When driving, always keep your eye on the road and NOT on the camera! Google Street View uploaded a scene near Pittsburgh of a bridge, then a closeup, then the camera goes wildly awry. The simplest explanation is that the Street View driver hit the concrete bridge. Gawker has a video of the process, recorded from Google Street View, plus a link to the original if you want to explore more. Link -via Unique Daily

Duckweed spreads like wildfire to cover ponds. Jay Cheng, a biological engineer at North Carolina State University says this tiny aquatic plant could be a way to clean up industrial farm waste AND provide fuel for our vehicles!

More than a decade ago, Cheng and fellow NC State forestry professor Anne-Marie Stomp wondered whether fast-growing duckweed, commonly seen in shallow ponds, might remediate animal waste. Excrement from the billions of animals raised every year in America's factory farms has fouled watersheds, especially in the South, and fed oxygen-gobbling algae blooms responsible for rapidly-spreading coastal dead zones.

Duckweed, they discovered, has an appetite for animal waste, quickly converting it to leafy starch that can then be converted into ethanol. The current source for most U.S. ethanol is industrial-scale corn farming, which requires large amounts of toxic pesticides and dead zone-feeding, fuel-intensive fertilizers. When the costs are added up, corn-based ethanol may prove little cleaner than gasoline.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/doubleduckweed.html

No shots fired, no score, no colors. BallDroppings is just a fun little physics-based music game. Draw lines to catch the bouncing balls and enjoy the music they make. Bonus -no inertia! Link -via Buzzfeed

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Who will win the office race -the digital camera, the mouse, the PDA, the remote control, the cell phone, or another hand held gadget? This is another of those creative Samsung ads that go viral about once a week. -via Bits and Pieces

Ana Rodarte was born with neurofibromatosis, which caused tumors to cover half her face. She was in her twenties when a team of doctors led by plastic surgeon Munish Batra performed a series of operations that transformed her life. A journalist followed the process and wrote about how Rodarte's affliction shaped her world. Her email correspondence is included.

"i don't want kids no, the risk is too high for me to have them be born with the same condition. . . . i wouldn't want them having to experience what i did, and i cannot work, no one will hire me so i gave up on that, and i don't plan on ever getting married, i don't believe in it."

Of course she claimed she didn't care. "Not all dreams come true," she wrote once, sounding more resigned than bitter.

In time I interpreted her rationalizations as a measure of how vulnerable she was to the truth: that she would never be married, never gaze upon her own child or be anything less than dependent on others for her livelihood, and all because of her face. I wondered if someday she would prove me wrong.

Link to part one. Link to part two. Link to photos. -via Digg

National Geographic is running a photo contest called Peeps in Places. Just take a picture of one or more marshmallow Peeps posing in some travel destination, add them to the Filckr pool, and tag them as "NGTpeeps." Due to enthusiastic response, the original deadline has been extended until Monday, April 13th. Winners get prizes from Nat Geo and Just Born (the maker of Peeps)! Link to contest information. Link to a slideshow of entries.

Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss challenges you to remember the unusual way some celebrities spell their names. It's the first of a series of quizzes, today featuring female TV stars.

In this edition of Spellbound, you’ll have to key in the first names of each female TV star mentioned. Capital letters don’t matter, but spelling does - so be careful. And good luck!

I only scored 40% because I are a bad spellar. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/24427

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From Think Family, a campaign from the National Family Council in Singapore. http://www.thinkfamily.sg/web/general/homepage.asp -via Viral Video Chart

Who knew there were so many kinds of lobsters in the world? See 19 different species in this post at Bukisa. Shown is a blind furry lobster. Blind or not, I couldn't eat something that looks at me that way! Link -via the Presurfer

Retired arson investigator and state trooper Ken Borders has opened a doughnut shop in Kentucky and named it Police Doughnuts.

"Being in police work for 32 years, it's been a standing joke that cops and doughnuts, they go hand-in-hand," he said. "I just figured that it would be a catchy name."

Borders said Police Doughnuts is meant to recall a time when officers really did hang out at doughnut shops, whereas today's police "are all into this fitness crap."

And what do the police think?

"I have two words for it: hysterical and genius," said John Keeling, a metro police patrol officer who lives in Eastwood. "I wish I had thought of it."

Louisville Assistant Chief Troy Riggs said doughnut shops once were the only places open in the middle of the night, which is why officers hung out there, establishing the stereotype.

He thinks that's outdated now, but "if it helps them do business, good for them," he said.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090403/NEWS01/904030417 -via Unique Daily

This motorcycle helmet is DOT certified, available in several styles, for only $99. For those times your really want to strike fear into the hearts of all who see you. http://cnj.craigslist.org/mcy/1103192203.html -via Boing Boing

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This little guy looks like a Furby come to life! A commenter at YouTube identified this as the Spot-bellied Eagle Owl {wiki} which is native to southeast Asia. -via Arbroath

The 80s TV show MacGyver earned the name immortality as a synonym for a resourceful person who can solve any problem with only the objects within reach. It's also used as a verb for this process. Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will find out how much you remember about the show. I'm sure you will score better than I did! Link

There will be a lot of dyed eggs for Easter, but if you're going to eat them, you usually have to remove the colorful part first. Not so with these eggs! Jayne at Barefoot Kitchen Witch adapted the recipe for Chinese tea eggs to dye the edible parts of hard boiled eggs in bright holiday colors. You can serve them peeled in all their neon glory. Link -via the Presurfer

Tom and Ray Magliozzi are the stars of NPR's popular Car Talk, but they aren't the only people who make the show what it is. The website gives credit to a huge and interestingly-named staff. For example:

Alternative Fuel Consultant Amanda Livering Cole

Anger Management Coach Kirsten Hollered

Auto Seat Tester Fitz Matush

Bail Bond Provider Freida Gogh

Business Forecaster Luigi Bord

Door-to-Door Sales Annie Von Holm

Parts Inventory Manager Wayne Debach

Receptionist Sedona Tush

Link -via Bits and Pieces