Minnie Pearl, George Jones, Statler Brothers, Jim Nabors

Minnie Pearl, George Jones, Statler Brothers, Jim Nabors. LINK: Youtube

Floating Cube in Center

Simple cube optical illusion where we see what looks like floating or levitation. LINK: Youtube

The United States Of Movies

A map where movies represent the US states. LINK: The Presurfer

Ministry: "(Everyday Is) Halloween"

1985: Pesco wore copious amounts of black eyeliner, Ministry's Al Jourgensen cultivated a faux English accent, and everyday was Halloween. LINK, Via: Youtube

Man Makes Tiny Guns out of Corn Stalks

83-year old Leo Clark makes tiny model guns out of corn stalks. Some of them feature moving parts and can be loaded with tiny cartridges, also made completely out of corn. They’re incredibly detailed, right down to the crosshairs in the scopes. You can watch a local news video about Clark at the link. Note that the news story appears to be at least three years old.

Video Link, Via: Everyday, No Days Off, Via: Neatorama

Fainting Goat Kittens - This is Sad

charlie and spike are two kittens with myotonia congenita, otherwise known as 'fainting goat' syndrome. at the slightest sound, the kittens respond by collapsing and falling into a rigid paralysis which lasts about a minute before they return to normal. This condition has hardly ever before been diagnosed in a cat, is rarely found in dogs and is more common in goats. The kittens are able to walk, but they cannot run or jump. aside from this they are normal. sad to report that the black and white kitten (spike) died on 27th october from respiratory failure. thanks for all the kind messages. comments enabled once again as duplicate videos are appearing. this is the original

"This is an "UPDATE" that they posted"
Sunday 31/10 - I'm devastated to report that Charlie (tabby cat ) died in my arms last night. we are in a state of shock and disbelief at this. During the short time we had them, both Charlie and Spike touched our lives in a way that we never expected. I had prepared a second film which I have now posted to you tube dedicated to their memory. thanks again for all the kind comments you have posted. Ed & Becky x

The music on this clip is Jeanne Newhall - Theme from "The Year of Living Dangerously"
track: French Cafe. LINK: Youtube

Batman - Chase Me (w/NIN's And All That Could Have Been)

Batman - Animated Skit "Chase Me" involving Batman Chasing Catwoman, Synced to Nine Inch Nails "And All That Could Have Been".
This Fan Video was thrown together by Ac1dFreak!
Batman Animation Is from Dc Comics/Warner Bros. Batman the Animated Series! LINK: Youtube

Paper Trails: Auto-Scrolling 1930s In-Car Analog GPS

The strange wrist-mounted scrolling map system of 1927 wasn’t the world’s last foray into analog GPS. This in-car navigation system sported a similar scrolling map setup, but with one notable difference: the map was actually wired to the car so that the map would scroll at a speed that matched the speed of the car’s movement.


Far from today’s GPS gadgets that track your movements from space, this 1932 invention required the driver to pull over and reload the map if he changed routes or turned. Still, it was a novel invention in a time when a huge map unfolded on the dashboard was the previously highest-tech navigation method available. LINK

3G Network Service Now Available on Mount Everest

Until recently, people in the Mount Everest area were restricted to satellite phones and a voice-only mobile network. But a Nepalese telecommunications company has now extended 3G wireless service to Mount Everest:

The coverage would reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, company head Pasi Koistinen, said.

He added that this had not been tested yet.

The 3G network will help climbers and trekkers stay in touch with their families and trip organisers, Mr Koistinen said.

It will also enable them to receive weather reports and safety information while they are climbing.

Link, Via: CrunchGear | Photo by Flickr user Rupert Taylor-Price used under Creative Commons license. Via: Neatorama

Human Aquarium

An amazing photo pieced together from 17 panoramic frames by Russian photographer Dmitriy Chistoprudov. The photo features 48 floors of a Russian office building called 'Federation' in Moscow City.
Posted by Gerard on 10/30/2010, Via: The Presurfer

The Best Video Games Right Now

Fall is here and the weather is slowly getting colder. What does that mean? It's time to stay inside, get warm and play some video games. Here are the best video games available right now.

Go to this LINK: Gizmodo to be able to review the games.

**Click on the game titles to read Kotaku's full review for each game**

Feather Art by Julie Thompson

Self-taught wildlife artist Julie Thompson uses feathers as canvases for her amazing art:

Julie began this artwork in the early 1990s, using feathers shed naturally by domesticated birds like peacocks and turkeys, but it was far from easy. Even a simple image can take a huge amount of painstaking work, and Julie says that on average, any single painting can involve as much as 18 hours worth of artwork.

