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Mariah Wilder only wanted one thing for Christmas -for her Daddy to come home from Iraq. Sgt. Matthew Wilder found he would be able to come home to Kentucky for the holidays while going to aviation school. His wife arranged for an assembly at his daughters’ school, where Mariah and her sister were presented with a large box. Link -via Video Sift

17-year-old Rachel Rosenfield was touched by a newspaper report on Cambodian children who don’t have access to education. She went to work writing fundraising letters and selling t-shirts, and raised $52,000 in donations to open a school! Rosenfield was in Siem Reap province, Cambodia yesterday for the opening of the new R.S. Rosenfield School for 300 village students.

"It makes me feel great to know that I was able to help so many people," the teen said when contacted by telephone. "Just seeing everyone so happy (today). It meant a lot to me."

Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Heng Sinith/AP)

2008 will be the International Year of the Potato. The United Nations made this designation in 2005.

Over the next two decades, the world's population is expected to grow on average by more than 100 million people a year. More than 95 percent of that increase will occur in the developing countries, where pressure on land and water is already intense. A key challenge facing the international community is, therefore, to ensure food security for present and future generations, while protecting the natural resource base on which we all depend. The potato will be an important part of efforts to meet those challenges...

Among the planned acxtivities will be a global forum on "Potato science for the poor" in Cuzco, Peru on 25-28 March 2008. Link -via the Presurfer

PETA has compiled a list of US prisons that best cater to the diets of vegan and vegetarian inmates.

We get calls all the time from inmates who want to make a positive change in their lives by going vegetarian, and in the course of responding to these individuals, we’ve assembled the following list of the top 10 vegetarian-friendly prisons in the United States as a tidbit for curious citizens, a resource for prisoners’ rights groups, and, well, a menu for future inmates.

Link -via mental_floss

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Ravi Baichwal was on-air live during the 10PM newscast Sunday at channel 7 in Chicago, when a minivan crashed through the studio wall! The interruption became the news as it happened. Link -via Arbroath

Odd Shoe Finder is a site to match up shoes that can’t be used by their owners. Many people have feet that are different sizes, and some people only have one foot. Users can list odd shoes for sale or trade to others who can use them. The site also has links to other resources for odd shoes. Link -via J-Walk Blog

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Top Gear is into remote-controlled vehicles in a big way. In this race, it’s a full-size R/C car against a toy-sized model. And treachery is not out of the question. -via Unique Daily

What would those classical sculptures look like in color? Surprise, many of them were probably in color when they were unveiled!

When we think of statues and buildings of the classical period, we tend to imagine white marble; scientists in recent years have discovered that it is in fact most likely that many of the buildings and statues were painted and probably adorned with jewelry. The Vatican Museum has recently put on an exhibition of some of the most famous antiquities from the era with reproductions painted as close to the originals as they can - this is possible because many statues contain trace amounts of pigment from their original coats of paint.

Listverse has photographs of ten classical statues as they are, and as they have been recreated in color. Link -via Cynical-C

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The first half of this video features a guy singing a song in reverse. He’s also doing some stuff that will look strange backwards. The second half is where you find out what song he is singing, when the video goes backwards! This performance must have taken a lot of practice. -via Boing Boing

How would you like a batcave in your basement, complete with a bat-theater? A retired naturalist has just that! DC Audio Video Systems of New Hampshire set up a complete home theater in her cellar.

The set-up includes prop bats which hang from above, a motorized 110 16:9 Stewart Electriscreen, Triad Silver THX Speakers, and a Sony G90, a $36,000 commercial 1080p 2500 x 2000 CRT projector. The room also features eight black, motorized leather recliners and a LiteTouch LC5000 System for Lighting Control.

It has stalactites, too! It’s the “battiest” place to watch any of the Batman films. Link -via Unique Daily

Curious Expeditions takes a look at some of the holiday customs of Europe, including the arrivals of Krampus and Black Piet, building the Hungarian Luca Chair, and burning Jack Straw to ring in the New Year. Link

1,500 year old murals survive in a series of Buddhist temple caves carved out of a mountain in central India. The 30 caves at Ajanta were abandoned hundreds of years ago and rediscovered in 1819. Recently, Benoy K. Behl succeeded in photographing the ancient murals using available light, thus preserving their original appearance. National Geographic features these pictures in their January 2008 issue. Link -via Metafilter

(image credit: Benoy K. Behl)

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Just because you live in an Airstream trailer is no reason you can’t synch your Christmas lights to music via computer. -via Fark

Pedro Toala is paying the price of a prank. A group of kids tipped over a portable toilet in a park while Toala was inside. He was left with a broken back, permanently paralyzed, yet he forgave those who did this to him. Cher Przelomski, co-owner of the Planning Factory International, was inspired by Pedro’s story and began a project involving many businesses in the Wilmington, Delaware area. They remodeled Toala’s split-level home to turn it into an accessible dream house. The Pedro Project was completed in time for Toala and his family to return home on December 15th. Link to story. http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=BL&Dato=20071215&Kategori=PHOTOS&Lopenr=712150804&Ref=PH to a slideshow of the finished project. -via Fark

(Photo credit: Suchat Pederson/The News Journal)

This strangely cute animal with his toy was the “photo of the day” at Nothing to do with Arbroath. It was identified by a Heavenly Jane, a commenter at Scribal Terror as a baby sifaka {wiki), native to Madagascar. But Craig C had a better idea:

It's a Bug-Eyed Blackfaced Plushy-Hugger. They're native to carnivals throughout the Deep South. Their diet consists of stale popcorn, peanuts, and the stuff that sticks to the sides of candy cotton machines. Late at night when the carnies are packing up, you can hear their plaintive cries of "M-m-m-m-yyyy plushie! M-m-m-m-yyyy plushie!"

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