The world is changing in more ways than a google times your face. In southeast Texas, recent immigrants have introduced a new breed of poultry, known locally as “Texas Long Hens”. Originally bred in China, these unusual birds measure more than 30 inches from beak to tail, and some grow to be up to 45 inches long.

[Two Long-Hens at left compete for feed with two average sized hens.]

Rancher and founder of the Texas Long Hens Company, Tulane “Tule” Fogg, explains. “Yep they’re longer, bigger hens. But we don’t raise ‘em for the meat so much as the aigs. A reglar chicken don’t lay no more than one a day. These chickens lay one long one every three days, an’ it take about three hens lined up to hatch it.”

When asked if raising Texas Long Hens required anything out of the ordinary, Fogg replied, “Well, just one thing. When they go to roost after peckin’ around all day, we gotta strap their fannies to the top of the cage so’s they don’t fall over backward.”

Although these hens are valued in the Chinese Province of Baotao, it will likely be several decades before the western populace sees the “Texas Long Eggs” on the market shelf, except, of course, in Conroy. “I filed a patent for a new eggcrate design, too,” said Fogg. “Kinda like fluorescent tube packaging.”

Photos via Westwalessmallholders and eatliver

This week, download the companion PDF to the Make: Video Podcast which includes the article written by Martin John Brown as seen in Make: Volume 10. PDF Link

I found it difficult to get amphipods in New York City until I went to Turtle Pond in central park and found a murky muddy place and scooped up some water and milfoil. There were lots of small little worms and teeny tiny leechy looking things that were too small for me to photograph, but interesting to observe. I’m hoping that some of the little critters in there are amphipods and will be able to do their part to keep the biosphere balanced.

When you take a break from staring at your biosphere, it’s cool to check out some of the other large scale biospheres that have existed!

Biosphere 2 - Link
Bios-3 - Link

If you make a table top biosphere, make sure to take photos and upload them to the Make: Flickr Pool.

You can get all the Make: videos and PDFs automatically by subscribing in itunes! - Link

Those embezzling from banks probably never thought seriously about the scheme dreamed up by five Chinese men though … “Hey, why don’t we steal money from the vault, then buy lotto tickets so we can get rich AND pay back the bank!”

After a couple thousand failed lottery tickets, you’d expect these men to realize the folly of their ways. Two of the men were managers at the bank, so they obviously couldn’t have been THAT dumb … but they still ended up stealing over $6.7 Million and spending over $6.1 Million of the money on lotto tickets.

Once they even won a smaller jackpot of about $100,000, so they put that money back in the vault but just went back to their old plot in hopes of hitting it real big.

via Yahoo News

This bowl is part of a spa theme park in Japan, called Hakone Kowakien Yunessun. They also have other themed baths and pools, like this enticing red wine bath:

Any chance this could be made with real red wine? If so, let me know … once this baby comes a weekend spent swimming in red wine sounds heavenly! However, the Ramen Noodle bath will only be available for a few more months, so hurry now before they replace it with something less appealing - like a tofu, seaweed, or just plain water (who would pay for that?)

Pics via Japan Probe

Now the computer savvy among us can relive the fun of having your very own personal mini-oven with the PC Ez-Bake oven! It fits in a 5 1/4" drive bay and plugs right into your power supply with the included Molex connector. Also included is "PC Ez-Cook", the open-source oven controller software with hundreds of easy and creative recipes for your PC Ez-Bake oven, and even a fuzzy-logic cooking control system to precisely measure the doneness of your cake, cookie, or cheese souffle. The PC Ez-Bake oven can even be used to cook your Pop Tarts, Bagel Bites, or any tiny or flat food. YUM!

