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2015/02/11

Neatorama

Neatorama

Tina Louise: Ginger Grant, "the Movie Star"

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 05:00 AM PST

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.

Tina Blacker was born to a Jewish family (she was the only Jewish cast member of Gilligan's Island) on February 11, 1934. The surname name “Louise" was reputedly added by Tina herself. During her senior year in high school, she mentioned to her drama teacher that she was "the only girl in class without a middle name.” She chose the name “Louise" and it stuck. “It's entirely my name. To me it means joy. Nobody in any family can be hurt if anything happens to this name because it's my name only,” she says.

After high school, Tina attended Miami University in Ohio. By the age of 17, Tina had began studying acting, singing and dancing. By the late Fifties, Tina was quickly becoming a fast-rising young actress/sex symbol.

She possessed a great natural beauty and charisma, had wonderful comedic timing, and had an amazing amount of sex appeal. She displayed her versatility in 1957, when she recorded an album It's Time for Tina.

In this period, she had also appeared in several broadway shows, most notably Li'l Abner. It was in Li'l Abner that she played the role of femme fatale Appassionata Von Climax. (in the play, the sexy Apassionata is hired to vamp Li'l Abner. Hmmmm......sound familiar, Gilligan's Island fans?) Although Tina didn't realize it at the time, her character Apassionata was to be the template for her later role as Ginger Grant.

Tina's image as a guy magnet was pushed even farther when she and another upcoming starlet named Jayne Mansfield both posed for the 1958 Frederick's of Hollywood catalogue. To further her sex symbol image, Tina did a pictorial layout for Playboy magazine in May of '58.

But Tina also landed her first movie role in 1958 in God's Llittle Acre. This role was a dramatic one, not the usual "girly eye candy" gig for Tina. By now, Tina seemed to have wanted more serious roles, trying to slightly distance herself from her sex symbol image (she turned down the movie Li'l Abner in 1959).

She did the Italian epic Garibaldi in 1960 and became a member of the prestigious Actor's Studio, studying with famed acting teacher Lee Strasberg. She did a few more serious films, but in 1964, she played an ultra-sexy beach bunny in For Those Who Think Young- featuring another actor named Bob Denver.

According to Tina, in 1964, the president of CBS promised her "a starring role for TV.”  A new series called Gilligan's Island was being cast. The role on the show of movie actress Ginger Grant was originally offered to Tina's old acquaintance, Jayne Mansfield, but Jayne said no. So Tina, assuming this was the "starring role" she had been promised, agreed to take on the Ginger role. (The role of Ginger had been played by Kit Smythe in the pilot for Gilligan's Island in 1963).

Ginger was originally written as "a wise-cracking Lucille Ball type,” but when Tina was cast, it was quickly changed to a Marilyn Monroe-type sex goddess.



One has no idea when exactly Tina became disenchanted with her Ginger Grant character and the show Gilligan's Island itself. It is more than likely she did, indeed, expect to have "the starring role" in the show, and ended up as one of the seven castaways (with Bob Denver obviously the show's star in the title role).

Stories abound of the closeness of the other six cast members, laughing together on the set, while Tina sat alone in her dressing room. A close bond developed between the others, while Tina never really became a part of the clique.

Another factor was actually Tina's desire to portray Ginger as a man-hungry sexpot. This led to several disagreements with the show's star.

Tina's Ginger Grant character was television's first "vamp.” But according to Bob Denver in his memoir Gilligan, Maynard and Me (1993), sometimes she took her role a little too seriously. Bob said she eagerly and avidly tried to "vamp" him in any episode she could. And according to Bob it got pretty hot and heavy.

She also "vamped" pretty much every male cast member and every male guest star too, in other episodes. Bob did not like this overt sexuality and thought Gilligan's Island was more a show for kids.

Rumors also persist that Tina and her closest friend and hut-mate on the show, Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann, did not get along. Tina later claimed they were just "two different people" and Dawn was "all about pleasing everybody" and that she was never that way.

