unique and interesting: January 2010

Sunday, January 31, 2010

I Think I'll Pass

Does anyone know where this is?

The legend of Leonardo da Vinci is shrouded in mystery. How did he die? Are the remains buried in a French chateau really those of the Renaissance master? Was the Mona Lisa a self-portrait in disguise?

A group of Italian scientists believes the key to solving those puzzles lies with the remains - and they say they are seeking permission from French authorities to dig up the body to conduct carbon and DNA testing.

If the skull is intact, the scientists can go to the heart of a question that has fascinated scholars and the public for centuries: the identity of the Mona Lisa. Recreating a virtual and then physical reconstruction of Leonardo's face, they
can compare it with the smiling face in the painting.

You have been preserving yourself for the right person, but nobody believes you? Now you can prove your virginity with your certificate!

Whether you are a virgin, feel like a virgin, or want to be a virgin again, getting a virginity certificate is probably the easiest way to go. Getting a certificate is easy and won't hurt your wallet.

image credit

Most of us now live in towns and cities and you might assume that these areas are fully mapped out and known to all. However, some places become unseen or out of bounds and, left to their own devices, become almost geographical blind spots.

Join us as some of these off-limits areas are infiltrated - with some startling photographic results.

(via Robert-John)

Rambler are a pair of sneakers that use the Twitter platform to literally microblog every step you take. A sensor embedded under the sole detects when the wearer is walking. This information is sent via bluetooth to a mobile phone that makes the postings on Twitter.

When the sensor detects a certain amount of pressure, the word 'step' is posted. When you're sitting at your computer tapping your feet, the word 'tap' is posted. Following these postings one can know if the wearer is walking or not and also predict his speed.

The Museum of Unintended Use collects pictures and stories about objects, and how people use them. Which is often not the way designers intended them to be used.

Unintended use is opening a bottle of beer with a cigarette lighter, using your mobile phone as a pocket light, or decorating your cherry tree with cd's to chase away birds. And much more, of course.

Home Schooled

Home Schooled is a comics series by American artist Ash Jackson and co-written 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, which started on May 16, 2005.

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: He's Too Damn Sophistamacated.

click on the picture for real size

Visit the Home Schooled Webcomic.

Sure, it feels fantastic to traverse the vast stretches of the best roads in the world via adrenaline pumping speeds. How about a complicated road, one that twists and turns, or has downright congested traffic, or unforgiving terrain? They might give you a headache, but it sure feels good when you've conquered them.

Here is a list of the world's most complicated and dangerous roads. Some of these mountain passes can be dangerous if not negotiated with utmost caution, while others are complicated sets of roads and bridges, erected to ensure a streamlined flow of traffic at busy junctions.

Chad Norman and his kids found a purple lego brick in their massive collection, and noted how rare it was. After doing a little research, they found out it IS quite rare.

image credit

Sunbeams are everywhere - yet when they are caught on camera they are often unwanted additions to a photograph. They cut swathes through the picture, chopping off heads and obscuring detail in a burst of light.

However, when they are deliberately captured the results can be nothing short of magical.

(via Robert-John)

Grand Canyon

Video of the beautiful Grand Canyon.
The music is 'Signs' by James Newton Howard.

(thanks Cora)

The bare human foot is better for running than one cushioned by sneakers. What about those $125 high-tech running shoes with 648 custom combinations? Toss 'em, according to Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University.

'Most people today think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts,' he says, 'but actually you can run barefoot on the world's hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain. It might be less injurious than the way some people run in shoes.'

A thousand-year-old temple complex (including a tomb with human sacrifice victims) has been found under the windswept dunes of northwestern Peru.

The discovery of the complex, excavated near the city of Chiclayo between 2006 and late 2009, has injected a dose of reality into the legend of Naylamp, the god who supposedly founded the pre-Inca Lambayeque civilization in the eighth century A.D., following the collapse of the Moche civilization.

