Craft Corner: Spider Silk Thread

Just in case you have a lot of free time on your hands and a handy supply of 3-5 foot webs in your yard, Boing Boing featured an article today on how to spin your own silk from spider webs. If I had the time (and the source material) I would totally do this. Spider silk is stronger than steel and can stretch to 40 times its length. Plus, imagine the Goth cred I would get for a little black dress woven from spiderwebs?

Here's the Instructables page that details the steps:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Spider-Silk-Thread/

And, even cooler, people in Madagascar have actually woven a piece of silk that looks like something from the set of "Lord of the Rings":
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/spidersilk/





The AMNH article discusses how the spiders like to weave webs between telephone lines in Madagascar. This phenomenon also occurs in Viet Nam. I saw enormous webs spun between power lines all along the highway from My Tho to Can Tho. The picture is below. The spiders in the webs were large enough to show up in the picture and at the distance I was from the power lines, that makes them at least 4 inches across.

Craft Corner: Spider Silk Thread

How I found Shame-on Flickr

Dollars5 is always good for a fun tweet and this link to an online display of retro propaganda posters did not disappoint! (thanks Hongkiat.com!)

Looking at the amazing array of pro and anti fascism art reminded me of seeing anti-AIDS posters in Vietnam a few years ago. Usually the tableau depicted was a gigantic condom-shaped warrior waving a sword at a cowering Gollum-like creature. Tried looking for an example on Flickr and came up with this awesome Flickr set which I am linking to just because the idea of creating a photoset that titles the page "Shame on Flickr" makes me smile

How I found Shame-on Flickr

Not Your Mama's Fiber Optic Lamp

Any real '80s refugee has a suppressed memory or two involving Spencer's Gifts. My favorite obsession, which continued into early college trips to Boston's Chinatown, was the fiber optic flower lamp which would incandence into a revolving rainbow of hues over and over. These lamps are like the futuristic projections of a bygone era.

(plus, how can I resist passing on two of the best urls I've seen all month?)

Not Your Mama's Fiber Optic Lamp

Strange Synchronicity of the Day

Went to a birthday party and while talking to (commiserating) with another mom over the frequency of Laurie Berkner videos on Noggin, I mentioned my surprise at discovering that the Iowa Rapper Story that's been on CNN.com the past few days is about "Leslie" of "RazzleDazzle" fame on "Yo Gabba Gabba". Turns out that mom's husband is the guy who started sending her videos to all his friends and sparked this whole frenzy. Thanks Kras! This story made my Saturday.

In other news...

Strange Synchronicity of the Day

Um, the BBC needs to check its Adsense...

And, while we're on the subject, can we all agree that Tasers are going to be viewed by our great-grandchildren as a completely barbaric tool that "fell out of fashion" sometime in the early 21st century?

Um, the BBC needs to check its Adsense...

The Vintage Web

Big up to Jim Champoux for recommending this island of misfit web sites!

The Vintage Web

Somebody Call KRS-One!

See the BDP video here!

Found via the Huffington Post: Apparently the mayor of Los Alamanitos has sent out an email with an image of watermelons planted on the White House lawn to a local business woman and city volunteer who is African-American. No Human Stain style misunderstanding here. And no, it's not the same as those Bush-era broccoli jokes either.

Somebody Call KRS-One!

Creepiest Cast Credits Ever

So I have 2 different film magazines with big 2008 fall movie lineups both with big photo spreads on the Hillicoat-directed adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". I figured they might be worth something someday because both covers trumpet the November 2008 release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" days before Warner Brothers announced delaying the film until July 2009 in order to have a "big tent-pole release" in the summer.(does anyone else feel the urge to giggle when they hear this phrase? Or am I the only one with the brain of a 12 year old boy?)

Anyway we're approaching February and still no big promo push for what promises to be an insanely powerful film. I mean, you've got Viggo Mortenson pushing a shopping cart through a post-apocalyptic landscape! It's "Mad Max" meets Demoula's on a Saturday! What's not to love?
Well- if you check out the cast credits on IMDB, maybe the studio powers that be think it may be a little risky to release a film with character names like "Baby Eater" and "Cannibal #2" in today's economic climate. Not exactly a date movie I'm guessing.

Creepiest Cast Credits Ever