| 9 Weapons That Failed Spectacularly (and 1 That Possibly Didn’t) Posted: 24 Aug 2012 05:00 AM PDT In 2011, the U.S. government spent $76 billion on military research and development. As history has shown, sometimes that investment pays off. And sometimes you end up running from a flaming pig.
1. Roast Pork War elephants were the tanks of their time. Their tough hides were nearly impervious to arrows, and their giant size made them perfect for trampling through enemy lines. In 331 BCE, Alexander the Great was so nervous about the Persian army’s pachyderms that he made a sacrifice to the God of Fear the night before battle. The mighty elephants’ reputation only grew when, in 218 BCE, Hannibal set out to storm Rome with an armada of ferocious beasts. The “elephantry” seemed invincible.
If elephants were the world’s first tanks, flaming pigs—slathered in tar, lit on fire, and set loose to wreak havoc—were the world’s first anti-tank missiles. According to Roman scholar Pliny the Elder, the weapon worked because “elephants are scared by the smallest squeal of the hog.”
When flaming pigs succeeded, they were brilliant. In 266 BCE, the Greek city of Megara fended off the Macedonian conqueror Antigonus II Gonatas using pigs doused in resin. Antigonus’s elephants fled in terror from the bacon brigade. Most battles, however, highlighted the serious drawbacks of tactical barbecue. Since the lifespan of flaming pigs is short, their range was well under 400 feet. That meant the enemy pretty much had to be on top of you before the hogs would have any effect. The porcine missiles also lacked a guidance system, which made them woefully inaccurate. Even when directed toward enemy lines, they often ran wherever they pleased, starting fires on their own side.
2. The Iceberg Navy
During World War II, aircraft carriers were in short supply. So were steel and aluminum, the main materials needed to build the gargantuan ships. As the Allies scrounged to build vessels, they were also hunting for fresh ideas. So when Geoffrey Pyke, a plucky British inventor, proposed a scheme to build carriers out of ice, the British government jumped on board. 
Pyke’s concept was to construct the vessels using pykrete—a stronger-than-ice mixture of 86 percent water and 14 percent wood pulp. But it wasn’t until construction began on a 1,000-ton model in Canada that engineers encountered the problem of “plastic flow.” In layman’s terms, the ship started to melt, which caused it to sag under its own weight unless kept at a crisp 3°F. The designers attempted to sidestep the issue by rigging the boat with a complex refrigeration system and reinforcements consisting of 10,000 tons of steel—the very resource they’d been trying to avoid using in the first place.
After almost a year of working and reworking the concept, Britain’s Royal Navy finally learned the same hard lesson most of us learned with our first popsicles and they ditched the project. The boat was allowed to sink to the bottom of Patricia Lake and do what ice does best: melt.
3. The $40 Million Sunburn
In 2010, the U.S. military deployed a weapon straight out of a comic book: a heat ray that could stop bad guys in their tracks! Known as the Active Denial System, the satellite-dish–sized device blasted extremely high-frequency waves that made targets feel unbearably toasty.
But after running up a $40 million tab over a decade of research, the military recalled the weapon after about a month. Why the quick flip-flop?
The government never made an official statement on the matter, but it seems the heat ray wasn’t such a hot idea. Far from delivering a paralyzing blast, the ray unleashed all the pain of a bad sunburn. And while that’s fine for controlling mildly unruly crowds, you don’t want to go into battle with a weapon that can be defeated by a good coat of SPF-30.
4. Killer Drum Solo
When Hitler erected a 7-foot-thick concrete wall along the European coastline, Britain’s Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development drew the task of finding a way to burst through. Its solution: the Great Panjandrum—two 10-foot-tall wheels linked by a drum carrying 4,000 pounds of explosives. Rockets attached to the wheel rims were meant to propel the payload forward at 60 miles per hour, crashing the great drum past everything until it hit the wall.
The only problem? If some of the rockets failed—which they did with alarming regularity—the Panjandrum careened off course. When the fireworks on the right wheel failed during its first test run in 1943, the designers addressed the glitch as only weapons engineers can: by attaching more rockets.