According to CBS, in the famous “Ginger or Mary Ann?" question, Mary Ann was always the winner, hands down. CBS said Dawn always had the bigger fan base, and that she received more fan mail than Tina, from women, children, teenagers, and men, whereas Tina's fan mail came from "men, and men only.” Even Bob Denver said he preferred Mary Ann and said Ginger "just scared the boys,”

Still, a certain affinity did exist between the seven cast members. In 1966, when Tina married talk show host Les Crane, all the cast members were invited and attended the wedding. Once, in a gesture of friendship, Tina ordered both she and Dawn a set of mink eyelashes from New York.

Gilligan's Island was cancelled after three seasons in 1967. Soon afterward, Tina made a slew of TV appearances in the late '60's through the '90's (most notably a role in Dallas as JR’s paramour Julie Grey) and appeared in over a dozen movies, most notably the Dean Martin Matt Helm spy spoof The Wrecking Crew (1968) and The Stepford Wives (1975).



She also routinely complained about Gilligan's Island and how it had "ruined" her acting career. Tina never joined the other cast members in any of the three 1980's Gilligan's Island reunion films or in the Dawn Wells-produced TV movie Surviving Gilligan's Island (2001).

She did, however, make appearances with her fellow ex-castaways on a few TV interview shows, a 1990 episode of Roseanne, and was even present at the TV Land Awards show in 2004 in a segment honoring Gilligan's Island.

Tina Louise has written three books; Sundays, a brief but touching memoir of her days growing up, as well as two children's books. She gave birth to a daughter, Caprice, in 1970 and divorced Les Crane in 1974,

In examining Tina Louise's acting career, I guess the biggest unexplained paradox is this: in the 50's, she built up a great career as a bombshell and sex symbol. Then, by the early sixties, she had tried to eschew this image by taking on more "serious" projects. Fine, I think we can all understand an actress wanting this for herself. But this begs the questions “Why did she take the role of the bikini bunny in the 1964 film For Those Who Think Young? And much more importantly, why (according to Bob Denver) was it she who relished and really pushed for Ginger's overtly sexy image during the three seasons of Gilligan's Island?

Oh well, I guess while I ponder these questions, Ii can only say this, in conclusion: Tina Louise is universally beloved for her wonderful, hilarious (and often brilliant) role as Ginger Grant on my all-time favorite TV show Gilligan's Island.

I only hope that by now, she, at the age of 80, has come to grips with the legacy and immortality of “Ginger Grant-the movie star" and the great joy she has given to her countless fans (both men and women) the world over.

The Internet of Useless Things

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 04:00 AM PST


The internet is an instrumental tool for us to research, explore, learn, shop and more, yet there is always the opposite side of the proverbial coin. False or misleading information, scams, dating disasters waiting to happen are rampant. There's also a fair share of products that, while purporting to be something no one should live without, are exactly the opposite. In short: useless.

A creative technology company called Rehabstudio has a blog that parodies just such useless technological wonders positioned in the market as items everyone needs to simplify their everyday lives. The blog, The Internet of Useless Things, features fake products with familiar copy full of disingenuous advertising phrases and buzzwords that all consumers will recognize.  

Creatives with similar ideas can tweet with hashtag #iouselesst for them to be considered for the blog. See more amusing faux technological innovations here. 
 

Creative Writing Prompt: And Featuring Sulu on the Drums

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 03:00 AM PST

I did my best to track down the artist responsible for this image. I was unsuccessful. That's sad because a work of this greatness should earn the highest accolades from the human race.

Now take a seat. You've missed the beginning of the show. The Enterprise D-Lites (Picard on the flute, Riker on the trombone, and Worf on the triangle), but you're in time for the main act.

How does this image inspire you? What story or caption can you write for it?

-via Steven Ross

Introducing Spot

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 02:00 AM PST

(YouTube link)

Boston Dynamics has done it again- they’ve unveiled a robot that approaches the uncanny valley to give us the heebie jeebies. This robot is called Spot, because he’s kind of like a dog. In fact, he’s the little brother of their BigDog robot. The difference is that Spot runs on electric power instead of gasoline, so he can be used indoors as well as outside. And he, I mean it, weighs only about 160 pounds. Spot joins BigDog, AlphaDog, Atlas, Petman, RHex, Wildcat, Sand Flea, and Cheetah (all from Boston Dynamics) among our new robot overlords. -via Geeks Are Sexy

See also: More terrifying robots from Boston Dynamics.

