Neatorama

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• Fascinating WTF Photos From Russia
• Metal Slug In Real Life
• An Infographic On Michael Bay Explosions
• Never Before Seen Pictures of Marilyn Monroe
• The Doctor Whos of Whoville
• Let's Play Neatorama Bingo!
• Mosquito-Repelling Laser Barriers
• How To OccuPIE Your Kitchen
• Angry Birds Fan Art
• Laser Turns Brown Eyes Blue
• The Average American Has Two Friends
• Teddy Bear Bread
• Combination Pack Rifle/Fishing Rod Weighs Less Than a Pound
• Crocheted Dr. Bunsen Honeydew Glasses Holder
• Triscuit Chairs
• Tiger Skin Rug Made From 500,000 Cigarettes
• Is College Science Just Too Darned Hard?
• Andy Rooney, RIP
• Glass Steam Engine
• Thirteen Movie Poster Trends
• Pop Medley 2011
• Inflatable Turkey
• This Week at Neatorama

Fascinating WTF Photos From Russia Posted: 05 Nov 2011 10:24 PM PDT Russia seems like a chaotic place to live, with giant pigeons lurking around every corner, blighted urban landscapes full of dogs getting it on, and an extremely diverse citizenry trying their best to act like nothing’s wrong. These photos capture a side of Russia few outside the country ever get to see, and each image has an interesting story to tell. Link

Metal Slug In Real Life Posted: 05 Nov 2011 10:15 PM PDT (YouTube Link) If you’re ever walking down the street and some pixelated soldiers from the Metal Slug video game series begin to swarm, you’ll be glad that you watched this video, which shows you how to survive urban video game attacks. Gun that fires pixel bullets not included.

An Infographic On Michael Bay Explosions Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:35 PM PDT You may have heard that Michael Bay’s newest film will contain his 1000th explosion ever. If you’ve ever wondered just how his explosion per movie breakdown looks, then you’ll certainly appreciate this infographic detailing all of his 992 explosions so far (the whole thing can be found at the link). Link Via Film Drunk

Never Before Seen Pictures of Marilyn Monroe Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:29 PM PDT It takes a lot of poise to still look beautiful, sexy and powerful while using crutches, but if anyone could do it -it was Marilyn Monroe. And the gorgeous pictures of the late, great actress featured on The Huffington Post show just how stunning she could look, even with an ankle injury. If you love Marilyn, don’t miss these great, unreleased-up-until-now shots. Link

The Doctor Whos of Whoville Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:23 PM PDT Now that Halloween over and the weather’s starting to cool down, it’s time to start thinking about the holiday season, starting with this punny design featuring all of the Doctors all dolled up like the Whos from Whoville. Coincidentally, I just turned on The Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon on television. Link Via The Mary Sue

Let's Play Neatorama Bingo! Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:22 PM PDT We’ve had a lot of fun in the past few days as people have submitted bingo card squares for our latest NeatoShop contest. Congratulations to the winners! kkirkpat offered “Mashup Art” and won the Brainier Than the Average Bear t-shirt. Jefferson submitted “International [Something That Doesn't Need a Day] Day and won the Bloody Heart t-shirt. So let’s get playing!

Mosquito-Repelling Laser Barriers Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:20 PM PDT After one of his college roommates succumbed to the disease during a trip to Africa, Szabolcs Márka became concerned about the impact of malaria on the peoples of that continent. Now a physicist at Columbia University, Márka has been using his expertise to develop a means of combating that plight. He’s using lasers to restrict the movements of disease-carrying mosquitoes: "People concentrate more on studying mosquitoes' olfactory or chemical sensors, but light or heat seemed like an interesting area," he says. "Overloading, damaging or confusing this sensory system can prevent mosquitoes from reaching their prey." On a recent day in his lab in Pupin Hall, Márka placed mosquitoes in a test chamber through which he and his team shot an infrared light ray. The mosquitoes, unaware of the barrier, flew toward it but stopped and turned back upon reaching it. Márka hopes that his research will someday lead to the development of an effective laser-based mosquito barrier that can be used in regions of the world heavily afflicted by malaria. Link (warning: self-starting video) -via Ace of Spades HQ | Image: Columbia University

How To OccuPIE Your Kitchen Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:15 PM PDT It certainly looks delicious, but if it’s been out on the street for too long, I can’t imagine it smells all that great anymore. Link

Angry Birds Fan Art Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:08 PM PDT Yummy, it’s like a Thanksgiving feast for your favorite angry avains. If you love those oh-so-angry birds, then check out the fan art dedicated to the game over at BuzzFeed. Link

