unique and interesting: May 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010

Pepsi Truck Crashes On Dallas North Tollway

Video provided by a North Texas Tollway Authority traffic camera shows a truck careening out of control after being hit by another car. Other vehicles were involved but no one was seriously injured.

Looking for a great gag gift? Has some one really pissed you off? Don't get mad, get even. Send that special some one a big stinky pile of poop.

Guaranteed anonymous. We will send your friend or enemy a healthy helping of some of the nastiest, stinkiest, fresh poop packages you have ever seen. We have several varieties of poop that we can send, including a special poop of the month.

Street Art Locator is a community Google map mashup mapping street art the world over. You can find all aspects of street art here from graffiti to the galleries that host lowbrow exhibitions and street art produced using more formal painting styles.

(thanks Cora)

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In August 1835 citizens in New York City received extraordinary news. According to New York Sun journalist Richard Adam Locke, the British astronomer Sir John Herschel had found proof of life on the moon. Using an enormously powerful telescope able to magnify objects 42,000 times, Sir John had distinguished a wide range of flora and fauna with astonishing clarity.

In just one area of the moon, the newspaper disclosed, he had observed 38 species of forest trees, twice that number of other plants, and different creatures, including small reindeer like animals, elks, moose, bears with horns, and beavers with no tails and only two feet. But, as you already figured out, in a bid to boost the declining circulation of the Sun, Locke had fabricated the entire story.

A beanie knitted in mustard yellow and dark gray stripes with a crocheted edge. The beard is hand crocheted onto the hat in brown. This hat fits most adult head sizes. It is one piece like a mask and fits snug to stay in place for any outdoor activities. It is made from soft 100% acrylic yarn for easy care.

(via Everlasting Blort)

A newly discovered five-ton dinosaur has the largest horns ever found on a dinosaur, with a set that were 4-feet-long each, according to paleontologists who unearthed the hefty herbivore in Mexico.

The name of the new species is Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna. In addition to the two enormous horns above each eye, it also had an unusual, rounded nose horn not seen before on any other dinosaur.

An infograph on what makes the ideal burger.

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The City of Bath, the historic city situated in the south west of England, is popular with tourists from all over the world. However the good citizens of this two thousand year old city woke up this week to be greeted by visitors of a completely different type - a different species altogether in fact.

The biggest outdoor art event the city has ever hosted sees a pride of one hundred lions take to the streets. You have surmised already though that these lions are not flesh and blood - they are life size individually decorated sculptures.

(thanks Robert-John)

Portrait Of Vincent Van Gogh

Twenty staffers arranged 2,700 polo shirts in 24 different colours to make a portrait of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. This was part of a campaign by Japanese apparel maker, Onward Kashiyama.

(thanks Cora)

Creative Minds Mimic Schizophrenia

Creativity is akin to insanity, say scientists from Sweden's Karolinska Institute, who have been studying how the mind works. Brain scans reveal striking similarities in the thought pathways of highly creative people and those with schizophrenia. Both groups lack important receptors used to filter and direct thought.

In some people, it leads to mental illness. But rather than a clear division, experts suspect a continuum, with some people having psychotic traits but few negative symptoms.

From the zany to the dangerous to the just plain dumb, TIME made a list (in no particular order) of some of the world's bright ideas that just didn't work out.

The Belly Of The Beast

Marvel at the incredible engineering that goes into aircraft landing gear.

(via Information Junk)

A collection of early 20th century travel posters for Japanese steamship companies (from the book Miwaku no Funatabi, published by the Museum of Maritime Science, 1993).

(via Everlasting Blort)

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Built just as the Cold War came to its end, the K Cooling Tower at Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a nuclear processing plant, was never much in demand. Finally this week the enormous structure crashed to the ground in a remarkable controlled implosion.

This was the second largest cooling tower to be consigned to oblivion by controlled destruction in the world, ever. The pictures do only little justice to the huge size of K Cooling Tower - it was 450 feet tall and 345 wide.

