Magnetic putty time-lapse as it absorbs a rare-earth magnet. Taken over 1.5 hours at 3fps, played back at 24fps. The magnetic putty will eventually arrange itself so that the outer surface is as evenly distributed around the magnet as possible.
Ferromagnetic particles in the putty are strongly attracted to the magnet and very slowly engulf the surface of the magnet. The magnet is a strong neodymium iron boron magnet. It's a very powerful magnet for its size and could erase magnetic stripes found in credit cards and damage electronics.
YouTube link
Sunday 31 March 2013
Mary Toft And Her Extraordinary Delivery Of Rabbits
In late 1726 much of Britain was caught up in the curious case of Mary Toft, a woman from Godalming, Surrey who claimed that she had given birth to a litter of rabbits. This prompted the arrival of John Howard, a local surgeon, who investigated the matter. He delivered several pieces of animal flesh, which brought the case to the attention of Nathaniel St. André, surgeon to the Royal Household of King George I.
St. André concluded that Toft's case was genuine but the king also sent surgeon Cyriacus Ahlers, who remained sceptical. By then quite famous, Mary Toft was brought to London and studied at length, where under intense scrutiny and producing no more rabbits she confessed to the hoax, and was subsequently imprisoned as a fraud.
The Story Of New York's Sidewalk Clock
In lower Manhattan, blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood, embedded deep into the sidewalk, is a clock. It's a simple clock, the hours and minutes are neatly displayed by spade hands, while roman numerals and train track minutes markers circle the dial.
All of this is cloudy, but visible under the scratched and stained crystal that occupies a break in the pavement at the intersection of Maiden Lane and Broadway. And it has been ticking away there, under the feet of Manhattan, for over a century.
(via Reality Carnival)
To Sea, And Not To See
What does it take to not get noticed? A few years ago a biologist named Bill Saidel took a new look at some old fish, asked himself this question - and noticed something most unexpected. And what he noticed raises some other questions - about what it means to see.
Many creatures drastically change their appearance to camouflage themselves from predators. Saidel discovered that some of these creatures do not change their appearance very much. Instead, they have special built-in tricks. They have a special skin pattern that induce an observer to actively mis-interpret. When you see one of these animals against a background pattern, your own visual system works to 'fill in' missing parts of the pattern.
15 Spectacular Hidden Beaches
A hidden beach is a landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river that is difficult to access because of its remoteness or because the surrounding terrain is inaccessible. Hidden beaches are increasingly being sought out by tourists who want to spend time away from the crowd they live with everyday. Here are some of the best hidden beaches from around the world.
(thanks Bosko)
Saturday 30 March 2013
Worst Burglar Ever
The Police in Redding, California, USA, released this surveillance video of a bumbling and oddly dressed burglary suspect who threw a rock earlier in March 2013 at the glass front door of Kent's Market on Airport Road.
YouTube link
YouTube link
The Endearing, Funny, And Disturbing Faces Of Ventriloquist Dummies
Modern ventriloquists utilise a variety of different types of puppets in their presentations, ranging from soft cloth or foam puppets, flexible latex puppets, and the traditional and familiar hard-headed knee figure.
The classic dummies used by ventriloquists vary in size anywhere from twelve inches tall to human-size and larger, with the height usually falling between thirty-four and forty-two inches.
(via Neatorama)
Rivers Aglow With Ethereal Globes Of Color
A sense of wonder pervaded as, silently, the multicolored constellation emerged from the surrounding blackness. The spheres converged and dispersed, mapping the river's topography as they disappeared around islands and materialized back into view.
This vivid description comes from Canadian writer Linda Hawkins, who witnessed the 2010 River of Light in Calgary. And in commemoration of the recent World Water Day, take a look at the origins, aims and future of the River of Light itself.
The Last Victorian Leviathan Steam Ship
The Great Eastern was an iron sailing steam ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by J. Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall on the River Thames, London. She was by far the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch, and had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers around the world without refuelling.
Brunel knew her affectionately as the 'Great Babe.' He died in 1859 shortly after her ill-fated maiden voyage, during which she was damaged by an explosion. After repairs, she plied for several years as a passenger liner between Britain and America before being converted to a cable-laying ship and laying the first lasting transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866. Finishing her life as a floating music hall and advertising hoarding in Liverpool, The Great Eastern was broken up in 1889.
World's Newest Radio Telescope Set To Reveal Secrets Of The Universe
High up on Chile's cold, dry Chajnantor Plateau, 66 giants stand under the starry night sky. They gaze upwards, moving with the celestial objects on which they have set their sights. These are the powerful antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.
