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The inside of your eye is one thing you’re guaranteed never to get a good look at. Even if you could, the pupil is far too small an aperture to allow you to see the entire interior. University of Michigan ophthalmologic photographer Richard Hackel compares the problem to taking a picture of a room through a keyhole. To overcome this hurdle, Hackel uses a computer program to stitch together images taken from 20 different angles by a special digital camera. The result is an unusual, fully detailed map of the inside of a healthy 26-year-old’s eye.
Larger pic (very interesting): Link – via reddit
Here’s a weird behavior of complex liquids, called the Kaye Effect [wiki], named after British engineer Arthur Kaye, who first discovered it in 1963. When a think thin stream of viscous fluid is poured onto a surface, a stream of jumping liquid can be seen!
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Cool Stuff
Popular Science has a neat article on how to make your very own version of platinum spark plugs using 1/10-ounce platinum coins for electrodes: Link
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A landlord in Tacoma, Washington, found out that her house had been stripped bare after a fake ad was placed on Craigslist inviting people to "take whatever they wanted for free."
Link (with video clip of the trashed place, and yes, this had gone ’round the Net a few days ago) – via Boing Boing
This amazing photo is of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on Reunion Island as its lava drain into the Indian Ocean. Link | Article at Taipei Times
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The top ten Worst Chips Ever list was compiled by the
Chief Snacks Officer at taquitos.net, a snack review site. It includes such delicacies as Calbee Seaweed Potato Chips and Cuttlefish Flavored Snack (shown), and links to the site review of each entry. Link -via Mental Floss
This fantastic diorama was inspired by the album cover for Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War of the Worlds, drawn by Mike Trim. (Trim is the sci-fi artist behind Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, and others).
Links: Mike Trim’s website | Jeff Wayne’s WotW Musical | More dioramas and models at Wonderfest 2006 – Thanks Anthony Taylor!
EatLiver has a neat gallery of futuristic, vintage concept cars. This one above is the GM Firebird III (1958):
A two-passenger, gas turbine-powered car, it was the first to feature a single stick control system which replaced the conventional steering wheel, brake pedal and accelerator. This drive- by-wire system was used in the first experiments with automated highways.
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Darren Di Lieto, founder of the illustration news portal LCSV4, started a new project called MAiLmeART, where you (yes, you!) can win prizes by mailing him your artwork. The catch is, the art has to be on the envelope itself!
This one above was submitted by Stephanie O’Hearne.
Neatorama reader Humuhumu of Junk Yard Clubhouse wrote:
I created this bacon costume for Halloween last year — but bacon is worth celebrating year-round. I just typed up full step-by-step directions for making your very own bacon costume — we can form an army of bacon! Everyone should experience a day as the candy of the meats.
Indeed, who doesn’t like bacon (besides those pesky vegetarians ) – why, bacon is the culinary Bondo!
SiteAdvisor, a web security firm owned by McAfee, recently released a study of the riskiest websites in the world. Here’s some of their key findings:
4.1% of all sites tested by SiteAdvisor are rated red or yellow. But the incidence of red and yellow sites varies dramatically across top-level domains, ranging from a low of 0.1% for Finland (.fi) to a high of 10.1% for the tiny island of Tokelau (.tk). We find that Tokelauan domains, discussed later, offer some advantages to scammers.
– The most risky large countries are Romania (.ro, 5.6% risky sites) and Russia (.ru, 4.5% risky sites). These country TLDs are also
the most likely to host exploit sites.– .info is the riskiest generic TLD, with 7.5% of its sites rated as risky. .com is the second most risky generic TLD, with 5.5% of sites rated as risky.
– Four of the five least risky country TLDs are Nordic countries – Finland (0.10%), Norway (.no, 0.16%), Sweden (.se, 0.21%) and Iceland (.is, 0.19%). Ireland (.ie, 0.11%) rounds out the top five least risky country TLDs.
– .gov is the only frequently tested TLD for which SiteAdvisor has found no risky sites. .gov is only available to United States government agencies.
Link – via David Kaplan’s Bad Guys blog – Thanks Dave!
Ok, does he look like you expected?
