unique and interesting: February 2011

Monday, February 28, 2011

Time.is

With Time.is you can find out what the exact time is right now at any of 7 million locations around the world. Check the accuracy of your clock and compare time at different locations. You will also find a calendar, sunrise and sunset times, information about today's holidays and observances, latitudes and longitudes, population numbers, and key information about every country in the world.

Time.is is synchronized with an atomic clock - the most accurate time source in the world. The displayed time will normally have a precision of 0.02-0.10 seconds. The precision depends on your internet connection and how busy your computer is.

(thanks Cora)

Apache Dance

Daddy does the Apache Dance. He sure got the moves.

YouTube link

(via Look At This...)

Transportation and Product designer Jeremy Westerlund from Dallas, USA, designed an ultra luxurious limousine evoking the glamor and sophistication of chauffeur driven cars in the past that has since been lost.

This vehicle is about being seen, but at the same time being invisible or an 'Apparition' in the sense that you're safely tucked away in its palatial and private interior.

Jeremy Westerlund's website.

image credit

Before the dawn of the computer age, scientists who wished to record the amount of sunshine in any given place had to be inventive. A variety of sunshine recorders were invented, with the Campbell-Stokes Recorder quickly becoming the most popular. In fact many are still in use to this day.

It looks to modern eyes like a prop from the set of the latest Harry Potter film. It is quite easy to imagine Dumbledore fussing around the crystal ball at the center of the contraption. However, its roots are very much of this world - albeit the Victorian one.

(thanks Robert-John)

Space Shuttle Launch Viewed From An Airplane

Video of Thursday's liftoff, which software developer Neil Monday shot with his iPhone through the window of a commercial airplane flying out of Florida's Orlando International Airport.

YouTube link

More on Thursday's liftoff.

(thanks Mark)

The earliest ever version of the board game Monopoly has sold for a whopping £90,000 ($144,900). The set was one of 5,000 made in 1933 by Charles Darrow, the purported inventor of Monopoly, and is the only one to have survived to this day.

The dog-eared set is made out of a piece of oilcloth and is in the form of the original circular shape that is 33 inches in diameter.

(thanks Cora)

The mechanism that controls the internal 24-hour clock of all forms of life from human cells to algae has been identified by scientists.

Not only does the research provide important insight into health-related problems linked to individuals with disrupted clocks - such as pilots and shift workers - it also indicates that the 24-hour circadian clock found in human cells is the same as that found in algae and dates back millions of years to early life on Earth.

Animal Voice Overs

YouTube link

(via Neatorama)

Superette, a clothing store in New Zealand, is using plates installed on benches to imprint their ad onto the back of bare legs. The ad agency behind the campaign explains:

We put indented plates on bus stop, mall, and park benches, so that when people sat down, the message was imprinted on their thighs. This meant that as well as having branded seats, a veritable army of free media was created, with thousands of imprints being created and lasting up to an hour.

(via J-Walk Blog)

The careful selection of a catchy, memorable design - and the care and foresight with which it evolves over the years - is important for every kind of company. However, the passion with which some people approach cars makes their emblem design more crucial.

To separate fact from fiction concerning in the history of famous car companies, let's take a closer look at a few iconic brands that have stood the test of time.

Mudskippers

Fascinating video about mudskippers. Mudskippers are amphibious fish that can use their pectoral fins to walk on land. They are found in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions, including the Indo-Pacific and the Atlantic coast of Africa.

YouTube link

Most of us who watched Knight Rider as a kid expected that by 2011 we would be driving sleek, self-aware cars like KITT - cars that would take us seamlessly from A to B while cracking witty one-liners.

Though that future has not yet come to pass, things are starting to get exciting in the in-car technology space. Connected cars are hitting the consumer market in a price bracket that makes them a realistic option for many.

Hooked

Hooked by Character Matters Animation Studios. Producer Chris Schoultz.

Vimeo link

(thanks Cora)

Harness

An advertisement for the Royal Dutch Guide Dog Foundation.

YouTube link

(via Nag on the Lake)

The Cubix Dog Mansion by German company Best Friend's was designed to pay homage to the Bauhaus style. The raised roof and rectangular windows are nice architectural details, that will make any modern furniture lover's pet feel right at home. The Cubix Dog Mansion offers lots of light and room for small and big dogs.

