Neatorama

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• Goodbye, Microsoft Stores
• Clearing Cookies From The Computer Case?
• The First Ever Starbucks Signing Store In Japan Is Now Open!
• Hamsters Are Scary When They Yawn
• A Decade of Our Sun In Timelapse
• Goofy Pregnancy Photoshoot
• The Brothel's Bad Batter Cakes: A Poisoning Mystery
• The Polar Bear Jail of Churchill
• Toddler Playing Fetch with Dog Picks up Snake
• Unboxing Spot, The $75,000 Robot Dog
• Here’s How To Store Your Vinyl Records And CDs
• Why You Can Spot Bad Green Screen
• Geologically Accurate Skirt
• This Is The Most Popular TV Show In The US
• Meet The Secret Orgasm Whisperer

Goodbye, Microsoft Stores Posted: 30 Jun 2020 04:02 AM PDT With Microsoft intending to focus more on their online storefront which is Microsoft.com, the tech giant has announced last Friday that it will permanently close all of their physical retail stores. Some locations, specifically Microsoft Experience Centers in New York, London, Sydney, and in Redmond, Washington (the corporate headquarters of the company), will still continue to operate, but they will no longer be selling products. Microsoft has operated physical retail stores for about a decade. At its peak, the company had 116 locations around the world, including 106 in the United States. Microsoft says that there will be no layoffs as a result of the decision.  [...] "Our sales have grown online as our product portfolio has evolved to largely digital offerings, and our talented team has proven success serving customers beyond any physical location," said Microsoft Corporate VP David Porter in a statement. Porter detailed the shift in strategy in a post published on LinkedIn. This isn't the first time Microsoft has shifted strategy on its physical retail locations. About a year ago, the company closed down its specialty kiosks, which were typically found in malls. The decision to close these small spots was made, according to the company, to focus on its full-scale Microsoft Stores. What do you think of the company's decision? (Image Credit: Microsoft Corporation/ Wikimedia Commons)

Clearing Cookies From The Computer Case? Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:59 PM PDT Cookies are used by many websites in order to improve the browsing experience of their users. Too many of these cookies from various websites, however, could cause a slow Internet performance, which, opposite to what was said above, could lead to a poorer browsing experience. The question is, where do the cookies stay? Do you clear them from your computer cache? Or from your computer case? Watch this mind-boggling video to find out. (Image Credit: Steven Giacomelli/ Pixabay) (Video Credit: Viva La Dirt League/ YouTube)

The First Ever Starbucks Signing Store In Japan Is Now Open! Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:58 PM PDT In order to create an inclusive environment as well as to make their coffee more accessible to everyone, Starbucks recently opened their first ever Signing Store in Japan — a Starbucks store that is focused on serving those who are mute and have impaired hearing. The Signing Store in Japan is the fifth of its kind. On June 24, Starbucks Coffee in Japan announced on its Twitter that it will be opening a Starbucks Signing Store on June 27 in Kunitachi city, which is located in the western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis and has a high hearing-impaired population. [...]  It was said that the store will have 19 hearing-impaired employees who will be supporting deaf customers. "Starbucks has been hiring [deaf] and hard of hearing partners (employees) since we entered Japan in 1996, and these partners have made incredible impacts in their communities. [Inspired] by their passion, we created this store as a place of belonging, where our partners and customers can stay true to who they are and be inspired. This store truly represents infinite possibilities for all," said Takafumi Minaguchi, the CEO of Starbucks Coffee Japan in their press release. [...] Despite the cafe focusing on those with hearing and speech disabilities, it will be open to all people regardless of whether they have difficulties communicating. There is a special menu sheet and writing instruments as well as special signs to facilitate communication for customers who cannot speak sign language. More details about this over at Bored Panda. What are your thoughts about this one? (Image Credit: Starbucks/ Bored Panda)

Hamsters Are Scary When They Yawn Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:58 PM PDT Everyone has a scary and dark side to them, no matter how handsome, beautiful, or cute they look. Hamsters are no exception. While they look cute most of the time, they become terrifying creatures when they yawn. They are so terrifying that you wouldn't dare approach them. They quickly revert back to their cute forms after, however. See the photos of yawning hamsters over at Sad and Useless. YIKES! (Image Credit: Sad and Useless)

