Video Games at E3
Today, the ABC World News Webcast reports from the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles on new trends in video games. Virtual musician games are hot! Get a sneak peek at Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, and Wii Music. Link to the segment. Link to the entire webcast.
The 30 Creepiest Trees on Earth
You may have thought Treebeard or the apple trees in The Wizard of Oz were creepy (I did), but real trees can be pretty creepy, too! Environmental Graffiti has a collection of the strangest, scariest, and even funniest trees caught on camera. Link -Thanks, Chris!
(image credit: doyle_saylor)
Previously at Neatorama: 10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World.
American company cures Thailand of fear of ghosts
Ghosts are everywhere in Thailand, but thanks to the Sylvania corporation making its light bulbs available to the Thai people, the ghosts are simply no longer scary. The village they used to film the commercial in looks exactly like my own village in Thailand. YouTube - Thanks, Tim!
Ever Seen a Creepier Tower?
The Zižkov television tower in Prague, Czech Republic features crawling babies by artist David Cerný. They were attached in 2000 as a temporary exhibit, but people liked them so much, they are still there! See many more pictures at deputy dog. Link
(image credit: the-tml)
Wooly Willy
Classic toys don’t go away, they just go digital for a new generation. Wooly Willy, the classic metal-shavings toy from your childhood, is now available for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Decorate Wooly Willy, Hairdo Harriet, or you can upload your own image and add “hair”! Link -Thanks, Wesley Booker!
Cat Adopts Rabbit
(YouTube link)
To Snaggle Puss, Bubbles the orphan bunny is just another kitten in her litter. -via Arbroath
Duck Darwin Awards
Office work came to a stop when it was time for ten baby ducklings to leave the nest.
“Something really amazing happened in Downtown Spokane this week and I had to share the story with you. [My colleague] Joel is a loan officer at Sterling [Savings] Bank. He works downtown in a second story office building, overlooking busy Riverside Avenue. Several weeks ago he watched a mother duck choose the cement awning outside his window as the uncanny place to build a nest above the sidewalk.”
To get to the river, the ducklings had to fall ten feet, then cross two blocks of busy streets and sidewalks! Bank employees helped them out and took pictures, too. Link -via Cynical-C
High Noon
(YouTube link)
A nonsensical little story done in a clever style using popsicle sticks, from the Brothers McLeod. See more at their website. Link
Totally Looks Like
see famous look-a-like faces
Totally Looks Like is a new blog from the folks who brought you I Can Has Cheezburger? in which celebrities are coupled with a picture of who (or what) they look like. The submissions range from spot on to embarrassing. Link -via Underwire
YouTomb: Where DMCA’d YouTube Clips Go to Die
The recent decision by a federal judge to order Google to turn over all YouTube user data to Viacom has the web atwitter - but do you know what actually happened to all those videos taken down from the website for alleged copyright violation?
MIT Free Culture has a project, appropriately called "YouTomb" that tracks these "dead" videos: Link
Previously on Neatorama: What do 12-terabytes-worth of data look like?
Photography at the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Photo: Heather McDougal’s daughter
Taking a photo of someone "holding up" the Leaning Tower of Pisa is like a tourist’s rite-of-passage. If the angle is right, then the silly pose makes sense. But if the angle is wrong … the photo comes out even better!
Heather McDougal of Cabinet of Wonder has the story:
In Pisa my elder daughter became fascinated by all the people taking pictures of their friends holding up the leaning tower, or pushing it over - it is never easy to tell from the wrong angle. At times there were four or five people in a row all holding their hands up - which, when taken out of context, looked like some kind of mass-hallucination tai chi class.
She asked me for her camera and disappeared for a half hour, and then came back with these, which I think vie with many of the conceptual art pieces in the Whitney Museum. I found them hilarious and strangely compelling.
Link - via 11111001111
Which is Better: Charcoal or Gas Grill?
Dear Neatoramans: my trusty old gas grill has been having some trouble lately, so I’m mulling the decision to get another one to replace it. Should I go with gas and be better for the sake of the environment? Or go with flavor and buy a charcoal grill?
So. I’ve got a question for you: What do you prefer, a gas or a charcoal grill? And why?
