Neatorama

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• April in Paris?: A Striking Analysis
• Artist Alphabetizes Newspaper
• Scientists at Large Hadron Collider Create "Mini Big Bang"
• Rocketeer Yves Rossy Does Loops with His Jetpack
• Instead of Paying $60,000 for a Fancy Set of Speakers, Man Builds His Own
• Emergency Plane Landing on Street
• 150 Year Old Dolls May Have Been Drug Smugglers
• Middle School Football Team Scores Touchdown with Brilliant Play
• Narcissists Are Good for Business
• Indiana Jones Holy Grail Paperclip Holder
• Women Running from Houses
• Cat Plays with iPod
• Thanksgiving Turkey Cake
• Great Bars in Cambodia
• Campaign Signs May Become Collectors Items
• Man Beats Robber with Squash
• 20 Awful Firsts With Your New Baby
• Corvette Case Mod
• From Glove to Squirrel
• Kill Bill Cake
• The Abandoned Military Airbase at Johnston Atoll
• 13 Funny Baby Shirts
• Skulls in the Garden
• Give a Kid a Fish
• Camper Thief Suspect Spotted on Google Street View
• Name That Weird Invention!

April in Paris?: A Striking Analysis Posted: 09 Nov 2010 04:30 AM PST by a scientist who is a Paris native and who requests anonymity Seasoned visitors to the City of Light always factor in their travel plans the two most prevalent facts of life in France: vacations and strikes. Fortunately, school vacation periods are scheduled in advance with clockwork regularity. Strikes may be nearly as predictable. This preliminary study suggests a strong correlation between occurrences of the two. (Image credit: Flickr user Trey Ratcliff) The right to protest and demonstrate in France is a fundamental part of life, and not limited to the employed. In fact, foreign visitors in Paris in December 1997 might have witnessed a somewhat surreal event: hundreds of unemployed people on strike, demonstrating in the streets, demanding an end-of-the-year bonus. But if there is one thing the strikers will not sacrifice, it is their hard earned (and constitutional right to) vacations. Witness the school teachers who went on strike in May of 2003, suspended the strike at the end of June for their summer break, and came back at the beginning of the next school year, in September, to resume the strike. Indeed, major issues had remained unresolved. Needless to say, strikes are very unlikely in July and August (summer break), as at least three quarters of the workforce are away on vacation, and so is most of the government. At this time of the year, Paris is populated with tourists and the grumpy quarter of Parisians who got stuck at work while the others are chilling out on the Riviera or camping in Normandy. (This might be an explanation for the poor image of Parisians tourists tend to have, but that is a topic for another study). In September vacationers come back in town, broke, to find out that the cost of living (public transportations, food, gas, etc.) has gone up while they were gone. Vacationers have to go back to work, days are getting shorter and the weather is worsening. Expect strikes from mid-September to beginning of October. Not too late in October, though, because that would interfere with the first school break (All Saints break, from end of October to beginning of November). The next high occurrence period is mid-December, when the days are getting really short, the weather is downright miserable and people feel broke and start worrying about the holidays. Some privileged categories of indispensable workers regularly threaten to go on strike during the holidays, but generally the issues get resolved in time for everyone to enjoy the end-of-year festivities. In January and February, the outdoors activity on everybody's mind is winter sports. Two school vacations, the winter break (late February to mid-March), and the spring break (mid-April to early May), help Parisians survive until the return of warm weather. Everyone is relaxed from the last break, and the anticipation of the next. There is hardly any time left in between to get back to work, let alone sneak in a little strike or protest. (Image credit: Flickr user malias) May–June is quite a complex period, due to the number and distribution of holidays in May. May 1st is Labor Day and May 8th is the WWII armistice. In a good year both occur on Monday or Friday, providing two long weekends. On an excellent year, they occur on Tuesday or Thursday, and with the "ponts" ("free" non-working days granted to bridge one-day gaps between holidays and week-ends) that's two four-day weekends. Ascension Day comes 39 days after Easter, and that is a Thursday in May. In an excellent year, that Thursday does not coincide with the other holidays, and that's another light week (or very long weekend). In fact, in a really good year, an employee can get the whole month of May off by taking about 10 official vacation days. Of course, even in France, not everyone can do that at the same time, so about half the people are away, and the other half are stuck at work, a day or two per week, and not doing much anyways. When June comes, the weather becomes really pleasant, the Roland-Garros Tennis tournament (French Open, end of May to beginning of June) signals that the end of the school year is close, the summer vacations are around the corner and everybody is eager to get outdoors. After the end of the French Open, expect major protests with demonstrations en masse. This is the favorite time of the year for students to take to the streets (as end-of-the year exams approach). The strikes and demonstrations will most likely stop on time for Parisians to travel to their favorite summer spot come July. Note that on a bad year, the May holidays coincide with weekends. The French feel cheated: expect the pre-summer protests to start earlier (although demonstrations are unlikely during Roland-Garros). (Image credit: Flickr user Les Hutchins) So this is why April is clearly the best time to visit Paris: the weather might not be great yet, but the chance of major social disturbances is low, and the Parisians, either coming back from a vacation or about to go on a vacation, are likely in the best mood they'll be in all year. _____________________ This article is republished with permission from the May-June 2008 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift! Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

