A. Kachmar

What makes a city habitable for centuries, even millennia? This list of the twelve longest-inhabited cities compiled by the Mother Nature Network, which includes several in ISIS-plagued Syria, one in China, and one in India, unsurprisingly points toward temperate climate, relatively stable water supply, and a certain intangible tenacity on the part of its human inhabitants (perhaps due to the existence of sacred religious sites). Here's the full list and number of years of estimated continuous occupation:

12. Varanasi, India (3,000 Years)

11. Luoyang, China (4,000 Years)

10. Jerusalem (4-5,000 Years)

9. Rayy, Iran (5-6,000 Years)

8. Sidon, Lebanon (6,000 Years)

7. Byblos, Lebanon (5,000 Years)

6. Plovdiv, Bulgaria (6,000 Years)

5. Argos, Greece (7,000 Years)

4. Athens, Greece (7,000 Years)

3. Aleppo, Syria (8,000 Years)

2. Jericho, West Bank (11,000 Years)

1. Damascus, Syria (11,000 Years)

[Thanks, @theremina!]

“Cocaine” molecular necklace
 
After working for a biotech lab in Vancouver, BC, science “nerd” Tania Hennessy, originally from New Zealand, decided to start making jewelry based on the molecular structure of various vices, such as cocaine, heroin, and LSD.
 
...

podunkmouse:

highlandvalley:

RazerJPさんはTwitterを使っています: “橋を作るという単純ですが、奥が深くユニークなゲームPoly Bridge。 ただ単に橋を造っても上手くいかないらしく、Redditには色んな作品が投稿されてます。(¼) https://t.co/3onxjXL9Rs http://t.co/itCTLtyIKi”

“I tried it society’s way. I really did. And I was denied. Now, we do it my way.”

Kowloon Walled City was a crazy social experiment, except there were no scientists in charge; the test subjects were.

On the site of a dismantled Chinese fortress in Hong Kong, refugee squatters began building makeshift homes in the 1940s. What started out as 2,000 refugees in huts gradually grew into 50,000 people crammed into ramshackle, unregulated skyscrapers leaning on each other for support. (It's reported that no architects or engineers were involved in building the structures, which went up to 14 stories, but were somehow erected by the community that lived there.) And amazingly, it all formed a cohesive—and largely contiguous—structure, resembling a castle or fortress.

KWC had water and electricity siphoned from wells and the rest of the city, but was an unregulated mess of ad-hoc infrastructure largely unsupported by government. Police were afraid to venture inside (though unbelievably, postman were reportedly forced to deliver mail there!). It was filled with criminals, drug dealers and prostitutes, as well as honest families, schoolchildren and one-man manufacturing shops. The following illustration shows what a slice of it might look like:

Larger version of this image is viewable here

Tiny, cramped spaces did double duty, with units that were classrooms during the day transformed into strip clubs at night. There were restaurants and gambling dens, hair salons and convenience stores, unlicensed doctors and dentists. So close were the buildings that sunlight was hard to come by on street level; thus fluorescents were hung outdoors at ground level for illumination. Rooftops, meanwhile, became social spaces.

The government finally shut it down in the 1990s and razed it. But in the years during and since, Kowloon Walled City has captured the imaginations of everyone from architects to sci-fi authors to set designers to artists.

Image by Greg Girard

Image by Greg Girard

Speaking of artists, photographer Greg Girard, who documented KWC in the 1980s, probably has the best photo essay on it (shot both inside and outside) right here. We also wanted to show you the fantastic KWC-inspired work done by a handful of illustrators:

Image by Keith Perelli

Image by Stefan Morrell

Image by Stefan Morrell

Image by Stefan Morrell

Image by Andrew Suryadi

Image by Nivanh Chanthara

Image by Nivanh Chanthara

Image by Nivanh Chanthara

Image by Nivanh Chanthara

Absurd Life Quotes That Everyone Can Relate To

Nicole Barr, a 12-year-old in Essex, London, just scored a 162 on her Mensa IQ test — that's two points higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking scored.

