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- Mike Tyson Sings A Song About LeBron James
- Is This How Dogs Salute Higher-Ranking Military K9s?
- Could You Get A DUI On This Thing?
- Something’s Not Quite Right About These Justice League Toys
- Shut Up Leonard – The Community Supercut
- 16 Awesome Sea-Themed Rooms
- This Is One Wicked Venom Mural
- 10 Seriously Talented Pets
- The Art Of Ron English And….Chris Brown?
- The Adventures of the Random House
- Thin Crust Necronomicon
- Jawa Plush
- A Taxi Service in Which Passengers Rate Drivers — And Vice Versa
- Did a Meteorite Crash Cause Tomatoes to Become Red?
- CAT Scan of a Cat
- WikiWars
- Math Proves That Bieber Fever is One of the Most Contagious Diseases Ever
- Twinkie Sushi
- Meet Bella, the Planking Dog
- Armored Vest Shoots Bullets When Wearer Raises Hands
- 7-Eleven Double Big Gulp Slimmin’ Down to 150% of Human Stomach Capacity
- Photo of a Bee Sting in Progress
- The Cupcake Tank
- Half-Ton Scrap Metal Transformer Wine Rack
- Internet Explorer 7 Tax
- Basic Equipment
- R2-D2 Star Wars Lunch Kit With Sound
- Robot Learns Language Like a Baby
- Summer Reading Flowchart
- Game of Thrones Put George W. Bush’s Head on a Spike
- 10 Bizarre Schools Around The Country
- You, Plus Your Closest 100 Trillion Bacterial Friends
- 13 Bizarre Real Estate Investment Opportunities
- The Unnatural History of the Dixie Cup
- Looks Like an Exciting Wedding is Planned
- The Oldest Known Recording of a US President’s Voice
- Neatorama Facebook Page Sets New Record
- Gigantic Donut Pool Float
- When The Muppets and X-Men Collide
- 7 Tiny Books That Packed a Big Punch
| Mike Tyson Sings A Song About LeBron James Posted: 15 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT Mike Tyson is a man who has re-invented himself time and time again. Who else could go from heavyweight champ to actor to comedian, and is that a career in music I hear in his future? Watch him bust out a tune for your enjoyment on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, a song about LeBron James and basketball. Singers are a dime a dozen, what the world needs now is another heavyweight head puncher turned comedian. Keep on punching out the funny Mike! –via Tastefully Offensive  |
| Is This How Dogs Salute Higher-Ranking Military K9s? Posted: 15 Jun 2012 04:37 AM PDT When I posted the picture of the fancy-dressed goat last week, Reader Choggie asked me if I might like to link to one of his photos. Sure enough, this photo of dogs with red junk on their head bearing their rumps to one begging boy in the middle certainly deserved a Neatorama WTF salute! |
| Could You Get A DUI On This Thing? Posted: 15 Jun 2012 04:00 AM PDT What happens when you mix the sociability and alcoholism of a bar with the exercise and safety-hazards of a bike? Well, you get the awesome Cycle Pub. Best of all, it’s not actually as dangerous as it sounds since only one (sober) person actually drives and everyone else just pedals to provide momentum. For those interested in taking in the scenes while throwing back a few beers, the cycle pub is booking tours in Boise, Idaho, Bend, Oregon and Carson City and Reno, Nevada. Link Via Visit Bend |
| Something’s Not Quite Right About These Justice League Toys Posted: 15 Jun 2012 03:26 AM PDT Argentinian toy makers have found a way to put an end to the rivalry between comic book publishers Marvel and DC – they the Thing and the Hulk join the Justice League! And is that Spider Man wearing a suit of Waynetech body armor? Man, those poor kids in Argentina are going to be totally confused if they ever read the comics!
