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

(YouTube link)
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

March is Poison Prevention Month, and it never hurts to learn a little more about what can kill you. Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will find out how much you know about poisons. I scored only 60%, but I learned a thing or two! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23709

This guest post is from North Carolina author and sculptor Joel Haas (featured previously at Neatorama), who is traveling in Taiwan and taking plenty of pictures. Whatever they are, a night market is NOISE and COLOR!!

Part flea market, part carnival, part food court, part social nexus, a "night market" is where vendors set temporary booths along a street and sell from about 5:30 PM until about 2 AM. All Taiwanese towns and cities have night markets. The most famous and largest is Taipei's Shilin Night Market. Imagine the NC State Fairgrounds, arenas and all, turned into a giant flea market and then doubled or tripled in size. Pack it with people and illegal vendors setting up shop in the middle of the aisles. Until I was nearly run over, I had forgotten it is okay to ride a bike or motor scooter through the night market aisles. The only thing stopping traffic in some areas is the utter crush of people. Most places in the night market resemble the midway at the state fair on a record day. The smell of "stinky tofu" (fermented tofu) fills the air so you know you're in a true Taiwanese market. You can buy everything to eat from steaks to jellyfish to candied tomatos to tea jelly; cotton candy to squid; tripe to exotic fruit. Shop for clothes, luggage, underwear (remember the people who needed waistband amplifiers?) or books. Power tools or bok choy, a night market's got it all and probably more. Grannies shoot baskets at one of the numerous arcades.

"Buddha Head" fruit on sale--Joy's and my favorite. Called "custard Apple" in English. It is unknown in the States as it doesn't ship well.

I couldn't resist buying a package of this stuff. It's very thin and dry. Quite tasty, actually.

Artist Anne Karsten led a group of 4th and 5th graders through the process of designing monsters. Then she made 24 plush versions of the monsters based on their drawings! The toys were then sold (to their parents) as a fundraiser for the school. http://www.annekarsten.com/stuffed-monster-gallery to story. http://www.annekarsten.com/stuffed-monster-gallery/stuffed-monsters/ to pictures. -via Boing Boing

(College Humor link)
David from Southwest Airlines has a shtick that's a welcome break from the usual pre-flight instructions! -via Digg

The NCAAA basketball tournament starts this week! The 64 teams are scheduled, but how familiar are you with the schools? Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss asks you to identify the state in which certain colleges (the ones that aren't obvious from the name) are located. I scored 67%, which is below average for this quiz. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23616

Math meets home decor in this tatted Sierpinski triangle by mathematician Ted Ashton! The tiny lace triangles became fractals as they are connected. Link -via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

What does the United States do with its nuclear waste?

According to the Department of Energy, there is enough spent nuclear waste in the United States to fill a football-field-sized hole 15 feet deep. From a plethora of proposals, scientists and politicians have selected on-site storage as the safest solution for the buildup. But it's a temporary solution. The waste will be fatal to humans and other animals for tens of thousands of years — yet the storage tombs are expected to last only a hundred years.

Wired takes a look at the process we use now and the challenges we'll have to confront in the years ahead. Link

(image credit: Jason Cohn/Wired.com)

Emilio Marcos Palma made history, and the Guiness Book of World Records, in 1978 just by being born! His father was in charge of the Argentine army's Esperanza Base near the tip of the Antarctic peninsula. As a political ploy, the government of Argentina airlifted his mother to the base to give birth. Parts of the territory in which Esperanza Base is located are claimed by Argentina, Chile, and the UK. The Guinness Book lists him as the only person identified to have been the first born on any continent. He is also the southernmost human birth known, although two other people have since been born in Antarctic territory. Link -via Grow-A-Brain

Esperanza Base (pictured) is now inhabited by 55 people, including ten families and two schoolteachers! Link

(image credit: © Samuel Blanc)