Neatorama

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• Winestein Beer and Wine Glass
• Zombie Bunny
• The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology
• Gyroscopic Wheel Replaces Training Wheels on Bicycles
• Postmodern Vacation Graph
• A Scientific Paper Explaining Superman’s Powers
• Pink Bear Poop
• Nothing Says It’s Over Like Fried Goldfish
• Powered Exoskeleton Can Lift 220 Pounds
• This Little Piggy Gets Warm
• Dwarf Village is a Theme Park
• Video Game Questions Your Ethical Standards While Deleting Files from Your Computer
• Man Buried in SPARCstation Case
• Fat Skunk Put on Diet
• Rube Goldberg Breakfast Machine
• Art of Photography Show
• Neverland Rides Find New Life
• The Anatomy of Japanese Monsters
• Ultraman Monsters on Transformer Boxes

Winestein Beer and Wine Glass Posted: 01 Oct 2009 01:22 AM PDT Winestein – $19.95 Is that an elegant wine glass or a manly beer stein? Actually, it’s both! Behold the Winestein, a double-walled beer mug with an internal cavity shaped just like an elegant wine stem. You’ve only got a few more days till the end of Oktoberfest … but if you think about it, every day can be just like Oktoberfest if you have this puppy! From the Neatorama Shop: Link

Zombie Bunny Posted: 30 Sep 2009 09:04 PM PDT Artist Amy Rawson (previously at Neatorama) has created a cute-as-can-be needle felted zombie bunny for Halloween. Or at least, it’s cute on the side its eyeball isn't falling out of! See more pictures at eBay. Link

The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology Posted: 30 Sep 2009 05:43 PM PDT There’s a lot of fascinating things about molecular biology (I should know, I have a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology) – but a lot of students get discouraged from learning it because it is taught poorly in school. To be fair, the topic is rather complex – if you don’t get the basics right, it’s easy to get confused and lost later on – and many of the textbooks of biochemistry, cell biology and molecular bio are b-o-r-i-n-g. Heck, I’ve read phone books more interesting than some of ‘em. Enter The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology. Written by Dr. Masaharu Takemura, a lecturer of biology, molecular biology, and life sciences at the Tokyo University of Science, the book uses manga-style cartoons drawn by Sakura and produced by Becom Co., Ltd. It is released in the United States by No Starch Press (a publishing company that aims to be "the finest in geek entertainment"). The book is ostensibly about the adventures of Rin and Ami, two students that have been skipping their molecular biology class. They were summoned by Professor Moro for a special summer school on his private island (complete with a virtual reality machine, a hunky TA … and a terrible secret. What is it? Oh, I’m not going to tell you). But amidst all that fun, there’s actual learning. Take, for instance, the explanation about how the liver enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase works in breaking down alcohol: Read more after the jump: So, if you’re in class and need a little help or inspiration in learning a particularly dry molecular biology subject, or if you know someone who do, check out the Manga Guide to Molecular Biology over at Amazon: Link

Gyroscopic Wheel Replaces Training Wheels on Bicycles Posted: 30 Sep 2009 05:29 PM PDT (YouTube Link) Bicycle maker Gyrobike has invented the “Gyrowheel” — a wheel with a motor-driven gyroscope inside that helps keep it upright. The manufacturer hopes to market it as a replacement for traditional training wheels on kids’ bicycles. Nathan Barry of GeekDad writes: It aims to replace traditional training wheels or stabilizers and to eradicate the bad habits that they teach kids when learning to ride a bike – leaning away from a turn and constantly putting a foot down at the first sign of a wobble when they're eventually taken off. The Gyrowheel uses the "gyroscopic precession" of the independently spinning disk inside it to stabilize the bike. The force created when the disk is turned – via a rechargeable battery – is powerful enough to hold a wheel upright at very low speeds (i.e. virtually stopped), and can actually make a bike look like it has a "Ghost Rider" as the videos below show (and there are plenty more on the Gyrobike site). Product Page via GeekDad (where there’s an additional video)

Postmodern Vacation Graph Posted: 30 Sep 2009 04:16 PM PDT We go on vacation to unwind, and relieve stress.  Well, at least that used to be the case.  I hear and see this phenomenon more and more often, although I’m relatively good at avoiding it.  PHD Comics has a great assortment of funnies, for the cubicle minded. Link via Digg