Laser Turns Brown Eyes Blue Posted: 05 Nov 2011 06:16 PM PDT Want to turn your brown eyes blue? Forget contact lenses! Changing the color of your eyes permanently from brown to blue may be just a laser treatment away, according to one doctor working on the technology: Dr. Gregg Homer at Stroma Medical in California announced on KTLA-TV that he had come up with a laser procedure that removes the brown pigment, known as melanin, in the iris. Once removed, the blue color underneath is revealed, giving the person blue eyes. Homer said the procedure takes about 20 seconds. “We use a laser that’s tuned to a specific frequency to remove the pigment from the surface of the iris,” he told KTLA. [...] “The eyes are the windows to the soul, [there's] this idea that people can actually see into it — a blue eye is not opaque. You can see deeply into it, and a brown eye is very opaque, and I think that there is something meaningful about this idea of having open windows to the soul,” Homer told KTLA. Link | See the video clip over at KTLA - via Technabob

The Average American Has Two Friends Posted: 05 Nov 2011 04:15 PM PDT How many friends do you have? No, not Facebook friends, silly. Real friends. If you have only two, then you're an average American. A new study has suggested that our circle of friends is shrinking: Participants were asked to list the names of people they had discussed "important matters" with over the previous six months. If respondents said "none," they asked whether this was because they didn't have any important matters to discuss or no one with whom to discuss them in the past six months. About 48 percent of participants listed one name, 18 percent listed two, and roughly 29 percent listed more than two names for these close friends. On average, participants had 2.03 confidantes. And just over 4 percent of participants didn't list any names. When Brashears looked closer at that number of socially isolated individuals, he found that 64 percent indicated that this was because they had no topic to discuss, while only about 36 percent had no one to talk to. Turns out, female participants and those who were educated were the least likely to report no names on their confidante list. Link

Teddy Bear Bread Posted: 05 Nov 2011 03:27 PM PDT SandeeA. is nothing if not an inventive cook. We’ve previously featured her use of a banana peel as a jello mold. Now she’s figured out a way to make a yeast bread in the shape of adorable little teddy bears. She informs us that the eyes and mouths were made with an edible ink pen, which can be easily found in pastry supply stores. Link (Google Translate) -via Tasteologie

Combination Pack Rifle/Fishing Rod Weighs Less Than a Pound Posted: 05 Nov 2011 03:12 PM PDT A pack rifle is one that is carried by backpackers for self-defense and emergency hunting. They need to be sturdy, compact, and above all lightweight. This .22-caliber single shot design by a firm called Mountain View Machine & Welding weighs under a pound. It doubles as a fishing rod. See what the man’s left hand is covering? That’s where the extending rod comes out. Attach the reel to the grip. Now you’re ready to catch supper a different way. Link -via Say Uncle | Photos: Pack Rifle

Crocheted Dr. Bunsen Honeydew Glasses Holder Posted: 05 Nov 2011 03:00 PM PDT Dr. Bunsen Honeydew of Muppet Labs doesn’t actually have eyes, but his glasses are stylin’. Craftster member djonesgirl made this crocheted model of his head so you have a place to put your glasses. You can find her pattern at the link. Link -via Geek Crafts

Triscuit Chairs Posted: 05 Nov 2011 02:46 PM PDT Gallery O in Boulder, Colorado has only a little space to offer artists: eight by ten feet. So it specializes in miniatures. Recently it exhibited tiny chairs made by different artists, such as these by Tom Lyon made out of Triscuit-brand crackers. Link -via That’s Nerdalicious!

Tiger Skin Rug Made From 500,000 Cigarettes Posted: 05 Nov 2011 02:14 PM PDT Have you seen a tiger skin rug made out of half a million sticks of cigarettes? Chinese artist Xu Bing created this massive art installation for his Tobacco Project series: Link

Is College Science Just Too Darned Hard? Posted: 05 Nov 2011 12:13 PM PDT It's a time-honored practice for politicians and educators to wring their hands over how American students have fallen behind in science and technology. Many have pointed out how large class sizes, lackluster teachers, and non-challenging curriculum in elementary and high schools are shortchanging our students and (gasp!) the country's future global competitiveness. But who's really at fault here? Could the problem actually be on the shoulders of the vaunted American colleges and universities? Christopher Drew wrote an intriguing article for The New York Times that examine how more and more students are turned off by science at the college level: ... it turns out, middle and high school students are having most of the fun, building their erector sets and dropping eggs into water to test the first law of motion. The excitement quickly fades as students brush up against the reality of what David E. Goldberg, an emeritus engineering professor, calls “the math-science death march.” Freshmen in college wade through a blizzard of calculus, physics and chemistry in lecture halls with hundreds of other students. And then many wash out. Studies have found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. That increases to as much as 60 percent when pre-medical students, who typically have the strongest SAT scores and high school science preparation, are included, according to new data from the University of California at Los Angeles. That is twice the combined attrition rate of all other majors. It's all a matter of the lack of preparation from high school, you say? Actually those who are better students are more likely to drop out of science: “You’d like to think that since these institutions are getting the best students, the students who go there would have the best chances to succeed,” he says. “But if you take two students who have the same high school grade-point average and SAT scores, and you put one in a highly selective school like Berkeley and the other in a school with lower average scores like Cal State, that Berkeley student is at least 13 percent less likely than the one at Cal State to finish a [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] degree.” Link

