unique and interesting: March 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Qualcomm Breeds Hybrid Animals For Cell Phone Technology

Technology company Qualcomm opens the doors behind their top secret R&D facilities to show you what the future of cell phone technology has in store.

(thanks Jeff)

Concept cars, dream machines and technology-packed prototypes give us hints of what the future holds for bikers, drivers, sailors and flyers - many have even gone into production little changed from their showpiece status.

Here are 15 never-produced vehicles, though they live on in our imaginations.

10 Misconceptions About Common Sayings

Scot free, eat humble pie, rule of thumb, and take a raincheck. A list of misconceptions about common sayings. Some involve spelling errors, while others involve conception or comprehension errors.

It's finally come to this. The New York Times today announced its new 'Nano' edition.

We shrunk everything else, Sully Oxburger, the Times' publisher-in-chief explained. First, we shrunk the number of pages, then the number of sections, then our offices, then our staff, and finally our printing facilities. Then one day I saw the new Ipod Nano, and I the idea just came to me.

(thanks Tony)

Time Warp - Dog Drinking

Ever wondered what a dog's tongue does when it's voraciously drinking water on a hot summer day? Now you can see for yourself.

(thanks Cora)

Lawn mower racing, elephant polo, extreme ironing, unicycle hockey, chess boxing. Here are 27 of the strangest sports that you'll ever see.

(via Look At This...)

Walk into any Pennsylvania diner and you're likely to overhear someone at a neighboring table ordering 'scrapple.' What's that, you ask? A mixture of pork scraps and cornmeal that's been molded, sliced and fried, scrapple is a dish that's beloved in regions surrounding eastern Pennsylvania.

And it's not the only questionable local delicacy of its kind. Take a culinary tour of America and dig into eight of the strangest regional delicacies across America.

(thanks Annie)

Sometimes the dedication to a sport becomes a bit obsessive.
Here are 15 interesting sports mailboxes.

(thanks Nathaniel)

Construction Mistakes

Construction mistakes or errors or goof ups? What ever we call it, it won't change a thing and still these look hilarious.

You really wonder how the engineers and architects who were part of these constructions must have reacted seeing them.

For the millions of fans on our planet and beyond, this new line of Star Trek urns and caskets will be an important discovery indeed. After ten movies and five television series, phrases like 'Live long and prosper,' 'Resistance is futile,' and 'Space: the final frontier' have become part of our global vocabulary.

Star Trek Line of Urns and Caskets.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Some of us try to eat less and exercise more and some people jump on the bandwagon of any fad diets, always hoping to find a miracle that leads to quick weight loss with little effort.

As a result, there's been quite a few crazy diet ideas in the last few centuries, here are the top ten weirdest diet methods ever heard of.

Started in Sydney, Australia in 2007, Earth Hour quickly grew into a global observance. More than 1,000 cities in over 80 countries observed Earth Hour 2009 on Saturday March 28th, as homes, office towers and landmarks turned off their lights for an hour starting at 8.30 pm local time to raise awareness about climate change and the threat from rising greenhouse gas emissions.

Collected here are a series of before-and-after photographs - which will fade between 'on' and 'off' when clicked.

10 Most Outrageous Tax Expenditures

A list of the 10 most outlandish tax expenditures from the past five years - all guaranteed to make you chuckle (in spite of yourself!) Not only will this list incite laughter, it also offers insight: now, while you're itemizing your deductions, you can be confident that Congress will have billions more to spend on everything from water-free urinals to teapot museums - all compliments of you.

Chuckle over these top 10 examples of pork-barrel spending in recent history.
(thanks Annie)

Send Your Name To Mars

This is your chance to go to Mars! Fill in some information and your name will be included with others on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011.

(thanks Carole)

Luke Leitch from the Times Online looks at those authors for whom one novel proved quite enough.

(via corsinet)

Hotelicopter

Experience the adrenaline rush of taking off and flying high in the largest helicopter ever produced. The Hotelicopter features 18 luxuriously-appointed rooms for adrenaline junkies seeking a truly unique and memorable travel experience.

Each soundproofed room is equipped with a queen-sized bed, fine linens, a mini-bar, coffee machine, wireless internet access, and all the luxurious appointments you'd expect from a flying five star hotel. Room service is available one hour after liftoff and prior to landing.

