Neatorama |
- Who Invented the Internet?
- 16 Awesome Home Offices You Wish You Could Use As A Write Off
- What Does "Organic" Mean?
- Winnie the Thulhu
- This Is a Deviled Ostrich Egg
- Baby Feet at Work
- Can You Dance Like A Tyrannosaurus Rex?
- 10 Things You Didn't Know About Shakespeare
- 13 Gods of the Internet Pantheon
- The Toxic History of Soda Pop
- Horse Yoga
- Colbert to Replace Letterman
- Sriracha Factory In California Declared Public Nuisance
- Dear World: Portraits of the Boston Bombing Survivors
- West-eros Story
- America Is Naming More Babies "Khaleesi" Than "Betsy"
- 3D Classified Ads Optical Illusion
- Rare Oarfish Sighting
- The Butterfly Orchid
- Using Drones to Make a Flying X-Wing from <i>Star Wars</i>
- Smelly Cat Finds a Home
- Creepy Photos From Inside America's Abandoned Malls
- Father-Son Final Four Dance
- Masaya Kushino's High Heeled Menagerie
- How Many Bad Movies Have You Seen?
- What Does The Fox Say?
- The Useless Inventions Of Stupid Hackathon
- Political Cartoon Comes to Life
- On Sale: Giant Carrot Body Pillow "For Loneliness"
- Priest Sings Surprise Song at Wedding
| Posted: 11 Apr 2014 06:30 AM PDT Asking who invented the internet is like asking who invented politics or plumbing. A complex system is the result of many innovations built upon by many different people over time. Some of the technological breakthroughs were from people working on a specific task that later became used for something completely different. The internet as we know it was developed not only by those who invented the technology, but also by those who saw extra potential in each innovation and exploited it for other uses. This video is from Kurzgesagt. -via Laughing Squid  | ||||||||
| 16 Awesome Home Offices You Wish You Could Use As A Write Off Posted: 11 Apr 2014 06:00 AM PDT If you work from home, you know how important it is to have a good home office where you can focus on your task without any external distractions. Even a lot of people who don't work from home have an office or study for personal work outside of the office. With tax day looming next week, we thought it seemed like a good time to look at some of the coolest, most beautiful and most unique home offices we could find over on Homes and Hues. Whether you need a big office space you can stretch out in or just a cozy nook for you and your laptop, you're certain to find something you'll wish you could be writing off on your taxes this year. Check out the full list over at Homes and Hues: 16 Home Offices You Wish You Could Use As A Write Off This Year | ||||||||
| Posted: 11 Apr 2014 05:30 AM PDT
From the sticker on your banana to the future of farming, we’re breaking down the definition of “organic” into bite-size pieces. According to the Organic Trade Association, organic foods have become a $20 billion industry. And a quick scan of the grocery store aisles seems to confirm that. But the more people buy into it, the bigger the question becomes: What exactly does “organic” mean? What’s in a Name?You’ve probably noticed by now that organic products tend to be pricey. That’s partially because federal certification costs money, and partially because the right to use the word “organic” requires meeting the USDA standards that were set in 2002. Even imported foods have to be up to government snuff before they can be called organic.
The USDA rules are pretty stringent. To be certified as organic, farmers can’t use synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or hormones for three full years before applying. Further, any animals they have must be raised on organic foods. Genetically modified crops are a no-no, as are farming practices that cause high levels of pollution. Even the shipping and processing procedures are monitored. Organic foods have to be kept separate from non-organics until they arrive in the grocery store. It’s up to the non-governmental agencies that are certified by the USDA to determine whether or not a product gets to use the organic label. They monitor every step of the system, and in the end, they’re the ones who slap that big “O” on the finished product.
