UNESCO is tracking endangered languages in an atlas, available online. The print version will be available in May. 2,500 languages out of the world’s 6,000 languages are in danger of becoming extinct. 199 languages have only a handful of speakers remaining. The linguists who worked on this edition are encouraging immigrants to preserve their native languages.
A photo gallery of some notable playthings from the 2009 American International Toy Fair. The $99.95 Bernard Madoff doll seems extravagant considering the subject matter, plus you’re supposed to smash it with the included hammer. I suppose it’s cheaper than therapy. But I could go for a marshmallow gun decorated with peace symbols.
Design your own cereal at [me] & goji. I think you can accomplish this easily in the bulk foods aisle of certain grocery stores, but this does come in a custom “cereal capsule.” Unfortunately it’s all healthy and organic, so no mixing fruity loops with purple horseshoes and green clovers. (via Luxist)
The news that Pepsi will be offering sugar versions of its drinks in April reminded me that I had read somewhere last year that Snapple would be reformulating its drinks to use sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. And indeed, the ingredients lists on their website show that the drinks now in redesigned slimmer bottles use sugar, except for the diet versions. But there are still fruit drinks in the original bottles that have HFCS. Will those be reformulated soon as well?
I missed this when it came out (that’s what I get for not reading BoingBoing), Dave’s Adjustable Hot Sauce lets you select how much spicy heat you want, then spray it on. By the way, there’s now Dave’s Ultimate Insanity Sauce which is hotter than the original Insanity Sauce. Insane.
Found on Etsy: Rock Band Drum Kit Cosies. They are not for covering your drums when you are done playing, they are for deadening the tapping so you don’t disturb your neighbors. Guitar Hero World Tour players, there’s a set for you too.
Eternally devoted Major League Baseball fans can now be laid to rest in team logo caskets or urns. The caskets feature team logo and colors for the inside pillow and fabric. Headstone markers are also available. (This is from the same company that offers the Star Trek urn and a casket based on the photon torpedo burial of Spock.) (via Luxist)
For the required Valentine’s Day candy topic, the San Francisco Chronicle visited TCHO Chocolate, a start-up headed by Timothy Childs, a former NASA scientist, and Louis Rossetto, founder of Wired Magazine. It’s the only true chocolate maker in San Francisco, crafting bars from cacao beans. With the bootstrapping practicality of a garage start-up, Childs cobbled together equipment intended for other uses, dal grinders from India, dryer duct, tape used on the space shuttle, to mix chocolate (see the result in a 2 min. video). TCHO has 30 employees and is now selling its products on the web, at its factory store, and select retailers. (A longer tour of the machines from BoingBoing TV in July 2008.)
Cooper, the cat with the camera on his collar, now has his very own photo exhibit at the Urban Light Studios in Seattle. 16 of his photographs are framed and also available for purchase. Part of the proceeds benefit the PAWS shelter.
Frank Gehry isn’t about to let a downturn in the economy compromise his uniquely curvy building designs. His Digital Project software models Gehry’s oddball architecture on the computer screen, allowing him to revise and tweak building elements, resulting in cost savings. The software and services offered by Gehry Technologies also gives Gehry an income source helping others build projects while demand for his own ambitious visions may have to wait out the frugal climate. Architects can use Digital Project to easily try different materials, shapes and change other parameters to stay within budget.