Neatorama

---

• Pickle Toothpaste
• Man Sues His Parents for His Allowance, Court Orders Him to Move out and Find a Job
• Amazing Stick Balancing Act
• Renaissance Paintings of Hockey
• Road Signs Turned into Furniture
• Zombie-Proof House
• Gallery of Royal Wedding Memorabilia
• 123 Years Of Tablet PCs
• The Matrix Dance
• The Google Doodle Quiz
• Cartridge Chess Set
• A Day at the San Diego Zoo
• Ninjabread Men
• Aakash Nihalani's Self-Portrait with Tape
• Steve Jobs in Carbonite
• Growing Up in Arcades: 1979 - 1989
• "He'll Look So Great His Grandma Won't Recognize Him!"
• Every Secret Ingredient from Iron Chef America
• A Sex Ed Class by H.P. Lovecraft
• The Grand Unified Theory of Humor
• Sad Hairy-Nosed Wombat is Sad
• How Hourglasses Are Made
• The Whaletone
• 10 Amazing Underground Walks
• Hello Kitty Angry Face Clutch
• How an Artist Fixes Potholes
• The Royal Wedding Dalek
• The Batman Complex
• The Eighteen Layers of Chinese Hell
• When Can A Lawyer Quit A Case?

Pickle Toothpaste Posted: 27 Apr 2011 08:03 PM PDT Pickle Toothpaste – $4.45 Do you love pickles, and hate your minty toothpaste? The Pickle Toothpaste from the NeatoShop is for you! With the Pickle Toothpaste from the NeatoShop you can finally have that briny fresh breath you always wanted.  Great dental hygiene has never tasted so good. Be sure to check out all wonderfully wacky Personal Care products available at the NeatoShop!

Man Sues His Parents for His Allowance, Court Orders Him to Move out and Find a Job Posted: 27 Apr 2011 07:11 PM PDT The parents of a 25-year old man in Spain told him to either look for a job or they would stop paying him $588 in monthly allowance. Then they followed through on their threat. So the young man sued them in court. The judge dismissed his complaint and ordered him to move out of their home and find a job: However, the judge told the man, who has not been named in court documents, that he must leave his parents’ house within 30 days. The judge said the man was studying law, albeit at a slow rate, and would probably not complete the degree for several years, but he thought he was still capable of finding some kind of work. Link via Lowering the Bar | Photo by Flickr user Tax_Rebate used under Creative Commons license

Amazing Stick Balancing Act Posted: 27 Apr 2011 04:58 PM PDT (Video Link) I’m having trouble finding any information about this video. It appears to show a performer balancing sticks, one on top of another, without dropping a single one. At the very end, he must balance the entire assembly on one remaining, upright stick. How does he do it? via reddit

Renaissance Paintings of Hockey Posted: 27 Apr 2011 04:24 PM PDT No, the NHL isn’t that old, but Alexandr Reut is fond of suggesting that it is. He’s composed several works showing hockey in a style reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance. This one depicts the Washington Capitals winning the Stanley Cup. If the players are unfamiliar to you, the legend at the article link identifies each one. eBay Link and Article Link via Copyranter

Road Signs Turned into Furniture Posted: 27 Apr 2011 04:14 PM PDT Tim Delger has made some nifty tables and chairs from old road signs, such as the coffee table above. I’d love to see what he could do with a Bucket of Blood Street sign. Link via Dude Craft

Zombie-Proof House Posted: 27 Apr 2011 04:06 PM PDT The architectural firm KWK Promes takes security very seriously. Its “Safe House” design, at the push of a button, drops steel shutters, swings concrete slabs over windows, and lifts a drawbridge. For those of you who think that this is silly (because zombies, unlike vampires and werewolves, aren’t real), just remember: If you're prepared for the zombie apocalypse, a hurricane is just a storm. Link via Geekologie | Photos: KWK Promes

Gallery of Royal Wedding Memorabilia Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:52 PM PDT Presidential Inaugurations, the release of teenage vampire movies and the unfortunate existence of Justin Beiber; each of these events produce a plethora of ridiculous memorabilia. However none has seen such a wide variety of weird trinkets, knickknacks and custom products than the Royal Wedding of Kate and William. My favorite is the Royal Wedding beer! For those of you already sick of all the coverage they even have a "Throne Up" Royal Wedding Sick bag when the big day pushes your stomach over the edge. Link