Artist Alphabetizes Newspaper Posted: 08 Nov 2010 07:00 PM PST Artist Kim Rugg specializes in re-arranging shapes and text on paper. We’ve previously posted about her discovery that Royal Mail stamp reading machines would take any shaped stamp, so as long as they had the correct colors. Rugg responded by making her own usable stamps. More recently, she rearranged the letters in the lines of text on the front page of a newspaper so that they were in alphabetical order. The linked video is an exploration of that project, as well as Rugg’s other experiments. Gallery Link and Video Link via Boing Boing | Photo: Mark Moore Gallery

Scientists at Large Hadron Collider Create "Mini Big Bang" Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:42 PM PST As a part of their ongoing efforts to destroy the universe, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva created a small version of the process that may have triggered the Big Bang. The experiment resulted in the highest temperature and densities ever created in a controlled setting. David Evans, one of the researchers, said: “We are thrilled with the achievement,” said Dr Evans. “This process took place in a safe, controlled environment, generating incredibly hot and dense sub-atomic fireballs with temperatures of over ten trillion degrees, a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun. “At these temperatures even protons and neutrons, which make up the nuclei of atoms, melt resulting in a hot dense soup of quarks and gluons known as a quark-gluon plasma.” Quarks and gluons are sub-atomic particles – some of the building blocks of matter. In the state known as quark-gluon plasma, they are freed of their attraction to one another. This plasma is believed to have existed just after the Big Bang. Link via Geekosystem | Photo: CERN

Rocketeer Yves Rossy Does Loops with His Jetpack Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:26 PM PST (Video Link) We’ve previously covered the increasingly daring stunts of jetpack pilot Yves Rossy. Last Friday, he performed loops in the air: The former fighter pilot and extreme sports enthusiast, 51, described himself as “very happy and satisfied” with the stunt and said he now hopes to fly his custom-made jet pack through the Grand Canyon. Rossy performed his aerial display at an altitude of 7,874ft (2,400m) after jumping from a replica of the Breitling Orbiter, the first hot air balloon to complete a continuous around-the-world flight. He said on his website: “The flight went well, despite a little problem when starting my engines. I was able to do my two loopings and I am very happy.” Link via Comics Alliance

Instead of Paying $60,000 for a Fancy Set of Speakers, Man Builds His Own Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:12 PM PST Home theater specialists Bowser & Wilkins makes a high-end model of speaker called the Nautilus. They’re pricey at about $60,000 for a set. Alfonso de Rojas wanted some, but didn’t have the money. So he spent 400 hours building a set on his own. The finished product, which you can view at the link, certainly looks like a Nautilus. Link via Technabob | Second photo: Kilpsch.com

