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- What Happens When you Mix Mario and X Men
- Skyrim As A Saturday Morning Cartoon
- Kickstopper A New Way To Stop Terrible Projects
- The New Sexting Code, Or Is It?
- Surreal Paintings Made With Human Blood
- 11 Rock Star Television Cameos
- Amazing Discoveries People Stumbled Into
- Etch A Sketch iPad Case
- Mike Tyson Singing Girl From Ipanema
- Scary Celebrity Extreme Close-Ups
- Artists Illustrate The Alphabet
- QR Code Sculpture
- Rainbow Fringe
- Astoundingly Lifelike Horse Puppet
- Wasps Never Forget a Face
- Gingerbread Starship Enterprise
- Cello Wars
- Loyal and Brave
- Plasma Can Kill Off Viruses
- Back In The Day
- Yeti Crab, the Gardener of Bacteria
- Kitty Lit 101
- Santa Hats
- The Chromatic Typewriter
- The 45 Most Powerful Images Of 2011
- Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City
- 7 Nintendo Products You Never Knew Existed
- How the Snow Globe Went Global
| Posted: 05 Dec 2011 05:15 AM PST
If you've ever visited the Hawaiian islands, you may already know that one of them, Niihau, west of Kauai, is off-limits to outsiders. Here's the story of how that came to be, and what life on the island is like today. In 1863 Eliza McHutchison Sinclair, the wealthy 63-year-old widow of a Scottish sea captain, set sail with her children and grandchildren from New Zealand for Vancouver Island off the southwest coast of Canada. There she hoped to buy a ranch large enough to support the dozen family members who were traveling with her, but after arriving in Canada, she decided the country was too rough for a ranch to be successful. Someone suggested she try her luck in the kingdom of Hawaii, 2,400 miles west of North America in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. On September 17, 1863, she and her family sailed into Honolulu harbor, and quickly became friends with King Kamehameha IV. The Sinclairs toured the islands looking for suitable ranch property. They turned down an opportunity to buy much of what is now downtown Honolulu and Waikiki beach, and they passed on a chance to buy much of the land in and around Pearl Harbor. "After some months of looking," Eliza's daughter Anne recalled years later, "we gave up and decided to leave for California. When King Kamehameha heard of this he told us that if we would stay in Hawaii he would sell us a whole island."
SALE PENDING The island was Niihau (pronounced NEE-ee-HAH-oo), a 72-square-mile island 18 miles off the southwest coast of Kauai. Population: about three hundred natives. Anne's brothers, Francis and James Sinclair, had a look and liked what they saw. They offered King Kamehameha $6,000 in gold; the King countered with $10,000 (about $1.5 million in today's money). Sold! Kamehameha IV died before the sale could be completed, but his successor, King Kamehameha V, honored the deal. In 1864 the Sinclairs ponied up about 68 pounds of gold, and Niihau has been the family's private property ever since. CAVEAT EMPTOR  Eliza Sinclair History (including Hawaiian history) is filled with examples of indigenous peoples being cheated out of their land by unscrupulous outsiders, but this may be a case where the natives pulled one over on the foreigners. When the Sinclair brothers first laid eyes on Niihau, the island was lush and green, seemingly the perfect place to set up a ranch. What Kamehameha apparently did not tell them was that the island was coming off of two years of unusually wet weather. Normally it was semi-arid, almost a desert. Niihau sits in the "rain shadow" of Kauai and receives just 25 inches of rain a year, compared to more than 450 inches on the wettest parts of Kauai. Droughts on Niihau are so severe that it was common for the Niihauans to abandon their island for years on end until the rains returned. If they didn't leave, they starved. Indeed, the only reason the island was available for sale—and the reason Kamehameha was so eager to unload it—was because it was so barren. After the Great Mahele ("division") of 1848, when the monarchy made land available for purchase by native Hawaiians for the first time, the Niihauans had tried to buy the island themselves. They'd hoped to pay for it with crops and animals raised on the island, but the land wasn't productive enough for them to do it, not even when the price of the land was just a few pennies an acre. They ended up having to lease the island from the King instead, at an even lower price. By the time the Sinclairs sailed into Honolulu harbor in September 1863, the Niihauans had fallen so far behind on even these meager payments that Kamehameha IV was ready to sell the island to someone else. HEDGING HER BETS  The Sinclair/Robinson Family After the sale went through, the Sinclairs built a large house on the west coast of Niihau and set up their ranch. But the dry weather returned, and it became evident that the operation might never be successful. Luckily, Eliza Sinclair still had plenty of gold left, and in the 1870s she bought 21,000 acres of land on Kauai that the family developed into a sugarcane plantation. It, too, remains in the family to this day. (In 1902 Eliza's grandson bought the island of Lanai at a property auction, making the family sole owners of two of the eight inhabited Hawaiian Islands…but only for a time. They sold