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2012/03/25

Neatorama

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Neatorama

Japanese City to Sell Naming Rights

Posted: 25 Mar 2012 02:49 AM PDT

Sports arenas sell naming rights, so why not cities? That's what the nearly-bankrupt Japanese city of Izumisano is trying to do:

For the last three fiscal years, Izumi-Sano has been supported by funding from the national government.
Forced to take drastic measures, the government is proposing to accept applications from companies, both foreign and domestic, between June and November. Firms applying to rename the city will have to specify how much they are willing to pay for a contract of between 12 months and five years.

The city is also willing to have the name of the city hall sponsored, as well as roads throughout the municipality.

Companies will also be invited to place advertisements on the uniforms of municipal employees, including refuse collectors, library staff and bureaucrats in the city hall.

Neatoramanauts, this is our chance of having our very own Neatoramaville - Now all we've got to do is come up with the money... Link

Espresso Machine for Your Car

Posted: 25 Mar 2012 12:25 AM PDT

Didn't have time to brew your own cup of coffee in the morning and buying drive-thru coffee is too plebeian for your sophisticated palate?

This nifty thing is for you: the Handpresso Auto espresso maker. Just plug it into your car's cigarette lighter and you'll have a proper cup of coffee in no time! Via Uncrate

Amazing 3D Street Murals By John Pugh

Posted: 25 Mar 2012 12:17 AM PDT

If you encounter one of these amazing 3d murals by John Pugh painted on the side of a building, you might feel like you’re peering into a tear in the space-time continuum. Don’t worry, they’re just incredible works of art, no need to call The Doctor.

Pugh describes his work as “monumental mural art”, and he masterfully utilizes the trompe l’oiel technique to give the illusion of depth in works which are epic both in  scale and lifelike detail.

If a roadrunner ever seems to run straight into one of these murals, don’t race after him or you might end up as flat as a pancake!

Link  –via Juxtapoz

The New York Subway Artwork App

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 11:54 PM PDT

Serious art lovers living in, or visiting, New York City are going to love this new app, which shows the  location of all artworks contained in the subway stations across the city.

Created by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Arts for Transit app makes finding your favorite piece of public art a snap, so you won’t have to miss your train to admire works from the likes of Lichtenstein and Sol Lewit, just to name a few.

There are hundreds of works throughout New York City’s subway system, so having an app at your fingertips that shows you the location of each individual piece is quite convenient, and may make for a fun day of public art viewing.

Link  –via DesignTAXI

Over 40 Dwarf Names That Didn’t Make The Cut

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 11:41 PM PDT

It’s not surprising that the Disney writers and animators came up with a plethora of dwarf names to choose from while working on Snow White.

What is surprising is that they were left with a whopping 47 unused names, and some of the names on the list are just plain awful. Names like Biggo-Ego, Flabby, and Thrifty certainly don’t conjure up mental images of dwarfs heroic enough to help save the fair maiden, but I would love to see what a dwarf named Neurtsy looks like!

Link   –via i09

The Crazy Jury Duty Scheme That Got a Woman Arrested

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 11:24 PM PDT

Nobody likes jury duty, but Susan Cole, 57-year old beautician from Colorado, really, really, really didn't want to do her civic duty.

So she hatched a scheme so crazy it actually worked:

[She] devised a plan “to appear to be mentally unstable” by wearing “mismatched shoes, reindeer socks…and a shirt that bore the caption ‘Ask me about my best seller.’” She also claimed to have lived on the street and that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from domestic abuse she experienced in the military. [...]

After a brief questioning before the judge, Cole, pictured above, was dismissed from the case without objection from either the prosecution or the defense.

She would've gotten away with it, except she had the clever idea of bragging about it on the radio ... and the judge that dismissed her was actually listening to the show!

Needless to say, she was arrested: Link

Repair Cafe

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 09:55 PM PDT

Got a broken gadget? It's a shame to throw it away, thought Martine Postma, but people do because it's often difficult (or expensive) to get things repaired.

