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2010/11/28

Neatorama

Neatorama

Star Wars Mice

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 05:14 AM PST

Look at these cute mice made up as a Star Wars characters! They’re available from Etsy store TheHouseofMouse. You’ll also see R2D2, Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker mice, plus mice from the cast of The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and other stories. Link -via Geeks Are Sexy

Blue's Clues

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 04:07 AM PST


(YouTube link)

A trailer for the movie Blue’s Clues, if it were directed by Christopher Nolan. It makes sense, as the first generation that grew up watching Steve and Blue solve puzzles in three clues are now watching crime dramas. -via The High Definite

The Valley of the Moon

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 02:11 AM PST

Ischigualasto, meaning “the place where you put the moon” is a remote valley in Argentina. It is studded with geological formations left by wind erosion, amazing standing stones and boulders that are so rounded they look like enormous marbles. The valley’s once-fertile ground is now arid and contains so many plant and animal fossils that paleontologists come from all over the world to study them. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Aylwin Lo)

Woman Claims to Own the Sun

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 07:30 PM PST

Angeles Duran, a woman from Spain, has laid claim to the Sun. She argues that there’s no international law to prevent her action:

Angeles Duran, 49, told the online edition of daily El Mundo she took the step in September after reading about an American man who had registered himself as the owner of the moon and most planets in our solar system.

There is an international agreement which states that no country may claim ownership of a planet or star, but it says nothing about individuals, she added.

“There was no snag, I backed my claim legally, I am not stupid, I know the law. I did it but anyone else could have done it, it simply occurred to me first.”

Link via J-Walk Blog | Photo: NASA

Police Mistake Horror Movie Set for Real Crime Scene, Begin Investigating

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 05:26 PM PST

Two years ago, the horror movie New Terminal Hotel was filmed at the George Washington Hotel in Washington, Pennsylvania. A recent fire there drew firefighters, who discovered what looked like a gory crime scene in one room. They summoned the police, who in turn called in crime scene investigators. Only later did the police realize that they were looking at leftovers from a horror movie set:

Washington Police Chief J.R. Blyth thought Sunday’s discovery was the most grisly murder scene in his 35 years in law enforcement. He committed several investigators to the “crime scene” — until they realized it had been set up that way for a horror movie.[...]

“I had no idea what was going on — blood on the floor, the mattress, the pillows, piece of a scalp with hair still attached in the center of the bed,” said Blythe.

The room is on the fourth floor of the 10-story hotel on South Main Street. Vulgar words were written on the walls, along with the fake blood.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Image: Bull Lee Films

Which Shipping Company is Kindest to Your Packages?

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 05:11 PM PST

The editors of Popular Mechanics placed sensors inside a package and shipped it through three major package delivery firms in order to determine which company handled it the most gently. These sensors measured the vibration, temperature, and orientation to which the box was subjected. Here were their findings:

After crunching the data and averaging the number of spikes recorded by each carrier on each trip, we found that the USPS has the gentlest touch, with a per-trip average of 0.5 acceleration spikes over 6 g’s. FedEx and UPS logged an average of three and two big drops per trip, respectively (see graph, next page).

Given those results, we were a little surprised to find that the USPS flipped over its Express Mail packages an awful lot, averaging 12.5 position changes per trip. Meanwhile, FedEx averaged seven position changes, and UPS had an average of four.

All three carriers did a good job at maintaining a stable temperature, but FedEx nabbed the top rating, with an average change of only 26.01 degrees, compared with 26.8 degrees for UPS and almost 32 degrees for the USPS. But the maximum temperatures our package experienced were within 2 degrees, and at no time did a temperature register above 80 degrees or below 47 degrees.

Link via Super Punch | Image: Popular Mechanics

The Top 10 Daily Consequences of Having Evolved

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 02:23 PM PST

Sure, we’ve got opposable thumbs and larger brains, but was the path of human evolution all that it’s cracked up to be? At Smithsonian magazine, Rob Dunn points out ten problems that we face today as a result of the evolution of our species. Here’s one:

4. Unsupported intestines
Once we stood upright, our intestines hung down instead of being cradled by our stomach muscles. In this new position, our innards were not as well supported as they had been in our quadrupedal ancestors. The guts sat atop a hodgepodge of internal parts, including, in men, the cavities in the body wall through which the scrotum and its nerves descend during the first year of life. Every so often, our intestines find their way through these holes—in the way that noodles sneak out of a sieve—forming an inguinal hernia.

