unique and interesting: June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Shoe-Fitting X-Ray Machine

The shoe fitting fluoroscope x-ray machine was a common fixture in shoe stores during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. A typical unit consisted of a vertical wooden cabinet with an opening near the bottom into which the feet were placed.

When you looked through one of the three viewing ports on the top of the cabinet (e.g., one for the child being fitted, one for the child's parent, and the third for the shoe salesman or saleswoman), you would see a fluorescent image of the bones of the feet and the outline of the shoes.

In the 1960s shoe-fitting machines were prohibited, because by then they began to see the dangers of radiation.

Minivan Highway

Portraits of native Americans from the New York Public Library's collection. From photographers van de Passe, Catlin, Bodmer, Curtis, Moon, and Rinehart.

No one does weird toys like Japan does weird toys... from presidential action figures to toilet training tigers, here are 14 of the strangest and most bizarre Japanese toys ever.

Even when household appliances are turned off, most are still using some electricity. Appliances are either in passive standby mode (the clock on the microwave is still ticking) or active standby mode (the VCR is off, but programmed to record something).

Here's a graphic showing how much electricity is sucked out annually, in kilowatt hours, and what it costs you - assuming 11 cents per kilowatt hour.

(via LikeCOOL)

Flying Motorcycle

The revolutionary Aerobike three-wheeled Flying Motorcycle meets the growing demand for flying cars and roadable aircraft. The vehicles from Samson Motorworks promise to be as thrilling to drive on the ground as they will be to fly in the air.

The new product line offers motorcycle simplicity, economy and excitement - blended with the versatility of being able to fly and drive.

10 Of The Best Literary Vegetables

The most significant yet mysterious vegetable in literature is surely Leopold Bloom's potato. 'Potato I have,' he thinks as he checks his pockets on first leaving his house; he carries it everywhere.

10 of the Best Literary Vegetables.

(via Interesting Pile)

Food On A Stick.

(thanks Nicholas)

How Email Works

(via Bits & Pieces)

The Padaung are a group of the Karenni people, a Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Burma and Thailand. Women start wearing the brass neck coils at the age of five. Each coil is replaced with longer coils as the weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage.

Contrary to popular belief, the neck is not actually lengthened; the illusion of a stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle. Many ideas regarding why the coils are worn have been suggested.

One of them is the coils might be meant to protect from tiger bites. Kayan women, when asked, acknowledge these ideas, but often say that their purpose for wearing the rings is cultural identity.

Funny Wedding Pictures.

50 Cars Or 1 Coach?

A clever stunt from Swedish advertising agency Acne. Every day thousands of cars are driven to and from Swedish airports. Every car holds only 1,2 persons on average which is to be compared with the Airport Coach that takes over 50.

To highlight this, an enormous bus was built out of 50 cars on the side of the highway to the airport.

(thanks Cora)

An amazing collection of widescreen wallpapers related to nature, photography, patterns, illustrations, HDR as well as some abstract and fantasy-related wallpapers.

Cats In Costumes.

(thanks Nicholas)

Spaceship design has come a long way since the 1960s. Here's a gallery of five different eras in starships, battlecruisers and planet-destroyers, with 150+ images.

(via Dark Roasted Blend)

Cooking for some is a hobby, and for others a way to express themselves on an empty plate. Chefs go to great lengths to provide their guests with a memorable feast for the eyes.

Here are some examples of funny and fabulous food art for you to savor, and possibly try yourself.

(thanks Lauren)

Finding My Goddess

This is Mark. He's gallant, intensely romantic, a perfect gentleman, flamboyant, extremely brilliant, extremely creative, well educated, and wise.
At least, these are his own words.

He's looking for a true Goddess for life-long intimate relationship and awesome marriage. She must be highly intelligent, very sexy, and deeply spiritual.

In this message I state what I want, and I do it firmly, assertively, and quite seriously. But I am negotiable. If you are interested but have objections, please feel free to state your objections to me. Also, because my tone is so serious here, this web site does not reveal my sense of humor. But if you get to know me, I will make you laugh and laugh and laugh! Seriously!

