Archive for May, 2008
Octopus Jewelry
Etsy seller OctopusMe has metal jewelry made from real
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Ice Sauna
Ice is a great insulator, as attested to by anyone who has visited an igloo. English Russia has a video report of a hot sauna built from ice! If that isn’t weird enough, you’ll see a builder chinking the cracks with slush using his bare hands. And after a nice hot sauna, the participants take a dip in the water outside! The audio is in Russian. Link -via Unique Daily
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What the CIA Learned From Get Smart
Wired has a gallery of some of the stranger gadgets the CIA developed since the 1940s.
“Many of the devices first seen in movies and on TV actually came about,” says Robert Wallace, former head of the CIA’s covert skunk works, the Office of Technical Services. “Remember the Cone of Silence? We built shielded enclosures that did the same thing. And the pen communicator in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.? That evolved, 10 years later, into short-range agent communication.”
Unfortunately, those particular devices are not illustrated in this post. In his new book Spycraft, Wallace writes about the CIA’s technical advances and some ideas that didn’t quite work out. The cigarette pistol pictured was a success! Link
(image credit: Steve Sanford)
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Billboards With Cameras Bring Us One Step Closer to 'Minority Report'
Advertising has always been an enterprise fraught with uncertainty. How can you know if all that money you’re paying is actually making you a return? Who’s actually even giving your advertisements a look? And are those people really paying attention? With some forms of media (e.g. on the internet), these questions are relatively easy to answer, but with other forms, like billboards, it’s still a significant gamble.
Enter billboard cameras, the type that can monitor not only how many people see a billboard, but what type of people they are too:
They are equipping billboards with tiny cameras that gather details about passers-by — their gender, approximate age and how long they looked at the billboard. These details are transmitted to a central database. Behind the technology are small start-ups that say they are not storing actual images of the passers-by, so privacy should not be a concern. The cameras, they say, use software to determine that a person is standing in front of a billboard, then analyze facial features (like cheekbone height and the distance between the nose and the chin) to judge the person’s gender and age. So far the companies are not using race as a parameter, but they say that they can and will soon. The goal, these companies say, is to tailor a digital display to the person standing in front of it — to show one advertisement to a middle-aged white woman, for example, and a different one to a teenage Asian boy.
Nothing could go wrong with this plan, right? Hit the Link and decide for yourself.
(image by flickr user simon scott)
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Tennis for Two
(YouTube link)
You might think that videogames began with Pong, but here’s one that dates back fifty years!
Way back in 1958, William Higinbotham invented Tennis For Two to liven up visitor day at Brookhaven National Laboratory, his workplace. The game uses an oscilloscope with two control pads. It remained largely unknown until 1981 when a lawyer trying to break Magnavox’s patent for video games came across writings talking about the game.
Blueprints of it were found to predate Magnavox’s game, the case was settled out of court, and the game found fame as the second ever invented, since it was later predated by A.S. Douglas’ ‘OXO’ game from 1952.
The music is “To Find Our Freedom” from The Peacekeepers Peacespeakers. -via Grow-A-Brain
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Tiny Needle Felted Birds
Leanne makes itty-bitty needle felted birds and nests that look like the real thing (only smaller). In this picture, you see cardinals, a goldfinch, a chickadee, and some robins, among others. The entire nest is only four inches long! Link -via Everlasting Blort
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Iron Giant made out of Lego
A terrific creation by Peter Aoun. There’s more photos in his Flickr gallery.
Previously: Captain Jack Sparrow LEGO Bust.
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Fight Club in Union Square, New York City
The movie Fight Club is almost a decade old, but the theme is still going strong. One day, Jeff of And I Am Not Lying blog got a cryptic text from his friend "Fight Club in Union Square. GET HERE." When Jeff got there, he saw hundreds of people watching people beat the tar out of each other (and apparently, having fun doing so!):
They could have been watching some awesome breakdancing group or an unusually good street magician. But instead, two shirtless guys were flopping around on the ground, grunting and grating one another’s faces across the cobblestones. One guy pinned the other and a shirtless ref called the match. Both fighters leapt up, gave each other the universally-approved one-armed bro-hug and left the ring together, laughing.
A number of shirtless, scraped-up men paced the perimeter of the circle, alternately refereeing and answering questions. The rules were simple: find a partner, get in the ring. No face shots, tapping out ends the fight. No settling scores, just fighting for the fun of fighting. No experience or discernible skill required.
