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Do you have a bunch of leftover Christmas candy which are making your New Year’s resolutions hard to keep? Tired of having a sugary Santa Claus staring at you from inside his plastic wrapper? Take a note from YouTube user mist8k and set that candy santa on fire with a little help from science.

Whip out your handy dandy hot plate, a beaker and a bottle of potassium chlorate and you’ve got the makings of a fiery candy explosion. That’s one calorie packed treat that won’t be going straight to your hips!

Don’t try this at home unless you’ve got a scientific background and the proper fire extinguishing materials on hand, but if you’re the neighborhood mad scientist by all means have a ball- of molten candy fire.

Via Gizmodo

Unless an artist is creating papercraft sculptures artworks made out of paper tend to look pretty flat, but Sam Pierpoint creates a sense of three dimensionality with her imaginative and colorful hybrid works.

Sam’s art draws inspiration from psychedelia, children’s book illustration and graphic design, and there's so much to look at in each piece it may take your eyes a while to make the rounds. She creates her works by photographing various sections of paper sculpture, made out of patterned cardstock and construction paper mostly, then she puts the whole thing together in Photoshop, fine tuning the 3D look of each piece with a touch of digital enhancement.

Via Juxtapoz

Many Japanese people are obsessed with pop culture, both from their own country and abroad, but you know their pop mania has reached new heights when an entire Japanese island starts to look like Charles Schulz’s iconic cartoon character Snoopy.

Over 170 miles south of Japan lie the Bonin Islands, and many people think that the aerial view of the island looks like the overly imaginative white beagle Snoopy. The similarity was pointed out by Twitter user @tekken8810 and now those who have seen cannot seem to unsee the cartoon beagle in the island's outline.

Here's the science behind how this Snoopy shaped island came to be:

There, at this very moment, an active volcano is in the process of rather violently creating a new island. Originating very close to Nishi-no-shima (西之島, Western Island), since last month the new land has steadily grown and is now beginning to overlap with Nishi-no-shima, merging the two.

The volcano is still quite active, so the island probably won't remain in its cute beagle shape for long.

Via Kotaku

There are so many varieties of birds flitting around planet Earth that it’s nearly impossible for anyone to have seen them all, but I guarantee even the most experienced birdwatcher has never seen birds like these! With their crazy coiffed hair, fashionable adornments and bold colors these otherworldly birds look like they’re ready for either the catwalk or an interstellar moonwalk.

They were created by Karley Feaver using stuffed birds that died of natural causes, wood, gold plate and human hair, and although all of the elements are from the natural world when they’re used together they give each sculpture a truly unnatural look.

Via Beautiful/Decay

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Ever since the first Tomb Raider video game debuted in 1996 people have been going gaga over the smart, sexy and totally badass adventurer named Lara Croft. She’s starred in over a dozen Tomb Raider titles since then, and become a true video game icon in a world sadly lacking in strong female characters.

There have even been a few feature films based on the video game franchise, but none of them have captured the dire circumstances Lara often finds herself in quite like this epic fan film by CanCinema entitled Croft. It’s full of gritty action scenes, beautiful scenery and, of course, Lara Croft kicking some serious tail. (NSFW due to violence)

Via Destructoid

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Broadcast news is full of opportunities for anchor related errors, whether they misread the teleprompter, say something because they don’t realize the cameras are rolling, or have their on location report interrupted by a drunken idiot or some guy flashing his full moon.

It’s a wonder news broadcasts make it on the air at all, and when things inevitably do go wrong the internet is waiting to share these bloopers with the world. Here’s a compilation of the best news bloopers of 2013, which range from silly to ribald, honest mistakes to people acting downright dumb. (NSFW due to language)

Via Super Punch

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The Joker loves to play with his toys, and there’s no doubt that if he got his hands on thousands of LEGO bricks he’d begin building some nefarious mass destruction device and have a darn good time combining his passion for toys with his love of mayhem.

This amazing work of LEGO architecture is a fitting homage to the Clown Prince of Crime, and because of its awesome assortment of mechanical details, clever theme and gigantic stature LEGO mastermind Paul Hetherington won Best In Show at Brickcon 2013. The piece took almost 30,000 pieces to build, beating out last year's winner- a 20,000 piece LEGO Batcave.

Via Topless Robot

The state of Wisconsin is known for its cheese, and the Cheeseheads that love it so much they’re willing to wear cheese wedge shaped hats to football games. Now that winter is upon them Wisconsin has discovered yet another use for their beloved dairy product- they’re using cheese brine instead of salt to thaw the icy roads.

