Neatorama

Remembering the Victims of 9/11 Posted: 11 Sep 2008 03:46 AM CDT Photo: noamgalai [Flickr] It was seven years ago that the September 11 attacks occured. Nearly 3,000 people died that day. Today, as a tribute to the victims of 9/11, take a look at the people who lost their lives and remember them: More …

Pirate Fonts Posted: 11 Sep 2008 03:42 AM CDT This font is Windlass The annual Talk Like A Pirate Day is coming up on September 19th - so to get your blog ready, here’s a nifty collection of Pirate symbols and fonts: Link - via Matt Cutts

Superstitions Helped Mankind Survive Posted: 11 Sep 2008 03:41 AM CDT Did superstitions develop to help mankind survive? Evolutionary biologist Kevin Foster of Harvard University and Hanna Kokko of the University of Helsinki thought so: Darwin never warned against crossing black cats, walking under ladders or stepping on cracks in the pavement, but his theory of natural selection explains why people believe in such nonsense. The tendency to falsely link cause to effect – a superstition – is occasionally beneficial, says Kevin Foster, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University. For instance, a prehistoric human might associate rustling grass with the approach of a predator and hide. Most of the time, the wind will have caused the sound, but "if a group of lions is coming there’s a huge benefit to not being around," Foster says. Michael Shermer of Skeptic magazine explains: "Our brains are pattern-recognition machines, connecting the dots and creating meaning out of the patterns that we think we see in nature. Sometimes A really is connected to B, and sometimes it is not," he says. "When it isn’t, we err in thinking that it is, but for the most part this process isn’t likely to remove us from the gene pool, and thus magical thinking will always be a part of the human condition." Link - via Slashdot

Super Lice: Pesticide-Resistant Bugs Took Just 3 - 5 Years to Become Immune Posted: 11 Sep 2008 03:41 AM CDT Overuse of antibiotics had given rise to scary antibiotic-resistant microbes, and now, the same thing is happening to head lice: As school begins, health officials and parents across the country are bracing for this year’s bout of what some call "super lice," drug-resistant critters that fend off nearly all pesticides, even as experts say better treatments for the ancient, annoying condition may be waiting in the wings. Researchers have been warning for years that head lice in the U.S. and around the world are developing immunity to the strong insecticides used in over-the-counter and prescription shampoos. It takes just three to five years for the bugs to adapt to a new product, despite claims to the contrary by the manufacturers, noted Shirley C. Gordon, an associate professor at Florida Atlantic University who studies persistent head lice. Link - via Fark

Guerilla Road Signs Posted: 11 Sep 2008 03:39 AM CDT To bring a smile to passer-bys, the Glenn Group installed these guerilla street signs all over downtown Reno: The Glenn Group wrote sign copy, created layouts for the printer, and hung the signs. The design team’s primary challenges were to make the signs as authentic looking as possible, and to duck police officers and city officials during “installation.” In a city where street art and renegade postings are not common, the signs inspired surprise, delight, and good feelings about the city. Their little guerilla art project won an award at the 2008 Society for Environmental Graphic Design Award: Link - via RuebenMiller

Missing Cat Came Back … Nine Years Later! Posted: 11 Sep 2008 12:18 AM CDT Gilly Delaney thought that her beloved cat was killed by a car nine years ago - so it was a pleasant surprise when one day, the cat turned up alive! An overjoyed cat owner has been reunited with her missing moggy - nine years after she wandered off from her family home. Gilly Delaney was left distraught after hearing her beloved pet Dixie had been killed by a car in 1999. So it came as a big surprise when RSPCA officers turned up on Mrs Delaney’s doorstep - with her missing pet in tow. The officers, who scanned Dixie’s microchip, returned her to her rightful owner after they found her wandering less than half a mile away from Mrs Delaney’s home. Link - Thanks Geekazoid!

MC Mallet: Stop Mallet Time! Posted: 11 Sep 2008 12:18 AM CDT Australia’s Vert Design Shop made this CNC cut flat pack hammer cleverly called MC Mallet - At $40, it’s way cheaper to go to a local hardware store. But then again, a real hammer is no where near as cool a conversational piece as this baby. Link - via Vector Vault, Thanks Adam!

