unique and interesting: September 2009

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Burning Rubber

Early one morning three of Nascar's best drivers met in Charlotte to put their equipment to the test. See what has been caught on film.

Your turn to burn some serious rubber.

Super Mario fans are fond of creating Super Mario art and their creations can range from anything between edible goodies to plush stuffed toys.

But rarely have you seen anything that was dedicated to the lesser known but immensely cool supporting characters as the Piranha Plant.

(via Everlasting Blort)

In no particular order, a full frenzy of fervent NFL fans.

(thanks Nick)

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We've seen golden statues adorn many public buildings and monuments; we've heard of the gigantic golden Buddhas in Asia and the bustling golden souks of the Middle East.

Bling is everywhere, in many forms, but seldom do we take much note the ostentatious metal. Feast your eyes on these bizarre golden nuggets.

(thanks Andy)

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The Hellenistic philosophers devoted much speculation to the problem of winning human happiness. The pursuit of sex, love and satisfaction might have been far from their ideals, however the longing was still present, yet unrecognized by those around them.

The Epicureans believed that the key to happiness was the enjoyment of pleasure, although they did not advise the life of wine, women, and song that is today associated with the term 'Epicurean.'

(via Lauren)

Sea Lion Steals Man's Fish

On a fishing expedition near the Queen Charlotte Islands, this guy spends over 15 minutes reeling in a 35 pound Spring Salmon and just as he finally nets him and starts to pull it in the boat a sea lion jumps up and snags it away.

(thanks Cora)

How would you feel if you stepped on the scale in the morning and it always gave you a compliment? 'You're perfect,' 'you're gorgeous,' 'you're hot!'

You'll never have another bad scale day with a Yay! Scale. Thanks to the principles of quantum physics, a Yay! Scale never lies!

(via Neatorama)

Britain's most fattening burger, the Super Scooby, has gone on sale, containing more than a day's recommended total calories. The Super Scooby is loaded with four beef burgers, eight rashers of bacon, eight slices of cheese, 12 onion rings, heaps of salad and three sauces. At 2,645 calories, it exceeds the daily recommended limit for men by 145 calories.

The Super Scooby burger stands at six inches tall, has a circumference of 13 inches, and weighs in at 1.5kg - the same as a family-sized roast chicken. It also comes with an extra side portion of chips.

Birds On A Wire

From a photograph of birds on wires, musician Jarbas Agnelli composed a song.

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Unless you're very lucky, you're likely stuck in an office that has coffee somewhere between 'drinkable' and 'intestine-wrenching.' Office coffee is generally pretty awful. Purchasing a quality coffee machine, quality coffee, and orchestrating the two in any semblance of order is apparently quite low on the list of priorities for most managers.

These tips will help you take the 'stock' setup and make the most of it and provide alternatives if the stock setup is just too awful to even salvage. Use this guide to increase the quality of your office coffee experience.

Are women more emotionally aware than men? Why does your arm hurt during a heart attack? Could people who see fairies be telling the truth? Why are horror films scary? These are just some of the questions answered in a fascinating new book on the brain.

Written by Rita Carter, a leading science and medical writer, it provides extraordinary insights into the way our brains work - and why we behave and act in the ways we do.

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Are your dreams haunted by big, slippery sharks with dead-black eyes? When you see a body of water, do you instantly imagine razor-toothed monsters lurking below the surface, ready to take a delectable bite out of your arm or leg?

Then remember we're not on top of the menu when it comes to the shark diet, and when surfers or swimmers get attacked it's almost always an accident. Regardless, all sharks are to be treated with caution and lethal attacks do occur. The beaches that have a relatively high incidence of shark attacks are darkly compelling attractions that excite and repulse our deepest emotions.

The World's Top Shark Attack Beaches.

Thousands Of Snakes In The Narcisse Snake Pits

The Narcisse Snake Pits are located north of Narcisse, Manitoba, Canada. The dens are the winter home of tens of thousands of Red-sided Garter Snakes. These pits are the largest concentration in the world of this particular type of snake.

(thanks Cora)

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Woodblock printing emerged in China in 220 as a method for printing onto textiles and later paper. An image is carved into a wooden block 'in reverse': areas that appear white in the print are cut away and those that appear black, or a particular colour, are left at surface level. The wooden block is then stamped, rubbed or pressed onto a piece of textile or paper to create a detailed image.

The dragon is a common motif in much Chinese and Japanese art and dragons feature heavily in some of the most visually arresting woodblock prints.
Here are 10 woodblock prints of dragons.

(thanks Andy)

Our planet Earth has many strange and often beautiful places that retain the power to inspire and mystify. They remind us that even in this age of technical and technological marvels there are still amazing places to be discovered.

