Neatorama

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• Jeffrey Hudson: The Queen’s Dwarf
• This Man Wants To Steal Your Chocolate Bars
• Cute Baby Tortoises Are the Size of Dimes
• Top 10 Most Quotable Movies
• Little Golden Manga
• The Bitter Truth
• Dracula - Some Words Paint A Scary Picture
• Wisest Life Lessons Taught By Bob's Burgers Star Gene Belcher
• <i>The Scream</i> Appears in a Tree Stump in Norway
• The Purple Store
• Japanese Psychedelic Bands From The 1960s
• Food
• Newly Discovered Fragments from <i>The Hitchhiker's Guide</i> Will Be Published
• 20 Fascinating Facts About The <i>Beverly Hills Cop</i> Franchise
• Everyday Astronaut
• Steaks 101
• Creator Of Waltz With Bashir Is Back With New Animated Feature- The Congress
• Epic Legend Of The Seven Stars - Mario Meets Mysticism
• How Far Are You Flung When an Amusement Park Ride Goes Terribly Wrong?
• The Art of Water Buffalo Bodypainting
• Pizza Delivery by Drone
• Incredibly Cool Pacific Rim Jaeger Cosplay
• Love is an Open Door
• Dress Designs Inspired by Popular Websites
• Cheeseburger Pop Tarts
• What Your Favorite Bill Murray Movie Says about You

