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2015/08/11

Neatorama

Neatorama

A Luxury Hair Salon inside a Restored Airstream Trailer

Posted: 11 Aug 2015 04:00 AM PDT

(Photo: HairStream NYC)

It’s a combination of elite hair styling and classic Americana. HairStream NYC is a hair and nail salon run by internationally famous stylists Ric Pipino and Gil Haziza. Together they and their colleagues serve discerning clients in a classic Airstream trailer converted into a top-end salon. This summer, they’re touring the Hamptons, offering haircuts and styling services ranging from $70 to $450.

-via Messy Nessy Chic

The Truth and Myth Behind Animal Trials in the Middle Ages

Posted: 11 Aug 2015 03:00 AM PDT

You’ve heard of villagers in Europe putting pigs or goats on trial in the Middle Ages. It turns out that a lot of those stories were made up out of whole cloth for one reason or another. Yet some are true, although the details are few. What were they thinking? Did people back then really think that livestock were capable of guilt or understood the proceedings of a trial? Ah, no. Beasts accused of murder were sometimes sentenced to death after a fact-finding trial. Others were prosecuted as a species, but that was often in ecclesiastical court.

Most complaints against smaller animals leveled for infestation or destruction of crops ended up in some sort of excommunication from the church, or official ecclesiastical denouncement. Evans explains that this was largely done as an effort to make people feel better about exterminating them. Since even weevils, slugs, rats, and such were considered God’s creatures, the devastation they inflicted was likely part of his plan, so to just destroy them would be to act against God’s will and creatures. Of course if they were tried in a church court, and excommunicated (or condemned in the case of animals and insects), that could mitigate guilt.

Atlas Obscura gets down to the details of animal trials, and why they were a thing in the Middle Ages. 
 

This Man’s Welds Are Works of Art

Posted: 11 Aug 2015 02:00 AM PDT

The metal flows so smoothly and perfectly over the surface. This is not just the work of a tradesman, but also an artist. The precisely rendered results of great technical skill are beautiful to behold. Scott Raabe, a professional welder in Texas, has this kind of skill.

After graduating from Texas State Technical College 7 years ago, Raabe has been working in both industrial and artistic settings. He can make delicate flowers, vibrant animals, and eye-popping signs. But there is something especially enchanting about the connections that he welds in places people will never see. They look like rainbows of steel. You can see more of these at Imgur.

-via Twisted Sifter

103-Year Old World War II Vet Still Works 5 Days a Week

Posted: 11 Aug 2015 01:00 AM PDT

(Image: NBC)

Loren Wade of Winfield, Kansas retired when he was in his 60s. But he got bored, so he went to work at his local Walmart. That was in 1983. He's still there. Now at the age of 103, Wade works as a store greeter, as well as waters the plants and works a cash register. He has no plans to retire because he likes to stay busy.


(Video Link)

To mark Wade's 103rd birthday, Walmart threw a big party for him. Former Senator Bob Dole, 92, called him at the party, saying that he hoped to "catch up" with Wade someday. Walmart honored Wade and his service in the Army Air Forces by donating $125,000 to the Friends of the National World War II Memorial.

-via David Burge

Ten Of The Strangest Games Based On Pop Culture Franchises

Posted: 11 Aug 2015 12:00 AM PDT

Licensed games, like comic books and toys, go through phases of overdevelopment that result in some pretty odd choices being made by game companies.

It’s like they don’t have a filter for what should or shouldn’t be made into a game when pop culture trends reach their most profitable, so they start churning out games for any movie or TV show license that comes across their desk.

Fight Club is a movie about a guy who beats himself up and has rules against talking about beating himself up, sounds like the making of a great video game!

Haven't you always wanted to beat Full House's Michelle Tanner...at a board game? Well what are you waiting for, grab the epic Full House board game that came out in 1993 and show Michelle you got it, dude!

See 10 Inexplicable Games Based On Pop Culture here

Desmond Doss, The Pacifist Who Was Awarded the Medal of Honor

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 11:00 PM PDT

(Photo: USG via Materialscientist)

Desmond Doss was drafted into the US Army in 1942. He was a pacifist and so wouldn’t take up arms. He was also a Seventh-Day Adventist and so wouldn’t work on Saturdays. So he took up work as a combat medic, concluding that he could work on Saturdays because “Christ healed on the Sabbath.”

