Sponsor

2012/04/14

Neatorama

Labels: ,

Neatorama

Wait, You’re Not A Monkey

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 04:59 AM PDT

(Video Link)

Silly rabbit, you got over the fact that Trix aren’t made for you and just moved on to yet another food not made for you. Bunnies and bananas, now that’s just plain goofy, and I’m not even going into the fact that you’re eating it while being held like a baby drinking a bottle. You poor confused thing.

Via Cute Overload

Bird Attacking Owl GIF Is Curiously Mesmerizing

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 04:45 AM PDT

An owl is sitting on a branch watching some jerk shoot video footage of him like some sort of wildlife TMZ reporter when BAM! Say hello to my little friend!

And the owl doesn’t seem care about being dive bombed by the little bird, because he’s too busy making sure the paparazzi shoot his good side.

Later, the little bird tried the same thing with a hawk, and the results were dire to say the least. I guess not everyone appreciates physical comedy!

Link

X-Files:The Musical Will Make You Want To Believe

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 03:53 AM PDT

(YouTube Link)

This impressive act of musical nerdery is brought to you in eleven parts by CMustardTheatre, the same fine folks that brought you Jurassic Park: The Musical a few years back.

Watch as Scully and Mulder seek the truth about unexplained phenomenon while trading witty barbs in a way that makes you say “that is soooooo Mulder and Scully!”. Oh yeah, and there’s lots of singing too…

–via Topless Robot

Would You Watch The I Can Has Cheezburger Show

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 02:43 AM PDT

No, it’s not about LOL cats per se. Instead it’s about Ben Huh, the genius behind I Can Has Cheezburger, FAIL Blog, Know Your Meme and all those other memetastic sites. The show will be on Bravo and is tentatively called Huh? The show will focus on Huh and his life at work and some of his relationship drama (the two are pretty closely related, given as how his wife is the head editor over at I Can Has Cheezburger.

Link Via Geekosystem

Kermit The Frog Visits Yankee Stadium

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 01:45 AM PDT

Kermit the Frog took in a ball game at Yankee Stadium recently, and had a great time despite being seated next to Mayor Bloomberg, who was clearly unamused by the presence of the fleece superstar.

Kermit was also unfazed by the lady who spent the day on the stairs next to him wondering why some guy had his hand stuck up Kermit’s butt, unaware of just how tight security has become for the Muppets. Fame has its price, boys and girls.

Link  –via The Mary Sue

Watch Wario & Waluigi Paint Their Own Game World

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 01:43 AM PDT

(Video Link)

Sure games like Minecraft and Little Big Planet let you build your own worlds these days, but there’s still something to be said about bringing that video game world into our reality and interacting with it like these guys did.

Via Kotaku

Live Action Mega Man X Vs. Protoman Fan Film

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 12:45 AM PDT

(YouTube Link)

This slick looking Megan Man X fan film was brought to life by Olan Rogers, who spent a mere $700 on the entire production. The costumes alone look like they cost more than seven hundred bucks, and yet the average budget of B-movies like Sharktopus is well over a million dollars.

Take note, budding filmmakers-it’s not the size of your budget that counts, it’s how you use it.

–via Obvious Winner

 

Sea Kraits Hunt in Packs

Posted: 14 Apr 2012 12:13 AM PDT

You know what's scarier than a venomous snake? A venomous snake that swims like fish in the ocean.

From BBC's Planet Earth, here's a very interesting video clip about the unlikely cooperation between banded sea kraits that hunt in packs: Link [embedded Flash video clip]

Chocolate 3D Printer Is Now A Delicious Reality

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 11:45 PM PDT

3D printers have come a long way over the years, from far flung tech to affordable enough for the average person to own. But what if you want to print up 3D objects that are also edible?

Until recently you’d have been out of luck, but thanks to Choc Edge the Choc Creator Version 1 is now available to make your 3D chocolate dreams a reality. Here’s how it works:

the machine uses a stepper motor to three-dimensionally print layer upon layer of chocolate, which is extracted out of a refillable syringe.

Choc Creator utilizes an easy-to-use syringe based chocolate deposition head which allows users to rapidly install and remove syringe head units. The design enables users to refill syringes with fresh chocolate or different chocolates conveniently.

So, if you can pony up $4,600 American you can be the first person on your block to print out chocolates in all sorts of fanciful shapes, and bring your sweet imagination to life!

