Neatorama

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• World War II Evacuee Costume
• Zombie + Poodle = Zoodle
• Rooster Sauce Costume
• Man Harasses Crab, Gets What's Coming to Him
• Tolkien's The Hobbit Artwork
• Play Horrible Pranks on Trick-or-Treaters with This Flamethrowing Jack-o'-Lantern
• Skull Cheese
• Massive Spinning Metal Fountain
• Man Reports Date as Burglar When His Girlfriend Comes Home
• TARDIS Jack-o'-Lantern
• Banksy Artwork for Occupy London
• Gingerdead Men Cookie Cutter
• One Pumpkin To Rule Them All
• 13 Eco-Friendly Halloween Crafts
• Giant Prehistoric Amoeba the Size of Your Hand
• If Wes Anderson Made "Scream"
• Adorable & Spooky Sock Monkeys
• Costumes From the Tompkins Square Parade
• Pickachu Taxidermy
• Angry Birds as a Horror Flick
• Banks with Too Much Cash Charge for Deposits
• A Cosmic Halloween Gallery
• Wine-pumping Station
• 7 Billion People: Which One Are You?
• Man Stuck Inside Tree
• 6 Bizarre-looking Life Forms
• What Is It? game 199

World War II Evacuee Costume Posted: 28 Oct 2011 04:42 AM PDT In October, internet users always look for the strangest, most inexplicable Halloween costumes to post. Here’s one that illustrates how little Americans and the British understand each other, despite the supposedly common language. This costume of a World War II Evacuee was posted at reddit. Some commenters thought it might be a costume from the Chronicles of Narnia films; others thought it was supposed to be Anne Frank. It actually depicts one of the many children who were temporarily sent away from Britain during the war. But the explanation has to do with schools in the UK, which teach history by designating dress-up days. Parents get letter informing them that their little darling has to dress up as an Evacuee, Victorian child, Roman, etc. Time-poor, stressed parents don’t want to have to spend ages researching and making said costume when they could be spending their time w/their actual child (or OK watching TV) (this doesn’t really apply for the Roman one because that costume is a sheet) Parents grumblingly shell out their 15 pounds or so. All kids at school end up dressed identically. Costume company laughs all the way to the bank. Well, there you go. Link

Zombie + Poodle = Zoodle Posted: 27 Oct 2011 08:14 PM PDT What do you get when you cross a poodle with a zombie? A Zoodle! Via Daily Dawdle  Previously on Neatorama: Sandy Paws' Teenage Mutant Ninja Poodle | Zombie Shop over at the NeatoShop

Rooster Sauce Costume Posted: 27 Oct 2011 07:22 PM PDT The paint is still drying on the shirt, but the redditor with the appropriately relevant username DRAGON_FARTS has completed his Sriracha Sauce Halloween costume. I think it’s a winner! Link

Man Harasses Crab, Gets What's Coming to Him Posted: 27 Oct 2011 06:27 PM PDT (Video Link) Don’t chase crabs. You might catch one. And then he might catch you. -via Geekosystem

Tolkien's The Hobbit Artwork Posted: 27 Oct 2011 06:13 PM PDT Image: JRR Tolkien/Tolkien estate To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publication of Tolkien's The Hobbit next year, HarperCollins publisher David Brawn went through the reclusive author's archive at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and came across a treasure trove more than 100 illustrations: "That was a surprise. I thought there might be 40-50 in total," said publisher David Brawn. "But there are 110 Hobbit pictures, about two dozen of which haven't been published before." Ranging from line drawings in ink to watercolours and sketches, the collected drawings will be published on 27 October as The Art of the Hobbit. HarperCollins hopes the collection and the anniversary will shed new light on the fantasy author – and on his first novel. "It includes his conceptual sketches for the cover design, a couple of early versions of the maps and pages where he's experimenting with the runic forms, as well as a couple of manuscript pages," said Brawn. "It shows that Tolkien's creativity went beyond the writing, that it was a fully thought out conception. When he writes about the hobbit hole ["In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort"], he's designed it as well. And by doing that, it makes his description more vivid ... Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist. He was a great admirer of Arthur Rackham and you can see a little bit of that style coming through." The Guardian has the advance preview of the artwork: Link to Article | Gallery

Play Horrible Pranks on Trick-or-Treaters with This Flamethrowing Jack-o'-Lantern Posted: 27 Oct 2011 05:32 PM PDT Lest you think that Instructables user randofo just wanted a creative crafting project, he explicitly says that his button-controlled jack-o’-lantern is designed to deal with the trick-or-treater menace. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes. Link -via Gizmodo

Skull Cheese Posted: 27 Oct 2011 05:10 PM PDT I’m not really one for Halloween — or at least making decorations like this for a Halloween party. I mean, everyone would expect this sort of thing. To use Martha’s skull cheese platter to full effect, it should be brought out when no one expects it, such as at Easter or Grandma’s birthday party. Link -via That’s Nerdalicious!