PFC Doss served with the 77th Infantry Division during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. During that long battle, he repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to tend to fallen comrades and retrieve them from the battlefield. For this, he would be awarded the Medal of Honor. The citation for that commendation is remarkably long due to staggering scale of his badassery. This is merely a selection:

On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm.

A precise number remains unknown, but it’s estimated that Doss personally rescued 50 to 100 of his fellow soldiers from death.

Doss never fully recovered from the wounds he received on Okinawa. He went home, married, had children, and devoted the rest of his life to religious work. He died in 2006 at the age of 87. You can find his obituary here.

-via Daily of the Day

The Evolution of Wonder Woman

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 10:00 PM PDT

Comic author Grant Morrison opined about the new Wonder Woman movie franchise, wondering how the Amazonian became so warlike, when Diana Prince was always dedicated to justice and peace. The truth is, Wonder Woman has been many things. Diana Prince has gone through a lot of changes in her 73 years in comic books.

Wonder Woman was by no means the first female superhero, but she was perhaps the first who was designed to function primarily as a social message. Her creator, psychologist William Marston, intended her to be an antidote to what he had decided was "comics' worst offense... their blood-curdling masculinity." By this, he didn’t really mean that comics were too violent or stereotypically masculinized, but rather that they lacked all the elements that Marston saw as the “tender, submissive, peace-loving” feminine ideal.

But that changed, depending on the mood of the day and who was writing the stories. An article at The Daily Dot follows the many different phases of Wonder Woman’s career as a superhero, from 1942 to today. 

For Sale: The Only Desert in Britain

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 09:00 PM PDT


(Photo: Peter Corbett)

There's a spit of land in Kent jutting out into the English Channel. It's so dry that the British government refers to it as the nation's only desert. This is Dungeness and it can be yours--for the right price.

468 acres of the area comprises Dungeness Estate, a property owned by a family trust. The family has decided to part with it. So if you can afford the £1.5 million ($2.32 million USD) cost, you can own the site of so many movie and music video shootings. The Daily Telegraph describes how the estate has appeared in pop culture:

Dungeness also featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1981 album A Collection of Great Dance Songs, released a few weeks before bassist Roger Waters quit the band.

It also appeared in the cult 1981 film Time Bandits and in music videos for bands such as Pink Floyd, The Lighthouse Family, The Thrills, The Prodigy, Athlete, Aled Jones and Turin Brakes.

KRUSTY THE JOKER - Laugh Now, Cry Later

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 08:00 PM PDT


KRUSTY THE JOKER by ALIENBIKER23

When the citizens of Springfield heard Krusty would be playing the Joker in a new superhero movie they all thought it was just some big joke, but then they saw the trailer and their jaws dropped. There he was, Krusty the sleazy klown, all tattooed and acting crazy for the Suicide Squad movie. Soon the internet was all a-twitter with talk about what a tragic choice the producers had made in casting Krusty, and then the director himself to be none other than Sideshow Bob!

Bring home this KRUSTY THE JOKER t-shirt by ALIENBIKER23 and watch your fellow Simpsons fans go crazy with glee!

Visit ALIENBIKER23's Facebook fan page and Twitter, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more superheroic designs:

GEARS OF EXTINCTIONDIED KRILINMINION IN LOVETRACTOR STORMTROOPER

View more designs by ALIENBIKER23 | 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!

Surfing The Internet On A TRS-80 Model 100

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 08:00 PM PDT

You don’t need a brand new, high powered computer to go online, and believe it or not there are still people out there surfing the net via dialup modem.

Now if you want to have the best online experience it helps if your computer has at least a few modern features, but if you haven’t bought a new computer in the last thirty years don’t worry, you can still go online...if you’re crafty.

Ars Technica writer Sean Gallagher is clearly crafty when it comes to the thoroughly modern art of computing, and he was able to get online with his newly acquired TRS-80 Model 100 (released in 1983) and a little slice of Raspberry Pi.

Sean's journey to bring 80s computer tech into the 21st century is equal parts inspiring and befuddling, but the results show time travelers from the 80s shouldn't have a problem getting online when they visit the 21st century.

