Neatorama

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• Boombox Planter
• Make a Gummy of Yourself
• Punk Rock Banana
• Argo Home Alone
• Hieroglyph-Its Sticky Notes
• Cardboard Couture
• The 1950s’ Most Nauseating Jell-O Soaked Recipes
• The Sperm Smuggling Ring: How Palestinian Prisoners Are Becoming Dads
• Résumé Candy Bar
• Man Forced by Court to Walk While He Whistles
• High School Basketball Player Passes Ball to Developmentally Disabled Player on the Other Team
• Life Imitates Billboard
• Vintage Easter Card Plate
• Grumpy Cat Harlem Shake
• R³bots
• Tire Company CEO vs. France
• Guitar Made of Trees
• Feast of French Fries
• Twenty Years Ago: World Trade Center Bombing
• Timmy Muldoon and the Search for the Shadoweyes Bandit
• Skull Ring With Eyeball Necklace
• From Quacks To Quaaludes: Three Centuries Of Drug Advertising
• Abandoned Seminary in Scotland
• Movie: The Movie: 2V
• Is It Possible to Be Too Beautiful?
• Biology of the Family Chiaceae (Chia Pets)

Boombox Planter Posted: 27 Feb 2013 04:00 AM PST Back in college, when I had an obsessive/compulsive insomniac nudist roomate who played one particular Michael Jackson song over and over again on a continuous loop, I wish that I had thought of this option for silencing his boombox. -via Gardens in Unexpected Places | Photo: unknown

Make a Gummy of Yourself Posted: 27 Feb 2013 03:00 AM PST FabCafe in Japan will be holding a two-part seminar at their Shibuya location in which men can put themselves to the mercies of a 3D scanner and make a replica of themselves -in gelatin! It's like making yourself a Gummi bear, only more personal. The cafe was successful with a project for women to make a replica of their faces in chocolate to present to their sweethearts on Valentines Day, and now the men are expected to reciprocate by giving a romantic gift to the ladies on White Day (March 14th). The gummy men will not be full-size, but they wiil be full-body. The seminar only has nine slots, however. Maybe next year they will expand it, or they might even begin offering the service year-round! Link -via Gizmodo

Punk Rock Banana Posted: 27 Feb 2013 02:00 AM PST Just look at this...no, wait, that's not my line. Scott Young adds punk rock glamour to fruits and vegetables for those of you still stuck in the 70s. Which isn't a bad place to be. You can view more examples at the link. Link | Artist's Website

Argo Home Alone Posted: 27 Feb 2013 01:00 AM PST (YouTube link) IN this mashupo of the movies Argo and Home Alone, the Iranian revolutionaries are very, very concerned about Kevin. They are way ahead of both him and his parents!  -via Slate

Hieroglyph-Its Sticky Notes Posted: 27 Feb 2013 12:00 AM PST Hieroglyph-Its Sticky Notes  Do people complain to you that your handwriting looks like hieroglyphics? Let's face it, you are too old and set in your ways to change now. Accept who you are with the Hieroglyph-Its Sticky Notes from the NeatoShop. This great set includes an assortment of sticky notes in a nifty little book.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Stationery.  Link

Cardboard Couture Posted: 27 Feb 2013 12:00 AM PST Every year, art and design students at Strode College in the UK use old cardboard to make fashionable costumes. One professor describes the impact the project has on students: Duncan Cameron, Strode College's Sculpture Teacher, said: "We always kick of the year with a project to warm up the students' creativity after the summer holidays and to get them working together. They've shown great design and construction skills and created some fantastic costumes using only recycled cardboard, brown tape, paper and string. We've had a great time working with them - watching their ideas develop and their confidence grow. I think we're in for a great year of art and design at Strode. Link -via Unconsumption

