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2014/04/03

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Neatolinks: Planet Cakes, Diction-Fairies, Budget Cosplay and Flying High

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 04:00 AM PDT

Gravity Alternate Scene

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 03:00 AM PDT

(YouTube link)

This explains everything -and fixes it, too! Masterfully edited pieces of the movies Gravity and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace are mashed up to save the day -and change the entire Sandra Bullock film to a short subject. -via Buzzfeed

Physicist: I Came in Like a Wrecking Ball

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 02:00 AM PDT

(Image: Vevo/Discover)

Miley Cyrus earned a lot of money with her hit song "Wrecking Ball" and a lot of attention with her video for that song, which included nude scenes. David McDonagh, an undergraduate student at the University of Leicester, UK, watched her body intently. What are its physical properties? Would it withstand the forces involved in serving as a wrecking ball?

McDonagh concludes that Miley Cyrus would not live through the process. In an article that he published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Science Topics, McDonagh concludes that Cyrus would fail as a wrecking ball:

Based on these findings, it is clear that a human being cannot possess the characteristics of a wrecking ball without sustaining significant injury, and other objects should be sought as an analogy.

Kyle Hill of Discover magazine is a bit more blunt. Miley Cyrus would be dead:

Miley is nowhere near as heavy as an average wrecking ball, so to produce the same momentum, she would have to come in incredibly fast. Assuming she weighed 125 pounds**, she would have to come in like a wrecking ball at over 390 miles per hour to generate the same momentum.

And what happens when this Miley ball hits a wall? Assuming a rapid deceleration, Miley pulls 350 G’s impacting the wall with over 198,000 Newtons—a force equivalent to getting hit with all the force rocketed out of a 747 engine at once.

If Miley really did come in like a wrecking ball, she would never again hit so hard in love, because she’d be dead.

Why Cap'n Crunch Looks Down at Your Kid

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 01:00 AM PDT

The next time you go shopping at your local supermarket, head down the breakfast cereal aisle and take a look all the different brands. You'd probably notice that breakfast cereals marketed to children usually have characters, and those characters tend to lok downward. Why is that?

Business Insider reported that researchers at the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab have surveyed cereal brands from various grocery stores and found that most characters in cereals marketed to kids have downward gaze.

Aner Tal and Brian Wansink of Cornell University, in collaboration with Aviva Musicus of Yale University, surveyed 65 cereal brands and found that out of 87 spokes-characters, 57 were marketed to children with a downward gaze. In contrast, characters in cereal brands geared toward adults tend to look straight ahead. And that may not be a coincidence: adult cereals tend to be placed higher than kids' brands and their characters' gazes are designed to make eye contact with their targeted audience.

But why is making eye contact important? The researchers performed another study where they showed participants two versions of the Trix cereal box, one with the rabbit making eye contact and another in which it did not (Silly researchers, don't they know that Trix are for kids?). They found that people trusted the brand at higher rate and felt more connected when the rabbit made eye contact.

So the next time Cap'n Crunch is staring down at your kid, you know the reason.

Disney Princesses as Armed Warriors

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 12:00 AM PDT

Snow White, Warrior of the Seven Arrows

For her Warrior Princess series, DeviantART member Sandyra composed ink images of the Disney Princesses as armed and armored warriors, ready for battle. Click on Continue reading to view more of them, including one with Cinderella as a combat android.

Ariel, Silent Warrior

Pocahontas, Powhatan's Pride

Aurora, Sleepless Guardian

Belle, Royal Confidant

Cinderella, Rogue Maiden

-via Geek Art Gallery

Zombro, the Zombie Zorro

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 11:00 PM PDT


Zombro by c0y0te7

Why, Z is for "zombie," of course! El Zombie Zorro, the undead swordsman could carve that out with his trusty sword for eternity, right before he eats your brain.