Link  –via Techland

Even Death Won’t Stop Nate Dogg From Performing At Coachella

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 10:49 PM PDT

This year’s lineup for Coachella Music Festival includes a bunch of live acts, and one act that has been dead since last year.

The dead act I’m speaking of is rapper Nate Dogg, who died of a stroke in March of 2011, but that won’t stop a hologram of the dead rapper from hitting the stage alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre at Coachella this year, in a ghostly appearance sure to make the crowd wonder what exactly they’ve been smoking.

No word on whether a Tupac hologram plans to eliminate the spectral Nate Dogg and make an amazing comeback from beyond the grave, but it would definitely make for one hell of a stage show!

Link

Titanic Shower Curtain

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 10:15 PM PDT

Titanic Shower Curtain – $15.95

On April 15, 1912 RMS Titanic sank into the North Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an iceberg. Yes, it really happened. No, it wasn’t just some cheesy inspirational movie about love between different social classes.

Now you can mark the historic 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic with this tasteless, but funny, Titanic Shower Curtain from the NeatoShop.

Warning: This shower curtain may cause you to break out into various off-key renditions of My Heart Will Go On. You might also find yourself  dangerously climbing the rim of the bathtub and screaming, “I’m King of the world.” Both, which we are almost sure, never actually occurred on the real Titanic.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more epic Bed & Bath items.

Link

The Hipster Games

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 10:12 PM PDT

You know it's coming.

Here's the latest The Hunger Games spoof: The Hipster Games, where five districts - Portland, Brooklyn, Oakland, Austin, and Silverlake - brave the lack of PBR and brunch to fight to the death.

May the trends be ever in your favor!

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Adverve

Previously on Neatorama: The Hungry Games | I Blame Hipsters

Baboon Can “Read”

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 09:12 PM PDT

In the movie Planet of the Apes">Planet of the Apes, intelligent apes took over Earth - actually, that may not be too farfetched, as researchers recently discovered that monkeys can "read" words:

The six baboons used the computers up to 3,000 times a day, notching up an average total of 50,000 "trials" over a month and a half.

They learned to distinguish scores of words, identifying them with an accuracy of 75 percent, according to the study led by Jonathan Grainger at the Cognitive Research Laboratory at France's Aix-Marseille University.

There were 500 real words and 7,832 nonsense ones in the data bank.

"This ... is a remarkable result, given the level of orthographic similarity between the word and nonword," according to the paper, published by the US journal Science.

"More detailed analysis revealed that baboons were not simply memorising the word ... but had learned to discriminate words from nonwords on the basis of differences in the frequency of letter combinations."

Link (Photo: J.Fagot/AFP/CNRS)

Fake Police Academy in China

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 08:11 PM PDT

China has got fake handbags, fake watches and even a fake Apple store, but this "fake" takes the cake: Fake Police Academy.

The Jiamusi People's Police Academy, Shandong province branch, offered impressionable school leavers a three year law enforcement studies course taught by veteran officers on a new campus.

The rookie officers prepared to stump up the £2,000 fees were promised their hard won diplomas would land them jobs keeping the streets safe from criminals – including, one imagines, apprehending the innovative counterfeiters who have produced a long list of fraudulent products, including fake walnuts, vintage wine and the ubiquitous plastic Rolex.

The sham police school was closed after its "honorary president", Wei Zhenhai, inadvertently exposed the scheme. He boasted about his friends in high places to two female undercover officers who visited the admission office posing as potential students. Mr Wei claimed his unique constabulary connections would help them secure posts.

Genuine constables then pounced and arrested the academy's 23 staff, including the president, Zhao Qingxin.

Link - via Oddity Central (Photo: Hung Chung Chih/Shutterstock)

This is How You Load a Dishwasher

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 07:11 PM PDT


(YouTube link)

Yesterday, Matthew Inman posted a diatribe at The Oatmeal about people who beg for Facebook likes. At the end of that post, he suggested someone write a sing-along about how to load a dishwasher. The Vlog Brothers thought that was a great idea. -via @Bunnydo2

Where Would You Be Without Your Library?

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 07:10 PM PDT


[YouTube clip]

When money got tight, libraries are the first thing to be cut from the state budget. So what's a teeny tiny library like the one in Shutesbury, Massachusetts to do? They fight back, of course, with a YouTube video clip that has gone viral.

