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2015/12/01

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Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners?

Posted: 01 Dec 2015 05:00 AM PST

The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research.

Research looking at looking alike
by Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Improbable Research staff

Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners? Yes.
“Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners?” M.M. Roy and Nicholas J.S. Christenfeld, Psychological Science, vol. 15, no. 5, May 2004, pp. 361-3. (Thanks to Richard Wassersug and numerous others for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, who are at the University of California, San Diego, report that:

Forty-five dogs and their owners were photographed separately, and judges were shown one owner, that owner’s dog, and one other dog, with the task of picking out the true match.… The results suggest that when people pick a pet, they seek one that, at some level, resembles them, and when they get a purebred, they get what they want.

Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners? Maybe Not.
“Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners? A Reanalysis of Roy and Christenfeld (2004),” D.W. Levine, Psychological Science, vol. 16, 2005, pp. 83–84. The author, at the University of South Carolina, reports:

Roy and Christenfeld’s (2004) recent article claimed that student judges were able to match purebred dogs with their owners. The analyses reported fail to support this claim, however, because they rely on statistical assumptions that cannot be met with the experimental design.... the analyses and results presented here demonstrate that it is premature to conclude “dogs resemble their owners.”

Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners? Yes.
“Self Seeks Like: Many Humans Choose Their Dog Pets Following Rules Used for Assortative Mating,” Christina Payne and Klaus Jaffe, Journal of Ethology, vol. 23, no. 1, 2005, pp. 15–18. The authors, at Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela, report:

During the National Canine Exposition in Caracas 2002, we took photographs of 48 dogs (purebreds) and photos of their 48 respective owners, who agreed to participate in this study. The owners were a typical selection of Venezuelan races, a mixture of hybrids between African, Caucasian and American Indian races....

To assess a possible resemblance between the faces of the dogs and their human owners, the photographs of the six dogs were placed on a table. The photos of the six corresponding human subjects were randomly shuffled and handed over to a test subject. The test subject had to assign each of the photographs of humans to a dog....

The number of correct guesses, i.e. guessed pairs of photographs corresponding to actual owner–dog pairs, was far larger than expected by random guessing in most experiments.... The results presented here are completely compatible with the notion that humans develop a sense of beauty through imprint-like mechanisms. This sense of beauty must have a strong narcissistic component.

Detail from the study “Self Seeks Like: Many Humans Choose Their Dog Pets Following Rules Used for Assortative Mating.”

Dogs Resemble Their Owners. Yes, Yes.
“Dogs Still Do Resemble Their Owners,” Michael M. Roy and Nicholas J.S. Christenfeld, Psychological Science, vol. 16, no. 9, 2005, pp. 743-744. The authors write:

Using a new technique and new judges with the same set of pictures, we obtained the same result as in our original study. In addition to this confirmation, another recent study (Payne & Jaffe, 2005) has also found resemblance between purebreds and their owners, this time with dogs, owners, and judges from Venezuela. In short, we suggest the data allow us to answer the question of whether dogs, if purebred, resemble their owners. Dogs do.

Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners? Maybe Not.
“Another Look at ‘Look-Alikes’: Can Judges Match Belongings with Their Owners?” Georg W. Alpers and Antje B.M. Gerdes, Journal of Individual Differences, vol. 27, no. 1, 2006, pp. 38–41. The authors, at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany, explain:

Popular belief and recent findings suggest that dogs look like their owners - but are such pairs necessarily look-alikes or do we recognize their affiliation based on other information? We asked judges to match automobiles with their owners. They were able to identify the pairs above chance. The correlational analyses of actual information about owners’ and automobiles’ characteristics and their estimations suggest that stereotypes with respect to external clues about the owner and the automobiles were available to judges. People’s appearance and certain characteristics of their possessions apparently carry information beyond physiognomic resemblance and these clues help to make inferences about their affiliation....

Our results cannot be explained by physiognomic resemblance, a notion put forward by studies matching dogs and their owners (Payne & Jaffe, 2005; Roy & Christenfeld, 2004).

(Images credit: Cesar Dog Food)

_____________________

The article above is from the July-August 2015 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.