Emergency Plane Landing on Street Posted: 08 Nov 2010 05:30 PM PST (Video Link) This video from 2009 shows an emergency landing of a single-engine plane on a street in Winter Haven, Florida. Kyle Davis, the pilot, and Joe Surowiec, his passenger, were recorded on camera during this frightening experience: The landing of the dual-seat SkyRanger airplane shortly after 10 a.m. was caught on video by Surowiec, a professional videographer, and was posted on YouTube.[...] Deputies were called to the scene, but there wasn’t much for them to do. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board cleared the incident, Wood said. Two cameras on the plane captured the drama. One focused on the cockpit, taping their conversation, and the other was facing the plane’s engine. Link via reddit

150 Year Old Dolls May Have Been Drug Smugglers Posted: 08 Nov 2010 03:30 PM PST Nina (above) and Lucy Ann live at the Museum of the Confederacy but recently made a trip to VCU Medical Center  where they were X-rayed to determine whether their craniums and upper bodies were spacious enough to carry quinine or morphine for wounded or malaria-stricken Confederate troops. The answer is yes. Next they will be tested for drug residue. The museum knows little about the dolls’ silent service to the Confederacy. One theory is that they were purchased in Europe, then shipped to a Southern port with the medicines stuffed in their heads to avoid detection by the North’s blockade of Southern ports. Link – Via Book Of Joe

Middle School Football Team Scores Touchdown with Brilliant Play Posted: 08 Nov 2010 01:38 PM PST (Video Link) It was simple and brilliant play by the football team of Driscoll Middle School from Corpus Christi, Texas. The quarterback took the ball and casually strolled forward, acting as though the play hadn’t started. But it had, and he passed the opposing team’s defensive line before they realized it. Link via Wired

Narcissists Are Good for Business Posted: 08 Nov 2010 11:45 AM PST Need to improve your team’s business pitch? The solution may surprise you: hire narcissists. Psychologists Jack Goncalo and Sharon Kim of Cornell University and Francis Flynn of Stanford University paired up 76 college students and asked one person to develop and pitch a concept for a movie to the other. The ideas were not stellar; one of the more creative, Goncalo says, involved a mafia family run by a young woman. But when pitched by the most narcissistic students (as evaluated by a 16-item questionnaire called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory), the ideas impressed the person evaluating the pitch roughly 50% more than did those from the least narcissistic pitchers. (The researchers judged the response to the ideas by how strongly the evaluator agreed with statements such as "it is unlikely that anyone has come up with a movie idea like this before.") But two independent raters were not so easily wowed. Having only seen the movie pitches in written form, they found the narcissists’ ideas to be about as creative as proposals from non-narcissists. The difference, the researchers say, was in the pitch itself: narcissists were more enthusiastic, witty, and charming—all traits, according to past research, that people associate with creativity. Link Turns out, there’s an optimal number of narcissists to add: two. It seems like two narcissists tend to feed off each other and become even more creative. However, if you add more, then the team tends to devolve into ego fights.

Indiana Jones Holy Grail Paperclip Holder Posted: 08 Nov 2010 11:34 AM PST Indiana Jones Holy Grail Paperclip Holder – $29.95 From the awesome movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, here’s a clever (and very useful) movie prop spoof: behold, the Indiana Jones Holy Grail Magnetic Paperclip Holder from the NeatoShop. Or perhaps the chalice can also hold your future ticket stub from the 5th Indiana Jones movie, rumored to be in the works … Link | More fun and unusual Office Supplies Previously on Neatorama: Movie Trivia: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Women Running from Houses Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:26 AM PST The blog Women Running from Houses is subtitled “judging books by their covers”.  Not having read many Gothic romance novels, I had no idea that a woman running away from a house was such a common theme for a book cover! Spectergirl collects such novels, and while admitting that she hasn’t read them all (and probably never will), she is a fan of vintage cover illustration. Link -via Metafilter