Michael Oliveri, a digital media professor from the University of Georgia, likes to snap photos, but not with a camera most photographers use. He prefers the scanning electron microscope.

In his recent project 'Innerspace,' he explores the landscapes of nano-scale worlds where objects are up to 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Horses Save Milk Truck Stuck In Snow

Four big Amish horses come to the rescue of this milk truck stuck in the snow in Central Pennsylvania. Watch the mouse running for it's life in front of the horses at 0:23 seconds.

YouTube link

(Thanks Cora)

Angry Birds is a puzzle video game developed by Finland-based Rovio Mobile, in which players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playfield.

The Likability of Angry Birds.

The world's most famous landmarks created by combining hundreds of tourist photos into one. A work by swiss artist Corinne Vionnet. Look closely and you'll see dim shadows, vague silhouettes that aimlessly wander around. The picture above is from Kinderdijk, the Netherlands.

Corinne Vionnet's website.

Geese Jogging Down The Road

YouTube link)

(thanks Cora)

The Fuller Brush Company was founded January 1, 1906, by Alfred Carl Fuller, a businessman from Nova Scotia, Canada. The company began with door-to-door sales of brushes of various sorts. During the 1940s and 1950s, the ubiquitous Fuller Brush salesman became a cultural icon, inspiring comedy and jokes, movies, and at least one song.

These days, door-to-door selling is frowned upon. But in its heyday, door-to-door selling was a legitimate pursuit and many men (and a few women) made a good living at it. One of the more prolific door-to-door salesman was the Fuller Brush Man.

(via Everlasting Blort)

A lock is a section of a waterway, such as a canal, closed off with gates, in which vessels in transit are raised or lowered by raising or lowering the water level of that section. How does this work? Test it yourself! Just press the buttons from left to right.

(thanks Cora)

I believe the above picture is a good representation of how I use up my mornings.

image source

Cross-Eyed Opossum Heidi Predicts Oscars Winner

From the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show. Heidi the cross-eyed opossum picks the Oscar winner in the category best actress.

YouTube link

related posts:
Heidi, The Cross-Eyed Opossum

A new dinosaur with enormously powerful thigh muscles has been discovered in America. Scientists speculated that the muscles may have been used for kicking during fights over a mate or to ward off predators. The beast - named Brontomerus mcintoshi, or 'thunder-thighs' - was found in Utah by a team of British and American scientists.

The fossilised bones of two specimens - an adult and a juvenile - were rescued from a previously looted and damaged quarry in eastern Utah. Brontomerus mcintoshi is thought to have had the largest leg muscles of any dinosaur in the sauropod family.

A collection of ideas for apps and websites people are wishing for. Think of it like a suggestion box for the future of technology. The Internet Wishlist was launched by Amrit Richmond. To share your idea, just post on Twitter about an app or website that you would like to see built and include #theiwl in your tweet.

(via Laughing Squid)

The urge to inhabit high up places has been with us throughout the course of human history - tied up with a desire for protection from predators and the ability to see threats coming from afar.

Trees were obvious choices when our ancestors were selecting lofty locations in which to build house and home - but with such grand designs come natural risks. Living tens if not hundreds of feet above ground in a treehouse means it's a long, long way down should you happen to lose your footing.

(thanks Ritu)

Tall Painting

Directing, cinematography, and editing by Dave Kaufman. Painting by Holton Rower.

YouTube link

(via Everlasting Blort)

image credit

Ever wondered how much it would take to print your entire Twitter timeline? I'm not much of a Twitterer so the numbers are not very impressive, but nevertheless, to print my entire Twitter timeline it would cover 81,907 A4 pages. It would use 1.6 litres of ink. That's nearly 136 ink cartridges. It would cost about $3,709.

All the printed pages together would weigh 409.5 kg (902.7 pounds). Laid side-by-side, the paper would cover around 5.108.56 square meters (1.97 square miles). Stacked on top of each other, it'd be around 8.19 meters (26.8 feet) tall. Using a single inkjet printer it would take about 2 days, 5 hours, and 56 minutes to print.

Find out how much it would take to print your entire Twitter timeline.

(thanks Ritu)

Using Google Maps and crowdsourced data from around the world, Street Art View is an ever-changing site that lets visitors explore murals, stenciling, and other graffiti from countries around the globe, or suggest their own favorite pieces.

