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Man, oh man! With all the great facts you guys provided, we had a doozy of a time picking the winners. For the holiday movie/music trivia fact, we narrowed it down to our two favorites: the submissions on It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story. When it came down to it, though, we had to give the decision to Kate Hansen for submitting this great fact:
When the movie A Christmas Story was being cast, Jack Nicholson was given the script and was very much interested in the role of Mr. Parker, “The Old Man”, according to director, Bob Clark. However, Clark didn’t learn of this until later, and the studio didn’t want to pay Nicholson’s fee anyway, which would have doubled the budget. Regardless, Clark says that Darren McGavin was still the better choice and was born to play the role.
And for the plant-themed day, Thomas surprised us with this great trivia nugget:
The vast majority of our breathable oxygen comes from oceanic plants and single-celled plantlike protists. Only about 20 percent comes from terrestrial plants.
We had our fact-checkers look into it and most sources say between 20 and 30 percent so we’ll give him credit (and a shirt) for that one. Kate and Thomas, 2 great mental_floss T’s will be coming your way. And thank you to everyone else for sharing your smarts with us. Don’t forget, Neatorama readers can use the discount code “Neatorama” when you order from mentalfloss.com to get 10% off anything at our store.
Today is Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Declaration, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, set out a list of 30 Articles describing fundamendal human rights and freedoms for everyone.
The goals are noble, but reading the text, I have a distinct feeling that it was written by a committee which never used just one word where several would suffice:
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Link | The Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself – Thanks Cori!
There’s a message in this cool (and award-winning) Flash animation called Bendito Machine by Jossie Malis of Zumbakamera.
Probably about the danger of industrialization/capitalism or something like that, but I didn’t think much past how neat the animation looked!
Link [Flash] | Bendito Machine website (where you can watch Episode II. Maybe.) – Thanks wade7!
A Manhattan doorman, Jonah Seeman, who has been ushering tenants into a four-building complex for 40 years, was told not to come to work recently because of halitosis.
The Brooklyn resident, who supports his 81-year-old mother, has been suspended twice before for bad breath. Apartment dwellers at the Gracie Gardens complex expressed surprise over Seeman’s suspension and came to his defense.
“His job, which he does well, is opening the door — not to be opening his mouth,” said Adam Reingold.
Officials with Cooper Square Realty, the management company that oversees the property, did
not return calls seeking comments. But the company sent the doorman a letter dated Nov. 21, stating: “We can no longer tolerate the fact that you have severe breath odor while on duty.”
Video: LiveLeak
Source: Yahoo News
The Enigma of Amigara Fault is a bonus story in Junji Ito‘s [wiki] 2003 horror manga Gyo. In the story, an earthquake revealed a mysterious wall with thousands of deep, human-shaped holes – each hole is a perfect shape for someone. When a person finds his "hole," he is compelled to enter … but the hole is such that he can’t turn around or go back. What happened to those who walk into their holes?
In about a page or two, I was hooked. Find out how this creepy story ends: Link (It’s a manga, so read from right to left) – Thanks Chad!
The 2007 Blip Festival in New York City showcased artists who created music from "familiar but forgotten hardware" … old video game systems like the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Atari, and Commodore 64!
Link [ABC World News Webcast, Flash video] | Blip Festival website – Thanks Zach!
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy."
– Ernest Benn, publicist (1875 – 1954)
Somehow, I missed this awesome Pac-Man "Christmas tree" (Holiday display? Pyramid?) on display in downtown Madrid when compiling the World’s Most Unusual Christmas Trees list.
The Pac-Man display is fully animated with thousands of colored LEDs.
Link – via Technabob, thanks Chad Cloman!
A young Korean man named Wan saved all of his money for one year to embark on his dream journey: traveling across the United States (about 3,868 miles) on his tiny 50cc Honda Ruckus!
Wan started in Fayetteville, North Carolina and will end his 3-month journey in Los Angeles, California.
