Neatorama

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• Burdened Office Workers
• New Eye Implant Restores Partial Sight to the Blind
• Bear Climbs Tree Stand
• The Cheapest Taxi Rates in the World
• Comic Book Artist Proposes with Online Comic
• If Kratos from God of War Made a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
• Banksy Painting Costume
• Dating Website for the "Aesthetically Challenged" Celebrates Its First Engagement
• The Greasiest Sandwich in the World
• The Beatles Wanted to Produce a Lord of the Rings Movie
• Scientists Make Progress Towards Invisibility
• BitLit: Win Free Autographed Copies of Overwinter
• The Thinker Coffee Mug
• There Will Be Blood as 8-Bit Video Game
• World's Smallest Corkscrew is a Keychain
• DIY Tron's Quorra Costume
• Turntable Clock
• GPS Ski Goggles
• LifeCycle Tower: A 30-story Wooden Building
• The Unsolved Ciphers of the Zodiac Killer
• What Is It? Game 154
• Birds of a Feather

Burdened Office Workers Posted: 05 Nov 2010 05:00 AM PDT This Friday's Museum of Possibilities addresses the many kinds of burdens felt by office workers, and offers to "solve" or ameliorate some of them. Though office workers have more freedom to move about in their cubicles than, say, debeaked and declawed chickens can move inside their tiny coops, they do experience a variety of underlying stresses. For one, they are required to appear artificially perky and cheerful on the job, which author Barbara Ehrenreich says wastes energy that could be devoted to actual work – see Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, and Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America. Further, they need to keep up with the latest information, work late hours, take work home, and at the same time learn how to keep fit, look presentable and multitask. A good multitasker might be on the phone while answering email and doing "research" online, which might include checking out interesting facts on Neatorama. All in all, there is more to being an office worker than just showing up for work. While today's workers do not always need to carry a heavy briefcase to accomplish work at home – a USB stick loaded with PowerPoint files fits easily in the suit jacket pocket – there is nonetheless the need to continue to worry about the job as well as to work after hours or at home. I believe that the available types of office apparel fail to take into account real needs! I have come to the aid of workers of the office world with suits and dresses, jackets and hats designed especially for office professionals! Visit Steven M. Johnson at his website.

New Eye Implant Restores Partial Sight to the Blind Posted: 04 Nov 2010 07:29 PM PDT Researchers led by Eberhart Zrenner of the University of Tuebingen, Germany, have developed an eye implant that is able to restore partial sight to people suffering from a form of blindness called retinitis pigmentosa: One subject, 46-year-old Mikka Terho from Finland, was able to read large letters and a clock face, and differentiate between shades of gray a few days after the implant and his eyes eventually became adjusted to the light. The chip, operated by a battery-powered cable implanted behind the ear, converts light into electrical impulses that act on the optic nerve. The device did not work on the other eight volunteers because it was implanted less deeply in the eye, according to the paper. Link via io9 | Image: Zrenner, et al.

Bear Climbs Tree Stand Posted: 04 Nov 2010 07:18 PM PDT (Video Link) This video, allegedly taken last September near Newfolden, Minnesota, shows a hunter in a tree stand. A black bear wanders by and decides to climb up the ladder of the stand to where the hunter sits. via reddit Previously: Bow Hunters Wed in Tree Stand, Clad in Camo

The Cheapest Taxi Rates in the World Posted: 04 Nov 2010 06:59 PM PDT The blog The Price of Travel assessed the average rate for a 3-kilometer taxi ride in one hundred cities. The editors observed that, with some exceptions, taxis were almost the same level of automotive quality worldwide. Higher-quality cars did not necessarily correlate with higher rates. These were the ten cheapest rates: $0.90 – $1.58 Delhi, India $0.97 – $1.28 Mumbai, India $1.04 – $1.73 Cairo, Egypt $1.14 – $1.71 La Paz, Bolivia $1.17 – $1.87 Manila, Philippines $1.22 – $2.03 Mexico City, Mexico $1.23 – $2.94 Panama City, Panama $1.23 – $1.68 Kuta, Bali, Indonesia $1.24 – $1.86 Fez, Morocco $1.29 – $1.94 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Link via Marginal Revolution Photo of taxi in Mumbai by Flickr user Jody McIntyre used under Creative Commons license

