I Heart Guts has created a wonderful illustrated guide to The Good Ol’ Menstrual Cycle.

via WeLoveDatavis & The Daily What

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Violet Blue directs our attention to a bizzare Chinese infomercial for “She’s Mine!”, an inflatable bra that helps “grow” breasts using advanced “God’s Hand” technology developed in Japan.

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Art of Bleeding has just launched their new video series “Gory Details”, featuring recreations of real-life medical emergency stories. Episode #1 features a gruesome story by Ed Buhr about Mango Flies and their maggot offspring.

Abram the Safety Ape, RT the Robot Teacher, and the wise old hand-puppet Dr. Moody discuss a nasty larval infestation picked up by a student traveling in Africa. With the assistance of the alluring nurses of the Magic Ambulance and a pinch of Magic Safety Dust this true-life story is recreated in all its grisly splendor.

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guest post by mikl-em

Please note, several real sneezes were filmed during the making of this video!

Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage (@donttrythis), the guys from Mythbusters, shot the above public service announcement as part of a larger campaign to inform about H1N1 flu virus (of which swine flu is a subset) which stars in the current flu pandemic that is sweeping the globe.

The Discovery Channel campaign includes a Mythbusters website that explains five myths about the virus.

Adam tweeted that it was directed by our good friend Carl, who made that Trader Joes film. There are 2 versions of his fake TJ commercial actually; go ahead and watch the long one cuz it’s great!

You can see those videos and more on Carl’s website or his YouTube channel. He also directed the MB guys in the Intel commercial below.

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Enrique Carboni aka Quique is an Argentinian man who was born without a body, who currently works in an architecture firm. A breakthrough in medical science is going to offer Quique a chance at getting his own body, he is currently seeking donations.

A mini documentary has been made about his life.

As it turns out, all of this is a clever promo for the new Diesel Helmet which Quique wears to keep himself protected.

See Previously: Does Diesel’s Pete the Meat Puppet Video Really Sell Jeans?

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The University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital and the Finger Lakes Regional Poison & Drug Information Center have created this handy chart to help you test your pharmaceutical/confectionery identification skills to tell the difference between popular candy and medicine. There’s an online quiz that kids can take as well.

via The Daily What

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guest post by mikl-em

Wikipedia:

Yoga (Sanskrit) refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India.

Wikipedia:

Alcohol intoxication (also known as drunkenness or being drunk) is a physiological state occurring when an organism has a high level of ethyl alcohol in their bloodstream, or ethyl alcohol is otherwise causing a physiological effect.

“Drunk Yoga” is like the Taoist 69 of these two contrasting pursuits. Where structured disciplined health & spirituality meets intentional self-poisoning inarticulate inhibitionlessness. It is a doomed love affair that is both offensively repugnant and utterly rubberneckingly irresistible.

You can review the full range of these on FunTuna.

Strangely “Downward-Facing Dog” is NOT on the list–I guess I lost that bet.

The same Drunk Yoga images are popping up a lot of different places now. It’s actually unclear who posted them first, but kllproject.lv was early on (and may be the originator); the site has also continued on from the original dipsomaniacal yogic-diptychs to feature another set of drunk yoga, cat-yoga(!!), and more. See examples below…

It also probably won’t shock you that a YouTube search for “drunk yoga” guarantees minutes of schadenfreudtastic delights.

via Violet Blue

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Warren Ellis enlightens us about a strange new product, Camel Dissolvables, a smoke free alternative to cigarettes made of tobacco that literally melts in your mouth.

via Chip Beale

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On May 20th, 2009 my friend Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer (stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma), since then he’s been having his friends blame anything and everything on his cancer through his website Blame Drew’s Cancer.

Next Wednesday, August 5th Drew is hosting a BlameDrewsCancer Blowout at the Dragon Bar in San Francisco. The event is a benefit for Livestrong, a foundation created by Lance Armstrong to help fight cancer.

If you can’t make the benefit, but would like to contribute, donations can be made through the BlameDrewsCancer sponsor page on Livestrong.

