Designer Lisa Marks of the Georgia Institute of Technology refers to her invention as Algorithmic Lace. It's a bobbin lace fabric is that curved instead of flat as it's being made, permitting her to create bras for the needs of individual mastectomy patients. In an interview with Cool Hunting, Marks explained what properties it presents to women who have undergone mastectomies:

Thinking about who needs the most variation, who needs the most customization, and there are just so many women with breast cancer. About 50% of women that have a mastectomy choose to not have reconstructive surgery. We might not realize it walking down the street but there’s a very large number of women who are using external prosthetics (which are) very heavy and use a lot of irritating adhesive. Scar tissue is really sensitive and can’t tolerate underwires and things that normal bras use. When you’re trying to put something on your body, and then you have to make it fit, and it’s not really for you, I can imagine that’d wear on your confidence.

-via Motor1

Instructables member Pam Harris is a master woodworker who makes ornate furnishings using, among many other tools, a bandsaw. This marvel is a box filled with twisting drawers that somehow fit together perfectly smoothly.

A process video is embedded below. One interesting part is how she applies the suede-like lining, which is actually painted on. Skip to the 18:05 mark to see Harris opening and closing the drawers in the finished product.

In the bright, shimmering utopia that is the future of the human race, we will be able to enjoy a vast variety of food-like substances. Prof. Louwrens Hoffman of the University of Queensland, Australia, says that the world of tomorrow includes the opportunity to eat sausages that use maggots as meat. The New York Post reports:

“An overpopulated world is going to struggle to find enough protein unless people are willing to open their minds, and stomachs, to a much broader notion of food,” says meat science professor Dr. Louwrens Hoffman. “Would you eat a commercial sausage made from maggots? What about other insect larvae and even whole insects like locusts? The biggest potential for sustainable protein production lies with insects and new plant sources.” [...]

“In other words, insect protein needs to be incorporated into existing food products as an ingredient, he says. “One of my students has created a very tasty insect ice cream.”

In terms of other sustainable sources of protein, Hoffman also brings up kangaroo meat — ideal because they don’t require grasslands for grazing. They are also supplementing chicken feed, which is currently made mostly of grains, with black fly larvae, with promising results.

Yummy! I'm up for some insect ice cream.

-via David Burge

In our experience, when Thai ad developers go to work, they produce spectacular stories of love, compassion, and heroism. We should all watch Thai TV just for the commercials!

In this ad for Chaindrite termite spray, we see a tragic hero who feels the call to adventure. He sojourns from his native land to seek food for his people. Although he comes within sight of victory, he is cut down by the dark magic wielded by the humans. Weep for fallen, for one day, their fate shall be ours.

-via Robby Bevard

Never mind what Marvel and DC are up to! For the hottest, most exciting comics, you need to head over to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Three new thrilling comic books there explain monetary policy, the history of the Federal Reserve System, and banking.

You can download PDF versions from the site. Middle schools and high schools in the USA can also request 35 free print copies. These come with lesson plans, worksheets, and classroom discussion guides.

Instagram member pinksith snapped this photo of a cosplayer at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago this past April. George Lucas has modified his iconic jeans and blue plaid flannel shirt to suit his new role as Jabba's slave.

Any reasonably intelligent person can provide basic care for your dog while you are away from the home. But for dog walkers with a flair for creative writing, there are additional opportunities. Karin Bruilliard explains in the Washington Post (paywalled, sorry) that many dog owners appreciate and will pay extra for a dog walker who can leave detailed and amusing reports about their dogs' adventures:

In a nation where people lead ever more busy lives and increasingly view their dogs as family members, professional dog walking is flourishing. And along with it is what might be viewed as the unusual art of dog walker communication. Many of today’s walkers do not simply stroll — not if they want to be rehired, anyway. Over text and email, they craft fine-grained, delightful narratives tracing the journey from arrival at the residence to drop-off. They report the number of bathroom stops. They take artistic photos, and lots of them.

“For an hour-long walk, I send six or eight, depending,” said Griffin, 44, who holds a treat in her hand when shooting to ensure her charge is looking at the camera. “Then I give a full report that includes not only peeing and pooping but also kind of general well-being, and if the dog socialized with other dogs.”

[...]

When sending his monthly bill, Moraga said he always includes a handwritten note on custom stationery, telling a dog’s owner “what they’ve done through the month, what they’ve learned, what we’re planning on doing next month.”

