Distracted Passenger

Octopi Fond of Coconut Shells

2009-12-15T19:03:00.001-08:00

I love how this octopus carries the coconut shells with him/her. Awkward, yet graceful. Strangely intelligent spineless creatures. I heart cephalopods. I bet they're quite philosophical.

Glasslock is snappy

2009-12-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

Profound Truths.

2009-11-14T10:57:00.001-08:00

From Jessica Hagy's brilliant commentary blog, thisisindexed.com - she's a very funny lady.

Space Invaders

2009-10-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, the classic arcade game. Yes, the graffiti/installation art in New York. Yes, it's elsewhere in the world. Yes, I get excited every time I find one. Here's the website: SPACE INVADERS!

No invaders in Boston yet. Too bad.

Who Needs Looney Tunes Now?

2009-10-22T15:12:00.001-07:00

This guy is gonna put Wile E. Coyote out of business. Anvils? Gunpowder? Men going "whooooaa...that's pretty cool, man." Hijinks. Yeah, I watched it. I'm a lady and I might watch it again.

Vitamin D

2009-10-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Aside from watching speedy students on Glee dance their pants off on "Vitamin D", what else about vitamin D? Well, there's this really interesting snippet from Neatorama about how people in Northern Latitudes don't get enough sunlight to make their D quota. They needed to get more of it from food sources. Which is why people in Northern latitudes evolved the ability to drink milk at some point. Voila, more vitamin D available = fewer rickets? Always a good time. But those lactose intolerant people of the world did not inherit that milk-drinking-in-adulthood gene. It's innerestin'.

Hey, you know what I want right now? Some Rick Rolls. HAH. From Neatorama.

A Plushie Mood

2009-10-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

Blame Neatorama, they had such adorable stuff up. I particularly enjoyed the Haminal and the Stache Labbit by Frank Kozik. Seriously, how can I go on living without a Stache Labbit on my pillow next to me?

So then I had to go looking around for more plushies. Website myplasticheart has some delightful things, as well kidrobot. Here's some strangely adorable plushie pork products on the former.

Okay, now I'm thinking about Domo Kun, that loveable mascot of Japanese tv. Watch the best of Domo Kun on youtube, and then try - just try - not to buy a Domo Kun plushie. Yes, I'm reposting this. Seriously. Today I'll have to be happy with watching Domo, since I just spent actual money on an ebay Haminal. Dammit. I just love that it comes in a little can.

Snufflesnufflesniffsniff

2009-09-25T09:27:00.001-07:00

Museum of Animal Perspectives, people. Via Cute Overload. Powerful stuff.

Also, tumbleweed perspective! Brilliant and dizzying. Good sound effects.

A Post About Food Because I'm Hungry

2009-09-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

Gourmet Magazine has a clever online slideshow of Oscar-inspired cocktails. For instance, he Meryl Streep (Persecco, Benedictine, and Goldschlager - for all those Oscar statuettes), and the Angelina Jolie (single malt scotch, elderflower liqueur). Hot stuff. I also like the Kate Winslet, the Sean Penn, and the Mickey Rourke cocktails.

Next, do you know about the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck in NYC? A guy bought an ice cream truck, and decided to let it all hang out with a giant rainbow ice cream cone on top of the truck. Lots of exotic ice cream toppings, like sea salt, balsamic vinegar, cardamom, and cayenne. And tshirts, of course, that are selling out almost faster than the ice cream. Check out the blog, don't forget to check twitter for location updates. I haven't gotten Big Gay ice cream yet, but I plan on it.

I had another link about pasta and eggplant puree, but you know what? I closed the page already. Tough.

Bats and Blowing Teapots

2009-09-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sounds a bit dirty, doesn't it? Well, thankfully the bats and teapot abuse are not related. British photographer Kim Taylor (a man named Kim) used a complex setup of flash bulbs and motion sensors to snap crystal-clear pictures of bats sipping water on the fly. Just lovely.

Then of course we have people blowing into teapots full of water. Pour me a cup! From Neatorama and Geeks Are Sexy.

Iphone Case, Recession Edition

2009-09-16T16:51:00.001-07:00

Okay, an iPhone case made of cardboard is pretty good. This is not a time for snooty polycarbonate and grippy rubber, or even time for bamboo cases. Go for cardboard, and maybe even spring for the "Bail-out Bundle" of ten cardboard cases. Found on Geekologie. Much chuckling, and I don't even have a damn iPhone.

Scotch, cheese, and pears (don't really go together?)

2009-09-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I posted! Poverty has a way of drawing one's attention elsewhere. Silly little moneybags. Browsing the internets today, I found this cunning cheese board and cheese slicer on Neatorama; together they look like an oversize mousetrap. My question is, Why didn't someone think of this arrangment before? Very humorous.

And here we have Buddha-pears, on a page I've google-translated from the original Portuguese. Again, Neatorama led me here. Delightful! Square watermelons, heart-shaped cucumbers, "Macintosh" apples, and now Buddha-pears. BUT DOES IT TASTE GOOD.

And finally, the world's largest bottle of single-malt Scotch. Featured by Neatorama and The Scottish Sun. Honestly, who else would write about it. Um, but if anyone wants to buy that bottle of 14 y/o single-malt for my birthday, well then. It's coming up in November.

Neatorama, Neatorama, again. I found this link to an architect in Texas who designs and builds low-income housing out of found objects and salvage. And the houses are gorgeous. Really. I would happily live in one. Here's the NY Times slide show of houses built by Dan Phillips and his Phoenix Commotion construction company. It's pretty fantastical.

Smorgasbord!

2009-07-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

Colorado's Denver Water utility company is cracking down on wasteful water usage. For instance, running sinks and running toilets. The utility's new mascot is obviously a jogging man in a toilet costume: A RUNNING TOILET. Here's the article on BoingBoing, with reports of a the Running Toilet frightening children playing in a (wasteful!) spray fountain.

Next, we have Cheetos lip balm, discovered on Geekologie. Amazing. I desperately want to smell that stick of lip balm; I must know if it really, truly smells like Cheetos.

Then, a classic new gadget: the cell-phone cigarette lighter. Promoting at least two different kinds of cancer at the same time! Fire hazard, as well.

Finally, order a GhettoBasket of convenience store goodies for that special person in your life. After all, this is a recession. And they might really need some lighter fluid, a grape drink, or a pregnancy test. Choose from a regular Ghetto Basket or the Ghetto-fabulous Basket. I know I want one.

Jam and Daniel Craig

2009-06-24T06:15:00.001-07:00

If I had more brain power right now, I'd make some kind of clever connection between several British points-of-interest, including tea-time with jam and James Bond. But it's still raining, and I'm still drinking my tea. So.

Neatorama posted this great article about an artist named Lindi Kirsin commissioned to paint a landscape for a British jam and condiments company. The painting of the Manchester library is, of course, painted only using jam, marmalade, mint sauce, tartar sauce, and a few other eatable spreads manufactured by the company. In the subsequent charity Ebay auction, the lucky winner will receive the painting ("Manchester Preserved", hyuck), as well as a color print of the painting (in case the jam doesn't hold up very long - who paints in jam?). Ant insurance, anyone?

Speaking of ants at the picnic, a British popsicle - or shall I say lolly - company took a vote: Who is the coolest British celebrity (whose image you'd like to lick on a stick?) Women overwhelmingly voted for...Daniel Craig's James Bond. The company obliged by sculpting their new fruity popsicle effigies in the likeness of Daniel Craig emerging from the ocean, bare-torsoed, in Casino Royale.

I mean.I think Craig's a good choice - I kind of want to lick Daniel Craig, and I don't even like boys. Thanks again, Neatorama! It's always a kick.

Scanwiches

2009-06-05T15:58:00.001-07:00

Reading this month's Wired Magazine Playlist, I found many cool things.

1. Scanwiches are sandwich halves that have been scanned at high resolution, so you can torture yourself while still at work. With images of tasty-looking food. Food porn! Safe for work, not safe for your famished afternoon brain. Beautiful sandwiches looking o-so-biteable in the blackness.

2. Hive - another strategy game with attractive tiles (that remind me of fancy painted candies). Protect the queen bee, use your beetles.

3. The Star Wars AT-AT model pretending that it's a household pet (walking on the beach, playing with the cat) in this super Flickr stream.

Fore-Edge Painting, Moss Mats

2009-06-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

A bath mat that never needs to be vacuumed or washed? A bath mat that enjoys moisture and high-humidity conditions? Where is this marvel of science!