Although the USDA criteria cover a lot of ground, many people feel the “organic” label should mean more. For example, some say it should cover how humanely the animals are treated. While many organic farmers treat their animals well as a matter of principle, the USDA’s stance on the matter is flimsy. All they require is for animals to have access to the outdoors—a rule that is not strictly enforced. One farm got away with just putting unlocked (but closed) flaps on their chicken coops. While the chickens technically had access, they were never taught how to open the doors. Organic farms also don’t have to be owned by mom and pop. Large-scale, corporate organic farms are now common. While critics complain that these big farms betray organic ideals by using monoculture practices that deplete the soil, the fact is that multinational conglomerates have quietly bought out many organic food suppliers. War of the WordsDuring the past few years, concerns about the USDA’s organic label have intensified. In August 2008, the organization announced that 15 organic monitoring agencies weren’t implementing USDA standards and threatened to close them down if changes weren’t made within the year. While this could be seen as the system catching problems, groups such as the Organic Consumers Union said the announcement proves that subpar food has been sneaking by inspectors. The fact that non-organic foods have been allowed to slip under the organic label has also frustrated groups. Until 2007, it was permissible for only five predetermined non-organic ingredients to appear in certified organic products, and even then, they could only make up 5 percent of the total ingredients. Dozens of non-organic ingredients have been given a pass, including 19 food colorings, pig-intestine sausage casings, and hops. This has pushed some hardcore organic lovers over the edge. Tired of fighting for control of the label they created, some want to replace “organic” with new terms, such as “authentic food” and “conservation agriculture.” Feeding the ChildrenThese days, there’s another debate raging around organic foods. Although they may benefit first-world, health-conscious consumers, critics say organic foods don’t help the rest of the planet. Agronomist Norman Borlaug, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for introducing life-saving farming techniques to poor countries, doubts that organics can feed the world. He maintains that the problem is output. A 2002 study published in Science found that while organic farms use 50 percent less fertilizer and 97 percent fewer pesticides than conventional farms, they produce 20 percent less food. Borlaug believes that if the entire world switched to organic farming, we’d need three times as much farmland to feed everyone. But organic supporters say this is bogus. The Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture points out that hunger is more about poverty and access to food, problems that have nothing to do with pesticides and artificial fertilizer. What’s more, the data on output isn’t cut and dry. In 2000, after reviewing multiple studies that compared organic and conventional farms, Christos Vasilikiotis of UC Berkeley found that organic farms kept up with their chemically dependent brothers, so long as they were run efficiently. Right now, only one thing is certain about the future of the organic-food industry: As long as there’s organic food being processed, there will be arguments about how best to label it. Checking the Labels
LABEL: “100% Organic,” featuring the classy USDA seal LABEL: “Organic,” with the USDA seal LABEL: “Made with organic _______,” without the USDA seal LABEL: “All-Natural” or “Natural” LABEL: “No Chemicals Added” _______________________
Get a subscription to mental_floss and never miss an issue! Be sure to visit mental_floss' website and blog for more fun stuff! | ||||||||
| Posted: 11 Apr 2014 05:00 AM PDT In his house at Hundred Acre Wood dead Winnie the Thulhu waits dreaming ... about honey! NeatoShop artist TeeKetch mashes up our favorite elder god with a classic kid's story to create this horrifyingly good design. Visit TeeKetch's official Facebook and Twitter, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more fantastic designs:
Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama! | ||||||||
| Posted: 11 Apr 2014 05:00 AM PDT The boyfriend of Instructables member Rachel bought an ostrich egg. What should you do with such an unusual food? Make something fancy, of course! They boiled and deviled it. You can view more photos here. | ||||||||
| Posted: 11 Apr 2014 04:00 AM PDT Check out this baby conducting music with his feet! Isn’t that adorable? Or maybe he is learning to dance. His mama says he twirled his hands and feet all day long when he was that age. -via Daily Picks and Flicks | ||||||||
| Can You Dance Like A Tyrannosaurus Rex? Posted: 11 Apr 2014 03:00 AM PDT It’s safe to say that Tyrannosaurus Rex would not have been a very good disco dancer, what with the short arms and all, but they would have excelled at the two-step and the Irish jig. The Smithsonian Institution’s Museum Of Natural History wants to know- How did the T-Rex get its groove on? The Natural History Museum recently added a T. Rex to their collection, so they’re asking people to submit videos showing what they think a T. Rex would look like dancing to the song “National Rex” by Ray Troll and the Ratfish Wranglers, which was created to commemorate this epic acquisition. If you feel up to channeling your inner T. Rex simply record a 30 second video, upload it to YouTube then email the link to NMNHsocial@si.edu, and if you need more info on the contest you can visit the NMNH website here. -Via io9 | ||||||||
| 10 Things You Didn't Know About Shakespeare Posted: 11 Apr 2014 02:00 AM PDT
Read the rest at HuffPo Books. | ||||||||
| 13 Gods of the Internet Pantheon Posted: 11 Apr 2014 01:00 AM PDT The ancient Greeks believed that the internet was ruled by a collection of anthropomorphic gods. Depending upon your needs, you might offer prayers and sacrifices to different gods, seeking their favor and a fast wireless connection. Caldwell Tanner and Nathan Yaffe illustrated 13 of them and briefly described their purposes to lowly denizens of the let like us. You can find them all here. | ||||||||
| Posted: 10 Apr 2014 11:00 PM PDT You probably know people who drink soda pop all day long, and they may even tell you they’re “addicted” to it. You might be one of those people yourself. In the modern age, we can find out all the ingredients in what we drink, and make our decisions accordingly. We all know those ingredients are not necessarily good for us. But once upon a time, soda pop was billed as a health tonic and there were often things in there that were far worse than sugar and carbonated water. Tristan Donovan, the author of Fizz: How Soda Shook Up the World, tells us about early soda drinks.
