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2016/03/03

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40 Actors and Celebrities That You Didn't Know Appeared in <i>Star Trek</i>

Posted: 03 Mar 2016 04:00 AM PST

"Manhunt," an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, featured two characters belonging to the Antedean species. Worf referred to them as a "handsome race" -- and with reason. Beneath that makeup was Mick Fleetwood of the rock band Fleetwood Mac.

He's one of many celebrities that has appeared on Star Trek, often under heavy makeup. Uproxx has a round up of 40 of them, including King Hussein of Jordan, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Iggy Pop, and Kirsten Dunst.

Big Dog vs. Little Dog

Posted: 03 Mar 2016 03:00 AM PST

(YouTube link)

The robot Big Dog was the first robot from Boston Dynamics we featured on Neatorama years ago. The model has been improved since then. This one is the only Big Dog in civilian hands, and as he was put through his paces, a real dog noticed and did not like it a bit. The standoff lasted as long as it took until one of them backed down. -via Viral Viral Videos

New Tunnels Can't Be Built In Brussels Because Mice Ate Master Plans

Posted: 03 Mar 2016 02:00 AM PST

People have been digitizing their paper files since at least the 80s, trying to ensure they aren't destroyed either by accident or on purpose and making sure they're around for the rest of our digitally enhanced lives.

But sometimes important documents never make it to the scanner, and the loss is felt decades after the documents are destroyed.

Brussels, Belgium is home to the worst traffic in Europe, which is partly due to the poor condition of the roadways that have been badly in need of repair for decades.

Even worse than the roads are the underground thoroughfares that are literally falling apart and subject to yearlong closures, and it's all because mice chewed up the original tunnel plans back in the 90s:

...former officials from the traffic agency Mobiel Brussels admitted that in the 1990s, a creative storage solution ruined most of the master plans for bridges and tunnels in Brussels.

In the ‘90s, Mobiel Brussels was temporarily housed in a hotel room, and there wasn’t enough space for archived documents like, say, master plans. So the agency stuffed its bridge- and tunnel-related paperwork into the pillars holding up a highway viaduct.

As one might expect, the underside of a bridge is not the best place to keep an archive of important documents. Most of the documents were destroyed or at least significantly damaged by rodents. A host of Belgian mice probably have nice little nests made out of shredded blueprints.

Now where have I heard that excuse before...

-Via mental_floss

10 Law-Abiding Facts About <i>Raising Arizona</i>

Posted: 03 Mar 2016 01:00 AM PST

The 1987 movie Raising Arizona was the Coen Brothers’ second movie and first comedy. And it was a riot. Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter can’t produce children, so they kidnap one from a set of quintuplets because “They got more than they can handle.” While you no doubt enjoyed the movie, you might not know some of what went into it.  

7. NICOLAS CAGE'S HAIR REACTED TO H.I.'S STRESS LEVEL.

Ethan claimed that Cage was "crazy about his Woody Woodpecker haircut. The more difficulties his character got in, the bigger the wave in his hair got. There was a strange connection between the character and his hair."

10. THE MAYOR OF SCOTTSDALE WAS NOT HAPPY WITH THE MOVIE.

Mayor Herb Drinkwater proclaimed that the film had "no redeeming social value" and that it "certainly isn't the image Arizona wants to project." The low-budget movie made over $29.1 million worldwide.

Not bad for a movie that was produced for only $2 million. Read the rest of the trivia about Raising Arizonaat mental_floss.

Seven Professional Travelers Share Their Travel Horror Stories

Posted: 03 Mar 2016 12:00 AM PST



In the article highlighted here, seven people who travel for their livelihoods are asked the following question: "What’s the scariest or worst thing to ever happen to you while traveling? How do you suggest others avoid finding themselves in a similar situation?" While the stories behind their answers are not tales the average traveler can relate to, for the most part they break them down into basic rules of thumb it would benefit all travelers to keep in mind.

Take, for example, the story told by travel writer Trevor Morrow:

"When I was 18, I traveled solo to Tanzania to volunteer in a rural school. One weekend, when school wasn’t in session, a few other volunteers and I took a trip to a town on the coast for a little rest and relaxation. Before leaving, two of the volunteers and I decided to take a walk down the beach. The beach was very flat and wide and there was almost no one around. We passed two local fishermen who were dealing with a net and kept walking until they were far in the distance. As we turned around to head back, a lone man who was sitting on a dune started to approach us quickly from several hundred yards away. He wore a pair of tattered pants and held his shirt in his hands, which was concealing something underneath.

Now a few feet beside us, the deranged man revealed the machete he was hiding under his shirt and gestured it toward us — we were being robbed at machete-point.