So, back in 2009, Martine founded the first Repair Cafe in the Netherlands, and ended up creating a movement:

A new brand of DIY self-sufficiency is spreading across The Netherlands. Skilled craftswomen, mechanics, seamstresses, and handypersons are banding together to resist disposable consumer culture. It is the rise of the Repair Cafe, a place where neighbors get together to extend the life of their material belongings. “Fixers” mend clothes, restore furniture, rehabilitate electrical appliances, and enjoy each other’s company while industriously toiling away.

Today, there are 20 Repair Cafes all over the Netherlands, with 50 more in the planning stages: Link

This Is a Fingerpainting

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 08:00 PM PDT

The medium has come a long way since preschool. Judith Braun composed an enormous mural by spreading charcoal dust with her fingers. It’s called Diamond Dust. I love the swirling forms in the plants and can almost feel the breeze drifting through them. You can detailed photos at the link.

Artist’s Website -via Colossal

LEGO Ninjago Retractable Pen

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 07:18 PM PDT


LEGO Ninjago Retractable Pen - $9.95

LEGO Ninjago ninjas aren't only the Masters of Spinjitzu, they also make for great S-pen-jitzu! Just twist their head off to reveal a ballpoint pen. Collect all four characters, available from the NeatoShop: Link

See lots more LEGO stuff from the NeatoShop | New Items

The Unstoppable Christopher Hill

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 05:39 PM PDT

Technology makes people's lives easier and better. While that saying is undoubtedly true, it's sometimes difficult to appreciate that grand statement ... until you see it in action.

See how technology helps someone like Christopher Hill, who has cerebral palsy, edit videos by himself. One click at a time.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - More at The Verge

Pac-Man’s Hiding Spot

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 05:15 PM PDT


(Video Link)

According to YouTube user Phreakwars, if Pac-Man stays in one spot in the maze, the ghosts won’t bother him. It doesn’t work in an online version that I used as a test, but there are many different Pac-Man programs.

-via Kottke

Perpetual Ocean

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 04:37 PM PDT

This is easily the most beautiful thing you'll see today: here's "Perpetual Ocean," a visualization of the Earth's ocean surface currents around from June 2005 to December 2007 by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

Hit play or go to Link [Flickr] - via Notcot

Doesn't that look like Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night?

A Brief History Of Merlot

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 04:03 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

Gundlach Bundschu Winery would like to share their take on the modern history of Merlot with you, and they’ve chosen to do so via comedy video. Bold move Gundlach, but the end result is a rather cheesy video that’s laughably bad at times.

Still, it’s an entertaining way to advertise your role in the expanding Merlot market, and I guess if you’re a few bottles deep it might be the most hilarious video you’ve watched all day.

–via Tastefully Offensive

Words Of Wisdom From Star Wars

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 03:58 PM PDT

This public service announcement was brought to you by Star Wars, where things almost went horribly wrong between siblings Luke and Leia.

If you’d like to further explore this incestual possibility check out Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye, a novel by Alan Dean Foster which was published in 1978 and takes place between Episode IV: A New Hope and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

What would your father Annakin/Darth think of what you two are about to do?!

Link

Cacto-Matic Infomercial Is Comedy Gold

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 03:55 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

The mastermind behind this hilarious infomercial for the Cacto-Matic is none other than Thu Tran, creator and star of the IFC show Food Party and one heck of a funny gal.

Here she is peddling a fake product by using her powers of comedy and hallucinogenic sorcery, both of which have definitely put me in a buying mood!

–via Everything Is Terrible!

Stand Up And Cheer For The Future Of Wheelchair Tech

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 03:54 PM PDT

People who go through life with limited mobility quickly realize that one thing most modern wheelchairs lack is the ability to help them stand up, thereby leaving many things in life out of reach.

