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2014/01/12

Neatorama

Neatorama

Mr. Potato Head Captain Kirk and Klingon Kor

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 04:00 AM PST

Mr. Potato Head Captain Kirk and Klingon Kor

Potatoes... The final frontier. These are they toys of true Star Trek fans. Their continuing mission: To explore strange new toy chests. To boldly go where no Mr. Potato Head has gone before. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Star Trek items. 

Link

Neatolinks: Peter Pan Parties, Giger Bars and Cool Movie Trivia

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 04:00 AM PST

Inside The Homes Of Brooklynites Circa 1978

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 02:00 AM PST

It was the age of lounge lizards, leisure suits and some of the tackiest looking home furnishings to ever lower real estate values, the 1970s taught us about political scandal, racial relations and how not to dress, and perusing photos and home movies from the era is probably the best way for people nowadays to get a sense of what life was like way back then.

The swanky images in this series were taken in 1978 by Dinanda H. Nooney, and they show what life was like in Brooklyn during the 70s, specifically life indoors, for hundreds of people who called Brooklyn, New York home. The series, now known as The Nooney Brooklyn Photographs, contains over 500 gelatin silver prints and gives us an unparalleled look into the time before the borough became Hipster Heaven.

Via Dangerous Minds

The Difference Between Anime Fans and Non-Anime Fans

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 12:00 AM PST

I showed this cartoon to my wife, who isn't an anime fan, and she burst out laughing. It's spot-on correct.

Caldwell Tanner drew this cartoon and wrote:

This comic is based on a conversation my friend and I were having about a new anime we’ve been watching and, to drive home my point, I am legitimately too embarrassed to tell you which one.

But, however, you are welcome to guess.

Now, now, Caldwell. Battle Girls: Time Paradox is a cute show and nothing to be embarrassed about.

Say Hello to the Worms of Your Nightmares

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 11:00 PM PST

This isn't a photoshop. It's a picture of the giant gippsland, a worm that reaches up to nine feet in length don't worry, they don't usally grow longer than three feet long. Yeah, it's pretty much just alive for the sake of giving you nightmares.

The worm takes up to five years to mature and can actually live for a full decade. If you're screaming just looking at these photos, there is one thing that might make you feel a little better, the giant gippsland rarely comes to the surface during its entire life -though that does mean that if you visit Australia they're going to be hanging out, writhing under your feet. Well, you will probably actually hear the audible gurgles their bodies make as they slither underground.

Think of them next time you have a hard time sleeping, just think of these monster worms and then you'll be motivated to get up out of bed and go do something since you won't be sleeping any time soon anyway.

A Living Time Capsule

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 10:00 PM PST

Some living things can be held in a suspended animation of sorts and be "resurrected" long afterward. Plant seeds are the most common example, and the brine shrimp capsules that develop into "sea monkeys" are a familiar animal example of cryptobiosis.

A shrimp called Daphnia is more commonly known as a water flea. Their egg cases can develop into water fleas months later, or they can sink into the sediment of lake bottoms, where they remain dormant. Evolutionary ecologist Lawrence J. Weider developed a method for resurrecting these eggs after years of dormancy. He hatched a plan to dig up old Daphnia eggs from the bottom of Minnesota lakes and compare the resulting animals to current populations, to see how the changing environments of the lakes (which were well documented) led to any differences in the water fleas. The results of the experiment are fascinating. But that's not what's most mind-boggling about this story.    

To gather the animals, Dr. Weider and his colleagues took a boat out on the lakes. “It’s a smaller version of a party barge, with a hole cut out of the deck,” he said.

Through the hole, the scientists lowered a tube and pushed it about three feet into the sediment — deep enough, Dr. Weider thought, to gather water flea eggs a few decades old.

The scientists then went back to Oklahoma, sifted the cases from the mud, and started resurrecting the animals. They also extracted Daphnia DNA, giving them more data to analyze.

Only then did Dr. Weider get an estimate for the age of the sediment in South Center Lake from another lab.

“I said, ‘Are you kidding me?'” said Dr. Weider.

The lab concluded that the bottom of the lake’s sediment core was about 1,600 years old. The oldest eggs that Dr. Weider and his colleagues had successfully hatched were about 700 years old.

