Neatorama

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• Neatolinks:
• Nested Chopstick Designs
• Waiting for the Bus
• The Ninja Way To Avoid Carbonated Beverage Fizz-Tastrophies
• A Visit to the Collision Repair Shop
• College Offers Degree in Beer
• The Weird History of Pogs
• 9 Rules for Naming Your Baby
• Secrets Of Snow-Diving Foxes
• Happi Tooth Fairy Animal Pillow
• Man Dresses Up Exactly Like Gap Mannequins Then Poses Next To Them
• Despite Appearances, No One Died
• RIP William Overstreet, A World War II Fighter Ace Who Flew Through the Eiffel Tower
• GIFs, Now With Sound!
• Argument: Thor Is the New Superman
• Disney Princesses in College
• When the Party Gets Boring
• A Supercut Of Actors In Commercials Before They Were Famous
• The Pastor Behind Snake Salvation
• Woman Reenacts Selfies from the Man Who Has Her Cell Phone
• This Week at Neatorama
• Neatolinks: Please Pet Doge, Then Enjoy Some Art

Neatolinks: Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:00 AM PST The Municipal Super Mario Builing (Geeks Are Sexy) Are Your Health Supplements Legit or Just Snake Oil? (io9) Doctor Who Tattoos? Give Me About 20, Thanks (Buzzfeed) She Found the One Ring, But Doesn't Have the Strength of Frodo (The Mary Sue) Bill Nye Takes On Creationists In A Modern Day Scopes Monkey Trial (Geekosystem) Image: I Mustache You A Question Puppy (Cute Overload)

Nested Chopstick Designs Posted: 05 Jan 2014 02:00 AM PST (Photos: Nendo) You can always rely on the Japanese design firm Nendo to come up with fresh ideas. We've previously featured their cylindrical computer mouse, their climbing wall inspired by Alice in Wonderland and their edible craft supplies. More recently, Nendo has been experimenting with chopstick designs. Its new line is designed to fit a pair into a complete form. The top 2 photos show a design called rassen, which means helix. It's a reference to the structure of DNA. The bottom design has built-in magnets to keep the chopsticks together when not in use. You can view more photos here.

Waiting for the Bus Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:00 AM PST This art print by Dave Collinson looks a little strange. Nice, but what's the point…. Oh, I get it! Do you? Think about it.  -via Daily of the Day

The Ninja Way To Avoid Carbonated Beverage Fizz-Tastrophies Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:00 PM PST (Video Link) Don’t you hate it when you’re at a social function and go to open a carbonated beverage only to have the whole thing explode all over you, turning you into a sticky mess? It can be a total buzzkill, and may ruin any chance you have of successfully partying the night away. Luckily a guy named Grant Thompson, aka The King of Random, made a video that shows you how to avoid getting Sprite all over your face like a totally inept loser. He calls his trick the Soda Ninja Swipe, and learning this technique may save your life one day, or at least make you look like less of an oaf at your next shindig appearance. Via Lifehacker

A Visit to the Collision Repair Shop Posted: 04 Jan 2014 10:00 PM PST Jennifer Lapier of Colleyville, Texas, was contacted by police Wednesday night and was told that someone had entered her business, Lone Star Collision Repair. That someone had been driving a GMC Yukon, which had crashed into a sedan and then upside-down into the building, right under the sign. A grandfather who was driving the sedan that was hit was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries along with his granddaughter, who was in the passenger seat. "Had somebody been in the backseat, they would not have survived," said Captain Robert Hinton with the Colleyville Police. "There was very little left of the car." The shop was open on Thursday, and Lapier said no cars inside were damaged, but the storage room has a big hole in the wall. The unnamed driver of the SUV was taken into custody. Police believed that alcohol may have been a factor. -via Arbroath (Image credit: Jennifer Lapier)

