Bloomframe is an innovative window frame which can be transformed into a balcony. The balcony gives the user a flexible living environment. Opening the Bloomframe window offers the possibility to step outside and enjoy the outdoor space. With one simple movement, light, air and space are added to the interior.
The Bloomframe is designed and patented by Hofman Dujardin Architects based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Bloomframe
Shut Down Day - March 24, 2007
It is obvious that people would find life extremely difficult without computers, maybe even impossible. If they disappeared for just one day, would we be able to cope? Be a part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the internet: Shutdown Day!
The idea behind the experiment is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate! Shutdown your computer on March 24 and find out! Can you survive for 24 hours without your computer?
(via A Journey to my Father's House)
Copyright Navigator
A digital annotated concept map of the fundamentals of U.S. copyright law by Lionel S. Sobel, Professor of Southwestern University School of Law.
The Giant Ocean Sunfish
The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, is the largest bony fish in the world. It is a unique pelagic fish, and specimens of ocean sunfish have been observed up to 11 ft in length and weighing up to 5,100 lb.
Distribution Of Blood Types
In 1900 Karl Landsteiner, a physician at the University of Vienna, discovered the ABO blood group system.
Based on the reactions between the red blood cells and the sera, he was able to divide individuals into three groups: A, B, and O. Two years later, two of his students discovered the fourth and rarest type, namely AB.Distribution of blood types in the world.
(via Grow-A-Brain)
Use Your Head To Find Those Lost Remotes
From American Inventor Spot:
Whether a hardcore audiophile or casual TV watcher, somehow, we still end up with way more remotes and portable handheld devices than we can handle.
That many devices can only result in valuable hours wasted searching for the lost and misplaced... but not if the Remote Wrangler has anything to do with it.
Marian Anderson Historical Society
Today is Marian Anderson's birthday. She was born on February 27, 1897 and died April 8, 1993. Marian Anderson was the first black singer to perform in the White House (1936) and at NY's Metropolitan Opera House (1955).
In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution prevented her from performing in a concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest, and arranged for Marian Anderson to perform at the Lincoln Memorial, instead, where 75,000 turned out to hear her sing 'America.'
Lucas Arts Sues Digg Over Name
George Lucas's entertainment company has filed opposition to social media site Digg's attempt to trademark its name. The dispute is based on Lucasart's 1995 video game, 'The Dig.'
eXasis
The eXasis is the result of a collaboration between Rinspeed and Bayer MaterialScience AG. The eXasis is built on an aluminum frame with plastic body panels and floor that let you get a good look at the structure and components, as well as the road passing rapidly underneath. The eXasis makes its debut at the Geneva Motor Show on March 8th.
Just How Many Drinks A Day Is Bad?
Is a glass or two of wine a day good for you?
You would think this would be an easy question to answer, but it's not, and that's because of this:
how many glasses of wine are in a bottle?
Cartoon Ren
A Worth1000 Photoshop contest.Tex Avery. Chuck Jones. Bill Watterson. It's clear that many of the great artists of the last century chose to work in the medium of cartoons. But what if they had decided to showcase their creations in classic paintings instead?
Nose Picker
Nearly everyone has fallen to the temptation of picking one's nose in public. It is a strangely pleasant experience, but unfortunately an experience that is meant to be done in private rather than in full view of the public eye.
The Nose Picker offers a more hygienic approach to this favorite past time, boasting a fake finger that is made from synthetic rubber along with a clean nail to boot. There is a handle located at the end of the finger's joint for you to navigate it through your olfactory orifices.
Ten Best Mannered People from 1992 - 2005
Each year, the National League of Junior Cotillions releases it's list for the Ten Best Mannered People. The major criteria for selections is that the indvidual has been an outstanding role model of good manners and exemplary behavior during the current year.
NLJC students from across the nation submit their list of nominations from individuals who are news makers from a wide variety of activities including but not limited to: politics, business, sports, arts, military, music, comedy, television, motion pictures or theater.
(via Information Junk)
Stamping On Hitler
Millions would love a chance to wipe their feet on Adolf Hitler and now it looks like they could have the chance with this 'Hitler Rug.' The work is by Israeli artist Boaz Arad who says he is hoping to show how the Holocaust has scarred Israel, but also been misused by it.
He says the rug is a representation of what a Nazi hunter would do if he caught the ultimate prize, the Nazi leader.
Eight Women Who Look Better Bald Than Britney
OK, I promise this is going to be the last time I post something about Britney Spears' newly shaven head.
Until something new comes up, of course.
But here are eight women who look better bald than Britney.
(via Change of Subject)
Numbers From One To Thirty-One
Numbers from one to thirty-one. A page for each day of the month. Click on a number on the calendar to learn more about it.
(via corsinet)
Home Schooled
Home Schooled is a comics series by American artist Ash Jackson.
Co-writing by Silas Jackson.
The Presurfer will feature a Home Schooled cartoon every Monday. This is an absolute exclusive cooperation between The Presurfer and Ash Jackson.
Home Schooled is more or less a reflection of the wacky and occasionally interesting adventures of the artist, Ash Jackson, himself, with the aid of his friends, family, and other cohorts.
Title: A Dinosauric Intervention.
click on the picture for real size
Computer Graphics
Here's a question. Which of the pictures you see above is a computer rendered image? I think your first guess is the blond woman. But since readers of this blog are intelligent people, and because of the nature of the question, you might say it has to be the dark-haired lady.
Well, they're both computer graphics! The image on the right is obvious but I think the one on the left has you stunned. It was made by Max Wahyudi from Jakarta, Indonesia, and the model is Korean actress Song Hye Kyo. Could this be the most realistic looking 3D rendered image of a human?
(via A Welsh View)
Grave Of Jesus Found
The cave in which Jesus Christ was buried has been found in Jerusalem, claim the makers of a new documentary film. The film was made by James Cameron, the man who brought you 'Titanic.'
If it proves true, the discovery, which will be revealed at a press conference in New York tomorrow, could shake up the Christian world as one of the most significant archeological finds in history. The coffins which, according to the filmmakers held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene will be displayed for the first time tomorrow in New York.
The story starts in 1980 in Jerusalem's Talpiyot neighborhood, with the discovery of a 2,000 year old cave containing ten coffins.
Six of the ten coffins were carved with inscriptions reading the names: Jesua son of Joseph, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Matthew, Jofa (Joseph, identified as Jesus' brother), Judah son of Jesua (Jesus' son - the filmmakers claim).
I don't know if this is true or just another stunt but it's bound to outrage Christians and stir up a debate between believers and skeptics.
Knight Rider Replica
For sale on eBay: 1984 Pontiac Trans Am Knight Rider replica. An exact to detail replica of the famous talking car known as K.I.T.T from the TV show Knight Rider with David HasselHoff.
101 Amazing Earth Facts
What were the worst disasters on Earth? What is the lowest spot on our planet, the tallest peak, do you know how far it is to the center of the planet or what's there? Where are the planet's hottest, coldest, driest and windiest places?