GOOD has the story:

The 900-square foot building, built in 1902, doesn’t have running water or even any space for patrons to sit down and hang out. Much of the town is restricted to dial-up internet, so townspeople naturally want to use the library’s high speed connection, says Emily Bloch, a volunteer. "Except there’s no place for people to sit inside, so people park in the parking lot and idle with their laptops."

While the state agreed to cover 60 percent of the $3.5 million needed to build a new, energy-efficient building that could provide a suitable home for a town of eager readers, the town needs to prove it can cover the other 40 percent by the end of June. A recent town-hall vote to raise taxes to come up with extra funding resulted in a tie, with many opponents saying they simply couldn’t afford to pay more taxes. So a group of passionate townspeople is taking fundraising into their own hands by creating a grassroots campaign centered around digital media.

Link

Crab-Powered Computer

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 05:38 PM PDT

This has got to be one of the weirdest computers ever devised by man: crab-powered computing.

New Scientists explains:

Although you're unlikely to ever stop by the Apple store to pick up the latest iSnap model, it turns out that swarms of soldier crabs herded through tunnels can form the AND, OR and NOT logic gates required to make a computer.

Yukio-Pegio Gunji of Kobe University in Japan and colleagues realised that when two swarms of crabs collide, they merge and continue in a direction that is the sum of their velocities. This behaviour means the researchers could adapt a previous model of unconventional computing, based on colliding billiard balls, to work with swarms of crabs, with 0s and 1s represented by the absence or presence of a swarm.

Link

The Little Mermaid’s Brother

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 05:31 PM PDT

Since 1913, Edvard Eriksen’s statute of the titular character from the tale “The Little Mermaid” has watched over the harbor of Copenhagen, Denmark. To mark her upcoming hundredth birthday, artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset made this male version. Thanks to machinery inside, the stainless steel merman blinks every half hour.

Link -via My Modern Met | Photo: Art Daily

Previously: Skeleton Replaces Copenhagen Mermaid

Cat In The Hat Aprons

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 05:25 PM PDT

Cat In The Hat Loretta Apron (Adult) – $34.95

Cat In The Hat Jessica Apron (Kids) - $23.95

Where does the NeatoShop find such great Mother’s Day gift ideas? We looked!  Then we saw them. The Cat in the Hat! These things are good things, we thought. And we gave them a pat.

Celebrate Mother’s Day in style with the adorable Dr. Seuss Cat In The Hat Aprons from the NeatoShop. The Cat In The Hat Aprons are available in Adult, Kids, and Toddler (not Shown). Cat In The Hat Oven Mitt Set also available. Oven mitt set includes one adult and one child sized mitt.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Aprons.

Link

Amazing: LEGO Star Wars Barrel Organ

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 05:17 PM PDT


(Video Link)

This is the awesomest thing you will see all day. Okay, it’s a barrel organ that plays Star Wars music, but it’s so much more than that. The surface is made of LEGO pieces, arranged as scenes from Hoth, Endor and Tatooine. The LEGO pieces trip levers that press organ keys, so the scenes play music. The studio Builders of Sound made this marvel, and it deserves a standing ovation right now.

Link -via DVICE

Storm Kong

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 05:06 PM PDT

Aren’t you a little tall for a stormtrooper? Still, I won’t argue with Fabian Gonzalez’s re-imagining of the 1933 film.

Link -via Distracted by Star Wars | Previously by Fabian Gonzalez

French Hotel Lets You Live Like a Hamster, Because That’s Clearly What You’ve Always Wanted to Do

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 05:00 PM PDT


(Video Link)

If you’ve long fantasized about living as a hamster, then have I got a hotel for you! The Hamster Villa in Nantes, France simulates the full hamster experience. Guests get furry hats and tails, an exercise wheel, a bed of hay and water from a fountain.

Link -via The Presurfer

R2-D2 Turntable

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 04:42 PM PDT

Party droid R2-D2 is ready to get down this weekend, thanks to a few modifications by Tex Nasty and Ed Hubbs. You can also hire him for weddings and bar mitzvahs.

Link

Insurance Scam Caught on a Dashboard Camera

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 04:32 PM PDT


(Video Link)

Remember the scammers who reversed their car into another? A similar thief is at work here. He walks into a stopped car, then acts like the car hit him. Watch until the end, when you see him nurse a leg, feigning injury — and it’s the wrong leg!

