Neatorama

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• Sweet Child o' Mine on Ghuzeng
• Planter Chess Set
• Man Refused to Evacuate Fukushima to Save 500 Abandoned Animals
• Arachnophobic Entomologists
• 60 Newly Discovered Species in a Rainforest
• Gentlemen Hognose Snakes
• Fruit Cake Socks
• Elephant Has Spork for Mouth
• Space Camp for Grown-Ups
• Twitter Bios and What They Really Say
• Epic Grinds' Meat Marvels
• Ripped Joker Tattoo
• The Lonely Astronaut
• Hilariously Over-the-Top Ad Promotes Learning First Aid
• Furloughed Employee's Secret Message: Please Pay Us
• Tall Infographics
• Drunk <i>My Little Pony</i> Thieves Get What's Coming to Them
• Ass Face
• Teen Arrested for Grand Theft at Goodwill Store
• Introducing WildCat
• 30-40 Things That a Man Is Supposed to Own
• This Week at Neatorama
• Working in a Public Library

Sweet Child o' Mine on Ghuzeng Posted: 06 Oct 2013 04:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) Vancouver musician Michelle Kwan plays the ghuzeng, or Chinese zither. She spent years playing classical music, but is now getting noticed for using the instrument for pop music. At the YouTube page, she is taking requests!  -via Daily Picks and Flicks

Planter Chess Set Posted: 06 Oct 2013 02:00 AM PDT XYZ Workshop is a company in Melbourne, Australia that promotes the use of 3D printing by ordinary people. Its members design projects that you might enjoy having in your own home, such as this clever chess set. The design inspiration is Bauhaus, but the manufacturing process is even more modern. Each chess piece can hold a succulent plant, bringing color and pleasant aromas to your game.

Man Refused to Evacuate Fukushima to Save 500 Abandoned Animals Posted: 06 Oct 2013 12:00 AM PDT Keigo Sakamoto, 58, kept over 500 animals at his home in the Fukushima exclusion zone. Image: Damir Sagolj Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj went to the exclusion zone that surrounds Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant and discovered an eerie scene he described as "a silent horror movie": In Chernobyl’s exclusion zone, a zombie-like creature bewildered by cheap vodka and loneliness might jump out from behind a bush. But here in Fukushima everything was in almost perfect order. In abandoned towns, traffic lights worked and a rare car would stop on red. Near the train station of a ghost town called Namie, sitting outside a shop whose window was stacked with undistributed copies of March 12, 2011 newspapers, a vending machine blinked. I dropped in a coin. The thing made the usual sound and gave me back a hot can of coffee! I tried to calculate how much energy the machine had consumed over these two and half years to heat my coffee in a ghost town with a population of zero. But amidst the towns and villages that had been abandoned since the nuclear disaster in 2011, Sagolj met one man who refused to leave his house. That man, Keigo Sakamoto, a farmer and former caregiver to the mentally disabled, is considered a lunatic by some and a hero by others. Sakamoto defied orders by the Japanese government to leave, and made it his mission to rescue abandoned animals instead. Sagolj wrote: Sakamoto said no to evacuation, stayed inside the zone and made animals his mission. He ventured into empty towns and villages and collected all the dogs and cats and rabbits and chocolate marmots abandoned by former owners when they left carrying sometimes as little as their wallets. Now, Sakamoto lives with more than 500 animals in his mountain ranch near Naraha town in a scene reminiscent of experimental theater rather than modern Japan. It’s a very noisy theater too, because many of his dogs have gone wild from the time they spent alone before Sakamoto rescued them. As if to confirm this observation, one dog bit me hard as I passed his little house. “There are no neighbors,” said Sakamoto. “I’m the only one here but I’m here to stay.” Of his more than 20 dogs, only two are friendly to man. One is called Atom, a super-cute white mutt, named because it was born just before the disaster at Fukushima. Read more over at The Samurai and survivors of Fukushima by Damir Sagolj over at Reuter's Photographers Blog.