Enter the innovative new TEK Robotic Mobilization Device, basically a wheelchair with a sling crane for your butt that can help the handicapped stand up and get what they need out of life.

The TEK recently began shipping in Turkey for around $15,000, which seems like a small price to pay for the huge improvement this device will make to people’s lives.

Link  –via Geekologie

World’s Largest Hanging Basket

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 03:41 PM PDT

Hanging baskets are gloriously larger in Oregon, but this is quite unexpected. Behold, the world's largest hanging basket, made by The Garden Corner, a nursery in Tualatin, Oregon: Link - Thanks Tiffany!

The Deadliest Musical Instrument

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 02:39 PM PDT

Bang and twang! In Six Shot - Six String, Canadian artist Maskull Lasserre created an acoustic stringed instrument for use with the Smith & Wesson 357 Magnum revolver. Pull the trigger, and the strings will resonate passively to serenade your shot.

This is quite possibly the deadliest musical instrument ever devised by man, with exception of the bagpipe: Link

Previously on Neatorama: The Anatomical Sculptures of Maskull Lasserre

Magic Mountain Lodge

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 02:19 PM PDT

The Magic Mountain Lodge is a luxury resort set in a private nature preserve in the mountains of Chile. It’s built to resemble a hollowed-out mountain. Fountains at the top can pour water over the surface, making it look like a series of caves in a waterfall. You can view more pictures at the link. The photos that show the lodge after a heavy snowfall are particularly striking.

Official Website -via Offbeat Home

Santa Is Coming

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 01:50 PM PDT

Game of Thrones returns to television in a week. Who will restore order and peace to Westeros? There’s only one man strong and cunning enough for the job.

But it’s not Santa. This is Flickr user Duncan Shields. He had the opportunity to watch a taping of Game of Thrones. It was not a coincidence that he was wearing his Santa suit that day.

Link -via reddit

The Dark Side of Creativity

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 01:39 PM PDT

We all want to be creative, but according to recent studies, there is a dark side of creativity:

Francesca Gino of Harvard University and Dan Ariely of Duke University conducted a series of experiments in which they asked subjects to complete various ethically ambiguous tasks.

The result: Not only do naturally creative people cheat more than uncreative people, subjects cajoled into thinking outside of the box become cheaters, too. This suggests that the creative process isn’t just tied to dishonest behavior; it actually enables it--troubling news at a time when the corporate world treats innovation as an unimpeachable moral good.

Suzanne Labarre of Co.Design has more: Link

Magnetic Planter

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 01:33 PM PDT

Kyung-Eun Oh’s planter looks like two halves of a flower pot. The centers have magnetic strips, so you can arrange them on opposite sides of a sheet of glass. If you put the same plant in each side, you can create the impression that the planter is embedded in the glass.

Link

Guess Who Showed Up at the Wedding

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 12:57 PM PDT

When John and Frances Canning scheduled their wedding at Manchester Town Hall, they discovered that the Queen was going to be there for her Diamond Jubilee celebration. So naturally, they sent a lighthearted invite to the Palace.

Guess who showed up?

Bride Frances, 44, who runs a hairdressing salon, said she was flabbergasted to be greeted by name by the Queen.

She said: "We booked the town hall ages ago but we got a phone call four weeks ago telling us that a VIP would be in the building on the same day.

"We never dreamt we would be able to meet her.

"When we had our ceremony, the staff asked us to wait for a moment in the corridor and just a few minutes later the Queen arrived. She knew both our names and apparently we had been especially added to her rota."

Link (Photo: Manchester Evening News Syndicate) – via PhotoBlog – Thanks Tiffany!

Owl Backpack

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 12:42 PM PDT

Owl Backpack - $23.95 (sold separately)

Are you on the hunt for a perfectly practical Easter gift for your favorite toddler? Hoo says it needs to be a basket?  Why not pack those delicious Easter treats into a very useful Owl Backpack from the NeatoShop! This adorable mini backpack is perfect for everyday use.