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| Shut Up Leonard – The Community Supercut Posted: 15 Jun 2012 02:28 AM PDT Fans of the hit TV show Community will recognize Leonard as the lovable curmudgeon who enjoys reviewing snack food on video and is constantly on the lookout for white women. If you haven’t seen Community then you’re about to find out why Greendale Community College’s oldest student is a real gas! –via TDW |
| Posted: 15 Jun 2012 02:24 AM PDT If you’ve always fantasized about living like a sailor, but can’t stand getting seasick, then you can always do the next best thing and decorate your home like a boat or submarine. It might sound cheesy in theory, but sometimes these designs look downright awesome, as evidenced by the rooms in this great WebUrbanist article. |
| This Is One Wicked Venom Mural Posted: 15 Jun 2012 01:40 AM PDT This Venom mural is one impressive act of comic book geekery, created by masters of spray can disaster Sekel and DarkElixir. It’s nice to see that big black ball of alien symbiote has finally been captured in a way which lives up to his villainous reputation! Hit the jump to see the entire mural, and check out the pipes coming out of the wall to put the massive scale of this piece in perspective. |
| Posted: 15 Jun 2012 01:24 AM PDT Think America’s Got Talent has some great acts? Just wait until you see Pets Lady’s top ten talented pets. Just look at this gorgeous husky singing along to Gwen Stefani. |
| The Art Of Ron English And….Chris Brown? Posted: 15 Jun 2012 12:40 AM PDT In what must be the most unlikely pairing ever, artiste extraordinaire Ron English and pop star/face puncher Chris Brown participated in a joint art show together entitled Dumb English and, to my surprise, Chris Brown’s paintings aren’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen scrawled on canvas. Sure, his style is a bit contrived, and each piece looks like it took him about ten minutes to paint, but I expected far less from the singer so color me impressed! I betcha Ron will look back upon this show with a smirk on his face and a stiff drink in hand, candy colored memories dancing in his head…
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| The Adventures of the Random House Posted: 14 Jun 2012 11:00 PM PDT
The rest of the exchange, which she swears is real, reads like a modern remake of the Abbot & Costello routine known as Who’s On First. Link -via Breakfast Links (Image credit: Flickr user Dan McKay) |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 10:00 PM PDT Jennifer’s pizza has both forbidden knowledge and black olives. What’s not to love? The Gastronomicon will drive your taste buds insane with delight. If you’d like to make your own, you can find Jennifer’s recipe at the link. We should all feel compelled to do so immediately. Link -via That’s Nerdalicious! |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 09:17 PM PDT Jawa 8″ Talking Plush – $31.95 (sold individually) Are you a passionate scavenger always on the look out for neat things? You need the Jawa 8″ Talking Plush from the NeatoShop. This adorable little guy has light up eyes and talks when you push his chest. He makes the perfect companion for those enjoy long walks in the desert, tinkering, and fixing broken and discarded machinery. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Star Wars fun!
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| A Taxi Service in Which Passengers Rate Drivers — And Vice Versa Posted: 14 Jun 2012 09:00 PM PDT
At the end of your ride, you can leave a review with Uber. But beware: the driver can do the same for you. So behave yourself or you may find it hard to get a ride:
News Story and Company Website -via Kottke | Photo: mattiaskristiansson |
| Did a Meteorite Crash Cause Tomatoes to Become Red? Posted: 14 Jun 2012 08:00 PM PDT
Link - via Metafilter |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 07:00 PM PDT
CAT scan, despite its name*, doesn't really involve any cat. Well, Manxiu Ma and collages from the Human Brain Mapping Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing are fixing that. Kerri Smith of Nature's newsblog spotted the experiment in a recent science poster session at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping meeting:
*I know, I know. "Computed Axial Tomography" scan, or this cute Tumblr blog. |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 06:36 PM PDT Whenever there’s a human activity, someone will make a sport out of it. WikiWars is a race through Wikipedia to connect two unrelated terms, and it is quite competitive.
