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How well do you know modern medications? In the latest mental_floss quiz, try to match the medicine with a side effect from its warning label. You don’t have to take these medications to know the answers -most have been in the news. Link
The team’s results demonstrated that both eyes lock on to the same letter 53% of the time; for 39% of the time they see different letters with uncrossed eyes; and for 8% of the time the eyes are crossing to focus on different letters.
A follow-up experiment with the eye-tracking equipment showed that we only see one clear image when reading because our brain fuses the different images from our eyes together.
I’m impressed that they can actually measure such things, as fast as the reading process goes in most adults. Link -via Reddit
The Consumerist reports on the Continental Finance MasterCard. The fees include:
Account setup fee: $99
Program participation fee: $89
Annual fee: $49
Account maintenance fee: $120 (charged @ $10/month)
Purchase APR: 19.92%
Authorized user fee: $30 (great! seems like $53 credit is a bit too much for a single person to handle)
Credit limit increase fee: $25 (and you don’t even have to ask for it!)
Internet payment fee: $4 for each authorized internet payment.
After all that, your credit limit is $53. Link – via Consumerist
Here’s our weekly collaboration with Cellar Image of the Day: an entry from English Russia where leaking water created a strange undulation in the ceiling of an apartment downstairs!
Link | Be sure to check out more fun and strange images at Cellar IotD!
Would you ever believe it, Mozart once wrote a party song titled … Lick Me in the Ass!
Mozart’s widow, Constanze Mozart, sent the manuscripts of the canons to publishers Breitkopf & Härtel in 1799, saying that they would need to be adapted for publication. The publisher changed the scatological titles and lyrics to the more acceptable – and saleable – "Laßt froh uns sein" ("Let us be glad!"). The original, unbowdlerized manuscript and lyrics were discovered in 1991, with the manuscript for another Mozart work, "Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber" ("Lick me in the arse nice and clean", K233; K382d in the revised numbering), although later research has indicated that the latter composition is probably the work of Wenzel Trnka (1739-1791).
And here are the lyrics:
Lick me in the ass!
Let us be glad!
Grumbling is in vain!
Growling, droning is in vain,
is the true cross of the life.
Thus let us be glad and merry!
Link [Wikipedia] – Thanks violet/riga!
Fans of Scott Meyer’s Basic Instructions comics already know this: his web comic strips are funny (in a sly sarcastic way, but that’s what makes it special).
Scott’s comics center on "basic instructions" on how to do things that are undoubtedly very important in life, like how to seem smart and how to fake a smile – yet no one seemed to ever tell you exactly how to do them.
Link – Thanks Dougall!
The folks at NPR wondered if $55 Bling H2O really tasted better than other bottled waters. They conducted a taste test featuring Bling H2O, normally-priced bottled water, and Manhattan tap water, and posted a video report. I don’t think the results will really surprise you. Link -via Metafilter
Similicio.us is an application that finds websites that appeal to similar tastes, using delicio.us bookmarks.
This is an experiment to see whether I can quickly find relevant web sites based on people’s tags/bookmarks on del.icio.us, using a home-brewed association engine. It answers the question “people who tagged this site also tagged what other sites”. I am using it mostly to find blogs that are similar to the ones I read, and to find new popular web sites that are in my area.
For example, if you like Neatorama, here is a list of other sites you might like. You can enter any URL and find a list of associated sites. You can also add this application to your browser toolbar. Link -via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
From China Daily:
A violent thug attacking a shopkeeper never expected to come face-to-face with a superhero.But as Gerard Smith went `berserk’ in a Manchester newsagents, passer-by Kevin Godin-Prior lifted his jumper to reveal a Spiderman costume and told him: “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
Have-a-go-hero Kevin was on his way to a charity fundraiser dressed as the cult comic character when he called at the shop in Gorton.
As he walked in, he saw Smith lashing out and abusing the shopkeeper.
Kevin, 53, revealed his secret identity, fought off a series of attacks and then forced Smith outside, refusing to let go until the police arrived.
Read the entire article here…
The site for the Nintendo DS game SimCity DS
(The photo has nothing to do with the Tetris-style game, but is of an awesome Lego Arcology (from Sim City 2000) found via the Brothers Brick.)
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Martin Klimas hails from Germany and takes fantastic “still life” photos. He drops clay figurines from the same height in complete darkness with the camera lens open. When the figurine hits the ground, the sound of the impact triggers the lights to go on for a fraction of a second.
Link [more photos & interview] – via The Presurfer
Enjoy some mindless fun with Mr Men Pinball.