"Nguyen La Chanh's ingenious design is made from a decay-free foam called plastazote, and populated with three varieties of moss: ball, island, and forest. Maintenance required for this little patch of green is limited, as the moss thrives off of the humidity released from daily bathroom rituals."

More pictures of the mossy mat on Geekologie. I'm glad this isn't a euphemism for anything.

Also, does anyone know about fore-edge painting on old books? The painting is done on the edges of the flared pages; the image is invisible when the book is closed, but when one staggers the pages, the image is magically visible. See the video below! The Boston Public Library currently has an online exhibit of fore-edge painting right here.

AGAIN, I'm so glad this isn't a euphemism for anything! Also, this is awesome.

Animals on Web Cams

2009-06-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

You know what's a great way to waste time? Watching live-streaming animal cams piped to you straight from techno-friendly zoos. Like the Smithsonian National Zoo. Which, I just discovered, has 12 animal web-cams. Including the PandaCam, the NakedMoleRatCam, the FisherCatCam, the OctopusCam, the KiwiCam, The TigerCam...so far, FisherCats and MoleRats are the most enjoyable at this hour. But honestly, I am having a party in my monitor right now. Squirm, naked mole rats, squirm! It's a dogpile of wrinkles in that burrow. Plus a random foot sticking up. I love it.

Go, go waste some time looking at critters on camera, at the Smithsonian National Zoo's Webcams. I dare you.

Oh my god, the rat is cleaning its little pink toes. Peeeenk toooooes. Zah!

Ninja Moves, Eggshell Speakers, Rooks

2009-05-29T06:15:00.000-07:00

First of all, a rook is Britain's equivalent of the American raven. Rooks given a piece of straight wire and some meal worm motivation easily passed the make-a-hook-out-of-wire-get-the-worms test. Like they weren't even trying, they were all, "Oo, snacks. Grand! If you give me the bottle opener, I'll pop some brews, too." Let's recall that ravens (and rooks) are generally thought to be the smartest birds around. Read up on it, "wolf-birds" are awesome. I found it at my local library, btw. Found this raven posting on Geekologie: Hmm: Birds as Smart as Monkeys, Toddlers

Again from Geekologie, this crazy video of gymnastic ninja moves - who needs an action film when you can have it all on YouTube? Damien Walter, apparently a gymnast or perhaps a martial artist, does some impressive stunts. My favorite is when he's flipping through the air while taking off shirt and sweatpants(!!!).

Finally, why bother slopping creme fraiche and caviar into a sterilized egg shell when you simply make cute speakers out of those shells? The brown eggs look so...hip. Actually, it looks pretty good to me: Eggshell speakers on Geekologie.

Imaginary Gastric Bands and Glee

2009-05-23T20:29:00.001-07:00

Do you have a hole in your soul where Arrested Development used to live? Me, too. Christopher Guest's movies are helpful, but nothing will ever fill the void of Arrested Development. (Unless there's a movie that comes out, and it's FANTASTIC.) I have good feelings about this new show, though. It's called Glee. It stars - among other fine actors - the blond woman from the Christopher Guest movies, also known as Joyce the predatory lawyer on The L Word. Yeah, her! Plus there's a musical element to the series - as in, singing. AWESOME! Hulu has the pilot episode of Glee for free:

And in other news. For the purposes of weight loss, a woman's hypnotist convinced her that she had gastric bypass surgery. Piped in hospital smells and everything. And she totally lost weight, believing that her stomach had been stapled smaller in the surgery. She can even "remember" being wheeled into the operating room, the smell of anesthesia, etc. Fake memories! The Matrix or Total Recall, anyone? From Neatorama.

The Nano Song

2009-05-14T16:10:00.001-07:00

A gem I found while reading Facebook updates. Thanks to Margy! This is the third time I'm watching it. And I don't even care that the video is the wrong size for my blog. I'd like all my science factoids to come in musical form, from now on.

Bison Grass Vodka!

2009-05-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Wikipedia has informed me that Bison Grass Vodka is popular in Poland and Belarus. The grass adds a complex flavor to the vodka, sometimes described as vanilla and chamomile, sometimes described as coconut and almond. The vodka turns a golden color and often comes bottled with some blades of Bison Grass - you know, to be like the worm in tequila, only vegetarian.

So apparently the original distiller is the Zubrowka brand. A popular Polish cocktail involves Zubrowka and unfiltered apple juice = Tantaka. Is there any coincidence between Tutanka = Buffalo (Bison) from Dances With Wolves, and Tantaka = Bison Grass Vodka + apple juice? YOU BE THE JUDGE. Bison Grass Vodka cocktails are becoming all the rage - it's like the new absinthe - now that the vodka doesn't contain the toxic compound coumarin. No ~~wormwood~~ thujone in new Absinthe, no coumarin in new Bison Grass Vodka. What other dubious beverage will become legal in the United States when the (allegedly) toxic element is removed?

Perhaps my landlord could have the lead water ducts replaced with copper, eh? Sometimes tap water is a dubious beverage, and sometimes it isn't. Depends on your pipes, people. Depends on your pipes.

Because Nymphs and Fauns are Sexy...

2009-05-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Sculptor Kim Graham created these crazy leg extensions that mimic the physiology of animals like dogs and horses, all walking on their toes and shit. These will be great for my Halloween satyr costume or impersonating a Budweiser clydesdale. From Geekologie and Gizmodo.

Interactive Cat Map

2009-05-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Library cats, that is. I remember reading something about this - with charts - in The Whole Library 4 reference book. Basically, the data answers the following questions:

1. how many libaries have, or have ever had, live-in library cats?
2. what are the names of the cats and how long did they reside at their libraries?
3. are the cats real cats, stone library lions, ghost cats, or stuffed big cats...?

Now this important information is online, in a visually interactive format. Yes, INTERACTIVE LIBRARY CAT MAP! Say it three times fast. Found it Neatorama.

I'm happy to report that Massachusetts have a few currently living library cats.

Bacon-Nation Continues

2009-04-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I should write some kind of paper on the development of bacon and zombies in contemporary pop-culture. What is up with that? Zombie marches for Easter: rise of the dead! Bacon lollipops, bacon truffles, bacon salt, bacon-shaped bandages...now we have bacon-flavored vodka. It's called Bakon. I found it on Geekologie, and it comes with a delicious-sounding recipe for a bacon-infused Bloody Mary.

Brunch me, bitches!

A Bitch To Clean

2009-04-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Look, you have to rinse your toothpaste spit all the way down. Otherwise it gets stuck halfway down the slide. And then it dries, and has to be chipped off. So just, please, please, rinse your toothpaste froth all the way down when you brush your teeth.

This insane sink is called the Abisko Washbasin, from Eumar. I'm not sure the drain in the floor is included; looks like a heating duct to me! Whoops. I see a lot of splashing action if a person turned the water on too much. Is that how you say that? You know what I mean. This is from Geekologie, and from Dvice.

Leslie and LY's

2009-04-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

I had never heard of Leslie Hall, but I had seen a random pictures of a crazy blond lady in big grandma glasses wearing a variety of bejeweled sweaters. That's Leslie Hall, and she makes hip-hop/electronica/ironica music. It's hilarious and danceable, and just tell me to shut up if you already know. This is my favorite video so far: This Is How We Go Out, Version 2. Please watch the whole thing, and then visit Leslie Hall on myspace for more music. Because she really does sound like a sassy black hip-hop lady.

You will never be able to get this line from Blame The Booty Remix outta your head, btw: "on my giant trampoline i go bounce, bounce; ya fall in love with every ounce, ounce!"

Stop-Motion Animation from Neatorama and Japan

2009-04-16T15:14:00.001-07:00

Amazing video. You can really do a lot with a papier mache pig, what.

Things I Discovered While Reading Wired Magazine

2009-04-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

1. There's a website called Fuck You, Penguin. It's a cute animal photo blog with "irreverent" commentary. Okay, fine, curse words and a bad attitude. And the emphasis is more on the caption's vituperative qualities, less on the animal pictured. But as an ironic rejoinder to something like CuteOverload, FUPenguin serves its noble purpose.

2. There's this neat downloadable screensaver/widget called PolarClock, available for Mac or PC. It's a clock done in colorful concentric circles...uh, it's hard to describe. And I'm sleepy. So go to the PolarClock website, by Pixelbreaker. You'll like it.

3. There's a parody book called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! It's Jane Austen, plus the flesh-eating living dead. Here's the NY Post's take on the books.

The End Of the Internet

2009-04-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Cuteoverload's post entitled "We're Out of Domain Names, Sorry" tickles my funny bone. I dunno, I just like it. Maybe it's the sarcastic "Thanks for playing!" exclamation at the end. Good times, good times.

