The yearly event organized by the “Friends of the Rootless Forest” is just a nice way of parting with the evergreens that were once adored Christmas trees.

But you know how we humans are, we like things just as long as they serve a a purpose. Same thing with Christmas trees, once the holiday season has passed, most of us just abandon them on the street corners. The Friends of the Rootless Forest patrol the streets of San Francisco, gather all the trees they can find and give them a proper “burial” by setting them aflame.

The tradition of the Post Yule Pyre began in 1990 and more and more people have joined the ranks of the Friends of the Rootless Forest, since then. Every year, after the holiday season, they stack the evergreens on Ocean Beach and watch them burn. But what’s even more impressive is these guys actually clean the ashes off the beach, after the event is over, and plant a number of trees to compensate for the gases released during the Post Yule Pyre. How commendable is that!

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To celebrate the release of the Iron Man 2 movie, Superherohype-forums member Masterle 247 is building a replica of War Machine’s costume, complete with all his gadgets.

Masterle 247 posted some cool photos of his work so far, and I have to say it already looks very impressive. The suit is made up of high impact urethane pieces, held together by around 600 rivets, it features a shoulder minigun and rockets, an arc reactor, light-up eyes and even repulsor gauntlets.

But Masterle 247 says his creation is far from finished. He wants to make his war Machine costume bulkier, more tank-like, so every part of his body is covered when he wears it.

I’m really glad War Machine and Iron Man will be able to get together in real life soon. Oh, if you guys really meet, make sure you take some photos and send them over.

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Created back in 2008, by British artists Benedict Radcliffe, the wireframe replica of a Lamborghini Countach is now up for grabs.

The 14 feet-long, 6 feet-wide see-through Lamborghini replica was created using 160 feet of 10-millimeter steel tubing and was parked on display on a London street where people could stare at it as long as they liked. Now Radcliffe decided it’s time to cash-in on his original creation, so he put the wireframe Lamborghini Countach up for sale.

The price is nowhere near that of a real Lamborghini Countach, but it’s not cheap either. $65,000 isn’t easy to part with in these troubled times.

via Autoblog

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Kevin van Braak, a young artist from the Netherlands, has transformed his common caravan into an extensible garden he can take anywhere.

In a world where real gardens, with trees and grass are still available, Kevin’s creation can seem a bit odd, but in a few years, it might be the closest many of us will come to real nature.  It looks just like any other caravan, from the outside, but the artist cut it in two, so it would reveal the lavish garden inside, when open.

Kevin van Braak’s mobile garden comes with fake trees, silk grass,  stuffed animals, an electric barbecue and even bird-songs coming through the van’s speakers. It sounds fake, but the young Dutch says many people prefer his garden over the real thing. His caravan garden is for sale, he just hasn’t fixed a price yet.

via Daily Mail

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A pest in the United States and pretty much everywhere else, Cuitlacoche, or Corn Smut, is considered a delicacy in Mexico.

Cuitlacoche is sold at a higher price than healthy corn and used to make tortillas. The diseases attacks the kernels, turning them into spore-filled tumors that apparently taste way better than healthy corn. The smut-infected corn is picked before it reaches maturity, so the kernels are still moist and taste sweet, savory, woody, and earthy.

After high-profile chefs and government officials tried to convince the American  people to stop regarding Cuitlacoche as a disease and start treating it like food, cans of Cuitlacoche found their way on to store shelves. But people are still reluctant to try it…I wonder why.

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Using only a couple of knives, a handful of scalpels and some special waxes, young Mark Evans turns pieces of leather into unique works of art.

All Mark Evans needs to create art out of cow hide is a knife, time and inspiration. Days, sometimes weeks, even months go by until his work is completed, but after all the etching and carving, a masterpiece is revealed. As if he he’s painting with a blade, mark is able to create mindblowing tonal pieces.

It all started when he was just seven years old, growing up in the Welsh Mountains. His grandfather gave him a knife and he began carving shapes in tree bark. Later he studied fine art, in London, and although he worked with more conventional materials, he could never get over his passion for playing with knives

Have a look at some of his most important leather paintings and also check out his official site.

Photos via Buzz Beast

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Have you ever considered making your prom dress or suit out of duct tape? No? How about for $3,000?

Duck brand Duct Tape have been organizing the “Stuck at Prom” competition for 10 straight years, challenging students to create original prom costumes using as much duct tape as possible. Competitors’ costumes are judged according to the following criteria: workmanship, originality, use of color, accessories and amount of duct tape used. The 10 best costumes are subjected to an online vote.

