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2012/03/28

Neatorama

Neatorama

14 Facts You Might Not Know about Mission: Impossible

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 05:10 AM PDT

Good morning, Neatoramanauts. From 1966 to 1973, the innovative television show Mission: Impossible presented the adventures of the Impossible Missions Force. This top secret American agency found stolen nuclear bombs, exposed counterfeiters, rescued captured spies and foiled criminal plots at home and abroad. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to learn things that you might not know about the show.

1. The show was inspired by the criminal heist movie Topkapi and was originally entitled Briggs' Squad. In the early drafts, the team members were semi-reformed criminals who had served together in a special forces unit and proven unable to re-adjust to civilian life. Barney was a compulsive gambler and card cheat. Cinnamon was a drug addict. Rollin Hand was a thief. Willy Armitage beat women while working as a strip club bouncer. The series creator, Bruce Geller, cleaned up their backgrounds to make the show more appealing.

2. The self-destructing tape scenes were usually shot all at once, once a year for each season. The tapes didn’t actually disintegrate.

A special effects technician created that impression by blowing smoke through a tube into the recorder.

3. The voice on the tape belonged to Robert Johnson, an accountant turned voice over artist. For the pilot episode, he was paid $125. Since the pilot sold, he kept coming back and, for several years, would record his part every few weeks. His character was never identified during the series.


4. After learning about the mission, Dan Briggs or Jim Phelps would return to his apartment to select agents from a portfolio. The rejected photos in these agent selection scenes were usually pictures of crew members or their wives. In the screenshot above, Dan Briggs is looking at a photo of Bruce Geller. Even though he created Mission: Impossible, Geller doesn’t get to go on this mission.

5. Steven Hill played Dan Briggs, the IMF’s leader at the beginning of the series. Hill had an abrasive personality at that time. He repeatedly clashed with directors and producers, and they ultimately fired him at the end of the first season.

Hill was eventually able to overcome these issues and become a successful actor, most famously playing the role of District Attorney Adam Schiff on Law & Order.

6. In the meantime, directors settled on Peter Graves to replace Hill as Jim Phelps, the new leader of the IMF. Graves came from an acting family: his brother, James Arness, played Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke.


(Video Link)

7. Peter Graves was a serious actor, but he didn’t take himself too seriously. He was quite willing to parody his Mission work, as you can see in this Oldsmobile commercial from the 1980s.

8. Graves wasn’t the only person to parody Mission: Impossible. The exploding assignment message was a recurring gag on Inspector Gadget.


(Video Link)

9. The spy comedy series Get Smart went to even greater lengths in the episode “The Impossible Mission.” Agent Maxwell Smart learns about his mission on a tape recording hidden in a bus station. He has some technical difficulties with it. Smart returns to his apartment to select agents for the mission, just like Dan Briggs and Jim Phelps did. But Smart’s options include Alfred E. Neuman and the Mona Lisa.

10. Gene Roddenberry recruited Martin Landau to play Spock on Star Trek.

Landau turned down the role to play Rollin Hand, the master of disguise on Mission: Impossible. Later, during the fourth and fifth seasons, Leonard Nimoy, who did play Spock, starred in Mission: Impossible as Paris. Nimoy’s character was designed to replace Rollin Hand after Martin Landau left the show at the end of the third season.

11. Barbara Bain played Cinnamon Carter, the glamorous model/agent on the Impossible Missions Force. She was married to Martin Landau during the show’s run. Landau and Bain went on to star together in the British sci-fi series Space: 1999.


12. The show took place during the Cold War, and the team often went on missions behind the Iron Curtain. But all foreign nations were referred to pseudonymously, such “Eurasian Union” instead of the Soviet Union. The writers created a fake language that they called Gellerese, after the producer, Bruce Geller. It served as the generic language for signs when the IMF was in Europe. Producer Peter Sloman explained, “Bruce's idea was that it should be intelligible to anyone who speaks only English, but it should look like German, Hungarian, whatever.” (16-17) Examples include “machina werke” — machine repair and “gäz” — gas. Can you read the sign above?


