Lithuanian Horseback Riding Academy was a CIA Secret Prison

Posted by Alex in Politics, Travel & Places on November 19, 2009 at 1:45 pm

To many wealthy Lithuanians, it was just a fancy horseback riding academy. But horses aren’t the only things kept in the barn: the CIA had built a secret prison there, where they interrogated (or tortured, your choice of word) suspected al-Qaeda terrorists.

ABC News has the story:

The CIA constructed the prison over the next several months, apparently flying in prefabricated elements from outside Lithuania. The prison opened in Sept. 2004.

According to sources who saw the facility, the riding academy originally consisted of an indoor riding area with a red metallic roof, a stable and a cafe. The CIA built a thick concrete wall inside the riding area. Behind the wall, it built what one Lithuanian source called a "building within a building."

On a series of thick concrete pads, it installed what a source called "prefabricated pods" to house prisoners, each separated from the other by five or six feet. Each pod included a shower, a bed and a toilet. Separate cells were constructed for interrogations.

Link

 
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Students Arrested for Not Paying Tip

Posted by Miss Cellania in Crime & Law on November 19, 2009 at 1:40 pm

College students Leslie Pope and John Wagner and four of their friends went to the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The bill came to $73, which they paid, but they refused to pay the mandatory $16.35 tip, because they said the service was lousy. So they were arrested.

They had to find their own napkins and cutlery while their waitress caught a smoke, had to ask the bar for soda refills, and had to wait over an hour for salad and wings, they told NBC10.

The pub, which was very busy that night, took the $73, but then called the cops, who treated the matter as a theft.

The menu clearly states, “18 percent gratuity added to check of parties of 6 of more,” and a similar message is printed on receipts, a pub employee said this morning.

The students will be in court over the matter next month. What do you think? A mandatory tip for groups of six or more is common in the US restaurant industry in order to keep waiters from being stiffed when they can’t serve enough other tables to make up for it. However in this case, the policy seems to be a license to give poor service. Link -via reddit

(image credit: Flickr user me and the sysop)

 
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FUN PRODUCTS FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP:



Be A Martian

Posted by Miss Cellania in Science & Tech, Toy & Video Games on November 19, 2009 at 11:51 am

NASA needs lots of help sorting through the hundreds of thousands of images they’ve collected from the surface of Mars. What do do? Make it into a game! Be A Martian combines the work of analyzing those images online with the competition of gaming. In this way, NASA hopes to enlist citizens to help with the huge project.

Nasa hopes the mix of real data and fun will also inspire the planetary scientists of tomorrow.

“We really need the next generation of explorers,” says Michelle Viotti, from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which oversees Mars missions.

“And we’re also accomplishing something important for Nasa. There’s so much data coming back from Mars. Having a wider crowd look at the data, classify it and help understand its meaning is very important.”

Link to story. Link to game. -via Metafilter

 
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First Monkey to Ever Walk on the Moon Declared Dead

Posted by Queuebot in Funny on November 19, 2009 at 11:47 am

The History Bluff (motto: "Making a mess of history") brings us another headscratcher with the sad news that the first monkey to ever walk on the moon has passed away.

On June 3, 1981 Harlan the Monkey became the first primate to ever walk on the moon. Harlan died on November 18, 2009 of an apparent Tang overdose.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by geezyreezy.

 
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Puzzle Forms an Image of ANY Face

Posted by Queuebot in Toy & Video Games on November 19, 2009 at 11:32 am

Mark Setteducati and Ken Knowlton have invented a unique puzzle marketed in Japan as "Jingazo." The puzzle includes 300 jigsaw pieces that can be arranged to form a picture of anybody’s face. The puzzle works in conjunction with an online interface. Users upload an image and recieve instructions on how to arrange the shaded puzzle pieces. You can create pictures of yourself, your friends or even your pets. Currently, The Jingazo Puzzle is only available in Japan but a U.S. release is planned for the near future.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by rubin.

 
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What Is It? Game 116

Posted by Alex in What Is It on November 19, 2009 at 7:37 am

Today’s collaboration with the What is it? Blog brings us this …. alligator?! Actually, this object has a specific function. Do you know what it is?