Check out c0y0te7's official website, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr (boy, he's everywhere!) then visit his NeatoShop for more fantastic designs:

Supernes: The OriginalThorioRadioactive MushroomCourage

View more designs by c0y0te7 | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

Dad Moved Teen's Messy Room Out on the Driveway

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 11:00 PM PDT

Your teenager has a messy room? So did Craig Schlichenmeyer. But Craig didn't just grumble about it! After his daughter failed to clear out her room, the Long County, Georgia father decided to do it for her ... the extreme way!

Schlichenmeyer moved the daughter's entire room out onto the driveway, with a big sign that read "Haley, room moved to driveway. Clean it next time."

"One day I had enough of it, I picked up her belongings and set her room up in the driveway," Schlichenmeyer said to WTOC. "I just set her room up the same way it's set up upstaris in the driveway. To shock her."

The father said that his daughter is actually a great kid, and that even though she was upset at first, but they'd worked it out in the end. They even took advantage of having all that furniture out of the way: they spent the day painting her room.

Street Typography

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 10:00 PM PDT

(YouTube link)

These road workers in London, England, lay out the letters in a matter-of-fact way with perfect results. We on the internet rarely get to see such road painting unless something is misspelled or the line goes over a dead animal. A commenter at Metafilter said, “It's amazing what you can do with a straightedge, a steady hand, and some practice.” And tyhe painter even does it with style!

Daylight Saving Time Foiled a Terrorist Bomb Plot

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 09:00 PM PDT

You may not like Daylight Saving Time, but now you can't say that it's completely useless. In fact, it could've been what foiled a terrorist plot.

The Daily Mirror reported that police thought that an Irish bomber probably blew himself up because he forgot to set his clock forward an hour while planting a bomb.

"This certainly was a high-grade explosive used in this bomb," said the paper's anonymous source. "It wasn't garbage stuff. It would appear the bomber got his timings wrong. It could be a case where he didn't put his watch forward on Sunday [at 1 am] and the timer went off too soon."

The car was destroyed in the blast, but the perpetrator escaped with serious injuries. The local police are seeking information from the public to apprehend the bumbling bomber. (Image: Twitter/@PoloBoy)

Terminally Ill Dad Gets to Walk His 11-Year Old Daughter down the Aisle

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 08:00 PM PDT

(Photo: Lindsey Villatoro -- warning: auto-sound)

Walking their daughters down the aisle at their weddings is a special joy for fathers. But Jim Zetz, 62, has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He's unlikely to live much longer. His daughter, Josie, is 11. So he probably won't get to attend her wedding.

But he still got to walk her down the aisle.

Lindsey Villatoro, a professional photographer, volunteers her time and equipment to document the lives of families struggling with terminal illnesses. Villatoro rounded up flowers, a makeup artist, and a wedding dress that would fit young Josie.

The family conducted a lovely wedding. The presiding minister pronounced the couple "father and daughter" and Zetz presented his daughter with a promise ring. You can watch a portion of the wedding in the video below.


(Video Link)

-via 22 Words

21 Things You Might Not Have Known About <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark</i>

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:00 PM PDT

Few pictures have been discussed more than the Indiana Jones series, starting with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Like Star Wars, it was a rollicking fun adventure that seemed bigger than life, which was exactly the goal of the filmmakers. But we’re still earning more of the details behind the 1981 movie.

Producer George Lucas first told director Steven Spielberg about his idea for Raiders of the Lost Ark when they were both on vacation in Hawaii in May 1977. Spielberg got away for the weekend from finishing up post-production on his now-classic film Close Encounters of the Third Kind while Lucas wanted to get to anywhere far, far away—Star Wars was coming out that weekend, and he was afraid that the movie would bomb at the box office.

