British artist Paul Hazelton makes sculptures from household dust. Pictured above is one example entitled "Moth-er", measuring about 4 by 5 centimeters. Hazelton writes:

As I work the dirt towards the immaculate and the immaculate towards the dirt, creation moves towards non-existence. It is here, where material almost becomes immaterial, that the immaculate and degenerate become one and the same. For in time, the dust settles and cleanliness gives way to degeneration - The muddle of youth slowly turns to the mud of old age and the soul returns to the soil.

For Picasso, who in later life suffered a morbid fear of degeneration and death, Art was to wash away from the soul, the dust of everyday life. Perhaps I have a morbid fascination, but I seem unable to separate the innocence of youth with the corruption that comes with age. The result is something quite fragile that dissolves from life.

Link via Geekologie | Photo: Saatchi Gallery

Corbin Dunn, a computer programmer and mountain unicyclist, built this two-person unicycle. Alas, he lost a blog post about the construction of it, but his site filled with interesting pictures of his many unusual hobbies.

Link via Make | Photo: Corbin Dunn

UPDATE 12/14/09: Corbin Dunn has put up two posts about his marvelous invention.

Birmingham, Alabama-based artist Walt Creel creates illustrations by firing guns at aluminum sheets. He calls his collection "Deweaponizing the Gun", and sees it as an exploration of guns in U.S., and in particular, Southern culture:

The terms gun and weapon are practically interchangeable. From hunting to war, self defense to target practice, the gun has been a symbol of power and destruction. Art and entertainment have both taken the same approach to he gun. Traveling Wild West shows had gunslingers that shot crude silhouettes and names, but this was done to illustrate the shooters prowess. Some artists have used high speed film to capture a bullet slicing through its target, while other artists have melted guns into sculptures.

Link via Say Uncle | Artist's Website | Image: Walt Creel

Baseball, football, bodybuilding -- so many sports have been impacted by athletes secretly using performance-enhancing drugs. Sadly, even competitors in pie-eating competitions have resorted to such nefarious cheating. But officials at the upcoming World Pie Eating Championships in Wigan, UK have taken steps to keep athletes honest:

Championships Executive President Tony Callaghan, owner of Harry's Bar, said: "Gravy has traditionally been the performance-enhancing drug of choice amongst pie eaters at this level, but since we banned it after a series of questionable concoctions were created by contenders, they've been trying to find other ways of generating lubricative advantage - and we're hearing rumours that cough mixture is the new Bisto.

"In tests we've found this can take around two seconds off the time taken to eat a regulation Championship pie.

"We'll be putting a couple of big blokes on the door to search pockets randomly for cough mixture."

Link via J-Walk Blog | Photo: US Department of Homeland Security

Medical researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, altered a single gene in female mice. The mice did not change anatomically, but their ovaries began producing testosterone:

The study was carried out on mice but the implications are relevant to humans, the scientists said. By switching off a gene called FoxL2, which exists in all mammals, the ovary cells of adult female mice developed spontaneously into the fully developed, testosterone-producing cells found in male testes, although they could not produce sperm.

"We take it for granted that we maintain the sex we are born with, including whether we have testes or ovaries," said Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Medical Research Council's National Institute of Medical Research in north London, who was part of the international team led by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg.

The scientists noted that their research contradicts the claim that female is the default gender among embryos without a male sex-determining gene.

Link via Popular Science | Photo: US Department of Energy

This map by James Richards overlays a map of the United States with the flags of countries with populations equal to the respective states. You can view a much larger image at the link.

Link via Strange Maps | Flags of the World

(YouTube Link)

Filmmaker Noah Flangian of Tullahoma, Tennessee and his father assembled a Suzuki GSX-R motorcycle, but used stop-motion animation to depict the bike spontaneously assembling itself. Flangian claims that the project took thirty hours to complete and that the motorcycle engine started on the first try.

via Wired

(YouTube Link)

Many college students use laptop computers to take notes during class. The student in this video, as a prank, took an old mechanical typewriter to a lecture for that purpose. The professor gets quite perturbed and asks him to mute the sound effects.

via Gizmodo

Nate Heagy, a musician from Saskatoon, Canada, decided that the best way to promote his career was to get pictured on Google Street View. So he followed a Street View picture-taking car around his town until he could predict its path and get his image captured. CBC News quotes Heagy:

"Promoting a band is hard. And all the while I've been working on the album I've been trying to think of how I can promote it — how I can get noticed.

"When Google announced that Street View was coming to Saskatoon, a light bulb went on," he said. "I just thought Street View would allow anyone on any corner to be seen by any number of people anywhere."

Hatching the plan was one thing, execution was another.

"I figured Saskatoon's not that big, I could probably find the Google car if I really wanted to," he said. "So I built a sign, and kept it in the trunk of my car."

Heagy said he enlisted friends to keep an eye out for the vehicle and to call him if they spotted something with a large camera mounted on a tripod on the roof.

As it turned out, Heagy was having lunch one day and saw the Google car himself. He rushed to his own car to catch up to it and figure out where it would be going.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2009/12/05/sk-street-view-google-maps-musician-picture-fear-salesman.html via Gizmodo | Musician's Website | Image: CBC

More than three decades ago, Scott Weaver began building a model of San Francisco out of 100,000 toothpicks. He began the fragile project at the age of fifteen, which has survived four homes, an earthquake, and a destructive dog. In The San Francisco Gate, Janny Hu writes:

"Rolling Through the Bay" is 9 feet tall, 7 feet wide and 2 feet deep. It sports four pingpong ball tracks with more than a dozen entry points.

There's the Golden Gate tour, which snakes through Chinatown and Aquatic Park and ends at the old Fleishhacker Pool. There's the Cable Car tour, which travels past the painted ladies of Alamo Square into Golden Gate Park and onto the old Ferris wheel at Ocean Beach. There's even a nod to the East Bay that features a BART train and the Bay Bridge.

Look closely, though, and an even more detailed world appears. Surfers give the peace sign as they ride the waves near Ocean Beach. Two crabs are escaping from Fisherman's Wharf. The tail of Humphrey the humpback whale splashes by the bay.

Link via DudeCraft | Image: Dornob

Michael Goudeau's Pancake Project is a compilation of his pancake, waffle, and toast art, as well as photos of user-submitted art. Pictured above is his "Leggo My Eggo." Given the national Eggo shortage, this threat is a bit more serious.

Link via Urlesque

The Murphy Family home in Jupiter, Florida features a child's bed shaped like a dinosaur mouth. Bonnie Murphy, a muralist, did the painting and her husband did the carpentry. Can you imagine anything more soothing?

Link via Geekologie | Photo: 3 Murphys

Comics Alliance asked professional cartoonists to submit their own depictions of Bill Watterson's comic Calvin & Hobbes. Eleven responded. Pictured above is the work of Paul Hornschemeier, the graphic novelist responsible for Mother, Come Home.

Link | Artist Website

Pictures of this stylish suit of armor made from beer can tabs have been circulating the Internet today. What gifted artist will step forward and claim credit for this magnificent creation? There are more detailed pictures at the link.

Link via Geekologie

The present landspeed record for a lawnmower is 80.792 mph. Project Runningblade, led by Stephen Vokins of the Beaulieu National Motor Museum in the UK, hopes to break that record with a lawnmower capable of reaching 100 mph. Note that these are not just small race cars made to resemble lawnmowers -- they must cut grass on racing day and be manufactured by a lawnmower producer.

Link via DVICE | Official Website | Photo: Gizmag