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2017/02/06

Neatorama

Neatorama


Cat Jumps At Door Until Her Human Goes Out And Plays With Her

Posted: 06 Feb 2017 05:11 AM PST

Cats want humans to leave them alone until they really, really want humans to pay attention to them, at which point they pull out all stops to make sure all human eyes are on them.

Some cats use the power of the meow to get attention, others knock stuff off shelves and counters to ensure they're not ignored, like furry little Nihilists.

But Nala the Norwegian Forest cat (previously at Neatorama) has a cuter method of calling her humans- she jumps at the door and peeks at them through the window until they come out and play.

(YouTube Link)

How could anyone ignore the call of the wild Nala?

-Via Laughing Squid

Secrets of the Centenarians

Posted: 06 Feb 2017 02:00 AM PST

The following article is from the new book Uncle John’s Uncanny Bathroom Reader.

If you make it to the ripe old age of 100, hardly a day will go by that someone won’t ask you what’s the secret of living to such a ripe old age. There’s only about a 1 in 1,000 chance that a 100-year-old person will become a “supercentenarian” —live to see their 110th birthday. So how did these folks make it that far? Here’s how these old-timers answered the question.

 (Image credit: Johnrabe)

Gertrude Baines, Los Angeles, California (115)
Ate plenty of bacon, fried chicken, and ice cream, but “she never did drink, she never did smoke, and she never did fool around.”

Dolly Saville, Wendover, England (100 years old)
The world’s oldest barmaid began “pulling pints” (pouring beer) at the Red Lion pub in 1940 and was still at it until shortly before her death in 2015. It’s estimated that she pulled more than 2 million pints over those 75 years. “I love my work and I love the people, it keeps me going and stops me from sitting around,” she said.

Fauja Singh, London, England (105)
Singh, also known as the “Turbaned Tornado,” took up marathon running in his 80s and was still competing at the age of 104. “To me, the secret is being happy, doing charity work, staying healthy, and being positive,” he says. “If there’s something you can’t change, then why worry about it? Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling, and keep running.”

Pauline Spagnola, Plains Township, Pennsylvania (100)
“Drink a lot of booze!”

Hidekichi Miyazaki, Tokyo, Japan (104)
The world’s oldest competitive sprinter attributes his longevity to the fact that he “exercises daily, eats in moderation, and chews his food properly.”

Dorothy Howe, Saltdean, England (100)
“I put my health down to whiskey and cigarettes,” Howe told England’s  Daily Mail newspaper after hitting the century mark in November 2013. She prefers Bell’s Scotch whiskey and has smoked 15 Superking Black cigarettes every day since picking up the habit at the age of 16. That comes to more than 460,000 cigarettes over 84 years. “I keep telling myself that I’m going to quit smoking when they put the prices up, but that’s just not going to happen now.”

The Melis Family, Sardinia, Italy

 

The nine Melis siblings, age 78, 80, 81, 89, 91, 93, 97, 99, and 105, had a combined age of 818 years and 205 days in 2012, making them the world’s oldest living siblings. “We eat genuine food, meaning lots of minestrone soup and little meat, and we are always working,” said Adolfo Melis, who, at 89, was still tending bar in a local café.

Frank Huff, Marion, Illinois (100)
“Hard work, booze, and women,” Huff told an interviewer in 2015. When he was in his 90s, he had both knees replaced so that he could continue going to dances every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night. “I just live it day by day. I don’t make any plans 30 minutes ahead of time,” he said.

Marian Cannon Schlesinger (101)
“Just go ahead and do your thing no matter what,” Schlesinger, the ex-wife of historian Arthur Schlesinger, told the Atlantic magazine in 2013. “My mother had said, ‘It doesn’t really matter if your house is that dirty. Go ahead and do your thing. Don’t pay too much attention to housekeeping.’ Of course, she did have a maid who came in every day.