A Real Life Pokemon Gym Opens In Osaka, Japan

Posted: 01 Dec 2015 04:00 AM PST

In their quest to completely blur the line between pop culture and reality the Japanese have been busy creating pop culture themed clubs, restaurants and parks, and now a Pokemon gym.

Looking for a way to capture that Pokemon feel so many have now grown up with, the "real life" Pokemon gym has everything a budding Trainer needs to live out their childhood dreams.

The Pokemon gym in Osaka has it all- battles, battles and, oh yeah, more battles!

But there's also areas where visitors can train for battle by learning how to Boxercise with Macho J, that's not quite the same as a battle, right?

And of course there's lots of amazing Pokemon flavored merch to purchase, including these cute Pikachu snack buckets, Pika-Juice and Pika-Pop Nuggets.

The lucky folks at Gigazine were some of the first people to visit the Pokemon Gym, and you can see all the great photos they took here.

Even if you're not a Pokemon fan you should take a look at the pics, because this is what the arcades of the future will look like.

-Via Kotaku

Tortoise Rescues Tortoise

Posted: 01 Dec 2015 03:00 AM PST

The poor tortoise got himself high-centered on a rock. What can he do? He can’t get enough leverage on any side to walk himself off.

(YouTube link)

But a larger, and probably older and wiser, tortoise comes to save the day. Tortoises look out for their friends, after all. And a wise tortoise knows he might need to call in that favor someday. -via Tastefully Offensive

Miniature Paintings on Pumpkin Seeds

Posted: 01 Dec 2015 02:00 AM PST

Salavat Fidai is an artist in Ufa, Russia. Among other media, he paints tiny images on pumpkin seeds. He features famous works of art, such as the above version of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, as well as characters from pop culture, such as the Star Wars characters below.

Here’s a time-lapse video showing how Fidai made the Starry Night seed. With a nearly microscopic brush, he applies layers of paint from the background to the foreground. 

“Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Vermeer

“The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai

-via Fubiz

An Oral History of the “Bohemian Rhapsody” Scene in <i>Wayne’s World</i>

Posted: 01 Dec 2015 01:00 AM PST

Queen’s song “Bohemian Rhapsody” was a hit in 1975, and then was introduced to a whole new generation in 1992 when it was included in the movies Wayne’s World. I was quite surprised to hear the song in such a Gen-X movie. How did that happen? Rolling Stone assembled some of the people behind Wayne’s World to explain how the scene was conceived.   

Mike Myers (writer, "Wayne Campbell"): I grew up in Scarborough, Ontario of British parents. I'd gone to England in '75 with my family and heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the radio. We were obsessed with it. Me and my brother, our friends' car was a powder blue Dodge Dart Swinger that had a vomit stain on the side of it that someone chiseled in the shape of Elvis Presley. We'd drive down the Don Valley Parkway, listening to Bohemian Rhapsody. We would time it to enter the Toronto city limits when the rocking part would kick in. I was "Galileo!" three of five. If I took somebody else's "Galileo!" or somebody took mine, a fight would ensue. It's just something that I always back-pocketed. Wayne's World was my childhood. I knew only to write what I knew.

Penelope Spheeris (director): All of us, it was our first studio movie.

Myers: I wanted it to sort of reflect a kind of spirit, a time in your life before you had to do adult things and pay taxes and all that stuff. If the TV show was restricted to the basement, I wanted "Wayne's World" the movie to be as cinematic and in the world as possible. I thought "Bohemian Rhapsody" would be a great way to introduce everybody.

Spheeris: I thought it was an odd choice because if you are headbangers that wouldn't be your first choice to slam to in the car when you're cruising.

The guys who played Garth, Phil, and Terry all joined in to give their recollections of the BoRhap scene, as you can read at Rolling Stone. Oh yeah, Brian May is in there, too. (Link contains autoplay video) -via Digg

Bambi Burster - Ripley's Believe It Or Not

Posted: 01 Dec 2015 12:00 AM PST


Bambi Burster by ZombieDollars

So it appears the xenomorphs have invaded the cartoon universe by using some sort of interdimensional travel doohicky they discovered in the recesses of space. It was only a matter of time, really, because those aliens seem like primal killing machines but they're actually quite crafty. Notice how they chose to assimilate one of the cutest characters in the toon world? That was no accident, they simply knew that nobody would suspect that poor orphan deer of being an acid blooded killing machine, heck, even that dumb butterfly don't know the difference!