101 Amazing Earth Facts.
The Mugnum
The Mugnum is a coffee mug with a pistol grip.Whenever someone feels bored, tense or sad, they need something to cheer them up. This is what this mug can offer, a bit of excitement in their morning lives. The feeling of secure, the feeling of confident, and the desire to go ahead.
(via Boing Boing)
The 51 Best Magazines Ever
Good Magazine has a list of the smartest, prettiest, coolest, funniest, most influential, most necessary, most important, most essential magazines ever.
Your Own Bald Britney
We all know that Brit shaved off her hair last week. She didn't mind very much according to these pictures. It's being rumoured that she shaved her head in the first place because Kevin Federline threatened to have her hair drug-tested as part of his ongoing child custody fight. It's actually all very sad.
But not for us. We can still have fun with Britney. From this Russian site comes the Britney Spears cardboard cutout. Click on the picture on the site, print it out, cut it out on the black lines, bend on the grey, and glue the white edges together.
Cool Weather
CoolWX is a weather page with unique content since 1994. The site is maintained by Dr Robert Hart, a professor at Florida State. with a PhD from Penn State. In meteorological parlance, WX is weather.
CoolWX works with over 3,500 global stations to report extreme weather phenomenon every three hours. Visitors can search forecasts, or browse by meteorological topics such as blizzard, temperature, wind, thunderstorm, visibility, etc.
You can also look for extreme and weird temperatures in the world. For instance, at the moment of this writing, 3 stations are reporting a temperature of -49°F or colder: Mayo Airport, Canada, Eagle Airport, USA, and Fort Yukon Airport, USA. In contrast, 3 stations are reporting temperatures of 104°F or warmer, all in Australia: Curtin, Learmonth Airport, and Telfer.
Guatemala Sinkhole
A 330-foot-deep sinkhole killed two teenage siblings when it swallowed about a dozen homes early Friday and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood. Officials blamed the sinkhole on recent rains and an underground sewage flow from a ruptured main.
See the amazing pictures.
The National Watch And Clock Museum
The National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, PA, USA, was officially opened to the public in 1977 with fewer than 1,000 items. Since that time, the collection has increased to over 12,000 items and the museum has undergone several expansion projects. Today, the museum is recognized as the largest and most comprehensive horological collection in North America.
The National Watch and Clock Museum collection is international in scope and covers a wide variety of clocks, watches, tools, and other time-related items. The main focus of the collection is on nineteenth-century American clocks and watches. However, additional collections include early English Tallcase clocks, Asian timepieces from Japan and China, and timekeeping devices from Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Russia.
The Man With The Mysterious Horn
Saleh Talib Saleh used to dream that he would grow horns on his head. He dismissed them as mere fancy at first, but then, at the ripe old age of 78, a horn did indeed begin to grow on the left side of his head. Saleh claims that the horn started growing over 25 years ago.
He has no explanation as to how the horn developed or why. However, a large medical team at the Aden Specialized Hospital believe that the horn was caused by multiplying layers of hardened, dried skin on Saleh's head.
Virtual High Five
Start your day with a 'Virtual High Five' with this simulator from The Platypus Society.A declaration of intent needs to be stated. There are many different ways to declare that you are about to issue a high five. 'Gimme five!' or 'High five!' are common declarative statements of palm slappage, while the less common 'Slap me some skin' or 'Up high' are also acceptable.
Strike your hand against the image hand on your screen to receive your Virtual High Five. This may also be accompanied by an exclamation of enjoyment. (Note: Computer screens can be fragile, so strike at your own risk.
The Matchstick Man
Jack Hall (The Matchstick Man) from the United Kingdom proved that a ukulele didn't need to be made with conventional tools or from the finest materials to play well, sound good and be beautiful to look at.
This one-of-a-kind 1984 ukulele was made entirely from used wooden matchsticks... 10,000 of them painstakingly glued together with 2 lbs of hide glue.
(via Reality Carnival)
Peekvid
I don't know whether this is legal but at Peekvid you can watch videos online. Movies, TV series, cartoons, comedy and anime, you can't name it or it's there.
The 50 Craziest Pop Stars Ever
You don't have to be crazy to be a rock star. But let's just say the world would be a far less colorful place without these 50 drug-addled, tantrum-throwing, Thorazine-gulping and/or just plain mad music maestros.
Guess who's at number one?
The 50 Craziest Pop Stars Ever.
How To Stop A Truck With A Bollard
A bollard is a post preventing vehicles from entering an area. Rising bollards are used to secure sensitive areas from attack. See what happens when a truck hits a bollard.
Grand Canyon Skywalk
Grand Canyon West, a destination owned and operated by the Hualapai Tribe at the Grand Canyon's western rim, announces March 28, 2007 as the official public opening date of The Skywalk.
The Grand Canyon Skywalk will be the first-ever cantilever shaped glass walkway to suspend more than 4,000 feet above the canyon's floor and extend 70 feet from the canyon's rim.
The Stone Spheres Of Costa Rica
One of the strangest mysteries in archaeology was discovered in the 1930s in the Diquis Delta of Costa Rica. The stone spheres of Costa Rica are a collection of some three hundred polished stone orbs.
In the 1930s the United Fruit Company was excavating the fertile, yet remote, farmlands of Costa Rica, near the Diquis Valley on the Pacific Ocean coast. As workers dug and prepared the land for cultivation, they discovered many large stone spheres buried and impaled in the tropical soil.
The stone spheres were previously unknown to the local inhabitants and they could offer no explanation of who made them or how old they were. Plantation workers bulldozed them and largely ignored them until rumors started spreading that they may contain gold or precious jewels. Many balls were drilled or cracked open with dynamite, only to reveal that they were composed of solid rock.
More information on the stone spheres on World Mysteries.
Chicken Grow
I've been linking to Bart Bonte's games before. Now he has a new game called Chicken Grow.
It's a point-and-click game where you have to grow chickens by feeding them grain and water. How you do that? You have to find out yourself.
Chicken Grow.
Ephemera
Ephemera refers to written and printed matter published with a short intended lifetime. In the world of collectors common types of ephemera include letters, advertising trade cards, cigarette cards, airsickness bags, posters, postcards, baseball cards, tickets, greeting cards, stock certificates, photographs and zines.
Ephemera is a weblog exploring the world of old paper. It's done by Marty Weil, a freelance journalist and ephemera dealer, consultant, and researcher.
Tibetan And Himalayan Portraits
Beautiful photographs of the nomads of Tibet and Bhutan by Daniel Miller.Over centuries, the nomads acquired complex knowledge about the environment in which they lived and upon which their lives depended, which enabled them to persist in one of the most inhospitable places on earth. But, they did more than just survive. The nomads created a unique, vibrant culture, about which, even today, so little is known.
(via plep)
Flickr Related Tag Browser
The Flickr Related Tag Browser lets you surf Flickr's 'tag space'.
Flickr tags are keywords used to classify images. Each tag has a list of 'related' tags, based on clustered usage analysis.
(via Ursi's Blog)
Prisoners Of YouTube
Meet the most hilarious people ever to lose their jobs, friends, livelihoods, and their dignity - all for your personal amusement.
