Neatorama

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• The Fall of the Wall
• Osama bin Laden is Dead
• The Hat Cupcake
• Yareta
• Crushing Beer Cans with a Lowrider's Suspension
• Can You Be Fat and Fit?
• Cheating and Benevolent God: How A Mean God Makes Better People
• The Acoustic Alarm
• Death of Cursive Handwriting: Will It Make Historical Documents Indecipherable?
• Knotted Gourds
• PuzzleWare: Solve The Puzzle Or Starve!
• Skilled Helicopter Pilot Rescues a Deer
• Spiderman vs. Wolverine Face Painting
• Tiger Dozing in the Snow
• Cut the Rope Cake
• The 6 Most Terrifying Historical Car Races
• The President's Speech Trailer

The Fall of the Wall Posted: 02 May 2011 05:05 AM PDT The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History Again. The East German government called the Berlin Wall “the Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier.” But the machine guns along its length were pointed inward, toward East Berlin, not outward. Shortly after midnight on August 13, 1961, the city of Berlin was cut in two. Soviet and East German troops moved in and ringed the city. Train service between the two cities was stopped. Telephone lines were cut. Streets connecting East and West were sealed off. The construction of the Berlin Wall had begun. The people of East Berlin were being locked in. EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE At first, the wall consisted of barbed wire, concrete barriers, and tanks. When complete, it was 100 miles (161 km) of pure concrete, 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 meters) high. It extended 28 miles (45 km) through the heart of Berlin and some 70 miles (113 km) around the city to isolate West Berlin from the rest of East Germany, which surrounded it. The wall was painted white, not to make it prettier, but to make it easier for border guards to see and shoot at anyone attempting to climb over it. A second wall was built 100 yards (91 meters) to the east of the first wall. In the no-man’s-land (known as the Death Zone) between them were 293 watchtowers along with searchlights, killer guard dogs, self-firing guns, and land mines. Over the years, the wall was rebuilt three times to make it harder and harder to breach. THE GREAT ESCAPES * The greatest number of escapes from East Berlin took place in the first two years while the wall was still being fortified. * One East German butcher fashioned bulletproof protection by strapping hams, roasts, and sausages around his body. While he was hurling himself over the barbed wire, the meat absorbed the bullets. * If a building was on the boundary line, people escaped by throwing mattresses out the windows and then jumping from second- or third-story windows. (First floor windows had been bricked up early on.) Some parents threw their children out windows on the eastern side into fireman’s nets on the western side. * One man threw a hammer and line from a roof of a building in the East over the wall and, with his wife and young son, slid down it in a homemade chairlift. So many people used stout rope thrown over a wall (and held by someone on the other side) that East Germany banned the sale of any rope sturdy enough to hold a human being. * East Germans used Berlin’s ancient sewer system to escape- until the authorities cemented the manhole covers shut. * One woman created Soviet uniforms for herself and three friends. They saluted the East German guards and walked through through the checkpoint unquestioned. * In 1979, two families with eight people sewed together bits of fabric, made a homemade hot-air balloon and flew to safety on the other side. In response, the East German government limited the sale of lightweight fabrics such as nylon. * Tunnels were dug all over East Berlin. One ingenious tunnel started in a mausoleum in an East Berlin cemetery. “Mourners” would enter the crypt -and never exit. In 1962, NBC-TV funded a tunnel from Bernauer Street in East Berlin to Schoenholzer Street in West Berlin. They filmed the escape of 56 refugees, before flooding shut the tunnel. Another tunnel, they escape route for 57 people, was 430 feet (131 meters) long and took six months to build. Yet another began in a backyard outhouse in East Berlin and ended in a bakery on the western side. Estimates vary widely, but between 5,000 and 16,500 people escaped East Berlin by outwitting the wall -and the border guards. Some 246 hopefuls are known to have died trying, and approximately 3,200 people were arrested for attempting escape -and were either sentenced to death or imprisoned for life. (Because of the extreme secrecy of the East German government, the exact number may never be known.) THE FIRST CRACK IN THE WALL By the late 1980s, the Communist governments of the Soviet Union and East Germany were near collapse. In May 1989, Hungary started cutting down the barbed wire fence along