This beautiful video shows drill bits milling into steel plates, chipping away slowly and methodically. It's a mesmerizing look at a process that takes merely seconds at full speed. The title of the video is "Metal It Is Beautiful." It certainly is!
-via Twisted Sifter
Actually, it is possible to live happily ever after. But you may have to work at it now and then. You can burn those pages--so as long as you remember what you learned from them.
The toy puppy sings "What a Wonderful World" with the voice of Louis Armstrong. Does he need howls in the background? You bet! Every musical performance is enhanced by howling.
Below is the music video for "Listen to the Man," a new song by British singer and songwriter George Ezra. For the the video, Ezra enlisted the help of geek superstar Ian McKellen.
What Ezra didn't expect was that McKellen would try to take over the video. Who's the star? McKellen thinks that he is.
Their interactions are especially funny at the 2:19 mark. Ezra stops the music to confront McKellen about his on-camera antics.
-via Kuriositas
(Photo: Miranda Granache)
(Photo: marada)
According to the US National Weather Service, three weather conditions must occur to produce these amazing snow formations:
- The ground surface must have an icy, crusty snow, on which falling snow cannot stick.
- About an inch or so of loose, wet snow must accumulate.
- Gusty and strong winds are needed to scoop out chunks of snow.
If you're lucky, then you may get to see these wonders known as snow rollers. The wind blows a small chunk of snow, which slowly rolls along the ground, picking up more snow. They're often hollow in the center, so they look like logs rather than snowballs. Some are more than a foot wide!
I've never seen one in person. Have you?
-via Kuriositas
Javier Pérez, an artist from Ecuador, has a gift for seeing images where others don't. We've previously seen him take ordinary household objects and doodle around them to create vivid scenes. Lately, on his Instagram account, he's been drawing around his own fingers. With a few lines, his fingers become dinosaurs, birds, and creatures of the sea. Continue reading to view more.
(Photos: Gargosian Gallery)
Where are you? Which way is up? You can't be sure after you've walked into a gallery showing recent works of Carsten Höller. Hi-Fructose reports that his recent exhibition at the Gargosian Gallery in New York City shows enormous sculptures that visitors can enter and play in. You can see more photos from the exhibit here.
(Photos: Pedro Peloso/National Geographic and Alberto Cabello)
"As soon as I heard its call, I knew it was a new species. I had never heard anything like it." Many people have said that about British heavy metal star Ozzy Osbourne, but Pedro Peloso, a doctoral student at the American Museum of Natural History, was referring to a frog.
Peloso discovered the frog while researching amphibians in the Brazilian Amazon. National Geographic says that the Dendropsophus ozzyi has a very large vocal sac that produces an unusual sound to summon females.
That mating call is reminiscent of a bat. During a concert in 1982, Ozzy Osbourne bit off the head of a live bat while on stage. This incident inspired Peloso and his colleages to name the frog in his honor.
(Photo: Steve Barnes)
Doritos and Mountain Dew naturally belong together. When combined, they form the main fuel of the human body. We've previously seen them combined in cupcakes. But that was unofficial and unsponsored by the parent companies.
Redditor Steve Barnes, a freshman at Kent State University, spotted a kiosk distributing free samples of a new Mountain Dew product: Dewitos. Yes, that's Mountain Dew flavored like Doritos. Barnes reports that "it actually tasted like Doritos." Quartz received an email from Pepsi, the company that makes Mountain Dew, confirming that this is a real product being tested. So we now have reason to keep living, dreaming, and hoping for a better future in this broken and fallen world.
-via That's Nerdalicious!
Rocky Byun, a wizard and performance artist, can balance any object on any other object. In performances, he commonly balances heavy objects precariously on rocks, such as a washing machine on a corner or a motorbike on the tip of its kickstand.
Sometimes, to make his tasks even more demanding, Byun balances objects while wearing rollerblades! How is this possible?
-via Gizmodo
(Photo: Eric Whitmire)
There’s been an earthquake and survivors may be trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings. How can you find out? Anyone who goes in is at risk of getting hurt or killed. And disturbing the rubble could lead to further collapses.
That’s where these biobots come in. Dr. Alper Bozkurt of North Carolina State University and his colleagues have developed a means to control the movement of roaches. The roaches carry packs that send them directional signals. They also carry microphones that can detect sounds in confined spaces and transmit them back to rescue workers.
-via Dave Barry
(Photo: Andrew Foster)
Sheila Marsh, 77, had terminal cancer. It seemed that her fate would be to die in a hospital, separated from the animals that she loved so dearly. Marsh had 6 horses, 3 dogs, 3 cats, as well as other animal friends.
Among them all, she loved her horse Bronwen the most. She had raised the now 25-year old mare since she had been a foal. Marsh could not bear the thought of departing this life without saying goodbye to her one last time. So the hospital staff wheeled her outside the hospital, where Bronwen had been brought. The Guardian describes the scene:
Gail Taylor, a bereavement liaison specialist nurse, said: “The nursing staff wheeled Sheila down the corridor in her bed to the entrance.
“Bronwen walked steadily towards Sheila and she gently called to Bronwen and the horse bent down tenderly and kissed her on the cheek as they said their last goodbyes.”
-via Daily Telegraph
Štefan Nosko and Katarína Beličková are consumer product designers in Bratislava, Slovakia. They call this lamp Well. You can control the brightness of the lamp by using it like an old fashioned water well. To increase the brightness, crank up the wire. To decrease the brightness, lower the light bulb into the shaded glass cylinder.
(Photo: Visit Lakeland)
Wife carrying is an old sport in Finland and Estonia derived from a rather aggressive dating practice that has fallen out of favor in modern times: grab a woman, toss her over your shoulder, and carry off to a newly married life.
So file that practice under “do not try this at home.” The modern sport, though, is a bit more civilized. Grab a wife (not necessarily your own) and carry her over an obstacle course faster than anyone else. The sport has been formalized and regulated in Finland since 1992. When On Earth lists some of the rules that athletes must follow to enter into the Finnish championship:
- The length of the official track is 253.5 meters with a sand track surface.
- The track has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle about one meter deep.
- The wife to be carried may be your own, or the neighbor’s, or you may have found her further afield; she must, however, be over 17 years of age.
- The minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49 kilograms. If she weighs less than 49 kg, she will be burdened with a rucksack containing additional weight to bring the total load to be carried up to 49 kg.
- If a contestant drops the wife, he has to lift her on to his back or in his arms and continue carrying.
- All participants must enjoy themselves.
- The winner is the couple who completes the course in the shortest time.
- The only equipment allowed is a belt worn by the carrier and a helmet worn by the carried.
- The contestants run the race two at a time, so each heat is a contest in itself.
- Each contestant takes care of his/her safety and, if deemed necessary, insurance.
- The contestants have to pay attention to the instructions given by the organizers of the competition.
- Wife Carrying Competition has two categories Official Wife Carrying World Championships Series and Senior series 40 years and older applicants.
- Also the most entertaining couple, the best costume, and the strongest carrier will be rewarded with a special prize.
-via VA Viper
(Photo: Visit Lakeland)
