Cooper Griggs

This image is surreal. Two people in Greenville, NC, reportedly spotted this ice sculpture left behind after a Jeep Cherokee pulled out of the parking lot of Vidant Medical Center on Tuesday:

(NBC/WITN/Twitter)

The photo was sent in by a reader to WITN, an NBC affiliate in North Carolina (they also have another picture from a different angle). North Carolina was hit by a cold snap and freezing rain earlier this week.

This wasn't an isolated incident, either. Mike Maze, a meteorologist at WRAl-TV 5 in Raleigh, NC, posted on Facebook this reader photo of an ice sculpture left behind by a Dodge Charger:

Picture sent from Stan Bryda of Fayetteville (Mike Maze/Facebook)

How does something like this happen? One eyewitness told NBC that the Jeep Cherokee owner had warmed up the vehicle for a bit before pulling out of the parking spot — allowing the car to slide right out from under the ice.

In general, there's no need for people to idle their engines for long periods of time before driving in the winter. "Most manufacturers recommend driving off gently after about 30 seconds," advises the Department of Energy. "The engine will warm up faster being driven, which will allow the heat to turn on sooner, decrease your fuel costs, and reduce emissions."*

That said, there is one potential upside to idling — spectacular ice sculptures.

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(* Note: There are some exceptions to the "no need to idle rule," as Chris Mooney runs down in exhaustive detail here. If you're waiting for ice to melt off your windshield, for instance, that's an excellent reason to wait. And some cities like Minneapolis advise idling for a bit longer when the weather dips below 0°F. And obviously if you're warming up the car for someone else, that's up to you. That said, it does seem like a fair bit of fuel gets wasted because many people believe engines always need a long warm-up period in winter.)

gifsboom:

Video: Sunbathing Cats Moving with the Sun

bulbacsar:

u-gotta-kik:

This picture is Fox News’ worst nightmare

A republican’s back goes out every time this is reblogged

Video: Red Pandas Having Fun in Fresh Snow at Cincinnati Zoo

(photo via kael13)

From January 11 to February 25 2013, a pinhole

Photo by M. Elsevier Stokmans; Boeddhamummie (Drents Museum)

(MMC / Jan van Esch)

What looks like a traditional statue of Buddha dating back to the 11th or 12th century was recently revealed to be quite a bit more. A CT scan and endoscopy carried out by the Netherlands-based Drents Museum at the Meander Medical Centre in Amersfoort, showed the ancient reliquary fully encases the mummified remains of a Buddhist master known as Liuquan of the Chinese Meditation School. While it was known beforehand the remains of a person were inside, another startling discovery was made during the scan: where the organs had been removed prior to mummification, researches discovered rolls of paper scraps covered in Chinese writing.

The Liuquan mummy has since been transported to Hungary where it will be on view at the Hungarian Natural History Museum through May of 2015. (via Robs Webstek, Neatorama, Creators Project)

Update: Among some practicing Buddhists it’s been said that similar mummies “aren’t dead” but are instead in an advanced state of meditation. (thnx, Alan!)

Rumor: Kanye West said he was proud of not reading books.

via http://imnotwordy.com/#lightbox96868752080

This was recorded when we were touring the west coast of Ireland near Galway after a day of hiking the Connemara Highlands. It will always paint a vivid picture in my mind of the town and pub where we heard this lovely music.

nevver:

Ella Frances Sanders

This is true for anything you create.

urbanzin:

°°Hamburg http://urbanminutes.blogspot.com/2015/02/hamburg.html

Did you snag a MacBook Pro before 2014 only to run into corrupted video, no video at all or spontaneous reboots? You won't have to shell out for a fix if you're out of warranty. After more than a year of reports, Apple is launching a repair program t...

You read that headline right: Every episode of the wildly popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and all its spin-offs are coming exclusively to Hulu Plus. As the Hulu blog tells it, over 300 episodes of the series'll appear on the streaming service ...

(via togifs:video)

The Flow Hive is a new beehive invention that promises to eliminate the more laborious aspects of collecting honey from a beehive with a novel spigot system that taps into specially designed honeycomb frames. Invented over the last decade by father and son beekeepers Stuart and Cedar Anderson, the system eliminates the traditional process of honey extraction where frames are removed from beehives, opened with hot knives, and loaded into a machine that uses centrifugal force to get the honey out. Here is how the Andersons explain their design:

The Flow frame consists of already partly formed honeycomb cells. The bees complete the comb with their wax, fill the cells with honey and cap the cells as usual. When you turn the tool, a bit like a tap, the cells split vertically inside the comb forming channels allowing the honey to flow down to a sealed trough at the base of the frame and out of the hive while the bees are practically undisturbed on the comb surface.

When the honey has finished draining you turn the tap again in the upper slot resets the comb into the original position and allows the bees to chew the wax capping away, and fill it with honey again.

It’s difficult to say how this might scale up for commercial operations, but for urban or backyard beekeeping it seems like a whole lot of fun. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine these on the roof of a restaurant where honey could be extracted daily, or for use by kids or others who might be more squeamish around live bees. You can see more on their website and over on Facebook.

Update: The Flow Hive is currently seeking funding on IndieGogo. So far they’ve raised $1.8 million dollars in 16 hours.

News: A woman accidentally shot and killed herself while adjusting a gun in her bra holster.

via http://andrewberg.tumblr.com/post/16985083026

sixpenceee:

Snow mounds with glow sticks inside them look really cute and maybe just a lil’ bit creepy at night. 

(via seifukucat)