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This video is a fast-moving historical fashion show with dancing! The Viral Factory produced it for the grand opening of Westfield Stratford City on September 13th, which I believe is a shopping center, although it's kind of hard to tell from the website. Music by Tristin Norwell. Link -Thanks, Vincenzo!
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
How much do you know about barbed wire? The very idea of barbed wire fences has a fascinating history. Railroads and farmers put up fences, and ranchers, who were used to open spaces to drive their cattle, tore them down. Manufacturers were making lots of money selling barbed wire, and each had a different barb design.
Now those rare early designs are highly sought by collectors. Yes, there are barbed wire collectors, as well as barbed wire clubs, museums, and conventions, as you'll see in this article at Collectors Weekly. Link -Thanks, Lisa and Ben!
(Image credit: railman)
While cattle ranchers sparred with farmers, the legal system was tangled by lawsuits over barbed-wire patents. Almost from the moment Jacob Haish and Joseph Glidden filed their first patents for barbed wire in 1874, the two men were squaring off in court. That same year, a hardware-store owner named Isaac Ellwood bought a 50-percent share in Glidden’s patent for $265. By the time the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Glidden’s favor in 1892 (his “Winner” design is used on most fences today), hundreds of patents for as many designs of barbed wire had been filed, and many more unpatented variations were on the market.
Now those rare early designs are highly sought by collectors. Yes, there are barbed wire collectors, as well as barbed wire clubs, museums, and conventions, as you'll see in this article at Collectors Weekly. Link -Thanks, Lisa and Ben!
(Image credit: railman)
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Caffeine does strange things to people, and apparently to birds! This cockatiel is so excited about a cup of coffee that he dances to the tune of a stirring spoon. -via Arbroath
Who knew lizards came in so many different colors? While most animals are happy to take on the colors of their environment for camouflage purposes, different species of lizards dress in colors designed to stand out from the crowd during mating season. Luckily, photographers see them as well. See 20 different colorful lizards posing for their pictures at Environmental Graffiti. http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-most-colorful-lizards-earth
(Image credit: Ester Inbar)
It's nice work if you can get it. Last year, Ed Casabian began moving around New York City, living in a different neighborhood every week. He writes about his experiences, and is booked up through October already.
Casabian was granted a SoundCloud Community Fellowship to underwrite his adventures. Link -via Laughing Squid
I’d like to stay with people of different ages, races, religions, sexual orientations and economic situations. I’d like to hit the five boroughs (Staten Island eludes me but its on the calendar!). I’m trying to do 52 neighborhoods. I’m at around 40 right now depending on how you define them. Ultimately though, I’m looking for different perspectives and ideas. So far, I have stayed with some of my best friends, friends of friends, relatives of friends, former coworkers, complete strangers through some of the recent press I have received. It has been difficult, scary, interesting, and exciting. Most of all, it has been immensely rewarding, which is what I expected when this idea first popped into my head.
Casabian was granted a SoundCloud Community Fellowship to underwrite his adventures. Link -via Laughing Squid
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In the French animation Mortys, death is a working mother. Business is disrupted when her child schemes to get more of her time. Mortys is a graduation short film co-directed by Gaelle Lebegue, Mathieu Vidal, Aurelien Ronceray-Peslin et Nicolas Villeneuve, and produced by the ESMA. -via I Am Bored
Once again, it's time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog! Do you know what the object in this picture is?
Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will each win a 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?
Check out the What Is It? Blog for additional pictures. Good luck!
Update: The object pictured is an ice chipper. Craig Clayton was the first of many with the correct answer, so he wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop. The funniest answer came from Maxx McIlhargey, who said it was a toothpick for crocodiles, used by wildlife conservationists to get the drug runner bones from between the crocodile's teeth from a distance. He did not select a shirt.
Here we are, at the intersection of video game and board game. Elisabeth Redel made a Monopoly game for her boyfriend fashioned after the video game Fallout! The streets are locations from the game instead of Atlantic City. Even the cards are Fallout-oriented. See more pictures at Geeks Are Sexy. Link
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Cornell Creative Machines Lab connected two chatbots to each other to see what would happen. You could call this a conversation, and however odd it is, it honestly makes more sense than some chats I've heard between real people. -via Metafilter
New York City didn't see as much destruction as they had expected, but many communities up and down the east coast were severely impacted by Hurricane Irene. Buzzfeed has a roundup of frightening photographs from various locations. This one shows Route 12 at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The damaged road isolated 2,500 people on Hatteras Island. Link
(Image credit: Steve Helber/AP)
How to Be a Retronaut has a collection of portraits of married couples a hundred years back or more. Some look strangely alike, and they all look fairly uncomfortable posing for the photographer. http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2011/08/victorian-husbands-and-wives/ -via Everlasting Blort
A man entered Eastern Bank in South Boston with the intention to rob it Thursday, but left empty-handed. He went to a teller and presented a note demanding money, but she said her window was closed. The unidentified man then went to the next window and received a scolding about cutting in line!
Link -via Arbroath
(Unrelated image credit: Flickr user Nathan Huth)
The suspect was told by a teller and customer that he had to wait in line for his turn, and to take off his hoodie, police said. The suspect refused to remove his hoodie and left the bank.
He was last seen walking toward F Street, police said.
Police said no one was injured and no weapon was shown. The robbery attempt is under investigation and no arrests have been made, police said.
Link -via Arbroath
(Unrelated image credit: Flickr user Nathan Huth)
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If Pac-Man was a first person shooter game, this is what it would look like. Now, someone needs to make this playable ASAP! -via The Daily What Geek
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