Neatorama

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• A Turtle Can Breathe through Its Cloaca
• Math Socks
• Jesse's Original Recipe Donuts
• The Watching Dead
• One Last Stitch to Make Sure That He's Dead
• The 9 Least Competent Jedi
• Man Runs Marathon Backwards while Juggling
• "Orange" Pumpkin Pail
• Zeno's Paradoxical Haircut
• Seven Horn Pileup
• Toto Invents a Toilet That Travels to You
• Gort on the International Space Station
• Wonder Woman Onesie
• This Is the Physicist Who Makes Sure That the Science on <i>The Big Bang Theory</i> is Accurate
• ThunderCats from Ancient Japan and Egypt
• Spotted at the Library
• United Bamboo Cat Calendar: Meet the Most Fashionable Felines You'll See Today!
• Which Cable Channels Cost the Most (and Least)
• Artist Uses Calligraphy in Handwritten Text Messages
• Tricking Battles and Extreme Taekwondo
• Straight Razor Ruler
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Chairs
• This Week at Neatorama

A Turtle Can Breathe through Its Cloaca Posted: 29 Sep 2013 04:00 AM PDT It's true! Cartoonist Zach Weinersmith points out that some species of turtle can breathe through their cloacas. They can absorb oxygen in air through their lungs and oxygen in water through their cloacas. Physiologist Donald C. Jackson explains: Whether the turtle breathes air or water depends on which avenue is open. For lung ventilation, the turtle, with its head out of the water, opens its glottis and air passes in and out its lungs; for cloacal irrigation while submerged, the turtle opens its anal spincter and water passes in and out of its cloaca. We humans can't do this. Sometimes I think we drew the short straw in evolution. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal P.S. Superhero idea: a teenager is bitten by a radioactive turtle. He develops this ability, among other turtle-based superpowers.

Math Socks Posted: 29 Sep 2013 02:00 AM PDT   Math Socks Are you looking for a pair of socks that directly relate to your love of math. We have the solution to your problem. Behold the Math Socks from the NeatoShop. This brilliant pair of knee-high socks comes in orange and features the text "Math." They are a wonderful way to express yourself.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Footwear.  Link

Jesse's Original Recipe Donuts Posted: 29 Sep 2013 02:00 AM PDT Rebel Donuts has sold Breaking Bad donuts featuring blue rock candy for a while now and a few other shops have also followed suit, but this is the first time I've seen any Breaking Bad food based on Jesse's original meth. Magee's Bakery in Kentucky made a great tribute to the whole history of the show by releasing these great chocolate donuts with rock candy that has just a touch of chili powder in it -just like Jesse's original meth recipe. Link

The Watching Dead Posted: 29 Sep 2013 12:00 AM PDT The Watching Dead by Theduc Fight the dead, fear the living, and pass the popcorn! If you love the series, you'll love this shirt by Theduc. Visit theduc's official website and then head on over to his NeatoShop page for more super neat shirts. Invanerd Stop the Massacre Test Crash Drone Star Bars View more designs by Theduc | More Funny T-shirts | New 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!

One Last Stitch to Make Sure That He's Dead Posted: 28 Sep 2013 11:00 PM PDT (Image: Bridgeman Art Library) Before ships had refrigerated morgues, it was common to bury the dead at sea. A sailor's body and weights would be sewed up inside a hammock. His mates would finish the task by sewing the last stitch through the dead man's nose--to be certain that he was really dead. Here's a description provided by one sailor from his experiences in the 1960s: The mate sent me down to assist the bo'sun to prepare and stitch up the corpse, as he said I would be unlikely to witness such an occurrence again. The bo'sun, a North Sea Chinaman (ie, he hailed from the Orkney Isles), was in his sixties and had performed the task several times before. He was a deft hand with the palm [leather glove] and needle used to sew the heavy canvas into a shroud around the body, and when he came to the final stitches around the face he pushed the large triangular-shaped needle right through the nose. I winced, and he looked up at me and said, "That's the law of the sea, the last stitch through the nose, if that don't wake him up I know he's dead." Apparently, it was not uncommon for sailors or passengers to be mistakenly pronounced dead. This was the final test. Link -via The Oddment Emporium