Also, now you can make a rainbow cake in time for pride! This sucker is amazing. Did CakeWrecks get scooped? Or perhaps the cake is too successful to be considered a CakeWreck. Either way, I'd like to see how those colors persist during digestion. (C'mon, you were thinking it, too.) This cake is from Geekologie, but the recipe is by Omnomicon!

Awesome blog name, yo.

And here's a grass wheel for barefoot urban wandering. "Hamster-time!" <- to the tune of Hammer Time. From Geekologie, Neatorama, and Inhabitat. Also, the Inhabitat architecture blog is cool enough to be added to my Linky Links. I've made it so. Architecture and design awesome-NESS.

Solar Vintage - Wearable Art

2009-04-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I forget about WearableArtBlog. It's over in my links on the side-bar. It's self-explanatory. And so fuggin' awesome! Oh my god. It's one to add to my quick links bar, or whatever you call it below my URL bar. Yep.

Solar Vintage by Elena Corchero: frilly, feathery Victorian accessories fitted out with solar cells - so after dark, they strategically glow with multi-lights taking power from sunlight they've collected during the day. Amaze.

Juice Boxes and Dubai Slavery

2009-04-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

I know, those two really have nothing to do with one another. But I like both articles. So. The Dubai article from The Independent is quite long, but completely arresting. The juice boxes are just damn cute, and I want to bring them to show and tell. They will cheer you up after you read the disturbing article. I can also summarize the article for you: you can't have air-conditioned beaches, artificial islands shaped like palm trees, or a hundred under-construction skyscrapers without slave labor. Which makes despotic rule with a facade of benevolence really lame. Which makes the rich people who abuse their indentured nannies oblivious assholes. Which makes the rich people who ignore all that slave labor while they partypartyparty - yes, that makes them total assholes.

I might even be a total asshole for visiting Dubai years ago. I'm not sure if asshole-itude is retroactive.

The Dark Side of Dubai, by Johann Hari from The Independent. Found on BoingBoing.

Now, as relief, juice boxes that recreate the skin/texture of the fruit whose juice they claim to hold. I like the seed-studded strawberry one, but the fuzzy kiwi box is obviously the best. These I found on Geekologie. Originally the post was from OhGizmo...and probably from others. Here is a quote from OhGizmo:

Created by Japanese industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa, the juice box’s packaging is supposed to be more appealing to the eye by imitating the actual fruit they contain. As Naoto puts it; “I imagined that if the surface of the package imitated the colour and texture of the fruit skin, then the object would reproduce the feeling of the real skin.

Juice Boxes That Look Like Fruit!

Badger Badger Badger

2009-04-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

From CuteOverload. I canNOT deal with this picture. This picture is the equivalent of slamming my head over and over again into a wall of Cute. Unh! Unh! And then I drop to the floor, bloodied and unconscious, all from the Cute.

Badgers!

Doughnut-Muffins, Cyborg Batteries

2009-04-06T17:46:00.000-07:00

The titles to my posts leave no mystery anymore. Who's eaten a doughnut muffin already? I haven't tried one, or even seen one. But I know they are in my neighborhood - thanks, Facebook! I will skulk until I find one. A muffin with the soul and texture of a cake doughnut.

Here's an article from The Food Section - including a recipe for "Kathleen's Doughnut Muffins" - and a good picture from the same online source. Fascinating.

And from Geekologie, we have an amazing tiny battery. Yes, a battery that runs on glucose pulled from living blood. Yeast in the machine! A holy-shit-it's-true cyborg battery to power electronics with living blood, people! Diabetics could be the next superhumans. You know, the Geekologie writer was getting all crazed, talking about the rise of the machines, death of humankind, pew pew pew! I think he may be right this time.

The cyborgs will kill us all.

It's Hell on my Swiffer.

2009-04-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

What do we have here? It seems to be a bookcase shaped like the United States. Yep. That's what it is. Not that great from a preservation standpoint, either. From Neatorama. Created by Ron Arad - here's the entrance to his site.

Pink's Break-Up Album is Seriously the BEST.

2009-04-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a live bootleg of Pink covering I Touch Myself by ~~Blondie~~ , I mean the DiVinyls. Except it's a slow, sultry version. It's a little bit like Madonna on stage singing Like A Virgin, but sad. And it's awesome, because Pink has a great voice. This is Not Safe For Work. I LOVE Pink, and I'm subjecting everyone to this fine bootleg from her Funhouse tour in Rotterdam. Yep. Best Break-Up Album Ever, IMHO.

Facebook for Passover

2009-04-03T15:56:00.001-07:00

I don't even know the whole story in detail, but this is hilarious. Facebook Haggadah, written in status updates, et cetera. Brilliant.

What, Someone Made Something Cute/Creepy on Etsy?

2009-04-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so, Etsy.com is a site for people/artisans selling their cunning little toys, jewelry, bags, boxes, clothing, and accoutrements of all kinds. They make 'em by hand, they're good at it, they sell 'em to you without a middleman. There is some gorgeous, one-of-a-kind stuff on Etsy, I have seen it with my own eyes. (And been inspired to make my own vintage postage stamp magnets, thanks!) I am a little susceptible to sad-but-cute felted animals and objects - like sad cupcakes or curious crows - sold for relatively high prices. I have never actually bought one of these items, but I feel the pull.

Click the link below for a cunning Felted Eggplant with Chicken Legs, by Melissa Sue. It's just so good.

Then there's the Tootsie Monster, a skittering kangaroo-rat-inspired mini-monster who eats the toes you dangle off the bed. I'm serious.

Finally, a little felted bluebird with "little orange feets" that should be made of cotton candy so I CAN EAT THE LITTLE TWEET.

I didn't get enough sleep last night.

Extreme Sheepherding, by Samsung

2009-03-26T22:35:00.001-07:00

Thank you, CuteOverload. I have never seen anything like this before.

Women's Professional Foot...Ball?

2009-03-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

I had no idea there was a professional league for women's foot ball. Or is it "football"? I'm so non-team-sportified, I don't even know if it's one word or two. Okay, I'm going with "football" here.

Click here for teams on the Independent Women's Professional Football League; sounds rather emancipated to me! And possibly not grammatical, but who cares. There are videos, pics, player stats.

All I can say is, AMAZING. If I had known I could play a game in which towering muscular women would run after me and attempt to tackle me to the ground, would I even BE a librarian right now?! My memories of high school gym come back to me; I had fun playing flag football, but the rules seemed so complicated. The teacher would yell something, I would go back a certain number of yards or something, and start over again. But it was fun to be pursued, and to throw the ball.

Sort of like dating, I guess. Yes, maybe football is a metaphor for dating. Maybe I can find a casual game to play, once I learn the rules.

Note: Nevermind, I lost interest after I read the section on Object of the Game. Always a geek, never a jock! A single geek-jock. The picture is of the Boston Militia, taken from their official website.

London Restaurant with Interactive Menu Tables

2009-03-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

from Neatorama and Crave the blog - super cool! I wanna go eat at Inamo.

Chickens in Suits

2009-03-13T20:32:00.001-07:00

Maybe you've seen the picture of the chicken in the red vinyl tracksuit, somewhere on the web? Well, here's the homesite for the chicken suit designers, who create clothing for...chickens. See the models, the line, and think about ordering...suits for chickens. Yes, you can order chicken suits in a variety of textures and prints! There's even a fluffy/furry chicken suit. I hope the chicken suits allow the chicken's skin to breathe. You know, if you write "chicken suit" enough times, the words stop making sense.

www.chickenssuit.com

Barbie Cake, over Six Feet Tall

2009-03-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

For Barbie's 50th anniversary, Mattel created a nearly seven-foot chocolate Barbie cake in the shape of...Barbie. In a gold silk ball gown (and gold frosting), wearing $50,000 of real Swarovski crystals. Incidentally, Barbie was made of chocolate mud cake, and weighed over 2000 lbs.

Yes, the party was in Sydney, Australia. It's true, you weren't invited. Yes, that is the Barbie Cake in the picture, not just a cute statue of Barbie. It's CAKE. I can't believe it, either.

From the fashion/food blog, Eat Me Daily. Here's the link to Barbe's 50th Anniversary Cake, with amazing photos. How do you cut a cake effigy of a doll wearing a real gold ballgown?! My god. Don't eat the crystals.

I love that I posted Golden Barbie Cake right after Pigskin Facial Portraits! Too good.

Pigskin Facial Portraits are Morbid and Disturbing

2009-03-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

So, from Boston's Phoenix newspaper, here is a link to the article on artist Heide Hetry's exhibit, Heads and Tales. And here is a link to the macabre slideshow, flies and all.

