Neatorama

---

• Cheese: The Most Stolen Food in the World
• Sweaters for Penguins
• HoloDesk
• What's a Better Predictor of Achievement than Intelligence, Grades, or Personality?
• Does Facebook Make Your Brain Bigger?
• Stitchwork Optimus Prime Actually Transforms
• Scientists Develop the Most Relaxing Tune
• Freudian Slip
• Why You Should Never Wake Up Sleeping Zombie
• Bebop Taxidermied Boar Head
• Super Realistic Disney Princesses
• When Slipper Sizing Goes Wrong
• When Occupy Wall Street Goes Geek
• Real Pumpkin String Lights
• Vampires!
• INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY
• This Week at Neatorama

Cheese: The Most Stolen Food in the World Posted: 22 Oct 2011 08:08 PM PDT I would've guessed candy or liquor, but no. The most frequently stolen food on Earth is actually cheese: Almost four percent of the world's cheese supply ends up stolen, putting cheese ahead of other frequent grocery targets like candy and alcohol. Shoplifting rates as a whole are going up, because, hey, times are tough. "For the past six months, [retailers] have been affected by bad news—economic slow down, government cuts and now an increase in shoplifting," one retail analyst told Sky News. Link | The findings at Centre for Retail Research

Sweaters for Penguins Posted: 22 Oct 2011 07:19 PM PDT Two weeks ago, there was a terrible oil spill off the coast of New Zealand. Skeinz, a yarn store in that country, responding by asking people to knit little sweaters for penguins who have been harmed by the oil. So many people around the world made them that Skeinz says that it has all of the sweaters that it can use! Link -via The Uniblog | Photo: unknown

HoloDesk Posted: 22 Oct 2011 06:07 PM PDT Helloooo HoloDesk! Take a look at this nifty new Kinect-powered gadget from Microsoft that lets you manipulate 3-D virtual images with your hands. From Steve Clayton of Next at Microsoft Blog: My favorite is Holodesk, a research project out of the Sensors and Devices group at Microsoft Research Cambridge. I won’t attempt to describe what it does in great detail, except to say that with Holodesk you can manipulate 3-D, virtual images with your hands. Whilst this is only a research project at this stage, I can envisage future applications in areas such as board gaming, rapid prototype design or perhaps even telepresence, where users would share a single 3D scene viewed from different perspectives. I know it sounds very Star Trek but this is not science fiction. For the record, the Holodesk isn’t the only 3-D interaction experiment out there. But what sets it apart from the rest is the use of beam-splitters and a graphic processing algorithm, which work together to provide a more life-like experience. The video provides a much better explanation, so I’ll leave the explanation at that. Link - via Techcrunch

What's a Better Predictor of Achievement than Intelligence, Grades, or Personality? Posted: 22 Oct 2011 04:05 PM PDT The answer is hope. That's right: a study led by Psychologist Alex Wood of University of Manchester has revealed that hope trumps general intelligence, personality and even previous academic achievement in predicting success: A 3-year longitudinal study explored whether the two-dimensional model of trait hope predicted degree scores after considering intelligence, personality, and previous academic achievement. A sample of 129 respondents (52 males, 77 females) completed measures of trait hope, general intelligence, the five factor model of personality, divergent thinking, as well as objective measures of their academic performance before university (‘A’ level grades) and final degree scores. The findings suggest that hope uniquely predicts objective academic achievement above intelligence, personality, and previous academic achievement. Link to study [PDF] - via Barking up the wrong tree

Does Facebook Make Your Brain Bigger? Posted: 22 Oct 2011 02:04 PM PDT Maybe. Parts of your brain, anyhow. According to new research, those who are most active in social media have larger brain parts than others (even when compared to those who are social in real life): How social you are on social networks may depend on the size of your brain, according to new research. Or, at least, the size of your superior temporal sulcus, middle temporal gyrus, entorhinal cortex and amygdalae. The research, from University College in London, discovered that those who are more social in general tend to have larger amygdalae than their peers, but that those who are more social online also have increased sizes of the right superior temporal sulcus, the left middle temporal gyrus and the right entorhinal cortex. For those curious: The superior temporal sulcus is known to give cues about others' emotions, while the middle temporal gyrus helps us react to said social cues. The entorhinal cortex, meanwhile, has been linked to our memory. Researchers are uncertain what this information means or, more interestingly, whether the larger brain sections are the cause or the result of the size of the subjects' social networks. Graeme McMillan of TIME's Techland reports: Link

Stitchwork Optimus Prime Actually Transforms Posted: 22 Oct 2011 01:33 PM PDT Optimus Prime is the Chosen One, and into him shall be stitched the Matrix of Leadership. Lord Libidan made this Optimus Prime model using plastic canvas. Thanks to his clever use of magnets, it actually transforms. Link -via Feeling Stitchy