Ugly Faces of Bugs
A face only a mother (bug) could love … Dark Roasted Blend blog has an interesting post about the ugly (and scary) faces of bugs and other little critters: Link
Ambidextrous Drawing by Angie Chung
I’m mesmerized by this video clip of Angie Chung drawing … with both of her hands at the same time!
Hit play or go to link [YouTube] | See Blue Tea blog for more "Performance Drawing"
The Southern Lights
My dream has always been to break away from the big cities and flee up to the cold barren areas of Canada and witness the beautiful and breathtaking Aurora Borealis or more commonly known as the Northern Lights for myself. However, I’ll have to take to watching videos online until then.
Called “Aurora Australis” these lights seen in the video are found in the Antarctic regions and are just as gorgeous as the Northern Lights. Filmed by Anthony Powell who is stationed in Antarctica he uses his spare time to video and snap shots of not only Aurora Australis but also of animals and landscapes. via - The Daily Galaxy
Here you can visit Anthony Powell’s personal blog and website - [Link]
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The words to song you hear (or maybe sing) at every baseball game, Take Me Out to the Ball Game were written 100 years ago by Jack Norworth, who had never been to a ball game! In fact, it was 32 years after he wrote the lyrics that Norworth attended his first major league game.
He was riding on the subway in New York, when he saw a sign advertising “Ballgame Today - Polo Grounds”. The Polo Grounds were the name of the stadium used most notably by the New York (later San Francisco) Giants baseball team.
During the 30-minute subway ride, Norworth, an accomplished songwriter, dashed off the words to the song. Soon thereafter, he took the lyrics to composer Albert Von Tilzer who created the popular tune, which later that year, became a #1 hit.
Stamps of Distinction has the story of how the song became a tradition across America, leading to the issuance of a commemorative stamp released today. Link -Thanks, Tony!
Steampunk Mouse
I don’t know how comfortable this elegantly-modded mouse would be to use, but it sure is pretty! The box made to house it is a work of art, too. Link -Thanks, Lance R!
The Onion examines “no values” voters
The Onion* News Network examines an important yet often overlooked segment of the American electorate: “no values” voters. What are the McCain and Obama campaigns doing to win over this special interest group? ONN’s Andrea Bennett reports. [YouTube]
—–
*Satire.
Dark Knight Tattoo Is Topical…But Is It a Good Idea?
Although modern technology has evolved to the point where tattoos can be removed, getting one is still quite a major commitment. Despite this, some still choose not only to get tattoos, but tattoos related with pop culture, references whose relevance threaten to fade over time. At GreatWhiteSnark’s blog, there’s a write-up of a gentleman who obtained a spectacular tattoo inspired by the upcoming film, The Dark Knight:
I’m putting out a call for genuinely novel and creative ways for fanboys (and -gals) to express their enthusiasm for the newest Batman film from director Chris Nolan. You could do worse–well, depending on how you look at it–than to take a cue from the dude who emblazoned a tattoo of the Batman symbol from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight across his back, courtesy of Tony Siemer of New Breed Tattoo in Dayton, Ohio.
I’m very much looking forward to the film, and desperately hope that it will be remembered as a modern classic, but what do you think about the idea of getting pop culture tattoos? In particular, in this case, does the tattoo’s associations with the overall character of Batman render it timeless? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Hit the Link for the larger image and GreatWhiteSnark’s always-snarky write-up.
Speechable
Speechable is an easy way to add speech balloons to your photos. Upload a photo, then select a balloon and add text. Use the buttons below to resize your font, and resize the balloon by clicking its lower right corner. Grab the top line of the balloon to move it. My daughter’s cat Biscuit was happy to try it out. Link -Thanks, Ryan!
Hot Dog Quiz
July is National Hot Dog Month, and the Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will test how much you know about hot dogs, the food and as a pop culture reference. I only scored 50% because I am a pop culture weinie. Link
Eight Presidential Namesakes
It happens with almost every President – people name their children for whoever is in office or whoever had a profound influence on them. But sometimes those children go on to be famous in their own rights. Here are a few of them.
John Quincy Adams Nadenbousch doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, does it? This particular John Quincy Adams was the commander of the Berkeley Border Guards, who helped the army at Harper’s Ferry during John Brown’s raid. He was a pretty important guy in the town of Martinsburg, West Virginia, owning a whiskey distillery when the Civil War broke out. The Berkeley Border Guards ended up serving under Stonewall Jackson.