(thanks Robert-John)

The Last Secret Of The Moai

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For many years it has been supposed that the inland moai of Easter Island were simply those giant monoliths that did not make it to the coast. Either too heavy to move further or broken by the arduous journey using pulleys, they were simply abandoned.

A new team of academics from the United Kingdom have come up with an alternative suggestion - and perhaps the moai are finally to give up their last secret. The monoliths, it is now argued, played a pivotal role in the island's road system and were left in their places much more specifically than the old consensus ever suggested.

(thanks Robert-John)

Janey Cutler On Britain's Got Talent

Her name is Janey Cutler. She is 80 years old, the mother of 7, grandma of 13 and greatgrandmother of 4. She sings 'No Regrets' (Non, je ne regrette rien sung by Édith Piaf). Move over Susan Boyle!

(thanks Amanda)

How about making yourself into 80s pop star Adam Ant. It's simple. Just cut along the dotted line. Glue to the face. There you go: Adam Ant!

(via b3ta)

In computer science hacking is the use of a computer system without a specific, constructive purpose, or without proper authorization. Here's an infographic on the history of hacking.

(via Online MBA)

In the 12th century AD, guitars began to be used in Europe. Since then, they have evolved from basic acoustic versions, to electric guitars, and then into little pieces of art that often reflect the personality of the user.
Here are 25 unique guitars.

(thanks Nick)

Former child star Gary Coleman, who rose to fame as the wisecracking youngster Arnold Jackson on the TV sitcom 'Diff'rent Strokes' but grew up to grapple with a troubled adulthood, has died after suffering an intercranial hemorrhage. He was 42.

Can you tell whether a book is any good from its cover alone? Over 10 rounds, you will be shown two books. One will have a 5 star Amazon rating and one will have only 1 ½ stars or less.

Iron Baby

Why is someone whose name is Richard called Dick? Or why is Bill from William, Hank from Henry, Ted from Edward, Peggy from Margaret, or Sally from Sarah? Here's an explanation of the origin of some of the most common nicknames in the West.

(via Neatorama)

Was your weather forecaster wrong again? Told you it would be a sunny day while you actually should have brought an umbrella?
Learn how to forecast the weather yourself.

Foodiggity is blog by Presurfer reader Chris which he started in November last year. It's a food and lifestyle site and it provides a unique perspective on everything that is great about food and its relationship to lifestyle and culture.

Foodiggity will provide recipes with disregard for numbers, reviews without grades, and commentary on food-related trends and topics. All served with a heaping tablespoon of satire and liberal use of pop culture reference and corresponding YouTube video.

Google and Sony share the top spot in a study of the world's most reputable companies conducted by Reputation Institute. Disney, BMW, and Daimler round out the top five in a consumer survey that measured the reputations of 600 of the world's most prominent companies.

The study provides a first ever assessment of the global reputation landscape - the companies that are most liked, trusted, and respected by the general public across 24 countries.

Balloons And Dyson Air Multiplier Fans

The Dyson Air Multiplier was designed to replace the desktop or window fan. The Air Multiplier is intended to provide smoother airflow and operate in a safer manner than similar products. Dyson engineers were asked to show how inducement and entrainment of air works on the fan.

(thanks Cora)

A new Bart Bonte game called Klikwerk.
Remove all the items as quickly as possible by pointing, clicking, dragging, dropping and hitting the spacebar,as you are told...

Alcohol is the oldest and most widely used drug in the world. Millions of people consume alcohol each day - but when do you classify a person as addicted and what can it do to you when abused?

(via Medical Insurance)

With today's ultra-strict airport security, it's hard to imagine slipping a full-size bottle of shampoo past TSA officials, let alone 75 live snakes or 164 spiders - as some of the epic smugglers have tried.