The Prisoners of YouTube.
Emmeline
Emmeline, the little girl who was forgotten by absolutely everyone, even the postman.
A story about Emmeline who lived in a town that doesn't exist.
At least, not anymore!
The Painted Houses Of Ramenskoye
Ramenskoye is a town in Moscow Oblast in Russia, located 46 km southeast of Moscow. Its name means 'the edge of forest.'
The town is not only known for Zhukovsky Airfield, where the majority of Soviet aircraft were tested, but also for its painted houses.
(thanks Peter)
Top Atheist Quotes
Atheist quotes collected from various sources like newsgroups, books and people's submissions.* If God doesn't like the way I live, let HIM tell me, not you.
* An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.
* A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle.
Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda
And now, The Man Christ Jesus, Dr Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, is coming to the USA. The King of kings and Lord of lords has arrived in America.
This self-proclaimed Son of God is a 60 year old former heroin addict and convict. The divorced father of 4 was born in Puerto Rico and now lives in South Florida with his second wife. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda believes his life and teachings supersede those of Jesus of Nazareth - a point which he emphasizes by referring to himself as the Antichrist and by exhibiting a '666' tattoo on his forearm.
3 Year Old Chinese Girl Solves Rubik's Cube
This is amazing! Check out this 3 year old Chinese girl solving a Rubik's cube in 114 seconds!
Ideal Weight Calculator
Fill in your gender and your height and let this tool determine your healthiest weight. I entered my height and it says my healthiest weight should be 147 pounds. That's good to know because my real weight is 140 pounds.
This was calculated using the Hamwi formula, a simple formula commonly used by many clinicians. These are recommended weights. Talk with your doctor about what weight is best for you and before undertaking any new diet or exercise programs.
(via Hot Links)
How To Put On A Kimono
A kimono is a garment worn by Japanese men and women from the Early Nara period to the present. The essential kimono is an ankle-length gown with long, full sleeves and a V-neck. It is lapped left over right across the chest and secured at the waist by a broad sash known as an obi.
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to put on a kimono.
(via Neatorama)
Buy Britney's Hair
Well, it didn't take long for this one to show up.You can be the proud owner of Britney Spears' hair, extensions, the Omega clipper used to cut it all off and even the can of Red Bull she was drinking at the time. You also get her blue Bic Lighter.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to various charities. The winner will have the choice to remain anonymous or to use this for publicity purposes.
And all this for a minimum offer of $1,000,000.
Kitchen Diaries
How to prepare a delicious meal by Beardyman, the 2006 UK beatboxing champion.
(via Everlasting Blort)
The Money Maker
CR Blog has an interview with my fellow Dutchman Robert Oxenaar. From 1966 until 1985 graphic artist Oxenaar worked for the Dutch Bank, the central bank of the Netherlands.
It was here that he designed a series of new banknotes and, in terms of currency design, what many consider to be the most beautiful money in the world.
Homophones
A homophone is a word which is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning, for example: carat, caret, and carrot. Homophones are often used to create puns, deceive the reader or to suggest multiple meanings.
Type some text into the Homophoner, wait for it to be homophonerated, and see the results.
Crowson's Evolution Blues
On August 11, 1999 the Kansas State Board of Education adopted new Science Education Standards. Mainstream media believed the teaching of evolution from the state's curriculum was deleted but contrary to those reports it was not. Still, the act angered the science community in the United States.
Kansas editorial cartoonist Richard Crowson has put together a slide show referring to the Kansas anti-Darwin efforts.
(thanks Paul)
Massaging Speakers Shoes
Jacob Mathew is a designer with a vision: to not only fit speakers around/in all parts of your lifestyle, but to utilize these speakers in the art of massage. So he opened Soundsations, a 'spa created to provide the music massage experience.'
Massaging Speakers Shoes.
(thanks Raluca)
Horse Joins Bicycle Race
The title of this video says this happened at the Tour de France, but it didn't. The incident happened in the Criterium International in 1997 near Toulouse in France. Nothing seriously happened but the horse didn't win.
How To Cook For Your Girlfriend
You've probably heard that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. What you may not know is that women like to eat too, and cooking for your girlfriend is a great way to show your appreciation for her. You probably haven't cooked for your girlfriend before, or if you have, it didn't turn out as well as you hoped.
Don't worry, though; with a little planning and work, anybody can pull off a thoughtful, home-cooked dinner.
You'll be cooking up romance in no time.
Destroy My Page
This page will self-destruct when it has reached a certain amount of visitors. No, not this page. This one!
Drunk Tilted Room Sketch
Australian comedian Shaun Micallef plays a drunk where the studio set is a tilted room.
Human Skin Is A Zoo
It appears that the skin, the largest organ in our body, is a kind of zoo and some of the inhabitants are quite novel, according to a new study.
Researchers found evidence for 182 species of bacteria in skin samples. Eight percent were unknown species that had never before been described.
Home Schooled
Home Schooled is a comics series by American artist Ash Jackson.
Co-writing by Silas Jackson.
The Presurfer will feature a Home Schooled cartoon every Monday. This is an absolute exclusive cooperation between The Presurfer and Ash Jackson.
Home Schooled is more or less a reflection of the wacky and occasionally interesting adventures of the artist, Ash Jackson, himself, with the aid of his friends, family, and other cohorts.
Title: They Call Him The Tiddlywinks Meanie.
click on the picture for real size
Making Telemarketers Pay
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 led to the creation of the Do Not Call List. But tucked away in the bill was another important provision that entitles consumers to take what's called a 'private right of action.'
For each violation of the act, consumers can sue for a $500 penalty. Violations include calling after a consumer has told a company to stop, or failing to provide the consumer with a copy of the firm's Do Not Call policy.
You can sue telemarketers? Yes, you can.
In fact, you can make some decent cash for your trouble.
Nora, The Piano-Playing Cat
Two weeks ago I asked 'Do cats like to listen to music?'
The answer was 'yes, they do!' This time I'll go even further by asking 'Do cats play music?" And again the answer is 'yes, they do!'
Meet Nora, the piano-playing cat.
What Happened To Digg?
Interesting article by Wil Wheaton who predicts the downfall of social bookmarking site Digg because of the maturity and behavior of the average Digger has evolved into something resembling a middle school lunch room.
Build Your Own Reef
Create your own reef scene by choosing elements from menus. Then position them by dragging them around the stage. When you have finished you can save your creation and you'll be able to download your scene as a wallpaper.
(via Ursi's Blog)
Wheel Of Food
The purpose of the Wheel is to prevent wearisome discussions about where to eat lunch with your coworkers or family, but it's also a good way to discover new places to eat.
Enter your zip code and a query string, such as lunch, steak or vegetarian and the Wheel will discover many of the local establishments that fit the bill. Grab the Wheel of Food with your mouse and give it a strong yank. You can also search for things like restaurants, bars, or clubs.
(via alex mizell)
Angry Elephant
An angry elephant takes to destroying a minibus at an annual elephant polo event in Sri Lanka.
