Neatorama

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• Leonardo Da Vinci’s Incredible Mechanical Lion
• Because The Villains Are Just As Important As The Heroes
• Escalator Etiquette
• Hash Brown-Wrapped Eggs
• Real-Life <i>Flintstones</i> Car
• Butterfly Twirl Mobile
• Jody Steel's Thigh Doodles
• This Woman's Name Is So Long That It Can't Fit on a Driver's License
• There's A Reason Ghosts Don't Haunt Cats
• Adding Eyes and Teeth Brings Everything to Life
• NSA Job Application Flowchart
• Good Luck in Your New Job and May You Rot in Hell
• Rubber Duck Potato
• Spice Up Your Ceiling Fan
• Your Work as a Teenager
• Where The Old Gods Are
• You Can Fly Peter Pan Teapot
• Purple Palace Art Car for Sale
• CCTV Captured Young Men Fixing a Broken Bike Rack
• A Is For Astronaut
• Epic Battle Between Two House Cats
• Puritan Baby Names Were Horrible by Modern Standards
• This Week at Neatorama

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Incredible Mechanical Lion Posted: 15 Sep 2013 04:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) In the year 1515, Giuliano de’ Medici presented the newly crowned King of France, Francois I, with a mechanical lion that walked on it own. The automata was designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, but all that is left of it is the diagrams. However, from those plans the lion was reconstructed in 2009. Watch it move, and imagine seeing this almost 500 years ago! Read more about the lion at Dangerous Minds. Link

Because The Villains Are Just As Important As The Heroes Posted: 15 Sep 2013 02:00 AM PDT Sure, fluffy dalmatians, Harry Potter, Snow White and Aladdin are the ones we tend to root for, but if we didn't have Cruella, Snape, the Evil Queen and Jafar, the stories would be pretty boring. That's why DeviantArt user chrisable's great villain posters are so darn delightful. They remind us that the bad guys are often even more intriguing than the good ones. Link Via Design Taxi

Escalator Etiquette Posted: 15 Sep 2013 12:00 AM PDT A reminder: while on an escalator, stand on the right. If people want to pass you, they'll do so on the left. Yoni Alter, a Londoner, thinks these footprints would help educate tourists about Tube etiquette. Link -via NotCot

Hash Brown-Wrapped Eggs Posted: 14 Sep 2013 11:00 PM PDT How do you make hash browns and eggs even better? By putting one inside the other, of course. Just soft boil your egg, wrap the raw hash browns around it and then throw it all in a deep fryer. If you really want a delicious heart attack though, you might try combining this and a Scotch egg so you can have eggs, sausage and potatoes all in one easily portable snack. Link Via Food Beast

Real-Life <i>Flintstones</i> Car Posted: 14 Sep 2013 10:00 PM PDT (Video Link) Yeah, it's slow. But you'll save a lot on gasoline if you drive like Fred Flintstone does. -via Daily of the Day

Butterfly Twirl Mobile Posted: 14 Sep 2013 09:00 PM PDT Butterfly Twirl Mobile Mobiles are a fun way to add a little artistic balance and visual inspiration to your home decor. While they are typically geared toward children, there is no denying that their free flowing movement entertain and delight people of all ages.   The Butterfly Twirl Mobile from the NeatoShop features beautiful butterflies and soft colored flowers. The piece was designed in France by Christel Sadde with illustrations done by Elodie Nouhen. This cheerful piece is sure to make any room soar to new heights.   Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Home Decor items.  Link

Jody Steel's Thigh Doodles Posted: 14 Sep 2013 09:00 PM PDT Boring lecture? Many of us doodle in class, but artist Jody Steel eschews paper and uses her body as canvas instead. Oh, and while we got into trouble for drawing instead of paying attention to the teacher, Jody actually got hired by her professor at Emerson College in Boston to illustrate a novel. You'll see why when you see her leg drawings - they're so good that they're often mistaken for tattoos. When asked why she didn't just doodle on paper, Steel told HuffPost Weird News, "I really started because honestly, I didn't have any paper around. I was drawing a lot in class, and people began to notice ... I'm just really pale and my skin is almost equivalent to paper." View more over at Steel's blog - via HuffPo

