HOME |
RSS | 
As one might expect from any involved and nurturing father, d’Armond Speers of Minnesota spoke only Klingon to his son for the first three years of his life. Hart Van Denburg writes in Citypages:
“I was interested in the question of whether my son, going through his first language acquisition process, would acquire it like any human language,” Speers told the Minnesota Daily. “He was definitely starting to learn it.”
And get this, Speers says he isn’t really a huge Star Trek fan.
We’ll take his word for it.
Does the fact that Speers has a doctorate in computational linguistics explain anything — or excuse anything — here? Maybe. His child-rearing habits were part of a larger story on the company he advises, Ultralingua, which develops language and translation software. Including Klingon.
Link via Geekologie | Image: Paramount
Photo: Lucasfilm/Disney
There’s a bunch of new print ads out for Disney’s Star Wars Weekends, and they’re pretty funny. See Darth Vader wait in line, Ewoks get denied, TIE fighters at airport gates and more at The Chive.
Mickey Mouse made his public debut in the cartoon Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928 -81 years ago! The character appeared in Plane Crazy a few months earlier, but the Walt Disney Company doesn’t count that because it was a silent film. Link
Maersk Alabama, the cargo vessel that was hijacked by Somali pirates back in April 2009, was attacked again. This time, however, the ship was prepared:
An on-board security team repelled the attack by using evasive maneuvers, small-arms fire and a Long Range Acoustic Device, which can beam earsplitting alarm tones, the fleet said. [...]
The owners of the Maersk Alabama have spent a considerable amount of money since the April hijacking to make the vessel pirate-proof, Murphy said, including structural features and safety equipment. The most dramatic change is what he called a security force of "highly trained ex-military personnel."
"Somali pirates understand one thing and only one thing, and that’s force," said Capt. Joseph Murphy, who teaches maritime security at the school. "They analyze risk very carefully, and when the risk is too high they are going to step back. They are not going to jeopardize themselves."
The wife of the Maersk Alabama’s captain, Paul Rochford, told WBZ-AM radio in Boston that she was "really happy" there were weapons on board for this attack.
"It probably surprised the pirates. They were probably shocked," Kimberly Rochford. "I’m really happy at least it didn’t turn out like the last time."
Long Range Acoustic Device? Turns out it’s an acoustic cannon (or super megaphone) that produce 150 decibels of sound, causing excruciating headache and ear pain. From Spiegel:
Until now, it wasn’t widely known that the US Defense Department was sharing the so-called Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) with commercial cruise ships. The weapon is essentially a small dish that beams hellishly loud noise that is deafening but not lethal. Weighing 20 kilograms and as big as a TV satellite dish, the device looks deceptively harmless. But once trained on its target, it blasts a tight beam of painful siren-like sound.
It’s not known how the grinning pirates 160 kilometers off the coast of the Horn of Africa reacted as they suddenly were hit by the LRAD. But they were close, and the closer one is to the sonic cannon, the worse the effect is. It’s possible they received permanent hearing damage, but at the very least they experienced an excruciating headache and ear pain to the point that they could no longer see or hear. They also quickly lost the desire to board the ship. Of course, even Captain Blackbeard would have quickly set sail when confronted with 150 decibels of pure noise.
Mounted on a 9″ marble base is a small brass cannon, and above that a magnifying glass. The positioning and focal length of the lens would be designed to light the cannon’s fuse. The placement of the sundial suggests that the device was used to mark the arrival of the noon hour (on sunny days).
This intricate device was custom-made for someone living at a latitude of 59 degrees, 55 minutes, 20 seconds. My guess would be that the recipient lived somewhere in St. Petersburg, but other locations are possible.
Link.
Addendum: Some additional searching has revealed that devices such as these were known as “sundial cannons” or “noon cannons.” The best description/photos I’ve found is at this pdf by the British Sundial Society.
Our pal Dave Sopp of Wry Baby has come up with a free fun service that lets you find out in advance what you’ll be getting for Christmas. Wry Baby’s resident Infant Mentalist Mysterio predicted that my wife will get me "some really quality plywood."
Can’t wait. What will you get? Link – Thanks Dave!
The Frictionator is a Ford F650 pickup truck equipped with a 7,000 hp GE J85 jet engine. Joe Arnold’s monster truck is capable of reaching speeds up to 200 mph and is street legal (so as long as you don’t use the jet engine).
Official Website via GearFuse | Video
Animator Jeremie Duval remixed Super Mario Bros. with the tone and sound of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Content warning: not for mushroom lovers.
Via Geekologie
Lion Safari Park in Johannesburg, South Africa allows cars to drive through the lion enclosure so people can see the animals up close. A family in a white Toyota drove through with the doors closed, but apparently failed to lock at least one back door.
Thier glee turned to horror as the 300lb lion firmly took the rear door handle with his teeth and pulled it open in one deft movement.
For several seconds the car remained still while the occupants digested the shock of what had happened before finally hitting the accelerator and driving off.
As they fled, the lion followed in pursuit until it reached the gates of the enclosure. There it was finally held back by a warden who hurled stones to shoo it back.
