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I once considering buying a classic 150cc Vespa and trying to ride it from Barrow, Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. It seemed like a fine challenge for that Italian icon. Thankfully, common sense (and a lack of money) intervened before I made any serious plans.

This video shows a riding challenge that is shorter, but still demanding. A man named Boulon treats his modern-style Vespa like a stunt bike and maneuvers it through a skate park in Marseilles, France.

-via Doobybrain

Competitive shooting champion Rico Gonzalez Papa owns this magnificent modified handgun. He calls it the "Modified Megatron." I doubt that it transforms into something more awesome than its current form, for such a thing is not possible.

Link -via Sharp as a Marble | Photo: Rico Gonzalez Papa

Special thanks to Paul Erhardt for helping me find information about this photo.

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This commercial reminds us that a hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of car you drove, what kind of house you lived in, how much money was in your bank account nor what your clothes looked like. But the world may be a better place because you kicked butt in a video game.

-via Geekologie

Philipp Igumnov, an artist in Moscow, makes deliciously surreal photographic collages that take place in worlds where the weird is ordinary. My favorite is this one of a boy about to make the ultimate cannonball.

Link -via Colossal | Artist's Blog

Robert Ainsley-Raffel of Hexham, UK, has been blind since birth. But he's determined to achieve the goals that he's set for his life, including becoming a qualified plumber and a certified diver:

Robert passed his dive theory test with a flying 100% mark and is now looking forward to his first open water dives en route to a full Ocean Diver qualification.

Robert – who takes a white stick under water with him, saying that “it stops me banging my head” – is undaunted by his disability. He says: “I haven’t got a problem being blind – it’s other people that aren’t prepared to step outside the box and find a way around problems that I have the biggest trouble working with.”

Link -via Blame It on the Voices | Photo: Journal Live

On the TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Carl Brutananadilewski is the main characters' next-door neighbor. redditor magasjaru made this nearly-perfect costume of him for Halloween last year. A true fan, he even shaved his head. And, I see, added fake body hair. That was a nice touch.

Link | Previously: Remember the Boston Bomb Scare

Herbert Chavez of the Philippines loves Superman so much that he's had numerous cosmetic surgeries to make himself look like the Man of Steel (or some popular versions of him). Specifically, he's had chin implants, rhinoplasty, lip injections, and hip implants. Aquaman, for unknown and probably unknowable reasons, never gets this kind of adoration.

Video -via blastr

The staff of the Stork Club, an elegant New York City nightclub that was in business between 1929 and 1965, operated like a well-oiled machine. The owner, Sherman Billingsley, even used hand signals to silently orchestrate their activities. Life magazine did a shoot in 1944 illustrating these motions including my favorite, "Call me to the phone, I want to get away from this table." Billingsley summoned staff to do so by pulling on his ear.

What signals do you think modern wait staff should use?

Link -via Super Punch

A bit of wine may be good for your health. Liviana Osti made this cute pair of carafes with that in mind. When the joined together, they form the shape of a heart.

http://www.livianaosti.com/index.php?/prodotto/cuore/ -via NotCot

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Everything about this short film by Random Encounters is great: the claymation, the sound effects, and most of all, the lyrics. I used to be sympathetic to the ghosts. But now, not so much. They get what's coming to them.

-via Nerd Bastards

I adore the tiny public sculptures of Slinkachu, like this one called "Fantastic Voyage." The sea monster, I suspect, just wants to be friends.

Link -via Super Punch

Jonathan Brown of Milton Keynes, UK, has struggled with dyslexia for many years. But he's found that studying the Klingon language from Star Trek very helpful for coping with it:

He explained how he has always had difficulty with reading and also has what he describes as "name blindness" but while doing this work he realised that he could use a different part of his brain.

"Dyslexia is not something you get over, you live with it. It's not necessarily a hindrance, you just learn different ways to pick things up.

"Working on the translation has helped me understand where I've been having problems all my life with languages, I realised I'd been trying to remember the words in the name part of my brain and because I can't remember names, I can't remember the words.

"With the Klingon language games used on the CD, I tended to put words into a different place and it went into my long term memory.

You can't go wrong by choosing to study Klingon. At one point, just a couple decades ago, it was the fastest growing language in the world!

Link -via blastr | Image: Paramount

Alan Yang's scrap metal Ravage reflects the modern movies. The original Ravage from The Transformers was an audio cassette tape, which isn't quite old enough to be hip and retro. Now a Ravage that turned into a 8-track cassettee -- that, I would like to see!

Link -via Technabob

Finnish photographer Vesa Lehtimäk captures amazing images of Star Wars LEGO minifigs in action. His winter scenes from the planet Hoth are particularly striking because the snow looks so realistic. Don't scoff at the stormtrooper pictured above. Ski troops are useful.

Link -via Walyou (warning: auto-sound)

The tsunami that hit Japan in March killed 20,000 people, so that nation is now thinking seriously about how to prepare for this type of disaster. A company called Cosmo Power has responded by developing a floating fiberglass pod that people can jump into in a hurry:

Company president Shoji Tanaka says the $3,900 (300,000 yen) capsule can hold four adults, and that it has survived many crash tests. It has a small lookout window and breathing holes on top.

It's called the Noah, in reference to Noah's ark. So far, the company has received 500 orders.

Link -via DVICE (where there's a video) | Photo: Aashi