Ice Cream Sandwich

The classic, and edible, types:

Homemade, but sadly not by me...
Cheesecake ice cream, plus caramel !

Recipe from the nice lady @ Triple Scoops
(click to go there)

Storebought...
This chocolate-chocolate one is a winner.

@ Lord & Taylor's cafe, NYC
(click to go there)

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versus the newest (non-edible) type:




Google's new OS, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich.
(not quite sure why...)

The new features tempt me; they seem quite jazzy:

- visual voicemail
- incognito mode
- panorama camera
- time lapse images
- photo editor
- beam data transfer
- more wireless access
- plus 'Peoples' & other apps

VERDICT:
Cool new product. And lets hope it will be unlike my other OS's and my other ice cream sandwiches, and won't ever 'freeze up'. :)

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Unveiling their new symbol @ Google's office:



For TT's 'Ice Cream' day
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Into The Woods

Walk among Redwoods... in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

An experiment 95 years ago led to a forest on the slope of a volcano. Someone decided to see if these California trees could survive in the relatively cool temps of Maui's upcountry, 5000+ feet up on the non-lava side of the Haleakala crater.

Now they're over 100 feet tall and still growing.


Looking up in Poli Poli State Park, Hawaii.



Normally I'm not in favor of adding non-native plants to the Hawaiian islands, but if redwoods can survive where no native plants could grow, it seems okay.
Any botanists want to weigh in?

fyi: If you go hiking on Maui, remember to refer to any area uphill of the town of Haiku as 'upcountry' - you'll sound a bit less like a tourist.

But as your burnt skin peels like a banana,
you're still gonna look like one.

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for TT's 'country' day
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Zoom Zoom Zoom

Electric unicycle with a stabilizer !



SoloWheel is balanced by a gyroscope, and its supposed to be easy to ride, like a Segway. I love riding on a Segway, and this works the same way - Solowheel accelerates when you lean forward and slows down when you lean back:



Going downhill the battery recharges, so you can go up to 12 mph, and get more than two hours on a charge.

I have e-unicycle envy... I want one.

Anyone have a spare $1800 I can borrow?

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Papering The World

...without greasing any palms.
Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great. - Edward Coke

The World Bank estimates over $1 trillion of the Earth's economy is bribes. Luckily, Vijay Anand, and the people of zerocurrency.org, have begun to reduce that number through financial non-violence. Meet the 'zero rupee':


When asked for a bribe, you hand over this zero-rupee note which looks like real currency but says "Eliminate corruption at all levels. I promise to neither accept nor give bribes." And it works! One official in Tamil Nadu was so stunned to receive the note that he handed back all the bribes he had solicited for providing electricity to an entire village.

Vijay says: "Corruption starts before birth here. Parents have to pay a bribe to the nursing staff to even know the sex of the baby. (If it is a girl child you pay less, if its a boy child you pay a little more bribe.) That is where it begins for an Indian citizen. And after getting discharged from the hospital, (come the bribes for) obtaining of the birth certificate. Then when (they) got to school, obtaining admission requires another bribe..." and so on.

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This non-money?...
It is worth the paper its printed on.

And so much more.

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update:
* They've now printed over 7 million of these bills.
In more than half the world's currencies.
The U.S. sample:

How about a 'zero' Hamilton for TT's ''paper' day. ;-)
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Walk the Wicked Way

And ponder this perilous pathway.

Filming all the way, this guy hiked the most hair-raising section of the disintegrating El Camino del Rey gorge trail.



El Caminito del Rey (The King's little pathway) is pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge near Málaga, Spain.

It was built in 1901 for workers at the hydroelectric dam at Chorro Falls, and was one meter (39 inches) wide, complete with a handrail. Now its obviously in a highly deteriorated state, with all those large gaps bridged only by narrow beams. They did install a safety-wire alongside the path, but several people still fell off in recent years, so the local government closed it about 10 years ago.

But apparently they don't patrol it.
Can't blame them - who'd volunteer?
I mean, besides ^ that guy ^.

btw, this inspired me to look up 'scary' words:
frightening, terrifying, alarming, bloodcurdling, chilling, creepy, eerie, hairy, horrendous, horrifying, intimidating, shocking, spine-chilling, spooky, unnerving, perilous, risky, treacherous, uncertain, unhealthy, unsound, wicked... I think they all apply here.

A late entry for TT's 'stairs' day. Happy New Year!
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Sunshine Cinema

We've all seen movie trailers...
But this time the films are in the trailer?

Based in the UK, 'Sol Cinema' is a tiny, solar-powered movie house that seats eight adults or up to 16 kids if they're really, really friendly.



Their facebook page claims them to be the
World's Smallest Solar Powered Theatre.
Can't imagine anyone inside this tiny theater disputing it.

Think they'll host the premiere of this upcoming flick?:

Claustrophobia
?

* artwork is mine, for
'Art Every Day' November.


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Cool Wave Pool

Smart water trick makes shapes with waves.

Now they've rigged it in a regular pool, see video:

via Geekologie:


'AMOEBA' (Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin), is a water tank created by Mitsui that is able form images, and 'volcanos', with waves.

Could make playing word games at a pool party fun.

Suppose it would work in a tank of mojitos?

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