Serious Eats put together and photographed nine styles of hot dogs based on the movies that are nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Since I haven't seen any of the movies, I'm not sure whether the thinking behind these makes sense or not. If it does, you might be able to pick out which movies the hot dogs in this group picture go with. If not, you can see each along with an explanation at the post. Link -via Buzzfeed

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Colin Huggins is a busker in New York City, but he plays the grand piano. That means he has to haul out a 650-pound baby grand to his spot in Washington Square Park. Once you hear him play, you'll have to admit that a little electronic keyboard wouldn't give the same experience. There are plenty of performance videos of Huggins at YouTube. -via Breakfast Links

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For some reason, the duck doesn't fly, but he still has to migrate with his flock. This hand-drawn cartoon by Patrick Neary will remind you of classic cartoons from the early days of film. -via the Presurfer

In the mood for some action movies this weekend? Ranker has some suggestions for killer swordfighting films. Yeah, we all know they are choreographed down to the inch, but some films do it so well that you can suspend your disbelief and wait for one or the other combatant to triumph over his nemesis. Check out these seven films with fight critiques and video evidence. Link

Anne Marie Rasmusson is preparing to file a federal lawsuit against Minnesota police officers who harassed her. Rasmusson is a former police officer with the Eden Prairie and St. Paul police departments. She gained attention when she lost 85 pounds and became a body builder. Rasmussen later quit law enforcement over a health issue, but her reputation spread, and policemen she didn't know contacted her. An audit found that they were looking her up in the law enforcement driver's license database -a lot.

The numbers were astounding: One hundred and four officers in 18 different agencies from around the state had accessed her driver's license record 425 times in what could be one of the largest private data breaches by law enforcement in history.

The Department of Public Safety sent letters to all 18 agencies demanding an Internal Affairs investigation of the 104 officers. If the cops are found to be in violation of federal privacy law, they could be fired.

The case raises questions about police powers and privacy issues. Evidence suggests that officers have used the license database for years as "like a Facebook for cops." Link -via Fark

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The Nordic insurance company Trig aired this ad with the tagline "When you have peace of mind, you can give peace of mind to others". -via Buzzfeed

In case you are wondering about the dog used in this ad, his name is Matisse, and there's a video about him just ahead. In English.

Natural disasters aren’t typically a cause for celebration. But after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Chinese immigrants were feeling some good vibrations. Turns out, the same great quake that set fire to so much of the foggy city also set off a mass influx of Chinese workers to California. In the aftermath of destroyed documents and burned paper trails, a long-running scheme of coordinated immigration fraud emerged that reunited families across the Pacific and opened doors to thousands of overseas laborers.

Invitation Only



Since the Gold Rush days, Chinese workers had been coming to California by the thousands. In fact, their labor had become essential to the construction of the transcontinental railroad. And yet, in 1882, pressure from white labor unions forced Congress to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred the immigration of Chinese laborers to America and disqualified workers already in the United States from seeking citizenship. But there was one exception. The Exclusion Act still allowed for the naturalization of family members of U.S.-born citizens. And after the earthquake hit on April 18, 1906, there were suddenly a lot more Chinese-Americans to be found.

Here's a delightful and relaxing gallery of photographs featuring exotic animals clinging to trees. As if we needed another reason to love forests! Shown here is a Philippine Tarsier. See all of them at Environmental Graffiti. Link

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Georgia Tech has developed the Tongue Drive System, in which a stud in the tongue acts as a mouse against a pad attached to the roof of one’s mouth. The device gives unprecedented control to paralyzed computer users.

The new dental appliance contains magnetic field sensors mounted on its four corners that detect movement of a tiny magnet attached to the tongue. It also includes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and an induction coil to charge the battery. The circuitry fits in the space available on the retainer, which sits against the roof of the mouth and is covered with an insulating, water-resistant material and vacuum-molded inside standard dental acrylic.

“One of the problems we encountered with the earlier headset was that it could shift on a user’s head and the system would need to be recalibrated,” explained Ghovanloo. “Because the dental appliance is worn inside the mouth and molded from dental impressions to fit tightly around an individual’s teeth with clasps, it is protected from these types of disturbances.”

Link -via The Daily What Geek

Allie Brosh’s “Clean All the Things” comic panel (from this post) took on a life of its own as a meme. Now artist Sam Spratt has made a terrifyingly hyperrealistic version. He also made a video that shows us how he did it. Link -via Buzzfeed

A magazine ad from Levi's says, "Hotness comes in all shapes and sizes." The illustration makes that very clear. These women come in, uh, well, they seem to be all the same model size, but if you look really, really close, you can see they are very slightly different in shape ...or who are they kidding? They are all model-shaped. Link

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It's always fun to watch your cat chase a light from a laser pointer, but if you don't have a cat, fish will do it, too! -via Arbroath

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The 84-year-old Fort Steuben Bridge connecting Ohio and West Virginia was decommissioned in mere seconds on Tuesday. They did not skimp on the explosives! Luckily, its final performance was caught on high-speed video so we can see it go out in a blaze of glory. -via BroBible

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We've linked to Theo Gray's Periodic Table Table that contains samples of elements in the table. More than once, in fact, but that's been years ago. Now you get to meet the man who co-founded Wolfram Research, in this video in which he explains how the Periodic Table Table came to be. Learn more at Gray's website. Link -Thanks, Kirk!

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Jeff Wysaski of Pleated-Jeans went to the supermarket to shop for puns. He found plenty, although the quality of the wares varies widely. Buyer beware! -via Buzzfeed