The wearer of this Bambi Burster t-shirt by ZombieDollars should prepare for people to be delighted and disturbed at the same time by this twisted version of their beloved Bambi, so wear it with caution!

Visit ZombieDollars's NeatoShop for more delightfully geeky designs:

Iron JaegerIt's Assimilatin' Time!Cantina JazzDespicable Empire

View more designs by ZombieDollars | 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!

Penguin Tries to Bite Dog's Tail

Posted: 01 Dec 2015 12:00 AM PST

On the other side of the aquarium glass is a fresh dog tail. In fact, it's so fresh that it's still attached to the dog!

The penguin makes several passes, but is unable to reach the dog with his beak. The dog, long domesticated, has forgotten that he is the prey of penguins in the wild. He is dangerously unaware of his surroundings.


(Video Link)

-via Gifsboom

Cancer, Chemo, Radiation and … Dandelions

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 11:00 PM PST

Olivier Bernard is a pharmacist in Quebec with a popular blog, Le Pharmachien. That’s where he posts comics that take complicated medical subjects and breaks them down into everyday language. Usually, that everyday language is French. This explanation of cancer treatments is available in both French and English. First, there’s the analogy that compare cancer to dandelions in your yard. If that’s not clear enough, the analogy is explained in more cute comics. Then he goes into the details not covered earlier.

My initial idea was to write a cartoon entitled “5 toxic beliefs about chemotherapy”. The goal was to take 5 myths about chemo and deconstruct them. In doing this, I wanted to challenge the false notions about chemotherapy that are perpetuated over the internet.

However, along the way something became obvious: it’s absolutely pointless to attack false beliefs on chemo… when the majority of people do not know what cancer really is.

Then, by pure chance, two oncologists appeared out of nowhere and proposed to help me make a comic on cancer! It’s great how things work out.

The result is a lesson that starts out simple, and then gets more in-depth. If you were sharing this with children, you’d find an appropriate place to stop depending on their understanding. For adults, the more you read, the more clear cancer treatment gets. Read the entire comic in English or in French. That’s where I found out that the French word for dandelions is pissenlits.  -Thanks, Yan!  

Having Trouble Napping at Work? You Need the Chin Rest Arm

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 10:00 PM PST

(Photos: Thanko)

Some people are born slackers. Everyone else, though, has to learn that skill through determined and sustained effort.

Technology can help. In the past, we’ve seen padded napping desks, desk with built-in beds, emergency nap kits, and padded helmets designed specifically for sleeping at work.  

These are all good if you want to sleep. But what if you don't want to sleep, but also not, you know, work. Rocket News 24 reports that the Japanese firm Thanko offers a brilliant new product called the Chin Rest Arm. It’s a adjustable clamp-mounted padded arm. You can use it to nap, if you wish. But you can also use it to just slouch, thus preserving precious energy for other, more important tasks once your shift ends.

2015 Salute to Cinema

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 09:00 PM PST

It’s that time of year, when video artists, list makers, and bloggers look back over the previous year to bring us the highlights and lowlights. Here is the first of what will be many film tributes to 2015.

(vimeo link)

Benjamin Zuk edited together clips from 164 films for an overview of the year in movies. They aren’t ranked or critiqued in any way, but the one-second clips are arranged artfully in an order that makes the video flow nicely. -via the A.V. Club

The Inexplicable World Of Asian Nazi Chic

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 08:00 PM PST

The Nazis are still widely condemned and despised to this day, and yet their influence can still be seen over seventy years after Hitler bit that big schnitzel in the sky.

There are Neo-Nazi hate groups, political organizations preaching Nazi ideology, and dumb racist parents who name their kid Adolf Hitler. And then there's the strange world of Nazi inspired Asian underground fashion, which tends to send mixed messages.

Asian Nazi Chic is possibly tongue-in-cheek, possibly retro militarism, possibly a strange form of cosplay, maybe all three or none of the above.

