Neatorama

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• Otter Playing Basketball
• Letting Babies Sleep Outside in the Freezing Cold
• Chemical States
• The Insect Fear Film Festival
• Hello Kitty Deluxe Easter Mix
• Medieval Manuscript Peed on by a Cat
• Waffles Shot First
• To This Day
• Industrial Chess
• The Toxic Mice Air Drop
• Vaguely Rude Place Names Of The World
• Decomposing Body Found in Hotel's Water Tank
• Pigeon Mask
• Hundreds Turn Out for Veteran's Funeral
• Cheese-Covered Sticky Buns
• The Missed Connections Map
• Pope Madness 2013
• New Punctuation Marks We Absolutely Need
• Swiss Army Keys
• A Fiery Dance on the Sun
• Devil Duckie Luggage Tags
• Innovative Idea for Libraries: Loaning Roku Boxes
• The Tat is Fixed
• How Bad Are You at Twitter? Pretty Bad

Otter Playing Basketball Posted: 23 Feb 2013 04:00 AM PST (Video Link) Eddie has an impressive vertical leap. Watch him dunk ball after ball into the basket. This sea otter lives at the Oregon Zoo. At 15, he's quite elderly. As a treatment for his arthritis, veterinarians recommended that he work his elbows. Local humans suggested basketball and Eddie took to it like a pro. -via Daily of the Day

Letting Babies Sleep Outside in the Freezing Cold Posted: 23 Feb 2013 02:00 AM PST Warm and cozy is for weak babies. To ensure strong Viking-worthy children, Nordic parents regularly leave their babies to sleep outdoors in the freezing cold: Would you put your baby or toddler outside in the freezing cold for their lunchtime nap? Most Nordic parents wouldn't give it a second thought. For them it's part of their daily routine. Daytime temperatures this winter in Stockholm have regularly dropped to -5C (23F) but it's still common to see children left outside by their parents for a sleep in the pram. Wander through the snowy city and you'll see buggies lined up outside coffee shops while parents sip on lattes inside. And if you are visiting friends and your child needs a nap, you may be offered the garden or balcony instead of a bedroom. Helena Lee of BBC News explains: Link (Photo: Asa Eriksson)

Chemical States Posted: 23 Feb 2013 12:00 AM PST While taking a shower with his periodic table of elements shower curtain, redditor Smashinator came to a shocking realization. In the comments, compose a conspiracy theory to explain this overlap. Link -via Blame It on the Voices

The Insect Fear Film Festival Posted: 22 Feb 2013 11:00 PM PST The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is staging the 30th annual Insect Fear Film Festival on Saturday, February 23rd. All films will feature insects, spiders, or scorpions. They aren't necessarily new movies, and they aren't necessarily great movies. They aren't even necessarily movies, because at least one feature this year is a TV episode (“War of the Coprophages” from season 3 of The X-Files). National Geographic's Pop Omnivore Blog talked with the founder of the festival, Department of Entomology head May Berenbaum.   I imagine most insect films meet the criteria of non-excellence. Is there anything above a grade B film in the genre? The granddaddy of them all is Them! A 1954 film about an encounter with a race of giant ants.  It was nominated for an Oscar and was Warner Brothers’ biggest grossing film that year.  Angels and Insects (1995) won an Academy Award for costumes. Many big actors got their start in bug films. Clint Eastwood appeared as the jet pilot in Tarantula (1955). Leonard Nimoy appears in Braineaters (1958). Are there trends in insect films? In the 1950s big bug films were popular—oversized insects made so by radiation. What causes the mutation differs with the era.  Genetically engineered big bugs came in the 1990s. In the 1970s, swarms were popular. Read the rest of the interview at Nat Geo. Link-Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

Hello Kitty Deluxe Easter Mix Posted: 22 Feb 2013 10:00 PM PST Hello Kitty Deluxe Easter Mix  Hippity. Hoppity. Easter is on the way. Are you looking for the purr-fect addition to your Easter basket? You need the Hello Kitty Deluxe Easter Mix from the NeatoShop. This fantastic mix includes:  Jelly Beans Bunny Corn Easter Mellocremes Speckled Chocolate Malted Eggs and Foil-wrapped Chocolate Eggs The Hello Kitty Deluxe Easter mix is a deliciously fun way to celebrate the holiday.   Hello Kitty Spring Mix Jelly Beans also available. Buy both candies and make it a Hello-tastic set.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Hello Kitty items.  Link

