Neatorama

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• The Hobbit Night Light
• Please Switch Off the Bench When Leaving
• DNA Proposal
• Movie Monster Pancakes
• Turn Your Life into a Soundtrack with Re: Sound Bottle
• $100,000 Coop Lets Chickens Live Much Nicer Than You Do
• Can You Find The Hidden Animals In These 20 Wildlife Photos?
• Cucumber Subs
• Final Fantasy With Singing Puppets
• The Hobbit Hole Necklace With Bilbo Inside
• Light Bulb Lamp
• Police Car Lunch Bag
• Wright's Law
• Space Exploration for Consumers
• The Ultimate Star Wars Feast
• Astronomy Illustrated in the 1840s
• The Craziest Craigslist Posts Of 2012
• The Real Bruce Wayne
• A Crack in the (Apartment) Universe
• Behind a Frozen Waterfall
• The Blind Baby Rhino
• Get Along Little Doggie
• Jake Plush Backpack Clip
• True Facts About the Angler Fish
• Gingerbread Tower Of Barad-Dur With Candy Eye Of Sauron
• This Week at Neatorama
• The 50 Most WTF Inducing Animal Pics Of 2012

The Hobbit Night Light Posted: 30 Dec 2012 04:00 AM PST The Hobbit Night Light Attention The Hobbit fans! Are you looking for something to light the way for your next precious sleepy time adventure? Your quest is over. Behold The Hobbit Night Light from the NeatoShop. This magical night light has an automatic light sensor and is able to turn itself off and on.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic The Hobbit items and great Night Lights.  Link

Please Switch Off the Bench When Leaving Posted: 30 Dec 2012 04:00 AM PST HIK Ontwerper's bench is an ordinary rocker switch blown up to massive proportions. When it's turned on, the red seat glows. Just remember to turn it off before walking away. The design firm exhibited it in Utrecht and Amsterdam four years ago. Link and Official Website (Translation) -via Marilyn Terrell

DNA Proposal Posted: 30 Dec 2012 03:00 AM PST What do wanna bet these two met at work? A biologist wanted to propose to his girlfriend, who is also a biologist. He asked her to image his electrophoresis gel, (wink wink) if you know what I mean. But it was a special mixture of DNA fragments he cooked up just for the occasion. They're 5 sized PCR fragments (roughly 150, 300, 500, 700, 1kb), I went back through my notes to find 5 primer pairs that I knew worked pretty well (so don't feel bad, they're selected out of primers that had been pre-validated =p). The other lanes are just mixes of the 5 sizes (either 2:3:4 or 4:6 volume mixes going in decreasing size, since larger fragments tend to be brighter). The gel actually didn't take that long (though it was terrifying loading it), but I made a mockup in Illustrator beforehand (along with a ladder to test what sizes to use), and then sketched it out beforehand so I knew what to add to each lane. Well, that makes perfect sense. I just feel so much better to know that they were pre-validated. Anyway, you see the results of the imaging here. And she said yes! Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science

Movie Monster Pancakes Posted: 30 Dec 2012 02:00 AM PST They want to kill you. Repay them in kind by devouring these movie monster pancakes by Nathan Shields, the artist behind Saipancakes.  Link

Turn Your Life into a Soundtrack with Re: Sound Bottle Posted: 30 Dec 2012 01:00 AM PST (Vimeo link) Japanese designer Jun Fujiwara's award-winning Re: Sound Bottle has a simple exterior that belies its complex interior. The software inside this bottle with a cork stopper is set in motion when the cork is removed. At that point, the device records any audible sound. The recorded sounds are then layered and arranged to form rhythmic tracks. Essentially, the user supplies the samples and the Re: Sound Bottle becomes the DJ.  See more on Fujiwara's invention at Colossal. Link

$100,000 Coop Lets Chickens Live Much Nicer Than You Do Posted: 30 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST Svetlana Simon's Beau Coop is the epitome of chicken luxury: Slipping on your wellies, you start for the coop and are greeted by the pleasant clucking of your specially chosen flock and the site of the poshest hen house ever imagined. Your custom-made multilevel dwelling features a nesting area, a "living room" for nighttime roosting, a broody room, a library filled with chicken and gardening books for visitors of the human kind, and, of course, an elegant chandelier. You may visit your chickens--provided that the butler will let you in. Link -via Born Rich

Can You Find The Hidden Animals In These 20 Wildlife Photos? Posted: 29 Dec 2012 11:00 PM PST Hunting down the animals in each of these wildlife photos by Art Wolfe is no easy task, they've blended into their surroundings so well that even a trained eye will have trouble spotting them. And don't let the giraffe pic above fool you, the rest of the hidden critters are much harder to find! Link

Cucumber Subs Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:00 PM PST Kristen of Make the Best of Everything found a great way to reduce the carbohydrate content of the typical submarine sandwich. She hollowed out the core of a cucumber, then added cheese, turkey and dijon mustard. Link -via Foodbeast