When making films as a kid, Spielberg thought up a phony movie studio he dubbed “Play-Mount Pictures” (a play on Paramount and his name—“Spielberg” roughly translates to “Playmount” in German), and he would try to mimic the famous Paramount logo with natural scenery the best he could. So when he came to direct an actual Paramount motion picture, he thought a similar approach would work with the start of the film; he wanted to have the actual logo dissolve into a real mountain peak. To find a summit that matched the Paramount logo, Spielberg dispatched producer Frank Marshall all over Hawaii where they were shooting the opening scene in order to get the right one. Needless to say they found a picture perfect peak, and the shot lives on as the opening of the film.

There are plenty more stories like these in the mental_floss article 21 Things You Might Not Have Known About Raiders of the Lost Ark. Enjoy some clips, too.

Man Rescues Baby Porcupine from Dead Mother's Womb

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 06:00 PM PDT

(Photo: WMTW)

Jared Buzzell of Lisbon, Maine, saw a car hit and kill a porcupine. So, naturally, he decided to cut it open to retreive the magic stones inside.

Wait, let me back up a bit.

Bezoars are stones that form in the digestive tract of many animals, including humans. They're made of undigested matter that become lodged and hardened, slowly growing as more material compacts around them. In some folk medicine traditions, they're considered medicinally valuable. Porcupine bezoars are especially prized. That's why Buzzell was cutting open the dead porcupine.

But instead of finding bezoars, he found a baby. It tumbled right out. He brought it home and nursed it with human baby formula. The little tyke is doing well. Buzzell plans to hand him over to a wildlife rehabiliator soon.

-via Dave Barry

Clever Stop-Motion Film Uses Rubber Bands and Push Pins

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 05:00 PM PDT


(Video Link)

This is the neatest video that I've seen all day! Guillaume Blanchet's innovative short film A Girl Named Elastika takes place on a cork board. With rubber bands, push pins, and good sound effects, Blanchet creates a wild adventure for the elastic girl. I'm especially impressed with how he created the impression of fire at 1:35. This film has earned Blanchet many film festival awards--and rightfully so!

Be sure to watch the outtakes at the end of the film. They're a hoot.

-via Colossal

English is Crazy!

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 04:00 PM PDT


YouTube Link - via digg

We know, we know. English is one crazy language. But that's why we love it.

Mitchell Moffit of AsapSCIENCE fame (this one is from his AsapTHOUGHT channel) took Richard Lederer's Crazy English and Richard Krogh's The English Lesson to illustrate the idiosyncracies of the English language.

But if English is logical, what would we be talking about?

81 Cantonese Proverbs in One Picture

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 03:00 PM PDT

The artist 阿塗 (Ah To) created this comic to illustrate 81 Cantonese proverbs all in one picture. Unless you were born and raised there, you wouldn’t know what they are, but many appear to involve ghosts.At Cantonese Resources, there’s a legend that explains each one, with a numbered graphic to help you find them.



Some of them even have an audio snippet of the proverb. Take a close look; you’ll get a kick out of seeing a guy pull a cow up a tree, a cat burning its own whiskers, telephone soup, and a tiger on a boat of pottery. Other images aren’t so pleasant, but they are all metaphorical. -Thanks, Daniel Kim!

A Day in the Life of Maru and Hana

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 02:00 PM PDT

(YouTube link)

Maru’s little sister Hana is growing up, but still doing her job keeping Maru active and occupied. There’s a segment here called “stress reduction” that made me laugh, because Maru has probably the most stress-free life of anyone on earth. Well, except for that part where Hana snuck up on him. It’s a good life. -via Cute Overload

Way of the Samurai

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 01:00 PM PDT


Way of the Samurai by inkOne Art

Some days, some nights / Some live some die in the way of the samurai. / Some fight, some bleed / Others just wear this cool T-shirt by inkOne Art. Whether you're a samurai or just someone who smells like sunflowers, inkOne has got the shirt for you!