That’s just part of the history of soda. How did they develop fizzy water in the first place? How did we eventually lose the drugs? And why did some sodas stick around while others faded? Learn the history of soda at Collectors Weekly. | ||||||||
| Posted: 10 Apr 2014 10:00 PM PDT The Doma Indian School is a horse farm in San Luis, Argentina. It's operated by the father and son team of Oscar and Cristobal Scarpati. They've developed a meditative exercise practice that help calm wild or traumatized horses. It involves prolonged skin-to-skin contact with the horses in poses that relax them. The Daily Mail quotes them:
-via Dave Barry | ||||||||
| Posted: 10 Apr 2014 09:00 PM PDT President and CEO of CBS Les Moonves announced today that the network has signed a five-year agreement with Stephen Colbert to take over Late Show when David Letterman retires in 2015. There is no exact date for Letterman’s retirement yet. When Colbert told his staff at The Colbert Report about the deal, the entire crew agreed to move with him from Comedy Central to CBS.
Colbert will not play the character "Stephen Colbert" as he does on The Colbert Report, but will be himself. Rush Limbaugh says, "CBS has just dDeclared war on the heartland of America.” | ||||||||
| Sriracha Factory In California Declared Public Nuisance Posted: 10 Apr 2014 08:00 PM PDT (Image Via AP) In the last decade Sriracha has gone from that sauce you see on the table at Asian restaurants to a spicy staple in many homes, rivaling the fame enjoyed by spicy celebrities Tapatio and Cholula. People like Sriracha so much that Lay's even made Sriracha flavored chips, although their recipe could have used a little more Sriracha. Recently, a Sriracha factory in Irwindale, California was declared a public nuisance by the South Coast Air Quality Management District after nearby residents complained of burning eyes and throats due to the odor emanating from the factory. So, is the spice going to disappear from our lives? Huy Fong Foods, makers of Sriracha, have until June 1st to install carbon filters in their factory or it's bye-bye red rooster sauce. -Via Gawker | ||||||||
| Dear World: Portraits of the Boston Bombing Survivors Posted: 10 Apr 2014 07:00 PM PDT Photographer Robert X. Fogarty has an ongoing art project called Dear World, in which he takes pictures of people with messages written on their skin. As we approach the anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombings on April 15th, he has unveiled a set of portraits of survivors of that disaster. Some of the subjects were injured or even lost limbs, and some were first responders. Others posed in honor of the four innocent victims who died, Lu Lingzi, Krystle Campbell, and Martin Richard in the bombings, and Sean Collier during apprehension of the suspects. Most included a statement explaining the message they chose. -via Buzzfeed | ||||||||
| Posted: 10 Apr 2014 06:00 PM PDT
It's a love story, basically - a love story between brother and sister, mixed with lots and lots of death. NeatoShop artist Gordon Brebner Designs mashed up one of our favorite fantasy TV series with a Broadway classic to come up a design that all the gangs of New York and the houses of Westeros will love. Visit Gordon over at his Facebook page and Tumblr then head on over to his NeatoShop for more awesome designs:
Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama! | ||||||||
| America Is Naming More Babies "Khaleesi" Than "Betsy" Posted: 10 Apr 2014 06:00 PM PDT On Game of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen is often addressed by the Dothraki title "Khaleesi." Like many Game of Thrones character names, Khaleesi is becoming a popular girls' name in the United States. In fact, according to data collected by the Social Security Administration, in 2012, there were more newborn girls named Khaleesi than Betsy. You can see more charts of Game of Thrones baby names at Vox. If you're considering naming a child after a Game of Thrones character, then at least find out what has happened to that character in the books. What if the chosen namesake turns out to be a nasty person? Sure, you could name a child "Joffrey" after the second season of the show. But what connotations does that name have now? -via Geekosystem | ||||||||
