Neatorama

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• The Grand Rapids LipDub
• Married Couple No Longer a Majority in USA
• Dutch Government to Ban Cannabis Tourism?
• "Eau de Toilet": Artist Made Perfume Out of Own Urine
• Anchor of Blackbeard's Ship Found
• Link to the Future
• Stress Beater
• 7 Amazing Animal Stationmasters of Japan
• Pac Man Cross Stitch in the Street
• Air Force Academy Graduates Four Sisters
• Princess Leia/Vespa Headphones
• Questionable News Sources
• Rifle in Stained Glass
• Functional Imaginary Phone
• Sex Scandals Are So Pricey These Days
• The Suburban Life of Napoleon’s Brother
• Awesome Comics Art of the Week
• The Most Well-Read Cities in the USA
• US Postal Service: Is Collapse Imminent?
• Yellow Submarine Mug
• Airline Food Just Got Awesome... Sorta
• Joplin: Before and After
• The First Trillionaires Will Make Their Fortunes in Space
• Obituary of Mars' Robot Geologist
• Google Wants to Be Your Wallet
• 3D Map of The Universe
• Ball Droppings
• Brobocop
• Insert Your Own "Butt" Joke Here
• The Secret Life of Storage Units in Honolulu

The Grand Rapids LipDub Posted: 28 May 2011 03:14 AM PDT (YouTube link) Back in January, Newsweek listed Grand Rapids, Michigan as one of “America’s Dying Cities.” Mayor George Hartwell did not agree, and said as much. The city responded by producing an epic LipDub video to Don McLean’s “American Pie,” featuring 5,000 of the city’s residents, recorded on May 22nd. Whether this makes any sense at all is up for debate, but you have to admit the video is a masterpiece of civic participation and timing. For their part, the Newsweek website distanced itself from the Dying Cities list by explaining it was content from a partner site. The $40,000 cost of the video project was underwritten by sponsors that are listed at YouTube.  -via Metafilter

Married Couple No Longer a Majority in USA Posted: 27 May 2011 10:25 PM PDT The American family has reached a milestone: according to the Census Bureau, married couples are now no longer a majority in American households. “The days of Ozzie and Harriet have faded into the past,” said William Frey, the senior demographer at Brookings who analyzed the data. [...] Today, traditional patterns have been turned upside down. Women with college degrees are now more likely to marry than those with just high school diplomas, the reverse of several decades ago, said June Carbone, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and co-author of “Red Families v. Blue Families.” Rising income inequality has divided American society, making college-educated people less likely to marry those without college degrees. Members of that educated group have struck a new path: they marry later and stay married. In contrast, women with only a high school diploma are increasingly opting not to marry the fathers of their children, whose fortunes have declined along with the country’s economic opportunities. “Employment instability depresses marriage rates,” Ms. Carbone said. Explaining the reasoning, she said, “I can support myself and the kid, but not myself, the kid, and him.” (Photo: Reluctant Groom from the NeatoShop)

Dutch Government to Ban Cannabis Tourism? Posted: 27 May 2011 10:24 PM PDT Last week, it was marmite. Soon, it will be pot-smoking tourists who will be banned from Dutch’s cannabis shops: The Dutch government on Friday said it would start banning tourists from buying cannabis from "coffee shops" and impose restrictions on Dutch customers by the end of the year. The Netherlands is well known for having one of Europe’s most liberal soft drug policies that has made its cannabis shops a popular tourist attraction, particularly in Amsterdam. Backed by the far-right party of anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders, the coalition government that came into power last year announced plans to curb drug tourism as part of a nationwide program to promote health and fight crime. "In order to tackle the nuisance and criminality associated with coffee shops and drug trafficking, the open-door policy of coffee shops will end," the Dutch health and justice ministers wrote in a letter to the country’s parliament on Friday. Link