Got a big tech idea? You can win up to $5 million to fund your project, thanks to the Knight News Challenge if your idea uses open source digital technology to give people in your community access to news or information. The neat things about it are that anyone can apply and even a far out idea can win! But first, some background: The People Behind the Knight News Challenge The Knight News Challenge is a contest run by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (yes, the Knight half of the Knight Ridder media company, one of the largest newspaper publishers in the United States). The Foundation realizes that there is a significant shift going on: people used to rely on newspapers to get information, especially about their communities. Now, they are increasingly using the Web and cell phones to connect to the world (for example, virtual communities spring up every day) – but something is lacking: that connection to their local communities where they live and work. By having this contest, the Knight Foundation wants to help you, dear budding inventor, use digital technology to improve the lives of people living in physical communities. And they have the greenbacks to take your invention from the drawing board to reality (Heck, their motto is "You Invent It. We Fund It!") The Challenge in a Nutshell So what kinds of ideas are eligible? In their website, The Knight News Challenge outlines the criteria: » Your big idea has to use open source, digital technology That said, the rest is open-wide: you* can submit any ideas, ranging from online journalism games to cell phone documentaries to a new operating system for news junkies. And according to people behind the contest – and I quote – "Nothing is too far out to qualify." (* and by "you," the Foundation really means anyone: tech professionals, students, nonprofits, and even for-profit companies – basically individuals of any age and anywhere in the world. If you’re 25 years of age or younger, you are eligible for the Young Creators Award, with potentially better odds of winning.) The first step of the Challenge is easy: submit the essence of your ideas online at www.newschallenge.org. If the Foundation thinks it shows promise, then you’ll be asked to write a full proposal. Support for Open Source Another neat thing about the Knight News Challenge is their support for the open source movement: the "inner working" of what you create will be transparent and visible to the world, so others can improve upon it. The Foundation even takes advantage of the open source principle for the Challenge’s submission process: you can mark your submission as "Open" which allows Internet users to read and give feedback on your proposal. Past Winners If you need inspiration (and some convincing that they’re serious about the contest), check out some of the past winners of the 2006 Knight News Challenge: Journalist and web developer Adrian Holovaty submitted his idea to create an open-source software that links databases to allow city dwellers learn about, and hopefully act on, local news and information in their neighborhood. Adrian said that the goal was "to create an easy way to answer the question: ‘What is happening around me?’" Gail Robinson wanted to entice New Yorkers to learn about and solve their city’s problems by developing games about them. Gotham Gazette would track what solutions the players develop and relay those ideas to city officials. Gail’s goal for the games was that "[they] will let New Yorkers solve problems, not just read about them." Lisa William’s project, Placeblogger, connects blogs that focus on local news (called placeblogs) under one "web" roof. Right now, Internet users can search for information and blogs that focus on the town they live in on the website. With the Knight Foundation’s help, Lisa wanted to make it easier for people to find blogs and information about their cities and neighborhoods, by promoting "universal geotagging" in blogs. Paul Grabowicz of UC Berkeley, wanted to recreate the once vibrant jazz and blues club scene in Oakland, California, as an online game and virtual world. Paul envisioned the game to allow players to experience the club scene in its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s, before redevelopment and urban decay took hold. Besides fun and good music, Paul’s goal was to "reconnect residents of a community to their history and cultural heritage through video game technology and storytelling." Check out the Knight News Challenge So, if you have a million-dollar tech idea, or if you have a local project that fits the bill and needs resources to be developed, check out the Knight News Challenge. Who knows? You may just be the next winner! (But hurry up, contest deadline is October 15, 2007!) Note: This review is sponsored by Public Interest. Although I am compensated for this review, the words and opinion are all mine. There was no editorial pressure to write only positive reviews. Indeed, I have submitted my own big idea (crossing my fingers here!) and wholeheartedly suggest you do the same.
» It has to be innovative – no copying what has been done before (and blogging about your local school board won’t cut it!)
» The idea is to give people access to news and information in a timely manner
» … and thus help build communities or create a sense of community among people
» Lastly, it should work in a specific geographical area, which can be as small as your city block or as large as a state.
Adrian Holovaty
Project: EveryBlock
Award: $1,100,000
Gail Robinson of Gotham Gazette
Project: NY News Games
Award: $250,000
Lisa Williams of Placeblogger
Project: Placeblogger
Award: $222,000
Paul Grabowicz
Project: Oakland Jazz Scene Game
Award: $60,000
Comments Off | The following is reprinted from Bathroom Readers’ Institute’s 17th edition Uncle John’s Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader book.
