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2012/05/20

Neatorama

Neatorama

Teacher to Parents on National Teacher Day: “You Suck”

Posted: 20 May 2012 04:00 AM PDT

!–start_raw–>

May 8th was National Teacher Day, and teachers have a message
for all you parents. Jimmy Kimmel obliged to send along the clip: Hit
play or go to Link [YouTube]
(A bit of NSFW language)

Lunchables? I feel so guilty!

 

Well, That’s One Solution

Posted: 20 May 2012 12:41 AM PDT

(Video Link)

How do you deal with having outside cats when you live in an upstairs apartment? Well, you could teach your cats to just wait outside your lobby for you to get home…or you could train them to grab on tightly to a chair and make a budget kitty elevator. It might not be as practical, but it sure is cooler.

Via I Can Has Cheezburger

Robot Can Use The Microwave

Posted: 19 May 2012 11:59 PM PDT

Today nuking food in the microwave, tomorrow nuking humanity for world domination!

Seriously though, what more can we ask from our robot pals now that they've mastered the skills of microwaving frozen food?

IEEE Spectrum's Automation blog reports:

Herb, the Home Exploring Robot Butler, has been hard at work at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute learning how to be, well, a home exploring robot butler. Siddhartha Srinivasa's group has effectively ended robotics research as we know it by teaching Herb to microwave frozen food.

Link (with video clip) - Thanks Evan!

Now This Guys Is A Real Game Master

Posted: 19 May 2012 11:35 PM PDT

The best thing about Youtube user 16bitghost’s absurdly huge gaming set up is that the 24 console areas still aren’t enough for his PS3. Seriously though, how do you even switch between them all on your TV system? I get annoyed just going between the DVD player, cable, Wii and X Box, I can’t imagine flipping through all of these options.

Link Via Geekologie

I’m Tellin’ Y’all, It’s Sabotage

Posted: 19 May 2012 10:30 PM PDT

(Video Link)

In honor of the late MCA of The Beastie Boys, James Winters and his family decided to redo the entire Sabotage video starring his adorable little ones. The result is pretty darn adorable and a true joy for Beastie Boys fans everywhere.

Via Geekosystem

Not on Facebook? Researchers Can Still Probe the “Shadow Network”

Posted: 19 May 2012 10:00 PM PDT

So. You're not on Facebook - perhaps you're concerned over their privacy policy, or just don't want to be found and marketed to - but before you pat yourself in the back for being one of the holdouts, you should know that just because you're not on Facebook, it doesn't mean that it doesn't know about you.

Theoretically, of course.

Fred Hamprecht of Heidelberg University and Germany and colleagues used data of tens of thousands of Facebook users to see if they could find out "shadow connections" of people who don't use the service:

Using the network structure of four of the university campuses, a machine-learning program picked out attributes that seemed to predict whether two non-members knew each other, such as how many members knew both of them and how many knew one but not the other. The program used only the relationships between members and the email data, both of which a social network company could access.

When the researchers then used the program to predict links between non-members in the remaining college Facebook network, 40 per cent of the predictions were correct. By contrast, they calculate that using a random guessing approach, just 2 per cent of suggested connections would be right.

Link 

The Purrfect Police Officer

Posted: 19 May 2012 09:17 PM PDT

Iemon might just be the world’s cutest cop. That’s because the little kitten was hired more for PR than his detective skills. Even so, he’s certainly doing a great job, even if his main duties are laying on the station’s front desk. At least this will be one police station short on rats.

Link

 

Commodore 64 Guitar

Posted: 19 May 2012 09:00 PM PDT

Computer engineer Jeri Ellsworth built an electric guitar into the body of a Commodore 64. Here she is with it at the ongoing Maker Faire in San Mateo, California. And yes, she’s wearing roller skates.

Another Photo | Ellsworth’s Twitter Feed | Maker Faire | Photo: Blake Maloof

For The Truly Lazy Rich

Posted: 19 May 2012 08:15 PM PDT

Standing while taking a shower is so tacky. Laying down though, now that is luxurious. If you just can’t bear falling behind in the shower style wars, then you’d better get your own Dornbracht Horizontal Shower.

Link Via Geekologie

How To Be A Successful Criminal

Posted: 19 May 2012 08:00 PM PDT

I don't know the exact steps on becoming a successful criminal - there are so many crimes that you can commit as step 1. But I suspect that steps 2, 3, and 4 usually involve not being caught.

That's not what happened here:

Police arrested a bank robber who made a series of bad choices this afternoon, including picking a bank across from the federal courthouse, running from the bank and in front of an Assistant Police Chief and a Lieutenant, and apparently failing to read the book found in his possession, "How to Be A Successful Criminal."

