Steve James is serious about the environment. He built his own home near Dumfries, Scotland out of natural and recycled materials for a total cost of about £4,000.

"Actually, you could make it for less than that," James says. "I'd cut the wood myself next time instead of going to the sawmill. That would knock off a thousand." He finds the whole concept of mortgages quite amusing.

The walls are made of straw bales, and the roof is turf with flowers growing on it. It has a rainwater collection system, a composting toilet, and a woodburning stove. With the help of friends, he built it in about ten months. Now he’s helping other people learn about alternative building methods. Link to story. Link to James’ website. -via Metafilter

Would you believe a dog that hitches a ride on a ski lift? A four-year-old collie named Guinness does just that at Glenshee Ski Centre in Scotland.

He is owned by Graham McCabe, managing director of the ski centre, who said: "Guinness is slightly mad and very cheeky, but also extremely clever."

Mr McCabe said: "He has actually figured out how to work the release mechanism and go up the mountain whenever he wants.

"He will hang on for a while and go up for as long as he feels like it. He either goes all the way to the top or gets bored and drops off into the snow and runs back down to get another one.

Though not very good at waiting his turn, Guinness is quite popular with skiers and snowboarders who visit the center. Link to story. Link to video. -via Arbroath

Dark Roasted Blend has a photo collection of playground sculptures that might give you nightmares. I’m sure they aren’t too frightening to the children who see them everyday, but at first glance you wonder, “What were they thinking?” Link

Aardvarchaeology has a nice article about abandoned treehouses.

These sites and their formation processes reflect children's psychological characteristics. Kids have little sense of order, short memories and strange rationality. They also have no idea that childhood is brief and transient. They will happily fill their treehouses with junk without any thought that they might one day stop coming there.

And when they stop coming, everything is left wherever it dropped the last time they played with it. Link

As Earth is unique in our solar system, so is our moon. Luna is the only planetary satellite formed by the impact of two protoplanets. What would be different if there was no moon? It acts as a gyroscope to keep Earth from wobbling too much as it spins. It washes the shore with tides. It also slows the planet’s rotation. Damn Interesting takes a look at Life Without the Moon. Link

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood is 40 years old today, and still airs on PBS, although beloved host Fred Rogers died in 2003.

From Wikipedia:

The first broadcast of Misterogers' Neighborhood was on the National Educational Television network on February 19, 1968. When NET ceased broadcasting in 1970, the series moved to PBS. The show would be renamed to its more-familiar three word title, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, in 1971.

Here are some other links in honor of the occasion:

15 Reasons Mister Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever.

Mister Rogers addresses the US Senate in 1969.

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood official site at PBS.

An anniversary broadcast from NPR today.

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Two iPhones and a Ninendo DS make up the instruments in this band. The DS game is Electroplankton, and the iPhones are using iAno and Pocket Guitar. -via Viral Video Chart

Update 2/29/08 by Alex: Seb, the iBand drummer, wrote to us about their new music video and a new iPhone ad remake accompanied by iBand music - Thanks Seb!

I once thought the bridges at the Outer Banks in North Carolina had to be the longest bridges ever, but none of them made the list of the Ten Longest Bridges in the World. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge pictured is #4. Link -via the Presurfer

CoBaCoLi is sort of like billiards, except the object is to knock a ball against the line of the same color. Easy to play, even if you don’t do so well the first time. Link -via Dump Trumpet

Apollo astronaut Alan Bean {wiki} was the fourth man to walk on the moon, during the Apollo 12 mission in 1969. He is the only artist to have visited another world, so his paintings of the lunar environment have the authenticity of an eyewitness. In 1981, he retired from Nasa to devote time to his art. See those paintings at his online gallery, and stories that accompany each one. Link -via Ursi’s Blog

Finally, a lunar eclipse visible from America during a convenient time! We have a total lunar eclipse this Wednesday evening (February 20th) which should turn the moon red as Earth’s shadow passes over it. Maximum eclipse will be at 10:26 PM EST and 7:26 PST. Besides North and South America, the eclipse will be visible from western Europe and western Africa. http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2008Feb21/TLE2008Feb21.html -via Science@NASA

18-year-old Laura Moon recently found out she has four naturally occurring kidneys in her body! The condition is rare but not unheard of. She only found out when she had a medical scan after a car wreck. Laura wants to donate two of the kidneys to those whose lives may be saved with a transplant.

Laura, a customer services adviser from Leeds, said: "I think if I've got four, I don't need all four. Why not donate if there's someone else in need?

"I hope I can help somebody else while I am young. I will do everything in my power to become a donor."

Doctors say Laura should be able to donate two kidneys and remain healthy. Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Ross Parry)

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This song was created entirely from music and sound effects found in Windows XP and Windows 98. After the song ends, there’s a look at some of the individual sounds used. The YouTube page contains links for MP3 downloads. -via Cynical-C

You’ve probably heard of Fugu, or Pufferfish, a delicacy that may kill you if it’s not prepared by an expert. It’s not the only food that may kill you! People eat other animals and plants that contain poison, or in the case of the live octopus shown above, might choke you. Link -via Digg

Since Carl Zimmer of The Loom began collecting science tattoos, we’ve featured several on Neatorama (here, here, and here). He’s collected so many that he moved them out of Flickr and launched a new site called Carl Zimmer's Science Tattoo Emporium. If you have a science tat, you’re invited to submit a picture and the story behind it. Link -Thanks, Carl!

Update 7/31/08 - New link for Carl's science tattoos collection: Link - Thanks Andrew!