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2012/12/02

Neatorama

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"Scientists" Uncover Global League of Mythical Creatures

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 04:00 AM PST

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In the past week, there have been news stories from normally serious sources concerning a unicorn, yeti, sasquatch, chupacabra, and a vampire. We passed on all of them except for the vampire story (which had no mention of scientists) because they didn't pass the smell test. Most of the stories managed to combine "scientist" and "legendary creatures" in a way that would lead some people to take them seriously -at least if you read the short versions that make the news feeds. Nate Anderson at Ars Technica looks a little deeper and gives us more information that turns up when look deeper, behind the attention-grabbing headlines. Link -via reddit 

(Image credit: Mike Mitchell)

French Hen 12 Days Mini Ornament

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 03:00 AM PST

French Hen 12 Days Mini Ornament - $17.95

The holidays are here. Get ready to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas with your very own French Hen 12 Days Mini Ornament from the NeatoShop. This delightful hand-painted ornament by Patience Brewster features a chicken wearing red high heels and dressed as a french maid. Ooh la la! The sparkly red heels really make the outfit. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Christmas items. 

Link

Flintlock Butter Knife

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 03:00 AM PST

butter knife

butter knife

Although there were such things as repeatingflintlock firearms, gun owners of the flintlock era needed options when it took up to a minute to reload. This unusual weapon probably made by a gunsmith named F.X. Richter was one response. Once you've spent your shot on one opponent, you can spread butter on the next.

Link -via Pocket Pistols, Historical Firearms, & Curiosities | Photo: iCollector

A Very Good Reason To Run

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 02:00 AM PST

How's this for motivation? You're tired, weak in the knees and can't seem to go on until a zombie clown comes after you and motivates you to RUN!

There are lots of zombie runs taking place across the country these days, and they all have one main factor in common- having zombies chase after you means you will stay in the race, unless you want to become a high protein snack...

Link

6,000 Miniature People form a Map of the World

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 01:00 AM PST

Carlos de Menezes's 30-foot wide map of the world consists entirely of thousands of miniature human figures standing in plaster. Menezes handpainted each of the 6,000 little people and sorted them into little communities.

Link -via Nag on the Lake | Artist's Website

Bizarre Movie Theaters from All Over the World

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

There's a world of variety in movie theaters beyond your mall cineplex. Flavorwire shows us open air theaters, solar-powered theaters, theaters that float on water, and even a drive-in on the roof!

The disappearance of the drive-in is largely a matter of space and location; us city folk who’d like to frequent them often live in places where there’s just not room for them. And that’s the genius of the Electric Dusk in Los Angeles: their monthly (“sometimes bimonthly” their website charmingly hedges) drive-in screenings are held on the roof of an LA parking garage. If there’s a better nighttime use for garages, we can’t think of it — and there’s some karmic justice to it as well, considering how many wonderful old theaters were demolished to make way for parking garages.

Maybe you'll travel to one of these theaters someday -or maybe one of them is near where you live! Link -via mental_floss

Lighting a Menorah Rube Goldberg-Style

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 11:00 PM PST


(Video Link)

Technion is what blogger David Bernstein calls "Israel's MIT." You might light a menorah with a match. But engineers are...different. Eyal Cohen, Tomer Wassermann, Matan Orian and Dvir Dukhan of Technion created this delightfully absurd method.

-via Volokh Conspiracy

Cat or Rabbit?

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 10:00 PM PST

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The caption at reddit says, "The morning after his first catnip." However, at the Norwegian news site it came from, the translated caption is

    cat or rabbit

    Squeez enjoying himself with the carrot in the morning.

Can we assume the cat is named Squeez? Link

Scooby-Doo Nails

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 09:00 PM PST

Scooby-Doo

Nail artist Kayleigh O'Connor is a continuoussourceof amusement to us here at Neatorama. Ruh-roh! It looks like the Mystery Gang has to expose four frauds at work. O'Connor posted these a week ago. She'd probably still have them if it weren't for those meddling kids.

Gallery -via The Mary Sue

Editor

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 08:00 PM PST

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As funny as this is, it proves what I've always said: every editor needs a proofreader. Link -via Ed Yong

(Image credit: Michelle N Meyer)

DeLorean Taxi

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 07:00 PM PST

Assuming that you can get to 88 MPH in New York City traffic, this cab will get you across town before you even left. To promote the Nooka fashion line, Mike Lubrano converted DeLoreans into working taxis that look like Back to the Future time machines..

Link -via Toxel

Magic Matches

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 06:00 PM PST

(YouTube link)

This is an old trick, but still impressive. Capillary action draws water into the fibers of the wooden match sticks, and the fibers expand. In the place where the matches were broken, this expansion causes them to revert to their natural alignment somewhat. -via Geeks Are Sexy

Rainbow Brite Starlight Pillow

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 05:00 PM PST

Rainbow Brite Starlight Pillow - $24.95

Attention Rainbow Brite fans! Are you looking for the perfect pillow to go with your favorite Rainbow Brite Body Cozy? You need the magical Rainbow Brite Starlight Pillow from the NeatoShop. This super soft pillow plush looks like Rainbow Brite's horse. It is wonderful for a resting your weary head of cuddling up with on the couch.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Home Decor Accents. 