Sadly, some problems can’t be solved with extra rockets. A documentary crew recorded what would be Panjandrum’s final road test and nearly lost a filmmaker in the process. As one observer reported, “[A] clamp gave: first one, then two more rockets broke free: Panjandrum began to lurch ominously.
It hit a line of small craters in the sand and began to turn to starboard, careening towards [the filmmaker], who, viewing events through a telescopic lens, misjudged the distance and continued filming. Hearing the approaching roar he looked up from his viewfinder to see Panjandrum, shedding live rockets in all directions, heading straight for him.”
The cameraman managed to emerge unscathed, but the Panjandrum did not, meeting an early retirement before it ever rolled into battle.
 5. Holy Bat Bomb!
During World War II, an oral surgeon named Lytle Adams contacted the White House with a novel idea. Bats could be the Allies’ new secret weapons!
Troops could strap little bombs to bats, airdrop them into Axis strongholds, and watch the destruction from a safe distance. Strangely, the idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Bats can carry more than their own weight in flight. They’re also plentiful and cheap; four caves in Texas alone housed millions of the critters.
Franklin Roosevelt was enamored of the concept, and in 1942, he greenlit the project. He also convinced Adams to abandon dentistry to pitch in with the effort. By 1943, Adams and the Army had recruited thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats for the job, while Louis Fieser, the inventor of napalm, designed their one-ounce detonating packs. According to plans, a carrier with 26 stacked trays—each containing 40 little bat homes—would parachute into the industrial cities of Japan’s Osaka Bay. The bats would then fly off and wedge themselves into the nooks and crannies of buildings to sleep off their jet lag—at least until a timer detonated their packs.
Only the bats never got to carry out their kamikaze-style mission. During one test run in Carlsbad, N.M., the bats got loose, roosted under a fuel tank, and incinerated the facility. Fed up with bats, the Army handed the hot potato project to the Navy, which foisted it on the Marines. Eventually, the Marines pulled off a successful test on a mock Japanese village in Utah.
Good news for bats, though: In the time it had taken to perfect the bat explosives, the military had designed a slightly more efficient and predictable weapon: the atomic bomb.
6. Russia Goes Full Circle
Boats share the same basic design for a reason. Unfortunately, nobody bothered telling that to the Imperial Russian shipwrights who in 1874 unveiled a proudly distinct vessel they called Novgorod. In theory, the ship’s circular design—just over 100 feet in diameter—provided a stable platform for large guns, making it the perfect defender for the Russian coast.
In practice, the Novgorod was a disaster, a fact that became abundantly clear as it floated into the Danube to take part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Since the ship’s hull wasn’t streamlined, faster boats had to tow the floating bucket into battle. Russia was in no hurry to get the Novgorod in the mix, though. The circular design had clear limitations in combat: The odd shape meant that each time its cannons fired, recoil spun the vessel like a top. In short, it was a slow, cumbersome ship that couldn’t really fire its guns. After enduring much snickering from the Turks, the Russians decided to keep the Novgorod tied up at port, finally relegating it to the scrapyard in 1912.
7. The Puke Ray
Many weapons have the unfortunate side effect of being lethal, so defense agencies are always on the lookout for more humane ways to stun the enemy. In 2007, the military thought it had found it in the “sick stick”: a flashlight that unleashed a kaleidoscopic pulse that caused vertigo, nausea, and hurling.
The idea for the weapon dates all the way back to the 1950s, when helicopter pilots started mysteriously crashing. Investigators determined that the frequency of choppy flashes of sunlight shining through a chopper’s spinning blades caused dizziness and disorientation. Tinted glass and helmet visors solved the pilots’ problems, but the U.S. military started wondering whether it could use the effect to its advantage.
While the sick stick gets two thumbs up for twisted creativity, the weapon has major flaws. First, a target has to look directly at the light to feel the effects—why not just turn and run? Or wear shades? Also, the gadget’s unwieldy size—15 inches long, 4 inches wide—made it cumbersome in the field.
A Department of Homeland Security newsletter criticized the sick stick, deeming it “more transportable than portable.” Before long, the military abandoned the $800,000 project.