Man Carried 9.4 Miles By Strangers In New York City

Comedian Mark Malkoff sets out to disprove the myth that New York is unfriendly by attempting to transport himself from the southern most end of Manhattan as far north possible only by having people on the street physically carry him along the way. He ended up being carried 9.4 miles by 155 different people.

(thanks Mark Malkoff)

A blog about putting weird things in coffee. These include eggs, bacon, peanut butter, blue chees, salmon, cake, and banana mocha.

(via Neatorama)

16 Things You (Probably) Never Knew About The Automobile.

The Ggantija Temples are two prehistoric temples on Gozo, the second-largest island in Malta. One of them is the oldest stone structure in the world, predating Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids by hundreds of years.

Containing statues of full-figured goddesses, the Ggantija temples were dedicated to the Great Earth Mother and probably included an oracle. The site was a place of pilgrimage for the ancient inhabitants of Malta.

Li Wenxing

Listen to the extraordinary voice of Li Wenxing, a 52 year-old music teacher from China who can sing across 6 octaves. He is practicing to break the record for the world's widest vocal range, a record currently held by America's Tim Storm.

A list of 100 cool science experiments on YouTube. It goes without saying that many of these videos contain procedures that may be dangerous to perform at home or without the proper equipment and/or training. Please do not duplicate any of these experiments unless assured that they are entirely safe for amateurs.

Nokia 'Green' Phone

The Nokia 'Green' Phone, designed by Chinese designer Daizi Zheng, is an eco-friendly phone. The concept is based on the idea of a pollution free environment by using bio-batteries. A bio-battery is friendly energy supply system which uses enzymes as a catalyst to generate electricity from carbohydrates (currently sugar).

In order to use the bio-battery as a power source for the phone all that is required is a small supply of a sugary drink. Once the battery dies only oxygen and water remains. Bio-batteries are fully biodegradable and have, on a single charge, a potential life-span three to four times longer than conventional lithium batteries.

Imagine having a stroke, a severe brain injury or a tumor and suddenly waking up one day to find you've developed artistic talents to rival Picasso. It sounds impossible, but the brain is a mysterious organ, and sometimes, damage causes it to rewire itself in ways that reveal new talents even in people who could barely doodle a stick figure.

From the engineer on disability who became a sought-after digital artist after a stroke to a woman whose dementia spurred remarkable creative output, here are 10 artists who were all transformed by neurological trauma or disorders.

The Sound Of Silence

Silence is something you assume you will always be able to find if you need it. All you have to do is drive far enough in the right direction, trek through quiet fields or woods, or dive into the sea's belly.

For true silence is not noiselessness. As audio ecologist Gordon Hempton defines it, silence is 'the complete absence of all audible mechanical vibrations, leaving only the sounds of nature at her most natural. Silence is the presence of everything, undisturbed.'

(thanks Mike)

image credit

You may be familiar with the Catacombs in Paris, France, which is a series of tunnels that are lined with over six million bodies from around the 12th century from the overcrowding of cemeteries during the rise of Christianity.

However, the Capela Dos Ossos in Evora, Portugal, was constructed around the 16th century, and the likeness and symbolism is uncanny. The Capela Dos Ossos is a macabre chapel built by Franciscan monks who believed that life could change in a moment, and they urged others to share in this contemplation during prayer.

(via Lauren)

J.D. Salinger, the famously reclusive author whose 1951 novel, 'The Catcher in the Rye,' became a touchstone for generations of readers, has died. He was 91. The author died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in New Hampshire, according to a family statement that his literary agent, Phyllis Westberg, provided Thursday.

Though he wrote more than 30 short stories and a handful of novellas - many published in The New Yorker and collected in works such as 'Nine Stories' and 'Seymour: An Introduction' - Salinger's fame rests on 'Catcher,' his only novel.

Robo-cat Missy may have used up most of her nine lives but now she is back on the prowl after becoming the world's first feline to have an artificial knee replacement.

Vets found her close to death after she was run over by a car, but she completed a miraculous recovery after undergoing pioneering new surgery to rebuild her limbs and fit a specially-made metal joint.