Visit inkOne's official Facebook and Twitter, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more cutting edge designs:

Forest Spirit ProtectorBorn to RebelCool But RudeDarksided
    
Ay yi yi yi yi!DEFENDERR2TAG2Sovereign Protectors

View more designs by inkOne Art | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

1929 Carousel for Sale

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 01:00 PM PDT

A vintage Le Grande Carrousel can be yours. Once operated by Lake Havasu City, Arizona, the 24-horse carousel was built in 1929 by the Allen Herschell Carousel Factory in New York. The horses are made of wood and need some restoration. It worked fine when it was in operation, but it has been sitting idle for years. There are five days left to place your bid. The current bidding stands at just over $20,000. See more pictures at Blazenfluff.

More Dinklage!

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 12:00 PM PDT

(YouTube link)

Game of Thrones fans know what they like -and that’s Peter Dinklage. Sure, violence and dragons and bare breasts are appealing, but characters that engage the audience are what keeps a series afloat. Tyrion Lannister, although born into a powerful royal family, encounters unique obstacles. Yet he has the wit and the grit to face them like a true badass. Daniel Koren pays tribute to the actor behind the character in his latest song set to the tune of the Game of Thrones theme. -Thanks, Daniel!

See more from Daniel Koren.

14 Fun Facts About Manatees

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 11:00 AM PDT

How much do you know about manatees? They live in Florida and it’s illegal to harass them -we know that much. Smithsonian wants you to know much more about manatees, and dugongs and sea cows, while we’re at it. Here's just a sample:

7. The closest living relatives of sirenians are elephants. Manatees evolved from the same land animals as elephants over 50 million years ago and the fossil record shows a much more diverse group of sirenians than we have today, with dugongs and manatees living together throughout their range.

10. Christopher Columbus and other early explorers claimed to have seen female figures swimming in the ocean—the mermaids in the writings and drawings of this era. Whether they had been at sea for too long or it was a trick of the light, we now know that many of these encounters were with manatees.

If that were the only thing Columbus and the other early explorers were wrong about, they’d have done well. So it seems like mermaids are related to elephants, huh? Not exactly the fairy tale you learned as a kid. Learn more about manatees at Smithsonian.

Man Survived Chainsaw in Neck

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 10:00 AM PDT

Tuesday afternoon, James Valentine was cutting a tree in Ross Township, Pennsylvania, when his chainsaw kicked back and hit his neck. He immediately released the saw, but the chain was stuck in his flesh. The other crew members from Adler Tree Service removed the chainsaw motor from the blade, and emergency responders took him to the hospital with the blade still embedded.

Dr. Christine Toevs treated Valentine at Allegheny General Hospital.

When he arrived the chainsaw was still stuck in his neck, which is exactly what needed to happen.  The chainsaw had to stay in place to stop the bleeding until doctors removed it.

“In his case, blessedly, he missed every important structure,” said Toevs.

Valentine is expected to recover in a few days, and plans to get right back to work. -via Buzzfeed

Human Water SkeeBall

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT

(YouTube link)

This looks like a ton of fun! A wake boarding facility drags you over a ramp, and your goal is to score points by landing in a skeeball-type hole. Something tells me that the score is of little importance in the overall scheme. I wonder... do you get extra points for carrying a GoPro with you on the trip? Devin Supertramp made this video for Mountain Dew. The music is “Spraypaint” by Radical Something. -via Viral Viral Videos

The Mystery of Mont Blanc's Hidden Treasure

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 08:00 AM PDT

There were no survivors when Air India flight 101 crashed into Mont Blanc, France’s highest peak, in January of 1966. Expeditions to reclaim bodies and wreckage were delayed and then abandoned by weather and treacherous mountain conditions. But over the years, many pieces have been recovered. The most intriguing is a small case of precious gems: emeralds, rubies, and sapphires that had been encased in ice for decades. A mountain climber found it last year and turned it into the mayor of Chamonix. They’ve been stored in a vault at the Town Hall ever since. The BBC’s Patrick Bodenham tried to get a photograph of the gems.  

