Neatorama

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• The First Woman to Vote in American History
• The Liquid That Pours Itself
• Walking the Dog
• Happy Dog Bounces across a Field
• The Match That Lights a Soyuz Rocket
• Library Goes Sci Fi to Promote Its Services
• The <i>Game of Thrones</i> Graveyard
• 5,000-Year Old Paystub Shows Workers Paid in Beer
• Another One Bites The Dust - Have Fun Storming The Death Star
• Pet Review: Cats
• I Want an Ice Cream Cone Topped by More Ice Cream Cones
• An Honest Trailer for <i>Jaws</i>
• Guy Turned His Girlfriend's Dog-Chewed Heel Into A Wearable Work Of Art
• 50 of America's Best Diners
• Dick Van Dyke Leads a <i>Mary Poppins</i> Sing-Along
• Marvel Heroes Who Are More Villainous Than The Villains
• Washing Instructions
• The Restaurant Built in a Waterfall
• A Stop Motion Short About Our Robotic Morning Routines
• You Are Here - Life Ain't Always A Box Of Chocolates
• 10 Airlines Offering The Finest Business Class in the Sky
• Nothing Makes People Scream With Laughter Like A Horror-Bly Funny T-Shirt
• The Star-Spangled Banner at the Lincoln Memorial
• World Map Turns into Bicyclist Silhouette

The First Woman to Vote in American History Posted: 29 Jun 2016 05:00 AM PDT Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook. According to recent statistics, there are more women voters in America than men. Women, at least in recent years, tend to vote Democrat. Men are, in the main, Republican voters. The democratic party is currently 57% female. The GOP is just the reverse, with males making up 57% of the party. The biggest single voting block in the United States is now single women, who constitute 25% of our electorate. Okay, here's a good bar bet question for you: “Who was the first woman in American history to vote in an election?" The 19th amendment to the Constitution guaranteed women the right to vote. Many people are under the mistaken belief that no woman ever voted before this amendment was passed. Women had actually been voting for many years before the 19th amendment. States and territories had their own laws. In the year 1869, the governor of the Wyoming territory approved and passed a woman's suffrage bill. And in the following year, a woman named Louisa Ann Swain cast the first vote by a woman in an American election. Swain was a 70-year-old housewife. She was born Louisa Ann Gardner in 1801 in Norfolk, Virginia. Louisa was the daughter of a sea captain, who sadly was lost at sea when she was seven. Upon his death, she and er mother moved to Charleston, West Virginia. Louisa’s mother passed away while the two were living in Charleston. She then was shuttled off to live with her uncle in Baltimore, Maryland. In Baltimore, Louisa met Stephen Swain, who operated a chair factory. The couple soon fell in love and married in 1821. Together, they raised four children. The Swain family moved to Ohio, then Indiana, before finally settling in Laramie, Wyoming. It was in Laramie, when Louisa was almost 70 years old, that she changed forever the course of American politics. On the fine morning of September 6, 1870, Louisa Swain rose early, and put on her apron, bonnet and shawl. She carried a tin bucket with her because she wanted to purchase some yeast from a local merchant. As Louisa passed a local Laramie polling place, she decided to cast a vote. And in this simple way, history was made. The Laramie newspaper described Swain as "a gentle, white haired housewife, Quakerish in appearance.” She had to reassure reporters that voting made her no less of a woman. Interestingly, when the first woman ran for president (Victoria Woodhull in 1872), Louisa Swain voted against her. The first-ever female voter in the United States, Louisa Ann Swain, died on September 25, 1880, in Lutherville, Maryland. On September 6, 2008, Congress officially voted the day to be "Louisa Ann Swain Day" by House Concurrent Resolution 378.

The Liquid That Pours Itself Posted: 29 Jun 2016 04:00 AM PDT Steve Mould, a wizard, demonstrates the properties of this unusual potion called polyethylene oxide. It's a polymer that seems to pour itself if you tip the container over just slightly. The magical properties permit it to flow against rather than with gravity. (Video Link) Polyethylene oxide is commonly used to lubricate razors. But elves and half-elves should avoid it even in this form, as it is midly toxic to them, inflicting 1 HP damage per round. -via Geekologie

Walking the Dog Posted: 29 Jun 2016 02:00 AM PDT This is why I don’t have a dog. Oh, cats do the same thing, except you don’t have to go with them, just let them in and out. All day long. Sometimes I think pets are just messing with us to see how obedient we are to their whims. This is the latest from Megacynics.

