Archive for February 3rd, 2008
Kitten and Bird
Your dose of cute for the day. This is just the first of a series of pictures recording this encounter. Link -via reddit
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Polygamy Brings in Bigger UK Welfare Check
Score one for polygamous marriage: British ministers have decided that, even though polygamy is illegal in Britain, it can be recognized formally by the state if it took place in countries where it is legal.
Moreover, because of this recognition, a husband with multiple wives who is eligible for the dole will get extra benefits:
Husbands living in a "harem" with multiple wives have been cleared to claim state benefits for all their different partners.
A Muslim man with four spouses – which is permitted under Islamic law – could receive £10,000 a year in income support alone.
He could also be entitled to more generous housing and council tax benefit, to reflect the fact his household needs a bigger property.
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World's First Automatic Shotgun
Meet the AA12, the world’s first (and scariest) automatic shotgun, built by Jerry Baber of MPS.
From Discovery Channel’s FutureWeapons:
It’s a gun that could end up rewriting the rules of urban warfare. I’d like to introduce you to the shotgun for the 21st century, the AA 12. The Auto Assault 12 is a fully automatic, gas operated, low recoil, 12 gauge shotgun designed specifically for the military. One blast from the shotgun is terrifying enough, but the AA12 delivers an incredible rate of nearly 300 rounds a minute.
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks Adam Fuhrer!
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In Russia, Revenge Gets You Glory
Photo: Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times
In 2002, Vitaly Kaloyev’s wife and children were killed in a plane crash. He stalked the air traffic controller who was on duty all the way in Switzerland, knocked on the man’s front door, and stabbed him to death.
Today, after serving just 5 years of a prison sentence, Vitaly goes back to Russia and is welcomed there as a hero:
"I don’t really take offense at people who call me a murderer. People who say that would betray their own children, their own motherland," Kaloyev said. "I protected the honor of my children and the memory of my children."
By the time Kaloyev walked out of a Swiss prison and made an emotional return to this city spread in the icy shadows of the Caucasus Mountains late last year, his crime had been eclipsed by his fame and a social split over his significance. Some Russians cheer Kaloyev as a national hero, a "real man." Others are appalled by his celebrity status, which they believe highlights the worst tendencies of Russian nationalism.
Kaloyev’s story is a postmodern tragedy, a tale of loss and vengeance, but also of clashing cultures — of the deeply humanistic, man-to-man world of the Caucasus crashing confusedly into the sterilized, legalistic culture of big Western companies facing expensive lawsuits.
Although he says he blacked out and can’t remember attacking 36-year-old Peter Nielsen, Kaloyev doesn’t deny killing him, nor is he sorry for the man’s death. Even in the earliest days of his grief, Kaloyev admits, he fixated on Nielsen, the only controller on duty when the plane carrying Kaloyev’s family crashed into another plane in midair. Within two days of the crash, he had tracked down the air traffic controller’s name and neighborhood. He knew that Nielsen had two children, and that his wife was pregnant with a third child.
Here’s a fascinating report by Megan K. Stack of the Los Angeles Times: Link
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Oldest Road Map of Britain is Oddly Phallic
That’s the 1360 Gough Map (also called The Bodleian Map). It is the oldest surviving road map of Great Britain:
The map is the so-called ‘Gough map’, dating from roughly 1360, but likely copied from an earlier map created around 1280, during the reign of Edward I. It’s the earliest surviving map that shows Britain in a recognisable shape – even if Scotland’s priapic appearance might provoke giggles.
Previous maps had been largely rubbish, favouring theology over geography – they would show how Britain fitted into the wider world of Christendom, but would forget to make the island even roughly the right shape.
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Ikea's Flat-Pack Vilage
DIY furniture giant company IKEA has teamed up with a building company Live Smart At Home to make the world’s first flat-pack village:
The new owners, who are due to move in next month, will not be facing a DIY nightmare as the homes have been assembled for them.
The 36 flats and 57 houses range in price from £90,000 to £160,000.
Ikea teamed up with building company Live Smart At Home, which provides affordable housing, to create St James’ village in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
The name "St. James’ Village" is SO unlike Ikea. I think they should’ve named it something like Kråp Köndö: Link
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Dumbest Quiz Show Answers EVAR!
Move over Miss South Carolina, here are some of the stupidest ever quiz answers:
Question: What was Gandhi’s first name? Contestant’s answer: Goosey Goosey.