Read Surfing The Internet...From My TRS-80 Model 100 here

Hamilton the Hipster Cat

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 07:00 PM PDT

In a world where so many cats get by on their looks alone, Hamilton is doubly blessed. Hamilton was born with the most magnificent facial markings a cat can ask for. What a mustache! Hamilton, or Hammy, doesn’t mind posing for lots of pictures. His Facebook page has plenty of them, and of other cats who have great mustaches, too. His Instagram account has even more photos. -via reddit

(Image: Hamilton the Hipster Cat at Facebook)

The High School With America's Most Intricate End Zone Design

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 06:00 PM PDT

As pro football stadiums grow larger, fancier and packed full of more and more amenities (like the swimming pool with a view of the field at EverBank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars) the field designs go up a few fanciness levels as well.

But one American high school now holds the record for the most intricate end zone design- San Diego’s very own Helix High School.

The end zone features a Dress Gordon tartan pattern made out of 55 cut files (which is apparently nearly double the norm), and Helix's signature Scotty dog growls loud and proud from center field. The entire transformation took over 180 hours to complete, and must have cost the school a pretty penny!

-Via FieldTurf

Katie Walker, Lighthouse Keeper

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 05:00 PM PDT

Katherine Walker was married to the lighthouse keeper at Robbins Reef Light, between Manhattan Island and a Staten Island. John Walker developed pneumonia and died in 1886. His last words were “Mind the lights, Katie.” And she did. For thirty years. She immediately took over her husband’s duties at the lighthouse while government authorities searched for a new lighthouse keeper. They did not believe that Katie, at 4’ 10” and 100 pounds, could do the job, but no one else wanted to. After nine and a half years as lighthouse keeper, she was finally given the official appointment.

Her life on Robbins Reef was focussed: the light was everything. She did not neglect her children, however, and every school day rowed them a mile each way, weather permitting, to Staten Island. In fact, in addition to helping with his academic studies, she trained her son Jacob to be her assistant, a form of on-the-job career training. (He later became keeper of the light when his mother retired.)

But the light was her reason for being and vital for shipping. Many vessels had been gutted on the dangerous rocks, laying close alongside the deep water channels leading up the Hudson and into the Staten Island/New Jersey docks. In her tenure, Kate was credited with some 50 rescues. The most rewarding, she recalled, came one winter night when a schooner crashed onto the reef. Five men were cast into the cold seas. Launching the small boat she used to ferry her children to school, Kate bravely rowed through the surging wreckage and rescued all five. All safely aboard, one of them asked "Where's Scottie?" Searching in the dark she caught a glimpse of a small dog and hauled him aboard, too. Back at the light she wrapped Scottie in a towel and forced him to drink warm coffee. The men left the next day and the skipper returned three days later to claim the dog. As the captain climbed down into his waiting boat, Scottie looked up into Kate's eyes and whined. "That's when I learned dog's could weep," she said, "there were tears in his eyes."

Katie Walker retired in 1919 after 33 years of faithfully attending to Robbins Reef Light. Read Walker’s story at SailNorthEast.

32 Movies Being Adapted For TV

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 04:00 PM PDT

Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island | Image: Paramount Pictures

When it comes to the American entertainment industry these days, a popular media presentation is commonly used and recycled in all possible forms to get every last dollar out of it. A blockbuster movie typically begets a sequel or a reboot. Increasingly, successful films are adapted for television; that is the focus of the article linked below, which names 32 such pilots for television in production.

One of those films is Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island. In this case, HBO will feature a prequel to the movie storyline, which will focus on the early days of the eerie, isolated, island psych hospital and its founders. In an intriguing and promising twist, the author of the book upon which the film is based, Dennis Lehane, will write the pilot, and Scorsese himself will direct. 

Learn about 31 other movies to be adapted for television here. 


 

Skating Kitchen = Skitchen

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 03:00 PM PDT

Have you ever wondered what happens when your kitchen is left all alone? Artist Benoit Jammes immagines that our fruits and veggies are not only alive, but active. In fact, he thinks they're taking advantage of the curves, ramps and dips in our kitchens to perform some epic skating tricks.

The series is called Skitchen and while it's adorable over all, there is at least one messy accident -this is why you wear helmets kids!

Parrot Slides down Bannister

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 02:00 PM PDT


(Video Link)

Flying is for suckers. When Stanley, an African grey parrot, wants to go downstairs, he just slides down the bannister. Janice Jensen, an animal care advocate in Hong Kong, recorded this video and notes the approval of the resident dogs when Stanley reaches the bottom.

-via Nothing to Do with Aborath

Adventure Time Title Cards Collected In Beautiful Coffee Table Books

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 01:00 PM PDT

Adventure Time has taken cartoon cool to a whole new level, with amazing art and totally tripped out storylines that are made to appeal to kids and adults alike.

