unique and interesting: June 2011

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Just Keep Practicing

Six-year-old Owen tells these words of wisdom after he learned to ride a bike for the first time.

YouTube link

Constant Dullaart is a Dutch visual artist who creates new modes of using the internet as a medium. He released a new Google website called thecensoredinternet.com which as the name implies, does just that, censoring the Google results.

(thanks Cora)

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A study of several 17th-century smoking pipes, including a number found in the garden of Shakespeare's home in England, has revealed traces of cannabis, according to South African scientists. Now a team of paleontologists want to dig him up to prove it.

Francis Thackeray, an anthropologist and director of the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, has made a formal request to the Church of England to unearth the playwright. After determining the identity of the remains, Thackeray's team hopes to find out more about Shakespeare's life and even the cause of his death.

(via Boing Boing)

iPhone5 With Blackberry

YouTube link

(via JustElite)

Mark Verge has been perfecting the art form for more than 16 years and has created a 39ft life-size replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex out of 1,400 balloons. It was just one of the sculptures made by the model-maker along with a triceratops, spinosaurus, stegasaurus and utahraptor for his show in Ontario, Canada. The Tyrannosaurus Rex took 55 hours to create.

Burning Bridges

Burning Bridges is a video by Harry Hanrahan showing bridge explosions in movies.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

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Strikes are renowned as the bane of governments and anybody who wants their garbage collected on time, and yet often are the only resort left to workers. They remain a divisive topic on both the left and the right, with their consequences having far-reaching implications.

Nobody, however, can doubt that strikes can be devastating, bringing the smooth machinery of the state and industry to a crashing halt. The ten most devastating strikes of the 20th century have inspired songs, derision and labor laws.

(thanks Ritu)

Fish With Human-Like Lips

A fish with human lips. I think it's a Malawi Cichlid but I'm not sure.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

Neatorama's Zombie Give-Away In Cooperation With The Presurfer

The Zombie Give-Away from our friends at Neatorama in cooperation with The Presurfer has ended. Through a True Random Number Service I picked 3 winners.

The refrigerator magnet is won by Larry.
The 2 doorstops go to Greg and Patty.
Winners have been informed by me via email.
Thank you for participating and I'm sorry if you didn't win. Better luck next time.

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Velocommerce is commerce that is dependent on the bicycle.

India is a fantastic place to observe velocommerce in action. The interesting thing about being on a bicycle is that it immediately frees you as an entrepreneur from the shackles of immovable real estate.

Velocommerce is all about the mobility of property, and it challenges notions of ownership and private capital. It is special because it exists at the intersection of entrepreneurship, mobility, sustainability, grassroots innovation, cultures, local economies and decentralized, last-mile service delivery.

(via Everlasting Blort)

This set of three coffee cups shaped like your favorite 3 keyboard keys is the perfect metaphor for taking a mental break from your computer.

(via Laughing Squid)

Cap 'n Hat Domino

Cap 'n Hat Domino by 'naturalbornvlogger' from the Netherlands.

YouTube link

(thanks Guy)

Tested on Top Gear by Clarkson's co-presenter Richard Hammond, the Marauder is a ten-ton military vehicle that the public can buy - if you have £300,000 ($480,000) to spare. Hammond conducted a series of tests to show just what it can do.

The presenter placed seven pounds of plastic explosive under the vehicle to see what damage it caused. The answer was very little. In fact the Marauder barely even had a scratch, with just a flat rear tire and damage to a piece of trim. Hammond also blasted through brick walls in Johannesburg without even slowing.

(via J-Walk Blog)

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Steel is cold, or so they say. But this material can become the most delicate ingredient in the hands of skilled artists, who turn it into special works of art. Take a journey into the world of art that requires steel as the main material.

Here are 10 extraordinary artists and their beautiful, extremely delicate, funny, real-life like, sometimes even ridiculous works and their visions as artists. Freedom of expression reflects itself perfectly in art, and you will see that even a 'cold' piece of steel can become beautifully animated.

Sagres, a Portugese brewery is promoting its new beer Sagres Preta Chocolate, a chocolate flavoured stout beer. Sagres decided the perfect way to launch it was also to create a website made of chocolate.

