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If you are at all interested in the current arts scene, I’m sure you have heard a lot about about the imminent opening of the Museum of Folly; probably you are growing tired of the endless media coverage. What I have for you today is something entirely better. Blog.rightreading.com has arranged for a special preview [...]

This handsome structure was built by architect Peter Archer for a client who collects Tolkien.
According to finehomebuilding.com, “‘I came back my client and said, “I’m not going to make this look like Hollywood,”‘ Archer recalled, choosing to focus instead on a finely-crafted structure embodying a sense of history and tradition.”
More photos and story here.

It must be the desk that ups the price.

This “writhing desk” recalls Harry Potter, or maybe Lewis Carroll:”The regular course was Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with; and then the different branches of Arithmetic — Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.”

Looks like the Roger Smith Hotel in New York has caved in to demands from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights to remove the art piece My Sweet Lord by Cosimo Cavallaro. A six-foot-tall representation of Jesus on the cross made of chocolate, the piece has apparently offended the League more by its [...]

Are you in shape for following step 12 in the instructions shown in the screen capture?
Via Google Blogoscoped. While at GB, check out Raymond Chandler’s 1953 mention of Google.

On March 2 170 lost Swiss soldiers accidentally invaded neighboring Liechtenstein. But instead of claiming the principality for the Swiss empire, once they realized their mistake they simply marched back home. A spokesman for Liechtenstein said the soldiers had gone unnoticed, adding “It’s not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something.”
Could this [...]

That’s how the source titles this page. It’s said to be actual courtroom testimony, taken down by “court reporters who had the torment of staying calm and quiet while these exchanges were actually taking place.”
Some examples:
ATTORNEY : What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS : Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
***
ATTORNEY [...]

Google Maps offers the following:

Click image for more info.

Just in time for the year of the pig, Chinese scientists claim to have genetically modified pigs using DNA from fluorescent jellyfish. “The scientists from Taiwan University’s say that although the pigs glow, they are otherwise no different from any others.” Story and a small picture here.
Do you like green eggs and ham?

image via random good stuff
Bao xishun, at seven feet nine inches, is said to be the world’s tallest man. But that’s not the item. The item is that he was called in by a veterinarian to save a couple of dolphins that had swallowed some sort of plastic. Using his extremely long arms, Bao reached [...]

Will Self’s writing room. A 360 degree view in 71 photos by Phil Grey

Barbados Faces Invasion by Giant Snails
“We saw snails riding on each other’s backs and moving in clusters,” said David Walrond, chairman of the local emergency response office that organized 60 volunteers for the hunt. “You’re just crunching the shells as you’re walking through.”
(via Exploding Aardvark)