Kevin Warwick's new robot behaves like a child. Sometimes it does what you want it to, and sometimes it doesn't, says Warwick, a professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading.

And while it may seem strange for a scientist to be concerning himself with such an unreliable machine, Warwick's creation has something that even today's most sophisticated robots lack: a living brain.

Building An Airbus A340 In 346 Seconds

A fast-forwarded footage of an Airbus A340-600 craft being built at the Toulouse facility.

(thanks Cora)

Loves Me, Loves Me Not is a game of French origin, in which one person seeks to determine whether the object of their affection returns that affection or not. A person playing the game alternately speaks the phrases 'loves me,' and 'loves me not,' while picking one petal off a flower for each phrase.

The phrase they speak on picking off the last petal supposedly represents the truth between the object of their affection loving them or not.

(thanks Craig)

The is a limit assigned by governments to restrict the access of children and youth to alcoholic beverages. Legal drinking ages vary from country to country, and sometimes, within a particular country. In most countries the legal age to purchase alcohol is either 16 or 18, but there are considerable variations: some countries do not recognize a drinking age and have children as young as 5 who drink wine.

Its a very common thing in some cultures for everyone in the family to have a glass of wine at dinner; others outlaw drinking; and still others, like India, mandate a drinking age as high as 25 in some states.
Bigger map here.

30 Beautiful Pictures Of Animal Photography

Photographing animals can be a challenge and requires patience, determination and understanding of animal behavior so that you can expect how they will be likely to act or react and predict the moment for a good photograph.

Good exposure, color and blur settings in addition with proper shutter speed and focusing techniques are essential to produce stunning animal photographs.

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: The Grass is Always Greener.

click on the picture for real size

ScreamBody

ScreamBody is a Wearable Body Organ. ScreamBody is a portable space for screaming.

When a user needs to scream but is in anynumber of situations where it is just not permitted, ScreamBody silences the user's screams so they may feel free to vocalize without fear of environmental retaliation, and at the same time records the scream for later release where, when, and how the user chooses.

The Cat Hammock is made of 100% hardwood, it is both sturdy and lightweight and can easily be moved around the house - by the sliding glass door, near the radiator, in the bedroom, to a spot of sunshine. It will even look good in your living room.

(thanks Cora)

Some people take their love for 'My Little Pony' too new levels. Here are a selection of 25 of the best My Little Pony mods. Some of them are absolutely amazing.

35 Interesting And Fun Alcohol Facts

Alcohol facts that are either surprising, funny or just fun to know. It's amazing to know that Ohio has a law that bans giving any alcohol to fishes. And that there is a cloud of alcohol in outer space which is enough to make four trillion-trillion drinks.

Check out some more fun facts related to alcohol.

Crayola crayons have come in a number of different colors over the years. When Binney & Smith first produced Crayola crayons in 1903, there were just eight colors. Now there are 120 colors.

List Of Crayola Crayon Colors.

(via DrikoLand)

Reinterpreting Little Red Riding Hood

A school assignment by Tomas Nilsson to reinterpret the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, inspired by Röyksopps Remind me.

Bullshit Detector

The Local Government Association in the UK has compiled a list of bullshit terms that should not be used by councils. If you pay council tax, then you might be interested in how much bullshit you're getting for your money. Well now's your chance to find out.

There was only 1 bullshit term found on The Presurfer.

Enter the URL of a web page to check for bullshit.

Hm, I wonder if it's Pancake Day today.

Although I believe every city is good enough to drink coffee (it has more to do with the coffee than with the city), coffee culture means different things to different drinkers.

For some, it's a quiet café, For others, coffee culture implies something more communal with espresso or cappuccino the engine grease for conversation.

Either way, the java itself - be it of the Ethiopian, Colombian or Javanese variety - must be high quality and rendered with pride. Those precious places on the map where all good coffee things meet, any aficionado will tell you, are where magic is made. Here's a shortlist of some of the world's best cities for sitting and sipping.

(thanks Cora)

Since bicycles work pretty flawlessly as it is, you might wonder just why we need crazy modifications like spokeless wheels and the ability to ride sideways. Innovation never ceases, and as a result we've been treated to a wild assortment of ideas from giant amphibious contraptions to bikes that fold up into backpacks.

