Neatorama

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• Stubborn as Mules
• Japan's Cotton-Spinning Bar
• Flying Coach
• A Half Male, Half Female Cardinal
• 6 Vintage Ads Vastly Overpromising the Value of Menswear
• An Astronaut's Guide to Optimism
• Men Who Dropped as Their Wives Shopped
• 2014 Word of the Year: "Adulting"
• The 8 Most Intriguing Unsolved Crimes
• Hamm For The Holidays - One Tasty Hunk
• Hobbit Sword Glows in the Presence of Unsecured WiFi
• Mom Censoring Things
• Amiable Animals
• The Rise and Fall of the American Kiddie Ride
• Graham Cracker <i>Millennium Falcon</i>
• Remember Colored Toilet Paper?

Stubborn as Mules Posted: 29 Dec 2014 04:00 AM PST YouTube Link These two donkeys live at Sunflower Farm in Cumberland, Maine. One day they were caught in a playful mood. Owner Hope Hall was quoted as saying. "I almost died laughing when I went to get in my car and noticed that the donkeys had plucked the wiffle ball bat from the bag where it hangs beside their fence and were carrying it around together. I thought that by the time I grabbed a phone they would have dropped it, but they carried it around for about 10 minutes. I guess they are ready for spring baseball season!" Maybe these guys can play on a farm team if they keep up the batting practice! -Via Tastefully Offensive

Japan's Cotton-Spinning Bar Posted: 29 Dec 2014 03:00 AM PST (Photo: Yomiuri Shimbun) It's been a long, stressful day at work. To decompress, visit the Tokyo Cotton Village, a bar and restaurant in Tokyo. There, you can have a drink and spin cotton threads. Kunihiko Miura of The Japan News describes the experience: “Getting absorbed in [spinning threads] lets me forget bad things that happened at work. This is a precious time for me to change my mood,” said Yoshiko Jimura, a 32-year-old company employee who visits the bar at least twice a week. It's the brainchild of Takuya Tomizawa, who used to work in advertising. He and his friends spun cotton for fun. They realized that there was a business opportunity at hand. So they established the Tokyo Cotton Village, where patrons can grow, harvest, and spin cotton themselves while enjoying drinks and food. -via Marginal Revolution

Flying Coach Posted: 29 Dec 2014 02:00 AM PST (YouTube link) If they made a movie about flying in coach class, it would surely be a horror film. And here’s the trailer. It’s not quite accurate, as I haven’t seen food of any kind (outside of peanuts) offered on a domestic flight in decades, at any price. And I don’t even want to peek behind the curtain, because seeing first class is depressing when you’re flying coach. You keep telling yourself that it’s only a couple of hours to save days of driving, but by the time you get through ticketing and security and multiple terminals and delays and airport food, that road trip looks pretty good. -via Tastefully Offensive

A Half Male, Half Female Cardinal Posted: 29 Dec 2014 01:00 AM PST Image: Brian D. Peer and Robert W. Motz This photo is not the product of some Redditor's use of Photoshop to create a funny hybrid. This is an extremely rare find in nature: a half male, half female northern cardinal. Referred to by scientists as a glandomorph, these dual gender specimens are known to be found in insect, crustacean and bird populations. The bird shown above was discovered in Rock Island, Illinois by ornithologists Brian D. Peer and Robert W. Motz. They observed the bird for a period of 40 days, during which they studied its interaction with other birds and its responses to various bird calls. The bird did not appear to have a mate, nor did it sing. The recorded observations of Peer and Motz were published in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology. Read more about this glandomorph at i09 and Science.

6 Vintage Ads Vastly Overpromising the Value of Menswear Posted: 29 Dec 2014 12:00 AM PST They're plaid slacks--sultry, irresistible, plaid slacks. Put them on and women will throw themselves at you. This was the 60s. It was a different time in America. Back then, before the development of certain vaccines, women lost control of themselves whenever they encountered plaid slacks, flat front shirts, or houndstooth pants. Unscrupulous men took advantage of this weakness with the encouragement of equally unscrupulous fashion companies. Flashbak rounded up many of these outrageously blunt advertisements. -via Weird Universe

An Astronaut's Guide to Optimism Posted: 28 Dec 2014 10:00 PM PST (YouTube link) The end-of-the-year wrapups may have you a little down, as there were some horrible things happen in the word in 2014. However, good news doesn’t make great headlines, especially when it happens gradually. Astronaut Chris Hadfield reminds us of the good news, and how we can contribute to make 2015 another year in which things get better for humanity. -via Viral Viral Videos

Men Who Dropped as Their Wives Shopped Posted: 28 Dec 2014 08:00 PM PST Instagram account miserable_men (previously at Neatorama) features pictures of men hopelessly trapped in retail settings as their female companions celebrate consumerism. What time of year could be better for such photo captures as just after Christmas? Customers flood the malls with new gift cards, returns and exchanges, eager to check out the post-holiday bargains. It may be an adrenaline rush for many women, but the mall is the last place many men want to spend hours. And hours. These poor guys in the pictures are dropping like flies as their women stand at attention near sales racks and in fitting rooms. Let's hope that these guys got to go out for a nice, juicy steak and a drink or two afterward for their trouble.  See a selection of these photos in this article, and visit miserable_menon Instagram.