Martin Van Buren Bates, AKA the Kentucky Giant, was decidedly taller than the President he was named after. Martin Van Buren was one of the shortest Presidents at 5′6″; Bates was 7′11″ (for comparison, Yao Ming is 7′6″).
He was a normal-sized child until about the age of six or seven, when he had a huge growth spurt. He was more than six feet fall by the time he was a teenager and weighed almost 300 pounds. He joined the Confederate Army in 1861 and became a Captain. When the war ended, he joined the circus and met 7′5″ Anna Swan. They got married in 1871 in London; Queen Victoria gave them two enormous diamond-studded watches as a wedding present. The two of them had two children – the first, a girl, was stillborn and weighed about 18 pounds. The second baby, a boy, also died. He weighed 22 or 24 pounds (reports vary).
Sure, George Washington did great things for our country, but so did George Washington Trendle – he produced the Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet. He became involved in the entertainment industry when a theater owner in Detroit offered him 25 percent ownership in the business to work there. The owner had already acquired 20 movie theaters, so this was no small chunk of change. The business prospered and a broadcasting company formed from it; ABC bought it in 1946 for $3.65 million. Trendle was known as a serious tightwad and was known for shortchanging employees on salary.
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode
really ran the gamut as far as careers went – he was a decathlete, a football star and a Golden Globe-nominated actor. He was famous for his shot put and high jump abilities, which were more than 50 feet and about 6′4″, respectively. He played for the UCLA Bruins in 1939 before moving on to the L.A. Rams in 1946 and the Calgary Stampeders (of the Canadian Football League) in 1948. He even tried his hand at pro wrestling at one point, before turning his attention to acting. He was in lots of notable movies, including Pork Chop Hill, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Ten Commandments and Tarzan. But his award-nominated performance was in Spartacus as the man who refuses to battle Spartacus and pays the price for it.
Abraham Lincoln Erlanger was a theater man. He produced, designed, directed and owned a theater. He and his partner produced tons of Broadway shows from the 1896 until the 1930s, including Dracula, Ben-Hur and The Jazz Singer. They also opened the “Jardin de Paris” where the Ziegfeld Follies were first performed, plus the New Amsterdam Theatre and the St. James Theatre (then called Erlanger’s Theatre). In 1919, he refused the demands of the Actors’ Equity Association and they went on strike, shutting down all of the theaters in New York, Chicago and Boston. Erlanger hemorrhaged money and lost his stronghold over the business.
Theodore Roosevelt Radcliffe, AKA Ted or “Double Duty”, was one of only a few major league baseball players to live past their 100th birthdays “
(he was 103 when he died in 2005). He played for more than 30 teams, had more than 4,000 hits, more than 400 home runs, won about 500 games and had 4,000-plus strike-outs. He earned the “Double Duty” nickname because he played both catcher and pitcher in back-to-back games at Yankee Stadium in 1932. He caught for Satchel Paige in the first game and pitched a shutout in game two. Ty Cobb said once that Radcliffe, as a catcher, wore a chest protector that said “Thou shalt not steal”. In the 1960s, he was a scout for the Cleveland Indians.
William McKinley Randle, Jr., went by the name Bill Randle. He was a DJ in Detroit who helped launch the careers of The Four Lads, Bobby Darin and Fats Domino. Time Magazine called him the top DJ in America in 1950. He left radio a rich man in the 1960s and received his undergraduate degree at Wayne State, his law degree from Oklahoma City University, his doctorate in American studies and master’s in sociology from Western Reserve University, his master’s in journalism from Kent State and his master’s in education from Cleveland State. Whew. At the age of 64, he passed the Bar exam and started his own practice in Lakewood, Ohio.
Monty Franklin Pierce Stratton, 
AKA Gander, was a pitcher for the White Sox for five years, from 1934 until 1938, when he had to get his right leg amputated after a freak hunting accident. He stayed with the team for a couple years after that as a coach and a batting practice pitcher, using a wooden leg to get around. In 1946, he was able to pitch for the minor league and won 18 games in the East Texas League. This amazing comeback was the inspiration for The Stratton Story, starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson in 1949.
The Trinity Test
The Atomic Age began 63 years ago today, when the first atomic bomb was successfully detonated at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range in a remote part of New Mexico.