(Video Link)

13. For years after the show ended in 1973, producers considered reviving it. After several failed efforts, Mission: Impossible returned to the air in 1988. It ran for two years and starred Peter Graves as Jim Phelps, who returned to the Impossible Missions Force after the assassination of his protégé.

14. The new Mission: Impossible also starred Phil Morris, the son of actor Greg Morris. Greg Morris played Barney Collier during all seven seasons of the original show’s run. Phil Morris played Grant Collier, the son of Barney Collier. They were a father and son team on the screen and in real life.

Source:
White, Patrick J. The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier. New York: Avon, 1991. Print.

Images: CBS

Tire Rolls Down Mountain

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 04:54 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

A group of young people push a big tractor tire up a hill in order to watch it roll down the other side. Why? Some things have no reason other than to be fun. Sure, it would have been more satisfying to actually have been there and done this, but watching it on a video is the next best thing! -via Metafilter

Robotic Hand Will Make Video Chatting Even Creepier

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 12:24 AM PDT


(YouTube Link)

Engineers at Osaka University in Japan have created this robotic hand for use with video chatting, to help people talking to each other online feel more connected.

It’s warm like a human hand, registers grip force, and will be programmed “to harass their colleagues with a constant stream of formal greetings”.

I’m not sure what that means, but it doesn’t really matter either way, because this device looks like the beginning of a strange new world of online arm wrestling matches and *ahem* safe virtual encounters.

Just don’t ask this thing to wash your windows, or you will see a strike sign appear in it’s hand faster than you can say Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto!

–via Engadget

Disney Princesses At Their Film Age

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 11:56 PM PDT

When artist Taija Vigilia was asked to draw Disney Princesses at high tea at their film age (Snow White would be 75, Cinderella is 62, Aurora is 53 and so on), she came up with this gem: Link | Larger image - via The Mary Sue

Chickens Are Clucking Up Video Games

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 11:55 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

(YouTube Link)

It seems that one of the newest trends in gaming is the addition of a chicken in some way, due no doubt to the success of Angry Birds.

The first video shows gameplay from The Chicken Bandit, “a western side-scrolling action game” where you “Play as a lone cowboy accompanied only by his over-sized chicken sidekick as you travel from land to land robbing trains and lassoing up as much loot as possible.”

The second video is the trailer for Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chickens for the Playstation Vita. It’s also a side scroller, full of shoot em up action, atmospheric environments and a chicken revolution.

It seems like 2012 might be the year of the chicken after all, at least when it comes to video games.

–via Joystiq   and   The Chicken Bandit

Concept Art For Willow The Animated Series

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 11:53 PM PDT

When the fantasy movie Willow came out in 1988 it was received well by audiences, but not as well as blockbusters Rambo III, Big and Crocodile Dundee II which were released around the same time. Because of this overshadowing by the big boys, Willow was deprived of a sequel and, more importantly, an animated series.

Sadly, all we have now are scanned sheets of concept art, most of which are simple uncolored line drawings, to show us just how fantastic the Willow cartoon would have been. At least you can check out the sketches for yourself now, because nostalgia is free on the interwebs.

Link

Straight Edge Laser-Guided Scissors

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:02 PM PDT

Straight Edge Laser-Guided Scissors – $11.95

Are you a gadget freak who has trouble cutting in a straight line? Don’t let a little thing like skill keep you from achieving your craft making dreams. You need the Straight Edge Laser-Guided Scissors from the NeatoShop . This awesome pair of scissors has a built-in push button laser beam. Mastering those pesky cutting skills just got a whole lot easier. Now get out there and get crafty. There’s a TARDIS paper doily project out there just screaming your name.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Office Supplies!

Link

Animated Gorillaz Music Video-DoYaThing

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 07:13 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

This strange and stylish animated music video is for the Gorillaz song DoYaThing, and it’s great fun to watch!

Directed by Gorillaz artist and co-creator Jamie Hewlett, this video is so good looking it makes me wish there was a Gorillaz animated feature in the works. Oh well, a guy can dream, can’t he?!

–via Cartoon Brew

Radiation Reveals Unseen Van Gogh Painting

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:51 PM PDT

The electron synchrotron lab known as DESY in Hamburg, Germany made a startling discovery, and confirmed the authenticity of two of Van Gogh’s works, when they exposed Still Life with Meadow Flowers and Roses to X-ray and ultraviolet analysis.

