Look close: there are no bent lines in this tile collection. In fact, when I saw this, I thought how cool it would be to floor a room with this tile pattern! Link

A chihuahua named Smokey wandered around with a fork stuck deep in his head for three days!

A handle broke off a grilling fork and flew right into his head at a family party in Kentucky.

Smokey then ran off into the woods and was lost for three days before being rescued. He was immediately taken to the hospital.

Vets took just thirty seconds to remove the lodged barbecue fork in Smokey's brain.

The dog is expected to make a full recovery. Link -via Arbroath

Rice farmers in Japan create wonderful works of art by planting different varieties of rice in patterns. The 2009 crop has been photographed and can be seen by everyone -not just airplanes! This rendering of Napoleon is near the town hall in the village of Inakadate in Aomori prefecture. See more at Pink Tentacle. Link

Previously: The 2007 crop.

At 650 pounds, David Smith contemplated suicide. But then he decided to lose the weight, and dropped 410 pounds in a little over two years.

“I decided that the best way to get over my fear was to destroy it … and the best way to be seen is on television,” he wrote. So he contacted KTVK, a local television station that had a feature hosted by fitness and nutrition guru Chris Powell. After some initial hesitation, Powell took Smith on.

Now 240 pounds, Smith is a certified trainer. The documentary is called “The 650-pound Virgin” and will air Sunday night on TLC. Link (with video) -via Digg

A study by Mile End Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine in the Whitechapel area of London, England asked 11- and 12-year-olds to wear pedometers to measure their activity. Researchers were surprised to find that the more obese children registered the highest activity levels. Then they found out why. The participants were attaching the pedometers to their dogs!

Once adjusted to take into account the help from pets, the study indicated that boys in the borough walk or run 12,620 steps a day, below the recommended level of 15,000 steps.

It also found that girls take 10,150 steps, falling short of the recommended 12,000 steps.

It indicated that more than a third of 11 and 12-year-olds in the borough of Tower Hamlets are overweight or obese - 11% higher than the national average.

Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Flickr user size8jeans)

I live in a house that is over 100 years old. That's pretty old by US standards, but can you imagine living in a city that is 12,000 years old? That would be Damascus, Syria, with a population of four million people. Web Urbanist has a list of the ten oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Link

The home of John R. Mallgren of Mastic Beach, New York was condemned for unsafe conditions. Workers then removed 85,000 pounds of debris from the property, which required 10 garbage trucks! The city is sending the $8,742 bill to the owner of the property, John W. Mallgren, who is the occupant's father. He had tried to clean up the property before, but was threatened by his son. Town Supervisor Mark Lesko said a pit bull was also seized, and was taken to a shelter.

The younger Mallgren is due in District Court in Islip on Aug. 13 for a charge of second-degree menacing for allegedly threatening his father with a hammer, records state. He is also due in District Court in Patchogue on Aug. 20 to respond to the code violations, court officials said.

The younger Mallgren apparently accumulated the junk during the years he lived in the home, Lesko said, and seems to believe the debris has commercial value.

The man is "a menace in the neighborhood," who let the home deteriorate into something "like a scene out of a movie," Lesko said.

Link -via Huffington Post

Wouldn't it nice if one dose of medicine could be used over and over? The was the premise behind the everlasting cathartic pill. It was made of metal, and leeched out antimony as it passed through the digestive system, aiding in the elimination of parasites. It was billed as a cathartic, or laxative as we would say today. And the pill could be recycled! According to a 1907 pharmaceutical guide:

The bullet was passed out, recovered from the feces and used over and over again. This, as Dr. J. A. Paris says, was economy in right earnest, for a single pill would serve a whole family during their lives and might be transmitted as an heirloom to posterity.

Some heirloom! Link

The New York Times looks at the history of human-whale interaction, from whale hunting to the modern effects of sonar on the cetaceans. A very different type of interaction takes place in the lagoons of Baja California, Mexico, where gray whales give birth. The mother whales seek out human contact, as if wanting to make friends.

Some marine biologists have dismissed the phenomenon as little more than a reflexive behavior, suggesting that the whales are merely attracted to the sound of the boats’ motors or that they are looking to scratch their lice-ridden and barnacled backs against the boats’ hulls. Still, a combination of anecdotal evidence and recent scientific research into whale biology and behavior suggests that there may something far more compelling going on in the lagoons of Baja each winter and spring. Something, let’s say, along the lines of that time-worn plot conceit behind many a film, in which the peaceable greetings of alien visitors are tragically rebuffed by human fear and ignorance. Except that in this particular rendition, the aliens keep coming back, trying, perhaps, to give us another chance. To let us, of all species, off the hook.

New whale research shows that the animals are smarter than previously thought. Could they be trying to tell us something? Link -via Metafilter

(image credit: Ivan Chermayeff)

You only have to look at a turtle once to realize how different they are from other vertebrates. Where did that shell come from?

The shell itself is made from broadened and flattened ribs, fused to parts of the turtle's backbone (so that unlike in cartoons, you couldn't pull a turtle out of its shell). The shoulder blades sit underneath this bony case, effectively lying within the turtle's ribcage. In all other back-boned animals, whose shoulder blades sit outside their ribs (think of your own back for a start). The turtle's torso muscles are even more bizarrely arranged.

Ed Yong looks at turtle anatomy and how this weird configuration evolved from the basic vertebrate plan. Link

Cultural differences call for different food, so when a food company like McDonalds goes global, the menu items in other countries can seem a bit strange to Americans. Hot dogs or pasta for breakfast? McSpaghetti? Banana Pie? Available at McDonalds in Asia. Beer is served in Germany and France. In Canada, McDonalds has grilled cheese sandwiches and poutine on the menu. Shown is a Kiwiburger from the New Zealand menu, which has egg and beetroot in addition to beef. Link -via Cynical-C

Birds, bugs, and bats propel themselves through the air with wings, but other animals also travel through the air by gliding, leaping, or parachuting. This mental_floss article takes a look at seven creatures you wouldn't normally expect to fly, including frogs, fish, and snakes. Yes, snakes. Pictured is a mobula, a relative of the manta ray, leaping high above the ocean. Link

Just in case you've been looking for the Hello Kitty Taser, you may as well give up because it's not a real product. TASER International has announced that they do NOT sell a Hello Kitty version of the weapon. However, the TASER C2 is available in purplish pink as well as four other fashion colors. Link -via Hello Kitty Hell

Fail Whale is the delightful image of a flying whale that Twitter uses when the site is down for one reason or another. The whale, designed by artist Yiying Lu, became so popular that folks made their own versions, ranging from sculptures to tattoos to comics. Pictured is one of the several Fail Whale cakes in this extensive collection of Fail Whale tributes. Link -via Metafilter

Why use your arm in a food fight when you can rig up a tiny little catapult? This project is made from a mint tin, a measuring spoon, and a rubber band. What more fun can you have than to fling candy at your kids! Link -via J-Walk Blog