Happy Dog Bounces across a Field Posted: 28 Jun 2016 11:59 PM PDT (Video Link) My dream is to be this dog. Rosie, a poodle and whippet mix, bounds across a field in Norwich, East Anglia, UK. She takes unreserved joy in such a simple thing. -via Laughing Squid

The Match That Lights a Soyuz Rocket Posted: 28 Jun 2016 11:00 PM PDT NASA fires their rockets with an electronic ignition system. The Russians use giant wooden matches to fire up their rockets. The device, invented in the 1950s for intercontinental ballistic missiles, is called a PZU, which stands for a Russian phrase meaning “pyrotechnic ignition device.” In other words, a match. But they are huge, and a bit more complicated than a sulphur match that you’d strike against rough surface. After the Soyuz is installed onto the launch pad, technicians working from an access bridge under the pad manually insert wooden sticks in a shape of a T-bar into each combustion chamber. Twenty big sticks go into the main chambers and 12 smaller ones go into the steering engines. At the top of each stick you'll find a pair of pyro-charges, and between pyro-charges there is a spring-loaded brass wire that acts as an ignition sensor. Wires from pyrotechnics and from the sensor run down the stick to an outlet where they are plugged into the launch control network. When those charges fire inside the combustion chamber, their flame cuts the brass wire and the spring pulls the lose end away, breaking the electric circuit. That's what generates the ignition signal at launch control. Because the firing nozzles of the pyro-charges face each other, the ignition of only one of them ensures that the second one would light up as well (imagine two matches right next to each other). Only after the launch control has confirmed ignition inside of each and every one of the 32 chambers will they open the valves on propellant supply lines, initiating the full combustion. The flimsy wooden rig and a few wires are instantly and harmlessly incinerated in the ensuing inferno. It may seem like a terribly old fashioned method, but look who is actually sending people into space in rockets now, and who isn’t. Read more about the PZU at Popular Mechanics. -via Metafilter

Library Goes Sci Fi to Promote Its Services Posted: 28 Jun 2016 10:00 PM PDT Long Beach City College is a community college in California. Its librarians wanted to show students what they have to offer in a fun, novel way. So they created the most extraordinary library promotional videos I've ever seen. (Video Link) I recently attended a professional conference where the librarians, led by their larger-than-life library director, Ramchandran Sethuraman, delivered a presentation about their video project. The project consists of 4 modular videos covering major library services, including research assistance, database access, citation help, and a survey of resources in a multitude of languages. The college is located close to Hollywood, which was a huge help. They were able to hire a professional video production company, which created these videos for a mere $8,500. The videos have special visual and sound effects, dramatic music, and scripts that are both funny and precise.

The <i>Game of Thrones</i> Graveyard Posted: 28 Jun 2016 09:00 PM PDT This is only for fans of the TV show Game of Thrones who are current on the series, because it contains spoilers. If there’s one thing that ties the various episodes, seasons, and kingdoms of Game of Thrones together, it’s death. Slate has an interactive graveyard for each significant death on the series, and it’s a crowded place. The latest deaths are at the top, indicated by freshly-dug earth. Each gravestone is labeled with the episode it occurred in, and has a link to the character’s page at the Game of Thrones Wiki. If you click on the grave itself, you leave a flower. It’s fascinating to find out who people are leaving the most flowers for. Some of the most evil characters on the series have piles of flowers -but it’s because those are the ones you loved to hate. Oh yeah, there are a couple of graves with hands reaching out -to indicate dead people who came back to life. I’m not sure what the bird indicates. -via Metafilter

5,000-Year Old Paystub Shows Workers Paid in Beer Posted: 28 Jun 2016 08:00 PM PDT It's time to punch the timeclock and head out because it's beer o'clock. Here's a record of the earliest known such time. It's a cuniform tablet that is 5,000 years old. Archaeologists found it at Uruk (you know, from Star Trek) in modern-day Iraq. It illustrates laborers being paid for their services in the best form of currency: beer. Alison George describes at New Scientist: On one tablet excavated from the area we can see a human head eating from a bowl, meaning “ration”, and a conical vessel, meaning “beer”. Scattered around are scratches recording the amount of beer for a particular worker. It’s the world’s oldest known payslip, implying that the concept of worker and employer was familiar five millennia ago. -via Geekologie