Extremely scared, we backed up and sped up our pace, moving back in the direction of the two fisherman we passed earlier on the beach. Luckily, one of the two people I was with was a well-traveled Swedish woman in her 30s. Immediately, she told us to just walk very fast and not to run as it might provoke him and cause him to react — this was truly enlightened advice. Think of it like backing away slowly from a bear vs. turning around and running.

We resisted just long enough, while walking fast enough, until we were in eyeshot of the two fishermen we passed earlier. The deranged man, now seeing the potential witnesses to his crime, backed away and left us.

The main lesson to be learned from this story is to always be hyper-aware of your surroundings. Not in a paranoid way, simply in a smart, present-in-the-moment kind of way. This is true no matter where you go, but especially true in places where no one else is around, in economically depressed areas where crimes of opportunity may be more common, and in situations where you stick out like a sore thumb and may attract unwanted attention. This man was watching us come down the beach in his direction for some time and we didn’t even notice him — and if we did, we didn’t think twice about his presence.

The next lesson is, to try not to blatantly carry your belongings with you. All three of us were wearing small backpacks. This advertised that we had items of worth on us — be it the backpacks themselves and whatever we had inside them. In my case, that was all of my money, my passport, and my cameras. Huge. Rookie. Move.

The third lesson is, we probably should have just given him what we wanted, our backpacks. Instead, we played with fire and called his bluff for just long enough to make it back to the eyeline of the fishermen. Things could have turned out way worse.

All that being said, most people on this planet are kind and mean you no harm. Just be smart and be present in the moment.

Read more scary travel stories told by professional travelers here.

Image: Ionut Cojocaru 

Rage Yoga Involves Screaming, Swearing and Obscene Gestures. Also Yoga.

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 11:00 PM PST


(Photo: Rage Yoga)

You will exercise your middle fingers a lot while participating in Rage Yoga. Seriously, that's a major part of the movements.

Lindsay Istace developed the practice and teaches it at her studio in Calgary, Alberta. In the dimly lit pub basement that serves as her studio, she blasts loud heavy metal music. It helps set the mood for her students. She says that the music and the movements help her students vent their anger. CBC News reports:

Istace says she developed Rage Yoga while dealing with a painful breakup. According to her website, combining swearing and screaming with her yoga practice helped her overcome addiction and anger issues.

"When you create a space for yourself to be angry and to shout and swear and scream, suddenly it's hard to take yourself so seriously.

"So it goes from anger to laughter pretty quickly. And we have a lot of that going on here."

-via Weird Universe

Irish People Try To Identify The American States

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 10:00 PM PST

In this video, people in Ireland try to identify states in the U.S. on a map. This should be funny, right? After all, they’re not even Americans, and there are a lot of states on that map. And this is from the same production company that brought us Irish People Taste Test American Beers.

(YouTube link)

Well, it is funny, but they know the states! How do they do that? I understand how people in other countries can be familiar with the different state names from movies and songs, but to identify them on a map, when it’s not even your own country… that’s impressive. We have plenty of Americans who can’t do that. -via Tastefully Offensive

Nuhtendo! - At Least He Isn't Playing A Game On His PC!

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 09:00 PM PST


Nuhtendo! by JoeRocks1981

What does Sonic the Hedgehog like to do when he's not running around gathering golden rings? He plugs in his old NES console and gets down with a great game like Super Mario Bros. or Contra. This may seem like brand mutiny to some folks, but Sonic isn't stupid enough to think Sega is the ultimate gaming company, but if any corporate killjoys from Sega ask he'll tell them that Alex Kidd made him do it!

Spark some console gaming controversy with this Nuhtendo! t-shirt by JoeRocks1981, it's sure to tick off brand purists but everybody else will get a big kick out of this hilarious design!

Visit JoeRocks1981's Facebook fan page and official website, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more geek-tastic designs:

Spaghetti!Cyberskull 1.0Turbo Kid And AppleBB-8Bit

View more designs by JoeRocks1981 | 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!

How Much Would It Cost to Buy One of Everything on Amazon.com?

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 09:00 PM PST

(Photo: Alan Levine)

It would cost $12.86 billion USD. That's the answer on Quora from Kynan Eng, an expert on artificial intelligence and something called neuromorphic engineering--whatever that is. To sum up: he's a math guy who is much smarter than you or me. He's also the guy who once calculated how much money we spend rescuing Matt Damon over and over again.

Eng explains in great detail over at Quora how he arrived at $12.86 billion. He found a way to randomly generate a sample of Amazon.com products, then created a price distribution of them for his statistical model.