Andy Rooney, RIP Posted: 05 Nov 2011 10:12 AM PDT Andy Rooney, America's curmudgeon-in-chief, has passed away at the age of 92. In his honor, let's review the best ... or should we say grumpiest of his 1,097 commentaries he has given since 1978. Time Magazine has the list of the Top 10 Grumpiest Andy Rooney Segments. This one above, about people carrying stuff - sometimes a lot of stuff - is one of my favorites: "It is my observation that people are carrying more stuff than they used to," Rooney says in this delightfully useless 60 Minutes segment about people who use tote bags. The veteran journalist then takes to the streets to ask what people have inside their purses and backpacks. "A wallet," one person says. "A bottle of water," says another. (And CBS pays money for this?) The most perceptive observation? "Backpacks are almost as common as pocketbooks. Some of them are attached to the back of the person carrying it." Best line: "I should think women are getting stronger ... the bags they carry are certainly heavier." Rest in peace (or in a perpetual state of grumpiness), Andy.

Glass Steam Engine Posted: 05 Nov 2011 07:25 AM PDT (YouTube link) In 2008, Czech master glassblower Michal Zahradník built a steam engine entirely out of glass! There are no seals here, just snug-fitting glass. This is a replica of an early locomotive steam engine designed by George and/or Robert Stephenson. If you’re anything like me, you will watch this entire video waiting for something to blow up or break (which happened often, according to the video description). -via the Presurfer

Thirteen Movie Poster Trends Posted: 05 Nov 2011 07:23 AM PDT One reason we like artistic redesigns of movie posters is that the real posters are so much alike. In fact, there are really only 13 Hollywood movie posters that are used over and over with the names and faces changed. The style shown is #3 Back to Back, but my favorite is #10 Is That Your Face Or Are the Drugs Kicking In? See them all at Oh No They Didn’t. Link -via Metafilter

Pop Medley 2011 Posted: 05 Nov 2011 07:21 AM PDT (YouTube link) Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider perform a medley of the pop songs of summer 2011. If you didn’t know the individual songs, you’d think this all belonged together. The mp3 is a free download. Link -via The Daily What

Inflatable Turkey Posted: 05 Nov 2011 07:20 AM PDT Inflatable Turkey – $11.95 Let’s talk turkey. Are you tired of always having to call the turkey hotline for help with your Thanksgiving bird. Forget cooking and get yourself the Inflatable Turkey from the NeatoShop. The Inflatable Turkey pairs perfectly with Chinese takeout. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Inflatables and Thanksgiving foolishness. Link

This Week at Neatorama Posted: 05 Nov 2011 06:02 AM PDT Today is a busy day -especially if you have a lot of clocks to set! Daylight Saving Time ends for most of the U.S. at 2AM Sunday morning. Remember, spring forward, fall back, so set your clocks back before you got to bed tonight. And enjoy the extra hour of sleep! If you work overnight, be sure there is a procedure to make sure you are paid for the extra hour. Learn more about the time change in the post Neatolicious Fun Facts: Daylight Saving Time. The 5th of November is also Guy Fawkes Night, celebrated in England something like this. And because it’s the fifth of November, today is Bank Transfer Day, which unfortunately falls on a Saturday when your bank may not be open, or might only be open until noon. At any rate, after you’ve gotten the clocks set, check out the exclusive features you might have missed this week here at Neatorama. Monday was the predicted date for the population of the earth to pass seven billion people. To mark the occasion, we posted a photo gallery from National Geographic called 7 Billion at the Spotlight Blog. Eddie Deezen brought us the story of The Guy Who Died on a TV Talk Show. Our final Halloween feature this year was The Wolfman at the Movies from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. We got a good look at the new book from the folks at Cake Wrecks in the photo post Wreck the Halls: Cake Wrecks Gets “Festive.” The Annals of Improbable Research gave us Mathematicians on Ham Sandwiches. How to Sneak a Cobra Past Customs was from mental_floss magazine. Adrienne’s debatable points posts were about a fat tax on junk food and whether places can contain emotional residue. Another project we’ve got going is the NeatoShop Contest: Create a Neatorama Bingo Card! The t-shirt winners drawn from the comments are kkirkpat and Jefferson. Congratulations to both! The Neatorama Bingo Card is coming soon. In this week’s What is It? game, no one knew what the mystery item was (although quite a few came somewhat close). It's a saw oiler. Pulling the trigger released some oil to lubricate the saw. You can see the patent application sketch at the What Is It? blog. The funniest answer submitted was one of those close-but-no-cigar answers, from Randall. It is a saw handle, useful for handling saws. Before its invention, using saws was very dangerous to the fingers, so people used trained beavers. This little invention put hundreds of beaver trainers out of work, and they congregated in Wisconson, drinking from dusk to midnight, then going out on 'Beaver-runs,' causing untold destruction. Finally, the Wisconson National Guard was called out and the hooliganism ended. Wisconsin is now known for its calmness and cheese. So Randall 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.

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