On a less disturbing but still porcine-related note, Geekologie has informed me that you can buy an apparatus which creates bacon-flavored bubbles for your dog to chase after and pop. Non-toxic! Safe to ingest! Bacon-tasty! Also available in Chicken or Peanut Butter flavor. I think it's pretty hilarious, and it would make a fine holiday gift for appromixately $10 = the price of laughter and ferocious bubble-hunting canines.

Geekologie has also informed me of adhesive "tape" sunglasses. They come on a roll, they're perforated, they stick to your face like...tape. You'll have to click the link for Disposable Tape Sunglasses to see just how lame people look with tape on their faces. It's fun! My eyebrows fell out the second I looked at the pictures.

Wild Fire, that Cartoon About A Horse

2009-03-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Omg, thank you YouTube! No one believed me when I talked about the cartoon I watched as a kid - involving a dimension-jumping horse and a secret-princess who lives on a ranch with her dad. This show is for little girls who love horses and want to feel oh-so-special. Yep, you got it. I had a serious horse problem. Truly, as safe symbols of unbridled - heh - sexuality, what could be better.

Jem is Outrageous, She-Ra has Secrets

2009-03-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

The Misfits look kinda awesome now, though. I guess the Be Like Jem message didn't stick with me. Or maybe everyone who watched has a little bit of Jem still inside...her magical earrings?

Lest we forget She-Ra, the Princess of Power. Oo, maybe I can find some Wonder Woman next!

Henley-On-Todd Regatta

2009-03-02T10:12:00.001-08:00

Read about this "boat race" on Wikipedia.

Here is an About.com article on the Alice Springs "dry" regatta.

It's an annual regatta on a dry river bed, attracting lots of people and "boats" and vendors. It's a big boat party! Hundreds of miles from any body of water! Ending with a "boat battle" involving water cannons and "dough bombs". It's the only regatta to be canceled in the event of water in the river bed.

Australia seems to have an incredible sense of humor.

Obama sushi and Xbox homophobia

2009-02-27T14:25:00.001-08:00

What the hell, Xbox? Xbox Live has a Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy pertaining to sexual orientation. And that's just stupid. I mean, if you can't tell the truth about your avatar...okay, okay, fine. I'm NOT really blonde. Sorry, everyone. Geekologie told me about the Xbox Live Homophobia Scandal. Hey, I don't want to hang out with homophobic teen boys online anyway. (Unless they're homophobic because they're really gay as all get out. You just wait.)

In a more positive turn of events, a sushi chef out there has made some rather magical Obama maki. Oba-maki? OMG, I'm brilliant. This link is also from Geekologie: Obama Sushi (Oba-maki!).

I Totally Fell For It!

2009-02-22T15:01:00.001-08:00

Read this article about a woman who has the courage to collect what the rest of us can only dream of collecting: tiny things! From childhood doll houses to ipod nanos, petit fours, and toy poodles, hell - there's a little of everything little in this woman's life.

I think this article from humor rag, The Onion, should win some kind of award: Area Woman Only Enjoys Miniature Versions of Things

Phd Interpretative Dance Contest - Scientists Only

2009-02-21T12:05:00.000-08:00

So, if you are writing your doctoral dissertation, and you have always wanted to interpret your thesis through modern dance, well...you now have a venue for living out that weird quirk. And more power to you! There is now an annual competition for scientists to interpretively dance their dissertations. The prize is a subscription to Science(which they all probably have anyway, no?).

The 2009 Winner was Sue Lynn Lau, with her Phd entitled: "The role of vitamin D in beta cell function". This is a Phd out of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research / University of Sydney, Australia. You MUST watch with sound ON, absolutement.

Below we have another winner, Vince LiCata, with his dissertation, "Resolving Pathways of Functional Coupling in Human Hemoglobin Using Quantitative Low Temperature Isoelectric Focusing of Asymmetric Mutant Hybrids". This is a dissertation out of Johns Hopkins University. I enjoy their pseudo-tribal, psuedo-colonial dance interpretation very much!

Bear Sleeping Bag - I Need It

2009-02-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

Forget money and peace of mind...just give me a bear faux-fur sleeping bag. Sooo cuddly. I can take pictures of my jackahuahua sleeping in the bear's mouth. Found this on Geekologie. Love the pictures. Sooo toothy! Hope there's a built-in foam pad so I won't feel the rocks under my spine when I'm camping. Designed by Eiko Ishizawa.

Like I would really go camping. With a bear sleeping bag! Hah. Sheepskin would be more like it. A sheepskin in bear's clothing. Obviously I go camping all the time.

End Of A Rainbow: Mystery Solved!

2009-02-19T18:27:00.000-08:00

From Geekologie, picture taken by "Jason Erdkamp on his iPhone while traveling down Highway 241 in Orange County, California. Are the leprechauns in the back of that SUV?"

I'll never eat Lucky Charms again (and thank goodness for that). But, nifty picture!

Neodymium Magnetic POWER

2009-02-19T18:24:00.000-08:00

I love those extra-strong little neodymium fridge magnets. I got crafty and made some attractive ones with photocopies of old postage stamps, too. But the bigger the magnets get, the harder they are to pull off the fridge...and then there's this guy I found on Geekologie. He...well, he lost his finger tip and his finger nail when two large neodymium magnets decided to fly together and make him a hand sandwich. If you're wondering, that's the guy's entire fingernail between the magnets pictured. Crazy.

Guy Loses Finger To Neodymium Magnets

Library Renaissance, says the NY Times Freakonomics blog

2009-02-19T15:06:00.000-08:00

It's true - library circulation and attendance go way up during recessions. Not hard to see why. Libraries rock the free books, free movies, free music, and free internet. Also, they have job-search materials, sometimes even lectures. They even offer free tax assistance via volunteers trained by the IRS - Volunteer Income Tax Service (VITA).

Here's an article from the NY Times about the new popularity of libraries: Folks Are Flocking to the Library, a Cozy Place to Look for a Job, by Jim Carlton

From Overhead Everywhere, Feb 6 2009

2009-02-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

I'm Afraid Library Regulations Dictate That I Must Give You a Wedgie

Librarian: Watcha doin'?
High school girl: Studying.
Librarian: Nerd.

Bellingham, Washington
Vote Counted! 94 % of 250 liked this one.

Why haven't I posted in a while?

2009-02-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

Well, honestly, the state of the economy has made me lose my sense of humor. Just a bit. But Obama is putting me in a better mood. I might even laugh a little after tax season.

But for right now, I am enjoying this article from Neatorama, written by Ethan Trex: Money for (Practically) Nothing: 4 Very Big Paychecks for Very Little Work

Here's the Number 4 Paycheck, my favorite entry, in the excerpt below. Sounds kinda dreamy! I really like they joins a gym just to "break up the day" - hilarity!

4. Edward McSweegan

Edward-McS.jpgWhile he may not be as high profile or as well-paid as the other names on this list, McSweegan may have found the sweetest deal an average guy could find. In a coup ripped directly from one of George Costanza’s daydreams, McSweegan claimed that he did nothing for seven years while employed as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health. In 2003 McSweegan told the Washington Post that he hadn’t really been given any job responsibilities since 1996. Prior to that, he had been a researcher and program officer on Lyme disease, but he was removed from that position in 1995 for arguing with a sufferers’ support group. Although he had a title as director of the U.S.-Indo Vaccine Action Program and a list of nominal duties associated with that role, McSweegan claimed that he only carried out the tiniest of tasks like ordering coffee. In exchange, he received a salary in the neighborhood of $100,000.

When the NIH vehemently disputed McSweegan’s story that he simply went to work and did nothing all day, he maintained that he never received any assignments. McSweegan would show up, sit in his office, and read to kill time. He took up fiction writing to fill his workdays and published a pair of novels he allegedly wrote while at the office. He told CBS in an interview that he also joined a health club near work “just to sort of break up the day.”

The most amazing part of McSweegan’s story isn’t that he managed to stay employed through this seven-year period, but that he received positive performance reviews
from his superiors. He wryly explained to CBS, “I guess I’m good at doing nothing.”

Location-Aware Phones are Scary and Amazing

2009-01-29T18:08:00.001-08:00

Just read a Wired article recently about location-aware phones - and the crazy apps that tell you crazy CRAZY things about your environment! Like what constellations are over your head - just wave you iphone towards the heavens - or what supermarket sells the lowest price skim milk in a five mile radius - just snap a picture of the barcode. IN-SANE. Here's a link to the Wired Article on these creepy location-aware phone apps.

