Dragonflies are beautiful, and even more so close up! Take a look at pictures that illustrate the dragonfly's anatomy and life cycle. Link -Thanks, RJ Evans!

(image credit: Cessna 206)

Rickrolling was taken to the largest audience yet Thursday at the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City.

Instead of a performance by the characters of “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends,” onlookers were treated to a rendition of “Never Gonna Give You Up” by singer Rick Astley.

The switch happened on Thursday morning, during the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The puppets on the float featuring the Cartoon Network show began to sing 1970s hit and TV theme song “Best Friend,” but stopped abruptly, revealing Astley, himself, dancing and singing to his signature tune.

http://www.hollywoodtoday.net/2008/11/28/rick-astley-rickrolls-macy%E2%80%99s-thanksgiving-day-parade/ to story. Link to video. -Thanks, Billy Ting!

No one really knows what dark energy is, but it fills the universe. We wouldn't even have the concept if it weren't for the men who hunted sperm whales in the 19th century. If that's not intriguing enough, the story also involves candles, Einstein, cannibalism, shrinking space men, ether, whale attacks, and exploding stars.

Whales live an exceedingly long time. Some, like the Bowhead Whale, can live for more than 200 years. A whale that could have been a baby swimming in the Artic Ocean in 1820 when the Essex was sunk and Owen Coffin drew the black dot, a teenager when Moby Dick was published, a young adult in 1887 when Michelson and Morley disproved ether and Einstein presented the theory of special relativity in 1905, and reaching old age when we humans discovered that the universe was flying to pieces in 1996— that whale, that aged and magnificent creature, may yet still live to see yet another revolution in physics.

I learned a lot about physics in this weird tale of science history. Link -Thanks, boaz sender!

(Live Leak link)
Kitties love their arcade games. I especially enjoyed the sound effects. -via Arbroath

Zoo keepers at the Kushiro Municipal Zoo in Hokkaido, Japan were puzzled as to why their two polar bears didn't show any interest in breeding. The two had been together since June, when the zoo brought in Tsuyoshi to mate with their resident female bear Kurumi.

Earlier this month, zookeepers put Tsuyoshi under anesthesia to get to the bottom of the matter. That's when they made their discovery: Tsuyoshi is a female.

Still, the Kushiro zoo plans to keep Tsuyoshi because he -- or rather, she -- has become immensely popular with visitors.

"I have rather mixed feelings, given the need for breeding, but Tsuyoshi is an idol for Kushiro," Yoshio Yamaguchi, head of the Kushiro zoo, told Japan's Kyodo news agency.

Since the discovery was made, Tsuyoshi's "brother" was also found to be female. Link

(image credit: Kushiro Zoo)

Photographers, you don't need to spend a lot of money on an image stabilizer -just use a chicken's head!

According to the video, motion processors use an inertial measurement unit, which senses motion (rate, type and direction) and compensates for it. Chickens have a pretty advanced version.

It's funny, too! Link (embedded YouTube video) -Thanks, bactac!

The most luxurious dog kennel ever is in the planning stages.

A dog lover has turned half of her £1.4 million home into a luxury "kennel" for her Great Danes - complete with their own plasma screen TV, lounge and spa, it was revealed today.

The surgeon, who wants to remain anonymous, told her architect the hi-tech bungalow on the Lower Mill Estate in Gloucestershire must include separate deluxe living quarters for her two pets.

The plush kennel, estimated to cost more than £250,000, will be the latest eccentric build on the Cotswold Water Park, already famous for its futuristic, sustainable designs and its population of beavers.

The doghouse features two bedrooms and a living room, a 52-inch plasma screen TV with surround sound stereo, sheepskin-lined beds, retina-controlled "dogflap" doors, a temperature-regulated dog spa, security cameras, and internet-controlled heat. Link -via Arbroath

From the archives of LIFE magazine, a collection of rock stars photographed with their parents at home. I'm not surprised that the Jackson 5 apparently lived in the Brady Bunch set. Pictured is Frank Zappa with his folks. Link -via the Presurfer

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L.A. personality Charles Phoenix turns the traditional Thanksgiving feast on its ear by tikifying it. More Kahlua! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16446982 to recipes. -Thanks, ZZalgern0n!

AJ at Thingamababy saw the Neatorama post Mini Thanksgiving Dinner and was inspired to look around for more Thanksgiving cupcakes. The result: 50 different cupcakes, about half linked to recipes. Link -Thanks, AJ!

BlahblahFish takes your English text and translates it into another language, then translates it back into English. The results can be pretty strange. I used the phrase "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Japanese: It heats heart truly and [re] physical weakness does.

Italian: The spirit is arranged, but the meat is weak person.

Greek: The spirit is willing, but the flesh is impossible.

Spanish: The alcohol is prepared, but the meat is weak.

Korean: The spirit puts out the flag and does, the flesh omits but.

Chinese: Having more desire than energy.

Croatian: sprite had like to , limit meat had withered.

Hungarian: THE genius there is willing , but the meat there is weak.

Norwegian: Breath am willing , but carnal am breakable ,.

Romanian: the spirit is William , but the. flesh is loose.

Serbian: The genius 3. wis with IT BE from present compliant , but the meat 3. wis with IT BE from present withered.

Slovenian: wind there is yieldly , till then meat there is weak.

Welsh: ' group ghost he is being willing , except ' group meat he is being ' heartburn weak.

Latin: ghost is voluntary , nothwithstanding viscera is pale.

You can also use it for other languages besides English. Link -via J-Walk Blog

Canstruction is an international charity competition that opened last Thursday at the Winter Garden and Courtyard Gallery of the World Financial Center, featuring giant structures built entirely out of cans of food. Top architectural and engineering firms in over 100 cities across North America participate in Canstruction, collecting millions of pounds of food for local food banks — the New York City show features local architectural and engineering talent. At the close of the competition, all of the food from the show will be donated to City Harvest.

See pictures of quite a few can sculptures at Eat Me Daily. My favorite is this scene from a recent movie you might recognize. Link

Happily Ever Over is an epic tale that explains a lot of what you never understood about holidays. An economic crisis among the magical creatures leads to crime and adventure, involving the Pied Piper who lives in his extermination van after his wife left him, an investigator who loves a mysterious ghost, and Santa Claus as you've never seen him -a time-traveling, whip-cracking descendant of grizzly bears! It's a long story, but one you'll never forget. Written and illustrated by C Merry, first published in 2003 as a gift to her friends. Link -Thanks, C Merry!

Make your own cute little papercraft models of Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, and Charles Darwin! Download pdf files in color, print them out and fold them up. Then maybe you can keep one on your desk for inspiration. I love Einstein sticking his tongue out! Link -Thanks, Atila!

The old adage is that there's always an exception to any rule. This shows up in global nutrition studies, too, in populations that are either healthier or less healthy than their diet, lifestyle, and/or environment would lead us to expect. HealthAssist Blog details ten such paradoxes. How do the French stay so slim while eating such rich food? Why is heart disease decreasing in Spain while the consumption of meat and dairy products skyrockets? And how do Albanians live so long in one of the poorest countries in Europe? Link -Thanks, Karen!