| Fresco from 1494 Has the First Known Depiction of Native Americans in European Art Posted: 05 May 2013 04:00 AM PDT 
In 1494, two years after Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World, the Italian painter Pinturicchio composed a fresco in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. While cleaning it, an art restorer discovered what appears to be an image of Native Americans: The discovery was unveiled by Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums, in L'Osservatore Romano, the city state's daily newspaper. Prof Paolucci suggests that the "nude men, who are decorated with feathers and seem to be dancing," were inspired by the descriptions of tribesmen that Columbus brought back from his travels. Columbus's voyages across the Atlantic were commissioned by Spain, but Prof Paolucci said the Vatican would inevitably have heard of his discoveries, particularly given that the Pope at the time, Alexander VI, the notorious Rodrigo Borgia, was Spanish.
Link -via Althouse (Photo: Vatican Museums) |
| A Bad Lip Reading of <i>The Walking Dead</i> Posted: 05 May 2013 02:00 AM PDT  (YouTube link)
The Bad Lip Reading folks have finally gotten around to dubbing the TV show The Walking Dead. It's funny enough to start with, with talking zombies and all, but when the Governor comes in, you'll want to make sure you don't have a mouthful of drink. Don't be concerned about spoilers, because these clips are from all three seasons and you won't be able to make any sense out of any of them. -via Pleated-Jeans |
| Printed Ear Posted: 05 May 2013 12:00 AM PDT 
Can you hear me now? Princeton University researchers have used off-the-shelf 3D printing tools to create a functional ears that can "hear" radio frequencies that humans cannot normally hear: The finished ear consists of a coiled antenna inside a cartilage structure. Two wires lead from the base of the ear and wind around a helical "cochlea" – the part of the ear that senses sound – which can connect to electrodes. Although McAlpine cautions that further work and extensive testing would need to be done before the technology could be used on a patient, he said the ear in principle could be used to restore or enhance human hearing. He said electrical signals produced by the ear could be connected to a patient's nerve endings, similar to a hearing aid. The current system receives radio waves, but he said the research team plans to incorporate other materials, such as pressure-sensitive electronic sensors, to enable the ear to register acoustic sounds.
Link - via The Verge |
| The First Draft of Star Wars With Green Alien Han Solo Gets Adapted Into a Comic Posted: 04 May 2013 11:00 PM PDT 
When George Lucas first wrote down the story that would eventually become Star Wars, it was so different from the finished product that it could stand alone as its own story. That's what J.W. Rinzler thought, but it took him years to convince Lucas to let it be published. Now Dark Horse Comics will release the story in an eight-issue series beginning in September. “It’s a very different story. It’s not like, ‘Oh, this is a new scene,’” comics writer J.W. Rinzler told Wired. “It’s totally different, and although the characters are still there, they’re also totally different. Luke Skywalker isn’t an eighteen-year-old kid. He’s an old Jedi general with decades of experience. Leia is a princess, but she’s not related to Luke; she has a different mother and father. Han Solo is there, but he’s a giant green alien. A lot of the relationships are all there, they’re all percolating.”
Get an exclusive look at the art from the upcoming series at Wired. Link |
| Cake Nachos Posted: 04 May 2013 10:00 PM PDT 
Nachos are awesome, of course. But they're not healthy if consumed constantly. That's why you should try Chica Chocolatina's cake nachos as an alternative. She made them with dark chocolate cake, chocolate melts, gummy candies, licorice and orange piping. Link |
| NASA Wants Your Haiku Posted: 04 May 2013 09:00 PM PDT 
NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars will carry a piece of Earth with it, in the form of submitted names and a little poetry, too. The DVD will be in NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, which is scheduled for launch in November. The DVD is part of the mission's Going to Mars Campaign coordinated at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP).
The DVD will carry every name submitted. The public also is encouraged to submit a message in the form of a three-line poem, or haiku. However, only three haikus will be selected. The deadline for all submissions is July 1. An online public vote to determine the top three messages to be placed on the DVD will begin July 15.
