Neatorama

---

• Mother Elephant Shields Her Baby from Humans
• The Maintenance Visit
• Stop Motion Short Summarizes 40,000 Years Of London History In 3 Minutes
• How Linen Postcards Transformed the Depression Era Into a Hyperreal Dreamland
• Urban Explorer Climbs To The Top Of Great Pyramid Of Giza
• Realistic Barbie's New Boyfriend: Dad Bod Ken
• Creep Hacks Baby Monitor And Scares Kid With Spooky Voices
• JK Rowling Announces Four New Wizarding Schools
• The Toad Isn't Eating the Bug. The Bug Is Eating the Toad.
• Cunning And Blue - I Can't Take The Sky From You, But I Can Take Your Hat!
• 24 of Britain’s Best Castles
• Chef Recreates Epic Mexican Meal From ZZ Top Album <i>Tres Hombres</i>
• The Most Manipulative TV Character
• When Mutant Superpowers Manifest Themselves

Mother Elephant Shields Her Baby from Humans Posted: 31 Jan 2016 04:00 AM PST YouTube Link Though I love most animals, elephants are one of my favorite species, in part because of their intelligence, compassion, and frequent expressions of love to their herds and families. An example is this cautious elephant mother who unfortunately is aware of reasons that it's best to keep her baby beyond trunk's length from strange humans. In this sweet clip, she extends her trunk to gently hold the baby back from a group of tourists approaching them on the road near Malelane in Kruger National Park in South Africa. Via Daily Dot

The Maintenance Visit Posted: 31 Jan 2016 02:00 AM PST Redditor hopinfusedcorpse expected a visit from the maintenance department while he was gone. So he left a note, warning them about the pets. The maintenance crew responded in the same note. In case you can’t read it, it says, She put up a good fight. She fault to the end with honor. The Dog hid while we were here. I think he is scared of cat. He obviously meant to say "fought." But "to the end"? Now wait a minute, was the maintenance visit about getting rid of the cat problem? I’m starting to wonder if the cat is okay. Lets just assume that he would have told us if she wasn’t.

Stop Motion Short Summarizes 40,000 Years Of London History In 3 Minutes Posted: 31 Jan 2016 12:00 AM PST History books are seen as dry by some, incredibly interesting and exciting by others, but as those history themed TV shows and movies have shown us historical events are often quite interesting when properly presented. So if you want to learn about 40,000 years of London history quickly and enjoyably you need to check out this awesome stop motion animated short, which looks like it was made out of the very same paper they use to make history books. (YouTube Link) National Geographic's video team drew inspiration for the short from the thousands of historical artifacts discovered below London last year when construction began on the new Crossrail system. -Via ScoopWhoop

How Linen Postcards Transformed the Depression Era Into a Hyperreal Dreamland Posted: 30 Jan 2016 10:00 PM PST (Image credit: Robert I. Pitchford) Vintage postcards are so cool. Those who couldn’t afford to travel in the 1930s and ‘40s could dream of the brightly-colored places seen on linen postcards. Curt Teich of Teich & Co. produced over 45,000 different linens postcards, and is the subject of the book Postcard America: Curt Teich and the Imaging of a Nation, 1931-1950 by Jeffrey L. Meikle. Meikle explains how Teich became so prominent in the business. One of his secrets was photographer and postcard salesman G.I. Pitchford, who had an artist’s touch.   One example of how Pitchford’s instinct for profit was combined with the artistry of the retouchers can be found in a 1940 postcard titled “Mt. Lemmon Road, near Tucson, Arizona.” Upon first glance, Pitchford’s black-and-white source photo, shot the same year the card was published, is unremarkable. In the foreground we see his 1940 Buick sedan parked next to a saguaro cactus, its needles glistening like a spiky halo in the southwestern sun. Ahead of the car, the road angles to the right before bending sharply to left, hugging the curving topography of an inclined ridge. And way off in the distance, in the upper-left corner of Pitchford’s picture, is Tucson, or so we are told in Meikle’s book—the city itself is impossible to see with the naked eye. What Pitchford’s photograph lacks in technical prowess it makes up in composition, and that was all the retouchers in Chicago needed to produce a postcard worthy of the C. T. Art-Colortone trademark. Thus, the road in the final postcard is a deep rusty red, as were so many unpaved roads in the Southwest in those days, while the cactus-strewn hillside is ablaze in color, as if caught at peak bloom after a particularly wet winter. The “effect of the sun shining thru the needles,” as Pitchford had described the cactus in a note written on the frisket—the sheet of tracing paper protecting his photograph from damage—is preserved, just as the sales agent had specified. Importantly, the retouchers did more than just follow orders. Pitchford’s Buick is now cropped at the car’s trunk, giving it the illusion of movement that the original photo lacks. As for the sky, alluring bands of orange and turquoise have replaced the gray haze of Pitchford’s black-and-white. The result is an obvious, fabulous fake, but definitely something you’d want to mail to a friend. (Image credit: courtesy University of Texas Press) Read more about how the popular Teich linen postcards were made at Collectors Weekly.