Jump from Canada to Spain to South Africa to Japan, all without leaving your desk. You can even search by artist, all the better to see just how far Banksy's reach has become.

(thanks Cora)

It crops up in our speech dozens of times every day, although it apparently means little. So how did the word 'OK' conquer the world? 'OK' is one of the most frequently used and recognised words in the world. It is also one of the oddest expressions ever invented. But this oddity may in large measure account for its popularity.

(via Look At This...)

image credit

It's an amazing site - a cone of vapor appearing around an aircraft which is travelling at transonic speed. Known as the Prandtl–Glauert Singularity this astonishing effect simultaneously widens the eyes and drops the jaw. Yet how does it occur?

(thanks Robert-John)

Flea Jump Mystery Solved

Forty-four years after the debate about how fleas jump began, researchers say they've solved the mystery thanks to high-speed cameras that show the insects pushing off with their toes rather than with their knees.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

Mr. Peanut is the advertising logo and mascot of Planters, an American snack-food company and division of Kraft Foods. Now, Mr. Peanut has a new car, the Nutmobile. The car is based on a 2011 Isuzu NPR diesel truck.

To promote the 'peanut lifestyle', the Nutmobile will appear at events to draw support for The Corps Network, a service and conservation agency that offers over 30,000 young people the chance to mobilize communities in projects that restore and maintain public and green spaces.

(via J-Walk Blog)

Comparing Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA).

(thanks Raul)

Justin Bieber's New Haircut

I understand that Justin Bieber is a 16-year old Canadian singer. I understand that one of the reasons he's famous is because of his hair style. And now, I understand, he changed his haircut. What I don't understand is why this is world news. But it must be important because:

* It was unveiled on television.
* All the hair that was cut was given to charity to auction.
* Because he changed his hair style, he lost 80,000 followers on Twitter.
* Headlines scream 'Justin Bieber shocked the world with his new haircut.'
* Justin Bieber caused hysteria among thousands of his fans.
* Google has realtime updates about Justin Bieber's new haircut.

Amazing custom steampunk chopper motorcycle, by Solifague Design, dubbed 'Black Widow.'

A map showing what some U.S. cities would be named if they had kept their original names. The names are not all correct. I don't know about most of the cities mentioned but I do know something about the original Dutch names.

Fort Goede Hoop is actually Fort Huys de Goede Hoop. It is now Hartford, Connecticut. New York wasn't called New Amsterdam but Nieuw Amsterdam. They also forgot some names like Fort Casimir which is now New Castle, Wiltwijck which is now Kingston, and
Swaanendael which is now Lewes, Delaware.

Cheap Air Conditioning On Bus

From India: Cheap air conditioning on bus.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

image credit

Wat Rong Khun is a contemporary unconventional buddhist and Hindu temple in Chiang Rai, Thailand. It was designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat. Wat Rong Khun is different from any other temple in Thailand, as its assembly hall is designed in white color with some use of white glass.

Visitors will find it rather bizarre to find modern images throughout this temple. Images of the Predator from the Hollywood film, Spiderman, Batman, Keanu Reeves' character in the Matrix, rocket ships, etc. Nowadays, Wat Rong Khun is still being constructed.

Amy Flurry and Nikki Salk from paper-cut-project have created a series of fantastic paper wigs.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Take a look around John F. Kennedy's Oval Office. Explore the President's desk. Objects that shine are interactive. Click on a highlighted object to learn more about its significance.

There are seven illuminated objects - a telephone, picture frame, campaign button, diary, secret taping button, a piece of scrimshaw from Kennedy's collection, and the coconut husk paperweight containing the rescue message that saved Kennedy and his PT-109 crew.

(thanks Cora)

People can be allergic to peanuts, wheat, mold. But some people have truly atypical allergies. Everything from water to exercise can trigger severe physical reactions.
Here are 10 of the most unusual allergies.

(thanks Jean)

The Smallest Aquarium In The World

The smallest aquarium in the world was made by Anatoly Konenko, who lives in the Siberian city of Omsk. A glass cube measuring 30 by 24 by 14 mm, complete with sand, multi-coloured stones and seaweed can contain 10 ml of water and play home to tiny fish. The mini-aquarium is equipped with a water purification filter.

