Neatorama

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• Playable Receipt Printer
• Japanese Law Forbids Computer Viruses
• Floating Island City Designs
• DIY Book Light for Bibliophiles
• Grey Hair May Be A Thing Of The Past
• Old Photo WTFery
• Polaroid Masterpieces
• How Your Dad's Jams Indicate What Tunes Are On Your iPod
• Doctor Who TARDIS Floating Pen
• Bionic Funny Bone Transplant
• Jigsaw Puzzle Piece Tattoos
• Trapped People
• Embroidered Portraits
• Freddie Wong's Cereal Killer
• Big Man on the Bridge
• Peanuts is Incredibly Depressing Without the Last Panel
• House Full of Bookshelves
• RC Truck Pulling a Car
• This Week at Neatorama

Playable Receipt Printer Posted: 19 Jun 2011 04:00 AM PDT (vimeo link) Joshua Noble, Martin Fuchs, and Philip Whitfield built “ReceiptRacer”, a game that can be played on a receipt printer. It’s like a classic arcade racing game in which the player must drive down a twisty path without hitting obstacles. A light moves over the continuously printing surface, representing the player. Sensors detect if the player has collided with any obstacles and ends the game. Link -via Nerdcore | Joshua Noble’s Website

Japanese Law Forbids Computer Viruses Posted: 18 Jun 2011 11:52 PM PDT If you spend your days writing Trojan code or sending malware to thousands of hapless email address owners, you’d better steer clear of the Land of the Rising Sun. Otherwise it could cost you $6,200 in bail or three years in jail. [T]he bill that criminalizes the creation or distribution of computer virus was finally enacted last Friday by Japan's parliament. The law also includes provisions regarding punishment that will be meted out to people who have been caught sending pornographic images to random people. These laws are meant to crack down on the dirty web of cybercrime; however, some parts of the law border on infringing the privacy of communications as it allows data to be obtained or subpoenaed by authorities from servers for investigation when necessary. Japan is the first country to enact and implement such a law. Hopefully, we'll be able to gauge the effectivity of passing the law a few months down the line. Link | Image: Dvice

Floating Island City Designs Posted: 18 Jun 2011 11:34 PM PDT The Seasteading Institute is positive that someday in the future, we’ll have to migrate away from land and into renewable-energy powered floating cities. So sure, in fact, that they ran a competition for seastead designs for permanent, stationary structures that would allow for long-term ocean living. From the off-shore floating research laboratory shown above to a Jetsons-esque enclosure, WebUrbanist has a detailed round-up of the five winning entries.  Link Image credit: Team 3DA

DIY Book Light for Bibliophiles Posted: 18 Jun 2011 08:23 PM PDT (Watch on Vimeo) Sure, just about everyone who reads has a book light. But do you have a light made of a book? Don’t be sad; neither do I… yet. This video shows the process (rather quickly) on how to build your own cool lamp. For the tutorial, check out Grathio Labs. Link via Make Online

Grey Hair May Be A Thing Of The Past Posted: 18 Jun 2011 08:21 PM PDT Photo: Ito Lab/NYU Langone Medical Center – via ABC News Scientists believe they have cracked the code to restore hair to its original color. They have found a protein called wnt that is responsible for producing color in hair and also stimulates hair growth and produces new hair follicles. The lack of wnt activation in melanocyte stem cells leads to de-pigmented or grey hair. So far experiments have been performed on mice but it may be just a matter of time before hair products that raise wnt levels in humans appear on the market. This will be good news for those who are tired of frequent root touchups. Journal article – via Daily Mail

Old Photo WTFery Posted: 18 Jun 2011 08:01 PM PDT Historians of the future have their work cut out for them when it comes to decoding some of our current artwork and photographs, I’m sure. What will they think of the LOLcats? Probably something like what we think of these old photos over on Retronaut: Huh. WTF. See more general weirdness, including apparent side-show performers and the Wonder Spot. Link

