Weaving glass? It seems impossible until you think of it backwards from the finished product. In this piece, the glass warp is formed in the finished shape before it is woven to the weft. Here you’ll find instructions for doing it yourself. Link -via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

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This post gives you a crash course in gravity, specifically how gravity affects the way we travel to (or don’t travel to) other planets.

The more massive and more compact your planet is, the harder it is to get off of. Something like the Moon, which is only about 1.2% of the mass of the Earth but 27% of the Earth’s radius, is way, way easier to escape from than the Earth. To escape from the Earth’s gravity, you need to reach a speed of 40,000 km/hr (25,000 mph) from the Earth’s surface. To escape from the Moon, on the other hand, you only need to reach 8,600 km/hr (5,400 mph).

This explains why it would be so much easier to travel to one of the moons of Mars than to Mars itself, due to the ease of traveling back home from those places. Link

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I love that the only way you can qualify for the Van Valkenburg Memorial Scholarship – is if you’re a direct descendant by birth or adoption. Why even have the scholarship? Other scholarships may be easier to qualify for -IF you know about the opportunity! Here are a few examples:

9. Sophie Major Memorial Duck Calling Contest – If you love ducks season you may be eligible for $2,000 in scholarships. So get your favorite duck call and get prepared to win some money!

12. The Billy Barty Foundation – This scholarship is awarded to students who are short in stature – under 4’ 10” – and have proof of dwarfism.

33. Carnegie Mellon University Bagpipe Scholarship – This highly uncompetitive scholarship offers $7,000 yearly to bagpipe major students.

Link

(image credit: Flickr user heather)

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ari.

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Jessica Cox was born without arms, but that hasn’t prevented her from becoming the first licensed pilot to fly with only her feet:

With one foot manning the controls and the other delicately guiding the steering column, Cox, 25, soared to achieve a Sport Pilot certificate. Her certificate qualifies her to fly a light-sport aircraft to altitudes of 10,000 feet.

“She’s a good pilot. She’s rock solid,” said Parrish Traweek, 42, the flying instructor at San Manuel’s Ray Blair Airport.

At the link, you can find many amazing pictures of all of the things that Cox can do, like wield nunchucks with her toes.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Cox’s Website | Photo: Nitin Singh

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(Video Link)

Jared Lyon is engaged in an ongoing project to find innovative ways of using falling dominoes. The project is called “Dominoes Everywhere”, and for the Christmas holidays, he performed the “Carol of the Bells” by placing bells at particular intervals between falling dominoes.

via Ace of Spades HQ | Lyon’s Blog

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Vespa’s South African division had this stretch scooter made as a promotional gimmick. They refer to it as a family-sized vehicle:

According to Vespa, here’s a list of uses for the stretched scooter: it’s a sensible family car on two wheels and kids will look forward to going to school on it. You can be the designated driver and still park outside the front door of the party. When you make new buddies, you can take them home with you – and you save money on fuel.

It’s a custom job, so don’t rush down to a dealership expecting to find one.

Link via CrunchGear

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Christmas is all about awkward moments at family gatherings. Le Trung, inventor of the robotic woman substitute Aiko, took that principle to a whole new level when he decided that he should celebrate Christmas with both his parents and his fembot:

The science genius enjoyed a festive dinner with his mum, dad and his £30,000 fembot which he designed and built by hand.

Le, 34, from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, even bought gifts for his dream girl, who is so lifelike she speaks fluent English and Japanese, helped cook the turkey and hang up decorations.

‘Aiko is like any woman, she enjoys getting new clothes,’ he said.

‘I loved buying them for her too.’

Link via Nerdcore | Photo: Bancroft Media | Previously on Neatorama: Man Weds Virtual Girlfriend

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\Celebrating a wedding anniversary as a late-love blooming, baby-booming bride has its challenges. We’ve been married for one year as I write this. We’re not spring chickens. We can’t add one more material item into our already packed-to-the-rafters house. What gift shall I give my groom? Or for those who want to give us something, what do we suggest? Being internet savvy helps, so I Googled the tables of traditional anniversary gifts and suggestions. Alas, so many of the gift recommendations are more fitting for newlyweds; younger people who are newly furnishing first-time homes. Here’s my contribution of appropriate presents for middle-aged “oldieweds”:

1st Wedding Anniversary –
Paper
Youthful people give each other paper hats, risqué paper lingerie, expensive lavender scented stationery. My suggestion for the older set who ties the knot? Why, Depends™ of course! Disposable adult diapers are a thoughtful gift, and useful for guests who have trouble sneezing or laughing when chuckling at the twists and turns of life. Adult diapers are also useful for any arts and crafts project you may take on in retirement; they make polishing shiny surfaces and clean-up a breeze! But of course, if you’ve lost your retirement account, the older couple may also enjoy a paper piñata in the shape of Bernie Madoff or, for the left-wingers, George W. Bush.

