Last Meals Delivery Service in Toronto will bring you a last meal (but only if you live in Toronto). Not your last meal, but the meal someone on Death Row chose as their last. They all cost $20 and must be ordered a couple of days ahead of delivery. You don't get to pick it out, but when it's delivered it comes with a DVD to watch and a paper mask of the convict who selected it. Frank at BlogTO tried it out and wrote up the experience.

I don't know what I was expecting. Possibly someone dressed as a grim reaper or in a prison guard uniform or something equally dramatic opening up a thermal bag with a puff of yellow sulfur-y smoke and handing me a styrofoam container that was eerily cool to the touch. Ideally, I'd've left my $20 (sorry, cash only folks) in an envelope at my front door and after a brief wait the doorbell would ring and the food would appear without any human agency to puncture the veil.

It wasn't quite like that.

By now i'm sure you're all just frothy with anticipation as to which lucky (or unlucky) dead-guy I drew. His name was James Hudson Bryant (prisoner #924), convicted of killing 3 people in a dispute over a shared driveway. His last meal included a cheeseburger, a tossed salad, large fries with ketchup, a pile of saltines, an apple turnover and for some reason I can't really fathom, a pair of brand-new white tube socks. Everything tasted okay; it wasn't exactly home-made.

Link -Thanks, Jerrold!

McCann-Erickson has produced a beautifully animated but disturbing PSA for the Portuguese organization Quercus {wiki} about global warming. Let the comments begin. http://www.fubiz.net/blog/index.php?2008/09/18/2229-global-warming-quercus -Thanks, Mat!

Tomoji Tanabe has seen many birthdays. Today he turns 113! Tanabe is the world's oldest living man, and the eleventh oldest living person in the world. He celebrated at his home in southern Japan with a visit from the mayor.

"I'm happy," said Tomoji Tanabe as the local mayor presented him with flowers and a giant tea cup glazed with his name and date of birth. "I'm well. I eat a lot," he added.

Tanabe, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living male last year, eats mostly vegetables and believes the key to longevity is not drinking alcohol.

The former civil servant lives with his son, drinks milk every day and has no major illnesses, although he now writes in his diary only once or twice a month. He used to write on a daily basis.

Link -via YesButNoButYes

Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will find out how pop-savvy you are about musical groups that exist only in TV and movies. I scored 50%, because I am a pop-culture failure. Come to think of it, I did pretty well, considering I didn't know any of the answers! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/18521

A company called NeuroSky Inc, has built a prototype of a system that reads brain waves and uses them to control a mobile phone! They held a demonstration at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2008 in San Francisco last week.

The demonstrated applications include:
(1) an application to show the degree of brain's relaxation on the screen of a mobile phone by using a visualizer
(2) an application to show the degree of brain's tension in chronological order after a user solves about 10 arithmetical problems (addition, multiplication, etc) shown on the screen of a mobile phone
(3) a game application to move a video game character to an intended place as quickly as possible on the screen of a mobile phone. The more the degree of brain's concentration, the more quickly the character moves.

As for (1), when a user calms his or her mind on purpose, the curving lines drawn by the visualizer change to various colors. With regard to (2), if an appropriate application is developed, it will be possible to realize a brain training game in which the challenge level changes in real time in accordance with the degree of brain's tension.

Link -Thanks, Yash!

Well, this should be effective.

Occasionally, even I run across a message, so clear and so profound, that design of the presentation would do little to make it any clearer.

Link -via Digg

(YouTube link)
Jason at Hack A Day details an experiment using thermite to destroy a hard disk while still in a computer case. He also explains what thermite is and warns you not to try this. Link -Thanks, Jason!

Why Would You Knit That?! is a blog dedicated to the strange things that people have knitted. I personally like the Star Trek figurines, but I'm still scratching my head over the tissue box cover. Pictured is the Coat of Many Colors. You are invited to submit knitted projects you've seen ...or knitted yourself. Link -via Gorilla Mask

Blend Creations has a line of metal pendants featuring monsters illustrated by your favorite artists. Only 100 of each pendant is available, and $16 of the $81 price will go to UNICEF. Pre-orders are being taken now for sales that start October first. Pictured is Squid by Adam Koford (Apelad), Fart Monster by Anna Chambers, and Bunny Skull by Brian Taylor. Other artists are Jay Stephens, S. Britt, Stefan G. Bucher, John Martz, Jon Burgerman, Justin Hillgrove, and Blend Creations. Link -Thanks, Vivian!

