Neatorama

Wii Drum High Posted: 03 Dec 2008 06:56 AM PST HE Zao built a virtual drum kit (or it it an “air drum’?) out of a different Wii accessories and a bit of software! With Nintendo Wii remote, Nunchuk and Wii Balance Board, it is easy to produce drum kit sounds from programming of their acceleration, joystick and weight data. These data can be transmitted from Wii controllers via Bluetooth to PC or Mac without Wii consoles. Wii Drum High integrates all three kinds of Wii controllers to stimulate a complete drum set of Hi-hat, Snare, Base drum, Crash cymbal, Ride cymbal, Mid tom and Low tom. Up to 4 sets of Wii remote and nunchuk can be used at the same time. (one of my colleague succeeded in connecting 5 wiimotes to a PC, but I’ve never tried) No, it wouldn’t be an “air drum” because it produces the sound itself. Link (with video) -Thanks, Joe!

Pupaphobia: Fear of Puppet Posted: 02 Dec 2008 05:25 PM PST Most kids will find puppets funny, but not this kid. He’s got a severe form of pupaphobia (the irrational fear of puppets). I don’t think he’s making this up, and I sure hope that he outgrows it. I know people who have misophobia (irrational fear of dirt and germs), chemophobia (chemicals), and flutter-phobia, so I don’t find the kid’s reaction as funny though I’m sure many people would. But it sure is interesting: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - Thanks Juergen! Do you have an irrational fear of something? What is it? Previously on Neatorama: Coulrophobia: Fear of Clown (not a good link for you if you’re afraid of clowns)

Things You Probably Don’t Need #5 Posted: 02 Dec 2008 05:09 PM PST Life-size replica of Napoleon’s hand, anyone? Anyone? It’s only $29.95 at Design Toscano! Need I remind you that the gift-giving season is upon us?

Six Famous Siblings Posted: 02 Dec 2008 03:55 PM PST It must be hard being the lesser-known sibling of one of the world's greatest painters, or authors, or minds. On a larger scale, I bet it's like going through high school as the younger sibling of a brother who was the star quarterback. "Van Gogh? Are you related to Vincent? Oh, man, Starry Night was just amazing." OK, maybe not. But at any rate, there are often supportive siblings behind the successes of great people – here are just a few of them. Branwell Bronte Branwell was the only boy out of all of the Bronte siblings, and was by all accounts extremely talented in his own right. But what I think is most interesting is that he may have been the inspiration behind The Graduate. In 1843, he was hired as the tutor for the family of a local reverend, Edmund Robinson. It's well documented that he fell in love with Lydia Robinson, Edmund's wife, so it's no surprised that Branwell was "mysteriously" dismissed from his position in 1845 - It's thought that Rev. Robinson found out that the two were having an affair. Heartbroken by the loss of Mrs. Robinson, he began drinking a lot and was likely addicted to opium. He ended up dying of tuberculosis, as did his sisters Emily and Anne. Charles Richard Webb, the author of The Graduate, is also rumored to have based the novel on his own affair with an older, rich socialite, but I would say he had at least heard of the Branwell Bronte story just based on the similarity of the names of the main characters. Cassandra Austen Like a lot of little sisters, Jane adored her older sibling and emulated everything Cassandra did. Their mother once said, "If Cassandra's head had been going to be cut off, Jane would have hers cut off too." Jane wrote numerous letters to her sister, but only about 100 have survived. Cassandra supposedly destroyed most of the letters after Jane died in 1817. Like her famous sister, Cassandra never married. Erasmus Darwin Erasmus was five years older than his famous brother, Charles. He went to the Shrewsbury Boarding School and developed in interest in chemistry, so he and Charles set up an amateur lab in the garden shed at their house. By 1822, he decided to study medicine, but by 1829, he had given up the career at his father's advice. Dr. Robert Waring Darwin felt that Erasmus was too frail and delicate of a man to handle such a stressful career and talked him into retirement at the age of 26. He and Charles were very close and visited often, even after Charles got sick and started to become reclusive. Charles' children loved Erasmus and called him Uncle Ras. He died in September 1881, more than 50 years after his father told him he was too sickly to do much with his life. Theo van Gogh As the younger brother of Vincent, Theo was instrumental in Vincent's success – he provided materials and financial support and introduced him to Gaugain, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Rousseau, Pissaro and Seurat (Theo was an art dealer and had excellent connections). Vincent even lived with Theo for a while. When they didn't live together, they were constantly writing to one another. These letters have been compiled in a book, but you won't find many of Theo's letters – Vincent apparently destroyed most of Theo's correspondence, while Theo avidly saved everything from Vincent. Some of Vincent’s responses, though, indicate that Theo was aware of Vincent’s mental health issues and was concerned about his brother. Marianne Mozart Maria Anna (she didn’t go by Marianne until she was an adult) was Wolfgang's older sister, and his only sibling who didn't die in infancy. She was part of the Mozart family Grand Tour from 1763-1766, and was even the big draw in the early years – she showed a natural talent for the harpsichord and piano. Eventually, when she got old enough to marry, she was no longer allowed to tour or show off her musical talents. She apparently was a good composer, because letters from Mozart have survived that praise her artistry, but none of her pieces have ever been found. She and Wolfgang were quite close as children but apparently drifted apart as adults – no correspondence between the two exists after 1788. Bartholomew Columbus Bartholomew was just one of Christopher’s brothers - he had two others, Giacomo and Giovanni. Bartholomew was, fittingly, a mapmaker. Apparently world exploration ran in the family. This map is from the workshop of Bartholomew and Christopher; it's been documented that they worked closely together. In 1494, he helped Christopher in his campaigns to conquer Hispaniola and governed it for a while. He was also a member of Christopher's last transatlantic expedition.