Khuan+Ktron is a fully equipped and fully staffed modern graphic studio, dedicated to the manufacturing of brightly colored - yet thematically somewhat eccentric - pictures of the floating world, info- and typographics, packaging designs, leaflets, brochures, pamphlets and books.

(via Everlasting Blort)

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The Saguaro cactus, found in Mexico, Arizona and some parts of California is a giant among its type, growing to the size of a tree. It also gets a number of house guests during its life time. The desert isn't a place that you might normally associate with teeming life, but our planet is full of surprises.

The saguaro manages to survive in extremely harsh climates and, wherever it lives animals are to be found. Some even manage to make the enormous cactus their home.

(via Robert-John)

Dumb Inventions

The 20th century saw many astounding technological innovations. The automobile revolutionized the way people live and work, the internet changed the way people think about information, and the USA put a man on the moon.

But some technological advances that came in the earlier part of the 20th centry weren't exactly meant for the history books. Because they were stupid.

(thanks Zachary)

88 Counties in Ohio, 88 keys on a piano. A musical map ensues. Click on the counties to play the piano. See what the geography of an example song excerpt looks like. Counties darken as they are played, and the red bullseye tracks the average location of counties (notes) in the song.

(thanks Cora)

Paintball Pop Art

(thanks Pierre)

So you finally bought a new computer and your old one sits in the corner and is collecting dust. That's too bad because there are a number of things you can do with an old computer.

Whether it's a desktop computer or a laptop, whether or not it's broken, and no matter how old it is, it can still be useful to you or someone else.

Top 10 Cool Uses For Old Computers And Laptops.

Dr. Evermore's Scrap Metal Park contains hundreds of creatures made from scrap metal. At the center of the park - located in Saulk City, USA, is the huge Foreverton Machine, made with 320 tones of scrap metal.

It is the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world. The massive structure is 6 stories high and made of scrap generators, thrusters, machine components and factory scrap.

These cameras are visually the strangest ever seen, and if you think the first one on the list is odd, just wait until you reach the bottom of the page. You'll be stunned.

(thanks Dave)

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Making art from folded paper is by no means a new idea. Origami has been an established art form in Japan since the early Heian period, which began in the year 794.

In recent decades however, artists have really explored paper's potential as an artistic medium, creating beautiful and often very intricate sculptures and installations from this natural substance.

(thanks Andy)

There are some things that are best avoided in the workplace and when that thing is work itself then the internet offers a multitude of distractions that will make those hours between nine and five disappear quickly and efficiently.

Why, you may even forget that you are at you desk at all. OK, possibly not but you will certainly waste some time with these sites.

(via Robert-John)

Lost Vegas

image credit Austin Hargrave

Lovebirds Steven and Kathryn share a well-organised home in bustling Las Vegas. They have a neat, if compact kitchen, a furnished living area, and a bedroom complete with double bed, wardrobe and bookshelf featuring a wide selection including a Frank Sinatra biography and Spanish phrase book. And they make their money in some of the biggest casinos in the world.

But their life is far from the ordinary. Because, along with hundreds of others, the couple are part of a secret community living in the dark and dirty underground flood tunnels below the famous strip.

(via Boing Boing)

Always wanted to be a demolition master? Now's your chace.
In Demolition City you have to place dynamite on some concrete buildings. Then hit Boom! Get the building rubble below the height marker to win.

(via Look At This...)

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Although abundantly dressed in hundreds of Gothic like blocks and layered with century old figures, this historical site does not fall short of mystery and intrigue.

The Old Jewish Cemetery located in Josefov in Prague was built in the 1400's. Many of the inhabitants of the burial grounds were residents in the ghetto like Jewish Quarter. They were segregated and forced to reside there under the strict institution of the Christian authorities.

(via Lauren)

Business in the front, party in the back. Guaranteed double-takes all around when you don this redneck style hairdo, spilling out from underneath the attached cap. It's yours for $10.98.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Can't You See I'm Busy is the only site where you can play games without your boss noticing. Let's face it; we all want to relax every now and then, but still want to appear professional or busy! That's why all the games at CantYouSeeImBusy.com are designed in a way that nobody can see that you're gaming.

Currently there are 3 games online: Breakdown, Leadership, and Cost Cutter. Can't You See I'm Busy is working hard (really, they are!) to develop new cool hidden games to make your workday bearable.

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The lizard that looks an awful lot like a certain superhero is in huge demand in pet shops. Fans of Peter Parker's erstwhile alter ego Spider-Man who also happen to be animal lovers have discovered their ideal pet.