Some of these 15 concept bikes address issues like cost, portability and adaptability and others are just plain strange.

Look like a genius using these secrets for navigating everyday life.

(thanks Annie)

Fortunes are rarely won by playing it safe. On the contrary, the biggest fortunes have been won by those willing to step outside the box and change the way the game is played.

Here are 25 business innovators whose stories are different in many respects, but all point to the same truth: ingenuity, improvisation, and daring are more important than following the rules.

(via Dump Trumpet)

Carmen Electra Had A Crush On Me

Did you know Carmen Electra once had a crush on me? Really, she did!
But unfortunately those days are over. During an interview for the home video release of Meet The Spartans, Carmen dumped me.

Carmen Had A Crush On You.

(thanks Claus)

Household chores may never feel effortless, but appliances that make our day-to-day lives easier have definitely come a long way over the decades.

Take a fun look back at vintage ads that tout then-innovative inventions, such as the gas range, electric broom, portable television and more!

(thanks Annie)

YouTube Interactive Video

German advertising agency 'Kolle Rebbe' put together an interactive version of a TV spot for OTTO, a mail order company.

Using YouTube, the user can view the TV spot from several different angles and each angle features a different OTTO product.

(thanks Aaron)

Human beings have played tight athletic games for as long as there is recorded history. There are a few sports played today that have preserved a sense of the savage manliness that characterized earlier sports.

These 8 sports were chosen for their man-factor. Physical contact, body hair, and common injury level were all taken into account. Click each sport's title or picture for a video demonstrating their relative manliness.

The Most Memorable Mascots Of Professional Wrestling

Pro Wrestling is more about entertainment than it is about sport, although the guys that perform on a night in and night out basis are tremendous atheletes. But it's more entertaining and showmanship than anything else.

And what better a way to entertain the crowd than bring in props? Sometimes those props can be either living things or inanimate objects that take on lives of their own.

Here are the most memorable mascots of professional wrestling.

This is the second post of a series called 'Fast Food Of The World' by HealthAssist Blog. I posted part 1 here.

This time we will take a look at what do people in Asia and Australia eat when they need to eat fast.

(thanks Olga)

Razor Phone

There are a lot of things cellphones can do these days. Phone calls, text messaging, email, access the internet, listen to podcasts, navigate, watch TV, share photos, update your blog, and probably a whole lot more.

But there's one thing you can't do with your cellphone. Shave yourself.
Wrong!

An obscure Chinese manufacturer, Solomobi, has come up with a cellphone with a razor. The Cool758. The bottom of the Cool758 can be removed to unveil a real razor.

(thanks Cora)

An impressive collection of long exposure photos. 50 Photos taken with very slow shutterspeed.

Cutest Babies

Cutest Babies. By photographer Tracy Raver.

With the flash of cameras and oohs and aahs from the crowd, Indian company Tata Motors last Monday launched what is billed as the world's least expensive car, six years after it was conceived and six months behind schedule.

The Nano will start at $2,200 after taxes and dealer costs, while the more expensive CX and LX models with heat, air conditioning and power brakes will go for as much as $3,800.

Here's a video of the presentation.

(thanks Cora)

The Ergopod 500, a height adjustable workstation. Ideal for standing, seated or supine work positions.

Programmers, CAD workers, graphic designers or special needs individuals now have the ideal workstation for long hours at the computer.

(via Optical Poptitude)

7 Seriously Enviable Office Desk Setups

Considering how many people spend the lion's share of their daily life inside an office, it's surprising how few of us have taken steps to make our office setups more inspiring.

Website Ahoys explores seven workspaces so well kitted-out and stylised that they could feature in an episode of 'Pimp My Office.'

(thanks Andy)

The 10 Biggest Intellectual Fights Of All Time

In our modern, scientific world it is sometimes easy to forget that human progress often comes attached to some spectacular intellectual clashes between different ways of looking at things and differing interpretations of what is seen.

There have been some notable intellectual mind-fights over the millennia. The following are ten such fights, the outcome of which changed the world into what we know of it today.

Amazing Bowling Shot

Most people have experienced their fair share of 'strange weather.' It may have been a snow flurry in May or 70-degree afternoon in December, but either way unnatural weather often catches us off guard.

This is a list of 10 cases of extreme weather, all of which resulted a new record, and it covers a broad spectrum of weather such as temperature, rain, snow, wind, and ice.

