World’s Strangest

German photographer Josef Schulz traveled across the U.S., taking pictures of highway signs. He then photoshopped out the text, leaving only the shapes and colors. The series is called “Sign Out.” Can you guess what company the sign represents? More at the link. Link via Fast Company

A Japanese shipbuilding company named IHI Marine United is developing a ship that can be powered entirely by rechargeable lithium batteries. It will be able to travel 80 km while carrying 800 passengers: Its Zero Emission Electric Propulsion Ship will use batteries that can be recharged at charging stations in ports it visits. The plug-in ship [...]

A US company has created a punctuation mark that it hopes will be used to express sarcasm. It can be downloaded for a small charge and then inserted into documents with a Ctrl key command. The company proposes that the SarcMark can be used to avoid confusion in emails: Anyone concerned that the irony of their [...]

The Kellogg Company, producer of Eggo Waffles, released a limited line of Star Trek-themed waffles. They include 25 different images, icons, and phrases from the science fiction franchise. You can view more pictures at the link. Link via Geekologie

A company in Wales has developed light emitting wallpaper in a bid to replace traditional light bulbs with a better energy-saving alternative. The…

Happy Boxing Day to those Flossers who celebrate it! On a more generic box-ing note, we’ve packaged a few boxy facts for your consideration: Crate Expectations What’s the difference between a wooden box and a wooden crate? Not very much to the average consumer, but the U.S. Government has a different take on the situation. There are [...]

One year when I was very young, my mother took me to see Santa Claus at Miller’s department store in Knoxville. They had a candy cane factory set up in the middle of the sales floor! While we kids waited in line to see Santa, we could watch through the glass windows and see the [...]

(YouTube link) The company that produces Help Stop Snoring, a UK product, asked snorers to send in recordings of their snores. The sounds were assembled into a song for an ad. Link -via Arbroath

This week a story at NPR discusses the extent to which Norman Rockwell used photography to capture images of models; he then traced these photographs onto canvas as an early step in the creation of his famous paintings. Rockwell used photos, taken by a rotating cast of photographers, to make his illustrations… Rockwell never kept it [...]

This company will make a tiny branding iron with your name on it! The product is a metal part that will replace the head of a disposable cigarette lighter. Fire up the lighter, and your branding iron will be hot in no time. Yes, it sounds dangerous, that’s why the description says “for decorative purposes [...]