UPDATE: Here’s Drew up on the screen doing a video chat with the crowd at the Blame Drew’s Cancer Blowout.

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guest post by Burstein!

photo by Andrew Storms

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a Hindu nationalist organization in India that is venturing into the soft drink industry. While that may not be notable, the fact that they are undergoing laboratory testing for a soda made from cow urine is. Considering that the RSS often decry the influence of westernization on their culture and that drinking cow urine is considered healthy in some parts of India, it is an interesting bit of cultural reclamation to promote a very Hindu beverage.

The flavor is not yet known, but the RSS said the liquid produced by Hinduism’s revered holy cows is being mixed with products such as aloe vera and gooseberry to fight diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

Many Hindus consider cow urine to have medicinal properties and it is often drunk in religious festivals.

The drink will be called “gau jal,” the Sanskrit word for “cow water”.

In light of the recent success of the urine-to-water test conducted by the astronauts on the International Space Station, maybe Tang might have some competition for being the beverage of choice for astronauts.

via Discover’s Discoblog

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Tara and Sean have just launched a new series of Cat Workout videos. That’s right, not only are cats good yodelers, but they can help you get into shape as well.

See Previously: An Engineer’s Guide to Cat Yodeling

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Abram The Safety Ape and RT the Robot Teacher of The Art of Bleeding help clear up some misconceptions about the latest Peter Pandemic in this Swine Flu Quiz video.

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guest post by Burstein!

These vintage PSA’s from the 1976 swine flu outbreak is everything we love about retro PSA’s. Quotes like “Swine flu? I’m too fast for it to catch me!” Or “Betty’s mother gave it to her best friend, Dotty. But Dotty had a heart condition and she died.” I just love the messaging of “Get a swine flu shot or you you will kill your grandmother’s best friend.” They are like trailers for a 1970’s horror film.

via Scot Hampton

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Neatorama illustrator Chris Murphy came up with a really great “Swine Flu: Bacon’s Revenge” t-shirt in honor of our latest pandemic.

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guest post by Burstein!

The Government of South Australia has released a PSA that features stunning slow motion shots of people sneezing with the money shot coming at the 57 second mark.

via Andrew Sullivan

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guest post by Burstein!

photo by Dana Maltby

With CERN firing up the Large Hadron Collider in a few months, assuming all goes well in the repairs, you and I both know that Higgs Bosons are going to be popping up everywhere (and giving mass to all sorts of random crap).   It really could be a massive, no pun intended, pain in the neck – especially if you happen to eat one.

Thankfully, the folks over at The Morning News have provided us with “10 steps of concrete advice to consider” if and when you ingest the Higgs Boson.

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guest post by Violet Blue

Above is Ely Kim’s truly awesome “Boombox: 100 days, 100 songs, 100 locations, 100 dances” — one of the three videos Jason Schultz (Dir Samuelson Law & Technology Clinic, UC Berkeley) used in his South By SouthWest Interactive 2009 panel New Threats to New Media: Fair Use On Trial. Of the many excellent panels and core conversations at SXSWi ‘09, Shultz’s stood out as one of the most exciting, unforgettable and still talked about sessions at the convention.

That’s not the only thing that left us stirred and excited: We also truly loved a couple of the packed, standing room only core conversations. Like the provocative and informative How Not To Be Evil (Even By Accident) with Danny O’Brien and Eva Galperin (both from the EFF). Also remarkable and highly valuable was the packed Therapy 2.0: Mental Health for Geeks with Dr. Keely Kolmes (professional website) and Thomas Roche. See also: the Therapy 2.0 wiki here. Don’t get me wrong: there was some pure, tiresome, self-congratulatory crap on the schedule; but the value, when found, was extremely high.

But it was the Fair Use on Trial panel that had the dynamic format, high energy, conflict and controversy that made us remember why it’s worth traveling to see this always-evolving conference. For the panel, Schultz picked Stanford’s Julie Ahrens (one of Shepard Fairey’s lawyers); her polar opposite lawyer Ben Sheffner (Fox Media, the McCain presidential campaign); and film artist Kelly Nyks.