-via reddit

Batman: False Start

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 04:18 PM PDT

Young and idealistic Bruce Wayne wanted to bring justice to Gotham using a secret identity and non-lethal methods. But unfortunately, things just don't turn out that way. His fast reflexes helped defeat his enemies, but unfortunately it also has an undesirable side effect ...

Check out this fan-made video clip over at Geeks Are Sexy: Link

Previously on Neatorama: Batman ... in Bats!

Sleeping Pods for Data Centers

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 04:02 PM PDT

Thousands of the world's most powerful computers and a cozy, coffin-like sleeping pods. What more could a data geek ask for?

While the idea isn't new (we wrote about capsule hotels in Japan several times), but this time, the sleeping pods are being used by a data center in London who want to keep their employees nearby during the expected crush during the 2012 Olympics: Link

Hey, come to think of it, perhaps this could work for Neatorama bloggers and NeatoShop workers, too!

5 Myths about the Titanic Spread by Movies

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 03:44 PM PDT

You may have gotten over the shock of discovering that the sinking of the Titanic was a real historical event. Now brace yourselves: not everything that the movies tell you about it is accurate. Some of what people think to be true about the Titanic isn’t at all, such as that the owners claimed that the ship was unsinkable:

But this is perhaps the biggest myth surrounding the Titanic, says Richard Howells, from Kings College London.

“It is not true that everyone thought this. It’s a retrospective myth, and it makes a better story. If a man in his pride builds an unsinkable ship like Prometheus stealing the fire from the gods… it makes perfect mythical sense that God would be so angry at such an affront that he would sink the ship on its maiden outing.”

Contrary to the popular interpretation the White Star Line never made any substantive claims that the Titanic was unsinkable – and nobody really talked about the ship’s unsinkability until after the event, argues Howells.

Link -via Joe Carter | Image: Paramount

Clothes Iron Burns a Religious Icon on Shirts

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 03:30 PM PDT

Seeing religious icons on your toast is pretty nifty, but even though our brain is wired for pareidolia, catching the sight of the Virgin Guadalupe on bread is still a very iffy thing.

But not with this clever invention by Robert Wechsler! His modified clothes iron puts on the appropriate religious icon on shirts with 100% accuracy: Link

Previously on Neatorama: August: A Busy Month for Religious Sightings!

Goggles Make Food Appear 50% Larger, Help You Eat Less

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 02:22 PM PDT


Image: DietDiet [in Japanese]

Can you trick your brain into thinking that you've eaten more than you really have? Apparently so! A team at Tokyo University developed a special pair of "food glasses" that help dieters by making it appear that they're eating a lot more food:

The video eyewear processes the image to enlarge the food's appearance while maintaining the original size of the hand and surroundings. The idea is that tricking the wearer into believing that they've eaten more than they really have will give them a greater feeling of "fullness."

The stats appear to bear this out, at least slightly: according to the Yomiuri Shinbun, a test group of 12 men and women ate 9.3 percent less cookies than normal when shown the 50 percent enlarged image, but 15 percent more when the glasses were set to reduce the cookies' size by 33 percent.

Link

Stack-A-Doodle Stackable Block Crayons

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 01:41 PM PDT

Stack-A-Doodle Stackable Block Crayons – $7.45

Are ordinary crayons too pedestrian for your little Picasso? You need the Stack-A-Doodle Stackable Block Crayons from the NeatoShop. This fantastic set of 13 crayons are shaped like stackable bricks. Now your favorite artist can draw, build, and stack to their hearts content.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Toys & Games.

Link

 

The Hottest Place on Earth

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 01:07 PM PDT

Desert sun overhead, volcanic forces beneath your feet, and the average year-round temperature is 94F (34C)! This is Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, where the ground springs forth with lava and hot mineral springs that evaporate and leave salt formations behind. See a collection of beautiful and foreboding photographs of the region at Environmental Graffiti. Link

(Image credit: Luke Duggleby)

Children Medieval Band

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 12:10 PM PDT

Can you do a decent cover of a Rammstein song if your drummer is five years old? Yes -even a good one! If that answer surprises you, go watch the Children Medieval Band at NeatoBambino. Link

11 Unbelievable Healthcare Industry Mascots

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 11:04 AM PDT

Food and other industries have mascots that are walking and dancing versions of their products, so why not mascots for urine tests, syringes, and various body organs? These exist too, in walking, dancing, kid-hugging form! See eleven of the best at mental_floss. Shown here is Petey Cup, which is, well, you can figure that out or go read more about him. Link

Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt #19

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 10:48 AM PDT

Hello, Neatoramanauts! I'm happy to announce our latest Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt.

