Bio break

Be patient as you start watching (notes on) biology, a fairly masterful piece of work that sorta resembles a flip-book on digital meth. Takes a minute to get going but well worth the runway.

Some doodling options for your inner child... coloring books for grownups.

And how many of the books in this consensus cloud have you read?


"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

 

Meet me at the corner of Death and Tragedy

China recently released a brutal video of traffic accidents as part of a public safety campaign, and surprisingly it went viral, registering millions of views in just one day. (Seems like viral in China would mean billions of views, no?) If you're one to not be able to turn away from this stuff, be prepared to spend a few minutes agape and aghast. [Gizmodo]

So if you can't not look at an accident, it's equally true that you can't be enthused at the sight of a whole lotta brake lights looming in the distance. Why does it happen...? Check out this infographic on the Science of Traffic Jams.

And finally, a very cool rendition of the famous car chase from "Bullitt", miniaturized. [New York Times]




"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." - African proverb
 

Dogboarding

Dogboarding. When I first saw this, I thought it was some clandestine activity going on at Gitmo. Turns out it's something else entirely. Realistically well-executed vid. [Gizmodo]

And this might just be the world's smallest aquarium, about the size of a thumb print and holding a mere coupla teaspoons of water.

And finally, a little penguin makes a daring leap of faith, though I don't see him entering the Animalympics anytime soon.




"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you." - Thomas Jefferson

 

The human condition

This trailer for the BBC series "Human Planet" truly is as jaw-dropping as claimed. Watching in full-screen HD highly recommended. (Thanks Bomser)

Explore the socioeconomic changes over the last 30 years that have shaped the 12 States of America in this interactive cartograph.

And some geographic fun with currency in these money maps.


"I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely." - Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

 

The Moth joke

Norm MacDonald conducts a clinic in comedy delivery on Conan O'Brien's show.

Put on your thinking cap and make up your mind about what consciousness is.

And like the old game of "Telephone", things slowly go awry when 500 people trace a sequence of lines.[Boing Boing]




"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward." - Kurt Vonnegut

 

Thumbs up

Can you imagine what would happen if cats had opposable thumbs?

Or if everyday tasks were approached using Wile E. Coyote logic?

Or if there was such thing as a taxi ram for cats?




"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen." - John Steinbeck

 

I wouldn't feed that to myself

Two demanding patrons at a "restaurant" suffer a run of poor service before woofing down their meals. Hilariously excellent visual. (Thanks Gordon)

And a century of meat graphed out in this timeline of American flesh consumption, courtesy of the New York Times. (Notice the change not only in what we eat, but in how much we eat.)

Finally, for the sure of stomach... if you think you can handle a 50 lb. burger or a half-mile wide pizza, check this treasure trove of places to step up to the task and win your dinner.


"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice." - Wayne Dyer

 

When it paints it pours

Interest technique, this kaleidoscope painting. Not quite like Pollock, but with a lot less splatter and mess.

The human brain tends to see familiar things, especially faces, when we look at inanimate objects -- for instance, Rock People.

And liquid joy in other forms, FlowingData illustrates the cost per gallon of everyday things that are more expensive than gasoline.


"Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do." - Michel de Montaigne

 

Rube Goldberg eat your heart out

An extensive, wild, and colorful Rube Goldberg-esque contraption featured in This Too Shall Pass, video from the innovative minds of OK Go. (Thanks GMB)

And likewise for the precision-obsessed, the OCD Chef Cutting Board.

Also in alignment... a ray of light.


"The shortest distance between two points is under construction." - Noelie Altito

 

Yeah, I'm the sax man

Amusing roll of a saxogram player humorously terrorizing innocent shoppers with George Michael's "Careless Whisper", including authentic 80s leather and mullet.

And a outlet that might come in handy for occasional venting, Dear Blank, Please Blank is an amusing site if you want a generous helping of user-generated snark.


"I always knew looking back on my tears would bring me laughter, but I never knew looking back on my laughter would make me cry." - Cat Stevens

 

Quick "Inception"

A Cliff Notes-like interpretation, Inception - Done in 60 seconds, using a sort of Victorian woodcut style of animation. Given the nature of the movie, I'm not sure whether this could be considered a "spoiler" if you haven't seen it.

A humorous uncovering of the hidden subjects of Dr. Seuss books -- what they really were about.

And holy commode, Jesus flushes.


"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs - jolted by every pebble in the road." - Henry Ward Beecher

 

Man-machine interface

Your body is a machine. Or so drew Fritz Kahn back in the early twentieth. This animation of his drawing "Der Mensch als Industriepalast" brings the man-as-machine spirit to life. [Boing Boing]

And a perfect gift for someone with a big backyard, Ikea Stonehenge.


"When the spirit wanes the form appears." - Charles Bukowski


 

Parliamentary, my dear Gibson

Well-executed video catching a Member of Parliament rip some riffs, air guitarishly, whilst listening to an apparently none-too-riveting speech in recent session.

And among the untold masses of aspiring musicians, don't count out these 12 Animals Playing Instruments (Or Trying).


"If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music." - Gustav Mahler


And of absolutely no sequitur, an art installation featuring a homeless robot begging for energy. [via Boing Boing]

 

Forming a memory

Artist Adam Chapman takes the simple building blocks of lines and shapes and uses them to create portraits that self-construct. Only downside is that you know how the story is going to end. [Design Milk]

And using less flexible shapes, some classic album covers recreated as Lego cover art.

Finally, in making something more out of whatever you've got to work with, why not say it with logs and build a creative wood pile.


"But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?" - Albert Camus

 

Soccermation

If the game of soccer was this artistic and only a coupla minutes long, I might have a different opinion.

After you check out Part 1, featuring 20 of Liu Bolin's earlier efforts in self-camouflage art, get an eyeful of the even more incredible work in Part 2. This guy does indeed keep getting more invisible.


"If you can't make it better, you can laugh at it." - Erma Bombeck

 

Wile E.-way the hours

"Wile E. Coyote 127 Hours" -- a convincingly animated short parody of the original movie -- casts the cartoon character as the mountain climber Aron Ralston who escaped after five days of being pinned by a boulder.

And some novel web artistry here... just take two photos one after the other and flip between them to create something like these quasi-3D animated GIFs.


"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road." - Stephen Hawking

 

Book boogie

Nice job on this stop-motion animation called "Organizing the Bookcase" about books with a sense of order, rhythm, and style.

And a surreal video of a real-life "Up!" house taking off and floating into the great above, courtesy of 300 helium-filled weather balloons at Gizmodo.


"In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it. - Robert A. Heinlein

 

Call of the wild

Enjoy an alternate call of the wild in the rhythmic stylings of Animal Beatbox, a Tropfest 2011 Winner. Creative certainly, but...?


And Nat Geo brings you this Tropical Island Infinite Photo where you can click, drill and explore a mosaic of hundreds of pictures of wildlife species found on the South Pacific island of Mo‘orea.


"If you have a big enough dictionary, just about everything is a word." - Dave Barry