Havidol
Havidol is the first and only treatment for Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder.Havidol offers the opportunity to live life to its fullest. You may experience a desire to do things you didn't even know you enjoyed. In other words it helps the user excel at achieving things they may have been unaware they were missing.
Good, you might think. Except, Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder doesn't exist, and neither does Havidol. Australian artist Justine Cooper created the marketing campaign for a non-existent drug called Havidol for a non-existent disorder.
But the multi-media exhibit at the Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in New York, which includes a web site, mock television and print advertisements and billboards is so convincing people think it is authentic.
How Interesting Is Your IP Address?
It's all about Internet Protocol addresses, which are unique numbers, one of which your computer uses when connected to the internet so that every other computer on the internet can talk to you. Some IP addresses are more interesting than others if they contain an unusual configuration of numbers etc.
IP Spotting looks up your IP address then runs a series of mathematic, coincidental, pattern finding, psychometric and just plain silly tests on it. The results of these tests produce a score, which is then entered into a leaderboard.
My IP address scored a 10. Of the 232,322 IP's spotted so far, it is ranked 121,982. Which makes it not interesting at all.
Makeover
Would you believe these pictures are of the same woman? Well, they are! See what a makeover can do for you.
Storm Sucks Up Paraglider
A champion German paraglider said Friday she did not believe she would survive when she was lifted higher than Mount Everest by a thunderstorm in eastern Australia.
Paragliding 2005 World Cup winner Ewa Wisnierska, 35, was lifted 32,612 feet above sea level by a storm that apparently killed a Chinese paraglider in eastern Australia on Wednesday. The pilots were preparing for the 10th FAI World Paragliding Championships next week.
La Chute
French photographer Denis Darzacq won the prize at the World Press Photo 2007 in the categorie Arts and Entertainment for his project 'La Chute.'Denis Darzacq realized 16 perilous shots, that shows the turbulence of life in precarious situations.
The Kostroma Moose Farm
Kostroma is a historic city in central Russia, located on the left bank of the Volga River.
The Kostroma Moose Farm is a center of nature conservation: moose reproduction, resettlement and number restoration. The farm is also a scientific laboratory where intact living animals can give valuable information. And last but not least, it is an educational centre.
And of course, if you wish, you can buy a tame moose.
22 Ways To Reduce Eye Strain At Your Computer
Do you spend a lot of time in front of the computer? Ever rub your eyes and want to stop working? You may be experiencing Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), the official diagnosis given to a range of symptoms that include burning, dry and strained eyes, headache, neck ache, and blurred vision.
CVS, more commonly known as computer eyestrain, is due to over- or misuse of computer monitors, bad lighting and other environmental and ergonomic factors. Stubborn, persistent, and regular physical discomfort due to one or more of these symptoms cuts your productivity sharply over time.
Here are 22 ways to reduce eye strain at your computer.
Headphone Fetish
Yes, there is a fetish for everything.
Even for headphones.
Photos of beautiful women (and the occasional man) wearing headphones.
Don't worry, it's safe for work.
Worst Commercial Ever?
Is this the worst commercial ever? This guy really made a rap video for his furniture store.
Out Of The Internet And Into The Night
Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries presents:
Out Of The Internet And Into The Night.
Top 10 Largest Databases In The World
A database or data bank is a collection of data arranged for ease and speed of search and retrieval. There are currently organizations around the world in the business of amassing collections of things, and their collections number into and above the trillions. In many cases these collections consist of items we use every day.
Here's a list of the top 10 largest databases in the world.
Save The Frogs
Ponds and swamps are becoming eerily silent. The familiar melody of ribbits, croaks and chirps is disappearing as a mysterious killer fungus wipes out frog populations around the globe, a phenomenon likened to the extinction of dinosaurs.
Scientists from around the world are meeting yesterday and today in Atlanta, USA, to organize a worldwide effort to stem the deaths by asking zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens to take in threatened frogs until the fungus can be stopped.
No News
Television news shows keep us informed of what is going on in the world around us. Could you imagine a day without any news?
Well, sometimes such a day occurs.
When there just is no news.
The Subway Turnstile Pictures
Situational Photographer Bill Sullivan developed a situation so that various subjects could be defined by the constraints of exactly the same mechanical apparatus.
The scenario consisted of someone passing through a subway turnstile. At the moment that the subjects passed through the turnstile, unknown to them, Sullivan took their picture stationed at a distance of eleven feet.
(via escape)
Human Immortality: A Scientific Reality?
Interesting scientific essay about human immortality.
From the moment of birth, we begin the battle against death - against the inevitable. Statistics say that a newborn child can expect to live an average of 76 years. But averages may not be what they use to be. In 1786, life expectancy was 24 years. A hundred years later it doubled to 48. Right now, it's 76.
Immortality is the concept of living for a potentially infinite, or indeterminate, length of time. Throughout history, many humans have had the desire to live forever. What form an unending human life would take, or whether it's even possible, has been the subject of much speculation, fantasy, and debate.
(via Reality Carnival)
My Black Valentine
Aren't you glad it's over? Valentine's Day that is. Frustrated that you didn't get a card huh? Here's your revenge. Why should Cupid have all the fun? Just choose something to shoot.
(via Everlasting Blort)
Be The Bot
Have you ever been googleing something, and you see exactly what you need in the preview, but when you click the link it doesn't show you what you want to see? This is because the owners of the site are trying to trick you into buying something, or registering.
When Google visits the site, it gives something called a 'header.' This header tells the site who the visitor is. Google's header is 'Googlebot.' The programmers of the site check to see if the header says 'Googlebot,' and if it does, it opens up all of its content for only Google's eyes. Now, all you have to do is trick the site's headers, into thinking that you are Google.
Hide A Plate
Hide a Plate makes your licence plate disappear at the flick of a switch. A powersupply is needed due to the fact that the plate requires a precise voltage. The powersupply comes fully equipped with an automatic shut off, saving you from draining your battery.This product is to be used ONLY on private property! Should the plate happen to malfunction while on route it will obstruct the view of your license plate. The obstruction of your licence plate is illegal in most states. We recommend that before using your plate that you check your local bylaws.
(via Grow-A-Brain)
Sam Bush, Bela Fleck & Friends
Salty Dog by Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Vassar Clements, Jerry Douglas, Earl Scruggs and Mark Schatz.
(via Bifurcated Rivets)
The Largest Drain Hole In The World
Located in northern California, the Monticello Dam has the largest drain hole in the world. A trumpet-shaped concrete structure next to the dam allows drainage when the lake level is high. When active, it is compelling viewing.
The drain hole, nicknamed the Glory Hole, swallows 48,400 cubic feet of water per second. The distance from the funnel to the exit point - which is situated in the south side of the canyon - is about 700 feet.
Non-Toxic Home Cleaning
Feel like you're killing yourself trying to keep your house clean? You might have been joking, but you're closer to the truth than you think. There are many chemicals in commercial cleaning products that can harm you and your children. Many of the chemicals in household cleaners and pesticides are not adequately tested, regulated or controlled.