The 9 Least Competent Jedi Posted: 28 Sep 2013 10:00 PM PDT This headline made me think, were there really any truly competent Jedi knights or Jedi masters in the Star Wars universe? This list includes a few from the "extended universe," or other Star Wars stories besides the six movies, and I'm not well familiar with those. But it does point out the flaws in the good guys we know, like Obi-Wan Kenobi. I think we can give Obi-Wan a pass for being a shitty teacher to Anakin; I mean, he wasn’t remotely qualified, but Qui-Gon gave him the job anyways, forcing Obi-Wan to promise him as he died. That’s some heavy shit to lay on a Padawan, and you can’t blame Obi-Wan for trying — and failing — to fulfill his insane master’s wishes. But you can blame him for everything he did after the prequels. Call me crazy, but lying to the very last Jedi about his dad seems like a recipe for disaster, and indeed, it nearly was. At the very least, it’s probably information Luke could have used before he went to face Vader in ESB, so he didn’t have a massive emotional breakdown or anything. And why the hell did Obi-Wan allow himself to be cut down by Vader in A New Hope, anyway? Poor teaching skills over two generations and a famous plot hole. I'm still surprised that the death of Obi-Wan wasn't "fixed" in the director's cut. Read the rest of the criticisms at io9. Link

Man Runs Marathon Backwards while Juggling Posted: 28 Sep 2013 09:00 PM PDT (Photo: Joe Salter) Unlike Meredith Fitzmaurice's marathon run, Joe Salter's wasn't an accident. He's been training for years, running races, including triathalons, while juggling. A few days ago, he completed his first juggling marathon in Illinois. And he did it while running backwards: Salter ran the entire marathon backwards while juggling. “I want to do something that’s never been done before,” Salter said. Salter provided entertainment and inspiration for runners as he juggled along the course for nearly six hours. In return supporters cheered him on as he attempted the feat. “The crowd support just gives you that extra energy,” Salter said. “It’s been a bucket list goal for me to do this.” What other sports should he attempt while juggling? Link -via Oddity Central (Video Link)

"Orange" Pumpkin Pail Posted: 28 Sep 2013 08:00 PM PDT via Uberhumor Hey, for just a buck, who cares if "orange" has a very different definition to Walmart? On another note, isn't it amazing what you can get for a dollar - think about the material, labor, and transportation cost that has to go into selling that product. All for a dollar! Meanwhile on NeatoPicto, our Lolpic blog, we have these latest posts: Whoopi Cableberg Tiny Hand is the Source of Psychic Power Multitasking Champ My Family Sticker for Jailed Dads         Web Designers Talk Shop Two Spoons, One Mouth Panda Garden Net Head

Zeno's Paradoxical Haircut Posted: 28 Sep 2013 07:00 PM PDT Yes, it will, little guinea pig. This was established thousands of years ago by the Greek philosopher Zeno. You'll always have a bit of hair in this comic drawn by Jeff Munn. But maybe you should stop after a really cool mohawk. Link -via Yababoon

Seven Horn Pileup Posted: 28 Sep 2013 06:00 PM PDT (YouTube link) When I post marching band performances, it's usually because they have a clever show. Not this time. This short clip of an unnamed school marching band has a section of eight Sousaphone players. While marching backwards, number two goes down followed by five or six others. No one was injured, but two instruments were damaged. This kind of thing happened all the time when I was in marching band (not always my fault), although we never had more than one Sousaphone player. -via Tastefully Offensive

Toto Invents a Toilet That Travels to You Posted: 28 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT (Image: DigInfo) Toto, the Japanese company that manufactures the most technologically sophisticated toilets on Earth, has pushed humanity further into a plumbing utopia. This flushable toilet (with a built-in bidet!) can be carried around and re-positioned as needed. The obvious next steps would be make the toilet a tracked vehicle and give it rudimentary artificial intelligence. The company representative in the video below seems to think that this invention should be marketed to hospitals and care facilities, but I'm at a loss to understand why the company wouldn't aim at a general consumer market. Link -via Dave Barry (Video Link)