A couple of emo-hipsters in matching floppy sideways haircuts and matching white belts got into the act, proving that one does not inherit martial arts skill by simply being Asian.
One of them actually SMOKED during the fight, paradoxically making himself look both tougher and more ridiculous.
Update 6/20/08: More photos from And I Am Not Lying For Real – Thanks Jeff Simmermon!
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Grandma Tried to Breastfeed Baby
Imagine giving your baby to your mother-in-law to hold and moments later finding out that she’s trying to breastfeed your baby! That’s what happened to a friend of babysugar of lilsugar blog:
The granny had one boob out and was attempting to nurse her grandson. She chuckled and said, "Oh that one’s not working. Let’s try this one!" before switching the infant to the other breast where he suckled her nipple. [...]
When my friends told the grandfather (husband to the nursing grandma) about his wife’s actions, he shrugged it off at first. But then confronted his wife saying, "Honey, did you really try to breastfeed the Bambino?" Abashedly she replied, "I’m not going to talk about it anymore! All I will say is that it was a good bonding experience for both of us!"
Link – Thanks Heather Maddan!
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Wacky Nintendo game advertisement
More DIY videos at 5min.com
Who would have thought that Guitar Hero would be available for the palm-sized Nintendo DS gaming system? Well, friends, Guitar Hero: On Tour is indeed available and Nintendo/Activision have produced a very strange video proving this to the consumer. Says Engadget of the video:
If [this commercial] doesn’t make you want to impale yourself on the nearest sharp object, nothing will.
To which I say (quoting actual lyrics from the commercial):
Wiggle it like a madman!
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Snoring Duck
Have you ever heard of a snoring duck? Well, after watching this short (46 sec) YouTube clip, you can say that you have. That’s it. Carry on! – Thanks benzoic!
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Bizarro: Salvation Army's Special Forces
Oh, how I love Bizarro, particularly this clever panel about Salvation Army’s "Special Forces!" For more Bizarro, check out Dan Piraro’s website and blog.
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Sex and the City
Sex and the City was an HBO series for six seasons and now a theatrical feature film. Today’s lunchtime quiz at mental_floss asks how well you know the world of Sex and the City. I didn’t take the quiz because I’ve never had HBO. Link
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Home Remedies and Folk Treatments
OK, should I put sliced onions on the soles of my feet, or is it Vicks VapoRub? If I get hiccups, will someone drop keys down my back for me? These are just a few of 15 of the Weirdest Home Remedies and Folk Treatments Ever. Some are gross, and some are just plain dangerous. Link -via Digg
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John Arderne, Medieval Proctologist
John Arderne was a fourteenth century surgeon with the enviable title, Father of Proctology. Arderne specialized in the surgical treatment of anal fistula (fistula in ano), a "condition where a large, painful lump appears between the base of the spine and the anus" (Wikipedia), which he was able to excise in a dramatic, dangerous, and surprisingly successful procedure. A manuscript describing Arderne’s method — with pictures! — is featured in the Glasgow Special Collections Library:
The instruments depicted [above], from left to right, are: the ’sequere me’ (’follow me’) a flexible probe, so called because it was the guide to be followed by other instruments; a syringe; the ‘Acus rostrata’ or snouted needle, a grooved director along which the scalpel was passed; the ‘fraenum Caesaris’ or strong thread, a ligature that constricted the rectal side of the fistula; the ‘tendiculum’, which was used to keep the ligature taut whilst the fistula was being divided; another syringe. The ‘cochlear’ (or shield) is shown at the top; this was probably held by the surgeon’s mate and was used to protect the rectum during the operation. At the bottom is another snouted needle accompanied by a razor like scalpel.
The various stages of the operation are shown [here], starting with the position Arderne recommended that a patient should be secured exposing the fistula (top right). The basic premise of the operation was to cleanly divide the fistula by means of a scalpel inserted along the snouted needle.
Arderne’s method of operation certainly worked, but it was probably his simple and clean application of sponge pressure to arrest immediate haemorrhage, followed by conservative care of the wound (avoiding cauterising and powerful purgatives) that ensured his relatively high success rate.