Place your guess in the comment section. The first correct guess, as well as the funniest (but ultimately wrong) guess will win a T-shirt from the Neatorama Shop. Please let others play and post no URLs or web links. Doing so will forfeit your entry.

For more clues, check out the What is it? Blog. Good luck!

Update 11/20/09 – the answer is A cast iron alligator match safe, text on its back says “Monon Route”, on its legs “Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Atlanta”, on its head “Chicago” and on the tail “Florida”. It advertised the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railway, which later changed its name to The Monon Route, it served the previously mentioned locations.

Congratulations to Edward who got it right first (again) and to pwscott who made me chuckle with “steampunk pez.”

 
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VideoSift Clips of the Week

Posted by dag in VideoSift on November 19, 2009 at 6:54 am

(Links open in a new browser window/tab)

Amazing Male Group Gymnastics Routine
This is not gymnastics as you’re used to seeing it. I wish this was in the Olympics.
Link
Tornado inside a soap bubble
A soap bubble wizard creates a mini-tornado vortex inside a giant soap bubble.
Link
The pop-up book of phobias
This is an amazing pop-up book with scary images that may enhance the phobias they describe.
Link
What if Earth Had Rings like Saturn?
Through computer simulation and CGI we get to see what it would like from Earth, if we had rings around our planet like Saturn.
Link
Box Beard With Functioning Beard Door
Finally, this has to be seen to be believed (or not). It’s the winner of a free-style beard contest. Real? You make the call.
Link
 
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Why Do People Live Near Volcanoes?

Posted by Johnny Cat in Science & Tech on November 19, 2009 at 12:34 am

cataniaeruption-690255-ga

Photo by Carsten Peter

Perched above the lighted city of Catania, Italy, Mount Etna hurls a fountain of fire skyward as rivers of lava spill down its flanks. In spite of its dazzling displays, Mount Etna is a relatively safe volcano with rare, compact eruptions and slow-flowing lava that gives people a chance to escape. – National Geographic –  {More Pics here!}

Lots of people live near a volcano.  As for me, I live a relatively safe distance from Mt. St. Helens, but this region was severely affected by the eruption in 1980.  I recently returned there, and it while it seems safe now, the devastation still shows.  But The Geography Site cites four good reasons why society loves a lava-spewing mountain in their backyard.

Geothermal energy, minerals, fertile soil, and tourism.  That last one is interesting, and many tourist attractions involve volcanic activity.  And about that geothermal energy?

Iceland_Geothermal_facilityCountries such as Iceland make extensive use of geothermal power, with approximately two thirds of Iceland’s electricity coming from steam powered turbines. New Zealand and to a lesser extent, Japan, also make effective use of geothermal energy.

It makes sense that we’d be so close to that which can give us something powerful, while risking so much at the same time.  Volcanoes rock.

Link | Photo: Wikimedia

 
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Human Father Speaks Only Klingon To His Young Son for Three Years

Posted by John Farrier in Baby & Kids, Movies & SciFi on November 18, 2009 at 8:51 pm

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

 
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Amusing Ads For Star Wars Weekends

Posted by Johnny Cat in Advertising, Funny, Movies & SciFi, Travel & Places on November 18, 2009 at 6:59 pm

disney-star-wars-weekend-5

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.

 
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Happy Birthday, Mickey Mouse!

Posted by Miss Cellania in Cartoon & Comic, Video Clips on November 18, 2009 at 5:01 pm


(YouTube link)

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

 
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Maersk Alabama Hit Again by Somali Pirates, But This Time It Has an Acoustic Cannon!

Posted by Alex in Car & Vehicle, Crime & Law, Weapons & War on November 18, 2009 at 3:02 pm

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."

Link

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.

Link

 
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High Noon

Posted by Minnesotastan in Arts & Crafts, Gadget on November 18, 2009 at 2:39 pm

noon cannonMounted 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.

 
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Mysterio Predicts What You'll Get For Christmas

Posted by Alex in Blog & Internet on November 18, 2009 at 2:24 pm

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? LinkThanks Dave!

 
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Truck With a Jet Engine

Posted by John Farrier in Car & Vehicle on November 18, 2009 at 1:55 pm


Photo: John Masterson

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

 
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Pulp Fiction Super Mario Bros.