Here’s the story of a pokey little horse who has won the hearts of Japanese racing fans … by losing every race she enters. STEED WITHOUT SPEED In the summer of 2003, the owners of a struggling track in Kochi, Japan, were looking for a way to keep from going under. Someone noticed that one of the horses competing in an upcoming race, an eight-year-old named Haru-urara (“Glorious spring”), was just a few races away from losing her 100th race in a row – why not try to get some publicity out of it? They got a local newspaper to do a story on Haru-urara, and the national press picked it up. Until then she’d been just another unknown loser, but Haru-urara turned out to be just the right horse at just the right time: Japan had been on a losing streak of its own – the economy had been in bad shape for more than a decade and unemployment was high – and the losing horse that kept on trying was an inspiration to Japanese workers worried about their own economic futures. Attendance at the race track soared from an average of 1,600 fans per day to 5,000 on Haru-urara’s 100th race (she lost.) Thirteen thousand showed up on her 106th. Japan’s top jockey rod her … and she lost again. NEVER GIVE UP Haru-urara has become the most famous horse in Japan. Fans expect her to lose but bet on her anyway, just to get a ticket with her name on it – it’s considered good luck. So many people place bets on her, in fact, that she’s usually favored to win, even though everyone knows she will lose. Like a pro athlete, she endorses products (she races with a pink Hello Kitty riding mask), appears in beer commercials, has her own line of merchandise, and has been the subject of both a pop song and a major motion picture. Best of all, she has been saved from the fate of many losing horses – the slaughterhouse. Her trainer, Dai Muneishi, has arranged for her to retire to a farm on the northern island of Hokkaido. “I don’t really know why she’s so popular,” Muneishi says, “but I guess the biggest reason is that the sight of her running with all her heart gives comfort to people’s hearts.” |
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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader, a fantastic book by the Bathroom Readers’ Institute.
The 17th book in this the Bathroom Reader series is filled to the brim with facts, fun, and fascination, including articles about the Origin of Kung Fu, How to Kill a Zombie, Women in Space and more! 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!
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Social Science++ Blog has a very neat analysis of the names of various countries and how democratic they are:
Sometimes it seems bad countries come with long names. North Korea is "People’s Democratic Republic of Korea", Libya is "Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya", and the like. But on the other hand, there’s plenty of counter-examples — it’s the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and "Republic of Cuba", after all. Do long names with good-sounding adjectives correspond with non-democratic governments?
The graph explains it all:
The upper rows show a substring and the number of names that are matched by it, and the average PR score. (These groups occasionally overlap.) The lower rows are several example countries for reference. So Republics are ever so slightly less democratic than your average non-Republic, and also amusingly, Kingdoms edge them out too. But Democratic, People’s, Socialist, Islamic and Arab countries are definitely the big-time un-democracies, while the only clear winners on the other side are Commonwealths and Principalities.
Link – via The Good Reverend
Food makers in Japan came up with a new product that will surely create a buzz in the marketplace: the jibachi senbei, or the digger wasp rice cracker.
Wasp hunters from the village, who are mostly in their 80′s, catch them in nearby forests.
They are then boiled in water, dried and sprinkled over the cracker mix, which is then stamped by hot iron cracker cutters.
A bag of 20 crackers costs £1.60, but output is limited as the wasps are caught in the wild for optimum flavour.
Yum! Link | Pic at Arbroath – via Scribal Terror
We saw the Star Wars Imperial Stormtrooper steampunk (scrap metal?) sculpture before. If you like that, here is the Yoda sculpture. Check out this website for more: Link – via Super Punch
We had a lot of posts on the subject of tattoos, like the Anatomy Tattoos, the Science Tattoos, the Nerd Tattoos, and even the Star Wars Tattoos.
Now, Yuppie Punk Blog has an article featuring the inked fans of TV sitcoms, cartoons, and sci-fi series showing off their TV-inspired tats!: Link – via Miss Cellania
Like riding your bike everywhere but wish that it had more cargo space? Here’s a DIY guide at Instructables on how to make your very own shopping cart bicycle!
Link – via Say No to Crack
The iPod Gramophone is a wooden case for your iPod that also has a built-in speaker handmade from wood.
And to show you they mean business, this little contraption also has a built-in pencil sharpener!
Link [in Korean] – via GeekAlerts
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I hope that this sign warning subway riders not to defecate on the train is a clever photoshop job, lest I fear that the world is really beyond all hope! Found at One Large Prawn.