(thanks Cora)

Meetings With A Prophet

Silas Jackson, co-writer of the Home Schooled comic featured on this site, recently published a page on HubPages with a series of his short stories. Since Silas is a well respected contributor to The Presurfer I'm happy to send some traffic his way.

With the economy being so bad right now many people are making budget cut backs. Even though we may have less money it doesn't mean that our kids stop having birthdays or that we stop having anniversaries. It just means that we have to be more creative.

Have you ever looked at a cake that you've spent good money on from the bakery and wondered if you could do it at home cheaper? Not everyone can be a 5 star pastry chef over night, but there are some basic design tips that can help you create a one of a kind birthday cake that your child will love and remember forever because you made it yourself.

(thanks Roger)

Awesome Car Parking

Eugene Breynaert from Belgium who is 87 years old drives a small car just 57 inches wide. He parks it in his garage which is 61 inches wide. How? Take a look and be amazed.

The video has Dutch (the language they speak in that part of Belgium) commentary and subtitles but the pictures speak for themselves.

Baked Eggs In Bread Bowls.

Harvard academic Samuel Arbesman created a map which displays the vast and complex interconnections of the Milky Way in a familiar way.

Jewellery designer Robin Dahlberg and her friends have an annual tradition to celebrate New Years by having a game party. In honor of that, and the fact that their home is 100 years old this year, they designed 100 cupcakes.

Each with a different game. Amazingly intricate work. Can you guess the 100 games represented on the 100 cup cakes?

(thanks Cora)

Call Your G%$ D#@! Provider?

Guy Bauer of the Guy Bauer Half Hour, a weekly talk show from Chicago, was watching 'Malice' on-demand and this Starz trailer played before the movie. Guy thinks that 15 seconds into the video the voice-over said, 'Call Your G%$ D#@! Provider!' Listen for yourself!’

(thanks Guy Bauer)

Geekosystem

The mission of Geekosystem is to unite all of the tribes of geekdom under one common banner. There's a lot of overlap between the different families of geekery: the geeks who are into gadgets and computers are often one and the same as the geeks who are into comics, and sci-fi are often the same as the geeks who are fueling the culture of the Web, one forum or imageboard at a time.

As the site's name suggests, Geekosystem recognizes and celebrates these interconnections and the oft-overlooked personalities who hold it all together.

image credit

In the small town of Jelling in Denmark there is a site with two ancient burial mounds, a church, and two rune stones, otherwise know as the Jelling Stones. There are several different types of monuments or statues that represent a passing of an affluent person, or rather a stone that marks the actual burial site.

The Jelling Stones were a bit different and represented a completely new transition because they represent Pagan Nordic culture and they mark the shift from Nordic beliefs to Christianity.

(via Lauren)

Drinking fountains are another of those daily conveniences we take for granted and don't pay much attention to. But they haven't always been around, and they haven't always been so convenient.

Most fountains are pretty industrial in nature and design, but some are pretty neat looking, especially the ones dating pre 1900.

(thanks Nick)

Time-Lapse Video Of US Airways Flight 1549 As It Is Struggling To Stay Afloat

US Airways flight 1549 was a passenger flight from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, that, on January 15, 2009, was successfully ditched in the Hudson River adjacent to Manhattan six minutes after departing from LaGuardia Airport.

The Airbus A320 remained afloat, though partially submerged, and was quickly moored to a pier near the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan.

Egg Watchers was designed with hopes to banish forgetting, boredom, and bad cooking. You tell Egg Watchers how big your egg is, whether it's straight from the fridge or not, and how you want it cooked.

Egg Watchers tells how long it takes for your egg to be ready and starts a timer.

The Glass Tank consists of a bulb shaped container with the glass below. When the amount in the glass decreases, a constant amount is poured from the tank into the glass. The glass will never overflow because of air pressure and water pressure.

(thanks Cora)

Thinking Of The Past Or Future Causes Us To Sway Backward Or Forward

Although we can't technically travel through time, when we think of the past or the future we engage in a sort of mental time travel. This uniquely human ability to psychologically travel through time arguably sets us apart from other species.

