Ellery

You think popping a mint is going to help you? Think again. Swedish researchers announced Thursday that they were able to detect drugs like marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines and prescription pills simply by breathalyzing subjects.

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Not since Liquid Paper has there been an innovation in office supplies as awesome as this highlighter's see-through tip that makes it easier to see the text as you're... well... highlighting it. More »

Looking for an easier way to change the color of your home without breaking out the paint brushes and rollers? Build it from Rubik's Cubes, instead of traditional materials like wood, steel, or drywall. More »

My path took me to DuckTales… Seems legitimate to me.

source: Silver Oak Online Casino

First there was Superheroes are for girls, too!, a website which showcased little girls who love superheroes. Now there's also Little Girls Are Better At Designing Superheroes Than You, a website which illustrates photographs of superhero-loving little girls. They're heartening pictures.

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Forget your SOG, your Leatherman, your Gerber, your Victorinox, even your Wenger. You can fill them with every known tool and accessory under the sun, but they'll never come close to being as useful as this USB charging multitool is in this day of mobile electronics. More »

Happy Earth Day! Wait, you didn't know it was Earth Day? You probably aren't alone. The 43-year-old fauxliday has declined in popularity over the past few years, perhaps because it's been so thoroughly co-opted by companies interested in associating with sustainability—it's easy to be cynical about greenwashing. More »

As you step outside today to breathe in the fresh air and note our planet's lush, life-giving fauna, take a minute to appreciate the fact that this whole day exists thanks to the hard efforts of Earth Day's environmentally conscious, murderous conspirators. More »

This is not the way I wanted to start my Monday... Chrissy Amphlett, the former lead singer of the Australian rock band Divinyls, died at her home in NYC on Sunday at the young age of 53. Chrissy was diagnosed with MS in 1998 and in 2011, she announced that she was battling breast cancer. Chrissy was working on new music in NYC while getting medical treatments. Chrissy's husband, former Divinyls drummer Charley Drayton, and her cousin, Australian pop icon Little Pattie, were with her when she died. Chrissy's family released this statement to the Herald Sun:

"Our beloved Chrissy peacefully made her transition this morning. Christine Joy Amphlett succumbed to the effects of breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, diseases she vigorously fought with exceptional bravery and dignity. She passed gently, in her sleep, surrounded by close friends and family, including husband of fourteen years, musician Charley Drayton, her sister, Leigh, nephew, Matt, and cousin Patricia Thompson.

Chrissy's light burns so very brightly. Hers was a life of passion and creativity; she always lived it to the fullest. With her force of character and vocal strength she paved the way for strong, sexy, outspoken women. Best remembered as the lead singer of the ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, Divinyls, last month she was named one of Australia's top ten singers of all time. Chrissy expressed hope that her worldwide hit I Touch Myself would remind women to perform annual breast examinations. Chrissy was a true pioneer and a treasure to all whose lives her music and spirit touched."

I was 11 or 12 the first time I heard "I Touch Myself." My drunk tia played it at one of our family gatherings. She blasted it on some wonky boombox, sashayed to the middle of the living room and danced to it as my abuelita muttered "cochina" to herself in the corner. I have Chrissy Amphlett to thank for that beautiful memory.

And here's my other favorite Divinyls song:

Rest in peace, Chrissy Amphlett.

There's an easy solution to your lawn chair equation: making those suckers out of pure math. Well, math and plastic. More »

It's been 20 years (to the month) since Kowloon Walled City was demolished, but amazingly, it remains one of the most dense structures ever built. As many as 33,000 people crammed into the seven-acre plot, known in Cantonese as "the city of darkness," before they were relocated in 1993. This diagram, from the South China Morning Post, is an eye-popping reminder of one of the most legendary structures in the world. More »

iPad: Teaching kids programming is a bit of a daunting task, but Hopscotch HD is a new app for the iPad that hopes to eliminate the frustration by using kid-friendly syntax and brightly colored blocks.

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Among the Sleep, as you might recall, is a horror game where you play as a toddler. Developer Krillbite Studio has launched a Kickstarter which, if successful, will ensure a Q4 2013 release for the game. Something to consider if you feel your life lacks fear and dread.

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We all have paper clips, bobby pins, nails, or other small tools that we need to hold onto, but having them fly around in your drawer is hardly ideal. With a simple magnetic strip, you can hold them just about anywhere.

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Nintendo announced on its latest Nintendo Direct video that EarthBound is slated to be released sometime this year on the Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console in North America. It’s also going to be released in Europe.

FINALLY. Nintendo is bringing the beloved RPG Earthbound to the Wii U's Virtual Console this year.