College Offers Degree in Beer Posted: 04 Jan 2014 09:00 PM PST (Out of Control Pint Glass now on sale at the NeatoShop) No, it’s not a beer tasting or beer appreciation degree. Maybe there’s a class for that, but this degree from Blue Ridge Community College in North Carolina will instead teach people how to make alcoholic beverages at a professional level. The college anticipates that the state government will approve of its associate of applied science degree in brewing, distillation and fermenting before the program launches this fall. The college hopes to train people to work in the region’s growing beer and wine industry. The program trains students in mechatronics and the practical skills of fermenting wine, brewing beer and distilling liquor. -via Dave Barry

The Weird History of Pogs Posted: 04 Jan 2014 08:00 PM PST Pogs were a game, a trading card, and a souvenir all rolled into one. They were very popular among kids during the late 1980s and early '90s. But they have a history that goes back much further. The actual gameplay behind pogs has long been attributed to the classic Japanese game of Menko (above), which has been popular since the Edo Period (between 1603 and 1867) and also centered on players attempting to flip the cards or pieces of their opponent. Much like modern pogs, the original Menko playing pieces were roughly the size of milk caps and featured images of Japanese cultural icons, like wrestlers and warriors. These pieces weren't made out of cardboard or plastic, but shaped from clay, wood, or ceramics (though Menko later included cardboard pieces that are considered the forerunners of trading cards). But how did pogs become a huge fad in the late 20th century? The rest of the story, including how they came to be called pogs, is at mental_floss.

9 Rules for Naming Your Baby Posted: 04 Jan 2014 07:00 PM PST (Baby Chef - Layette Set now on sale at the NeatoShop) The most unusual baby name that I proposed was Svetlana. My wife vetoed it. I don't blame her and probably wouldn't have gone through with it anyway. A child should have perhaps an interesting baby name, but not a weird one. We live in an age in which Cheese is an actual baby name and some parents are selecting names from the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey, so it's necessary to tell this to people. Drew Magary of GQ has 9 helpful tips that future parents may want to keep in mind when thinking about naming their children. Here's a selection: 1. Do not invent a name. Most inventions fail. Many don't even make it past the patent stage. What makes you think a name you created out of thin air is gonna stand the test of time? There's a reason why "Jane" and "David" have hung around for so long. They're proven. They've been workshopped out in the field. That's not true of Kaydiss. You didn't even run it past a focus group. You're putting the responsibility for an entire new product launch on that poor baby's shoulders. That's a dick move. This also goes for any classic name that you deliberately mutilated. No one's gonna be dazzled that you took Christopher and turned it into Krystougher. [...] 6. Do not use double letters if you don't have to. Branlee. That's a real name. People have used it, just as they've used Kylee, Sandee, and thousands of other homemade names that deploy double e's and double n's wherever possible because…well, beecausee! It just looks betterr, doesn't it?! We're on the verge of triple letters. In two years, a Trissstyn will show up at your country day school and everyone's head will explode. [...] 7. Do not name your child after the following things: A television network An item in the Pottery Barn catalog Some goddamn character in Twilight A car A type of New Age exercise method Yourself Food Any celebrity baby. We already have one Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette. We don't need a second one. What would you add to the list? -via David Thompson

Secrets Of Snow-Diving Foxes Posted: 04 Jan 2014 06:00 PM PST You've seen videos of foxes hunting for mice underneath a blanket of snow. They don't catch the mouse (or mole or other creature) all the time, but enough to make it worth the effort. How does a fox sense where its prey is, how fast it's moving, and where to jump to intercept it? Robert Krulwich at NPR looks at some of the research on foxes and their winter prey. A Czech study had 23 hunters and biologists record 84 foxes making over 600 snow jumps. When they looked at each other's notes, the researchers saw a pattern: For some reason, Czech foxes prefer to jump in a particular direction — toward the northeast. (To be more precise, it's about 20 degrees off "magnetic north" — the "N" on your compass.) As the video above says, most of the time, most foxes miss their targets and emerge covered in snow and (one presumes) a little embarrassed. But when they pointed in that particular northeasterly direction, Ed writes, "they killed on 73 percent of their attacks." If they reversed direction, and jumped exactly the opposite way, they killed 60 percent of the time. But in all other directions — east, south, west, whatever — they sucked. Only 18 percent of those jumps were successful. Strange, but how does having an internal compass help a fox hunt prey? We don't know for sure, but a possible explanation is offered at NPR, along with a video and more illustrations. (Image credit: Robert Krulwich)