Richard Holden was in a car behind the Toyota and managed to take pictures of the incident. Link -via Arbroath
You can debate the wisdom of making an otter into a pet, but you have to agree that Sidney is adorable. -via Buzzfeed
I don’t know how you can ride for more than a mile on a penny farthing {wiki}. No brakes, no gears, and no stopping, or you’ll fall off! These five lunatics have managed thousands of miles on them. For example, Thomas Stevens rode one of these early bicycles around the world!
The only supplies Stevens had when he set out from San Francisco were fresh socks, one clean shirt, a raincoat that did double duty as a tent, and a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver. Because paved roads and automobiles were so scarce at the time, Stevens restricted most of his journey to wagon trails, towpaths, limited public roads, and, on sometimes even railroad tracks. Naturally, the penny-farthing was not built for the same rugged terrain as a locomotive. Therefore, he was often forced to walk, carrying his bike, hopping the railroad tracks, hoping that he would never hear the sound of a locomotive bearing down on him from behind.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by delrond.
Every once in a while, political parties or local groups will put an animal on the ballot for public office. Every once in a blue moon, that animal will be elected! These eight stories include three critters who actually served (although how well they served is a matter of opinion). Pictured is Clay Henry III, the beer-drinking goat who was once mayor of Lajitas, Texas. Link
The remote Mustang caves of Nepal are yielding treasures and artworks that lead explorers to think it may be the legendary Shangri-La. Expeditions in 2007 and 2008 found 15th-century paintings, religious texts, and skeletons. The expeditions were led by US researcher Broughton Coburn and veteran mountaineer Pete Athans.
The unusual treasures have led Coburn and his team to suggest that the Mustang caves could be linked to “hidden valleys” thought to represent the Buddhist spiritual paradise known as Shambhala.
“Shambhala is also believed by many scholars to have a geographical parallel that may exist in several or many Himalayan valleys,” Coburn said.
“These hidden valleys were created at times of strife and when Buddhist practice and principals were threatened,” Coburn said. “The valleys contained so-called hidden treasure texts.”
Elaine Brook, author of Search for Shambhala, said the hidden valleys of Mustang indeed “have some of the characteristics of the mythical land of Shambhala.”
For his 1933 novel, Hilton used the concept of Shambhala as the basis for his “lost” valley of Shangri-La, an isolated mountain community that was a storehouse of cultural wisdom.
PBS will air two specials about the Mustang caves tonight. Link
(image credit: Kris Erickson)
We’ve previously featured Atlanta-based artist Brian Dettmer’s sculpted books here on Neatorama. He has also created a number of sculptures out of old cassette tapes. From the blog Design Boom (sic):
one day as dettmer was walking down the street he spotted a dead bird and an idea hit him. ‘here was this thing that used to live, its used to fly around and play a vital role, and now it is dead and all that remains is the solid material.’ dettmer was quick to extrapolate this idea linking the bird’s life to that of the cassette. he ransformed the skeleton of old cassettes into literal animal skeletons. this lead to a series of 12 human skulls made from tapes, each with a different theme like heavy metal or hard rock. the most complex piece in this body of work is a full skeleton made from over 180 cassettes. all the pieces are made using only cassettes tapes with no glue, tape or other outside materials. while dettmer couldn’t revel his process to designboom, he did tell us that he heats the plastic up so he can literally form and weld them with his wet hands and other tools.
You can view a gallery of his work at the link.
Link via Urlesque | Artist’s Website
If you have a cat or you just like cats, here are seventeen facts about them that you might find interesting from that fountain of strangeness, Matthew Inman. Who knew Abraham Lincoln was a cat lover?
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by 
The Snaefell is the creation of François Knorreck, a French hospital technician who spent €15,000, 10 years, and 10,000 hours of work on the project. It’s a 1976 Laverda motorcycle with a custom-built sidecar made from Renault, Citroen, BMW, VW and Audi parts. More pictures at the links.
Link via The Presurfer | Official Website
Pandora’s Box Secret Storage – $23.95
Yes, in Greek mythology, Pandora’s box is actually a large jar that unleashed terrible things on mankind. But that didn’t stop us from liking this Pandora’s Box, a secret storage shaped like a large leather bound book.
The Pandora’s box Secret Storage has black felt interior, with magnets to keep the case closed. It will surely keep your personal things secret, hiding in plain sight on your bookshelf. Just don’t store any "ills, toils, and sickness," like the original Pandora’s box, mmkay?
From the Neatorama Shop: Link | See also: Das Kapital Money Bank
Neatoramabot, the Bent Object version by Terry Border - ain't he awesome?
When I came across Terry Border's blog, Bent Objects, way back in 2007, I knew that my days of making funny, amateurish little sculptures out of paperclips were over. There was no point in it anymore - I've met the master. Heck, Terry is to wires as Michelangelo is to marble.
Today, Terry has an excellent new book, Bent Objects: The Secret Life of Everyday Things
Terry has kindly agreed to provide a copy of a signed and doodled Bent Objects book, as well as an 18-pack of the Bent Object holiday card as prizes to two lucky Neatorama readers (see below on how to win).