The Trinity test, as it was known, was the culmination of the American effort to win the race against Germany (and, ultimately, the Soviet Union) in building an atomic bomb. A mere three weeks after the test, the United States used atomic bombs to destroy the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But prior to the 16th, none of those involved in the project knew if they had built a devastating new weapon or a spectacular dud.
Even those who designed the bomb were moved by its performance. J. Robert Oppenheimer famously quoted the Bhagavad Gita:
“If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.”
More prosaically, Dr. Kenneth Bainbridge, site director of the Trinity test, said: “Now we are all sons-of-bitches.”
Wired has the story and a photo gallery. Link
Groovy-retro Fallout 3 video game trailer
Take a look at this great 50s/Cold War-esque “trailer” for the post-apocalyptic video game Fallout 3. Don’t forget to Duck and Cover! [YouTube]
Your Very Own Action Figure
Be-A-Doll makes custom action figures that look like you! Or have one made for a gift, or modeled after a person you want to keep around (maybe to stick pins in). Link -via Dump Trumpet
Baarle-Hertog
Some parts of the town of Baarle-Hertog, Belgium belong to The Netherlands. Which part? For that, you’ll need a map.
Baarle-Hertog borders the Netherlands – but, because of its unique history of political division, the town is sort of marbled with competing national loyalties. In other words, pockets of the town are Dutch; most of the town is Belgian. You can thus wander from country to country on an afternoon stroll, as if island-hopping between sovereignties.
There are no border guards between the neighborhoods, and passports aren’t necessary to move between the two nations. Link -via Boing Boing
Steampunk Cufflinks
Grace Acosta makes steampunk jewelry from authentic vintage materials. Each is one-of-a-kind, like these magnified gear cufflinks.
Vintage lucite magnifying cabochons were set over old letters and genuine brass watch gears, and then sealed on the back with lacquer. Then everything was placed into gold framed cuffinks and the final effect is really stunning. Everything shifts and changes as you turn them back and forth.
She also has earrings, necklaces, brooches, and various other handmade steampunk items. Link -Thanks, Grace!
A Leftist Conspiracy: Disproportionate Number of U.S. Presidents Are Left-Handed
It must be a conspiracy: for the fifth time in the last 35 years, Americans will elect a lefty to the White House. No, not necessarily a Leftist liberal - rather, a southpaw:
Both major party candidates are southpaws, contributing to a largely unexplained phenomenon that has vexed researchers and historians — and drawn notice from a federal judge destined for the Supreme Court. Though left-handers comprise just 10% of the population, they are dominating presidential politics.
Their recent success transcends ideology. Since 1974, presidents Ford, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton have all favored their left hands, while President Carter and the current President Bush are righties. The trait is also not exclusive to winning candidates: Vice President Gore is left-handed, as are past presidential contenders Robert Dole, John Edwards, Bill Bradley, and Ross Perot. A prominent New Yorker who flirted with a White House bid, Mayor Bloomberg, is a lefty.
Link - via Gerry Canavan
The Spoonbridge and Cherry: Is Good Art?
By Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Photo: Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota is celebrating its 20th anniversary of its Sculpture Garden (with the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture). Most Twin Cities residents are so familiar with the Spoonbridge that they rarely discuss it as art - but is it art?
City Pages blog invited Peter Eleey, a curator at the Walker Art Center, to talk about the giant spoon and cherry: Link
More Bad News for Starbucks Employees: Italians Develop Robotic Baristas
Leave it to the Italians to set priorities straight: for the 6 million Euros DEXMART robot project, which focuses on the development of robotic hands, a Naples University team created … a coffee-making robot!
The robot, named justine, is the first result of an 6.3-million-euroEU project called DEXMART , led by naples university professor Bruno Siciliano . Justine’s arms and hands are precise enough to duplicate some of the movements of human hands. in particular, Justine can make instant coffee. ‘The problem of using two hands together, the way humans do when the pick up a heavy plant pot, is a particularly sticky one. At present robots can use a single arm with reasonable accuracy and flexibility. But until now they have fallen short of the technological complexity and artificial intelligence needed for a two-handed approach. We want to develop a system of two-handed manipulation, equipped with sensors that make the robot conscious of its surroundings and the people in its working space’, Siciliano said.
Designboom has more pics and a video clip: Link - via Collision Detection
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