It's moderately offensive to Westerners, extremely offensive to the world’s Jewish population, but most Asian people don't seem to be offended by Hitler Chic.

In fact swastikas and images of Der Fuhrer are seen as a novelty in many Asian countries, which could lead to misunderstandings when tourists see people doing the Nazi salute on the sidewalk.

Read more about Asian "Hitler Chic" at Dangerous Minds

The Bike Lane in the Sky

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 07:00 PM PST


(Images: Steven Holl)

The plan was an ambitious one. The Copenhagen Gate would provide a crossing between two skyscrapers at the mouth of one of Copenhagen’s harbors. People would be able to ride or walk across the glass-walled span while getting a glorious view of the city below.

Steven Holl, an American architect, first proposed the idea in 2008. Sadly, after much discussion among city planners and architects, the project has been cancelled.

Why would they cancel such an awesome idea? Although it looks cool, Copenhagen’s government figures that people won’t actually use it. It would be easier to ride around the harbor than to take a bike on two different elevators to access the crossing. The Guardian reports:

“It would be fun, and a landmark, but it would never be something that would be used every day,” said Klaus Bondam, formerly Copenhagen’s mayor for roads and the environment and now the chief executive of Cyklistforbundet, the Danish Cyclists’ Federation. “You wouldn’t want to cycle, get in a lift with your bike, get on your bike and then get in another lift on the other side. It would be quicker to cycle round the harbour.”

-via Dornob

Kitten Has Snack Attack

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 06:00 PM PST

YouTube Link

This older clip shows an adorable, six-month old ginger tabby kitten named Jed who's developed a love of a certain kind of treats. He may not be able to voice how delicious they are, but he can show his human in other ways. Ways such as vowing to hang on to the bag until it's pried from his cold, dead paws. Or toothy grip. Or both. Either way, Jed's got a lock on the snacks. That is, until he loses traction on the slick floor during his game of tug o' war. It's all downhill and kitty hunger pangs from there. Via Tastefully Offensive

This Museum Asks Visitors to Trade Their Selfie Sticks for Pencils and Paper

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 05:00 PM PST

(Photo: Rijksmuseum)

You’re at the Rijksmuseum, a world-renowned art and history museum in Amsterdam. Is it time to extend your selfie stick and take a picture of yourself?

The museum staff gently suggests that the answer is “no.” They want visitors to experience what they see in the museum instead of documenting their visits online. So the staff asks visitors to put away their cameras. Instead of taking pictures, visitors, who are given pencils and paper, should draw what they see. Like previous generations of artists, they should try to copy the famous works of art or even create their original pieces. You can see pictures from the museum’s efforts here.

-via Colossal

PSY’s New Songs

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 04:01 PM PST

Will lightning strike twice for PSY? His new album 7 Things You Need to Know is out today. Two videos have been released from the album, and they both have some elements that made “Gangnam Style" so popular. A catchy tune, an overly complicated video, and a goofy dance. First, there's “Daddy,” which is mostly in English. The video is pretty funny, with PSY appearing at all different ages from childhood to old age.

(YouTube link)

The other song released today is "Napal Baji," which resembles "Gangnam Style" in some aspects, especially the goofy dance.

(YouTube link)

As of now, “Daddy” has twice the views of “Napal Baji” on YouTube. Even if either one achieves only a fraction of the success of "Gangnam Style," that's pretty good.

Meet New York's Homeless Fashion Photographer

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 03:00 PM PST

New York City has a homeless population made up of around 60,000 people who are virtually invisible to those who pass them by every single day, and their invisibility gives them a different view of city life.

But there's another kind of homeless New Yorker who actually earns a living in the city without a roof over their head, and they wield a different power of invisibility, one that allows them to blend in and go to work just like everyone else.

One of NYC's finest homeless photographers is a man by the name of Mark Reay, who has an eye for fashion photography that landed him a job at Dazed magazine back in 2007.

Dazed had no idea Mark was homeless at first, he was hired simply because he was so talented, but every night Mark would edit his photos at Starbucks then return to the East Village rooftop where he lived.

