91 members with four LED lights each, this chandelier was designed by Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn. It's very energy-efficient for the amount of light it provides. Link -via Swiss Miss

Hospital Food is a photo blog to which people submit photographs of hospital meals. The places they come from aren't always identified, but from the looks of things, you want to be hospitalized in France to get a really decent meal. The Asian meals look pretty good, too. Others aren't so appetizing. The meal pictured was served in a Polish hospital. Link -via Buzzfeed

English explorer Henry Hudson set foot on an island called Mannahatta 400 years ago. The Manhatta Project has recreated the island as it appeared in 1609, with forests, wetlands, and a vast array of wildlife. See views of Manhattan side-by-side with a computer recreation of what it looked like before it became a city. Link -via mental_floss

(Image credit: Markley Boyer, Mannahatta Project/Wildlife Conservation Society)

You've heard of X-men, but do you remember Doom Patrol?

Unlike the X-Men, the Doom Patrollers were once normal people who suffered an accident that disfigured them but also gave them superpowers. Shunned by the world for just being plain ugly, the freaks were gathered by Doctor Caulder, a paraplegic, who thought that maybe the world wouldn't dislike them so much if they used their powers to save the normal people's asses from giant robots once in a while.

If this sounds somewhat familiar to you, it's because the same thing as X-Men with the only difference that the smart guy in the wheelchair was bald in one and X-Men uses mutants as an allegory for minorities instead of people with elephantiasis or whatever the heck Doom Patrol was going for.

Cracked looks at six famous characters and their lesser-known precursors. I knew about The Lion King, but I was unfamiliar with the rest. Oh, I knew the last one, too, but I didn't know how much they had in common. Link

What do they call that weird cap with the ragged spikes and various decorations attached? You've seen it in old movies, TV shows, and advertisements. It's been called by many names: a fedora beanie, jagged beanies, Whoopee cap, palookaville caps, devils caps, clubhouse hats, and Kingpins. I'm Learning to Share takes a look at how the style developed in the early part of the 20th century. Link -via Metafilter

Have you ever really taken a good look at US currency? In today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you'll be shown the buildings on the backs of US bills. Can you match each to the correct denomination? I scored 60% due to educated guessing, since I don't usually have any cash. You will do better! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/25083

This 2004 short story by Vincent Eaton tells of his experience with a tapeworm. This is not for hypochondriacs or those disturbed by bathroom scenes. Guaranteed to make you cook your meat just a little longer.

I headed directly to the pharmacist, purchased the pill, took it home, created an altar, placed it there and worshipped it for forty-five minutes as the answer to all my dreams and prayers. "Oh mighty pill, death to the demon residing within..."

Next morning I popped out of bed, got myself a glass of water, removed the pill from its altar cushion, placed it on my tongue, closed my eyes, and swallowed, declaring, "Take that, monster of the deep! You neverending strand of unspooling spaghetti!" I smacked my lips and thought that was that.

It wasn't.

The story concludes with an invitation to share your stories of parasites. There are dozens of pages of contributions. Link -via reddit

(image credit: Chris Bishop)

Jim Andrews of Chicago is on a mission to open a chain of hot dog stands and hire ex-convicts to give them a new start in life. That's a noble aim, but some neighbors object to the name he chose for the business. Felony Franks uses a hot dog behind bars as its logo.

2nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti likes the idea of employing ex-felons but hates the name.

He thinks the name and the sign glorify crime.

"Felony Franks? The home of the misdemeanor wiener? Food so good it's criminal? You are actually in a sense elevating the life of crime here in our city and we cannot tolerate that."

John Hunt, an ex-felon who lives several block away, agrees with the alderman.

"It's a good thing if he's going to hire ex-felons because... that's a beautiful thing. But the name? He should change the name... Felony Franks is still making me feel like a felon."