Rover requires its walkers to complete a standardized “report card” that includes arrival and drop-off times, route and pit stops. But sections for adding photos and a written account are where “walkers can really shine,” said Jenna White, the company’s director of dog-walking operations. New walkers are shown examples of particularly strong narratives during training, as well as advice on photos, the best of which White said have good lighting and not too much motion. Shots taken at iconic local spots, like doggy senior portraits, are even better, she said.

-via Marginal Revolution

Chris Advansun is the master of a unique craft: telling stories that will put you to sleep.

Advansun calls himself a "sleep writer." Famous actors, including Matthew McConaughey, have recorded his stories into the app Calm.com. These stories are designed to hold your mild interest, but not get your heart racing in excitement. CBC News explains:

Advansun says the key is to get the attention of the listener and then "hold it gently" without ever jostling them awake. He maintains this is a tough balance to achieve … especially since Advansun is trained as a screenwriter (think plot twists, car chases and explosions).

"I certainly didn't set out to write stories that put people to sleep," he jokes. "I have sort of fallen into it, and I adore it. It's not only quite rewarding, it is a great challenge as a writer."

In the interview, Advansun describes what goes into a good bedtime story for adults:

My stories are mainly fictional stories that do have a character who goes on a journey.

The way I think about it is that it's not a riveting, gripping journey with wrenching twists and turns. It is not that kind of story.

I am taking traditional storytelling — where you are building things up, you are building up tension and stakes and conflict and inverting that.

So we start with a bit of a character problem, but it is not terribly dramatic. And I unwind the whole story, so by the end we have soothed the listener off to sleep.

-via Marginal Revolution

Photographer David Ngo snapped this funny and punny cosplayer at DragonCon last year. Now Wonder Woman gains her powers not from Queen Hippolyta's magic but eating as much Wonder Bread as she can.

Go ahead and sup from the bowl--if you can bear the flames.

DeviantART member aviceramics, who previously wowed us with her shark sushi plate and shark chip bowl, made this eye-popping soup bowl showing a raging dragon erupting from your food. She was inspired by the scorpion bowl, a group cocktail that is traditionally lit with a flame in the center.

"Heart of Ice" is often regarded as the greatest episode of Batman: The Animated Series. In this beautifully-directed story, Mr. Freeze is the most sympathetic of Batman villains.

(Video Link)

It was a wrenching episode ranked among Watch Mojo's grand list of the 10 saddest cartoon episodes ever. Among them are tragedies from The Simpsons, Family Guy, Rugrats, and, most importantly, the Ice King origin story from Adventure Time.

(Photo: Huy Cordley)

It can be hard enough to get human actors to perform properly on camera. For producers of nature documentaries, there are even greater challenges.

How do they do it? To find out, TechCrunch talked to Huw Cordley, a producer for many of the BBC's nature programs. The task requires a lot of creative problem solving:

“People are always developing new equipment,” Cordey says, half grinning, half sighing, as I imagine him waving at an enormous pile of Peli cases stacked in the corner of his no doubt stacked-to-the-rafters office, “which is perfect for us. If you think about it, wildlife hasn’t really changed what they have been doing since we started filming nature documentaries. Instead, we have to come up with new ways of telling their stories.”

Photographed above is one of those solutions. It's an 85-pound gyroscopically stabilized camera rig known as a helicopter rig because that's what it's commonly attached to. This time, though, Cordley and his team attached it to an elephant.

(Bizarro Comics/Dan Piraro)

"Certainly, sir. Which 20-year old celebrity would you like to emulate?"

Pro tip: get the hairstyle that your grandfather wore at your age and you'll never look ridiculous.

Knockie Cosplay offers this beautifully executed mashup of Princess Leia in her slave outfit from Return of the Jedi and Chibiusa from Sailor Moon. She is accompanied by the cat Luna-P, now transformed into a fully operational Death Star.

You can see more cosplay photos of Knockie at her Instagram page, including pictures of her with a Jedi Sailor Moon cosplayer.

(Imogen Quest/Olivia Walch)

To fill young minds with a passion for learning and a fire to empower your conquest of the world is the bliss of the teacher. Embrace the challenge of teaching by building fail-safes into your doomsday devices so that they can never be used against you.