The 1950s’ Most Nauseating Jell-O Soaked Recipes Posted: 26 Feb 2013 11:00 PM PST Postwar America in the late 1940s was ripe for "better living through chemistry" and new processed foods. The Jell-O company took advantage of this and developed recipes for the suburban housewife to show off her culinary skills and stretch the family food budget. How else could you explain the abominations known as the Jell-O salad and Jell-O entrees? But Ruth Clark of the site The Mid-Century Menu is willing to try those recipes out, for the sake of understanding history. Collectors Weekly spoke to her about the food, and especially the Jell-O recipes, of the 1950s. I haven’t really heard a lot of food historians talk about this, but I’ve found that food mixed into Jell-O stays fresher much longer than if you have it by itself. Collectors Weekly: Whoa, how long are you talking about, like weeks? Clark: Like days. For example, Perfection Salad is basically coleslaw inside of lemon or lime Jell-O, so it’s got cabbage and carrots and all kinds of stuff. But the cabbage will stay fresh for over a week. If you take a bite of it, it’s still crunchy. My husband, Tom, tries all this. He’s a chemist, so he’ll keep tasting it long, long after I’m done with it. But if you make regular coleslaw and put dressing on it, the cabbage becomes soggy after three days. And after five days, you’re not going to eat it. We’ve done a lot of different Jell-O stuff and noticed that freshness is basically extended when you encase things in Jell-O. We’ve done cakes covered with gelatin, and the cake would still be moist after a week and a half. We made sandwiches with gelatin, open-faced sandwiches with flavored gelatin poured over the top, which was supposed to be like mayo. I thought it was going to be disastrous. Tom wolfed them down. He’s like, “These are really good and the bread isn’t soggy.” I’m like, “Are you kidding me?” Two days later, they were still edible. But she talks about a lot more than just Jell-O. Read about pork fat cake, chocolate tomato soup cake, liver and green bean paté, chicken mousse, and more. Link

The Sperm Smuggling Ring: How Palestinian Prisoners Are Becoming Dads Posted: 26 Feb 2013 10:00 PM PST How far would you go to have your husband's baby? Are you smart enough or brave enough to try to break through one of the toughest prison systems in the world? Sure it sounds like a plot of some strange, future Oscar nominated movie, but according to NBC News savy Palestinian women are actually breaking their husband's sperm out of Israeli prisons in order to concieve. How are they smuggling sperm out of a prison where every visitor is subjected to several layers of security checks? They won't exactly tell. They don't want to stop the flow of sperm and baby dreams. What they will say is that is a very calculated and planned manuever that typical includes Mother-in-Laws and taxis waiting to speed them off to an IVF clinic.   The clinic won't confirm how procedures they have performed. Many of the Dads and Dads-to-be are servring multiple life sentences for terrorist acts. The clinic will only say that they are doing this to help the wives.  “We are doing this to help these ladies because we feel as doctors that the wives of prisoners pay a very high price,” Abu Khaizaran said without revealing how many other such procedures he had conducted. “She has to wait for her husband, sometimes she can spend her lovely youth just waiting. And by the time her husband is out, many of them will not be able to have babies.” John Ray of NBC News has the story: Link

Résumé Candy Bar Posted: 26 Feb 2013 09:00 PM PST Nick Begley's mouth-watering résumé was completely successful: Begley created a dozen chocolate bar resumes that he used strategically. "Some were sent to land me the interview, while others were used as a 'leave behind' after an interview," he said. "I always used it as a supplement to a paper resume or online application since the candy bar was more of a gimmick and didn't provide my work history or credentials." His $30 investment got him the job. Please submit your résumé via email attachment and include three brownie recipies. Your cover letter should be written with frosting on a sheet cake. Link -via Foodiggity

Man Forced by Court to Walk While He Whistles Posted: 26 Feb 2013 08:00 PM PST A lot of us like to whistles, but Robert "The Whistler" Smith of Portland loves it perhaps a little too much. He's been cited for disorderly conduct for whistling too loudly in one spot. But how do you keep a man from whistling? The Court has found a way: Over the past year, in fact, Smith has been summonsed, arrested and taken to court for disorderly conduct for "loud whistling." Smith is now free to whistle, but only under one unusual condition: He has to keep walking while he whistles. The requirement that he keep moving was mutually agreed upon by Smith and the city in court so he doesn't annoy businesses and passers-by in any one area. Randy Billings of the Portland Press Herald has the story, and yes, also the video clip of The Whistler whistling: Link - Thanks Tiffany!