This painting of two wrestlers, assumed to be lost forever, was hiding underneath the layers of paint!

Here’s how they made this startling discovery:

This portrait of two half-naked wrestlers was painted by Vincent Van Gogh when he was an art student in Antwerp. It’s been hiding in plain sight for over 125 years, and its discovery also confirmed another disputed Van Gogh painting.

The painting, called Still Life with Meadow Flowers and Roseswas obtained by the Dutch museum Kröller-Müller Museum in 1974, and the big question since then has been whether this is really a Van Gogh. The size of the canvas and the gaudy look of the flowers don’t look much like Van Gogh, which is why the museum declared the painting to be anonymous in 2003.

Now, thanks to ultraviolet and X-ray analyses by DESY, the electron synchrotron lab in Hamburg, we know the truth: the two wrestlers were hiding under Still Life with Meadow Flowers and Roses all along. Van Gogh painted the still-life over the wrestlers without even bothering to obscure the original work. As New Scientist explains, this reveals an all-new Van Gogh and confirms another one all in one fell swoop:

Link

Facebook Plug-in Lets You Name Personal Enemies

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:47 PM PDT

I’ve been saying this for years now: a major flaw in Facebook’s interface is that it lets you create a friends list, but not an enemies list. Now a plug-in designed by Dean Terry of the University of Texas at Dallas gives users that option:

Last month he and a student released a Facebook plug-in called EnemyGraph, which users can install free and name their enemies, which then show up in their profiles. “We’re using ‘enemy’ in the same loose way that Facebook uses ‘friends,’” Mr. Terry explained. “It really just means something you have an issue with.” [...]

Who was Mr. Terry so eager to diss? “One of the first things I put was the band Journey,” he said of his enemy list, “just because they annoy me, and I thought it was funny.” He has also enemied Deepak Chopra and the color red.

Link -via Glenn Reynolds | Image: Aaron Wood

Hilarious Ad For Star Wars Kinect

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:35 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

Chris Pratt, of Parks and Recreation fame, stars in this silly little spot for Star Wars Kinect on Xbox. One question remains-Is Darth Vader evil enough to cut down a Jedi wearing nothing but briefs and an undershirt?

–via Rampaged Reality

Real Life Hamburglar On The Loose In Maine

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:19 PM PDT

A real life Hamburglar is running around stealing burgers in Augusta, Maine and no Big Mac is safe. Here’s the scoop:

According to Lt. Christopher Massey of the Augusta Police, a young man wearing red jeans reportedly grabbed the goods as they were being handed to a customer by an employee.

Massey tracked the alleged thief down to a nearby Arby's parking lot, but he managed to escape into the woods with the loot.

The restaurant prepared a new meal for the victims and told Massey that this sort of thing "does happen occasionally."

Now that’s what I call hard up for a hamburger!

Link

Carved Bowling Balls

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:15 PM PDT

Your professor has given a heavy reading assignment: a famous architectural manual carved into a bowling ball. Eddy Sykes made this and similar sculptures in reflection of his blue collar upbringing as well as his architectural training.

Link -via Gizmodo | Artist’s Website

Eye Of The Riley-A Corgy Cam Adventure

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:07 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

Riley is an adventurous little Corgi who loves going on hikes with his owner, this time around the Runyon Canyon in Los Angeles.

As you watch this video you may ask yourself-does Riley have a little cameraman riding on his back, shooting this action packed footage?

Sadly the answer is no, it’s just a GoPro camera strapped to his back, although I think they should consider using a teacup Chihuahua cameraman for future video shoots.

–via Best Week Ever

Edible Cookbook

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 05:58 PM PDT

It’s a cookbook! It’s a cookbook! The German design firm Korefe put together a package of lasagna ingredients, complete with instructions. Those instructions are embossed on pages of pasta. View photos of the uncooked cookbook at the link.

Link -via Geekosystem | Photo: Korefe

A Fantasy Bed & Breakfast

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 05:42 PM PDT


There’s a marvelous bed and breakfast outside of Durby, Belgium called La Balade de Gnomes. It looks like it’s straight out of a fantasy movie. Outwardly, the building is a wooden bull. Inside, you can find an eccentric mixture of stucco and carved driftwood in the Gnome Revival style.

