Nov 6 2009 Geekologie Reader Snaps Shot Of Moon Dog
I'm not going to lie to you (although I usually do), I had no idea what a moon dog was when Geekologie Reader em_kay11 sent me this picture (high-res version HERE) of one he took early Wednesday morning. Per Wikipedia:
A moon dog or moondog (scientific name paraselene, plural paraselenae, i.e. "beside the moon") is a relatively rare bright circular spot on a lunar halo caused by the refraction of moonlight by hexagonal-plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Moondogs appear to the left and right of the moon 22° or more distant. They are exactly analogous to sun dogs, but are rarer because to be produced the moon must be bright and therefore full or nearly full. Moondogs show little color to the unaided eye because their light is not bright enough to activate the color photoreceptors in humans.
Cool, a moondog! Can we keep it, daddy? Can we pleaaaase? I'll feed it and walk it every day. And if it ever moon-cheeses on the carpet I promise I'll clean it up and spray the area real good with pet odor-neutralizer and everything. No? Well how about a reptile? I like turtles.
Thanks em_kay11, now how about a mooncat?
Jun 25 2009 Stoned Wallabies To Blame For Crop Circles
The title alone might be the most profound thing I've ever written. I smell Pulitzer! So yeah, apparently wallabies are getting into medical poppy fields in Australia and going nuts. Whee!
"The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," Lara Giddings told the hearing.
"Then they crash," she added. "We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."
Great, next they're gonna start breaking into cars and selling themselves to koalas to pay for a fix. And right when I was about to visit Australia too. Damn you, junkie wallabies!
'Stoned wallabies make crop circles' [bbcnews]
Thanks to Graf Zeppelin, SquidgyB, Marty the farmer, Ross and Jonny, who can only make McDonald's runs when they're high.
Jun 7 2009 The Aliens Are Coming: Sheep In A Circle
This is a picture of sheep in Herefordshire, England forming a perfect circle all by themselves because the aliens are coming. And aliens, at least according to science, hate circles. Some people believe the shape was created by a farmer dropping feed in a circular pattern, but those people are crazy.
Photographer Russell Bird, who captured the amazing scene, said:"I was quite taken aback. I couldn't believe what I was seeing," he said.
Bizarrely, he then spotted another circle three fields away, but was unable to take a picture with both "formations" lasting around 10 minutes before dispersing.Estate agent Mr Bird added of the scene in Kington, Herefordshire: "They moved around inside and were almost filling the gaps in.
"The only reason this circle came to an end was that the farmer came in with a tractor and some food."
Did you read that? If you answered, "No, I was too busy digging my tinfoil helmet out of the hall closet", congratulations, there may be hope for you yet.
Forget crop circles - now we've got a mysterious SHEEP circle [mailonline]
Thanks to naas, who's smart enough to keep a roll of industrial strength duct tape by the bedside.
Apr 14 2009 A Grass Wheel For The Concrete Jungle
The Grass Wheel was created by David Gallaugher, Kevin James, and Jacob Jebailey of the Dalhousie School of Architecture, and provides a comfortable, shoe-free mode of eco-transportation in the concrete jungle (grass-sandals guys, just saying). And I think we can all agree, it makes a very powerful statement. One about renewable energy or something. No? Human hamster wheels? A-ha -- space technology and growing grass upside down! Yes, very thought provoking. How do they do that?
Grass Wheel [neatorama]
Thanks to Armando, who is all man and refuses to walk in anything but a broken-glass wheel. Nice, Armando, but I'll stick to my burning coals wheel.
Mar 2 2009 A Different Kind Of Circular Ice: Pi Ice
Remember those $8 ice balls? Yeah, i bought a bag too. What can I say, I was drunk and my credit card was on the desk. Anyway, pi ice. They're ice cubes in the shape of the pi symbol. The reusable tray is available from ThinkGeek for 9 bones. I bought one, and I even went so far as to make my own drink using the ice. It's called 'Pi in the Skyy'. Recipe: add one bottle Skyy vodka to a pitcher. Add icecube tray full of Pi ice. Stir vigorously, drink. Feeling it? Good. Feeling boobs? Even better. Feeling yourself? You made it wrong.