A Decade of Our Sun In Timelapse Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:57 PM PDT Using the photos taken by their Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in celebration of the first decade of service of the aforementioned observatory, has compiled countless photos and made them into this beautiful timelapse video, showing what our Sun was up to in the past decade, from June 2, 2010 to June 1 of this year. Compressed into 61 minutes, the story of the past decade of solar activity follows a familiar pattern, as the Sun can be observed undergoing its typical 11-year cycle. As can be seen in the video, commotion on the Sun's surface reaches its peak around 2014, when the star becomes a maelstrom of rippling sunspots and bursting solar flares. This point in the cycle is called the solar maximum, and occurs when the sun's magnetic poles switch places. According to NASA, each second of this video is equivalent to one day. You can watch the video over here. Amazing! (Image Credit: NASA Goddard/ YouTube)

Goofy Pregnancy Photoshoot Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:56 PM PDT Why settle for the romantic pregnancy photoshoot when you could have a funny one? Andrea's brother-in-law realized that her sister's pregnant tummy resembles that of a basketball, and so he took the opportunity. "This narrowly beat out the one of my sister's stomach as a golf tee from her first pregnancy," Andrea tells Awkward Family Photos. From the looks of it, the brother-in-law would most likely have taught his kids wacky stuff as they grew up. What do you think of this photo? Image via Awkward Family Photos

The Brothel's Bad Batter Cakes: A Poisoning Mystery Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:54 PM PDT In 1892, a murder case lit up newspapers in Louisville, Kentucky, as it happened in a rather well-known brothel run by Emma Austin. On the morning of September 9, Mrs. Austin made a hearty pancake breakfast. Despite several other people being on the premises, the only ones to eat were Austin and her star prostitute, Eugenia Sherrill. Both women soon felt deathly ill.   At first, the physician, Dr. Brennan, presumed the women were suffering from nothing worse than a case of severe food poisoning--an ailment sadly common in pre-refrigeration summers--and gave them the medicine appropriate for such cases. However, Austin and Sherrill continued to deteriorate. Their eyes dilated, they were covered in a cold sweat, and, most alarming of all, they had begun vomiting blood. The doctor soon realized the women had been poisoned, probably deliberately. This shocking development opened up an embarrassing can of worms for everyone involved. As I said above, Mrs. Jackson was left trying to explain why she, a seemingly respectable lady, had spent the last two weeks living in a brothel. Eugenia Sherrill's position was even more mortifying: prostitution was merely her secret side career. Up until now, she was known to society only as a member of one of Kentucky's most prominent and respectable families. Even worse, for the past year she had been married to Edward Sherrill, a prosperous traveling salesman. In her agony, poor Mrs. Sherrill was frantic to be brought to her home so she could die without her double life being discovered. Unfortunately, she was far too ill to be moved. Dr. Brennan was helpless to save them. Eugenia died at 12: 45 p.m. Mrs. Austin's sufferings ended two hours later. The two women were found to have been poisoned, but it wasn't clear whether either or both were the intended targets. And there was no dearth of suspects. Was it one of Sherrill's clients who had stayed the night? Was it the grocer downstairs? Was it a family member? Or possibly a jealous rival from another brothel, or someone's wife? Was it a suicide? The investigation dragged on, and the local papers printed every scandalous detail, including the names of men who visited Austin's house of ill repute. Read the tale of the Louisville brothel murders at Strange Company.

The Polar Bear Jail of Churchill Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:53 PM PDT Churchill, Manitoba, is a unique town. A thousand miles north of Winnipeg, it sits on the shores of Hudson Bay. It is home to about 900 people, but they are dominated by polar bears, as Churchill is right on their migration route. Churchill grew from a small remote outpost to a thriving commercial port engaging in fur trade to a strategic US military base all in the span of four hundred years. After World War 2, Churchill became part of the Canadian signals intelligence network, and later the site for rocket research for atmospheric studies. Churchill was nearly annihilated when the British government decided to test nuclear weapons there, but then chose Australia instead. Today, Churchill is mostly a polar bears' town, with nearly 800 of them living in the vicinity. That number swells to 10,000 during the hunting season. That's the best time to watch polar bears. Tour operators take visitors to the town's fringes on giant buggies from where they can watch the animals in the wild. The vehicle's height keeps the occupants safe and beyond the reach of even the largest bear. To live in Churchill, one has exercise caution at all times. There are warning signs posted all around the town reminding people not to leave the town's borders or venture into bear sites. Many people keep the doors of their houses and vehicles unlocked, should anyone need to make a quick escape. The residents of Churchill used to shoot polar bears that wandered into town, but now they put them in jail instead. It's not a pleasant experience for the bears, but they aren't there to be punished, rather to discourage them from ever wanting anything to do with humans. Read about the polar bear jail at Amusing Planet. (Image credit: Flickr user Emma)

