Archive for November 5th, 2007
Lottery Confusion
A British Lottery scratch-off game sold by Camelot stores had to be pulled from circulation after the math involved confused too many players. The Cool Cash Lotto ticket dealt with temperatures, often below zero. To win a prize, the temperature number under the scratch off had to be lower than the one displayed on the card.
Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win with several cards.
The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: “On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn’t.
“I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher – not lower – than -8 but I’m not having it.”
This may be the definitive proof of the old saying: the lottery is a tax on people who aren’t good at math. Link -via reddit
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Advanced Civilizations and Mastery of Galactic Forms of Energy
Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, wrote a fascinating article in COSMOS magazine comparing our current state of knowledge and "level" of civilization with what is possible in the universe.
In a seminal paper published in 1964 in the Journal of Soviet Astronomy, Russian astrophysicist Nicolai Kardashev theorised that advanced civilisations must thus be grouped according to three Types: I, II and III, signifying mastery of, respectively, planetary, stellar and galactic forms of energy usage. He calculated that the energy consumption of these three types of civilisations would be separated by a factor of about 10 billion.
Where are we right now? Not even type I (according to Carl Sagan, we’re at 0.7!), but we’re getting getting there! There are already evidence everywhere of an emerging Type I civilization.
It’s a fascinating read: in the article, Michio speculates about von Neumann probes visiting Earth, the perils of encountering Type III civilization, harnessing the energy equivalent to that of a blackhole, and more!
The colored woodcut above is by Austrian artist Heikenwaelder Hugo, titled Universum (1998). It is inspired by the black and white Flammarian Woodcut (c. 1888).
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What's GNU?
Attention geeky parents! What better way to introduce your little kids to the wonderful world of computing than with this three-letter learning game What’s GNU?
The object of the game is to form three-letter words as quickly as possible (and by playing it, you’ll be teaching your kids to read and form words). Link
But What is GNU? If you know the answer, you’re truly geeky! Don’t know what it is? Here’s a clue.
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World's Largest Hair Ball
Henry Coffer has been cutting hair at his barber shop for fifty years. That in itself is not weird, but Henry has saved all the hair he has cut, and is now vying to get into the Guinnes Book of World Record for world’s largest ball of hair!
Years ago a customer asked barber Henry Coffer to save the hair he swept up from his shop floor. The man, a farmer, spread it around his watermelon patch to keep coyotes out.
Henry kept saving the hair cuttings even after the farmer stopped raising melons. The hair collection grew daily, weekly, yearly until today. Ask Henry Coffer how much hair he’s cut over the years and he points to a huge hairball that fills most of the bed of his pickup truck.
The hair ball is now 167 pounds, and growing every day as Henry keeps on adding hair to it: Link (with video)
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Tesla Coil Duet
(YouTube link)
You may remember the singing Tesla coil previously on Neatorama; now here are two Tesla coils doing The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in harmony!
The Tesla coils stand 7 feet tall and are each capable of putting out over 12 foot of spark. They are spaced about 18 feet apart. The coils are controlled over a fiber optic link by a single laptop computer. Each coil is assigned to a midi channel which it responds to by playing notes that are programed into the computer software. These coils were constructed by Steve Ward and Jeff Larson. Video was captured by Terry Blake. What is not obvious is how loud the coils are. They are well over 110dB…
Tchaikovsky would be proud. -via Good Math, Bad Math
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Spam One-liners art
A nice collection of lettering art by Linzie Hunter at Flickr.
She’s got some great collections of illustrations, both her own and some vintage ones too.
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Leaning Tower of Pisa No Longer World's Leaningest Building!
Aw, say it ain’t so! The Leaning Tower of Pisa’s record as the world’s most lopsided building has just been knocked down by a German church steeple:
The tower in the village of Suurhusen applied in June for the title and has now officially beaten the famous landmark in Pisa.
Guinness Book of Records confirmed the award after officials measured it leaning at a 5.19 degree angle compared to only 3.97 degree angle at which the tower of Pisa leans.
Olaf Kuchenbecker of the Guinness World Records office in Hamburg said: "It is a world record."
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Panda Fashion!
Gareth Pugh (the bad boy of haute couture, for those who don’t know better) watch out! Here comes Chinese fashion designer Zhao Bandi, which shows off a panda-inspired clothing line at the China Fashion Week:
Link to gallery (Photo: China Daily)
Previously on Neatorama: Boxy Head Fashion, The Weirdest of London Fashion Week
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Painted Bodies at Football Game: OK for Boys, But Not for Girls?
Two girls at Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida, showed up to a football game with painted bodies.
Now a controversy swirled because they were booted from the game, while boys with painted bodies were allowed to stay!
"People think we did it to be rebellious senior teenagers but we did it because we wanted to show school spirit," student Monica CummingS said. "That’s all we did it for."
