Neatorama

---

• The Lost Battalion
• Geeky Artwork Created With Mario Paint
• 10 Amazingly Old Things That Still Work
• Awkward Vintage Photos From Dance Classes
• Now That’s Some Sweet Fast Food
• Stop Motion Crochet – Arthur Animated
• Kicking It Old School In Skyrim
• Portraits Of America By Jamie Trueblood
• Real Cats Pee Like Men
• Cthulhu Barbie
• Portal Gas Masks Help You Breathe Easier
• The Law in Longyearbyen, Norway: No Dying Allowed!
• Combination Bow/Shotgun
• Why People Cheat and Lie (Just a Little!)
• Vintage Ventriloquist Portraits Will Give You Nightmares
• The Third Mario Brother
• Fun Music Video – Zeroes And Ones
• Light Left On For 77 Years Racked Up $17,000 Electricity Bill
• This Lawyer Is A Cowboy, Patriot And Champion Of Freedom
• Black Magic in Roman Curses
• Some Of The Most Ridiculous Comic Book Characters From The 1990s
• Mind The Map
• The Human Pantone
• A Movie Made From Getty Images Stock Photos
• Flemish Portraits by Sacha Goldberger
• Everything You Want To Know About The Animaniacs
• Neil Gaiman Wrote a Comic for This Fan to Tattoo on His Back
• The Final Journey of USS Iowa
• CCTV
• Back To The Future in LEGO
• The Plant That Hunts Its Prey
• Redwoods, the Super Trees
• Every Day is a Holiday
• The Beast Giant Fist Kool Koozie
• Mechanical Matchmaking: The Science of Love in the 1920s
• Gender Balance on Social Networking Sites