Posted by John Farrier in Movies & SciFi, Toy & Video Games, Video Clips on November 18, 2009 at 1:41 pm


(YouTube Link)

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

 
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Lion Opens Car Door with Teeth

Posted by Miss Cellania in Animal, Odd News on November 18, 2009 at 10:27 am

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

 
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Baby Otter at Play

Posted by Miss Cellania in Animal, Video Clips on November 18, 2009 at 10:24 am


(YouTube link)

You can debate the wisdom of making an otter into a pet, but you have to agree that Sidney is adorable. -via Buzzfeed

 
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5 Amazing Journeys On A Penny Farthing

Posted by Queuebot in Everything Else on November 18, 2009 at 9:52 am

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.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by delrond.

 
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8 Animals That Ran for Government Office

Posted by Miss Cellania in Animal, Politics on November 18, 2009 at 9:41 am

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

 
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Himalayan Caves May Be Shangri-La

Posted by Miss Cellania in Travel & Places on November 18, 2009 at 9:39 am

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)

 
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Cassette Tape Skeletons

Posted by John Farrier in Arts & Crafts on November 18, 2009 at 9:37 am


Photo: Brian Dettmer

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

 
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Seventeen Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat

Posted by Queuebot in Animal on November 18, 2009 at 9:32 am

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?

Link – via artsyspot

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by sanela.

 
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Sports Car/Side Car

Posted by John Farrier in Car & Vehicle, Pictures on November 18, 2009 at 9:22 am


Photo: François Knorreck

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

 
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Pandora's Box Secret Storage

Posted by Alex in Book & Lit, Home & Garden on November 18, 2009 at 1:25 am


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

 
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Bent Objects: Interview with Terry Border

Posted by Alex in Arts & Crafts, Book & Lit, Neatorama Only on November 18, 2009 at 1:07 am


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, published by Running Press, featuring some 70 brilliantly wacky wire creations (I have to say that counting the book's vignettes was actually a tough job - many of 'em are so funny that I lost track of how many I've already counted).

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.”

 
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English Words Quiz

Posted by Miss Cellania in Everything Else on November 18, 2009 at 12:27 am

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|™)

 
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No Good Deed Goes Unbullied by the Union

Posted by Alex in Politics on November 17, 2009 at 9:19 pm

For his Eagle Scout badge, Kevin Anderson, a 17-year-old junioar at Southern Lehigh High School, spent 250 hours over several weeks clearing a path at his local park so people could enjoy walking and biking along the river. What did he get for this good deed?

Little did the do-gooder know that his altruistic act would put him in the cross hairs of the city’s largest municipal union.

Nick Balzano, president of the local Service Employees International Union, told Allentown City Council Tuesday that the union is considering filing a grievance against the city for allowing Anderson to clear a 1,000-foot walking and biking path at Kimmets Lock Park.

"We’ll be looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who did the trails," Balzano told the council.

Balzano said Saturday he isn’t targeting Boy Scouts. But given the city’s decision in July to lay off 39 SEIU members, Balzano said "there’s to be no volunteers." No one except union members may pick up a hoe or shovel, plant a flower or clear a walking path.

"We would hope that the well-intentioned efforts of an Eagle Scout candidate would not be challenged by the union," said Mayor Ed Pawlowski in an e-mail Friday. "This young man is performing a great service to the community. His efforts should be recognized as such."

Link – via Michelle Malkin

 
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Celebrity Muppets

Posted by John Farrier in Pictures on November 17, 2009 at 8:54 pm


Image: TMZ

TMZ has side-by-side photos of celebrities and the Sesame Street Muppets that they resemble. Queen Elizabeth II, Nick Nolte, Dustin Diamond, and Zach Braff are among the mocked.

Link via Urlesque

 
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Goats on a Bus

Posted by Alex in Animal, Car & Vehicle, Video Clips on November 17, 2009 at 6:58 pm

Transit officials have been touting the benefits of public transit for years and apparently these goats got the message. But when they tried to board the C-Tran bus in Vancouver (update 11/18/08 – that’s Vancouver, Washington, by the way, as pointed out in the comment – Thanks John Milligan!), they were turned away, as you can see in this surveillance video.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks Tiffany!

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