Medieval Manuscript Peed on by a Cat Posted: 22 Feb 2013 10:00 PM PST Cursed cats! They are so fond of disrupting human work, especially medieval manuscript composition. In 1420, a scribe in what is now the Netherlands discovered that a cat had urinated on a page that he had written. He added illustrations of the event and the subsequent damage to the book, as well as provided helpful advice: Hic non defectus est, sed cattus minxit desuper nocte quadam. Confundatur pessimus cattus qui minxit super librum ostum in nocte Daventrie, et consimiliter omnes alii propter illum. Et cavendum valde ne permittantur libri aperti per noctem uni cattie venire possunt. When translated into English, that reads: Here is nothing missing, but a cat urinated on this during a certain night. Cursed be the pesty cat that urinated over this book during the night in Deventer and because of it many others [other cats] too. And beware well not to leave open books at night where cats can come. Link -via Alexis Madrigal | Photo: Historical Archives of Cologne

Waffles Shot First Posted: 22 Feb 2013 09:00 PM PST John loves waffles, but me? I'm afraid of them because they're dangerous, as this woman in St. Petersburg, Florida, found out the hard way. You see, waffles shoot first: A young woman trying to make an evening snack ended up at the hospital Monday night after a round of ammunition exploded inside an oven, police said. Eighteen-year-old Aalaya Walker just wanted some waffles. What she didn't know was that her friend Javarski "JJ" Sandy, 25, had placed a magazine from his .45-caliber Glock 21 in the oven. It's unclear why he would do that. The gun itself was inside a drawer, Sandy later told police. Walker preheated the oven shortly after 9 p.m. She heard an explosion a short time later. She picked fragments of at least one round from her chest and leg. She rode the bus to St. Anthony's Hospital, where she met with officers. Link

To This Day Posted: 22 Feb 2013 08:00 PM PST (YouTube link) Shane Koyczan eloquently describes how childhood bullying leaves lifetime scars in this spoken word poem. A huge numbers of artists helped with this project, you can see who they are at the To This Day Project site. Link  -via reddit

Industrial Chess Posted: 22 Feb 2013 07:00 PM PST Though he made them with just nuts and bolts, Balázs's chess pieces are immediately recognizable. He writes, "You can imagine the shopkeeper's face when I told him I need only one of each screw...." Do you recognize what he's written for the dividing lines? They're physics formulae. Nerd Pride! Link

The Toxic Mice Air Drop Posted: 22 Feb 2013 06:00 PM PST Sixty years ago, the brown tree snake hitched a ride on US military ships to Guam. With no predators to check their population, the snakes multiplied in the jungle of the island and proceeded to drive many of the native bird species to extinction. Now, the US government has found the perfect solution: air-dropping toxic mice to kill off the snakes. The infestation and the toll it has taken on native wildlife have tarnished Guam's image as a tourism haven, though the snakes are rarely seen outside their jungle habitat. The solution to this headache, fittingly enough, is acetaminophen, the active ingredient in painkillers including Tylenol. The strategy takes advantage of the snake's two big weaknesses. Unlike most snakes, brown tree snakes are happy to eat prey they didn't kill themselves, and they are highly vulnerable to acetaminophen, which is harmless to humans. The upcoming mice drop is targeted to hit snakes near Guam's sprawling Andersen Air Force Base, which is surrounded by heavy foliage and if compromised would offer the snakes a potential ticket off the island. Using helicopters, the dead neonatal mice will be dropped by hand, one by one. [...] To keep the mice bait from dropping all the way to the ground, where it could be eaten by other animals or attract insects as they rot, researchers have developed a flotation device with streamers designed to catch in the branches of the forest foliage, where the snakes live and feed. Eric Talmadge of AP has the story and photos: Link - Thanks Tiffany!

