Assuming you have any left over from your weekend debauchery, there are a few good ways to put your booze to use. Ways that won't result in arrest or texting your ex at 3am. (You really shouldn't do that.) From moisturizer to deodorizer, alcohol has at least ten alternative applications, all of which are arguably better than its intended use. Link | Image
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The Future hasn't yet made good on that promise of hoverboards, but we do now have the capability to create new blood vessels quickly, thanks to 3D printing and some innovative techniques. It seems 3D printers, while great for making custom 20-sided dice and tiny companion cubes, is good for more than just churning out knick-knacks.
Nanoengineering professor Stephen Chen and his colleagues have figured out a way to print biological materials like blood vessels in mere seconds. The new process is called Dynamic Optical Projection Stereolithography, or DOPsL, and it actually works a bit like 3D sculpting. Unlike previous techniques of printing blood vessels which required a sugar-based scaffold to be printed first and then covered in stem cells layer-by-layer, this new approach takes a solution of photo-sensitive biopolymers and cells that scientists zap with a laser. When the light hits the cells, they harden, and in a matter of seconds, a form emerges.
For more about 3D printing's current capabilities, including the new vessel-printing technique, check out the rest on Motherboard. Link | Image UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering
This is Tuxedo Stan, and if you're a resident of Halifax, Nova Scotia, he'd like to be your mayor. Stanis the sole member of the single-issue Tuxedo Party, which just wants to makesure life in Halifax is as great for all cats as it is for Stan. Or at least comfortable, if international fame isn't feasible for every feline in the city.
Stan, who’s running on the ticket of the Tuxedo Party, is a one-issue cat. ”The Tuxedo Party is a political movement aimed to improve the welfare of felines in [Halifax] because neglect isn’t working,” reads the party’s official platform.
At this point, Stan would be considered a longshot. Not only does he trail in the polls, but municipal laws appear to ban animals from holding office. But that’s OK, since the impetus of his campaign is mainly to raise awareness of Halifax’s stray cat problem.
Stan isn't the first animal to run for office, of course, but he is currently the one with the Facebook page that posts the best photos. Link
From the This Is Probably a Bad Idea files, here is a collection of Fifty Shades of Grey tie-in products that maybe should have been considered more carefully before actually hitting production. From onesies of questionable taste to seemingly themed cooking classes (what??), here they are. (SFW unless you're just not allowed to be online at work.) Link | Image
They're so cute when they're too small to maul you to death. According to The FW, YouTube user pennywhelan took the footage in her backyard. It's not terribly uncommon — if you live in the right area — but it never hurts to add another video of baby animals doing something adorable to the internet. Link
Death rays and high tech weapons were popular fixtures in popular fiction of the 20s and 30s, but it turns out they were also on the minds of scientists at the time, too, who strove to recreate some of scifi's most devastating weapons right here on Earth. Thanks to the PopSci archives, we can look back and laugh at the silly death rays that almost were (especially since, in the end, they weren't). And, of course:
"[I]t's not all doom and gloom. Sometimes the rays rained death upon germs, or cancer. And one brave soul realized that the horrible power of a death ray was too much to entrust a human to wield, so he vowed never to reveal its secret, for the good of mankind."
There's a good chance a few of you have a hangover this morning. If your standby Alka-Selzer-and-cheeseburger remedy isn't doing it for you, you'll be happy to know that there are other options. Well, you'll be happy until you see them. (Sorry in advance for that rabbit-poop tea.) Link -via NerdBastards | Photo
Just like movie buffs and bookworms, avid gamers have favorite memorable quotes that only others with shared interests will recognize. And though I disagree that number one on this list is more memorable than number five ("You have died of dysentery," from Oregon Trail), it is a good cross-section of notable gaming quotables. (Bonus points for Bad Dudes appearance.) Link
David Leblanc, Action Abstraction No. 17: "...Unbound!"
As a boy, like many others, artist David Leblanc was fascinated with comics. When he was older and studying art at UMass/Dartmouth, he began incorporating Action Comics covers into his large-scale abstract works.
After struggling for many years with how to integrate this boyhood passion in to my paintings, I stumbled upon a book comprised of Action Comics covers featuring Superman from the 1930’s and 1940’s. The book became the inspiration for my signature Action series combining the elements of Abstract Expressionism and the Pop Art elements of comic books.
Now he sells his awesome comics-inspired art through Action Abstraction Studio, home of works like the one shown above and manymore acrylic enamel works, mostof which are at least 4 feet tall. Galleries -via Facebook
(h/t Stephan Anstey)
True story: One of my friends was once interviewed by the local news during a Black Friday shopping spree. The caption under her name simply read "Woman," which we laughed about for a few minutes and I never remembered until I came across this post. It seems local news interviewees are often labeled unflatteringly, as evidenced by this huge collection on Warming Glow. Link
You're in a movie. Your phone rings. And just as you get to the part of the conversation where you explain that you're at the movies and it's totally rude to talk on your phone right now, a ninja comes to shut you up. Granted, the "ninja" is just a volunteer wearing a bodysuit who gets paid in free admission, and this particular scenario will only happen in one theater in London. But we're kind of hoping it catches on. Link -via Newser | Photo via Slashfilm
Zeus is 44 inches tall, just like my 7-year-old. But Zeus is only three, and standing on his hind legs, measures 7 feet 4 inches tall. If there were an all-dog basketball league, Zeus would be Manute Bol. He edges out former record-holder Giant George by a single inch, but the 12 cups of food he eats each day will probably help him maintain his competitive advantage. Link
Americans, by global standards, have a pretty bland diet. We're traditionally unadventurous, at least when compared gastronomically to the rest of the world. Take, for instance, baby mice wine, shown above. Newborn mice are drowned in wine, which is said to impart restorative properties to the body. (Yours, not the mice's.) I wouldn't touch it except to throw it away, and I'm probably not alone. The worst part is that it may not be the scariest item in this list. Link | Photos: ohhellsnah, cracked, 13point7billion
Remember Moon Shoes, and how your mom wouldn't buy them for you no matter how clean you kept your room or how heavy the hints, not even for Christmas? I'm projecting here. I never had Moon Shoes, but I really, really wanted them. (Thanks, Mom.)
Clearly I wasn't the only kid longing for the ability to jump really high without a trampoline, because Buzzfeed has a roundup of highly coveted (but not often recieved) toys fromthe 90s, and Moon Shoes clock in at #4. Check out the rest, and seriously: someone please tell me if I missed out on something great here. Because I feel like Moon Shoes could have changed my life. Link
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