Gimme A Hug

Gimme a Hug is a short documentary from the Protect the Sharks Foundation. The documentary shows one of the most mysterious phenomena in the animal world; sharks, showing a totally different behaviour than most people would expect.

(thanks Pierre)

I'm Better Than You

The Portland Advertising Federation think they are the best in the country. The federation from Portland, Oregon, USA, wants you to know that its excellent advertising is far superior to your stupid advertising.

It must be awful. You, sweating, or freezing, or merely eking out your existence in some godforsaken outback like Dallas or Atlanta, while we crank out brilliant ideas one after another, as gracefully and steadily as the world-famous craft brews that flow from out state.

On their website they even created a spinning insult wheel. You can spin the wheel to get insults directed at New York, Seattle, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Boulder, and San Francisco, among others.

(via AdFreak)

Connecting two separate water ways may seem, on paper, and easy objective to achieve. What happens, though, when the two systems are twenty four meters apart? Plus, the word apart here means in terms of height.

The solution? An incredible rotating boat lift that looks like something from a steampunk movie.

(via Robert-John)

The Bran Flakes - Fifty Four Fifty

The Bran Flakes are a sound collage pop group with members in the United States and Canada who specialize in creating music from pre-existing sources. The group's members include Otis Fodder, Mildred Pitt, Susan DeLint and The GRDNR.

The Bran Flakes make extensive use of sampling, recontextualizing the samples into new works. The group scours thrift shops for obscure and quirky LPs; some of their songs also make use of recognizably famous basslines, television shows, and soundtracks from video games.

(via Everlasting Blort)

School is out in most places and warmer weather has arrived. The sounds of the street are filled with children's laughter and the catchy jingle of the ice cream man.

Stop there parents. You won't need to shell out for overpriced and unhealthy treats anymore. Instead, try this cheaper make-at-home cold summer treat, a great way to get healthy fruit into our kids with a little something special.

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: Didn't Think We'd Let You Off That Easy, Did You?

click on the picture for real size

New Technology Allows Parents To Hold A Life-Size Model Of Their Unborn Child

It's a defining moment in a parent's life: Seeing their unborn child's image on an ultrasound for the first time. Now pregnant women could have the chance to hold a life-size model of their unborn baby.

Brazilian student Jorge Lopes has pioneered the conversion of data from ultrasound and MRI scans into life-size plaster models of living embryos using a method called rapid prototyping.

(thanks Cora)

She oinks, snuffles in a trough and has a fetching set of trotters. But it's not just her tail that's curly.

Elizabeth the pig - a rare Austrian Mangalitza Gilt - wears a golden fleece that could pull the wool over enough eyes to make her the pride of the flock.

(via Urlesque)

The Door To Hell

Darvaza is a Turkmenistan village of about 350 inhabitants, located in the middle of the Kara-Kum desert, north from Ashgabat. The Darvaza area is rich in natural gas. While drilling in 1971 geologists accidentally found an underground cavern filled with natural gas.

The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of about 50-100 meters. To avoid poisonous gas discharge, it was decided to burn the gas. It has been burning ever since.

Web Nerd Terminology

Do you know what the web technology term nesting means? Do you know what borked is? Semantics? White Space? SERP? Above the Fold?

Web Nerd Terminology Explained.

Wouldn't it be fun to stay the night in a cave, a castle, a lighthouse or a wigwam? How about a concrete pipe? Or a bullfighting ring? Or a dog?

Underground, above ground, and underwater, here are some of the quirkiest hotels in the world.

(thanks Andi)

A collection of modern teapots and unusual kettle designs that will look great in any kitchen.

One Million Giraffes

My friend, Jørgen, doesn't believe I can collect one million giraffes by 2011. I'm gonna prove him wrong, but I need your help. You can create your giraffe(s) in any way you like, but not on a computer. So far I've got 4849 giraffes, so I need 995.151 more! And I have 553 days left to get them.

One Million Giraffes.

Use the mouse to drop blocks. Clear blocks by matching lines of 3 or more numbers or colors either vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

Clear the blocks until they are under the white line to receive more blocks, more time and higher scores.

