Neatorama

---

• Piggy Bread
• I Am Your Father
• Heartbeat-Powered Pacemaker
• Morley Street Art On Jobs
• The UK as an Anime Girl
• The Edible Deodorant
• The iPod’s 4,000-Pound Grandfather
• R2-D2 Engagement Ring
• How To Trick Yourself Into An Australian Accent
• Tinker Bell Treasure Chest
• Weeping Angel Barbie
• Attenborough's Ark
• Feedback Given to Advertising Agencies by Their Clients
• Shoulder Napping
• Are Geeky Couples More Likely to Have Kids with Autism?
• Urine-Powered Generator
• Cats and Bear Dogs
• A Build-able Giant Tentacle Monster
• The Möbius Bagel
• Scorpion Made of Watch Parts
• 11 Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Air Force
• Cat & Mouse Door Knocker
• Jack Skellington Aviator
• Wedding Portrait Taken 88 Years Later
• The Nine Circles of Scientific Hell
• The Vote That Would Have Really Counted
• More of Carl Warner's Foodscapes
• Slit-Scan Dance
• Panties Under Great Strain
• The Rolling Jubilee

Piggy Bread Posted: 10 Nov 2012 05:00 AM PST Sandeea Concina's hog buns require some effort to make--especially the curled tails. But it would be worth it for the reaction they'd sure provoke. You can find her recipe at the link. Link -via Foodiggity

I Am Your Father Posted: 10 Nov 2012 04:00 AM PST (YouTube link) He wanted a Star Wars birthday party, so he could be Luke Skywalker and fight Darth Vader. His sister dressed a Princess Leia. Darth showed up, the light sabers were employed, but under that helmet, it was not the cousin that was supposed to play the part, but Daddy! The children hadn't seen him in three months, and didn't expect to see their Navy dad until December, but he got a 96-hour leave to attend his son's birthday party. And the occasion became another entry at The Welcome Home Blog. Link -via Daily of the Day

Heartbeat-Powered Pacemaker Posted: 10 Nov 2012 03:00 AM PST The idea proposed by reseachers at the University of Michigan is to harvest the energy released by a heartbeat to power the pacemaker regulating the same heart: Piezoelectric materials generate an electric charge when their shape is changed. They are used in some microphones to convert vibrations into an electrical signal. Researchers at the University of Michigan are trying to use the movement of the heart as a source of electricity. In tests designed to simulate a range of heartbeats, enough electricity was generated to power a pacemaker. The designers now want to test the device on a real heart and build it into a commercial pacemaker. Link -via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Heart Pencil Holder on sale at the NeatoShop

Morley Street Art On Jobs Posted: 10 Nov 2012 02:00 AM PST Morley is a street artist, similar in that regard to Hanksy, from Los Angeles - where I currently happen to live. If Hanksy is all about the puns, Morley is all about the writing. He is a pretty good one if you ask me. For the last thirteen or so years of my young life (I'm 30 if anyone's counting) I've been preoccupied with the notion that my value on planet earth was defined by my career (or lack thereof). Similarly that my career defined who I was a person- that when introduced to someone I might as well have said "Hi, my name is Clerk at Blockbuster. It's nice to meet you Genius at Apple Store".  You can read more about the piece at his website. Does your job define you? Does it give you a justified existence? It's a tough question, if you ask me. While work does give many people drive and some sense of purpose, it shouldn't be what you use as justification for your life. But that is if you ask me. Sidenote: His website is filled with great things like his list of 50 Wonderful Things. The list is populated with things like "when your turn signal rhythm matches with the signal of the car in front of you" and "the rare occasions when Tom & Jerry set aside their differences and team up against a common foe." -Via I Am Morley

The UK as an Anime Girl Posted: 10 Nov 2012 01:00 AM PST It occured to some posters at a Japanese-language bulletin board that a map of the United Kingdom looks a lot like a girl. Specifically, "a girl who worries tremendously about her bosom." They illustrated this vision in various ways, including the one above. Link -via Kotaku