I have nothing against an aquarium where the animals have enough space to swim around but I can't believe these tiny fish are feeling very comfortable in such a small space.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

The Salinas Grandes is a salt desert in the Córdoba and Santiago del Estero provinces of the Sierras de Córdoba in Argentina. It covers an area of 3,200 mi². It's of industrial importance for its sodium and potassium mines. Recently the salt flats have been explored for the lithium brine beneath its salt.

It's a beautiful landscape tp look at but the first impression is deceptive. The temperature in the Argentine salt desert can reach a temperature of 45 ºC (113 ºF) on some days.

Natsumi Hayashi is a Japanese woman who takes a picture every day of her levitating. It's really not levitating. It's jumping! There are also some pictures of a cat. The cat doesn't levitate. It just lies around.

(via J-Walk Blog)

Unofficial Star Wars Family Portraits by artist Steven Quinn.

(thanks Mark)

Cat Laser Bowling

All you need is a laser pointer, a towel, some cups, and a cat.

YouTube link

A new species of seahorse has been discovered more than fifteen years after the tiny specimen was put on display in a museum. The animal was caught in 1995 in waters off south-western Australia and taken to a local museum. But it went unnoticed until 2006 when a staff member realised it was unusual.

Scientists examined it closely and after performing a CT scan concluded it was a type of seahorse previously unknown to science. The animal, which is just a few millimetres long, is unlike any other variety because it doesn't have a dorsal fin. It has been named Hippocampus paradoxus.

Think you're overloaded with information? Not even close. A study that appeared in the February issue of Science Express calculated the world's total technological capacity. The researchers calculated that humankind is able to store at least 295 exabytes (a number with 20 zeroes in it) of information.

Put another way, if a single star is a bit of information, that's a galaxy of information for every person in the world. On two-way communications technology, such as cell phones, humankind shared 65 exabytes of information through telecommunications in 2007, the equivalent of every person in the world communicating the contents of six newspapers every day.

You like someone. They're in a relationship. Be the first to know when they're out of it. That's what it says on the Facebook Breakup Notifier site.

All you have to do is login with Facebook, choose the friends you're interested in who are taken, and get an email whenever the relationship status of your chosen friends changes. It's that easy. It's also a little creepy.

(thanks Cora)

Cranes

Kit Kat is the inspiration for taking a break in 'Cranes,' a TV advert from Advertising Agency JWT, London, featuring a group of crane drivers with fun on their mind. Five construction cranes are used during the site break to make a huge 'Newton’s Cradle' device with wrecking balls.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

He is head of the world's biggest family - and says he is 'blessed' to have his 39 wives. Ziona Chana also has 94 children, 14-daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren. They live in a 100-room, four storey house set amidst the hills of Baktwang village in the Indian state of Mizoram, where the wives sleep in giant communal dormitories.

The family is organised with almost military discipline, with the oldest wife Zathiangi organising her fellow partners to perform household chores such as cleaning, washing and preparing meals. One evening meal can see them pluck 30 chickens, peel 132lb of potatoes and boil up to 220lb of rice. Coincidentally, Mr Chana is also head of a sect that allows members to take as many wives as he wants.

(via J-Walk Blog)

Paint unique pieces of art from photos. Psykopaint is a new kind of online painting application where you can turn your pictures into paintings by grabbing one of 6 brushes provided and start painting on top of your image while the colors are selected automatically.

(thanks Cora)

Wooden USB memory sticks by Dutch designer studio OOOMS are always nice tot have around when transferring files from computer to computer. These sticks are made to stand out against its natural environment of computers and offices.

They are picked from the woods and are manually selected on their natural beauty, professionally handmade into unique and personal USB memory sticks.

Ford Model T - 100 Years Later

Wonderful and authentic pictures of the production line and some history of the grandfather of all cars.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

You might think fairy tales are for children. Not always! What would you say about a few sweet colors and some warm materials for a fairytale house with a wonderful architecture almost waiting for a Snow White to come out and greet you with a smile.

Happy Bouncing Dog

Presurfer reader Brian sent me this video of his dog getting really excited when he's about to eat dinner or go for a walk. He starts jumping up and down like he's on a pogo stick. It's set to Jarabe Tapatío (the Mexican Hat Dance).