Link via reddit | Photo by Flickr user Ryan Somma used under Creative Commons license

Non-Sign

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 01:33 PM PST

The Seattle-based design firm Lead Pencil Studio created this installation at the US-Canadian border. It’s supposed to give the impression of a billboard:

the sculpture is made from small stainless steel rods that are assembled together to create the negative space of a billboard. while most billboards draw attention away from the landscape 'non-sign II' frames the landscape, focusing attention back on it.

Link via Dude Craft | Studio Website | Photo: Design Boom

Prank Gift Boxes

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 12:11 PM PST

Wake And Bake Dream Griddle Prank Gift Box – $7.95

Prank gift boxes from the NeatoShop, because:

a) You love messing with your family.

b) You would really buy this crap if they made it.

c) You only give the very best gifts.

d) All of the above.

Be sure to check out the other fabulously fun prank gift items now available at the NeatoShop.

Ford Mustang Station Wagon

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 11:08 AM PST

Ford never offered the Mustang as a station wagon, but that didn’t stop car modders from creating their own:

The story goes that in 1966 Italian coach builder Intermeccanica built a Mustang station wagon for advertiser Barney Clark and designer Bob Cumberford which showed up in many car magazines of the day. Supposedly Ford had a Mustang wagon in design stages around the same time but scrapped the program shortly after the Intermeccania cars appeared. The Intermeccania cars are often mistaken for a factory concept.

Pictured above is a non-Intermaccania conversion, currently on sale on eBay. You can view several more pictures at the link.

Link via Jalopnik

Anime Opening Credits Are All the Same

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 10:56 AM PST


(Video Link)

Derek Lieu is the cartoonist responsible for the webcomic Kick in the Head. He noticed that most anime opening sequences have the same features:

It’s always amused me the repeated imagery that exist in anime opening credit sequences. This video doesn’t cover them all, but it has a lot of the big ones. Interesting thing I learned, if a character is running it’s overwhelmingly to the left of the screen.

So he put together this video, showing the openings of 93 different anime series. There’s a complete list of them at the video link.

via Geekosystem | Lieu’s Website

Klein Bottle Opener

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 10:49 AM PST

A Klein bottle is “a closed surface with only one side; formed by passing one end of a tube through the side of the tube and joining it with the other end.” Pictured above is a bottle opener shaped like a Klein bottle. It was made by Bathsheba Grossman, who explained:

The problem of beer That it is within a ‘bottle’, i.e. a boundaryless compact 2-manifold homeomorphic to the sphere. Since beer bottles are not (usually) pathological or “wild” spheres, but smooth manifolds, they separate 3-space into two non-communicating regions: inside, containing beer, and outside, containing you. This state must not remain.

A proposed solution Clearly the elegant course is to introduce a non-orientable manifold, which has one side and does not divide 3-space. When juxtaposed with the beer-bounding manifold described above, it acts to disrupt the continuity thereof, canceling the outdated paradigm of distinction between interior and exterior. This enables the desired interaction between beer and self.

Link via Nerdcore | Photo: Bathsheba Sculpture

Bicycle Lock Climbs Lamp Post to Escape Thieves

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 10:42 AM PST


(Video Link)

This German-language video appears to show an ingenious solution to bicycle theft. The lock wraps around a lamp post. Attach the bicycle to it, and then the user activates a remote-controlled motor. The lock climbs up the lamp post.

via DVICE | Company Website

Lego Robot Santa Claus

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 10:15 AM PST

Cartoonist Mark Anderson constructed the Robot Santa from the TV show Futurama out of Lego bricks! See lots more pictures at Andertoons. Link -Thanks, Mark!

Solar Scooter

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 10:12 AM PST


(YouTube link)

Terry Hope was presented with a challenge. He was working aboard an 88-foot sailboat and the captain would not let him bring a standard electric scooter on board. The only way he could have one is if it were to fit into a suitcase, and it had to be rechargeable off the grid. So he developed the Hybrid Electric Kinetic Photovoltaic Vehicle you see here! The battery is recharged with both solar and kinetic power -and it folds up. Get the specs at his website. Link -Thanks, Terry!