Urban Explorer Climbs To The Top Of Great Pyramid Of Giza Posted: 30 Jan 2016 08:00 PM PST I would never encourage anyone to do anything illegal or dangerous, but if you're going to go crazy and commit an epic adventure level crime you'd better capture the whole thing on camera! When urban explorer Andrej Ciesielski decided to climb to the very top of the Great Pyramid Of Giza to take some amazing pictures he knew it was illegal, but that didn't stop him from climbing. And it's a lucky thing he didn't stop climbing when the cops started yelling at him, because those of us who will never make that climb can now experience the thrill through Andrej's lens. (YouTube Link) -Via Laughing Squid

Realistic Barbie's New Boyfriend: Dad Bod Ken Posted: 30 Jan 2016 06:00 PM PST (Image: Mattel, Will McFadden) Mattel recently announced that Barbie dolls will be available in 4 different body types, not just the original blonde with measurements of 39-18-33 when scaled up to life-size. They include a model who is all about that bass with a more rubenesque figure. The toymakers hope to promote a more positive body image among young girls who play with Barbie dolls. But what about Ken? He's thin and muscular---in fact, he's totally ripped. Who among us men can compete with this fantasy image that women are raised to accept as ideal? Not those of us with "dad bods." That's why some people on the intellectual discussion forum of Twitter are saying that Mattel should add a more realistic Ken to date Barbie. POLL: Should Mattel make a Dad Bod Ken? Yes and you should be the model. No. Ken is fine the way he is. Just show me the answers!

Creep Hacks Baby Monitor And Scares Kid With Spooky Voices Posted: 30 Jan 2016 04:00 PM PST It's one thing to scare your own children by playing pranks on them and sometimes scarring them for life, because they're your family so scare as you see fit, but scaring someone else's child is downright sadistic. One clearly troubled individual actually hacked into a baby monitor and proceeded to scare the wits out of a poor little kid, who kept telling his parents the "phone was talking to him" in the middle of the night. His mother Sarah didn't know what to make of the situation until she walked into the room and heard a voice on the baby monitor saying "wake up little boy, daddy's looking for you." Researchers revealed that most baby monitors are vulnerable to being hacked back in September, 2015, and now the proof is in that poor kid's diapers! Read more about baby monitor hacking at Boing Boing

JK Rowling Announces Four New Wizarding Schools Posted: 30 Jan 2016 02:00 PM PST A series of posts at Pottermore detailed the identification of four previously-unknown wizarding schools in the Harry Potter universe. JK Rowling introduces us to Ilvermorny, Castelobruxo, Uagadou, and Mahoutokoro. The daily Dot has their descriptions, including the one in the United States. All we have on the American wizarding school is a name and a general sense of where it’s located. Rowling shot down the idea that it was based in New York and said the name was “immigrant in origin.” Based off the marker, Ilvermorny is based somewhere along the East Coast anywhere from Appalachia to the border between the U.S. and Canada. In addition, “Indigenous magic was important in the founding of the school.” Rowling has said that Newt Scamander will encounter witches and wizards who attended Ilvermorny, although he won’t visit the school itself during his travels in Fantastic Beasts. But some astute fans posited that Ilvermorny was the name of the American school as early as last August. If you haven’t been keeping up with the Rowling’s continuing adventures at Pottermore, get the condensed version of what we know about the four new schools here. (Image credit: Pottermore)

The Toad Isn't Eating the Bug. The Bug Is Eating the Toad. Posted: 30 Jan 2016 12:00 PM PST (Video Link) The toad spotted the Epomis larva and made lunch plans. His prey looked utterly helpless. All that was necessary was to snatch the slow-moving insect with his tongue. Down into the belly it went! The toad made a serious mistake. Inside the digestive tract of the toad, the Epomis immediately releases enzymes that begin digesting its host. The Epomis is eating its captor. Matt Simon describes this zoological oddity at Wired. He quotes the University of Toronto entomologist Gil Wizen: All the while, you go about the life of a toad. You take a swim and gobble up insects. You will not, however, turn into a prince, because after two days, you’re so weakened you can no longer move. It’s at this point that the larva enters what Wizen calls “the predation stage.” The larva begins chewing more, says Wizen, “and what we see is that it sort of tears tissues from the amphibian’s body. After a few hours the amphibian is reduced to just a pile of bones and just a little bit of skin.” I wonder what they taste like.

Cunning And Blue - I Can't Take The Sky From You, But I Can Take Your Hat! Posted: 30 Jan 2016 10:00 AM PST Cunning And Blue by Karen Hallion At first the crew was mighty curious why Mal would let such a crazy little critter on board the Serenity, but as time went on, and Stitch proved his value as a crewmate, everyone came around to having a little killer mascot on board. Even Jayne started falling in love with the little failed experiment, but the other experiment gone wrong on board the ship didn't trust that toothy grin or big, floppy ears, so she decided to keep an eye on 626 in case he decided to go full Reaver... Hearts will soar like fireflies when people see you wearing this Cunning And Blue t-shirt by Karen Hallion, it's a mashup made in geek heaven! Visit Karen Hallion's Facebook fan page, official website, Twitter and Tumblr, then head on over to her NeatoShop for more ridiculously cool designs: Portrait Of A Potions Master Rebel Girl Redemption Adventure In The Great Wilde Somewhere View more designs by Karen Hallion | More Sci-Fi 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!

