Chicken Dance Elmo. A little dirty, but works.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless smartphone

Well now here I’ve wasted a lot of your time with technicalities and jibber jabber, I’ll come to my point quickly. Let me ask you just one question:

Have you ever wanted to have a spleen named after you?

It’s funny how when you buy these 2-packs of Grenade Splasherz @ Von’s Grocery Stores (impulse items next to the GIANT $4.49 each size of Red Bull!!!) they carry this warning across the top label: “Do not aim or throw at anyone’s face.”

Much more fun is what it says across the bottom of the label: “Squeeze’em, Soak ‘em, & Throw ‘em!” :^) YAY !!!!!

Davis baking powder is a NY Metro area regional favorite. Hearth Club is currently being sold by Dollar Tree Corp both online and in brick-and-mortar Dollar Tree and their Deals stores for $1 for 8.1 ounces. Most of the store brand baking powder around here is also made by Clabber Girl Corp. If someone has access to a food chemistry lab, it should be fairly easy to assay the contents of the various brands. My guess is that they vary the portions of ingredients for each brand. But I have been wrong about these kinds before, i.e., except for Rumford, they could all be the same stuff.

Massachusetts architect Peter Herman spent two years designing a paper cup that eliminates the plastic lid.

The construction is simple: The body and two integrated flaps are composed of a single piece of paper; the body is glued to the circular base. Like similar cups on the market, the paper would be waterproofed, though ideally with cellulose-based plastic, so that it could be composted.

(thanks, Sarah)

Korehira Watanabe is one of the last remaining Japanese swordsmiths. He has spent 40 years honing his craft in an attempt to recreate Koto, a type of sword that dates back to the Heian and Kamakura periods (794-1333 AD). No documents remain to provide context for Watanabe’s quest, but he believes he has come close to creating a replica of this mythical samurai sword.

(via Product by Process)

italian designers isabella lovero and enrico bosa of en&is studio have updated ‘megaphone’, a ceramic passive amplifier created for the iphone and ipod touch. using no electricity, the sound waves are reverberated and distributed throughout the space. originally only available in white, the polished black and hand-painted gold versions further accentuate the contours of the form.

both the ceramic body and the solid wooden stand is developed and hand-made in italy.
although the black finish is applied in the same manner as the white, the gold version requires skilled decorators to paint the surface in the 24kt precious metal, after which it is fired in 720°C (1328°F). the high temperature assures the glazing is cohesive and the material is long lasting. the high gloss finish found on all three options are to help the sound resonate while the stand lifts the frame off any surface, increasing the vibrations emitted from the object.

This is the first non-iPhone that has filled me with lust.

Dubbed the “first real Windows Phone,” this device is powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 CPU and is sculpted from the same 12.1mm (0.48-inch) thick piece of durable polycarbonate plastic, with tapered edges on the top and bottom to give it that industrial look and make it feel thinner than it really is.