Large Hadron Collider’s Secret Emergency Stop Button Posted: 11 Sep 2008 12:16 AM CDT With all the hullabaloo over how the Large Hadron Collider will spawn a black hole that will swallow Earth, do you think that scientists will leave it up to chance? Noooo, of course not. They have a secret emergency abort button. Thanks to Skepchick blog, we now have secret photos from inside the CERN research center: Link - Thanks Rebecca Watson! Don’t miss: I Survived the Large Hadron Collider T-shirt

Fantastic video explains how the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) works Posted: 10 Sep 2008 06:58 PM CDT The folks at CERN have successfully tested the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). They are now ready to move forward on the tests for which the LHC was built. The LHC has had a great deal of press of late - some positive, some negative. We’ve posted about it several times here on Neatorama.com. The YouTube video above, apparently created by CERN employee Chris Mann, does a great job explaining what the LHC is all about. It followed hydrogen gas from a tank that is released into the system all the way to a collision between super-high-energy protons colliding at near light speed. If you’re remotely interested in the LHC, consider this a “must-see” video. [YouTube]

VideoSift Clips of the Week Posted: 10 Sep 2008 06:50 PM CDT (Links open in a new browser window/tab) The Best of the Best Cat Clips Yay! No need to hunt for the funniest cat video clips anymore. Here are the best of the best cat videos in one convenitne YouTube clip: Link (including many that I haven’t seen before!) Melee: 1 Protestor, 4 Security Guard, 100 Fans When four security guards tackle a protestor who ran into a soccer field during a game, that was fair enough. But when they started beating him with a stick, 100 fans rushed the field and started a melee! Link Tumbleweed Vortex What happens when a bunch of tumbleweed got caught up in a vortex? Check it out for yourself: Link Australian School Rickroll Bell When this Australian school let students choose their own school bell sound, what’s the worse that could happen? The students chose to Rickroll themselves every period! Link Russian Pothole If you think your town’s roads are bad, you’ve got to see this: the mother of all potholes in Russia! Link (Cue the obligatory "In Soviet Russia, pothole launches you" joke) For more the web’s most interesting videos, check out: VideoSift.

Cat Versus Printer Posted: 10 Sep 2008 02:30 PM CDT Ok this isn’t GiGi The Angry Cat who got respect out of an electric toothbrush. This cat on the other hand, (whose name is unknown at this time) packs a good punch and tries to gain respect out of a printer. Watch and enjoy…I know I did. Link: YouTube

I Survived the Large Hadron Collider T-Shirt Posted: 10 Sep 2008 02:27 PM CDT So, the scientists at CERN flipped on the Large Hadron Collider and life as we know it didn’t end (yet). So to celebrate our continued existence, here’s the "I Survived the Large Hadron Collider" T-Shirt on Neatorama’s Online Shop: Link - on sale for $9.95

WALL-E LEGO Posted: 10 Sep 2008 01:37 PM CDT The folks at Trossen Robotics sent us this: Disney’s latest pixar animation movie star WALL-E made from LEGO! Forum user bazmarc, who created it, wrote: He is entirely made of Lego parts and Lego NXT Mindstorms Robotic System for brains, he is fully automated and animated and programed using Labview’s NXT-G software. I have built many prototype before coming to this final revision (wall-e rev.3) Technical specs: 1 Mindstorms NXT with rechargable pack, 3 Lego NXT Servo Motors, 4 Lego PowerFonctions motors, 2 PF IR receiver, 1 UltraSonic sensor, 1 Sound sensor, 1 InfraRed link sensor, (HiTechnic) 1 NXTservo module and 1 mini RC servo, (Mindsensors) 10 AA batteries Lego parts mainly from the Bulldozer set #8275 and other parts from various technic sets. Link: to Trossen Robotics Forum | Blog (with YouTube clip) - Thanks TR Team!