Cat Plays with iPod Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:24 AM PST (YouTube link) Is there anything the iPhone, iPod, and iPad can’t do (besides read your mind)? Meesha enjoys playing with the free app Cat Toys on an iPod, as recorded by Tiffany Bliss. Link -via Buzzfeed

Thanksgiving Turkey Cake Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:23 AM PST This isn’t a cake in the traditional sense of the term because it’s cooked with ground turkey breast, yams, and mashed potatoes. But Amy Wisniewski’s concoction is shaped like a cake, so you might as well serve it for dessert. You can find the recipe at the link. Link via Geekologie | Photo: Amy Wisniewski

Great Bars in Cambodia Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:20 AM PST Waylon and his wife sampled quite a few of the less prominent nightspots on their recent trip to Cambodia, and wrote up reviews of each. While some have intriguing names such as the Corruption Bar, the G’Day Mate Bar, and the Any Club, the real fun is in what’s inside. One place doesn’t like pictures taken inside and the authors made a hasty getaway. Another has an owner who won’t talk to you. Another has a sign posted prohibiting cameras, soldiers, bombs, guns, shorts, slippers, and dogs. The best review went to the Happy Man Bar. Air conditioning: YES. Cold beer: YES. Adorably lovely waitresses: YES. Proprietor doesn’t own a shotgun: YES. If you are planning a trip to Cambodia, this may be an invaluable resource. However, there are places in the US where you can find a similar variety of taverns. Don’t ask me how I know. Link

Campaign Signs May Become Collectors Items Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:15 AM PST You must admit it’s a name to remember: Young Boozer III. Boozer won the race for Alabama state treasurer, despite a rash of campaign sign thefts early in the campaign. It appears that college students wanted the signs for their dorms and frat houses. Boozer’s campaign manager Glenda Allred said there were still signs left to be picked up after the election. Allred said the name, and the signs, have led to some odd requests, particularly people from out of state who requested signs even though they had no say in the election. One request came from a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “He came down to cover the BP oil spill and saw the sign as he was going down the interstate,” Allred said. “He called saying how he read about the candidate, saw the website and was following the race.” The future value of the signs is uncertain. Link -via Arbroath

Man Beats Robber with Squash Posted: 08 Nov 2010 07:17 AM PST A man was arrested and charged with trying to rob a food store in Manchester, New Hampshire. He was unsuccessful because one customer beat him with a nearby squash: The market’s owner said Cullen came in, displayed a threatening note, and verbally told her, “Give me your money, or you’re going to die.” The owner said one of her neighbors walked in and she told him she was being robbed. He sprung into action, forcing Cullen to the ground, as the store owner called police. Witnesses said Cullen tried to get away but another man delivering food to the market picked up a large squash and used the fruit to hit Cullen over the head. Link via Say Uncle | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user La Grande Farmers’ Market used under Creative Commons license

20 Awful Firsts With Your New Baby Posted: 08 Nov 2010 07:03 AM PST Parents experience unbelievable joy at many of their baby’s accomplishments -the first smile, the first step, the first words. There are also many not-so-joyful firsts, as you’ll see in this list at NeatoBambino. The first time they spit up on a friend who doesn't have children. I'm convinced this is why some of my friends are still childless.  Really, I am so sorry. The first time your newborn son pees in your face. Yes, it really does happen.  I finally got wise and started covering him up with a wash cloth while changing his diaper. The first time they have massive diaper failure. I call these poo-splosions.  They typically occur when you are in a hurry, you have placed them in your favorite little outfit, or have somehow forgotten a change of clothes. The First time they put something really gross in their mouth. Babies are like ninjas. They have stealth reflexes. They can grab and lick the bottom of a shoe faster than you can scream "NO!" Experienced parents will laugh; others may run screaming after reading this list. You are invited to add your experiences in the comments. Link

Corvette Case Mod Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:57 AM PST Bill Owen of Mod Brothers made a PC case mod out of a 1:6 scale RC ZR1 Corvette. It still drives after the conversion! At the link, you can view an extensive list of process photos and a video showing how Owen did it. Link via Geektoplasm | Photo: Mod Brothers

