Neatorama

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• Periodic Table Cupcakes
• Pop Culture Wedding Invitation
• Cereal Selection Flow Chart
• The Dark Web: 500x Larger Than The World Wide Web
• Disorders That Make Us Stronger
• Short, Sweet, and Adorable
• Elk Accused of Murder
• Top 10 Beautiful Snow Animals
• Emirates Airline Airbus A380
• Lazarus Gitu
• Peace in the News
• Exploding Whale Reporter Looks Back
• World's Strongest Beer is 32% Alcohol
• Star Wars Facebook Updates
• ScratchBot Uses Whiskers To Maneuver in the Dark

Periodic Table Cupcakes Posted: 28 Nov 2009 08:14 PM PST This periodic table of cupcakes is for a chemistry nerd’s birthday party. Each cake is labeled with an element and color-coded by its state of matter. I hear hydrogen and helium are very light and fluffy. Looks like someone already ate ununseptium. Link -via reddit

Pop Culture Wedding Invitation Posted: 28 Nov 2009 02:40 PM PST Image: Maureen Alarid Maureen Alarid of Off Beat Bride created this invitation for her wedding, featuring Admiral Ackbar’s prudent advice about marriage. Alarid writes: The wording [on the back] is my favorite part. It reads: ‘[We] request the honor of your presence as two geeks save the princess, resist the dark side and pledge their lives (extra, or otherwise) to each other.’ And we snuck a Hyrulian crest in there too! Link via Geekologie

Cereal Selection Flow Chart Posted: 28 Nov 2009 01:53 PM PST The food blog Eating the Road presents this handy flow chart that you can use whilst shopping for cereal. Which cereal should you buy? The chart allows you to factor in issues such as current state of intoxication, nationality, ChurckNorrishood, and cultural pretentiousness. Larger image at the link. Link via Radley Balko

The Dark Web: 500x Larger Than The World Wide Web Posted: 28 Nov 2009 11:20 AM PST The World Wide Web is big. Really big. As of July of 2008, Google found 1 trillion (that’s 1,000,000,000,000) unique URLs on the web at once. The search engine has only indexed a fraction of those web pages (the last count I found was 25 billion in 2006). But that’s nothing compared to the "Deep Web" – a part of the Internet that is not easily accessible by search engines (for example, dynamically generated content that exists only momentarily). People have estimated that the Deep Web is several orders of magnitude larger than the "surface Web". There is, however, another part of the Deep Web that is more sinister: the dark side of the Internet used by criminals. Andy Beckett of The Guardian wrote: The modern internet is often thought of as a miracle of openness – its global reach, its outflanking of censors, its seemingly all-seeing search engines. "Many many users think that when they search on Google they’re getting all the web pages," says Anand Rajaraman, co-founder of Kosmix, one of a new generation of post-Google search engine companies. But Rajaraman knows different. "I think it’s a very small fraction of the deep web which search engines are bringing to the surface. I don’t know, to be honest, what fraction. No one has a really good estimate of how big the deep web is. Five hundred times as big as the surface web is the only estimate I know." "The darkweb"; "the deep web"; beneath "the surface web" – the metaphors alone make the internet feel suddenly more unfathomable and mysterious. Other terms circulate among those in the know: "darknet", "invisible web", "dark address space", "murky address space", "dirty address space". Not all these phrases mean the same thing. While a "darknet" is an online network such as Freenet that is concealed from non-users, with all the potential for transgressive behaviour that implies, much of "the deep web", spooky as it sounds, consists of unremarkable consumer and research data that is beyond the reach of search engines. "Dark address space" often refers to internet addresses that, for purely technical reasons, have simply stopped working. [...] Michael K Bergman, an American academic and entrepreneur, is one of the foremost authorities on this other internet. In the late 90s he undertook research to try to gauge its scale. "I remember saying to my staff, ‘It’s probably two or three times bigger than the regular web,"’ he remembers. "But the vastness of the deep web . . . completely took my breath away. We kept turning over rocks and discovering things." In 2001 he published a paper on the deep web that is still regularly cited today. "The deep web is currently 400 to 550 times larger than the commonly defined world wide web," he wrote. "The deep web is the fastest growing category of new information on the internet … The value of deep web content is immeasurable … internet searches are searching only 0.03% … of the [total web] pages available." Link

Disorders That Make Us Stronger Posted: 28 Nov 2009 10:14 AM PST Because you Neatorama readers are so smart, you might already know how sickle cell anemia makes someone resistant to malaria. This apparent evolutionary disadvantage has actually survived through the generations because it makes individuals more fit for survival in other ways. While sickle cell anemia is the best known of these evolutionary diseases, it is not the only one. Migraines, depression and bipolar disorder are all passed down genetically, and there's a good reason these traits that seem to be negative haven't been eradicated through the millenia. Migraines Migraines don't just cause majorly painful headaches, they also stimulate the nervous system, making people far more sensitive to light and sound. While this doesn't really help modern day migraine sufferers, it could help save someone's life in prehistoric times. Scientists speculate that migraines allowed prehistoric men and women to be one step ahead of their predators and their prey, making them more fit for survival. Source Image Via Migraine Chick [Flickr] Depression While between 30 to 50 percent of all people suffer from depression at some point, it doesn't seem the condition would offer any advantages. Surprisingly, depression actually helps people focus on their problems and then think more clearly about the possible solution to the issues that are bothering them. Studies show that people who are depressed tend to score better on complex problems in intelligence tests than those who are not. Side effects of depression, such as lack of sexual interest and lack of appetite, can even help prevent distractions from our problem solving abilities. Source Image Via Darkwood67 [Flickr] Bipolar Disorder Bipolar disorder works in a much different manner. When individuals inherit severe bipolar disorders, they can have a hard time concentrating, making sound decisions, feeling comfortable in social situations and organizing their time. But, when someone gets the right combination of the genes that cause bipolar disorder, they can see increased creativity, courage and productivity. Source Image Via Ventolinmono [Flickr]

