Grow Your Own Crystal Tiara

London's Selfridges, my favourite department store, is selling a variety of tiaras in their "Big British Shop". I love this "Magic Crystal Tiara" from Bompas and Parr. Bring out your inner queen by growing your own crystal tiara.

Read more and see a wee viddy at (NOTCOT)

Travel Photo List

Frequent contributor, Bruce, sent along this photo list to go with the packing list I posted yesterday. There are some good ideas for taking photos that will bring back memories of your vacation long after it's over.

Do It And How

The Ultimate BLT-Sandwich

I thought I loved bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches with Wonder bread, Miracle Whip and sliced tomatoes but Simply Delicious pimps the BLT by roasting the tomato, using homemade smoked chili aioli, sourdough bread and, of course, top quality bacon. I think you'll agree that it looks wonderful.

Thanks for making me salivate, Bruce.

It's Not Easy Being Green

 Brazilian pool attendant and Incredible Hulk fan, Paulo Henrique dos Santos, wanted so much to impersonate his hero for a local running event that he painted himself with green paint. Unfortunately he used paint that is usually used on ballistic missiles and nuclear submarines, not superheroes. He scrubbed for days and even his mother couldn't make a dent in the green sheen.

Eventually a team of family and friends scrubbed him for 24 hours and finally managed to remove the paint. For the next race I suggest that he impersonate Dr. Bruce Banner instead!

Read more at Oddity Central

The Answer, My Friend

Wondering which Bob Dylan album suits your taste? Check out “Your Best Bob Dylan Album Calculator” at The Morning News.
The calculator tells me  "Blood On The Tracks" is my favorite and it is!

Saipancakes

Nathan Shields is an artist who uses batter as his medium. He created his blog, Saipancakes , to show off the fabulous pancakes he makes to entertain his three children.

Organs

Dog Breeds

Vegetables

Via Blort

Paris vs New York, a tally of two cities: le plan

A friendly visual match between two cities told by a lover of Paris wandering through NewYork. If Paris were New York and New York were Paris.

Paris vs New York
Thanks Bruce!

Pack This

Stressed out? Taking a vacation? Afraid you'll forget something? This checklist will make packing easier.

Via

The Container Store

Pigeon Photography

In 1907, German apothecary Julius Neubronner invented an aerial photography technique known as pigeon photography. By affixing a lightweight time-delayed miniature camera to an aluminium breast harness, Neubronner attached his design to homing pigeons who would then be able to capture aerial photographs during their flight.

It's an interesting story and the birds look so cute in their little harnesses. Neubronner’s panoramic camera is displayed at the German Museum of Technology in Berlin and the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Read more about the history and technology of this unusual hobby at Twisted Sifter 

Matthew de Zoete “Colour Film”

Ontario singer-songwriter Matthew de Zoete used actual Super 8 footage of his family from the early 1960s in the production of the song "Colour Film", which in turn led to the concept for the album of the same name. It's lovely.

Via  The Delete Bin

You Are Not Bansky

LA-based photographer Nick Stern has recreated some of Banksy's most famous images in photographs.

Via Junkculture

Blindry

Do you live in a small space? Blindry is a window blind that turns into a fold-down laundry rack for drying clothes indoors. Brilliant!

Via Swiss Miss

Cathedral Dress

The “Cathedral Dress” from Micro S/S 2012

Medium Aevum Via Titam

Free Banksy Jubilee Print

Ambivalent patriots can also jump on the Jubilee bandwagon. This piece would coordinate very nicely with Mr. Nag's Union Jack cushions.

Download your free Banksy print here.
Via HUH.

Anatomical Diagram Of The Incredible Hulk’s Skull

Canadian illustrator Glendon Mellow created this detailed diagram using his mother's nursing school anatomical textbooks and actual skulls as a guide. It includes scars on his forehead from battles with Wolverine
Link Via Neatorama

50th Anniversary of Medicare In Canada

The Saskatchewan Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is proud to present a commemorative 2013 calendar that documents the struggle for universal medical coverage in Saskatchewan and Canada. With original archival images, trace the battle for medicare from the creation of Swift Current Health Region No. 1, to the Hospital Services Plan, to the epic Saskatchewan Doctor’s Strike in the summer of 1962, to the triumphant passage of National Health Insurance in 1966.

Stately Sandwiches

Kelly Pratt set out to make the sandwich (and a sandwich poster) for each of the 50 states. There are 11 sandwiches up on the site so far and submissions are welcome. The posters will soon be available for purchase.

See more at Stately Sandwiches
Via Coudal

The Science of Love in the 1920s

If only there were a scientific device that could predict a happy marriage...

The April 1924 issue of Science and Invention magazine ran an article by Hugo Gernsback, the magazine’s publisher, which examined the different “scientific” ways to determine if a marriage will succeed or fail. In the article Gernsback explains four different tests that can be administered to a couple in order to determine scientifically whether a marriage will work.

Read more about mechanical matchmaking here Via Miss C

Man's Best Friend

"Prince Gabre Kristos left home to pursue a religious life. When he returned to the palace disguised as a beggar, only his dogs recognized him."
Via coisas do arco da velha

If Superman Had A Grandmother

Via The Queen is not Amused...but I am.

The No-Fuss Dessert Generator

What a great idea! Using these ingredients you can whip up 800 dessert variations.