New York City Now Offers Subway Service to Hogwarts

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 09:00 AM PST

If you want to go to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you’ll have to board the train at Platform 9 3/4. Some prankster decided that New York City’s subway system should offer service to Hogwarts, and so put up a sticker for that platform on a sign at the 14th Street Union Square station:

The number is visible on the south side of 14th St., just around the corner from the Regal Cinemas Union Square 14, which shows the seventh installment of the wizard films based on author J.K. Rowling’s books, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1,” at least 16 times daily.

The charmed sticker is slapped in the slot that featured a “W” until June when that line went out of service. The design mimics standard Metropolitan Transportation Authority signage and at first glance could pass for a relic from the defunct No. 9 line.

It’s such a close match, in fact, it might lead wizard fans to suspect an inside job. An MTA spokesperson said the agency had no ties to the subtle Potter promotion. More likely, it was the work of a design savvy fan.

Link via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Johnson/New York Daily News

Everything Right With The Price Is Right

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 06:20 AM PST

On November 26, 1956, a television revolution took place. A price-bidding game allowed coupon-clipping housewives to finally feel as smart as the PHD-holding contestants seen on the many quiz shows popular at the time. And when the quiz show scandal of 1959 broke, The Price Is Right managed to maintain its integrity and take its place as a legendary show destined to become the longest running American game show in the world. But how did The Price Is Right get started and how has it ensured such eternal success? Read on  to get a full taste of the brilliance and luck that has allowed The Price Is Right to reach such incredible levels of game show domination.

Image via beITRON [Flickr]

The First Run

Did you know Drew Carey is actually the third host of the show, not the second? That's because before Bob Barker was hired to host The New Price Is Right (the "New" was dropped from the title within the same year it premiered), the original show started Bill Cullen and was created by producer Bob Stewart, who also invented such classics as Password and The $10,000 Pyramid. Steward was inspired to create The Price is Right after watching an auctioneer in New York City.

Unlike the current show we all know and love, this was a much more basic format. There were no Showcase Showdowns or pricing games. The entire show consisted of contestants bidding on expensive products, attempting to get as close to the actual retail price without going over (similar to the first round of the current show except this would keep going for a long time and the item would be expensive rather than the dish soap and soup cans they start off with now). If a contestant worried they were getting too close to the final price, they could seal their price and stop bidding. The contestant who was closest without going over won the prize, which was usually rather big and sometimes pretty crazy.

"How big and crazy?" you might ask. Well, remember the Simpson's episode where Bart wins an elephant? It turns out that was based on an incident that occurred during this first version of the Price Is Right. The elephant, and its "extra ivory," was a bonus prize for a grand piano. In actuality, the show meant to give the contestant the cash equivalent of $4000, but the winner wanted a real elephant, so he was eventually given a live pet flown in all the way from Kenya.

A few other grandiose prizes included fully furnished homes in brand new subdivisions, small business franchises, business stock, a Ferris wheel, a private island, a 1926 Rolls Royce with a chauffeur, a mile of hot dogs, a live peacock to serve as a color guide to a brand new TV and a full barbecue pit with a live Angus steer.

This first version lasted until 1965, and viewers had to wait seven years before it was reworked into the modern format and added to the programming schedule again.

Image via Adam Foster [Flickr]

New And Improved

The New Price Is Right premiered on September 4, 1972. It contained some of the old elements of the show, but added a number of new elements that we still enjoy to this day. Even though the early incarnation of the show doesn't count towards its record of aired shows, there have been over 7,300 episodes aired and the program has still managed to become second only to the Mexican television show Sabado Gigante when it comes to the longest-running game show in the world, and it is the longest-running game show in America.

The modern version starts out with a bidding game and then moves on to more games until the guests get to compete for a chance to bid on the grand prize showcase at the end of the game. During the Showcase portion of the game, the guest that comes closest to the price of their showcase without going over wins and gets to keep their showcase. If they come close enough to the price of their showcase, they not only win their grand prize, but the one offered to the other player as well.