In this video, Evan and Michael are in their third round of competition. -via Geekosystem |
| Math Proves That Bieber Fever is One of the Most Contagious Diseases Ever Posted: 14 Jun 2012 06:00 PM PDT
Did your adolescent daughter just got Bieber fever? Well, don't blame yourself. Mathematicians have just proven that Justin Bieber is one of the world's most infectious thing ever. You better Beliebe it! Link |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 05:00 PM PDT The Twinkie, nature’s perfect food, can be used for almost any culinary purpose. Here’s a recipe for a sushi-like production. You’ll need fruit roll-ups, dried mango, candied fruits and dried fruits. And, of course, lots of Twinkies. Link -via PJ Lifestyle | Photo: Hostess |
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| Armored Vest Shoots Bullets When Wearer Raises Hands Posted: 14 Jun 2012 04:00 PM PDT |
| 7-Eleven Double Big Gulp Slimmin’ Down to 150% of Human Stomach Capacity Posted: 14 Jun 2012 03:30 PM PDT
Well, 7-Eleven is slimming it down to a 50-ounce size (still 150% of human stomach capacity) ... not out of concern about America's growing waistline, but because the drink was too large for cup holders in most cars! |
| Photo of a Bee Sting in Progress Posted: 14 Jun 2012 03:00 PM PDT No, bees have not developed 2-inch long stingers. That’s abdominal tissue trailing behind the bee as it leaves the scene of the crime. Kathy Keatley Garvey of the University of California at Davis snapped this amazing one-in-a-million shot. Link -via Blame It on the Voices |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 02:30 PM PDT
Meet the yummiest army tank ever: it's made of 5,000 chocolate cupcakes, and it fires cupcakes 20 feet into the air! The cupcake tank was made by Georgetown Cupcake to celebrate the Army's 237th birthday: Link |
| Half-Ton Scrap Metal Transformer Wine Rack Posted: 14 Jun 2012 02:00 PM PDT Discreet affirmations of grace and style are the mark of a wine connoisseur. This is how you should present your wine in a way that communicates your breeding and upbringing. Now for sale on Craigslist: a 32-bottle wine rack made from a thousand pounds of automobile and motorcycle transmission parts. Link -via Geekologie |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 01:30 PM PDT
Are you still using IE7 browser? Then you'd be paying an extra "tax" if you shop at Australian online retailer Kogan.com:
Looking at Neatorama's own log, 1.68% of you still browse with IE7. Tsk tsk. Upgrade, guys! |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 01:00 PM PDT For some people, pockets aren’t enough for their daily carry needs. So get a shoeshine box. Artist Robert Ulincy repurposed one for this curious assembly of objects. Link -via Nag on the Lake Previously by this artist: Ceci Est Une Pipe |
| R2-D2 Star Wars Lunch Kit With Sound Posted: 14 Jun 2012 12:39 PM PDT
R2-D2 Star Wars Lunch Kit With Sound – $21.95 Are you looking for a trustworthy place to store your favorite meal? You need the R2-D2 Star Wars Lunch Kit With Sound from the NeatoShop. This friendly lunch bag lights-up and chirps when you press him. The force is strong with this lunch kit. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Star Wars items! |
| Robot Learns Language Like a Baby Posted: 14 Jun 2012 12:30 PM PDT
When the robocalypse happens, and you find yourself begging for your life at the foot of our new robot overlords, and when the robot denies your request in fluent English, and you find yourself thinking "my, its command of the English language is masterful" then think back to this momentous instance where scientists taught the robot how to speak just like they would a baby: Link |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 12:01 PM PDT With school out and jobs for teenagers pretty scarce, reading for pleasure is mandatory on hot summer days. Teach.com has compiled a list of 101 suggested books for high school students, and assembled a handy flowchart to decide which to begin with, according to the reader’s interests. This is just a small part of the extensive chart at the site. Link -via Metafilter |
| Game of Thrones Put George W. Bush’s Head on a Spike Posted: 14 Jun 2012 11:30 AM PDT
Gizmodo wrote: If you keep your eyes peeled when King Joffrey takes Sansa Stark to gaze upon the spiked head of her dead father around 12 minutes in, you'll notice that one of the heads looks slightly familiar. Show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss explained in their DVD commentary (from Season 1, episode 10) that the decapitated head is actually George Bush. This was discovered by redditor SidIncognito. Game of Thrones producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss acknowledged it:
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| 10 Bizarre Schools Around The Country Posted: 14 Jun 2012 11:00 AM PDT
Each school is linked for more information in this list of ten from Buzzfeed. Link |
| You, Plus Your Closest 100 Trillion Bacterial Friends Posted: 14 Jun 2012 10:30 AM PDT