This Woman's Name Is So Long That It Can't Fit on a Driver's License Posted: 14 Sep 2013 08:00 PM PDT (Photo: AP/Chris Stewart) The standard driver's license in Hawaii has space for 35 characters for the driver's last name. It's not enough: Janice "Lokelani" Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele is in the midst of a fight with state and local officials to ensure that her full name gets listed on a license or ID card. Her name is pronounced: KAY'-ee-hah-nah-EE'-coo-COW'-ah-KAH'-hee-HOO'-lee-heh-eh-KAH'-how-NAH-eh-leh. The documents only have room for 35 characters. Her name has 35 letters plus a mark used in the Hawaiian alphabet, called an okina. So Hawaii County instead issued her driver's license and her state ID with the last letter of her name chopped off. And it omitted her first name. Ms. Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele is offended that her full name does not appear. But the Hawaiian government is working on a solution: by the end of the year, driver's license cards will have space for 40 characters. Link -via Jalopnik

There's A Reason Ghosts Don't Haunt Cats Posted: 14 Sep 2013 07:00 PM PDT (Video Link) Sure, your cat might be terrified of a random outside noise, a vacuum and the dreaded squirt bottle of death, but ghosts -meh. Need proof? Just look at these two cool cats trying to figure out what the big deal is with this stupid white howling thing. Via Pets Lady

Adding Eyes and Teeth Brings Everything to Life Posted: 14 Sep 2013 06:00 PM PDT You may remember Toronto street artist Aidan Glynn shopdropping Super Mario Bros. mushrooms. More recently, he's been turning urban fixtures into living creatures just by adding eyes, teeth, mustaches and tongues. You can see more at the link. Link

NSA Job Application Flowchart Posted: 14 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT Want a job with the NSA? There are certain qualities they look for in a job applicant, and this handy flowchart from The Joy of Tech will help you out. But don't bother submitting an application; if you're right for the job, they will contact you. Link

Good Luck in Your New Job and May You Rot in Hell Posted: 14 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT Redditor chopieseeves has worked at an Arby's for 4 years. She's about to graduate from college, so she's moving on to professional employment. As you can see, her co-workers are being good-natured about it. Link -via That's Nerdalicious!

Rubber Duck Potato Posted: 14 Sep 2013 03:00 PM PDT What looks like a duck but tastes like a potato? 73-year-old retiree Dorothea Clinton of Shropshire, England, dug up this unusual looking tuber from her back garden. "I just pulled it out of the ground and I thought, 'Oooh, it's a duck,'" she told Shropshirestar. "We normally eat everything we produce from the garden but I can't bring myself to eat this one, it's got a kind of strange sentimental value to me now." Now that's a spud worth quacking about!

Spice Up Your Ceiling Fan Posted: 14 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT (YouTube link) He put a bunch of tape on the ceiling fan. Let's find out why. This would be awesome in a couple of different colors of paint, too. -via TYWKIWDBI

Your Work as a Teenager Posted: 14 Sep 2013 01:00 PM PDT The good news is that if you're my age, there's no internet record of your teenage thoughts. Alas, cartoonist Kelly Angel is not so fortunate. Link -via Pleated Jeans Bonus item: It's interesting to imagine how it'd affect our view of our grandparents if their teenage thoughts were posted in the history of facebook. — Zach Weinersmith (@ZachWeiner) September 5, 2013

Where The Old Gods Are Posted: 14 Sep 2013 12:00 PM PDT Where The Old Gods Are by Baznet Oh please don't go to his house at R'lyeh, where dead Cthulhu waits dreaming - he'll eat you up, he loves you so! Let the wild rumpus start with this neat shirt by Baznet. Check out Baznet's Tumblr for more neat T-shirt designs, then visit his NeatoShop page. Your purchase helps support indie artists as well as this blog! Mordor Road McBain Stupendous Man Yellow Time Machine View more designs by Baznet | More Funny T-shirts Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop, earn generous royalties, and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

