Monster Taxidermy

Does your kid love stuffed animals, but you are tired of paying The Man to make your child happy? Are you a plushophile who would like to wield more creative control over the plush creatures you...interact with? Well, you might be interested in this visual tutorial showing how to make your own stuffed felt monster.

What Doctor? Doctor Who?

Hey all you mad sci-fi super fans. You may be interested to know that the Sci Fi Channel* has just inked a deal with the Beeb to broadcast the first season (first series to you Brits) of the new Doctor Who** in the US. Doctor Who is certainly a kid/family show and makes no effort to be hard science fiction, but if you accept that, you'll find the series is quite well done and quite entertaining. I can't help but think that, if this season brings in the ratings, Sci Fi will pick up the second season as well. So, if you are a Nielson family, please tune in Fridays at 9:00 PM beginning in March.

* Sci Fi is the home of the very enjoyable reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, a couple of crappy-to-medium Stargate series, and a whole boatload of idiotic made-for-TV monster movies.
** For Doctor Who news, reviews, episode guides, and more, check out Outpost Gallifrey.

Kanji Smatter

I'm sure you've noticed that Chinese characters (hanzi in at least one Chinese dialect, kanji in Japanese) are very popular as graphic art among Westerners. Whities, African Americans, and Latinos paint them on cars, hang them on walls, and tattooed them into skin. I've often wondered, given that most of these people most likely don't speak (or, more to the point, read) a word of Japanese or any Chinese dialect, how often the message is flubbed or intentionally mistranslated. I've long speculated that some huge number of Americans are walking around with nonsense permanently implanted into their skin. Shoot, I'm sure more than a few are carrying messages that insult the bearer's intelligence or parentage. Well, know I know I was right to wonder. An NPR story pointed me to Hanzi Smatter, a blog written by a Chinese American and dedicated to "outing" misuses of kanji by Westerners. So, you might want to investigate the site. And enjoy, gentle reader.

To-may-to, To-mah-to. Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to. Fitter, Fatter.

Men's Fitness magazine has recently completed their latest annual ranking of the fittest and fattest cities in the nation. Inexplicably, Baltimore was ranked as the fittest city, leapfrogging last year's winner Seattle. In response, the entire state of Maryland made this statement: "Hunh?"

On the other end of the spectrum, Chicago passed last years "winner," Houston, to claim the title of fattest burb.

Really More of a Loose Guideline

You should really check out the latest Penny Arcade comic strip; I found it highly amusing. My favorite part is the "toink!"

Redrum! Redrum!

It appears that Todd has been struggling a bit lately.

It's a Bird. It's a Plane. It's Bird-Man!

Ever thought of strapping jet engines to your legs and jumping out of a plan? No? Well, this guy did it, and with only one of those flying-squirrel "wingsuits" to guide him. Be sure to watch the video.

To the Velomobile!

As a cyclist, engineer, and environmentalist, I heartily endorse this guy's velomobile project. Check out the clever design and advanced materials.

Point After Touchdown

You won't find much sports news here on Industrial-Strength Science. In fact, I think this entry is the first example. However, I was rather tickled by this particular antic, so I thought I'd report it.

Yesterday (New Year's Day), in the Patriots-Dolphins game, New England* vintage** back-up quarterback Doug Flutie*** scored an extra point by way of the NFL's first dropkick in 64 years. The last time was 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor was attacked, back when the ball was quite a bit more spherical than it is today. Crazy, eh?

* Flutie is, of course, from Canada, not New England.
** Simply calling Flutie a "veteran" is an understatement.
*** "Flutie" is fun to say, don't you think? Flutie, flutie, flutie. Flutie.

As Seen on TV

So I'm watching the Science Channel (of all things), and on comes and ad (advert, for you Brits) for Doggy Steps, a small "flight" of three carpeted steps that your older, arthritic, overweight, or small-breed dog can use to get up onto the furniture or into the car. Now, it's not so much the Doggy Steps themselves that I find funny; rather it's the marketing campaign. The TV ad went through the whole cliché process of suggesting progressively lower prices for the product. Then, because one marketing cliché isn't enough, it made an "incredible double offer": a second set of steps for free! (Except for additional shipping.) Meanwhile, I was constantly treated to short clips of small dogs easily ascending onto beds or into cars, there to be embraced by their waiting and adoring owners. Awwww.

Of course, that is a pretty good price. And I would get two of them. And at that price, they won't last long. And those dogs are really cute. Hmmm. I'd better place my order today. Wait! We don't have a dog. Curse your evil genius, doggysteps.com!

I would say that this is exactly what Muffy needs, but Alison and Sharon have already planned to build a carpeted ramp for her instead.

Anyway, you should check out the site. Be sure to note the famous "as-seen-on-TV" logo in the corner. Hah!