High School Basketball Player Passes Ball to Developmentally Disabled Player on the Other Team Posted: 26 Feb 2013 06:00 PM PST (Video Link) Mitchell Marcus, the basketball team manager for Coronado High School in El Paso, Texas, is developmentally disabled. He loves the game, but isn't able to play competitively. Nonetheless, Coach Peter Morales decided to put him in a game against Franklin High School. His teammates wanted to give Mitchell a chance to sink a basket. But even after several attempts, Mitchell was unsuccessful. Franklin High School gained possession of the ball. That's when Franklin High player Jonathan Montanez passed the ball to Mitchell for one more shot. Watch the video to see what happened next. Link -via Daily of the Day

Life Imitates Billboard Posted: 26 Feb 2013 05:00 PM PST A car in Belgium crashed and flipped over right in front of a billboard featuring an image of a car in the exact same position. The billboard says (in French), "850 killed each year. And you? Not concerned?" No one was seriously injured in the crash. Leaving the car there to draw attention to the billboard seems like it might be a good idea. Link

Vintage Easter Card Plate Posted: 26 Feb 2013 04:00 PM PST Vintage Easter Card Plate (sold individually)  Easter is right around the corner. Are you looking for a way to add a little holiday cheer to your home decor? You need the Vintage Easter Card Plates from the NeatoShop. These beautiful hand-crafted glass plates are made to look like vintage Easter cards.  Vintage Easter Card Plates are available in 6 different styles. Buy one or collect them all.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Home Decor items.  Link

Grumpy Cat Harlem Shake Posted: 26 Feb 2013 04:00 PM PST Since we've helped unleash Harlem Shake into the unsuspecting Interweb a while ago (sorry!), it has gone viral the world over. But the Harlem Shake hasn't reached its full potential until Grumpy Cat joins in on the fun. Behold, Grumpy Cat does the Harlem Shake. You simply should not miss this: Hit YouTube or go to Link [YouTube]

R³bots Posted: 26 Feb 2013 03:00 PM PST R³botsis the name of a series of robot sculptures made by Marco Fernandes. They are constructed of electronic parts from computers, TVs, and other devices. The sculpture shown here is called #R³bot zeropointtwo -its eyes light up! See more of them at Fernandes' Behance gallery. Link -via Laughing Squid

Tire Company CEO vs. France Posted: 26 Feb 2013 02:00 PM PST Earlier this month, French industry minister Arnaud Montegourg wrote to Maurice (Morry) Taylor, the CEO of US tire company Titan International, asking him to consider buying a failed French tire factory. Morry, whose nickname is "The Grizz" because of his bear-like no-nonsense approach to business, wrote back declining the offer. But Morry being Morry, a simple and polite "no, thank you" simply wouldn't do. This is what he wrote: The French, understandably, got a bit upset and blasted the businessman: Mr Montebourg, who declined to comment on Wednesday, added his voice to a rising tide of outrage in the Gallic nation in a written response telling the Titan boss "your words, as extremist as they are insulting, show a perfect ignorance of our country." He went on to point out that since Titan is "20 times smaller" than "French technology leader" Michelin, which is "35 times more profitable", Mr Taylor "could have learnt and gained enormously from a French base." Morry, in turn, replied: "The extremists are in your government, who have no idea how to build a business. Your government let the wackos of the communist union destroy the highest paying jobs [...] "At no time did Titan ask for lower wages; we asked only if you want seven hours pay, you work at least six." But he added: "France does have beautiful women and great wine. PS: My grandmother named my father after French entertainer Maurice Chevalier, and I inherited the name." In a final flourish, he said: “I have visited Normandy with my wife. I know what we did for France.” Stay tuned for the French reply! POLL: Whose Side Do You Pick Neatoramanauts? Team Morry All the Way! Team Montebourg - Go France!

