Neatorama |
- The Bittersweet History of Candy Land
- It's So Hot in New York That Poop Is Bursting into Flame
- A Stormtrooper Escort
- The Chosen One - Kung Fu Cop Turned Hitler Killing Machine
- Norway Considers Giving Finland a Mountain to Celebrate Its 100th Birthday
- The Pikachu Hunter Pumpgun
- Missing Cat Emerges in Paris Eight Years Later
- Pooper Is Like Uber, But for Dog Poop
- The Case For Leaving City Rats Alone
- Real Life Tarzan Runs Straight up a Tree
- A Full Load Of Package Delivery Fail Pics
- Do Mice Really Like Cheese?
- Cosplayer Creates Epic Scale Spider Monster Costume
- Sleepy Horse Uses Woman's Head as Pillow
- Politifact in Real Life
- Casey At Bat - He's Batting A Thousand Against The Foot
- Man Throws Batarang at Pursuing Police
- Photographer Sent Bill for her Own Photo, Fights Back
- Guy Busts Out A Dubstep Beat Using Only His Mouth And A McDonald's Soda
- Pokémon GO Baby Names
- Wear Your 90s Nostalgia On Your Chest With One Of These Rad Retro T-Shirts
- 10 Kids Treehouses That Go Well Beyond Treehouses
- The Craziest Bike Path
- Big Bird Does “Summertime”
| The Bittersweet History of Candy Land Posted: 29 Jul 2016 05:00 AM PDT It was 1948, and Eleanor Abbott was bored. The retired schoolteacher was stuck in a San Diego hospital surrounded by young children who, like her, were hobbled by polio. The kids were lonely and sad, and Abbott, with nothing else to do, decided that a cheerful board game could be the perfect antidote. So she supposedly grabbed a piece of butcher paper and started sketching plans. The end result was perfect for young children. No counting. No reading. Players simply needed to grasp colors and follow instructions on the cards to travel around the board, stopping at various delicious-sounding locations along the way. She shared it with the children in the polio ward, and they loved it. One year later, Milton Bradley bought the game—and it became a surprise hit: Candy Land.
While Milton Bradley kept that origin story under wraps for decades, the game’s connection to the disease didn’t stop there. It’s possible that polio helped make Candy Land famous. In the early 1950s, a polio epidemic swept the country. The best way to stay healthy was to avoid people. Public swimming pools, playgrounds, and bowling alleys were shuttered. Moviegoers were encouraged to sit far from each other at the theater. Wary parents wouldn’t even let their kids outside to play. Healthy or sick, everybody needed entertainment to help pass the time. That, coupled with the fact that postwar Americans had more money and leisure time than ever, were ideal conditions for making a child’s board game popular. Plus, it was about candy!
Today, polio has practically been eradicated from the globe. Candy Land, however, keeps on giving. It’s sold more than 40 million copies and was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2005. But Abbott kept a humble low profile for the rest of her life. According to Nicolas Ricketts of The Strong—a museum in Rochester, New York, devoted to the history and exploration of play—when Abbott received her first royalty check, she gave much of the money right back to the children she met in the ward. How sweet! __________________________
Don't forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss' extremely entertaining website and blog today for more!  | ||||||||
| It's So Hot in New York That Poop Is Bursting into Flame Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:59 AM PDT
How hot is it? It's firey poop hot. Officers with the state's Department of Environmental Conservation found that piles of horse manure in a barn in Throop, New York have been spontaneously catching fire. The AP reports:
-via Dave Barry | ||||||||
| Posted: 29 Jul 2016 01:59 AM PDT Nicolas Denton went to Walt Disney World with his family. For the Hollywood Studios Star Wars Experience, he dressed up as Kylo Ren. When a couple of Stormtroopers saw him, they went right on duty, escorting him around the park, parting the crowd, leading him right into the Launch Bay their, past crowds of visitors in line, and right into the presence of a much-taller Kylo Ren! As one of the commenters said, “A fast pass is no match for the power of the dark side.” A good time was had by all. -via reddit | ||||||||
| The Chosen One - Kung Fu Cop Turned Hitler Killing Machine Posted: 29 Jul 2016 12:00 AM PDT It ain't easy to be a hero, but being chosen to become a hero is even harder! There's often a trial by fire or combat, some electrifying stage that really hurts, and some messed up part where an animal like a cobra or tiger bites you and makes you feel like you're dying. But if that's what you've gotta go through to unleash the fury inside you then fight on, true hero, and show the world what you're made of! Kung fu is pretty radical, but kung fury is a force to be reckoned with, an energy so powerful not even the Kung Führer can withstand its awesomeness! Take your geeky wardrobe back to the 80s that never was with this The Chosen One t-shirt by Yiannis, it's one totally kick ass design! Visit Yiannis's Facebook fan page and Instagram, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more mighty rad designs:
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! | ||||||||
| Norway Considers Giving Finland a Mountain to Celebrate Its 100th Birthday Posted: 28 Jul 2016 11:59 PM PDT
On December 6, 1917, Finland declared independence from Russia. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of that event, its friendly neighbor, Norway, would like to give it a mountain. The Norwegian government is considering ceding the peak of Mount Halti, which is on the Norwegian-Finnish border, to Finland. At 1,365 meters tall, Mount Halti would become the tallest mountain in the country, nudging out another mountain, which is 7 meters shorter. The Guardian reports:
-via reddit, which includes this important point of etiquette: | ||||||||
| Posted: 28 Jul 2016 10:59 PM PDT You shouldn't use dangerous weapons while hunting Pokémon in real life, because you're more likely to harm the little critters you're hunting than capture them. Instead, you should check out this video by Joerg Sprave of The Slingshot Channel to see his Pokéball launching pumpgun in action. It's the most hardcore way to catch 'em all, and actually makes being a Pokémon hunter look kinda cool... -Via Laughing Squid | ||||||||
| Missing Cat Emerges in Paris Eight Years Later Posted: 28 Jul 2016 10:00 PM PDT Marna Gillian and Sean Purdy had a cat named Moon Unit, until she disappeared from her home in London as they hosted a New year’s Eve party in 2007. They searched for her, and posted notices, but after a few months decided that Moon Unit was not coming home. Fast forward to 2016, and Gillian received an email from a French animal rescue group that they had identified Moon Unit from her microchip!
Gillian and Purdy are no longer a couple, but they took a train together to collect Moon Unit in Paris. They say she is adjusting well, and will soon be introduced to one of her adult kittens. -via Uproxx | ||||||||
| Pooper Is Like Uber, But for Dog Poop Posted: 28 Jul 2016 09:00 PM PDT
Some people, like my slovenly neighbor Frank, hate to scoop their dog's poop and just leave it where their dogs excrete it. Other people don't mind picking up dog poop and would like to earn a few extra bucks. Pooper brings them together. Pooper is a new app that connects people who are willing to pay to have someone scoop their dog poop with people who are willing to do just that for cash. Poopers use their phones to leave geographic markers on a map. This is viewable to Scoopers, who scurry over to snag that brown gold. The Washington Post talked to co-founder Ben Becker:
This promotional video shows how Pooper works. Some people think that it's a hoax. That would be a shame, as it would be a great job for kids who would like to earn a bit of money. -via American Digest | ||||||||
| The Case For Leaving City Rats Alone Posted: 28 Jul 2016 08:00 PM PDT Are there more rats in Vancouver than ever before, or are people just more aware of them now? There has been very little research on rat populations in cities, and the Vancouver Rat Project aims to change that. Veterinary pathologist Chelsea Himsworth is leading a team that captures, analyzes, and tags rats to see where they live, how they behave, in what diseases they may be carrying. One thing they know is that rats thrive in urban areas because rats always thrive where the natural world has been disrupted.
Read exactly how this can happen, and the case for leaving city rats be, at Nautilus. -via Digg | ||||||||
| Real Life Tarzan Runs Straight up a Tree Posted: 28 Jul 2016 06:59 PM PDT This guy is amazing! He doesn't need rope or hooks. He moves so quickly up the enormous tree that his method looks more like running that climbing. And since he's been caught on camera doing it, he'll have to submit to the government in keeping with the Mutant Registration Act. -via Geekologie | ||||||||
| A Full Load Of Package Delivery Fail Pics Posted: 28 Jul 2016 06:00 PM PDT Postal workers and other parcel dropper offers are supposed to ensure our packages are delivered safely and not just left out in the open like cardboard prey, so they try to get tricky with their hiding places. Some opt for the old "hidden in plain sight" routine, while others figure no crook would ever climb up into the rafters to steal a package so they stash it up high. A small percentage of postal delivery specialists will do whatever it takes to get that package delivered, literally putting their blood, sweat and tears into their job. While the rest adopt a "yeah, whatever" attitude about parcel delivery, disregarding their customer's feelings like a dog disregards traffic when they zero in on a mail carrier's behind. See The best Delivery Mans at hiding packages here -Via Boing Boing | ||||||||