Happi Tooth Fairy Animal Pillow Posted: 04 Jan 2014 05:00 PM PST Happi Tooth Fairy Animal Pillow (sold individually) Will the Tooth Fairy be making an appearance in your home soon? Celebrate this milestone with a Happy Tooth Fairy Animal Pillow from the NeatoShop. This adorable plush pillow features a heart shaped pocket perfect for holding a tiny tooth.  The Happi Tooth Fairy Animal Pillow is available in:  Elephant Hedgehog Dog and Lion Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Plush Toys.  Link

Man Dresses Up Exactly Like Gap Mannequins Then Poses Next To Them Posted: 04 Jan 2014 05:00 PM PST Mannequins are pretty much just glorified clothes hangers, and even the ones that are given creepy faces or realistic hair still don’t actually look like people, yet somehow these headless mannequins from the Gap look just like Vancouver resident Steve Venegas. Maybe he used to work as a figure model for a mannequin maker, or perhaps he actually had his flesh and blood torso replaced with that of a male mannequin, either way he’s hell bent on showing the Gap stores in his area that they should hire him as their full time display dummy. Check out his ongoing photo series called The Gap Mannequin Project and you’ll see how much better it is to have a man hanging around the store rather than a headless mannequin. Via 22 Words

Despite Appearances, No One Died Posted: 04 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST Kansas City is going all out to support their football team. The Parks and Recreation department has a history of dying the city fountains for special occasions, mostly blue for the Royals, but Friday called for red. Unfortunately, the fountain was frozen. From the Facebook page: In support of the Chiefs going to the playoffs and RED FRIDAY, we are dyeing the Northland Fountain red. This is the first time we have attempted to dye a frozen fountain. It may appear to be a gory mess, but let's pretend it's a re-enactment of the The Cat in The Hat Comes Back. See more pictures here. -via Deadspin

RIP William Overstreet, A World War II Fighter Ace Who Flew Through the Eiffel Tower Posted: 04 Jan 2014 03:00 PM PST Captain William Overstreet Jr. died in Roanoke, Virginia at the age of 92. During World War II, he flew a P-51 Mustang fighter plane. During the liberation of France, he performed one of the most daring fighter combat actions ever witnessed. You can read an extensive wartime biography here. Captain Overstreet was a daring and aggressive pilot. During training, he did loops around the Golden Gate Bridge. Later, in Europe, during the spring of 1944, he had escort duty on a bomber mission. He chased after a German fighter plane through central Paris: The German’s engine was hit, and Bill stayed on his tail braving the intense enemy flak. His desperation undoubtedly growing, the German pilot aimed his plane at the Eiffel Tower and in a surprising maneuver, flew beneath it. Undeterred, Bill followed right behind him, scoring several more hits in the process. The German plane crashed and Bill escaped the heavy flak around Paris by flying low and full throttle over the river until he had cleared the city’s heavy anti-aircraft batteries. (Len Krenzler/Action Art) For his wartime record, the French ambassador to the United States presented Captain Overstreet with the Legion of Honor in 2009. -via Ace of Spades HQ (Photo: Roanoke Star)

GIFs, Now With Sound! Posted: 04 Jan 2014 02:00 PM PST (YouTube link) A fairly recent subreddit, /r/gifsound, is dedicated to putting an appropriate soundtrack onto popular gifs. Here's a compilation of their best creations from the past year. The YouTube page has a list of the posts they are taken from. You can go back through each to find the original video or gif if you are that curious. -via Daily Picks and Flicks