School district policy states that it is up to administrators to decide whether something is appropriate or not and in this case, the principal decided that the girls’ outfits were not appropriate.
Once the girls came in, there were a number of people who came up to the principal, the assistant principal and other school administrators who were very upset over their appearance, school spokeswoman Margi Nanney said. "We have never had complaints about the men or the boys."
Was it sexism or just an appropriate response to indecency? Should they have been allowed to stay? What do you think? Link
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Really Bad Day at the Office
Having a bad day at the office? Take a look at this clip, and maybe you’ll feel better (but if you get ideas, don’t blame Neatorama please, okay? kthxbai!)
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] to see this montage of really, really bad days at the office. The music, which fits perfectly, is by Daniel Powter – Thanks Algonkin!
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Drug Store in Tijuana: Unfortunate Name or A Not-So-Subtle Hint?
Lex10 of Glyph Jockey took this photo of an unfortunate name for a drug store in Tijuana, Mexico (or was it not a coincidence? Hmmm….)
Link
to larger pic – via Mad Professor
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Guy Fawkes Night
November 5th is Guy Fawkes Night, celebrated in the UK and many former British colonies. It’s a commemoration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot {wiki} against King James I and the aristocracy. Guy Fawkes was an explosives expert who smuggled 1800 pounds of gunpowder into the cellar under the House of Lords.
Remember, remember, the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night, is celebrated with fireworks, bonfires, and burning effigies. Link
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Ninety-Five Year Old Blogging Grandma Found Fame on the Net
"Today it’s my birthday and my grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog"
And with those words, Maria Amelia Lopez, 95, began her journey to cybercelebrity as one of the world’s oldest living bloggers!
"At first I thought a blog was just a type of paper notebook," said Lopez, a great grandmother.
"When I saw my grandson using the Internet, it caught my attention. I said to myself ‘What’s this? You can find out about anything. I want an Internet!’"
With 60,000 regular readers so far, Lopez’s homely mix of memory and chat, available at http://amis95.blogspot.com/, attracts regular readers from around the world and has put her back in touch with the younger generation in a way she had never imagined.
"No one pays any attention to old women any more. Not many people love us. But I was surprised by the Internet, because young people who were 18 years of age, or 14 or 15, tell me about their lives and what they think and ask my advice," said Lopez.
Links: Maria Amelia’s blog [in Spanish] | Reuters’s Oddly Enough article (photo: Miguel Vidal/Reuters)
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Video Game Magazines: Then and Now
Kevin Gifford of GameSetWatch has a lot of video game magazines … for this article at Games.net, he shares with us the covers of the premiere issues of some game mags and compare them with their covers today.
It’s amazing to see how different (and how little) they’ve changed over a span of twenty years or so! Link – via AQFL
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DIY Jabba the Hutt Life-Size Puppet
How’s this for a puppet project: a life sized Star Wars’ Jabba the Hutt, made from irrigation tubing, foam padding, spandex and glue!
When it was all done, two people in the inside operate the arms, mouth, and tail. Link – via Boing Boing
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Boy Invents a Foot-Powered Toilet Lid Lifter
Jake Wulf is a gifted 9-year-old boy from Odebolt, Iowa who has but one weakness: he can’t remember to lower the toilet seat after he’s done.
Tired of his mom getting mad at him, he decided to invent the Privy Prop, a foot-powered lever sort of like the one you see for trash cans:
It was during a visit to a doctor’s office that Jake’s idea for the "Privy Prop" began to take shape.
He noticed the lid to a small trash can, which opened and closed with a foot-powered lever. He went home and told his parents that he wanted to design a similar device for the toilet. [...]
Jake built plywood base and then cut thin pieces of steel and fashioned a teeter-totter at the bottom. You step on it and the seats raises. You step off and it closes.
Link – via The Misfit
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Blue Angels Over San Francisco Bay: Video Proof!
Remember our post on the Blue Angels flying (very) low over San Francisco Bay? Neatorama reader Chris sent us this: a video of the unbelievable stunt. Do you believe it was true now?
Hit play or go to Link [Yahoo! video]
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Toddler with Eight Limbs
Lakshmi Tatma was born in the Bihar region of India on a holiday devoted to the four-armed Hindu deity Vishnu. She is connected to a headless parasitic twin, and has eight limbs.
Her mother Poonam Tatma said she believed her daughter was “a miracle, a reincarnation” of Vishnu.
A team of 30 surgeons is preparing to remove the headless twin. Without the operation, she isn’t expected to survive to adulthood.
Dr Sharan Patil, who will be leading the surgery at the country’s Narayana Health City, in Bangalore, said: “Fortunately, Lakshmi has one complete body with a near perfect set of organs.
“Her skeletal system involves two bodies which are fused together at the level of the pelvis.
“The operation itself, although presents several challenges, is not the most complex in the world. What is highly unusual in Lakshmi’s case is precisely how her bodies are fused, almost mirroring each other.”