The Lost Battalion Posted: 28 May 2012 05:03 AM PDT The following is an article from the book Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Salutes the Armed Forces. They weren’t really lost, but a series of command failures and tactical errors kept them trapped for days while the whole world wondered what would happen to them. THE CAMPAIGN TO END ALL WARS The final campaign of World War I was set for H-hour, 5:30AM on October 4, 1918. General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, commanding the U.S. Expeditionary Force in Europe, had ordered the left wing of the U.S. 1st Army to push forward into the Argonne Forest on September 29. German artillery hidden in the forest had been clobbering American and French forces, and Pershing wanted the guns silenced before the massive Allied advance. Major General Robert Alexander’s 77th Infantry Division drew the assignment; his orders were to push forward “without regard to losses.” Major Charles W. Whittlesey The Argonne was different from other battlefields. A few trails meandered through the woods, but the enormous size of the forest and the density of the trees made it difficult to organize cooperative action among units, some of which quickly became separated. Brigadier General Evan Johnson, commanding the 154th Brigade, made it clear to the battalions under his command that “Any ground gained must be held… If I find anybody ordering a withdrawal from ground once held, I will see he leaves the service,” meaning dishonorably. Major Charles W. Whittlesey’s 1st Battalion of the 308th Infantry Regiment was part of Johnson’s brigade and received the same message. INTO THE FOREST Whittlesey’s composite battalion consisted of Companies A, B, C, E, G, and H from the 308th Infantry, Companies C and D from the 306th Machine Gun Battalion, and Company K from the 307th Infantry, which accidentally joined them later. All the companies were depleted from earlier losses when they entered the Argonne Forest. Whittlesey had been told not to worry about safeguarding his flanks because an American battalion with the French infantry would be on his left and two American battalions would be on his right. On October 2, he and his roughly 670 men plunged into the foggy, rain-drenched Argonne Forest, lost contact with the units on his flanks, but kept pressing forward. By accident, Whittlesey’s battalion found a gap in the German line, but lost about 90 men before resistance subsided. With nightfall approaching, Whittlesey moved the battalion in to a ravine that ran along the side of a steep and rocky slope about 300 yards long and 60 yards wide with good defensive ground and protection from mortar fire. Whittlesey then waited through the night for the other units to make contact. DAY TWO The other units never arrived, and on the morning of October 3, German mortars opened fire. Whittlesey sent 50 men back through the forest to find General Alexander and wait for reinforcements. An hour later, 18 men returned and said they had been ambushed about a mile away. They also reported a more serious problem. The Germans had strung wire defenses between their battalion and the 77th Division -they were trapped. Whittlesey’s only communication system was carrier pigeons; he handed a message to Private Omar Richards, the pigeon keeper, who sent the first of six birds off to division headquarters to report the battalion’s position and to request reinforcements and supplies. They wouldn’t know for hours if the message had reached headquarters. SO NEAR AND YET …SO FAR Captain George G. McMurtry Meanwhile, the men were hungry and thirsty. To reach water, they had to crawl 50 yards to a stream running along the base of the ravine -but the stream was covered by a German machine gun. Too many men had been hit trying to reach it, so Whittlesey posted guards with orders to shoot anyone attempting to fill their canteens. During a mortar barrage, both Whittlesey and Captain George G. McMurtry had been hit by shrapnel. McMurtry’s knee began to fester, but both officers continued to hobble among the men, stopping at each foxhole to assure the men that help was on the way. The men knew their major would never surrender. Newspaper correspondents hanging around headquarters learned about the trapped unit and started writing daily accounts about the “Lost Battalion.” ONE MORE DAY On the morning of October 4, a mortar bombardment and firefight did more damage. The major sent a second pigeon, again asking for help and reporting 222 casualties, with 82 men dead. His machine gun crews were decimated -only five were left with little ammunition, and the medics were running out of bandages. General Alexander detached two companies, but they were stopped by the enemy and turned back after losing more than half their men. “FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, STOP IT” Cher Ami October 5 opened with another German mortar attack on the remaining machine gun positions. Whittlesey sent another pigeon requesting artillery support -but with the wrong coordinates. American artillery opened at 1:15PM, and for four hours shells rained down on the Lost Battalion instead of the Germans. There were only two pigeons left, but when Private Richards opened the cage, one escaped. The other, Cher Ami, carried this brief message from the major: “Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake, stop it!” The pigeon flew to a nearby tree and settled on a branch. When throwing stones failed to dislodge the bird, Richards dodged howling artillery shells, climbed the tree, and shook the branch until the pigeon flew off and disappeared. No one expected much to come of it, but Cher Ami reached division headquarters at 4:00PM, with one leg and one eye missing. THINGS COULDN’T GET WORSE, COULD THEY? Finally, on October 6, artillery fire began to fall on the Germans, taking pressure off Whittlesey’s battered men. Germans still lurked around the perimeter but were too busy to attack. New enemies intruded on morale- hunger, thirst, cold, battle fatigue, and the stench of putrefying corpses. With all the pigeons gone, Private Richards ate the birdseed. Later in a the day, a reconnaissance plane spotted the battalion and reported its position. An hour later, planes from the 50th Aero Squadron dropped supplies, dehydrated soups, and ammunition, all which landed on the Germans. Whittlesey’s men heard the enemy rejoicing over the bungled airdrop. Nine desperate men from the battalion were captured trying to rescue the parcels.   THE VOLUNTEERS On the morning of October 7, Private Lowell B. Hollingsworth lay in his foxhole with a slight wound, weak with hunger, and feeling hopeless. When told that Whittlesey wanted eight volunteers to infiltrate through the German lines to contact nearby friendly forces who were searching for the battalion, Hollingsworth knew it could be his last chance to find food. Seven more volunteers stepped forward, including Private Carl Rainwater, a full-blooded Indian from Montana, who the volunteers chose as their guide and leader. The eight men worked silently through the forest, stopping frequently to let the wounded rest. After less than a mile, Rainwater halted and raised his hand for the others to stop. A machine gun opened fire, and Hollingsworth fell unconscious. When he came to, there was a German gun pointed at his head. Four of his buddies were dead and the other three wounded. Hollingsworth was taken prisoner and fed, then the Germans returned him to his battalion with a note encouraging Major Whittlesey to surrender. Whittlesey read the note but didn’t reply. When the men learned of the contents of the message, they shouted rude things in German back across the lines. LOST AND FOUND The survivors of the Lost Battalion Early in the evening, elements from the 77th Division broke through the German lines and located the Lost Battalion. Of Whittlesey’s original 600 men, only 191 were able to walk. Five men from the battalion received the Medal of Honor, including Whittlesey and McMurtry, and 26 men were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. The carrier pigeon, Cher Ami, was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for heroic services delivering 12 important messages to his headquarters in Verdun. His stuffed body is on display in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. __________ The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Salutes the Armed Forces. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you’ll love the Bathroom Reader Institute’s books – go ahead and check ‘em out!

