A group of explorers from New Zealand are traveling to a campsite of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1909 Antarctic expedition in the hopes of finding whiskey left behind beneath the floorboards of a shelter:

Among the supplies British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton abandoned on his unsuccessful 1909 expedition to the pole were two crates of the now extinct rare old brand of McKinlay and Co whisky.

Now Whyte & Mackay, the drinks giant that owns McKinlay and Co, has asked for a sample of the drink for a series of experiments, the Telegraph newspaper reported in London.

The New Zealanders will use special drills to free the trapped crates and rescue a bottle from the crates, discarded near the Cape Royds hut used by the Nimrod expedition, or at least draw off a sample using a syringe.

The crates were discovered in January 2006, but the bottle couldn't be removed as they were too deeply embedded.

Link via Discover | Image: NASA

Well, if he didn't have hedge clippers, then he had no alternative. Two men (who prefer that their names be kept confidential) in Cambridge, New Zealand hauled a lawnmower into the sky with a crane in order to trim a hedge:

The man had expected a real hedge trimmer to turn up on Sunday to mow the hedge, but when he didn't his mate arrived with his crane and a ride-on mower.

The next thing he knew he was being hoisted up on top of the two-metre high hedge.

"We were supposed to get all dressed up in our Mooloo gear and show people that this is how the Waikato boys mow their hedges."

The unusual sight bemused passing motorists. One passer-by, Bart Dinger, said it was a classic case of Kiwi ingenuity.

"A kiwi classic – jandals and all," he said.

One of the pair is being treated for a broken hand that resulted from the stunt.

Link via Geekologie | Image: Bart Dinger

People who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have bronchial cilia in their lungs that produce too much mucous. Acoustics engineer Sandy Hawkins has developed a flute that produces a sound that dislodges excess mucous in the lungs. In Popular Science, Corey Binns writes:

Hawkins began building an electronic sound machine that would produce waves of 16 hertz—the same frequency at which the cilia move—to help break up the mucus. Generating a hum of such a low frequency normally requires van-size subwoofers, and so he spent 15 years honing and shrinking the speakers. Then one day as he was testing a mouthpiece filter for his machine, he noticed that blowing through it sent a slight vibration into his chest. Within five seconds, he sketched out the Lung Flute to amplify the effect. Blowing into the tube flaps a reed-thin sheet of plastic, which vibrates the chest and shakes the mucus until it’s thin and mobile enough for the cilia to usher it up your throat. “I felt so stupid because the answer was so simple,” Hawkins says.

Today, doctors in Japan use the $40 Lung Flute as a tool to collect sputum from patients suspected of carrying tuberculosis, and in Europe and Canada it’s used to help test phlegm for lung cancer. Clinical trials in the U.S. have shown that it is at least as effective as current COPD treatments. At press time, Hawkins expected the device to receive FDA approval any day, and says the reusable device could also provide home relief for patients with cystic fibrosis, influenza and asthma.

http://www.popsci.com/bown/2009/innovator/pied-piper-mucus | Video of the flute in use | Image: Popular Science

(YouTube Link)

How else would one propose marriage to the woman with the world's largest Pokemon collection? Especially if you met her at a Pokemon competition? JC Fletcher writes for Joystiq:

When Chris Herbert decided to pop the question to his girlfriend of three years, Belle Starenchak, he picked the most romantic place he could think of: Anime Weekend Atlanta, with both dressed as Pokemon. It ... kind of makes sense for them.

Belle, or "PikaBelleChu," is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer Edition for her massive Pikachu memorabilia collection, and Herbert met her by staging a Pokemon auction. So while we might be tempted to laugh, it would seem that the pursuit of 'em all is a major component of this couple's lives.

Link via Geekologie

Image: Tobi, screen capture by Fast Company

The online clothing store Tobi lets you upload a picture of yourself and then try on different outfits superimposed on that image. In Fast Company, Kit Eaton writes:

It has been redubbed Fashionista (much better than the original Webcam Social Shopper) and it works pretty much how you'd think it would: When you've chosen an item of clothing you like the look of, you print out a special AR barcode-like tag and hold it up in front of you while you stand before your Webcam. Zugara's software then displays an image of the clothing you're interested in superimposed on your body. By maneuvering the AR tag around you can position the apparel exactly how you want it to match your body--so you get to see a rough image of what you'd look like wearing the actual garment.

It doesn't stop there: You can take a snapshot of what you look like, and the system includes motion-capture so you can make gestures and selections by waving your arms, much as you do when using Sony's Eye toy on the PlayStation. You can also give the clothes a thumbs up or thumbs down so it can recommend more for you--something a bit like a physical version of Amazon's "you might also like" service (or a live personal shopper). And, of course, you can buy the items you select. Not content with using one hot-topic technology, Zugara has also given Fashionista a dash of social media interactivity--you can post the snapshots you take onto Facebook, presumably to garner the opinion of your friends. Or you can add them to your profile on the site where your shopper friends can comment.

