Neatorama

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• What Your Refrigerator Says About You
• Unseen Photographs Shed New Light on World War I
• Cutest Chorus Ever: PS22 Chorus Sings “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac
• Tokyoflash Landmark Clock Contest Update
• 5 Voice Actors Who Certainly Don’t Look the Part
• Tattooed Equation
• Terminator Timeline
• Cast, Away!
• When Mockingbirds Attack
• Archie Finally Chooses Between Veronica and Betty
• In Microgravity, a CD Player Becomes a Gyroscope
• How Seahorses Evolved To Swim Standing Up
• Psst! There’s a Real Estate Boom (Yes, a Boom) in Phoenix, Arizona
• Colin: a Zombie-Flick Made With $70 and Facebook Volunteer Zombies

What Your Refrigerator Says About You Posted: 25 May 2009 02:06 AM PDT While traveling across the country to explore the issue of hunger, photographer Mark Menjivar asked strangers if he could photogaph the contents of their refrigerators. Each picture tells a story about the person: And if the aphorism holds true—if we really are what we eat—then refrigerators are like windows into our souls. It's that sentiment that's at the heart of Mark Menjivar's inventive exploration of hunger, "You Are What You Eat," for which he photographed the contents of strangers' refrigerators. As you can see, whether it holds neatly ordered rows of labels-out condiments or zip-locked stacks of shot-and-gutted buck meat, there's almost certainly a narrative to a fridge's arrangement. Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ccmushroom.

Unseen Photographs Shed New Light on World War I Posted: 25 May 2009 01:58 AM PDT The Independent newspaper in the UK has released some newly discovered portraits of British soldiers from World War I.  Hidden in a French barn for ninety years, these pictures are a telling record of soldiers in preparation for the Battle of the Somme.  Over 400 glass plates have been discovered and collected by photography enthusiasts Bernard Gardin and Dominique Zanardi, in hopes of identifying the soldiers: A treasure trove of First World War photographs was discovered recently in France. Published here for the first time, they show British soldiers on their way to the Somme. But who took them? And who were these Tommies marching off to die? Link - via webphemera From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.

Cutest Chorus Ever: PS22 Chorus Sings “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac Posted: 25 May 2009 01:35 AM PDT Now this is cute: New York City PS22 elementary school chorus singing "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. I’d say they did just as good a job as Stevie Nicks. Great job, PS22 kids and their music teacher Gregg "Mr. B" Breinberg! Watch it before the goons from RIAA deliver a takedown notice for copyright violation (even though Stevie likes it): Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Urlesque More PS22 Chorus vids here: Link (including my current fave: their cover of Viva La Vida by Coldplay and Eye of the Tiger by Survivor) Background story from the Brooklyn Rail by Sophie Gilbert: In a school where more than three quarters of the students are eligible for free lunch, the lyrics of the song have resonance, and the performance is haunting, emotive, and delivered with far more soul than one might expect from a bunch of fifth-graders. As Breinberg plays, he makes eye contact with the kids, coaxing performances from them and letting them enjoy themselves. Later, Davoya, one of the chorus members, explains how he does it. “At first, when I sang, I had no emotion,” she says. “I didn’t move. But Mr. B taught me to sing with feeling. With feeling and heart.” Link

Tokyoflash Landmark Clock Contest Update Posted: 25 May 2009 01:27 AM PDT Tokyoflash Landmark Clocks entry by Cliff A couple of weeks or so ago, we told you of our pal Tokyoflash’s design-a-landmark clock contest, where you can submit your idea for a famous landmark modified to include a "Tokyoflash way of reading time." Well, here are some of their favorite entries - and best of all, you can vote for the winner: Link - Thanks Paul!

5 Voice Actors Who Certainly Don’t Look the Part Posted: 25 May 2009 01:26 AM PDT Quick: who voiced the sultriest pig of all, Miss Piggy? Would you believe that it was an old bald guy with glasses (Frank Oz)? Asylum has a short yet highly entertaining post about the five voice actors whose faces certainly didn’t fit the characters they played: Link

Tattooed Equation Posted: 24 May 2009 05:53 PM PDT We’ve featured quite a few science tattoos on Neatorama, but this is one for the books! Do you know what these equations represent? Find out at The Loom. Link

Terminator Timeline Posted: 24 May 2009 01:46 PM PDT Now that Terminator Salvation is in theaters, Cracked has attempted to create a timeline that explains how the various time-travel plots work. Some things to remember: 1. Time travel in a Terminator movie is like plumbing in a porno: a very loose excuse to get to the action. 2. Anyone expecting accuracy is missing the point (and having much less fun than everyone else). 3. With that said, here is our attempt to construct a sensible time line of the franchise. Note: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is not included in this project. Link -via Digg

Cast, Away! Posted: 24 May 2009 11:24 AM PDT If you managed to break a bone and got yourself in an arm cast, chances are you’ll have a permanent marker and a couple of friends’ remarks written all over it. But when illustrator Taylor White broke her wrist in "an epic acrobatic gravity defying swan-dive into the Norwegian snow," she asked her friend Heather Tompkins to turn the cast into a work of art. Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by pax.

