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April 28, 2011
In the feminist book store
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TGFB (4)
A tutorial on how to make them.
Bacon RosesFlowers make a nice gift to the friend that needs a smile or for that special someone in your life. Roses are even better. But sometimes even roses don't cut it. Sometimes you need something a little more non-cliché, something...extraordinary... Sometimes, you need BACON.
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Bumper cars
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Not the end of an era?
The end of the line: Last typewriter factory left in the world closes its doorsIt's an invention that revolutionised the way we work, becoming an essential piece of office equipment for the best part of a century.
But after years of sterling service, that bane for secretaries has reached the end of the line.
Godrej and Boyce - the last company left in the world that was still manufacturing typewriters - has shut down its production plant in Mumbai, India with just a few hundred machines left in stock.
Or not.
Don't Believe the Type! World's Last Typewriter Maker Alive and Well in NJNostalgic newspaper reports around the globe lamented the death of the typewriter recently, as Indian manufacturer Godrej and Boyce announced its intentions to pull the plug on its Mumbai factory.
After decades of use and trillions of typed characters, the typewriter appeared to have written its own swan song.
Not so fast.
Despite the surge in popularity of PCs, and their smaller digital cousins the iPads, the typewriter is far from dead, said Ed Michael, general manager of sales at Moonachie, N.J.-based Swintec. So forget Godrej: Swintec seems to be the last typewriter maker in operation.
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April 26, 2011
Northern lights
A nice time-lapse video of Northern Lights taken in or near Tromsø, Norway.
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Always put the paint in the trunk
This is one of four pix of some folks who had 25 liters of paint in the back seat of their car -- at least until the collision.
H.T. Bill F.
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Motorize your wheelchair
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If you think $4 per gallon is high
Try $64 per gallon (at today's exchange rate).
Petrol station charges €9.99 a litre for gasPolice were called after a petrol station near Stuttgart began charging €9.99 per litre ($40 per gallon) of super gasoline amid dwindling supplies on Easter Monday.
In the town of Filderstadt, south of the Baden-Württemberg capital, the Esso petrol station apparently raised the price to a prohibitive level in a deliberate attempt to dissuade motorists from buying it, police reported. The station was running low on the fuel amid a nationwide shortage. [...]
Customer Yunus G. told daily Bild he put 21 litres in his BMW and was asked to pay €209.98.
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April 25, 2011
Slow motion skydive
A nicely done ad for a skydiving business in Melbourne.
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All robots
The Atlantic's In Focus photoblog has 33 pictures of all types of robots.
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Stones
You have to admire Mr. Hoag's panache (if not his judgment) while he took this video of a tornado in North Carolina.
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Positive feedback
"This is quite amusing," says Ms M. Follow the link and read the whole post. It's not too long.
Amazon's $23,698,655.93 book about fliesA few weeks ago a postdoc in my lab logged on to Amazon to buy the lab an extra copy of Peter Lawrence's The Making of a Fly – a classic work in developmental biology that we – and most other Drosophila developmental biologists – consult regularly. The book, published in 1992, is out of print. But Amazon listed 17 copies for sale: 15 used from $35.54, and 2 new from $1,730,045.91 (+$3.99 shipping).
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April 23, 2011
Happy Easter
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Gas coupons
Mary forwards this timely message.
I didn't realize it but these coupons are good for one gallon of gas at most retailers. I have seen them around but never took advantage of them until recently. I guess I never realized their actual worth.You probably have one or two just lying around somewhere. Now is the time to use them before they lose their value and it's too late.
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April 22, 2011
A nature film
I found this extremely amusing.
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View from above
Pics from Space as seen by Astronaut Douglas WheelockNASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock who is currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shares pictures of the Earth he snaps with the world through Twitter. Known to his nearly 68,000 Twitter followers as Astro_Wheels, he has been posting impressive photos of the Earth and some of his thoughts ever since he moved into the space station in June, five months after it got Internet access.
H.T. Steve R
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Baby pygmy goats
Seriously cute...
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Special in aisle 3
Shoppers surprised when man falls through Missouri grocery ceilingLEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. People at a suburban Kansas City grocery store got quite a surprise while looking for bargains.
Lee's Summit police say a man in his 20s fell through the ceiling of a Cosentino's Price Chopper Thursday evening.
After he dropped into the store, he ran into a nearby business and asked for help. Then he ran away. Officers caught him and he was treated for injuries at a hospital.