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There's a recent fitness trend that sees people switching from a traditional desk to working on a treadmill to maximize their physical activity. The problem is that at anything more vigorous than a casual stride, it's difficult to read a static display while on a treadmill. At least until researchers at Purdue University commercialize their new ReadingMate system. More »

This heart-wrenching short by Kyle Moy and Ellen Su, follows a young astronaut and his space dog as they desperately try to avoid a horrific and painful death. It serves as a gorgeously animated gut-check that while we can't choose when we go out, we can choose how we do so. More »

Remember how the internet got itself all riled up a few days ago when it found out that it would only take one rogue Android user to hack and take over an entire plane? Yeah, about that—it's not true. More »

You usually don't expect a lamp to do much more than provide a little illumination and snazz up a room. But maybe it's time you should. Monica Armani's Silenzio lamps are made with sound-absorbing foam and fabrics so they chase away the dark and the decibels. More »

As far as pets go, dogs are some of the most playful companions you can find. But, there's an added bonus to that game of fetch. It helps tire them out so back home you don't have to deal with a hyper ball of fur. And with Hyper Pet's K-9 Kannon in your arsenal, a game of fetch won't leave you wiped out as well. More »

Bet you have no idea what those long legs and neck on a giraffe are really for.

Watch this short film to find out, AFTER THE JUMP...

The smallest of chunks can become something much bigger with careful construction and a bit of planning. LittleBits—an awesome little building tool that sits somewhere on the spectrum between Lego and arduino, incorporating the best parts of both—is showing off that potential big time in the windows of NYC's MoMa Design Stores this month. More »

Singapore-based artist Keng Lye creates near life-like sculptures of animals relying on little but paint, resin and a phenomenal sense of perspective. Lye slowly fills bowls, buckets, and boxes with alternating layers of acrylic paint and resin, creating aquatic animal life that looks so real it could almost pass for a photograph. The artist is using a technique very similar to Japanese painter Riusuke Fukahori who was featured on this blog a little over a year ago, though Lye seems to take things a step further by making his paint creations protrude from the surface, adding another level of dimension to a remarkable medium. See much more of this series titled Alive Without Breath over on deviantART. (via ian brooks)

Update: I have some additional details from the artist that I’d like to add here, as this post seems to be getting a lot of attention. Via email Lye shares with me:

I started my first series in 2012 where all the illustrations were “flat” and depth was created using the layering of resin and acrylic over the different parts of the illustration. This year, I started on the octopus and it was purely an experiment; I just wanted to see whether I could push this technique to a higher level. After applying acrylic paint straight onto the resin, I incorporated a 3-D element in this instance, it was a small pebble for the ranchu and octopus. For the turtle, I used an egg shell for the turtle shell and acrylic paint for the rest of the finishing. The whole idea here was to give the art work an even more 3D effect therefore you can have a better view from any angle. I think there are still many other techniques to explore.

So to be clear the elements that extrude from the top of the resin are actually physical pieces that have been painted to match the layers of acrylic and resin below.

If you've ever wanted to hijack a plane—but been prevented by your crippling fear of flying—you can now do it from the ground! All you need is an Android phone, a radio transmitter, flight management software, and some basic hacking skills, and you can control an entire passenger jet from the comfort of your living room. Not that you, uh, should! But you could. More »

Art by street the artist known as Dome.

Submitted by: Unknown (via Street Art Utopia)

Tagged: Street Art , graffiti , hacked irl Share on Facebook

I've always been a big fan of the color samples in the house paint section of Home Depot. Those unassuming sheets of paper, festooned with color gradients, introduced me to a world that was more than simple black and white — a world with 50 shades of grey, several dozen oranges and more green than anyone could possibly ever need. They also prepared me for Blendoku.

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Google Drive is a great service for both creating and storing spreadsheets if you don't want to shell out the cash for Excel. However, security is a concern, particularly when it comes to someone accessing your machine. This simple script from tech blog Skipser will allow you to encrypt all your data in a document and put it behind a password. More »

In 2001 artist Peter Gibson began a guerrilla street art campaign to encourage the city of Montreal to build more bike lanes. What began as a project borne of activism eventually became an art project that continues to this day. Assuming the name Roadsworth stating, “where Wordsworth is a poet of words, Roadsworth is a poet of roads,” the artist has cleverly modified roads, sidewalks, parking lots and any other publicly visible asphalt surface he can transform with paint. If you want to learn more, the artist recently took a moment to share some thoughts with My Modern Met and you can see much more of his work on his website.

Update: Colossal reader Roula adds via Facebook: The first image “is a visual translation of ‘nid de poule‘—chicken nest, which is the quebecois expression for potholes.”