(thanks Cora)

Neatorama's Zombie Give-Away In Cooperation With The Presurfer

Our friends at Neatorama, in cooperation with The Presurfer, are giving away a refrigerator magnet shaped like a mix 'n match zombie, and two doorstops that look like squished zombies.
Want to know how you can win one? Last chance, the give-away ends tonight. Go here.

Dancing Motorbikes

At the circuit of Magny-Cours in France, during a round of the 2011 Road Racing Cup Promosport Championship, two riders crash and their bikes lock wheel bars and continue to pirouette on the ground.

YouTube link

Numerology is the study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs, some documented, some esoteric. Find out your Life Path number via The Virtual Numerologist.

I don't believe in numerology but curious as I am I decided to give it a go.
My Life Path number is 9.

The keys to the nature of a Life Path number 9 person are compassion, generosity, and a very humanitarian attitude. Usually this number produces an individual that is very trustworthy and honorable, and one unlikely to harbor any sort of prejudice. Obviously, this is a rather tall order, but you are, in fact, a person that feels very deeply for individuals less fortunate than yourself, and if you are in a position to help, you certainly will.

In 1998, when Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were headed to the Burning Man art festival, they designed a special logo featuring a simple stick figure to serve as their informal 'out-of-office' message.

Ever since, Google has 'doodled' their logo in honor of everything from artists to national holidays. Whether for John Lennon's birthday or a lunar eclipse, check out these Google Doodles.

(thanks Jessie)

Turkey's First Near Space Balloon Flight

It's a first for Turkey. The nation's first near space balloon flight. StratosphereFairEnough is a project about launching high altitude weather balloons to the space and recording videos with HD cameras attached to the payload.

YouTube link

(thanks Murat)

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I've covered this item before but the pictures keep amazing me. From the outside the Hindu temple of Karni Mata in the small town of Deshnoke in the Indian province of Rajasthan looks much like any other. Ornate and beautiful and with a steady stream of worshippers arriving it holds a surprise for the unsuspecting visitor. The temple is inhabited by rats: thousands of them.

(thanks Robert-John)

Now you can access The Very Best Of Coca Cola and take a virtual walk through 125 years of happiness in the Coca-Cola Archives.

(thanks Cora)

The Talks is a weekly updated online interview magazine. Over the past decade its founders Johannes Bonke and Sven Schumann have met with cultural figures of all kinds. New talks take place while traveling throughout the year. At the moment there are interviews with Mick Jagger, Patti Smith, Ewan McGregor, Sofia Coppola, Mike Tyson and Zac Posen, among others.

Neatorama's Zombie Give-Away In Cooperation With The Presurfer

The Oldest Motor Plant In The World

Video of the oldest motor plant in the world. It was founded in 1864 by Eugen Langen and August Otto. Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach worked here from 1876 in a management position. Now the building will be demolished to create space for a new cable factory.

Vimeo link

(via Nag on the Lake)

It seems that nowadays there's an Appreciation Society for everyone and everything.
Even for the Lowly Tinned Sardine.

(via J-Walk Blog)

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With the spring rain comes the time for the Juniper to flower. From a distance it looks as if the blooms are large and orange. Yet wait a minute. Doesn't the juniper produce cones and nuts?

On closer inspection, unease turns to horror. Large, alien looking, carroty gelatinous tentacles seem to have sprung up all over the tree. This is no precursor of alien invasion, however.
This is cedar apple rust. It is in fact a fungus.

(thanks Robert-John)

Melvin the Magical Mixed Media Machine is best described as a Rube Goldberg machine with a twist. Besides doing what Rube Goldberg's machines do best - performing a simple task as inefficiently as possible, often in the form of a chain reaction - Melvin has an identity.

Actually, the only purpose of this machine is promoting its own identity. Melvin the Machine was created by Dutch studio HEYHEYHEY.

How To Avoid Getting Hit By A Train

How to avoid getting hit by a train.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

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It looks as if these snakes are dancing with each other, perhaps in courtship but this graceful exhibition is anything but friendly. Most frequently witnessed in the diamondback species this is ruthless combat: both rattlers are male and they are engaging each other for the right to mate.

