Neatorama

Dinosaur and Kids Posted: 01 Mar 2009 05:09 AM PST (YouTube link) Talk about interacting with living history- the Los Angeles Natural History Museum has dinosaurs roaming the hallways! This eerily realistic puppet was created by Erth Visual and Physical, Inc. -via Greg Laden’s Blog

Ugly Bat Boy Posted: 01 Mar 2009 02:20 AM PST This cat’s full name is Ugly Bat Boy, and he lives at Exeter Veterinary Hospital in New Hampshire. His owner, veterinarian Stephen Bassett says that he is normal in every way, except that he’s ugly. The eight-year-old cat is bald in most places, but has a long flowing “mane” on his chest. Ugly has become a local celebrity. Veterinary employee Christie Hartnett calls him “Dr. Bassett’s little wonder cat.” Workers said many people who come into the building can’t really believe what they’re seeing. But they said despite appearances, Bat Boy has a nice disposition and real inner beauty. “The impression from clients that come in is he’s not real because he just sits so still, and when he does move, he scares them, but they think he’s mesmerizing,” Hartnett said. Be warned that if you go to the story and click on the “slideshow” button, the first picture may frighten young children. Link -via Metafilter

Almost Invisible: The Incredible Glasswing Butterfly Posted: 28 Feb 2009 11:23 PM PST Transparency in animals is something that is still not entirely understood by science.  The beautiful Glasswing butterfly possesses this feature in abundance - a great percentage of its wingspan is almost completely transparent. It is thought that the wings have large amounts submicroscopic protrusions that have the same refractive index which means that they do not scatter light, so giving the impression of transparency.  Whatever the reason, this is a startling and little  known creature. A butterfly with transparent wings? Surely not. Yet there is a species that exhibits this trait. Take a close look at the incredible Glasswing, an enchanting species that confounds science. Greta oto may sound like the name of a silent movie star from Eastern Europe but is in fact the scientific name for one of the most exquisite - and little known - species of butterfly on the planer. This butterfly’s claim to fame is that its wings, spanning up to six centimeters, are almost completely transparent. That’s right, you can see just about right through them. Link - via webphemera From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.

DWBF: Driving While … Breastfeeding! Posted: 28 Feb 2009 11:07 PM PST If you think that talking on the cell phone and driving is dangerous, wait till you hear what else this woman did: she breastfed her baby while driving her other children to school! Police say it is against the law to drive with a child in your lap. Children under 4 or 40 pounds must be properly restrained in a child safety seat. In this case, officers said Compton had the child in the lap with the baby’s head up against the steering wheel. They say there is not only the risk of a crash, but deployment of the airbag. Compton said she will take the advice of the officers into consideration, but she may breast feed her baby while driving in the future if she feels that is is necessary. If you think about it, she’s got some skillz breast feeding, talking on the phone, and driving all at the same time! WHIO Dayton TV has the story (and video clip): Link

How Sideburns Got Their Name Posted: 28 Feb 2009 10:57 PM PST AskMen has a pretty nifty article about the 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Sideburns. For instance, how the facial hair style got its name: 1- Sideburns are named after a Civil War general Ambrose Everett Burnside lived from May 23, 1824 to September 13, 1881. A Union Army general in the Civil War and later a Rhode Island politician, Burnside was well known and well liked. He wasn’t known as a good general, often getting his forces in trouble, but people forgave him because of his freaky facial hair. Two burly muttonchops grew dangerously long and connected to a handlebar mustache. Originally they became known as burnsides, but over time the syllables were switched around. Link

Remotes for Grandma Posted: 28 Feb 2009 07:02 PM PST Yes! This would make my half-dozen remote controls much easier to use! Come to think of it, we may have just discovered why I don’t watch much TV anymore. From the book Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge. Link -via Divine Caroline