Seriously Weird And Endangered Species Posted: 02 Dec 2008 02:00 PM PST I’ve seen some weird animals online, but Webecoist always manages to find new oddities that still blow my mind. The one above is a giant coconut crab. I wonder if they taste any good. Link

Awesome Japanese Train Decorations Posted: 02 Dec 2008 01:29 PM PST Japan has painted a number of their trains with some really amazing anime art, including Pikachu, Doraemon  and the Anpanman one above. Link

This Test Brought To You By… Posted: 02 Dec 2008 12:41 PM PST A teacher who could no longer afford to print out the tests for his classes has taken to selling ads on his students’ tests. The current pricing is $10 per quiz, $20 per test and $30 per final. Most of the ads are from parents and local businesses. What kind of a message would you put on your kid’s test? Link

Caption Monkey 52: Sara the Walrus Plays the Saxophone Posted: 02 Dec 2008 12:17 PM PST Photo via Ananova Hooray! It’s time for Neatorama and Hobotopia’s Caption Monkey game. But first, the story: that’s Sara the Walrus who is trained to play the saxophone! Under the direction of her trainer, Sara the Walrus grips the brass instrument between her flippers and blasts out a note. Russian trainer Sergiy has also taught her to strike a nonchalant pose, leaning on a worktop with one flipper under her chin and looking bored. Sara’s skills at mimicking humans extend to dressing up as a railway platform conductor and blowing a whistle. (Source) Now, onto the game: funniest caption will win an original Laugh-Out-Loud Cat comic by Adam Koford. Place your caption in the comment section. One caption per comment, please, but you can enter as many as you like. Don’t forget to check out Adam’s blog for inspiration! Good luck! PS Yes, Miss C wrote about Sara earlier today, but since I got this post prepped beforehand, let’s just go with it!

How A Guy’s Flickr Photo Ended Up in The Iron Man Movie Posted: 02 Dec 2008 12:14 PM PST Photo Credit: (above) Iron Man (below) Jeremy Keith of Adactio Did you know that the movie Iron Man used a Creative Commons-licensed photo from Flickr? Here’s the story of how Jeremy Keith’s photo of his buddy Andy Budd in NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Cape Canaveral ended up in the movie: “Wait a minute”, I said. “What is this for?” “It’s for a movie that’s currently in production called Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jnr.” Holy crap! One of my photos was going to be in Iron Man? That certainly put a new spin on things. “So I guess you want to use the picture because it’s inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building?” I asked. “No. We just thought it was a picture of some warehouse or something.” Read the whole story here: Link - via Flickr Blog

Wood on Mars? Posted: 02 Dec 2008 12:13 PM PST Mars Rover was rovin’ along the Red Planet where it snapped a picture of what looks like … a log of wood? The photo immediately a conspiracy theory rush in the blogosphere: The unusual image was featured in a NASA press release in 2004, although the space agency made no mention of the timber-like object captured on the spacecraft’s 115th day on Mars. But one website insists it is a leaked image that ‘could get someone killed.’ A writer from TheCrit.com said NASA’s claims Mars was a desert world were ‘lies’ and that ‘there are vast forests on Mars, ones that are kept from the public.’ They go on to speculate the ‘wood’ was brought to its present position by a flood of water that must have happened within 40 years ‘because the wood is intact.’ Link This fantastic discovery, of course, is in a long list of strange objects (humanoid, skull, doorway, cave) already found.

The Deer Strikes Back Posted: 02 Dec 2008 12:12 PM PST Randy Goodman of Sedalia, Missouri, thought that he had killed a deer with a well-placed shot to the neck. As he marvelled over his lucky catch, the deer came to life and exacted a little revenge: As the nine-point, 240-pound buck lay lifeless the unexpected happened. The buck stood up and knocked Goodman on his butt, attacking him with his antlers. “It was 15 seconds of hell,” Goodman said. Goodman thought the deer was trying to go through him as he fought it off the best he could. A few seconds later, the deer was off and running. “I felt his front legs go over my face,” Goodman said. The buck ran 30 yards and fell down again and Goodman was worried the deer wasn’t done yet. “If he was going to come back I would be in trouble because I was in too much pain,” Goodman said. Link (Photo: Randy Goodman)

What is This Mysterious Stone Age Object? Posted: 02 Dec 2008 12:11 PM PST Archaeologists digging at Zaraysk, Russia, unearthed a trove of Stone Age figurines and carvings, including something puzzling: a cone-shaped object whose function remains a mystery: Also among the finds was an object carved from mammoth ivory, shaped like a cone with its top removed. The cone is densely ornamented and has a hole running through its centre. The authors note that the object is unique among Palaeolithic artefacts. "The function of this decorated object remains a puzzle," they say. Since you guys are experts at guessing in our weekly What is it? game, let’s try this one for size: what do you think the mystery object is for? Link (Photo: Amirkhanov/Lev/Antiquity)

Scrabble 60th Anniversary Posted: 02 Dec 2008 08:23 AM PST The board game Scrabble is 60 years old, or maybe 70, depending on where you start counting from. PES created this eye-popping stop-motion ad to honor the occasion. Link (embedded YouTube video)

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