Weird Science - Heavens Above!

It is surprising to think that less than fifteen years ago we knew of no planets but those in our own solar system. Now astronomers discover them with such frequency that it takes finding a potentially habitable one like Gliese-581d to stir the public’s interest. But a British team at the Isaac Newton Telescope on the Canary Islands may have done something much more amazing than finding another planet in the Milky Way, they believe they may have just detected one in another galaxy. The object orbits a star in the Andromeda galaxy, more than 2.5 million light-years away from Earth, causing that star to wobble. Normally any motion would be invisible at such a distance, but by chance the distant solar system is acting like a lens in front of even more distant stars, and every wobble of the lens is magnified enough to be discernable (Scientific American).

Closer to home, relatively, is the planet is known only as WASP-18b, but if it were ever to be given a proper name it would be “Icarus”, for this is a planet that has flown too close to its sun. WASP-18b is the 375th extrasolar planet discovered by astronomers, and is possibly the most extreme one yet. It is another gas giant like Jupiter, but ten times the size of our neighbourhood giant, yet it orbits its star in less than a day. This 22.5 hour long “year” would mean the planet is so close to its sun, and moving so fast, that tidal forces are almost certainly dragging the planet inwards to its doom. The team from Keele University that discovered WASP-18b, led by Coel Hellier, calculate that realistically the planet probably has less than a million years left (Nature).



More in extended >>

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Thu Aug 27, 2009 - Comments (8)
Category: Aliens, Armageddon and Apocalypses, Art, Science

Max Fleischer’s News Sketches

Was this one of Chuck's inspirations for NEWS OF THE WEIRD...?

Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 08, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Art, History, Cartoons, 1940s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Pool-playing Dragons

Why settle for poker-playing dogs when you could have kitsch as magnificently moronic as this?

Visit here--it's only $20 per piece!

Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 02, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Art, Games, Kitsch and Collectibles, Products, Fictional Monsters

Pimp My Garage?

You may not be able to afford that "West Coast Customs" look for your ride, but how about the garage where you leave it?

Style-Your-Garage.com are offering a range of self adhesive garage-door covers that depict the contents of your garage as everything from a fighter jet to a strip joint. There's even one showing it to be completely empty. So if you fancy having an alligator, a speedboat or even a metro station in your garage, Style-Your-Garage.com have just the thing for you (Daily Mail).

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Thu Jul 23, 2009 - Comments (9)
Category: Art, Surrealism, Design and Designers, Graphics, Motor Vehicles, Cars

Banksy Exhibit

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 04, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Art, Museums, Europe

Kinetic Sculptures by Reuben Margolin

The music and kinetic sculpture combine to make this an interesting video. Reuben Margolin creates moving sculpture, and this "Magic Carpet" is 25 square meters with more than 50,000 pieces. This sculpture shows three characterisitics of a wave -- Wavelength, Amplitude and Frequesncy.



By looking at the next video, you'll see how the sculpture uses one motor to create the effect, but this time with 612 soda pop bottles.



Check out his other sculptures on YouTube!

Posted By: gdanea - Wed Jul 01, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Art

Strange Cakes

One set of photos here.



Second set here.



Third set here.



Fourth set here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 27, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Art, Food

Cow Artist

Sculptor Joe Fafard is inspired by cows to create art. How could he not be at home on WU?

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 26, 2009 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Regionalism, Cows, North America

Boris Artzybasheff

The art of Boris Artybasheff certainly qualifies as weird. You can sample it in a recent reprint of one of his classic books, seen to the right.

Or, you can admire some of his covers for Time magazine.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 19, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Art, Pop Art, Surrealism, Magazines, 1950s

Marla Olmstead

Perhaps you recall that artistic toddler, Marla Olmstead, who, as a four-year-old, sold her paintings for big bucks. Born in 2000, could she be washed up at age nine? No! She's still painting.

Here's her site.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 10, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Art, Family, Children, Parents, Human Marvels