Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories taught us how to build a fast-moving “bristlebot” out of a toothbrush last month. The sequel is another robot that moves using the same principle of vibrating fibers, but this “snailbot” runs very slowly, on the oriented nap of velvet! Link

In this video, Google’s parents are out of town and she throws a party, and many popular sites show up. Wikipedia takes notes, eBay wants to make a deal, Something Awful and eBaum’s World get into a fight, Facebook annoys everyone, Cracked tries to impress Digg, and YouTube gets it all on video. I LOLed! Warning: some adult language. Link -via Metafilter

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From the documentary series on endangered species called Before It's Too Late. -via Arbroath

Photographer Lewis Hine {wiki} spent a decade documenting child workers for the National Child Labor Committee in the early 20th century. His famous photos helped to outlaw child labor in America. Joe Manning has spent considerable time on a project to find out what happened to the children in the photographs, and is posting his findings. Among others is the story of how he uncovered the fate of Addie Card, described in a Hine photo as “an anemic little spinner”. Manning began his search inspired by the work of author Elizabeth Winthrop.

How long did she work at the mill? Did she finish school? Did she have children? How long did she live? Could she have living descendants? Had she been aware of Hine's famous photo? That's what Elizabeth wanted to know - and at that moment, so did I. As a historian, author and genealogist, I had experienced the excitement of the hunt and the elation of turning over the right rock at the right time.

Manning found what he was looking for in the case of Annie Card, and it’s a fascinating story. He’s had varying levels of success for the other photo subjects in this ongoing project. Link -via Metafilter

The MESSENGER mission took this picture on January 14th just after its closest approach to Mercury -about 17,000 miles away. This is the previously unmapped part of the planet that was missed by the Mariner 10 probe, which flew by Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975. NASA says that enhanced and color pictures will follow. http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/status_report_01_15_08_2.html -via Wired Science

Koalas, like some other animals, often have blue eyes as infants. But at nine months old, Frankie’s eyes never turned brown. He is therefore the world’s only known blue-eyed koala. His caretakers were so worried that they had his vision tested, and found that he sees just fine. Frankie, named for Frank Sinatra, is a resident at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast of Australia.
Link (with video) -via Unique Daily

If you loved the lush images of Samorost, but don’t have the time or patience to play the game, Amanita Designs has the animation Plantage for your viewing pleasure. Link -via Dump Trumpet

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Corey Delaney, also known as Corey Worthington of Melbourne, Australia threw a party while his parents were gone. It got out of hand, 500 people showed up, and eventually involved the police. Corey appeared on a news show to talk about it, but the desire to remain cool trumped his remorse. Gawker has a timeline tracking how the video became an instant worldwide viral hit. Link (warning: post contains an autoplay radio show near the bottom)

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James Earl Jones is larger than life in whatever role he plays. In this mashup, the audio from Coming to America is used for Darth Vader. Ahaa! -via I Am Bored

When we are little children, we know that most all the classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales are horrible stories (at least before they've been Disneyfied). Then we get over it and forget the awful imagery, until we become parents and see the fear they invoke in our children. For those of you between those two realizations, here’s 10 Popular Nursery Rhymes That are Incredibly Depressing, Terrifyingly Violent and Disturbingly Tragic for Children. Link -via J-Walk Blog

Have you ever wondered about the song "15 Men on a Dead Man's Chest"? The chorus originated in Robert Louis Stevenson's story Treasure Island.

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

But how could you fit that many men on a chest, whether the torso of a corpse or the luggage that belonged to him? Because the dead man's chest is an island in the Caribbean! Dead Chest Island {wiki} has no fresh water or trees, and little vegetation. The story is that pirate Edward Teach (also known as Blackbeard) marooned a mutinous crew on the island, with only a cutlass and a bottle of rum each. Thinking they would kill each other, he was surprised to find fifteen survivors when he returned a month later! Link -via Dark Roasted Blend

Before the 1972 TV show In Search of Dracula, few people outside of Romania had heard of Vlad the Impaler. Even now, many think of the 15th century ruler as the inspiration for the Dracula character. He wasn’t a vampire, but he was a horror.

When political envoys refused to remove their customary skullcaps in Vlad’s presence, he said “In all fairness, I want to strengthen and recognize your customs” and had the hats nailed to their heads. The forests of Transylvania were growing thick with the impaled, and the unnerved turks dubbed him "Kazikli Voyvoda", the Impaler Prince.

Curious Expeditions has many more examples of his cruelty and iron hand in the story of the real Vlad Tepes. Link

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This ad from Hewlitt Packard features a group of office workers performing Mozart on coffee cups and office equipment. I waited in vain for someone to spill water on a laptop. -Thanks, Jan!

The volunteer's face muscles contract, and his body begins to convulse. His breathing becomes spasmodic, and he makes a series of involuntary, repeated vocalizations. For one informative moment, the EEG's mechanical scribblings flap rapidly from margin to margin, providing a nugget of neurological gold.

The affliction under study is surprisingly common among humans. Though the episodes are usually transitory, they will occasionally erupt as intense, prolonged outbursts where bodily fluid containment is placed in jeopardy as the hapless victim collapses into a moist, quivering, rhythmically-vocalizing mass. Alarmingly, the phenomenon is highly contagious, and in extreme cases, it can even lead to death.

What dreaded syndrome could this describe? It’s laughter! Damn Interesting takes a look at the scientific study of gelotology, the physiological response to humor, and the things that makes us laugh.

A: "Did you hear about that series of illogical events that occurred involving a duck? They turned out to be congruent in some unexpected way!"
B: "Har har! Please excuse me while I breathe spasmodically and become moist!"

Link

Today kicked off a year of 50th anniversary celebrations for the little blue creatures called Smurfs. The Smurfs originated in Brussels, Belgium.

The late cartoonist Pierre Culliford, best known by his pen name, "Peyo," first introduced the tiny blue figures in a comic strip in October 1958. He called them Schtroumpf and they became known worldwide as the Smurfs.

The Smurfs, forest dwellers who live in little white-capped mushroom homes, developed their own "Smurf" language in which nouns and verbs were interchanged.

Their debut on U.S. television in 1981 launched their global rise to stardom and made the Smurfs a household name. A Smurf is a Pitufo in Spanish, a Schlumpf in German, Nam Ching Ling to the Chinese, a Sumafa in Japan and Dardassim in Hebrew.

You can expect a year of re-released Smurf entertainment and merchandise, plus a new feature film planned for next year. Link -via Fark