When Mockingbirds Attack Posted: 24 May 2009 11:15 AM PDT A study led by Doug Levey at the University of Florida in Gainesvile revealed that mockingbirds can recognize and remember individual humans after seeing them only a few times, and will attack humans they deem threatening. In this test on the university campus, the mockingbirds ignored most passers-by, but took to the air when they recognised people who had approached their nest days before. (Image: Lou Guilette/PNAS) The study was prompted by a series of bird attacks. A graduate student involved in research on bird nesting noticed that when she would make repeat visits to peoples' yards the birds would alarm and attack her, while they would ignore people gardening or doing other things nearby…. Indeed, it seemed they could even recognize her car, and she had to start parking around the corner [AP]. So the researchers designed an experiment to investigate whether the birds really could identify an individual person. For the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers identified 24 mockingbirds watching over egg-filled nests on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. For each nest, they had one volunteer approach and touch the eggs over the course of four days, but on each day the volunteer approached at a different time, came from a different direction, and wore different clothes. Still, with every visit, the bird grew more agitated. At first, the mother bird waited until the person came close and then flew to a nearby bush to shout out alarms calls, a behavior called flushing that birds do to distract predators in the wild. But by day four, mom was up and out of her nest when the volunteer was almost 14 meters away–and she or her mate dive-bombed the volunteer's head [ScienceNOW Daily News]. When a new volunteer approached the nest on the fifth day and touched the eggs, the mother bird started the get-to-know-you process from scratch, and merely called alarms from a nearby bush. Link - via arbroath From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.

Archie Finally Chooses Between Veronica and Betty Posted: 24 May 2009 11:02 AM PDT After almost 70 years, Archie, the perpetual teenager will finally choose which girl he really wants and will propose in an upcoming issue: Archie Comics' official blog confirmed the epochal news, digging into its cache of exclamation marks to declare: "ARCHIE ANDREWS IS GETTING MARRIED!" In the story, Archie has finally graduated from Riverdale High School; in fact, he's five years older and a college graduate. (We told you this was the apocalypse.) He may even have an actual job when he gets engaged. Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ccmushroom.

In Microgravity, a CD Player Becomes a Gyroscope Posted: 24 May 2009 11:00 AM PDT [YouTube - Link] NASA International Space Station Science Officer Don Pettit demonstrates how a spinning CD acts as a stabilizing gyroscope in microgravity.  When two and three CD players are combined in perpendicular planes, they provide a relatively stable platform. - via reddit From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.

How Seahorses Evolved To Swim Standing Up Posted: 24 May 2009 10:55 AM PDT Peter Teske and Luciano Beheregaray of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, have just solved one of nature’s most enduring mysteries: how seahorses evolved to swim standing up … Seagrasses, which thrive in shallow water, spread rapidly through these newly formed environments. The researchers think that the ancestors of modern seahorses followed. Horizontally swimming fish living in seagrass beds don’t blend into the environment well and are easily picked off by predators. A solution seems to have evolved in seahorse ancestors: the upright body shape, which enables seahorses to seamlessly blend in with surrounding seagrass. Link (Photo: Robert Sisson / NGS)

Psst! There’s a Real Estate Boom (Yes, a Boom) in Phoenix, Arizona Posted: 24 May 2009 10:54 AM PDT After the big real estate bust in Phoenix, Arizona, a new trend is afoot: a boom in the market for foreclosed homes, where investors buy properties then lend it back to the (former) owners turned renters: With this sweltering desert city enduring one of the largest tumbles in housing prices for any urban area since the Depression, there is an unrelenting stream of foreclosures to choose from. On some days, hundreds are offered for sale at the auctions that take place on the plaza in front of the county courthouse. There is also a large supply of foreclosed families who can no longer qualify for a loan. And that is prompting a flood of investors like Mr. Jarvis, who wants to turn as many of these people as possible into rent-paying tenants in the houses they used to own. Real estate got just about everyone into trouble in Phoenix, and the thinking seems to be that real estate is going to get everyone out. The low end of the real estate market here — and in some equally hard-hit places like inland California and coastal Florida — is becoming as wild as anything during the boom. David Streitfeld of the New York Times has more: Link (Photo: Joshua Lott / NY Times)

Colin: a Zombie-Flick Made With $70 and Facebook Volunteer Zombies Posted: 24 May 2009 10:52 AM PDT [YouTube Clip] Marc Price of Nowhere Fast Productions sparked a media frenzy with his first feature film: a low-budget a zombie flick titled Colin. And when Marc said low-budget, he meant low-budget. The whole thing was shot for $70, and the zombies came free with the help of Facebook! Tom Foster wrote the story for CNN: "When we say it’s a low budget film, people presume a couple of hundred thousand [dollars]. People can’t figure out how it’s possible. What Marc’s achieved has left people astonished." It was by advertising for volunteer zombies on social networking site Facebook, borrowing make-up from Hollywood blockbusters and teaching himself how to produce special effects that thrifty director Price was able to make the film for less than the price of a zombie DVD box set. "The approach was to say to people, ‘OK guys, we don’t have any money, so bring your own equipment,’" the the 30 year-old director told CNN. With help from a makeshift band of friends and volunteers, Price shot and edited the feature — which ingeniously spins the zombie genre on it’s head by telling the story entirely from the zombie’s perspective — over a period of 18 months while working nights part-time as a booker for a taxi company. Online social networking was an invaluable tool in both generating buzz and cheaply sourcing the undead: "We went on Facebook and MySpace and said ‘Who wants to be a zombie?’" Price told CNN. "We managed to get 50 brilliantly made up zombies and stuff them into a living room." Link

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