Translation Party is where you can type in an English phrase and have it translated into Japanese and back again, several times until it gets as funny as it can be. I tried "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" and you can see what the final result was. Link -via the Presurfer

Today (August 6th) is the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, by the United States. The blast killed an estimated 70,000 people immediately, with possibly that many again dying of radiation in the years afterward. The Big Picture has a collection of photographs from the time to commemorate the anniversary. Link

(image credit: US National Archives)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is apparently concerned with more than raising crops, has announced that the estimated cost of raising a child born in 2008 from birth to age 18 is $221,190. If you adjust for expected inflation before the child reaches adulthood, that figure is $291,570. Your mileage may vary.

The report by USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion notes that family income affects child rearing costs. A family earning less than $56,870 per year can expect to spend a total of $159,870 (in 2008 dollars) on a child from birth through high school. Similarly, parents with an income between $56,870 and $98,470 can expect to spend $221,190; and a family earning more than $98,470 can expect to spend $366,660. In 1960, a middle-income family could have expected to spend $25,230 ($183,509 in 2008 dollars) to raise a child through age seventeen.

When you consider the income levels in these calculations, it doesn't seem all that bad. Many families spend more than that on a house. Then again, the child's shelter expense is the biggest item on the total bill, comprising 32% of the total. Link -via J-Walk Blog

(image credit: Flickr user Matt Stratton)

The International Olympic Committee will decide by October which city will host the 2016 Summer Games. The finalists are Chicago, Madrid, Rio, and Tokyo. The design blog idsgn has the proposed logos for each finalist and some runners-up. Which design do you think is best? Link -via Buzzfeed

Whaling was a profitable industry throughout the second half of the 19th century. One sperm whale could net a ship up to three tons of spermaceti, or whale oil, which was used for lamp oil and in many other products. The sperm whale has the largest teeth of any animal; one tooth can weigh seven pounds! While at sea, sailors would pass the time by etching artworks into the teeth, originating an art form called scrimshaw. The Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine has a collection of whale tooth scrimshaw, several examples of which you can see at Curious Expeditions. Link

Scientists from the the Tokyo University of Science used mouse stem cells to grow a new tooth that worked like a charm in a mouse's mouth. The cells were grown in a lab dish until a tiny tooth "bud" formed. It was then transferred to the jaw of a mouse where a tooth had been removed. The new tooth erupted through the gum in about five weeks, and was fully grown in seven.

The researchers, who repeated the experiment many times, also showed that the new, bioengineered teeth were fully-functional.

Dr Kazuhisa Nakao said: 'Every bio- engineered tooth erupted through the gum and had every tooth component such as dentine, enamel, pulp, blood vessels, nerve fibres, crown and root.'

Importantly, the rodent recipients had no trouble eating.

If the technique can be used in humans, dentures may eventually be obsolete. The tooth shown in the picture also had a green fluorescent gene so it could be seen easily. Link -via Digg

When Aidra Frazier and Ernest Leitch of Buhl, Idaho got married on July 4th, they wanted a theme for the wedding. Independence Day wouldn't do, so they went with the video game Katamari Damacy. Link

Link to more pictures.

(image credit: Kristin Shultz)

This interactive graphic from the New York Times shows what activities Americans over age 15 are engaged in at different times of the day. It may look confusing at first, but if you go to the link, just run your mouse over the graph for help and explanations. Link -via Metafilter

Morten Traavik, the artist who founded the Miss Landmine pageant in Angola (featured previously at Neatorama) also organized a similar beauty pageant in Cambodia. After expressing support for the contest, the Cambodian government has withdrawn permission.

An exhibition of photographs of the contests was due to open on Friday, with the top prize of an artificial leg for the winner of an internet vote. But over the weekend the government ordered the organisers "to stop activity immediately in order to keep the honour and dignity of handicapped Cambodians, especially women".

Traavik has requested a meeting with authorities over the issue. Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Flickr user *christopher*)

The Discovery Channel is full of shark attacks this week, but who knew there were so many other sharks on TV? From loan sharks to land shark, they're in this chart from TV Tango. Does this mean they've jumped the shark? Link -via Interesting Pile

Celebrity roasts have been a comedy staple for decades. In today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you are challenged to identify who is being skewered by the quips from various roasts. I scored 60%, which is better than I expected. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/30509

The Texas Library Association is selling a 2010 calendar called "The Tattooed Ladies of TLA." Twenty-one librarians show off their tats over 18 months. The calendar is a fundraiser to assist libraries that are still recovering from damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"It was just a fun thing to do," said Gretchen Hoffmann, 42, who turned up the heat as Miss August 2010 by posing on a row boat, a purple boa strategically draped to highlight the starfish tattoo on her upper back. "I like the idea that the calendars are stereotype-busters. You don't usually see [librarians] as tattooed and sexy. We're not the little old ladies who walk around with buns."

Link to story. http://www.txla.org/temp/tattoo.html to website. -via Metafilter

(Vimeo link)
See what happens when two aliens try to take over the same world in Blip, a short animation by Sean Mullen and Ben Harper of the Irish School of Animation. -via the Presurfer

A group of amateur musicians formed a club in London in the mid-1700s called the Anacreontic Society. They had day jobs as the pillars of society, but at night they would get together and present concerts. Member John Stafford Smith wrote a song that became known as the Anacreontic Song with six stanzas that became the official anthem of the group.

In all probability some drinking did occur at Society meetings, but the primary purpose of the Society (and its song) was to promote an interest in music. [The song] was commonly used as a sobriety test: If you could sing a stanza of the notoriously difficult melody and stay on key, you were sober enough for another round.

You can listen to a version of the Anacreontic Song on YouTube and hear why why this song is so remarkable. Learn more at Scribal terror. http://scribalterror.blogs.com/scribal_terror/2009/08/name-that-tune.html

You may have seen or read about some over-the-top wedding productions, but Tony Lucchese told Sarah LaFore will be going the extra mile when they marry today in Portland, Maine. They will say their vows dressed as Superman and Wonder Woman.

Aquaman, Flash and Spider-Man round out the groomsmen. Ten bridesmaids will be Amazon warriors — in comic mythos, Wonder Woman is an Amazon princess — with spears, togas and sandals.

Two weeks ago, LaFore and Lucchese made an emergency trip to Jersey, down and back in one day, to tweak her costume.

"Paramount to having a successful wedding is having the bride feel pretty," he said.

He and volunteer carpenters built a Fortress of Solitude altar in a rented warehouse space in Portland. They'll be married by Kieschnick's father, dressed as Jor-El, Superman's dad. Part of the script borrows from Kryptonian wedding vows. The couple will break character to say, "I do."

The two met while working on a theatrical production in Oak Ridge, Tennessee seven years ago. They have been planning the wedding for 18 months. Link -via Fark

(image credit: Amber Waterman/Sun Journal)

Update: See more at Tony and Srah's wedding blog. Link (Thanks, Tony!)