| Posted: 28 Jul 2016 05:00 PM PDT In a word, no. But somehow we got that idea and enshrined it in our fables and pop culture. Simon Whistler from Today I Found Out gives us the lowdown. Someone told me long ago that it’s better to load your mousetraps with peanut butter. But I never had to compare the baits because I have cats. -via Laughing Squid | ||||||||
| Cosplayer Creates Epic Scale Spider Monster Costume Posted: 28 Jul 2016 04:00 PM PDT Cosplayer Marie-Claude Bourbonnais is so much more than just a beautiful face and a sexy costume- she's a truly talented costume designer and a crafty fabricator too. Recently she created a costume that showcases all of her skills and makes her look amazing too, based on the anime character Rachnera from the series Monster Musume. She “wore” the costume at Anime Expo 2016, although as you can see she can't really move in it once she's seated inside, and people began to bow down to the new queen of epic cosplay! Marie crafted the arachnid abdomen and legs from scratch, starting with a fiberglass base which was covered with auto body filler so Marie could add sculpted details. The whole thing was then sanded smooth and painted much like you'd paint the body of a car, with a nice glossy clear coat added on top of the paint job to make the whole thing pop. See more process shots from Cosplayer Marie-Claude Made An Incredible Spider Costume here | ||||||||
| Sleepy Horse Uses Woman's Head as Pillow Posted: 28 Jul 2016 02:59 PM PDT Jimmy the horse wanted a nap. His human's head was handy, so he leaned over to use her for support. The human, Lisa Brown, explains:
-via Tastefully Offensive | ||||||||
| Posted: 28 Jul 2016 01:59 PM PDT Politifact, a fact-checking website from the Tampa Bay Times, is a handy tool when you want to know the real story behind a political soundbite, even when you don’t like the results. Most of the time, the details are a lot more complicated than the sound bite would lead you to believe, and if you click on the quotes and read the entire explanation, you can see how the information was distilled and sometimes twisted. You can guess how the politicians quoted feel about it. Imagine Politifact following you around and checking the validity of the things you say all day. It would only take about five minutes before you are ready to strangle it. This is the latest from Randall Munroe at xkcd. Go to the link to see the hover text punchline. | ||||||||
| Casey At Bat - He's Batting A Thousand Against The Foot Posted: 28 Jul 2016 01:00 PM PDT You've most likely heard the tale of Casey who went to bat and struck out in Mudsville that fateful day, the mighty baseball player falling from grace. Well, this Casey ain't got nothin' to do with fairy tales, and his bat doesn't hit home runs- it gives those Foot Clan ninja chumps the skull crackin' they deserve. Casey Jones sounds like the name of a guy who has lived a mythical life, right? Wrong, this guy don't know nothin' about fantasy or wonder, he just knows that Shredder has started a war with him and his teenage mutant turtle pals that they aim to finish once and for all... Take your favorite NYC vigilante with you wherever you go with this Casey At Bat t-shirt by ClayGrahamArt, it's a home run! Visit ClayGrahamArt's Facebook fan page, official website, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more mighty geeky designs:
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! | ||||||||
| Man Throws Batarang at Pursuing Police Posted: 28 Jul 2016 01:00 PM PDT
Batman has been in close calls with the police, who haven't always seen him as an ally. He has always gotten away, though, through his skilled use of precision tools, such as the batarang.
But Batman's luck ran out on Monday. Police in Seattle say that officers were summoned to a bar one evening when a man began swinging an improvised spear (a knife tied to a stick) at a bar employee. He fled when police arrived. While they chased him, the suspect threw a batarang at a police SUV, which became embedded in the body of the vehicle.
They arrested the 23-year old vigilante. -via Nerd Bastards | ||||||||
| Photographer Sent Bill for her Own Photo, Fights Back Posted: 28 Jul 2016 11:59 AM PDT Photographer Carol Highsmith began donating her works to the Library of Congress in 1988, and continues to do so. She also posts images on the website of her non-profit photography foundation This is America! But Highsmith received a copyright infringement notice and a bill for $120 from License Compliance Service for hosting an image she herself took.