Mark's story is breaking that stereotypical mold of what it means to be homeless, and his story is the subject of the new documentary "Homme Less", which was filmed by Mark's friend Thomas Wirthensohn. Here's a clip:

(YouTube Link)

Read more about New York's Homeless Fashion Photographer at Dazed

Milton's Revenge - Have You Seen My Stapler Spell?

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 02:00 PM PST


Milton's Revenge by MannArt

Milton had been relocated, ignored, handed more paperwork than he could ever possibly handle, ignored again, and made fun of, but the worst blow of all came when somebody stole his stapler. He came up with a way to guarantee he would never lose his stapler again, one that only a part time sorcerer like himself could pull off- he would cast a spell and merge with the stapler. After a few failed attempts and a new pair of glasses he'd finally perfected the incantation, and when Lumbergh came over looking for those TPS reports Milton muttered the words and with a flash he and the stapler were one.

Fans of Office Space and TPS wizards agree- wearing this Milton's Revenge t-shirt by MannArt feels better than owning your own red stapler!

Visit MannArt's Facebook fan page and official website, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more inspirationally geeky designs:

Hello, Is It Me You're Looking For?Even Gods BleedWorld's Greatest Sensei DadBobby

View more designs by MannArt | 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!

Government Surveillance and the Third Amendment

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 02:00 PM PST

The Third Amendment to the US Constitution gets less respect than the other amendments in the Bill of Rights. It has been used in Supreme Court cases fewer times than the rest, and on the surface, seems hopelessly antiquated. It says, "No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law." Now, that was a problem when we were a colony in the British Empire, but no one regards it as a possibility now. Or do they? California assemblyman Mike Gatto believes the amendment could be used to prohibit the National Security Agency (NSA) from spying on American citizens.

    Let's examine whether a case may be made. The National Security Agency is part of the Department of Defense and therefore of our nation's military. By law, the NSA director must be a commissioned military officer, and per its mission statement, the NSA gathers information for military purposes. That's strong evidence that NSA personnel would qualify as soldiers under the 3rd Amendment.

    And why did the framers prohibit the government lodging soldiers in private homes? Besides a general distaste for standing armies, quartering was costly for homeowners; it was also an annoyance that completely extinguished a family's sense of privacy and made them feel violated. Sound familiar?

It’s been said many times that the US Constitution guarantees no right to privacy, but a broad interpretation of the Third Amendment might actually include some expectation of privacy. Ars Technica lays out some of the pros and cons of this argument.

(Image credit: Flickr user Jane Dickson)

Five Of The Eeriest Interruptions In Broadcast History

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 01:00 PM PST

Back in the day Max Headroom, Vrillon from Ashtar Galactic Command and a disgruntled guy calling himself Captain Midnight were all able to hijack television broadcast signals to share their message, cryptic as they may be.

But even though we assume signal hijacking would be harder in the digital age pranksters are still proving it's possible with broadcast interruptions that have turned into televised mysteries.

(YouTube Link)

If you're watching a televised broadcast and you encounter any of these strange video stutters please report your findings to Top5s so they can include them in a future video!

The Daily Life of Darth Vader

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 12:00 PM PST

D. Vader has a 365 project on the photo site tookapic, where he adds a selfie every day. It began on October 19th, so there will be plenty more to come before the 365 days are up. His profile reads:

Sith Lord. Born and raised on Tatooine. Loves to fly his TIE fighter. Took up photography lately. Releases the shutter using the Force. The dark one.

From the photos posted so far, we can tell that Darth loves coffee, reading, and gourmet cooking, although he does indulge in pizza occasionally. See all the photos at Vader’s tookapic account. -via Metafilter

Archival Footage Of British Soldiers Tripping On LSD

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 11:00 AM PST

We now know how risky it can be to try and do anything dangerous while on LSD, but back when the drug was still young it was tested on all kinds of people in all kinds of situations, from relaxed in a room to soldiers in the middle of a war.

One particular group of British soldiers were captured on film back in 1964 while they fell apart in the field after being dosed with LSD-25, proving that acid trips and military manoeuvres don't mix.

(YouTube Link)

It's hard to see through the grainy footage, but the squad's sergeant is named Pepper...or maybe his dog tags says Pfeiffer...