But the idea didn’t die there. In 2009, a pair of hardware hackers slapped together their own version for $250 using a flashlight from Sears, $3 LEDs, a nine-volt battery, and a heat sink from a computer processor—enough to make the government queasy.
8. The Führer Gets an Air Rifle
During World War II, Hitler’s Third Reich was hell-bent on shooting down Allied planes. But conventional weapons weren’t the only defense. A factory near Stuttgart built a massive air cannon—a 3-foot-diameter, 35-foot-long cast-iron tube packed with an explosive mixture of hydrogen and ammonia that, upon detonation, would eject a “shell” of compressed air. The Nazis hoped these shells would create whirlwinds to swat Allied planes out of the sky.
In trials, the WindKanone was a destructive force. The weapon shattered wooden planks from 650 feet away. Still, there’s a big difference between breaking stationary lumber and nailing airborne targets. Even when the gusts nailed planes flying as low as 500 feet, pilots were barely thrown off course. Never ones to waste creative energy, the Nazis redeployed the air cannon as an anti-infantry weapon. But it was hopeless in the field as well—its gargantuan size made it an easy target for bombs. After a few disastrous outings, the WindKanone sat unused, gathering rust at a testing facility until confused American troops stumbled across it in April 1945.
 9. Popping the War Balloons
In 1944, Japanese troops set 9,000 balloons adrift over the Pacific. Beneath each of the 33-foot-diameter spheres dangled a 35-pound high-explosive bomb and eight 15-pound firebombs. After spending three days floating the jet stream, the balloons were to jettison their loads over the continental U.S., sparking forest fires and generating mayhem.
Lucky for us, the wind is a fickle ally. Only 389 of these Fu-Gos or “fire balloons” made it to the States, and even fewer exploded. One landed in Nevada, only to be discovered by cowboys and turned into a hay tarp. Two landed back in Japan. Only one bomb claimed any American casualties, and even that was more of a tragic debacle than a crushing military victory.
Five kids and their pregnant Sunday-school teacher stumbled upon the balloon in the Oregon woods—hardly the sort of PR coup that would buoy Japanese spirits. Dismayed by the poor results, the Japanese scrapped balloon bombs in 1945.
And one that possibly didn’t…
10. The Other Red Scare
During the 1970s and 1980s, rumors swirled that the Soviets had developed a chemical substance that could be used to make nuclear bombs as small as watermelons. Known as “red mercury,” the substance reportedly fetched up to $1 million for a single kilogram, and the alleged super weapon set off a frenzy of speculation over whether it might land in terrorists’ hands.
When samples were confiscated by European police, though, scientists found that the red powder was only slightly more explosive than paprika, and its components varied by batch, from mercury oxide to the topical antiseptic mercury iodide. According to the U.S., “one lazy con artist [tried] to sell mercury in a bottle painted red with nail polish.”
In 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced, “Red mercury doesn’t exist … the whole thing is a bunch of malarkey.” On the bright side, it did help intelligence agencies flush out gullible would-be terrorists, which means it wasn’t a total failure after all.
__________________________  The above article by Judy Dutton is reprinted with permission from the May-June 2012 issue of mental_floss magazine.
Don't forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss' extremely entertaining website and blog today for more! |
| Delicious and Anatomical Macaroon Cookies Posted: 24 Aug 2012 04:00 AM PDT 
What do you get when you combine art, anatomy and food? Delicious anatomical cookies like these ones by Miss Insomnia Tulip. Link Via BoingBoing |
| Brilliant Fake Security System Bluffs Burglars Away Posted: 24 Aug 2012 03:00 AM PDT 
(Video Link)
Global Link manufactures an intimidating security system. Laser beams that sweep across a room. Lights flash. An alarm beeps. And it's all fake. The premise is that the visible and audible presence of the system deters break-ins. Some thieves decide to go elsewhere rather risk a target that is appears heavily guarded. The system thus reduces, but not eliminates, the possibility of a break-in. -via DVICE |
| Lance Armstrong: Banned for Life, Loses 7 Tour de France Titles Posted: 24 Aug 2012 02:00 AM PDT  The fight between Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is over:
"There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, 'Enough is enough,'" Armstrong, 40, wrote in a statement emailed to The Times and other news agencies. "For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999." Armstrong's attorneys asked a USADA attorney to turn the matter over to UCI, the international cycling union, but USADA maintains it retains jurisdiction to strip the titles. Armstrong never tested positive for performance-enhancing use during his decade-plus of Tour races. Now, as he abandons his impassioned fight against anti-doping authorities, the perception of an American hero who rallied from cancer to become champion of perhaps sport's most demanding endurance test has been recast.