Gort on the International Space Station Posted: 28 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT There's no limit to what Gort could do. He could destroy the Earth ... or keep astronauts at the International Space Station company. Gort, the humanoid robot from the 1951 sci-fi film The Day The Earth Stood Still is one of many secret messages and objects that you could find on the ISS today as it orbits the Earth. NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, who returned from a 5-month stint aboard the space station in May 2013, told Nancy Atkinson of Universe Today that there are many messages, signatures, and objects left aboard the station by its builders and previous crews: “We did a lot of maintenance during our flight and rotated out a lot of the experiment racks and we saw many signatures on the internal hull or on the inside parts of the racks. Things like ‘Greetings from the Water Recovery team!’ with everyone’s signature. That’s fairly prevalent on the inside, particularly behind the racks, but not in plain view.” Marshburn said about lil' Gort: “There is a four-inch version of Gort, the robot figure from the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” stuck on the wall where we gather in the Destiny Lab for our daily planning conferences. He sometimes gets unstuck and floats around the ISS, so whenever we find him wandering around, we stick him back up on the wall. He’s kind of ubiquitous." He didn't say whether anyone has ever uttered "Klaatu barada nikto" to Gort. Read more about what other secret messages ISS astronauts left for one another over at Universe Today.

Wonder Woman Onesie Posted: 28 Sep 2013 03:00 PM PDT Wonder Woman Onesie Halloween is right around the corner. Are you looking for the perfect outfit for your sweet little warrior princess? Dress your pint sized superheroines in the Wonder Woman Onesie from the NeatoShop. This adorable costume includes: Onesie with attached tutu and cape Booties and Frilly headpiece It is the perfect outfit for babies who seek peace, truth, justice, and candy.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more greatWonder Woman items.  Link

This Is the Physicist Who Makes Sure That the Science on <i>The Big Bang Theory</i> is Accurate Posted: 28 Sep 2013 03:00 PM PDT (Photo: NPR) On the right, you see David Saltzberg. He's a physicist at UCLA and the science consultant for the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. There are scientist characters on that show. Prof. Saltzberg makes sure that what they say actually makes sense. NPR reports: Every week, Saltzberg attends the show's live taping at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif. He makes sure the whiteboards are correct. For every new episode, they're covered by a fresh scrawl of formulas dreamed up by Saltzberg and admired by physicists for their scrupulous accuracy — and occasional shoutouts to what's happening in the world of science. "The whiteboards have dozens of fans," Saltzberg jokes. Saltzberg also reviews scripts in progress. They arrive with unfinished dialogue and brackets reading, "Insert Science Here." He fills in the blanks, as in an episode where Dr. Sheldon Cooper, a puffed-up theoretical physicist, keeps bumming rides from a neighbor. Prof. Saltzberg also writes a blog devoted to the science of the show. NPR -via Glenn Reynolds

ThunderCats from Ancient Japan and Egypt Posted: 28 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT ThunderCats, ho .... ld on to your hat, because Canadian character designer Phil Postma of Minion Factory (previously on Neatorama) has created these awesome illustrations re-imagining ThunderCats heroes as if they were from ancient Japan and villains as if they were from ancient Egypt. See Lion-O guy? Whiskers! Postma wrote: I did these designs many, many, many years ago and is some of the old stuff I will be putting up here due to the closing of my website. There will be many more of this kind of post and the 80's classics starts the ball rolling this week. And the villains, drawn as if they were from ancient Egypt: We can't wait to see more of Phil's awesome artwork! Check out the rest of the ThunderCats artwork over at his website.

Spotted at the Library Posted: 28 Sep 2013 01:00 PM PDT This is what happens when you have John Farrier for a librarian. Honestly, we don't know who took the picture, but we know John will gladly take credit for the idea. The geekiness of your local librarian is a feature, not a bug.  -via Geeks Are Sexy

United Bamboo Cat Calendar: Meet the Most Fashionable Felines You'll See Today! Posted: 28 Sep 2013 12:00 PM PDT United Bamboo's Cat Calendar - January. Photo: Noah Sheldon Every year, fashion label United Bamboo releases a calendar featuring the most fashionable felines you'll ever see. They've just released the 2014 cat calendar, featuring gorgeous shots by uber-talented photographer Noah Sheldon (who's famous for his Cats Wearing Clothes series, amongst others - don't miss it! Oh, Sheldon also shot the 2013 United Bamboo cat calendar) and designed by Studio Lin. Tiffany Yannetta of Racked New York "interviewed" this year's cat models Huxtable (February), Leo (August) and Uni (December): The United Bamboo Cat Calendar is here (!), and with it comes a series of burning questions: how did these cats get into modeling? Will they pose again? Did they get to keep the clothes? Will they get out of the warm laundry basket for less than $10,000 a day? United Bamboo's Cat Calendar - February United Bamboo's Cat Calendar - April United Bamboo's Cat Calendar - October Racked New York also has the pics of all 12 cats from the photo shoot. Check 'em out!