Jeffrey Hudson: The Queen’s Dwarf Posted: 02 Jun 2014 05:00 AM PDT The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History Again. The adventure-filled life of Jeffrey Hudson. Here's the long and the short of it. (Okay, mostly the short.) Jeffrey Hudson was born, ironically, in the smallest county in England -Rutland County- on June 14, 1619. His father worked as a butcher, a not very well-paying position in those days. Mr. and Mrs. Hudson were both of ordinary stature, as were all their other children, which included three boys and a girl. A GROWING CONCERN As Jeffrey grew older, though, he simply didn’t grow. At the age of seven, in fact, he stood a mere 18 inches tall. Jeffrey probably suffered from a condition common to dwarfs called hypopituitarism, a growth hormone deficiency in the pituitary gland. In every other respect, Jeffrey was quite normal; he was healthy, intelligent, and quite good-looking. He could have ended up spending most of his life as a sideshow in a local fair. But fate had something else in store. FROM RAGS TO SILK BRITCHES Everyone was curious about him, including the Duchess of Buckingham, whose husband was the best friend and principle advisor of King Charles I (1625-1649). At the request of the duchess, Jeffrey’s parents dressed their son in his best Sunday clothes (such as they were), marched him the mile or so up the hill to the duchess’s mansion, and handed him over. From then on, Jeffrey would be dressed in velvets, silks, and satins, with two servants to attend his every need. He would still be on display, the subject of laughter and curiosity- but there was a big difference between dancing for a duchess and performing in front of the local yokels at the county fair. MOVE OVER, PILLSBURY DOUGHBOY! In early November 1626, the duke threw a series of lavish banquets at his palatial home in London, including one for King Charles and his queen, Henrietta Maria. Only the finest food in the land was served, and all the guests were showered with gifts. Such fancy soirees called for culinary special effects: At the appointed hour, servants carried a huge, glistening pie to the royal table and set it down before the queen. Then, right on cue, a hand, then an arm, broke through the crust -followed by a small face peering out from beneath a shiny helmet. Finally, a tiny figure dressed in a miniature suit of armor emerged. It was Jeffrey Hudson. THE QUEEN’S PET PROJECT The queen took Jeffrey under her wing. The royal marriage wasn’t going very well; young Henrietta Maria -the sister of Louis XII, king of France- felt isolated and alone. And in a country that was largely Anglican, her passionate devotion to the Catholic faith only increased that sense of foreigness and isolation. So Henrietta Maria turned to her pets. To her menagerie of monkeys, dogs, and birds, she could now add her her own little pet human, Jeffrey Hudson, who thereafter was known as the Queen’s Dwarf. FROM BAD TO NURSE The queen had already lost one child shortly after childbirth; so when she became pregnant the second time, an expedition was mounted to find the finest nurse in all of France, Madame Peronne, to tend to the queen. Jeffrey had been included. So on March 18, 1630, he and Madame Peronne set sail from Calais. A few hours after leaving port, the ship was taken over by pirates. But after a few days, realizing that the group they’d snatched was probably too hot to handle, the pirates released their captives and sent them on their way. A DECADE OF DECADENCE The decade starting in 1631 was surely the happiest time of Hudson’s life. He was the hit of every social occasion; this was not just because of his curiosity value, but because of his wit, humor, and charm. He learned some new skills that were expected of young men at court, including shooting a pistol, riding, playing cards, and dancing. But while Jeffrey and his fellow courtiers were playing games inside the walls of the palace, some deadly serious games were being played outside of them. The Puritans in Parliament continued to grumble about the lavish spending of the monarchy and the high taxes that King Charles I continued to impose. SEA-SICK AND TIRED By 1641, the royal treasury was tapped out, and the desperate king was forced to reconvene the Parliament he had dismissed in 1629. The next January, Henrietta Maria, Jeffrey, and the rest of the king’s court fled London, through an angry crowd of Puritan sympathizers, and set sail for Holland. The ship ran smack into a huge storm, which the queen and her entourage barely managed to survive. They finally reached Holland on March 1, 1642. On the return trip -nearly a year later, in what was becoming a depressingly familiar routine for poor Jeffrey- a huge storm hit the queen’s convoy as soon as they lost sight of land. Several ships were lost in the storm, but the queen and Jeffrey managed to make it back to the Dutch coast. NIGHTIE NIGHT Back in Holland, the queen quickly raised more money and supplies, and she replaced the ships that had been lost in the storm. A year later, they sailed again for England, making it without a hitch. This time the trouble began after they landed, when the fishing village where they were staying overnight was bombarded by parliamentary ships. Dressed only in their nightgowns, the queen and her attendants were forced to flee their quarters. Meanwhile Jeffrey, armed with sword and pistol, joined the other male members of the queen’s household down by the landing area, ready to repel the queen’s enemies. At dawn, the tide carried the attacking ships out of range and the firing ceased. NO HORSING AROUND Henrietta Maria rewarded Jeffrey for his loyalty and bravery by conferring upon him the honorary title Captain of Horse. But by the summer of 1644, with the war against the parliamentary forces not going well at all, the queen and the royal entourage boarded a fleet of Dutch ships and hightailed it for France. Not surprisingly, they proceeded to run right into -yep, you guessed it!- another storm. GO AHEAD, MAKE MY DAY Henrietta Maria and company eventually made it to France. Once they had settled in they were joined by Williams Crofts, the queen’s Master of Horse, and several of the courts “young blades,” aristocratic hangers-on whose principle occupation was hanging around the local saloons and getting sloshed. Once again, Jeffrey found himself the easy butt of cruel jokes. The now 25-year-old Captain Hudson let it be known that the next person who insulted him would be challenged to a duel. THE LITTLE SQUIRT The final straw was an insult delivered by young Charles Crofts, brother of the aforementioned William. A duel was arranged, though, in all likelihood, no one -with the exception of Jeffrey Hudson- took it seriously. When the combatants were asked to choose their weapons, Crofts produced the 17th-century equivalent of a squirt gun (it was actually called a “squirt”), a large syringe that served in those days as a fire extinguisher. This apparently produced more than a few chuckles among the spectators. But in Jeffrey’s mind, the time for jokes was over. The water pistol was put aside. The two duelists, 100 paces apart, faced each other on horseback.The horses charged, and when they were only a few years apart, Jeffrey Hudson leveled his pistol and shot Crofts through the head. He died at the scene. THIS LITTLE JEFFREY WENT TO MARKET Though it’s not clear exactly why, Jeffrey was banished from court (the queen may have been trying to protect Jeffrey, but there’s also the factor that dueling was in disfavor at that moment in France). In October 1644, Hudson packed up his things and left France. By ship. (Oh no! Oh, yes.) Not long out of port, Jeffrey’s ship was boarded by Turkish corsairs 0the dreaded Barbary pirates. Jeffrey was most likely taken to one of the slave-trade centers -Algiers, Tunis, or Tripoli- on the Barbary Coast, the group of North African states ruled by the Ottoman Turks. After their capture, slaves were taken down to a central market where they were put up for auction. REACHING NEW HEIGHTS Once a slave, it’s likely that hudson received his fair share of physical abuse. Along with a new regime of physical labor, his diet underwent a radical change: from rich, refined foods to much simpler fare, which would have been something like black bread and vinegar. It may have been this combination of extreme changes in his daily existence that brought about the most remarkable of changes: Jeffrey actually began to grow! Right after reaching the age of 30, he shot up from around two feet in height to three feet and nine inches (a little more than one meter). LUCKLESS IN LONDON Beginning in the mid-1660s, England made concerted efforts to buy back its citizens from the Barbary pirates. After nearly 25 years in slavery, Jeffrey Hudson finally obtained his freedom. He returned him ego live with his only surviving brother, Samuel. In 1678, after seven or eight years living the quiet life, he decided to return to London. But anti-Catholic riots had broken out there, and his close identification with the fervently Catholic Henrietta Maria made him an easy target for the mob. He was thrown in prison and clapped in irons, with nothing to sleep on but boards. No heat was provided ruing the cold, damp English winters. LARGER THAN LIFE Jeffrey was released from prison in 1680, a tired and broken old man. His former connections at court helped him snag a little money from Henrietta Maria’s son, King Charles II, who must have taken pity on the Queen’s Dwarf. It is believed that Jeffrey died in the second half of 1681, but the exact date and place are unknown. There’s no record of his final days. But in all probability, Jeffrey Hudson, a proud and adventurous spirit, died impoverished and alone. ______________________________ The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History Again. The book is a compendium of entertaining information chock-full of facts on a plethora of history topics. Uncle John's first plunge into history was a smash hit - over half a million copies sold! And this sequel gives you more colorful characters, cultural milestones, historical hindsight, groundbreaking events, and scintillating sagas. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute

This Man Wants To Steal Your Chocolate Bars Posted: 02 Jun 2014 04:00 AM PDT There are some criminals so despicable, so insatiably greedy, that they should probably be locked up for the rest of their lives. This man is not one of those thieves, but if you own a candy store you’d better watch out. Authorities in Thailand arrested this tattoed thief with 35 pilfered chocolate bars in his possession, officially making him the sweetest thief who ever lived. Maybe this man knows about a burgeoning chocolate black market we don’t know about yet, maybe he has a sweet tooth that causes him to jones like a junkie, whatever the case he must regret not eating the evidence! -Via Boing Boing

Cute Baby Tortoises Are the Size of Dimes Posted: 02 Jun 2014 03:00 AM PDT The Adelaide Zoo in Australia recently had a litter of Western Swamp Tortoises. When fully grown, they'll probably be about 5 inches long. But for now, the 4 hatchlings are each about the size of an Australian dime. They're eating brine shrimp and mosquito larvae. You can see more photos of them at Zooborns. There aren't many Western Swamp Tortoises left. The Adelaide Zoo now has 11. The Perth Zoo has a few. There are about 200 in the Ellen Brook Reserve and Twin Swamp Reserve in Western Australia.

Top 10 Most Quotable Movies Posted: 02 Jun 2014 02:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) Since this video is going to stop and quote movies a lot along the way to the top of the list, you may as well try to guess what the top movie is, or top two or three. I personally disagree with the #1 pick and some of the rankings, but that may be just my age showing. No doubt you can quote many of these after years of watching them over and over. Which is your favorite? -via Tastefully Offensive

Little Golden Manga Posted: 02 Jun 2014 01:00 AM PDT Matt Reedy, an artist in Alton, Illinois, is developing a series that he calls Little Golden Manga. It shows the covers of Japanese comic books as if they were part of the classic Little Golden Books series. Here is Attack on Titan. The Colossal Titan would like for you to come out and play! Or he'll gladly come in. A patron at my library urged me to try the anime series Death Note. I watched the first episode. It is an excellent work of writing and animation. In fact, it is too good at what it is trying to do. I decided that I did not want that kind of darkness inside my head and did not continue the series. FLCL is evidently a surreal journey that begins with getting clobbered in the head with a bass guitar.