Guitar Made of Trees Posted: 26 Feb 2013 01:00 PM PST Pedro Martin Ureta was crushed by the death of his wife. She loved guitar music, so he constructed a kilometer-long memorial to her on his farmland in Argentina in the shape of a guitar. Cypress trees make up the outline, and eucalyptus provides the blue strings. This is just one entry in a list of eight examples of land art; see all of them at The World Geography. Link  -Thanks, Bosko!

Feast of French Fries Posted: 26 Feb 2013 12:00 PM PST Via ya7oby via The Clearly Dope And not a single packet of ketchup in sight! Behold a McDonald's french fry party, South Korean style! Your turn, America!

Twenty Years Ago: World Trade Center Bombing Posted: 26 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST On February 26, 1993, a truck full of explosives detonated in the garage of the World Trade Center's North Tower garage. The explosion ripped through several floors of the building and killed six people, one of them ready to go on maternity leave. A thousand people were injured. Eventually, six terrorists were convicted of the attack, which was supposed to bring the towers down. Link ABC News spoke to some of the people who were affected by the bombing. Link The Denver Post has a collection of photographs from the aftermath of the bombing. Link  -via Metafilter (Image credit: Joe Tabacca/AP)

Timmy Muldoon and the Search for the Shadoweyes Bandit Posted: 26 Feb 2013 10:00 AM PST (vimeo link) Thirteen-year-old Timmy Muldoon shows us his movie, starring himself as a cop who is haunted by his partner's unsolved murder. Take my word for it, it gets better as it goes along. After you watch it, here are some thoughts on the film's inspiration. Link  -via reddit

Skull Ring With Eyeball Necklace Posted: 26 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST Skull Ring With Eyeball Necklace Are you looking for a gift that screams of your undying love and devotion? You need the Skull Ring With Eyeball Necklace from the NeatoShop. This unusual accessory set is the perfect way to tell your beloved you will always keep an eye on them.  The ring looks like a skull with crystal eyes. The top of the skull is hinged and opens up to reveal a secret compartment. In the compartment is an eyeball necklace. The Skull Ring With Eyeball Necklace is available in both gold and silver.    Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Jewelry.  Link

From Quacks To Quaaludes: Three Centuries Of Drug Advertising Posted: 26 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST Physicians and chemists who formulated drugs began writing of their wonders and publishing them in medical texts and newspapers in the late 1700s. From there, drug advertising took off as both doctors and the public were eager to try anything to alleviate pain and health problems. Over time, the drugs changed and so did the style of advertising, so now we can look back in horror at ads that urged giving babies morphine for teething, popping heroin tablets to quiet a cough, inhaling Benzedrine to get through the workday, and new and improved drugs for morning sickness so the pregnant housewife could get back to her duty of making the family's breakfast. Link  -via the Presurfer

Abandoned Seminary in Scotland Posted: 26 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST St Peter’s Seminary near Cardross, Scotland, was used as a college only from 1966 to 1980. It was repurposed as a drug rehab clinic, which closed in 1987. Since then, it's been left empty and abandoned. Designed by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia, St Peter’s Seminary is an important example of modernist and brutalist architecture. Although buildings like this are often negatively associated with urban decay, the seminary’s geometric, functional concrete and polished wood design was probably intended to reflect the modernisation of the Catholic Church during the 1960s. See plenty of pictures of the facility at Urban Ghosts. Link (Image credit: Wikipedia user Mad4brutalism)

Movie: The Movie: 2V Posted: 26 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST (YouTube link) When we posted Movie: The Movie, it seemed we would never need another movie, because it had it all. But wait, there's more! Now Jimmy Kimmel has a sequel to that masterpiece. Because every successful movie needs a sequel for more profit. This one, with super heroes, zombies, sexy vampires, pop singers, and inspirational teachers, is targeted a bit more toward the lucrative teen audience. -via Viral Viral Videos

