Image roundup

A few gems, mostly spotted at Reddit:


Middle school classroom/cabinet of wonders.



Petra, Jordan.



Fleeing a dragon.



If you see something, skate something. Via.



Deadly bird.

Image roundup

A few gems from Reddit:


Tiny turtle.



Portal poster.



If you look over a typist's shoulder in Doom 3, he'll notice.



Rap enthusiast.

Free Twilight-themed inhaler if you live near a coal plant

From the Coal Cares website:

Why Free Inhalers? Because COAL CARES.

Coal Cares™ is a brand-new initiative from Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company, to reach out to American youngsters with asthma and to help them keep their heads high in the face of those who would treat them with less than full dignity. For kids who have no choice but to use an inhaler, Coal Cares™ lets them inhale with pride.

Puff-Puff™ inhalers are available free to any family living within 200 miles of a coal plant, and each inhaler comes with a $10 coupon towards the cost of the asthma medication itself.

There's printable activity pages for kids, too.

(It's a hoax by the Yes Men.) Via.

Rick the Adventure Sphere dialog and t-shirt design (Portal)

Late in Portal 2, you gain the assistance of a robot known as Rick the Adventure Sphere ("designed for danger"). It's a pretty heated moment, so the natural inclination is to swiftly complete the task at hand, but if you take your time, Rick says one great line after another, including singing an adventure song and suggesting catch phrases once you beat the boss. You can enjoy his dialog in the video above. And there's a brand new t-shirt design by up for vote at Threadless:



Finally, speaking of Portal, here's Erik Wolpaw's recent NYU lecture:



Via.

*Portal 2 is 40% off at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Jill Myles has a funny Twitter handle:

I write under three pseudonyms for Pocket Books, Berkley Heat, and self-publishing. I guess I need a hobby.

2. "Def Leppard to release album of rock lullabies for babies." You can preorder Dreamin' With Def Leppard at Amazon. Via.

3. I think I might have posted this before, but it's hilarious so . . . clueless secretary asks talented (and busy) graphic designer to create a lost cat poster for her.

Image roundup

A few gems from Reddit:


Mama bear and her cubs one year later.



Monster house.




Fennec fox.



Owl hates being washed.



Google gets some weird questions.

Wow, what is this kitten so frightened of?

Video of a kitten versus what must be the most frightening tennis ball in the world. Via.

Link roundup

1. Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey gives his baseball bats geeky names, including Orcrist from The Hobbit and "hrunting" based on Beowulf.

2. I didn't read the article for fear of spoiling the headline:

'Mad hatters' gang of middle-aged women blamed for Detroit crime spree

Police in Detroit are hunting a gang of middle-aged women, nicknamed the "Mad Hatters", who they blame for a string of robberies, purse snatching and fraud.

Via.

3. My local theater doesn't show pre-movie commercials anymore, but the theaters that do are having trouble filling the slots:

Part of the reason for the shortfall, according to the firm's CEO, is lack of advertising from Japanese auto and electronics makers who are suffering following March's earthquake and tsunami, as well as the National Guard, which no longer needs to advertise as much because high unemployment numbers push so many candidates its way.

Long exposure of a takeoff

Long exposure of an airline takeoff:




Long exposure of a cat:



Via.

Image roundup

A few gems from Reddit:


The future of Google.




Test answer.




Some products sell themselves.




Anyone know who makes this shirt?




Duct tape to the rescue.

Link roundup

1. Penelope Trunk explains how she's helping her teenage neighbors start a business:

I told myself I will send them lots of links so they learn about entrepreneurship. But the boys did not have computers. Further, they do not even get homework that involves computers because not all the kids in the local high school have computers at home. They do research for reports only from books in the library.

Then it occurred to me that they don’t read. They can read, they just don’t read.

“What was the last book you read?” I asked Zach.

He couldn’t remember. Then he remembered: “The Scarlet Letter, for school.”

“It sucked,” said Mitch.

I told the boys that entrepreneurs read. They have to read. The problem is that if you don’t read you don’t know where to start reading. I decided we’d have to start with reading about sex, to keep them interested. I gave them Dennis Cooper. They liked it. After a while I slipped in articles about entrepreneurship.

Much more at the link.

2. Not too surprising that the Dark Tower movie/tv series is starting to look DOA.

3. Beautiful pictures from Disney's maiden cruise to Alaska. And speaking of Disney, you can win passes to see the new Star Tours.

Link roundup

1. Another great storytelling lecture by Jim Shooter, utilizing a Fantastic Four story drawn by Jack Kirby.

2. The secret to Pixar's success? "Pixar seems to have realized that if you can get the dad to come to the movie and love the movie, the whole family will come. Maybe more than once. And they'll probably buy the DVD and the video game, too."

3. Gawker calls Jesse James "a voltron composed of every bad ex-boyfriend in the world."

Neil Gaiman vs. Matt Dean, the comic

Just the first two panels in this comic about Neil Gaiman and Minnesota House majority leader Matt Dean. Via.

I'm ashamed of what I've done for a Klondike Bar

I'm ashamed of what I've done for a Klondike Bar. Apparently an ecard, but their search function never works for me. Via.

Here's the link, thanks David.

Matt Drudge on Osama's death

Drudge on Osama's death via.

Link roundup

1. SF Chronicle:

In a pants-on-fire moment, the White House press office today denied anyone there had issued threats to remove Carla Marinucci and possibly other Hearst reporters from the press pool covering the President in the Bay Area.

Chronicle editor Ward Bushee called the press office on its fib:

Sadly, we expected the White House to respond in this manner based on our experiences yesterday. It is not a truthful response. It follows a day of off-the-record exchanges with key people in the White House communications office who told us they would remove our reporter, then threatened retaliation to Chronicle and Hearst reporters if we reported on the ban, and then recanted to say our reporter might not be removed after all.

2. The time Jim Carrey went totally nuts for new year's eve on David Letterman.

3. How law schools trick students into attending by promising them merit scholarships, and then keeping secret how likely it is that they will lose the scholarship after their first or second year. Via.

Link roundup

1. Peyton Manning explained how players beat the NFL's concussion test, but then claimed it was just a joke.

2. Gabe Delahaye on the new Transformers trailer:

“OPTIMUUUUUUUS!” Haha. That does get me every time. “OPTIMUUUUUUUS!” I think Shia LaBeouf is a perfectly decent actor, but every time he has to dramatically scream a SPACE ROBOT’s name it breaks my heart. Just kidding, no it doesn’t. But hopefully it breaks his.

3. "Most people probably don’t think of Corning as a crime fighting company, but when it sold its Pyrex brand to World Kitchen in 1998, the company accidentally made the illegal manufacture of crack cocaine more difficult—a fascinating example of unintended consequences." Via.

Image roundup

Please clap for bubbles. Via.




Blue whale skull. Via.




Don Cherry is a sharp dresser. Via.




Footprint pool via.




Drain at the beach - - this mindbender was part of the Pure Water Vision show. Via.

Now, this is a birthday cake

Emery's birthday cake via.

*Buy Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong at Amazon.

Ladies from the royal wedding

Princess Beatrice and her hat.



Grace Van Cutsem, also a meme.