Here's an excerpt from the app list if you're lazy:

9)
Dark Alley? Call for Help.
Application: SafetyNet
Platform: Android
Price: FREE!

"Finally, a right way to venture to the wrong side of the tracks. Use SafetyNet's map to select bad neighborhoods. Then, if you end up in a sketchy area, your mobile will switch into watchdog mode. If trouble arises, all you have to do is shake the handset and your phone will set off an alarm, start sending your location to friends and family every 30 seconds via Google Talk, take a picture, turn on its speaker, and dial 911 (or another emergency number) . The app announces each of these steps out loud so a would-be assailant can hear what's happening and give up. At the very least, they won't want to steal a cell phone that's shrieking about calling the cops."

- from Inside the GPS Revolution: 10 Applications That Make the Most of Location, by Erin Biba for Wired

La Vache Qui Rit = sounds kinda like "valkyrie"

2009-01-22T16:13:00.000-08:00

The Encyclopedia of the Cat is a reference book recommended for small-to-medium academic libraries. I find it humorous that - perhaps due to space concerns - the Encyclopedia of the Dog is NOT a similarly recommended book! Librarian humor. I guffaw. And my sources are probably out of date, but I enjoy it anyway.

Have I started using proper capitalization in this blog? Oh fine. I'll try it in this post, see how it goes.

You know how excited I am about coelacanths (see-luh-canths), those swimming fossil fish blithely going about their prehistoric business while we build skyscrapers and walk our cockapoos to the corner store...there's a book called A Fish Caught In Time: The Search for the Coelacanth. I'm excited to read that sucker. Check it out at your local library, or buy the book, heck.

Here's some cool stuff gleaned from Neatorama:

Stories behind 10 Famous Food Logos (including the metamorphosis of the Morton Salt Girl). I love the development of the Laughing Cow logo - it's a pun on "Valkyrie" = "vache qui rit", or the cow who laughs. Oh my god, the first laughing cow drawing makes me die a little bit. The cow is really losing it. Also included: the fictitious Aunt Jemima, the fictitious Betty Crocker (with creepy composite portrait gallery), and the fictitious Sara Lee!

At the website Energy Fiend, you can find out how many cups of coffee it would really take to kill you. Really! (The website is not liable if they are, say, two cups off in their arithmetic.) Actually, you can calculate the toxic dose of pretty much any commercially available stimulant and/or beverage on the market! Just enter your weight, your "poison" of choice...and there's even a Facebook app. Lord have mercy.

It would take approximately 130 shots of espresso to kill me, bitches! Try brewing that on your expensive yuppie-toy WHILE I WAIT.

And from Geekologie: how to program those Road Work construction signs to say things like "Zombies Ahead" and "Your face is ugly"! Nice.

From Gizmodo and Geekologie: a $5000 paper house for poor people - ostensibly as an alternative to a shantytown shack. (But if I had $5000, I wouldn't be living in a shantytown!) Anyway, it's a paper house that has insulation, and built-in ways to easily slaughter the yard pig and rinse its carcass in the shower stall. Integrated clothesline, and space for a family of eight. I guess it would be more of a gift from some kind of humanitarian organization: "Have fun drying your fish on the clotheslines, hang in there! This refugee camp is looking really ship-shape! Next we'll be handing out Ikea pillows that also function as plates and bowls..."

News Anchors on commercial break

2009-01-07T07:21:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered what the news anchors talk about during commercial breaks? (Being a pessimist, I wonder if they secretly hate each other, but are forced to make polite small-talk for the camera), but this video from the Chicago Tribune blog HeadCandy proves me wrong. Watch the vid - they are both a little too fabulous.

This may be the best thing I've seen on the internet all week.

Kingfisher feathers as jewelry

2009-01-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

The WearableArt blog kicks a$$! So much to love. Artist Tzu-Ju Chen creates jewelry using traditional Chinese techniques, like kingfisher feather inlay. But she also uses Chinese paper money - an offering for the dead - as the base for all this amazing jewelry. Take a look at some of the pieces on her website!

Here's the link from Wearable Art to Tzu-Ju Chen, too.

When venison is too bothersome

2009-01-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

This is an article from the NY Times, pertaining to the trendy human consumption of grey squirrels in Britain. See, the native red squirrels are being decimated by the robust, disease-carrying grey squirrels from the New World. So, the locals have taken to eating squirrel - apparently much like rabbit, though dependent on time of year - fat or lean? - and the diet of each squirrel. Nuts and mushrooms sounds a little better than dumpster garbage and peanuts, in other words...

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. Let's not forget that. Put down the Big Mac, pick up an organic free-range acorn-fed squirrel, supplemented with morel mushrooms, pecans, beetle grubs, quail eggs, and pea shoots.

Braised and served with...roasted acorns and grubs, toasted pecans, sauteed morel mushrooms, quail eggs and fresh pea shoots. Just kidding.

I'd have a hard time eating squirrel, because they're adorable little monsters. But if there was a squirrel problem, I guess I would try it. Shoot for the head, don't eat the brains! I'd want summer squirrel, not winter squirrel - unless I was starving and needed to eat pure blubber. Like they do in the arctic - arctic squirrel! Sqwerl.

a love story (makes me nervous)

2009-01-05T07:11:00.001-08:00

the 300 calorie food gallery

2008-12-31T07:39:00.000-08:00

for the visual learners, curious people, and people trying to lose weight: the 300 calorie food gallery - which has a nice sound to it - featuring photos of different kinds of foods equaling 300 calories, with the weight and cost of the food. also, a $10 bill for scale. for example, how many bananas make 300 calories? you can see it in the gallery: about 2.5 medium-small bananas. categories include fruit, veggies, meats/fish, fairy/eggs, grains/nuts/seeds, and pastries/candies.

totally useful, and i am appalled at the amount of olive oil equaling 300 calories. ah well. just a smidge, then. from neatorama and healthassist.net, that's who.

edit: i love my typo, "fairy" instead of "dairy"! i'm keeping it.

aardvarks and cheap adjustable eye-glasses-for-the-masses

2008-12-31T07:14:00.001-08:00

from zooborns and neatorama - i can't believe i've been missing out on a blog dedicated to new baby zoo animals around the world!!! - here is a fresh baby aardvark at the Detroit Zoo. (yes, an "ahd-vahk".) this is one precious wrinkly little animal.

so this is a photo of the receptacle in which scientists plan to ignite a tiny man-made star, dabble in fusion, and see what happens. we all feel an "i lived through" tshirt coming on, yes? from the Daily Telegraph and neatorama, here's the article about igniting a tiny man-made star in a giant metal box. this'll be at the National Ignition Facility in california, btw. brink of fusion power, one more time! c'mon y'all, let's see if you can do it without blowing us all up.

my fave picture here - this is a Zulu man wearing adjustable glasses. a physics professor at Oxford university designed some glasses with adjustable, liquid-filled lenses. They are adjustable in the sense that one can fill the lenses to the desired thickness, and thus change the magnification. the professor wants to distribute them to poor folks worldwide, and make these glasses for less than a dollar each. he's already distributed over 30,000 pairs in poor countries, with great success. one point for the near-sighted and far-sighted of the world! i myopically salute you all, and professor Silver. brilliant!!!

from the Guardian UK and neatorama, here's the link to adjustable glasses for the masses.

"Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device's tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles.

The wearer adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. When the wearer is happy with the strength of each lens the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription."

i wonder how the glasses stand up over time? is there a mini-warranty? harnessing the power of fluid, okay!

owl demonstrates relativity

2008-12-29T20:08:00.000-08:00

huh-larious. i can't even understand what they're saying, but just watch - the video becomes reeeally interesting at about the 1min 45sec mark. i love that owl.

this is from Wired's Top 10 Reader's Choice Animal Videos. includes "hamster eats popcorn while laying on piano keys", "dolphins artfully blowing bubble rings", "genius cow dog" and "chickens herding rabbits", among others.

wearable art and buzzwords

2008-12-24T14:26:00.001-08:00

why haven't i heard of the wearable art blog before? ah well. thanks neatorama! i'll add it to my linky links. in the meantime, look at these crazy dresses and suit jackets sewn together from FRAGMENTS OF ANCIENT POTTERY, omg. you can even wear them, since they are sewn onto sturdy leather clothing. wear the weight of art, clink-clink. i love it - here's a link to the article on the wearableart blog. Chinese artist Li Xiaofeng does some beautiful stuff.

here's a temporary link to the gallery showing at the Virginia Miller Galleries in Coral Gables, FLorida.

also: a link to buzzwords of 2008, including "obamanation", "staycation", and "caribou barbie" among others. from the NY Times.

crown royale and forensics

2008-12-22T16:30:00.000-08:00

okay, the two are not really related. yet! check out this case of linking a carjacking suspect to his police file, using the stomach-blood of a mosquito found in the stolen car! GENIUS. that is almost jurassic park, even. from neatorama and yahoo news, here is the link to the secret of the finnish auto-mosquito!

next we have a quilt made out of crown royal bags - you know, the purple velvet bag the bottle of fancy whisky is wrapped in before you gift it to your aunt who doesn't drink. it's apparently made-to-order on ebay. found on geekologie. will only cost you about $400 including shipping, because crown royal is not that cheap. drink up.

tshirt origami

2008-12-18T18:09:00.000-08:00

seriously, what? i need a slo-mo replay, seventeen times.

wolverine: the movie!