And it isn’t just Getty Images. Highsmith also found her images for sale at at the image licensing company Alamy, which was named in the notice she was sent from LCS, and Picscout, too. All are named as defendants in a one billion dollar lawsuit. The coming suit will be quite interesting, and will possibly uncover the photo licensing companies' methods for selling licenses to publish public domain images. In fact, it may be an important, precedent-setting case. Read more of the details at Ars Technica. -via Metafilter | ||||||||
| Guy Busts Out A Dubstep Beat Using Only His Mouth And A McDonald's Soda Posted: 28 Jul 2016 10:59 AM PDT Dubstep used to be the electronic soundtrack of choice for movies and TV shows, oh, and commercials loved to slam it in our faces too. Now you rarely hear that dubstep wub-wub-wub-wub pouring out of the world's speakers, and musicians no longer need digital equipment to do the dubstep beat up proper like. Now they can just chill at McDonald's and create the rhythm using their mouth and a straw. The guy in the video is Parker Kane, and he's auditioning to become the one-man-band at his local McDonald's restaurant...nailed it! -Via Laughing Squid | ||||||||
| Posted: 28 Jul 2016 10:00 AM PDT The explosion of the game Pokémon GO is leading to the inevitable: babies named after Pokémon. It’s not the first time someone’s done it, but the popularity of the name Eevee is growing, as well as Onix. Ash is also seen more often. There have been babies named Pikachu in Japan for years, and it may well happen in the U.S. soon, if it hasn’t already. These children will never be able to lie about their age. -via The Daily Dot | ||||||||
| Wear Your 90s Nostalgia On Your Chest With One Of These Rad Retro T-Shirts Posted: 28 Jul 2016 09:00 AM PDT The dream of the 90s has been alive in Portland since the 90s, but now the 90s are back in a big way with everyone who feels nostalgiac about the decade that closed out the 20th century. If you're a lover of all things retro, a fan of 90s movies and TV shows, or you're simply stuck in the 90s and refuse to leave, then you'll love the amazing designs found in the NeatoShop! Back in the 1990s we didn't know how good we had it with our Hidden Temple game shows And cartoons about rugrats running around and wallabies named Rocko living a Modern Life ROCKO and his best friend! by ALIENBIKER23 There's no need to fight in the street about it- the 90s were at least II times cooler than today! The TMNT were born in the 80s, but they became mutant turtle superstars in the 90s While the Savage boys took the TV world by storm The cinematic genius David Lynch showed us around a strange little town called Twin Peaks Black Lodge Dance Hall by spike00 Ren & Stimpy showed us that cats and dogs can live together peacefully...if they're both a bit off And dinosaurs ruled the airwaves and movie theaters like they once ruled the world Stupendous Dinosaurs! by Boots There were so many great things to love in the 90s, plus there were Pogs! Nineties Neanderthal by SaltySteveD Movies were full of enchanting and bewitching characters back in the 1990s We Are The Weirdos Mister! by Andysocial Industries And music was more thuggish and ruggish than it had ever been before thanks to Bone E 1999 Eternal by Patrick Towers Art We were introduced to some of the funniest, and stupidest, pop culture characters ever drawn The Great Hansolio by Spudmunkey Like those odd looking characters from Springfield who would make us laugh for decades to come Or that Funnie little new kid in town Doug who fought for the love of Patti Mayonnaise Horror movie icons got a goofy mallard makeover Duckula (Green) by Russ Jericho And the same guy who built Springfield gave us a glimpse into our ridiculous future Captain Earthica Future War by Prime Premne But the 90s weren't all about cartoons, because there was plenty to crow about on the big screen too Neo Noir Superhero by Vincent Trinidad Like a park full of dinosaurs from the Jurassic era- mindblowing! Dino Chase by Tom Ryan's Studio And don't even get me started on those creepy cool movies by the mighty Tim Burton The Gardener by Vincent Trinidad We met the Big Lebowski And all those bad mofos from the Tarantinoverse Jules Winnfield: Bad M.F. by Donovan Alex And did we mention toys actually came to life?! It's no wonder so many people are still nuts about the Nineties! I miss the 90s by ClayGrahamArt Wanna add some 90s retro charm to your geeky wardrobe? Looking for t-shirts that make people feel nostalgiac about the good old end of the 20th century? Then head to the NeatoShop and browse through thousands of designs so good they're timeless! Each design is created by indie artists who love the 90s just as much as you do, and the NeatoShop has the highest quality prints in the biz. So head to the NeatoShop and get fresh today! | ||||||||
| 10 Kids Treehouses That Go Well Beyond Treehouses Posted: 28 Jul 2016 07:59 AM PDT Did you have a treehouse when you were a kid? Mine was a few boards placed across some branches, just a platform, really, but the neighborhood kids had fun climbing up and sitting in the tree together. Thanks to professional treehouse builders and/or parents with free time, some kids have more. Much more.
See more fabulous kids' treehouses at Housely. | ||||||||
| Posted: 28 Jul 2016 07:00 AM PDT UPDATE 7/28/16: Thanks to commenters T313, Rudolph, and Andre Woola, we now know! It's Entrelacement, a public art work by Michel de Broin. You can see it on Google Street View here. Go team Neatoramanauts! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bartek Komorowski, an urban planner and biking enthusiast, posted this photo of what he says is a stretch of pathway near the Charlevoix Bridge over the Lachine Canal in Montreal. It's not for the novice rider. Is this real? I can't find any supporting information about this section of the path, but Komorowski doesn't seem inclined to tweeting Photoshop gags. -via Jeremy Barker | ||||||||
| Posted: 28 Jul 2016 06:00 AM PDT Big Bird channels Will Smith as he and the the usual suspects from Sesame Street do the song “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. It’s a product of the editing skills of Adam Schleichkorn, also known as Mylo the Cat (previously at Neatorama). It will take you back to the summer of 1991, or in some cases, back to the days of watching Sesame Street as a kid. -via Uproxx |
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