Final Fantasy With Singing Puppets Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:00 PM PST (YouTube Link) Comedian Brent Black, aka Brentalfloss, created this puppet video tribute to the Final Fantasy video game franchise, and once you watch it you'll never be able to get the downright catchy tune out of your head! Singing puppets don't exactly enhance the Final Fantasy gaming experience, but they do make for a good distraction when you're not playing through all the games in the series.  --via Nerd Approved

The Hobbit Hole Necklace With Bilbo Inside Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:00 PM PST Lockets are nice, but what if your heart belongs to a fictional character? No problem, just get a necklace modeled after his home that has a tiny version of your favorite character inside -like this great Hobbit Hole necklace with a tiny Biblo inside by Etsy seller GildedPixel. Link

Light Bulb Lamp Posted: 29 Dec 2012 07:00 PM PST Dmitry Kul's refreshing design puts a bare light bulb on the ceiling. His gallery has other clever, minimalist designs, including a dumbbell that looks like slabs of meat and a birdhouse that looks like a camera. Link (Translation) -via Lustik

Police Car Lunch Bag Posted: 29 Dec 2012 06:00 PM PST Police Car Lunch Bag  Is your little one in need of a new lunch bag before they had back to school? The Police Car Lunch Bag from the NeatoShop is to the rescue. This soft insulated lunch Bag, shaped like a police car, is here to save the day. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Mealtime items. Link

Wright's Law Posted: 29 Dec 2012 06:00 PM PST (YouTube link) Jeffrey Wright is a very popular and effective physics teacher at Louisville Male Traditional High School in Kentucky. But he has lessons from his own life that are even more important than physics. Read more about him at the New York Times. Link

Space Exploration for Consumers Posted: 29 Dec 2012 05:00 PM PST The number of commercial space exploration plans has multiplied in 2012. Factors inspiring these 'pie in the sky' business models are the success of SpaceX, a rocket business started by PayPal founder Elon Musk, and the vacuum left by NASA, which is partially paralyzed by government budget freezes and congressional indecision as to its general purpose.    From asteroid mining to one-way trips to Mars for participants who will be the basis of a reality television show, Wired looks at ten bold space exploration proposals by privately owned corporations and talks to experts who rate each in terms of plausibility.  Read more on this sort of universal optimism at Wired. Link (Image credit: NASA)

The Ultimate Star Wars Feast Posted: 29 Dec 2012 04:00 PM PST Mmmm...tauntaun gut spaghetti. Not a big fan? How about some Sarlacc pizza dip or maybe a Han-clair carbonite cake. Whatever your taste in food, if you like Star Wars, the Clutzy Geek's Star Wars feast should have something tasty you'll enjoy. Link

Astronomy Illustrated in the 1840s Posted: 29 Dec 2012 03:00 PM PST In 1840, astronomers knew an awful lot about the movements of celestial bodies, but they still lacked photographs. In that year, Charles F. Blunt published a very popular illustrated book The Beauty of the Heavens : a Pictorial Display of the Astronomical Phenomena of the Universe. It contained over a hundred illustrations printed by the then-new process of lithography. See a sampling of the pictures and some of the text as well at BibliOdyssey. Link

The Craziest Craigslist Posts Of 2012 Posted: 29 Dec 2012 02:00 PM PST The folks behind Craigslist are no strangers to weirdness, and each year they gather up the most memorable posts as part of their Best of Craigslist, many of which are chosen by readers via flagging. 2012 was a year of dire prophecy, presidential election and some totally kooky Craigslist posts, like this listing for the Morrissey shrine pictured above: My unemployment benefits ran out and I have to downsize, so I won't be able to take the shrine with me. No more reeling around the fountain, indeed. Comes from a home where smoking was previously allowed and 2 cats lived but they both died this summer. And I might as well tell you that I had to exchange all the stuff my ex-fiancee and I had at each other's places this morning, since he ended our relationship just as things were looking most grim for me, so I might be sobbing when you come by. Link  --via Ars Technica

The Real Bruce Wayne Posted: 29 Dec 2012 01:00 PM PST He's hot, and he's a millionaire, but he comes with tons of emotional baggage. This composite image was created by redditor morphinapg from equal parts Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian Bale -the actors who have portrayed the character. He used the free software Sqirlz Morph. And you thought Bruce Wayne was a comic book character! Link

A Crack in the (Apartment) Universe Posted: 29 Dec 2012 12:00 PM PST The roommate of the blogger behind Doctor Who Overdose built a simulation of the cracks in the Universe from which the Doctor thankfully saved us. Silence will fall when s/he uses it as a nightlight. Link

Behind a Frozen Waterfall Posted: 29 Dec 2012 11:00 AM PST Minneapolis-based photographer Matt Sepeta captured this image of the frozen Minnehaha Falls. Located in a Minneapolis park, Minnehaha Falls are near the point where the Mississippi River and Minnehaha Creek converge.