2nd Wedding Anniversary — Cotton
For those hot young couples, 1000 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets are just the thing! For frugal been-there, done-that oldieweds, collect cotton wads from prescription medicine bottles, wrap them up and present them to your hearing-impaired better half and tell them to stuff it in their ears when everything is SO DAMNED LOUD everywhere! Geez! Turn it down, you kids!

3rd Wedding Anniversary — Leather
Leather pants on nice bodies? Yowza! Leather pants on us? Bow-wowza. Better to just give each other shoes that have been in the back of the closet that we forgot we had.

4th Wedding Anniversary — Fruit
Yeah, yeah. This is obvious. Prunes are appreciated for so many of us over 50. Hardy-har-har. And no, they’re NOT “dried plums,” they’re prunes dammit! Dried fruit people, you can call it anything you want … but we still know what it is.

5th Wedding Anniversary — Wood
For young couples, a new dining room set or new cabinets may be just the ticket. Wood for your older couple? Ask your Doctor for free samples of Viagra or Cialis.

6th Wedding Anniversary — Candy or Iron
What? Candy or Iron? Whose idea was that? I guess candy if the couple feels the relationship is going well, and iron if it’s not? This reminds me of my mother’s joke wedding shower gifts for every new bride whose shower she’d attend. She’d give the bride either a carved rolling pin or cast iron skillet with a note on it saying, “This is in case you need to make a firm impression on your husband.” Hard to believe that my mother was a proponent of women’s self-defense, years before I became an advocate myself.

7th Wedding Anniversary –
Wool
OK, I guess his and hers matching cashmere sweaters or a woolen bedspread would be appropriate for the people who make it through the famous “seven year itch.” Geezer couples? Well, my OB-GYN told me at my last appointment that her biggest complaint comes from older women whose husbands have gone down the road to Viagra-ville and worn out their welcome with the Missus. A great gift idea: the original wool delivery system… a sheep. I know, I’m BAAAAAAAAAD.

8th Wedding Anniversary — Bronze
Who the heck gets anything in bronze? What is bronze? I thought the bronze thing was over — excuse the expression — AGES ago. I suppose the senior couple could bronze their first orthopedic shoes.

9th Wedding Anniversary — Pottery
The younger folks? How about a nice new dish set, with serving bowls, thrown by a local artist. The older folks? Oh geez, just go get some clay and do your best. Goodness knows, you could make some ashtrays for the guests that still insist on smoking even though you kick them out of the house. Give them one of your homemade pottery ashtrays to use while they shiver in your backyard.

10th Wedding Anniversary — Tin or Aluminum
For the couple in their 30s, I suppose canisters, accessories, sculptures would be fine. For your older couple? Given the economy, and how many 401K funds have tanked, a tin cup or aluminum can for selling pencils and collecting coins would be very thoughtful.

100th Wedding Anniversary — 10K diamond
At this point, the distinction of young and old couples is clearly moot. It seems to me that if you are able to live with one person for 100 years the most logical gift would be some type of congressional medal of honor, regardless of the materials it’s made from.

I hope this helps the shopper who is pondering what to give the couple who has — or maybe used to have — everything. And remember, it’s not the gift but the thought that counts. If only I could remember what that thought was…

OldieWeds first appeared in the Pasadena Weekly on November 12, 2009. Ellen Snortland teaches writing and coaches first-time authors. Contact her at: www.snortland.com

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Photo: Pederson Erik

Throughout the world (and the web), derivative artwork inspired by the white-armored battlements of the Empire is prevalent.  Stormtroopers are instantly cathartic as a medium, bendable to any whim the artist may choose.  Twisted Sifter has the collection you’re looking for.

Link

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Dropping from the sky like so many Baby New Years, the annual influx of top 10 lists has already begun. Listapalooza becomes even prevalent at the end of a decade because the top 10 list is, in fact, catnip to lifestyle columnists. The year end roundup can also be an editor’s saving grace when the newsroom clears out for the holidays. Here are the 10 most annoying styles of Top 10’s I’ve come across.

• Top 10 Celebrities Whose Star is Rising, written by their publicist. The publicist is listed as number 9.
• Top 10 Downloads of the Decade, one described as Captain Beefheart meets Karen Carpenter meets GWAR!
• Top 10 Screwups of the Rich and Famous. Schadenfreunde alone draws millions of clicks, particularly if one is a golfer.
• Top 10 Things You’ve Been Doing All Wrong and Need to Change, Starting with Buying my Book, Top 10!
• Top 10 Years of the Decade. It ends at 2009. This is when the holiday content famine begins to become apparent.
• Top 10 Ways to Climb to the Pinnacle of the Social Media Heap, written by La Connection Maven Extraordinaire. That’s her legal name.
• Top 10 Lifestyle Tips for Achieving Everyday Perfection From Someone Who Used To Be Just Like You!
• Top 10 Deadliest Female Killers. This in an actual Top 10 of Top 10 lists. I’d link, but why encourage Number 11?
• Top 10 Reasons You Get Nowhere in Life Without a Life Coach. Written by Eagle’s Breath, the life coach of a life coach.
• Top 10 Numbers between 1 and 10.
  “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10.”

Happy 2010.

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