Looking strangely like the comic and movie hero, step forward the Mwanza flat-headed rock agama.

(via Robert-John)

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: Flying the Jolly-Roger.

click on the picture for real size

Visit the Home Schooled Webcomic.

Truth, honesty and the deepest form of sincerity are close at hand with these Honesty Stamps. Stamps include:

In all my life I've never met anyone as beautiful as you
All I ask for is one last chance
I know in the past I've found it difficult to say these words but I Love You
I swear on my mother's grave I'll never do that again
I sincerely apologise for all the trouble I've caused

Barack Obama's Amazingly Consistent Smile

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Buildings shaped like food became hugely popular in the 1930s when the idea of road tripping was relatively new. Business owners along the Lincoln Highway, the first coast-to-coast highway in the U.S. were looking for a creative way to entice road trippers to stop for a bite.

Today, many of these structures are lovingly maintained, while others sit abandoned. Still, new ones occasionally pop up. So next time you're on a road trip, take some time to look out the window and smell the donuts, or the coffee, or the watermelons.

Tic Tic Tac Wafer's Keyboard

(thanks Cora)

The best camera, the saying goes, is the one you have with you. Whether that's an impressive iPhone 3GS or a $20-with-2-year-plan flip model, you can pull off great shots and make life easier with these cameraphone tactics.

A collection of the most colourful and endearing old school travel print ads out there. Travel ads of the fifties, sixties and seventies differ greatly from those of the noughties. While modern ads rely heavily on expert photography, those of yesteryear feature gorgeous Rockwellian paintings and detailed illustrations, not to mention beautiful typography.

They provide us with a glimpse into the past and an opportunity to see travel through the eyes of those that lived up to 50 years ago.

(thanks Andy)

One Chromosome Too Many - The Last Supper

There are many modern versions of Leonardo da Vinci's painting 'The Last Supper.' This sequence of 5 images, photographed by Russian Raoef Mamedov, portrays Jesus and his 12 disciples as 'sufferers' from Down syndrome.

This post is not meant to mock religion or disabled people. On the contrary, I think this is one of the most beautiful recreations of The Last Supper I have ever seen.

Goby is a new search engine that's all about finding fun ways to spend your free time, from a weekend to a week off. Whether you're looking for the perfect bed and breakfast for a romantic getaway, a fresh hiking trail to tackle, a cool new museum to visit with the kids or a live show to check out this weekend, create your next adventure with Goby.

Goby uses something called 'deep Web' technology to search carefully selected databases and other sources of information that are pre-qualified for relevance. Then Goby organizes your query results in a meaningful way instead of spitting back a series of web pages that happen to contain your key words.

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Much like biological cells, the tiny little blocks of Lego contain within them the potential to build so many things: medieval castles, space stations, pirate ships, and now... superheroes.

A toy builder named Angus MacClane has created tiny Lego versions of many of your favorite caped crusaders, and the results are impressive.

100 Greatest Hits Of YouTube In 4 Minutes

How many do you recognise?
The song is 'M.A.D' by Hadouken.

(thanks Pierre)

The Guardian newspaper has a collection of design images from the 1950s to today. See how airline attendants, corn flake packets, police cars, and Queen Elizabeth's hats have changed over time.

The Changing Face of Everyday Design.

(thanks Cora)

Children born in the winter months already have a few strikes against them. Study after study has shown that they test poorly, don't get as far in school, earn less, are less healthy, and don't live as long as children born at other times of year. Researchers have spent years documenting the effect and trying to understand it.

But economists Kasey Buckles and Daniel Hungerman at the University of Notre Dame may have uncovered an overlooked explanation for why season of birth matters. Their discovery challenges the validity of past research and highlights how seemingly safe assumptions economists make may overlook key causes of curious effects. And they came across it by accident.

(via Neatorama)

Fastest Time To Recite All 50 United States In Alphabetical Order While Being Hit In The Head With Wooden Spoons

It's a new world record. No, not the title above, although it's the longest title of a post ever to appear on The Presurfer.

The world record was set by Brian Pierce who recited all 50 U.S. states in alphabetical order in 21.20 seconds while being hit in the head with two wooden spoons.

The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator

Feeling inarticulate? Critically gauche? Or just verbally impotent? Salvation is here! With the Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator you need never again feel at a loss for pithy commentary or savvy 'insights.' With this device you can speak about Art with both authority and confidence.

Use this marvellous tool to amaze and confound friends and colleagues. Don't miss this opportunity to menace and dumbfound professors and artists emeriti! Here's an example of an Art Critique Phrase.