Lanai to the Hawaiian Pineapple Company—now part of Dole—in 1922.) CHANGES, CHANGES, EVERYWHERE When King Kamehameha V signed ownership of the island over to the Sinclairs, he told them, "Niihau is yours. But the day may come when Hawaiians are not as strong in Hawaii as they are now. When that day comes, please do what you can to help them." The Sinclairs, it turned out, were more than just the owners of an island—they were also the rulers of the Hawaiians who lived on Niihau…at least those who chose to stay on the island after it changed hands. Having their land sold out from under them was a bitter blow to the Niihauans, and many moved off the island. By 1866 the native population of Niihau was half of what it had been in 1860. Those Niihauans who moved away soon discovered that change was coming to all the islands, not just to Niihau. And few of the changes would be to their benefit. In 1887 a group of armed American and European landowners forced King Kalakaua to sign what has become known as the Bayonet Constitution, which stripped the king of much of his power and denied many native Hawaiians the right to vote. According to the new constitution, foreign-born landowners were allowed to vote, even if they weren't Hawaiian citizens. Kalakaua died in 1891, and his sister Liliuokalani became Queen. In 1893 she tried to replace the Bayonet Constitution with one that restored the power of the monarch, but her attempts had the opposite effect and she was overthrown in a coup organized by the foreign landowners. The Republic of Hawaii was declared in 1894, and in 1898 Hawaii was annexed by the United States. MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH  Aubrey Robinson It was distressing for all Hawaiians to see their way of life under threat. What set the Niihauans apart was the fact that their island was owned by a family that was willing and able to honor the commitment made to King Kamehameha V to assist them in preserving their culture. Beginning with Eliza Sinclair, and continuing with her grandson Aubrey Robinson, who assumed responsibility for Niihau after her death, the family began limiting access to Niihau as a means of allowing the Niihauans to live their lives as they always had, free from the pressures of the modern world. When a measles epidemic on Niihau killed 11 children in the 1930s, they sealed off the island almost completely. Over the years, control of the island passed from Aubrey to his son Aylmer and then to Aylmer's brother Lester. When Lester died in 1969 his widow Helen Robinson assumed responsibility, and when she died in 2002 control passed to her sons Keith and Bruce Robinson. They oversee the island today. Each generation of the family has respected the wish of the Niihauans (and Eliza Sinclair) to maintain their isolation from the outside world. The Niihauans are free to come and go as they please, and many do spend significant portions of their lives off the island. But outsiders can visit Niihau only with the Robinsons' personal permission, and that is rarely given. LAST OF ITS KIND If you've ever been to Hawaii, you know that there's plenty of Hawaiian culture to be found in the museums and souvenir shops that serve the 6 million tourists who visit each year. But that's about the only place you'll find it. The 80,000 Hawaiians who claim full native-Hawaiian ancestry today make up less than 6% of the state's total population. Fewer than 2,000 Hawaiians are native Hawaiian speakers, and half of those are over 70 years old. There are no communities left on the Hawaiian Islands that speak Hawaiian as their first language. No communities, that is, except one: the 130 Hawaiians who live on Niihau. Their culture and privacy are still carefully guarded by the descendants of Eliza Sinclair. On every other island, the traditional Hawaiian way of life has all but disappeared. STILL THE SAME  The Sinclair Home on Niihau If you’ve ever wondered what the Hawaiian islands looked like when Captain Cook first set eyes on them in 1778, you can get a pretty good idea by sailing around Niihau The island is almost completely undeveloped: There are no paved roads and no hotels or other commercial buildings. The beaches are pristine. Most of the islanders live in small houses clustered around Puuwai (pronounced POO-ooh-WAH-ee), Niihau’s only village, on the west coast of the island. With the exception of this tiny settlement, most of the island looks as if it is uninhabited by anything other than wildlife, including feral sheep, antelope, and white Polynesian boar that roam the island. Another thing that hasn’t changed much since Eliza Sinclair bought the island in 1864 is the odd legal relationship that exists between the Robinson family that owns the island and the native Niihauans who live there. The Niihauans don’t hold legal title to any part of the island, or even to the houses they live in. On paper they are little more than the permanent houseguests of the Robinsons, who have the legal right to do with their island whatever they please. That night not be an ideal set of circumstances for the Niihauans, and yet if they had lived on any of the other Hawaiian islands, where -at least in a property-owning sense- they would have had more freedom, their language, culture, and way of life would have changed long ago.
