One of the drawbacks to the widespread use of electric cars has been that they’re usually pretty ugly. The Tesla Roadster will change that perception. It runs on 100% electricity, for 250 miles per charge at about a penny per mile. Plus it goes from zero to 60mph in about 4 seconds. These cars are sold out now, but reservations are being taken for the 2008 models. Link -via Dump Trumpet

Taman Safari animal hospital in Java, Indonesia have four babies in their care who normally wouldn’t get along. A pair of baby orangutans and a pair of Sumatran tiger cubs (both endangered species) were rejected by their mothers, and are being raised in the hospital’s nursery, where they became inseparable friends. In the wild, tigers eat orangutans. Link

The European Space Agency launched the Rosetta space probe {wiki} in 2004 to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It should reach the comet by 2014. Rosetta has just passed Mars, and sent back some beautiful photographs.

In the lead image above, an orange (red), green and near-UV colour filter composite image of Mars is shown; the UV channel (the blue color) has been enhanced. The enhanced UV signal clearly shows the presence of the cloud system covering most of the Martian disk.

Link

There’s the newfangled thing that people do with computers, and it’s amazing! It’s called “Internet”. This CBC report from 1993 makes me want to try it! From the comments:

1993 "Sorry I'm late, I was on Internet."
2000 "Sorry I'm late, I was on the Internet"
2007 "sry im L8, i was on Teh Internets"

Push play or go to YouTube. -via the Presurfer

Admit it, you’ve always wanted to become one of the Knights Who Say Ni. {wiki} You’ll be partway there with this hat. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Stringfever is a group of three brothers and a cousin who play electric stringed instruments. In this video, the four play Ravel’s Bolero on one electric cello! Push play or go to YouTube. Link to the band’s website. -via Ursi’s Blog

I made this with the Portrait Illustration Maker. Any resemblance to actual persons would be surprising to me... just kidding! In case you can’t recognize my hurried attempts, this is supposed to be Neatorama authors Alex, Gail, and me. I don’t know what the others look like. Go try it yourself! Link

Stop-motion video artists PES produced the Human Skateboard video last year. Push play or go to YouTube. Now Sneaux Shoes invites you to make your own version! At Human Skateboarding, find instructions for creating your own stop-motion video, then upload your videos (or still photos) to share and show off. Or just see what other people have produced. http://www.sneauxshoes.com/humanskateboarding/index.html

New York artist Tom Duncan creates multimedia pieces based on his childhood memories. He was born in Scotland at the beginning of World War II. An unhappy family and wartime danger inspired him to turn to art as a small child. Some of his pieces deal with bomb shelters and nazis. His family moved to the United States in 1948, where his teenage hangout was Coney Island. This intricate sculpture, entitled “Dedicated to Coney Island” has lights and carnival rides that move! Link -more photographs here.

Gung Hay Fat Choy! 恭喜发财! Today is the Lunar New Year’s Day, {wiki} ushering in the Year of the Pig. The celebration is 15 days long, with different traditional activities for each day. It ends with the Lantern Festival, which is on March 3rd this year. Since it's a lunar calendar, these holidays fall on different dates each year. In honor of the occasion, Retrocrush has published The Greatest Porkers in Pop Culture History. Link

The physics behind a tesla coil are beyond me. But wouldn’t this be a grand way to deter theives from your car? This page at Tesla Down Under has lots more pictures of tesla coils and their possible applications. Link -via Arbroath

Nigerian 419 letters are the scourge of the internet. Inboxes are flooded with requests for help in moving large sums of money which can only result in emptying the recipient’s wallet. Or it could result in comedy. Scammers sometimes run into "scambaiters", who try to outwit the scammer for fun. You’ll find lots of stories of scambaiting at 419 Eater. In the above scenario, a scambaiter convinced the scammers that they could win a cash film scholarship by recreating Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch! Push play or go to YouTube. For comparison purposes, the original is on YouTube. Link to story. -via b3ta

A 15-year-old would-be graffitti artist in Ontario couldn’t resist the lure of a new bridge. He tied a rope to the bridge and lowered himself with a spray can, but left his cell phone behind. The rope became tangled in his clothing, so he removed most of it, in sub-freezing weather. He dangled for two hours before neighbors heard his cries. After his rescue, he first said he was snowmobiling and three men jumped him, tied him up and threw him off the bridge. Eventually, the real story came out. Supposedly unneccessary warning: Don’t try this! Link -via Fark

Twice a year, tens of thousands of librarians make a trek across the United States to a meeting of the American Library Association. They come to learn, to network, to collect free stuff, and possibly to mate. After observing these noble creatures, certain patterns become apparent. The male librarians often display fabulous facial plumage, perhaps in order to attract a mate. In six months, they will descend on a new city, and the strange ritual will unfold again.

Push play or go to YouTube. More on books and librarians today at Miss Cellania.

On the one hand, this is really silly and even funny in places. On the other hand, it makes me want to adopt this sweet, naive, and lonely cat Otto. Push play or go to YouTube. -via Arbroath