Archive for March 1st, 2008
Puppy Screen Cleaner
Problem: Your monitor’s screen is dirty.
Old and busted solution:Wipes.
The new hotness: This puppy will take care of your smudges!
Link [Flash] – via Alexa Blog
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Tic the Hamster Takes a Spin!
Augustin’s hamster Tic took a spin on the hamster wheel and got more than it bargained for! Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] (fun starts at 0:31)
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Feb 14: Love Story Between a Giant and the Statue of Liberty
We’ve posted about Josef Lee’s cheekily excellent comic Adam’s Apple before. Well now, he’s told us about his new creation, titled Feb 14:
A quirky love story between a Giant and the Statue of Liberty. Like Cloverfield, but minus the mass destruction.
Link – Thanks Josef!
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Letter Ice
We’ve seen ice trays that produce ice in all kinds of shapes. Here’s a set that makes ice in the shape of letters. But that’s not all- they are also baking pans! Made from silicone, they are oven safe and dishwasher safe, and they fold up for storage. With Letter Ice, your birthday cupcakes can spell out “happy birthday”! Link -via Dump Trumpet
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HIV-blocking Gene Found
A gene that blocks the HIV virus and the onset of AIDS has been discovered by a research group at the University of Alberta.
Stephen Barr, a molecular virologist in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, says his team has identified a gene called TRIM22 that can block HIV infection in a cell culture by preventing the assembly of the virus.
“When we put this gene in cells, it prevents the assembly of the HIV virus,” said Barr, a postdoctoral fellow. “This means the virus cannot get out of the cells to infect other cells, thereby blocking the spread of the virus.”
The next step is to find out why this gene doesn’t work in people who have HIV, and investigate possible ways to activate it. Link
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MC Chris: Nrrrd Grrrl music video
Nerd Girl MC Chris is a “nerdcore” rap artist with a cute and funny “geeksta” music video on YouTube.
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Tired? 70% of American Adults Not Getting Enough Sleep
Are you feeling sleepy all the time? It’s probably because you aren’t getting enough sleep. In fact, a new study by the CDC shows that 70% of American adults don’t get enough rest:
The study, which surveyed adults in Delaware, Hawaii, New York and Rhode Island, found that a lack of sleep is a particular problem for younger adults. Of those between 18 and 34, 13.3 percent lacked enough sleep every day, compared to 7.3 percent of adults over 55.
The study did not find much difference between races or genders.
The National Sleep Foundation says that most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Many are not getting that.
Nationwide, adults that averaged six hours or less of sleep a night increased in all age in groups from 1985 to 2006, according to a National Health Interview Study. For example, in 1985, about 20 percent of men and women ages 45-64 reported sleeping an average of six hours or less. By 2006 that number had jumped to 30 percent.
Link – via Blue’s News
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Castro on Retirement
Now that Fidel Castro has retired, what is he going to do? Here’s a "modded" interview of Fidel by Hugh Atkin of Sledge Video:
On Retirement
Fidel Castro: No, retirement plans were never that important to me. I’ve always figured that the CIA would get me one way or another. Exploding cigars! Can you believe that?On wealth
Fidel Castro: The Americans always accuse me of corruption … of stealing money. All lies. However, forty years ago, I did buy a stake in a small company which manufactures miniature Cuban flags.
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube, a little coarse language] – Thanks Hugh!
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Mocha the Elephant Can Walk Again
Mocha the elephant lost one of her leg after she stepped on a landmine at the Thai-Myanmar border.
But now, thanks to an artificial limb by Thai vets, the elephant can walk again. Metro has the scoop: Link
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Billy and The Kid
Meet Billy, a big-hearted boxer that befriended an abandoned kid named Lily:
As the runt of triplets, Lily was abandoned by her mother because nanny goats can usually only care for two kids at a time.
Farm workers Katherine Tozer stepped in to hand rear Lilly, but her pet dog Billy made it obvious he was eager to get in on the parental action.
It soon became clear the Billy was happy to adopt Lilly as his own, and he now looks after her by licking and cleaning her and keeping a close eye on her.
Equally, Lilly seems just as happy to have Billy as her role model.
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Woman Gave Birth to Baby Nearly Her Own Size
Stacey Herald, a 28 1/2-inch (72 cm) woman, had just given birth to an 18-inch (46 cm) daughter who wasn’t much smaller than her mother!
Pregnancy swelled Herald’s belly to comically large proportions, the woman said.
“If I laid down, I looked like a snail,” she said, laughing. “That’s how big my belly was. I looked like an Idaho potato with arms and legs.”
She kept laughing as she recalled her late-stage pregnancy.
“You couldn’t see my feet,” Herald said. “You know, my legs are there you know, but my belly came out so long, that all you could see was a belly with toes."
Link – via mental floss
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Thought Bubble Barrettes
Melbell makes and sells hair barrettes in the shape of thought bubbles! There are lots of thoughts available, both geeky and non-geeky, or you can get your thoughts custom made. Link -via Everlasting Blort
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The Battlestar Galactica Last Supper
Pic: kiddrunkadelic14 [Flickr] (Biggify)
We’ve posted a number of Last Supper posts on Neatorama before, but never this one: The Battlestar Galactica Last Supper!
… and just like the Leonardo da Vinci version, there are hidden clues in this one: Link
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K-3PO Papercraft
No, that’s not C-3PO. Rather, that’s a papercraft of K-3PO, the protocol droid stationed at Echo Base’s command center in Hoth.
Link | The plan [PDF] at Blog@Papercraft [in Japanese]
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Quote: Mark Twain on Patriotism
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
– Mark Twain, humorist and author (1835 – 1910)
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Mao Wanted to Send 10 Million Chinese Women to the US!
