Neatorama |
- How Many Beans Make Soup?
- Logan's Run Birthday Party
- Aakash Nihalani's Street Art
- Bacon Font
- Man Throws 4,800 Bottles with Messages out to Sea, Gets 3,100 Replies
- Watch Takeru Kobayashi Chug a Gallon of Milk in 18 Seconds
- Mathematical Haircut
- Daffy Duck Doesn't Need a Dungeon Master
- Buttered Pancakes Floor Pillows
- Top 10 Books Lost to Time
- Inflatable Beard
- QReo: QR Code Made from Oreo Cookies
- Doritos to be Sprinkled Over Creator's Grave
- Minimalist Pictogram Song Posters
- Say Hello to Saturn's Moons
- Can You Explain This Photo?
- All the U.S. State Capitals as Mentioned in Movies
- The Star That Shouldn't Exist
- My Big Fat Creek Wedding
- Shorn
- Frankenstein Marshmallow Pops
- Zombie Map
- Skull of Yorick
- BigDog Evolution
- A Practical Use for a Broken Laptop
- Wingsuited Man Flies Through a Mountain
- Phone Books
- Lives Within a Drop of Water
- Slow-Motion Slinky Drop
- A Day in Palindromia
| Posted: 27 Sep 2011 05:07 AM PDT
America's taste for bean soup appears to be unrelenting, and the World Wide Web offers more than a quarter of a million references to the subject. Multiple-bean soups are particularly in vogue. A methodical check on a leading search engine produced the following results which I record here for future historians of early twenty-first century food. Unexpectedly, this research also thrown up food for thought for mathematicians. The methodology for researching multiple-bean soup was thus: The phrase "2 bean soup" was entered into the search engine, and the result recorded. Next, the phase "two bean soup" was entered. The search term producing the largest number was recorded as the most accurate number. This method was repeated until the number of beans in soup failed to produce relevant returns, thus, "Page 34, beans are the flavor of the month for soup…" was not considered a valid return for '34 bean soup.' The chart (see Figure 2) plots the number of pages returned for each number of varieties of bean in soups for bean quantities ranging from 2 to 23. No soups were found using in excess of 23 varieties of bean.  Figure 2. A graph of the data. This depicts the number of World Wide Web pages the author found that pertain to each number of varieties of bean in soups for bean quantities ranging from 2 to 23. Taking the pulse of bean soup is less straight forward than originally supposed. I had reckoned to encounter a normal bell curve with a peak around 16 beans, as the diversity of recipes for bean soup would at first sight seem to be a random event. Multiple bean soup looks to be anything but a random phenomenon.  Figure 1. Three kinds of beans (in cans). Photo: S. Drew. Pushing the PacketFurther investigation of these relationships failed to locate a 25-bean soup (25 is 52) or 45 bean soup (45 is 5 x 9). Similarly, I have not been able to determine why prime numbers 7, 11 and 17 fail to make popular soup. 11- and 17-bean soups have turned in a particularly alarming performance, with only 21 and 12 references, respectively. (One must note the coincidental numeric palindrome formed by the digits 2 and 1.) Not being a cook, I cannot explain why the three major peaks occur around the numbers 3, 5 and 15. The mathematical relationship between the three numbers is startling (3 x 5 =15). Food historians may know of rules of proportion governing cuisine wherein years of experimentation have yielded rules for the use of ingredients in fixed mathematical proportions. The distance between successive peaks (major and minor: 3, 5, 9, 13, 15 19) occurs in a regular pattern as well: 2, 4, 4, 2, 4. (2, of course, is the second prime number, and 4 is its square). It is interesting to note that continuing the pattern (19 + 4) takes us to the prime number 23, which is the largest number of beans found in soup during our investigation. Some Possible Explanations
The visual appeal of objects odd or prime in number is well known, but given the nature of soup, the number of beans used in its preparation is not readily noticeable — either consciously or unconsciously — the soup eater, or even to someone who simply observes or handles the finished soup. Seasonal influences are not applicable, because most recipes use dried, rather than fresh, beans. Moving a step back in the process, the sale of beans is apt to be related to the marketing of the beans, in that prime and odd numbers are displayed at wholesale and retail outlets. Alternatively, there is the so-called Beethoven phenomenon. Beethoven's odd numbered symphonies are universally acknowledged to be superior to his even numbered ones. The appeal of odd numbers may stem from the fact that humans are, for the most part symmetrical, so