The prefect's office said they had nothing to do with the investigation and shunted me on to Francois Bouquin, head of the mayor's office in Chamonix. Bouquin said the Mayor's office was no longer responsible for leading the enquiry, pointing me to the court of Bonneville.

The court of Bonneville directed me to the court of Albertville, which, confused, sent me back to Bouquin - who said, in hindsight, he wasn't sure which courthouse was in charge.

After repeated calls and many hours spent on hold listening to Mozart's violin concertos, I pointed out to Bouquin that I had spoken to everyone he suggested. Then he finally gave an answer: "I don't want to have to tell you 'No'. But you cannot see the stones. At this time, it is a question of security. We are handling our own investigation into the case. We do not feel the media are useful or necessary at this time."

Bodenham got a picture, though, the one you see here.

"It's so French, this story," says Francoise Rey, a local historian and author of Crash au Mont Blanc, a book about the two Air India accidents. "You ask to see the stones and they send you a photo of them in a bag."

Who owned those precious stones carried on the airliner? Clues point to two different families that trade in gems, but almost fifty years later, neither can produce any proof of ownership, and the mayor of Chamoix is not reaching out for answers. After two years, the property belongs to the mayor and the climber who found the case. Read more about the mystery at BBC magazine. -via Dark Roasted Blend

Boy Meets World Slam Poem

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:00 AM PDT

(YouTube link)

Samuel L. Jackson appeared on The Tonight Show and recited a slam poem about the sitcom Boy Meets World. He goes through the entire series, which lasted from 1993 to 2000. This sounds good even to someone who has never seen the show, and is lauded as genius by those who have. -via Daily Picks and Flicks

Tell Us What to Write About & Win A $50 Shopping Spree At the NeatoShop

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 06:30 AM PDT

Big news NeatoNauts, we're letting you help decide what to write about over the next few months and you can even win $50 worth of NeatoShop goodies or a tee shirt in the process! To participate, just head over to Pinterest and pin either this image or any image related to your story idea and then describe your idea in the text field. Be sure to label your pin with #NeatoramaStoryIdeas and @Neatorama so we can find it.

At the end of next week, the Neatorama staff will pull together all the story ideas we're interested in and then post them on Neatorama the following week for you guys to vote on over the weekend. Any stories we decide to write about will result in the person who pitches them receiving a free tee shirt and the person who pitches the Neatorama reader favorite story idea will receive $50 worth of their choice of merchandise at the NeatoShop.

You can enter as many times as you like, so if you have multiple story ideas, pitch them all to us to maximize your chances of winning. If you're not on Pinterest already, signing up is easy and when you follow our account, you can find all kinds of cool, geeky and just plain Neat content that we don't cover on the blog.

You're more than welcome to pitch any story ideas you have in the comments below, but while we may consider writing about them, you will not be entered in the contest. If you do enter the contest, feel free to post a link to your suggestion in the comments if you want to make absolutely sure we can find your entry.

As for the detailed rules:

All entries must be pinned and tagged with #NeatoramaStoryIdeas and @Neatorama before Friday, April 11, 11:59 PST. If you enter, keep your eyes on the blog so we can get in touch with you if you win because Pinterest does not have a messaging system and we will not have your email address to contact you if you win. Winners who do not contact us within one week of the announcement will forfeit their prize and if they are the grand prize winner, the shopping spree will then go to the person with the next highest amount of votes. If you want to ensure we have your entry and an email address to contact you, then send a link to your pin to jill@neatorama.com and we'll email you immediately if you win.

Deadly Fashion Trends

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 06:00 AM PDT

When fashion mavens say that such-and-such is to die for, they don’t literally mean it. However, some clothing fads have actually killed their wearers now and then. You are no doubt familiar with foot binding in China, a practice that only started to die out around a hundred years ago. But have you ever heard of muslin disease? It’s not a bug, but it make some women in France unable to fight off common diseases.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it was all the rage for women to dampen themselves in water before dressing in their muslin gowns. The wet, thin fabric would then stick to their backsides, showing off their figures and emphasizing that they were dressed sans undergarments. In revolutionary France, the Sumptuary Laws stated that one’s clothing and accessories could not weigh more than 3.5KG, as rich fabrics and heavily embroidered clothing were reserved strictly for the upper class. So, lower class women would forego underwear. The cold temperatures, however, proved to be too strong for the women wearing wet, weak fabric, leading to severe cases of pneumonia.

