F = 8 points
O = 1 point
P = 5 points
U = 4 points
Y = 4 points
E = 1 point

[Atlanta Journal Constitution via CraziestGadgets]

The story said the watergun was filled with Fox urine, which according to commenters in the know, can be bought at stores as a rodent repellent. Good to know! Although the man is facing charges, I hope he gets off. Although in some cultures, if convicted, he'd almost certainly be facing a firing squad of urine filled water guns. Think about that for a second. [twincities via obscure store]

I'm a huge, unabashed, and unembarrassed Girl Talk fan, yet even I'm not sure that, like he says, "Software and computers are the most punk rock thing that's happened, ever." I think punk rock might actually hold that crown. But hey, Night Ripper was the unofficial dance party soundtrack for my entire fourth year at college, so whatever you say, dude. [YouTube]

Jesús Diaz: Jason, I can imagine the difficulty of taking such amazing shots from an helicopter at night... What camera and lenses did you use to catch this?
Jason Hawkes: I use quite a few different cameras. I started out shooting night aerials using film about six years ago. For my day aerial shoots I often shoot using a Hasselblad, but at night it is just not suitable because of the noise over 200 ISO.

JD: So what about now?
JH: For night shoots I now shoot using Nikons and Canons. Obviously I only work digitally. I sometimes shoot tethered directly to a Mac to look through the images as I take them, and my cameras are also directly attached to a GPS, which adds latitude and longitude information directly into the Metatdata. So together with the mount, there is quite a lot of equipment around the camera.

JD: What mounts do you use?
JH: I use two separate gyro stabilizing mounts, mounted together into one larger mount to get the stability you need for really crisp images.

JD: What are the typical settings you use (ISO, aperture, etc)?
JH: Previously with film I could only go to 400 sometimes 800 ISO but with the very latest crop of cameras you can easily shoot at 1600 with good results.

JD: What was the biggest technical challenge?
JH: I have specialized in aerial photography from helicopters for 19 years so am used to the other difficulties, i.e. cramped and very noisy condition. You fly with the door of the helicopter open wearing a headset to direct the pilot. In daylight without a mount you have to shoot at 1000 sec because of the vibration caused by the rotor blades, so having to shoot at very low shutter speeds at night it takes quite a while to change your habits in order to correctly use the gyro. Flying over cities you need a twin engined helicopter that costs £1100 ( GBP ) per hour, so its a very expensive technique to perfect.

JD: How many photos do you take to come to one of those amazing shots?
JH: At night I shoot around 500 images per hour and about 90% come out okay.

Visit Jason's web site for more examples of his stunning work. His Britain from Above series is simply spectacular. [Jason Hawkes]

Aperture: F-stops are different settings allowing different amounts of light to enter your camera. This is different from exposure, in that the aperture is that funky iris/anus looking thing that is a series of connected sheets that either open or contract to make a hole get bigger or smaller.

Doesn't everything get much simpler when it's explained in terms of anuses? – Jason Chen

How to take AWESOME night photos WITHOUT a tripod [Instructables]

Image Credit

What we like most, however, is that designers encased a real light bulb in the block of acrylic– like you've trapped a great idea, and now it's your bitch 3 hours a night. – Mark Wilson

Product Page [via inhabitat]

Just be careful to lock your bedroom door at night, or little Billy may sneak in and send a dart up your pooper just when you're getting cozy with the wife. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Discovery via Coolest Gadgets]