Neatorama

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• Star Love Upgrade - Two Young Lovers With Nothing Better To Compute
• True Colors, and Where They Came From
• 5 Terrifying Unsolved Murders
• <i>The Scream</i> Action Figure
• 40th Birthday Cake
• Archaeologists Excited by Ancient Bottom Wipers
• How Did Hitler Rise to Power?
• "Batman Loves Him a Criminal" -- A Story Written by a Predictive Text Generator
• Doctor’s Orders
• David Attenborough Narrates Pokémon Go
• Avalanche Fences Exposed!
• Weenie Hut General - Bikini Bottom's Best
• 12 Charts Reveal What It's Like To Date Each Zodiac Sign
• Fan.tasia: Disney Millennial Mix
• Menus Reveal What The Different Passenger Classes Ate On The Titanic

Star Love Upgrade - Two Young Lovers With Nothing Better To Compute Posted: 25 Jul 2016 05:00 AM PDT Star Love Upgrade by Prime Premne It was a match made in Robo-Heaven, a coppery plated Protocol droid named C and the Cyberman who swept him off his mechanical feet. But alas their love would not last, for the Doctor and the Darths were on the war path, actively hunting the pair down to ensure their destruction. Together C and the Cyberman ran, they made laughing noises come out of their speakers and they admired the way the rays of the twin suns glinted off each other's shiny head. Perhaps in another time or alternate dimension their love would be allowed to exist, but this version of the star crossed droid lovers was doomed to fail... You'll be sharing some geeky love with the world every time you wear this Star Love Upgrade t-shirt by Prime Premne, a design that really computes! Visit Prime Premne's Facebook fan page and Twitter, then head over to his NeatoShop for more delightfully geeky designs: BvF Dawn of the Future The Tiger Khan Do It Avenging Side of the Earth Bedtime Punishment View more designs by Prime Premne | More Cartoon 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!