Read about the 700-year-old shrimp and what they tell us about how changing environments change species in an article by Carl Zimmer at the New York Times. -via Not Exactly Rocket Science

(Image credit: Dagmar Frisch)

Helicopter Truck

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 09:00 PM PST

(Photo: Advanced Tactics)

The US military would like to have a drone vehicle that can quickly evacuate wounded personnel from a battlefield. The Black Knight Transformer is the response of Advanced Tactics, a defense contractor, to that need.

The Black Knight can fly into dangerous areas using eight rotors and maneuver over rugged terrain if weather makes flight impossible. While on the ground, the helicopter blades fold in. Wounded soldiers can fit inside.

The US Marine Corps has its eyes on the Black Knight. It would like to have a drone that can carry cargo and the Black Knight may be up for the task.

Advanced Tactics, the developer, has already tested its ground capabilities. The company plans to test the flying capacity by the end of February.

A Visit to an Underwater Art Museum

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 08:00 PM PST

The last time we checked in on the MUSA underwater art museum, it was under construction. The concrete sculptures were set eight meters under water to act as a natural reef and to draw divers away from the delicate natural reefs nearby.

Mike Powell and Jürgen Horn, who are living in Yucatán for 91 Days, took the opportunity to explore the Museo Subacuático de Arte off the coast of Isla Mujeres in Mexico, now finished and open to scuba divers. As you can see, organisms, including coral, are beginning to grow on the statues, just as planned. You can see more pictures plus videos of the MUSA dive and another to Manchones Reef at Yucatán for 91 Days.  

Doctors Remove 2 cm Long Cockroach from Man's Ear

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 07:00 PM PST

(Photo: ABC)

Hendrik Helmer of Karama, Northern Territory, Australia woke up at 2:30 in the morning with a sharp pain in one of his ears--like something was burrowing into his head. He tried to flush it out with water, but that only angered the creature.

So he went to the hospital. Doctors used forceps to remove a 2 centimeter-long cockroach from his ear.

Mr. Helmer now sleeps with headphones or earplugs.

Here's a video of the encounter:


(Video Link)

-via Dave Barry

10 Animals Who Can Talk

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 06:00 PM PST

Most of us find it impressive to see a dog that knows more than a handful of basic commands, but that's small potatoes compared to these amazing animals who can actually speak. Take N'kisi (the parrot above), for example, who has a vocabulary of more than 950 words and has a basic understanding of verb tenses. 

In a story told by Jane Goodall, after seeing a photo of the acclaimed primatologist, N'kisi had the opportunity to meet her in person, whereupon he looked at her and asked, "Got a chimp?"

And that's only one critter of the 10 amazing talking ones on the list over at Oddee.

Dramatic Reconstruction of a YouTube Comment Faux Pas

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 05:00 PM PST

(YouTube link)

The UK comedy group Dead Parrot is up to the 5th episode of their YouTube Comment Reconstruction series (see episode one here). They wade into the cesspool of YouTube comments to find treasures so that you and I don't have to.

In this video, British actors Grahame Edwards and Eryl Lloyd Parry reconstruct an exchange between commenters Sudasha Patel and SGOR2047 under the video "Nelson Mandela is Dead - Official News." Both are paying their respects, in the strangest of ways. NSFW language. -via Laughing Squid

Frog Legs and Python Meat Pizza

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST

(Photo: Evan Daniell)

It’s called the Everglades Pie. Evan Daniell, the owner of Evan’s Neighborhood Pizza in Fort Myers, Florida, invented it. The Everglades Pie is a mixture of many creatures from that swamp: hog, frog legs, python and swamp cabbage.

He devised the recipe about 2 years ago after pythons, an invasive species in Florida, became prolific. It’s his way of culling the population. It costs $45 for a 14-inch pizza, largely because python meat costs about $66 a pound. So far, about 150 people have purchased it at his restaurant.

-via Ian Chant

A Burbank Deli That Encourages Animators To Draw On The Walls

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 03:00 PM PST

Burbank is a magical place where animation comes to life, and when the hard working animators behind our favorite cartoon shows get hungry there’s only one place to go- Moore’s Deli.

Owner Robert Moore once worked as an executive chef at Dodger’s Stadium, but nowadays he has embraced his animated clientele by allowing them to add their own signature masterpieces to the white walls in the back room of his restaurant.

Robert even provides Sharpies in case the artists show up empty handed, and lovers of animation will go squee when they see their favorite characters from Futurama, Adventure Time, Spongebob Squarepants and many other shows adorning the walls of this cartoon oasis, and the food ain't half bad either!

Via Cartoon Brew

What Would Yellow Ranger Do?