For those of you who haven't played before, the Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt is an online scavenger game. You can win a Tokyoflash watch of your choice and some awesome stuff from the NeatoShop.

It's really easy to play. We'll give you a set of clues, for example:

1. What is the name of Neatorama's baby blog?
2. What is 2+1?
3. What is the name of the top grill listed in our post Top 10 Coolest BBQ Grills?

String the answers to form this link: http://www.neatorama.com/neatobambino-3-lynx

Go ahead, copy and paste to your browser. We'll wait.

Easy, right? Let's get started then!

Here are the clues to today's Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt #19:

1. Visit Tokyoflash and check out their latest watch shown above. Fill in the blank: "On Air's time display is minimal and ______"

2. Check out NeatoShop's Zombie Shop. One of the items there holds your keys and mail (neat huh? It's made by a local artist group here in the USA - buy one and support indie artists). Fill in the blank: "4 ______ key hooks"

3. Back to Tokyoflash and find a watch that's unusually furry. Fill in the blank: "The slim stainless steel case is complemented with a polished ______"

4. Lastly, visit the NeatoShop's Funny T-Shirt section (or Science T-Shirts section). What is the year in Schroödinger's Bet? Fill in the blank: "Erwin Schrodinger, _____"

Got that? Visit Tokyoflash and the NeatoShop to find the clues. Then string them together to form the URL: http://www.neatorama.com/answer1-answer2-answer3-answer4 (all lower case, separated by dash)

Good luck!

Higher than a Skyscraper

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 10:28 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

WARNING: Do not watch this if you are prone to vertigo or have an extreme fear of heights. On top of a skyscraper in Moscow, there’s a spiral staircase rising from the roof. At the top of the staircase, there’s a ladder that goes even higher. A guy with a camera climbs it, even though it’s covered with snow. We do get to see him come down safely after his adventure. -via Everlasting Blort

Update: A commenter has identified the climber as Artem Pirniazov. -Thanks, gorechi!

Epic Meal Time in LEGO

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 10:02 AM PDT

Epic Meal Time - Lego Edition!

LEGO artist Ochre Jelly, known offline as Iain Heath, unveils his latest creation: a recreation of the webseries Epic Meal Time rendered in LEGO bricks! He says this scene was tough to do, but his love of bacon kept him going. See more pictures of this tableau at Flickr. Link -Thanks, Iain!

Previously: More Ochre Jelly creations.

(Image credit: Flickr user Ochre Jelly)

Interview with Maru

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 09:20 AM PDT

Jack Shepherd of Buzzfeed was able to score an interview with the internet’s favorite cat, Maru. The answers to his questions had to be translated from cat to Japanese by Maru’s roommate, Mugumogu, and then into English by Aya Hibino, but we still get some insights on what it’s like to be Maru, supplemented by a few videos. Link

Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 09:02 AM PDT

If anyone can teach us about love, it should be the great philosophers. But as it turns out, a lover of wisdom and a wise lover are two very different things.

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU Putting Babies in the Corner

One of the most important figures of the French Enlightenment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that humankind’s natural state had been corrupted by society. “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains,” the philosopher once wrote. Rousseau believed that marriage was a necessary “chain” that mankind needed to submit to, and he argued that the nuclear family -built around the core of a husband and wife- was integral to society’s success.

Of course, Rousseau’s personal appetites were in stark contrast to the conventional morals that he publicly championed. He enjoyed flashing women, claiming to get an “absurd pleasure” out of the practice. And while he praised the nuclear family as that necessary straightjacket that all men must wear, it wasn’t cut to his own liking. In his autobiography, Rousseau recounted his many relationships with upper-class women …and their staffs. When Madame de Warens took Rousseau into her home in 1729, the philosopher initiated a menage a trois with the noblewoman and her property manager. The three only broke up when Rousseau took a job in another city.

