I don’t know about you, but that sign would make me keep my distance! -via Bits and Pieces

First, computers took real-life sports and made them virtual. Now you can reverse that and bring your videogame skills to 3D. The USB Boxer plugs into your computer and responds to your keystrokes! A counter keeps track of the punches thrown, and he even generates crowd noises and bells. http://www.thumbsupuk.com/products/USB-Boxer.htm?id=1&subid=0&prodid=248&cc= -via Gizmodo

A one-year-old rare South China tiger at the Nanchang Zoo in Jiangxi province, China had been blind since birth, but can now see. The surgery was performed by Liu Fei, an eye surgeon with Nanchang University. Although Dr. Fei had operated on hundreds of human patients, this was his first veterinary surgery. It was also the first eye surgery ever done on a South China tiger.

The baby animal had been suffering from cataracts, most likely caused by inbreeding. Many of the tigers suffer from genetic defects. Most of this is due to a lack of genetic diversity. There are 72 South China tigers that have been born in captivity in China. Almost all of these exotic animals are directly descended from just six tigers, all of which were captured in the wild in 1955.

It is estimated that only about 30 South China tigers survive in the wild. Link -via Digg

(image credit: Shizhao)

Here’s a diagram that may help you learn the difference between England, Great Britain, the British Isles, and the United Kingdom.

The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom are the only two sovereign states in this image. They are shown in red. Ireland and Great Britain are both islands and are shown in green. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are constituent countries of the United Kingdom and are shown in orange.

There are other complicating factors, stemming from politics, history, and geography. The author explains these as simply as possible, including the fact that this is actually a Euler Diagram instead of a Venn Diagram. Now if they could only explain North America/USA/America! Link -via reddit

Artist Dylan Kehde Roelofs creates individually handblown incandescent lights that appear antique and thoroughly modern at the same time. Standard pieces are for sale, and he also makes custom lights. When they burn out, he can replace the filaments for you. Link -via Dark Roasted Blend

(Break.com link)

I was expecting someone to pull the truck over on top of himself, but no, no one gets hurt (I think). Still, the result is not what these guys expected! -via Grow-A-Brain

Your dose of cute for the day. This is just the first of a series of pictures recording this encounter. Link -via reddit

(YouTube link)
I wouldn’t normally post a political video here unless it was funny, but the story on this one is how it took off like a rocket. I thought this was quite interesting when I first saw it linked on Metafilter yesterday. It was released Friday, posted to YouTube only yesterday, but this morning copies of it occupy five spaces on the Top 20 at Viral Video Chart. It was created by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and Jesse Dylan (son of Bob), inspired by Barak Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech.

Dylan and will.i.am say they did not coordinate the production or release of this video with the Obama campaign and the filmmakers say they don't even know if Obama is aware of the video.

Link

Deputydog has posted photographs of six incredible star forts. These are communities surrounded by a wall, road, or waterway shaped like a star. Although some have been around for hundreds of years, their real beauty shines when seen from the sky. This one is Bourtange, in the Netherlands. http://deputy-dog.com/2008/02/02/6-incredible-star-forts/

Worldometers brings you real-time statistics on world population, health, environmental issues, and more. We’ve seen how fast the numbers on life and death turn over, but their “stastistic of the month” fascinated me -the price of a bottle of beer in Zimbabwe just goes up and up and up. Link -Thanks, Bill!

(image credit: Cian Walsh)

The Sinking Palace is a nickname for the Basilica Cistern below Istanbul. Built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinianus I in the sixth century, the cistern once held enough water for the entire city-26 million gallons! The columns and archways were recycled from earlier Roman ruins. The cistern was forgotten for hundreds of years until rediscovered by a Dutch traveler in the 1500s. Now, the Sinking Palace is a tourist attraction for Istranbul. Link

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this photo of a Martian happy face on January 28th. The unnamed crater is about 3 kilometers across. Link -via J-Walk Blog

Britain mourns the passing of Miles Kington {wiki} who died on Thursday. Kingston coined the term “Franglais”, which is the language produced when English speakers attempt to speak French.

Its rules are simple. Insert as many French words as you know into the sentence, fill in the rest with English, then speak it with absolute conviction.

Some examples:
A man is accused of driving his car "avec toute la finesse d'un Rangers fan" (Miles Kington)
A door-to-door seller assures his customers "je ne suis pas un nutter religieux" (Miles Kington)
"Je suis un rock star." (Bill Wyman)
A famous defendant who "ject un brickbat a le dit Justice, que narrowly mist". (Old English court case)
“Le maker de 'franglais' est le dead.” (Fark)

Kington wrote several books about Franglais. Link -via Fark, where you’ll find more examples.

Also see: La Petite Lesson En Franglais

Hotel Fox in Copenhagen invited 21 artists from all over the world to decorate their 61 rooms.

Each room is an individual piece of art. From wacky comical styles to strict graphic design. From fantastic street art and Japanese Manga to simply spaced out fantasies. You will find flowers, fairytales, friendly monsters, dreaming creatures, secrets vaults and…

The room pictured was designed by Los Angeles artist Simone Legno, also known as tokidoki. Link -via Dump Trumpet

Teaching has never been an easy profession, but at least most teachers don’t have to start the fire in this century! That was probably a dangerous task while wearing two petticoats. Link -via Phil's Phun



Then I found these rules from 1872 at the Rusk County Historical Society Museum. Among them:

4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
5. After ten hours on school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the bible or other good books.
6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly stime of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

In other words, live your life exactly as we tell you to, but don't expect a pension. Link