You Can Fly Peter Pan Teapot Posted: 14 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT   You Can Fly Peter Pan Teapot (front and back shown) Celebrate Walt Disney's 1953 animated classic film, Peter Pan, with the You Can Fly Peter Pan Teapot from the NeatoShop. This gorgeous collectible ceramic teapot features beautiful sculptural elements. Two stars adorn the handle and and 3-dimensional Tinkerbell sits merrily on top. Images from the film adorn the sides. This delightful teapot is sure to live forever in your heart.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Coffee & Tea items. Link

Purple Palace Art Car for Sale Posted: 14 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT The Purple Palace, a tri-level art vehicle built upon an articulated bus, has been a fixture at Burning Man for eight years. But it could be yours, as the bus is for sale at eBay Motors.   The Purple Palace has three levels.  The first has two entrances with air powered safety doors. The first floor is equipped with a unisex “urinal” and also a mechanical room where the 2 inverters (included) are stored. All sound wires run to this location and the room can be locked. The second floor is accessed by a three foot wide wood staircase in the rear of the vehicle. Between the front and back sections of the second floor there is an articulating bridge. The second floor is where the majority of riders will have access. The third level consists of its own door from the rear of the first floor up a ladder into a lounge and patio area. This is the location of the bar, refrigerator and extensive EL wire included in the sale. Also this area provides summer/winter storage for large bus items like couches, carpet and TV’s.  A second ladder in the bar area takes visitors to the third floor patio. The third floor has primarily been used as a VIP area since it has a limited capacity of approximately 30 people. It has been improved extensively including a permanent custom steel DJ table with overhead gazebo style steel, which is effective in supporting disco lights and flame effects. For the owners of this magnificent art car, the third floor is one of the largest perks, offering an incomparable viewing platform for the burning of art, the Man and the Temple. There is nothing on the playa like riding on the third floor.   There are only two days left on the auction, and there are currently no bids. Link -via Laughing Squid

CCTV Captured Young Men Fixing a Broken Bike Rack Posted: 14 Sep 2013 10:00 AM PDT It was 3 AM in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. Young men were milling about an intersection. They had been revelling around town for the night. They had probably been drinking. In any case, they were up to something. And a CCTV was there to capture what they were about to do ... Watch the clip from ITN. What? Did you expect something bad? Martin Griggs, Dean Mason, Simon McMillan, and Dan Butler - all men in their twenties - became local celebrities when a CCTV captured them fixing a broken bike rack outside a takeaway restaurant in their town. When the footage went viral, Griggs told BBC News, "Most people expect negative images in the news and Boston gets quite a lot of bad press - I think that's why the press have grabbed hold of it - it's a good news story for a change." The Boston Borough Council has praised the young men for their "public-spirited" actions.

A Is For Astronaut Posted: 14 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT For those space geeks who want their children to grow up to appreciate the miracles of the universe, this space-themed alphabet poster by Brad Woodard and Jordan Whittlick is the ultimate nursery poster. Just hope your little one doesn't become too fascinated with the zodiac chart and get into astrology instead. Link Via Design Taxi

Epic Battle Between Two House Cats Posted: 14 Sep 2013 07:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) Yeah, it's a fight of sorts, between two cats who can't be bothered to even stand up. And they are easily distracted, and have to take breaks for a quick wash. But they keep at each other for quite some time. I have two children who are just like this. -via Daily of the Day

Puritan Baby Names Were Horrible by Modern Standards Posted: 14 Sep 2013 06:00 AM PDT (Image: Charles West Cope) Looking for a good baby name? You could take the modern approach and deliberately misspell a common name. Or you could you could go old school and look for advice from Seventeenth Century Puritans. Joseph Norwood of Slate compiled some of the best baby names from that culture: 1. Humiliation. Humiliation Hynde had two sons in the 1620s; he called them both Humiliation Hynde. 2. Fly-debate 3. No-merit. NoMerit Vynall was born in Warbleton in Sussex, a fount of beautiful names. 4. Helpless 5. Reformation 6. Abstinence 7. More-triale 8. Handmaid 9. Obedience 10. Forsaken 11. Sorry-for-sin. Sorry-for-sin Coupard was another resident of Warbleton. 12. Lament Link

