Neatorama

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• Plucked From Obscurity: Bicycle Seat, with Needles
• Cultural Appropriation
• The Guns and Goblins of Bannerman’s Castle
• This Machine Sprays You with Sunblock
• England: A Beginner's Guide
• The Secret Apartments of New York City Libraries
• Inviting the Justice League to the Celebration
• Never Give Up
• Armageddon - A Fight For The Future
• P Stew's Cowboy Classics
• Maryland State House Saved by Original Ben Franklin Lightning Rod
• Fourth of July Fireworks Fails
• Researchers Find Secret Tunnel Used to Escape from the Nazis
• 40 Years Ago Today: The Raid on Entebbe
• The World's Deadliest Fireworks Accident
• This Simple Invention Is Helping To Solve The Water Crisis
• A Beautiful Bonfire
• Side-By-Side Comparison Of Actors And The Historical Figures They Portrayed
• We Are America ft. John Cena
• Eye Of The Tiger, Man - The Creed Of Apollo
• Pepper with a Mild-to-Hot Gradient
• Girl Wakes Up And Sings Rihanna's "Work" After Dental Surgery
• Awesome And Funny Captain America Cosplay
• Cat and Bear Are Friends

Plucked From Obscurity: Bicycle Seat, with Needles Posted: 05 Jul 2016 05:00 AM PDT The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research, now in all-pdf form. Get a subscription now for only $25 a year! Inventive, yet under-publicized devices by Marina Tsipis, Improbable Research staff Bicycles, a popular means of transportation, are also a popular target of thievery. One incisive method of theft prevention has been available for more than a century, yet even its existence has failed to entirely deter those who would purloin bicycles. U.S. patent #650082 for a “bicycle attachment,” was granted to Adolph A. Neubauer on May 22,1900. Here are some of the details: The invention is for preventing the stealing of bicycles by riding them away. The seat is provided with one or more upwardly-projecting needles or pricks, which reciprocate through one or both sides of the seat-top by means of mechanism located beneath in such manner that the rider can raise them when the bicycle is not in use and depress them when in use…. The operation is as follows: The rider of the bicycle turns the crank-shaft C by its handle D until the end of the detent M takes into and is securely held in the slot or cut-away part o of the handle-hub n by the spring r, and the knob O of the opposite hanger B’ is moved in its slot q until the end of the detent N is above its respective crank I’, by which the needles or pricks L are held and fixed beyond the possibility of accidental raising through the surface of the seat A. When the rider dismounts, he turns the detents M N until their combined support is removed from the axle C and cranks I I’ and the spring J is free to act by turning said axle C and cranks I I’, and throwing up the needles or pricks L until their ends project upwardly through the top of the bicycle-seat, and thus prevent any one from mounting the bicycle without serious injury or manipulating the detents for lowering the needles or pricks without detection. To the seat A, near its top or surface, is a button P of a vertical shaft Q, which is held in a raised position by a spring r. When depressed, its bottom end s engages with the detent Hand moves it sufficiently to break the engagement between it and the slot o of the hub of the handle D. This article is republished with permission from the March-April 2012 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift! Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

Cultural Appropriation Posted: 05 Jul 2016 04:00 AM PDT (Poorly Drawn Lines/Reza Farazamand) Hey, hey! Flying is what my people do, not yours. Stay on the ground where you belong. The air is our territory.

The Guns and Goblins of Bannerman’s Castle Posted: 05 Jul 2016 02:00 AM PDT Frank Bannerman bought an island in the Hudson River in New York to store his growing stock of military surplus goods and arms. He needed to build a warehouse anyway, so he made it a castle reminiscent of those he remembered from his childhood in Scotland, complete with a drawbridge and a moat. That was 100 years ago, and the castle is still standing -sort of. I was frustrated that I couldn’t get closer than a few hundred yards and peak into the rooms now open to the sky. It seemed odd that a huge stone structure barely a century old could be in ruins, but there’s an inherent weakness in all military storehouses: the contents. The Arsenal was devastated by an explosion of its own gun powder in 1920. It was injured again in 1969 when peacenik hippies accidentally started a fire, and then in 2010 when a brutal Catskill winter collapsed two walls. The house Bannerman built for his family is a bit more modest, but still impressive, and strangely close to the munitions warehouse. Take a tour of Bannerman’s Castle and the island it sits on at History Buff.