See more at Environmental Graffiti: Link | Artist’s website, Via: Neatorama

A Model Day at Epcot - Exclusive Disney Parks Tilt-Shift Video

Epcot at Walt Disney World in Florida from a whole new perspective. The exclusive video first featured on The Disney Parks Blog was created from a series of photos snapped inside the park. Our celebration begins at Spaceship Earth and after a brief trip through Future World, shifts to some of out favorite World Showcase areas. LINK: Youtube

Wikileaks releases nearly 400,000 new secret Iraq docs, with help from news orgs

IMAGE: Each death noted in the Iraq war logs released today by Wikileaks is mapped with Google Maps, by the Guardian.


Wikileaks has just published The Iraq War Logs, described as "the largest classified military leak in history."

The 391,832 reports document the war and occupation in Iraq, from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2009 (except for the months of May 2004 and March 2009) as told by soldiers in the United States Army. Each is a 'SIGACT' or Significant Action in the war. They detail events as seen and heard by the US military troops on the ground in Iraq and are the first real glimpse into the secret history of the war that the United States government has been privy to throughout. The reports detail 109,032 deaths in Iraq, comprised of 66,081 'civilians'; 23,984 'enemy' (those labeled as insurgents); 15,196 'host nation' (Iraqi government forces) and 3,771 'friendly' (coalition forces). The majority of the deaths (66,000, over 60%) of these are civilian deaths.That is 31 civilians dying every day during the six year period.

The Guardian is among the first news orgs to publish analysis, and leads with the statement that the files show how the US turned a blind eye to torture in Iraq, and "expose serial abuse of detainees, 15,000 previously unknown deaths, and a full toll of Iraq's five years of carnage." LINK: Boingboing

Also more on this at the link above.

LimeWire Shuts Down After Losing Court Battle With The RIAA

The Gnutella-based download client LimeWire has ceased all its operations after a U.S. federal judge granted a request from the RIAA. Limewire was ordered to disable all functionalities in the current application to prevent users from sharing copyrighted material. The verdict is expected to have an unprecedented impact on the P2P file-sharing landscape.

A few months ago the RIAA asked a New York District Court to shut down the world’s most installed file-sharing application, LimeWire.

The record labels argued that the Gnutella-based download client might have caused billions of dollars in lost revenue and that it’s therefore one of the largest threats to the music industry’s revenue. Today, RIAA’s request was granted by a federal judge.

According to the injunction, Limewire “intentionally encouraged infringement” by Limewire users, it is used “overwhelmingly for infringement” and it knew about the “substantial infringement being committed” by its users.

The evidence further showed that Limewire marketed its application to Napster users and that its business model depends on mass copyright infringements.

The New York District Court demanded that Limewire shuts down its entire operation, including all searches and uploading and downloading that occurs through the client. LimeWire users who start up their client will immediately notice that it is no longer usable. LINK

C17 Air Drop: 4 Humvee's + 50 paratroopers

This looks freakin Awesome. Dropping off into the night like that, could be a scene from Star Wars, dropping off into space. LINK: Youtube

BBC Horizon 2010: What Happened Before the Big Bang

They are the biggest questions that science can possibly ask: where did everything in our universe come from? How did it all begin? For nearly a hundred years, we thought we had the answer: a big bang some 14 billion years ago.
But now some scientists believe that was not really the beginning. Our universe may have had a life before this violent moment of creation.
Horizon takes the ultimate trip into the unknown, to explore a dizzying world of cosmic bounces, rips and multiple universes, and finds out what happened before the big bang. This video is part one of six. More at the LINK: Youtube

Plock for iPhone

One of the most popular games on Facebook® is now available for iPhone® and iPod Touch®.Discover the exciting world of Plock featuring colorful blocks and special items. Break the blocks by matching two or more of the same color, or by exploding the bombs earned during the match.

Available on the iPhone App Store:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plock/...

Tips: * Break as many blocks as you can in each tap to earn more points. * Try to break the blocks as fast as you can to fill the bar and earn bombs. * Use the bombs to earn score multipliers. * Break 8 or more blocks together to make a PLOCK and win a score multiplier. LINK: Youtube

Rescued Baby Hummingbird

This is a baby hummingbird rescued after it was attacked. The song is "Better Together" by Jack Johnson. LINK: Youtube

Skull-A-Day vs Nine Inch Nails : 6 Ghosts I

( LINK: Youtube )

Created for the Nine Inch Nails Ghosts Film Festival http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYDUk0...