But the philosopher didn’t restrict his philandering to high society. In fact, Rousseau’s longest relationship was with Therese Lavasseur, an illiterate seamstress whom he met in March 1745. They had a sizable family -or would have, if they’d kept any of their offspring. Rousseau personally abandoned every one of their five children to a French foundling hospital (sort of a YMCA for unwanted children). These tinier chains, he argued, would have interfered with his important work.

Neither Rousseau nor Lavasseur was faithful to the other, but after abandoning their fifth and final child in 1768, they decided to marry. The ceremony wasn’t legal, though, as marriages between Catholics (Rousseau) and Protestants (Lavasseur) weren’t recognized in France at the time. That appeared to be fine with Rousseau, who barely acknowledged Lavasseur anyway: Instead of referring to her as his wife, he preferred to call her his “housekeeper.” He kept her “services” until his death in 1778.

ARISTOTLE The Man, the Myth, the Misogynist

Aristotle has taken plenty of abuse over the years for his misogynistic views. The Greek philosopher believed that women were “monstrosities” and little more than tamed animals, views that couldn’t have ingratiated him to the opposite sex. He also believed that women were inherently defective creatures, based on his erroneous observation that they have colder blood and a shorter lifespan than men.

For their part, many historians have simply ignored these little mistakes. After all, Aristotle was one of the founding fathers of Western philosophy. He had created the first formal study of logic and advanced the fields of biology, ethics, and politics. Couldn’t a little misogyny be swept under the rug?

At the ripe age of 37, Aristotle decided to take a wife. He married an 18-year-old girl named Pythias, who was the adopted daughter of his mentor, Hermias. The difference in their ages didn’t seem to bother Aristotle. And while the historical record seems to indicate their union was a happy one, Pythia’s feelings on the marriage have been lost to history. She died at an early age, leaving Aristotle to raise their only child.

Aristotle’s second wife was a former slave with the unbecoming name Herpylis. Few details of their relationship remain, but Aristotle clearly preferred monstrosity #1 to monstrosity #2; when he died, Aristotle requested that he be buried beside his first wife. He continued to treat women like tamed animals to the very end, willing Herpylis to the executors of his estate.

There was one way in which Aristotle didn’t treat his women like livestock -he never bothered to inspect their teeth. In addition to his other incorrect theories, Aristotle believed that women had fewer teeth than men. As the philosopher Bertrand Russell put it, “Although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives’ mouths.” Perhaps smiles were rare in the Aristotle household. Or perhaps the philosopher was simply too busy with his work to find time to check. According to Diogenes the Cynic, Aristotle would “walk up and down [a public walkway in the Lyceum] discussing philosophy with his pupils until it was time to rub themselves down with oil.” Women were confined to the home and barred from public and social functions, while Greek men were free to teach, learn, and get greasy.

LOUIS ALTHUSSER World’s Worst Masseur

Louis Althusser was a 30-year-old virgin when he met the 38-year-old Helene Rytman in 1946. Worldly and experienced, she introduced the French philosopher to a brave new sexual world, a world that Althusser clearly wasn’t ready for: After sleeping with Helene for the first time, he fell into a deep depression, leading to hospitalization and shock treatment.

Despite this inauspicious start, Althusser eventually accepted sex as part of his life. He also married Helene. Unfortunately, she may have taught her young lover too well. Before long, Althusser was cheating on his wife with other women. That they had no close friends only compounded their marital woes. The marriage was punctuated by violent fights, and Helene frequently threatened to kill herself. Of course, none of this helped Althusser’s fragile mental state. The beleaguered philosopher fell into a pattern of frequent hospitalizations and extensive psychoanalytic treatment.

Somehow, the drama didn’t seem to impede his work. Althusser lectured for more than 30 years at the prestigious Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, influencing an entire generation of French thinkers with his radical Marxist philosophy.

But on a quiet Sunday morning in 1980, Althusser’s life came crashing down. While lovingly massaging his wife’s neck, Althusser “accidentally” strangled Helene to death. To the dismay of the press, he was judged mentally unfit to stand trial and spent almost three years in psychiatric hospitals before being released back into society in 1983. And while he mastered Marx, he never quite figured out the opposite sex. As he put it, “The trouble is there are bodies, and worse still, sexual organs.”

MORE GREAT MINDS More Bad Ideas

Simone de Beauvoir: Adopted her lover as daughter.

Henry Ward Beecher: Called marriage “the grave of love” (strange for a clergyman!)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Revealed lust for sister in autobiography.