Comic Book Artist Proposes with Online Comic Posted: 04 Nov 2010 06:43 PM PDT Comic book artist Leigh Gallagher posted a sweet multi-panel comic about his relationship with his girlfriend, Niki. At the end, he proposed marriage to her. Proposal and Niki’s Answer via Geekosystem

If Kratos from God of War Made a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Posted: 04 Nov 2010 06:35 PM PDT (Video Link) YouTube user kittenbinbitten created a video illustrating what it would look like if Kratos from the video game series God of War decided to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Watch it until the end for the punchline. via Nerd Bastards Previously: If God of War Was a Wes Anderson Movie

Banksy Painting Costume Posted: 04 Nov 2010 06:25 PM PDT That’s not a painting by British street painter Banksy. It’s a costume designed and worn by George Schnakenberg to look like Banksy’s “Love Is in the Air” stencil. Schnakenberg painted his clothing and bundle of flowers to create the necessary impression when properly posed. At the link, you can view several process photos showing how he did it. Link via Make

Dating Website for the "Aesthetically Challenged" Celebrates Its First Engagement Posted: 04 Nov 2010 06:17 PM PDT The Ugly Bug Ball is a dating website marketed to people with, uh, unique aesthetic qualities. It’s now celebrating its first marital engagement: Mr Clifford, 36, a carpet fitter who has a ”face that makes children cry”, said: ”I’ve been a joke to women for years because of the way I look. ”I always thought that I was too ugly to meet Mrs Right but my life changed when I met Janine. ”She’s beautiful and I love her in every possible way. I still can’t believe this is happening.”[...] Miss Walker, a shop assistant who lives with her parents, agreed. ”The rest, as they say, is history,” she said. “I appreciate that Tom isn’t Brad Pitt, but then I’m no Angelina Jolie either. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to me Tom’s the perfect, handsome prince.” She added: “I’m just so pleased to have been able to meet him, and I’m head-over-heels in love.” Link via Geekologie | Official Website | Photo: SWNS

The Greasiest Sandwich in the World Posted: 04 Nov 2010 06:07 PM PDT (Video Link) Epic Meal Time created the Angry French Canadian. It’s a sandwich consisting of bacon, hotdogs, poutine, and eggs, drenched in maple syrup and resting on a baguette. via Geektoplasm

The Beatles Wanted to Produce a Lord of the Rings Movie Posted: 04 Nov 2010 05:56 PM PDT Peter Jackson has revealed that The Beatles approached J.R.R. Tolkien forty years ago with a request to produce a movie version of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien turned them down: [...]John Lennon wanted to play the role of the avaricious creature Gollum and Paul McCartney was to play Frodo Baggins in a proposed ’60s Beatles movie version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy that never reached fruition. In fact, says Jackson, it was the author himself who nixed the plan. “It was something John was driving and J.R.R. Tolkien still had the film rights at that stage, but he didn’t like the idea of the Beatles doing it. So he killed it,” Jackson told the newspaper. George Harrison would have played the role that eventually went to Sir Ian McKellen, that of the wise wizard Gandalf, and Ringo Starr would have been Frodo’s devoted sidekick, Sam. Link via blastr | Photo: Movie Chop Shop

Scientists Make Progress Towards Invisibility Posted: 04 Nov 2010 05:29 PM PDT British researchers have made progress toward developing materials that are able to bend light around them and render them less visible: Metamaterials work by interrupting and channelling the flow of light at a fundamental level; in a sense they can be seen as bouncing light waves around in a prescribed fashion to achieve a particular result.[...] Ortwin Hess, a physicist who recently took up the Leverhulme Chair in Metamaterials at Imperial College London, called the work “a huge step forward in very many ways”. “It clearly isn’t an invisibility cloak yet – but it’s the right step toward that,” he told BBC News. Link via Wired | Image: Warner Bros.