Image via Douglas Coulter [Flickr]

Barker's Prohibitions

You probably know that Bob Barker's charisma played a big role in keeping the show alive so long (he has 17 Emmy awards to prove it) , but you might not know that he had such a major role in the show behind the scenes. Barker invented many of the pricing games on the show, including three baring his name that were retired after he left the show. He also put a lot of restrictions in place that stayed in effect until Drew Carrey became the host.

In 1979, Bob Barker went vegetarian and demanded the show stop giving away anything on the show made from leather or fur. He also ensured that showcases could no longer show fake meat props on the barbecues. From that point on, he also started signing off every episode by saying, “Help control the pet population—have your pets spayed or neutered.” This is one tradition that Drew Carey has upheld with the utmost respect although furs and leather are now back on the prize list.

Interestingly, Barker's first episode started out with a prize of a fur coat, but you won't see that on any reruns or DVDs because he has kept the stations from releasing any shows showing episodes with fur coats.

Barker did more than just preach about the importance of spaying and neutering though. He even started his own foundation, the DJ&T Foundation (named for his mother and his wife), that is dedicated to controlling the dog and cat population. The organization helps support low-cost and free spay and neuter clinics around the country. Barker still funds the foundation to this day.

Animal population control isn't the only cause Barker was dedicated to though. In 1991, he instilled another prohibition on the show banning any foreign automobiles from being given away as prizes. He did this as a patriotic measure during the first Iraq War, but once again, this rule has been lifted since his retirement and cars from all over the world have now been offered as prizes.

Image via laksge [Wikipedia]

Seeking A Successor

In June of 2006, Barker announced his intention to retire from hosting the show. His decision coincided with the show's 35th anniversary and his 50th anniversary of hosting shows on TV (He previously hosted Truth Or Consequences). During that time he was named in the Guinness Book of World Records, once for being TV's Most Durable Performer for doing 3524 consecutive performances on Truth Or Consequences and once of being the Most Generous Host in Television History for giving away over $55 million in cash and prizes, although by the time he retired that number had risen to $200 million. Obviously, his successor had some mighty big shoes to fill.

Producers looked all over the place for new hosts and Rosie O'Donnell seemed to be the top contender until she insisted that the show be moved to New York so she wouldn't have to move. Drew Carey was hesitant to host the show at first, so CBS producers actually had to convince him that he would be good at it. Reading comments on forums about the subject, you might see a lot of people upset that Carey was replacing Bob, but they all seem to be glad that at least he's not Rosie. And that seems alright with Drew, who never thought he could contend with the original host anyway, "You can’t replace Bob Barker. I don’t compare myself to anybody… It’s only about what you’re doing and supposed to do, and I feel like I’m supposed to be doing this."

Barker's last episode premiered on June 15, 2007, but reruns continued to air until Drew Carey's first episode premiered on October 15.

Image via sexiestgeeksalive [Flickr]

Show  Records

If you read the part about crazy prizes on the earlier version and thought there is no way the current game could compete, you might be right about wackiness, but not about monetary value. While CBS used to impose a prize cap on their game shows, it was revoked in the late 1990's. Since then, there have been some incredibly lucky winners. Vickyann Sadowski won both showcases, including two cars and ended up scoring $147,517, making her the single-day winnings record holder for daytime network game shows. But the records don't stop there. The show once held a prime time Million Dollar Spectacular series for a few weeks in 2008. Adam Rose managed to win both showcases, a $20,000 prize during one of the challenges and a bonus $1,000,000 for getting so close to the right value on his showcase. His final winnings? $1,153,908.

While Terry Kniess may not have won as much as either of those contestants, his accomplishment is even more impressive: Terry is the only person to have ever guessed the exact price of their showcase down to the dollar. Thanks to his incredible ability to notice patterns and a little bit of luck, he guessed the approximate value of the showcase and then used his and his wife's pin numbers to round out his bid. The guess was so perfect that behind the scenes everyone was frantically trying to find out how he cheated and when Carey announced that he was right on the money, he seems angry –something which seriously irritated home viewers.

Image via dayseraph [Flickr]

Despite his flub when announcing Terry's incredible accuracy, Drew still seems to be doing an alright job with the show and ratings certainly aren't suffering –the show is still one of the top daytime game shows. So what do you think, should Carey stay on or is the price wrong these days?

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, #4, Variety, JS Online, Esquire and CBS
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