Then Schultz set up a really exciting format: first he’d show us an Internet video where fair use was in question. Next, he’d ask the audience for a quick show of hands — was this fair use or not? No nitty gritty definition or dissection, just our initial gut reactions to the video. Fast! Schultz then gave each lawyer three minutes apiece to argue their case (and they were at odds each time). After the arguments, then Schultz would quickly ask the room again — was the video fair use, or not? Then he’d ask if anyone changed their minds. Every time, people did. Jason would then ask one of the people who’d switched to tell us the reason they switched, and only 30 seconds to sum it up for the room. It was the Fair Use Experiment. We watched three videos total, and the Q/A after was on fire.

It was intense, fast-paced and sparked conversations that continued — well, we’re still having them. One of the other videos Schultz showed was “The Films of Stanley Kubrick“. What do you think? Are either of the videos in this post fair use, or not? This slide was our guide.

* More images from the panel are here.

photo by Violet Blue

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guest post by Aaron Muszalski

Samantha (aka longtime Suicide Girl “Fractal Suicide”) is currently leading a fundraiser for cancer research in honor of our friend Lou Genise, who succumbed to the disease earlier this year at the age of 38. A multi-talented fire performer, philosopher, artist and clown, Lou was an unforgettable individual who was much beloved throughout the Los Angeles and Burning Man arts communities.

Lou participated in numerous experimental treatments for cancer after being diagnosed, and thus aiding future patients to perhaps one day receive a treatment that would result in a full cured recovery.  In light of that, his friends and family have asked that donations are made in honor of his name to his primary treatment facility, The City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Donations can be made via Paypal here. Any amount is welcome, and any contribution of  $25 or more will receive an (uncensored) 8×10 print of the photo of 18 Suicide Girls above, all raising their fists and yelling FUCK CANCER, taken by none other than Cherry Vega, an extraordinary photographer and individual.

I had the distinct pleasure of having known Lou since 2002, and cherished his company every time our paths crossed. Even in a community rich with outstanding individuals, Lou was unique, and I will forever remember him as a gentleman, and a uncommonly generous, open-hearted friend. It feels most fitting that he be remembered with an act of generosity.

And he’d have appreciated the nekkid girls too. 

photo by Cherry Vega

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guest post by Simone Davalos

The National Museum of Health and Medicine (otherwise known as the Army Medical Museum) has a gorgeous Flickr stream filled with enough medical curiosities, technologies, and well-documented photographs to keep the most prurient of medical anomaly junkies awake at their keyboards late into the night.

Says Mike Rhode, comics researcher and contributor to the Museum’s blog, the delightfully named “A Repository for Bottled Monsters“:

I think I come off as a bit strident there, but we are creating a massive new resource and need to make it available in new ways. Most of these photographs were never described in any database (although there is a set of index cards that fills a wall) and we’re discovering and seeing them for the first time too.

Such is the beauty of wide open informational networks. Unfortunately the Army seems to disagree, as they have blocked the museum’s Flickr access. The maintainers of the archive are not to be thwarted, however; they are uploading pics from home!

Thanks to Nina Eleanor Alter for the link!

image via Museum of Health & Medicine

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guest post by Jackson West

While Keith Olbermann and other newsy types love Twitter because it saves them from having to send reporters or camera crews out for obligatory “man on the street” comments (not to mention gossips who may or may not have contributed to Valleywag and were constantly surprised at what people felt was appropriate to post publicly in an easily archived and searchable format), there are socially responsible uses for the short-message service. Case in point: The phlebotimists at Blood Centers of the Pacific and the Social Media Club are hosting a Blood Drive Tweetup on Tuesday, March 3rd at the Elephant and Castle pub in downtown San Francisco.  Anyone who donates some of their precious bodily fluids will get a voucher for a free hamburger and a legitimate excuse to take a nap.  Do good, get fed, and score some well-deserved @ reply props — what’s not to like?

See Previously:

- GETV on Hot & Scandalous Twitter Habits

- David Lynch Confirms Twitter Account

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