Geeky Artwork Created With Mario Paint Posted: 28 May 2012 04:00 AM PDT (YouTube Link) Most kids that received the Super Nintendo “game” Mario Paint as a gift probably felt like their day was ruined by this unwanted visitor. The guy in this video, nicknamed RuiZinen, dedicated time and energy to showing the world just what Mario Paint can do, if you train to become a master of Mario mouse control. I bow to your skills, RuiZinen. Next stop MS Paint! –via Destructoid

10 Amazingly Old Things That Still Work Posted: 28 May 2012 03:03 AM PDT Alex recently shared the story of a light that was still going after 77 years, but if you think that’s impressive, then behold the one above that’s been going for 111. For more creations that have lasted amazingly long, check out this interesting Oddee article. Link

Awkward Vintage Photos From Dance Classes Posted: 28 May 2012 02:42 AM PDT These aspiring dancing machines have been immortalized at the most awkward stage in their lives-adolescence. You can almost see the acne forming, hear their voices cracking and smell the overactive hormones in the air when you look through these awesomely awkward photos. These photos are a good example of what kids are talking about when they accuse their parents of ruining their lives, and you can thank a site called These Americans for letting these childhood skeletons out of the closet. Jazz hands! Link  –via Flavorwire

Now That’s Some Sweet Fast Food Posted: 28 May 2012 01:58 AM PDT It may look like French fries with ketchup, but this is actually a tasty dessert featuring krinkle-cut pound cake and raspberry syrup. Yummy! Link Via Laughing Squid

Stop Motion Crochet – Arthur Animated Posted: 28 May 2012 01:34 AM PDT This stop motion short is entitled Arthur Animated, and it documents Jo Hamilton’s amazing crochet portraiture skills, as she creates a larger than life portrait of her sadly now deceased friend Arthur Cheesman. Head over to Boing Boing if you want to watch Jo’s masterpiece grow, strand by strand, right before your eyes. Link  –via Boing Boing

Kicking It Old School In Skyrim Posted: 28 May 2012 12:51 AM PDT (Video Link) MC Dovahkiin, a.k.a. Big Dragonborn, is so much more G than Lil’ Wayne it’s ridiculous. Of course, the best MC in this video is by far the shortie dressed as Aela. Via Kotaku

Portraits Of America By Jamie Trueblood Posted: 28 May 2012 12:28 AM PDT Perusing through Jamie Trueblood’s photographs is like taking a long, strange trip across America, watching the kitsch and color fly by the window of your Cadillac car. These are moments frozen in time, subjects captured in sometimes awkward situations, seemingly unaware of being photographed on life’s grand old stage. They’re voyeuristic, but not in a creepy sex offender kind of way, and Jamie’s unfiltered view of America goes down smooth without all those empty calories. Link  –via Beautiful/Decay

Real Cats Pee Like Men Posted: 27 May 2012 11:47 PM PDT (Video Link) Someone needs to install a urinal into his litter box to make this process even easier for the little guy. Via I Has A Cheezburger

Cthulhu Barbie Posted: 27 May 2012 11:00 PM PDT Since 1959, Cthulhu has given young girls unrealistic expectations about body image and moral depravity. Sabrina Zbasnik’s treatment is probably an improvement. Note: the Cthulhu Dream Dungeon is sold separately. Link -via Bit Rebels

Portal Gas Masks Help You Breathe Easier Posted: 27 May 2012 10:47 PM PDT DeviantArt user TwoHornsUnited based this cool gas mask design on the gun from the popular game. In case you were wondering, it doesn’t actually work, but that certainly doesn’t make it any less cool looking. Link Via io9

The Law in Longyearbyen, Norway: No Dying Allowed! Posted: 27 May 2012 10:00 PM PDT In the frozen Svalbard archipelago, far north of the Norwegian mainland, temperatures rarely drop below freezing. This became a problem during the influenza pandemic of 1917-1920 because the victims’ bodies did not decompose, the virus inside of them did not die. So officials in the settlement of Longyearbyen passed a clever law to prevent further destruction by the disease. They banned death: The cold earth had preserved the corpses and, unfortunately, had also kept the influenza strain alive. There is no reason to believe that anyone was infected by the resurrected influenza, but regardless, its discovery provided a warning to the town officials. Realizing that Longyearbyen, quite isolated from the rest of the world, had no way of handling its dead — and at risk to the living — its leaders simply declared that dying was not permitted in the town. Enforcement, of course, cannot be done via punitive action — "don't die, or else!" is a strange ultimatum, to say the least. Rather, Longyearbyen prevents people from dying in town by a system akin to an administrative hokey-pokey. The cemetery closed in 1930, accepting no future burials. Link

