This picture of tracks in Lakehurst, New Jersey looks quite intriguing. Can you guess what they are for?

in order for a plane to safely land on an aircraft carrier without racing off the end, its tailhook needs to be 'caught' by arresting cables attached to the carrier's deck (see here). these cables need to be extremely strong and durable but also flexible enough so as not to stop the plane too quickly. these 5 test tracks, located at navair in lakehurst, are dedicated to testing these very systems and the emergency barricades.

See more pictures of vehicle testing facilities at deputy dog. http://deputy-dog.com/2009/04/record-breaking-jet-sleds-and-rooftops.html

The city of Yokohama, Japan is welcoming two giant spiders to celebrate Expo Y150, the 150th anniversary of the port city. The spiders are the work of La Machine and Artichoke. They did The Sultan's Elephant in 2006 and La Machine in Liverpool last year. See more pictures and a video at Pink Tentacle. Link -via Dark Roasted Blend

Original names and working titles of movies, TV shows, companies, sports teams, and even people are often very different from what we know them as. If you read posts at mental_floss on a regular basis, you'll know the answers to today's Lunchtime Quiz, which asks you what earlier names these things had for a time. I scored 50%, which means I haven't been reading as closely as I should. Or else my memory is going. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/24786

(YouTube link)

Can you get any geekier than Bohemian Rhapsody played by an orchestra of vintage gadgets? I think not. From the YouTube page:

Please note no effects or sampling was used. What you see is what you hear (does that even make sense?) Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar 8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass 3.5 inch Harddrive as the gong HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals. Please note I had to record the HP scanner 4 seperate times for each voice. I tried to buy 4 HP scanners but for some reason sellers on E-Bay expect you to pay $80-$100, I got mine for $30.

I wonder if it takes requests? -via Arbroath

CakeWrecks has a collection of really neat cakes that share the theme of classic board games, from chess to Operation! The Taboo cake shown was made by a 16-year-old named Melia. Link

Zaskoda started out to mount a camera on a snowboard and ended up designing a steampunk model, complete with sails and a "generator"! Link -via Unique Daily

When notorious gangster Al Capone was incarcerated at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, he was treated with deference by guards, and maintained powerful connections from behind bars. I don't know about the walls, but I'd commit a crime for that furniture! Link -via J-Walk Blog

(image credit: Mike Graham)

See also: 6 Criminals Who Lived Very, Very Well

Librarian Ross Horsley has a blog in which he enters words for children to learn. However, letting your children see these definitions may destroy their childhood. Link -via b3ta

(Daily Motion link)
French prankster Remi Gaillard creates havoc with a real-life version of Pac-Man. -via Metafilter

Previously at Neatorama: Gaillard's Super Mario Kart.

Monasteries have always welcomed travelers. When they are no longer used for monks, they make great hotels. Many have upgraded their accommodations in recent years to compete with luxury resorts.

As well as being physically beautiful, ex-monasteries are often strikingly spiritual, as if centuries of prayer and plainchant have seeped into their massive walls. A stay in a cloister seems to incline one to contemplation, reading, sleeping well and turning off the mobile.

Get a closer look at five such ex-monasteries. Link -via Boing Boing

This is the TurboChef Double Wall Speedcook Oven. It costs $7,895. Great for people who have lots of money and no time.

Two ovens for the price of 10! Actually, the selling point of this TurboChef is its top oven, which purports to cook food 15 times faster than a normal oven. The company claims that the speed oven will cook a 12-pound turkey in just 42 minutes by using a patented combination of hot air and microwave technology. The bottom oven is a normal, high-quality convection oven.

This is part of Kitchen porn: 8 of the most outrageous food gadgets money can buy, from DVICE. There are plenty more cooking aids for people who have big bucks. Link -via Digg

These creepy eyeshades make you appear to look away when you're looking forward! They were inspired by a gorilla attack at the Rotterdam Zoo last May. The gorilla named Bokito attacked a woman, presumably because she had made eye contact with him. Health insurance company FBTO took advantage of the situation and issued "Bokito Viewers" to zoo visitors to protect them from gorilla attack. The glasses were conceived by advertising agency DDB Amsterdam. Link -via the Presurfer

Ellie May Challis of Little Clacton, Essex, England battled meningitis as an infant. She recovered, but her arms and legs had to be amputated. She has since used normal prosthetic legs which were were painful and slow. Now five years old, Ellie has new carbon framed legs, the kind amputee sprinters use.

She was fitted with them three weeks ago – making her the youngest person in the world to have the £10,000 a pair special limbs.

Paul Challis, 45, said: “Ellie can walk twice as fast on these new legs. She is so full of determination.”

The company’s managing director Bob Watts said: “We had to make them especially for Ellie as they had never been made this small before. We were worried that she wouldn’t be able to balance properly on them, but she has made amazing progress.

Ellie's legs will be replaced every two years as she grows. Link -via Arbroath

(YouTube link)
You may not have records to play anymore, but there's still a purpose for your turntable. Chozo the kitten enjoyed it enough to come back for more! -via Buzzfeed

Truck driver Zhian Feng went over the side of a bridge in Chengdu, China. The truck was left dangling by the bumper, only inches away from tumbling 100 feet to the ground below!

Witness Lu Wi said: 'We heard an amazing bang and went out to see what was happening.

'We saw a lorry hanging over the bridge, and a man in his 40s struggling to climb out.

'When he got out the driver said he was lucky he had his seat belt on or he'd have fallen straight out of his open window.'

Link -via Digg