Remote-Control Airplane Freestyle Routine

This isn't just a remote-control airplane freestyle routine.
This is art!

(via Miss Cellania)

Kelp forests occur in cold, nutrient-rich water and are among the most beautiful and biologically productive habitats in the marine environment. The coast of California is home to one of the most spectacular kelp forests.

Within the confines of this massive forest there lies an abundance of fishes, invertebrates, algae, marine birds, and marine mammals.

(via Lauren)

Pet portraiture by Andy Stolarek.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Variations On Normal

Variations On Normal is a blog by Dominic Wilcox. A place for the thoughts, ideas, and inventions that pop into his head as he goes about normal life. Like this doorbell with inbuilt visitor statistics display.

The Evolution Of Photoshop: 1988 - 2009

Adobe Photoshop has always been one of the greatest software when it comes to manipulating and editing images. It all started off in 1987 with a Mac application call Display, created by Thomas Knoll.

With two decades worth of changes and improvements, you almost can't imagine how the first version of Photoshop would look like by looking at the Photoshop you have on your desktop.

The Evolution Of Photoshop: 1988 - 2009.

9 Months In 1 Minute And 15 Seconds

(via Gloglog)

Entertainer Michael Jackson died after being taken to a hospital on Thursday having suffered cardiac arrest. Paramedics took Jackson, 50, from his west Los Angeles home to UCLA Medical Center, where a team of physicians attempted to resuscitate him for more than an hour.

Michael Jackson, the music icon from Gary, Indiana, was known as the 'King of Pop.' Jackson had many No. 1 hits and his 'Thriller' is the best-selling album of all time. Jackson was the seventh of nine children from a well-known musical family. He is survived by three children, Prince Michael I, Paris and Prince Michael II.

Remembering Michael Jackson.

Though sand sculptures are inherently fleeting works of art, an astonishing amount of labor is poured into each project -often requiring teams of architectures or sculptors and nearly 3000 tons of sand per competition.

Amongst the most spectacular castles, animals or otherwise themed creations, there exist true masterpieces that appear to come to life on the shore. From agony to exhilaration, here are 10 sand-crafted expressions that masterfully exemplify real human emotions.

(thanks Annie)

Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around 'as high as a kite,' a government official has said. Wallabies are related to kangaroos but they are generally smaller and often have a colorful coat.

Lara Giddings, the attorney general for the island state of Tasmania, said the marsupials were getting into poppy fields grown for medicine, hopping around and creating crop circles.

Thirsty Swagman Pty Ltd was launched on April 2, 2007, providing a real and exciting alternative to sightseeing travel for those who enjoy a good night out. The company's tours are purely party-based, and include its signature round-the-world pub crawl, as well as shorter intercontinental pub crawl tours – a concept that has never been available to travellers before.

Add some zing to your drinking by going on The World's Biggest Pub Crawl. For $11,900, you can spend 25 days collecting hangovers at 80 pubs in nine countries across four continents, from London and Munich to Phuket and Cancun.

Gum Alert is a blog dedicated to one of life's greatest little pleasures: Gum.
Join Gum Alert in their quest to find the ultimate in Mastication Stimulation.

(via Neatorama)

You have your passport, you have your toothbrush. What other things are essential for any overseas trip?

The accessories explored here in detail are all essential in that they will save you time, money and effort and will generally make your overseas trip a far more pleasurable experience.

(thanks Andy)

Romanian Truck Driver Dancing While Driving

I work for a transportation company and if one of our drivers would be caught doing what this Romanian truck driver does, he would be fired immediately. Having fun while you're working is OK, but this is outright irresponsible behaviour.

(via Neatorama)

A hangover is the price you pay in pain and suffering for the fun you had the night before. You feel like something the cat puked up on the carpet after dining on alley scraps all night.

Next time you experience that terrible 'morning after' feeling, with the queasy stomach, pounding head and a mouth full of horrifying flavours, you can always try one of these remedies.

Announced in 2004, the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge has been five years under construction.

Due to be completed in 2010, the bridge has slowly been taking shape. Here, with some amazing photographs is a record of this incredible bridge as it nears completion.