He did not include the price of shipping.

-via Conan O'Brien

The Blue Poison Dart Frog

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 08:00 PM PST

Isn’t this a lovely frog? Such a lovely shade of blue! This is the blue poison dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorius), which needs no camouflage because its skin exudes a toxin that not only tastes bad, but can be lethal to predators. Animals in the rainforest learn quickly that odd colored frogs aren’t the best things to eat. That’s not the only things that’s weird about this frog -it doesn’t have webbed feet and doesn’t swim well, so it usually stays on land. However, its young must have water, so when the blue poison dart frog’s eggs hatch, the parents must transfer the tadpoles to a nearby body of water. Learn more about the blue poison dart frog at the National Aquarium. -via the Presurfer

(Image credit: Michael Gäbler)

What the Cast of <i>Pretty in Pink</i> Has Been Up To Over the Last 30 Years

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 07:00 PM PST

Molly Ringwald in 2015 (l) and 1985 (r)| Image: (l) Getty, (r) Paramount via Uproxx

It's hard to believe that it has been 30 years since the February 1986 release of John Hughes' Pretty in Pink.  It's even harder to believe when one looks at a side-by-side comparison of then and now 48-year-old Molly Ringwald head shots. The woman appears to have been bathing in the Fountain of Youth (or a fountain of Botox -- you decide). Either way, she looks great!

But what has Ringwald been up to for the last 30 years? The linked article gives us that answer as well as answering that question with regards to her Pretty and Pink castmates. It reads in part,

The 48-year-old redhead was a frequent John Hughes collaborator before becoming Andie, and preceded her role with both Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club.

In 1987, a year after Pretty in PinkMolly Ringwald was cast as Randy Jensen in The Pick-up Artist with Robert Downey, Jr. in one of his first roles.

After keeping busy throughout the ’90s, Ringwald transitioned to Broadway, first headlining Cabaret from 2001 to 2002, and then, taking on Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity.

Ringwald’s perhaps best-known most recent role was as Shailene Woodley’s mother on The Secret Life of the American Teenager throughout its run.

She followed up the series with the release of her first jazz record in 2013, and is currently working with Jason Priestly on upcoming Canadian sitcom, Raising Expectations.

Read updates on Ringwald's castmates Andrew McCarthy, James Spader, John Cryer, Harry Dean Stanton and others here

.

Trompe L'Orange

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 06:00 PM PST

(Photo: Ashby Design)

In about 1925, the Parisian perfumer Parfums de Marcy packaged its perfume in this unique arrangement. Each bottle takes the shape of a segment of the orange.

Parfums de Marcy was noted for its clever bottle designs. You can see more of them at Cleopatra's Boudoir.

-via Nag on the Lake

Scientists Use Lights To Battle Addiction In Cokehead Mice

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 05:00 PM PST

The great funk god Rick James once said "cocaine is a hell of a drug", but it's unclear whether he meant that as a good or bad thing.

However, there's no denying that cocaine use has detrimental effects on the brain, and addiction destroys lives, but finding a cure means testing new methods and drugs on a brain while it's under the influence.

Researchers from the University of Oxford have been testing an interesting new(ish) technique called optogenetics that may make it possible to cure addiction using light:

Neuroscientists Stéphanie Trouche and David Dupret from Oxford’s MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit trained mice to prefer a particular location using cocaine. Then they altered those positive associations using optogenetics—a genetic technique in which living brain cells can be manipulated or controlled with light (typically via fiber optic cables). The mice lost their preference for the cocaine-associated environment, suggesting their memory had been rewritten.

Read Scientists Use Light To Alter Memories Of Cokehead Mice here

Safety Pin Comes Out of Nose 6 Months Later

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 04:00 PM PST

The reason for her mystery illness came to light six months after the fact. Five-year-old Khloe Russell of Hemet, California, developed a runny nose that smelled awful. Her mother Katelyn Powell took her to three different doctors who diagnosed a sinus infection and gave her antibiotics, which didn’t help. The family even consulted a dentist. The reason for her problems was revealed last week when her uncle had her blow her nose again.    

"My brother was like, 'Your nose, it's disgusting. Blow your nose, blow your nose.' And she blows it and out comes the safety pin," said Powell.

Black and disintegrating -- the safety pin was measured about 1.5 inches long.

"It was a huge object. It was bigger than her nose," said Powell. "We were horrified. I was like, 'Did you put this up there?' She did, but she forgot to tell me."

Katelyn Powell clarified the story in a comment at another news story.