When you make your own cleaning products, you avoid chemicals harmful to your family and the environment and save money too! A growing number of commercial non-toxic home cleaning products are available as healthier and environmentally responsible alternatives.
How can you determine what toxics you have in your home?
Take this Toxics Tour.
WebWait
How long is your WebWait? In other words, how long does it take to download your web site into your browser? WebWait is a web site where you can measure the speed of other web sites. It times precisely how long the site takes to load and render in your browser, including any images, stylesheets, and Javascript.
Use WebWait to benchmark your website or test the speed of your web connection. Timing is accurate because WebWait pulls down the entire website into your browser, so it takes into account Ajax/Javascript processing and image loading, which many other benchmarking tools ignore.
When I tried it, it took this site 1.92 seconds to show up in my browser. Of course this depends on the time of day/night and your internet connection.
Top Ten Dumbest Secret Identities
One thing that always gets to people is the superhero genre's use of the secret identity. They are used to secret identities for spies, a profession that specifically requires the need to be in the shadows and out of the limelight, but for superheroes, who constantly find themselves the center of the public’s attention, the idea of a secret identity defies their expectations. This is especially true of those heroes who wear little to no mask.
Top Ten Dumbest Secret Identities.
(via Miss Cellania)
Running The Numbers
A look at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper; 106,000 aluminum cans and so on.
This project visually examines the vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from tens-of-thousands of smaller photographs.
Milk Sucks
While the reputation of other animal foodstuffs has plummeted, milk's has stayed relatively buoyant. Indeed, many people believe that their health will be jeopardised if they don't drink it.
The animal welfare groups, for so long preoccupied with chicken and beef farming, have begun to take up the cause of the dairy cow. The scientific evidence, too, is massing up that regular consumption of large quantities of milk can be bad for your health, and campaigners are making a noise about the environmental and international costs of large-scale intensive dairy farming. Will milk be the site on which health scares meet animal rights?
(via Mookie)
Worst Hyperinflation In History
Under Marshal Josip Broz, better known as Tito, Yugoslavia ran a budget deficit that was financed by printing money. This led to a rate of inflation of 15 to 25 percent per year. After Tito died in 1980, the Communist Party pursued progressively more irrational economic policies.
These policies and the breakup of Yugoslavia led to heavier reliance upon printing or otherwise creating money to finance the operation of the government and the socialist economy. This created the hyperinflation.
Wall Clock With Liquid Display
Swiss designer Heinz Mutter and his company ChronArte have created a spectacular wall clock with real liquid display. The twelve crystal clear tubes fill like a cascade with colored water. Minute by minute, hour by hour. When all are filled, the system empties and the cycle begins anew.
The clock uses a DCF-77 signal radio reception for exact time synchronization. Beyond the range of reception a quartz controlled timer is used.
(via Neatorama)
What's Your Dream Car
Time for another silly quiz.
Did you know that everyone has a specific car that perfectly matches his or her personality? Type in your name and find out what the car of your dream is.
It says my dream car is a Hummer H1.
I don't think so!
(thanks John)
Top 10 Fashion Suggestions For Nerds
A nerd is someone who passionately pursues intellectual interests rather than having a social life, participating in any physical activity, or having friends. Usually nerds are also unfashionable. Fashion4Nerds interviewed over 30 young women between the ages of 18 and 32 about their likes and dislikes when it comes to guys' fashion.
Here are their Top 10 responses, ordered by frequency of occurrence. Some tips may surprise you.
Tainted Love
Valentine's Day may be the most romantic holiday of the year, but bad gifts, whether received or given, are the best way to ruin the big day.
Radar Magazine Online salutes the world's worst Valentine's Day gifts. These are fine products but they probably aren't the wisest choices for February 14.
Meaningful Interaction With Hungarian People
From FiloLog, your personal, family-oriented guide to Hungary:Introducing someone as a 'friend' communicates more commitment to the Hungarian than what you probably mean using this word, especially if you come from the American culture. It takes time for someone to call you his friend in Hungary, and if it happens, you are one of the few chosen ones.
Americans tend to have a low wall on the outside, and a higher one on the inside. Hungarians have a higher wall on the outside, but once you are in, you are in.
(via Everlasting Blort)
The Greatest Porkers In Pop Culture History
RetroCrush is paying tribute to the great pigs in pop culture history. Pigs may be some of the tastiest animals ever made.
No matter how cute some of them may be, you can't deny the mouth watering goodness of bacon. But aside from their culinary contributions to society, it's time we honor their importance as pop culture icons.
Green Gift Guide For The Family
From American Inventor Spot:If you are looking for ways to go green as a family, recycling and charity are the best ways to start, but if you need a little motivation to get you going, here are a few green items to consider on your journey there.
The Killer Fog Of 1952
From Friday December 5 to Tuesday December 9, 1952, a toxic mix of dense fog and black coal smoke killed thousands of Londoners in four days. It remains the deadliest environmental episode in recorded history.
The so-called killer fog is not an especially well-remembered event, even though it changed the way the world looks at pollution.
Early in December 1952, a cold fog descended upon London. Because of the cold, Londoners began to burn more coal than usual. The resulting air pollution was trapped by the inversion layer formed by the dense mass of cold air. Concentrations of pollutants, coal smoke in particular, built up dramatically. The fog was so thick that driving became difficult or impossible.
Officials believe that as many as 12,000 people may have died. Many of those killed were elderly people or those who were already weak or ill. According to medical staff who treated patients at the time, few people realised the extent of the impact.
The Church Of The Future
The Church of the Future is a video remix of The Phil Donahue show by Javier Alberto Morales and John Michael Boling.
Very strange.
World's Worst Mouse Plague
The world's most destructive mouse invasion. Literally millions of mice invaded just one farm alone in southern Australia and it was captured on home video in 1993. It also lead to the largest mass poisoning. This is taken from the American TV show Guinnes World Records and aired August 19, 1998.
(via Geisha asobi blog)
I Love You Kenisha
My Dear Kenisha, I love you with all my heart!!! It doesn't matter what you've done or where you've been, or how long you're gone. You will always be my sweet heart!!! For the last 20 years I have told you that my love for you is unconditional.
Your leaving me and filing for divorce has given me the opportunity and privilege of expressing that unconditional love to you in a way that would not have been possible any other way...for that I thank you. My door and my arms and my heart will ALWAYS be open for you!
Well, better late than never.
(via Grow-A-Brain)
Save Boston
The January 2007 Boston bomb scare occurred when Boston police officers mistakenly identified small electronic devices found throughout Boston as improvised explosive devices.
The suspicious devices turned out to be battery-powered LED placards with an image of a cartoon character called a 'mooninite' used in a guerrilla marketing campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, a film based on the animated TV series Aqua Teen Hunger Force on Cartoon Network.
Save Boston. Click on the suspicious devices before they disappear.
Home Schooled
Home Schooled is a comics series by American artist Ash Jackson.
Co-writing by Silas Jackson.
The Presurfer will feature a Home Schooled cartoon every Monday. This is an absolute exclusive cooperation between The Presurfer and Ash Jackson.
