New Year's Eve

I know for some of you it's already 2012 as of this posting, and I know for more of you it'll be 2012 by the time you read this, but I've still got a whole bunch of 2011 left to go, so this still counts as New Year's Eve!

My celebration is just going to be a mellow night with a few close people, so I'll have to get my kicks vicariously through you. What are your plans or what did you do to celebrate the new year?

Have a good one!

Flyboard

What on earth is a flyboard? THIS is a flyboard.

Yeah, that's a dude doing a mid-air backflip above the water. The Flyboard, invented by Frankie Zapata, is pretty much a jetpack for the water. It's powered by a jetski and water propulsion and lets the user fly above and through the water, like some kind of crazy human/bird/dolphin hybrid. Check it out.

Who wants one? I do I do I do.

Yawning

People usually yawn when we're tired, bored, or stressed. But no one's sure exactly why we yawn. It's been proposed that yawning regulates oxygen flow or controls body temperature. Maybe yawning was a territorial reflex ("Look at my big teeth and how few shits I give about you!") or a herd instinct ("Guys I'm tired, let's all go to bed.") We really don't know.

We do know that yawns are 'contagious' among humans. You have all watched people around you follow your lead when you yawn, or have struggled to contain a yawn of your own after seeing someone else's. Even dogs yawn in response to seeing humans yawn. We're not sure why yawning is contagious either, but it may be an empathetic reaction to the displayed feelings of other people. People are more likely to mimic the yawns of people related to them and ignore the yawns of strangers (check it), so it looks like social solidarity has a lot to do with it.

Just reading about yawning can trigger yawns. I must have yawned twenty times while writing this post. Did you yawn while reading it?

Bridges

A collection of some bridges I think are cool.

Bridges, you say?

No, no, no. Bridges. Like this:

Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge 

This bridge in China is the longest in the world, and it’s glorious. I mean, look at it. It’s over 100 miles long. That’s long.

Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge

That last one was cool and all, but really it’s just a bunch of road held up by a lot of sticks. The Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge in Japan, on the other hand, fucking flies. It’s the suspension bridge with the longest span between supports. That middle bit you see between the supports is 6,532 feet long. That’s 18 football fields hanging in mid-air. Humankind is awesome.

Tower Bridge

No collection of bridges is complete without the Tower Bridge over the Thames in London. No, not London Bridge. London Bridge is a shitty little boring bridge next door. This is where the action is. The tower its name refers to is, of course, the Tower of London, where all the cool people go to get tortured and killed.

So is Jeff still your favorite Bridges?

Loch Ness Monster

(photo Robert Kenneth Willson)

Above is probably the most famous picture of Nessie, the mysterious creature rumored to live in Scotland’s Loch Ness. Many searchers have tried to find evidence of her existence and her nature by sonar and photography – few have succeeded. Staunch believers point to a few odd sonar reports and a handful of strange pictures to argue for Nessie’s existence. 

The two shots above, stills from video by Tim Dinsdale and Gordon Holmes respectively, show strange movements in the water of Loch Ness. 

Below, you can see two of Dr. Robert Rines’ underwater photos of what many claim are the ancient monster of the Loch. The first would be her flipper, and the second her head, neck, and body.

Other than a few vague sonar reports of “large moving objects” in the Loch, these photos seem to be the best evidence of a possible monster in the water. Some think Nessie could be a mythical creature like a Kelpie, or perhaps a relative of the long-dead Plesiosaurs. Maybe she’s an unknown species of eel or amphibian.


Others – you might call these people “boring” or “realistic” – think that these photos can be explained by more ordinary phenomena. The surface of the water could have been disturbed by wind, boats, or seismic activity, and the photographs could have captured resident wildlife or inanimate objects in the water.


So it’s up to you to decide: who or what do you think Nessie is? 

The Presurfer: Princess Leia Headphone Covers

Who wants these headphone covers?

I want these headphone covers.

Discovered here:

The Presurfer: Princess Leia Headphone Covers

Zombie Food

A post about real zombie food would be short: Braaaaaains.

But this is about zombie-themed foods for the not-yet-dead. It’s amazing how delicious gore can be! Check out these cool edible zombie concepts. Which one is your favorite… or at least, which one grosses you out least?

Zombie Cake
'Till death do us part? Death has nothing on these guys.

Zombie Chocolate (from ThinkGeek)

Mmmmmm.

Dried Zombie Skin (also ThinkGeek)

Who thought vegans could have so much fun munching on flesh? It’s just a dried seaweed snack, but no one else has to know.  

Brain Jello

In case you’re stuck in a zombie apocalypse and want to blend in with the locals at dinner, but get a little squeamish about eating other people, you can always break out your brain-shaped gelatin mold and join the party.