Lance Pugmire of The Los Angeles Times reports: Link (Photo: McSmit/Wikipedia) |
| Still Life with Bazooka Posted: 24 Aug 2012 01:00 AM PDT 
Virginia-based artist Igor Ovsyannykov has a traditional subject for his paintings: the still life. You know: plants, food, grenades, rifles. That sort of thing. You can view other examples of his work at the link. Link -via Say Uncle |
| Lip Flask Posted: 24 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT 
Lip Flask - $12.95
Are you looking for a swanky way to tote your favorite spirit? You need the Lip Flask from the NeatoShop. This posh lipstick shaped flask holds 4 oz. of liquid. It is perfect a quick liquor makeover. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Barware & Cocktail items! Link |
| Night Comes to Los Angeles Posted: 24 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT ![]()
(Video Link)
Colin Rich's majestic time lapse video shows lights filling the darkness as the sun sets over Los Angeles. The background music is taken from an M83 album. An old woman says in French: It is late. I am looking for my other home, taking an unfamiliar path: a small trail near the factories and the city, cutting through the forest. I can barely see nature when suddenly, night falls. I am engulfed by a world of silence, yet I am not afraid. I fall asleep for a few minutes at the most, and when I wake up, the sun is there and the forest is shining with a bright light.I recognize this forest. It is not an ordinary forest, it is a forest of memories. My memories. The white and noisy river, my adolescence. The tall trees, the men I have loved. The birds in flight, and in the distance, my lost father. My memories aren't memories anymore. They are there, with me, dancing and embracing, singing and smiling at me. I look at my hands. I caress my face, and I am 20 years old. And I love like I have never loved before. -via American Digest |
| Deadpie Posted: 23 Aug 2012 11:00 PM PDT 
Get it? It's a pie that looks like the Marvel comics anti-hero Deadpool. So:Deadpie. Anna made this delicious but unstable pie. You can find her recipe at the link. Link -via That's Nerdalicious! |
| Lando Calrissian: He'll Fight for You Posted: 23 Aug 2012 10:00 PM PDT 
(Video Link)
Have you been injured by a Jedi? Do you have an unresolved workers' comp claim? The law offices of Lando Calrissian are here for you. He'll bring you justice and the settlement that you deserve. Call today. -via Nerd Bastards |
| The Pageant of Letters Posted: 23 Aug 2012 09:00 PM PDT  The Pageant of Letters was a Greek comedy about the alphabet from about 400 BCE. The premise of the play was that four new letters (eta, xi, psi, and omega) were being added to the Greek alphabet, and some folks were resistant to the change, others embraced it with varying degrees of success, and some were just totally confused. In other words, it was a slapstick comedy of errors.
One particular gag from the comedy survives and seems to come from the rapid-fire episodes ( similar to our “black-out sketches”) that came near the end of these comedies. A woman (character name unknown) is pregnant and about to deliver. She is using the new letters in her words and is trying to convey to a second figure (name and occupation unknown) that she is in labor. The second figure is failing to understand what she is saying because they haven’t mastered the new letters yet. ( Obviously the situation is just a wild exaggeration for comic effect) The second figure eventually thinks the woman is trying to convey the information that she is about to express flatulence instead and immediately flees the scene. Ah, fart jokes! No matter what the time period they appeal to the ten year old child in all of us! Read more about this ancient comedy at Balladeer's Blog. Link |
| Cobra Bites Man, Man Bites Back and Kills Cobra Posted: 23 Aug 2012 08:00 PM PDT 
Like the Captain says, "If someone tries to kill you, you try and kill 'em right back." A man in Nepal understood this rule and took revenge on a snake that bit him: Nepali daily Annapurna Post said Mohamed Salmo Miya chased the snake, which bit him in his rice paddy on Tuesday, caught it and bit it until it died. "I could have killed it with a stick but bit it with my teeth instead because I was angry," the 55-year-old Miya [...]