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen have recently looked at how mental time travel is represented in the sensorimotor systems that regulate human movement. It turns out our perceptions of space and time are tightly coupled.

(via Boing Boing)

You Drive What? is here to show the rest of the world what you feel is an awesome ride. You decided to paint your car like a child's cereal character; you may find yourself on youdrivewhat.com. Did you turn you van into a convertible? Then this is your new home.

Oh, you glued 400 action figures on your car... guess where a photo of your creep-mobile will show up? At You Drive What? you will find a collection of all the hilarious, crazy, creepy, broken-down, beat-up, and utterly unbelievable cars, rides, whips, and whatever else people use to get from point A to point B.

(via Neatorama)

image credit

The Tomb of Kazanlak dates back to the fourth century B.C.E and is that of an important chieftain of the Odrysae Tribe. The Odrysae occupied the southern part of the Thracian territory, now central Bulgaria.

It's located 5 miles from Seuthopolis and was surprisingly discovered by accident. When excavation began in 1944, a tholos -a tomb shaped like a beehive - was discovered intricately decorated with murals of Hellenistic art.

Alex Queral is a Philadelphian sculptor best known for using old phone books to carve their pages into celebrities faces. Some of the celebrities he's made sculptures of include Barack Obama, Jack Nicholson, Frida Kahlo and John Goodman. The process takes at least a couple of weeks to complete.

Queral says that creating these portraits is a very tense process because it takes so long to do, and if you 'cut something away you can't get it back again.' Here are 20 unbelievable examples of his carvings.

A look at some innovative, bizarre and one-of-a-kind homes and what makes them stand out. The World's 18 Strangest Homes.

(thanks Linda)

Ukelele Boy

Five-year-old ukelele boy from Japan plays Obladi Oblada.

(thanks Peter)

Letters to Dead People is a blogging project by Celine Song.

These concept designs may not be on the market yet, but they can still inspire you to create something just as futuristic and exciting online. The designs may be impractical in some cases, but the idea is to put the concept out to the world to see how it evolves and grows.

Remember that these are all just conceptual, you can't buy them yet! Some may be closer to being produced than others, particularly when they come from a large company like Braun or Samsung. Otherwise, who knows if or when they will be available. Here you have 100 amazing futuristic design concepts that will make you crave more.

Add some gentle rain to your environment. Enhance your music, sleep better, and relax. Rainy Mood is a 30-minute high-quality loop that you can play with your favorite music simultaneously.

Kyle Franklin Air Show Comedy Act

Kyle Franklin is an airshow professional. He is the son of legendary airshow pilot Jimmy Franklin. Kyle has been performing in airshows for over 10 years has been around aviation his entire life.

Here he's seen at an air show routine where he plays a supposedly drunk guy who can't fly but steals an airplane and goes for a joyride.

(thanks Cora)

Peacocks are large birds of the genus Pavo, native to East Asia. There are two main species, the common (Pavo cristatus), and the Javanese (Pavo musticus) peacocks, both found in deep forest where they travel in small flocks. A third type, the Congo peacock, was discovered recently in Africa.

Here are some beautiful photos of peacocks.

Garbage cans, trash cans, wastebaskets, dumpsters, bins, whatever you call them, they hold our refuse, and for that we owe them our gratitude.
Here are 11 cool holders of filth.

(thanks Nick)

Cold Sheets? Hire A Human 'Bed-Warmer'

International hotel chain Holiday Inn is offering a trial human bed-warming service at three hotels in Britain this month. If requested, a willing staff-member will dress in an all-in-one fleece sleeper suit before slipping between the sheets.

The human bed-warmer is equipped with a thermometer to measure the bed's required temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit). Holiday Inn said the warmer would be fully dressed and leave the bed before the guest occupied it. They could not confirm if the warmer would shower first, but said hair would be covered.

Animal Mix-Up

What would an animal look like that was part guinea pig, part porcupine and part piranha? Here's your chance to create an animal never seen before. Make it silly, scary, slimy, slithery, stinky, or whatever.