there may be a special appeal for things with odd numbers, which would be considered exotic. Another possibility arises at the chemical level, where the interaction of odd or prime numbers of ingredients may produce more desirable flavors than do even or non-prime numbers. (A quick glance through a book of cocktail recipes suggests there is something to this, but it requires considerable further investigation.) SummaryThe socio-cultural origins of bean soup may be found to play an important part in unravelling the mathematical aspects of recipes in general and of multi-bean soup in particular. (A doctoral thesis titled 'Multi-bean soups in multi-cultural societies' is certainly in the offing.) ConclusionsWhile not significantly nearer knowing why the composition of multi-bean soups tends to cluster around certain numbers of beans, it has been shown that the number of beans in soups is not random and seems to have a purposiveness. That the clusters are around prime numbers (and their multiples) may be a statistical aberration arising from the fact that there is a disproportionately large number of prime numbers between 1 and 23 (there are 10 of them). However, the peaks are pronounced enough around the three major peaks (3, 5, 15) suggest that something else has a major influence over bean soup recipes. Further research is clearly called for. TABLE 1The Raw Data: Collected using www.google.com on 1 February 2002
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Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.  |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 07:16 PM PDT
Logan’s Run is a dystopia in which people live to the age of thirty, and not a day longer. On Last Day, they attend Carrousel, where they believe they re-enter the cycle of death and reincarnation. Carrousel is a lie, of course, as Logan 5 and Jessica 6 discover. Jess Hemerly is a big fan of the movie, so for her thirtieth birthday, she held a Logan’s Run-themed party. She wore a dress like the one actress Jenny Agutter wore in the movie and made this neat origami arrangement that looks like Carrousel. Check out her Flickr set at the link. Link -via Boing Boing | Hemerly’s Website Previously: Enormous Logan’s Run LEGO Diorama |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 06:54 PM PDT Urban artist Aakash Nihalani (previously at Neatorama) sent us a sneak peek at some of his illusory street art featured in a solo exhibit in Delhi, India. Click “more” to see, well, more.
Link to Nihalani’s website. Link to his Flickr stream. |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 06:34 PM PDT Henry Hargreaves made a font out of bacon! No, it’s not just a bacon font, each letter was constructed from real bacon, as you can see: It was a joint effort: Photography and direction by Henry Hargreaves, styling by Sarah Guido. See closeups of each letter at his website. Link |
| Man Throws 4,800 Bottles with Messages out to Sea, Gets 3,100 Replies Posted: 26 Sep 2011 06:33 PM PDT Harold Hackett of Prince Edward Island, Canada, does what the BBC calls “old-school social networking.” Since 1996, he’s tossed 4,800 bottles into the sea. The currents have carried some of them to Europe, Africa, the United States, and Caribbean islands. He knows this because he’s received more than 3,100 letters from people, many of whom share their inner thoughts with this stranger from across the ocean. Watch the video at the link about Hackett’s story. Link (self-starting audio) -via Gizmodo |
| Watch Takeru Kobayashi Chug a Gallon of Milk in 18 Seconds Posted: 26 Sep 2011 06:17 PM PDT (Video Link) Some people say that competitive eating isn’t a sport. Don’t say that in front of world hotdog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi. He’ll out eat you anytime. Here he is at a conference in New York City showing that he hasn’t lost his magical powers. -via That’s Nerdalicious! |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 06:12 PM PDT Nick Sayers demonstrates his knowledge of geometry through a unique haircut:
Link | Previously by Sayers: Geometric Sculpture Made from Coffee Stirrers |
| Daffy Duck Doesn't Need a Dungeon Master Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:53 PM PDT (Video Link) This clip from the new Looney Tunes Show imagines Daffy Duck as an immensely powerful wizard. Or at least, that’s what he thinks. Despite the frame selection above, the video is completely SFW. -via The Mary Sue |
| Buttered Pancakes Floor Pillows Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:33 PM PDT
I love this pillow set design by Todd von Bastiaans and Bryan McCarthy. They really do look like pancakes with pats of butter! Link -via Super Punch |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:20 PM PDT
