Jewel of the Universe is the name of this world map made of glass and precious gemstones, lit by 6912 LEDs. Artist Chris Chamberlain spent 27 months putting it together. Read more about it and see a series of pictures at the Neatorama Spotlight Blog.

So maybe you watched the Academy Awards last night, and you consider yourself a true movie buff. If you did, then no doubt you're aware that Daniel Day-Lewis became the first man to win three Oscar for Best Actor. That's quite a mantlepiece display! But there are eight other actors who've taken the prize home twice. Mental_floss challenges you to name all eight in two minutes. Good luck! Link 

Jen at Cake Wrecks posted an homage to all the films nominated for Best Picture from the 2013 Academy Awards. Some of the interpretations are a bit tenuous, as she admitted she hasn't actually seen the films, but they are wonderfully funny cakes. This one is, of course, in reference to The Life of Pi, because it has a tiger on it. At least that's what the label says, in case you couldn't tell. See the whole collection at Cake Wrecks. Link

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This reminds me a little of the guy with the homemade flying machine in the movie The Road Warrior, although he had helicopter blades. A "commuter" of sorts was spotted refueling at a gas station in Russia. Too bad he had to wait at the runway highway so he could merge into traffic for takeoff! -via I Have Seen the Whole of the Internet

The Joy of Tech guys know what will happen when Google Glasses go on the market. They want you to think the product will magically open up the wall between the real world and the virtual world. Not so fast! Link  -via Tastefully Offensive

Evan Daniels, who brought us Iron Man in stained glass last year, has outdone himself with his latest work: Metroid in stained glass! This project contains 299 pieces of glass in authentic colors. There's only one, and it's for sale at his Etsy shop, MartianGlassWorks. Link -Thanks, Rick Daniels!

Ice Scream - "The Scream" Ice Cube Tray from the NeatoShop

Ice "cubes" are so boring, and easy to make into something interesting. Now look- these "ice cubes" in the shape of Edvard Munch's The Scream are handy for horror movie occasions, Halloween parties, or artsy-fartsy events to impress your cultured friends. But that's not your only choice! Jill Harness rounded up the weirdest, geekiest ice trays available in a list at Oddee. Link

Andrea Burnett makes Star Wars-themed crib mobiles and sells them through her Etsy store Sheep Creek Needlecraft. They are each custom-made, with your choice of elements like different spaceships from the films, a Death Star, and planets. This is perfect for getting your geek baby off to a stellar start! Link -via Geeks Are Sexy

This is a cookie. Yes, it's also a work of art. Risa Hirai is an artist who uses cookies as her medium. She is a senior at Tama Art University in Japan. Hirai's cookies will be on exhibit in March in Tokyo, but you can see a few of them at Spoon & Tamago. Link  -via Nag on the Lake  

Bernhardt Otto Holtermann hired photographers to document Australia during its gold rush days. That photographic collection has been digitized by the New South Wales State Library, where you can browse them. A selection of these photographs have been paired with the same places as they appear now, which you can see and compare at the Herald Sun. Link -via Metafilter

A Daily Mail reporter went to a British parenting forum to dig up dirt for a story. Instead, she got schooled. The question:  

I am writing a feature for The Daily Mail about the increase in the number of children being sent to A&E. Figures released earlier this week show an increasing number of youngsters are sent direct to hospital, because GPs are reluctant to treat children. Babies in particular. This means long waits, and inappropriate care. Has your child been sent to A&E with a common infection or minor injury by your GP or NHS Direct? Have you an opinion on this subject, as a parent?

I gathered from reading this that A&E means a hospital. Anyway, the parents at Mumsnet who responded not only advocated sending children to a hospital if there are any doubts about a diagnosis, they also had plenty to say about the Daily Mail in general. Here's a sampling:

Sorry but even the way you have asked your question is skewed to make us think negatively of the NHS. How many lives have GPs saved by sending babies to A&E because they aren’t sure what to do? Happy to wait 6 hours if a little life is saved.

I'd much rather be sent with dd and it turns out to be nothing than a gp think its nothing and it turns out to be something bad. It isn't inappropriate care and no parent would begrudge a long wait to be seen and ensure their childs health.

How does sending a baby to a&e result in 'inappropriate care'???

All these stories of GPs sending babies to A&E and saving their lives. Is that what you are looking for Zoe?

Do your parents know you work for the Daily Mail?

Have you an opinion on this subject, as a parent?
Yes. Please stop bashing the NHS.

Those were only in the first couple of hours. The thread was passed around on Twitter and eventually blew up to over 300 comments. Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science

Physicist A presents a research paper to physicist B. The paper had not been peer-reviewed nor had it been published (at that time), and the results have not yet been replicated, but you can be sure that will happen sooner or later. If you can't read the entire page above, you can enlarge it at the link. But you can see that physicist B (identity redacted) checked the "yes" box, meaning she accepted his proposal. We wish both physicists many years of happiness. Link -via reddit

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An increasingly frustrated narrator leads us through a nature documentary about useless animal species such as the cube fish and the inverted hedgehog that have no chance to survive or flourish because their evolutionary adaptations are just plain senseless. -via Daily of the Day

The 33rd annual Golden Raspberry Awards (affectionately known as the Razzies) were bestowed last night, to honor the worst Hollywood films and actors of the previous year. The Razzie ceremony is traditionally the night before the Oscars. The big winner this year was Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. It was nominated for 11 razzes (in ten categories) and took home seven.

The finale to the blockbuster supernatural romance dominated the Razzies with seven awards, including worst actress for Kristen Stewart, supporting actor for Taylor Lautner, director for Bill Condon and worst screen couple for Lautner and child co-star Mackenzie Foy.

Adam Sandler was named worst actor for the raunchy comedy “That’s My Boy,” his second-straight win after 2011’s “Jack and Jill,” which swept all 10 Razzie categories a year ago. Pop singer Rihanna won worst supporting actress for the action dud “Battleship.”

Razzies founder John Wilson has a theory that instead of 40 million people seeing the Twilight movies, it's 8 million girls each watching them five times. Link

The following is an article from Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader.

Few people know about the Sultana, despite the fact that it suffered the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history. For some reason, it is almost completely ignored by history books. Here's the tragic story.

HEADING HOME

The Civil War was finally over. It was April 1865, General Robert E. Lee had surrendered; Abraham Lincoln had been shot; and Confederate president Jefferson Davis had been captured. After four years of bloodshed, the war-torn nation was ready to start the process of healing and rebuilding. The first order of business was to get the weary troops home.

Captured Union soldiers were being released from Confederate prison camps. Thousands amassed along the Mississippi River seeking passage on one of the many steamships making their way upriver to the north.

One such riverboat was the Sultana, a state-of-the-art side-wheeler that had been built for transporting cotton. But now her cargo was people. By law, she was allowed to carry 376 passengers and a crew of 85, and the ship's captain and owner, J.C. Mason, had a reputation as a careful river pilot. But in the end, the money he stood to make from the Union government for transporting extra troops was too tempting to pass up: $5 for each enlisted man and $10 per officer.

A SETUP FOR DISASTER