Link

The Original Batmobile Is for Sale

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 05:00 PM PST

Batmobile

The original Batmobile from the 1966-68 television series began as a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car. It sat in the lot of George Barris, a car customizer, until television producers needed a Batmobile on very short notice:

Batman producer William Dozier called needing a Batmobile. He gave Barris 15 days and $15,000 to build it and so he did. The Futura’s two-seater design and unique 50s futurist winged look made it the perfect car to customize into Batman and Robin’s main ride. A few metal modifications, engine boosts, racing wheels exposed by opened wheel wells, Batgadget attachments and a gloss black paint job with glow-orange red trim later, history burst out of the Batcave.

If you have enough money, it can be yours. The Batmobile will be sold at auction at a car show in Scottsdale, Arizona in January.

Article and Auction Listing -via Nerdcore

Found: Lion Cub

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 04:00 PM PST

Children on the way to school in the village of Seyatel in Russia encountered a lion cub. Lions are not native to that part of Russia, so the children took the cub, believed to be about five months old, to school with them.

The children who found the young wild cat brought their find to school number 84, where he was put in the sports hall. The director of the educational institution Angelica Chemerisova called the police and the emergency services and reported that there was a lion cub at the school.

The lion was scared and very thirsty, so authorities do not know how long it was loose. No one has so far claimed the cub, which was taken to a zoo for safekeeping. The linked story is a translation and uses both male and female pronouns for the lion cub. Link -via Arbroath, where you can see a video report.

Guess How Underarm Cheese Is Made

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 03:00 PM PST

cheese

Help yourself. Eat as much as you like. Christina Agapakis can make more cheese for you. She uses bacteria from the human body to produce cheese starter cultures:

Swabs from hands, feet, noses, and armpits were inoculated into fresh, pasteurized, organic whole milk and incubated overnight at 37° Celsius. The milk curds were then strained and pressed, yielding unique smelling fresh cheeses.

Seconds, anyone?

Link -via It's Okay to Be Smart

Joy to the World

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 02:00 PM PST

(YouTube link)

December is here- let the caroling begin! This song is from the Muppet Christmas Carol 20th Anniversary Collectors Edition album.

5 Seriously Weird Holiday Dishes

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 01:00 PM PST

I love turkey and stuffing, but with multiple family meals for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, plus leftovers, the classics can start to get tiresome quickly. That's why it's nice to dig into something different here and there and if you're looking for an original dish to add to your family holiday meal, Mental Floss has some great tips, including the banana ham cassarole above. Sure it sounds weird, but that's not always a bad thing.

Link

Jackets Made of Recycled Luxury Cars

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 12:00 PM PST

Platinum Dirt is a company that fashions one-of-a-kind leather jackets, purses, and accessories from the upholstery of luxury vehicles. Other parts of the automobile are incorporated where possible, such as zipper pulls and decoration. Shown here is a VIN jacket made from a Cadillac. No word on how much this jacket costs, but other jackets start as low as $1,690. Link -via Laughing Squid

(Image credit: Flickr user Rusty Blazenhoff)

You Need a Slingshot Fishing Rod Because...

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 11:00 AM PST

slingshot fishing rod

...well, I don't know why. I had never heard of such a thing until today. But now that I know this exists, I must have one. Instructables member freeza36 connected a fishing reel and a slingshot, presumably to add options when he's dealing with an especially ornery fish on his hook.

Link

Life and Music

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 10:00 AM PST

(YouTube link)

Don't become so focused on the destination that you forget to enjoy the journey. This animation was produced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone with audio from a lecture by Alan Watts. -via Boing Boing

Can't Own Your Own Critter? Then Play With One on the Internet Instead

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 09:00 AM PST

Whether you have allergies or just can't have cats in your own home, you can finally live out your virtual pet ownership fantasies thanks to iPet Companion, which allows you to play with shelter critters online. Now that's a gret comprimise that also ensures adoptable animals stay entertained in their kennels.

Link Via The Mary Sue

The Inside Story of Pong

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 08:00 AM PST

pong

The arcade game Pong was released upon an unsuspecting world of pool and pinball players forty years ago this week. I recall vividly the day one of the games was set up at the local college student center. Dozens of young people gathered around to watch and wait their turn to play. Pong wasn't the first video arcade game, but it was the one that introduced a generation to interactive digital entertainment. Nolan Bushnell, Ted Dabney, and Al Alcorn left decent jobs at Ampex to form their own company, Atari, to develop video games. In September of that year, they delivered the beta version of a tennis-like game to Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, California.

Alcorn headed out to the local Walgreens, picked up a $75 black-and-white television set, hid the Hitachi logo inside a rudimentary orange casing, which housed the logic circuits and a coin box made from an upturned sawed-off plastic milk jug, and dragged it into the corner of Andy Capp's, next to the pinball machines, the jukebox, and the Computer Space machine. “There were seven or eight machines in the back of the bar,” Alcorn says. "Andy Capp’s was one of our favorite places because we knew the owner, and we trusted him. If something went wrong, we knew he’d call us.” It was September 1972.

