Introducing a Puddle of Frogs
Filed Under Education, Funny, Interesting |
Bits and Pieces has a post with a collection of collective nouns. You know, those weird terms you use to describe a group of things without using the word “group”. Here’s some of the more obscure ones:
# drove of pigs
# cartload of monkeys
# kindle of cats (kittens)
# rhumba of rattlesnakes
# convocation of eagles
# prickle of hedgehogs
# tons more here
And we would like to take this moment to propose that a number of frogs shall now be referred to as a “puddle of frogs”. Yeah, we made that one up, but who’s to say the other ones on the list weren’t just someone having fun?
Math is fun!
Filed Under Education, Interesting |
739391133
73939113
7393911
739391
73939
7393
739
73
7
… are all prime. So are:
357686312646216567629137
57686312646216567629137
7686312646216567629137
686312646216567629137
86312646216567629137
6312646216567629137
312646216567629137
12646216567629137
2646216567629137
646216567629137
46216567629137
6216567629137
216567629137
16567629137
6567629137
567629137
67629137
7629137
629137
29137
9137
137
37
7
How to Tie Your Shoes in a Different Way
Filed Under Education, Fun, Lifehacks, Websites |
Bored of the tried and true method of lacing and tying your shoes? Ian’s got the cure for that boredom at his shoelace site. He has tons of new and interesting ways to lace and tie your shoes.
Sokushinbutsu, or How To Mummify Yourself in 4 Easy Steps
Filed Under Body Modification, Education, Interesting |
1. Change your diet
For 1000 days (almost 3 years), only eat nuts and seeds that are naturally found. This, in combination with hard physical training will reduce your body fat to nearly nil, eliminating an easily decomposable part of your body.
2. Switch to Bark
Ok, now that you are sick of eating nuts and seeds for almost 3 years, it’s time to switch it up. For the next 1000 days, eat only the bark and roots from pine trees. This will reduce the amount of fluid you have in your body, leaving you even more dessicated.
3. Start drinking poisonous tea
Towards the end of your 1000 day stint eating delicious bark and roots, start drinking tea made from the sap of the usushi tree. Usually this sap is used to make laquer, but it will help you vomit, sweat, and urinate more often. This will help get rid of that terrible moisture in your body. Oh, and it will help to kill any maggots or other insects that might try to eat your mummified body later.
4. Lock yourself in a tomb
Finally, you’ll want to enclose yourself in a tiny tomb, just big enough to sit lotus style in. You’ll hang out in here for the next 1000 days, but chances are you’ll die long before you hit the 1000 day mark. How will you breath? A small tube will be run into the tomb. How will everyone know when you’re dead? A bell will be placed inside. Ring this bell every day until you die, then stop ringing it. When we don’t hear the bell anymore, we’ll pull out the air tube and seal up the tomb.
When the last 1000 days are up, we’ll crack open the tomb to see if you were successful. If we find a mummy, hurray! You’ll be considered a Buddha and will join an elite group of only a couple dozen monks who have succeeded over the years! If you’re all rotted, we’ll commend you for your effort, and tell you better luck next time. Want some tips? Try drinking the water from the sacred spring on Yudono mountain in Yamagata. I hear it helps because it has arsenic in it to help kill off any bacteria or micro-organisms. Oh, and watch out for the government, this whole practice was outlawed by the government back in the late 19th century.
Buddhist Mummies of Japan(image #1 source and a listing of visits to the different mummies along with a few pictures)
Buddhist Mummies of Japan (image #2 source)
Article in JSTOR that I wish I had access to Thanks to Bethany for hooking me up with a copy!
The Very Special Dead - more pictures
More Color Legends
Filed Under Education, Interesting |
We posted about other color legends previously, but here are some more:
Why is Envy a Green Monster?
Why is Ferrari Red Iconic of Sports Cars?
Why Are Mental Institutions Light Green?
Why Are Highlighters Bright Yellow?
Why Does a Guy Get Blue Balls?
Why is Purple A Royal Color?
Why is The Red Cross, Red?
Why Does the Tour de France Leader Wear a Yellow Jersey?
Why Do US Immigrants Apply for a Green Card?
Why Does a Bride Need Something Blue on her Wedding Day?
Why Do Masters Golf Tournament Winners Get a Green Jacket?
Why Do We Wear a Yellow Ribbon to Support the Troops?
Why Are Some Americans True Blue?
Check out all the answers at COLOURlovers
Explosives Camp
Filed Under Education, Explosions, Fire |
They didn’t have this sort of thing when I was growing up, but I wish they did! NPR reports on a camp for kids where they’re encouraged to blow things up.