Lured by promises of big bucks on the black market, many people risk heavy fines and jail time to illegally bring home exotic, often endangered, animals to sell. But there are the elite few who, thanks to the sheer amount of booty, shoddy transportation method or bizarre contraband, have topped the list for the strangest smugglers ever.

(thanks Jessie)

8 Hidden Paradise In The Desert Revealed

An oasis is a fertile tract of land that occurs in a desert wherever a permanent supply of fresh water is available. Oases vary in size from about 2.5 acres around small springs to vast areas of naturally watered or irrigated land.

Underground water sources account for most oases. Two-thirds of the population of the Sahara live in oases, where the date palm is the main source of food; the palm also provides shade for growing citrus fruits, figs, peaches, apricots, vegetables, and cereal grains.

The Horse Tailor is a company for horse, miniature horse, pony and rider apparel, accessories, gifts and costume shop. They specialize in designer costumes for special events such as Halloween and Christmas and many more.

Take this opportunity to dress yourself and your horse, pony or miniature horse in style. We have Fairy Princess Costumes, Witch Costumes, Chef Costumes and many, many more.

An infographic about farts?
Yes, an infographic about farts!

FedEx Golfing School Of Business

If you want to bring your 'A Game' on the golf course, you have to do your time in the locker room. Funny or Die spokesman Steve Tom explains.

(thanks Scarlett)

British scientist Dr Mark Gasson from from the University of Reading says he is the first man in the world to become infected with a computer virus. He contaminated a computer chip which was then inserted into his hand. The device, which enables him to pass through security doors and activate his mobile phone, is a sophisticated version of ID chips used to tag pets.

In trials, Dr Gasson showed that the chip was able to pass on the computer virus to external control systems. If other implanted chips had then connected to the system they too would have been corrupted, he said.

Dr Gasson admits that the test is a proof of principle but he thinks it has important implications for a future where medical devices such as pacemakers and cochlear implants become more sophisticated, and risk being contaminated by other human implants.

They just don't make lunchboxes like they used to - and it's a shame because the vintage ones are brilliant reminders of popular culture during the era from which they came.

Search Google and find a lunchbox, presumably from the 1950s, showing James Arness, gun drawn and atop a horse, from Gunsmoke. The 1960s are represented by The Munsters, The Beatles and Planet of the Apes; the 70s have The Dukes of Hazard; the 80s Pac-Man and Return of the Jedi; the 90s Dumb and Dumber; and the 2000s Wall-E and Kill Bill.

100+ Vintage Lunchboxes.

Wall Street has called the end of an era and the beginning of the next one: The most important technology product no longer sits on your desk but rather fits in your hand. The moment was marked yesterday when Apple, the maker of iPods, iPhones and iPads, shot past Microsoft, the computer software giant, to become the world's most valuable technology company.

This changing of the guard caps one of the most stunning turnarounds in business history for Apple, which had been given up for dead only a decade earlier.

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Civilizations developed on the flanks of volcanoes for the same reason an estimated 500 million people continue to live on them today: mineral-rich soil, geothermal energy, tourism opportunities and natural beauty.

Following the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland, and the 30th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, here's a list of the volcanoes which pose the biggest threat to people.

(thanks Jessie)

Hair Conditioner

An advertisement for Santander Rio, a banking business, directed by Jonathan Gurvit.

(thanks Cora)

A beautiful 3D underwater environment made with open-source Flash framework Papervision3D. It takes a while to load but it's worth it.

It's 'Be Nice to Nettles Week' - a chance for fans of the herbaceous perennial flowering plant to redress the balance of bad publicity. But apart from making children miserable, what have stinging nettles ever done for us? It's difficult to show a nettle much love. You can't touch it, for one thing.

For many children the stinging pain of their first nettle rash is also a gentle first lesson about the darker side of nature. We told you not to go charging into the bushes after that football. But the treacherous weed can be tamed and put to good use - so here are 10 reasons why nettles are worth nurturing.

