Really Weird Fish

You can see inside its head! This fish, discovered alive in the deep water off California's central coast by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, is the first specimen of its kind to be found with its soft transparent dome intact. The 6-inch barreleye had been known since 1939, but only from mangled specimens dragged to the surface by nets. As if its trippy head wasn't cool enough, its eyes can actually rotate within its "skull," so the transparency allows it to keep a literal eye on happenings above it, as well as to the sides and directly in front. These photos were just released a couple days ago, but were taken in 2004.

Here's a video of the barreleye, taken at a depth of about 800 meters by an unmanned, undersea robot called an ROV (remotely operated vehicle).

[Link: MBARIMidwaterResearch]

New Common Mixtape

Minneapolis producers K-Salaam and Beatnick released, as a follow-up to the disastrous Universal Mind Control, an upbeat and pleasantly festive mixtape of many of Common's greatest hits called S.T.O.R.Y. (Stories Told Over Remixed Years). They swap the sparse Kanye and Primo beats with production that includes a lot more flavor. Gone are the dirty piano samples and throwback drum loop, replaced by wailing guitars, electro beeps, funky wah bass, and some cleaned-up percussion. Thankfully, they leave the vocals untouched; staying true to the words that made them classic songs in the first place. The sound is definitely not conventional Common, but even as a Common purist, I consider this mixtape to be a successful experiment.

Download it here

Complete Nutcase

Today, February 24th, is the one year anniversary of the world's first eye tattoo. A man who calls himself "Pauly Unstoppable" underwent the controversial procedure, which involved 40 injections of blue ink into his right eye. Dr. Laurie Hirsch, ironically the Executive Director of the Prevent Blindness Foundation, used her expertise in medical corneal tattooing to perform the injections. Initially, a traditional needle was used but the ink did not hold so Hirsch switched to a syringe, which successfully injected the blue pigment under the top layer of the cornea. Unstoppable urged that, "the procedure was extensively researched and done by people who were aware of the risks and possible complications and that it should not be casually attempted." Yet, Dr. Sandra Belmont, a clinical associate professor of ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital stated, "Cosmetic tattooing of the cornea can be extremely dangerous; infection, perforation and hemorrhage are among the potential complications." All in all, this guy is nuts! Imagine if you regretted it the morning after. Anyway, there are a series of disturbing photos of Unstoppable's eye mid-procedure if you're interested.

The link is below:

http://damncoolpics.blogspot.com/2007/07/eye-tattoo.html

Fresh Kicks

This month, Nike has released a special edition, Black History Month shoe to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the NAACP and the significant progress that African Americans have made since the NAACP's inception. These shoes were not released to the public but were given to three seniors at Miami's Booker T. Washington High School. These three students were finalists in a Nike sponsored contest to "to create their own artistic expression regarding Black History Month through the art of spoken word." The contestants were critiqued by a celebrity panel of judges that included Miami Heat's Alonzo Mourning and Miami Heat disk jockie DJ Irie. As is true with most of Nike's limited projects, this shoe is covered in artistic detail. The back features a "100 year" patch, celebrating the NAACP's 100th year of existence, which is complimented by an icy, clear sole that resembles the marble courtroom floor of the U.S. Supreme Court where many paramount civil rights cases were won. Also, the red and green serves as a smooth subordinate to the predominantly black exterior.

Other photos can be found here