The setup has been operational since March 2013, and together the antennas make up the newest, largest, strongest and most expensive radio telescope currently operating on Earth. The images they produce have 10 times the clarity of those yielded by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Friday 29 March 2013
Bottled History
Ray Gascoigne has been around boats his whole life, as a shipwright, a merchant sailor, and now as a ship builder on the smallest dry dock there is: a bottle. This short film picks through the wood chips to tell the story of a craft honed over 60 years, and the man behind it.
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
World's Strangest Vehicles
Sometimes simply getting from point A to point B is not really the point. Some people want to do it in style, with a certain panache, pride and lots of attitude - while others want to set their vehicles as far apart from the norm as possible. Some of the strange vehicles depicted here were made for show only, but some appear to be roadworthy and maybe even groundbreaking.
Take That, Instagram: The Enduring Allure Of Vintage Snapshots
Collectors Weekly published an article about found photos, whose degraded surfaces and often blurry images exude a level of authenticity that Instagram can only dream of. Staff writer Hunter Oatman-Stanford spoke to several collectors of found photography, including Chris and Grace Hughes, camera collectors and founders of the Toronto photo studio A Nerd's World.
(thanks Ben)
Salamander Robot Walking And Swimming
Salamandra robotica II walking and swimming outdoors and performing the transition from swimming to walking indoors. Developed by EPFL Biorobotics Laboratory in Switzerland and the University of Bordeaux in France.
YouTube link
YouTube link
Friday Cartoon By Mark Anderson
Mark Anderson is a professional cartoonist from the Chicago area. His cartoons have been published in Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Woman's World and the Saturday Evening Post, to mention just a few. Among his clients are GM, General Electric, FedEx, Microsoft, and IBM.
This Is Now The World's Lightest Material
Check out this contender for the title of 'world's lightest solid.' To demonstrate just how light it is, Zhejiang University in China, where the material's creators are based, has published pictures of chunks of it perched on small leaves, held aloft by grass seedheads and floating on the stamen of a cherry blossom.
It's still in its earliest stages of development, but in the future, the new material (dubbed carbon aerogel) could be designed to soak up oil spills or clean other pollutants. The materials used now to clean up spills absorb 10 times their weight in oil, but the new stuff can handle 900 times its weight in oil.
Snowtime Anytime Snowballs
Winter is over in the northern hemisphere but even when there's not enough snow on the ground you can still have a good snowball fight with the Snowtime Anytime Snowballs. These faux snowballs are soft enough to be kind to people and furniture but also oddly crunchy like a real snowball. Have an indoor snowball fight anytime with no muss, fuss, or slush.
(thanks Cora)
Thursday 28 March 2013
Chameleon Sticky Tongue In Slow Motion
Chameleons feed by ballistically projecting their long tongues from their mouths to capture prey located some distance away. The chameleon tongue apparatus consists of highly modified hyoid bones, tongue muscles and collagenous elements. Tongue projection occurs at extremely high performance, reaching the prey in as little as 0.07 seconds, having been launched at accelerations exceeding 41 g.
YouTube link
YouTube link
WordCloud Generator
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. With the WordCloud Generator your pictures will be converted into individual, typographical images, which can be used as a personal gift or as the base for further graphics. The picture above of Albert Einstein is an example of what you can do with the WordCloud Generator.
More info at TypoEffects.com.
(thanks Stefan)
Done In 60 Seconds: Blade Runner
Done in 60 Seconds is an amateur filmmaker competition by Empire Magazine and Jameson Irish Whiskey. Competitors have to create a one minute re-make of a movie. Briton Philip Askins' black-and-white animation beat off competition from 15 countries to win the Done in 60 Seconds award with Blade Runner.
YouTube link
YouTube link
The Most Beautiful Cherry Blossoms Around The World
One of the best known symbols of spring in Japan are the magnificent pink Japanese cherry trees, also called sakura. Starting in mid-March, the Internet is flooded with amazing pictures of all varieties of pink, blooming in parks and streets of different cities of Japan.
Even though sakura is the unofficial national flower of Japan, today they have spread to many other countries as well, mostly due to the Japanese diaspora. The blooming of the sakuras is definitely one of the most beautiful sights every spring, wherever you find them.
What Causes Hearing Loss?
Not age is the leading cause of hearing loss, but noise. Unless you take steps now to protect your ears, sooner or later many of you - and your children - will have difficulty understanding even ordinary speech. Many people, including 12% to 15% of school-age children, already have permanent hearing loss caused by the everyday noise that we take for granted as a fact of life.