123 Years Of Tablet PCs Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:50 PM PDT While Apple would be happy having many of us believe that the iPad is the genius invention of Steve Jobs and company alone, it turns out that tablets have been in development for over 100 years.  As far back as 1888 the forerunners of today's devices where being patented. In the 1960's the RAND Corporation created The RAND Tablet, a stylus that could digitally capture handwriting. I'd like to believe that in a parallel universe people in the 60's and 70's were walking around with funky RAND Tablets. (A)ll technology evolves from sometimes cruder predecessors, and tablets are no different. People have been playing with some of the technologies underlying tablet PCs for over a century: In July 1888, for example, inventor Elisha Gray (pictured) received a US patent for an electrical stylus device that captured handwriting. Link via Slashdot

The Matrix Dance Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:49 PM PDT I'm not normally one for choreographed dance routines, however if you check out Razy Gogonea's performance on Britain's Got Talent, I think you will agree this one is pretty sweet. Skip to about 1:30 in the video to see his recreations of iconic scenes from The Matrix that put Keanu Reeves slow motion bullet dodging moves to shame. Link

The Google Doodle Quiz Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:43 PM PDT How well do you remember -or decipher- the alterations that Google makes to their logo for special occasions? Test your knowledge with the Google Doodle quiz, from our own social networking expert David Israel. Hey, I scored 58% just by guessing. You will probably do much better! Link

Cartridge Chess Set Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:43 PM PDT Etsy seller OldWorldCC made a complete chess set which uses .223 caliber cartridges as playing pieces: The pieces are made using .223 caliber bullet shell casings, decorated with cuts, slashes, curls and bends. The light side pieces are set on red oak mounts, using steel cased shells and the dark side pieces are mounted on black walnut, using brass cased shells. Link via Born Rich

A Day at the San Diego Zoo Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:41 PM PDT Neatorama author Jill Harness went to the zoo and brought back lots of pictures of all kinds of different animals. She fed a Galapagos tortoise, collided with an owl, and petted a giraffe! She also looked up fun facts about each of them, which you can read at Rue the Day. Do you know what animal is shown here? Link

Ninjabread Men Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:40 PM PDT Ninjabread Men – $8.95 Is your Mom a warrior in the kitchen? This Mother’s Day get her the Ninjabread Men from the NeatoShop!  She will be able to make some killer cookies with these fabulous little cutters. Be sure to check out all fun-tastic Cooking Gadgets available at the NeatoShop!

Aakash Nihalani's Self-Portrait with Tape Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:40 PM PDT Tape artist Aakash Nihalani (featured previously on Neatorama here) is back with this clever self-portrait series, tentatively titled Once Upon a Wall. My Modern Met has more: Link

Steve Jobs in Carbonite Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:39 PM PDT Society6’s Greg Koenig created the Steve Jobs in Carbonite iPhone case, but got a Cease and Desist letter from Apple’s lawyers. So from now on, this piece of awesomeness will live only as images on countless blogs and websites. Too bad. Via FireWire

Growing Up in Arcades: 1979 - 1989 Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:39 PM PDT Photo: StevenM_61 [Flickr] Galaga. Centipede. Pac-Man. If these words mean anything to you, then take a trip down memory lane (and straight into your local Chuck E. Cheese’s) with the Flickr pool Growing Up in Arcades: 1979 – 1989: Link – via Dangerous Minds

"He'll Look So Great His Grandma Won't Recognize Him!" Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:38 PM PDT Presented without comment, via World of Wonder.