"Eau de Toilet": Artist Made Perfume Out of Own Urine Posted: 27 May 2011 10:23 PM PDT "Signature scent" doesn’t get any more personal than this, folks! If you love to hear the unusual things artists do in the name of art, "urine" for a treat: Conceptual artist Cherry Tree has a scent of mystery about her. And the smell of urine. Her urine. And it’s intentional. For the last five years, Tree, who splits time between Missouri and Spain, has been turning her own urine into perfume. "I am very much into recycling," Tree, born Charity Blansit, told AOL Weird News. "And urine is something I’ve thought needs to be recycled, since it’s something that gets eliminated." [...] "I was fascinated by how the smell changes depending on what you eat," she said. "For instance, it smells really good after you eat a lot of honey and it smells terrible after eating chicken." David Moye of AOL News has the full story: Link | Cherry Tree’s blog – via Fark

Anchor of Blackbeard's Ship Found Posted: 27 May 2011 10:22 PM PDT An expedition off the North Carolina coast recovered the anchor from the wreckage of pirate Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge: The Queen Anne’s Revenge is believed to have run aground in the shallow waters off Beaufort in 1718. The ship was discovered in 1996, with piecemeal recovery of artifacts intensifying only a few years ago. [...] The expedition is trying to score a trove of 18th-century goods, which will be used to educate the public and raise awareness of underwater preservation efforts. The site has already yielded more than 250,000 artifacts, including cannons, gold, platters, glass, beads, shackles and rope, according to the state. Why, just in time to mark the opening of the summer blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. How do they time this stuff? Link See also: NeatoShop’s Pirate Store

Link to the Future Posted: 27 May 2011 08:22 PM PDT (Video Link) Quickly! A wormhole will only open if the ocarina is played at 88 beats per minute! This ingenious fan film by Grant Duffrin explains and unites the stories of The Legend of Zelda franchise by suggesting that they are all necessary components of a particular timeline. Doc Brown’s mission is to ensure that Link takes the necessary steps to set the chain of events in motion. via Topless Robot

Stress Beater Posted: 27 May 2011 06:55 PM PDT Stress Beater – $7.45 Does work have you down?  Do you need a way to channel your anger and frustration?   Get the Stress Beater from the NeatoShop and show stress who is boss. Stress will be screaming for mercy at the sight of this soft and squishy rubber toy. Nothing says I mean business like a set of fake brass knuckles! Check out all the fantastic Stress Balls available at the NeatoShop. Link

7 Amazing Animal Stationmasters of Japan Posted: 27 May 2011 05:48 PM PDT We told you the story of Tama, the cat who became stationmaster at a train station in Japan (one, two, three, four, five times). Her success at bringing in new customers has spawned a series of non-human stationmasters, including dogs, monkeys (previously), goats, rabbits, a penguin, a tortoise, and even lobsters! Shown is Wasao, stationmaster at Ajigasawa. Japan has at least two stationmaster dogs, with the latest being a shaggy off-white Akita named Wasao. Already somewhat of an animal celebrity in Japan for his "busa-kawa" (ugly-cute) characteristics, Wasao was the ideal choice to be Tourism Stationmaster of Ajigasawa station in far-northern Aomori prefecture. Get that? TOURISM Stationmaster… they aren't big on subtlety up in Aomori. Read about all of them at WebEcoist. Link -via Fark

Pac Man Cross Stitch in the Street Posted: 27 May 2011 05:39 PM PDT I don’t have any information about this clever piece of street art except that it was discovered by Flickr user Bear in Mind. I wonder what material was used. Link via Craft

Air Force Academy Graduates Four Sisters Posted: 27 May 2011 05:35 PM PDT The admission standards for the US service academies are incredibly demanding, to say nothing of the task of graduating. But success runs in the Robillard family. The four children of the family, who form two sets of twins, are all graduates of the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado: As twins, and soon-to-be 2nd Lieutenants, Alicia and Amanda Robillard graduate today, the Robillard's makes history as the first family to graduate four sisters from the Academy. "As anyone who attended the academy can attest to, there is just that language and shared experience that all grads have in common, and being able to share that with all my sisters has really kept our bond strong," said Lauren Robillard, Class of 2007 and the eldest sister of the family. "I would even venture to say that by having all attended the academy, we are closer than we otherwise would have been." Link via The Mary Sue | Photo: USAF Academy