The Atari designers and engineers decided to linger for a while. “It was really interesting,” Bushnell says. “You put it in place and stand back and watch people play it.” What they saw was encouraging, but not extraordinary. “We watched for a couple of hours, drank a couple of beers, then went home.” Bushnell was catching a flight to Chicago the next day, a portable version of Pong in an aluminum case under his arm.

Within a few days, Bill Gattis, who ran the bar, was on the phone to Atari. “The machine had stopped working; I was told to go fix it,” Alcorn explains. ”I stopped over on my way home from work, and much to my surprise, the coin box was overflowing, gushing with quarters.”  

The story of how Pong came about and revolutionized the video game industry is a fascinating read at Buzzfeed. Link -via Metafilter

Doctor Who Fez and Bow Tie Kit

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 07:00 AM PST

Doctor Who Fez and Bow Tie Kit - $14.95

Attention Doctor Who fans! Are you looking to put together the perfect holiday and New Year's outfit? You need the Doctor Who Fez and Bow Tie Kit from the NeatoShop. This great set makes you look like the Eleventh Doctor. Accessories really do make the man.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Doctor Who items. 

Link

Happy Extermi-Date!

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 07:00 AM PST

If your little ones can't get enough Doctor Who, then why not help to make the season brighter this year with an awesome advent calendar made from the dots all over the bottom of the Dalek's armor? If you don't have a Merry Christmas with this on your door, your holiday icon might "Exterminate" your poor spirits.

Link Via Make

This Week at Neatorama

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 06:00 AM PST

It's finally December! That early Thanksgiving threw me off a bit, but I got our Christmas lights up. I believe they are visible from the ISS, and more than once friends have driven right past our house because it looks so different. The neighbors breathe a sigh of relief when I shut them off about midnight. If I can ever catch our family photographer home during the evening hours, I'll show you a picture.

We've all been busy this week here at Neatorama, and have a lot to share with you. Last weekend, Jill Harness posted Adorable Photos and Videos of Critters and Kiddos Enjoying Fall Foliage.

Alex Santoso gave us 8 Famous Mascots Whose Names You Didn't Know.

Tiffany Norman had some shopping advice for us in 7 Neatest Gifts for Photographers. She also posted photos of her experience with Popping Popcorn On The Cob at NeatoBambino.

In honor of the actor, who passed away a week ago, Eddie Deezen told us A Few Facts About Larry Hagman.

A Phylogeny and Evolutionary History of the Pokémon came from the Annals of Improbable Research.

The Bathroom Reader Institute gave us I Yam What I Yam: The Story of Popeye.

And Curious George's Great Escape was the weekly contribution from mental_floss magazine.

A couple of our other items went particularly viral this week and deserve your attention if you haven't already seen them: The one about Niels Bohr and his beer pipeline, the one about the alarm clock that shoots a cannon, and the one about the fox who stole a phone and then used it. Well worth sharing!

vIn the What Is It? game this week, the mystery object is an old depth gauge, "for sounding in depths of from one hundred fathoms." Read more about it at the What Is It? blog. No one guessed that! For a minute I thought  Lord_Dissident was going to have the correct answer:

There is some sort of plastic can in the weathered remains of a wooden cabinet, a clock or something leaning on the side, and a large metal plunger on top of it all. Synopsis: it's a pile of rubbish sitting outside with a man (whose shadow can be seen in the grass) hovering over it.

Well, no, but that one was the funniest answer, so he wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Here's a little hint for the rest of you: the What Is It blog often posts the answer quite some time before we do, in case you want to look there when no one has it right. Thanks to everyone who played this week!

The post with the most comments this week turned out to be a tie between Do Orchestras Really Need Conductors? and I Am Bitterly, Bitterly Disappointed. In third place was A Few Facts About Larry Hagman. All those comment threads (and others) are still open for your input. However, if you just want to tell us you like a particular post, it's as easy as clicking the little ♥. That goes for every post we have.

Until we get some front-page buttons, I'll need to remind you of our new sub-blogs. At Lifestyles of the Cute and Cuddly we saw adorable ducks, parakeets, and cats, plus a White House Christmas tour by Bo, the First Dog. Also, Neatolicious is gathering up more and more holiday recipes and food news. And Mad Skills need to be in your feeds and bookmarks as well. The Halloween blog is still diligently recording the best scary stories and costumes of 2012, and NeatoBambino has babies and kids and everything about them.  

And if that isn't enough Neatorama for you, we have extra content and fun at our Facebook page, Twitter feed, and Pinterest pinboard. For mobile users, Flipboard makes it easy to keep up with Neatorama. Oh yeah -look for Neatorama in Instagram, too!

And last but not least, we have the NeatoShop where you can do all your Christmas shopping and also help ensure the longevity of the blog. You have plenty of time to order before the shipping deadlines, but don't wait too long because the hottest items will sell out!

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