-Via Laughing Squid

My High School Teammate, Kobe Bryant

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 10:00 AM PST

 

In 1996, the news was full of how the NBA was considering drafting some hotshot kid right out of high school. A 17-year-old! Would the pros chew up and spit him out? Would he crash and burn from his immaturity? He did not. That was Lower Merion Ace Kobe Bryant, who yesterday announced his retirement after this season, his 20th with the Los Angeles Lakers.  

But back in 1996, his teammates and coaches at Lower Merion High in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, were focused on winning the state championship. At the same time, the rest of the sports world was focused on that one kid that stood out.
 

Gregg Downer [Head coach] When your best player is your hardest working player, first in the gym, last out of the gym, first in every drill, first in every weight room activity, that makes it easier. But it did put a lot of pressure on me. I used to say, “We’re one Kobe Bryant sprained ankle away from being an average team.” Anything less than a state championship would have been viewed as a disappointment.

Jeanna Mastriano [English Teacher] During his senior year he flew all over and missed days at a time. When he returned, he always showed up with assignments that were due.

Drew Downer [Assistant coach] I used to give him FedEx packages from Duke or Kentucky. Half the time I don’t know if he ever opened it. I’d be like, “Dude, that’s from Duke!” But it was probably like the 17th package he’d gotten from Coach K.

Robby Schwartz [teammate] If you think about the times, 1995-96, it was like the first reality show. By the end, if there wasn’t a camera crew at practice that was the weird thing.

Lower Merion won the state championship that year for the first time in 53 years, and they’ve won twice since then. Mashable has an oral history of Kobe Bryant’s high school basketball career with recollections from those who were there. You don’t have to be a basketball fan to find it riveting.  -via Digg

Reese's Peanut Butter Trees Simply Didn't Shape Up This Year

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 09:00 AM PST

The Reese's Peanut Butter candy empire began with a cup, but nowadays that chocolate peanut butter goodness comes in all shapes and sizes, from tiny round bites to pumpkins and trees.

People are fond of those festive shapes, especially around Easter, Halloween and Christmas, but this year things got dark for Reese's on social media when their Peanut Butter Christmas trees didn't fit the mold.

People took to Twitter and Instagram to complain that the Reese's Peanut Butter Trees didnt' look like trees at all, sarcastically tagging the Tweets #happythanksgiving. First world problems, amirite?!

Personally, I eat them too fast to pay attention to how they're shaped, and sometimes I don't even have time to open the package!

-Via The Daily What

How to Avenge a Guy in 10 Days

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 08:00 AM PST

What if Marvel made a romantic comedy? It could star the cast of The Avengers, since there are plenty of them! And more importantly, there are plenty of Avengers movies to take clips from in order to assemble such a movie.

(YouTube link)

The most important question is: Will Thor be there? This is the latest from the Vulture Remix series.  -via Tastefully Offensive

Get Free Worldwide Shipping During The NeatoShop's Cyber Monday Sale!

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 07:00 AM PST

Beardy Baby by Boggs Nicolas

When Black Friday started to sound like something out of the Dark Ages, and internet sales began to soar, the stores introduced a new holiday sale for the 21st century- Cyber Monday, the most futuristic sounding sale of them all.

Cyber Monday makes it possible to do all your holiday shopping online, thereby saving your skin from being flayed by bargain barbarians, and now through December 6th the best place to celebrate Cyber Monday is at the NeatoShop!

That's because the NeatoShop is offering FREE SHIPPING on all t-shirt orders worldwide (yes, WORLDWIDE!) for not just Cyber Monday but the entire Cyber Week, now through December 6th!

Cyber Monday sounds like something from the future

The First Order Noel by DC Visual Arts

Or the setting for a sci-fi movie

I Want To Believe-Santa Claus by GeekyBias

But really it's just a good day to get some great deals online

Such Christmas by Gordon Brebner Designs

And hopefully finish up your holiday shopping in a hurry!

