During my long absence from the blog, I’ve gathered up a few things from other blogs and magazines that I think are unusual or useful or interesting in some way. Here they are:

Unusual

Electroluminescent decor at loop.ph. These fabrics will display lighted patterns in response to various environmental cues, such as heat, light, sound, motion, and pressure. My wife thinks this is decor for men, but I think women would love it, too. Sold by commission only. (via Wired Magazine)

A video of fingers breakdancing at YouTube. This one serves no purpose whatsoever, and the production quality isn’t very good. Even though I’ve never been attracted to those “Funniest Home Video” programs on TV, this video is unexpectedly mesmerizing.

The Toilet Lid Sink: “With each flush of your commode, clean water that would otherwise go straight down the toilet is first routed up through a chrome gooseneck spigot to dispense pure water for hand washing.” (via Kevin Kelly Cool Tools)

Useful

Biodegradable Food Containers from ecoproducts.com. These little tupperware™-like containers are made out of corn. When you’re finished with them, just throw them into your compost pile, and they’ll dissolve within a couple months.

Re-surfacing CDs so they work again (via LifeHacker)

Sleep Tips: Advice for the weary. Nothing earth-shattering here, but good reminders still.

Interesting

The folks at the MAKE blog dug up a cool tutorial on using superglue to save a snowflake for decades

Bert Monroy makes impossibly detailed photo-realistic illustrations using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. His latest took 2,000 hours to create. (via Veerle)

An article in the Toronto Star reports on How to spot a baby conservative: “Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.”

U.S. Troop Deaths in Iraq: An Analysis: “If recent short-term trends continue, the number of U.S. troops killed as a result of George Bush’s order to invade Iraq will exceed the number of people killed as a result of Osama bin Laden’s order to attack the United States in February 2007.” (via kottke.org)