The Stories Behind 10 Weird College Mascots Posted: 28 Feb 2009 04:24 PM PST 1. Cy the Cardinal, Iowa State University Cyclones. I have to put this one in here, 'cause I'm an ISU alum and still like to tailgate it up during football season. So why is a cardinal the mascot of a team named after a force of nature? Because it's kind of hard to make a mascot out of a tornado, Cy the Cardinal was chosen by students in 1954 to represent the school colors of cardinal and gold. The "Cyclones" moniker came in 1895, when the ISU football team trounced Northwestern and a reporter noted, "”Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone as with the Iowa team it met yesterday.” Photo: ISU Alumni Association 2. Sammy the Banana Slug, University of California Santa Cruz. When the University decided to get into the NCAA game in 1980, it was decided that the school's mascot would be the venerable sea lion. But students at UC Santa Cruz had grown attached to the colorful slugs that populated the redwoods on campus and had sort of adopted them as an unofficial mascot, so when the university announced their sea lion decision, students rallied together to lobby for the hermaphroditic Ariolimax columbianus. They won, and Sammy has been one of the most recognizable college mascots ever since. 3. The Boilermaker Special, Purdue University. Some background: the first reference to the Boilermaker name came in an 1890s newspaper article that called the Purdue team "Burly Boiler Makers," which was a nod to their engineering roots. Even so, the university had no official mascot until 1937, when a student suggested a "mechanical man" or something similar as a mascot. The idea snowballed into building a train that could be driven like a car, which showed off the school's prowess in the engineering realm while giving them a meaningful mascot at the same time. The train would then carry fans to other cities for games, and became known as Boilermaker Specials. Today, Purdue is on Boilermaker Special V and the X-Tra Special VI, a mini version that can go indoors. Purdue also has Purdue Pete, a human Boilermaker who carries around a hammer. Photo from Purdue Reamer Club. 4. Gladys the Fighting Squirrel, Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. The school's mascot is the squirrel because Mary Baldwin had a squirrel in her family crest. I can't find a single thing on why they named her Gladys. Any Neatoramanauts know the story? My research did turn up another interesting fact, though: Tallulah Bankhead was a Mary Baldwin grad. 5. Artie the Fighting Artichoke – Scottsdale Community College. The school needed a new mascot in the 1970s, but at the time, the student government was mad at the administration for steering funding toward athletics instead of academics. So they picked three unorthodox mascots and let the students vote. The choices? The Artichokes, the Rutabagas or the Scoundrels. Former college president Art DeCabooter says the artichoke won out because it's got heart. Ha. Photo from JamesStephanieKayley 6. Boll Weevil, University of Arkansas. This name comes courtesy of former school President Frank Horsfall, who noted in 1925 that "the only gosh-darned thing that ever licked the South was the boll weevil." 7. John Poet – Whittier College, California. This one is pretty easy - the school is named after poet and abolitionist John Whittier. The town the college is in is also called Whittier. Richard Nixon is probably Whittier’s most famous Poet (although it has lots of notable alumni, including the actress who played Kimmie Gibler on Full House) - he was an accomplished football, basketball and track runner for Whittier. Photo from Whittier. 8. Speedy the Geoduck, Evergreen State College, Washington. Surely an inspired mascot if I've ever heard one. The geoduck (gooey-duck) isn't a waterfowl, as you might suspect, but a mollusk. It's native to the Pacific Northwest, which explains why the college chose it as a mascot. Sort of. Also notable: Matt Groening was an Evergreen State Geoduck. Here's Speedy doing his thing: 9. The Anchormen, Rhode Island College. I’m not even going to lie - I was totally picturing a mascot that looked similar to Ron Burgandy. It turns out by “Anchormen,” they mean “sailors.” Dang. As for the inspiration - one of the nicknames for Rhode Island is the Ocean State, so it really does make sense when you think about it. But I still prefer to think of a mascot running around in a suit and big hair, carrying a microphone and talking about his “guns.” 10. The Student Princes, Heidelberg University, Ohio. Prior to 1926, the team was known as the Cardinals. But then the university’s alumni director saw a movie called The Student Prince, which was about a prince who went to the Heidelberg University in Germany. He was inspired to start calling his students the same thing, and it caught on. At first it was just an unofficial, on-campus thing, but quickly grew to sports writers and the media. Others that I was interested in but couldn’t find a good backstory on? The Long Beach Dirtbags (baseball only) and the Columbia College Claim Jumpers. What are your favorite weird mascots? I have a friend who was a Fighting Pretzel in high school.

Gobekli Tepe: Is it the Garden of Eden? Posted: 28 Feb 2009 01:18 PM PST On a summer day in 1994, a Kurdish shepherd stumbled upon a strange stone in the rolling plains of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey. Little did he know then that he had just made what could be the greatest archaeological discovery ever: the possible site of the Garden of Eden. Carbon-dating shows that the complex is at least 12,000 years old, maybe even 13,000 years old. That means it was built around 10,000BC. By comparison, Stonehenge was built in 3,000 BC and the pyramids of Giza in 2,500 BC. Gobekli is thus the oldest such site in the world, by a mind-numbing margin. It is so old that it predates settled human life. It is pre-pottery, pre-writing, pre-everything. Gobekli hails from a part of human history that is unimaginably distant, right back in our hunter-gatherer past. [...] Over glasses of black tea, served in tents right next to the megaliths, Klaus Schmidt told me that, in his opinion, this very spot was once the site of the biblical Garden of Eden. More specifically, as he put it: ‘Gobekli Tepe is a temple in Eden.’ Tom Cox of the Mail Online has more on this fascinating story: Link