BitLit: Win Free Autographed Copies of Overwinter Posted: 04 Nov 2010 04:00 PM PDT If you haven’t been following our fiction blog, Bit Lit, it’s high time you started. Tonight we’ll be giving away 5 autographed copies of David Wellington’s new novel, Overwinter. But you gotta read to enter. Okay! Here’s how to win. Send an e-mail to david ‘at’ neatorama.com telling me what’s your favorite part of Frostbite so far! If I like your answer, you win a copy of the sequel: Overwinter (autographed by the author!)

The Thinker Coffee Mug Posted: 04 Nov 2010 02:06 PM PDT The Thinker Coffee Mug – $10.95 If you’re anything like me and need a cup of coffee to clear your thoughts in the morning, then this is the mug for you: The Thinker Coffee Mug from the NeatoShop has a thermochromic ink that makes the figure’s worrisome thoughts disappear, to be replaced by the soothing thought of coffee. Ah, caffeine: is there anything it can’t do? Link | More fun and unusual coffee mugs

There Will Be Blood as 8-Bit Video Game Posted: 04 Nov 2010 02:05 PM PDT What could be better than watching and re-watching Daniel Day Lewis’ mustache-fest-of-a-movie There Will Be Blood? Why, playing it in this re-imagined 8-bit game. Here’s a clever fan-made clip by Tomfoolery Pictures about what it would be like to play Super There Will Be Blood on the SNES: Link

World's Smallest Corkscrew is a Keychain Posted: 04 Nov 2010 02:03 PM PDT There are a lot of bottle opener/keychain combo for beer lovers, but what if your beverage of choice is wine? And not the "in-the-box" kind? Fret not! Here comes the world’s smallest corkscrew that just so happens to double as a keychain as well: This ingenious keyring-friendly gizmo comprises a 4mm stainless steel bar that passes through the centre of a full size corkscrew helix. When your cork needs popping simply slide out the bar, thread it through the top of the screw section and you’re good to go. Link

DIY Tron's Quorra Costume Posted: 04 Nov 2010 02:02 PM PDT Syuzi Pakhchyan designed what could be one of the coolest Halloween costumes ever: Quorra from the upcoming TRON movie. And all she needed was some faux leather and electroluminescent tape strips: Link | more at Syuzi’s blog Fashioning Tech Previously on Neatorama: 10 Neat Facts About Tron

Turntable Clock Posted: 04 Nov 2010 02:01 PM PDT Not since Flava Flav wore his infamous clock necklace has time keeping and music meshed so perfectly! Here’s the turntable clock, made from a recycled Garrard turntable by Etsy seller pixelthis. It’s sold out, but don’t let that stop you from admiring the cleverness. Link

GPS Ski Goggles Posted: 04 Nov 2010 08:21 AM PDT They won’t teach you how to ski, but these GPS ski goggles will do just about anything else! Measure your speed, direction, latitude and longitude, altitude, number of runs, current temperature, and distance. The data is displayed on a 2″ LCD screen inside the goggles. And -dare we say it- if you are injured or lost, you’ll know exactly where to tell rescuers to find you. Link

LifeCycle Tower: A 30-story Wooden Building Posted: 04 Nov 2010 07:59 AM PDT The current tallest wooden building in the world is nine stories. The planned LifeCycle Tower will be 30 stories tall! The totally green project in Dornbirn, Austria is a project of the CREE (Creative Renewable Energy and Efficiency) Group. Materials used to build the structure would include reinforced concrete (for the foundation), composite slab (wood/concrete), and timber wood.  The floor will be made of a hybrid glulam (glued-laminated) beams and reinforced concrete.  The building would include photovoltaic panels on the outer facade to generate electricity along with a “green wall” (aka “vertical garden”).  The building will further protect the environment and public health through use of local resources, reduced routes of transport, use of sustainable materials, and significantly improved CO2 balance.  Highly pre-fabricated construction will further reduce air pollution as well as construction site waste.  In accordance with Passivhaus standards, construction of the LifeCylce Tower will reduce carbon emissions by 90% when compared to conventional construction. The LifeCycle Tower will have plenty of other environment features, which you can read about at InventorSpot. Link