True Colors, and Where They Came From Posted: 25 Jul 2016 05:00 AM PDT The following article is from Uncle John’s Factastic Bathroom Reader. Here’s something to think about next time you open a box of crayons. We take it for granted that the pigments used to color our clothes, dishes, and art supplies are clean and safe— but as these colors of the past reveal, that’s not necessarily so. (Image credit: Zubro) Color: Mummy Brown Made From: Actual mummies How Did That Become a Thing? Long before there were art stores, the most reliable source of powdered chemicals of all kinds was the apothecary. Europeans had gotten it into their heads that Egyptian mummies were powerful medicine, and from the 1300s to the early 20th century, ground mummies were prescribed for everything from headaches to gout to epilepsy. Adventurous artists discovered that when mixed with oil paint, powdered flesh from mummies made an excellent light brown color. It was used extensively from the 1700s into the mid-1920s. True Colors: Despite the belief that mummies were indestructible, it turned out that flesh in paint tended to shrink and crack with time. But the thing that really doomed Mummy Brown was the dwindling supply of mummies. By 1964, it was officially as dead as a pharaoh; an article in Time magazine quoted a representative of a major art supply house as saying, “We may still have a few limbs lying around somewhere, but not enough to make any more paint.” Color: Chrome Yellow Made From: Lead chromate How Did That Become a Thing?In the 1790s, French chemist Nicolas Vauquelin identified a new element in the mineral lead chromate, which had been discovered 35 years earlier in Siberian caves. The new element, dubbed “chromium,” was used to make a rich yellow paint that covered other colors in one coat. It was not only bright— it was also cheap to make, leading it to become a favorite of Vincent van Gogh. Unfortunately, van Gogh had a peculiar habit: he liked to nibble on his paints. In fact, he liked Chrome Yellow so much that he once emptied a tube of it into his mouth. Many of the symptoms of insanity the artist exhibited, including the halos around lights that appeared in his paintings, can be caused or exacerbated by heavy metal poisoning. True Colors: Unfortunately, Chrome Yellow was not only toxic but also unstable. When exposed to sunlight, it tended to fade and turn brown or green; exposure to sulfur (an ingredient in some paints) hastened that process. In fact, many of van Gogh’s paintings have been affected. Although artists can still buy leaded paints, Chrome Yellow has been largely supplanted by the safer, more permanent Cadmium Yellow. (Image credit: H. Zell) Color: Royal Purple Made From: Sea snails How Did That Become a Thing? When Cleopatra became fond of a very expensive purple dye, she started a long tradition. The color was expensive because making it was difficult and unpleasant. You started by crushing the mucus out of 250,000 sea snails (known as the spiny dye murex) and soaking it for weeks in stale urine. Worse, a quarter million snails could make only half an ounce of dye— enough to color a single toga, a piece of tapestry, or a ceremonial flag or two. The stench was so bad that dyers were required to do their work far outside the city walls. The nauseating smell clung to them even after washing; in fact, the Talmud granted an automatic divorce to women whose husbands became dyers. Yet all that trouble and expense —and even the smell— only made it more attractive to those who wanted to show off their money and power. True Colors: You’d think that overharvesting of that sea snail would kill the dye. It didn’t. Neither did the horrible stench that clung to the fabric. The hue remained a status symbol worn by the royal and the wealthy for many centuries. And it might still be stinking up the place if an 18-year-old chemist named William Perkin hadn’t accidentally invented the first synthetic dye in 1856. The color of Perkin’s dye was a rich purple he called “mauve.” It was also inexpensive, which made it accessible to almost anybody… and that’s what killed Royal Purple. (Image credit: Chris Goulet) Color: Emerald Green/Paris Green Active Ingredient: Arsenic How Did That Become a Thing? Until 1775, green paint was commonly made from copper carbonate— the rust you see on copper building trim and the Statue of Liberty. That year Carl Scheele, the brilliant Swedish chemist who discovered chlorine, invented a beautifully bright green pigment from an arsenic compound. He called it Scheele’s Green, and it quickly replaced the older paints. Unfortunately, nobody was yet aware of how poisonous arsenic was, and Scheele —who had a habit of sniffing and tasting his discoveries— succumbed to heavy metal poisoning from exposure to arsenic, mercury, lead, and other chemicals, and he died in 1786. In 1814 a slightly improved version of his recipe became commercially available as Paris Green or Emerald Green. These arsenic-based pigments became popular among artists and manufacturers of cloths, candles, wallpaper, printing ink, and even candies. Of course, in the 1800s, sudden unexplained deaths weren’t unusual, so the Paris Green deaths weren’t immediately recognized. Especially dangerous was its use in wall paint and wallpaper: when moisture degraded the pigment, it released deadly arsine gas. (Napoleon, who died in a bright green room with mildew on the walls, was found to have an unusually high amount of arsenic in his hair and bones.) True Colors: In the 1890s, Italian authorities became aware of a disturbing trend: more than 1,000 apparently healthy children had died mysteriously in recent years. A chemist investigated their homes and discovered that virtually all of them played in rooms with mildew and Emerald Green wallpaper. Arsine gas, heavier than air, tended to stay close to the floor, where kids sat and played. Countrywide removal of the green wallpaper prevented further deaths. (Image credit: Flickr user Sarah Barker) Color: Uranium Yellow Active Ingredient: Uranium oxide ore How Did That Become a Thing? Unlike equally dangerous radium, which was used in paint on clocks and airplane dials because it glowed, uranium ore’s appeal was its bright yellow-orange color. Used in artworks as far back as ancient Roman times, uranium-based pigment is so bright that it almost seems lit from within. Added to glass water pitchers or kids’ marbles, uranium glows with a ghostly translucent yellow or green, and in pottery glazes, a festive yellow or orange. One popular example: Between 1938 and 1943, and then again from 1959 to 1972, the manufacturer of a popular line of ceramic dinnerwear called Fiesta used a glaze that contained trace amounts of uranium oxide pigments in its “Fiesta Red” orange-red plates and bowls. True Colors: Slowing sales— not fear of radiation— caused the manufacturer to discontinue the entire Fiesta line by 1973, including Fiesta Red. When the line was reintroduced in 1986, new glazes were used that did not contain uranium oxide. But because uranium oxide has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, if you hold a Geiger counter up to a vintage Fiesta Red plate or bowl, the radiation can still be detected. Because of this, the Environmental Protection Agency cautions collectors of vintage orange-red Fiesta ware against using them to serve food or drink, and to dispose of any cracked or broken pieces. _______________________________ The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Factastic Bathroom Reader. The 28th volume of the series is chock-full of fascinating stories and facts, and comes in both the Kindle version and paper with a classy cloth cover. 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!