LIFE ON THE ISLAND The Niihauans live on the island, and in their homes, rent free. They may live a traditional lifestyle of hunting and fishing if they wish. Or if they want to earn money, there are jobs available on Niihau and on the Robinson family’s sugarcane plantation on Kauai. They are also free to move off the island, which many do, especially those who work on Kauai. And as long as the community is willing to have them back, they can move back onto the island when they are ready. OLD SCHOOL The Niihauans speak Hawaiian as their first language. Classes in the tiny elementary school are taught in Hawaiian through the third grade, after which English is introduced. There are no private automobiles on the island; the Niihauans get around on bicycles or on horseback. There are no police and no jail on the island, but there isn’t any crime, either. The last serious crime took place in December 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, when a Japanese pilot ditched his plane on Niihau and then terrorized the island for several days before he was killed by one of the Niihauans. Guns and alcohol aren’t allowed on Niihau, and while tobacco hasn’t been banned entirely, the Robinsons will not transport it on the barge that periodically ferried supplies over from Kauai. To outsiders, these restrictions may seem harsh, but alcohol, tobacco, and firearms were never a part of Hawaiian culture, so they’re not part of Niihauan culture now. (So how to they hunt the wild animals on the island? The same way they have for generations: with knives and rope.) DOLLARS AND SENSE One more thing that hasn’t changed about Niihau since 1863: It’s still a really bad place to run a ranch. For more than a century, the Robinsons tried to raise cattle, sheep, and honeybees, and even made charcoal from some of the trees that grow on the island -anything they could think of to generate income and provide employment for the Niihauans. But the various enterprises usually lost money, and in dry years they lost a lot of it. Finally, after decades of subsidizing the ranch with income from the sugarcane plantation on Kauai, in 1999 the Robinsons shut down ranching operations on Niihau. Since then they have looked for other ways to earn income and provide jobs for Niihauans. In recent years the largest source of income has come from the U.S. military, which rents part of Niihau for an unmanned radar facility that it uses to track missiles launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai. The military also uses the island as a training site for special forces units, who land there and then try to avoid detection and capture by “enemy” forces (Niihauan trackers who are paid to hunt them down). Any other military programs that take place on the island are classified. OPEN… JUST A CRACK
Another result of the island’s difficult finances is that after 100 years of nearly complete isolation, in 1987 Bruce Robinson, Eliza Sinclair’s great-great-grandson, decided to open up access to Niihau …bit only a little. That year he paid $1 million (100 times what Eliza Sinclair paid for the whole island) to buy a helicopter that would serve as an air-ambulance for the island. There is no hospital on Niihau, and before Robinson bought the helicopter, whenever there was a medical emergency the Niihauans had to travel to Kauai by boat. Robinson decided to offset the cost of the helicopter by using it to provide tours to the remotest parts of the island. The flights leave from Kauai in the morning, and after a quick aerial tour of the island, the pilot selects a secluded beach and lands for the afternoon. The tourists are free to swim, fish, snorkel, or explore the beach for a few hours until it’s time to return to Kauai. When the population of feral sheep and wild boar grew to unacceptable levels in the early 1990s, Robinson added safaris to the helicopter trips. (Safari trips are the only exception to the “no guns” rule.) THE FORBIDDEN VILLAGE  The village of Pu'uwai.