The Owl Backpack is available in blue, pink, and yellow.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Bags & Backpacks and lots of Easter fun!

Link

Hitchhiking Around The USA: 5,000 Miles and 930 People in 162 Seconds

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 12:37 PM PDT

A lot of people like to travel, but Benjamin Jenks' idea is slightly different: instead of flying or driving, he hitchhiked around the United States for a year. It took Benjamin 3 months to shoot and 2 years to create this 162-second long Vimeo clip documenting his travel across 5,000 miles, in which he met 930 people.

Hit play or go to Link [Vimeo] - via The Dish

Here’s How You Should Hold the Steering Wheel

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 11:36 AM PDT

Quick: where should your hold the steering wheel? At the 10 and 2 o'clock position? Well, that's what I was taught by my driving instructor, too, ages ago ... but that turned out to be wrong:

As cars have become safer over the years, "the steering wheel and associated mechanisms (have) changed dramatically," it says, meaning the familiar driving maneuvers "needed to turn the wheel have all changed." Principal among the changes is the incorporation of airbag modules in the steering column, which are designed to deploy upward to protect your head and chest.

That means the higher up the wheel your hands are, the more likely they are to be directly over the plastic cover when it opens — that is, when superhot nitrogen gas flashes and inflates the bag at 150 to 250 mph.

Among the injuries the NHTSA reports from improper placement of the hands when an airbag deploys are amputations of fingers or entire hands, traumatic fractures and a particularly stomach-churning injury called "degloving," which — trust us — you definitely don't want to look up.

The new hand position is 9 and 3, or even 8 and 4: Link

... and I looked up "degloving" *shudders* You do it at your own risk, mmkay?

The Blind Racehorse

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 10:36 AM PDT

Laghat, a 9-year-old Italian racehorse, has won 19 races and nearly €100,000 in prize money, despite being blind.

Jockey Federico De Paola said this about the inspiring racehorse:

'It's amazing. I really don't know how he does it. He had a fungal infection in his eyes when he was born and it has left him virtually blind. He can make out shadows but that's about it.

'I only entered him for the races because I thought it would be some exercise for him, but I was amazed when he won and he has kept on winning.

'He has won 19 races and some of them have been important ones - in one race he won the 25,000-euro top prize.

'He has a sixth sense which tells him where to put his legs - when we approach the finish line it's him who gives me the signal and gives me that extra burst of speed.
'We have never had a crash with any of the other horses in any of the races we have been in and sometimes there can be as many as 16 in a field. I have never had a horse like this before in my time as a jockey and an owner.'

Link

How to Write Like a Scientist

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 10:26 AM PDT

Here at Neatorama, we try to link to the original work whenever possible. For science stories, this is sometimes impossible because original science research papers are often unreadable. It makes more sense to link to an explanation written by a science journalist who deciphers the science and writes in a way the rest of us can understand. See, scientists write differently from the way you or I or journalists do, because they are taught to write differently. Adam Ruben teaches science writing for scientists and science writing for non-scientists and assures us that the two classes are very different. Then he gives us twelve tips for writing as a scientist would, therefore assuring that no one outside the scientific community will read your work. Here’s a sample:

2. Using the first person in your writing humanizes your work. If possible, therefore, you should avoid using the first person in your writing. Science succeeds in spite of human beings, not because of us, so you want to make it look like your results magically discovered themselves.

3. Some journals, such as Science, officially eschew the passive voice. Others print only the passive voice. So find a healthy compromise by writing in semi-passive voice.

ACTIVE VOICE: We did this experiment.

PASSIVE VOICE: This experiment was done by us.

SEMI-PASSIVE VOICE: Done by us, this experiment was.

Yes, for the semi-passive voice, you'll want to emulate Yoda. Yoda, you'll want to emulate.

