If you are a longtime fan of The Simpsons, you'll do well on today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. How well do you think you know the Simpson's next door neighbor, Ned Flanders? I don't -I would have probably scored 0% if I had tried! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23901

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This video by Johnny Kelly follows the life cycle of a seed, but that simple description doesn't do justice to this animation. -via Digg

Spanish police seized a 42-piece dinnerware set from a man who received the delivery. The blue plates, cups, and bowls decorated with sunflowers turned out to be made from 45 pounds of cocaine!

It was sent by recorded delivery from Venezuela to Barcelona via London.

Now police have arrested a 35-year-old Spanish man, known only as JVLL, who is believed to have received the crockery in the mail, after an international investigation.

They believe JVLL was forced into the deal by Venezuelan drug lords. The dealers had hoped to treat the drug and then sell it in Catalonia, police said.

Link

This sign was spotted at the terminal for express trains to Gatwick Airport in London. Maybe they are trying to imply something? Link -via Buzzfeed

Homer won't let this beer out of his sight! The Homer Simpson Rotating Eyes Clock will set you back £14.96. Link -via Bits and Pieces

In the third installment of sculptor Joel Haas' adventures in Taiwan, he takes a excursion to Yangmingshan National Park. Joel's photographs reveal stunning azaleas in bloom, local art, and his experience with cilantro ice cream. Link

Also see the previous posts: A Trip to Taipei’s Shilin Night Market and Red Bean Filled Hockey Pucks and Mind Control.

If you recall the Diet Coke/Mentos phenomenon, you already know Fritz Grobe and Stephen Yoltz, even if you don't know their names. They're the geniuses behind the theater company Eepybird.

Geeks Are Sexy has a two-part interview with Grobe and Yoltz about how they took six months to develop the Bellagio Fountain routine for their "Experiment #137" video and what went into the creation of their "Sticky Notes Experiments" video the next year.

You'll also see them do the Diet Coke/Mentos routine in front of a live audience at the Maker Fair! Link

Jellyfish expert Lisa Gershwin found a new species off Tasmania that has a rainbow attached! It's not bioluminescent, but shows reflected light in lovely colors. And it doesn't sting. The unnamed jelly is very fragile, and will fall apart as soon as it touches a net. Link -via Unique Daily

(image credit: Martin George/QVMAG)

Here's an appropriate way to keep from slipping in the shower -banana peels! These peels are non-skid stickers, available from Mortimer Snodgrass. http://shop.mortimersnodgrass.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=376 -via J-Walk Blog

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The folks from Improv Everywhere staged an art gallery opening on the 23rd Street subway platform in Manhattan. They had all the trappings: an open bar (serving cider), a coat check attendant, a cello player for ambiance, and nicely-dressed art patrons. The "art" displayed was the signs, graffiti, and objects already found in the subway! For example, this description was attached to a wall phone:

Telephone Line (2002)
Metropolitan Transit Authority in collaboration with Telecom

This homage to the urgency of communication is meant to highlight the recent necessity, from instant to instant, to maintain the potential for instantaneous, world-wide contact from any location, at any time. That a conversation from such a location would be abruptly interrupted by an arriving train suggests the artist’s intent to lampoon the perceived dependence on telecommunication.

Commuters passing by didn't know what to make of the performance, but some ended up really enjoying themselves at the gallery opening! Link -via Metafilter

If you enjoyed reading A Trip to Taipei's Shilin Night Market yesterday at Neatorama, you'll want to see part two of sculptor Joel Haas' travelogue. Red Bean Filled Hockey Pucks and Mind Control chronicles his visits to the National Palace Museum and the Long Shan Temple. Also look for part three online tomorrow! Link

Dan Meth produced a map of the United States featuring the places some of your favorite TV shows were set. It was inspired by his earlier map of sitcoms set in New York City. Link to US map. Link to New York map. -via YesButNoButYes

Sometimes cats are hard up for cash, too!

This cat begging money was spotted in one of the cities of Belarus. He stays on one place with a note that reads “need money for meat and fish, bless you”. He doesn’t leave his place and protects the money just with his sight. His owner was found nearby. It was an old lady. She told the story that she had rescued the cat from the slaughters, but at that time she had already owned some pets and couldn’t feed them all, so he decided to let the pets earn the money for themselves.

See more pictures at English Russia. Link -via Cynical-C

Matt Slater, a curator at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, Cornwall, England and his team were puzzled at the wreck their carefully grown coral reef had become. After weeks of watching the reef fall apart, they decided to take it apart to find the culprit. What they found was a giant reef worm!

“It really does look like something out of a horror movie! It’s over four feet long with these bizarre-looking jaws. Having done some research we also discovered that it is covered with thousands of bristles which are capable of inflicting a sting resulting in permanent numbness'.”

Matt believes it probably arrived as a juvenile in a delivery of living rock from another aquarium.

After being carefully removed the worm – which has been nicknamed ‘Barry’ by staff – has been re-located into its own tank, safely away from the coral.

Link -via Arbroath

This unexpected puzzle creation takes Sudoku a giant step forward: it is also very tasty, especially if you like your pizza with exactly 9 toppings arranged differently on each slice. So what’s the logic in this culinary invention? Well, this probably depends on how hungry you are but if you want to find out here are the 9 steps and the list of ingredients:

Instructions for making this pizza are included, as well as a look at other puzzle derivatives in the post 9 Creative, bizarre and unexpected ways of using logic puzzles. Link -via Unique Daily