Some video from one of the lessons on creating a wall of fire and exploding a chicken:
via MAKE
Bay Area Maker Faire 2007: Divining Pod, NifNaks, and SRL
Filed Under Education, Fire, Fun, News, SF Bay Area, Video |
Wow, what an event. I only made it down for about half of one day and was astounded by the number of people as well as things that were there to see and do. Everyone and their brother who was within driving distance seems to have already reported on the event, but there were a few things I wanted to personally touch on that I found most interesting.
monochrom’s Divining Pod
The Monochrom crew was back in the states on their International Year of Polytheism tour this past weekend. Large balloons, a supply of helium, and small children contributed to an attempt at sending one lucky person to the heavens. To quote Johannes, it was a “semi-total success”. There are tons of videos and photos floating around, and monochrom has a good wrap-up here
NifNaks
Our friend Nifer has been in hiding, working hard on starting her own business, NifNaks, for several months. While we had a chance awhile back to peek at what she’s been up to, it wasn’t until the Maker Faire that she fully unveiled everything. She had her very own booth for the business that’s sure to take off. Of interest to most geeks out there, one of her more popular items was the Flying Spaghetti Monster pin. Her site, NifNaks.com, is up and live so those of you that didn’t make it to her booth can order your own felt creations.
The SRL Show
While there were a large number of things at the Maker Faire that were kind of dangerous (Tesla coils, fire sculptures, power tool drag races, and more) I don’t think many of them truly compared to the unannounced SRL show. They had several amazing machines to show off this weekend, including Hovercraft, Running Machine, Dual Mule and Mr. Satan Head. Destruction, noise, and fire were all the results of this show. Part of it included Mr Satan Head setting fire to a large ball that appeared to be made of cardboard, which burned ever so nicely. However, the wind started to kick up, fueling the fire and blowing smoke and ash directly into the audience. The bleachers evacuated, and people were forced to move away from the fence. This picture kind of gives you an idea of the level of smoke when they began to put it out.
Of course sirens were heard in the distance and the fire department showed up shortly after. It turns out that the event organizers impounded Mr. Satan Head and billed SRL for $6600 in cleanup to the damaged parking lot. Ouch. In addition, one woman suffered minor burns, however SRL covered both her medical expenses and “pain and suffering”. Laughing Squid has some great photos in their post about the show. We’ve got a few more shots on Flickr and Rick Washburn posted the follow video of the event:
Langar: Free Vegetarian Food for Everyone
Filed Under Education, Interesting, News |
Rubin sent over this link about a congressman who is attempting to live on food stamps, but had his peanut butter and jelly confiscated by the TSA when trying to fly. Comments on the state of our transportation security aside, this reminded me of something I had once seen in a television show awhile back, kitchens that provide free, vegetarian food to anyone. I believe I first saw it on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations”. I pulled up the wikipedia article and figured I’d put a link here to share with everyone and to “blogmark” it for myself. For those too lazy to click, “Langar (Punjabi: ਲੰਗਰ) is the term used in the Sikh religion for the free, vegetarian-only food served in a Gurdwara and eaten by everyone sitting as equals.”
I wish something like this was here in the states (and all over the world). I think life would be a lot better for everyone if there were full stomachs all around.
(image via mercedesfromtheeighties)
Post a number, get banned on Digg
Filed Under Education, Internet, News, Websites |
Looks like Digg is getting into some hot water with their users. A story was posted on Digg with the key needed to decrypt HD-DVD. It quickly got 15,000+ Diggs, making it the 3rd most popular story ever. Then it disappeared. We’re not even going to get into it, but here’s a story that has more info.
Great Color Legends
Filed Under Education, Interesting |
Ever wondered why a stop sign is red? Dollar bills are green? or maybe what the story is behind the green M&Ms? COLOURlovers has done a bit of research and has some answers in their recent post, The Great Color Legends. Did you know that pink used to be a boy’s color and blue was a girl’s color? Here’s the list of legends they touch on (with sources of info cited):
Why is Red the International Color for Stop?
Why is the US Dollar Green?
Why is Pink a Girl Color and Blue a Boy Color?
Why are Republicans Red and Democrats Blue?
Why is the Green M&M the Horny One?
Why is Purple a Lesbian Color?
Why is Black the Color of Death?
Why is the Sky Blue?
Why are Road Signs Green?
St. Patricks’s Green?
Why is Raising a White Flag the Symbol for Surrender?
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