This Machine Sprays You with Sunblock Posted: 05 Jul 2016 12:00 AM PDT If you apply sunblock to yourself, you may miss spots. And it can be awkward to ask someone else to rub it onto your hard-to-reach areas. That's why this invention could be handy. It's called the SnappyScreen. It sprays sunblock over your entire body. First, select the SPF level that you want. Then tell the machine whether you're under or over 5 feet tall. It gives you several seconds to step inside. Then it sprays a sunblock mist on one side, gives you time to turn around, then sprays the other side. The SnappyScreen is currently available at 10 resorts in the US and Caribbean. But the developers hope to eventually make it available at waterparks and ordinary swimming pools. -via Inhabitat

England: A Beginner's Guide Posted: 04 Jul 2016 10:59 PM PDT British comedian Exurb1a explains English people to outsiders. While most of it is nonsense, we get the overall idea that the English are uptight and a little defensive about being different from all other English-speaking nations. Or you can go ahead and say different from all other nations. (YouTube link) Then there’s that old joke about English food being awful. That doesn’t make as much sense as it used to, now that the British national cuisine is Indian food. Even the English don’t like English food. -via Tastefully Offensive

The Secret Apartments of New York City Libraries Posted: 04 Jul 2016 09:59 PM PDT (Photos: New York Society Library) If I could live at the library where I work . . . yeah, actually, I'm going to pass on that one. But would have been an attractive opportunity when I was younger and more adventurous. Cait Etherington writes in 6sqft that some older libraries in New York City used to have apartments. These were set aside not for librarians, but for building superintendents who needed to monitor the plumbing, boilers, and electricity as needed. Like residential building superintendents, this was easiest done on-site and on-demand. So they lived at their libraries: This meant that for decades, behind the stacks, meals were cooked, baths and showers were taken, and bedtime stories were read. And yes, families living in the city’s libraries typically did have access to the stacks at night—an added bonus if they happened to need a new bedtime book after hours. The New York Society Library, which is a subscription library, employed the Thornberry family, who are pictured above, for that purpose: The family, who were joined by Rose Mary’s younger brother Terrence in 1945, lived in the library until Patrick Thornberry retired as the building’s superintendent in 1967. Their home was in what the library now refers to as the “closed stack” (a locked stack reserved for rare books). While the closed stack is currently sealed off to daylight to protect its rare contents, when the Thornberrys lived in the library, it was a light-filled and vibrant space. But the family was by no means confined to their apartment. They also enjoyed a penthouse-level garden and after hours, access to the library’s stacks and large reference rooms too. -via Boing Boing

Inviting the Justice League to the Celebration Posted: 04 Jul 2016 09:00 PM PDT An objection to the list of fictional characters who ran for president of the U.S. was that Superman is not a “natural born citizen.” Well, neither are most comic book superheroes. This is from Texts From Superheroes, where you’ll find a couple of other Fourth of July texts that will tickle your funny bone. -via Geeks Are Sexy

Never Give Up Posted: 04 Jul 2016 08:00 PM PDT Once in a lifetime image captured shows lizard attacking snake whilst being eatenhttps://t.co/BxGIt2DEDdpic.twitter.com/fnalt5wqJ4 — Express Pictures (@Express_Pics) July 4, 2016 This lizard didn't, even though the snake had swallowed him whole. Bryan Snyder, a naturalist, spotted this savage battle while walking in Santa Ynez, California. I'm rooting for the lizard. He has spirit.  -via TYWKIWDBI