Link -via Life's Little Mysteries | Photo: The Bode |
| Resourcefulness Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:00 PM PDT  (YouTube link)
Kids in Cameroon made a steerable toy car with stuff they had. Give them all an "A" in elementary engineering! -via Arbroath |
| Portraits Of Musicians Made From CDs Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:00 PM PDT 
Why throw all those old, scratched CDs away when you can make awesome works of art with them! This detailed portrait of Bob Marley was created by Mirco Pagano and Moreno De Turco, and it's made out of discarded Bob Marley CDs that were no longer jammin'. Hit the link and check out the rest of the rock icons rendered as CD sculptures, it's better than using them as coasters! Link --via Juxtapoz |
| A Collection Of Boba Fett Helmet Variants For Make-A-Wish Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:00 PM PDT 
These awesome variant Boba Fett helmets were charitably created and donated to the Make-A-Wish foundation by special effects companies and designers such as WETA and Sideshow Collectibles. The many themed Fett protectors, based on Battlestar Galactica, Total Recall and Iron Man just to name a few, will be auctioned off to financially benefit the foundation. Link |
| Scary Cute Animated Short - The Colors Of Evil Posted: 23 Aug 2012 04:00 PM PDT ![]()
(Vimeo Link) Animators Phillip Simon and Alyse Miller aim to change your perception of evil with this wickedly cute animated short entitled The Colors Of Evil. Watch as the gates of Hell are thrown open, and a demon emerges unlike any you've ever seen before! --via i09 |
| A Tim Burton Inspired Pokemon Menagerie Posted: 23 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT 
These crude yet utterly adorable sketches are by Vaughn Pinpin, who decided to show the world what Pokemon would look like if they were drawn by Tim Burton. The only thing that would make this series better would be if Tim Burton actually drew them, then started making a series of animated shorts based on his scraggly version of Pokemon. With the look of these little guys I'm not so sure anyone will want to catch them all... Link --via JazJaz |
| Bazinga Snuggler Posted: 23 Aug 2012 02:29 PM PDT 
Bazinga Snuggler - $29.95
Attention The Big Bang Theory fans! Are you looking for a great way to curl up on the couch and watch your favorite television show? You need the Bazinga Snuggler from the NeatoShop. This fantastic "Comfortability Cloak" is perfect for a glorious geek night in. Soft Kitty Snuggler also available. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more The Big Bang Theory items! Link |
| The First Tarzan Yell Posted: 23 Aug 2012 12:00 PM PDT  (YouTube link)
This clip is from the 1929 film Tarzan the Tiger. It was not the first Tarzan film, but the first with sound. Frank Merrill did his best to illustrate vocally what Edgar Rice Burroughs had written about. The final product sounds totally lame to our ears, after decades of hearing Johnny Weissmuller's iconic yodel. But was the yell we know so well really Weissmuller's? Mental_floss looks at the history of that yodel in a post called The Disputed History of the Tarzan Yell. Link |
| New Words Added the The Oxford Dictionary Online Posted: 23 Aug 2012 11:00 AM PDT  The folks at Oxford have added some new, modern words. Not to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) itself, but to the Oxford Dictionary Online, which is what most of us use, anyway.
Let’s set the scene. Your OH has decided it’s date night, and although
he isn’t exactly ripped he has great emotional intelligence and made
an effort with his new soul patch, so as a treat you decided to get
vajazzled. Think that sounds ridic, or even douchey? Research from the
Oxford Dictionaries team shows that these terms have made their way
into common usage, hence their inclusion in the quarterly update of
new words and meanings. Other additions inspired by contemporary
culture include micropig, hosepipe ban, and e-cigarette.