With Animal Mix-Up I created this animal. I call him Bill.

Tricks To Improve Your Memory

Do you have trouble remembering where you left your car keys? Do you struggle to recall people's names? A study from Cambridge University suggests that regular aerobic exercise - such as jogging - can significantly boost memory by triggering the growth of grey matter in the brain.

But are there other things we can do to develop our brain cells? Yes, there are. Here are some tricks to improve your memory.

The English: Are They Human? Nuclear War: What's in It for You? The Bible Cure for Irritable Bowl Syndrome. These are titles of real books. Second hand books website Abe Books has opened a Weird Books Room, a celebration of everything that's bizarre, odd and downright weird in books.

Here's a collection of the strangest books in the English language.

Kitschy computer accessories may seem like the last on your list of desired purchases, but believe it or not, they're extremely popular. That said, there's got to be a reason for their pointless but ever-charming appeal.

From the Computer Rearview Mirror to the George Foreman USB iGrill, each of these curious computer accessories put the fun in functional.

The animated movie Madagascar - which featured a group of zoo animals hitching a boat ride to the African island - was not so far-fetched after all.
A new study claims the island's exotic wild mammals are descended from sea-faring ancestors who sailed from mainland Africa on natural rafts 50 million years ago.

Scientists say the prevailing currents at the time would have made the 300 mile trip not only possible, but relatively fast too.

Home Schooled

Home Schooled is a comics series by American artist Ash Jackson and co-written 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, which started on May 16, 2005.

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: Names Have Been Changed To Protect The Innocent

click on the picture for real size

Visit the Home Schooled Webcomic.

Forget the Segway. Leave that jet pack behind. NASA is working on a personal flying suit. Conceptual designs for the experimental vehicle, called Puffin, were introduced at a meeting of the American Helicopter Society in San Francisco.

The Puffin is designed to be 12 feet in length, with a total wingspan of 14 and a half feet; it would weigh in at 300 pounds. The pilot would actually step into the suit, which has a cockpit-like area and helicopter-style blades, allowing for high-altitude flying. Of course, the Puffin is just a theory at the moment. It might be best used for covert military missions or rescue operations.

image credit

Yemen has been in the news a great deal recently - because of its supposed links with the training of terrorists. Yet little attention has been paid to the country itself - particularly its rich and surprising architectural heritage.

So little known outside the country this remarkable architecture has survived hundreds of years. Take a look at the secret cities of Yemen.

(via Robert-John)

Avoid Surprises

A Mercedes-Benz advertisement.

(thanks Vincenzo)

Color Picker by Korean designer Jin-sun Park is a concept pen that can scan colors from anything around and instantly use the color for drawing. After placing the pen against an object, the user just presses the scan button.

The color is being detected by the color sensor and the RGB cartridge of the pen mixes the required inks to create the target color. With Color Picker, all range of artists will be able to create a more sensorial and visual insight of their surrounding nature's colors.

Pope Benedict told priests to learn to use new forms of communication to spread the gospel message. In his message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Communications, the Pope, who is 82 and known not to love computers or the Internet, acknowledged priests must make the most of the 'rich menu of options' offered by new technology.

When human measures for intelligence are applied to other species, dolphins come in just behind humans in brainpower, according to new research. Dolphins demonstrate skills and awareness previously thought to be present only in humans.

New MRI scans show that dolphin brains are four to five times larger for their body size when compared to another animal of similar size.

Potato Chips Hand

Japanese hand device meant to protect your fingers from getting greasy every time you eat chips.
More about this product.

(thanks Cora)

This mouse concept lets you maintain a clean desk while using the mouse, as it has a small vacuum hole near the optical sensor.

The USB Vacuum Mouse uses a small switch on its side to turn on and off the cleaning process and is quite an alternative to the traditional dust wiping.

Crazy faces.

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Sunday, January 31, 2010

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Monday, January 25, 2010

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Saturday, January 23, 2010