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OK, at first glance a video on "who to eat a chicken wing" would seem to rank up there with "how to walk in a straight line" or "how to sit in a chair" in terms of instructional usefulness and necessity. I mean, it's eating a chicken wing! Take a gulp of beer, insert wing into your sauce-stained maw, repeat.

We're not talking brain surgery here.

But OK, it's not quite as lame as you might think. The FoodWishes blog gives us a useful tip on how to eat the flat, double-boned wings that are a minor pain when you're trying to get the good stuff that's always tied up behind the bones. It may be more effort than your average wing fan would want to put forth for a problem than ranks up there in severity with the infomercial people who can't get a loaf of bread out of the wrapper without spraining a wrist. But it gets some points for cleverness.

Now, about that plate of wings ...

This is a love story. The love story that has been years in the making, but has really only gelled in the last year.

And, as with many great love stories, this one came to a head with a wedding, a joyous day filled with family, friends and memories new an old.

And yes, we're probably all happy for Jill and Matthew, the happy couple whose wedding played a part in this love story, but it's not their vows that have us fawning for love - this is the story of a wedding invitation that has caused anyone who sees it to swoon with romantic admiration or typographic fixation.

Truly, this is the most clever wedding invite, perhaps, ever seen:

So there you have it. No bows. No treacle. No frills. Just the creative retelling of a couples love in a way that simultaneously avoids being overly sentimental, but conveys the deep meaning these two lucky people have for eachother. You can check in on the groom and find more on the award-winning effort at his blog, motherboard.

And when November 8 rolls around, raise a glass to the happy couple on their one-year anniversary, but you should definitely celebrate their creativity.

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009. A day that will live in infamy in Chicago?

According to 922warning.com, yes. Seems we're scheduled for nuclear armageddon today. Reason to worry or is this just a crackpot bit of end-of-world b.s. on the Web (does that happen?). Let's look at the facts as broken down by the site:

Firstly, keep in mind that a "second 9/11" or "9/11 sequel" could occur on 9/12/YYYY or 9/22/YYYY, rather than on 9/11/YYYY. Furthermore, eight years passed between the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and 9/11, and now eight years have passed since 9/11.

• 9/22/2009 is a Tuesday, as was 9/11/2001.

• 9/22/2009 is the first day of fall ("fall" being the operative word here).

• Chicago is known as "The Second City."

• President Obama is from Chicago.

• Chicago is a candidate city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The host city will be selected in October.

• Illinois Lottery drawings are held at 9:22 p.m.

• 9/11 occurred during President Bush's first year in office; President Obama is currently in his first year in office.

• September 22nd is the 265th day of the year and is followed by the final 100 days of the year.

Seems like a slam dunk call for you to grab some cans of Spam and get to the fallout shelter, right? I mean, the Lottery is involved, people!

Panic! In! The! Streets!

Wonder what this will do to the city's chances of getting the 2016 Olympic bid?

Now, frankly, we're just a little skeptical of this bit of intel. First of all, the Doomsday Clock is still at 5-til-midnight, so we have a ways to go there. And da Mayor has yet to tell the City Council to let this happen. Nevermind the fact that the Cook County Board has no immediate plans for a fallout tax.

Besides, the Cubs aren't a threat to win the World Series this year, which is the true test of credibility when it comes to an end-of-days scenario.

Chicagoist has more on the latest action item in our government's war on ... umm ... us, apparently. They'd just better not piss of the cops or some heads are getting cracked over this one.

Thanks to our friends at Chicagoist for turning us onto the latest candidate to announce he's running to push the hugely unpopular Cook County Board President Todd Stroger out of office. The name? IcePhoenix23.

Rolls off the tongue and right onto a campaign placard, doesn't it?

Speaking of rolling, what does this guy bring to party aside from a concern for the community and outrage at the incumbent? Roller boogie skills. Mad roller boogie skills.

He could take a hit in the polls over the shorts, but this being Cook County, let's not count him out until all the ballots are marked twice, hidden, lost, counted, thrown out and rearranged in the next election.

Democracy in James Brown-inspired roller disco action!

This is graphic, so, you know, don't watch if you can't deal.

Texting and driving is getting to be big news as states, like Illinois, and even the federal government, in the form of a threat to withhold funding without state legislation being passed, move to ban an activity that, frankly, you would assume most people would realize is dangerous.

Stand on any busy street for 10 minutes and watch people try to walk and text as they ram into passersby, walls and bus stops and you get the idea - if talking on the phone is distracting, reading and writing is not only a safety hazard to yourself, but a potentially deadly impairment on par with driving under the influence to anyone unlucky enough to be on the road at the time. In fact, a Virginia Tech study in July found that those who text and drive increased their crash risk by 23 times.