Polaroid Masterpieces Posted: 18 Jun 2011 07:51 PM PDT In the 70s and 80s, Polaroid’s founder, Edwin Herbert Land, provided prominent artists with custom-made cameras and film not available to the public. Big names like Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe and Ansel Adams were fans of the limited-edition technology and used it often, resulting in the 44,000-piece collection of Polaroid masterpieces now owned by Vienna-based WestLicht Museum of Photography. They’re displaying 350 of the photos now in Austria, but if you can’t catch a flight in time to check it out, Flavorwire has a preview. Link Image: Patrick Nagatani/ WestLicht Collection

How Your Dad's Jams Indicate What Tunes Are On Your iPod Posted: 18 Jun 2011 04:38 PM PDT There’s no doubt that what your parents listened to when you were growing up has had some sort of an impact on what you listen to now, though I’m not totally sure it’s always as clear-cut as this graphic makes it. Instead of listening to something vaguely derivative of Jimmy Buffett, I think I was so overdosed on him by Parrothead parents as a kid that I purposely avoided anything remotely close to his music as an adult. But since Jimmy Buffett isn’t an option on this chart, I guess we’ll never know. Link via Mashable

Doctor Who TARDIS Floating Pen Posted: 18 Jun 2011 03:46 PM PDT Doctor Who TARDIS Floating Pen – $12.95 Attention Doctor Who fans!  Behold the Doctor Who TARDIS Floating Pen from the NeatoShop.   The pen features an awesome 3D floating TARDIS.  This is one pen you won’t be letting your friends borrow. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fabulous Doctor Who items! Link

Bionic Funny Bone Transplant Posted: 18 Jun 2011 03:33 PM PDT Gentlemen, we can rebuild her. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first bionic … funny bone? Here’s the story of 8-year-old Josalyn Kaldenberg, who became the first child in the USA to receive the funny bone transplant, a landmark procedure that saved her arm from amputation: Just a few months ago, it seemed inevitable that Josalyn would lose her arm to the cancer that had invaded the bones of her upper arm, elbow, and shoulder. Thanks to the first-of-its-kind funny bone replacement, however, Josalyn is now back coloring, writing and playing the piano at her Woodward, Iowa home. "It’s just amazing what they can do now, reattaching all the tendons and blood vessels and nerves and have the arm actually work. Obviously we don’t wish this would have happened, but it’s neat to see what can come about," says Josalyn’s mother, Heidi Kaldenberg. "I like my new arm a lot," says Josalyn, who is fiercely proud of the 12 inch scar that now graces her upper arm. Link

Jigsaw Puzzle Piece Tattoos Posted: 18 Jun 2011 02:51 PM PDT Ten high school friends, upon graduation, decided to get tattoos of puzzle pieces that fit into each other: After graduating high school, myself and 9 of my best friends got puzzle pieces on the side of our ribcages to represent our commitment throughout middle school and high school. Most of us had been friends since 6th grade, some before. We all got something inside our puzzle piece to make ours unique. All the pieces fit together, and we had a blast getting them. Link

Trapped People Posted: 18 Jun 2011 11:57 AM PDT Artist/prankster Dan Witz puts pictures of people behind fake ventilation grates and then places the grates in public places. This one, for example, was stuck on the outside of a condo in Brooklyn. Link -via Super Punch (where there’s a video) Previously about Dan Witz: Pranks — It’s the New Art

Embroidered Portraits Posted: 18 Jun 2011 11:47 AM PDT Daniel Kornrumpf embroiders portraits in amazingly lifelike detail. He stitches in a way that imitates brushstrokes. Above is “diamonds on my neck. diamonds on my grill” on linen. Link -via Swiss Miss | Artist’s Website | Photo: Libby Rosof

Freddie Wong's Cereal Killer Posted: 18 Jun 2011 11:37 AM PDT (Video Link) Freddie Wong has done it again! This action-packed short film depicts him as an undecided cereal shopper at a grocery store. Gun-wielding thieves should never interfere with a man trying to select a chocolate-flavored cereal. -via reddit

Big Man on the Bridge Posted: 18 Jun 2011 09:30 AM PDT I know you are familiar with this picture of workers on the Brooklyn Bridge, taken in 1914 by Eugene de Salignac for the city of New York. But wait… why is the guy on the right so much bigger than the others? He’s not. Rob at the What Is It? Blog altered the picture to make it an optical illusion! A few weeks ago I saw this old picture on the web of the Brooklyn Bridge painters and thought it was perfect for the classic perspective optical illusion, I made an exact copy of the person on the left of the photo and placed it on the right. Pretty neat, wouldn’t you say? -Thanks, Rob!