A Scientific Paper Explaining Superman’s Powers Posted: 30 Sep 2009 04:11 PM PDT Ryan North of the webcomic Dinosaur Comics asked his friend Ben Tippett to write a formal paper explaining the coherency of Superman’s amazing powers. It’s a very math and physics-heavy article, so I won’t try to understand, let alone summarize the whole thing. Here, however, is the conclusion: We conjecture that all of Superman’s powers come from His ability to alter the inertial mass of objects in His immediate vicinity or with which He is in personal contact; although the mechanism is unknown. Link via io9 Image: flickr user chanchan222, used under Creative Commons license.

Pink Bear Poop Posted: 30 Sep 2009 02:53 PM PDT Photo: Bettyboop4 [Flickr] National Geographic Traveler’s Intelligent Travel (and now Neatorama) blogger Marilyn Terrell just came back from a trip to the Yukon Territory in Canada. Naturally, she’s got lots of stories about her adventure, the fascinating ecology of the Yukon and so on and so forth. But since I’m stuck here in the ‘burbs, my jealous brain wouldn’t allow me to properly process all her stories save this tiny but golden nugget of trivia that will forever be with me till the day I die: Bear poop can be pink.

Nothing Says It’s Over Like Fried Goldfish Posted: 30 Sep 2009 02:23 PM PDT A woman in Texas was so angry at her former common-law husband that she decided to fry and eat his pet goldfish.  The not-so-lucky 7 gold fish were bought by the couple during happier days.  Police say it’s  a civil not a criminal matter and left the couple to work out the issue. I guess revenge is a dish best served fried! Link

Powered Exoskeleton Can Lift 220 Pounds Posted: 30 Sep 2009 02:18 PM PDT (YouTube Link) Panasonic subsidiary Activelink is developing the “Dual Arm Amplification Robot” — an exoskeleton that allows the user to lift heavy weights. It hopes to have to have a working model by 2015, which can then be used for disaster relief or industrial assembly. It is equipped with direct force feedback, which allows the user to feel the impact of its movements, and thus better control the machine. Link via Popular Science

This Little Piggy Gets Warm Posted: 30 Sep 2009 02:09 PM PDT Farmer Richard Johnson in Humberside, England, has an effective solution for chilly piglets who can’t grab a spot next to mom … Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

Dwarf Village is a Theme Park Posted: 30 Sep 2009 11:32 AM PDT 120 little people live in a village near Kunming, China. The village was set up to protect the dwarves from discrimination. You can't live there if you are over 4 feet 3 inches tall. Now the group has turned itself into a tourist attraction by building mushroom houses and living and dressing like fairy tale characters. “As small people we are used to being pushed around and exploited by big people. But here there aren’t any big people and everything we do is for us,” said spokesman Fu Tien. You have to wonder if there are exceptions to the community rules for normal sized children of the current residents when they pass the height limit. Link

Video Game Questions Your Ethical Standards While Deleting Files from Your Computer Posted: 30 Sep 2009 11:31 AM PDT (Video Link) Zach Gage says that he created the free video game Lose/Lose to make people question their ethical assumptions. The game is similar to Space Invaders, but every time you kill an alien, the game deletes a randomly-selected file from your hard drive: Lose/Lose is a video-game with real life consequences. Each alien in the game is created based on a random file on the players computer. If the player kills the alien, the file it is based on is deleted. If the players ship is destroyed, the application itself is deleted. Although touching aliens will cause the player to lose the game, and killing aliens awards points, the aliens will never actually fire at the player. This calls into question the player’s mission, which is never explicitly stated, only hinted at through classic game mechanics. Is the player supposed to be an aggressor? Or merely an observer, traversing through a dangerous land? Why do we assume that because we are given a weapon an awarded for using it, that doing so is right? Clicking on the link below will not download the game onto your computer and begin deleting your files. But it will give you the option to do so. Link via Geekologie