While there are myriad regulations to protect people who work in noisy environments, there are relatively few governing repeated exposure to noise outside the workplace, from portable music devices, rock concerts, hair dryers, sirens, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, vacuum cleaners, car alarms and countless other sources.
The Tech Industry's Most Obnoxious Tweeters
With over half a billion users, it's no surprise that Twitter has its fair share of awful tweeters. And it's even more apparent in the tech world, where bad tweeters range from the self-anointed code monkey to the iPhone addict with 15+ hyperactive social media account.
The Tech Industry's Most Obnoxious Tweeters (and what their tweets really mean).
Wednesday 27 March 2013
Jimmy Hendrix' 'Voodoo Chile' By Luna
The gayageum is a traditional Korean zither-like string instrument, with 12 strings, although more recently variants have been constructed with 21 or other numbers of strings. Listen to Korean musician Luna playing Jimmy Hendrix' 'Voodoo Chile'.
YouTube link
YouTube link
The Life Of Extremophiles: Surviving In Hostile Habitats
Beetles with antifreeze blood, ants that sprint on scorching sand and spiders that live high up Mount Everest. These are extremophiles, organisms that thrive in physically or geochemically extreme conditions that are detrimental to most life on Earth.
Scientists are amazed by the survival abilities of this motley crew and are currently researching their peculiar adaptations to find out whether they can be transferred to our own species.
Evolution Of The New York Driver's License
New York State first began issuing paper licenses to chauffeurs in 1910, and the shape, form and style have changed over the past century, adapting to new laws and technologies. Here's a sampling of how the license has evolved.
(thanks Cora)
Animals Literally Half Male And Half Female
A gynandromorph is an organism that contains both male and female characteristics. These characteristics can be seen in butterflies, where both male and female characteristics can be seen physically because of sexual dimorphism. Cases of gynandromorphism have also been reported in crustaceans, especially lobsters, sometimes crabs and even in birds.
(thanks Bojan)
Wolf Sanctuary - Pack Howling
At the Wolf Creek Habitat in Brookville, Indiana, USA, one of the wolves started howling, which led to a symphony of howls from all 30 of the wolves.
YouTube link
(thanks Cora)
YouTube link
(thanks Cora)
10 Coolest Ice Hotels on Earth
While many people may dream of relaxing vacations in the sun, trying something a little different can be refreshing, novel and unique. These amazing, ephemeral ice hotels make the idea of being 'snowed in' a delightfully alluring and luxurious prospect.
Mood lighting, delicate ice sculptures, snow-carvings and drinks served in ice goblets are all part of the experience. These 10 ice hotels are as achingly beautiful as they are transitory.
The Manpupuner Rock Formations - Russia's Seven Strong Men
In the Troitsko-Pechorsky District of the Komi Republic in Russia there is a flat plateau out of which seemingly burst seven pillars of rock. They are known locally as the Seven Strong Men. They range between 30 and 42 meters in height (98 - 137 feet).
The Ten Worst Passenger Planes Still In Service
Much as we hate being jammed into the middle of a thousand person row on some humongous transatlantic jet, it's really the old, tiny planes still running that grate the most. There are definitely some classics still in the air, but there are some old beaters up there.
Tuesday 26 March 2013
Reverso
Barney lives with his father, Walter, in a little suburban house. He tries to live a normal life eventhough Barney is different: His sense of gravity is inverted.
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
Prof Or Hobo?
Do you know your hobos from your professors? There's a difference, you know. Although sometimes it's hard to see.
(via Everlasting Blort)
10 Incredible Two-Headed Animals
Generally, one head is enough for any living creature, but the mythological hydra had more than its fair share - just perfect for slaying any ancient Greeks unwise enough to cross its path. Of course, many-headed beasts have made plenty of appearances in modern-day fiction.
Yet, as fantastical as it might sound, animals with two (or, more rarely still, three) heads exist in real life as well. And while they may not be as funny, terrifying or gigantic as their fictional counterparts, they're definitely just as strange.
10 Incredible Shots Of Las Vegas From Above
In Las Vegas, huge casinos light up the night sky, neon signs gleam along the strip with unmatched allure, and the sights and sounds are electrifying. Aside from the gambling, Las Vegas remains a hub of world-class entertainment.
With iconic landmarks, live shows and world-famous hotels, it's more than just a one-stop rendezvous with serendipity. These aerial shots of Las Vegas icons are dazzling reminders of just how much the city has to offer.
Aurora Borealis Over Östersund, Sweden
This video shows what happened on March 17 when a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) hit Earths magnetic field. Two days earlier, sunspot AR1692 had produced a M1-class solar flare that resulted in the CME that hit Earth.
