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Nature 2003 Feb 13;421(6924):711

A preference in humans for turning the head to the right, rather than to the left, during the final weeks of gestation and for the first six months after birth constitutes one of the earliest examples of behavioural asymmetry and is thought to influence the subsequent development of perceptual and motor preferences by increasing visual orientation to the right side. Here I show that twice as many adults turn their heads to the right as to the left when kissing, indicating that this head-motor bias persists into adulthood.
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I observed kissing couples in public places (international airports, large railway stations, beaches and parks) in the United States, Germany and Turkey. The headturning behaviour of each couple was recorded for a single kiss, with only the first being counted in instances of multiple kissing.

I like this study. It’s creepy, yet decidedly elegant.

My friends built a spit roast (rotisserie) from a junked BBQ propped up on kegs, driven by an old washing machine motor and gearbox.

The remaining parts were salvaged from a junked rheometer. Instead of installing a switch, the motor is controlled by the original washing machine dial. This is purely for esoteric appeal - the washing machine periodically needs to be set to the spin cycle to keep the spit rotating.

I’ve added a few more variations on the “I Void Warranty” t-shirt, in baby blue, dark red, and asphalt.

Guys is $16 ($19 for AA tee) and Girls $17, with free shipping in North America until the end of the month (use the coupon code FREESHIPPING07). Link to Store

BLDGBLOG: Have you ever declared your own micronation?

Sellars: Yes. I grew up in the suburb of Bentleigh, in Melbourne, Australia. It was an exceedingly boring place, like a retirement village – it seemed like I was the only teenager around at times. So I founded the Independent Republic of Bentleigh, declared myself President, and claimed the whole of Bentleigh as territory. Our national anthem was “We Can’t Be Beaten,” a song by the toughest band in the land, Rose Tattoo.

BLDGBLOG: What happened to it?

Sellars: We were beaten – the IRB was invaded by Poland. The Polish kid next door already hated me, but when he saw me poncing up and down the back yard draped in my IRB flag, he was enraged even more than usual. He jumped over the fence, punched me in the mouth and stole my lunch money – and that was all the IRB’s assets gone, just like that. He also stepped on my toy tanks and melted my plastic soldiers with a cigarette lighter, which meant the IRB had no defence force, and that was the end of it, really. My mother banned me from starting up a micronation ever again, unless I could back it up with sufficient armoury and investment capital, which of course I never could, being a very lazy kid.

Link to interview with Simon Sellars, co-author of The Lonely Planet Guide to Micronations.