Are you confused enough now? Continue reading for the definitions of those new words as they appear in the ODO. · date night, n.: a prearranged occasion on which an
established couple, esp. one with children, go for a night out
together. · dirty martini, n.: a cocktail made with gin (or vodka), dry
vermouth, and a small amount of olive brine, typically garnished with
a green olive. · dog food, v. [new sense, chiefly computing]: (of a company’s
staff) use a product or service developed by that company so as to
test it before it is made available to customers. · douche, n. [new sense]: an obnoxious or contemptible person.
Also douchey, adj. · Dunbar’s number, n.: a theoretical limit to the number of
people with whom any individual is able to sustain a stable or
meaningful social relationship (usually considered to be roughly 150). · e-cigarette, n.: another term for electronic cigarette. · e-learning, n.: learning conducted via electronic media,
typically on the Internet. · ethical hacker, n.: a person who hacks into a computer
network in order to test or evaluate its security, rather than with
malicious or criminal intent. · manage expectations, phr.: seek to prevent disappointment by
establishing in advance what can realistically be achieved or
delivered by a project, undertaking, course of action, etc. · genius, adj. [new sense]: very clever or ingenious. · group hug, n.: a number of people gathering together to hug
each other, typically to provide support or express solidarity. · guilty pleasure, n.: something, such as a film, television
programme, or piece of music, that one enjoys despite feeling that it
is not generally held in high regard. · hackathon, n.: an event, typically lasting several days, in
which a large number of people meet to engage in collaborative
computer programming. · hat tip, n.: (in online contexts) used as an acknowledgement
that someone has brought a piece of information to the writer’s
attention, or provided the inspiration for a piece of writing. · hosepipe ban, n.: an official restriction on the use of
hosepipes, imposed by a particular water company on its customers
during a water shortage. · inbox, v.: send a private message or an email to (someone,
typically another member of a social networking site or Internet
message board). · lifecasting, n.: the practice of broadcasting a continuous
live flow of video material on the Internet which documents one’s
day-to-day activities. · lolz, pl. n.: fun, laughter, or amusement. · mansion tax, n.: a tax levied on residential properties
worth more than a certain amount. · micro pig, n.: a pig of a very small, docile, hairless
variety, sometimes kept as a pet. · mood disorder, n.: a psychological disorder characterized by
the elevation or lowering of a person’s mood, such as depression or
bipolar disorder. · mwahahaha, exclamation: used to represent laughter, esp.
manic or cackling laughter such as that uttered by a villainous
character in a cartoon or comic strip. · NFC, abbrev.: near field communication, a technology
allowing the short-range wireless intercommunication of mobile phones
and other devices for purposes such as making payments. · OH, n.: a person’s wife, husband, or partner (used in
electronic communication). · photobomb, v.: spoil a photograph of (a person or thing) by
suddenly appearing in the camera’s field of view as the picture is
taken, typically as a prank or practical joke (n.: photobombing). · ridic, adj.: ridiculous (abbrev.). · ripped, adj. [new sense]: having well-defined or
well-developed muscles; muscular. · soul patch, n.: a small tuft of facial hair directly below a
man’s lower lip. · takeaway, n. [new sense]: a key fact, point, or idea to be
remembered, typically one emerging from a discussion or meeting. · tweeps, pl. n.: a person’s followers on the social
networking site Twitter. · UI, n.: short for ‘user interface’. · user experience, n.: the overall experience of a person
using a product such as a website or a computer application, esp. in
terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use (also UX, n.). · vajazzle, v.: adorn the pubic area (of a woman) with
crystals, glitter, or other decoration. · video chat, n.: a face-to-face conversation held over the
Internet by means of webcams and dedicated software. · vote, v. [new sense: vote someone/thing off the island]:
dismiss or reject someone or something as unsatisfactory [with
reference to the reality television Survivor). · Wikipedian, n.: a person who contributes to the
collaboratively written online encyclopedia Wikipedia, esp. on a
regular basis. · 3D printing, n.: a process for making a physical object from
a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many
successive thin layers of a material.