It's a pleasure to have him as a guest on today's Neatorama Interview series.
Neatorama: Hi Terry - the book is awesome. Congratulations!
Sorry it took so
long to get back to you, but I had to pry it from my toddlers who have
surprisingly strong grips. I was wondering if you could tell us how
Bent Object started?
Terry Border: First of all, I'm glad you like the book. The fact that people are liking it is a relief. After I was finished with my part, my publisher had to carry it through to the end and make it look good. I'm happy to say that they did.
I started a blog so that I could show off some of my wire creations, hoping that I could sell of them. (Plain and simple profit-driven beginnings! ha!) People were liking what I was doing, but much to my surprise they wanted photos of what I was making, and not so much the wire things themselves. I also started adding my screwy humor to the pieces, and again, much to my surprise, people really connected with it. In person, I'm not that entertaining (to put it mildly), but give me some wire and time to think and people like what I do.
Neatorama: These are absolutely hilarious. Where do
you get all those ideas?
Or are you just naturally twisted that way?
Terry: I watched too many cartoons as a kid. Also, I've always been the happiest living in my own head, thinking about things.
I'll tell you a secret - a lot of times I'm not trying to be funny at all. I'm just creating the saddest situation I can think of while using a certain object. Sometimes, while I'm photographing a scene, I'm like "Oh man. I've gone too far here. People are gonna see how sick I am, and make me get psychological help." Know what though? Those are always my most popular images. People see them as funny. There are a lot of sick people out there, just like me. Hello out there, all of you sickos!
Neatorama: Please walk us through the process of making
one, from idea to the
final photograph. What's the toughest part of making one of these?
Terry: I do this thing at the blog every once and a while when I'll ask people to mention an object for me to work with, then I'll let them vote on which object gets used. A couple of weeks ago, the winner of the polling was Autumn Leaves.
Leaving
Luckily, it was Autumn, so no problem finding leaves. Then, I tried to think of a situation using leaves that we as people can relate too. I'm scared of heights, so falling was a natural for me. If I was a leaf, I would think that life is pretty good until you fall off the tree. You've had a good year, and now you've developed a beautiful color; you've never looked better. But now your hold on the tree is becoming weaker and weaker. After you're on the ground, you're pretty much mulch, so you really don't want to fall do you?
I then doodle the situation to figure the best poses to show my idea. I picture people in the situation here, and how they would react. How many characters are needed? I want as few as possible, so I can boil the story down to it's most important elements.
What kind of background, what kind of lighting? If I want leaves to be characters, I need to pick ones that I can add arms and legs to and make it look somewhat believable. For example - oak leaves and maple leaves are too intricate. I need to find a simpler leaf.
Then I figure out how to connect wire to the leaf. I tried a couple, and you could see the wire behind the leaf, so I had to add a paper backing so the leaf wasn't as transparent.
Then I cut some small branches and connect them to light stands outside the frame. Try to make things look kinda natural in this one.
Then comes the hanging of the leaves. Autumn leaves easily fall off their branches, so I had to epoxy one of 'em onto the branch. It looks a little funky, but that's how it had to be unless I photoshop a bunch of it, and I don't do that.
I then have the epoxied leaf hanging on to his doomed friend (but in the end, they're both doomed, right?). I adjust their poses after each test shot, while also adjusting the lighting.
After I'm happy with the photo (usually late at night, after everyone else is asleep), I breathe a sigh of relief, have a glass of red, and post it on the blog.
Neatorama: What are some of your favorite Bent Objects?
The Party
Mr. Kiwi Gets Ready for the Beach
Neatorama: What's next for you and Bent Objects?
Terry: Hopefully a narrative book of some kind. I have the story already roughly written. Other than that, I just want to keep making images that get a reaction. I want to surprise people, so now that the book is out, I have to work a little harder at that.
Links: Bent Object | Bent Objects: The Secret Life of Everyday Things
_________
As I mentioned above, Terry has generously agreed to provide two Neatorama readers with excellent prizes (Thanks Terry!). To win, simply provide a caption to this Bent Object vignette below. The funniest one will win a signed and doodled copy of the Bent Object book, and the runner-up will win a 18-pack Bent Object Holiday Card.
I'd
Like to Have Coffee With My Breakfast
Contest rules are simple: place your caption in the comment section. One caption per comment, please. You can enter as many as you'd like. Good luck!
Update 11/20/09 – Great entries, guys! Congratulations to guyek who won the main prize:
Quietly, Coffee watched as they drank her offspring. Confident in the knowledge that neither of them would survive the morning.
and Andrew Rice who won the pack of greeting cards:
“This coffee has really got me wired.”
Can you name the most commonly used words in the English language? In this quiz, you’ll have twelve minutes to name the 100 words most used. I only guessed 68 before time ran out, but I ran into trouble by having a space in front of some words. Be careful! Link -via J-Walk Blog
(image by Flickr user the|G|™)
