Japanese Monkeys Soaking

Japanese monkeys soak in a hot spring in a snow-covered valley in Yamanouchi town, central Japan February 17, 2008.

REUTERS/Issei Kato

Obama Sculpture in Chicago

Brittany Bajent (L) and Amanda Meyer kiss an eight-foot-tall sculpture of the head of U.S. President Barack Obama as it sits on display in the Grant Park area of downtown Chicago, Illinois June 13, 2009.

REUTERS/Frank Polich

Lego Jesus!!!

Pi Mobile

Click Image To Enlarge

Frog eats Christmas light, gets illuminated

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, April 22, 2009 11:43 AM | permalink

James Snyder took this striking photo of a frog that ate a small light bulb. It was featured in National Geographic's "Daily Dozen."

This is a Cuban tree frog on a tree in my backyard in southern Florida. How and why he ate this light is a mystery. It should be noted that at the time I was taking this photo, I thought this frog was dead having cooked himself from the inside. I’m happy to say I was wrong. After a few shots he adjusted his position. So after I was finished shooting him, I pulled the light out of his mouth and he was fine. Actually, I might be crazy but I don’t think he was very happy when I took his light away.

(Via bangocibumbumpuluj)

Al Capone’s Prison Cell

Posted by Miss Cellania in Crime & Law on April 17, 2009 at 10:56 am

When notorious gangster Al Capone was incarcerated at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, he was treated with deference by guards, and maintained powerful connections from behind bars. I don’t know about the walls, but I’d commit a crime for that furniture! Link -via J-Walk Blog

(image credit: Mike Graham)

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Anatomical drawing on a cast

Posted by Cory Doctorow, April 14, 2009 5:46 AM |

Heather Tomkins drew this lovely anatomical illustration on the casted arm of her friend, the illustrator Taylor White: "I was thusly wrangled into making this old school plaster cast (they do things funky in Norway apparently) into an awesome work of art."

Vicodin Ring

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, April 10, 2009 9:43 AM |

Crafter Becky Stern says: "To go along with my Vicodin earrings, I made this Vicodin ring from sterling silver. I sanded one side of the pill flat (while wearing a dusk mask, of course!), and bezel set it.

US Postal Service to Release "Simpsons" Stamps

Posted by Xeni Jardin, April 10, 2009 9:23 AM |

Scott Beale blogs,

¡Ay, caramba! On May 7th the US Postal Service will be releasing a series of postage stamps commemorating The Simpsons. As part of the pre-release preview you can vote on your favorite Simpsons character and pre-order sets of the stamps.

Sneak peek at the images over at Laughing Squid. (Congrats, Boing Boing pals Matt Groening + David Silverman!)

Zipper Dress

Posted by David Pescovitz, April 10, 2009 11:28 AM |

Designer Sebastian Errazuriz created this dress out of 120 zippers. I dig the idea of reconfigurable clothing that isn't ugly. Zipper Dress (Britannica.com, thanks Alex Pang!)

Jumpei Mitsui's monumental LEGO Battleship Yamato

Posted by Joel Johnson, April 10, 2009 9:58 AM |

The Bros. Brick brings word that Jumpei Mitsui's six-year project, the minifig-scale Battleship Yamato, is finally complete.

Length: 6.6 meters (22 feet) from bow to stern
Width: 1 meter (3 feet) at the widest point midship
Scale: 1/40
Time to complete: 6 years, 4 months
Parts: 200,000 LEGO elements
Weight: 150 kilograms (330 pounds)

Women Meat Pioneers, 1943

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, April 8, 2009 4:03 PM |

The new "Pioneer Woman" in MEAT. It sounds like the name of a Damien Hirst work, but it's an advertisement from the 1 November 1943 issue of LIFE magazine. John Ptak says: "This ad is innocent enough: it was simply encouraging the modern housewife to go adventuring into cuts of meat that had been deemed unacceptable before rationing and the war, which brought about a meat drought." Women Meat Pioneers, 1943

Dubai Metropolis

(Image: "Dubai Metropolis," The Business Bay Executive Towers in Dubai. From the CC-licensed Flickr stream of "twocentsworth." )

Demonic Brazilian DOT Approved Motorcycle Helmet

Posted by Joel Johnson, April 6, 2009 4:33 PM |

These are DOT-approved (or at least were) motorcycle helmets crafted by a Brazilian artist who uses "animal teeth, fangs, bones, and hairs besides fines stones from the Amazon river" to make these $100 helmets. [via I, Gizmodo]

Richard Deacon for Thermodor

Artist paints herself having sex with each president of the USA

Posted by Cory Doctorow, March 27, 2009 6:18 AM |

Artist Justine Lai's new project is a set of oil paintings of her having sex with every president of the USA, in order.


In Join Or Die, I paint myself having sex with the Presidents of the United States in chronological order. I am interested in humanizing and demythologizing the Presidents by addressing their public legacies and private lives. The presidency itself is a seemingly immortal and impenetrable institution; by inserting myself in its timeline, I attempt to locate something intimate and mortal. I use this intimacy to subvert authority, but it demands that I make myself vulnerable along with the Presidents. A power lies in rendering these patriarchal figures the possible object of shame, ridicule and desire, but it is a power that is constantly negotiated. I approach the spectacle of sex and politics with a certain playfulness. It would be easy to let the images slide into territory that's strictly pornographic—the lurid and hardcore, the predictably "controversial." One could also imagine a series preoccupied with wearing its "Fuck the Man" symbolism on its sleeve. But I wish to move beyond these things and make something playful and tender and maybe a little ambiguous, but exuberantly so. This, I feel, is the most humanizing act I can do.

The Works

Super Mario 3 mosaic table

Posted by Cory Doctorow, March 26, 2009 7:39 AM |

Ivan covered this found coffee-table with a pushpin Super Mario mosaic (protected by plexiglass) and painted and decorated the legs to match. Apparently pushpin mosaics are unexpectedly hard on the thumbs. Super Mario Coffee Table

Clark Little's wave photography

Click on the image to see the series of amazing wave photos

Posted by David Pescovitz, March 23, 2009 2:01 PM |

Clark Little takes photos of "The Most Beautiful Waves... Ever." Pitted... so pitted. (Thanks, Shawn Connally!)

Page about the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab (1950-1951)

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, March 23, 2009 9:10 PM |

Here's a nice homage to the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab, from the early 1950s.

This was the most elaborate Atomic Energy educational set ever produced, but it was only only available from 1951 to 1952. Its relatively high price for the time ($50.00) and its sophistication were the explanation Gilbert gave for the set's short lifespan. Today, it is so highly prized by collectors that a complete set can go for more than 100 times the original price.

The set came with four types of uranium ore, a beta-alpha source (Pb-210), a pure beta source (Ru-106), a gamma source (Zn-65?), a spinthariscope, a cloud chamber with its own short-lived alpha source (Po-210), an electroscope, a geiger counter, a manual, a comic book (Dagwood Splits the Atom) and a government manual "Prospecting for Uranium."

Secret Lives of AT-AT's

Posted by Cory Doctorow, March 24, 2009 6:08 AM |


FIickr's NickIsConfused has a great set showing the secret lives of Star Wars AT-ATs, reminding us that these adorable little critters aren't just for Xmas.