Link | And yes, "How to Be a Successful Criminal" is an actual book - via TYWKIWDBI

Beautiful Japanese Manhole Covers

Posted: 19 May 2012 07:44 PM PDT

Talk about urban beautification! Japanese manhole covers aren’t just for covering holes in the ground, they’re colorful and artistic and often embody elements of Japanese culture.

Booooooom! has a rather impressive collection of Japanese manhole covers for you to peruse at the link below.

Seeing how nice they all look makes me want to grab some paint and beautify my city, too bad the local law enforcement won’t appreciate my artistic efforts!

Link

All-You-Have-To-Eat-Or-We-Fine-You Restaurant

Posted: 19 May 2012 06:00 PM PDT

In order to combat food wastage, an all-you-can-eat Kylin Buffet in South Shields, UK, is turning into an all-you-have-to-eat restaurant:

A Chinese restaurant offering an all-you-can-eat buffet is charging customers £20 in 'wastage' if they leave food on their plates.

Managers at the Kylin Buffet in Ocean Road, South Shields, have put up a notice urging diners to eat up all their food - or face the penalty charge.

The policy has outraged one mother who was told she had to pay the £20 after her and her son Sam, 10, and niece Toni, six, left two onion rings, a piece of prawn toast, and a spring roll on their plates.

The Daily Mail is there: Link

Previously on Neatorama: All You Can Eat Dispute

Classic Nintendo Characters As Japanese Woodblock Prints

Posted: 19 May 2012 05:40 PM PDT

Classic Nintendo characters, from NES games like Metroid, The Legend Of Zelda and MegaMan, explore their Japanese roots in this series of illustrations by Jed Henry.

Capturing the action of old school gaming with the style of traditional Japanese woodblock prints, these beautiful full color illustrations show us what Samus, Link and MegaMan would look like in an alternate Feudal Japan themed universe.

Link  –via Comics Alliance

Cthulhu-Monopoly Crossover Board Game

Posted: 19 May 2012 04:39 PM PDT

The game is called The Doom That Came To Atlantic City, and it’s sure to appeal to fans of both the Cthulhu mythos and the classic board game Monopoly.

It’s full of cultists, eldritch horrors and the destruction of real estate, one RR and Park Place adjacent address at a time.

Created by Lee Moyer and Keith Baker, with pieces sculpted by Paul Komoda, The Doom is currently seeking funding via Kickstarter, so if you like the premise you can contribute and make sure this awesome game hits the shelves.

Link  –via i09

Spider-Man Dartboard Set

Posted: 19 May 2012 04:15 PM PDT

Spider-Man Dartboard Set – $19.95

Are you looking to turn your man cave into the coolest room ever? You need the Spider-Man Dartboard Set from the NeatoShop.  This double-sided dartboard includes 6 steel-tipped brass darts. Remember, with a great game room comes a great amount of responsibility. Are you up to the challenge?

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more  fantastic Games & Puzzles and great Father’s Day gift ideas!

Link

Woman Eats Rocks

Posted: 19 May 2012 04:00 PM PDT

I like to crunchy snack, but Teresa Widener really took that to a whole 'nother level: she likes to eat rocks.

Yep. Rocks:

“Mmm-hmm, yeah. They crunch on my teeth,” said Teresa Widener while eating her favorite snack.

Chocolate-covered pretzels? Everyone likes those.
“I like that it has an earthy flavor,” added Widener, who is 45 and lives in Bedford, Va.

French fries? Terra chips?

No, “crunch” and “earthy” aren’t culinary terms of art — they’re literal. Widener, a mother of two who works with special-needs children, eats rocks.

She doesn’t wash them. Sometimes she just sucks off the dirt. Other times, she takes a hammer and smacks them into bite-size pieces.

Link - via Fark

Bloodless Dueling with Wax Bullets

Posted: 19 May 2012 03:50 PM PDT

How do you get really good at anything? Practice, practice, practice.

That’s hard to manage with dueling. So in the first few years of the Twentieth Century, a Parisian doctor named de Villers founded a school where ambitious men could develop their dueling skills without dying. This was an age before paintball guns, so they used pistols that fired wax bullets:

This remarkable academy is conducted by Dr. de Villers, and combats frequently take place there by way of practice. In these mimic duels wire masks are worn to protect the face and bullets made of wax are used, so that no injury may be sustained by the combatants. In all other respects, however, the conduct of the affair is carried through as on the "field of honour," so that when the time comes — if it ever does come — for the scholars to take part in a serious duel they may acquit themselves with credit to themselves and disaster to their adversary — although this latter point is not of much importance.