"You" isn't just you. It's actually you plus ... oh, about 100 trillion bacteria living in and on your body. Actually, there's about 10 bacteria for every human cell, so technically, we are all mostly bugs. The Human Microbiome Project aims to sequence the genetic material of a thousand or so different kinds of bacteria that call your body home: Link |
| 13 Bizarre Real Estate Investment Opportunities Posted: 14 Jun 2012 10:00 AM PDT Some properties have a lot of promise only if you have some imagination. Sure, you can buy a house, and probably pretty cheaply right now, but what about a boat dock, a school, or something historic that can be converted into a lucrative business? For example, Scott FladHammer is a house flipper, but when he began to invest in “haunted” houses, he opened up an opportunity to make money with a TV show about those houses! Read about other ways to invest in some strange real estate that you’d have never otherwise thought about in this list at Creonline. Link -via the Presurfer |
| The Unnatural History of the Dixie Cup Posted: 14 Jun 2012 09:00 AM PDT Paper cups were the first widely-available product that was meant to be used once and then discarded, and it was a life saver of the time. Before the Dixie Cup, water was dispensed to everyone using a common cup or dipper, which transmitted diseases that had no cure back in the day. But inventor Lawrence Luellen just wanted a way to sell water for the American Water Supply Company. Read about the origin of the Dixie Cup, how and why it was named, and how it took off and influenced products that came after it, at Smithsonian’s Food and Think blog. Link (Image credit: Lawrence Luellen) |
| Looks Like an Exciting Wedding is Planned Posted: 14 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT Redditor tifypoo posted her aunt and uncle’s wedding announcement, or possible a “save the date” card. Either way, it’s awesome! However, not everyone could have pulled this off. You have to have the legs for it. Link |
| The Oldest Known Recording of a US President’s Voice Posted: 14 Jun 2012 07:00 AM PDT
This is the earliest known recording of a US President. You can listen to it at the link. Link -via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: Library of Congress |
| Neatorama Facebook Page Sets New Record Posted: 14 Jun 2012 06:30 AM PDT A neat photo we posted yesterday on our Facebook page received more than 5,000 likes, 2,000 shares and 150 comments. If you’re not following us over there, you’re missing a lot of the fun! |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2012 06:21 AM PDT Gigantic Donut Pool Float – $20.95 Summer is just about here. Are you hungry for some fun in the sun? You need the Gigantic Donut Pool Float from the NeatoShop. This deliciously funny inner tube is shaped like your favorite sprinkle doughnut. Yum! Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Inflatables. |
| When The Muppets and X-Men Collide Posted: 14 Jun 2012 06:00 AM PDT |
| 7 Tiny Books That Packed a Big Punch Posted: 14 Jun 2012 05:07 AM PDT
1. Common Sense by Thomas Paine (52 pages) In the 1770s, American colonists were riding the fence. Should they cut ties with the tax-happy King George or just sit around drinking English tea? As they waffled, a penniless Brit named Thomas Paine sailed to Philadelphia and published the incendiary tract Common Sense. Released in 1776, Paine's text lambasted King George as a "crowned ruffian" and the progeny of a "French bastard." The language struck a nerve, turning loyalists into patriots and nudging the likes of George Washington and John Adams into action. Less than six months later, the colonies declared independence, and the Revolutionary War was on. As for Paine, he went on to write another powerful little book, The Age of Reason, a deist work that criticized organized religion and questioned the authenticity of the Bible. This time, however, Paine's words missed the mark. He was condemned as an atheist, shunned by friends, and denied citizenship in the United States—the young nation he helped create.
Written in 1957 for children learning to read, The Cat in the Hat has saved generations of first-graders from the mind-numbing adventures of Dick and Jane. Instead of seeing Dick run and Jane pet Spot, kids got to watch as a free-spirited, umbrella-toting cat stood on a ball, juggled goldfish, and generally encouraged chaos. Dr. Seuss spent a year and a half working on The Cat in the Hat; apparently, it's not so easy to write a rollicking good tale with a vocabulary of only 236 words. Incredibly, just 15 words in the book are more than one syllable long.
A how-to manual for aspiring dictators, The Prince is one of the most reviled, and most studied, political treatises in history. First published in 1532, the book gave rise to the idea that a ruler's first duty is to build a strong and stable state, no matter what the cost. The Prince inspired numerous tyrants, including Oliver Cromwell, Hitler, and Mussolini. Stalin was particularly moved by the book, scribbling copious notes in the margins of his copy.