(via Robert-John)

A list of 18 examples of wonderful umbrella art. After taking a look at these, you might think twice about shoving your umbrella in the nearest trash the next time it buckles in the wind, and pass it on to your friendly neighbourhood artist instead.

Who knows, your umbrella could be re-purposed into a new and wonderful art piece to rival the ones shown here.

Japanese Kid Doesn't Take Rejection Very Well

A little Japanese boy presents flowers to girls after their piano performances. He succeeds the first time, but gets rejected on the second. His reaction is priceless.

(thanks Cora)

There's a lot of crime data. For almost every reported crime, there's a paper or digital record of it somewhere, which means hundreds of thousands of data points - number of thefts, break-ins, assaults, and homicides as well as where and when the incidents occurred.

While a lot of this crime data is kept confidential to respect people's privacy, there's still plenty of publicly available records. Here are twenty visualization examples that explore this data.

Turns out your guilty pleasures (red wine, video games) may not be so guilty after all. And those pesky side effects of being an adult - stress, anyone? - can actually benefit you too. Read on to learn the positives of your seemingly negative habits.

(thanks Annie)

Hacked Road Signs.

(thanks Nicholas)

Historical Tweets

Most people think Twitter was 'created' in 2006. These are the same people who think Richard Gere created Buddhism in the 1990s. Just before Madonna created yoga. Folks, like the sun, moon, and stars, Twitter has always been.

Books have been ruining history. So many unnecessary words.
Now, with Historical Tweets, history's most amazing men and women can be fully understood, a mere 140 characters at a time.

Men Who Knit: promoting and inspiring the art of knitting amongst men.

A free, friendly community site for men who knit comprised of blogs, discussion forums, and other useful knitting resources.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Pictures of sleeping animals.

Safety Graphic Fun.

Deadline

A film by Bang-Yao Liu.

Zsolt Molnár from Budapest, Hungary, started his typo-photographic project in Summer 2008, focusing on the typographical diversity of Budapest's street numbers.

He rides his bike across Budapest and takes pictures of street numbers.
Then he posts a number each day, 365 different types of numbers.

X-Rays Of Stuck And Pierced Objects.

(thanks Nicholas)

A 'nail house' is a Chinese neologism for homes belonging to people who refuse to make room for development, often in an attempt to negotiate a high price in exchange for selling out. The term, a pun coined by developers, refers to nails that are stuck in wood, and cannot be pounded down with a hammer.

Here are 6 extraordinarily stubborn 'nail houses' from around the world.

Zombie Preparedness Initiative

The Zombie Preparedness Initiative is a knowledge base provided by a community of citizens concerned about the impending zombie invasion and the imminent disaster that is sure to follow. They gather knowledge and share the acquired information with the public.

By doing this, they hope to help people prepare for the very real threat that we shall face when zombies show up and governments have not taken the time to prepare.

Oops!

Let's say, a mistake of this kind is easily made.

(thanks Peter)

Spezify

Spezify is a search tool presenting results from a large number of websites in different visual ways. Spezify mixes all media types and makes no difference between blogs, videos, microblogs and images.

(via Nag on the Lake)

The emphasis is on fictional characters who originated as comic book characters. Of course real-life people such as Pope John Paul II, St. Francis of Assisi, and Mother Teresa have been depicted in comic books, but such people are not listed here. This page focuses on fictional comic book characters who are adherents of real-world religions.

We want this page to be as accurate as possible, backed up by objective, published information and not based on conjecture. We do not want this listing to be slanted toward any particular denominational or religious viewpoint. It is intended to accurately report the composition of comic book character religiosity

Barack Obama - Fly Swatter

Small Vehicles, Massive Loads.

Sometimes technology leaps so far ahead it seems like the future has arrived a few years early. When the improvement comes in the area of materials the leap can seem even greater, as the new material can boost the performance of whatever they're used in.

Teflon is a perfect example but it's not the only one.
Here are 10 futuristic materials that are adding some tomorrow to our lives today.

Strange Canned Foods.

(thanks Nicholas)

Pages - Menu

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Friday, June 26, 2009

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Monday, June 22, 2009