Which Cable Channels Cost the Most (and Least) Posted: 28 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT Cable providers have to pay media producers a set amount per subscriber. To offset the costs of the higher-priced channels (particularly ESPN), your cable company bundles those channels into tier plans, so that many people subsidize those higher-priced channels. This means, on the one hand, that many people are paying for ESPN even if they never watch sports. On the other hand, there are people who only get cable so they can watch sports on ESPN. You're not alone: most cable customers pay for 80 or more channels and watch only a half-dozen or so. NPR's Planet Money explains the system more in their podcast. Meanwhile, this handy chart has the highest and lowest prices media producers charge cable companies. Link  -via Digg (Image credit: Quoctrung Bui / NPR)

Artist Uses Calligraphy in Handwritten Text Messages Posted: 28 Sep 2013 10:00 AM PDT Cristina Vanko calls her project "Modern Day Snail Mail." It began when she acquired her father's old gold-tipped calligraphy pen. She experimented with it and fell in love with that classic art form. Ms. Vanko wanted to share with her friends the joy that she felt from using that pen. So, for seven days, she sent them text messages with it. She wrote out her texts, photographed them, then used the images to communicate with her friends. Ms. Vanko writes about what she learned from her experiment: 3) My personality shined through so well that one friend texted back "it's like you're here with us!"...but then she followed up a few messages later that "it's almost like you’re deaf and passing notes around in the room." [...] 7) You look super silly if you completely ignore all that you learned in English classes. Impeccable grammar and flawless spelling is necessary for a handwritten note. [...] 9) Writing a message and driving is more dangerous than texting and driving.*This is an educated guess.  I would hope so. Link -via Lustik

Tricking Battles and Extreme Taekwondo Posted: 28 Sep 2013 09:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) You may have noticed that the average young male athlete won't consider doing Olympic-style gymnastics, maybe because the style and scoring are extremely rigid and the uniforms are weird. But if you make it freestyle and call it something else, like breakdancing, parkour, tricking, or martial arts, then they are quite willing to jump right in. There's a lot of talent out there! Watch scenes from the Red Bull Kick It 2013 Taekwondo competition in South Korea. -via Viral Viral Videos

Straight Razor Ruler Posted: 28 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT Artist Joshua M. Smith partnered up with Kurt Barbee of Karvt to create this spectacular piece of laser-etched straight razor ruler. Smith said in his Behance page that the ruler is made from three individual pieces held together by grommets. Like a real straight razor, the wooden ruler actually folds up. Fantastic!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Chairs Posted: 28 Sep 2013 07:00 AM PDT Brad Moore, a professional upholsterer, decorated these chairs after our sewer-dwelling heroes. They'd be perfect for a pizzeria! And although you may have to move the weapons to sit comfortably, the masks and labels in front let you know who sits where. More Photos -via Comics Alliance