A "genius" score on the test is a 140

Nicole's father, Jim Barr, took Nicole to take the test with the hunch that she would likely be accepted into Mensa

“I was expecting her to do well. I knew she had a quick mind for working out problems and puzzles,” Jim told Yahoo. “I didn’t want to put any pressure on her, so we went for the fun of it. I had the idea in my mind that she would get into Mensa, but when I got the results back, I thought, ‘Wow that’s a high score!’ It wasn’t until later that I learned it was the top score possible on that test.” Read more...

"You can go into a public place in a pot costume, and get high, and no one is going to give you a hard time."

The post Wait. Whoa. These Pot GIFs Are Awesome appeared first on WIRED.

The creatives at Donkey Products have made a cute stuffed horse head that straps onto your leg so you can give a child a fun equestrian knee ride. It is available to purchase online.

Imagine you ‘re a child. Look at a computer game then look at your parent’s leg. What’s the difference? Fun. Bring some entertaining interactivity to your boring limbs by strapping on our Horsehead.

images via Donkey Products

via Gizmodo Toyland

A customer at a Southern California IHOP went on a racist rant after she heard a woman speaking Spanish in the restaurant

"We speak English in America," the woman, who has not been identified, said to Norma Vasquez

When Vasquez's son, Carlos, let the woman know that she can't speak to his mother that way, he sent the woman on a rant that lasted over three minutes, in which she made a questionable connection between the Nazis and speaking Spanish. Read more...

Don't panic if your kid hates broccoli.

Here’s a cool kickstarter: it’s for a real chemistry set, like the ones we had in old days. Go watch the video, and you’ll see that it actually lets you set things on fire!

The post The pen appeared first on Fredo and Pidjin. The Webcomic..

The wallaby is named doodlebug. It doesn’t actually get cuter than that.

Read more...

This quacked me up.

thehumanarkle:

marvelgifs:

I’m gonna be fine.

The most realistic scene in any Marvel movie.

Staedtler makes a highlighter called the Textsurfer Gel that somehow congeals finicky, dry-out-prone highlighter ink into an everwet, enduring crayon that you'll be handing down to your grandchildren.

Using up a whole highlighter without leaving the cap off and running it dry is one of those impossible tasks, like using a whole chapstick without putting it through the clothesdryer (empty your pockets before you put your clothes in the hamper! Yes, you!). This thing draws ink-save highlights over a wide variety of materials (I've tried it with newsprint, inkjet, and thermal paper as well as normal offset-printed pages).

I was turned onto the Textsurfer Gel by Thersa Matsuura, an American expat who's lived in Japan for more than 20 years -- she was one of my Clarion West students last week and is an outstanding writer (here's a collection of her short fiction). She tells me they're well-loved in Japan.

A ten-pack of Textsurfer Gels will set you back $18.69.

Staedtler Textsurfer Gel Highlighter Inkjet-safe Twist-action Line Width 3mm Pink Ref 264-23 [Pack of 10]

(Thanks, Thersa!)

Will the cities of tomorrow be filled with intelligent kinetic architecture that moves and transforms of its own accord, as if it has a life of its own? The designers of these 16 structures seem to think so, whether they’re making use of ancient pulley-powered systems or engineering remarkably responsive auto-adaptations to change the look of a structure, shield it from the sun, or make it seem like a living creature in a bid to foster deeper connections between humans and architecture.

Adaptable Snow Cone Lifeguard Station

Modeled on a pine cone, this lifeguard post by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates and Curio adapts to weather conditions on Toronto beaches. The white ‘petals’ can move to either offer shade during the hot summer months or to collect snow in the winter for extra insulation. The petals can also be retracted on one side and closed on the other to guard against heavy winds but still let sunshine in. It was fabricated in three weeks and then re-assembled on-site within 6 hours.

Penumbra Adaptive Window Shading System

The Penumbra system by Tyler Short is “designed to offer a kinetic and mechanical solution to a problem that would otherwise be nearly impossible to solve with static architectural components: providing shading across a building facade for both low evening sun and high afternoon sun conditions.” The various kinetic elements of the shade system can shift in different ways to deflect light as needed.