Hit the jump for a real Pi-Tini recipe from ThinkGeek.
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Mar 1 2009 Awww: Bizkit The Sleepwalking Dog
This is a video of Bizkit the sleepwalking dog. You should watch it, it's funny and sad at the same time. SPOILER ALERT: The dog sleepwalks into the wall. I originally thought it was cruel, but then watched the rest of the user's videos and they film the dog all the time, so I don't think they knew it would run into the wall. That said, I'm stealing Bizkit and starting a circus. DOOT DOOT DOODLE DOOT DOO DOO DOO DOOT. Cotton candy makes my clothes come off!
Hit the jump for a couple other videos of Bizkit, including one of some wicked sleep-standing action.
Feb 12 2009 The Universe Is Apparently A Big Metal Donut
And all along I thought was a little plastic danish. Shows you how much I know (read: everything). So yeah, ghost of Karl Sagan: I know you're reading this, feel free to chime in and back me up whenever you want.
At first, this polished object looks like an ordinary ring. But it's much more than that. This is a model of the universe, which, according to one increasingly popular theory, is not flat, circular, spherical or saddle-shaped, but more like a "3-torus," or doughnut shape. It's also a whole lot bigger then you may have imagined.
Look closer, and you'll notice a minuscule speck on this model. It looks like a tiny flaw at first, but upon closer inspection, you'll see it's a precise wine glass shape. That's us. The tiny area depicts the known universe, showing a timeline of its entire life, from the Big Bang starting at the glass's stem, expanding to where we live today.
I get it -- so what they're saying is that the known universe is a wine lover. So do you think it's a Merlot fan or more of a Chardonnay kind of universe? Mad Dog 20/20, huh? Awh yeah, I knew I was living here for good reason! Now stop hogging the bottle, Universe, Jesus you're a boozehound.
Mind-boggling model of the doughnut-shaped universe makes you feel really small [dvice]
Jun 10 2008 German Waterslide Does A Loopty-Loop
This is a video of a new waterslide in Germany that does a loopty loop. It's not straight up and down or anything, but it's still pretty damn impressive. The ride starts with you standing in a little chamber and then getting dropped through the trap-door floor. It looks like a lot of fun. As long as shitting your banana hammock on a German water slide is your idea of fun.
Another, longer video showing how the thing was made, after the drop.
Apr 15 2008 RC Car Does 200+ MPH, Is Moderately Fast
This is an older video of a tether car doing 200+ MPH on a circular track. At first I thought the guy in the video was participating in a bat-spin race, but then I realized he was whipping the car around to get it started. Watch the video till the end to see the thing really get up to speed. Pretty impressive. Now I'm not suggesting someone stick their leg out in front of it to see what happens when the car or wire hits it, but for the sake of science it is necessary to know whether you can cut a person's leg clean off with an RC car.
Mar 3 2008 Rotating Home Theater Is Riciculous, I Want
This home theater system has a 16-foot motorized circle in the middle on which the front row of chairs is attached. The idea behind the rotation is that when you're not watching something on the screen, the room should still be able to be used for chatting or drinking champagne and shooting foxes or whatever the hell it is rich people do. I call shenanigans though. If you check out the other picture after the jump, if the front row is rotated around, all you're facing is two other chairs and the freaking door. What's the purpose of that? Let's be honest -- anybody with the money for a rotating home theater doesn't need for it to double as some other room. You can just have more rooms built. This person just wanted a damn rotating platform in their house and couldn't come up with a better excuse.
One more picture after the jump.
Continue Reading " Rotating Home Theater Is Riciculous, I Want "