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April 21, 2011
A wood-fired El Camino
I'm thinking this car's too top-heavy to corner very well - but it's a tour de force nonetheless.
The Finnish-built, wood-burning El CaminoTruth is stranger than fiction, or so the saying goes. And I could not make this story up if I tried. A Finnish politician has converted his American-built El Camino to run on woodgas. How's that for awesome?
Juhas Sipilä's 1987 El Camino, affectionately dubbed "El Kamina" (The Stove), features a very steampunk-like woodgas generator taking up about half of the truckbed
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Petite lap giraffes
From Russia's finest purveyor. Video at the site.
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Yo se
...que esto es muy impresionante.
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Near Silence
Mat Jarvis is helping people to help Japan recover from the earthquake and tsunami with his Japan Relief Fund.
If you make a donation to any Red Cross organization, Mat will give you an album of some very nice electronic music. The album is called Near Silence. (Cover art at right.)
I donated to the American Red Cross and Mat sent me a link to the zipped MP3 album. I particularly like a cut called Wenn der Südwind Weht. (I think that means If the south wind blows.)
But you can sample all the cuts at Mat's site. It's a simple process:
INSTRUCTIONS
1 Donate any amount to any Red Cross.
2 Forward the donation receipt email you'll receive from the Red Cross to nearsilence.jp@gmail.com and we'll send you the full album.
3 There is no step three.
Visit the site to check it out.
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April 20, 2011
Superman fail
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Now this is a tree house
The Minister's House in Crossville, Tennessee.
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Juggling in Zanzibar
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Easy fishin'
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April 19, 2011
Tilt-shift bathtub
As in Bathtub IV - it's one of a series by Keith Loutit.
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iPad self-portraits
10 ingenious iPad self-portraits
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The doc's trick shots
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Red-faced about a green light
Traffic light sex couple leaves town baffledRed-faced traffic bosses are investigating how pranksters altered a set of pedestrian lights to show a couple making love whenever they turned green.
The lights - in Nimwegen, Holland - literally stopped the traffic when passers by stopped to gawp at them during rush hour.
One officer said: 'People kept pressing the button to see the couple having sex and of course every time they did, the traffic had to stop suddenly. We had quite a lot of rear end shunts from drivers who were too distracted.'
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April 17, 2011
La montaña
This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011. I had the pleasure of visiting El Teide. Spain´s highest mountain @(3715m) is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories.
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April 15, 2011
A little interpretive dance
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Still more groaners
Q: What's a mixed feeling?
A: Watching your mother-in-law back off a cliff in your new car.
Q What's the height of conceit?
A: Calling out your own name while having an orgasm.
Q: What's the definition of macho?
A: Jogging home from your vasectomy.
Q: What's the difference between a G-Spot and a golf ball?
A: A guy will actually search for a golf ball
Q: Do you know how New Zealanders practice safe sex?
A: They paint X's on the back of the sheep that kick.
Q:Why is divorce so expensive?
A: Because it's worth it!
Q: What is a Yankee?
A: The same as a quickie, but a guy can do it alone.
Q: What do Tupperware and a walrus have in common?
A: They both like a tight seal.
Q: What do a Christmas tree and a priest have in common?
A: Their balls are just decorative.
Q:What is the difference between 'ooooooh' and 'aaaaaaah'?
A: About three inches.
Q: What's the difference between purple and pink?
A: The grip.
Q: How do you find a Blind Man in a nudist colony?
A: It's not hard.
Q: What's the difference between a girlfriend and a wife?
A: 45 pounds.
Q: What's the difference between a boyfriend and a husband?
A: 45 minutes.
Q: Why do men find it difficult to make eye contact?
A: Breasts don't have eyes.
Q: What is the difference between medium and rare?
A: Six inches is medium, eight inches is rare.
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Dogboarding
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Location, location, location (3)
A cop's gotta eat, right?
Seattle cops look for Aurora speeders -- at Krispy KremeIn three hours Thursday morning, police gave 120 tickets as part of a speeding patrol in North Seattle.
More than 50 Seattle police personnel were working Aurora Avenue North and joined by six State Patrol troopers and three teams from the State Liquor Control Board.
The police command center was established at North 125th Street and Aurora Avenue North – an intersection that's home to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.
The emphasis was expected to continue all day.
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April 14, 2011
47 ways
Or maybe only 46 - one seems to be duplicated.
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Where the buffalo roamed
Here's a big set of images made by John C.H. Grabill between 1887 and 1892 in the Dakota Territory and Colorado.
