(Metacafe link)
Kent French holds the Guiness World Record for clapping the fastest. See how he does it. -via the Presurfer

Upload a picture of yourself, or any picture, and put it on the cover of a magazine! Choose from People, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Time, Playboy, and Vogue (featuring Ursi on the cover here). Link -via Ursi’s Blog

A six-year-old cat named Baby fell from a third-storey window at her home in London and broke both her back legs. Veterinarians fitted her with metal implants to straighten the legs. But it wasn’t the first time. Baby had fallen from the same height as a kitten and already had metal implants in her front legs! Veterinary surgeon Jess Gower said,

"We were stunned to find it was the second time she had done it. Now she has metal implants in all four legs, staff decided to call her the 'bionic cat'.

"Amazingly, she has healed extremely well and can already move around very well. We hope that in around eight weeks, when we take off the frame, she will move as normal and you'd never know what happened to her."

Link -via Arbroath

A colony of fruit bats in northern Queensland was invaded and destroyed by poisonous ticks. Several baby bats were rescued and are being raised by staff at an animal rescue center. Follow the link to see a half-dozen adorable baby bats wrapped in blankets and enjoying their bottles. Link -via Unique Daily

It’s the perfect gift for the internet freak in your family: a plush badger. Only £19.99 from Weebl’s Stuff. Link to product. Link to video. -via b3ta

While fishing for squid, Roger Nowell caught a 1,125 pound thresher shark, believed to be the largest ever caught.

Mr Nowell, 41, said: “We’d only been out for a few minutes and we bought the net up to have a look. There was no squid but this massive shark – it was the biggest one I’d ever seen. It was fairly alarming.

“It was still alive but had almost drowned in the nets and as soon as it landed on deck it thrashed around like crazy. It caused around £500 worth of damage to the hydraulics, it was that heavy.

But the fish only brought 50p per kilo at auction, for a total of £255. Nowell may have a world record, but it cost him dearly. Link to news article, which includes a shark recipe. -via Fark

The Wind Dam is a proposed energy project by Chetwood Associates. The sail is 25 meters high and 75 meters wide, and funnels the wind into a turbine. If the project is approved, the wind dam will be built in a gorge near northern Russia’s Lake Ladoga. Link -via Militant Platypus

Solve this logic puzzle and win lunch! Coudal Partners challenges you to figure out the identity and activities of four actors sitting at a table. You have eight clues. In my opinion, bragging rights would be an even better reward than lunch. Link

(YouTube link)
This time-lapse video is cute enough to post even after Thanksgiving! -via Viral Video Chart

Scattered throughout the world, there are a small handful of castles made by non-architects, constructed without a team of workers, and with very little money.

All the castles presented below were built by a single person, with occasional help from family members or friends. Raised rock by rock from the ground, these castles are the result of unfaltering vision, pure will, and a lifetime effort to make literal the phrase “a man’s home is his castle.”

Curious Expeditions takes you on a tour of 15 such self-built castles. The castle pictured is Chateau Laroche in Loveland, Ohio. Link

When it’s completely made up, your weapon can do anything. Wizard Universe counts down the 50 greatest fictional weapons of all time. Surprisingly, the light saber ranked at only #4. http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/wizard/006398688.cfm (via Metafilter)

OfficeMax brought you Elf Yourself for Christmas last year. This year, they’ve expanded the application to include your friends! You can upload pictures of up to four people and turn them all into elves. And they’ve also introduced Scrooge Yourself, for those who want to send a “Bah! Humbug!” message. Link to Elf Yourself. Link to Scrooge Yourself. -via Ursi’s Blog

The Moringa Tree, known by many names including the Miracle Tree, is edible, nutritious, and has medicinal properties. The seeds can even purify water! No wonder it’s now cultivated in Third World countries. http://peacecorps.mtu.edu/resources/studentprojects/moringa.htm -via the Presurfer

(image credit: Anthony Simons)

The butter-substitute product I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter was a funny enough name, but as the product caught on, knockoffs followed. In order to piggyback on the original product’s fame, these other spreads have to have a name that is somewhar similar. Some turned out just plain silly, like Unbelievable This is Not Butter. See more at Required Eating. http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2007/11/its-not-butterdeal-with-it.html -via Grow-A-Brain

Tarantulas, grasshoppers, and scorpions are just the beginning of insects you can eat. Why do you think they call them “mealworms”? Link -via Ursi’s Blog