Arachnophobic Entomologists Posted: 05 Oct 2013 11:00 PM PDT You've heard it said that real courage is when you're scared but go ahead and do what you have to do anyway. But why would someone who's afraid of spiders became a bug scientist? Retired spider researcher Richard Vetter took a survey of entomologists and found 41 who are afraid of spiders. They gave several reasons for their arachnophobia. Some think they have too many legs, even though they have no problem with centipedes. Others are leery of spider bites, although they happily work with bees that sting. Luckily, these scientists focus their research on arthropods they are more comfortable with. Read some of the experiences that turned entomologists off spiders at Inkfish, which could possible be disturbing, but will more likely make you laugh. -via Not Exactly Rocket Science

60 Newly Discovered Species in a Rainforest Posted: 05 Oct 2013 10:00 PM PDT (Photo: Trond Larsen/Conservation International) This is a juvenile planthopper. It's about 5 millimeters long. Many planthoppers secrete a waxy substance which forms into long strands. These strands, which can break off, may distract a predator while the insect escapes to safety. This little critter is one of 60 species that Dr. Trond Larsen of Conservation International discovered during an expedition to a rainforest in southeastern Suriname. You can see more photos and a video from the expedition here. -via TYWKIWDBI

Gentlemen Hognose Snakes Posted: 05 Oct 2013 09:00 PM PDT (YouTube link) Shannon Hammer made a little top hat and handlebar mustache -for her snakes! First we see Sir Snowball, then Sir Sledge, both showing off their accoutrements. How did she get the hat and mustache to stay on? Peanut butter! -via Tastefully Offensive

Fruit Cake Socks Posted: 05 Oct 2013 08:00 PM PDT   Fruit Cake Socks The Fruit Cake socks are the perfect fashion accessory for someone who is a little sweet, a little nuts, and sometimes finds themselves drenched in scotch. We aren't judging.  The Fruit Cake Socks are perfect for holiday time or really any time you are feeling a little crazy. The socks feature a snazzy green and red polka dot design and the text "Fruit" and "Cake."    Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Footwear.  Link

Elephant Has Spork for Mouth Posted: 05 Oct 2013 08:00 PM PDT Illustration: Tomasz Jedrzejowski - via WIRED Do you remember the story of the blind men and the elephant? In that story, a group of blind men felt various parts of an elephant to describe the animal. The man who touched the tusk insisted that the elephant is like a spear, whereas the man who touched the body said that the animal is like a wall and the man who felt the leg said that it's like a tree trunk. Well, add a shovel to that story and you'll get this absurd version of the elephant: Platybelodonfrom the Miocene Epoch (about 15 million to 4 million years ago), an ancestor of the modern elephant with a giant spork the size of a shovel in its mouth. And when we said shovel, we meant shovel: Images: Biodiversity Heritage Library/American Museum of Natural History The "spork" is actually a second pair of flattened tusks or teeth (indeed, Platybelodon means "flat tooth.") They're related to other genera like Archaebelodon and Ambelodon, which are commonly known as "shovel tuskers." So, why did the Platybelodon have such an unusual mouth? When the species was first identified in the 1920s, paleontologists thought that the animals used its mouth to shovel up aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation. "... recent analysis of tusk wear surfaces show that they were used more as scythes to cut tough vegetation," stated vertebrate paleontologist William Sanders of the University of Michigan to WIRED. Images: Margret Flinsch, under direction of Henry Fairfield Osborn. Biodiversity Heritage Library/American Museum of Natural History Library Read more about the fascinating Platybelodon over at this post by Matt Simon over at WIRED.

Space Camp for Grown-Ups Posted: 05 Oct 2013 07:00 PM PDT (Photo: Charles Atkeison) You might not make it into space during your lifetime, but you might get to Space Camp. Since 1982, this NASA program at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama has promoted space exploration by putting kids through simulations of astronaut training and life in space. It's mostly for kids, but some lucky adults can participate, too. Jane Engle of the Los Angeles Times was one of them. She summarized the training: During my program last year, more than 40 participants built and launched model rockets, whirled around in a G-force simulator, got turned topsy-turvy, piloted mock fighter jets and attempted to walk in simulated low gravity. We also spent hours inside mock-ups of a space shuttle cockpit, NASA mission control and the International Space Station, the settings for simulated shuttle missions that formed the core of our training. Working in teams, we took turns crewing the space shuttle orbiter, monitoring the mission, conducting research experiments and doing extravehicular activities, a.k.a. spacewalks, to make repairs. It was not a time to play. The adult Space Camp has a demanding training regimen and spartan living conditions: On the first day, our nonstop schedule stretched beyond dinner. The next morning, we mustered for breakfast at 7:30 and finished our activities after 8 p.m. Meal breaks were as short as 30 minutes — just as well, because the cafeteria's food was forgettable. (The food service has since been upgraded, according to Tim Hall, a spokesman for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.) We slept in the sleek, four-story Habitat building, which was cleverly tricked out to evoke life in space. Our communal bathroom, for example, was labeled "Female Waste Management." The snug dormitory rooms, on the other hand, were charmless. Ours was furnished with several bunk beds, lockers and little else. Towels were not provided. -via Marilyn Terrell

