Neatorama

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• What the World Needs Now
• The Entire Alice and Wonderland Story in One Tattoo
• Undercover Orchestra Plays Ravel's Bolero
• The Almighty Dollar: Distribution of Income by Religion
• Symphony of Science V: "The Poetry of Reality"
• Labrador Retriever Awarded Britain's Highest Military Honor
• Charlie Bit My Finger - Again!
• Reknit: Turn Old Sweaters Into New Things You Can Wear
• Technology That Allows You to Clean Your Fridge Even Less Often!
• Tiger Woods PETA Billboard Ad
• My Solar System
• Convict Digs Out of Prison With a Spoon
• BoingBoing Rolls Out Feature Story Page
• The Indians of Russia
• Efficacy of "Facilitated Communication" Not Confirmed
• Weather-Changing Dresses
• Kim Burke's Food Miniatures
• Is This "The Greatest Moment in Women's Sport" ?
• What Is It? Game 129

What the World Needs Now Posted: 25 Feb 2010 08:56 PM PST (YouTube link) This catchy song was born at TEDActive 2010, where attendees were invited to contribute their ides on what the world needs. The entire production was put together in just four days. Jill Sobule, John Doe, Sara Watkins, Stuart Johnson, Don Was, Dave Way, Krish Sharma and the amazing team on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus came together to create write, perform and produce an original song, on-site during the conference. Aaron Koblin served as director and the TEDActive community transformed their ideas into impressive illustrations, with a little help from artist Jansen Yee. Link -via The World’s Fair

The Entire Alice and Wonderland Story in One Tattoo Posted: 25 Feb 2010 07:40 PM PST Tattoo artist Holly Azzara created this enormous back and arm tattoo that depicts the entire Alice in Wonderland story — well, the Disney version, anyway. Additional pictures at the link. Link via Digg | Artist’s Website

Undercover Orchestra Plays Ravel's Bolero Posted: 25 Feb 2010 05:36 PM PST Anton Hecht (previously on Neatorama) sent us a new video of a performance piece where musicians tired of Muzak got together at a neighborhood shopping center to perform Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, much to the delight of shoppers. Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

The Almighty Dollar: Distribution of Income by Religion Posted: 25 Feb 2010 03:36 PM PST Infographic: GOOD Magazine and Column Five Does believing in God help make you wealthy? If so, can a particular religion make you wealthier than others? GOOD Magazine in collaboration with Column Five takes a look at America’s wealthiest religions: It’s no secret that the distribution of wealth is inequitable in the United States across racial, regional, and socio-economic groups. But there is a distinct variance among and within America’s faiths as well. This transparency takes a look at the income levels of America’s major religious groups, as compared to the average U.S. income distribution. Apparently, it’s good to be Hindu (43% earning more than $100,000) and Jewish (46%). Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by jadalan.

Symphony of Science V: "The Poetry of Reality" Posted: 25 Feb 2010 02:54 PM PST (YouTube Link) We’ve previously featured the first video in John Boswell’s Symphony of Science autotuned music project. This video, the fifth and latest in the series, features Michael Shermer, Jacob Bronowski, Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Richard Dawkins, Jill Tarter, Lawrence Krauss, Richard Feynman, Brian Greene, Stephen Hawking, Carolyn Porco, and PZ Meyers. via Geekologie | Official Website

Labrador Retriever Awarded Britain's Highest Military Honor Posted: 25 Feb 2010 12:28 PM PST Treo, a nine-year old Black Labrador Retriever who served in the British Army, was awarded the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. He’s repeatedly saved the lives of his comrades in Afghanistan: Now he is being rewarded with the Dickin Medal – the animal equivalent of a Victoria Cross – the highest accolade for a military animal.[...] Treo is the 63rd animal to receive the Dickin Medal – introduced in 1943 to honor the work of animals in war – and the 27th dog to receive the honor. Since its introduction it has also been presented to 32 World War II messenger pigeons, three horses and one cat. That one cat was Able Seacat Simon of the Royal Navy. Link via The Corner | Photo: AP

Charlie Bit My Finger - Again! Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:30 AM PST Back in 2007, Howard Davies-Carr uploaded a video clip featuring his two British sons Harry (then 3 years old) and Charlie (then 1 year old) to YouTube so their godfather who was living overseas could watch. Little did he know then that the 55 seconds long clip would become an Internet phenomenon (yes, covered previously here). Fast forward to 2010, the clip has passed 160,000,000 views (yes, that’s no mistake: 160 million!). If you haven’t seen the famous "Charlie Bit Me" clip, here it is. If you’ve seen it before, rediscover how funny it is. Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] | Howard’s blog about Harry and Charlie

Reknit: Turn Old Sweaters Into New Things You Can Wear Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:28 AM PST If you can’t fit into that old sweater grandma gave you ages ago, don’t throw it away! For $30, computer programmer-by-day and fashion-maven-by-night Gayane Avanian, and her son Haik Avanian, will take your old sweaters and reknit them into scarves, gloves, and hats. Link to Reknit website | NPR’s All Things Considered story

