Neatorama

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• Is This Car A Transformer?
• Sprinklers Are Camouflaged As Huts To Protect A Historic Japanese Village
• The Hobbit: Fury Road
• The First Episode of <i>Data</i>, The <i>Star Trek</i> Sitcom
• The Cheap Pen that Changed Writing Forever
• There’s An Earth-Size Rogue Planet Roaming Around
• Apple Might Be Working On Their Own Version Of Google Search
• Thomas/ine Hall, an Intersex Virginian
• This Sculpture Was Carved Using A Chainsaw
• Colorado is Not a Rectangle
• That Time Toilets Gave Away a Cold War Secret
• This Oversized Pencil Will Make Writing On Cakes Easier

Is This Car A Transformer? Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:44 AM PST Sadly, it's not a robot alien. Aww. The flying car, called KleinVision AirCar, can transform from a land vehicle to an air vehicle in less than three minutes! Watch the video to see how the car transforms. It's like magic!  (via Flipboard) Image screenshot via Flipboard

Sprinklers Are Camouflaged As Huts To Protect A Historic Japanese Village Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:44 AM PST The Gifu Prefecture in Japan is home to Shirakawa-go, a historic community recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The village is composed of Gassho-style homes, unique structures with thatched roofs that can withstand heavy snowfall. To protect the village, a biannual event called the Water Hose Festival is held to test the site's ability to respond to fire, as Colossal details:  The flammable and historic nature of the structures spurred caretakers to install massive sprinklers and hoses to prevent extensive damage. Each year in December and May, they test the lines and douse the homes, according to the video above that shows a similar process occurring at a site in Miyama. The systems are concealed inside structures that mimic the original architecture, and the new buildings open from the center allowing water to erupt into the air, a spectacular and almost comical process.  Image via  Colossal

The Hobbit: Fury Road Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:44 AM PST The Hobbit is a fantasy film and Mad Max: Fury Road is an apocalyptic chase scene, but they have a lot more in common than you might think. This trailer mashup only drives that idea home. -via reddit

The First Episode of <i>Data</i>, The <i>Star Trek</i> Sitcom Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:44 AM PST A month ago, YouTube member TrainDozer edited an introduction for an imaginary 90s-era sitcom using footage from Star Trek: The Next Generation. This hugely popular video inspired TrainDozer to create a 12-minute episode using selected scenes from the episode "The Naked Now" and a laugh track. It ends perfectly. -via Geek Tyrant

The Cheap Pen that Changed Writing Forever Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:35 AM PST Fountain pens were in use for hundreds of years, but they had frustrating drawbacks- mainly they were messy. The ballpoint pen changed all that. The invention of the ballpoint pen is usually attributed to László Bíró, but he wasn't the first to stop up an ink pen with a rolling ball bearing. The development of the modern ballpoint pen took decades, with each step adding necessary improvements.     An American, John J Loud, received the first patent for a ballpoint pen back in 1888. Loud, a lawyer and occasional inventor, wanted an ink pen which would be able to write on rougher materials such as wood and leather as well as paper. His masterstroke was the revolving steel ball, which was held in place by a socket. In his 1888 patent filing, he wrote: "My invention consists of an improved reservoir or fountain pen, especially useful, among other purposes, for marking on rough surfaces-such as wood, coarse wrapping-paper, and other articles where an ordinary pen could not be used." Loud's pen was indeed able to write on leather and wood, but it was too rough for paper. The device was deemed to have no commercial value and the patent eventually lapsed. Much later, Bíró made the ballpoint pen useful, and others after him made it affordable. Read the history of the ballpoint pen at BBC Future. -via Damn Interesting (Image credit: Samsara)

There’s An Earth-Size Rogue Planet Roaming Around Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:35 AM PST Astronomers believe they've detected a free-floating planet roughly the mass of the Earth roaming through the gut of the Milky Way. Out of the billions of possible 'rogue' planets in the galaxy, only a few have been spotted. The discovery could help prove a long-standing theory, as Live Science details:  According to the study authors, this little world could be the first real evidence that free-floating, Earth-sized planets may be some of the most common objects in the galaxy. "The odds of detecting such a low-mass object are extremely low," lead study author Przemek Mroz, a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology, told Live Science in an email. "Either we were very lucky, or such objects are very common in the Milky Way. They may be as common as stars." Image via Live Science

Apple Might Be Working On Their Own Version Of Google Search Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:35 AM PST It seems that Apple wants to replace Google on their devices. Or something along those lines. Financial Times claims that the company has begun to ramp up its efforts to build a search engine for its devices. Google is reportedly using illegal tactics to protect its place in Apple devices, as Mashable details:  The New York Times reported that the Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, with prosecutors saying that the search giant is using illegal tactics to protect its monopoly in search. The report also unveiled that Google pays Apple an estimated $8 to $12 billion per year to get its search engine built into Apple products. The DoJ lawsuit might mean that the exclusive agreement between Google and Apple is going away, giving Apple a new incentive to focus on building its own search product. For a company that loves to control most aspects of its products, it sounds like a no-brainer, especially given Apple's vast resources. But copying a successful Google product isn't easy, as Apple learned from its initial Apple Maps launch. This especially goes for search, which Google has ruled for two decades with very few competitors making a dent in its market share. Image via Mashable