"The Going to Mars campaign offers people worldwide a way to make a personal connection to space, space exploration, and science in general, and share in our excitement about the MAVEN mission," said Stephanie Renfrow, lead for the MAVEN Education and Public Outreach program at CU/LASP.
Okay, Neatoramanauts, let's hear your best haiku to impress NASA. Link -via Metafilter |
| A Day Picking Strawberries Posted: 04 May 2013 08:00 PM PDT 
Los Angeles Times writer Hector Becerra picking strawberries. Photo: Al Seib
That clamshell of filled with sweet, ripe strawberries you just picked up at your local supermarket? That was picked by hand by migrant Mexican fieldworkers, who spent the daylight hours hunched over the strawberry fields in California. It's hard work, but how hard exactly? Is it something that Americans can do? Los Angeles Times writer Hector Becerra found out by working a day in the strawberry fields: Link - Thanks Tiffany! |
| Beth Posted: 04 May 2013 07:00 PM PDT ![]() (YouTube link)
"Beth," the biggest song KISS ever did, was supposed to be based on a true story. Brian Billow directed this "completely fictitious" account of what most likely happened to inspire the song. The attention to detail in recreating 1976 is stunning. -via Metafilter |
| A Column That Only Canadians Will Understand Posted: 04 May 2013 06:00 PM PDT 
Dave Bidini has a column in the National Post. I have no idea what he's talking about. Google Translate isn't helping a bit. Do you understand? For years, I was a keener, but after my short-lived stint as reeve of Dildo, Nfld., in which I stumped for the still-unpopular Gouge and Screw Tax — dinged in the polls and my approval rating going downhill as fast as a runaway toboggan or a bus shagger — I put the kerfuffle behind me and tried to forget the fact that I’d been soundly turfed, even though Joey Smallwood’s buddy had cherry-picked me himself. I got off the chesterfield, threw on my old housecoat and thongs, hucked a forty pounder, half-sack of swish and mickey of goof in a Loblaws bag over my shoulder before leaving my bachelor apartment to head due west past fire halls and hydros and parkades and corner stores in the direction of Dead Rear, Oilberta looking for some kind of joe job — cleaning eavestroughs; stitching hockey sweaters; packing Smarties; anything! — although damned if I knew whether I would find work once I got there.
Link -via Nag on the Lake (Photo: tnimalan) |
| Because I Said So Bangle Posted: 04 May 2013 05:00 PM PDT 
Because I Said So Bangle Mother's Day is May 12th. This year get Mom the Because I Said So Bangle from the NeatoShop. This stylish hand carved, inked, and polished bracelet features the text, "Because I said so, that's why." It is the perfect way to show Mom that you were actually listening. The Because I Said so bangle is made of natural resin. It comes with a handsome gift pouch with embroidered details. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Apparel & Accessories. Link |
| Lunar Eclipse Over Hungary Posted: 04 May 2013 05:00 PM PDT 
Photo: Tamas Ladanyi (TWAN)
Photographer Tamas Ladanyi took this fantastic composite series of the Full Moon over the springtime landscape of Tihany, Hungary. The small pic above doesn't do it justice, so head on over to APOD for the larger photo: As it climbed into the clear sky, the Moon just grazed the dark, umbral shadow of planet Earth in the year's first partial lunar eclipse. The partial phase, seen near the top of this frame where the lunar disk is darkened along the upper limb, lasted for less than 27 minutes. Composited from consecutive exposures, the picture presents the scene's range of natural colors and subtle shading apparent to the eye.
Link |
| Me, Me, Me: People Who Overuse The First-Person Singular Are More Depressed Posted: 04 May 2013 04:00 PM PDT  Have you ever taken stock of the personal pronounce you use in everyday conversation? A german study found that those who use the first-person singular more often tend to have more personal problems and are more likely to be depressed.
In the study, 103 women and 15 men completed 60- to 90-minute psychotherapeutic interviews about their relationships, their past, and their self-perception. (99 of the subjects were patients at a psychotherapy clinic who had problems ranging from eating disorders to anxiety.) They also filled out questionnaires about depression and their interpersonal behavior.