Unscientific Yet Totally Accurate Look at Digg and Reddit Users Posted: 28 Feb 2009 01:17 PM PST If you’re interested in joining an online community yet don’t know which one is right for you, Brainz has done the legwork. Here is a completely unscientific (yet surprisingly accurate) look at social networking and media sites, including digg, reddit, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter: Link - via The Presurfer

Mystery of the Belly Button Fluff Solved by Science Posted: 28 Feb 2009 01:16 PM PST Cancer may still be a mystery, but after years of research, science has finally solved the mystery of the belly button fluff: After three years of research, Georg Steinhauser, a chemist, has discovered a type of body hair that traps stray pieces of lint and draws them into the navel. Dr Steinhauser made his discovery after studying 503 pieces of fluff from his own belly button. Chemical analysis revealed the pieces of fluff were not made up of only cotton from clothing. Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust. Dr Steinhauser’s observations showed that ’small pieces of fluff first form in the hair and then end up in the navel at the end of the day’. [...] "The hair’s scales act like a kind of barbed hooks," he said. "Abdominal hair often seems to grow in concentric circles around the navel." And the secret to a navel fluff-less belly button? Dr Steinhauser established that shaving one’s belly will result in a fluff-free navel - but only until the hairs grow back. Link Photo: Graham Barker’s Navel Fluff Collection, see also: 25 Strangest Collections on the Web

Warren Buffett’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year Posted: 28 Feb 2009 01:15 PM PST If the economic crisis is getting you down, take heart: even the Oracle of Omaha and arguably one of the smartest businessman alive today is also having a tough year: Berkshire Hathaway reported today that its net worth fell in 2008 by $11.5 billion, a decline reducing its per-share book value by 9.6%. That was Berkshire’s worst result in the 44 years that Chairman Warren Buffett has run the company and, in fact, only the second decline in that period. The other drop was 6.2% in 2001, a year hurt by 9/11 and other problems in Berkshire’s insurance operations. [...] In his chairman’s letter, Buffett states that 2008 had good points mixed in with the bad. But in an unusual admission for the opening pages of the letter (a point easily recognizable by this writer because she has edited Buffett’s letter for 32 years) he says bluntly, "During 2008 I did some dumb things in investments." The dumbest, he said, was buying a large amount of Conoco Phillips stock when oil prices were near their peak and in no way anticipating the dramatic drop in prices that subsequently occurred. Buffett said he still thinks the odds are good that oil will sell in the future at much higher prices than the $40 to $50 per barrel now prevailing. But even if prices should rise, he said, "the terrible timing" of the Conoco purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars. Unlike you or me, however, Warren Buffett can drown his sorrow by counting his remaining bazillion dollars. Carol Loomis of Fortune has more: Link

Topless Coffee Shop Has Fantastic … Business! Posted: 28 Feb 2009 01:14 PM PST When the times get tough, the tough goes … naked? Here’s a story of one Donald Crabtree of Vassalboro, Maine, who combined coffee and nudity for his recipe for success: On Monday, Donald Crabtree opened Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro, Maine, where the waiters and waitresses serve their customers topless. In a town with fewer than 4,500 residents, the topless coffee shop is booming with business. Paul Crabtree, the owner’s brother, describes business so far as "fantastic." "It’s just been crowds mobbing in," he said. Laurie Segall of CNN has the story: Link (Photo: WGME)

Octopus Caused Flooding in California Aquarium Posted: 28 Feb 2009 10:50 AM PST Octopus have been famous for their curiosity and intelligence.  One California aquarium recently experienced flooding.  The culprit?  A female two-spotted octopus! Staff at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium in California say the trickster who flooded their offices with sea water was armed. Eight-armed, to be exact. They blame the soaking they discovered Tuesday morning on the aquarium’s resident two-spotted octopus, a tiny female known for being curious and gregarious with visitors. The octopus apparently tugged on a valve and that allowed hundreds of gallons of water to overflow its tank. Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.

Enhancing the Virtual Reality experience Posted: 28 Feb 2009 10:49 AM PST [YouTube - Link] University of Tsukuba researchers in Japan have developed a device that is designed to enhance the Virtual Reality experience by simulating motion in a static environment: "One of the big problems facing VR is the issue of mobility — how do you allow users unrestricted movement in virtual reality, while keeping them relatively static in real reality? Omni-directional treadmills have been tried in the past, and now researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan have developed something called CirculaFloor. The system uses four robotic tiles that constantly shift position, ensuring that there’s always a tile in the direction you’re headed. Additionally, the entire assembly moves slowly backwards, giving one the impression of movement while they’re actually standing relatively still. The tiles also incorporate lifts, for simulating staircases and the like." - via engadget From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.

You are subscribed to email updates from Neatorama To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of Neatorama in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: Neatorama, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610