Pumpkin Anatomy Skull

"QUOTE From SKULLADAY" --- HAPPY (almost) HALLOWEEN everyone, I hope you have tons of spooky fun this holiday season. And of course if you make your own skull-y pumpkins definitely send us a picture! LINK: Skulladay

Knitted Skeleton

Ben Cuevas knitted a realistic human skeleton. He calls the project “Transcending the Material”, and made it while in an art collective called the Wassaic Project. There are eleven more pictures at the link. The level detail on the vertebrae is amazing.

Link, Via: Make | Photo by the artist, Via: Neatorama

Water buffalo race wows crowds in Thailand

The annual water buffalo race takes place in Chonburi, Thailand. LINK: Youtube

TETRIS Meets Sudoku! - Android Puzzle Game Drop7 - AppJudgment

This great puzzle game adds some great twists to the classic falling block puzzle. LINK: Youtube

Stephen Clarke Sets Pumpkin Carving Record

Guinness World Record Holder Stephen Clarke breaks record at Harrahs, Atlantic City.
On 10/29, Clarke set a new record for fastest time to transform a ton of pumpkins into Halloween jack-o-lanterns before an official Guinness World Records judge at Harrah's Resort in Atlantic City.
As seen on ACWeekly.com. Video by Lew Steiner. LINK: Youtube

Strange Arrangements: Beethoven With A Salsa Beat

This salsa-fied Beethoven video has been making the rounds lately — a very spicy arrangement of the opening movement of the Fifth Symphony.



Hovedøen Social Club & Kringkastingsorkesteret (KORK) in concert from Store Studio NRK, Oslo, Norway.
Sverre Indris Joner - piano & arrangements, Carlos del Puerto - bass, Eduardo Cedeño - congas, Tony Moreaux Charon - drums/timbales, Jose Alberto Varona - trumpet, Sergio Gonzalez - guiro, conductor- Lars Erik Gudim, concertmaster - Frode Larsen. LINK, Via: Youtube

BEST DNB BEATBOX

MASTA MIC from Russia. LINK: Youtube

"THIS DAY IN HISTORY"

"New York City Subway Opens"
UPDATED: 10/27/2010

At 2:35 on the afternoon of October 27, 1904, New York City Mayor George McClellan takes the controls on the inaugural run of the city's innovative new rapid transit system: the subway.

While London boasts the world's oldest underground train network (opened in 1863) and Boston built the first subway in the United States in 1897, the New York City subway soon became the largest American system. The first line, operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), traveled 9.1 miles through 28 stations. Running from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal in midtown, and then heading west along 42nd Street to Times Square, the line finished by zipping north, all the way to 145th Street and Broadway in Harlem. On opening day, Mayor McClellan so enjoyed his stint as engineer that he stayed at the controls all the way from City Hall to 103rd Street.

At 7 p.m. that evening, the subway opened to the general public, and more than 100,000 people paid a nickel each to take their first ride under Manhattan. IRT service expanded to the Bronx in 1905, to Brooklyn in 1908 and to Queens in 1915. Since 1968, the subway has been controlled by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA). The system now has 26 lines and 468 stations in operation; the longest line, the 8th Avenue "A" Express train, stretches more than 32 miles, from the northern tip of Manhattan to the far southeast corner of Queens.

Every day, some 4.5 million passengers take the subway in New York. With the exception of the PATH train connecting New York with New Jersey and some parts of Chicago's elevated train system, New York's subway is the only rapid transit system in the world that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No matter how crowded or dirty, the subway is one New York City institution few New Yorkers—or tourists—could do without. LINK, Video-Via: Youtube

BLOG UPDATE

Starting today I am going to be adding a weekly post of "This Day In History".. along with help from Arbyn in finding the posts.

Looking forward to posting some interesting stories for all you blog followers and visitors.

Armless Pianist Liu Wei - You're Beautiful (Winner of China's Got Talent Final 2010)

Lost his arms in an accident at age 10, Liu Wei from Beijing never gives up living strong. He managed to do everything with his feet and started to learn to play piano at age 19. His dream is to become a musician. He is now 22 and just won the China's Got Talent Show on Oct. 10, 2010. In the final, he played piano and sang the song "You Are Beautiful", perhaps his vocal is not the best render of this song, but the power and inspiration of his zest for life won him the final. Bravo! Liu Wei's motto is,"I have two options - I can die as fast as possible, or I can live a brilliant life. And I chose the latter." LINK: Youtube

Homemade Spacecraft

Video from a weather balloon that rose into the upper stratosphere and recorded the blackness of space. Visit brooklynspaceprogram.org to get the entire uncut voyage. LINK: Vimeo

Liars "Scissor"