| 3D Classified Ads Optical Illusion Posted: 10 Apr 2014 05:00 PM PDT The newspaper classifieds (remember those?) is so anachronistic in today's digital world that it's like delving into a trippy and foreign world. Felipe Salazar, Creative Director of Sancho BBDO advertising agency in Colombia, managed to grab our attention by cleverly manipulating the local newspaper's classified sections to create this unusual ad for his client Corona Kitchen. The ad shows a three-dimensional outline of a kitchen - including a range with hood, counter top and shelvings - simply by stretching and rearranging the text. via Design Taxi and Laughing Squid | ||||||||
| Posted: 10 Apr 2014 04:00 PM PDT Members of Shedd Adventures trip to Baja, sponsored by the Shedd Aquarium, saw two live oarfish near the shore, and got some video footage of one of them. | ||||||||
| Posted: 10 Apr 2014 03:00 PM PDT Look at this gorgeous flower! Oh, you thought it was a butterfly? Well, that’s why the flower wants you to think. Or rather, it wants to attract pollinating butterflies by looking like an attractive butterfly. Meet Psychopsis papilio, also known as the Butterfly orchid. There are four species of this highly-coveted orchid, which you can see in all its glory at Kuriositas. -via the Presurfer | ||||||||
| Using Drones to Make a Flying X-Wing from <i>Star Wars</i> Posted: 10 Apr 2014 02:00 PM PDT We all want to be Luke Skywalker on the trench run in an X-wing starfighter. With each passing day, we're getting closer to making that dream a reality. Rodger Cleye made this 5-foot long model as a part of that ongoing effort. It's made of PVC pipe which is why it looks hollow. That was necessary because anything more would have been too heavy for the 3 drone motors that make it airworthy. Check it out in action: -via Hack A Day | ||||||||
| Posted: 10 Apr 2014 01:00 PM PDT Lenny the cat has a story that most cats can’t match -he suffered a failed adoption because he farts too much. Lenny was found at a park in Rochester, New York, in February and taken in to Scottsville Veterinary Adoptions in Scottsville. He was adopted out, but was returned two days later. His Facebook update said,
The veterinary clinic could find no problem with Lenny, and did not notice him to be overly gassy. But the story has a happy ending: Lenny has since found a new home. -via Arbroath | ||||||||
| Creepy Photos From Inside America's Abandoned Malls Posted: 10 Apr 2014 12:00 PM PDT (Image Via Architectural Afterlife) (Image Via Detroiturbex.com) (Image Via Flickr:Binkled) There are malls all across America lying derelict and abandoned, gutted and left to the elements like an ice cream cone that has been dropped on the sidewalk. A retail boom and subsequent economic crash left nothing but empty buildings full of empty racks in its wake, and now these haunting spaces serve as nothing but reminders of all the Gap sales and Hot Dogs on a Stick that could have been. A Facebook group calling themselves the Dead Mall Enthusiasts have been accepting submissions from photographers and urban explorers who have braved the horrors of an abandoned JC Penney's and lived to talk about their experience. The images in their collection are a horrible sight to behold, especially if you're a shopaholic! -Via Beautiful/Decay | ||||||||
| Posted: 10 Apr 2014 11:00 AM PDT Two basketball fans, a father and son, dance on the big screen at the NCAA championship game on Monday. Your first thought is, hey, they’re pretty good! And your second thought is, what a great relationship these two must have, because not only are they at a ball game together, but they’ve obviously spent spent plenty of time dancing together.