First place winners receive a $3,000 scholarship, second place gets $2,000, third place $1,000 and runners up receive $500. It may not seem like much, but in these troubled times any penny counts. And plus, you get to wear a cheap prom costume that will definitely catch everyone’s eyes.

via Guidespot

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Ah, seeing this Terran Battlecruiser takes me back to my Zerg-killing days. A true Starcraft fan built this awesome LEGO replica and was kind enough to post some photos. Thanks Jerac!

The LEGO Starcraft Terran Battlecruiser is a perfect 80 stud-long, over 60 stud-wide model of the popular video-game spaceship and even comes with three detailed Zerg mutalisks. Be sure to check his profile on Flickr, for more photos of the building process and other impressive LEGO creations.

via CrunchGear

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And the best thing is he posts a series of templates on his site, so you can build the same paper models, in the comfort of your own home.

Shunichi Makino, a Japanese designer who loves papercraft, has created a series of mindblowing replicas of spacecrafts and vehicles from famous sci-fi movies like Star-Wars, Star-Trek, Robocop, Iron-Man and more. Photos of every one of them are posted on his websites, together with detailed templates of how to build them.

Mister Makino says designing the elaborate paper models was a lot more difficult than actually building them. Putting the paper cut-outs together is the fun part.

via Gizmowatch

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Steef de Prouw, a LEGO master and apparently, big fan of the Star Wars universe, built an impressive LEGO model of the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate.

Judging by the level of detail, I think it’s safe to say Steef spend weeks if not months working on this baby, but it was definitely worth it. Though he spent days in a row thinking about how he was going to add more pieces to his LEGO masterpiece, without having it tip over or falling apart, he managed to create one of the most impressive Star-Wars replicas ever.

The LEGO Star-Wars Rebel Frigate measures 4 feet 6 inches and features a docked Millennium Falcon and 3 X-Wing fighters.

MOCpages via Gizmodo

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I know it clearly says “robot” in the title, but there’s hardly anything robotic about Mitzy. She does look incredibly cute, though.

Designed and built by Will Wagenaar, mostly out of recycled metal parts, Mitzy has an antique camera and binoculars as a head, rusty wheels and a spring tail that actually wags if you flick it. As I said, of you’re looking for a high-tech robot dog, Mitzy is not for you, but if it’s a Steampunk dog you’re after, you won’t find a better one.

via Etsy

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Sure, they’re not exactly members of the Balsoi ballet, but you have to admit fat guys never looked better in a tutu.

In an effort to raise awareness to the protection of Pinglu Wetlands, five Chinese members of the workers’ union dressed in ballet costumes and danced gracefully in front of the cameras. I have to say they picked a wacky way to protest against pollution, but hey, whatever gets people’s attention to the environment issue, right?

Here are the chubby performers:

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Boxing in the hockey ring seems dangerous enough, but the Chinese take it one step further.

Wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and sneakers, a group of winter swimmers entertained passers-by during a series of boxing matches performed on a block of floating ice. Held in Harbin City, the wacky competition had contestants punch each other with over sized boxing gloves while struggling to keep their balance on the slippery ice.

One of the ice boxers lost his temper when the referee tried to stop him from hitting his downed opponent and knocked the “official” in the ice-cold water surrounding the ring.

It’s a crazy event, but the Chinese don’t even come close to the neon-fighting Japanese.

via ImagineChina

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If you’re looking to surprise your friends and family this holiday season, then the apple-turned-wine-glass is just what you’re looking for.

I know this isn’t exactly an oddity, but I thought the idea was very cool and thought some of you guys would love it too. All you need to make yourself a totally edible glass is a nice green apple,a cinnamon stick and some hot caramel. You can find detailed instructions on Instructables, but basically it comes down to carving the apple, gluing the cinnamon stick and insulating the inside of the apple with some hot caramel, to prevent leakage. And there you have it, your own apple-glass.

Pretty cool, huh?

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Named after Yama, the Tibetan God of Death, this bizarre camera was created using a real human skull, blessed by a Tibetan Lama.

Designed and built by Wayne Martin Belger “for the study of exodus and for the research of modern incarnations of historical iconic figures”, Yama looks nothing like a photo camera, but, according to the info on Boy of Blue Industries, it actually has a film loading system, so it must take photos.

Yama is made from aluminum, titanium, copper, brass, bronze steel, silver, gold and mercury and is studded with Asian and American turquoise, 4 sapphires, 9 opals and 3 rubies (the biggest one costs $5,000). With all the digital cameras on the market today, Yama can’t target the title of best photo camera, but it stands a shot as  the world’s scariest camera.

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