B_h1674679.gif (Image GIF, 600x337 pixels)

The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World [Editor’s note: In celebration of the holidays, we’re counting down the top 12 Flavorwire features of 2012. This post, at #1, was originally published January 31.] With Amazon slowly taking over the publishing world and bookstores closing left and right, things can sometimes seem a little grim for the brick and mortar booksellers of the world. 12 Unusual and Creative Alarm Clocks Creative and unusual alarm clock designs that will spice up your morning. Clocky Alarm Clock Unusual alarm clock that jumps 3 feet from your night stand and runs away beeping to get you up. You can only snooze once. [link] Shape Up Alarm Clock

Illustrations Of Unusual And Rarely Spoken Words Recumbentibus—A knockout punch, either verbal or physical. The Irish illustration duo of James and Michael Fizgarald, or also known as The Project Twins, have come up with a series of illustrations that visually represent rarely spoken and heard of words. In their series called ‘A-Z of Unusual Words’, the meaning of the words have been visually defined in the form of a whimsical poster—which can be purchased on their website.

15 ways to use vodka Keyboard: S - next A - previous R - random 15 ways to use vodka Share on FB 55920 Below Random Pics that horribly slippery slope Share on FB 160 Boost of Friends – Brendan’s Flush Evo & Thomas’ Beefy STI Photography by Matt Kwok & Words by Josh Wilson for Canibeat.com One of the biggest car model rivalries right now is the Evo vs the STI. Both are boosted, All Wheel Drive, sedans and well the similarities keep going on and on but we’ll stop there. With such a divide between the two followings you rarely get the chance to see them in the same frame but Matt Kwok has managed to pull it off with two friends who have put the rivalry to rest.

Play Pokemon - Blue Version online at playR! Play classic games online with playR! Pokemon - Blue Version Your Stuff Meditation found to increase brain size Kris Snibbe/Harvard News Office Sara Lazar (center) talks to research assistant Michael Treadway and technologist Shruthi Chakrapami about the results of experiments showing that meditation can increase brain size. People who meditate grow bigger brains than those who don’t. Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found the first evidence that meditation can alter the physical structure of our brains. Brain scans they conducted reveal that experienced meditators boasted increased thickness in parts of the brain that deal with attention and processing sensory input.

V.O.W N°26 // Melvin the Machine photo © HEYHEYHEY V.O.W N°26 (27 June - 3 July 2011) We think of innovation and invention as highly engineered, complex systems that are built by some mad scientist in a remote space. The process results in long and layered equations, drawings and an endless source of references illustrated in a step by step process to further explain the construction of the device or machine. We have familiarized ourselves with this elaborate system through Einstein, Sherlock Holmes, even the coyote as he tries to invent ways to capture the road runner.

11 Untranslatable Words From Other Cultures — Writers on Writing The idea that words cannot always say everything has been written about extensively — as Friedrich Nietzsche said, Words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another and to us; nowhere do they touch upon the absolute truth. No doubt the best book we’ve read that covers the subject is ‘Through The Language Glass’ by Guy Deutscher, which goes a long way to explaining and understanding these loopholes — the gaps which mean there are leftover words without translations, and concepts that cannot be properly explained across cultures. Save Food from the Fridge by Jihyun Ryou Although we seem to think and talk about food almost constantly, do we really know how best to preserve it or do we leave this responsibility to technology? Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Jihyun Ryou feels we no longer understand how to treat food. Her Save Food from the Fridge project involves placing certain foods on a group of "knowledge shelves" outside the fridge.

10 Ways the Next 10 Years Are Going To Be Mind-Blowing We are living in an extremely exciting time in terms of science and technology. Things that have always been considered science fiction are becoming normal day-to-day components of our lives. And while we have been seeing invention after breakthrough over and over in the last couple of decades, this next ten years is going to blow everything else out of the water. - Simple Harmonic (and non-harmonic) Motion § Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations [S | t | ★★★★] keywords: simple harmonic motion, periodic motion, quantum revival, aliasing What it shows: Fifteen uncoupled simple pendulums of monotonically increasing lengths dance together to produce visual traveling waves, standing waves, beating, and random motion. One might call this kinetic art and the choreography of the dance of the pendulums is stunning! Aliasing and quantum revival can also be shown. How it works: The period of one complete cycle of the dance is 60 seconds.