2014 Word of the Year: "Adulting" Posted: 28 Dec 2014 06:00 PM PST (A Zillion Dollar Comics/Carolyn Hiler) How good are you at adulting? Do you engage in boring, responsible tasks in a timely manner? Or do you watch one more episode of My Little Pony instead of washing the dishes? When you choose the latter instead of the former, you're struggling to adult. Mignon Fogarty, the internet's Grammar Girl, is a professional writer and educator on word usage, grammar, and style. She's selected "adulting" as her personal choice for the word of the year: I first saw adulting when my family friend Lindsey Moreno tweeted it right before school started. She was starting college as a new freshman and had had a rough day, and when I saw her write “I'm so bad at adulting,” I knew just what she meant. When she explained that she’d spent the whole day sorting out problems at the DMV and the bank, I felt her pain. Adulting is hard. […] The other thing I’ve found about adulting is that when people hear it, they immediately understand what it means and seem to think it fills a void, and Kelly said she’s had the same experience. She says, “I think the reason it resonates is that we don't really have a specific word for that process, and it's an important one. It feels good when you're adulting.” That positive reaction, combined with adulting's popularity on social media, is why I think the word has a good chance of catching on. -via Lawrence E. Forbes

The 8 Most Intriguing Unsolved Crimes Posted: 28 Dec 2014 04:00 PM PST Every once in a while, someone really gets away with murder, although we can hope that they were at least eventually arrested for another crime. The remaining mysteries bother us for as long as we remember, and the people who knew the victims will never forget. Here’s one such story. It was 1966, a gorgeous Australia Day in the suburbs of Adelaide, when nine-year-old Jane Beaumont and her siblings, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant vanished seemingly into thin air. The kids hopped a bus for what should have been a five-minute ride to Glenelg Beach, a popular spot they visited often. Hours later, they failed to return home, setting into motion one of Australia's most sensational mysteries — and even today, one of its most prominent cold cases. Witnesses claimed to have seen the siblings on the beach playing with a tall, thin, blonde man. Jane Beaumont was spotted buying snacks (including a meat pie, which the children had never purchased before) with money she did not have when she left the house that day. A mail carrier who knew the family saw the kids walking in the direction of their home a few hours later ... but they never made it. Where did the children go? Who was the tall man? Though the case has continued to generate leads and wild theories (religious cults, a madman who may have turned the kids into a human centipede of sorts via "experimental surgery"), it remains unsolved. Needless to say, parents in Australia became a lot more protective and paranoid in the wake of this case. There are seven other stories you may or may not know in a list of lesser-known unsolved crimes at io9. -via the Presurfer

Hamm For The Holidays - One Tasty Hunk Posted: 28 Dec 2014 02:00 PM PST Hamm For The Holidays by Hillary White They say there's no place like home for the holidays, and celebrating the new year with friends and family is totally the way to go, but how ya gonna feed all those hungry folk? There's only one food that works for every occasion, and brings both charm and handsomosity to your festive mealtimes, and that food is the magical Hamm. When the Hamm comes to the table the meals will feel a bit more interesting, way sexier and you'll be talking about the night you brought a ham named John home and ate him all up! People will go mad for your geeky style when they see you wearing this Hamm For The Holidays t-shirt by Hillary White, and looking down at that smilin' hunk o' meat will make you feel good! Visit Hillary White's Facebook fan page, official website and Tumblr, then head on over to her NeatoShop for more deliciously geeky designs: Myah Watching You Precious Supreme Stevie Pixelhands View more designs by Hillary White | 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!

Hobbit Sword Glows in the Presence of Unsecured WiFi Posted: 28 Dec 2014 02:00 PM PST (Image: Spark IO) In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins owns a sword named Sting. This magic sword glows in the presence of Orcs or goblins. Pictured above is a modern version: the WarSting. It glows when it detects unsecured WiFi networks. (Image: Warner Bros.) Spark IO built it into the body of a toy model of Sting. It's an educational tool designed to encourage people to encrypt their WiFi networks. Krista Peryer of Make writes: And when you slash WarSting through the air near a unsecured Wi-Fi network, WarSting jumps on that network and publishes a message: “{YOUR WI-FI NETWORK} has been vanquished!” (Video Link) -via Technabob

