18-year-old Aimee Kick is an aspiring fashion designer from Missouri. She designed and constructed a dress for her prom completely from coffee filters! See more pictures at The Fashion Police. Link -via YesButNoButYes

10-year-old Colby Curtin of Huntington Beach, California had been anxiously looking forward to the movie Up since she saw the first previews. Colby battled vascular cancer for three years, and when the movie was released, she was too sick to go to the theater.

After a family friend made frantic calls to Pixar to help grant Colby her dying wish, Pixar came to the rescue.

The company flew an employee with a DVD of Up, which is only in theaters, to the Curtins’ Huntington Beach home on June 10 for a private viewing of the movie.

The animated movie begins with scenes showing the evolution of a relationship between a husband and wife. After losing his wife in old age, the now grumpy man deals with his loss by attaching thousands of balloons to his house, flying into the sky, and going on an adventure with a little boy.

Colby died about seven hours after seeing the film.

Be warned, reading the entire story will make you cry. Pixar declined to make a statement about Colby or the employee who visited her. Link -via Boing Boing

(image credit: Carole Lynch)

A Cave Creek, Arizona city council race ended in a tie, with both candidates receiving 660 votes, confirmed by a recount. So they decided the winner by drawing cards!

Adam Trenk and Thomas McGuire, both in blue jeans and open-collar shirts, strode nervously into Town Hall with their posses. There stood the town judge. He selected a deck of cards from a Stetson hat and shuffled it — having removed the jokers — six times.

Mr. McGuire, 64, a retired science teacher and two-term incumbent on the Town Council, selected a card, the six of hearts, drawing approving oos and aws from his supporters.

Mr. Trenk, 25, a law student and newcomer to town, stepped forward. He lifted a card — a king of hearts — and the crowd roared. Cave Creek had finally selected its newest Council member.

“It’s a hell of a way to win — or lose — an election,” Mr. McGuire said.

Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Joshua Lott/The New York Times)

Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain, is a town built under overhanging cliffs! With ancient rock over, under, and behind the buildings, the town was easier to defend against invaders than most throughout its history, and is also climate-controlled. The rock makes excellent insulation against both heat and cold, and the homes are whitewashed every year to reflect instead of absorbing sunshine. See more pictures at Environmental Graffiti. Link -via the Presurfer

Joel Veitch of rathergood.com and his wife just wanted to record a simple song with/for their kids. The second half of the video shows how difficult that process is! Oh, the "for" part is simple, but the "with" part can take all day. http://rathergood.com/bathroom -via b3ta

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It's not really necessary to watch the entire video to get the idea of what's going on here. This marble machine was built in four hours. If I had one of these toys at home, I'd watch it constantly. But I have three cats, so it would probably be wrecked within a few minutes. -via Cynical-C

I don't know how effective this homemade spider catcher is, but it should be easy to make from a cassette case, a pipe, a string, and some glue. Beats walking into a web, the way I've been doing lately! Link -via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

A half-century ago, building ski jumps out of scaffolding was pretty popular, especially at stadiums, where they would be used to draw a crowd. Deputy dog takes a look at several of these oh-so-scary contraptions. The ski jump pictured was used at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1954. http://deputy-dog.com/2009/06/madness-of-temporary-ski-jumps.html

Some types of invisible ink are right there in your kitchen cupboard!

Hundreds of liquids, from fruit juices to specially formulated chemicals, can be used as invisible ink. Here we explore six of the most interesting and accessible types. We hope you’ll be inspired to make your own invisible ink at home. With a bit of practice, you too can become a master of steganography (which is the art of writing hidden messages, in case you didn’t know that already!)

How much money does a professional steganographer make? Link -via Geek Like Me

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Since when is this possible? Long Beach Armada outfielder Josh Womack shows off a bit at training camp. Can I learn to do this, or would I just hurt myself? -via Reddit

I can't say I begin to understand this video from Marco Brambilla, but the sheer scope and intricacy of it takes my breath away.

This interpretation of Dante’s Divine Comedy is precisely the experience video artist Marco Brambilla (director of Demolition Man) and Toronto-based studio Crush were striving for in Civilization, a video mural created for the new Standard hotel in New York City.

The entire mural uses over 400 video sources, including samples from several films—something Brambilla is well-known for in his work. This particular project came with some special technical challenges, though.

Link to story. Link to video. -via Dark Roasted Blend

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Mid-June in east Tennessee means fireflies that flash in unison!

In 1995, scientists confirmed the existence of the Great Smoky Mountain synchronized fireflies, and have subsequently discovered other populations in the Congaree Swamp in South Carolina and other high altitude locations in the Appalachian mountains. As this curious phenomenon remained undiscovered for years, it is quite possible that there are other varieties of fireflies blinking in unison throughout the United States, perhaps even in your own backyard.

Link

Wildlife photographer Jason Edwards seized an opportunity few ever get -to take pictures of a newborn kangaroo inside its mother's pouch. Two years ago, Edwards encountered a wild kangaroo that was unusually friendly. The scientist who was with Edwards then recognized the animal as the orphan 'roo she had hand-raised six years earlier! The kangaroo recognized the scientist, too.

After a few days of returning to the semi-desert national park in far northern New South Wales and talking to and sitting with the kangaroo, the researcher was able to get close enough to her former orphan to open her pouch.

In a matter of seconds, Mr Edwards managed to slip in a macro lens and capture this rare glimpse of life inside the marsupial’s pouch. The photo – of a newborn joey, known as a pinkie, suckling the mother’s teat – is being exhibited as part of the New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography Exhibition in Sydney.

“It was one of those frames you don’t get very often,” Mr Edwards told The Times.

The mother kangaroo was calm and not at all bothered by the photo shoot. Link -via Arbroath

I once thought that sun tea made in a jar was really something, but how cool is storing sunlight in a jar? The Sun Jar is a regular Mason jar with solar cells, rechargeable batteries, and LED lights. It also has a light sensor, so it turns on automatically when darkness falls. And get this: they are completely sealed, with no switches, so you can even leave them outside as garden lights. Available in yellow, blue, or pink. Link -via the Presurfer

Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss is my favorite kind -geography! You'll be given a pair of US states. Do they share a border or not? I scored 100%, of course. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/26488