Massive Spinning Metal Fountain Posted: 27 Oct 2011 04:56 PM PDT (Video Link) Skip ahead about a minute into the video to see this amazing work in action. David Cerny, an artist from the Czech Republic, made this 14-ton sculpture for a business park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Its segments spin, align, and spit out streams of water. Link -via The Presurfer | Artist’s Website (warning: auto-sound)

Man Reports Date as Burglar When His Girlfriend Comes Home Posted: 27 Oct 2011 04:35 PM PDT Well, if you can think of a better idea in about five seconds, then you try it! A man in Colorado Springs, Colorado met a woman online and invited her to his home so that they could have some privacy. That’s when his girlfriend showed up. Thinking quickly, he accused his new sweetheart of being a burglar and called the police on her: When Gaylor’s girlfriend came home unexpectedly, Gaylor called police to report the other woman as a “burglary in progress,” police said. Gaylor was cited on suspicion of false reporting to authorities. And it seemed like such a good idea at the time. Link -via Stuff | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user davidsonscott15

TARDIS Jack-o'-Lantern Posted: 27 Oct 2011 04:16 PM PDT Sean Fallon says “I've got to say, there was wayyyyyyy more innards in there than I expected. Took forever to clean out.” I can’t top that line, but I started watching Doctor Who last week, so maybe one day I can. Link -via Nerd Approved

Banksy Artwork for Occupy London Posted: 27 Oct 2011 04:12 PM PDT Photo: Beth PH/Flickr The elusive urban artist Banksy (supposedly) created this art piece of Rich Uncle Pennybags down on his luck for the Occupy London protesters. Link

Gingerdead Men Cookie Cutter Posted: 27 Oct 2011 04:11 PM PDT Gingerdead Men Cookie Cutter – $6.95 Do you know someone who makes cookies that are to die for? Get them the Gingerdead Men Cookie Cutter from the NeatoShop. This jumbo 5″ cookie cutter / cookie stamp lets you create your own skeleton cookies. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fun Kitchen Gadgets! Link

One Pumpkin To Rule Them All Posted: 27 Oct 2011 02:18 PM PDT It takes a steady hand and a lot of planning to make your pumpkin into the one ring, but I’d say the effort is certainly worth the great result. Link Via Geeks Are Sexy

13 Eco-Friendly Halloween Crafts Posted: 27 Oct 2011 02:12 PM PDT If you’re still hunting for a few fun last minute crafting ideas to spice up your Halloween decor, WebEcoist has a great collection of fun crafts that are all eco-friendly as well. Enjoy. Link

Giant Prehistoric Amoeba the Size of Your Hand Posted: 27 Oct 2011 02:11 PM PDT Photo credit: Lisa Levin & David Checkley Dinosaur movies have taught us that things were a lot larger back in prehistoric times, but this is ridiculous! Scientists at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography have found a giant amoeba the size of your hand: During a July 2011 voyage to the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, the deepest region on the planet, Scripps researchers and National Geographic engineers deployed untethered free-falling/ascending landers equipped with digital video and lights to search the largely unexplored region. The team documented the deepest known existence of xenophyophores, single-celled animals exclusively found in deep-sea environments. Xenophyophores are noteworthy for their size, with individual cells often exceeding 10 centimeters (4 inches), their extreme abundance on the seafloor and their role as hosts for a variety of organisms. Link

If Wes Anderson Made "Scream" Posted: 27 Oct 2011 02:07 PM PDT (Video Link) Wes Craven is so cheesy. These days, it’s all about Wes Anderson, which is why I would much rather pay to see this version of Scream than the original. Via BuzzFeed

Adorable & Spooky Sock Monkeys Posted: 27 Oct 2011 02:05 PM PDT If you love sock monkeys, but are tired of the classic brown and white design, then you might want to check out Sockmonkey Drawer’s collection of one-of-a-kind designs. I’m particularly taken with creator Kim-Ian Cornell’s special Halloween line of Spooky Sock Monkeys. Link Via Laughing Squid

Costumes From the Tompkins Square Parade Posted: 27 Oct 2011 02:00 PM PDT New York’s Tompkins Square Dog Parade is the biggest dog costume contest on earth and this year’s participants certainly did not fail to disappoint. You can enjoy 50 pictures from this year’s event over at BuzzFeed, but my personal favorite is this Bulldog of Frankenstein. Link

Pickachu Taxidermy Posted: 27 Oct 2011 12:35 PM PDT A Tokyo art collective known as ChimPom recycles exterminated rats as art objects. These rats have been painted and posed as the Pokémon character Pickachu. Is this weird or what? See more pictures at Smart Stop. Link -Thanks, Dan!