Home Schooled is more or less a reflection of the wacky and occasionally interesting adventures of the artist, Ash Jackson, himself, with the aid of his friends, family, and other cohorts.
Title: Supernatural.
click on the picture for real size
Human Skin Populated By Bacteria
Researchers on a safari for microbes have found that human skin is populated by a veritable menagerie of bacteria - 182 species - some apparently living there permanently and others just dropping by for a visit.
There's no need for alarm, said microbiologist Dr. Martin Blaser of New York University School of Medicine, the bacteria have been with us for quite a while and some are helpful.
(via Boing Boing)
Deep Space
Deep Space is a multimedia trip in photographs and music from millions of light years in deep space to our own small planet Earth. The music in this presentation is from Richard deHove's album 'Worlds Beyond Number.'
Live Cheddar Cheese
West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers in England are so proud of the year it takes for their perfect-tasting cheddar to reach maturity that they have put a single cheese on a round-the-clock webcam for the whole world to see.
From January 1, 2007, you will be able to watch one of their handmade-on-the-farm West Country Farmhouse Cheddars maturing, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You will be able to examine the delicate intricacies of the mould on the cheddar cheese as it develops.
(via Museum of Hoaxes)
Online Etymology Dictionary
Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant 600 or 2,000 years ago. Think of it like looking at pictures of your friends' parents when they were your age. People will continue to use words as they will, finding new or wider meanings for old words and coining new ones to fit new situations.
The dates beside a word indicate the earliest year for which there is a surviving written record of that word. This should be taken as approximate, especially before about 1700, since a word may have been used in conversation for hundreds of years before it turns up in a manuscript that has had the good fortune to survive the centuries.
Online Etymology Dictionary.
Dr. Prison
Prison is no picnic. It's a dangerous destination if you are unprepared.
If you don't know how to act in prison, you will have a 25-30% chance of getting killed, a 10-15% chance of getting raped, a 30-40% chance of getting stabbed, a 80-90% chance of getting beaten during your prison sentence.
Dr. Prison would like to give you the knowledge and preparation to get by in prison. His mission is to help you avoid being physically hurt, extorted, or possibly killed in prison.
(via J-Walk Blog)
Ruined Music
Breaking up is hard to do. There are tears and sleepless nights, decreased appetites, and packs of cigarettes smoked. Then there are the horrible logistics of the breakup and canvassing your apartment for items left behind or given as gifts by your ex. But perhaps the worst thing about the breakup is the fact that music gets caught in the fallout. Everyone has a song, album, artist, or band that's been ruined by an ex.
Ruined Music is the place to talk about the music you've lost. The songs you can't stand to hear ever again, the album you got for a Valentine's Day gift.
What The Power Companies Don't Want You To Know
This video shows you how to generate electricity using 2 candles, 2 nails, 2 leads with alligator clips and a magnet.
Early Jobs Of Famous People
Did you know that Michael Dell, founder and chairman of Dell Computer Corp., was a dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant earning $2.30 an hour? Or that Sylvester Stalone was a lion cage cleaner?
Early Jobs of Famous People.
(via Dump Trumpet)
The World's Healthiest Foods
The World's Healthiest Foods provides us with 130 foods that can serve as the basis of your healthiest way of eating. The George Mateljan Foundation is a non-profit organization free of commercial influence, which provides this website for you free of charge.
Our purpose is to provide you with unbiased scientific information about how nutrient-rich World's Healthiest Foods can promote vibrant health and energy and fit your personal needs and busy lifestyle.
The World's Healthiest Foods.
Internet Weather Forecast Accuracy
Forecastinging the weather is a major scientific challenge embracing physics, chemistry and mathematics.
The problem that faces meteorology is how to forecast the weather systems and the weather that they bring. This is always a great deal more difficult than most people would expect. There are different methods of forecasting: Persistence, Trends, Analog, Climatology and Numerical Weather Prediction.
But how accurate is this information? How much can we trust it? OmniNerd did some research to test the accuracy of online weather forecasts.
Richard Hammond Crash Footage
Richard Hammond is an English television presenter best known for co-presenting the television programme Top Gear along with James May and Jeremy Clarkson from 2002 onwards.
On September 20, 2006, Hammond was seriously injured in a car crash while filming for Top Gear at the former RAF Elvington airfield near York. He was piloting a jet-powered car, the Vampire dragster. The cause of the 288 mph crash was later determined to be a blowout of the front right tyre.
On January 28, 2007, Hammond made a return to Top Gear where the footage of his crash was shown.
Sea Giants
Float-on/float-off or 'flo-flo' operations are the trademark of unique submersible hull ships that transport yachts.
Specialized Heavy Lift Ships, also known as semi-submersible ships, provide the capability to load, transport and offload outsized military cargo independent of port equipment traditionally used for handling large or extremely heavy cargo, such as tug boats, barges, landing craft, floating cranes, and single anchor leg mooring systems. Lifts range from approximately 50 to as much as 45,000 tons.
How to Properly Clean Your LCD Screen
LCD screens are not perfect. In fact, you have to be very careful when cleaning them up. Too much pressure using the wrong kind of cloth will most likely scratch your display and could even burn some of its pixels. So the question is, what is the proper way to clean an LCD screen?
Geeks Are Sexy knows How to Properly Clean your LCD Screen.
Who's Afraid Of The Dentist?
There's no longer any need for kids to be afraid of the dentist. In a wide-ranging promotion Colgate sent special surgical masks to dentists to get the message across in a striking way.
(via Grow-A-Brain)
News Of The Future
Today a new chapter in space tourism was written. Rod Markham and his wife-to-be Susan Millster arrived safely to the moon to spend 5 days as the first guests at the Starbright Hotel that was set up for this purpose two years ago.
Not are they only the first hotel guests on the moon, they also set a new record for expensive accommodation since the price was US$ 3,7 million per night, per person. However, the exclusive transfer from earth to the hotel was included in the price.
News of Future tells you what the future will look like during the next 50 years and invites the people of the world to take part in shaping it.
(via Google Blogoscoped)
Anna Nicole Smith Dead
Anna Nicole Smith has died yesterday near Miami, Florida at the age of 39. Her media-hyped journey of celebrity, marked by dubious successes and all-too-human tragedies, ended Thursday at a venue as colorful as her life when she collapsed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and died at a Hollywood hospital.
She was found unconscious in her hotel room and could not be resuscitated. No cause of death has been announced.
Anna Nicole Smith was born Vicki Lynn Hogan in Mexia, Texas, on November 28, 1967.
The Doomsday Vault
The final design for a Doomsday Vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government. The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole.
The seed vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change. Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008.
Love(?) Among The Astronauts
Lisa Marie Nowak, a 43-year-old astronaut and married mother of 3, drove nearly a thousand miles from Texas to Florida to meet the 1 a.m. flight of a woman she apparently viewed as a romantic rival. After Nowak arrived in Orlando, things got weird.
The former mission specialist wore a trench coat and wig. Also found in Nowak's possession were a knife, BB gun, and rubber gloves. Now, Lisa Marie Nowak sits in a jail cell in Orange County, Florida. She faces multiple charges, among them are attempted kidnapping and battery.