Argument: Thor Is the New Superman Posted: 04 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST Thor and its sequel Thor: The Dark World have done well in movie theaters. Fans have likewise found that titular character appealing in the Avengers movies. The Man of Steel, the most recent Superman movie, however, has not done as well. Nor have many other DC movies. In the National Post, Steve Murray argues that this is because Superman and Batman, the two biggest DC movie characters, have lost a common connection with humanity: Thor smiles; naturally, even. The new Superman smiles with sad eyes, like it’s a bone thrown to the audience to let them know that this isn’t just a flying Batman. Thor battles the bad guys with a sense of fun, even though, and here’s the interesting part, he’s a warrior who surely kills people. So, do I have a double standard here? Why is it OK for fictional alien do-gooder No. 1 to kill people and not the other guy? Well, it’s all in the execution, so to speak. Superman unleashed holy hell in a dark, painfully contrived, no-win scenario, culminating in a disturbing snapping of a person’s neck. Thor threw his super-hammer at a rock monster in a daylight battle, smashing it to pieces, and then delivering a fun quip. Did that rock monster have a rock family? A little rock monster at home, wondering where rock daddy is? I don’t know. Who cares? It was gleeful and ludicrous and unreal, like a comic book. Bloodless and bright. Thor is fun, the way Superman should be; his cape is a bright, hopeful red and you want to hang out with him. The Superman in Man of Steel is a guy you want to keep your distance from, more coldly alien than the Asgardian who just arrived here. They’re both  immigrants to Earth, but even though the Man of Steel Superman was raised here, Thor feels more connected to humans in his movies, more their champion. More their Superman. Do you agree with this analysis? -via Jeremy Barker (Image: Steve Murray)

Disney Princesses in College Posted: 04 Jan 2014 12:00 PM PST Several of the Disney princesses got into college. Some of them are attentive students. Others have problems, but typical ones for college students. Hallie Cantor and Paul Westover illustrated Cinderella, Aurora, Rapunzel, Mulan, Merida, Ariel and Tiana enjoying the college lifestyle. What happened to Snow White, Belle, Jasmine and Pocahontas after high school? -via Nerd Approved

When the Party Gets Boring Posted: 04 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST Redditor arc_en_ciel built a ball pit inspired by Randall Munroe's personal ball pit. That's been quite some time ago, and there have been many good times in the pit. But on New Year's Eve, it appears that the party was lagging somewhat, and the partygoers turned to sorting balls by color. Another redditor, Broskander, posted a picture so that everyone will know.

A Supercut Of Actors In Commercials Before They Were Famous Posted: 04 Jan 2014 10:00 AM PST (Video Link) Have you been losing sleep at night wondering where all those big name celebrities got their start? Are you going crazy trying to figure out the first televised appearance of Leonardo DiCaprio, Aaron Paul or Tina Fey? Well, prepare to sleep easy my friend, because the crazed videophiles at Screen Junkies have put together one heck of a supercut that shows totally famous people before they were totally famous. Before They Were Famous #2 is guaranteed to change your life, because you’ll get to see how uncool the rich and famous are before they become rich and famous...and cool. Everybody's got to start somewhere, why not start out selling some fried chicken or some Corn Pops? Via Uproxx