Then, researchers led by Johannes Zimmerman of Germany's University of Kassel counted the number of first-person singular (I, me) and first-person plural (we, us) pronouns used in each interview. Subjects who said more first-personal singular words scored higher on measures of depression. They also were more likely to show problematic interpersonal behaviors such as attention seeking, inappropriate self-disclosure, and an inability to spend time alone.
Anyone who has dealt with self-obsessed teenagers will say, "Duh." And the report doesn't mention those who use predominantly third person pronouns; the contrast was with the prevalence of first person plurals, like "we" or "us." Of course, this study doesn't mean that the language causes depression -the word frequency could be a symptom of underlying mental conditions. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user madamepsychosis) |
| This is Your Brain on Toothpaste Posted: 04 May 2013 03:00 PM PDT 
For a series on the brain for Men's Health magazine, UK designer Kyle Bean (previously) decided to recreate the ol' noggin with a few interesting stuff like toothpaste, newspapers, and fruits. 
Link - via Design Stories |
| Calvin and Hobbes Street Art Posted: 04 May 2013 02:00 PM PDT 
Calvin and his stuffed friend Hobbes will go anywhere for an adventure. The French street artist OakOak showed them crawling down a vine. It's only one of the imaginary trips he's sent them on. Link -via Street Art Utopia |
| Mystery of the Atacama Humanoid Solved Posted: 04 May 2013 01:00 PM PDT 
Photo: Garry Nolan
Ten years ago, a six-inch skeleton was found in a pouch in a ghost town in the Atacama Desert of Chile. It ended up in private collection and the UFO community was abuzz that we've finally found physical evidence of alien life. When immunologist Garry Nolan of Stanford University heard about the skeleton, since named the "Atacama humanoid" or "Ata" for short, he decided to lend his scientific expertise to find out what exactly is the mysterious being: Among the apparent abnormalities, Ata sports 10 ribs instead of the usual 12 and a severely misshapen skull. "I asked our neonatal care unit how you would go about analyzing it. Had they seen this kind of syndrome before?" Nolan says. He was directed to pediatric radiologist Ralph Lachman, co-director of the International Skeletal Dysplasia Registry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. "He literally wrote the book on pediatric bone disorders," Nolan says. Lachman was blown away, Nolan recalls: "He said, 'Wow, this is like nothing I've ever seen before.' " To study the specimen, Nolan sought clues in Ata's genome. He initially presumed the specimen was tens or hundreds of thousands of years old—the Atacama Desert may be the driest spot on the planet, so Ata could have been preserved for eons. He consulted experts who had extracted DNA from bones of the Denisovans, an Asian relative of European Stone Age Neandertals.
Find out what the researchers concluded about the mysterious Ata, over at this post by Richard Stone of Science: Link |
| Family Fallout Shelter Goes on Display Posted: 04 May 2013 12:00 PM PDT 
Ken Zwick and Carol Hollar-Zwick bought a home in Neenah, Wisconsin in 1999. They knew there was a fallout shelter on the property, but didn't explore it for years. When they did, it was like opening a time capsule. The shelter was fully stocked with supplies bought fifty years ago! When the Zwicks unlocked the heavy, metal hatch, they found watertight Army surplus boxes floating in 5 feet of water that had seeped into the shelter. The contents of the boxes, though, were in pristine condition.
A few of the boxes bore labels suggesting they might contain explosives, so agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to investigate, but nothing dangerous was inside.
“It was Hawaiian Punch,” Hollar-Zwick said. “It was all of what you would expect to find in a 1960s fallout shelter. It was food, clothing, medical supplies, tools, flashlights, batteries — items that you would want to have in a shelter if you planned to live there for two weeks.”