This Week at Neatorama Posted: 28 Sep 2013 06:00 AM PDT On Tuesday, we're going into October, the month in which things turn weird on the internet, as scary stories, creative costumes, and generally ghoulish fun prepare us for Halloween. Here at Neatorama, we take Halloween so seriously that we gave the holiday its own blog! It's been updated all year long, but in October, you'll want to take advantage of the costume ideas, recipes, and spooky entertainment offered at the Halloween blog.  Have you entered our Halloween costume contest yet? No, you don't have to have a costume ready. In fact, the "contest" part was actually an afterthought. We want to show the world your costumes from the past! Whether it was last year or decades ago, send us a picture of a Halloween costume you wore (or made for your kids) that made some Halloween memorable, whether it was awesome, funny, embarrassing, or just one you particularly liked. We want to share those pictures with everyone, so beginning Tuesday, we will feature a "costume of the day" on the Halloween blog! It could even be more than once a day, if we get a rash of late entries. We will give t-shirts to those who send in the best costumes. Send your picture, and the story behind it, to tips@neatorama.com and then look for the parade of Halloween costumes starting Tuesday on the Halloween blog! Meanwhile, we had an abundance of great feature articles this week. Here's your chance to catch up if you missed any of them. To get you ready for the new sequel this weekend, Jill Harness wrote Expecting Delicious Weather? Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs Facts. John Farrier gave us 12 Weird Cheetos Variants. Next, we need him to try them out for a Don't Eat It, John! post. Eddie Deezen told us the story of The First Beatle to Visit America. Alex came back to writing in a big way after taking care of other business most of the summer. He gave us two entries in the "5 facts" series: 5 Fascinating Facts: Echidna and 5 Fun Facts: It's All Greek To Me. He also gave us 5 Surprising Things That Have Cow Parts in Them. Alex also wrote 4 Surprising Facts About Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte. And he posted a fascinating story and pictures in Don't Mess with Samurai Monkey. The What Is It? game ran longer than usual this week, and it will be another day before the official answers are posted at the What Is it? blog, but since we wanted funny-but-wrong answers, we'll go ahead and award the winners. Erin Werra said, "These are the score cards the Russian judges WANTED to use at the Olympics. They're mounted on handy "persuasion tools" to encourage other judges to lower their scores as well." That one deserves a t-shirt! Randall had a great answer, too: "Gopher traps. Among the animal kingdom, gophers are statophiles, they love esoteric information and are fascinated by trivial numbers. When these are placed in a field inhabited by gophers, the little rodents will burrow right up to the number to read it (they are slightly nearsighted) and POW! it kills them with the spring loaded spike." So Randall gets a t-shirt from the NeatoShop, too! The answers to this and the other mystery items of the week will be posted at the What Is It? Blog on Sunday, and I'll update the contest post then.  On the Spotlight Blog, we had a gallery of HAMuel L. Jackson and Other Wordplay Graffiti by Hanksy. A notable post that started out as a link and turned into an essay was Should You Take Your Lottery Winnings in a Lump Sum or Annual Payments? The Shower Experiment came from the Annals of Improbable Research. Uncle John's Bathroom Reader contributed How the West Was Won. Isaac Newton: 17th-Century London’s Dirty Harry came from mental_floss magazine. You can always access our latest feature articles by checking the row of images at the top of the main page. But this week we had so many exclusive features that I should remind you that you can use the little arrows on the sides of the banner to go to the ones that don't fit on the page. We had one poll this week, in Atheism vs Theism vs Agnosticism vs Gnosticism. Here are the results as of this morning. You can still participate if you haven't already. Hy Conrad's Whodunit this week is titled Blue Carbuncle, the Sequel. Jill Harness, who keeps the Neatorama Pinterest board updated every day, announced another project: The NeatoShop Pinterest board! Bookmark it for an easy way to keep up with new offerings at the shop, and an easy way to share them. Watch for more Pin to Win contests coming soon! While we're on the subject of the NeatoShop, have you seen what's new for Halloween? Different items are coming in every day! The post with the most comments this week (besides the contest) was Atheism vs Theism vs Agnosticism vs Gnosticism. In second place was 4 Surprising Facts About Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte, and The First Beatle to Visit America was third.  The most popular post was Why Didn't People Smile in Old Photographs? Which was followed by Atheism vs Theism vs Agnosticism vs Gnosticism and Don't Mess with Samurai Monkey. The bar was set pretty high this week, as many other posts would have made the top three in other weeks. Thanks to everyone who shared our posts! The post that people ♥ed most was Deer Patiently Waits at Crosswalk for the Traffic Signal, with John Lennon's Imagine, Made into a Comic by Pablo Stanley coming in second and Fireman Recusitates Kitten: Another View was third. The most emailed post was 12 Weird Cheetos Variantsfollowed by The First Beatle to Visit America and Why Didn't People Smile in Old Photographs? We so appreciate everyone who shared our posts on social media this week! I'll present our social media star posts in decending order. The most Facebook likes went to: Why Didn't People Smile in Old Photographs? Atheism vs Theism vs Agnosticism vs Gnosticism The First Beatle to Visit America The most tweeted posts were: Why Didn't People Smile in Old Photographs? Don't Mess with Samurai Monkey 4 Surprising Facts About Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte The most shared on Google+ were: Atheism vs Theism vs Agnosticism vs Gnosticism Why Didn't People Smile in Old Photographs? Don't Mess with Samurai Monkey Looking forward to next week, check out Neatoramanauts' featured costumes on the Halloween blog starting Tuesday, and even more great stuff here on the main page. Have a great week, Neatoramanauts!

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