The Bitter Truth Posted: 02 Jun 2014 12:00 AM PDT When is a scientist ever “done” with research? The ultimate answer is simple, yet massively depressing. And this is also why the most coveted skill you can bring to a university or a research institution is not your intriguing theories, nor your endless curiosity, it’s an ability to write a decent grant proposal. This comic is the latest from Jorge Cham at PhD Comics.

Dracula - Some Words Paint A Scary Picture Posted: 01 Jun 2014 11:00 PM PDT Dracula by Robotic Ewe The horror classic Dracula was scary on the silver screen, but the script that started it all is even more terrifying, with enough horrific words and dark imagery to give even the bravest bibliophile nightmares about bloodsucking creatures that go bump in the night. Throw on this Dracula t-shirt by Robotic Ewe and two things are guaranteed- 1. your style points will soar through the roof and 2. people will be trying to read the small print on your shirt all day long! Visit Robotic Ewe's Facebook page and Twitter, then head on over to her NeatoShop for more eyecatching designs: Scream King Kong The Day The Earth Stood Still Mini View more designs by Robotic Ewe | 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!

Wisest Life Lessons Taught By Bob's Burgers Star Gene Belcher Posted: 01 Jun 2014 11:00 PM PDT Gene Belcher may seem like the wrong guy to turn to for advice, sagely wisdom or anything that doesn’t involve keyboards making fart noises or beefsquatch lore, but being the son of Bob, who is the star of Bob’s Burgers, kinda makes him the star of the show too. When Gene speaks listen closely, because he’s got some pretty brilliant life philosophies, and that boy really knows how to live! To live like Gene is to live stress free and full of burgers, and philosophies don’t come much more relaxed than Gene’s unique perspective on life, but if you don't like learning life lessons from cartoon characters Gene's animated wisdom might not work for you... 28 Of The Wisest Lessons Gene Belcher Has Ever Taught The World

<i>The Scream</i> Appears in a Tree Stump in Norway Posted: 01 Jun 2014 10:00 PM PDT (Photo: Kjell Marius Mathisen) The Scream, the most famous painting of Norwegian Expressionist Edvard Munch, cried out against the eternal horror of everyday existence though a tree stump in Norway. Kjell Marius Mathisen, a man who works in the cultural heritage field for the Oppland county government, spotted it and took this photo. Mathisen insists that the shape of the rings is "just a coincidence." But Munch himself might disagree. He wrote of the moment which inspired this painting: I was walking along the road with two friends The Sun was setting – the Sky turned blood-red. And I felt a wave of Sadness – I paused tired to Death – Above the blue-black Fjord and City Blood and Flaming tongues hovered My friends walked on – I stayed behind – quaking with Angst – I felt the great Scream in Nature -via Nothing to Do with Aborath

The Purple Store Posted: 01 Jun 2014 09:00 PM PDT Where can you go to find a purple tea kettle? A purple couch? Purple camouflage underwear? You go to The Purple Store! Adam Sheridan opened The Purple Store in Seattle (and online) because people who prefer purple had trouble finding purple things and were excited when they did. "People often expect us to have wacky, crazy, strange things," Sheridan said. "What we found is what our customers want is ordinary everyday item, but in purple. One of our rules is, if we don't love it, we don't carry it." And business is good. The store survived the recession and Sheridan said with more fans of people discovering The Purple Store everyday, they have plans to add products and locations. Sheridan himself isn't necessarily a huge purple fan, but he does wear the regal color quite often and he appreciates it. Mostly, he loves that his store makes people happy. The Purple Store supplied many of the items Marie Schrader used in the TV series Breaking Bad. She was really into purple. -via Time