its Austrian border. East Germans vacationing at Hungary’s lakes saw their opportunity. That summer, 5,000 people a week escaped to West Germany via Hungary and Austria. On September 10th, 1989, Hungary completely opened its border with Austria. East Germans began streaming through, and by the end of the summer, 50,000 had fled East Germany. The floodgates to freedom had opened. On November 4, 1989, Czechoslovakia opened its borders to tens of thousands of fleeing East Germans. All this fueled massive unrest in East Germany; antigovernment demonstrations were held, and the East German Communists ousted their leader. THE WALL COMES TUMBLING DOWN The East German government tried one last effort to stem the rush of people to the West. Late on November 9, 1989, as a postscript to a long news conference, an East German spokesman announced that, beginning immediately, the borders between East and West Germany and East and West Berlin would be open to travel unconditionally. (Image credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1989-1110-018/Oberst, Klaus/CC-BY-SA) Within hours, stunned and disbelieving crowds had gathered at the wall. When people crossed the border checkpoints without being shot at, the celebrations began. Berliners hugged relatives they hadn’t seen in 28 years. Masses of people took hammer and chisel, then sledgehammers, to the wall. East Berliners marveled at the abundance in the West Berlin shops. The city of West Berlin gave each East Berliner $60 (49 euros) in “welcome money.” One man returned library books that he had borrowed from the American library in West Berlin the day before the wall went up -only 28 years overdue. The world media turned out in droves to cover the weeks-long party at the wall. (Image credit: Flickr user Felix Petersen) By December 3, the Communist government in East Germany was ousted. In March 1990, East Germans voted their country out of existence. Germany was officially reunited on October 3, 1990. THE WORLD WIDE WALL Today, very little of the Berlin Wall is left.The official demolition began on June 13, 1990. Small segments of the wall still stand in three locations, and the rest of the wall’s course is marked by a double row of cobblestones. Some segments of the wall were recycled for road building. (Image credit: Wikipedia user Scapler) Pieces of the wall are displayed in Washington, D.C.; at the libraries of former presidents Nixon, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush; at the Seattle Center; and, most improbably (or maybe not) in the men’s restroom of a downtown Las Vegas casino. There, the once feared and hated Berlin Wall serves as a backdrop to a row of urinals. A nice spot for a little revenge. ***** * There were three checkpoints that were given names based on the phonetic alphabet. The Helmstedt checkpoint was called Alpha, the Dreilinden checkpoint was Bravo, and the checkpoint at Friedrichstrasse got the name Charlie. * Although the wall was over 103 miles long, only a small section of it was painted with grafitti -the two-mile area between Checkpoint Charlie and the Brandenberg Gate. The rest was plain unadorned concrete. (Image credit: Wikipedia user Noir) * There are 80 known deaths of people who died while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989. The last death occurred just nine months before the wall fell on November 9, 1989. * Germany was reunited on October 3, 1990. ______________________________ The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History Again. The book is a compendium of entertaining information chock-full of facts on a plethora of history topics. Uncle John’s first plunge into history was a smash hit – over half a million copies sold! And this sequel gives you more colorful characters, cultural milestones, historical hindsight, groundbreaking events, and scintillating sagas. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute

Osama bin Laden is Dead Posted: 01 May 2011 09:55 PM PDT President Obama called a late night news conference to announce that Osama bin Laden is dead. He was shot in a firefight in Pakistan: Osama bin Laden, the Saudi extremist whose al-Qaida terrorist organization killed more than 3,000 people in coordinated attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, is dead following a military operation in Pakistan and the U.S. has recovered his body, U.S. President Barack Obama announced Sunday night. "Justice has been done," the president declared as crowds formed outside the White House to celebrate, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "We Are the Champions," NBC News reported. Obama said bin Laden, whom he called a terrorist "responsible for the murder of thousands of American men, women and children," was killed in Pakistan earlier in the day after a firefight in a military operation that was based on U.S. intelligence. Link