The United States Grand Prix will return to the Formula 1 calendar in 2012 after a deal was struck for a race to be held in Austin, Texas.

Following weeks of speculation about the potential return of a race in America, Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone announced that the event will take place from 2012 to 2021 on a new purpose-built facility in Austin.

When Apple software engineer Gray Powell realized he'd lost a prototype of the super-secret, next-generation iPhone at a bar, he was probably pretty worried. But when he saw that tech site Gizmodo.com had gotten hold of the phone and written a story detailing its every feature, he most likely started searching the want ads.

While it appears Apple may have mercy on Powell and spare him the unemployment line, he will always be remembered for making one of the biggest employee blunders of all time. To make Powell feel a little better, here's a list of epic workplace mistakes.

(thanks Jessie)

Made By Cows Since 1886

The Anchor Butter company is running 'Made by Cows,' an integrated advertising campaign in the UK promoting their 100% fresh milk butter products. Frisian cows oversee the manufacture of butter in a factory, accompanied by a countrified version of Paradise City by Guns 'n' Roses.

The video introduces us to Doreen the quality controller, Linda, head of dispatch, Olive, distribution manager, and Gloria, head churner.

(thanks Cora)

Most people think Twitter was 'created' in 2006. These are 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. Historical Tweets proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Keep clicking 'random' at the top.

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Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It is used primarily in photography, filmmaking and architecture. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera.

Here are 35 examples of Forced Perspective Photography.

The Pac-Man game Google put on its home page gobbled up almost five million hours of work time, suggests a study. The playable version of the classic video game was put on Google's front page on 21 May to celebrate 30 years since the launch of Pac-Man in Japan. How Google's Pac-Man logo ruined millions of dollars in productivity.

Google Pac-Man consumed 4,819,352 hours of time (beyond the 33.6m daily man hours of attention that Google Search gets in a given day). $120,483,800 is the dollar tally, if the average Google user has a cost of $25/hr.

Towel Day

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Today is Towel Day. Towel Day is celebrated every 25 May as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams. On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their love for the books and the author, as referenced in Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The original quote that referenced the greatness of towels is found in Chapter 3 of Adams' work The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors...

A world map color-coded by level of touristiness, based on analysis of photos on Panoramio, a geolocation-oriented photo sharing website.

Yellow indicates high touristiness, red medium touristiness, and blue low touristiness. Areas having no Panoramio photos at all are grey.

(via J-Walk Blog)

Kung Fu Bear

Cloud, a bear at the Hiroshima Zoo in Japan, knows his kung fu.

(via Miss Cellania)

Top 40 Useful Sites To Learn New Skills

The web is a powerful resource that can easily help you learn new skills.
You just have to know where to look. Here are the top 40 sites to learn something new.

A competitor at Music Hack Day made The Swinger, a bit of code that takes any song and makes it swing. It does this be taking each beat and time-stretching the first half of each beat while time-shrinking the second half.

(via Urlesque)

The Times Online has a great article about the first bare-knuckle world heavyweight contest. On April 18, 1860, the British heavyweight boxing champion, Tom Sayers, met T. J. Heenan of the USA in what was to be the first world heavyweight contest, and the last of the brutal bare-knuckle bouts under the rules of the Prize Ring.

The fight went to 42 rounds and lasted nearly two and a half hours. Each round ended only when there was a knock-down, with some dragging on, blow by vicious blow, for as long as 20 minutes. Sayers, at 5ft 8in, was six inches shorter than his opponent, and stones lighter. His right arm was thought to have been broken half way through the fight, but he fought on one-handed, and managed to blind Heenan with some deadly left-handed punches.

Breakfast At Ginger's

I know. It's a silly video, but it made me laugh.

(thanks Brian)

Featuring a roof-mounted racetrack outside and 56 separate bars inside, the 708,661 square-foot Autopia Europia in Istanbul, Turkey, will be the largest car dealership in the world. It's currently under construction, but here's a peek at the automotive wonder.