Another One Bites The Dust - Have Fun Storming The Death Star Posted: 28 Jun 2016 07:00 PM PDT Another One Bites The Dust by Rocky Davies By order of the Queen all stormtroopers were to be shot on sight, which wouldn't have been a big deal if it wasn't for the fact that some of those stormtroopers were destined to be stars. For you see, unbeknownst to the Empire and Sith Lord Vader, the stormtroopers had formed a band, and their first single "Pew Pew War" was already hitting the top of the charts across the galaxy. Both the Emperor and Darth were ardently against the stormtroopers having hobbies, but the troopers found it thrilling to disobey the dark side, forming their own rebellion of sorts within the Imperial ranks. Now they just had to stay alive long enough to hear Max Rebo cover their song... Sing a song of stormtroopers getting blasted to smithereens with this Another One Bites The Dust t-shirt by Rocky Davies, it's sure to score a direct hit with your fellow sci-fi fans! Visit Rocky Davies's Facebook fan page, official website, Instagram and Tumblr, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more delightfully geeky designs: It Ain't Personal Fantastic Swords Tenderloin Meat Juicy Burgers Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto View more designs by Rocky Davies | 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!

Pet Review: Cats Posted: 28 Jun 2016 07:00 PM PDT YouTube member Garcatch intends to test and review all pets to give you the best advice on which to select. Today, he reviews cats as pets. Contains NSFW language. (YouTube link) To recap: cats are attractive, portable, and relatively safe, compared to lions. But he recommends a feature upgrade. -via reddit

I Want an Ice Cream Cone Topped by More Ice Cream Cones Posted: 28 Jun 2016 06:00 PM PDT How much ice cream do you need? The correct answer is “more.” Jersey Jack, a gelato bar in Como, Western Australia, has the right idea. Its Little Mostro isn’t little at all. The large ice cream cone is topped with toppings and smaller ice cream cones, which themselves are covered with more toppings. I’ll take two, please. -via My Modern Met

An Honest Trailer for <i>Jaws</i> Posted: 28 Jun 2016 04:59 PM PDT As the July 4th holiday nears, it’s time to pull out the movie that ruined the holiday in 1975: Jaws! We cowered in our seats with suspense, even though we didn’t see the shark much at all. That was a great technique -except it wasn’t really the way they wanted to do it. (YouTube link) Forty years later, there’s plenty to critique about Jaws in this Honest Trailer from Screen Junkies, but it still comes out as one of the greatest scary movies of all time. -Thanks, Paul Panday!

Guy Turned His Girlfriend's Dog-Chewed Heel Into A Wearable Work Of Art Posted: 28 Jun 2016 04:00 PM PDT Dogs who like to destroy stuff have no idea how valuable the stuff they're destroying is to their humans, but when they chew up something their human cares about they're dubbed bad dog. But what if they're just trying to help us repurpose our stuff, making it look unique with a little help from their teeth? Blacksmith and caring boyfriend Alan Padziński wasn't buying that excuse either, but when their dog Caliph chewed up one of his girlfriend Jagoda's favorite shoes he saved the day with his smithing skills. With a little imagination and some fine craftsmanship Alan turned her tore up shoe into armored heels worthy of a warrior princess. Read This Guy Turned His Girlfriend's Dog-Chewed Shoe Into An Amazing Heel here ń

50 of America's Best Diners Posted: 28 Jun 2016 03:00 PM PDT To pay tribute to the classic American diner, Extra Crispy compiled a list, not of the 50 best diners ranked, but a great diner from each state in the Union. You could easily argue with their choices, because the definition of a “diner” is hard to pin down (you know one when you see it), and chains were excluded. What’s left are people’s opinions on what makes a great diner: hearty food, friendly service, decent prices, and memories. West Virginia’s entry is the Hometown Restaurant in Peterstown. Peterstown, West Virginia (population 650), which is about a stone’s throw from the Virginia border and right smack in the heart of the Appalachian mountains, has one seriously tasty claim to fame, and that’s Hometown Restaurant. Linda Fox, who opened Hometown nearly 31 years ago, makes nearly everything from scratch, from her signature biscuits and gravy to one of West Virginia’s finest creations: a big bowl of pinto beans topped with chow chow relish served with a wedge of crumbly cornbread. (We don’t call West Virginia “Almost Heaven” for nothing.) Breakfast is a testament to true soul-satisfying mountain cooking and it’s served all day. Country ham, grits, fried potatoes, and biscuits are always on the menu, as are three different kinds of pan-seared steak to go with your eggs: rib-eye, crispy fried steak, or chopped steak. For something different, get the fried apples over a biscuit, a sweet and savory delicacy that pairs especially well with salty bacon or country ham. Be sure to grab one of Linda’s homemade whole coconut cream pies on your way out (she makes eight different cream pies twice a week), which boast the tallest meringue I’ve ever seen. —Kendra Bailey Morris, author of The Southern Slow Cooker Check out the list and let us know which ones you’ve been to, and whether they are really that good. (Image credit: Matt Sharp)

Dick Van Dyke Leads a <i>Mary Poppins</i> Sing-Along Posted: 28 Jun 2016 02:00 PM PDT Dick Van Dyke is 90 years old, but he's not slowing down a bit. The star of Mary Poppins recently visited the childhood home of Walt Disney in Chicago for the Creativity Days festival. After touring the house, Van Dyke stepped out onto the porch and greeted a crowd of fans by saying, "Hi! I'm what's left of Dick Van Dyke." Then he led them in a sing-along of "Let's Go Fly a Kite," one of the most memorable songs from Mary Poppins.