Read more about the new additions at the ODO blog. Link See also: recent words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. |
| The Reunion Box Posted: 23 Aug 2012 10:30 AM PDT  (YouTube link)
A family in Arlington, Virginia, had their chimney capped, unaware that a raccoon and her babies had a nest inside. The United States Humane Society came and removed the raccoon and two babies and set them free outside. But there were actually four in the litter, which wasn't evident until the next day. The last two babies were removed and placed in a "reunion box" and left for the mother to find. The best part of this story is the camera trap footage of what happened when the reunion box was left out overnight. Link -via Arbroath |
| The Games Continue Posted: 23 Aug 2012 10:00 AM PDT 
The Paralympics begin in London with the Opening Ceremony on August 29th, and will run through September 9th. If you're not familiar with the Paralympics, prepare yourself by reading an article by coach Danny West at Kuriositas, and browse plenty of photographs from the 2008 Paralympics. Link | Paralympics schedule -via the Presurfer (Image credit: Flickr user Jonas in China) |
| You Listen to Me Mister! Posted: 23 Aug 2012 09:30 AM PDT 
(Video Link) Meet Bub. Bub looks a little different from other kitties, but it's the noises he make that really set him apart. Heck, I can't even tell if he's happy or angry, but however he feels, one thing's for sure -he's darn cute. Via I Can Has Cheezburger |
| Lobster is Cheap, Except in Restaurants Posted: 23 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT  Fishermen are hauling in a bumper crop of lobsters this year. The harvest started early and remains big. Wholesale prices are way down right now.
It’s clear that if you walk into a fish store that the price of live lobsters has indeed fallen sharply. But at the restaurants and seafood shacks that dot the coast, prices have fallen only modestly. Instead, the lobstermen’s pain is leading to windfall profits for restaurant owners, fueling dark talk of price fixing in some quarters. *** The market-price scheme does work in reverse: When lobster prices rise, the market price does rise with them. If the price of lobster spikes, there’s no sense in a restaurant selling one at a loss even if you have empty tables. But the ratchet really only goes in one direction. When upward price swings squeeze margins enough, restaurants raise prices. But falling retail lobster prices generate big restaurant profits, angry lobstermen, and vaguely disappointed tourists. Read more about how market forces shape the price of restaurant food at Slate. Link (Image credit: Flickr user tup wanders) |
| What Is It? game 239 Posted: 23 Aug 2012 08:30 AM PDT 
Once again, it's time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog! Do you know what the object in this picture is? You can win even if you don't know!
Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will each win a T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?
Check out the What Is It? Blog for more clues. Good luck! |
| 12 Hilariously Clever Tip Jars Posted: 23 Aug 2012 08:00 AM PDT 
You don't have to find Nemo, just save him by throwing some money into his jar so he can breathe. Not a bad ploy for getting a few extra tips is it? For more clever tip jar ideas, don't miss this great Oddee article. Link |
| Pixel Rain Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:30 AM PDT ![]() (vimeo link)
Is it confetti? Is it snow? No, Pixel Rain is a beautiful cloud of LEDs falling from the sky at at a Black Keys performance. The stunt was a collaboration between the Moment Factory and Air France, recorded at the closing concert of Osheaga 2012 music festival in Montreal. -via The Daily What |
| These Dogs Have Some Serious Napoleon Complexes Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:00 AM PDT 
The Carmichael Collective has a delightful photo series featuring naughty pooches with real behavioral issues all dressed up as Napoleon. Not only are the pictures just precious, but the descriptions of the dog's misdeeds are simply wonderful. Link Via Laughing Squid |
| Adam Savage's Toolbox Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:30 AM PDT 
Adam Savage of Mythbusters prizes efficiency. Over his years as a special effects artist, he built and rebuilt his toolboxes until they made every tool he needed immediately accessible: I wanted to make an impression at my new job, so I spent an entire weekend remaking the bags out of aluminum. My supervisor suggested scissor lifts to keep them even with me when I was seated. He might have been joking, but I added them. The finished boxes housed everything I needed, but I repeatedly rebuilt the insides until finally no tool had to be moved out of the way to get to another. That’s first-order retrievability.