The Daily Beast has the story of muslin disease and six other fashion trends that cost at least some people their lives.

Pluk Is As Simple As It Is Attractive

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 05:30 AM PDT

Suspended fruit baskets are nothing new, but having one this attractive that can also be used for so many other things sure is. The Pluk Suspended Storage Sphere doesn't just clear off your counter space, it also creates an eye-catching display of your produce, toys or even just clutter.

As long as an item is small enough to fit between the elastic bands and big enough not to fall right through them, Pluk can easily hold your goodies until you need them. Best of all, it comes in a variety of colors and materials so you can cordinate it to your home.

Read more about the storage option at Homes and Hues: A Storage Option That Turns Your Stuff Into A Focal Point

Great Scott!

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 05:00 AM PDT


Great Scott! by Coinbox Tees

Great Scott! This T-shirt design by NeatoShop artist Coinbox Tees is heavy, Doc! If you want this T-shirt bad, you don't have to fight for it. No need to step up your game, just head on over to the NeatoShop.

Check out Coinbox Tee's Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more awesome shirts:

Frozen Winter is ComingJoke FictionBohemian HologramsFrozen Kombat!

View more designs by Coinbox Tees | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

12 Great Pieces of <i>World Conquest Zvezda Plot</i> Fan Art

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 05:00 AM PDT

World Conquest Zvezda Plot (Sekai Seifuku: Bōryaku no Zvezda) is a current anime series. You can watch it for free on Crunchyroll. It caught my attention when Richard Eisenbeis, Kotaku's anime critic, recommended it. It's a fun comedy about a mysterious little girl who wants to conquer the world. She's aided by a secret society known as Zvezda. The main character, Asuta Jimon, is a junior high school student who joins her after he runs away from home.

Mayuiki calls the show "by far my favorite anime of the season." She made this chibi-style image of the leading members of Zvezda.

Kate Hoshimiya is our would-be ruler. As leader of Zvezda, she is at the heart of the world conquest plot. DeviantART member nosewhirly drew this image of Kate titled "Your Majesty."

Zvezda is a secret society, so all members wear disguises while operating outside of their ramshackle base. Nathan drew this image of Kate ready for battle. It looks like a watercolor, but is actually a digital rendering.

The appropriately-named Roboko is a robotic member of Kate's inner circle. Here's a plastic model made by a fan in Japan.

Natasha Vasylchenko is a brilliant scientist from Ukraine who joins Zvezda and provides the organization with advanced weapons and power sources. Kore, an artist in Thailand, composed this digital portrait of her. He's done even more works of fan art from this series, which you can find here.

The irritable Itsuka Shikabane is also known as Lady Plamya. She carries a sword and uses it eagerly in the service of Kate's ambitions. DeviantART member tohofrog drew her glaring at us.

Here is cosplayer supuretto dressed up as Lady Plamya. She is costumed in imitation of this outfit.

In this digital image, Fitz shows Lady Plamya at a more relaxed moment. Note that either the image is reversed or he put the eyepatch on the wrong eye.

I'm a bit lost on the language, but I gather that this blogger made realistic props from the series. Here's Kate's signature stuffed rabbit and battle uniform gloves.

In this image by Observerz you can see what the modeler is referencing. Here is Kate charging into battle atop two bicycles, both of which have training wheels.

Goro Shikibane is a fun character. He's a tough, heavy brawler with a sweet tooth that he indulges perhaps a bit too much. Here he is in battle gear in a digital image by RedSeiryu.
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