Located in the most phenomenally named locale in the world — Scugog, Ontario — is the most metal archaeological artifact in existence: the Skull of Doom.

The skull, carved from a single piece of quartz crystal, weighs in at 11.5 pounds and measures five-and-a-half inches high, seven inches long and five inches wide. It stands out because of the clarity of the crystal, the life-like detailing, and the moveable jaw, also fashioned from the same piece of quartz. Some say it shouldn’t exist, because it was carved against the natural axis of the stone, and should have shattered. It’s been called “the weirdest gem in the world,” and “the granddaddy of all crystal balls.”

If someone puts a hand behind the skull, their hand shows up in miniature in the skull’s eyes. If it is suspended over light, that light will reflect from its eyes. While that may simply be an optical trick, many psychics have worked with the skull and said, when in a trance or meditating with it, they have seen everything from Mayan ruins to Atlantis in the quartz cranium. Some people have claimed the skull has cured their ailments.

Yeah!!

[Props to Murray for the link}

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Casually packed up some of the various old computer hardware from The Old Lady’s business to take to a local electronics recycling drop-off this past Sunday in Prospect Park…and ended up running into a full-scale, Normandy-Invasion-level Operation orchestrated by the City of New York. And probably dozens of well-meaning volunteers.

Anyways, I have to say, ok, not everything in this city runs like a clock — but this was impressive. Hope: A) all this sickeningly now-useless stuff is repurposed somehow, and B) they erase the hard drives.

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The skyrocketing price of gas got you down, huh? Better start praying.

“Someone’s making a lot of money and it’s really, really wrong,” added Twyman, who founded the Prayer at the Pump movement last week to seek help from a higher power to bring down fuel prices, because the powers in Washington haven’t.

The half-dozen activists — Twyman, a former Miss Washington DC, the owner of a small construction company and two volunteers at a local soup kitchen — joined hands, bowed their heads and intoned a heartfelt prayer.

“Lord, come down in a mighty way and strengthen us so that we can bring down these high gas prices,” Twyman said to a chorus of “amens”.

Hey, maybe this is a sign from the good Lord Jesus Buddha Mohammed Siva that he/she wants everyone who’s able to start riding the sh*t out of bicycles.

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Not sure if you guys have seen this, but it’s been making the rounds lately: some anonymous folks have been cleverly defacing American bills and posting the results online.

There are a bunch of good nerd ones in there, but I think my fave so far is The Jean Genie Franklin.

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Annual best-food-chain-ever competitor Dunkin Donuts is giving out free donuts with a hot coffee tomorrow to “celebrate” Tax Day. Believe it.

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While the Japanese continue to push the boundaries of robotics, some guy in Atlanta felt the urge to take matters into his own hands and build a weird little remote-control Robocop out of a BBQ grille and water gun (I’m so happy I’m not making this up) because the city, like every other modern American metropolis, is effed up.

Terrill is chasing out unsavory-looking characters from a street corner that resembles a drug dealer’s dream at night. More than 20 suspicious people were seen huddling in the dark in the front driveway and side parking lot on this night. Some were seen openly making drug deals.

But during the day, it’s where young children frolic on a nearby playground at a the Beacon of Light Daycare Center in downtown Atlanta. It has become a nightmare for day care operator Lydia Meredith.

“This whole square is enveloped with homeless people and drug dealers, defecating, urinating, prostituting — the whole nine yards. And the overflow of that behavior, we get to cleanup every morning,” she says.

Although, as awesome as having a crime-fighting robot is, personally I tend to side with this lady:

Anita Beatty, the director of the shelter, is suspicious of the barbecue-smoker robot. “I just think the whole ‘Robocop’ spraying people is a little freaky. We really need some police protection in this neighborhood. I think it’s confusing the issue. I think the issue is homeless people. They are being confused with the folks who prey on them and sell them drugs,” she says.

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I can’t even begin to describe how absolutely spectacular this is: 41 Hilarious Science Fair Experiments. Thanks to Photo Basement for performing this public service.

All these kids get an A, especially this guy:

And whoever did this:

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