Neatorama

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• Happy New Year 2011, Neatoramanauts!
• The Ice Caves of Mt. Erebus
• Why Are the Western Ends of Cities Generally Wealthier than the Eastern Ends of Cities?
• You Could Fit a Skyscraper inside the World's Largest Cave
• Burger King Creates Brussels Sprouts Burger
• Enormous Dialect Map of North America
• Midnight New Year Fireworks, Sydney 2011
• 6 Other Things Dropped on New Year’s Eve
• Big Dog
• High-Heeled Feet
• 92-year-old Escapes Captivity
• Scenes Cut from Paperback Covers

Happy New Year 2011, Neatoramanauts! Posted: 01 Jan 2011 12:06 AM PST Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #1584 by ApeLad Happy New Year 2011, Neatoramanauts! I hope 2011 continue to bring you health, success, and happiness! It's been a while since our pal Adam "ApeLad" Koford started drawing Pip and Kitteh, the Laugh-Out-Loud Cats, and I'm happy to report that the series is still going on strong! If you haven't taken a look in a while, it's definitely worth a (regular) re-visit: Link

The Ice Caves of Mt. Erebus Posted: 31 Dec 2010 06:20 PM PST A volcano in Antarctica called Erebus is home to a network of ice caves. Hot gasses from the volcano carves through the thick ice to leave channels where ice crystals then grow. Dr. Kayla Iacovino wrote about visiting one of them called Warren Cave, and included more photographs. Link -via The Dystenium Science Daily Previously: Ice Fumarole in Antarctica

Why Are the Western Ends of Cities Generally Wealthier than the Eastern Ends of Cities? Posted: 31 Dec 2010 05:14 PM PST Dan Zambonini alleges that cities in the northern hemisphere tend to have poorer eastern rather than western sides. He then suggests that this is because wealthier people could afford to be upwind of air pollution: Many older cities rapidly expanded during the Industrial Revolution, as workers flocked to the urban centers. As the towns and cities expanded, the residential areas for the workers tended to be in the east, with the middle and upper-classes in the west. The reason for this is that in much of the northern hemisphere, the prevailing winds are westerlies – blowing from west to east. The massive, unchecked pollution from these early industries would therefore drift eastward, making the air quality much lower in the east end of cities, lowering the desirability (and price) of the housing. Middle classes preferred the cleaner west ends. The issue was probably even pre-Industrial Revolution, as smoke from personal chimneys would still have caused problems to the east. Link via Marginal Revolution | Photo by Flickr user otodo used under Creative Commons license

You Could Fit a Skyscraper inside the World's Largest Cave Posted: 31 Dec 2010 05:00 PM PST Hang Ken, a cave rediscovered in Vietnam last year, may be the largest in the world: Surrounded by jungle and used in the Vietnam war as a hideout from American bombardments, it is so large that it could hold a block of 40-storey skyscrapers. Its entrance was only rediscovered last year. The photograph was taken by a British expedition returning to the rugged Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park near the border with Laos. The cave, lit from above through a skylight, is one of a network of some 150 connected caverns, many still not surveyed, in the Annamite mountains. Story Link and Slideshow via Super Punch | Photo: National Geographic/Carsten Peter

Burger King Creates Brussels Sprouts Burger Posted: 31 Dec 2010 01:04 PM PST For a limited time, Burger King restaurants in Britain are offering Whoppers that come with Brussels sprouts. They vegetables are ground into a paste, mixed with Emmentaler cheese, and formed into a patty. Link via Geekosystem | Photo: Burger King

Enormous Dialect Map of North America Posted: 31 Dec 2010 12:45 PM PST Rich Aschmann, a linguist, created a huge map of North America describing the boundaries and differences between various dialects of the English language. Keep scrolling down at the link, and you can find Aschmann’s extensive listing of audio examples of many of these dialects. Link via The Agitator

Midnight New Year Fireworks, Sydney 2011 Posted: 31 Dec 2010 10:54 AM PST (YouTube link) It’s already 2011 in Australia. They know how to celebrate Down Under! -via The Daily What

6 Other Things Dropped on New Year’s Eve Posted: 31 Dec 2010 10:44 AM PST Of course you know about the big ball of crystal in New York City that drops in Times Square to ring in the New Year, but there are plenty of other cities and towns that took that tradition and made it their own. You’ll find peaches, ‘possums, and Peeps dropping as well. A Peep? Yes, in Pennsylvania. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania's New Year's Eve tradition is fairly young, just like the 25 lb. illuminated Fiberglas baby Peep they've been lowering from a crane since 2005. If a Peep seems more in keeping with Easter, keep in mind that Just Born Inc., the company that makes the confection, is headquartered in Bethlehem and is one of the city's major employers outside of the health care industry. A freshly-emerged baby chick is certainly a happier and more optimistic symbol of all things new than, say, a papier-mâché aspirin. Read about a half dozen non-Times Square New Year drops at mental_floss. Link

Big Dog Posted: 31 Dec 2010 08:32 AM PST The big shiny dog that guards the entrance to the Sonoma Humane Society is called the Airstream Dog. It was created by sculptors Patrick Amiot and Brigitte Laurent, who’ve done lots of whimsical urban installations. Link -via Laughing Squid (Image credit: Scott Beale/Laughing Squid)

High-Heeled Feet Posted: 31 Dec 2010 07:51 AM PST deviantART user Hallincogenius made a pair of feet that look like high-heeled shoes. They’re sculpted from raku clay and glazed. Link

92-year-old Escapes Captivity Posted: 31 Dec 2010 07:28 AM PST A good set of dentures came in handy for 92-year-old Lester Matteson. The Washington state man endured was tied up by two men who came to his door claiming car trouble. The men taped Lester’s legs to his kitchen chair. But after the thieves snatched his money and his truck, Lester chewed through the tape with his false teeth! “It took me about two hours,” Lester said with a grin. “Boy, it was sticky!” Lester was then able to call the police. The robbers got away with about $400 cash and Matteson’s Ford Ranger. Link -via Arbroath

Scenes Cut from Paperback Covers Posted: 31 Dec 2010 07:09 AM PST Artist Thomas Allen cuts images from book covers to create 3D scenes: With simple lightning and the use of simple tools (i.e., scissors and razor-sharp knives), figures are cut out, bent and juxtapose in ways that present the tension and dynamics of staged drama. Link via J-Walk Blog | Photo: Thomas Barry Fine Arts

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