This infographic by Michael Paukner shows which nations have how many satellites in orbit around the earth. Information is sorted by functionality. You can view a larger image at the link.

Link via Gizmodo

Waze has a list of the most dangerous or complex roads in the world, including the above Lysebotn Road in Norway:

This is probably the most fun road you can travel on four wheels, and then maybe on your two legs checking out the various hiking trails leading from the area. In fact, this might be considered the most breathtaking place in Europe. It all starts with the narrow road up the steep walls of the Lysefjord, Norway. It has 27 switchbacks and a 1.1 km long tunnel at the bottom, with 3 switchbacks inside. The last 30 km of Lysebotn road is a true roller-coaster! It’s narrow but has a perfect surface, winding left and right all the time. If you happen to ride a motorcycle in Norway, then this is the road you simply cannot afford to miss!

Beyond simply dangerous roads, the post also includes pictures of and information about very complicated interchanges.

Link via The Presurfer | Photo: Rick McCharles

(YouTube Link)

In this Japanese-language razor commercial, a man shaves his face after he's jumped out of an airplane. It's one part of a whole ad campaign in which men shave under extreme conditions, such as while engaging in pro wrestling or riding a mechanical bull. More videos at the link.

http://www.kiretenai.com/ via Japanator

Well, it's actually structured more like a cover letter, but this document served as a resume when da Vinci was 30 and trying to get a job with the Duke of Milan. Here's the first part:

Most Illustrious Lord, Having now sufficiently considered the specimens of all those who proclaim themselves skilled contrivers of instruments of war, and that the invention and operation of the said instruments are nothing different from those in common use: I shall endeavor, without prejudice to any one else, to explain myself to your Excellency, showing your Lordship my secret, and then offering them to your best pleasure and approbation to work with effect at opportune moments on all those things which, in part, shall be briefly noted below.

1. I have a sort of extremely light and strong bridges, adapted to be most easily carried, and with them you may pursue, and at any time flee from the enemy; and others, secure and indestructible by fire and battle, easy and convenient to lift and place. Also methods of burning and destroying those of the enemy.

2. I know how, when a place is besieged, to take the water out of the trenches, and make endless variety of bridges, and covered ways and ladders, and other machines pertaining to such expeditions

Link via Gizmodo

Materials scientist Afsaneh Rabiei has developed a substance that is very lightweight, but stronger than a block of steel. And when placed under extreme pressure, it can absorb shock without shattering:

Rough traffic accident calculations show that by inserting two pieces of her composite metal foam behind the bumper of a car traveling 28 mph, the impact would feel the same to passengers as impact traveling at only 5 mph.[...]

The results are most striking when the material is tested in a lab. The test itself is exciting: a high-powered machine smashes a piece of steel foam straight down into the base plate of the machine, and then does the same thing with a piece of bulk steel.

When she examines the base plates under both samples, there’s a clear indentation left under the bulk steel sample, while the plate under the foam shows no indentation. The test shows how the foam absorbed the energy and protected the plate, while the steel simply transferred it to the base plate with no protection.

Among potential applications are orthopedic implants and body armor. In the links, you can find a video about the invention.

Link via Digg | Video | Image: Iran Daily

Pop artist Sam Carter's Birth of Zbornak is inspired by Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus as well as the TV show The Golden Girls. The recently passed Bea Arthur is featured at the center in her role as Dorothy Zbornak. The painting is quite detailed, and if you're foolhardy enough to look at an enlarged image, you can even observe the varicose veins on her legs.

Link via Popped Culture

(YouTube Link)

The American TV musical show Glee was just released in Japan. This video is a commercial for it, featuring the Hawaiian-born sumo wrestler Akebono Taro singing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'."

via Topless Robot

Bernard H. Pietenpol had a dream. He wanted to make an airplane accessible to the masses. So in 1928, with only an eighth-grade education, he set out to design and build a simple, inexpensive plane. The result was the Pietenpol AirCamper, and his family is still selling the plans for it, just in case you're in the mood for a weekend project.

Hobbyist Chuck Gantzer was in such a mood, and at the link, you can see in-process photos of the construction of an AirCamper, as well as of the completed airplane in flight.

http://nx770cg.com/ via Make | Pietenpol AirCamper Website | Photo: Wikimedia Commons

(YouTube Link)

Sound engineer Henry Dagg built an enormous pin barrel harp with 11,520 holes that can be selected for different compositions. He calls it the "Sharpsicord." Here is his performance of Paul McCartney's "The Long and Winding Road."

Link via Urlesque

A British cat that was run over by a car has received the first complete feline knee replacement surgery. After twelve weeks of hospitalization and unprecedented veterinary procedures, Missy the cat is back at home with her family:

The new total knee replacement implant for the other leg was designed by Dr Fitzpatrick, Professor Gordon Blunn and Mr Jay Meswania of OrthoFitz Implants.

It is made of two parts which are linked together with a hinged mechanism so that the knee ligaments - which had all been shredded - would no longer be required and the knee could no longer dislocate.[...]

The three-inch long implant is made out of stainless steel and is bonded to the thigh bone and the shin bone using cement

The design phase was particularly challenging for the prosthetist because human knee replacements need only accommodate walking, but a joint for a cat must assume that the user will try to run and jump.

Link via The Presurfer | Photo: Bancroft Media

(YouTube Link)

Charlie Brooker is a journalist and comedian. In this video, he pokes fun at the former profession by illustrating how television news is structured according to a standardized style that tries to impress the viewer without necessarily being informative. Content warning: some NSFW language.

via reddit

Manolith has a list of fifteen people the editorial team says cheated and faked their way into fame and fortune. Some of them have been in the news in the past few years, but others stretch back into history. Among their choices (to no small degree of disagreement in the comments) is Bill Gates, whom Monolith alleges:

The problem is, Bill Gates was never successful in his attempt to build an operating system back in 1980. He paid a man named Tim Paterson $50,000 for his shaky but working operating system, QDOS, which was a rough clone of an already established OS called CP/M, written by Gary Kildall. Gates polished QDOS into a finished product, renamed it DOS, slapped Microsoft on the disk labels and licensed it to IBM in what would become the start of a very lucrative career for an individual of very mediocre technical talent. The rest is blue-screened history.

http://www.manolith.com/2010/01/27/15-big-cheats-and-fakers-who-won/ via Digg | Photo: Corbis

Cartoonist Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal describes nine people that are unfortunately on Facebook. He's been on a roll lately, adding new content to his archive of cartoons about every four days.

Link via reddit

Putting Weird Things in Coffee is a food blog about one man's quest to find tasty and unusual ingredients to put in coffee beyond the traditional cream and sugar. These include salmon, blue cheese, and peanut butter. Pictured above is a mixture that he did not invent: juustoleipä, a Finnish cheese made from reindeer milk, that is often dipped in coffee before eaten.

What unusual things have you mixed in your coffee?

Link via Amanda Bensen (who notes that her family used to brew coffee with reindeer bones)

Good advice, right? Because you wouldn't want a typo in something permanent. J. Harker, a graduate student in the classics, often gets requests for English to Latin translation by people who want to get tattoos. He has a blog post describing the various errors that people make when attempting to translate a language that they don't understand, and pictures of the inked results. The text above translates as "He is better as I appear hated on behalf of what I am than as I appear I like on behalf of what not I am."

Link via reddit