-via Tastefully Offensive | ||||||||
| Masaya Kushino's High Heeled Menagerie Posted: 10 Apr 2014 10:00 AM PDT Nothing says "I have a wild sense of style" quite like wearing a pair of shoes from Masaya Kushino’s collection Bird-Watched, which were inspired by the artwork of Jakuchu Ito. Masaya specializes in creating women's shoes inspired by nature, and although he claims "...shoes are just as visually stimulating as sculpture or any other three-dimensional art piece, but they also fundamentally have to be wearable" he has created many pieces which simply cannot be worn, either because elements of the shoe are too delicate to support any weight or simply because there's no place to put your feet in them! The wearable shoes look like they'd make a bold statement when worn, and the whole footwear menagerie will surely look amazing on display. -Via Juxtapoz | ||||||||
| How Many Bad Movies Have You Seen? Posted: 10 Apr 2014 09:30 AM PDT The other day we asked how many classic movies you’ve seen from a list of 200 at Buzzfeed. Now there’s another list of 170 movies that most folks consider pretty bad. How many have you seen? There are a few on the list that I’ve only seen because I posted an article about them. Some are so comically bad that we watch them as comedies, even though that wasn’t the original intent, as any MST3K fan will tell you. The only one that made me walk out of a theater was Howard the Duck, although I have fallen asleep in a theater during a few (Zardoz comes to mind). I’ve managed to avoid most of the newer ones. Eddie Deezen expressed surprise that he was only in one of them. And there is probably a movie or two in here that you loved, even if others didn’t. -via Eddie Deezen | ||||||||
| Posted: 10 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT
Ring ding ding dingeringeding! What does the fox say? He's say "awesome T-shirt design by fishbiscuit" for sure! Visit fishbiscuit's Facebook fan page, Twitter and Tumblr (boy she's everwhere!) then head on over to his Neatoshop for more ring-a-ding designs:
Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama! | ||||||||
| The Useless Inventions Of Stupid Hackathon Posted: 10 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT There are all kinds of competitions, galleries, fairs, and conventions full of good, useful inventions, but where is a budding inventor supposed to show off their C list, and fairly useless, inventions? Some may say the local dump is a good place to start, but to those who have a vision of making something that sets the bar low, like a 3D printed mask of your own face or an energy generator that only works when you twerk, there's the Stupid S**t No One Needs and Terrible Ideas Hackathon. The Hackathon was started by NYU students looking for a way to display their incredible creations in a stress, and competition, free zone so that all the inventors would go home winners! -Via Kotaku | ||||||||
| Political Cartoon Comes to Life Posted: 10 Apr 2014 08:30 AM PDT
In 2002, cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz drew a political cartoon about sports teams and fans who use disrespectful Native American names, mascots, and imagery. Ann Boobus remembered the cartoon when she saw this picture.
The resemblance is uncanny and uncomfortable. Last Friday, this picture was taken outside Progressive Field before the Cleveland Indians home opener. Protesters from the American Indian Movement were outside the arena to urge the team to remove Chief Wahoo as its mascot, and were confronted by a Cleveland fan in full dress. Twelve years is a long time for such an issue to still be unresolved, but the controversy has been going much longer. -via Metafilter | ||||||||
| On Sale: Giant Carrot Body Pillow "For Loneliness" Posted: 10 Apr 2014 08:00 AM PDT I won't judge you. It's a brutal world out there. We do what we can to get by the everyday agony of isolation from real human connections. Etsy seller Amy Brown explains why she made this body pillow:
It's too late for a Valentine's Day purchase. But it's not too late to acquire a coping mechanism to make the days pass a little bit easier since... Well, since Carrot left. -via Amanda Brennan | ||||||||
| Priest Sings Surprise Song at Wedding Posted: 10 Apr 2014 07:30 AM PDT Father Ray Kelly of County Meath, Ireland, presided over the wedding of Leah and Chris O’Kane last Saturday at the Oldcastle Church. He included a song featuring his custom lyrics to the tune of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Local folks know that Father Kelly sings, but the bride and groom are not from the parish -and neither were most of their guests. The priest told them during the rehearsal that he might sing at the wedding, but they did not know exactly what would happen, or even whether to take him seriously. The performance sparked tears, then applause. That portion of the wedding video of has since gone viral.
Father Kelly has recorded a couple of albums for charity, and a third is on the way. -via Daily Picks and Flicks |
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Need a dictionary to understand the labels on your food? Well, it won’t help. The hair-splitting semantics of the food industry could dumbfound the best of linguists. Lucky for you, we’ve broken it down right here.
The article above, written by Maggie Koerth-Baker, is reprinted with permission from the 
View more designs by 
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You’ll be hearing more and more about William Shakespeare as we approach his 450th birthday later this month. So you may as well arm yourself with some obscure trivia about the Bard, his personal life, and his works. Here’s a couple of tidbits from a list of ten.
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