Link -via Say Uncle | Photo: Bartitsu Society

Law & Order & Food

Posted: 19 May 2012 03:40 PM PDT

The blog Law & Order & Food has the tagline “You have the right to remain delicious.” It is a photographic chronicle of the food eaten on the TV show Law & Order. That’s all, but it’s enough to keep it constantly updated -after all, the show was on for twenty years, and when that’s all posted, they can start on the spinoffs! Link -via Nag on the Lake

What Do Strawberries and Petri Dishes Have In Common?

Posted: 19 May 2012 02:00 PM PDT

Lots, surprisingly!

Just think of this: If you bite into a juicy strawberry this summer, chances are you're eating something that's actually been grown in a petri dish.

NPR's Dan Charles of All Things Considered tells us the secret life of strawberries:

That strawberry you just bought at the supermarket traces its ancestry to a microscopic particle of plant tissue that somebody cut from the tip of a growing strawberry stem five years ago.

That tiny bit of strawberry stem went into a little glass petri dish and grew into a new plant. Then it sent out dozens of little daughter plants called "runners."

"Those runners are basically clones of the mother," explains Daren Gee, owner of Daren's Berries in Santa Maria, California, whom I caught in the middle of his peak harvest time. "And then they plant those, and take the daughters off of that one, and do it again and again and again."

The whole process takes years. The plants are multiplied first in carefully controlled greenhouses; then in fields in the heat of California's Central Valley. Finally, the plants are trucked up into the mountains along the California-Oregon border. It's cold up there, which is crucial. Somehow the cold gets these plants primed for maximum production.

"And then they'll dig up these mother plants, and all the daughters, and they'll throw the mothers away and they'll send me the daughters," says Gee. It's those daughters that produce California's monster strawberry crop.

Link

 

Illustrations For The Lord Of The Rings By Frank Frazetta

Posted: 19 May 2012 01:49 PM PDT

Frank Frazetta created a series of illustrations for The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings back in 1975, which were released as a limited edition, signed and numbered portfolio.

The illustrations are simply amazing, and his take on the LOTR universe probably would have made Tolkien blush, due to the lack of backside armor and the abundance of gore.

The illustrations are presented complete with tears and blemishes, obviously scans from someone’s personal collection, but in my opinion that doesn’t really detract from the overall beauty of the illustrations, and it saves you from having to shell out $400 (going rate on Ebay) just to see them all.

Link

Darth Vader vs. The Doctor

Posted: 19 May 2012 12:25 PM PDT

If there’s something more powerful than the Force, it’s the brain of an 800-year old Time Lord. Artist K.K. Jordan shows the Doctor quickly and gracefully ending a lightsaber duel.

Link -via io9

Sugar Makes You Dumb

Posted: 19 May 2012 12:00 PM PDT

Well, if organic food could turn you into a jerk, at least it's not sugar. A new study revealed that high fructose corn syrup can eat away brainpower:

In other words, eating too much fructose could interfere with insulin's ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar, which is necessary for processing thoughts and emotions.

"Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning," Gomez-Pinilla said.

"Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new."

Link

The San Antonio Bat House

Posted: 19 May 2012 10:16 AM PDT

In 1914, malaria was a serious public health threat to the people of San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Charles Campbell figured that the best way to reduce the mosquito population was with bats. So he built this giant roost for bats to live in.

But what do you do if you’ve got too many bats? Then you need to attract eagles with knives — as many as possible — in order to kill off the bats.

Link -via Offbeat Home | Photo: George Grantham Bain Collection

Organic Food Turns You Into a Jerk

Posted: 19 May 2012 10:00 AM PDT

Love organic food? Then you're a jerk ... at least according to research.

Pschologist Kendall Eskine of Loyola University in New Orleans showed that people exposed to organic food are more judgmental and volunteer less than those exposed to comfort food:

When it came to helping out a needy stranger, the organic people also proved to be more selfish, volunteering only 13 minutes as compared to 19 minutes (for controls) and 24 minutes (for comfort food folks).

"There's something about being exposed to organic food that made them feel better about themselves," says Eskine. "And that made them kind of jerks a little bit, I guess."

Why does eating better make us act worse? Eskine says it probably has to do with what he calls "moral licensing."

"People may feel like they've done their good deed," he says. "That they have permission, or license, to act unethically later on. It's like when you go to the gym and run a few miles and you feel good about yourself, so you eat a candy bar."

