Where did the nerd originate, both as a word an individual and, possibly, a species? What were the original societal perceptions of the nerd? How have these changed over the decades? Enter the world of the nerd and discover for yourself this fascinating and light hearted illustrated history of the origin of the species. Darwin, eat your heart out.

Link -via the Presurfer

(image credit: bayat)

Link four Furbys together to make a musical instrument! There's even one for sale on eBay. David Cranmer makes custom electronic musical instruments. He's posted step-by-step process for making a Furby Gurdy, with videos, pictures, and audio commentary. Link -Thanks, Moodindigo!

An alien species has been invading Britain for over 100 years, and they were just now noticed. They are snails!

For the past 110 years, a colony of snails has managed to crawl unnoticed from an imported stone balustrade brought from Italy in the 1890s, to claim a piece of British territory up to the terrace of the house just 27m (88ft) away.

A National Trust volunteer spotted the snails while cleaning some statues in the garden. It was the first time that anyone had realised that the Mediterranean mollusc had managed to establish a bridgehead into Britain – at the dizzy pace of about 25cm a year.

The snails are tiny, only about a centimeter in length. Link -via Digg

Mr. Grass at Watching Grass Grow ("The Most Boring Website in the World") trained a webcam on a nest of finches and recorded their progress as they tended their babies. The story is chronicled in a series of pictures. Warning: not all the finches made it. Link -Thanks, Jon!

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It's Imperial Fleet Week! I could've sworn I posted this last week, but looked and found that I was mistaken. Check out this video by Mike Horn of an alternate reality in which the Emperor runs earth, including San Francisco. -Thanks, RyeBokeh!

The Yamaha Pantryboy, the Honda Life Dunk, the Sbarro Assystem ...and there's more! And I thought the Ford Aspire had a funny name -that was only because I was driving an Achieva at the time. Link -via Digg

Dark Roasted Blend has a beautiful collection of photographs featuring spider webs, enhanced by dew, rain, ice, or just in their natural state. Link

(image credit: Evan Leeson)

Steve Irwin's death is, of course, included in this list of strange fish incidents, as well as the candiru and the poisonous puffer fish. But you'll also read about bizarre episodes of people being impaled, attacked, strangled, and bludgeoned by fish. http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/blog.php?blogid=198 -Thanks, John Cooper!

(image credit: spakattacks)

When I first saw the title to this post, I couldn't think of any whistled themes besides The Andy Griffith Show. I should've remembered Bridge Over The River Kwai. The rest I had forgotten or am unfamiliar with, but they are all intriguing. Most have videos. Sadly, Bogie and Bacall are not featured. Link -via Gorilla Mask

It might be a dream come true to live on a tiny island with a nice home but no neighbors, but I tend to think about the weather and waves and storms. Still, these five seem to be doing just fine! Link -Thanks, Dave E!

Today's Luchtime Quiz at mental_floss tests your knowledge of angels in pop culture, sports, literature, and religion. I scored 80% because I don't know much about baseball. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/17733

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Emily was created by Image Metrics in California, the same company that created the graphics for the game Grand Theft Auto.

"Ninety per cent of the work is convincing people that the eyes are real," Mike Starkenburg, chief operating officer of Image Metrics, said.

"The subtlety of the timing of eye movements is a big one. People also have a natural asymmetry - for instance, in the muscles in the side of their face. Those types of imperfections aren't that significant but they are what makes people look real."

Link -Thanks, MoonCake!

The Burj Dubai tower, the tallest skyscraper in the world, is about to be completed. To celebrate it, David Hobcote has taken a series of amazing high resolution pictures from the air which give an exact impression of the breathtaking, massive scale of this building.

Construction is expected to be completed in August, 2009. See more pictures at Gizmodo. Link -Thanks, kid_icarus!

You've seen dolphins shimmy along the top of the water balanced on their tails at Sea World or on TV, but the behavior has spread to the ocean!

A wild dolphin is apparently teaching other members of her group to walk on their tails, a behaviour usually seen only after training in captivity.

The tail-walking group lives along the south Australian coast near Adelaide.

One of them spent a short time after illness in a dolphinarium 20 years ago and may have picked up the trick there.

Scientists studying the group say tail-walk tuition has not been seen before, and suggest the habit may emerge as a form of "culture" among this group.

Link -Thanks, Justin!

(image credit: WDCS/Mike Bossley)

Ariane is at it again! Previously, she sent us a picture pointing us toward a well-named village in England. This time it's a sign for a road she came across in her travels. Link -Thanks, Ariane!