According to documents recently released by the State Department, Chairman Mao tried to solve China’s population problem in 1973 by offering Chinese women to US envoy Henry Kissinger:
"You know, China is a very poor country," Mao is quoted as saying during the exchange. "We don’t have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands."
The Chinese leader drew laughter when he returned to the proposition a few minutes later. "Do you want our Chinese women? We can give you 10 million." he said, adding: "We have too many women … They give birth to children and our children are too many."
Kissinger, ever the diplomat, demurred: "It is such a novel proposition, we will have to study it."
Link – via FP Passport
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The Pioneer Anomaly: NASA Scientists Discovered Unexplained Forces Acting on Space Probes
NASA scientists are baffled when they discovered the "Pioneer Anomaly," where unexplained forces acting on spacecraft as they fly past Earth on their way out of the solar system:
Mysteriously, five spacecraft that flew past the Earth have each displayed unexpected anomalies in their motions.
These newfound enigmas join the so-called "Pioneer anomaly" as hints that unexplained forces may appear to act on spacecraft.
A decade ago, after rigorous analyses, anomalies were seen with the identical Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft as they hurtled out of the solar system. Both seemed to experience a tiny but unexplained constant acceleration toward the sun.
A host of explanations have been bandied about for the Pioneer anomaly. At times these are rooted in conventional science — perhaps leaks from the spacecraft have affected their trajectories. At times these are rooted in more speculative physics — maybe the law of gravity itself needs to be modified.
Now Jet Propulsion Laboratory astronomer John Anderson and his colleagues — who originally helped uncover the Pioneer anomaly — have discovered that five spacecraft each raced either a tiny bit faster or slower than expected when they flew past the Earth en route to other parts of the solar system.
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What Will DHL Deliver?
Is there a limit to what DHL can deliver? Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] to find out!
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Mario Bar
For one night a couple of weeks ago, Christoffer "Chairman" Holmgård Pedersen had the idea of transforming the weekly Friday Bar of IT University of Copenhagen into … Mario night!
And of course, they’re sharing their Mario cocktail recipes, like the Mario 1-UP shot:
And those question-mark blocks? Yes, there were coins that people could use to redeem drinks!
Link – via Tokyo Mango
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Flickrolled!
Photo: boyshapedbox [Flickr]
We’ve showcased the Song Chart Meme before on Neatorama, but deep in that Flickr pool is this particular song chart. It’s being called "Flickroll," which is the Flickr equivalent of being Rickrolled.
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Man Poisoned by Ricin in Hotel Room
Wow, this is scary: a man got poisoned by ricin while staying in a Las Vegas hotel room and is now in critical condition.
Deputy Chief Kathy Suey said the man called from the hotel asking for medical help on February 14, saying he was suffering from respiratory distress, and was transported to the hospital.
Tests confirm the substance found in the room was ricin, police said, but it remains a mystery how it got there. Suey said the man hospitalized was not a suspect and police don’t know whether the ricin was his, or if he even knew it was there.
How dangerous is ricin? Well, an amount the size of a head of a pin (about 500 microgram) is enough to kill an adult.
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Alcohol Enhances, Not Drowns, Sorrow
Think that beer helps drown your sorrow? Think again: according to a new research at the University of Tokyo, alcohol actually help lock painful memory in place.
The researchers, led by pharmacology professor Norio Matsuki, gave mild shocks to lab rats to condition them to fear. As a result, the rats would freeze in terror and curl up the moment they were put in their cages.
Researchers then immediately injected the rats with ethanol or saline.
The researchers found that rats with alcohol in their veins froze up for longer, with the fear on average lasting two weeks, compared with rats that did not receive injections.
"If we apply this study to humans, the memories they are trying to get rid of will remain strongly, even if they drink alcohol to try to forget an event they dislike and be in a merry mood for the moment," the study said.
"The following day, they won’t remember the merriness that they felt," it said.
Link (Photo: Ben McLeod) – via Japan Probe
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Trivia: Americans Are Getting Bustier ...
Americans are getting bustier: In the 1970’s the average bra size was 34B. Now it’s 36C … and climbing!
Some statistics say that up to 85% of American women are wearing the wrong bra size. Indeed, Oprah Winfrey once did a "bra intervention" and got so excited she said: "I’m so excited. Whoo, whoo. Whoo, whoo. Whoo!" (Source)
Thanks to Bette Midler, we all know that the brassiere was invented by Otto Titsling. (YouTube)
Oprah’s favorite bra is the Le Mystere Tisha Bra #955 (Source). But that’s just a creepy trivia, so let’s stop there before it gets any weirder.
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The Largest Oil Spills in History
The Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska was the worst oil spill in American history. It recently made news again as Exxon refused to pay the fine after 19 years.
But did you know that even though 11 million gallons of crude leaked when the Exxon Valdez ran aground, it was actually only the 34th largest oil spill in history?
EnviroWonk has the list of the top 10 oil spills, all much, much larger than the Exxon Valdez. For example:
1 Kuwait – 1991 – 520 million gallons
Iraqi forces opened the valves of several oil tankers in order to slow the invasion of American troops. The oil slick was four inches thick and covered 4000 square miles of ocean.
2 Mexico – 1980 – 100 million gallons
An accident in an oil well caused an explosion which then caused the well to collapse. The well remained open, spilling 30,000 gallons a
day into the ocean for a full year.
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Bill Clinton Endorses Barack Obama.
Well, not exactly … but he might have wanted to give his wife some of the same advice he gave the American people in this video (from four years ago). Click play, or go to the Link [YouTube], to view Clinton’s view on what makes a good president.
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