Marvel Heroes Who Are More Villainous Than The Villains Posted: 28 Jun 2016 01:00 PM PDT Marvel made their mark on the comic book industry by creating complex characters with lots of depth and storylines adults would enjoy reading nearly as much as the youngsters. Some of Marvel's characters are so complex it's hard to decide whether they're the good guys or the bad, or an anti-hero purposely bridging the gap between the two sides. Take Professor X for instance- he's the founder and leader of the X-Men who is responsible for protecting mutants from mankind (and vice versa) so we naturally think of him as a good guy. And yet we discover the Prof has a dark side when he tries to psychically murder Magneto and instead combines with him to form the super-killer Onslaught. Plus, during the Deadly Genesis series, we find out Xavier "used the abduction of the original X-Men by the living island Krakoa as an instrument to discard the first-generation X-Men of 1963". On the other hand, it's hard to tell if Nick Fury is a hero or villain because he walks a thin line between good and bad and never hesitates to put a bullet in anyone, hero or villain, who stands in his way. But who could have known he would kill an innocent extraterrestrial being just to catch a villain? Nick Fury's murder of the Watcher Uatu in the Original Sin series proved he is truly Marvel's most morally ambiguous character, a guy who's not afraid to get dark if it means getting his way. See 5 Beloved Marvel Heroes With Seriously Villainous Pasts here

Washing Instructions Posted: 28 Jun 2016 12:00 PM PDT Redditor Jl889 bought a cloth swim diaper for her baby. She checked the washing instructions tag and found that it was designed to be remembered. And not only remembered, but shared. I’m glad to oblige. After a bit of laughter, the discussion on this turned to why it's labeled "chlorine resistant" but you're still told not to bleach it. The concentration of chlorine in a pool and in your laundry is quite different.

The Restaurant Built in a Waterfall Posted: 28 Jun 2016 11:00 AM PDT Chances are you never looked at a waterfall and thought "that's a place I wanna eat," but after looking at a few photos of the Labassin Waterfall Restaurant in the Philipines you might start feeling that way. This stunning restaurant lets dinners sit at the base of a waterfall and feel the water flow over their feet as they eat. You can even head over to the flow and let it run over you between bites.

A Stop Motion Short About Our Robotic Morning Routines Posted: 28 Jun 2016 09:59 AM PDT Nine-to-fivers sleepily shuffle through their morning routine then commute to work while fighting to stay awake, all so they can sleepwalk through their work day, go home tired and do it all over again. Maybe we should just stop fighting the robotic nature of the morning routine and add some actual robots to our homes, so we don't have to lift a finger until we're out the front door! (Vimeo Link) "Sleepy Steve" is a delightful stop motion short created by animator Meghann Artes that is equal parts Pee Wee's Playhouse, The Jetsons and David Lynch, in other words very fun to watch! -Via Laughing Squid

You Are Here - Life Ain't Always A Box Of Chocolates Posted: 28 Jun 2016 09:00 AM PDT You Are Here by Benares When life is full of crapstorms that muddy up your view of the wondrous world we live in you must learn to wipe it all away and move on. Sometimes you'll find yourself surrounded with crappy people who want to make their muck part of your life, threatening to drown you beneath a pile of their problems, but you've installed wipers and can therefore see through their curtain of crap. You are meant to be a pioneer, a trailblazer, the first person you know who has scaled the mountain of crap that has piled up in their lives and lived to tell about it. Climb past the pile and you'll find the world often smells like roses, but let the pile overtake you and you'll never be rid of the stench... Don't let life's crap get you down, throw on this You Are Here t-shirt by Benares and smear a smile onto people's faces wherever you go! Visit Benares's Facebook fan page, official website, Twitter and Tumblr, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more ridiculously cool designs: Jocovitti's Fishes No One Can Hear You Scream Just Look At The Flowers The Owls Are Not What They Seem View more designs by Benares | 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!