Armageddon - A Fight For The Future Posted: 04 Jul 2016 07:00 PM PDT Armageddon by Batang 9Tees The Danger Room had prepared the X-Men for many dangerous scenarios, but that simulation software couldn't have predicted the rise of Apocalypse and the damage that virtually invincible being would cause to the world. It's ironic that the mutants who were spit on and treated like third class citizens were now responsible for saving humanity from total annihilation, but thoughts of irony and chagrin would have to wait until the fight was over and armageddon avoided for another day... Blow minds wherever you go with this Armageddon t-shirt by Batang 9Tees, it's fan tested and mutant approved! Visit Batang 9Tees's Facebook fan page, official website and Instagram, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more mighty cool designs: Steampunk Neighbor Knightmare Returns Crypt Of Terror Team Squirgers View more designs by Batang 9Tees | More Movie 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!

P Stew's Cowboy Classics Posted: 04 Jul 2016 07:00 PM PDT https://t.co/Wfp09qIAFBpic.twitter.com/Zns1Idwd6d — Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) June 30, 2016 You probably thought of Sir Patrick Stewart as a starship captain of the future, or an acclaimed Shakespearean actor. You didn’t realize that he was a cowboy singer, did you? (YouTube link) Hear P Stew sing classics like “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” “El Paso,” “Ringo,” and even “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” There’s also a website to order the CD, with proceeds going to the International Rescue Committee (which explains why all this happened), but sadly, they are sold out as of now. -via Uproxx

Maryland State House Saved by Original Ben Franklin Lightning Rod Posted: 04 Jul 2016 05:59 PM PDT (Photo: Larry Hogan) When Ben Franklin learned that lightning consists of electricity, he realized that it would be possible to protect a tall building from lightning strikes by connecting a ground wire to a pointed metal rod at the top of that building. He called his invention the lightning rod. The current State House of Maryland was built in 1797. Before he died in 1790, Franklin drew detailed plans for how his lightning rod was to be installed. The builders followed that plan and it's remained there ever since. The lightning rod came in handy last Friday, when lightning struck the building. Governor Larry Hogan attributes the preservation of the dome of the State House to Franklin's work: The Republican governor said in a Facebook post Saturday morning that the lightning rod on the dome "was constructed and grounded to Franklin's exact specifications." He says at the time it was added to the building, it served as "a powerful symbol of the independence and ingenuity of our young nation." -via Ace of Spades HQ

Fourth of July Fireworks Fails Posted: 04 Jul 2016 04:59 PM PDT “Don’t try this at home!” These are clips from fireworks displays collected by America’s Funniest Home Videos. That means that no one died in the making, but if you try the same stunts, there are no guarantees that things will turn out alright. (YouTube link) Honestly, half of these are more “cute” than dangerous. But remember, the safest way to enjoy fireworks is to let the professionals do the igniting, and you park far away and watch them. -via Tastefully Offensive

Researchers Find Secret Tunnel Used to Escape from the Nazis Posted: 04 Jul 2016 04:00 PM PDT (Photo: Ezra Wolfinger/Israel Antiquities Authority/AP) In the Ponar forest outside of Vilnius, Lithuania, the Nazis murdered and buried about 100,000 people. Later in the war, as the Red Army began to push the Germans out of the Soviet Union, the Nazi authorities realized that they couldn't leave such a massive number of corpses behind as evidence. So they took 80 Jewish prisoners from a nearby concentration camp and forced them to dig up and then burn the bodies in the forest. The prisoners had to remain the forest at the site during the project. They took the opportunity to dig a 112-foot escape tunnel. On April 15, 1944, they fled through it. The Germans pursued the escapees, but 11 survived the war. Recently, archaeologists used electrical resistivity tomography equipment, which is also used in oil exploration, to find the tunnel. They left the site physically undisturbed, relying on only remote sensing tools to study it. The BBC reports: Jon Seligman, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said he was reduced to tears on the discovery of the tunnel, calling it a "heart-warming witness to the victory of hope over desperation". "The tunnel shows that even when the time was so black, there was yearning for life within that," he told Associated Press. -via Glenn Reynolds