If Machiavelli helped unleash tyranny on the world, then Thoreau taught the world how to fight back. His ideas were simple but revolutionary: Don't obey evil laws, and don't pay taxes to the governments that create them. Thoreau penned the essay collection in 1849, inspired by his disgust over issues such as slavery and the Mexican-American War. But few paid attention to Civil Disobedience during Thoreau's lifetime. That wouldn't happen until six decades later, when Gandhi came across the work while studying at Oxford and took a copy with him to South Africa. There, he and his followers used Thoreau's ideas to launch a campaign of passive resistance against the government, later repeating those tactics in India. Civil Disobedience has been on the march ever since, toppling colonialism, segregation, apartheid, and all manner of injustice.
For nearly a century, this pithy little grammar book has taught Americans how to write. Along the way, it's won over the hearts and minds of countless English teachers, copy editors, and authors, from Dorothy Parker to Stephen King. First published by Strunk in 1918, the manual took on a new life in 1959 when author E.B. White was brought on board to revise and expand it. (The co-authored version exceeded 100 pages.) But the book's key lessons have always remained the same: encouraging writers to be clear, use concrete language, and omit needless words. Surprisingly, the little rulebook has also inspired other forms of expression, including a ballet of the same name by choreographer Matthew Nash. Not everyone agreed with Nash's interpretation, though. One reviewer panned the choreography as too indecisive, claiming it failed to distinguish between the active and passive voice.
Despite the title's promise, most of this ancient Chinese handbook is about how to win a conflict without needing to fight. Sun Tzu was a military general 2,500 years ago, but he was also a Taoist philosopher who believed in getting to know your enemy and cultivating a peaceful state of mind. For this reason, The Art of War is studied not only by military strategists, but also by business executives, diplomats, and lawyers. The list of people influenced by the book is impressive: Napoleon, Chairman Mao, Donald Trump, and of course, Gordon Gekko, Michael Douglas' character in 1987's Wall Street, who quotes Sun Tzu continuously throughout the movie.
Europe's emerging communist movement was getting no respect in the mid-1800s, so it asked two good friends, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, to do what communists do best—write propaganda. The resulting manifesto recast history as one giant class struggle and outlined a 10-point program for building a communist state. The booklet climaxed with the rousing motto, "Workers of the world, unite!" About 40 years later, those words stirred the heart of young Vladimir Lenin, who led the Bolshevik Revolution and helped create the Soviet Union. What followed was a series of unfortunate events, including the nuclear arms race, the Vietnam War, and, of course, Rocky IV. __________________________
Don’t forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss‘ extremely entertaining website and blog today for more! |
Random House has a problem. There’s so much security in the building that writers are afraid to bring manuscripts in person. Maureen Johnson decided to send hers by FedEx. But the FedEx agent, a young man, said they couldn’t ship her package.
A new company called Uber simplifies the process of hailing a cab. Just activate an app on your smartphone, and Uber will send a car to your location. You won’t even have to handle any money:
Why are tomatoes red? Research by Dutch scientists discovered that a stressful event millions of years ago, like a meteorite crash, triggered the change in the plant's genome:
Two years ago, we told you that the 64-ounce 7-Eleven Double Big Gulp is actually 
Oops! The creators of the Game of Thrones on HBO were caught using a likeness of George W. Bush as a decapitated head on a spike.
Parents in Manhattan are complaining about the lack of structure at a school founded by the Blue Man Group. You’d think they would have checked out the curriculum before handing over the tuition -what did they think a school run by the Blue Man Group would be like? But that’s just one school. If you’ve got the money, you can go to a school without books, without classes, or without rules. Or you can attend a more traditional but strangely specialized school. One from this list that fascinated me was the FDNY High School For Fire And Life Safety.
Benjamin Harrison was President of the United States from 1889-1893. In the first year of his presidency, he recorded the following statement onto an Edison phonograph wax cylinder:
At 1,456 pages, War and Peace makes a big impression … and a great doorstop. But books don't have to weigh a lot to be heavy hitters. Here are seven tiny tomes—all fewer than 100 pages—that sparked revolutions.
2. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (72 pages)
3. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (82 pages)
4. Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (26 pages)
5. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (52 pages)
6. The Art of War by Sun Tzu (68 pages)
7. Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (54 pages)
The above article by Michael Ridgeway is reprinted with permission from the Scatterbrained section of the | You are subscribed to email updates from Neatorama To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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