YouTube link
(thanks Miss Rare)
YouTube link
(thanks Miss Rare)
How To Draw A Cartoon Baby Chick
With Easter coming up, Mark Anderson shows you how to draw a cute little baby chick. Just follow the animated GIF or the easy written instructions.
Tokyo's Vast Underground Temple-Drains: The G-Cans
The G-Cans Underground Temple in Saitama is probably the most massive underground flood management system in the world, comprised of miles of tunnels connecting 5 vast silos and one immense water tank: The Temple. The complex spans between Showa in Tokyo Kasukabe in Saitama, with the power to pump 200 tons of water per second into the Edogawa river.
(thanks Stanley)
Sun Gods From Around The World
Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. Hence, many beliefs have formed around this worship. It is found in ancient Egypt, Africa, Aztec and Chinese mythology, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity.
Here's a light-hearted look at solar deities - both male and female - from around the world.
Monday 25 March 2013
Strange Oaks
Spanish studio Headless Productions made this short video called Strange Oaks. It's about what witches can expect when they move to a new community filled with little children.
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
CERN Animal Shelter For Computer Mice
If you stop and think before you click, you are less likely to have your computer infected or your computing account compromised. However, still too many users click on malicious web-links, and put their computer and account at risk.
Therefore, in order to avoid clicking at all, all CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) users are asked to disconnect their computer mice from CERN computers, and bring them to the CERN Animal Shelter for Computer Mice.
(via Neatorama)
Dutch-Americans
There are and were many Americans of Dutch origin. Martin van Buren, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt, who were Presidents of the United States, actors Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, and Clint Eastwood, actresses Audrey Hepburn, Jane Seymour, and Meryl Streep, journalist Walter Cronkite, inventor Thomas Edison, musician Bruce Springsteen, Colonel Tom Parker, manager of Elvis Presley, golf player Tiger Woods, and aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright, to mention just a few.
The New Netherland Institute, housed in the New York State Library, offers students, educators, scholars and researchers a vast collection of early documents and reference works on America's Dutch era. Here's an index of many Dutch-Americans.
Is It True That Birds Can't Fart?
Opinions are divided when it comes to this question. But Mike Murray, a veterinarian at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, says: It's not that they can't. They just don't need to. Birds don't typically carry the same kinds of gas-forming bacteria in their gut as humans and other mammals to help digest food, so there's nothing to let loose.
UFO Over Santa Clarita, California, USA
UFO hoax created by Meni Tsirbas of MeniThings Productions in partnership with the Gnomon School of Visual Effects. While Meni was responsible for direction, animation and lighting, a crew of talented Gnomon School students were assigned concept design, modeling and texturing for this all-CGI photoreal VFX experiment.
YouTube link
(thanks Rick)
YouTube link
(thanks Rick)
Incredible Replicas Of Industrial Vehicles Made From Matchsticks
Who would have thought about creating models of trucks, excavators and other industrial vehicles, from matches? Beside Djordje Balac of Croatia, of course. He builds incredibly accurate replicas of industrial vehicles with thousand of matchsticks. His models are incredibly realistic.
(thanks Zack)
10 Champion Boxers You'd Never Guess Had College Degrees
Brains versus brawn. The pen versus the sword. Might against intellect. It's a battle that seems to have raged forever. Often, the assumption is that it's one or the other - yet this is by no means always the case.
Practically all professional boxers are well-honed athletes, but some have also proven they've got just as much power in their brains as they have in their biceps. It's not all black and white: there is room for grey matter.
The World's Most Amazing Waterfalls
The bigger they are, the harder they fall - feel the power of the planet's mightiest and most beautiful waterfalls.
Sunday 24 March 2013
The Amazing Story Of An Airship Club That Might Never Have Existed
In the 1960s, a house in Houston caught on fire. In the aftermath, a set of 12 scrapbooks were discovered. They depicted a society, the Sonora Aero Club, that had all but disappeared from history, if it was ever there at all.
It was the time of Gold Rush, and the settlement of Sonora, about 130 miles east of San Francisco, was booming. It was there, in the saloon of one of the local boarding houses, that a group of men would get together every Friday night and talk of dreams. Well, just one dream, really: human flight.
It was the time of Gold Rush, and the settlement of Sonora, about 130 miles east of San Francisco, was booming. It was there, in the saloon of one of the local boarding houses, that a group of men would get together every Friday night and talk of dreams. Well, just one dream, really: human flight.
The Most Powerful Space Rocket
When SpaceX launches its Falcon Heavy rocket into space late this year, the craft will become the mightiest rocket in the world. Only NASA's Saturn V, which sent Americans to the moon, has ever generated more power.