(Image Link)

Every episode of Adventure Time begins with a totally mathematical looking title card that serves as a graphic representation of the storyline, plus it helps set the mood for the episode.

Whether they’re scary, far out or fantastically funny, those title cards are a very visually appealing way to start every episode.

Now you can bring those title cards home in book form to sit on your bookshelf or coffee table where they belong in Adventure Time: The Original Cartoon Title Cards, with two volumes out so far covering the first four seasons of the show.

It's an eye-pleasing way to admire the artistry that goes into this amazing and innovative cartoon show, and may even convince those who don't know what time it is that it's Adventure Time!

-Via Polygon

Things Living in the Upper Atmosphere

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 12:00 PM PDT

Five years ago, Robert Krulwich of NPR told us about the billions of bugs that lived high above us in the atmosphere. Now there’s an even newer, stranger ecosystem found much higher: bacteria, fungi, and viruses that are swept up to the edge of outer space and orbit the earth miles above our heads. They survive up there, often for long periods of time, and many of them come back to earth from “the high zone” still alive.

Some bacteria have been in this high zone so regularly or for so long that they’ve adapted to life in the sky. Some species develop pigments that mimic sunscreen; some, says the New York Times, feed only on cloud water; and some can reproduce within clouds.

Scientists call this new family of creatures-in-the-sky “high life,” and it is a biological zone with its own rules. Up there is not like down here.

The conditions are so extreme (cold, lack of oxygen, solar radiation, etc.) that scientists are having to rethink how microbes live and die, and maybe come back to life. Which upends what we think we know about life and death. Read about these high zone microbes and their high life, such as it is, at Phenomena.  

(Image credit: Robert Krulwich)

Robber's Getaway Car Repossessed While He Was In the Store

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 11:00 AM PDT


(Photo: Scott Davidson)

Police in Zion, Illinois call him the "unlucky thief." On Tuesday, police say, the suspect went into a Walmart to shoplift electronics. Store staff summoned the police. The suspect fled, only to find that his car was gone!

Police arrested him attempting to leave the area on foot. They determined that a repossession agent had towed the car away while the thief was inside the Walmart. The Chicago Tribune reports:

Hearn was later located walking by the side of the road, according to police. When asked why he was walking, he responded that his car had been repossessed while he was at the Wal-Mart, police said.

Investigators determined that the repossession company had followed Hearn to Wal-Mart, police said. The car was towed away when he entered the store, giving Hearn the only option of fleeing the scene on foot, police said.

-via Nothing to Do with Aborath

KaijuMon - Catch 'Em All, Before They Catch You!

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 10:00 AM PDT


KaijuMon by MikeGoesGeek (Mike Vasquez)

Ash started out catching 'em small, but as he worked his way up in the pocket monster world he found that small wasn't winning duels anymore. He needed to find some serious monster firepower, so he started trying to catch 'em tall. First he caught the legendary Gojiramon, with the power of electric breath and a tail whip that knocks foes cold, and then he caught a few more famous monsters. But before he knew it Ash had run out of space in his collection, and the kaiju were growing tired of being cooped up in that ball...

Add some mega-sized awesomeness to your geeky wardrobe with this KaijuMon t-shirt by MikeGoesGeek (Mike Vasquez), it's one big and bold design!

Visit MikeGoesGeek (Mike Vasquez)'s Facebook fan page, official website, Instagram and Twitter, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more geek-tastic designs:

Steamboat RocketDance Powered StickThe Kaiju KingThe Three Worded Groot

View more designs by MikeGoesGeek (Mike Vasquez) | 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!

Yearbook Photos of Rock and Heavy Metal Icons

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 10:00 AM PDT



Rock stars are seen by many as the height of cool. Their stage swagger, hip clothes and loads of groupies make it seem like they never had a nerdy day in their lives. But what about their high school years? Did they have awkward or nerdy looks once upon a time? Judging from some of these high school photos from this collection of yearbook photos of rock and heavy metal icons, the answer would be yes. 

Luxury Gold Skipping Stone

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 09:30 AM PDT


(Photo: RichardBH)

Skipping stones along a lake--it's one of the little joys and challenges of childhood. Can you get the flat rock to skim along the surface? How many times can you make it bounce?