(thanks Robert-John)

The darkest substance known to man, the most toxic poison, the most radioactive substance, the hardest substance, the most super superfluid. Some of the most extreme substances.

(via Look At This...)

Neatorama's Zombie Give-Away In Cooperation With The Presurfer

Cymbal At 1,000 Frames Per Second

Explore the world of vibration at 1,000 frames per second.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

Doggelgänger

Doggelgänger is Human to Canine Pairing Software. In other words, how would you look like as a dog. Upload a picture of yourself and Doggelgänger will, through face recognition, present you the dog that looks the most like you.

Here's a picture of the dog that, according to Doggelgänger, looks most like me.

Kailash Singh from India is probably the world's smelliest man. He has refusing to wash for more than 37 years. Mr Singh has not bathed or cut his 6ft-long dreadlocks since 1974, shortly after he married. Explaining his unconventional decision, Mr Singh claimed a priest guaranteed him a much-prized son and heir if he followed the advice.

Despite neighbours joking the sweaty farmer would be lucky to persuade his wife to have any children at all, his religious guidance clearly failed - he has seven daughters.

(via J-Walk Blog)

Seagull Steals Camera

A seagull stole a camera from a YouTube user in Cannes, France. He had to climb a castle wall to get it back.

YouTube link

(thanks Mark)

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We can't all be beautiful. A series of photos of the world's ugliest animals.

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Typography is the art of selecting and spacing typefaces appropriate to the content of the material to be printed and to the ink and paper used, in order to produce a legible, aesthetically appealing printed piece. But there is so much more to it than that. It can mean different things depending on whom you ask.

Typography used in a design is deeply rooted in its overall theme, tone and message. It works with your layout, grid and color choice to create a well-rounded design. Your choice of typefaces and your technique of setting type give your composition its character, pace and style. Not only does it give the copy legibility, it also helps the reader gain a greater insight into the subject of the design.

Neatorama's Zombie Give-Away In Cooperation With The Presurfer

Last month I posted about the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's warning for a Zombie Apocalypse. You may laugh about that, but it could happen.

Yes, the Zombie invasion is in full swing and our friends at Neatorama, in cooperation with The Presurfer, are giving away a refrigerator magnet shaped like a mix 'n match zombie, and two doorstops that look like squished zombies.

Just go to the NeatoShop and take a look. Click on each zombie to see them in their gory detail. Then send me an email which one you would like to have. The Give-away runs from today until Tuesday night 12 o'clock GMT.

Here are the rules:

Go to the NeatoShop.
Look around and pick a zombie product.
Mail which product you want to webmaster@presurfer.com.
Give-away runs from Saturday June 25 until Tuesday evening June 28 12 o'clock GMT.
Winners will be picked by a True Random Number Service.
Winners will be contacted by me and asked for their postal address.
Neatorama will send the prizes directly to the winners.

Tribe On Papua New Guinea Meets White Man For The First Time

Incredible video of the Toulambi tribe on Papua New Guinea meeting a white man for the first time. This was filmed in 1976. It's a 15-minute video but it's worth watching it.

Are you addicted to a website? Do you want to cut down on your visits but don't know how? KeepMeOut can help. KeepMeOut creates custom, timed bookmarks that give it to you straight when you're visiting a site too frequently. To create a bookmark for your favorite time-sink, you simply plug in the site address and specify how long a period of time should elapse before KeepMeOut warns you against visiting it.

From there out, when you use the time-tracked bookmark, it will either allow you to pass through to the site or direct you to a reminder page that tells you how long it's been since your last visit.

(via Lifehacker)

For the first time an attack by a giant squid was captured on camera.

(via Digg)

PETSCII (PET Standard Code of Information Interchange), also known as CBM ASCII, is the variation of the ASCII character set used in Commodore Business Machines 8-bit home computers, starting with the PET from 1977 and including the VIC-20, C64, CBM-II, Plus/4, C16, C116 and C128. With the C-64 charset logo generator you can now make your own C64 logos.

Simply Noise generates noise that can help as a sleep aid, to enhance your privacy, block distractions, mask tinnitus, pacify children and pets, to increase your focus, and to melt away stress. You can adjust a sliding orb to the intensity of white noise (or pink noise and brown noise) that you like. There's also an oscillation orb that includes 3 different speed settings.