Warning to all those know-alls who shout at the television screen when contestants offer dumb answers to blindingly obvious questions — one day that could be you. [...]
Here are leading contenders for the "Dumb Down" gold medal:
Presenter: Name a film starring Bob Hoskins that is also the name of a famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci
Contestant: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?Presenter: How long did the Six-Day War between Egypt and Israel last?
Contestant: (after long pause) Fourteen daysPresenter: Johnny Weissmuller died on this day. Which jungle-swinging character clad only in a loin cloth did he play?
Contestant: Jesus
The answers were supposedly compiled by a website JumpingJacksBar.com, but as of the writing of this post, the domain name expired and a spammy placeholder has taken its place. Ironic, but somewhat appropriate for a website dedicated to dumb moments.
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Weather Map of Billy's Bed
Found at Making Maps, here is an illustration of "Weather Map of Billy’s Bed" by Deane Powell in a 1910 Life magazine.
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Giant "Spider" Found on Mercury
Photo: NASA/John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
We’ve posted about the Smiley Face crater on Mars, and now it’s Mercury’s turn. NASA spaceprobe Messenger discovered two things about Mercury: 1) it’s a shrinking planet, and 2) it has an intriguing "spider" crater that is never before seen.
The first pictures from the unseen side of Mercury reveal the wrinkles of a shrinking, aging planet with scars from volcanic eruptions and a birthmark shaped like a spider.
Some of the 1,213 photos taken by NASA’s Messenger probe and unveiled Wednesday help support the case that ancient volcanoes dot Mercury and that it is shrinking as it gets older, forming wrinkle-like ridges. But other images are surprising and puzzling.
The spidery shape captured in a photo is "unlike anything we’ve seen anywhere in the solar system," said mission chief scientist Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The image shows what looks like a large crater with faint lines radiating out from it.
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Wooden Birdcage Made From a Single 2x4 Lumber
GaryK of LumberJocks Woodworking Blogs built this birdcage, complete with bird, from a single piece of Southern Yellow Pine 2×4 piece of lumber!
Link – Thanks Adam Fuhrer!
Incidentally, LumberJocks has a lot of wonderful photos of people’s woodworking projects. It also has a some neat stories, like this one by Dusty Jerzak, called This Old Crack House, about his trials and tribulations renovating an old house.
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My Currency's Better Than Yours.
“MY CURRENCY’S BETTER THAN YOURS”, this tee-shirt is a collaboration between Fahrenheit Prod and Bastard Graphics. A fun tee-shirt for Europeans, Canadians and all those with a strong currency. Photos by Rémi Ferrante.
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Danse La Poutine.
Who knew the Poutine (Fries with Cheese Curds and Gravy) would have its very own rap-electro-dance song? Features Quebec’s Omnikrom and France’s TTC. The music video also features a “Poutine” mascot.
Click Play or go here [YouTube].
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The Cookie Race
Me and my girlfriend came up with a somewhat different Christmas gift for our friends this year. Instead of running around trying to figure out what each and everyone wants, we bought the same thing for everyone: a Swedish “pepparkaksform” (ginger snaps baking pan) shaped like a Dala horse.
The mission was then for everyone to bake a Dala horse pepparkaka in any style they wanted to. All contributions are now up and the contestants can vote for the winner by email. The one that gets the most votes will win something that we think fits the persons whoever wins.
Which one is your favorite?
The Cookie Race Blog | Photos of all the Contributions
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10 Everyday Items You Can Recycle
Baby boomers are now embracing ways to leave an imprint on the environment, and it’s about time.
If something is labeled as a plastic #1 or #2, it can be recycled virtually eveywhere. This is great news if you’re trying to reduce your impact and waste. We can all help close the loop by buying and recycling products made from these materials – every little bit helps.
To help out, here is a neat list of items you can recycle.
Source: Gogreencharleston
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Yes We Can
(YouTube link)
I wouldn’t normally post a political video here unless it was funny, but the story on this one is how it took off like a rocket. I thought this was quite interesting when I first saw it linked on Metafilter yesterday. It was released Friday, posted to YouTube only yesterday, but this morning copies of it occupy five spaces on the Top 20 at Viral Video Chart. It was created by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and Jesse Dylan (son of Bob), inspired by Barak Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech.
Dylan and will.i.am say they did not coordinate the production or release of this video with the Obama campaign and the filmmakers say they don’t even know if Obama is aware of the video.