Toddler Playing Fetch with Dog Picks up Snake Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:53 PM PDT I bet he thought it was stick to throw for the dog. 😳🐍🐕#viralhog#unexpected#snakespic.twitter.com/uXLjzPItm2 — ViralHog (@ViralHog) June 29, 2020 The baby, who I gather is named Asher, and the dog, who is named Raven, were having fun with a game of fetch. When a stick wasn't handy for Asher to throw, he found a convenient snake lying nearby. Content warning: foul language. But I think it's okay to drop an F-bomb or two if your kid picks up a snake.

Unboxing Spot, The $75,000 Robot Dog Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:43 PM PDT This one's an unconventional companion. Meet Spot, a robot dog created by Boston Dynamics. Spot is one expensive companion at $75,000. I can't afford that, but at least I can see Unbox Therapy unbox Spot!

Here’s How To Store Your Vinyl Records And CDs Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:42 PM PDT If you're an avid collector of vinyl records (I understand, they do look aesthetically pleasing,) and CDs, there are some rules on how to keep your wonderful collection in excellent condition for a long time. One of these rules is proper storage. Don't store your records in a room with a lot of moisture and smoke! In addition, make sure that you store your collection in a proper location. Rolling Stone has a list of proper storage options for these media that are functional and aesthetically pleasing. Check out their list here. image via Rolling Stone

Why You Can Spot Bad Green Screen Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:42 PM PDT When motion pictures started using chroma-key effects, they were believable because we weren't used to them. In the decades since, we've gotten much pickier about special effects- we expect all movies, TV shows, and even videos to be as good as the best we've seen. You can catch an old movie you loved as kid and be shocked now at how awful the special effects were. And now that everyone is making their own video content, the quality of green screen shots varies widely. Tom Scott explains exactly why. The video is only 4:30 long; the rest is promotion.

Geologically Accurate Skirt Posted: 29 Jun 2020 12:56 PM PDT Irene Suarez-Martinez, a scientist at Curtain University in Perth, Australia, studies "atomistic modelling of carbon nanoforms, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, using ab-initio and semi-empirical methods." Got that? Me neither. Fortunately, I'm just barely intelligent enough to grasp what she's made here. This skirt is a model of the structure of the Earth, with the hemline representing the crust and the waist representing the core. It's appropriately labeled with distances from the surface.

This Is The Most Popular TV Show In The US Posted: 29 Jun 2020 12:56 PM PDT The Floor Is Lava is the most-watched show in the US right now. That's right, a TV show about the children's game 'the floor is lava.' The show is actually spectacularly done, with its top-notch obstacle courses, as The Daily Beast details:  The series is squarely of the Wipeout and Holey Moley "people epically fall off obstacle courses and we laugh at them" family. As far as these things go, it's spectacularly done.  Oversized furniture is scattered across a large room that, to escalate the hilarity, is filled with a pool of bubbling red liquid meant to look like lava. The gameplay is the same as it was for me as a kid [redacted] years ago: You gotta get from one side of the room to the other without touching the floor. Because the floor is lava. image via The Daily Beast

Meet The Secret Orgasm Whisperer Posted: 29 Jun 2020 12:56 PM PDT You've heard of pet whisperers, get ready for a secret orgasm whisperer. Not a lot of people know about his existence, and only a few have seen him in the flesh. A number of women have posted reviews about his services in a private group on Facebook, as Mel Magazine details:  But there was one post about him that made me stop and reconsider. It was from a woman I'd later come to know as Lilly, a 34-year-old actress in L.A. "You guys," she wrote. "When I say MY MIND IS BLOWN, it doesn't even do it justice. Words cannot express the array of emotions I felt last night, after I playfully and easily, made myself come 5 TIMES IN A ROW. That might not seem like much to you, but it's more than I have ever been able to before."  She went on to explain that she'd been a "tough nut to crack" for years, struggling to come even when she was extremely turned on. On a whim, she booked herself an appointment with the O-Man — who she'd heard could help — and gone to meet him with high hopes and low expectations. During their first session, she "screamed and moaned" throughout six game-changing orgasms, and a few weeks later, she was able to get off on her own. "The work we've done has impacted every aspect of my life," she tells me. "I can now easily come multiple times. I'm stronger and taller. I feel lighter but somehow more rooted. And my confidence has grown tremendously."  image via Mel Magazine

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