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Folk sorting
This is one of three sorting algorithms illustrated with Hungarian folk dance.
H. T. Paul B.
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Now he'll be on the offenders' registry
Portage teen uses girl's nude photo as threat for not getting saxA Portage High School student is facing a charge of possessing child pornography after a fellow student accused him of threatening to post a nude picture of her if she didn't give him her saxophone, according to Portage police.
The incident came to light Friday when the girl, a freshman, told Principal Caren Swickard about the threat.
The boy in question, who is not being named, told Swickard and Portage Police Officer Troy Williams that his saxophone broke and the band director told him that because the girl didn't use hers, to have her give him her saxophone, police said.
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April 13, 2011
Unbelievable (2)
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Truth in advertising (3)
Seen in Perth, the photographer says.
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Practical psychology
I remember when it was this easy.
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Breakfast o' champions (2)
Experts' breakfast beer worryIt's nicknamed the "breakfast beer" but alcohol watchdogs are hoping a new Kiwi brew to be launched early on a weekday morning is nothing but a fizzer.
The cherry-flavoured, wheat lager by Marlborough brewery Moa is described as "a beer the ladies can enjoy too ... if you're having a champagne breakfast but don't fancy champagne, have a beer instead".
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April 12, 2011
Over easy, please
There are occasions when I wish I understood Japanese.
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Poor choice of words
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Surprise! (4)
I assume the video maker is also the owner. If so, he showed admirable restraint. Chevrolet is recalling 2100 of these cars for steering wheel inspection.
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Hunting copper
Pensioner in Georgia cuts Armenia off from internetAn elderly woman in Georgia is facing a prison sentence after reportedly causing internet services in neighbouring Armenia to crash.
The country found itself offline for hours on 28 March after cables linking Georgia to Armenia were damaged.
A Georgian interior ministry spokesman said a 75-year-old woman had admitted damaging fibre-optic cables while scavenging for copper. [...]
She had been searching for copper in the Georgian village of Ksani.
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April 11, 2011
Ride 'em, cowgirl
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Awesome frogs
Frogs are awesome.
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Cat and dolphins
More cute - and unusual - animal action for you.
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49 years on the bench
This reminds of the Kingston Trio singing Bad Man's Blunder.
Federal judge, 103, still hearing cases in KansasWICHITA, Kan. -- In a courtroom in Wichita, the day begins much as it has for the past 49 years: Court is in session, U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown presiding. But what happens next is no longer routine; it's a testament to one man's sheer determination.
As lawyers and litigants wait in respectful silence, Brown, who is 103, carefully steers his power wheelchair behind the bench, his stooped frame almost disappearing behind its wooden bulk. He adjusts under his nose the plastic tubes from the oxygen tank lying next to the day's case documents. Then his voice rings out loud and firm to his law clerk, "Call your case."
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April 09, 2011
San Franciso to Paris in 2 minutes
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What a craftsman
Louis Chernot built this working 1/6 scale model of a Duesenberg SJ. It's roughly 3 feet long and took 5 or 6 years to build. Full story here, which includes many detailed pix.
Mr. Chernot built the 32-valve, straight 8 engine from scratch.
H.T. Bill F.
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Polyphonic theremin
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At the Chillicothe fire station
From Ohio:
Fire station a potential fire hazardOne Chillicothe firefighter has new job duties on each shift - walking around the firehouse to make sure the place isn't on fire.
Chillicothe Fire Station No.1, the only one staffed in the city following budget cuts, is officially considered a potential fire hazard.
The fire-detection and alarm system at the main station downtown on Water Street hasn't worked for at least a year, perhaps longer. And, the sprinkler system had not been inspected.
To avoid being ordered to vacate its only station, the department now must assign firefighters - who can perform no other duties - to a 24/7 "fire watch."
The state fire marshal's office put the fire department on notice last week that it must correct three fire-code violations or face fines of up to $1,000 per violation per day.
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April 07, 2011
Tilt-shift London
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A forest book nook
Here's an interior view (one of six) of an interesting library.
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Tsunami dog goes home
A dog which has been rescued at sea off the coast of Kesennuma, Japan, was reunited with the owner on Monday more than three weeks after being washed away by the killer tsunami triggered by the March 11 earthquake. Japanese broadcaster NTV aired images of the reunion with the woman hugging Ban and the dog warmly wagging her tail. The dog was rescued on Friday after being found drifting on a roof.