Andrews plans to open his first stand next month. Link -via Unique Daily

(YouTube link)
A big squirrel jumps the wall easily, but baby squirrel is having trouble making it. He needs a little help! -via Bits and Pieces

Bat World has stories of bats in care that are injured, sick, or have been rescued from bad situations. Read about Van Gogh, who is missing an ear; Mr. Kitty, who was brought in by a cat; and Pongo, who became stuck on the wrong side of the ocean. Pictured is Bootsana, a fruit bat rejected by her mother. She loves her pacifier!

For the first 10 weeks of her life Bootsana carried a soft puppy nurser (her pacifier) in her mouth all the time and yelled whenever she dropped it. She continued to yell - almost brat-like - until someone placed it back into her mouth. At around 10 weeks of age she decided banana was better than a nurser, so solid food (which she also yelled for) was slowly introduced. Every day Bootsana was also given flapping exercises, as much as she enjoyed.

You can sponsor the care of these bats through their Adopt-a-Bat program. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Geographers from Kansas State University have plotted the seven deadly sins of the nation. They began with Nevada only, but expanded the project for the entire United States, using statistics for each county on crime, income, STDs, and other data. They call it "a precision party trick — rigorous mapping of ridiculous data." The results show that the area I live in (Southeast Kentucky) is only high in gluttony, which is calculated by the number of fast-food restaurants per capita. At the link, you can pull up a map of each of the seven deadly sins. In this map of the lust "hot spots", red is above average, while blue is below average. Link -via Metafilter

TIME magazine has announced the winner of their World's Most Influential Person poll.

In a stunning result, the winner of the third annual TIME 100 poll, and new owner of the title world's most influential person, is Moot. The 21-year-old college student and founder of the online community 4chan.org, whose real name is Christopher Poole, received 16,794,368 votes and an average influence rating of 90 (out of a possible 100) to handily beat the likes of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Oprah Winfrey. To put the magnitude of the upset in perspective, it's worth noting that everyone Moot beat out actually has a job.

Link

Andrew at Southern Fried Science tell the story of how he made beer with limited resources while at sea.

You’re six days into a 2 month expedition, and if you were lucky enough to not be on a dry ship, it’s de facto dry by now anyway. You’re eying the ethanol stores, the crew is eying each other, and all hell will break loose if y’all don’t get some sweet water soon. This is no time for artistry.

This is not, as a rule, a terribly good beer (though, with a good brewmaster on board, it can be). This is a beer to pass the time. I can guarantee that if you are careful, it will be at least as good as the cheapest commercial alternative.

A complete list of ingredients and instructions are included. Your results may vary. Link -via Terra Sigillata

Eleven years ago today, Koko the gorilla used American Sign Language to communicate with her fans via AOL chat. It was the first known interspecies chat on the internet.

Roughly 8,000 AOL subscribers joined the chat, which featured Koko, who signed her answers; Patterson, who interpreted them; and an AOL chat facilitator.

As the transcript clearly shows, Koko’s responses were a bit vague, but no more inane than some of the drivel littering Facebook pages these days.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2009/04/dayintech_0427

Also check out Koko's website, which includes a transcript of the AOL chat. (Thank, Gauldar!)

Alfonso De Marco was seven years old when he emigrated from Italy with his family. They settled in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England where they lived in an apartment above the ice cream shop his father ran. That was in 1909, and the family had occupied the building for many years already. De Marco still lives in the same apartment 100 years later. De Marco ran the ice cream shop himself until he retired in 1973. Although he could go live with any of his three daughters, he prefers to stay in his home, even at 107 years old.

'My daughters grew up here, and my father lived here, so I cannot imagine living anywhere else, or anywhere better.'

DeMarco's daughter Pierina said,

'He can still get up and down the stairs on his own, and he still laughs and jokes about.

'His sisters lived to ripe old ages as well, so he must have good genes – either that or all the ice cream he has eaten has done the trick.'

I'll go with that last idea! Link -via J-Walk Blog