The helicopter trips are always day trips -outsiders are not permitted to spend the night on Niihau, and there are no hotels on the island to accommodate them. Any Niihauan who wants to hike out to the helicopter landing site to greet the tourists is free to do so, but the village of Puuwai is off-limits to outsiders. The helicopters always land several miles from the village to protect the Niihauans’ privacy. Though remote parts of the island have been opened up to outsiders, the Niihauans themselves still live apart. “We have chosen not to change for generations,” a Niihauan named Ilei Beniamina told a reporter in 1987. “I’m proud of what Niihau stands for. That’s more than I can say about anywhere else in the state.” ___________________
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!  |
| A Scene From The Best 3D Artist of 2011 Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:58 PM PST
The superb detail, from facial scarring to the soles of the shoes, and the way the personality of each character is so perfectly captured in their facial expressions and posturing, it’s like Guang Yang has not only mastered 3d art but caricatures and life drawing as well. Check out the scene breakdown at the link below. |
| What Happens When you Mix Mario and X Men Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:56 PM PST |
| Skyrim As A Saturday Morning Cartoon Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:54 PM PST Remember when Saturday morning cartoons were full of fantasy adventure? This throwback Skyrim cartoon by Harry Partridge reminds me of watching the Dungeons and Dragons animated series as a youngster, with eyes full of wonder and monster manual in hand. –via Destructoid |
| Kickstopper A New Way To Stop Terrible Projects Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:51 PM PST Kickstarter might be great for starting new projects, but I certainly support the idea of Kickstopper. Personally, I’d be happy to donate my support to stopping the new Akira movie. Link Via The Mary Sue |
| The New Sexting Code, Or Is It? Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:50 PM PST Getting crafty to avoid punishment is what most kids do best, but I wonder if this list is really a new texting code used by the young folk, or a code used only by the kids who were caught up in this particular incident? Either way, I’ll never look at the number 8 the same way again. |
| Surreal Paintings Made With Human Blood Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:41 PM PST If you’ve ever thought to yourself “Man, I would love to try my hand at painting, but paint is way too expensive” then guess what-your body is full of a fluid that works just as well but will cost you nothing! I’m talking about blood, and although it may seem strange to paint with the stuff, it is definitely one of the less disgusting bodily fluids artists have decided to use in their works. Artist Vinicius Quesada knows the value of a pint of vital fluid, and you can see more of his sanguis works at the link below. |
| 11 Rock Star Television Cameos Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:39 PM PST Rock stars aren’t generally known for their amazing acting skills, but that doesn’t stop television executives from working them into different cameo roles whenever possible. Mental Floss has a great article with some of the greatest (and most terrible) musician cameos ever made. My personal favorite was Michael Stipe in The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Any of you remember these episodes? |
| Amazing Discoveries People Stumbled Into Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:30 PM PST From the Rosetta Stone to a Charlie Chaplin film, not all amazing discoveries were actually intentional. Cracked has a great list of shocking discoveries that were complete accidents. |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:29 PM PST
Great Scott! This Christmas get yourself this nifty Etch A Sketch Case for your iPad or iPad2. The Etch A Sketch iPad Case ($31.95) looks just like your favorite childhood drawing toy, but it's actually made from impact-resistant plastic that will protect your iPad while making you look sharp and totally retro-chic. Check it out: Link (Also available: Etch A Sketch iPhone 4 Cover) |
| Mike Tyson Singing Girl From Ipanema Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:21 PM PST Oh Mike, you went from being one of the most intimidating people in the world to being a comedic icon. Here he is further softening his image by softly singing “The Girl From Ipanema.” Via BuzzFeed |
| Scary Celebrity Extreme Close-Ups Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:17 PM PST No matter how much you love or hate these celebrities, you never want to see them this close up, believe me. Some of the images in this gallery will give you a good laugh, others are the stuff nightmares are made of (Iggy Pop). Check out the rest of the gallery at the link below. I didn’t realize that Zooey Deschanel is so fuzzy! |
| Artists Illustrate The Alphabet Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:13 PM PST What image do you relate to each letter of the alphabet? Various artists were asked the very same question, so they illustrated each letter, and drew up a small scene relating to each letter, like this Beatle themed letter B by Michael Gillette. Together, they make up the print series called “The Illustrated Alphabet, and you can see more examples from this great series at the link below. |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 08:43 PM PST
German designer Elena Belmann turned the QR code rage into art with this clever three-dimensional sculpture made of blocks of wood. Link - via Get Addicted To |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 08:00 PM PST Grover Schrayer snapped this shot of tiny particles of wax floating away from a snuffed candle. At just the right angle, they displayed the visible spectrum. This was one of a set of close-up photos of extinguished candles. Link and Flickr Set -via My Modern Met |