Salt tends to bounce off the icy surface, and gets knocked away even more by drivers, but a waste product from the cheese making process called cheese brine helps the salt stick to the ice, and together they melt the ice better than salt alone.

The best cheeses to use are provolone and mozzarella, and when you’re finished you can make some delicious cheese flavored slushies with scrapings from the road! Mmmmmm, road cheese!

Via Cheezburger

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When the main character of a film has a funny name like Stanley Pickle you kind of suspect odd and hilarious things from them before the film has even begun.

Stanley lives in a wind up world where everything works like clockwork, and everything can be fixed with a simple turn of the key. But when he encounters a feathered femme fatale in the forest outside his house his mechanical view of the world changes forever.

It's surprising how much heart this short film from Vicky Mather et al packs into a quirky storyline about an oddball mechanical family's life and an unexpected romance. And despite the silly title there’s a maturity to both the story and stylistic elements of the film that make it one fun short to watch.

Via Cartoon Brew

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Nothing gets people singing Hakuna Matata quite like a good old fashioned Lion King reference, and when you combine the beloved 90s Disney movie with cute kittens you’ve created a video that’s bound to take the interweb by storm.

The Pet Collective knows how to use cuteness in their videos to maximum effect, and now this Cute Kitten version of The Lion King is about to get them so much viral love!

Just like their previous videos such as Pug Puppy Version of Home Alone and Pug Puppy Version of Elf, this one stars a cuddly cast of young critters (from the People And Cats Together rescue) and a kid narrator to make the whole thing off the charts adorable.

Via Geekosystem

Most gamers keep their games just long enough to beat them, but those archivists of digital entertainment who treat video games like Pokemon and gotta catch em all take their collecting very seriously.

Recently the Guinness World Record for largest video game collection was broken by Michael Thomasson who, according to The Associated Press, has a whopping 10,607 titles in his museum quality collection, beating the previous record holder by nearly 2,000 titles.

The funny thing is Michael never has time to play his games since he’s always so busy with work, and he’s already sold his collection twice in his life- first to pay for a Sega Genesis when it was the new hotness, then later in life to pay for his wedding.

Via Destructoid

High fashion dog models don’t have as much attitude as their human counterparts, and they don't mind sniffing butts or eating fattening foods whenever they can get their paws on some, but when photographer Sophie Gamand starts snapping shots these doggie divas strike a pose and try their best to look fierce.

Sophie stumbled upon the world of serious dog fashion while she was doing research for a photo series about New York City dogs, discovering a fashion subculture of designers creating garments specifically for dogs that are worth hundreds of dollars, and owners battling to get their little posing pooch into the spotlight.

Via 22 Words

(Image Via Col. G. O. Evans)

The title may not be appropriate, since the apocalypse has yet to happen and therefore post apocalyptic wastelands don’t yet exist, but the locations on Cracked’s list of Post Apocalyptic Wastelands Hiding In Busy Cities are appropriately devoid of life, and the fact that they stand silently within the limits of cities teeming with life makes them perfect locations for filming low budget dystopian sci-fi flicks, or spending an afternoon discovering a little known piece of urban history.

Urban explorers take note and gear up- here’s a bunch of sites that would be perfect for your next adventure, and they’re closer to home than you think.

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Ever since digital technology took over for those sprocket holed strips of film photographers once knew and loved people have been asking themselves the same question- which one looks better?

At first film still stood a chance, since digital imaging technology couldn’t produce images with the clarity of most films, but now that we’re in the double digit megapixel range, and images both moving and still are striving to become more hi def, digital imaging seems to be taking the lead.

Here’s a side by side comparative video by Joey Shanks that attempts to put the whole debate to bed by displaying images from both mediums in a way which should result in a grand prize winner. Who wins the grand prize? Watch the video and find out!

Via Laughing Squid

Drawing influence from classic photographs, surrealism and sheer lunacy, artist Paco Pomet paints scenes of dreamlike imagery with an old school appeal. He integrates vintage vacation photos, and other old timey elements, into his oil paintings in a most surreal fashion- turning Dustbowl families into canine packs, making arms and legs elastic in a ridiculous way, and generally messing around with the idea of alternate realities.

Paco’s paintings definitely have a sense of humor about them, and yet they’re staged in such a way that the viewer can imagine the scene actually taking place in some strange alternate version of our past.

Via Colossal