The Blind Baby Rhino Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:00 AM PST Nicky is a four-month-old rhinoceros who was born blind. He lives with the family of Mike Watson, head of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya, where he has round-the-clock supervision, a dog for a friend, and a padded pen to keep him safe. The folks at Lewa hope to bring in a specialist to remove Nicky's cataracts soon, and cross their fingers that his sight may be restored. See more pictures of Nicky at Africa Geographic. Link -via Arbroath See a video of Nicky playing with his trainer at Lifestyles of the Cute and Cuddly. Link

Get Along Little Doggie Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:00 AM PST He may still be a little wet behind the ears, but this little guy isn't going to stand for your lilly-livered snivelling ways. There's a new sheriff in town. Link Via Cute Overload

Jake Plush Backpack Clip Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:00 AM PST Jake Plush Backpack Clip (front and back shown) Attention Adventure Time fans! Your next back to school adventure is right around the corner. Don't traverse those hallowed halls without the magical Jake Plush Backpack Clip from the NeatoShop. This plush makes the perfect constant companion.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Adventure Time items and great Keychains & Key Cover.  Link

True Facts About the Angler Fish Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:00 AM PST (YouTube link) Ze Frank tells us all about the angler fish. Yeah, we've told you this stuff before about the weird weird angler fish, but he describes it all so well! NSFW language. -via Pleated Jeans

Gingerbread Tower Of Barad-Dur With Candy Eye Of Sauron Posted: 29 Dec 2012 07:00 AM PST When the gingerbread tower you're building starts to resemble Saurons Tower of Barad-Dur, the last thing you want to do is slap that all-seeing eye on top and empower that evil dessert. It was created by Redditor McGilligan69 for the sake of showing how evil and chocolate go hand-in-hand. It looks sinfully delicious! Link  --via Obvious Winner

This Week at Neatorama Posted: 29 Dec 2012 06:00 AM PST Well, did you make it through the Christmas holiday in one piece? I'm getting reports from all over about people who caught a bug, probably because of all the family togetherness. I got everything I asked for, which is what happens when you customize your desires to the budgets of your family members. Before we start celebrating the impending New Year, let's look back at all the great Neato stuff from the past week you may have missed over the holiday.    Contests! We have contests! You can win a prize of your choice in the NeatoShop Contest: Predict Life in the Year 2013!Make your wackiest prediction for the new year and leave it in the comments as your entry, and don't forget to add your prize selection. Even if you're not entering, you'll get a real kick out of the comments others have left! Feel free to ♥ your favorites. Jill Harness posted three Christmas-themed feature articles: 16 of the Scariest Santa Pictures Ever and Things You Don't Know About Christmas Carols and The Eggheaded, Noggin-Filling Story of Eggnog. Eddie Deezen got in the spirit, too, and gave us Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Was Female? as well as the story of "Happy Xmas (War is Over)." Eddie came back after the holiday to tell us about The Father of the Countdown. Behind the Cover, five stories of iconic album cover art, was from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. The Annals of Improbable Research gave us How To Write a Love Letter. Barbershop of Horrors: 5 Extreme Hairstyles was reprinted from mental_floss magazine. After working at the NeatoShop for the Christmas rush, Alex came back in style, with an excitedly-researched post called Wombat Poops Cubic Poo. In the What Is It? game this week, the odd tool pictured is for cutting into grapefruit and removing the individual sections (patent number 2,637,899). Parrot Head was the first who knew the correct answer, and wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Samantha Simons had the funniest answer: "It's the Queen of Heart's makeup trowel. She uses it to stamp on the hearts on her cheeks." That's clever enough for a t-shirt, too! Congratulations to the winners, and be sure to find out the answers to all the mystery items of the week at the What Is It? blog. The post with the most comments this week was Eddie Deezen's John Lennon article "Happy Xmas (War is Over)." The contests get a lot of comments, but something tells me we aren't offending people nearly enough lately. I know- We'll published more typos! Leave a comment, because we love to hear from you. Don't forget we have extra fun stuff at our other blogs, Lifestyles of the Cute and Cuddly, Neatolicious, the Halloween blog, Mad Skills, and NeatoBambino! Now we are getting ready for the New Year holiday, to welcome in 2013. It will again be hard to write or type the date correctly for a least a month. You'll encounter quite a few year-end lists to sum up 2012, and you can see the ones we particularly like here. Make your New Year resolution now to join us on Facebook and Twitter, and every day here at Neatorama! I hope everyone has a great New Year, and we look forward to entertaining you in 2013!

The 50 Most WTF Inducing Animal Pics Of 2012 Posted: 29 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST Do you know why the world didn't end in 2012? Because of these WTF inducing animal pics, that's why! Even the most jaded perusers of the interwebs will find themselves muttering WTF under their breath as they traverse these fifty insane images, and less experienced net travellers may experience WTF overload. Link

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