A Bittersweet Guide To The Best Valentine's Day Chocolate
If life is like a box of chocolates, picking out a box to give is even harder: You never know what you're gonna get. That's why a team of National Public Radio employees spent the past two weeks blind taste-testing more than 30 brands of chocolate from all over the world.
After gorging on the good (and not-so-good) stuff, NPR's stuffed staff reached some decisions about the best — and worst — Valentine's Day online-orderable gifts to give this holiday season.
Porden
Sometimes you run across a web site you would like to download as a whole. Or you find something controversially on a site which might not be there the next day. You can download the site to your own harddisk or... use Porden.
Just enter the URL of the site you want to store for future use and Porden puts it in its cache. It will stay there forever. You do not have to register, it's all for free. With Porden you can retrieve any page, at any time!
Here's Porden's cache of today's Presurfer.
(via Paperholic)
Sea Shell Pearl Gift
The new fashion in Japan is to make a jewel for your partner. Japanese cell phone straps company StrapYa offers a pearl kit consisting of a sea shell, a chain and a spoon. There are 5 different pearls - white, beige, peach, purple and black - they all come in a can but you do not know which color is in the shell.
You open the can, take the shell, open it with a spoon, find the pearl and insert it into a small jewelry cage.
(thanks Raluca)
The Best Place To Hide Money
What is the best place to hide your money from a burglar? Who would be most qualified to answer that question? Why, a former burglar of course.
Conversation with a burglar.
Locked In An Eternal Embrace
Archaeologists in Valdara, Italy, revealed the discovery of a couple locked in a tender embrace, one that has endured for more than 5,000 years.
The find was unearthed by experts digging at a neolithic site at a less than romantic industrial estate. Scientists are to examine the skeletons to try to establish how old they were when they died and how long they have been buried.
Archeologist Elena Menotti says:We have never found a man and a woman embraced before and this is a unique find. We have found plenty of women embracing children but never a couple. Much less a couple hugging - and they really are hugging. It's possible that the man died first and then the woman was killed in sacrifice to accompany his soul.
(via Neatorama)
Hairstyle Names From 1970s Ebony Ad
Pictures of hairstyles with awesome names scanned from a 1970s Ebony magazines. These are from an ad for hair products, not from an article. The hairstyle you see here is called 'The Perfecto.'
Useless Account
Today's web is crazy. Every direction you turn you're forced to create yet another account. Most of the time it's for one of those throw-away web startups created 10 times a day, but occasionaly it's worth the effort. When it's that important, you can't afford to drop the ball. With a useless account you can practice without fear.
Get an account where the only feature is editing your account.
A Useless Account allows you unlimited account editing! Get the hot blooded rush of waiting to see if submitting your email address lands you offers of $uper D!$c0unt Ci@li$. Impress your friends with your ability to tab through form fields and arrow through saved field values!
Ear Chair
The Ear Chair, designed by Jurgen Bey, is comfortable, has small tables integrated into the armrests and is eminently suitable for defining smaller and larger areas. Jurgen Bey designed the Ear Chair in 2002 for the reception area of insurance company Interpolis in my hometown Tilburg in the Netherlands.
I've been there and I even sat in one of those chairs. I didn't particularly like them, it gave me a confined feeling.
Hiroshima, The Pictures They Didn't Want Us To See
Weblog Fogonazos has an item about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that incited some heated debate in the comments. I'm not trying to evoke the same discussion here, I was just impressed by the photographs accompanying the article.For many years there was a curious gap in the photographic records. Although the names of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were incised into our memories, there were few pictures to accompany them. Even today, the image in our minds is a mixture of devastated landscapes and shattered buildings...
Some of the images have been published later by different means, but it's not usual to see them all together. This is the horror they didn't want us to see, and that we must never forget.
Warning: graphic images.
Smart Or Stupid
Are you smarter or stoopider than the average person?
Take this short IQ test and find out how you compare.
My score:
The Antioxidant Myth: A Medical Fairy Tale
Antioxidants are chemical compounds that can bind to free oxygen radicals preventing these radicals from damaging healthy cells. Cranberry capsules. Green tea extract. Effervescent vitamin C. Pomegranate concentrate. Beta carotene. Selenium. Grape seed extract. High-dose vitamin E. Pine bark extract. Bee spit. You name it, if it's an antioxidant, we'll swallow it by the bucket-load.
According to some estimates around half the adults in the US take antioxidant pills daily in the belief they promote good health and stave off disease. We have become antioxidant devotees. But are they doing us any good?
Penny Postcards
Penny Postcards are postcards that cost 1¢ to mail. Postage was temporarily raised to 2¢ from 1917 to 1919 to cover the cost of World War I. Sending a postcard through the mail for a penny was an affordable link with the outside world for farm families in the early 1900s.
The U.S. government had issued plain, penny postal cards since 1873. The Penny Postcard was developed by Post Master General John Creswell.
The Apollo Missions
On July 20, 1969, the first man stepped on the moon. During the next 3 years 6 missions to the moon were made and a total of 12 astronauts walked on the moon. One of the missions - Apollo 13 - failed and they had to return. During these missions thousands of images were taken.
Less known is that during all the missions they made image sequences which with today's computer technics can be stitched together into 360 degrees interactive panoramas giving you the possibility to view the moon almost as you were there.
Word Puzzle Generator
Make your own word puzzle. And if you think this bears a strong resemblance to a certain TV game show, you are right.
Mark Twain's Mississippi
Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was an American author who drew on his childhood along the Mississippi River to create masterpieces of humor and sarcasm, including Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Mark Twain's Mississippi provides a fully searchable and indexed digital library of some of Twain's publications, placing special emphasis upon his Mississippi novels and reminiscences. These works serve as lenses through which the public may explore additional text, image and sound materials, drawn from the participating libraries, describing the Mississippi Valley that Mark Twain remembered and imagined in writing his classic works of literature.
(via corsinet)
Favicon2Dots
A favicon, also known as a page icon, is an icon associated with a particular website. Browsers that support favicons may display them in the browser's URL bar, next to the site's name in lists of bookmarks, and next to the page's title in a tabbed document interface. If you look up to the browser bar you will see this site's favicon in the form of the letter 'P'.
Favicon2Dots is just a funny application that will convert your favicon to a 3D dot image. If you have a favicon for your web site, just type in the URL and click '2dots!'.
Faces of the Human Past
Judging from their astonishing paintings and engraved images of animals on the walls of European caves, people have been making pictures for at least thirty millennia. In contrast, attempts by scientists and artists of our own day to make credible likenesses of the cave painters and their more remote evolutionary antecedents go back a mere 150 years. In fact, scientific evidence for prehistoric humans was not generally recognized much before then.
Artists and scientists work to recreate Faces of the Human Past.
(via debgpi)
Color Your Braces
Not every web site on the Internet has a purpose. Some sites are totally useless. Like this one!
Color your braces.
(via Dump Trumpet)
Lists Of Unsolved Problems
Is immortality possible?
