(vimeo link)
Emily Gobeille and Theo Watson hacked an Xbox Kinect and created a puppet show made of light! Get this -it was one day's work. Engadget has a little more about the tech involved. Link -via The Daily What
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
Think having a wizard for a friend will make all your troubles go away? Think again -possessing the power of magic doesn't always mean one possesses competence! Take Orko, for example:
See all ten not-so-wonderful wizards at Geekosystem. Link
One of He-Man's running gags is Orko poor magical skills, in that nearly every time Orko attempts to use magic, it backfires. He also has a seemingly magically-imbued hat that can contain many more items than the hat's outside appearance and size would suggest.
It's never made clear why Orko is so inept, from Orko supposedly losing an amulet that allowed him to properly use his magic, to it being suggested in an episode that Trolla's natural laws are opposite of Eternia's.
See all ten not-so-wonderful wizards at Geekosystem. Link
Sacha Goldberger took a fanciful series of photographs of his grandmother Frederika in a super hero costume. The 91-year-old was delighted with the project. You see her here stopping traffic; other photos show Super Mamika campaigning for office, flying into buildings, and even one where she's in bed with Superman! Mrs. Goldberger's real life story is a fascinating read as well. After the photo shoot, "Mamika" attracted thousands of fans on MySpace and elsewhere. Link -Thanks, Alice!
University of Central Florida business professor Richard Quinn delivered a lecture he hoped he would never have to. He had uncovered indications that many of the class of 600 seniors had cheated on an exam. Quinn said the entire class had to retake the test, and challenged the cheaters to confess, in which case they would not be kicked out of school.
A video of the 15-minute lecture is included with the story. Link -via reddit
He said: “I don’t want to have to explain to your parents why you didn’t graduate, so I went to the Dean and I made a deal. The deal is you can either wait it out and hope that we don’t identify you, or you can identify yourself to your lab instructor and you can complete the rest of the course and the grade you get in the course is the grade you earned in the course.”
Prof Quinn also added a requirement for those who came forward complete a four hour course in ethics. In return there would be no permanent record of the cheating.
So far more than 200 students have admitted to cheating.
A video of the 15-minute lecture is included with the story. Link -via reddit
Red and Jonny call themselves Star Wars geeks. They started taking self-portraits wearing Storm Trooper helmets on their honeymoon, and continue to do so. See them in both everyday and outlandish situations in a years-long series of photographs.
Link to story | Flickr stream | Red and Jonny's website. -via Digg
Someone had to do it sooner or later. It's a new way to add delicious bacon to your holidays -bacon Pumpkin Pie!
In the spirit of fall here in the Pacific Northwest, here is a recipe of my friend Joe's own design! He sought to bring bacon to the dessert menu, and hunted for a pie media capable of sustaining a bacon infusion while retaining deliciousness. Pumpkin (perhaps rhubarb) is the only one he could think of. I offer this recipe to all you bacon lovers out there.
Complete directions are at Allrecipes. Link -Thanks, Peter! (Image credit: Sunny Byrd)
Are you sick and tired of finding yourself washed up on glitzy beaches and modern shores? Are you constantly being cast away on so-called "desert islands" that happen to come equipped with a Starbucks and a McDonalds? Well, if you're longing for the good old days, when a shipwrecked individual had to roll up his tattered sleeves and fend maniacally for his life, then we've got just the entertainment you're looking for.
"MATANGO" AKA "ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE": In this 1963 Japanese film, a storm-weary yacht is shipwrecked, and the passengers (a psychologist, his girlfriend, a wealthy businessman, a famous singer, a writer, a sailor and his skipper) are forced to take refuge in a fungus-covered boat. Perhaps not coincidentally, "Gilligan's Island" premiered in America a year later. But the two aren't as similar as you might think. For instance, in "Matango", the castaways eat the boat -growing mushrooms for sustenance, and end up turning into hideous fungal monsters. For all his comic mishaps, at least Gilligan never did that.
ROBINSON CRUSOE: The granddaddy of desert-island lit, Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel is most likely based on the true story of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk. In 1704, Selkirk took part in a privateering expedition that included an inauspicious combination of a tyrant captain, a leaky ship, and repeated attacks by the Spanish. Sick of all the drama, Selkirk jumped ship (literally) to a tiny island 400 miles off the coast of Chile. And though he expected to be rescued quickly, he ended up stranded there for more than four years -which was bad, but still better than the alternative. Shortly after Selkirk deserted his crew, the ship sank. There were only eight survivors.
THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON: Adapted into more than a dozen movies and at least five TV series, the tale of The Swiss Family Robinson began life as a collection of bedtime stories in the early 19th century. Based on the late-night tales with which Swiss pastor John David Wyss lulled his sons to sleep, the fictional adventures were published as a novel in 1812 by one of his sons, Johann Rudolph Wyss. Coincidentally, the son of a preacher man also wrote the words to the Swiss National Anthem.
"NEW MOON": No relation to the Hammerstein-Romberg operetta, the 1940 film starred "America's singing sweethearts," Jeannette McDonald and Nelson Eddy. It told the story of aristocratic French mail-order brides and sexy indentured servants stranded together on a desert island -proving that even displaced, emaciated island-squatters can fall in love via musical number.
"CAST AWAY": Besides doing the impossible (that would be keeping an audience's attention for hours with just one actor on screen and no soundtrack), the 2000 Tom Hanks epic is also known for its blatant FedEx product placement. And while FedEx didn't pay for the shout-outs, the movie was shot at the company's facilities in Moscow and Memphis, Tennessee. It also included FedEx employees as extras, and an appearance by FedEx CEO Fred Smith. Fortunately, the mail giant knew to stop when it was ahead. In the sage words of FedEx's managing director of global brand management, Gayle Christensen, "adding even more promotion to that [movie] might go over the top."
"SWEPT AWAY": When this Madonna-centric remake hit theaters in 2002, it received little love. Why? Possibly because the 1974 original had a better title: "Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August". Amazingly, that's just one of the many long-winded titles for films by Italian director Lina Wertmüller, including "The Blue Collar Worker and the Hairdresser in the Whirl of Sex and Politics," "A Complex Plot about Women, Alleys, and Crimes," and "Summer Night, with Greek Profile, Almond Eyes, and Scent of Basil." Wertmüller's titling tendencies might have something to do with her equally long full name, Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol van Braucich. Or maybe she was just hoping the extra-wordy titles would catch critics' attention. It turned out the opposite was true; she became the first woman ever nominated for a best director Oscar in 1977, for the succinct "Seven Beauties".
Be sure to visit mental_floss' entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!
"MATANGO" AKA "ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE": In this 1963 Japanese film, a storm-weary yacht is shipwrecked, and the passengers (a psychologist, his girlfriend, a wealthy businessman, a famous singer, a writer, a sailor and his skipper) are forced to take refuge in a fungus-covered boat. Perhaps not coincidentally, "Gilligan's Island" premiered in America a year later. But the two aren't as similar as you might think. For instance, in "Matango", the castaways eat the boat -growing mushrooms for sustenance, and end up turning into hideous fungal monsters. For all his comic mishaps, at least Gilligan never did that.
ROBINSON CRUSOE: The granddaddy of desert-island lit, Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel is most likely based on the true story of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk. In 1704, Selkirk took part in a privateering expedition that included an inauspicious combination of a tyrant captain, a leaky ship, and repeated attacks by the Spanish. Sick of all the drama, Selkirk jumped ship (literally) to a tiny island 400 miles off the coast of Chile. And though he expected to be rescued quickly, he ended up stranded there for more than four years -which was bad, but still better than the alternative. Shortly after Selkirk deserted his crew, the ship sank. There were only eight survivors.
THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON: Adapted into more than a dozen movies and at least five TV series, the tale of The Swiss Family Robinson began life as a collection of bedtime stories in the early 19th century. Based on the late-night tales with which Swiss pastor John David Wyss lulled his sons to sleep, the fictional adventures were published as a novel in 1812 by one of his sons, Johann Rudolph Wyss. Coincidentally, the son of a preacher man also wrote the words to the Swiss National Anthem.
"NEW MOON": No relation to the Hammerstein-Romberg operetta, the 1940 film starred "America's singing sweethearts," Jeannette McDonald and Nelson Eddy. It told the story of aristocratic French mail-order brides and sexy indentured servants stranded together on a desert island -proving that even displaced, emaciated island-squatters can fall in love via musical number.
"CAST AWAY": Besides doing the impossible (that would be keeping an audience's attention for hours with just one actor on screen and no soundtrack), the 2000 Tom Hanks epic is also known for its blatant FedEx product placement. And while FedEx didn't pay for the shout-outs, the movie was shot at the company's facilities in Moscow and Memphis, Tennessee. It also included FedEx employees as extras, and an appearance by FedEx CEO Fred Smith. Fortunately, the mail giant knew to stop when it was ahead. In the sage words of FedEx's managing director of global brand management, Gayle Christensen, "adding even more promotion to that [movie] might go over the top."