The Zwicks donated the supplies to the Neenah Historical Society, which is putting them on display as part of an exhibit called “Take Cover Neenah! Backyard Family Fallout Shelters in Cold War America.” Read more about Cold War fallout shelters at the Post Crescent. Link -via mental_floss
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| Chess Set Inspired by the Anglo-Zulu War Posted: 04 May 2013 11:00 AM PDT 
In 1879, Britain and the Zulu nation fought a brief but bloody war that included the famous Battle of Rorke's Drift. In memory of it, custom chess set maker Littlehand made a chess set with historic figures from that war. The Zulu king is Cetshwayo, who led his forces to battlefield victories early in the war. The British king is Lord Chelmsford and the queen piece is Victoria. You can see more photos at the link. Link -via Born Rich |
| Iron Man Trilogy Remix Posted: 04 May 2013 10:00 AM PDT  (YouTube link)
Did you watch Iron Man 3 last night? Judging from the crowd in the theater parking lot, a ton of people did. Even if you didn't, you'll enjoy this remix from Mike Relm with clips from the films rhythmically mixed with the song. He used only widely available clips from Iron Man 3, so there are no spoilers. -via Viral Viral Videos |
| Cannoli Cupcakes Posted: 04 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT 
Each vanilla cupcake is filled and covered with cream cheese chocolate chip icing and topped with a cannolo. Yummy! Crumbs Bake Shop has outdone itself this time. Link |
| <i>The Great Gatsby</i> Still Gets Flappers Wrong Posted: 04 May 2013 08:00 AM PDT 
Filmgoers are looking forward to the latest movie adaptation of The Great Gatsby, in theaters May 10th. Baz Luhrmann's take is opulent and fashionable, but shows the flappers of the Roaring Twenties through a man's eyes. The flapper movement wasn’t simply a fashion trend, as Emily Spivack at Smithsonian.com’s Threaded blog explains; it was a full-blown, grassroots feminist revolution. After an 80-year campaign by suffragists, women were finally granted the right to vote in the United States in 1920, when the Nineteenth Amendment was passed. When the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, many women entered the workforce, and when the soldiers returned in November 1918, their female counterparts were reluctant to give up their jobs. As a result, young, unmarried women experienced far greater financial independence than they’d ever had before. Bicycles, and then cars, allowed them to get around town without a male escort. The spread of electric lighting allowed nightclubs to flourish, just as the Prohibition Amendment of 1919 forced them to go underground. Drinking at illegal “speakeasies” became a thrilling part of flapper culture. Suddenly, it was possible for women to go out and enjoy freedom and rebellion in a way they never had before when they were beholden to their fathers or husbands.
First, these flappers ditched the constraining, skin-covering clothes of their Edwardian mothers. Inspired by Cubist art and Art Nouveau haute couture, flappers rejected the dramatic, hyper-feminine S-shaped Edwardian silhouette created by tight, time-consuming corsets for sheath dresses that gave them boxy boyish shapes. In fact, this straight up-and-down figure was so extreme that curvier women went out of their way to squeeze into girdles and bandage their breasts flat. It was so severe that Luhrmann’s film doesn’t really go there, as most women today would not want to sport such a curveless look. These radical women pushed the boundaries of androgyny even further by chopping off their long Edwardian locks for bobbed hairstyles.
Then again, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote what he knew, and he knew his wife, Zelda, on whom he based Daisy, the flapper in The Great Gatsby. Read about Zelda Fitzgerald and other less wealthy flappers at Collectors Weekly. Link |
| Castle Stationery Gift Set Posted: 04 May 2013 07:00 AM PDT 
Castle Stationery Gift Set Mother's Day is coming. This year make Mom feel like a true fairy princess with the Castle Stationery Gift Set from the NeatoShop. This regal set comes with : - 100-page castle-shaped notepad
- Ceramic castle-shaped notepad holder
- Pen topped with gem, ribbons, and bells
The Castle Stationery Set is perfect gift those who enjoy giving detailed instruction on how the kingdom should be run. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fun Stationery. Link |
| Matt Ferguson's <i>Star Trek</i> Movie Posters Posted: 04 May 2013 07:00 AM PDT 
You may remember Matt Ferguson's World War Z movie posters. His most recent illustration project provides posters for the original six Star Trek movies. You can view them all at the link. These two, showing the loss of two fine ships in action, are my favorites. Link -via Ian Brooks |
| This Week at Neatorama Posted: 04 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT  You know how we go for weeks at a time without any holidays, and then several bunch up together? That's what's going on this weekend. Today is Derby Day, the annual Kentucky Derby at Lousiville Downs. But it's also Star Wars Day, when even non-geeks will greet you with "May the fourth be with you." To which you reply, "And also with you." Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, meaning the fifth of May, an obscure holiday celebrated in the state of Puebla, Mexico, where they call it El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (The Day of the Battle of Puebla). The holiday has been appropriated by Americans in much the same way as St. Patricks Day or Chinese New Year. Whether you celebrate any or all of these holidays, I hope you can take some time this weekend to catch up on what's been happening at Neatorama. Here are our feature stories off the week:
John Farrier told us about 8 Crazy Fan Theories about Children's Television Shows.