Elizabeth Sullivan, Fort Worth, Texas (105)
Sullivan drinks three cans of Dr. Pepper every day. “Every doctor tells me it’ll kill me. But they die and I don’t, so there must be a mistake somewhere.”

 Yisrael Kristal, Haifa, Israel (112)

 

Kristal, the world’s oldest living male in 2016, had no idea why he lived so long. “I believe that everything is determined from above, and we shall never know the reasons why,” he told Guinness World Records.

Peter Reilly, Saltcoats, Scotland (100)
Reilly, the world’s oldest altar “boy,” has served Mass every day for 91 years. “I don’t think I’ve missed Mass a day in my life,” he told the Scottish Daily Mail in 2015. “It must be one of my secrets for a long life,” along with “a healthy diet, saying your prayers, and moderation in everything.”

Tecumseh Deerfoot Cook, King William, Virginia (103)
Before his death in 2003, the retired chief of the Pamunkey tribe advised people that they should “eat plenty of raccoon and muskrats and drink Pamunkey River water…but lay off the possum.”

Thomas Spittle, Ipswich, England (100)
“Betting on horses, a pint a day, a puff on a pipe, and a fry-up (eggs, bacon, and fried tomatoes).”

Misao Okawa, Osaka, Japan (117 years old)

 

She ate lots of her favorite foods (mackerel sushi, beef stew, and spaghetti) and got plenty of sleep. “Eat and sleep and you will live a long time,” she said in 2014. “You have to learn to relax.”

Daisey Bailey, Detroit, Michigan (113)
Bailey took nips of bourbon whenever possible, ate lots of vegetables, and avoided beef. “She didn’t eat nothing but pork,” her granddaughter, Helen Arnold, told the Detroit News.

Emma Morano, Verbania, Italy (116)
Morano, the last living human born in the 1800s, has a glass of homemade brandy every day, and on doctor’s orders she’s eaten two raw eggs and one cooked egg daily since 1920. (That’s more than 105,000 eggs in all—70,000 of them raw.) She has only milk for dinner. One more factor she credits with giving her a long life: after divorcing her violent husband at the age of 38, she never remarried. “I didn’t want to be dominated by anyone,” she says.

Besse Cooper, Monroe, Georgia (116)
“I mind my own business and I don’t eat junk food.”

Susannah Mushatt Jones, Brooklyn, New York (116)
Jones, who died in May 2016, never had children, slept 10 hours a night, and ate four strips of bacon every day at breakfast. “I never drink or smoke. I surround myself with love and positive energy. That’s the key to long life and happiness.”

Bernice Madigan, Cheshire, Massachusetts (115)
“No children, no stress, and a spoonful of honey every day.” Madigan also ate her favorite breakfast—Eggo waffles smothered in banana slices, and four glazed donut holes—every day.

Tomoji Tanabe, Miyakonojo, Japan (113)

“Not smoking and not drinking,” and a diet of fried shrimp, miso soup, pickled vegetables, and bananas, washed down with plenty of milk.

Gertrude Weaver, Camden, Arkansas (116)
“Trusting in the Lord, hard work, and love everybody…Just do what you can, and if you can’t, you can’t.”

Jose Aguinelo dos Santos, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Dos Santos claims to be 126, but that’s unconfirmed. He has smoked a pack of cigarettes every day for 50 years and says there’s no secret to his long life: “The truth is you just keep getting older,” he told an interviewer in 2014. “If I got to this age it’s because I’ve lived a lot, that’s all.” (Image credit: Sedesol)

Benjamin Harrison Holcomb, Carnegie, Okla. (111)
Big breakfasts and small dinners. “All his life, Daddy didn’t smoke, he didn’t drink. But he did have a huge breakfast. Just huge. Eggs, sausage. And just cornmeal mush for dinner,” Holcomb’s daughter, Leola Ford, told the Washington Times in 2000.