The Edible Deodorant Posted: 10 Nov 2012 12:00 AM PST Candy is dandy and liquor is quicker, but edible deodorant doesn't only taste sweet, it also makes you smell like roses! Here's Deo Perfume Candy, the brainchild of food company Beneo: This form of nutricosmetics (nutritional supplements which can support the function and the structure of the skin) is down to the ingredient geraniol, an acrylic monoterpene-alcohol, which is a colourless liquid that can be found in plants such as rose, lavender and vanilla. Geraniol is a natural antioxidant and its fragrance, once consumed as a candy, leaves the body through its pores, creating a naturally sweet smell that can last for hours. Oddity Central has the story: Link (Photo: New Hope 360)

The iPod’s 4,000-Pound Grandfather Posted: 09 Nov 2012 11:00 PM PST What's the gadget that automatically plays all kinds of music from different instruments in one package? Today that would be an iPod, or 50 years ago, it would be a jukebox. But before electronics, you'd be talking about an orchestrion, which could be up to twelve feet tall -or wide- and weigh up to two tons! Orchestrions were player pianos with other instruments added on, like bells, drums, pipes, and horns. They were fairly common a hundred years ago, but relatively few survive today. At Collectors Weekly, you can read about the heyday of orchestrions and see quite a few different models -and also hear them play in a few videos. Link

R2-D2 Engagement Ring Posted: 09 Nov 2012 10:00 PM PST That's an extremely well put-together little marriage. Joe had this ring custom made for his bride, Emily. Then, in the presence of their friends and while dressed as Peanuts characters, he popped the question. Link -via Geekologie

How To Trick Yourself Into An Australian Accent Posted: 09 Nov 2012 09:00 PM PST Rise Up Lights, Rise Up Lights, Rise up Lights. Oh man, I have always been terrible at fake foreign accents - no longer. People are probably looking at me funny in the office today because I keep walking around saying this and laughing to myself. Oh well, they'll get it eventually. This has to be one of my favorite things I have seen on the internet lately. By lately, I mean today / the extent of my short term memory - which is comparable to that of a goldfish's. From redditor Damino80, I demand more! Reminds me of "beer can" thing that was going around the internet not too long ago. Say "beer can" with a British accent and you've now said "bacon" in a Jamaican accent. -Via Bits and Pieces

Tinker Bell Treasure Chest Posted: 09 Nov 2012 08:00 PM PST Tinker Bell Treasure Chest - $47.45 (front and inside shown) Are you looking for a very special place to store your favorite lost things? You need the Tinker Bell Treasure Chest from the NeatoShop. This beautiful collector piece features Tinker Bell squeezing out of the center of a lock. Open up the box and you will see the rest of her hidden inside. The Tinker Bell Treasure Chest is a highly detailed sculpture and features exquisite hand-painted details. It makes the perfect gift for any Disney lover.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Collectibles. Link

Weeping Angel Barbie Posted: 09 Nov 2012 08:00 PM PST Ken, don't stop looking at her. Don't blink! Just slowly back away while maintaining eye contact. Sarah Franz-Wichlacz turned a Barbie doll into a horrifying predator from Doctor Who. Link -via Dude Craft

Attenborough's Ark Posted: 09 Nov 2012 07:00 PM PST If you can save ten animals from extinction, which animals would you pick? Sir David Attenborough shows us his pick in his new TV series Attenborough's Ark [warning: auto-starting video]. The BBC has the slideshow of the ten animals he'd save, including this one above: Another strange species highlighted by Sir David is the rare Hispaniola solenodon that has existed since prehistoric times but now only survives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The unusual nocturnal animal has a venomous bite and an incredibly mobile nose thanks to a ball and socket joint. A mobile nose? That's so fantastic! Link

Feedback Given to Advertising Agencies by Their Clients Posted: 09 Nov 2012 06:00 PM PST Even if you don't work at an ad agency, you've probably asked this question before. The answer is yes, of course we can. Graphic designers and other visual content creators in Ireland made posters illustrating the strangest pieces of feedback that they received from clients. You can view them all at the link. Link -via Nerdcore