Usually people search for and throw appropriate stones that they find on site at the lake. But if you're a cut above the ordinary riff raff, then you deserve the luxury skimming stone by Dominic Wilcox. This artist, whose work we've featured extensively, has a gift for creating offbeat versions of ordinary products and experiences. It's a flat rock covered with 24 karat gold leaf and fits inside a bespoke belt-mounted pouch.

The stone is a comment on preciousness of time. Wilcox wrote this lovely short short story to accompany it:

He knew the moment had arrived at last, the stars had aligned, the perfect balance of stillness and silence were upon him. He stood facing the shimmering lake and felt a calmness descend. After thirty four years, two month and twenty two days of waiting and searching he unbuckled his leather pouch and gently slid out the golden skimming stone. The stone had sat in the pouch patiently awaiting its time, its reason for existence. He held the stone delicately in his throwing hand and carefully wrapped his index finger along its glimmering edge. His mind started to race with doubt: ‘Will I skim it perfectly, the way it deserves after all this wait? What if I throw it wrongly and it just sinks?’. He looked at the stone and it gleamed back at him in such a beautiful way that it was as though the stone was speaking to him. He felt calm again, stretched back his arm, took a deep breath, made a wish and threw the golden stone with all his might at the water’s surface.

-via Dornob

Some Of The Most Beautiful Shots In Movie History

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 09:00 AM PDT

Some movies are remembered for their crazy twists, thought provoking storylines or memorable characters, but beyond that most movies are remembered for those magical camera shots.

It’s the art of the shot that makes or breaks most Directors, and the camera shot will forever define the motion picture industry because cinema is a visual medium at its core.

Many a Director has built their reputation upon their “eye”, and their camera shots took the storyline in their films well beyond simple plot and character development.

BuzzFeed has put together a perfectly eye-pleasing collection of 129 Of The Most Beautiful Shots In Movie History which, like most lists of its kind, is missing some key movies, includes some shots that don't fit in with the rest, and will likely be a source of contention.

But that's the beauty of the movies- we love them, we hate them, and we love to discuss why we love and hate them!

asdfmovie9

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 08:30 AM PDT

The latest in the asdfmovie series is number nine. It’s totally insane, with vignettes that lead you in one direction and then skew sideways in the blink of an eye.

(YouTube link)

A gift from TomSka (previously at Neatorama). -via Geeks Are Sexy

5 Great Taco Bell Ideas for Japan

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 08:00 AM PDT

Taco Bell is coming to Japan. The staff of Rocket News 24 is excited, but also trepidatious. Will the fast food giant be able to adapt to Japanese tastes? Recipes that are popular in the United States may fall flat in Japan. So the Rocket News 24 team assembled 5 taco meals that it thinks will do well, such as these with fresh octopus tentacles. The others are wasabi, natto, sushi, and green tea.

Meet Edward Scissorhands the Baby Sloth and His Sloth Stuffed Animal

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 07:30 AM PDT


YouTube Link

Edward Scissorhands is a seven-week-old Linnaeus’ two-toed sloth being raised by zookeepers at the London Zoo. The zoo staff had to take over Edward's care and feeding on a diet of goat's milk when his mother was not producing the milk necessary for his development.  

Edward will be reunited with mama in several weeks. As of now, a tool used in his development is a sloth stuffed animal supplied by his keepers. Through playtime with the stuffed animal, Edward is learning to hang and develop muscles he'll need to eventually live a sloth's life in the trees. Learn more about Edward at the London Zoo. Via Slate

Whodunit: Driven to Suicide

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 07:00 AM PDT

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

(Image credit: Flickr user John Lloyd)

Star Cars had seemed like a great idea. Beau and Irving Plimpton would translate their passion into a business. The brothers would rent out vintage automobiles to Los Angeles film companies and production houses for background and atmosphere. Beau took care of the contracts and customers while Irving kept the cars in pristine shape, refusing to even drive them on the street.

But the Plimpton boys hadn't had a rental in weeks and were facing bankruptcy. One afternoon, an attendant spotted Beau's sports car driving into the basement garage at Beau's apartment building. An hour later, Beau's live-in girlfriend drove in and found his car occupying her spot. Peering through the dark tinted glass, Pauline could see her fiancé’s hulking silhouette squeezed inside. She opened the driver's door. There, strapped into his safety belt was the body of Beau Plimpton. He'd been shot once in the left temple, the revolver still in his left hand. An apparent suicide.