Scientists Develop the Most Relaxing Tune Posted: 22 Oct 2011 01:12 PM PDT Sound therapists and stress specialists worked with the band Marconi Union to develop “Weightless”, the most relaxing song ever: Weightless works by using specific rhythms, tones, frequencies and intervals to relax the listener. A continuous rhythm of 60 BPM causes the brainwaves and heart rate to synchronise with the rhythm: a process known as 'entrainment'. Low underlying bass tones relax the listener and a low whooshing sound with a trance-like quality takes the listener into an even deeper state of calm. Dr David Lewis, one of the UK's leading stress specialists said: "'Weightless' induced the greatest relaxation – higher than any of the other music tested. Brain imaging studies have shown that music works at a very deep level within the brain, stimulating not only those regions responsible for processing sound but also ones associated with emotions.” [...] The top 10 most relaxing tunes were: 1. Marconi Union – Weightless 2. Airstream – Electra 3. DJ Shah – Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix) 4. Enya – Watermark 5. Coldplay – Strawberry Swing 6. Barcelona – Please Don’t Go 7. All Saints – Pure Shores 8. AdelevSomeone Like You 9. Mozart – Canzonetta Sull’aria 10. Cafe Del Mar – We Can Fly Would you add any songs to this list? Recording of the Song and Story Link -via First Things Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user ewen and donabel This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Freudian Slip Posted: 22 Oct 2011 12:54 PM PDT For Halloween last year, redditor cakes1todough1 wore a Freudian slip. Get it? The symbolic decapitation represents…. Link -via Copyranter | Previously: Freudian Slippers

Why You Should Never Wake Up Sleeping Zombie Posted: 22 Oct 2011 12:03 PM PDT deviantART user Shira-chan showed us why we should NEVER wake up Sleeping Zombie. Check out the conclusion at her Twisted Fairy Tale page: Link - via ZombieSlam See also: Zombie Shop over at the NeatoShop

Bebop Taxidermied Boar Head Posted: 22 Oct 2011 11:03 AM PDT If you already have the parts and you’ve always wanted a real life Bebop doll, then why not go ahead and convert your taxidermied boar head like Darick Maasen did? Link Via Geeks Are Sexy

Super Realistic Disney Princesses Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:59 AM PDT Finnish graphic design student Jirka Väätäinen has recently been turning Disney princesses into realistic looking drawings of women. The results are stunning, even if Jasmine looks a little too much like Kim Kardashian to only be coincidence. Link

When Slipper Sizing Goes Wrong Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:56 AM PDT We all know just how important decimal points are, but just in case you need a reminder, just check out this guy’s custom made slipper. Because his feet are slightly uneven, Tom Boddingham ordered them from a custom slipper making company. Unfortunately, the workers filling the order mistook the size 14.50 slipper for an order for a size 1450. That’s right, it’s 100 times the size he ordered, making it big enough for him to sit in. On the upside, the company fixed the error and now Mr. Boddingham has a nice pair of slippers and an awesome new chair. Tom says he’s hoping to sell it on eBay, where he will probably make a hefty profit. After all, it’s not every day that someone finds a bear-foot slipper the size of an actual bear. Link Via GeekOSystem

When Occupy Wall Street Goes Geek Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:46 AM PDT Regardless of your personal political affiliations, I think this is a movement we can all get behind. Geeks Are Sexy has other funny, geeky Occupy Wall Street parodies at the link. Link

Real Pumpkin String Lights Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:42 AM PDT I’ve never bothered carving mini pumpkins because the process seems so unrewarding compared to carving a regular pumpkin. That being said, I might just change my mind after seeing these adorable string lights created by Evil Mad Scientist Labs. Link Via CraftZine

Vampires! Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:22 AM PDT Designer Ben Douglas illustrated a dozen pop culture vampires into one art print. Can you name them all? Of course you can! It’s for sale as a poster print or on canvas. Link to print. Link to artist’s site. -via Buzzfeed (Image credit: Flickr user Ben Douglas)

INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:09 AM PDT TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY. THE OFFICIAL CAPS LOCK DAY SITE LISTS OCTOBER 22 AND JUNE 28 BOTH AS CAPS LOCK DAYS. OTHERS CELEBRATE ON AUGUST 22. I DON’T KNOW WHO IS RIGHT. Agh, that is exhausting, especially since my caps lock key does not work. Link to official site. Link to Wikipedia. -via Metafilter

This Week at Neatorama Posted: 22 Oct 2011 06:59 AM PDT This past week, we’ve had some scary spooky-type posts, to get you ready for Halloween. You can only look forward to more of those coming up next week! Meanwhile, here’s what’s been going on, in case you need to catch up on everything at Neatorama. Jill Harness took us on a tour of 9 Creepy Places to Visit For a Good Scare. Eddie Deezen gave us a rundown of Celebrity Tattoos. Read about Roger Corman and what he did for cinema in Attack of the Killer B-Movies! from mental_floss magazine. Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader told us about The Origin of Frankenstein. The Pathology of Classical Sculpture came to us from the Annals of Improbable Research. Adrienne Crezo’s discussion topics this week included the decline of marriage, allowing celibate gay men to donate blood, privately owned exotic animals, and whether men or women are funnier. You can still add your opinion to any of these. We welcomed a new gallery at the Neatorama Art Blog. Illustrator Randy Bishop sent us a great collection of monsters and other figures from comic books, literature, and film. Check them all out here. In the What is It? game this week, the pictured item is a "beer growler." It's a container used to carry draft beer home before the use of bottles. See a picture of them being filled at the What Is It? blog. Red Neptune was the first commenter who knew the answer, but did not select a shirt. The funniest answer? Oscar the Grouch's starter home, you know, when he was little. Cristal was the first of several to suggest this one, so she wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! 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!

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