Read the rest at Science Careers. Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science

Borat National Anthem Played at Medal Ceremony

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 09:34 AM PDT

Big Oops of the Day: After Kazakh athlete Maria Dmitrienko won gold medal in target shooting at the 10th Arab Shooting Championship in Kuwait, she stood in the podium to hear her national anthem. But, instead they played a spoof song from Borat, which extolled her nation's potassium export, dirty swimming pools and clean prostitutes!

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] | Story at Yahoo

This Week at Neatorama

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 08:08 AM PDT

This past week has been an eventful one here at Neatorama! We had more than the usual number of feature articles, a contest with lots of winners, and joined another social networking site. Yes, Neatorama is now on Pinterest! Tell all your Pinterest buddies to come see us there.

The highlight of the week was the Spot the Neatobot game! It reminded me of an Easter egg hunt, with everyone looking around on the website for a badge featuring the Neatobot. Those who follow Neatorama on Facebook, Twitter and/or G+ got hints on where to look. Twenty people won twenty t-shirts from the NeatoShop, and if you haven’t checked your email yet, you may find that you’re one of them!

If you are one of the winners, we’d really like to see what you look like wearing your t-shirt from the NeatoShop. So put it on, take a picture, send to to us, and when we get enough, we’ll post them right here on the site. In fact, if you’ve won a Neatorama or a NeatoShop t-shirt in any of our contests, send us your best modeling image. I look forward to seeing you!

Jill Harness was busy all week marking important calendar events. Tuesday was the 84th anniversary of Fred Rogers’ birth, so she brought us the article Getting to Know Mister Rogers.

William Shatner turned 81 on Thursday, so we had Let's Have a Shatnerpalooza!

And for the film opening, Jill put together 20 Fantabulous Hunger Games Arts & Crafts.

We got to see some eerie but beautiful high-resolution underwater photographs of the historic wreckage of The Titanic Today at the Spotlight Blog, courtesy of National Geographic magazine.

Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader gave us the lowdown on the Beat Generation in the article Meet the Beats.

It's Good to Be a YAVIS came to us from the Annals of Improbable Research.

And mental_floss magazine told us about The 10 Greatest Love Affairs in History.

In this week’s What Is It? game, the mystery object is a simple ice cube crusher. The first with that answer was just a guess, who wins a t-shirt! The funniest answer came from upiru, who said, "It's a chewing-gum tester of course. Some clever students even use it to chew their gum discretly under the classroom table." That's good for a shirt, too! Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who played along. See the answers to all the mystery items of the week at the What Is It? blog.

The post with the most comments this week (outside of the giveaways) was, not surprisingly, Would You Reveal Your Facebook Password to get a Job? But catching up fast is the more recent post Should Airlines Charge Fat People More?

When you’re caught up on everything from this week, you can check out past feature articles at The Best of Neatorama. Pick a year and browse through an amazing variety of neat stuff to read!

Screenshots of Despair

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 07:51 AM PDT

Every once in a while, a message pops up on your computer that makes perfect sense for what you’re doing at the time, but you might notice how dreadfully depressing it could be out of context. You’re not the only one who noticed that, and that’s how the site Screenshots of Despair came about. Looking through the collection of submitted screenshots will either bring you down or give you a laugh. I hope it’s the latter! Link -via Breakfast Links

The Vegetable Song

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 07:15 AM PDT


(vimeo link)

Fresh garden-grown vegetables are wonderful! So is this silly animation about them, created by Si Bennett to encourage Oliver to eat his vegetables. Works for me. -via the Presurfer

Dr. Seuss Alphabet

Posted: 24 Mar 2012 06:51 AM PDT

Mike Baboon designed an alphabet that kids who are just learning to read will love. Oh, and their parents and grandparents who learned to read with Dr. Seuss books will love it, too! Can you name all the characters from A to Z? The answers are at Mike Baboon Design. There are prints for sale, too. Link -via Buzzfeed
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