Leila Denmark, Athens, Georgia (114)
Denmark was the world’s oldest practicing pediatrician when she retired at the age of 103; by then she was treating the great-grandchildren of her first patients. (Her other claim to fame: co-developing the whooping cough vaccine in the 1930s.) Denmark avoided milk, fruit juice, junk food, and sweets, including her many birthday cakes because they contained sugar, which she hadn’t eaten in 70 years. She drank only water.

Tuti Yusupova, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan
Yusupova, who died in 2015, claimed to be 134, but this is unconfirmed. “The secret to a long life is to do lots of work in the fields and to live an honest life,” she told the BBC in 2009. “Having lived through so many wars I would also tell the children of today to try and live their lives in the company of good people and to appreciate times of peace.”

_______________________________

The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's newest volume, Uncle John’s Uncanny Bathroom Reader. The 29th volume of the series is chock-full of fascinating stories, facts, and lists, and comes in both the Kindle version and paperback.

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!

Aurora, Illinois Is Celebrating The 25th Anniversary Of <i>Wayne's World</i> In A Big Way

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 11:59 PM PST

2017 marks the 25th anniversary of Wayne's World, the most excellent SNL movie adaptation of all time, and nobody is celebrating the anniversary like Wayne & Garth's home town of Aurora, Illinois.

In fact, Aurora is celebrating Wayne's World for six months straight, starting in February and ending on the fourth of July with the largest mass headbanging session ever- to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", naturally.

(YouTube Link)

The event started off on February 3rd at First Fridays, "a monthly celebration of art, music, and culture" where guests were encouraged to wear their Wayniest and Garthiest attire for some righteous fun, including:

Santori Public Library, 101 S. River St., is open with several Wayne’s World activities including Stan Makita’s Donut Shop, “Take a Shot at Wayne and Garth” (goalie shots in the Atrium), Two Minutes of Excellent Fame: Don a Wayne or Garth wig, hat, glasses, flannel, and video a line from the movie. Flannel Impromptu Art Gallery: “WW’s Fashion Strut & Selfie.” 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

(Image Link)

Read The Hilarious Way Aurora, Illinois Plans To Celebrate Wayne's World's 25th Anniversary here

15 Things You Didn’t Know About <i>Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs</i>

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 09:59 PM PST

In 1938, Walt Disney produced an audacious film that was several years in the making: a full-length feature film that was all cartoon! Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs set the stage for everything that would come after for Disney, both Walt and the company he founded. Everything about the production was an experiment. Lets have a little Snow White trivia.

There are several “hidden Mickeys” in Snow White (and a website that tracks them). Look at the wall behind the Queen when she rushes into her laboratory.

Snow White is the youngest Disney princess. She’s 14 years old.

During the making of Snow White, Walt Disney paid his staff five dollars for each successful “gag” that could be used in the film. One example is Ward Kimball’s idea that the dwarfs’ noses should pop one by one over the foot boards while peeking at Snow White.

There's lots more movie trivia about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Flavorwire.

The Force is With These Tiny Star Wars Tattoos

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 07:59 PM PST

(Image via patricktat2)

Big tattoos are great and all, but sometimes a small one is just as good. These Star Wars fans may not have big ink, but their love of the series is certainly unquestionable. 

(Image via dannifullyxo)

The small designs are a subtle way to fully align yourself with your favorite characters without having to announce to the world that you support the Light or Dark Side.

(Image via The Tattoo Gallery)

You can see a whole gallery of delightfully small Star Wars tattoos over at Pop Sugar.

Justice Friends - No, They're Not A League...Why Does Everyone Keep Asking That?!

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 05:59 PM PST


Justice Friends by AndreusD

That other superhero squad, or league or whatever, keeps getting all kinds of press these days, but where's the love for the group that saved the worlds' butts from that Commie fiend Comrade Red? I'm talking about the Justice...no, not league, we just went over that, this is the Justice Friends, you know- Major Glory, Val Hallen and the Infraggable Krunk? Yeah, those guys, they're not as flashy as the league, and they're having a hard time selling their movie rights, but the Justice Friends have been busy doing what they do best- justicing! So if something strange goes down in your town, and you keep looking to the sky for those other guys, stop wasting your time and call the Justice Friends on the phone, and they'll be there in like ten minutes.