"Miss Pauline's spot is behind a pillar, so I didn't see anything," the attendant testified. "Didn't hear a shot either. And I was in the garage all day. Of course, if his windows were rolled up, that might account for it. Those tiny German sports cars are really well-insulated."

When the police visited the Star Cars garage, they found Irving patching a small dent in the side of their prized '48 DeSoto. "What can I do for you?" he asked the officers.

At first Irving didn't seem to understand. "Suicide? No. Beau would never kill himself. It must be Pauline—a gold digger if there ever was one. I don't know how much he's lent her. I finally talked him into trying to get the money back. And now, suddenly he's dead."

Pauline was more willing to accept suicide. "Yes, Beau was left-handed. And he had been depressed a lot lately. Do you have any reason to suspect foul play?"

The detective nodded. "Given the circumstances, suicide was virtually impossible. And we have a good idea who it was."

What fact eliminates suicide? Whom do they suspect and why?

Show Answer

The whodunit above was provided by American mystery fiction author Hy Conrad.

In addition to his work in mystery and crime puzzles, Hy was also one of the original writers for the groundbreaking TV series Monk.

Currently, Hy is working on mystery novel series "Abel Adventures" as well as the Monk series of novels, starting with Mr. Monk Helps Himself (published by Penguin, order from Amazon here)

Check out Hy's official website and Facebook page - and stay tuned for more whodunits puzzlers on Neatorama from the master of whodunit mysteries himself!

18 Indie Facts About <i>Garden State</i>

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 06:30 AM PDT

Garden State | Image: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Zach Braff's film Garden State, which he wrote, directed and assembled the popular soundtrack for, met with much success when it was released in 2004. Garden State was nominated for the Grand Jury prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and made $35.8 million at the box office (which was over fourteen times what it cost to make). 

The Mental Floss article linked below lists eighteen facts about the indie hit, one of which is a pretty striking coincidence regarding the location scouting. The scouts were looking at homes in New Jersey to find a good match for Zach Braff's childhood home, as the movie was partially based upon his life. The first piece of real estate they proposed to Braff? His own father's house. A little too close for comfort. 

Read more facts about Garden State here. 

Little Boy Struggles to Break Board in Taekwondo Class

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 06:00 AM PDT


(Video Link)

A tiny child is trying to get his white belt in Taekwondo at the Peak Taekwondo & Fitness Center in Temecula, California. He must break a board to do so. The boy is supposed to follow a particular method, but he has a "by any means necessary" approach to the task. Even jumping up and down on the board is acceptable to him--but it won't work!

-via Tastefully Offensive

There Be Dragons!

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 05:00 AM PDT

The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Canoramic Bathroom Reader.

You’ve heard of Puff the Magic Dragon; Smaug, the dragon in The Hobbit; and Norbert, the dragon in the Harry Potter books. Here’s a look at some dragons you may not have heard of.

BACKGROUND

Stories of enormous, terrifying reptilian beasts have been part of folklore around the world for longer than the written record can tell us. And while the beasts in these stories vary greatly, they have several traits in common: they are virtually always depicted as having snakelike or lizardlike bodies, they’re almost always covered or partially covered in scales, and they often (but not always) have wings. Here are some of the most historically significant dragonlike beasts ever recorded.

APEP

One of history’s earliest recorded mythical creatures with dragonlike characteristics, this ancient Egyptian god, also called the “Evil Lizard,” was the god of darkness and evil. Depictions of Apep vary. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which dates to 2100 B.C., he is described as a giant serpent, more than 50 cubits (about 75 feet) long, with a head made of flint. In some paintings he looks like a long skinny snake; in others he is part snake, part crocodile. Yet other images show him with a large, stout body; a long tail; and the arms, hands, and face of a human. He was also said to have magical powers, including the ability to hypnotize other gods with his gaze— very similar to a characteristic later attributed to other dragons.

HUMBABA

(Image credit: British Museum)

Another of the earliest dragonlike monsters, this beast is in one of the oldest known pieces of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh, found etched into clay tablets in the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. The tablets, which date to the eighteenth century B.C., tell the stories of Gilgamesh, the legendary warrior king of Uruk, a city in Sumer. In one tale, Gilgamesh sets out to kill the guardian of the Cedar Forest, a terrifying beast known as Humbaba. Humbaba is described as having the head and paws of a lion, the horns of a bull, the claws of a vulture, a body covered in scales, and a long tail which ended in the head of a snake. He has magical powers, including the ability to change the shape of his face and that most dragonlike characteristic: the ability to breathe fire.