New "Happiness Monitor" Continuously Measures Your Mood, Reports It to Your Boss

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 01:00 AM PST


(Photo: Highways Agency)

Would you like to be happy? Of course you do! Your supervisor considers your happiness to be essential. It will have a great impact on your quarterly evaluation. So keep your happiness level high because a new device invented by Hitachi monitors it continously and informs your boss of your happiness -- or lack thereof.

Hitachi's new gadget is about the size of a credit card. You wear it (presumably it's not yet available as a subdermal implant). Sophie Chara of the Wall Street Journal explains how it works:

Essentially, Hitachi has come up with a happiness algorithm based on how much you sit, stand, nod, type and walk around at work. The badge houses an accelerometer to measure your activity, including how quickly, say, you are moving and collects data on your movements an incredible 50 times a second throughout the day.

The benefit of the system is that ideally all employees in a business would wear a badge with the wearable sending data to cloud based servers in real time. The aim isn't to get individual data but an overall score of workplace happiness. It's a system Hitachi dubs Human Big Data.

So keep smiling!

-via Rocket News 24

No Cat Do

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 12:00 AM PST

YouTube Link

Jennifer Morales has a beautiful Persian cat. A beautiful, willful Persian cat (though it may be redundant to use "cat" and "willful" in the same sentence). Morales catches the cat red-pawed, poised to knock a glass of water off a table. She tells the cat no, which obviously registers with the animal. He may know what it means, but that doesn't mean he'll follow your rules, Jennifer. On the contrary. -Via Tastefully Offensive

Haunting Photos of a Deserted Shopping Mall Covered with Snow

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 11:00 PM PST

Seph Lawless, a photographer, explores abandoned places in America. His new book, Black Friday, chronicles the death of the American shopping mall. For this project, Lawless explored the Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio. Fresh winter snow fills the empty interior of what was once a place to buy and sell, spend time with friends, and have a good time. You can see more images from the series at Business Insider.

-via Daily of the Day

The History of the Conversation Heart

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:00 PM PST

The chalky little candy hearts that say something sweet like “kiss me” or incomprehensible like “me too” are ubiquitous this time of year. You’ve seen them all of your life, but did you ever wonder when they became a thing?

The story of conversation hearts began in 1847, when a Boston pharmacist named Oliver Chase longed for a way to get in on the apothecary lozenge craze. Lozenges were quickly gaining steam as the medicine conveyance of choice, and were also popular remedies for sore throats and bad breath. But making lozenges was complicated and time-consuming—the process involved a mortar and pestle, kneading dough, rolling it out, and cutting it into discs that would eventually become lozenges.

There had to be a better way, and Oliver came up with it. Inspired by the new wave of gadgets and tools that hit America as it industrialized, he invented a machine that rolled lozenge dough and pressed wafers into perfect discs. Oliver had inadvertently created America’s first candy-making machine, and before long, he had abandoned his pharmacy business to crank out miles of what would become New England Confectionery Company (NECCO) wafers.

The candy was just the first step. The message came later, and the heart shape even further in the story, which you can read at mental_floss.

Watch This Master Dish Washer Clean 500 Plates a Minute

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 09:00 PM PST


(Video Link)

There are no small jobs. There is no work that cannot be refined and perfected. And when it has been mastered, the master has earned our respect.

Erin Mosbaugh of the food blog First We Feast calls this anonymous artisan a "back-of-house hero." Dishes flow from his hands smoothly into place. How many dishes did he process before he achieved this level of excellence? Tens of thousands? A million?

Minion Who - Thirteen Tiny Doctors, One Banana

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 08:00 PM PST


Minion Who by Chip Skelton

It took the minions about a week to watch every episode ever made of that show about an alien Doctor who traverses space and time in a blue police box, and when that week was over they found themselves obsessed with playing Doctor. Thirteen of them formed a group they called the Lords of Time, with each one sporting their own unique outfit and wielding a unique screwdriver that made some rather screwy sounds. Gru was happy that those little pill shaped pests were finally playing a game he could get behind, but when they encased the family dog in steel and started calling him K9 they'd taken the game too far...