Technology That Allows You to Clean Your Fridge Even Less Often! Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:27 AM PST Hate cleaning the refrigerator? You’re not alone – most Americans clean their fridges only once or twice a year. Instead of changing our habits, appliance makers are coming up with new technology that keeps fridges cleaner longer … so we can clean ‘em once every two years! Go USA! Now, appliance makers like Whirlpool, Viking Range Corp. and Sub-Zero Inc. are tackling the messy fridge problem with a host of new features including souped-up shelves, bacteria-killing devices and better lighting. General Electric Co., for example, says it is rolling out new refrigerators in May with 10 lighting sources inside instead of its usual three—so food that might be forgotten in a corner and spoil will be easier to spot. The new GE models sell for $1,599 or $1,799 for stainless steel. Manufacturers aiming to create a cleaner, tidier fridge are likely facing an uphill battle: Currently, most Americans don’t clean their fridges until something triggers them to act, such as a spill or a pungent odor. They also don’t devote much effort to the task, even when they come home with bags of new groceries. In Whirlpool’s 2005 refrigerator habits survey of 2,571 consumers, 33% said they don’t spend any time cleaning the refrigerator before grocery shopping. In order to make room for items just purchased, 27% reported shoving everything in and not worrying about organization. Link

Tiger Woods PETA Billboard Ad Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:25 AM PST Good news: Tiger Woods return to advertising. Bad news: Involuntarily and for PETA. Moments after his sex scandal was revealed, companies pulled their Tiger Woods ads and the golfer went from ubiquitous to pretty much invisible. Is Tiger’s days as product endorsement champ over? Not to PETA! The animal-rights group came up with the "cheeky spay-and-neuter" billboard above (without the golfer’s approval) that will surely bring a resurgence to all those bad Tiger Woods jokes: It will be a challenge to find an advertiser to put up the sign, acknowledged Virginia Fort, a campaigner with PETA who is working on the project. "It’s a fun, tongue-in-cheek approach. We hope these billboard companies will understand," Fort said. She said the billboard isn’t meant to offend the golfer, his family or fans, but to prevent millions of cats and dogs from being euthanized at shelters each year. [...] "We’re sure Tiger will appreciate our attempt — from a story that’s distracted the world and followed Tiger — to turn it into something positive for little tigers," she said. Link

My Solar System Posted: 25 Feb 2010 11:06 AM PST This application will give you a lesson in how difficult it is to control the universe. Select how many planets you want and adjust their orbits and other parameters. Then set it in motion and watch your planets crash into each other or fly off into deep space. At least that’s what happened to mine! With some practice, you might get a real system going. Link -via J-Walk Blog

Convict Digs Out of Prison With a Spoon Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:55 AM PST An unnamed 35-year-old female inmate broke out of a prison in Breda, the Netherlands. She was housed on prison grounds in a special building for inmates preparing for release. To escape, she dug a tunnel with a spoon! The woman’s tunnel began in a cellar under the building’s kitchen, with its entrance concealed by a removable hatch. According to Dutch public broadcaster NOS, the police are assuming that the fugitive had at least one accomplice, who is believed to have loosened paving stones that were part of a sidewalk next to the detention center, allowing the prisoner to emerge from her tunnel. The woman had only 22 months left on her murder sentence. She is still at large. Link -via Arbroath (image credit: Flickr user Jeremy Brooks)

BoingBoing Rolls Out Feature Story Page Posted: 25 Feb 2010 09:02 AM PST Our pals over at boingboing have just unveiled their latest masterboing: a full-page feature page. Kicking off the feature is our friend Maggie Koerth-Baker with an amazing post on NASA’s Cassini space probe. In 1997, we aimed a rocket towards Saturn and sent a 13-foot-wide satellite off on a mission to explore the strange worlds in our own (relative) backyard. This month, NASA announced plans to extend the Cassini space probe’s Saturn sojourn until 2017—nine years longer than its original end date of 2008. Why, exactly, does Cassini need those extra years? Most people probably know the mission best for the spectacular space photography it’s produced. But NASA is hoping to get more than just a gallery of beautiful images out of extending the orbiter’s lifespan. Armed with an array of 12 instruments—more than twice the number of science tools included on normal missions—Cassini is sort of a Swiss Army Knife in the sky. As its mission continues, it will gather data that could help us pinpoint life-sustaining planets, or power our own with clean energy… Read the full story and then drop Maggie a comment telling her what you think of the new full-page layout!