Moving Parts by Olson Kundig Architects

Architect: Tom Kundig

Architect: Tom Kundig

A home with a roof that opens vertically, an art gallery with a hoist-and-pulley facade and a ‘virtually indestructible’ cabin with operable steel panels are among the kinetic projects by Tom Kundig of the firm Olson Kundig. The architect says early exposure to mining, logging and farming industries led to a lifelong fascination with machinery, which he has integrated into all sorts of architectural projects. The idea is to move something large using very little energy, encouraging user participation in the transformation of the space in concert with geometry and physics.

Next Page - Click Below to Read More:
Architecture Thats Alive 16 Transforming Kinetic Buildings

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Moving Art: Unbelievable Kinetic Sculptures of Theo Jansen

A new species of animal roams the beaches of Holland. Made of plastic tubes, Theo Jansen's kinetic sculptures move along the sand in a surprisingly organic way. Click Here to Read More »»

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Adaptive Architecture: 12 Transforming & Convertible Buildings

The exterior walls of homes slide back to reveal transparent volumes, the facade of a parking garage ripples like the surface of a nearby river and individual ... Click Here to Read More »»

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Kinetic Facade: Awesome Adaptive Window Shading System

Buildings are forever in tension, being static objects in a dynamic world – light conditions in particular shift predictably yet variably throughout the ... Click Here to Read More »»

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Most of the tools we use have looked the same for decades, if not centuries, but that doesn’t mean they’re optimized to be as useful, convenient and durable as they can be. These clever tweaks on conventional tool designs can be incredibly simple, like adding a ledge to scissor handles for cutting straight lines, or unexpectedly innovative, like an illuminated glove that makes it easy to light whatever you’re working on while freeing up your hand.

Locking Aperture Wrench

The aperture wrench eliminates the storage issues and guesswork associated with having an entire set of wrenches, with an aperture based on that of a camera lens. The metal blades of the aperture close around any given nut and automatically lock into place for perfect custom sizing and a secure fit.

Hoyo Drill

“You could almost keep your drill on the dinner table,” says the designer about the looks of the Hoyo, a sleek black-and-white power drill. In addition to ‘looking like a race car,’ the Hoyo has an optional stabilizer to ensure that you always enter a surface perfectly straight, dial presets to adjust the power depending on the material you’re drilling, and a built-in level.

Ruler Compass

Conventional compasses typically have to be used in conjunction with rulers when you want to draw a circle of a very specific size. This one features a radius display that tells you the size of your circle as you move the leg of the compass

Portable Lighting Tool

Ultra-portable and easy to recharge either with an outlet or an included mini solar panel, the H9 Portable Lighting Tool is a silicone sheath that wraps around your hand to provide up-close illumination for whatever job you’re trying to complete. You can direct the light exactly where it needs to be, but don’t have to sacrifice the utility of your hand.

Tool Pen by mininch

Carrying a set of screwdrivers becomes as simple as carrying a pen with the Tool Pen, a lightweight, compact and ultra-sleek multitool solution with 18 bits. Six can fit inside the tool without making it heavy, and it comes in a variety of metallic finishes.

Next Page - Click Below to Read More:
Tools That Rule 13 Ways To Work Smarter Not Harder

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Insane Prisoner Inventions: 24 DIY Prison Tools & Weapons

Nowhere is there more inventiveness than the gadgets made in prisons. These DIY tools and weapons and upcycled or recycled art show the ingenuity of prisoners. Click Here to Read More »»

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Disorienting Pop-Up Shop Multiplies with Mirrors & Lights

This Polish pop-up shop gives you an Alice in Wonderland experience with mirrors and LED lights that multiply the interior, making it seem to go on forever. Click Here to Read More »»

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Drop-Leaf Desk: Small Side Table Converts into Work Surface

Designed as carefully as it is hand-crafted, this Tablet Desk has a deceptively streamlined look that hides a series of modular features and space-saving ... Click Here to Read More »»

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The red hot nickel ball (RHNB) has been tested on a variety of materials. This video, which shows the RHNB causing a weird reaction in floral foam (which, incidentally, is a lot of fun to jab with your thumb), is the best RHNB video yet.

Nobody likes the beach ball of death. Maybe something cuter would help. Here's alternate option if that does not strike Tim Cook's fancy:

See how the elements in your body compare to those of the sun, the earth's crust, and the sea.