Shoulder Napping Posted: 09 Nov 2012 05:00 PM PST They call it a cat nap for a reason. If I were the guy sitting in that chair, I wouldn't be moving for a very long time. How could I? Let that kitty nap as long as he needs to. -Via Unique Daily

Are Geeky Couples More Likely to Have Kids with Autism? Posted: 09 Nov 2012 04:00 PM PST What is a geek? For many people the term is perjorative, but for those who embrace geekdom, being a geek simply means having a thorough knowledge of and passion for a specific topic or activity. These aren't limited to calculus and Star Wars references, as 80s movies may have kead you to believe, but those topics certainly aren't excluded here, either. And as with any personality trait, geekiness is attractive to other geeks. But what the hey does this all have to do with autism? That's what researchers Simon Baron-Cohen and Sally Wheelwright set out to solve. In a series of studies, the pair revealed that geeky personality types were more likely to have children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Most revealing were statistics related to the parents' occupations: 12.5 percent of fathers of children with autism were engineers, compared with only 5 percent of fathers of children without autism. Likewise, 21.2 percent of grandfathers of children with autism had been engineers, compared with only 2.5 percent of grandfathers of children without autism. The pattern appeared on both sides of the family. Women who had a child with autism were more likely to have a father who had been an engineer—and they were more likely to have married someone whose father had been an engineer. But Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright's research wasn't limited to the industry-specific employment of parents with autistic children; the pair also researched tendencies to data systemizing, college majors, tech-industry locations (which revealed that Silicon Valley reports a higher incidence of childhood autism) and why autism seems to be more prevalent in malesthan in females. The article by Baron-Cohen is along read, but worth it if autism and geekiness are relevant to your interests. Check out the rest on Scientific American. Link | Photo

Urine-Powered Generator Posted: 09 Nov 2012 03:00 PM PST At the Maker Faire Africa in Lagos, Nigeria, four teenage girls came up with a rather remarkable invention: urine-powered generator (well, supposedly - but don't let skept-pee-cism* ruin our fun here). Possibly one of the more unexpected products at Maker Faire Africa this year in Lagos is a urine powered generator, created by four girls. The girls are Duro-Aina Adebola (14), Akindele Abiola (14), Faleke Oluwatoyin (14) and Bello Eniola (15). 1 Liter of urine gives you 6 hours of electricity. The system works like this: - Urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which separates out the hydrogen. - The hydrogen goes into a water filter for purification, which then gets pushed into the gas cylinder. - The gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax, which is used to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas. - This purified hydrogen gas is pushed into the generator. Along the whole way there are one-way valves for security, but let’s be honest that this is something of an explosive device… Link - via Engadget *Electrolysis is an energy-intensive process in itself, and that looks like a gasoline generator. Somebody's trollin' **This reminds me, Neatorama's servers need more juice. John, "urine" charge: your turn to pee!

Cats and Bear Dogs Posted: 09 Nov 2012 02:00 PM PST Meet the Bear Dog. Bear dogs, extinct by about 9 million years, have the body of a bear but the mouth of a dog. These fascinating animals did something that even modern domesticated dogs don't do (usually) - they got along with cats. Led by the University of Michigan and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, a team of paleontologists has analyzed the tooth enamel of two species of saber-toothed cats and a bear dog unearthed in geological pits near Madrid. The researchers found that the cat species—a leopard-sized Promegantereon ogygia and a much larger, lion-sized Machairodus aphanistus—lived together in a woodland area. They likely hunted the same prey—horses and wild boar. In this habitat, the small saber-toothed cats could have used tree cover to avoid encountering the larger ones. The bear dog hunted antelope in a more open area that overlapped the cats' territory, but was slightly separated. "These three animals were sympatric—they inhabited the same geographic area at the same time. What they did to coexist was to avoid each other and partition the resources," said Soledad Domingo, a postdoctoral fellow at the U-M Museum of Paleontology and the first author of a paper on the findings published in the Nov. 7 edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society B. You can read more about their findings here. -Via Cutting Edge News