Photos and Official Website (Google Translate) -via Offbeat Home | Photos: Kozi Kaza

Push the Pizza Button for Pizza

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 05:24 PM PDT

There’s a problem with getting pizza delivered to your home. Like so many other burdens in modern life, there’s just too much work required for the reward. Now there’s a solution. Red Tomato Pizza in Dubai offers a Bluetooth-enabled device that, when pressed, delivers a pre-selected pizza to your location. Watch a promotional video at the link.

Link -via DVICE

The Fruit of the Beetle Tree

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 04:59 PM PDT

Somewhere in Texas, there’s a tree that grows the most marvelous fruit: classic Volkswagen Beetles. It grows only one a year, but it’s worth the wait.

Hey, don’t act like that’s a weird thing to say. After all, ratchet screwdrivers grow on trees.

Link -via Colossal | Photo: Flickr user tipper

LEGO Ninjago Retractable Pen

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 04:44 PM PDT

LEGO Ninjago Retractable Pen – $9.95 (sold separately)

Do your favorite pens keep getting stolen? You need a pen with mystical ninja powers. You need a pen that can hide in plain sight. You need the LEGO Ninjago Retractable Pen from the NeatoShop.

The LEGO Ninjago Retractable Pen is available in:

  • Jay (Blue)
  • Kai (Red)
  • Cole (Black)
  • and Zane (White)

Buy 1 or collect all 4.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic LEGO items and great Pens & Pencils.

Link

Grandma Got the Best Photobomb Ever

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 04:29 PM PDT

Navy sailor Ellis's grandmother got a nice surprise when she posed for her 76th birthday photo. YouTube user porthole1959 wrote:

My son is stationed on the USS John C Stennis. He has not been home since early July 2011.

We surprised his mother during church service. Then went to my mothers for a celebration of her 76th birthday. While she was posing for pictures with two of her great grand kids we had Ellis sneak into the picture. It was great

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

Robotic Water Gun Shoots Squirrels off Birdfeeder

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 04:07 PM PDT


(Video Link)

Kurt Grandis was plagued by an endless offensive of squirrels against his birdfeeder. He needed a solution, so he programmed sensors to detect the shape and color of squirrels — and only squirrels — then instruct a Super Soaker water gun to shoot them. Skip to 16:00 to see it in action.

-via Boing Boing

A Cute Customer Loyalty Card

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 03:46 PM PDT

I want to go to London if for no other reason than to get one of these cards stamped over and over again at Tapped & Packed. Especially since no one is steering the bike.

-via reddit | Official Website

Obscura Day 2012

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 03:45 PM PDT

Atlas Obscura has announced the date of the third annual Obscura Day, which will be Saturday, April 28th. Obscura Day is a day to go exploring: to take a trip through the hidden wonders of the world, to see special places, maybe even in your own backyard! There are already lots of excursions planned, from Brooklyn to Scotland, from North Carolina to New Zealand, including places large and small. Select from nature hikes, museums, science facilities, abandoned architecture, historic landmarks, and at least three scavenger hunts. If your favorite place isn’t listed already, you can organize an Obscura event of your own! And the folks at Atlas Obscura are especially looking for photographers to documents the expeditions. Find out all about it at the Obscura Day website. Link

Texas Sized Hot Dog!

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 03:28 PM PDT

Everything is bigger in Texas, including their hot dogs. Behold the 2-foot long "Champion Dog" hot dog offered by the Texas Rangers:

"We wanted something that somebody would walk up to and go, 'Wow,'" said Philip Wheatley, the park's food and beverage director. "We obviously do hot dogs well. We worked with a local purveyor of ours to come up with something that big. We just thought a one-pound hot dog would be a fun thing to do, more so for the look. Hopefully people will enjoy it."

Presentation will be key for the dog, which will be topped with shredded cheese, chili and sautéed onions. It will also be served with fries. When you order one of the monstrosities at the Captain Morgan sports bar, it will be brought out on a 2-foot-long cutting board.

"We envision the waiters coming out with this item and everybody going, 'Look at that,'" Wheatley said.

