Before you or a loved one get jabbed, better read this report from The Mail Online which suggests a link between the new swine flu vaccine and the unpleasant-sounding Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS).  According to a warning authored by the Health Protection Agency (HPA)—and withheld from the public until it’s leaking to The Mail—GBS “attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal.”  The warning goes on to draw parallels between the current vaccine and the U.S.-issued batch from ‘76 which went on to claim the lives of more people than the flu itself.  As one senior HPA neurologist put it, “?

The Indonesian Mimic Octopus, Thaumoctopus mimicus. This fascinating creature was discovered in 1998 off the coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia, the mimic octopus is the first known species to take on the characteristics of multiple species. This octopus is able to copy the physical likeness and movement of more than fifteen different species, including sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crabs, sea shells, stingrays, jellyfish, sea anemones, and mantis shrimp. This animal is so intelligent that it is able to discern which dangerous sea creature to impersonate that will present the greatest threat to its current possible predator.

Diving with Mimic Octopus

(via Presurfer)

 
Behold the DORYU 2-16 “pistol camera.”  According to World Famous Design Junkies, it’s a 16mm, Japanese police-issue camera and is not at all a “toy.”  It doesn’t seem capable of firing bullets, either.  Yet.  Or until they roll out the inevitable update of Michael Powell‘s career-killing film, the relentlessly creepy, Peeping Tom.  In it, camera-crazy Carl Boehm stalks and murders women with a knife concealed in one of his tripod’s legs.  Why the camera?  Well, how better to capture his victim’s dying screams?  Yeah, all this from man who gave us such celebratory fare as The Red Shoes, and Stairway to Heaven. 

For your viewing pleasure, YouTube hosts in its entirety the Criterion version of Tom—albeit broken into 12 parts.  You can start with Part I below.  Oh, and interesting bit of movie trivia: Tom also features the first bit of nudity in a British film—from legendary “glamour model,” Pamela Green.

Colorsuckr is great browser-based tool for designers and artists. Input any picture and—voila—Colorsuckr automatically creates a palette for you. I tried to come up with the most colorful image I could think of and for whatever reason, I came up with Bjork. She’s colorful!

ColorSuckr

Dangerous Minds pal Erik Davis sent us news of his wife, Jennifer Dumpert’s new project, The Hubcap Prayer Wheel:

Hubcap Prayer Wheel is a high-quality vinyl decal that depicts the most popular mantra in Buddhism, Om Mani Padme Hum. Long ago in Tibet, people inscribed this mantra onto prayer wheels that were turned by hand, but also by water or wind—a premodern version of sacred automation. With every spin of the wheel, by your own labor or otherwise, the prayer spread through the universe. So by affixing the decal to your hubcap, you can convert your car into a mobile prayer wheel. With Om Mani Padme Hum revolving as you drive, you can help ease your karma while radiating wisdom and compassion into your life and into the world.

Hubcap Prayer Wheel

Pink Tentacle explains, “The bioengineered tooth, which was grown in place of a lost molar, has the same properties of the old tooth and is strong enough to allow the mouse to chew food normally.

To create the new tooth, the researchers ?

SEED magazine published Saved by Science, a wonderful portfolio of Australian-American artist Justine Cooper’s large-format photographs of what lurks behind the scenes of the American Museum of Natural History with an accompanying essay by Carl Zimmer.

I used to know Justine quite well in the early 90s in New York but have not seen her in about fifteen years. Her work displays the quality of wide-eyed curiosity about the world that I associate with my memory of her:

A natural history museum is really two museums, and when you?

If you “love” going to the dentist as much as I do, then you’re in for a delightful treat!  Dental Assistant has a frightening pictoral tribute to the

No, this item did not come from News of the Weird… and no, that furry character above is not an extra from “Willy Wonka” either…

The compound Brilliant Blue G blocks a chemical that kills healthy spinal cord cells around the damaged area - an event that often causes more irreversible damage than the original injury.

BBG not only reduced the size of the lesion but also improved the recovery of motor skills, the rodent tests showed.

Those treated with BBG were later able to walk, although with a limp. Rats that did not receive the BBG solution never regained the ability to walk.

On the downside, the treatment causes the skin to temporarily turn bright blue and BBG needs to be injected soon after the trauma. The test injections were given within 15 minutes.

Blue M&Ms ‘mend spinal injuries’

Speaking of “Look Around You”, here’s a nifty nostalgic peek at 1983’s “That’s Incredible Video Game Invitational.”  Twin Galaxies says:

Twin Galaxies first Coronation Day Tournament is recognized as history’s first video game “World Championship”—held January 8-9, 1983 at the the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard in Ottumwa, Iowa, USA.

Co-sponsored by Twin Galaxies and ABC-TV’s That’s Incredible, the event featured nineteen of North America’s top players competing on five current titles: Frogger, Millipede, Joust, Super Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong, Jr.

The top three finalists won complimentary subscriptions to Joystik, RePlay and Playmeter Magazine and were invited to compete on the “That’s Incredible” finals in Los Angeles.

The show was aired to an international TV audience on February 21, 1983.

Twin Galaxies & That’s Incredible