From Glove to Squirrel Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:45 AM PST Got an odd glove? Make it into a cute little squirrel, with directions from Tokyo crafter Miyako Kanamori reprinted from her book Happy Gloves! Link -via Nag on the Lake

Kill Bill Cake Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:45 AM PST Food artist Barbarann Garrard made a birthday cake inspired by the Kill Bill movies: the bottom represents “the bride”.. the scene in which Beatrice is gunned down in the opening scene.. there is white bridal lace with blood and realistic chocolate bullets…the next teir is a Japanese pagoda.. this represents the scene toward the end in which Beatrice fights the “crazy 88’s” and O-Ren Ishii..it has the traditional rooftiles and curves and bamboo of a pagoda.. all edible …. the top is yellow with a black stripe to represent the suit Beatrice wears when she is fighting O-Ren Ishii contains an edible peice of notebook paper made of fondant with Beatirice’s “death List five” , and katana.. ( which was not edible.. i thought it would make a nice keepsake) and a mask that represents the “crazy 88 “.. with a whole lotta royal icing blood splatter = ) Link via Super Punch

The Abandoned Military Airbase at Johnston Atoll Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:43 AM PST Johnston Atoll is a US territory covering about 50 square miles of islands in the remote Pacific Ocean. From 1934 to 2003, it was under the control of the US Navy and was used as launch site for nuclear testing and super-secret experimental aircraft and who knows what else. The base was abandoned when the atoll was turned over to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. See photographs from various phases of the base’s history at Urban Ghost Media. Link (Image credit: Google Earth)

13 Funny Baby Shirts Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:41 AM PST Neatorama author Jill Harness collected the funniest slogans from baby shirts that parents inflict on their little darlings. This one is a natural, after her tribute to president Roosevelt a couple of weeks ago. See them all in this post at Oddee. Some text may be NSFW. Link

Skulls in the Garden Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:39 AM PST Hamish Mowatt of South Ronaldsay, one of the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland, unearthed a Neolithic tomb in his backyard garden. Now archaeologists are scrambling to document and preserve the 5,000 year old grave site. Mr Mowatt said he had always wondered what lay under an 8ft stone in the garden and eventually curiosity got the better of him. He dug a small hole close to the stone to see how thick it was. He then managed to get a thin wire pushed under the stone and confirmed there was definitely a space underneath. While doing this, a finger-hole size appeared in the earth to his right. This allowed him to push the wire in â€" to a depth of three feet. By carefully removing a small area of earth and two stones, Mr Mowatt could see a rock face. Shining a torch inside, he saw a chamber with about nine inches of water lying in the bottom. Mr Mowatt added: “I have an underwater camera, so I got it in through the hole and the monitor rigged up. On the screen, I could see the rock face clearly, but when I went further I could clearly see what I thought was a white skull, with two eye sockets, looking back at me.” So far, three skulls are visible in the stone chamber, which is filling up with water. Experts think there might be multiple connected chambers on the site. Link -via TYWKIWDBI (Image credit: Sigurd Towrie)

Give a Kid a Fish Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:34 AM PST A Tweet from Rob Corddry (formerly of The Daily Show, now with Adult Swim) is turned into a comic by David Barneda at Twaggies. Experiences with my youngest child lead me to believe this is true wisdom. Link

Camper Thief Suspect Spotted on Google Street View Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:31 AM PST A camper was stolen from its owner in Linton, UK. But a Google Street View picture may reveal the man responsible for the theft: The owner, who has not been named, believes the Google image may have been taken shortly before the theft. The 4 x 4 was backed into the private drive and is parked yards from the caravan, with a side and rear door open. When the homeowner spotted the image in March this year, the 4×4’s registration plate had been obscured. Link via Jalopnik | Photo: PA

Name That Weird Invention! Posted: 08 Nov 2010 06:26 AM PST It’s time for another round of the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of wacky inventions in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? The commenter suggesting the funniest and wittiest name win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Have fun with this one!

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