Man Buried in SPARCstation Case Posted: 30 Sep 2009 11:14 AM PDT After he “left for the great data bank in the sky,” Alan was memorialized by his family in the most dignified manner possible: inside a 1990s-era SPARCstation CPU case inscribed with his name, the years of his life, and the phrase “Beam me up Scotty, I’m done here.” Those who attended the funeral said goodbye to Alan in a way fitting for the cubicle lifestyle: His friends and family were able to leave their final good-byes on post-notes. Anyone who wanted to keep their words private could just slip their note into the case through the floppy slot. All notes will be sealed in plastic and placed within the case. There has been one complication. His daughters like the look of it so much they aren’t now sure if they want to bury him. Link via Gizmodo | Image: flickr user sam 3.14

Fat Skunk Put on Diet Posted: 30 Sep 2009 11:07 AM PDT A skunk named Mr. Bumble was turned over to the RSPCA when his owners could no longer handle him. The skunk, who loves bacon sandwiches, weighed in at 14 pounds! Mr. Bumble is now at Tropiquaria Animal Park in Watchet, England and is on a weight-loss regimen. Park owner Chris Noisier told the BBC: “We’re now working on dieting him down to what he should be and clearly bacon butties are not a normal part of a skunk’s diet in the wild. “We’re putting him on the vegetarian option at the moment. It’s very much like a human weight watching issue. “He is getting to meet lots of new people so there’s lots going on in his life and I suspect it’s making up for the lack of his old favourite food.” Link -via Buzzfeed

Rube Goldberg Breakfast Machine Posted: 30 Sep 2009 11:00 AM PDT Photo: Design Boom The Breakfast Machine is an art installation by Yuri Suzuki and Masa Kimura that makes a full breakfast for users through an elaborate series of Rube Goldberg-like devices. Pictured above is the section that prepares orange juice from scratch. It was featured at the Dutch Design Double design fair in Amsterdam. Video (in Dutch) at the link. Link via GearFuse | Yuri Suzuki’s Website

Art of Photography Show Posted: 30 Sep 2009 10:23 AM PDT “Parting Seas” by Adam Lau If you’re going to be in the San Diego area between now and November 1st, be sure to stop by the Lyceum Theater Gallery and see the winners of this year’s global contest.  From My Modern Met’s Alice: The competition was judged by Charlotte Cotton, the Curator and Head of the Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Now in its fifth year, Ms. Cotton narrowed down the exhibition to 111 stunning images from over 16,000 photographs she received (from 57 countries). Link to site with slideshow.  Credits of slideshow See also 10 Stunning Photos From The Art Of Photography Show on MyModernMet

Neverland Rides Find New Life Posted: 30 Sep 2009 09:33 AM PDT When you pay a visit to your county or state fair, or when a carnival comes to town, you may get a chance to ride on one of Michael Jackson's amusement park rides. The rides were sold to amusement companies around the country and have been refurbished and put back into use. “It was a blast!” said Benny Vasquez, a Visalia, Calif., welder who was regaining his bearings after a dizzying turn on the Spider, an arachnid-shaped contraption with blazing green bulbs lining its black legs. “It’s exciting for people to be able to sit on something that he owned.” Over the years, Jackson acquired about 18 rides for his 2,600-acre ranch in Santa Barbara County. Some gradually were swapped out for newer models and hit the carnival circuit without fanfare. But most stayed in place even after Jackson, acquitted on child molestation charges in 2005, left Neverland for good. Several big amusement companies purchased what remained in 2008, repainting and sprucing up rides run down by weather and lack of use. Link -via Fark (image credit: Tomas Ovalle/LA Times)

The Anatomy of Japanese Monsters Posted: 30 Sep 2009 09:30 AM PDT See inside Godzilla, Gamera, and a couple of other movie monsters in poster form. If I could only read Japanese to find out where their weak spots are, then I, too, could save the world! Link -via Digg Upodate: These are from the book An Anatomical Guide to Monsters by Shoji Otomo with illustrations by Shogo Endo, from 1967. More information can be found at Pink Tentacle, including partial translations. -Thanks, algomeysa!

Ultraman Monsters on Transformer Boxes Posted: 30 Sep 2009 07:49 AM PDT Creative electric transformer boxes like this one – decorated with Ultraman [Wikipedia] monster silhouette paintings – can now be seen on the streets of Sukagawa City in Japan. Link

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