This photo is so intriguing, Gizmodo is having a caption contest. Some of the lines in the comments are priceless! Link -Thanks, kid_icarus!

Military researchers have been hard at work developing mechanical suits that provide protection, strength, and endurance. A team at the University of West Florida's Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is also working on an undersea version that will give the wearer all the advantages of a penguin.

The team's concept is known as Performance Improving Self Contained Exoskeleton for Swimming ("PISCES"). They have looked at various bio-inspired systems that are based on animal propulsion, and borrowed design features from dolphins, sea turtles and, yes, penguins. They can't turn you into Michael Phelps, but they can certainly make a big difference improve speed and endurance.

The lower body of the suit works like normal swim fins with a power boost. The upper body design mimics the movements of a penguin -which is not natural for humans. They're still working on the details. http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/09/attack-of-the-u.html

The bomb squad responded to call about a suspicious package yesterday near the Columbia Heights Metro station in Washington, DC. Citizens had observed a polar bear rummaging in a trash can. They said he had been there for hours. The Metro station and the surrounding area were evacuated. Ambulances and fire trucks were on hand to respond.

Onlookers watched a bomb technician in a blast suit walk slowly toward the bear, then pounce and cut it open. He pulled out wads of newspaper until the big, white head flopped over.

The bear was a mannikin mannequin. Was it street art, a political statement, or both? Link

The DCist believes that the artist is Mark Jenkins. Link -via Arbroath

Western scientists first referred to the Mongolian Death Worm in 1926, although the information had come from locals, not direct observation.

Reported to be between two and five feet long, the deep-red coloured worm is said to resemble the intestines of a cow and sprays a yellow acidic saliva substance at its victims, who if they’re unlucky enough to be within touching distance also receive an electric shock powerful enough to kill a camel… or them.

In 2005, a group of scientists spent a month searching for the worm, but all they got were more stories from people who swear the worm exists.

Lead researcher, Richard Freeman, said: “Every eyewitness account and story we have heard describes exactly the same thing: a red-brown worm-like snake, approximately two feet long and two inches thick with no discernable head or back (tail).”

Environmental Graffiti has more. Link -via Digg

(image credit: Owlman)

Instructables has step-by-step directions for making an origami cube from six New York City Metro cards -or any other type of cards you may have. It might not be all that useful, but it could be a fun project or a way to display souvenirs. If street vendors aren't already selling these to tourists, they will be soon. Link -via Geek Like Me

Mandy Sellars weighs 285 pounds, but the top half of her body only accounts for around 70 pounds of that. The rest is in her gigantic legs and feet. Sellars has Proteus syndrome, a rare condition in which parts of the body grow faster and larger than others. The most famous victim of Proteus syndrome was Joseph Merrick, also known as the Elephant Man.

"This is a very rare disorder. Certainly, less than one in a million," said Dr. John Graham, director of clinical genetics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "Proteus syndrome is named for the Greek God who could change his form. And because it was such an apt description of how these individuals rapidly change form from appearing relatively normal as young children to this startling overgrowth, the name has remained with the disorder ever since then."

Sellars was born with a noticeable difference between her upper and lower body. As her body grew, her legs and feet grew twice as fast. No treatment could help.

Because her condition remained such a mystery, she often seemed to be on the edge of disaster. In college, she was once suddenly paralyzed because of a blood clot that required 10 weeks of hospitalization. When a plastic surgeon tried liposuction to reduce the bulk in her legs, more tissue grew back than had been removed.

"In my mind, the condition has a mind of its own," Sellars said, "because whatever you take away grows back bigger and bigger."

Link -Thanks, Cesar Partida!

(image credit: Caroline Borge/ABC News)