Mom Censoring Things Posted: 28 Dec 2014 12:00 PM PST Mothers can’t help but be protective of their children. Redditor DantesInfernape was watching something with his mother when a woman’s bare breasts appeared on screen. Despite the fact that he’s 22 years old and gay, his mother felt compelled to cover the offending scene. That’s funny enough, but Mom and her towel soon turned to covering up other things.   The guy who goes by 12LetterName caught her covering up Kim Kardashian’s butt. That's just the beginning. Haddadios saw her at a Rihanna concert. WhatTheFaceSwap caught her in action at an art museum. Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus will offend no more! Then they took the idea to r/photoshopbattles. There, Dualshock_Ninja found out Mom was working for government censors. Not our government. But she still has time for extracurricular activities, as pictured by TheBlazingPhoenix. Some Like It Hot, but not Mom, thanks to robotortoise. PitchInvader says Mom believes Ursula Andress must be cold. Mom even has to censor some of the reddit Photoshoppers, as Thrwwy2001 pointed out. You can see more images at r/photoshopbattles, although some are more tasteful than others.

Amiable Animals Posted: 28 Dec 2014 10:00 AM PST Bam Bam the grizzly and Vali the chimpanzee at their home at Myrtle Beach Safari Park in South Carolina Many negative news stories that we see in the media today have to do with people whose regions, religions, races and other attributes and belief systems are at odds. Unfortunately these differences plus intolerance can lead to violence and tragedy. In fact, the world is so full of these conflicts that sometimes it's hard to envision it free of strife and in peace. Perhaps we can follow the lead of the animals in these photos. These animals embrace each other in spite of whether one is traditionally seen as the other's prey, or despite their opposite looks and ways. Maybe in some cases it's beneficial to have a brain that isn't as evolved as that of humans. At any rate, these animal bonds are much less about complexity and focus on differences and more about the positive feelings of touch and companionship in an immense, often frightening world. See more of these charming photographs here.  Zinzi the abandoned lion cub and Bob the meerkat at home in South Africa's predator world zoo Baby monkey cuddling with lion and tiger cubs at a wildlife park in China

The Rise and Fall of the American Kiddie Ride Posted: 28 Dec 2014 08:00 AM PST We used to jokingly call them “quarter horses,” but the one at my local grocery store still only takes pennies. My kids rode it often, but only if they behaved themselves while we shopped. Kiddies rides, the mechanical horses, cartoon characters, and vehicles that jiggled kids for a coin, were once everywhere. And they were profitable for their manufacturers and the stores that displayed them. It all started in 1931. Commonly known as the kiddie ride, these coin-operated children’s amusements are over 80 years old. According to The Southwest Missourian, in 1931, Missouri inventor James Otto Hahs decided to make his children a special Christmas present, building a mechanical horse covered in mohair and using a real cow’s tail from the slaughterhouse for the horse’s tail. Realizing he had a potential hit on his hands, he set out to build a commercial coin-operated version. Early wood-carved prototypes were too heavy and too expensive, so Hahs developed his own method of casting large aluminum-framed horses. By 1932, the Hahs Gaited Mechanical Horse was winning design and invention awards. He later teamed up with the Exhibit Supply Company to distribute his horse widely, getting 5 percent of all profits. (Hahs would retire not rich, but well-off enough to tinker in his backyard for the rest of his life on more children’s toys and rides.) The kiddie ride craze declined when other amusements eclipsed them, as children switched to arcade games, video games, and iPads at younger and younger ages. The number of manufacturers that made the rides plummeted. One company is trying to bring back mechanical kiddie rides, but is selling most of its machines to private owners. You can read the entire history of kiddie rides at The Atlantic. -via Metafilter (Image credit: Joe Mabel)

Graham Cracker <i>Millennium Falcon</i> Posted: 28 Dec 2014 07:00 AM PST She doesn't look like much but she's got it where it counts- my gingerbread Millennium Falcon: #starwarspic.twitter.com/SoJ1Qr7ma0 — Tony B Kim (@Crazy4ComicCon) December 22, 2014 She'll make 0.5 beyond the speed of frosting. And Tony B. Kim added some special modifications himself--most of them made of candy. They all make this graham cracker Millennium Falcon the fastest hunk of sugar in the galaxy. -via That's Nerdalicious!

Remember Colored Toilet Paper? Posted: 28 Dec 2014 06:00 AM PST When I saw this picture at Weird Vintage it occurred to me that my children have never seen colored toilet paper. When I was a kid, I noticed the different pastel colors in my friend’s homes that matched the different bathroom colors. My parents always bought plain white, as it was less expensive. But now toilet paper everywhere is white. What happened? The answer is at the ToiletPaperWorld Blog. In other news, there is a ToiletPaperWorld Blog. Oh yes, you can still get colored TP if you really want it, but you have to have it shipped in.

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