The Pastor Behind Snake Salvation Posted: 04 Jan 2014 09:01 AM PST A few years ago, Alex posted about kudzu, and I couldn't believe how many people were unfamiliar with it. There are other things that I've been aware of all my life, but only as an adult did I realize that not everyone else knows about them. For example: snake-handling churches. In my youth, I could take you down country roads and show you churches that practiced snake-handling. I've even attended one or two, although I never witnessed the snake ritual. See, the practice is outlawed in every state except West Virginia, and back then at least, the snakes would be skipped if there was anyone at the service who wasn't known by the congregation. That was thirty or forty years ago. Today, any niche activity possible is made into a reality television show. For a couple of months last fall, the National Geographic Channel aired a series called Snake Salvation, which centered on Andrew Hamblin, the 22-year-old pastor of the Tabernacle Church of God in LaFollette, Tennesee. Hamblin and his congregation use venomous snakes in their services in response to Mark 16:18 (KJV) "They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Hamblin was inspired when he attended a church in Middlesboro, Kentucky, in which snakes were handled. After Hamblin founded his own church, he traveled to Jolo, West Virginia, to learn from Pastor Mack Wolford, who was possibly the most-publicized snake-handling preacher in recent times.    At Wolford’s church in Jolo, a handwritten sign on the altar reads: “The Paster [sic] and Congregation are not Responsible for anyone that handles the Serpent’s [sic] and gets out. If you get bit the church will stand by you and pray with you. And the same goes with drinking the poison.” Most serpent handlers choose not to see a doctor if they’re bitten. When Wolford was bitten in his thigh by a timber rattlesnake during a service in 2012, he refused medical treatment until it was too late. Imagine: Ten hours after being bitten, you’re lying on a couch in your mother’s home while she holds your hand. Imagine: Her husband, your father, died in that same house, from the same kind of bite, 30 years before. Imagine: The venom is destroying the flesh around your very nerves, and your best friend, who’s there with you, asks you if you want to go to the hospital. Imagine telling him no. After the services end, Hamblin sits down next to me on a pew at the front of his church’s sanctuary, crosses his legs, and folds his hands in his lap. I can hear cars pulling out of the parking lot outside. He and I are alone in the church but it’s not uncomfortable. In fact, even though I know a rattlesnake is in a box under the altar, barely 10 feet away from us, I feel remarkably safe. There’s something about Hamblin — he’s just open. Wide-eyed, and totally candid. “I miss Pastor Mack so much,” Hamblin tells me. He wasn’t there when Wolford was bitten, but he was one of several pastors at his funeral who preached and handled serpents over their friend’s open casket. “But, it was his time. God called him home and he went,” he says as he massages two fingers on his right hand, crippled from a rattlesnake bite. He cannot make a fist with that hand. “You know, he” — Wolford — “was the one who convinced me to let reporters come here. He always had journalists and photographers up at Jolo. Then we got wrote about in that article there,” Hamblin says, pointing to a framed Wall Street Journal article hanging in the entryway, “and it was after that we got asked to do the show.” Now, you've seen at least advertisements for reality TV shows that are clearly not reality. When a TV show purports to follow people who are breaking the law (think moonshine, marijuana, and a certain "mafia"), you would expect law enforcement to follow the production crew -if it were real. That's exactly what happened in the case of Snake Salvation, when the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency raided Hamblin's church and confiscated 53 snakes. Meanwhile, the TWRA already announced its source: Snake Salvation, it said, provided all the proof it needed of Hamblin’s illegal animal possession. I believe Hamblin allowed his church to be put on TV as an act of faith -almost the same kind of faith that leads him to take up snakes. While other Christians cite Luke 4:12 (KJV) "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," Hamblin relishes danger, from both snakes and the law. He appeared to almost invite a confrontation with authorities over snake-handling. While the TWRA says this is about the treatment of wildlife, not the separation of church and state, Hamblin considers it a First Amendment issue. “Of course my client maintains his innocence as the case against him is not cut and dry and reaches a little deeper than it appears on the surface,” Mike Hatmaker, Hamblin’s defense attorney, told the Christian Journal-Leader. Hatmaker also told the Journal-Leader that he and his legal team had uncovered “at least four” arguable defenses, adding, “I think that one of our defenses that I am willing to share is separation of church and state.” “It’s unconstitutional is what I think,” Hamblin says when I ask him about the TWRA’s raid. “They just walked right into the church and took every snake I had. There’s supposed to be a separation between church and state! I mean, what’s next? Who’s to say they can’t come in and take away our King James Bibles too?” Hamblin pleaded not guilty in November, and the Tennessee grand jury will hear the case this coming week. Buzzfeed has a longform article by Gemma de Choisy that looks at Hamblin, the history of religious snake-handling, and the TV show that led to the court case.  (Images credit: Shawn Poynter)

Woman Reenacts Selfies from the Man Who Has Her Cell Phone Posted: 04 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST On New Year's Day, 2013, Danielle Bruckman realized that she had lost her iPhone at some point during the partying of the previous evening. Where was it? She had no idea. But soon, a mysterious man began taking selfies with her phone. She knew this because they appeared on her cloud storage service. As an art project, Ms. Bruckman imitated them. You see the complete series here. Ms. Bruckman wants to emphasize that she isn't accusing this man of stealing her phone. She writes that, "My phone was lost and most likely picked up by someone else who sold it or gave it to him. Just want to make sure people stop calling him a thief." -via My Modern Met