This Justice Friends t-shirt by AndreusD is hero tested and Dexter approved, and it's sure to make you feel heroic whether you're a mutant grown in a laboratory or you're just some guy or gal who loves cartoon shows!

Visit AndreusD's Facebook fan page, Tumblr and Twitter, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more mighty geeky designs:

Lesser Evil Norse Warlord Jungle Fever No More Morphin

View more designs by AndreusD | 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!

Six Freeway Removals That Changed Their Cities Forever

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 05:59 PM PST

We've posted before about how modern cities are designed for automobiles, which is not necessarily a good thing. But what are you going to do about it? Believe it or not, there are cities who have taken the step of ripping out highways to reduce traffic and bring city life back to people. That doesn't mean those areas are free of streets, but without multi-lane highways, commuters take longer routes around where they once went straight through the neighborhoods. And the results are looking good.

One of the most transformative freeway removal projects not only tore out a dirty highway from a city center, it actually daylighted a lost waterway. An elevated highway had been built through Seoul in 1976 as a way to boost economic prospects in a low-lying area which had become a slum. In 2003, the city’s mayor proposed to remove the freeway and and turn the site into green space, which also required naturalizing the creek that once ran there.

Not only has the greenway become a well-loved part of the city, it has proven to benefit the city in many different ways. The temperature of the inner city has dropped several degrees, and birds, fish and other wildlife have returned to the urban core. Also, since the freeways were removed, fewer people are driving into the city, choosing to take public transit or other options. They even left a few freeway pillars as reminders of what came before.

Read about five other cities that removed urban highways, plus one in the planning stages, at Gizmodo.

(Image credit: Flickr user hoteldephil)

Watch Deadly Animals Attack In Slow Motion

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 03:59 PM PST

Deadly animal attacks are best viewed on a screen from the safety of your own home, because when you run into a deadly animal in the wild you should give them a wide berth or suffer the painful consequences.

That's not to say all animals deemed deadly will be looking to sink their fangs, bill, beak or bony ridge into you should you cross paths, but it's more pleasant to watch them strike when you're well out of range.

Oh, and watching it in slow motion looks really cool!

(YouTube Link)

This video from BBC Earth Unplugged shows how an owl, croc, chameleon, praying mantis and more look while they strike, in super slow motion so you can study their style before your next dinner party.

-Via Sploid

What Happened to Model Trains?

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 01:59 PM PST

In the 19th century, the railroad was the biggest thing going. Like the internet, it connected people across long distances, promoted exploration of new places, and captured the popular imagination. The fascination with trains gave birth to the craze for model trains and the worlds they traveled. Whether they came pre-assembled or you built your own, it was a hobby that reigned for around 100 years. But times have changed.      

In recent decades, selling model trains to children of either gender has been equally challenging, as author and self-described “recovering model railroader” Gerry Souter explained to me recently. He and his wife, Janet, have written a half-dozen or so books on the hobby. “I have breakfast every Tuesday with some friends of mine who run trains,” he says, “and I still have all the kits I built. I love model trains, and I enjoy going to conventions to sell our books.”

Unfortunately, Souter doesn’t see a lot of children at those events. “The average age of a model railroader is 40-plus,” Souter says with a sigh. That may be optimistic: According to a “Wall Street Journal” article published just last year, the average age of the National Model Railroad Association’s 19,000 or so members is 64, up alarmingly from 39 in the mid-1970s.