Shipbreaking Yard: Where Ships Go to Die Posted: 10 Sep 2008 01:36 PM CDT Photo: Edward Burtynsky There is a particular industrial activity that is quite unique to the small town of Alang in Gujarat Province, India. It’s not manufacturing - actually, it’s the exact opposite: in Alang, container and cruise ships are taken apart piece by piece … by hand! When large container ships can contain or ship no more, they’re sent halfway round the world to so-called "breaking yards," where they’re dismantled (basically by hand), their metal is salvaged, and their intact structures, down to the doors and toilet seats, are put back onto the global marketplace. Today, these yards tend to be in Bangladesh or India – but location is just a question of cheap labor and (nonexistent) environmental regulations. It’s toxic work. BLDBLOG has more: Link | More photos of shipbreaking by Edward Burtynsky

Controller of the Universe by Damián Ortega Posted: 10 Sep 2008 01:35 PM CDT Photo: P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center That’s "Controller of the Universe" by Damián Ortega, a sculpture consisting of dozens of tools suspended in the air as though in midexplosion. It’s part of an exhibit on art as means of change: Link - via who killed bambi?

Auctioning Off Her Virginity to Pay College Tuition Posted: 10 Sep 2008 01:35 PM CDT Shock jock Howard Stern is no stranger to controversy, and now, he’s at it again: he’s "auctioning off" 22-year-old Natalie Dylan’s (not her real name) virginity to help pay her college tuition. Shock jock Howard Stern interviewed 22-year-old Natalie Dylan (not her real name), who is “auctioning off” her virginity to help pay her college tuition: Expected to step on the block, so to speak, of Stern’s Sirius radio studio is a San Diego woman who says she wants to sell her maidenhood to pay her college tuition. "I don’t have a moral dilemma with it," says the pretty brunette, who’s using the pseudonym of Natalie Dylan "for safety reasons." "We live in a capitalist society," she tells us. "Why shouldn’t I be allowed to capitalize on my virginity?" Hoax? You be the judge: Link - Thanks honeybee Update 9/10/08: Stern isn’t auctioning off anything - that was my mistake. First paragraph re-written. Sorry!

Baby Falling Down the Odessa Steps Posted: 10 Sep 2008 01:34 PM CDT Photo: Library of Congress Remember the scene in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987), where Eliot Ness, played by Kevin Costner, saved a baby-carriage that went down the stairs while in a shoot-out with Capone’s henchmen? The famous scene is actually a homage to a 1925 The Battleship Potyomkin movie: The scene is well-known: the sequence of the baby falling down the Odessa Steps in Sergei Eisenstein’s movie The Battleship Potyomkin (1925) is one of the most influential films in movie history (many films pay homage to the scene like Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables). Although, the massacre on the steps is fictional (it took place in the surrounding streets), the movie has made many people see in the “Odessa Steps” the alleged place of bloodbath. The "Odessa Steps" (now known as the “Potemkin Steps”, by architect Francesco Boffo) got a tourist attraction – the movie has exaggerate the place. anArchitecture has the movie clip and more on the famous Steps: Link | Wikipedia entry on the Potempkin Stairs

Queensland “Flasher” Ad Posted: 10 Sep 2008 01:34 PM CDT To remind the people of Sydney and Melbourne, Australia that Queensland is a warm place to go to during winter vacation, Tourism Queensland employed a bunch of attractive women to … um, flash men on the street with this advertising message: The objective was to make Queensland the number one choice for a winter holiday. To remind the Sydney and Melbourne markets than, evein in winter (it’s winter now in Australia), the weather’s warm enough to enjoy Queensland’s beaches 24 flashers were deployed throughout high traffic areas in chilly Sydney and Melbourne to promote sunny Queensland as a holiday destination this winter. Here’s the "front view": Link (SFW, don’t worry - Update 9/10/08: Some visitors complained of a virus from the website - click at your own risk) Update 9/11/08: delinked - website contains Bloodhound.Exploit.196 virus.

All ‘Eyes’ on the NFL Posted: 10 Sep 2008 12:28 PM CDT How well do you know your NFL helmets? In today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, try to match the “eye” to the helmet it’s found on. Oh, I scored 25%. If you are totally unfamiliar with the teams (as I am), finding an eye that looks like the team name is not easy! Link

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