Lakshmi is a beautiful little girl, but the pictures in this article may be disturbing to the very sensitive. Link -via Unique Daily
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Anti-Theft Bike/Car Device
Make your car or bike appear to be not worth stealing with rust stickers! Link -via Dump Trumpet
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This Movie is About Cats Flying
(YouTube link)
This video is based on a sentence (”This is a story about cats flying.”) by 8 year-old Jah-Kym McMillan and adapted into a video by The Story Pirates. Also see a sketch comedy performance of the same story, although a very different interpretation.
The Striking Viking Story Pirates adapt and perform stories written by kids as a way of celebrating the words and ideas of young people, to promote literacy as a vital part of early childhood education, and to preserve the spark of youthful creativity often lost in the transition to adulthood.
The Story Pirates take their show to elementary schools, and perform every Saturday at The Drama Book Shop in Brooklyn. See more kids and their stories at Story Pirates. Link
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Annie Leibovitz brings fairy tales to life for Disney
This post at Brand Flakes For Breakfast reminded me of Annie Leibovitz’s incredible photographs for Disney. The newest images in the campaign feature Roger Federer as King Arthur from “The Sword in the Stone,” Julie Andrews as the Blue Fairy of “Pinocchio,” Abigail Breslin as Fira from the Disney Fairies series, and Rachel Weisz as Snow White. The first photos in the campaign (which Alex blogged about in January) featured Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella, Beyoncé Knowles as Alice in Wonderland, Lyle Lovett as the March Hare, Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter, and David Beckham as Sleeping Beauty’s Prince. I’ve posted desktop wallpaper-sized versions of all of the photos here (actually, some of the photos are huge).
Here’s the campaign’s underwhelming official site. And go here or here for some candid behind the scenes shots. Anyone have some ideas for future photos in the campaign?
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Lord of the Rings Origami
Origami artist Eric Joisel created these Lord of the Rings sculptures of the Three Hunters (Gimli the Dwarf, Aragorn, and Legolas the Elf) out of single uncut pieces of papers. Link – via Spluch
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Bunny Jumping Competition
In the late 1970s, a craze swept through Sweden: a rabbit show jumping competition, where bunnies hop through fences and skips to the finish line! Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]
If that’s not weird enough, check out this mental_floss article on Offbeat Animal Competitions – via Miss Cellania
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Bob Basset's Crab Claw Gloves
Bob Basset, whose awesome custom works like the dragon backpack (two of ‘em, actually!) and Cthulhu leather doll, is selling off his creations to raise funds for his father’s medical treatment.
If you’ve always wanted a leather crab claw gloves, here’s your chance!
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Gizmo Backpack
If you’re afraid that carrying the Yoda backpack would make you too geeky, here’s an alternative: the Gizmo Backpack!
Just don’t take it out when it rains … Link – via GeekAlerts
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Wyoming Library's Mudflap Girl Ad
To "sex up" its image and attract readers, Wyoming is using the mudflap girl to advertise its libraries!
Also in the second segment of the campaign is mudflap girl. This campaign’s only purpose is to market the Chilton Library auto repair database. Mudflap girl stickers meant to be put on vehicles, were sent
to auto repair stores across the state advertising the Chilton database.
Link – via Super Punch
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Too Legit to Knit: MC Hammer Pants Sewing Pattern
Found: a gruesome evidence of the bleak spot of musical history, here’s a sewing pattern for the Hammer pants that MC Hammer made famous in the late 1980s!
And yes, MC Hammer is alive and well … and he’s even got a blog!
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Fine Arts Redrawn with ... Giraffes!
German artist Martin Missfeldt re-envisioned what fine art would’ve looked like had humans evolved from giraffes …
Since 1992, Martin had drawn over 120 "alternate universe" (and by that he meant giraffes) cartoons featuring iconic paintings from the Renaissance to Impressionism to Pop Art eras.
Link – via Miniature Brainwave
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Red Alert Tesla
If you’re an old time gamer, you’d probably remember Westwood Studios’ Command & Conquer’s Red Alert 2. Well, Peter Terren of Telsa Down Under has recreated the Soviet Tesla coil straight out of the game! It took him about 100 hours of preparation to make the models and equipments.
Previously on Neatorama: The Eye of Sauron is on your valuables, Dalek Cage
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Saddest Cubicle Contest
David Gunnells of the University of Alabama at Birmingham won Wired’s recent Saddest Cubicle contest. He had to send in two pictures of his cubicle, because you can’t tell there’s really an “office” tucked behind those filing cabinets!
His desk is penned in by heavily used filing cabinets in a windowless conference room, near a poorly ventilated bathroom and a microwave. The overhead light doesn’t work — his mother-in-law was so saddened by his cube that she gave him a lamp — and the other side of the wall is a parking garage.
Wired also has pictures of ten runners-up. Link
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