Combination Bow/Shotgun Posted: 27 May 2012 09:00 PM PDT (Video Link) What’s going on here? There’s little information about the mod, but Mike at Everyday, No Days Off speculates: It looks to me like there's some type of plunger at the back of the shotgun, which is likely in contact with the firing pin. The cable then whacks that and… BOOM. -via Everyday, No Days Off

Why People Cheat and Lie (Just a Little!) Posted: 27 May 2012 08:00 PM PDT There are a few bad apples that cheat a lot, but surely most of us are honest people who'd never cheat, right? Not according to research study by Duke University Economics professor Dan Ariely. His study showed that almost everybody cheats just a little. In a series of experiments, Ariely was able to increase or decrease the ratio of cheaters: Much of what we have learned about the causes of dishonesty comes from a simple little experiment that we call the "matrix task," which we have been using in many variations. It has shown rather conclusively that cheating does not correspond to the traditional, rational model of human behavior—that is, the idea that people simply weigh the benefits (say, money) against the costs (the possibility of getting caught and punished) and act accordingly. The basic matrix task goes as follows: Test subjects (usually college students) are given a sheet of paper containing a series of 20 different matrices (structured like the example you can see above) and are told to find in each of the matrices two numbers that add up to 10. They have five minutes to solve as many of the matrices as possible, and they get paid based on how many they solve correctly. When we want to make it possible for subjects to cheat on the matrix task, we introduce what we call the "shredder condition." The subjects are told to count their correct answers on their own and then put their work sheets through a paper shredder at the back of the room. They then tell us how many matrices they solved correctly and get paid accordingly. What happens when we put people through the control condition and the shredder condition and then compare their scores? In the control condition, it turns out that most people can solve about four matrices in five minutes. But in the shredder condition, something funny happens: Everyone suddenly and miraculously gets a little smarter. Participants in the shredder condition claim to solve an average of six matrices—two more than in the control condition. This overall increase results not from a few individuals who claim to solve a lot more matrices but from lots of people who cheat just by a little. Interestingly, increasing the payoff or the probability of being caught has no effect on making people cheat more. The Wall Street Journal has the fascinating (honest!) post: Link

Vintage Ventriloquist Portraits Will Give You Nightmares Posted: 27 May 2012 07:30 PM PDT It’s hard for me to imagine a time when people didn’t find ventriloquist dummies to be downright terrifying, and these pictures prove they were the stuff of nightmares well before Rod Serling turned them into cold blooded killers on the Twilight Zone. These old timey portraits of ventriloquists and their dummies come from the Vintage Ventriloquism Flickr group, who are dedicated to sharing and preserving these unnerving portraits with the world. Thanks guys, now I’m gonna need a cocktail and a sleeping pill just to get to sleep tonight! Link  –via i09

The Third Mario Brother Posted: 27 May 2012 07:00 PM PDT Mario and Luigi might have all the glorious adventure saving the princess and all, but someone has to keep the plumbing business afloat. That job sadly fell on the third Mario Brother, Guiseppe. Geeks Are Sexy blog has the story of the unsung hero: Link [video clip by Dorkly]

Fun Music Video – Zeroes And Ones Posted: 27 May 2012 06:27 PM PDT (YouTube Link) This quirky music video is for the Baby Seal Club song Zeroes and Ones, and it features a bunch of chickens wreaking havoc on the beet headed employees at an Apple store. It’s poultry flavored mayhem at its finest, and the song ain’t half bad neither! –via Laughing Squid

Light Left On For 77 Years Racked Up $17,000 Electricity Bill Posted: 27 May 2012 06:00 PM PDT This is what happens when someone forgot to turn off the light: A long-forgotten neon lamp that was switched on during the Great Depression and left burning for about 77 years has been discovered hidden behind a dusty partition at Clifton's Cafeteria. The find was made amid an extensive renovation of the downtown eatery, according to the building's owner, Andrew Meieran. The neon fixture is believed to have been installed in 1935 when Clifford Clinton purchased the lease to Boos Bros. Cafeteria on Broadway and 7th Street and converted the place into a forest-themed restaurant. [...] In 1949, the nook was covered over with plastic and plywood when part of the restroom was partitioned off as a storage area. But for some reason, workmen never got around to disconnecting the electricity. For the next 62 years the illuminated tubing was hidden within the wall. Meieran estimates that the neon tube has racked up more than $17,000 in electrical bills. Link (Photo: Allen J. Schaben/LA Times) - via Now What's Trending