That's where this video, making the rounds on talk radio and cable news, comes in. Produced in Wales, it shows in fairly graphic context what happens when you concentrate on thumb typing instead of driving. The results are LOL. There's a debate on various sites - check out the comments here at carcentric motherproof.com - as to the realistic depiction of the chain of events and the severity of the situation presented in the PSA, but it does a good job pointing out that the person texting is not the only one affected. Whether it gets people to stop? Well, do these things ever stop people? Time - and aggressive laws - will tell.

Car Accidents & Crashes: Shocking Driver's Ed Fear Video - Funny bloopers R us

Yes, the audio quality is poor, but you get the idea.

You may have seen the new KFC Double Down Chicken Sandwich by now, a 1,200-calorie adventure in misaligned dietary goals. This is the monstrosity promising a bacon sandwich with cheese and sauce slapped between two slabs of fried chicken - in lieu of bread.

Mmmm ...

Don't bother rolling yourself to any Chicago KFCs just yet for a taste of the last meal of your life, though, as it's currently only being test marketed in Nebraska and Rhode Island, apparently. But don't worry, it'll likely be in the Midwest before you can say triple bypass.

The drunk food appeal of this death platter aside, it's an amazing menu item - and not the good kind of amazing. At a time when the country is embroiled in a fierce debate over the cost of health care and obesity continues to put our fatness at the forefront of a public health pandemic, this is apparently the answer at least one fast food corporation has come up with to help society: JUST GIVE UP.

KFC for its part is being very secretive about the sandwich - there's no mention on its Web site about the behemoth and even dietary information is sketchy.

And what does $5 taste like? A Foodgeek reviewer breaks it down (complete with horrific photos:

That's it? That is the sandwich? That's not worth five dollars. Oh... oh my God. That is the best thing ever. I don't know what "Colonel's Sauce" is, but it is like a party in my mouth. This is completely worth the five dollars. Unfortunately I'm going to end up weighing 700 lbs after this, but it is simply amazing.

Right. So when the Devil comes to Earth, he's apparently delicious.

Of course, the health community is aghast at the Double Down, decrying the lack of corporate responsibility in the face of the aforementioned health concerns in AMerica now. There's even the possibility of some sort of fast food or fat tax tied to health care reform to penalize American eaters for subjecting the system to undue costs for scarfing just this sort of thing.

Overreaction? Appropriate outrage? All too much to swallow? Who knows, but one thing's for sure - this is yet another reason why This Is Why You're Fat is becoming less funny and more like a coroner's report on cause of death.

And worst of all, they stole the idea from "30 Rock"!

There's nothing like an inbound CTA/Metra ride to make one think of drinking - at least that's what Budweiser is banking on in a new video ad spot.

The twist? It's a spot running in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of a campaign for the beer's licensed brewer, Diageo Ireland.

Set to the tune of the Beatles' "All Together Now," the spot almost makes you forget you're watching an ad - and almost makes the schlep downtown something to look forward to for the work-a-day drones stuck on the various "L" and Metra lines used in the piece.

Sliding by scenes both famous and simply familiar, it's not the usual glamour shoot you'd see from a Chicago-shot ad campaign, but rather an insider's view to the city. There's the usual skyscraper footage and the like, but no ballparks. No lakeshore. No Michigan Avenue.

Irish blogger Darragh Doyle touched on some of the Chicago-centric aspects of the ad in a post in July. Here's what Doyle had on the city - and its people - as star:

Written by Dave Henderson and Richard Denney, and shot by award winning Director Chris Palmer, it was shot over 5 days from an actual train on the metro-rail as it tracked around the city of Chicago.

All in all, the film and crew were on the train for 50 hrs over a 5 day period in temperatures that were often below freezing. All of the actors were outside for up to 10 hrs a day in the freezing temperatures, often in costumes that provided little warmth. As such there was almost an entire crew of people dedicated to keeping the actors warm with blankets, thermoses and portable heaters.

The people of Chicago were brilliant as well and invited actors into their homes and offered them some respite from the bitter weather during shoot down time glorious stuff.

The band playing the Beatles cover is The Hours, a London-based duo.

The work for the "Lyrics" was written and conceived by DDB London and during a blogger release party for the spot, DDB's Matt Delahunty tells krishnade.com what it took to get the add off the ground - a 17-month process. It's an interesting look behind the scenes:

Delahunty talks about not only the technical challenges of getting the shoot timed perfectly, but his surprise at the freezing Chicago weather that surprised him on his first trip to the States.