Hey guys I'm the mom of this little girl and just so everyone knows, we did blow her nose constantly! She also wasn't building a castle out of safety pins that part of the story was added! She found a safety pin and being a kid wanted to stick it up there to see how far it would go and thought she dropped it not realizing it had lodged itself in her nose.

Khloe is feeling much better now that the source of her trouble has been eliminated. -via reddit

Instead of <i>Mad Max</i>, Seth Meyers Offers Us <i>Reasonable Max</i>

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 03:00 PM PST


(Video Link)

Comedian Seth Meyers is one of Immortan Joe's War Boys from Mad Max: Fury Road. Joe has ordered his War Boys to prepare for an expedition from the Citadel to Gas Town to get gasoline.

Meyers has an important point to make: these expeditions--of which there have been so many--waste vast amounts of gas on heavy vehicles that literally shoot fire. They are extremely fuel inefficient. There can be and in fact are more sustainable alternative forms of transportation that make best use of scarce resources to build a better society.

The other War Boys are, as you can expect, tired of listening to this killjoy.

-via Tastefully Offensive

Ways A Gamer's Relationship With A Video Game Is Just Like With Their Partner

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 02:00 PM PST

As an admitted video game addict I know how much a game means to me when real life starts to rub me raw, and I find myself looking forward to coming home to the comfort of that virtual world.

Starting a new game is often just like a relationship- you become intrigued, invested and eventually frustrated by your new love's seemingly illogical nature, and that's when you know you'll be sticking around until the bitter end.

Because both gamers and lovers know that if there's no passion, no fire and no intrigue then there's probably no future.

Dorkly's Julia Lepetit drew up this side-by-side comparison that shows all the ways our personal relationships are like a gamer's relationship with a video game.

If only the game companies could come up with a game I still enjoy playing eight plus years later...

-Via Dorkly

26 Facts about the Science of Friendship

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 01:00 PM PST

(YouTube link)

Who knew there was so much scientific research about friendship? Real friendship, not just the number of Facebook friends you have. The results we have so far are pretty interesting. You already know having close friends is good for you, but now we know some specific benefits. John Green tells us about it, on this week’s mental_floss List Show.

Cat Survives 8-Mile-Ride While Stuck In The Grill Of A Car

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 12:00 PM PST

Cats love to crawl into the engine compartments of parked cars, so when you know cats in your area are prone to crawling into the engine compartment conscientious people check under the hood before they drive off.

But some people don't think or bother to check, and terrible things happen to those poor dumb kitties stuck in the compartment when the engine starts running, unless they're extremely lucky.

A cat named Gnocchi from Santee, California proved he's one of the luckiest cats in the world by surviving an eight mile trip while hanging halfway out of the car's grill/bumper.

Good Samaritans stopped the driver who was completely oblivious to the poor cat trying to claw his way out of the grill, and lucky little Gnocchi was returned to his grateful owner.

-Via LAist

Hokusai Cthulhu - Surf 'Til You're Insane

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 11:00 AM PST


Hokusai Cthulhu by Mdk7

Many people have traveled across the globe to surf the epic waves off the Japanese coast, but that was before they discovered to their horror that the Great Old One Cthulhu was lurking beneath the surface of the sea. People first noticed something wasn't right about the area now known as Lovecraft beach when all the surfers started wearing hooded robes and preferred to surf by moonlight, but nobody could have predicted how red those waters would run when Cthulhu awoke, hungry and enraged...

Surf 'til you're insane with this Hokusai Cthulhu t-shirt by Mdk7, and watch out for monster waves!

Visit Mdk7's Twitter, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more kart-errific designs:

Vive La Resistance!Sith Army KnifeFighter BoyViva Big Boss!

View more designs by Mdk7 | More Horror 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!

Seven Annoying TV Characters We Grew To Love

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 11:00 AM PST

Some characters in TV shows are written to be annoying, either to introduce conflict or as comic relief. Over time, though, these characters can become quite popular. Either they become standouts, and the show must ride on them to survive, or sheer longevity softens their rough edges. Or writers bow to viewers’ demands and make them more human over time. An example from long ago is Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H, who was brought in to replace the annoying Frank Burns, but eventually showed a depth of character we could all respect. Can you think of characters from newer series that fit the bill? Read about seven of them at TVOM. With video evidence.

A Supercut Of David Schwimmer Saying "Juice"

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 10:00 AM PST

I'm not sure whether the real Robert Kardashian enjoyed calling his friend O.J. Simpson "Juice" fifty times a day, but according to David Schwimmer's portrayal of Robert in the FX series The People V. OJ Simpson he was all about the juice.