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Placebo surgery
This news is a little dated, but I didn't know they did double-blind studies of surgical efficacy. How do they explain to someone that he had a 'sham operation'?
Common spine surgery ineffective in two studiesBOSTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - A common spine operation for relieving back pain is no more effective than make-believe surgery, two teams reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The technique, called vertebroplasty, involves injecting medical cement into a fractured spine bone to strengthen it. More than 38,000 such procedures are done in the United States every year and the number has been increasingly rapidly, nearly doubling from 2001 to 2005.
"We had hoped this treatment might get the pain better quicker, but we couldn't demonstrate that," said Rachelle Buchbinder of Monash University in Malvern, Australia, whose group found that 36 volunteers who received sham surgery did just as well as 35 who got the real operation.
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April 06, 2011
How the Oregon legislature rolls
Hilarious.
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Big bugs
A collection of 21 photomicrographs of insects by Steve Gschmeissner. He also has a large collection of public domain images here.
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Experience is the best teacher...
...but the tuition can be expensive. Strong language makes this one NSFW.
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Best things in life no longer free
Coalition plans tax on fresh air to 'help improve environment'THE air we breathe is set to be taxed as part of a revolutionary Government plan to raise more money.
Rural folk will have to cough up the most under the new charge – already dubbed a gasp bill – while those living in our polluted cities will be expected to pay less.
The Air Tariff Control system will assess charges in different areas of the country and every household will be liable for payments, which will be administered by local authorities and added to council tax bills.
The project, to be run by a private firm under a five-year licence, is designed to fund air quality improvement initiatives.
One senior air technician at the Environment Agency said: "Air is natural but, just like water, it is a finite resource that we have to manage sensibly. Water quality and supply improved with privatisation and there is no reason why this should not have the same impact on air. The aim is to allow everyone to enjoy high-quality breathing air."
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April 05, 2011
More stage magic (3)
This is a completely amazing act. And who doesn't like a bit of good stage magic?
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More aerial photography
A nice collection of 35 aerial photos. This one shows a massively terraced hill near Bali, Indonesia.
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This would get your attention
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Jumpers
'Jumpers' offered big money to brave nuke workTOKYO — It's a job that sounds too good to be true — thousands of dollars for up to an hour of work that often requires little training.
But it also sounds too outrageous to accept, given the full job description: working in perilously radioactive environments.
In its attempts to bring under control its radiation-gushing nuclear power plant that was severely damaged by last month's massive earthquake and tsunami, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is trying to get workers ever closer to the sources of stubborn radiation at the plant and end the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
Workers are reportedly being offered hazard pay to work in the damaged reactors of up to $5,000 per day — or more accurately, a fraction of a day, since the radiation-drenched shifts must be drastically restricted.
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April 04, 2011
Bach, wooden ball version
I believe this is a Japanese advertisement for cell phones. But it's so nicely done, you won't know that until the end.
H.T. Ms M.
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Missing the point
From Mark Perry, who wonders why people wear baseball caps backwards.
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Post digital iPad
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Good things come in threes
It's granddaughters galore for St. Cloud couple, who welcome 3 in 3 daysThree sisters, Melissa Valen, Michele Orth and Katie Larson, (back left to right) gave birth within one day of each other, making their parents, Mike and Joan Benda, proud grandparents again.
Mike and Joan Benda's St. Cloud home buzzed with children Saturday.
Three toddlers squealed as they ran through their grandparents' home. Meanwhile, three tiny newborn granddaughters slept, oblivious to the laughter that surrounded them.
This family grew quickly. The Bendas welcomed three granddaughters in three days this month from their three daughters.
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April 02, 2011
Eye candy
A montage of time-lapse skyscapes.
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April 01, 2011
How auto-complete works
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Kyrgyzstan
A large collection of photos from Kyrgyzstan.
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I didn't know they could do that
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Miracle beer
XXXX beer brings horse back from the dead after bout of colicIT sounds like a load of XXXX but beer saved this horse's life.
Diamond Mojo, a six-year-old Australian waler, had been given up for dead by his owner Steve Clibborn after being struck down with a bout of potentially deadly colic.
So, as desperate men do in desperate times, Steve turned to the bottle not for himself, but for his horse.
"I had pretty much kissed him goodbye," he said.
"I had spent 23 hours straight with him but nothing worked and then I remembered an old bush tale that said you could feed them beer.
"I don't know whether I really believed it or not but it was worth a shot and as soon as he had that beer, he burped and perked right up. So I gave him another couple."
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