"SWEPT AWAY": When this Madonna-centric remake hit theaters in 2002, it received little love. Why? Possibly because the 1974 original had a better title: "Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August". Amazingly, that's just one of the many long-winded titles for films by Italian director Lina Wertmüller, including "The Blue Collar Worker and the Hairdresser in the Whirl of Sex and Politics," "A Complex Plot about Women, Alleys, and Crimes," and "Summer Night, with Greek Profile, Almond Eyes, and Scent of Basil." Wertmüller's titling tendencies might have something to do with her equally long full name, Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol van Braucich. Or maybe she was just hoping the extra-wordy titles would catch critics' attention. It turned out the opposite was true; she became the first woman ever nominated for a best director Oscar in 1977, for the succinct "Seven Beauties".
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The above article is reprinted with permission from the Scatterbrained section of the March-April 2006 issue of mental_floss magazine.Be sure to visit mental_floss' entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!
Allie at Hyperbole and a Half has been busy moving to a new home in a different state. She's now found time to tell us about the emotional trauma the move caused for her two dogs. As expected, the story is accompanied by illustrations that will make you giggle uncontrollably. Link
It's Fill in the Bubble Frenzy with boy genius Mal and his talking dog Chad! What is he saying in this empty speech bubble? Tell us and you might win any T-shirt available in the NeatoShop -take a look around, pick one out and tell us what shirt you’d like with your submission in the comments. If you don't specify a t-shirt with your entry, you forfeit the prize. Enter as many times as you like (text only, please), but leave only one entry per comment. For inspiration, check out Mal and Chad’s comic strip adventures by Stephen McCranie at malandchad.com. Good luck!
Update: What goes in the speech bubble? "How long do you think you can keep this ufo hidden? People are going to notice I don't have a tv." Congratulations to lordunger, who wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop for his efforts! Stay tuned for another chance to win with Mal and Chad next week!
One video contains 60 years of television catch phrases. You probably know most of them, but if you don't, scroll down for a list of all 71 clips at Gawker. http://tv.gawker.com/5690431/60-years-of-televisions-most-memorable-catch-phrases-in-146-seconds
The City Hall subway station in New York City was built to be beautiful, as a showcase for the entire train system. But it was closed in 1945. However, passengers on the 6 train can see it if they don't disembark on the last stop -the train turns around in the closed station. If you're not in New York, you can see it in pictures at Jalopnik. Link -via Evil Mad Linkblog
(Image credit: John-Paul Palescandolo, Fred Guenther)
The Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites are sending back images of Earth in false color. Not only are they useful to scientists and cartographers, but they can also be called works of art. The image here shows phytoplankton swirling around the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Yes, I thought of Van Gogh's Starry Night when I saw this as well as you did. See 22 such images at Wired. Link
Ming Li was on her way to school when a tractor ran over her and severed her left hand. Doctors in China thought the hand could be saved, but the arm was too damaged for reattachment. So they grafted the hand to Ming's leg in to keep it alive! After three months of repair and healing, the 9-year-old's arm was judged to be ready for the hand.
With therapy and additional surgery, doctors believe she will be able to use the hand for most normal activities. Link -via Breakfast Links
Dr Hou Jianxi, spokesman for the hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, said the hand had now been transplanted back on to her arm.
"When she came in, her left hand was completely severed from her body. It was very scary," he told the Zhoukou Evening Post.
"But Ming Li can now move her wrist again and her left hand is a healthy pink colour proving that the blood is circulating well."
With therapy and additional surgery, doctors believe she will be able to use the hand for most normal activities. Link -via Breakfast Links
(YouTube link)
Is this turtle wearing additional protection or just a convenient disguise? The kitten doesn't know what to do with a walking step stool! -via Arbroath
A tavern in Australia got a visit from what turned out to be a celebrity last weekend. Patrons took pictures and called friends to come over to see the koala who came in, presumably to get out of the rain.
Rangers were called to take the koala back to his natural habitat. Magnetic Island is known for its large population of koalas. Link -via Fark
(Image credit: Flickr user Matt Hobbs)
Update: See a picture of the koala here.
Kevin Martin, who works at the Marlin Bar on Queensland's Magnetic Island, was stunned a wild male koala wandered inside just after 8pm on Saturday.
"He sauntered up to the bar ... I asked him for ID and he got all disgruntled ... walked around the bar and then climbed up a pole and sulked," Mr Martin said today.
"We have a big stuffed marlin on the roof and he just sat under the marlin in front of the speaker, listening to the music.
"He fell asleep."
Rangers were called to take the koala back to his natural habitat. Magnetic Island is known for its large population of koalas. Link -via Fark
(Image credit: Flickr user Matt Hobbs)
Update: See a picture of the koala here.
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