This Lawyer Is A Cowboy, Patriot And Champion Of Freedom Posted: 27 May 2012 05:33 PM PDT (YouTube Link) Adam Reposa is a self-proclaimed champion of freedom, patriot and one badass lawyer. Watch him wheel his monstrous truck around town, looking to smash those who oppose his right to cowboy up and punch freedom haters in the face. According to Adam, when you’re a lawyer you can smash up people’s cars on the road without retribution, and kick in their windows for going to trial against his clients. He’s bringing a sense of Wild West justice back to lawyering, one car driving coward at a time. Yeehaw! –via Best Week Ever

Black Magic in Roman Curses Posted: 27 May 2012 05:00 PM PDT Photo: Museo Archeologico Civico di Bologna There ain't no curse like black magic curse! Newly deciphered tablets revealed the use of black magic in 1,600-year-old Roman curses: One of the curses targets a Roman senator named Fistus and appears to be the only known example of a cursed senator. The other curse targets a veterinarian named Porcello. Ironically, Porcello is the Latin word for pig. Celia Sánchez Natalías, a doctoral student at the University of Zaragoza, explained that Porcello was probably his real name. "In the world of curse tablets, one of the things that you have to do is to try to identify your victim in a very, very, exact way." Sánchez Natalías added that it isn't certain who cursed Porcello or why. It could be for either personal or professional reasons. "Maybe this person was someone that (had) a horse or an animal killed by Porcello's medicine," said Sánchez Natalías. "Destroy, crush, kill, strangle Porcello and wife Maurilla. Their soul, heart, buttocks, liver ..." part of it reads. The iconography on the tablet actually shows a mummified Porcello, his arms crossed (as is the deity) and his name written on both of his arms. Owen Jarus of LiveScience has the story: Link

Some Of The Most Ridiculous Comic Book Characters From The 1990s Posted: 27 May 2012 04:39 PM PDT The comic book boom of the 1990s brought with it many new trends-more anti-hero main characters, mature and intelligent storylines and, to the dismay of readers worldwide, a wave of really cheesy super villains that sent readers looking for a refund! It’s as if the creators were tired of creating suitable foes for our favorite superfolks so they decided to phone a few in, with no intention of longevity or charisma behind these baddies. i09 has put together a short list of some of the worst offenders, and as a rabid comic book reader I can safely say that this list should really be at least twice as long! Link

Mind The Map Posted: 27 May 2012 04:00 PM PDT I love old maps and this cleverly titled "Mind the Map" exhibition (from the famous "Mind the Gap" phrase, if you're familiar with it) at the London Transport Museum certainly has a lot of them: the exhibition features the museum's maps and artwork about the London Tube. Chris Michael of The Guardian has 14 of the best examples: Link

The Human Pantone Posted: 27 May 2012 03:00 PM PDT French artist Pierre David took photographs of 40 models and arranged them according to their skin tones. The result is a color chart of skin a la the iconic PANTONE color guide: Link - via Design Taxi Previously on Neatorama: The Michael Jackson Coffee Scale

A Movie Made From Getty Images Stock Photos Posted: 27 May 2012 02:31 PM PDT (YouTube Link) This strobing short is sponsored by Getty Images, who hired BBDO Brazil to put over 800 of their stock images together in this neat, seizure inducing package entitled From Love To Bingo. It moves along so quickly that you’ll miss sections if you blink, and if you feel a full body trembling seizure coming on look away from the screen! –via Boing Boing

Flemish Portraits by Sacha Goldberger Posted: 27 May 2012 02:00 PM PDT What's not to like about French photographer Sacha Goldberger's [warning: auto sound] portrait photos in the style of Flemish Old Masters? It's got gorgeous women, fantastic costumes and ... animals in ruff collars! Wait till you see the squirrel monkey in ruff in this My Modern Met gallery: Link Previously on Neatorama: Super Mamika! by Sacha Goldberger