Every Secret Ingredient from Iron Chef America Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:37 PM PDT I don’t understand cooking shows. You get to watch gourmet food being made and judges being fed, but you don’t even get a whiff of the food, much less a taste. Yet, they’re obviously very successful. One such show is Iron Chef America, which is hosted (in a style so over-the-top it’s fantastic) by Mark Dacascos (presented as the "nephew" of the original Japanese Chairman, though they’re not related). I admit that I watch it sometimes just for the opening, where he announces – with gusto – the secret ingredient that the contestants will be cooking in the Kitchen Stadium. Well someone must’ve thought that’s also the best part, so allow me to present. Today’s Secret Ingredient is …. EVERY IRON CHEF AMERICA’S SECRET INGREDIENT VIDEO CLIP (O_o / cue in the head turn sound effects): Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Things I Thnk Are Kinda Cool

A Sex Ed Class by H.P. Lovecraft Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:36 PM PDT (Video Link) It’s time for Ms. Lovecraft’s seventh grade sex ed class. The mysteries of sex unfold upon the narrator, driving him mad — and he embraces the madness. Craig Macneill and Clay McLeod made this magnificent short film, which is well worth your time. via Boing Boing

The Grand Unified Theory of Humor Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:36 PM PDT Psst! Ever heard about the professor who tries to explain every joke ever told? No, that’s actually not a joke. Joel Warner of Wired explains how Peter McGraw attemps to explain what makes things funny. A lanky 41-year-old professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Colorado Boulder, McGraw thinks he has found the answer, and it starts with a tickle. “Who here doesn’t like to be tickled?” A good number of hands shot up. “Yet you laugh,” he said, flashing a goofy grin. “You experience some pleasurable reaction even as you resist and say you don’t like it.” If you really stop to think about it, McGraw continued, it’s a complex and fascinating phenomenon. If someone touches you in certain places in a certain way, it prompts an involuntary but pleasurable physiological response. Except, of course, when it doesn’t. “When does tickling cease to be funny?” McGraw asked. “When you try to tickle yourself … Or if some stranger in a trench coat tickles you.” The audience cracked up. He was working the room like a stand-up comic. Many would assert that this tickling conundrum is the perfect evidence that humor is utterly relative. There may be many types of humor, maybe as many kinds as there are variations in laughter, guffaws, hoots, and chortles. But McGraw doesn’t think so. He has devised a simple, Grand Unified Theory of humor—in his words, “a parsimonious account of what makes things funny.” McGraw calls it the benign violation theory, and he insists that it can explain the function of every imaginable type of humor. And not just what makes things funny, but why certain things aren’t funny. “My theory also explains nervous laughter, racist or sexist jokes, and toilet humor,” he told his fellow humor researchers. Link (Photo: Andrew Hetherington)

Sad Hairy-Nosed Wombat is Sad Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:35 PM PDT Image: stygiangloom [Wikipedia] What do you think will cheer up the hairy-nosed wombat, which Environmental Graffiti has named the saddest looking marsupial in the world? Link

How Hourglasses Are Made Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:34 PM PDT Machinery, glass and fire – this video by Philip Andelman of how watchmaker Ikepod makes wonderful hourglasses has got it all. Take a look over at Random-Good-Stuff, you won’t regret it: Link [embedded YouTube clip]

The Whaletone Posted: 27 Apr 2011 03:33 PM PDT One night, Robert Majkut had a dream. That dream was to recreate the piano in a grander form. So Robert took this whale of an idea and created this: an electric keyboard called the Whaletone: It seemed to me a little imprecise, fuzzy. Shapes were looming, fading away, then replacing one another. Maybe it was the whales I saw during the day, maybe the smooth motion of waves, or maybe just many things have overlapped and blended into one animated sequence of pictures. What I saw was a grand piano – yet totally different from all I have seen before. As though it was challenging the classic notion of a piano. Soft, flowing, frozen movement of a gigantic animal. Although I was moved by the dream, I did not appreciate its meaning at first. I realized how little had changed in this instrument over so many years. Intrigued with this discovery, I began to chase the dim picture trapped in my memory. At first, my mind lead me astray, struggling with habits, experience, intuition and beliefs. It took me a long time to sketch the form, which came across as something vaguely imitating the vision concealed in my mind. And then, one day, while working on this concept already a bit obsessively, my mind unlocked and my hand drew the piano from my dream. I immediately recognized it. I instantly knew I got it. Monumental – like a whale emerging from the water, slow – like the movement of a giant. Charming, majestic, delicate and melodious, like romantic calls of coquetting whales… I knew it called for being made. From that moment on, I have known that in the depths of our minds there are ready-made, complete, good ideas. Concepts, forms, choices that are beyond our comprehension until we release them. This is one of them – Whaletone – my version of a singing whale. Link - via Doobybrain