Thomas/ine Hall, an Intersex Virginian Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:35 AM PST In colonial America, people who didn't fit into the the male/female binary were pretty much ignored as long as they kept any anomalies to themselves and dressed and lived as one consistent gender. In other words, if you were intersex, you were expected to "choose a side" and stick with it. To mark Intersex Awareness Day (which was October 26), Colonial Williamsburg look at the case of Thomas/ine Hall, an indentured servant in the Virginia settlement of Warrosquyoacke who was reported to dress as a man on some occasions, and as a woman on others. When asked, Hall replied they were both male and female. When examined, conclusions varied, so the case was sent to the General Court in Jamestown. The clerk of the court documented the attempts by the members of the Warrosquyoacke community to gender Hall by examining their body. He also recorded Hall's own narrative history and description of their body, which Hall described as ambiguous and having both male and female anatomy. Statements recorded by the clerk document that Hall was born and christened as a girl going by the name Thomasine in England. At the age of 22 they "cut of his heire and Changed his apparel into the fashion of man" to join the military and serve under the name Thomas after their brother was pressed into service. Hall fought with or for their brother as an English soldier at the Isle of Rhe, considered to be the opening conflict of the Anglo-French War of 1627-1629. When they returned from their military service, they resumed feminine life as Thomasine before immigrating to Virginia and entering into an indenture contract as a man under the name Thomas again. While living in Virginia, they were noted for alternatively dressing in men's and women's clothing, something that went directly against English social norms. While it is unclear exactly what the charges were, the court handed down a punishment, which may have been regarded as benevolent at the time, but still restricted Hall's freedom. Read about the case and what the conclusion was at Colonial Williamsburg. -via Metafilter

This Sculpture Was Carved Using A Chainsaw Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:35 AM PST This massive sculpture of a hand carved from a tree stump was made using a chainsaw. The sculpture, called the Giant Hand of Vyrnwy, was made by Simon O'Rourke. O'Rourke was commissioned by the Natural Resource Wales after the tallest tree in Wales was damaged by a storm, as My Modern Met details:  "I was really excited at the prospect of carving this giant and creating a memorial for such a well-known landmark," O'Rourke explains. "I began researching the area and found the area of woodland that contained the tree was known as the Giants of Vyrnwy. This got me thinking and I decided on a giant hand, symbolizing the giants, and the tree's last attempt to reach for the sky!" To craft such an impressive piece required the right tools and a strong work ethic. "A scaffold was needed to make it safe to work on, and the terrain was such a difficult one that it took two days to erect the scaffold," the artist recalls. "Six days of intense work followed using chainsaws and grinders. I needed to add two pieces for the thumb and little finger, as the tree wasn't wide enough to form the whole hand." Once complete, O'Rourke coated the sculpture in tung oil, which is a natural plant-based oil that's safe for the environment. Aside from being an incredible work of art, the process was a valuable reminder for O'Rourke. "I loved working on the hand sculpture, it reminded me just how small we are compared to some of the living organisms on this planet," he says. "All in all, a humbling experience!" Image via My Modern Met

Colorado is Not a Rectangle Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:35 AM PST Looking at a map of the Unites States, you can see that state borders are quite irregular in the east, where mountains, rivers, and early settlers decided where they would be. However, the country does love straight lines, as every state has at least one- except Hawaii. In the west, Colorado and Wyoming stand out as rectangles. As you might assume, that's because we already had a federal government when they were settled. But a lot happened between the time that Colorado's borders were defined by Congress in 1876 and when surveyors marked the actual borders. While Colorado may look as if it is composed of four straight sides, there are actually 697 sides! Only in 1879 did the first boundary survey team get around to translating Congress's abstract into actual boundary markers. The official border would not be the delimited one, but the demarcated one. Unfortunately, 19th-century surveyors lacked satellites and other high-precision measurement tools. Let's not be too harsh: considering the size of the task and the limitation of their tools — magnetic compasses and metal chains — they did an incredible job. They had to stake straight lines irrespective of terrain, often through inhospitable land.   Even the famous Four Corners marker is 560 feet from where it was originally supposed to be! These aberrations became the legal border over time. Read how it all happened at Big Think.  -via Kottke (Image credit: Cwolfsheep)

That Time Toilets Gave Away a Cold War Secret Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:35 AM PST During the Cold War, the US built a huge secret bunker under the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia where the government could function during a nuclear war. It lasted from 1958 until it was exposed in 1993, by which time the Cold War was over. Canada had a similar scheme in Ontario called the Diefenbunker, although its purpose was a secret during just a blip on the timeline of history. Officially called the Emergency Government Headquarters, the Diefenbunker took its nickname from Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, who authorized its construction in 1959. A truly massive structure, the Diefenbunker stands four storeys deep, covers an area of 9000 square meters, and was poured from 32,000 tons of reinforced concrete. Designed to shelter the Prime Minister and 564 Cabinet members, staff, and military personnel for up to a month without resupply, the facility is equipped with its own Diesel generators, air filtering equipment, decontamination facilities, a three-bed hospital with surgical suite, a dentist's office, a TV broadcast studio for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or CBC, a jail, and even a vault to store the Bank of Canada's gold reserves. The whole structure is suspended on massive springs to damp out shock waves while the 1-meter-thick steel entrance doors are built into the wall of a long tunnel running through a hill, allowing the blast wave from a nuclear explosion to blow harmlessly past. As-designed, the Diefenbunker was intended to withstand a nuclear blast of up to 5 Megatons 2 kilometres away. As you can tell from the headline, toilets gave away the secret. Read how that happened, and what has become of the Diefenbunker since then, at Today I Found Out. (Image credit: Z22)

This Oversized Pencil Will Make Writing On Cakes Easier Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:33 AM PST If you find it difficult to write icing on cakes, then this might be just for you: an icing syringe made to look like an oversized pencil. You just hold it like how you would hold a pencil. Just that easy, and voila! You've successfully added clean writing to the cake. Via The Awesomer (Image Credit: The Awesomer)

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