Everything You Want To Know About The Animaniacs Posted: 27 May 2012 01:00 PM PDT The Warner siblings as ducks, before they became dogs Kids love Animaniacs for the slapstick comedy, and adults like it for the well, surprisingly clever humor and wordplay (that or Hello Nurse ... Good night, everybody!). Sadly, the cartoon series ended in 1998 after just 99 glorious episodes. So if you're jonesing for more Animaniacs, head on over to mental_floss where Rob Lammle has written the definitive "real story" behind Animaniacs, with a little help from creator Tom Ruegger. In the Beginning The history of Animaniacs actually begins with Tiny Toon Adventures, another animated show from Warner Bros. and executive producer Steven Spielberg. After Tiny Toons became a huge success, Spielberg asked producer Tom Ruegger and his team to work on a follow-up cartoon. One idea Spielberg suggested was to make the popular Tiny Toons character Plucky Duck the star of the new show. Meanwhile, Ruegger had been developing characters based on the personalities of his three young sons. These two concepts were combined to create three brother ducks. However, the team soon realized that, between Disney’s Donald Duck, DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, and Warner Bros.’ own Daffy Duck, there were already plenty of animated waterfowl on the market. Spielberg agreed, but said they needed to come up with “a big marquee name” to help sell the show. Ruegger was inspired by the large “WB” logo on the water tower at the Warner Bros. studio. He proposed a group of siblings drawn in an animation style reminiscent of anthropomorphized animal characters from the 1930s, and called them the Warner Brothers. Although they have dog-like characteristics, the exact type of animal the Warners are meant to be is unknown. According to the show bible – a book filled with background information for the creative team on a TV show – their species is labeled as “Cartoonus Characterus.” For a brief period, there were four Warner siblings – Yakky, Smakky, Wakky, and little sister, Dot. As the studio artists honed the designs, Yakky became Yakko, and Smakky and Wakky were melded into Wakko. After getting clearance from the Warner estate to use the family name, the show was off and running. Link

Neil Gaiman Wrote a Comic for This Fan to Tattoo on His Back Posted: 27 May 2012 12:30 PM PDT Burton Olivier, a hardcore fan of novelist and comic book writer Neil Gaiman, wanted a special tattoo to cover his back. So he asked Gaiman to design one. The author agreed if Olivier would make a contribution to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Gaiman hired comic book artist David Mack to make the visual design, then composed the following poem: I will write in words of fire. I will write them on your skin. I will write about desire. Write beginnings, write of sin. You’re the book I love the best, your skin only holds my truth, you will be a palimpsest lines of age rewriting youth. You will not burn upon the pyre. Or be buried on the shelf. You’re my letter to desire: And you’ll never read yourself. I will trace each word and comma As the final dusk descends, You’re my tale of dreams and drama, Let us find out how it ends. Which active author would you like to design a tattoo for you? Link | Photo: Neil Gaiman

The Final Journey of USS Iowa Posted: 27 May 2012 12:00 PM PDT Photo: Don Bartletti/LA Times | Don't miss the Large version Los Angeles Times photographer Don Bartletti snapped this wonderful photo of the battleship U.S.S. Iowa passing underneath the Golden Gate Bridge on its final journey. Steve Chawkins of the LA Times has the story: Coincidentally, the 69-year-old ship's stately passage occurred as tourists thronged San Francisco for Memorial Day and for a citywide celebration of the bridge's 75th birthday. "It's so fitting that this great warship goes out for her last time on the bridge's 75th anniversary," said Bob Rogers, a spokesman for the Pacific Battleship Center, the nonprofit that is funding the ship's move and transformation into a museum. "So many battleships and destroyers left for the Pacific out of San Francisco Bay," he said. "There were very emotional feelings as they passed under the bridge to go out and very happy feelings when they passed under it to return." Link | USS Iowa official website

CCTV Posted: 27 May 2012 11:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) From reading British blogs and news sites, this is exactly the impression I have of modern England. CCTV cameras are everywhere, and in this short film, they never forget, and never give up. This is another of the Max X series by Ant Carpendale and Dave Parker. -Thanks, Ant!