The Hat Cupcake Posted: 01 May 2011 07:11 PM PDT Early Friday morning, I predicted that Princess Beatrice’s hat would be the instant meme to arise from the royal wedding. Now it’s all over the place. You’ve really hit the heights of instant pop culture when you are enshrined in a cupcake. Wir Machen Cupcakes of Munich, Germany created this lovely tribute to Princess Beatrice’s hat. Link -via The Daily What

Yareta Posted: 01 May 2011 05:15 PM PDT This reminds me of a movie… I believe it was The Blob. But this is a real plant that grows in the high elevations in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia. It’s called Yareta or Llareta. Find out all about it and see more pictures at Kuriositas. Link (Image credit: Flickr user Nicole Courneya)

Crushing Beer Cans with a Lowrider's Suspension Posted: 01 May 2011 01:47 PM PDT (Video Link) There’s always a better way to build a mousetrap. Or, in this case, an aluminum can crusher. I dunno — I figure that there’s got to be a cheaper way than this solution. via Jalopnik

Can You Be Fat and Fit? Posted: 01 May 2011 01:44 PM PDT It seems like a silly question, some say that heavy people who exercise can actually be healthier and live longer lives than their skinny but sedentary friends. Well, maybe. Adam Bean of Runner’s World asked two experts what "fit" really means: RW: Do the benefits of exercise matter more than losing weight? YES: Physical activity can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, regardless of your weight. Whether you’re talking about boosting good HDL cholesterol, lowering bad LDL cholesterol, reducing blood pressure, and so forth—all these can be improved with exercise, even if you don’t lose weight. And this results in a lower cardiovascular-disease risk. Physical activity seems to have a profound effect on overall mortality risk as well—again, regardless of your weight. NO: Exercise can improve your health, but you can list more than 50 medical conditions—from diabetes to arthritis to acid reflux to sleep apnea to certain cancers—that result from complications from carrying excess weight. Even losing five or 10 pounds will lower your risk of developing these issues and improve your health. Link (Photo: Shutterstock)

Cheating and Benevolent God: How A Mean God Makes Better People Posted: 01 May 2011 01:43 PM PDT Does an angry and vengeful God make for better people? Apparently so according to a new study by University of Oregon psychologists, who found the link between one’s willingness to cheat and the belief of a benevolent God: In line with many previous studies, it found no difference between the ethical behavior of believers and nonbelievers. But those who believed in a loving, compassionate God were more likely to cheat than those who believed in an angry, punitive God. "The take-home message is not whether you believe in God, but what God you believe in," said Azim Shariff, a psychologist at the University of Oregon. Shariff conducted the study with psychologist Ara Norenzayan, who had been his doctoral advisor at the University of British Columbia. Doesn’t this remind you of the age-old joke of "I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness." Link

The Acoustic Alarm Posted: 01 May 2011 01:42 PM PDT If you’re tired of waking up to the blaring of an annoying alarm, check out The Acoustic Alarm by University of Dundee product designer Jamie McMahon. It’ll serenade you out of bed. Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

Death of Cursive Handwriting: Will It Make Historical Documents Indecipherable? Posted: 01 May 2011 01:41 PM PDT The drumbeat of lamentation of how cursive handwriting is dying continues (It seems like every year we have a post on the death knell of cursive, so why should 2011 be any different?) Young people rarely use cursive anymore, and that may be fine for their daily communication needs, but consider this report by Katie Zezima for The New York Times: the death of cursive also means that a growing number of historical documents will become indecipherable to them. Jimmy Bryant, director of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Central Arkansas, says that a connection to archival material is lost when students turn away from cursive. While teaching last year, Mr. Bryant, on a whim, asked students to raise their hands if they wrote in cursive as a way to communicate. None did. That cursive-challenged class included Alex Heck, 22, who said she barely remembered how to read or write cursive. Ms. Heck and a cousin leafed through their grandmother’s journal shortly after she died, but could barely read her cursive handwriting. “It was kind of cryptic,” Ms. Heck said. She and the cousin tried to decipher it like one might a code, reading passages back and forth. “I’m not used to reading cursive or writing it myself.” Link | The Atlantic has the counterargument

