November is Peanut Butter Lovers Month. How much do you know about the peanut butter industry? Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will tell. I scored 58%, which is only slightly better than average. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/20131

Matthew Inman, who brought us 9 Reasons NOT to Date a Tyrannosaurus Rex and other funnies, has posted instructions for how to turn your car into an unstoppable murder machine! Link -via Everlasting Blort

Zilly Rosen of Zillycakes baked over 1200 mini cupcakes and frosted them with 9 different shades of fondant. Then she assembled them into a portrait of president-elect Barack Obama! She took the portrait to the Obama headquarters in Buffalo, New York the day after the election to say thanks to the volunteers. http://www.zillycakes.com/Obama_.php -via Grow-A-Brain

A baby born in Leizhou, Guangdong province, China has eight toes -on each foot! The unidentified newborn also has ten fingers, but no thumbs. Doctors say the odd arrangement could be genetic, or could have been caused by environmental pollution. Link -Thanks, Ross!

The sand on these beaches comes in black, white, green, red, purple, and pink! It's all a matter of what kind of rock was pulverized to form the sand. Four of these five beaches are in the the United States. Shown is Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur, California, with its pink and purple stripes. Link -Thanks, David E!

48-year-old Hang Mioku became so obsessed with plastic surgery that she moved to Japan to avail herself of various procedures. Eventually, doctors refused to treat her, so she moved back to her native Korea. A plastic surgeon there provided her with syringes and silicone so she could do her own facial injections. When her supply of silicone was gone, she injected her face with cooking oil!

The Daily Telegraph in London reports her face became so large compared to her small body that local children began calling her "standing fan".

Hang's appearances on Korean TV caused viewers to donate money for surgery to try to reduce the size of her face.

The initial procedure alone saw over a quarter of a kilogram of foreign matter removed from Hang's face.

http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/11/12/Surgery_addict_injected_oil_into_face -Thanks, Love Rat!

In 2000, Don Levy found a suitcase full of photographs ready to be picked up by the garbage service in Watertown, Massachusetts. The photographs show Hiroshima in the period shortly after the US dropped the atomic bomb on the city in 1945. A few years later, with the help of writer Adam Levy (no relation), he tracked down the former owner of the house where the suitcase was found. Mark Levitt had inadvertently discarded the pictures when he sold the house. But he had more! He had gotten them from Harlan Miller in 1972, who received them from a family clearing out junk. Miller still had the wooden crate the photographs came in, with the name Lt. Robert L. Corsbie. Records reveal Corsbie was a member of the Physical Damage Division, a group sent to Hiroshima in the fall of 1945 to examine and record the damage caused by the atomic bomb. The pictures were purchased by International Center of Photography in 2006. You can see some of them with the story at Design Observer. Link -Thanks, stefan wahrlich!

The Boston Globe has a roundup of lovely photographs of Antarctica from various sources. The penguin in the first picture has a sad story.

After waiting for over two weeks for his mate to return from the sea and relieve him of nest duty, this Adelie penguin's hunger helps him make the decision to abandon his egg in search of fish and krill in the sea.

Other photos depict the Aurora Australis, Antarctic workers, and other wildlife. Link -via the Presurfer

(image credit: Melanie Conner/National Science Foundation)

Genre
(Atom Films link)
Another classic by Don Hertzfeldt, in which his 'toons explore different film genres, including some you've never heard of. -Thanks, Katherine!

After two and a half years, Joff Summerfield has completed his quest to ride around the world on a penny farthing {wiki}. He built the bicycle himself.

Mr Summerfield, 40, visited 23 countries in four continents after setting off from 0 degrees longitude at the Greenwich Observatory.

He averaged 11mph and covered up to 40 miles a day as he cycled across Europe into Turkey before riding through Australia and New Zealand.

In Australia, he raced in the Penny Farthing World Championships and came second in one of the 'novice' categories.

From China - where he cycled without the correct permits - he managed to sneak across the border into Tibet despite his bike's giant front wheel that is 1.2 metres in diameter.

He then took in India and Nepal, where he crossed the Himalayas at 17,000ft (5,200m) and made it to Everest base camp.

Mr Summerfield, who was forced to abort two previous attempts through injury, next rode through south-east Asia, the USA and Canada before heading for home.

Believe it or not, he is not the first to ride around the world on a penny farthing! Thomas Stevens did it in 1887. Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Tim Stewart/TSW)

(YouTube link)
The new Australian ad for the Toyota Corolla features two of the internet's favorite subjects: ninjas and kittens! -Thanks, Moeda!

This intricate cardboard sculpture was made by artist Ana Serrano. Cartonlandia even has little cardboard residents! Reuben Miller has an interview with Serrano and close up pictures showing the details. Link -Thanks, Reuben!

Tony and Albert Fagler of Englewood, Colorado were cleaning out their grandparent's home after their grandmother died in 2000 and found three canisters of 16mm film. They took the film to the local TV station, but it was so old and brittle that the TV station sent it to the Library of Congress to be converted to video. There, historians asked that the original film be donated to the national archives. It contained footage of Tony and Albert's grandfather Albert Fagler in World War II, including scenes with their grandmother, whom he met and married in England during the war.

There was another reason why the Library of Congress wanted the original films. They are a treasure trove of historic video of the aftermath of D-Day.

They contain cockpit video of American fighter planes in dogfights over the skies of France and Germany.

There is also footage of American planes taking out German convoys on the ground and attacks on ships.

The photographer also documents American soldiers on the ground in their advance across the French countryside.

The film has been called a national treasure, and will be available for future historians. Link (with video clips) -Thanks, SenorMysterioso!

(YouTube link)
A grandmother dies and goes to heaven, where she discovers a way to keep an eye on her family. Animation by Maya Weksler, music by Assaf Rinde. -Thanks, corinne!

The Mars Phoenix Lander has been guest blogging at Gizmodo. Today, it sent its last post.

This final entry is one that I asked be posted after my mission team announces they’ve lost contact with me. Today is that day and I must say good-bye, but I do it in triumph and not in grief.

As I’ve said before, there’s no other place I’d rather be than here. My mission lasted five months instead of three, and I’m content knowing that I worked hard and accomplished great things during that time. My work here is done, but I leave behind a legacy of images and data.

The Martian winter produces insufficient sunlight to recharge the lander's solar batteries. NASA will continue to update the Phoenix Twitter feed as the data sent from Mars is interpreted. Link -via Digg

See some suggested epitaphs for Mars Phoenix at Wired. http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/marsphoenixs-tw.html

Also worth noting is the Twitter message from October 30th:

Take care of that beautiful blue marble out there in space, our home planet. I’ll be keeping an eye from here. Space exploration FTW!