A lost book that I would love to read is an account by Pytheas of Marseilles, a Fourth Century BCE Greek explorer. He is thought to have explored Britain and the Baltic Sea long before other Greek explorers reached these areas. Alas, his manuscript survives only in quotation by other ancient authors. Link -via Marginal Revolution | Photo: Wikimedia Commons |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 04:22 PM PDT Inflatable Beard – $3.95 Are you having a facial hair emergency? When you absolutely need a beard, but you don’t have time to grow one the Inflatable Beard from the NeatoShop is there for you. Transforming yourself into a distinguished gentleman is just a few puffs away. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Inflatable fun! |
| QReo: QR Code Made from Oreo Cookies Posted: 26 Sep 2011 04:05 PM PDT
See for yourself. Behold, the QReo by RedPepper: Link - via Engadget Previously on Neatorama: QR Codes and QR Codes as Art |
| Doritos to be Sprinkled Over Creator's Grave Posted: 26 Sep 2011 03:58 PM PDT
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| Minimalist Pictogram Song Posters Posted: 26 Sep 2011 03:47 PM PDT We’ve seen plenty of minimalist movie posters, but this might be the first time we’ve come across art like this for music. Swedish designer Viktor Hertz, whose honest logos made the rounds a while back, uses simple pictography to illustrate the title of songs. (My favorite is “Life is a Rollercoaster”) Check out more in his Flickr stream. Link | via Flavorwire |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 03:07 PM PDT
Look closely at the photo above and you can pick out 5 of Saturn's 60 natural satellites (Janus, Pandora, Enceladus, Mimas, and Rhea) as well as the planet's iconic rings:
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| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 02:04 PM PDT
The smiles, the stares, the cigars ... and the epic mustaches. Does anyone care to explain this vintage photograph taken by Knauer Gy. in 1910 Romania? Link And please would someone more hip than yours truly bring that mustache hair back in style? (Though not this way, mmkay?) |
| All the U.S. State Capitals as Mentioned in Movies Posted: 26 Sep 2011 01:58 PM PDT Why create a mashup of all of the U.S. capitals uttered in various movies? Well, why not? If you don’t have the patience to try to name the movies the clips came from yourself, there’s a handy guide in the video description if you hit the link. This is the same YouTube user who created the classic Don Draper Says What compilation, which you should definitely check out if you’re a Mad Men fan (and maybe even if you’re not). Link via Laughing Squid |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 12:03 PM PDT
Here's the story of the "Caffau's Star":
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| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:28 AM PDT The title of this picture from redditor theroboticdan is “My cousin’s entire Bridal Party sank into a lake this weekend. Awesome picture…. ” but the top-voted comment gave it the above title. There are plenty more puns in the comments. Link (Image credit: Jeff Hayford) |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:14 AM PDT I’m not sure if this is a llama or an alpaca or what, but he’s just had a serious haircut. Maybe he’s been to the llama mall! It’s just one of many nice pictures that span subjects from automobiles to retro movie stars, to animals, and even artworks in Dark Roasted Blend’s “Feel Good Issue” #3. Link |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:12 AM PDT Meaghan Mountford shows you step-by-step how to make your own frightening Frankenstein Marshmallow Pops for a ghoulishly glorious Halloween treat! Any recipe that calls for “candy eyes” is alright by me. Can you get those at the corner market? Link -via Laughing Squid |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:07 AM PDT
Where in the world are zombies? Oxford Internet Institute researchers Mark Graham (of Floating Sheep's fame), Taylor Shelton, Matthew Zook, and Monica Stephens mapped the world's zombie outbreaks:
See also NeatoShop's Zombie Shop |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 10:36 AM PDT Skull of Yorick – $12.95 Have you been dieing to reenact your favorite scene from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet? You need the Skull of Yorick from the NeatoShop. This resin skull will save you the trouble and legal ramifications of having a gravedigger exhume some other deceased court jester for you. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Shakespeare or Halloween items. |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 08:42 AM PDT Boston Dynamics made a music video featuring their BigDog Robotic Mule. You’ll see clips of various stages of the robot’s development and testing set to the tune of “Let the Big Dog Eat” performed by Alex Taylor. -via Geeks Are Sexy Previously at Neatorama: BigDog in 2006. Still funnier: The BigDog beta version. |