Director: Andy Bruntel
Producer: Jett Steiger
Executive Producer: Lana Kim
Director of Photography: Eli Born
Production Design: Megan Fenton
Make-Up: Martha Dame Cary
Wardrobe: Jennifer Johnson & Martha Dame Cary
Editor: Ed Yonaitis
Camera Crew: Kevin Phillips & Matt Harfield
Sound Design: Mads Heldtberg
Boat Skipper: Andrew Calder
LINK: Vimeo

Octopus Escape

Talk about morphing—a 600-pound (272-kilogram) octopus shape-shifts itself to wriggle through a passageway the size of a quarter! LINK

14 Cool Computer Keyboard Mods and Designs

"Retro Keyboard Mod"
Cool keyboards have always been in the priority list of the geeks. As such, there have been innumerable creations varying in themes, designs, features and specifications. To add to the list is the retro keyboard mod. Although looking like a blend of the typewriter sculpture and the steampunk ergonomic keyboard, this keyboard has its own distinct design and concept. The classic side rails and the keys together form part of the perfect nostalgic keyboard in the list. LINK

45 Photos From Clever, Sometimes Unbelievable Perspectives

"The Mouse Won't Play"
Point of view of a mouse being dangerously stalked. Carved a hole in a cardboard box and put camera inside. The main difficulty was not the lighting (a couple of desk lamps set around the box), but getting Manly here to cooperate by luring him with a string going into the box (seen out of focus). Nikon D40 w/ 35mm f/1.8 Nikor lens. ISO 200, f/2 and 1/15" exposure. More photos at the link. LINK: Gizmodo
-Jorge Jimenez

"QUOTE from Gizmodo" Thanks to all those who risked lens and limb for this week's challenge. Be sure to admire all the entries in the gallery below (seriously, the highlighted photos barely do each week justice) or snag the full size shots on flickr. Also, remember that you can be photographing and submitting Fall Leaves.

Chris Berens new dreamlike paintings on photo paper

Amsterdam painter Chris Berens has a show of new work opening today at Seattle's Roq La Rue Gallery. Above, "Microcosmos," (mixed media on panel, 20" x 20"). Below, "Leap" (mixed media on panel, 18" x 18"). Berens's dreamy images have a decidedly Photoshop feel, but they are not digital. (I can tell by the paint drops?) Indeed, he prefers ink on photo paper to oil on canvas. All of the work is also viewable online. From Roq La Rue: LINK: Boingboing

Another painting and more on this painter at boingboing above.

World’s First Color Fax Machine – 1946 (Nov, 1947)

This is a pretty remarkable invention for it’s time. A color, plain paper, fax machine from 1946 that used colored pencils to print the output. The resulting image looks a lot like a printout from my first color inkjet printer. Sending a 7×10″ picture in full color took about 15 minutes, which seems pretty damn reasonable. LINK

More information at the link above.

BBC Life - Plants (On Location) in HD

David Attenborough explaining the challenges they had to face filming plants.
COPYRIGHT BBC. LINK: Youtube

Music video made from re-cut public domain science fiction B-movie

Noah from the Skull-a-Day project sez, " I thought you would enjoy this video I made for my new project, League of Space Pirates. It's a track from our recently released digital Hypertrophy EP and the video was made entirely with footage of the public domain film Assignment Outer Space which I got from Archive.org. I was interested in seeing if I could find enough footage within the film to carve out a new totally different story that related to the song."

League of Space Pirates - Constant Reminder (Thanks, Noah!). Via: Boingboing, Via: Youtube

Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill Becomes a Law

Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill becomes a law. Enjoy. LINK: Youtube

Frank Lloyd Wright Home Okemos, MI

Original Frank Lloyd Wright Home 1155 Wrightwind Okemos, MI. LINK: Youtube

The Geekiest LEGOs

(work by Andrew Lipson)
An endless variety of impressive models are made with tender-loving care (and frenzied mind activity) by the geek's army around the world - all based on a humble LEGO brick.

Some LEGO sets look almost impossible to build:
"M. C. Escher's Staircase" - LINK

The Rubik's Fix - Cubes, Spheres & More

Getting back to the biggest, but still talking about using the puzzle as the medium in incredible artistic creation, we come to the works of the aptly-named Cube Works Studio, who haven't just created cube-portraits of Marilyn, Warhol's famous tomato soup can, David Bowie, and Van Gogh's Starry Night, Chairman Mao, da Vinci's Last Supper, and many others but with their recreation of Michelangelo's Creation of Man they are now the Guinness Record holders for the largest artwork ever created using Rubik's Cubes. More pictures at the LINK.