Bring a little bit of imagination to your geeky wardrobe with this Minion Who t-shirt by Chip Skelton, and share your love of minions playing Doctor with the world!

Visit Chip Skelton's Facebook fan page, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more geek-tastic designs:

Mini EvilMy Neighbor of the DeadNew & Improved Jack and FriendsToni on a Tryke

View more designs by Chip Skelton | More Video Games | 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!

The Only Naming Convention That Works

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 08:00 PM PST

It didn’t happen on purpose. You just have to figure out a way to label your files so that you know which one is the latest iteration of the project that you thought you finished. In reality, a project is never really finished. And who knows that better than Doghouse Diaries?

For Sale on eBay: "Very Haunted" Laptop Computer

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 07:00 PM PST

Because of the way many curses are coded, you can only get rid of one by selling the cursed item online. This is why you occasionally see people trying to unload unholy items on Craigslist or eBay, such as this cursed sword.

eBay seller wfatzinger has a 2007 MacBook that is in fairly good condition except that it's haunted. He didn't buy it that way. It was a normal MacBook until it became haunted while wfatzinger was spending too much time in cemetery next to an abandoned insane asylum. He describes at great length how it because haunted and the practical effects of this haunting in the item description:

Well, I took the computer home (still in perfect working condition) and, folks, this is when things started to get downright weird. First, I noticed that ALL of my songs in iTunes had become scary or haunted. Second, the desktop background was changed to a scary photo. The following week, we (my wife, Barbie, and I) noticed some of our stuff around the house had been mysteriously rearranged. One night, we went out to dinner with my wife’s parents and their friends and some people from my wife’s work and some of their parents. When we came home, my baseball cards were all out of order and my wife’s rare American coins were in total disarray. To make matters spookier, I occasionally saw the computer levitating. In some cases the screen and keyboard would open and shut quickly, as though the computer were attempting to speak. […]

Notable Facts: Not only was there a full moon on the night I left the laptop in the graveyard, but there were also reports of an eerie green fog in the area, which people said caused them to feel a sense of intense nostalgia. I later read that there was an anomalous electrical storm near that selfsame evening. Furthermore, there were police reports of a terrifying old crone capering through a contiguous neighborhood, setting trash cans ablaze and chanting incantations or curses, laughing and shrieking and brandishing a sharpened axe with a pentagram carved into the hilt. I’m NOT a computer expert, so I’m not sure which of these anomalous entities might have precipitated the haunting, but I thought it best to include all here.

The auction is open for another 4 days. The computer comes with 4 GB of memory and a Certificate of Haunting, so you should probably put in a bid.

-via The Mary Sue

10 Unsolved Cases That Involved Mysterious Phone Calls

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 06:00 PM PST

The Chatsworth crash | Image: MR O Via Wikimedia Commons

A terrible train wreck occurred on September 12, 2008 in California's San Fernando Valley. A Metrolink commuter train carrying 225 riders collided with a Union Pacific freight train. In what is now referred to as the Chatsworth crash, 135 people were injured. Of those injured, 87 people were hospitalized and 25 died. It was determined that the engineer of the Metrolink train was texting at the time of the crash, and that train was considered to be at fault in the tragic accident. 

One of the fatalities on the Metrolink train was 49-year-old Charles Peck, a Delta Airlines customer service representative from Salt Lake City. Peck had been in Los Angeles to interview for a job at Van Nuys airport. He and his fiancé Andrea Katz had put off marriage until Peck could relocate to the Los Angeles area, where Katz lived. It would be Charles Peck's second marriage. His first marriage had produced three children. 

News of the deadly crash spread as Andrea Katz made her way to the train station to pick up her fiancé. When Peck's parents and siblings heard of the accident, they joined Katz for what was to be a most harrowing experience.