Japanese Psychedelic Bands From The 1960s Posted: 01 Jun 2014 08:00 PM PDT Japanese musicians have always held a special place in their hearts for American music, and rock & roll has made a particularly large impact on their homegrown music scene, but one of the elements commonly associated with the rock scene is totally taboo in Japan- the drugs. The psychedelic music scene in North America and Europe was full of experimentation with drugs, but Japanese psych bands couldn’t let it all hang out like the American bands they were emulating, and their sound was heavily formulated, and policed, by the record companies. This fascinating collection of Japanese psychedelic album covers, coupled with tons of interesting facts about this niche music scene, will help expand your mind on the subject without any lingering side effects... -Via Boing Boing

Food Posted: 01 Jun 2014 07:00 PM PDT (vimeo link) Siqi Song, a first-year student in Experimental Animation at CalArts, interviewed different people about the food they ate and how they felt about it. That was interesting, but not interesting enough for an experimental animation project. So Song made the food speak for itself. -Thanks, Siqi!

Newly Discovered Fragments from <i>The Hitchhiker's Guide</i> Will Be Published Posted: 01 Jun 2014 06:00 PM PDT (Photo: Hughes Photography) Douglas Adams was the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and its sequels. These hilarious science fiction novels were huge bestsellers in the 1980s and 90s. Sadly, Adams died in 2001 at the age of 49. At the time of his death, Adams was working on a novel called The Salmon of Doubt. His editors found it on the hard drive of his computer and published it as well as some of his other writings a year later. Yet this was not the end of Adams creative contributions. The Adams family recently granted biographer Jem Roberts access to the novelist's personal papers. There she found even more material from the Hitchhiker series. Roberts will publish them in The Frood, her upcoming biography of Adams. Alison Flood writes in The Guardian: A selection is set to be included in his forthcoming biography of Adams, The Frood, from cut extracts from the first Hitchhiker's Guide novel, The Dentrassi and Arthur's Reverie, to extracts from the "lost" draft of Life The Universe and Everything, including one on "Inter-Species Sex". […] There is "an enormous amount of material out there that has never been seen before", said Roberts. As well as Life, the Universe and Everything, the biography will feature an alternative original pitch for Hitchhiker, a lost rough script for the second television series, and further scraps of unused material, with names like Baggy the Runch and The Assumption of Saint Zalabad. The Life, the Universe and Everything draft, Roberts said, has "whole chapters where the characters are doing different things – different ideas he never got round to using, [such as] chapters written from Arthur Dent's point of view". -via Nerdcore

20 Fascinating Facts About The <i>Beverly Hills Cop</i> Franchise Posted: 01 Jun 2014 05:00 PM PDT The Eddie Murphy film Beverly Hills Cop came out 30 years ago, and although its actual anniversary isn’t until December, the movie Beverly Hill Cop 3 reached its 20th anniversary this past week. There’s another in the works: Beverly Hills Cop 4 is slated for 2016. That’s a long wait between sequels! Anyway, it’s as good a time as any to look backh and learn some trivia about the Beverly Hill Cop movies.   2. Sly Stallone dropped out of the original film because of orange juice. Sylvester Stallone was originally in the Axel Foley role, but reportedly pulled some diva behavior and dropped out weeks before production was to begin over a dispute about the particular brand of orange juice in his trailer. 7. The first BHC held onto a box office record for 20 years. The movie was the highest grossing R-rated film between 1984 and 2004, when it was eventually dethroned by The Passion of the Christ. It’s national success can largely be attributed to the fact that it was the first R-rated film to have a release in more than 2,000 theaters across the United States. 17. It was supposed to be a potato, not a banana in the tailpipe. In BHC, Axel Foley was supposed to steal a potato from the kitchen to be placed in the car’s tailpipe, but scheduling conflicts arose and the kitchen scene was cut. Since a potato in the hotel lobby would be out of place, it was changed to Axel grabbing a banana off the buffet. Filmdrunk has the rest of this list of trivia about Beverly Hills Cop and its two (so far) sequels.

