The Academy Awards will be given out on February 22nd. As we prepare for this year's ceremonies, think back to past awards. Does anyone really remember who won Oscars in years past? Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss tests your memory by asking you whether 15 stars ever won an Academy Award. I scored 60%, which is about how well I would've done if I had given the same answer for each of them. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/22492

One of my oldest online friends sent me a note:

For Christmas I received a desk calendar "365 Wacky Web Sites." One of the pages, Feb 2, 2009 should be of interest to you.

This was a complete surprise to me, and even to Alex! The post referred to is Top 15 Amazingly Fat Cats from 2006. http://www.neatorama.com/2006/05/08/top-15-amazingly-ginormous-fat-cats/ -Thanks, Mike Ashley!

This online game is like the old telephone game, except with pictures. It starts with a post-it note describing a scene. The first player draws the scene. The second player only sees the picture the first player drew, and write what they think it is. The next player draws a picture illustrating the previous player's words. Players only see what the one player previous drew or wrote. But after eleven steps (ten players), you can see the whole game. In fact, anyone can see completed games, like the one shown. Some games stay close to the original scene, but some stray strangely far afield. Link -Thanks, DaMamaJama!

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Amazing effects occur when the camera light pierces the deep sea darkness. This clip is from The Blue Planet series from the BBC. -via Unique Daily

Scientists have grown this Gumby/gingerbread man shape out of living human cancer cells!

The structure was grown using about 100,000 beads of the connective protein collagen, seeded with cells from a human liver cancer culture and tipped into a body-shaped mould. On the surface of each bead are cells of a type that secrete proteins and collagen that bind all the cells together.

Researchers are working to produce cell cultures that resemble organs in order to test new drugs. Link -via Culture Dish

Both creepy and cool, and it might keep your warm, too! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001M5H2VM/http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001M5H2VM/neatorama-20 -via Boing Boing

An unnamed 16-year-old boy was on his way to a job interview at a veterinary clinic in Toronto when he and a companion were stabbed by a couple of assailants. His leg was bleeding, but he made it on time for the interview!

But when employees noticed blood on his leg, they called police.

He and the other student were finally taken to hospital.

"He did really well on the interview and we were very proud of him for sticking to the appointment," said veterinarian Kent Ackerman, adding he was "shocked" the teen would do so.

The Emergency Task Force was dispatched to look for the suspects. http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1422078 -via Digg

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This public service ad from Ontario's ministry of health encourages adults to get a booster vaccine for mumps. It will probably be effective -at least for men. Link -Thanks, collin douma!

What does a Storm Trooper do when he's not trooping storms? Everyday things we all do, according to these dioramas made with Star Wars figures! Link -Thanks, Erin Broadley!

See more of Wai Fong Fung's Star Wars scenes at Flickr.

In honor of Barbie's 50th anniversary, DesignBoom features an extensive photo gallery of the process of designing Barbie dolls over the years. http://www.designboom.com/snapshot/cat/24/view/1077/making-of-barbie.html -via Buzzfeed

Biomimicry - The practice of developing sustainable human technologies inspired by nature. Sometimes called Biomimetics or Bionics, it's basically biologically inspired engineering.

After all, who is a better designer than Mother Nature? See 15 examples of technology inspired by nature, from Gecko Tape, which sticks the same way a gecko's feet stick to a wall, to planes and spacecrafts that heal their own ruptures, like our skin does. Link -Thanks, Kiltak!

Check out 23 examples of how geek culture has invaded the streets and made graffiti infinitely more interesting. http://www.kontraband.co.uk/pics/15790/Geeky-Grafiti/?gpage=1#show -via Gizmodo

Plenty of celebrities are using the micro-blogging platform Twitter. Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss asks you to match 15 celebrities with a tweet they left (tweets are the short entries on Twitter). I couldn't, but I may have to start following a few new friends on Twitter! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/22409

Remember the story of how some Japanese firms base their hiring on a person's blood type? An insurance company based in Salzburg, Austria is hiring people based on their astrological sign! Twenty part-time jobs were offered to those born under the signs of Capricorn, Taurus, Aquarius, Aries and Leo. Anti-discrimination groups protested, and government authorities are looking into the matter.

The company is, however, sticking to its guns and a spokesman explained that the move was based on statistical research rather than superstition.

'A statistical study indicated that almost all of our best employees across Austria have one of the five star signs.

'We only decided to continue with that system and hire the best workers,' the spokesman said.

An investigation by Austrian authorities showed that there was nothing illegal in choosing the employees according to their star signs, as there was no discrimination according to existing laws about gender, age, racial and other equality.

Link -Thanks, Bill!

(image credit: Flickr user Atelier Teee)

Bibliodyssey has beautiful scans from the book 'Grand Alphabet Amusant' by E Morel, published in France in 1890. Some of the scenes picked to illustrate letters may make you scratch your head! Link -via Everlasting Blort