Short, Sweet, and Adorable Posted: 28 Nov 2009 09:48 AM PST (YouTube link) Hey, it’s a holiday weekend, so take 17 seconds to enjoy playing with a baby kitten. -via Arbroath

Elk Accused of Murder Posted: 28 Nov 2009 09:43 AM PST An elk has been identified as the perpetrator of a murder in Sweden. In 2008 the body of a Swedish woman was found by a lake; she had been taking her dog for a walk, and failed to return.  Her husband was arrested and briefly held in custody. Now the case has been dropped after forensic analysis found elk hair and saliva on his wife’s clothes… The European elk, or moose, is usually considered to be shy and will normally run away from humans. But Swedish Radio International says the animals can become aggressive after eating fermented fallen apples in gardens. The relevance of the photo will be compehensible only to fans of Monty Python. BBC link.  Photo credit.

Top 10 Beautiful Snow Animals Posted: 28 Nov 2009 08:47 AM PST In this two-part post, see animals you may or may not be familiar with all dressed in their best Arctic white! Animals that live in the Arctic (either full time or seasonally) are adapted to extreme conditions. Many animals who overwinter in the Arctic (like the Arctic fox and the ermine) have a coat that thickens and changes color to white during the winter as camouflage in the snow Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by SnezanaP.

Emirates Airline Airbus A380 Posted: 28 Nov 2009 08:44 AM PST The Airbus A380 is the ultimate in airline luxury, and here are lots of photos to prove it! The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. The largest passenger airliner in the world, the A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse, France, and made its first commercial flight on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney with Singapore Airlines. The aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX during much of its development phase, but the nickname Superjumbo has since become associated with it. Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by rappin.

Lazarus Gitu Posted: 28 Nov 2009 08:27 AM PST (YouTube link) Kenyan contortionist Lazarus Gitu appears on a German television show. Gitu performs with Circus Mama Africa as The Snake Man. -via Bits and Pieces

Peace in the News Posted: 28 Nov 2009 08:24 AM PST Lorrie at Clueless in Carolina recently found a newspaper in her mother’s home announcing the news that World War II had ended. Besides news, it contained sponsored ads celebrating VJ Day. You could almost feel the joy and relief wafting off of the page. Holding the newspaper made me feel happy, as if the happiness of the people who printed, delivered and received the paper was somehow still preserved. Okay, I’m a weirdo! But I wish I could put it in your hands and see if you felt the same way. See scans of several ads and features from the Charlotte Observer, August 15th, 1945. Link

Exploding Whale Reporter Looks Back Posted: 28 Nov 2009 08:22 AM PST Oregon journalist Paul Linnman was 23 years old in 1970 when KATU in Portland flew him to Florence to cover the removal of a beached whale. Officials had decided to get rid of the carcass by blowing it up with dynamite. Almost 40 years later, Linnmann looks back at that fateful day. “We’re hearing this noise around us and we realize it is pieces of whale blubber hitting the ground around us (from) 1,000 yards away. A piece of blubber the size of a fingernail could kill you if it hit you in the right part of the head, so we ran away from the blast scene, down the dune and toward the parking lot. Then we heard a second explosion ahead of us, and we just kept going until we saw what it was: A car had been hit by this coffee-table-size piece of blubber and had its windows flattened all the way down to the seats.” The video taken that day is now the fifth most-viewed internet video of all time. Linnman said not a day goes by that someone doesn’t mention the story to him. Link -via Buzzfeed Previously at Neatorama: The Infamous Exploding Whale.

World's Strongest Beer is 32% Alcohol Posted: 28 Nov 2009 07:48 AM PST Scottish brewery BrewDog has released its newest beer, named Tactical Nuclear Penguin. At 32% alcohol content, it’s the world’s strongest beer: A warning on the label states: “This is an extremely strong beer; it should be enjoyed in small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance. In exactly the same manner that you would enjoy a fine whisky, a Frank Zappa album or a visit from a friendly yet anxious ghost.” However Jack Law, of Alcohol Focus Scotland, described it was a “cynical marketing ploy” and said: “We want to know why a brewer would produce a beer almost as strong as whisky.” The beer has been launched on the day alcohol was at the top of the political agenda with the unveiling of the Scottish government’s Alcohol Bill including proposals for minimum pricing on drink. Link via Geekologie | Image: BBC News

Star Wars Facebook Updates Posted: 28 Nov 2009 07:45 AM PST Yeah, but they’re teddy bears that eat people, so don’t feel too bad. Brian Murphy of CollegeHumor put together five Facebook update pages as though they had been written by Star Wars characters. Link via Hell in a Handbasket

ScratchBot Uses Whiskers To Maneuver in the Dark Posted: 28 Nov 2009 07:17 AM PST (YouTube Link) The Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of Bristol, UK has built a robot that senses obstacles not with cameras, but sensitive whiskers at the front end: Researchers at the University of Bristol in England hope to deploy the poodle-size 'bot in search-and-rescue missions where vision is impaired, like in mines or smoky rooms. Its 18 whiskers move back and forth five times per second. When a whisker bends, a sensor on its shaft signals software to orient the 'bot toward the object. Whiskers close to an object move less, while those farther away make wide, sweeping motions to establish the object's exact edges. Link | Bristol Robotics Laboratory

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