YouTube link

Measuring a mouth-burning 1.17 million on the Scoville Scale (a measurement of the spicy heat of a chili pepper), this is the the hottest chilli in the world, and it was grown by accident in Lincolnshire, England.

Dubbed the 'Infinity Chilli' the fiery food has been tested by boffins who say it's considerably hotter than previous title holder, the Bhut Jolokia, from India.

It was grown by Nick Woods who runs 'Fire Foods' from his home and says one day he notices the crossbreed chilli in his greenhouse. Intrigued, he decided to sample it, but he soon regretted the move when a powerful burning sensation hit the back of his throat and was so strong he couldn't talk.

Rally Driver Sets New World Speed Record On Ice

Former rally world champion Juha Kankkunen has set a new world speed record on ice after driving at 205.48 mph (330.68 kph) on sheet ice off the coast of Finland. Kankkunen was driving a 6-litre, 12-cylinder, Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible.

YouTube link

British graphic designer Lydia Leith has created the 'Throne Up' bag - a barf bag for people who are already sick of the royal wedding coverage. The April 29 wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton has spawned a cottage industry of inappropriate souvenirs.

The bags come in red and blue and include a drawing of Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middleton along with the words, 'Royal Wedding Sick Bag' and 'Keep this handy on April 29.'

Various artistic and stylish sleeping positions demonstrated by cats and dogs.

Growing Is Forever

Growing is Forever by Jesse Rosten is a beautiful short film that is an ode to the Redwood forests of California, set to a poem by Kallie Markle.

Vimeo link

(via Laughing Squid)

YouTube is huge. More video content is uploaded to YouTube in a 60 day period than the three major U.S. television networks created in 60 years. The average YouTube user spends between 15 and 25 minutes a day on the site, but how much do we know about the world's largest video sharing website?

Do you know what the most watched YouTube clip is? Can you name all three founders? Do you know how many times per minute a YouTube link is tweeted? There is a ton of interesting data, info and stats to be learned about YouTube. Social media website Mashable delved deep to find 10 fascinating facts.

image credit

Colorado, San Isabel National Forest - the heart of what many call Cowboy Country. Yet stray of the beaten path and you come across Bishop castle - a 160-foot high structure that weighs in at an estimated 50 thousand tons.

Incredibly, it is the work of a single man - Jim Bishop. Strangely though, if you are a tourist to the state, you will not find a mention of Bishop Castle on any official brochure.

(thanks Robert-John)

7 Idiot Proof Tips For Driving Safely

image credit

Although it is terrifying to refer to one of the most dangerous daily tasks that adults perform as 'idiot proof,' the fact remains that not everyone with a driver's license is a good driver. Whether it is due to a lack of discipline, motor skills, or short attention spans, many motorists are distressingly inept.

If you have a hard time keeping your car out of accident reports, or are paying more for your car insurance than most people pay for their mortgages, these driving tips are for you.

The Great Banyan Tree

The Great Banyan Tree is a 250 year-old tree that covers about 14,500 square meters of land in the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanical Garden near Calcutta, making it the widest tree in the world. From a distance, the tree has the appearance of a forest but what appear to be individual trees are actually aerial roots, around 2,800 of them.

YouTube link

A car is an item of necessity and also luxury. But for many designers, cars are works of art where they can unleash their creativity and imagination. Extraordinary imagination has given rise to a number of crazy cars with weird designs in recent times.

Bollards are posts preventing vehicles from entering an area. Bollards of London is a site dedicated to those rather odd looking pavement objects you find in the most interesting of places.
Bollards have a history richer than most objects placed upon the pavement. Some of them even date back to to the earlier part of the 19th century.

(via b3ta)

They say that 'a picture is worth a thousand words,' but some photographs eschew any such numeric limitation and go on talking to us forever; certain photo portraits have that rare power.

Far more than pictorial representations of celebrated or instantly recognizable figures, they capture so much more, seeming to encapsulate not simply the very essence of the person in shot but all they have come to stand for - the attitudes, beliefs and values of an entire era. Here are ten photographs of iconic individuals which triumph in communicating in myriad and immeasurable ways.

(thanks Ritu)

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Monday, February 28, 2011

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Friday, February 25, 2011

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Monday, February 21, 2011

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Saturday, February 19, 2011