Neil Gaiman Wrote a Comic for This Fan to Tattoo on His Back

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http://www.neatorama.com/?p=67266

Burton Olivier, a hardcore fan of novelist and comic book writer Neil Gaiman, wanted a special tattoo to cover his back. So he asked Gaiman to design one. The author agreed if Olivier would make a contribution to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Gaiman hired comic book artist David Mack to make the visual design, then composed the following poem:

I will write in words of fire. I will write them on your skin. I will write about desire. Write beginnings, write of sin. You’re the book I love the best, your skin only holds my truth, you will be a palimpsest lines of age rewriting youth. You will not burn upon the pyre. Or be buried on the shelf. You’re my letter to desire: And you’ll never read yourself. I will trace each word and comma As the final dusk descends, You’re my tale of dreams and drama, Let us find out how it ends.

Which active author would you like to design a tattoo for you?

Link | Photo: Neil Gaiman

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The Final Journey of USS Iowa

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http://www.neatorama.com/?p=67257

Photo: Don Bartletti/LA Times | Don't miss the Large version

Los Angeles Times photographer Don Bartletti snapped this wonderful photo of the battleship U.S.S. Iowa passing underneath the Golden Gate Bridge on its final journey.

Steve Chawkins of the LA Times has the story:

Coincidentally, the 69-year-old ship's stately passage occurred as tourists thronged San Francisco for Memorial Day and for a citywide celebration of the bridge's 75th birthday.

"It's so fitting that this great warship goes out for her last time on the bridge's 75th anniversary," said Bob Rogers, a spokesman for the Pacific Battleship Center, the nonprofit that is funding the ship's move and transformation into a museum.

"So many battleships and destroyers left for the Pacific out of San Francisco Bay," he said. "There were very emotional feelings as they passed under the bridge to go out and very happy feelings when they passed under it to return."

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CCTV

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http://www.neatorama.com/?p=67255

(YouTube link)

From reading British blogs and news sites, this is exactly the impression I have of modern England. CCTV cameras are everywhere, and in this short film, they never forget, and never give up. This is another of the Max X series by Ant Carpendale and Dave Parker. -Thanks, Ant!

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Back To The Future in LEGO

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http://www.neatorama.com/?p=67256

Like Marty McFly said in Back To The Future, if you put your mind into it, you can accomplish anything. Like this DeLorean Time Machine LEGO by Brickshelf user Sakuretu: Link - via LEGO CUUSOO and The Daily What Geek

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The Plant That Hunts Its Prey

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http://www.neatorama.com/?p=67254

Think
that plants are just sitting around photosynthesizin’, think again: some
plants like the parasitic dodder vine actually hunt.

Consuelo De Moraes
of Penn State University discovered that the parasitic plant can even
sniff out its prey:

Dodder is a parasite—it lives off of other plants. Instead
of waiting around for a suitable host, the vine hunts one down. Conseulo
De Moraes of Penn State University planted a young dodder near a tomato
plant and continuously filmed the pair for several days. Her time-lapse
video reveals a growing dodder flailing around, tasting the air like
a snake, until it finally brushes the tomato’s stem and begins to encircle
its victim. Eventually it would sink tiny nozzles into the tomato plant
to suck out vital juices.

De Moraes discovered something surprising about the dodder: it
can smell. The vine sniffs out its hosts, growing toward telltale chemicals
released by its neighbors. And it is picky. Dodder prefers juicy tomato
plants to slender wheat and healthy plants to sick plants.

Link

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Redwoods, the Super Trees

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http://www.neatorama.com/?p=67253

Photo: Michael Nichols/National Geographic

That sure looks high off the ground! National Geographic photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols snapped the photo of botanist Marie Antoine passing a core sample of a 350-foot, 750-year-old redwood tree, to ecologist Giacomo Renzullo.

View more fascinating photos and story over at National Geographic's 2009 story about California redwoods by Joel Bourne, "The Super Trees" | Photo Gallery by Michael Nichols

See also this Neatorama classic: 10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World

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Every Day is a Holiday

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http://www.neatorama.com/?p=67252

(YouTube link)

Paul Loong was born in Malaysia, and served with the British Royal Air Force during World War II. He spent three years in Japanese prison camps. Then Loong worked for years to become a U.S. citizen, which included joining the U.S. Army during the Korean War. But even then, he had to fight for citizenship. Afterward, Loong became a doctor for the Veterans Administration. And that’s just the barest details of his incredible life. Now 88 years old, Loong only recently began to share his wartime stories when he revealed a diary he kept as a POW. Loong’s daughter, Theresa Loong, produced a documentary on her father’s life that will air this weekend on PBS. Check your local listings for Every Day is a Holiday. Link to story. Link to film site. -via Fark

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Cancer may require simpler genetic mutations than previously thought

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/HkbmyqakZwE/

http://scienceblog.com/?p=54676

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Math predicts size of platelets

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/cwAY-LhN55c/

http://scienceblog.com/?p=54675

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Aiding the search for solar energy storage catalysts

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogrssfeed/~3/Kf6AuKwMJVk/

http://scienceblog.com/?p=54674

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