40 Years Ago Today: The Raid on Entebbe Posted: 04 Jul 2016 03:00 PM PDT Today is the fortieth anniversary of one of the most extraordinary special forces raids in military history. It was conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces to rescue civilian hostages held at an airport in Entebbe, Uganda. On June 27, 1976, 4 Palestinian and German terrorists hijacked an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris. They forced the pilots to fly to Libya, and then to Uganda, where they could rely upon the assistance of the dictator Idi Amin. There, the terrorists and Ugandan soldiers released some of the hostages, keeping 106 of them, most of whom were Jews or Israelis. (Entebbe International Airport by Micha Sender) After diplomatic efforts failed, the IDF launched a raid dubbed Operational Thunderbolt on the Entebbe airport where the hostages were held. This was conducted in C-130 Hercules and Boeing 707 aircraft flying 2,500 miles from Israel just above the ground and water to avoid radar detection. On July 4, approximately 100 IDF soldiers landed unannounced at the Entebbe airport. They promptly drove a luxurious black Mercedes out of the doors of a C-130. Their plan was to trick the Ugandans into thinking that this mysterious force was being led by Idi Amin himself! (Photo of the return to Israel by the Israeli Government Press Office) It didn't work, so the commandos, led by Lt. Col. Yonathan Netanyahu (brother of the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) attacked the Ugandan soldiers and the terrorists. They moved so quickly and so decisively that they were able to rescue 102 of the 106 hotages. The commandoes then destroyed Ugandan fighter jets on the ground and rushed the hostages back to the planes. They took off, refueled in Kenya, and returned to a joyous Israel. Sadly, some of the hostages were killed while still in Uganda. There was also a single fatality among the Israeli troops: their commander, Lt. Col. Netanyahu. (Video Link) But the raid on Entebbe was still seen as a great victory and an extraordinary demonstration of courage, planning, and military skill. The feat captured the popular imagination of the world, which led to the story being retold inseveralmovies. -via Debby Witt

The World's Deadliest Fireworks Accident Posted: 04 Jul 2016 02:00 PM PDT Americans associate fireworks with our Fourth of July holiday, but they have been popular all over the world for a long time now. The highest death toll in a fireworks accident occurred on May 30th, 1770, when a display by Italian pyrotechnicians the Ruggieri brothers was set off to celebrate the marriage of future King Louis XVI to Marie Antoinette. Some exploding rockets were diverted to the ground by the wind, and as the crowd panicked, many people were trampled underfoot. While some estimates place the death toll as high as 3,000, the official count was 113, which still makes it the deadliest fireworks accident ever. Read the story of the stampede, and what happened as a result, at Atlas Obscura.

This Simple Invention Is Helping To Solve The Water Crisis Posted: 04 Jul 2016 01:00 PM PDT Solving the water crisis faced by many countries in Africa and the Middle East seems like a massive undertaking involving lots of plumbing, construction and planning. But there's a simpler solution which addresses the needs of the individual families instead of the nation as a whole- the Hippo Water Roller. The Hippo isn't a re-invention of the wheel, simply a way to use the rolling motion to help people transport drinking water home far easier and in much larger quantities. Before the Hippo started changing lives people could only carry about 20 liters of water home at a time, in a bucket carried on their head no less, but the Hippo allows them to roll 90 liters home easily and quickly. -Via Anonymous

A Beautiful Bonfire Posted: 04 Jul 2016 11:59 AM PDT Redditor farmthis built a wooden Phoenix yesterday near Juneau, Alaska. The sculpture appears to be around 30 feet tall. It took about ten hours to put together, and it was completed as the sun went down. Which is pretty darn late this time of year in Alaska.   And this is the reason the phoenix was built. A good time was had by all. -via reddit