(thanks Cora)

Want to construct a building, but don't have much room? No problem. Like tight, confined, air crushing places? Perfect. Tired of having too much personal space? Fantastic. Here are 16 very thin buildings.

(thanks Nick)

Geely To Build Car Cheaper Than Tata Nano

India's Tata Motors has milked the Nano minicar's 'most affordable' status for a ton of press, but it might soon hand the title belt over to a new challenger. Geely from China reportedly got its own ultra-frugal compact in the works for 2010.

Called the Geely IG, it's expected to bring a $2,250 price tag and a 1.0-liter, 70 horsepower motor to the party.

The Atlantic examined the finances of all American presidents and calculated the net worth figures for each in 2010 dollars. Taken into account were hard assets like land, estimated lifetime savings based on work history, inheritance, homes, and money paid for services.

One of the most important conclusions of this analysis is that the presidency has little to do with wealth. Several brought huge net worths to the job. Many lost most of their fortunes after leaving office. Some never had any money at all.

The Pesky Fly

Can you live without the Internet? I know I could, because I grew up with the Internet so I know how life was before the Web. And it wasn't that bad. But if you're young and you feel like the Internet has always been there, I guess it's a little more difficult.

Students from the Center for Cartoon Studies, all in their 20s, describe their relationship with the Internet in comics.

Fishermen have been frantically dragging a lake in Canada where the corpse of a bizarre looking animal was discovered. But days of search party expeditions in Kitchenuhmaykoosib, northern Ontario, have so far proved fruitless with local residents failing to unearth the body of the mystery creature.

The strange animal has generated worldwide interest after local authorities last week released a series of photos of it taken by the two nurses who made the find.

How many times have you seen a celebrity's death report on television or the Internet and thought to yourself, 'I thought he (or she) was already dead?' Or maybe you've told a friend or family member that a certain celebrity is dead, only to find out he or she is still alive?

How do you think that feels - to be a celebrity that's so low on the celebrity hierarchy totem pole, people don't even know you're alive? These types of rumors can even jump-start a stalled career (just look at Betty White!) Usually, though, it's a sad state of affairs if you're popular for being dead but you're not.

Karachay Logging Trucks

Nothing can stop these trucks.

(thanks Cora)

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Proponents, such as those identifying with the barefoot movement, argue that barefoot running is healthier for feet and reduces risk of chronic injuries, notably repetitive stress injuries due to the impact of heel striking in padded running shoes, in addition to other purported benefits.

These health claims of barefoot running are supported by some research and advocated by some authorities, but the research is not conclusive or widely accepted in the medical community. Barefoot running is not generally advocated by medical or sports organizations, who, in the main, recommend that suitable padded running shoes be worn, with particular consideration to foot type.

If you want to give barefoot running a try, or want to know more about this, zenhabits has a Complete Beginner's Guide To Barefoot Running.

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.

There will be no Home Schooled cartoons for the coming weeks. Ash is taking the month of June off because of his full schedule of caricature gigs.

World's Largest Airship Inflated For The First Time

The first inflation of the E-Greens Bullet 580 Airship occurred at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Alabama, on Monday, May 17, 2010. Test flights will begin in early summer, 2010. All the action in this 2-minute video took 6 hours in real life.

(via Boing Boing)

While we humans carry on with our daily lives down here on Earth, perhaps stuck in traffic or reading blogs, or just enjoying a Springtime stroll, a school-bus-sized spacecraft called Cassini continues to gather data and images for us - 870 million miles away.

Over the past months, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has made several close flybys of Saturn's moons, caught the Sun's reflection glinting off a lake on Titan, and has brought us even more tantalizing images of ongoing cryovolcanism on Enceladus.

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Monday, May 31, 2010

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Friday, May 28, 2010

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Monday, May 24, 2010

Sunday, May 23, 2010