5 Terrifying Unsolved Murders Posted: 25 Jul 2016 03:59 AM PDT Fiction is full of spooky weird stories that will give you chills, but truth is stranger than fiction. There are plenty of cold cases from the past in which the murder was never determined, but some stand out for their complete weirdness. Some leave evidence that doesn’t make sense, some have several possible explanations, and some are the stuff horror films are made of, like the series of five murders and three near-murders in 1946 in Texarkana. The first attack came on February 22, when the killer ambushed Jimmy Hollis, 25, and Mary Jeanne Larey, 19, in their car. Pointing a flashlight at the couple's faces, he ordered Hollis out of the car, told him to remove his pants, and proceeded to beat and stomp him so badly that he would spend days in a coma. In a way, Larey was even less fortunate: The attacker ordered her to run, and soon chased her down, beat her, and assaulted her with the barrel of a gun. She managed to escape this deadly game of cat and mouse, and in true horror movie style, ended up pleading for help at the door of a house half a mile away, sure to the last second that she was being followed. A few weeks after the first attack, another young couple was attacked in their car. This time, after an unknown sequence of events, the Phantom shot both victims execution-style. Another couple of weeks later, yet another two kids were found dead. They had made it out of the car (or had been forced to leave it), attempted to struggle and perhaps escape the murderer, but were shot several times nevertheless. The final victims were farmer couple Virgil and Katie Starks, and for them, the killer significantly changed his modus operandi, straight-up gunning them down through their window. Despite taking two shots in the head, Mrs. Starks didn't die in the attack. After a terrifying chase with the killer inside the farmhouse, she managed to escape to the neighbors' house before collapsing. A trail of blood and pieces of teeth marked her trail. While the case spawned a movie and an entire genre of slasher films, the case has never been quite solved, although there were a couple of suspects. Read about that case and four others at Cracked.

<i>The Scream</i> Action Figure Posted: 25 Jul 2016 01:59 AM PDT Japanese toymaker Figma has gained a lot of attention by producing poseable action figures inspired by famous works of art, including the Venus de Milo, Michelangelo's David, and Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. Most recently, it rolled out for your action-packed imaginative playtime an adjustable figure of the haunted soul in Edvard Munch's The Scream (content warning: NSFWish image). (Photos: TAG Hobby) -via Super Punch

40th Birthday Cake Posted: 25 Jul 2016 12:00 AM PDT When you bake a birthday cake for someone celebrating a substantial number of years, say more than 12, the easiest way to do it is to put one candle on top, or use those candles that come in the shape of numbers. Or you can put all the candles on and have someone stand by with a fire extinguisher for a good laugh. But these folks went all out. Redditor OyVeyzMeir posted the cake from a friend’s 40th birthday in which firetrucks were standing by for the expected conflagration.