You can find much more on the making of the video - behind the scenes and concept work, as well as upload your own video clips - here, though you'll need to be 21 - or at least tell the site you are - to get through the age wall. Some very cool insights to be found.

In the end it is just an ad campaign for a mediocre beer, but any Chicagoan can appreciate the glimpses into our city. And anybody who appreciates the creative process will find the explanations behind the work a treat for sure.

Hat tip to the Windy Citizen for finding this Chicago gem. Stop by and give it a vote up if you're so inclined.

When the news of the new Sears (OK, Willis, if you insist) Tower Skydeck attraction "The Ledge" first broke, the reaction was universal: "Awesome!"

Not so universal was the willingness to jump on the 4 inches of glass between the perfect view and oblivion. Plenty of adventurous souls jumped at the chance to levitate 1,300 feet above Chicago's streets, but just as man cautious folks said "thanks, but are you crazy?!?"

And up until now, this GigaPan shot from The Ledge was just about the best thing going in terms of high-up imagery.

Well, here's a little video project that should be immediately embraceable by both groups. Chicago film and media company 3to1 Studios has posted the above making-of video of a high definition project the crew is working on based on pretty much every angle possible of The Ledge.

We had a unique opportunity to shoot, "The Ledge" experience on the Willis Tower Skydeck in Chicago (formerly Sears Tower). For those who are unfamiliar with The Ledge, it's basically a glass and steel platform that protrudes out of the tower for a unique 103 story view of the city below.

Our mission was to shoot The Ledge from all sides including some reverse shots outside, a task not for the Acrophobic.

Willing to do anything for the perfect shot, our fearless Director of Photography, Kevin Moss and his First A.C., Hunter Whalen strapped into the towers window washing scaffold armed with the Red Camera One to capture some of the more breathtaking views of The Ledge itself.

This in itself provided most of our crew the opportunity to view the city of Chicago from the real Skydeck, the rooftop of the Willis Tower.

And the title, "Anything for the perfect shot," really sums up best what this experience must have been like for the crew. Hanging over the edge, literally, off the roof of the Willis with a handheld HD camera, safety harness or not, must have been quite the adrenaline rush to say the least.

So when can we see the actual footage, which promises to be stunning for all but the most vertigo-stricken? According to a comment from their post, it'll play at the Willis, presumably for people waiting in the miles of lines it takes to get to the top:

We can't release the footage for the time being. But you will be able to see it projected on a large screen in line at the Willis Tower skydeck ;)

Can't wait. Should almost make that eternal wait for the turbo elevators to the top worth the while.

And, if you just want a bunch more beautiful shots from the Ledge, you might want to click here.

This is one of those peanut butter-in-my-chocolate mashups that couldn't be stranger.

On one side you have Sarah Palin, the conservative lightning rod and former vice presidential candidate who, until recently, was Alaska's governor - until she quit to save the people of the state, she says - and a collection of her greatest hits of campaign trail folksiness.

On the other side you have R. Kelly - the pride of the South Side multi-million selling R&B superstar perhaps better known as an accused (and acquitted) child molester - and his hit "World's Greatest."

What could possibly go wrong when you combine the two?

Apparently absolutely nothing, at least according to the Conservatives4Palin folks that made this mashup.

But wait a minute. What's this? This isn't even the first time Sarah Palin and R. Kelly have been immortalized in YouTube glory together? Apparently Conservatives4Palin got their idea from another YouTuber and Palin fan's channel. EmmyRossumFanForLife (and who isn't, by the way - she's just too cute for words).

One wonders if Emmy Rossum knows she's being two-timed on? But I digress. Here's the original photo montage, again put to Kelly's "World's Greatest":

You'd think at least one of them would have broken out "I Believe I can Fly" or something. Oh well, there's always 2011, I suppose.

At least now we have these efforts. You know, for the kids.

That panicky sound you may have heard this morning from trenders, hipsters and public relations gadflies is probably due to a denial of service attack suffered by it-kid social networking site Twitter.

For hours this morning, people all over the world have been unable to spew their special brand of information, 140 characters at a time, into the ether as service has been at a constant state of disruption in various forms according to Twiter honcho @biz:

On this otherwise happy Thursday morning, Twitter is the target of a denial of service attack. Attacks such as this are malicious efforts orchestrated to disrupt and make unavailable services such as online banks, credit card payment gateways, and in this case, Twitter for intended customers or users. We are defending against this attack now and will continue to update our status blog as we continue to defend and later investigate.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't come to bash Twitter. I'm as addicted as anyone to the ability to instantly share news and blather with the masses. But, as always happens when a piece of my technology pie goes missing from the window ledge, it offers a moment to step back and see what I've been missing with my nose buried in Tweetie all this time.