The work goes on to discuss various complicated cases that Arderne dealt with, including that of a man from Northampton. Apparently he suffered from three fistula holes in his left buttock and three in his testicle. Arderne says he cured these by cutting through all the holes in the same operation. Since the fistula were deep, the poor man lost so much blood that he swooned; Arderne managed to stem the haemorrhaging with a sponge and made his patient sit in a chair until the blood flow ceased. After taking meat and drink, the man went to bed, slept soundly, and was healed within 14 weeks. In another case, Arderne claims that his patient made such a dramatic recovery that he was able ride some forty days after his operation.
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RIP Harvey Korman
(YouTube link)
Comedic actor Harvey Korman died yesterday at the UCLA Medical Center after a long and distinguished career in movies and television. He was 81. In this scene from the 1974 movie Blazing Saddles, Hedley Lamarr elicits a pledge of allegiance from a group of doofuses. -via Viral Video Chart
Link to obituary.
See more funny clips of Korman’s work at YesButNoButYes.
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Can't Afford Food? There's Always SPAM!
At least one company is happy about rising food prices: SPAM sales are soaring as consumers are turning more to the much maligned meat to extend their already stretched food budget!
Kimberly Quan, a stay-at-home mom of three who lives just outside San Francisco, has been feeding her family more Spam in the last six months as she tries to make her food budget go further.
She cooks meals like Spam fried rice and Spam sandwiches two or three times a month, up from once a month previously.
Pulling Spam from the shelf prevents last-minute grocery store trips and overspending, said Quan, 38, of Pleasanton, Calif.
"It’s canned meat and it’s in the cupboard and if everything else is gone from the fridge, it’s there," she said.
Link (Photo: Toby Talbot / AP) – via Fark
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Why We Should Celebrate $8 Per Gallon Gas
Most Americans are mad about the ever-rising gas price (latest prediction: $6 to $7 per gallon in 6 to 24 months), but not Chris Pummer of MarketWatch. He said that when gas hits $8 per gallon, we should celebrate instead and gave us 8 reasons why.
For example:
7. Restoration of financial discipline
Far too many Americans live beyond their means and nowhere is that more apparent than with our car payments. Enabled by eager lenders, many middle-income families carry two monthly payments of $400 or more on $20,000-plus vehicles that consume upwards of $15,000 of their annual take-home pay factoring in insurance, maintenance and gas.
The sting of forking over $100 per fill-up would force all of us to look hard at how much of our precious income we blow on a transport
vehicle that sits idle most of the time, and spur demand for the less-costly and more fuel-efficient small sedans and hatchbacks that Europeans have been driving for decades.
See if you agree: Link
Previously on Neatorama: Is $120 Oil Actually Good for Us?
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Uncontacted Amazon Tribe Attacks Helicopter with Arrows
Here’s a fascinating story from the Amazon: When anthropologists flew over the thick rainforest along the Brazilian-Peruvian border, they witnessed this: one of the last uncontacted tribes in the world:
Skin painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the aircraft buzzing overhead. The gesture is unmistakable: Stay Away.
Behind the two men stands another figure, possibly a woman, her stance also seemingly defiant. Her skin painted dark, nearly black.
The apparent aggression shown by these people is quite understandable. For they are members of one of Earth’s last uncontacted tribes, who live in the Envira region in the thick rainforest along the Brazilian-Peruvian frontier.
Link – via metafilter
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Wanted: Dying People for Art
German artist Gregor Schneider is planning the ultimate (literally!) performance art piece: he plans to show a person dying as part of the exhibition!
“I want to display a person dying naturally in the piece or somebody who has just died,” he told The Art Newspaper. “My aim is to show the beauty of death.”
The artist says that Dr Roswitha Franziska Vandieken, who runs her own private clinic in Düsseldorf, has agreed to help find volunteers who are willing to die in public in the name of art. Dr Vandieken was unavailable for comment. “I am confident that we’ll find people to take part,” says Schneider.
Link – via Jasonspage
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Childhood Toy Turned Out to be Ancient Treasure
Photo: Dukes Auctioneers
John Webber’s grandfather gave him this golden cup to play with when he was just a child back in 1945. When John was moving house last year, he discovered it in a shoebox under his bed and on a whim decided to get it valued. And a good thing that he did, because it turned out to be a rare piece of ancient Persian treasure worth a million bucks!
Webber, 70, told The Guardian newspaper that his grandfather had a "good eye" for antiques and picked up "all sorts" as he plied his trade in the town of Taunton in south-west England.
"Heaven knows where he got this, he never said," he added, revealing that as a child, he used the cup for target practice with his air gun.
