Mathias learns about women, in this beautiful 2006 short film by Rasmus Heise. Contains some brief nudity. http://rasmusheise.dk/LM/ -Thanks, PAgent!

Koalas in the wild will normally have nothing to do with humans. The devastating fires in Australia are an extraordinary situation, which drove a little female koala named Sam to seek help from a firefighter. A picture taken of the event has made Sam an international star. Firefighter David Tree tells the story.

"I could see she had sore feet and was in trouble, so I pulled over the fire truck. She just plonked herself down, as if to say 'I'm beat'," he said.

"I offered her a drink and she drank three bottles.

"The most amazing part was when she grabbed my hand. I will never forget that."

Sam now lives at the Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter, where she was treated for burned paws. She is expected to recover and could be released back into the wild in about five months. Link -Thanks, Larfin Jackarse!

(image credit: Mark Pardew)

A remote control for your cat? Good luck with that! Notice the fine print says "No batteries required. Powered by positive thinking." Only $6.99 when they get more in at Think Geek. Link -via the Presurfer

Stephanie Carpluk of Easthampton, Massachusetts was at work at the Golden Nozzle car wash Sunday when her scarf became entangled in the spinning machinery. She lost consciousness as the scarf tightened around her neck. John O'Leary, whose car was moving through the wash, jumped out and cut the scarf with his pocket knife.

The next thing Carpluk remembers is waking up in the arms of a stranger who was encouraging her to breathe.

"I started hearing little things like, 'You're breathing. You're going to be alright. You're back. Just stay with me, stay with me,'" Carpluk said.

After cutting Carpluk free from the scarf, O'Leary administered CPR until she began breathing again.

Carpluk is recovering from severe bruising. Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: WBZ)

Jacob Vanderlaan of Sussex, New Brunswick loved tractors. After he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the 9-year-old made his request to the Children's Wish Foundation. He wanted to visit the John Deere factory in Moline, Illinois.

But the boy everyone knows as 'Jake' is too ill to travel, so the tractors came to him Friday as the extended family that is the farming community around Sussex organized a parade past the boy's home as he lay on a folded-down seat at the living room window.

Wrapped in a fleece, farm-themed blanket, a stuffed cow on his lap, Jake shielded his eyes from the sun with a black cap in one hand, waving excitedly with the other at the familiar faces behind the wheels of the passing farm vehicles.

For one afternoon, the family was able to forget the cancer that mom Julie Vanderlaan described as "extremely aggressive", which has left her son heavily medicated to fight through the pain.

Over 50 farmers rode tractors and other farm equipment to Jake's home -they were the same farmers who had been helping the family in every way possible since Jacob's illness was diagnosed.

"I never expected this," Julie said. "People are offering to do anything they can, they are just showing up every day to help. It all means so much.

"It's overwhelming. It just makes you so appreciative to be a part of this type of community."

Jacob died the day after the tractor parade. Link -via Fark

(image credit: Cindy Wilson/Telegraph-Journal)

Michel Cuhaci received a flawed copy of the book A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equation, so he left a one-star review on Amazon. The author, Dan Fleisch responded and promised to send a replacement overnight. At the time, Fleisch did not realize how hard that would be on Christmas Eve!

"I called (parcel services), and getting it delivered was out of the question," he said. "Then I thought, 'OK, maybe I can find a bookstore that had it in stock.' "

No luck — most bookstores had closed early.

"It got to be late afternoon. I couldn't find anyway to get it to him."

His next thought — he'd drive to Canada and deliver the $26 book himself.

"I looked at my iPhone and there was this massive blob (snowstorm) over the whole Northeast," he said.

Fleisch ended up flying from Ohio to Ottawa to deliver the book on Christmas Day, ending up back home after midnight. His journey reads like a comedy of errors.

Last week Cuhaci went back to Amazon and added a new comment about the book and its author.

"But I did not change the rating," he said. "I want people to look at my comment and see what a dedicated author he is."

http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/oh/story/news/local/2009/02/08/sns020809bookinside.html to story. http://www.amazon.com/review/R1OJWAR9L38UTF/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0521701473&nodeID to Amazon review. -via reddit

The Radiology Art project features scans submitted by different folks.

Scans are acquired as DICOM images using a GE CT scanner, then processed in Osirix software on a Macintosh iMac computer. Colors are assigned based on the varying densities of materials present throughout the object. Depending on the spread of densities within a particular subject, black or white backgrounds are chosen. Images are further processed in Adobe Photoshop for proper contrast and balance.

See the inner density of a wide variety of objects, in still images and in video. Link -via the Presurfer

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!

(Live Leak link)
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

(YouTube link)
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!