What Unicorns Eat

I've talked about Doug Savage at Savage Chickens before. He ranks as a cartoon genius in the Spankster's book of fun. Today's cartoon involves unicorns. Because unicorns are not real and are funny. Funny-looking, funny-smelling, and funny-haha!

Lego Makes Me Cry

Kidz, there's a classic set of illusions, including the Penrose triangle (created by Oscar Reutersvard), that look normal at any one junction of the picture but as a whole are impossible. M.C. Escher famously did a number of these in lithograph style and tremendous detail including Relativity in the 1950s.

A sharp eyed iPhone developer that I know sent the following lego instructions for making your own Penrose triangle. Don't blame the Spankster if you wind up crying in your milk after a few hours...

APOD: Astronomy picture of the day

It's been too long kidz, since I've given you some eye candy to chew on. Nasa, the same guys that brought you the first man on the moon and Apollo 13, also provides an astronomy picture of the day suitable for goggling, framing, or setting as your desktop background. The universe is a beautiful brilliant place and these daily pictures show it. Included is an explanation by a professional astronomer that tells you what you're looking at.

Link

P.S. for those of you with News Readers an RSS feed is available from the same link

Psychic abilities

Kidz, I'm always reminding you to use your brain. Be skeptical. Question everything.

Don't get me wrong: Mr. Spanky would like to have psychic abilities. It would be brilliant if I could move a beer from the fridge and the chips from the pantry to the barcolounger without moving. And the chocolate. And the 20 yr old Scotch from the rec room upstairs. Yeah, Mr. Spanky is totally digging his telekinetic awesomeness.

Here's a video showing psychic abilities. A table is set up with a paper pinwheel beneath a glass bowl. The psychic moves the pinwheel with his mind. Astounding! Think a little bit before answering the questions that the author poses on his site:

1. Does this video prove the paranormal? Note that paranormal is a general term that describes unusual experiences that lack a scientific explanation or that are supernatural.
2. If this is not paranormal, how was it accomplished?

The answers will surprise you!

Is this a demonstration of paranormal psychic powers or is it bogosity? Eager to find out -> click this link.

Holy Hairy Sasquatch

I don't have any pithy words for this. It's like a mind virus burrowing deep into Mr. Spanky's old and crusty brain. I keep playing it over and over again. The bouncy music, the tie-dyed version of Big Foot, the faithful "dog", the moss... Please save me.

Link

Make Your Very Own Mini-Catapult

You've heard me talk about ballistae before and other much larger siege engines. Ones that you'd want to launch pianos, dead farm animals, and large chunks of masonry from. Despite Mr. Spanky's penchant for the large and destructive today he focuses on the small cool and annoying. But still it's all about siege engines and specifically the catapult.

I really like the Instructables web site: people post things that they actually make with their own two hands, which is an art lost here in our shrink-wrapped bargain store consumer oriented society. This instructable is the step-by-step guide to creating your own mint-launching catapult. The materials are simple: Altoids tin, coat hanger, rubber bands, electrical tape, small piece of cardboard, measuring or other plastic spoon, paint, wire cutters, hot glue, scissors, and pliers. You can find them around the house. The tools you can find in Dad's toolbox and he won't mind if you use them AS LONG AS YOU PUT THEM BACK AFTERWARDS YOU LITTLE TROLL!

Sorry. It's a touchy point. Mr. Spanky's son has been known to leave a trail of discarded valuable tools all over the place like crumbs in a Hansel and Gretel story when he works on his projects. IT'S NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK THAT HE CLEANS IT UP, RIGHT? RIGHT?!!!

Link

Ant mega-colony takes over world and it's our fault

Humans own the planet, right? We're on every continent, masters of our domain, dealers of justice, and makers of those small plastic tips on your shoelaces. Nothing rivals us, nothing! Bwahahahaha! Sorry, my world domination gene kicked in.

We have competition and not only that we're helping them. From the Earth News desk of the BBC:

A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered. Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same inter-related colony, and will refuse to fight one another. The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination. What's more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together...

Link

Act now Kidz and save the world! Ask your parents for a magnifying glass and do your part to decimate the ant population on a sunny day.