Turkish artist Sadi Tekin draws human faces on tiny chickpeas, and then puts them in humorous situations in the landscapes of New York to take their pictures. See more of them in his Behance gallery. Link -via Laughing Squid
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
Ian Waugh spotted a deer and her fawn stranded on the ice over Antigonish Harbour in Nova Scotia. He called the Department of Natural Resources, which sent a crew who decided the ice was too thin to risk sending anyone out to get the deer.
A few hours later, Waugh spotted a DNR helicopter near the deer. The fawn ran to shore and the chopper came down close to the mother.
“The wash, because the ice was so smooth…the wash was so powerful that it actually started to push the deer,” says Waugh.
He says the deer eventually stopped struggling and went with the flow, while a DNR officer and the pilot directed the animal to shore.
With some human help over the last few feet, the deer was able to take off on her own at the shoreline. Link -via Arbroath
Israeli artist Barak Ashraf shows us the youthful Kraken practicing the mayhem for which he later became famous. Link -via reddit
Physicist David Neevel channels Rube Goldberg by building a machine to separate Oreo cookies into their basic elements: cookies and cream filling. Yes, it's a video by Oreo; how did you guess? -via Geeks Are Sexy
Tim Harris has Down Syndrome and a restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tim's Place bills itself as "The world's friendliest restaurant." Seeing the joy Tim puts into his work, I can believe it! However, Tim didn't just luck into his position -he gained as much experience as he could by working at various restaurants and attended Eastern New Mexico University to earn certificates in Food Service and Office Skills. Link -via reddit
We told you about the tongue-eating fish parasite Cymothoa exigua. Now, PBS made a cartoon about this isopod that not only explains the tongue thing, but also the creature's sex life. Gross! -via Gamma Squad
Deep sea hydrothermal vents provide geothermal warmth to ocean water that doesn't get much warmth from the sun. These mineral-rich vents are like "the oases of the deepest ocean," and are thought to be places where many life forms -and maybe life itself- got its start.
A few weeks ago, a group of scientists on a National Oceanography Centre expedition in the Caribbean stumbled across this vent, the deepest ever found at 5,000 meters below the ocean's surface. Since then, the group has been plumbing the depths of the Beebe Vent Field with remotely-operated submersibles, taking pictures, discovering new species, and finding some unexpected surprises.
That's over three miles down! See plenty of pictures from the expedition at io9. Link -via Daily of the Day
(Image credit: National Oceanography Centre)
A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a computer algorithm the detects movements that are so small or subtle as to be imperceptible to human eyes. The program then amplifies these movements kinetically or by color changes to the point that we can see them in video recordings. The program is called Eulerian Video Magnification.
The team originally developed the program to monitor neonatal babies without making physical contact. But they quickly learned that the algorithm can be applied to other videos to reveal changes imperceptible to the naked eye. Prof. William T. Freeman, a leader on the team, imagines its use in search and rescue, so that rescuers could tell from a distance if someone trapped on a ledge, say, is still breathing.
“Once we amplify these small motions, there’s like a whole new world you can look at,” he said.
Some of the applications suggested for this new technology include medical diagnosis, finding oil, seeing how much a building sways, detecting lies, assessing manufacturing processes, and even determining whether a poker player is bluffing. See a video with more examples at the New York Times technology blog, Bits. Link -via Digg
It's time for the latest edition of our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog. Can you guess what this thing is? Or if not, can you make up something funny?
Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many guesses as you'd like in separate comments. Pease do not post URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will win T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?
See another picture of the mystery object at the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!
Update: the mystery object is a fly fisherman's line stripping basket. In fly casting, there is a lot of loose line, and one of these baskets on your waist holds the extra line and keep it from getting tangled. Anker was the first with the correct answer, and wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The funniest answer came from Kevin George, who said, "Early combination soap dish and ashtray. Later models included a cocktail umbrella to keep the cigarette from going out." I guess that would be necessary if you're going to smoke in the shower! So he also wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop. Find the answers to all the mystery items of the week at the What Is It? blog.
Uh-oh. It looks like Jay has written the BRI team into another bunch of puzzles. Let's see how we do.
1. HUNGRY BOOKWORM
Kait is the newest member of the BRI team. To test out whether whether we were really as smart as she's heard (we're not), she asked us a math question that even her 11-year-old son C.J. answered correctly: "Three Bathroom Readers are stacked vertically next to each other on a bookshelf, with their spines facing out. The covers of the books each measure 1/8". The pages of each book measures 2". If a bookworm starts eating at page one of the book on the left, then eats through the books in a straight line until he gets to the last page of the book on the right, how many inches of book will he have eaten?"
2. THE 5TH CONDITION
Uncle John strolled into the office and announced, "Civics quiz, everybody!" After we whined a bit, he asked a question that sounded tough, but he assured us it was not. "According to the U.S. Constitution," he said, "five conditions must be met for a candidate to become president. He or she must: 1) be born in the United States, 2) be 35 years old or more, 3) be an American citizen, and 4) have resided in the U.S. for at least 14 years. What's the fifth condition? You may think you don't know it, but you do."