Link (Photo: Shutterstock)

Previously: Are Urban Bicyclists Snobs?

Tissue Opera

Posted: 19 May 2012 08:36 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

A series of stock photos of people sneezing illustrates “La donna è mobile” from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto. From the Carmichael Collective. -via the Presurfer

“I’ll Cut You!”

Posted: 19 May 2012 08:08 AM PDT

While taking pictures in Västerbotten, Sweden, Dutch photographer Han Bouwmeester failed to maintain control of his weapon. And this golden eagle took it from him.

The rising has begun. Prepare yourselves.

Link (Google Translate) -via Joe Carter | Photographer’s Website

The Most Embarrassing Lamborghini Crash Ever

Posted: 19 May 2012 08:00 AM PDT


[YouTube Clip]

As a professional blogger, it's embarrassing to be this late in finding out about the Lamborghini crash that went viral. But my ego isn't as hurt as that of the driver of the car, that's fo' sho':

“He’s gonna fly,” one of the passengers predicted as they waited at the light. Sure, if by “fly” you mean “fly out of control”. The $225,000 car peeled out after the traffic light turned green and lost control while rounding the corner onto Wheeling Road, veering into oncoming traffic, where it came to rest wedged between two (laughably inferior) cars. [...]

The Gallardo’s driver, William Whitaker, told police he “just lost it” as he turned the corner. Whitaker was issued a citation for “failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident.”

When CBS Chicago went to question Whitaker about the accident, reporter Brad Edwards asked him simply, “What happened?” Whitaker, speaking through the call box at his gated community in Hawthorn Woods, Ill., could only muster a long sigh before saying he expected a better question from the journalist.

TIME has the story: Link

Slicey The Pig

Posted: 19 May 2012 07:15 AM PDT

Slicey The Pig – $7.95

Are you crazy about all things bacon? You need the Slicey The Pig wobbler from the NeatoShop. This dangerously adorable little guy makes the perfect desk or car dashboard accessory. He is so wrong, but yet somehow he is so right. We know you want one!

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

Link

Turkey Dubstep

Posted: 19 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

This is short and nonsensical but oh, so funny. Because they’re TURKEYS! -via The Daily What

This Week at Neatorama

Posted: 19 May 2012 06:28 AM PDT

Last night I watched our son graduate from high school. I was ready for a long evening, because college graduations I’d been to have long “inspirational”guest speeches. But it wasn’t like that at all! The speeches were short and meaningful, the graduates were all cute, and I was surprised at how many of them I knew through their parents or grandparents. And our young man has never smiled so joyfully! Congratulations to all those graduating this spring, and also to the parents and families of those celebrating these milestones. Now, where’s my handkerchief?

Oh yeah, we had some great features this week: here’s some links in case you missed any of them.

Eddie Deezen wrote about The Mickey Mouse Cartoon Banned in America.

John Farrier brought us 10 Facts You Might Not Know about Watership Down.

In light of the death of disco queen Donna Summer, it seems appropriate that we had Why Disco Happened, from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. Part two will be published Monday.

The Annals of Improbable Research gave us Ig® Nobel Limericks: Promotion, Ignition, Spaghetti.

And Flex Appeal: The Father of Modern Bodybuilding came to us from mental_floss magazine.

In the What Is It? game this week, the object in question is a fence twisting tool, it's for applying the vertical or stay wires to the lateral wires of a fence, patented even. The first person who figured out what it was for was theoneoneandonly. The funniest answer came from trishlovesdolphins, who recognized her Mother's Day gift:

This is the gift my husband gave me on Mother's Day morning. It was so romantic, as I was receiving my card from my son, I heard him mumble "aw, crap." Obviously, he forgot to wrap it. He ran out to the garage, he must have hidden it well because I heard all kinds of boxes being tossed around. I'm afraid to ask him what it is since he obviously put so much time and effort into choosing it, so if someone knows, please let me know. Right now, I'm just using it as a paper weight.

Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop for their efforts! See the answers to all the mystery items of the week at the What Is It? blog. Thanks, to everyone who played, and watch for another What Is It game coming soon.

The most comments this week came to the post Is It Ethical To Pay Drug Addicts To Get Sterilized? David Isreal’s post about the verbal crutch I Mean came in second, and in third place we had the All You Can Eat Dispute. They are all very provocative subjects!

Now, even if you check out Neatorama every day, you’ll be tickled to find even more and different neat stuff at our Facebook page, like this cleverly-placed piece of pirate art. Check it out and join in the fun! When you’re caught up on everything from this week, you can access past feature articles at The Best of Neatorama. And have a great weekend!
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