The Unsolved Ciphers of the Zodiac Killer Posted: 04 Nov 2010 07:38 AM PDT The Zodiac Killer claimed to have murdered 37 people. The killings, which paralyzed Californians with fear for years, began in 1968, and soon after mysterious letters were sent to news outlets, many featuring cryptograms. From this point on, the killer started communicating via letters and greetings cards. Each of these messages was concluded with the crossed-circle design pictured above. Later it became known as the Zodiac signature. These letters as well as some coded messages were sent by the killer to different, well-known newspapers, including the San Francisco Examiner and the Vallejo Times Herald. Many of these notes still haven’t been decoded, and the murders have yet to be solved. See the coded messages at Environmental Graffiti. Link

What Is It? Game 154 Posted: 04 Nov 2010 07:05 AM PDT W00t! It’s time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog. Can you guess what this …thing is used for? Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Post no URLs or weblinks, doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will win T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don’t include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts? For more clues, check out the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!

Birds of a Feather Posted: 04 Nov 2010 07:00 AM PDT GETTING GOOSED The events of January 15, 2009, gave new meaning to the fear of flying. At 3:27PM, a flock of Canada geese struck an outbound plane leaving LaGuardia, blowing out both engines and sending the aircraft plummeting to the ground. The incident made a hero of Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who safely piloted the plane into the Hudson River, but it also made Canada geese out to be small, feathered suicide bombers. The truth is, Canada geese populations in the United States have skyrocketed since 1960. Today, America is home to more than 4 million of the birds. Why the sudden spike in numbers? The geese thrive on trash. Landfills and estuaries provide them with so much food they can live in one place year-round, instead of migrating. And because there’s lot of garbage surrounding New York’s airports, many geese call the Big Apple home. During the past two years, there have been more than 200 instances of Canada geese flocks colliding with airplanes that were landing or taking off near JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark. Following the “Miracle on the Hudson”, state and federal authorities have worked to deter the birds from nearby flight paths. They even enlisted the help of wildlife biologists, who’ve tried all sorts of tricks. They’ve cut the grass near the runways to undesirable lengths and played goose distress calls over the airport loudspeakers. More aggressively, they’ve trapped geese by the hundreds and euthanized them. So far, the geese have not counterattacked. Not yet. (Image credit: Flickr user Alanna@VanIsle) MIKE THE HEADLESS CHICKEN When a Colorado farmer named Lloyd Olsen botched the decapitation of his rooster in 1945, he didn’t realize he’d given birth to a legend. For the next 18 months, Mike the Headless Chicken ran around with his head cut off. Operating with only one ear and most of his brain stem, Mike made the best of the situation. Before long, he was earning his owner thousands of dollars a month touring as a sideshow. The rooster’s only real handicap was that he didn’t have a mouth, so he had to be fed through an eyedropper directly into his neck. Sadly, while being fed one night, Mike choked to death. His legacy lives on, however. In his hometown of Fruita, Colorado, “Mike’s Festival” is held every third weekend in May. Events in his honor include the “Run Like a Chicken with Your Head Cut Off” 5K and a “Pin the Head on the Chicken” contest. (Image Source: Mike the Headless Chicken) DUCK, DUCK, SHUTTLECOCK In 2006, professional badminton players noticed something strange. Their shuttlecocks, which routinely whiz around the courts at speeds of 150 mph, weren’t moving so fast. The phenomenon was especially strange because the process of making a shuttlecock is highly controlled. Each feather in a premium shuttlecock is hand-selected from the left wing of a goose, and each goose can supply only two quality feathers, at most! So what caused the change? The avian flu. When geese began transmitting the disease, Chinese manufacturers switched to using duck feathers. Luckily, our fine feathered friends have been on the mend, returning smiles to the faces of badminton players everywhere. __________________________ The above article by David Goldenberg is reprinted with permission from the Scatterbrained section of the November-December 2010 issue of mental_floss magazine. Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!

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