TotalRuckus, a forum dedicated to the motorscooter, has the story. It’s a bit long, but it has fantastic photos of Wan and the people he met along the way!
Link – Thanks Renze Rispens!
Rug by Mark Mothersbaugh, Photo by Eric Stoner
Who knew Mark Mothersbaugh, singer and co-founder of Devo, is also a "rug" artist!
LA Weekly has a slideshow of Mark’s woven rug artwork series "Rugs During Wartime and Peacetime." This one above is called Duo Worm.
Link | Interview with Mark by Randall Roberts – Thanks Mark Mauer!
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High-speed chases may soon be a thing of the past. Eureka Aerospace of Pasadena, California, has developed a high-power electromagnetic system that uses microwave to let police disable your car’s engine from a distance!
Link – via Technabob, thanks Wendy Piersall!
If that’s not cool/big brother enough, the other thing the company’s working on is a radar system that lets you "see through" a wall.
I’m a sucker for math songs! Here’s a video clip of Prof. Steve Sawin of Fairfield University rapping about Perelman’s Proof of the Poincaré Conjecture [wiki], to the tune of Snoop Dogg and Pharrell William’s "Drop it Like it’s Hot."
Link [YouTube] | Steve’s website – Thanks Lisa Sawin!
Previously on Neatorama: What You Know About Math?, Mathematical Love Song: Finite Simple Group (of Order Two) by Klein Four Group
Whoa! A Hello Kitty fan blinged out her bicycle with thousands of crystal beads (Hello Kitty Hell blog said that there were 50,000 pieces of crystals, but I’m skeptical it was that many. Maybe 5,000).
Link (with video) – via Coolbuzz, thanks Jon Jason!
Strange Map blog has this map above, showing the distribution of blondes in Europe (which may or may not be a country, depending on who you ask):
According to this map – and if you really believe that blondes have less brains –a nasty fall like that is more likely to happen in the central parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland, where at least 80% of the population is fair-haired, the highest figure in all of Europe.
This map, indicating the varying degrees of ‘blondness’ in Europe, shows how fair hair gets rarer further away from this core area – towards the south, as one intuitively might presume, but also towards the east, west and even towards the north.
Things we’ve learned from teh Interweb: 1) Never film yourself dancing (Star Wars kid, anyone?) 2) If you do, for whatever reason, NEVER let the dog be in the same room.
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks Edward!
Bobby Henderson of the Flying Spaghetti Monster fame would like to wish you a Happy Holiday… You can send the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday e-Card (artwork by Andrew Shaffer) here: Link – Thanks Bobby!
Swedish illustrator Mattias Adolfsson of Mattias Ink (featured before on Neatorama) created these fantastic drawing of the "baroque" version of Star Wars characters: Link – Thanks Casey!
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DailyBits featured an article called the Top 6 Bizarre Online Gaming Incidents, including real life murder, kidnapping, theft, virtual rape, a plague and even death … all because of online games!
Like this one, for example:
1. Legend of Mir 3 player stabs fellow gamer to death
Back in 2005 Qiu Chengwei, a 41 years-old Shanghai resident, stabbed fellow gamer Zhu Caoyuan repeatedly in the chest, causing his death. The reason? Zhu sold the “dragon sabre,” a weapon that they won jointly in the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game).
According to the China Daily, Qiu Chengwei went to the police first, but after being told that virtual items were not protected by law, he decided to make “justice” with his own hands.
Qiu Chengwei received a life sentence.
Link – Thanks Daniel!
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Thirty seven years ago, back when he was 14 years old, a bloody tumor appeared on Jose Mestre’s lip. Because of his religion (Jose is a Jehovah’s Witness) prohibition on blood transfusion and distrust of doctors, Jose refused to undergo surgery to remove the growths – until now.
Unsuccessful and unhappy visits to Germany and Spain in search of medical care in his youth have left him with a distrust of doctors. This, combined with his loyalty to his mother’s faith, and concerns about life without the mask to which he has become accustomed, appear to have instilled Jose with a sullen fatalism about his condition.