| A Practical Use for a Broken Laptop Posted: 26 Sep 2011 08:12 AM PDT |
| Wingsuited Man Flies Through a Mountain Posted: 26 Sep 2011 08:10 AM PDT |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 08:08 AM PDT This Twaggie was illustrated by Jeff Maksuta from a Tweet by @0ddfellow. How long has it been since you’ve used a phone book for anything other than boosting a seat? You can’t go by my experience, since I only talk to family members and people on the internet. Link |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 06:13 AM PDT Microphotography allows all of us to get a glimpse into the amazing worlds of very small things that are all around us. Every year, Nikon holds the Small World competition to showcase those people who not only study things we cannot see with the naked eye, but also record images of them that are works of art. Pictured here is a water flea with balls of algae. See more of the finalists in this year’s competition in a collection of photographs called Lives Within a Drop of Water, at Neatorama’s Spotlight Blog. Link (Image credit: Dr. Ralf Wagner/Nikon Small World) |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 06:09 AM PDT When you drop a slinky, which part of it moves faster? When you get a good look at it in slow-motion, it only raises more questions, which physics professor Rod Cross explains. See the rest of the experiment at The Daily What Geek. Link -via mental_floss |
| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:14 AM PDT
Our readers seem to love palindromes, words or phrases that are spelled the same forward and backward. So, on a recent trip to the BRI archives, we pulled out some of our favorite palindromes and used them to create this silly story. There are 52 hidden here (not including doubles). Can you find them all? Good luck! OTTO One day a zoologist named Otto paddled his kayak to Los Angeles, eating a banana sandwich. He had head there was something amiss with the animals there and wanted to help. When Otto reached the shore, a familiar voice called out, “Yo, Banana Boy, what’s happening?” Otto looked up and saw his old friend Ed, a general, a renegade who had left the military. General Ed was standing next to his new race car -a Toyota with attitude. “Wow!” said Otto, “Nice wheels!” “Yeah, but if I had a hi-fi stereo with a DVD player, it would be perfect,” replied Ed. “Hey, want a ride?” “Sure,” said Otto, and the two friends headed downtown.
The two men were pondering the story when Ed caught something out of the corner of his eye. “Was it a rat I saw?” he asked. Sure enough, there was a yak-sized rat waddling into the L.A. Zoo. “You’re on your own, Otto,” said Ed. “I’m outta here.” Even though Ed is on no side, thought Otto, his military experience could help. “You have to stay. We must capture that oozy rat in a sanitary zoo and stop him before he infects the other animals!” Ed paused, then remembered his duty. “I will help you, but we need a battle cry.” So Otto made Ed a motto: “Now, sir, a war is won.” The two warriors then followed the giant rat into the zoo. When they were near the entrance, Otto warned, “Make very sure that you step on no pets.” Too late- General Ed walked into a pile of irradiated gnu dung. It started creeping up his leg. Ed screamed but could not move. “Can’t go on,” Ed said, frothing at the mouth and babbling incoherently. “I am lonely. Tylenol won’t help me now. KING OGNIK
“Aha!” said King Ognik, “I knew there would be at least one human brave -and stupid- enough to confront me. I have infected these animals to do my evil bidding. Now you are all that I need to enslave the human race!” “You dirty rat,” said Otto, “You’ll never get away with it.”
STRAPGOD’S DOG PARTS They left DNA Land just as all the animals were gathering for the party. “Don’t make a peep,” order Miss Sim. Otto was led into the llama mall, past a store called the Tangy Gnat, and then into Strapgod’s Dog Parts. Once Otto’s hands touched the paws, he knew it would be all over for humanity. Dammit, I’m mad!, he thought. he tried to run, but Miss Sim seized him, and Strapgod the llama trotted down from his top spot. Miss Sim told Otto to place the bar crab on the counter, as Strapgod pulled a pair of dog paws from a barrel labeled “Tons o’ Snot.”