Peck died on impact. Yet his body wasn't found for another dozen hours after the crash. During those hours, Peck's mobile phone made a series of calls to his fiancé and many family members. Thirty-five calls in all were made from Peck's phone to members of his family and inner circle, all of which consisted of a few minutes of silence before disconnection. As the calls continued, authorities used Peck's cell signal in order to locate his body, which they eventually did, one hour after the last call. Peck's phone was never found. 

Visit this link to read nine more cases involving mysterious phone calls. 

Love Tokens: How Victorians Fell in Love With Pocket Change

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 05:00 PM PST

Back when war, ocean travel, or prison sentences meant lovers would be separated for a long time, they left each other with love tokens -real coins sanded down and engraved with names and sentimental messages and symbols. The engravings had different meanings, and could in domes cases be used as a marriage proposal. The custom started hundreds of years ago, but reached it apex in the 1800s. Collectors Weekly talked to Sid Gale of the Love Token Society about the history and popularity of love tokens.

Gale explains that as chromolithography became more affordable and started to replace the letterpress in the late 1800s, wood-type engravers turned to hand-engraving coins as a way to survive. By 1870s, their elaborate, beautifully engraved love tokens became a full-on obsession for Victorians, in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

“If you went to a fair in Victorian England, someone would be scraping off the side of a coin and selling love tokens,” Rosin says. “A fellow walking arm-in-arm with his girlfriend would take her to buy a little love token. I don’t know if it necessarily meant their love would last, but it was a big thing with young people.”

Read the rest, and see a great variety of these types of tokens that have survived, at Collectors Weekly.

(Image credit: The Love Token Society)

Owl Dance-Off

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 04:00 PM PST

YouTube Link

Wildlife photographer Megan Lopez captured this GoPro footage of burrowing owls who make an appearance from underground and find things on the surface quite danceworthy. With music by Aquadrop. -Via Laughing Squid

The Greatest Love Letter

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 03:00 PM PST

As Valentines Day nears, British life insurance company Beagle Street commissioned a poll to find out which of the world’s great love letters is the best. The list of the ten that participants selected from included letters from poets, politicians, and kings, and they are full of love. The letter voted the best was written by Johnny Cash to his wife June Carter Cash on the occasion of her 65th birthday in 1994.

    June 23 1994
    Odense, Denmark.

    Happy Birthday Princess,

    We get old and get use to each other. We think alike. We read each others minds. We know what the other wants without asking. Sometimes we irritate each other a little bit. Maybe sometimes take each other for granted.

    But once in awhile, like today, I meditate on it and realize how lucky I am to share my life with the greatest woman I ever met. You still fascinate and inspire me. You influence me for the better. You’re the object of my desire, the #1 Earthly reason for my existence. I love you very much.

    Happy Birthday Princess.

    John   

Read excerpts from all the contenders at The Daily Mail. -via Uproxx

Wrap Her Wrist in Nature

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 02:00 PM PST


These lovely bangle bracelets are made of resin embedded with nature's embellishments such as flowers, leaves, bark, shells and pine cones. The bracelets are hand made. 

The jewelry, which includes rings and pendants, is generally available at Modern Flower Child at Etsy. However, likely overwhelmed with orders as a result of their recent press, the shop has an announcement up that they're taking a break to fulfill orders. The jewelry is also available through Fairie magazine. See the offerings and inquire about stock there. -Via Colossal

London Brawling

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 01:00 PM PST

(YouTube link)

Freddie Wong (previously at Neatorama) finds himself in another situation where he inexplicably has to fight his way out, action hero-style, this time with only an umbrella as a weapon. But of course, this is no ordinary umbrella. It’s not even his! -via Tastefully Offensive

Randy Quaid And His Battle Against The Star Whackers

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 12:00 PM PST

The life of beloved actor Randy Quaid has taken a sad turn over the last few years, and now he’s making a different kind of comeback- by posting a video rant online that slams Rupert Murdoch.

Randy and his wife Evi's battle against a group they call the Star Whackers began a long time ago, but their more recent battles with the law began when they tried to skip out on a $10,000 bill at the San Ysidro Ranch Hotel, and that's when things became even more bizarre, and more public.