The Rubens' tube, also known as the standing wave flame tube, is a physics experiment demonstrating a standing wave. It shows the relationship between sound waves and air pressure.

German physicist Heinrich Rubens took a 4-metre-long tube and drilled 200 small holes into it at 2 centimeter intervals, and filled it with a flammable gas. After lighting the gas he noted that a sound produced at one end of the tube would create a standing wave, equivalent to the wavelength of the sound being made.

Some friends were chatting about various ways to visualise music.
They decided to create a Rubens' Tube.

(thanks Sam)

Super Chameleon

The super chameleon shows his super camouflaging powers. Of course this is fake, probably made on a computer.

(thanks Cora)

The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab is a toy lab set produced by Alfred Carlton Gilbert and sold between 1950 and 1951. They used radioactive materials in the set, but none that might conceivably prove dangerous. There was a Geiger-Mueller counter, a carefully designed and manufactured instrument that could actually be used in
prospecting for radioactive materials.

The Atomic Energy Lab also contained a cloud chamber in which the paths of alpha particles traveling at 12,000 miles a second could be seen, a spinthariscope showing the results of radioactive disintegration on a fluorescent screen, and an electroscope that measured the radioactivity of different substances.

(via Boing Boing)

Photographer Matt Hoyle is known best for his portraits of rich characters and intriguing faces. Matt's style is described as hyper-real because of the unique 'grade' he applies to each image.

Barnumville is a series of photographs of sideshow performers and amazing physical characters.

(via Neatorama)

Taglines And Slogans

Ever heard of the slogan 'Look sharp, feel sharp?' Or 'Talk. They'll listen?' 'American by birth. Rebel by choice?' 'Inspiration comes standard?' Do you know the companies that used these slogans?

Here's a list of taglines and slogans used by companies.

Bathtub IV

A tilt-shift video of a day in the life of a rescue helicopter. Filmed by Keith Loutit with the support of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service. Music is by Megan Washington.

Keyboards without keys? Yes, they do exist. As does a vertical keyboard with mirrors on the side so you can see your fingers, and keyboards on which you type on the back.

Get ready for some wacky input devices.

USA Government Surplus Auctions

GovDeals provides services to various government agencies that allow them to sell surplus and confiscated items via the Internet. Each participating agency has its own auction rules and regulations and may be subject to state and local ordinances.

You can bid on almost everything, from heavy duty trucks to scrap metal, and from clothing to parking meters.

With all the talk about rising food costs, many of us find ourselves in the grocery aisles complaining about paying $4.50 for a gallon of milk. Well, you haven't seen anything yet!

WomansDay compiled a list of ridiculously expensive foods and drinks - including a $250 chocolate truffle and a $700 bottle of wine - that will only have you saying 'Bon appétit' if you can afford it.

(thanks Annie)

Mighty Titan, The Most Scary Lovely Dog

Mighty Titan is a three-and-a-half year old Bordeaux Mastiff. He's such a docile dog according to his owner. These pictures show how he expresses himself.

The Flying Car

It is the ultimate off-roader and it is coming to an airstrip near you. The flying car has been talked about for almost as long as cars have existed, and now a prototype - the Terrafugia Transition - built by a small American company is finally ready to make the idea a reality.

(thanks Cora)

The Terrafugia Transition's first flight.

Adrian Merz from Switzerland, a student in visual communication, created the 'Winter 1972' project by using thousands of white post-it notes in a living room.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Architectural photography can be broadly considered to encompass views of the exteriors and interiors of domestic, commercial, religious, institutional, and engineering structures, as well as records of the evolution of towns and cities.

Here are 50 stunning examples of architecture photography.

Dan Meth produced a map of the United States featuring the places some of your favorite TV shows were set.

(via Neatorama)

Here is a selection of websites featuring animation aimed mostly at kids. This being said, the chances are that you will love them too! Give the rug rats a DVD and enjoy these for yourself.

(via Robert-John)

The concept behind 'My Dog Smels Nice' is that people submit funny pictures showing their dogs... just after being washed. The project is just starting so there are not many pictures yet.

(thanks Jason)

Pages - Menu

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Monday, March 30, 2009

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Friday, March 27, 2009

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Monday, March 23, 2009