Side-By-Side Comparison Of Actors And The Historical Figures They Portrayed Posted: 04 Jul 2016 10:59 AM PDT When filmmakers decide to make a historical flick, whether it's a biopic or something focused on a particular event or era, they usually try to cast actors who look like the original historical figures. Sometimes the addition of prosthetics and a specially made wardrobe is needed to really sell the role, but more often than not the successful portrayal of a well-known figure starts with the right famous face. It's an actor's job to become the characters they portray, whether real or fictional, but it seems like some actors were born to play a role, like a reincarnation of the original soul. See 15+ Actors Vs. Historic People They Portrayed here

We Are America ft. John Cena Posted: 04 Jul 2016 10:00 AM PDT Pro wrestling star John Cena “the coolest guy on the planet,” just dropped a public service announcement from the Ad Council about what kind of people make up America. It called “Love Has No Labels.” (YouTube link) What a great message for the Fourth of July. -via Metafilter, with thanks.

Eye Of The Tiger, Man - The Creed Of Apollo Posted: 04 Jul 2016 09:00 AM PDT Eye Of The Tiger, Man by Butcher Billy Living in America means chewing on cheeseburgers with a side of freedom fries for the Fourth of July, it means fireworks when your favorite fighter takes down some chump in the ring and it means wearing a big ol' hat to celebrate our country's birthday! We've all got the eye of the tiger inside us, thanks to a little help from that Rocky montage, and if we believe in ourselves as a nation and keep fighting for that freedom we so cherish the movies of our lives are sure to end in victory! Get patriotic the geeky way- with this Eye Of The Tiger, Man t-shirt by Butcher Billy, it's the perfect shirt to wear while celebrating the birth of your country or simply binge watching all the Rocky movies in one night! Visit Butcher Billy's Facebook fan page, official website, Twitter and Tumblr, then head over to his NeatoShop for more knockout designs: Love Vigilantes Reversed Do U Feel Emoji, Punk? Eternal, Shiny & Chrome Witness View more designs by Butcher Billy | More Movie 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!

Pepper with a Mild-to-Hot Gradient Posted: 04 Jul 2016 09:00 AM PDT Redditor petriomelony found a pepper that looks like it has a built-in gradient illustration of mild to hot spiciness. S/he used it to make jerk chicken, which hopefully has a similar range of flavor punch. -via Tastefully Offensive

Girl Wakes Up And Sings Rihanna's "Work" After Dental Surgery Posted: 04 Jul 2016 07:59 AM PDT Everyone is a celebrity in their own mind, and in dreams we're free to become famous and earn lots of fans simply by being our own fabulous selves. This is just a dream for most, a dream we keep hidden so our friends and family don't ridicule us for having such silly thoughts. But when the gas starts flowing at the dentist's office all sorts of dorky dreams are exposed to the light, even the unattainable dream of being Rihanna in concert. (YouTube Link) The girl's mom had better not make fun of her daughter for breaking out in song after dental surgery since she's the one who put the idea in the poor girl's head! -Via FAILBlog

Awesome And Funny Captain America Cosplay Posted: 04 Jul 2016 07:00 AM PDT What superhero embodies the spirit of the Fourth of July? Captain America, that’s who! And considering his existence in both the World War II era and the present day, in comics and in movies, he comes with a pretty versatile look for cosplayers. The Captain America above was around for the Revolutionary War! To celebrate the Fourth, Gamma Squad has a collection of twenty photographs showing cosplayers, slightly more than twenty  of them, showing off their versions of our patriotic superhero. (Image credit: Flickr user V Threepio)

Cat and Bear Are Friends Posted: 04 Jul 2016 06:00 AM PDT (Photo: Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary) Sequoia, a 550-pound black bear, lives at the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary in Folsom, California. Zookeepers commonly leave dog food in his enclosure for him to eat. This attracted a feral cat, which eventually decided that Sequoia's den would be a good place to live. Zookeepers have since named her Little Bear. Little Bear the cat tolerates the other bears that live at the zoo, but she has a "special relationship" with Sequoia, according to the zookeepers. They stay close together, like friends should. (Video Link) -via Nothing to Do with Aborath

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