The couple made many more bad decisions before hightailing it to Vancouver to "hide out", which in Randy's mind means filing more frivolous lawsuits, actively using his Twitter account and posting videos online. You can see the video here, but be warned it contains a simulated sex act and NSFW language.

It's hard to imagine how the duo foresee the whole situation playing out, but the tale of the mad movie star and his socialite sweetie running from the Illuminati and the law is bound to end with a book deal and movie rights, eh?

-Via Dangerous Minds

Flower Arranging Made Easy

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 11:00 AM PST

(YouTube link)

Some of you will will receive bouquets of flowers this weekend (hint: Valentines Day). Some will arrive pre-arranged in vases with wires and ribbon. Others will come in a handful, like those in this video. Dave Hax is here to show you how to make them look like they do on TV with the help of some cellophane tape. This will also work when your child picks the flowers out of your garden later this spring. -via Laughing Squid

The DON-Atello - He'll Make You An Offer On A Pizza You Can't Refuse

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:00 AM PST


The DON-Atello by Scott Neilson

Don didn't start out wanting to be the biggest crime boss in New York, but when the Foot clan started buying up all the pizza shops in town Don knew he had to take action. He teamed up with a group of teamsters who controlled the pizza delivery game, and soon Don was buying his way into a pizza pie franchise and recruiting new pizza slingers to wage war against footy pizza. Those who chose to side with a mutant turtle rather than those stinking Foot clan fools started calling Donatello the Don, and he was quickly becoming one of the most popular pizza chiefs in town!

Bring some criminally good style to your geeky wardrobe with this The DON-Atello t-shirt by Scott Neilson, and show the world the other side of mutant ninja life.

Visit Scott Neilson's Facebook fan page, Twitter and Tumblr, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more mighty geeky designs:

Sons Of Arkham- Original AnarchistOffice ShredderZaderSMASHING

View more designs by Scott Neilson | 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!

This Island Looks Like a Dolphin

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:00 AM PST


(W Magazine/Raphael T. Harris/WorldRealEstate.it)

Three small limestone islands off the Amalfi coast of Italy are known as La Galli or The Sirenusas (The Sirens). Tradition holds that it was here that Odysseus of Homer’s Odyssey encountered the tempting songs of the Sirens. Now the islands hold privately owned resorts and luxury homes. Some of the wealthiest people in the world own seaside homes on these islands or spend time at the expensive rental estates there.

When viewed from the right angle, one of those islands looks like a dolphin.

-via Messy Nessy Chic

Beware the Scottish Lawyers of Twitter

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 09:00 AM PST

Highland Titles is a company that sells plots of land in the Highland Titles Nature Reserve at Glencoe Wood, Duror, Scotland, starting at £29.99 for one square foot. The idea is that you can then call yourself a Laird or Lady of Glencoe. You’ve seen schemes like that before, such as getting a star named after yourself or receiving a one-inch plot of land in Black Oak, Arkansas, with an album purchase. Highland Titles has a Twitter feed, which attracted the attention of one Bill Somebody, who questioned the practice of selling souvenir titles.

Well, it turns out that Bill Somebody is a conveyancer, which means a lawyer specializing in real estate transfers. He was joined in the argument by a law professor from Aberdeen University, and another Scottish lawyer. Not only that, he called in yet another Scottish lawyer who is a former President of the Law Society, and a law professor at the University of Glasgow. The arguments were going swimmingly until Highland Titles started blocking all the Scottish lawyers. They took it as a badge of honor.

Read the whole story and you, too, could be blocked by Highland Titles! -via Metafilter

Izu The Lion Gives A Speech At The San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 08:00 AM PST

Izu the lion could've had a successful career in public speaking, but thanks to conservation efforts and the caring people behind the San Diego Zoo Global he doesn't have to work for a living.

Despite his life of leisure Izu still has a lot of feline concerns flitting around inside his massive head, and as you can see in this video shot at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park he has no problem speaking his mind!

(YouTube Link)

It's anybody's guess what Izu was trying to say to the Safari Park crowd that day, but it's a sure bet when Izu speaks people listen! 