What is consciousness?
Were Egyptian hieroglyphs the first written language?
Is autism a physiological or a mental disorder?
Why do we dream?
What is dark matter?
From Wikipedia: Lists of Unsolved Problems.
The Beauty Of The Universe
When someone reads an article about a star, the star is only the abstraction for that reader. The reader cannot emotionally feel the reality of the star without actually seeing it.
Wikisky.org strives to create an extremely detailed sky map to help everybody to better understand the information gathering about any space object and various phenomena connected with those space objects. To understand how the map works you'd better click on 'Getting Started' first.
The Museum Of Lost Wonder
Founded in 1997, the Museum of Lost Wonder exists to illuminate some of life's biggest mysteries. Follow in the footsteps of early scientists and philosophers who combined imagination and observation in their search for knowledge.
Embark on a journey of discovery at the Museum of Lost Wonder where learning is an adventure and science is about the alchemy of inspiration.
The Presurfer Is A Googlewhack
A Googlewhack is a Google search query consisting of two words, all of which must be in Google's dictionary, and without quotation marks - that returns a single result.
Presurfer reader Laurence discovered that searching for etymologic kayaked! returns The Presurfer as a single result.
It's the former Presurfer's address but nevertheless. You can see the search result here.
Of course by publishing about this find I just created a problem. When a Googlewhack is reported somewhere on the web, the possiblity exists that it will no longer be viable, as the page where it is reported will probably be indexed by Google, rendering the Googlewhack obsolete.
Abigail and Brittany Hensel
Abigail Hensel and Brittany Hensel (born 7 March 1990, Carver County, Minnesota, United States), are dicephalic conjoined twins. They have two spines which join at the pelvis. They have two stomachs, three lungs, and two arms.
Each of the twins manages one side of their conjoined body, controlling her own arm and leg, and receives no sensation from the other side. Yet, by coordinating their efforts, they are able to walk and run normally.
Despite sharing a body, the twins have different tastes in food and clothes. Some of their clothes are altered so that they have two separate necklines in order to emphasize their individuality.
The Microsoft Mouse
Back in 1983, Microsoft released the Microsoft Mouse. Packaged with Microsoft Word, it came with three programs: a musicial tutorial, the Game of Life, and the Multi-Toll NotePad. The price of the Microsoft Mouse was $195.
And here's the world's most expensive computer mouse, cast from 18 carat white gold and set with 59 brilliant cut diamonds. For $24,180 this baby is yours.
Home Schooled
Home Schooled is a comics series by American artist Ash Jackson.
Co-writing by Silas Jackson.
The Presurfer will feature a Home Schooled cartoon every Monday. This is an absolute exclusive cooperation between The Presurfer and Ash Jackson.
Home Schooled is more or less a reflection of the wacky and occasionally interesting adventures of the artist, Ash Jackson, himself, with the aid of his friends, family, and other cohorts.
Title: And Now The Conclusion, Old West Style!
click on the picture for real size
The Mouth Revolution
Mouths of the world demand real organic food and will unite to take a stand against trans fats, artificial ingredients, GMOs and pesticides.
The Mouth Revolution is a humorous 4.5-minute live-action film that parodies history and contemporary culture while informing viewers about the vital importance of eating real, organic foods.
Narrated by revolutionary mouths who take it upon themselves to decide what they will and will not eat, personalities like 'Sojourner Tooth' and 'Captain Mouth' unveil their 'Mouthifesto' - a Declaration of Indigestion that details their objectives and demands: No Trans Fats, No GMOs, No Pesticides, and No Artificial Ingredients.
Super Bowl Sunday
It's Super Bowl Sunday in the USA. Super Bowl Sunday is about more than football. It's a framework upon which to stitch together a tapestry of friends, food and fun that, with a bit of party planning, can appeal even to confirmed non-sports fans.
Who: The Chicago Bears against the Indianapolis Colts.
Where: Miami's Dolphin Stadium.
Part of the attraction is the halftime and pre-game entertainment. Prince will play the Pepsi-sponsored halftime show along with special guest Beyoncé, Billy Joel will sing the national anthem and Cirque du Soleil perform pre-game. The innovative and extravagant commercials (see last year's ads) also draw their share of fans. But for most viewers, the game is the essence of Super Bowl Sunday.
Kanji Characters
Kanji characters are complex Japanese symbols originally from China conveying information in a pictorial form. Kanji characters are used in the Japanese language to provide the root and core meaning of most nouns, adjectives and verbs.
Kanji symbols are also used to write names in Japanese. All Japanese family names and most Japanese first names are written in Kanji. The names of foreigners are usually written in Katakana.
Here's my name written in Katakana.
The Kanji used to write my name are: Rule, Wisdom, Fine silk, Asia, Leading.
Which means 'Clothed in fine silk, you lead Asia with your wise rule, mighty king.
See your name in Katakana and Kanji.
The Book of Clichés
The Book of Clichés lists phrases to say in times of trouble in a number of categories. There are phrases for most of the painful situations that you might encounter.
Since The Book of Clichés first appeared on the Internet in late 1996, it has grown into one of the classic cliché-sites and has won numerous internet awards.
Charles Robert Darwin
Before 1800, only a handful of scientists had given the idea of an evolving Earth serious consideration.
Relying on interpretations of the Bible, most people believed that Earth was only about 6,000 years old - not nearly old enough for countless species to have evolved. Today, we know from radiometric dating that Earth is about 4.5 billion years old.
The 1859 publication of 'On the Origin of Species,' in which Charles Robert Darwin demonstrated that all living things evolved from earlier forms of life by the process of natural selection, revolutionized human thought. Darwin's theory of evolution became accepted as one of the foundations of modern biology.
How To Unlock Your Car If The Keys Are Inside
The subtitle with this video says it's a unique way for women to recover keys they forgot in a locked car. That of course is a misogynic remark. It has happened to me too. That being said, I do not know whether this works on all cars.
Blondie Unlocks Car - video powered by Metacafe
(via J-Walk Blog)
The Story Behind 10 Famous Entertainment Websites
You've all heard of Fark, Digg, B3ta, Something Awful, Rotten and eBaum's World. They are all famous entertainment sites. What is the story behind these sites? Who started them and why is there sometimes controversy surrounding them?
Catmusic
Do cats like to listen to music?
Yes, they do.
Here's a cat listening to music.
Some other examples of cats listening to music.
The Saga Of The Lost Space Tapes
As Neil Armstrong prepared to take his 'one small step' onto the moon in July 1969, a specially hardened video camera tucked into the lander's door clicked on to capture that first human contact with the lunar surface. Millions of television viewers around the world saw those fuzzy, moving images.
What they didn't know was that the Apollo 11 camera had actually sent back video far crisper and more dramatic spectacular images that, remarkably, only a handful of people have ever seen. Only in recent years was the agency reminded of what it once had - clean first-man-on-the-moon video images that could be especially valuable now that NASA is planning a return trip.
About 36 years after the tapes went into storage, NASA was suddenly eager to have them. There was just one problem:
The tapes were nowhere to be found.