Neatorama

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• Nice Bookcase Toppers
• Chinese Chef’s Amazing Wok-Spinning Skills Go Viral Online
• This Structure Is A Flexible Living Organism In Itself
• Prohibition Whisky Found While Renovating the "Bootlegger Bungalow"
• The <i>Star Wars</i> Prequel Trilogy (Sweded)
• You've Never Seen Robots Dance Like This
• Ancient Street Food Shop In Pompeii

Nice Bookcase Toppers Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:41 PM PST Minnesotastan has been running a series of pictures of his readers' bookcases at TYWKIWDBI. You can learn a lot about someone by looking at the books they keep and how they display them. The picture here of Bruce and Carol's bookcase also drives home how you can interact with people for years on the internet and still not know important things about them. Blogger's note:  After scanning the rows of books, my eyes were drawn to the top of the photo, where sharp-eyed readers may note on the bookcase the bases of some trophies.  I emailed Bruce back to inquire whether they would be of interest to TYWKIWDBI readers.  The answer startled me... Yeah, they are Emmys. Seven of them. Read the rest of the story at TYWKIWDBI.

Chinese Chef’s Amazing Wok-Spinning Skills Go Viral Online Posted: 30 Dec 2020 12:51 PM PST I can't even hold a regular pan properly without fearing I might spill its contents. This chef takes cooking to a higher level, as she spins her wok and swings it around her body. That might sound simple, but it's not really. I'm not sure how she can do that, but it's really amazing!

This Structure Is A Flexible Living Organism In Itself Posted: 30 Dec 2020 12:51 PM PST Mitosis (not the biological process) is a sustainable architectural concept that focuses on regenerative sustainable living and urban development. The structure, a collaboration between Amsterdam-based architecture firm GG-loop and Arup, has the ability to expand itself to accommodate more people. YankoDesign has more details:  Just like flexible organism evolves to adapt to different settings, Mitosis will also be able to do that with its individual, rhomboid-shaped modules that are stacked together to create shared outdoor spaces and private terraces. The outdoor areas would be filled with enough plants to make a lush green cover which will allow the residents to reconnect with nature while offsetting the urban heat island effect – pretty 'cool', eh? These plants will also elevate the air quality levels, especially in cities while encouraging sustainable living practices of urban farming and community gardens. The terraced build provides ample natural light to both plants and apartments. The greenery will also help the existing wildlife of the area to continue having their space and coexist with the residents. "Mitosis adopts the 14 principles of biophilic design and articulates the relationships between nature, human biology, and the design of the built environment. Its construction is organic and flexible, providing large areas of urban and vertical farming, greenhouses, wildlife corridors, and integration of habitat creation, that encourage shared outdoor activities among residents," said the team in their project statement. The unique concept aims to give its residents an outdoor space along with the amenities needed to participate in environmentally friendly communal activities.  Image via YankoDesign

Prohibition Whisky Found While Renovating the "Bootlegger Bungalow" Posted: 30 Dec 2020 12:51 PM PST Nick Drummond and Patrick Bakker bought an old house in the small town of Ames, New York, and set out to repair and renovate it. The house had once been owned by "Count" Adolf Humpfner, who was rumored to have been a bootlegger, but he died in 1932, so those stories may have been just a legend. Two families lived in the home since then, for decades each. So it was quite a surprise when Drummond and Bakker pulled some wall panels out and found whisky bottles. A lot of them. "I was in the process of removing this rotted wood skirting that went around the mudroom sort of where the foundation would be if it was a truly finished structure, and as I'm peeling back the boards on one of the sides, all of the sudden all this hay falls out and I was very confused," Drummond said. "And at first, I was like 'oh this must be insulation' – of course all this is taking place within a few seconds in my head -- and then I look and I'm like 'well wait a second, what's that glass thing? And then I pull it up and I'm looking at this old liquor bottle. And then I'm looking at the other package and there's these other little tops poking out of the hay. And then I look back at the wall and there's like the edge of this other package tied up with string and I'm like, 'Holy crap, this is like a stash of booze.'" Brown paper packages tied up with string filled with an alcohol lover's favorite thing. "I was totally excited and we ended up finding the rest of the mudroom was lined with these packages," Drummond said. "At the end of the day we were just sitting, and we were like, 'We really like the house so much more now,'" Bakker said. So far, they've found 72 bottles, some empty, but most containing Prohibition-era Gaelic whisky under the name Old Smuggler. The bonanza led them to find out more about Adolf Humpfner, who led quite a colorful life, although much of it is still shrouded in mystery. The house has since been dubbed the Bootlegger Bungalow. Read about Humpfner, the house, and the whisky at the Denver Channel. Find out more at Drummond's Instagram page. -via Laughing Squid

The <i>Star Wars</i> Prequel Trilogy (Sweded) Posted: 30 Dec 2020 12:51 PM PST The Knights of Renesmee, from Tauranga, New Zealand, spent three years making a shot-for-shot Sweded version of the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy. You may ask, "why?" but I have no answer for that. It's actually quite funny due to creative prop choices, wardrobe malfunctions, and the world's least expensive CGI. While these guys put their hearts and souls into this, they can't help but laugh at themselves. The 6-hour video includes The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and bloopers. If you don't want to watch it all at once, the YouTube page has a handy linked index for each scene.  -via reddit    (Image credit: The Knights of Renesmee)

You've Never Seen Robots Dance Like This Posted: 30 Dec 2020 10:33 AM PST Boston Dynamics gives us a New Year greeting in the form of dancing robots. This is terrifying. If robots can dance this well, is there anything they can't do? -via reddit

Ancient Street Food Shop In Pompeii Posted: 30 Dec 2020 10:27 AM PST A new discovery has been made in Pompeii! Remains of a hot food and drink shop has been uncovered by archaeologists. The shop, also known as a thermopolium, contained 2,000-year-old food stored in deep terra cotta jars, as Reuters detailed:  The front of the counter was decorated with brightly coloured frescoes, some depicting animals that were part of the ingredients in the food sold, such as a chicken and two ducks hanging upside down. "This is an extraordinary find. It's the first time we are excavating an entire termopolium," said Massimo Ossana, director of the Pompeii archaeological park. Archaeologists also found a decorated bronze drinking bowl known as a patera, ceramic jars used for cooking stews and soups, wine flasks and amphora. Image via Reuters

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