Peanuts is Incredibly Depressing Without the Last Panel Posted: 18 Jun 2011 07:34 AM PDT You guys might remember Garfield Minus Garfield, a tweak on Jim Davis’ classic comic strip that swept the Internet a couple of years ago, but Snoopy and the gang have received the meme treatment as well. 3eanuts has noted that Charles Schulz was typically dependent on the last panel of the comic strip for his punchline, and with that panel removed, Peanuts is often morose and depressing. Link

House Full of Bookshelves Posted: 18 Jun 2011 07:01 AM PDT Are you running out of room for your books? Here’s a house design by Kazuya Morita Architecture Studio that hopefully doesn’t have that problem. Google Translate renders the Japanese text as follows: Shelf-Pod is a private residence and study building, located in Osaka prefecture, Japan. The client owns an extensive collection of books on the subject of Islamic history, so he requested that we create this building with the maximum capacity for its storage and exhibition.[...] The original image of this structure is derived from the Japanese woodcraft of Kumiko. The structural integrity against an earthquake is provided by a panel of plywood board nailed on the shelf. Initially, the horizontal resistant force guaranteed by the panels was examined in a real-scale model. Further to this, an analysis of the whole structure was performed in order to determine the placement of the windows and panels. The inter-locking laminated pine-board was manufactured precisely in advance and assembled on-site. Similarly, the pyramid-shaped roof was assembled on-site, from 12 pieces of prefabricated wooden roof panel. The completed roof has a thickness of only 230mm and sensitively covers the whole space like the dome of a Mosque. Link (Google Translate) via Brian J. Noggle

RC Truck Pulling a Car Posted: 18 Jun 2011 06:55 AM PDT (Video Link) It was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June And a Kenworth pullin’ logs Cab-over Pete with a reefer on And a Jimmy haulin’ hogs We’s headin’ for bear on Eye-one-O ’bout a mile outta Shakeytown I says “Pigpen, this here’s Rubber Duck” “And I’m about to put the hammer down” -via The Presurfer

This Week at Neatorama Posted: 18 Jun 2011 06:00 AM PDT Tomorrow is Fathers Day! It’s a day to show your appreciation by giving dad gifts, a great meal, or time sharing his favorite activities. I have an additional suggestion from the perspective of a parent with several teenagers. Their father and I are trying to teach them what they need to live their lives, but it seems to fall on deaf ears -sound familiar? If you are lucky enough to still have your dad, you can please and honor him by letting him know how you remember and use the lessons he taught you about life. If your father has passed, you can honor him by telling your children of those memories. One day, I hope to find that my efforts didn’t go completely in one ear and out the other. Let your father know his teachings stuck with you. Stuff you don’t want to miss at Neatorama this past week includes Jill Harness’ post 8 Delightfully Geeky Wedding Proposals. We had two contributions from Eddie Deezen: Elvis Presley and His Animals last Sunday and What Groucho Ate on Friday. The Annals of Improbable Research gave us a poem in the style of Dr. Seuss with Horton Sees a Pluto. Keith Moon, Bathroom Bomber came to us from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. And from mental_floss magazine, we learned The Surprisingly Cool History of Ice. In the What Is It? game this week, the object in question is a salt pulverizer, for breaking up salt in a shaker. You can see several more patent sketches for it at the What Is It? blog. Strangely, no one guessed the correct answer. But a t-shirt from the NeatoShop goes to theoneoneandonly, who posited that this was for hurting parents' bare feet before Lego bricks were produced for the same purpose. Wrong, but funny, so it’s a winner! Check out these Fathers Day classics from The Best of Neatorama: Life Lessons my Dad Taught Me and 12 Impressively Active Animal Fathers. Want more? Be sure to check our Facebook page every day for extra content, contests, discussions, videos, and links you won’t find here. Also, our Twitter feed will keep you updated on what’s going around the web in real time. Thanks for spending time with us at Neatorama!

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