Vaguely Rude Place Names Of The World Posted: 22 Feb 2013 05:00 PM PST From Shag Point, New Zealand, to Humptulips, Washington state, this map fills you in on rude-sounding place names. Quite a few of them are due to language differences, and others are due to the changing meanings of words over time. Still fun to know! I personally think Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are under-represented, considering the many great place names in those provinces. Click on a flag at the link to bring up information on each place. May be NSFW. Link -via b3ta

Decomposing Body Found in Hotel's Water Tank Posted: 22 Feb 2013 04:00 PM PST Photo: Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters What does a decomposing body taste like? Guests at the Hotel Cecil in Los Angeles found out the answer to that gruesome question when they unknowingly drank, brushed their teeth, and showered with water from inside a rooftop water tank with the decomposing body of a missing tourist: Strange things began happening with the hotel's water supply later in the month, according to Sabina and Michael Baugh, a British couple who spent eight days there until checking out Wednesday. The water pressure dropped to a trickle at times. "The shower was awful," Sabina Baugh said. "When you turned the tap on, the water was coming black first for two seconds and then it was going back to normal." The tap water "tasted horrible," Baugh said. "It had a very funny, sweety, disgusting taste. It's a very strange taste. I can barely describe it." Alan Duke of CNN told us the gruesome yet fascinating story: Link

Pigeon Mask Posted: 22 Feb 2013 03:00 PM PST Pigeon Mask Do you feel pigeons have gotten a bad rap? Do you love the bird that others blatantly refer to as a rat with wings? Celebrate this glorious stout-bodied flying animal with the Pigeon Mask from the NeatoShop. This delightful mask looks like a pigeons head. It is the perfect way to release your inner pigeon.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Masks.  Link

Hundreds Turn Out for Veteran's Funeral Posted: 22 Feb 2013 03:00 PM PST James ‘Jimmy’ McConnell, a former Royal Marine, died with no surviving family members. The staff at the nursing home in Southsea, Portsmouth, England, where he lived knew little about McConnell and were concerned that no one would be there for McConnell's funeral. So a call went out across social media websites for anyone from the armed forces family who could turn up to give him a send-off. And almost 300 people turned up at Milton Cemetery this morning in the bitter cold to say farewell to the man they had never met. A small procession through the cemetery was led by Royal British Legion standard bearers. The hearse was accompanied in a procession by flag-bearing motorcyclists from the Royal British Legion Riders Branch. Link See more photographs at Buzzfeed. Link

Cheese-Covered Sticky Buns Posted: 22 Feb 2013 02:00 PM PST They're called golfeados--a unique Venezuelan take on sticky buns. They're baked with grated sugar cane, pecorino cheese and anise seed in the dough. Once they're out of the oven, the baker slaps a slice of fresh mozzarella on top. I've never had cheese in a sweet pastry, but I can certainly imagine how mozzarella would work on one. You can find a complete recipe at the link. Link | Photo: Harry's Pizzeria

The Missed Connections Map Posted: 22 Feb 2013 01:00 PM PST For her scholarly research article, Missed Connections - Seen but not spoken to: An atlast of where we're (almost) finding love published in this month's issue of Psychology Today, Dorothy Gambrell delved into the Missed Connections posts on Craigslist to see where Americans are trying to find love: Link - via Andrew Sullivan's The Dish

Pope Madness 2013 Posted: 22 Feb 2013 12:00 PM PST People will make a tournament bracket out of anything, and the process of selecting the next Pope is just too tempting to resist -especially as it will be held in March. This bracket is divided into  four regions, including the tri-state regional, which contains four men not actually considered "papabili" (two are deceased). The rounds have wonderful names, the best being the Sweet Sistine. Each candidate comes with Vegas odds, so get your office pools ready! Link -via Metafilter

New Punctuation Marks We Absolutely Need Posted: 22 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST If only the Captain had one of these, he could've avoided that whole "What we've got here is a failure to communicate" bit in Cool Hand Luke. Well, Mike Trapp of College Humor to the rescue! He's created a series of new punctuation marks that eliminate ambiguities in our daily communications: More at College Humor: Link - Thanks Nate!