 NYTimes.com Via Blog On A Toothpick

Smell Like A Superhero

These 7 signature scents are fully licensed by Marvel.

You can purchase the colognes individually here or, if you'd like to shake it up, buy the 4-pack above.

More at The UberReview

Dating Around the World

TurboTax.com Via Look At This

How And Why To Carve An Ice Ball

Gardner Dunn, Suntory Whiskey's National Brand Ambassador, illustrates the traditional production, purpose and use of the ice ball in Japanese whisky culture.

Cool Hunting Rough Cut

My Garden Today

Peony

Tree Peony

Poppies

Here is Where The Wild Things Are

Noobricorn posted this on Reddit: 

 My mom painted the entire book of "Where The Wild Things Are" on our playroom walls about 15 years ago... Every page is roughly a 5 foot section of the wall... 

What a cool mom!
More photos can be viewed  here

Thanks a bunch, Bruce!

The Ramones On Regis and Kathy Lee

Via everlasting blort 

Expect the unexpected

I had to laugh when I read this.

Via Sober in a Nightclub

Errol Flynn’s Cuban Adventure

Flynn in the Sierra Maestra with Castro

This excellent post at Shrine of Dreams documents Errol Flynn's trip to Cuba in 1958. At this point in his life Flynn was a burnt out alcoholic and no longer the swashbuckling hero most of us are familiar with. He began work on a movie called Cuban Rebel Girls featuring his teenaged girlfriend, Beverley Aadland. I think you'll agree that it looks absolutely ghastly:

During his Cuban trip Flynn met Fidel Castro, was impressed with him and filmed a documentary called The Cuban Story that presented the revolutionaries in a favorable light. It was shunned by America, played once in Moscow and then disappeared until 2004. It is now regarded as a primary document of the Cuban revolution. I did not know any of this. Read the full story here.

'Arthur Animated' by Jo Hamilton

Jo Hamilton's stop motion video documents the process of crocheting one of her life portraits in yarn from start to finish. The video contains 300 photos.

'Arthur Animated' by Jo Hamilton Art on Vimeo

Thanks Bruce!

New Macro Lens

My elastic band macro lens has arrived and I'm trying to get the hang of it. Here are a couple of examples:

Smoke tree

Smoke tree using macro lens

Iris

Iris using macro lens

I think I need more practice. The lens has to be held very close to the target and I'm finding it difficult to keep the phone absolutely still but it's a clever little contraption for $15. 

Steampunk bicycle from Roger Wood

The latest from Roger Wood of Klockwerks
Via Boing Boing

Montreal Pots And Pans Video Of Protest Against Bill 78

Montreal students and their supporters have been demonstrating every day for months in huge numbers to protest tuition fee increases and now the draconian Bill 78.

Montreal Pots And Pans Video Of Protest Against Bill 78

Usually the nightly street demonstrations, which have gone on for a month, have a couple of vigorous drummers to speed them along their route. At the very least, someone clangs a cow bell.
But in the last few days, the pots and pans protest -- dubbed the casseroles by observers -- have acted like an alarm clock for the regular evening march, sounding at 8 p.m. on the nose in advance of the march's start.

Save The Sounds

Imagine a world where we never again hear the symphonic startup of a Windows 95 machine. Imagine generations of children unacquainted with the chattering of angels lodged deep within the recesses of an old cathode ray tube TV. And when the entire world has adopted devices with sleek, silent touch interfaces, where will we turn for the sound of fingers striking QWERTY keypads? Tell me that. And tell me: Who will play my GameBoy when I'm gone?

Brendan Chilcutt couldn't imagine such a world so he created the Museum of Endangered Sounds to preserve the sounds of old technologies.

Thanks Bruce!

First put on a fingered shoulder length glove on the arm of your choice.

Having the opportunity to explore the rumen of a fistulated cow is often once in a lifetime for most people. These cows are only found at research institutions, and public access is limited to open house events. A fistulated cow has a hole cut into her side, providing access to the rumen, one of the four chambers of her stomach. A fitting, known as a cannula, lines the hole and has a removable plug allowing access to the inside of the rumen.

I never knew that there was such a thing as a fistulated cow or that it had a rumen. Now that I know I do not have the slightest inclination to stick my arm into its stomach. But if you feel the need to do so here is how it's done:

How to Explore the Rumen of a Fistulated Cow: 19 steps - wikiHow

Via FmH

Caketrope

The Caketrope of BURTON's Team - Alexandre DUBOSC from Alexandre DUBOSC on Vimeo.
Directed by Alexandre DUBOSC (who claims he did not eat it).
Via BB-Blog

Jorge Rodriguez Gerada - Identity Series

Culture jammer Jorge Rodriguez Gerada creates huge charcoal portraits of average people on the walls of cities from Bahrain to Barcelona, Buenos Aires and beyond.

The artistic process begins with the search for the city, the building, and most importantly the person to be depicted. This person must have a sense of belonging to the city that hosts the artwork, and must accept being converted into a monumental hero (like those of modernity described and defended by Baudelaire.) Rodriguez-Gerada's protagonists become Goliaths confronting the powerful King Davids of politics and advertising. They reclaim the public spaces that have been snatched from our hands by advertisers anxious to sell us perfect men and women, and politicians, who against all the evidence, want to convince us that they are perfect.

Identity Series Site
Thanks Bruce!