This 200-year-old vampire killing kit was recently sold at an auction in Natchez, Missisippi. The winning bid? $14,850! Link -Thanks, Commander Flatus!

It seems logical that in areas where people are suffering from the flu that more search terms about the flu would roll into Google Search. So Google Trends has taken data from search inquiries related to the flu and made a map.

Of course, not every person who searches for "flu" is actually sick, but a pattern emerges when all the flu-related search queries from each state and region are added together. We compared our query counts with data from a surveillance system managed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and discovered that some search queries tend to be popular exactly when flu season is happening. By counting how often we see these search queries, we can estimate how much flu is circulating in various regions of the United States.

At the site you can mouseover a state and see how active flu searches are. Kentucky is labeled as moderate, so I'd better get my flu shot! Link -Thanks, Jefffss!

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!