And even though the miniseries isn't even over yet YouTuber Nicholas Martin was able to put together a minute long supercut of David Schwimmer saying "Juice" about a billion times.

(YouTube Link)

I wonder how long the next "Juice" supercut will be when the season is actually over?

-Via People

Daddy Cat Adopts 7 Chihuahua Puppies

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 09:00 AM PST

Richie the cat doesn't think that cats and dogs can't be friends. When his humans brought long-haired Chihuahua puppies into their home, he welcomed them. He doesn't hesitate to snuggle with them and provide care. Together, they're the Yuta Family.

Sometimes the puppies have discipline problems, though.

Bizarre Conspiracy Theory Claims Katy Perry Is Actually JonBenét Ramsey

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 08:30 AM PST

If you're looking for a crazy conspiracy theory to read there are some real corkers online, and one of the newer theories that caught my eye claims Katy Perry is actually child pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey, who was murdered in 1996.

There's obviously very little proof to support this claim, other than the fact that Katy kinda looks like what JonBenét might have grown up to look like.

Also there's a lot of proof that Katy is actually Katheryn Elizabeth "Katy" Hudson born October 25th, 1984 in Santa Barbara, California, which would have made her twelve at the time of the murder.

(Warning- this video is full of crazy rambling)

(YouTube Link)

But the proof these online conspiracists are presenting is rock solid- JonBenét and Katy kinda look alike, and sorta have the same eyebrows, their parents look kinda similar too.

Oh, and they both know the lyrics to God Bless America, which as we all know is an extremely rare talent, and get this- Katy referenced JonBenét in one of her biographies. Say, that is compelling evidence!

Read more about this bizarre conspiracy theory at Huffington Post

Year in Space Mission Returns to Earth

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 08:00 AM PST

NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly is back on earth along with with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko after they both spent 340 consecutive days in space on the ISS. Now Kelly will undergo tests to see how a year in space affected his physiology as compared to his identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly. Cosmonauts Sergey Volkov also returned, after a shorter mission. The landing was early morning March 2 in Kazakhstan.  

(YouTube link)

It’s a long video, so you might want to skip ahead. The undocking occurs at 4:30, the view from earth begins at 7:30, and they emerge from the capsule at about 9:30. Kelly fought the forces of gravity he isn’t used to in order to give a thumbs up. -via Digg

Painting with Wine

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 07:30 AM PST

Sanja Jankovic is a Serbian artist who uses wine to paint beautiful watercolor-like scenes. You can almost smell the wine off the images of her work.

Many of her works are recreations of other famous works of art, such as this one showing The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

Ellen Ripley from the 1979 movie Alien

At Bored Panda, Jankovic explains the artistic effect of wine:

These paintings are different and intriguing not only because of wide variety of depicted motives that go all through art history, but also because fermentation and oxidation continue the artwork which is seen through a slight colour transition from red and purple towards sepia hues, having limited but beautiful colour range no other pigment could imitate. It is also known as the “aging” process.

Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones

An original portrait

-via Rocket News 24

Bathrooms With An Amazing View You Can See From The Toilet

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 07:00 AM PST

(Image Link)

Bathrooms aren't built with an amazing view in mind so bathroom windows often look out on nothing in particular, so when you come across a WC with a magnificent view of the world it's okay to share a potty pic.

It must feel amazing to sit down on the porcelain throne and behold the entire kingdom of man or beasts below you, looking down on Laos from up high or staring at the beach while you do your business in this University of California, Santa Barbara bathroom.

(Image Link)

But as you'll see when you peruse this list of Amazing Toilet Views From Around The World the great view often works both ways, and if people can see you using "the most scenic toilet in Peru" you might become a bit gun-shy.

(Image Link)

And only the bravest, or most desperate, pooper would dare use the throne on Mt. Whitney, where the great view is of you going number two!

(Image Link)

See more Amazing Toilet Views From Around The World here

Martin Molin’s Marvelous Mechanical Musical Marble Machine

Posted: 02 Mar 2016 06:00 AM PST

Martin Molin of the Swedish band Wintergatan built a delightfully complex machine that uses over 2,000 metal balls to play a vibraphone, drum, and a bass guitar, while he provides the power by crank. You might notice that one ball is black, in order to show the progression of the balls. If this reminds you of “Pipe Dreams” by Animusic, you’re not alone. Except this one isn’t animated! 

(YouTube link)

It took about 14 months to design and build the machine -he says much of that time was spent picking balls up off the floor. There are quite a few videos showing the build process, but not many words. You’ll find more discussion on Facebook, such as the plans to automate the machine in order to use it in the band’s live performances. -via reddit

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