MAPS, DNA, and SPAM Miss Sim released Otto and ran toward the exit to warn the rat king, but General Ed captured her and tied her to the cart. Then Otto stepped up and said to her, “Go deliver a dare, vile dog. Tell your deified demigod that his diseased days of diabolical destruction are over! Not even a rat can live forever of evil.” Otto lit the fuse on the TNT, and General Ed pushed the party booby-trap into DNA Land as the two heroes ran out of the zoo. Just as they reached safety, a huge explosion rang out, ending the evil reign of King Ognik and his insane animal army. “Wow! Thanks a lot, Ed!” said Otto. “But how? I thought you were finished when you stepped in that evil poop.” “Yes, my palindromic friend, it seemed I was done for, but then this senile cat came out of the zoo and gave me a strange gift: a shopping cart full of dynamite, maps, DNA, and Spam.” “He did, eh?” “Yes. So I ate the Spam to give me strength, injected the DNA to counter the effects of the gnu dung, and used the maps to find you in the llama mall, and you know what I did with the TNT.” Otto was so relieved. He could name no one man as brave as General Ed. Thanks to them, the world was safe again for both humans and animals. And so, their civic duty done, Otto and general Ed turned to more urgent matters -they were famished. With a hankering for banana sandwiches, they hopped into Ed’s Toyota and drove off to the Yreka Bakery. _____________________________
The 17th book in this the Bathroom Reader series is filled to the brim with facts, fun, and fascination, including articles about the Origin of Kung Fu, How to Kill a Zombie, Women in Space and more! Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you’ll love the Bathroom Reader Institute’s books – go ahead and check ‘em out! |
by Michael Reidy
There are many possible explanation for these and other patterns that are evident in this referential-bean counting exercise. Several have to do with oddity and evenness.
The 
A Latin professor once told me that the number of texts that have survived from antiquity to modern times may be likened to a single cup of sand from a beach. But it’s not just major works from classical Greece and Rome that are lost. Some books by modern authors, too, have not survived the ravages of time. Megan Gambino of Smithsonian magazine has a roundup of ten books that are mentioned in various places, but have never been located. Among them is Cardenio, a play that William Shakespeare may have written:
You've seen 'em before, but QR codes are usually printed out with square bits. So would QR codes work if they're made out of cookies?
Sad news for snackers: Arch West, creator of Doritos, passed away last week. He was 97. West, of Dallas, Texas, is credited with creating the iconic snack chip after a family trip to San Diego in 1961. The inventor of the super-cheesy tortilla chips will get a memorable nod for his junk-food innovation, though:
Astronomers working on the Sload Digital Sky Survey noticed a star that - according to our understanding of how stars form - shouldn't exist at all.
The following is an article from Uncle John’s 
“Pull up, pull up!” yelled Otto as they passed a newsstand. Ed got out and bought the afternoon edition. The headline read “L.A. Ocelots Stole Coal.” Otto read aloud: “Authorities believe the ocelots are being controlled by a giant mutant rat who calls himself King Ognik. Injected with a ‘pure evil’ gene, Ognik had grown to the size of a yak and escaped the lab. Whereabouts: unknown.”
Otto, not knowing what else to do, left his friend and entered the zoo. It was the strangest place he’d ever been. Completely devoid of humans, the animals had free reign. To Otto’s right, there was a pride of senile felines fighting over a bird rib. To his left, he saw a llama mall complete with llama stores and llama customers. And down a dark pathway, Otto spotted King Ognik. It looked like some sort of laminated E.T. animal as it ran into a building marked “DNA Land.” Otto followed Ognik into a large room, where the rat sat regally on a throne made of stack cats. Behind Ognik were lots of ocelots holding stolen coal, fueling a cauldron.
“Oh yes I will. Meet my sergeant-at-arms, Sara Sim.” Out walked an armor-clad ewe with one giant eye. She was pointing a gun at Otto. “Now,” the king continued, “You will take this bar crab to the llama mall and go to a store called Strapgod’s Dog Parts. Then swap for I, a pair of paws. You either borrow or rob it, I don’t care. You see, after the dog paws touch human DNA, they will mix in with this lion oil, thus completing the creation of my vile virus, which will end your insignificant reign on this planet! Miss Sim will accompany you while I prepare a huge party to celebrate the end of humanity. Now go!”
Just as the paws were about to touch Otto’s skin, a familiar voice shouted in from the store’s entrance: “Yo, Banana Boy, need some help?” Otto and Miss Sim spun around. It was General Ed, and he had a huge shopping cart full of TNT! It was not a ton of dynamite, but more than enough to blow the zoo sky high. “Let him go, you ewe. If you refuse, I’ll light this fuse right now!”
The article above is reprinted with permission from 
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