That’s too bad, because today’s analog model trains have plenty to offer 21st century’s digital kids. Though many trains are sold pre-assembled, there are still a lot of do-it-yourself kits out there, making them a good fit for those inspired by Maker and DIY culture. In addition, despite the historic image of locomotives belching black smoke everywhere they go, real trains are surprisingly efficient in terms of their energy consumption, making them one of the greenest modes of transportation going. As for train layouts, they can be as traditional or as far-fetched as a child’s imagination will allow, snaking through everything from forests of living dwarf conifers to cityscapes constructed entirely of LEGOs.

Read about the rise and fall of model trains at Collectors Weekly.

Wolverine's Craziest Retcons

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 11:59 AM PST

When a comic series goes on for a really long time, and characters go through a bunch of adventures that change their story as well as the limitations of their powers, writers bring in the retcons to tie up all the loose ends.

Retcons are a cheap and easy way to explain away any discrepancies in a character's storyline, and few superheroes have had their story retconned as much as our feral pal Wolverine.

Wolverine was initially referred to as Weapon X, then Weapon X became the name of the whole super-soldier program that laced his bones with adamantium and temporarily broke his brain.

A few retcons later the "X" in Weapon X was ultimately revealed to be a Roman numeral, meaning Wolvie was project 10 and even Captain America is considered to be part of the "Weapon Plus" program.

That's some mighty convenient retconning, but not as convenient as Wolverine's healing factor retcon, because at first he took a lot longer to recover from grievous injuries, leaving Logan laid up for weeks.

By the 90s Wolvie's healing factor had gone mega, because according to writers it improved every time he used it, so he was able to recover from being fully incinerated in just a few hours.

But to me the weirdest and most ridiculous retcon of them all is the bit about Sabertooth being Wolverine's father.

Sabertooth became Wolvie's archenemy because they both have a very savage fighting style, but Chris Claremont tried to to serve up a fastball special by having Sabertooth reveal Logan was his son.

In the next issue Nick Fury conducts a DNA test and proves Sabertooth isn't Logan's father, making the whole thing feel like a bad episode of the Maury show! Sabertooth, you are not the father!

See Wolverine's 15 Craziest Retcons here

Chicken Plays "America the Beautiful"

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 09:59 AM PST

Jokgu is a piano-playing chicken. We've seen chickens peck at toy pianos and produce sounds, but Jokgu has been clicker-trained and is equipped with a keyboard that lights up the notes in sequence. Still, it can't be easy to get a bird-brained hen to perform a song this well.

(YouTube link)

Jokgu's owner, Shannon Myers, has a coop full of chickens who record music under the name The Flockstars. Their music is fairly haphazard, but Jokgu stands head and shoulders above the rest as the real talent of the flock. You can follow the musical chickens and their owners at Facebook. -via HuffPo

Van Gogh's Self Portrait in Embroidery

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 07:59 AM PST

It takes an artist to truly replicate the skills of another artist and illustrator Ezgi Pamir offers evidence of that fact with her fascinating embroidery. She only embroiders outside of work hours, but her needlework is still increidble. 

See more of her embroidery (and her illustrations) on her Behance page.

Via Incredible Things

The Taste Test

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 05:59 AM PST

Dami Lee says this comic is

Based on a true story of some cool, normal college gals doing cool, normal college things on a Friday night.

I can believe that. But that Friday night turned out to be really memorable. It takes only one such experience to turn you into the kind of person who checks the date on the milk. Check out more of her comics at As Per Usual.

These Existentialist Memes Will Make You Question Your Entire Existence

Posted: 05 Feb 2017 03:59 AM PST

It doesn't take much to trigger an existential crisis for some people, just ask them the right question or say aloud their private thoughts of self doubt and watch the crisis unfold upon their face.

If you feel like you're on the verge of having an existentialist meltdown then you should probably refrain from reading the "thought provoking" memes shared by the Instagram account textsfromyourexistentialist.

This suggestion is for your own safety, because any one of these memes could trigger a crisis that will take you months, if not years, of therapy to defuse.

See Question Your Own Existence and Trigger Your Next Existential Crisis With 'Texts From Your Existentialist' here (NSFW language)

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