2008-12-18T15:11:00.001-08:00

origins of wolverine in movie format, with outrageously inconceivable action sequences and all kinds of weird comic-book characters fighting each other. i love it! i must see it. comes out in may! next: maybe a movie with hugh jackman and george clooney making out?

now you know more about me.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD

paper water bottles, omfg

2008-12-16T17:39:00.000-08:00

you loved your nalgene so much, you carried it everywhere - once you even defended yourself against a mugger using your trusty nalgene. but then we discovered the plastic in nalgene bottles was leaching toxins into our water, and you switched to an aluminum bottle. or you bought a sigg bottle. or you just started drinking out of cheap plastic water bottles because you're contrary and grieve for your nalgene. aluminum, plastic, maybe you even tried glass...where's the love? why isn't it easy to carry potable water?

what about recycled paper water bottles, holy shit! these are from geekologie. and they look very sci-fi to me. and what a great idea - does it really work? why don't they leak, why don't they soak through? SOMEONE TELL ME WHY. here's the product page.

and then of course we have apples with apple logos on them. the geekologie writer assures us that No, The Apples Are Not McIntosh! (fuji apples, 'cause it's japan and all.) dammit. those japanese people missed the whole point. but, the apples are quite adorably commercial-ready. who knew you could do that with stickers? heck. this one is from geekologie and weird asia news, which is an awesome site i keep forgetting to check! here's the article.

how to ruin a book

2008-12-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

found this instructable on neatorama: turn a favorite book into a working clock. great! a cookbook for the kitchen, a children's book for the rugrats' room. what an amazing way to ruin a useful, readable book! and make it into a semi-useful clock. a clock that you CANNOT READ - a book that has been DISABLED. the pages literally stuck together forever BY TIME.

this instructable, though outwardly cute, may as well be called How To Greatly Annoy A Librarian With Little Effort.

just saw this picture on the daily coyote blog

2008-12-12T08:22:00.000-08:00

this is charlie the coyote enjoying a smoked pig ear. just like your average coddled domestic dog. charlie is so cute and clever-coyote-ish, you just want to bring him home and put him on the couch, no? i sure do.

except that shreve, the woman who raised him, does not want you to believe that raising a coyote is easy. for example, charlie the coyote - in his inexhaustible coyote cleverness - becomes easily bored. charlie will turn the kitchen faucet on and off, on and off, to provoke his boring human companion. he can turn the roomba on and off with his nose. he can open the cupboards and take all the pots and pans out, making a pile in the center of the room. he also does not accept anyone other than his two human companions, and friendly dogs.

he could probably suffocate me in my sleep. or win every game of battleship. or trick my chihuahua into trying to swim in the deep end.

so, class. let's enjoy the cute coyote while also remembering that coyotes do not make good pets. primarily because they'll erase your favorite tivo shows when you're not home.

'tis the season...for frugal gifting

2008-12-11T22:55:00.000-08:00

found a list of 50 frugal or DIY gift ideas on boingboing - originally from the LA Times - and i liked many of them! particularly the mason jar of prunes stewing in armagnac for two weeks. or the homemade baby carrot pickles? or toasting some pecans in a sweet/hot spice mixture with sugar, then putting them in a little tin? cute and edible gets four gold stars from me. i love a reuseable gifting container. this list goes way beyond so-called denominational holidays; i just like to give people gifts in winter. the idea being that, in case of zombie war, the gifts will foster secure social bonds with my friends. and then those friends will be less likely to cannibalize me.

especially if i gave them breadsticks or herbally infused vodka. yep, i'm up way too late tonight.

speaking of food, i love love love these adorable fold-out sandwich boxes. found these on boingboing, and they are designed by emma smart, for ASDA - british grocery company. trompe l'oeil place settings are just what the world needs for take-out food! i would totally keep trying to pick up that shiny fork.

and here we have an expandable christmas stocking from neatorama and instructables. this is DIY project involving lots of zippers, and ends up making a cunning striped stocking. however, one could look at the glass half-empty, and see a clever way of making a shrinking stocking.

yep - just enough room for an orange, an apple, a milk chocolate jesus-on-the-cross, a fancy fountain pen...oh wait, that was last year. all i've got now is this bagel i found in the dumpster. (i know you like sesame, though.) and some baby carrot pickles in a jar i forgot to sterilize. and a pink slip from work, how 'bout that?

mouse obstacle course

2008-12-08T09:28:00.001-08:00

this video from CuteOverload makes me feel a little better about the mouse poop on my kitchen stove. like, if the mouse is going to look cute and work so hard, well...fine, i guess one tiny mouse turd on the stove is fine. but not more than that, right? jeez.

ramen pizza, ramen pizza!!

2008-11-25T20:30:00.000-08:00

yes, ramen pizza. from neatorama and seriouseats, here we have one of the annual ramen-off cooking contest winners. yes, karol lu won the competition at brooklyn kitchen with her recipe for pepperoni ramen pizza. i can't even talk about it anymore. ramen was created to be the stuff of my nightmare, yet i'm strangely drawn to the picture of ramen pizza. get the recipe for ramen pizza here, at seriouseats.

and here we have this clever ad about global warming, in the form of a huge aerial cityscape - new york - decal on the bottom of a swimming pool in mumbai, india. get it? because that's where we'll all be if we don't cut down on the fossil fuel! picture is neat-o-rama. i would prefer swimming in this pool to a slice of ramen pizza, thanks.

so the only encouraging part about our "economic downturn" is that library usage is up - thrifty patrons are looking to squeeze every freebie out of the local library, perhaps not realizing that resources and services are always free at the library? well, happy day for libraries in search of funding. here's the link to the article from lisnews. apparently libraries are always more popular during recessions, how 'bout that. it's like the library is the plain, steadfast wife, there when you need her. and blockbuster/amazon is the blonde bombshell bimbo mistress of patrons everywhere, a fair-weather rental.

what we have here is fiber-optic wallpaper with intricate floral designs. don't know how it works. probably couldn't look at it for very long. but it's kinda nice. let's try an LED fireplace next, with built-in crackle. also, i just read about a japanese aurora-borealis simulator/projector machine thing. the likelihood of an accurate aurora on one's bedroom ceiling is minute! but a sweet idear.

humbuggery

2008-11-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

no, humbuggery is not what you think. you pervert. what's really obscene is this pair of salt and pepper shakers cast from the heads of actual dead turkeys. they are, at the time of this writing, on sale at www.etsy.com for $65. i kind of love them - like these are what you bring to thanksgiving dinner when you hate thanksgiving. or perhaps when you are a vegetarian attending the carnivore carnival. morbid! awesome! from boingboing and neatorama - here's the boingboing link to turkey shakers.

so this is a link to a 10-item list of usb-powered warming devices for chilled personal computer users. (for instance, my feet and hands have gotten painfully cold in previous apartments with sketchy radiators. this made playing zoo tycoon for five consecutive hours that much harder!) so for all those people tied to their computers and suffering from sluggish sedentary circulation, here is a list of usb-powered gadgets that will keep the warmth in your extremities. from neatorama and geekalerts.

i think my favorite is the heating mitt/mousepad shaped like a fish.

finally, did y'all known that there is a world-class gym inside disney's matterhorn mountain ride? well, i just accidentally closed the tab to the article. so you'll have to find that article yourself - 10 things you didn't know about disneyland, on neatorama. i was shocked! but then, i have not been to disneyland since i saw michael jackson in "captain eo" in 3D.

my god, i love 3D movies.

omg, omg = usb-powered owlbot from ThinkGeek and Japan

2008-11-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

See it on www.thinkgeek.com right here! maybe buy me one. blink-blink! also featured on cuteoverload, where this phenomenon is known as both adjective and noun: baroo?!owl.