Link – via Boing Boing
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Geek Gang Signs
Joey deVilla saw an illustration of Gang Signs of Los Angeles and thought "Why should gangsta have all the fun?" So he hacked together a list of gang signs … for geeks! Link
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Quote: Robert Ingersoll on Rewards and Punishments
"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments – there are consequences."
– Robert G. Ingersoll, American political leader and orator
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Impatient Kittens
(YouTube link)
This is obviously a case of life or death, from the kitten’s point of view. -via Cynical-C
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Monkey Thinks Robot into Action
A monkey at the University of Pittsburgh is able to use a robotic arm to feed himself using only the power of brain signals.
“It’s the first time a monkey–or a human–is directly, with their brain, controlling a real prosthetic arm,” says Krishna Shenoy, a neuroscientist at Stanford University who was not involved in the research.
People who suffer from strokes or spinal cord injury, or from some neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are often left paralyzed. But their cerebral cortices–the parts of the brain that control movement, planning, and other functions–may remain largely intact. Scientists hope to capitalize on that with the development of brain machine interfaces–devices that convert brain activity into action, such as movement of a cursor on a computer screen.
Two monkeys in the experiment had previously learned to move the robotic arm using a joystick. In the brain wave experiment, their arms were temporarily restrained. Link (with video) -Thanks, Bill!
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Oldest Live Birth Captured in Fish Fossil
A fossil fish, estimated at 380 million years old, has been discovered in the act of giving birth. The fish and her offspring died while still connected by an umbilical cord.
Dubbed “mother fish” by the scientists who discovered her in northwestern Australia, Materpiscis attenboroughi is not only an entirely new genus and species, but pushes back the first known case of live birth in the animal kingdom by some 200 million years.
The discovery is also the earliest evidence so far of internal fertilization, or sex with penetration. Other fish species from the Middle Palaeozoic Era laid eggs. Link -via J-Walk Blog
(image credit: Museum Victoria)
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Analogy
Analogy is the name of a clock by designer Jesson Yip.
Analogy is a typographic clock which fuses the immediacy of digital with the visual-spatial quality of analogue into a new hybrid format. Presenting an everyday object with a fresh twist.
See it in action. Link -Thanks, Bill!
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Dutch Cargo Bicycle
What do you get when you cross a bicycle with a wheelbarrow? Why, this awesome Dutch cargo bike that can carry up to three young children!
It looks like a wheelbarrow attached to a bike – but transport experts believe it could be the solution to school-run traffic.
Families in Richmond are being asked to swap their 4×4s for a more environmentally friendly mode of transport: Dutch cargo bikes.
Each costs from £1,150 and can carry a rider and up to three young children, or the weekly family shop. The "wheelbarrow" section is fitted with seatbelts for children.
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Possum Rescued From Toilet!
Miss Cellania posted about a raccoon that had to be rescued after falling into a garbage dumpster … well, that’s nothing compared to the travail this critter had to go through:
When it comes to toilets, there’s a simple directional rule: everything goes downstream. When things move against the tide, then you have problems.
So as Tim Fraser was doing some laundry in his bathroom last Friday night, he became a wee bit disturbed when his toilet started spontaneously gurgling.
"I could see bubbles coming up and I thought ‘what the the hell is happening?’" he said, recalling that evening.
Then he caught sight of a grey, furry head with a pair of pointy ears and saucepan eyes emerging on this side of the s-bend.
Moments later there was a half-drowned possum sitting in his Fowler toilet bowl.
"It was like the toilet had given birth," he said.
And what did Tim do first? Why, he grabbed a digital camera, of course! And thanks to that, we have a YouTube clip.
Link (Photo: Tim Fraser) – via Fortean Times
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Cops and Burglars Raid the Same House!
Bad Idea: committing a crime in general
Really Bad Idea: Burgling a house
Neatorama-worthy: Burgling a house, while the cops are inside!
Here’s a strange story of what-a-coincidence type:
The detectives were in the middle of a drug raid and were just as surprised when they greeted the thieves, during the attempted midnight burglary at the house in Melton, 45km west of Melbourne.
Armed with search warrants, the officers had swooped on the property that was allegedly being used for illegally growing hydroponic cannabis, and arrested a man in his 20s living there.
After the burglars broke in through a window and saw the police, they ran off but were caught and arrested a couple of days later, Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Cassidy said.
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