Swiss Army Keys Posted: 22 Feb 2013 10:00 AM PST Redditor colonelcrunch ingeniously replaced blades in his penknife with his car keys. It could lead to fun pranks, such as fooling first-time passengers into thinking that he's trying to steal his own car. To find out how to make your own, watch a video at Hack A Day. Link -via Hack A Day

A Fiery Dance on the Sun Posted: 22 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST (YouTube link) This solar flare was recorded on July 19, 2012. The color has been added because otherwise we could look at it -you know what they say about looking at the sun. Dr. Phil Plait tells us what's going on here. What you’re seeing is the profound impact of magnetism on the material in the Sun. I’ve described this effect before (with lots of juicy details here), but in a nutshell: The gas inside the Sun is so hot it’s ionized, stripped of electrons. When that happens it’s more beholden to magnetism than gravity, and when the magnetic field lines pierce the Sun’s surface they form loops along which the ionized gas (called plasma) flows along them. The total time represented by the video is 21 hours. The flare, though small against surface of the sun, is many times bigger than the earth. Read more about it at Bad Astronomy. Link

Devil Duckie Luggage Tags Posted: 22 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST Devil Duckie Luggage Tags  Do you have a devil of a time trying to find your luggage on the baggage carousel? You need the Devil Duckie Luggage Tag from the NeatoShop. This frightfully fun set includes 2 luggage tags shaped like devil duckies.   Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Travel Accessories.  Link

Innovative Idea for Libraries: Loaning Roku Boxes Posted: 22 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST The Roku company produces digital media receivers that let people route streaming audio and video to their television sets. Last year, the Ephrata Public Library in Pennsylvania began loaning Roku boxes to patrons. The program has been so successful that the library is expanding it. Matt Enis of The Digital Shift talked to Penny Talbert, the library director, about the program: EPL purchased two Rokus last Spring at the suggestion of the library’s technology manager. As Talbert noted, the units didn’t require a huge initial investment to try. The basic Roku LT units cost $50. For each unit, the library purchases dedicated subscriptions to Netflix and/or Hulu Plus, which currently cost $7.99 per month each, as well as other content from TED, Allrecipes.com, the BBC, and other sources. Subscriptions are set up so that patrons can’t use EPL’s account to make additional purchases while they have the units. For comparison’s sake, Talbert noted that the total cost of the Roku and a dedicated subscription is less than libraries pay for content in many other formats. Many individual ebooks, audiobooks, or single seasons of a television series on DVD cost more than one Roku unit, she said. “If that television series is available on Hulu, do the math. It’s not only cost savings, but space savings, and what you can offer your patrons. …This is a great way to send, basically, 100,000 movies home with a patron.” Link -via Josh Hadro | Photo: brownpau POLL: Would you like for your local public library to loan Roku boxes? Yes, because a lot of people would make good use of them. No, it would be a waste of money.

The Tat is Fixed Posted: 22 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST Our long nightmare is over -one of the worst tattoos that ever went viral has now been fixed. The unnamed owner of the poorly-done tattoo of his late wife's face did his research and approached master artist Scott Versago of Empire Ink in Akron, Ohio, to help him. Versago told the story: "I got to tackle the official "#1 worst portrait tattoo in the world" today. I'm sure you've all seen it a million times online, as had I. I couldn't believe my eyes when this guy walked in and showed me this project. I think my jaw literally hit the floor. He went on to tell me the story behind the portrait; He had just married his beautiful wife and not even a month afterwards she was killed in a horrible house fire accident leaving him to raise their child alone. Shortly after he went to a local tattoo studio to memorialize his wife and was left with this abomination. He later returned to that studio for one more session, thinking that perhaps "he had done something wrong in the healing of the tattoo" and they butchered it even more the second time. Finally, he drove all the way to my studio, Empire Ink, just to meet me and to see what his options were. Touched by his story, I gifted the entire project to him for free. Now he has closure and I have an amazing story to add to my portfolio!" Good work! Link -via reddit

How Bad Are You at Twitter? Pretty Bad Posted: 22 Feb 2013 06:00 AM PST In which Doghouse Diaries compiles the worst offenses of Twitter usage #notabigdeal. Retweet if you agree. Then read the rest of the test at the link and calculate your score. Link

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