Link -via Nerdcore |
| Just Watch Out For Rolling Barrels Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:00 AM PDT 
Sure it looks cool, but just try putting something on your shelves -they're bound to get knocked over over when the hairy ape at the top notices a plumber trying to get up there. Seriously though, I can't help but be jealous of designer Igor Chak for having this and a Space Invaders couch in his living room. Link Via Laughing Squid |
| The Embarrassing Magical Mystery Tour Party Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:00 AM PDT  Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
In 1967, the Beatles filmed their only made-for-TV movie. It was called Magical Mystery Tour. The film itself is an interesting, checkered, odd little movie directed and edited by the Beatles themselves. It was, basically, the boys riding around in the country on a Magical Mystery Tour bus with an eclectic group of characters. They just rode around and filmed whatever random adventures they got into. It also features a few sketches written by the Beatles themselves. It is a crazy quilt pastiche, but it does feature some excellent pre-MTV Beatles videos, including John singing "I am the Walrus" and George singing "Blue Jay Way." The film was a huge flop when it was first shown on TV -the Beatles first unqualified failure. Five days before the showing of Magical Mystery Tour on December 21, 1967, the Beatles had their annual holiday party. The Beatles always had a Christmas party, but in 1967, it was John Lennon who suggested a Magical Mystery Tour party instead. The Beatles readily agreed. The Beatles, their wives (and Paul's current girlfriend, Jane Asher), the staff of their Apple organization, various friends and family members attended. The invitation read "Magical Mystery Tour Fancy Dress Party." In other words, it was a costume party. The costumes the Beatles and their mates showed up in were quite fascinating. John Lennon came as a fifties-type rocker, complete with greased-up hair and leather jacket, a la early Elvis. His then-wife Cynthia came as a Victorian lady. 
Paul came as "the Pearly King" and Jane Asher was "the Pearly Queen." Ringo was a regency chap and his wife Maureen was an Indian maiden. George came as a dashing Errol Flynn-type swashbuckler. And last, but certainly not least, George's wife, Patti, came as an "Eastern princess." In the vernacular, Patti was dressed in a very skimpy, veiled costume as a belly dancer.  A pleasant time was being has by all, but John Lennon had, shall we say, a few too many. Lennon was, by all accounts, a terrible drunk, and on this night, John was chugging them down.
Patti Harrison, an ex-model, is usually acknowledged as the most beautiful of all the Beatle wives. Patti, like many women at costume and Halloween parties, went all out and was dressed up in an incredibly sexy, revealing outfit and John Lennon was "all-eyes." Accounts of the party say John was leering, ogling, and flirting with Patti from the word go. It became a bit embarrassing. Another attendee at the party was 19-year-old singer/actress Lulu. Lulu had recently made a splash in the movie To Sir With Love, and she had a hit record with the title song. Lulu was a friend of the Beatles and she came dressed as a Shirley Temple-type little girl, complete with a curly blond wig and a huge lollipop.  After hours of watching John ignore his wife and drool over Patti Harrison, Lulu got fed up and finally let loose. As John was sitting, Lulu stood over him and gave him a very severe scolding, right in front of everyone. Incredibly, John Lennon, who feared no man (or woman) just sat there, timidly, and let Lulu berate him.
"How dare you ignore Cyn? How dare you stare at Patti like that right in front of your wife?" The exact words Lulu used are not recorded, but they are very easy to imagine. Cynthia was to write about the strange, unprecedented incident in her autobiography. Cyn said that she would never forget the sight of Lulu, holding a big lollipop, bawling out her tough, macho husband. John sat quietly and contritely, with his head down, like a little boy being scolded by his mother. No photographs survive documenting this surreal incident, but there are a few scattered photos from the Magical Mystery Tour party itself. The most famous one is of John, holding a glass of wine, along with Paul and Ringo and their mates. Oddly, three of the night's four main characters are not featured in the picture. George, Patti, and Cynthia are nowhere to be seen. 
One can surmise George and Patti may have left the party early. Or maybe they just stayed away from John for the remainder of the night. Ditto for John's poor wife Cynthia. |
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Keep a civil tongue.