Company Website via Fast Company

Photo: Erick Kwiecein

This throne, according to Internet rumor, is seven feet tall, can be found in Tokyo, and is made entirely of Nintendo game cartridges.

To be really useful for gamers, it needs to have a built-in toilet and a soda dispenser.

http://erickkwiecien.tumblr.com/post/234739293/nerd-throne-this-7-foot-tall-chair-is-made#disqus_thread via Make

Photo: Noise for Airports

Noise for Airports has a gallery of early sound amplifier/locator technologies. He quotes a 1939 issue of Science News Letter about these efforts:

The picturesque triple or quadruple sets of horns, looking like gigantic versions of old-fashioned ear trumpets, that are used by listeners for airplanes, are only artificial external ears that can be cocked in the direction of suspected approach, just as a rabbit or a donkey can tun his ears. Only they are more nearly perfect, mechanically, than any animal ear, because they were made to order along mathematically calculated lines, not slowly evolved out of folds of flesh.

During the World War, many blind men, with ears trained to special acuteness in compensation for loss of sight, volunteered for this service in Britain, and it is likely that such sightless soldiers are again helping their companions to locate enemies in the dark.

Link via Gizmodo

Image: Rainbow Handicraft

Charlie Jane Anders of io9 has assembled a gallery of sixteen velvet paintings with science fiction themes, such as Yoda/Elvis, Kim Jong-Il as a Sleestak, and the great Wesley Crusher.

Would you like for Admiral Ackbar to decorate your home?

Link

For over a century, space exploration enthusiasts have proposed building an elevator into low earth orbit using a very long cable stretching from the surface of the earth into space. Huge technical (particularly material) obstacles have prevented this dream from becoming a reality. But technology marches on, and some researchers have made progress:

Funded by NASA and the Spaceward Foundation, the yearly contest offers a $2 million first prize to any group whose machine can quickly climb a kilometer-long ribbon tethered to a helicopter, while receiving power remotely from the ground. On Tuesday, LaserMotive became the first team in competition history to qualify for the $900,000 second prize.

The LaserMotive machine consists of a motor that pulls the device up the 2,953-foot-long ribbon, photovoltaic cells that power the motor, and a ground-based laser that provides the light for the cells. LaserMotive set a new record for the competition, and became the first team to ever reach the top of the ribbon. However, they had to settle for the $900,000 second prize, as securing the $2 million first prize requires not only reaching the top of the ribbon, but doing so at an average speed of 11 miles per hour. Sadly, the LaserMotive machine ran slightly slower than that mark.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/space-elevator-competition-pays-out-900000 | Image: NASA

Photo: Jason Taylor

A few years ago, British designer Jason Taylor created a furniture set made to look like bristle brushes. So far, he's made two tables and a trio of stools using this theme.

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/6160/jason-taylor-scrubber-seats.html via Make | Official Website

The Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt, an example of the spontaneous crowdsourced humor in the Amazon.com comments, has spawned many parodies, including Virginia Woolf, Worf, and Rowlf. Josh Rachford of Urlesque has compiled nine such parodies for your viewing pleasure.

Link | Image: Amazon.com

(YouTube Link)

Walter Beckett, a junior CIA agent, receives a briefcase that controls a nuclear missile. The hand-off goes smoothly, until a pigeon gets trapped inside. Pigeon: Impossible is a six-minute short film by Lucas Martell. It is his first animated film, and it took him almost five years to complete it.

Official Website via The Presurfer

His friends call him "the man with the bionic bottom." Ged Galvin permanently lost control of his colon after a motorcycle accident. But surgeons moved one of his knee muscles to his colon and attached electrodes to it. He can clench or unclench it with a remote control that he carries in his pocket:

“They call me the man with the bionic bottom, but that doesn’t bother me. My gratitude to the surgeons is endless because what they have done is a miracle.”

Mr Galvin, who had previously endured the indignity of carrying a colostomy bag, added: “I thought that in these days of modern medicine surely there was something they could do. They'd mended everything else - why not this? Anything was better than a colostomy bag.

“The operation changed my life and gave me back my pride and confidence. Because of the remote control I can lead a normal life again.”

Link via Geekologie | Image: SWNS

At The Business Insider, Alyson Shontell wrote about her unsuccessful job interview with Google, which has gained a reputation for asking hard and bizarre questions that test a candidate's creativity, priorities, and critical thinking skills. She provided 15 examples from other people who've interviewed with Google:

How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

Why are manhole covers round?

Design an evacuation plan for San Francisco.

You have eight balls all of the same size 7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?

You can read more questions and the preferred answers at the link.

Link via Gizmodo | Image: US Department of State

Photo: Le Creative Sweatshop

Le Creative Sweatshop is a French art studio that produces (among other things) enormous papercraft art installations. The high-heeled shoes pictured above are a part of their effort to "make a paper world." You can view more pictures of the studio's work at the link.

Link via Gizmodo | Video about their work