Cardnetics Penny Shooter

Cardnetics (makers of the sold-out Cardapult) have increased your business card armory with the introduction of the Penny Shooter. This bad boy is a standard size (2″ x 3.5″) business card with added thickness to support the magazine. That’s right, this thing incorporates a ten penny clip to reduce reloading time and maximize effectiveness. With an effective range of approximately fifteen feet you will need to get in closer for the kill, but rubberbands, business cards, and pennies won’t draw the attention of anyone at the office. LINK, Via: Youtube
Finally, someone found a good use for pennies.

Have you ever seen anyone make iced tea like this

Have you ever seen anyone make iced tea like this. LINK: Youtube

The Bones of War: Haunting Skeleton Photography

When Francois Robert unexpectedly acquired a human skeleton in the 1990s, he knew he had to do something wonderful with it. Several years later when the economy collapsed and he found himself with time on his hands, Robert finally settled on a project: powerful anti-war images spelled out in human bones.

Bones, whether animal or human, always evoke powerful emotions. They represent death, loss, destruction, a sense of sad history. Francois Robert is no stranger to these images and emotions: he once spent five weeks photographing 140 animal skulls from the Field museum of Natural History. He’s always been fascinated by bones, so it’s no surprise that he spent all of 2008 rearranging them into evocative sculptures.

The project started when the photographer found an old educational skeleton in a locker purchased at a school auction. He displayed it in his studio for years but always wondered what else he could do with it. He eventually came up with the idea to take the skeleton apart and use the bones to create these unique and hauntingly beautiful works of art.

The series of photographs is entitled “Stop the Violence,” and it uses human bones as a reminder of the consequences of violence. Each sculpture is five to six feet wide and took Robert a full day to assemble. The images are all grippingly powerful: weapons, religious symbols and words that bring to mind the destruction that is left behind after war.

Many of us are shocked at the simple sight of human bones. The built-in emotional factor of the bones is only amplified by Robert’s arrangements. But the artist is always careful to maintain a sense of respect for the bones; this human on the floor of his studio is a very real reminder of what is left behind when a light is extinguished. More pictures at the LINK

First Photo Of A Human Being Ever?

"QUOTE" Back in September, we posted a set of old photos of Cincinnati daguerreotypes from 1848 where I caught a glimpse of two people at the Ohio River's edge. That would make them among the very first people ever to appear in a candid photograph. 1848 is a long time ago. They looked like a pair of men, one tall, the other short. They were standing with what looked like a bucket between them. I figured they were there to fetch some water. I then went on in my way to talk about cholera.

Well, an eagle-eyed reader who calls himself Hokumburg (and has a spectacular blog of his own, The Hokumburg Goombah) did his own investigation, enlarged our photo, and peered more closely:


And he wrote:

I have lightened it up a bit and messed with the contrast a little, and I think the man on the left is standing behind the wooden beam wall (wharf? dock?) with his left leg up on the wall and his left hand resting on his knee, while the man on the right is standing on top of that wall. LINK

Little L "Jamiroquai"

Some awesome music. LINK

Trippy Music Visual

Great Video. LINK: Youtube

(Wood carving) Maori (Wood carving)

Photographing Lyonel Grant carve the new house at Unitec. LINK: Youtube

Ronnie Milsap Live in Branson - Smokey Mountain Rain

Ronnie Milsap delivers on of his biggest hits live in Branson MO. LINK: Youtube

Ranger trainees catch and transport wild zebras in Africa

The trainee ranger team help to track, dart and administer antibiotics to an adult zebra on foot. Another exciting installment of Mission Africa, nature programme from BBC Worldwide. LINK: Youtube

Eddie Rabbit's "I Love A Rainy Night" with Lyrics

Eddie Rabbit's "I Love A Rainy Night" with Lyrics. LINK: Youtube

Polar bears and dogs playing

A strange relationship between dogs and bears.
Taken from the show "Jailed Polar Bear" on FirstScience.tv. LINK: Youtube

Jammin' Johns

If you’re into music, we mean REALLY into music, then you’ll get a kick out of this offbeat bathroom fixture. Jammin’ Johns toilet seats made by Marvin Maxwell who once created a guitar from a toilet lid realized the idea worked just as well in reverse. If you think you might want a guitar or piano toilet seat you’re in good company—the list of clientele includes Steven Spielberg, Willy Nelson and Dolly Parton! $169. LINK

Parallel of Time Clock

The Australian architectural firm Clarke Hopkins Clarke designed a clock called “Parallel of Time.” As the shapes move, the shorter hands indicate the hour and minutes:

Time is parallel. The speed of time (on earth) is indubitable but everyone’s perception of it is somehow different. Using multiple clocks and cables to create a number of parallelograms, a design is generated: the Parallel of Time. The parallelograms are interconnected, creating an optically illusory axonometric timepiece.