Honda Unicycle Launched As 'Indoor Segway'

Honda has unveiled an electric battery-powered personal transporter, a unicycle shaped like the number eight that riders steer by leaning in the direction they want to travel.

The 'U3-X' is the latest to join a growing number of futuristic transportation devices, such as the much bigger Segway. But while the Segway has been used outdoors and in big buildings, the Honda machine is small and light enough to use at home.

(thanks Jennifer

Lets say you are taking that once-in-a-lifetime helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, when suddenly a Red Flocked Booby smashes through the windshield, incapacitating your pilot.

If you, the non-pilot, find yourself in the unenviable position of being in a helicopter without a pilot, you're going to have to land. With some mental preparation and a whole lot of luck you may be able to pull this off.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the city of Detroit developed rapidly thanks to the automobile industry. Until the 50's, its population rose to almost 2 million people. Detroit was the 4th most important city in the United States. It was the dazzling symbol of the American Dream City with its monumental skyscrapers and fancy neighborhoods.

Increasing segregation and deindustrialization caused violent riots in 1967. The white middle-class exodus from the city accelerated and the suburbs grew. Firms and factories began to close or move to lower-wage states. Slowly, but inexorably downtown high-rise buildings emptied.

Nowadays, its splendid decaying monuments are, no less than the Pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum of Rome, or the Acropolis in Athens, remnants of the passing of a great civilization.

(thanks Harry)

4 Easy Steps To A Great First Date

(thanks Matt)

The 90's were a golden age of cartoons. Brainz put together the 20 best, their only criteria being that the cartoon had to start in the 90's, meaning a couple of very late in the decade entries were still eligible.

(via Neatorama)

A collection of Airline Logos.

(thanks Cora)

Nine

The Presurfer: September 24, 2000 - September 24, 2009.

We are nine today.

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Tilt-shift photography is a creative and unique type of photography in which the camera is manipulated so that a life-sized location or subject looks like a miniature-scale model.

Black and white tilt-shift images, which are surprisingly uncommon, have a classic, vintage quality that can be truly stunning. Here you'll find 30 of the best.

(thanks Andy)

related posts:
50 Examples Of Tilt-Shift Photography
TiltShift Maker

A Gömböc is a strange thing. It looks like an egg with sharp edges, and when you put it down it starts wriggling and rolling around with an apparent will of its own. Until quite recently, no-one knew whether Gömböcs even existed.

Even now, Gábor Domokos, one of their discoverers, reckons that in some sense they barely exists at all. So what are Gömböcs and what makes them special?

Lovely Listing shows odd finds in pictures put on the Internet by Real Estate companies. Like the one above. What's that holding the door? An alien, a deformed hand or a giant chicken infestation?

(thanks Mercurior)

The Environmental Impact of Cell Phones.

Riverdance Dog

Mini the dog dances for your sheer pleasure.

(thanks Wendy)

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Tenerife is home to an enormous amount of creativity, from the flower carpets of the Corpus Christi celebrations right through to world renowned architecture such as Santiago Calatrava's stunning Auditorio de Tenerife.

Another visual treat to be experienced, especially in the island's capital, Santa Cruz, is the enormous amount of unique street art on show throughout the year. Here is a relatively small selection of the urban artwork the area has to offer.

(thanks Dave)

PUMA Pitcrew Builds Ferrari Car Out Of Clothes

The PUMA Pitcrew really knows how to work their magic. Watch as they transform a Ferrari display into a motorsport masterpiece in 47 seconds flat.

(thanks Cora)

Among the chaos of the collapse of Hitler's empire in April 1945 the biggest heist in history took place. Gold bars, jewels and stolen foreign currency with an estimated worth of $3.34 billion vanished from the Reichsbank vaults, in Germany.

In the ensuing decades small quantities of this bounty have turned up in Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Spain and Sweden but the majority remains missing. Across the world search teams look for this missing treasure but after 60 years the bulk of this bounty still hasn't turned up.
So just where is Hitler’s missing gold?

(thanks Andy)

Pedaling Robot

Joules might be a robot, but that doesn't mean he can't enjoy a calming tandem bike ride with his creator, Carl. He's not dead weight, either - he actually pedals, thanks to a PMG-132 motor.

(via Crave)

Pictures printed in books published before the development of chemical photography were so much more significant than those printed today. In these pre-photographical times, pictures were essential for the recording and sharing of knowledge, whether scientific, geographical or cultural.

Because many pictures served the same purpose that photographs do today, they had to at least appear accurate. Pictures were, therefore, drawn with an astounding level of detail, which makes them a pleasure to behold to this day.

(thanks Andy)

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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Tuesday, September 22, 2009