Angry Birds as a Horror Flick Posted: 27 Oct 2011 12:10 PM PDT For G4 Films Epictober Film Festival, Gregg Bishop turned the popular game Angry Birds into a horror flick worthy of Alfred Hitchcock. See the video clip (along with a couple other videogame-inspired clips) over at Wired's Underwire blog: Link

Banks with Too Much Cash Charge for Deposits Posted: 27 Oct 2011 11:09 AM PDT It seems an odd problem to have, this “too much cash” thing. I don’t know that most of us can relate. But it seems that in times of economic insecurity, those who used to invest in stocks are simply holding their money in banks, and now bankers are inundated with money. So what’s the solution? Charge people to deposit. Or, at least some of the people, at some banks anyway: Though financial institutions are not yet turning away customers at the door, they are trying to discourage some depositors from parking that cash with them. With fewer attractive lending and investment options for that money, it is harder for the banks to turn it around for a healthy profit. In August, Bank of New York Mellon warned that it would impose a 0.13 percentage point fee on the deposits of certain clients who were moving huge piles of cash in and out of their accounts. Others are finding more subtle ways to stem the flow. Besides paying next to nothing on consumer checking accounts and certificates of deposit, some giants — like JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo — are passing along part of the cost of federal deposit insurance to some of their small-business customers. Even some community banks, vaunted for their little-guy orientation, no longer seem to mind if you take your money somewhere else. "We just don't need it anymore," said Don Sturm, the owner of American National Bank and Premier Bank, community lenders with 43 branches in Colorado and three other states. "If you had more money than you knew what to do with, would you want more?" Well, Neatoramanauts? What say you? Does charging money to hold your money seem counter-intuitive, or is this a good tactic for discouraging large-sum depositors from parking away their millions in a vault? Link

A Cosmic Halloween Gallery Posted: 27 Oct 2011 10:45 AM PDT What does astronomy have to do with Halloween? You’d be surprised! Halloween is coming, and while people are out trick or treating or enjoying a costume party, the Universe will continue to go about its business. The business of DEATH, that is. Black holes will continue to tear apart stars and gorge themselves on the tasty, gooey insides; galaxies will erupt with high-energy radiation, blasting out killer rays for hundreds of thousands of light years; giant clouds of gas will collapse, form stars, and promptly have their interiors eaten out from within. Bad Astronomy Blog has a gallery of creepy astronomy pictures that appear to have sprung from our nightmares, but are actually things that exist in our universe. The picture here is of the flaming skull of Perseus: actually Perseus A, a huge galaxy that blasts out x-rays. Link -Thanks, Phil!

Wine-pumping Station Posted: 27 Oct 2011 10:43 AM PDT Juergen Horn found a shop in Palermo, Italy, that will “fill ‘er up” -with wine! A five-liter jug pumped full will run you €7. See more pictures and watch a video of the wine pump in action at For 91 Days. Link

7 Billion People: Which One Are You? Posted: 27 Oct 2011 09:24 AM PDT The world population is expected to reach seven billion within the next few days. Wonder what number you are? A calculator from the BBC helps you find out approximately where you fit in. I have a relatively low number, as there weren’t even three billion people when I was born. Link -via Breakfast Links

Man Stuck Inside Tree Posted: 27 Oct 2011 08:41 AM PDT Orange County Deputies in Laguna Hills, California were summoned by residents who heard screams from a creek bed Tuesday morning. They arrived to find an unnamed man stuck inside a tree trunk. Firefighters and deputies said they are not sure why, but the man climbed into a narrow hole located near the base of the tree. The hole led inside the hollow tree trunk and about four or five feet underground, said Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion of the Orange County Fire Authority. It took firefighters about 90 minutes to get the necessary equipment and safely cut through the branches of the tree to free the man from inside, he said. The only body parts visible outside the tree truck were the man’s head and arms, he said. Part of the body was underground. The man was checked for injuries and mental health. Link -via Arbroath

6 Bizarre-looking Life Forms Posted: 27 Oct 2011 08:39 AM PDT This, friends, is a shrimp. Yes, it’s called a harlequin shrimp, for good reason because it doesn’t look like any shrimp you’ve ever been served. They’re too small to eat, but are deadly predators to starfish. The harlequin shrimp is one of 6 strange-looking species you’ll find in this list at Environmental Graffiti. Link -via the Presurfer (Image credit: Flickr user MoToTo)

What Is It? game 199 Posted: 27 Oct 2011 06:30 AM PDT Once again, it’s time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog. Do you know what the pictured item is? Can you make a wild guess? Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will win T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don’t include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts? For more clues, check out the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!

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