Mechanically speaking, since the hands on every clock (within the same time zone) produce the same angle, the lengths of the connecting cables remain constant as the clocks run. The hour and minute hands are positioned on either side of the glass to prevent cable collisions.

You can watch the clock in action at the first link. LINK: Clock Website

Explanation, Via: technabob, Via: Neatorama

The cartoons of Abner Dean

"Abner Dean (1910 – 1982), born Abner Epstein, was an American cartoonist who was the nephew of sculptor Jacob Epstein. In allegorical or surrealist situations, Dean often depicted extremes of human behavior amid grim, decaying urban settings or barren landscapes. His artwork prompted Clifton Fadiman to comment, 'His pictures are trick mirrors in which we catch sight of those absurd fragments of ourselves that we never see in the smooth glass of habit.'"

What Things Do, Jordan Crane's wonderful online comics site, has large reproductions from Abner Dean's brilliant 1947 book, What Am I Doing Here? Via: Boingboing

Smigly Cartoon: noise

Allen Mezquida writes, animates, and plays the music for his great cartoons, about a sensitive sad sack named Smigly. LINK: Boingboing

See more Smiglys here.

Jabba the Hutt Serenity Prayer Cross Stitch

"QUOTE" I’m at a loss to explain precisely why, but somehow this cross stitch featuring Jabba the Hutt, Princess Leia as his slave, and the Serenity Prayer makes perfect sense. It was made by Emily and Matt Fitzpatrick. Their website is filled with similar cross stitch samplers inspired by pop culture.

Link, and Etsy Store, Via: Urlesque, Via: Neatorama

Five Places Where Land is Free

Some communities need residents. Some need jobs. Some need development. In order to get those things, a few communities will give you free land! These small communities want you to build a house and make yourself at home.

Several small cities in rural Kansas will give you a land lot if you agree to fashion housing of at least 1,000 square feet on it. Mobile homes are welcome, and we’ll be sure to wave as yours flies by in the next tornado. If one lot isn’t large enough and you’d like to garden, the city of Marquette, Kansas would be pleased as punch to just give you a second lot adjacent to the first, also for free, says its website. These are developed lots, by the way — they already have water, sewer and electricity.

There are opportunities in Nebraska, Iowa, Maine, and Michigan as well. Link, -Thanks, Steven Johnson! Via: Neatorama

Would You be Shrink Wrapped for the Sake of Art?

Image Credit Flickr User centralasian

Lawrence Malstaf is an artist who makes unusual designs on his subjects, who he calls volunteers. He literally shrink wraps them. It may sound like an idea for a grisly death in the next big budget horror film but the intention is to encourage people to consider the threat to their survival and how they protect themselves when under threat.

The performance Shrink is one of those experiences that people are unlikely to forget – whether they are the observer or (particularly) the volunteer or indeed whether they get what the artist intends. The performers place themselves between two sheets of plastics – their only accompaniment is an air tube.

Next, the air is slowly drawn out of the gap between the sheets until they are effectively shrink wrapped. Their movements are heavily restricted by the plastic but slowly, painfully so perhaps, they are able to move and express themselves through a kind of slow motion dance.

It all looks as if it would have your average health and safety inspector rushing for the banning order, but there is an assistant who keeps an eye on his or her allotted performer. If there is any sign of danger or panic then the air is let back in to the plastic.

However, the results are unusual. The eye is inexorably drawn to the captive shapes slowly dancing in their prison of plastic. As a visual metaphor one can interpret it how one wants.

Most of the volunteers seem to be more than happy with the experience, comparing it to being back inside the womb. However, would you like to be shrink wrapped for the sake of art? Here is one of the volunteers speaking about his experience. LINK, Via: Youtube

Camero the Swiss Beatbox Master

Camero the human voice beatboxer master from Schaffhausen, Switzerland gave an exclusive Beatbox Battle TV interview in the swiss Alps in St.Gallen. He talked about his music experience and gave us some samples of his professional show skills. Camero won the titel Best Show on the Swiss Beatbox Battle and grows over the years into a serious musician on stage. LINK: Youtube

Dub FX 'Soothe Your Pain'

Dub FX 18/04/2009 'Soothe Your Pain'. LINK: Youtube

White Squirrel

Come Foraging with a Beautiful "White "Albino" Squirrel,chnaces of seeing one of these guys is 10,000 to 1,filmed Oct 14th 2010. LINK: Youtube

Man Tries to Build Telegraph from Scratch

Jamie O’Shea is a conceptual artist. We’ve previously featured his bed, which is designed to be used standing up. More recently, he became interested in the role of knowledge in developing our technological civilization. Is knowledge alone enough, or are we dependent upon tools made by others? To find out, O’Shea decided to build a telegraph completely from scratch — including the tools — using only what he found in a New Jersey forest. At the link, you can watch a video of his attempt.