Back To The Future in LEGO Posted: 27 May 2012 10:30 AM PDT Like Marty McFly said in Back To The Future, if you put your mind into it, you can accomplish anything. Like this DeLorean Time Machine LEGO by Brickshelf user Sakuretu: Link - via LEGO CUUSOO and The Daily What Geek

The Plant That Hunts Its Prey Posted: 27 May 2012 10:00 AM PDT   Think that plants are just sitting around photosynthesizin’, think again: some plants like the parasitic dodder vine actually hunt. Consuelo De Moraes of Penn State University discovered that the parasitic plant can even sniff out its prey: Dodder is a parasite—it lives off of other plants. Instead of waiting around for a suitable host, the vine hunts one down. Conseulo De Moraes of Penn State University planted a young dodder near a tomato plant and continuously filmed the pair for several days. Her time-lapse video reveals a growing dodder flailing around, tasting the air like a snake, until it finally brushes the tomato’s stem and begins to encircle its victim. Eventually it would sink tiny nozzles into the tomato plant to suck out vital juices. De Moraes discovered something surprising about the dodder: it can smell. The vine sniffs out its hosts, growing toward telltale chemicals released by its neighbors. And it is picky. Dodder prefers juicy tomato plants to slender wheat and healthy plants to sick plants. Link

Redwoods, the Super Trees Posted: 27 May 2012 09:21 AM PDT Photo: Michael Nichols/National Geographic That sure looks high off the ground! National Geographic photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols snapped the photo of botanist Marie Antoine passing a core sample of a 350-foot, 750-year-old redwood tree, to ecologist Giacomo Renzullo. View more fascinating photos and story over at National Geographic's 2009 story about California redwoods by Joel Bourne, "The Super Trees" | Photo Gallery by Michael Nichols See also this Neatorama classic: 10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World

Every Day is a Holiday Posted: 27 May 2012 08:25 AM PDT (YouTube link) Paul Loong was born in Malaysia, and served with the British Royal Air Force during World War II. He spent three years in Japanese prison camps. Then Loong worked for years to become a U.S. citizen, which included joining the U.S. Army during the Korean War. But even then, he had to fight for citizenship. Afterward, Loong became a doctor for the Veterans Administration. And that’s just the barest details of his incredible life. Now 88 years old, Loong only recently began to share his wartime stories when he revealed a diary he kept as a POW. Loong’s daughter, Theresa Loong, produced a documentary on her father’s life that will air this weekend on PBS. Check your local listings for Every Day is a Holiday. Link to story. Link to film site. -via Fark

The Beast Giant Fist Kool Koozie Posted: 27 May 2012 07:19 AM PDT The Beast Giant Fist Kool Koozie – $14.95 You are an amazing individual. Don’t let a canned beverage dominate you. Dominate your drink with The Beast Giant Fist Koozie from the NeatoShop. This excellent giant fist shaped can cooler is easy to clean and reusable. Make him your trusty summer companion today. Father’s Day is June 17th! Don’t forget to pick up a rad gift for Dad! Check out the NeatoShop for more awesome Father’s Day gift suggestions. Link

Mechanical Matchmaking: The Science of Love in the 1920s Posted: 27 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT People have been looking for a formula for romantic love for a long time -whether it’s a fantasy love potion, or a scientific equation that will gauge the feasibility of a match between two people. In 1924, the magazine Science and Invention published a scientific test to determine the probability of marital happiness for couples. There were four tests, including the Nervous Disorder Test: According to Gernsback it's important that at least one partner can be calm under pressure. The nervous disorder test is perhaps the most amusing in that it imagines a man (let's call him Professor Sixshooter) delivering a surprise gunshot in the air. The "nervous reaction" of both people is recorded on tape and if they both are too startled "marriage should not take place." I don't know about you, but I'd be a little uneasy if my partner wasn't startled at the sound of a gunshot. Read the rest at Paleofuture. Link

Gender Balance on Social Networking Sites Posted: 27 May 2012 06:00 AM PDT Oh boy, what does it say about me that I am a member of reddit, Digg, del.icio.us, and G+, but not Pinterest? I don’t know if you can actually say that “chicks rule” just because there are more of them on social networking sites. I don’t even know if there actually ARE more females on social networking sites, since Livejournal, Tumblr, myYearbook, Catster, and other sites are not represented at all, and since what is defined as a “social networking site” varies depending on who is defining. But here’s the data for these sites! If you need a larger version to read, see the full size chart at Information is Beautiful. Link -via Geeks Are Sexy

You are subscribed to email updates from Neatorama To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610