Knotted Gourds Posted: 01 May 2011 01:13 PM PDT Glen Burkhalter, a gourd artist of Lacey Spring, Alabama, creates some impressive pieces, including gourds with spiral and knotted stems and others engraved to look like globes: When his extra large handle dipper gourds are about one feet long, Glen Burkhalter wraps them in pantyhose. Then, he waits for about two months until the gourds are fully grown. After he removes the pantyhose, he has a gourd-handle that resembles a really long unicorn horn.[...] Jim Story, recognized by the American Gourd Society as a "gourd-growing legend," once challenged Burkhalter to tie two knots in one gourd — a mission Story had tried hundreds of times but could not accomplish. Burkhalter tied the first knot when the gourd — another extra large handle dipper gourd — was only 6 inches long. At this point, the shell is malleable, but the gourd is too short to tie a double knot. Day after day, Burkhalter would see this gourd and, instead of tying the second knot, he would bend the stem just a bit each day until it grew into a second knot. Link | Photo: University of Florida

PuzzleWare: Solve The Puzzle Or Starve! Posted: 01 May 2011 12:54 PM PDT Here’s something that will make mealtime fun (or frustrating – depending on how good you are at solving puzzles): PuzzleWare utensils ($8.95) from the NeatoShop, a set of fork and spoon "puzzle" that you have to solve before you can eat. Perfect for your little Houdinis: Link | More Mealtime Fun | Gag Gifts & Pranks

Skilled Helicopter Pilot Rescues a Deer Posted: 01 May 2011 12:00 PM PDT (Video Link) A deer fell through the ice covering a frozen lake. A helicopter pilot came in close to observe and reasoned that he could use the force generated by his blades to blow the deer onto the ice and to the shore. And he was right! via reddit

Spiderman vs. Wolverine Face Painting Posted: 01 May 2011 11:21 AM PDT Nicola Shilson made this image for the UK Face & Body Painting Convention in Telford. Her gallery is at the link. It includes some really nice images of paintings composed on the bellies of pregnant women. Link via Walyou

Tiger Dozing in the Snow Posted: 01 May 2011 11:11 AM PDT Nature photographer Bobby McLeod captured this excellent shot of a tiger sleeping under a light blanket of snow. His gallery is filled with other great wildlife photos. Link via Doobybrain

Cut the Rope Cake Posted: 01 May 2011 07:24 AM PDT Cut the Rope is right up there with Angry Birds as far as addicting iPhone games go, don’t you think? If you haven’t been playing it, perhaps this amazing cake from Crazy Beautiful Cakes will inspire you to make a visit to the App Store. There are a bunch of other amazing game-inspired cakes over at Cakewrecks’ Sunday Sweets post today, but this one is by far my favorite. Link via Cakewrecks

The 6 Most Terrifying Historical Car Races Posted: 01 May 2011 07:05 AM PDT People love a race. They began to race cars before any of the kinks in such an undertaking were worked out. Consider the 1903 Paris to Madrid road race: As a result of the constant, unremitting horror that unfolded on the first day, the race officials just drew a new finish line in Bordeaux. Given the nascence of car manufacturing, not many people understood yet the inherent danger of traveling that fast in a wood and steel shell filled with explosives. All day, cars crashed into trees, burst into flames, careened into groups of spectators or just straight up disintegrated. Out of all the hundreds of racers that started, more than half crashed out in that first day, at least eight people died including one of the founders of Renault. But that was just one race. Things got considerably worse in the next, when locals shot at passing vehicles! Read all six stories at Cracked. Link -via Buzzfeed

The President's Speech Trailer Posted: 01 May 2011 05:49 AM PDT (YouTube link) The White House prepared a movie trailer for president Barack Obama’s routine last night at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner. It’s a sequel to The King’s Speech.

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