An investigation by the LA Times has uncovered the creator of the UFO over Haiti video. YouTube member Barzolff814 admitted he was the creator of the videos known as UFO Haiti and UFO Dominican Republic.

It took Barzolff a total of 17 hours to make both the Haiti and Dominican Republic videos. He did it all by himself using a MacBook Pro and a suite of commercially available 3-D animation programs, including Vue 6. The videos are 100% computer-generated.

The videos are research for a movie project.

The movie Barzolff is working on for the big screen is about two guys who create a UFO hoax so realistic that it spirals out of their control. "For better or worse," said Barzolff, who cited being "overwhelmed" by the response to his video as one of the reasons he didn't want to go public with his name.

When he uploaded the videos, he expected about 2,000 views. Just one version of the UFO Haiti video now has 2.5 million views. Link -via Fark

Plaseebo is a group of three artists who make deliciously creepy figures. Some are custom-designed, a few are for sale. Link -via Ectoplasmosis

Toby Davidson was fishing in Lake St. Clair in Michigan when he caught a fish that was unusually feisty. It was an 18-inch pacu {wiki}, a relative of the piranha.

"They told me I caught a piranha and then they said, 'Congratulations, because you will probably never catch something like this again,'" said Davison, who works for a lawn care service.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/13929662/detail.html# -via Fark

A Soviet Poster a Day is a fairly new blog that delivers, yes, a different Soviet propaganda poster each day. The best part is the extensive explanation for each, with source links included for more reading. Link -via Metafilter

Mix your coffee just the way you like it using the color guide on the inside of the My Cuppa Coffee (or the My Cuppa Tea) mug! Link -via Swiss Miss

When George proposed to Sara last Friday, it was an elaborate and artistic setup that took a lot of work and imagination. Push play or go to YouTube. Link to original post on George’s site. -via Reddit

Watch an aquarium full of fish do a rap song and dance and learn facts about salmon, too! Warning: one f-bomb. http://www.stashmedia.tv/feed/salmondance_dircut_hi.mov -via Everlasting Blort

We’ve seen a hamster eating popcorn and a cat eating corn. Now behold the cuteness of three guinea pigs and one piece of cucumber. Push play or go to YouTube. -via Cynical-C

Supposedly the most densely populated area on earth before it’s demolition in 1993, the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong had buildings so cramped that most residents didn’t see sunlight. See more pictures at deputydog. Link

This map shows the poverty level of each county in the United States, according to information from the 2000 census. http://www.visualizingeconomics.com.nyud.net:8080/2007/08/11/united-states-poverty-map/ -via Cynical-C

How much weight can a stray cat lift? This Japanese TV show investigates. It’s ten minutes long, but you may get a kick out of watching cats steal increasingly large fish with excited commentary in Japanese. The real winners are the cats! Push play or go to YouTube. -via the Presurfer

You may remember the bottle dance sequence from the movie Fiddler on the Roof. Bottle Dancers USA is a professional troupe who will perform the bottle dance or other traditional Jewish, Hebrew, Yiddish, or Klezmer dances at your wedding, bar mitzvah, or other special occasion. They even have a routine where they carry the guest of honor in on their shoulders! Link -via J-Walk Blog

You’ll enjoy this mashup of graphics from Phoenix Wright with audio from a comedy routine by The Frantics, which is just as funny now as in 1986. -via Everlasting Blort

This is such a cool opportunity! If I weren’t already overextended, I would be tempted to keep this information to myself.

Once again, we here at Damn Interesting are in search of proficient purveyors of intriguing information. But as a bit of a departure from our previous writer-replenishment efforts, we now hope to add a larger number of authors with a considerably smaller commitment per person. See the send-a-sample link for specifics.

If you are a talented writer in search of an outlet, we enjoin you to join us. Our fancies are yours to tickle.

Link

How many times has Superman’s secret identity been revealed? At least 20, according to this cover gallery. Not that it took much to out him, considering he doesn’t use much of a disguise in the first place. Link -via the Presurfer