The Indians of Russia Posted: 25 Feb 2010 08:22 AM PST The term “Indian” for native North Americans is of course wildly inappropriate, based on a 500-year-old error in geography, but the term is now thoroughly embedded in language and literature. Americans tend to have a provincial viewpoint that “Indians” are limited to the United States, or even to the American West. Those with a broader perspective extend the appelation to native Canadians, Mesoamericans, and South Americans. Now consider Russia, the ancestral home of the peoples who in prehistoric time migrated to the New World.  The picture above comes from a photoset depicting the Itelmen inhabiting the Kamchatka peninsula in northeast Russia.  Since the eighteenth century there has been extensive intermarriage with Cossacks, so that the term Kamchadal is now used for the resultant mixed population, but some ethnic Itelmen are making a valiant effort to preserve their culture and language. Like Native Americans, the aboriginal Itelmen thrived on the immense salmon runs of the North Pacific; their dwellings and religious beliefs also have strong parallels with those of Native Americans.  It’s not clear whether the dress and adornments exhibited in the photoessay reflect a parallel cultural evolution, or whether the modern Itelmen have back-adapted the trappings of their more well-known North American counterparts. Link to English Russia photoessay.  More info here and here.

Efficacy of "Facilitated Communication" Not Confirmed Posted: 25 Feb 2010 07:41 AM PST Several months ago major news sites reported that a Belgian man, paralyzed for 23 years and supposedly in a vegetative state, was interacting with caregivers through the use of “facilitated communication.”  James Randi and other skeptics raised questions about the validity of the technique. Faculty from the Department of Neurology at Liege University Hospital are now reporting that subsequent controlled studies have failed to confirm the initial findings. Dr Steven Laureys, one of the doctors treating him, acknowledged that his patient could not make himself understood after all. Facilitated communication, the technique said to have made Houben’s apparent contact with the outside world possible, did not work, Laureys declared.  “We did not have all the facts before,” he said. “To me, it’s enough to say that this method doesn’t work.” In the recent studies a facilitator, who helped the patient type answers on a computer screen, was not present when the test objects and words were presented to Mr. Houben. Links at NPR and The Guardian. Previously on Neatorama: Is This Man Fully Alert and Communicating – or Not? (with video of facilitated communication).  Photo credit AFP/Getty Images.

Weather-Changing Dresses Posted: 25 Feb 2010 07:35 AM PST Artist Valerie Lamontagne made dresses that respond to weather data transmitted wirelessly to them. The dresses respond by variously illuminating or vibrating: the project is titled 'peau d'ane' after a fairy tale by charles perrault detailing three dresses made from the sky, moonbeams and sunlight. while each of these things is immaterial, lamontagne found ways to materialize them in her dresses. temperature, UV, solar radiation, wind speed & velocity, humidity and rain fall data is collected and sent to the dresses wirelessly, where micro-controllers relay info to internal circuitry. the sun dress has 128 LEDs which can light up depending on sun data, while the moon dress has 14 colour-modulating flowers to represent each phase of the moon cycle and the sky dress is imbued with 14 vibrating air pockets. Link via DVICE | Artist’s Website

Kim Burke's Food Miniatures Posted: 25 Feb 2010 07:24 AM PST Artist Kim Burke makes tiny food miniatures from polymer clay: From a very young age, I’ve been enthralled by miniatures and was delighted at how wonderfully addicting it is to make them. It’s truly remarkable when the delectable textures of food can be reflected on such a tiny scale. I strive to make each miniature of the highest quality possible with the most realistic details. My inspiration largely comes from scouring cook books and local pastry shops for ideas. Desserts and gourmet food are my favorite to create but I’m open to any challenge to take on! Link via The Presurfer | Flickr | Etsy | deviantART

Is This "The Greatest Moment in Women's Sport" ? Posted: 25 Feb 2010 07:17 AM PST Kelly Kulick is a 33-year-old professional bowler who won the Professional Bowler’s Association Women’s World Championship.  A new PBA rule allowed her to qualify for the men’s tournaments.  She entered arguably the most prestigious event – the Tournament of Champions – and beat 62 of the best male bowlers, defeating the world’s #1 ranked bowler in the final match 265-195. When Billy Jean King beat a mediocre Bobby Riggs, the world press covered the event.  Auto racing’s Danica Patrick and golf’s Michelle Wie are household names.  In a column at ESPN The Magazine, sportswriter Rick Reilly asks why Kelly Kulick’s accomplishment is not receiving more publicity. Link.  Photo: Mark Peterson for ESPN Magazine.

What Is It? Game 129 Posted: 25 Feb 2010 05:41 AM PST This week’s collaboration with the What is it? Blog brings us this sinister looking contraption. Can you guess what it is for? First correct guess and the funniest but incorrect guess will win Neatorama T-shirt of their choice. Place your guesses in the comment section – one guess per comment, please – though you can enter as many as you’d like. Please write your T-shirt selection along with your guess (visit the Neatorama Shop to see what you’d like, mmkay?) You have until the answer is revealed at the What is it? Blog. Post no URL or weblinks – doing so will forfeit your entry. For more clues, check out the What is it? Blog. Good luck!

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