Princess Leia/Vespa Headphones Posted: 27 May 2011 05:25 PM PDT Whether they remind you of Princess Leia’s hair buns or Princess Vespa’s headphones (Spaceballs), redditor Jacquielonglegs did a great job with this craft project. She wonders if she should sell the set. Would you buy them? Link via Fashionably Geek

Questionable News Sources Posted: 27 May 2011 05:11 PM PDT In the olden days of the Internet, it was fun to trip people up by linking to The Onion stories and acting as though they were real. Now, people are too Internet saavy to fall for this trick. Well, one would hope so, but it is not to be. Literally Unbelievable is a new Tumblr blog filled with screenshots of Facebook users taking articles from The Onion seriously. Link via Kottke

Rifle in Stained Glass Posted: 27 May 2011 04:39 PM PDT It’s an AR-15 short-barreled rifle rendered in stained glass by Joe Thunstrom. I can so easily imagine it in a kitchen window in a picturesque country cottage. Link via Everyday, No Days Off

Functional Imaginary Phone Posted: 27 May 2011 04:29 PM PDT (Video Link) Here’s how it works: the palm of your hand is in view of a depth camera. Wherever you point on your palm corresponds to an area of the screen on a touchscreen phone. The computer hooked up to the camera then sends relevant commands. Researchers at Potsdam University figure that this technology that they’ve developed could go from experimental to commonplace without many people even noticing: In their tests, the depth camera was a clunky head mounted device. “But ultimately, we envision the camera becoming so small that it integrates into clothing, such as the button of a shirt, a brooch, or a pendant. So people would not even notice if someone carries an imaginary phone,” Baudisch told New Scientist. “We envision that users will initially use imaginary phones as a shortcut to operate the physical phones in their pockets. As users get more experienced, it might even become possible to leave the device at home and spend the day 'all-imaginary’.” Answering calls on the phone would still require the physical device – but it would be possible to access apps and forward calls to voicemail with the imaginary version. Link via Walyou

Sex Scandals Are So Pricey These Days Posted: 27 May 2011 01:38 PM PDT There was a time when rich and powerful men were expected to have a few flings on the side–or, if they were really classy, a long-term mistress with her own conveniently located house. Those days are gone, though, and I can’t say I’m too upset about it. Now a sex scandal is a career-breaker for most of the high-profile philanderers who actually get caught. Over on The Daily Beast, they’ve been crunching numbers. What does an illicit affair cost a less-than-discreet public figure? The price of fame is most striking in the aftermath of scandal. A damage control campaign—staffed by a legion of lawyers, press representatives and aides—is expensive, but so is losing a high-power job and any hope of professional redemption. In the last five years, sex scandals have ended the careers of at least two governors, six Congressional members and one CEO, while countless others remain in office despite allegations, admissions or lawsuits. Find out who had the 10 Most Expensive Sex Scandals and what they cost; click through for the gallery. Link

The Suburban Life of Napoleon’s Brother Posted: 27 May 2011 12:21 PM PDT Being the older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte wasn’t an easy job. Joseph wanted to be a writer, but instead had to rule Naples and then Spain. When Napoleon was defeated, Joseph set sail for the United States, where he eventually settled in  …New Jersey! Bonaparte may have been dethroned, but he was still royalty. He built up the estate to reflect his social standing. He constructed a vast mansion for himself, with a large wine cellar, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, elaborate crystal chandeliers, marble fireplaces and grand staircases. His library held the largest collection of books in the country at the time (eight thousand volumes versus the sixty-five hundred volumes of the Library of Congress). The land surrounding the mansion was elaborately landscaped and featured ten miles of carriage paths, rare trees and plants, gazebos, gardens, fountains and an artificial lake stocked with imported European swans. But life in the Garden State was not all fun and games. Joseph Bonaparte dealt with some who sought revenge against his name, the wife who would not immigrate with him, and even the Jersey Devil! Read all about Bonaparte’s American life at mental_floss. Link