| Astoundingly Lifelike Horse Puppet Posted: 04 Dec 2011 07:51 PM PST (Video Link) The Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa made this amazing life-size puppet. Three puppeteers control the beast in such a way that it looks, acts, and sounds just like a horse. It’s a wonder of both design and choreography. -via The Presurfer | Troupe Website |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 06:42 PM PST
Study co-author Michael Sheehan explains why this may be important to wasps:
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| Gingerbread Starship Enterprise Posted: 04 Dec 2011 05:57 PM PST redditor nem8 made the USS Xmas, affectionately known as the Gingerprise. There is an argument in the comment thread about whether the registry number is correct. This is why we Trekkies are awesome. N.B. The joke “Bake it so!” is better used for a different ship, namely the Xmas-D. |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 05:09 PM PST Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, The Piano Guys brought us Cello Wars. Steven Sharp Nelson plays several of the various themes from the Star Wars films on two cellos with light sabers. Then Darth Vader and Chewbacca dance. I think you’ll enjoy it. -Thanks, Will Findlay! |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 04:51 PM PST |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 04:41 PM PST
According to scientists, cold plasma (basically a stream of ionized gas) can actually prevent viruses from replicating:
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| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 03:52 PM PST Stuffed and mounted animals sing “Back in the Day” by The Erratic Man. Besides the video, there’s a choir of singing animals that you can add your pet to! Link -Thanks, James! |
| Yeti Crab, the Gardener of Bacteria Posted: 04 Dec 2011 02:41 PM PST
Marine ecologist Andrew Thurber, who was studying a new species of yeti crab (named after the hair-like brisles on its claws) called Kiwa hirsuta discovered that the crustacean is also an avid gardener:
Nature News has the story and the video clip: Link |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 12:40 PM PST
Tired of the classics? Instantly rejuvenate boring fiction by adding feline. I mean, you've got to hand it to I Can Haz Cheezburger and Comediva - they know that LOL cats are like catnip to the Interwebbers in all of us. Behold: Kitty Lit 101 Previously on Neatorama: Movies Recast with Cats |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 11:00 AM PST Yoda Santa Hat – $11.95 Spock Santa Hat – $15.95 Are you overcome by the spirit of the holidays, but want celebrate in a way that remains true to your geeky self? You need a Santa Hat from the NeatoShop. Trekkies will love the Spock Santa Hat with embroidered Starfleet insignia. Star Wars fanatics, however, will be forced to choose Yoda. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Star Trek and Star Wars items. |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 10:35 AM PST Tyree Callahan modified a classic 1937 Underwood Standard typewriter by removing the letters with paint-soaked pads. When he types the right combinations, he can compose paintings. You can see a few landscapes that he’s made with it at the link. Link -via Nag on the Lake |
| The 45 Most Powerful Images Of 2011 Posted: 04 Dec 2011 06:41 AM PST Buzzfeed compiled a collection of images from the year’s news stories that will remind you how many really big events happened in 2011, from natural disasters to citizen protests to legislation to war. Pictured is a girl in isolation in order to assess her exposure to radiation after Japan’s nuclear facilities were compromised by the March earthquake. Link |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2011 06:35 AM PST Thirty-five years after Saigon changed it name, Ho Chi Minh City is a busy, modern metropolis. Rob Whitworth produced this time-lapse video.
The music is “Mondo ‘77″ by Looper. -via Arbroath |
| 7 Nintendo Products You Never Knew Existed Posted: 04 Dec 2011 06:32 AM PST The Nintendo Company has been in business since 1889, but it took almost 100 years for Nintendo to become a global household name for its video games. Along the way, Nintendo branched out into all kinds of ventures, some of which will surprise you (like the love tester and the love hotels). One of their earlier toys is the plastic grabbing tool shown. See the rest at Ranker. Link -Thanks, Brian! |
| How the Snow Globe Went Global Posted: 04 Dec 2011 06:30 AM PST
Link -via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Flickr user Keith Williamson |
The following is an article from the newest volume of the Bathroom Reader series, 
(Image credit: 
The article above was reprinted with permission from the newest volume of the Bathroom reader series, 
As a digital/3d artist it’s easy to think that everything you do sucks when compared to stuff like this-a boxing ring scene by Guang Yang who was voted Best 3d Artist of 2011 by the folks at CGSociety.
Never forget a face? So do wasps! Scientists have discovered that Polistes fuscatus paper wasps can recognize and remember each other's faces with amazing accuracy.
Would you snort a plasma lamp to fight the common cold? Don't laugh - plasma balls may be trippy to you but they're downright deadly to viruses.
This crab has got a green thumb ... er, make that white , hairy claw.
Snow globes capture slices of fantasy and protect them under glass from harsh, outside realities. They’ve become popular kitschy souvenirs, but once they were high-end, luxury items for wealthy homes. Swati Pandey wrote a history of these quaint decorations. It all started in Vienna:| You are subscribed to email updates from Neatorama To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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