The hot dog is supposed to serve 4 regular people ... or 1 American ;)

Link - via Nerdalicious

A Bald Eagle, A Fox and Cats Hanging Out on a Porch

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 02:28 PM PDT

A bald eagle, a fox and cats on a porch in Alaska sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it appears to be a regular happening at a woman's home in the Aleutian Islands:

See how the fox, eagle and cat are all just fine hanging out and no one is trying to attack anyone and they are getting along just fine? Notice the eagle in the background on the lamp post down by the street. That is the partner to this eagle. They aren't always out to attack and kill each other. Our fox and eagles and cats basically get along just fine here. Sometimes if there is food they might fight over the food some.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

New York Educrats Banned Dinosaur, Birthday, Dancing, and Halloween

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 01:28 PM PDT

Won't somebody think of the children? Actually, New York education bureaucrats are, in fact, thinking of the children when they banned references to dinosaurs, birthdays, dancing, and Halloween, lest kids got offended.

That’s because they fear such topics “could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students.”

Dinosaurs, for example, call to mind evolution, which might upset fundamentalists; birthdays aren’t celebrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses; and Halloween suggests paganism.

Even “dancing’’ is taboo, because some sects object. But the city did make an exception for ballet. [...]

Words that suggest wealth are excluded because they could make kids jealous. Poverty is likewise on the forbidden list.

Also banned are references to divorces and diseases, because kids taking the tests may have relatives who split from spouses or are ill.

Officials say such exclusions are normal procedure.

Yoav Gonen of The New York Post has the story: Link

Glowing Clouds

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 01:27 PM PDT

Earlier today (Tuesday, March 27) NASA shot up 5 rockets 60 miles above the Earth to the edge of space to release chemical tracer. The aim is to understand ultra-fast jet stream winds in the atmosphere, but the side benefit is wonderful glowing clouds that wowed skywatchers along the US East Coast:

Astrophotographer Jeff Berkes caught spectacular views of the ATREX clouds from outside Philadelphia, Pa. In his images, the clouds look like a huge, iridescent creature with wings spread across the predawn sky.

"It was a great show," Berkes told SPACE.com in an email.

The $4 million ATREX mission is aimed at better understanding the high-altitude jet stream, which streaks along at altitudes of 60 to 65 miles (97 to 105 km) — much higher up than the jet stream commonly referred to in weather forecasts, which is found just 6 miles (10 km) or so above Earth. Theory suggests that this high-altitude jet stream should blow at only about 50 mph (80 kph), but in truth the average speed is closer to 200 mph and occasionally hits 300 mph, researchers have said.

Tariq Malik of SPACE.com has the story: Link

Pennsylvania Law Gags Doctors from Telling Patients Which Fracking Chemical is Making Them Sick

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 01:21 PM PDT

Toxic f racking chemicals that leached into the ground making you sick? Why that's bad press for the oil industry!

That's why they came up with this ingenious (in an evil way) to deal with the problem: "gag" doctors from telling their patients what is making them sick. See, problem solved!

A 2010 congressional investigation revealed that Halliburton and other fracking companies had used 32 million gallons of diesel products, which include toxic chemicals like benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, in the fluids they inject into the ground. Low levels of exposure to those chemicals can trigger acute effects like headaches, dizziness, and drowsiness, while higher levels of exposure can cause cancer.

Pennsylvania law states that companies must disclose the identity and amount of any chemicals used in fracking fluids to any health professional that requests that information in order to diagnosis or treat a patient that may have been exposed to a hazardous chemical. But the provision in the new bill requires those health professionals to sign a confidentiality agreement stating that they will not disclose that information to anyone else -- not even the person they're trying to treat.

Link - via Fark (Photo: arimoore/Flickr)

Jetbow: The Tim Tebow Sandwich

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 01:11 PM PDT

Get down on your knee and start praying: the venerable Carnegie Deli in Manhattan has introduced a sandwich after the Jets' new backup quarterback Tim Tebow.

The meal will be about 3.5 pounds and contain corned beef, pastrami, roast beef, American cheese, lettuce and tomato on white bread, and will be introduced Monday to coincide with Tebow's press conference.