chocolate fashion shows and giant salmon

2008-11-14T06:48:00.000-08:00

this picture is a Chinook salmon found dead post-spawn by a park ranger in Battle Creek, California. from Neatorama, read the original post here. see, this is why untouched nature - the kind of nature that gets large in the absence of humans eating up their habitat and resources - is a little scary. it's the world of 800 lb bears, 300 foot trees, 150 lb wolves, giant sea creatures of all kinds...including giant salmon. (yes, salmon spend their lives at sea before swimming up their freshwater birth streams and spawning. this makes salmon anadramous fish.)

here we have a swiss chocolate swiss army knife. filled with hazelnut praline! 'nuff said. what a great consolation stocking stuffer! and so shiny... from neatorama, right here.

here's that chocolate fashion show i mentioned. seems it's the 11th annual new york chocolate show, and this is the fashion segment. warm chocolate is adhered and molded to models, who then strut around wearing chocolate corsets and things. one model does faint - perhaps the combination of heat and weight? from the amazing boingboing.

last but certainly not least, a sort-of-new species of simulation video game. "after shock" is a 3-week real-time california earthquake disaster simulation - you can jump in and participate at any time! simulated disaster recovery think-tank, anyone? what a great idea. gaming for the greater good. no seriously, AWESOME. next, a simulated zombie/vampire attack. here's an excerpt, followed by a link to play:

"Aftershock, run by the Institute for the Future and Art Center College of Design, is based on a 300-page U.S. Geological Survey scenario report that details the extensive damage that Southern California could experience in the aftermath of a 7.8-magnitude quake on the San Andreas Fault. The game began on Thursday and will run for three weeks, prompting users to complete real-world missions — and submit content based on them to the gaming community."

play After Shock!

still exhausted: presidential election joy hangover

2008-11-13T14:00:00.001-08:00

well, i apologize for lacking the energy to post interesting and distracting things on this blog for a while. i'll try to reverse the trend. here, from BoingBoing and Shape&Color:

this is artist roger hiorns in his piece "seizure"; it's an apartment coated with blue copper phosphate crystals. the artist pumped in the liquid copper solution, let it crystallize on all surfaces in cooler temperatures, and then pumped out the remaining fluid. who knows how he managed to pump it all! but now it looks like a magical, sparkly, inky-blue rabbit warren. it's in london, and it's open to the public for now. i think it's pretty cool.

http://shapeandcolour.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/roger-hiorns-seizure/

you said it, Mr. President!

2008-11-06T12:45:00.001-08:00

cakewrecks is making me feel all patriotic and proud...of cupcakes!!!!

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/11/cake-headlines.html

election updates on your mobile device

2008-11-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

i voted! and because i'm impatient to hear the results, i want election count updates on my cell phone! and i can do that, because the internet loves me.

text "elections zipcode" to 698698 to get the NYTimes election results updates on your duh-vice.

for eg: send "elections 90210" to 698698, no actual quotation marks. you get it. elections - it's plural! you get house, state, and governor election results, too.

Tuttuki Bako, generously nicknamed "the fingerbang game" by geekologie writer

2008-10-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

actually, he's totally right.

Library Headlines

2008-10-28T05:51:00.000-07:00

- the graphic novel "Bunny Suicides" freaks an Oregonian mom out to the point of bizarre-o. (it's free speech, lady. sorry you don't think it's funny. maybe you shouldn't read it, y'know?)

- the winning essays for a contest How The Library Changed My Life. I get weepy. I could write a few words on this subject, myself.

- MSN's "America's 10 Coolest Public Libraries" concentrates on snazzy architecture instead of the crazy services rendered within. all librarians now feel pissy and devalued. but it's okay, because librarians rock. and I would totally visit Seattle PL (pictured above) just to visit their insane library and ask a reference question that could somehow be answered with the reference dumbwaiter(!!). Also, woo for the BPL (pictured below) making third on the list with its Renaissance Revival architecture; after all, it was "the first large free municipal library" in the United States, founded in 1848. Info from the BPL's website, history portion.

but first, a watermelon brain.

2008-10-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

from boingboing and instructables, we have an impressive brain carved from a watermelon. my first thoughts on seeing this creation were "my goodness, the skill involved!" and then "i wonder if a pumpkin-carving kit could do that?" here is the instructable for melon brains, too.

from boingboing gadgets, we have the winner of a seoul design contest: Life Pebbles! it's a pack that drops glowing green pebbles behind firefighters as they enter burning buildings. Thus, as the boingboing writer says, they are much like radioactive hamsters in a smoking maze.

try watching this video of a danish-built "walking house" art installation. yep, it's like a camper shell that walks. Howl's Moving Castle?

also, neatorama tells me that an octogenarian norwegian man can still see out of the cornea he received via transplant in 1958. that's pretty damn impressive. especially since the transplant came from a man born in 1885. that's a 123 year-old organ transplant.

WHOA, 1885, 1885!!!

i'll show you a special character...

2008-10-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

so typing special characters is my pet peeve. or shall i say, my pet ineptitude? anyway, i looked up an online chart of key-strokes to create special characters. not the same as making special characters in html or xml - no no! this is for creating special characters - like pound-sterling and umlaats and vowels with niblets on top - in your PC word processor. yes, now i can correctly type the word "résumé" in my résumé. all hail Alt 130.

http://www.forlang.wsu.edu/help/keyboards.asp

also, here is a link to a rather fantastic article from boingboing, called "Xrays made from Scotch tape". apparently when you peel off some Scotch tape in a vacuum, you can create enough x-rays to see some bones through your flesh. picture at the top. researchers stress this happens in a vacuum, and so no one should be dissuaded from using Scotch tape in everyday life.

phew! i was really worried, you guys. here is the link to the original article published in Nature: Sticky Tape Generates X-rays. so it seems you can get the unpeeling tape to emit an eerie light, as well. mechanoluminescence is crazy.

WHAT.

2008-10-20T19:43:00.001-07:00

it's funny, i was just fantasizing about my own little hover scooter. you know, for buzzing through the city and flattening pedestrians. i could hover smugly past hipster cyclists and those guys on segueways, too. how awesome would that be. WHAT DOES IT RUN ON, my god, TELL ME. i have $17,000 right here in my pocket... from geekologie and others who wish to hover, too.

oh, but the hover scooter website mentions that "the friction wheel makes contact with the ground, up to a maximum of approximately 15 mph." what kind of sloppy levitation is that?!

[disgruntle]

so here we have an electric, smoke-less cigarette, the "Crown 7 Hydro". wtf? actually, as someone who is quite affected by cigarette smoke, i appreciate their intentions here. let's all be a little less carcinogenic in our personal habits, i guess. and it only costs $80 to save your fellow human beings from second-hand smoke! it's sort of sci-fi, sort of like you're chewing on an expensive pen. it's from geekologie, too!

not too shabby

2008-10-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

this playful site is updated daily until the election. click on over and fiddle with the oval office as interpreted by sarah palin. it's, like, totally fun.

http://www.palinaspresident.us/

and then there's this addictive little online video game, MotherLoad. the context is that you're a little drill machine getting started on Mars. you collect minerals, refuel to avoid imploding, and upgrade your vehicle and drill and fuel tanks. more valuable minerals are deeper! you get out with a cute little helicopter attachment. but if you land too hard, your hull will split and explode. upgrades include teleporting devices, nanobots to repair your hull, and DYNOMITES. ultimate time-waster of today.

update: i have basically finished MotherLoad - it has a silly ending, but the tense build-up towards the finish was intense! i heard the scary music in my head throughout the day. and i like that it remembers my computer when i want to play again, just for the fun of detonating plastic explosives, finding martian mummies, and mining amazonite.

as usual, boingboing has cool schtuff

2008-10-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

well, amputee David Savage is now a man with a new human hand - which seems to work surprisingly well. read more about his new hand here!

in other news, Jonathan Hennessey and illustrator Aaron McConnell have created a graphic novel version of the United States Constitution. i just requested that my local library purchase it, so i can read it, dammit. too good. except that it does not handle recent law-making higgledy-piggledy like the Patriot Act, but maybe that will be the next book.

and here we have a link to a blog post by an icelander, detailing the surreal milieu of reykjavik the day after all major icelandic banks failed as a consequence of U.S. banks tipping. a horrifying and astounding blog post to read, i might add. suicides beginning to be reported.

in a metaphorical response to the above paragraph, here we have duct tape bandages:

finally, the U.S. Army is working on developing "synthetic telepathy" helmets which will transmit the thoughts of one person to another person in a matching helmet. it will be something along the lines of composing an email in your head, then "sending" it by thinking. lawd, the world makes me tired.