10 Amazing Underground Walks Posted: 27 Apr 2011 02:16 PM PDT Photo: Stephen Alvarez [National Geographic] If you’re looking for something to do on your next vacation that’s a little different than the usual sightseeing fare, National Geographic has 10 jaw-dropping suggestions that all take place underground. That’s part of the Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky in the picture above. Other suggestions include the Underground City of Montreal, the Cu Chi Tunnels of Vietnam and the Berlin Nuclear Bunker in Germany. Link

Hello Kitty Angry Face Clutch Posted: 27 Apr 2011 10:51 AM PDT Hello Kitty Angry Face Clutch – $27.95 Do you know someone who is cute, quirky, and has a slight anger management problem? Get them the Hello Kitty Angry Face Clutch from the NeatoShop. Remember, nothing softens a person up like a great gift from the NeatoShop! Be sure to check out NeatoShop’sCute Store and Hello Kitty and Sanrio items for more adorable gifts.

How an Artist Fixes Potholes Posted: 27 Apr 2011 10:48 AM PDT Photo: juliana santacruz herrera [Flickr] Forget asphalt! The artistic way to fix potholes is with some colorful fabric. That’s what artist Juliana Santacruz Herrera did for the sidewalks of Paris: artist juliana santacruz herrera has transformed the streets of paris through her visual intervention using braided strips of colourful fabric. seeing the many cracks and potholes of the city as the ‘canvas’ of her project, the site-specific pieces are a playful addition to the grey urban setting. long lengths of dyed fabrics are braided and then coiled into the shallow breaks in the street. often made up of a combination of bright colours, the resulting effect creates a graphic and visually-arresting contrast to the city’s palette. Link – via Presurfer

The Royal Wedding Dalek Posted: 27 Apr 2011 10:09 AM PDT What lies at the intersection of sci-fi geekdom and royal wedding fever? The royal wedding dalek! Chris Balcombe is an avid Doctor Who fan with his own dalek, which got a makeover for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Chris Balcombe, 51, has spent one week decorating his Dalek to tie in with the occasion. The Doctor’s nemesis has been painted red, blue and white and is covered with Union Jack flags and photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Furthermore, Chris attached a mechanical grip to the Dalek so it can hold trays of food and drinks. Link -via Buzzfeed

The Batman Complex Posted: 27 Apr 2011 09:01 AM PDT (YouTube link) It’s a fan-made trailer is composed of edits from Christian Bale movies that altogether makes Bruce Wayne look like even more of a paranoid schizophrenic than he is normally portrayed as. -via I Heart Chaos

The Eighteen Layers of Chinese Hell Posted: 27 Apr 2011 08:51 AM PDT Some Chinese legends say that hell, or diyu, is an unground maze with 18 levels and various chambers in which one must pay for the sins of their life. Wouldn’t that make a great video game? They are quite frightening- there’s the chamber of tongue ripping (shown), the chamber of steamer, the mountain of knives, the cauldron of boiling oil, and more. See each level illustrated at China Underground. Link -Thanks, CinaOggi!

When Can A Lawyer Quit A Case? Posted: 27 Apr 2011 08:39 AM PDT In criminal matters, a lawyer is duty-bound to defend his client to the best of his ability. There are only a few specific scenarios in which it is considered OK to quit representing a defendant. For example, what if the defendant tells the lawyer that he plans to lie on the witness stand? Allowing perjury is unethical, but so is divulging your client’s secrets. Wouldn’t that be a good time to just quit? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. As mentioned above, an attorney can’t withdraw in the middle of litigation without the judge’s permission, and it’s indisputably unethical for an advocate to directly inform the judge that his client is a liar. What usually happens in these cases is that the lawyer approaches the bench and asks to beg off the case for vague “ethical reasons.” The judge, knowing exactly what’s going on, typically denies the request, because the jury would smell a rat if the lawyer were to disappear right before the defendant took the stand. The judge, continuing the Kabuki-style exchange, informs the advocate that he has satisfied his ethical obligations and must continue. In some courts, the lawyer can protect his sense of ethics by simply putting the client on the stand and instructing him to “tell the jury his story,” rather than specifically prompting the lies. Slate looks at various reasons why a lawyer can and should quit a case -or not. Link

You are subscribed to email updates from Neatorama To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610