His inertia has infuriated his close family, who do not share Jose’s religious beliefs. Jose himself, although a Jehovah’s Witness, does not attend any church.
During the consultation with Dr Hutchison in London, Jose’s sister Guida reacted with exasperation her brother’s initial reluctance to discuss the offer of a transfusion-free operation.
"Die alone, not with me. For me, finished," she cried, in dramatic footage to be broadcast for the first time this week. Guida shoulders much of the burden for caring for Jose.
Telegraph has more on this amazing story: Link (with video), photo: Discovery Channel – Thanks Emperor!
Note: Dr. Hutchison, a maxillofacial surgeon, also runs Saving Faces charity, which focuses on facial reconstructions and surgeries.
It’s Christmas season, so it’s time for another one of Core 77′s Design Gift Guide. Allan Chocinov of the blog wrote:
… we’ve just just launched our 2007 Designer Gift Guide. As the name in the subject line suggests, the guide is filled with 77 totally awesome gift ideas, each for under $77. It’s a crazy, eclectic mix–everything from "Feather Doll Dusters" to "Forearm Forklift Lifting Straps" (okay, now you’re *really* going to have to take a peek!)–with lots of beautiful design objects, books, and philanthropies to discover inside.
Well, it’s mostly under $77: Link – Thanks Allan!
Nathan Sawaya created this Toys for Tots train with 43,100 bottle caps and 825 glue sticks! The sculpture was commissioned by Coca-Cola, who is donating 100,000 gifts to the charity. You can also donate your My Coke Rewards points found under the soda pop’s bottle caps to Toys for Tots. Thanks Betsy Ringham!
See also: Previous posts about Nathan on Neatorama
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That’s Mister Jalopy of Hoopty Rides, riding his now famous Urban Guerrilla Movie House (movie projector and complete wooden entertainment center atop a bike, as featured in the cover of Make Magazine vol 11).
You can tour his secret laboratory/garage/headquarters (full of wonderful stuff!) at Dave Bullock’s eecue blog: Link – Thanks Dave!
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Aspiring engineer (and ten-year-old boy) Ian Culhane won $10,000 for designing a 7-foot-tall toy roller coaster using K’NEX parts:
Ian began the project last summer, using 6,000 plastic parts from his collection of 15,000 to assemble the roller coaster, which runs through the body of a dragon.
Link (Photo: AP/Dima Gavrysh) – Thanks Chris Davis!
By the way, you can win original art and a vegan dinner date with Dan Piraro of Bizarro and his lovely wife Ashley in this auction benefiting Farm Sanctuary.
To see more Bizarro, check out Dan’s website: Link
Gizmodo reader Rob Hoffmann sent in a photo of his Halloween costume: a giant LEGO minifig!
The head is made from chicken wire (1/4 in. square mesh), yellow vinyl, some cotton batting (the mesh would have shown through the vinyl if I didn’t use it), and black cloth mesh for the eyes and mouth" Rob told us, "the nub is also chicken wire and vinyl stuffed with foam. You can’t tell from the pictures, but it does say LEGO across the top.
The body is made from foam board and a long sleeve mock turtle neck T-shirt. The cloves are made from yellow vinyl and chicken wire (to maintain the shape). The legs are made from a large pair of scrub pants with foam board around the waist so it would fit into the body. I also had suspenders made from elastic to help keep them up.
Link – Thanks Anne!
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In the Siam Ocean World in Bangkok, Thailand, there is a unique aquarium on display: a gigantic fish tank made out of … a car!
Link [embedded Metacafe video] – Thanks Jon Jason!
Spotted at D3 blog, as part of the Thursday Thirteen meme (must be one of the oldest Internet memes around now), is a list of 13 geeky knitting projects.
Like this one to the left, the Jazzy Coffee Cup Cozy, made by kdk of pens and needles blog.