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Matt Hoyle's Vintage Boxers Photography
Photographer Matt Hoyle (featured on Neatorama before here) has this photo series titled "Fighters" featuring retired boxers who were fierce back in the days and still look like they can beat the tar out of me now!
Link [Flash, warning: it'll resize your window, but the photos are great!]
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Trivia: The Most Dangerous Time To Go To The Bank
If you’re afraid of being in a bank during a bank robbery, don’t go to the bank on Friday mornings between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Banks used to have more money on a Friday because it was historically a payday. Also, bank robbers believed that there’s more money in the bank at the beginning of the day rather than the end. Interestingly, banks in the supermarkets are actually safer than a regular bank branch. (Source)
The photo is the infamous Duct Tape Robber, read more about him and other stupid criminals in Neatorama’s Top 10 Stupid Criminals of 2007.
Two more bank robbery facts:
The Largest Bank Heist in History
The largest bank heist in history occurred in 2003, when nearly $1 billion was stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq just hours after US bombed Baghdad in the Iraq War. The culprit was Saddam Hussein and his family. Only about half of the money was recovered (source).
The First U.S. Bank Robbery
The first bank to be robbed in the United States was the Bank of Pennsylvania. The vault was robbed of $162,821 ($1.8 million in 2006 dollar) in 1798.
Because there was no sign of forced entry, the authorities believed that it was an inside job (locks on the vault’s door was just changed). The blacksmith that changed the lock was Pat Lyon, who left Pennsylvania to escape a raging yellow fever epidemic that swept Philadelphia. Lyon suspected that a carpenter was responsible, and went back to Philly to clear his name. The authorities didn’t believe him and threw him in the Walnut Prison.
The culprit turned out to be someone who earlier had visited Lyon’s shop, named Isaac Davis. He and a partner (an inside man, the bank porter who later died in the epidemic) pulled off the heist but did something monumentally stupid: he started to deposit his stolen money back in the bank! Confronted by the authorities, Davis confessed and gave back all the money. As part of a plea deal, he never served a day in prison.
Even after that confession, the authorities refused to release Lyon. Later, charges against him were dismissed and Lyon sued the bank and law officials. He got $12,000 (a large amount at the time) for false imprisonment.
Pat Lyon at the Forge by John Neagle (1892)
Pat Lyon, who became a hero after his trial, was immortalized by a painting by John Neagle titled Pat Lyon at the Forge. If you look closely, there’s a cupola of the Walnut Prison in the background.
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Aaaawkwaaarrd: Man Met Wife in Brothel
Ummmm … if you look up "awkward" in a dictionary, this should be listed:
A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment’s employees. Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town.
"I was dumfounded. I thought I was dreaming," the husband told the newspaper Wednesday.
Needless to say, the couple, married for 14 years, are now divorcing.
Link – via Just My Type
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The Cost of Raising Children
MSN Money has a table showing the cost of raising a child to the age of 18, based on a survey by the US government from 1990-92 (in 2001 dollars):
The cost (red box is my edit) of $249,180 didn’t even include the cost of sending them to college, or approximately 1/5th of gross income. If you have two kids, like me, that’s roughly half a million dollars! (obviously not counting that elusive multiple-kids discount that other parents have been telling me about)
If you look closer at the numbers, a number of things are waaaay off base now, like the cost of healthcare and childcare. I wonder if they’ve done a more recent study, but I think I already know the answer.
Link – via Ray Fowler
And of course, the cost of raising kids would be A LOT higher if they did this.
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Rinspeed Splash Car Goes on Land and Water
That’s the Rinspeed "Splash," a 2004 concept car by Rinspeed that transforms from a street vehicle to something that "hydroplanes" on the water:
Under the ultra-light carbon-composite skin lies much more than just an agile and lively sports car. The Rinspeed “Splash” is the true incarnation of a really cool and fun sports toy. At the push of a button a cleverly thought-out hydraulic mechanism transforms the sports car into an amphibious vehicle. But that alone wasn’t enough for Frank M. Rinderknecht (48), founder and boss of Rinspeed. A highly complex integrated hydrofoil system enables the “Splash” to ‘fly’ at an altitude of about 60 cm above the water.
Rinspeed Splash links: Intro | Gallery – via Triple Tri Blog
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Now That is a Sandwich!
Photo: NYC Food Guy
Now that’s a sandwich! Lawrence of NYC Food Guy blog snapped this pic of a brisket and pastrami sandwich from Katz’s Deli.
