Bart King's Blog, page 273

Routine Maintenance

Okay, the variations on Google Maps are now officially blowing my mind. Take this image (found here) that shows colossal pliers descending from the heavens to do some... routine maintenance? (To rotate up and see them, just use the arrows in the top-left corner.)

"You thought you were going to throw that at ME?"

In Japan lives the fun-loving monkey known as the macaque (muh-kok). And in Japan also lives animal lover and photographer Masahi Mochida, who took some cool pictures of macaques playing in the snow. Check it out here.

Driving Can Be Dangerous...

...if you don't notice the massive rockslide on the road in front of you!

The Second-Best Google Street Map Picture Ever

When the Google Streetmap car goes around taking pictures, it captures some interesting images. Like this one from Brighton, in England:



I'm not sure why the seagull's left wing is sort of disappearing, but I'm assuming my browser isn't loading the photo properly. Anyway, this is only the SECOND-best Google picture that a Goggle car has taken. (THIS is the best one!)

Just TRY to Keep a Dry Eye

The good people at Raincoast Books recently gave away a copy of The Big Book of Gross Stuff to an unlucky father from Waterloo, Ontario. He back wrote to Raincoast:

"[My 8-year-old son:] has barely put the book down, and has read to me the same sections at least two or three times with a laugh that brings a smile to all parents' faces. The Big Book of Gross Stuff has brought a lot of laughter into our house over the weekend and it has a little boy reading it over and over."

That IS pretty...

Setting Traps to Capture Air?

Workers in the United Kingdom can request a jar of fresh air to improve their spirits. That is, if people can't make a weekend trip to the country, maybe just inhaling some country air will work a bit of magic!

At its website, the National Trust says:

"The fresh air has been captured from rural and coastal locations across the country – including the lake-side scent of Townend on the shores of Lake Windermere in Cumbria, the grass filled blend at Stourhead, Wiltshire and the woodland aroma...

GOOD IDEAS: Finally, Our Dog Can Join Us at the Dinner Table!

This Pet High Chair is awesome! Now I don't have to slip our dog, Ruby, scraps under the kitchen table anymore. Just read its description:

Satisfying a mutual desire for companionship, this high chair permits your dog or cat to accompany you at the dinner table…By providing an alternative to sitting on your lap, running disruptively underfoot, or outright banishment, the chair assuages a pet (and its owner's) frustration, and promotes more refined behavior.

Did you hear that? This will promote...

He's Not Picking Up Litter

Unexpectedly Bart! usually has a zero-tolerance stance on alcohol-related items. But when I saw that the Romanian town of Pecica has installed ten of these signs, I knew it was time to take a stand.



The problem that Pecicans have is that its residents tend to drink too much and then crawl into the street, creating a traffic hazard.



Really.



And according to this story, the mayor of the town feels the signs make a "positive contribution" to the problem.



Really!?

Bad Ideas: The Neck Beard

You've probably seen a chinstrap beard recently. It's just a narrow beard that follows a line along the jaw and chin, but has no mustache. And if you've see one, the beard was probably pretty short. Why?

Because there is only ONE thing worse than a long chinstrap beard. And that's a long neck beard. (After seeing this one, I've been trying to un-see it ever since!)Neck beard courtesy of the Neutral Milk Hotel.

I Remember Stuff Good!

I'm sometimes asked why I refuse to take part in the World Memory Championships (WMC). It has a variety of events, some of which you can see in this Reuters video. In one elimination round, a WMC contestant is given a deck of cards. She then shuffles the deck, and has five minutes to memorize the new order that the cards are in.



Then the contestant is given a DIFFERENT deck of cards. Why? Because she is supposed to put its cards in the same order as the deck she just memorized!

I know...