So time to put the phone down, unplug from the state of hyperconnectivity developed over the last year and smell some roses on a beautiful day. Go to a park. Read a book. Take a long lunch.

Whatever floats your boat.

Wait? Twitter's back online?

Nevermind. Gotta go. Almost time for lunch and I have to get my menu out to my followers.

Those of you who read this blog with any regularity will know we're suckers for A) great photos and B) the GigaPan-style uber enlargement photos that are starting to pick up in popularity for some news coverage.

The most notable example is from President Obama's inauguration, a sweeping image that pulls in the entire scene around the Capitol steps, providing hours of searching for the newsworthy and the just plain freaky in the crowd - and for some bonus Obama, check out this shot from the MLB All-Star game. Well, for a Chicago perspective, here's a new GigaPan image that easily tops the Obama shot.

Behold The Ledge, the Sears (God, is it really the Willis Tower now?) Tower Skydeck ledge that allows you to step on air for an unparalleled view of the city - straight down and all around. Below is a look at what you see as the base image for this photo, that basically allows infinite zooming:

OK, nice photo. But the beauty of the image is when you start digging in. Here's an image of the Chicago Sun-Times building, a little to the north of the Sears Tower, that was found within this image (in the bottom right corner area):

And there's plenty more to see. You can even create snapshots of scenes you find - with a free account logon - and interact with a growing GigaPan community to discuss images and the secrets that used to be hidden in the corners.

And, with apologies to Billy Mays, if that were the only Chicago photographic goodness today, you might be thrilled. But wait, there's more! National Geographic's Intelligent Travel blog has some nice advice for how to get the best images of Chicago and its skyline. It's good advice for tourists and townies alike.

There are tips offered on where to go and how to get there to capture images like this:

And just to add to photographer Bob Krist's advice, while the Ledge is awesome, you get a much better photographic vantage point for photography from the Hancock's Observatory.

Japanese body inflation photo by John Stone

Thank goodness for our trendsetting friends in the Land of the Rising Sun, without whom Western Culture would be without such important pursuits as Pokemon, Iron Chef and dressing like Elvis. Now, the cooler-than-you kids have got something that just defies explanation, though bizarremag.com gives it a shot: Body Inflation.

And really, it puts anything our modder, club kids and hipsters can think up into a shame spiral so rapid and deep that they may actually be able to achieve time travel on the way down.

Think of it kinda like this: You can create a saline-based fake breast anywhere on your body, with huge, cartoon-like effects and shapes. And the photo above is nothing. Check here for a gallery of more of this Dunkin-Donut-inspired body sculpting trend.

After you do that - and maybe throw up just a little bit - realize that the good news is the saline injection is temporary. It apparently takes a couple hours to show up and, depending on what part of the body you inflate, and a night at the club to dissipate. So these misfortunate urban body pioneers won't be taking their cyclops foreheads to the grave. Then again, maybe they want to. It's clearly a fetishest practice geared toward a certain culture that values the aesthetic. Or, maybe just to the crowd that doesn't believe in wearing motorcycle helmets in lieu of simply making their head a saline cushion.

Whatever the case or personal preference, it's good to know there's no real risk involved.

BMEzine.com (a social site for fetishists of all types) founder Shannon Larratt tells Bizzaremag that it's nothing to take too seriously. You know, it's just fun:

"It's primarily a play activity," he says. "I think most of the time it's done on its own, rather than with other types of play. I've seen people combine it with play piercing but, on the whole, that's not something I'd recommend because of infection risks."

Yeah, there's that. There's also the EXTREME risk of looking like you have a hemorrhoid cushion growing out of your skull - or chest, arms, testicles ... well, you get the picture. All of the sudden infection sounds like the least of the risks associated with this trend.

But hey, before you think these folks might be loners or societal castoffs, think again. They have mixers:

In February Keroppy and Bizarre body mod favourite Samppa Von Cyborg held a Dolphin vs Birds night, pitching the saline enthusiasts (dolphins) against the hook suspensionists (birds). Although the techniques are radically different, they both hold the same appeal - the temporary transformation of the body. Keroppy likens the experience of suspension to bungee jumping and the infusions to scuba diving: "Inflation isn't painful, it's more of a weird sensation - but it is the act of using the body and seeking another experience. It's a bit tight. If your head gets really full, you feel a lot of pressure."

So, if you're looking to expand your horizons - and your forehead - there you go. But remember, kids, don't try this at home - just in case "never" is not an option - as there needs to be some professional involvement, apparently. But you may want to brush up on technique, helpfully broken down to Bizarremag by someone they refer to as a "body mod pioneer," and real-life cyborg, Samppa Von Clyborg:

The professional body piercer will use a saline bag, tube and needle. It works in a similar way to a hospital drip, so the bag needs to be raised above the body part picked for puffing.