Japanese researchers are mourning the catch, as it turns out the monster carp was one of the original Fish Fil-A’s. The Fish Fil-A’s were a famous dance group in Japan over the past few months, and started after a researcher accidentally left his goldfish bowl in a radioactive medical lab overnight. Here’s a video of the group in training:

(if you can’t see the video, click here)

After weeks of fame and fortune, the owner of the Fish Fil-A’s decided to dispatch skeptics’ accusations of feeding their fish magnets by dousing them with more radiation. The extra dosage proved disastrous for the group though. Three of the four goldfish began putting on massive weight and had to be put to sea, although the fourth is rumored to be auditioning as a backup dancer for Britney Spears’ upcoming “I’m Not Irrelevant Yet” tour.

Fish pic via Weird Asia News

Math is not my strength.

But now there is the Weird Converter, so you can know the important things, like, for instance…

1 male polar bear = 132 newborn babies.

1 Jenifer Aniston = 11111.11111111 sheets of paper.

1 Girraffe neck = 0.00002209595959596 Panama Canals.

Have fun! Beware though, some pg-13-themed units.

Last Sunday about 50 DIYers in Sydney got together to put amateur rocket motors onto an assortment of vehicles. Hilarity - and some lessons on aerodynamics - ensued. (Check out the pictures and the YouTube videos.)

That's where our girls come in. They're on the hay transport team.

See, Josh is out in the pasture with the tractor. He loads the bales of hay onto the back of the trailer.

Then one of our girls drives across a couple of pastures to the storage area, where Marlboro Man is waiting to unload the hay with the other tractor.

Having this in-between transport team makes the process go by much more quickly.

There's not a lot of traffic out here in our hay meadow, so defensive driving isn't really an issue at this point. You can see Josh there in the distance.

Here's Marlboro Man, waiting in the storage area. I love watching him wait in the storage area. I love watching him wait. I love watching him. I love watching. I love. I.

Well, whadda ya know? Here comes our ten-year-old.

Marlboro Man just loves these girls of ours. He loves all our children, of course, but the fact that the girls are old enough to help out on the ranch in a very tangible way? It's more excitement than this ranching dad can stand.

I love watching him. Did I just say that?

Marlboro Man hops on his tractor and unloads the bales, one by one. I love watching him unload bales.

Meanwhile, our other daughter is heading back to the pasture so Josh can load up her trailer with more hay. That was a mighty gnarly mud hole she had to drive through.

Hello, I'm almost eight. And I like to drive Ford F-250's.

She gets loaded with hay, then heads back over to the storage area where her dad is waiting for her. And the cycle continues.

They're a well-oiled machine, these girls of ours.

And personally, I think Ford is missing out on a huge demographic here. The truck-buying power of girls ages 7 to 10 should not be underestimated.

America’s most effective non-Atomic killer of Japanese people had, in fact, disappeared to Florida, disguised himself as a mild-mannered Brevard County doctor, and gone on a bender with a number of other semi-retired superheroes. The lost weekend led to a nightmarish April pub crawl that ended in disgrace, with the Captain stuffing a burrito in his already skin-tight costume and forcing a horrified woman to touch it. The cops intervened, and the Captain, his powers diluted with drunk and shame, was thrown in jail.

This week, though, Florida authorities announced that in a rare show of post-9/11 mercy, Captain America will receive no jail time. He will, instead, “take part in a diversion program for first time offenders,” which means drug tests and community service. Sources close to the case say the deal was cut in exchange for the Captain’s silence regarding what he knows of the illegal actions of the Justice Department during his tenure as a special aide to SecDef Rumsfeld.

No Jail Time For Man Arrested In Captain America Costume [WFTV]

“Mr. President,” she began, with her lying puppydog eyes, “what is your next step with the immigration bill?”

Bush replied with his typical acid wit. “Yeah, thanks,” he snapped, and the crowd of 400 Rotarians guffawed.

The little girl began crying and they all laughed even harder as the President continued his Don Rickles tirade. “No, it’s a great question,” he said, eyes rolling. “No, I appreciate that.”

Hilariously, a little girl was apparently the very first person to ask Bush about immigration since the bill failed weeks ago.

Bush jokes. Crowd laughs. Girl cries. [WT via Raw Story]