-Via The Daily What

A Collection of Civil War Portraits

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 07:00 AM PST

The Library of Congress has a special collection of images, donated by the Liljenquist family, of over a thousand ambrotypes and tintypes taken during the Civil War. Many of these are portraits of soldiers, but also includes pictures of children, families, and personal artifacts.

Tom Liljenquist and his sons Jason, Brandon, and Christian built this collection in memory of President Abraham Lincoln and the 620,000 Union and Confederate servicemen who died in the American Civil War. For many, these photographs are the last known record we have of who they were and what they looked like. See "From the Donor's Perspective--The Last Full Measure" for the full story.

The Liljenquist Family began donating their collection to the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division in 2010 and continues to add to it. In addition to the ambrotypes and tintypes, the collection also includes several manuscripts, patriotic envelopes, photographs on paper, and artifacts related to the Civil War.

What struck me was how young so many of the soldiers were.

You can browse the collection at the Library of Congress. -via Buzzfeed

"Icehenge" Appears on a Frozen Lake in Wisconsin

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 06:00 AM PST

(Photo: Matt Gardner/Daily Union)

Why did ancient Wisconsinites build the mysterious Icehenge on Rock Lake? Was it for religious rites? Astronomical research? Communicating with aliens? We may never know, unless we talk to the five guys who built it. Kevin Lehner and 4 of his buddies used ice cutters, chainsaws, and tongs to build this massive homage so Britain's Stonehenge. The blocks weigh about 200 pounds each.

The men have been doing this on Rock Lake near the town of Lake Mills every year for several years. It began as a religious act after a local tribe was defeated by a rival foreign tribe:

The men have built ice sculptures in the past, but this year's motivation was a little special.

"There may have been some anxiety over that Packers loss in Seattle. '06 and had to release some anxiety somehow."

Perhaps the gods, pleased by this extraordinary act of piety, may respond by granting them victory in future battles.

You can see more photos of Icehenge here.

-via Nerd Approved

Ig® Nobel Limericks: Beard, Tobacco, Zipper

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 05:00 AM PST

The following article is from The Annals of Improbable Research.

Ig Nobel Achievements distilled into limerick form
by Martin Eiger, Improbable Research Limerick Laureate

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think. For details of all the Ig Nobel Prize--winning achievements, see each year's special Ig Nobel issue of the magazine, and also see the website.

2010 Ig Nobel Public Health Prize
Manuel Barbeito, Charles Mathews, and Larry Taylor of the Industrial Health and Safety Office, Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA, for determining by experiment that microbes cling to bearded scientists. ["Microbiological Laboratory Hazard of Bearded Men," Applied Microbiology, vol. 15, no. 4, July 1967, pp. 899--906.]

The news is far worse than I feared.
There's microbial life in one's beard.
Yes, the germs find a haven
On people unshaven.
And thus, I am off to be sheared.

Detail from the study "Microbiological Laboratory Hazard of Bearded Men.”

1996 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize
James Johnston of R.J. Reynolds, Joseph Taddeo of U.S. Tobacco, Andrew Tisch of Lorillard, William Campbell of Philip Morris, Edward A. Horrigan of Liggett Group, Donald S. Johnston of American Tobacco Company, and the late Thomas E. Sandefur, Jr., chairman of Brown and Williamson Tobacco Co. for their unshakable discovery, as testified to the U.S. Congress, that nicotine is not addictive.
 
The medical tests seem compelling,
But claims from the companies selling
Tobacco a lot
Say that nicotine's not
Addictive. I guess there's no telling.

1993 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize
James F. Nolan, Thomas J. Stillwell, and John P. Sands, Jr., medical men of mercy, for their painstaking research report, "Acute Management of the Zipper-Entrapped Penis" [Journal of Emergency Medicine, vol. 8, no. 3, May--June 1990, pp. 305--7].


It's a grabber, a grasper, a gripper,
A cutter, a cleaver, a clipper.
Do you know what to do?
It could happen to you,
When your penis gets trapped in your zipper.

_____________________

The article above is from the January-February 2014 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift!

Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.
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