Archaeologists Excited by Ancient Bottom Wipers Posted: 24 Jul 2016 10:00 PM PDT (Photo: Hui-Yuan Yeh/Journal of Archaeological Science) Archaeologists in western China found 2,000-year old "personal hygiene sticks" in a latrine pit. In the days before toilet paper, people would wrap cloths around sticks, then use those sticks to clean themselves after defecating. The researchers sent the sticks to a laboratory for study and were delighted at the results. The bottom wipers from this ancient trading post along the Silk Road contained eggs from 4 parasites, including the Chinese liver fluke. This was the first clear evidence that diseases had spread from east to west by travelers along the Silk Road. The Guardian reports: The fluke needs marshy conditions to complete its life cycle, so could not have come from the desert area around the ancient Xuanquanzhi relay station. The Chinese liver fluke originated thousands of miles away from the arid Tamrin Basin, an area including the Taklamakan Desert - one of the harshest on earth, dubbed “the desert of death” by the Chinese. 2,000 years ago the parasite’s unfortunate host would have been a very unhappy traveller, producing symptoms including fever, griping pain, diarrhoea and jaundice. It has also been associated with some forms of cancer. The relay stations at oasis towns, where travellers could rest and buy food, were crucial for any traders on the Silk Road hoping to survive the desert crossing.The bone dry conditions at these sites have preserved a wealth of organic remains for archaeologists. -via TYWKIWDBI

How Did Hitler Rise to Power? Posted: 24 Jul 2016 08:00 PM PDT How does a tyrant rise to the type of power that Adolf Hitler held over Germany? You take a defeated and fractured nation and unite the people by giving them a scapegoat to blame their troubles on. Fear, anger, and bigotry can lead crowds to do things they would never do as individuals. (YouTube link) Hitler was in the right place at the right time, and if he hadn’t taken advantage of the situation, it’s possible that someone else would have. Would someone else have used that power in a different way? It's hard to say, because we know how power corrupts, and how power inspires the desire for more power. -via Metafilter

"Batman Loves Him a Criminal" -- A Story Written by a Predictive Text Generator Posted: 24 Jul 2016 06:00 PM PDT Batman isn’t paid to destroy crime corners. He is actually attracted to crimes and also The Penguin. The Penguin begins to fall in love with guns and with gangs all over Batman. Batman is destroyed. Batman must join The Penguin. He loves him a criminal. […] Batman must stop The Penguin in order to keep his confidence. He suspects that The Penguin is an addictive face and has no choice but to ask for more of The Penguin. It comes across like a piece of fan fiction written by someone with a slipshod grasp of storytelling. But it wasn't written by a person at all. Jamie Brew, the head writer for Clickhole, created a predictive text generating program. It's like the word suggestions that your cell phone offers while you're composing a text message. Gizmodo explains: You can do this on your phone. Type a word, any word. Then just keep inputting suggestions from the autocorrect and see what you come up with. “Last summer a friend showed me that you can just keep taking the phone’s suggestions and write things like ‘I have a great time in my head and neck and shoulders and the rest.’ I couldn’t get enough of that,” Brew said. The results are meandering but reasonably coherent compositions, including a freaky Craigslist ad, a car owner manual, and a revision of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. You can see a much larger version of the Batman story here. -via Agent23

Doctor’s Orders Posted: 24 Jul 2016 04:00 PM PDT What’s the cure when you're overcome by work? A little play! Better follow Dr. Feelgood’s orders, and  shake, rattle, and roll, those blues away. This is the latest from Lunarbaboon.

David Attenborough Narrates Pokémon Go Posted: 24 Jul 2016 02:00 PM PDT (Video Link) Lovin Dublin spliced the iconic voice of naturalist David Attenborough with scenes of people playing Pokémon Go. The result is a nature documentary in a magical world of pocket monsters. Listen to him describe the lifecycle and feeding habits of Charmander, Spearow, and other wonders of the great outdoors. -via VA Viper

