A terminally ill taxi driver in Britain saw an advertisement for a documentary that was soliciting those near death for a very strange request - they wanted to film the mummification process perfected by the Ancient Egyptians. Alan Billis decided to reply to the ad, and after his recent passing, Channel 4 in Britain filmed Mr. Billis being mummified, the first man in 3000 years to be mummified in the manner of the Egyptians. Mr. Billis explained his decision to his wife and three grown children, who subsequently gave their blessing to his desire to leave his body to science.
After his death in January, his internal organs were removed and preserved in jars, with the exception of his brain and heart. The process of mummification then began, where over several months he was wrapped and prepared for what should be a preservation of several millennia. Full story here.
Below are pics of Mr. Billis in the various stages of mummification.

I am not a fan of dolls or clowns. Never have been. They both give me the creeps. This may be one of the reasons why I fear dolls. Prepare to watch 30 seconds of pure creepiness from the 70's.

A very creative and enterprising student at Kingston University in London has designed a washing machine that looks like an arcade video game. Lee Wei Chen's design, which he call the "amusement washing machine", is a video game console on the top half, and a washing machine on the bottom half. He connected the circuitry of both in order to create the fun hybrid machine, so that the functionality of the wash cycle is dependent upon the progress one makes in playing the game portion.
"Players put three pound coins into the machine and are given three lives - this also turns the washing machine on. If players fail to progress beyond a certain level without losing their lives, the washing machine responds by refusing to move onto the next stage of its cycle and the player has to add more money."
Via Oddity Central.

Linguists have long labored to construct a hypothesis about an original, or mother "proto-language" that humans used in East Africa some 50,000 years ago. For quite some time these linguists have believed that this proto-tongue was the original language spoken by humans, and that all language can inevitably be traced back to this place and time. Now two specialists in the evolution of human language argue in a new paper written for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that this original language sound like Yoda. That is to say that the arrangement of the words "I like you" that we are familiar with would have been uttered as "I you like". And while this makes for an imperfect analogy - given the subject and object agreements, for intent I think Yoda would have said "You I like", it is a useful illustration of how we began to speak to each other
More on their discovery about the origins and gradual evolution of language here.

I stumbled across this picture while surfing the Net. For some reason I was just struck by the awesome, yet simple beauty of this gorgeous picture. It's beautiful Autumn scenery on a beautiful Autumn day at Sleepy Hollow Farm in Woodstock, Vermont.

Marcos Zotes, an artist based in NYC, projects a creepy, moving eyeball onto the bottom of a water tower in Brooklyn, New York. The effect is at once chilling and instructive, as it speaks to the pervasive surveillance of citizens that exists in the 21st century. Via Neatorama

Here is a collection of somewhat strange but oddly cool crochet masks. According to designer and artist Aldo Lanzini, these masks are designed on the body, and are a series of geometric shapes inspired by music. Lanzini employs a wide array of color and shapes to respond to the inspiration of the music he listens to. These could come in handy on a cold day this winter!
One question: what music is he listening to?

Via designaside

The video below, created by Max Gilardi, is funny, educational, terrifying, and definitely NSFW. So pay attention kids - this is what happens when you get addicted to "______" (insert drug, food, substance of your choice). Enjoy! Via The Mary Sue.

Here is a potential gift for your sweetheart or family should you ever leave them for long periods time, or if you just really, really like to look at yourself: An almost perfect 3D replica of your face! The Japanese company Real-f has developed a process whereby a photo image of your face is taken and then molded over a 3D model to create a new "face". Their technology is so advanced that it can capture tiny blood vessels and skin pores as well.  The end result is the slightly disconcerting 3D mold of your face that you see below - that is, if you have $3,920 to spend.
More here.

Below is a list of the 20 strangest sex laws from around the world. Most of them must be outdated, and all of them leave you wondering what could have possibly prompted their creation in the first place. Case in point: #13 - "It is illegal for any member of the Nevada Legislature to conduct official business wearing a penis costume while the legislature is in session".

Via consumermedianetwork