A Build-able Giant Tentacle Monster Posted: 09 Nov 2012 01:30 PM PST Wholly Giant Tentacle Monster, this thing is awesome! Better yet you can build it yourself, thanks to Instructable user flaming_pele! I will have to keep this in mind for next Halloween. Great touch with the nightmare manhole cover. -Via Laughing Squid

The Möbius Bagel Posted: 09 Nov 2012 01:00 PM PST THIS is how a mathematician slices his bagel! Jill told us about George Hart's Möbius Strip bagel three years ago, but surely some of you haven't seen it yet. As you can see above, George Hart (yes, father of YouTube math star Vi Hart) slices his bagel into two congruent linked halves. Besides amazing everyone with your mathematically correct bagel, there's the added benefit of getting more cream cheese because there's slightly more surface area. Möbius would be proud! Link - via Krulwich Wonders Oh, George also shows us how to do it in this YouTube clip below:

Scorpion Made of Watch Parts Posted: 09 Nov 2012 12:30 PM PST With parts from old watches, JM Gershenson-Gates can make scorpions, spiders, birds, skeletons and more. They're little clockwork marvels that pop alive when you're not expecting them. Link -via Wunderkammer | Artist's Website

11 Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Air Force Posted: 09 Nov 2012 12:00 PM PST In a series leading up to Veterans Day, D.B. Grady tells us about the five branches of the U.S. military. The first post contains interesting facts about the U.S. Air Force. For example, the Air Force has an elite commando force of weathermen who must be trained in not only meteorology, but flying, spying, combat, and endurance. Before the Air Force sends squadrons of $150 million aircraft into areas, it likes to know what kind of environmental conditions are waiting for them. But the kinds of places where it sends such aircraft aren’t exactly friendly or hospitable to U.S. military operations. To gather meteorological and geological intelligence, the Air Force sends in Special Operations Weather Teams—commando forces with special training to read the environment and report back. To join such an elite fighting force, these men endure a punishing training pipeline that tests their mental and physical limits. The airmen who make it through earn the coveted gray beret and crest, and are trained to jump out of airplanes, climb mountains, snake through jungles, blow things up, and use small unit tactics in hostile territory. And that's just the beginning -read the rest at mental_floss. Link (Image credit: US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Jeremy Wilson)

Cat & Mouse Door Knocker Posted: 09 Nov 2012 11:30 AM PST Derek Bernstein's cast bronze door knockers will bring giggles to any cat lovers that come to your door and perhaps remind them of gifts presented by their own felines. Just slap the mouse against the door for admission. Link -via Nag on the Lake

Jack Skellington Aviator Posted: 09 Nov 2012 11:00 AM PST Jack Skellington Aviator - $19.95 Attention The Nightmare Before Christmas fans! Are you excited that Sandy Claws in on his way? Show off your holiday spirit with the Jack Skellington Aviator hat from the NeatoShop. This devilishly fun hat features pin-striped ear covers with bow tie bat at the end. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great The Nightmare Before Christmas items.  Link

Wedding Portrait Taken 88 Years Later Posted: 09 Nov 2012 11:00 AM PST Wu Conghan and Wu Sognshi got married in 1924 in Nanchong, Sichuan province, China. There were no local photographers then, so there were no wedding photos taken. The couple are still married 88 years later, and they recently posed in wedding finery for the pictures they didn't have on their wedding day. A local photography company volunteered to snap the pictures as part of an city initiative to give older people wedding portraits, according to another story. Conghan is 101 years old, and Sognshi is 103. See more pictures of the at the Daily Mail. Link -via reddit (Image source: HAP/Quirky China News/Rex)

