Pink for girls, blue for boys? It wasn’t always so! Bad Science takes a look at the recent news that scientists found a preference for pink in females. The actual experiment involved adults, so it does not solve the genetics-vs-culture question. More surprisingly, according to early 20th century literature, pink should be designated for boys, and blue for girls! Link -via Reddit

Set your alarm clocks for early Tuesday morning (or some other time, depending on where you are) and check your weather forecast for clouds.

A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the early morning of Tuesday, August 28, 2007. The event is widely visible from the United States and Canada as well as South America, the Pacific Ocean, western Asia and Australia. During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray.

NASA has published a series of handy charts so you can find out when the lunar eclipse will be visible in your time zone. http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2007Aug28/TLE2007Aug28.html -via Fark

Designer Roger Arquer has an art project called Fish Bowls, in which each bowl makes a statement. This one, named “Don’t Piss Me Off”, is about the the power of life and death. Fourteen bowls are pictured at dezeen. Link -via J-Walk Blog

The story of the Bobby, the tailless raccoon reminds me of the old song The Cat Came Back {wiki}. Push play or go to Live Leak. -via Arbroath

Better think twice before asking a stupid question! This picture is from Flickr user matildaben. Link -via Reddit

What do you see in this picture? Underneath the houses and “lawns” is an airplane factory! The Army Corps of Engineers covered the entire works with camouflage to protect the facility from Japanese attacks during World War II. See more pictures at Think or Thwim. Link -via Reddit

Retronyms are terms that became neccessary to distinguish the original from new alternatives. Some examples:

George H.W. Bush
A rare example of a living person with a retronym. Until his son, George W. Bush, also became President, George Bush rarely, if ever, used his middle initials.
Manual transmission (Also standard transmission)
Automotive transmissions were all manual, of course, before the invention of the automatic transmission.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Originally released in 1977 under the title Star Wars. The new title was applied in a 1981 re-release after the decision to make additional films, allowing Star Wars to refer to the entire series.
World War I
Originally this was called "The Great War" and commonly believed to be "the war to end all wars". However, when a second war enveloped Europe, Asia, and much of the Pacific, it became necessary to distinguish them. Similarly, the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf, formerly called "Desert Storm" or just the "Gulf War", is now (since the 2003 invasion of Iraq) often referred to as "The First Gulf War".

Link (via Dark Roasted Blend)

Eat with the Diet Fork and lose weight! Only $8.95.

* Shorter and dulled teeth inhibiting user from grasping larger pieces of food at any one time
* Smaller triangular shaped surface area allowing dieter to hold less food than many other forks
* Uncomfortable grip compelling user to put fork down between bites, slowing the user's eating speed

Hmm, I think this fork may be more likely to lead you to eat with your hands instead of eating less. Link -via Mookie

This award-winning 2001 Lego stop-motion animation recreates the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, with a surprise ending. Push play or go to College Humor. Link to more about the movie. -via Look at This

Ursi’s Blog always has “fine things for your delight”, including a selection of live webcam feeds in her sidebar. If you follow her site, you saw a family of storks raising their babies recently. Now she has a feed of a webcam trained on a hummingbird feeder. Depending on the time of day, you can see lots of hummingbirds in real time! The tiny screengrab here doesn’t do them justice. There are also links to other selected webcams. Link

Why have a big ugly tank when you can make it a work of art, or at least advertising? This gallery has examples of how to make a tank something worth looking at, like this caterpillar tank in Oklahoma. Link -via Dump Trumpet

A simple but ingenious first aid device has won the prestigious INDEX: work award. The Tongue Sucker holds an unconcious person’s tongue by a vacuum, and the air bulb keeps the tongue pointed outside the mouth, keeping the airway open for CPR and other medical interventions. The £68,000 award went to a British team of four students from Imperial College and the Royal College of Art. Link -via Metafilter

African spurred tortoises Mud and Hermes live at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. They go outside for a little snack when the mood strikes them, to the delight of museum visitors. When they get tired, they head home to their quarters on their own. http://whatisee.org/mt/archives/entries/001486.html -via Gothamist

Deputydog has a list of extreme cases of body modification, including tatoos, piercings, implants, and other methods. The people on this list have not been modified to correct a birth defect or injury, but as elective decoration. Warning: This post is may be disturbing, and not for the squeamish. Link

Maybe Neatorama should run an ad like this, since gail can’t be here all the time! Although the language is garbled, the meaning is perfectly clear. I especially like the part about submitting a better version of this ad. Found at The Shanghaiist via Grow-A-Brain.