KAMPE, THE SHE-DRAGON

(Image credit: DeviantART member ropen7789)

Ancient Greek mythology tells of literally hundreds of dragonlike creatures, going back to at least the eighth century B.C. In fact, the Greeks gave us the root of the word “dragon”— drakon, their name for these monsters. An interesting twist on this: the drakainae, or “she-dragons,” of which Kampe was one of the most bizarre. She had the head and upper torso of a beautiful woman and the lower body of a serpent. Her hair was made of venomous, spitting snakes; long, curved claws grew out from her hands; her feet were made of more spitting snakes; the heads of dozens of snarling beasts— including lions, wild boars, and dogs— sprouted from around her waist; and she had the huge upward-curving tail of a scorpion. With dark wings that grew from her shoulders, Kampe was prone to flying around, shooting sparks from her eyes, and causing storms (and being generally unfriendly).

BIBLICAL DRAGONS

Dragons make several appearances in the Bible. The book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, even refers to Satan as “the dragon, that ancient serpent.” In another instance the Apostle John describes seeing “an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns.” He says this dragon’s body “resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.” (In the Old Testament, some angels are even depicted as dragonlike beings. The seraphim, meaning literally “burning ones,” are regularly depicted as accompanying God in the visions of various biblical characters and are described as huge, six-winged flying serpents.)

THE INDIAN DRAGON

In the second century A.D., a Roman scholar named Aelian wrote On the Nature of Animals, a collection of stories relating to animals. Among the stories was one called the “Indian Dragon,” about a beast said to live in the exotic faraway land of India. Aelian’s description of the dragon’s hunting technique (from a 1958 translation by Alwyn Faber Scholfield):

In India, I am told, the Elephant and the Drakon are the bitterest enemies. Now Elephants draw down the branches of trees and feed upon them. And the Drakones, knowing this, crawl up the trees and envelop the lower half of their bodies in the foliage, but the upper portion extending to the head they allow to hang loose like a rope. And the Elephant approaches to pluck the twigs, whereat the Drakon springs at its eyes and gouges them out. Next the Drakon winds round the Elephant’s neck, and as it clings to the tree with the lower part of its body, it tightens its hold with the upper part and strangles the Elephant with an unusual and singular noose.

Another work of the era tells of Indian dragon hunters who are able to lull a dragon to sleep by placing special stones outside the beast’s lair. The hunters then kill the sleeping dragon with their axes, decapitate it… and remove magical gems from inside its head.

THE SERPENT OF CARTHAGE

In the year 256 B.C., Roman general Marcus Atilius Regulus was leading an army against the city-state of Carthage in North Africa when they set up camp on the banks of the Bagradas River. Some of the men went to get water from the river and, according to a legend repeated— and believed— for centuries, several of the soldiers were promptly devoured, armor and all, by an enormous water serpent. (Many of mythology’s most famous dragons are associated with rivers, lakes, and oceans.) The creature was said to be more than 100 feet long, covered in scales that repelled spears, with huge red glowing eyes and poisonous breath that made the soldiers go mad. Another interesting feature: while it had no legs, it had a network of ribs that it used to walk on land. According to the legend, the serpent was finally conquered and its skin taken to Rome, where it was displayed in the Roman senate for more than 100 years… until it disappeared sometime in the second century B.C.

ST. GEORGE’S DRAGON

A familiar motif in dragon tales: a brave knight saves a damsel (often a princess) from a dragon. This one revolves around St. George, a Roman soldier who was executed around A.D. 303 for his Christian beliefs, leading to his canonization nearly 200 years later. Over the following centuries, St. George was somehow transformed into a dragon slayer. In the most popular version of the story, which became a best-seller of sorts all over Europe starting in the thirteenth century, brave St. George is wandering through Libya when he comes across a king who is about to offer his daughter, the princess, to the local dragon. Normally the dragon, which is more than 50 feet long and lives in a nearby lake, is happy with the two sheep the people offer it daily— but they ran out of sheep. St. George attacks and wounds the dragon, puts it on a leash, and has the princess lead the dragon into town. There he promises to kill the dragon— if the king and all his people agree to become Christians. They agree, and St. George chops off the dragon’s head.

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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Canoramic Bathroom Reader. The latest annual edition of Uncle John’s wildly successful series features fascinating history, silly science, and obscure origins, plus fads, blunders, wordplay, quotes, and a few surprises

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!
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