Awesome Comics Art of the Week Posted: 27 May 2011 10:58 AM PDT The folks over at ComicsAlliance see a lot of great art, especially of the superhero variety. They run across so many great artists and designers that a few months ago, they started a weekly column called “The Best Art Ever (This Week)”. This week’s installment is pretty great, with subject matter ranging from Superman (of course) to the Power Puff Girls in styles from hyper-realistic to black-and-white abstractions. Click through to see all the images! Link | Featured image: Paul Sizer

The Most Well-Read Cities in the USA Posted: 27 May 2011 10:21 AM PDT Which cities in the United States have the most bookworms? Amazon has just announced a list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America: After compiling sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format since Jan. 1, 2011, on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents, the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities are: Cambridge, Mass. Alexandria, Va. Berkeley, Calif. Ann Arbor, Mich. Boulder, Colo. Miami Salt Lake City Gainesville, Fla. Seattle Arlington, Va. Knoxville, Tenn. Orlando, Fla. Pittsburgh Washington, D.C. Bellevue, Wash. Columbia, S.C. St. Louis, Mo. Cincinnati Portland, Ore. Atlanta A few more nifty details: Cambridge, Mass., ordered the most nonfiction books Boulder, Colo., ordered the most books in the Cooking, Food & Wine category Alexandria, Va., residents ordered the most children's books Miami, Gainesville, and Orlando topped the list of buying the most books from the Summer reading list Is your city listed?

US Postal Service: Is Collapse Imminent? Posted: 27 May 2011 10:20 AM PDT For the past three years, Phillip Herr of the US Government Accountability Office was tasked by Congress to find out what’s wrong with the US Postal Service. He came to this conclusion (unsurprising to some, I’m sure): Herr and his team concluded that the postal service’s business model was so badly broken that collapse was imminent. Abandoning a long tradition of overdue reports, they felt they had to deliver theirs 18 months early in April 2010 to the various House and Senate committees and subcommittees that watch over the USPS. A year later, the situation is even grimmer. With the rise of e-mail and the decline of letters, mail volume is falling at a staggering rate, and the postal service’s survival plan isn’t reassuring. Elsewhere in the world, postal services are grappling with the same dilemma—only most of them, in humbling contrast, are thriving. [...] The problems of the USPS are just as big. It relies on first-class mail to fund most of its operations, but first-class mail volume is steadily declining—in 2005 it fell below junk mail for the first time. This was a significant milestone. The USPS needs three pieces of junk mail to replace the profit of a vanished stamp-bearing letter. Link

Yellow Submarine Mug Posted: 27 May 2011 09:46 AM PDT Yellow Submarine Mug – $9.95 Does your boring, old, coffee, mug make you feel blue?  You need the Yellow Submarine Mug from the NeatoShop (yes, officially licensed from The Beatles).  Printed inside the mug: “Love Is All You Need.”  This mug is so cheerful you can’t help but smile. Link | Be sure to check out all the fun Glassware & Drinkware from the NeatoShop!

Airline Food Just Got Awesome... Sorta Posted: 27 May 2011 09:19 AM PDT The last time I had an actual meal on an airplane, it was almost certainly a frozen Banquet turkey and dressing dinner in a different package. That doesn’t mean the novelty of eating inside an airplane has worn off, though. I’m currently planning a trip to Zurich just to eat an “in-flight” meal at Runway 34, a restaurant inside an a 1950s-era Soviet Ilyushin IL-14 airliner! See more pictures at Dvice. Link – via Born Rich | Image: Runway 34

Joplin: Before and After Posted: 27 May 2011 09:04 AM PDT NPR posted overhead views of Joplin, Missouri before the tornado hit Sunday, and two days after the devastation. You can move a slider over the pictures to compare the two. Be warned, it’s sad. Link -via Bits and Pieces

