Nouvelle Star is a French talent show along the lines of American Idol. Joseph amazed them with his beatbox abilities. How can someone do so many things with his mouth at once? Push play or go to YouTube. -via b3ta

Aleksey Igudesman and Richard Hyung-ki Joo met as 12-year-old students at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music. Their music/comedy show, A Little Nighmare Music has played all over Europe, but they have never performed in the United States. Push play or go to YouTube. More videos are available at their site. http://www.igudesmanandjoo.com/igujoo.htm -via Videosift

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society has posted a life size picture of a Blue Whale! Its so big that a map of the photograph is included to make it easier for you to know what you are seeing. Link -via Dump Trumpet

Today is Pi Day! Why? Because the date on the calendar is 3/14. Make mine blackberry! Metafilter has lots of ways to celebrate Pi Day. Link

The Evil Mad Scientist laboratories made pretzels in all kinds of geeky shapes. Pictured are the symbols for infinity, paragraph (pilcrow), and the Mac command key. Link

Cassidy Lynn is a second-grader who is trying to buy goats for families in Sudan. She designs and makes cat toys called Playful Pancakes, which you can buy through Soft Star Shoes. Each toy is handmade by Cassidy or one of the other kids who have gotten involved, and each is individually named. The money she makes goes to Kids for Kids, which provides goats and other aid to Darfur. Link -via Connor’s Blog

Jyrki Kasvi is a Finnish Parliament member, representing the Green League party. His website is available in several languages, including Klingon.

"Some have thought it is blasphemy to mix politics and Klingon," said Jyrki Kasvi, an ardent Trekkie. "Others say it is good if politicians can laugh at themselves."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/09/finland.klingon.reut/index.html to news story. Links to Kasvi’s website in Finnish, English, Swedish, and the Klingon version.

I just found The Life of Riley, a fairly new blog written by Olive Riley and Mike Rubbo. Olive is 107 years old, which may make her the oldest blogger ever. The stories from her life are fascinating. From her first post:

Good Morning everyone. My name is Olive Riley. I live in Australia near Sydney. I was born in Broken Hill on Oct. 20th 1899.Broken Hill is a mining town, far away in the centre of Australia. My Friend, Mike, has arranged this blog for me. He is doing the typing and I am telling the stories. He thinks it’s a good idea to tell what’s going on. He already made a film about me a few years back and people liked that, so they might like this blog too, he says. We’ll see.

Link

From Pink Tentacle:

This type of Tremoctopus, or blanket octopus, has a unique way of escaping from predators. When threatened, the octopus unfurls a giant sheet of webbing that trails behind like a cape. The webbing breaks apart rather easily when attacked -- much like a lizard's tail -- and it gets wrapped around the predator's face, giving the octopus a chance to flee.

Push play or go to YouTube. Link to Pink Tentacle article. Link to previous post on the Tremoctopus' sex life. -via All Night Surfing

The largest telescope ever is up at the South Pole, funded by the National Science Foundation. The South Pole Telescope is designed to measure the properties of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) light that was originally created billions of years ago in the infant universe. It will search for galaxy clusters in order to try to confirm the existence of Dark Energy and find out something about its properties. Scientists hope this may lead to new understanding of the age, nature, and future of the universe.

Why put a telescope at the South Pole? Because 1. the dry conditions make the atmosphere extremely clear, 2. the altitude is two miles high, putting the South Pole above the sea's vapor level, and 3. the lack of sunlight in the polar winter makes it easier to search the sky. Link -via Metafilter

Makeup By Julie can supply your next party with Living Tables. The tables will chat with your guests (in character) and serve food and drinks. You can order tables with a variety of themes. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Verdi’s la Traviata, musically interpreted by Coro dell' Accademia di Santa Cecilia of Rome, and portrayed in this video by... I don’t know what they are besides amusing! Push play or go to YouTube. -via Grow-A-Brain

You had a lot of fun naming the fifty nifty Unites States in ten minutes. Now for the real challenge: how many of the 192 countries who are members of the United Nations can you name in ten minutes? I got nearly half of them. The nerve-rattling clock and my typing skills betrayed me. Link -via the Presurfer

25-year-old drummer Nargiz started the Burka Band, Afghanistan’s first all-girl band ever two years ago. Their song “Burka Blue” was released in Germany in 2002 and became a club hit. The band has never performed in Afghanistan and is now inactive.

Of course it was a joke to sing in the burkas, but it was also necessary to wear them. If people in Afghanistan knew who the members of the Burka Band were, we could be attacked or killed because there are still a lot of religious fanatics here, says Nargiz, who hasn't told any of her friends that she has played in the Burka Band.

Push play or go to YouTube. Link to article. -via Arbroath

Can you name all 50 states without consulting a map? I admit I consulted the map in my head as I did this quiz from Ironic Sans. You have ten minutes from page load to type in all 50 states. Yes, spelling counts. I did it in just over four minutes. It would have been much faster except I skipped Nevada and had to search my mental map for it. Link -via Metafilter