The Nine Circles of Scientific Hell Posted: 09 Nov 2012 10:30 AM PST From blog post to publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal! Blogger Neuroskeptic became the first blogger to publish a paper under a blogging pseudonym ... and best of all, it's a paper we can all understand! Here's The Nine Circles of Scientific Hell (an apropos publication, given the rise in scientific misconduct: First Circle: Limbo The uppermost circle is not a place of punishment so much as regret. Those who have committed no scientific sins per se, but who have turned a blind eye to them, or encouraged sinners through the awarding of grants, spend eternity on top of this barren mountain, watching the carnage below and reflecting on how they are partially responsible… Second Circle: Overselling This circle is reserved for those who exaggerated the importance of their work in order to get grants or write better papers. Sinners are trapped in a huge pit, up to their necks in horrible sludge. Each sinner is provided with the single rung of a ladder, labeled “The Way Out—Scientists Crack Problem of Second Circle of Hell.” Third Circle: Post-Hoc Storytelling Sinners condemned to this circle must constantly dodge the attacks of demons armed with bows and arrows, firing more or less at random. Every time someone is hit in some part of their body, a demon proceeds to explain at length that it was aiming for that exact spot all along. Read the rest over at Perspectives on Psychological Science or at Neuroskeptic - via Metafilter

The Vote That Would Have Really Counted Posted: 09 Nov 2012 10:00 AM PST Bobby McDonald ran for a seat on the city council in Walton, Kentucky. The vote Tuesday ended up in a tie between McDonald and Olivia Ballou for the final slot on the six-person council. Each candidate captured 669 votes, but one ballot McDonald is sure would have gone his way was never cast. His wife, Katie, who works nights as a patient care assistant at Christ Hospital and is finishing nurse’s training at Gateway Community and Technical College, didn’t make it to the polls yesterday. “If she had just been able to get in to vote, we wouldn’t be going through any of this,” McDonald said. “You never think it will come down to one vote, but I’m here to tell you that it does.” McDonald, 27, said his wife did not want to talk about not voting. “She feels bad enough,” McDonald said. The winner of the seat will most likely be determined by a coin toss. Link -via New York Magazine (Image credit: Dwight Burdette)

More of Carl Warner's Foodscapes Posted: 09 Nov 2012 09:30 AM PST We've posted about Carl Warner's Foodscapes before on Neatorama, but the photographer has some new ones on his website that you should see (my favorite is the first one featured above, inspired by Monolith from Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series). But eat first, because these gorgeous photos will surely make you hungry, mmkay? Link [Flash site, so click on Portfolio and then the second box from the left (Foodscapes)]

Slit-Scan Dance Posted: 09 Nov 2012 09:00 AM PST (vimeo link) This dance sequence was filmed by the slit-scan method by French artists Adrien M / Claire B. The camera is doing more work than the dancers! The effect is weird, but oddly mesmerizing. -via Laughing Squid

Panties Under Great Strain Posted: 09 Nov 2012 08:30 AM PST Bruce Farrin, writing for the Maine newspaper Rumford Falls Times, probably meant "food pantries." Just in case he didn't make a mistake, stand back and get your food somewhere else. Link -via American Digest

The Rolling Jubilee Posted: 09 Nov 2012 08:10 AM PST The Occupy Wall Street movement is trying a new tactic to help folks struggling with debt burdens. Banks and other financial traders buy debts from each other for pennies on the dollar, but still try to collect every bit of it plus interest from the debtor. There's no reason that those debts can't be bought up by someone who doesn't expect to profit from them. Now OWS is launching the ROLLING JUBILEE, a program that has been in development for months. OWS is going to start buying distressed debt (medical bills, student loans, etc.) in order to forgive it. As a test run, we spent $500, which bought $14,000 of distressed debt. We then ERASED THAT DEBT. (If you’re a debt broker, once you own someone’s debt you can do whatever you want with it — traditionally, you hound debtors to their grave trying to collect. We’re playing a different game. A MORE AWESOME GAME.) This is a simple, powerful way to help folks in need — to free them from heavy debt loads so they can focus on being productive, happy and healthy. As you can see from our test run, the return on investment approaches 30:1. That’s a crazy bargain! Now, after many consultations with attorneys, the IRS, and our moles in the debt-brokerage world, we are ready to take the Rolling Jubilee program LIVE and NATIONWIDE, buying debt in communities that have been struggling during the recession. The project will officially kick off with a benefit variety show November 15th in New York City. Link to story. Link to website. -via Jason Kottke

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