Brian Dettmer (born 1974) is an American contemporary artist. He is noted for his alteration of preexisting media—such as old books, maps, record albums, and cassette tapes—to create new, transformed works of visual fine art.

Check out more of his pieces by clicking here. Also, check out the comments on Digg.

What is Taco Bell putting into their food these days? Discovered via Photo Basement.

Padded lampposts are being trialled in a London street to protect inattentive pedestrians. A pilot scheme has been launched in Brick Lane after it was found to have the highest number of ‘walking and texting’ injuries in the country. A study carried out by 118 118 found one in ten people has hurt themselves while focused on their mobile phone screen. The charity Living Streets is so concerned that it has teamed up with the directory enquiries service to test a scheme to wrap up the nation’s lampposts. A poll will be carried out on Brick Lane to gauge the response of locals. If successful, the concept will be rolled out in Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool.

Couldn’t the city just mandate that all texters/walkers wear a helmet? Living Streets must be a little PR hungry right now, thinking they could get into the tabloids pretty quickly with this great idea.Click here to read the original story.

The 800 sq ft apartment was remodeled by London-based Levitate Architects, who created “a new bedroom level and increasing the floor area of the flat by approximately one third.” The staircase is both the way to access the bedroom and a perfect place to store books, movies or CDs. “With a skylight above lighting the staircase, it becomes the perfect place to stop and browse a tome,” says Levitate’s Tim Sloan, who also pointed out the unique structure of each step, allowing for anyone to comfortably sit down while picking a book.

Click here to view more photos.

Discovered via digg. But originally posted here.

The beluga whales have been fitted out with the cute Santa hats to entertain the crowds at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise on Yokohama Island. Here’s the link.

To see if men (and women) really deceive themselves in this manner, a group of researchers obtained data from the popular physical attractiveness ratings site Hot or Not and studied users’ behaviors.

The site has evolved to include a dating service dubbed “Meet Me,” where instead of rating a person’s photo, users pick the photos of the people they’re interested in. If both people are open to meeting each other, then the initial contact can be made.

Check out Zubin Jelveh’s blog entry on Condé Nast’s blog.

Read the article here. Discovered via Digg.

Click here to read the unfortunate news.

Linked via digg.

So, what are they doing for their capital campaign? Something that at first blush seems counter-intuitive.

When pastor Steven Furtick instructed members to pluck from the collection bowls, filled with envelopes containing $5, $10, $20, $50 or $100, some people didn’t believe it. One person at each of the five services even got an envelope with $1,000.

Members looked at Furtick like “What’s the punchline?” he recalled. “Then the creative wheels started turning.”

The money isn’t to keep, Furtick told them. Instead, members were to go out and do something random for someone else.

Get inventive, he said, and tell us about it.

Read more by clicking here. I discovered this link via Digg. If you’ve never been to Digg—get there; it’s a great site.

The tagline reads, “Come a little closer and you might need our services”.

“We did it, myself and my tour guides,” said Sam Porpora. “It was a promotional idea. We made it up, never dreaming it would go worldwide.”

Porpora is an energetic, dapper fellow in a newsboy cap and a checked suit with a bolo tie. He’s got a twinkle in his eye and a mischievous smile, and he tells his tale in the rhythms of a natural-born storyteller. No one has ever claimed ownership of the legend. So why is Porpora coming forward now?

…

“I don’t know what to say,” said Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House in Baltimore, who has nurtured for years the legend of the so-called Poe Toaster. Confronted with Porpora’s assertion that the whole thing is a hoax, Jerome reacted like a man who’s been punched in the stomach by his beloved grandfather. He’s sad. He feels betrayed. But he’s reluctant to punch back.

“He’s like a mentor to me,” Jerome said of Porpora. “And I can tell you that if it weren’t for him, Westminster Hall may not be there. But to say the toaster is a promotional hoax, well, all I can say is that’s just not so.”

Click here to read more. Discovered via digg.