360 DEGREES Weblog

His name is Rémi Gaillard and he’s a well-known French prankster.

In the category weird! This 1936 photo from an unattributed newspaper shows the facade of a Danish clothier that advertised its overstock coats by covering the building from top to bottom with over a thousand coats. The display was so successful the police had to come and clear the crowd, but the merchant still cleared out his overstock.

Well this is about as low tech as things can get, but it’s interesting anyway. The Harbin Public Transport Company in the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang has seen it fit to include specially labeled “emergency” bricks onto 300 of their 700 bus fleet. Why? So you can easily break windows and exit should the doors somehow become inoperable in an incident. There’s one brick by the driver’s seat, and another towards the back of the buses.
Wouldn’t a purpose-built hammer be easier for stunned and shocked accident victims to use? Perhaps, but… “The special hammers are expensive and people were always stealing them,” explained a spokesperson from the Harbin Public Transport Company. “We don’t think anybody will be interested in stealing bricks.” Famous last words?

This is Greg Gasson—either the bravest or craziest man alive. Why? He has a habit of jumping out of planes sans parachute. Sure he brings one with him—nobody’s dumb enough to leave home without it—but it’s not like he wears the thing.

Thanks Gizmodo

Trippy or nauseating? You decide!

If you do a lot of reading at night, you probably encounter the dilemma of whether or not to turn on an overhead light, or try to get by with some sort of odd reading light. The latter is usually a better idea, as it uses less electricity, and a smaller light isn’t going to wake the person trying to sleep next to you. If you’ve had trouble finding a good book light in the past, maybe you’d do better with these Rechargeable LED Reading Glasses.

As the name implies, these reading glasses pack a pair of LEDs, one on either side of your lenses. The lights can run for up to five hours on a single charge, and get their juice from an included USB cable. The best part is that the light will always be where you need it, as it follows your eyes. The only downside is that $50 might be a little more than you’re wanting to spend on glasses that make you look like R2 D2!

Possibly the very best thing about this company is its name: Holy Smoke. That might sound quite so great until you find out that its business is taking the ashes of your loved ones and packing them into rifle cartridges and shotgun shells.

Holy Smoke, predictably based in Alabama, will divide the ashes between 250 shot-shells, 250 pistol cartridges or 100 rifle cartridges. All can be had in standard calibers, and all can be had in handcrafted “mantle-worthy” wooden boxes should you decide you don’t want to pump slugs full of Grampa into the local fauna all at once.

I love that Holy Smoke is positioning its service as environmentally friendly, and I guess it is compared to burial. I also love this tale of the company’s beginnings when it was founded by two state law enforcement officers “several years ago.”

I was talking with my friend and co-worker at work one evening. I told my [...] that I thought I wanted to be cremated and in some fashion, have my ashes tossed into a river or spread through the woods.

My friend smiled and said “You know I’ve thought about this for some time and I want to be cremated. Then I want my ashes put into some turkey load shotgun shells and have someone that knows how to turkey hunt use the shotgun shells with my ashes to shoot a turkey. That way I will rest in peace knowing that the last thing that one turkey will see is me, screaming at him at about 900 feet per second.”

I don’t know why that guy hates turkeys so much, but as corporate origin stories go, it’s up there with the best.

Should you decide to send your cremated friends or relatives off at “900 feet per second,” a box of shells (in the above-mentioned amounts) will cost you $850, plus an extra $100 for the wooden case. Available now, or whenever you might need them.

Thanks WIRED

Magnets! I don’t know how they do it, but somehow they find a way to improve every aspect of our lives. From hanging crappy crayon art on a fridge, to keeping baby’s clothes on. I’m sure there are thousands of uses for them, but those are easily at the top of the list. Or were at the top of the list before researchers at London based Nails Inc.—probably jonesing for a Nobel prize—created magnetic nail polish.

Iron powder is mixed into the polish, and before it dries after being applied, you hold the bottle’s cap over your nails for about 15 seconds. An embedded magnet causes the iron bits to align, presumably along its field lines, and once the polish dries you’re left with unique stripes and banding across your nails. And a shimmering metallic effect. The polish is available in 3 different colors all named after famous landmarks in London. Silver Trafalgar Square, purple Houses of Parliament and gold Big Ben. And sell for ~$20 a bottle.

Oh Paris Hilton, eat your heart out!

The Mommy Bus is a fashion pet carrier designed for small dogs and cats up to 15 pounds, 15″ in length, and 13″ tall.  It’s a top-entry carrier with screened side panels and an open/close windshield for peeking out.  Each wheel contains a zippered compartment for onboard storage of waste bags, leash, car keys, etc with an additional side-panel zippered pocket for larger items like mom’s wallet or iPhone.  Inside is a washable bottom pad and leash attachment to secure the pup.  The bus itself can be used with a seatbelt to prevent it from shifting in a car.  Additionally there are two handle straps as well as an adjustable shoulder strap.  While maybe not being the most practical solution for transporting your pet, it does seem to be more fun than the standard cage–and will definitely start a few conversations!

Mommy Bus is available directly through the site in two different packages– the celebrity package (replica of the set given out at the Emmys to Betty White, Miley Cyrus, etc) runs $125 and includes the carrier, t-shirt, leash and collar, and stuffed companion pet or the basic carrier itself for $99.