I-35W collapse
The I-35W bridge by the University of Minnesota campus has collapsed. The bridge, one of the most heavily traveled freeway bridges in the Twin Cities metro area, collapsed around 6:05 this evening. Sections of the freeway are said to be floating in the Mississippi as cars are stranded on standing portions of the bridge. Slideshow of images. Real-time updates at MPR.
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All you ever needed to know about crayons
A history of crayons. A Crayola color chronology. More facts about crayons. How to remove a crayon stain. How crayons are made (video). The lost Crayola colors. “State colors” and their equivalents. Soy crayons. Art made of crayons.
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Air Filter
Aiway Robbery.
Another
summer, another disaster for British Airways. The
company has just received the largest fine ever issued by Britain’s competition
agency (nearly £270m / $547m) for price fixing on fuel surcharges. BA
admitted to colluding with rival airline Virgin Atlantic (who won immunity in
the UK) on at least six occasions. The allegations are thought
to be linked to the resignation of commercial director Martin George and
communications chief Iain Burns. Although BA said fuel surcharges were “a
legitimate way of recovering costs”, in May 2007 it put aside £350 million for
legal fees and fines. Criminal proceedings against individuals in both countries
are a distinct possibility.
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A new golden age for bitters
Bitters. This
sharp-flavored, slightly medicinal liqueur, originally used as an aperitif,
remains one of the defining ingredients in many classic cocktails, including the
Manhattan,
the Pink Gin, the Champagne
Cocktail, and the Sazerac. Some
popular herbal liqueurs, such as Campari
and Jägermeister,
are essentially just big bottles of bitters. But bitters had fallen on hard
times, with most bars stocking only one brand, Angostura, or, if they
were particularly sophisticated (or Southern), a second option, Peychaud’s. Orange bitters, once an
essential ingredient in the Martini, were
forgotten and impossible to purchase. Times have changed, with companies such as
Fee Brothers, Regan’s,
the Bitter Truth, and even Angostura,
releasing their own versions of the orange stuff. In fact, bitters in enjoying
something of a renaissance, with bars experimenting with making their
own.
Hobbyists, in the meanwhile, are reviving
lost
recipes.
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‘Peak Oil’ believers just got PWNED!
Genetically Modified Bacteria to make “Renewable Petroleum” (A biotech startup describes how it will coax petroleum-like fuels from engineered microbes within three to five years).
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Make Your Own Coin
Online coin generator. Sure, it’s in German, but you can figure it out.
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just another nice little hobby—everybody needs a hobby, right?
It seems that this gentleman bought a set of musical robots from the defunct Showbiz Pizza restaurant chain. This gent has been reprogramming the robots to sing recent hit songs, rather than the ’60s Motown hits they sang originally. He then takes video of these performances, and posts it on YouTube. I guarantee this version of Evanescence’s “Lithium” will haunt your dreams (or, perhaps, make you hurl).
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I Yam What I Yam
He’s Popeye the Sailor Man, he’s Popeye the Sailor Man, he’s strong to the finish, ’cause he eats his spinach, he’s Popeye the Sailor Man. Bitch.
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Huge Collection of WWII Propaganda Posters
Huge Collection of WWII Propaganda Posters (Axis & Allied powers represented).
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“I’m addicted to placebos. I’d give them up, but it wouldn’t make any difference.” ~ Steven Wright
The Placebo Effect In Action. “When patients believe a drug will help them, they sometimes heal themselves” (a report on a new study from Columbia University and the University of Michigan). And, an additional take on the Placebo Effect from the Skeptic’s Dictionary.
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We listened to the birds and tried to sing along.
The DeZurik Sisters committed only six songs to record during their recording career, but were the first women stars of the Grand Ole Opry and the National Barn Dance. Now WFMU has 32 tracks of theirs from their early appearance as The Cackle Sisters on the Purina Checkerboard Squares Radio Show. Download away and hear the yodeling that swept the nation in the early 40s.
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The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now.
The progression of obesity in America (where one’s BMI is greater than 30) from 1985 to 2005.
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Haunted books
The Possessed Books gimmick is an 8″-long group of fake books with a
motion-sensor. When you walk past it, the books start to slide back and forth
and emit eerie moans.
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The Unerotic Internet
The
Internet is for porn. Never before in
the history of humanity have men (let’s be honest – it’s mainly men) had such
open access to depictions of attractive body parts in intimate physical
interactions. Every taste, every fetish
and every perversion is catered to. Some people think
there’s too much.. Some people think
there’s still not enough. Others wonder why
all this pornography can’t be a bit… sexier? And in a few small corners of the Internet, there are communities of people
who still remember what the word “erotic” used to mean, before it
became a synonym for tasteless trashy rutting and spyware infested digital
prostitution. [Almost all links are NSFW. None are pornographic. And I like good
porn.]
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One giant leap for space fashion
Bringing sexy back…to NASA? Sci-fi fans have witnessed many imaginings of
the
space suit. The skintight
BioSuit is based on the concept of providing a “second skin” to astronauts.
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Near Miss in Las Vegas
Pilot tells of hairy near miss at Las Vegas airport A post on Airliners.net telling, in some detail, of a near miss between an America West Airbus A320 (piloted by the author) and an Air Canada plane at Las Vegas airport.
And if that puts you off flying, to calm down, another pilot’s account, of a less hair-raising flight.
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My body is afraid, but I am not.
Who are you? I am Death. You have come for me? I have been for a long time at your side. I know.
Ingmar Bergman, 1918-2007.
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Aneta Florczyk
Aneta Florczyk is an extraordinarily strong woman. Here is a video of her twisting a frying pan into a cylinder. She has deadlifted over 500 pounds. And pressed more than 250 pounds overhead.
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Ándale! Ándale! Arriba!
Ándale! Ándale! Arriba! — Step aside you rat! Speedy González (no relation to Alberto) debuted in 1953 as a Warner Brothers’ cartoon mouse (The Fastest Mouse in Mexico). Originally voiced by the master, Mel Blanc, his time on screen has at times been controversial — especially when paired with his cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez. Cartoon Network deemed his portrayal of Mexicans/Latinos to be offensive. “There evidently wasn’t a problem with the Mexican caricatures at the beginning of Speedy’s career. The 1955 animated short ‘Speedy Gonzales’ won an Academy Award [Best Short Subject (Cartoons)], and two other cartoons, Tabasco Road and The Pied Piper of Guadalupe, were nominated for Oscars in 1957 and 1961.”
RobDurdle.com 
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