SweaterQuest by Jango Snow

The cyber in Cyber Monday doesn't come from some connection to robots

Ned's Christmas by Doodle Dojo

Nor does it have anything to do with science fiction

Power Rangers Alpha "Ai Ai Ai Love Christmas" by SimplePeteDoodles

It's just a fancy metaphor for the internet

How To Rule The Internet For Cats by Tobe Fonseca

To make the whole thing seem exciting and new

Gift Illusion by Byway

But jut because it looks shiny and new doesn't mean it's actually any different

The Unmerry X-mas by ClayGrahamArt

Because Christmas is one holiday that will never change

Ralphie's Suit by Taylor Rose

People like their Christmas classic

Jingle Bells, Someone Smells, Someone Laid An Egg by Rocky Davies

And as technology advances

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Seasonal Aeronautics And Nocturnal Travel Administration by Oakenspirit

We crave an old fashioned Christmas even more

Jingle Goat by Miski

Trying hard not to forget our roots

Christmas Who by D3FStyle

As we plunge ever deeper into an unknown future

Bloody XMAS by JCMaziu

It's okay to be nostalgic about the past

Hermie Fan Club by Gimetzco!

Okay to stop and appreciate the simple things

Koch Snowflake Curves by Henry Segerman

Because life can be very complicated nowadays

Plumber's Holiday by Jango Snow

But your holidays don't have to be

Christmas Alien by Ellador

Because sometimes simpler is better

Mega Merry Christmas by Pengew

And all you need is a reminder of what is important

Griswold Illumination Club by JRBERGER

Like good friends

BFF by Tinkerpen

Good food

Bring On The Food by PolySciGuy

And some great gifts under the tree!

AS YOU WISH! by ALIENBIKER23

If you're shopping for great gifts and looking for a great selection then you've come to the right place, because the NeatoShop has thousands of designs in stock with print quality that can't be beat.

And now until December 6th you can order all the t-shirts you want and they'll ship FOR FREE! That's right, the NeatoShop's Cyber Week celebration means FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING ON ALL T-SHIRTS!

8 Ways to Brighten Your Home

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 06:00 AM PST

Winter can make our homes seem dark and oppressive but if you don't want to deal with a drab, cold-looking house, there are some things you can do. Over at Homes and Hues, we rounded up some great ways to make your home brighter. Most of the tips are even insanely simple -from cleaning your windows and light fixtures to adding some plants and mirrors, it can't be easier to brighten things up at home.

Don't miss the full list over at Homes and Hues: 8 Easy Ways to Brighten Your Home

The World’s Greenest Burgs

Posted: 30 Nov 2015 05:00 AM PST

Let's look at some cities that take environmentalism seriously, courtesy of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Attack of the Factoids.

GREEN POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Cities put an enormous strain on the environment: They use more than 75 percent of the world’s energy and release more than 75 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the environment. More than half the people on earth (over 3.5 billion) live in cities, and by 2050, that number is expected to reach 70 percent. The future could be bleak: more lung disease from more pollution, increased global warming, mountains of waste, and concrete everywhere. But the people who live in the world’s greenest cities are pioneering a future that’s very different.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

Population: 1.2 million

How green is it? Copenhagen has been addressing environmental issues for decades. The result is that the water in its harbors and canals is so clean that people actually swim in them. There are also more than 186 miles of bike paths in the metro area, and there are places where residents and tourists can borrow bikes for free. (Really.) Some major streets even have a “green wave” system so bike riders can speed through intersections without stopping— they hit timed green lights the entire way. The result is that nearly 55 percent of Copenhageners bike to work or school.

The city is already filled with parks, but plans are in the works to guarantee that by 2015 at least 90 percent of Copenhagen’s population will be within walking distance of a park or beach. About 20 percent of the city’s electric power comes from wind turbines, hydroelectric power, and biomass (energy from organic matter like wood, straw, and organic waste), but the goal is to stop using coal altogether. The city is encouraging residents to buy electric-and hydrogen-powered cars and is investing more than $ 900 billion so that, by 2025, Copenhagen will have reduced its coal and oil pollution to zero.

VANCOUVER, CANADA

(Image credit: Zotium)

Population: 603,000

How green is it? Often called the greenest city in Canada, Vancouver has more than 200 parks in a region that’s surrounded by spectacular beaches, forests, and mountains. The city leads the world in the production of hydropower, which supplies 90 percent of its electricity. And one of Vancouver’s most famous innovations is the use of solar-powered trash-compactor bins on public sidewalks: The bins can hold five times the amount of conventional trash cans, so they need to be emptied only once a week instead of every night, which saves on the need to use the city’s gas-powered fleet of garbage trucks.