* Body inflators never make their own saline solution and steer clear of tap water, due to the risk of infection.

* The needle is placed under the skin but not in a vein - or the build-up of pressure could mean exploding blood vessels all over the show.

* While it's not that dangerous, some people who've done it regularly have found their skin has permanently expanded.

* The most interesting place to inflate is the forehead, as the taut skin means the effects are extremely obvious.

* Inflatees can prod the inflated lumps to make them look more interesting.

Raptor attack! from Billwhit on Vimeo.

Lest you think man has finally gained control of the skies again after that whole Flight 1549 bird attack, well, let this be a lesson to you:

The birds will not be that easily defeated.

As you can see from the video, they're scaling down their ambitions a bit, turning in the Airbus 380 attacks for, in this case, a remote-control eagle (pictured). Still, quite the assault. The culprit? A raptor of some sort, though it's a little hard to tell in the lightning strikes whether a hawk or a real eagle.

As the pilot says, quite the harrowing ordeal:

A large raptor attacks my remote controlled eagle. I barely get away by making quick dives until some crows come to my rescue!

Either way, we land-dwellers should consider ourselves warned:

it's on.

And not just in the skies, apparently, as you can. Seems our feathered frienemies are taking the fight to the streets, no longer content to wait for us to enter their airspace.

(Best part: The woman who just keeps talking on her cell phone or the guy who flips the bird the bird?)

Watch. Your. Heads.

You've likely seen President Obama's lightning strike on the fly that would steal his spotlight during a CNBC interview this week.

Well, even if you haven't, the People for the Ethical Treatment of animals has, and they are buzzing about his brazen act of incecticide - even if he was merely following in Lincoln's footsteps. Hand it to their consistency, even the plight of a garbage-eating housefly is not too small or disgusting to warrant their sympathy. And being none-too-pleased that the flyswatter-in-chief chose to use force instead of diplomacy, they've offered up a solution for the President - and it is good enough for a PETA staffer's cat!

In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act.

If all this has you wondering how you can be a bigger person (figuratively, as well as literally) in your dealings with exoskeletal beings, check out our handy-dandy bug catcher--one of which we are sending to President Obama for future insect incidents. I can tell you from personal experience that it sure came in handy the other day, when one of my cats was chasing the World's Largest Palmetto Bug around the house.

And if the week of the animal rights fighters ended there, with all the publicity and ridicule it usually takes them a week of Pamela Anderson ads to accumulate, you'd probably be right in calling it a success. But wait ... there's more!

The granddaughter of Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara is at the forefront of another revolution -- PETA's battle for vegetarianism. And, in true PETA fashion, she's doing it in a nearly naked state.

The print campaign is expected to debut in October in magazines and posters, but will be launched first in Argentina, where Che Guevara was born. PETA approached the 24-year-old in recent months after finding out she was a vegetarian, said spokesman Michael McGraw.

"It [the photo above] very much evokes the tag line of the ad, which is 'Join the vegetarian revolution,'" McGraw said. "It's an homage of sorts to her late grandfather."

"Homage" roughly translating into Argentinian for "exploiting the name of a beret-wearing revolutionary hero to millions of college students."

Che Guevara was a Marxist leader who played a pivotal role in Fidel Castro's rise to power in Cuba. He was executed in Bolivia in 1967 - a death PETA would likely have had less reaction to than the blatant murder of a White House fly.

As Che himself would say: "If you tremble indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine."

OK, so this isn't the iPhone 3G S. It's probably hard to fit in a pocket and the camera isn't much to speak of, to say nothing of call quality.

But it's hard to imagine a much cooler use of mobile operating system technology in a desktop setting - all of which adds up to limited usability, but no less "wow" - than this touch screen wonder running iPhone OS off a Mac Pro. The clever developer has gotten around the need for the iPhone Home button by using an Apple remote.

Crunchgear tracked the hack (or is it hoax) down to Swedish design firm Dreamfield, which seems to have done it as a messing-around project. Here's a look at another of the projects they work on, this one is a music video for British hip hop artist Dizzee Rascal where they actually walk you through the process of creation. Pretty cool.

In the grand tradition of iPhone mockups that crop up before each release, though, the big question is the same here: Is it real?

Answer: Who cares? It's pulled off with starry bits of awesomeness.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog is betting it's bust through some careful study of the video. Sometimes, though, you just have to suspend disbelief and enjoy the movie.