This Week at Neatorama Posted: 04 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST It's been a busy week here, despite the holiday. But that's the way we like it: lots of posts, lots of comments, lots of visitors. That's the way to start a new year! Subscribers already know this: NeatoMailhas been revamped, to bring you more and better information and cool things to see. Yes, it has more than what you get checking the main page here every day -although I hope you do that, too. You should sign up to get yours every week! This week, Jill Harness brought us 15 Fantastically Artistic Alternate Covers For Famous Books. John Farrier asked the question Who Is the Only Person to Be Elected Governor of 2 Different US States? And then answered it. He also told us about 5 Futures for Libraries. Eddie Deezen gave us A Few Facts You Might Not Know About the TV Series Batman. Over on our Spotlight blog, we had the answer to What Made The Strange Web Towers In The Amazon. Hi-Yo Silver, Away! came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. The Annals of Improbable Research gave us A Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown. Decoding Einstein's Brain was from mental_floss magazine. John brought us some other fascinating but lesser-known stories from history this week, like America’s Monument to Its Most Infamous Traitor, Benedict Arnold, The Extraordinary Voyage of the CSS Shenandoah, Legally Speaking, George Washington Outranks All Other Army Officers, Past and Present, and The First USS Enterprise. Our Pzzlr this week was Filling the Tank, the Conceptis puzzle was CalcuDoku, and the Whodunit was called Jonah's Nightmare. Then we had a puzzle with prizes attached... In the What is It? game, the object turned out to be a Type K D.C. Relay that was made by the General Railway Signal Company. We had a lot of funnier guesses. Trillian guessed it was an emergency jumpstarter for Frankenstein's monster. That's good for a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Another great guess came from azog, who said it was "an early prototype of a defibrillator. Unfortunately it tended to blow off the patients thumbs." That paints a picture, alright, and it's good for a t-shirt as well! Find out the identifications of all the mystery items of the week at the What Is It? blog. We had a couple of reader polls this week. Should Mattel Make a Plus Size Barbie? Most of you said no. Should Wealthy Students Be Required to Do Low-Wage Jobs? Most of you said yes. The non-giveaway post with the most comments was Artistic Temperaments. In a tie for second place was Should Mattel Make a Plus Size Barbie? and A Few Facts You Might Not Know About the TV Series Batman.   The comment of the week has to be Barking Bud's thread under The Extraordinary Voyage of the CSS Shenandoah. He and John went back and forth almost entirely in images. Funny images! The most popular post of the week was  A Few Facts You Might Not Know About the TV SeriesBatman, with 20 Life Lessons fromAdventure Time coming in second, followed by Ball of Spiders Explodes in Every Direction.  The most ♥ed post was Couple Celebrates 61 Years of Marriage with Up-Themed Photoshootfollowed by 100-year-old Negatives Discovered in Antarctic. The most emailed post was Buffalo Chicken Beer Cheese Dip, which came out right before all the New Year's Eve parties! In second place was A Few Facts You Might Not Know About the TV Series Batman and Celebrating a New Year in the Movies tied with 10 Ways A Condom Can't Protect You for third. The most popular post this week at the Homes and Hues blog was The Brilliant Design Choices Behind Chile's Bicentennial Park. Come join us on our social media sites! over at the Neatorama Pinterest boards, our most-pinned post was the fellow who had his father's handprint tattooed on his shoulder. The NeatoShop has its own Pinterest board, too, so you can easily share what's new. At the Neatoramanaut's Facebook page, the most-liked item was this tip for not losing your turtle. Have a great week, everyone!

Neatolinks: Please Pet Doge, Then Enjoy Some Art Posted: 04 Jan 2014 06:00 AM PST Whose Face Should We Make Into Chocolate First? Alex or Johns? (The Mary Sue) These Crocheted Portraits Are Just Creepy Enough to be Fantastic (Hi Fructose) Don't Dig Crochet Art? How About Beaded Sculptures (Beautiful Decay) Please Pet Doge, The Website (Geekosystem) This Soap Opera Film in Ikea is Surprisingly Not A Commercial (22 Words) Image: Naughty Smaug, Go to Your Room (Nerd Approved)

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