For more, check out the aptly named Flickr Pool Serious Sandwiches – via Serious Eats
Previously on Neatorama: Secret of Food Stylists
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Trench Art Church
The intrepid explorers of Curious Expeditions went to the Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade, Serbia. There, they saw what has to be one of the strangest churches in the world: the Ruica Church, a small chapel decorated with trench art, like a chandelier made from spent bullet casings.
A gasp jumps from the lips of a surprised onlooker as their eyes fall on something that seems entirely out of place in this holy environment. One looks closer to examine it to make sure they are not mistaken. They are not. Lighting the frescoed walls of Ruica Church, a small chapel built into the side of Kalemegdan fortress, are two chandeliers made entirely of spent bullet casing, swords, and cannon parts. It is a more fitting decoration than one might realize.
Previously on Neatorama: 10 Divinely Designed Churches
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There's the Mouse!
UK design agency johnson banks created this clever "mouse" for an upcoming ad for Microsoft. It took me a while to see what they did there! Link – via JoeGoodness
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The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein
After his capture, Saddam Hussein was interrogated by an American he knew only as "Mr. George." More than a year later, FBI agent George Piro spoke to Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes about his time interrogating one of the worst dictators in history:
"I purposely put his back against the wall. And then mine against the door, psychologically to tell him that his back was against the wall in the interview room. And that I stood between him and the door, psychologically. Between him whether it’s to go back to his cell, freedom, whatever he was projecting to be outside of that door. I was kind of that psychological barrier between him and the door," Piro recalls.
Just weeks after being pulled from a hole in the ground by U.S. Special Forces after a nine-month manhunt, Saddam Hussein was placed in the hands of George Piro.
Piro says he called the former dictator "Mr. Saddam," and that Hussein began to call the agent "Mr. George." "Over time though, in private, it changed to just Saddam and George," Piro remembers.
It’s a fascinating glimpse into the mind of Saddam: Link
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I Wonder Why It's Closed ...
Photo: Cory Doctorow [Flickr]
Our pal Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing snapped this photo of a sign apologizing for the yard of London’s Seven Sisters Church being closed due to "misuse."
Hm…. What do you think it was that did it?
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The Happiness of the Katakuris
We had a "Come out and say hello" post a few days ago – in it, I asked Neatorama’s "lurkers" to introduce themselves. To my delight, a lot of you did (and if you haven’t, you still can).
It was fun to read everyone’s comments (yes, I do read every comment though unfortunately there’s not enough time to respond to every single one). There was one particular comment that needs investigatin’. Neatorama reader takhys wrote:
If you liked ‘Wild Zero’ and want to know about other Japanese zombie movies with good dance numbers, I’d be the gal to ask. (*psst* The answer is Takashi Miike’s comedy/horror flick ‘Katakuri-ke no kôfuku’, otherwise known as ‘Happiness of the Katakuris’.)
A zombie musical? So naturally, I have to check it out, and thanks to YouTube, we have a clip of a scene from the movie titled the Zombie Song.
(Warning: some graphic images of zombies)
Oh, and here’s the basic plotline of the cult classic from Wikipedia:
The Katakuris are a four-generation family of failures (grandfather, father and mother, children and granddaughter, who narrates the film) who use the father’s redundancy pay to buy a guest house in the country. Somehow, each of their guests ends up dead—by suicide, accident or murder—and once they have made the decision to save their business by burying the bodies and concealing the deaths, they find themselves sucked into a nightmare of lies and fear (not helped by the arrival of the daughter’s con-man boyfriend, an escaped murderer with police in hot pursuit, and an erupting volcano).
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks takhys and sorry to hear about your friend
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Quote: Einstein on the Religion of Science
"Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness of the universe."
– Albert Einstein, scientist and Nobel laureate (1879 – 1955)
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Skin Condition Dermatographia Made Into Art
Ariana Page Russell has a skin condition called dermatographia, where the skin is overly sensitive to minor injuries. Even light scratches will cause it to become red and raised.
Ever the artist, Ariana decided to use her medical condition as the basis for her art:
My own skin frequently blushes and swells. I have dermatographia, a condition in which one’s immune system exhibits hypersensitivity, via skin, that releases excessive amounts of histamine, causing capillaries to dilate and welts to appear (lasting about thirty minutes) when the skin’s surface is lightly scratched. This allows me to painlessly draw patterns and words on my skin, which I then photograph.
Some samples:
Link: Ariana’s website – via It’s Nice That and about:blank
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