Fore-Edge Painting, Moss Mats

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

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

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

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

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!

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Things I Discovered While Reading Wired Magazine

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.