Link, Via: Slashdot | Artist’s Website | Via: Neatorama

Cirrate Octopus

(YouTube link)

Combine a graceful sea creature in its natural environment with some ethereal music and you’ve got this video. From the YouTube link:

Making a rare appearance just in time for Halloween, this ghostly-looking orange cirrate octopus was recently observed by MBARI’s ROV Doc Ricketts swimming over the Taney Seamounts. These finned octopuses belong to an order of animals called Cirrata named for the presence of hair-like structures called ‘cirri’ which may aid these animals in the capture of food.

-Via: Boing Boing, Via: Neatorama

Bob Guccione, RIP

Bob Guccione, founder of much-loved and much-missed science fiction magazine Omni, died yesterday of cancer in a Plano, TX hospital.

Guccione also won fame as the producer of the classic seventies epic Caligula.

A Rolling Stone profile from 2004 is worth a revisit on this day: The Twilight of Bob Guccione. Via: Boingboing

If You Have Five Minutes, You Have to Watch This Awesome Animated Short

Salesman Pete and The Amazing Stone From Outer Space. If you have to watch a video during lunch at the office, this is it. It's pure animation bliss, with the most exquisite use of 3D.

The atmosphere, the pace, the action... and also the perfect rendering to make it look like pure airbrushed, hand-drawn 2D animation. Marc Bouyer, Max Loubaresse, and Anthony Vivien—as well as musician Cyrille Marchesseau and sound designer Mael Vignaux—should all get an Oscar and jobs at Pixar. [Salesmanbuck) Via: Gizmodo

Rock N Roller MultiCart R2 Micro

What is most useful and unique about this adaptable rolling cart is that it folds to a relatively compact size that anyone can easily fit into a normal car while being able to unfold and expand to carry a large number of boxes.

Being able to put into a long horizontal position allows the Rock N Roller carts to carry unusual loads that might not stack in a stable fashion on a typical upright dolly.

[Rock N Roller offer this same design in multiple sizes. They seem to be a favorite among touring musicians.--OH]

Rock N Roller Multicart Micro $99

Available from Amazon Comment on this at Cool Tools. Via: Boingboing

Steampunk halloween display at Screaming Mimi's in NYC

Boing Boing pal Joe Dolce sent them this photo (taken by his friend Jade Furtado) of this "steamin steam punk Halloween window" at the "best vintage shop in NYC, Screaming Mimi's" on Lafayette St. LINK: Boingboing

Sever’s Corn Maze in Shakopee, MN

Find your way through the Vikings Norseman at Sever’s Corn Maze in Shakopee, MN and you could win tickets to an upcoming Vikings game.

Sever's Corn Maze - America's Largest Corn Maze - Shakopee, Minnesota
www.severscornmaze.com

Join us for our 14th year of family fun. This year, Sever's Corn Maze and Fall Festival is proud to partner with the Minnesota Vikings 50th Season and we'll be giving away Vikings tickets each and every weekend throughout our season. So, Show Your Horns and be sure to make your way out to the Twin Cities original and America's largest corn maze.

THIS WEEK: We are open Thursday Oct. 21st through Sunday Oct. 24th. All shows and attractions will be open and operating each day. Hours are 11am - 6pm. The weather looks great, so come on out.

Barbara Billingsley, Beaver's TV Mom, Dies At 94

Barbara Billingsley, who gained supermom status for her gentle portrayal of June Cleaver, the warm, supportive mother of a pair of precocious boys in Leave It to Beaver, died Saturday. She was 94.

Billingsley, who had suffered from a rheumatoid disease, died at her home in Santa Monica, Calif., said family spokeswoman Judy Twersky.

When the show debuted in 1957, Jerry Mathers, who played Beaver, was 9, and Tony Dow, who portrayed Wally, was 12. Billingsley's character, the perfect stay-at-home 1950s mom, was always there to gently but firmly nurture both through the ups and downs of childhood.

Born Barbara Lillian Combes in Los Angeles on Dec. 22, 1915, she was raised by her mother after her parents divorced. She and her first husband, Glenn Billingsley, divorced when her sons were just 2 and 4.

Her second husband, director Roy Kellino, died of a heart attack after three years of marriage and just months before she landed the Leave It to Beaver role.

She married physician Bill Mortenson in 1959 and they remained wed until his death in 1981.

Survivors include her sons, three stepchildren and numerous grandchildren.

More on this story at the LINK.