The First Trillionaires Will Make Their Fortunes in Space Posted: 27 May 2011 08:39 AM PDT It's always interesting to me when people start bringing economics into such other worldly endeavors as space exploration. However financial gain will ultimately be the driving force to get us there. Twenty trillion USD is the estimated market value of a relatively small metallic asteroid that was first calculated by John S. Lewis in his book Mining The Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets. Lewis argued that “using presently available or readily foreseeable technologies, we can relieve Earth of its energy problem, make astronomical amounts of raw materials available, and raise the living standard of people worldwide.” Link

Obituary of Mars' Robot Geologist Posted: 27 May 2011 08:38 AM PDT It's hard to believe that NASA's Mars Rover Spirit which was only supposed to function for a short period of time had been going strong on the Red Planet for years. Sadly however its mission is coming to an end. From surviving bouts of amnesia to an escape from a sandy dungeon, sometimes it seemed that NASA’s Mars rover Spirit had at least nine lives. But yesterday, after hearing not a peep since March 2010, NASA decided to cut communications with the rover, putting an end to a six-year Martian mission during which it traveled 7730.5 meters. Daredevil escapes aside, here we assess the scientific legacy of this robot geologist. Link

Google Wants to Be Your Wallet Posted: 27 May 2011 08:38 AM PDT The day when we no longer use cash or credit cards is quickly approaching. Soon you may be using your smart phone to pay for items at stores and restaurants. For now, though, the "tap-to-pay" system is taking baby steps. Google Wallet will only be available as a trial in New York and San Francisco, and will work only on Samsung Nexus S 4G phones at select retailers using MasterCard PayPass terminals. Link

3D Map of The Universe Posted: 27 May 2011 08:37 AM PDT Scientists have created the largest 3D map of the universe that covers 380 million light years. The project took over a decade to complete. It’s called the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) and is based upon the University of Massachusetts’ Two-Micron All-SkySurvey (2MASS). Between 1997 and 2001, telescopes in Arizona and Chile worked together on an ambitious project to map the night sky. Link

Ball Droppings Posted: 27 May 2011 08:35 AM PDT This game may just waste a few hours of your day, but you will enjoy doing it. Try to angle the lines under the dropping ball to create different musical tones. You can adjust the speed and rate at which the balls drop. How did you do? Link

Brobocop Posted: 27 May 2011 08:05 AM PDT Serve the public trust. Protect the innocent. Uphold the law … while lookin’ good in a popped collar! Here’s Brobocop by Mike Mitchell – via Laughing Squid Previously on Neatorama: Mike Mitchell’s Parks And Recreation poster in the vein of Casablanca.

Insert Your Own "Butt" Joke Here Posted: 27 May 2011 07:39 AM PDT A billboard campaign aimed at promoting colon cancer awareness has been kicked to the curb in Washington state. The ads, which feature the slogan “What’s up your butt?”, were initially approved unanimously by the Tri-City health board in April. After residents complained that the ads were “in poor taste,” (though the images were revealed before the initial vote), a reversal was proposed and unanimously approved this Wednesday. So no “butt billboards” will go up in Washington, which is a bit of a let-down. Personally, I think it’s a great campaign, but then I don’t fall inside the colo-rectal cancer-screening demographic. Or maybe it’s because I don’t have something up… well, you know. Link | Image: Yakima Health District

The Secret Life of Storage Units in Honolulu Posted: 27 May 2011 07:06 AM PDT What could be interesting about the business of renting storage units? The fact that they are used for so many other things besides storage! Renting a storage unit is cheaper than renting office space, retail space, a gym, or a home, so people make do. The only other person here is Jai Rodgers, front man for the band Breath of Fire, and he's about to make some serious noise. Rodgers has the obligatory boyish face and long hair of a lead singer, which he hastily pushes out of his eyes as struggles to plug in his microphone. His band only has 45 minutes to practice before showtime and Jai is ready to get warmed up. This corrugated metal box is the band's first real practice spot. "We were paying $35 for two hours at a studio in Kailua. This place is a lot cheaper and we don't have to make an appointment. Plus, we wanted to be able to store stuff after gigs at, like, 3 a.m.," says Rodgers. Honolulu Magazine has many other stories of people getting creative with rented storage units. Link -via Metafilter

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