A collection of the weird and funny.
The official red button appreciation page. It is better experienced than read. link.
Cat calls 911. A disabled man in Columbus, Ohio fell out of his wheelchair. His cat called 911 and alerted dispatchers. It seems that the man did train his cat in case of emergencies, so this is not a case of felines watching PSAs on TV and learning how to read. link to AP story.
SidewaysBike. This man invented a bicycle that is ridden sideways. Here's what he has to say about it (because I can't say it better):
... Left to Right balance is what people are most familiar with and is the primary balance used for riding a regular bicycle or indeed flying a plane. In the case of flying a plane there is a visual supplement to left to right balance provided by the observation of the horizon line. Front to Back balance has very little visual input and is the primary balance used in riding a surfboard, windsurfer and snowboard. Front to Back balance is a finer instrument than Left to Right balance and offers a greater degree of artistic feedback. This is evidenced by the difference between skiing and snowboarding. Skiing (Left to Right balance) is faster than Snowboarding (Front to Back balance); however people like to snowboard because of the greater artistic expression. Introducing a new bicycle invention by myself, Michael Killian. This bicycle is ridden sideways and is balanced by using human Front to Back balance.link.
Think twice before acting rude on plane. A passenger on a Monarch Airline flight was being rude to the remaining passengers and to the flight staff. The pilot got fed up and dumped him on a small island off West Africa. the Beeb has the story.
How (not) to build a Jacob's Ladder at home. I've taken computer monitors apart before, and have friends who took it apart to take advantage of the 26kV outputs of the cathode ray tube for fun physics experiments. But I am strongly against dumbing down the instructions to the point the uninitiated can seriously hurt themselves. That said, it is still rather cool and funny. link to Afrotech's computer monitor mod.
For all those Eureka moments. The "erasable shower note tablet" sounds like a tool necessary for all mathematicians. Heaven knows how many great advances in mathematics came with a good, steamy, morning shower. link to yahoo store of the object, which includes a waterproof crayon with the tablet.
Woman marries dolphin. "Good job!" I say to the British woman who married an Israeli dolphin. At least she managed to find a mate in one of the only two species on Earth smarter than the humans. It seems that not only does she not mind inter-species relationships, she is also rather acceptive of polyamorism. link to AP story.
Dolphin Games. Quote:
After years of studying dolphins at play, Kuczaj and his colleagues have reached some surprising conclusions: dolphin games show remarkable cooperation and creativity. Dolphins seem to deliberately make their games difficult, possibly in order to learn from them. And such pastimes may play a key role in the development of culture and in evolution--both among dolphins and other species, include humansI can't really write a summary to do the article justice, so I'll just link it. link.
Neuros CEO speaks out against A-Hole legislation. Congress is being pushed by them greedy bastards to pass a bill limiting usage of analog outputs of media players. If passed, it would seriously hinder legitimate uses of our televisions. Joe Born is writing an open letter to congress offering a perspective from a major media company, showing how the proposed legislation will actually harm players in the industry and, in effect, enforce by legislation an oligopoly, instead of doing what it purports of doing--combating copy-right infringement. Of course, what Joe decided not to mention is how the true intent of the *AAs are precisely to bar others from entering the playing field and stealing their "god given" profit margins. link to the open letter.
The Coconut Crab, possibly the largest arthropod on land. link.
One of the best concluding sentences ever. Deliberately losing sight of the forest when looking at the trees, I point you to the wonderful final sentence of this article on reptilian venom:
"And if you do happen to get bit by a Komodo dragon, you'll be able to be distracted from the effects of its venom by the fact that your arm is missing."The article is also very fascinating. link to article at Corante.
How to break Silly Putty. Silly Putty is a polymer, and thus doesn't really crystallize per se. It would, however, form a glassy state as the temperature is dropped--i.e. below a certain temperature, it would be hard, and possibly brittle. It turns out that some amorphous materials also have a rate dependence between the applied force and the viscoelastic properties. For example, slowly pulling Silly Putty will just get you longer and longer piece of putty, but holding the Putty down and hitting it with a hammer will shatter it like glass. For more information, see the link on Case Western's website.
Harry Eng and impossible objects. Harry Eng was a former minister and elementary school teacher. But he is most famous for getting things into bottles that can't possibly fit. He never cuts open the glass bottles nor blow the bottles around the objects. He always start with a standard, commercial bottle and squeezes stuff through the tiny opening, oftentimes deconstructing the object outside the bottle first, putting the bits in the bottle, and reassemble it much in the same way people build miniature ships in bottles. link to authentic Harry Eng puzzles and some other impossible objects.
She Won! Deborah Davis is a 50 y.o mother who lives and works in Denver. Sometime in September 2005, she was riding a bus to work, and a security guard got on the bus and demanded ID from everyone. Not having done anything wrong, she declined, and was arrested and charged with federal criminal misdemeanors. By December, the AG has decided not to prosecute, and she can now legally travel on the bus without showing her ID. The whole saga can be found here.