Is It Possible to Be Too Beautiful? Posted: 26 Feb 2013 06:00 AM PST It's a terrible curse. But we all have our crosses to bear, so I've learned to accept mine. Science journalism tells us the ugly truth about beauty: there's such a thing as too much. James Hamblin writes in The Atlantic: Yet life for the beautiful is not as perfect as it seems. In one study of job applicants, beautiful women who included a photo with their résumé were 41 percent less likely to land an interview than “plain” women who did the same [6]. When accused of homicide, beautiful women are more likely to be presumed guilty [7]. And attractive people are also more likely to be associated with a number of negative traits, such as conformity and self-promotion [3]. Link | Image: "Psyche" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Biology of the Family Chiaceae (Chia Pets) Posted: 26 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research. by Eric J. Weissberger, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey Members of the family Chiaceae, popularly known as Chia pets (Figures 1 and 2), are common organisms, frequently found in the same habitat as humans. Although widespread, very little is known about the biology of Chias. The field of Chia research is wide open, and provides many opportunities for fascinating research. Figures 1 and 2. Chia sheep (Figure 1) and chia frog (Figure 2) are two common members of the family Chiaceae. Each species is shown here in its both its animal phase (1a, 2a) and its plant phase (1b, 2b). First, Chias are a missing link between plants and animals. Until this time, the only known motile, photosynthetic organisms were certain types of algae and protists. Chias are the first truly photosynthetic animals to be discovered. Figure 3. Generalized Chia life cycle.      Second, the Chia life cycle (Figure 3) is complex. The Chia's mating call is usually heard in early November, a melodic ch-ch-ch-chia (whence this group gets its name). This call is usually broadcast over television airwaves. How Chias have adapted so quickly to use human produced electromagnetic radiation remains a mystery. After being born, juvenile Chias begin life in a purely animal phase, inside a plain cardboard cocoon. These cocoons are usually found in large aggregations in stores such as K-Mart and Target around late November. The cardboard cocoon is then transported via a human host to a location underneath a coniferous tree. The cocoon at this point usually becomes decorated with bright papers and ribbons, not unlike a decorator crab's shell. In an amazing display of synchrony, all Chias hatch on the morning of December 25, and migrate to windowsills, where the plant phase begins to grow. How the Chias return to K-Mart to complete the life cycle is open to debate. Figure 4. Two possible evolutionary trees for Chias: monophyletic (all Chias closely related) and polyphyletic (Chias distantly related but appear similar because of convergent evolution).      Third, the evolutionary history of Chias is unclear. I propose two possible hypotheses to explain Chia evolution (Figure 4). First, Chias may represent a monophyletic group, meaning they are descended from a common ancestor. If this were so, then all Chias are closely related, but have evolved to mimic other animals. For example, the Chia sheep is more closely related to the Chia frog than to an actual sheep. This would be similar to the case of marsupials, which are all closely related, but appear similar to many types of placental mammals. The alternative hypothesis is that Chias are polyphyletic, meaning that they are not really related evolutionarily, but appear similar because of convergent evolution (adaptation to similar environments). In this case, the Chia sheep is more closely related to an actual sheep than it is to the Chia frog. If this hypothesis were true, it would imply that Chiaism has arisen independently many times. Some researchers claim that Chias are not one organism, but two distinct organisms living together symbiotically. Some support is given to this hypothesis with the recent discovery of the Chia herb garden, which has no known animal host. Finally, and most controversially, Chias may be close relatives of humans. With the discovery of the so-called "Chia professor" (Figure 5), the importance of Chia research in learning about our own evolutionary history is more germane than ever. Figure 5. The so-called Chia professor, shown here in both its animal phase (5a) and its plant phase (5b), may be the missing link between humans and photosynthetic animals. Acknowledgments Thanks to Lee Kerkhof, David Scala, Judy Grassle, Chris Gregg, and Jeanine Bayus for helpful comments on the manuscript. _____________________ This classic article is republished with permission from the July-August 1998 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift! Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

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