Everyday Astronaut Posted: 01 Jun 2014 04:00 PM PDT Buying your very own space suit is quite an accomplishment, but it’s really a shame that the suit is probably going to be left to hang for the rest of its life in a closet or display case. A guy named Tim Dodd, who also happens to be a redditor and photographer, got his hands on a spacesuit but he didn’t hang it up- he put the suit on and took an amazingly fun set of photos he calls “Everyday Astronaut”. Tim is living the dream in his orange suit and dome helmet, and whether he's kicking back sippin' on some brewskis or trying to cook dinner in low gravity everything's a little more epic since that spacesuit came into his life. -Via Lost At E Minor

Steaks 101 Posted: 01 Jun 2014 03:00 PM PDT (YouTube link) There are no recipes in this video. Instead, Pat LaFrieda explains the differences between the different steak names you’ve heard. Frankly, I knew the difference between these as a matter of price, not what part of the cow they come from or what characteristics they have. At a restaurant, I often order a steak by how many ounces the portion comes in, because as much as this is costing someone, I would feel awful leaving half of it on the plate. As far as steak at home goes, my husband does a good job grilling, and my contribution is to NOT ask how much he spent on the meat. Better to just eat up and enjoy it! -via Digg

Creator Of Waltz With Bashir Is Back With New Animated Feature- The Congress Posted: 01 Jun 2014 02:00 PM PDT (Video Link) The films of director Ari Folman bring an interesting new angle to the animation/film industry- his previous release Waltz With Bashir is an animated documentary about the aftermath of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre in 1982, his earlier film Saint Clara was a unique take on magical realism, and he’s bringing back old school animation techniques that give his movies a unique look. His latest live action/animation hybrid is called The Congress, based on the Stanislaw Lem novel The Futurological Congress, and it stars Robin Wright as a fictional version of herself. Here's the official synopsis: More than two decades after catapulting to stardom with The Princess Bride, an aging actress (Robin Wright, playing a version of herself) decides to take her final job: preserving her digital likeness for a future Hollywood. Through a deal brokered by her loyal, longtime agent (Harvey Keitel) and the head of Miramount Studios (Danny Huston), her alias will be controlled by the studio, and will star in any film they want with no restrictions. In return, she receives healthy compensation so she can care for her ailing son and her digitized character will stay forever young. Twenty years later, under the creative vision of the studio’s head animator (Jon Hamm), Wright’s digital double rises to immortal stardom. With her contract expiring, she is invited to take part in “The Congress” convention as she makes her comeback straight into the world of future fantasy cinema. -Via AWN

Epic Legend Of The Seven Stars - Mario Meets Mysticism Posted: 01 Jun 2014 01:00 PM PDT Epic Legend of the Seven Stars by Adam Works They told mighty Mario to draw a card and see what fate had in store for him, and when he drew the seven of stars he knew that fame and fortune awaited him at the end of those maze-like castle corridors. Would he be able to defeat the boss, or had his lucky star run out of time? Gaming explores its mystical side on this Epic Legend of the Seven Stars t-shirt by Adam Works, what will the fates hold in store for you when you wear this t-shirt? Throw it on and find out! Visit Adam Works's Facebook page, official website, Twitter and Tumblr, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more totally epic designs: More Epic Battle Series: Epic Country Epic Mother Epic Fox Epic Ridley         Epic Yoshi's Epic Maverick Triforce of the Gods Epic Chrono View more designs by Adam Works | 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!

How Far Are You Flung When an Amusement Park Ride Goes Terribly Wrong? Posted: 01 Jun 2014 01:00 PM PDT The carnival ride shown here is the Booster Maxx, which flings two gondolas of riders around in a circle at the end of its two arms. Alejandro Tauber in Amsterdam enjoys the terror of such a ride, and also wondered what could go wrong. He knew the maximum speed (90 mph) and the height of the ride (180 feet), so he calculated the maximum distance you could be flung if the restraints were to fail.   And the rest is a piece of cake. When you leave the Booster Maxx, you are traveling at a speed of 40.3 meters per second at an angle of 45 degrees to the ground. We don’t have to take weight into account because the thing is already at full speed. Let’s leave air friction out of the equation too, but throw in some gravity for good measure. Now we’ve got a quadratic equation and after some simple calculations, we end up with 168 meters. BUT! We haven’t accounted for the fact that you start at a height of 35.4 meters yet, which you have to add to the total distance. With that extra factor, the grand total is around 204 meters before you die a bloody and painful death. The post at Motherboard is dressed up with diagrams and even a Google Map showing to where you would be flung if the maximum disaster were to occur (not quite all the way to the hospital). Of course, the fear of such an accident is part of the allure of carnival rides, therefore he also included a first-person description of the ride experience. -via Science Chamber of Horrors (Image credit: Flickr user Lora Rajah)