FishEyes: Watch Fish While You Catch'em

FishEyes features a waterproof video camera that transmits live footage of your fishing experience below the surface to a rod mounted monitor. The full color LCD screen allows for a vivid display of the underwater scenery so you can see if there are any fish waiting to take the bait!

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

Curved Yellow Fruit

Hey, Lenny! What was the name of this fruit again?
You know what? I'll just hang up this sign.

Today is Take Your Dog to Work Day. First celebrated in 1999, Take Your Dog To Work Day was created to celebrate the great companions dogs make and to encourage their adoption from humane societies, animal shelters and breed rescue clubs.

Today, businesses, animal shelters and pet-care professionals from around the world will work together to better the lives of shelter dogs everywhere. Thousands of businesses will open their doors to employees' furry, four-legged friends on this day in celebration of the great companions dogs make and to promote pet adoption.

Coffee: The Greatest Addiction Ever

YouTube link

A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light. But chandeliers are sometimes made from eating utensils, liquor bottles, paper clips, and yes, even humas bones.

21 Unique Chandeliers.

(thanks Nick)

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Why would anyone collect Nazi memorabilia? The problem with anything bearing a Nazi swastika, regardless of its historical value, is that most people find the symbol offensive. It was the banner of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, which was responsible for the slaughter of millions of people.

But for collectors like Kevin Mackey, Nazi memorabilia, particularly those bearing the swastika, are unambiguous reminders of this suffering. Though upsetting to many, Mackey believes these pieces have a place in any discussion of World War II. To obliterate the symbols of Nazi Germany, he says, would be to obliterate that period from our knowledge, and to forget what took place. We need to be aware of what caused Nazi Germany, what happened, and how much horror came to this world because of it.

(thanks Lisa)

Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Florida have announced the discovery of a bone fragment, approximately 13,000 years old, in Vero Beach in Florida, USA, with an incised image of a mammoth or mastodon. This engraving is the oldest and only known example of Ice Age art to depict a proboscidean (the order of animals with trunks) in the Americas.

The bone was discovered by James Kennedy, an avocational fossil hunter, who collected the bone and later while cleaning the bone, discovered the engraving.

The Oomphalapompatronium

Leonard Solomon has been performing his one-man variety show for over 25 years. He interprets the great musical classics on some of the most bizarre homemade instruments ever seen or heard. This is a short promo piece made by Gio Gaynor for one of Leonard Solomon's musical machines.

YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

While some people would find it unbearable to go anywhere near the edge of a cliff, these Chinese workers are building a 3ft-wide road made of wooden planks on the face of a mountain that's thousands of feet high. Once finished, it is hoped sightseers will flock to here to edge along and admire the views.

The 'road' - the width of a dinner table - they're assembling is on Shifou Mountain in Hunan Province and stands vertical at 90 degrees without any slopes or alcoves. What's more, these workers from China's eastern Jiangxi Province toil away on it with what appear to be few if any safety measures.

Do dogs really smile? Well no, not really. At least, not for the same reasons we do. However they sure do make us humans smile!

(thanks Sohail)

Underpants that come in a box like tissues.

One pair of Emergency Underpants is great but what if you have another emergency? These 4" tall boxes look a lot like tissue boxes, but instead of tissues they dispense underpants! If you want to be extra safe you should keep one by your bedside, one at work and one in the car. Each box contains five pairs of disposable unisex underpants that will fit most adults.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Voice Search With Google Chrome

You can now talk instead of type to search on Google All you need is Google Chrome 11 or higher and a built-in or attached microphone. It makes searching words you're not sure how to spell quicker and easier. You can search long queries just by talking.

YouTube link

Top 15 Oddities Of McCartney, Dylan And The Stones

In the 21st century, celebrity opinions hold influence on the media. The persona of a successful musician or actor is extremely powerful. Just imagine if you were able to capture that celebrity and use it for your own agenda. It is hard to comprehend the idea that Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan or Brian Jones were killed and replaced by a look-alike in the 1960s.

Top 15 Oddities Of McCartney, Dylan And The Stones.

(via Look At This...)