3. SURROUNDED
Julia is riding a horse. Directly to her left is a hippo traveling at the same speed. In front of her is an elephant, also traveling at the same speed. Following behind her -at the same speed- is a lion. And to her right is a ledge. How will Julia make it to safety?
4. BUILDER BLUNDER
JoAnn, Melinda, and Monica each purchased a new home in Porcelain Estates, an exclusive community consisting of nine shiny houses. But the builders forgot to add an important part of the houses, forcing the three new homeowners to buy the part at the hardware store. One thousand would have cost $4.00. Fifty would have cost $2.00. But JoAnn, Melinda, and Monica needed only one each and paid a combined total of $3.00. What did the builders forget to add?
5. THE RUNAROUND
Two-eyed Jeff was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. One-eyed Jeff walked up and said, "I'll bet you a dollar that before I run around your chair three times, you'll get up. And I promise I won't push you or throw things at you. When you get up, it will be by choice." Two-eyed Jeff took the bet, thinking he'd make an easy dollar. But it was soon obvious that One-eyed Jeff had won. Why?
6. A MOTHER'S GIFT
Amy challenged us with this classic riddle:
Black as night I'll always be,
Until my mother smothers me.
Then clear as ice I will become
In the rough. Thank you, Mum!
What am I?
7. FEELING FLAT
Thom drove all the way from Crappo, Maryland, to Flushing, New York, without realizing that his car had a flat tire, but arrived safely with four fully inflated tires. How?
8. COFFEE DELIVERY!
Trying to figure out the answers to these questions tired us out, but then along came Angie with a large pot of freshly brewed coffee. Yay! "I can give you one gallon," she said. "But you'll have to measure it out yourselves." Then she handed us a three-gallon bucket and a five-gallon bucket. As we were sitting there dumbfounded, Maggie told us not to worry -she'd do it. How?
Continue reading when you want to see the answers.
It's impossible to keep up with all the creative videos of the Harlem Shake meme, but you can do the dance yourself, virtually, by making your website (or any website) do the Harlem Shake. Results vary, but you can see Neatorama doing it as an example. Just enter a URL at the generator site. Link -via the Presurfer
Devin Graham, also known as devinsupertramp, brings us the adventures of a group of extreme cliff jumpers and their 300-foot rope swing. And they did it over and over to make sure they got all the right camera angles. You can see a behind-the-scenes video with more information. Do not try this! I saw Wile E. Coyote pull this stunt in a film more than once, and it always ended with him slamming face-first into the cliff wall. -Thanks, Dallin Smith!
Josh Kurp and photographer Nadia Chaudhury went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to see the places where the TV series Breaking Bad is shot. They saw (and photographed) plenty of locations, and since the show was in production at the time, they also got to meet series star Bryan Cranston. You can take the tour yourself, in a virtual sense, at Uproxx. May contain spoilers for those not up-to-date on the series. Link
(Images credit: Nadia Chaudhury)
Todd Bieber tells the story of how he entered a Star Wars costume contest at a movie premiere by declaring himself to be George Lucas. That makes him a hero to the audience …until they actually watched The Phantom Menace. Contains some NSFW language. -via Laughing Squid
Postwar America in the late 1940s was ripe for "better living through chemistry" and new processed foods. The Jell-O company took advantage of this and developed recipes for the suburban housewife to show off her culinary skills and stretch the family food budget. How else could you explain the abominations known as the Jell-O salad and Jell-O entrees? But Ruth Clark of the site The Mid-Century Menu is willing to try those recipes out, for the sake of understanding history. Collectors Weekly spoke to her about the food, and especially the Jell-O recipes, of the 1950s.
I haven’t really heard a lot of food historians talk about this, but I’ve found that food mixed into Jell-O stays fresher much longer than if you have it by itself.
Collectors Weekly: Whoa, how long are you talking about, like weeks?
Clark: Like days. For example, Perfection Salad is basically coleslaw inside of lemon or lime Jell-O, so it’s got cabbage and carrots and all kinds of stuff. But the cabbage will stay fresh for over a week. If you take a bite of it, it’s still crunchy. My husband, Tom, tries all this. He’s a chemist, so he’ll keep tasting it long, long after I’m done with it. But if you make regular coleslaw and put dressing on it, the cabbage becomes soggy after three days. And after five days, you’re not going to eat it.
We’ve done a lot of different Jell-O stuff and noticed that freshness is basically extended when you encase things in Jell-O. We’ve done cakes covered with gelatin, and the cake would still be moist after a week and a half. We made sandwiches with gelatin, open-faced sandwiches with flavored gelatin poured over the top, which was supposed to be like mayo. I thought it was going to be disastrous. Tom wolfed them down. He’s like, “These are really good and the bread isn’t soggy.” I’m like, “Are you kidding me?” Two days later, they were still edible.
But she talks about a lot more than just Jell-O. Read about pork fat cake, chocolate tomato soup cake, liver and green bean paté, chicken mousse, and more. Link
Email This Post to a Friend