Who would've guessed Bill Nye the Science Guy wore bow ties back in high school? And made them look good even then? Link 

When the Berlin Wall came down, the East German secret police, known as Stasi, knew their days were numbered, so they began to shred their extensive files. And when the shredders broke down, they tore documents into pieces. What they left behind is the biggest jigsaw puzzle ever. Twenty years later, little progress had been made reconstructing documents from the six hundred million pieces of paper, according to Joachim Haussler of the present Stasi archives authority.

So now the authorities are turning to technology. Computers, says Haussler, are "quicker, cheaper and can match and remember things humans can't". The particular computer taking on the task is the "ePuzzler" made by the same people who invented the mp3 player - the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin.

Bits of torn paper of all shapes and sizes are taken out of the sacks, ironed flat, then scanned.

Each piece, however small, is given a computer file into which is entered any information about, say, paper colour, handwriting or print on it, any significant acronyms that might link it to a particular Stasi office.

Then a complex mathematical programme is brought into action matching that information and the paper's shape with other fragments from among the millions.  

Read how computers are reconstructing East German history, and what is being revealed, at BBC News. Link -via Fortean Times

A group of people in San Francisco called the Guerrilla Grafters surreptitiously graft fruit tree branches onto non-fruiting trees in public spaces in the city -about 50 trees so far. Tom Levy of SFGate spoke with two of the "undercover orchardists," Tara Hui and Miriam Goldberg.

"The intention of doing guerrilla grafting is not so much for the sake of challenging authority, but to set an example - a working example - to counter the arguments," said Hui, a Beijing-born urban gardener and gray water activist with a computer science degree. "If we have a prototype, we can have a legitimate rational discussion on the issue."

But challenge authority it does. According to Mohammed Nuru, chief of San Francisco's Department of Public Works, guerrilla grafting is vandalism. The department says that no matter who plants or maintains a street tree, if it's on a sidewalk or other right-of-way area under city jurisdiction, it's publicly owned.

City officials say fruit trees are forbidden because fallen fruit could be a safety hazard. So far, there have been no complaints and no arrests. Link to story. Link to website. -Thanks, Kirsten!

(Image credit: Tom Levy)

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Birds in the wild spend most of their time looking for something to eat, so should it surprise anyone that they want what you're eating? The music is Pomplamoose's cover of the Angry Birds theme. -via Pleated Jeans

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Can you believe you're going to see color film footage from over a century ago? Inventor Edward Raymond Turner, along with businessman Frederick Marshall Lee, filed a patent for a color film process in 1899, but it was considered a failure. From the YouTube page:

Turner developed his complex three-colour process with support, first from Lee and then from the American film entrepreneur, Charles Urban. Using a camera and projector made by Brighton-based engineer Alfred Darling, Turner developed the process sufficiently to take various test films of colourful subjects such as a macaw, a goldfish in a bowl against a brightly striped background and his children playing with sunflowers, before his death in 1903 aged just 29. Urban went on to develop the process further with the pioneer film-maker George Albert Smith which resulted in the commercially successful Kinemacolor system, patented in 1906 and first exhibited to the public in 1909. Sadly, Turner's widow never received a penny from her husband's invention.

When the film footage was found in his archives, it appeared to be black and white. But each frame had been shot through alternating red, blue, and green filters. Watch how Michael Harvey, Brian Pritchard, and David Cleveland of the National Media Museum reverse-engineered the process to see the colors. Read more about it at Engadget. Link -via the Presurfer

Arthur O'Neil of Mansfield, Massachusetts has been decorating his lawn with plastic pinks flamingos for years, even dressing them up for holidays, which entertained the neighbors. But for the past few months, the flamingos have been disappearing one by one. Then one of the flamingos reappeared with a ransom note written on it:

"We have the flamingos....
If you ever want to see Arturo and his friends again, call [this number]."

The fact that the perpetrator knows a name of a plastic flamingo would make one believe the thief is someone O'Neil knows. O'Neil turned the evidence over to police. No arrests have yet been made.
Link -via Fark

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YouTube member austron spent eight months putting this ball machine he calls Clockwork together, using over 40,000 K'nex pieces. The result is 450 feet long, looped around a room in his home that everyone will want to visit! -via Geeks Are Sexy

The next time you’re at your favorite cafe, raise a glass to the aristocrats who lost their heads so that you could enjoy your foie gras.

France gave birth to restaurants, but it was no civilized affair. In fact, today’s restaurant business is actually a byproduct of the class warfare that arose during the French Revolution.

Back in the Middle Ages, fine dining was a privilege enjoyed exclusively by feudal lords who had their own grand kitchens and personal chefs. The only commercial eateries for the masses were seedy roadside inns, where strangers crowded around mediocre buffets of tepid roasts and over-sauced legumes. But sometime in the 1760s, the merchant class of Paris developed a taste for healthy light broths known as restoratives, or restaurants. By the 1780s, this new Parisian “health food” craze led to a handful of reputable dining halls, where customers could sit at individual tables and choose from a wide range of dishes.

Ironically, the popularity of these restaurants grew at a time when the bulk of the French population couldn’t afford bread. Decades of harsh winters and oppressive taxation had taken their toll on kitchen tables. Worse still, the greater part of the nation’s tax dollars had gone to pay for the excesses of the aristocracy and monarchy. By 1789, the starving French masses could no longer be controlled. Looting and riots erupted throughout Paris, ushering in the French Revolution.

If you enjoyed the feature earlier this week on Halloween horror films, you'll want to check out the terrifying sequel at our new Halloween blog! You'll learn things you never knew about The Omen, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Poltergeist. And then when you watch those movies for Halloween, you'll enjoy them all the more! Link

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Cyriak Harris made a music video for the song "Yellow Bridges" by the band El Ten Eleven. He used one log, two twigs, a couple of leaves, and Adobe After Effects to create his mesmerizing biological fractals. -via Laughing Squid

Capitán was adopted as a puppy by Miguel Guzmán of Villa Carlos Paz Cordoba, Argentina, in 2005. He got the German Shepherd for his son Damien, but the puppy loved Miguel. Then in March of 2006, Miguel died. The dog disappeared for a while, and the family thought he'd gone to live with someone else. But when they visited Miguel Guzmán's grave, there was Capitán. The dog refuses to leave the cemetery, even six years later.

Hector Baccega, the administrator of the Villa Carlos Paz Cordoba cemetery, told the press that Capitán has won the affection and respect of all the cemetery caretakers, who always make sure he’s properly fed and up-to-date with his immunizations. At one point they even brought in a vet, after Capitán showed up with a broken leg. Baccega says Capitán walks with him through the cemetery every day, but as night approaches, he always returns to Miguel’s graveside and lays his head down next to the headstone. He feels this amazing dog is teaching humans a valuable lesson about cherishing the memory of their loved ones.

Link -via Nag on the Lake

(Image credit: La Voz)

Stefani and Jeremy are one of our cousins and reached out to us about a fun video project they wanted to make for their wedding day, and the Gangnam Style song and dance just seemed to be a perfect fit for them. This video was shot in San Francisco and various locations throughout the Bay Area. We hope you like it! Thanks for watching.

For the essentials: this is a Philippine action movie starring the midget novelty celebrity named Weng Weng as Secret Agent OO (yes, Double O). It sounds like a comedy but what makes it great is that IT’S NOT! It’s played seriously and features Weng Weng using firearms and fancy gadgets like James Bond, engaging in martial arts fights like Bruce Lee, drooling over regular-sized women like Herve Villaichez, sword- fighting as skillfully as Zatoichi and sporting a poorly- concealed bald spot like Ryen Russillo.