Falcon Heavy's 27 individual booster engines together generate 3.8 million pounds of thrust - enough to lift the 3.1-million-pound rocket and its 117,000-pound payload toward low-Earth orbit.
The Tremendously Explosive Power Of Flour
Most of us know that flour is an essential ingredient in pizza dough and bagels, but as long as we can eat the final baked product, our interest often doesn't go much further. But did you know flour can explode? Flour dust suspended in air is explosive - as is any mixture of a finely powdered flammable substance with air. It is capable of destroying entire buildings.
12 Out-Of-The-Box Architectural Oddities
Twelve examples of eccentric and strange buildings.
(via Look At This...)
Saturday 23 March 2013
Bubbles
Shot by Philip Bloom in about 40 mins all up including chewing time. The music is 'Ecole du Vent' by Laurent Voloch.
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
Nasa's Advice On Asteroid Hitting Earth: Pray
Charles Bolden, the chief of the Nasa, has warned that the US space agency's best advice on how to handle a large asteroid heading towards Earth is pray'.' Mr Bolden told US lawmakers that prayer was all that the US or anyone could currently do about unknown asteroids and meteors that may be on a collision course with Earth.
An asteroid estimated to be have been about 55 feet (17 metres) in diameter exploded on February 15 over Chelyabinsk, Russia, generating shock waves that shattered windows and damaged buildings. More than 1,500 people were injured.
(thanks Miss Rare)
Fortune Telling Bacon
Fortune Telling Bacon must come from very magical swine. Simply place the bacon strip in the palm of your hand and your edible desires shall be foretold. Fortune Telling Bacon is not an actual food item and is, in fact, inedible. The fortunes, however, are true.
(thanks Cora)
Flamingo Pride
When a pink flamingo falls in love with an elegant white crane, he has to pull out all the stops to overcome the prevailing prejudices about his species.
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
11 Most Bizarre European Ossuaries
Across Europe, in many predominantly catholic or orthodox countries, are sites known as ossuaries, often referred to as 'bone churches.' Creepy by today's standards, these churches are decorated from floor to ceiling with human skeletal remains.
Though the original intention was for bones to be buried when space became available, many of these remains are still up as a testament to this peculiar religious tradition.
(thanks Veljko)
Random Corporate Buzzphrase Generator
If you want to get ahead in business today you must win the rat race. If you think that you can win the rat race with a fancy diploma and being good at your job then think again. It is all about slipping as many buzzwords into your meetings as you possibly can.
The Random Corporate Buzzphrase Generator you can form buzzwords into a strategically alignable buzzphrase. Slip it into your conversation now!
(thanks Chris)
Friday 22 March 2013
Super Slow Motion
Super slow motion highlights from the Danish TV show 'Dumt & Farligt' (Dumb and Dangerous).
YouTube link
(thanks Miss Rare)
YouTube link
(thanks Miss Rare)
Are These Lines The Same Height?
Your answer depends on where you're from. In the late 1800s, German psychiatrist Franz Müller-Lyer designed one of the world's most famous visual illusions. Which of the following two vertical lines above is longer?
If you're like almost everyone whom Müller-Lyer tested, Line B will appear longer than Line A. In fact, the two lines are identical in length. But not everyone sees that. It all depends where you're from.
Block Party: Build Your Home Out Of Tetris Pieces
Most of us have spent hours of our lives playing Tetris on the Nintendo Game Boy. Find out just how many pieces from the classic puzzle video game Tetris would be required to build a house.
(thanks Sally)
7 Unique Forests Of The World
A forest is an area with a high density of trees. Forests cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface (or 30% of total land area), though they once covered much more (about 50% of total land area). In addition to the large number of forests that are well-known tourist destinations in the world, there are also small and very unusual forests which are less well known to the general public.
(thanks Bosko)
Building The World's Largest Ship (In 76 Seconds)
A time-lapse of the construction of Maersk Line's very first Triple-E vessel at the DSME shipyard in Okpo, Korea. The timelapse was produced by Discovery Channel and Maersk, and it consists of 50,000 photos taken over 3 months.
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
Vimeo link
(thanks Cora)
Friday Cartoon By Mark Anderson
Mark Anderson is a professional cartoonist from the Chicago area. His cartoons have been published in Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Woman's World and the Saturday Evening Post, to mention just a few. Among his clients are GM, General Electric, FedEx, Microsoft, and IBM.
15 Super Creative Print Ads Starring Animals
We all love animals, and what better way to promote your company and advertise your products than by using images of nature's most amazing creatures? Visually stunning, emotionally gripping, and often funny, these are 15 of the most creative animal-fronted ads - featuring everything from frogs and pigs to man's best friend.
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