Eddie Deezen gave us the lowdown on The Beatles Song Nobody Likes.
Betty Freeman's Day in Court, the story of how one woman ended slavery in Massachusetts, came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
The Annals of Improbable Research gave us Snail Data Transport Is Faster Than ADSL. Yes, that's a real snail delivering the goods.
How Sports Owners Made Their Money was from mental_floss magazine.
We had two brainteasers this week from the Bathroom Reader Institute: Gold and Silver and Mystery Product.
 In the What Is It? game this week, the pictured item is a Russian Soyuz 28 Navigation Unit, it was used to determine Latitude/Longitude, Landing Position, and Orbit Angle of Landing during flight. Read more about it and see more pictures at the What Is It? blog. The first with the correct answer was Anker, who wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The prize for the funniest answer was from Rks1157, who said "Russia's version of Google Earth. Works by splicing it into a phone line. It is a the mobile version of the device. It attaches to a car battery." Unfortunately, he didn't specify a t-shirt. Thanks to everyone who played this week, and thanks to the What is It? blog.
Congratulations to the winners in the Choose Your Own Hello Kitty Prize Giveaway, Eridan, ladybugs, and Mari Gold! That contest was open exclusively to those who subscribe to NeatoMail, the weekly newsletter from Neatorama. You can sign up as a subscriber and know when the next giveaway will be!
The most commented-on post of the week was a tie between The Cost to Feed a Family of Four with Healthy Food: $146 to $289 a Week and Hundreds of Gallons of Urine. Close behind was The Beatles Song Nobody Likes.
Comment(s) of the week: We had a couple of comments this week that everyone should know about. Yes, we had several posts that veered into bathroom humor this week, and Charles 4 pointed that out in the story about hundreds of galloons of urine, by saying "Quick, call that guy with all the bedpans!" referring to this post, which had a lot of funny comments itself. Another great comment came in the post from Whomp! Comics when Ronnie Filyaw stepped in to say, "THIS IS THE GREATEST WEBCOMIC EVER, AND I AM TOTALLY NOT THE GUY WHO DRAWS IT." He got lots of ♥s for that one!
The most popular post of the week was Modern Life, followed by 8 Crazy Fan Theories about Children's Television Shows and Caffeinated Owls.
The post that got the most ♥s was Who's Been Stealing the Paper from the Printer? In second place was Caffeinated Owls, then Misdirected Love Note and Steven Spielberg's Obama tied for third.
The most emailed post was The March of Progress, Bloody Mary Edition, followed by a tie between Francis Crick Wrote This Letter to His 12-Year Old Son about His Discovery of DNA and Steven Spielberg's Obama. Yes, we realize that all these stats favor posts published earlier in the week, and if I took a look on, say, Wednesday, they might be different.
Looking forward to next week, I see that Mothers Day is Sunday, May 12th. That means you still have time to order your Mother Day gifts from the NeatoShop -but don't put it off much longer!
And if that isn't enough Neatorama for you, we have extra content and fun at our Facebook page, Twitter feed, Instagram, and Pinterest. And mobile users: Flipboard makes it easy to keep up with Neatorama. |
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