Sneaky Thinkings

Surreal Photo Manipulation: 40 Amazing Artwork: “

Surreal photo is basically displays of a designer’s rich imagination of subjects which then injected into real pictures. Most of these surreal pictures are captivating be it pleasant or not because it is not what we experience in our daily life hence it is out of norm. Given it is not an event we could not possibly experience, it leaves a huge dimension for viewers to interpret what does the designer was trying to convey through their work. This is what makes surreal photos a challenge for the designers and in the same time, an awesome adventure for the viewers. Yes, all of that in a picture.

Today we have 40 manipulated surreal photos to share in this post. Hope it will manage pull you out of the box and have your head tilt to figuring out these pictures.

(bellefoong)

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(Via hongkiat.com.)

(Via Boing Boing.)

The Disappearing Spoon: “

The title for Sam Kean’s new book, The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, comes from a prank that scientists sometimes play: they make a spoon out of gallium (which melts at 84 degrees Fahrenheit) and hand it to unsuspecting friends to stir their tea with.

The title sets the tone for this witty, anecdote-filled book about the role elements have played in science, art, war, commerce, medicine, literature, and other fields. An element I’d never heard of before, ruthenium, was the key to riches for Kenneth Parker, who used it to make fountain pen tips in 1944. A more well-known element, silver, plays a role in the fate of Stan Jones (I posted about him in 2002), Montana’s Libertarian candidate for Senator in 2002. Jones drank a homebrew concoction of colloidal silver to prevent bacterial infection (he was afraid that conventional antibiotics wouldn’t be available in the new millennium) and it stained his skin blue for good (the condition is called argyria and I wrote abut it in my book, The World’s Worst, which you can buy for $0.01 on Amazon). Cadmium is both a hero and a villain: a hero for being a part of vibrant pigments (I love my cadmium red and cadmium yellow acrylic paints), and a villain for sickening a great many people in the 1940s who drank out of drinking glasses lined with cadmium.

The disappearing spoon is my favorite kind of science journalism: it reveals a hidden universe in the form of a thrilling tale.

(Via Boing Boing.)

High Alcohol Content Beer War Continues With 60% ABV Brew: “

Hot on the heels of last week’s news about the 55% alcohol content beer (which also happened to come packed in roadkill), a Dutch brewer has upped the ante with a brew purported to contain 60% alcohol by volume.

While the 55% beer had been dubbed the ‘End of History,’ this 60% ABV boozer has a more uplifting name in ‘Start the Future.’ It also does not come stuffed in a rodent carcass, which is a plus.

Additionally, Start the Future’s price tag — $45 for .333 liter — is a huge savings over End of History, which sold out in spite of its $760/bottle price tag.

The battle over these high ABV beverages has seen a lot of good-natured ribbing between competitors. For example, when German brewery Schorschbrau unveiled a beer with 40% ABV, BrewDog, the Scottish company responsible for End of History, introduced a 41% ABV beer they called Sink the Bismarck!.

‘It has become a little competition,’ said the Start the Future brewer. ‘You should see it as a joke.’

Brewer claims world’s strongest beer [Reuters]

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(Via Consumerist.)

Star Wars: Battle For Hoth Is A Star Wars Tower Defense iPhone Game [IphoneApps]:

Tower defense games have been done many times before on the iPhone. But how many of those games let you defend against Snowtroopers and AT-AT’s? Only this one. More »

(Via Gizmodo.)

EPA Study: Rivers Shouldn’t Smell Like Shit: WASHINGTON—A study released Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that rivers should never smell like shit, noting that when naturally occurring waterways do reek of fecal matter there is “more than likely something wrong with…

(Via The Onion.)

Private Ninja Lessons:

We love ninjas, pirates, robots, and zombies here at Uncrate HQ, but there’s only one of those that we’d actually consider becoming. Private Ninja Lessons ($200) can help you on…

Visit Uncrate for the full post.

(Via Uncrate.)

Is PC Gaming Set For a Comeback?: An anonymous reader writes “A combination of factors like console penetration, piracy, and the huge inherent variability in PC hardware setups have made the PC a third-class citizen for many gaming genres, especially the kind of high-adrenaline action games that were once the PC’s bread and butter. Epic is a company that has been vocal in its shift toward consoles, with many controversial statements dropped over the years in reference to piracy being the reason. So it was with some surprise that we noted Epic’s VP, Mark Rein, pointing out recently that the PC is as important as ever. Why the turnaround? This article suggests that the extended length of the current console generation will drive some developers back to the PC as new games push up against hardware limits.”

(Via Slashdot.)

Extension cord lamp kit:
Here’s Craighton Berman’s DIY Extension Cord Lamp Kit from the Makers Market: coil an extension cord around the laser-cut acrylic frame and presto, instant lamp!

Coiled extension cord lamp kit

(Via Boing Boing.)

Battle Against Unattended Children Escalating In Passive-Aggressive Fashion: “

An LAWeekly reader sent in this photo of a sign at a local cafe. We’ve heard the espresso and a puppy line before, but the addition of a drum and profanity really adds something to the mental picture. Kudos.

LA Weekly Reader Twitpic Photo of the Day: Espresso + A Puppy [LA Weekly]

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(Via Consumerist.)