Leo Tolstoy: Shared lurid sex journal with fiancee right before their wedding.

Ayn Rand: Generously dedicated a book to both her spouse and her lover.

_______________________

The article above, written by Andrew Shaffer, is reprinted with permission from the January-February 2012 issue of mental_floss magazine. Get a subscription to mental_floss and never miss an issue!

Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ website and blog for more fun stuff!

5 Hallmarks of Bad Parenting That Are Actually Good for Kids

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 08:56 AM PDT

Apprehensive and inexperienced parents seek out advice from people who are only too happy to tell you the “right” way to bring up baby. Then science tells us that “right” way is baloney. For example, here’s a study about giving kids candy:

The researchers studied over 11,000 kids ages 2 to 18 who were divided into two groups. One group was fed sweets and chocolate about 4 grams above their daily recommended sugar intake, while the other kids received no sweets at all (having to sustain themselves on a steady diet of pity and taunts from the first group). Despite the almost negligible amount of candy they’ve been given, the results of the study showed that, statistically, the candy-munching brigade were later 22 to 26 percent less likely to be overweight than the kids raised on free-range carrots and vegan water.

The good news didn’t end there. Kids who rode the sugar dragon also had lower levels of a protein that has been linked to heart disease and other chronic illnesses, which goes against all the so-called common sense of healthy nutrition. However, the results only applied to typical sugar candy and not chocolate, for no other reason than life just being arbitrary and unfair.

Yep, parenting basically boils down to common sense and moderation, just as you thought. Read more at Cracked. Link

How to Dance Goth

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 07:59 AM PDT


(vimeo link)

So many, many webs! This instructional film was shown at the Hubba Hubba Revue Goth Show. Photos of the video shoot are available at Flickr. Link -via Metafilter

Architectural Stationery Vignettes

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 07:06 AM PDT

The engraved stationary of established businesses from days gone by are works of art, as letters were such an important method of communication. It was common to feature a company’s buildings front and center. BibliOdyssey has an assortment of these intricately engraved letterheads and sales receipts from the Biggert Collection at Columbia University, ranging from the mid-1800s to the 1930s. The stationery shown from James A. McCafferty & Sons manufacturing company of Brooklyn appears to contain all of their advertising plus their building in one image! See 30 more such engravings in the larger and easier to read full list of images. Link

Minnie Mouse Hooded Scarf and Mittens

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 06:39 AM PDT

Minnie Mouse Hooded Scarf and Mittens – $77.95

Attention Minnie Mouse fans. This spring we encourage you to get in touch with your inner diva mouse with the Minnie Mouse Hooded Scarf and Mittens from the NeatoShop. This super adorable hood, scarf, and mitten combo is made of soft faux fur with satin lining.This item is imported from Japan. We have a very limited quantity in stock. Hello Kitty version also available.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fun Apparel & Accessories.

Link

 

Sanguine Artworks By Jordan Eagles

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 06:37 AM PDT

When it comes to working with blood, the main drawback tends to be the limited supply of fluid medium pumping through the artist’s veins.

Jordan Eagles has found a way around this limitation-he uses cow blood collected fresh from slaughterhouses so he never runs out of the red stuff.

It looks the same, has the same warmth of life and creates the same primal stirrings in the viewer as human blood, and its all in the way you use it, right?

You can peruse more of Jordan’s sanguine works of art, and a couple of tripped out process videos, at the i09 link below. Bloody good show Jordan!

Link  –via i09
@

No comments:

Post a Comment

Keep a civil tongue.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Label Cloud

Technology (1464) News (793) Military (646) Microsoft (542) Business (487) Software (394) Developer (382) Music (360) Books (357) Audio (316) Government (308) Security (300) Love (262) Apple (242) Storage (236) Dungeons and Dragons (228) Funny (209) Google (194) Cooking (187) Yahoo (186) Mobile (179) Adobe (177) Wishlist (159) AMD (155) Education (151) Drugs (145) Astrology (139) Local (137) Art (134) Investing (127) Shopping (124) Hardware (120) Movies (119) Sports (109) Neatorama (94) Blogger (93) Christian (67) Mozilla (61) Dictionary (59) Science (59) Entertainment (50) Jewelry (50) Pharmacy (50) Weather (48) Video Games (44) Television (36) VoIP (25) meta (23) Holidays (14)

Popular Posts