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Before she began serving her five-month sentence for illegal insider trading in 2004, Martha Stewart came perilously close to comparing herself to a somewhat more noble former inmate. "There’s many other good people who have gone to prison. Look at Nelson Mandela." Oh, we’ll look at him, Martha. But we’re not so sure you’ll stack up. While we wouldn’t envy the following folks, they certainly earned respect by spending time in the clink. 1. Nelson Mandela: The Political Prisoner
After admitting he helped found Spear of the Nation, the ANC’s military wing, Mandela was sent to prison for life. During his 28 years in jail, the charismatic Mandela became even more popular among black South Africans, and his writings from prison, particularly I Am Prepared to Die, galvanized international opposition to apartheid. Released in 1990, Mandela made the most of his freedom. Within four years, he helped negotiate an end to apartheid, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and became South Africa’s first black president. 2. 50 Cent: The Platinum Prisoner
For better or for worse, 50 Cent‘s [wiki] payment of dues in jail certainly played a role in his seven-figure record contract. After all, the rap world was starving for authenticity, and 50 (aka Ben Jackson) was a true gangster in the Tupac mold. His résumé includes growing up selling crack and surviving being shot nine times in 2000 (he’s also been stabbed!). Many critics, and some fellow rappers, have attributed his success more to his life’s story than his mediocre rhyming. But it’s probably not a trade worth making – most ex-con crack dealers who get repeatedly shot and occasionally stabbed tend not to end up with platinum albums. 3. Adolf Hitler: The Palace-Bound Prisoner
In reality, though, his hard time wasn’t particularly hard. Sentenced to five years in prison after failing spectacularly to take over the country in 1923, Hitler served only nine months. Also, he was "jailed" in a castle, and all his friends were either in jail with him or free to visit. What’s a poor inmate to do? At the castle, Hitler decided to write (or dictate, actually) Mein Kampf, his self-aggrandizing autobiography/study in irrational hatred. Hitler originally gave the book the catchy title Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice, which Nazi publishers smartly shortened to the catchier My Struggle. Soon enough, much of Germany admired Hitler’s struggle – even if he was the really lying, stupid coward. 4. Leonard Peltier: The Pine Ridge Prisoner
Although quite probably guilty, many (including Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Amnesty International) have argued that Peltier is a political prisoner. President Clinton considered pardoning him in 2001 but didn’t. Perhaps hoping to pardon himself, Peltier ran for president in 2004 as the candidate for the somewhat ironically named Peace and Freedom Party. 5. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Pacifist Prisoner
Already imprisoned for helping Jews escape to Switzerland, Bonhoeffer’s connection to the group resulted in his execution on April 9, 1945. His brilliant Letters and Papers from Prison remains in circulation, however, and is required reading for contemporary theologians. Among the first thinkers to consider the role of Christianity in an increasingly secular world, the suffering Bonhoeffer lived his theology. "God is weak and powerless in the world," he wrote, "and that is exactly the way, the only way, in which He is with us to help us." |
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The article above, from mental_floss’ book Forbidden Knowledge: A Wickedly Smart Guide to History’s Naughtiest Bits, is published in Neatorama with permission. Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ extremely entertaining website and blog!
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Here’s a shirt for all you hard-to-please cynics (meh. It’s just a shirt. And the color sucks.)
Here’s something fun: a flickr pool of pancake art! This one above is from JMZawdony, titled Mayflower Pancake for Thanksgiving Breakfast [Flickr].
See the whole collection: Link – via Miss Cellania
Chinese chef Li "Noodle King" En-hai has created the world’s thinnest noodles!
Thirty nine strands of the noodle can be threaded through a needle. If a single strand of noodle is to be made from a kilogram (2.2 lb) of flour, it would stretch over 2,000 km (1,242 mi)!
Link – via Random Citations
Swiss artist Felice Varini and his team created this anamorphic illusion of three ellipses at Cardiff Bay barrage, UK: Link – via A Welsh View
Marcelo Bezos embarked on his project to create the world’s largest penny pyramid after the death of his father from colorectal cancer.
Jim Miller and Fred Meyer have turned turkey basters into a musical instrument!
Say No To Crack has the video clip: Link
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From the Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, here’s Justine Cooper’s "Saved by Science, a photograph exhibition of behind the scenes storage areas of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Link – via Random Good Stuff
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UnderGroundOnline has a Top 11 (one better than top 10?) adversaries of Arnold Schwarzenegger in all of his movies.
Here’s #6. Johnny Cab (from Total Recall):
The film is set in 2084, and there have been some liberties taken with where society is headed. For instance, cab drivers have been replaced by robotic automatons called "Johnny Cabs" — protocol wizards who make casual conversation and know directions to everywhere. Still, the taxi business is still a business, and Johnny Cab has an inbuilt defense against those who won’t pay the fare. As Arnold finds out in his role as "Quaid," Johnny Cab will scream at the top of his lungs and crash his car into a brick wall if you offer an expletive instead of the usual tip.
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Usually, it’s shark eats seal – but today, it’s the other way around. As Gail wrote on her blog, in nature "turnabout is fair play." From copeg’s flickr account: Link – via Scribal Terror
Car drifting is sooo lame compared to drifting using … a tank! Here’s a Swedish tank company having a "little fun" after a hard day at work: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Random Thoughts and Musings
The son of a Tembu chief, 
In the hip-hop world, nothing sells like street cred. Anyone can rhyme about prison and shootings and drug deals – but it’s the precious rapper who can claim nine bullet wounds and several incarcerations that’ll move those albums.
These days, 
While America was extricating itself from Vietnam in the early 1970s, a minor war was brewing on the home front. The American Indian Movement (AIM), advocating a return to Native traditions, was locked in a fierce battle with those Indians who supported, and were supported by, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. Some 60 Native Americans died, but the story didn’t become big news until June 26, 1975, when two FBI agents were killed during a gunfight on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. AIM activist 
The most prominent theologian in Hitler’s Germany, 