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 02:00 PM PST

Americans tend to ask people they've just met where they are from. If the person is obviously white, a simple answer like "here" or "New York City" will suffice. The question is just an icebreaker. But if you are not obviously white, your answer can elicit followup questions that grow tiring after hearing them over and over for years. People ask my daughter where she is from, and if she says "here," they say, no, where are you really from? If she says "China," they compliment her on her English, which is her only language. Since we live in a small town, she was once even asked which restaurant she belonged to -which she found hilarious, as if there is obviously no other reason an Asian person would live here. Those are common experiences for people of Asian descent all over America, whether they were born in the U.S. or not.  

Sculptor (and sometimes cartoonist) Shing Yin Khor wrote a comic about putting up with people who first and foremost want to know her ethnic background, even when they really don't care. She addresses her concerns to her childhood hero, the Yellow Power Ranger (Trini Kwan) as the childhood superhero she identified with. Her funny but thought-provoking comic posted at the Toast is much longer than the excerpt here, and some subject matter is NSFW.  -via Metafilter

A Public Library Will Begin Offering High School Diplomas

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST

(Photo by Sheila Thomson)

Public libraries have long been a means for people to educate themselves by making vast amounts of information available at low cost.

The Los Angeles Public Library is going further in this direction. It will offer fully accredited high school diplomas to patrons who complete their curriculum.

Although many libraries offer GED exams and preparation courses for those exams, this library is hosting courses for credits that students must complete in order to earn their diploma. The library has partnered with Smart Horizons, a private education company. Students take courses online but regularly meet at the library.

In the first year of the program, the library hopes to have 150 students at a cost of $150,000.

-via Marginal Revolution

Toddler's Double Take

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 12:00 PM PST

(YouTube link)

A man takes his toddler daughter to visit his identical twin brother for the first time. She knows what Daddy looks like and sounds like, but now there's suddenly two of them! She has no trouble going to her uncle, but keeps looking back and forth at both guys in adorable confusion. -via Viral Viral Videos

Thirst Aid

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST

Thirst Aid

Quench your thirst for fun reusable drink containers with the Thirst Aid container from the NeatoShop. This fantastic reusable hydration pack looks like a saline drip pouch. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Barware & Cocktail items. 

Link

Get In Shape: The Marvel Way!

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST

Having trouble keeping your New Year's resolution? Well then let these Marvel heroes help inspired you to get moving with The Mighty Marvel Comics Strength and Fitness Book.

All your favorites are here ready to help get you in shape with tricks like the Fantastic One-Two-Three-Four, Super Dude's Free Squats, Peter's Perpendicular Leg Extensions, Banner's Bellicose Bench Presses and more. It just goes to show that whatever you need help with, Marvel Heroes are there for you.

Via Marvel Age of Comics

Formal Wedding Venue

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 10:00 AM PST

A winter wedding makes a bride want to inciorporate  snow into the ceremony, but there's none in Florida. None? Au contraire, you can find snow if you look hard enough! Susanne Grieve and Jeff Rawson were married yesterday inside the penguin exhibit at Seaworld in Orlando. It was a particularly formal event, as all the wedding guests wore either tuxedos or nun's habits. -via reddit

(Image credit: Jason Collier/SeaWorld Orlando)

The Lines on This Checkerboard Pattern Are Straight

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST

Really! Watch this video to see how it works.


(Video Link)

Wasn't that cool? This illusion was developed by Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a specialist in the field whose work we've featured previously.

-via TYWKIWDBI

P.S. If the lines still look curved, then ease up on the schnapps a bit.

Horror Film Baby Announcement

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

(YouTube link)

Engagements have become big public productions with hidden videographers to record it all. Weddings were already over the top, but now they aren't complete until you take pictures of the wedding party running away from dinosaurs or monsters. And when you find out you're going to have a baby, that calls for even more imagination. And a video.

Brandon Pitts and his wife made a horror movie to let friends and family know what's going on. It's pretty creepy up until the twist. -via Buzzfeed

Spoof Ads Imagine Louis C.K. As Calvin Klein Spokesman

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST

Fans of comedian and show creator Louis C.K. are aware that his initials don't stand for Calvin Klein, but Louis gets asked that question so often he's sick and tired of explaining that there's no relation between his initials and the fashion designer.

Even though there's no connection between the comedian and Calvin, it's fun to imagine what a CK One advertising campaign would look like if Louis C.K. was the spokesman, and that hilarious premise is the basis for a new spoof Tumblr called Louis CK One.