The Art of Water Buffalo Bodypainting Posted: 01 Jun 2014 12:00 PM PDT (Photo: China Daily) China hosted an international water buffalo bodypainting competition on May 18 in Pu'er, Yunnan Province. 48 water buffaloes participated. The winning team was a group of local schoolchildren who walked away with the 100,000 yuan ($16,005 USD) prize. That’s not surprising because painting on water buffalos is a well-established local custom. It's a traditional means of protecting them from predators: According to legend, a villager once saw his water buffalo getting attacked by a tiger. As the creatures rolled around on the field, mud and blood covered the buffalo's body. The bull looked so terrifying that the tiger got scared and ran away. After that locals started painting on their cattle to keep the predators away. The tradition developed into a popular festival held each year to celebrate harvest and honor the cattle. You can see more photos of these colorful beasts at Amusing Planet.

Pizza Delivery by Drone Posted: 01 Jun 2014 11:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) Francesco's Pizzeria in Mumbai delivers a pizza by quadcopter drone, equipped with camera, GPS, and remote control (and a pizza). A delivery that would normally take a half-hour on a motorcycle is accomplished in ten minutes to the recipient waiting on a rooftop. This is a “trial run,” or actually a publicity stunt, as commercial delivery by drone is illegal in India. -via Geeks Are Sexy

Incredibly Cool Pacific Rim Jaeger Cosplay Posted: 01 Jun 2014 10:00 AM PDT The Jaeger suits used by human forces to defend the planet against attacking kaiju monsters in the sci-fi flick Pacific Rim are all over two hundred feet tall, and these cosplayers can't be more than about six and a half feet tall, but they don’t want to be bothered with minor details like scale because when they're wearing their incredibly cool looking armor suits they feel like they’re twenty two stories tall. These amazing Jaeger cosplayers are part of the C4 Team from Thailand, and they not only dress like kaiju punching mecha- they battle with any kaiju they come across at cons. Now that's what I call dedication to a role! -Via GeekTyrant

Love is an Open Door Posted: 01 Jun 2014 09:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) Alex, the artist who does the webcomic Narcolepsy Incorporated, made this music video with his daughter Jade, who had been wanting to do it for weeks. The end result is well worth your time, as they lip-synch “Love Is An Open Door” from the Disney movie Frozen. Alex, why diid you make her wait so long?  -via reddit

Dress Designs Inspired by Popular Websites Posted: 01 Jun 2014 08:00 AM PDT When your website gets invited to a ball, take her down to Victor Farentina's Web in Vogue, where you can find the latest fashions for the web elite. He's got designs for reddit, YouTube, Twitter, Vine, and more. He doesn't have a design for Neatorama, but I can take care of that. -via Rocket News 24

Cheeseburger Pop Tarts Posted: 01 Jun 2014 07:00 AM PDT Self-described “Burger pervert” Mathew Ramsey of Pornburger managed to make a cheeseburger in the form of a pop tart. It’s not a mashup- there are no sweets here, just the toaster pastry form. This after school special is a meme-nto of my childhood:  a smashed grass-fed beef patty, with a bacon onion jam, melty cheddar cheese, in a buttery pop tart pastry. Alas, there are no instructions included for making your own, a fact that had commenters raking him over the coals for.  -via Blazenfluff

What Your Favorite Bill Murray Movie Says about You Posted: 01 Jun 2014 06:00 AM PDT Mine is Groundhog Day, which kinda/sorta says good things about me: People admire and trust you for your lack of ego. Now's the perfect time to steal their valuables . . . or perhaps their hearts? I can work with that. Comedian Steve Patrick Adams drew this chart of Bill Murray's best known movies and what your favorite among them says about your personality and character. You can view a larger version here. -via Daily of the Day

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