Vancouver has also been adding new streetcar lines and bike lanes, and it has constructed nearly 250 miles of “greenways,” special corridors for pedestrians and cyclists that connect parks, nature reserves, historic sites, neighborhoods, and shopping areas. And 40 percent of commuter and tourist day trips in Vancouver involve walking, biking, or using public transportation.

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND

(Image credit: Flickr user hapsci)

Population: 120,000

How green is it? In the 1970s Iceland relied on imported coal for 75 percent of its energy. Today all of its electricity is produced from hydroelectric and geothermal power. The hydropower source is flowing water from melting ice that turns turbines to make electricity. The geothermal power uses the heat and steam of Iceland’s volcanoes to do the same. The only fossil fuel the city uses is for its cars and fishing fleets.

But Icelanders even consider that to be too much: To get down to zero use of fossil fuels, Reykjavik is working on a changeover to cars and ships fueled mainly by electricity and hydrogen. In 2003 Shell opened its first hydrogen filling station in Reykjavik to service hydrogen-powered public buses. By the mid-21st century, Iceland plans to have most of its fishing fleet running on hydrogen and all of its cars and buses powered by alternative fuels.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

(Image credit: Intel Free Press)

Population: 805,000

How green is it? San Francisco was the first city in the United States to pass a mandatory recycling law, and the first to ban the use of plastic bags. Meant to lessen the amount of garbage that goes into landfills, those 2009 edicts have worked so well that San Franciscans now recycle 77 percent of their waste. (All that recycled garbage weighs about twice as much as the Golden Gate Bridge!) New laws also mean cleaner air: Public transportation runs on 20 percent biodiesel fuel (made from used cooking oil), and a green taxi law has resulted in 92 percent of the city’s cabs running on alternative fuels.

Even though it’s famous for its fog, San Francisco has proved that solar can work in overcast locales: The 60,000-square-foot solar system on the city’s convention center generates enough electricity to power the entire center during events, and 24,000 solar panels atop a reservoir provide electricity for city buildings, including a hospital, the airport, and police and fire stations.

CURITIBA, BRAZIL

(Image credit: Flickr user Paulo)

Population: 3.5 million

How green is it? Curitiba is the capital of the Paraná state in Brazil, and despite facing severe poverty and overcrowding, it consistently wins recognition as one of the most beautiful, livable, and green cities in the world. In 1968 the city had less than 10 square feet of greenery per person, but careful urban planning— minimizing urban sprawl, planting trees, and protecting local forests— has turned that into 500 square feet for each inhabitant. Curitiba now boasts 16 parks, 14 forests, and more than 1,000 green public spaces.

Curitiba is also internationally famous for its Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system. Reliable and cheap, the BRT vehicles run as often as every 90 seconds in dedicated bus lanes. Eighty percent of the residents use the buses— that’s more than two million riders a day. Also famous for its garbage disposal system, the city provides an alternative for low-income families who don’t have garbage pickup: They can bring in bags of trash or recycling, and exchange them for bus tickets, food, school supplies, or toys. The result: A clean city where the poor live better and more than 70 percent of the waste is recycled.

GREENSBURG, KANSAS

(Image credit: Eric Ascalon)

Population: 900

How green is it? It’s not a big city, but the small town of Greensburg embodies the spirit of environmentalism. In May 2007 a tornado demolished 95 percent of the town. When the residents rebuilt, they decided that their new buildings would meet internationally recognized standards that would make their town as energy-efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. The winds that once almost destroyed the town now power a wind farm that provides electricity to all of Greensburg’s homes and businesses. This incredible comeback has made the town a center for environmental businesses and ecotourism, and young residents who once vowed to go away to college and never come back now say there’s no place like home. In 2011 Budget Travel magazine put Greensburg on its top 10 list of the “Coolest Small Towns in America.” And we think that’s pretty cool.

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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Attack of the Factoids. Weighing in at over 400 pages, it's a fact-a-palooza of obscure information.

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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