24 of Britain’s Best Castles Posted: 30 Jan 2016 10:00 AM PST Probably due to its long and contentious history, it seems like you can’t swing a cat without hitting a castle in Britain. In this list of a couple dozen castles, some are preserved in excellent condition, some are even occupied, and some are in ruins. All of them have a fascinating history. The castle shown here is Alnwick Castle in Northumberland. You might recognize it from the Harry Potter movies.   The first parts of the building were developed in 1096 by Yves de Vescy, Baron of Alnwick. King David I of Scotland took over the castle in 1136 and it saw sieges in 1172 and 1174 by William the Lion, King of Scotland. After the Battle of Alnwick in 1212, King John ordered the castles demolition, but the orders were not followed through. In 1309, Henry Percy, 1st Baron Percy, bought the modest castle and redeveloped it to make it a very grand statement on the Scotland-England boarder. The castle frequently exchanged hands over the next few centuries and after Thomas Percy’s execution in 1572 it remained uninhabited. In the 19th century, the 4th Duke of Northumberland altered and developed the castle and it remains the seat of the current Duke of Northumberland. Learn about 23 other castles in Britain at Made from History. -via the Presurfer (Image credit: Dr.Haus)

Chef Recreates Epic Mexican Meal From ZZ Top Album <i>Tres Hombres</i> Posted: 30 Jan 2016 08:00 AM PST As a kid I remember cracking open my father's copy of ZZ Top's 1973 album Tres Hombres, opening the gatefold sleeve to check out that classic pic of the world's most heavy duty Mexican food meal. The picture was intriguing and raised many questions in my mind- Did ZZ Top eat this epic meal after the picture was taken? How much of that cheese and beer foam ended up stuck in their fabulous beards? And, most nagging of them all- why does this picture make me so hungry? (Vimeo Link) Sadly, those questions remain unanswered, but now thanks to Austin, Texas based chef and ZZ Top fan Thomas Micklethwait we get to see what went in to creating that epic spread, and how the whole thing tastes. ZZ Top's singer-guitarist Billy Gibbons thought it sounded like a delicious project, saying "It's crazy – absolutely nuts, I stand in awe of what he's accomplished." -Via Rolling Stone I stand in awe of what he's accomplished. I have to hand it to him, he recreated every last element that you see in the centerfold with exacting detail. It's rather remarkable. Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/see-chef-recreate-eat-zz-tops-tres-hombres-mexican-food-photo-20160129#ixzz3yjs4lNUt Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

The Most Manipulative TV Character Posted: 30 Jan 2016 07:00 AM PST When we get hooked on a TV series, the draw is often the bad guy. Sometimes we pull for him, and sometimes we are outraged but still impressed, especially if the bad guy is more clever than the characters surrounding him (or her). It takes both intelligence and a lack of ethics to manipulate others into furthering one’s nefarious schemes. Who would you say is the best at that? An article at Uproxx opines that Gemma from Sons of Anarchy is the most manipulative character in TV history (warning: autoplay video). She certainly caused a lot of destruction, but someone who gets away with their crimes might be considered more successful. Who would you think is the most manipulative TV character? The poll below has a few suggestions, limited to recent TV shows, but you might think of others. If you go back in history, there are no doubt many master manipulators, like JR Ewing. Who’s your favorite? POLL: Who is the most manipulative TV character? Littlefinger (<i>Game of Thrones</i>) Tony Soprano (<i>The Sopranos</i>) Benjamin Linus (<i>Los</i>t) Marie Barone (<i>Everybody Loves Raymond</i>) Frank Underwood (<i>House of Cards</i>) Gemma Teller Morrow (<i>Sons of Anarchy</i>) Barney Stinson (<i>How I Met Your Mother</i>) Clay Davies (<i>The Wire</i>) Dr. Gregory House (<i>House</i>) Cersei Lannister (<i>Game of Thrones</i>) Walter White (<i>Breaking Bad</i>)

When Mutant Superpowers Manifest Themselves Posted: 30 Jan 2016 06:00 AM PST Pursuant the Mutant Registration Act, Marisa Arriaga of Cedar Hill, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, must submit to government supervision. She might have avoided that fate, had she not recorded her amazing abilities last June. She tells Fox 4 News that it’s just a bat trick, but I think that it’s clearly superpowers at work: "I just started messing around,” said Arriaga. “I'm like, ‘I'm gonna make a bat trick video.’ So I got my sister out here and she was recording me.” […] LaTisha Griffin, Arriaga’s softball coach, says Arriaga has crazy good skills. "The finish is something she does all the time in the game, sending the ball a yard or going outfield with the ball with that complete swing through the zone, that's something she does all the time,” said Griffin. -via Matthew Caverhill

You are subscribed to email updates from Neatorama. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States