With ridiculous ads that feature Louis posing where only super toned supermodels have posed before, this is one site that's sure to bring the laughs- at least until the premise runs out of steam.

Via DesignTAXI

This Week at Neatorama

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 06:00 AM PST

Did you survive winter storm Hercules and the polar vortex? It seems like all we talked about for several days this week was the bitter cold. Alex, Jill, and Zeon all live in sunny southern California, and John bragged about getting down to a chilly 50º in Texas. Meanwhile, I was stuck at home with bored children due to ice-covered roads and subzero temperatures. I curtained off the kitchen door to save heat, and most of my houseplants back in the solarium died from cold. I'm glad that room is no longer my office! When the road conditions improved, school was further cancelled because of frozen water pipes, so now my kids have been home for three weeks straight. I'm still glad I didn't have to go out and actually drive to work. But we had some good reading besides cold and snow this week. I hope you get a chance to catch up on anything you might have missed.    

John Farrier told us about The 10 Best Alternate Histories.

Eddie Deezen wrote Little Buddy: The Life of Bob Denver on what would have been his birthday.

Inflating, Inverting, and Shaking the Strangulated Hernia Patient was from the Annals of Improbable Research.

From Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, we had Don't Believe Everything You Hear.

The story behind The Feminine Mystique came from mental_floss magazine.

We had one poll this week, asking Should Christmas Fall on a Fixed Day of the Week? The majority of readers said it should stay on December 25th, whenever that falls in the week.

Our Whodunit this week was called The Disabled Lookout. The Pzzlr was about Three Coins. Did you figure them out?

In this week's What Is It? game, the object in question was never authoritatively identified, and even the What is It? blog doesn't know what it is. That doesn't keep us from awarding prizes, because we were looking for the funniest guesses! Rubinsky said it was a Peppermint Patty trap. "Down on the farm, those little choco-minty delights would be zipping around all over the place at blazing speed, and the only way to catch one was to use this device." Randall told a story about it:

Remember POGS? This is 'the' pog press. Remember how many of them there was, there were millions, they were everywhere. All of them came from this damn press. This is the only one. I worked the midnight to eight shift, 3.75 an hour. Seventeen months in Minot, North Dakota, pressing pogs. Damn Damn Damn.

So Rubinsky and Randall both win t-shirts from the Neatoshop! See the answers to the other mystery  items of the week at the What Is It? blog.

The post with the most comments this week was 9 Rules for Naming Your Baby, with The 10 Best Alternate Histories and Can a Quiz Predict Your Politics? following.

The most popular post from this week was The Worst Possible Online Dating Profile, followed by The 10 Best Alternate Histories in second place, and Before Street Lights, There Were Moonlight Towers was third. Way to go, John!

The post drawing the most hearts was A Random Act of Kindness by a Dairy Queen Employee. Second was Using Sand To Cast A Hexagonal Pewter Stool, and in third place was RIP William Overstreet, A World War II Fighter Ace Who Flew Through the Eiffel Tower.

The most emailed post was Winter Sun and Little Buddy: The Life of Bob Denver. Those were the posts emailed by our handy little button at the bottom of the post. You are certainly welcome to email links out the old-fashioned way if you prefer!

Looking around the Neatorama "empire," it occurs to me that the readers of this blog might not realize how spread out we really are. Of course, we have the subblogs for specialized tastes, which you can access from the menu across the top of this page. Then we have our new sister blog, Homes and Hues, which is like porn for anyone who is into architecture, design, home decorating, or remodeling. Or anyone who just wants to dream about the perfect human nest.

We also have our spots at all the most popular social media sites, too. The Neatoramanauts Facebook page has lots of extra treats. The most popular item this week was <-- this visual pun by Patrick Hastie. And we have a whole bunch of specialized boards at Pinterest so you can find what you're interested in! Follow us on Twitter, too.

And powering all of these sites is the NeatoShop, where you can always find new and exclusive items, and save on our clearance and sale stuff.

We want your input! If you see something neat on the internet that we should post, send it to tips@neatorama. If you have technical problems with the site, write to bugsneatorama.com. If you are an author or publisher and would like to submit a book excerpt for publication, write to alex@neatorama.com. If you have an adorable picture of your pets, send it to jill@neatorama.com. And we love to see your comments under our posts! 

Have a great week, everyone!
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