EDWARD (Electric Diwheel With Active Rotation Damping) is a human operated diwheel designed and built by students at the University of Adelaide, Australia. The dicycle can transport a single passenger at up to 24.8 miles per hour (40 km/h).

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It's one of the first hangers most visitors at the National Museum of the Air Force start with. You walk in and the feelings of nostalgia take hold, as you gaze upon the gravity defying aircraft that changed history. The delicate contours of the fabric frame the airplane like a painting and you wonder how perfection could ever be rivaled.

For those of us that weren't able to experience this time in history, seeing the slew of planes during the early years of flight up close, can be just as inspiring and quite overwhelming.

(thanks Lauren)

Painting On Water

Ebru Sanati is the traditional Turkish art of paper marbling. The patterns are the result of color floated on either plain water or a viscous solution known as size, and then carefully transferred to an absorbent surface, such as paper or fabric.

YouTube link

What would be the ideal 'personality' for a robotic vacuum cleaner? This is a perplexing question, since at the moment robotic vacuum cleaners tend to have little or no personality to speak of. Nevertheless, despite the challenges of future-gazing, it has recently been investigated by a research group in the The Netherlands.

Part of the study involved a group of human actors, who were asked to act like a robotic vacuum cleaner. Eight women and seven men watched a video of the robotic vacuum actors, and were asked to rate the displayed personality traits.

We have investigated what kind of personality is desired for a robotic vacuum cleaner and found that people prefer a calm, polite, and cooperative robot vacuum cleaner that works efficiently, systematically and likes routines.

(via J-Walk Blog)

An epic resource for pictures of historic fashions through the centuries.

(thanks Cora)

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Just when you thought the cupcake boom was over and you had finally resolved not to buy any more muffins the size of your head, along comes a new temptation. Yet you might, just might, find this one a little less calorific than those other coffee shop enticements if you have a measure of self control at least. This is the cake-pop or (to put it bluntly) it's a cake on a stick. And if it hasn't already, it's coming to a bakery or coffee shop near you soon.

(thanks Robert-John)

Sock Babies

Written and directed by Travis Kurtz, produced by Matin Atrushi and Travis Kurtz.

YouTube link

(thanks Matin)

Photographer Paul Ripke and art director Florian Schmucker made a series of photos featuring parents who have swapped heads with their children.

(via Laughing Squid)

American artist and designer created the 'Golden Gate', an electric camper pod. It's a light weight camper home on wheels made with a fiberglass shell. Inside is a toilet, stove, a table, a convertible bed and a water tank.

(via Waslijn)

Calorie counts on virtually every product you can buy, constant warnings about sodium levels and sugar - it's an age of constant reminders of healthy eating. America's latest food craze, however, sets the clock back a thousand years: deep fried Kool-Aid balls.

The drink beloved by generations of Americans now comes in snack form in the shape of crispy little balls that resemble tiny creatures from a Fifties horror B-movie. The Kool-Aid balls were created by chef Charlie Boghosian (the king of deep-fry) who quickly found his diabetes and obesity bombs are a massive hit.

(thanks Cora)

The Tennis Grunt

It has long been a source of irritation for opponents and tennis fans alike. But the infamous 'tennis grunt' could actually improve a player's game by enhancing the power of their strokes. New research claims that controlled grunting has physiological benefits by increasing core stability and strength.

Professor Alison McConnell of Brunel University said: By inhaling before the ball is hit then crying out at the moment of impact, a player's throat narrows, keeping some wind in the lungs to improve core strength and balance.

Here's a video of a match between Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova sharing their loudest points.

YouTube link

The Aluminum Facial Spa.

The Aluminum Facial Spa aims to provide you with steam in the comfort of your own home. The mask fits around your face, snugging the jaw and fastening around the back of the neck with a velcro strap. It is suggested that you use the Facial Spa for about 15 minutes at a time. Please note that the amount of time that you may sweat will likely vary.

Funny photography rules and useful advice created by Latvian photographer Ivars Gravlejs.

Yes Sir, your insanely large engine will be delivered shortly.

(thanks Cora, via Reddit)

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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Monday, June 27, 2011

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Friday, June 24, 2011

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tuesday, June 21, 2011