Twitter Bios and What They Really Say Posted: 05 Oct 2013 06:00 PM PDT The New York Times calls Twitter bios "a postmodern art form." What? I never paid much attention to the little blurbs on anyone's Twitter profile, because I rarely go to a profile, and I sorta know the folks there already. I did not know there was a Twitter bio style that has evolved. The standard bio is a staccato string of statuses and interests separated by commas or periods. Frequently, one’s parental status is tossed in, particularly by men who seem to want public credit for fatherhood (“Proud papa to three adorable kids who destroy everything in sight”). Then there are the addenda, the hobbies and passions and random facts. As Alex Blagg, a writer, noted in a blog post, these are often punctuated by self-aggrandizing words like “addict” or “junkie” (as in “coffee addict” or “CrossFit junkie”); “enthusiast,” “aficionado” or “geek” (“Breaking Bad aficionado”); the glamorous suffix “-ista” (“accountantista”); or the “super-heroic” tag of “guy” or “girl” (“war reporter guy,” “hedge fund girl”). The article goes on to describe quite a few celebrities' bios and how well they fit in with the trends. Maybe I should start paying attention to those. Mine could probably be more trendy. What was I thinking, using a complete sentence? That's totally against the Twitter culture. Alex doesn't tweet much outside of the Neatorama account, so I had to search. Did you know there are hundreds of Alex Santosos on Twitter? I don't recognize any of them. But I ran across my daughters, who are well aware of the modern conventions of Twitter bios.  -via Boing Boing

Epic Grinds' Meat Marvels Posted: 05 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower ... in meat Who needs clay to sculpt when you've got meat? Seattle's Uwajimaya grocery store meat manager Kieran Gormley is the food artist behind the Tumblr Epic Grinds. He uses ground beef and pork to create sculptures of iconic characters from video games and science-fiction movies. 'Tis nourishment for the belly and the mind! It's dangerous to go alone. Take this ... meat, Link. Or is it Link meat? Perhaps Link is saying to Gannondorf: "So ... we meat again!" "Meat"roid? Samus has never looked this delicious! These are the meat androids you're looking for! "Meat"nion! Undoubtedly the star of Delicious Me To go where no meat art has gone before! View more over at Epic Grinds Tumblr - via Laughing Squid and Kotaku

Ripped Joker Tattoo Posted: 05 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT Peter Tikos, an artist in Hungary, made this stunning tattoo of the Joker. The Joker dies eventually. But he always gets the last laugh.

The Lonely Astronaut Posted: 05 Oct 2013 03:00 PM PDT (YouTube link) Imagine that you're living on the ISS when the government furloughs 97% of NASA employees because of a shutdown. Furloughed employees are not allowed to answer their official email or official work phone numbers. Maybe this guy should call the Russians! Even without the shutdown, the Russians are his only means of coming home. -via Buzzfeed

Hilariously Over-the-Top Ad Promotes Learning First Aid Posted: 05 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT (Video Link) Did you get a boo-boo? Here's a band-aid. Attacked by a wild bear? Here's a band-aid. Sometimes a band-aid isn't enough. The Australian Red Cross wants you to learn advanced first aid techniques. This funny ad by the Moneystack agency shows a woman who has band-aids for people in increasingly dangerous, desperate situations. -via 22 Words

Furloughed Employee's Secret Message: Please Pay Us Posted: 05 Oct 2013 01:00 PM PDT The political circus that is the United States Government shutdown continues ... and since urgent exhortations by everyone don't seem to have an effect, employees of the National Weather Service in Anchorage, Alaska, decided to go the subtle subliminal route, as reported by the Washington Post (Thanks Tiffany!) In the weather forecast released on October 4, 2013, the currently furloughed employees encoded a secret message: the first letter of the lines spelled out "Please pay us." The technique is not new, of course. You all probably still remember when then California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger utilized this technique to send a message to the state legislature for vetoing his proposed legislation.

Tall Infographics Posted: 05 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT Randall Munroe of xkcd is as exasperated as we are about infographics. Why make an image when it's so much more user-friendly to put your information in text with links? You can always add nice pictures and graphs. -via Laughing Squid

Drunk <i>My Little Pony</i> Thieves Get What's Coming to Them Posted: 05 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT (Video Link) Danish brony Thomas Dambo built a huge wooden pony. He was rightfully proud of his craftsmanship. Then one night his neighbors got drunk and stole it. Thomas guessed who was responsible and went over to confront them. He recorded the entire encounter. The confrontation gets physical at 2:20. The worst part of this story is that the thief was a fellow brony who stole the pony to give to his girlfriend, who was also a brony (or a pegasister, depending on your preferred gendered nomenclature). Brony-on-brony crime does nothing but bring shame upon the community. -via Yababoon