"He's the poster boy for every parent and what they want their kids to be," owner Sandy Levine said. "Very religious, very clean-cut, an outstanding student, he does charity work. What more do you want as an athlete than him?"

Link

The War Expo

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 12:26 PM PDT

Where does Dr. Evil go to buy all those nifty killing machines to take over the world? He can't just go to the market and buy arms and weapons, can he? Well, actually he can.

Shane Smith, the founder of Vice explores Sofex, the tradeshow for war, where military generals go shopping for the world's deadliest merchandise:

“You know, it’s weird, man. It’s like everybody’s real cordial with each other. But, at the end of the day, we’re, like, buying weapons to destroy each other. I don’t want to, like, sound liberal or anything. But it’s really not glamorous. This shit fucking kills people.” Shockingly, the guy who said this wasn’t some antiwar hippie who had just dropped acid. He was a 6'4" Marine Corps Force Recon sergeant who had recently returned from two tours in Afghanistan. We were both attendees at the 2010 Special Operations Force Exhibition (SOFEX) in Jordan. His booming reaction was prompted by the trade-show floor—a sea of displays and kiosks from weapons companies hawking missiles, machine guns, tanks, and bombs like they were next year’s luxury sedans. Even more unsettling, the expo’s biggest sponsor was the USA. [...]

When the conference opened each day the scene resembled a free booze party on the Lower East Side, but instead of hipsters crowding the bar to get free vodka, generals stood five deep trying to place their orders for laser-guided weapons and truck-mounted rocket launchers, both of which were the stars of the show.

If you read only one story from Neatorama today, make it this one: Link

Emergency Inflatable Chicken

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:38 AM PDT

Emergency Inflatable Chicken – $7.95

Have you ever had one of those day where you really needed a chicken, but none were to be found? You need the Emergency Inflatable Chicken from the NeatoShop.  With this fantastic blow up poultry in a tin you will never be without a chicken again. Now it’s time to do the happy chicken dance!

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Inflatable fun!

Link

ABC Monsters

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:16 AM PDT


(vimeo link)

Can you name all the movie monsters, A to Z? Language warning for one word. -via Breakfast Links

Mad Men Quote as Art

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:01 AM PDT

Chris Piascik and Aaron Cohen have teamed up for a weekly recap of each episode of the hit TV series Mad Men. Cohen writes the recaps (contains spoilers), and Piascik illustrates a quote from the episode. This one, which is totally incomprehensible to anyone not following the series, is from season 5, episode one, and is available as an art print, stationery, or t-shirt. Link -via Kottke

Bike Parkour

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:06 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

Do NOT try this at home! Andrew Dickey is an expert, and there’s no telling how many bones he broke getting to this level. Oh, and there’s a chance of vertigo just from watching this video. -via BroBible

Popcorn Proven Better Than Fruits and Veggies by Science!

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:05 AM PDT

The next time your parents told you to eat your fruits and veggies, tell them you'd eat some popcorn instead. After all, it's now been scientifically proven that popcorn is actually healthier:

Joe Vinson, Ph.D., a pioneer in analyzing healthful components in chocolate, nuts and other common foods, explained that the polyphenols are more concentrated in popcorn, which averages only about 4 percent water, while polyphenols are diluted in the 90 percent water that makes up many fruits and vegetables.

In another surprising finding, the researchers discovered that the hulls of the popcorn -- the part that everyone hates for its tendency to get caught in the teeth -- actually has the highest concentration of polyphenols and fiber.

"Those hulls deserve more respect," said Vinson, who is with the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. "They are nutritional gold nuggets."

Go science! Link

Previously on Neatorama: Chocolate May Help Keep You Thin

Architectural Google Doodle

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 07:24 AM PDT

German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was born 126 years ago today. He was influential in shifting modern architecture away from the ornate to the simple. Whether that is actually progress is in the eye of the beholder, but he is honored by today’s Google doodle, which depicts the SR Crown Hall in Chicago, one of his glass-and-steel designs. Link

Beanie Baby Hunger Games

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 07:02 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

Warning: probably contains spoilers, I don’t know. The Hunger Games, performed by Beanie Babies. -via Buzzfeed

 
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