10 Airlines Offering The Finest Business Class in the Sky Posted: 28 Jun 2016 09:00 AM PDT The “business class” airline section is supposed to be one step down from first class. The savings over first class are substantial, yet the seating is still luxuriously comfortable. In some airlines, the business class arrangements are more luxurious than first class in others. Pictured above is Virgin Australia’s new business class cabin. When Virgin Australia recently unveiled its brand new business class cabin the masses immediately took notice, as did the airline’s competitors. The revamped Virgin Australia business class is all about space, comfort, and convenience and it employs the ever-popular reverse herringbone seating configuration. The new seats can extend up to 80 inches long, which is about the size of a queen bed. 18 inch HD media screens, a better gourmet menu, turn down service, and a lounge area that serves cocktails and tasty bites are just a few things that set Virgin Australia’s business class apart. And, just like Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia offers complimentary pajamas for business class passengers. But it’s far from number one on the list of great business class airlines, the rest of which you can read at Money Inc.

Nothing Makes People Scream With Laughter Like A Horror-Bly Funny T-Shirt Posted: 28 Jun 2016 08:00 AM PDT Black Lagoon Bottom Dwellers by Art Broken Comedy goes surprisingly well with tragedy, and our favorite horror movies often feature comedic elements that go great with all the blood and gore. It's no surprise horror movie fans have a darker sense of humor than most, so if you're looking for a shirt that'll make people laugh their heads off then enter the NeatoShop...if you dare! There's all kinds of scary stuff going on in the world today, from entire countries turning strange God Save The THING by Gimetzco! To the living developing an unhealthy obsession with the undead Till Death Tears Us Apart by OPIPPI And then there's the horror of the upcoming presidential election... Every Vote Counts by Boggs Nicolas No wonder we're all looking for a reason to smile! No Trouble by Ikado People love to laugh, even when their life is a horrorshow Boils And Ghouls by Taylor Wells And humor can even take the acid sting out of death Chemistry Pun by Cafe Pretzel Which is something we humans need, because humans shouldn't fear death Free Cupcakes by Charamath Because it will come for us all some day, like a proton torpedo up the exhaust port Space Sorrows Vader by ClayGrahamArt Life can be a real downer, but it can feel like a fairy tale too, only with a little more screaming Fairytale The 13th by Hillary White And way, way, way more bloodshed Bleeding Rainbow by Harebrained Design Which is why we should hug the dark side and make friends with the fiends Come Here And Hug Me Variant 2 by Outlawalien Because we're all totally bizarre on the inside, each a mutant in our own way C.A.T.S. by Helenasia And mutants either learn to adapt or they die The Walking Mutants by NibiruHybrid Besides, when you're comfortable in your own skin people will like you I Like You! by Andysocial Industries And if you stay hungry the world will be your sheep farm It Isn't A Wolf, It's A Werewolf by Buby87 You'll learn to make the most of every opportunity life throws your way Hugs For Jane by Hillary White And you'll laugh in the funny face of fear Nosferatwo by Moysche Designs Because life's too short, so we should always look on the bright side and carpe the diem today Over My Dead Body by Bohsky Tickling that tortured soul lurking within ourselves so we can see how it grows Unleash Your Inner Monster by Boggs Nicolas Don't be afraid to let that darkness out once in a while, even if it scares the crap out of people Nosferretu by Louisros Because creepiness ain't nothin' to be afraid of Ghostblookers by Perdita00 And the world loves a weirdo! The Freshly Dead by Chema Bola8 Take your creepy sense of humor with you wherever you go by heading to the NeatoShop and snatching up a shirt with a deadly cool design on front. The NeatoShop has thousands of designs, including lots of horror themed designs both dreary and droll, and our prints are the best in the biz so your NeatoShop shirt will look sharp for years to come!

The Star-Spangled Banner at the Lincoln Memorial Posted: 28 Jun 2016 07:00 AM PDT Star Genleah Swain was touring the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and was inspired. The acoustics are good, the feeling was there, so she gave in to a dare from her companions and sang the Star Spangled Banner right there in with a bunch of tourists. And she nailed it. (YouTube link) A good time was had by all. -via Viral Viral Videos

World Map Turns into Bicyclist Silhouette Posted: 28 Jun 2016 05:59 AM PDT Thomas Yang, an artist and creative director in Singapore, has a real gift for conveying ideas in new ways. He makes many posters that promote bike-riding, such as one in which he printed the Empire State Building with bike tires. One of his recent works titled Tour de World advocates bicycling for environmental purposes by re-arranging the nations of the world into the image of a bicycle and rider. -via Fubiz

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