Ass Face Posted: 05 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Ass Face Are you proud of the fact that you can be a real ass sometimes? Let the world know that you may be a butt head, but you are a butt head with an amazing sense of humor. Halloween is the perfect time to don the Ass Face mask from the NeatoShop. This novelty mask looks like a plush butt with eyes and eyebrows. The mask comes complete with a poop-shaped cigar. This mask is a real gas. Don't let this item slip through the cracks.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Halloween items. Link

Teen Arrested for Grand Theft at Goodwill Store Posted: 05 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Andrew Anderson worked at a Goodwill store in East Naples, Florida, until he was arrested for grand theft. Anderson had been giving discounts to the poorest people who came into the store. The 19-year-old explained that he was trying to help those in need, inspired by the Goodwill, "a helping and giving company." Anderson says he never knew giving discounts was wrong or even illegal. "The intent I had was to help people, just like Goodwill says, we help people," Anderson said. Andrew says out of the two weeks he gave discounts, not once did he put a dollar in his own pocket and he even offered to pay back the money that Goodwill estimates he gave away. Store officials say none of that matters. "Our stores are not around to give a hand out, they're around to give people a hand up by providing funding, said Kirstin O'Donnell, a spokesperson for Goodwill Retail and Donation Center in East Naples. The store officials have a point. Several, in fact. * Anderson was not authorized to change prices on merchandise. * Goodwill's mission is employment programs, which are funded by the stores. * Let one employee get away with this, and others may follow. But there are other points to consider. * Goodwill's merchandise comes to them free. * Arresting a naive teenager is overkill. They could have just fired him. * It's also bad for public relations. The store manager estimated that Anderson gave away $4,000 in discounts in two weeks. Either that store is exceptionally busy, or the prices are very high. Would they have moved that much merchandise if it weren't discounted? Four days later, Goodwill dropped the charges against Anderson. -via The Week (Image credit: Flickr user Daniel Oines)

Introducing WildCat Posted: 05 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) Boston Dynamics has been working on the Cheetah robot for DARPA, and the infernal machine is now unleashed, with its new name WildCat. Watch it use several different gaits as it scoots along the pavement. It even trips and gets back up under its own steam! But …doesn't it seem to be running backwards? The legs appear to bend differently from the way a cat's legs do, as if the robot has one fewer joint. Anyway, it makes enough noise scare anyone within miles. -via Viral Viral Videos

30-40 Things That a Man Is Supposed to Own Posted: 05 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT These listicles are fairly common, but I came across two striking ones recently. First, at BuzzFeed (via Glenn Reynolds), Justin Abarca writes 40 Things Every Self-Respecting Man Over 30 Should Own. Some items on it are sensible: Well, you need to dress nicely to that job interview. I teach job interviewing at my school and I've found that a lot of my students don't know this. Yes, you need a decent suit and shoes to interview for any professional job or any non-professional job in a professional workplace (e.g. gopher in an office building). If something breaks--man or woman--you may need to fix it yourself. And even if you don't need to, you can save yourself money by doing repair jobs on your own. You also gain a greater sense of control over your own life because you're not dependent upon other people to solve every problem. Other items on Mr. Abarca's list seem outright silly: A bar set could be handy. But if you regard it as essential for every man, then alcohol has too high a priority in your life. And what they are saying is, "I am pretending to be someone who I am not." Own books to fill yourself, not to deceptively impress other people. This Facebook comment summarizes my general impression of Mr. Abarca's list: Amen to that! You are not stuff that you own. It is important to be able to do things (secure a good job, fix what is broken), it is not important not own particular things. I agree more with Thirty Basics for the American Man by Cobb (via American Digest). Here's a novel addition to the common meme: 2. The Truth  If it's the Bible or the Koran or the Constitution, somewhere in your possession you have to have a representation of the highest truths you believe. Not having that is almost as bad as not knowing what time it is.  Interesting! I don't have a totem like this, although I think that a couple books that are meaningful to me could serve the role. 18. Family Portrait Every man should have a family portrait, one photograph or painting that represents family. It might be just your sweetheart or your dad and mom. Maybe it's you and you little brother or your just your spooky great grandfather.  This is the first thing you take out of a burning building.  Now this I do possess. In fact, I've made a point of gathering around me photos of my family for this purpose. While I write My Little Pony posts, my grandfather in his World War II US Army uniform looks at me. I will, however, part with Mr. Cobb on this item: 8. Black Leather Jacket I shouldn't have to say anything else. Save up, spend the money. A leather jacket? I want to look like my father and grandfathers, not Fonzie. What do you think, Neatoramanauts? What would you add or delete from these lists? (Photos: Steffy-Beff, ABC)