NASA's APOD on RSS, OMG

2008-10-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

so i just discovered Astronomy Picture of the Day, or APOD. each lovely photo has a short explanation written by a goshdarn professional astronomer. and it's just kinda cool, y'know? the pic above is a fly-by picture of Mercury taken from the satellite Messenger, Oct 2008. brought to you by NASA.

google makes anti-drunk-emailing app(!!!)

2008-10-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

i could totally use this, btw. occasionally, i mean. a few math problems between me and sending a drunk email? GENIUS. and it's kind of cute, too. i like how the app asks you in this concerned text: "Are you sure you want to send this email?" from geekologie, read more about it here.

and what is this? why, it's a recycling egg! "jimmy, give it something, quick. before it demands your pop can!" more here, from boingboing.

finally, an article about the squirrels of washington, d.c. - nearly eradicated by enthusiastic hunters during the turn of the century, then reintroduced for "urban charm" here and there. originally they installed squirrel drinking fountains and squirrel feeding stations, but eventually those weren't really needed anymore...SQWERL MADNESS, LOOK OUT.

golden kate moss, etc

2008-10-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

so now i can't remember if it was geekologie or neatorama or boingboing that told me about the solid-gold statue of kate moss as the modern aphrodite: read about it here! this british artist cast 110 lbs of gold into the likeness of kate moss, and used her as a live model, too. (i kinda wish he had just spray-painted kate moss gold. woulda weighed about the same, but much cheaper? except for kate's hourly rate, hmm.) and you know what else? gold is not cheap these days.

and then there's this awesome boingboing post about how a public library dealt with Banned Books Week: they made a sensational window display with Live Readers Reading Banned Or Challenged Books! for the whole week. i love that. it's an especially good picture, too.

finally, you can make acorn pancakes with this how-to for acorn flour; soak to remove the bitterness/tannins! described as "nutty" and "hearty", i wanna try it. surrounded as i am with oak trees and gorging squirrels, seems pert'nent.

the one reason to visit new haven

2008-10-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

the cupcake truck makes toothsome red velvet cupcakes, lemon chiffon, salted caramel, and coconut cupcakes. among other awesome flavors. and they sell frosting shots for when you just need that cream cheese frosting to continue living. they drive around and sell their super cupcakes for $2 a pop. why don't they come to boston? they have a mouth-watering blog and stuff. here's the site: the cupcake truck!

cupcakes in the picture are not cupcakes from the truck. they're just cupcakes on the internet that make me hungry. aggggh. i want a chocolate coconut cupcake!

okay, adorable.

2008-10-02T20:35:00.001-07:00

this cute little blog makes me fall on my face, it's so cute. and not like CuteOverload cute, but just sweet.

1000 Awesome Things

here are some of the headlines by way of adorable example (i feel closer to humanity at large already):

#930 Finally getting a piece of popcorn that’s been stuck in your teeth all day out

#937 The smell of rain on a hot sidewalk

#946 The first shower you take after not showering for a really long time

#953 When cashiers open up new check-out lanes at the grocery store

the bacon cinnamon bun!

2008-10-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

once again, the obsession with bacon! i don't eat it often, i could easily live without it. but i can appreciate it when it sizzles my way. but here we have something so evil and insidious, it could have been created by McD's! the cinnamon bun made with a strip of bacon inside it, and then frosted. one of those tubes of dough that you curl yourself, bake and frost...only it's curled up with some friendly friendly bacon.

i think the picture speaks for itself. salty, yet sweet! in fact, i just died from all the transfats in the above paragraph.

ultraviolet-sensitive bikini is over-rated

2008-10-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

when i visited ------------, i had to wear a little paper sticky patch on my shirt. if the sun hit it, or if in other words i went outside, the patch would turn bright purple. i think these bikini beads are the same sort of things. but they're just beads on a bikini. and it can't possibly be that expensive to make UV-sensitive beads, y'know? but still, a nice thought. helpful and all. from geekologie.

exotic meat parties and other roman delights

2008-10-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

one of my librarian colleagues recently told me of an "exotic meats party" that she had with her housemates. the party's highlights included a bear pot roast! and there were other amazing things, but all have been eclipsed by her story of the Enormous Ostrich Egg Benedict! for which a custom-made enormous english muffin had to be baked! she had some ingenious way of getting the egg whole out of the shell; her method involved the back of a kitchen knife and much tentative knocking at the shell.

as far as i know, the internet does not have a picture of ostrich eggs benedict for me. but it does have numerous articles and blogs concerning the eating of ostrich eggs. here is one that i liked, called Dessert Comes First. funny captions and glorious photos, i say. also an article about eating monitor lizard eggs...ooo...{puts on reading glasses}

Adventure with an Ostrich Egg

Adventure with Hot Tsokolate

crazy stuff for a crazy day

2008-10-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

according to neatorama and probably others, the fitbit is a little clip-on device that tracks your mileage, caloric burn, REM sleep patterns, and motion in general. you can put it in your pocket and it will still function as a pedometer. and it'll upload your info to its website for free. it sounds creepy, but satisfying for the curious. i want one. read more about it on MIT's Technology Review.

and in a complete non sequitur (sp?) extraordinaire, here is Urinary Tract Wallpaper from neatorama and LA Weekly. quite clever, i think.

and in a more drastic tangential tweak, scientists emphasize that HIV was already infecting humans in 1959. and they have samples that prove it, although there's much to be said about shaky computer-time-elapse models and formalin-damanged dna. but still, it's damn interesting. neatorama showed me, and i read more about it here.

and omg, you can spin your dog's hair into yarn and then weave that yarn into a scarf. or have some custom-made "keepsake" whipped up after the spinning, via VIP Fibers. the coyote on dailycoyote.net had his fur spun into yarn by a nice woman in idaho. and i think that is way cool.

did you say "iphone-inspired cupcakes"?

2008-10-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

mo' cakewrecks, mo' problems. fondant looks good, tastes bad! but, looks good!

news, cake, and celluloid

2008-09-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

the cake picture is from cakewrecks, the blog. it says "congratulations on your vasectomy pete!" it's too good.

and now, more food photos because i'm hungry: eyeball insalata caprese! via neatorama. i'm not even that into halloween, but i'd make this.

one more thing, also from neatorama: ping pong balls as useful aids to organ transplant surgery! in this case, a little girl's adult-sized liver transplant was putting too much pressure on nearby arteries. so, the surgeon called for a ping pong ball to hold the liver away...and then just decided to leave it inside. why not...what are ping pong balls made of, anyway?

wikipedia's entry on table tennis tells me this:

"The ball is made of a high-bouncing gas-filled celluloid, colored white or orange, with a matte finish. The choice of ball color is made according to the table color and its surroundings. For example, a white ball is easier to see on a green or blue table than it is on a grey table. Stars on the ball indicate the quality of the ball. 3 stars indicates that it is of the highest quality."

so of course i looked up "celluloid" and this is what i found:

"Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic, it was first created as Parkesine in 1856 and as Xylonite in 1869 before being registered as Celluloid in 1870. Celluloid is easily molded and shaped, and it was first widely used as an ivory replacement. Celluloid is highly flammable and also easily decomposes, and is no longer widely used. Its most common uses today are the table tennis ball and guitar picks."

guitar picks!!!

breaking news! thinking makes you fat

2008-09-24T11:30:00.000-07:00

they've found a link between mental activity (i.e. problem-solving at computer) and increased appetite due to glucose instability in the body. apparently muscular exertion requires proteins, fats, and glucose...but mental activity only requires glucose. So much so that the brain freaks out and needs you to eat stuff with the aim of providing a fast glucose fix.

well, results are "tentative" for now. Read about it here, on ABC News. meanwhile, i'll be horking down my lunch and buying an ice cream before i sit at this computer for a few more hours.

pinhole camera built into prepared skull, yowza

2008-09-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

what is crazy and really cool? this thing. according to geekologie, neatorama, and engadget, and probably others, this camera is built using the century-and-a-half-old skull of a 13 year old girl. the camera takes hazy, dreamy pictures which can only be described as Incredibly Creepy Since They Are Produced Through A "Third Eye" Bored Into A Skull AND AS SUCH ARE Just Like Prophecy On Film OMFG! freak. out. the artist responsible is wayne martin belger; he's a man that loves to make a good pinhole camera, what. click here for his creepy and incredibly fascinating website, with more pics and more pinhole cameras. (check out "yama", which is another skull-cam with cast-bronze pinholes in the eye sockets; it's set-up to take 3-D pics.)