World’s Most Expensive House Built

“India’s richest man, and Forbes’s fourth richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has built the world’s most expensive house in Mumbai. It is estimated to be worth $1 billion. The lavish building– named Antilia, after the mythical island– has 27 stories, is 567-feet high and has 37,000 square meters of floor space — more than the Palace of Versailles. It contains a health club with a gym and dance studio, at least one swimming pool, a ballroom, guestrooms, a variety of lounges and a 50-seater cinema. There are three helicopter pads on the roof and a car park for 160 vehicles on the ground floors. It’s obviously quite a job keeping all this running smoothly, so the house, if you can call it that, also boasts a staff of 600. And all this for just Ambani, his wife and their three children to enjoy.” LINK

The Frank Lloyd Wright Water Dome @ Florida Southern College

The Water Dome was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as part of Florida Southern College's "Child of the Sun" campus in Lakeland. It was constructed in the 1940s but was not completed as Wright envisioned until 2007. The Water Dome premiered on October 25, 2007. LINK: Youtube

Golden Pheasants Fighting

Golden Pheasants hissing and fighting at Kew Gardens, London England. LINK: Youtube

Leg Folding Knife

“Timber Wolf is proud to introduce its brand new rose turquoise and goldenrod bone handled family of knives. Each of these beautifully crafted knives features brilliant rose colored turquoise and goldenrod bone handle scales accented by elegant nickel silver accents and bolsters. Each knife has been laser serialized for increased collector’s value and offers high-quality 440 stainless steel blades. Leg Knife 3 3/8″ closed.” w/ photos. LINK

Amazing iPad Animations!

“5 static images on an iPad are brought to life by passing a transparent sheet with black lines over the screen. These animations use the same concept as my other videos. The only difference is, the images in this video are on a screen instead of printed on a piece of paper. Ever since I first created my first animated optical illusion years ago I have always wondered if the concept would work on a screen. Sure enough! It does. This took about a week to produce. Everything had to be absolutely exact for the effect to work. I used photoshop to created the 2D animations and Lightwave 3D to create the 3D animations.” — brusspup. LINK, Via: Youtube

World’s Most Expensive Monopoly Set

“The world’s most expensive incarnation of the Monopoly board game is headed to Wall Street. An 18-karat gold version of the famous Parker Brothers board game will be on display beginning Friday at the Museum of American Finance. The gold and jewel-encrusted Monopoly is estimated to be worth roughly $2 million. The set of dice alone is valued at $10,000, with 42 full-cut diamonds for the number dots. All of the properties that make up the game board are also set in gems, with some 165 gemstones in total. The ‘Chance’ and ‘Community Chest’ cards are photo-etched. The notion of creating a blinged-out version of the board game came about in 1988, when San Francisco jeweler Sidney Mobell heard about a Monopoly tournament taking place in London. He called Parker Brothers (now part of Hasbro Inc.) for permission and then set to work creating the golden game, working every day for a year straight.” w/ photos. LINK

'Happy Days' Dad Tom Bosley Dies At 83

Tom Bosley, whose long acting career was highlighted by his hugely popular role as the understanding father on television's nostalgic, top-rated 1970s comedy series Happy Days, died Tuesday. He was 83.

Bosley died of heart failure at a hospital near his Palm Springs, Calif., home. Bosley's agent, Sheryl Abrams, said he was also battling lung cancer.

TV Guide ranked Bosley's Happy Days character, Howard Cunningham, No. 9 on its list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time'' in 2004. The show debuted in 1974 and ran for 11 seasons.

After Happy Days ended, Bosley went on to a recurring role in Murder, She Wrote as Sheriff Amos Tucker. He also was the crime-solving priest in television's The Father Dowling Mysteries, which ran from 1989 to 1991. LINK

Spin Time Instead of Records On This Old Turntable

Etsy seller Pixelthis is doing a mean trade in clocks, some of which are the usual hard-drives you've seen before, but there are a few nice turntables too, like this subtle Sanyo and an ultra-retro 1960s one. [Etsy, Via: BB-Blog], Via: Gizmodo

Crazy Stop-Motion Video Made From Over 2,000 Lomo Film Photos and Super 8 Footage

This is one of those videos that'll make you feel all warm inside. Over 20 Lomographers (toy camera-shooting people) from London got together to create a stop-motion video, combining their various films and shots for what you can see here:

There's even some Super 8 video included, too! They all used LC-A+ cameras (which cost about $250 apiece), but different types of film, such as slide film which was later cross-processed, color negative and redscale for that gritty-yet-warm red negative look. Over 2,000 photos and two reels of 8mm film were shot to produce the video, which was shot all around central London. [Lomography], Via: Gizmodo, Via: Youtube