This Week at Neatorama Posted: 05 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT Now that we are well into October, I hope you are checking out the Halloween blog for all kinds of spooky stuff to get you ready for the holiday. Our parade of featured costumes from our readers has been going on since Tuesday. Here are the first of them: No, it's not too late to send yours in. Send us a picture of a memorable Halloween costume from your past, whether it's one you wore or one you made. Tell us the story behind it, and we'll post it on the Halloween blog, just like these folks! As it gets close to Halloween, we'll give those who send in the best pictures t-shirts from the NeatoShop. Send your pictures to tips@neatorama.com and then look for it on the Halloween blog! Even if you don't send one, you'll want to see all the featured costumes so far, and check back every day on the Halloween blog for more. We had a guest post from J. Tithonus Pednaud in The Heart Cherished by Frankentstein's Maker. It's an excerpt from his forthcoming book. Jill Harness gave us 13 Geek Characters Reimagined As Classic Pinups. Eddie Deezen looked at the song "A Horse With No Name" -What Does That Mean? On the Spotlight blog, we saw an amazing creation in You Can Bring This Mother of All Swiss Army Knives to a Gunfight. Alex had two more entries in the "5 Facts" series: 5 Yummy Facts About Cinnabon and Here Are 5 Fun Facts About Coffee For National Coffee Day. War Plan Red: The U.S. Plan to Invade Canada came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. The Annals of Improbable Rsearch contributed Cat Research Review. The Secret Lives of Kitchen Spices was from mental_floss magazine. This week, we welcomed a new collaboration with the site Pzzler, in which we present one of their many riddles. This week's entry was Ready, Aim, Fire! Look for a new Pzzler every Wednesday.   Hy Conrad's Whodunit this week was Mrs. Krenshaw's Spare Key. In the What Is It? game this week, the pictured object is a twelve-barrel hand-crafted copper brewing kettle that was used by the Lemp Brewing Company in St. Louis, circa 1840. That's interesting, but not nearly as funny as the answers Neatoramanauts came up with! Bryan Hoerber said it was the tomb of Augustus Gloop inside Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Samantha Simons said it was the first attempt at an Iron Man suit. While doing an experiment with using methane gas as a fuel there was an accident. At first he had the right amount inside the suit, and the suit looked normal. But here's where things went bad. The previous night, he had eaten several burritos with extra beans. So with the combination of the gas inside the suit and the gas created by Iron Man himself, his suit expanded with a loud Phhhtttttbbbbttttt! Sound! Both those answers are good enough to win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! And the rest of the entries are pretty funny, too -you should check them out. Find the answers to all of this week's mystery items at the What Is It? blog. According to the Neatorama polls this week, you think that this chart accurately explains the different cultures of the world, sex between consenting adults who are tangentially related by marriage should not be called incest, and red pandasare cuter then giant pandas. Also, you think a college degree is still worth the time and expense, the government shutdown does not affect you, and the Marina Shriflrin dance video and its followup are probably viral stunts. The post with the most comments this week was How's the US Government Shutdown Affecting You? In second place was a tie between "A Horse With No Name" -What Does That Mean? and Vegetarian Specials. The comments of the week came from Mag Pie, who explained her preference for red pandas by saying, "The red ones taste minty," and Barking Bud, who responded to the submarine in the street stunt with this image: The most popular post was by far You Can Bring This Mother of All Swiss Army Knives to a Gunfight on the Spotlight blog. That was followed by War Plan Red: The U.S. Plan to Invade Canada, and The World’s Grimmest Cupcakescame in third. The post that people ♥ed most was Otter Wants to Play and Adorable Baby Laughs in His Sleep. What stood out on social media this week was You Can Bring This Mother of All Swiss Army Knives to a Gunfight, which was our #1 post on Facebook and G+, and it tied with The World’s Grimmest Cupcakes on Twitter. It's easy to share our items on your social networks: click on the title, and then at the bottom you'll see handy buttons for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+. You'll also find a list of related posts, and a button to email the post to your friends. Speaking of social networking, there's always something going on at the Neatoramanauts Facebook page, and be sure to visit our Pinterest board and Twitter feed, too! And the NeatoShop has its own Pinterest board now, too!

Working in a Public Library Posted: 05 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT I can laugh at John McNamee's comic, but only because I don't work in a public library anymore. It may be for the best. Some public libraries are building freestanding erotica genre sections and providing erotica readers' advisory services. The Seattle Public Library, at one point, openly supported the right of patrons to view pornography on public access computers. These are complications I would rather avoid. The bathrooms are around the corner and to the left.

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