This Week at Neatorama Posted: 14 Sep 2013 05:00 AM PDT Arrr -it's that time of year again! Talk Like a Pirate Day is this coming up Thursday, so it's time to pull out the eye patch and the parrot to help you shed that landlubber speech. Why talk like a pirate? because it's fun to some and annoying to others. And that's always a great combination. This past week at Neatorama, we did something we've never done before (I don't think): we had a live streaming webcast. The occasion was the 23rd First Annual Ig® Nobel Prize Ceremony, from our friends at The Annals of Improbable Research. If you didn't catch it live, you can still see the entire ceremony on video in the same post. Alex put together 10 Fascinating Facts About Costco. He also gave us NASA Mashups, on the bigger-format Neatorama Spotlight blog.   And Alex also posted the art that answers the question What Happened to Street Fighter Characters? Eddie Deezen told us all about "It's Not Unusual" -Tom Jones' Signature Song. Paris: City of Fright came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. The Annals of Improbable Research brought us Reading Textbooks for Pleasure. The Perfect Crime: Apple's Inside Job was from mental_floss magazine. Alex also had something new and fun in Challenge: How Many of These Obscure Collective Nouns Do You Know? It's also the very first entry in the brand new sub-blog called Neato Puzzles. Look for a lot more puzzles, brainteasers, and quizzes as we get that off the ground. We Want Your Most Memorable Halloween Costume! Send in a picture of a costume you've worn or made for Halloween, even if it was a long time ago, and we'll put them on the Halloween blog during the month of October. Also, the top costume pictures will win t-shirts from the NeatoShop! We've already gotten some great submissions. It doesn't even have to be a good costume -we'd like to see your embarrassing Halloween costumes, too! Send your picture, and the story behind it, to tips@neatorama.com and help us all get in the holiday spirit.   That reminds me, we like to see your pets, too! Send us a picture of your pets (same email address) and we'll put him or her on the pets blog, Lifestyles of the Cute and Cuddly, as the featured pet of the day. We had two Bathroom Reader lists this week, Mile-High Comedians and Embarrassed in the E.R. Hy Conrad posed another mystery Whodunit called An Alarming Jewel Heist. David Israel's Question In Need of Answers asked Which Companies Have the Worst Customer Service? Lowes? Virgin America Visa? We got quite a few horror stories that you might be able to relate to.  In this week's What Is It? game, the object is, indeed, a billiards cue Tip Pik, used to make small holes in the tip so it holds chalk better. Several people knew that, but we were just looking for funny answers this week. Robert Mungo said it was a "for seeing how many pins can dance on the head of an angel." That is clever, and worth a t-shirt! George 10 had a good one, too: "a tube full of toothpicks used by the James Bond villian Jaws on his stainless steel teeth." Ha! So he wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop, too! Thanks to everyone who played this week, and thanks to the What Is It? blog. The post with the most comments was 10 Fascinating Facts About Costco. Tying for second place was Embarrassed in the E.R. and Matryoshka Hardware: Everyday Carry and Beyond.  I don't know what the comment of the week should be. If you've got a favorite, leave a comment about it. The most popular post this week was What Happened to Street Fighter Characters? Coming in second was 10 Fascinating Facts About Costco, and The Beatles' "Hey Jude" as a Flowchart was third.  The post with the most hearts of the week was Teen Came Out, Mom Asked Him to Clean His Room with second place going to both Merry-Go-Round Generates Electricity for School Kids in Ghana and The Gorge at Watkins Glen, which tied. The most emailed post was 10 Fascinating Facts About Costco. Nothing else came close. Over at the NeatoShop, there are plenty of Halloween items you should be browsing now, and if you have a little one, check out the great selection of baby and toddler Halloween costumes! And don't forget, we have extra content and fun at our Facebook page every day! You are also invited to follow Neatorama on Twitter and Pinterest, too! And mobile users: Flipboard makes it easy to keep up with Neatorama. If you're observing Yom Kippur today, we hope you have a blessed holiday, and a great meal at the end of the fast! Have a great week, Neatoramanauts!

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