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Thousands of people turned out for an attempt to break the world record for the number of people doing a simultaneous Thriller dance in Mexico City. Organizer Javier Hildago says 12,937 participated on Saturday, which would have been Michel Jackson’s 51st birthday. Officials from the Guinness Book of World Records will take some time to determine whether all those people completed the entire dance routine. The current official record is 242 dancers from the College of William & Mary. Link

Designed by Ji-youn Kim, this hanging lamp can shed light in the darkness, but probably won’t make you feel any more secure. What a conversation piece! Link -via Coolest Gadgets

Is the man in this picture dead or alive? It’s not a silly question. In the early days of photography, dead bodies would be photographed for posterity. Often this would be the only picture ever taken of the person. Sometimes the bodies were posed as if they were alive.

There’s something just unspeakably creepy about this fireman. At first glance, he looks like a normal, awkwardly-posed guy from the 19th century. But upon closer inspection, you notice a few tell-tale signs: a rigid pose and fingers, a stand not quite completely hidden behind his feet, which is holding him up by some unseen armature on his back, liberal amounts of rouge applied to too-white cheeks, and those blank, blank eyes.

This picture is available on eBay. See more possibly post-mortem posed portraits at mental_floss. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/32946

Artist Stuart Semple uses soap and helium to create floating foam clouds in the shape of smiley faces. A machine he developed makes and releases them, thousands at a time, in public places. Link (with video) -via Metafilter

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He can’t help the facial expression -he was born that way! -via Arbroath

Eggshells are a wonder of nature. They are the perfect packaging for bird babies and the food they need. Eggshells are full of calcium. And they have a great many uses after you take the yolk and the white out. I put all my eggshells in the compost as a matter of habit. I didn’t know they were also good for repelling bugs and deer, and I certainly have never thought of putting them in the coffee! Find twelve ways to use eggshells at The Daily Green. Link -via Digg

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Leave it to the Japanese to invent a musical instrument with a face that looks like a cartoon character. The Otamatone was developed by toy company CUBE Works and Maywa Denki, an art collaboration of the Tosa family that specializes in nonsense machines. -via the Presurfer

These V-Houses were designed by Heinz Legler for use as eco-friendly shelters. They are in temporary use for workers is a forest near Yelapa, Mexico, but have proved so popular that more have been ordered to house resort guests. They feature solar panels, composting toilets, and a greywater system to reuse as much water as possible. No excavation needed to set these treehouses up, just stick them in the ground! Link -via Digg

This toilet paper dispenser looks like a giant tube of glue! No need to squeeze this tube, just pull the toilet paper out. The back end is sealed with Velcro, so you can easily add more paper. Link -via Unique Daily

Tactical Bacon is ready-to-eat bacon packed 54 slices to a can for $15.99. It has a ten-year shelf life, which makes it perfect for your underground apocalypse shelter. But when you open it, you’ll have to eat all 54 pieces or else refrigerate them. Link -via Gizmodo

Research into the subject of why humans cry (and animals don’t) has produced several theories. Some say it’s to shed harmful chemicals from the body. Others theorize that crying is a holdover from the way infants communicate needs. And some have said that the process just makes us feel better. Now we have a new theory.

"Crying is a highly evolved behavior," said researcher Oren Hasson, an evolutionary biologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel. "My analysis suggests that by blurring vision, tears lower defenses and reliably function as signals of submission, a cry for help, and even in a mutual display of attachment and as a group display of cohesion."

Crying as a social behavior? What do you think? Link -via Digg

The Chance and Community Chest cards in the standard Monopoly game were redesigned last year. This Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will test how well you remember the old designs. Can you match the text with the images from the cards? I scored 7 out of 12, which is pretty good considering I haven’t played Monopoly in decades. Link

Photo: Brian Ulrich

Photographer Brian Ulrich has spent the last few year examining “the peculiarities and complexities of the consumer-dominated culture in which we live.” His latest project captures the beauty and sadness of empty stores and failed businesses.

Most recently a new project began in 2008 entitled Dark Stores, Ghost Boxes and Dead Malls. In the recent economic downturn some of the very stores I photographed at the beginning of the project are now emptied and laid barren in the hulking empty architecture of the big box, mall or store.

Link -via Metafilter

James Hayes-Bohanan, Ph.D. is a professor of geography AND a scholar with the Vanderbilt University Institute for Coffee Studies. His website Geography of Coffee is full of information about coffee around the world, including the places coffee is produced, shipped, and sold. You’ll also find out about fair trade and the politics of the coffee business. Of course, there are also coffee reviews and instructions for making the perfect cup. Link -via the Presurfer

That’s a pretty daring title for an internet list, but I was only familiar with a couple of these (including the bonus). Honestly, have you ever heard of a pink fairy armadillo? It’s also known as the Lesser pichiciego (Chlamyphorus truncatus) and it’s native to Argentina. Link -via Interesting Pile