Avalanche Fences Exposed! Posted: 24 Jul 2016 11:59 AM PDT In mountainous areas of Europe, you might enjoy the breathtaking view of a snow-covered Alp in winter. But in summer, the snow melts and the infrastructure underneath is exposed. These are avalanche protection fences, designed to mitigate the effect of sudden slides.   Strangely, the purpose of this kind of fencing in mountainous regions is not to stop a snow drift but to cause one.  The fences (usually referred to as snow fences) are positioned so that drifting snow is blown in to a place where it presents the least amount of danger.  By forcing a drift on the side of the mountain, it is then less likely to cover the transport routes below. Over many centuries, communities have learned, often to their great cost, where the initiation zones of avalanches are located.  This led to the very human desire to stabilise the snow and it was the idea of a fence which was found to work.  No doubt there was much trial and error but the idea was to help absorb the force of the snow-pack through a system of fences – and to transmit that force to the ground, keeping the snow in its place. See a gallery of avalanche fences in summertime images at Kuriositas. -via the Presurfer (Image credit: Stephan Möller)

Weenie Hut General - Bikini Bottom's Best Posted: 24 Jul 2016 10:00 AM PDT Weenie Hut General by Oneskillwonder If you're tired of paying way too much for a Krabby Patty made by a sponge, tired of being bullied by a pint-sized plankton over at the Chum Bucket, and just plain tired of eating the same old oceanic offerings then head over to the Weenie Hut, now with three locations! The Weenie Hut General has been serving Bikini Bottom for nearly twenty years, and now Weenie Hut Juniors and Super Weenie Hut Juniors is set to serve up fresh weenies to those who like food with a side of nerdy fun! So ditch the squid and sponge, pass right on by the plankton, and head over to Weenie Hut for a super duper square meal! Don't be a Bob, grab this Weenie Hut General t-shirt by Oneskillwonder and show the world you put your round pants on two legs at a time, unlike that chuckleheaded sponge... Visit Oneskillwonder's Instagram, official website and Tumblr, then head on over to her NeatoShop for more delightfully geeky designs: Composition of Emotions Mutant Heroines Best Wingmen Unbreakable Kimmy View more designs by Oneskillwonder | 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!

12 Charts Reveal What It's Like To Date Each Zodiac Sign Posted: 24 Jul 2016 09:59 AM PDT If you believe in the personality profiles generated by the twelve signs of the zodiac then you probably use those profiles to help you look for and understand your romantic partner. Many believe the zodiac holds the key to long lasting relationships because the 12 profiles help daters weed out all the bad matches ahead of time. Taking dating advice from the zodiac hasn't worked that well for me in the past, but maybe consulting these charts created by Summer Anne Burton for BuzzFeed will work for you. I'm a Gemini so naturally my chart is spot on in every way. See 12 Charts That Explain What It's Like To Date Every Zodiac Sign here

Fan.tasia: Disney Millennial Mix Posted: 24 Jul 2016 08:00 AM PDT This Disney mashup will bring back memories of the magic you felt when you first watched these films as a youngster, although you have to be pretty young to have seen all these as a youngster! While the video highlights how Disney uses the same set pieces and angles over and over, it also shows how well they work.   (YouTube link) Lindsay McCutcheon set clips from the last twenty years of Disney movies (and some older) to the song “Pop Culture” by Madeon. If you doubt this was made by Millennials for Millennials, Lindsay was named after Lindsay Buckingham. He says he worked on this video on and off for about five months. -via reddit

Menus Reveal What The Different Passenger Classes Ate On The Titanic Posted: 24 Jul 2016 05:59 AM PDT People naturally have a morbid curiosity about the Titanic disaster, wondering about every little detail of that fateful April night in 1912, and slowly but surely virtually every detail has been revealed since. As you may be aware there were three classes of passengers on board, and each class was treated quite differently during the voyage, but how differently is best illustrated by the three different class menus. The First Class menu is suitably posh and pretentious, with consomme fermier instead of rice soup, egg a l'argenteuil instead of ham & eggs, and Camembert and Stilton instead of "cheese".  And then there are the poor Third Class passengers who are stuck eating gruel, "cabin biscuits" (a name that somehow sounds hard and tasteless), and plain old boiled potatoes. First class or third class, they were all equal in the end... -Via CountryLiving

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