, at the hospital, he sneezed it out:

The bullet, a .22 caliber, entered the right side of his head, passed behind his eye through the socket, hit a bone in his nose and lodged itself in his right nostril.

Covered in blood, but still conscious, Sangermano then sneezed out the bullet, and apart from a headache, told doctors he felt fine.[...]

He needed surgery just to clean up the wound and get rid of the bone fragments.

"He was a very lucky man, he could have been killed," Dr. Sid Berrone said. "The bullet went through his temple, behind his eye, entered the nasal cavity and then became lodged in his nostril before he sneezed it out. Amazing."

Link via Gizmodo | Photo: Daily Telegraph

There's a rumor going around that a little model of Han Solo frozen in carbonite appears in every episode of the space western Firefly. Supposedly, actor Nathan Fillion (Capt. Malcolm Reynolds) is a big Star Wars fan, so the set technicians sneaked the model into the background whenever possible. Amy Ratcliffe has already found several examples and has posted screenshots. In the above image, it's in the upper-right corner near Kaylee's bunk.

Link via reddit

When I was five, I asked my mother what hair was made of. She attempted to explain it to me in a way that I could understand, but eventually said "protein". "What's that?" She tried to explain protein, and used peanut butter as an example. So, as I misunderstood it, hair was made out peanut butter. I then made a hair-and-jelly sandwich. It tasted terrible.

Where was I? Oh, yeah: Adrienne Antonson makes stunningly realistic models of insects using human hair as her crafting material. They do not go well with jelly.

Link via The Presurfer | Artist's Website

Some assembly is required, so go get the glue. Artist Wayne Chisnall made a 12-piece kit model of himself entitled "And When I'm a Man." It'll be on display at the "States of Reverie" exhibit at the Scream Gallery in London starting on January 14.

Link via Super Punch | Museum Website

When Jason Loper downsized into a small condo, he wanted it well-decorated to make good visual use of the limited space. So he made a felt TV cover that looks like a classic test pattern.

Link via DVICE | Photo: Jason Loper

Judy Berman of Flavorwire rounded up photographs of luxurious libraries in the homes of celebrities, such as Diane Keaton's, which is pictured above. Karl Lagerfeld's is astoundingly packed from floor to ceiling (and then some) with books.

Link | Photo: Calfinder

deviantART user Dezychan writes "This is exactly what it looks like, and no, I have no shame in making this." Nor should he. This image could only be improved upon by including Tom Baker (the Fourth Doctor) as Tuxedo Mask.

Link via Comics Alliance

Seattle-based artist Charles Wing Krafft made this skateboard out of porcelain. It's full-sized, so you could presumably ride it. Krafft has made other unusual subjects out of porcelain, such as guns and grenades.

Link and Gallery via Dude Craft | Photo: Viacomet

What? The Amish are into rollerblading? It's news to me, but here's a 1996 New York Times article attesting to this cultural quirk:

''It's faster than a horse, and it's fun,'' said Mr. Herschberger, 20, who skates the 25 miles in two hours, almost twice as fast as an Amish buggy. ''You just feel free.''

Mr. Herschberger has abundant company on the roads of southeastern Pennsylvania. In the last few years, hundreds of Amish, most of them young, have taken up in-line skating to run errands, play hockey or just zigzag for pleasure.

Among the 150,000 or so Old Order Amish, who live in 230 settlements in 22 states and Canada, in-line skating is justified as an efficient, sensible means of locomotion, another example of how the modern can square with the traditional.

Article Link and Pictures via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: Visboo

"The Burrow" is the name of the Weasley family home from Harry Potter. CraftSter user mezcraft made this impressive gingerbread house that looks quite like the one shown in the movies. She writes:

I made the shingles out of shreddies than sprayed them with colourmist icing colouring, then I did some undershading with brown icing.

My favourite part of the whole thing was these little sweaters on a laundry line that I added. I wanted to make something to reflect how much of an awesome D-I-Y-er Molly Weasley was by making all her kids monogrammed sweaters for Christmas. So each one of them is a like a wee tiny Gingerbread cookie.

Link via Geek Crafts

This image of mysterious origin is going around the 'Tubes today. Which brilliant artist will step forward and claim responsibility?

via Geekologie